"Religion Has Scant Effect on Environmental Views, Poll Suggests"

"Few Americans say their religion influences their environmental views, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

 
For the survey, Pew reached out to more than 3,000 Americans by phone to explore how religion affects their social and political views. While researchers found that many respondents said that religion affected their views on social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, far fewer felt that it influenced them on issues like the environment, immigration or poverty.

The majority of Americans continue to favor more environmental regulation, Pew found. But as in previous surveys, far fewer people considered protecting the environment through such regulation more important than keeping energy prices low — an obstacle, obviously, for proposed legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions."

Leslie Kaufman reports for the New York Times September 17, 2010.