Photo Credit: Ejaugsburg (Pixabay)
Through history, religion and science have often found themselves at loggerheads, but today many Milwaukee religious leaders are in harmony with scientific findings on the environment. The teachings of different religious traditions provide hope for change and remediation. In 2019, Earth Day coincides with Easter and Passover, giving us occasion to ponder the connections between religion and the environment.
“Science asks how something happens, where does it happen and what are the processes by which something might happen,” says Daniel Weber, an observant Jew and a senior scientist who researches lead toxicity at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Religion asks more of a metaphysical question: why, what is the purpose of it? These are not questions that conflict with one another. These are questions that give you a holistic understanding of the world around us if you put them together. I actually have no conflict between being a scientist and being an observant Jew.”
Weber finds many underpinnings that support environmental responsibility in the Torah and in Talmudic and Midrash writings. “We need to look at the story of creation itself,” Weber says. “Why is the story constructed the way it is? What does the story say? It may not have been designed as a piece of history as much as a piece of philosophy and a piece of theology about what our relationships are. You had chaos, and out of that order was created. If you look at what science actually says, it's very parallel.” Weber says the creation story in Genesis also sets out a model for relationships between humanity and the rest of creation.
In Genesis, man is given dominion over the rest of creation. Weber says, however, that the English word “dominion” may not be the best of translations, and that the original Hebrew word means to guard and protect. “We need to use resources to live,” he says. “The way you use them is key. The way you use them is to guard them. There is a sense of sustainability. It is very clear from the text that we don't have the right just to do anything we want, thinking that we are the owners. God is the owner, he is the creator. We are the ones who have this gift on loan, which at some point needs to be returned in the same condition we got it in. This sense of environmental responsibility starts at the very beginning.”
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Lisa Bates-Froiland, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (631 N. 19th St.), finds a similar meaning in the creation story. “The Christian sacred text, the Holy Bible, begins with the story of God creating the world,” she says. “Once all the means of sustaining life are in place, God gives humans the responsibility to care for the life of the planet. Out of gratitude for the air, water, plants and animals, we are to respond in respectful, sustainable way of living on this Earth.”
Bates-Froiland says that a lack of consensus holds us back from addressing climate change. “If our changing climate were viewed with similar alarm as the Great Depression, World War II or the threat of Communism, we’d be moving forward with broad and deep efforts on multiple fronts,” she says. “As we await the consensus, small congregations like mine do what we can and hope to inspire similar efforts.”
Redeemer Lutheran Church recently received a $15,000 “Solar for Good” grant to defray the cost of installing solar panels at the church. The church also keeps honey-bee hives on its roof to protect pollinators and has a storm water collection system to mitigate runoff.
Green Muslims, Green Buddhists
Huda Alkaff, founder and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, finds in Islam teachings that emphasize the beautiful and intricate balance of creation. “God repeatedly tells us to maintain that balance and not to upset the order in creation,” she says, citing the Qur’an (15:19): “And the earth We have spread out; set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance.” Alkaff says that humankind is advised to be moderate in every aspect of life, citing the Qur’an (7:31): “O Children of Adam… eat and drink: but waste not by excess, for God loveth not the wasters.”
“At this time of darkness due to environmental and climate injustices suffered by the most vulnerable, including current and future generations in our country and around the world, it is a moral and ethical obligation for us to do everything we can,” Alkaff says. The Prophet Mohammed is “reported to have said that if doomsday is about to take place while anyone of us has a tree sapling in our hand, which we can cultivate, then cultivate it, for we will be rewarded. This message of active hope inspires me.”
Tonen O'Connor, resident priest emerita at the Milwaukee Zen Center, says that for Buddhists there is not a line of separation between humans and the environment. O'Connor explains that in Buddhism everything is interdependent. “Just as I would want to help an ankle I had sprained, I need to help the environment because it is how I live. It becomes essential that everything in this interconnected world be healthy. I'm not in charge of the environment. I don't owe it anything. It is me, and I am it. Self and environment are so interlocked that we can't separate them. It's dangerous if we think we can.”
Rodney Sanchez, a Dharma teacher at Tender Shoot of Joy and water activist, says the ethical foundation of the Buddha Dharma is based in non-harming and in bringing a heart-centered orientation of kindness and compassion towards all beings. Like O'Connor, he believes that everything is interconnected. “As a human being, I am not separate from the web of life,” Sanchez says. “We can't dump our trash and throw our stuff all over the place and think there is going to be no consequence to those actions. The Golden Rule is a natural law.”
To Care for the Natural World
While the teachings and traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism differ, all of them seem to entrust humans with the care and preservation of the natural world.
Weber says Judaism teaches that humans have the ability and responsibility to influence the relationship between themselves and their environment. “That's both frightening and empowering,” Weber says. “It's frightening because we as humans are imperfect, and we tend to sometimes to go to our lowest common denominator in our behavior. But it's also empowering to know that even if we make mistakes, we have the ability to correct mistakes and move forward.” Once we understand this process, we can move forward to improve the environment and mitigate some of the damage humankind has done. “That is part of the environmental ethic,” Weber says.
O'Connor says climate change is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed. She urges people not be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem. “I think we each need to do whatever is in our personal power to do,” she says. “This ranges all the way from political action to personally recycling things. I think that it's very important that we not throw up our hands and say we can't do anything because it's so huge. You have to start at it in small ways and keep at it.”
