Reflection: Ecology and Religion

Because humans are the primary cause for destruction, they need to play an integral role in averting any further destruction.  There are religious, ethical, and scientific issues involved with this dilemma.

Religion holds a huge role in the human destruction of the eco system. Because of outdated, ecologically insensitive religious traditions or views, narrowly scientific, objective view of reality; and  consumer ethic that assumes unlimited industrial and economic expansion. The notion that through the Bible and Christianity, humans have been programmed almost, to use the environment and to deny that it holds a sacred power. 

Also present is the ethical issue. Humans use and overuse our ecosystem selfishly without thinking that it deserves mutual respect.  To think that something is for the exclusive use and abuse of a species higher on the hierarchy off food chain may be considered morally wrong depending on whom you are asking.  Philosophers and scientists take different stances on this issue but both agree that a hierarchy is in fact ever-present.

Lastly, there is a scientific component to the overuse and destruction of our ecosystem.  Many scientists believe that humankind takes a manipulative approach to the natural world and fosters a mechanical feeling. Technology is isolating human life from the ecosystems.