Left Behind\u201d books<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=montanafreethink&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0842361936\")
). Second is a model of stewardship: God gave us the earth and we need to look after it well. And third is a model of God\u2019s immanence (His very Being in the earth and everywhere else commands our respect) or at least the notion of our discoving God through our relationship with nature.<\/p>\nThe third model is the one most heavily pushed by contemporary Christian Environmentalists, including John Hart<\/a>, one of the panel members. Dr. Hart wrote What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology?<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=montanafreethink&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0809142309\")
\u00a0&\u00a0has worked extensively with Native American traditions, which may play some roll in the development of this view. Holmes Rolston III<\/a>, author of\u00a0Genes, Genesis and God: Values and their Origins in Natural and Human History<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=montanafreethink&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=052164674X\")
seemed to lean more toward the second view, arguing that it is only from religion that we can find reason to value nature. Albert Borgmann<\/a>, who recently came out with Real American Ethics: Taking Responsibility for Our Country<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=montanafreethink&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0226066347\")
\u00a0expounded a fourth view, that we should view nature as a sort of gift bestowed upon us by God, and that we are responsible (individually and communaly) for recognizing the goodness of that gift. Ned Hettinger<\/a> suggested that science eliminates God\u2019s causal role in nature and that just being a good person is what is important, with religion or without. My own observation is that Christianity itself doesn\u2019t give clear guidance about how to (or even if we should) care for nature, thus we must go elsewhere for that guidance., the panel\u2019s non-Christian,My question, where I to ask one, would have been something like this: According to Buddhism, humankind\u2019s problems arise from the false notion of self (asmi-mana<\/span> in Pali), out of which is said to follow a need for protection, the pursuit of pleasures, the urge to possess, and the quest for security, all of which are insatiable, leading to our current consumption crisis. How can Christianity (or other philosophies) address humanity\u2019s ego<\/span>tistical tendencies and the damage this leads to in the environment?<\/p>\nFinally, I\u2019ll end with a verse from the Dhammapada<\/a> (v.99):<\/p>\n Delightful are the forests <\/span>
where worldlings delight not; <\/span>
the passionless will rejoice (therein), <\/span>
(for) they seek no sensual pleasures.<\/span><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.flickr.com\/62\/182058185_5b1756c6a8.jpg?v=0\")
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