"Faith and the Land Dialogue" REPORT

The following was submitted by George Handley, Professor of Humanities at BYU:

On April 10, 2008 a gathering of LDS spoke together about LDS belief, stewardship, and wild lands. It was an evening for personal reflection and thoughtful exchange around questions such as: What do Utah's wild landscapes mean to you spiritually? How do LDS beliefs and teachings call on us to care take the natural world? How might we join with people from other faith traditions to foster better stewardship of our wild land heritage? Guided by a trained facilitator, we talked and thought together in small groups and then "harvested" what was spoken and heard in order to make visible the stories, insights and learning that has been shared. This evening of dialogue was part of a larger initiative (sponsored by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and in this case also by the Utah Humanities Council) that brings people together within different communities of faith and also across faith traditions to talk about why our state's wild land heritage is important spiritually to Utah citizens. The initiative is based on the belief that Utahns from all religious traditions, as well as Utahns of no particular faith tradition, value Utah's wild lands as places of spiritual inspiration, connection, renewal and solace. It is also based on the belief that coming together to share what is important to us individually and collectively will reveal collective wisdom that can guide our stewardship of the wild lands we love.

To download a more complete document on this event, please click HERE.