Sadly, many segments of Christianity have been slow to support causes such as those inthe environmental sector. Some Christians have failed to separate enough environmental issues from perceived (and feared) ‘liberal’ biases, and also have been guilty of separating too much God and his creation. Concern for the environment does not necessarily equate to pantheism, instead it is a vital part of the Genesis mandate for humanity to steward creation. This is a lesson that has been slowly learned, but as the oil slick spreads and the toll mounts, many Christians who have never before evinced interest in ecological matters, are now seeing the disaster as deeply challenging. Some are even repenting of their previous apathy.
Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a blog post entitled “Ecological Catastrophe and the Uneasy Evangelical Conscience,” has compared the oil spill to the Roe vs Wade decision that legalized abortion.
This disaster is, in Moore's opinion, challenging evangelicals to action both theologically and practically, in much the same way that Roe vs Wade did in an entirely different area.
"For too long, we evangelical Christians have maintained an uneasy ecological conscience. I include myself in this indictment," writes Moore, whose denunciation was prompted by an emotional return to his hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast. We've had an inadequate view of human sin. Because we believe in free markets, we've acted as though this means we should trust corporations to protect the natural resources and habitats. But a laissez-faire view of government regulation of corporations is akin to the youth minister who lets the teenage girl and boy sleep in the same sleeping bag at church camp because he "believes in young people."
Moore challenges his fellow Christians to become fully aware of what is at stake: "Pollution kills people. Pollution dislocates families. Pollution defiles the icon of God's Trinitarian joy, the creation of his theater."
The managing editor of Christianity Today, Mark Galli wrote recently an article called “Judgement in the Gulf” that called to account everyone from politicians to corporate to ordinary folk for greedy and careless attitudes to the earth. He states:
"Woe to you, O consumers, who drive when you could walk..." “Woe to you, O churches of the land, who tithe and fast, who preach and pray, who grow megachurches in the twinkling of an eye, who care about souls but not the land on which they live, which I too have made and called good. Woe to you who trust me not for their daily bread, but look anxiously to smoke billowing diesel to deliver them from their hunger. Woe to all who lift up their eyes to call upon my name, but who do not look down at that which they destroy by sucking up energy in their spacious megabuildings and at international gatherings to glorify my name.”
Whether or not this oil spill disaster will fundamentally change attitudes is still too early to tell, but it certainly does seem to have shaken some influential Christians awake.
(Information source is http://www.politicsdaily.com).
