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Date: July 05, 2023 09:29AM
https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/news-events/utahns-on-climate-change/The Latter-day Saints (LDS) Church has a big influence ideologically and politically in Utah, including on the state’s climate policy. Utah is the undisputed center of the LDS faith: roughly 61% of Utah’s population is Mormon. More than simply the dominant religion in the state, the LDS church has an outsize influence on the political scene in Utah. In the Utah legislature last year, 86% of lawmakers were LDS and “100% of the state’s congressional seats and statewide political offices” were Mormon too, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Since the majority of the state’s population is LDS and dissent isn’t encouraged, leaders in the faith heavily influence public behavior and state politics. Recently, the church and state government—which has strong LDS representation—face criticism for their inaction against climate change.
It didn’t use to be this way. The LDS church was once openly pro-environment. In the 1970’s, when climate action was more bipartisan, LDS church leadership emphasized walking to church on Sundays when possible and taking care of the environment. Lip service is still paid. The official LDS Church website currently states that “all humankind are stewards over the earth and should gratefully use what God has given, avoid wasting life and resources…Approaches to the environment must be prudent, realistic, balanced and consistent with the needs of the earth and of current and future generations, rather than pursuing the immediate vindication of personal desires or avowed rights.”
At odds with this concept of environmental stewardship is the Republican party’s anti-climate action platform. Nationwide, the LDS church and its members have been historically conservative, with 67% of Mormons voting Republican in the 2018 Midterm election. Utah has voted red consistently for over half a century. Some who study environmentalism and the LDS Church point to the increasing polarization of the political parties as a part of the reason that Mormons don’t tend to identify with climate activism.