Substantive religious belief and environmentalism

Abstract

The authors critically reexamine the debate over whether Christian dominion doctrine fosters negative environmental attitudes and outcomes, the Lynn White Thesis. They argue that previous links between biblical literalism, religious salience, and negative environmental attitudes are spurious. Instead, they contend that the more consequential religious determinants of environmental ethics entail substantive beliefs such as dominion. They also critically assess the relation of environmental attitudes to behavior. This argument is empirically supported with regression analyses based on a 1992 national survey. Neither biblical literalism nor religious salience have independent effects on environmental concern. As hypothesized, alleged negative religious effects are spurious; however, religious salience is found to be positively associated with environmentally responsible behavior. This research is part of a third stage in understanding religion and environmentalism in which substantive religious beliefs receive direct attention. Positive and negative religious effects on environmentalism are identified and practical potentials suggested