Thoughts of a Freethinker

The huge amount of money being spent on poorly trained ICE agents and the deaths and turmoil they cause is so unnecessary. With enough money and will the numbers of people entering our country illegally can be stopped. I've read it has already been largely stopped.  There are currently a large number of people in the U.S. who are here without citizenship papers and are not in the process of getting them. What should we do about them? Mostly, nothing. Let's let demographics take care of the issue. They will live out their lives and not be replaced with other illegal people. Eventually the numbers of people without legal status will be much smaller. The problems caused by illegal people is tiny compared to the problem caused by trying to track them down.  When I make this argument that the issue of undocumented people will solve itself, I'm guilty of leaving out the most important variable. That is politicians getting elected. To the politician, especially Trump, this is not ...

When I think about religion I think of what happened to TV networks. I grew up with three of them. Then there were a dozen. Now, if we include You Tube and its knock offs we have thousands of content creators each with a following. Each has many characteristics of a TV network. It has viewers and sells something giving it an economic base.  If our interests are so varied why would not the same thing happen in religion? It is happening. Non denominational churches are replacing churches of the various denominations. Each of these will surely drift in its own direction of rituals and beliefs. I've mentioned here many times that Paganism is not united under one god but many. The trend toward non denominational churches was discussed by a demographer who studies trends in religion. He thinks this tread is an important one and I agree. Let's remember that state legislatures in every state as well and DC have lobbyists. This requires a lot of money. Large religious groups like Cathol...

How could it be that a state prison could ban one holy book read by millions of people while allowing another, the Bible? Such a law has been in effect in Florida for several years.  So many people are incarcerated in the U.S. it has become a huge political, social and business industry. When it got big enough, Christianity decided to go into prisons to recruit followers and hopefully reap donations and later members. From federal prisons down to local jails people were paid to pray. I've heard over and over again from jail wardens that having a chaplain and volunteers in Christianity come in to preach and pray the level of stress and intensity of inmates was reduced.  This is exactly the argument made by clergy in the Hindu faith in Florida. There is testimony that reading the Hindu religious tome and doing Hindu religious rituals helps Hindu prisoners cope with their incarceration. I suppose the Christian jail wardens and chaplains worshipping in the Hindu faith is the pathw...

Many times a month there are posts on the web about the " benefits to society of church attendance." One can learn that the church has been a place where people of different political views became friends. You can learn that those who attend church live longer and divorce less. There are entire books devoted to why society and democracy are better off if most people attend church.  I suspect every one of these articles and books was written by a person who attends church. They enjoy church and cannot imagine someone sitting in church and being miserable. If these authors/speakers could understand that church is voluntary and people normally do not do something voluntarily that makes them miserable they would understand why pointing out the societal benefits of church is pointless.  I pointed out in the discussion following the link above that going to church is for some like going to a restaurant and ordering a dish you dislike. People just don't do that. Then there is th...

It not hard to see the reasons a young priest might get discouraged. There are failing parishes. The average age of priests is rising. This inevitably loads younger ones with more work.  While there are lots of parishes with crowded masses, the general trajectory of the denomination in the U.S. is down. There are regular stories of combining parishes and selling buildings. On top of that are the bankruptcies caused by abuse court cases.  The Catholic hierarchy, and perhaps a large portion of Catholics in the pews, refuse to recognize that priests are part of the labor market. To attract and keep employees of any kind an employer needs to pay market wages and provide a reasonable work environment. If the salary is not high enough to finance the training necessary to apply rational prospects will not apply. They may leave the job is they don't see a good financial future. In the case of priests, celibacy is also required. Maybe evenings sitting around with some boring guys is no...

The link discusses a sermon delivered by Martin Luther Kind at Riverside Church in New York City. I'm not immune to a little name dropping, I was at that event. While I did not understand at the time the significance of King's address, reviewing it now is sobering. King spoke against those who use force and cloak it in moral and religious certainty. He talked about violence being given divine sanction. That was part of justification of slavery and segregation. Now it is used against immigrants and Democrats.  King said there is nothing holy about domination. Trump and his circle hold domination as the highest of callings.  The higher calling, King said, is to subvert those in power by being the face of justice. It is good today to remember those who integrated lunch counters toward that end. King himself walked along a highway to Selma in full view of those with guns and clubs. There were beatings and deaths.  Tension and resolve are present in Minneapolis as we speak. I ...