As climate change becomes more apparent, people and experts are wondering if the current models of constant economic growth are going to be viable in a few years. Well, research has established that they aren’t. Scientists have found our that if production and consumerism goes on business-as-usual for another 100 years, the earth will be more or less, destroyed.

It seems that with the advancements in science and technology and the affluence of the middle class in countries all over the world, religion has taken a back seat in the lives of humankind. Corporations have so deeply influenced how we live and what we consume that we, in a way, are in turn consumed by this lifestyle and have lost our ability, or at least found it more challenging, to connect with our own deeper, spiritual philosophies. With the realisation that mankind cannot go on as it has been the past few decades with endless consumerism and lack of concern for nature, there has been more research recently into depth psychology, ecopsychology, the deep ecological paradigm, and other more spiritual and philosophical worldviews towards nature and our place in the world. What about the already existing religions in this world? They should have something to say about the environment and nature.

But another question is: how will these religions fare in this increasingly materialistic world? Will religion or just spirituality in general make a comeback in the future as people begin to realise that they seem to be missing something in their lives, and that this loss might be what’s contributing to the environmental crises we see today?

 

Researchers have identified 2 main theories to explain religion in modern societies.

The first: Only worship behind closed doors.

• Religion will only be a private matter for every individual because there will be a decline or disappearance of traditional religious institutions.

The second: Worship as per normal.

• Religion will continue to play an important role in modern societies and can act as  the source for collective action, social unity, and political mobilisation.

(My thoughts: I’m leaning a bit more towards the second opinion. I think that there will be more religious organisations advocating for a greener world in modern society, because I see it today. I also think that religious people will start to make their way into the secular fields of science and research and somehow infuse their religious knowledge with the current ‘secular’ sciences, to produce a crucial combination of spirituality and hard science which may benefit the world in the future!)

The problem is, the studies done on religion and environmental issues have mostly arrived at conflicting conclusions. Some may say that more theologically conservative views are linked to lower care for the environment, and others sat the opposite. Chan and Islam (2015) say that this is because there are just too may variables present, such as political climate, proenvironmental beliefs and opportunities to engage in activism, that can pull the vote in either direction.

Let’s first look at what the religions have to say for themselves first. Then we can analyse why in certain situations people behave in greener ways, and in others they do not. 

Also, just for interest’s sake, here’s a video of the spread of the 5 major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam over the course of history.