Date of Award

12-2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Science Education

First Advisor

Betty Adams, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

William Cobern, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Stephen Case, Ph.D.

Keywords

Climate change, Evangelical, science education

Abstract

There has been consensus among climate scientists for over a decade about the reality of human caused climate change. Even with this consensus, the public understanding of this issue remains divided based on factors generally unrelated to the science. Evangelical Protestants are one group which consistently polls as more skeptical of climate change. This is true not only when compared to the general population but also when compared to other religious demographics. Most large-scale surveys of evangelicals assume the demographic to be a monolith and do not attempt to break the demographic down further. In this mixed methods study, we employed a nationwide survey to examine opinions of those in evangelical leadership roles such as full-time ministers or full-time professors at evangelical institutions of higher learning. Both the survey selections as well as the write in comments about the questions were analyzed. After these analyses, purposive selection was used to interview survey participants that were likely to hold diverse opinions on the issues.

We found evangelical leadership responded similarly to the larger evangelical demographic found in other nationwide surveys, but those in professorship roles are more likely to believe in climate change than those in ministerial leadership roles. There are also indications that evangelicals may be even more divided on this issue than the general United States population.

The analysis of the written comments showed that some of the heuristics used to form opinions on climate change are based in scientific beliefs, while others are based in theological beliefs, and still others are based in societal beliefs. The interconnected nature of these heuristics suggest that correcting alternate conceptions of the scientific information alone is unlikely to yield significant changes in opinions. Likewise, they suggest that previous explanations of evangelical skepticism regarding climate change may be overly simplistic.

The results from the interview data suggest that ideas surrounding God’s sovereignty continue to be relevant in considerations of climate change opinions. Additionally, the interviews revealed that evangelical trust is rooted not only in reliability but in altruistic judgements as well. The results also suggest that the individualistic nature of evangelical theology may play a role in communal problems like climate change.

The results suggest that educators who understand and can speak knowledgeably on theological topics like God’s sovereignty may be more likely to engage in meaningful discussions with evangelicals on complex science topics like climate change. Additionally, educators who can demonstrate the trustworthiness of the people working in climate science fields by stressing the common good provided by environmental solutions may also find more productive conversations with evangelical audiences.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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