Wednesday, 3 April 2019

It is religious belongingness that matters for neighbourliness, not religious believing

Common sense would tell you that the more time and money people give to their religious groups, the less they have left over for everything else. But common sense turns out to be wrong. Putnam and Campbell found that the more frequently people attend religious services, the more generous and charitable they become across the board. 
...
beliefs and practices turned out to matter very little. Whether you believe in hell, whether you pray daily, whether you are a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or  Mormon .... none of these things correlated with generosity.The only thing that was reliably and powerfully associated with the moral benefits of religion was [author's italics] how enmeshed people were in relationships with their co-religionists.

It is religious belongingness that matters for neighbourliness, not religious believing.

J, Haidt, The righteous mind (2012), 310-311

Sunday, 31 March 2019

Theories are cheap. Anyone can invent one.

In psychology, theories are cheap. Anyone can invent one .Progress happens when theories are tested, supported, and corrected by empirical evidence, especially when a theory proves to be useful - for example, if it helps people to understand why half the people in their country seem to live in a different moral universe.

J, Haidt, The righteous mind (2012), 149

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

She cried like a hosepipe that had been slashed

When Thandiwe had to leave the house she cried like a hosepipe that had been slashed. Tears spurted from her eyes on to the towel wrapped around her belly. She cried while her mother held her in her lap and dressed her in the brand new school shoes she had bought from her wages. Her little girl arms that smelt of Lux were wrapped round her mother's neck.

D. Levy, Things I don't want to know (2013), 47-8

Monday, 25 March 2019

It doesn't have wars, it does have beaches, and it's very poor.

Tanzania is one of the most studied countries in Africa. It doesn't have wars, it does have beaches, and it's very poor. This makes it an NGO and academic honey-pot.

R. George, The big necessity (2008), 237

Sunday, 24 March 2019

Its dispute with Jerusalem over the canonical jurisdiction of Qatar

The different churches had different reasons for boycotting the Council. Antioch's official position was that it reserved the right to decide not to go to the Council if its dispute with Jerusalem over the canonical jurisdiction of Qatar was not resolved before the Council.

B. Gallaher, 'The Orthodox moment: The Holy and Great Council in Crete and Orthodoxy's encounter with the West', Sobornost 39:2 (2017), 59

The Council in question was in 2016

Thursday, 21 March 2019

Before compulsory education, there seems to have been very little difference in the speech of the Scottish and English borderers.

The answers, of course, might turn out to be trivial and obvious. The accent divide [across the Anglo-Scottish border], for instance, is probably quite recent. Local children have the accent of their primary school: pupils at Bewcastle School sound English while pupils at Newcastleton School, six miles away in Scotland, sound Scottish. Before compulsory education to the age of fourteen, there seems to have been very little difference in the speech of the Scottish and English borderers.

G. Robb, The debatable land (2018), 21

Wednesday, 20 March 2019

It's some c**t in a clown suit

The filming [Of the Ashes to Ashes video] was interrupted by an old man walking his dog in a very leisurely way. When the director gestured to Bowie - sitting patiently to one side - and asked the old man, 'Do you know who this is?' the fellow replied, 'Of course I do. It's some c**t in a clown suit.'

S. Reynolds, Shock and Awe: Glam rock and its legacy (2016), 647