The Emerging Alliance of World
Religions and Ecology
The growing alliance of religion and ecology within the academic world and within
religious communities is bringing together for the first time diverse perspectives
from the world's religious traditions, regarding attitudes toward nature with
reflections from science, policy and ethics. Scholars of religion from various
parts of the world have begun to identify symbolic, scriptural, and ethical
dimensions within particular religions in their relations with the natural world.
They are examining these dimensions both historically and in response to contemporary
environmental problems. Religious practitioners and environmentalists are utilizing
these resources as a source of inspiration and activism to motivate long term
changes regarding the environment in many parts of the world.
The State of the World 2000 report notes that in solving environmental
problems, "all of society's institutions-from organized religion to corporations-have
a role to play." That religions have a role to play along with other institutions
and academic disciplines is also the premise of this emerging alliance of religion
and ecology.
Several qualifications regarding the various roles of religion should be mentioned
at the outset. First, we do not wish to suggest that any one religious tradition
has a privileged ecological perspective. Rather, multiple perspectives may be
the most helpful in identifying the contributions of the world's religions to
the flourishing of life for future generations. This is an interreligious project.
Second, while we assume that religions are necessary partners in the current
ecological movement, they are not sufficient without the indispensable contributions
of science, economics, education, and policy to the varied challenges of current
environmental problems. Therefore, this is an interdisciplinary effort in which
religions can play a part.
Third, we acknowledge that there is frequently a disjunction between principles
and practices: ecologically sensitive ideas in religions are not always evident
in environmental practices in particular civilizations. Many civilizations have
overused their environments, with or without religious sanction.
Finally, we are keenly aware that religions have all too frequently contributed
to tensions and conflict among ethnic groups, both historically and at present.
Dogmatic rigidity, inflexible claims of truth, and misuse of institutional and
communal power by religions have led to tragic consequences in various parts
of the globe.
Nonetheless, while religions have sometimes preserved traditional ways, they
have also provoked social change. They can be limiting but also liberating in
their outlooks. In the twentieth century, for example, religious leaders and
theologians helped to give birth to progressive movements such as civil rights
for minorities, social justice for the poor, and liberation for women. More
recently, religious groups were instrumental in launching a movement called
Jubilee 2000 for debt reduction for poor nations. Although the world's religions
have been slow to respond to our current environmental crises, their moral authority
and their institutional power may help effect a change in attitudes, practices,
and public policies.
As key repositories of enduring civilizational values and as indispensable motivators
in moral transformation, religions have an important role to play in projecting
persuasive visions of a more sustainable future. This is especially true because
our attitudes toward nature have been consciously and unconsciously conditioned
by our religious worldviews. Over thirty years ago the historian Lynn White
observed this when he noted: "What people do about their ecology depends on
what they think about themselves in relation to things around them. Human ecology
is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny-that is, by religion."
White's article signaled the beginning of contemporary reflection on how environmental
attitudes are shaped by religious worldviews. It is only in recent years, however,
that this topic has been more fully explored, especially in the ten conferences
on world religions and ecology held at the Center for the Study of World Religions
at Harvard Divinity School from 1996-1998. Over 700 scholars and environmentalists
participated in these conferences. The published conference volumes identify
religious perspectives especially rich in resources for defining principles
that may help us preserve nature and protect the earth.
In soliciting essays for these conferences and volumes scholars of particular
religions were asked to address a few key questions: 1) What cosmological dimensions
in this tradition help relates humans to nature? 2) How does this tradition
and its sacred texts support or challenge the idea of nature as simply a utilitarian
resource? 3) What are the core values from this tradition that can lead to the
creation of an effective environmental ethics? 4) From within this religious
tradition, can we identify responsible human practices toward natural systems,
sustainable communities, and future generations? It was considered important
to have the religion scholars reflect on these broad questions in order to identify
those attitudes, values, and practices that might be most appropriate in addressing
contemporary environmental problems.
Call for the participation of religious communities
Many organizations and individuals have been calling for greater participation
by various religious communities in meeting the growing environmental crisis
by reorienting humans to show more respect, restraint, and responsibility toward
the earth. Consider, for example, a statement by scientists, "Preserving and
Cherishing the Earth: An Appeal for Joint Commitment in Science and Religion,"
issued at a Global Forum meeting in Moscow in January of 1990. It suggests that
the human community is committing "crimes against creation" and notes that "problems
of such magnitude, and solutions demanding so broad a perspective must be recognized
from the outset as having a religious as well as a scientific dimension. Mindful
of our common responsibility, we scientists-many of us long engaged in combating
the environmental crisis-urgently appeal to the world religious community to
commit, in word and deed, and as boldly as is required, to preserve the environment
of the Earth." It goes on to declare that "the environmental crisis requires
radical changes not only in public policy, but in individual behavior. The historical
record makes clear that religious teaching, example, and leadership are powerfully
able to influence personal conduct and commitment. As scientists, many of us
have had profound experiences of awe and reverence before the universe. We understand
that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect.
Our planetary home should be so regarded. Efforts to safeguard and cherish the
environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred."
A second important document, "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity," was produced
by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1992 and was signed by more than two
thousand scientists, including more than two hundred Nobel Laureates. It states
that: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course…. Human
activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and
on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at
risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms,
and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in
the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the
collision our present course will bring about." These changes will require the
special assistance and commitment of those in the religious community. Indeed,
the document calls for the cooperation of natural and social scientists, business
and industrial leaders-and also religious leaders. It concludes with a call
for environmentally sensitive attitudes and behaviors, which religious communities
can help to articulate: "A new ethic is required-a new attitude towards discharging
our responsibilities for caring for ourselves and for the earth. We must recognize
the earth's limited capacity to provide for us. We must recognize its fragility.
We must no longer allow it to be ravaged. This ethic must motivate a great movement,
convincing reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples
themselves to effect the needed changes." Responses from the world's religions:
Although the responses of religions to the global environmental crisis were
slow at first, they have been steadily growing over the last twenty-five years.
Several years after the first UN Conference on Environment and Development in
Stockholm in 1972, some Christian churches began to address the growing environmental
and social challenges. At the fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches
(WCC) in Nairobi in 1975, there was a call to establish the conditions for a
"just, participatory, and sustainable [global] society." In 1979, a follow-up
WCC conference was held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on "Faith,
Science, and the Future." The 1983 Vancouver Assembly of the WCC revised the
theme of the Nairobi conference to include "Justice, Peace, and the Integrity
of Creation." The 1991 WCC Canberra conference expanded on these ideas with
the theme of the "Holy Spirit Renewing the Whole of Creation." After Canberra,
the WCC theme for mission in society became "Theology of Life." This has brought
theological reflection to bear on environmental destruction and social inequities
resulting from economic globalization. In 1992, at the time of the UN Earth
Summit in Rio, the WCC facilitated a gathering of Christian leaders that issued
a "Letter to the Churches," calling for attention to pressing eco-justice concerns:
solidarity with other people and all creatures; ecological sustainability; sufficiency
as a standard of distributive justice; and socially just participation in decisions
for the common good. In addition to major conferences held by the Christian
churches, various interreligious meetings have been held, and various religious
movements have emerged. Some of these include the interreligious gatherings
on the environment in Assisi in 1984 under the sponsorship of the World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) and under the auspices of the Vatican in 1986. Moreover, the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has established an Interfaith Partnership
for the Environment (IPE) that has distributed thousands of packets of materials
for use in local congregations and religious communities for more than fifteen
years. The two most recent Parliaments of World Religions-held in Chicago in
1993, and in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1999-both issued major statements on
global ethics, stressing environmental issues as well as human rights. The Global
Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders held international meetings in
Oxford in 1988, Moscow in 1990, Rio in 1992, and Kyoto in 1993-and each time
devoted significant attention to environmental issues. Since 1995 a critical
Alliance of Religion and Conservation (ARC) has been active in England, while
the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE) has organized
Jewish and Christian groups around this issue in the United States. A member
group of NRPE, the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), is helping
to mobilize the American Jewish communities regarding environmental issues,
especially global warming. The World Bank has developed a World Faiths Development
Dialogue on poverty and development issues with a select group of international
religious leaders. Religious groups have also contributed over the last five
years to the drafting of the Earth Charter, which arose out of concerns for
equitable means of sustainable development identified at the 1992 Earth Summit
in Rio. For the three years during the drafting process discussions of the Earth
Charter were central components of the Harvard conference series on religion
and ecology. Many religious groups are currently helping to support the Charter
in their communities. Represented in the Charter are long standing concerns
of many of the world's religions for the alleviation of poverty, the equitable
distribution of wealth, respect for human rights, an end to war and violence,
and the extension of compassion to all living things. In addition, current religious
sensibilities regarding respect for the environment are also present in the
Charter. The religious communities are increasingly aware of the growing need
for a Global Environmental Ethics and they see the Earth Charter as representing
this in a comprehensive and inclusive way. In light of this, religious leaders
and lay persons are increasingly speaking out for protection of the environment.
The Dalai Lama has made numerous statements on the importance of environmental
protection and has proposed that Tibet should be designated a zone of special
ecological integrity. Rabbi Ishmar Schorsch of the Jewish Theological Seminary
in New York has frequently spoken on the critical state of the environment.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew has sponsored several seminars to highlight
environmental destruction in the Black Sea and along the Danube River, calling
such examples of negligence "ecological sin." From the Islamic perspective,
Seyyed Hossein Nasr has written and spoken widely on the sacred nature of the
environment for more than two decades. In the Christian world, along with the
efforts of the Protestant community, the Catholic Church has issued several
important pastoral letters over the last decade. Pope John Paul II wrote a message
for the World Day of Peace, on January 1, 1990, entitled "The Ecological Crisis:
A Common Responsibility." More recently, John Paul II has spoken of the need
for ecological conversion, namely, a deep turning to the needs of the larger
community of life. In August of 2000, at a historic gathering of more than one
thousand religious leaders at the UN for the Millennium World Peace Summit of
Religious and Spiritual Leaders, the environment was a major topic of discussion.
The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, called for a new ethic of global stewardship,
recognizing the urgent situation posed by current unsustainable trends. Religions
of the world and ecology project It was in light of these various initiatives
that a three-year intensive conference series, entitled "Religions of the World
and Ecology," was organized at the Center for the Study of World Religions at
Harvard Divinity School to examine the varied ways in which human-Earth relations
have been conceived in the world's religious traditions. From 1996-1998 the
series of ten conferences examined the traditions of Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Shinto, and indigenous
religions. The conferences, organized by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim in
collaboration with a team of area specialists, brought together international
scholars of the world's religions as well as environmental activists and grassroots
leaders. Recognizing that religions are key shapers of people's worldviews and
formulators of their most cherished values, this broad research project has
identified both ideas and practices supporting a sustainable environmental future.
Three culminating conferences were also held at the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, at the United Nations, and at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York. These conferences brought representatives of the world's religions
into conversation with one another as well as into dialogue with key scientists,
economists, educators, and policy makers in the environmental field. At the
United Nations press conference an ongoing Forum on Religion and Ecology was
announced to continue the research, education, and outreach begun at these earlier
conferences. A primary goal of the forum is to help to establish a field of
study in religion and ecology that has implications for public policy. The forum
has held various scholarly conferences at Harvard and on the West coast. In
addition, it has been initiating workshops for high-school teachers, distributing
curricular resources for college courses, supporting a journal on Worldviews
and Ecology, and creating a comprehensive web site under the Harvard Center
for the Environment (http://environment.harvard.edu/religion). Just as religions
played an important role in creating sociopolitical changes in the twentieth
century (e.g., human and civil rights), so now religions are poised in the twenty-first
century to contribute to the emergence of a broader environmental ethics based
on diverse sensibilities regarding the sacred dimensions of the natural world.
Whether it is from the perspective of Western religions that the earth is part
of divine Creation and therefore should be respected, or from the perspective
of indigenous traditions that nature is infused with a sacred presence, or from
the perspective of particular Asian religions that the universe participates
in ongoing creative transformations with which humans should harmonize themselves,
the notion of nature as a numinous reality to be reverenced is widespread. How
to identify and foreground these views most effectively is the task of both
the Harvard research and publishing project and the ongoing efforts of the Forum
on Religion and Ecology.
Defining terms: religion and ecology
Religion is more than simply a belief in a transcendent deity or a means to
an afterlife. It is, rather, an orientation to the cosmos and our role in it.
We understand religion in its broadest sense as a means whereby humans, recognizing
the limitations of phenomenal reality, undertake specific practices to effect
self-transformation and community cohesion within a cosmological context. Religion
thus refers to those cosmological stories, symbol systems, ritual practices,
ethical norms, historical processes, and institutional structures that transmit
a view of the human as embedded in a world of meaning and responsibility, transformation
and celebration. Religion connects humans with a divine or numinous presence,
with the human community, and with the broader Earth community. It links humans
to the larger matrix of mystery in which life arises, unfolds, and flourishes.
In this light nature is a revelatory context for orienting humans to abiding
religious questions regarding the cosmological origins of the universe, the
meaning of the emergence of life, and the responsible role of humans in these
life processes. Religion thus situates humans in relation to both the natural
and human worlds with regard to meaning and responsibility. At the same time,
religion becomes a means of experiencing a sustaining creative force in the
natural and human worlds and beyond. For some traditions this is a creator deity;
for others it is a numinous presence in nature; for others it is the source
of flourishing life. This experience of a creative force gives rise to a human
desire to enter into processes of transformation and celebration that link self,
society, and cosmos. The individual is connected to the larger human community
and to the macrocosm of the universe itself. The transformative impulse seeks
relationality, intimacy, and communion with this numinous power. Individual
and communal transformations are expressed through rituals and ceremonies of
celebration. More specifically, these transformations have the capacity to embrace
the celebration of natural seasonal cycles as well as various cultural rites
of passage. Religion thus links humanity to the rhythms of nature through the
use of symbols and rituals that help to establish moral relationships and patterns
for social exchange. The issues discussed here are complex and involve various
peoples, cultures, worldviews, and academic disciplines. Therefore, it is important
to be clear about our terms. As it is used here, the term "ecology" locates
the human within the horizon of emergent, interdependent life rather than viewing
humanity as the vanguard of evolution, the exclusive fabricator of technology,
or a species apart from nature. "Scientific ecology" is a term used to indicate
the empirical and experimental study of the relations between living and nonliving
organisms within their ecosystems. While drawing on the scientific understanding
of interrelationships in nature, we are introducing the term "religious ecology"
to point toward a cultural awareness of kinship with and dependence on nature
for the continuity of all life. Thus, religious ecology provides a basis for
exploring diverse cultural responses to the varied earth processes of transformation.
In addition, the study of religious ecology can give us insight into how particular
environments have influenced the development of cultures. Therefore, one can
distinguish religious ecology from scientific ecology just as one can distinguish
religious cosmology from scientific cosmology. This awareness of the interdependence
of life in religious ecology finds expression in the religious traditions as
a sacred reality that is often recognized as a creative manifestation, a pervasive
sustaining presence, a vital power in the natural world, or an emptiness (sunyata)
leading to the realization of interbeing. For many religions, the natural world
is understood as a source of teaching, guidance, visionary inspiration, revelation,
or power. At the same time, nature is also a source of food, clothing, and shelter.
Thus, religions have developed intricate systems of exchange and thanksgiving
around human dependence on animals and plants, on forests and fields, on rivers
and oceans. These encompass symbolic and ritual exchanges that frequently embody
agricultural processes, ecological knowledge of ecosystems, or hunting practices.
The study of religion and ecology explores the many ways in which religious
communities ritually articulate relationships with their local landscapes and
bioregions. Religious ecology gives insight into how people and cultures create
both symbolic systems of human-Earth relations and practical means of sustaining
and implementing these relations. Methodological approaches to the study of
religion and ecology There is an inevitable disjunction between the examination
of historical religious traditions in all of their diversity and complexity
and the application of teachings or scriptures to contemporary situations. While
religions have always been involved in meeting contemporary challenges over
the centuries, it is clear that the global environmental crisis is larger and
more complex than anything in recorded human history. Thus, a simple application
of traditional ideas to contemporary problems is unlikely to be either possible
or adequate. In order to address ecological problems properly, religious leaders
and laypersons have to be in dialogue with environmentalists, scientists, economists,
businesspeople, politicians, and educators. In addition, it should be acknowledged
that even when ecologically conscious ideas are present in religious traditions
those ideas may not have been carried out in practice or the ideas may have
more limited local application. With these qualifications in mind we can then
identify three methodological approaches that appear in the emerging study of
religion and ecology: retrieval, reevaluation, and reconstruction. Each of these
methodological approaches is represented in the essays included in the Harvard
volumes Interpretive retrieval involves the scholarly investigation of cosmological,
scriptural, and legal sources in order to clarify traditional religious teachings
regarding human-Earth relations. This requires that historical and textual studies
uncover resources latent within the tradition. In addition, interpretive retrieval
can exhume ethical codes and ritual customs of the tradition in order to discover
how these teachings were put into practice. In interpretive reevaluation, traditional
teachings are evaluated with regard to their relevance to contemporary circumstances.
Can the ideas, teachings, or ethics present in these traditions be adopted by
contemporary scholars or practitioners who wish to help shape more ecologically
sensitive attitudes and sustainable practices? Reevaluation also questions ideas
that may lead to inappropriate environmental practices. For example, are certain
religious tendencies reflective of otherworldly or world-denying orientations
that are not helpful in relation to pressing ecological issues? It asks as well
whether the material world of nature has been devalued by a particular religion
and whether a model of ethics focusing solely on human interaction is adequate
to address environmental problems. Finally, interpretive reconstruction suggests
ways that religious traditions might adapt their teachings to current circumstances
in new and creative ways. This may result in a new synthesis or in a creative
modification of traditional ideas and practices to suit modern modes of expression.
This is the most challenging aspect of the emerging field of religion and ecology.
In all of this there needs to be sensitivity to who is speaking about a tradition
in the process of reevaluation and reconstruction. Post-colonial critics have
appropriately highlighted the complex issues surrounding the problem of who
is representing or interpreting a tradition. Nonetheless, practitioners and
leaders of particular traditions may find grounds for creative dialogue with
scholars of religious traditions in these various phases of interpretation.
Diversity and dialogue of religions The diversity of the world's religions may
seem self-evident to some, but it is worth stressing the differences within
and between religious traditions. At the same time, it is possible to posit
shared dimensions of religions in light of this diversity, without arguing that
the world's religions have some single emergent goal. The world's religions
are inherently distinctive in their expressions, and these differences are especially
significant in regard to the study of religion and ecology. Several types of
religious diversity can be identified. First, there is historical and cultural
diversity within and between religious traditions as expressed over time in
varied social contexts. For example, we need to be sensitive to the variations
in Judaism between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements, in Christianity
between Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant varieties of the tradition, and in
Islam between Sunni and Shiite positions. Second, there is dialogical and syncretic
diversity within and between religions traditions, which adds another level
of complexity. Dialogue and interaction between traditions engenders the fusion
of religious traditions into one another, often resulting in new forms of religious
expression that can be described as syncretic. Such syncretism occurred when
Christian missionaries evangelized indigenous peoples in the Americas. In East
Asia there is an ongoing dialogue between and among Confucianism, Daoism, and
Buddhism that results in various kinds of syncretism. Third, there is cosmological
and ecological diversity within and between religions. Religious traditions
develop unique narratives, symbols, and rituals to express their relationships
with the cosmos as well as with various local landscapes. For example, the body
is a vital metaphor for understanding the Daoist relationship with the world:
as an energetic network of breathings-in and breathings-out, the body, according
to Daoism, expresses the basic pattern of the cosmos. Another example, from
Buddhism, of a distinctive ecological understanding involves Doi Suthep, a sacred
mountain in the Chiang Mai valley of northern Thailand: the ancient Thai reverence
for the mountain is understood as analogous to respect for the Buddhist reliquary,
or stupa. Ecological diversity is evident in the varied environmental contexts
and bioregions where religions have developed over time. For example, Jerusalem
is the center of a sacred bioregion where three religious traditions-Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam-have both shaped and been shaped by the environment.
These complex interactions illustrate that religions are not static in their
impacts on ecology. Indeed, throughout history the relationships between religions
and their natural settings have been fluid and manifold.
Converging perspectives: common values for the earth community
This project of exploring world religions and ecology may lead toward convergence
on several overarching principles. The common values that most of the world's
religions hold in relation to the natural world might be summarized as reverence,
respect, restraint, redistribution, and responsibility. While there are clearly
variations of interpretation within and between religions regarding these five
principles, it may be said that religions are moving toward an expanded understanding
of their cosmological orientations and ethical obligations. Although these principles
have been previously understood primarily with regard to relations toward other
humans, the challenge now is to extend them to the natural world. As this shift
occurs- and there are signs it is already happening- religions can advocate
reverence for the earth and its profound cosmological processes, respect for
the earth's myriad species, an extension of ethics to include all life forms,
restraint in the use of natural resources combined with support for effective
alternative technologies, equitable redistribution of wealth, and the acknowledgement
of human responsibility in regard to the continuity of life and the ecosystems
that support life. Just as religious values needed to be identified, so, too,
the values embedded in science, economics, education, and public policy also
need to be more carefully understood. Scientific analysis will be critical to
understanding nature's economy; economic incentives will be central to an equitable
distribution of resources; education will be indispensable to creating sustainable
modes of life; public-policy recommendations will be invaluable in shaping national
and international priorities. But the ethical values that inform modern science
and public policy must not be uncritically applied. Instead, by carefully evaluating
the intellectual resources both of the world's religions and of modern science
and public policy, our long-term ecological prospects may emerge. We need to
examine the tensions between efficiency and equity, between profit and preservation,
and between the private and public good. We need to make distinctions between
human need and greed, between the use and abuse of nature, and between the intrinsic
value and instrumental value of nature. We need to move from destructive to
constructive modes of production, and from the accumulation of goods to an appreciation
for the common good of the Earth community. As Thomas Berry has observed: "The
ethical does not simply apply to human beings but to the total community of
existence as well. The integral economic community includes not only its human
components but also its natural components. To assist the human by deteriorating
the natural cannot lead to a sustainable community. The only sustainable community
is one that fits the human economy into the ever-renewing ecosystems of the
planet." In essence, human flourishing is intimately linked to the flourishing
of the earth's ecosystems. This emerging alliance of religion and ecology is
dedicated, then, to fostering the ways in which the world's religions can contribute
to the life of the Earth community for the well-being of future generations.
This essay is intended as a mapping of the contours of possibility that invite
further discussion, reflection, and-inevitably-action.