Thoughts of a Freethinker

The anti abortion propaganda mill tries to create the impression that when they persuade a young woman not to have an abortion, "a life is saved." Statistically, this is not true.   Childbirth kills some women. In poor countries, childbirth is one of the largest killers of women during their child bearing years. Abortion is an ancient practice that has been done, so far as we know, since the earliest humans. During those early times, when food and shelter were limited, it appears people calculated carefully the food available and compared it to the mouths to feed. When missionaries first encountered the Eskimo they learned of infants killed when there were too many and older tribal members committing voluntary suicide when they could not long help the clan survive. Instead of cranking out their regular diet of bogus statistics, those who oppose abortion should just say they oppose it because they do not like it. Abortion is safe. It does not affect the long term ment

Many experiences written about in the Bible were hallucinations . Those who wrote the Bible admit it. Yet, they are treated as historical events similar to the way we consider the 2016 election. None of us believe the 2016 election did not happen. When Paul talked to Jesus long after Jesus was dead we are to believe it was as real as the 2016 election. How can people today believe such stuff Today on the religious site, The Christian Post, there occasionally are stories of dreams and visions. These are giving the same prominence as documented news stories. Christian Post does refer to them as visions, however, so readers can decide on their importance. The link discusses whether or not hallucinations or visions are a sign of mental illness. A conclusion seems to be that they are not, by themselves, mental illness. Mentally ill people, however, can have so many hallucinations they lose touch with reality itself. It seems to me the line is never perfectly clear between the reli

A recent study and book on the topic show that young girls who attend churches where women are pastors have a more positive outlook and move on to more college and careers than those who experience only male pastors. I think it is a wonderful thing when young girls do not see roadblocks, real or imagined, in front of them. That there are Christian denominations which do not prevent women from becoming pastors is a modern development that is a credit to both the faith and those particular branches. Any denomination that declares certain classes of people are unfit to serve as clergy is a denomination in decline. Blocking women and gays from the pulpit is no different than saying black people cannot be pastors as was the case in the old Southern Baptist Convention. It was not until 1995 that the SBC renounced it racists past. Now, almost 25 years later the Christian denominations which segregate against women have yet to renounce that practice. I would recommend that any pare

At this moment, abortion is not legal in Argentina. The lower house in Argentina has approved making abortion legal. Shortly its Senate will vote yes or no. Abortion rights have done well in Latin America and in Ireland. Predictably, the Bishop of Argentina made a statement about the rights of fetuses but said nothing about the rights of women. The pattern for approval of abortion is so obvious it can be called self evident. When the percentage of women who are the main family breadwinners increases support for abortion rights increases also. Women are a large part of the workforce in Argentina. Statistics show that the percentage of women in the workforce of Argentina has been increasing rapidly  and is now 40%. Women are the primary breadwinners in 1/3 of Argentine households. I am not predicting the outcome of the Argentine Senate vote. I am saying legalized abortion will come to Argentina sooner or later. Making endless proclamations that fetuses have unique DNA, fingers,

Some decades ago a Pope named "Paul" issued a controversial paper on what kind of birth control Catholic couples are allowed to practice. It's OK to limit the number of children a couple has, the Pope wrote. It's just that limiting the number of children by using a condom is a grave sin but limiting children by not having sex during the woman's maximum time of fertility is not a sin. A paper recently discussed this peculiar reasoning. There is no logical reason to declare one method of birth control sin and another not sin. Either both are sins or neither is a sin. Surely we can all agree that before there was human understanding of the female fertility cycle humans did not know how to limit the number of pregnancies. They followed there natural urge to have sex. So called "natural law" would be to follow urges that nature provided humans. The ultimate "natural law" would be no effort whatsoever to avoid pregnancy. The link explains t

Bible passages used against homosexuality are full of absurdities. No place in the Bible is there an essay or explanation of a theological condemnation. This opened to door to a large part of Christian chest beating about the issue. The link explains in careful detail why we should treat the "abomination" passage in Leviticus with great caution. There is good reason to argue it was inserted into material which was about something else entirely. Then there is the Southern Baptist Convention theory. It is that the Bible has several isolated remarks condemning homosexuality so that is that. The passage in Leviticus where the abomination appears is all about incest. It defines what is incest. It is sex with your uncle's wife, with your daughter in law and so forth. The link author points out the principle of "the exception contains a rule." For example, if the sign in a store window says, "CLOSED SUNDAYS" it implies the store is open all the ot

Nearly every day there is an article proclaiming the moral decay that is supposedly happening in our country. This one talks about abortion, gay marriage, cohabitation and whatever else. These do not actually constitute moral decay. Instead, they represent the change going on behind the preaching. The preaching is oblivious to reality. One of the things this represents is the personal opinions of those claiming "moral decay." If those people do not like assertive women they claim abortion is a sin. If they do not like gay people then gay marriage is a sin. Anyone can see from the Bible it authors wanted to impose their own personal hang ups and assign God's wrath to them. Those who are disliked are condemned as sinful. If someone is liked, eyes are shifted away from the "sin" and it is ignored. Some Christians claim their belief system is superior to other religions and to those who find there is no evidence of a god. Experience does not show they are

Within religious circles there is a conventional wisdom that when people have more money they are "materialistic" and then dump their religion. That is, the cause of disinterest in religion is economic advancement. During the seven years of blogging here I have said repeatedly that views of religion follow the culture. That is, there is not a sovereign god but instead one created by cultural values. This study found exactly that. Countries first fell away from religion, then experienced an increase in their standard of living. Thus, it is not that people become materialistic then not religious. They lose their religion and then enjoy to fruits of a higher standard of living. The link goes through as explanation of this. Probably there are many other theories and explanations as to why countries prosper when the leave religion behind. One thing we associate with religious fervor is control of people. It's an over generalization, but when people are left to fig

I found a refreshing take on arguing religion by a devout Catholic. He is an admirer of Saint Thomas Aquines. Aquines, he says, was diligent in studying his opponents argument. He studied it until he had mastered it so well he could have been its advocate. By knowing his opponent's central case he could attack it effectively. This diligence was not present in the gay marriage debate. Advocates argued gay people should have equal rights. Their Christian opponents have never come up with a good reason why gay people should not have equal rights. Maybe there is some reason but we've never heard it. The gay argument seems mostly over but the argument about women's right to abortions goes on. But, the argument is trending toward the same end as gay marriage. It is trending toward being widely available because its Christian opponents refuse to master the main argument they face. The argument is that women, like gay men and women, have certain rights and taking away abortion

We have many disagreements in the world, but surely everyone would agree we should make our planet habitable by humans for as long as possible. One would hope that even those gullible enough to believe there is an afterlife would want life on our planet to continue. I might be too optimistic on that. The problem is we do not take enough responsibility for our planet's health. We want to belief our own physical comfort is more important than the planet's future. The problem is complicated by physics of the earth that are counter intuitive. For example, if we hold up a measuring cup it is easy to see the water level on one side is the same as the water level on the other. The same in our bath tube. When measuring ocean levels, however, all kinds of issues enter that do not conform to what we see in the bathtub. The link goes over several complex issues involved in measuring the level of ocean waters. I only understand a couple. One is the simple problem of establish som

People are falling over and over again for magical thinking. This human weakness has been present since our beginning. Perhaps our ancestors who fell for magical thinking were more optimistic and this trait helped them survive. Magical thinking also harms people. It takes their money and gives them nothing in return. The link tells of the original "snake oil salesman" who actually sold the fat from boiled snakes as a cure for everything. While religion, a form of snake oil marketing, has apparently be present since forever, what we know of it was written in the Bible. The Bible tells us we don't actually have to die. Instead, we can just do what we are told to do and give our money to those who tell us what to do. While driving through the country side, I sometimes see crude hand painted signs which say, "An eternity in hell awaits you" and some Bible verse. These signs were made by local people who fell for a snake oil salesman. We all know snake oi

The news story about Cardinal McCarrick was so devastating it is hard to fathom behavior this terrible. A Cardinal, of course, is among the highest ranking of Catholic clergy. Now in his 80's, he has finally been defrocked. But for 30 years the management of the Catholic Church has know, even acknowledged by secret payments to victims, this man is a pedophile. The church kept this secret and McCarrick retained his credentials. While people can remain members of the Catholic Church if the so desire, it is ridiculous for that institution to be advising the rest of us about sexual morality. In fact, I don't think they can advise the rest of us about morality of any kind. It is often said by Catholics that people who prey sexually on children are found in every profession. This is true. The issue in the Catholic church is the pedophiles were not turned over to law enforcement and were transferred from parish to parish whenever things got too hot for them. On top of that,

Recently, I've read two passionate articles written by prominent Catholics stressing the need for compromise in religion and politics. One stressed the need inside the Catholic community for compromise. The other stressed the need for those in politics to find common ground in the best interests of all. Both put down in concrete the nature of what is needed for agreement so we we move on to compromise. The first said all Catholics must agree that the single fertilized cell is a human being. Then Catholics can discuss disagreements and meet each other half way. The second also said we must agree on the single cell human being and then figure some political compromise, maybe more support for adoption he suggested. Both of these Catholics ignore the very person affected most by the abortion decision, the pregnant woman. They do not mention any compromise about her rights. Their position that the woman is not relevant to any discussion on abortion. Apparently there is no room

Most Americans do not understand why President Trump makes so much effort to court and please Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is because there is genuine affection between Putin and the religious right. The number of trips to Russia by leaders of the Religious Right is a matter of public record. Vice President Pence has praised Putin. These right wing leaders who visit Russia are also those who organize the National Prayer Breakfast. The welcome mat is out to Russian operatives who want to influence the direction of American politics. According to emails, the Russians make conversation with U.S. political leaders seated near them. They follow up with personal visits. Russians are doing something similar with religious leaders in Europe. Some while back Russians must have held meetings among strategists and asked, "Which group in the U. S. is most naive and can be persuaded to move to support our agenda of building conflict between political factions?" They real

There is not enough, maybe never will be enough, understanding of the interaction between politics and religion. Conventional wisdom is that we are religious first and then pick our political parties based on that. A long detailed  study shows that just the opposite is often the case. We pick our political views and they guide us toward the religious beliefs we then adopt. We gravitate toward churches that hold our political views and we then adopt the religious views of that church. They study questioned a group of young people. It then followed them through several years and tracked their religious and political views. I can't help but compare the link with what I read about religious people and President Trump. A broad sweep of religious people lampooned President Obama's church. It was in the United Church of Christ denomination on the liberal end of the church political spectrum. Obama was not a real Christian, it was said, and thus should not be President. Since

The Episcopal denomination has now decided that even if a local priest does not agree with gay marriage his local church must find a way to accommodate such a request. If the local priest does not want to conduct the marriage ceremony he is to find a colleague who is willing. No doubt this follows the well worn path of interracial marriage. It's hard to swallow that a large swath of Christianity once thought interracial marriage went against Christian principles. Preachers preached against it and those who disagreed we said to not be true Christians. Since there is no biblical teaching against gay marriage preachers who oppose it are free-lancing Christians. They may not like homosexuality and are grasping at something in their faith to justify this dislike. With churches closing, there are plenty of preachers around to take jobs at prosperous churches. I'm wondering if Episcopal priests who oppose gay marriage put that on their resumes when they are shopping for a ne

The Pope calls the faithful to use discernment. He refers to it as a religious concept. He asks the faithful not to decide on the basis of what has always been but to decide on the basis of current circumstances. That is wise councel. However, it throws into disarray the legion of believers who thinks nothing ever has changed in the faith and never can change. The Pope probably believes he is able to discern the will or intention of his God. My view is he cannot do this because so far as we know there is no god. Neither he nor anyone else can discern the will of something that does not exist. Discernment also has a secular definition. If we combine Webster and Wikipedia we get something like "...being able to grasp or comprehend that which is obscure...the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well." Measuring myself up against this secular definition, I give myself better than average grades in discernment. But, I'm not alone in this self evaluation.

Almost daily one can read that the Catholic Church is expanding in Africa. Evangelical groups are also marketing there. I remember watching Pat Robertson almost gleefully telling of winning over a crowd by claiming his god will fight the demon feared by that particular group. But, there is another force in Africa and in other poor nations that has something else in mind. This other force believes that women are the force for a better life for both men and women. This force is found in NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) funded by non profit groups. Melinda Gates, for example, has put a lot of money into Africa. Dozens of other groups promoting micro loans, education and the like are doing the same. While I risk over generalizing, these groups see women as held back by having too many babies. They are unable to work as much while pregnant and their time used raising the children contributes to family poverty. The impact of these NGO's is so large some Africans who ar

Swamping the news these days is the pending appointment of a Supreme Court Judge. The President had the option of sending up a pro life woman who appeared to be a one issue, anti abortion, demagogue. He took a pass on her because he and his handlers knew the court must not outlaw abortion. If would mean the end of Republican majorities. Better to keep the bait in front of gullible voters. The bait is "Vote for us. One of these days we will outlaw abortion." The candidate Trump sent up is inevitably part of this bait and switch game. The link explains clearly what those who understand politics have known for twenty years. Roe will not be overturned. Maybe there will be more harassment of women and doctors but that will be about it. It is easy to outlaw something people were not going to buy anyway. It is all but impossible to outlaw something people want badly to buy. Prohibition tried to outlaw the sale of alcoholic beverages. People found a way to produce and sell i

It never hurts to learn what really dangerous people are thinking. Today I read a powerful essay by a Catholic priest explaining why anyone who believes in simply reversing Roe v Wade is a person who supports murder. That is, Anthony Scalia's position that the abortion question be returned to the states endorses murder. What is needed, the priest says, is a national law outlawing  all abortions. Controlling women is, of course, the goal of much anti abortion politics. This priest represents the view that women must be monitored during their entire pregnancy and that any claims of miscarriages must be investigated to the full extent of the law. A missing fetus becomes as important as a missing person. All the mother's activities and comments to friends and relatives must be tracked down. A new poll shows that a significant majority of Americans believe Roe should remain the law that deals with abortion. As women assume ever greater responsibilities in government and as famil

Poker is a game of psychology with each player trying to make the other players think something other than the truth. There have been fortunes made by bluffing one had cards he/she did not have. I've been reading The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World (2018)  by Catherine Nixey. She has studied how Christians were successful at pushing Pagans out of the Roman Empire where Pagans had been the dominant religion for centuries. To study the bluff of Christianity we need to go back to the writers of the Bible who claimed they knew the exact words of Jesus. None of these writers claimed to have been present when Jesus said these things and many were not born until a generation or two later. One thing they claimed Jesus said was that the world would end in his lifetime. This claim the world would end momentarily was dropped later because it became apparent the public was not buying the bluff. If people were told over and over again, "Repent, give me

About two thousand years ago, the many strains of religious thinking we now call Paganism were replaced with Christianity. The entire transition took about 500 years. During most of those years it appears Pagan people thought Christianity was a passing fad and would eventually disappear. Those alive toward the end of the 500 years they were still surprised to suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in. Pundits say the decline of Christianity in the U.S. is accelerating . A prevailing view within Christianity is that people "will come to their senses" and return to the faith even after leaving it for a while. That could happen. It also could happen that the same trend that has been going on now for a couple of decades, people leaving the faith, could continue indefinitely. If that were the case Christianity would experience the same defeat it imposed upon others some 2,000 years ago. If history is any judge, it would be unusual if Christianity continued on for more

When President W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq the big rift between branches of Islam were widely known. As the war dragged on, the U.S. strategy was to keep the religious faction apart. This was different than Sadam's system of tamping down their disagreements which resulted in some intermarriage and good neighbors. Now a new twist is unfolding, young people who refuse to express belief in religion of any kind. One aspect of this new development is funding for an escape route out of Iraq for atheists. From the outside these natives of Iraq write and encourage atheism in their country. Back in parts of Iraq there is a new freedom of expression. Something that has changed since the beginning of that unending war is social media. Not surprisingly young Iraqis are just as sick of the religious factions as everyone else who is not inside them. They can now express their frustration on Face Book where many thousands now subscribe to secular sites. Also, a new sidewalk cafe so

From the earliest writing that has survived we know there have been mind games, writers trying to influence the thinking of the reader. There are cave pictures of animals that appear to think like humans. There are inscriptions in stone obviously intended to record current and past leaders or gods in a favorable light. We've all heard of meditation. Versions of it were very popular in the past. They were claimed to cure mental illness and prevent teenagers from getting into trouble. They would bring world peace. A new version of this is called " mindfulness ." There are books and seminars everywhere giving people an advantage over others and solving people's personal problems. One interesting observation I read from a teacher of mindfulness tells that in order to it to work religious thoughts must be expunged from a person's thinking. We can all speculate on what this means. My speculation is that religion itself is form of mindfulness and competes with what

When anti abortion people portray women who have abortions they do it with a back handed comment, "These are abortions of inconvenience. Women do not want to face the consequences of the sex they enjoyed." A New York Times  survey asked women why they do not have any children or if they have children why they do not have more. Their answers have little to do with inconvenience. They are mostly about economics . There is a price tag associated with having children. It is to high to buy. We all know that what it costs to raise a child varies according to how much parents can or want to spend. The minimum number is around $100,000 to age 18. If this is the number we want to use, not terminating a pregnancy costs a woman $100,000. Terminating a pregnancy it like a gift of $100,000. No wonder most couples use birth control and women are determined to get abortions. Those opposed to abortion spend their time on the wrong issue. They spend their time telling women the fetus is

While Republicans, and a few Democrats, talk endlessly about overturning Roe it is wise to stop and consider the calculations of politicians. They want, first and foremost, to get elected and reelected. The truth is they chances of winning are best if it appears as though Roe might  go down. Their chances of winning fall if Roe does  go down. For a few decades we have seen them conduct business as if that is exactly the calculation they are making. They have promised repeal of Roe but never quite achieve it. A way to understand this might be remember how fundraising on radio and TV work. How many time have you heard, "We need to raise another $1,000 during the next hour to meet our goal." The idea is, "We're almost there." We're almost there is the fund raising technique and voters outreach of anti abortion politicians and the entire Republican party. When politician talk about the public, they know there is a rule they must not ignore. It is the "w

Many who write on Christian sites today complain about how bad Christians have it, both in other countries and in the U.S. Christians have a right to complain when they are denied freedom of religion and speech. Their history has not, however, been one of treating well those of other religions and races. Some scholars, like Professor Bart Ehrman, give Christians credit for not being as bad as they could have been during the first five centuries. He says Constantine did not use much of his army to destroy Pagans after he converted to Christianity. There is lots of evidence according to Catherine Nixey ( The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, 2018) that Christians defaced sacred statues, tore down temples and promoted harassment of Pagans. In surviving papers there are documents pleading officials to allow Pagans to continue to worship in Italy. Christians have taught for a thousand years that Pagans were tired of their religion and were shopping for s