Religion, water and policy

A few months back, I pointed out that “religious ideology can lead to terrible results (e.g., Christians who welcome catastrophic climate change as a sign of end-times, i.e., this or this)” in my weekly newsletter. One reader asked me to “name the specific denomination or kind of Christians who believe this rot rather than using such a broad brush. It certainly does not describe mine.”

That’s a good point, so let’s start with first principles:

1. I don’t care what belief you have or how you manifest that belief when it comes to your individual choices of what private goods to consume, e.g., pork, beef, holy water, trips to some sacred place, etc.
2. I don’t care what belief you have as long as you pay “your fair share” towards public and club goods such as roads, environment, etc. That means pay your taxes and no deductions for religions (or charitable contributions, etc.)
3. I DO care when you vote or act to deplete community (common pool) goods because your religion says that adverse impacts towards infidels or future generations is either irrelevant or condoned.

Under these rules, I allow everyone to do what they want, unless it affects me through deprivation of funding or resources.

The same can be said, btw, for people who behave as homo economicus (me first, screw you) or who have lobbyists to steal from the majority to give to the minority. Those people are just as anti-social.

Did I miss anything? (I included BOTH politics and religion 🙂

Bottom Line: I don’t care what you believe; I care what you do. “My god says so” is no excuse for anti-social behavior.