The "right approach" to which people of faith are being called here is not to "the environment" but to their God and His handicraft. Creation is not some partisan "issue," but the expression of divine love and the medium through which we demonstrate obedience to divine law and this immediately sets us apart from "environmentalists".

It is of major significance that religious Americans across the entire spectrum of biblical faith increasingly are offering this perspective in response to conditions of environmental and related social degradation. The affirmation that care for our planetary environment must be a fundamental religious and moral priority ultimately will prove more important than differences of perspective within it.

Scripture has undergirded teaching, publication and policy perspectives. "The Earth is the Lord's," we are told in Psalm 24:1, establishing God's ultimate sovereignty in creation, in light of which all human decisions must be made and behavior measured. "God looked at everything he had made and indeed it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). Both by divine act and affirmation, all life and the elements and habitats which support it have inherent moral value. Uniquely made in God's image and likeness, humankind is called to stewardship in "the covenant between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations" (Genesis 9:12). For people of faith, care for God's creation is a religious duty.

These and other scriptural teachings pervade authoritative documents by major faith groups addressing environmental concerns and are affirmed in countless educational materials circulated by the most respected sources.

Among the almost 10 million resources made available by the International Bible Society, for example, is Heaven and Earth, a guide to the integration of creation care in worship. Jewish scholars have contributed Torah commentary on stewardship of creation that is sent to nearly every synagogue in the United States for use in observances of high holy days. American Catholic bishops have sent related educational packets on the environment to every parish in the country with scriptural references, citations of the teachings of Pope John Paul II and resources for prayer, liturgy and study.

There is no new religion here, rather a fresh appreciation of the meaning and mandate of perennial Judeo-Christian faith.

Denominational groups carefully have considered scientific testimony from the most authoritative and nonpartisan sources. Jewish leaders have drawn upon reports from the National Academy of Sciences. Eastern Orthodox officials have deliberated with representatives of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. Catholic bishops consult their own Committee on Science and Human Values. Drawing only upon rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific consensus, faith groups have reached certain conclusions about the urgency of environmental conditions that raise fundamental religious and moral concerns and call for appropriate response.

In his New Year's 1990 message, Pope John Paul II declared, "Today the ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone.... I wish to repeat that the ecological crisis is a moral issue.... As a result [Christians] are conscious of a vast field of ecumenical and interreligious cooperation opening up before them." In that same year, the World Council of Churches declared, "Today, all life in the world, both of present and future generations, is endangered.... The magnitude of the devastation may well be irreversible and forces us to urgent action."

Speaking for Greek Orthodoxy internationally, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I declared, "For humans to cause species to become extinct... to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forests...to contaminate the Earth's waters, land, air and life with poisonous substances - these are sins."

In an extraordinary demonstration of the breadth of accord in the American religious community more generally, the most senior officers of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Rabbinical Council of America, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the United Synagogue of America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations established the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life and declared, "We, American Jews of every denomination, from diverse organizations and differing political perspectives, are united in deep conviction that the quality of human life and the Earth we inhabit are in danger, afflicted by rapidly increasing ecological threats: ...global warming, massive deforestation, the extinction of species, poisonous deposits of toxic chemicals and nuclear wastes, and exponential population growth. As heirs to a tradition of stewardship that goes back to Genesis...we cannot accept the escalating destruction of our environment and its effect on human health and livelihood."

From the very different theological and cultural perspective of conservative Christians, in a declaration first distributed by the highly regarded relief and development agency World Vision, nearly 500 prominent evangelical scholars and agency executives agreed: "We and our children face a growing crisis in the health of the creation in which we are embedded, and through which, by God's grace, we are sustained. These degradations can be summed up as: 1) land degradation; 2) deforestation; 3) species extinction; 4) water degradation; 5) global toxification; 6) alteration of the atmosphere and 7) human and cultural degradation."

From the outset, environmental concerns have been structurally linked to issues of social and economic equity. "The ecological problem," wrote the American Catholic bishops, "is intimately connected to justice for the poor."

It is largely as a result of direct ministry to the planet's most vulnerable peoples that organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service and the Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations increasingly are recognizing the importance of further integrating efforts for environmental sustainability into long-standing contributions to human health, nutrition and life expectancy.

In determining whether the religious community has taken the "right approach," perhaps the works themselves are the best measure of faithfulness.

Some efforts have been undertaken by national offices and agencies. To help reduce the incidence of childhood illnesses such as asthma, cancer, birth defects and learning disabilities caused by environmental influences, a "Catholic Children's Health and Environment Campaign" has been established by Catholic Charities USA, the National Council of Catholic Women, the Catholic Health Association, National Catholic Education Association and the U.S. Catholic Conference's Secretariat of Pro-Life activities. To mitigate climate change and air pollution, the National Council of Churches of Christ mailed educational packets to almost 100,000 congregations explaining how energy conservation may best be undertaken.

Other efforts are being enacted regionally and locally. The Catholic bishops of the Pacific Northwest are preparing a pastoral letter on the Columbia River. First Iconium Baptist Church of Atlanta has helped protect its community from sewage contamination. The Hamburg Presbyterian Church of Hamburg, NY, secured "Critical Environmental Area" designation from New York state for the nearby Eighteen-Mile Creek renowned for its fossils.

Temple Beth El in East Amherst, NY, has organized testimony in support of pesticide registry. Churches in the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM, are addressing the interaction of poverty, racism and environmental degradation along the Rio Grande corridor.

As these deeds demonstrate, biblically rooted, theologically sound, scientifically informed, community-based stewardship of God's creation is being carried forward diversely across the broad spectrum of faith groups in America with the encouragement and resources of its governing bodies.

Inevitably, there are objections from marginal sources. Some seek to establish new religions that worship the creation, not the Creator and accuse Judeo-Christian teachings of being a principal cause of environmental destruction. At the other end of the spectrum, four religious scholars recently have charged the National Religious Partnership for the Environment -- an affiliation of the very groups whose words and works are cited above, which includes the U.S. Catholic Conference, the National Council of Churches of Christ, the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network -- with actually seeking to "redefine traditional Judeo-Christian teachings...and supplant Judeo-Christian teachings with theologies which frequently portray the earth as 'our mother' and prayers warning that we 'cannot let our mother die.'"

With this overheated, unsubstantiated accusation -- and the familiar tactic of attributing the remarks of some unidentified, marginal few to entire mainstream organizations -- its authors distributed a much more thoughtful "Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship." But that declaration's signatories make no such charge whatsoever and affirm that "the moral necessity of ecological stewardship has become increasingly clear."

There is much to discuss; more still, perhaps, to pray over. Familiar ideological differences, largely about economic policy, likely will color conversation. Perhaps recognition of the magnitude of God's calling here will soften the edges of partisanship. But far, far deeper forces are moving people of faith now, and from the very heart of their traditions: growing reverence for God's creation on Earth, acknowledgement and repentance for widespread assaults on divine handicraft; daily enactments of the biblical mandate to stewardship. These movements from scripture and spirit, and the perennial religious and moral perspectives with which they are being expressed, are essential to the task before human civilization. We nourish them during the week of holy observance: God's deliverance of the people of Israel to the promised land and Christ's resurrection and redemption of all creation.

Gorman has been the executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, serving a union of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish groups.