The Christian faith 

According to “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis” by Lynn White Jr, anthropocentrism traces back to the interpretation of the Christian bible scripture of genesis where God made humans in the image of God and gave them dominion over all lifeforms that roam the earth. This set the tone for the relationship between man and nature as a master and slave where humans, modelled after a higher being, owns the power to control and manipulate the earth.

 

“And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

-Genesis, 1:26.

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Buddhism 

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Buddhist perspective is that environmental problems are caused by greed which is greatly frowned upon on to the religion. The lord Buddha also emphasize on harmonious co-existence with nature and respect for all wildlife. Although not all Buddhists are vegetarians, they have the highest percentage of vegetarians compared to the other religions around the world. This is because in certain schools of belief, they believe that humans are of equal importance as any type of animals, hence eating meat is condemned, showing their aversion to anthropocentric views.

 “So as not to become a source of terror, bodhisattvas established in benevolence should not eat food containing meat. . . . Meat is food for wild beasts; it is unfitting to eat it. . . . People kill animals for profit and exchange goods for the meat. One person kills, another person buys —both are at fault.”

– Lankavatara Sutra

However these scriptures are up for interpretation and many have argued its true meaning. Click here for the conclusion.  

Header credit: Photo by Pablo Rebolledo on Unsplash