On Caring for Creation: Accounting for Changes in Environmental Concern among Religious Organizations

• In Event: 1580 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Religion and Attitudes

Abstract

In 1967, Lynn White, Jr. argued that Western Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion that has ever existed on the face of the earth. At first glance, the highly-religious U.S., which has abdicated global leadership on environmental issues to an unprecedented extent, exemplifies White’s contention. However, others have argued that environmentalism in the U.S. itself has sacred roots. Empirically, past efforts to measure the religion-environmental concern connection in the U.S. have generated mixed results. Conceptually, it has been argued that religious environmental concern endeavors toward a long-term change in the ethical framework of society rather than single-issue policy reform, which is notoriously difficult to measure. Using data from the 1973-2014 General Social Survey, this paper examines whether, and to what extent, environmental concern has been fostered among diverse religious groups in the U.S. Analyzing how the relationship between religious affiliation and environmental concern is mediated across seven distinct birth cohorts spanning 1884 through 1996 indicates growing levels of environmental concern in several religious groups relative to the religiously unaffiliated, even after controlling for demographic, attitudinal, and ideological factors. While it is difficult to separate age from birth cohort correlations, and stronger associations are found among the declining mainline and theologically liberal denominations, the findings of this paper suggest the possibility of long-term ethical change manifesting itself across multiple religious denominations.

Author

• Lukas J Szrot, University of Kansas