Religion, Ecology and Human Flourishing: Empirical Study of the Impact of Religious Affiliation on Environmental Rights and Care in the Pluralistic Context of Tamil Nadu, India

During the past six decades, there has been an ever-growing awareness of the global ecological crisis threatening human survival. Concern for the future of human life has led to the necessity of upholding environmental rights and sustainable development. As in the case of other human rights, obligat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Anthony, Francis-Vincent (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2023
In: Journal of empirical theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 20-44
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Tamil Nadu / Religious identity / Environmental protection / Teenagers (15-20 Jahre) / History 2005-2022
IxTheo Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AG Religious life; material religion
BG World religions
KBM Asia
NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics
TK Recent history
Further subjects:B environmental care
B environmental rights
B Youth
B eco-education
B Religions
B civil engagements
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Summary:During the past six decades, there has been an ever-growing awareness of the global ecological crisis threatening human survival. Concern for the future of human life has led to the necessity of upholding environmental rights and sustainable development. As in the case of other human rights, obligations of the state that derive from these need to be complemented by civic engagements, and sustained by shared values in the societal sphere. The question that we raise is if religions can play a significant role in favouring environmental rights, civil engagements and environmental care, given that in varied ways religious traditions appeal to the interdependence of divine-human-cosmic realities. The empirical research that we undertook in the multi-religious context of Tamil Nadu, India, seeks to verify if the religious identity of the senior secondary school students and college students has some influence on their attitude towards environmental obligations, engagements and care. The results show that senior school students are highly sensitive to state’s obligations and civil engagements, but their religious affiliation does not seem to influence it. Instead, college students manifest strong agreement to environmental care, with Hindus displaying higher sensitivity. Besides, variables such as transformative function of religion, religious pluralism, human dignity, and empathy have favourable association with environmental care for Christians, Muslims and Hindus. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of the predictors for eco-education.
ISSN:1570-9256
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of empirical theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20231141