---
title: "Effective altruism, “ancient wisdom”, and the cult of celebrity diets"
date: "2016-10-03T11:26:45+01:00"
modified: "2016-10-03T11:26:45+01:00"
url: "https://newhumanist.org.uk/2016/10/03/effective-altruism-ancient-wisdom-and-the-cult-of-celebrity-diets/"
post_id: 6573
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# Effective altruism, “ancient wisdom”, and the cult of celebrity diets

1\. [The dangerous stereotype of the self-hating homophobe](/articles/5082/the-dangerous-stereotype-of-the-self-hating-homophobe)

The assumption that homophobic attackers are themselves secretly gay – widely circulated after the Orlando atrocity – lets straight society off the hook, writes Alex Macpherson.

2\. [Reforming Pakistan’s madrasas](/articles/5088/reforming-pakistans-madrasas)

Numbering in the tens of thousands, are Pakistan’s infamous religious schools really beyond reform? Samira Shackle reports.

3\. [How to give better](/articles/5079/how-to-give-better)

Toby Lichtig asks: if you donate money to charity, should your decisions be a matter for the head or the heart?

4\. [Postcards from the past: what’s wrong with “ancient wisdom”?](/articles/5084/postcards-from-the-past-whats-wrong-with-ancient-wisdom)

Writing on “ancient wisdom” now comprises a genre of its own, says Michel Petheram. Is this an uncritical attitude to the thinkers of the past?

5\. [The cult of celebrity diets](/articles/5083/the-cult-of-celebrity-diets)

Today’s celebrity food purists are as sanctimonious as the religious in their devotion to dietary codes, writes Sally Feldman.

[*Previous selection of long-reads*](/articles/5076/russias-stalinist-revival-inside-the-detention-industry-and-st-augustine)

*[More on our Autumn issue – out now](/articles/5075/the-autumn-2016-new-humanist-is-out-now)*