...they would be less likely to hire someone on the basis of their religion because it would imply they were less good at their job.
Some feedback on this post: this part was confusing. I assume that what this person said was something like âI think a religious person would probably be harder to work with because of Xâ, or âI think a religious person would be less likely to have trait Yâ, rather than âreligious people are worse at jobsâ.
The specifics arenât very important here, since the reasons not to discriminate against people for traits unrelated to their qualifications[1] are collectively overwhelming. But the lack of specifics made me think to myself: âis that actually what they said?â. It also made it hard to understand the context of your counterarguments, since there werenât any arguments to counter.
Religion can sometimes be a relevant qualification, of course; if my childhood synagogue hired a Christian rabbi, Iâd have some questions. But I assume thatâs not what the anecdotal person was thinking about.
The person who was told this was me, and the person I was talking to straight up told me heâd be less likely to hire Christians because theyâre less likely to be intelligent
Please donât assume that EAs donât actually say outrageously offensive thingsâthey really do sometimes!
Edit: A friend told me I should clarify this was a teenage edgelordâI donât want people to assume this kind of thing gets said all the time!
And since posting this Iâve said this to several people and 1 was like âyeah no I would downrate religious people tooâ
I think a poll on this could be pretty uncomfortable reading. If you donât, run it and see.
Put it another way, would EAs discriminate against people who believe in astrology? I imagine more than the base rate. Part of me agrees with that, part of me thinks its norm harming to do. But I donât think this one is âless than the populationâ
âI think religious people are less likely to have trait Yâ was one form I thought that comment might have taken, and it turns out âtrait Yâ was âintelligenceâ.
Now that Iâve heard this detail, itâs easier to understand what misguided ideas were going through the speakerâs mind. Iâm less confused now.
âReligious people are bad at jobsâ sounds to me like âchewing gum is dangerousâ â my reaction is âWhat are you talking about? That sounds wrong, and also⌠huh?â
By comparison, âreligious people are less intelligentâ sounds to me like âchewing gum is poisonousâ â itâs easier to parse that statement, and compare it to my experience of the world, because itâs more specific.
*****
As an aside: I spend a lot of time on Twitter. My former job was running the EA Forum. I would never assume that any group has zero members who say offensive things, including EA.
Some feedback on this post: this part was confusing. I assume that what this person said was something like âI think a religious person would probably be harder to work with because of Xâ, or âI think a religious person would be less likely to have trait Yâ, rather than âreligious people are worse at jobsâ.
The specifics arenât very important here, since the reasons not to discriminate against people for traits unrelated to their qualifications[1] are collectively overwhelming. But the lack of specifics made me think to myself: âis that actually what they said?â. It also made it hard to understand the context of your counterarguments, since there werenât any arguments to counter.
Religion can sometimes be a relevant qualification, of course; if my childhood synagogue hired a Christian rabbi, Iâd have some questions. But I assume thatâs not what the anecdotal person was thinking about.
The person who was told this was me, and the person I was talking to straight up told me heâd be less likely to hire Christians because theyâre less likely to be intelligent
Please donât assume that EAs donât actually say outrageously offensive thingsâthey really do sometimes!
Edit: A friend told me I should clarify this was a teenage edgelordâI donât want people to assume this kind of thing gets said all the time!
And since posting this Iâve said this to several people and 1 was like âyeah no I would downrate religious people tooâ
I think a poll on this could be pretty uncomfortable reading. If you donât, run it and see.
Put it another way, would EAs discriminate against people who believe in astrology? I imagine more than the base rate. Part of me agrees with that, part of me thinks its norm harming to do. But I donât think this one is âless than the populationâ
Thatâs exactly what I mean!
âI think religious people are less likely to have trait Yâ was one form I thought that comment might have taken, and it turns out âtrait Yâ was âintelligenceâ.
Now that Iâve heard this detail, itâs easier to understand what misguided ideas were going through the speakerâs mind. Iâm less confused now.
âReligious people are bad at jobsâ sounds to me like âchewing gum is dangerousâ â my reaction is âWhat are you talking about? That sounds wrong, and also⌠huh?â
By comparison, âreligious people are less intelligentâ sounds to me like âchewing gum is poisonousâ â itâs easier to parse that statement, and compare it to my experience of the world, because itâs more specific.
*****
As an aside: I spend a lot of time on Twitter. My former job was running the EA Forum. I would never assume that any group has zero members who say offensive things, including EA.