Most American Catholics accept evidence of climate change; split on man's role
June 16, 2015
In a survey released just before the release of a papal encyclical on the environment, the Pew Research Center has found that a substantial majority (71%) of American Catholics are persuaded that the earth is growing warmer, although only 47% are convinced that global warming is caused by human activity and only 48% consider this a serious problem.
Catholics are slightly more likely than Protestants to believe in a trend toward global warming, the survey showed. The highest level of belief in global warming occurs among Americans with no religious affiliation.
The Pew survey found that belief in global warming—and especially in human-induced global warming—correlates strongly with political views. Liberal Democrats are very likely to accept the existence of man-made climate change; conservative Republicans most likely to be skeptical.
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Posted by: FredC -
Jun. 17, 2015 1:52 PM ET USA
My guess is that "most American Catholics" have not seen or analyzed the data on climate change. I worked with some of the data. A trend is far from obvious, especially a trend of 0.1 C or so. Just imagine a world map with temperatures written all over it -- then averaging the data. I keep hoping that the Vatican's scientists would tell us the truth, but funding is available only for those who claim that man has a significant effect on the average world temperature.
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Posted by: jrorr19609092 -
Jun. 16, 2015 7:43 PM ET USA
I'm conservative;not Republican;I'm not "skeptical," I'm critical of this nonsense now called "climate change" and before "global warming." Even having to change the name of their quack science, which started as "global cooling" 30+ years ago, doesn't stop their marching to their real goal - one world government. Even the founder of this "climate" movement is now critical of it. Check You Tube for 9th International Conference on Climate Change given by Weather Channel founder,learn the truth!
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Posted by: unum -
Jun. 16, 2015 7:02 PM ET USA
Many american Catholics have read the encyclicals from "Professor" Albert Gore and other "experts" on global warming, aka climate change, so it will be difficult for the Holy Father to convince us that he has not been taken in by those with political goals.
