Home Pastors Articles for Pastors 40 Percent of Americans Say Severe Storms Indicate the End Times

40 Percent of Americans Say Severe Storms Indicate the End Times

According to a survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, nearly four in ten (36 percent) Americans believe that the severity of recent natural disasters is evidence that we are in what the Bible calls the “end times.” Sixty-five percent of white evangelical Protestants believe the storms evidence the end times. Americans generally agree that over the last few years, the weather has been getting more extreme (63 percent), and that there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades (75 percent).

The new survey finds that among Americans who agree the earth is getting warmer, a majority (60 percent) say these temperature changes are the result of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, while more than one-third (34 percent) of those who believe temperatures are increasing say that these changes are due to natural patterns in the environment.

“While there is disagreement about the causes of, and to a lesser extent the existence of, global warming, there is nonetheless widespread agreement about the need for action,” said Robert P. Jones, CEO of PRRI. “Nine in ten Americans who believe global warming is caused by human action and nearly six in ten Americans who believe global warming is due to natural weather patterns agree that the U.S. government should do more to address the issue of climate change.”