Thoughts of a Freethinker

Probably millions of times, preachers/priests stood before congregations and proclaimed their message from the Bible was the truth. Anything listeners heard elsewhere was not the truth. This has changed. The large portion of what is called the evangelical community, including lots of Catholics, now say ex President Trump's reelection was stolen from him by Biden. This claim is now the truth to these Christians--it originated with Trump, not the Bible. If it is not true the election was filled with fraud why should those of us not in the faith believe those in the faith who claim they are telling the truth about religion? A little self reflection by Trump supporters who remain in the faith would not be a bad thing. Churches and the faith are no longer competitive with Trump as marketers of truth. Trump has a monopoly and the faith is on the outside trying to get in the game. From what one reads, Trump is still raising lots of money. I wonder if any of the money he raises was previou...

A few hundred years ago, two Catholic Friars decided to save the world from witches. They wrote a manual on how to identify a person, mostly women, who is a witch. The book was used to kill thousands of women. This force, called Christianity, is a source of good against evil? Hardly. There are estimates hundreds to maybe thousands of European women, and a few men, were named witches and died horrific deaths. This was especially popular in the 1400's. This practice traveled with Christians to the U.S. We all know the center of witchcraft persecution was Plymouth, MA. Several years ago I toured a museum devoted to it in Plymouth. Part of witchcraft's appeal was a profit motive. People inside the circle who identified witches would immediately enter the person's home and take all of her belongings. These would be sold and the loot divided among the devout Christians engaged in this business. I suppose they said Jesus was pleased with them.  We can be glad of one thing in witch...

  When people say others want to do away with democracy in the U.S. it usually strikes me as over the top Chicken Little. We have a Constitution and tradition we shrug and that will carry the day regardless of who tries what. If we peek over into the dark side, however, we might not like what we see. Let's start with "suppose." Suppose voting rules could be made so restrictive a group with a narrow view of things who wanted to take over the government always, or usually, prevailed in elections.  Then, suppose, because of these restrictive voting opportunities legislatures in several states led to lawmakers selected by a minority of the public. Assume those representing the minority wanted to take over the government and select their own President and Congress also representing themselves but not the majority. The desired result for that minority who wanted eliminate majority rule, the hallmark of democracy, would be to not abide by the results of a national election. The ...

According to this link , a large number of evangelical preachers have resigned from their churches and have left the ministry. I want to say at the outset some may say my use of the term "evangelical" is inaccurate. The link used the term. It seems to refer to the Southern Baptist Convention and its fellow travelers. The problem according to those the link author spoke with is that churches become divided politically. One side wants to dominate the other. The pastor tries to talk about religion but the customers are not interested. One kind of church avoids the problem by treating the church as a concert venue. Contemporary Christian rock is the main menu. Sermons are short and about topics other than lessons from scripture. This is a safe route to go. The problem, one interviewee said, is that people coming to these churches find politics more interesting than Christianity. In today's current event, one set of politics involves no masks, no vaccinations and Trump is grea...

  JD Greear is the new head of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has a large church somewhere in the South and mucks around in SBC politics. SBC has been dealing with sex abuse, falling membership and extreme positions on abortion. Greear says it should stop talking about these divisions and just pray. This is the clever technique used throughout Christianity, to divert attention from the problem at hand by claiming to pray. This practice of mental fantasy is so common it is used by politicians and preachers alike. President Ford claimed he prayed before he pardoned President Nixon. He could claim it was God not himself who did the dirty deed.   It seems difficult to imagine one talking to something or someone when the truth its not real hangs over his/her head. I would think one's mind would drift to the grocery list or what's-for-dinner. JD Greear admits this. He says his mind wonders so he writes some que cards before hand to help remind himself the make believe exer...

The long story of the U.S. in Afghanistan is being wisely brought to a close by President Biden. He is the only President in a couple of decades who saw clearly what to do about that country, cut our loses and get out. There are people who understand a lot about Afghanistan. Rumsfeld and Bush charged in without consulting them. Bush thought some kind of revenge action was needed after 9/11. He could have resolved to ramp up our defenses and airline safety. Instead his instincts were to extract revenge. But extract it from who? The Afghan people had nothing to do with 9/11. Why should be start invading and drone targeting families who had been told to target by lying informants over there? Rumsfeld thought the country would reorganize itself and carry on as soon as we slaughtered Bin Laden and company. As the link points out, various religious and ethnic differences have been present since almost forever. It is so mountainous some tribes barely leave their area.  Information and the...

I suppose there were people planning to attend and they must wait for another opportunity. Those who believe they will need bullets and bombs to fight Satan are disappointed. While the link made fun of the group who offers conferences on physical warfare against Satan it is a real organization with people who believe there will be some kind of shoot-em-up battle. This conference was cancelled due to lack of registrants. Nevertheless, the cause goes on.  I don't know where attacks by Satan rank with other eminent attacks. We've had the mountain men awaiting attacks from the "government." There are those fearing attacks from outer space. The end of times prophets never have trouble selling that idea. Pastor Jim Bakker earns his living these days selling food us eat during the lockdown of the Armageddon. You can also buy the book, Preparing for Satan's War. Pope Francis sometimes refers to Satan as a real and eminent threat.  The battle against Satan has become so se...

There is a sign I have seen posted in farm fields, "Prayer Works."  The sign must be for sale at Christian supply houses somewhere. There is the constant promise, "I will pray for you." We've all heard the phrase "thoughts and prayers." Does all that praying do any good? Not according to a study done at least a couple of decades ago. In that study, as I recall it, two groups of patients were selected. One group had people pray for its recovery. Another group had no known people praying for recovery. The two groups had the same results. Those who had prayers did no better than the one with no prayers. Add to that the disclaimer which requires the person praying to to acknowledge his/her petition will be granted only if God chooses to do so. God's (thy) will be done.  I think a rational person praying would look around to see if God is just. The person who tithed should get more prayers answered than the tightwad who gives nothing. The person who tri...

For several decades questionnaire/poll research has made the news. How much importance it has is what we all wonder. Once back in my days as a Mayor one of the constant editorials criticizing me in the  Fargo Forum said "The public has spoken" (against something I did) referring to a poll it had paid for. I had always thought the phrase, "The public has spoken" referred to legal votes. The latest poll published by a Christian organization shows a continued increase in views denying our lives are here for some greater purpose. This, of course, is merely recognition there is no evidence of any purpose other than what we make up ourselves. Maybe readers recall a famous book called The Purpose Driven Life. It did not actually give a purpose for life except to please an imaginary god. Lost on me is the point or purpose of that.  That said, I find most atheists I know feel quite purposeful in their lives. One couple hands out sandwiches to homeless under a bride. Others f...

At the time of the Roe decision, nearly all Protestant denominations were in favor of abortion rights. A few years later they began to fall into the pits of anti abortion.  This brought in tons of money and big numbers of support. Protestant anti abortion politics centered on the largest denomination, Southern Baptists. If Southern Baptists had not gone anti abortion other Protestant denominations would not have done so either. It was a set of dominos. It is impossible to predict what will happen to anti abortion if the Southern Baptist Convention becomes so small it is insignificant, but that is the direction it is headed. I see various factions splitting off and going in other directions. The current Chair just resigned due to bitterness of various factions. No one knows how to put the genie back in the bottle. The block asks who is the person to lead the denomination back to success. The new President talks about prayer and finding a solution praying. Good luck amigo. While the ...

It's all over the U. S. A local church is offering a copy of a religious exemption to anyone who wants one. It's happening in Des Moines. It's the same story in California. Sure, there are many members of the clergy condemning this practice. But this news, like the photographs of evangelicals swarming around Trump, continues to portray Christianity as just another political party. Christianity has successfully portrayed itself over time as a force for good. The founding fathers, most of which were either not religious or only nominally so, said on many occasions Christianity is good for a country because it helps make good citizens. Are citizens spreading a deadly disease good citizens? Not to me.  Neither is Christianity a force for good when it encourages and assists behavior which endangers others. Of course, there are plenty of atheists who are not vaccinated nor practice the other precautions. To their credit they are not handing out religious exemptions at a church of...

One of the many splits among Christians involve what is perceived to be the correct role the Bible's main character, Jesus, is to play in the faith. I know a few modern preachers who are among the "all Jesus all the time" members of the faith. They are different than "fundamentalists," "evangelicals" and liberal mainline members of the faith. I use the terms in quotes because I don't claim to understand exactly what the stand for. I only know what how they are perceived by others. Fundamentalists believe they are the "true" Christians. Ironically, many main line and less conservative clergy think they understand theology better and are themselves the "true" Christians. Then there are the all Jesus all the time groups (a name I gave them). Some of their views come from "the black church." This groups believes that Jesus was an actual person and plays a role in teaching how humans should live and relate to each other. Th...

I enjoy learning about people who spend their lives spiting in the eye of conventional values and mores. A lady in California is a witch and clever artist all in one package. She was instrumental in dumping a law which outlawed fortune tellers. She was arrested in a sting operation. An under cover officer wanting fortune telling services came to visit. When our favorite witch obliged she was quickly arrested. Apparently seeing someone's fortune in a crystal ball was bad, hearing it from an imaginary god remains OK. She was born poor in Hungary. Her mother was a psychic and had to place her with nuns so she would have enough to eat. "Just eat the food," her mother told her, "Ignore the religion."  This reminds me a woman I know in Fargo. She and her husband realized one of their children would do better in a smaller school so they chose Lutheran Oak Grove. "Now there will be religion there. Let in go in one ear and out the other" she advised.  This wit...

Trump is contemplating an election which he and only he decides who wins. It has always been apparent he would sacrifice his country for is own purposes. Is he ready to bring down his Party? Trump said this past week the Republican Party has not gone the last mile to change the outcome of the election he lost. Because of the, he said, his supporters should not vote for Republicans in the next.  Often things he says are seemingly for his own amusement. Possibly that is the case here. Or, it could be he means it. Certainly enough time has passed since he was defeated to come to terms and realize he lost the electoral college as well as the popular vote and for Republicans like VP Pence to participate in appointing electoral college members who would vote contrary to their the public in their states would result in a travesty. If he has not come to terms with that why is it a given he will not toss the 2022 election to Democrats by telling his Republican fans to stay home? Giving the ...

For several years around 2015 conservative religious sites, especially Christina Post, could not do enough stories about Iranian/American preacher Saeed Abehini. Abehini and his beautiful wife, Naghmed, had settled in Oregon where he pastored a church. Somewhere along the line he raised money for an orphan's home in Iran and spent a lot of time there. According to Iran law enforcement, Abehini taught Christianity to the children in his orphan's home. This is a big-time violation of Iranian law. As I understand it, Abehini had promised not to do that in his application to establish and run the home. So into Iranian prison he went. His wife, Naghmed, was skilled at publicity. She was the one generating soulful stories about her husband's imprisonment. They had two small children and he needed to be home, she pleaded. She presented in front of Congressional committees and talked personally with President Obama. President Obama spoke publicly about his support of Abehini. TV ev...

What used to be called the Dutch Reformed Church is now called simply the Reformed Church. It is big in Iowa. Non Iowans may have heard of the Tulip Festival in Pella, Iowa. Because the person or two I know from the denomination is very religious and conservative and a prominent state politician is the same, I always assumed the entire denomination was uniformly conservative on all the hot button issues. It turns out I was wrong.  A substantial minority of the denomination wants to accept gay members and gay pastors. They feel so strongly about this they are threatening to split and form a gay accepting branch of the Reformed Church. Incidentally, the Reformed Church is the oldest denomination in the U. S.  Very shortly the Reformed Church will hold its annual convention called a synod. A leader claims that at the synod Reformed delegates from across the denomination come together to "discern the mind of Jesus." This strike me a funny. Is it always by majority vote they disc...

Another Noah's Ark has been found in Turkey. Radar images show something exactly the size of what was described in the Bible. While this site has been known since the 1950's, many other sites claim to be where remnants of the ark in the Bible's myth have been found.  Once one leaves the Christian or Jewish faiths, it is hard not to find stories in the Bible amusing. The tale of Moses and a massive number of people living in a desert on bread dropped from the sky by God is a knee slapper. Another is a flood of the entire world survived by one family who built a boat big enough to carry all the species of animals.  I often come across someone who says, "A great flood is a part of many religious traditions. That has to refer to the Noah flood." Let's think about that one for a moment. Humans and animals have to have water to survive. Therefore, in ancient times both lived near water. Lakes and rivers flood. If an ancient person never travels more than a few mile...

Back in 2015 the New Yorker published a long article about a granddaughter of Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. The granddaughter, Megan Phelps-Roper, had held a leadership position. Over time she had many on-line discussions of the Bible with "outsiders." After a few years of this she left the church. A young Phelps man who had left the family spoke at an atheist conference I attended a few years ago.  Entwined with her experience debating the Bible, however, was the Phelps men taking over leadership positions in the church from Phelps women. This was as troubling to Phelps-Roper as the alternative views of the Bible. There was no reason, based on the Bible, for men to rule over women. The men were mistaken, she concluded. Eventually, she and a sister left the church.  The original founder, lawyer Fred Phelps, had encouraged women to take on leadership positions. The women were good at the gay hating and Bible thumping. There was only one exp...

I wish there were more public discussion of religious exemptions. The majority of comments simply say, "If its someone's religion, it is exempt from the law." This is unworkable. Some are at least bringing up the topic. The link author explains his thinking, some requests for exemption of mask and vaccination mandates are legitimate and others not. He is a Christian and urges Christians not to abuse the claim of religious liberty. He says, for example, a political view such as, "There is too much government already," is not a religious argument appropriate for a religious exemption. It is a political statement.  He sited examples of Christian groups who first advocated compliance but changed their minds. It is hard, he writes, to conclude such a group justifies a religious exemption.  Several Christian groups have claimed discrimination when popular commercial gathering places, like casinos, were allowed to remain open when churches were mandated to close.  Whil...

While child sexual abuse by Catholic (and other) clergy has become so well known we are not surprised anymore when we hear about it, the amount of abuse that has taken place in France is so astounding it grabs your attention. The only way such widespread abuse could have continued in the Catholic Church for so long is for senior clergy to ignore it and help avoid intervention by law enforcement. The abuse apparently was well known among parishioners. They have left the church in droves. When I see the numbers I'm reminded of how much the Catholic Church as fallen in other countries like Ireland. In the 1960's, 96% of the French identifies as Catholic. By 2018 the number was down to 32%. There were half as many baptisms and only 40% as many marriages. It seems like the term "freefall" is appropriate.  One would think 200,000 abused children would set off shock waves inside the institution. Senior Catholic clergy, however, said they did not think the revelations would h...

I find it hard to judge whether today's national disagreements are deeper than those during the Vietnam War. Or, whether they are deeper than at times before I was born. Is it just "peculiar" Trump still claims the election was dishonest or is it part of some great split in the concept of what a country is or is supposed to be?  During the Vietnam war, as I recall, the turmoil was not about election results but about something almost as sacred to many Americans. It was complete distrust by a large segment of the population of the military. This was after decades of revering those who had served and of endless political support for larger military budgets. A line of thinking was only the military stood between our democracy and a communist invasion and takeover. That a large swath of U.S. society did not support this institution was heresy to some. Perhaps in time Trump's flat out lie that he won the election will be put in context with other great lies. Lyndon Johnson...

It was said often and is still repeated that during the Covid crisis donations to Christian churches held steady or increased. Churches received federal money as well. This could lead to the conclusion Christianity is in a strong position for the future. We can't predict the future with certainty so it could be the faith will grow and thrive. Looking at demographics , the odds of that appear doubtful.   The average age of Protestants (excluding Mormons) and Catholics is over 50 years. This older cohort has grown children and money to spend and give. Probably all charities which depend on giving by this group of older people did well.  What can branches of the faith do with money that helps them survive? The Catholic and Mormon branches are very wealthy. Yet there is slippage. Money can be spent on clergy and buildings but these may not be what is needed. What is needed is a message that persuades young people they should spend their time and invest their energy in the ins...

  Yet another article appeared on the Christian site, Christianpost.com explaining what must be done to reverse the decline in numbers of Christians. It was a review of famous speakers who addressed a conference on why the decline continues. Surely it is obvious to the point of self evident numbers of Christians with recognizable Christian beliefs is falling because fewer people, especially young people, believe the orthodox tenets of the faith. Things have happened in the culture to drive people away from these traditional tenets toward other beliefs or to no religious beliefs. One speaker extolled the practice of parents hammering home Christian beliefs to offset what children see on their internet devices. He advised parents limit the time children spend on the devices and limit what the have access to. After doing that parents need to spend time explaining that what they themselves believe is true and what other believe is not true.  Another solution was to hire only prea...

More and more cave art is being found in Southeastern U.S. Perhaps scholars of cave art are prejudiced, but they consider cave art some of the most important written history of humans. Historians are good at writing about wars and leaders. There are ancient documents, plaques and murals telling who won the battles and who the kings were. What was in the mind of average citizen is something else. As author Steven Prothero wrote, one way of considering what various religions stand for is figuring out what is on the mind of the average member. About Christianity, he says it is about sin. What we (or at least I) would like to know is what was on the minds of people who were illiterate? What worried or inspired them? We know a little from what is called oral history. Then there is the written record, cave art. Animals still draw the interest of artists. Today I was on a road trip to our favorite apple orchard for our annual two bushels of apples. We drove by a sculpture on a farm I have see...

The old saw that "science proves a fertilized cell is a human being" is seldom discussed by scientists themselves. It is discussed endlessly by propagandists who oppose abortion. I was pleased to see a legitimate scientist publish some thoughts on this propaganda claim. The link, written by a professor with a Ph. D. from the conservative Un. of Chicago and a professor for two decades in both departments of biology and psychology, appeared on an issues site. It is not a refereed academic article but is careful, as academic articles are, not to overstate his case. The professor writes, "...I'm fascinated by the ways people use biology to shore up ideas in a variety of topics from abortion to economic policy." He did not say, but an example of the latter is often economic models supposedly based of "natural selection" or "natural equilibrium." Economists who advise conservative politicians often try to insert biology to claims government should ...

When I moved into adulthood and listened to the Easter story a disconnect became apparent. If there was a Jesus who acted up in the Temple and was arrested and charged for doing this, why are we supposed to believe he died to forgive our sins? His breaking the law by misbehaving and claiming he suffered to offset someone else's sin had no connection. That's how I saw it decades ago and see it now. The question is, how did the tale slide from one explanation to an entirely different one? While I'm not a scholar of the Bible, there is one small event that illustrates the clever slide. It happened between the first Gospel written, Mark, and the second one, Matthew. And, while scholars such as Bart Ehrman say it is unlikely Pontius Pilate ever showed up at a "trail" for Jesus, Mark and Matthew put different words in Pilate's mouth. It was done to slide the story from a simple charge of disturbing the peace to a great theatrical sacrifice. After setting the theatri...

After I read professor Mark Silk's essay on the plural used in the Old Testament and the widely agreed upon view that the Christian god is neither male or female and Silk's conclusion the accurate pronoun is "they" I thought, "How could anyone disagree with this?"  Then I looked at the number of "agree" clicks, "disagree" and "angry."  Readers had swamped the "angry" clicks. Most readers were outraged.  Mark Silk is a conservative Methodist. He does not crusade for trans gender or gay causes. He opposed gay clergy. His only goal is to accurately reflect what is in the Bible.  It makes sense that most Christian readers would be angry. Most want their individual version of "God," "Jesus," and the Bible to be the one everyone else should agree with. They also want to believe their particular politics are the same ones held by God and Jesus. So, when such Christians believe God made only "man"...

For some years I've been reading a blog by Roger E. Olson, a Professor of Religion at Baylor University. While he is a believing Christian and practices in a particular branch, he is also active in the field of what I will call "idea combat."  This notion of "idea combat" can perhaps be illustrated by something that has been repeated in faculty lounges at universities for decades. It is that the best person to teach introductory courses to students, in many fields, is a young and less experienced person with a master's degree instead of one with a Ph. D. This is because at the Master's Degree level a person may not have been in the war of ideas which points to all the weaknesses of commonly held ideas in a field. Of course this is a broad generalization that does not apply to all people, places or fields of study.  In my field, economics, it's like this. In an introductory class in macro economics a novice professor might tell students, "There i...

There have been so many kinds of atheists who have become prominent, and perhaps wealthy, in the past decade. Our group in Fargo paid Sam Harris to come and speak. We had to deal with his agent. Richard Dawkins is so wealthy and prominent he runs a big foundation. There are other atheists and other approaches. Currently the buzz is about an atheist Chaplain at Harvard who was elected the chair the other 40 staff who hold the title of Chaplain. His statement about his election and the book he authored argue for the strong moral and ethical positions that come from atheism. Even the tenets of The Satanic Temple I wrote about recently are deep into moralistic principles. While "nones", those who do not identify with any religion, are growing rapidly, atheists numbers have not risen as much. There remains some suspicion of atheists and the Chaplain at Harvard is presenting atheism in a different way.  The ethical core of this kind of atheism is social justice. As we know, Christi...

How different the world has become. Only a few years back no standing U.S. House Representative would have admitted to having an abortion. Now there are four of them, three Democrats and one Republican. In the past, anti abortion zealots created the notion, "Abortion is so terrible you who had one cannot talk about it." Now, women across the country are talking about their abortions. It is not something terrible and there is nothing wrong with talking about it. On Face Book recently a gay friend of mine has been telling the story of the Gay Awareness Proclamations he requested and I issued. He has be remembering stories of the experience and posting old newspaper clippings. I remember one of the criticisms was I should not talk about the gay citizens in our community. It was such a grievous sin it must not be discussed in public. Others said it would be so harmful to our community people would not want to live there. Since then it has almost doubled in size. The Turnaway Stud...