Syropoulos Stylianos, Sparkman Gregg
School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Apr;122(13):e2419705122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2419705122. Epub 2025 Mar 25.
Religious leaders shape the attitudes and beliefs of their congregations. In a nationally representative sample of U.S. religious leaders ( = 1,600), the majority of which were of a Christian faith, we find that nearly 90% believe in anthropogenic climate change to some degree. From this 90%, a total of 60% believe humans play a major role and an additional 30% believe they play a role, but a more minor one. Yet roughly half have never discussed it with their congregation, and only a quarter have mentioned it more than once or twice. In a sample of Christian Americans representative of the proportions of major national denominations ( = 987), we find that Christians underestimate the prevalence of their leaders who believe in climate change by 39 to 45 percentage points. Conversely, having a religious leader who talks about climate change predicts greater willingness to discuss it with fellow churchgoers and attend climate events. In an experimental intervention on another sample matching major Christian American denomination ( = 959), we find that providing the actual consensus level of religious leaders' belief in climate change reduces congregants' misperception of religious leaders, increases their perception that other church members believe in and are open to discussing climate change, and leads Christians to believe that taking climate action is consistent with their church's values while voting for politicians who will not take climate action is not.
宗教领袖塑造其会众的态度和信仰。在一个具有全国代表性的美国宗教领袖样本（(n = 1600)）中，其中大多数是基督教信仰者，我们发现近90%的人在某种程度上相信人为引起的气候变化。在这90%的人中，共有60%的人认为人类起主要作用，另外30%的人认为人类起到一定作用，但作用较小。然而，大约一半的人从未与他们的会众讨论过这个问题，只有四分之一的人不止一两次提到过它。在一个代表主要全国性教派比例的美国基督教徒样本（(n = 987)）中，我们发现基督教徒低估了他们相信气候变化的领袖的比例，低估幅度为39至45个百分点。相反，有一位谈论气候变化的宗教领袖预示着更愿意与教友讨论这个问题并参加气候活动。在对另一个匹配美国主要基督教教派的样本（(n = 959)）进行的实验干预中，我们发现提供宗教领袖对气候变化信仰的实际共识水平可以减少会众对宗教领袖的误解，增加他们对其他教会成员相信并愿意讨论气候变化的认知，并使基督教徒相信采取气候行动与他们教会的价值观一致，而投票给不会采取气候行动的政治家则不一致。
