Environmental Liberation Theology
2 Comments Published by Seamus Ford September 19th, 2008 in Activism, Commentary, Lifestyle.
I may be coining a phrase when I say this, but Environmental Liberation Theology is an idea whose time has come. You may be familiar with the liberation theology of the 1960′s and 70′s in Latin America; a movement within the Catholic Church especially with the Jesuits. The central tenant being both the Old and New Testaments obligate Christians to a preferential concern for the physical and spiritual welfare of the poor is an essential element of the Gospel. It is movement that that led priests and theologians into politics in order to fight for the rights of the poor.As someone who has been educated in the Jesuit tradition, I must admit that I have always felt the call to serve the poor.
Even though I came of age in the “Greed is Good” decade of the 1980′s I always felt a personal calling to serve the poor. As Jesus said, “What so ever you do to the least of my brothers that you do unto me.” I have never met someone who didn’t at least want to do the right thing. When challenged with the humanity of a homeless person or victim of a disaster, or war human compassion is never in short supply. The only thing is that compassion is generally only expressed when the need is immediate or the issue is top of mind. Case in point, 3 years later the Gulf Coast of the United States is yet to see much of the relief promised in the wake of Katrina. The reason for this is that it is yesterday’s news.
What Environmental Liberation Theology concerns itself with is tomorrow’s news. The looming environmental disaster that we are creating is tomorrow’s headline and that makes it even more removed from human compassion than the effects of a three year old hurricane. Most people do not think very far into the future. We are habituated by the pace of our lives and our global market economy to think in increments of weeks instead of years of decades. (The most basic answer to “How did we get into such a serious financial crisis?”)
Living only for today is no longer morally acceptable in a world that is fast running out of resources. (Keep in mind that Modern Industrial Society has only been around about 100 years and cannot continue in it’s current form for even much more).We have to make the people of the future just as real as those in the present. We need to foment a crisis for ourselves and society.DO THIS AS AN EXERCISE:Take a moment and imagine the faces of your children or grandchildren. Just picture them in your head. Now imagine their faces as adults in their 30′s and 40′s. What is their world like, where climate change has left whole cities without adequate water? What do they do for a job in an economy that didn’t switch to renewable energy in time. What do they eat in environment of heavy metals, plastic waste and massive plant and animal extinctions?
- If that future is a real possibility much less a probability……… what are you going to do now? What is your moral and spiritual obligation right now?What so ever you do to the least of my planet, that you do unto me.
That is what I am calling Environmental Liberation Theology.
- Don’t wait!!
© 2008, LowCarbonHome.info. All rights reserved. Low Carbon Home
Right on Seamus!
I like the idea of imagining my children and grand children in their 30′s. Whatever positive way we can awaken our generation is great.
We have started planning a Green Expo in Buffalo NY for early next year. Our focus is on the rust belt region of America. The opportunities are bountiful in this region, great transportation and manufacturing infrastructure. The answer to solving our problems with climate change and the economy come down to; more energy independents and producing, manufacturing and consuming, food, transportation, shelter and energy locally. I’d like to learn more about what’s happening in our immediate area.
Brewse
Indeed!
living for the future is essential, more now than ever before. I’m glad you brought some of the theological arguments into this equation. For a long time I’ve talked about how the message of Jesus (I was raised Jewish btw) has been twisted and distorted for the past 2000 years. How some of the key elements of that message, helping the poor, being kind to strangers, helping the sick, and a central tenet of the bible, being responsible to the land, are lost in that distortion. I want to see the Christian majority, the religious right, that sector of our sociological demographic, heed that call and take the lead, not voting strictly on abortion rights and social conservatism anymore, but taking a look at the bigger picture that the bible and Jesus presented, drawing a line in the sand, saying “enough is enough, we cant treat the earth like this anymore, God commands it.”