Thoughts of a Freethinker

  Add together those who poll atheist, agnostic and None in New Hampshire and one gets the most secular state in the U.S. Surrounding states in New England seem to be a little under 40%. The average age of believers is higher than the general population so one could conclude the secular trend will creep higher in coming years. California falls roughly into this category but the New England states poll more secular. The population of New Hampshire is only 1.3 million.  The nearby states in New England have secular populations a bit smaller than New Hampshire. It seems like the liberal Christianity and secular populations are joining together. That makes is fun to speculate on how this will affect politics in that region and across the country. Beginning in the early 1990's New Hampshire swung from Republican to Democrat in Presidential elections. Nearby states have done the same.  A majority which polls non Christian would be a milestone in polling. Of course, the importan...

When I was a professor, students would often drop by and chats would drift off into topics they wanted to talk about. Probably too often, I gave advice it was not qualified, trained or experienced to give. During the Vietnam War period students were experimenting with ideas that challenged the status quo. I recall a young man asking me, "I'm living with two girls, a relationship with both. I'm thinking I should not do that. What do you think?" I don't know what I answered but I should not have given any advice. Countless times I overheard professors giving advice to students about topics they knew nothing about. That is something that happens when one often stands in front of a classroom, auditorium and on TV. I have to mention I am here writing a blog so before you believe what I write do your own homework. Clergy are people who appear in front of people and listeners may well see them as sources of help and information about many topics. I was reminded of that b...

James Talarico's Presbyterian pastor told a prospective church member in a private conversation; Christians should be careful which translations to rely on when reading the Bible. In a recording, made without the permission of the pastor, he used the words "stupid stuff." No one says he said this from the pulpit. He should have--every preacher should say it. Just to remind, James Talarico is running for the Senate in Texas. If we put on our polite hat, we would say it is disrespectful to refer to the tenets of the faith, any faith, as stupid stuff. But if we considered that a major reason people leave the faith is they can no longer believe the far-fetched tales it features. Maybe the most helpful thing one can suggest to those in the faith is to remind them of this doubt. The faith could be taught without featuring stories that are beyond the pale. Liberal branches do this. James Talarico, a seminary student, has said at various times the Bible does not condemn abortion ...

A few years ago I attended a friend's funeral in a Protestant denomination that does not allow women pastors. The male pastor had had a stroke and was limited in what he could do. He did speak but a woman carried the service forward. I don't know what her position was or is today. The "work around" worked fine.  Today there is a growing shortage of Catholic priests. Some Protestant denominations that require male preachers need part-time but credentialed men are not available. What to do? The logical thing is to double the pool of people available to be priests/preachers. Out of that much larger pool could come the very few that might want to do this work or have economic circumstances that allow them to do clergy work part-time. The larger the pool the more likely some star will emerge to help save a church. The Catholic Church is inching it way toward women as clergy. Women are taking over higher level management positions.  Those who condemn the idea of women as cl...

We all know there are a gazillion surveys and interviews going on at any one moment. From these books and articles are published. I think it's correct to say doing survey work at either the professional level with random sampling or doing amateur work with volunteer survey are both cheaper and easier than it was in past times. Publishing or publicizing the results is also easier than in the past. There is a popular thing in our culture now also about knowing what's behind the door. We want to know, not just what happened, but why. I myself am deeper into this than many others. All of us need to remember there are things going on we cannot understand or will not understand until a long time from now.   A woman journalist just published a book about women leaving the Christian faith. Surely there is no variable in the faith more important than that. Many studies have found mothers have more than fathers in influence over the direction the child takes in faith. It is also true th...

My late brother explained to me various aspects of being a doctor. One was that when a tragedy happens, especially when it ends in a death, survivors feel they must blame someone. That is, random bad luck does not fill emotional need of the moment. The doctor's job is to listen to these explanations usually without arguing. I don't claim to have powerful insight into humans, but I have license like everyone else to toss in my two cents. Perhaps we all need someone or something to blame for every bad thing that happens whether it is about someone close to us or society at large. When something we don't like comes along, we need a universal and safe villain. It can't be ourselves, that would be painful. But it can't be someone we know either because then there is obligation to link cause and effect. So, we humans scan the invisible horizon and grab whatever is available. We find Satan or something else invisible.  Reading the link, written by what seems a self-promoti...