When most people skip the meeting, those who are left tend to be more extreme, because they care more about the outcome

If participation in political debate declines - if fewer and fewer voices engage in democratic debate - our politics will become more shrill and less balanced. When most people skip the meeting, those who are left tend to be more extreme, because they care more about the outcome... The correlation between ideological "extremism" and participation strengthened over the last quarter of the twentieth century, as people who characterize themselves as being "middle of the road" ideologically have disproportionately disappeared from public meetings, local organizations, political parties, rallies and the like. In the 1990s, self described political middle-of-the-roaders were about one-half as likely to participate in public meetings, local civic organizations, and political parties as the mid-1970s... The declines were smallest - averaging less than one-fifth - among people who described themselves as "very" liberal or "very" conservative.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 342

Prescient.

If you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half

The bottom line from this multitude of studies: As a rough rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half. if you smoke and belong to no groups, it's a toss up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining. These findings are in some way heartening: it's easier to join a group than lose weight, exercise regularly, or quit smoking.

D. Putnam, Bowling alone (2000), 331

My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbours do the same.

In Chicago young black men who live in neighborhoods with lots of white-collar professionals are more than three times as likely to graduate from high school than are comparable young men who live in neighborhoods with less educated residents. These and dozens more studies suggest that people are profoundly motivated not merely by their own choices and circumstances, but also by the choices and circumstances of their neighbors. My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbors do the same.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 312

Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America

Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America. "The church is people," says Reverend Craig McMullen, the activist co-pastor of the Donchester Temple Baptist Church in Boston. "It's not a building; it's not an institution, even. It is relationships between one person and the next." As a rough rule of thumb, our evidence shows, nearly half of all associational memberships in America are church related, half of all personal philanthropy is religious in character, and half of all volunteering occurs in a religious context.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 66

I thin this really sums up the two sided nature of US religiosity. It is their dominant vehicle for cohesion, but it's do resistant to institutionalisation that it can easily just go off the rails.

Ritualists had odd ideas about the truth

It [his face] looked honest, but you could never tell. According to local report the Vicar was a ritualist, and ritualists had odd ideas about the truth. They would, for instance, subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles and unblushingly invent ingenious ways to get round them.

D.L. Sayers, 'Shocks for the Inspector' in The Detection Club, The Floating Admiral (1931), 94

The fellow only has one virtue - his bluntness. He'll be ghastly if he loses that.

Sir Edgar grunted, he did not trust Clun's sympathy towards Gerald. He thought to himself, I hope Clun isn't going to start getting sanctimonious. The fellow only has one virtue - his bluntness. He'll be ghastly if he loses that.

A. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon attitudes (1956), 320

Fidelity, in my youth, was largely a question of bad roads and poor bus services

Fidelity, in my youth, was largely a question of bad roads and poor bus services - the crack-up began when we began to move about. Now mobility and overcrowding offer so many alternative choices and proliferation of loves that faithfulness to one person almost suggests dim-wittedness.

L.Lee, 'Notes on marriage' Village Christmas and other notes on the English year (2015), 122