ReligionLink

The “What Would Jesus Drive?” ad campaign asking drivers to forgo gas-chugging SUVs drew both jeers and cheers. But, like the arrests of 22 religious protesters at the Department of Energy last spring, it represents the increasing boldness with which voices of faith are taking stands on environmental issues. National coalitions have been bolstering and diversifying their membership and now include Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus. Meanwhile, more local groups are organizing educational campaigns and lobbying legislators. Most activity focuses on fuel economy and global climate change, but in all faith traditions and all regions, groups are pressing issues they see as critical to being good stewards of the earth.

How have religious voices affected environmental issues in your state? Is the movement growing? Are there critics? Watch for regional faith-based groups working on such issues as alternate electricity sources and old-growth forest preservation. Talk to area colleges and universities with research programs based on religion and the ecology. Talk to individuals who, motivated by faith, make the environment a personal cause.

Why it matters

All major religions view stewardship of the earth as a moral obligation, and many have issued official positions on the environment. But relatively few people make it a ministry to work for public change and to educate the folks in the pews. That number has been steadily increasing, along with awareness of the ties between ecology and religion.

 

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National sources

• Paul Gorman is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, based in Amherst, Mass. The partnership, which claims to represent 100 million Americans, is an alliance of major faith groups and denominations across the spectrum of Jewish and Christian communities and organizations in the United States. Contact Gorman through 413-253-1515 or nrpe@nrpe.org.

NRPE’s four founding partners are:

• the U.S. Catholic Conference, the policy agency for U.S. bishops, clergy and parishes;

• and the Evangelical Environmental Network, an alliance of 23 evangelical Christian programs and educational institutions;

• the National Council of Churches, a coalition of 34 Protestant, Eastern Orthodox and African-American denominations;

• the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, an association of organizations from all four Jewish movements.

• The Forum on Religion and Ecology wants to establish religion and ecology as an area of study and research in universities, colleges, seminaries, and other religiously affiliated institutions. The forum arose out of a series of conferences on the world’s religions and ecology that were hosted by the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions; the site lists biographies of contributors from around the United States and from other countries, and a speakers’ list with their phone numbers. Contact Mary Evelyn Tucker is professor of religion at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., at 570-577-3188, mtucker@bucknell.edu, or contact 617-384-9516, fore@environment.harvard.edu.

CHRISTIAN

• National Council of Churches: The Eco-Justice Working Group is based in New York City. Religious coalitions in 21 states belong to the council’s Faith-based Climate and Energy Campaign. The Working Group posts contacts for member denominations. Contact 212-870-2385, ecojustice@ncccusa.org.

• The Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis was appointed professor of theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., in 1995. His writings include Beyond the Shattered Image (Light and Life Publications, 1999), about Orthodox perspectives of the environment. He serves as theological advisor to the Patriarchal Commission on Religion and Science (Ecumenical Patriarchate), which focuses on the environment. Contact 617-850-1255, JChryssavg@aol.com.

JEWISH

• Adam Stern is executive director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, based in New York. The coalition has been concentrating on fuel economy and climate change, and also will be focusing on power plants and on children’s environmental health. Contact 212-684-6950, info@coejl.org.

MUSLIM

• Fazlun Khalid directs the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences in Birmingham, England. He co-edited Islam and Ecology (Cassell Academic; 1992). Our Planet posts an article he wrote on the Islamic approach to environmental protection here. Contact 44 121 440 3500/8218, ahlan@ifees.org.

• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a world-renowned scholar on Islam, teaches Islamic Studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His writings include Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man (Kazi Publications; 1997). Contact 202-994-5704, zsirat@gwu.edu.

BUDDHIST

• Stephanie Kaza is associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont in Burlington, where she teaches courses on religion and ecology, including Buddhism and ecology, and on environmental philosophy. She is a practicing Soto Zen Buddhist and is co-editor of Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (Shambhala, 2000). Contact 802-656-0172, skaza@zoo.uvm.edu.

• Kenneth Kraft is professor of religious studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., where he teaches about Buddhism and ecology. His books include The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism: A New Map of the Path (Weatherhill, 1999), on spiritual responses to social and environmental issues, and, as co-editor, Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (Shambhala, 2000). Contact 610-758-3370, klk2@lehigh.edu.

HINDU

• Vasudha Narayanan is a professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and she specializes in Hinduism and the environment. 352-392-1625, vasu@religion.ufl.edu.

Background

• A helpful roundup of many religions’ views on the environment is posted by Palomar College in California.

• Read a 2002 story by Elizabeth Kadetsky on beliefnet.com about Western and Eastern religious leaders’ increasing activism on environmental issues.

• Read a Jan. 9, 2003 Associated Press story posted on beliefnet.com on how faith groups are addressing environmental issues in the United States and abroad.

• Twenty-two religious leaders were arrested in May 2001 as they protested President Bush’s energy policy outside the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. Read a May 14, 2001 Episcopal News Service story.

• Religions of the World and Ecology web site.

• The American Academy of Religion has a Religion and Ecology Group web site.

• Religious Studies in Secondary Schools, a coalition of public and private secondary school teachers, in partnership with The Forum on Religion and Ecology will hold a workshop on connections between religion and ecology June 20-26 at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Read more about the RsiSS/FORE partnership here. Contact seminars@rsiss.net.

• The journal Daedalus‘ issue on world religions and ecology.

• The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops posts the “Joint Declaration on Articulating a Code of Environmental Ethics” issued by Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople here. The statement was echoed by Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the Catholic bishops’ conference, and by Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.

• Read a Nov. 29 Washington Times article, “Greens Use Jesus to Drive Home a Point” that traces the roots of the religious environmental movement.

• Read a Nov. 22 Christian Science Monitor article, “Should Churches Convert Drivers of SUVS?”

• The Sacramento Bee posts George F. Will’s Nov. 28 column “The Spin on SUVS and Doomsday” here.

 

Regional sources

STATE BY STATE

• The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life posts a list of state Interfaith Climate Change Campaigns. The campaigns center on the health and environmental implications of global warming. Regional COEJL affiliate contacts are listed here.

• The Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship lists Judeo-Christian advisory committee members around the country. Read the Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship from a 1999 meeting in West Cornwall, Conn.

 

IN THE NORTHEAST

CONNECTICUT

• Stephen R. Kellert is professor of social ecology at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in New Haven, Conn. His books include, as co-editor, The Good in Nature and Humanity: Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality With the Natural World (Island Press, 2002). Contact 203-432-5114, stephen.kellert@yale.edu.

MAINE

• Fred Horch is project coordinator of Maine Interfaith Power and Light, based in Brunswick, a non-profit organization working to bring environmentally-friendly electricity to consumers in the state. Contact 207-729-9665, fred@meipl.org.

MASSACHUSETTS

• Timothy C. Weiskel co-directs the Working Group on Environmental Justice, based in Cambridge, Mass. The group offers publications accessible through the web. Contact 617-496-5208, Tim_Weiskel@Harvard.Edu.

• John Berthrong is associate dean for academic and administrative affairs at the Boston University School of Theology, where he directs the Institute for Dialogue Among Religious Traditions. His books include, as co-editor, Confucianism and Ecology (Harvard University Press, 1998). Contact 617-353-3050, jhb@bu.edu.

• Religious Witness for the Earth, based in Littleton, Mass., is a national interfaith network dedicated to public witness on issues such as climate change and environmental devastation. Contact co-chairs the Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian, dean of religious life, at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., 413-538-2791, aayvazia@mtholyoke.edu; or Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, Md., who is also on the board of trustees of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, 301-767-3333, rabbifred@aol.com; or the Rev. Fred Small, a singer-songwriter and pastor of First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Mass., 978-486-3044, minister@fculittle.org.

 

IN THE EAST

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

• Rachel Lettre is president of Shomrei Adamah (Hebrew for “Guardians of the Earth”), a non-profit Jewish environmental organization in the greater Washington, D.C. area. The group posts events here. Contact 202-216-9508, Shomrei_adamah@yahoo.com.

PENNSYLVANIA

• Greg Bowman is state coordinator of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign, based in Souderton, Pa. Contact 215-723-5513, gregb@mrn.org.

• Mary Evelyn Tucker is professor of religion at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., who specializes in religion and ecology. Contact 570-577-3188, mtucker@bucknell.edu.

• Religious Studies in Secondary Schools, a coalition of public and private secondary school teachers, in partnership with The Forum on Religion and Ecology will hold a workshop on connections between religion and ecology June 20-26 at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Read more about the RsiSS/FORE partnership here. Contact seminars@rsiss.net.

NEW JERSEY

• Dieter Hessel lives in Princeton, N.J., is a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry, directs the Ecumenical Program on Ecology, Justice and Faith, and co-directs Theological Education to Meet the Environmental Challenge. His books include Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide (Orbis, 1996) and, as co-editor, Christianity and Ecology (Harvard Center for the Study of World Religons, 2000), and Earth Habitat: Eco-Injustice and the Church’s Response (Fortress Press, 2001). Contact 609-951-0126, DTHessel@aol.com.

NEW YORK

• The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, based in New York City, is a North American association of nearly 250 Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish institutional investors working to hold corporations accountable to stewardship of the earth, among other issues. Contact executive director Timothy Smith, 212-870-2295.

• Larry L. Rasmussen is Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York, N.Y. His books include Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Orbis Books; 1996); as co-author, Ethics for a Small Planet (State University of New York Press; 1998); and, as co-editor, Earth Habitat: Eco-Injustice and the Church’s Response (Fortress Press, 2001). Contact 212-280-1364, lrasmusn@uts.columbia.edu.

• The Catholic Conservation Center is a web site based in New York that offers Catholics ways to connect Roman Catholic teaching to environmental causes. Contact site founder Bill Jacobs, billjacobs@catholic.org.

 

IN THE SOUTHEAST

FLORIDA

• Richard C. Foltz, an assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville, teaches about environmental values, including in the Muslim world. His writings include Islam and Ecology (Harvard University Press; forthcoming in 2003), and Worldviews, Religion and the Environment: A Global Anthology (Wadsworth Publishers, 2002). Contact 352-392-1625, rfoltz@ufl.edu.

• Bron Raymond Taylor is Samuel S. Hill Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he is helping to launch the world’s first Ph.D. in religion with a “Religion and Nature” track. Editor in chief for the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (Continuum, 2004), he maintains a website for the study of religions, cultures and environments, and for the study of grassroots environmental groups, especially radical ones. Contact 352-392-1625 ext. 237, bron@religionandnature.com.

GEORGIA

• Georgia Interfaith Power & Light in Atlanta is a new faith-based environmental organization that will be officially launched Feb. 19. The Rev. Sally Bingham, winner of the International Energy Globe Award for 2002 and co-founder of California Interfaith Power and Light, will speak at 7:30 p.m. at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, 3098 Northside Parkway (at Moore’s Mill Road) in Atlanta. Contact info@gipl.org, Woody Bartlett at wbartlett@gipl.org, or Carol Bartlett at cbartlett@gipl.org.

• Habitat for Humanity has a Green Team whose members across the nation promote energy-efficient, environmentally friendly construction, encouraging good stewardship of natural resources and raising awareness of the environmental impact of house building. Contact 229-924-6935 ext. 2426, ConsEnv@hfhi.org.

• EarthCare Inc. is a Tennessee-Georgia Christian organization based in Chattanooga, Tenn. President is John P. Rossing, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Dalton, Ga. Contact 706-278-3979, jrossing@alltel.net.

NORTH CAROLINA

• David Landis Barnhill teaches religious studies at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., and has expertise in religion and environmentalism. He plans to move in summer 2003 to the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. Contact 336-316-2357, dbarnhill@guilford.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

ARKANSAS

• A new doctor of ministry program in spirituality and sustainability is being co-sponsored by the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. Contact faculty mentors Jane Ann Clarke, a United Methodist minister in Newton Falls, Ohio, with a doctor of ministry degree in ecological theology from United Theological Seminary, 330-872-1564; Jay McDaniel, a professor of religion at Hendrix College, 501-450-1366 or mcdaniel@hendrix.edu; and Paul Knitter, professor emeritus of theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, 513-745-2018, knitter@xu.edu. Also contact Amanda Moore (Program Research Associate) 501-336-0889 or aem@conwaycorp.net.

MISSISSIPPI

• The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life will have its sixth annual Jewish Environmental Leadership Institute May 15-18 at the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Miss. Contact Kirsten S. Kleinman, 212-684-6950 ext. 210, info@coejl.org.

TENNESSEE

• Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light, which “seeks to involve communities of faith as faithful stewards of God’s creation,” is based in Knoxville. Contact 865-637-6055, info@cleanenergy.org.

IN THE MIDWEST

ILLINOIS

• Faith in Place works with religious and spiritual leaders from the Chicago metropolitan region on issues of environmental sustainability. Contact project director the Rev. Clare Butterfield, 773-278-4800 ext. 125.

• The Web of Creation, an ecumenical site maintained by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, provides congregational resources on ecology and religion.

INDIANA

• The Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is executive director of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis, which participates in the National Council of Churches’ Faith-based Climate and Energy Campaign. Contact 317-926-5371, churches@churchfederationindy.org. Read about the Indiana Faith Based Global Climate Change Campaign.

• David Haberman is a professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. He teaches on the subject of religion and ecology, particularly Hinduism. He is writing a book on India’s Yamuna River, from a religious and ecological perspective. Contact 812-855-8894, dhaberma@indiana.edu.

MICHIGAN

• Kim Winchell directs the Michigan Interfaith Coalition for Creation and coordinates the Michigan Interfaith Climate Change Campaign (formerly the Michigan Interfaith Global Warming Campaign), both based in Freeland, Mich. Winchell is an ELCA Lutheran and in candidacy to become a diaconal minister specializing in “earthkeeping ministry.” Contact kwinch5940@aol.com, 989-695-2402.

• Sara Bernstein is program director for the Michigan Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. Contact 248-642-5393, mi-coejl@jfmd.org.

• The Michigan Catholic Rural Life Commission is a grassroots group of nuns, priests, farmers, educators and lay persons that serves as a resource around rural and environmental issues for the Catholic Dioceses of Michigan. Contact 989-466-9322, director@michigancatholicrurallife.org.

MINNESOTA

• The North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology, based in St. Paul, Minn. is an ecumenical organization established in 1986 to encourage the many strands of Christian tradition to work to “heal the damaged earth.” Contact 612-698-0349.

OHIO

• Nawal H. Ammar, associate professor of justice studies at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, has written about Islam and ecology. Contact nammar@kent.edu.

• A new doctor of ministry program in spirituality and sustainability is being co-sponsored by the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. Contact faculty mentors Jane Ann Clarke, a United Methodist minister in Newton Falls, Ohio, with a doctor of ministry degree in ecological theology from United Theological Seminary, 330-872-1564; Jay McDaniel, a professor of religion at Hendrix College, 501-450-1366 or mcdaniel@hendrix.edu; and Paul Knitter, professor emeritus of theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, 513-745-2018, knitter@xu.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

ARIZONA

• Marlyne J. Freedman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Tucson, is the contact for the Southern Arizona Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. Contact 520-577-9393 x103, saz_coejl@yahoo.com.

• Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, an associate professor of history at Arizona State University in Tempe, has expertise on Judaism and ecology. Contact 480-965-7767, hava.samuelson@asu.edu. The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life posts the Harvard Divinity School publication “Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Revealed Word,” edited by Tirosh-Samuelson.

COLORADO

• Eco-Justice Ministries is an ecumenical agency based in Denver that helps churches care for the Earth. Contact executive director the Rev. Peter S. Sawtell, 303-715-3873, ministry@eco-justice.org.

• Daniel Ziskin is founder of Jews of the Earth, based in Boulder, Colo. JOTE posts a Sept. 14 Boulder Daily Camera article “Rethinking Ritual.” JOTE is planning a “Torah Trek” for Feb. 2, a hike with “eco-Torah” taught by rabbis from Israel. Contact 303-998-0606, ziskin@jote.org.

• Frederick Denny is professor of Islamic studies and the history of religions at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is a contributor to the Forum on Religion and Ecology. Contact 303-492-6358, Frederick.Denny@Colorado.edu.

TEXAS

• Bee Moorhead is executive director of the interfaith group Texas Impact, which is based in Austin, Texas, and promotes environmental conservation. Contact bee@texasimpact.com.

• J. Baird Callicott is a professor in the philosophy and religious studies department at the University of North Texas in Denton. His expertise includes ecological ethics. Contact 940-565-2266, callicott@unt.edu.

• Safei-Eldin Abdelhamid Hamed, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, has written about Islam and ecology. Contact 806-742-2894, safei.hamed@ttu.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

CALIFORNIA

• The Rev. Sally Bingham, an Episcopal priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, is founding director of the Regeneration Project and its Episcopal Power & Light ministry. She also co-chairs the California Interfaith Power & Light campaign. Events are listed here. Contact 415-561-4891, info@theregenerationproject.org.

• Duncan Ryuken Williams is a professor of Japanese at the University of California-Irvine who has researched Buddhism and environmentalism. He co-edited Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard University Press, 1997). Contact 949-824-1603, duncanw@uci.edu.

• Target Earth, Pleasanton, Calif, is a national network of Christian organizations committed to environmental stewardship. Contact 925-462-2439, info@targetearth.org.

• The Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation is a coalition of churches, synagogues and para-religious organizations concerned with forest conservation. It is based in Santa Rosa, Calif. Contact campaign coordinator Fred Krueger, 707-573-316, forest@creationethics.org.

HAWAII

• Leslie E. Sponsel teaches anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He specializes in religion and ecology. Contact 808-956-8507, sponsel@hawaii.edu.

IDAHO

• Bernard Daley Zaleha is president of the Fund for Christian Ecology, a Boise, Idaho-based non-profit that encourages discussion of religion’s responsibility toward the earth; zaleha@pobox.com.

WASHINGTON STATE

• The Rev. James Mulligan, ordained in the Presbyterian Church, is executive director and co-founder of Seattle-based Earth Ministry. Earth Ministry is a Christian, ecumenical group based in Seattle that works with individuals and congregations on environmental issues. Area events are posted here. Contact 206-632-2426, jmulligan@earthministry.org.

• The Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center is a northwest environmental and responsible investment collaborative venture of Benedictines, Dominicans, Holy Name Sisters, Sisters of Providence, Sisters of St. Joseph, and Jesuits in Seattle. Contact 206-223-1138, ipjcnw@aol.com.