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Caring for God's Creation Love and gratitude for God's creation lie deep within religious life. From mountaintops to forests, green pastures to still waters, stars in the sky and lilies of the field, we experience the grace of our Creator and the gift of our presence here. With Earth in grave environmental peril, many religious Americans are seeking to respond through our faith. Through the many gateways and galleries of this website, we offer resources and accounts of how people of faith are acting upon God's mandate to be stewards of our precious Earth. Partners in Stewardship The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is an association of independent faith groups across a broad spectrum: the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches U.S.A., the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. Each Partner — in common biblical faith but drawing upon its disctinctive traditions — is undertaking scholarship, leadership training, congregational and agency initiative, and public policy education in service to environmental sustainability and justice. Together, they seek to offer resources of religious life and moral vision to a universal effort to protect humankind's common home and well-being on Earth. |
Restoring Eden/Christian Colleges, West Virginia A version of this article By Peter Illyn originally appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of Creation Care magazine. New Generation Bears Witness to Appalachian Destruction Not many students go on spring Break hoping to get their hearts broken. But when ten students representing seven states and three Christian colleges stood on an Appalachian ridge and stared at the barren remains of a mountaintop dynamited out of existence, their hearts...
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The California Interfaith Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment, California Interfaith, with Jewish participation “Judaism affirms that the world is God’s ...
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Adamah Fellowship Program at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT Beginning in the 1990’s, Zelig Golden became interested in community agriculture and dreamed about farming through experiences he’d had on farms in Idaho and South America. In 1998 he became the first program director of the Northwest Jewish Environment Project in Seattle, Washington (a COEJL affiliate), which drew connections between Judaism and environmental protection. Some of his training to undertake this task came from Adam Berman, Executive Director of...
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Florida Catholic Conference Water quality and sustainability are critical concerns facing Florida residents, but the Florida Catholic Conference has undertaken more than education efforts to motivate responsible and just stewardship of this precious resource. With help from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese established the “Inheritance Project,” marking a turning point from previous efforts; what had been an educational campaign began to incorporate legislative advocacy and coalition building as well. In June 2001,...
Read morePoint Loma Nazarene University San Diego, CA Church of the Nazarene In 2003, when Point Loma Nazarene University student Celeste Howe ...
Read moreMaine Interfaith Power & Light, Inc. Brunswick, ME In 2003, laypeople and clergy from the Saco-Biddeford area of southern Maine came together as a coalition formed between the First Parish Congregational Church, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Saco-Biddeford, and the Sisters of the Good Shepard, to accept the challenge posed by the Maine Council of Churches’ Environmental Justice Program, a state partner in NRPE’s Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign and Maine Interfaith Power and Light....
Read moreSanta Rosa, CA The Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation, based in Santa Rosa, California, is surrounded ...
Read moreLutheran Church of the Reformation St. Louis Park, MN At first, church members were suspicious of pulling ...
Read moreSt. Andrew Christian Church Kansas City, KS Disciples of Christ Having church walls made of straw, concrete, ...
Read moreUnited Methodist Church of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA Members of the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA wanted a church building that demonstrated their values: creating a safe environment for God’s people while having minimal impact on the earth. Now they are working to build a church following the discipline of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for new construction certification, with the intent of achieving the highest LEED...
Read moreThe First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin Austin, TX The Unitarian Universalist Church holds as one ...
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Abiding Peace Lutheran Church Kansas City, MO Eight years ago, Mary Gerken described the grounds ...
Read moreDunkirk, NY Though few people may now be familiar with the concept of “gleaning” — the ...
Read moreJeff Street Baptist Community, Louisville, KY Anointing the head with oil is a long-standing Christian tradition—but what about anointing with sunscreen? Sunscreen anointing is part of the new “Blessing of the Bikes” service at Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty in Louisville, KY.
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