10-28-2019, 09:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-28-2019, 09:17 PM by Eric the Green.)
In what is certainly the most famous essay ever written about religion and the environment, the historian Lynn White Jr. argued that medieval JudeoChristian ideas were at The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis (White, 1967). Citing passages in the Bible that separate God from nature and grant humanity dominion over all, White wrote: "Especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen." He also opined that much, if not most, environmental degradation is directly traceable to Christianity's radical anthropocentrism (White, 1967: 1205).
Recent research seems to confirm White's rather bleak assessment of the relationship between Christian beliefs and environmental attitudes. University
of Cincinnati political scientist Matthew B. Arbuckle and Georgetown University public policy expert David M. Konisky recently reported (forthcoming) that American Christians, as a whole, have lower levels of environmental concern than do non-Christians (Jews, people of other faiths, and nonbelievers). Arbuckle and Konisky also found, tellingly, that the higher the level of religious commitment (as measured by self-reports of religion's personal importance, frequency of religious service attendance, and frequency of prayer), the lower the level of environmental concern.....
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10....0215599789
This 2014 report concludes (link below) what you might not think – they find there is ‘no significant relationship between frequency of spiritual experiences and beliefs about the reality and causes of climate change’. The strongest indicator as to whether you accept the science of climate change is still your political affiliation, with the Tea Party strongly at the denial end and Democrats better represented in the science end of the spectrum.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
65% of Democrats surveyed accept the reality of climate change, 22% of Republicans do and 23% of Tea Party members do.
A full 53% of Tea Partiers deny the reality of climate change.
White evangelical Protestants are more likely than other religious groups to be climate change deniers.
Americans who report higher frequency of spiritual experiences are more likely to be more concerned about climate change.
https://climateaccess.org/resource/belie...d-religion
Recent research seems to confirm White's rather bleak assessment of the relationship between Christian beliefs and environmental attitudes. University
of Cincinnati political scientist Matthew B. Arbuckle and Georgetown University public policy expert David M. Konisky recently reported (forthcoming) that American Christians, as a whole, have lower levels of environmental concern than do non-Christians (Jews, people of other faiths, and nonbelievers). Arbuckle and Konisky also found, tellingly, that the higher the level of religious commitment (as measured by self-reports of religion's personal importance, frequency of religious service attendance, and frequency of prayer), the lower the level of environmental concern.....
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10....0215599789
This 2014 report concludes (link below) what you might not think – they find there is ‘no significant relationship between frequency of spiritual experiences and beliefs about the reality and causes of climate change’. The strongest indicator as to whether you accept the science of climate change is still your political affiliation, with the Tea Party strongly at the denial end and Democrats better represented in the science end of the spectrum.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
65% of Democrats surveyed accept the reality of climate change, 22% of Republicans do and 23% of Tea Party members do.
A full 53% of Tea Partiers deny the reality of climate change.
White evangelical Protestants are more likely than other religious groups to be climate change deniers.
Americans who report higher frequency of spiritual experiences are more likely to be more concerned about climate change.
https://climateaccess.org/resource/belie...d-religion