Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  Why was she so popular? Psychology and a British Princess Princess Diana died 31 August 1997. It’s not surprising why we British might be interested in the story. What is surprising to me is her popularity in America from the wedding to decades after her death. According to Pew Research, close to 90% of Americans followed the news of Princess Diana’s death and 54% reported following the story closely. “No other story this year has come close ( 1997 ).” A Newsweek story a few days ago caught my eye, “How Princess Diana Wanted to Move to America with Harry and William,” wrote Jack Royston ( 2021, Aug 24 ). Apparently, she spoke to friends and relatives about moving to the US—a place where she could get away from the press of the press. One remembered quote refers to her belief that there’s no class system or establishment in the US. Whatever her thoughts, it appears she felt welcomed by Americans. And of course, her son married an American and makes news from time to time....

  It is reasonable for citizens of any nation to be concerned about the people entering their territory. Often the boundaries with neighbors were established at a peace treaty following the death of people on both sides. When boundaries change, people with differing loyalties may be trapped and isolated from their relatives unless there is a friendly approach for people to visit back and forth. The citizens of nations with large borders like the US incur considerable costs in monitoring their borders. Presumably, successful nations like the US and those in Western Europe are attractive because of the opportunities for work, education, and a range of benefits. Identifying those who enter the country illegally is no small task. When they mate with citizens and have children, they have created a potentially distressful condition if they are discovered and deported. My concern in this post is the children who were brought to the US illegally. As an immigrant myself, I do not reca...

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The story of the man born blind in John 9 is an evocative, metaphor-laden portrayal of a poor individual caught in a contentious religious crossfire about sinners and the identity politics of righteous minds. I’m writing this post as a way of putting some thoughts into words before leading a discussion on Sunday, 13 January. This story isn’t just for Christians. The characters in the story are mostly Jews. The sociohistorical context is the old city of Jerusalem ruled by the Romans. Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet from the Quran. But atheists and agnostics may consider the group dynamics that are part of human nature for millennia as well as the ancient author’s manner of dealing with variations of the age-old question, “Who am I?” In addition, we glimpse problems common to all humanity of thinking logically about morality and evil, group identity, and groups in conflict. ***** At the beginning of...

I used Autofocus to capture this tiger in India News reports documenting the killing of children tug deeply at our most basic impulse to care for the young and vulnerable. Many of us identify unfair treatment and at least give a nod of support to those who seek to remedy injustice. It is no secret that people disagree about the right way to solve social problems. Matters of right and wrong are the stuff of morality. And matters of right and wrong often connect people with similar religious and political beliefs. I have drawn upon the research of Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues when writing about moral perspectives as formulated in moral foundations theory. The six moral foundations provide a useful way to consider various social-moral issues. In this post, I review the six moral foundations. In A House Divided , I applied these six foundations to show how different tribes of Christians argue about such divisive issues as birth control, abortion, and sex education. ...

Wars linked to religious motives are part of history. But lost in the details are clear causal connections between one or more religious motives and the atrocities common in warfare. In contemporary western cultures wars are conducted at the ballot box, in the courts, and in the media. Cultural war dead are counted in terms of lost pride, lost causes, lost traditions, lost influence, and even lost money. Cultural injuries can be measured by assessment of anger, resentment, plans for revenge, and money spent on causes limiting the rights of various subcultures. In the United States and western democracies, Christian traditions that informed cultural norms codified in law have been overturned at an incredible pace leaving Christians wondering about the limits of religious freedom. At this point we can only guess that in the future, people will look back on the 2015 Supreme Court decision to affirm same-sex marriage rights as indicative of the decline in the degree t...

ONE QUESTION ABOUT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE I noticed conservative friends posting 40 Questions challenging Christians about their support for same-sex marriage. It did not take long for a counter response. So there are at least 80 questions available for you. It's no surprise that the authors advance a point of view by asking a question, which assumes a premise that has not been established. I come at the questions from the perspective of a psychological scientist and former university professor--so I love to encourage people to think. And if I were teaching a relevant course, I'd probably ask students to think about the 80-questions. I'll include the links so you can see what the two authors are asking. Christians come at the same-sex issue from many perspectives as I wrote about last week . I think for those Christians who have a spiritual struggle, the key question is about sin. There is only one question for fundamentalist Christians to ...

GAY MARRIAGE: 9 REASONS WHY CHRISTIANS VOICE SUPPORT? Why? The why question is problematic because Christians give different answers. I’ll not wax too philosophical here. But I think it important to keep in mind that Christians have different beliefs about a lot of things. Here’s a few common answers to the why question. Bible Answers 1. Godly love supports diverse marriage arrangements . The foundation for Christian morality can be found in Jesus’ summary of the law requiring followers to love God and love one’s neighbor. Since the Bible does not condemn loving relationships between same-sex persons, there is no reason to assume any of the small set of oft quoted Bible verses prohibits same-sex marriage. The Genesis verses describe a God blessed union but do not address marriage. Polygamy has a long and accepted position for the people of God. The Hebrew households included many wives and concubines who bore children for the tribal...