Our Time on Earth
Understanding the Relationship Between Religion and the Environment
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Irfan Asghar
This paper aims at contributing to the ongoing discourse on the relationship between religion and environment in a number of ways. In the first section of my paper, I address the question of why the role of religion is important in dealing with the environmental issues today, arguing that religion helps us understand our true relationship with nature. In the second section, I show how and why the response of religious groups has been lackluster toward the issue of environment for a long time. In the third section of my paper, I explain Nasr’s traditional understanding of environmental crisis, and show its relevance in the present times. I argue how Nasr’s understanding enriches us to deal with environmental crisis, as opposed to other materialistic views, and discuss how Nasr’s understanding, despite being useful, has certain limitations. My arguments are based on the premise that religion is intellectually more accessible to lay people than often-times very complicated scientific evidence. I conclude by arguing that scholars of environmental issues need to rely more on religious perspectives in order to prepare people to stop the ongoing degradation of the environment.
Spirituality of Resistance and Planetary Liberation from a Hong Kong Christian Perspective
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bryan K. M. Mok
Hong Kong is experiencing a difficult yet remarkable year in 2019 due to the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. “Liberate Hong Kong: Revolution of our Times” is its key slogan, and the main theme underlying the five demands of the demonstrators. It shows that the movement has grown from a simple demonstration against a bill to a full resistance of political domination. The anthem, “Glory to Hong Kong” symbolises a spirituality of resistance that transforms anger and doubts to faith and hope of liberation, and the movement testifies that the people will make a way by themselves when there is no way. This paper argues that this spirituality of resistance is essential not only to the fight for political freedom, but also to the struggle against ecological degradation. By employing liberation theology as a tool of analysis, it illustrates that the practice of political resistance against an authoritative and dominating regime leads to the contemplation of the depth of reality which calls for our solidarity with the oppressed. Amid climate change and destruction of ecosystems, this underlying spirituality of the movement to liberate Hong Kong also constitutes a foundation for planetary liberation. In the light of Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas, the demonstrators in Hong Kong can be seen collectively as a priest who brings the wounded planet to the face of the ultimate mystery. This serves as a spiritual ground for ecological actions that commit to both human and planetary well-being.
Laudato Si': When Pope Francis Declared That The Vatican Was Going Green
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kenneth DiMaggio
Recently Pope Francis declared that "ecological sin" should be added to the Catholic catechism. Pope Francis' desire to view ecology as a sacred tenet that must become part of church teachings and oversight stems from one of his early and significant encyclical letters, "Laudato Si': Our Care for Our Common Home." In writing such a letter, critics have noted the Pope's attempts to make the Catholic Church more of a contemporary presence in challenges that the earth faces today. Pope Francis is also the first Pope from the Americas (and from a continent where many of its countries are still dealing with developing world issues). Pope Francis' call for ecological respect of the planet is also portrayed through a social justice lens, which this paper examines. Though some might find the idea discomfiting, a liberal, developing world view based on social justice is also part of Pope Francis' program to include ecology in the teachings of the Catholic Church. And could such a liberal or "Green" view for the ecology also be part of a larger vision that Pope Francis has for the church?
The Heavens and the Earth: Exploring the Role of Religious Stewardship in the Science of Ecology
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dominic McGann
This paper makes a case for the religious elements of the modern natural sciences, through reference to science's religious history, before considering which of these elements might exist in the science of Ecology. The case is made that in centuries past, when scientists were "Natural Philosophers," Western science was undertaken as a religious activity. The paper argues that, by exploring the phenomenal world, natural philosophers saw themselves as performing the profoundly theological task of understanding the mind of the God that they believed created it. It maintains that, just as one might study a watch to understand the methods of its maker, so the natural philosophers studied the natural world in search of God’s methods. Following these preliminary remarks, this paper asserts that this religious history opens up a line of enquiry into the potential religious elements that might still exist in modern-day science. Furthermore, it asserts that the Christian notion of stewardship and the respect owed to God’s creations is evident in the study of Ecology. This assertion is supported by an argument that maintains that Ecology goes beyond the purely phenomenal observations provided by the other sciences to provide us with imperatives to protect the natural world that we must all watch over. Through this argument, a conclusion is drawn in favour of the existence of the religious notion of stewardship in the modern sciences as exemplified by Ecology.
