The Nature of Faith: The Interconnection of Religion and the Environment

Does ecology influence religious views? Do our beliefs depend on the landscapes that surround us and the animals we see? If Jesus had never seen lambs and only dealt with ostriches — would we know a completely different Christianity? Conversely,... does ecology depend on religion? How do monotheistic religions influence global warming, and Zoroastrianism influence birds?
Through myths and stories, religious scholar Konstantin Mikhailov explains why we believe in what we believe, how the environment affects us, and how we affect it. Australian myths and South African rituals, Polynesian voyages and the wars of Native Americans with colonizers — chapter by chapter, the author shows how the formation of religion and the course of history turn out to be dependent on plants and animals, landscape and climate, and how major religions transform and change nature, helping us survive while sometimes destroying the environment.