Thoughts of a Freethinker

There are fewer atheists than there are Christians. It's amazing there are any atheists. Christianity, and some other religions, have sales pitches that run circle around atheists. We all know some religions sell themselves as outsmarting death. They tell us, ""Look, we have this death thing figured out. All you have to do is give yourself to religion and you don't have to die. We guarantee it." Atheism, however, tells you this is the only life you get. Our competition, religion, can't prove they deliver what they sell you.  We can only offer truth. Most of the time, religion wins. The link makes some interesting (to me) observations on all of this. The author points out the pleasure from learning what one believes is true and verifiable. This makes out one life better because we are not wasting it going down rabbit holes of gods and fake news. Doubt, reflection and critical thinking should be part of every educated citizen's makeup. Christianity discour

Someone who gave $2 1/2 million to prove there was fraud in the election of Joe Biden now thinks he was taken for a ride and wants his money back . Dishonesty in the Trump scheme is being exposed. Ever since the election Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell have said in interviews and speeches there was widespread fraud. In court they said there was not. As the USA link says about court appearances, "..the Trump campaign did not allege widespread fraud, despite public claims to the contrary." Polls have shown 70% of Trump supporters believe to this day there was fraud. The Trump team implies it has a powerful case to make and will make it as soon as they are allowed into court. Do they have something powerful they have yet to reveal? My assumption is anyone who gave $2 1/2 million would have access to whatever inside and powerful cases were yet to be made. When Fred Eshelman, who gave the $2 1/2 million, inquired as to the progress being made and what expectation was reason

Thank goodness for billionaires who are secular and interested in using technology and research to make humans' lives better. These include the Gates and Kennedys. Even though the Catholic Church and parts of Protestantism want to keep women pregnant in the summer and barefoot in the winter they will be unsuccessful ultimately. One of the things I learned in the exhaustive study of pregnancy and abortion, The Turnaways,  is that women sometimes do not take birth control properly, run out/or and cannot get replacement easily. The long standing products have uncomfortable side effects. Drug companies have seen the market of out of date products rise even though women are unhappy with them. The research for new products is expensive and firms are subject to litigation. Many unwanted pregnancies happen because of stalled birth control technology. On the horizon are better products.  Worldwide about half of all women use birth control. Yet, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the pr

When missionaries go to countries that already have some kind of religion, or, have none, what do they accomplish by starting Christian churches? I know they provide a sense of accomplishment for themselves and those back home who send money to support them. But, precisely what to they do for the citizens of the countries they travel to? I know that in recent decades lots of missionary posts have stressed service to local people. They are somewhat like the Peace Corp. Peace Corp people are to teach and provide assistance not available otherwise to local economies. Those Christians who go to poor countries with the narrow intention of replacing an indigenous religion with Christianity, however, are still there and get in the headlines often. The days of missionaries seems to have hit hard times. The Southern Baptist Convention has cut back its missionary program. Young people around the world, including Africa, are skeptical of all religions including Christianity. They have cell phone

Columnist David Brooks addressed the problem that has become common in the U.S. It is huge numbers of people believing information that is not true. While the problem has many sources, it has happened significantly because of  what I have always thought is a driving force cultural change, the demographic variable called urbanization. Everyone knows this is the continuous migration of people from rural areas to cities. People in cities tend to have higher education and the majority do not to feel as left behind by economic and technical advances.  Brooks discusses how a great funnel of information should work. In a society with freedom of press and speech, all kinds of information, both true and false, float around. Through debate, forums, universities, political campaigns and all the rest ideas completely false fall over the side and mostly sound information gets through the funnel.  This funnel worked to some extent when attorney Sidney Powell's completely false accusation the Bid

God is angry with the election results an evangelical preacher announced this week. God has dispatched angels to correct is incorrect vote count. What a relief this must be to Trump supporters. It was fun to scroll through comments of religious whackos during the week. Pat Robertson was especially animated. He has been saying for weeks God told him Trump was going to win. Now he is saying Satan is causing Biden to appear the winner and is imploring believers to pray that Satan's scheme will not be successful.  Other conservative pundits have written that every voter who voted for Biden has the blood of abortions on their hands. We have to remember that if voters were united against abortion they would have voted overwhelmingly for Trump. They were told time and again by Catholic clergy and others this election was about abortion.   What will be great political theater in the next year will be government's role in health care. The balance of power in the House and Senate will ma

When Trump is finally gone, there will remain a substantial set of voters who believe, and have no doubt whatsoever, there is another Presidential candidate out there who will govern from a direct pipeline to God. They believe that about Trump. They believe our country was destined to be governed under principles of Christian nationalism. While other false religions can exist within the U.S., our founders intended Christian nationalism to dominate in government.  Polls show this group to be around 1/4 of all voters. Thus, when the political stars are aliened in a certain way, the right personality on the Christian nationalism side and the wrong personality on the other, we have seen and may see again sometime a Donald Trump type Presidency.  This is frightening to a set to those of us the Christian nationalists dislike. Those disliked will lose rights they are supposed to have. Yet, those who are determined to destroy rights of women and minorities live in the same country as those of

Bart Ehrman brings recently answered again the question, "Are the details of the crucifixion story accurate?" He points out why they most probably are not. The crucifixion tale includes the Jesus character having a crowd of followers. Pilate is portrayed as in a quandary about his decision. There were Jews present who wanted Jesus killed and you know all the rest.  Ehrman points out that for this tale to accurately reflect what happened some large assumptions have to be made. One is that Jesus was well known and an important public figure, especially in Jerusalem where all this was supposed to have taken place. This assumption seems far fetched to Ehrman who believes there was a Jesus and that Jesus was killed by the government. Ehrman takes as accurate that Jesus was from a small rural area distant from Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem with a small band of followers. That many in that city, natives or visitors, had any interest in an small town preacher is not a realistic ass

The computer and its ability to run statistical tests on data has changed religion. By, for example, scanning for the various times and ways one word is used scholars can zero in on its meaning in ancient times. Now data analysis has jumped to history.  The peculiar thing is. data driven history did not seem to have come from historians. The most prominent figures are people who came to history from other disciplines. Some historians don't agree with what data miners are concluding.  The Atlantic, December, has an article the included the work of Peter Turchin. Turchin was a professor of entomology until he launched into another field, history. He found there are reams of historical data but historians mostly like to look at leaders, wars and such and ascribe importance to some and not others. Turchin applies standard statistical techniques and thinks many future events can be predicted.  For example, he predicted in 2010 that in about 2020 our country would be in political turmoil

Massachusetts, a majority Catholic state, has passed a law increasing access to abortion. Among other improvements, it has increased the kind of medical certifications that can perform abortions and allowed judges to approve abortions for young women when parents refuse. Massachusetts originally was settled by Protestants. Then is the mid 1600's Irish immigrants came to dominate the states politics. Those immigrants were, of course, mostly Catholics. In recent decades the Catholic Church has been involved in heavy controversies and, like the homeland of Ireland, has slipped away from the faith.  Among the controversial figures was Bishop Bernard Law. He was accused of moving pedophile priests from one diocese to another instead of turning evidence over to law enforcement. In the middle of the controversy he moved to the Vatican. Wikipedia and the press used the term "fled" to describe Law's abrupt move to Rome. Conventional wisdom is he did this to avoid charges from

The apocalypse is outlined in some detail in Revelations. Prominent preachers have carefully compared current events to Revelations and concluded we are experiencing the Great Apocalypse. Then, they had to conclude, wait, I guess it wasn't. They were so happy with the Coronavirus, this had to be it. Then Trump undermined them with, "It's nothing. It will be gone shortly." Darn, another good Apocalypse gone . There is a preacher, however, who has decided the election of Biden/Harris is part of the real and genuine Apocalypse. It is going is usher in the sin predicted in Revelations and then, finally, the real deal will arrive. Whew. Several commenters on this blog told us that gay marriage was the sign the Apocalypse was about to arrive. I think as they get used to it they are finding it is not the sin they thought is was. It's just one darn disappointment after another. I'd suggest to them the apocalypse is a myth but I know it would be a waste of their time a

Once in a while a rational discussion of abortion shows up. It asks why pro life and pro choice people cannot unite to reduce abortions? This liberal writer points to other medical successes through prevention. Reduced smoking reduced cancer. Needle exchange programs reduced infections of drug users. So, why not better sex education, available contraception and other such help for women to reduce unwanted pregnancies? I don't see any other explanation other than forcing women to give birth is a way of controlling women and punishing women for sex. If abortion was illegal every pregnant woman would be treated like paroled prisoners are now treated. They would need to be monitored by law enforcement. Women who have frequent miscarriages would be suspect. Maybe I've missed it, but I've never heard or seen anti abortion operatives appear in state legislatures or in Washington advocating money of assistance in birth control or for women during pregnancy. Is this an issue of rel

We've all heard Pascal's Wager. It goes something like this, "If you don't know whether there is a God or a heaven, it is safer to believe in them. It costs you nothing to believe but not believing and being wrong is far most costly." Frenchman, Blaise Pascal, lived in the 1600's. He was a noted mathematician and philosopher. Those who write the Homer Simpson TV cartoon show are smarter than Pascal. They recognize Pascal was a narrow person with limited or no experience debating those who do not believe. Homer's argument has defeated Pascal forever. Homer said, "What if we worship the wrong god and the real god gets madder and madder." Therein lies the Achilles Heel of Pascal. Pascal did not know if there was a real god, several gods or no god.  But, if there were several he had no way of knowing which was the best one.  During the decade or so I've been blogging countless times commenters have thought they were helping me by pointing in one

We don't often enough see what it is that can be accomplished in the U.S. to make our lives better. If religion and its many political arms are slipping what are the changes we as a country might accomplish. It's clear from the recent election the Republican Party and conservative Christianity are peas in a pod. Conservative Christianity was more religion in government and smaller government. The Republican Party has lots of Christian version of sin in its platform. Other ideas from Christianity it opposes. It's plausible the decline in Christianity will eventually take a toll in the popularity of the Republican Party. To the average citizen this would mean at least a few important things. One would be expansion of medical care for people at all income levels. There is no doubt preventive medical care lowers medical costs. Neither is there doubt medicine costs would decline.  Hopefully, with public subsidized or free medical care abortions would be more available and afford

While denominations and others inside the faith have had conferences and study groups trying to fix the decline in church membership I've not heard of an "outside" group or company bankrolling a large effort to reverse falling church numbers. That is until now. The Ely Lilly company gave 92 groups about one million apiece to look for solutions. In the link are just a few of the winners and what they plan to study.  I've given my own assessment here many times as to why church membership is falling. It is that our culture has changed and increasing numbers of the public don't see any point to church. That being the case efforts to reverse the decline are useless. So, I was interested to see if the grants were be used only for pointless marketing which is already being done and is not changing the decline. The link includes the text of what a few of the grant recipients will do with their one million dollars. Some will use for money for "community engagement&q

Some years ago my wife and I spent time in Savannah, Georgia. Today Savannah has about 150,000 people. It is the oldest city in Georgia. While today about 50% of its population is black and 35% white one can see a time in its history when it was run by white people. In an old city park is a weathered plaque which says, paraphrasing, "Here is were heroic rebel forces stood and fought better equipped but morally deficient Northern forces. We honor forever the young rebels who fought here."  A message has lived on since the South was defeated in the Civil War. It is, "We was robbed. But  THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN. " This myth the South will rise again, and I suppose reinstate the slavery that God approved, has lived on most of my life. Maybe today it is finally drifting into disbelief. That the Democrats won Georgia is evidence times have changed. The success of "We was robbed, the South will rise again" is the perfect metaphor for what President Trump is at

I hate to add my blog to the piles of blogs and pundits analyzing and pondering the meaning of the just passed election. But that's what I feel like doing today. I've always like Senator Ted Cruz's summary of politics. He once said, "First, win the argument. Then, win the election." I think there is a way of applying that to anti abortion Catholics and Protestants. The link talks of Catholics who now feel they have no political home because Republicans let them down with Trump but they remain against abortion rights. Taking Cruz's win-the-argument thesis, I'd call the past election about an argument between two groups. One group's argument was, "Trump's a jerk." The other's argument was, "Abortion is wrong." The group, "Trump's a jerk," won the argument and then the election.  While one can argue the election, or any election, it about more complex issues, I believe in the end elections hinge on very simple ar

Catholic Bishops and conservative Protestants held news conferences during the campaign and appealed for money. They said over and over the election coming up was about abortion. The sitting President released another list of conservative judges he would appoint to the Supreme Court just as he had done four years ago. And, just as they had done four years ago, anti abortion leaders pledged, "We are almost there. Send money. Reelect President Trump and abortion is gone." It reminds one of the story line in the famous cartoon series, Charlie Brown. Every fall the cartoonist would began again a series where Lucy would promise Charlie she would hold the football in place and let Charlie kick it. Charlie was always reluctant to believe her but ultimately thought she, finally, would not pull it away just as he kicked it. Always, with a mischievous grin she would pull it away. I read an essay written by an anti abortion leader who predicted his career path this way. We will overturn

George Weigel writes often about his Catholic Church. He has written several books. Almost universally he defends every aspect of it. In his review of an internal study of the clergy by the Church itself, Weigel notes that the clergy system in the church is a caste system. It operates to protect its members and maintain its superior status within the Catholic Church.  Weigel writes the caste system, where those who rank above others can behave badly but retain control of those under them preventing any disclosure, is at the heart of the Catholic problem. It was this system that prevented those who knew about sexual abuse from doing anything to stop it. The requirement clergy retain their superior and untouchable status within the denomination meant disclosure was not allowed. This superior position was more important than the victims of sexual abuse. Victims were expendable, the prestige of clergy was not. The scholar Weigel makes general suggestions that oversight of the clergy needs

If news were not bad enough for those who pretend one fertilized cell is a human being, it only gets worse. Abortion rights Joe Biden was elected President in the U. S. and Northern Ireland, always thought of as an anti abortion bastion, saw its Parliament vote by a large margin to allow some abortions up to birth. Women in Northern Ireland now have abortion rights just as those in Ireland which added rights by popular nation-wide vote over a year ago. While I don't claim to know what goes on in the internal politics of Northern Ireland, it is not hard to figure out. First, getting across the straights to England where a citizen of Northern Ireland can get an abortion free of charge is a quick flight. Then there was Ireland next door giving the bird to Catholic clergy who had insisted the people of Ireland must vote against legal abortion. Why would Protestants in Northern Ireland not have the same disregard for their clergy? On top of those two, ascendance of women's rights is

The anti-abortion term "pro life" was started in the 1970's and was an instant success. It seemed so positive. During the 1970's the Southern Baptist Convention voted three times to reaffirm a woman's right to abortion. But, the marketing of anti abortion centered on "pro life" was so skillfully manipulated even the largest Protestant denomination had to change its position to anti abortion. But right from the start, there was a crack in the logic of "pro life." Would not being in favor of "life" mean all life and not just that of a fetus? Retired Congressman Barney Frank put a knife in the balloon when he said, paraphrasing, "Pro life is about protecting life, but only from the time of conception to birth." As the link point out, Frank's pithy observation is only now becoming a perfect fit for the term, "pro life." The broad support among Catholics for Joe Biden in the recent election is case in point. The Co

A big case is before the Supreme Court that will determine is a Catholic Adoption Agency can receive public money but discriminate against classes of parents it does not like. The Court should send such religious groups packing. The case involves a dispute common in the U.S. A gay couple wants to adopt a child available for adoption. The Catholic agency says it will not place children with couples, regardless of their qualities as parents, if the couple is gay. Only one reason is given for this policy, the religious beliefs of the adoption agency. In this case it is Catholic. The link laments this position because it deprives a couple of rights equal to those of heterosexual couples. Yet, she writes, the religious views of the adoption agency must be respected. Deep in the article she pitches her solution to the dilemma. She points out that these religious views against adoption by homosexual couple go far back into history. They reflect, she continues, wisdom acquired over centuries.

Every honest person knows the Bible is used as a hammer against many different kinds of people. When Bible believers decide they don't like some group they find something in the Bible and claim God joins them in disapproval. No doubt using unseen gods as weapons predated the Bible.  The most popular and intentional miss reading of the Bible is use of the mythical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are, as every reader knows, referred to in modern times as places where homosexuality was rampant. Jesus was quoted as referring to those cities as bad places and went on to say why they were bad. He did not mention homosexuality--they were inhospitable. Nowhere  in Christianity is there a more ridiculous notion than that Sodom and Gomorrah were cities filled with homosexuals.    Males living with males and females living with females do not reproduce. I'm trying to figure out how two cities with nothing but homosexual people got so large. That's called over thinking. The story of

  A new book, The Republican Jesus: How the Right Has Rewritten the Gospel,  plots the carefully planned takeover of Jesus by the religious right. Even though Jesus was not quoted as saying no to gay rights, gender fluidity, public health care, immigration, Democratic Party Mayors or racially integrated suburban neighborhoods you would never know this from attending politically rallies, conservative churches or reading their material. Even though Jesus was not quoted as saying anything about these issues, the Republican Jesus has these views and is a better Jesus than the liberal one or ones. The reason Republican Jesus will survive and thrive is because of money. The progressive Jesus that was supposed to a have preached on behalf of the poor, the lame and the rejected, does not help the bank accounts of those who advocate it. A Jesus that favors smaller government and lower taxes, well, that is one that will survive election after Trump's defeat. The donor base is there. The Rep

The Bible's story and the narrative about Christianity's growth is about the triumph of little Christianity over the world power Roman Empire and its Paganism. It's a story of every sports movie where the skinny little kid comes off the bench to win the game. The narrative is universally popular. It has served Christianity well.  But, as the black author I read recently said, history does not care about her disappointment at learning her black ancestors were slave owners and not slaves, "History doesn't care about what I want it to be," she wrote.  Christianity is now the big ogre of religion-   infused government. It is the President using law enforcement to clear out an area so he can be photographed in front of a church with a Bible. Christianity is the old Pagan Romans, not the skinny kid on the bench. The skinny kid on the bench is coming into the game. One of the takeaways of the election, according to NYT columnist David Brooks , is the majority of vote

The head of Priests for Life tells us about 900,000 "people" are killed each year in the U. S. because abortion is legal. No matter how crude and crooked Donald Trump was as President he is, or claims to be, against abortion and this is why you had an obligation to vote for him.  Since these priests have so much time on their hands they could spend it on helping those who pay their salary, church members. There are so many problems this country and the rest of the world faces that dwarf abortion they are fiddling while Rome burns. There is poverty, poor education, health care and the environment to name a few. For whatever reason, their minds are attracted away from genuine problems to one they themselves have elevated to importance.  These priests do not see any negative consequences to their anti abortion zealotry. They see babies born to mothers who did not want a pregnancy as an opportunity to exercise their self appointed authority. It is baffling why these priests focus

The anti abortion industry often claims it it making progress against legal abortions. It must do this to keep the cash flow that supports the thousands who make their living opposing abortion. The industry must repeat over and over, "We are just on the cusp of outlawing abortion." To admit this is not true would shut off the money spigot. Yet, in state after state, anti abortion measures are defeated. Yesterday another bit the dust in Colorado. This was to make abortions after 22 weeks illegal. It failed by 59%. This was the fourth try at limiting abortion in Colorado in the last 12 years. To say Colorado is on the cusp of limiting abortion is a joke. I have tried to help the anti abortion people who keep trying and failing with these measures. I point out that with half the population being women and a large percentage of them having had abortions, or supporting a daughter or sister, any measure to limit abortions starts out in a hole. If anti abortion people want to limi

For decades I've heard the argument that state sponsored religions drive people away from its faith instead of the opposite. Europe with its state endorsed denominations and empty churches is evidence. Nevertheless, during all those decades I've seen some branches of Christianity in the U.S. try to drive their religious views into government. It's as if religious zealots are on a Christian suicide mission. Let's start with the right to gay marriage. I know of books written by self appointed experts in the Constitution, U.S. history and its culture. They try to make the case all of us through our government, not through our religious beliefs, have reason to oppose gay marriage. An effort is made to say (paraphrasing) our government, representing all of us, "Has sound reason to prohibit same sex marriages. The reason is that the purpose of marriage is to have children. More children is in the national interests. Same sex couples cannot have children so such a pointl

Cardinal Burke is good for atheists. What he says about groups he doesn't like is off the charts. Recently he said those "suffering from the homosexual disorder" have no right to form families because they do not conform to the natural order of things.  Let's not forget he advised a mother not to invite her gay son to her home for the holidays. The more isolated gay people are the sooner they will mend their ways, apparently. In the first place, it is ridiculous for Burke to consider gay people getting married and/or raising children is an issue important enough to condemn. It's just something inevitable that is happening and he would do well to focus on some issue really important to the well being of humans. Maybe cancer or Covid 19 for example. Years ago I was visiting with a young priest in Fargo who told me privately he was baffled at how big a deal abortion was in the Catholic clergy enterprise. He pointed out a litany of human suffering which was more impor

One the part of the Crucifixion that strikes my as obvious propaganda is the moment when Pilate asked   assembled Jews if he should kill Jesus or the other man on trial, Barabbas. In the tale Jews tell him to kill Jesus. Pilate thinks he has no choice. He sets Barabbas free and orders Jesus killed. Bart Ehrman, whose field is critical analysis of the Bible, explained some years ago why the evidence we have points toward this story as myth. There is no recorded history, independent of the Bible, which describes Pontius Pilate as anything but ruthless. There are other references to him independent of the Bible. All of them without exception show him to be an off-with-their-heads kind of administrator. He was considered very efficient. There is no evidence of other political figures opposing him getting some kind of attention or recognition. They all went to their gruesome deaths. If there was a Barabbas, he also would have received no mercy. There is no plausible reason to think an effic