Thoughts of a Freethinker

  According to those who follow the politics of U.S. Bishops, the elected officers continue to be anti (the late) Pope Francis. Embedded deeply this political wing is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. This even though Francis and now Pope Leo have moved on. These two Popes mostly have not discussed the two issues U.S. Bishops are obsessed with. In fact, Pope Francis canned an archbishop who made too much of anti-abortion. One would hope the U.S. Bishops would lead the world in enlightened and factual postures. Instead, they lean more toward the parts of the world that are most invested in discrimination while European Bishops move forward into the modern world. Pope Leo is trying to hold together these very different factions.  As time goes on, and the U. S. Bishops add more members appointed by Francis and Leo one would hope the entire enterprise would wise up, a least just a bit. Those in the pews will be unmoved for a long time but at the top we could see some progress....

In the 1980's an engraved ancient piece of stone was showed to a British anthropologist. The stone had come from the Middle East some decades before. It was carbon dated 1500 to 1700 BCE.  The stone detailed a flood story including a command from a long-age god giving orders that a boat be built that held pairs of all animals. Dimensions of the boat were detailed. This, of course, was not about Noah or the Christian God but about a more ancient society that worshipped the god popular at that time. The Noah story is one passed down from long before the Bible, even the Old Testament, was written.  As discussed here often, all humans lived by water for most of our history. Bodies of water flooded and, in dark winter caves and around summer night fires, entertainment included stories about past floods. No doubt the taler the tale, i.e., the more exaggerated the flood story, the more entertaining it was to the listeners. One would think a society like ours with a high level of lite...

Brazil has to be one of the most fascinating countries in the world. It was invaded and taken over by white Portuguese. Some black slaves arrived from Africa but some came there who were slaves by in Portugal. In spite of efforts to force out of existence the gods worshipped in Africa, the gods came with the slaves. The slaves and later freed descendants Christian names to the African gods everything was OK. The new Christian "saints" loved the music and mythology from Africa. It's all still there in Brazil. Christianity, being a religion of the hustle, adapted to the market by endorsing the new gods from Africa and the music these gods liked. Many of them became saints. Why not? In Brazil there have always been and remain today Christian wagging their fingers at this adaptation. The "true faith" did not have the dancing swaying religious iconic street performers that meander down the street to music during Carnival. They shout shame on Carnival. All of this mak...

Many places on the web where the future of Christianity is discussed are on the topic of "young people returning to the faith." Is this really happening anywhere in the West? A look at all sources of this question leaves doubt there is anything other than the decades-old decline in faith across all ages and everywhere.  The flickers of optimism among the faithful seem to come from comments of clergy, on-line surveys and, perhaps, people just making stuff up. Traditional polling companies who do expenses polls do not find anything but a continuation of the downward trend. A person in the Church of England said if there was a glimmer of hope that young people were returning to the faith it would be seen across that country in their churches. There are so many churches a small number showing up would change numbers significantly. It's not there. This is following the typical pattern in the Christian right: "More women are learning they have a baby at the moment of conce...

Most know of "Pascal's Wager." It is that even if one has doubts about the faith, the price of misery in hell is great and the price of believing is small. Why not buy the insurance? The Christian author of the link reviews the creator of the comic strip, Dilbert. The creator has Dilbert running through the wager only a few days before the creator himself died of cancer. It is not known whether the creator was serious or poking fun at the Christian narrative. The link author points out going through the motions of believing merely for self-interest is not really Christianity. Neither are the various arguments that Christians are happier or more successful. Add to the self-serving that Christian societies are better ones for democracy and so on. Real Christianity, he writes, is believing the faith's god forgives sins and that he "loves" his entourage. The link author allows, however, that sometimes actual belief comes along eventually even if one begins by go...

After the "Second Vatican" council which established that mass be performed in languages other than Latin, a protest group formed. Later, the conservative Pope Benedict appeased them by seating the clergy they had "ordained" and allowing Latin mass. Now, Pope Leo has again banned Latin mass and the group is planning to "ordain" more rogue clergy. The Vatican and this rouge group is headed for another collision. The link and suggest that inside the Latin Mass advocates is a political operation that worked against Pope Francis and now Leo. One would guess that as Pope Francis began to fail their hopes were the next Pope would be another conservative like Benedict. This was never a possibility, however, because Francis only named Cardinals who were at least somewhat sane and liberal. Now, the Latin Mass group is frozen out for a couple of decades and has decided to make a fuss. Latin Mass, no women in powerful positions, no gays, no abortions and no birth con...