by Kim Bentz

Created on: July 01, 2007

I once surprised a co-worker by expressing a concern for taking care of the world around us. He said something to the effect of "but aren't you a conservative and a Christian?" My response was gentle, but my thought was that of all people on earth, Christians and conservatives should be conservationist. After all, as a Christian I am told that I am a steward of the earth. A steward cares for the affairs and property of others. In some cultures a steward is a servant or a slave. In western culture a steward is a professional who takes care of someone else's assets on their behalf. They have a fiduciary responsibility to properly maintain and grow those assets. In this way, a Christian should see himself or herself as caring for the possessions of their Master. A steward was a highly trusted position of great authority.

Truthfully, we have become arrogant about the natural world and our responsibility toward it, but the strident, tree-hugging, earth-first types seem to put creation before man, who are created in the image and likeness of God and given authority over it. On this side of the aisle, some arrogantly ramrod their beliefs down others throats, not bothering to try to convince, but using their "nobler" concerns to justify stealing the property of another. Neither is justified, but from a logical standpoint, conservation and Christianity go hand in hand.

The secular humanist or athiest believes that man came from nothing, and that we are merely one of a series of mutations or evolutionary developments, and thus no better or worse than any other creature. It seems a logical step from this to believe that the damage mankind is doing (the extent of which is disputed) should be seen as merely the evolutionary steps by which the stronger eliminate the weaker and thus following the natural course of history. If we are mere animals, occuring by mere happenstance, why should we care for anything other than our own comfort? A lion cares for its own comfort except where the instinct for survival of the species puts a lioness in a protective posture toward her young. Is it then an instnct for survival of the species? That seems rather abstract.

Christianity, on the other hand, teaches that as created beings, we have a place in God's economy. We are told that Adam and his decendants are to "rule" the earth, and to maintain it well on behalf of God, whose creation it is.

There are those who believe that ruling means trampling upon that which is ruled. Many monarchs have

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