RELIGIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY: CONCEPTS, EMPHASIS, INITIATIVES

Abstract

The relationship between religions and sustainability allows different approaches, whether by religious diversity or by various initiatives in the field of education, spirituality, and human promotion. In the present article, we chose to present the basic concepts that guide the relationship between sustainability and spirituality, the different emphases that mobilize the environmental engagement of religions and, finally, the most significant religious and inter-religious initiatives from the 1990s to the present. However, this is not a quantitative assessment; rather, it is a way to verify the quality of religious commitment to sustainability, including hermeneutic and theological aspects: the relationship between the Creator, Humanity and Nature; sustainability and ecological virtues; environmental care and spirituality; and, recognition of Mother Earth. The results confirm the ecological awakening of religions and their environmental engagement, marked by the articulation between human ecology and environmental ecology.

KEYWORDS: Climate Action. Ecology. Spirituality. Environmental Crisis. Mother Earth.