The Lost Environmentalists: the Struggle Between
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THE LOST ENVIRONMENTALISTS: THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANTS AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT, 1970-2010 A Dissertation by NEALL W. POGUE Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Thomas R. Dunlap Co-Chair of Committee, Katherine Engel Committee Members, Harold Livesay Elizabeth Ellis Head of Department, David Vaught May 2016 Major Subject: History Copyright 2016 Neall W. Pogue ABSTRACT “The Lost Environmentalists” offers the first historical account delineating the relationship between the religious right, a major Christian fundamentalist led political movement and the hotly debated issue of environmental protection. Past scholars believe this political/religious group traditionally opposed environmental protection efforts due to their conservative militant culture and long-held theological interpretations that marginalized nature as a simple resource for humanity’s financial benefit. In contrast, I reveal new ways the religious right understood nature while they promoted its protection throughout the 1970s to the early 1990s. During the latter decade, the movement ultimately adopted anti-environmentalist views. The religious right’s relationship with nature and environmental protection is indeed complex and evolved over time. In response to Earth Day 1970, fundamentalists initially wanted to participate in the Earth Day observance. However, the secular environmental movement drove fundamentalists away by blaming Christianity for the ecological crisis. Nevertheless, the religious right continued promoting eco-friendly views as they built a national identity for themselves over the next twenty years. During this process, they portrayed nature sympathetically and in many cases understood it as equally important to economic prosperity. Accordingly, members participated in the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. Almost simultaneously, the religious right’s most powerful leaders adopted anti-environmental views from pro-business allies and sought to crush the eco-friendly groundswell. Successfully overturning the community’s ii nature sympathies took years and a variety of tactics including indirectly bullying congregants. This research reveals an entirely new understanding of the religious right’s environmental views and also contributes a new caveat to the movement’s traditional definition as uncompromising religious militants. Furthermore, beyond filling a major gap in religious and environmental history and being of interest to political science, sociology and theology, “The Lost Environmentalists” will enable the general public to understand why an important political group currently opposes environmental efforts. iii Dedicated to my parents and Iris. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Thomas Dunlap, and committee members, Dr. Katherine Engel, Dr. Harold Livesay, and Dr. Elizabeth Ellis for their guidance and support throughout this research. Their suggestions, comments and time spent reading through my work significantly strengthened this dissertation into the final product. Thanks also to my friends and colleagues and the department faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M University a wonderful experience. I thank the History Department for providing research and conference travel funds, which made it possible for me to visit various archives throughout the United States. My research particularly benefitted from the financial support of the Vision 20/20 Travel Grant awarded by Texas A&M University and the Lynn E. May Jr. Study Grant awarded by the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. Finally, thanks to my mother and father for their encouragement and support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ............................. 1 Background and Importance of the Religious Right ............................................. 8 Chapter Sequence .................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER II THE LANDSCAPE OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT .......................................................................... 16 CHAPTER III CONSERVATION PROTESTANTS RESPOND TO THE FOUNDING OF EARTH DAY .................................................................................. 25 The Environmental Handbook .............................................................................. 37 The Energy Crisis .................................................................................................. 46 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER IV HUMANITY”S PROPER PLACE ..................................................... 55 The Family .......................................................................................................... 64 Schaeffer’s Magnum Opus ..................................................................................... 71 The Ecological Crisis and Humanity .................................................................... 79 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER V THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT THROUGH THE LENS OF NATURE ... 87 Christian American Nationalism ........................................................................... 92 Affluence, Industry, and the City .......................................................................... 101 The New Right ...................................................................................................... 113 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 117 vi Page CHAPTER VI THE MORAL MAJORITY FINDS FAVOR IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY .............................................................................................. 120 The Moral Majority ............................................................................................... 131 Watt and the Religious Right ................................................................................ 141 Christian Schools, Free Enterprise and God’s Earth ............................................. 149 Robertson’s Run for the White House .................................................................. 158 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 165 CHAPTER VII SHAPING ANTI-ENVIRONMENTALISM IN THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT, 1990-2010 ............................................................................... 171 Science and Global Warming ................................................................................ 186 Anti-Environmental Gains a Foothold .................................................................. 191 What a Friend Industry has in the Religious Right ............................................... 203 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 232 CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 237 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 249 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1 Declining Environmental Interest…………………………………………...53 2 Issues Throughout the 1970s………………………………………………..88 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW How did politically mobile conservative Protestants (also known as the religious right and the New Christian Right) come to reject the modern environmental movement? I first became aware of the strained relationship as a teenager while attending a Baptist church. One particular Sunday school lesson in 1995 stands out in my memory. The teacher warned against supporting environmentalists because, he said, they worshipped the earth. To prove the point, he cited the Disney cartoon movie Pocahontas, where the main character sings that all things in nature possess life, a spirit, and in turn should be respected and valued. Beyond this example, it was evident that other church members openly disliked environmentalists and what they stood for. Although the topic was not discussed often, if you listened carefully while participating in church activities or just chatting to folks after the morning service, most congregants clearly held anti- environmental views. If there were environmentalists among the membership, they kept quiet. At first glance, the church’s sentiment against environmentalists did not make sense. We lived in the picturesque Pioneer River Valley of Western Massachusetts surrounded by farmland and wooded mountains. Congregants enjoyed watching local wildlife wander by the parsonage and our pastor