Category Archives: ecotheology
Intervention on behalf of life?
I have never believed in invading other countries, except when it is clear that massive numbers of lives are at stake (such as in WWII***). But we might invoke it in this case of the burning of the Amazon forests, along with other countries who might also care enough of the danger this poses to the globe. The global consequences Continue Reading
Partisan for Earth Ethics
Taking the ecological crisis seriously and pressing for action IS indeed “partisan”. But it’s not “Partisan Democrat” or “Partisan Republican” as we automatically assume “partisan” to mean. But it is “Partisan to life”. It is being advocates for the kind of politics that seeks first and foremost to preserve life, and to do that so that it honors and enables Continue Reading
Democrat leadership doesn’t think Climate Crisis belongs “on stage”
“If you are a major 2020 candidate and you say you have to skip either the CNN or MSNBC climate forums because you’re “too busy,” I would argue that you most likely don’t grasp the scale, scope, or importance of the climate threat” — @EmilyAtkin on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/emorwee/status/1163785007925739521 Far too many churches—especially those partial to the Religious Right, simply ignore it Continue Reading
The 90’s “challenge” of the Internet and the “New” challenge of the Ecological Crisis
Back in 1990-91, I was in the M.A. in Religious Communications program at United Theological Seminary. It was a strategic time for Communications in that it was the dawn of the age of the Personal Computer and The Internet. I finished up that program with an eye toward the role of the Internet in extending the reach of the Church, Continue Reading
Business as Usual is TERRIBLE business!
The cries of “alarmists” from deniers are going to be reaching new heights, as the realities close in around us, and people who are paying attention are sounding the alarms. What is the church to be saying in times like these? We have a colossal task for pastoral care to aid us in our ability to “cope” with the “Tough Continue Reading
The Principalities and Powers are finding expression IN the Trump administration
This article appeared today, on a day when the forces represented by Franklin Graham and the likes of Jerry Falwell, Jr., are calling on the people of God to “pray for the President” that he might be strengthened against his “enemies” (many of those being people rising up in defense of Creation). It’s highly ironic that Graham quotes this bit Continue Reading
The sticky, awkward problem of ecological crisis included in “lists” of causes
I love this article I have linked, with one problem, that I struggle to articulate, but feel I must.Please read this OP and Like or React to it rather than the linked article, because John Pavlovitz will no doubt (and deservedly so) get a whole lot of LIKES (on Facebook and on his website) on this. But I am posting Continue Reading
Facing our future with a dose of cold hard reality
“The planet on which our civilization evolved no longer exists. The stability that produced that civilization has vanished; epic changes have begun. We may, with commitment and luck, yet be able to maintain a planet that will sustain some kind of civilization, but it won’t be the same planet, and hence it can’t be the same civilization. The earth that Continue Reading
Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected
This was posted to a blog 10 years ago, and I ran across it in McKibben’s Eaarth ( footnote 69, p. 27) , which I am re-reading. Couldn’t find it anywhere else (even on USA Today website). https://environmentalsupport.blogspot.com/2009/06/global-warming-may-be-twice-as-bad-as.html Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected Global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates indicate, according Continue Reading
Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben on “Falter”
Speaking of “Holy Conversation”: Here is one of the variety that we in the church need to have in a theological context. It was Naomi Klein’s 2014 book, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate”, that launched me into a mission/calling from which I have not turned back (and won’t be for the duration). I went straight from reading this Continue Reading
Learning an “Eco Lingo”; how do we become fluent in EcoTheology?
For almost 5 years, I’ve noticed a distinct lack of “comfort” in being able to respond to news such as the Ecological Crisis. The list of other issues that Progressives are very willing to discuss (and I am also), racism, immigration, abortion, Islamaphobia, War and Peace, The Christian Right’s capitulation to the American Empire…all of these things are undoubtedly urgent Continue Reading
Watching our language in reference to the Ecological Crisis
My friend Tim Gossett tagged me yesterday re: an article in the Guardian on “language usage about the environment”with this:“You have some new phases to add to your vocabulary, Dale Lature “ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment I replied, which resulted in several comments , which I will post this morning as comments (as often happens in comments as people interact with me on Continue Reading
“Soft Denial” is a big problem for some Progressive/Liberals
This is a problem we have even in the “sane” side of responses to the Ecological Crisis. We have what I have been calling “soft denial”, which “recognizes that we have a problem, but somehow hasn’t let it sink in that it is far worse than what would be headed off by “incremental solutions”, which have gotten us far on Continue Reading