Climate Change, Ideology Change: Belief Evolutions in the Holocene Landscape

Climatic conditions shape the environmental situation of each region, something that the subsistence system of societies depends on and the belief system is based on. Therefore, any oscillation in the climate is not only able to change the way of life of humans but also affects their ideology and spirituality. Human cultural evolutions in the past twelve thousand years have been accompanied by abrupt climate events. These events have marked many ideological changes. In fact, from primitive rituals to advanced religions, all have been linked to the climate in some way and have had a strong connection with environmental conditions. During the pre-civilization period, a belief evolution occurred in the transition from the Younger Dryas to the early Holocene, which gradually developed into the middle Holocene. In the 4th millennium BC, with the emergence of urbanization, the formation of primitive priest-king governments, and the classification of society, the worship of natural phenomena turned into the worship of gods. Today's major religions, which have emerged since the second millennium BC, form two general groups that have completely separate natures according to the type of climate and environment of their origin. Indian polytheistic religions belonged to the villagers of wet and forested regions and Abrahamic monotheistic religions belonged to the pastoral-nomadic tribes of dry and desert regions. In this article, the relationship between climate and ideology in the course of human cultural evolution from the Neolithic to the Modern age is investigated. The main purpose is to raise awareness about the important mission of religious leaders in changing, modifying, and adjusting effectively some religious laws in line with the current climate change resilience, adaptation, and mitigation programs. This can also significantly reduce the possible domestic socio-political threats of the developing countries that are more involved with the climatic consequences of global warming.