From Mirada Global, an interview with theologian Peter Knauer, S.J.:

Peter, what do we learn about God when we are faced with current ecological challenges?

Ecological challenges are, as ethics is in general, an object of reason and not of faith. Faith neither makes them more urgent than they already are nor gives them a more obligatory character than they already have. But faith liberates us from the power of that anxiety for ourselves which is connected with our human condition: vulnerable and mortal. In faith we experience the freedom that definitely permits us to follow our conscience.

The entire universe, including its being created, is an object of reason. Only God’s self-communication is an object of faith. It is not possible to make use of God as an argument for ecological claims.

Read the full interview here. Also available in Spanish.

Tim Reidy

 

Tim Reidy is the deputy editor in chief of America Media.