Scholars Study Ecology, Religion

After almost three years of work, researchers studying the interplay between religion and environmental ethics will present their findings to the United Nations this fall.

The study, directed by Bucknell University Professors of Religion Mary Evelyn Tucker and husband John Grim under the aegis of the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, is the culmination of a series of conferences which began in 1996, Tucker said. The last conference will be held in September before the October 20 presentation to the UN.

"The topic has created a lot of interest," she said. "This will be the intellectual finale to the series."

Tucker said the conferences' goal is to explore the ways in which different world religions conceive of environmental ethics, and how their existing mores might be interpreted to protect the ecosystem.

"The point here is to challenge religions as never before to speak to a very critical issue," she said. "The state of the environment is new for all of us. Traditional religions were not responding."

Conferences in the series studied ten world religions--Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, Jainism and indigenous traditions--as they relate to ecology.

Tucker said there is a wide range in environmental perceptions across these faiths--from the "deep ecology" of Jainism to the utilitarian outlooks of Western religions--but that religions beliefs can be adaptable to evolving attitudes about the environment.

She cited changing interpretations of the first book of the Bible as an example of how religions are redefining their beliefs in the face of the environmental crisis.

Parts of Genesis, she said, were once interpreted to mean people should control their environment for their own ends. But now some theologians interpret them to mean humankind should be "stewards" of the earth.

Tucker said looking to existing beliefs in this way--"exploring resources within the tradition"--are one crucial way to help clarify the relationship between religions and the environment.

"Religions have been very anthropocentric. The challenge is to see people as responsible, see them embedded in nature, not apart from nature," she said.

Paraphrasing Thomas Berry, who she cited as an intellectual inspiration for the series, Tucker said "religions have developed moral codes for suicide and homicide but not biocide or geocide."

Tucker explained that while the conferences were attended mostly by academics, the ultimate goal is for their findings to be adopted by religious leaders.

"The hope is to have some future coalition between religion and ecology," she said. Religion doesn't have to be "marginalized and moralistic, but integrated with key disciplines that have been working on the environment," Tucker said.

She said she hoped the presentation at the UN would pave the way for more involvement by religious leaders in the future of the environmental movement.