Yeah, I had wondered about this, as certain religious subcommunities seem the main precedents for moral ambitiousness. But of course there’s also an awful lot of parochialism and explicit demonization of outgroups inherent in many religious communities. (Evangelical Christianity in the US does not seem accurately characterized as driven by universal beneficence, for example!) Given the immense size of major religions, I’d be wary of attributing beneficentrism to religious institutions as a whole on the basis of what “can be found” amongst some (arguably non-representative) members.
But yes, I think at least some highly-specified religious sub-communities could be a good place to look here. (And I’d guess that’s precisely where “EA for Christians” outreach is most successful.)
Yeah, I had wondered about this, as certain religious subcommunities seem the main precedents for moral ambitiousness. But of course there’s also an awful lot of parochialism and explicit demonization of outgroups inherent in many religious communities. (Evangelical Christianity in the US does not seem accurately characterized as driven by universal beneficence, for example!) Given the immense size of major religions, I’d be wary of attributing beneficentrism to religious institutions as a whole on the basis of what “can be found” amongst some (arguably non-representative) members.
But yes, I think at least some highly-specified religious sub-communities could be a good place to look here. (And I’d guess that’s precisely where “EA for Christians” outreach is most successful.)