ABSTRACT
A recurring theme in virtually all religions has been the relationship between humanity, nature and the sacred. Shamanism and other forms of paganism, which hold that the Earth is sacred, literally alive and inhabited by hosts of nature spirits or Devas, have been seen as the original Earth religion. Conversly, monotheistic Judaeo-Christianity, with its rejection of the Earth mother in favour of a male God residing above us, has been criticized as anti-ecological. Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism and Islam, have been blamed for separating humanity and nature as well as promoting the idea that nature was created for humanity to exploit. The Judaeo-Christian concept of original sin may have given rise to the doctrine that, far from being sacred and worthy of reverence, the Earth is a fallen realm that deserves little care. Eastern religions, including Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism, with their opposition to materialist greed, their love of nature, contemplation and meditation, along with ethical vegetarianism, have been promoted as alternatives. Christians and Moslems have argued in response that humanity has been given the role of a steward or shepherd by God. More recently the Catholic theologian Matthew Fox (1987) has countered the concept of original sin with that of original blessing, stressing that the Earth is sacred. Many Eastern religions, including Hinduism,
unlike Christianity, hold that the Earth and indeed all material ‘reality’ is illusory. This attitude, Christians have claimed, is hardly reverential towards nature.
