The first Earth Day celebration occurred in 1970 amid social turmoil in the United States. Protests over the war in Vietnam were growing, Woodstock was in the rearview mirror, and “Let It Be” was at the top of the Billboard charts. Richard Nixon was in the White House and was the first American president to make improving the environment a policy goal.
The events of April 22, 1970, were supported by both Democrats and Republicans, intended to build awareness of real environmental problems. Environmental catastrophes like the fire on the Cuyahoga River fire in June 1969 and the deadening of the Great Lakes were public problems that required public responses. Earth Day was an attempt to raise awareness about legitimate concerns for the ecological welfare of the nation.
Unfortunately, like many good social causes, Earth Day and the environmental movement became identified with misanthropic and overtly anti-Christian ideologies. In 1967, Lynn White published a famous essay in the journal Science that blamed environmental degradation on Christianity. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb predicted famines and revolutions because of overpopulation. Ehrlich’s solutions included government regulation of family size and abortion on demand. Some within the environmental movement alienated theological conservatives.
When the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future published a 1972 report calling for population control using government-provided contraceptives for minors, abortion on demand, and voluntary sterilization, conservative Christians understandably reacted negatively to a form of environmentalism hostile to scriptural ideals. Environmentalism and Christian ethics were set at odds due to irreconcilable differences about human worth.
While we continue to disagree with some voices within contemporary environmental movements, there are strong reasons for theologically conservative Christians to participate in activities surrounding Earth Day and, more broadly, in environmentalism. Keep reading
Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain
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