The Effect of Biblical Interpretation on the Environment

I believe that Dobel, when arguing against the contribution of the Bible and Christianity to ecological destruction, fails to take the discrepancy of interpretation into account. Religion can have a profound effect of the lives of people or on a culture, and many see Christianity as a supreme authority concerning their way of life, which would include the way in which they treat the environment. If a Christian finds evidence of permission to perform an action in the Bible, he may view the act as justifiable; passages from Genesis do seem to suggest that man is to dominate and subdue the earth. When Dobel contends that the message in the Bible is not to dominate it but to maintain a more humble attitude towards the environment, he does not acknowledge that one’s beliefs regarding the Bible’s message depend upon the individual’s own interpretation. Given the common human characteristic of egocentricity, and that many people are bound to interpret passages literally and not read into them so much, the possibility that there may exist opinions differing from that of Dobel does not seem too unlikely. It is possible that at some points in time influential religious authorities or civilizations might have prevalently espoused the view of human superiority and ultimate control over nature—the religion will become what the people make of it. Such people may then adopt attitudes based upon their interpretations, which may then become ingrained in their society over time. Behaviors accompany attitudes, and behaviors quickly turn into habits, habits are passed down to progeny, and habits do not easily die, even if the beliefs they originated from might. If Christians interpreted the Bible as allowing one to dominate the earth and then did so, then the actions of a society of Christians could contribute to and propagate what they may believe to be justified environmental destruction.