Bright and Beautiful: Religions rethinking notions of 'stewardship'

Few who spend time in the wilds come away untouched by the sights, sounds, smells — by the spirit of land hallowed by its distance from human habitation.

And that personal connection to wilderness chronicled by writers and clerics down the centuries is now coming alive in Utah through dialogue; not in a courtroom or on Capitol Hill, but inside churches, synagogues and mosques.

"Faith and the Land," a series of faith-based conversations sponsored by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, has made the rounds through nearly a dozen different faith venues along the Wasatch Front. Organizers are literally "harvesting" diverse descriptions of personal spiritual connections that Utahns have experienced in wild places, hoping to craft an interfaith statement, to be released later this year, about the value of wilderness preservation in the Beehive State.

The next session is scheduled Sunday at 3 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 569 S. 1300 East.

Terri Martin, wild lands dialogue coordinator with SUWA, said the conversations about the spiritual importance of preserving wilderness began last April. "We want to make visible that people from all walks of life care about Utah's wild lands and want to see them protected."

Informal dialogues hosted by area churches and moderated by Martin and her colleagues allow participants to share their experiences with spiritual connection, renewal and solace. They also discuss spiritual and theological reasons to care for the land and their desire to protect wilderness areas.

Martin is careful to note that she doesn't "lead" the discussions in the sense that she goes in with a formal presentation. Instead, the project is about listening, recording and understanding the diversity of spiritual experience associated with wilderness.

It's a unique approach to an issue that has long polarized Utahns politically.

"In this state, the myth around the quest for wilderness preservation is that it's outsiders, extremists and secularists that want it protected and that those designations lock it up from our use," she said.

"We believe everyone who lives here has connection to landscape, whether through hiking, biking, rock climbing, fishing or just driving down I-15 through the landscape. Most find a sense of renewal, and that's fundamentally spiritual for many people."

In the past, public forums have encouraged debate over the future of wild places, "but that leaves a lot of people who are uncomfortable" with the politics and the polarity "out of the conversation," Martin said.