Faith in God and Environmental Engagement

In her book Natural Saints: How People of Faith Are Working to Save God's Earth Mallory McDuff quotes a member of the religious environmental group Georgia Interfaith Power and Light as saying that: the science of climate change and the environmental crisis is the wake-up call. But faith in God provides the hope that gets us out of bed to do something about it. Faith gives us the hope, joy, and possibility of triumph to “let not our hearts be troubled” but to move forward with action. And ultimately, this hope is what the religious community can offer that the secular environmental groups have not been able to provide.1At the end of her book McDuff revisits much the same theme, writing that “[the] God thing has the power to convert our individual, radical acts of faith into a collective force, which is necessary to confront the environmental degradation we face.”2 McDuff's view is that faith in God can engender and sustain environmental engagement, or “[moving] forward with action,” as she puts it, and her book is focused on impressive practical steps to deal with the environmental crisis that some people of faith are taking. But it is no part of her project to probe systematically how and why faith in God might have this effect. And this is what I wish to probe. How might faith in God encourage and inspire environmental engagement? How might faith exhibit itself in this context?My strong impression is that there are people who need inspiration and encouragement in this regard. I think in particular of people who have a good grasp of current environmental developments such as the global loss of biodiversity, large-scale destruction of habitat, and numerous other aspects of the developing planetary emergency. They recognize that it is unfortunate and even dreadful and tragic that human beings are wiping out other forms of life on a large scale, especially when it appears we could do otherwise. But they do not feel they can do much about the situation. They lack confidence that they would be able to make any progress even if they were to make an effort. They recognize the problems but they feel they are not in a position to contribute to solving them, that any effort they might make would be futile and not amount to anything. They would be contributing to a lost cause. They may also see such unfortunate developments as what is to be expected in an unpredictable and dangerous world.Might faith help to provide an antidote to such pessimism and its immobilizing effects? Might it help some people to overcome a sense of powerlessness and to be less demoralized? Might it be a source of encouragement or inspiration? Might it be helpful when it comes to getting people of faith out of bed to do something about the environmental crisis, or to getting them out of bed earlier and with more vigor, propelling them in the direction of environmental engagement? Might there be, for example, ways of thinking that some people need if they are to remain hopeful even if that need is not apparent to many who have it?In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis contends that a commitment to protecting the world “cannot be sustained by doctrine alone, without a spirituality capable of inspiring us, without ‘an interior impulse which encourages, motivates, nourishes and gives meaning to our individual and communal activity.’”3I do not presume to explain in this essay exactly what Pope Francis has in mind but I probe an area of inquiry that is at least relevant to understanding his meaning.Before we go any further, I want to clarify my area of inquiry. My main concern in this essay is not with what may reasonably be classified as the environmentally relevant teachings of the religious traditions. On the other hand, this matter of environmentally relevant teachings provides a thread that will run throughout this essay. So I devote a few paragraphs to it here at the outset, mainly to clarify my main focus of inquiry.It is clear that many teachings of many religions are environmentally relevant in a straightforward and obvious way. Thus a religion might teach explicitly that we should care for the earth or that we are appointed as stewards of the earth so that it is our job to protect and conserve the world around us and to resist environmental degradation. Such ideas might well encourage or inspire members of that religious tradition to be environmentally engaged. Whether the teachings associated with a religious tradition require or encourage environmental engagement, and whether those teachings are so understood by members of the tradition, certainly are factors that bear on whether its members are environmentally engaged, as is receiving good relevant advice from authoritative sources within the tradition.So this matter of environmentally relevant teachings is a very important area of inquiry. A thorough investigation in this area of inquiry would probe the many teachings in the religious traditions that are potentially environmentally constructive. Briefly, a list of constructive teachings might include the following, all of which are gleaned from one or more religious tradition, starting with an idea I just mentioned: the idea that we have an obligation to care for the earth, to be good stewards of the earth;the idea that it is not our place to wipe out other forms of life, that we have no right to do so;the idea that we should take a considerate and merciful attitude towards all beings that can suffer;the idea that we should feel, and exhibit, respect or care or appreciation or reverence or gratitude for particular natural features such as rivers or woods or mountains;the idea that we should have a strong sense of being connected to, or kin with, or mutually dependent upon, other forms of life;the idea that we should care for the earth because future humans will rely on it; andthe idea that we should live simply, reduce our impact, and avoid wastefulness.However, this coin has another side: if there are potentially environmentally constructive teachings to be found among the religions, there are also potentially obstructive teachings. Thus, we also find among the religions teachings such as these: the idea that various matters that are thought to be really important—such as holding certain beliefs or being a fully participating member of a certain religious community or pursuing our own eternal salvation or helping to get as many people as possible into some putative ideal future state—should be the sole or main focus of our attention;the idea that the most developed human beings have transcended concern for earthly things and are wholly concerned with an afterlife or liberation from rebirth or the like;the idea that the world is an illusion and not to be taken too seriously;the idea that “the end is nigh” and hence the world and everything in it, and the future of the world and of everything in it, are not to be taken too seriously or—worse—that the destruction of the world is to be welcomed because this would usher in a new age of some sort;the idea that the world is evil or corrupt and hence not an appropriate object of concern;the idea that any environmental harm that occurs is in accordance with the will of God, perhaps because everything that happens is in accordance with the will of God, and hence not something about which we should be unduly concerned;the idea that once you have taken the step of having faith about, say, loss of biodiversity, the matter in question is out of your hands so that having this faith is itself thought to be an adequate response to this loss of biodiversity; andthe idea that “He's got the whole world in His Hands,” where to say that something is in God's Hands is to say that the thing in question will be protected and its preservation is ensured.Many religions have among their teachings both potentially constructive and potentially obstructive elements. We can imagine setting about the difficult task of trying to determine what the relevant teachings add up to overall in the case of a particular religion. But this is not my project though, as indicated, the topic of environmentally relevant teachings will put in a few appearances: it is, as I say, a thread running through this essay.4Instead I ask the following questions. Suppose you are concerned about environmental matters and you look at these matters as a person of faith. Might your faith, as such, provide inspiration or encouragement? If so, how might it do so? I want to redirect our gaze away from environmentally constructive teachings such as those listed above and in the direction of faith in a more general sense. I ask whether, and in what ways, faith might have various salutary effects, in particular how it might inspire or encourage people with this faith to be environmentally engaged. So I am deploying a distinction between environmentally relevant teachings such as those mentioned above, on the one hand, and a more general attitude of faith on the other hand. I think this distinction is reasonably clear though one does not have to dig too deeply to unearth some complexities. One thought is just that the various ideas whose implications I probe in the remainder of this essay—such as the idea, discussed in the next section, that by acting in a morally impressive way you align yourself with what is deepest in reality—are themselves teachings that are endorsed by one or more religion and that can have implications for how people conduct themselves with respect to environmental matters. (Such ideas are mentioned here because they can have those implications.) Still, there is a viable distinction here.I generally restrict my focus to monotheistic faith, faith in God. However, this is in large part to make my topic manageable, or less And some I make monotheistic faith have implications for religious that are not I a few as I In any case of people themselves with the monotheistic so to about monotheistic faith is to a that matters in human and all of to do And just to be clear about I am not for am I for it. am I as much as that the of thought I provide any to am I that what is is any particular of such say, or or for that matter any particular within such and traditions as the idea of monotheistic faith more or less or the it will is when I aspects relevant to my inquiry. My focus is on ideas and that may contribute to the idea that certain for example, or or or that may contribute to how of what they are when they do such and on ways in which these might inspire or In these I from forms of faith, of and of view that are on about the world we live in or that are or in one way or way of of a of view that is I would the on my list of potentially obstructive the idea that “He's got the whole world in His Hands,” where this is taken to that what is His will be protected and the of view of who in this environmental will example, such a person may be or less concerned would be, about the current global loss of biodiversity, that God would not the of by human is obvious is just that the of that have on the have their in a of or as part of the of would things be in the current in which one is wiping out on a large In the of earlier faith in may not reasonably be as any for confidence or hope that even the most environmental we can imagine will not that we human beings in and in all of and there is no for thinking human beings will not other forms of life on a We should by what people are capable of concern about on the idea that everything is in God's would be what we both about the of life on earth and of human So this idea is it is potentially environmentally obstructive and at with the is also an of an environmentally focused one on the of the and hence not the of view that is my main concern in this am in that are viable for people who have at least a understanding of the relevant relevant and so So to ideas and that might help to provide to the idea that monotheistic faith can to encourage and inspire environmental can into those that say at the deepest is in one way or another morally and those that do not say this or it. that say this is so that at the deepest is more in with, say, and care for the earth, with, say, or to environmental If this is so, to in a just or or way or to have concern when concern is appropriate or to take when you and the is to align yourself with that if this is so, who gives to such in his has to to take the appropriate does not do so at least is less in so would the of such an individual are less to be to be a futile that will be lost in an and less to be to be in of being and on the of And it is not just a matter of what or is to On this to in a way that is, say, is to align yourself with what is deepest in of have about these example, as the that there will be that life will it acts with confidence that the in the in the direction of a from in the case of faith, “the confidence of the that a that in the direction of life idea of something or in the direction of life that the relevant good is from but that there is a towards it, a of some power and that the faith has in mind But it is not confidence that all will be it is confidence that there is a or in that a when that is that in that life and forward and the of and In of all the we life on this the of is at in new and ways, and the we 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might help to make it to think that what you are trying to is helping to overcome in this these from We have to have faith and hope that our will out for the they are to the and no practical could do without an faith that will not its that the good above all to the of can this object has faith in the as things of from much at least if a task so that there to be no of many people will up and not to it. is the if the is they may thought is that if something and we can on our own is so that our are in with and even part of what is and and if what is and is of at the deepest there is to be are less to some live by right We also be able to have the faith that is to these in the sense that there is to hopeful the it If is to a to the question of how we should it be concerned with to the that is in this sense. 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monotheistic these add up to a from faith to encouragement and the being that of yourself with what is deepest in I in a I want to probe a from faith to environmental though this too has a of what them is the idea of what you do and say and even think in the of a with God, one that is as this I ideas of this possibility is that when from a monotheistic the idea that you to do some may the of to be for by a to you wish to be and you wish not to to do such an has something of the of a On the other hand, to do such an is to be for example, these from In a the by a that something is are and by religious and They are to be in various and in various with, and God of God. is and as as of a or communal with is here is a matter of being in a and on a in of being within a monotheistic that a with the as a source of from a monotheistic the idea that you to do some may also the of being as an of in which we are to think of everything we do as is the mentioned in the the A with this a as for that and the is the all to is into the in the following the idea of your as to the of God, and as helping to avoid of those the religion provides life with an as it religious his concern as part of his with his God. that God is and that His is such that of and for the of His of and for its another the of thinking God as a who and can all of our and has also ideas these in particular on the idea that that all we do is in God's our are to And of good are source of to a being of and we have on the idea of a between God and human beings a from faith to environmental And this or of from faith to environmental engagement, the has implications monotheistic In the area one natural place to look is Thus, for see their as to a such as a associated with a certain of human or or in a or with a particular area such as a or am there are other in to those I will a few for One possibility that comes to mind is a of and a of one relevant on the when that “the of is not the of morally or and on it can to the 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or could be, between such a and human are connected in various example, the of is focused on yourself with what is deepest in so it is in about how we to that And the idea of your as to the of God is connected to the idea of our or with those So the have they are do not to have a list of ways of faith with environmental for that even of the various I have there are on the as I am there are on the may also be that are a of And there may be that are of no what we have us is a of some important in which monotheistic faith can inspire and encourage environmental is to that such faith may in this is understood as people to their way between I have focused on the of that a certain is and that to it are so that people are and there is no in anything. is a of that from But there is another to be the of thinking that everything is to be and is all of having a sense of and and hence no need to do and that any we might make are and for that is that from of of the of pessimism and the of to be I have might be on various a view to what I am I will to a few and there are many that a religion can or to about how things and and are of such is helping its to to the current planetary to environmental among its is to make an important of this we have is that monotheistic faith has that can help in this regard. In there are ways in which such faith can inspire and encourage environmental obvious that when the various relevant factors they are to be most However, in for faith to their environmental engagement, or even for them to recognize that it does so, it is not necessary for them to how and in what ways it does Faith may have the mentioned even if many people of faith have not or thought through the various ways in which this or could

Epistemology · Faith · Theology · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Religious studies