Living Journey

Ecology - the New Salvation Message?

These days, moralisers find it easier to make people feel guilty about their impact on the environment than about committing one of the seven deadly sins. Not surprisingly, many religious institutions are busy reinventing themselves by promoting ecological virtues and preaching against the eco-sins of polluters. ‘In search of eco-salvation’ by Frank Furedi

In the above article Furedi suggests that the Church has lost a lost of its ground because of the closer scrutiny passed by the world in cases where it really needed to be examined, like child abuse etcetera. This is most definately and unfortunately needed. The protection of children must always be of paramount importance, and how a church, any church, can protect any paedophilia priest/s by way of a document called Criminales Solicitacciones (PDF File) that the current Pope as Cardinal Joseph Radzinger drafted up before his election into the abomination of Church Head is beyond any reasonable human understanding…

One consequence of the erosion of religious authority was that the church became exposed to the critical scrutiny of the public. A dramatic manifestation of the loss of religious authority is the spate of child abuse scandals that have incriminated church leaders. In many places Catholic officials were forced to respond to the public’s mistrust of their conduct by banning priests from any private contact with children.

But many questions remain.

1. What are the consequences when the Church and State begin to blur the edges of separation - which of course is happening in the West today?
2. Should they be blurred at all, as society will have a major impact on the Church and will be judged by society’s ever changing standards?
3. Are those standards God’s standards?
4. Should society and culture which is always changing be given such a position to examine or even govern over the Church or vice versa?
5. Could this lead to key doctrinal changes within the Church, doctrines that the Church has held as foundational and fundamental to the truth of the Word of God?
6. Could this lead to the message of salvation being watered down or pushed aside altogether as a new political agenda takes precedence over what could be considered an archaic message of separation and division?

Let me make one point very clear, I am not talking about the Church being exempt from unlawful actions against children. But what I am saying is this … as the Church succumbs to the world of politics on both sides of the fence - those being the left and right - who can be sure that the Church will come away untainted by our ever changing world?

The Church does have to be separate from the world - but it is also to be the salt of it - the bible says this and it warns us to keep ourselves separate from this world because of this very reason. Can the Church remain salt if it continues with its political prowess and will there begin to be a compromise of the very message of salvation because of today’s current societal political climate? I thought that the following was an interesting thing to ponder… read it and ask yourself, how is this kind of Christ, this new christ, being promoted by the new reformers. Is this christ the one of eternal salvation, or one that is more concerned with the kingdom here on earth?

Forced on to the defensive and sensitive to the charge of being out of touch with public concerns, Western religions have looked for new ways of rebuilding their authority. As I have argued elsewhere, some church officials attempted to associate themselves with the authority enjoyed by psychology and therapy and reinvented themselves as counsellors and therapists (2). As the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey noted, ‘Christ the Saviour is becoming Christ the counsellor’.In recent years, some in the church have sought to gain the public’s ear through the greening of traditional doctrines, and Christ the Saviour is fast becoming Christ the environmental activist. Western society is continually in search of rituals and symbols through which moral probity can be affirmed. It appears that, for many church leaders, the project of saving the planet offers more opportunities for reconstituting rituals and symbols than the saving of souls. ‘In search of eco-salvation‘ By Frank Furedi.

If this is the case, and I believe it is, then the salvation message of the Church has indeed changed into … Christ the Greenie - the world welcomes you!Why is this new message becoming more and more vocal today? Because it is a lot more friendly for one, and it is perceived as being the moral message that anyone of any religious persuasion can relate too. It is certainly a message that does not divide. A very unified message that can involve every nation, tongue and culture…

The appeal of eco-spirituality to so many different religions is a testimony to the powerful influence that environmentalism exercises over contemporary culture. At a time when traditional institutions find it difficult to connect with popular concerns, environmentalism is still able to transmit ideas about human responsibility through appealing to a sense of right and wrong. That is why the authors of children’s books and school officials also use environmentalism as a vehicle for socialising youngsters.However, eco-spirituality cannot really compensate for the loss of traditional moral authority. Indeed the very embrace of the environmentalist agenda can only accelerate the decline of institutions that cannot give meaning to the religious doctrines on which they were founded. The shift away from God towards nature inevitably leads to a world where the pronouncements of environmentalist experts trump those of the priesthood. It will be interesting to see what will remain of traditional religion as prophecy and revelation is displaced by computerised climate models.

Oooo Oooo, I know. How’s about we not even talk about prophecy and revelation! Then nones the wiser, right?I reckon there are quite a few people of influence out there already very uncomfortable with that kind of ridiculous religious talk!Shhhhh … mum’s the Word then!