I just added some new links on recycling:

• Mike Munger:“Think Globally, Act Irrationally”
• John Tierney: “Recycling is Garbage” (New York Times, June 30, 1996)

Articles like these remind us just how gullible we often are as a public, and how careful we should be when starting government programs.

I’m also disturbed by a growing tendency among American evangelicals to embrace "progressive" causes in order to seem more compassionate. Somehow we think that if we support these different causes (particularly ones involving government action) the world will like us more.

Of course, Christians are called to be compassionate to the poor, to care for the environment, and to seek peace. But even though our goals may be similar, our presuppositions about God, man and the world affect the way we believe those goals can be accomplished. We agree on the end but dispute the efficacy or morality of the various means to that end.

The problem arises when the end becomes inextricably linked in the public consciousness with the means to the end:

1. A clean, healthy environment is good.
2. Recycling bottles, cans, glass and paper helps the environment.
3. Therefore, recycling is good.
4. Therefore, anyone who disputes the veracity of #2 is bad.

Ah, circular reasoning…