Thoughts of a Freethinker

When voters talk about politicians, some will say, "I hired you. Do a better job." I hear this every once in a while and got to wondering how those who voted for Trump evaluate him now. If our country was one giant Human Resources Department, what would an evaluation of Trump look like? Of course, voters have many different reasons for their choices. The conventional wisdom of pundits has been the "Christian" demographic voted for Trump because he had appointed anti-abortion judges during his first term. He reminded anti-abortion voters of that often when he ran in 2024. One has to assume he received lots of votes from the anti-abortion demographic. There is also a slightly different demographic that is usually called fundamentalist Christian. We all know he refers to them often. There is a blue-collar rural demographic that went big for Trump. Of those who voted for Trump because of his anti-abortion judicial appointments or because he seemed more like fundamentali...

It's not news to readers here that the Population Bomb sold three million copies and has been one of the most talked about and controversial books of its century. What remains unresolved, in some quarters, is its importance. Its author Paul Ehrlich died recently.  The link, written be a prominent figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, blows off Ehrlich because Ehrlich did not understand God created the world to be enjoyed by humans. We humans are instructed by the Bible to exploit the earth at our pleasure. Thus, as I would interpret this Baptist, if humans want to destroy the earth by producing more humans that the earth can support, they have the green light from God to do this. I didn't read the entire post to see if he mentions the parts of the Bible that preach stewardship of resources.  The more serious criticisms, if you can call them criticisms, comes from Ehrlich's timetable. He took historic data and projected it forward. For many reasons, the timetable of eve...

It's fun to find writers who dig into the Bible in new and different ways. Bart Ehrman does this. And, I found someone recently who went after statistics about Moses and the Jews "after they escaped Egypt." As every reader here no doubt knows, there is no evidence they "escaped" because it doesn't seem large numbers were captive. There may have been Jews who were slaves but probably there were Egyptian slaves also. Lots of records have survived but none about Jews who were captive nor Jews who "escaped." There are names of high officials in surviving records of Egypt that appear to have been Jews. The "escape" tale was made up for political purposes by Jews later.  The latest thing about the "escape" is a detailed tally of how the Jews would have appeared after they "escaped" from Egypt. There is considerable information about how many Jews were in Egypt at the time of the story. It was about 2 1/2 million. Thus, 2 1/2...

I just read a long review in the New Yorker of three books devoted to the concept of monotheism. Going back to the earliest recorded history there has been a struggle between those who want to control their followers by admonishing there is only one god and the many other gods that come and go. Over time, many of the public in many countries at various times have needed more gods.. For those of us with limited backgrounds in ancient history, it is easy to surmise the struggle. The Old Testament, parts written up to something like 7,000 years BCE, contains the Commandment, Thou Shalt Have no Other Gods Before Me. I take from that there were other gods. They just needed to be ranked correctly. There is surviving written material suggesting all the people of the original Israel were not on board with this order and enjoyed some other gods. Then Christianity comes along with an updated idea of the Jewish God. The God 2.0 was less prone to killing people than the previous version. But a pro...

When someone in the anti-abortion industry came up with the idea of a "heartbeat" bill for state legislators there must have toasts around the room. That a heart beat has to define the beginning of a human being was the celebration.  This followed 50 years of preaching that a human life existed at the moment the egg was fertilized by a sperm cell. This never caught on outside whacko religious circles so some arbitrary new definition that no one could argue with was needed. We now know the "heartbeat" definition was no more successful than the "moment of conception" from decades before. There is no heart at that time. There are nerves firing and they should be called "nerve firings." But the anti-abortion industry called them "heartbeats." Politics being what it is, there is no money (votes) in being truthful. That is why the Republican dominated Wyoming legislature and Governor passed another "heartbeat" bill. Some commented i...

It is not common in the part of society or internet that I live in to encounter a full-fledged review of Satan. The late Pope Francis made headlines a few years ago by saying "Satan is real." Probably it was in answer to a reporter's question and not part of a prepared speech. I never read he talked about the threat of Satan in prepared remarks.  No doubt Satan is preached about often from the pulpit. But it is unusual to find an article lambasting him on the Christian sites I visit. That is why I enjoyed reading an unusual piece devoted to the evils, intentions and defenses of Satan. I don't have credentials as a literary critic. But I have noticed all gods, and imaginary god enemies, have back stories. Whether telling stories around a fire or in a movie, the characters must be established early in the tale. The Greek gods had back stories about infidelity and mischief. God has backstories of floods and anger. Then he mellowed out just a bit. Jesus was a bit cranky a...