{"id":7830,"date":"2025-11-07T18:10:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7830"},"modified":"2025-11-07T18:10:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:10:47","slug":"tgfi-volume-529-french-revival-gender-differences-bogus-sociology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/11\/07\/tgfi-volume-529-french-revival-gender-differences-bogus-sociology","title":{"rendered":"TGFI Volume 529: French revival, gender differences, bogus sociology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>\n<\/p><p>You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/bhZXmdWuRMg?si=YzfiRw-2Bdy59Acy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The quiet surge of France\u2019s evangelicals<\/a> (ENTR, YouTube): twelve minutes. Highly recommended, brought to my attention by a student. The first half is one of the better (albeit inadvertent) apologias for low-church Protestantism you\u2019ll run across.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/expression.fire.org\/p\/male-students-show-more-tolerance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Male students show more tolerance for political enemies than females show for their own allies<\/a> (Chapin Lenthall-Cleary, Substack): \u201c\u2026overall tolerance for opposing views is low among both male and female students \u2014 but the males consistently display far more tolerance than females, regardless of their politics.\u2026 In fact, men are over 3.5 times more likely than women to be \u2018perfectly tolerant\u2019 of opposing views, meaning they would definitely allow any campus speaker.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One of the embedded charts is actually stunning. And this sentence: \u201cAmazingly, it turns out <em>men are often more tolerant of the opposite side than women are of their own side.<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1002\/jhbs.70043?campaign=woletoc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Debunking \u201cWhen Prophecy Fails\u201d<\/a> (Thomas Kelly, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences) : \u201cIn 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased. But <em>When Prophecy Fails<\/em> (1956), the now-canonical account of the event, claimed the opposite: that the group doubled down on its beliefs and began recruiting\u2014evidence, the authors argued, of a new psychological mechanism, cognitive dissonance. Drawing on newly unsealed archival material, this article demonstrates that the book\u2019s central claims are false, and that the authors knew they were&nbsp;false.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author has a PhD in political science from Cal and now works at a thinktank in biosecurity. The excerpt is from the abstract.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I am overwhelmed by how absolutely insane this is and that the lies have endured for seven decades. SEVEN DECADES. I care because this study is sometimes used by skeptics to argue against Christianity. As the author says: \u201c<em>When Prophecy Fails<\/em> spread its influence across psychology, sociology, New Testament studies, and religious studies. Ironically, some [skeptical] New Testament scholars whose raison d\u2019\u00eatre and specialization is piecing together events from thousands of years ago, eagerly embraced a false narrative that was trivial to fact&nbsp;check.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/04\/science\/letters-to-the-editor-ai-chatbots.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Editor Got a Letter From \u2018Dr. B.S.\u2019 So Did a Lot of Other Editors.<\/a> (Gina Kolata, New York Times): \u201cLetters to the editor from writers using chatbots are flooding the world\u2019s scientific journals, according to new research and journal editors.\u2026 There\u2019s a reason authors might turn to A.I., Dr. Rubin noted in an interview. Letters to the editor published in scientific journals are listed in databases that also list journal articles, and Dr. Rubin said that \u2018they count as much as an article. For doing a very small amount of work, someone can get an article in The New England Journal of Medicine on their C.V.,\u2019 he said. \u2018The incentive to cheat is high,\u2019 he&nbsp;added.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The opening anecdote is pretty funny.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some stuff on antisemitism and Zionism:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/why-antisemitism-is-moral-pornography\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Antisemitism Is \u2018Moral Pornography\u2019<\/a> (Mary Eberstadt, The Free Press): \u201cOnline antisemitism is the new pornography. It is moral pornography. And pornography it is\u2014because like pornography, internet antisemitism is mostly engaged in secretly; like pornography, it delivers illicit thrills to degraded users; and like pornography, its consumption embarrasses users when it comes to light, as is seen whenever people are exposed in public for spewing Jew-hatred online. Christians who were in the forefront of understanding that pornography causes harm should be in the forefront of opposing the moral pornography of antisemitism.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is an adaptation of a speech given by a Catholic at a Catholic event, which explains some of the language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/tucker-carlson-is-wrong-about-christian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tucker Carlson Is Wrong About Christian Zionism<\/a> (Samuel Goldman, The Free Press): \u201cBeginning in the 1980s, a whole genre of books and articles contended that American Christians\u2019 enthusiasm for Israel was based on an \u2018end-times\u2019 scenario derived from the Victorian theologian John Nelson Darby, and mainstreamed by Scofield in the early 20th century.\u2026 [In reality, the] history of Christian Zionism in America is far longer and more various than&nbsp;that.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefreedomfrequency.org\/p\/chinas-christians-are-americas-allies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">China\u2019s Christians Are America\u2019s Allies<\/a> (Elisa Zhai Autry, Substack): \u201cSince its inception, the Communist Party has viewed Christianity as a destabilizing force that undermines party authority and opens doors to foreign interference. Yet, from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, every effort to stamp it out has failed. Christianity has flourished amid wars, famine, political purges, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square massacre, and modern censorship. Today, Chinese Christians are estimated to number as high as 100 million. The party frames Christianity as \u2018foreign,\u2019 but history disputes that.\u2026 Christians were pillars of China\u2019s modernization long before the party claimed credit. Their contribution was indigenous, not foreign\u2014rooted deeply in Chinese traditions and driven by Chinese believers.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is the Substack of Stanford\u2019s Hoover Institution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some stuff on contemporary American politics, presented in a nonpartisan manner. I am not endorsing the perspectives of the authors, I am merely saying that I found their arguments intriguing:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargumentmag.com\/p\/16-takeaways-from-democrats-big-night?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">16 takeaways from Democrats\u2019 big night<\/a> (Jerusalem Demsas, Jordan Weissmann, Lakshya Jain , &amp; Kelsey Piper, The Argument): \u201cAnti-Trumpism is a really, really powerful force in American politics. especially in non-presidential elections. In Virginia and New Jersey, the Republican nominees were tied to a very, very unpopular president \u2014 and sometimes by choice. Yes, 2026 is going to have higher turnout than 2025 did, but it won\u2019t be on the level of 2024, and from the evidence we have, the drop-off is likely to be disproportionately Republican.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9875ce01-58d1-4c16-91bc-bbc5a45fadae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The cosmopolitan conservative<\/a> (Janan Ganesh, Financial Times): \u201cThere is such a thing as a cosmopolitan conservative. When I want to discuss Dubai \u2014 and when do I not? \u2014 I have to turn to apolitical or right-leaning acquaintances.\u2026.&nbsp; Often, it is fear of causing offence that stops liberal-minded people engaging with vast tracts of the world. And so cultural sensitivity turns into its own kind of parochialism.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A fascinating (and very brief) article.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/inside-the-dsas-hostile-takeover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inside the DSA\u2019s Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party<\/a> (Olivia Reingold, The Free Press): \u201c<em>The Free Press <\/em>reviewed thousands of pages of internal Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) documents, which show that the organization\u2019s leaders view Mamdani as a tool in their agenda to abolish prisons and borders, and ultimately end in [sic] what they call the \u2018barbaric order of capitalism.\u2019 The DSA, founded in 1982, is a political body dedicated to the doctrine of democratic socialism, which is a variety of socialism that simply specifies how it would like revolution to occur: peacefully, through the subversion of democracy. Mamdani, a dues-paying DSA member since 2017, is the tip of that&nbsp;spear.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.robkhenderson.com\/p\/the-tocqueville-paradox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Tocqueville Paradox<\/a> (Rob Henderson, Substack): \u201cI am 35, one year older than Mamdani, and I can tell you that Millennials and Gen Zers have not really been taught about the failures of socialism. I will point out, with a bit of hyperbole, that in US high schools we get 155 hours on Hitler, three minutes on Stalin, zero on Mao and zero on Pol Pot. And socialism is an idea that sounds good on face value. It promises to take from the rich and give to the poor. That means not only \u2018free stuff\u2019 for everyone, but also a sense of fairness.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/progressives-cant-bear-pregnancy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Progressives Can\u2019t Bear Pregnancy<\/a> (Kara Kennedy, The Free Press): \u201cThere\u2019s a sense on the left that the act of giving birth is an insane, traumatic thing to do, an infringement on all women\u2019s bodily autonomy.\u2026 My most progressive friends talk in hushed tones about wanting kids, as if confessing a vice. One of them, after a few glasses of wine, told me she dreams of being a stay-at-home mother. She couldn\u2019t tell her boyfriend. She couldn\u2019t even tell her closest friend. To say it aloud would feel like a betrayal of everything she is supposed to believe. Extreme progressives turn on women who express entirely ordinary wishes about family.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/3162\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Heart Mountain<\/a> (xkcd): I looked the story behind this comic up \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heart_Mountain_(Wyoming)\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heart_Mountain_(Wyoming)\">it\u2019s WILD<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/idiot-tries-to-rob-bank-in-gotham-city-where-batman-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Idiot Tries To Rob Bank In Gotham City, Where Batman Lives<\/a> (Babylon Bee): recommended by an alumnus<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/6630f0d23a46f9e754165a0b3a21971a\/9ad9e3b4e6b998e2-37\/s1280x1920\/3a3b96854bd2efad84df7044a33d61cb3bb1c578.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hero Costumes<\/a> (Texts From Superheroes): same alumnus recommended this&nbsp;one<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I\u2019ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/11\/07\/tgfi-volume-529-french-revival-gender-differences-bogus-sociology\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI Volume 529: French revival, gender differences, bogus sociology\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[259,124,156,226,152,195,161,117,176],"class_list":["post-7830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-antisemitism","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-campus-activism","tag-europe","tag-free-speech","tag-gender","tag-global-christianity","tag-politics","tag-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-22i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7830"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7835,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830\/revisions\/7835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}