Thoughts of a Freethinker

A standard fare in sermons and Christian writing tells believers what to do when they experience doubt. This problem, doubt, is so common it is discussed in the Bible. There must have been doubt about the previous hundreds of gods that have been worshipped because they are gone and forgotten. Belief invisible gods exist and doubts about them have existed at the same time since forever. All the writers and clergy telling others how to deal with doubt seem not to know there are people who have complete disbelief. Would they tell one to pray for the ability to set aside complete disbelief and even contempt for the old beliefs? I've had close believing friends and commenters of this blog recognize and acknowledge my disbelief but I don't remember any advice about how to change it. On the You Tube site, Mormon Stories, former believers describe in great detail how they came to leave that denomination. Most have left religion entirely. There seems a pattern that nearly all of them fo...

There are reports from preachers of single men coming to their churches. Women, we know, are leaving. There are questionnaire studies all the time asking things like "Do you believe in God?" and "How often do you go to church?" There is little information about who these young men are and why they find something in church. The information we have is not encouraging.  The link talks of a Christian male identity focused on masculinity. It includes anti women, blacks and tolerance of slavery. Those at the top of this movement are collecting money and building organizations.  For single young adults, men or women, who have leisure time, what to do? Surely the best choice is something that is pleasant. A church service needs that. Next might be finding new and interesting friends, something apart from the drudgery of the job. Taking all this into account, it is interesting, even a bit alarming, that more men are finding something in church than women are finding.  It fun...

After losing in court with an atheist group a few years back, something dawned on me. It was that atheists are not the right group to offset the Christian right. The right group to do this would be a non-Christian religious group. I was so convinced about this I sought out people from different religious traditions in Fargo, ND where I lived at that time and invited them to join in the effort we atheists were engaged in at the time.  People from other religious traditions, however, could not understand why we cared about the Ten Commandments monument on public property which was our issue at the time. They did not see the point of putting themselves, and their children, out in the light of public opinion over this stone object few people noticed. Now, events and the politics have changed. Other religious traditions are being pushed to the front of the battle. The change is most striking in Texas . Texas has just the right mix of in-your-face liberals to shout back at in-your-face T...

A woman who transitioned from her birth designated gender of male preached a sermon on gender that has exploded. She explains why God is neither male nor female and, as I understand her, Jesus was not either.  There has always been this mystery about God taking a rib from Adam, a male, and making it into a female, Eve. Isn't this "trans?" That this woman's church and denomination thinks it's fine for her to hold the post of priest, or priestess, is the business of those parties involved. I don't see any point for the Christian press to make a story about it nor for commenters to carry on about how heathen the church and the woman are. Really, if you are a Southern Baptist in Mississippi it will change your life not at all. The priestess has things to deal with more complicated than being bashed on Christian Post. It includes, for example, traveling and using rest rooms if she does not pass as a female. We know from experience this can be outright dangerous. Th...

There is an old saying in economics, tax something and you will end up with a shortage but subsidize something and you will end up with a surplus. That may be the future in religion. We all know churches are not required to pay property taxes. Churches compete with every other use of people's money so this keeps their costs lower than other businesses. As mega churches have grown, their need for parking has grown. This has increased their subsidies. While there are churches that close every week there are also some new ones in new or old buildings. There are also new religions. The Church of Satan is an example.  Local governments turn down, or try to turn down, religions they do not like. This cancels the property tax break for the newcomers. Then off to court they go. Courts have shown a pattern in approving new faiths and not approving others. The link says courts have dabbled in the "sincerity" of religions to decide if the qualify for no property taxes. A common reas...

I wonder if Trump has been taken and lost money in deals as often in his private business dealings as he has done as President. As President, he has cost us a bundle. Trump has met with Xi various times. They met a few months ago, yesterday and two more meetings are schedules in the coming year. Nothing comes happens or changes at these meetings. Perhaps the meetings crowd out Russia a bit or help each of them be famous. Nothing happens that is in the interests of the U.S. The U.S. would be helped by offering lower, instead of higher, tariffs. Hopefully, China would lower its tariffs on U.S. goods. This would help grain prices among other things. Trump said he would alter trade relations making the Balance of Trade favor the U.S. Instead, China's balance of trade has gained. Trump is obsessessed with the Balance of Trade and does not understand it is mostly meaningless. Republicans in Congress need to understand the person at the head of their party and who is President is not up t...