Aphrodite Bats Last

A New York Times report by a Columbia University sociologist on the virginity pledges promoted by some Christian groups such as True Love Waits finds that pledge-takers do delay the onset of sexual activity, yet tend to contract sexually transmitted diseases at about the same rate as their peers, suggesting that they do not get additional education on STDs.

Key paragraphs:

By age 23, half the teenagers who had made virginity pledges were married, compared with 25 percent of those who had not pledged, the study found. Dr. Bearman said he did not know whether the teenagers who had broken their pledges did so initially with their fianc?s or with others, because the data had not yet been analyzed.

But he said, “After they break their pledge, the gates are open, and they catch up,” having more partners in a shorter time.

Link courtesy of Religion News Blog.

Aphrodite Bats Last

A New York Times report by a Columbia University sociologist on the virginity pledges promoted by some Christian groups such as True Love Waits finds that pledge-takers do delay the onset of sexual activity, yet tend to contract sexually transmitted diseases at about the same rate as their peers, suggesting that they do not get additional education on STDs.

Key paragraphs:

By age 23, half the teenagers who had made virginity pledges were married, compared with 25 percent of those who had not pledged, the study found. Dr. Bearman said he did not know whether the teenagers who had broken their pledges did so initially with their fianc?s or with others, because the data had not yet been analyzed.

But he said, “After they break their pledge, the gates are open, and they catch up,” having more partners in a shorter time.

Link courtesy of Religion News Blog.

Grading with Gollum

Putting off sitting down to a pile of student papers, I find this, as if I were not already halfway there tonight.

Hates them. Ssstupid sstudentses, don’t even read the textbook, no preciouss.

Link courtesy of Crooked Timber.

Episodic Religiosity

Cultural anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse divides modes of religiosity into “episodic” and “doctrinal.” One relies on dramatic ritual experiences, the other on creeds, sermons, texts, exposition, etc.

In his book Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Religiosity, he writes that in small, tribal, or breakaway groups, “religious life is focused around very infrequent, traumatic ritual episodes.” “Traumatic” seems rather strong, unless, of course, you’re thinking of adult circumcision, the knocking out of teeth, scarification, tattooing, etc.–and a lot of Whitehouse’s field work was done in Melanesia, where some of these practices are or were common.

But now here is an example of a traumatic initiation ritual. If there were other candidates besides the late Mr. James, we can be sure that they will never forget their initiation.

Archaeology of religion

May’s issue of The Pomegranate will carry an excerpt from archaeologist Brian Hayden’s new book on ancient religion, Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion.

A news release about the book from his university, Simon Fraser in British Columbia, is here.

A key sentence: Hayden argues religious behaviors have largely been shaped by our response to ecological factors, such as the environment, reproduction, survival and the use of energy sources, as well as ?an innate emotional foundation in humans that distinguishes us from other animals.

Archaeology of religion

May’s issue of The Pomegranate will carry an excerpt from archaeologist Brian Hayden’s new book on ancient religion, Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion.

A news release about the book from his university, Simon Fraser in British Columbia, is here.

A key sentence: Hayden argues religious behaviors have largely been shaped by our response to ecological factors, such as the environment, reproduction, survival and the use of energy sources, as well as ?an innate emotional foundation in humans that distinguishes us from other animals.

Archaeology of religion

May’s issue of The Pomegranate will carry an excerpt from archaeologist Brian Hayden’s new book on ancient religion, Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion.

A news release about the book from his university, Simon Fraser in British Columbia, is here.

A key sentence: Hayden argues religious behaviors have largely been shaped by our response to ecological factors, such as the environment, reproduction, survival and the use of energy sources, as well as ?an innate emotional foundation in humans that distinguishes us from other animals.

Archaeology of religion

May’s issue of The Pomegranate will carry an excerpt from archaeologist Brian Hayden’s new book on ancient religion, Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion.

A news release about the book from his university, Simon Fraser in British Columbia, is here.

A key sentence: Hayden argues religious behaviors have largely been shaped by our response to ecological factors, such as the environment, reproduction, survival and the use of energy sources, as well as ?an innate emotional foundation in humans that distinguishes us from other animals.

Let’s Hear It for Flax

The latest snow is melting, and two early perennials are showing new growth: wormwood, which is bulletproof, and blue flax (Linum perenne lewisii according to the Plants of the Southwest catalog).

Blue flax is a winner for gardeners in the Southern Rockies. It handles all weather: snow, severe cold, and hot, windy, blowtorch summer days, with a minimum of water. I planted some two years ago in a southwest-facing bed behind a rock retaining wall, where it is just scorched by the afternoon sun. Last year, the second year, it bloomed bounteously all summer, contrasting with the wormword and other Artemisias in the same bed–blue and silver together.

The comet that hit Chicago

On our last Amtrak layover in Chicago, last December, Mary and I walked up through the “Miracle Mile” shopping district and saw the ornate municipal water tower that stood alone, surrounded by desolation, after the Great Fire of 1871.

Now comes a suggestion that a comet, not Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over the kerosene lantern, might have started the fire. From Discover magazine via Cronaca.

This history of the great fire contains a sentence that the comet hypothesis (multiple impacts=multiple fires) could explain: Before tracing the progress of the fire further northward must be mentioned the burning of the water works, and the curious or rather incomprehensible manner in which it caught fire almost two hours before the time that the fire first reached the north division across the main branch.