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Download Religious Beliefs a Root Cause of the Denial of Climate Change
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Religious Beliefs a Root Cause of the Denial of Climate Change Being Anthropogenic Bryan Ezawa (Engineering ’17 BS) and Julie Fagan, Ph.D. (SEBS, Animal Sciences) Abstract: Denial of climate change being caused by human activity, or anthropogenic climate change, is thought to be divided between political lines with Republicans generally denying climate change while Democrats believing that climate change not only exists but is caused, at least in part, by humans. There appears to be a correlation between being religious and being a climate change denier. According to a Pew Research poll, 47 percent of Catholics acknowledge that climate change is anthropogenic, with 62 percent of Catholic Democrats but only 24 percent of Catholic Republicans believing in the anthropogeneity of climate change. The source of this denial may be that the deniers believe that that man is all that is to be valued. Imago Dei, the predominant intrinsic value system of religious monotheists, excludes nonhumans, leading to neglect of the environment, even if it is closely tied to human beings. We have examined further this relationship between religion, the imago dei intrinsic value system, and anthropogenic climate change. Converting anthropogenic climate change deniers may be a matter of including the environment as being inseparable from human life, so that those that hold imago dei close, can now start taking care of the world they live in. * NET means the population of the affiliation. Underneath the NET are a few subpopulations of interest. Correlation between 46% accept being religious and anthropogeneity being an 40% of deniers anthropogenic climate attend service Religiosity and change denier: the more more religious, the anthropogeneity than weekly more likely that person denial is to deny man’s cause within Christian of the warming of the Population planet. This assumes 14% of deniers attend service that attendance is an less than once a week indicator of religiosity. Alternative Intrinsic Value System Instead of Imago Dei, which conveniently keeps humans as the only source of intrinsic value, there are alternatives that will help alleviate some excessively anthropocentric views: A theistic view of stewardship or a correlative view. One proposed view is that if there were a God and that it gave the earth for mankind to look over, it is vital to be good stewards of the gift, therefore one should value the environment because not only is it vital to our well being, but it is also our duty to protect it. A different view is that there appears to be a correlation between the amount of intrinsic value we typically associate with things and its complexity: the more complex, the more valued. As an example, the human brain is arguably the most complex thing we know of, and that gives rise to thoughts, emotions, beliefs, all of which are typically favored highly. In contrast we tend to view simple things, like a pebble, to be of less value. This entails that life is more valuable than non-life, and therefore life, human or otherwise, is valuable and should be protected. Thus we can value other lives without forfeiting our human centric values because we believe ourselves to be the most complex of all. Religion Affiliation and Percentage of Anthropogenic Denial* 14% Non- Of the people who do not believe that climate change is due to human activity, 86% of them are Christian. This, in conjunction with the Table below, indicates that there is something specifically in the religious realm that is causing this denial behavior. Christian Anthropogeneity Denial 86% Christians A U S E Anthropogenic Climate Change Imago Dei A proposed theory is that this religious denial of man’s cause in the warming of the planet is due to an intrinsic value system called Imago Dei, which states that humans were made in God’s image. This entitles all people to equal rights, which might be a godsend in terms of civil order and rights, but it neglects to mention man’s role in the environment. This can lead not only to neglect of the environment and non-human life, but also attempts to shed blame from ourselves for causing such destruction. This stance is not helped by sentiment quoting the bible that God promised not to flood the earth and therefore it is impossible for the earth to flood again when the glaciers melt. Even more so when there is blatant denial that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, defending the position by citing the abundance of the molecule, that it is emitted by most life, humans included. However any acceptance of this human causation would threaten man’s untouchable status. Raw Data Sources “Attendance at Religious Services.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 2015 from: http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscapestudy/attendance-at-religious-services/ Funk, Cary and Becka A. Alper. “Religion and Views on Climate and Energy Issues.” Pew Research Center. October 22, 2015. Retrieved November 2015 from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/22/religionand-views-on-climate-and-energy-issues/ “Global Christianity: A report on the size and distribution of the World’s Christian Population” Pew Research Center. December 2011. Retrieved November 2015 from: http://www.pewforum.org/files/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf “Religious Landscape Study.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 2015 from: http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscapestudy/ “State & County QuickFacts.” United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 2015 from: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html See YouTube video “Religion and Anthropogenic Climate Change Deniers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulmpK7X5kiY