In a recent report by the Pew Hispanic Center, we had some new statistics available for the religious diversity within the Latino populations. The published findings only show us the registered voter group of Latinos surveyed which is not an identical match to the other figures I presented in a previous post, but until we can access the actual data , we may need to go with what we have. This got me thinking, why not try and pick up... Read more
Yet another interesting map from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. This gets at how varied, or diverse, religious affiliation is in different regions of the country. As you can see, the areas with the most diversity also tend to have the lowest rates of adherence, which would seem counter-intuitive–at least from the perspective of Rational Choice theory. One might expect that more offerings, i.e., more types of religions, would promote greater involvement in religion. Read more
When, as a 7th grader, I wrote a speech based on Martin Seligman’s theory of learned helplessness, little did I imagine that several decades later I would be sitting at Professor Seligman’s kitchen table discussing what positive psychology can learn from sociology, and vice-versa. My mother, who earned a degree in counseling when I was in middle school, must have introduced me to Seligman’s ideas. I was fascinated by stories of how people who were repeatedly exposed to stressors but could... Read more
Recently I gave a talk at a Christian college about the contemporary mating market, and found myself in a conversation afterward with two women students and an administrator. I had mentioned during the talk that it was suboptimal for the mating market that a significant share of Christian men, frustrated by their own penchant for porn, had come to altogether problematize their sex drive and take themselves off of the mating market as being “damaged goods,” unsuitable for a woman.... Read more
What can we do to make ourselves happy? A lot of talk (and research) about happiness focuses on the individual. Is it what we eat? Maybe. This week, a British study released findings that people who eat more fruits and vegetables are happier. Those who ate seven servings daily were the happiest. Is it maintaining a calm environment for yourself? Maybe. Gretchen Rubin was heard this week saying that turning off her phone is one key to happiness. The idea... Read more
In this post I highlight a couple of books I have been reading (which I highly recommend) to discuss with readers of this blog how to interpret a possible connection between the findings I point out. My review here centers on a chapter from a recently published book called “Blacks and Whites in Christian America: How Racial Discrimination Shapes Religious Convictions” by Drs. Jason Shelton (UT-Arlington) and Michael Emerson (Rice), and a chapter from a recently published edited volume “Sustaining... Read more
Protestantism, and its decline, has been in the news a lot this week with a Pew study that the percentage of Protestants in the US has fallen below 50%. Seemed like a good time to show a map of the distribution of Protestant denominations throughout the country. This map is from the always interesting Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, and it highlights the strong regional flavor of Protestantism. (Click to make font more readable. Also, it’s mislabeled as... Read more
Yesterday I sat down in my favorite spot at home and surrounded myself with books and articles and began to draft a new article on personalism and sociology, a topic I have already written about on BW&G. Why do I care about personalism? Every once in a while, it’s good to step back and reflect on our theoretical understanding of key concepts or objects of study. If we don’t, we are prone to making errors in our explanations. An interview I... Read more
I was in the room several years ago when discussions with students of sexual behavior, fertility, and family were solicited from the leadership at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy about expanding their mission to include combatting unplanned pregnancies, following upon the widely-documented success in helping diminish teen pregnancy rates by 30 percent (which most of us recognize as a good thing.) Given that organizations are “conservative” by nature—that is, they seek to survive, even if it means shifting... Read more
This is the third entry of my series based on my latest book entitled What Motivates Cultural Progressives. Just a reminder that this book contains research gathered from open-ended questions in an online survey sent to members of organizations that have as part of their purpose opposition to the Christian or religious right. The basic argument I forwarded in the first two entries is that cultural progressive activists shaped a movement that meets the needs of the people in the... Read more
Black, White and Gray
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