MomThink

It’s All About the Baby 3
- Culture, Featured, MomThink, Religion
- December 23, 2024
I have a confession to make: We barely decorated for Christmas this year. The extent of our festive furnishings is a humble 15-inch plastic tree in the middle of our kitchen table. How did it come to this? Let me start by saying I love Christmas, and I generally approach the season with an all-in
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The Myth of the Pagan Origins of Christmas 6
- Featured, MomThink, Religion
- December 23, 2024
It’s generally accepted that early Christians adopted December 25th as the day of Christ’s birth to co-opt the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. Some believe this fact undermines Christianity. But according to Professor William Tighe, this “fact” may actually be a myth. Based on his extensive research, Tighe argues that the December 25th date “arose entirely
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Why You Should Talk to People You Disagree With About Politics 202
- Culture, Featured, MomThink, Politics
- December 19, 2024
If you talked to friends or family about politics over Thanksgiving, you might not have changed each other’s minds. But don’t be discouraged – and consider talking with them again as the holiday season continues. As a scholar of political dialogue, for the past decade I have been studying conversations between people who disagree about politics. What
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To V*ccinate or Not? Seeking Cooler Heads in the V*x Conversation 10
- Culture, Featured, Health, MomThink
- December 13, 2024
Would you like to spend your evenings pulling out your hair? Do you have a sadistic streak? Have you ever considered Chinese water torture as a pastime? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then researching both sides of the vaccine debate may be just the thing for you. Talk about a contentious and
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Against Scolianormativity 4
- Education, Featured, MomThink
- December 12, 2024
Scolianormative (adj.): The assumption that behaviors defined by institutionalized schooling are “normal.” An assumption that became pervasive in industrialized societies in which institutionalized schooling became the norm that resulted in marginalizing and harming millions of children. Once society began to question scolianormativity, gradually people began to realize that the norms set by institutionalized schooling were
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Yes, My Religion Informs How I Vote 5
- Culture, Featured, MomThink, Politics, Religion
- December 11, 2024
A month or two ago, a pro-choice classmate of mine decided to put words in my mouth. In a friendly discussion about abortion in America, he responded to me with, “Well, you’re just anti-abortion because you’re Catholic.” My jaw dropped. “But I’m not,” I said. “I’m pro-life because life begins at conception.” He did not
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