Once, a certain merchant was traveling upon a deserted road with his donkey and a cart full of pots. Suddenly, the donkey stumbled on a rock and one of the pots fell off the cart and broke into sharp shards.
The merchant said to himself, "These shards are sharp, and someone may be harmed if they pass by. However, I am in a hurry, and this road is rarely traveled, so I will not concern myself with the pot shards." And he continued on his journey.
After a year had passed, a traveler was journeying on that same road and stepped on the sharp shard left by the merchant. The wound was severe, and the traveler could not continue on his journey. And because the road was deserted, he died there.
Amen amen, I say to you, just as surely as if the merchant had killed that traveler with his own hands, he is responsible for his death. And on the day of judgment, he will be held accountable for his actions.
This is the type of parable you might expect Jesus to tell if he wanted to exhort us towards impartiality – to help people no matter how distant from you they might be.
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A common question raised in the context of EA and Christianity is: “To what extent is effective altruism consistent with Christianity?”
I think the EA approach to doing good is quite consistent with Christianity[1]. But it is not a natural extension of Christianity.
In particular, impartiality – core to Effective Altruism – is not core to Christianity. Jesus does not give us any “Parable of the Pot Shards”. His teachings emphasize showing compassion and doing good, but always in the context of helping a person who is directly in front of you.
As Christians I think we should be comfortable with this. God gave us reason and we can use the tools of philosophy to find moral truths. I don’t think there is anything inconsistent between Christ’s teachings and impartiality[2].
But EAs should not think that people in the western world have some latent core belief in impartiality, or that EA is a natural extension of the Judeo-Christian worldview.
This is important because it means that you cannot convince Christians (or those raised in a Christian moral environment) to become EAs on their own existing moral terms. It requires convincing them to buy into a non-intuitive idea – impartiality – that is not core to Christian ethics.
Parable written with the help of ChatGPT
Thanks to JD for discussion that inspired this post
- ^
For examples of emphasis on a few EA-centric traits:
Effectiveness: Jesus gives us the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. And in 1 Corinthians Paul talks about wanting to “win as many possible” for Christ (9:19) and taking advantage of “a wide door for effective work” (16:9).
Widening our moral circle: See how Jesus treats – rhetorically and in personal relationships – outcasts like Samaritans, adulteresses, and tax collectors.
And most obviously general exhortations towards charity and good works infuse the gospels
- ^
And it makes sense that He didn't teach the kind of impartiality that EA does. Jesus lived long ago. Until very recently, it has not been feasible to help people who are not in your immediate community
John 17:20–24
[20] “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, [21] that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. [22] The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, [23] I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. [24] Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (ESV)
I think this famous passage in John 17, the whole chapter a long prayer by Jesus the night before he is betrayed and the events leading to his crucifixion, has a number of moments that speak of the connections between humans over the unending generations. Even though this is from 2,000 years ago, when he prays in verse 20, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word" as a young reader in a study group I remember we all noticed this meant Jesus was praying for us, we were the future people who would believe because others sent this story down through the generations. If we could feel that way after 2,000 years, why should it ever end? It implies all future humans.
I included the whole passage because of how he keeps bunching everyone together saying we are all one. This also speaks of impartiality. All humans are one with God just as God and Jesus are one with each other. The moral circle never stops expanding.
Then also, the final he asks that we be with him to see his glory, given by God before the foundation of the world...So now he reverses and rather than speaking for all time forward, he goes back to all time already past...in this way it is all encompassing. Ancient people may not have had opportunity to help others far away, and thus to even think about it, but like many other moral issues, he sets a way of thinking that we can easily apply to the specifics as our thinking evolves over all time.
There are innumerable new moral challenges as humans populations expand over time, many never mentioned in the New Testament, but timeless principles like this help us negotiate the new. So none of these things are specifically baked in, but the universal for all humans for all times principles are definitely baked in like fine pottery.
I feel the need to mention, I am a universalist believing all humans are saved (within Christian beliefs) and then expanding out to all religions a Universalist believing all religions are equally from God, on the days I believe in God, there are many other days in which I don't believe in God. I like the conflict.