How Evangelical Apocalypticism Hurts the Planet
It’s been a hot summer. Heatwaves have persisted across North America, Australia, Asia and most notably, Europe — where an estimated 25,000 people have died as a result of the extreme heat.
In fact, heat levels in July of this year tied with the levels of the hottest month in recorded history.
As summer vacationers head to exotic destinations, they find that things are not as they should be—such as coral reefs having greatly deteriorated or more talk of endangered species. At home, here in New York, I experienced thick, almost suffocating smoky air just a few weeks ago due to wildfires in Canada.
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We are experiencing the realities of a broken earth in real time. The temperature, the sea, the air — all are being affected greatly by our planet’s changing climate. And as we deal with the fear, confusion and discomfort of a rapidly changing environment, the impulse is to find the root of the problem and dig it out. We would like to find somebody to blame.
Is it corporate greed — big businesses draining natural resources and polluting the air with manufacturing processes?
Or is it you and me — with our daily consumption of cheap goods and reliance on fossil fuels?
Or is it a mix of both — have we all just been taking too much for too long without thought toward future generations?
My guest on this week’s podcast, anthropologist Susannah Crockford, asks whether part of the root cause may be buried deep inside of evangelical Christianity. Her new book “A Perturbed System” explores how religious language influences climate discourse, how christianity has impacted our planet negatively and how Christian ideas may now be able to be a part of the solution.
Matthew Peterson is Religion Unplugged’s podcast editor and audience development coordinator. He took part in this past summer’s European Journalism Institute held in Prague, an annual program co-sponsored by The Media Project.