Faith & the Common Good: Exploring interfaith environmental activism
- Dec 5, 2016
- 3 min read
Green spaces can be a great benefit to not only our environment but also to our bodies. They filter out pollution from the air, help slow global warming and reduce heat build-up in cities. And, as it turns out, they can also make great places to pray.
Enter Faith & the Common Good, a charity organization that encourages interfaith communities to converse on climate change and act together on a local level. It was founded in 2000 with the belief that religious congregations and spiritual communities have the ability to be powerful role models for the betterment of the environment.
This type of belief is better known as eco-spirituality, as it brings together ecological activism and faith in a higher power. Katherine Forster, animator of the organization’s Ottawa Chapter, has seen this belief accomplished multiple times since joining the charity in January 2016. As an animator, her job is to educate local congregations about sustainability initiatives and to help members of the community take their first steps to becoming more environmentally friendly.
“When I saw that Faith & the Common Good really saw the connection of all different religions in terms of this commonality of caring for the Earth, I thought this was such a great way of bringing everyone together to do something great,” Forster said.
Unlike some eco-spiritual communities in Canada, Faith & the Common Good welcomes all types of religious congregations to join its green-conscious community.
“It’s helping different religions understand each other better and see each other as humans and neighbours,” Forster explained. “I think the opportunity to connect with various different groups in your community is such an amazing benefit.”
Twenty different faith traditions are partaking in the Greening Sacred Spaces program at the moment, with over 1,011 faith communities across Canada actively engaging in making their holy spaces more eco-sustainable.
Greening Sacred Spaces suggests making these changes by updating religious buildings - some of which can be over 100 years old - to have a more green-conscious framework. This can be done in many different ways, such as spending more money on insulation rather than heating systems, installing solar paneling to replace electricity, and creating a community garden on your congregation’s grounds.
Laidlaw Memorial United Church in Hamilton is just one of many assemblies that became more green-conscious through the Greening Sacred Spaces program. The decision to join the program came after the roof to their church blew off, compelling them to seek cost-effective and environmentally friendly options to fix their place of worship.
“We had been greening for a while, but the roof blew off, and we wanted to do solar panels on the new roof, in 2010, before anyone else had done it [here],” Rev. Doug Moore explained. “Greening Sacred Spaces and Environment Hamilton helped us make our case with judicatories and the public.”
The church’s switch to solar-powered electricity won them the Green Sacred Space award in 2010, an honour that they hold with pride.
“It has helped congregation members go green at their own homes, and it has connected us to our community,” Moore said.
Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko, program leader of Greening Sacred Spaces, believes that all religions have an underlying theme of doing unto the Earth as you would have it do unto you. She believes that this commonality is integral to connecting different religious communities together for the common good.
“Every faith and philosophy teaches the same thing; that we’re supposed to be stewards and caretakers of the Earth,” Ekoko said. “Every faith has the message that we need to take care of the creation and we can begin right here in our own places of worship.”
Connecting to one another is a benefit of interfaith communal action. But beyond that, it can also help us connect to ourselves.
“Seeing the green and growing garden and having nature around you can really bring about happiness and joy,” Forster said. “It can kind of give you faith again, and remind you that there is hope.”
Eco-spirituality is worth investing in for your community, regardless of religion. To find out how, check this blog post for our tips on how to get your gathering to go green.
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