13 or 14 (I think) years ago I was at a public meeting in Atikokan. As I recall, the purpose of the meeting was to talk about forestry, in particular as it was impacted by new regulations aimed to protect caribou habitat in Northwestern Ontario. As often happens in such discussions, the industry was lamenting that the new restrictions were overly restrictive and limiting their ability to function profitably. Also present at that meeting was at least one of the Town Councillors. Bud had to leave early but as he left he made a comment about how he “did not see why other animals should get treated as more important than humans”. I assume he saw that the caribou were getting preferential treatment because protecting them was interfering with economics. I have always thought Bud was missing the point. In fact I think he was showing the clear assumption made by many over the years that human economic activity trumps all other claims to the earth.
What does it mean to live with respect in creation?
This line was not originally in A New Creed. There have been two changes to A New Creed (also known in ecumenical circles as the United Church Creed) since it was first adopted in 1969. In 1980 modifications were approved to adapt the original language to make it more inclusive. The other change came about in the mid 1990’s. In Our Words of Faith, a study document about United Church statements of faith produced in 2010 we find this:
In
1994, Toronto Conference petitioned the 35th General Council to
“amend the United Church creed to explicitly acknowledge our
responsibility for the integrity of creation and our place in it.”
The General Council approved this motion, the task was referred to
the Committee on Theology and Faith, and Moderator Stan McKay asked
former Moderator Walter Farquharson to suggest some phrases to the
committee for its consideration.
In
October 1994, the committee recommended to the Executive of the
General Council that the phrase “to care for creation” be added
immediately after the phrase “to celebrate God’s presence.” The
Executive concluded that the phrase did not adequately convey
humanity’s interrelationship with creation and asked the committee
to do more work on this possible addition. At the next General
Council Executive meeting in March 1995, the committee recommended
that the phrase “to live with respect in creation” be used. This
time the Executive agreed, and in the motion approving the change
noted that “the inclusion of the phrase ‘to live with respect in
creation,’ continues our attempt to live out the apology to First
Nations peoples, it calls us to care for a creation of which we are a
part and the phrase acknowledges respect for self as integral to
respect for creation.” (Page 18)
In the mid 1990’s there was an upsurge in eco-theology within United Church circles and this change was one of the results of that. But as the excerpt above points out there was a recognition that the issue was about more than simply taking care of the earth. What is added by that phrase “live with respect”?
I think living with respect is far more than being good stewards. I think it reminds us that it is not all about us humans. In fact I think that while this phrase was added specifically with an eco-theology lens it is in fact a whole -life lens.
To live with respect with creation means that we see the rest of creation as of equal importance as us. So it shapes how we approach environmental issues AND it shapes our attitudes towards other people. It pushes us to think seriously what it means to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. All are equally deserving of respect. Psalm 24 reminds us that “The earth is the Lord’s and all that it holds, the world and its inhabitants”. We are created by the Creator, we are challenged to remember that the other people and other creatures and other parts of the world are also created and loved by the Creator. As Genesis 1 reminds us, “God saws all that God had made and found it very good”. We need to respect that which God loves and calls good.
And this is why I think Bud had it wrong all those years ago. When we set policies to protect other species or set aside area as protected from economic activity we are not saying they are more important than humans. We are saying humans are not more important than those caribou, or frogs, or birds, or plants. That is what living with respect means. It means we treat each other as of equal value. And sometimes it means we give up something of value to us because the other has equal value.
Imagine if this ethic of respect shaped our all our social policy.
Imagine if it shaped all our economic choices. What a wonderful world
that could be!
--Gord
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