A case for Christian longtermism

This essay was originally published in May 2022 on a Substack that I haven’t continued. In August 2023 I also submitted it as a main piece of writing to apply to the first Roots of Progress blog building intensive. (I wasn’t selected; ROP is still awesome)

How often do you think about your grandchildren? Or your great-grand-children? Including — and especially — if you are single or don’t have any kids?

And what about a different question: how often should you think about your (maybe hypothetical) grandchildren?

There is a school of thought called longtermism (a movement? a meme? an emergent worldview?) that says: you should think about your grandchildren, and other people’s grandchildren, a whole lot. In fact, you should care greatly about them, and the many generations that hopefully follow.

Wikipedia, citing Fin Moorhouse defines longtermism as “an ethical stance which gives priority to improving the long-term future. It is an important concept in effective altruism and serves as a primary motivation for efforts to reduce existential risks to humanity.”

I want to sketch an argument in favor of a subset of longtermism that could be called “Christian longtermism.” By Christian longtermism, I mean longtermism that is motivated by specific Christian beliefs — in addition to (not instead of) other ethical or moral arguments in favor of longtermism.

I think this is a different argument from “should Christians be effective altruists?” or “should longtermists be Christians?” or “are utilitarianism and Christianity compatible?” I can’t address all that right now. Rather, I’m trying to lay out a shortlist of some interesting beliefs that might motivate a Christian to consider longtermism. And especially a unique kind or flavor of longtermism anchored in those beliefs.

The main points are:

Stewarding creation has to be for the long haul
Loving your neighbor includes future neighbors
Caring for your family should include the long run
Freedom from death is freedom from short-term thinking
The resurrection may suggest the importance of this earth in particular
“Your kingdom come” is a long, long process

Therefore, there are particular Christian theological reasons to think and care greatly about the long term future of this world and the people in it.

This essay is an early set of thoughts that I think make a preliminary case for Christian longtermism. I am not saying that Christians should be longtermists — just that there are some interesting ideas to think about. I think these are interesting enough that I want to start writing and thinking about them more. It’s a public invitation to myself to explore further.

This essay is not an exhaustive list or a textbook-level argument. There are surely some other ideas, some better and some worse. It’s also not a complete background; others have written about this topic before and I still have a lot to learn. I’m not yet addressing any counterarguments (there are many). It’s also not a broader discussion of how effective altruism & religion more broadly are / are not compatible. And it’s also not a research agenda, though I would like to set one out.

If you’re not religious, should you keep reading? I hope so; especially if you are well-versed in the effective altruism movement but unfamiliar with these teachings. For someone who already has a wide understanding of Christian tradition, I hope you are inspired to think deeper about these ideas. Of course, I’m not at all the first to write about this topic (see further reading below).

So to the point, a case for Christian longtermism:

1. Stewarding creation has to be for the long haul

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28, NASB)

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. (Genesis 2:15, NASB)

Passages like these in the book of Genesis are often cited as a reason for a “creation mandate” or “stewardship mandate” — the idea that humans are tasked by God with taking care of the earth.

Admittedly some have taken that idea towards extremes, such as that “subdue” is reason to downplay climate change and license to exploit other animals. Or in another direction, interpreting that “tending” the earth means we should be anti-big-tech, anti-progress Luddites.

The truth is probably in the in-between. But it’s clear that a major theme in the creation narrative is God inviting humans to take care of the earth. What does it mean to take care of something? To tend and cultivate it? I don’t know exactly, but it probably doesn’t include short-term destruction.

One could hardly argue that stewardship ending in destruction is good. Fulfilling the stewardship mandate given in the Garden therefore requires taking care of creation with a long term, sustainable view.

2. Loving your neighbor includes future neighbors

And behold, a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29, NASB)

In response to this question Jesus tells the famous parable of the ”good Samaritan.” Many understand this parable to mean that the answer to “who is my neighbor?” is expansive — the answer includes many humans, definitely humans the question-asker didn’t expect, and probably includes anyone.

If “who is my neighbor” includes anyone or everyone, is it not a small jump to say that it also includes future people? It seems to me that “loving your neighbor as yourself” should include those yet to be born. Your future neighbors!

What exactly this principle looks like in practice, I’m not sure. And there are obvious places for debate, like whether there should be a ”social discount rate.” But I find it puzzling that we are so keen to ask for the “golden rule” today and yet don’t offer to apply it to tomorrow. Why not? Loving your neighbor includes future neighbors.

3. Caring for your family should include the long run

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5, NASB)

In the Christian tradition there is a strong emphasis on the importance of family. The theme of family runs throughout the Bible (but note that often “family” is much more broadly defined than, say, the stereotypical family of 1950s America).

This emphasis on family is in part reflected in American cultural conservatism’s focus on the “traditional family.” Regardless of what you think of that focus — no doubt it’s done some harm — I think there is a clear implication or extension. If you really think it’s important for everyone to focus on family, shouldn’t you take a long-term view? For the same reason parents save for retirement and for their children’s education, what about your grandchildren and the children after that?

It’s hard to care about future generations in the abstract. But for most people, with any luck, your family is part of those future generations. A true emphasis on family necessarily gives importance to future family too.

4. Freedom from death is freedom from short-term thinking

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:2, NASB)

There is a Christian teaching that believer’s are free from fear of death. If you believe Jesus died and then was resurrected, then death is defeated. Not that people won’t die, they will, but that death does not have to be feared.

No aim here to examine that belief in full, or even in part. But what are the implications of that belief? One seems to me to be that you would be freed up to think long term.

Fear of death forces us towards short-term thinking. For example, when someone is afraid for their life in a dangerous situation, with adrenaline pumping, they are thinking about nothing but the present. How to get out of the situation. They are thinking in the short term (for good reason). Even absent immediate danger the same holds. If you’re worried about next week, it’s hard to think about next year; stress inhibits planning ahead.

So if you are free from fear of death, you are also free to think long-term. You are invited to imagine what could be there when you’re gone and joyfully start to build it.

5. The resurrection may suggest the importance of this earth in particular

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:12-14, NASB)

The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed affirm the “resurrection of the body” and the “resurrection of the dead,” respectively. Generally this belief is that at Christ’s second coming, the dead will be resurrected. Most people have heard of this idea before, but many miss a detail: usually the interpretation is that it is one’s same body that is resurrected — see 1 Corinthians, or some philosophy here or here — and then remade (in some mysterious, unknown way).

Whatever you think of those beliefs, that detail is fascinating. Most Christians believe (maybe without realizing) that their same body — in an ontological sense — will be resurrected and renewed.

In parallel, the Book of Revelation speaks to “a new heaven and a new earth.” It isn’t clear whether or not “new earth” is the same — in an ontological sense — as the current earth. For instance, the wikipedia page on new earth leaves that question open.

Eschatology is confusing and no one really knows; but what I would suggest is that it’s possible that in the same way the “resurrection of the body” hinges on the same ontological bodies, yet renewed and remade, that the “new earth” could be ontologically the same, yet renewed and remade.

Many Christians point to the “resurrection of the body” as an important reason to take care of your body (perhaps sometimes to extreme ends, such as avoiding cremation) even though that body will be made new. In the same way, does the coming of a new earth also suggest the importance of taking care of this earth as well?

Between that and the creation mandate I see a clear emphasis on the importance of this earth in particular. It’s therefore worthwhile to care for the earth with a long run view.

6. “Your kingdom come” is a long, long process

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.‘” (Matthew 6:9-13, NASB)

The Lord’s Prayer has been core to liturgical traditions for centuries. Part of this prayer guides the petitioner to ask for God’s “kingdom” to come on earth. Another core Christian teaching is that God invites people to be a part of bringing that kingdom about, as ambassadors and through good works set out for them.

But does anyone think this will be a quick process? I doubt the early Christ-followers thought so. Nor does it seem quick today. Despite efforts by the powerful church-as-institution over centuries, or by culture-war evangelicals in recent decades, or by faithful missionaries over two millennia, “your kingdom come” doesn’t seem finished yet.

For humans, sanctification and discipleship are slow processes! Eugene Peterson characterized the faithful life as ”a long obedience in the same direction” (in fact quoting Nietzche. Likewise for any sort of collective regeneration — “your kingdom come” it seems Christians should expect that to be slow too.

In the Lord’s Prayer, you are invited to help bring about the Kingdom of God here, now, on earth — and that is no doubt a long process. So if you believe this calling, you should take a long-term perspective to it. Forming your life around it now, but expecting a long, long process.

If you made it this far, thanks. In short: There are specific Christian beliefs that, when considered carefully, should motivate longterm thinking. Packaged together, I think the implications of these beliefs create an interesting argument in favor of some sort of “Christian longtermism” — that is, longtermism motivated by specific Christian beliefs.

Some topics I would like to explore next:

Common objections to this argument?
What do other religions teach about longtermism?
Should effective altruists want religious people involved?

For further reading:

Ben Thomas