**4. Conclusion**

The way we have dealt with religious perspectives on the environment is both hermeneutic and benevolent. Hermeneutic because it allows for a merging of ideas of the past with our modern horizon of understanding. This is in marked contrast to historic-critical approaches which aim at a reconstruction of past phenomena without taking into account our modern world.

Our approach is also benevolent: Obviously, people from centuries ago did not have the same sense of urgency and the same knowledge of technological issues as we have. The examples quoted above should be considered paradigmatic rather than identical to modern issues. They may offer spiritual vistas to be explored further, without claiming to offer exhaustive solutions or direct applications. Still, the spiritual depth of these religious traditions may surprise us, accustomed we are to assume the preeminence of our own technological era. The advancement on the spiritual level, if at all, is less clear than on the technological level. A future for our planet cannot dispense with spiritual resources such as these. A broad perspective on religions and spiritualities, critically assessing its possibilities and stumbling blocks, may contribute to overcoming the spiritual crisis of the human attitude to the environment.

<sup>14</sup> Lufti Radwan [10] emphasizes the connection between the unity of God (*tawh*̣*id*) and the unity of the created world, which is especially relevant given the objections against monotheism as intolerant and anti-nature.
