Thursday, March 01, 2007

Ecotheology

So my two favorite classes this summer are systematic theology and religion and the social process. The great thing is that often they intersect. Here is something that i never really thought about. The way we divide ourselves is the reason why really important issues get stifled. In stead of all of those being oppressed getting together and working on each others issues, we stand around saying well they don't care about MY issue. We need to stop! We need to come together.

In systematic yesterday we had a discussion about ecotheogoy. Some of my classmates were getting bogged down in the fact that by focusing on the environment we lose sight of environmental issues. That with all the hooopla surrounding The Inconvenient Truth we have forgotten about poverty issues or issues in urban settings. What they seem to forget is that environmental issues often negatively effect the poor the most. What they didn't seem to glean from the reading is the Ecotheology is not only about caring for the physical planet ( although that is VERY important) it is also about caring for the creatures on the planet, including us humans.

People and environment are not separate issues. Anyone who tries to tell that they are are simply worried that if there are no poor people or cleaning up the environment will hurt their pocketbook.

No comments: