In the Papers

Another compendium of what I've been reading in the papers:

On Religion: It looks like two recent studies have interesting things to say about religion in our lives. The first, a Pew study, indicates that despite the general dictates of Christianity, most Christians surveyed in the U.S. believe pretty much any person can go to heaven, as long as he or she is good (that would be, except Rick Warren, Obama's awful choice for leader of the invocation at the inauguration, who compares GLBTs to pedophiles. But then, Obama isn't a supporter of gay marriage himself). The second study says that religious people tend to exhibit more self-control (not that self-disciplined people become religious, but that religion creates more self-discipline through rules etc). Maybe I need to pray more before I step on that scale at Weight Watchers!

On Books: No matter how you buy that book (and chances are you got it from a reseller and are contributing to the demise of both bookstores and publishing houses), you'll end up fighting with your book club before you can discuss it!

On Money: Herbert talks about how we got into this financial mess, to borrow Madoff's words, by paying for stuff with money that wasn't there. Judith Flanders examines one small way we can break the cycle, by reconsidering Boxing Day and making it a day of charity and good works.

And, as always, on parenting: I always read Motherlode. And was tickled to see that the lady taking the airplane flight used several of my (and others') suggestions! Though, the anti-child/anti-parent comments about her trip--and there are a ton of them--were quite shocking. I had to quit reading them. Sometimes, it's amusing, but not this time.