Wed. Feb. 4, 2026
Transcript:
A recent study found that about 90% of priests, ministers, and other Christian leaders in the U.S. believe that the climate is changing and that humans are at least partly responsible.
But about half never mention it to their congregations.
Syropoulus: “Which is quite a stark difference between how widely accepting they are of the issue and how widely inactive they are in talking about it.”
Lead author Stylianos Syropoulus of Arizona State University says climate change is highly politicized.
Syropoulus: “My own thinking is that there are concerns about the role of the church as sort of being politically neutral.”
But he says by not talking about it …
Syropoulus: “They are reinforcing this climate of silence where the religious congregants believe that because they don’t hear anything about the issue, then that everything is fine, or that the religious leader does not care about the issue, which then just reinforces the status quo, which is to not care and not act.”
The study also found that when people learn that many Christian leaders believe in human-caused climate change, they’re more likely to see climate action as part of their faith.
So Syropoulus says religious leaders can guide the public’s views on climate change – simply by sharing their own beliefs.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
