Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Religious, Interfaith Environmental Organizations Put The Faith Back In Green Activism





http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/religious-environmental-organization_n_5185400.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000051

The Huffington Post
by Antonia Blumberg
April 22, 2014

Green activism is often largely a scientific and political affair. But it doesn't need to be that way. Some of the best-known environmental organizations in the U.S. began with religious or spiritual roots: According to its website, Greenpeace was founded in a church basement by activists inspired by the Quaker tradition of "bearing witness." Sierra Club's most prominent founder, John Muir, is said to have been a deeply spiritual man influenced by transcendentalism.

Many religious and interfaith organizations today carry on the tradition of faith-based environmental activism and stewardship.

Here are 14 organizations working to protect the environment from a place of faith. What inspiring faith-based environmental organizations have we missed? Let us know in the comments.



GreenFaith

GreenFaith is an interfaith organization that works primarily with houses of worship, religious schools and faith groups to educate them on sustainability and green practices. The organization has three core values that guide its work: spirit, stewardship and justice.


Interfaith Power & Light

Founded in 1998, Interfaith Power & Light offers a faith-based response to global warming. Now present in states around the U.S., IPL has a commitment to earth stewardship and uses education, advocacy and activism to address environmental concerns.


National Religious Partnership for the Environment

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment brings together independent faith groups, including the Catholic Climate Covenant, the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, Creation Justice Ministries and more. Through scholarship, leadership trainings and congregational outreach the organization aims to advocate for the environment as an extension of the divine.


The Shalom Center

Based in Philadelphia, the Shalom Centerincorporates Jewish and interfaith values to address climate change, food justice and endangered species.


Evangelical Environmental Network

The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN)looks to the Bible's teachings to inform its eco activism. Inspired by the Bible's charge of stewardship and "tending the garden," EEN publishes Creation Care magazine, hosts podcasts and trainings and offers sustainability resources for churches and individuals.


Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development

Based in Jerusalem, the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development bring faith communities together to promote sustainability through advocacy, education and action projects. The Center's initiatives include eco conferences, eco tourism, women's activism, interfaith work and more.


EcoSikh

Initiated in 2009 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC),EcoSikh works to connect Sikh values and beliefs to the cause of environmentalism. The organization's main programs include Sikh Environment Day, a green pilgrimage network and a campaign to make gurdwaras more sustainable.


Green Muslims

Initiated at a zero-waste iftar during Ramadan in 2007, Green Muslims at once aims to inspire Muslims toward green activism and to provide a bridge between Muslim communities and environmental organizations. The organization hosts farm work days and river clean ups and offers toolkits for green Ramadans.


A Rocha

A Rocha is an international Christian environmental organization. Guided by Christian principles, A Rocha funds scientific research and environmental education to address pressing ecological concerns around the world.


The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)

The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) aims to bring the Jewish community together in earth stewardship through outreach and activism. COEJL also partners with other faith groups and focuses on issues ranging from endangered species to energy security to clean air.


United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Environmental Justice Program

The Environmental Justice Program (EJP) offers resources for Catholic dioceses to serve their communities through environmental activism.


Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Founded in 1978, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship works to connect Buddhist teachings with environmental activism, and vice versa, through online media, trainings and education. The Fellowship also incorporates race, gender and eco-justice into its green activism.


The Forum on Religion and Ecology

Yale University's Forum on Religion and Ecologycombines conferences, publications and web outlets to explore religious and environmental ethics. The Forum places religion in dialogue with other disciplines, such as science, economics, education and public policy.


Creation Justice Ministries

Formerly the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program, Creation Justice Ministriesworks with 37 national faith groups from different Christian denominations on environmental justice policies. The group's campaigns range from climate change to food justice to green buildings and more.


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