Abstract
Religious attributes affecting Christians’ environmentalism have received considerable attention since the publication of Lynn White's thesis in 1967, which accused Christianity as the root cause of the ecological crisis. This study aims to assess the relationship between Christianity and environmentalism in Hong Kong, an Asian city where Christianity has been introduced for just more than two centuries. In general, Hong Kong Christians had a stronger willingness to sacrifice for the environment as compared to non-Christians. Both stewardship worldview and Christian justice and love were identified as the main drivers for environmentalism in Christians, which can be further improved via church environmental education. Our findings provide a particular example to broaden the diversity of the Christianity-environmentalism nexus and highlight the functional role of stewardship worldview in the Hong Kong context. However, we also call for stronger environmental education in Hong Kong's church to bridge the willingness-behavior gap among local Christians.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 19 Jun 2024 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
The authors would like to thank members of Hong Kong & Macau Lutheran Church Hsin On Chapel who advised on the questionnaire design, and all the focus group participants for their contributions in sharing their experiences and thoughts. They would also like to thank Dr. Mak Kam Wah George for his advice on biblical translation, and three anonymous reviewers in improving the article.Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Keywords
- environmental perception
- willingness to sacrifice
- environmental behavior
- dominion
- structural equation modeling
