Engage

One of the more surprising things that I found in reading about how Evangelical Christians view climate change is that not only do not all Evangelicals deny anthropogenic climate change but some actually see environmental stewardship as a moral Christian duty. The Guardian video, for instance, shows that while some scientists might decry religious faith as an impediment to scientific progress, there are Christians who view climate-action as an imperative of their faith. This is certainly true for Katherine Hayhoe, who is a notable Evangelical Christian and climate scientist.

The author of A Climate for Change: Global Facts For Faith-Based Decisions,  Dr. Hayhoe has made climate change outreach to Evangelical Christians a personal mission. She does this by connecting her faith with her role as a scientist. In a 2017 interview with Sonia Smith of the Colombia Journalism Review, she stated that “Climate change is simply an opportunity for Christians to express God’s love to other people, exactly as we’re told to in verses throughout the New Testament,”. This is an especially important message for Evangelicals who by definition tend to view active engagement with the world as a central part of their faith. By viewing climate science not only as something that is not in conflict with but is actually a part of her faith-in-action she moves the argument away from the common opposition of science-versus-religion and allows for a union of the two.

Dr. Hayhoe’s statement is reminiscent of the views described by Lara Deeb in her study of Shi’i Lebanese Muslim women as they re-imagined a pious ideology of modernity and progress. In her book An Enchanted Modern, Deeb points out that the women with whom she spoke did not view material and spiritual progress as inherently separate but rather viewed them as complementary (2006 p18). By making science a tool of religious action these women were able to weave together modern aspirations within the framework of their social and religious environments.

Both Deeb and Hayhoe open one to the sense that religion and science could be allies rather than enemies. Further, there is a small but active subset of Evangelicals who explicitly tie their faith to environmental stewardship, a view that is embodied in a group called the Evangelical Environmental Network. Yet, surveys suggest that such a perspective is not yet common among US Evangelicals. Further, it is worth noting that while Katherine Hayhoe is a lifelong Evangelical and is currently a US citizen she was born and raised in Canada. This raises the question of whether there is something specifically about Evangelical Christianity in the US that propagates a division between science and faith.