Bruce McLaughlin
Protect It Team
I seek service opportunities for using my skills to make a positive impact on those living now and in the future.1 In my experience and understanding (which is always subject to correction, revision and further instruction), and in popular perception, the evangelical churches have generated more heat than light in regard to environmental issues, i.e., those affecting and impacting God’s Creation.2 In the quest of developing my own understanding of a Biblically-based environmental ethic, I am researching a broad cross-section of Christian thought on subjects such as ecotheology, agricultural sustainability, ecosystems services, environmental degradation, food security, global poverty, bioethics, environmental impacts on human health, treatment of industrial farm animals, eco-feminism and liberation theology.3
This research points to value in promoting Christ-centered, nature-based, practice- oriented spiritual experiences that are more than merely recreational activities, therapeutic experiences, or an escape from social life.4
The nature-based activities of BAS can serve to build community and relationship between participants. The activities can motivate an attitude of care and respect for others, including the Created natural world. This is because BAS activities can form what has been called a “sensory gateway” for moral action relating to all Creation, often resulting in a sense of gratitude and recognition of something larger than the person. These nature-based experiences can lead believers and non-believers to acknowledge God’s greatness and recognize that Creation is His workmanship, and it is good.
The value of engaging in activities should not be disdained as somehow worldly or unspiritual. Christianity accepts many activities that are practice-oriented such as prayer, meditative devotional reading, service to others, baptism, Communion and giving. Any and all of these actions can be spiritual experiences that ultimately lead to transformation and renewal.
Caring for God’s Creation through Christ-centered, nature-based activities is, among other things: (a) service to others, many of whom cannot help themselves; (b) stewardship of God’s workmanship by protecting, restoring and/or renewing ecosystems; (c) meditative as it points to God’s provision for Creation; and (d) a Christian’s ethical obligation in contrast to the ethic supporting pantheism, animism, eastern-style religions or atheism.5
1 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” PROVERBS 13:22; “Let the glory of the Lord endure forever. Let the Lord be glad in his works.” PSALM 104:31; “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” Maximus Decimus Meridius, lead character in the fictional movie “The Gladiator.”
2 The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis, Lynn White Jr. (1967); BP, the Blowout and the Bible Belt: Why Conservative Christianity Does Not Conserve Creation, Michael S. Northcott (2010); How Evangelicals from Two Churches in the American Southwest Frame Their Relationship With the Environment, Jared L. Peifer, et al. (2014).
3 My current thoughts expressed here are largely influenced by Herman Daly (Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, 1996)); Lisa Sideris (Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology, and Natural Selection, 2003); and, Gretel Van Wieren (Restored to Earth: Christianity, Environmental Ethics, and Ecological Restoration, 2013).
4 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17; “It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting.” Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity.
5 See, e.g., Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, Bron Taylor (2011).
Protect It Team
I seek service opportunities for using my skills to make a positive impact on those living now and in the future.1 In my experience and understanding (which is always subject to correction, revision and further instruction), and in popular perception, the evangelical churches have generated more heat than light in regard to environmental issues, i.e., those affecting and impacting God’s Creation.2 In the quest of developing my own understanding of a Biblically-based environmental ethic, I am researching a broad cross-section of Christian thought on subjects such as ecotheology, agricultural sustainability, ecosystems services, environmental degradation, food security, global poverty, bioethics, environmental impacts on human health, treatment of industrial farm animals, eco-feminism and liberation theology.3
This research points to value in promoting Christ-centered, nature-based, practice- oriented spiritual experiences that are more than merely recreational activities, therapeutic experiences, or an escape from social life.4
The nature-based activities of BAS can serve to build community and relationship between participants. The activities can motivate an attitude of care and respect for others, including the Created natural world. This is because BAS activities can form what has been called a “sensory gateway” for moral action relating to all Creation, often resulting in a sense of gratitude and recognition of something larger than the person. These nature-based experiences can lead believers and non-believers to acknowledge God’s greatness and recognize that Creation is His workmanship, and it is good.
The value of engaging in activities should not be disdained as somehow worldly or unspiritual. Christianity accepts many activities that are practice-oriented such as prayer, meditative devotional reading, service to others, baptism, Communion and giving. Any and all of these actions can be spiritual experiences that ultimately lead to transformation and renewal.
Caring for God’s Creation through Christ-centered, nature-based activities is, among other things: (a) service to others, many of whom cannot help themselves; (b) stewardship of God’s workmanship by protecting, restoring and/or renewing ecosystems; (c) meditative as it points to God’s provision for Creation; and (d) a Christian’s ethical obligation in contrast to the ethic supporting pantheism, animism, eastern-style religions or atheism.5
1 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” PROVERBS 13:22; “Let the glory of the Lord endure forever. Let the Lord be glad in his works.” PSALM 104:31; “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” Maximus Decimus Meridius, lead character in the fictional movie “The Gladiator.”
2 The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis, Lynn White Jr. (1967); BP, the Blowout and the Bible Belt: Why Conservative Christianity Does Not Conserve Creation, Michael S. Northcott (2010); How Evangelicals from Two Churches in the American Southwest Frame Their Relationship With the Environment, Jared L. Peifer, et al. (2014).
3 My current thoughts expressed here are largely influenced by Herman Daly (Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, 1996)); Lisa Sideris (Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology, and Natural Selection, 2003); and, Gretel Van Wieren (Restored to Earth: Christianity, Environmental Ethics, and Ecological Restoration, 2013).
4 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17; “It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting.” Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity.
5 See, e.g., Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, Bron Taylor (2011).