NCC’s “God’s Mandate Statement”
The following paragraph is from the National Council of Churches’ “God’s Mandate Statement”, a 48 page .pdf file with about 1000 signatories, a few of whom are Episcopalians — including a few bishops in unexpected places — which is good! (I didn’t notice any signatures from the Bishops of New England, who wrote the monumental Pastoral Letter, ‘To Serve Christ in All Creation’. Maybe someone would like to let them know about it.)
Excerpt from the “God’s Mandate Statement”:
Biblical Mandate, Moral Values, and National Consensus
Our mandate is from biblical scripture. First, we read in Genesis that God beholds all creation as ìvery goodî (Gen 1:31) and commands us to ìtill and tend the gardenî (Gen 2:15). Humankind is called to stewardship of the commons. Second, we read in Psalms, ìThe Earth is the Lordís and the fulness thereofî (Ps 24:1). The bounty of Creationís gifts must serve the common good of all. Third, we have a paramount obligation to ìdefend the poor and the orphan; do justice to the afflictedî (Ps 82:3) and to care first for ìthe least of theseî (Math 25:35). Care for Godís creation particularly requires protection of vulnerable life. Finally, we have an obligation, in prudence and precaution, to sustain the future wellbeing of all life on Earth, Godís ìcovenant which I make between me and you and every living creature for perpetual generationsî (Gen 9:12).
With the first resolve of GC2003 Resolution D016 acknowledging that “responsible care” (intentionally worded, as opposed to “responsible use”) of animals (including captive and domestic animals mentioned in the second resolve) falls within our stewardship of creation, I wonder if any of the Episcopalian signatories would be friendly toward the mission of the Episcopal Network for Animal Welfare. I can’t help but interpret the third point of this paragraph as including animals who are afflicted most particularly by humankind’s use, but are so absent on the radar screen of the vast majority, as to be “the least of these”. It just seems like it should be an easy leap to go beyond the general understanding of eco-justice concerns to include “all life on Earth” — “all life” meaning not just us, or not just the endangered species who generally escape human interference — but the majority of captive and domestic animals that unseen humans-on-the-payroll exploit/traumatize/kill out of public view, without any benefit of a sympathetic majority that would be needed to protect these most vulnerable lives from the ravages of our economy, consumerism, privileges, and constant demands on the industries to supply “whatever we want” at the animals’ ultimate expense. (Please note that “wellbeing” in the last sentence in the quote above goes beyond the limitations of “welfare”.)
If interested, you can see who in your state signed on to the Statement at http://www.nccecojustice.org (second bullet on the white part of the page, just above the downloadable Bible study). If you live in the US, you can sign on too, by clicking on “Add my name” at the end of the second paragraph on that page.
Please feel free to pass this information along to your church friends or colleagues of any denomination (in the US). I would like to see more “Episcopal” names listed. Thanks!