Does Christianity in America Help Contribute to Climate Change Denial?

One of the greatest challenges of the modern era is the changing of the planets climate and the various human causes that attribute to it. With the release of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere that is caused from human industry, transportation, and agriculture practices, many within America and abroad desire swift action to halt this process with economic and social reform. However, a large portion of those who oppose these reforms within America is the Christian population and the various denominations within them. But why are Christians in America so against not only reform in climate change but the very idea of humanity being the cause of it? What emphasis do Christians put on besides climate change? And what percentage of Christians do believe that climate change is a very real threat in the future?

Many of the stereotypes attributed to the traditional Christian population in America is that they are unwilling to see any other lens of reasoning besides God’s. With the issue of climate change, which according to the Oxford Dictionary as “the change in global climate patterns increasingly apparent from the mid to late 20th cent. onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels,” many traditional Christians find issue with humans having the ability to influence the Earth in such drastic measures. In fact, those traditionalist Christians who do not outright deny the existence of climate change often attribute it to God instead of human endeavors.  Many traditionalist Christians believe that a biblical end times, or apocalypse, will occur in the not-so-far future and this has often influenced their views on not only climate change but with many issues that have far-reaching consequences. “Analyzing samples of religious and political elites, activists, and the mass public, they argued that the ambivalence (or even antipathy) toward the environment so frequently observed among many traditionalistic Christians stems mostly from doctrinal beliefs regarding the end of the world, not the beginning of it”(Barker, 268). As we can tell from this statement, many Christians within America belief that the focus of people should be on the coming of Armageddon, the apocalypse that will end human civilization and bring about the judgment of humanity, especially the emphasis on the Book of Revelations (Revelation 8:10-11). In other words, a shockingly large number of traditional Christians believe that the recent climate change is due to signs of the biblical end times and of the coming end of the world, not to human involvement in nature. In a recent survey, 49% of Americans attribute recent climate disasters to the end times, up from 44% in 2011, with Evangelicals being the highest of all Christian groups to believe in the biblical end times at 77% (Barker). Another large held belief in many Christian denominations is that God created the world for man to use as he sees fit and that man is the master of the Earth and all of its creatures(Genesis1:28). This belief is often coupled with the American thought of conquering nature and of manifest destiny, to continue to make progress at the expense of the natural world. What comes out of this melding of ideals is an almost fanatic opposition to the idea of not only that America should make drastic changes in our own society to combat climate change. But that to even believe that humans by themselves could cause the world to change so drastically is almost heresy. Only God could bring such destructive force, it is impudent to believe common man can cause such calamity.

To better study what the Christian population in America has acted upon climate change in the past and in the present, I looked at the two most populous and affluent denominations in America: Evangelical Protestants and Catholics.

 Evangelical Protestants have long been associated with being much more likely to be resistant to the idea of human caused climate changed than the other Christian groups. However, since 1984, the group has started to target the idea of human caused climate change and has slowly begun to fracture between Evangelicals that are more moderate and Evangelicals that are more conservative. From looking at articles from three main Evangelical periodicals, Christianity Today, Sojourners, and World between 1984 and 2010, the author was able to see a pattern begin to emerge. Due to a worldwide drought in the late 80’s to the early 90’s, the periodicals began to feature many publications considering questioning the threat of global warming and what can be done to combat it. One solution to galvanize the population into action was to refrain from  “…linking religious belief to environmental belief and about creating a uniquely Christian environmentalism, ‘creation care,’ to counter secular or ‘pagan’ environmentalism.” This slow shift in dealing with global warming was curtailed, however, between 1996 and 2003 and the emergence of a more polarized political parties. They began to see climate change to be more of a secular, liberal like agenda that was something that would divide the Republican Party when they needed to coordinate against other social issues. With the highly destructive wildfires in California in 2004, however, evangelicals began to focus once more on the environment and how to better solve it, which began to truly fracture the evangelical population. After scientists from Harvard and members of the National Association of Evangelicals declared, “’An Urgent Call to Action,’ a statement calling ‘human-induced climate change’ a ‘primary concern,’” many of the more conservative evangelicals denounced the idea and declared that the debate over climate change was steering evangelicals away from more important issues, such as homosexuality and abortion.  What makes Evangelicals different from other American protestants and what makes them so divided upon the global warming issue is  “while liberal Protestants may tend to invoke more secular ethical or moral arguments for environmentalism, evangelical environmentalist-both liberal and conservative-return to the Bible as their guided text” (McCammack, 647) Evangelicals being divided between how to interpret the verses in the book of Genesis is a perfect example of the paradox of different literal interpretations of the Bible. Between humanity becoming master of the Earth by being fruitful and multiplying (Genesis 1:28) and to be stewards of the Garden (Genesis 2:15), liberal and conservative evangelicals take different views on mans role in safeguarding creation. According to the article, “The conservative perspective on these verses and others is articulated chiefly by E. Calvin Beisner, who argues that ‘linking these two commissions together-cultivate and guard the Garden, and fill, subdue and rule the Earth-implies that God intended and still intends, mankind to transform the Earth from wilderness into garden.’” This comment made by Beisner and by other conservative Evangelicals supports the notion that man was placed on this Earth to transform it and to make it suitable for human life. “In other words, good stewards are necessarily those who exercise active dominion over the Earth’s resources.” More liberal Evangelicals, however, interpret these verses very differently, like the comments made by Ron Spider, “’The Bible teaches us that the non-human creation has worth and significance quite apart from its usefulness to humanity. Anyone who thinks God created the non-human world merely for the benefit of persons has not read the Bible carefully.’” Obviously, the Evangelical faith is deeply divided amongst its own faith.

Pope Francis

American Catholics, on the other hand, seem to be much more decisive in believing in human-caused climate change. In a recent study done by Yale, Catholics are much more likely to be supportive of global warming than any other Christian group in America. 70% of American Catholics believe that global warming is occurring, compared to 57% of other Christian denominations. 48% of Catholics believe that it is human caused compared to 35% of other Christian groups. This is not a new phenomenon, as many Catholics have been tasked by Pope’s in the past to reach out and to take care of the world that God had given them stewardship over. Pope Paul VI in 1975 remarked “Not only is the material environment becoming a permanent menace—pollution and refuse, new illness and absolute destructive capacity—but the human frame-work is no longer under man’s control, thus creating an environment for tomorrow which may well be intolerable. The Christian must turn to these new perceptions in order to take on responsibility, together with the rest of men, for a destiny which from now on is shared by all”(Warner, 118).  Though for much of the last twenty years, Catholic policy has been focused on social issues such as homosexuality and abortion, the newly appointed Pope Francis has been unique in his zeal to fight global warming and has called upon Catholics everywhere to act. In January, Pope Francis remarked "I don't know if it (human activity) is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face," he said. "We have in a sense taken over nature." This has caused controversy to many American and foreign Catholics who see the Papacy becoming too distracted from abortion and same-sex marriage.  Investor's Business Daily said the pope's climate change focus was "even more disturbing" than his "recent leftist statements…," and that the Vatican "apparently now has been infiltrated by followers of a radical green movement." Obviously, Pope Francis’s priorities in climate change over other social issues as certainly ruffled some feathers of conservative Catholics at home and abroad. However, the trend of American Catholics is in favor of accepting that climate change is indeed a human caused is rising and that the pope has made a priority for Catholics worldwide to take action.

Though we can see that many people within the Christian faith believe in human caused climate change, what methods are being done by them that have contributed to help combat it? One way is the goal of melding the Christian religion and science to better educate people on the many strategies used to combat climate change. Throughout its history, science has seemingly had an uneasy relationship with religion and Christianity. From the prosecution of Galileo to the theory of evolution by Darwin to the decision for public secular schools in America, science and Christianity have often been at odds with one another and the usual method of peace was to separate the two. But many now believe that to fight against human caused climate change the two seemingly opposing sides must come together. According to a recent article by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, “…Christian theologian Cynthia Moe-Lobeda suggests that climate change must be understood as ‘sin,’ and that no response to it will be complete without ‘profound lament for the ways in which our lives unwittingly endanger Earth’s life-system and vulnerable neighbors far and near’”(Clingerman,7). Another Christian theologian Mark Wallace also says, “’only religion…has the moral authority and symbolic potency to break our shared carbon addiction cycle by motivating us to look beyond our private self-interest and to the greater good of the planet itself.’”(Clingerman,7) Even noted astronomer and scientist, Carl Sagan, spoke in favor of science and religion to work together in order to protect the Earth, “Efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred. At the same time, a much wider and deeper understanding of science and technology is needed. If we do not understand the problem, it is unlikely we will be able to fix it. Thus, there is a vital role for religion and science.” (Clingerman,7) The article also makes the argument that many Christians put their faith in capitalism, rather than in God, to justify continuing to use destructive practices in the name of getting more wealth.

Carl Sagan

Though it is of the opinion of many that American Christians are thwarting any attempt to fight climate change, I believe that the Christian population is increasingly coming to the realization that climate change is not only a real threat to humanity but is a threat caused by humanity. With increasing the education of the dangers of climate change to everyone, Christian or not, I believe that people will come to realize how in peril our planet and civilization really is. Hopefully, we’ll be able to come to a consensus before that happens.