Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

In an increasingly toxic and fractious Australian political debate, many self-labeled political and media ‘climate sceptics’ repeatedly resort to religious metaphors to rhetorically frame their attacks on climate science and on advocates of carbon reduction policies. While the ideological wellsprings of climate change denialism have been well researched (Campbell & Kay, 2014; Carvalho, 2007; Fielding, Head, Laffan, Western, & Hoegh-Guldberg, 2012; Leiserowitz, Maibach, Roser-Renouf, & Smith, 2010), the common discursive conflation of climate science ‘scepticism’ and the rhetorical pejorative of religious ‘faith’ remains a curious and a paradoxical anomaly. This paper uses selected speeches by key Australian public figures to explore this paradox, to discuss the manner in which politicians and conservative media commentators use language borrowed from religion, theology, and morality as a rhetorical vehicle through which to construct doubt about the veracity of scientific evidence and to cast aspersions on the authority of scientists. It then reflects on the broader historical connections between environmental advocacy and the tenets of religious faith and the extent to which current politically-centred sceptical discourse accurately reflects this relationship.