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Published by the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
July 8, 2005
SCOBA Hierarchs
Endorse Statement on the Environment |
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A group of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant
theologians, convened in Washington, DC by the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA,
released a letter recently calling all Christians
to reject teachings that suggest humans are
"called" to exploit the Earth without care for how
our behaviour impacts the rest of God's creation.
This letter, reprinted below, was endorsed by the
hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical
Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) at their
meeting in New York City, on June 21, 2005,
following its approval by the SCOBA Social and
Moral Issues Commission, and recommendation by the
SCOBA Study and Planning Commission.
God's Earth is Sacred:
An Open Letter to Christians in the
United States
God's creation delivers unsettling news. Earth's
climate is warming to dangerous levels; 90 percent
of the world's fisheries have been depleted;
coastal development and pollution are causing a
sharp decline in ocean health; shrinking habitat
threatens to extinguish thousands of species; over
95 percent of the contiguous United States forests
have been lost; and almost half of the population
in the United States lives in areas that do not
meet national air quality standards. In recent
years, the profound danger has grown, requiring us
as theologians, pastors, and religious leaders to
speak out and act with new urgency.
We are obliged to relate to Earth as God's
creation "in ways that sustain life on the planet,
provide for the [basic] needs of all humankind,
and increase justice." Over the past several
decades, slowly but faithfully, the religious
community in the United States has attempted to
address issues of ecology and justice. Our faith
groups have offered rich theological perspectives,
considered moral issues through the lens of
long-standing social teaching, and passed numerous
policies within our own church bodies. While we
honor the efforts in our churches, we have clearly
failed to communicate the full measure and
magnitude of Earth's environmental crisis -
religiously, morally, or politically. It is
painfully clear from the verifiable testimony of
the world's scientists that our response has been
inadequate to the scale and pace of Earth's
degradation.
To continue to walk the current path of ecological
destruction is not only folly; it is sin. As
voiced by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who
has taken the lead among senior religious leaders
in his concern for creation: "to commit a crime
against the natural world is a sin. For humans to
cause species to become extinct and to destroy the
biological diversity of God's creation...for
humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by
causing changes in its climate, by stripping the
Earth of its natural forest, or destroying its
wetlands...for humans to injure other humans with
disease...for humans to contaminate the Earth's
waters, its land, its air, and its life, with
poisonous substances...these are sins." We have
become un-Creators. Earth is in jeopardy at our
hands.
This means that ours is a theological crisis as
well. We have listened to a false gospel that we
continue to live out in our daily habits - a
gospel that proclaims that God cares for the
salvation of humans only and that our human
calling is to exploit Earth for our own ends
alone. This false gospel still finds its proud
preachers and continues to capture its adherents
among emboldened political leaders and policy
makers.
The secular counterpart of this gospel rests in
the conviction that humans can master the Earth.
Our modern way of life assumes this mastery.
However, the sobering truth is that we hardly have
knowledge of, much less control over, the deep and
long-term consequences of our human impacts upon
the Earth. We have already sown the seeds for many
of those consequences. The fruit of those seeds
will be reaped by future generations of human
beings, together with others in the community of
life.
The imperative first step is to repent of our
sins, in the presence of God and one another. This
repentance of our social and ecological sins will
acknowledge the special responsibility that falls
to those of us who are citizens of the United
States. Though only five percent of the planet's
human population, we produce one-quarter of the
world's carbon emissions, consume a quarter of its
natural riches, and perpetuate scandalous
inequities at home and abroad. We are a precious
part of Earth's web of life, but we do not own the
planet and we cannot transcend its requirements
for regeneration on its own terms. We have not
listened well to the Maker of Heaven and Earth.
The second step is to pursue a new journey
together, with courage and joy. By God's grace,
all things are made new. We can share in that
renewal by clinging to God's trustworthy promise
to restore and fulfill all that God creates and by
walking, with God's help, a path different from
our present course. To that end, we affirm our
faith, propose a set of guiding norms, and call on
our churches to rededicate themselves to this
mission. We firmly believe that addressing the
degradation of God's sacred Earth is the moral
assignment of our time comparable to the Civil
Rights struggles of the 1960s, the worldwide
movement to achieve equality for women, or ongoing
efforts to control weapons of mass destruction in
a post-Hiroshima world.
Ecological Affirmations of Faith
We stand with awe and gratitude as members of
God's bountiful and good creation. We rejoice in
the splendor and mystery of countless species, our
common creaturehood, and the interdependence of
all that God makes. We believe that the Earth is
home for all and that it has been created
intrinsically good (Genesis1).
We lament that the human species is shattering the
splendid gifts of this web of life, ignoring our
responsibility for the well being of all life,
while destroying species and their habitats at a
rate never before known in human history.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, who animates all
of creation, breathes in us and can empower us to
participate in working toward the flourishing of
Earth's community of life. We believe that the
people of God are called to forge ways of being
human that enable socially just and ecologically
sustainable communities to flourish for
generations to come. And we believe in God's
promise to fulfill all of creation, anticipating
the reconciliation of all (Colossians 1:15), in
accordance with God's promise (II Peter 3:13).
We lament that we have rejected this vocation, and
have distorted our God-given abilities and
knowledge in order to ransack and often destroy
ecosystems and human communities rather that to
protect, strengthen, and nourish them.
We believe that, in boundless love that hungers
for justice, God in Jesus Christ acts to restore
and redeem all creation (including human beings).
God incarnate affirms all creation (John 1:14),
which becomes a sacred window to eternity. In the
cross and resurrection we know that God is drawn
into life's most brutal and broken places and
there brings forth healing and liberating power.
That saving action restores right relationships
among members of "the whole creation" (Mark
16:15).
We confess that instead of living and proclaiming
this salvation through our very lives and worship,
we have abused and exploited the Earth and people
on the margins of power and privilege, altering
climates, extinguishing species, and jeopardizing
Earth's capacity to sustain life as we know and
love it.
We believe that the created world is sacred - a
revelation of God's power and gracious presence
filling all things. This sacred quality of
creation demands moderation and sharing, urgent
antidotes for our excess in consumption and waste,
reminding us that economic justice is an essential
condition of ecological integrity. We cling to
God's trustworthy promise to restore, renew, and
fulfill all that God creates. We long for and work
toward the day when churches, as embodiments of
Christ on Earth, will respond to the "groaning of
creation" (Romans 8:22) and to God's passionate
desire to "renew the face of the Earth" (Psalm
104.30). We look forward to the day when the
lamentations and groans of creation will be over,
justice with peace will reign, humankind will
nurture not betray the Earth, and all of creation
will sing for joy.
Guiding Norms for Church and Society
These affirmations imply a challenge that is also
a calling: to fulfill our vocation as moral images
of God, reflections of divine love and justice
charged to "serve and preserve the Garden (Genesis
2:15). Given this charge and the urgent problems
of our age-from species extinctions and mass
poverty to climate change and health-crippling
pollution -how shall we respond? What shall we be
and do? What are the standards and practices of
moral excellence that we ought to cultivate in our
personal lives, our communities of faith, our
social organizations, our businesses, and our
political institutions? We affirm the following
norms of social and environmental responsibility:
Justice-creating right relationships, both social
and ecological, to ensure for all members of the
Earth community the conditions required for their
flourishing. Among human members, justice demands
meeting the essential material needs and
conditions for human dignity and social
participation. In our global context, economic
deprivation and ecological degradation are linked
in a vicious cycle. We are compelled, therefore,
to seek eco-justice, the integration of social
justice and ecological integrity. The guest for
eco-justice also implies the development of a set
of human environmental rights, since one of the
essential conditions of human well-being is
ecological integrity. These moral entitlements
include protection of soils, air, and water from
diverse pollutants; the preservation of
biodiversity; and governmental actions ensuring
the fair and frugal use of creation's riches.
Sustainability - living within the bounds of
planetary capacities indefinitely, in fairness to
both present and future generations of life. God's
covenant is with humanity and all other living
creatures "for all future generations" (Genesis
9:8-17). The concern for sustainability forces us
to be responsible for the truly long-term impacts
of our lifestyles and policies.
Bioresponsibility - extending the covenant of
justice to include all other life forms as beloved
creatures of God and as expressions of God's
presence, wisdom, power, and glory. We do not
determine nor declare creation's value, and other
creatures should not be treated merely as
instruments for our needs and wants. Other species
have their own integrity. They deserve a "fair
share" of Earth's bounty - a share that allows a
biodiversity of life to thrive along with human
communities.
Humility - recognizing, as an antidote to
arrogance, the limits of human knowledge,
technological ingenuity, and moral character. We
are not the masters of creation. Knowing human
capacities for error and evil, humility keeps our
own species in check for the good of the whole of
Earth as God's creation.
Generosity - sharing Earth's riches to promote and
defend the common good in recognition of God's
purposes for the whole creation and Christ's gift
of abundant life. Humans are not collections of
isolated individuals, but rather communities of
socially and ecologically interdependent beings. A
measure of a good society is not whether it
privileges those who already have much, but rather
whether it privileges the most vulnerable members
of creation. Essentially, these tasks require good
government at all levels, from local to regional
to national to international.
Frugality - restraining economic production and
consumption for the sake of eco-justice. Living
lives filled with God's Spirit liberates us from
the illusion of finding wholeness in the
accumulation of material things and brings us to
the reality of God's just purpose. Frugality
connotes moderation, sufficiency, and temperance.
Many call it simplicity. It demands the careful
conservation of Earth's riches, comprehensive
recycling, minimal harm to other species, material
efficiency and the elimination of waste, and
product durability. Frugality is the corrective to
a cardinal vice of the age: prodigality -
excessively taking from and wasting God's
creation. On a finite planet, frugality is an
expression of love and an instrument for justice
and sustainability: it enables all life to thrive
together by sparing and sharing global goods.
Solidarity- acknowledging that we are increasingly
bound together as a global community in which we
bear responsibility for one another's well being.
The social and environmental problems of the age
must be addressed with cooperative action at all
levels - local, regional, national and
international. Solidarity is a commitment to the
global common good through international
cooperation.
Compassion - sharing the joys and sufferings of
all Earth's members and making them our own.
Members of the body of Christ see the face of
Christ in the vulnerable and excluded. From
compassion flows inclusive caring and careful
services to meet the needs of others.
A Call to Action: Healing the Earth and Providing
a Just and Sustainable Society
For too long, we, our Christian brothers and
sisters, and many people of good will have
relegated care and justice for the Earth to the
periphery of our concerns. This is not a competing
"program alternative," one "issue" among many. In
this most critical moment in Earth's history, we
are convinced that the central moral imperative of
our time is the care for Earth as God's creation.
Churches, as communities of God's people in the
world, are called to exist as representatives of
the loving Creator, Sustainer, and Restorer of all
creation. We are called to worship God with all
our being and actions, and to treat creation as
sacred. We must engage our political leaders in
supporting the very future of this planet. We are
called to cling to the true Gospel - for "God so
loved the cosmos" (John 3:16) - rejecting the
false gospels of our day.
We believe that caring for creation must undergird,
and be entwined with, all other dimensions of our
churches' ministries. We are convinced that it is
no longer acceptable to claim to be "church" while
continuing to perpetuate, or even permit, the
abuse of Earth as God's creation. Nor is it
acceptable for our corporate and political leaders
to engage in "business as usual" as if the very
future of life-support systems were not at stake.
Therefore, we urgently call on our brothers and
sisters in Christ, and all people of good will, to
join us in:
Understanding our responsibilities as those who
live within the United States of America - the
part of the human family that represents five
percent of the world population and consumes 25
percent of Earth's riches. We believe that one of
the surest ways to gain this understanding is by
listening intently to the most vulnerable: those
who most immediately suffer the consequences of
our overconsumption, toxication, and hubris. The
whole earth is groaning, crying out for healing -
let us awaken the "ears of our souls" to hear it,
before it's too late.
Integrating this understanding into our core
beliefs and practices surrounding what it means to
be "church," to be "human," to be "children of
God." Such integration will be readily apparent
in: congregational mission statements, lay and
ordained ministries, the preaching of the Word,
our hymns of praise, the confession of our sins,
our financial stewardship and offerings to God,
theological education, our evangelism, our daily
work, sanctuary use, and compassionate service to
all communities of life. With this integrated
witness we look forward to a revitalization of our
human vocation and our churches' lives that
parallels the revitalization of God's thriving
Earth.
Advocating boldly with all our leaders on behalf
of creation's most vulnerable members (including
human members). We must shed our complacency,
denial, and fears and speak God's truth to power,
on behalf of all who have been denied dignity and
for the sake of all voiceless members of the
community of life.
In Christ's name and for Christ's glory, we call
out with broken yet hopeful hearts: Join us in
restoring God's Earth - the greatest healing work
and moral assignment of our time.
Contact:
SCOBA Office
8 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10021
Phone: 212-570-3593
Fax: 212-774-0202
Email: scoba@goarch.org
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