Christian Nationalism and Climate Change
Christian Nationalism and Climate Change
Christian nationalism and climate change intersect through religion, political identity, attitudes toward science, biblical interpretation, environmental policy, and competing ideas about the proper relationship between human beings and the natural world. Research collected on this subject shows that Christian nationalism is frequently associated with greater skepticism toward climate science and lower prioritization of environmental protection, but it also shows considerable diversity among Christians and evangelicals.
Christian nationalism should not be treated as synonymous with Christianity, evangelicalism, or conservative Christianity. The research distinguishes Christian nationalist beliefs from broader Christian religious identity and documents competing environmental traditions within American Christianity. Some Christian organizations and leaders resist climate regulation or question mainstream climate policy, while others describe climate action as an expression of biblical stewardship, protection of human life, and responsibility toward vulnerable communities.
A recurring finding throughout the literature is that climate attitudes are shaped by an interaction among theology, partisan identity, trust in scientific institutions, political ideology, social networks, media consumption, and perceptions of cultural threat. Religion alone does not explain the divisions.
Christian Nationalism and Environmental Attitudes
Recent scholarship directly examining Christian nationalism finds an association between stronger Christian nationalist beliefs and greater climate skepticism or lower prioritization of environmental protection. Research also suggests, however, that these attitudes can be affected by how environmental issues are framed.
Samuel L. Perry and Laura Upenieks found that Christian nationalism was strongly associated with climate skepticism and reduced support for environmental protection. Their research also found that presenting environmental responsibility in explicitly Christian terms—particularly as stewardship of God's creation—could increase environmental support among people who expressed Christian nationalist beliefs.
This finding complicates the idea that Christian nationalist attitudes necessarily produce fixed opposition to environmental protection. The research instead suggests that political and religious framing can affect how climate and environmental proposals are received.
Other scholarship places climate skepticism within a broader pattern of Christian nationalist distrust toward scientific authority. Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry, and Andrew L. Whitehead found Christian nationalism to be associated with opposition to scientific authority even after accounting for other forms of religiosity and political ideology.
Research on Christian nationalism therefore connects climate attitudes to broader questions involving authority, expertise, cultural identity, and competing understandings of the relationship between religion and public institutions.
Evangelical Christianity and Climate Skepticism
A substantial body of polling and academic research examines climate attitudes among American evangelical Protestants. Surveys by Pew Research Center, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, and other organizations have repeatedly found that evangelical Protestants are less likely than several other American religious groups to attribute climate change primarily to human activity.
Researchers caution against treating this pattern as purely theological. Political party identification is consistently important. White evangelical Protestants have become strongly associated with conservative politics in the United States, and several studies find that political identity helps explain differences in environmental opinion.
Research also identifies biblical literalism, beliefs about divine sovereignty, end-times theology, distrust of scientific institutions, conservative media, and perceptions of environmentalism as a competing ideology as factors influencing climate skepticism.
Robin Globus Veldman's work on evangelical climate skepticism argues that opposition to climate action developed through a combination of political, cultural, religious, and social influences rather than from a single theological doctrine. Climate skepticism became embedded in parts of conservative evangelical culture through political networks, media, religious leaders, and group identity.
Political Identity and the Religious Right
The development of evangelical environmental attitudes is closely connected to the history of the Religious Right.
Historical research describes periods when conservative evangelicals promoted environmental stewardship alongside other Christian concerns. As evangelical political organizations became increasingly integrated into conservative and Republican political networks, environmental regulation became more closely associated with political liberalism and federal government intervention.
Neall W. Pogue's historical research describes conflicts within conservative evangelicalism between creation stewardship and anti-environmental political activism. His work traces how environmental debates became connected to wider disputes over economic regulation, government authority, free markets, secularism, and cultural identity.
Climate politics therefore became part of a broader political alignment involving abortion, education, religious liberty, economic policy, and other issues important to the Christian Right.
This history helps explain why similar biblical traditions have been used to support sharply different environmental positions.
Dominion and Stewardship
Biblical interpretations of humanity's relationship with nature play an important role in Christian environmental debates.
One influential concept is dominion, based partly on biblical passages describing humanity as having authority over the Earth. Some interpretations emphasize human use of natural resources and assign greater importance to human welfare than to environmental preservation.
Another interpretation emphasizes stewardship. Under this view, human beings have responsibility for caring for a creation that ultimately belongs to God. Christian environmental organizations frequently use stewardship language to support pollution reduction, conservation, renewable energy, and climate action.
Research suggests that both dominion and stewardship beliefs can influence environmental attitudes.
Experimental work has also examined beliefs concerning divine control of the Earth. People who believe strongly that environmental outcomes remain under God's control may perceive climate threats differently from people who emphasize human responsibility.
At the same time, theological categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some evangelicals express both a belief in human authority over nature and a belief that Christians have a duty to protect creation.
Climate Science and Religious Authority
Climate debates within conservative Christianity also involve questions about scientific authority.
Studies of Christian nationalism and science indicate that skepticism toward climate research can exist within a broader distrust of scientific institutions. Similar tensions have historically appeared in debates over evolution, creationism, public education, and other scientific subjects.
Some researchers connect contemporary climate skepticism to earlier conflicts involving creation science and opposition to secular scientific authority.
However, Christian attitudes toward science are diverse. Numerous Christian scientists, evangelical leaders, churches, and religious organizations accept mainstream climate science and argue that scientific knowledge should inform Christian environmental responsibility.
The debate therefore involves not simply religion versus science but competing religious interpretations of science, government, authority, and moral obligation.
Creation Care
Creation care has become one of the principal Christian frameworks supporting environmental action.
Creation-care advocates argue that protecting the natural world is part of Christian discipleship. They often connect environmental stewardship to biblical teachings about caring for neighbors, protecting children, assisting the poor, and preserving God's creation.
Organizations such as the Evangelical Environmental Network and Young Evangelicals for Climate Action promote climate action using explicitly evangelical language.
Their arguments frequently emphasize human health rather than environmental protection alone. Air pollution, extreme heat, wildfire smoke, environmental contamination, and climate-related disasters are presented as threats to human life and particularly to children, poor communities, and vulnerable populations.
Some evangelical environmentalists also use traditionally conservative moral language. Environmental protection may be described as pro-life because pollution and climate-related hazards can affect human health and mortality.
This strategy illustrates how climate advocacy can be framed within existing evangelical theological traditions rather than presented primarily through secular environmental language.
The Evangelical Climate Initiative
The Evangelical Climate Initiative became an important effort to establish climate change as a major evangelical concern.
Its 2006 statement, Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action, affirmed human-caused climate change and called for public policies addressing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Other evangelical statements followed, including collaborations between scientists and religious leaders and a Southern Baptist declaration on climate change.
These efforts attempted to establish creation care as a significant evangelical public issue.
They also generated considerable resistance from other conservative Christian organizations, demonstrating that evangelical environmental politics were deeply divided.
The Cornwall Alliance and Climate Counter-Mobilization
The Cornwall Alliance represents an important organized evangelical challenge to mainstream climate policy.
Its publications question major greenhouse-gas mitigation policies and emphasize economic freedom, human development, property rights, energy affordability, and skepticism toward environmental regulation.
The organization has criticized evangelical climate initiatives and argued that aggressive climate policies can impose economic costs, particularly on poor populations.
Supporters of evangelical climate action dispute these conclusions and argue that climate change itself creates substantial threats to vulnerable populations.
The dispute between organizations such as the Cornwall Alliance and the Evangelical Environmental Network demonstrates that Christians using similar religious traditions can reach very different conclusions about environmental science and public policy.
Generational Differences
Age is another important factor in evangelical climate attitudes.
Survey research indicates that younger evangelicals tend to express greater concern about climate change than older evangelicals.
Organizations such as Young Evangelicals for Climate Action grew partly from this generational shift. Younger Christian activists often describe climate action as compatible with evangelical theology and Christian discipleship.
Reports from evangelical colleges and churches document younger Christians attempting to move climate discussions away from partisan conflict and toward stewardship, human welfare, and religious responsibility.
Generational change does not eliminate political differences, but it suggests that evangelical environmental opinion is not static.
Climate Communication and Religious Framing
Several studies examine whether religious framing changes environmental attitudes.
Stewardship language appears particularly significant. Messages describing environmental protection as a responsibility given by God can sometimes increase climate concern among conservative Christians.
Other effective frames emphasize protecting children, helping poor communities, conserving farms and natural resources, reducing pollution, or defending human health.
These findings suggest that disagreement about climate policy can partly reflect the language through which climate change is presented.
A message centered on government regulation may produce a different response than one centered on biblical stewardship even when both ultimately support similar environmental goals.
Project 2025 and Environmental Policy
The collected sources also examine Project 2025 and its relationship to contemporary conservative environmental policy.
Project 2025 was developed through a coalition of conservative organizations led by the Heritage Foundation. Its proposals included major changes involving federal agencies, environmental regulation, energy production, and administrative authority.
Environmental organizations and academic researchers have analyzed proposals affecting the Environmental Protection Agency, federal climate programs, fossil-fuel development, public lands, and international climate policy.
Religious-right organizations have participated in the broader conservative coalition surrounding Project 2025, leading critics of Christian nationalism to examine connections between religious conservatism and environmental deregulation.
At the same time, Project 2025 includes many political and policy organizations that cannot simply be characterized as Christian nationalist. The relationship is therefore one of overlapping networks and policy coalitions rather than equivalence.
Climate Change, Human Health, and Vulnerable Communities
Evangelical climate advocates frequently emphasize the human consequences of environmental change.
Reports from the National Association of Evangelicals, Evangelical Environmental Network, World Relief, and related organizations discuss climate change in relation to food security, poverty, migration, natural disasters, air pollution, heat, disease, and other threats.
Their theological argument is often based on Christian obligations toward neighbors and disadvantaged populations.
This humanitarian framing differs from environmental arguments centered primarily on ecosystems or biodiversity, although the two approaches frequently overlap.
Climate action is consequently presented not only as environmental protection but also as a question of public health, poverty, international development, and Christian ethics.
Diversity Within Christianity
The research consistently demonstrates substantial variation among Christians.
Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants, historically Black Protestants, and other religious groups differ in their climate attitudes. Differences also exist within each tradition.
Political ideology, race, age, education, geographic location, biblical interpretation, congregational culture, and media exposure all contribute to environmental opinion.
Even among evangelicals, some organizations question climate policies while others actively lobby for stronger environmental regulations.
This diversity is important because broad labels such as Christian, evangelical, or Christian nationalist describe overlapping but distinct populations.
Religion and Environmental Politics
The debate over climate change illustrates a broader relationship between religion and American political identity.
Environmental issues can function as markers of cultural and partisan affiliation in much the same way as debates over abortion, education, guns, immigration, and sexuality.
For some conservative Christians, environmentalism is associated with secular liberalism, centralized government, international institutions, and restrictions on economic freedom.
For Christian environmentalists, protection of creation is instead understood as a religious obligation derived from scripture.
As a result, disputes over climate policy frequently involve deeper disagreements about government, economics, science, national identity, morality, and religious authority.
Conclusion
Research on Christian nationalism and climate change reveals a complex relationship among religion, political identity, theology, science, and environmental policy.
Christian nationalism is frequently associated with climate skepticism, distrust of scientific authority, and lower prioritization of environmental protection. Conservative evangelical political networks have also played an important historical role in opposition to environmental regulation.
Yet Christianity and evangelicalism do not produce a single environmental position. Creation-care movements, evangelical climate organizations, Christian scientists, and younger evangelicals have developed strong religious arguments supporting climate action.
The central division is therefore not simply between religion and environmentalism. It is also a debate within Christianity over stewardship, dominion, scientific authority, government regulation, economic policy, and the responsibilities Christians believe they have toward other people and the natural world.
Recent research showing that stewardship-based religious framing can increase environmental concern among Christian nationalists further illustrates that these attitudes are not necessarily fixed.
Christian nationalism and climate politics ultimately intersect within a larger struggle over American political identity: who holds legitimate authority, how scientific knowledge should influence public policy, what role government should play in protecting the environment, and how religious beliefs should shape public life.
Christian Nationalism, Climate Change, and Political Identity
1. | Samuel L. Perry et al. | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | September 17, 2026
Christian Nationalism, the Antisocial Gospel? Attitudes on Charity and Justice in the Kingdom of God. Studies how Christian nationalist beliefs shape priorities between charity, justice, evangelism, political power, and biblical law.
2. | Guardian Staff | The Guardian | August 26, 2026
Congressman Sounds Alarm on Rising Christian Nationalism. Discusses Rep. Jared Huffman's analysis of Christian nationalist political networks, including attitudes toward science and federal governance.
3. | Religion News Service | August 21, 2026
Christian Nationalists' Support for Pluralism and Perceptions of Threat. Research illustrating how perceptions of cultural threat influence Christian nationalist political attitudes.
4. | Samuel L. Perry and Laura Upenieks | The Sociological Quarterly | June 17, 2026
Green Christian Nationalists? How Issue Framing Moderates the Link Between Christian Nationalism and Environmental Protection. Nationally representative research finds Christian nationalism strongly predicts climate skepticism and deprioritizing environmental protection. However, framing environmental protection as a God-given stewardship responsibility substantially increases support among Christian nationalists.
5. | Researchers | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | 2026
The Mediating Roles of Political Ideology, Dominion Belief, and Stewardship Belief in the Relationship Between Christianity and Environmentalism. Examines how political ideology and competing interpretations of Christian responsibility help explain environmental attitudes.
6. | Ralf St. Clair | New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education | 2025
White Christian Nationalism: Adult Education and Threats to Democracy. Discusses environmental protection and climate policy among the issues opposed within some white Christian nationalist frameworks.
7. | Kate Sinding Daly | Conservation Law Foundation | November 12, 2024
What Project 2025 Means for the Environment. Reviews proposals affecting climate regulation, fossil-fuel development, EPA authority, and environmental protections.
8. | Ruth Braunstein | Religion News Service | August 16, 2024
How a Movement to Resist Christian Nationalism Took on Project 2025. Explores religious opposition to Project 2025 and its relationship to broader debates over Christian nationalism and federal policy.
9. | Authors | Environmental Education Research | 2024
Emergent Forms of Dark Green Religion and the (Ecofascist) Future of Environmental Education in the United States. Considers how Christian nationalist and other right-wing movements could influence environmental and climate education.
10. | Matthew R. Hartman | Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture | 2024
Beyond Climate Denial: White Supremacy and the Growth of Nationalist Environmentalism on the Right. Examines intersections of climate denial, nationalism, evangelical religion, anti-immigration politics, apocalypticism, and emerging right-wing environmentalism.
11. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States. National survey includes climate change among candidate issue priorities and compares Christian nationalism Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics, and Rejecters.
12. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 2024
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States — Full Report. Includes detailed tables showing differences between Christian nationalist groups in the importance they attach to climate change when voting.
13. | Heritage Foundation | Heritage Foundation | May 19, 2023
Project 2025 Continues to Grow With 60 Partners. Primary-source description of the coalition responsible for the federal transition plan whose recommendations included major changes to energy and environmental policy.
14. | Paul A. Djupe and Ryan P. Burge | Politics and Religion | October 3, 2022
Divine Attribution? The Interaction of Religious and Secular Beliefs on Climate Change Attitudes. Finds that religious effects on climate policy attitudes frequently depend on prior beliefs about human responsibility for global warming.
15. | Researchers | Society & Natural Resources | August 29, 2022
The Influence of Evangelical and Political Identity on Climate Change Views. Florida survey research finds evangelical identity and religiosity negatively associated with climate knowledge, belief, and risk perception even after accounting for partisan affiliation.
16. | Sydne Tursky | Western Washington University | 2022
Faith in a Changing Climate: Policy Framing and Southern Evangelical Christian Views on Climate Policy. Master's research investigates which climate-policy frames resonate with Southern evangelical Christians.
17. | Rachel L. Lamb and Noah J. Toly | Oxford Handbook of the Bible and Ecology | April 20, 2022
Climate Skepticism, Politics, and the Bible. Analyzes how scripture is invoked by evangelical climate skeptics and how theological arguments interact with political commitments.
18. | Jesse L. Preston and Faith Shin | Journal of Environmental Psychology | April 2022
Opposing Effects of Spirituality and Religious Fundamentalism on Environmental Attitudes. U.S. studies find fundamentalism predicts weaker climate belief and environmental concern while spirituality predicts stronger concern.
19. | Robin Veldman | The Revealer | October 7, 2021
Christian Nationalists and Climate Skepticism. Examines connections among Christian nationalism, Tea Party politics, conservative media, distrust of experts, and rejection of climate science.
20. | The Revealer | The Revealer | October 2021
Religion and the Climate Crisis. Special issue including research on Christian nationalism and climate skepticism alongside broader examinations of religious responses to climate change.
21. | Author | Religions | February 2021
Revisiting the Scopes Trial: Young-Earth Creationism, Creation Science, and the Evangelical Denial of Climate Change. Connects creationist movements, distrust of scientific institutions, Religious Right politics, deregulation, and climate skepticism.
22. | Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry, and Andrew L. Whitehead | Sociological Forum | August 6, 2020
Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science. Finds Christian nationalism to be a strong predictor of opposition to scientific authority even after accounting for religiosity, biblical literalism, political ideology, and other factors.
23. | Samuel L. Perry and Laura Upenieks | The Sociological Quarterly | June 17, 2026
Green Christian Nationalists? How Issue Framing Moderates the Link Between Christian Nationalism and Environmental Protection. Finds Christian nationalism strongly associated with climate skepticism and lower prioritization of environmental protection, but demonstrates that explicitly Christian stewardship language can significantly change responses.
24. | Bernard Daley Zaleha and Andrew Szasz | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | September 1, 2015
Why Conservative Christians Don't Believe in Climate Change. Traces conservative Christian climate skepticism to political identity, fears of environmentalism, interpretations of scripture, and apocalyptic theology.
25. | Heritage Foundation | Heritage Foundation | May 19, 2023
Project 2025 Continues to Grow With 60 Partners. Primary-source description of the conservative coalition responsible for the presidential transition project.
Evangelical Climate Attitudes: Surveys and Academic Research
26. | Gregory A. Smith et al. | Pew Research Center | February 26, 2025
Religion and Views on the Environment. Finds evangelical Protestants among the Christian groups least likely to attribute warming primarily to human activity and examines the effects of partisan alignment.
27. | Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | December 7, 2022
Younger Evangelicals Are More Concerned Than Their Elders About Climate Change. Documents generational differences within American evangelical Protestantism.
28. | Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | November 17, 2022
How Religion Intersects With Americans' Views on the Environment. Major national survey examining evangelical views, climate skepticism, end-times beliefs, stewardship, dominion, political party, and environmental regulation.
29. | Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | November 17, 2022
Religious Groups' Views on Climate Change. Evangelical Protestants display substantially more skepticism about anthropogenic climate change than several other religious groups.
30. | Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | November 17, 2022
Religious Beliefs About Earth and the Environment. Examines biblical literalism, stewardship, dominion theology, the sacredness of Earth, and end-times beliefs.
31. | Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | November 17, 2022
Environmentalism in U.S. Religious Congregations. Finds climate change rarely discussed in many congregations and evangelical churchgoers especially unlikely to hear frequent climate messages.
32. | Amy L. Johnson and Robert G. Franklin Jr. | Journal of Psychology and Theology | October 17, 2022
The Influence of Evangelical Religiosity on Environmentalism. Examines theological, psychological, and political factors connecting evangelical identity and environmental attitudes.
33. | Jesse L. Preston and Faith Shin | Journal of Environmental Psychology | April 2022
Opposing Effects of Spirituality and Religious Fundamentalism on Environmental Attitudes. Finds religious fundamentalism associated with weaker belief in climate change while spirituality is associated with stronger environmental concern.
34. | Robin Globus Veldman et al. | WIREs Climate Change | November 30, 2020
Who Are American Evangelical Protestants and Why Do They Matter for U.S. Climate Policy? Reviews political identity, theology, race, social networks, and evangelical influence on U.S. climate politics.
35. | Evan Berry and Robert Albro | Annual Review of Environment and Resources | 2018
Religion and Climate Change. Reviews research into evangelical skepticism, end-times theology, political identity, science distrust, and faith-based environmentalism.
36. | Philip Schwadel and Erik Johnson | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | May 4, 2017
The Religious and Political Origins of Evangelical Protestants' Opposition to Environmental Spending. Shows biblical literalism, Republican identity, and church attendance help account for opposition to environmental spending.
37. | Cary Funk and Becka A. Alper | Pew Research Center | October 22, 2015
Religion and Views on Climate and Energy Issues. Finds white evangelical Protestants substantially less likely than several other religious groups to attribute global warming primarily to human activity.
38. | Anthony Leiserowitz et al. | Yale Program on Climate Change Communication | April 1, 2015
Climate Change in the American Christian Mind. Detailed survey comparing Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and evangelicals on global warming beliefs and climate policies.
Majorities of American Christians Support Policies to Reduce Global Warming. Shows that evangelical skepticism does not automatically translate into opposition to every renewable-energy or carbon policy.
How Evangelicals from Two Churches in the American Southwest Frame Their Relationship With the Environment. Finds sovereignty-of-God beliefs, eschatology, political identity, and perceived hierarchies among God, humans, and nature shape environmental attitudes.
41. | Nicholas Smith and Anthony Leiserowitz | Global Environmental Change | October 2013
American Evangelicals and Global Warming. National survey shows evangelicals are more skeptical than non-evangelicals, while many nevertheless support particular climate and energy policies.
42. | Sabrina Danielsen | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | March 2013
Fracturing Over Creation Care? Shifting Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelicals, 1984–2010. Content analysis finds evangelical environmental discussion became increasingly prominent but also increasingly polarized and politicized.
43. | Researcher | University of Tennessee | 2013
Religion's Influence on Environmental Concern: U.S. Evangelicals' Construction of Climate Change Perceptions. Qualitative study of conservative Protestant interpretations of climate change, creation care, eschatology, and biblical literalism.
44. | Pew Research Center | December 18, 2007
Science in America: Religious Belief and Public Attitudes. Early national polling showing evangelicals less likely than Catholics, mainline Protestants, and secular Americans to attribute warming to human activity.
45. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | 2023
PRRI Climate Change Survey Topline. National polling covering climate attitudes, politics, religion, Christian nationalism, and related cultural identities.
46. | Philip Schwadel and Erik Johnson | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | May 4, 2017
The Religious and Political Origins of Evangelical Protestants' Opposition to Environmental Spending. Uses decades of national survey data to examine why evangelicals show comparatively low support for environmental spending.
47. | Jared L. Peifer, Elaine Howard Ecklund, and Cara Fullerton | Review of Religious Research | 2014
How Evangelicals from Two Churches in the American Southwest Frame Their Relationship With the Environment. Explores sovereignty, hierarchy, political identity, and eschatology within evangelical environmental narratives.
Dominion, Stewardship, and Biblical Interpretation
48. | Researcher | Social Science Quarterly | 2025
Fear of a Dying Planet and Fear of a Dying God: Beliefs About God and Attitudes Toward Climate Change in the United States. Examines how concepts of God and theological worldviews relate to climate concern.
49. | Corwin E. Smidt | Review of Religious Research | July 23, 2024
Dominion, Stewardship, and Perceptions of the Problem of Climate Change. Finds both theological orientations continue to shape climate attitudes after political variables are considered.
50. | Researchers | npj Climate Action | 2024
Belief in Divine Versus Human Control of Earth Affects Perceived Threat of Climate Change. Experimental evidence connects beliefs about God's control of Earth with assessments of climate risk.
51. | Thomas A. Hirschl, James G. Booth, and Leland L. Glenna | Cornell University | January 17, 2024
Religion and Climate Change Indifference: Linking the Sacred to the Social? Discusses competing interpretations of Christian dominion and stewardship in explaining climate attitudes.
52. | Rachel L. Lamb and Noah J. Toly | Oxford Handbook of the Bible and Ecology | April 20, 2022
Climate Skepticism, Politics, and the Bible. Analyzes how scripture is invoked by evangelical climate skeptics and how theological arguments interact with political commitments.
53. | Faith Shin and Jesse Preston | Psychology of Religion and Spirituality | 2021
Green as the Gospel: The Power of Stewardship Messages to Improve Climate Change Attitudes. Finds stewardship-oriented religious messages can increase pro-climate attitudes.
54. | Matthew B. Arbuckle and David M. Konisky | Social Science Quarterly | 2015
The Role of Religion in Environmental Attitudes. Uses national election survey data to study affiliation, religiosity, evangelicalism, and environmental concern.
55. | Lori M. Hunter and colleagues | Society & Natural Resources | 2004
Religion and Attitudes Toward the Environment. Examines religious ideas about dominion and stewardship in relation to environmental attitudes.
56. | P. Wesley Schultz, Lynnette Zelezny, and Nancy J. Dalrymple | Environment and Behavior | July 2000
A Multinational Perspective on the Relation Between Judeo-Christian Religious Beliefs and Environmental Concern. Cross-national analysis of biblical literalism, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, and environmental behavior.
57. | James L. Guth et al. | American Journal of Political Science | May 1995
Faith and the Environment: Religious Beliefs and Attitudes on Environmental Policy. Classic study identifying conservative eschatology as an important religious predictor of environmental attitudes.
Religious Right, Climate Skepticism, and Anti-Environmentalism
58. | Neall Pogue | Journal of American Culture | March 2024
Winning Against God's Earth: The Religious Right's Use of a Competition Framework to Justify Anti-Environmentalism. Examines rhetorical strategies used to portray environmentalism as an opponent of evangelical Christianity.
59. | Author | Women's Studies International Forum | 2023
Focus on the Fetus: The Evangelical Ethic, Anti-Environmentalism, and the Spirit of Neoliberalism. Links Christian Right political theology, free-market ideology, and opposition to climate action.
60. | Glenn Branch | National Center for Science Education | January 9, 2023
Review: The Nature of the Religious Right. Reviews historical evidence explaining the transformation of conservative evangelical attitudes toward climate science and environmentalism.
61. | Neall W. Pogue | Cornell University Press | 2022
The Nature of the Religious Right: The Struggle Between Conservative Evangelicals and the Environmental Movement. Historical study of how conservative evangelical politics moved from creation stewardship toward organized anti-environmentalism.
62. | Neall W. Pogue | Cornell Scholarship Online | April 15, 2022
The Nature of the Religious Right. Publisher edition examining evangelical political identity and environmental opposition.
63. | Neall W. Pogue | Cornell University Press | April 15, 2022
The Moral Majority Finds Favor in the Republican Party. Traces development of environmental attitudes as evangelicals became increasingly integrated into Republican politics.
64. | Neall W. Pogue | Cornell University Press | April 15, 2022
The Struggle Between Christian Environmental Stewardship and Anti-Environmentalism in the Religious Right. Details internal evangelical conflicts over environmental protection.
65. | Neall W. Pogue | Cornell University Press | April 15, 2022
Conclusion: The Nature of the Religious Right. Summarizes the political, theological, and cultural development of conservative evangelical anti-environmentalism.
66. | Reviewer | The Christian Century | 2022
Why Did Conservative Evangelicals Turn Against the Environment? Discusses Christian nationalism, anti-globalism, biblical inerrancy, Republican identity, and the emergence of evangelical climate skepticism.
67. | Richard Bohannon | Journal of Contemporary Religion | December 8, 2021
The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Book Review. Scholarly assessment of Veldman's explanation of evangelical opposition to climate action.
68. | Researchers | Energy Research & Social Science | November 2021
Are Religious Individuals Against Renewables? Finds greater religious commitment and biblical fundamentalism associated with lower support for government investment in alternative energy.
69. | Researchers | Energy Economics | 2021
Religiosity and Climate Change Policies. Cross-national study examining whether national levels of religiosity help explain differences in climate-policy effort.
70. | Researchers | Current Opinion in Psychology | 2021
Towards a Psychology of Religion and the Environment. Reviews dominion beliefs, end-times beliefs, fundamentalism, spirituality, sacredness, and environmental concern.
71. | Heidi Olson Campbell | Society for U.S. Intellectual History | July 12, 2020
Review of The Gospel of Climate Skepticism. Discusses Veldman's argument that climate skepticism cannot be explained simply by evangelical eschatology.
72. | Robin Globus Veldman | University of California Press | October 2019
The Gospel of Climate Skepticism. Publisher overview of research into evangelical media, politics, social identity, and climate denial.
73. | Robin Globus Veldman | University of California Press | 2019
The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change. Extensive ethnographic and media study of how climate skepticism became embedded in conservative evangelical culture.
74. | Nancy E. Landrum, Connor Tomaka, and John McCarthy | Journal of Macromarketing | June 23, 2016
Analyzing the Religious War of Words Over Climate Change. Compares dominion-oriented conservative Christian rhetoric with stewardship-oriented Christian environmental messaging.
75. | Elizabeth Lowry | CrossCurrents | May 18, 2016
God's Greenhouse: Eco-Evangelicals, Rhetoric, and the Public Sphere. Analyzes evangelical environmental rhetoric surrounding the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
76. | Jonathan Harrington | Journal of Religion & Society | 2009
Evangelicalism, Environmental Activism, and Climate Change in the United States. Examines conflicts between conservative evangelical elites, secular environmentalists, and emerging evangelical environmental activism.
77. | Hillary Scanlon | Wilfrid Laurier University | 2020
Faith Trumps Climate Change: The Engagement of White Evangelicals With Environmental Policy. Examines biblical literalism, Republican political identity, and hostility toward environmentalists during the Trump era.
78. | David K. Goodin | Journal of the Council for Research on Religion | December 30, 2020
Abrahamic Religions and Climate Change: Tradition and Political (In)action. Discusses white evangelical political influence, climate mitigation, refugees, and religious teachings concerning care for strangers.
79. | Author | Women's Studies International Forum | 2023
Focus on the Fetus: The Evangelical Ethic, Anti-Environmentalism, and the Spirit of Neoliberalism. Argues that Religious Right theology and free-market ideology became intertwined in opposition to environmental regulation.
Creation Care and Evangelical Climate Advocacy
80. | Noah Guthrie | A Rocha USA | April 27, 2026
The New Self: Seeking a Christian Response to Climate Change. Discusses Christian identity, climate action, Katharine Hayhoe, and creation care.
81. | Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | February 12, 2026
Endangerment Finding Repeal Threatens Sanctity of Life. Evangelical response opposing repeal of the federal finding that greenhouse gases threaten health and welfare.
82. | Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | July 24, 2026
EEN Applauds Pennsylvania Plan to Cut Methane Emissions. Contemporary example of evangelical support for methane regulation and climate policy.
83. | Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | November 8, 2024
A Renewed Call to Come Together for God's Creation. Post-election statement encouraging bipartisan evangelical climate and pollution action.
84. | Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | April 2, 2024
EEN Looks Forward to Working With New Conservative Climate Caucus Chair. Illustrates evangelical attempts to promote climate policy through conservative political networks.
85. | Natasha Feshbach | Yale Program on Climate Change Communication | November 13, 2023
Interview With Evangelical Environmental Network's Jessica Moerman. Explores faith-based communication strategies for engaging evangelicals on climate change.
86. | Jack Joseph | Evangelical Environmental Network | June 13, 2023
Putting Faith Into Action. Personal evangelical account describing climate advocacy as obedience to God and protection of creation.
We've Updated Our Phones Since the 1930s. It's Time to Update Our Stoves. Connects methane pollution, indoor air quality, climate change, and evangelical concern for families.
88. | Daniel Silliman | Christianity Today | January 27, 2023
Changing the Conversation on Climate Change. Interview on a decade of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and changing generational attitudes.
89. | Jack Jenkins | Christianity Today / Religion News Service | August 31, 2022
Evangelical Report: Creation Care Is an Act of Worship, Hospitality. Covers the National Association of Evangelicals' renewed climate-change statement.
90. | Jack Jenkins | The Washington Post / Religion News Service | August 30, 2022
Evangelicals Release Climate Change Report, Say Bible Demands Action. Covers the NAE's effort to persuade evangelicals to view climate change through Christian stewardship and concern for vulnerable people.
91. | World Relief | World Relief | August 29, 2022
Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment. Explains evangelical arguments that climate impacts disproportionately harm poor and vulnerable communities.
92. | National Association of Evangelicals | NAE | August 2022
Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment. Major evangelical report presenting biblical, scientific, humanitarian, and policy arguments for addressing climate change.
93. | Mitch Hescox and Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | June 15, 2022
Creation Care Is a Matter of Life, Human Life. Uses health and pro-life language to explain evangelical arguments for reducing fossil-fuel pollution and climate risks.
94. | Mitch Hescox and Jessica Moerman | Evangelical Environmental Network | 2022
Climate Change and Human Health. Detailed report connecting climate change, pollution, human health, evangelical theology, and protection of vulnerable populations.
95. | Teresa D. White | Colby College | 2022
It's Not About the Polar Bears: Evangelical Christian Arguments for Environmentalism. Examines how creation-care advocates frame climate action through evangelical theology and identity.
96. | David Geselbracht | Grist | June 23, 2021
For Some Evangelical Christians, Climate Action Is a God-Given Mandate. Explores competing biblical interpretations of dominion and stewardship.
97. | Yale Program on Climate Change Communication | Yale University | 2021
Faith Communities Leading on Climate. Discussion with evangelical and other religious climate organizers about mobilizing faith communities for climate action.
98. | James Bruggers | Inside Climate News | September 25, 2020
What to Make of Some Young Evangelicals Abandoning Trump Over Climate Change? Examines the growing importance of climate change among younger evangelicals and tensions between environmental concern, partisan identity, and conservative evangelical politics.
99. | Grist Staff | Grist | 2019
What Evangelical Christians Really Think About Climate Change. Discusses research by Katharine Wilkinson and Robin Veldman on political and theological divisions.
100. | Meera Subramanian | Inside Climate News | November 21, 2018
Generation Climate: Can Young Evangelicals Change the Climate Debate? Reports on evangelical students at Wheaton College who view climate action as part of Christian discipleship.
101. | Matt Kucinski | Calvin University | November 20, 2018
Leading Climate Action With the Gospel. Profile of evangelical climate organizer Kyle Meyaard-Schaap and Young Evangelicals for Climate Action.
102. | Mitch Hescox | Evangelical Environmental Network | October 10, 2017
Undoing the Clean Power Plan Is the Wrong Direction. Evangelical response opposing repeal of federal carbon-pollution regulations.
103. | Andrew Spencer | Christianity Today | June 14, 2017
Three Reasons Why Evangelicals Stopped Advocating for the Environment. Argues that political identification rather than theology alone helps explain evangelical withdrawal from environmental advocacy.
104. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | July 25, 2019
EEN Welcomes New Climate Solutions. Supports bipartisan discussion of carbon pricing and clean-energy policy.
105. | Ruth Moon | Christianity Today | September 28, 2012
Did Evangelicals Change the Climate Change Conversation? Interview with Katharine Wilkinson about the Evangelical Climate Initiative and divisions over climate within evangelicalism.
106. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Chronicling Evangelical Climate Care. Historical account of creation care and evangelical involvement in climate politics.
107. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Beginning With the Word. Examines the biblical and theological foundations used by evangelical climate advocates to define creation care.
108. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Advancing Climate Care in Word and Deed. Documents efforts by evangelical leaders to translate creation-care theology into public advocacy and institutional action.
109. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Negotiating Climate Care's Opposition. Examines resistance evangelical climate activists encountered from conservative religious organizations and political allies.
110. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Engaging People in the Pews. Explores efforts to persuade ordinary evangelical church members to view climate change as a Christian concern.
111. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Sowing Seeds of a Movement. Assesses the development and future prospects of evangelical climate advocacy.
112. | Katharine K. Wilkinson | Oxford University Press | June 25, 2012
Conclusion: Between God and Green. Places evangelical climate advocacy within broader changes in American religion and environmental politics.
113. | Evangelical Climate Initiative | Oxford University Press Archive | 2006/2012
Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action. Historic evangelical declaration affirming anthropogenic climate change and supporting policy responses.
114. | Evangelical Leaders and Scientists | Oxford University Press Archive | 2007/2012
An Urgent Call to Action: Scientists and Evangelicals Unite to Protect Creation. Documents collaboration between evangelical leaders and scientists around environmental stewardship.
115. | Evangelical Authors | Oxford University Press Archive | 2002/2012
Oxford Declaration on Global Warming. Reproduces an early evangelical statement calling climate change a moral and theological concern.
116. | John Wilson | Christianity Today | July 7, 2004
Tending the Garden. Reports on an evangelical gathering devoted to creation stewardship and climate science.
Evangelical Environmental Organizations and Primary Sources
117. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
Evangelical Environmental Network. Primary organizational source for evangelical creation-care advocacy and climate policy work.
118. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
Mission and Statement on Development. Describes EEN's biblical rationale for creation care, a stable climate, and pollution reduction.
119. | Young Evangelicals for Climate Action | YECA | Current
What We Do. Primary-source description of young evangelical efforts to organize Christians around climate action.
120. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | Current collection
Global Warming and Climate Change. Collection documenting evangelical debates about climate policy, natural disasters, fossil fuels, clean energy, and creation care.
121. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | Current collection
Creation Care. Archive of evangelical writing about stewardship, environmental ethics, climate change, and energy.
122. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
Mission and History. Describes EEN's effort to mobilize evangelical Christians around creation care, pollution reduction, children's health, and a stable climate.
123. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
Defending Human Health and Wellbeing. Frames climate and pollution policy as Christian responsibilities connected to protection of human life.
124. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
Protecting and Enjoying God's Creation. Links biblical stewardship with forests, agriculture, conservation, public lands, and climate resilience.
125. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | Current
From the Heartland. Uses Christian farmers practicing soil conservation and climate-resilient agriculture to illustrate evangelical environmental stewardship.
126. | Young Evangelicals for Climate Action | YECA | Current
Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. National organization mobilizing younger evangelicals around climate advocacy, churches, communities, and elections.
127. | Young Evangelicals for Climate Action | YECA | 2026
Climate Leadership Community Fellows. Focuses evangelical climate organizing on communities affected disproportionately by pollution and environmental injustice.
128. | Evangelical Environmental Network | EEN | 2024
Cowboy & Preacher Discussion Guide. Provides Bible-based questions designed to encourage evangelicals to discuss environmental degradation and climate change.
129. | Carolyn Heckman | Evangelical Environmental Network | 2023
Why Is It So Hazy Out? Climate Change, Wildfires, and How You Can Respond. Links wildfire smoke, fossil-fuel pollution, climate change, health, and Christian stewardship.
130. | Denver Seminary | Denver Seminary | 2023
Compelling and Credible Witness: The Church and Climate Change. Evangelical theological discussion of climate science and Christian responsibility.
Cornwall Alliance and Evangelical Climate Counter-Mobilization
131. | Cornwall Alliance | Cornwall Alliance | Current
Landmark Documents. Collection of conservative Christian writings opposing many environmental regulations and climate policies.
132. | Cornwall Alliance | Cornwall Alliance | Current
Our History in Highlights. Organizational chronology documents its development as an evangelical counter-movement to Christian climate activism.
133. | Freedom From Religion Foundation | FFRF | September 2024
Evangelical Climate Change Denial Is Killing Our Planet. Secular advocacy perspective connecting evangelical climate skepticism with contemporary conservative policy networks.
134. | Researchers | Religions | 2022
Faithful Stewards of God's Creation? Evangelical Denominations and Climate Change. Contrasts American evangelical climate conflict with evangelical denominations that accept climate science and stewardship-based action.
135. | E. Calvin Beisner | Cornwall Alliance | 2016
The Theologization of Global Warming Among American Evangelicals. Primary-source retrospective explaining conservative evangelical opposition to climate mitigation and the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
136. | Dana Nuccitelli | The Guardian | October 2, 2014
Global Warming: A Battle for Evangelical Christian Hearts and Minds. Reviews disputes between evangelical climate advocates and the Cornwall Alliance.
137. | Cornwall Alliance | Cornwall Alliance | May 1, 2009
An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming. Primary source presenting a conservative evangelical case against major greenhouse-gas mitigation policies and challenging mainstream climate-policy arguments.
138. | Cornwall Alliance and Signatories | Cornwall Alliance | June 2006
Open Letter to the Signers of Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action. Contemporary evangelical counterstatement opposing the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
139. | Cornwall Alliance | Cornwall Alliance | 2000–present
Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship. Foundational statement emphasizing property rights, economic freedom, human welfare, and skepticism toward environmental regulation.
Project 2025, Christian Conservatism, and Climate Policy
140. | The America Project | Project 2025 Tracker | 2026
Project 2025 Tracker. Tracks implementation of proposals involving environmental regulation alongside proposals concerning religion and government.
141. | Hayley Smith | Los Angeles Times | May 23, 2025
To Understand Trump's Environmental Policy, Read Project 2025. Reports on implementation of environmental and energy proposals derived from the Heritage-led project.
142. | Kate Sinding Daly | Conservation Law Foundation | November 12, 2024
What Project 2025 Means for the Environment. Reviews implications for EPA authority, climate regulation, fossil-fuel production, and conservation.
143. | Dharna Noor and Geoff Dembicki | The Guardian / DeSmog | August 15, 2024
Shell Oil Nonprofit Donated to Anti-Climate Groups Behind Project 2025. Investigates funding reaching conservative and religious-right organizations involved in climate politics.
A Guide to the Major Climate and Environmental Excerpts in the Project 2025 Report. Maps proposals involving EPA, climate policy, energy development, and federal environmental law.
145. | Authors | Center for American Progress | 2024
Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Global Climate Action. Analyzes proposals affecting international climate policy, foreign aid, fossil fuels, and environmental regulation.
146. | Heritage Foundation | Heritage Foundation | 2023–2024
Project 2025. Primary-source material detailing conservative arguments for restructuring federal agencies and regulatory policy.
Broader Religion, Environment, and Comparative Research
147. | Jason M. Pudlo | Politics and Religion | August 19, 2025
The Null Effect of Climate Change Beliefs on Disaster Preparedness by Houses of Worship. Uses a national clergy survey to examine climate concern and congregational disaster readiness.
148. | Researchers | Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology | 2023
Between Lynn White and Big Gods. Cross-cultural study tests relationships among religious affiliation, religiosity, and pro-environmental attitudes.
149. | John M. Clements, Aaron M. McCright, and Chenyang Xiao | Organization & Environment | 2014
Green Christians? An Empirical Examination of Environmental Concern Within the U.S. General Public. Nationally representative study finds self-identified Christians generally report lower environmental concern than non-Christians, while also revealing complexity in religious behavior.
150. | Evan Berry | Religion Compass | October 4, 2013
Religious Environmentalism and Environmental Religion in America. Reviews major scholarly approaches to Christianity, religion, and environmental activism.
151. | Laurel Kearns | Sociology of Religion | March 1, 1996
Saving the Creation: Christian Environmentalism in the United States. Foundational study identifying stewardship, eco-justice, and creation spirituality as major Christian environmental frameworks.
152. | World Relief | World Relief | August 29, 2022
Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment. Humanitarian evangelical perspective emphasizing how climate disruption disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable populations.
