Issue 516 Should the Church Preach Conservation? January 29, 2015

So we are asking if the principles of conservation are in line with the Principles the Church puts forth.  So should the Church preach conservation?

Possibly:  The ideas behind conservation is to use our resources more efficiently and to live in harmony with nature as much as possible.  Church's in general do not disagree with this sentiment as far as I understand for God created both mankind and all that exists in the universe.  As such, existing in harmony with nature so that we do not destroy ourselves by eroding and destroying our natural environment is a good thing.  On this angle, the Church agrees and thus the Church can promote things like clean energy, recycling, and the cleanup of toxic waste.  They can also preach safe and reliable food storage, limits to hunting, saving the environment for other plant and animal life and teach about how not to overuse a natural resource.  In addition the Church can promote things like community gardens, teach methods of conservation and overall good practices such as preserving water and other resources.

Where it gets sticky:  There is though some areas of conservation (the extremist section) that the Church would not agree with.  Mainly issues of population control and similar ideas that go against the Churches ideas on human birth and procreation.  As far as I know, the Church does not believe the same as those who want population control in order to save the planet from overpopulation and thus the overuse and destruction of our natural resources.  This is seen as an extremist view of the conservation groups and thus is not something the Church would support.

Conclusion:  So to a degree, we have a lot of commonality with respect to the basic tenets of preserving our planet.  However, the Church or the very least the faithful see overpopulation as a possible joke and the solutions for it (those solutions in the extremist camp) like sterilization, the choosing of marriage partners, and others to be against the foundations of the faith.  So yes the Church can and probably should preach about conservation, just for the sake of preserving our world and making it a little bit cleaner and more livable for the next generation.