Research Article

ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?

Volume: 2 Number: 2 June 15, 2018
EN TR

ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?

Abstract

Nowadays our world is facing some important global problems; environmental problems are among the most important ones. In other words, we have faced with the widespread destruction of the environment. It threatens not only ourselves, but the whole world, future generations and other organisms. Against this threat, since the 1960s ecological wisdom and awareness have been raised. As a result of this, as an activist movement environmentalism has become popular in the 1980’s. This development has indeed gone hand in hand with the growing popularity of religion. So environmentalism, as an alternative paradigm, is not utterly independent of religion. I argue that our understanding of environmentalism can be greatly enhanced by taking the idea seriously that environmentalism is a version of the modern secular type of religion, because this issue is a complementary dimension of it. This paper will try to study some questions: “What is nature, human and god?”, “What is the relationship between god and nature?”, “Is environmentalism a new secular type of religion?” “Can environmentalism take the place of religion?”, “Is religion compatible with environmentalism, and to what extent?” By the way of entry into the debate on modernity and secularity, I will focus on a sociological answer to these questions about nature. This presentation examines the evolution of environmentalism from a movement to a religion. This paper will provide new perspectives to develop interdisciplinary approaches to nature, human, culture, and religion.


Keywords

References

  1. Barry, J. (1999), Environment and Social Theory, London: Routledge
  2. Bayraktar, M. (1992), İslam ve Ekoloji, Ankara, DİB Yay.
  3. Berger, H. A. (1998), “The Earth Is Sacred: Ecological Concerns in American Wicca”, in Religion in a Changing World Comparative Studies in Sociology, M. Cousineau, Westport, CT: Praeger, p.213-220
  4. Berry, T. (1996), “Ethics and Ecology”, A paper delivered to the Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values Harvard University, April 9, 1996
  5. Buttel, F. H. (1987), “New Directions in Environmental Sociology”, Annual Review Sociology, (13): 465-488
  6. Carter, D. (2001), “Unholy Alliances: Religion, Science and Environment”, Zygon, 36(2): 357-372
  7. Clarke, J. J. (1997), Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought, London: Routledge
  8. Cooper, D. E. and J. A. Palmer (1998), Spirit of the Environment: Religion, Value and Environmental Concern, London and New York: Routledge

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Religious Studies

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Mehmet Ali Kırman *
Çukurova University ADANA/TURKEY
0000-0002-3610-8190
Türkiye

Publication Date

June 15, 2018

Submission Date

February 11, 2018

Acceptance Date

May 31, 2018

Published in Issue

Year 2018 Volume: 2 Number: 2

APA
Kırman, M. A. (2018). ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION? Journal of Analytic Divinity, 2(2), 18-35. https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360
AMA
1.Kırman MA. ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION? JAD. 2018;2(2):18-35. doi:10.46595/jad.393360
Chicago
Kırman, Mehmet Ali. 2018. “ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?”. Journal of Analytic Divinity 2 (2): 18-35. https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360.
EndNote
Kırman MA (June 1, 2018) ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION? Journal of Analytic Divinity 2 2 18–35.
IEEE
[1]M. A. Kırman, “ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?”, JAD, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 18–35, June 2018, doi: 10.46595/jad.393360.
ISNAD
Kırman, Mehmet Ali. “ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?”. Journal of Analytic Divinity 2/2 (June 1, 2018): 18-35. https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360.
JAMA
1.Kırman MA. ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION? JAD. 2018;2:18–35.
MLA
Kırman, Mehmet Ali. “ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?”. Journal of Analytic Divinity, vol. 2, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 18-35, doi:10.46595/jad.393360.
Vancouver
1.Mehmet Ali Kırman. ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION? JAD. 2018 Jun. 1;2(2):18-35. doi:10.46595/jad.393360

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