Humans, Nature and God: Exploring Images of Their Interrelationships in Victoria, Canada

Abstract

Th is study explores visions of nature among five populations in Victoria, a small city in British Columbia, Canada: Christians, Muslims, Native Americans, Buddhists, and secularists. Each group was asked to express their view of the human relationships with nature based upon four approaches: mastery over nature, stewardship in regard to the creation, a partner, or a participant in the processes of nature. Th e first model, in which humans wield hierarchical power and mastery over nature, was rejected by all groups. Christians and Muslims adhered to the stewardship image of the human/nature relationship, while Buddhists and Native Americans considered themselves to be participants in nature. Th e secularists made combinations of the approaches to exemplify their view. Twenty-seven individuals participated in extensive interviews as part of this study, which also included a small scale written survey of fifty-three persons. Keywordsvisions of nature, values of nature, attitudes toward nature, religion, environmental ethics * ) We wish to thank the Coastal Inquiries project and the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria for offering the fellowship that enabled us to carry out this research in Canada. We would also like to thank Hub Zwart, Wim Hofstee and Wouter de Groot for their enthusiasm for this project and their valuable comments.

Exploration and Implication of Value Orientation Patterns in Social Policy-Practice with Ethnic Communities in Bangladesh

“…Lastly, in relational orientation, the Hindu and the Muslim compared to the Oraon and the Santal were more lineal-hierarchical and less collateral and individualistic, but the later cases preferred more collateral human relation than the Muslim and the Hindu did. These findings are consistent with the results of several crosscultural studies conducted in the same national culture and geographical situations in North America (Ben-Ari and Lavee 2004;Fogarty and White 1994;Gillin 1961;Groot and van den Born 2007;Klukhhohn and Strodbeck 1961;Sodowsky et al 1994;Zaharna 2008).…”

“…Cross-cultural researchers have argued that rural communities compared to urban ones are relatively stable, homogenous, and spontaneous in their cultural behavior related to VOPs (Gillin 1961;Groot and van den Born 2007;Klukhhohn and Strodbeck 1961;Sodowsky et al 1994). Following this argument, this study was conducted in villages of Rasulpur union of Naogaon district, Bangladesh.…”

“…It is interesting to note that there are wide subcultural variations in VOPs in the same geographical situation and national culture (Ben-Ari and Lavee 2004;Fogarty and White 1994;Gillin 1961;Groot and van den Born 2007;Klukhhohn and Strodbeck 1961;Sodowsky et al 1994). For example, Subjugation-to-nature: living in a total submission way with the natural/ super-natural forces Harmony-with-nature: living in a partial control or compromising with the natural/super-natural forces Mastery-over-nature: living in a total control over or in the natural/supernatural forces 2.…”

Motivations for committed nature conservation action in Europe

“…This is corroborated by research into human-nature relationships. As shown by Kempton et al (1995) and De Groot and Van den Born (2007), respondents show high levels of adherence to ecocentric stewardship in which people are seen as part of nature, being responsible for taking care of nature and for preserving nature for future generations.…”

Attitudes and Behaviors of Neopagans Toward Nature

“…Another study by the same authors examined spiritual aspects of human-nature relationships among different religious groups in Canada (de Groot & van den Born, 2007). Religious respondents tended to agree with the idea of humans being a part of nature but emphasized humans' behavior in nature as well as an ongoing process of alienation from nature.…”