Religious leaders in the US overwhelmingly accept the reality of climate change but few share their perspective with their congregations, according to a new study cited by the Conversation.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the paper surveyed religious leaders and their followers to better understand the conversation around climate change in US religious communities. The authors surveyed a nationally representative sample of US religious leaders, most of which were Christian.
Nearly 90 percent of the 1,600 leaders reported believing in man-made climate change to some degree, with 60 percent believing that humans play a major role in climate change and 30 percent believing humans play a more minor role in the phenomena. But only around half have ever discussed this perspective with their congregation and just a quarter have mentioned it more than once or twice.
This may explain why, in the representative survey of American Christians, the 987 people polled significantly underestimated how many religious leaders accept the scientific consensus on climate change, placing it 39 to 45 percentage points lower than reality.
A separate representative sample of American Christians was meanwhile informed about the level of consensus among religious leaders, an intervention that reduced misperception about leadership views but also shifted their own views.
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Respondents in the sample were more likely to view taking action to reduce climate change as consistent with their church’s values, and increase their perception that other congregants believe in and would be willing to discuss climate change. Perhaps most importantly, knowing that an overwhelming majority of religious leaders accept man-made climate change made respondents view voting for politicians who refuse to take climate action as out of line with their church’s values.
Christian beliefs have long been associated with opposition to climate change action – for good reason. A survey from Pew Research found that US Protestants and Catholics overall lean Republican, a party that has stood almost uniformly in denying climate change and opposing any efforts to address it.
White Evangelicals, for example, lean 85-percent Republican and have been staunch supporters of President Donald Trump, who dismissed climate change as a “Chinese hoax” in his first administration and recently “declared war” on climate change laws instituted by US states.
Given this, the authors say future research could investigate the impact of religious leaders communicating their adherence to the scientific consensus directly to their congregations, as well as the broad consensus among faith leaders across the American Christian community.
Religious leaders could help reshape the climate discourse within their faith communities, providing a moral foundation for understanding an issue that is often framed as purely political or economic.
