Caring for God’s green earth

Alex Coolman

As the skies to the east of Costa Mesa grow brown with smog and the

waters to the west of Newport Beach are increasingly threatened with

mysterious pollutants, Bob Parry worries about a passage in the Bible.

Specifically, he worries about Psalm 24 , where it says “the earth is the

lord’s.” It’s a passage Parry thinks is too frequently ignored, not only

by America’s environmentally reckless society in general, but also by the

religious communities who have a particular obligation to consider the

relationship between faith and ecology.

Parry, a Costa Mesa resident and a former chaplain for Hoag Hospital, is

one of the organizers of “Caring for Creation II,” a conference on

religion and the environment to be held on Oct. 23 at St. Mark

Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. It’s an event Parry hopes will

bring greater attention to the obligations of the spiritually minded to

help care for the earth.

“It’s not up to us to use all of these natural resources for our own

purposes without a keen concern for protecting them as we’re using them,”

Parry said. “We’re not to exploit them as we benefit from God’s having

put them there for us to use.”

The conference will bring together environmentally concerned participants

from diverse walks of life, including keynote speakers Dean

Freudenberger, a former professor of social ethics at Claremont School of

Theology, and television and film actor Ed Begley Jr.

Parry says the practical goal of the conference is “to foster a

relationship between the environmental and spiritualcommunities in Orange

County” via various networking groups, literature tables and lectures.

Parry said he thinks there are many environmental and religious groups

whose goals are probably similar, but who are unaware of the importance

of working together.

“They may be motivated for a concern for animals or a need to plant

trees,” Parry said. “Whatever their motive is, we’ve found that we agree

with them.”

The philosophical impetus for forming such connections, he said, is

derived from the event organizers’ understanding of God’s relationship to

the natural world.

“God has given us this earth as a gift as a part of his creation, and it

basically is up to us, as we read the scripture, to take care of it,”

Parry said.This particular interpretation of humans’ obligations toward

the earth is distinctive, Freudenberger said, simply because scriptural

passages have often been interpreted in the past as giving unlimited

license for the consumption of natural resources.

One of the core problems, said Freudenberger -- who will give a talk

titled “Creation in Crisis: A Challenge to the Spiritual and

Environmental Communities” -- is the way the word “dominion” has been

interpreted in a religious context.

God is said in the Bible to give humans dominion over the earth, and for

a long time this was understood to mean that cutting down forests and

depleting rivers of their fish was not merely a permitted but actually an

encouraged and virtuous activity.

But Freudenberger says this interpretation of the idea of dominion is

misguided, and that communities of faith have an obligation to recognize

the true nature of the concept.

“Dominion does not mean license to exploit,” he said. “In ancient Hebrew

thought, it means a responsibility. If a ruler or a king or a queen or a

governor fails in this righteous rule of dominion, then that person

forfeits their right to rule.”

In modern times, the Judeo-Christian tradition hasn’t payed a great deal

of attention to its environmental responsibilities, and Freudenberger

thinks the result has been unfortunate both in its effects on the earth

and in its effects on the nature of the religion.

“That [incorrect] theological focus has isolated a good part of the faith

community from the care of creation and those themes which you find in

every major world tradition,” Freudenberger said.

“I’m trying to help the faith community to say that, ‘Hey, we’ve gotten

sidetracked over times with the preoccupation with ourselves, and we’ve

misunderstood one of the first commandments in the Judeo-Christian

tradition.”’

For Parry, the urge to address environmental concerns has less to do with

doctrinal questions than with the sheer immediacy of the threats the

earth faces. All the problems of social justice that Christians hope to

address, he points out, depend for their ultimate solution on the

foundation of a sound ecosystem.

“The solution to every other need is based on a healthy and stable

environment, whether it’s hunger, whether it’s education, whatever it

is,” he said.

“When you get right down to it, you are dependent on having clean water

and clean air to breathe. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have

a chance to solve these other issues.”

FYI

WHAT: “Caring for Creation II,” a conference on religion and the

environment

WHERE: St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 2100 Mar Vista Drive, Newport Beach

WHEN: Oct. 23, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $15

PHONE: (714) 731-6775