This article argues that religious beliefs significantly influence a community’s understanding
and experience of climate change adaptation, indicating the need for an inclusion of such
information in climate change adaptation education. Data were collected using the Q-method,
whereby recurring statements were identified from semi-structured interviews with
participants from three rural communities in the North-West province of South Africa: Ikageng,
Ventersdorp and Jouberton. The research found that community members who regard
themselves as religious (overall of the Christian faith) fall under two groups: the religious
determinists or fatalists, who see climate as a natural process that is governed by God, and
religious participants who deny this ‘naturalness’ and acknowledge humans’ impact on the
climate.