United Church of Christ (UCC) delegates meet virtually this week for the mainline Protestant denomination’s General Synod. Among proposed resolutions under consideration are the expected (identity-focused LGBTQ, race, and anti-Israel proposals that currently preoccupy the political Left), the puzzling (“A resolution encouraging to end 128 years of war between the United States of America and the Hawaiian Kingdom”) and the downright bizarre (“Who Will Speak for the Trees?” A Resolution on the Rights of Nature).
Themed “Rooted in Love,” the biannual governing convention’s organizers have embraced the arboreal. A resolution submitted by the UCC’s New Hampshire Conference, titled “Who will Speak for the Trees?” aligns with that theme, drawing from the Dr. Seuss environmental tale The Lorax and challenging UCC members to reassess their relationship with nature.
“The UCC has opportunity to address our need as a church and humanity’s need to change our relationship of relating to Nature as an ‘it’ to a ‘thou,’” reads the summary statement.” The resolution “‘Who will Speak for the Trees?’ invites us to make a spiritual/human to change our human relationship to Nature, not as an ‘it’ but as a ‘thou,’ alive with the presence of God’s Spirit and part of God’s beloved community.”
Parts of the motion do reflect biblical themes: Earth as a divine gift from the Lord and human responsibility to steward, not abuse, nature. Beyond that, the text quickly goes off the rails, potentially delving into pagan “Gaia” concepts and stating that “Nature needs to be recovered as primordial ‘thou.'” The resolution calls upon churches to “Preach every six weeks often on Earth Justice,” “ritualize environmental grief” and “start environmental grief support groups.” Resolution authors state that “the Earth belongs to Earth,” and “humans need a dramatic shift from the point of view that the Earth and all her resources are available to our sole benefit.”
There are also specific political calls, including an endorsement of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Green New Deal and a restoration of Environmental Protection Agency regulations rolled back under the Trump Administration. Some of the points reflect advocacy on behalf of indigenous peoples “in their de-colonization of Nature.”
Environmental liturgies aren’t new. Readers of this blog may recall San Francisco Grace Episcopal Cathedral going green in a 2018 liturgical eco-disaster that featured participants on stilts dressed as trees, or the infamous “confession to plants” service at Union Theological Seminary the following year. The latter drew widespread ridicule on social media, with jokes about a gritty “Veggietales” reboot and smoking plants.
Will the resolution’s ideas germinate and spread? A 2017 survey of 4,000 constituents of the church commissioned by a denominational task force identified climate change as among three top issues that the church should focus upon in the next decade, alongside racial justice and income inequality. The UCC’s reach and influence has been significantly curtailed: the 802,256-member Congregationalist denomination has rapidly shrunk in recent years. In 2016 an internal report from the UCC national office forecast a further 80 percent decline in the next 30 years, dropping a denomination that once was spiritual home to in excess of 2.1 million U.S. Christians down to a predicted 200,000 members in 2045.
UCC Delegates will take up committee business this week, the General Synod concludes on July 18.
Update [07/19/2021]: The resolution passed General Synod on a vote of 518-18.
Comment by Diane on July 14, 2021 at 12:30 am
Every denomination is declining in numbers. A typical urban UCC congregation generally attracts people from an assortment of backgrounds. And a lot of UCC folks find their way to the Unitarian community. However, saw a report today noting mainline denominations are experiencing growth with under-fifty-years-of-age folks. New start UCC congregation (birthed 20 years ago, so not so new) in this state is thriving with its members spreading the word. No roadside church signage….yet the church has more than 200 members, mostly young families. Surrounding community is highly educated, this UCC church attracts young professionals. Pastor is a former Baptist.
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on July 14, 2021 at 10:15 am
No, Diane, not every denomination is declining in numbers. Off the top of my head, I can list the Assemblies of God, the Wesleyan Church, and the Presbyterian Church in America among a host of others that report year-over-year growth. And these are just U.S.-based examples. Global Christianity has consistently grown.
https://juicyecumenism.com/2015/05/27/church-health-and-congregation-growth-in-the-assemblies-of-god/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2015/09/08/wesleyan-church-reports-record-attendance/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2016/07/15/pca-defies-odds-resumes-growth/
Comment by Dan W on July 14, 2021 at 6:28 am
I thought Dr Suess was canceled?
Comment by David S. on July 14, 2021 at 10:20 am
Unitarians Contemplating Christ….based upon these resolutions, I think they have moved beyond that.
However, the article left out this little paganistic jewel:
“Ritualize environmental grief: Bio-Diversity Day (May 22), Remembrance for Lost Species (November 22). Start environmental grief support groups. ”
What, does this entail bringing in the spotted owl to allow Mr. Owl to express his grief over the destruction of his habitat, and people wearing proverbial sack cloth and ashes and throwing dust in the air as the paid professional mourners do?
I’m all for a properly grounded ecological theology, but the Earth does not belong to Earth and a divine gift for that reason. The Earth and that is in/on it belongs to God and it is a divine gift for that reason.
Comment by Dan on July 14, 2021 at 4:39 pm
This was a Babylon Bee article, right? Surely you can’t be serious.
Comment by David S. on July 16, 2021 at 9:04 am
In other news, the Union Theological Seminary (NYC) Twitter feed was at it again this week with organization’s identification with de-facto paganism, when it tweeted a recent article in The Massachusetts Review about the ordination of seven Japanese cherry trees as Soto Zen Buddhist priests, presumably to protect them from slated removal by the city of Northampton due to age. Said ordination is a tradition that started in Thailand and spread throughout Asia as a way of essentially honoring trees by recognizing the role that trees plans in the environment. (Apparently a nearby redbud tree, mentioned by the officiant, was not eligible for ordination.)
On a more serious note, I will not criticize the Buddhists for doing this as it is their religion. If it gives them comfort, so be it, no matter how foolhardy I believe this is as a Christian. Other than a tongue-in-cheek jest over why the cherry trees but not the redbud, I wouldn’t mock them for it, since Paul was respectful of the Athenian Greeks even as he challenged their religiosity. Furthermore, in a well-grounded, properly ordered theology of any religion, we should have concern for how well we exercise our stewardship of the environment and how our actions can affect all of living things that God has given for our benefit and enjoyment.
However, for an organization that is now clearly and marginally Christian in name only to promote a practice that is inconsistent with a proper, well, grounded Christian theology, says more about how far said organization has drifted from any semblance of historic, orthodox Christian theology than it does about promoting a concern for the environment.