CREDIT: VIA NEGATIVA

I ended last week's column with a claim that the Christian church offers the best hope for a renewal of the environmental movement. This will be a surprise to some readers. One reason for the surprise is that some are not aware that the church has frequently led or facilitated important change. For example, Christian missionaries are famous for establishing hospitals and schools and for preserving aboriginal memories and cultures. A second reason for the surprise is that within some churches — especially those that exist within oil-based economies — concern for the environment is a low priority.

Yet churches should claim their ability to lead healthy change, and the environment should be a very high priority. Here are some reasons why.

First, according to the Christian understanding of the world, the entire universe is holy. The opening page of the Bible asserts that God created all things. He gave order to them to make our world a welcoming home. The first lines on that page imply that the entire universe is suffused with the Spirit of God. So, the start of the Bible suggests that the world is to be viewed and treated with respect. It has a creator who wants it to be a fabulous place for us and for future generations.

Second, also keeping to the Christian view, we humans are called upon to manage God's world with care. This comes through a few pages into the Bible where the first human names the animals. By then, humans have also been identified as co-creators with God in tilling the earth. And prior to that in the narrative God gave to men and women the privilege of ruling and caring for the earth as his wise representatives.

With these two perspectives in place there is no longer any room for a careless exploitation of the earth, as if we can burn up the planet and let future generations fend for themselves. Such an attitude has to be identified as evil and we should run from it.

Third, there are passages in the older parts of the Bible that indicate that land and animals should have rest. Giving rest to the patches of real estate that we inhabit and cultivate, and allowing animals their own time, are expressions of faith in God. We don't need to exploit every square inch of land, every cubic metre of ground, every minute and every living creature to the nth degree in order to survive in our world. We should work. But we should also rely on God to provide for our needs “by accident” and in ways unlooked for. After all, we haven't created any plants and any ground. And through the generosity of other people, we often receive what we need. Life is not all about work, efficiencies, and the monetizing of every conceivable item (such as rainwater — yes, it's been done).

Fourth, there is within the church the moral imperative to take care of our neighbour. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus, quoting earlier Jewish prophets, commanded this. What does that mean with respect to caring for the environment? It means that we must strive to leave our present and future neighbours with the opportunity to live fulfilling lives here in this world. So, for example, global warming is not a morally neutral event. Behind it lies our culpability in creating an economy that demands the degradation of the atmosphere and the ocean, degradation that brings death.

This moral imperative can have a liberating impact. For example, Canadians don't have to wait for the rest of the world to unite in a war against global warming. We don't, for instance, have to say, “Since the Alberta oil sands only generate one per cent of carbon emissions, we aren't going to scale them back until every other country also agrees to scale back its oil dependence.” A moral imperative gives us the basis for doing the right thing even it is not convenient, popular or profitable.

Fifth, we should recognize the impressive global community that the church is. It is the most under-observed and under-appreciated network on the planet. You find Christian churches everywhere. The Catholic and Orthodox traditions have the ear of hundreds of millions of adherents. Ditto for hundreds of Protestant Christian groups such as Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist and Pentecostal. There is an enormous opportunity here for the churches to generate a movement of global proportions to change our economies and our expectations regarding material goods and wealth. If churches came together for such global change, its over two billion members could have a truly world-changing impact. Christian community leaders, ethicists, theologians, pastors, workers, artists, owners of businesses, and managers of funds could together work for change.

Finally, within the church there remain traditions of environmental care that are linked with forms of human community. I am thinking of the Amish and Mennonite traditions of partially self-sustaining, and family-oriented farm communities. I am not trying to suggest that we should all don Amish fashions and drive buggies — although most fashion and transportation options available to us are worse. I am saying, however, that we should learn from ways of life that are more connected to the real sources of our well-being, ways of life that are connected to land, animal husbandry, the cultivation of the soil, family and local community, and care with respect to technological change.

The worldwide church has a great opportunity. Will those of us who are part of the church today help our churches to seize it?
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