I don’t think having people label themselves with a noun—“Christian”, “dancer”, “student”—necessarily makes other people uncomfortable associating with them. I don’t think it’s wrong for people who aren’t Christians to attend church, but I also don’t think nobody referring to themselves as Christians would be a useful way to make people more comfortable at church. If you’re worried about people being uncomfortable at EAG, I think the name “EA” is the least likely to be causing the problem.
I don’t think there’s anything necessary or inevitable about it! My sentiments reflect things I’ve seen other people say (e.g. “I don’t know if I count as an ‘effective altruist’, I’m new here/don’t have belief X”), but how people feel about this and other identity questions is (of course) all over the map. And as I said, I have no problem with anyone referring to themselves as an effective altruist—I just don’t have a problem with the opposite, either.
To use the church analogy: If some people at a church call themselves “Christians”, others “Southern Baptists”, others “religious seekers”, others “spiritual”, and still others “agnostic/uncertain”, I wouldn’t expect that to make things less comfortable for newcomers. (Though attending Unitarian church as a kid might have left me biased in this area!)
I agree that there are many reasons someone might feel uncomfortable at a conference or community event, and I think we both see the particular question of when to use “effective altruist” is just one tiny facet of community cohesion.
I don’t think having people label themselves with a noun—“Christian”, “dancer”, “student”—necessarily makes other people uncomfortable associating with them. I don’t think it’s wrong for people who aren’t Christians to attend church, but I also don’t think nobody referring to themselves as Christians would be a useful way to make people more comfortable at church. If you’re worried about people being uncomfortable at EAG, I think the name “EA” is the least likely to be causing the problem.
I don’t think there’s anything necessary or inevitable about it! My sentiments reflect things I’ve seen other people say (e.g. “I don’t know if I count as an ‘effective altruist’, I’m new here/don’t have belief X”), but how people feel about this and other identity questions is (of course) all over the map. And as I said, I have no problem with anyone referring to themselves as an effective altruist—I just don’t have a problem with the opposite, either.
To use the church analogy: If some people at a church call themselves “Christians”, others “Southern Baptists”, others “religious seekers”, others “spiritual”, and still others “agnostic/uncertain”, I wouldn’t expect that to make things less comfortable for newcomers. (Though attending Unitarian church as a kid might have left me biased in this area!)
I agree that there are many reasons someone might feel uncomfortable at a conference or community event, and I think we both see the particular question of when to use “effective altruist” is just one tiny facet of community cohesion.