A right approach to ecological issues must go deep into the psychological and spiritual roots of our predicament to heal the very heart and soul of our culture. The message from creation is that human society is in desperate need of repentance. This is not your ordinary garden variety of repentance. This is a repentance which requires a massive shift in attitudes about livelihood, about concepts of success and about the way we interact with one another and the biological system which supports human life. Yet we should not be intimidated by the magnitude of the task.
Society can change.
History is replete with examples of drastic changes made without great difficulty, as in wartime when a nation's existence is threatened. Our best scientists tell us that such a threat exists now in our environmental predicament. The churches have an opportunity to lead the way in this effort to heal the earth. But part of the problem is that too many churches are captive to political and economic assumptions about society and the good life. This cultural capacity has provided an unwitting foundation for complicity in destroying creation rather than for healing, which is the scriptural mandate.