Survey finds pastors split politically on global warming

Christian ministers are sharply divided over global warming along conservative and moderate to liberal lines just as they are in politics.

A poll of more than 1,000 ministers conducted last October by Southern Baptist-connected LifeWay Research shows a significant difference, with 75 percent of mainline pastors, such as Presbyterians and Methodists, saying global warming is real and caused by man. Only 32 percent of pastors serving conservative churches believe that.

Another poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows the division is less distinct in the pew. Forty-eight percent of white, mainline Protestant members believe global warming is real and caused by man, but only 34 percent of white evangelicals and 39 percent of black Protestants do.

About the same percentage of more liberal (19 percent) and conservative (17 percent) white Christians believe global warming is real, but is part of a natural pattern. Ed Stetzer, the director of Lifeway Research, pointed out a parallel with political affiliations.

“Mainline clergy answer the question with similar numbers to self-identified Democrats and liberals in surveys of the general public. Evangelical clergy answer the question in similar percents to Republicans and conservatives,” Stetzer noted in a written statement.

www.pewforum.org