Welcome to The Friendship Collaborative, an initiative that brings together scientists and people of faith in face-to-face dialogue about the environmental crises threatening the life support systems of our planet.
Today, the weight of humanity presses upon the earth as never before. Human activities, such as overfishing, destructive harvesting of forests and mountainsides, pollution, and climate change threaten all aspects of living creation.
The poor bear the brunt of the burden of the loss of reliable natural resources, but all people are affected by these changes. Whether we use nature for commerce, recreation, food, or appreciation, all of these values are better served by abundance than scarcity. It benefits us all to work together to reduce our individual and collective impacts and care for the creation that supports our well-being.
At Friendship Collaborative workshops across the country, scientists and people of faith will exchange information, share stories, and focus on the common goals of caring for creation. These informal, personal settings promote effective, fact-based, honest discussion about the challenges we face and the potential solutions that exist.
Friendship Collaborative workshops provide a venue for the meetings, and our website provides support for continued interaction at the local community level.
Faith and science are the two greatest forces shaping America and the world. Science offers crucial information about how the world is changing; faith offers spiritual and moral perspective in the face of these changes. While faith and science may approach the world with varying degrees of mind, heart, and soul, neither can afford to be mindless, heartless, or void of uniquely human concerns.
In the face of global threats to the health of our planet, science and religion need each other to answer the question: what ought we do now?
You can help answer the question by clicking on the links to find helpful resources and information on how you can organize your own Friendship Collaborative workshop. Thanks for your interest as we build a community of scientists and people of faith who share information and a common goal of caring for creation.
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RECENT EVENTS
The Ohio State University Friendship Collaborative Workshop was held on May 2 at the Byrd Polar Research Center. Led by Calvin DeWitt, Professor, Environmental Science, University of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Ken Wilson, Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, MI., the workshop brought together 15 scientists and 15 evangelical pastors and leaders.
See our Feedback section for comments from the participants.
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