Islam

All pictures on this post have been taken from the Stock Exchange Web site. The author and link to their other work will be under each picture.

("The Rising" by Ozan Uzel.)

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with about 21% of the population following it, according to the Religious Tolerance Web site.

Islam means "peace" or "submission." Muslims are followers of Islam who believe Muhammad was the last of many great prophets sent by Allah (the one and only true God) to give them the Qur'an, or Koran. The Religious Tolerance Web site and the Islamic Center of Tucson say the framework of Muslim life next to the Qur'an is the five pillars, which are:
Faith
Prayer
Concern for the needy
Self-purification
Pilgrimage to Mecca if possible

Here are some links for more information about Islam:
*Alliance of Religions and Conservation
*Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology
*PBS's "Islam: Empire of Faith"

("She is praying..." by Yi Nam Jahe)

According to the Qur'an, Allah intended people to be stewards, or guardians of the environment, which He created.

(Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust Inviting Balanced Stewardship)


(From "What do Muslims Teach About Ecology?" at the Alliance of Religions and Conservation.)

It still amazes me to find so many religious groups that have put together organizations to help save the environment. It's interesting that people aren't joining secular environmental groups but creating their own based on their beliefs. Here are some links to Islamic groups and projects for the environment:

The Islamic Foundation For Ecology and Environmental Sciences, based in the UK, has practical ways for Muslims to get involved and explains the connection between Islam and the environment.

Islam News on the ARC Web site tells about Islamic groups in Africa and Brittain that have recently started projects to help the environment.

Jewish Tree New Year

(Photo/image by Shannon Bergman)

Trees are so important in the Jewish religion that they have their own day, called the Tu B’Shvat, a new year’s day for trees. I heard and read about a Jewish tree-planting holiday and thought this would be a perfect blog topic. I found out quite a bit that I’d like to share. First of all, today the holiday is celebrated by planting trees, eating fresh fruit and drinking wine.

This year’s Tu B’Shvat at the Temple Emanu-el in Tucson was celebrated by songs, stories, a dinner and a wine tasting. The announcement said the stories and songs were for “celebrating our connection to God and the natural world…”

One way to do this is by learning from trees. Nesansel Yoel Safran wrote in his introduction to a kids’ story about Tu B’Shvat about the example of patience. In “Family Trees: A TuB’shvat Story for Kids,” an 11 year-old girl asks an old man why he bothers planting trees. As the man tends to his newly planted tree he tells her it’s for his children and grandchildren to enjoy. The girl gives up her impatience and learns the importance of “planting for the future.” She says to her mom “There’s no rush, after all. Don’t all good things and good times, take time – to bear fruit?”

I remember planting my own tree when I was little. It had no spiritual significance for me because I didn’t go to church back then. But it was a little black walnut tree that I would be able to nurture and watch grow and eventually have my very own large walnut tree. I think I still have one of its walnuts. My tree was not even two feet tall when it took its last breath. There was some kind of gardening accident, something about my dad not realizing it was a tree because it looked like the weeds surrounding it.
(Photo courtesy of Cirrusimage.com)

Today I planted my very own virtual tree. I went to the Knesset Birthday Web site for Tu B’Shvat and planted a carob tree. I found this as a link to kids’ activities for the trees’ New Year.

The New Year comes from Jewish scripture explaining when to give tithes. It instructs you to only use fruit that has flowered before the New Year for tithing.

Here are some scriptures from Judaism 101: Tu B’Shevat, which adds that Jewish children collect money on Tu B’Shvat to send to Israel for tree planting.

Leviticus 19:23-25 “When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the Lord. In the fifth year, you many eat its fruit”

Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 “There are four new years… the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month.”

More scriptures where the Torah compares people to trees are given in “Man is a Tree” by Rabbi Shraga Simmons.

Deuteronomy 20:19 “A person is like the tree of a field…”

Isaiah 65:22 “For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people.”

Jeremiah 17:8 “He will be like a tree planted near water…”

Green Judaism

This week’s entry will again be updated throughout the week. Today I want to start with two good websites that you can look at to find out more about how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment. I know I’ve given my readers a lot of info these last couple weeks but I really think this is important background info and I will have some profiles coming up.

(I took this picture)

“Man is entrusted with the proper management of the world. We may not stand aside and watch the world being destroyed.”
by Rabbi Yehudah Levi

“Judaism is replete with highly-refined environmental consciousness.”
by Rabbi Barry Freundel

These quotes are from the Tu B’shvat Insights web site. There are several articles by rabbis about how Judaism and the environment are linked. This is a great resource because the articles are easy to understand and have many references to Jewish law and books.


(This is copy and pasted from last week’s post for anybody who hasn’t read it yet)

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
I really like this source because the website provides its readers with various ways to get involved in helping the environment. It encourages people to buy energy saving light bulbs, tells them how to contact government officials and what people can do in the synagogue. It explains well how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment on this page: “What’s Jewish about protecting the environment?”

One of my favorite pages is the Source for Environmental Education, Discourse, and Study. There is an incredible amount of resources and programs including tree planting how to have green holidays and many ways to teach green Jewish principles.

Eco-friendly religions and their websites

I've narrowed down my focus to five religions that I will cover this semester. I chose them based on the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, but I haven't learned about statistics so I won't try to give you percentages because they could be wrong. Here's a link of the complete list:

2001 U.S. Census Stats

Here's my shortened version of the stats based on the religions I chose:
U.S. citizens interviewed
207,980

Total Christians
159,506

Total Jewish
2,831

Total Muslim/Islamic
1,104

Total Atheist
902

Total Native American
103

Now for the websites:

Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology
This is a great place to start because it gives you background on ten religions and how they relate to ecology and environmental concerns. Each essay tells you about the author, uses end notes and has links at the side for more information. The overall project is supported by nine different institutes including the Humane Society of the United State and the forum coordinators are from Yale University. These are all signs that the website has trustworthy information.

I especially love that the website is color coded. My learning style is visual so it helps me find things easier. The sections and colors on the main page are: Information, Religion, Intersecting Disciplines, Resources for Educators, Publications and Events.

Religious Tolerance
I really like this website because it comes from the perspective that world religions aren't doing enough to help the environment. The religion-specific websites tell you all the great things that are being done so it's nice to hear what's lacking.

The supporting organization is Religious Tolerance, which promotes religious freedom, but not any particular religion, and is based in Ontario. It provides background information on many different religions, uses footnotes and has website links. On the home page you can find a list of issues with their background information and law resources.

Sept. 15 UPDATES:

Here's a few more websites. I had a hard time finding good ones. There seems to be more organisations in the UK then in the US, but I think I found a couple.

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
I really like this source because the website provides its readers with various ways to get involved in helping the environment. It encourages people to buy energy saving light bulbs, tells them how to contact government officials and what people can do in the synagogue. It explains well how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment on this page: “What’s Jewish about protecting the environment?”

One of my favorite pages is the Source for Environmental Education, Discourse, and Study. There is an incredible amount of resources and programs including tree planting how to have green holidays and many ways to teach green Jewish principles.

What Would Jesus Drive?
I added this here because I used it as my link in my last blog on Christian ecology. I had thought it was such a neat title and liked that it had so many ways Christians can get involved. I want to make sure you know that this is probably not a great source because the web site has apparently not been updated since 2003.

Creation Care Magazine and Evangelical Environmental Network
This is the creator of What Would Jesus Drive and has been updated more recently. There is a Winter 2007 issue of Creation Care up. I like this website because it tells you about the connection between Christianity and the environment. It also includes fact sheets on global warming, air pollution, water quality, and oceans.

The American Muslim
This is an article from March 2007 about the relationship between Islam and the environment. It includes links to other articles and is part of a larger website called “The American Muslim” which has all kinds of information and other links.

Christian Ecology

I chose to do my first blog on my friend Will Schmitt. This week I had a limited amount of time to research a religion so I decided to start with my own. I want to be able to understand what I’m writing about to help give my readers a full view. Will goes to my church and is married to one of my best friends. I chose to use him as an example because he takes an interest in studying Science from a creationism point of view.

What Will actively does for the environment:

*Recycles
*Recently got a new gas-saving heater
*Installed double pane windows to keep heat/cold in
*Upgraded to a high efficiency water heater
*Covers his outdoor spa so he doesn’t have to refill it as often due to water evaporation

Will Schmitt, 33, is a born again Christian, goes to Faith Christian Church and works at Raytheon. He says he would consider himself a conservationist instead of an environmentalist. See: FCC Statement of Belief

When I asked Will to be my first profile he eagerly accepted it and went home to do his own research. He carries with him a strong belief that God created the earth, the universe and all it contains. Christianity teaches that the earth will come to an end and people will live eternally either in heaven or in hell. But because Jesus died for us, if we give our lives to Him and believe He is God we will go to heaven. Because God will create a new earth after we die, many Christians believe it’s important to take care of what is on the earth now without being too concerned about what will happen millions of years from now. Will said that with that we need to be good stewards
of God’s creation without actually worshipping
it. He gave me some specific scriptures in the Bible (he mostly used the New American Standard Bible) about the environment and how God sees it. Here’s what Will found: One thing that is taught at Faith Christian Church is that the Bible is 100% true and therefore to find out what God thinks that’s the place to go. Here's what Will found.

God created the environment and all it contains for three main reasons.
1. To be an example for people.

Proverbs 6:6-8 “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer, or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.” - God uses the ant as an example of being faithful with what God has given you. Will said this shows that God is more interested in our character that we can provide for ourselves.

Deuteronomy 25:4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”
1 Corinthians 9:9-10 “For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about the ox, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.” - God actually does care about the ox, Will said, but God cares more for us. Will added that this law was created to first and foremost build our character and secondly for our physical well being.
2. To bring God’s glory

Job chapters 38 & 39
– Will said these chapters show God’s majesty and that He created the earth and the entire environment for people to look at and be in awe of.
3. To provide for people
Genesis 6:19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.” – Will said that even though God cared about the animals, He brought them on the ark with Noah to provide for the people on the ark during and after the flood.

One of the things that stood out after talking to Will is how much he said God loves the environment; He created it and loves it when we take care of it. Here are a few more scriptures Will found that convey God’s love of His creation. I put Will’s summary followed by a link to the scripture reference.

* God created plants and saw that it was good Genesis 1:12

* God created aquatic animals, animals of the air and saw that is was good Genesis 1:20

* God created land and saw that it was good Genesis 1:24

* God says wants to have compassion on Nineveh, including the animals Jonah 4:11

* God cares so much for His creation that he doesn’t allow even one sparrow to fall without His knowing Matthew 10:29

* God remembers the animals on the ark and stops the storm early so they will not be destroyed Genesis 8:1

OTHER LINKS

Evangelical Environmental Network

What Would Jesus Drive