March 3, 2025

Report – Conserving the World in Faith: An in-depth study of how Faith Inspires Environmentalism

In 2024, the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life launched a project exploring the relationship between faith and sustainability. The research had two phases. The first was a quantitative study in which IIFL commissioned a nationally representative survey examining the relationship between faith and environmentalism across religious groups, regions, and ages. The final report, ‘Stewardship: Exploring Faith and Sustainability,’ was published in June 2024 and can be accessed here.

The second phase was a qualitative study using interviews to delve deeper into the survey’s findings and explore new areas beyond the scope of quantitative data collection. Interviews also allowed us to give voice to Jewish, Sikh and Buddhist perspectives, which were underrepresented in the survey and so could not be considered statistically significant. This report situates the key findings from the qualitative study in the context of the findings from the first phase.

Here are the key findings from the second phase of the project:

Download the report

Monotheist beliefs have an understanding of social justice that was less rooted in the well-being of the Earth.

Contrasts in Muslim and Christian approaches to environmentalism are, in part, rooted in Muslims viewing climate change as one of the many ‘tests’ of this world, leading to a more active approach to climate change than Christians, whose views were more likely to be shaped by beliefs about God’s omnipotence and second coming.
Viewing climate change as a test or a challenge to which we must rise might be more conducive to motivating conservation efforts than approaches emphasising God’s power and intended restoration of the Earth.

Conceptions of social justice in Dharmic traditions differ from monotheistic perspectives.

While Dharmic ideas of social justice appear rooted first in the profound interconnection of all existence, monotheistic views appear rooted in more concrete ideas of the need for social and economic stability and equality.
Social justice definitions based on the intrinsic relationality of the world appeared as stronger motivators for environmental efforts than those based on concrete life conditions.

Hindu respondents lead in personal environmental actions and environmental concern.

Hindus are more likely to view, in very tangible ways, the whole world as an ‘ecosystem’ in which all existence is intrinsically connected and thereby all things in the world are viewed as co-existing in essential interdependency. This leads to a tangible sense of cause and effect and of existing in profound relation with the world.
Hindus also believe that all objects in the world are open to being viewed as ‘spaces to worship God.’ It is not the object itself that is worshipped but God within the object. This offers a view of reality in which all is sacred and therefore to care for the environment is to worship God and serve all creation, for all creation is profoundly connected in the divine.

About the author

Dr Amanda Murjan

Amanda completed a PhD in Theology with a specialist interest in psychology at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University. Her thesis examined papal teaching on human flourishing using Carl Jung’s psychoanalytical theory and positive psychology. She is also a research fellow at Birmingham University studying the role of spiritual practices in UK African and Afro-Caribbean Churches in cultivating human flourishing by providing resources to cope with and challenge racism. Amanda also holds a postdoctoral research position at Durham University, working on an international project examining Catholic lay participation in church governance.