Bowling Strike — Flickr photo by scottableman
Excerpt:
Putnam also explored another surprising finding: that “if you go to church, you’re nicer.” Whether one looks at measures of community involvement, civic engagement, or charitable giving, he said, “Religious people are better neighbors and better citizens.”
But the finding wasn’t tied to the content of churchgoers’ beliefs (although…
Excerpt: Rod Dreher, late of this site, put in an appearance yesterday in his old newspaper by way of a review essay on Robert Putnam and David Campbell’s hot new book, American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us….
The essay focuses on the book’s central argument that Americans are way more tolerant of each others’ religions than they…
Flickr photo by jaxxon
Rod Dreher calls American Grace “indispensable”. Excerpt from his Dallas Morning News piece:
The good news is that we Americans of different faith traditions get along remarkably well, not by casting aside religion, but by learning how to be tolerant even as we remain religiously engaged.
The bad news is that achieving religious…
Alejandro Gonzalez illustration for USA Today
Excerpt from American Grace co-authors David Campbell and Robert Putnam’s Op-Ed:
Is religion toxic or a tonic for our nation’s civic life? The question often inspires passion, and vitriol, on both sides. Professional atheists like Christopher Hitchens argue that “religion poisons everything,” while advocates for religion, like Glenn Beck, see faith in…
Excerpt:
After a seemingly endless procession of tendentious and hotly argued books espousing “the new atheism” and blaming religion for all that is wrong with the world, American Grace comes as a welcome balm, offering a reasoned discussion of religion and public life. Rather than wrangle over matters of theology and science, Robert Putnam and David Campbell focus on extensive…