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The remarks of the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians were believed to be the first time that a major international religious leader has explicitly linked environmental problems with sinful behavior.
"To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin," Bartholomew told a symposium on religion, science and the environment that drew an estimated 800 participants at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church here Saturday.
"For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation, for humans to degrade the integrity of the Earth by causing changes in its climate, stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands ... for humans to contaminate the Earth's waters, its land, its air, and its life with poisonous substances - these are sins."
Bartholomew heads the mother church of Orthodox Christianity, the See of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, Turkey.
His jurisdiction includes the Greek Orthodox churches in Canada, the United States and South America, as well as in Turkey, Australia and Asia.
He's also considered to be the "first among equals" of the nine Orthodox patriarchs, each with his own self-governing church, because Bartholomew's church was founded in A.D. 36 by St. Andrew the Apostle.
Bartholomew's declaration, made during a monthlong visit to the United States, was viewed as a significant development in the awakening of organized religion to the despoilment of the natural order.
Until relatively recently, organized religion has left environmental protection to environmental activists, concerned scientists and political figures.
Likewise, environmentalists have either ignored religion or complained that churches and synagogues have been merely lukewarm on environmental causes while concentrating most of their energies on hot-button issues involving abortion rights,, religious discrimination, racism, economic justice and human sexuality.
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