Steve McSparran Photo, Anza Borrego State Park, CA

Are Eastern Religions More Environmentally Responsible than Christianity?

In my last blog article, we saw that the religious beliefs of aboriginal tribal cultures (animism) are deficient in terms of being a sufficient theological foundation for environmental ethics and stewardship. In addition to tribal religions, many people concerned about the environment also believe that Eastern religions are more environmentally sensitive than Christianity. The term “Eastern religions” encompasses numerous religious traditions, but the two most popular in the United States are Buddhism and Hinduism. Both are considered to be more environmentally responsible than Christianity. But are they? This article will answer this question.

Before we examine the alleged environmentally responsible teachings found in some Eastern religions, I want to remind you—as I did with tribal religions in part five—that Eastern religions have also failed to curb ecological abuse and exploitation among the societies that practice them. India and China, for example, have experienced devastating environmental degradation due to increased salinity and alkalinity in soil, air and water pollution, improper use of pesticides and fertilizers, erosion, flooding, desertification, and deforestation. Millions of acres of wildlife habitats have been destroyed, threatening the survival of numerous species of animals. In much of the rest of Asia, and in spite of so-called ecologically sensitive Eastern religions, population pressure and lack of environmental concerns has caused irreparable damage to the environment centuries before the influence of Christianity. In short, any ecological dimensions that may be present in Eastern religions have not resulted in serious efforts to control environmental exploitation or to promote environmental stewardship—including countries where Buddhism and Hinduism are the dominant religious beliefs.

Pantheism

Eastern religions subscribe to a pantheistic concept of God. Pantheism teaches that God is an impersonal substance or essence that encompasses all of reality. “God” is everything and everything is God—the universe and all that exists within it. Nature is part of God’s essence; God and nature do not exist independent of each other. Thus, in pantheism, God did not “create” nature.

Because pantheism teaches that the physical world is part of God’s essential nature, it’s taken for granted by some Western environmentalists that Eastern religions automatically embrace safeguards against environmental abuse. The fundamental oneness of God, humanity, and nature supposedly sensitizes people to nature’s welfare; thus, it’s assumed, believers in Eastern religions instinctively possess a greater willingness to care for their natural environments than Western religions. In reality, however, it’s more likely to be the opposite. Theologically and philosophically, pantheism should preclude environmental ethics and stewardship for the very reason that God and nature are one in essence. Let me explain.

Since the pantheistic god did not personally and of its own volition create life on earth, there is no compelling reason or ability for “It” to have any interest in nature’s welfare or people, for that matter. Only a personal, transcendent God, one willfully active in creation, would (or could) formulate environmental ethics and hold people accountable for not obeying His ordained stewardship instructions. Furthermore, many pantheists believe that if something appears to exist independent of God, it must be an illusion. If observable nature is merely an illusion, why bother to care for it? In short, pantheism does not have a theological framework for environmental ethics and stewardship because it lacks a transcendent, personal, creator God.

To further demonstrate this, in my next blog article we’ll look specifically at two major doctrines in Eastern religions that allegedly promote environmental ethics and stewardship—and why they fail. ©

* The blog articles in this series are adapted from my book Should Christians Be Environmentalists?, published by Kregel Publications in 2012. The blog articles do not contain all the chapters, data, quotes, references, or my personal experiences, which the book includes. So, for “the rest of the story” you will need to purchase the book, which is available in both paperback and Kindle. This and the following articles are copyrighted material and may not be reproduced in book or article form. But feel free to send links to these articles to your personal email list, Facebook friends and groups, Twitter followers, or other people who may enjoy them. I encourage interested reader to subscribe to my blog or request to be added to my personal email list. This will ensure that you receive notices whenever I post a new blog article or other ministry related materials.