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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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July 8, 2005
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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