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Contrasting Spiritual Beliefs in Environmental Ethics

December 8, 2008

Environmental ethics, like most branches of ethics, is often deeply influenced by our faith tradition. Our role on earth and our responsibility to protect the planet is closely tied to our sense of fundamental connectedness and the spiritual teachings that have forged our perspective. Whether we practice one of the Abrahamic religions that have emerged in the past three millennia, any one of the Native American traditions that were dominant in North America for much of recorded history, or the Buddhist way of life which emerged from Asia, most of humanity looks to its faith to guide their interaction with the environment. In turn, our ethics determine the course of history and dictate our collective effect upon our environment.

As the foundation of all Abrahamic religions, Judaism lays the groundwork for an environmental ethic which is followed by nearly half of the world’s population. While Islam and Christianity have subsequently splintered off and developed their own distinct environmental perspectives, Judaism has continuously evolved in response to changing scientific realities. Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic explained that, according to Judaism, humanity is on equal footing with nature “because all life has been created by God”. Earth is not a mere collection of resources intended for human consumption but is to be “tended and pruned by man”. Furthermore, humanity cannot be perceived as “owners” of the land but as mere “renters” who possess a responsibility to care for the earth from which their lives are sustained.

Rabbi Scolnic was adamant that the concept of “a good Jewish person” is incompatible with an irresponsible treatment of nature. To expand upon his point, the Rabbi illustrated the example of a Jewish person who owns a company which emits heavy pollution. This individual, Rabbi Scolnic explained, can never be considered “good” in the eyes of Judaism, regardless of how many mandated Jewish rituals they follow. According to these same principles, Rabbi Scolnic conveyed that “conflicts among humans do not justify the destruction of land” and neither war, nor personal grievances provide condonable causation for environmental degradation.

An understanding of the teachings of Judaism is vital in that, from an environmental ethics standpoint, verses 26 through 29 of Genesis are the most influential words ever written. This scripture, along with the totality of the Torah, forms the mutual bedrock of religious ethical literature for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. While these four verses are common to all three faiths, the interpretation of the text often diverges significantly and provides insight into important distinctions between the three religions’ environmental perspectives.

26     Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27     So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28     God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29     Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

According to both Imam Abdul Madrig Karina Hasan and Father James Furlong, God anointed humanity with a special place on earth. Human beings, Imam Hasan expressed, were bestowed with a unique intelligence and “were created by god above animals”, vegetation, and the soils and sediment that form the building blocks of the planet itself. In accordance with this exalted position, the interests of man are preeminent, and paramount to the interests of nature. Father Furlong supported this doctrine while stressing that to “rule… over every living creature” is a mandate that carries with it a special obligation to respect and care for all of God’s creations.

Like the Abrahamic traditions, the Tlingit American Indian tribe of southeastern Alaska is profoundly influenced by a deeply rooted land ethic. Tlingit spiritual leader Edward Sarabia described his peoples’ own creation story as one in which humanity arose from ash and dust, in equality with the plants and animals that dominated the landscape. Mother Earth provides all that human beings need to survive and flourish and “how we take care of her is how she’ll take care of us”. The stars, planets, and humanity itself “are all related”, Sarabia revealed, and “the creator is all around is”. “Owning the land” is therefore as preposterous a notion as owning the creator, and to be sure, humans are merely a singular species for which the land is master.

In complete contrast to the Abrahamic traditions and the spiritual beliefs of the Tlingit tribe, Buddhism rejects the impression of a God as a separate, greater being, and implores followers to look inward to seek enlightenment. Lama Padma Karma Rinpoche describes Buddhism as “a philosophy or way of life” that “emphasizes meditation to determine how the mind is designed and how it works”. All things are impermanent according to Buddhism and existence is dictated by a continuous cycle of reincarnation for which the human form is but one possible construct.

Buddhist ethical guidelines advocate training in the “Five Precepts” of which the first precept is to avoid taking the life of all other living beings. This rule applies not only to the lives of other humans, but encompasses all living things from the animals that walk the land to the vegetation that provides their footing. Straying from this precept will incur the assumption of a “karmic debt”, the sum of which determines the next lifetime’s living form. Maintaining proper ethics in Buddhism therefore influences not simply one’s present lifetime, but endless lifetimes ad infinitum.

As the sole beings capable of contemplation, humanity will eternally seek to determine its intended role on earth. Our faith traditions and the environmental ethics that we abide by are essential and indispensible threads in the fabric of our being. In debating our disparate beliefs and searching for our fundamental connection with the earth we are perhaps unwittingly already fulfilling our environmental obligation.

Filed under: Perspectives on the Environment