Thoughts of a Freethinker

Despite Trump's taking powers from Congress and practicing self-enrichment, the political right sees evil in the new Pope and U.S. Democrats. A columnist noted that David Axelrod, not a Catholic and an advisor to President Obama, was given an audience with the Pope. Three days later, the link notes, some Bishops in the U.S. released a statement favoring assistance for the poor. How could the bishops so quickly release a liberal position after a visit from Axelrod if U. S. liberals and the Vatican were not one political unit working in secret, the link author asks? The link author correctly says neither the Pope nor Axelrod released any information about what was discussed. This normally is not done after visits with private individuals. Now that most of Pope Benedict's anti-abortion and anti-gay officials have retired and appointees of Pope Francis are the majority, the face the Catholic faith is one of the kind parish priest. The new face is one about concern for the poor and...

Immediately after the Friday ruling in Louisianna abortion drug providers filed a challenge to the ruling. Drug companies say they want the Supreme Court to overrule the lower court's decision.  As I understand it, the lower ruling was handed down because of safety questions over the use of the drug mifepristone. The challenge will present evidence about the safety of the drug. We are all wondering, of course, whether safety was ever the reason for preventing use of the U.S. mail to distribute the medicine or if it was really religious opposition to abortion.  The drug mifepristone is also used to control high blood sugar. Its use is so common there should be a good record of its safety or lack thereof.  One can be sure health problems from use of mifepristone to prevent a birth will not be compared to the risk of giving birth. Giving birth has a long record of being dangerous to women. This fact is seldom brought up in abortion politics. Yet, what could be more important...

Could it be devout Christians are the most gullible people in the world? Recently, a gay man published a book about the folly of Christian anti-gay therapies. A woman who makes her living in anti-abortion politics just published an old saw carrying the message: Even though all the money you gave us to stop abortion in the past resulted in more abortions, keep sending us money. There is a small army of gay men who enrolled in Reparation Therapy, pray the gay away, and left when they remained gay and wrote about it. They did not just say it left them gay. They tell of the mental harm they experienced because of it. The "treatment" apparently stresses the individual's will to stop same sex attraction. When the inevitable failure happens, it is not the program that is blamed, it is the gay man. Forced to blame themselves for something they have no control over, self-worth plummets. Suicide among these men is much higher than the national average.  I attended a couple of lectu...

I'm so old, I remember the election of John Kennedy and what the big concern was back then. It was that Kennedy was a Catholic and that he would put those religious views into government. What was the group most worried about this and most insistent about separation of church and state? It was the group that today is insisting on putting church into state, fundamentalists and evangelical Protestants. I remember my circle of people, rural Protestants, noted what JFK said during his campaign. It was that the Presidency was about politics and he would do what was in the interests of the U.S. public and that he would not be taking orders from the Catholic Church. My circle of skeptics said, "Sure, he thinks that. But when he gets in office, he will have to do what the bishops tell him to do." I don't recall anything he did while in office that appeared to be dictated or even influenced by the Catholic Church. That is the opposite of Trump. He invites in press photographer...

Pope Leo said he wanted the Catholic Church to focus more on poverty and peace and less on sexual sins. Can his denomination handle this?  Leo's strategy is, as many know, is the same as his predecessor, Pope Francis. Francis canned high ranking Bishops who railed too much against abortion and gays. Now Leo has sent out the word clergy are not to make big public fusses over gay marriage, birth control and abortion. This will not detour the right-wing branches of the denomination. They will be conferring and scheming about how to again get the denomination to talk about and rebuke their favorite sins.  For entertainment recently I've been reading various accounts of what happened during the confab last year that elected Leo. At the time there was lots of publicity about prayers and singing that guided the choice of Leo. Since then, columnists have interviewed many participants in an effort the piece together how Leo was the winner. One of the most despicable clergy in recent de...

Binge watching religious sites and news in religion as I admit I do, one sees patterns. Just now I'm watching the Mormons, now knowns as the "Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Saints" and denomination known as Jehova's Witnesses. They are experiencing falling numbers and reacting in the same way.  I'll use the initials, LDS, for Mormons because they have abandoned the word "Mormon." The strange behavior taking place just now involves the word, Mormon. I'll try to explain.  The term "Mormon" became so associated with polygamy the word became toxic. For some reason, the half dozen or so old white lawyers who run the church picked the new name, "Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints." The denomination abandoned the term Mormon. About 20 years ago, a Mormon man with a counselling practice developed a hobby of making video blogs. He named the You Tube video series, "Mormon Stories." Being a Mormon, he was concer...