Science and Faith: Claiming Earth as Common Ground

By Karen Meberg

New book by Andrea Cohen Kiener

Historically, it has been very difficult for scientists and people of faith to see eye to eye. Their different worldviews have been a source of disagreements for ages. Despite this, Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener has called for both believers and non-believers to focus on a very large commonality: Planet Earth.  

Cohen-Kiener’s new novel Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith proposes a multi-denominational approach to environmental activism. She believes that “the conversation between faith and science has changed” and that they “each do what [they] do well.”

Climate change is an issue that many people can latch onto because “it’s a big international problem,” Cohen-Kiener said. We all live on one planet, and therefore we will all be affected by any harm that comes to it. This kind of issue creates the perfect atmosphere for cooperation. It doesn’t matter why a group wants to help save the Earth, it just matters that they do.

Because climate change is multi-denominational and multi-cultural, it can serve as a platform for dialogue between groups that haven’t had much to talk about before. And before you know it, certain groups of people will find common ground with each other, when they weren’t even looking for it in the first place.