Many Americans draw, at least in part, upon their religious beliefs to guide their understanding and interpretation of climate change causes, impacts, and solutions. This report examines the global warming beliefs, risk perceptions, policy preferences, and related moral values of three major groups of American Christians – Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and evangelicals. It also investigates how these groups currently view Pope Francis and the extent to which he is considered a trusted voice on the issue of global warming.
Executive Summary
Climate Change Beliefs & Attitudes
About seven in ten Catholics (69%) say they think global warming is happening, which is a slightly higher percentage than Americans as a whole (63%). A majority of non-evangelical Protestants also think global warming is happening (62%). By contrast, evangelicals are split between those who think it is happening (51%) and those who either don’t think it is (27%) or who don’t know (23%).
Catholics are the most likely to say global warming is caused mostly by human activities (57%; 33% say it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment). Non-evangelical Protestants are also more likely to say global warming is caused by human activity rather than natural changes in the environment (50% versus 35%, respectively). Evangelicals are more evenly split between the two perspectives (41% versus 37%).
In a recent study investigating the degree of scientific consensus on climate change, Cook and colleagues (2013) examined nearly 12,000 peer-reviewed papers in the climate science literature and found that of those papers that stated a position on the reality of human-caused global warming, 97% said it is happening and at least partly human caused. However, fewer than half of Catholics (40%), non-evangelical Protestants (39%), and evangelicals (29%) say most scientists think human-caused global warming is happening, and nearly as many think there is a lot of disagreement among climate scientists as to whether or not global warming is happening (37%, 35% and 37%, respectively).
Over half of American Catholics (57%) say they are at least somewhat worried about global warming (10% are “very worried”). Non-evangelical Protestants are about evenly split between those who are worried (48%) and those who are not (52%). By contrast, six in ten evangelicals say they are “not very” or “not at all” worried about it (62%).
Few American Christians – Catholics (30%), evangelicals (27%), and non-evangelical Protestants (25%) –understand that people in the United States are being harmed today by global warming.
Pluralities of Christians – Catholics (49%), non-evangelical Protestants (48%), and evangelicals (37%) – say humans could reduce global warming, but it’s unclear at this point whether we will do what’s necessary. Among the remainder, the pessimists outnumber the optimists. Only about one in twenty Christians says humans can reduce global warming and will do so successfully, while larger numbers say we won’t because people are unwilling to change their behavior (28% of Catholics, 18% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 24% of evangelicals). At least one in ten says humans can’t reduce global warming even if it is happening (10%, 16%, and 15%, respectively).
When asked if they have all the information they need to form a firm opinion about global warming,
evangelicals are the most likely to say they need “a lot more” information (26%), followed closely by nonevangelical Protestants (23%), and then by Catholics (17%). About half of all Christians say they need at least “some” more information.
Evangelicals are also the most likely to say they need no more information to form an opinion (35%). Fewer non-evangelical Protestants (22%) or Catholics (19%) say they need no more information to form an opinion.
Climate Change Policy Support
American Christians – especially Catholics – support a range of policies that would help reduce global
warming:
- Increase funding for improvements to local roads, bridges, and buildings to make them more resistant to extreme weather (80% of Catholics, 83% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 80% of evangelicals)
- Provide tax rebates for people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels (83%, 80% and 74%, respectively)
- Fund more research into renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power (81%, 81% and 73%)
- Regulate carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) as a pollutant (74%, 75% and 72%)
- Require electric utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable energy sources, even if it costs the average household an extra $100 a year (67%, 68% and 60%)
Respondents were also asked if they support or oppose the following policy:
“Set strict carbon dioxide emission limits on existing coal-fired power plants to reduce global warming and improve public health. Power plants would have to reduce their emissions and/or invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The cost of electricity to consumers and companies would likely increase.”
Large majorities of Catholics (74%) and non-evangelical Christians (70%) strongly or somewhat support the policy, and more than half of evangelicals (60%) do as well.
American Christians think a variety of people and organizations should be doing more to address global warming. Majorities of Catholics and at least half of non-evangelical Protestants say the following should do more: corporations and industry (75% and 69%, respectively), citizens themselves (71% and 63%), the U.S. Congress (65% and 56%), their member of Congress (65% and 54%), their governor (63% and 50%), their local government officials (62% and 52%), and President Obama (59% and 48%). Over half of evangelicals think corporations and industry should do more to address global warming (59%), while half or nearly half think the other people and organizations should do more.
Global Warming & Values
Relatively few Christians say that God expects people to rule over nature (12% of Catholics, 11% of nonevangelical Protestants, and 18% of evangelicals). Almost half of evangelicals (49%) say that God expects people to be good stewards of nature – compared to Catholics (41%) and non-evangelical Protestants (36%).
Large majorities of Christians say global warming is a major environmental and scientific issue. Some
consider it a major moral issue (22% of Catholics, 21% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 16% of
evangelicals), but few currently consider it either a major religious (5%, 6%, and 9%, respectively) or
spiritual issue (8%, 6%, and 9%).
Most evangelicals, Catholics, and non-evangelical Protestants say it is important to them personally to care for future generations of people (86%, 82%, and 82%, respectively), the natural environment (76% of each group), and the world’s poor (77%, 67% and 63%).
Over half of Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and evangelicals think that reducing global warming will help future generations (67%, 60%, and 55%).
Relatively few Christians say they accept scientific explanations when they conflict with prior religious or spiritual beliefs (22% of Catholics, 20% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 11% of evangelicals). Far more Evangelicals (55%) than Catholics (18%) and non-evangelical Protestants (18%) say, when the two conflict, they accept their religious or spiritual beliefs over scientific explanations. Pluralities of Catholics (43%) and non-evangelical Protestants (42%) say their views lie in between these two statements.
Views of Pope Francis
Overall, Pope Francis is the most trusted of several religious leaders as a source of information about global warming. Three in four Catholics (76%) have a positive opinion of Pope Francis, compared to nonevangelical Protestants (57%) and evangelicals (35%). Most of the remainder are “in between” or don’t have an opinion. Relatively small numbers in the three groups have negative opinions of Pope Francis (2%, 4% and 13% respectively).
This summer, Pope Francis will issue an encyclical on climate change. Early indications are that he will define climate change as a moral and religious challenge for the world. As of this survey, few American Christians were aware of the Pope’s forthcoming encyclical about global warming. Catholics were the most likely to be aware of it, although only one in ten (11%) were. One in twenty non-evangelical Protestants (5%) and evangelicals (5%) were aware of the Pope’s upcoming encyclical.
This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Interview dates: February 27 – March 10, 2015. Interviews: 1,263 Adults (18+). Average margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The research was funded by the 11th Hour Project, the Energy Foundation, the Grantham Foundation, and the V.K. Rasmussen Foundation.
Principal Investigators:
Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Yale University
(203) 432-4865
[email protected]
Edward Maibach, MPH, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication
George Mason University
(703) 993-1587
[email protected]
Connie Roser-Renouf, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
George Mason University
[email protected]
Geoff Feinberg
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Yale University
(203) 432-7438
[email protected]
Seth Rosenthal, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Yale University
[email protected]
Cite as: Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Feinberg, G., & Rosenthal, S. (2015) Climate change in the American Christian mind: March, 2015. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.