Faith without action? Christian ecological conviction and the civic participation gap in Australia

Timothy J. Healy; Johannes M. Luetz; Martin J. Hodson

doi:10.1007/s13280-026-02388-w

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Faith without action? Christian ecological conviction and the civic participation gap in Australia

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Faith without action? Christian ecological conviction and the civic participation gap in Australia

Timothy J. Healy, Johannes M. Luetz and Martin J. Hodson

Ambio, Vol.Advanced access

21-Apr-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02388-w

PMID: 42014670

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Abstract

Belief–behaviour gap

Christianity and environment

Civic engagement

Faith and ecology

Pro-environmental action

Sustainability transitions

Three-quarters of the world’s population identify with a religion, suggesting that faith communities constitute a vast (yet under-mobilised) civic infrastructure for sustainability transitions. Christianity remains the world’s largest religious tradition, making it consequential for analysing conviction–action dynamics. Using Australia as a case study, this research investigates why widely professed moral concern for the environment does not translate more readily into collective environmental action. Using Australia as a case study, our national sample survey (n = 1295), weighted to reflect the Australian population aged 18+, indicates a belief-action gap that is systematic rather than incidental, underpinned by barriers across micro-meso-macro levels. Our analysis identifies actionable strategies to help faith communities translate ecological conviction into effective civic engagement with policy-relevant sustainability outcomes. By clarifying pathways through which faith commitments can be mobilised into civic action, the article offers insights transferable beyond Australia and churches to other national and faith contexts, with implications for advancing SDGs 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 16, and 17.

Details

Title: Faith without action? Christian ecological conviction and the civic participation gap in Australia
Authors: Timothy J. Healy - Alphacrucis University College
Johannes M. Luetz (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Martin J. Hodson - Oxford Brookes University
Publication details: Ambio, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Springer Cham
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02388-w
ISSN: 1654-7209
PMID: 42014670
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: The anonymised survey data underpinning our analysis are available as Supplementary Information.
Organisation Unit: Academic Support Unit; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991226812102621
Output Type: Journal article

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