The majority of adults in the United States, including a sizable majority of Christians and people who identify with other religions, think that God has entrusted humans with a responsibility to care for the Earth.
But compared to other U.S. adults, extremely religious Americans — those who pray frequently, regularly attend religious services, and regard religion as essential to their lives — are much less likely to express concern about global warming.
These are some of the main conclusions from a thorough study issued on Thursday by the Pew Research Center, which polled 10,156 American adults between April 11 and April 17. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points for the entire sample of respondents.
According to the survey, Americans who identify as religious have a history of having less worry about climate change.
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“First and foremost is politics: The main driver of U.S. public opinion about the climate is political party, not religion,” the report says.
“Highly religious Americans are more inclined than others to identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and Republicans tend to be much less likely than Democrats to believe human activity (such as burning fossil fuels) is warming the Earth or to consider climate change a serious problem.”
The Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, steward of climate at the nonprofit Circle Faith Future, responded to the findings by stating that the compartmentalized mentality in America sows deeper divisiveness rather than encouraging teamwork.
“I don’t know who that serves,” she said. “But it’s not serving the community — and it’s certainly not serving the planet.”
Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans who identify as religious believe that the Earth is sacred.
Meanwhile, 80% think that “God gave humanity a duty to safeguard and care for the Earth, including the plants and animals” and that they have a responsibility to do so.
According to the survey, many religious Americans are also concerned about the potential negative effects of environmental restrictions, such as the loss of personal freedoms, fewer jobs, or higher energy prices.
Story was adapted from the Frederick News-Post.
