Where are the Christian environmentalists?
Offline Perhaps the single most important topic that I've found Christians to be dangerously indifferent about is the state of the environment. I'm not interested in trying to disprove the existence of God, or even changing any Christian's beliefs. But you'd think the one thing theists and atheists could agree on is trying to not screw up the planet for our descendants.
I heard something on the news a while ago about a Christian environmental group. But it's been a while. So I spent some time Googling "Christian environmentalists" and similar phrases ("Christian environmentalism", etc.).
The results were sad, to say the least.
Not only could I not find a single high-profile Christian environmental group, but even worse, discussion of Christian environmentalism (at least by Christian organizations and individuals) for the most part leaned strongly against trying to preserve the environment!
Here are the most common Christian arguments against environmentalism:
1) Deny the science behind the tracking of climate change;
2) Interpret the book of Genesis literally, where God gives man the earth to rule over;
3) The Bible doesn't specifically say we should preserve the environment;
4) Interpret the book of Revelations literally, that the world is going to end anyway.
There were other arguments as well, mostly fusions of the aforementioned. I was going to post URLs of the most alarming ones here, but they depress me too much. Google for yourself and be amazed.
Anyway, here's my argument to theists (particularly Christians) about why they should not only be environmentalists - but ardent environmentalists at that:
Let's say God created the earth, and He gave it to mankind. Just like Genesis says. No strings attached, just like a gift. It's ours. And it's a pretty sweet gift too. Without it, we'd have nowhere to live. We take care of the gift for a while. Then we start to trash it. Assuming that God is always watching, right now he's watching us trash this really nice gift He gave us. How do you think He feels? Does he think it's OK that we're doing this? Does he not care? How would you feel if you gave someone a gift, and they broke it in front of you?
That said, I'd like to propose an (unholy?) alliance with all of the theists out there: Let's save the planet first, and argue about how it was created later.
Nobody I know was brainwashed into being an atheist.
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End of Days? Bring it ON. Sorry, that's the first thing that comes to mind when I hear that. I've heard they've actually held conferences for Christian leaders telling them all the reasons they SHOULD NOT be concerned with global warming and that their ONLY concern should be getting people to convert. It's all about the $$.
Personally, I think Christians need to think about the earth the same way they think about their body or the way they think the bible tells them to treat it (no drinking, tattoos, overeating, etc.). If drinking or eating to excess to the point it creates suicide (which is, of course, an unforgivable sin...do they consider heart attacks b/c of overeating or drinking suicide?) then it's about as good as using a razor or gun so why they don't think that the slow demise of the earth would be considered the same beats the hell out of me. Why they don't take care of something they think God gave them is baffling. But honestly, I think the reason behind it is that if they take their focus off of getting new converts then they're losing money to feed their wallets and converting souls is soooo much more important than spending a little time emphasizing caring for the earth since the earth isn't really providing for them immediately like cash from congregants does.
To me, suicide of the earth should be far more contemptable due to the number of lives that could be in danger. What good is trying to save souls when you're putting them in harms way before you get a chance to reach them. While Pat Robertson, Phelps and others are blaming tsunamis on gay people the REAL people to blame are THEMSELVES for encouraging people to IGNORE the importance of taking care of the earth. Wouldn't a leader of millions discouraging conservation and going green resulting in catastrophic natural disasters wiping out hundreds of thousands of people more likely to be the cause than gay people loving each other? Is that murder or suicide at the hands of religious leaders?
Perhaps a campaign to force religious leaders to acknowledge their assisted suicide of the earth and potential millions of lives (unsaved, no doubt) sent to hell because of their lack of action is on the way...Seems to me they're the ones far more guilty of letting their "gods' design" go down the drain with unsaved souls with it by ignoring its destruction.
I can hear it now... "I murdered 200,000 people...they were swept away by tsunami b/c I told them to ignore global warming but I saved 10 people last week and now they give me 10% of their income every week. Of course global warming is a hoax!"
Anyway, I couldn't agree more.
Flemming Rose: “When [christians] say you are not showing respect, I would say: you are not asking for my respect, you are asking for my submission….”
I think that largely this is not a religious issue. The christians I know are significantly more concerned about the environment than I am. Sure they are very liberal christians but I'm the least religious of my group and easily the least concerned with the environment.
My attitude it that I've heard the doomsday scenarios so many times that I find it hard to get excited about it this time and while there might be problems the solution is not to abandon technology and the convenience it provides but to develop cleaner technologies.
If someone insists I give up my car and be forced to use public transport I'll tell to go to hell. I'm just not going to give up the freedom to go where I want when I want so that I can wait 15 minutes for a bus, share the ride with a crowd of strangers and probably need to change busses atleast once to get to my destination. If someone wants to develop a cleaner car that I can afford then they have my support.
Maybe I'm selfish but I don't think the solution is to move backward.
Back to the actual topic...
I would suggest that there are plenty of christian environmentalists. The are just active in secular groups. If the issue is not religous why would they alienate potential supporters by attaching a faith label to their cause.
Another point of view though is that environmentalism is very much like a religion for some. Just look at the unquestioning faith you see at a protest march. Maybe christians are less susceptible to this because they already have a religion. Isn't this why some brands of communism try to destroy religion, so they don't have any competition for mindless followers.
Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!
While Christians aren't part of environmentalist groups, they certainly aren't out there to destroy the earth. It's not like they use coal furnaces or all drive the huge SUV's. It's just that they are not fully commited to "saving the environment". In a way, I think that they are mostly just kind of neutral about the issue. The reason they blow off the "doomsday is coming" stories is because in the Bible states that the earth is going to last however long God wants it to. After the tribulation God will destroy the earth with fire. So Christians aren't too worried about all the stuff they hear about it on TV.
In my opinion, a lot of the environmental stuff is just a bunch of hype. Sure, we should take care of the earth, but we shouldn't worship it. Besides, from what I've seen of earth trends, it warms up and then cools down at different periods of time. We should respect the earth, but the hype in movies like An Inconvenient Truth is a bunch of shit.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
There are lately some Evangelicals who are environmentalists - saying God said people should take care of the world.
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Don't have one. Read it in the paper a few months ago. One of those big time fundies was even supporting it (Forget which one.)
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