Dominion, Stewardship, and Perceptions of the Problem of Climate Change

Abstract

This study assesses the importance of dominion beliefs in relationship to stewardship beliefs in shaping attitudes related to climate change among the American people. Though typically viewed as alternative viewpoints, this study examines two separate measures—one capturing dominion and another capturing stewardship beliefs—allowing for an analysis of how these two viewpoints relate to each other and whether they have differential relationships on attitudes toward climate change. Using a large national sample conducted in 2022, this study reveals that one’s dominion position can only be fully understood in relationship to one’s stewardship position, with the resultant combined measure retaining statistical significance in multivariate analysis, suggesting that theological beliefs related to dominion and stewardship significantly shape climate attitudes beyond what can be accounted for by political variables or other important variables related to climate change.