Comment on OUR OPINION: Act in faithfulness ‘as long as ever you can’

The 2016 summer of violence and protest in many places across the United States starkly underscores the divisions and problems rising from issues of race, culture, religion and politics. Our historically civil society has become less civil and in some cases on the edge of significant unrest and prolonged divisiveness. Yet, even in the middle of such disturbing tensions many if not most of the major philanthropic and humanitarian movements and organizations in America continue their outreach and work with their clients and constituents in physical, emotional, spiritual and financial need. Most Americans want to keep on making a difference, donating time, money and effort to charities and causes deemed worthy. William MacAskill, a Scots philosopher, makes a reasonable argument that acts of charity can become even more meaningful if donors act out of fact-based information rather than only on impulse. MacAskill, only 29 but already a teacher at the University of Oxford, developed what they call effective altruism.