What Different Faith Traditions Believe About Climate Change
NEW YORK — What one believes when it comes to the causes of climate change — or whether it’s even a real thing — largely depends on your religious affiliation, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
The Public Religion Research Institute’s new climate change survey found that 76% of Hispanic Catholics — more than any other religious group — believe that changes to the environment are caused by humans.
The findings also reveal that a plurality of Jewish Americans (67%), Hispanic Protestants (61%), Black Protestants (59%), White Catholics (56%) and White mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (54%) all agree that climate change is caused by human activity.
READ: Meet The Evangelical PhD Student Convincing Christians To Care About Climate Change
But only about half of Mormons (48%) agree with that statement, while just 31% of White evangelical Protestants said climate change is caused by humans.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
Scientists believe that burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating homes.
Evangelicals and politics
Nearly 19% of White evangelical Protestants said they “believe there is no solid evidence of climate change” — higher than other religious traditions PRRI surveyed.
The report was released the same day that Pope Francis made his strongest statement to date regarding climate change — putting the blame on “irresponsible” Western lifestyles in an encyclical called “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God” in Latin).
The study also uncovered that White evangelical Protestants (49%) and Mormons (44%) are “the most likely to believe” that climate change is caused by natural patterns in the environment.
That’s compared to just 33% of White mainline/non-evangelical Protestants and White Catholics, 31% of other Protestants who are not White, 28% of Jews, 27% of Hispanic Protestants, 25% of Black Protestants, 20% of other non-Christians and 18% of Hispanic Catholics.
In 2015, Pew Research Center asked American adults of various religious faith traditions their views on climate change. Of White evangelicals surveyed, 37% said they believe there’s no solid evidence the planet is getting warmer — higher than all other religious groups polled.
The reason, rather than being fully religious, has more to do with politics, experts said.
The seemingly unbreakable bond between evangelicals and political conservatism can be traced back to the Moral Majority, founded by the late Jerry Falwell and championed by preachers such as Pat Robertson during the early 1980s, which encouraged Christians to advocate for more traditional values in politics.
As a result, being an evangelical Christian for many requires also being politically conservative on issues such as climate change.
Robin Veldman, author of the book “The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change,” told Newsweek, “Part of being a part of the evangelical community is showing that you keep good theologically conservative company and environmentalism is associated with being liberal.”
Sign of end times?
PRRI’s survey found that 35% of Americans “agree that the severity of recent natural disasters is evidence that we are in what the Bible calls ‘the end of times’” — compared with 63% who disagree, including 37% who strongly disagree.
By comparison, in 2014 when PRRI conducted a similar study, Americans were evenly divided on this question (49% agree versus 47% disagree).
Majorities of Black Protestants (73%) and White evangelicals (62%) — along with nearly half of Hispanic Catholics (49%) — agree “that natural disasters are evidence of the ‘end of times.’”
By comparison, fewer White mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (23%), White Catholics (21%) or religiously unaffiliated Americans (13%), according to the findings, “believe that recent natural disasters are evidence of the ‘end of times.’”
Among Americans who say “religion is the most important thing in their life,” 67% agree natural disasters are evidence of the “end of times” — down from 75% nearly a decade ago.
Taking care of the planet
The study also examined whether “theological views about Christian dominionism and stewardship are linked to whether Americans believe that the severity of natural disasters is evidence of the end times.”
Environmental stewardship is a theological belief among many Christians that all people are required by God to take care of the planet.
The survey concluded that only 21% agree that “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of society,” while a staggering 74% disagree.
Of all the religious denominations surveyed, PRRI found that White evangelical Protestants (45%) and Hispanic Protestants (44%) were “the most likely to agree that God has called Christians to exercise dominion,” followed by Black Protestants and other non-White Protestants (both at 38%).
But as American society grows more secular, belief that climate change is caused by humans has increased, according to PRRI.
For example, among Americans who say “religion is the most important thing in their lives,” 39% say climate change is caused by humans, compared with 56% of those who say religion is “one among many important things,” 65% who say religion is “not as important” and 78% who say religion is “not important.”
By contrast, 40% of Americans who say that religion is the most important thing in their lives believe climate change is “mostly caused by natural patterns in the earth’s environment.”
The PRRI survey was carried out among a representative sample of 5,192 adults (ages 18 and up) living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Interviews were conducted online between June 8 and June 28 of this year.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor at Religion Unplugged. He is the author of “The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet’s Biggest Sporting Event” and previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.