FYI ...

... Big society needs big religion - Philosophy and Life. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Blond had a deeper critique too. Putnam was insisting that it's being part of a community of faith that matters, regardless of the nature of the faith that community represents. But mightn't the reason why an American Buddhist finds they have a lot in common with an American Christian, say, be not because they are both religious, but because they areboth American. In other words, Blond continued, to be American is, in a lower case sense, to be Christian - to be ethically shaped by the religion that predominantly informed the founding of America, and has arguably championed the virtues of equality, social concern and participation more than any other. Putnam replied that research in non-Christian cultures would have to be done to determine the case.