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E-book
Author Witt, Joseph D., author

Title Religion and resistance in Appalachia : faith and the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining / Joseph D. Witt
Published Lexington : The University Press of Kentucky, 2016

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Description 1 online resource (295 pages)
Series Place Matters: New Directions in Appalachian Studies
Place Matters: New Directions in Appalachian Studies
Contents Front cover; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; 1 Religion, Place, and Mountaintop Removal; 2 Seeking Justice; 3 Caring for Creation; 4 Defending Mother Earth; 5 Religion, Friction, and Cultural Encounter in the Anti-Mountaintop Removal Movement; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary In the last fifty years, the Appalachian Mountains have suffered permanent and profound change due to the expansion of surface coal mining. The irrevocable devastation caused by this practice has forced local citizens to redefine their identities, their connections to global economic forces, their pasts, and their futures. Religion is a key factor in the fierce debate over mountaintop removal; some argue that it violates a divine mandate to protect the earth, while others contend that coal mining is a God-given gift to ensure human prosperity and comfort. In Religion and Resistance in Appalachia: Faith and the Fight against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, Joseph D. Witt examines how religious and environmental ethics foster resistance to mountaintop removal coal mining. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, teachers, preachers, and community leaders, Witt's research offers a fresh analysis of an important and dynamic topic. His study reflects a diversity of denominational perspectives, exploring Catholic and mainline Protestant views of social and environmental justice, evangelical Christian readings of biblical ethics, and Native and nontraditional spiritual traditions. By placing Appalachian resistance to mountaintop removal in a comparative international context, Witt's work also provides new outlooks on the future of the region and its inhabitants. His timely study enhances, challenges, and advances conversations not only about the region, but also about the relationship between religion and environmental activism
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Ecotheology -- Appalachian Region
Mountaintop removal mining -- Appalachian Region
Coal mines and mining -- Appalachian Region
Environmental degradation -- Appalachian Region
RELIGION -- Christian Life -- Social Issues.
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.
Coal mines and mining
Ecotheology
Environmental degradation
Mountaintop removal mining
Religion
SUBJECT Appalachian Region -- Religion
Subject Appalachian Region
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780813168142
0813168147
9780813168135
0813168139