Religious effects on environmentalism

Woodrum, Eric; Wolkomir, Michelle

doi:10.1080/02732173.1997.9982161

Cited by 42 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The results showed that concern for the environment and willingness to sacrifice to protect it were negatively correlated with literalism and a positively correlated with symbolism. These results are in line with studies in the United States that have shown negative bivariate correlations between biblical literalism and a range of attitudes associated with environmentalism (Boyd, 1999;Greeley, 1993;Schultz et al, 2000;Wolkomir et al, 1997b;Woodrum & Hoban, 1994;Woodrum & Wolkomir, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The intervening decades have seen a plethora of studies that have reported sometimes apparently contradictory findings (for a review of some of these studies, see Hitzhusen, 2007). Some early reports from the United States showed that religious affiliation or biblical literalism were negatively correlated with environmentalism (Eckberg & Blocker, 1989;Hand & Liere, 1984), but more recent analyses have tended to find either no relationship or a positive relationship (Boyd, 1999;Eckberg & Blocker, 1996;Hayes & Marangudakis, 2001a;Kanagy & Nelsen, 1995;Kanagy & Willits, 1993;Wolkomir, Futreal, Woodrum & Hoban, 1997a;Woodrum & Hoban, 1994;Woodrum & Wolkomir, 1997).…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparing environmental attitudes between religious and non-religious participants is not necessarily a good test of White's hypothesis. For example, in the United States denominational affiliation is associated with socio-economic and political factors, and several studies have concluded that the link between conservative Protestantism and right-wing politics may largely explain the relationship of religion and environmental attitudes (Guth, Green, Kellstedt & Smidt, 1995;Shaiko, 1987;Woodrum & Wolkomir, 1997). …”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A common way to assess concern is to list issues that are relevant to the context in which they are used and ask individuals to express concern on Likert-type response scales (Fransson & Gärling, 1999;Hand & Liere, 1984;Taylor, 2012;Woodrum & Wolkomir, 1997). This method was adopted in the present study, and the six items in this scale (Table 2a) were introduced with the question 'How concerned are you about the following environmental issues?'…”

Section: 22mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Was White Right? Biblical Interpretation, Theological Stance and Environmental Attitudes among a Sample of uk Churchgoers

Village

2015

J Empir Theol

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Lynn White's controversial hypothesis, that Judaeo-Christian belief led to attitudes towards the environment that have spawned an ecological crisis, has received much attention from sociologists of religion, notably in the United States. Surveys of the general population show negative correlations between biblical literalism and environmentalism, but these seem to be due to the particular nature of religion and politics in the USA. This study uses more nuanced measures of biblical interpretation and theological stance to examine the issue among a sample of 537 committed churchgoers from a range of mainly conservative Protestant denominations in the United Kingdom. Literal interpretation of Genesis was directly negatively correlated with concern for the environment, after allowing for indirect effects through dominion and stewardship theologies. The effect of symbolic interpretation was mediated by sacramental understanding of creation and stewardship. Stewardship was a key belief that mediated the effects of symbolic interpretation and theological stance on concern for the environment. Biblical interpretation, dominion and sacramentalism were uncorrelated with willingness to sacrifice to protect the environment, but stewardship was indirectly positively correlated through its effect on environmental concern.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 22mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Was White Right? Biblical Interpretation, Theological Stance and Environmental Attitudes among a Sample of uk Churchgoers

Village

2015

J Empir Theol

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“…As one critic put it, "when you start playing around with genes, you're playing God" (Jukes, 1988:249). Fundamentalist religious beliefs are confirmed to have enduring importance for general environmentalism in recent studies (Eckberg and Blocker, 1996;Woodrum and Wolkomir, 1997).…”

Section: Intrinsic Objection To Biotechnologymentioning

confidence: 85%

Technology and morality: Influences on public attitudes toward biotechnology

Evensen

Hoban²,

Woodrum³

2000

Know Techn Pol

Self Cite

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This study uses national survey data to test effects on individuals' objections to biotechnology applied to plants and animals. We find that females and individuals who believe in the biblical story of creation have greater intrinsic moral objections to biotechnology than males and those who do not believe the creation story. We also find that the perception of personal benefit from biotechnology significantly decreases the likelihood of moral objection to both plant and animal biotechnology, and that perception of environmental risk from biotechnology significantly increases the likelihood of moral objection to both types of biotechnology. Policy issues are discussed.The recent controversy over genetically e n g i n e e r e d foods at the international meetings in Montreal dramatized opposition to the n e w technology. That controversy will affect labeling of genetically engineered foods on the world market with major consequences for U.S. food producers. The U.S. has led the global food industry in d e v e l o p m e n t a n d use of the n e w technology but encounters major opposition to its use, especially in the European Union. European environmental attitudes are generally more varied than in the U.S. due to a long standing politically active Green party that leads less a c c o m m o d a t i n g policy positions t h a n is characteristic in the U.S. Christian Evensen has an MS in Sociology from North Carolina State University. He has studied biotechnology, development, social change, work and industry. He currently works in the Survey Research Division at Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.Thomas Hoban is a professor of sociology and extension specialist with faculty status in food science. He engages is applied studies of new technologies and public policies affecting consumers, industry, natural resources and society.Eric Woodrum is a professor of sociology who specializes in religion and environmentalism. He has researched moral attitude and religious affects in biotechnology acceptance, environmentalism, and in relation to numerous controversial social concerns and issues.

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God and green: Investigating the impact of religiousness on green marketing

Arli

Tjiptono

2017

Int J Nonprofit Volunt Sect Mark

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As the population increases, more people are now aware of the impact of their consumption on the natural environment. Nonetheless, 1 important factor that is often neglected is religiousness. Studies of the impact of religiousness on individual behavior have become increasingly important because the majority of the world population belongs to 1 of the major world religions. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of consumers' religiousness toward proenvironmental identity, attitudes toward environmental issues, and subjective norms about the environment. Subsequently, this study investigates the impact of these variables on purchase intention of green products. Using sampling from Indonesia (n = 649), which has the largest Muslim population, the results show significant differences between religions. In general, similar findings were found in both samples of Muslim and Christian consumers, where intrinsic religiousness has a positive impact on proenvironmental identity, attitudes towards environmental issues, and subjective norms about the environment. The study also found that the 3 variables (proenvironmental identity, attitudes towards environmental issues, and subjective norms) are positive determinants of intention to purchase green products. Nevertheless, the role of extrinsic religiousness is different for the 2 samples. Extrinsic religiousness is negatively related to attitude towards environmental issues for Muslim consumers, where it has a positive influence on proenvironmental identity among Christian consumers. The results of this study have significant implications not only to managers but also religious leaders on how to encourage more positive attitudes toward the environment.

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Religious effects on environmentalism

Cited by 42 publications

References 9 publications

Was White Right? Biblical Interpretation, Theological Stance and Environmental Attitudes among a Sample of uk Churchgoers

Was White Right? Biblical Interpretation, Theological Stance and Environmental Attitudes among a Sample of uk Churchgoers

Technology and morality: Influences on public attitudes toward biotechnology

God and green: Investigating the impact of religiousness on green marketing

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