The survey by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership¹ with the Religion News Service found political and religious disagreement on what is behind severe weather, which this year has included extreme heat and drought.

 

Most Catholics (60 percent) and white non-evangelical（福音派信徒） Protestants (65 percent) say they believe disasters like hurricanes and floods are the result of climate change.

 

But nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of white evangelical Protestants say they think the storms are evidence of the "end times" as predicted by the Bible.

 

Overall, 36 percent point to end times and 63 percent to climate change.

 

PRRI research director Daniel Cox said that some respondents - including 75 percent of non-white Protestants - believe extreme weather is both evidence of end times and the result of climate change.

 

"No one really knows how (end times) would look and how God would bring it about," Cox said.

 

Politics also color perceptions of the weather, the survey found. More than three-quarters of Democrats² and six in 10 independents believe that the weather has become more extreme over the last few years, while less than half of Republicans say they have perceived such a shift.

 

"Their political leanings are even affecting how they experience weather, which is pretty fascinating（迷人的）," said Cox.

 

The January-to-November period in the United States this year was the warmest first 11 months of any year on record for the contiguous states. And 2012 will likely surpass 1998 as the warmest year on record for the nation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric³ Administration.

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