By WILLIAM DAVIS

A key issue at the heart of environmental justice is the connectedness of humans to each other and the planet we live on. Environmental problems affect us all but not in the same way, or the same magnitude. In general, people of color experience pollution in the air, water, and land more adversely.

Human attitudes and actions create environmental injustice. The environmental justice movement, begun in 1970, fights for the rights of all people to live free of environmental degradation and contamination regardless of race, color, economic status, or tribal affiliation calls for unity among people and religions in the fight against environmental injustice.

Religious Environmental Activism

Religious leaders are actively involved in this movement in the United States and around the world. Pope Francis took a stand for the earth and the poor in his encyclical “Laudato Si” 2015, which will be revised and updated on October 4, 2024, in honor of the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi who was well known for his care for people and animals.

This date is also the last day of the Season of Creation, a month-long ecumenical focus to inspire greater prayer and environmental action among Christians. Francis uses the theology of creation to emphasize the unity of humanity and our relationship to the Earth as stewards. He brings out the importance of Sunday as a day of rest in the Roman Catholic tradition and relates it to the Sabbath of Jewish tradition (Laudato Si 237).

Jonathan Schorsch, Jewish professor at the University of Berlin, calls for a “Green Sabbath” to reduce the carbon footprint of human industry and activity by 14.3%. Schorsch does not ask everyone to keep the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. He suggests that all monotheistic religions have a “sabbath” in their beliefs whether it is Saturday, Sunday, or Friday.

Protestant Approaches to the Environment

Among Evangelicals there are those who believe that God gave man dominion over the planet and its plant and animal life. This anthropomorphic or human centered theology also places emphasis on dominion of everything on earth by humankind including religion, culture, government, and business.

They cite Genesis 1 where “God made man in his own image…and gave him dominion…”. Others have a view of stewardship which is based on Genesis 2 where “God placed man in the garden to care for it” (How Religion Intersects With Americans’ Views on the Environment, Pew Research Center).

Since the early 2000s the European Sunday Alliance, a coalition of religious and labor organizations, has made efforts to have the European Union designate the work-free Sunday as a cultural day to stop work so laborers can rest and have family or social time. Poland passed a Sunday Trading Ban in 2018. Slovenia has also passed a Sunday Shopping ban to give retail workers a day off. The argument for Sunday closures in the United States has long been the desire of a devoted group of conservative protestants and Catholics. They argue for this on the basis of human need for rest. Organized labor has joined these movements at different times in the history of the United States. Such movements have attempted to establish the United States as a Christian nation and enforce the “Christian Sabbath.” Even though legal scholars still debate the so-called “Sunday exception,” it is an idea that refuses to go away.

What’s the big Deal?

Let us have a four-day work week and take Friday through Sunday off from work so Muslims, Jews, and Christians can have rest and the planet can get the benefit of a carbon footprint reduction. Secular sources in business journals are discussing the benefits of a four-day work week, after all.

The issue is the slippery slope from unity in diversity to unity as uniformity. Turkey, a majority Muslim nation, opted for a Sunday rest day as opposed to Friday to better connect with European and other western markets. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait have adopted the “western weekend”

Some Muslims in Israel rest on Saturday along with the Jews albeit for practical reasons as opposed to religious. But in the overall picture it is Sunday that is getting the most attention. India, which is not a Christian nation, has adopted Sunday as its common rest day.

As such there is a danger that to promote environmental justice for the earth, the poor, and the labor force, we may see a push for one day to supersede all others in the name of unity and fraternity in solidarity with the Earth.

Since the majority would favor Sunday over any other day, this “Christian Sabbath” could be imposed upon the minority who observe the Seventh-day Sabbath from Friday evening till Saturday evening. With the rise in antisemitism around the world, this is more probable today than in recent history. Justice for all includes people of all and no faith. In our fight for environmental justice, we must preserve the rights of all minorities including religious.