Thoughts of a Freethinker

Quite often we see some Christian declaring he/she has finally found proof the founding fathers intended the faith called Christianity was to be the national religion in the U.S. Now a speech delivered by President John Quincy Adams is being pushed down the runway.  The speech is 65 pages long and must have taken a long time to write--and was long to listen to. It was delivered in the 1840's when Adams was 71 years old. Speeches and letters by politicians may have their own self-interest in mind. While in office, it might be getting reelected. After office, it might be justifying whatever they did. In any event, from the parts I read of Quincy Adams, it was the same old song and dance. The same old is not that we "know" there is a God and Jesus. It's that we should all agree on something so we can move forward. When we are all going in different directions things don't get done. What's handy to reach for is religion. Let's all grab onto that and we'll ...

Abortion politics follows a predictable cycle. In the U.S. several decades ago Roe was passed making abortion legal in all states. I don't recall much discussion about how many abortions went on before that but we know there were a lot of them. From what we can tell, abortions, even though illegal, were about as common as they became when they were made legal by Roe v Wade.  As soon as Roe made abortions legal religious political operatives, including the U.S. Catholic Bishops, began lying by saying there were no abortions before Roe. Before Roe made abortions legal there were wings of Catholic hospitals devoted to young women with infections from amateur abortions. Those records could be located today. Conservative branches of Protestantism joined in on the hoax. The lie was exposed after Roe was overturned and abortion was left up to the states. We have seen the numbers rise as the number of women in the fertility age cohort increased. Neither making abortion legal or not legal c...

Already the false history that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian Nation" has started. Recently a prominent Christian pundit falsely quoted Benjamin Franklin. The quote and its context is almost humorous because no one claims to have recorded the remarks. The link "quotes" Benjamen Franklin talking about the virtue of a country following Christianity. It seems to refer to remarks and a motion made by Franklin toward the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1789. The groups had been meeting all summer and was cranky. Franklin made a motion to start each day's business with a prayer. Instead of agreeing to this simple request, the motion set off a big argument. Ultimately it was voted down. So much for a group of pious Christian fathers founding a Christian nation.   No doubt we will see a lot of inaccurate history in the coming year claiming the U.S. was founded to have prayer in schools and preaching by its Presidents. That the founders purp...

Kid Rock is a MAGA star. He is rich from sold out concerts with music and ridicule of liberals. Now, he has lowered ticket prices by half . One concert was cancelled because of low ticket sales. Polling numbers tell us Trump is not popular. Those of us who don't like him have been blindsided by his supporters.  There have been several actual elections to state government won by opponents of Trump. These seem like more important events than polls. To me, a decline of hard-earned dollars spent on Kid Rock also are more important than poll numbers in revealing what the public is thinking. That Rock's ticket sales are down needs to be put into perspective with the entire concert industry. I've read it had a very successful 2025 but may be slipping a bit now. Kid Rock appears to be falling instead of slipping. Personas such as Kid Rock are perceived to be standing up to what we generically call, "The establishment." Every reader here has an idea of what is the establis...

The rich mega-church preachers are mostly rather boring people. They preach prosperity or hell-from-your-sins, pass the collection plate and that's about it. One, though, stands out as so outrageous he entertains just by existing. That is Benny Hinn. Benny is of Middle East heritage and was born in Israel. He speaks with a slight accent. You can find clips on You Tube of Benny healing huge numbers of people just by waving his hand. People came in wheelchairs and walk out. According to some who wrote about it, there was a bus load of "sick" people who were hired to go from event to event as stage props.     Benny made millions and lived big. Then complications began. He divorced his wife. Then the fake healings and his flashy lifestyle were made public. Eventually, he remarried his wife but divorced again recently. Apparently, the showmanship of his healing events has lost its appeal. But, not to worry. I saw on Benny's website he has big healing events coming up this ...

Hearing and watching the "Sec. of War" makes one wonder if he is a actual official or someone performing parody. The constant God and war talk is from way back when. It turns out Hegseth belongs to a denomination that is all in for the same things. In that branch of Christianity there is no separation of church and state. There is no state except the church. The denomination, Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches is more an association of churches than what we think of as a denomination. It's founder, Doug Wilson, preaches at a church in Idaho where the central office is located. It preaches we are in a great war with Jesus fighting at our side. Women should not be allowed to vote and are to submit to men sexually. Needless to say women are not equals.  Hegseth's public pronouncements about bombing Iran reek with holy religious overtones. It's as if victory over Iran is a victory for Jesus. It's too bad we cannot hear a billion eye rolls around the world ...