Christanity on environment

Christianity and Environment Christianity is perhaps unique among the major world religions in having not one single reference to any environmental duty in its core scriptures. The reason for this has to do with the historical roots of Christianity. Where Judaism and Islam developed as the religions of real communities with fragile natural ecologies to preserve, Christianity developed as an isolated movement, outside of Jewish community and later of Roman society. It did not have to concern itself in any way with the functioning of this world. Indeed in its first century it had an urgent sense that this world was passing away, and would be superseded at any moment by a magical kingdom instituted by God. The non-human environment had no role to play in this drama; indeed God would subject it to appalling tribulations in the "birth pangs" of the ‘Son of Man’. However, Christian scholars make attempts to show that Jesus loved nature. Passages regularly cited to show Jesus concern about nature, when read in context, actually prove his belief that humans are far superior. He gave examples of people watering their cattle, or of pulling their animals out of ditches, not to enjoin people to do these things, but to show that it must be all right to heal humans on the Sabbath. The implication is not that humans and animals are alike, but that humans are superior to animals: Two of the most often cited images are used when Jesus is telling his disciples that they can follow him without concern about their food and clothing. If God has provided for animals, how much more will he provide for humans, who are more valuable. The full passages show that Jesus believed that God was aware of and took care of plants and animals. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell, you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you. In both the Old and New Testaments, God himself shows little concern for the natural environment. He destroys plants and animals along with humans whenever its suits his purpose. The prophet Amos, who was active in Judah around 760 BC, devised another strand of God's environmental destructiveness: a future "Day of Yahweh" when God would wreak vengeance on the oppressors of the poor. The sun would go down at noon, and fire would devour the land and the oceans. Later prophets expanded Amos' vision. Isaiah threatened war and failed. It is to be noticed that the ‘wrath of God’ would be expressed by in the form of famines and earthquakes and plagues, the sun would be darkened and the stars would fall from heaven. The earth would be flooded as in the days of Noah, while fire and sulphur would rain from heaven as in the days of Lot.