Evangelicals Are Non-Committal on Climate Change, Thinks It Is a Liberal Issue
Ecumenism has brought Catholics and Evangelicals together, as they focus on their shared doctrines and stand on issues like birth control, abortion and same-sex marriage. But there is one issue these two sects disagree on — Climate Change. A Washington Post opinion piece attempted to examine the reasons behind this.
The write-up noted it is not only the Catholic Church that howled in protest on President Donald Trump's refusal to sign the Paris climate agreement. Almost all major religions expressed their outrage including Judaism, Hindu, Islam and even mainline Protestant denominations like the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches.
In his podcast, Pastor Al Mohler suggested that blaming humans for climate change is wrong as it denies the purpose of creation, which was for humans to take dominion over the world. His view is reflective of a 2013 LifeWay Research poll which found that only 19 percent of pastors ages 18 to 44 agree with the statement, "I believe global warming is real and manmade."
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Surely, there are Evangelical Christians who share the world view on climate change, but there is no singular stand as a group demanding for reduced carbon footprint. The issue just doesn't merit priority the way Christian persecution does. The general view among them is that God will take care of man.
The article gave what could be the most convincing reason why Evangelicals are nonchalant about environmental concerns, and this has something to do with political affiliation. It cited exit polls showing that Evangelicals voted heavily (80 percent) for the Republican Trump.
As far as Evangelicals are concerned, climate change is a liberal issue, especially with Democrat Al Gore serving as its poster boy. This claim is bolstered by an analysis of the Pew Research Center saying that attitudes on issues like climate change are heavily driven by political partisanship and not by religious affiliation or frequency of church attendance.
