Often, the content you hear on the Casting Across Fly Fishing Podcast comes from written articles on this website. However, this post is a synopsis of a recent episode. 

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The polarization of our culture is understandable. The century-plus erosion of a common worldview has caused the foundation necessary for cooperation to crumble beneath our feet. The culprit? At one level, it is the lie of neutrality and personal autonomy. Seeing ourselves as disconnected from transcendent values and objectivity is bad for individuals. And what is bad for individuals is bad for the interpersonal and physical ecosystems they inhabit. Consequently, there are countless victims being sucked into this ever-increasing epistemological sinkhole.

One so happens to be the environment.

If your response to that is “No! It is [insert opposing viewpoint] policies!” you’re proving my point.  There is a time and a place for argument and debate. Real questions need to be asked and answers. Core presuppositions must be addressed. Personal, political, and religious/philosophical values should be tested and tried. But as we’re pointing fingers, or better yet sitting and having a civil conversation over a drink, let’s get some work done.

I’m calling that Mere Conservationism.

This, of course, is a riff off of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. This landmark work is the example of Lewis  as peak philosopher-theologian.  In brief, he argues for the common beliefs among the church. He advocates for rallying around what is most essential. The tangential, often heated conversations about secondary or tertiary matters need to happen. But first things first, if you will.

In fighting for the restoration of a trout stream, on one level I don’t care if you’re a materialist with some nihilistic humanism thrown in. Can you move these rocks? Thanks.  This is not to say that I don’t care about that philosophical/religious framework. But today we need to reinforce a riparian buffer and then sign a petition to get our local government to protect this little creek.

My Biblical, Christian perspective on why I conserve the natural world may very well run perpendicular to your atheistic perspective. (If it makes you feel any better, my Reformed Baptist and optimistic amillennial flavor of Biblical Christianity probably runs awfully perpendicular to a lot of other Christians’ perspectives on conservation.) But your and my perpendicular lines intersect on an imperiled river. How we got here and where we’re going matters. So does our co-belligerence in environmental stewardship.

If someone doesn’t buy into climate change lock, stock, and World Economic Forum barrel, but they want to sell raffle tickets for the local conservancy: are you okay with that? Are you going to stop a person from picking up trash alongside the stream because she believes we don’t have any more inherent value than fish, or the mayflies they eat, because of Darwinist naturalism? I sure hope not. What if you’re opposed to actions such as fishing or eating meat? The vast majority of environmentalists swat mosquitoes.

We can fight for what we know matters as we also fight for what else we know matters. We can work together even when we know we’re apart. We embrace our common dignity and responsibility, and in doing so we cooperate for something greater than we can accomplish on our own.

Of course, there are a lot of my worldview presuppositions in that last sentence you might have to overlook. I thank you in advance.