Thoughts of a Freethinker

It is amusing to read the never-ending solutions to the decline of Christian numbers. The elephant in the room is the majority of young under 25 who leave the faith every generation. With one exception I have come across, those inside the faith cannot possibly reverse the decline. Most cannot stop telling people what people are not allowed to believe. The exception that appeared recently was written by a man who claims to head an organization devoted to bring young adults into the faith be listening to their views. The idea is to listen to young people but not pass judgement on what they have to say.  In the comments that followed the article, most Christians were appalled at this idea. Young people are the very ones who need to hear an earful about their sins and the consequences, eternity in hell, that awaits them was the most common reaction. The link author claims his group listens to young people, but he never tells us what they have to say. Most of us can guess they talk abou...

About 20 years ago, wife and I visited a Federal Park in New Mexico called Chaco Canyon. Unlike most Federal sites it was accessible only by about 15 miles of gravel roads. It was a wonderful experience. The site is a large expanse of ruins, parts of walls and outlines of many little structures plus bigger ones with many rooms. Besides being on the backroad, the location in a high desert is very desolate. Obviously a large complex society had built it. But who were they, what did it all mean and why was it there is such an unlikely place? Since our visit, research has discovered who was buried in Chaco Canyon and how the society was organized. Plus, the mystery of why it was abandoned is known. Analysis of burial sites has revealed the Chaco Canyon was the center of a societies we now call Pueblo and Hopi. Drought ended about 1,000 years of prosperity in the early 1100's.  The royal people buried there reveal of royal linage of women. The royal linage not male. Power was passed fro...

Buried far beneath accusations that liberal Harvard and Yale discriminated against Jews is an underlying tenet of Christianity. That tenet is Jews did not, and do not, accept Jesus as the "promised one." A Christian publication which bills itself as balanced and thoughtful recently published a piece by its editor saying the problem Jews have is one they put on themselves. If they believe God is the almighty, then they must to accept Jesus as the promised one. The Jew's problem, according to this Christian poster, is they refuse to do what they must do.  When I was an Iowa farm boy my family were member of the only local church. It was from the evangelical branch. The church's men's club had gone to some effort to invite a Rabbi to speak. He was from a city 20 miles away. The committee probably went to visit with him and he drove 20 miles on questionable roads. He was introduced in the church and as he approached the pulpit, tthe visiting preacher at the time, who ...

The tale of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey with adoring crowds cheering his arrival just did not happen. No doubt something like it happened in the mythology wealthy men at the time knew about. Only the very wealthy were literate at that time, so the tale comes from that small demographic. Every Easter Chirstian sites carry the orthodox version of the story. The imagery of leaders or famous people passing in front of crowds is, and probably always been, one of being higher than the crowds. This allows them to be seen, but also projects importance. We all know of holy men being carried in splendor on the shoulders of human beings. The donkey seems a compromise. Story tellers needed him to ride into town, not walk. He needed to be a little higher than the so-called crowds but not on the back seat of a shiny convertible car. So story tellers or scribes rewriting the story came up with Jesus on a donkey.  We can notice the Jesus as told in the Bible was not a farmer nor a banker....

Cave sites dated 50,000 years ago and ruins in Turkey of what seems to have been a religious site from 15,000 years ago include detailed and prominent sculptures of animals in various poses. While no one knows for certain what was in the heads of people back they, a majority think the artwork reflected an attitude toward animals directly the opposite of what Christians/Jews taught in the Bible.  What the ancient are work depicts is animals with self-awareness and importance. As on anthropologist said, they depict a world of people, only a few of which were humans. Animals were equals with souls, knowledge and wisdom. Humans were not inferior, just equal partners in efforts to stay alive.  Only recently, a few thousand years ago, came along those unknowns who wrote the Old Testimony. They had a different idea. Animals existed only to serve humans. This180 turn of logic no doubt was self-serving for those who wrote, the few wealthy men who were the only literate people at that t...

It's known the native people who lived on this continent before Europeans stole it had meetings, apparently long meetings and lots of them. I've never heard if they talked to their spiritual beings before the meetings. I suppose the practice of talking to invisible beings before meetings came from Europe. It would be good if it was sent back.  There is a story today about a preacher who took advantage of the invocation to rail at Republicans. In his prayer he denounced the Trump practice of rounding up immigrants and shipping the who knows where. Republicans, needless to say, are angry. It brought back memories of my sixteen years as a mayor. Our city was a destination and many large conventions and annual meetings were held there. Often, the Mayor was invited to give a brief welcome. While the welcome remarks were usually early in the opening session and it was permissible to slip out afterwards it always came after the innovation. I think the invocation, a few comments and a ...