Rafael Gonzalez

9/31/21
Professor Staley PH334

Environment and God

Theology is utterly unnecessary for an ethical environmental discussion as compared to
general ethical Philosophy. Religion/Theology specifically Christianity is in general entirely
unneeded in an Ethical Environmental discussion as the basis of Theology is societal interaction.
Theology is rooted in human interaction, many religions discuss the connection from one human
to another, and are designed to act as ethical building blocks for civilization. While Theology can
be used to defend or argue against environmental ethical points it really only finds proper use
when those ethical points effect other human beings. Otherwise there is no real reason to involve
religion in an environmental ethical argument. The only reason people have done so for so long
is that religion is often used as the basis of the human moral compass and so many people feel
the subconscious need to mix religion in any moral argument.

The religious view is unnecessary in an environmental discussion as it is always

redundant. Theology, specifically christian theology claims that the human race recieved the
world from God and it is thus ours. As such the reasoning would be that as owners of the planet
we have an obligation to protect it, but also as rulers we have the right to its spoils. This is a fine
assumption to make, except for the fact that there already is the assumption that humans as the
race who is able to conquer and use the land has the right to its spoils and the duty to its
protection. It would be clear that the stronger of all things the smarter would have its choice of
how to manage things. Thereby theology is unnecessary tool for this argument, as we already
have an argument that covers the theological reasoning.

Theology functions differently from Philosophy as it is used to better understand itself

instead of the world around. Theology is the use of the bible and sacred texts to better understand
God and thereby further its understanding on religious texts. Where as Philosophy is the
furthered understanding of the world around it as well as the fundamental rules within it.
Theology as a whole is actually ill suited for anything other than working on itself since its
primary concern is the furthered understanding of God. While theological arguments can be
made to the environment it is unnecessary to include them as they are either redundant or not
needed at all.

Theology is too specific to one group, thereby it can only effect a portion of the
population and cannot make universal arguments. To understand a theological argument one
must first have the prerequisite of being part of a monothesitic religion, specifically based around
the texts used as examples in the argument. Should a person not be apart of that religion, or reject
that religion Theology quickly falls apart. Global issues such as environmental ethics are poorly
suited to Theology as they are required to be understood by all groups of people. But Theology
inherently excludes those who do not believe in the Christian method of thought and so what can
be considered Morally okay for a theologian may be considered ridiculous by say a daoist.