This isn't going to be my soapbox on marriage and religion, so you don't have to worry about that. It's just that Scrivener posted a big quote from William Cronon that got me thinking about things in new ways. This is my attempt to do the same.
One... Does the religious strength of a country make it socially strong and sound? A study from the Journal of Religion and Society tries to tackle that subject. I got a headache from reading it and the graphs were a little confusing, so it must be smart.
Two... Does marriage instill loyalty? The main topic of James Q. Wilson's article, "The Decline of Marriage and Loyalty " sees looks at the institutions of marriage and cohabitation and sees something very specific...
"In a marriage, we merge not only our feelings but our wealth. We know that we not only share our love, we share our dependency. Cohabitation merely means living together; marriage means making an investment in one another...
...Cohabitation merely means shacking up. Of course, many marriages end in an easily arranged divorce, but even in this new era of no-fault divorces, they still must be done before a magistrate and be accompanied by a careful allocation of property and children. "
In this case, it sounds like loyalty is instilled as a result of not wanting to incure some sort of penalty, in this case financial. I haven't fully processed his arguments but a conservative world-view flavors the whole article, and leaves it wide open to criticism.
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Next post, I'll illustrate one of the main ways my wife instills loyalty in me and respond to Shooby's "Kosher Gunplay post by showing my sweetie with a large handgun.
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