EARTHKEEPING
NEWS
A NEWSLETTER
OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY
Volume Fifteen, Number Four
July / August 2006
New Values and Strategies Needed
It has been almost 20 years since Christian leaders met in Indiana and raised the question of the relationship of Christianity to ecology. At this year’s NACCE conference, theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether discussed the changing “politics of God” from Christianity’s early “obedience to The Father” to the present human-centered church with its “unlimited dominion — usurpation of power — fear of sex, and militarism.”
She pointed to some remedial values needed in order to “untangle imperialism from One God of all People…”. She said, “Our orientation towards human care is basic, but our system is constructed on the urban-militarization-slavery model of 5000 BC.
“We must re-affirm the diversity of God’s image, and change our God language from Domination to Life-Giving relationship.”
Changing these values would certainly make the Christian church more counter-cultural, the term used by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson in 1987. But we also need vision, strategies and tactics. The intensive weekend course was helpful in this regard. Lectures by Richard Grossman, Thomas Linzey and Kat Bundy focused on the history of our national values and laws, from the Enclosure of the Commons in 17th century England and the principle of coerced labor (slavery) to the present structure of the corporate state.* The structure of our own constitution and laws has continued to enable The Few to deny the rights of The Many. Our guiding principle is The Endless More.
Ninety percent of the work done in several Pennsylvania communities to fight unwanted corporate intrusions was to reframe the issues. Instead of focusing on regulatory infractions, the local community contested the defining laws of the state that give more power to three people (corporate officers) than to the hundreds of citizens in the township or county — who are not allowed to say NO.
Grossman asked the question “How much will we be ruled by the past?” He suggested we hold a forum on Religion and Democracy, going beyond religion and ecology. Which leaves us with the question, does the Christian church dare to be a counter-cultural presence in America?
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