Thoughts of a Freethinker

Even though Christians are in the driver's seat in so many ways, they continue to think, instead, they are under siege . This peculiar thinking makes them worse off than they would be if they simply accepted reality as it is. Reality is we are not a Christian nation. Christianity worldwide is a minority but Christians in the U.S. can still believe whatever religious tenants they choose. It seems to me Christians do not have anything to be angry about. I know, however, this is not about some objective measurement of circumstances. It is about expectations. Parts of the faith are so confident they know "the truth" they expect to prevail first in converting everyone to their faith and second making their rules of faith the rules of government.  We need only look at recent events surrounding abortion and rights of homosexual people. Somehow, the peculiar notion got into the heads of millions of Christians their religious views should become the law of the land. Not only did t

Hillary did not bother courting religious conservatives much. My guess is that Biden will say he wants their vote but will not change any positions to get it. Presidential candidates often think they can become popular with religious people by pointing out they, too, are religious. I recall Mitt Romney thought other Christians would be pleased to hear the Mormons have a deep regard for Jesus Christ. Instead of praise for this statement, he received nothing but criticism. He never mentioned that again. Obama thought it would be great politics to wear his religion on his sleeve. When people learned which denomination he worshipped at he, like Romney, was subjected to a barrage of criticism. He also stopped talking about his religious views. Biden has said religious views are a private matter and I don't recall him saying anything about is Catholic faith. I would be smart of him to say nothing about it. Others can say he is a devout Catholic but not he himself. Everyone thinks their b

There have always been married couples who did not have children. Some were by choice and some not. I can't remember in my long life a time when not having children had such an enthusiastic following. There is even a world-wide organization, the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement,  dedicated to removing humans from the environment thus allowing it to return to good health.  The author of the link, a woman, lives with a man and neither want nor plan to have children. People ask her why? Sometimes she answers, "Because overpopulation is harmful to the environment." Other times she says, "It's complicated." Both of these illicit understanding nods. But when she tells people, "I don't want any," the response is a hostile look. Having children has been viewed as a noble expression of religious beliefs and of optimism for so long there is a cultural bias against not wanting them.  A survey in several European countries since the pandemic began shows

In anti abortion politics one of the propaganda techniques is "story telling." Story telling is simply telling one's first-person experience about the issue. Gay parents use story telling when invited to other groups who want to learn about homosexuality. The emotional experience of learning one's child is gay and how that played out in a family's life is gripping almost every time. Anti abortion strategists use it for people who formerly worked in abortion clinics or advocated for abortions and then changed their minds. Years ago I was invited to a religious event where the featured speaker was a doctor who formerly had performed abortions for a living and who told her story. Story telling by women who have had abortions or who worked in the field have not been as common as have others. We can understand why. That is why the book, The Turnaway Study,  is so interesting. It combines standard academic procedures used to study women who had and did not have abortion

One does not often encounter a candid female voice from the pastoral or administrative world of the evangelical community. One recently wrote about her experience. Her father had always told her, "You can do anything you set your mind to."  When she went to work for an evangelical organization she was told this was not  to be in her future. This young woman had been successful in her career in the secular world but became an evangelical Christian and decided to work at the Billy Graham institute at Wheaton College. After she had been there for a couple of weeks a man who was her supervisor sat down with her and said, Laurie, you are a very smart person and we are excited to have you here as we believe you have much to contribute. But, I have to warn you that you have things working against you, you're young, you're blond, you're short and you're female. Of course, this little talk could have happened at any number of religious and secular organizations. What m

Ireland made abortion legal. Some South American countries are in the process of making it legal. New Zealand prohibited abortion long after some other countries made it legal under certain conditions. Then it became legal in New Zealand. Next it was treated by the law as a medical procedure, not a criminal activity. Now it is available to anyone up to 20 weeks. After that it is available when signed off by a doctor. Abortion is simply health care, nothing else. Religions have been successful in creating the illusion it has something to do with crime or morals. This latter is a modern adaptation. I recall reading about natives in Alaska where people were very well versed in how much food would be available during the coming season and how many children could be successfully cared for. They limited the population through various means and did not consider that to have any negative moral connotation. In fact, the opposite was the case. Too many people meant the tribe might not survive.

According to this link , President Trump was preparing to take a leadership role in preventing the rapid spread of the Corona Virus early on. The President was envisioning himself as a war-time President fighting for the health of the nation's citizens. It seems almost inevitable he today would be sitting on popular poll numbers had he made a best effort at stocking the nation with masks, ventilators and such along with mask requirements.  But, he allowed himself to go off the rails. The organization taking aim at his intentions was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It wanted no response from the Federal Government and the President backed down. Elizabeth Warren asked the Chamber why it lobbied for such a harmful Federal response. The answer was U.S. businesses would respond properly and did not need more Federal paperwork. Of course, there is no way of measuring precisely how the pandemic would have played out had the President made aggressive moves to slow its spread. He could have a

Statues of great heroes in our history are now being damaged by protestors. The public is split as to whether this is a serious activity and must be stopped or whether the statues need to be removed and stored away.  To me, it illustrates why every god that has ever "existed" has had to remain solely in the minds of humans. Any god that was human would be soon recognized to not measure up to the god individual people desire. Everyone has to have his/her own god, one that is very pleased with that particular person. A living person, like those the statues represent, will have views and a history some find different from what they themselves prefer. Thus, a celebrity statue and any human god will not measure up.  The assaults on statues illustrate why there are atheists and freethinkers. Atheists and freethinkers have come to understand the desire in human beings for a god. They understand some humans need a god uniquely interested in the individual human being himself. To appr

Some public figures in the Southern Baptist Convention praised the life of John Lewis, civil rights activist who died recently. He had worked beside Martin Luther King, been jailed 40 times and almost beaten to death by white law enforcement personnel. These SBC officials were roundly criticized for praising the life on John Lewis. John Lewis supported abortion rights. Why would anyone, especially one who almost gave his life for the rights of black people, be condemned for believing in a woman's right to control her own body? That is how nuts anti abortion politics always has been and why it will never connect with the majority of citizens who believe in equal opportunity for all. Long ago when I was a Mayor and backed the right for our one clinic that performed abortions to exist I received a long hand written letter from a prominent woman in Fargo. She informed me that a very skillful group of protestors would arrive soon in Fargo and they would close down the clinic. She wrote

When people say Joe Biden is not liberal enough, is too liberal and does not have the energy to pursue the Presidency or conduct the nation's business, I have to smile. Recently he made a gusty move, inviting support from Muslims and condemning discrimination of them. Even Bernie Sanders did not court their vote this aggressively.  Trump does not have the fortitude to do something like this. He is afraid to step out from the borders of religious and ideological walls built for him buy conservative Christians. While the Muslim vote is not large, it would be important in some states Trump won but are now competitive or leaning Biden. An interesting one in Michigan. Detroit has one of the largest percentage of Muslims in U.S. large cities. In the state it represents in some demographic estimates 1.2% Florida, another state needed badly by Trump is at about 1% Muslim. We all know about razor thin election results. I'm curious about whether Biden will pay any price for courting Musl

The statistics are undeniable that many women die just before, during or soon after a pregnancy. It is very obvious women with better health care are less likely to die. In underdeveloped countries, childbirth is one of the leading causes of death. In the U.S. about 700 women die each year in child birth. Those who deal with this issue say most of these could be prevented. The two of the reasons so many die are religion and politics. Many more poor women die in childbirth than do non poor. It does not take a genius to figure out that spending money on health care is one of the ways to reduce the deaths. But, if the women who are pregnant do not have money for health care it needs to be provided by other tax payers. Politics stands guarding the door of this solution. Public health care is fought by the political right. They are not concerned about the number of deaths in child birth. Religious groups make it as difficult as they can to get abortions. One way women come up the the money

We know the virus crisis continues to unfold in unpredictable directions. Money is being shoveled in various directions including, in the U.S., to churches. Just where this will end and how much churches will be subsidized is something to watch  with concern. In Ireland there are estimates Catholic church donations are down by 80%. If donations to churches remain low, will Federal/State governments allow any of them to close? All around the world restaurants are closing permanently. Show business enterprises are mostly shuttered. In fact any business that requires audiences or crowds to sustain itself is on or close to the chopping block. Churches are this type of business, but they are being well subsidized. I've already read there is political resistance to sending tax bailout money to Muslim churches. They certainly are eligible along with Jewish temples and the Church of Satan. Atheism is often referred to as a "religion" by Christians. Surely our local group should r

I've been waiting for this. Biden just announced he has formed a branch of his campaign that will reach out to religious voters. There is a conventional wisdom Trump owns "religious voters." That Biden has announced this puts the emphasis on his welcoming personality. The press will give him and his announcement plenty of attention. Publicity around this announcement will focus on abortion of course. In October of 2019 a priest in the South announced he had denied giving Biden communion because of Biden's liberal abortion views. My guess is Biden wants this to be discussed during the rest of his campaign. The priest sent out a press announcement the day after Biden's visit proudly bragging he had refused to give the Vice President communion. Before that Biden had said nothing about it.   So much of politics is about personalities and I think Biden is projecting an attractive one. He seems  comfortable about his Catholic faith. He carries always a rosary formerly c

People who believe the Bible is "God's word" make up stuff they claim it says or means. People who are anti abortion have convoluted ways of claiming the Bible or God condemns abortion. About half pregnancies end in miscarriages. According to the Bible, God is all knowing and all powerful. If one believes this how could one conclude other than that God wanted and caused these miscarriages which are abortions? Strange things happen when it is believed the fertilized egg and subsequent fetus is a human being. Decades ago young woman, a relative of mine, underwent fertility treatments a thousand miles from where she lived. In those early days, extra eggs were fertilized and implanted with the expectation only the best one or two would thrive. The others would be removed later. My relative had three implants. Her doctor said one was not doing well so it would eventually be removed. This would allow the other two to do better. These twins are now adults.  During a periodic che

Back when slavery was legal, white slave owners talked much about how the Bible approved of slavery. They used this argument to keep legalized slavery. It was there for hundreds of years. When slavery was finally outlawed, the Bible was used to keep segregation in our laws.  The practice of using the Bible to justify government powers and laws continues. Recent efforts were to outlaw same sex marriage and abortion. These efforts are based on two false claims, one is the U.S. "is a Christian nation" and the other is that these prohibitions are in the Bible and are "Christian." While there are countless groups calling for various kinds of Christian Nationalism, a few are most well known. They are Concerned Women of America, Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defense Fund (now Alliance Defending Freedom), Faith and Freedom Coalition and the American Family Association. Other affiliated groups serve these with fund raising and political opera

Pastors of churches on the Christian right have battled against what they consider to be unfair stereotypes of their rock hard conservative branch of the faith. They feel they must counter the imagery put in front of the public by news media, comedians and pundits. Now they have been undercut by President Trump. He presents the faith in exactly the way they do not want it presented.  The link finds news media portrays conservative Christianity as graceless, joyless, seized by fear, hypocritical and filled with grievances. A conservative evangelical pastor described as very successful gave an unvarnished view of Trump's effect on his branch of the faith. He did not reveal his name for career purposes.  There are many reasons young people are leaving our churches....Trump has accelerated the trend. For decades the media has portrayed the church as cruel, ignorant, greedy and hypocritical. Trump has ... put this in overdrive. He is everything I've said the church is not all about.

For decades, women's rights groups have tried to point out a fatal flaw in the anti abortion message. The flaw showed up when those with anti abortion religious views united with Christian nationalists in use the term "pro-life." Millions of times the phrase has been repeated, "I'm for life." The fatal flaw in that message was these anti woman views never were "pro life." The group turned its head away from the deaths they caused. An honest "pro life" effort would have to embrace bigger government. Only more laws and enforcement dollars to stop preventable deaths would fit, "I'm for life." These would be laws and enforcement dollars for safety, sanitation and many other areas where deaths can be prevented. Then there is the general health component. More funds for free health care would save lives. Free health care of pregnant women and their would be so "pro life" it is baffling they are opposed by the same "

About the year 2009 our country had a housing crisis. Mortgage companies were elbowing in front of each other persuading poor people to buy homes. Housing prices were going up so even poor people thought they should get in on it. Those offering mortgages were being paid big bonuses for each one they "sold." It all came crashing down. For a while there were miles of empty houses, especially in Florida. Today something is pending that looks even worse. Some data shows as many as one in four renters is behind in their rent. There is no reason to believe this will improve for quite a while. More likely even more will fall behind. Maybe there are some big preparations going on somewhere for this but I have not read about them.  The is a moratorium on evictions for some kinds of properties. This is unsustainable.  Many landlords need rental income to make mortgage payments. A landlord must evict someone not paying rent because an empty apartment is cheaper to maintain than an occup

Surviving writing from at least three separate sources claim that when Christians held private gatherings they engaged in cannibalism, incest and random sex. All of these sources can be found on Bart Ehrman's regular blog. We must, of course, issue a standard caution that ancient writing read today is a product of hundreds or thousands of recopies. Every time something was recopied there was the temptation to "improve" what was written before. According to Ehrman, the writing tells of the first couple of centuries of Christianity when gatherings were secret. People would get together in homes and tell no one of these meetings. In spite of teachings about sins such as too much drinking and promiscuous sex it was reported as common.  An explanation was the context permitted some sin. Holy people received more forgiveness than common sinners. Perhaps it was not unlike preachers/priests today who commit sexual abuse but justify it to victims as religious experiences.  No doub

I scroll through a few anti abortion sites. They all have similar themes like, "We are only one Supreme Court vote from stopping abortions (send money)", "We are so close to eliminating Planned Parenthood (send money), "Our pro life message is reducing the number of abortions (send money)" etc. A well known anti abortion group in Iowa lobbied its legislature a couple of years ago for the state to withdraw from a federal program that pays for some family planning. The legislature, with the blessing of the Governor, replaced it with a state program that pays for little or nothing. More responsible legislators, Democrats, said both abortions and sexually transmitted diseases would rise. Statistics from 2019 were just released by State government. Both went up. Abortions rose by 8%. This precisely counters the propaganda pumped out at the anti abortion sites. The "pro-life message" put on billboards and ads is persuading women not to have abortions? Hardl

It was this week back in the late 1800's when a very talented orator, William Jennings Bryan, gave his famous " Cross of Gold" speech.  He shouted our country was being crucified on a Cross of Gold. He was referring to the gold standard system of money in effect back then. (The professor who hired me at NDSU heard Bryan speak many years later.) He thought, correctly, that part of the country's depressions during that period happened because there wasn't enough money. There wasn't enough money because it was limited by the amount of gold available. Bryan wanted silver to be monetized so the money supply would be increased. About 30 years later the government figured out it could create money in for form of bank accounts by the stroke of a pen. The pen or computer created reserve allowing bank to loan more and the money supply increased. It can also be decreased. These increases (and decreases) in the supply of money depend on bank customers applying for loans.

While we cannot predict or even picture a future world different than the current one we know, it is fun to speculate on it. We who do not see a god of any kind see a world which has killed untold millions over a non existent god. From that, it is tempting to latch onto the view that if everyone agreed there is no god of any kind this killing would stop. Probably that is not a good bet.  Political leaders, religious or secular, are all tempted by the same things. We all know what they are, money, fame, self centeredness and even good deeds and intentions are there for either. When I think of how a bad secular leader might look, I see non other than Donald Trump. My own take on him, and I'm not necessarily qualified to know his mind, is that he is not religious and that he is motivated by something most of us cannot understand. There is an old "illness" called Delusions of Grandeur that, to me, applies to him. The delusion such a person has is that he/she is far most impor

A prominent Christian author, Jen Hatmaker, was quoted on Christian Post as delighted her daughter is lesbian. It is the first time I have seen such a story on that site. The story is tagged as "most popular" in the current issue. In comments the usual expressions of outrage by Christians who think they know better than Hatmaker who constitutes genuine Christianity and she does not qualify.  I've been around many parents of gay children. I've heard countless stories from such children. One of the most powerful conclusions from all of these is that parents who accept the homosexuality of their children and are open minded about the issue in general end up with the most healthy adult children and the best long term relationship with them. By now, the majority of people in the secular world have come to terms with homosexuality. The place where it remains a taboo is in religion. So, how are parents who are religious supposed to deal with life when their own child practic

New and easier ways of delivering abortion services have meant not too bright legislators and Governors have had to come up with more excuses for new laws. Nearly all of these politicians preach smaller government. What a joke they are. Where I live there is a new innovation to provide abortion medicine. It is being done by mail. The "magic" ultrasound image, required by the Whack-a-Mole crowd, is done by at some non abortion site. Ultimately the abortion medicine is delivered by the mail carrier.  No doubt the Whack-a-Mole crowd will try to defund the postal service because of this sin.  We can be treated to solemn Senators telling the Postmaster General, "Do you realize your mail carriers are murdering a human being when they deliver that envelope?" I was called a murderer back in the day for endorsing the Police Department's effort to keep the streets and sidewalks available to the public which the law requires. Whether it is calling anyone supporting women&#

The link is written by someone who plants (starts new) churches. He is passionate that the old paradigm in which people grew up and early on identified with a Christian environment is gone. That people today think of joining a church as a sort of return to something or home coming is not reality. The Catholic Church has a big advertising program funded by a wealthy patron with the theme, "Come Home" (to your Catholic Church).  If people do not have the "home" concept in their heads using it as a selling point will not work. Planting the same old kind of church will burn resources and not accomplish much is the link's point. His profession is wrestling with this problem. I'll put my own spin to what he wrote. Assuming theology is important to people is not today's reality. People are interested more in making the world better than in talking about heaven. They are more interested in societal improvements than in larger church attendance.  The author does

According to this site, the pastor who conducts the Bible study attended by the Vice President and several cabinet member believes the pandemic was caused by gays and tree huggers. This is what he has said publicly. No doubt he has a reference in the Bible to back up that "fact." One of the problems about this cause-and-effect statement by the pastor is the field of "causes" of the pandemic is crowded with sins. No doubt abortion is listed by some as the cause. Perhaps atheism. Maybe this blog caused it. Whatever is the cause it is some sin and it is the sin most disliked by whomever is the "scientist", like the pastor in DC, who announces the cause. Various members of this administration have alluded to various kinds of sin as the nation's worst problem. Attorney General Barr has said that leaving behind Christianity means the country is headed into a moral abyss, or words to that effect.  It would make sense if the Cabinet members got together with t

When I was a young farm boy my missionary uncle was home from Alaska for a short while. I remember him behind the pulpit praising our local hymns because they were "not syncopated." Little did I know all my adult life I would be listening to different versions of the same thing, "My Christianity is the right one, all others are wrong." I'm reading Unbelievers; An Emotional History of Doubt by Alec Ryrie. It is about published books and arguments in the faith, mostly in England, during the 1600's. There was much resistance within people to leaving the faith. But, it was also common to have doubts. In fact there were celebrity believers who thought one could only be a "real Christian" if he/she had had serious skepticism and overcome it. Such people were skeptical of those claiming to be in the faith who had not experienced and overcome doubt. It was another version of "My Christianity is better than all the others." Also in the 1600's

In spite of the fact science and religion are at constant war with each other, at least in some circles of debate, it is unusual for to read a rational and dispassionate analysis of the difference between the two. I even have some difficulty devoting time to discussing what religion claims to be the "truth."  I admire anyone who has the patience to discuss its claims.  I was reminded of an experience just a few years ago. I attended a graveside service for a close relative. There were only about 10 people there, a large memorial service was held weeks later in her home church several hundred miles away which I attended also. At the small graveside service, I expected the local preacher to say a few words about the deceased and how she is now in heaven, etc. Instead, he launched into a somewhat longer monologue about the "proof" of life after death. The "proof" was that Jesus was dead but later "seen alive by many people." The Bible is full of sup

How could it be two issues which were the driving force in the past couple Presidential elections and countless elections in state and local areas were driving by a "Biblical teaching." One could ask millions of people I would guess if the Bible has a clear statement condemning these matters and they would say definitely it does. Reading the Bible does not give us such a clear message and Biblical scholars remain in disagreement as to what the says or means. The issues, of course, are homosexuality and abortion. There is no clear condemnation in the Bible of either. It is amazing there would be so much agreement among a broad swath of Christians the Bible condemns both when it does not. I've been though the arguments as to why people believe the condemnations and why they are not there so I will not go through them again today. But it is worth some time to speculate why people believe the Bible says some things when it does not. The only explanation I know of, and maybe i

What is means to be "religious" has never been agreed upon. Today the news is filled with demonstrations for racial justice. The religious sites are discussing it. Is racial justice a religious issue or a democratic and/or political issue? For reasons we all understand, there are not articles about women's rights or gay rights on conservative pages--just racial rights. I wonder if there are articles about the rights of women, particularly the right to time their births so they may have both successful parenting experiences and professional careers. The number of right wing religious sites seems to dwarf those of liberal Christians. Views on gays, abortion and birth control between liberal Christians and politically liberal non Christians. Thus, we could say there is only a "left", and not a "religious left." In the church I attend occasionally, a liberal Protestant denomination, I see a religious left that is quite enthusiastic. It is growing even duri

Laughing at what ancient wealthy goat herders wrote is all right until we start to add up the harm they can do to contemporary readers of the Bible. People who have passionate views about how and when to follow what they think is written in the Bible can, and do, do damage to themselves and others.  First, we must remind ourselves the Bible does not condemn homosexuality. Long ago, those who hate homosexuals began to pick out passages they thought condemned same sex attraction. Now they have extended their prejudice to those who are compelled to change the gender they were assigned at birth. The link preaches those of his view that homosexuality is a sin must carry on the fight even though they are losing with the public. Worse, he says people with children must talk to children about the sin of same sex attraction or changing their sexual identity later in life. No creditable research has shown talking to children about "the sin of sexuality" has helped even one child. Many