Saving Noah’s Cargo: Environmentalism is a Religious Issue

By Gretchen E. Knapp

Caring for the environment is intrinsically linked to honoring God’s creation was the message during IWU’s Chapel Hour on Wednesday October 17.

“We’ve been out in the storm so long,” said the Rev. Fred Small, co-chair of Religious Witness for the Earth, a national interfaith environmental network, to a diverse audience in Evelyn Chapel.

Small, pastor of First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts, joined the Rev. Dennis E. Groh, university chaplain, and the Rev. Frank McSwain of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in leading an interfaith worship service on Wednesday October 17 during the University Chapel Hour. Faculty and students from IWU and ISU offered inspirational music and readings from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim faith traditions centering on God’s relationship with creation.

Small emphasized that caring for creation is a moral imperative across the world’s major faith traditions.

“As a person of faith, I view the environment fundamentally as a moral and spiritual issue,” said the attorney-turned-minister.

He believes that prayer and witness can make a difference in how our nation’s leaders and people respond to God’s creation. His dedication to faith-based environmentalism and concern about the Bush administration’s proposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge led to the formation this February of Religious Witness for the Earth, an organization devoted to public witness on critical environmental issues, especially global climate change.

A former staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, Small toured internationally as a political folksinger and songwriter, releasing seven albums over two decades. In 1999 he earned the M.Div. from Harvard and entered the ministry.

Religious Witness for the Earth, an interfaith voice of prophetic witness, encourages members to safeguard God’s creation through personal choices of consumption and conservation.

“Permitting global climate change is a sin,” said Small in a recent sermon, “and drilling in the Arctic Refuge is a sacrilege.” RWE also espouses the nonviolent protest of clergy and laity in worship services, calling members to prayer and witness. Over 150 of the 800 RWE members are clergy.

After two days of meetings and lobbying against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year, 22 RWE members, mostly clergy, were arrested at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC as they knelt in prayer.

Small’s organization also urges conscientious car purchases to reduce the impact of global climate change.

“What would Jesus drive?” asked one member, and the RWE’s movement to boycott low-mileage sport-utility vehicles began. In August RWE held a rally at a car dealership, inviting the public to sign a pledge not to purchase another SUV until these vehicles get much better gas mileage.

If you wish to join others in exploring the intersection of spirituality with environmental concerns, contact Narendra Jaggi at njaggi@iwu.edu or 556.3418.

For more information on Religious Witness for the Earth, visit www.religiouswitness.org.

To learn more about the major world religions and environmental concerns, go to http://environment.harvard.edu/religion.