The Religion-Environmentalism Nexus and Globalization

Abstract

This research paper explores the nature of the links between religion, especially Christianity, and environmentalism in the age of globalization. In responding to the ecocrisis, Christianity is redefining itself as it interacts with secular environmentalism and other religions. From these interactions, two types of responses toward environmentalism have emerged: reactive and adaptive. This paper analyzes these responses and attempts to explain their causes. It is shown that the idiosyncratic characteristics of different branches of Christianity contributed to the contrasting responses. This paper then investigates the domestic and international sources of the divergent responses, which are arguably as important as the religious doctrines and values per se.