Thoughts of a Freethinker

An interesting analysis showed up in intellectual-type discussion of Pope Leo. The link notes the large amount of time Pope Leo has spent traveling, meeting with officials and speaking in Spain and Italy. Pope Francis spent almost none of his travel time there.  Reading exerts from Leo's speeches, the message I see is, "We who come from a Jesuit background have a focus on the poor and bedraggled. The old message of cultural wars of Pope Benedict is out. Today, we need to include cultural Catholics as real Catholics or there will be no Catholics. If you don't buy into anti-abortion or birth control that's OK. Focus like the Jesuits on the poor and bedraggled."  The link thinks Leo sees opportunity in Europe. Catholicism's history is so strong there he thinks if that a new version that is Catholic-lite is promoted numbers will improve. Certainly, this is not an approach previous Popes ever considered.  One problem Leo's new approach is the vast number of old...

It's encouraging to read, even if only once in a while, an article by a prolife writer that realistically presents the reason women have abortions. This one writes about men . The author reviews responses of men to questions about pregnancies they admit they caused. Their answers about the obligations they feel are all over the park. Largely, they try to calculate the effect of a child on their own futures, just as women do. Except, men have more ability to walk away from responsibility even if they originally pledged money and time.  The various degrees of responsibility these men felt toward being the father of a child are a window into the circumstances women face. Perhaps a man vacillates between enthusiasm and reluctance. If the couple is not married or even living together, the man, like the woman, wonders how a child will fit into future relationships. The link says it is sponsored by a group which works with young men to persuade them fathering a child is an opportunity and...

Movement toward women priests has slowed because women, and men who support women's rights, are leaving the denomination. One cannot blame them, but it does not help to move the needle. There are not good statistics on this but lots of antidotal testimony. It's very understanding that these women leave. The surprise is that any of them stay. If, as I suspect, Pope Leo wants women first as deacons and later as clergy these leaving women complicate his task. The Pope is a political position and he needs to be able to tell conservatives there is a big group of women in the denomination that demand equal treatment. He wants to be seen as the peacemaker. If those women have left, the peace maker excuse is all but absent. Conservatives, and most male clergy do not care if progressive women leave.   This, of course, is not limited to the Catholic denomination. Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans do not allow women clergy.  On conservative Christian sites, there is a l...

From what one observes living far from Washington, DC, there is a constant narrative within the intelligence community one countries need new leadership. Generation after generation of U.S. officials are certain they know how to bring this about and start working on it. It seems like it is seldom successful and often makes things worse. When it is successful it also makes things worse. The link talks of Christian denominations being asked to bring regime change in Cuba. The President talks of it. The clock has run out on regime change in Cuba and Iran. Back a few generations Washington was certain the Shah of Iran was the leader Iran needed. Mostly, he was the leader the U.S. needed. He set off, needlessly it now seems, anger and resentment that led to a religious takeover of that country which continues today. The Trump Administration thinks it can put into office another Shah. No luck with that so far. It could be argued Iraq is better today and this is because Sadam was run down and...

  A new way, sort of a metaphor, for explaining where our climate is headed was expressed recently by a climatologist. She said Minnesota will become today's Texas. Rhode Island will become today's Florida. Al Gore was criticized daily for his movie 20 years ago, "An Inconvenient Truth." As he pointed out recently, most of what he predicted, global warming, floods, storms, etc, have come to pass. The dates he gave were not precisely accurate but the consequences are.  As the warmth moves north, it will leave behind an area of the U.S. too hot for people to survive. Food production in the South, including meat, will not be possible. The rise in sea levels will affect coastal areas in ways we are not prepared for. We can only hope the future will bring the public on board for steps to offset the warming that is on its way. When the public wants something done politicians will follow. 

I learned today there are many "micro churches", home churches that pop up when a group of people is fed up with the church they are going to they start meeting by themselves. Apparently the groups, at least to some extent, find each other online and hold conferences. According to the link these groups avoid much talking about theology. They realize everyone has their own deal and going very deep into "what the Bible means" will exclude those who know even better "what the Bible means" so it's go lite on that topic.  Predictably, the comments that followed the link wrote of the "ignorance" of lay people and the need for knowledgeable denominational officials to decide "what the Bible means" and give proper instruction to those of lesser knowledge. On the few occasions when I've gotten into the back pages of denominations or watched videos debating what is going on inside there are the inevitable conflicts about theology. Leave t...