Hello! I’m glad to know you’re back. 🙂
As I mentioned last week, I’ll be looking at people from different religions to discover if their religion (or not having a religion) has had an impact on their stance on the environment.
Religious ideas date as far back as thousands of years, with archaeologists discovering religious artifacts such as stone circles and figure reliefs. Through the annals of history, religion has been intertwined with society, culture and even governance, like in the United Kingdom (UK) and pre-WWII Japan. Many battles have also been fought on the grounds of religious differences, from the four Sacred Wars of ancient Greece to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
![[image]](https://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/thumbnails/turkey2.gif)
It is no surprise, then, that there have been many studies done about the relationship between religion and the environment.
In 2014, a study was conducted to investigate differences in environmental values between Christians, Muslims, and secular communities in the UK, and how this affected opinions on climate change and carbon capture and storage technologies. According to the study, there was indeed a difference in attitudes between religious and secular participants due to their religious beliefs, and that they also referred to religious texts to decide on their opinion on environmental issues. This demonstrates the effect that a person’s religion can have on their attitudes towards the environment – glad to know I’m not alone!
Interestingly, another study by Baylor University found evidence that places with beautiful scenery and weather also have lower numbers of people affiliated with traditional religions. The authors suggest that it may be because beautiful scenery and weather provide people with a “spiritual resource”, thus they have less need for spiritual practices.
Perhaps this is why, in a 2009 Gallup poll, 70% of Singaporeans said that religion is important in their daily lives, higher than many other secular developed nations. Maybe living in a city with blisteringly hot weather year-round and dwindling space for scenic natural beauty has indeed increased our need for fulfilling our spiritual needs through religion!
Sadly, I couldn’t find a more recent poll, and admittedly, a person’s level of religiosity is influenced by a combination of many factors. Nonetheless, it does give us some food for thought about whether the bi-directional nature of the relationship between religion and the environment is the same for those of us living in Singapore as well. What do you think about this?
Therefore, I decided to conduct a simple survey to find out whether the link between religion and the environment holds the same for people living in Singapore, and I will be discussing the results in my next post. I hope you are as excited as I am to see what we’ll find out!
Keep an eye out for my post next week!
-Dennis
Hello Dennis!
I’m really intrigued by your blog theme! I’m not religious, and because of this, the idea that one’s religion influences their environmental views has never occurred to me – that is, until I read your post!
Aside from what you mentioned, the 2009 Gallup poll also revealed that the most religious countries tended to be those most affected by poverty, leading researchers to speculate that civilians of poorer countries turned to religion for emotional strength to cope with their harsh reality. This correlation implies that the richer the country, the more secular its citizens tend to be. Curiously enough, that’s not the case for Singapore. I agree with you that multiple factors are at play with regards to the level of religiosity among citizens.
You mentioned that for Singapore, perhaps the diminishing spaces for nature encouraged people to seek spiritual fulfilment from religion, thus explaining in part for the larger proportion of religious citizens in spite of our affluence.
However, since the late PM Lee announced his plan to transform Singapore into a “garden city” in 1967, our government has spared no effort in enriching our surroundings with elements of nature, such as planting trees along roads (Thank God for the shade!), allocating spaces for greenery amidst concrete infrastructure, as well as building parks and reserves for people to immerse themselves in nature. Given such efforts to mould Singapore into a City in a Garden, I think there are plenty of opportunities for Singaporeans to connect with nature and be enriched spiritually, so there doesn’t seem to be a need for them to turn to religion.
What’s your take on this?
P.S. I’m looking forward to reading your survey conclusions! Good luck blogging
Vera
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/a7fac49f-9c96-4030-8709-ce160c58d15c
Hey Vera!
Thanks for pointing that out! Actually, I also thought about that as well, and perhaps that may be the reason why Singapore only ranks at 81 out of the 114 countries surveyed. (We’re not 1st for something? The horror…)
I think that it’s important to note, though, that we are a ‘city in a garden‘. As much as it has introduced a plethora of green spaces, a garden is, after all, curated, and the presence of urbanisation is very much present in these spaces. After all, even from the midst of our nature reserves, you can hear the faint, ever-present sound of traffic and see our light-polluted skies.
But I may be wrong! As Sheryl pointed out below, there are many reasons why people choose to believe in a religion, and perhaps there is a greater influence that I haven’t thought about. Is there anything you can think of?
-Dennis
Hey Dennis!
You may be right in that our green spaces are artificial, and there are anthropogenic structures to be found in our parks and reserves. I’m assuming these structures to be boardwalks, railings and the like, of which I feel were implemented with the visitors’ safety in mind, and aren’t intended to restrict their experiences amongst nature.
Nonetheless, my experiences in our nature reserves such as the MacRitchie Reservoir have been very rewarding! For instance, during the Drongos training session, I was lucky enough to see various types of wildlife, including the elusive colugo and a beautiful bright green oriental whip snake! Did you see them too? I haven’t heard any traffic sounds while going along the trail, but perhaps my senses were more focused on walking and observing the nature around me. Nonetheless, I’ll keep my ears open the next time I go there!
As for what I think could be an alternative reason to explain our religious majority, well… I would speculate that the competitiveness of our society could be a factor. Our government is known to uphold meritocracy, so naturally, most of us have come to embrace the notion that if we work hard, we’ll surely succeed in life. As such, many Singaporeans are the epitome of ‘kiasu’ (local slang for scared of losing) and can be really hard on themselves (because I can totally relate). Obviously, being constantly stressed over becoming No. 1 or achieving success is detrimental to one’s emotional and mental well-being. This could explain why the majority are religious – they turn to religion to seek solace, and perhaps some religious teachings reassure believers that becoming No.1 isn’t the only way in life? Does Christianity have anything to offer on that aspect? This clueless atheist is willing to listen 🙂
Vera
I completely agree! I don’t think that structures in nature reserves are built with the idea of restricting nature, but what I mean is that I feel that such structures shatter the notion of our reserves being untouched, wild nature. However, perhaps a better example I could’ve used is our parks, which are usually built close to roads and have buildings and other man-made structures like playgrounds and lampposts.
As for the fast pace of life in our country – I think that definitely could be a factor. I will be elaborating on some perspectives that the four main religions in Singapore that relate to the environment in my future posts, so do look out for them. If I don’t manage to cover it in my post, we can always talk about it after our classes as well. 🙂
-Dennis
Hey Dennis,
Such an interesting topic you’ve chosen to embark on! Just curious if this would mean that people only turn to religion/ are more religious because they feel some sort of ‘lack’ in a spiritual sense? Idk does my question make sense haha
-Sheryl
Thanks Sheryl, glad you think so! 🙂
I think there are a variety of reasons why people would choose a religion or be religious – personal experiences, fear of death, adopting family tradition – but I personally think that for many, religion/religious practice may fulfil a desire for a higher purpose and spiritual fulfilment. And perhaps for some, nature, in its awe-inspiring glory and peacefulness, fulfils that aspect of their lives.
-Dennis
Hey Dennis,
I’m a bit surprised you chose not to reveal what I see as a crucial finding of the 1st study you referred to (the one that compared how Muslims & Christians vew climate change & CCS). Specifically the finding that both groups were more likely to think environmental issues aren’t that urgent and less likely to think humans are the ones who need to take ownership over solving the problems.
Just wondering (1) why you made this decision and (2) what you think about this finding.
Thanks !
Hi Dr Coleman!
I made the decision to give a more general overview of the study’s findings as I’m hoping to explore the influence of both religions on their opinions on environmental issues in greater depth and nuance in future posts.
Personally, I do agree with the findings – after all, believing that God/Allah will one day create a ‘new earth’ is reassuring in that the future of our planet will eventually be a good one, which does take away the urgency of tackling environmental issues. However, I think that it must be viewed together with the belief of some Christian denominations that humans play the role of “divinely sanctioned [stewards]” and the Muslim belief of humans as being “custodians of creation” – both of which have resulted in pro-environmental trends and movements. So I think that there is still a focus on caring for the environment in the present!
Thanks so much for this thoughtful reply !
Hey Dennis,
Wow, this is such an interesting topic! I’ve never considered the environmental aspects of religion before but maybe it’s because I am a free-thinker myself?
To me, I found it interesting that people are consciously aware of the role of religion in their day-to-day lives with regards to decisions they make about the environment. I hope to learn more about this as I read on!
Willis
Hey Willis, that’s great! I wonder if we’ll see that also at the individual level in Singapore? Excited to analyse my survey results in my next post. 🙂
Hi Dennis!
I’m intrigued by your topic, as it’s so unique! As a Singaporean, I’ve never considered religion being a factor in affecting my view toward environmental issues.
You posed the question of whether the bi-directional nature between religion and environment is the same for people living in Singapore. I agree that religion may affect our environmental stance. Additionally, other factors could be at work, such as the mentality that Singapore is simply too small to make any impactful change happen. In my opinion, this is one of the obstacles that is very difficult to overcome in convincing more Singaporeans to participate in environmental efforts. What do you think?
Cheers
Fang Ning :’)
Hi Fang Ning, thank you!
I agree! The variety of factors that affect a person’s environmental stance is indeed really diverse and complicated, and I’m not sure how to overcome the mentality of Singapore being too small to make any impactful change. But I think perhaps one thing you could do is to bring up the fact that Singapore is a leader in ASEAN, and perhaps in leading by example, we could influence other nations in ASEAN – that do have really large carbon footprints – to take a stronger stance on environmental protection.
Hi Dennis & Fang Ning,
Dennis, I love what you say about leading by example. But… is there any truth to the axiom that we’re just a tiny red dot ?
What is the ownership of forested land currently being burned in Indonesia and Latin America ?
Where does SG get the sand for its reclamation projects from ?
Where do we get our food from ?
Where do our recyclables and e-waste go ?
What are the main economic engines in SG ?
What role does SG play in the illegal trade in plants & animals ?
What is the relative contribution of wealthy ppl like us to the overall environmental crisis ?
You don’t have to answer these Qs in this forum. But maybe just something to think about.
Hi Dr Coleman, I’ll definitely look into these questions! I know that SG has its fingers in many pies, and perhaps one way that we could influence people’s mindsets to participate in pushing the government to set more ambitious goals for SG to fight the climate crisis would be to educate the public on the extent of SG’s ‘reach’ – the hidden, inconvenient truths. Perhaps that may push more Singaporeans to hold the government accountable for the impact we currently have?
Hi Dennis,
This is indeed an interesting topic. I have never considered the relationship between environment and religion but after seeing your blog, I think I remember watching a documentary about Bhutan (I can’t recall totally what it was about) where locals believe nature contains spirits and often engage in practices such as meditation so as to connect with nature. I believe there is a minority religion called Bon that worships nature, and in Japan, the Shinto religion believes that everything in nature are possessed by spirits.
Just some fyi!
Cheers and happy blogging
Thanks Song Thye! Those are really cool and intriguing facts – perhaps now I’ll dedicate a post to religions out of the 4 main religions in Singapore!
-Dennis