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ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 18 - 35, 15.06.2018
https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360

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.


References

  • Barry, J. (1999), Environment and Social Theory, London: Routledge
  • Bayraktar, M. (1992), İslam ve Ekoloji, Ankara, DİB Yay.
  • 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
  • Berry, T. (1996), “Ethics and Ecology”, A paper delivered to the Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values Harvard University, April 9, 1996
  • Buttel, F. H. (1987), “New Directions in Environmental Sociology”, Annual Review Sociology, (13): 465-488
  • Carter, D. (2001), “Unholy Alliances: Religion, Science and Environment”, Zygon, 36(2): 357-372
  • Clarke, J. J. (1997), Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought, London: Routledge
  • Cooper, D. E. and J. A. Palmer (1998), Spirit of the Environment: Religion, Value and Environmental Concern, London and New York: Routledge
  • Crichton, M. (2003), “Environmentalism as Religion”, San Francisco, CA, September 15, 2003 (http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote05.html)
  • Dauvergne, P. (2009), Historical Dictionary of Environmentalism, Maryland and Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press.
  • Djupe, P. A. and G. W. Gwiasda (2010), “Evangelizing the Environment: Decision Process Effects in Political Persuasion”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(1):73-86
  • Dunlap, T. R. (2006), “Environmentalism, a Secular Faith”, Environmental Values 15:321-30
  • Dyson, F. (2008), “Environmentalism as a worldwide secular religion”, New York Review of Books
  • Gandy, M. (1997), “Postmodernism and Environmentalism: Complementary or Contradictory Discourses?” in The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology, ed. M. Redclift, G. Woodgate, Edgar Elgar Publishing, 150-7
  • Garreau, J. (2010), “Environmentalism as Religion”, The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society, 28 (1): 61-74.
  • Gottlieb, R. S. (2006), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, 2nd edition, New York and London: Routledge
  • Harper, C. L. (2008), “Religion and Environmentalism”, Journal of Religion & Society, 3: 5-26
  • Hanegraaf, W. (1999), “New Age Spiritualities as Secular Religion”, Social Compass, 46(2): 145-160.
  • Horkheimer, M. and T. Adorno (2002), Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, trans. E. Jephcott, California, Stanford University Press.
  • Ivakhiv, A. (2003), “Orchestrating Sacred Space: Beyond the ‘Social Construction’ of Nature”, Ecotheology: Journal of Religion, Nature & the Environment, 8(1): 11-29
  • Kirman, M. A. (2008), “Religious and Secularist Views of the Nature and the Environment”, International Journal of Social Research, 1 (3): 267-277
  • McGrath, A. E. (2003), Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis, Westminster, MD: Doubleday Publishing
  • Nelson, R. H. (2003), “Environmental Religion: A Theological Critique”, Case Western Reserve Law Review, 55: 51-80
  • Shellenberger, M. and T. Nordhaus (2004), “Death of Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World”,
  • Taylor, B. (2010), Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, Berkeley: University of California Press
  • White, L. T. (1967), “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis”, Science, 155: 1203-1207
  • White, R. (2004), Controversies in Environmental Sociology, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press
  • Zuckerman, P. (2008), Society without God, New York University Press

ÇEVRECİLİK: SEKÜLER YENİ BİR DİN Mİ?

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 18 - 35, 15.06.2018
https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360

Abstract

Günümüzde dünyamız bazı önemli küresel sorunlarla karşı karşıyadır; çevresel problemler en önemlileri arasındadır. Başka bir deyişle, çevrenin yaygın tahribatı ile karşı karşıya kaldık. Sadece kendimize değil, tüm dünyaya, gelecek nesillere ve diğer organizmalara karşı bir tehdittir. Bu tehdide karşı, 1960'lardan beri ekolojik bilgelik ve farkındalık yaratıldı. Bunun bir sonucu olarak, aktivist bir hareket olarak çevrecilik 1980'lerde popüler hale gelmiştir. Bu gelişme gerçekten işe yarıyor. Dolayısıyla çevrecilik, alternatif bir paradigma olarak, tamamen dinden bağımsız değildir. Çevreciliğin anlayışının, çevreciliğin tamamlayıcı bir boyut olduğunu ciddiye alarak, büyük ölçüde geliştirilebileceğini düşünüyorum. Bu yazı, "Doğa, insan ve tanrı nedir?", "Tanrı ve doğa arasındaki ilişki nedir?", "Çevrecilik, yeni bir din türü müdür?" Gibi bazı sorular üzerinde çalışacaktır. " din? ”,“ Dinin çevrecilikle ne kadar uyumlu olduğu ve ne ölçüde? ”Bu arada, bu bir doğa meselesidir. Bu sunum, çevreciliğin bir hareketden bir dine doğru evrimini incelemektedir. Bu çalışma, doğa, insan, kültür ve dine disiplinler arası yaklaşımlar geliştirmek için yeni bakış açıları sağlayacaktır.

References

  • Barry, J. (1999), Environment and Social Theory, London: Routledge
  • Bayraktar, M. (1992), İslam ve Ekoloji, Ankara, DİB Yay.
  • 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
  • Berry, T. (1996), “Ethics and Ecology”, A paper delivered to the Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values Harvard University, April 9, 1996
  • Buttel, F. H. (1987), “New Directions in Environmental Sociology”, Annual Review Sociology, (13): 465-488
  • Carter, D. (2001), “Unholy Alliances: Religion, Science and Environment”, Zygon, 36(2): 357-372
  • Clarke, J. J. (1997), Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought, London: Routledge
  • Cooper, D. E. and J. A. Palmer (1998), Spirit of the Environment: Religion, Value and Environmental Concern, London and New York: Routledge
  • Crichton, M. (2003), “Environmentalism as Religion”, San Francisco, CA, September 15, 2003 (http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote05.html)
  • Dauvergne, P. (2009), Historical Dictionary of Environmentalism, Maryland and Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press.
  • Djupe, P. A. and G. W. Gwiasda (2010), “Evangelizing the Environment: Decision Process Effects in Political Persuasion”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(1):73-86
  • Dunlap, T. R. (2006), “Environmentalism, a Secular Faith”, Environmental Values 15:321-30
  • Dyson, F. (2008), “Environmentalism as a worldwide secular religion”, New York Review of Books
  • Gandy, M. (1997), “Postmodernism and Environmentalism: Complementary or Contradictory Discourses?” in The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology, ed. M. Redclift, G. Woodgate, Edgar Elgar Publishing, 150-7
  • Garreau, J. (2010), “Environmentalism as Religion”, The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society, 28 (1): 61-74.
  • Gottlieb, R. S. (2006), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, 2nd edition, New York and London: Routledge
  • Harper, C. L. (2008), “Religion and Environmentalism”, Journal of Religion & Society, 3: 5-26
  • Hanegraaf, W. (1999), “New Age Spiritualities as Secular Religion”, Social Compass, 46(2): 145-160.
  • Horkheimer, M. and T. Adorno (2002), Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, trans. E. Jephcott, California, Stanford University Press.
  • Ivakhiv, A. (2003), “Orchestrating Sacred Space: Beyond the ‘Social Construction’ of Nature”, Ecotheology: Journal of Religion, Nature & the Environment, 8(1): 11-29
  • Kirman, M. A. (2008), “Religious and Secularist Views of the Nature and the Environment”, International Journal of Social Research, 1 (3): 267-277
  • McGrath, A. E. (2003), Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis, Westminster, MD: Doubleday Publishing
  • Nelson, R. H. (2003), “Environmental Religion: A Theological Critique”, Case Western Reserve Law Review, 55: 51-80
  • Shellenberger, M. and T. Nordhaus (2004), “Death of Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World”,
  • Taylor, B. (2010), Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, Berkeley: University of California Press
  • White, L. T. (1967), “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis”, Science, 155: 1203-1207
  • White, R. (2004), Controversies in Environmental Sociology, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press
  • Zuckerman, P. (2008), Society without God, New York University Press
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Religious Studies
Journal Section Peer-reviewed Research Articles
Authors

Mehmet Ali Kırman 0000-0002-3610-8190

Publication Date June 15, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 2 Issue: 2

Cite

ISNAD Kırman, Mehmet Ali. “ENVIRONMENTALISM: A NEW SECULAR RELIGION?”. Journal of Analytic Divinity 2/2 (June 2018), 18-35. https://doi.org/10.46595/jad.393360.

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