Religious Bureaucracies Sometimes Hinder Environmental Activism

I believe that care for the environment is a moral obligation of every human being. The question of how to enlist a sizeable portion of the human race in the exercise of this obligation is troubling.

Al Gore has worked with dedication to try to increase the rate of recruitment to the task of dealing with the “inconvenient truth” of the state of our global environment. The task is not easy.

A number of years ago, I was working as director of Field Studies for the Cathedral College of the Laity at the Washington National Cathedral. I received an announcement that the national office of the Episcopal Church intended to hire a staff officer for environmental affairs. I was very familiar with the workings of the national office and wondered how one mid-level church bureaucrat with a small budget could possibly do anything of significance with regard to our global environmental problems.

As I mused on this thought I began thinking about a man I had come to know in my work. This scientist was a very senior executive with an extremely large multi-national corporation whose products and services had an enormous impact on our globe. I knew that he was a life-long Episcopalian and a faithful and devout Christian. Pursuing the issue, I met and talked with the man, telling him of the pending new national staff acquisition and expressing my doubts regarding the effectiveness of this approach.

I then learned that the gentleman had his own experience with church bureaucracy having served for a time on a National Council of Church’s committee. We talked about alternative approaches the Episcopal Church might take. Would it be possible to gather top-level executives from major corporations, tap into their Christian motivation, and create a serious, on-going forum for trusted exploration of the impact of their corporations’ policies on the ecology of our planet? My friend said that while this might be possible and could be extremely valuable, he had serious doubts the Episcopal Church would ever sponsor such an effort because it was too easy just to write off the business world as an enemy of the environment.

I was more optimistic. I said that I had a speaking acquaintance with the Presiding Bishop, the executive head of the Episcopal Church’s national office, and that I believed we could get a hearing for this proposal so long as my friend would be involved. He agreed. Accordingly, I composed a lengthy letter carefully explaining the rationale and plan and offering to go to New York to explore the concept further. Many weeks went by until it gradually dawned on me that the letter was not going to be answered. It never was.

Was our proposal foolish or wise? I don’t know. I do trust that I am not wrong to believe that a great many people, with and without religious faith, are worried about the health of our world and would gladly respond to specific opportunities to use their gifts and talents in this cause.

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Rev. Mr. Anderson,

Your experience, while regrettable, is very common for those who have to deal with any sort of organization, be it business, governmental, or religious.

I was head of two state government agencies and occasionally resorted to the same strategy employed by your Presiding Bishop: IGNORE IT AND IT MAY GO AWAY.

I often received a letter on a subject I simply didn't want to deal with. I'd place a bet with myself on whether, if I ignored the letter and didn't reply to it, the writer wouldn't pursue the subject, the issue would vanish, and I'd be home free.

I was amazed and sometimes saddened at how often and how well my ploy worked.

I was also frequently on the other side of the fence: my letter went unanswered. To deal with that I developed a strategy which I would have recommended to you:

*** Call the Bishop.

*** If no answer, show up at his office and
confront him. If necessary, push past the receptionist.

*** If that didn't work, do one of the following, the order being determined by the facts on the ground:

(A) Give the story to the press, in hope that the reporting will embarrass or force the Bishop to respond;
(B) Organize a protest at/in the Bishop's office, and call the press (including TV) - tell them to bring their photographers.

*** If nothing has worked, make up good print and TV ads to embarrass and coerce the Bishop, and run them every day til your money runs out.

*** Still no results:

Give up your Christian beliefs, become a Cathar, and accept that the Lord of This World is the "Ignorant Demiurge".
This deluded being thought he was the Godhead, while actually he was only a lesser, narcissistic diety, who had created matter and the universe, the central and universal characteristic of each being an evil nature.

I appreciate that you were simply being a good Christian ("turn the other cheek") when you didn't challenge the Bishop on his uncivil non-response to your letter.

But sometimes a little Muscular Christianity is necessary to advance The Good.

Of course, it's always possible the the Bishop never got your letter. Another reason you might have called his office - to find out.

Best wishes.

Posted by: Norrie Hoyt | February 14, 2007 2:44 PM
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Mr. Anderson,

It is sad your well-thought letter did not receive the attention and action it deserved. Perhaps those in the main office didn't want to wade through a long missive. (Did you put a synopsis at the beginning?)

Don't give up. Try again.

I have often thought that we need a permanent panel of experts, perhaps a rotating volunteer panel, constantly evaluating all our activities and their long-term consequences. Such a panel would have to have teeth.

Posted by: J. Rhinehart | February 13, 2007 7:08 PM
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Religious Bureaucracies Sometimes Hinder Environmental Activism

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