The Nature of the Religious Right

The Struggle Between Conservative Evangelicals and the Environmental Movement

By: Neall W. Pogue

Narrated by: Gary Roelofs

In The Nature of the Religious Right, Neall W. Pogue examines how white conservative evangelical Christians became a political force known for hostility toward environmental legislation. Before the 1990s, this group used ideas of nature to help construct the religious right movement while developing theologically based, eco-friendly philosophies that can be described as Christian environmental stewardship. On the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, members of this conservative evangelical community tried to turn their eco-friendly philosophies into action. Yet this attempt was overwhelmed by a growing number in the leadership who made anti-environmentalism the accepted position through public ridicule, conspiracy theories, and cherry-picked science.

Through analysis of rhetoric, political expediency, and theological imperatives, The Nature of the Religious Right explains how ideas of nature played a role in constructing the conservative evangelical political movement, why Christian environmental stewardship was supported by members of the community for so long, and why they turned against it so decidedly beginning in the 1990s.

The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2022 Cornell University (P)2025 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Required reading for historians and analysts of the conservative movement, the religious Right, and/or the environmental movement." (Choice)

"Vastly improves our understanding of the movement's environmental legacy." (Robin Veldman, Texas A&M University)

The Religious Right and the war on science

This one’s a deep dive at over 10 hours of solid analysis of the history of the Religious Right's ties to, and eventual break from, the environmental movement. It can feel a bit like a dissertation at times, but this book really helps to connect the dots and make sense of how we got to where we are today. If you’re curious about the roots of climate denial and anti-environmentalism within the Christian Right, this is a thoughtful, although somewhat depressing, listen.