Opinion & Commentary
Beyond Romanticism: Questioning the Green Gospel
Over the past forty years, environmentalism has emerged as one of the major political movements that transcend national boundaries. Its concerns have motivated people from a variety of backgrounds to become politically active and have significantly altered the manner in which the state, as well as business and other institutions of civil society, think about environmental issues. The churches have not been unaffected by this phenomenon. Many Christians, both lay and clerical, are to found at the forefront of environmentalist lobbying. In this Occasional Paper, Samuel Gregg raises questions about the adequacy of many Christian pronouncements and commentaries on environmental issues. Too often, he contends, they are characterised by questionable theological premises as well as a tendency to accept uncritically arguments articulated by the green lobby. Romanticism, it is suggested, tends to be their hallmark.
In making these points, however, Gregg does not focus solely upon criticising those Christian contributions which tend to overrate (sometimes grossly) the environment’s significance in the Christian vision of the world (at times, he claims, these verge on the pantheistic). Instead, his primary concern is to clarify how Christians should reflect upon and approach environmental questions in a manner consistent with basic Christian doctrines. In doing so, he demonstrates that while Christians cannot view the natural world as simply something to be exploited, they can easily harmonise respect for nature with the belief that the natural world and all it contains may be legitimately used by individuals and business to serve human needs.
'Over the past forty years, environmentalism has emerged as one of the major political movements that transcend national boundaries'
In this sense, Beyond Romanticism seeks to help forestall attempts on the part of those Christians who might be tempted, unwittingly or otherwise, to turn churches into highly-politicised environmental lobby groups. The possibility that some Christians could venture down this path is not as far-fetched as some might suppose. A perennial problem that has manifested itself in the Christian churches, especially in the twentieth century, has been the tendency of some Christians to fall slowly into the trap of subordinating Christian doctrine to the agendas of particular ideologies. It is not co-incidental that many of the foremost ‘eco-theologians’ were once passionate promoters of liberation theology.
Gregg explores the philosophical roots of much modern environmental thought, illustrating that while it has acted as a corrective to tendencies to exploit natural resources imprudently, much environmentalist thought arises from sources quite antithetical to basic Christian teaching. Yet despite these problems, Gregg illustrates the extent to which questionable environmentalist ideas have shaped the thinking of many contemporary Christian theologians, especially when it comes to the tendency to blame the modern market economy for environmental problems. As Gregg points out, the worst environmental problems of the 20th century were spawned by communist rather than capitalist systems.
Gregg’s book also gives attention to Christianity’s view of the environment, and refutes the charge—much popularised by Peter Singer and others—that Judaism and Christianity are at the root of environmental problems. There is no basis for this claim in any fair study of the Bible. Moreover, environmental problems have occurred in non-Christian countries and non-Christian influenced civilisations. What Judaism and Christianity did, however, do is destroy the pagan tendency to worship nature. In contrast to the cults surrounding them, the ancient Hebrews did not worship idols, animals, plants, the sun, or the elements. Judaism de-divinised nature, and taught people that they were, unlike animals and trees, made in God’s image. Christianity took this message and spread it through the pagan world, thereby liberating humanity from nature worship.
'While Christians should appreciate the natural world, they should not disdain everything in favour of nature'
Gregg then outlines what he considers to be a view of nature that is consistent with Christianity and uses it to underline the problem with the theory of animal rights as articulated by Peter Singer and other animal liberationists. He also demonstrates how easy it is highlight the essential incoherence of the animal rights argument without making any appeal to sources such as the Bible or Christian belief or theology.
Gregg highlights two areas which he believes Christians should be more forthright in criticising parts of the environmental agenda. One is the tendency of some environmentalists to claim that the world is overpopulated. Gregg demonstrates that there is very little evidence to suggest that this is the case. He also notes that Christians ought to oppose rigorously the gross violations of human dignity that have been perpetrated in the name of population control. The second area that he believes Christians should be more critical of the environmental movement is the latter’s tendency to ignore what Gregg and others have called the moral ecology that is so essential for the maintenance of a free society.
In conclusion, Gregg states:
. . . while Christians should appreciate the natural world, they should not disdain everything in favour of nature. Christians believe that the world as humans know it, is passing away . . . and that the beauty of this world, however excellent, is but a foreshadowing of the next. Hence, while environmental activism in some cases can be a worthy activity for Christians, it is no substitute for prayer, sacraments and charity. Recycling newspapers is one thing; but it can hardly be said to constitute a central feature of Christian worship. Just as Christians believe that the creation of wealth is good while the worship of wealth is simply idolatry, they should also remember that while respect for nature is good, the worship of nature is nothing less than paganism—the paganism from which many, both Christian and non-Christian, believe Judaeo-Christianity rescued much of the world.
About the Author:
Samuel Gregg is Adjunct Scholar of the Religion and the Free Society research programme at The Centre for Independent Studies.
