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In a message dated 12/27/00 8:00:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > that's unfair, i think, to lots of religious people and leaders. i > actually think that francis of assissi is a patron saint of environmentalism. > Well, at least Francis _talked_ to birds and animals. But I think the big problem is humanism, the assumption that the lives of human beings might be somehow more meaningful than the lives of clouds or trees or stars. Many religious leaders were passionately involved in the civil rights movement, because they could relate to the idea that all human beings ought to be treated with respect. It was almost de rigeur that any march began with a row of rabbis and priests and ministers holding hands. But when it comes to respect for animals or the oceans or the air, I just don't see that it resonates with them in the same way. At least they don't seem to me to be turning out in similar numbers. Maybe one of the few exceptions is the Dalai Lama, which might account in part for his tremendous popularity. pat