Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Hogwash
Activist Faith interviews the author of a book, "Green Like God."
But that aside - I haven't read the book, not gonna, the title itself is offensive. God is not "green" - God is GOD. To place one of our agenda labels on God, conservative like mine or liberal like his is to co-opt God to our purposes rather than to be co-opted to God's purpose.
Secondly, scripture is indeed replete with admonishment to care for creation, but that is all the farther it goes. What precisely constitutes such is left entirely to our feeble little minds. But that said, we are also given other guidelines - like the priority of mankind over animal-kind.
Then there are questions about the role of government in such stewardship. As an environmental consultant I am often involved in enforcement actions for environmental violations. have repeatedly seen the government (I am not going to tell you which government) act in a manner very similar to organized crime - they seek to extort, through legal intimidation, the maximum possible fine out of the "violators." Fines far out of proportion to the violation cited - just to feed their own coffers. The break down in justice is extraordinary. Businesses that freely admit their mistake and seek diligently to correct because it originated not from willful misconduct, but ignorance are pushed to the verge of financial ruin.
Scripture has a lot to say about justice. How 'green' is that?
I tire of slogans and movements, I seek thought and concern, and wisdom.
I root the entire discussion in the context of the scriptures. While I believe tradition and experience are important-and I reference them in the book-I lean on scripture most heavily. The book begins with a rediscovery of God's word and then moves to reevaluating God's world. I believe a proper approach to creation care must go through these two steps in that order.First of all, really crappy interview - no follow up as to what scripture says about environmental stewardship, how it gets there, or frankly anything else. Just promotional tripe.
But that aside - I haven't read the book, not gonna, the title itself is offensive. God is not "green" - God is GOD. To place one of our agenda labels on God, conservative like mine or liberal like his is to co-opt God to our purposes rather than to be co-opted to God's purpose.
Secondly, scripture is indeed replete with admonishment to care for creation, but that is all the farther it goes. What precisely constitutes such is left entirely to our feeble little minds. But that said, we are also given other guidelines - like the priority of mankind over animal-kind.
Then there are questions about the role of government in such stewardship. As an environmental consultant I am often involved in enforcement actions for environmental violations. have repeatedly seen the government (I am not going to tell you which government) act in a manner very similar to organized crime - they seek to extort, through legal intimidation, the maximum possible fine out of the "violators." Fines far out of proportion to the violation cited - just to feed their own coffers. The break down in justice is extraordinary. Businesses that freely admit their mistake and seek diligently to correct because it originated not from willful misconduct, but ignorance are pushed to the verge of financial ruin.
Scripture has a lot to say about justice. How 'green' is that?
I tire of slogans and movements, I seek thought and concern, and wisdom.
Technorati Tags:environmentalism, church, justice
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
