A sample entry from the

Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (London & New York: Continuum, 2005)

Edited by

Bron Taylor

© 2005 All Rights Reserved 1680 services use texts from all of the major religious and secu- Wright, Conrad. The Prophets of Religious Liberalism: lar traditions. Channing, Emerson, Parker. Boston: Unitarian Univer- Native American and pagan traditions are often used to salist Association, 1986 (2nd edn). transform religious consciousness by returning to the pre- See also: Corrington, Robert S.; Emerson, Ralph Waldo; monotheistic world, a world held to be friendlier to nature Nature Religion in the ; Pantheism; Spinoza, than that of the supernatural monotheisms. Among the Baruch; Transcendentalism. more important yearly events is the Flower Communion in which each member of the congregation is asked to bring a flower that is placed in a common vase at the front of the United Nations – See Bahá’í Faith and the United meeting room or sanctuary. At the end of the service, each Nations; ; Religious Studies and Environ- member takes a different flower home. The Czech Unitar- mental Concern; United Nations’ “.” ian minister Norbert Capek created this service before the Second World War. Capek also created the symbol of the United Nations’ “Earth Summits” flaming chalice, which combines the naturalistic symbols of enlightening fire and the wisdom-holding cup, which is The first international United Nations’ “,” now the central liturgical object in the Unitarian Univer- formally known as the United Nations Conference on salist movement. Capek was executed in a Nazi concentra- Environment and Development, was held in Rio de tion camp in 1942 for his resistance work in which the Janeiro, from the 3rd to the 14th June, 1992. It symbol of the flaming chalice was used as a code to help included 172 national representatives (of which 108 were escaping Jews. heads of state) and over 2400 representatives of non- Along with a strong social gospel tradition, Unitarian governmental organizations (NGOs), and addressed the Universalists today fully participate in the worldwide threat of global environmental degradation as nations movement of the greening of the Church. There is a direct seek economic development. The gathered national lead- involvement in local issues of justice and the use of ers signed the Convention on and the resources in a way that distributes them equitably and Convention on Biological Diversity and the conference does minimal harm to the environment. Each member of itself adopted The Rio Declaration on Environment and the congregation is asked to use ecologically friendly prac- Development, The Forest Principles, and , a tices in all dimensions of personal and social life. In the plan for coordinating environmental and national devel- national realm, the Association works to create laws that opment by the next century. The Commission on Sustain- will bring these practices into being. On the international able Development was formed to monitor and report on level, the Association has long fought for forms of just the implementation of these declarations and principles. trade and reduced First World consumption. One particu- The 1992 Earth Summit emerged from an earlier United lar focus of this concern is with critiquing the growing Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at power of international corporations as they control the Stockholm in 1972, which for the first time placed yearly sale and distribution of hybrid seeds for which they environmental issues before the international community, have the patents. Given that Unitarian Universalism and led to the formation of the United Nations Environ- denies the reality of a potentially salvific deity who could ment Program. By 1983 the relationship between create an apocalypse that would rescue a few of us from environmental degradation and economic and social our abuse of nature, congregation members feel compelled development had led to the formation of the United by conscience to work toward the reversal of the natural Nations World Commission on Environment and Devel- degradation partially caused by the monotheisms. opment, known as the . This issued the 1989 report entitled , which Robert S. Corrington defined as “that which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of Further Reading future generations to meet their needs” and called for Bumbaugh, David E. Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative international strategies combining both . Chicago: Meadville Lombard Press, 2000. protection and development. Significantly, the envisioned Dorrian, Gary. The Making of American Liberal Theology: programs include action not only at the international, but Imagining Progressive Religion 1805–1900. Louis- also at regional, national and local levels, and involving ville: Westminster John Knox, 2001. state and non-state actors. The United Nations General Parke, David B. The Epic of Unitarianism: Original Assembly voted in 1989 to hold the first United Nations Writings from the History of Liberal Religion. Boston: Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Skinner House Books, 1985. 1992. Robinson, David. The Unitarians and the Universalists. UNCED was a watershed, but not only for the obvious Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. environmental reasons. The United Nations moved toward United Nations’ “Earth Summits” 1681 the Rio meeting by hosting several preparation committee out these presentations. Oftentimes there was an open meetings in New York. Those who attended these meetings speaker forum, such that the conversation was participa- included not only government officials but also represen- tory, democratic and lively. Music from indigenous tatives of non-governmental organizations who could drummers, the Earth musician Paul Winter, and the North apply for official NGO status with the UN and provide American popular singer John Denver, brought home the input into the process. Each country could solicit contribu- need to connected together spirituality, music and politics. tions from numerous organizations and individuals, Thousands of journalists reported on Rio 1992. This including that of both organized religious bodies and event showed clearly the signs of a global citizens move- other groups motivated by nature-related spirituality ment, which continued on to Rio+10 and is manifested in whose main identity was not religious. These official con- the World Social Forum. versations involved intense debates and disagreements A strong religious voice promoting environmental sus- about what was to be included and excluded from the tainability and social justice emerged at Rio and continued agenda. Many compromises were made prior to and at to develop through subsequent United Nations environ- UNCED. mental events. The World Council of Churches, the Vati- Running parallel to the UNCED was an “Earth Summit” can, and representatives of other world religions, notably – a people’s conference – an exclusively NGO event that Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Bahá’i for example were repre- coexisted with UNCED also in Rio. Although sponsored by sented at the 1992 Earth Summit. The Dalai Lama played a the UN, this event drew environmental and political activ- significant role as a spokesperson for religious sensitivi- ists from all over the world. Seventeen thousand or more ties. He spoke at UNCED and especially the Earth Summit, people (or their organizations) paid their own way (or their offering a sunrise ceremony for participants at the latter organizations did) to discuss the social and environmental venue. Given his respect for diversity and reputation for situation around the world. Here a radical environmental moral and spiritual integrity the Dalai Lama was able to and social agenda emerged and alternative treaties were call to awareness the many religious traditions that teach written. The Earth Summit represented the critical social the sacredness of the Earth. Reverence for the Earth was a politics that had been emerging over decades, such as dimension added to intense environmental and social international feminism, ’ rights, post- analysis, which strengthened both. His presence also Marxist and post-colonial analyses, peace, human rights, brought a certain spiritual authority to the NGO com- and environmental agendas. The crucial presence of these munity at the Earth Summit, as it pressured the UNCED groups pressured the UNCED’s official governmental rep- delegates to take action. In addition, hundred of indigen- resentatives to strengthen their environmental commit- ous peoples gathered nearby at Altimura and brought both ments, with particular attention to marginalized peoples. indigenous teachings and a powerful political presence to One result of UNCED and the Earth Summit was that it was the events. They focused attention on the importance of now evident that citizens groups had developed their own protecting “Mother Earth” and helped contribute to the analyses and viewpoints, were no longer going to accept growing appreciation among some United Nations their government’s positions, and would be very active in officials and delegates of the value of their cultures and planning and presenting alternatives. One of the most “traditional ecological knowledge.” dynamic conversations took place at the Women’s Tent – Although many religious traditions were present in Planeta Femea – with speakers such as Wangari Matthai, Rio, the overall effect was an interreligious cooperation Peggy Antrobus, , Vandana Shiva, and over a on social and environmental issues. The fact that hundred other engaging radical feminists, all of whom religious leaders from around the world, representing asserted strongly that the environmental crisis is con- many faiths, symbols and customs, could join as one nected to the oppression of women. The women’s caucus voice in claiming the religion is an integral aspect of any worked hard to make the negotiators respond to the viable solution. Rituals occurred at many times, and world’s most disadvantaged peoples, especially women, most often in a combining of rituals, teachings and wis- who make up the majority of the world’s poor in every dom. This multi-religious presence registered the need country and are critical to and for religions to work together, and initiated a host of eradication. public and political collaboration on environmental Others, such as the Canadian Scientist and television issues. As well, religious leaders were often on panels documentarian David Suzuki, North American Indian where economics, human rights, gender equity and bio- Faithkeeper Chief Oren Lyon of the Onondaga, economist diversity were discussed, which led to an understanding Hazel Henderson, and world-famous television ocean- that religion is an integrated voice in the conversation ographer-documentarian Jacques Cousteau, and many and solutions. more, brought a sharp and multidisciplinary focus on the A proposal for an “Earth Charter” may prove to be the complexity and urgency of the environmental crises most significant religion-related development at the around the world. Religious voices were woven through- UNCED. This initiative mimics the strategy that guided the 1682 United Nations’ “Earth Summits”

United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, in which audience, including during one session devoted to pro- ratification by member-states is sought as a means to moting the Earth Charter, which by 2002 had been leverage better environmental behavior among indi- through many drafts and had been officially brought viduals, institutions, and nation-states. Although not before the United Nations. At this Earth Charter celebra- officially embraced at the UNCED the idea was soon tion, an “Arc of Hope” was present, which was on its own championed and developed by influential actors in the pilgrimage around the world, taken by those promoting non-governmental community. this initiative. Its outside was adorned with Earth-related The Earth Charter was initially brought forward by symbols from the world’s major religious traditions, and , the Canadian who was the main organizer inside of it, in addition to messages of hope from chil- of the Earth Summit. In subsequent years Strong laced his dren around the world, was the Earth Charter itself, as a speeches promoting the Charter with Gaian spirituality. new sacred text, painstakingly scribed on papyrus. The The Charter’s most famous early proponent was Mikhail Charter was mentioned favorably by a number of heads Gorbechev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, who of states, or their representatives, during the WSSD, and promoted Glasnost and presided over the Soviet Union’s in the conference’s political declaration, a phrase from it rejection of communism, before going on to serve as the urging respect for the wider “community of life” President of Green Cross International, which is devoted to remained in the final text, which was the first such refer- turning international institutions green. Less well known ence in a United Nations International Law document, is that Gorbechev’s was grounded in according to Stephen Rockefeller, one of the Charter’s a biocentric axiology in which “life has value in itself ” most influential proponents (email correspondence after (Gorbechev 1997:14), and a pantheistic, earthen spiritual- the conference). ity, as he put it, “I believe in the cosmos . . . nature is my Jane Goodall and some other important figures who god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and had promoted Earth-focused spirituality at the official forests are my cathedrals” (1997: 15). It is not uncommon WSSD venues also appeared at the so-called “People’s for actors engaged with the United Nations’ Earth Summit,” held nearby at an Anglican school, which efforts to express such spirituality. became during the WSSD the epicenter of anti- After the UNCED at Rio, the next United Nations globalization resistance. At that venue, spiritualities of Conference on environment and development was labeled connection and belonging to an Earth considered sacred the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) were often expressed, even being included in declarations and held in , South Africa from 26 August to protesting the failure of the WSSD itself to take decisive 4 September 2002. This summit was the largest UN confer- action to protect the environment and promote social just- ence ever held, with 65,000 participants, including 104 ice. African traditional religions and religious leaders heads of state, and with representatives from over 8000 (Sangomas) were given a special place of honor. Among NGOs and voluntary associations. There were, however, the well-known activists and scholars speaking at that fewer heads of state than at Rio; in contrast, there were venue, in addition to Goodall, were the ecofeminist Van- many more NGO representatives and other citizens. The dana Shiva and the anti-globalization leader Helena conference was contentious as it spotlighted the growing Norberg-Hodge. For them and others at the venue, “dis- imbalance in living standards between developed and less connection” with nature was viewed as a fundamental developed nations. According to most observers, the pro- cause of environmental decline and “reconnecting with gress that was made on a number of issues was insignifi- nature” as the antidote. African Sangomas led rituals to cant when compared to the scale of the problems, and connect people to the ancestors and solicit their guidance overall the conference failed to gain a comprehensive and power for the present environmental struggle, implementation plan for Agenda 21, a chief conference explaining that in African traditional religion the ances- objective. tors live in a corporeal world connected to this one, and There was, however, significant evolution in the that the well-being of the Earth and the worlds inhabited religious, ethical challenge to business as usual by the by the ancestors are connected, and that environmental nation-states. A “Sacred Space” was designated at Ubuntu protection is necessary for our well-being not only in this Village, for example, the main exhibition venue, where world, but also in the one to come. interfaith ritualizing and prayer for the well-being of the But it was not only at the WSSD’s margins that Earth’s community of life was a regular occurrence. The Earth-related spirituality appeared, and was evolving. In primatologist Jane Goodall, for example, spoke widely addition, the Japanese power industry ran expensive from the official venue as well as at the venue devoted to advertising in the International Herald Tribune under the non-governmental organizations representing “civil soci- headline “Let’s Be Grateful to Mother Earth”, then defend- ety” and at a conference organized by the International ing nuclear power as an energy source. Less commercially, Union for the Conservation of Nature. She brought her the major institutional religious actors who had been pres- own biocentric ethics and animistic spirituality to a wide ent at the Rio Summit were represented again, issuing Universal Pantheist Society 1683 position papers, and endeavoring to influence delegates Catholic Theology and the Environment. Washington, toward strong positions in defense of ecosystems and for DC: National Catholic Bishops Conference, 1996. greater equity in the distribution of the world’s natural Fowler, Robert Booth. The Greening of Protestant Thought. resources. Perhaps even more significant were develop- Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, ments in Earth-related spiritualities beyond the sphere of 1995. institutional religions, some of which may presage the Gransberg-Michaelson, Wesley. Redeeming the Creation: emergence of a kind of non-sectarian global civic Earth The Rio Earth Summit: Challenges for the Churches. religion. Geneva: WCC Press, 1992. Jane Goodall, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Hessel, Dieter and Larry Rasmussen, eds. Earth Habitat: and the Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, for Eco-Justice and the Church’s Response. Minneapolis, example, along with many other dignitaries, led a pilgrim- MN: Fortress Press, 2001. age on 1 September to Sterkfontein, which was located Keenan, Marjorie, Sr. From Stockholm to Johannesburg: near the WSSD site, and had been inaugurated in 2001 by An Historical Overview of the Concern of the Holy See the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural for the Environment. Vatican: The Pontifical Council Organization as as World Heritage Site. There the Austra- for Justice and Peace, 2003. lopithecus, an extinct form of pre-humans dating to 4 mil- Posey, Darrell Addison. Cultural and Spiritual Values of lion years ago, had been found in the 1930s, leading the . , Kenya: United Nations place to be called the “Cradle of Humanity.” Mbeki himself Environmental Programme, 1999. gave a speech there (and during his comments during the Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community: Earth Ethics. WSSD’s opening ceremony) and although not overtly Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996. religious, his words were in many ways reminiscent of the UNESCO (Man and the Program). Man Belongs Epic of Evolution, expressing a reverence for the natural to the Earth. Paris: UNESCO-MAB, 1988. world as the habitat of humanity. He asserted that this site See also: Bahá’í Faith and the United Nations; Biosphere in particular, and evolution in general, shows the kinship Reserves and World Heritage Sites; Earth Charter; Epic of of all humanity, and the interconnection of all life forms. Evolution; ; Environmental Sabbath; The pilgrimage to and celebration of this site was remark- Globalization; Goodall, Jane; Indigenous Environmental able, as was the way in which it was repeatedly mentioned Network; Primate Spirituality; Religious Studies and at the WSSD and viewed as relevant to the conference’s Environmental Concern; Shiva, Vandana; Sustainability mission, given that so many, on religious grounds, reject a and the World Council of Churches; World Conference of Darwinian understanding of human origins, and because Indigenous Peoples (Kari Oca, Brazil); World Council of politicians generally avoid making pronouncements that Churches and Ecumenical Thought. might give offense. Even the pageantry of the conference’s opening ceremony assumed an evolutionary understand- ing, implied a reverence for life, and envisioned an (at P Universal Pantheist Society least) quasi-religious utopian hope for the reharmoniza- tion of all life on Earth. Such events suggest that the con- Founded in 1975, the Universal Pantheist Society (UPS) is secration of evolutionary narratives is making progress the world’s oldest membership organization dedicated to beyond the figures and religious enclaves that have the advancement of modern pantheism. The Society’s birthed and nurtured such religious production. stated purposes are The United Nations has thus become a venue where the world’s religions and newer forms of religiosity increas- to unite Pantheists everywhere into a common fel- ingly press an environmental agenda upon nation-states lowship, to undertake the conveyance of informa- and international institutions. Increasingly these diverse tion about Pantheism to the interested public, to voices express the conviction that all is interconnected encourage discussion and communication among and that the Earth and its living systems are inherently Pantheists, to provide mutual aid and defense of valuable and sacred in some way, understood either as Pantheists everywhere, to stimulate a revision of divine themselves, or as divinely imparted gifts from a social attitudes away from anthropocentrism and beneficent Creator. toward reverence for the Earth and a vision of Nature as the ultimate context for human existence, Bron Taylor and to take appropriate action toward the protection Iain S. Maclean and restoration of the Earth. Heather Eaton The Society’s name underscores its “universal” outlook, Further Reading not tied to any single view of pantheism, but rather recog- Clifford, Anne M. et al. And God Saw That It Was Good: nizing a diversity of viewpoints within it. UPS accepts and