OPINION: Protecting the Endangered Species Act is an act of faith

In New Mexico, we cherish the call of Sandhill cranes as they migrate here each fall, making a home in our fields, skies and waters through the winter months. Their voices join those of so many other species who call this beloved place home — from the willow flycatcher to the pinyon jay to the burrowing owl.

At the church I serve, First Congregational United Church of Christ ABQ, we hold a service each year honoring birds and bird migration to remind us that to love neighbor as self is to honor that God has created a place in this world not just for people, but for all of creation. In Psalm 104, we hear what is echoed throughout scripture — God has made a place for all God has created. No creature is left without a home: “The stork has its home in the junipers, the birds of the sky nest by the waters,” and on and on it goes.

As we fill the sanctuary with birdsong — using QR codes and smartphones to bring us songs of dozens of different species in New Mexico — we slowly stop playing the songs of those considered threatened and endangered. In this way, we simulate what is happening just outside our windows. Bird populations are plummeting. Two-thirds of species are projected to face risk of extinction in this century.

As we listen to the voices of God’s creation dwindle, we understand birds as “canaries in the coal mine,” warning us of the species extinction crisis that looms over our collective future. This year, in the face of the Trump administration’s multiple recent proposals to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the silence that fills the church as the final bird song fades away feels especially haunting.

The ESA, signed into law by President Richard Nixon, has stood as a bedrock environmental statue with incredible measurable success spanning five decades. Nearly all species, birds and beyond, listed under the ESA have been prevented from going extinct due to careful monitoring, habitat protection, recovery plans and interagency cooperation. Changes currently proposed by the Trump administration include removing habitat protections, eliminating automatic protections for threatened species and making it more difficult to list new protected species. In New Mexico, there are over 50 species listed under the Endangered Species Act and many more that sit on the cusp of designation. As we face increasing habitat loss, megadrought and climate change in New Mexico, we cannot afford to abandon protections for creatures who are sacred and irreplaceable.

I have never seen more joy in a worship service than the moments where a cacophony of birdsong fills the sanctuary as each person gets to play the songs of birds as everyday as the house finch and as rare as the lesser prairie chicken. These moments remind me that truthfully, we do not know what it means to be human without all that is other-than-human. The integrity and flourishing of all creation is not only crucial to human survival in a practical sense, it is crucial to the condition of our hearts and spirits.

People of faith all over the country are stepping up to this moment to declare that protecting the Endangered Species Act is an act of faith. It is an act of faith for our collective future. It is an act of faith toward the God of Noah’s Ark, the spirit descending into Jesus as a dove and the promise that we are woven together in sacred relationship with all we stand to lose.

Rev. Clara Sims is a young adult from Los Lunas serving as associate minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ.