Tag: sociology
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Learning Language in a Home With Deaf Parents
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013. Published version here.] Ninety percent of children born to deaf parents have normal hearing. Not all deaf adults converse in sign language, but in homes where they do, children grow up bilingual. American Sign Language is often their first language. Because spoken language… Read more
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Strategies Used for Disruptive Aggressive Behavior in Children
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] Benjamin Franklin famously said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Strategies for dealing with aggressive behavior fall into two categories. Prevention is using techniques to minimize or eliminate continuing aggression. Intervention is dealing with aggression as it happens.… Read more
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Astro-Theology & Shamanism
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] Astro-Theology and Shamanism both explore the intersection of ancient astronomy, early religion and psychoactive plants, as part of a genre known as entheogen studies. This focuses primarily on past and present use of psychoactive plants and fungi in spiritual/religious contexts. A variety of… Read more
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Secularism After the Crusades
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media] The Crusades were a series of military conflicts spanning two centuries, from 1095 – 1300. The First Crusade began as a bid by Pope Urban II to wrest Jerusalem and surrounding areas from Muslim rule (sometimes referred to as the East, or Asia Minor) and… Read more
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What Factors Might Be Influencing Religious Trends?
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] The character of religion in the U.S. has undergone many changes since the country’s founding, and today change remains a constant. Three contemporary trends stand out. First, affiliation with traditional institutions is loosening and declining, while belief in God holds steady. Second, views… Read more
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How Diversity Affects Religious or Secular Beliefs
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] The effects of religious diversity vary depending on how diversity develops. It can occur through conquest, immigration, refugee movements, or splintering of existing religious groups into a variety of sects. New value systems can be established by a charismatic leader, or may arise… Read more
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Can a City Use Public Funds for City Council Religious Prayers?
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013] American government at all levels must serve citizens equally regardless of their faith or lack of it. The Constitution does not permit governments to promote or even give the appearance of allying with any specific religious tradition. Consequently, there are restrictions on funding… Read more
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Fundamentalist Beliefs and Secularism
[One of 50 articles written and published for Demand Media in 2013. Published version here.] Secularism is the concept that we can manage our affairs and institutions — government, business, schools, personal lives — without the influence of religious faith. Fundamentalist beliefs are based on the conviction that our lives and institutions should be guided… Read more
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United Republic Work
A series written for UnitedRepublic.org in 2012. Author Page How Congress Can Get Its Mojo Back (796 words) Why We Fight (687 words) How to Stop the Fundraising Hamster Wheel (795 words) Why Your Education Costs More Than Health Care (980 words) Profit-Driven Prisons: Path to Prison Labor? (1019 words) Extraction of America (906 words)… Read more
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How Congress Can Get Its Mojo Back
[One of a series written for UnitedRepublic.org in 2012. Original article here.] Dear Congress: I grew up watching politics the way most guys watch sports. I learned about the different teams, the players, the coaches, the history of the game. As I approach the big 5-0, I’ve seen how the game has changed over the… Read more