Thoughts of a Freethinker

There is an atheist columnist who fields questions from other atheists. These include letters from those who only recently realized they could no longer stomach the doctrines and myths of the faith. Sometimes these writers feel guilty about not believing and think they will lose everything in their lives because of it. This mirrors my own experience of being (formerly) well known and being an atheist. Those who realize they can no longer believe sometimes are faced with a multitude of complicated issues. It can be with their spouse, their parents, their friends and their jobs.  I've known many married atheists who dare not tell their spouses. Many, of course, do not dare tell their parents, siblings or co workers. In fact, when atheists get together this problem of who they can and cannot share with is a most frequent topic of conversation. When I was President of Red River Atheists and Freethinkers we met monthly in Fargo. Because the group had been started by professors and peop

Christians have claimed since the alleged time of Jesus he was the leader Jews had prophesized. Many claim Jesus was predicted to suffer. Bart Ehrman says this is not true. From the early Old Testament writing, the figure that was to return to free Jews of their problems was a fearless political and military leader. The model for this figure was King David. Would a King David figure be humiliated and captured then hung up like a common criminal? Of what use would that be to a people who had been under the thumb of various countries for centuries? And, if it was at the hands of a third or forth level bureaucrat like a Pontius Pilate all the worse. The martyr myth came along sometime after the alleged life. Plenty of Jews before, during, after and to this day do not believe it. How could it have come to play such a big part of the Christian faith? Ehrman believes the Paul was among those Jews who had no use for the idea the Jesus character was the messiah Jews had been waiting for. For

Millions, maybe billions, of people each day believe they hear from a god. It is entertaining to read someone's view of how to discern that a god is telling him something different than what their own mind is telling him. Just now it's the season to hear from the Christian God. Pat Robertson always claims he hears from God who is going to win the Presidential election. God always tells him the candidate Robertson likes will win. When God told him Romney would win over Obama he said God actually had told him Obama would win but he had misinterpreted the "signs." I had been led to believe God's native language is English so I was surprised to learn about the "signs" business. I have not heard Robertson say God has sent the sign Trump will win but I know its coming. Sadam used to use the language of religion also. It was "God be willing." I think this implied he knew personally what God wanted. To learn what God is telling you, the first couple o

Big denominations have big faith based charities. One is an emergency response organization of the Southern Baptist Convention. It responds to hurricanes and such with senior citizen volunteers. The Southern Baptist Convention has lost ten percent of its membership annually for years. As the old folks die or drop out there are not replacements. Of course, the money donations suffer as well. What will replace these organizations is a matter of considerable speculation. The denominations themselves say church attendance is needed to mobilize these kinds of efforts.  I don't know the answer to what will replace these volunteer groups but my guess is physical attendance at churches is not necessary to marshal volunteers or money. Today, gatherings of all kinds are done on the internet. Money is raised in unprecedented amounts by direct appeals. When floods threaten Fargo and Moorhead people pour into volunteer centers. Political campaigns rely on on-line donations.  The generic term &

It is a tradition in the Christian faith to laugh off the ancient Greek gods. The same for gods of other religions like Hinduism. And, if other branches of Christianity look at the current God/Jesus differently than your own, pox on them. But, what if some new form of spiritualism comes along that isn't necessarily about one particular god? This new form provides promise of happiness and maybe even some form of eternal life. If this new form takes so many directions there is no one villain like a "Satan" and no one "demon" it's a new game entirely.  That is happening. New numbers spell a long term decline in the old time religion. In 2001 a British author penned a novel, American Gods, where the old gods of Christianity, Norse mythology, Greece and Rome were replaced by newly worshipped entities like technology, media and capitalism. He has been call prescient. Today groups consider Harry Potter, Star Wars and Game of Thrones  to be scared texts. Wellness cu

  Pastor, the phrase "relentlessly pursue the lost" is a terrible idea . To you it may sound selfless. To an outsider it is condescending and self righteous.  And, it raises the obvious question, who is lost?  Let's begin with who is more likely to be in jail, a Christian or a non Christian? Of course it is a Christian. Please don't start on that argument that if one is in jail he/she is not a Christian. This judgement is made by those who feel qualified to pass judgement on everyone, Christians. Then there is the question of critical thinking. If members of a group have no ability to read the Bible critically as they would most any other piece of written work, thus are blinded by the religion's mythology, are they not the ones lost? From an intellectual perspective they seem lost.  A relative of mine attended that church for several years and said it pursued the "unchurched." That is a clever euphemism. It implies the vast population that does not atten

  How many times have we all heard we should worship the "Old Time Religion?" Or, heard we should, "Get back to basics." And that there is only "One true God" and the "One true religion." All of these ignore history. In history there have been many gods and many true religions. People at the time thought their time had it right--previous peoples had it wrong. It is no different today. For those of us with Scandinavian heritage it was ignoring pre Christian times and  paganism . There is even a small group in a Scandinavian country today trying to reestablish their "true heritage" with a pagan faith. Some years back, the remains of a building were discovered in Norway which is now believed was a worship house. From the foundation, researcher are quite certain it was a pagan worship building from about the centuries of 500 to 600 CE. Digging around the building yielded pits of animal bones thought to be from feasts and celebrations. The p

Selling heaven to the vulnerable has been the bread and butter of Christianity. I wish it were possible to calculate how many people have made their living over the last 5,000 years telling people there is a heaven. In all those 5,000 years there never was a heaven and isn't one today. There are atheists who wish what Christians sell was not fake. They wish there was actually a divine plan. They would look forward to not dying and living on in some happy place indefinitely. In a world where things of religion were not fables there would be a moral code that was considered absolute and not subject to debate. But they, like their Christian friends, must go on living without Amazon ever delivering their package.  One has to admit selling these Christian ideas of life everlasting has been clever. Stealing a resurrection story from previous faiths was where the success began. Those who wrote the Bible did not see the resurrection nor the main character, Jesus. There was no first-hand te

I suppose every old person has a little difficulty realizing how much change has occurred in his/her lifetime. I know it is hard to believe for myself. Way back in the 60's and early 70's we heard the announcement in our Presbyterian Church the national Church had given $10,000 to the defense of Angela Davis. Davis had listed as one of the top ten dangerous people at large in the nation. After she was captured President Nixon praised the FBI for capturing Angela Davis.  I remember my wife and I, young professors at the time, saying to each other how great it was our Presbyterian Church had done this. It was so obvious to us Davis was simply a very liberal private citizen  who was outspoken but became useful to conservatives as a villain. She needed someone to help her get out from under political prosecution. Davis was in prison for a year because guns registered to her were used by others in an attack where some people were killed. Her picture had been in Post Offices around t

A preacher who calls himself a bishop tells parents the only route to happiness for women is for them to submit to the authority of men. College might put them above men in status and result in an unhappy woman. Just say no is his advice to parents. I remember at a workplace over 50 years ago a discussion among men older than me. They were discussing their teenage children. One of them was adamant he would pay for his son's college education but not his daughter's. "She will get married and be the responsibility of her husband." Even though it is becoming increasingly obvious male superiority is a thing from back in the Middle Ages, efforts to keep it in place continue. A large swath of the Christian faith holds fast to male only clergy. While parts of the faith broke free from this long ago it persists in other parts. I think it remains in 50% or more of the membership of all denominations totaled together. The basis for it is nothing more than men trying to hold ont

Watching Christianity slip and slide around the issue of gay marriage is entertaining to say the least. The Bible does not condemn gay marriage or even homosexual relationships. Even the word "homosexual" was not invented until recent times but now appears in many versions of the Bible. There is not agreement the ancient languages can be translated to that modern term. Jesus had no teaching on same sex relationships. Yet, because contemporary culture has placed gay people in the condemned category and Christianity needs to stay inside the bounds of the culture, gay people and gay marriage have been condemned.  But, culture changes and various branches of Christianity are running to catch up. This has posed the same problem for the Catholic business model as it did in what Catholic clergy circles refer to as "the Galileo problem." We all know this came about when Galileo made a telescope and found the earth circling the sun instead of what the Catholic Church taught,

Anyone interested in contemporary religious trends should buy Strange Rites; New Religions for a Godless World. It tries to capture what comprises the huge and growing population of "nones", those who claim no religious affiliation. This group is now a huge portion of the adult population in the U.S., approaching one in four. One person I have heard about frequently but never read much about is Dr. Jordon Peterson. He was a Psychology Professor in Canada for several years but became so successful as a celebrity he now is full time writing, pod casting and lecturing. His books have sold millions. His podcasts are approaching a billion views. He is a constant celebrity on interview TV. He is one of those who garner a following after rejection of traditional Christianity. He, himself, does not reject Christianity nor consider himself a religious figure. In one podcast I watched he said he had not attended church his entire life but thought it fine if people do. His books and art

I don't think there is a more conservative institution of Bible literalism than Moody. It has been the center of controversy for some years because alums claimed it was sliding away from literalism. Now there is a scandal involving sex and money. It can join the Catholic Church and Jerry Falwell Jr. at Liberty University in the noble enterprises of sex/money scandals.   When I first started blogging on the Fargo Forum's website I recall another blogger from nearby in Minnesota was so pleased her granddaughter was attending Moody. Bart Ehrman graduated from there.  I'm not saying sex and money scandals are more common within the clergy of Christianity than in other parts of society. What's obvious is that being on the inside of the faith, administration or clergy, does not help anyone avoid feelings of entitlement and righteous privilege. Neither reading the Bible nor knowing the tenets of the faith improve human behavior. Human just go on behaving the same way whether

Those who deny evolution have a new problem. There is an artery in our arms used for development of the fetus. Formerly, it disappeared in most humans by the time they became adults. It is increasingly seen as surviving in adults. This is happening because of evolution.  Something similar is happening with wisdom teeth. Increasingly, humans never have them. The increase of an artery and decrease of wisdom teeth is happening because of some change that affects the body. It is an explanation of how we humans used to be something else and evolution eventually developed that something else into humans. Evolution and not Biblical Creationism should be taught in schools. But, efforts to teach children myth and pretend it is science continues. Even President George W. Bush said he thought education was improved if children were taught more explanations about the origin of humans. He was referring to teaching creationism. Why would a President of the United States advocate teaching false conce

When Trump was in the state where I now live, Iowa, this past week he rambled on that he may never be in the state again. A more talented politician might have said he regretted he will not be able to come here as often if he loses and will at least appear to be disappointed. But, the way Trump said it left the impression he never wanted to be here in the first place and will be glad to never return. He has also said in another speech those listening will never hear from him again if he loses. There is speculation now among pundits that he is thinking ahead about what to do if he loses the election. Besides the huge injury to his ego a loss would bring him he faces some nasty pending criminal prosecution. Several attorneys have weighed in that the criminal charges in New York will require long trials and vigorous defense by Trump. To someone in financial retreat the legal costs themselves may be dauting. The thinking is he has but one choice, to live somewhere where officials cannot se

                                                            Our time in the history of Christianity could not be reflected better than in a dispute going on in England. There is a somewhat gender neutral Bible called the New Jerusalem Bible that was approved for use in mass by the Catholic hierarchy. Then the hierarchy reversed itself and said the old males-are-more-important Bible must be used. Now a group of Catholic women are trying to reverse the decision again. They quote the Pope who wrote, paraphrasing, "If we never listen to any new voices what will become of us?" The Pope understands perfectly that staying in the Middle Ages is a death warrant for Catholicism and Christianity in total. This dispute within the Catholic Church is amusing because I recall it in the Presbyterian denomination some 20 years ago. There was an important gathering of religious women underwritten by many denominations. The purpose was to discuss the role of women in all religions.  At the star

Trump received a Master's of Business Administration (MBA) from the prestigious Wharton. These programs include some economics. One of the topics always covered is International Trade. Because countries have different natural resources and levels of education they produce some things better than others. They are better off is they produce the products they are best at an buy the others from other countries. This is true of poor countries that are more inefficient at everything, or have low incomes, and rich countries, which are efficient at everything and have high incomes. When a rich country trades with a poor country the standards of living in both rise. There is a conventional wisdom that countries with cheaper labor pay take jobs away from those with higher labor pay. Countries with low pay cannot produce more of everything, their labor force is finite. Choices have to be made. Rich countries cannot produce more of everything either. The same applies to states within the U.S.

Only time will tell, of course, but when a preacher brags his church will hold services no matter the pandemic risk not every member will think that is a great idea. If you are a person in the risk category who hears the preacher scold you for not attending,  what will be your reaction? I'm sure there will churches that make it through the pandemic successfully. I'm guessing that human nature, being what it is, will cause many church goers to be angry at their churches who hold services when it is dangerous to do so. Other churches which do not hold services will have angry members who want church regardless of the health consequences. I have read that church revenue in general has taken a hit during the pandemic. It stands to reason that if a church was relying on the weekly collection plate and that collection plate is no longer passed there will be less money. All of us would agree, I think, that out of sight out of mind would hurt churches along with restaurants and many o

I'm learning more about the "nones," those who claim no religious affiliation from the book, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton. She is, so far as I know, the first to dive deeply into the question, "What do 'nones' believe in, if anything?" Although atheists are growing in number, they are no competition for new religions or, perhaps more accurately, new kinds of "spirituality." I think it is accurate to say Christianity grew when it fit the culture. It also needed lots of money for marketing. One of the popular forms of spirituality among "nones" is physical fitness. Most of us know that the popular exercise form known as yoga has had spiritual overtones in its background. I know in Fargo, at least one of the yoga studios combines yoga with elements of spiritual meditation. But with the younger demographic there are forms of fitness more exciting and driven by money which are much more popular t

Master's voice I can hear loud and clear. I know when I do wrong. I know when he is pleased...The way I see things is that we tend to limit ourselves, our believes, our understanding, our willingness...due to what?..MY MASTER... I stand were I stand and ever so proudly.. [My love is ] beyond reason, understanding or comprehension. I am completely and insanely obsessed.. The above is a form of religious testimony picked up from a website recently. But it is not a prayer to a god of Christianity. It is directed at Severus Snape, a character in the Harry Potter Series. He is a professor in the "Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The website where this new god is worshipped has a large following of women vying for attention from their god. J.K. Rowling did not portray this character as a god. Readers themselves found a god in him.  I did not take the above quote from the site itself. It is discussed in the new book I am reading,  Strange Rites: New Religions for a Go

In India there is  tension between Hindus and Christians and atheists who eat beef. Many Hindus revere the cow and consider it sacred. A comment following the link asks, "What kind of a ridiculous religion would consider a cow to be sacred?"  It turns out many religions at one time or another has considered the cattle to be a sacred beings. I've read leather goods produced in some countries must be certified to have come from male cattle and not cows. Probably cows are revered because they keep very poor people alive and have come to seem "god like." I've read that in Native American religions animals used for food and clothing are considered sacred in some way. While they are killed and used, butchering is done with the appropriate ceremony. Kosher meat requires a ceremony. It is common for religions to assign some kind of mythical quality to objects that appear, to the outsider, as having no significance at all. A mental agility is required that others do

  Bart Ehrman recently restated his answer to a question he gets asked frequently, "Why did the New Testament story tellers have women finding the empty tomb when women were considered lessors or unreliable?" He points out first that women were not necessarily considered unreliable sources of information at that time in that part of the world. Later that would have been the case but not necessarily when this story was written.  We have to remember here that Ehrman believes there was a historical Jesus but he does not believe the story of the tomb or Resurrection. He finds the Resurrection story to be one told, not to win converts, but aimed at believers at the time. Of course, it was written about many years after it was supposed to  have happened. No ancient writer ever claimed to have seen the tomb or Jesus later. Paul, Ehrman says, must have believed the Resurrection happened but he says nothing about the empty tomb. Maybe that story had not yet been made up or if it was a

This was the title of an essay submitted by a 20 year old student to the annual student essay contest sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. When I read these essays each year I am amazed at what students have to say. The young woman won $3,500 for her effort. I'll pass along some of what she wrote: Dear Religion--It has always amazed me there are people...too fascinated and star struck by your promises of answers, salvation, divinely defined purpose, and an escape from the harsh reality of death to realize you are harmful as well. I'll admit people have been helped through tremendous atrocities. I'm not denying that. You're just slapping your label on projects you did not create. The capacity to do good and survive our struggle is already within us. Religion as been used as an excuse for suffering and horrid acts and it doesn't sit well with me for you to only take credit for good works. It has always surprised me that you can cause so much needless har

Over and over again I read articles written by Christians telling the faithful what they need to do to reverse the decline in faith numbers. Sometimes it is invite more friends to church. In the link it is to make personal relationships with young people. I suppose it is very hard for those speaking or writing to the faithful to tell them the truth. The truth is the faith once thrived because it provided something the various cultures needed. When the culture stopped needing the faith it began to decline. It is a minority in Europe--slipping in the U.S. It is so hard to tell this to the faithful. So religious leaders do not. Instead they preach, "We can turn this thing around. We need to pray. We need to invite people to church. We need to quote more scripture. We need to interpret scripture for people explaining ours is the only true faith. Then numbers will grow again." No one asked for my advice. I'll provide it free of charge anyway. First, you need to recognize you

     President Trump's tough-guy-against-the-virus act is loaded with masculinity. It is, "I am man, not woman." The entire persona he tries to portray is aimed at men. Even his Supreme Court Nominees are all about reducing women's rights and expanding those of men. I'll be the first to admit there are lots of women who do not want equal rights. I've even read about women in the Middle East who do not want the right to drive automobiles. They like having men drive them around--it's one less thing they have to do. It is not a surprise that Trump is not polling as well with women as he is with men. Part of the strategy, I suppose, is that since men are "in charge", they will tell women how to vote.  I recall many decades ago a member of the House of Representatives, Adam Clayton Powell from Harlem. He missed many House votes late in his career because he liked to spend time on the Island of Bimini. When he received 80% of the Harlem vote reporters

The walls which have prevented people from many different minorities and "outside" groups from participating in community life have crumbled. We have had a black President, women are on the verge of becoming President, gay people are accepted in politics and Jews are not on the outside like they have been for much of our history. At the bottom of the list of acceptability is one group, atheists. Whether it's who you would never vote for or which category you would be most unhappy about if you child announced a marriage prospect, it is thumbs down for atheists.   We all know the myths about atheists. They have no moral grounding. Thus, a country run by atheists would be one of murder and mayhem. Atheists are cannibals. Atheists are witches. Other countries have elected none believers to posts of Prime Minister and the like. Only here in the U.S. is there such determination to keep them out of public office. At least one study showed that atheists are under represented in j

The anti abortion industry has been successful in bullying Christians to not speak out in favor of abortion rights. Yet polling shows abortion rights has majority support. It seems like only a matter of time before a  push back using religion will happen. I have seen material written by anti abortion industry operatives claiming that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe. The there will be massive fund raising in the industry to attack abortion state by state. For those making a living opposing abortion this is job security. The entire effort would go on for the rest of their careers, maybe for generations. All this time fund raising would provide a good living for thousands making a living in the anti abortion industry.   The majority in favor of abortion rights has yet to unify and "find a voice." This even though 61% of the public is in favor of abortion rights and 56% of Catholics. Several of the "mainline" Protestant denominations have taken official position for

It was encouraging to read of important evangelicals who will be voting for Candidate Biden. Why would they vote for Biden? For very logical reasons. While they value fetuses, they also value humans who are already born. This is different than either the official Catholic position or that of other "pro-life" evangelicals. While those in the anti abortion industry often say they value humans after they are born their politics tells us they do not. They do not lobby for better education, health care or women's rights. They lobby against government except when it can be used to put their religious views into law. An example is abortion. The message in the link explains there are many policies that either shorten or lengthen human life. This entire package of issues needs to be considered together by evangelicals the author says. Picking out only one, anti abortion, is not to be "pro life." The link author is a Protestant. His position sounds just like some in the C

The Buddha was supposed to have been a real person who lived about 700 to 500 years BCE. That makes Buddhism much older than Christianity. The tale of Buddha has some things in common with the tale of Jesus. Neither was a wealthy banker or lawyer. Both remained poor during their lives and sacrificed for the good of humankind. No one who wrote about either actually knew either of them. Stories about them were written after they were dead. We can assume whoever wrote these stories had some motive we cannot know for certain today. But we can assume a self serving motive because that is what we expect in today's world.  Reading about the two mythical characters, I'm struck by how much better , or perhaps contemporary, the Buddha character seems than the Christian one. The Buddha character sees human beings as having the ability of endure the suffering or unhappiness they experience without petitioning some super natural/fictional deity. In the depth of sorrow we will find a strengt

I was under the impression Catholic Bishops were turning over investigations of suspicious priests to law enforcement authorities. According to an exhaustive study of how Bishops handle accusations of sexual misconduct this is not happening. Most Bishops have retained the power to keep allegations secret. In only five of 32 diocese is there a policy that evidence and/or complaints will be turned over to law enforcement. This leaves the other 27 with a hodge podge of different policies.  Why would not all dioceses simply free themselves of criticism by turning complaints over the authorities? The answer can only be they want to protect themselves or cover for themselves instead of making more certain victims will be treated fairly. The church has been run by itself and unaccountable for centuries and it is not about to change just because it has paid millions of dollars in settlements and seen many clergy go to jail.  Even though the Catholic just has shelled out many millions to victim

Many decades ago I was invited for the first time to speak at the Unitarian Church in Fargo. I've spoken there since as well as in half a dozen others. That first time exposed me to conversations with avoid non believers, a new experience at that time in my life.  Chatting with people at coffee afterwards the conversation drifted into a critique of the Christian faith and those who worship in it. Some made light of its invisible god, sin, life after death, etc. A professorial fellow shrugged and said, "Superstitions. That's all they are, superstitions." I had never heard the tenets of Christianity referred to as superstitions. That remark put me on a life-long search for the difference between religious convictions and superstitions.  People within Christianity or any other religion have no trouble discerning the difference. For those of us outside religion there remains no simple way of separating them. I'm reading a wonderful book , Wondering in Strange Lands. T