God will take care of it: how belief in an intervening God decreases concern for climate change

What is the relationship between religious belief and attitudes toward the environment? The present research discusses how one aspect of religion, belief in an intervening God (BIG), reduces concern for climate change. In Study 1, BIG was negatively correlated with belief in climate change and biocentric views of nature. In Study 2, participants who were presented with information about the existence of an intervening God reported decreased moralization of pro-environmental behaviors and decreased biocentric views of nature. Findings from Study 1 and 2 provide preliminary evidence that belief in divine intervention can have negative consequences on attitudes towards climate change. Study 3 examined whether individuals are motivated to use BIG as a compensatory resource to cope with the threat of climate change. If so, exposure to dire climate change messages should increase self-reported BIG. However, Study 3 does not find evidence for this hypothesis. The implications of the results are discussed, including the importance of viewing climate change as a moral issue to promote action