Thoughts of a Freethinker

While Christian missionaries are not allowed in Iran there are efforts to spread the faith through satellite broadcasts. It was a pleasure to read an article in the Christian press by a devout Christian who is involved in Christian broadcasts aimed at Iran but who has studied Iran's current leaders and knows them better than does Trump and his tight circle of chest-beating bomb-them-to-dust cronies.  The Iranian clergy/politicians believe they can outlast the U. S. and be in a stronger international position afterwards. They believe this because that's what happened when Iraq invaded and was unsuccessful even having more and better weapons. Sadam finally decided he could not conquer the country and gave up trying. To the Iran leadership, the same thing is unfolding against the U.S. Iran has been badly damaged, but is a large and well-educated society with oil. The Christian link author does not think Iran will negotiate nor give up its gains. In WWII, the German nazis invaded R...

All of us, or maybe just me, enjoy reading things that are exactly what we believe. An author who writes for the public just published a nice article listing 10 things humans across cultures and time fear and/or believe that give religion an opening. He says humans believe religions in order to fill needs from these fears/needs and that if/when religion does not work anymore something else moves in. That something else is today's political factions, tribes and single-issue voters. It all suggests the case Christians make that it is "needed" for a cohesive society has some validity. The author points out we can handle these without religion. Readers here know all the "needs" listed in the link but I'll list some of the old regulars: Fear of death/need for an afterlife, need to know/understand the origin of human, need to know rules to live by for approval and the need for a villain/Satan to blame things on. There are others the link author does not list in th...

An anti abortionist recently chastised her group for not attacking the in vitro practice of fertilizing several human eggs, picking the best one for implantation and discarding the rest. She pointed out the in vitro clinics "kill" more "babies" than Planned Parenthood. I've never heard of anti abortionists demanding these clinics be charged with murder or that there be funerals for the discarded fertilized eggs. Readers may recall some states have laws requiring funerals for ended pregnancies  I think there is a simple way to explain why anti-abortion groups do not demand in vitro clinics stop throwing away these "babies." There is no money in it. To bring donations, anti-abortion needs a villain. Once upon a time the villain was the abortion clinic. This villain is disappearing as more pregnancies are done by taking meds. When the villain became the woman taking the pills it hurt anti-abortion revenue. In the case of the in vitro clinic, the "vil...

We all know denominations have seminaries. What seminaries and their professors study, write about and teach is what might be called (I'm the only one I know of who calls it this) the faith's manufacturing and wholesale sector. Preachers preach what those in the pews want to hear preached. This is the retail sector of Christianity. Those in the pews are the consumers. In the market system, what consumers buy sends money to the manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors.  Professor Stevphen Prothuro in his book, "God is Not One, says Christianity is the retail sector, what those in the pews think and talk about. In most of both the Protestant and Catholic branches this is sin. It's what they worry people worry about. Ultimately, preachers read this back to them. Then, there is what a denomination's leaders, like the Pope, talk about. A professor at Mormon BYU studies what the head of Mormons focuses on. It changes. These leaders talk about certain sins until those ...

The newspaper in Iowa ran a story about the common Catholic practice across the country. Parishes are closing and being combined. Mass attendance has fallen by about 50% and the numbers of available priests is falling. To become a priest requires several years and is, therefore, very expensive. Add to that, of course, only males and no marriage. To increase attendance, the denomination needs to open parishes on every corner like McDonalds. By maintaining its expensive requirements for priesthood, the Catholic denomination has shot itself in the foot.  What jumped out in the report about the Catholic denomination in Iowa is that about half the current priests were born in other countries. It got me to wondering if the unstated method for keeping the denomination alive is a pipeline of priests from poorer countries. If the percentage is now 50% will it be much higher 10 or 20 years from now. I found a study of the priesthood and tried to find out where these foreign-born priests come...

Somewhere there must be a "standard list of sermon topics" preachers use to rotate their sermon topics. One topic that is covered over and over in the Christian press is why the faithful should not expect God to answer all their prayers all the time. It seems like it comes up more often these days. Could it be there is more doubt than in previous times? The theme of many sermons is that God is there to help after a tragedy happens. In the link, we learn God is there for the long run, eternity, so current events that go bad and kill loved ones need to be put in a broader perspective. Where, then, does the admonition to "pray" have some benefit? Why are there signs along roads from coast to coast that say, "PRAYER WORKS?" In what way does it "work?" An ex preacher said one of the things he most disliked about being a preacher was the requirement to write a sermon each time there was a national disaster that, "Took God off the hook." It s...