Thoughts of a Freethinker

Some decades ago I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba with our son's scout group. Most of the group was hosted overnight by a church in the downtown. The congregation had been declining. The solution was to tear down the church building and build a high rise affordable housing building. The congregation continued to meet in rooms on the main floor. I remember marveling at the moveable furniture and attractive appearance. Why don't we do that in the U.S. I wondered? Now this is being done in downtown Madison, WI. As in Winnipeg, the smaller congregation will meet in the new building. Maybe this is underway in other places.   Everyone agrees more affordable housing is needed in the U.S. Mostly people do not want such housing near them so acquiring land zoning is difficult to impossible. Land itself, of course, is expensive in the downtown areas where people need to live so they can find work nearby.  Downtown churches can help because usually they own land free of debt. When they de...

A convert from Islam to Christianity recently penned a post lamenting the number of Christians going the other way, from Christianity to Islam. Her theory is that Christians are too pushy and judgmental and that is why some leave for Islam. This theme of obnoxious Christians has been appearing more frequently in the Christian press recently. The posts always include some quotes from the Bible admonishing the faithful to win over those in other faiths with kind behavior. If these quotes are helpful, why are they being put out there now? Earlier would have been better. The link lady makes one big error. She writes that the Christian message is not just one message competing with others. She thinks it is something above all that. Unfortunately, it is actually just one more group pumping out propaganda. It is not different from all the others. New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman claims Jesus, that is the writing claiming to quote Jesus, was different than anything else during that period. Eh...

Democrats have been burned so many times in recent decades they refuse to believe they can really win in Republican states. Texas is an example. Yet, everyone who talks to Texans says the same thing. Texans have questions about Talarico. But there is deep dislike his opponent, Paxton. We all have a tendency to predict voting patterns on past experience. As Reagan once said, "In politics the unexpected often happens." There are other generalizations made by prominent politicians. Tip O'Neil wrote a book, All Politics are Local. I have that book. Tip says politicians are known locally and how they are perceived locally often supersedes national issues. Hubert Humphry said, "You cannot talk down to voters." To me, Trump and his version of the Republican Party are doing that. Making outcomes even more difficult to predict are changes in demographics. Every day, some voters die and young people have birthdays moving them into the voting age. All of us know the old te...

The Christian press has tried lampooning Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion for all of these 20 years. Yet the book's impact, or the cultural change that gave rise to its popularity, continues. Dawkins penned a wonderful essay about the conflict between the faith and those of non faith and it's worth reading.  Dawkins points out that the power of Charles Darwin's book explaining where humans came from. It destroyed creationism as the explanation. Darwin wrote this around the time of the Civil War. Christian creationism started downhill and has never stopped. Dawkins points out in last week's essay the destruction of creationism has been so complete those in Christianity with academic backgrounds have all but abandoned it. Dawkins points out these Christians who have been forced to abandon creationism have now turned to another argument. That is about the universe. Readers all know the argument. It is that so many things in the universe had to happen to arrive at an e...

When the Secretary of Defense announced a new office of religion in the miliary he did not refer to it as encompassing all religions. It was as if he had never heard of religions other than Christianity. He quoted from the Bible.  The Office of Religion is the Office of Christianity in the military.  The U. S. military is so huge I suppose there are many specialized enterprises within it. There is a chaplaincy corps that considers all or nearly all the faiths represented in the military. Chaplains are prepared to conduct religious services in religions they themselves are not part of. Where does Secretary Hegseth's Office of Religion and the Bible verses he used fit into the Chaplaincy Corps? I would guess most of the career Chaplains do not know where it fits in either. I read over the years about the part of the military that deals in propaganda. We all know playing with the heads of the enemy has always been part of warfare. Where does Hegseth's own religious propaganda fit...

With more Democrats who are clergy running for office and suggesting there is more than one version of Christianity other than the Christian right we are seeing bitter commentary about these liberal politicians. If several of these liberal clergy win election, will there be anyone that disapproves of any version of the faith? Will there be any blasphemy left? Christians are so fragmented it's hard to see a central definition in the future. Not long ago, Christian factions united against liberal who did not want prayer in schools and at public meetings. Now Christians themselves are in different camps. Some are saying the Constitution itself was flawed in wanting a separation of church and state. Apparently, they want a new Constitution requiring the Christian right.  Political groups now seem to be forming religions that conform to politics. This may not be all bad because it is more honest than what we see today. Today religious groups say their politics are a result of their reli...