Mary Gaut, Pastor of Maryland Presbyterian Church, reflects on the Maryland Stormwater Utility Fee and what the current debate says about our calling to care for the Earth

                Churches have a responsibility to do our part and lead by example in caring for our natural resources.  Our scriptures and our faith tradition affirm the natural world as part of the magnificent creation that God has declared good.  Throughout the Bible water is linked to the creative, saving work of God and is often used as a symbol of new life and rebirth because it cleans and refreshes and nourishes all that it touches.  Polluted water loses its practical and symbolic function.  The Biblical text is consistent with science in recognizing that water was part of God’s creation before the human creature evolved and that clean water is necessary for all life.  Therefore churches, as responsible stewards, have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect our waters from substances and activities that would pollute and degrade them.  READ ON