An (Un)Holy Trinity : Differences in Climate Change-Induced Distress Between Believers and Non-believers in God Disappear After Controlling for Left-Right Political Orientation

© 2022. The Author(s)..

We examined differences in reactions to climate change as a function of belief in God. We studied four samples, convenience samples of university students in the USA (n = 627) and in Poland (n = 628), a nationally representative sample of adults in Poland (n = 1154), and a nationally representative sample of adults in the USA (n = 1098). In each study we measured the distress people felt about climate change, belief in God, and left-right political orientation. These constructs were measured slightly differently across the studies. Regardless of how these constructs were measured, believers were less distressed by climate change than non-believers, and with only a few exceptions, these differences disappeared after covarying political orientation (left-right or liberal-conservative). Contrary to those who argue that there is something inherent in religious belief that predisposes people to deny or ignore climate change, the present results suggest that it is the (growing) confluence of faith and conservative political orientation that is responsible for the fact that some people of faith tend to deny climate change or actively oppose efforts to combat it.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:63

Enthalten in:

Journal of religion and health - 63(2024), 2 vom: 22. März, Seite 1307-1333

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Nezlek, John B [VerfasserIn]
Cypryańska, Marzena [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Belief in God
Climate change
Climate change distress
Journal Article
Political orientation
Religiosity
Well-being

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 27.03.2024

Date Revised 29.03.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1007/s10943-022-01706-2

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM349669732