Psychological and Theological Predictors of Environmental Attitudes among a Sample of UK Churchgoers

Abstract

This paper builds on previous studies of UK churchgoers by examining the factors that predict concern for the environment and willingness to make sacrifices to preserve it. A sample of 825 churchgoers from a range of denominations completed a questionnaire that contained items used to assess psychological preferences, biblical literalism, and a range of theological stances toward creation. Psychological variables showed both direct and indirect effects on environmentalism that were in line with previous work by environmental psychologists. Indirect effects were related to the way that some psychological type preferences either shape biblical interpretation or are associated with religious conservatism. Religious affiliation had no direct effects on environmentalism, but did have indirect effects through literalism and religious conservatism. Beliefs about dominion and eschatology directly reduced concern, but dominion was also positively associated with stewardship, which emerged as the main promoter of both concern and sacrifice.

Christianity, Personality and Environmental Concern among 13- to 15-year-old Students in England and Wales

“…The inadequacy of relying on church attendance has been well documented by the differentiation between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations (see Allport & Ross, 1967;Francis, 2007). The second complexity concerns operationalising the various theological perspectives concerning dominion, stewardship, and biblical interpretation (see Village, 2020). The third complexity concerns operationalising the notion of environmental concern and the tension between attitudinal and behavioural measures.…”

“…In two studies of churchgoers in the UK, Village (2015Village ( , 2020 explored the relationships between personality, biblical literalism, theological stance towards creation, and environmental concern. In the first study, literal interpretation of Genesis was associated with higher levels of dominion theology, which in turn was associated with reduced concern for the environment.…”

Shaping Attitudes toward Church in a Time of Coronavirus: Exploring the Effects of Personal, Psychological, Social, and Theological Factors among Church of England Clergy and Laity

“…The beliefs and attitudes tested were ones that have been familiar and often disputed within church circles, such as doctrine, morality, and ecclesial practices. Other studies have used a similar approach on a more limited range of beliefs or practices such as volunteerism (Village & Francis, 2010a), biblical literalism (Village, 2012a), and environmentalism (Village, 2020).…”

“…It is unsurprising that specific beliefs or attitudes sometimes align closely with these factors, even if those beliefs or attitudes are not necessarily core to defining such ecclesial or doctrinal positioning. Thus, for example, environmental attitudes tend to have some relationship to affiliations to church traditions (Arbuckle & Konisky, 2015;Hitzhusen, 2007), but this may be because such affiliations are markers of specific beliefs that tend militate against positive environmentalism (Village, 2020). Where individual differences such as personality exert effects on beliefs and attitudes independently of church tradition or theological stance it may be because fundamental psychological preferences dispose individuals to certain types of belief or attitudes, irrespective of their particular church tradition or theological stance.…”

The Theology of Opposition to the Existence of Anthropogenic Climate Change.

“…Mercifully, British Conservative Evangelicals are somewhat more nuanced in their attitudes, being not quite so hostile to either anthropogenic climate change, or policies to deal with it (Village, 2020). Many Eastern Orthodox Christians are also very different in their attitudes to climate change and the environment generally, if the views expressed by Nellist (2018) are anything to go by.…”