Americans have little doubt about the scientific evidence that smoking can cause cancer. However, a bigger portion of Americans still question some of the basic concepts of modern science, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. In the survey, with a representative sample of 1,012 U.S. adults age 18 or older, respondents were asked…
I carried a lot of crosses as a Catholic altar boy. I also learned to mumble phrases in Latin and breathed in enough incense to choke an elephant. There is something serene about being behind a ritual. It lets you observe and reflect. And wonder why in the world people show up. Roughly six…
There’s a reason churches are struggling to maintain membership This article originally appeared on AlterNet…. As we head into a new year, the guardians of traditional religion are ramping up efforts to keep their flocks—or, in crass economic terms, to retain market share. Some Christians have turned to soul searching while others have…
What would you do for free food? More than 200 naked shoppers flocked to a German supermarket in hopes of snagging some free groceries last week. The store, located in the city of Süderlügum, offered to treat the first hundred shoppers to up to $276 worth of items if they came wearing only their birthday…
Op-Ed: Moroccan author and political scientist offers a subtle thesis: sexual repression is a gateway to corruption and political repression. Secret love in Marrakesh (Emanuele UbO) By Omar Saghi* LE SOIR/WORLDCRUNCH CASABLANCA – The link between sexual repression and political repression might seem like a stretch. And yet there is a clear connection between the…
When you shift a person’s life, you shift it by changing the pattern of focus, the pattern of meaning and the pattern of action. When I recently met author, strategist and coach Tony Robbins backstage at a taping of Oprah Winfrey’s ground-breaking series Lifeclass, the first thing I was struck…
Fighting for no reason—how we’re hard-wired to be hostile I’ve been doing a lot of reading about relational psychology, and one fascinating chapter from a book on non-verbal communication which mentions that one of the predictors of a satisfying relationship is the ability to successfully read (or “decode”) the emotions of your partner. Let’s be…
A study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person. That changes as their daughters become old enough to have children, after which they become the most important person in their lives. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. It also shows that men…
“I call it a sexual revolution: a Catalan boy meets a Flemish girl, they fall in love, get married — and they become European, just like their children.”
SEX LIVES OF OUR NEIGHBORS Arianne Cohen has learned a few things from poring over the sex diaries of 1,500 people. For starters: relationships are a lot like careers. Sure, some of us work 9 to 5—but others stay home in pajamas all day, eating crackers in bed. It can get messy. Second:…