Ecotheology: Why don't we discuss it very often?

As I stated earlier, the topic of caring for the earth is rarely a subject of public religious discussion.  I don't remember it being a topic of any Sunday school lesson or church talk in my memory; and to my knowledge, environmental consciousness has never been the subject of any general conference talk in my lifetime, though several LDS church leaders have made statements about it.

Caring for the environment is something that a majority of people have to be on board with before it can be really successful.  It doesn't do to have an extremely vocal, radical minority who are complete conservationists when the rest of us waste resources like it doesn't matter.  There are many possible ways that Americans could be motivated to be more caring towards the earth; and while our society is becoming increasingly secularized, I think that religious motivation can still inspire many people to action on this matter.

Admittedly, I speak mostly from personal experience; since it was digging deeper into my religion's teachings about the value of the earth and its inhabitants that finally made me care about this when I didn't before.  But I've found at least a few teachings in several major world religions that can inspire believers to be more unselfish; not only towards other people but towards all life on earth.  Nearly every religious tradition has examples of loving, unselfish people who sacrificed much so that others could avoid suffering.  Whether the exemplar is Buddha, Mohammed, or Jesus, there's no reason not to extend that example of compassion to all life.  So why isn't there more effort to promote the idea of caring for the earth through the religious atmosphere?

Honestly, I don't know how well the idea would take, especially in American culture.  I consider caring for the environment to be a commandment from God, but if leaders of churches were to actively encourage their congregations to conserve and give back, I don't know if it would have much effect.  Church members might agree with these teachings, try hard to be environmentally conscious for a couple weeks or a couple months, and then the movement would fizzle out and die.  I think many of us would just feel guilty about it without really doing anything.  It would take the focus off of other, perhaps more important, things.  So as nice as the idea sounds to me, I can't see it working very effectively.

Despite this, studying the value of God's creations has brought a great deal of fulfillment to me.  In the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, founder Joseph Smith said, "Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race."  While learning about how much earth and its creatures are really worth, I felt this kind of love in a way and with an intensity I never have before.  I think anybody who sincerely searches to have this compassion can feel it too.  I hope this knowledge permanently changes the way I live my life, and I hope it does for you.

Ecotheology: Religion and the environment

Ecology is a rarely mentioned topic in religious teaching, at least in my experience. I don't remember participating in a Sunday school lesson about why we should take care of the environment, and I don't remember our environmental responsibility being a subject of any talks in sacrament meeting (the LDS Sunday service) or general conference (a worldwide semiannual LDS gathering). Several church leaders in the past have spoken about the need to care for the earth, but it's far from being a major topic of Mormon discussion. I'll focus more in my next post about why I think that is.

This post will focus much more on the LDS perspective of environmentalism. I haven't given as much time to study this topic among world religions like I have with animal consciousness, so I'm sticking to what I'm familiar with right now. But I hope the principles I mention here will be widely applicable to many faiths and traditions.

Religious arguments of environmental ethics are often grounded in doctrine regarding the creation of the earth and its purpose for existing. The biblical creation story, common to several major world religions, makes it clear that mankind has dominion over the earth. Some theologians have interpreted that dominion to mean ownership and inherent human privilege, when others have seen it as a call to responsible stewardship. Book of Mormon scripture teaches that "the Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it" (1 Nephi 17:36).

LDS scriptures gives a unique perspective as to the spiritual identity of the earth and all things on it. I mentioned a scripture in my last post (Moses 3:5) which teaches that all animals and plants have spirits and were created spiritually before they were created physically. Later in the book of Moses, we read about a revelation given to Enoch that gives a remarkable level of personification to the earth itself. "Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?" I don't know if I believe that the earth itself has a spirit and a consciousness; but if it does, we're giving it plenty of reasons to be pained and weary.

In a nutshell, believing that the earth is something worth caring for is a motivation to be an environmentalist. But even those who take a humanocentric view of the universe have reasons to care for the earth. One of the main reasons is sustainability. It's a simple fact that several of our major resources are, though abundant, finite. If we continue to be wasteful, ignorant, and greedy, we will run out at our own peril. It might not happen during our lifetime, but we're sad examples of compassion if we leave a legacy of waste to our children and grandchildren. In the Doctrine and Covenants (other LDS scripture), the Lord states: "For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment" (104:17-18). We have enough, if we use it wisely. If we don't, and if we don't care about the state we're leaving other unfortunate people in, there will be consequences, here and in the hereafter.

My opinion on this matter is very much similar to the opinion I have of animal rights and welfare. We don't have to be complete ascetics and abstain from all the luxuries of life and technology, and we don't all have to be environmental activists (I don't plan to be). I think we'll make much more progress if we each improve our own lifestyle and strive to conserve than if we seek to change things through protest and lobbying. Changing the way we do large-scale industry will definitely have big effects, but changing the way the American household uses energy will too. There's plenty of people fighting for environmental change in the public square, but my preferred approach is personal. Whether we're religious or not, each of us has many reasons to conserve the precious and finite resources we have on the only earth we have.

Further reading:

Righteous Dominion and Compassion for the Earth, by Elder Marcus Nash of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Scriptures and statements from church leaders about the environment
Mormon newsroom: Environmental stewarship and conservation