The problem of when and what is Earth Day reflects fundamental differences in society today. Confusion about the date of Earth Day and its purpose has hindered support for the environment.
Underlying the long-standing confusion are fundamental differences -- not about the need for environmental action, but about related religious beliefs and motivational methods. In a strange way these differences hinge on "What and when is Earth Day?
On February 25th, 'The Greening of America's Churches" appeared in the Washington Times. Written by Mark Tooley it described a $36.4 million campaign by the National Religious Partnership For the Environment (NRPE) and claimed this was an environmental program of liberals who were stating that Earth is God and we can help nature by recognizing we are a part of Nature, which is a part of God. The article mentioned that their main support came from the Pew Charitable Trust, whose founder was a conservative Presbyterian. It did not mention the nature of the support. It is hard to imagine the Pew Trust was knowingly supporting New Age philosophy.
Ironically, the leaders of the greening effort proclaim Earth Day is not on nature's day -- the first day of Spring, but on April 22, Lenin's birthday. The date, chosen back in 1970, was not selected because it was connected with Communism, but was selected for the convenience of students to protest against pollution in their national "Environmental Teach-In." However, the efforts to further liberal views and new age thinking have centered around promotion of the April 22 Earth Day.
The first meeting of the NRPE was in October 1993 and was hosted by Vice President Al Gore. It was held in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. James Morton, Dean of the Cathedral and Chair of the Partnership, praised Mr. Gore for his crucial role in creating the Partnership, whose offices are in Morton's Cathedral.
Dean Morton had formerly supported the March Earth Day (1974-5) and provided offices for John McConnell and his Earth Society. Margaret Mead, a supporter of Earth Day and later a member of the Earth Society Foundation Board, was a member of the Cathedral.
It seems the key leaders who sponsored April 22 as Earth Day used a "borrowed" name and the date of Lenin's birthday in an effort to liberalize Christian churches, believing their liberal views would help the environment.
John McConnell, the founder of the first Earth Day, March 21, 1970, which was "Nature's Day" -- the first day of Spring, is an Evangelical Christian. He is opposed to pantheism -- the idea that the cosmos is God, and contends that logic demands a creator be separate from his creation.. McConnell believes the best answer to the mystery of beauty, love and order at work in the cosmos is the life and words of Jesus Christ.
WHAT TO DO
John McConnell has posted on his web site "Agree With Your Adversary." (Go to John's Essays (http://www.themesh.com/eday.html). He states that Jesus did not say we should agree with something we did not believe, but that love and faith could always find important places where we could agree with even our enemy.
When it comes to the mysteries of creation and life after death there can be honest differences.* We must recognize and state the differences before effective cooperation can occur in the vital areas where we agree.
Efforts to replace the original date and purpose of Earth Day have fractured Earth Day celebrations. The first Earth Day was Nature's day -- the first day of Spring, celebrated March 21, 1970. Efforts to provide a singular celebration for all people have failed because people with money and power, but ignorant of the facts, have backed April 22 as Earth Day.
NATURE'S EARTH DAY
The partisan liberal image of Earth Day is in part the result of evangelical's failure to search for the truth and act upon it. Should Billy Graham and Pope Paul II call a press conference and urge global prayer when the Peace Bell is rung on the authentic Earth Day, differences would diminish as people came together for common Earth Trustee goals.
The cure for a fractured Earth Day is to accent and come together where we agree -- fully aware of where we disagree. All can agree on the beauty of nature's moment of equipoise -- which will occur when the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at 8:55 EST, March 20, 1997. The UN Peace Bell Ceremony has been the centerpiece of Earth Day at the United Nations ever since 1971. Conservatives and liberals of every religion and no religion participate. We can all benefit by using this moment for global dedication to think and act as responsible trustees of Earth. Some do this with silent prayer. Others with meditation or silent thoughts. All will then find new ways to cooperate for common goals.
Other dates for Earth Day will better succeed when participants acknowledge and join in observing the Earth Day celebrated at the United Nations on nature's Earth Day, March 20-21. The centerpiece of this event is dedication to Earth Trustee attitudes and actions. When people think and act as Earth Trustees, conflict diminishes, cooperation increases.
The more Earth Trustees the more people will trust each other. When enough people trust each other, wars and conflict will diminish and peace will prevail.
*Ecclesiastes 3:11 "...He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
http://www.earthsite.org
http://www.themesh.com/eday.html