Religious belief stifling U.S. climate change action

[VanillaGorilla]

The United States has failed to take action to mitigate climate change thanks in part to the large number of religious Americans who believe the world has a set expiration date.

Research by David C. Barker of the University of Pittsburgh and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado uncovered that belief in the biblical end-times was a motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change.

“[T]he fact that such an overwhelming percentage of Republican citizens profess a belief in the Second Coming (76 percent in 2006, according to our sample) suggests that governmental attempts to curb greenhouse emissions would encounter stiff resistance even if every Democrat in the country wanted to curb them,” Barker and Bearce wrote in their study, which will be published in the June issue of Political Science Quarterly.

The study, based on data from the 2007 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, uncovered that belief in the “Second Coming” of Jesus reduced the probability of strongly supporting government action on climate change by 12 percent when controlling for a number of demographic and cultural factors. When the effects of party affiliation, political ideology, and media distrust were removed from the analysis, the belief in the “Second Coming” increased this effect by almost 20 percent.

“t stands to reason that most nonbelievers would support preserving the Earth for future generations, but that end-times believers would rationally perceive such efforts to be ultimately futile, and hence ill-advised,” Barker and Bearce explained.

link

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Maybe I'm the atheist you can all hate.

 

[mobes23]

Finally, I'm beginning to get some insight into Denny.

 

[Denny Crane]

I am an agnostic. I don't believe in the Bible or organized religion at all.

 

[Natebishop3]

The problem isn't the United States. Right now I'd say it's China and India.

 

[ABM]

I am an agnostic. I don't believe in.....organized religion at all.

What's the definition of organized religion?

 

[Denny Crane]

What's the definition of organized religion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_religion

Organized religion (or organised religion—see spelling differences), also known as institutional religion, is religion as a social institution,[1] in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established.[2] Organized religion is typically characterized by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of rules and practices.

The term organized religion is frequently used in the mass media to refer to the world's largest religious groups,[3][4] especially those known by name internationally, and also refers to organizations to which one can legally or officially affiliate oneself with or not.[5]

 

[ABM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_religion

Organized religion (or organised religion—see spelling differences), also known as institutional religion, is religion as a social institution,[1] in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established.[2] Organized religion is typically characterized by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of rules and practices.

The term organized religion is frequently used in the mass media to refer to the world's largest religious groups,[3][4] especially those known by name internationally, and also refers to organizations to which one can legally or officially affiliate oneself with or not.[5]

Organized religion sucks. The church stands forever, though.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Maybe I'm the atheist you can all hate.

I don't hate any atheists. I certainly bristle at your tone much of the time though.

 

[MadeFromDust]

I am an agnostic. I don't believe in the Bible or organized religion at all.

Denny, when was the last time you opened a Holy Bible? Just curious.

 

[MARIS61]

Finally, I'm beginning to get some insight into Denny.

You're close.

Denny believes that Denny has a set expiration date, so any effort to preserve the Earth for Denny after that date would be ultimately futile, and hence ill-advised.

 

[MARIS61]

The problem isn't the United States. Right now I'd say it's China and India.

Who do you think their un-regulated emission-puking factories are making products for?

 

[Denny Crane]

You're close.

Denny believes that Denny has a set expiration date, so any effort to preserve the Earth for Denny after that date would be ultimately futile, and hence ill-advised.

That's not true. I'm not opposed to "any" efforts to be ecologically friendly.

I am opposed to drumming up fear using a natural process (warming) for the purpose of destroying civilization as we know it so some anti-capitalist version can take its place.

 

[Denny Crane]

Who do you think their un-regulated emission-puking factories are making products for?

For their own middle class that's larger than our entire population.

 

[speeds]

The Rapture is also the reason some Christian politicians are so adamant in their support for Israel.

 

[donkiez]

The problem isn't the United States. Right now I'd say it's China and India.

Not singling you out but I hear this excuse a lot and I disagree with it. Ignoring the part where factories in countries are making cheap Walmart products for us. The US is the leader in technology and development, if we build it eventually the rest of the world will follow. Example is the internet, we built it, invested billions of dollars in wired internet infrastructure to make the internet available in most US homes while it was largely unavailable to most of the rest of the world, especially developing nations. The next step in the internet development was making it more available and easier to access, which brought in wifi and 3g then 4g and BOOM the whole world has the internet almost overnight, without investing in costly wired infrastructure. We bear the brunt of the development, make something awesome and the whole world eventually benefits, and we get Russian dashboard cams.

 

[Denny Crane]

Not singling you out but I hear this excuse a lot and I disagree with it. Ignoring the part where factories in countries are making cheap Walmart products for us. The US is the leader in technology and development, if we build it eventually the rest of the world will follow. Example is the internet, we built it, invested billions of dollars in wired internet infrastructure to make the internet available in most US homes while it was largely unavailable to most of the rest of the world, especially developing nations. The next step in the internet development was making it more available and easier to access, which brought in wifi and 3g then 4g and BOOM the whole world has the internet almost overnight, without investing in costly wired infrastructure. We bear the brunt of the development, make something awesome and the whole world eventually benefits, and we get Russian dashboard cams.

I don't think much of this is right.

While we were building our Internet, there were similar efforts going on in Europe and Asia. The expense of running the wires in China was so prohibitive, their only real choice was wireless. In 2000, about 5 years after Internet was commercially available, there was Internet access in Mexico.

 

[magnifier661]

Not singling you out but I hear this excuse a lot and I disagree with it. Ignoring the part where factories in countries are making cheap Walmart products for us. The US is the leader in technology and development, if we build it eventually the rest of the world will follow. Example is the internet, we built it, invested billions of dollars in wired internet infrastructure to make the internet available in most US homes while it was largely unavailable to most of the rest of the world, especially developing nations. The next step in the internet development was making it more available and easier to access, which brought in wifi and 3g then 4g and BOOM the whole world has the internet almost overnight, without investing in costly wired infrastructure. We bear the brunt of the development, make something awesome and the whole world eventually benefits, and we get Russian dashboard cams.

I thought the inventor of the Internet was English? I remember he was part of the England Olympics as one of the great contributors of the world. They even talked about it.

 

[donkiez]

You guys take things so literal sometimes. I didn't mean the US was solely responsible for every aspect of the internet. The point here is that our country was a major driving force behind it, from the R&D to consumer demand and daily use of it. Just like we should be for eco and green technologies.

 

[Denny Crane]

You guys take things so literal sometimes. I didn't mean the US was solely responsible for every aspect of the internet. The point here is that our country was a major driving force behind it, from the R&D to consumer demand and daily use of it. Just like we should be for eco and green technologies.

Eco and green technologies cost $2 for every $1 sold. Do it in large scale and we'll go broke. Oops, we already have!

 

[mobes23]

I am an agnostic. I don't believe in the Bible or organized religion at all.

No worries Denny -- you could've/should've put my last point in green.

 

[speeds]

I'm an agnostic when it comes to leprechauns, unicorns, dragons, faeries, jinn, ghosts, giants, and centaurs. There's just no way of knowing!

 

[Denny Crane]

I'm an agnostic when it comes to leprechauns, unicorns, dragons, faeries, jinn, ghosts, giants, and centaurs. There's just no way of knowing!

There aren't billions of people who believe in such things, nor is their history very old.

 

[tlongII]

Not singling you out but I hear this excuse a lot and I disagree with it. Ignoring the part where factories in countries are making cheap Walmart products for us. The US is the leader in technology and development, if we build it eventually the rest of the world will follow. Example is the internet, we built it, invested billions of dollars in wired internet infrastructure to make the internet available in most US homes while it was largely unavailable to most of the rest of the world, especially developing nations. The next step in the internet development was making it more available and easier to access, which brought in wifi and 3g then 4g and BOOM the whole world has the internet almost overnight, without investing in costly wired infrastructure. We bear the brunt of the development, make something awesome and the whole world eventually benefits, and we get Russian dashboard cams.

And your point is?

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

link

It was good for a laugh or two.

 

[Denny Crane]

It was good for a laugh or two.

Really. Isn't the threat of warming, as told by the alarmist, the end of times in itself?

The irony!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

I don't hate any atheists. I certainly bristle at your tone much of the time though.

I'm working on it.

 

[blazerboy30]

I found the article comical (and thus, the original poster). Unless the study is much different than what the article is reporting, it doesn't even come close to passing as scientific, statistical or logical.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

So religion is stifling the government because they are scared Bible thumping republicans will shoot down any ideas because they think Jesus is coming.

That is so stupid its hilarious.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Without the threat of karma/afterlife, there is really no need to care for the earth after we're gone. we're already gone. fuck the future.


:MARIS61: