In the article "Waste Not", we learned about the gargantuan output of rubbish, toxins, and pollutants in recent years. My project is about the religious indoctrination of children, and the harmful effects it can have on society. At first, these two topics seem as unrelated as you can get, but upon close inspection, it is possible to establish a solid connection between the two. For the sake of convenience, I used total carbon emissions as an indicator of waste (the two are closely tied, but it is easier to find evidence regarding carbon emissions than waste output).
For those of you who have ever watched Jesus Camp (a frightfully brilliant documentary by the way), there is a particularly worrying scene in which a home schooled child is discussing global warming with his mother, attempting to prove that it is a lie. He is but one of the 1.1 million other home schooled students, 30% of whom are educated at home to provide religious teaching(1). Religious ideology and sustainability seem to run contradictory to each other, because there is in all religion the belief that there is an afterlife, there is also the quiet yearning for the afterlife. There are some crucially important environmental implications when 25% of Americans believed that Jesus would return in the year 2007(2). I submit that the yearning for the return of Jesus, and the belief that there is another life after this one creates and reinforces the idea that we needn't worry about sustainability, because we won't be here long enough to be concerned with it.
I have found a graph of the total carbon emissions released state by state which can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/30/business/20080601_ENERGY_GRAPHIC.html
I have also found a map of the political affiliations of the states in the same year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2004_US_elections_map_electoral_votes.png
As well as a map detailing the bible belt of the U.S.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BibleBelt.png
The republican party has a reputation for its conservative and religious affiliations within the United States (it is very difficult to get elected in the U.S. if one does not pander to some religious group or another, for the Christians comprise of approximately 33% of the vote). Notice how 4 out of the top 5 emitters of carbon emissions are republican states, and notice how the most concentrated area of consistently high carbon emitters overlaps with the bible belt. The states guilty of the most carbon emissions seem to be the republican ones. I feel that this indicates that there is a correlation between religiosity and waste output.
In conclusion, I believe that religion, and religious instruction of children plays a major role in the levels of CO2 output in the United States (one of the world's larger CO2 emitters). Religious instruction influences environmental sustainability because the child is not only taught that the current climate crisis is a lie, but also that Jesus will return soon enough, so there is little need to focus on creating a sustainable future. Education and raising awareness is the key to solving global warming, but we must extend this philosophy into the realm of religion in order create the most change possible.
References:
(1)http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/homeschool/
(2)http://www.beliefnet.com/story/208/story_20828_1.html
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6 comments:
I don't quite get the connection between religion and our article.
But, i think your post is really good with specific numbers of CO2. and I kind of looking back my Global Environmental Issue class last year. good post! I love it hahaha
Hmm... I actually think I get what you're talking about!!
Are you saying that if people are more conservative, they tend to create more pollution because if they're home schooled, they do not get the right education!??
If I'm right, that is a very good connection!!
Great post and enjoyed reading your entry!
When I first heard about your inquiry question, I knew it would be an excellent topic! With our kind of education, hearing anyone deny that there's global warming seems silly. Of course there are some people who aren't religious but still don't believe in global warming, but do you think a deeply religious person could become aware of this crisis? Is it possible for religion and science to coexist?
Wow! Great correlations you got with the three graphs!
I think Roxanne asked an interesting question. I believe a deeply religious person can be aware of the crises, but it would be interesting to find out which stand point (science or religion) the person is come from.
haha great connection man. I like the fact that you were able to take two ideas that might not have been closely related, and found a way to connect them. At first I don't know if I would have agreed but the statistics you provided us is proof enough. We can talk about this sometime if you'd like. Great blog entry!
Wonderful connections, Aled. It is such a great tie in with Ishmael as well. Religion fosters the belief that humans are fundamentally flawed, so we can't do the "right" thing no matter how hard we try. I agree that this may be a bit hard to prove. Your stats show correlation, but not necessarily causation. But, in any event, I think this is a great post! If the ultimate goal is heaven, does it matter if we waste some resources getting there?
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