Evangelical Protestants and the Politics of Environmentalism in the United States, 1920-2002

• In Event: Definitions of science and environmental policy in Anglo-American contexts, 1850-2015

Abstract

In contemporary U.S. public debates, it is often claimed that religious Americans disproportionately reject the scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change. Because evangelical Protestants are often viewed as anti-science and in favor of right-wing politics, it is often assumed that “religion” must necessarily oppose environmental protection and regulation. This is a conclusion reached both by conservative Christian groups and by secular environmental activists. However, the evangelical opposition to climate change science is better understood in the context of a broader history of evangelical alignment with right-politics in America, and against science and secularism. Crucially, evangelicals brought a “theory in crisis” political strategy to climate change science, which had originally been formed in the context of creation-evolution debate. Both evangelicals and the scientists they criticized worked with a definition of science that was defined by the boundaries of the scientific community. Evangelicals, however, wished to contest the credibility of this community by questioning the validity of scientific consensus. Rather than understanding these clashes between scientific and religious communities as examples of timeless battles between irreconcilable world-views, these debates give a unique window into the definition of science utilized by both sides of the conflict.

Author

• Myrna Lynn Perez Sheldon, Rice University