EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Three, Number Four March/April 1994 CHRISTIANS AND NON CHRISTIANS NEED A COMMON GREEN LANGUAGE Excerpts from "Christian, Green and Tongue-tied", in It's Not Easy Being Green, Winter 1994, a newsletter of the Christian Environment Project, Bill Cook, President, PO Box 80092, Portland OR 97280. There I was, sitting in a circle of green, mostly non-Christian, friends amidst a free-flowing discussion of trends in environmental thought. A fellow Christian and I had managed to slip into the group's reading materials a couple of articles that drew on faith perspectives and dared to use the taboo "C-word" Christianity. Some of my colleagues made backhanded references to faith issues and seemed willing to draw us Christians into the debate. But there I sat, tongue-tied. By the end of the meeting, I knew my problem: I didn't speak their language. I simply couldn't translate my eco-theology into anything my non-Christian friends would understand. My mind was brimming with green theories involving sin and Satan, grace and repentance, the Fall and the Garden, all replete with scripture cites. But to a secular audience, all that would be incomprehensible at best and offensive at worst. So, I kept my mouth shut. Sure, we need to work hard in-house to bring all Christians into the green consensus. But at the same time, shouldn't we also take Christian principles into the secular arena where the environmental debate has been going full tilt for quite a while? I'm not saying that we should water down our message. To the contrary, it's time to come on strong for God's Creation. We must pitch that message in a winsome manner that forces policy makers, and fellow environmentalists to sit up and take notice. Recently, I entered a restaurant wearing my Christian Environment Project "Save the Wetlands" t-shirt. "What's Christian Environment Project?" asked the waiter. I proudly launched into my spiel on our efforts to push a green Christian agenda. He was stunned. "Oh, wow," he mumbled, "I thought you Christians were on the other side." So, believers, untie your tongues. It's time to set the record straight, to put Christians firmly on the side of environmental sanity and green compassion. Home     Table of Contents