Religion and the Environment

by Tanner, Ralph; Mitchell, Colin

• ISBN13: 9780333919743
• ISBN10: 0333919742
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-20
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This work is an analysis of the whole frontier between religion and the environment. It deals in turn with their interactions and the effects of each on the other in the major world religions. It considers the religious impact on human uses of time, space, materials, transport, foods, and the environmental effects of religious influence on major topics such as population pressures, morbidity, mortality, marital arrangements, contraception, the treatment of animals, and environmental management.

Author Biography

Ralph Tanner has taught in the Universities of East Africa and London and was Chairman of the East African Institute of Social Research.

Colin Mitchell served on the United Nations team assessing the Ethiopian national development plan.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii
Foreword	ix
Preface	x
Introduction: Religion and the Environment	1	(16)
Introduction and definitions	1	(1)
The difficulty of recording religious activities	2	(1)
The scope of the religion/environment interaction	3	(1)
The scale of the religion/environment interaction	4	(3)
The effects of religious doctrines	7	(1)
The intensity of the human/environment interaction	8	(2)
The degree of religious centralization	10	(2)
The degree of religious exclusivity	12	(1)
Direct versus indirect effects	13	(2)
The effects of religious beliefs on long-term environmental planning	15	(2)
Types of Religions	17	(28)
The four main types of religion	17	(1)
The religious practices of ancient societies	18	(4)
Small-scale tribal and traditional religions	22	(2)
Chinese and Japanese religions	24	(4)
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism	28	(11)
Judaism, Christianity and Islam	39	(6)
The Limitations on Religion/Environment Interactions	45	(8)
The incompleteness of religious observance	45	(1)
Inter-religious tensions	46	(4)
The physical constraints on religious practices	50	(3)
Perceptions of the Environment	53	(19)
The universality of environmental perceptions	53	(1)
Religious awareness of the environment	54	(1)
The influence of antecedent beliefs	55	(3)
The afterlife and attitudes to the environment	58	(5)
The role of wealth	63	(2)
Linguistic and cultural limitations on environmental understanding	65	(2)
Religious art and the environment	67	(5)
The Effect of the Environment on Religions	72	(14)
General environmental effects	72	(3)
The effect of homogeneous environments	75	(2)
The effect on Hinduism	77	(2)
The effect on Buddhism	79	(1)
The effect on Christianity	79	(2)
The effect on Islam	81	(1)
Social and physical constraints on religious practice	82	(2)
The effects of modern industrial and post-industrial environments on religion	84	(1)
The effects of population increases on religion	84	(2)
The Impact of Religious Behaviour on the Environment	86	(40)
Enthusiasm and drive	86	(1)
The use of time	86	(2)
The use of space	88	(3)
The use of materials	91	(5)
The use of transport	96	(3)
Domestic religious practices and the environment	99	(5)
The use of foods	104	(3)
The environmental effects of communal religious buildings	107	(3)
Outdoor shrines and the environment	110	(4)
The environmental effects of religious cities	114	(4)
The routeways used by religious practitioners	118	(4)
The natural environment and sacred spaces	122	(4)
Socio-economic Activities and the Environment	126	(24)
The impact of changing socio-economic conditions on religion	126	(1)
Religion and specific occupations	127	(4)
States and societies with one dominating religion	131	(5)
States with segmented religious systems	136	(2)
The environment in religiously divided societies	138	(2)
The effect of religion on agriculture	140	(6)
Settlement patterns	146	(4)
Religious Influence and Population Pressures	150	(10)
Factors connecting religion and population levels	150	(1)
Psychological factors in religion and population pressures	151	(2)
Inter- and intra-society religious violence	153	(7)
Religious Acts with Consequences on Communal Lifestyle	160	(12)
Reducing morbidity and mortality	160	(3)
Increasing morbidity and mortality	163	(4)
Care of the short-term disabled	167	(3)
Care of the illegitimate, orphans, and the long-term disabled	170	(2)
Religious Influences on the Life Cycle and the Maintenance of Environmental Balance	172	(21)
The chances of conception	172	(4)
The chances of survival into adulthood	176	(4)
Marital arrangements	180	(2)
The disposal of the dead	182	(4)
The influences of the dead on the living	186	(2)
The prohibition of contraception	188	(2)
Violent religious practices reducing pressure on the environment	190	(3)
The Impact of Religion on the Treatment of Animals	193	(11)
The direct and indirect effects of religion on animal life	193	(3)
The effects of religion on particular animals	196	(4)
The use of animals in sacrifices	200	(4)
Religion and Environmental Management	204	(5)
Secular authorities and religious activities	204	(1)
Current religious activities and environmental management	205	(2)
Future concern of religions for the environment	207	(2)
Religion and the Environment: an Overview	209	(3)
Bibliography	212	(20)
Index	232