Relationships between Spirituality, Religious Fundamentalism and Environmentalism: The Mediating Role of Right-Wing Authoritarianism

Sebastian Binyamin Skalski (), Teresa Loichen, Loren L. Toussaint, Patrycja Uram, Anna Kwiatkowska and Janusz Surzykiewicz
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Sebastian Binyamin Skalski: Faculty of Philosophy and Education, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Teresa Loichen: Faculty of Philosophy and Education, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Loren L. Toussaint: Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101, USA
Patrycja Uram: Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00950 Warsaw, Poland
Anna Kwiatkowska: Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00950 Warsaw, Poland
Janusz Surzykiewicz: Faculty of Philosophy and Education, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-11

Abstract: According to past research, religious attitudes can strongly influence individuals’ beliefs and behaviors. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between spirituality (the Scale of Spirituality; dimensions include religious spirituality, expanding consciousness, searching for meaning, sensitivity to art, doing good, and sensitivity to inner beauty), religious fundamentalism (the Religious Fundamentalism Scale), support for right-wing authoritarianism (the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale), climate concerns (the Environmental Concern Scale), and pro-environmental behavior (the Pro-Environmental Behavior Scale). The cross-sectional study involved 512 Poles aged 18–63 (M = 34.63, SD = 5.96; Mdn = 33), including 51% females. Multiple regression analysis revealed that two dimensions of spirituality (sensitivity to art and doing good) and religious fundamentalism are significant and opposite predictors of climate concern and pro-environmental behavior. Spirituality appeared to foster increased climate concern and caring behavior, while religious fundamentalism negatively predicted the same variables. Mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between religion and environmentalism could be explained in part by differences in support for right-wing authoritarianism (authoritarianism itself was negatively related to environmental outcomes). In addition, analysis of variance revealed that believers (70% of participants in the study were Catholic) showed significantly lower scores regarding climate concerns and pro-environmental behavior than non-believers, yet the inclusion of support for right-wing authoritarianism as a covariate in the equation reduced intergroup differences to statistical insignificance. The data obtained suggest that religious attitudes and socio-political views may play important roles in solving environmental problems.

Keywords: spirituality; religious fundamentalism; climate concern; pro-environmental behavior; right-wing authoritarianism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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