Christian Ladies..... (Earth Day)

[youretooloud]

I'm afraid to ask this anywhere else.

I don't really know much about earth day. I just try to be "earthy" all the time. I don't ever celebrate earth day.

I also don't teach Christianity because so many of my kids are of different religions. So, while I respect all religions, I don't observe any of them with the children.

Anyway... I saw a cute earth day project on facebook, and I linked it to my own facebook. I had two very religious aunts tell me "You can't teach an earth day project, it's new age.... we don't believe in earth day". Then they had a two way discussion about This New Age movement and Earth day.

So, tell me why earth day is offensive? I'm probably not going to do it... but, I want to know why. I'm not ABOUT to ask my aunts why... I don't want an open debate on my facebook, since some of my friends are Buddhist, some are Hippies, some are Muslim..and I just don't want to start it on there.

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/0...a-little-spin/ <--the project. I think it's mostly the book that offends them.

And, by the way. I am 100% fine with how they feel. I was not offended at all by their comments, and I would go to any length to defend them. I just want to understand why.

[melskids]

I thought Earth Day was about recycling. When did religion get brought into it? :confused:

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I am a conservative Christian. We are celebrating Earth Day here. In fact, we are making it Earth WEEK.

We are to take care of all that God gave to us ... which to me, means the Earth. Since Earth Day is a holiday, what a GREAT way to discuss recycling, pollution, composting, taking care of the Earth, etc.

[Breezy]

I am Catholic. Never have I heard anything about Earth Day being religious. Hmmmm I will have to.do.some googling

[itlw8]

Earth Day is not new. It is not a religious thing though as it has to do with taking care of the earth many churches do things with their youth groups.

Our church does and I would not say the Presbyterian church is new age.

Everyone no matter what religion or lack of religion should take care of the earth.

Are your aunts elderly? That could explain their opinions.They have heard something somewhere

[momofboys]

I am a Christian - I wouldn't have a problem with you talking about it/observing it. I think possibly what your aunts were talking about is it is sort of New Agey in a away - some people have made the earth or taking care of it their God or religion. We are IMO supposed to be good stewards of our earth each day - not just on Earth day but we shouldn't celebrate it. I think the problem is that people sometimes focus too much on the earth & doing good when they should be focusing on other people or paying attention to God. JMHO.

I got this from google:

"In light of this, yes, Christians should care about Earth Day, but they should care every day. What Christians SHOULD NOT DO IS CELEBRATE Earth Day. What we celebrate is our Creator for the gloriousness that surrounds us and to accept with joy and celebration the awesome responsibility of His stewardship mandate."

[itlw8]

here is a site that list many religions and religious organizations that supposrt earth day http://www.earthday.org/faithresources including the Baptist church, Catholics, Presbyterians, Buddists, many many more.

[saved4always]

I am a conservative, bible believing, Christian and I did not see anything offensive about the book or the projects on the page you referenced (of course, I only saw the pages of the book shown on the blog). Looks to me like it is all about taking care of the earth which God wants us to do. Unless there is something I am missing, it looks to me like it is about teaching kids to recycle and conserve things like energy and not waste things like food and paper. These are all excellent concepts to be taught to the kids. As a Christian, I would teach it as taking care of the world that God has created.

I very breifly googled "earth day and Christianity" and I think the objection to it by some Christian groups is when environmental causes are presented as a kind of religion, replacing belief in a sovereign God. I think there are some Christians who are militant about not believing in global warming so maybe that is part of it, too? They backlash against the whole idea of conserving and taking care of the earth's resources? Whether global warming is really happening or not, I have no idea, but I believe that God wants us to be good stewards of the planet he created. That would include teaching our children to be good caretakers of our planet.

[saved4always]

I am a Christian - I wouldn't have a problem with you talking about it/observing it. I think possibly what your aunts were talking about is it is sort of New Agey in a away - some people have made the earth or taking care of it their God or religion. We are IMO supposed to be good stewards of our earth each day - not just on Earth day but we shouldn't celebrate it. I think the problem is that people sometimes focus too much on the earth & doing good when they should be focusing on other people or paying attention to God. JMHO.

I got this from google:

"In light of this, yes, Christians should care about Earth Day, but they should care every day. What Christians SHOULD NOT DO IS CELEBRATE Earth Day. What we celebrate is our Creator for the gloriousness that surrounds us and to accept with joy and celebration the awesome responsibility of His stewardship mandate."

Yep, this is what I was trying to say but you said it much better and more concisely than I did.

[Michelle]

I think they are confusing earth day with astrology...

[Michael]

We have another thread on Earth Day: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13389

[Kaddidle Care]

As a Christian that works in my Church Center, we have never thought badly about Earth Day. It's about recycling and doing your part to make the Earth nice.

There will always be somebody that has something against one thing or another. Do what works for you. The swirly paint Earth looks cool. I think I'm going to suggest we try it this week.

Did you know that in NY I think it was, that they aren't allowed to put the word Dinosaur in tests? (along with 49 other "offensive" words) It's just plain getting crazy I tell ya!

[Sprouts]

I think the idea of "mother earth" is what's offensive to some religious people, not earth day. Alot of tv shows and cartoons portray a mother earth as the creator of earth and leave out God which may confuse children that are being raised in a Christian household.

[DBug]

I think the idea of "mother earth" is what's offensive to some religious people, not earth day. Alot of tv shows and cartoons portray a mother earth as the creator of earth and leave out God which may confuse children that are being raised in a Christian household.

This is the issue I have with "Earth Day" -- how "Mother Earth" is anthropomorphized and given credit for "giving birth to all life", etc., etc. I don't have a problem with my kids learning about it by any means, as I believe very strongly that they should have their own reasons for believing what we've taught them. But I do have a problem with this hunk of rock that we inhabit being given credit that belongs to God the Creator.

The majority of Earth Day activities are encouraging the kind of things that God told Adam and Eve to do in the first place anyway, so that's all good. I don't think Christians of any sort should have a problem with that in any way.

[SimpleMom]

Earth Day is a day to recognize how to protect the earth that God gave us. That's what it began as. I'm a conservative Christian as well. My faith and love is for Jesus/God/Holy Spirit. We celebrate Earth Day.