The faith to save mountains: Religion and resistance to mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia

Mountaintop removal coal mining, a form of surface mining practiced in the Central Appalachian states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, presents one of the most significant environmental issues of the 21st century. Impacted Appalachian communities are often forced to choose between the few jobs offered by mountaintop mines and the preservation of the region's mountains, ecological diversity, and water quality. For national environmental groups, mountaintop removal represents a focal point for the continued fight against U.S. fossil fuel dependency and its connections to climate change. Many of these activists incorporate cultural and religious narratives into their work, whether evangelical Christian views of stewardship and creation care, mainline Protestant and Catholic views of social justice, or forms of nature-based religion. Despite significant differences (for example, evangelical activists sometimes disagree with radical environmental activists on certain social policies), these groups manage to work effectively together, respecting their mutual differences while sharing commitments to preserve Appalachian communities and ecosystems.;While some environmental groups have downplayed or simplified religious values in the past, the case of resistance to mountaintop removal reveals that religious values are necessary components of broader worldviews that motivate and support environmental activism for some impacted communities. The influence of the movement against mountaintop removal on local communities partially derives from the commitment of its organizers to respecting local religious values, elevating local citizens to positions of leadership, and allowing impacted communities to guide the methods used to contest the mining practice. This case thus represents a valuable study on the place of religious values in grassroots environmental activism, offering models for incorporating diverse religious perspectives into the movement while at the same time respecting differences. The case also provides tools for scholars of religion and Appalachian history to understand the complex ways that religious values are translated into individual behaviors. Religious resistance to mountaintop removal reveals the place of local religious values among a myriad of factors and values that influence responses to an environmentally and socially damaging practice.