wfn.org | Congregations Receive Earth Day Mailing from NCC

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

1-April-1998 
98118 
 
    Congregations Receive Earth Day Mailing from NCC 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-In preparation for Earth Day - April 22 - more than 73,000 
congregations in the member churches of the National Council of Churches 
(NCC) have received a packet of materials encouraging people of faith to 
support legislation on children's environmental protection. 
 
    Entitled "Human Health and Environment: A Christian Perspective," the 
packet contains a letter from the congregation's denomination or the NCC 
introducing the mailing: two bulletin inserts, a list of resources, and a 
two-session adult study on Christian perspectives on the relationship 
between health and environment. 
 
    "It is clear that the health and well-being of human beings is 
inextricably related to the health and well-being of the rest of creation, 
a connection made in Hosea 4:1-3," said the Rev. Richard Killmer, a 
Presbyterian who is director of the NCC's Environmental Justice Office. 
 
    "Also, for people of faith, this is a justice issue," said Killmer, 
"because it is the most vulnerable in our society who are most hurt by 
environmental degradation, including the poor, people of color and 
children.  Women also have special reproductive health vulnerabilities." 
 
    The resource describes what it calls "the urgent need for education and 
advocacy about this issue," citing such statistics as the 11 percent 
increase in lymphatic leukemia and 31 percent increase in brain tumors over 
the last 15 years.  Strong links have been established between the rise in 
such maladies and the increase in environmental toxins in the United 
States. 
 
    The resource includes real-life stories to buttress its conclusion: 
"Environmental health specialists report that we are all immersed in what 
is becoming a deadly toxic stew." 
 
    Topics covered in "Your Health and the Environment: A Christian 
Perspective," the adult study written by Shantilal P. Bhagat, a global 
missions consultant to the Church of the Brethren who has been involved in 
eco-justice ministries for mor then 20 years, include "Biblical and 
Theological Perspectives on Health," "Living with High-Risk Synthetic 
Chemicals," "Environmental Hazards and Human Reproduction," "The 
Environment and Cancer," "Children's Health and the Environment," "Women's 
Health and the Environment," "Environmental Racism and Health" and "Healing 
Ourselves and the Earth." 
 
    More information and additional copies of the NCC's Earth Day resources 
are obtainable by calling 1-800-762-0968. 

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