On the one hand, we are faced with the stewardship of this beautiful, subtle, incredibly delicate, fragile planet. On the other, we confront the destiny of our fellow man, our brothers. How can we say that we are followers of Christ if this dual responsibility does not seem to us the essence and heart of our religion?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the dual responsibility of caring for the planet and humanity as core to religious belief.
Barbara Ward highlights the moral obligation of humanity to both protect the earth and care for others, stressing that true following of Christ encompasses these responsibilities. She suggests that stewardship of the planet and compassion for fellow humans are essential elements of faith, and one cannot neglect either aspect.
In practice
In a church sermon discussing environmental responsibility, this quote could inspire action.
We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that "we choose death."
how can one respect, let alone adopt, the values of a people who do not, on any level whatever, live the way they say they do, or the way they say they should?
All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.
I am a machine, condemned to devour them and then, throw them, in a changed form, on the dunghill of history.
It shouldn't be the consumer's responsibility to figure out what's cruel and what's kind, what's environmentally destructive and what's sustainable. Cruel and destructive food products should be illegal. We don't need the option of buying children's toys made with lead paint, or aerosols with chlorofluorocarbons, or medicines with unlabeled side effects. And we don't need the option of buying factory-farmed animals.
Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects that must be saved from a burning building.
We seldom speak of the virtue which we have, but much oftener of that which we lack.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.