Thoughts of a Freethinker

  Every once in a while I read a Christian critique of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and those atheist writers of 15 years ago. The standard conclusion of these Christians is that the best sellers were read by millions but the entire "atheist movement" they started has died. This is, of course, non-sense.  It's true there have not been shocking best sellers about atheism recently. It's also true that there are not atheist meetings attended by the numbers who attend church weekly. Christian pundits have to agree, however, Christian numbers are falling.  They also have to agree the numbers who claim no religious affiliation, "nones", has risen dramatically. Nones are now the largest religious group in the U.S. The Christian pundit in the link points out that when Dawkins published his famous book, the generation that bought and read it had grown up in Sunday School and knew the basics of Christianity. The atheist authors aimed their writing at those who knew Chr

Ever since some Christians, including politicians, began complaining about the greeting "Happy Holidays" we non-believers have been having fun. The notion someone "feels violated" because another decided not to greet others with "Merry Christmas" is the ultimate in self-centeredness. Christians published articles complaining that Starbucks' annual Christmas coffee cup design did not include any symbols about religion.  I suppose there was some greeting during the thousands of years before Christianity that was something like "Happy Solstice." We could all use that today because it would celebrate the coming longer hours of sunshine and would not violate anyone's religion. Well, I should admit there would still be complaints. Everyone finds something to complain about, it's part of being a human being. A Christian site published an article proclaiming victory when a retail chain decided to pull its shirt with a rainbow over a cradle an

During the reign of Pope Benedict, the Bishops appointed were rock-hard conservatives. The evil pair, abortion and gay marriage, were front and center. There were so many conservatives they began to be the face of the organization called US Bishops. I don't know how often they meet as a group, but the publicity issued has been for years has been backward-looking instead of forward looking. The impression given to an outsider was Bishops thought Pope Francis wrong, we will ignore him. The real pope was Benedict. That is the Benedict who assailed gay marriage during a Christmas Eve Public message.  In a recent gathering, however, Pope Francis' reach was felt. Part of the Bishops' published message was young people who grew up in the faith are leaving. Further, young people are more liberal about many issues, especially the environment which Francis also has talked about for years, and we Bishops need to get on board with Francis. A position promoted in the recent gathering wa

The recent resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbary over a clergy who savagely beat children is a growing scandal. He has now taken responsibility for not taking action. From comments in the link is the impression many others in the denomination's bureaucracy knew more about the abuse but either endorsed it or ignored it.  If one part of the brain is filled with beliefs in life after death or hate of gays and trans does that make the other part, which should have empathy with children being beaten, cease to function? There should be a better explanation but no one has come up with any. One of the children. now an adult, said the abuser would beat him so hard with a paddle the abuser would be gasping for breath. After a short rest he would restart the beating. I suppose, like the sexual abusers, children heard this was all to make them better please God. We all know there is child abuse in many kinds of organizations. What sets religion apart is justification by God. Playing with

A Christian anthropologist cleverly measured the amount of change in the U.S. against the resistance to change. He found his best and only army against change is the South. We're seeing it in laws requiring Forced Birth. There are states in the South so pro reliable Trump he did not bother them with a visit. We know change forces itself on the most stubborn of places. Sometimes the delay is so long, however, some people are harmed. Certainly, integration did not happen, especially in the South, until people were killed and opportunities thwarted. Yet the State of Georgia is in play and was won by Biden. When "no change in anything" is preached by Southern politicians and operatives they are mostly talking about rural areas. Although Trump did well in urban Georgia, surely everyone has to agree voters in urban areas vote for democrats and liberal social policy than does rural Georgia. The pattern repeats itself across the South. Whether one is looking for a good collection

Elections come and go. What matters more is the cultural change that lies under the surface. This causes both political parties to drift toward accommodation.  There are all kinds of headlines this week about Trump appointments and commentary that there will be dramatic changes in social standards and social policy. Of course, none of these changes have happened yet. An interesting one is abortion and medical services for women. The Republican Party for decades had a plank in its Platform stating that a human life is present at conception and thus anti-abortion was central to Party's mission. That has been gone since Trump arrived.  There was a peek at the Party's new focus when Republican Vance debated Democrat Walz. When to topic of government aid for children and parents Vance surprised Walz with a discourse on how important this mission is for government. "We need to spend more money here" Vance said. Taken by surprise, Walz said he and Vance were quite close on t