Varieties of Religious Involvement and Environmental Concerns: Testing the Lynn White Thesis

Examined individual differences in religious experience through L. White's (1967) thesis that the disenchantment of nature in the 1st chapter of Genesis led to reduced concern for the environment in the West by separating the effects of different measures of religious experience on different indexes of concern for the environment. 300 adults in a metropolitan area were surveyed. Results offer substantial support for White's thesis: Only belief in the Bible predicted scores on all indexes of environmental concern and did so in the direction expected by White's thesis. Or: Abstract #2: Lynn White's thesis (see SA 16:7/68D4570) that the disenchantment of nature in the first chapter of Genesis led to reduced concern for the environment in the West has received little empirical research at the level of individual differences in religious experience. Here, the effects of 4 different measures of religious experience on 4 different indices of concern for the environment are explored using telephone survey data from 300 adults in Tulsa, Okla. Results offer substantial support for White's thesis: (1) only belief in the Bible predicted scores on all 4 indexes of environmental concern & did so in the direction expected by White's thesis; (2) this occurred independently of the effects of background items; (3) standard regression showed the effects of belief in the Bible to be independent of those of other measures of religious involvement on 2 indices, & on the other 2 indices, stepwise regression showed the same thing; & (4) in only 2 of 12 cases did any other measure of religious experience significantly predict an index score independently of belief in the Bible. 2 Tables, 19 References. Modified HA