CHAPTERTWO
THEGOSPELOFCREATION
62.
Why should this document, addressed to all people of goodwill, include a chapter dealingwith
the convictions of believers? I am well aware that in the areas of politics and philosophy there are
those who firmly reject the idea of a Creator, or consider it irrelevant, and consequently dismiss as
irrational the rich contribution which religions can make towards an integral ecology and the full
development of humanity. Others view religions simply as a subculture to be tolerated. Nonetheless,
science and religion, with their distinctive approaches to understanding reality, can enter into an intense
dialogue fruitful for both.
I.
THELIGHTOFFEREDBYFAITH
63.
Given the complexityof the ecological crisis and itsmultiple causes, we need to realize that the
solutionswill not emerge from just onewayof interpreting and transforming reality. Respectmust also
be shown for the various cultural riches of different peoples, their art and poetry, their interior life and
spirituality. Ifwe are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damagewe have
done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes religion and
the language particular to it. The Catholic Church is open to dialogue with philosophical thought; this
has enabled her to produce various syntheses between faith and reason. The development of the
Church’s social teaching represents such a synthesis with regard to social issues; this teaching is called
tobe enriched by takingupnew challenges.
64.
Furthermore, although thisEncyclical welcomes dialogue with everyone so that togetherwe can
seek paths of liberation, I would like from the outset to show how faith convictions can offer
Christians, and some other believers as well, ample motivation to care for nature and for the most
vulnerable of their brothers and sisters. If the simple fact of being humanmoves people to care for the
environment of which they are a part, Christians in their turn “realize that their responsibility within
creation, and their duty towards nature and theCreator, are an essential part of their faith”.
36
It is good
36
JOHNPAUL II,
Message for the1990WorldDayof Peace
, 15:AAS 82 (1990), 156.
