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Interfaith Statements
on the Environment
The values of caring for creation, pursuing justice,
and responsibility to future generations are not
the sole province of any one religious group,
or even of religion itself. Thoughtful people
of many faiths, and even those who align themselves
with no particular faith, share the conviction
that the global environmental situation is an
urgent moral challenge.
When such people express that shared conviction
in public statements, it can add a dimension of
depth to environmental discourse. Such statements
demonstrate how widely shared are the values of
environmental integrity and justice. They send
a strong message that we all must cooperate in
creating paths to a viable future. But more than
that, by their example they nourish the hope that
somehow, in spite of our differences, we may find
ways to do so.
- God’s Mandate: Care for Creation, 2005
Religious
Americans everywhere increasingly recognize an
overarching obligation for faithfulness in caring
for God's creation. Moreover, we are discovering
that care for God's creation renews religious
life itself. And so we are all called to consider
an ancient challenge under fresh circumstances
across the entire planet, "I call heaven
and earth to witness against you today that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and
curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants
may live." (Deut 30:19) Read
the complete statement. |
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- Joint Declaration by Pope John Paul II and
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 2002
Respect for creation stems from respect
for human life and dignity. It is on the basis
of our recognition that the world is created
by God that we can discern an objective moral
order within which to articulate a code of environmental
ethics. In this perspective, Christians and
all other believers have a specific role to
play in proclaiming moral values and in educating
people in ecological awareness, which is none
other than responsibility toward self, toward
others, toward creation. Read
the complete statement.
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