Thoughts of a Freethinker

In his book, "God is Not One " Professor Stephan Prothero presented a simple but profound question. Is the faith about what denomination officials claim it to be, what its seminaries teach it to be or what those in the pews think it is? The last one is most always different than the first two. He thinks the last one is most important and the book is about what religious people in the pews think their respective faiths are about. For Christianity, he says the faith is about one topic, sin. That is, the people in the pews talk about and worry about sin more than any other topic. This seems especially important to me, an economist, because people are buying the church membership and expect to get what they value. Prothero says they value worry about sin. What people talk about and worry about are the religious issues that find their way into local, state and federal legislation. Sin brings passion. Elected people respond to passion. Theological hair splitting is not addressed in...

Outside of arguments on policy such as health care, taxes, debt and budget, each party needs some terrible villain they will defend against. President Trump has rolled out many in his years of the Presidency. There have been the election crooks, immigrants, the Godless. the Chinas, Obama, Biden and readers know of the others.  Democrats have it easy. Trump is the villain. Then, there are the anti-abortionists. Trump and preachers/priests will be there for them for quite a while yet, so Democrats do not have to keep looking for new villains. The Republicans' problem is they need to keep finding new villains. The courts are taking away prosecution of some of Trump's favorite. Others, like workers in Mexican restaurant kitchens, do not seem like villains. Certainly, the innocent citizens killed by ICE in Minneapolis have not appeared to the public as villains.  The unspoken, of course, is that non-white people are villains and that will work to some degree for Republicans. Its sh...

An almost poignant essay by a woman who had an abortion decades ago was published in Christian Post today. The woman heads an organization which wants the entire anti-abortion establishment to stop demonizing all women who have had them. The link author believes abortion is murder and wants to work to abolish it. But, she continually runs into what she calls the "abolitionist" branch of anti-abortion. She thinks this branch, which I am certain represents the majority of people who make a living in anti-abortion, drives away women who have had abortions, but who regret it and want acceptance inside the anti-abortion establishment. By rejecting these women, she writes, the "movement" misses those who would help it. The link author says she should be cut some slack by anti-abortion because she had been forgiven by God for her sin. Further, she claims, she was "misled" by those providing the abortion and by the man involved. In the comments following her essay...

Maybe it's an inaccurate observation, but I don't think there is as much discussion or debate about sin as there was in times past. When I came across an academic who was writing, not in an academic publication but a Catholic one, and was discussing sin I realized it has been a while since I've seen a focus on what was once a favorite topic. Not that it's necessary for readers here, but I'll review why there has to be "sin" in the faith. Remember that Jesus suffered and died on the cross and said he did this to forgive us for our sins." Now, he supposedly said the deal was between himself and those who believed in him. If the old sins are no longer sins, there need to be news ones. Otherwise, the "suffering on the cross" accomplished nothing.  I grew up in a community and church where sin was topic number one. It was a thing. Working a tractor on Sunday was a sin as was playing cards, ballroom dancing and any alcohol. It was taught that when...

An appointment to an institute that gets grants and publishes research about Asia would ordinarily be of no interest to outsiders. At the research university, Notre Dame however, the appointment of a new head of this small subsidiary is making headlines. The prominent professor from within Notre Dame has spoken publicly in favor of abortion rights. I recall from back when conservative air-head, Benedict, was Pope. The hammer was down on abortion in every corner of the Catholic denomination. He made certain everyone knew the bishop of the local diocese where a university (or Catholic hospital) was the ultimate authority in charge of that institution. During that period there were examples of Bishops inserting themselves into higher education and medicine. Apparently, things changed somewhat with Pope Francis. I've looked up the profile of the Bishop of the South Bend diocese, and he looks like a guy who will not be poking his nose into the internal business of Notre Dame. It may hav...

The country of South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. If this continues the population of the country eventually will be much smaller. Koreans today of child-bearing age know all about this. They know that if the population becomes too small it will be difficult for its government to operate and for its military to defend it. Merging, or being invaded by, with some other country may be inevitable. So why don't Koreans of child-bearing age "do the patriotic thing" and have and raise more children. The answer has to be that it's not in the interests of young people, especially women, to have children. They just don't want them. Restaurants find that customers complain if there are noisy children.  What can Korea do about this? Really, not much. There have taken a few measures but none have many any difference. Anti-abortion groups, like the author of the link works for, are shouting the U.S. "needs more babies." The U. S. eventually co...