Thoughts of a Freethinker

I look for Christian nationalism to be a theme of the right during our 250th anniversary. You can count of the religious right to forget that when the nation was established slavery was legal and justified by the very Bible used today. An outrageous example of such writing showed up today by a well-known Christian figure, Tony Perkins. The Hindu religion had been in existence for many centuries when white Europeans took the Americas from those who lived here. Hindu societies were doing fine. Why then, does the Christian right think our society, democracy and sovereign country would fall in a heap if the majority was non Christian? It has not been a perfect place with Christianity, slavery being one flaw. Countries with other religions are not perfect either. Some cultures are better for the human beings that live in them than others. The religions of societies come along after the culture is there and adjusts. One of the humorous events in U.S. history was the Treaty of Tripoli. That ...

A young man, now in the Texas legislature, is running to be the Democrat's endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate. His name is James Talarico. He is so controversial, and perhaps attractive, he is being interviewed by national media. There are competitors, of course, for the nomination so he has not yet, and one would guess will not be, the nominee. Everything, of course, starts somewhere and that is why he is so interesting.  Talarico is a seminary student so he has taken courses in theology. The controversy he brings is the observation that abortion is not condemned in the Bible. Further, he ranks the importance of various kinds of behavior. The top ranked one is to accept and treat well your neighbor. Trump has no use for that part of the Bible. The neighbor has a purpose. By bashing the neighbor a party can get votes. In the discussion following the above link there are many pages using or implying the most used phrase in the Christian faith, "What this means is..." F...

  If you lay an electoral map over the results of a poll asking respondents about the proper role of religion in government over the electoral college, we have a good representation of the next election. We see Vice President Vance talking often promoting Christianity. He knows the map. An interesting poll recently indicated how far apart the country is on the matter of religion in government. The two coasts have little use for it. The South and Midwest poll in favor of political boss Jesus.  The link points out that the pattern shown polling in favor of a Christian nation matches closely the electoral votes for Trump. When Trump and Vance talk of a Christian nation the purpose is to hold on to that particular set of electoral college votes. One can see the campaign ahead in Midwestern states where agricultural prices have been hurt be stupid tariff policies. Voters there will be told, "Sure, tariffs hurt farm income and raised the prices of some goods made in China. But think...

A year ago, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech to European delegates that ridiculed and criticized them while praising everything Trump. Vance seems unable to write or employ writers of his speeches that make him appear a student of history. Secretary Rubio seems a bit smarter and can package himself better. Yet, as this link written by a European explains, Rubio presented the same package in Trump attitudes as Vance. The package is, the white West is superior to the rest of the world. The Christian religion is superior to all others. The fact that Europe was Pagan before it became Christian and that the continents of North, South and Central America were not Christian until conquered by brutal slave owning Europeans seems not to be known by Rubio, Trump or. Then we need to reflect on the "superiority" of these Western values. Slavery and witchcraft were sent here by Europeans and enthusiastically practiced for hundreds of years. Perhaps opening the borders today would imp...

During the past couple of years, Jehovah Witness has had several dramatic changes and challenges. It has also started reinventing itself into a new money making machine. It has been rocked by sexual scandal. A huge case made national headlines. It was black balled by the Norwegian government. Norway, like much of Europe, collects money people voluntarily pay to denominations and passes it to those denominations. There are 20 some in the country if memory serves. The faith has had a rock solid policy that Jehovah requires shunning of any family member that leaves the faith. Thousands of families have been destroyed by this. The Norwegian government decided this was a form of discrimination and denied collection of funds. The faith quickly reverses its stand on shunning while appealing the ruling. It eventually was reinstated but the retained the new attitude toward shunning. Now, those who spent decades in isolation from their families are bitter for their lost family lives.  The Je...

I read a very long post on a Christian sight written by a retiring professor at Notre Dame. The professor is obviously a devout Catholic and vented his frustration that Notre Dame, which bills it Catholic roots prominently, does mostly nothing to keep the Catholic tradition embedded in the institution. To the contrary, he says nearly everyone from its Presidents to its Deans blow off, even make fun, of the faith. This goes on, he says, even though Notre Dame claims it considers its Catholic founding very important. The retiring prof says institutions, especially those of higher education, should not be different than what they say they are. If it says it's Catholic it should be Catholic. He ignores the fact that in its documents one will find all kinds of goals and aspirations listed. The prof says as many practicing Catholics as possible should be hired. While it must not discriminate, the secular people who have been hired should become familiar with the history and tenets on Cat...