Various Faith and Denomination S

In addition to visiting the individual, faith-sponsored websites, some of the following statements were found by visiting these sites:

Alliance of Religions and Conservation

http://www.arcworld.org/

Earth Ministry

http://www.earthministry.org/

The Forum on Religion and Ecology

http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/main.html

National Council of Churches of Christ Eco-Justice Programs

http://www.nccecojustice.org/anthohome.htm

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment

http://www.nrpe.org/

As travelers on this globe together, we are commonly dependent upon Earth for sustenance. We are interdependent with all creation. We must learn to understand what it means to respect all that God has created and to be our neighbor's keepers. We need to expand our hearing of Jesus' "new commandment" to "Love one another." We must see the whole creation as our neighbor. Certainly the implications of this command exceed one culture, race, ethnic group, or species just as it exceeds one denomination.

Baha’i scriptures teach that, as trustees of the planet’s vast resources and biological diversity, humanity must seek to protect the “heritage [of] future generations”; see in nature a reflection of the divine; approach the earth, the source of material bounties, with humility; temper its actions with moderation; and be guided by the fundamental spiritual truth of our age, the oneness of humanity.

Our task is nothing less than to join God in preserving, renewing and fulfilling the creation. It is to relate to nature in ways that sustain life on the planet, provide for the essential material and physical needs of all humankind, and increase justice and well-being for all life in a peaceful world.

In order to protect the environment we must protect ourselves. We protect ourselves by opposing selfishness with generosity, ignorance with wisdom, and hatred with loving kindness. Selflessness, mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom are the essence of Buddhism. We train in Buddhist meditation which enables us to be aware of the effects of our actions, including those destructive to our environment. Mindfulness and clear comprehension are at the heart of Buddhist meditation. Peace is realized when we are mindful of each and every step.

Stewardship implies that we must both care for creation according to standards that are not of our own making and at the same time be resourceful in finding ways to make the earth flourish. It is a difficult balance, requiring both a sense of limits and a spirit of experimentation. Even as we rejoice in earth's goodness and in the beauty of nature, stewardship places upon us responsibility for the well-being of all God's creatures.

Be it further resolved, that the General Assembly call upon each member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to affirm his or her Christian commitment to an ecologically responsible lifestyle...

As a covenantal people we understand that we have responsibility as well as privilege. Therefore, to understand the world as God's creation is to understand our responsibility as God's stewards, and our accountability to God as tenants. This means that faithful human action is always aware of the nature of creation seeking to enhance and not to destroy what has been so richly provided. This means that what humankind produces should be in harmony with the laws that govern the natural order.

People should take into full consideration the limits of nature’s sustaining power, so that when they pursue their own development, they have a correct standard of success. If anything runs counter to the harmony and balance of nature, even if it is of great immediate interest and profit, people should restrain themselves from doing it, so as to prevent nature’s punishment. Furthermore, insatiable human desire will lead to the overexploitation of natural resources. So people should remember that to be too successful is to be on the path to defeat.

As individuals we can choose lives of voluntary simplicity, rejecting habits of wasteful consumption and making thoughtful choices for decent living. As congregations we can practice conservation and care wisely for our church properties. As individuals and congregations we can become examples and provide leadership to our local communities of wise stewardship. Likewise we can seek to influence our governments to develop wise environmental policies.

We call upon Friends to examine their own lives to see if their own patterns of consumption reflect self-centeredness and greed rather than a concern for living harmoniously in the creation, that we might witness to the world that harmony. We call upon the nations of the world, and in particular our own governments, to enact laws and reach agreements which will protect the creation from the effects of human exploitation, greed, and carelessness.

…we paternally urge on the one hand all the faithful in the world to admonish themselves and their children to respect and protect the natural environment, and on the other hand all those who are entrusted with the responsibility of governing the nations to act without delay taking all necessary measures for the protection and preservation of the natural creation.

Hindus revere the Earth as mother. She feeds, shelters, and clothes us. Without her we cannot survive. If we as children do not take care of her we diminish her ability to take care of us. Unfortunately the Earth herself is now being undermined by our scientific and industrial achievements.

Above all, people should conserve the balance of Allah’s creation on Earth. By virtue of their intelligence, humanity (when it believes in the One Universal Allah, the Creator of the Universe) is the only creation of Allah to be entrusted with the overall responsibility of maintaining planet Earth in the overall balanced ecology that man found.

Where we are despoiling our air, land, and water, it is our sacred duty as Jews to acknowledge our God-given responsibility and take action to alleviate environmental degradation and the pain and suffering that it causes. We must reaffirm and bequeath the tradition we have inherited which calls upon us to safeguard humanity's home.

We of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are deeply concerned about the environment, locally and globally, as members of this church and as members of society. Even as we join the political, economic, and scientific discussion, we know care for the earth to be a profoundly spiritual matter.

All creation is the Lord's, and we are responsible for the ways we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God's creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect.

Earth-keeping today means insisting on sustainability-the ongoing capacity of natural and social systems to thrive together — which requires human beings to practice wise, humble, responsible stewardship, after the model of servanthood that we have in Jesus.

We can begin caring for the earth, then, only from a posture of repentance. The restoration of God’s shalom for all of creation requires changes in our attitudes, in our values, and in our lives. If Christ’s work of redemption extends not only to us, but to all creation, then both we and the Christian fellowships to which we belong should begin to demonstrate redeemed relationships to the earth’s resources, and a commitment that they be shared justly with all people.

Shinto suggests that we should shift our point of view and look at our environment with the spirit of “reverence and gratitude,” that is, with the spirit of parental care for children or with the spirit of brotherhood. And if we can extend this spirit to our neighbors, to our society members, to our country members, to peoples of the world, and to nature, too, transcending differences of thought, ethics, and religion, then this spirit will serve to foster criteria and morals indispensable for keeping our human life healthy.

In Sikh beliefs, a concern for the environment is part of an integrated approach to life and nature. As all creation has the same origin and end, humans must have consciousness of their place in creation and their relationship with the rest of creation. Humans should conduct themselves through life with love, compassion, and justice. Becoming one and being in harmony with God implies that humans endeavor to live in harmony with all of God’s creation.

Our Seventh Principle calls us to affirm and promote "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." More than just a recognition of ecological interdependency, the seventh principle affirms our spiritual value that all beings are all mutually dependent. Where some of us suffer disproportionately, we are all diminished.

The primeval despoiling of the world created with a good purpose mirrors society’s role today, and this is what Zoroastrianism seeks to reverse. The religion uniquely attributes all that brings misery, hatred, vice, and pollution not to the whimsical acts of a Divine Being but to the unthinking attack of a malicious and hostile spirit whose innate nature is to destroy. As God’s finest creation, mankind must strive toward a perfect world by combating the forces of Evil through a process of restoration and renovation.