I love this post. I’m a secular atheist and am strongly influenced by the New Atheism movement, but even I must admit there are habits and customs we can learn from religions and religious communities that can be beneficial if we apply it to ourselves and our communities.
Some of the acts Tyler Cowen recommended was abstaining from alcohol, being co-dependent on others (if I recall that correctly), having many children, and building private social safety nets.
(I’m just listing what Cowen said and am not saying I agree or disagree with them all).
I’ve been trying to find this book which talks about the importance of ritual for secular people (I think the author was a secular atheist too). Lmk if anyone knows the name of the book I’m talking about.
Really great to hear—yes I don’t advocate for adopting Quaker views, but I do think Quaker practices may be of some use to us. Which ones, and in what ways, I don’t know—but I do consider its worth taking a very broad look at the Quakers and attempting some versions of key parts of their practices.
Yeah. I like your analogy of EA and Quakers being a minority, but hopefully, EA can make an ethical revolution as the Quakers did with the abolition of slavery. We can certainly learn some tactics and habits from them while simultaneously not believing in their faith.
If someone is interested in looking more into this, I remember Willam MacAskill wrote about Quakers and their impact on the abolition movement in “What We Owe the Future.”
I love this post. I’m a secular atheist and am strongly influenced by the New Atheism movement, but even I must admit there are habits and customs we can learn from religions and religious communities that can be beneficial if we apply it to ourselves and our communities.
Some of the acts Tyler Cowen recommended was abstaining from alcohol, being co-dependent on others (if I recall that correctly), having many children, and building private social safety nets.
(I’m just listing what Cowen said and am not saying I agree or disagree with them all).
I’ve been trying to find this book which talks about the importance of ritual for secular people (I think the author was a secular atheist too). Lmk if anyone knows the name of the book I’m talking about.
Really great to hear—yes I don’t advocate for adopting Quaker views, but I do think Quaker practices may be of some use to us. Which ones, and in what ways, I don’t know—but I do consider its worth taking a very broad look at the Quakers and attempting some versions of key parts of their practices.
Yeah. I like your analogy of EA and Quakers being a minority, but hopefully, EA can make an ethical revolution as the Quakers did with the abolition of slavery. We can certainly learn some tactics and habits from them while simultaneously not believing in their faith.
If someone is interested in looking more into this, I remember Willam MacAskill wrote about Quakers and their impact on the abolition movement in “What We Owe the Future.”