Christian Ecology

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Watching Al toil, passing used clothing on to poor families here, writing another environmental manual there, forces an observer to ask: Why? What gives him the strength to persevere against such disheartening odds?

The answer is religious faith. Al Fritsch is Father Fritsch, a Jesuit priest who, as he puts it, is "trying to help build harmony between God . . . and the world itself." To put a label on it, he is a Christian ecologist.

A Christian ecologist? To many people, the words combine awkwardly, are perhaps even mutually contradictory. Most of us have never heard Christians voicing religious reasons for planetary caretaking before, nor environmentalists claiming any higher motives than survival—of something, be it snail darters or ecosystems.

In fact, until little over a year ago, most ecological Christians hadn't heard about others of their ilk, either. They worked, like Al Fritsch, in isolation. That changed, though, at the first North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology (NACCE) in North Webster, Indiana. There, beside a forested lake at the geographic center of the North American continent, a widespread, but heretofore unconnected, collection of individuals and groups were astonished to find themselves part of a large gathering of Chris tians concerned with saving the earth.

And what a collection it was—over 500 priests, farmers, ministers, lobbyists, Mennonites, bioregionalists, fundamentalists, liberals, academics, homesteaders, Eastern Orthodox Christians, social workers, animal rights activists, Catholic nuns, Audubon Society leaders and more. Christian feminists danced in honor of Ruah (the original—and feminine—Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit). A Christian Lummi Indian led a nighttime ceremonial fire where people offered sacred tobacco with their prayers. Mainstream Methodists held morning earthcare devotionals. Atlanta's Providence String Band crooned, "All God's creatures got a place in the choir/Some sing low and some sing higher." Representatives from groups like the 11th Commandment Fellowship and The Land Stewardship Project promoted voluntary simplicity or sustainable agriculture.

Most of the conference consisted of presentations, speeches and workshops on the religious imperative to care for the earth. Gradually, as the days went by, many of the attendees became polarized. On one end were scriptural theologians concerned with examining and following the Bible's environmental statements. These scholars presented strong Biblical arguments for planetary stewardship.

At the other end of the theological spectrum were the adherents of Creation Spirituality, a liberal contemporary interpretation of Christianity founded by Dominican priest Matthew Fox. To Fox, not the Bible but "the universe itself, blessed and graced, is the proper starting point for spirituality. [Indeed,] the primary sacrament is creation itself." He feels Creation Spirituality combines scientific and religious discoveries including evolution and a cosmic Christ to create "a Copernican revolution in religion." Since it does put the physical universe at the center of its religious focus, Creation Spirituality is very concerned with the environmental crisis. It's beginning to spread, too: Fox's primer, OriginalBlessing , has sold 100,000 copies.

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