Majority of evangelicals link natural disasters to end times

A new poll on God and natural disasters reveals that evangelicals are more likely to believe that natural disasters are signs from God.

Nearly two thirds of white evangelical respondents said they believed natural disasters were signs from God, according to the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service poll.

The poll found that 67 per cent of evangelicals believe natural disasters are evidence of what the Bible calls the “end times” compared to 58 per cent of all respondents who see it as evidence of global climate change.

Only about one third of Catholics (31 per cent) and mainline Protestants (34 per cent) believe that natural disasters are signs from God.

Among Republicans, 52 per cent believe that natural disasters are evidence of the end times.

Daniel Cox, PRRI research director, said of the poll, “Evangelical Protestants and Republicans are much more likely to believe that natural disasters are evidence of what the Bible calls the 'end times' rather than evidence of global climate change.”

A lesser but still significant portion of polled evangelicals – 52 per cent – believe that global climate change caused recent natural disasters.

The poll also finds that 53 per cent of white evangelicals believe that God punishes nations for the sins of its citizens.

Last year, televangelist Pat Robertson had exclaimed that Haiti’s earthquake was a curse for its voodoo history. Robertson made similar remarks about the 2005 hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast, linking the tragedy to abortion.

More than eight in 10 respondents said that providing financial assistance to Japan was either very important or somewhat important despite economic challenges at home.

The PRRI/RNS poll was based on telephone interviews with 1,008 adults in the US, conducted between March 17 and 20, 2011.