Course:CONS200/2025WT2/Outcomes of Positive and Negative Religious Narratives Towards Conservation

Religions played a critical part in human history, reshaping human attitudes towards conservation. There are various religions over the world, in which the majority ones are Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Religious beliefs and practices have significantly influenced human interactions with the environment over human history, leading to both positive and negative outcomes for conservation efforts.

History

The concept of conservation— the responsible use and management of natural resources—began gaining prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the United States. Religious groups have had a complex and evolving relationship with conservation movements, from collaboration to conflict. For example, the Social Gospel Movement led by Washington Gladden and Waltter Rauschenbusch considered environmental stewardship as part of Christian ethics. The leaders emphasized moral and social responsibility, which included care for nature (Dorn, 1993). In contrast, conservation policies sometimes were resisted by religious groups.

Positive Impact of Religious Narratives on Conservation

Many religious traditions emphasize stewardship, the idea that humans have a moral duty to care for the Earth. For instance, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam often refer to humans as caretakers or "stewards" of God's creation [2].The religion is used to educate people for humankind, and shall be focused as a complementary strategy to structure moral attitudes on conservation [3]. The main advantage of the impact that leads by the religions compared to the government are the percept that are emphasized by the religion.

Peoples are greatly influenced by the religion's leader on perception, which builds up thoughts that change their attitudes and behaviors to nature [4]. Buddhism performed the way of buying the species and releasing them to prey for the animals, this is supported by the Society of Conservation Biology and shall be educated to release animals in a ecologically responsible way [5], which results in decrease of loss of natural resources under the pressure of illegal overharvesting. Religions increase the awareness of the environment through education and publicity. There is a religion and ecological protection workshop established in Hong Kong participated by the representatives of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and several other religions discussing the subject of conservation [6]. This collaboration between religions in conservation promotes cross religious cooperation and motivates the followers and residents to practice towards conservation.

Indigenous religious traditions frequently view nature as sacred and emphasize the interconnectedness between humans and the environment [7]. Indigenous people often personify natural elements and explore their relationships with non-human entities, such as god of nature as conscious subjects [8], and treat nature in a respectful and reverent manner. This type of thoughts often are related with the local religion, and shall be treated and preserved completely as part of the indigenous culture.

possible types of impact.

Negative Impact of Religious Narratives on Conservation

Certain religious interpretations emphasize that humans have power over nature and have rights to exploit natural resources. For example, some Christian groups were involved in the wise use movement, which promoted the reduction of government regulation on the use of natural resources. Also, apocalyptic or eschatological beliefs in Christianity and other religions can discourage conservation efforts This perspective can result in a lack of motivation to engage in environmental preservation, as the focus shifts toward spiritual preparedness for the end of the world rather than ecological responsibility[9]. While Buddhism often emphasizes compassion and interconnectedness of human and nature, some Buddhist practices have unintentionally contributed to environmental degradation. For example, the Buddhist traditional ritual of animal release for ethical intentions may cause non-native invasive species to disrupt local ecosystems without proper choice of species released and setting of the ritual [10]. Moreover, the demand for animals to release has created markets and commercial incentives to capture wildlife [11].

Possible Solutions for Countering Negative Impacts

Governments may apply relevant policies to the preserved areas which prevent religious related activity that violate the natural resources. By managing the number of people participating in the religious holiday in specific areas, and reducing the use of ritual offerings will prevent additional pollution effectively. To promote the conversation between science and religions by setting up workshops and public talk. Some religions have similar theories in protecting and respecting the environment, and can be used to incentivize followers such as to avoid wasting and over developing nature resources.

Conclusion

Religions have both positive and negative impacts on conservation. However, the core purpose of most mainstream and indigenous religious traditions is to improve human well-being while encouraging the respectful and responsible use of natural resources. Religious groups, in most cases, do not intentionally oppose conservation efforts. The main reason why some religious practices hinder conservation is that many followers lack sufficient scientific knowledge to understand that certain actions—though believed to align with their faith—can in fact contradict the foundational values of their religion. Therefore, with adequate public education on conservation from governments and environmental organizations, along with policies that regulate religious practices potentially harmful to nature, it is possible for religion and conservation to coexist peacefully and beneficially in the future.

References

Dorn, J. H. (1993). The Social Gospel and socialism: A comparison of the thought of Francis Greenwood Peabody, Washington Gladden, and Walter Rauschenbusch. Church History, 62(1), 82–100. https://doi.org/10.2307/3168417
Hitzhusen, G. E. (2007). Judeo‐Christian theology and the environment: Moving beyond scepticism to new sources for environmental education in the United States. Environmental Education Research, 13(1), 55–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620601122699
Mikusiński, G., Possingham, H. P., & Blicharska, M. (2013). Biodiversity Priority Areas and religions—a global analysis of spatial overlap. Oryx, 48(1), 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605312000993
Maheshwari, A., Bhagwat, S., Hoang, L. V., & Karpate, Y. (2024). How can faith-based approaches protect biodiversity? Journal for Nature Conservation, 78, 126578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2024.126578
Awoyemi, S. M., Gosler, A. G., Ho, I., Schaefer, J., & Chong, K. Y. (2012). Mobilizing religion and conservation in Asia. Science, 338(6114), 1537–1538. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.338.6114.1537-b
Wan, W., Den, Y., & Fei, F. (Eds.). (2013, June 2). Religion vs. Environmental Protection: Crisis and environmental pollution are no longer a single issue. Life News Agency. http://www.lnanews.com/news/17250
Berkes, F. (2012). Sacred ecology: Traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. Routledge Ltd.
Tiedje, K., & Snodgrass, J. G. (2008). Indigenous religions and environments: Intersections of animism and nature conservation [edited journal issue]. ACADEMIA. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280777008_Indigenous_Religions_and_Environments_Intersections_of_Animism_and_Nature_Conservation_edited_journal_issue
Bouma-Prediger, S. (2021, January 7). End times and the environment - article. BioLogos. https://biologos.org/articles/end-times-environment
(2019, January 30). ‘well-meaning’ Buddhist practices are putting ecosystems at risk | Bournemouth University. Bournemouth University. https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/2019-01-30/well-meaning-buddhist-practices-are-putting-ecosystems-risk
Lockett, H. (2014, November 27). The Booming Business of the Buddhist “Life Release” ceremony. China Economic Review. https://chinaeconomicreview.com/dangerousdharma/