Ecology

Planet Earth faces environmental issues of unprecedented severity: Acid rain is falling down, and garbage dumps are filling up. The ozone layer is thinning, and pollution is thickening. The rain forest is shrinking, and the human population is expanding. Oil spills are oozing everywhere, and toxic waste is headed anywhere that will accept it.

Does religion have anything to do with these environmental issues? For some, the answer is no: Religion has nothing to do with ecology, for religion is concerned about heaven as a destination and not concerned about the destiny of the earth. Religion focuses on the spiritual, not on the physical.

However, for others there has developed an awareness that religion not only has something to do with ecology but also that it must be involved: First, there is the religious mandate that human beings are to act as responsible stewards of the world that God has created. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is proclaimed that God made everything that is and that all of this is intrinsically good (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 25, 31). Being created in God's image (Gen. 1:26–27), human beings are to care for and serve the creation (Gen. 2:15): Therefore, Noah is bidden to save the birds and beasts and reptiles no less than humans (Gen. 6:19–20). The covenant is subsequently made not only with Noah and his descendants, but also with all the creatures in nature (Gen. 9:10). Jonah is sent to Nineveh because of God's concern for the cattle as well as for the human beings there (Jonah 4:11). The Psalms declare God's concern for the welfare of animals such as wild donkeys, storks, cattle, wild goats, lions, and the creatures of the sea. Since they are important to God, they should also be important to humans (Psalm 104). Job gasps in amazement at the hippopotamus and the crocodile, which are of no conceivable utility to him, thus indicating that God did not create nature solely for human use (Job 40:15–24; 41:7–34).

Further, humans are to give themselves and nature “rest,” symbolized by the weekly occurrence of the Sabbath day and in every seventh year, the sabbatical year, when the fields are to lie fallow (Leviticus 25:1–5). The land is a gift to be appreciated and protected, since everything on earth ultimately belongs to God (Psalm 24:1).

In the Christian Bible, it is proclaimed that God loves the world so much that God became incarnate in order to save a world that needed healing and restoration (John 3:16). God considers the lilies as more valuable than even the splendor of King Solomon (Matthew 6:28–29). The Apostle Paul views the whole of creation and nature groaning as a woman giving birth, but they will take part in redemption and fulfillment (Romans 8:19–23; cf. Isaiah 65:17f). Humans are to participate in this as their responsibility and special function, and not to do so is to be like the tenants in the vineyard who are punished for being irresponsible and wicked (Matthew 21:33–46).

Religion has something to do with ecology because this is a requirement for persons who take religion seriously. Stewardship is a responsibility for religious people.

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