Some Eco-Destructive Biblical Verses and Post-Colonial Fanaticism: Interpretations and Implications on Climate Change Action

Abstract

With a universal conclusion on global climate change and the growing religiosity in post-colonial African societies, some perceptions and reactions to climate change seem to be influenced by religious sentiments instead of scientifically-driven facts and figures. The level of religious fanaticism, especially in post-colonial Africa in general and Cameroon in particular, seems to be obstructing effective climate change actions considering the plethora of eco-destructive Biblical verses that may induce eco-destructive thoughts and actions if not carefully interpreted. Using insights from Van Dijk’s (2006) psychological perspective to Critical Discourse Analysis and a corpus-based methodology, this study examined some eco-destructive Biblical verses and their potential effects on contemporary religious fanatics’ perceptions of climate change consequences. The findings revealed that a cross section of religious fanatics in some traditional and Pentecostal churches in Cameroon tend to perceive such climate change manifestations as floods, droughts and burning heat as consequences of sins committed by humans against the commandments of their creator – God – not as the results of environmentally-unfriendly activities carried out by humans on earth. This inspired the conclusion that there is the dire need for very specific climate change orientation and awareness activities to be conducted in post-colonial churches in order to educate and encourage the multitude of Christians to embrace scientifically backed climate change actions and solutions.

Keywords: Eco-destruction, climate change, Bible verses, post-colonial, religious fanaticism

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/14-1-01

Publication date: January 31^st 2024