Friday, April 23, 2010

Secular religions

Carpe Diem quotes from an article in the Wall Street Journal, which unfortunately requires subscription:
"Many observers have made the point that environmentalism is eerily close to a religious belief system. Consider some of the ways in which environmental behaviors echo religious behaviors and thus provide meaningful rituals for Greens...."
The author, Emory University economics professor Paul H. Rubin, goes on to mention a Holy Day (Earth Day), self-sacrificing rituals, belief systems not based on evidence, sacred structures, and evangelization.

Viewing environmentalism as religion seems to be pretty common among economists, perhaps because economics is a competing secular religion. 

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