Religion and Environmentalism

From the Australian News:

Environmental damage 'threatens poor'
POPE Benedict XVI warned today that damage to the environment has dire consequences for the poor, and called for all Christians to work to save the earth.

The world "is exposed to a series of risks created by choices and lifestyles that can degrade it", the leader of the Roman Catholic Church said in his Sunday sermon given at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

"Damage to the environment makes the life of the poor on Earth particularly unbearable," the Pope said, calling on all Christians to take care of the earth and not deplete its resources, sharing them in solidarity.

I've always believed that environmentalism and religious thinking should go hand in hand. I've generally emphasized the stewardship angle- that we should care for God's gift of this world to us as God would care for it himself.

The Pope provides us with a different angle, but one that should resonate in all religious traditions: economic justice.

Our obligation to care for "the least of these" should extend to care for the environment. As the Pope suggests, there is little question that with environmental degredation and resource depletion, it would be the poor who suffer first, and suffer most.

People of faith should take up the cause of environmentalism naturally. (Pun intended.)

GP