Thoughts of a Freethinker

Taking two pills that cause an abortion is safe, effective and inexpensive. There is no medical or common sense reason these medications are not available everywhere to every woman. The religious myth that one fertilized cell is a human being keeps laws in place that would benefit women and their families. Rachel Maddow had a long program last night discussing plans abortion clinics are making for potential reversals by the Supreme Court about abortion. Providing free transportation for longer distances will inevitably be part of the solution. Every state with political climate against abortion has a neighboring state where abortions are available. Women with adequate money will have no difficulty traveling and receiving services. Poor women will need some kind of assistance and the knowledge of how to connect to whatever assistance is available. Maddow's story was about Wichita, KS, where the late Dr. George Tiller had a busy abortion practice. Tiller was murdered while atte...

Any college teacher in the fields of behavioral science, humanities or the arts learns the biggest challenge to teaching is not learning new things but unlearning wrong things. Students move to college from their homes and communities with ideas like, "We gave Indians money to resettle. They are poor because they are lazy," "America is great because it was blessed by God," or "Women were born to serve men."  Exposing students to information challenging what they learned back home is the first step. A challenging area for professor in science are beliefs the earth and everything on it was created by God. About 1900 a physicist said we knew everything there was to know about physics. We've added to knowledge since then and it never seems to stop. A giant question is where did the universe come from? Most everything else about where we  came from has been figured out. We know, for example we developed from evolution and were not created by a god. ...

A recent poll found most Americans think Christianity gets too involved in politics. This has been the position of atheists since way back. Certainly there are denominations which hold as a central view religion and politics should be kept apart. It seems to me most non church people and occasional church goers have the impression Christianity in general has a goal of pushing itself into politics. Pictures of the President surrounded by preachers praying for him makes this association rather inevitable. The impression Christianity is all about politics is not helped by the two largest denominations, the Catholics and Southern Baptists. Both relentlessly push for their views be put into law. Both endorse or are seen an endorsing politicians. While the faith often is portrayed as about "being humble" it is largely about just the opposite, being powerful. Those wealthy people who wrote the Bible and today's leaders of the Catholic and Southern Baptist denomination ...

The flood of the Old Testament is taught to children and the old as well. The happy story of God drowning all those sinful babies apparently brings joy to believers. The question is, did it ever happen at all and if it did what exactly happened? One way (not mine) is to study the scriptures carefully and see what they say. Since the scriptures are either written by God or guided by God surely they will reveal accurately what happened. Those who adhere most enthusiastically to words in the Bible, called literalists, could perhaps be the ones to tell us what exactly happened. Fortunately we can eavesdrop on what they see in the Bible. This way we can know precisely what it says. Such an observation on the flood  appeared recently on the site, Christian Post. Discussed were the views of Hugh Ross, a part time professor in religious colleges and founder of a group called "Reason to Believe" said people are reading the Bible wrong when they say it says the entire earth wa...

The public figure known as "Bible Answer Man" is a controversial radio talk show host. When he was a right wing Protestant he railed at various other conservative branches of the faith as being heretical. Then, recently, he surprised his listeners and many in his circle of believers when he converted to the branch called Eastern Orthodox. He now feels he has found the true version of the faith. His son described growing up deep in a faith which was always arguing fine points of the Bible and theology. He said it was not unlike sports talk radio where there is an army of experts each diagramming plays and second guessing coaches and quarterbacks. Each side, and there are many sides, feels it has found the ultimate truth. Bible Answer Man now feels this sport of arguing scripture is less important than living a good life. He has had a precarious bout of cancer and perhaps sees his old life as less important. As we approach the end of 2019 we will be hearing about the ...

It's hard to believe, but over a million people in the U.S. would identify as Wiccan. The Wiccan belief includes witches. But the one million Wicca does not include an untold number of self identified practitioners of witchcraft . Like the Christian faith divides and then divides again based on what individuals or subgroups want to believe the same has been happening in Wicca and witchcraft for centuries. While what is called the original or "orthodox" Wicca demanded community-wide standards, this changed when various groups branched off and today many individuals call themselves witches but may not refer to themselves as Wiccans. The young women in the link is a example. Probably she would call herself a Christian if asked. But she found her faith missing something. That something she found in tarot cards. The practice of drawing a tarot card and discussing with others what it might mean was a visit to something like a spiritual world not present in her church. Sh...

I read so many religion sites I think I have seen it all. Then I'm surprised once again. This time by a  message of Christianity that is quit different then what one usually comes across. The scene is set to do something.  About 4,000 churches start each year but about 7,000 close. Every year about 2.7 million church members go to inactive status. About 1,500 clergy leave the ministry each month. In both the Catholic and Protestant branches there are frequent seminars on how to grow their church. A belief held by most Christians is that the preacher/priest is hired to increase church membership. The building needs to be spruced up and sermons need to relate to what people need to hear. This notion has been going on for years to no effect. The link teaches, however, it is not the preacher/priest's job to grow membership. Nor is it that of the governing board. The only person charged with growing the church, the link author says, is Jesus. According to this line of re...

So often Christians say that without the faith, especially the Bible, it is not possible for people to have sound moral principles. A while back a blogger compared the moral principles found in the Satanists' document versus the Ten Commandments used by Christians. Satanists focus on how to achieve individual liberty. I've summarized for brevity what the Satanists adopted: --Act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason --One's own body in inviolable, subject to one's will alone. --To willfully and unjustly encroach on the freedom of others is to forego your own. --People are fallible. If we make a mistake we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm done that we may have caused. --Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. By contrast, the Ten Commandments are light on moral iss...

In Iowa the Republican legislature and Governor are very self righteous about not funding Planned Parenthood clinics. Some of the smaller clinics in rural areas have closed. The number of abortions continues to track the national average so it does not appear closing these Planned Parenthood clinics has had any effect on abortions procedures performed. Nationally, there has been an increase sexually transmitted diseases. One of the terrible diseases is syphilis. It not only affects the woman's health but the baby if the woman is pregnant. If caught early it can be treated successfully. It is caught early by regular visits to clinics. Statistics in the state now show this pattern: Wherever a Planned Parenthood clinic has closed the number of syphilis problem cases increased. Whenever a baby is born to a mother with syphilis this lack of care endangers a child. Even though it is believed abortion has been practiced by early in prehistory human beings and presumably without m...

Instead of saying there is a religion called "Christianity," it might more helpful to say there is a "Christian System." The Christian system works like this. Believers are expected to always defend the Bible no matter how much evidence there is questioning what it says. When there are conflicting accounts of the Crucifixion, one is to say they all happened. When there are no eyewitness accounts of Jesus alive after he was dead one is to claim there were multiple eye witnesses. For the thousands of variations that came along from thousands of scribes editing as the copied, the standard rebuttal is to say there were changes but no important changes. Here the question of the word "important" is, well, important. For example, the personality of Jesus is different in different parts of the Bible. In the Gospel of Mark he is an angry man. In other places not so. Also in the Gospel of Mark the disciples do not see Jesus after he is alive. These issues ...

A passionate article appeared recently by a man who  refuses to give up on his faith. He says the usual reasons people give for leaving the faith are not good ones. They include unanswered questions about why suffering and evil continue to exist. These are side issues and not central to believing, he says. What is central, he asks? It is two assumptions (his term), a.) there was a Jesus and b.) Jesus rose from the dead. If one believes these two assumptions are actual events then it will follow one is a Christian. One thing I like about his case is that he uses refers to "assumptions" for the two crucial events. He then goes on to use the usual arguments as to why these were historical events. The only way these could not be historical events, he says, is for the bones of Jesus to be discovered. He does not cover the various reasons many of us are skeptical there was a Jesus and if there was a Jesus he came back to life from being dead. I think it would work to the a...

The internet is ablaze with comments about the restaurant chain Chick Fil A who announced it would not longer be donating to some groups it has been famous for supporting in the past. One of these was the Salvation Army. There is a Chick Fil A located close to me so I've been following these events. The Salvation Army was bitter about being dropped by Chick Fil A. It issued a statement saying the restaurant had been misinformed about the Army's policies toward LGBT people. According to the statement, the Army gives housing and assistance to a large number of poor gay and lesbian citizens. So why would Chick Fil A drop a organization that does not discriminate in distribution of aid? The answer was revealed a couple of years ago. The founder of Chick Fil A was very vocal from the beginning of the restaurant chain that gay marriage is a sin. He spoke often about his beliefs. Right wing people supported the chain, liberals did not. I remember reading that executives in t...

We are very early in the period of arguments about religious freedom. When every person can have her own god how can the rest of society accommodate all of them? While courts have often dismissed arguments other than the religious liberty of those opposed to abortion and gays, the argument is being used more often these days by liberals. Recently a doctor who provided water and food for migrants crossing the border illegally quoted scripture as justification for what he was doing. Back in the day, a similar argument was used by anti war advocates who burned draft cards. Everyone knows the list of passages in the Bible advocating peace is as long as your arm. As the flag waving political right Christians carry on about their religious freedom, they have little to no interest in that of others. Being a conscientious objector today is harder than it was when I was of draft age. If ever there was a clear violation of religious freedom, the belief that Jesus was about peace and Jesus ...

Next year Pentecostals are planning a massive rally in Jerusalem. They intend to host worshipers from around the world. Their stated goal is to see every human in the world have a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. That includes you and me. Most readers may already know Pentecostalism is a branch of the faith which puts little emphasis on rituals like communion and baptism. Instead followers believe they have established a direct connection to the Holy Spirit. It is the ultimate case, at least as I understand it, of each person having her own individual religion. They use the word "experiential" to describe their faith. Perhaps the best know brand of this faith is Assembly of God. The growth of this branch of the faith gives followers optimism for the future. They claim one/forth of all Christians are Pentecostals. That is one out of every 12 humans across the globe. It's hard for me to believe so many people in the past and many in the future would expe...

Christian defenders like to say their religion does so much good. They don't subtract the bad to see if there is any good left over. A young man in Detroit committed suicide. At the funeral their priest speculated about whether he went to heaven or not, the faith condemns suicide. The parents are suing that diocese. Apparently, the priest saw his job as making parents who are already feeling miserable more miserable. It all started with the myth there is a heaven and only certain insiders get to go there. We feel the urge to spit on a priest or preacher who says such a thing. But, what about the jerks back in ancient time who make up the concept of hell? The real misery started there. It is widely believed, of course, that whoever the men were who wrote the original Bible were telling folk tales that had been passed down to them. And, there is little doubt the tales came from worship of previous gods and the cultures that were home to them. But, I'm certain of thi...

A trend is emerging which may foretell what will happen to religion in the U.S. when enough young people have left traditional churches. The Kardashians and the Jenners are famous pop celebrities  who wear the Christianity on their sleeves. I understand there are others as well. They are dropping their religion creds wherever it helps them. Protestantism, meanwhile is trending toward a style of worship that fits a celebrity-style religion. It is a concert style where there is Christian rock with a light dose of preaching. We can expect a package of branding that includes music, clothes, fragrances and concert style worship. Some say if you ask a white teenager today who is a famous church leader he/she will not say Franklin Graham or Joel Osteen but one of these branded performing celebrities. I think I'm correct in saying the old version of celebrity-type worship was the revival event or something like Billy Graham. It was to compliment churches not compete or take their ...

Wars among Protestants result in new denominations. Wars among Catholics result in internal maneuvers, under cutting and waiting for the death of Popes. A new and clear analysis of the current Catholic wars explains conservatives should be call "Catholic fundamentalists" because the mirror Protestant fundamentalists. A professor reviewed the ways in which Catholic fundamentalists have slid over into the theology of fundamentalist Protestants. The are quoting scripture, engaged in personal evangelism, preaching "friendship with Jesus" and adult baptism. They call themselves "traditionalists" even though they follow modern ideas of conservative Catholicism that are not its tradition. The very practice of criticizing the Pope is not traditional. Tradition says he is the ultimate successor to Peter. Catholic fundamentalists are now wringing their hands over the proposal to allow married priests in areas like the Amazon Basin. Married priests are a trad...

Certainly, we can and should be skeptical of all sources of information. However, sometimes a source of information makes a more powerful impression on one than all others. In the case of climate change our military could perhaps use it as a justification for more resources. It may also be correct in perceiving it as a major threat to our own security. A book was just published based on the military's view of climate change. Military officials are reluctant to say much about it publicly because the issue is so politically charged. They see three major threats from climate change. Large scale migration in other parts of the world will cause political instability which will spill over into the U.S. There will be requests to the U.S. for help in maintaining stability. It will be in the U.S. interests to provide this stability but the resources available may too small for the tasks. Climate change will make it difficult to move the military into positions to help both our own ...

Birth control has been practiced for centuries. It is thought techniques first appeared when societies began cultivating crops and not hunting and gathering. The Catholic Church, we all know, has considered birth control a major sin for a long time. This even though its members almost universally ignore the church's prohibition. Almost from the day Trump entered office, his appointees began a full court press against birth control. Katy Talento, Trump's first health care adviser falsely claimed birth control caused "miscarriages of already conceived children" and that it ruined the female uterus for conception. Fortunately for us all, Talento was one of the many who left the Administration. Nikki Haley, Trumps Ambassador to the U. N., said the Administration's position on birth control advocates the rhythm method. This advocacy is especially aimed at poor countries which provide little or not medical assistance to either the mother or her babies. The Admi...

Those self important and self serving obnoxious people who shout "prayers" at women entering clinics that perform abortion need to look at the impact they are having. It is none . What they are doing has another purpose, feeding their own egos and feeling self righteous. Going back to Roe v Wade, abortion rights groups said that as far as anyone could tell legal abortions took place at about the same rate as illegal ones did before Roe. The understanding of those who study it say the market for abortions has always been quite independent from politics and laws. The link above is to a Christian site,  Christian Post.  It reviews recent statistics which show the rate of abortions is declining. The review points out  an irony that the decline has happened most dramatically in states with the most liberal abortion laws. To complete the irony, the rate in states with the most restrictive abortion rates has gone up. The passionate statements by lawmakers about their s...

In those circles where such things are discussed, there is an explosion of commentary about the seemingly tiny recommendation recently to allow married Catholic priests in the remote Amazon basin. It also suggested women serve at higher levels than before. The reason given for this liberalization was that there is a shortage of priests there. Conservative Catholics know well there is a shortage of priests in many places and this excuse opens the door to a new world wide Church policy. The conservative outrage was reviewed in the New York Times by the conservative Catholic columnist, Ross Douthat. Douthat interviewed and gave a glowing report on the obstinate conservative Cardinal Burke. The conclusion was there is nothing conservative Catholics can do about the earth shaking mistake of doing away with celibate priests and higher ranking women but to wait until there is a new Pope. Another observer of the Amazon synod noted a couple of things that caused the meeting to be called....

We all know from Bible stories the so called Apostle Paul talked to Jesus various times after Jesus was dead. The story teller knew it was necessary to have Paul talk to Jesus because Paul needed to be THE authority on the Christian faith and not just another of the big talkers. So, how could Paul talk to someone who was dead for awhile? We now know this is possible and tickets are available to see it done. A lady known as the "Long Island Medium", Theresa Caputo, will perform near where I live and you can attend. She will roam through the audience and put random people in touch with their long dead friends and families. How can someone talk to the dead? I cannot tell you but Ms. Caputo and Paul can. And, if you believe Paul did this but Ms. Caputo is a fake, the Bible has news for you. The Bible warns us about scoffers. I read there are 39 Bible versus scolding scoffers including 2 Peter 3:3 and Psalm 1:1-3. So, if you are scoffing at Ms. Caputo let that be a warni...

I had read that Latin Mass is a symbol for anti liberal Catholics. Knowing nothing about the matter it was interesting to read a woman's perspective of its role main in Catholic prejudice against women. It is not simply the language used but the anti female package it includes. To start with, women are required to cover their hair. Women's hair is a preoccupation in religion for some reason. We see branches if Islam as well as Catholicism. The Amish also require covered hair for women. Forcing rules on women is part of the domination psychology. Doing the mass in Latin is not the history of the Catholic church, so the article says. As the faith spread it incorporated many languages. Latin mass was introduced later as a recent requirement. It was another way to establish the authority of the clergy over those in the pews. Already there have appeared rebuttals to this woman's criticism of Latin mass. Doesn't she understand, these men write, that God gave all this...

"The word never changes" is a phrase conservative members of the faith are required to say. And they say it, even though it is not true. Based on my own many decades of observing the church, it seems obvious the priest/preacher is financially obligated to preach what those in the pews want to hear. Otherwise those in the pews will go elsewhere where another preacher says what they want to hear. Or, the church changes preachers. In this system those in the pews write the sermons of those behind the pulpit. Many readers, of course, argue that what I am saying is untrue. Recently, a quite well known blogger without intending to do so had a good example of my explanation of religion and free enterprise capitalism. Roger E. Olson is a faculty member at Baylor University and a devout evangelical Christian. Professor Olson plots the beliefs expressed by churches. He attends many different churches and reads many websites where "What We Believe" is posted for pr...

A bitter struggle between traditionalists in the Catholic Church and those who want it to adapt to local cultures has long endured. Some drama centering on this played out at the recent "Amazon Synod." The main news at the Synod in South America was the Pope's declaration that married men could enter the priesthood to serve Catholics in South America. I suppose there were many ceremonial events there in S. America. One which went around the world was a world was a video of two young native women presenting the Pope with a gift. The Pope blessed the gift and accepted it as part of the historical visit. The gift, as I understand it, was a small statue of the native goddess, Pachamama. Pachamama was a popular and famous goddess in the pre Spanish Inca period. She continues to be a god to some Indigenous people. Because Pachamama scolded people who hunted too many plants and animals in the wild she has become a new age environmental goddess as well. This ads to th...

In the Bible, God was busy killing people. Writers on several Christian satire sites enjoy running through the killing God did and the reasons given for the killing. Some who write satire are so diligent they have read through the Bible to add up the number God killed. The numbers seem to run around 25 million. Of course it requires making an estimate of the world population at the time of Noah and of battles when God's favorite assassins were victorious. A review with lots of discussion is in another blog . Here are some of God's most successful killing projects. The scripture reference can be found in the second link above or on several other sites: Event                                                                               Estimates of Successful God Kills Noah flood  ...

Right to worship includes granting rights to religious  enemies . Put another way, religious freedom doesn't just mean your religion. I can't quite make sense of the link story. It tells of the U.S. Naval Academy's turning down worship by a new Satan group. While another Satan group was approved some years ago, officials are dancing all over with excuses as to why this group has been denied. The military is required to accommodate many religions including pagans. But there seems to be a requirement that religious groups display some kind of behavior or structure that reflect properly the word "religion." Officials have called the new Satan group too "political." My goodness, can any group be more political than today conservative Christians? It is said by some today's conservative Christianity is more political than it is religious. The entire business of providing religious staff and facilities for U.S. military is a mess these days. There...

  It is well known trade raises the standard of living of both trading countries. What often is not quantified is the precise amount. Two economists from the London School of Economics have done this for consumers. For the average consumer it is $460. This is the amount the Trump trade war is costing consumers each year. For farmers and merchants who depend on farmers it will be much higher. They buy products from China but also sell grain to China. With grain prices substantially lower the cost to the average farmer will be thousands of dollars. Trade between two countries has the identical effect on our standard of living as does trade between two states. The U.S. prohibits restrictions on trade between states because it is recognized some states are better suited to produce one product while a different state is better for some other product. By specializing and trading the country is better off. Trading between countries makes the world better off. While states and coun...

I've heard this in lectures by former conversion therapy employees and read about it on line. Time after time, those who passionately embrace leaving same sex attractions behind by using the shame of religion find themselves helpless and admit publicly that they are gay. The link is about yet another. I know there are many gay men and women married to the opposite sex and finding their way through life secretly aware their strongest sexual attraction is to their own gender. I have no particular objection to such people dealing in that way with  the card they have been dealt. What should be stopped is businesses that take lots of money from gay people without changing their sexual orientation. We have laws against false claims made by medical companies. We need the same against dishonest claims made by conversion therapy. I had a preacher friend years ago from Philadelphia. When one of his sons came out as gay the father was determined to find the cause and cure. One of his st...

It started about 2011 by clergy who had lost their faith but remained preachers and priests. The dilemma was losing one's faith but being trained only to be a clergy member. Leaving his/her profession might takes down a family's only bread winner or lead to divorce. Having someone else to commensurate with is imperative. That's why the Clergy Project was founded. It's easy for both believers and non believers to criticize these pastors/priests. To me it is not a terrible thing. Clergy are there to perform a service. People in their congregations expect them to preach, listen to personnel concerns, perform rituals and weddings and funerals and run the church's affairs. If they are doing all these things well and both the buyer of the services, the congregation, and the seller, the preacher, are satisfied with the deal what is the problem? According to what I have read, there are many reasons why clergy stay with the profession even though they no longer believe...