• tetris11@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    2 days ago

    You know what I mean though - effective altruism rewards only the groups those spending the money want to prosper, which is usually in that groups’ own self-interest

    • Flax@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      Sounds like we’re just unproductively strawmanning here with no real proof

      • tetris11@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        20 hours ago

        or quietly backpedalling in an attempt to not get entrenched in frank discussion

        • Flax@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          19 hours ago

          Are you a Christian? Do you have any Christian background? Did you witness Christians only helping other Christians? I and my fellow congregants have given to charity that doesn’t discriminate, such as foodbanks, foreign aid, etc. On occasions we have donated to a Church, but that was mainly for building maintenance repairs - it’s actually very pricey to maintain an old listed building. There was a parish which had roof issues and a potential risk of falling masonry. It was on a backlog to repair, not necessarily an imminent threat unless something crumbles off and falls. So to deal with it, they installed a discreet grating above all entrances into the Church for health and safety until they can actually get around to fixing the roof. Unfortunately, the council got upset that they fitted this discreet grating on a listed building, made them remove it which meant they had to last minute before the harvest service, ask for donations to fix the roof instead of their usual collection for a food bank. This church building is also open during the week and has a small little museum exhibit in one of the transepts, so it does lend it’s heritage quite well to everyone in the community whether or not they are believers.

          • tetris11@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            18 hours ago

            I have friends who are christians, and lived in a somewhat idyllic evangalical village in Germany for many years. I apologise if my comment seemed like it was targeting solely christians, my comment was more about large self-interest groups in general as well as being a critique on charity.

            The Salvation Army is one where there was large misuse of donated funds, evangelicals in America are currently funding far-right magnates, and the muslim caliphate is building mosques in every village in Turkey under the guise of do-gooding. Outside the sphere of religion, you have the Bill Gates Foundation petitioning to not release the covid vaccine for free, and various billionaires funding far-right groups under charitable tax laws.

            My point being, any institution will ultimately look after their own interests. In your case, perhaps not at the expense of others, but in many other cases, usually to promote their own agendas, enriching others selectively rather than broadly.

            In a fairer world, taxes would pay for social welfare regardless of anyone’s creed.

            • Flax@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              7 hours ago

              I know salvation army is often avoided. They’ve always seemed a bit odd to me. They attempt to create their own denomination or something but don’t practice the sacraments? So they don’t really have a real church but they aren’t heretical either. They’re in a weird limbo.

              I’m interested to hear more about the American far right magnates. Non-churchgoers tend to have a higher chance of being far right.