The Catholic Church has a major impact on the world today, working through St Francis of Assisi's Mission, Laudato Si and the Church's mission itself, regarding environmental degradation. Environmental degradation is the destruction of natural resources such as land, air, water and soil etc. The church believes the connection between humans and the environment is extremely important and mostly spiritual, as it’s a connection between God and God's creation. Our environment is deteriorating at an extremely fast rate, the church's involvement with this issue is seen historically through St Francis of Assisi, through the Laudato Si and now through Catholic Earth Care.
St Francis of Assisi is abandoned his wealth to live in harmony with the environment, a mission he believed to be sent from God. During Assisi’s life time he promoted care for ecology, and directed his attention to ecological concerns. Assisi devoted his life time to promoting care for the flora and fauna, he did this by preaching the
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Catholic Earthcare carries out research, from the perspective of the bible, provide educational materials and services to catholic schools and organisations and undertaking initiatives by encouraging stewardships towards the earth’s natural resources. Catholic Earthcare bases their work of Assisi and the National Energy Efficiency Network. Catholic Earthcare helps to resolve the issue in Laudato Si and calls upon people to answer the call of Laudato Si. During their visits to schools and orginasations they help to build gardens, for students to look after and care for. This creates a connection to the environment just as God would of liked. “Caring for the environment is a moral issue.” The catholic church believes the environmental degradation is a moral issue and have created Catholic Earthcare to help generate support for this moral
In the journal of Environmentalism as Religion, Paul H. Rubin discuss about how environmental is similar to religion. Rubin want everyone to know that the environment and religion are somehow similar in a way, which they both have belief system, creation stories and original sin.
An environmentalist is a person worships the environment and cares for nature more than people. Christians and others share the common perception that environmental ethics exist for how human beings should relate to the land, the free market perceptive and the environmental perceptive. Humans share a relationship with all creations of the earth. But as humans, they find themselves as having a role in the created order which is they have a closer relationship with the creator who has charged them with acting responsible within his creation. Even allowing a common complaint of environmental activists is that Stewardship means that the earth was made exclusively because of human beings - that having dominion upper nature is the same as having the power and directly of domination. Christians consequently share a close relationship by means of the whole of aspects of creation, since in relation to the environment, its unbroken humanity, not unbroken nature, that's seen to be the problem. Stewardship in simple terms means to manage someone else’s property. Christians proclaims that everything belong to God, so as Christians, we need to have the attitude that our belongings are his belongings. As stewards, we have the responsibility of being in charge of the earth. We have been placed in charge and are responsible for whatever happens to it, even though it does not belong to us, as we all know it belong to God. In Genesis 2:15, God took man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.
The majority of this piece is dedicated to the author stating his opinion in regards to civilization expanding beyond its sustainable limits. The author makes it clear that he believes that humans have failed the natural environment and are in the process of eliminating all traces of wilderness from the planet. Nash points out facts that strengthen his argument, and quotes famous theologians on their similar views on environmental issues and policies. The combination of these facts and quotes validates the author’s opinion.
Sorrell, Roger D. Saint Francis of Assisi and Nature: Tradition and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Analyzing human obligation pertaining to all that is not man made, apart from humans, we discover an assortment of concerns, some of which have been voiced by philosophers such as Tom Regan, Peter Singer and Aldo Leopold. Environmentally ethical ideals hold a broad spectrum of perspectives that, not only attempt to identify a problem, but also focus on how that problem is addressed through determining what is right and wrong.
The articles “The Environmental issue from hell” by Bill McKibben and “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson both talk about the environmental consequences that people have caused. However, McKibben writes about Global warming and argues that it is a moral responsibility to preserve the earth, while on the other hand, Carson writes about pollution of the earth caused by man. McKibben article makes good points and supports his claim with facts which makes his article valid. Carson supports her idea with adequate information and factual evidence which also makes her article valid.
Thus, from the perspective of God’s authority and control, people and nature are in the same class or order - all of Creation including people must submit to God’s plans and ways. Extrapolating on this notion of dominion implying stewardship as a responsible leader of creation, A Rocha - an Evangelical Christian nature conservation organisation - prides itself on its Christian commitment of underlying all they do in their biblical faith “in the living God, who made the world, loves it and entrusts it to the care of human society.” A Rocha draws on this notion of Godly dominion over nature, meaning that people act as stewards or caretakers of nature who are ultimately responsible to God for their use and management of nature. Further, environmental issues often affect the marginalised and the most vulnerable in society disproportionately. In Jesus’ missionary, he constantly modelled behaviour that protected the most vulnerable and the fact that Jesus used creation to teach - especially about the Kingdom of God - reinforces its
I strongly agree with Pope Francis that if we teach younger generations not to be wasteful and show them how to be resourceful, then it won’t be such a struggle in the future. "Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices.” (211). There are so many new ways to help reduce our use of natural resources that if from a young age we are taught these methods then we could help save our planet. “All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings. Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses our own dignity.” (211). Again, I agree with the Pope that recycling and reusing makes you feel good because you are making an active contribution to reduce climate
Christian theology states that God created the earth and gave it as a gift to humans to be shared with all other living creatures. This belief is known as the “Creation-centered approach to the natural environment” (Massaro, p.163). This approach emphasizes the value of nature by recognizing humans as being an equal part of God’s creation under which all “species deserve protection” (Massaro, p.163). With such publicly known cases of pollution like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or Bethlehem Steel’s pollution of Lake Erie decades ago, it is evident that humans have been using the environment in accordance with the Stewardship or even the Dominion model, both of which place humans above all other creations. According to Massaro, Christian theology also explains that showing “disregard for the air that others breathe and the quality of the water they drink is to sin against God” (Massaro, p.162). This type of disregard destroys humankind’s relationship with all other living organisms.
For quite some time, life on earth has been nothing but peaches and cream for several people and because of people who live a non-sustainable life, it has left others with an indistinct outlook on earth’s future. Sustainability to me is doing things that will help prevent harmful things from happening to the environment now and in the future. With the support of the sustainability and more quality ways of living, the Earth Charter is gradually introduced. Through key research I will explain what the Earth Charter is and why it was founded, describe one of its four parts along with the goals and overarching philosophy, and share the impact it has on my life now and in the future.
God has not abandoned the world. It is His will that His design and our hope for it will be realized through our co-operation in restoring its original harmony. In our own time we are witnessing a growth of an ecological awareness which needs to be encouraged, so that it will lead to practical programs and initiatives. An awareness of the relationship between God and humankind brings a fuller sense of the importance of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, which is God's creation and which God entrusted to us to guard with wisdom and love (cf.
The most obvious reason that the environment has moral significance is that damage to it affects humans. Supporters of a completely human-centered ethic claim that we should be concerned for the environment only as far as our actions would have a negative effect on other people. Nature has no intrinsic value; it is not good and desirable apart from its interaction with human beings. Destruction and pollution of the environment cannot be wrong unless it results in harm to other humans. This view has its roots in Western tradition, which declares that “human beings are the only morally important members of this world” (Singer p.268).
As the practical influence was the more important of the two, the Catholic Church developed an extremely large practical role in the social services before it evolved. Today this order is being reversed. The church’s role as a service provider was deteriorating mainly because falling vocations left the church without suitable persons to sustain their roles. The reputation of the Catholic Church has also been stained by the found information of the shocking abuses committed by members of the Catholic Clergy on vulnerable people, particularly children, whom had been placed in their care. Despite the effects of these scandals, the new means of influencing social policy debate has a substantial effectiveness and may well offer a means by which the church can play an important role in the development of social policy in the future (Socialjustice.com. 2014).
On the whole, I think that it is our moral obligation to protect the environment and its inhabitants. We must all contribute in protecting the nature. No matter how small or insignificant our actions may seem, they matter. It only takes 1 person to start a movement that could possibly lead to a major environmental breakthrough. Are you going to be that person?