Faith Shin and Jesse Preston have uncovered that Christian religious messages advocating for a “stewardship” for the earth, both from the bible and the pope, increased moral concerns for climate change. “Dominion of the earth” messages on the other hand were less persuasive. Stewardship messages suggest that God has given people the responsibility to care for the Earth, whereas dominion messages suggest God has willed people to use the Earth’s resources as they please.
Eban Goodstein provided an example of this playing out in politics before, when congressman Bob Inglis, who in perceiving climate change from an evangelical stewardship view, voted for a carbon cap and trade bill. Religious language can sway the willingness to pay for climate-change related policies such as new infrastructure for renewable energy.
- Psychology Building – Currently houses the Psychology Department, which Faith Shin is a graduate student in the department.
Goodstein, E [Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at the University of Illinois]. (2018, April 27).”Climate Change Turns 30: Tribalism and Sustainability” – Keeling Lecture 2018 by Eban Goodstein [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFvKiyaSSA
Kevin Gill from Nashua, NH, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_(16530938850).jpg
Shin, F. and Preston, J. L. (2021). Green as the Gospel: The Power of Stewardship Messages to Improve Climate Change Attitudes. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 13(4), 437–447. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000249.
Skirbekk, V., De Sherbinin, A., Adamo,S. (2020, October 15). How Religion Influences Our Relationship with the Environment. State of the Planet. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/10/15/religion-influences-relationship-environment/.
Touchstone, L. A. (2019, March 6). Study: Messages of Stewardship Affect Christians’ Attitudes about Climate Change. Illinois News Bureau. https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/758796.