‘Climate cults’ and ‘climate sins’: Religion metaphors and the framing of climate change in American and Canadian newspapers

Climate change is frequently discussed by political figures and journalists that have divergent views on the validity of climate change; metaphor is often used to frame climate change and portray a particular stance on the issue. Religion metaphors used to invalidate the veracity of climate change have been documented in the United Kingdom and the United States (Atanasova & Koteyko, 2017; Woods et al., 2012), however, our data indicates that specific Religion metaphors are also used to validate climate change. We address: (1) Which Religion metaphors are used to frame climate change as a valid issue, or as a fraudulent secular ‘religion’; (2) How these metaphors instantiate a specific ideological stance; (3) Patterns of metaphor use by climate change skeptics and climate change advocates. Our findings show that different Religion metaphors are used to frame climate change by conservatives and liberals in the United States and Canada. Through our analysis, we clarify how the Religion frame is used to make divergent arguments concerning climate change. This research is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Impact Grant. peerReviewed