Thoughts of a Freethinker

Pundits talk only about affordability and corruption. Voters were asked to rank their concerns and these were at the top. Interviews bring up these issues.  According to exist polls, however, the marque elections, Talarico in Texas and Hamilton in Kansas, people who do not identify with any religion or are atheists and agnostics, voted for the winners by 80%. These voters are a huge number and more focused than "Christian" voters. They might answer polling questions the same way as others but deep inside they strongly dislike politicians who push religious views.  The conventional wisdom, which is discussed in the link, is that "nones" are hard to organize. They tend not to join stuff. I think they can be reached without rallies and organizations. They need to hear the magic words, "Religion and government are separate. I (candidate) will not impose my religion or anyone else's on you or weaponize government to do that. Abortion and gender issues are privat...

A Swedish Catholic, who is a historian, provided an inside peek at how hard it is to remain a believer when what is known about the past and eternity keep changing. He uses the metaphor of standing on ground that once seemed so stable and having it start to shake.  We know a big portion of Christianity starts with believing the Bible was written by God and is the ultimate truth about the past and future, future meaning eternity. Along comes the knowledge parts of the Bible contradict other parts. Ouch, they both can't be "true." Follow that with scholarship that finds there is no surviving writing from the original authors. Not only is there no surviving original written material, but it is also not even known who wrote it. Anonymous writers at an unknow time and place cause the ground to shift. The miracles are not hard to believe when we are children, but as adults we train ourselves to look at things with skepticism. One might ask herself, "Do I really need to bel...

  A New York Times columnist sees Trump the same way I see him. Maybe I see him that way because of my experience as a mayor. Previous mayors in my city, Fargo, ND, were big local celebrities. When I arrived it was not uncommon to have a reporter ask to follow you around on your trip to the grocery store to see what the Mayor put in the cart. I saw this attention as a way to appear bigger than my critics and competitors and encouraged the press attention. When I watch Trump, I see a guy with little interest in governing and completely absorbed in his press coverage. That is why the NY Times columnist thinks Trump is looking forward to Democrats having majorities. He sleeps almost none at all and spends the night writing insults about others and compliments to himself. This favorite way to pass a night of insomnia is more pleasant if he has Democrats to destroy and less pleasant if he has to be nice to Republicans. He has little to no interest in issues but lots of interest is tonig...

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, is always in search of more donated money. He lives quite well with donations from anti-abortion but he always wants more. His fund raising strategy for years has been from anger the Federal Government does not prohibit the mailing of abortion pills. He was mad about that when Biden was President. Trump has changed nothing. Perkins figures he made money bashing Biden, why not make money bashing Trump? He is doing that . In an interview he said the Republican defeat on Tuesday may be God punishing Republicans for not stopping abortions. Perkins joins Catholics in linking abortion to religion. We all know Christian efforts to control the behavior or beliefs of others is to weaponize religion. Recall the best know group opposing alcohol consumption was the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Perkins reasons that if that group made money by linking their deal with religion he can too. Perkins claims the increase in abortions has...

There can be little doubt liberal social issues did well in yesterday's elections. With Democrats winning lots of races we will see liberal legislation in the coming years. In direct legislation, i.e., voter determined laws, abortion rights  won in three out of four states. Bible quoting liberal Christians won. Where I live, Iowa, Republicans made a BIG issue out of gender and students born of one gender completing in sport later in another. This happens so infrequently I can't imagine actual experiences make people alarmed. The alarm bell was about God creating males and females and not creating trans. It turned out this was not foremost on people's minds like the problems of prices caused by the President. Why did Republicans ever think trans would be a red-hot issue? My prediction is the cash flow of money from one group of people who consider abortion to be a sin to another group who takes their money and pretends to stop abortions will slowly dry up. It will slowly daw...

There are various theories about why people don't attend church as much as they did in the past. Conservatives say it is because preachers are not conservative and loud about it. Others say it is because preachers are too conservative and too loud. The link says it's because churches have divided themselves into conservative and liberal politically. Those not interested in either quit or not agreeing with those in their church leave and some never join another.    There are also many who study this and find the reasons are complicated. Surveys are a cheap and easy way to find and "answer." Better would be deeper study of people and their views on the super natural and politics. As time moves on people's behavior is more fully revealed. We all tend to make friends with people like us. Thus, it is logical Republicans find churches with lots of Republicans more pleasant than churches with lots of Democrats. This has always been and will always be. Those who study and...