“Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.”
Genesis 8:21 (God speaking after the Great Flood)
This is but one Biblical quote on point; a seeming pledge that mankind need never again fear another life-ending global disaster – that Great Flood where Noah preserved chosen species in his Ark. Apparently, God had made his point. Additionally, many deeply religious Americans believe that God gave them complete control over the earth and its bounty; the only “sins” that merited mass punishment (like that Great Flood) were crimes against God. While the following notion is peppered throughout the Bible, this human control over the environment (without fear) is firmly planted early in this religious tome: “God blessed them and said to them [Adam and Eve], ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” Genesis 1:28.
But even Pope Francis has admonished his flock to take climate change seriously and to exercise environmental responsibility, noting the consequences of ignoring this warning. Yet in the United States – even after coastal devastation, out-of-control wildfires, more destructive tropical storms than we have ever experienced, searing heat and agriculture-killing aridification – there is a significant conservative constituency that simply does not believe that global climate change is a genuine issue. Writing for the November 21st Associated Press, Luis Andres Henao, citing recent polling numbers, tells us: “Most adults in the United States — including a large majority of Christians and people who identify with other religions — consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it.
“But highly religious Americans — who pray daily, regularly attend religious services and consider religion crucial in their lives — are far less likely than other U.S. adults to express concern about global warming… Those are among the key findings in a comprehensive report by the Pew Research Center, which surveyed 10,156 U.S. adults from April 11-17. Its margin of error for the full sample of respondents is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points… The survey released Thursday [11/17] says religious Americans tend to be less concerned about climate change for several reasons.
“‘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.’
“Responding to the findings, the Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, steward of climate at the nonprofit Circle Faith Future, said the siloed culture in America sows further division instead of inspiring 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’… The poll found that about three-quarters (74%) of religiously affiliated Americans say the Earth is sacred. A larger share, (80%), feel a sense of stewardship — and fully or mostly agree with the idea that ‘God gave humans a duty to protect and care for the Earth, including the plants and animals.’
“Religious Americans who show little or no concern about climate change also say ‘there are much bigger problems in the world, that God is in control of the climate, and that they do not believe the climate is actually changing.’… Those who consider climate change ‘an extremely or very serious problem’ range from 68% of adults who identify with the historically Black Protestant tradition, to 34% of evangelical Protestants.
“In none of the major Protestant traditions did a majority say the Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity; only 32% of evangelicals felt that way… The report says the religiously unaffiliated — the fastest-growing group in surveys asking Americans about their religious identity — are much more likely to say that climate change is an extreme or very serious problem (70%) than religiously affiliated Americans (52%).
“Commonly known as the ‘nones,’ they describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular.’ [many professing just being “spiritual”] The report says they are far more likely to say the Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human-induced activity (66%) than those who are religiously affiliated (47%)… For U.S. congregations, climate change doesn’t seem to be a major focus. The report says that among all U.S. adults who attend religious services at least once or twice per month, only 8% say they ‘hear a great deal or quite a bit about climate change in sermons.’… 1 in 5 say they hear some discussion of the topic from the pulpit… And 6% of American congregants say they talk about climate change with others in their congregation a great deal or quite a bit.
“Highly religious Americans are also less likely to view inefficient energy practices as morally wrong, the report says. This same pattern is also seen when asked about eating food that takes a lot of energy to produce.” We are acutely aware that GOP policies are likely to exacerbate climate change distress. “In an early sign of how the incoming Republican House majority will approach climate change, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday [11/17] that the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will be eliminated. Rep. Garret Graves, the Louisiana Republican who was his party’s highest-ranking member on the committee, said Republicans will focus their energy agenda on increasing U.S. fossil fuel production and exportation.” Yahoo!News, November 21st. It is a policy that seriously rubs younger voters the wrong way.
Even as religiosity is declining among those rising generations, particularly as education levels rise, the ticking climate time bomb – that irreversible point of no return where nature itself continues the release of excessive carbon-based greenhouse into the atmosphere regardless of further human malfeasance – may be less than a decade away. Then, we better be prepared to find new ways to remove carbon gasses from the atmosphere… or suffer the otherwise irreversible consequences. When the beliefs of some contribute to the misery of many, the polarization that is ripping this nation apart grows deeper and angrier.
I’m Peter Dekom, and rising generations are beginning to express ire and concern about the older generations saddling them with the horrific accelerating burdens of unrestrained climate change… and are exceptionally concerned about continuing excuses and marginalization.
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