Christians overwhelmingly accept that climate change is happening and almost three out of four believe that humans are contributing to it, but their churches have little influence on their views on the issue, according to research by two Anglican women from the Dandenongs.
Mrs Becca Allchin, a parishioner at Holy Trinity Upwey and former TEAR field worker in India, and Mrs Ellen Prior, of St Mark’s Belgrave, found that scientists, non-government development organisations and media were more influential in forming their attitudes to climate change than their churches.
Their online survey of Australian Christians’ views on climate change, conducted with fellow students Ben Wallis and Paul Rometsch for masters’ studies at Tabor College, attracted 424 respondents, of whom 273 were from Victoria. Of the total respondents, 115 were Anglican, with most of the others coming from the Baptists, Uniting Church and the Churches of Christ.
Asked “Given what you know, which of the following statements best describes your thoughts about climate change?”, 72.7% of respondents agreed with the statement “I think climate change is happening, and I think that humans are largely causing it”, while 20.1% favoured the statement “I think climate change is happening, but it is just a natural fluctuation of the Earth’s temperatures”.
But asked what had contributed to their attitude towards climate change, 51.3% said Church leaders/pastors, including teaching in sermons, were “not influential at all” – a higher percentage than any other factor. Only 7.1% said church was “very influential” and 0.8% “highly influential”. The majority of those surveyed said that the most influential sources of information on climate change were scientists and media or non-government development organisations (NGDOs), such as World Vision and TEAR Australia.
“It’s not that we think that the Church can’t be influential, it’s that it’s not being influential,” Mrs Allchin said.
“They have been quite silent on the issue and therefore not able to influence people’s opinion.”
Mrs Prior said some pastors felt limited in speaking out about climate change because they did not understand the science and lacked a theological basis to address the issue.
"Climate change is not an environmental issue so much as it’s a justice issue and it’s a justice issue because the people most affected are those who have done the least to contribute to climate change,” Mrs Prior said. “And it’s also an issue because they are the people least able to adjust.
“When you start to focus on climate change as a justice issue and look at how both the Old Testament and New Testament are intimately concerned about justice, we see that Christians can’t avoid being involved in this topic.”
In their paper, the four researchers concluded: “What was clear from participant responses, regardless of their belief about whether or not climate change is happening, is that the Church is not influencing their views. This highlights the need for NGDOs to call on the Church to mobilise for action on climate change. It may need to begin with NGDOs supporting church leaders, through the provision of resources and professional development, to equip them to speak out on the issue. We acknowledge that such a move by NGDOs would not be without its challenges, however, (we) believe that they are best placed to use their reputation and influence, as the voice of the poor, to call the Church to action on climate change.”
“Scientists, NGDOs and media were more influential in forming their attitudes to climate change than their churches”