Faith and Global Policy Challenges: How Spiritual Values Shape Views on Poverty, Nuclear Risks, and Environmental Degradation

Abstract

A majority of Americans professing a belief in God favor cooperative international efforts to combat climate change, environmental degradation, and the spread of nuclear weapons, according to the findings of this public opinion poll conducted jointly by the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and its Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). The study also finds that a majority of "believers" consider addressing global poverty a "spiritual obligation" and think that the United States should work cooperatively with other nations to reduce it. The poll was fielded from September 9 to 19, 2011, with a sample of 1,496 adult Americans, including large numbers of Catholics and Evangelicals.