The Gift of Spirituality

According to Elizabeth Johnson, Jesus' view of the Kingdom of God included earthly
wellbeing. According to Thomas Berry, Christians recognize a need for an Earth Ethic.
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, has
organized major religion and science symposia on water issues across Europe, the
Amazon River and Greenland. He has issued statements – including a joint statement
with John Paul II in 2002 – calling destruction of the environment "ecological sin."
Bishop Malone, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has said: "The
Church stands in need of a new symbolic and affective system through which to
proclaim the Gospel to the modern world." In the ecotheology of the late Thomas Berry,
he argues that Christians often fail to realize that both their social and religious
wellbeing depend on the wellbeing of Earth. Earth provides sustenance for physical,
imaginative and emotions, and religious wellbeing. In Thomas Berry's view, the
Christian future will depend on the ability of Christians to assume their responsibility for
Earth's fate. An example of such responsibility-taking can be seen in the founding of an
association called "Sisters of Earth," which is made up of nuns and laywomen. This
network of women from diverse religious communities is significant, both for the
movement of general concern for the natural world and for the religious life in Christian
contexts.
Ecospirituality and Hinduism
Many teachings in Hinduism are intertwined with the ethics of ecospirituality in their
stress on environmental wellbeing. The Hindu text called the Taittariya Upanishad refers
to creation as offspring of the Supreme Power, paramatman. Thus, the environment is
related to something that is divine and therefore deserves respect. Since the late 1980s
when the negative effects of mass industrialization were becoming popularized, India
instituted administrative policies to deal with environmental conservation. These policies
were rooted in the ways that the Hindu religion is tied to the land.
In the Hindu text Vajur Veda (32.10), God is described as being present in all living
things, further reinforcing the need to show respect for creation. Passages such as this
lead some Hindus to become vegetarian and to affirm a broader type of ecospiritual
connection to the Earth. Vishnu Purana 3.8.15. states that, "God, Kesava, is pleased
with a person who does not harm or destroy other non-speaking creatures or animals."
This notion is tied in with the Hindu concept of karma. Karma means that the pain
caused to other living things will come back to you through the process of reincarnation.
Ecospirituality can also be seen in the Prithivi Sukta which is a "Hymn to Mother Earth."
In this text, the Earth is humanized into a spiritual being to which humans have familial
ties. Through ecospirituality, the notion of praising and viewing the Earth in this way
brings about its strong connections to Hinduism.
Ecospirituality and Jainism
Contemporary Jaina fatih is “inherently ecofriendly.” In terms of the ecological crisis,
Jains are “quite self-conscious of the ecological implications of their core teachings.”
Page 136 of 174