Year of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Resource Conservation

Department or School/College

College of Forestry and Conservation

Committee Chair

Michael Patterson

Commitee Members

Daniel Spencer, Laurie Yung

Keywords

climate change, conservative Christianity, hermeneutics

Abstract

Global climate change presents one of the most challenging ecological and social problems facing the world today. In order to prevent potentially harmful ecological and social impacts from rising global average temperatures, Americans will need to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; our willingness to do so though is questionable as opinion poll data suggests that addressing climate change remains an extremely low priority for most Americans. Social scientists from across a variety of disciplines have suggested a number of reasons why this may be case; however very few have focused on the ways that religious beliefs are contributing to American perceptions of, and responses to, climate change despite the fact that opinion polls also indicate that conservative Christians are one of the most skeptical demographic cohorts in America when it comes to this particular issue. Recognizing that theologically conservative Christians compose a socially and politically influential population in America, this study investigates the relationship between conservative Christian faith and conservative Christian perceptions of climate change. Using data collected through 35 in-depth interviews with conservative Christians in Dallas, Texas and a hermeneutic approach to interview analysis, this study proposes first that conservative Christian faith does impact adherents’ perceptions of climate change. More specifically, the results of this study suggest five religious beliefs that appear to influence conservative Christians’ views on climate change; these beliefs include biblical inerrancy, God’s sovereignty, human sinfulness, eschatology, and evangelism. These five beliefs do not contribute to participant perceptions of climate change uniformly though. Rather the results suggest ways in which religious beliefs interact with other important factors, leading to a wide range of views on climate change in the sample. These perspectives on climate change range from complete dismissal of its existence to real concern and active engagement including lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions. Based on these findings, this study suggests several ways to proceed with both social science research on the intersection between religion and environmental issues and climate change advocacy geared at conservative faith communities.

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© Copyright 2010 Wylie Allen Carr