It’s probably controversial to list a church, but I walked in to the church and got a bible study on how to effectively help people in global poverty, and absolutely loved it.
I definitely think that Churches are a good place to start for places similar to EA, simply because I find that communities around churches have a lot of what I call “intent to do good”. Particularly, In my experience, they seem to be unusually disposed to help reduce global poverty.
Further, when coming into Christianity, I found that there are concepts that are incredibly similar to Peter Singer’s notion of strong obligation to help the poor. Examples include:
“If you wish to be perfect, sell all you own and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33)
“What you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, you do for me” (Matthew 25:40)
I’m so convinced of this, that even though I would call myself an atheist, I still heavily involve myself with my church community in order to try make a difference in the way that people view the church, and to direct the church in ways that we can help more people.
Strong endorse. Long before I came across EA as a movement I had adopted the philosophical foundations of it for religious reasons. Although the specific verses that struck me were not the ones about perfection, which sounds optional, but the greatest commandment, which sounds obligatory:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment.And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39. The first didn’t really sound actionable beyond state of mind because God doesn’t need anything, so the implication is that in practice all one’s effort needs to go into the second. And if you actually love your neighbor as yourself, you naturally think about effectiveness, not just intentions.
To me, The Uniting Church of Australia.
It’s probably controversial to list a church, but I walked in to the church and got a bible study on how to effectively help people in global poverty, and absolutely loved it.
I definitely think that Churches are a good place to start for places similar to EA, simply because I find that communities around churches have a lot of what I call “intent to do good”. Particularly, In my experience, they seem to be unusually disposed to help reduce global poverty.
Further, when coming into Christianity, I found that there are concepts that are incredibly similar to Peter Singer’s notion of strong obligation to help the poor. Examples include:
“If you wish to be perfect, sell all you own and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33)
“What you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, you do for me” (Matthew 25:40)
I’m so convinced of this, that even though I would call myself an atheist, I still heavily involve myself with my church community in order to try make a difference in the way that people view the church, and to direct the church in ways that we can help more people.
Strong endorse. Long before I came across EA as a movement I had adopted the philosophical foundations of it for religious reasons. Although the specific verses that struck me were not the ones about perfection, which sounds optional, but the greatest commandment, which sounds obligatory:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39. The first didn’t really sound actionable beyond state of mind because God doesn’t need anything, so the implication is that in practice all one’s effort needs to go into the second. And if you actually love your neighbor as yourself, you naturally think about effectiveness, not just intentions.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s remotely controversial to list a church.
Thanks for writing :)
Also not necessarily not not EA: https://www.eaforchristians.org/ :)