Thoughts of a Freethinker

This afternoon I watched a pre-season game of the Women's National Basketball Association. It was played here in Iowa because its premier star, Catlin Clark, is from near where I am sitting. She played at the University of Iowa and now is a professional playing for the Indiana Fever. It happens our daughter from here was in Iowa City and attended the game. The marketing TV advertisement for women's professional basketball was interesting to watch after a week when I watched videos of women who have left conservative Christian denominations. The women's basketball ads featured little girls practicing basketball. Over and over again it was said, "You are strong," "You can do this" and "You can do anything." That is, women can do anything.  Other times this week I watched "Morom Stories." a site mostly about people who have left that denomination. Stories from other demanding denominations are also featured. So many of these carry the me...

I suppose this theme has been repeated for a thousand years by someone somewhere. It is that "religious freedom" means political leaders can endorse one religion and ridicule others, prayers in public and public money given to the religion that gets politicians the most votes. The link repeats the argument that religious people are better citizens and that's why the more religion the better the country. Quotes from the founding fathers are used to "prove" this latter point. Politicians giving money and support to one religion while telling people not to follow other religions does not seems like the "religious freedom" envisioned by the founding fathers. They wanted every religion to have a chance. The link reviews the bad history of religion in government. In the 1500's in England the approved religions were variations of Protestantism. It quotes a triumphant politician who told of murdering lots of Catholics. The politician sounds a lot like a cu...

The Vatican's relationship with the government of China must be a fascinating thing to see from the inside. There is speculation the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, is among the top candidates to follow Francis as Pope. He is the architect of a flexible policy toward the Chinese government. The Chinese government names some of the Cardinals in that country and is holding several Catholic clergy in detention for criticizing China. This is a far cry from the concept of Peter standing on the rock with Jesus and being handed the keys to the denomination forever more. Apparently, there was a dictator of China on the same rock getting the same instructions from Jesus.  A press release from China tells the Cardinals in Rome the appointment of Parolin would be good for Chinese/ Vatican relations. We know the Chinese want to not only name the Pope but follow up with what the next Pope does.  If the politics now going on at the Conclave are like politics everywhere else, att...

All the data on religious participation I've ever seen has been bases on questionnaires. We've all be queried by those doing questionnaire research. We've been asked by phone, on our computers and from knocks on our doors. We all know the weaknesses of doing this. When we are asked how much we eat, what we spend our money on, how often we pray or how often we go to church our answers might not be completely candid.  Something new has come along. It is tracking people's locations by cell phone data. If we know how many cell phones went presents at a specific location at a specific time we have a good idea of how many people were there and when they were there. When asked how if they attend church often, that is most Sundays (or other designated religious day), the percentage of the population that is in a church each Sunday has been around 20% for several years. A pundit recently wrote that Christian numbers were holding steady because regular church attendance is holdin...

I don't know how many readers have heard someone speak in tongues. A man in Fargo, ND, did so more than once at regular City Commission meetings when I was its mayor. It was just a brief moment. It flowed off his tongue like a native language. As I recall he had just made some point about anti abortion and, I suppose, wanted to give the impression he was hearing directly from God. Wikipedia says the practice is said to be a gift from the Holy Spirit and the speaker does not understand the language but through this super natural thing can speak it anyway. Here is an example. Speaking in tongues, explained in the Bible, was a thing back in the 1980's. I had a friend back then who was the head priest in a large Catholic church in ND. He confided there was a conflict there because some church members really liked to shout out speaking in tongues phrases during his Sunday sermon. Lots of other members found this annoying. There were three services each Sunday so my friend ordered th...

While there are many sites, written and video, about Christians in the U.S. leaving the faith, we don't have a good window into what is happening on other continents, One suggests a movement of young people out of the Christianity forced on ancestors during the slave trade and into traditi onal African religions.  In the link are stories of individuals in Africa who asked the local Christian preacher to pray for healing. They did not heal. Then they asked the local shaman to pray and do the rituals that slayed demons. They were healed. Another Christian leaves. This story was only a reporter's inquiry and was only in Nigeria. The complaints mentioned by Nigerians who left Christianity, or combined it with a native religion, are one heard across Africa and across the world for that matter. It is preachers becoming rich by tearful appeals to the faithful for money.  There are some super rich African evangelists in the poorest of areas.  From what I can tell, Christian strat...