Ecology of Religion

ECOLOGY AND RELIGION
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Contents
 TOC \t "Heading 1 A,4,Heading 5 A,2,Heading 3 A,2,Heading 4 A,2,Heading 8 A,2,Heading 6 A,2,Heading 9 A,2,Heading 2 A,2,Heading 7 A,2,Heading 1,5,Title A,3,Title,7,Heading 5,1,Heading 9,1,Heading 4,1,Heading 8,1,Heading 3,1,Heading 2,1,Heading 7,1,Heading 6,1,Heading 1 A A,6" \n 1-1 Introduction  PAGEREF _TOC323 \h 3
Judaism  PAGEREF _TOC982 \h 3
Christianity  PAGEREF _TOC4033 \h 5
Islam  PAGEREF _TOC7372 \h 7
Ecocentrism, Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism  PAGEREF _TOC9052 \h 8
Voices from the Global South  PAGEREF _TOC12742 \h 11
Globalization, Community and Ecojustice  PAGEREF _TOC14507 \h 12
References  PAGEREF _TOC16674 \h 14
Introduction
Religion, from most points of view, provides a complete guideline for every aspect of our life. In this paper, we are going to discuss six western religious and ecological traditions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Ecocentrism, Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism, Voices from the Global South and Globalization, Community and Ecojustice, based on two themes: reciprocity and ethical sensibility.
In doing so, we will try to find influences of eastern religious traditions, like Buddhism, Chinese traditions and Japanese traditions as well as their connections, comparisons and contrasts with the western traditions concerning those two themes.
Judaism
Judaist’s ethical sensibility
In western religion, such as Judaism and Christianity, deep ecological movement like interpretation has been a common occurrence in many ways (Fox, 1988). Comparing to that, it is a common perception among the theologians that the movement was provided in better ecological ethics and supreme ecological wisdom by Asian religious traditions, mostly in Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
In Judaism, environmental ethics are very important, linking the tradition of ethical analysis with an important contemporary problem. In many occasions, it makes significant contributions in analyzing and understanding the complex relationship and environmental ethics between nature and man. For over eight centuries, the tradition has revealed several views on nature in both biblical and post-biblical exegesis. Instead of evaluating anthropocentric values, the principles and concepts have been evoked both implicitly and explicitly which are consistent with bio-centric or eco-centric understanding between man and nature (Avner and Talias, 1995; Sessions (ed.), 1995).
However, Judaism does not consider protection or preservation of nature as the prime social value and believes that as a part of nature, humans can use and enjoy nature but have distinctive moral claims to protect it, making it a complex idea by considering both green and non-green elements equally. So it is not appropriate to underline one over another (White, 1976). In addition, Judaism recognizes the majesty and beauty of nature, perceiving that it can be threatening and terrifying as well.
Reciprocity
In this tradition, the mystical thinking of Kabbalists proposes that humans must understand their limitations regarding different ecological facts, such as, using natural resources, reproduction and production of wastes. We must follow the principles that God has provided while creating the world and if God is omnipresent, according to Kabbalists, the only way to create the world, by God would be tsimtsum, which is a voluntary limitation or withdrawal to make space for creating. Following that concept, as a human being, it is our duty to put restriction on our relation with nature to make space for coexistence with our surroundings and for our future generations. If humans were to invade all space, then that would spell doom for fauna and flora. The metaphor exile in Jewish philosophy indicates that in the twenty first century, the human race would find itself in a complex situation if we do not take serious initiatives about the population, regarding other communities in the planet (Laurie, 2000). In deed the central teaching of Judaism advocates for the preservation of nature in the same state man found it. This concept idealizes the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection.
Christianity
According to many researchers, it is not a common practice among the Christian communities to consider reciprocity and ethical sustainability regarding various environmental issues (Sherkat and Ellison, 2007; Peterson and Liu, 2008).
Reciprocity in Christianity
The history of establishing a relationship between humans and nature in the Christian tradition is very old. Although, a biocentric approach is a popular idea, many of the Catholics like the idea of incorporating the environmental issues within a Creation Care framework, which often describes Christians as ecological responsibilities as wardens of God’s earth. The Christian theology suggests that the creation of the world was the beginning of salvation.
Ethical sensibility and Christianity
Throughout the Old Testament, the importance of compassion has been discussed, reflecting God’s compassion on human beings, indicating the importance of showing compassion to all other living things by man. In Genesis (8.15-17), it is mentioned that the animal kingdom suffers for the benefit of the human race something which in some way may seem wrong or improper. The ethical sensibility and responsibility of man should include all natural things in the planet including all animals and plants (Braulik, 1986).
Concern about natural sustainability as well as ethical sensibility regarding natural issues, mostly about consumption and population, is new in Christianity in comparison with Hindu context (Shiva, 1988).
Buddhist philosophy and Christianity
In comparing with Buddhist philosophy, which clearly states methods of discoursing excessive reproduction (Loy, 2000), Christianity, as well as any other western religious and ecological tradition does not have any definitive solution. From Buddhist perspective, the urge to reproduce is a serious issue; the only way to solve this is through self-control via meditation. This perception largely depends on spirituality which, according to many scholars, is not even a common practice among many Buddhist societies and difficult to follow.
Hindu philosophy and Christianity
On its part Hindu teaches that there is a close relation between the epics and puranas on dharma and the end of the earth. The term dharma connotes duty, righteousness and justice, which and based on that human beings should not cause a decline to the nature. Along with other environmental issues like the trees or rivers, the text of dharma also provided some ways to control the population. This position is not the same for Christianity since the environmental degradation is not viewed in depth.
Islam
Ethical sensibility in Islam
In Qur'an, the holy book for the Muslims, it is mentioned that humans can use nature to satisfy their needs if and only the purpose serves to benefit all of creation (Ammar, 1995). The beauty and harmony of nature must be respected as a gift from Allah. So it is clear that the natural resources must not be excessive and should be balanced properly. It is an Islamic belief that humans must share the natural resources and such resources should not be restricted to a few privileged in the society. According to Islamic tradition, nature is sacred and Allah did not create nature randomly; instead, it is a reflection of the truth. Humans have a lot of things to learn from nature and as a representative of God; humans must not destroy nature (Muhammad, Shah-Kazemi and Ahmed, 2010).
Reciprocity in Islam
The relationship among humans, nature and God has been identified in Islam as an encompassed act by Allah. The significance of this viewpoint can be expressed better by describing a non-anthropocentric model of postmodernism; instead of suspending the dualistic blockades that splits nature from humans (Marshall, 1998) to find the unity between humans and all other creations.
Buddhist philosophy and Islam
Compared to Buddhism, the Islamic perspective has a lot of similarities with the Buddhism. The Buddhist philosophy emphasizes and states the interconnection between humans and nature (Tucker and Williams, 1998) based on cooperative and productive relationships. Considering that human beings coexist with nature, any environmental calamity befalling the earth will for sure harm the human race something which is unethical in line with most religious traditions (Badiner, 1990).
Ecocentrism, Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism
Ecocentrism and reciprocity
Introduced by Aldo Leopold (Leopold, 1949), the term Ecocentrism is used for referring a nature centered system in the ecological political philosophy. This is in contrast to human centered system since it is based on an ethical claim of ontological belief that rejects the existence of a division between human and non-human and claims that humans possess superior intrinsic importance than non-human and are the sole possessors of the intrinsic importance.
Ecocentri...