Those of us behind this site are Christians, and we believe our faith has something to say about sustainability and equality. If you’re not a Christian, feel free to pass on this section if you wish. If you are a Christian, please read on, because I believe we have a duty that we have been turning a blind eye to.
Let me summarise the idea of Christian responsibilty in four areas:
We have a duty to God.
Psalm 24 begins with the following words: ‘The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.’ The earth is not ours. Contrary to some popular understanding, God did not give us the earth - he gave us the use of it.
We have a duty to the world
In Genesis we read that God made the earth good, and that the earth is ‘cursed’ because of us. Human behaviour and the state of the earth are inextricably linked. Have a look at Hosea 4, where it describes a society’s violence and dishonesty, and goes on to say: ‘Because of this the land mourns…’
We have a duty to each other
A very simple principle straight from Jesus words in Luke 3: ‘The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.’
We have a duty to ourselves
Homo Sapiens literally means ‘the soil that knows it is alive’ - from the latin for soil and for knowing. As nothing more than ’sentient earth’ we are part of the ecosystem, not above it. Genesis 3 reminds of us this: ‘dust you are, and to dust you will return.’ When we forget this, we give ourselves a status we can’t live up to.
I’ll write more about the place of faith in this debate. Click on the faith tag on the right for more.
April 18, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Bishop John Shelby Spong published a fantastic book entitled The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible’s Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love. Spong’s second chapter, The Bible and the Environment, demonstrates how certain verses of the Gospel not only legitimize but arguably encourage exploitation of mother earth: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis, 1:28); “…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth…” (Gensis, 1:26).
April 18, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Thanks for your comment Rahul, you’re quite right, that verse has been used to legitimise the abuse of the earth. The main problem is in translation of the word ‘dominion’, which is understood to mean ‘domination’. In the original Hebrew it has connotations of ’serving and shepherding’. Very different. We are to serve creation, it is not there to serve us. Unfortunately this misunderstanding has been used to justify exploitation and that’s to our shame.
April 29, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Thanks Rahul. The fact is that mankind does have a controlling role in so much of what happens on our planet, whether or not we accept the Biblical reference. The Bible has a very great deal to say about equitable distribution, and care of the natural world. It would be unfair to use the Genesis references as if this is all it says on the subject.