Religiosity and Environmental Attitudes

Perhaps one of the largest groups of (almost) unofficial actors in the world, and most certainly the largest population of people that rarely gets addressed when concerned with the environment, are those associated with the world’s many religions. In America, religious people are in the definite majority, with nearly 80% of the population identifying themselves as Christian alone; the pressure is on to find out how religious organizations are spreading information about current environmental issues and what views (if any) the religiously active portion of the world are taking.

The issue is only exacerbated by the complex relationship between what might be typified as the “moderately” and “fundamentally” religious groups. Concerning the fundamentals, whose worldview is profoundly shaped by holy text, I would not be surprised to see a lack of concern over environmental issues because of the alarmingly short “future” they believe to be ahead of us. Apocalyptic religious prophecy is not a new phenomenon, but as we start to tread the murky waters of environmental change and the end-times-esque climate that might appear, I can only fear what those who are hoping for the “second coming” might interpret those climate patterns to be. But, according to a Pew Forum poll, religious views have a very insignificant influence on people’s attitudes towards the environment. Only about 6% of religious people answered that their religion plays the biggest role in shaping their environmental opinions.

However, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams claims just the opposite. He says that religions hold the (as yet unsubstantiated) “moral vision” and wide sweeping influence that will ultimately influence environmental action. He is certainly right about religion’s resources in the general public. The same article states that religions are involved in around half the world’s schools and take part in a great percentage of investments and other works. With their fingers in so many places I wouldn’t be surprised if the political heads of religion manage to get the outcome they desire.

And maybe the Archbishop really does have something behind his words. In 2003, the top three US Christian advocacy groups gave incredibly high approval ratings to congressmen. However, as reported by that article the same congressmen were given terrible approval ratings by the League of Conservation Voters. While there may be many religious people in America who aren’t initiated in the environmental movement, the pious are gathering in the UN to address climate change. An interfaith community met to discuss how they help to address the climate issues in ways that national governments cannot.

Whatever role religion ends up playing in the forthcoming environmental events, I think we need to pay attention. If the end-timers start prevailing we’ve got a population who actually looks forward to the environmental crisis, if the environmentally conscious UN meeting grows then we’ll have found a great way to disseminate information to the general public. The spectrum is huge for potential outcomes, and I’m hopeful we can pull out of the apocalyptic future that’s looming ahead.