Church Versus Environment
Earthy Mormons
By Holly Mullen
SLWeekly.com
Posted 05/08/2008
I have this Mormon friend who loves the Earth. Not so different from a
lot of you. He taps into his deepest spirituality while in the
outdoors. Shooting down a north-facing slope on skis, climbing a
favorite pitch on Little Cottonwood granite or an easy hike up to Big
Cottonwood’s Lake Blanche—it’s all church to him.
Not that he didn’t spend a lot of days worshiping the conventional
way—in church. My friend holds the position of high priest—the top rank
in the LDS priesthood. He once served in an LDS bishopric of a
university student ward. He says it was a challenge, but he loved it.
Something that’s always confused, even irked, my friend about
contemporary Mormonism is its anti-environmental image. If it were up
to him, every Mormon would gladly support 10 percent of Utah land as
designated wilderness. That’s a decent tithe for all the God-given
beauty around us.
For a church that urges organization and sustainability with calls for
food storage and disaster preparation, its leaders have rarely taken
any consistent stand on organized stewardship of the land. The last big
show LDS hierarchy made about environmental protection was its 1981
opposition to the MX missile in Utah’s west desert. People buzzed about
it for weeks. Shortly after, then-President Ronald Reagan scrapped the
project.
You might argue the MX opposition was more about peace than
environmentalism, but I think the two are a matched set. If you ask
most practicing Mormons today when was the last time one of their
leaders urged them to drive smaller cars, or to walk instead of drive
the two blocks to the neighborhood ward, or to eat less red meat or to
stay on established off-road vehicle trails while recreating in Utah’s
desert they would be hard-pressed to answer.
In my own faded Mormon memory, I have to go back to the ’70s for a
clear environmental message. LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball
urged church members in general conference to refrain from wantonly
shooting the birds and the beasts—which rankled the hunters—and to take
note of the world around them.
And, contrary to the politically conservative image of the official
church, many Mormon scholars can find nothing in scripture that urges
gobbling up resources at the expense of environmental protection.
“I have never come across anything in LDS Church doctrine that says,
‘Be wary, people, of this [environmental] movement,’” says George
Handley, professor of humanities at Brigham Young University.
But we live in a state where nearly 80 percent of the
Republican-dominated Legislature is Mormon. Four of our five members of
Congress are Republican and devout Mormon. Most have aligned themselves
with big oil, coal and gas interests, and go out of their way to fight
the smallest environmental protection efforts.
Some faithful Mormons want to change that. Last month, 40 progressive
Mormons turned out in Provo for a discussion titled “Faith and the
Land: Conversations About Spirituality and Wilderness.” Sponsored by
the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), the talk focused on
perceived conflicts between practice of their faith and environmental
protection.
“It’s astonishing to me how LDS theology is very imbued with spirit,
very supportive of the environment,” says Deeda Seed, outreach director
for SUWA. “I was raised Protestant, and I thought we had an ethic about
respecting the earth. But, I’ll tell you, the Protestant religions are
lame in comparison to Mormonism on this subject.”
Handley has taught a class in faith and earth stewardship at BYU, and
has authored several scholarly papers on the topic. He finds ample
scriptural support for his own pro-environment politics, which mesh
nicely with his Mormon faith. The creation story, the LDS “law of
consecration” (sharing goods with others, a la the old United Order)
and especially the Word of Wisdom all speak to him of treading lightly
on the earth.
“The Word of Wisdom counsels us to eat sparingly, to consume the fruits
that are in season and to eat no more than is necessary,” Handley says.
Because the beef industry is heavily dependent on land use and fuel to
transport its products, “if we committed to eating 20 percent less
meat, we can use less energy and create less pollution.”
Other comments that came from the Utah County discussion group:
* “The church greatly
emphasizes the importance of the family. Time spent together in wild
places enhances family relations.”
* “The Mormon pioneers
came here to stay. They didn’t come to just take and leave, like many
of the prospector and trappers who passed through Utah. Understanding
the need for stewardship is part of the Mormon way of life.”
* “Stewardship means
an accountability to God for all sentient beings, not an accumulation
of material wealth. If we view the world as a supermarket, we are
failing to live by Mormon doctrine.”
* “I would like to
hear someone speak about the importance of environmental stewardship at
general conference.”
Heartened by the interest on this topic, Seed says SUWA will continue
to hold similar discussions statewide. You can visit suwa.com for
information and to read more comments from Mormons who believe in
protecting the earth.