How are religion, spirituality, and our relationship to the environment connected? For Hindus and Buddhists working to save the Ganges, and for the Yurok Tribe protecting the Klamath, there is no separation. Members of other spiritual and religious traditions around the world are also taking action to restore and protect nature.

Although these might be newer or more urgent actions, there are deep connections between religion, spiritual practice, and how we see our place in nature. In this section, we will look at ways that some religions and spiritual systems have played a role in shaping our environmental crisis. We’ll also return to the theme of the Chapter Story and explore more about religions and spiritual belief systems that are actively serving to encourage protection of the planet.

Sometimes the connection between caring for the planet, religion, and spiritual belief systems comes as critique. Early U.S. environmentalists in the mid-20th century pointed to Christian beliefs as contributing to environmental degradation. Historian Lynn White Jr. pointed to Christianity as a belief system that gives “man” power over the Earth, creating a dynamic in which environmental degradation is almost inevitable. He writes, “Especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen” (White 1967:1206).

We introduced anthropocene in Chapter 6. It refers to our most recent geological epoch of time, in which humans have fundamentally transformed the living systems of the Earth. Related to this, anthropocentrism is the worldview that makes humans central to decisions about ethics and daily life. It is built from the belief that humans are the most important existence in the universe. White sees anthropocentrism in the Bible. Genesis 1:26, for example, says: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’” (The Holy Bible: New International Version 2011).

In this version, man isn’t just another animal. He is made in the image of God, ruling over all other beings in creation (figure 9.34). Environmentalists consider the traditional interpretation of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as anthropocentric, because in them, “man” is made in the image of God, with dominion over the animals, plants, and the planet (El Jurdi et al. 2017). White also sees this dominion in actions that lead to environmental degradation, such as overgrazing, building dams, irresponsible hunting, and cutting forests (White 1967).

Environmental Protection and Belief

The anthropocentrism of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism is a valid critique. At the same time, aspects of each of these religions represent the deep social change needed to heal our planet. In this way, they mimic other spiritual belief systems that integrate the physical and spiritual world in everyday life and see an inherent connection between humans and all that exists in the world. Let’s look at a few of these aspects.

We Are Part of Nature

First, there are credos in some religions and spiritual belief systems that counter anthropomorphism. For example, sociologist Md Saidul Islam refers to what he calls an Islamic Ecological Paradigm (IEP). It’s a growing eco-theology among Muslims that is rooted in classical Islamic traditions. In part, the IEP refers to humans’ relationship with nature: “…human beings are a part of, and not above nature, and have the responsibility to preserve nature” (Islam 2012:72).

Watch the 2:42-minute video “Does Islam Care About the Environment?” [Streaming Video] (figure 9.35) to hear Saad Tasleem share some Muslim guidelines for protecting and preserving the environment. As you do, consider: How might the tenets of the Qur’an influence care for the environment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQk352E9uBU

The principles that the IEP is built upon have been actively practiced since the 7th century. In the 14th century, Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun reflected these principles in his Muqaddimah. Khaldun is largely recognized as the founding father of Eastern sociology, and his worldview was informed by Islamic theology (Pišev 2019). Khaldun observed that man is not detached from the environment but very much a creature of it. Man is equally an environmental animal as a social one, and our social motivations are shaped by our experience with nature (Khaldun 1967).

Some spiritual belief systems acknowledge an even closer connection to the natural world. Starting in the late 1800s, social scientists coined the term “animism” to lump together the spiritual perspectives of many complex societies who saw objects as being alive, having souls, and with those traits able to affect human life (Shriver-Rice 2009). Or, as anthropologist Justine Quijada describes, the term “classif(ied) religious practices through which human beings cultivate relationships with more powerful beings that reside in the world around us” (Quijada 2022). It was also a term used to distinguish the spirituality of other cultures from Judeo-Christian belief.

Since the 1960s, animism has been criticized as being part of the colonial framework that identifies others as “primitive.” The term made it easy to overlook the biological and ecological scientific knowledge that communities with this worldview hold (Quijada 2022). Animism was almost removed from mainstream anthropology and the academic study of religion (von Stuckrad 2023).

However, the term began to be reframed at the turn of the 20th century. Social scientists and environmentalists started to recognize that Indigenous belief systems, as they hold a relational approach to the world, are important to healing the environment (Quijada 2022). Indigenous belief systems are also important in rewriting the cultural ways that destroy the environment. Some anthropologists now view animism as a way to challenge Western views (both Christian and secular) of what is thought to constitute the social world. (This new approach in anthropology is sometimes called the “new animism.”)

Quijada points out that activities like those presented in the Chapter Story, political protection of the Ganges River in India and the rights of personhood for the Klamath River, is animism taking a legal form. This is evident especially in the story of the Klamath. As part of their restoration of the river, the Yurok people are reintroducing the critically endangered condor to the area. Their motivation is steeped in science and the importance of maintaining ecological balance in the region. It’s also a story of the spiritual meaning of the condor and how their reintroduction is important to uphold generations-long traditions.

Watch this 2:16-minute video, “The Condor’s Spiritual and Ecological Role Along the Klamath” [Streaming Video] (figure 9.36). As you watch, consider: What does Tania Williams, Yurok Tribe condor biologist, share about the spiritual and ecological importance of the condor for the Yurok Tribe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhHbUp66xUQ

Animism is now recognized as more of a universal trait of the multicultural societies within which we live. Its main threads are present in many nature-based spiritualities around the world. Human activity is understood within a broader context of persons and their relationships; these persons may include visible beings such as humans, animals, plants, and rocks along with non-visible beings such as spirits or ancestors.

The universe is seen as a web of relationships. As Quijada describes, “In all these instances, rituals establish relationships of obligation that tie humans to the land and the land to the humans who live on it. Instead of human dominion over the landscape, in Animist cosmologies, humans live under the dominion of the landscape around them” (Quijada 2022).

Sharing with a Long View

The second way that religions and spiritual belief systems reflect aspects needed to heal our planet is by taking a long view. The major world religions have lasted for centuries, in great part to keep societies safe and vital. Ancient spiritual belief systems do the same, connecting deeply to both ancestors and future generations. Woven into these belief systems is a sense of sharing and responsibility that considers current generations as well. For example, Md Saidul Islam shares more from the IEP:

…the earth is not for one generation but for every generation, past, present, and future, and that would include humans as well as other creatures on this earth. Accordingly, rivers, minerals, and other common goods are, according to IEP, the property of all. [They] should be distributed fairly and justly (Islam 2012:78).

Similarly, the tenets of Judaism support environmental sustainability, ensuring that the planet and her resources will last for generations. In the Talmud, a sacred text paired with the Torah, a rabbi warns against conspicuous consumption. Jewish environmental studies scholar Manfred Gerstenfeld writes:

…classical Jewish texts frequently condemn conspicuous consumption and speak out against the culture of consumerism. It is written in the Talmud: “The rabbis said that the end of a sage who overindulges in elaborate meals everywhere will be that he destroys his house, turns his wife into a widow, makes his children orphans, forgets his studies, and quarrels abound around him” (Gerstenfeld 2001).

This text is just one example of Jewish beliefs and practices that sustain Jewish eco-theology.

In North American Indigenous traditions, it is common to reflect on decisions based on the impact they will have in seven generations. Listen to the 2.5-minute video “What Do We Tell the Seven Generations?” [Streaming Video] to hear Jennifer Irving, a Lakota woman, share her thoughts on living in a way that cares for the seven generations (figure 9.37). As you do, consider how she links her ancestors, the seven generations to come, and our response to climate change. (Optional: Read more about the Lakota Dakota Nakota Nation [Website].)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6mce09D4pU

Codes of sharing with a long view might help answer questions such as: How much fishing each year can sustain an ecosystem so it is healthy in seven generations? Or how should medicinal plants be cared for so they continue to support the community for those years to come?

Social Connection

Third, religions and spiritual belief systems encourage members to set codes of ethics related to how humans treat each other. This carries through to how we treat the natural world. For example, Buddhism teaches that all things are interconnected and interdependent. Because human existence is enmeshed with natural systems, damage done to the Earth is also harmful to humans. The Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibet, shared thoughts on this in 1992:

Since I deeply believe that basically human beings are of a gentle nature so I think the human attitude towards our environment should be gentle. Therefore I believe that not only should we keep our relationship with our other fellow human beings very gentle and non-violent, but it is also very important to extend that kind of attitude to the natural environment (His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet 1992).

Joanna Macy, a respected Buddhist teacher, connects the climate crisis and spiritual practice in a revolutionary way. Instead of looking at how spiritual worldviews create or mend the environment, she writes that the crisis is a way to deepen our spiritual practice. We deepen our social connection when we see our interdependence. She writes, “Planetary anguish lifts us onto another systemic level where we open to collective experience. It enables us to recognize our profound interconnectedness with all beings” (Cielita Flor and Miraz 2023).

Macy further expands on how responding to the climate crisis deepens our individual and collective spiritual practice using grief and joy. She calls this concept “active hope.” She says that our emotions around the climate crisis, our grief, and our fear are actually collective and social responses to the deep suffering of the world and its creatures. We can be energized to take action when we are awake to the pain of environmental devastation. Also, in our gratitude for the world and all its gifts and our joy in being alive, we fall in love with the world. Because we love so deeply, we are motivated to take actions that care for the planet and all its beings. Buddhist spiritual activists use these principles of mindfulness and community to take action for environmental protection (figure 9.38).

Licenses and Attributions for Religion, Spiritual Belief Systems, and the Environment

Open Content, Original

“Religion, Spirituality, and the Environment” by Kimberly Puttman and Aimee Samara Krouskop is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Figure 9.34. Schöpfung/Creation by German artist Johann Elias Ridinger is on Wikimedia Commons and in the public domain.

Figure 9.38. “March to the Arang Valley” is on Wikimedia Commons, by Luc Forsyth, and licensed under CC BY 3.0.

All Rights Reserved Content

Figure 9.35. “Does Islam Care About the Environment?” by Saad Tasleem is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.

Figure 9.36. “The Condor’s Spiritual and Ecological Role Along the Klamath” by KCET is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.

Figure 9.37. “What Do We Tell the Seven Generations?” by the American Public Health Association is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.