Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:35 pm
Joe,
The people involved with conservation interpretation are not among the Islamic fundamentalists. I live in part of the conservative Christian religious belt here in PA. I have heard fundamentalist Christians express the opinion that they have a God given right to exploit natural resources how ever they want to because it says so in the Bible. I am not a religious person, but the argument that a person's religion has answers to all things is not really to the point. It is how do people with a particular religious belief system see their role in the conservation or exploitation of the natural world. Most of the tropical rainforests in SE Asia are controlled by Muslim dominated governments and societies. If they want to use a religious context to argue for the preservation of rainforests, so much the better if it reaches the religious peoples of those countries. Whether you believe that a particular religious world view is valid or not, or whether yo believe it should be taught or proselytized or not is not material because unless there is an end of the world as viewed by one religion or other, unless we experience the rapture, religion is going to be a major factor in human societies. If this group wants to suggest that their religious texts supports conservation, and that might help save the rainforests, that is better than preaching their religious beliefs with the message of exploit away.
Ed
Did you see my post linking to a blog about the Church Forests in Ethiopia?
The people involved with conservation interpretation are not among the Islamic fundamentalists. I live in part of the conservative Christian religious belt here in PA. I have heard fundamentalist Christians express the opinion that they have a God given right to exploit natural resources how ever they want to because it says so in the Bible. I am not a religious person, but the argument that a person's religion has answers to all things is not really to the point. It is how do people with a particular religious belief system see their role in the conservation or exploitation of the natural world. Most of the tropical rainforests in SE Asia are controlled by Muslim dominated governments and societies. If they want to use a religious context to argue for the preservation of rainforests, so much the better if it reaches the religious peoples of those countries. Whether you believe that a particular religious world view is valid or not, or whether yo believe it should be taught or proselytized or not is not material because unless there is an end of the world as viewed by one religion or other, unless we experience the rapture, religion is going to be a major factor in human societies. If this group wants to suggest that their religious texts supports conservation, and that might help save the rainforests, that is better than preaching their religious beliefs with the message of exploit away.
Ed
Did you see my post linking to a blog about the Church Forests in Ethiopia?