There is broad consensus on environmental issues among the many religious groups. The different religions understand the need for caring for the environment, and their sacred writings urge believers to be guardians of the earth and its biodiversity. In May 2019, the All African Conference of Churches (AACC) and the United Religions Initiative (URI), Africa in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Environment conducted Interfaith World Environment Day celebration in Nairobi to protect the earth (“How all religious faiths advocate for environmental protection”, 2022). It was dubbed “Faiths for Earth.” An estimated 7 million people die every year due to polluted air. To accomplish our sustainable development goals (SDG), it is important to discuss environmental challenges and find ways of addressing them. Since many schools are owned by faith-based organizations, they are very instrumental in educating the society about the impact of human behavior on the environment in which they live and exist as well as what we can do to make the environment safer. This study examines the relationship between religious issues and climate change.
Research shows that religion impacts many lifestyle factors that affect the environment (Hope & Jones, 2014). This includes whether people believe that humans cause climate change or it is entirely due to forces beyond human control and their willingness to take appropriate mitigation actions against environmental degradation. Further, studies show that countries with fewer religious populations are generally wealthier and have slower population growth than those with more religious populations. These wealthier countries are always better prepared to deal with environmental degradation than the poorer countries. Hence, less religious countries use more resources and release more pollutants compared to more religious ones. Religious change has the potential to influence societal cohesion and willingness to pay for mitigation of climate change (Skirbekk et al., 2020).
Undeniably, at the global, regional, and local levels, faith-based beliefs play a role in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. For example, the Bahai believes that nature is God’s will (Momen, 2013) while Christianity teaches that we must treat nature with the same awe we treat human beings. Such understanding is crucial and it concurs with what naturally happens to us: we must breathe for existence. As Hinduism intimates, man and nature are inextricably linked and so man cannot exist apart from nature. Therefore, a man is not fully educated without understanding the law of nature. He who is unaware of nature’s law will conduct irresponsibly, resulting in catastrophe.
Religion has held the thought that humans are stewards of the environment for a long time. For example, the Christian network called Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) was created to eradicate environmental degradation and pollution (“Evangelical Environmental Network: Who We Are: Beliefs”, 2022). The theological basis of EEN is founded on the belief that both human beings and the earth are the creatures of God, and that as God’s children, Christians are caretakers of the environment and God’s creation. Various religions maintain the same attitude. This viewpoint has had far-reaching effects, with governments like the Obama administration establishing a task force through the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives to tackle the impacts of climate change on the citizens (Funk & Alper, 2015). Another evidence is the encyclical delivered by Pope Francis in 2015 urging the Catholic faithfuls and all other dwellers of the earth to pay attention to environmental challenges such as climate change and pollution (Burke, 2015).
However, there is the denial of climate change induced by human activity. This is assumed to even be divided along political lines. For example, Democrats believe that climate change is a priority issue and that humans contribute to climate change while to Republicans climate change is a low priority issue (Tyson,2021). The denial of climate change can still be traced to religious beliefs. A poll conducted by Pew Research revealed that at least 60 percent of Catholic Democrats believe in anthropogenic climate change compared to only 23 percent Catholic Republicans (Ezawa & Fagan, 2015). This denial could be coming from the belief that man is all that matters (Funk & Alper, 2015). Imago Dei, religious monotheists’ major intrinsic value system, excludes non-humans, resulting in environmental neglect, although the environment is inextricably linked to humans. Converting anthropogenic climate change deniers may be as simple as recognizing the environment as inextricably linked to human existence, allowing those who value imago Dei to begin to care for the world they live in.
There are also differences in religious groups’ beliefs about issues like the amount of consensus between science and the religious group and the need for legislative measures. Religion accounts for knowledge, socio-demographic characteristics, and environmental attitudes, such as belief in man’s control over nature. The disparities in attitude and conduct among these religious organizations highlight the need to work with the clergy to persuade people to change their behavior and attitudes.
For religion to have greater positive impact on environmental challenges, the clergy must pay more attention to the topic of climate change. In previous research, more than three-quarters of the respondents preferred stronger laws to safeguard the environment, while the remaining opposed. Most opposers were members of major religious groups. While half of those who attend religious services at least once admitted that their clergy speak on environmental issues, few adults say that religion has had the greatest influence on their environmental thinking (Funk & Alper, 2015). More people indicated that education influenced their opinions on tougher environmental legislation (Funk & Alper, 2015).
In conclusion, understanding how cultural elements impact climate change requires consideration of its religious aspects. Climate change is linked to humans; just the same way religious influence is linked to human behavior and attitudes. Much research has gone into the differences in religious beliefs concerning climate change. Researchers and other stakeholders should focus more on finding working ways of using the various religions as empowerment tools to communities in matters environmental protection and safety.
References
Burke, D. (2015). Pope Francis:’Revolution’needed to combat climate change. CNN. http://edition. cnn. com/2015/06/18/world/pope-francis-cli mate-technology-encyclical/index. html.
Evangelical Environmental Network : Who We Are : Beliefs. Creationcare.org. (2022). Retrieved 23 March 2022, from https://creationcare.org/who-we-are/beliefs.html.
Ezawa, B., & Fagan, J. M. (2015). Religious beliefs a root cause of the denial of climate change being anthropogenic.
Funk, C., & Alper, B. A. (2015). Religion and views on climate and energy issues. Pew Research Center, 22.
Funk, C., & Alper, B. A. (2015). Religion and views on climate and energy issues. Pew Research Center, 22.
Hope, A., & Jones, C. (2014). The impact of religious faith on attitudes to environmental issues and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies: A mixed methods study. Technology In Society, 38, 48-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.02.003
How all religious faiths advocate for environmental protection. UNEP. (2022). Retrieved 23 March 2022, from https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-all-religious-faiths-advocate-environmental-protection.
Momen, M. (2013). The Merging of the Sacred and the Profane: What Substitutes for Ritual in the Baha’i Faith?. Implicit Religion, 16(2).
Skirbekk, V., de Sherbinin, A., Adamo, S., Navarro, J., & Chai-Onn, T. (2020). Religious Affiliation and Environmental Challenges in the 21st Century. Journal Of Religion And Demography, 7(2), 238-271. https://doi.org/10.1163/2589742x-12347110
Tyson, A. (2021). On climate change, Republicans are open to some policy approaches, even though they assign the issue low priority. Pew Research Center, July, 23.
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