Changing evangelical minds on climate change

Abstract

One quarter of Americans self-identify as evangelical and a strong majority of these reject humaninduced climate change. Can one lecture on climate science from a Christian perspective change their minds? Here, we examine the response of undergraduates at three evangelical institutions, located in upper state New York, Texas, and Canada, to a recorded lecture by an evangelical climate scientist. Pre/post-test surveys posed six questions from the Global Warming's Six Americas instrument with additional questions on participants' political and theological perspectives. All populations showed significant pre/post-test gains on almost every question, immediately after the intervention, with gains among the most conservative population being as large as the others. A one-month delayed postsurvey showed that gains were still significant relative to pre-test values for most of the questions. Furthermore, gains did not decrease when the Christian frame was removed, except on one item related to Christian responsibility. These results suggest that even a limited exposure to accurate information can change minds, and that the context in which the information is presented (here, the evangelical college and faculty sponsor) may be more important than the content frame.

Evangelical Environmentalists? Evidence from Brazil

“…For example, Jim Ball, a former head of the Evangelical Environmental Network, rejected the argument that evangelicals’ lower levels of environmental concern were due to their end‐time beliefs by noting that “even for those Christians for whom end‐times views are a barrier to creation‐care, this hurdle is not a very high one and is, in my experience, easily dispelled” (Ball 2005). Suggesting that his experience may have been typical, Hayhoe, Bloom, and Web (2019) found that a single lecture on climate science from a Christian perspective was enough to create durable changes in opinion among evangelical college students. If context is as important as theology, then it becomes easier to imagine how evangelicalism might be able to grow greener in the United States.…”

How “green” can religions be? Tensions about religious environmentalism

“… 2012 ; Hayhoe et al. 2019 ). However, among Muslims, we can also find groups that regard “climate change” as “poisonous knowledge from the West” (Khan 2014 ) or as a Western conspiracy to weaken Muslim-majority countries (Yildirim 2016 ).…”

“…These views can involve (a) skepticism about the existence of environmental problems, (b) the perception of the problems as a welcomed endof-times, or (c) as divine punishments for human sins. In terms of skepticism about environmental problems, a prominent topic is climate change denial, often reported to be prevalent among sections of Christianity (Zaleha and Szasz 2015;Veldman 2019;Carr et al 2012;Hayhoe et al 2019). However, among Muslims, we can also find groups that regard "climate change" as "poisonous knowledge from the West" (Khan 2014) or as a Western conspiracy to weaken Muslim-majority countries (Yildirim 2016).…”

Who are American evangelical Protestants and why do they matter forUSclimate policy?

“…Christian television, radio, and online content is an industry worth millions of dollars annually (NRB, n.d.), with large minorities of evangelicals consuming some form of Christian media on a weekly basis (Pew, 2014a; Pew, 2014b). A few studies have touched on these messages (Danielsen, 2013; Sumser, 2016; Veldman, 2019) or the effects of religious messengers (Hayhoe, Bloom, & Webb, 2019; Sleeth‐Keppler, Perkowitz, & Speiser, 2017), but major gaps remain, especially relating to online content, which has been shown to be influential in spreading misinformation about climate change in secular contexts (Dunlap & McCright, 2011; Lewandowsky, Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz, & Cook, 2012). Additional remaining questions include: Which religious messengers are perceived as credible?…”

“…Christian television, radio, and online content is an industry worth millions of dollars annually (NRB, n.d.), with large minorities of evangelicals consuming some form of Christian media on a weekly basis (Pew, 2014a;Pew, 2014b). A few studies have touched on these messages (Danielsen, 2013;Sumser, 2016;Veldman, 2019) or the effects of religious messengers (Hayhoe, Bloom, & Webb, 2019;Sleeth-Keppler, Perkowitz, & Speiser, 2017), but major gaps remain, especially relating to online content, which has been shown to be influential in spreading misinformation about climate change in secular contexts Lewandowsky, Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz, & Cook, 2012). Additional remaining questions include: Which religious 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% F a l l 2 0 1 0 S p r i n g 2 0 1 1 F a l l 2 0 1 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 2 F a l l 2 0 1 2 S p r i n g 2 0 1 3 F a l l 2 0 1 3 S p r i n g 2 0 1 4 F a l l 2 0 1 4 S p r i n g 2 0 1 5 F a l l 2 0 1 5 S p r i n g 2 0 1 6 F a l l 2 0 1 6 S p r i n g 2 0 1 7 F a l l 2 0 1 7 S p r i n g 2 0 1 8 S p r i n g 2 0 1 9…”