What do religious and non-religious viewpoints say about our duty to the environment and to the world's poorest people?
Religion, Environment and Global Issues: stewardship and dominion, climate change and pollution, the use of resources, global poverty and inequality, and religious and non-religious responses.
An SQA Higher RMPS answer on Religion, Environment and Global Issues, covering stewardship and dominion, climate change and pollution, the use of resources, global poverty and inequality, and how religious and non-religious viewpoints respond.
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What this dot point is asking
Religion, Environment and Global Issues is a moral context in the Morality and Belief area. It examines our duty to the natural world (stewardship, climate change, pollution, the use of resources) and to the world's poorest people (global poverty and inequality), from religious and non-religious viewpoints. The SQA wants you to describe the teachings, explain their grounds, and evaluate how far the responses agree, reaching a judgement.
Stewardship and dominion
- Stewardship makes care for the environment a moral and religious duty, not an optional extra. The world is valued as good and as a trust.
- Dominion has been interpreted two ways: as mastery over nature (the older reading, blamed by some for environmental harm) and as stewardship (the reading most religious bodies now stress), where authority means responsibility.
- Some traditions add the intrinsic value of nature and of other creatures, and duties of compassion towards animals.
Climate change, pollution and resources
The SQA expects you to apply these principles to concrete environmental issues.
- Climate change and pollution. Stewardship implies a duty to reduce harm: cutting greenhouse gases, avoiding waste and pollution, and protecting habitats. Many religious leaders have called for action on climate change as a moral obligation.
- Use of resources. Fair and sustainable use of finite resources follows from both stewardship and justice, so that the world is not damaged for future generations and the poor are not deprived.
- Non-religious environmentalism reaches similar conclusions from secular grounds: the wellbeing of people and animals, fairness between generations, and the value of the natural world.
Global poverty and inequality
- Religious responses to global poverty appeal to charity, justice and care for the neighbour: duties such as almsgiving, generosity to the poor, and the teaching that how we treat the least is how we treat God. Many faith-based agencies work in development and relief.
- Non-religious responses appeal to human need, fairness and the reduction of suffering: a humanist or utilitarian supports aid, fair trade and tackling inequality because it improves wellbeing and is just.
- Both may debate how best to help (aid versus trade, charity versus structural change), so the topic is not only about whether we should help but how.
Religious and non-religious reasoning
The marks come from the grounds of the duties.
- Religious reasoning appeals to creation, stewardship, responsibility to God, and care for the poor as a sacred duty.
- Non-religious reasoning appeals to wellbeing, fairness, the interests of future generations and the value of nature, reaching similar practical conclusions without reference to God.
Try this
Q1. What does "stewardship" mean in this topic? [2 marks]
- Cue. The teaching that the world is created or entrusted and that humans are caretakers responsible for how they treat it.
Q2. Give one religious and one non-religious reason for helping the world's poorest people. [2 marks]
- Cue. Religious: charity, justice or care for the neighbour as a sacred duty. Non-religious: reducing suffering and fairness between people.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher specimen8 marksExplain religious teaching about the responsibility human beings have for the environment.Show worked answer →
An 8-mark "explain" question rewards developed understanding of the teaching and its grounds.
Set out the idea of stewardship: many religions teach that the world is created (or given) and that humans are caretakers responsible to God or to future generations for how they treat it. For Christianity, explain dominion (Genesis: humans given charge over creation) interpreted as responsible stewardship rather than exploitation, and the value of creation as good. Add duties that follow: avoiding waste and pollution, caring for other creatures, and using resources fairly. Develop two or three points with reasons, and you can contrast a non-religious environmentalist who grounds the same duties in the wellbeing of people, animals and future generations. This reasoned development reaches the top band.
SQA Higher specimen10 marksTo what extent do religious and non-religious people share the same duties to the environment?Show worked answer →
A 10-mark evaluation needs argument and a judgement; the degree of shared duty is the issue.
Argue they largely agree: both religious stewardship and secular environmentalism call for protecting nature, cutting pollution and using resources fairly, so the practical duties overlap. Then weigh the difference: the religious ground the duty in creation and responsibility to God, the non-religious in the welfare of people, animals and future generations, and they may differ on motivation and on issues like the value of nature in itself. Bring in a specific contrast. Reach a supported judgement, for example that the duties converge in practice even where the reasons differ.
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