Stephen Asma asks, in the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education, if going Green has replaced Classical religion among the American mainstream, at least insofar as it fuels our sense of moral guilt. It’s an interesting idea, because it reminds us that the both classical systems of faith and the new obsession with being green are rooted in the understanding that each is intended to make a difference in our lives and in our world. For that alone, his article deserves to be read.
On the other hand, Asma’s piece makes some rather ugly assumptions about faith, including his identifying its primary goal being to generate guilt. That is hardly my experience of faith. Is it yours?
Would you describe guilt as an important component of your faith? What about joy, purpose, healing, redemption, meaning, and growth? It seems to me that these play a much bigger role in how people practice their faith.

Asma is certainly right about the pitfalls of too much guilt. But why must they be avoided by attacking faith and those who experience genuine accountability when they fall short of doing that which they are obligated to do, especially when it’s something of value to the entire world?
Yes, we should all take our religious and environmental positions with humor and with spiritual generosity, and we should do our cultural analysis with the same.