The Greening of Church
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
From Rick Warren to the Southern Baptist Convention, unusual coalitions of religious figures are now turning their attention to the environment. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on one local movement that's crossing faith boundaries.
About 50 local churches and synagogues are expected to take part in a march and rally in downtown Seattle as part of Step It Up 2007, a day of planned public events nationwide to call for action on climate change.
Earth Ministry is one of several local environmental groups coordinating activities in the Seattle area. Beres sees this as the next step for involvement by faith communities in environmental issues.
For some congregations, Step It Up is but a first step. And for those already involved in environmental matters, it's an opportunity to go from more congregation-level actions — such as choosing fair-trade coffee — to more public actions, such as rallying and calling for political change.
"It's the move to advocacy," Beres said.
Earth Ministry was founded by three Seattle-area people who saw that caring for the environment was important to some churchgoers, said the Rev. Jim Mulligan, a Presbyterian minister who's one of the founders. But the topic wasn't often mentioned in church and there weren't many resources to link theology and care for the environment.
Now, Mulligan sees faith groups focusing far more on the environment. For instance, local Christians, Jews, Muslims and those of other faiths are organizing an Interfaith Creation Festival from May 31 to June 3 at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. The festival is intended to launch a year of environmental activities.
Some say this flurry of activity has come about because of all the information on global warming, the release of the Al Gore documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" and the way Hurricane Katrina showed the effects of climate intersecting with racial and economic disparities.
"I think there's been something of another leap forward," Mulligan said.
Labels: Interfaith Relations, Religion in America
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