In a recent speech in Wisconsin, vice presidential candidate andConnecticut senator Joe Lieberman described environmentalism as areligious issue. He argued Americans have a moral duty to care for theearth, and he’s not the only one making that claim. Religious groupsthroughout the Great Lakes region are beginning to feel the same way -and are calling for environmental protection. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Karen Kelly has this report:
Transcript
In a recent speech in Wisconsin, vice presidential candidate and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman described environmentalism as a religious issue. He argued Americans have a moral duty to care for the earth. And he’s not the only one making that claim. Religious groups throughout the Great Lakes region are beginning feel the same way – and are calling for environmental protection. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly has this report.
Andrea Prazmowski pushes a stroller through her neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario.
She walks this way almost every day on her way to the grocery store and her son’s school. Most people she knows use their car to run errands. But Prazmowski says leaving her car behind is one of the ways she’s helping the environment.
“We’ve chosen to live in a neighborhood that’s very walkable. And we buy organically grown food and don’t use pesticides on our lawns. And so we think fairly carefully about our consuming habits.”
Prazmowski says her family also buys clothing and toys second-hand. It’s an unusual way to live in a consumer society. But Prazmowski says she was encouraged to change her lifestyle by a campaign at her church. She’s a member of the United Church, a Protestant denomination. And for the past year, she’s joined group discussions about the connection between religion and the environment. Prazmowski says she’s come to see the gifts of the earth as gifts from God.
“We as humans should be taking care of them and not abusing them but being more gentle with the earth and I believe that’s what Christ would have wanted and what Christ would have taught.”
Prazmowski’s experience reflects a shift occurring in religious groups across North America. Mary Evelyn Tucker is a religion professor at Bucknell University and the director of a Harvard forum on religion and ecology.
She says she’s not sure how many churches are involved with the movement, but she’s seen a growing number begin to view the environment as part of their responsibility.
“Especially 20 years ago, there was a sense that you had to take care of the human before you took care of the environment. There’s been a significant shift in that way of thinking to what’s called ecojustice, which is suggesting the improvement of the human condition can only come about with the inclusion of
the health of the environment. You can’t have healthy people on a sick planet.”
Tucker says that shift has led to groups like the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. They work with synagogues in nineteen American cities,
including Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. They encourage both education and political lobbying. There’s also the Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign. It’s brought together religious leaders in sixteen states. One of their goals is to get environmental issues into sermons. They also want people to change their lifestyles. And they want the churches themselves to become energy efficient. Kim Winchell directs the climate change campaign in Michigan. She remembers her first meeting with colleagues from other religious groups.
“There were Episcopalians and Methodists and Quakers and a Catholic sister and Presbyterians and we all were kind of talking the same language. You know,
that we really felt that care for the earth was an integral part of what it meant to be religious. We all felt called to do what we were doing.”
Many Jewish and Christian leaders quote the Book of Genesis as the basis for their actions. In it, God sees all that he made, and declares it
good. He then calls the people to be faithful stewards of his creation. Traditionally, Christians and Jews interpreted this to mean that the earth’s resources belonged to humans, and their needs came first. For many, that interpretation has fallen out of favor. But not for critics like Michael Barkey of the Acton Institute, a conservative think-tank. He argues environmental advocacy doesn’t belong in the church.
“Many religious leaders who have a great respect in their communities begin to speak on issues they’re not fully informed about. The dramatic picture that’s presented is misleading and as long as religious leaders fail to get the full information before they speak, the consequences of these policies can be quite harmful.”
But for environmentalists like Kim Winchell, it’s an exciting time. She says bringing the environment into religious communities is a powerful tool.
“I think in our society there’s an awful lot of apathy or the sense that I’m only one person, what can I do? And I think the role of religion is to help people feel a sense of hope, that they can make a difference even with what little thing they do, and that they really ought to be making a difference as God’s people on earth.”
Winchell says many people are worried about the environment – and they’re looking for some kind of guidance. She believes – for religious leaders – this may be a calling. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.