Christians may sing the old hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” with fervor, but they have shown considerably less enthusiasm over the years for maintaining that beauty, according to many Christian environmentalists. “Up until now, [evangelicals] have dealt largely with how the Christian life should be lived apart from an understanding of the Lord’s creation,” says Calvin DeWitt, director of the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Michigan and professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin.
But DeWitt and other advocates for the environment are optimistic that such evangelical apathy may be fading. “There is a growing sense of concern and commitment [about the environment] spreading across the evangelical community,” agrees Roberta Hestenes, president of Eastern College. That growing concern has been evident on several fronts of the environmental movement. For example, earlier this month several evangelical delegations joined representatives from around the world to discuss environmental problems at the United Nations-sponsored Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Last month several evangelicals were among a group of religious leaders and scientists that issued an appeal for united action to protect the global environment. “We are people of faith and science who, for centuries often have traveled different roads,” the declaration said. “Our two ancient, sometimes antagonistic traditions now reach out to one another in a common endeavor to preserve the home we share.”
Those who signed the declaration included the nation’s top scientists and representatives from Catholic, Jewish, and mainline Protestant organizations. Evangelical signatories included DeWitt, Hestenes, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission, and Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action. The declaration was issued after two days of meetings on Capitol Hill called by U.S. Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.), with Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colo.), John Chafee (R-R.I.), and James Jeffords (R-Ver.).
Land noted that the gathering included strong representation from New Age and other “ecotheological” philosophies. But, he said, that is all the more reason for evangelicals to be involved with environmental issues.
In fact, Land and Sider did influence the outcome of the declaration: They convinced the drafters to drop a phrase about “the planet, on which all life depends.” (“As evangelicals, we believe all life depends on God,” Land said.) They also obtained clarification for the record that a statement affirming the rights of indigenous peoples was not meant as a criticism of missionary activity.
Yet another aspect of environmental concern was explored earlier in May when World Vision convened a meeting of 150 of the organization’s donors and special guests in Washington. Through a series of presentations, slide shows, and video clips, participants were given detailed accounts of the extent of environmental deterioration and what that means for the poor, particularly in Third World areas. “[World Vision] can no longer do development work without sitting down and discussing the environmental implications,” said Tom Getman of the group’s Washington office.
Among the speakers was space scientist astronomer Carl Sagan, who called for an “uncommon marriage between science and religion” to help solve the environmental crisis. Acknowledging his own lack of belief in a Creator, Sagan asserted, “It is possible to have very different views about such items as the origin of the world and still to share a deep, even a profound concern for the well-being of that world.”
World Vision president Bob Seiple conceded that Sagan’s participation was controversial among some World Vision supporters, but he defended it by saying he wanted the group to hear from “the best and the brightest” on this issue. “I do think that the Christian faith should be viable enough that you can enter dialogue with anybody in the room.”
Other thorny issues were raised by former Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, who cautioned against inflicting damage to the current global economy in the name of preventing future environmental problems. “We should recognize that it is our industriousness and productivity which permit us to help the poor of the world,” he said.
Seiple said he was pleased with the forum, which World Vision paid for with the help of an anonymous donor. World Vision’s contribution, Seiple said, “is to make sure that people see human beings in this arena of environmentally induced poverty, and to challenge the Christian community to do something about it as we look at a holistic view of the gospel.”
