Religion and a new environmental ethic

Is a fundamentally new relationship emerging between religion and the environment? John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, Co-Directors of the Yale University Forum on Religion and Ecology, argue that it is. In this discussion, they explore the concept of a new religious consciousness taking shape across faith traditions — one that considers the natural world inherently sacred, rather than merely a resource to be managed or a backdrop to spiritual life.

Drawing on their extensive scholarship at the intersection of religious studies and environmental ethics, Grim and Tucker examine how this shifting consciousness represents a meaningful evolution in how religious communities understand their relationship to the Earth, moving toward a worldview where ecological care is inseparable from spiritual reverence. Their insights, grounded in years of academic research through the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, offer a scholarly and forward-looking perspective on the deepening intersection of faith and environmental ethics.