Thoughts of a Freethinker

By some estimates, the majority of "nones", who do not claim any particular religion, are dominated by people who simply have no interest in religion. They are not interested in atheism nor in Christianity. They are not annoyed by prayers of public officials but they don't think the prayers are to anything or anyone. I have a distant relative who explained his apatheism to me years ago. As I recall, he said he is a "lazy atheist," has no interest in religion nor any interest in discussing atheism.  Believers may like apatheists better than atheists like me who blog about the shortcomings of religion. But, I don't see apatheists as hope for Christianity's falling numbers either. They have no interest in discussing hell and an afterlife because they have already heard about these and find them boring. The link written by a devout Christian tells of his apathiest friend whom he was unsuccessful in converting. The author surmised the best approach for the C...

The Lutheran Church of Sweden, the nation's state church, now accepts trans people as equals in church membership and as Christians in good standing. It is one branch of Christianity that does not adopt the sin-of-the-week like so many Christian denominations in the U.S. Its explanation was straightforward, this denomination is about the people in it. We have trans people. Therefore they are us.  That simple logic should guide all of the faith. Instead much of it points to those some dislike and condemns them. These decades the "others" are gays and trans. It might be helpful to explain why some very large Christian groups in Europe are so bullet proof in taking stands abhorrent to some denominations in the U.S. It's simple, follow the money. In the U.S. the money comes from those in the pews. When they don't like gays and trans the church responds by not liking them either. In Europe, the government collects donations for the churches. Churches take the pulse of...

There are women who oppose abortion. But, men carry the flag. It is male clergy and male legislators who are the leaders in trying to stop abortions.  A great story, perhaps a metaphor, for the anti abortion futility of men was women entering medical schools during the last half of the 1800's. Just as clergy and legislators today are going to great lengths to stop women from having abortions, doctors, professors and male medical students physically tried to bar women from attending medical school lectures. In the link , the Dean of a medical school resigned when required to give lectures where students included women. An eyewitness account of a medical lecture in 1867 told of male medical students making cat calls, throwing wadded paper, hissing, spitting tobacco and badgering women as they arrived and left the building. News about the ruckus went all over the country. They goal of the protestors, of course, was to make it so unpleasant women would be discouraged from the field of ...

Why not pray? It might help and can't hurt, can it? I found a short essay on Face Book that argues against praying. Modified a bit it goes like this: Prayers are dangerous. Prayers are a way for people to convince themselves they've done something when they've done nothing. Prayers seem to absolve people of taking responsibility of demanding change. Prayers pass the buck to an imaginary being. Prayers ensure the problem will persist. I've wondered if any conservative Christian person has ever prayed, "God, help me understand why atheists don't believe you exist. And, help me accept my gay child and treat her with the love and respect she needs to be successful in her life." While this prayer is heard by no one but the prayer it would introduce the humility a person needs to understand humans unlike him/herself. Liberal people would say such prayers easily.  Homosexuality has a lot of prayers associated with it. Gay Christians probably pray for God to accep...

When it comes down to it, anti abortion religion is about controlling women, period. Women are controlled when they have more babies. More babies are more money for clergy. In short, controlling women is job security for male clergy.  The link is a written by a Catholic woman who has long been active for reproductive rights. She is joined by about 60% of Catholics who oppose reversing Roe. She was surprised herself at what a strong hold her priests had on her emotions when faced with an inevitable decision to have a hysterectomy.  She writes that when doctors finally concluded that the only way to fix the pain she had suffered for a long time was removal of her reproductive organs she could not stop her mind from remembering the endless sermons about women. What makes a woman different from a man, she had learned from childhood, was her reproductive organs. She was put on earth to have babies. She was not put here for her brains or for whatever she might contribute to the comm...

I have read for years commentary the "God" referred to in the Bible could be female. I assumed that those who made this argument simply were not Christians/Jews and concluded since no one has ever seen or talked to this imaginary being it could be non gender specific. Now, however, reading A Most Peculiar Book; The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible by Kristin Swenson I understand at least a little more about it. She makes the case that when one goes back to what may (or may not) be the original writing which was in the Hebrew Old Testament there are unorthodox ideas. She translates that writing in a possible plural god as in gods, and an Adam and god which were not gender specific. Referring to the creation story she writes This story suggests God is both masculine and feminine, just as human beings are both male and female. You can debate this--the Bible invites such discussion--but there is no avoiding the fact this text suggests a a deity that isn't strictly male but r...

A Christian and Social Psychologist speculated recently on what benefit non believers might receive from not believing in the cross. He reviewed what other Christians commonly say about atheists, they just want to sin. Then he riffed on his own theories, they want to feel smart, they do not want to be constrained, etc.  He explained what such people are missing. By believing in the cross, he said, believers receive forgiveness, etc. But, he said, because atheists are unwilling to accept the sacrifice of Jesus they do not receive these benefits.  This author has a different take on Christianity than most others in that he does not assume the entire population of non believers is preoccupied with a desire to sin. Yet he, like the others, has no clue about the mind of the non believer. Most people who do not believe a Jesus, or any of the others, who came back from being dead do not "choose" to doubt. They are unable to believe it because it is nonsense. If they have made up th...

I suppose Pope Francis can be accused of using religion to promote government help to the poor. I can't remember Biden using religion to justify larger government programs but he may have done so. From time to time someone says we need more government help for the poor because it is the Christian thing to do. The link assumes all larger government advocacy comes from religion. The link also makes the assumption that any new expansion of government is "socialism." Tomes have been written and will be written about all of this. Most of the writing, however, makes broad assumptions about competing sectors of the public and what their various motives are. For example, it is usually assumed poor people and government employees want more socialism because they benefit. Businesses and wealthy people want less socialism because they pay higher taxes and get no benefit. Conservative Christians claim Jesus hated socialism. Liberal Christians say Jesus was a socialist. Conservatives ...

I been reading A Most Peculiar Book; The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible by Kristin Swenson. She is a professor with training in Greek and Hebrew languages. Normally I find discussions about translations a little tedious but her breezy style keeps one engaged. Quoting the Bible or claiming to know what it is saying is a big mistake made by those in the faith. I'm always reminded (she did not discuss this) of the copious notes taken by those who worked on the 1611 King James Bible. According to those who have looked at them those working on the project pondered various texts in the ancient writing and concluded often they really had no idea what was meant. An example is the word translated from ancient languages into the English word, "love." It is often used as a command. The person of lower standing is to "love" the person over him. "You shall love the Lord your God." You are to love your king. The slave is to love his master. I recall being at a me...

The of new temple construction is skyrocketing . This while the Mormon membership is flat. What are they thinking? We need only look at the beautiful Catholic buildings being shuttered across the U.S. to see what awaits the Mormons. Or, in the case of down the street from me, a huge and magnificent Christian Science church building from the 1950's was hauled off as rumble.  Money accumulated by the Mormon church is estimated at between $32 and $100 Billion. It is thought to be the richest denomination in the world, richer than the Catholic Church.  I would guess those inside the Mormon hierarchy are thinking like some others in Christianity. "We need to have the buildings ready for the crush of new members that will come after this temporary slowdown." There is always the notion also big intimidating building are like billboards advertising the strength and permanency of the denomination. As the link points out, a new temple is being built in Norway where there are only a...

  I ran across an interview with Francis Chan, formerly a mega church preacher. I always take a peak at what he is saying or writing. In this case it was a  disappointment . He said what nearly all Christian leaders say, the problem of falling Christian numbers must be solved by being better Christians. In his case, numbers would turn around if people had more conversations or better conversations with the imaginary being. Of course, its always hard to know if a public figure like Chan is actually trying to solve a problem or just selling his books.  Comments from readers of the article were even more passionate about the problem being inside the faith. One wrote the other Christian commenters were not good Bible readers because the problem was prophesized in 1 Timothy 4:1. That passage, commonly thought to have been written by someone impersonating Paul, says, The spirit clearly says in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taugh...

Catholic universities have them. Concordia in Moorhead, MN has one. Colleges and universities have bent to the inevitable. Gay students are enrolled on their campuses. Straight students support them. To treat gay students as pariahs is to lose enrollment. Thus, nearly all campuses have a university sanctioned lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans student group Now Baptist  Baylor has buckled. Maybe the old saying applies, "The bigger they come, the harder they fall." For several years the administration at Concordia in Moorhead resisted giving its sanction. They allowed the gay students to meet in empty classrooms but not in the student union meeting rooms. In time the administration relented like all the others. When the administration sanctions a group like student lbgt the group also gets to share in the funds collected from students for student government.  Officials of the Catholic Church today say priests cannot give their blessing to sin, especially the sin of gay marriage....

Southern Baptists are to a large degree a proxy for Christianity, at least the conservative branch. This includes conservative Catholics. Because of declining birth rates and the exodus of young people Southern Baptists have been declining at a rate of ten percent per year for several years. Now the more rational and moderate leader of the ethics organization within Southern Baptists and largely the face of the denomination has resigned to work for the magazine Christianity Today.  This news comes the same week as the announcement a large group of prominent Republicans is leaving that party. Popular speaker and best selling author Beth Moore left the Southern Baptists. Why would all that be happening at once? It's more complicated than this I'm sure, but at its core I believe is lying. Politics and religion require some shading of truth and some outright lying. So it will always be. But there are those who have a line they cannot cross. The line is now there for both some Bapti...

One of the many odd ideas one finds in Christianity are parts of the faith that do not allow women pastors. I assume those parts of the faith believe the charge from the Bible they are to spread the faith. Why then would they choose to pass up an opportunity to spread the faith when it is look them in the face?  I suppose women become pastors for the same variety of reasons men do so. The link is written by a woman who is a pastor and wants it known she did not get ordained to "make a feminist point." She does not even enjoy discussing the merits or theology of female pastors. She just wants to do the work.  It could be there are women who get ordained to make a point women can do the work of pastoring. I've known a few and none expressed that as their motive. Why would anyone choose a vocation she disliked to make a political point?  The issue of women in clergy is a place where critical analysis should be applied. Why is this rule in place? We'd all have to agree wo...

Anyone who has seen real life cases of children with uncertain genders knows the complexity and broken hearts that go with it. It's hard enough facing a life ahead with this complication but when religion and politics point at you and shout "shame" it's all the more horrendous.  The Texas Capitol is a huge place with a house and senate that requires staff and rigorous schedules. Apparently, the politicians are briefed on bills and staff are well informed. Gender issues are the sin-of-the-month in conservative politics so any successful Republican legislator must be against gender change. A  bill to prevent use of medicine and chemical treatments for gender change was introduced and passed in the Texas Senate. But the House just could not fit the bill into its schedule. At least that was the official position. When Christian Bible thumpers demanded House members tell them what has happened to the bill staffers told them, "The Representative is for the bill. It has...

A discussion on another forum got me interested in this question. Often on this blog when an argument gets into a tight corner about the source of something religious the answer from religious people is, "It was revealed." In my young years in Sunday School and decades in Methodist and Presbyterian sermons I never "heard" the word "revelation." That is, even though it must have been said many times I wasn't interested enough to pick up its importance in the scheme of things. There are various places in the Bible where certain ideas or events need to take place. If the writers could not come up with there own version of an event taking place they said it was "revealed." The information or event just showed up out of nowhere. Moses went out of sight and reappeared with the Ten Commandments. Some claim he did not really receive them from God but there were "revealed" to him. Paul claimed he visited with Jesus several times after Jesus ...

I was on a statewide water board in North Dakota for 18 years. Along with water issues in the city where I was a Mayor I soaked up a lot about the politics, myths and engineering of water. Certainly, I'm not an expert in the field.  There is one thing present in a lot of water issues, hubris. It is thinking humans can move water, use water and clean up water no matter where humans choose to live, what they dump into water or how much water they choose to use. Most everyone has heard of the Colorado River. It is one of best examples anywhere of human hubris. It passes through an area on the globe where humans mostly should not live. They have moved there in the millions and now nature is taking away their water.  I'm simplifying the areas by talking of only Lake Mead. It is a man made lake formed by the famous Hoover Dam. There is also a reservoir adjacent. Those and other waters serve several million in the area including sin city, Las Vegas.  While the level of Lake Mead...

Scandals in the church and disagreements between denominations has been going on since day one in Christianity. Now denominations are shrinking and, so it appears, the numbers of self reporting Christians in the U.S. is declining. The link explains the problem. It is that when Christianity formed corporations, denominations, preserving those corporations replaced the deity itself. There is no dearth of evidence this is so. How many times did Catholic and other denominational officials urge keeping news about wayward clergy secret because it threatened the corporation? It was all about the corporation . The link author says there is a difference between "Christiandom," the corporate denominations, and Christianity. Christiandom, he says, is killing Christianity. To me there is a parallel between the shortcomings of Christiandom and human god figures. Going back to the Old Testament we had a God based on the likeness of man. Thus, the imaginary god figure was man-like in the im...

There actually is a group called #leaveloud. It's goal is to persuade people leaving their church not to merely stop attending but to let everyone know they are leaving. This upsets some believers. I suspect most people will not leaveloud but those that do are merely paying back for in-your-face evangelism that is central to Christian dogma. Christians are charged to go out and spread the faith. The "spreadloud" and should not complain if some shout back at them on their way out. Evangelistic Christians are so annoying they have become a topic of ridicule. The other day I saw a T shirt which promised others would distance themselves from you--not take seats beside you on airplanes and buses. The T shirt's message is "Mind If I Tell You About Jesus Christ?" There is on-going research about why people leave and what happens to them afterwards. When I first became publicly known as a nonbeliever there were a couple of responses from Christians. One was that I m...

In the U.S. there is no easier way to appeal to voter emotions than to tell them some other country is planning to attack us. A President running in the middle of a war has a better chance of being reelected. Demonizing Russia during the Cold War screwed up things so badly some of our troubles today go back to events that long ago. I'm reading a book on the history of U.S/Iranian relationships over the last 100 years. During the Cold War we mucked around Iran's internal politics because we were paranoid about Russia. Not long ago W. Bush referred to Iran as an "Axis of evil." Russia was never the threat our politicians claimed it was. We saw that when the Soviet Union came to an end with a whimper. Iran is not and never was an "Axis of Evil." Today China has taken over top spot in U.S. propaganda politics. Like Russia in the Cold War it is portrayed is an economic giant. Trump especially used China as a political tool. Biden has done a little tough talk abou...

When Martin Luther nailed his grievances on the church door (no one knows if he actually did this), it started a new way of thinking. The outcome was as much due to the new technology of the printing press as to the ills of the Catholic Church at the time. As far as the clergy at the time, they thought they were doing a good job, just what God wanted them to do. How could God be angry at extorting money from the poor when priests were doing something far more important than money, saving souls for eternity. The poor could not use that money in eternity anyway but we clergy need to enjoy it now.  How could clergy a few hundred years ago think it was just fine to extort money from the poor? It's easy to understand.  "It is an age-old temptation for clergy and their followers to edge over the line between obeying God and being God." Note, being God is not limited to clergy. Any number of commenters on this very blog have told us what God hates, abortion and gay marriage. The...

It's ironic that a large group of priests are giving their blessing to a large number of gay couples. Apparently this was discouraged by German Bishops even though they would like to see a Catholic Church more liberal on the gay issue than it now is. I keep returning to Catholic Ross Douthat of the New York Times for interesting points of view on what happens in the domain of the Vatican. The choice within Germany is whether to remain in the Catholic Church as a dissident faction or simply take its billions of dollars and leave. Douthat speculates it will not want to leave because by staying it can remain in play trying to influence the church world wide. But, the priests doing the protests may have given up on Rome and are ready leave. Their Bishops may want to try to stay in the church and keep working. Douthat notes there is no way to know what will happen over a long period of time either in Rome or Germany.  The wheels of history, he notes, do not stop. I don't understand ...

1 Timothy 2:12 is clear, But I suffer not a woman to teach nor have dominion over a man. The Saddleback Church has 13 locations, the largest church in California. Now Saddleback's founder and author of a 50 million seller, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren, has ordained three women as preachers. Saddleback is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention which forbids female preachers.   That the massive Catholic church, some Lutherans, Southern Baptists and various other pockets of Christianity prohibit women from being preachers is one of the most ridiculous and funny throwbacks to the Middle Ages in all of Christianity. If we are to look for an explanation as to the decline in numbers of Christians this is a good place to start. Many times in the comments to this blog believers have written (paraphrasing), "We Christians have a higher purpose than simply growing numbers. What's important is being right, not how large our group is." Surely they understand they are...

There are so many cliches Christians use when describing atheists. A few of them are, "no moral grounding," "don't believe in anything," and "don't accept the truth." Christians do not quote atheists or survey them to see if what the attribute to them is what atheists actually think. Instead Christians make up things about atheists and publish them as if they were true. Apparently there is not enough money for atheists to mount the same level of propaganda against Christians it mounts against atheism. Or, atheism's set of morals and convictions are just not juiced up enough to draw commercials or advertising. But, atheists, secularists and humanists have something to say. There are some best selling books and occasionally some good writing on the net.  At the risk of over generalizing, I would say the views of the majority of nonbelievers would go like this: Ever since the beginning of humans there have been both those who believed in gods and...

We are seeing the future today. It is the increased radicalization of religion as it becomes obvious to believers they are losing the argument. Those remaining in the faith feel they must clamp on ever for forcefully to their myths or they will slip away. In my opinion, falling religious numbers explain some of the support for Trump. The demographic of those remaining grows older and more frustrated the ideas they tried to instill into society are being rejected. Maybe something or someone will come along that insults those who insult me. That person is Trump.  I think we will see "The Church of Anti Abortion and Anti Gay" do well in fund raising. I call it a "church" because its members are more enthusiastic about their hatred of gays and women than they are about the church that gives them cover. If their church lightens up on either issue they are gone. That is exactly what has happened across the Protestant denominations and is about to happen to Methodists. If...

For decades atheists have pointed out to Christians that Europe has state religions. Europe has falling numbers of Christians. Rightly or wrongly, the cause of falling Christian numbers is attributed to more Christianity in government. Putting Christianity into government has not reversed the downward trend and most probably caused it.  There are areas of the world where Christianity is growing. It is growing mostly in countries where it is not protected or promoted by the state. It is falling in countries where it is protected by the state. Yet, in the U.S. there are constant battles to put Christian theology into the state. It is almost a death wish. An example is Trump's executive order about what information is provided to women and demanded by right wing religious politics. It prevents medical providers from telling patients abortion is an option and prevents referral to abortion providers when a patient wants this service. This is flat out weaponizing religion by putting it ...

Next to me is a book that has been there for several years. I grab it now and again to look for things.  It is God is Not One: The Eight Major Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter by Professor Stephen Prothero. He approaches each of the world's eight major religions from the perspective of those in the pews, not from the view of their respective official theologies. He hears what people discuss with each other in the faiths. Each faith becomes what its followers think  it is about, not what they might have been told it is about by church leaders.  While Prothero tried to stay out of the weeds in each faith, in some of them he went so deep into the many factions I lost interest and skipped sections. Hinduism was one. I'm sure he tried to capture what Hindu people talk and worry about but it was lost on me. I was pleased with his summary of the two religions around me and part of my life's experience. One is Judaism. He finds what practitioners of J...

The current things going on in Christianity, the drop in numbers and the Trump upheaval, have many people perplexed as to what is going on and where things are going. A few years ago a woman wrote a book claiming Christianity ran in 500 year cycles. Each cycle caused a "Period of Upheaval." At around 500 years Rome went Christian. About 500 years later the Roman and Orthodox split. Then 500 more years it was Martin Luther.  It is now 500 years since Luther. The faith is experiencing plummeting numbers. The link author believes, as I have said many times here, the ultimate winner will be a liberal version of Christianity. This is because people have always needed a "sin" to resolve. The link author thinks the "sins" following this 500 year upheaval will be environmentalism, racism and income distribution. Believers will want forgiveness or resolution of these sins. This will be for focus of the next wave of Christianity. The "sins" the faith is o...

The tsunami some years back killed many thousands of children. The Bible "records" God's wrath at the time of Noah. There were a few million people on earth at the supposed time and he killed nearly all of them. Maybe a million were children. As an ancient philosopher pointed out, either God kills these children because he liked to do it. Or, he doesn't like it but is helpless to stop it, not "all powerful." The unknown ancients who wrote the Bible had to jump through some hoops to keep their hold over societies. The theological tricks and control techniques they invented continue to this day. When natural disasters happen Christian are taught to say, "We cannot know the mind of God." When humans kill large numbers of other humans, bombs and mass shootings, Christians are taught to say "God gave us free will." The ridiculousness is only raised a notch when a Christian doesn't like something like abortions. Then he is taught to say he ...

All of us who have been around Christianity know there are daily devotionals. Few of us, including myself, know we can switch from Bible-based devotionals to one based on goddesses. The goddesses are from religions based more on the cycles of the seasons than is Christianity. For this reason readers may enjoy it more. According to the link, the book has 52 goddesses, one for each week. It is divided up into the four seasons. It discusses the uncertainty that goes with constant change which is what we experience with the weather and seasons. I know the Bible refers to seasons as does goddess worship. But, as I understand the difference, goddess worship allows different spiritual beings whereas the God of the Bible gets angry at other gods.  It has always seemed to me indigenous religions, including those prehistoric people like my ancestors and yours, must have worshipped nature-based beings. That is, if they worshipped anything. We don't know for sure. The only thing we have to go...

I've heard conflict resolution, it goes under other names also, is still used thousands of times a year for certain kinds of disputes. In that way it contributes to our society. Mostly, it is about reducing the "us against them" and replacing it with each party making an effort to see thinks from the other's point of view. I've had friends who benefited from it. It's originator began by asking to be the attorney for both parties in divorces. That, instead of each one getting his/her own lawyer and portraying the other as wrong. At least a couple of times when I was a Mayor, I was contacted by people who specialized in conflict management or conflict resolution. They wanted to help resolved conflicts between and among those of us who were elected to the governing body of Fargo, ND. It is called a City Commission rather than a City Council.  There are only five member all elected at large. I was reminded of all this when I read the experience of the originator o...

When the climate change first was attributed to human activity polls showed evangelicals denied human activity had any roll. Now large percentage have switched to believing humans have a roll in climate change.  Climate scientists have always said there have been and always will be large swings in climate. More than anywhere I know of the Red River Valley of the North illustrates this. Only ten thousand years ago it was a pile of ice, a glacier. Moisture came from other areas of earth, it was dryer there, and dropped in an area where the temperature had dropped. Humans, who had been on earth at least 200,000 years at that time, moved out. Later, as we know, it warmed up and people moved back.  But, scientists said they can tell the rate of change going on right now is faster than anything they can detect going back far into prehistoric times. There is only one atmospheric variable that has changed, carbon. The melting in artic areas is increasing in speed. If one has no inter...