Christianity and the Environment
Christians turn to the Bible in order to discern God’s will concerning the environment. In the Genesis accounts of God’s creation of the world (Genesis 1-2), they read that God urged original humanity to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over all living things.
The Bible does not suggest that God gave the earth to human beings for their selfish exploitation. Instead, it affirms that the world belongs to God; for example, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it...” (Psalms 24:1). Ultimately, the message that emerges from the Bible is that human beings have an obligation to be good stewards of the world. These points were made in The Christian Declaration on Nature delivered at a major conference on religions and the environment held at Assisi, Italy, in 1986. It reads, in part: “Man’s dominion cannot be understood as license to abuse, spoil, squander, or destroy what God has made to manifest his glory. That dominion cannot be anything other than a stewardship in symbiosis with all creatures.”—The cause of environmentalism has won considerable support from Christian leaders. Pope Francis has been a strong advocate of the Paris Accord on climate change and encouraged Catholic Christians to care for the environment and for the poor, who suffer disproportionately from the effects of environmental problems. Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, has earned the nickname “the Green Patriarch” in recognition of his efforts to mobilize Orthodox Christians in defense of the environment. There is also support for environmental causes among Protestant leaders. In 2015, the National Association of Evangelicals issued a call to action on environmental issues. But there are significant numbers of conservative evangelical Christians who deny climate change. Christians from all three traditions have created organizations for what they often call the “care of creation.” These include Earth Ministry, the North American Coalition for Christianity and the Environment, the European Christian Environmental Network, Catholic Climate Covenant, and the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
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