Nowadays, many media sources contain discussions about the connection between religion and politics in modern society. A variety of political themes is analyzed through the prism of current religious aspects, and global warming is one of them. In most cases, the authors of newspaper articles pay attention to the differences between the Democratic Party representatives and the Republican Party. In this paper, The Guardian’s article and The Washington Post’s article will be compared to understand how the political aspect of global warming depends on religious principles.
People’s opinions about global warming, its causes, and its outcomes are frequently determined by religious and political figures. Schonfeld and Winter-Levy (2020) begin their article by discussing the coronavirus situation and connecting it with religion, stating that religious leaders persuade society to accept and understand existing scientific realities. The key point of The Washington Post’s article is that Republicans are usually less likely to believe in the power of global warming compared to Democrats (Schonfeld & Winter-Levy, 2020). In addition, the influence of Pope Francis cannot be ignored in formulating a general political opinion (Schonfeld & Winter-Levy, 2020). The author of the article in The Guardian develops almost the same position. Abraham (2017) says that the vast majority of Democratic voters are supportive of the urgency of the global warming threat, while conservative Republicans are not interested in this topic. Although Abraham (2017) also uses the example of Pope Francis and his impact on public opinion, the author thinks that religion doubts and denies science. Still, both political and religious representatives cannot deny anymore the necessity to focus on the changes related to global warming.
In general, I find the chosen articles as significant contributors to understanding how religion influences political themes like global warming. The authors of The Guardian and The Washington Post underline the impact of Pope Francis on establishing a clear political position in regard to climate change. Human influence, political interventions, and environmental activities are usually defined as independent manipulations. However, there is always an invisible but critical element – religion – that directs and determines society.
References
Abraham, J. (2017). Reflections on the politics of climate change. The Guardian.
Schonfeld, B., & Winter-Levy, S. (2020). Who can convince Americans to follow the science on coronavirus? Religious leaders. The Washington Post.