Question 3

Evan Berry in Devoted to Nature: The Religious Roots of American Environmentalism looks into how environmentalism and religion in America became intertwined. Berry in this novel wanted for people to look at environmentalism at theological and ethical way because environmentalism had become so dominated in a political mindset. Environmentalism to him is something everyone needs to experience for themselves and have a personal relationship with it and once we have experience it we can share with others what we have experienced and it then it can spread across the country. Environmentalism cant be viewed as political because then all it well do is divide people before they can experience it. By making it a theological experience it opens up peoples minds to experience it opens new views and goals. Barry believes that environmentalists should be motivated to include all people and helping nature over one's personal goals or worldly ambitions. While I think Berry's call for more ethical and theological view of environmentalism is right and justified I don't believe it will be easy for Americans to follow it. Berry I believe is leaning of an ideal of Americans that may be lost in most Americans. Politics has divided Americans so much that many have a hard time separating politics from ethics and theology. People avoid certain conversations with friends and family just too avoid politics and some people even to lose friends and family because of politics. Maybe the country is too political right now for this but I think its a message that still needs to be sent because even if only a small number of people hear it in the long run its worth it. A way that environmentalism has been embraced by the theological recently is with the efforts of Pope Francis. Pope Francis had made it one of his goals to make man and the Catholic Church more responsible for how we treat the earth. Pope Francis is trying to show people that we are destroying the planet and it is up to us to treat our planet better and he is using theology to make people closer to nature.