The percentage of Americans who believe that the Earth is approaching the “end of times” has dropped significantly even as evidence shows that natural disasters are stronger and occurring more frequently.
A study published on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that 35 percent of Americans believe that the severity of recent natural disasters is proof that the globe could be approaching a catastrophic end, referenced as “the end of times” by the Bible.
The number has dropped by 14 percent since 2014 when 49 percent of Americans believed that the Earth was nearing the end of times compared to 47 percent who disagreed. Seven years later, the number of people who disagree that Earth is nearing the end of times has jumped to 63 percent.
This year, numerous fatal natural disasters plagued the globe, spanning from devastating wildfires in Lahaina, on Maui, that killed more than 100 people to a catastrophic flood in Libya that killed at least 11,300. At times, intense natural disasters have been referred to as “biblical.” The increasingly concerning impacts of climate change have prompted religious and political leaders alike to leap into action.
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U.S. President Joe Biden has made climate change and the green energy transition a prominent goal for his administration. Pope Francis has taken a firm stance as well and recently condemned the “irresponsible” ways of the West for contributing to emissions at a greater rate than other countries. The upcoming 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, later this year will unite global leaders to address the impacts of climate change.
Regardless of action, natural disasters are getting worse. A 2020 study by the United Nations found that from 2000 to 2019, 7,348 major natural disasters occurred globally, killing 1.23 million people and causing $2.97 trillion in global economic loss.
That number had jumped drastically from the last 20-year period. From 1980 to 1999, there were 4,212 major natural disasters that killed 1.19 million people and caused $1.63 trillion in economic losses.
Climate change influences more than the severity of natural disasters, and religions have had to adjust their practices as global warming takes its toll. Icebergs viewed as sacred in the Andes mountains are melting, and severe heat has had dire consequences for many Muslims completing the Hajj, a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Arizona State University associate professor of environmental humanities Evan Berry told Newsweek that some religious groups have responded to the threat in “increasingly progressive ways” and have encouraged reform. Others, Berry said, interpret climate-related natural disasters as a sign of God’s disapproval of human actions.
“There are serious denial problems particular to the U.S.,” Berry told Newsweek, adding that when Hurricane Harvey decimated Texas and Louisiana in 2017, a number of conservative Christian leaders believed the disaster was sent as a punishment for affirming LGBTQ+ rights.
The PRRI study also revealed that different sects view climate change with varying concerns. Black Protestants, white evangelical Protestants and Hispanic Catholics tend to believe that natural disasters are evidence of the end of times. White, non-evangelical Protestants, white Catholics and religiously unaffiliated Americans are less likely to believe that recent natural disasters signify the end of times.
More than 60 percent of Americans who took the survey believed that climate change is caused mostly by human activity, but 28 percent believed that God would not allow humans to destroy the Earth.