Martin Marty

Martin Marty

Award-winning author and professor emeritus, University of Chicago

Martin E. Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught religious history, chiefly in the Divinity School, for 35 years, and where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors. For a decade prior to entering academia, the “On Faith” panelist served parishes in the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago as an ordained Lutheran pastor. Marty is the author of more than 50 books including Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America (1970), for which he won the National Book Award. His additional honors include the National Humanities Medal, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools, and the Order of Lincoln Medallion (Illinois’ top honor). Marty has served as president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association. He also has served on two U.S. Presidential Commissions and was director of the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago. He is Senior Regent of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Close.

Martin Marty

Award-winning author and professor emeritus, University of Chicago

Martin E. Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught religious history, chiefly in the Divinity School, for 35 years, and where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors. more »

Main Page | Martin Marty Archives | On Faith Archives


Religious Leaders Should Assail Hypocritical Views on Environment

In religions which profess faith in God the Creator there should be special concern by "co-Creators," earthlings, to be good "stewards" of creation.

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All Comments (21)

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T. Shearer:

Sorry about that. My browser locked up every time I tried to post, so I repeated the operation, unaware of the comment cloning that was taking place.

T. Shearer:

I think you're completely and absolutely right.

I’m a man of self-made beliefs, or rather, selectively filtered & gathered ones, and am often quite quick to question “the Church’s” morality & authority, but I try to be coherent enough with myself as to make certain distinctions. The flaws I see are not to be attributed to a religion, but to men and their imperfections – especially the flaws that prosper within situations of power.

Christianity, like so many other systems of belief, seems to be losing its most righteous adepts where I live (Spain), and acquiring new or renewed ones who appear to me to be adhering for the wrong reasons. In any case, it’s unfortunate to see good things turn the wrong direction when managed by people who have long lost the true course of their faith.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to question theological matters – that’s not at all the incentive of this post – but rather to praise the message you mean to spread.

If the Earth, as life, and the universe, was indeed granted to us by God, as a home in which to exist, grow & flourish, we’re not exactly sending out a message of gratitude by degrading it as we are. Nor are we giving much of an example of love for one another, by carelessly & selfishly destroying the earthly world that our descendants – children, grandchildren and so on – will inherit...and be stuck with…

Your message seems to me to be a very true and admirable one; one than can easily be backed up by logical and theological arguments – as well as common sense. I’m certain that if many others were to support your cause and spread the idea you bestow, many irrational “religion-haters” would be forced to restrain their impulses so as to avoid looking like hypocrites – and then, and only then, with virtuous and honest leaders, would they perhaps find themselves obliged to consult their values & think for themselves rather than resuscitating the wrongs from the past and moving with the flow – a growingly secular tendency, often unlearned and misled.

I may not believe in God – or at least in a God/number of Gods, whose form and teachings are interpreted, after all, by mere humans - , nor in religion as the ultimate source of harmony (or, to be more precise, I don’t have much faith in the integrity & good judgement of all of those who lead and all of those who follow – human, after all, and inherently fallible), but I do believe in the integrity & decency of certain individuals, and feel that encouraging those who promote goodness & morality, who merit my deepest respect, alongside with leading an honest life and sponsoring truthfulness and coherence amongst those around me and within my reach, is the best contribution I can make towards what I believe to be right.

Congratulations for what you have achieved and are fighting for.

- “Ethical existence is the highest manifestation of spirituality”. –

T. Shearer:

I think you're completely and absolutely right.
I’m a man of self-made beliefs, or rather, selectively filtered & gathered ones, and am often quite quick to question “the Church’s” morality & authority, but I try to be coherent enough with myself as to make certain distinctions. The flaws I see are not to be attributed to a religion, but to men and their imperfections – especially the flaws that prosper within situations of power.
Christianity, like so many other systems of belief, seems to be losing its most righteous adepts where I live (Spain), and acquiring new or renewed ones who appear to me to be adhering for the wrong reasons. In any case, it’s unfortunate to see good things turn the wrong direction when managed by people who have long lost the true course of their faith.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to question theological matters – that’s not at all the incentive of this post – but rather to praise the message you mean to spread.
If the Earth, as life, and the universe, was indeed granted to us by God, as a home in which to exist, grow & flourish, we’re not exactly sending out a message of gratitude by degrading it as we are. Nor are we giving much of an example of love for one another, by carelessly & selfishly destroying the earthly world that our descendants – children, grandchildren and so on – will inherit...and be stuck with…
Your message seems to me to be a very true and admirable one; one than can easily be backed up by logical and theological arguments – as well as common sense. I’m certain that if many others were to support your cause and spread the idea you bestow, many irrational “religion-haters” would be forced to restrain their impulses so as to avoid looking like hypocrites – and then, and only then, with virtuous and honest leaders, would they perhaps find themselves obliged to consult their values & think for themselves rather than resuscitating the wrongs from the past and moving with the flow – a growingly secular tendency, often unlearned and misled.
I may not believe in God – or at least in a God/number of Gods, whose form and teachings are interpreted, after all, by mere humans - , nor in religion as the ultimate source of harmony (or, to be more precise, I don’t have much faith in the integrity & good judgement of all of those who lead and all of those who follow – human, after all, and inherently fallible), but I do believe in the integrity & decency of certain individuals, and feel that encouraging those who promote goodness & morality, who merit my deepest respect, alongside with leading an honest life and sponsoring truthfulness and coherence amongst those around me and within my reach, is the best contribution I can make towards what I believe to be right.
Congratulations for what you have achieved and are fighting for.

- “Ethical existence is the highest manifestation of spirituality”. –

T. Shearer:

I think you're completely and absolutely right.
I’m a man of self-made beliefs, or rather, selectively filtered & gathered ones, and am often quite quick to question “the Church’s” morality & authority, but I try to be coherent enough with myself as to make certain distinctions. The flaws I see are not to be attributed to a religion, but to men and their imperfections – especially the flaws that prosper within situations of power.
Christianity, like so many other systems of belief, seems to be losing its most righteous adepts where I live (Spain), and acquiring new or renewed ones who appear to me to be adhering for the wrong reasons. In any case, it’s unfortunate to see good things turn the wrong direction when managed by people who have long lost the true course of their faith.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to question theological matters – that’s not at all the incentive of this post – but rather to praise the message you mean to spread.
If the Earth, as life, and the universe, was indeed granted to us by God, as a home in which to exist, grow & flourish, we’re not exactly sending out a message of gratitude by degrading it as we are. Nor are we giving much of an example of love for one another, by carelessly & selfishly destroying the earthly world that our descendants – children, grandchildren and so on – will inherit...and be stuck with…
Your message seems to me to be a very true and admirable one; one than can easily be backed up by logical and theological arguments – as well as common sense. I’m certain that if many others were to support your cause and spread the idea you bestow, many irrational “religion-haters” would be forced to restrain their impulses so as to avoid looking like hypocrites – and then, and only then, with virtuous and honest leaders, would they perhaps find themselves obliged to consult their values & think for themselves rather than resuscitating the wrongs from the past and moving with the flow – a growingly secular tendency, often unlearned and misled.
I may not believe in God – or at least in a God/number of Gods, whose form and teachings are interpreted, after all, by mere humans - , nor in religion as the ultimate source of harmony (or, to be more precise, I don’t have much faith in the integrity & good judgement of all of those who lead and all of those who follow – human, after all, and inherently fallible), but I do believe in the integrity & decency of certain individuals, and feel that encouraging those who promote goodness & morality, who merit my deepest respect, alongside with leading an honest life and sponsoring truthfulness and coherence amongst those around me and within my reach, is the best contribution I can make towards what I believe to be right.
Congratulations for what you have achieved and are fighting for.

- “Ethical existence is the highest manifestation of spirituality”. –

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There are religious leaders and there are religious leader! And not all of them are what they appear to be... In our day and age we are in dire need of a second religious reformation. Martin Luther certainly started the ball rolling with the availability of the bible for everyone to read for themselves. And in every religion not only Christian is it necessary for people to read for themselves. However without the mystical experience it is all just words. With the mystical experience all the words are unnecessary, the truth shines in a person's inner most being just as an image is seen clearly in a mirror that is crystal clean. It is for everyone to gain the mystical experience in order to appreciate life in relationships to all, to each other as well as all the aspects of the environment, animate and inanimate. Only when we attain deep understanding can we do what must be done to save the environment and be the custodians of a beautiful earth. Remarkably science, which at present is hijacked by atheist scientists, does provide evidence that points to a non-physical reality, evidence in which people can take courage that in truth materialism is not all that there is. If you want to get more information about this evidence you are welcome to visit my website at http://www.annavictoria.net and you will be surprised also how much evidence there is that the prayer experiments are sabotaged by scientists to promote atheism and decry religion. This is even more reason for a religious reformation. Regards Anna Victoria.

i beleive that certain religions are incorrect about the enviroment. they should pay more attention to others peoples views about it. people should use bikes or walk instead of using cars. or if you have to use a car try and use the same car as someone else instead of using two cars. i also think that planes should b banded and r we should sail to other countries instead of giving the world pollution.

Bob:

Marty, you said:

"Religious Leaders Should Assail Hypocritical Views on Environment."

I'm good with that. . . but how about this:

All citizens should assail any hypocritical view on any subject? Particularly unfounded views based on no evidence.

What do you think?

Thank you.

Solid_NOx:

Dear Professor Marty,
Since we are talking about leaders, we are talking privilege. Only those with scientific curiousity, say Mr. Al Gore for example, will delve beyond the psuedo-scientific hocus pocus focus. If there is Palovian incentives to look elsewhere thrown in, well, we the people do not stand a chance now do we? Not until we enact effective campaign finance reform. ALSO, CONGRESSMEN AND WOMEN SHOULD NOT OVERLOOK THE VALUE OF WHISTLE BLOWING!!! Now, in the current environment, one might as well be spitting into a strong headwind, but as things settle down, self-policing can be effective but only if it comes from an otherwise disinterested third party. Is there such a thing in our current political structure? I do not think so. Perhaps that is something that needs remedy. I also would still like to see the Vice Presidency go to the man or woman with the second highest popular vote total. We also should get rid of the Electoral College and convert this Bird of Prey into a true democracy with proportional representation instead of the pseudo imperialistic Republic with a winner take all mentality. But that is just me. First things first, the Middle East looms and innocent men, women, and children are dying every day EVERY DAY!!! EVERY DAMN DAY!!! AND we play. That, of course, is above and beyond our lost of capital and the cream of our young citizenry. Nothing else is on the table for me.

God Bless you and yours Sir. Many times over the Blessings you bestow. Amen.

Ba'al:

"scientist" writes that there is no evidence, there is no evidence, and if you disagree he will hold his breath until he turns blue.

Scientist:

There is NOT evidence to state that global warming is caused by humans or industrialized nations. Period.

Anonymous:

OK, so you've been at the Divinity School for 35 years in Chicago.

Can you point to any single instance where you did what you say or are you just being a hypocrite?

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