Fire and Knowledge

Joel Hunter, an evangelical Christian pastor, has an article in the Christian Science Monitor about how “faith and science can compliment each other to accomplish a common cause,” namely, caring for creation. I wish we had more pastors talking and caring about our responsibility to serve others by not poisoning their air and water. Christians are not enemies in ecology, but important allies. An excerpt:

The earth is not heating up nearly as fast as the debate about its climate. We can blow up so irresponsibly that we lose the steam we need to act constructively. Or we can respond to this environmental challenge in a way that increases respect and effectiveness, while decreasing the hot error.

Every major religion has a moral mandate to take care of the Earth. For those who look to the Bible for instruction, it is the first responsibility given to man: “The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep [protect] it” (Gen: 2:15, NASB). Our moral obligation, then, does not depend on the rate our planet is warming, or even whether the main cause is human activity. We are to refrain from harming God’s creation – period. Few Christians or persons of other faiths (or no faith) would disagree with that statement.

But the latest reports indicate the need to move the care of creation up the priority scale. The great news is that individually we can help as much as we have harmed the physical environment, but we must watch out that we don’t poison the environment of relationships in the process….

People can get so fixated on one issue that they become like a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” A fanatic has been defined as one who won’t change his mind and won’t let you change the subject. The environmental issue can become a substitute religion. Our faith has to do with obeying God and loving our neighbor. Hugging trees is not the point. Creation care is important to many Biblical themes we need to address, including sanctity of life, disease, poverty, and conflict.

Some conservative Christians have been reluctant to get involved with creation care because they think it belies some sort of failure of belief that God is going to take care of us. Of course those same Christians don’t expect God to change their baby’s dirty diaper (pray all you want, it’s still your job). Caring for the Earth is not a lack of faith; it is an act of faith. Faith guides us to do what is good for others, knowing that the results are ultimately up to God.