Many people wonder why Pope Francis focuses so much on climate change. Indeed, two papal documents concentrate exclusively on the matter. The latest apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, bitterly complains about how the People of God have not heeded earlier warnings. The pope’s trip to Dubai’s COP28 eco-conference only highlights this dire gospel of impending climatic doom.
Part of the mystery behind the intense focus is solved by looking at an October poll of Americans of Faith and their attitudes toward climate change. Pope Francis has especially targeted American Catholics as failing to understand the crisis.
The survey found that most religious Americans, including an overwhelming majority of Catholics, do not see the climate as a crisis. In some categories, the number of climate alarmism believers is even decreasing. Given America’s importance in world affairs, these numbers enormously impact others.
Indeed, it seems that most religious-minded Americans have no faith in the climate projections of catastrophe. They are not convinced by the data and its interpretations and the intense, almost religious fervor with which it is imposed upon the population. When the media blame the most absurd things on climate change, the result is no one believes in it under any circumstances.
Americans find it much easier to believe in the mysteries of Faith, like the Holy Trinity, than the dominant climate alarmist dogma.
The survey titled “Our Home One Future” was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). It questioned 5,192 adults from 50 states in early June. It divided the groups by religion and race.
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PRRI officials expressed surprise and concern over the results. By any metric, the climate change crisis is a losing proposition. Most Americans don’t believe in it by a large margin. The climate change creed is a minority “faith,” with only 27 percent of all Americans believing it, up a mere three points from 2014.
Most of the other survey results also show little change over the years. American Jews are the most likely to profess acceptance of climate change, with 32 percent believing. Other groups include white Catholics at 20 percent, black Protestants at 19 percent, and 16 percent of Hispanic Protestants. The least likely to see the climate as a crisis are white Evangelicals, who stand at 8 percent.
The only group registering over one-third of its members is the non-religious group. However, not even a simple majority of the religiously unaffiliated Americans, known as “nones,” see the Earth in crisis, with 43% believing, up from 33% in 2014.
With statistics like these, it is no wonder the climate change people are in crisis. Their first reaction is to deny that there can be climate change denial. As Pope Francis declares (with no proofs) in Laudate Deum, “Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident.”
The signs are not that evident. Despite the overwhelming media barrage imposing the climate change paradigm upon the public, most people have yet to enlist under its banner.
Practical-minded Americans are especially unconvinced and demand that the other side be heard by listening to an increasing number of scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, who have valid questions about data and conclusions. Believing in climate change should not be an act of blind faith.
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Simply denying these concerns will not make them disappear but only guarantee the same survey results. Offending those who dare to disagree will also not win people over. The climate change lobby has a messaging problem that turns people off.
However, if all else fails, activists can always claim that the real reason for climate change denial is…climate change.
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