Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt, Environmental Justice Minister of the UCC, “Historically, we have been a denomination of firsts, and I am excited to see our members leading the charge to undo a legacy of colonial theology and planetary destruction.” He continued, “This resolution is about undoing a centuries old theology of empire and colonialism. It puts into the dustbin of history worldviews that regard the natural world around us as something to be exploited and consumed by humans with callous disregard.”
Rev. Dr. Robert Shore-Goss, one of the proponents for the resolution, indicated that Pope Francis addressed the United Nations (2015) , stating that a “right of the environment exists.” He noted that “Today the UCC is the first Protestant Church that publicly states that nature has rights. During an impending climate emergency, when corporations are given the legal rights of person, what about nature which is so important to survival of life on Earth. I am so proud that the UCC will be the first of many denominations that will step up and morally proclaim our need to protect nature rights, because human rights and nature rights are so mutually entangled.”
Rev. Robert Shore-Goss observed this resolution originated from the Federated Church (Marlborough, NH).was supported by the UCC Environmental Justice Team and affirmed by the New Hampshire UCC Conference and sent to General Synod 33. “Who Will Speak for the Trees?” was the question from the Lorax from Dr. Seuss in 1971, a year after the US celebration of the first Earth Day. The Resolution on the Rights of Nature is a faith witness and call to action to listen to the cries of the Earth. Shore-Goss noted, “Every step of the process of bringing the Rights of Nature, UCC folks stepped up and supported this resolution with enthusiasm.”
The rights of nature had a history in the long history of indigenous peoples to protect their land and water and their human rights. The Lakota Nation at Standing Rock brought world-wide attention to interconnection of human rights and nature rights. And that struggle continues today with many indigenous peoples in the US and internationally. Shore-Goss pointed out that the history of the rights of nature began with Supreme Court Justice William Douglas’s book, Wilderness Bill of Rights (1965). Later law professor Christophe Stone published an article, “Should Trees have Standing?”(1972)
As the Synod began, Rev. Shore-Goss received a letter from the First Congregational Church, Redlands, CA, addressed to the UCC delegates from Southern CA/NV.
We know that we humans must transform our relationship to Earth and her ecosystems from one of seeing and treating Earth as an “it”, thus robbing her, as Robin Wall Kimmerer says, of selfhood and kinship, reducing her to a thing. We are learning what that one word “it”, that one way of thinking and living, has wrought, as we witness, and so many experience the devastation, destruction, and existential threat of climate chaos, collapsing ecosystems and the deadly effects of racism, all connected.
What this resolution of the Rights of Nature does, among many things, is put us directly in touch with our moral responsibility and profound gratitude to Earth and all living beings, and our deep commitment to healing our society and our world in all life-affirming ways. Learning to experience our interconnectedness with “all relations” is crucial. As you said so well, humans have to “love, cherish, protect, and restore this planet, beloved of the Creator.” A resolution of the Rights of Nature is an essential step in this direction.
The resolution has a twofold purpose: 1) protecting nature from human abuse and reckless exploitation, call for responsibility for caring for the gift of nature. General Synod 31 proclaimed, “The Earth is the Lord’s =, and all that is within it, and those who lived in it.” (Psalm 24:1) 2) beginning a transformational shift from a position above or separate from nature to being part of the Earth community. Dr. Shore-Goss paraphrased “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Creator require of you? To act justly, sustainably, and ecologically on Earth; to show compassion to the multi-species inhabiting the Earth, and to walk humbly with your God present in all life and on Earth.” This is our biblical view of distributive justice for humanity and biokind.
The prophetic actions in the resolution have committed the United Church of Christ, and other Christian denominations to follow, to actively shape the emerging legal language of nature rights in the US and internationally. The biotic rights of nature impacts mutually human and nature rights. We are all members of the Earth community. For the full resolution, check the link, https://www.generalsynod.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Rights-of-Nature.pdf