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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Christian Ladies..... (Earth Day)
youretooloud 05:21 PM 04-15-2012
I'm afraid to ask this anywhere else.

I don't really know much about earth day. I just try to be "earthy" all the time. I don't ever celebrate earth day.

I also don't teach Christianity because so many of my kids are of different religions. So, while I respect all religions, I don't observe any of them with the children.

Anyway... I saw a cute earth day project on facebook, and I linked it to my own facebook. I had two very religious aunts tell me "You can't teach an earth day project, it's new age.... we don't believe in earth day". Then they had a two way discussion about This New Age movement and Earth day.

So, tell me why earth day is offensive? I'm probably not going to do it... but, I want to know why. I'm not ABOUT to ask my aunts why... I don't want an open debate on my facebook, since some of my friends are Buddhist, some are Hippies, some are Muslim..and I just don't want to start it on there.

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/0...a-little-spin/ <--the project. I think it's mostly the book that offends them.

And, by the way. I am 100% fine with how they feel. I was not offended at all by their comments, and I would go to any length to defend them. I just want to understand why.
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melskids 05:55 PM 04-15-2012
I thought Earth Day was about recycling. When did religion get brought into it?
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EntropyControlSpecialist 05:56 PM 04-15-2012
I am a conservative Christian. We are celebrating Earth Day here. In fact, we are making it Earth WEEK.

We are to take care of all that God gave to us ... which to me, means the Earth. Since Earth Day is a holiday, what a GREAT way to discuss recycling, pollution, composting, taking care of the Earth, etc.
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Breezy 06:27 PM 04-15-2012
I am Catholic. Never have I heard anything about Earth Day being religious. Hmmmm I will have to.do.some googling
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momofboys 06:40 PM 04-15-2012
I am a Christian - I wouldn't have a problem with you talking about it/observing it. I think possibly what your aunts were talking about is it is sort of New Agey in a away - some people have made the earth or taking care of it their God or religion. We are IMO supposed to be good stewards of our earth each day - not just on Earth day but we shouldn't celebrate it. I think the problem is that people sometimes focus too much on the earth & doing good when they should be focusing on other people or paying attention to God. JMHO.

I got this from google:

"In light of this, yes, Christians should care about Earth Day, but they should care every day. What Christians SHOULD NOT DO IS CELEBRATE Earth Day. What we celebrate is our Creator for the gloriousness that surrounds us and to accept with joy and celebration the awesome responsibility of His stewardship mandate."
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itlw8 06:44 PM 04-15-2012
here is a site that list many religions and religious organizations that supposrt earth day http://www.earthday.org/faithresources including the Baptist church, Catholics, Presbyterians, Buddists, many many more.
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saved4always 06:49 PM 04-15-2012
Originally Posted by momofboys:
I am a Christian - I wouldn't have a problem with you talking about it/observing it. I think possibly what your aunts were talking about is it is sort of New Agey in a away - some people have made the earth or taking care of it their God or religion. We are IMO supposed to be good stewards of our earth each day - not just on Earth day but we shouldn't celebrate it. I think the problem is that people sometimes focus too much on the earth & doing good when they should be focusing on other people or paying attention to God. JMHO.

I got this from google:

"In light of this, yes, Christians should care about Earth Day, but they should care every day. What Christians SHOULD NOT DO IS CELEBRATE Earth Day. What we celebrate is our Creator for the gloriousness that surrounds us and to accept with joy and celebration the awesome responsibility of His stewardship mandate."
Yep, this is what I was trying to say but you said it much better and more concisely than I did.
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saved4always 06:47 PM 04-15-2012
I am a conservative, bible believing, Christian and I did not see anything offensive about the book or the projects on the page you referenced (of course, I only saw the pages of the book shown on the blog). Looks to me like it is all about taking care of the earth which God wants us to do. Unless there is something I am missing, it looks to me like it is about teaching kids to recycle and conserve things like energy and not waste things like food and paper. These are all excellent concepts to be taught to the kids. As a Christian, I would teach it as taking care of the world that God has created.

I very breifly googled "earth day and Christianity" and I think the objection to it by some Christian groups is when environmental causes are presented as a kind of religion, replacing belief in a sovereign God. I think there are some Christians who are militant about not believing in global warming so maybe that is part of it, too? They backlash against the whole idea of conserving and taking care of the earth's resources? Whether global warming is really happening or not, I have no idea, but I believe that God wants us to be good stewards of the planet he created. That would include teaching our children to be good caretakers of our planet.
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itlw8 06:38 PM 04-15-2012
Earth Day is not new. It is not a religious thing though as it has to do with taking care of the earth many churches do things with their youth groups.

Our church does and I would not say the Presbyterian church is new age.

Everyone no matter what religion or lack of religion should take care of the earth.

Are your aunts elderly? That could explain their opinions.They have heard something somewhere
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