Taking Notes by Hand

More reasons for you to take notes by hand
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5776804/note-taking-by-hand-versus-laptop.

Pew Releases Latest Study of Religious Restrictions and Hostilities

According to a new study by the Pew Forum, social hostilities involving religion around the world declined during the past year, breaking a recent trend of increased hostilities.  The 86-page full report is found here.  But you can see a brief overview here.

Spending Habits of Religious Households

See this article from the Economist.  The author reports:

Households "with a strong commitment to faith"— demonstrated by higher spending on religious activities—are less likely to be weighed down by excessive mortgage outgoings or loan payments for cars. Compared with other households, they are more likely to be home owners but their property tax burden tends to be less—suggesting that "some moderation in [the] selection of home in terms of extravagance or location...."

Devout households seem keener on mitigating risk and therefore spend more on life insurance and health insurance; they lay out less on alcohol and tobacco and more on domestic appliances, including cooking utensils...

But religious families do allow themselves some earthly pleasures. Indeed, they are if anything a little more likely than other households to spend spare money on clothing or jewellery, although the amount each household splurges on jewellery is a bit less...

The picture that emerges is one of religious types engaging in sensible, but not self-denying, behaviour.

Political Orientations by Denominational Affiliation

Here's a nice figure from this blog post at RNS:

The post's author identifies some interesting lessons to take away from the figure, so I suggest you read to the post's bottom.  One note:  the title of the blog post is a bit misleading, as the figure is not about the political ideologies of churches but rather the ideologies of their members.

Research on Religion Podcast on USCIRF

This week's Research on Religion podcast is an interview with Robert George on the USCIRF.  Catch it here!

Freakonomics Podcast on Religion and Happiness

The latest Freakonomics podcast discusses the relationship between religion and happiness.  Go here to listen.  Data reveal a strong positive correlation between religious participation and happiness, but it is surprisingly difficult to identify a causal relationship between the two.  Religion can make people happy, but happy people may be more inclined to be religious.  The podcast discusses this complexity with its usual wit and humor.

Interplanetary Religious Competition

Usually when we conceptualize religious competition, we think of local markets.  Denominations export missionaries to foreign markets to proselytize, for example.  This leads to competition in a local market, but two denominations competing in one local market may also compete with each other in a market in a different location.  An example might be Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses competing for converts in a town in Brazil and in a town in Cote d'Ivoire.

But can you imagine competing in different planets?  Why not?  Pope Francis has just stated that he would be willing to baptise aliens - even Martians.  He said: "who are we to close the doors."   See article here.  Actually, this is not the first time that baptizing extra-terrestrial beings has been mentioned by a Pope.  Pope Benedict XVI apparently once said that he would baptize an alien if the alien asked to be baptized.

USCIRF 2014 Annual Report

The USCIRF just released the 2014 Annual Report on religious freedom around the world.  See the press release here. This issue includes a special 15th anniversary retrospective.