Black Churches Need to Create Climate Crisis Ministries
Green Living Plan: A recent survey shows Black protestants are among those least likely to agree that climate crisis is caused by human activity. Black ministers have work to do.
Charles D. Ellison | Publisher’s Riff
As climate crisis impacts intensify, the extent of damage is being felt hardest on marginalized and vulnerable populations, particularly Black populations in metropolitan areas. Climate crisis, which is really pollution apocalypse as we’ve stated before, is the environmental racism steadily evolving. It is a burning convergence of racist public policy, historic redling that forced unprotected populations into environmentally unsafe and unhealthy areas with toxic air, land and water venues that are increasingly unlivable. This history of environmental degradation and suffering has been especially acute for Black Americans.
Because of that history, environmental suffering intersects with or aggravates every other issue prioritized by Black communities. Which would mean that Black American community anchor institutions such as the Black church, Historically Black Colleges & Universities and the Black family itself would amplify this issue more. In the case of the Black church - the first of those collective organized institutions outside of the home since enslavement several hundred years ago - this would be most urgent. Nearly three quarters of Black Americans, in fact, go to church, the highest level compared to any demographic in the United States, according to recent surveys from Pew Research …
Yet, surprisingly, on the topic of climate crisis there is less concern from Black protestants compared to some other religious populations, according to a recent PRRI survey just out. Indeed, Black Christians (59 percent) are among those least likely to agree that climate crisis is caused mostly by human activity - even though it is the direct result of human activity and pollution desgined by racist policy directly attacking Black people. They are also among those most likely to say “there’s no solid evidence of climate change happening” … second to white evangelicals who, ideologically, are typically aligned with that view due to close affiliations with institutions and policymakers who’ve carried out historically racist displacement and pollution policies …
What’s also most troubling in this survey is how Black protestants appear among the most likely to accept climate crisis as “the end times,” - with white evangelicals. That signals that a higher percentage of Black churchgoers, and many within the Black community are not convinced that smart policy solutions can work or are available …
This creates downstream political problems in terms of motivating Black voters on issues such as climate crisis. The Black church has a lot of work to do and better sermons to deliver.