Religious Naturalism

Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Greenpeace

Ecological Advocacy

As increasing population and industrialization change our atmosphere and climate, and with loss of wilderness areas and extinctions, many see a need for change in some attitudes and actions.

We have a practical need to maintain the environment that sustains us. Beyond this, as it includes feelings of appreciation and connection (and, for some, a view of the natural world as sacred), a religious naturalist orientation can add the emotional power of a religious mandate, where preservation is seen as central to values.

With this, ecologic advocacy can be a focus of interest and activity. As individuals and in groups, we may:

Educate
…..Teach ourselves and others about conditions, trends, potential 
…..implications, current initiatives, and options for responses

Communicate
…..Discuss, give presentations, create and display works of art

 Participate
 …..Donate and/or volunteer to advance the work of advocacy groups

 We may also try to act as examples – to live and consume in sustainable ways that reflect an ecomorality and put values into practice.

 Links

 Welcome to the anthropocene
Deep ecology
“Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest” – selected quotes
World religions and ecology
The Earth Charter
Rio +20 – UN Conference on Sustainable Development (2020)
Great Transition Initiative
16 Big Ideas to Change the World and Create a Better Future

Organizations

International Union for Conservation of Nature
Sierra Club
Nature Conservancy
World Wildlife Fund
Audubon Society
Welcome to the Anthropocene
Center for Ecoliteracy
Thomas Berry Foundation
E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation
Jane Goodall Institute
The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
Earth Day Network

Books and essays

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
The Future of Life
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming . . .
Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food
The Great Work
The Bells of Mindfulness
Thinking Like a Mountain
A Sand County Almanac 
The Pope and the Religious Naturalist – Our Ecomoral Common Ground

Online journals

Environment 360 (Yale)
The Ecologist (Schumacher College)

“If a religion of nature is to qualify as being redemptive in the complete sense of that term, it must call for more than a mere passive celebration of our rootedness in nature. With the recognition of our connectedness and belongingness comes the recognition of accompanying serious responsibilities. . . .
“First and most obvious is the demand that we be ecologically responsible. We must abandon the delusion that nonliving and living parts of nature are there simply to be utilized by us, in any way that we see fit. We must exhibit by our actions, both individually and collectively, a reverence for ecosystems, species, and particular life-forms. We must control the human population and learn to keep our technologies in balance with nature. We must recycle and conserve. We must restore those parts of the earth that our agricultural and industrial practices have ravaged. We must find ways to cease disrupting and destroying our natural home and build harmonious relations with all of its creatures. We must set aside and preserve wild places for their own sakes and to remind ourselves of the abiding significance and value of that nature of which we are part.”
…..Donald Crosby, A Religion of Nature

.

Taking Nature to Heart