...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 “I think a religious person would probably be harder to work with because of X”, or “I think a religious person would be less likely to have trait Y”, rather than “religious people are worse at jobs”.
The specifics aren’t 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: “is that actually what they said?”. It also made it hard to understand the context of your counterarguments, since there weren’t any arguments to counter.
Religion can sometimes be a relevant qualification, of course; if my childhood synagogue hired a Christian rabbi, I’d have some questions. But I assume that’s 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 he’d be less likely to hire Christians because they’re less likely to be intelligent
Please don’t assume that EAs don’t actually say outrageously offensive things—they really do sometimes!
Edit: A friend told me I should clarify this was a teenage edgelord—I don’t want people to assume this kind of thing gets said all the time!
And since posting this I’ve said this to several people and 1 was like “yeah no I would downrate religious people too”
I think a poll on this could be pretty uncomfortable reading. If you don’t, 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 don’t think this one is “less than the population”
“I think religious people are less likely to have trait Y” was one form I thought that comment might have taken, and it turns out “trait Y” was “intelligence”.
Now that I’ve heard this detail, it’s easier to understand what misguided ideas were going through the speaker’s mind. I’m less confused now.
“Religious people are bad at jobs” sounds to me like “chewing gum is dangerous” — my reaction is “What are you talking about? That sounds wrong, and also… huh?”
By comparison, “religious people are less intelligent” sounds to me like “chewing gum is poisonous” — it’s easier to parse that statement, and compare it to my experience of the world, because it’s 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 “I think a religious person would probably be harder to work with because of X”, or “I think a religious person would be less likely to have trait Y”, rather than “religious people are worse at jobs”.
The specifics aren’t 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: “is that actually what they said?”. It also made it hard to understand the context of your counterarguments, since there weren’t any arguments to counter.
Religion can sometimes be a relevant qualification, of course; if my childhood synagogue hired a Christian rabbi, I’d have some questions. But I assume that’s 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 he’d be less likely to hire Christians because they’re less likely to be intelligent
Please don’t assume that EAs don’t actually say outrageously offensive things—they really do sometimes!
Edit: A friend told me I should clarify this was a teenage edgelord—I don’t want people to assume this kind of thing gets said all the time!
And since posting this I’ve said this to several people and 1 was like “yeah no I would downrate religious people too”
I think a poll on this could be pretty uncomfortable reading. If you don’t, 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 don’t think this one is “less than the population”
That’s exactly what I mean!
“I think religious people are less likely to have trait Y” was one form I thought that comment might have taken, and it turns out “trait Y” was “intelligence”.
Now that I’ve heard this detail, it’s easier to understand what misguided ideas were going through the speaker’s mind. I’m less confused now.
“Religious people are bad at jobs” sounds to me like “chewing gum is dangerous” — my reaction is “What are you talking about? That sounds wrong, and also… huh?”
By comparison, “religious people are less intelligent” sounds to me like “chewing gum is poisonous” — it’s easier to parse that statement, and compare it to my experience of the world, because it’s 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.