UMR Communications is offering the latest headlines in the RSS format.
Commentary
GEN-X RISING: On economic stimulus, remember environment Presian Burroughs, Feb 25, 2009
Presian Burroughs
By Presian Burroughs Special Contributor
Just a month ago, our country inaugurated its first African-American president. In his inaugural speech, President Obama boldly sketched a vision for greater economic growth. He depicts future growth with uplifting brush-strokes, promising economic benefit to the underprivileged members of our nation.
As a young adult, I am overjoyed at the fresh strokes for justice that Mr. Obama will make on the canvas of U.S. history. But as a Christian concerned about God’s creation, I also worry that in the background lies the dangerous specter of ecological injustice, because economic growth often entails ecological degradation.
Mr. Obama’s concern for the downtrodden agrees with the best insights of Christianity: to take care of the poor, help those in need and administer justice for all. But by what means does Mr. Obama expect that all citizens will have adequate food, clothing, shelter and healthcare? Through unbounded economic growth.
Yet does economic growth as it has characteristically been pursued take enough thought for the health, biodiversity and wholeness of creation? The pollution of our soil, water and air; the destruction of our forests, wetlands and prairies; and the degradation of lands in other nations testify that it does not.
As a student of the Bible, I find this to be a problem. Many Old Testament prophets proclaim that God does not support human flourishing at the expense of creation’s flourishing.
The question facing us then is: How can the nation promote human justice and health as well ecological justice and health? And the question facing Christians is: How are we to hold in tension the love of neighbor and the command to till and keep the earth, assuring its flourishing (Gen 2:15)?
One obvious but challenging way for Americans to express Christ-like love for humans and creation is by living more simply and giving out of our abundance to people in need.
The Apostle Paul knew about issues of economic disparity. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he explained that Gentile churches should give out of the abundance of their possessions so that the needs of impoverished Christians in Jerusalem would be met (2 Cor. 8:13-14). Why would these Christians act in such a selfless way? Because the Spirit of God was motivating them to embody the character of Jesus, who “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).
Selfless living can free up resources for impoverished peoples, but can it also protect threatened ecosystems?
Reducing our consumption of material goods and natural—especially non-renewable—resources actually puts less stress on already taxed soils, forests, and water and fuel reserves. Denying ourselves some comforts can both free up our discretionary income to help others more fully and also decrease our unsustainable environmental practices.
I admit that I often find it difficult to resist a culture that tells me to buy the latest and greatest, the biggest and best, and the disposable. I often find myself working to maintain or even increase my standard of living, and the ensuring sense of status and power I feel in society. But I have the growing conviction that we, as a generation of young Christians, need to stop the relentless race toward the elusive “American Dream.”
We are now entering the season of Lent, when we walk with Jesus to the Cross—and incidentally, with our new president into a new economy. As we reflect on the life of faith and the journey to the Cross, may we find ourselves challenged to follow Jesus, Paul and the Corinthians in selfless love and care, even as we establish our careers, families, homes and standards of living.
The Cross and Resurrection give us reason to re-imagine the world with Paul’s “fair balance” enacted and Genesis’s fruitfulness of all creation realized. In the midst of our faithful, simple, sustainable and generous living, may our God bless us with the rich, abundant life Christ offers.
Ms. Burroughs, a doctoral student at Duke Divinity School, is filling in for Andrew Thompson.
Presian Burroughs
