Local church sponsors discussion on religion and the environment

Greenville Faith Communities United is sponsoring a dialogue on religion and the environment at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7, following a 6:30 p.m. potluck supper in the parish life building of St. James Episcopal Church.

Brad Wyche, director of Upstate Forever, will moderate the discussion which will include representatives from the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Unitarian-Universalist and secular humanist traditions.

Panelists are not ecology experts, said organizer Timothy Lundy, but are faith participants who have read over a common set of guidelines and essays.

"Just a generation ago," Lundy said, "a dialogue on religion and the environment would have been a rare event," with religion seen as irrelevant if not responsible for the values that sanctioned domination of the natural world. "That certainly isn't the case now, and the change in the climate of discussion is bound to be reflected."

Lundy hopes to spark conversations among various faith groups to show similar doctrines and to illuminate areas of interdependence and relatedness.

The program is free and open to the public. Anyone wishing to come to the supper may bring a covered dish.