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TheOtherDave comments on The Santa deception: how did it affect you? - Less Wrong
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All right, both very fair points. Let's shift gears; please help me leave a line of retreat.
How do atheists generally cultivate altruism? Note that I'm NOT claiming that atheists are less moral on average, still less that theism is somehow required for certain levels of morality. Both of those are really stupid things to say.
What I am concerned about is that even upon being exposed to the logic of non-zero-sum games, some people remain remarkably selfish and/or cynical. Is there any way to deliberately increase their altruism and/or idealism without resorting to mysticism or religion?
Well, yes: encourage them to develop social bonds to a group of secularists among whom altruist and/or idealist activities are highly valued, preferably one with mechanisms to prevent cheap methods for signaling altruism and/or idealism to displace those activities.
Of course, that raises the question of how to identify such a group... or create it in the first place.
Among secularists, the term ‘humanist’ is a good sign. I belong to a community of secular humanists (although it doesn't have enough families to help with raising children yet).
You can get a close copy of mainline Protestant church socialisation at a Unitarian Universalist congregation in the United States. (Individual congregations vary widely, however, and not all are really secular, with various degrees of monotheism, neopaganism, and pantheism all possible in the culture, although they should be accepting of anybody.)