Green Catholicism

The theocons are obsessed with keeping gays marginalized and making abortion illegal. To listen to them discuss Catholic orthodoxy entirely through this prism is quite a lesson in the total politicization of faith. They say nothing about the Catholic view of healthcare - that it's a human right; nothing about Catholic view of the economy - that unfettered free markets are unjust; nothing about the Catholic position on immigration - that the GOP is wrong; nothing about the Catholic position on torture - that it is an inherent and absolute evil.

They avoid these things because for them, religion is a means to political power. Since the party they support is so strongly opposed to much of what the Catholic church stands for, they remain silent, while castigating those of us who are, in fact, more orthodox as somehow un-Catholic. This is the trick, and the Vatican hierarchy, just as obsessed with abortion and gays, backs them up.

But not always. Benedict XVI is not an adjunct to GOP power as, say, Richard John Neuhaus was. And so his recent strong statement on environmental issues is ignored. Check it out here. Now, I don't believe in transposing Catholic dogma into political positions; but I do believe a faithful attempt to live according to one's conscience as a Catholic can guide one's approach to issues, an approach that can then be translated into a discourse accessible to all, Catholics, non-Catholics and non-believers alike.

On the environment, the Catholic position is clear. We cannot simply use this planet as a resource without also seeing it as an inheritance. We have no right as human beings to destroy ecological balance in ways that kill off other species, set off climate changes that could truly alter the planet, melt the polar ice-caps, and hurt vast numbers of the poor in the developing world. For Catholics, becoming wealthier is not a reason to ignore this duty.

Now, how we do this is, of course, up for debate. Carbon tax? Cap and trade? These are political questions. But a simple cost-benefit analysis is not the last word for Catholics. And I have to say that the deeper moral commitment to God's creation is not, in my view, optional for a believing Christian. We have all the moral responsibilities of dominion over other species and the natural world.

I see this is a practical issue - and generally view cap-and-trade with skepticism. I tend to believe that the only real solution will be technological. I'd like a small but gradually increasing carbon tax to help encourage more conservation. But beneath this, it's important to argue that being green is not some secular issue. It is, for some of us, a religious imperative.