Background
NATURE
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Nature refers to our natural environment, or simply, Mother Nature. This includes all things wild and free – animals, plants, forests, mountains, rivers, oceans and the list goes on. Humans are mammals and are part of nature, supposedly that is. However, industrialization and globalization have led to us exploiting natural resources for our own benefit, where we have drawn the line between Man and the Wild. We have deemed ourselves superior, and have severely altered nature’s ways.
While we are beginning to see our impacts affecting us through things like climate change, these effects are very secondary. The primary beings affected are the beings of the wild. We have destroyed their habitats, killed off countless lives, and have driven species to extinction.
Image by Ria Sopala from Pixabay
Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of the lives of humans that keep their interest in protecting nature firm and strong over the many centuries. Humans did emerge from, lived in, and identified with the wild a long time ago. Hence, certain beliefs and practices that once surfaced in the wild have been passed down over generations, and there is one aspect that has remains ever-concrete and unchanged over these years – religion.
WHAT IS RELIGION?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines religion as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, particularly a personal God or Gods.
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay
A demographic study performed by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public reports that approximately 84% of the world population identify with a religious group. With such a great proportion of people invested in religious beliefs, it is unarguable that religion would have a considerable influence on how humans think, behave, and ultimately co-exist together with other beings – including the environment.
THE LINK TO MOTHER NATURE
Photo by Hannah Vu on Unsplash
The first few religions emerged more than 30 centuries ago, such as Hinduism, where the oldest religious texts known as the Vedas date back all the way to 1700 BC. During these periods, Man was one with the wild and nature. Hence, it is not surprising that most religions are intertwined with nature and are embedded with references to the environment and natural entities. Join me on this journey, as I explore how nature is connected to a few of these religions and how this might promote pro-environmental values and attitudes, or in some cases, otherwise. Click on the links below!