Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Open Access)

Department

Colby College. Religious Studies Dept.

Advisor(s)

Professor Kerry Sonia

Second Advisor

Professor Ryan Harper

Abstract

In recent history, white conservative evangelical Christians have formed an influential voting bloc of the Republican party in United States politics. Historically, conservatives have often denied the reality of human-induced climate change and have opposed climate change action and many environmental regulations. However, a number of conservative evangelical Christians have split from their traditionally conservative political views and have accepted the reality of climate change, becoming strong advocates for climate change action. This paper examines the arguments often presented by such advocates. I argue that evangelical environmental advocates craft specific arguments to convince fellow evangelicals to care for the environment and/or support climate change action by framing climate change as a logical extension of evangelicals’ faith and values. The first part of the paper examines the biblical interpretations that evangelicals use to develop their idea of creation care, and the second part of the paper examines further arguments and techniques used by advocates to help strengthen their arguments to their evangelical audience. This paper explores the diversity and nuances of evangelical leaders’ arguments for environmentalism while finding common themes rooted in evangelicals’ faith.

Keywords

Evangelical Christians, Environmentalism, Creation Care, Climate Change, Conservative Politics, the Bible

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