Friday, February 2, 2007

Christians and the Environment


Having just posted a review of a book about environmental issues and Christian faith, I thought I'd ask you all: what's your understanding of how a Christian should understand "the environment"? I know you're all going to say "we should be stewards/caretakers of God's creation" ... but I'm looking for more specific thoughts. For example...


1.) What about extinction? How and why should we be concerned about a species going extinct?

2.) What about hunting? How and why should a Christian hunt animals?

3.) What about "factory farms", wherein the chicken you ate for lunch was likely raised in a 12" x 12" pen it's entire life?

4.) What about organic foods? Should a Christian care about the "organic" movement?

These are just example questions. Answer one, all, or none. But I'm interested in your thoughts about environmentalism and Christian faith - what's the relationship between the two?

Hatushili


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really do love that picture...it stirs somthing in me...

Anonymous said...

I know that this is an oldish post but I’m going to post my comments on it anyway.

1.) Concerning extinction: I think we should be very concerned with this issue, especially if we are the ones (and we usually are) causing the extinction. Once again I don’t think we need to romanticize nature and give it human characteristics to give it value. It already has worth simply because it is like us in that it is a creation of the Lord. When I think about it I visualize an object, unique and specially created by the Lord, purposefully made, being destroyed permanently. Yeah, I think we should be concerned with the issue.

2.) About hunting: I’m not a hunter but I have no problems with hunting as long as the motives are pure. Hunting for food, shelter, finances seem fine to me. However, I don’t think sport killing is showing respect to God’s creation.

3.) Regarding factory farms: This is something Kim should be writing about; it is one of her passions. It is also the reason she doesn’t let me eat veal anymore. This is a complex issue that involves a lot more than I’m probably aware of, but for a quick response I think we could come up with more humane, respectful ways to produce massive amounts of chickens, eggs, baby beef, etc.

4.) Organic foods: I’m not sure how I feel about this issue.