A Scriptural Basis For Mormon Environmentalism

As a Mormon and an environmentalist I believe thatensuring healthy air, water, and ecosystems is our moral and religious duty.  My own Mormon environmentalism is based onthree important principles found in the scriptures.

First, all of creation is imbued with a soul, and thus has value.  We are taught that all things, both animateand inanimate, were created “spiritually, before they were naturally upon theface of the earth” (Moses 3:5), therefore they all have a “living soul”(Moses 3:9), and the “worth of souls is great in the sight of God”(Doctrine and Covenants 18:10).  We areeven taught that our mother earth herself has a soul and is conscious of our “filthiness”  (Moses 7:48).

Second, all of creation is meant to bear record ofGod.  The prophet Alma taught that “the earth,and all things that are upon the face of it . . . do witness that there is aSupreme Creator”  (Alma 30:44).  The Lord taught Adam from the beginning that“all things bear record of [Him],” including “things which are on the earth,and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth” (Moses 6:63).

Third, polluting theearth is a sin.  In Moroni’s vision ofour day he gave many examples of the types of sins we would commit.  He mentions wars, murders, robbing, andlying.  In that list he notes thatanother sign of moral decay will be “great pollutions upon the face of theearth” (Mormon 8:31).

Given these principles, I think it is sad that members of the church are not generally the strongest voices in protecting our environment.  We put up with polluted and unhealthy air and water in order to protect corporations, we have much stronger voices for the slaughter of wolves, bears, coyotes, and cougars than for finding ways to peacefully coexist with wildlife, and we treat our last few truly wild places as commodities for our enjoyment rather than as having intrinsic value worth protecting at all costs.

I believe we have lost touch with the spiritual aspect of creation in our errant quest for perpetual economic expansion.  In our rush to "subdue" and exercise "dominion" over the earth we have forgotten that we are stewards only and will be held accountable for our stewardship.  When we report how we took care of the world which we were given will we be able to say we cared for it, nourished it, and protected it?  Or will we have nothing to show but a polluted world whose plant and animal life we destroyed for temporal gain?

Pro-Death Bona Fides

In a strange twist, Republican candidates now must seemingly prove their pro-death bona fides to the Tea Party extremist base.  In the last two Republican debates the crowd has made it clear that death is preferable to life, eye-for-an-eye-tooth-for-a-tooth is preferable to love thy neighbor and blessed-are-the-peacemakers and good-samaritanism and so forth.  (Videos below)

First, last week, the crowd erupted in cheers when Rick Perry's record of over two hundred executions was brought up (including at least one innocent man, and probably others):



Next, this week, the crowd yelled out in favor of and cheered the idea of letting an uninsured man die:



Add to this list the generally hawkish, pro-war Republican stances and suddenly the pro-life, anti-abortion wing of the Republican party seems oddly out of place.  After years of sowing the seeds of fear-mongering politics, the Republican strategy has worked:  I am scared for America.

Social Justice in Book of Mormon-Era Governments

I recently came across the following verse in the Book of Mormon, Helaman 6:39:

And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God.

At this time in the history of the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites are righteous and the Nephites are not, so much so that the Nephites have allowed the Gadianton robbers to take control of the government.  Upon taking control the Gadianton folks immediately started harassing and making life miserable for the poor.

 

There are various ways to interpret this verse, we don't really know for sure exactly what was going on, but it struck me that this verse may be evidence of social justice in Book of Mormon-era government.  The assumption of the verse seems to me to be that previous to the robbers taking over the government, the government was in the business, to some unknown degree, of helping the poor.  Following the take-over the policy is reversed and the robbers used the government as described.  Why else would the author describe of the oppression of the poor and meek in the same sentence he states that the Gadianton's took over the government if not to draw that contrast?

Many moderate Mormon conservatives contend that the government should not be running programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare because those are properly the the domain of the private sector, and maybe charities in particular.  I have no problem with the argument, I happen to disagree strongly but understand the reasoning behind it.  The problem is that they often use the gospel or Book of Mormon as the basis for their arguments, which I do have a problem with.

I think a righteous people, or even people just trying to do their best, as the pre-Gadianton Nephites were, could have, and indeed did, view the government as an efficient and justifiable means to helping the poor and meek, perfectly in line with their gospel beliefs.  Perhaps their beliefs even required that they use every means and institution available to them to aid the poor and underprivileged, as that is a basic requirement that God gives to all his covenant people.  I think this verse may give us a glimpse of that in the Book of Mormon.