‘The Green Bible’ Aims to Preach the Green Gospel, Literally

One thing that has always confused me about Christians is that so many of them are global warming deniers or at the very least, think environmentalists are kooks. I guess there is conflicting information in the bible, which seems to indicate that God has left the world in human hands to care for his creations, yet there’s also the attitude seen on those bumper stickers, ‘In the event of the Rapture, this car will be unmanned’. In other words, a lot of Christians seem to have the attitude that the ‘upcoming’ second coming of Christ gives us license to mess up the environment as much as we want with no real consequences.

Publisher HarperOne aims to give Christians a guide that will help them interpret the environmental themes in the bible via ‘The Green Bible’. From Business Week:

This fall, it will publish The Green Bible, complete with cotton/linen cover, partly recycled paper, soy-based ink, and passages about caring for the earth highlighted in green. The $29.95 edition of the Good Book also includes essays and a study guide about the spiritual mandate to protect the environment. (Tauber says study guides helped sell the Archeological Study Bible, published in 2006 by Harper’s Zondervan unit.) Hoping to sell 25,000 to 30,000 copies a year, he plans to market The Green Bible to eco-aware churches and influential thinkers. Essay contributor Calvin B. DeWitt, a University of Wisconsin environmental professor and an evangelical Christian, says the Bible is “a kind of ecological handbook for right living on Earth.” A passage he cites: Genesis 2:15, in which God bids Adam to serve and keep the Garden of Eden.

I guess if you’re going to believe in an invisible sky wizard (it’s no crazier than a flying spaghetti monster), you should at least be reading about it in a green book. RAmen.

Link [Business Week]

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