3 ms·

more likely to be religious That's not necessarily a contradiction, since churches double as social clubs and Christian charity means supporting your neighbour

• derefr 7y ago
  > So if you are active in a church you belong to a circle that is a little less dog-eat-dog. That would imply that life in the US ~300 years ago, when pretty much everyone belonged to a church, was less dog-eat-dog. If anything, I would say it was the opposite. People would often shoot someone—someone who is just as likely as themselves to be a "good Christian"—just for being an interloper on their farmland, i.e. for having the opportunity (whether they took it or not) to make off with some of their turnips.
  • ctdonath 7y ago
    When you're putting tremendous direct effort into those turnips, when those turnips will likely make the difference between life & death thru the winter, when others facing bleak prospects are likely to take "the opportunity to make off with those turnips", when there is no viable/relevant police enforcement to speak of, yes you take trespass very seriously. Contrast that with the modern luxurious miracle of the $1 hamburger: with just 9 minutes of minimum-wage commodity labor, one can obtain a fresh complete meal (bread, meat, veggies, cheese) any time all year. When you’re living the latter, the gravity of the former is hard to grasp.