Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

The issue of eco-spirituality has mustered scholarly attention because of the growing ecological problems in the world, and the literature on the subject mostly consists of studies focusing on the relationship between Christianity and ecology, mostly conducted in the West. This study examines the relationship between Islamic religiosity and ecological tendencies in Istanbul, Turkey. The purpose of the study is to examine whether there is a relationship between religiosity and ecological tendencies that manifest themselves in pro-ecological awareness and behavior. Hence, besides the textual analysis of Islam on the environmental issues, environmental acts of Muslims and their relation to Islamic teachings are covered in the study. While some of the previous findings suggest a positive relation among religion, religiosity and ecological tendencies by showing that religion could be a factor in improving pro-ecological behavior or awareness, some of the literature rejects the positive relationship between two variables. Building on these, this research aims to shed light on the case of Islamic religiosity and ecological tendencies in Istanbul while trying to answer the following questions: Is there a relationship between Islamic religiosity and environmentalist tendencies? Does Islamic religiosity have an impact on the ecological behavior? What can be other factors such as gender, age and education that affect the ecological tendencies? In order to answer these questions, a survey will be conducted based on the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale and a religiosity scale among the participants who are dwellers of Istanbul and above the age of eighteen.