GOD MEETS GAIA IN AUSTIN, TEXAS - A CASE-STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTALISM ASIMPLICIT RELIGION

Most research on the relationship between religion and environmentalis m has been concerned with the effects of formal religious participatio n on individual ecological attitudes. This case study examines another fascinating aspect of the religion-ecology connection by revealing th e implicitly religious character of grassroots environmentalism. Drawi ng on insights from Mircea Eliade's theory of sacred space, we call at tention to a series of striking similarities between classical modes o f religious experience on the one hand, and the sacralization of a pri zed natural resource located in Austin, Texas on the other Using inter view data collected from forty-five environmentalists and ecologically -minded individuals in Austin, we argue that this city's most prominen t natural resource (Barton Springs) is construed by these individuals in terms that can be interpreted as (1) nodal space that provides indi viduals with access to ultimate reality, (2) integrative space which b inds them to the local Austin community, and (3) demarcative space tha t furnishes Austin with a distinctive character in opposition to surro unding locales. We conclude by offering suggestions for future researc h and by delineating the implications of our findings.