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Julia Cook

Ms. Schaner

AP Language and Composition C- 1st Hour

14 May 2018

Come Together As One

I had my thoughts on what constitutes a cultural experience, yet my brain was still rife

with confusion as to what event would truly open my mind to ideas I had not seen prior. I had

thoughts ranging from attending a church service to even taking part in an event which would

help raise awareness for the issue of gun violence that is so prevalent in our society today.

Instead of partaking in any of these experiences, I decided that a way to enrich my mind of new

ideas would be to visit a place filled with aesthetic concepts; a place where one can truly express

any emotions or thoughts. I wanted to delve into the widely immense world of art and all that

encompasses that umbrella of a term. To me, a cultural experience is something that reveals an

idea not yet known to an individual; an experience that offers coherent understanding of a

particular area within society. The experience I chose would lead to a thought-provoking

moment in my life that sincerely opened my eyes to the contradictions present within everyday

life, as well as the issues one does or does not see at face value. In my case, these contradictions

tied two unlikely partners together; religion and pollution.

Before going into this experience, I was well aware that I had a diminutive understanding

of pollution and the ways in which this affect our planet. My prior encounters with the topic of

pollution have only been brought up in discussions or experiments within the school system. I

felt as if there was something about this issue that was just being concealed away from

penetrating the mind’s of the public; we learn about it in school, yet there is no real pressure by
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our country’s current leader to pursue change. From a young age, my mother taught me the basic

principles of picking up after oneself and not littering; however, I was never explained the

authentic reason for why one had to do this. As I got older, I obviously realized that littering can

lead to polluted water which inherently puts all humans, animals, and plants in danger. I began to

become eager to learn more about the ways in which we, the individuals living on this planet, are

causing earth such an immense amount of pain. Class after class, and year after year, the topic of

pollution in our environment was debated and discussed yet nothing was being done to change

the situation.

My experience with religion was lumped into the same category as pollution. If there was

a correct way to label my faith in God, I would say I was either a non-believer or causally

spiritual. Growing up, my father abhorred the idea of taking his family to church. One of the

main reasons for this was that he grew up in a household where religion was used to persecute

every minuscule thing one did. My father grew up with the mentality that all religions expressed

the idea of all humans being born of sin; hence, he did not want his own children to grow up with

this mentality as well. My mother grew up in a home where the opposite was taught; my

grandparents taught my mother that religion was not just about sin, but that it truly stemmed

around the idea of peace for all of humanity. What I found to be so intriguing was that two

different families took the same religion and had such different takeaways from the meanings.

Ultimately, I always sided with the thoughts my father had; meaning that I had shaped my own

judgments on religion into ones that were invidious and condemnatory.

The place where my personal experiences with religion and pollution crossed was at an

unlikely area; The Grand Rapids Art Museum. The museum is right in the middle of a buzzing

city filled with people of all different sizes, races, religions, and sexes. On April 3, I decided to
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embark into the city in order to be faced with different pieces that would hopefully open my

mind to the thoughts and concepts that other individuals had transformed into art. Entering the

museum, I first noticed the amount of security there was; people dressed in police vests were at

the doors checking everyone’s bag before allowing entrance in the museum. A woman kindly

greets me and asks me if she could check my bag. After passing the invasive security, I was left

walking into a grand room with people wandering almost everywhere. The room had enormous

windows that were so clear one could not tell there was glass even present. The entrance to the

building contained men, women, and children all of differing ages, sexes, and color. What I

found to be the most interesting was the fact that English was not the only language being

spoken; I was hearing various forms of Spanish, Arabic, and I even heard one family speaking

French. To my surprise, the age of the individuals did not sit along a vast range. The median age

of the people I saw was around their teens or even younger mothers with her children; there was

an obvious overdominance of women to the ratio of men inside the museum. This prompted the

question, why is it that women, proven by the statistics present, seem to be more drawn to the

concepts of art? To answer this question, I had to dig deeper into the actual exhibits being

presented inside the museum.

The first room I walked into was the room that would set up the whole precedent to

change my thinking of pollution for the better. I entered into the wildly popular exhibit titled

“Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle.” The first thing I noticed was the immense of number

of Caucasians present. The other demographics I spoke of prior were not present in the room that

had this exhibit on display. The room was broad and crawling with children with ages ranging

from young infants to tiny toddlers. What impact does art have on young children? Does it

implement something into their minds which changes the way in which they grow? Does being
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exposed to art at a young age change one's morals? These were all questions racing through my

mind as I stepped foot into the room of the first exhibit. I walked over to the first painting; one

that immediately caught my eye. The painting showcased a modern day city, just like the one I

was in at the time. There were two sides to the painting; one side displayed an exceptionally

green world. A world where nature flourished and the air was clean enough to breathe in; no

disruption by man seemed to be ruining the balance of nature. The second half of the painting

displayed just the opposite. This side showed the same city yet with distinctly different

characteristics. Under a smog-filled sky, Alexis Rockman depicted a world where pollution was

immensely prevalent. She illustrated to viewers a contaminated lake; one filled with deplorable

garbage. She showed animals dying due to contamination that is being caused by humans.

Overall, the painting showed viewers the effects that industries are having on our environment.

The painting left me with haunting feelings and many unanswered questions. Why were we

letting our home die? Why is nobody doing anything to prevent this chemical destruction? As I

looked around, I saw bright smiling faces. How was nobody angry at the issue being depicted on

the walls?

My vexation with what I was being shown in the downstairs room forced me to walk

away; it forced me to try and find another piece of art to get my mind off the nettlesome actions

that were being committed in the downstairs room. I made my way up the stairs to a small room

that was full of pieces of religious work. My body told me to walk away from the room because I

knew I would not find solstice in religion. However, I was aware that I was here for the exact

reason of forcing myself to leave the comforts I have created. I slowly approached the first

picture that caught my eye. The artist had drawn a rendition of Jesus standing above a glorious

land. Bright colors of blue and green made up the nature scene illustrated. The room as a whole
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was peaceful; there were no children running around causing chaos and everyone looked as if

one were truly taking in the pieces of work for what they represented. Why was this room so

different from the one downstairs? Why were people more concerned with the work represented

by Jesus than work that represents an issue that is currently corrupting our present way of life?

To further answer my questions, I had to understand how the two concepts, religion and

pollution, connected to one another.

To my understanding, most people use religion as a way to cleanse their soul. Most of

those same individuals, not all, would consider the environment as a sacred place; a land that

God created. Why is pollution such a prevalent problem then? According to a poll run by ABC

News, around 83% of the population practices Christianity in some form (Langer).

Contradictions such as this led me try and delve deeper into what was the root connection

between the issue of pollution and Americans living in the United States today. Most Christians

will say that religion is what has helped them become a better person; that this belief alone is

what has shaped them into the person they are today. I am not disagreeing with that statement. In

fact, I believe that being exposed to such concepts one’s whole life, or at least a grand portion of

one’s life, will obviously have some sort of impact on the moral judgement that individual has.

Religious fabrics can be found in every aspect of life whether we like it or not. Religion has

permeated our society and will continue to affect individuals on a daily basis. This raised an

important question to me. If religion has saturated our society so greatly, then why is it that so-

called “pure” souls would want to ruin the only planet they get to live on? I am not implying that

religious individuals have done this on purpose, but I do believe they should be the ones to help

rise up for a remedy in order to mend the corruption already inflicted on earth. According to

Marcia Bunge, an expert in the Biblical community as well as the environmental community,
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states, “...the opening verses of Genesis clearly states that God is the source of all life and that

creation is good”(Bunge). The Bible itself states that God is the source of all life; God is the one

who has created this world and has made all his creations of quality nature. The Bible is telling

Christians that they must care for their home because he is the one who has created it; why

would a Christian have any reason to deface what God has said? Over time, I think that meanings

represented in the Bible have become muddled and quite honestly contradictory of the original

purpose proposed in the Bible. The ideal example of this contradictory behavior is prevalent

within America’s leader, Donald Trump. Trump is a professed member of the Presbyterian

denomination. According to the Presbyterian Mission, “...God’s work in creation is too

wonderful, too ancient, too beautiful, too good to be desecrated...Restoring creation is God’s

own work in our time, in which God comes to both judge and to restore”(“Environmental

Ministries”) The mission above is representing the belief that the Presbyterian denomination

strongly upholds the belief in preserving the environment; taking care of the world God has

given us. Why is Trump so adamant about cutting programs that would help preserve what God

has created? The man who is running America cannot even see that he is one of the model

examples of hypocrisy present in our society. In the fall of 2017, “Trump and Chinese President

Xi Jinping signed an agreement to start implementing the Alaskan Pipeline” (“Trump Pushes

Natural Gas…”). This pipeline would leave animals without homes and disrupt the natural

balance of such a gloriously green place such as Alaska. The whole want for this pipeline is

solely based on money; the individuals who want this are placing their moral values under the

rapacity value of money.. Money seems to be more important than life. Not only will this

pipeline affect animals and nature, but it will eventually catch up to humans as well. Why are we

placing money so high above the more rampant issue of a dying world? Here one can see the
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irony of the situation. Trump states that he is a dedicated Presbyterian yet contradicts his

religion’s beliefs by not pursuing a change in the highly destructive issue of pollution and

climate change. Instead, Trump and others are further murdering our planet by implementing

plans which are causing a great deal of pain. These types of individuals preach about cleansing

the soul of sin, yet sin will forever be in one's soul if one decides to disrupt the balance of nature;

the nature God has supposedly created for us.

This type of negative energy within society can also apply to the opposite party; a group

of people who do not believe in a God, but do believe in preserving the environment. These

types of individuals will advocate for the protection and growth of the environment but will

immediately shoot down any argument religious individuals bring surrounding concepts such as

climate change. That seems counterintuitive. Why would somebody advocating peace and love

be so quick to judge one based on one’s religious beliefs? The liberal stance on God is that they

will reject the Bible as the direct word of God; this is not to say that liberals cannot believe in a

God. This is just showing that most liberals see God as not being a plausible answer to dealing

with scientifically proven issues such as global warming/pollution. Most liberals believe that

humans are the main contributor to the global warming/pollution issue present in the world

today. What if one looked at the lifestyle of an advocate for change in the present day issue of

global warming and pollution. These people will protest for preserving the environment yet most

of those individuals drive a car that releases a colossal number of toxins into the air. Most of

those individuals probably eat meat which causes “51 percent or more of global greenhouse-gas

emissions”(“Meat and and the Environment”). It can be seen that on the outside these people will

do whatever it takes to be viewed as this moral individual but to make the actual change in their
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own daily routine is where most will fail. One cannot preach for peace and to preserve the

environment if that individual is still a part of the bigger issue at hand.

Both of these sides have fallacies in their logic. Religious individuals, who mostly fall

under the category of being Republican, have contradicted themselves by believing in a God who

has created this land for us while at the same time supporting a political ideology that does not

look twice at senseless contamination of the home God has created for us all. Non-believers, who

mainly fall under the category of the Liberal ideology, will promote peace and the need for a

change with the current state of the environment while still contributing just as many negative

actions against the environment as a Christian Republican. The whole world is full of hypocrisy;

no one will ever be correct one hundred percent of the time. Somehow the world needs to find

balance. It is like the Ying and the Yang; the two sides, or logics, need to be put together in order

to create harmony. The main issue is not religion or pollution. The main problem is that the

world cannot get over our differences in order to fix the effects of being stubborn to what the

other side has to say.

Harmony is possible. It is possible that one day earth can finally be purified from all

corruption. It is possible that the people living on this planet could one day set aside their

differences and take a look at the real issues at hand. However, it is impossible to live a life that

is one hundred percent crude; to live a life free from imbalance. No matter how hard one tries to

rid the world from disagreement, there will always be aspects of life that we agree with and that

we do not agree with. For example, it is completely reasonable for a Republican to disagree with

the idea of cutting programs for research into global warming, but that same individual may

agree with the Republican idea of ridding the concept of affirmative action from work/school

place environments. Life is all about finding the balance; finding what one truly stands for no
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matter what anyone else says. The issue of global warming and pollution is one that can only be

solved if the world puts aside their differences and comes together to save the only home we will

truly ever have.

Today, I see things with a clearer mind; I know where I stand on the issues of pollution

and religion. Now, I can truly see the two sides of an argument; I can choose what I agree with

and what I do not agree with. There were days when I would be so frustrated with the political

world’s actions on the environment because I simply could not grasp the mind’s of those

opposed to me. I now find tranquility in the concepts of change and hope for our future; I believe

that one day balance will find its way onto earth. I believe that one day the world will be able to

come together and fix the problems that are affecting us all. I now implore my reader to take a

deep look at themself. What is it that you believe in? It is now my turn to teach my readers that

the issue of pollution grows deeper than just littering; the concept of religion grows deeper than

just God. Once we all see what it is that we believe deep in our hearts, it is possible that one day

we can come together, in harmony, to fight for change with the current state of our world.

Works Cited

Bunge, Marcia. “‘Biblical Views of Nature: Foundations for an Environmental Ethic’ by Marcia

Bunge.” Web Of Creation, http://www.webofcreation.org/Articles/bunge.html. Web. 10 June

2018.

“Environmental Ministries.” Presbyterian Mission Agency,

www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/environment/. Web. 10 June

2018.

Langer, Gary. “Poll: Most Americans Say They're Christian.” ABC News, ABC News Network,

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90356&page=1. Web. 10 June 2018.

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“Meat and the Environment.” PETA, https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-

environment/. Web. 10 June 2018.

“Trump Pushes Natural Gas Deal between China and Alaska, but Obstacles Remain.” Public

Radio International, PRI, https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-28/trump-pushes-

natural-gas-deal-between-china-and-alaska-obstacles-remain. Web. 10 June 2018.