American Religious Ecofascism

HDS 3221 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The blending of climate action and resource preservation with antisemitism, antiblackness, Islamophobia, sexism, transphobia, and xenophobia—tactics typically linked to the far-right—or advocating for the destruction of the earth to "level the playing field" for all creatures, a strategy often associated with the far left, exemplifies the characteristics of ecofascism. These dangerous ideologies often masquerade as environmental consciousness.While contemporary discussions frame such rhetoric as a reaction to the growing awareness of climate change, it has deeper historical roots, particularly visible in American religious writings. Lest we forget that religion (and race) were central to the ecofascist manifestos espoused by the perpetrators of several tragic events: the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, where a gunman targeted Muslims during Friday prayers at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center; the 2015 mass shooting of Black churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2019 Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas that targeted the Latinx community; and the 2022 attack at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. In the manifestos, the shooters identified as ecofascists whose mission was to protect and preserve white Christian nationalism in the wake of climate disaster.

The manifestos accompanying these attacks have brought greater visibility to ecofascism today, compelling us to examine its historical roots and current operations. Is there a longer history of American religious ecofascism? How can we characterize this history, and what insights does it provide into the functioning of ecofascism in contemporary society? How have communities resisted ecofascism?