Well, I did my best to understand your essay, Dov.
I will say that some religious organizations do good works as part of their faith, and that those organizations offer value to their communities. There might be effective ways to support their community that a religious charity would adopt with help from the EA community, and vice-versa. The two communities could help each other.
Thank you very much for doing your best and sorry about not being clearer in my first draft. I really appreciate your comments, they have definitely helped me clarify this essay. I’m sorry I was harsh in my last comment (I deleted the harsh parts).
“I will say that some… The two communities could help each other.”
I agree. As I mentioned in my essay, there is considerable overlap in EA and religion.
Here’s a quote I like but didn’t get a chance to mention:
“But, curiously, religious commitment and effective altruism are united in telling us we should not serve mammon. They are united in claiming that the ordinary, 21st-century American and Western European way of living has gone drastically wrong, and that we need to create a different way of living from the ground up. They are united in thinking that people who are not part of our everyday social group should occupy a much larger part of our concern. They are united in thinking that our focus should be on others rather than on ourselves, not just part of the time, but as a way of life.”
Well, I did my best to understand your essay, Dov.
I will say that some religious organizations do good works as part of their faith, and that those organizations offer value to their communities. There might be effective ways to support their community that a religious charity would adopt with help from the EA community, and vice-versa. The two communities could help each other.
Thank you very much for doing your best and sorry about not being clearer in my first draft. I really appreciate your comments, they have definitely helped me clarify this essay. I’m sorry I was harsh in my last comment (I deleted the harsh parts).
I agree. As I mentioned in my essay, there is considerable overlap in EA and religion.
Here’s a quote I like but didn’t get a chance to mention:
“But, curiously, religious commitment and effective altruism are united in telling us we should not serve mammon. They are united in claiming that the ordinary, 21st-century American and Western European way of living has gone drastically wrong, and that we need to create a different way of living from the ground up. They are united in thinking that people who are not part of our everyday social group should occupy a much larger part of our concern. They are united in thinking that our focus should be on others rather than on ourselves, not just part of the time, but as a way of life.”
Source: “Effective Altruism and Religion Synergies, Tensions, Dialogue” edited by D. Roser et. al; published 2022; accessible at https://philarchive.org/archive/RIEEAA-3
I get the feeling you might like this book and thanks again for your feedback!