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Why Environmentalism Cannot Replace Religion

by James Barringer  
1/25/2010 / Christian Apologetics

I recently saw a report by the UN's climate change group in which they suggested that environmentalism and protecting the earth could form a compelling "meta-narrative," a bigger story and meaning to life, on the same level as religion. Let me explain what they mean. A narrative is the story that you personally are living with your life. I am a 26-year-old man, living in Orlando, pursuing ministry and dating a beautiful girl. A meta-narrative would be something larger than me, something on a universal scale that is going on around me. The Bible explains the meta-narrative: we live in a universe created by God, corrupted by sin, and in need of salvation through God's son. That's the bigger story that I'm living in, as I'm living my own smaller story. Make sense?

The implication of the UN's report is that, if climate change is a compelling meta-narrative, then the traditional meta-narratives, specifically religions, will eventually become obsolete. Environmentalism is a very compelling bigger story indeed, especially to the people who are uncomfortable with the assertions that Christianity makes, things like absolute truth and the need for individual salvation. Environmentalism doesn't make anyone admit that they're wrong, doesn't introduce any doctrine or practice that may be divisive in any way, and offers everyone the opportunity to live a story bigger than themselves; in essence, it's the perfect replacement for religion. Or so this group thinks, anyway.

I think the very suggestion proves that Christianity is closer to the truth than they want to admit.

First, environmentalists are admitting that they need a meta-narrative in order to get the most out of life. In recent philosophy, postmodernism and humanism suggested that there is no bigger story, that there is nothing more to life than what we can see, and that life means nothing because God and eternity are not real. Unsurprisingly, those philosophies proved very difficult to live. A person can insist all he wants to that life has no meaning, but he still lives as if life has meaning - he still votes in elections, saves up money, cares about causes and people, proving that he still treats those things as if they mean something.

So, rather than continuing to insist that life has no meaning, environmentalists are now confirming that they do indeed need a larger story, and trying to create their own from scratch. This matches very clearly what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, that God has "placed eternity on the heart of man." We understand, without having to be told, that life is important and means something very special. Our Bible said, thousands of years before the first tree-hugger ever went vegetarian, that life goes better if you have a meta-narrative. We have known this all along. Environmentalists are realizing, thousands of years late, that we have always been right.

Even their choice of meta-narrative - creation - backs up the Christian message. Paul writes in Romans 1 that God's "invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Anyone who looks at the environment can see that it is amazing and beautiful. The aroma of God's eternal power and divine nature still waft up from it, and he intended for us to respond to creation that way. So, again, Paul wrote two thousand years ago that the environment is worth sitting up and noticing. Environmentalists are merely late to the party again.

Additionally, if you really think about it, environmentalism is not a compelling meta-narrative at all. It carries all the burdens of religion but with no promise of eternal reward, nor any hope of divine help. Environmentalists would have me believe that I have to drastically cut down on the life I want to live, in the name of protecting the environment for future generations. But they cannot explain why I should give two poots about future generations. They cannot explain why it makes sense to me to put aside my own pleasure so that people I will never meet can have a better earth. Why should I?

Christianity is compelling because it offers a carrot - accept God's forgiveness and you can have eternal life - and a stick - if you do not accept salvation, you will be judged for the choices you make in life, found guilty, and punished. Environmentalism has no carrot and no stick. I do not benefit in the short term by conserving the environment. I will not be punished in the long term if I fail to do so. It is an utterly flaccid belief system.

I do want to make it very clear that I believe in protecting the environment. God created everything and saw that it was good, and then he turned it over to humans to live in and be stewards over. We will be accountable to God for the damage we do to his beautiful world. But you can plainly see that caring for creation is only compelling if there is a reason to do so. The environment, simply for the environment's own sake, is insignificant. The environment, because God made it and told me to take care of it, is a cause worth upholding. Christians should be at the forefront of the green revolution, driving electric and hybrid cars, putting solar panels on our houses and wind generators in our backyards, and doing everything else we can, because we believe that we have the most important reason in the universe for taking care of the world. We should be embarrassing everyone else with the strength of our convictions about God's creation. Environmentalists say that, if enough people embraced the environment as a meta-narrative, religion would be obsolete. I say that if Christians were doing our jobs as stewards, environmentalism would be obsolete because we would already be leading the charge.

Those are just a few of the reasons that environmentalism is not a compelling meta-narrative and is not an alternative to religion. Only Christianity can provide an explanation of why the environment means anything at all. Our God provides hope and strength, forgiveness and salvation, and a thousand other things above and beyond simply a meta-narrative. I hope that environmentalists can be brought to see the smallness of their "larger story," and that our God will be glorified by the way we treat his earth.

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

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