Thoughts of a Freethinker

Anti-abortion propaganda techniques have always relied on a villain, the clinic and doctor doing the surgery. Now, the villain is evaporating into thin air. Who can anti-abortion propaganda operatives demonize if there is no doctor or clinic? Who will they shout their "prayers" to? The anti-abortion author of the link worries about this. He comes up with no solution but at least recognizes the old stuff, protesting and honeying up to judges and law makers, will no longer work. Anti-abortion faces a determined foe who is digging in for the long haul.  The entire anti-abortion operation and Roe reversal makes one giant assumption. It is that law enforcement will have the will and resources to enforce the law. When violation of laws is widespread enforcement is sporadic as best. Take the speed limit on interstate highways. These laws could be enforced everywhere. They are not because enforcement of speed laws must compete for enforcement of other laws. As the saying goes, law en

When hard truth faces down fictitious claims, it is hard to reverse field. Politicians, clergy and their followers are trying daily to pretend women's lives are not endangered by anti-abortion laws. Almost daily now incidents of high risk and religiously motivated  decisions driven by the medicine of religion are being made public. It's been known for decades Catholic hospitals are dangerous places for pregnant women. When a fetus dies or is a hopeless case, often it needs to be removed immediately to protect the health and life of the woman. In Catholic hospitals cases like this often face delays because the local Bishop may raise religious objections if the fetus is removed. The woman is sometimes taken to a secular hospital, but sometimes not. Only when the woman begins to go into shock is the pregnancy considered life threatening. With some luck she survives the religious hokum. With state laws now using the bogus "heartbeat" rule, circumstances have become more d

Clergy are trained, or self-taught, the Bible. Those in denominations are taught its tenets. The theory of the faith is the clergy person is to teach the Bible and the denomination's (or some general theme of a kindred set of independent churches) dogma to those in the pews.  The entire economic model requires clergy repeat to the congregation what those in the pews already believe. If the preacher goes too far afield the collection plate will be empty and so salary paid.  A problem discussed widely for several years is preachers/priests who use the pulpit to rail about politics and social behaviors. These tenets are mostly not, as is the case with abortion, in the Bible. They may be part of the denomination's dogma but that doesn't mean they are in the Bible.  There are preachers who believe they are telling their congregation the politics it wants to hear. Then, there are some who know they are risk takers. They preach a politics they know many in the pews do not agree wi

It is easy to review what the Bible says about abortion. It says nothing . This allows both sides to use the Bible.  Like Christians of many stripes, anti-abortion Christians use the phrase, "What it means is ....." This is especially necessary using the Bible to argue against abortion when it is silent on the topic. It is an understatement to say they stretch a mile to make up a reason the Bible opposes abortion.   One can be against abortion without religion. It is necessary to bring in religion, however, when there are no other reasons. For example, when there is no agreement about when a human being has arrived to begin its life, some moment before birth, however far-fetched, has to be proposed. Christianity has test marketed several different times when the fetus becomes a human being. All of them were abandoned as soon as something propagandists liked better came along. If history serves as a predictor, "heartbeat" and "DNA" will be replaced with som

Anti-abortion has run into an honest judge. When this happens religious zealots lose.  Readers may recall the case in Ohio several years ago where a religious group claimed "Intelligent Design" was an explanation of the origin of humans on the same scientific plane as evolution. Then a memo showed up where Christians admitted "Intelligent Design" was a ruse to disguise the real message, creationism. A judge ruled goodbye Intelligent Design in public schools.  Something similar has happened with abortion. I don't know what the ultimate end will be, but at this point a judge in Kentucky declared a human life at conception is a religious concept, not science. As I understand it, cases are now coming forward are not based on privacy like Roe.  They are based instead on use of religion to stop abortions. As readers know, anti-abortion zealots claim there is "science based" evidence the fetus is a human being separate from the mother. For a century or so the

A few decades ago when our son was a teenager he and his friends often got together to play a fantasy game called "Dungeons and Dragons." Some preachers at the time made headlines with their condemnation of the game. About 20 million people play or have played the game. Participants create their own characters who wade into imaginary circumstances, wage battles and solve problems.  I don't know what the criticisms were about. Could it be preachers did not like new imaginary worlds that might replace the one they preached about? It has been said small and obscure religions like paganism are more of a threat to Christianity than atheist because the former has a competing fantasy lacking in atheism.  The link relates the story of an ordinary person living an ordinary life who played an on-line fantasy game. The fellow, referred to as "Bob from accounting" played a hero, "The General", in the fantasy game. When the actual "Bob from accounting" di

We are re entering a place we have been at various times in our country. Slavery was the time of the underground railroad. Slavery was a terrible injustice. Yet, it was the law in some states. The only path to justice was defying the law. Both idealistic white people and daring black people allowed thousands of slaves to escape.  We were at the same place with prohibition. The will and wherewithal to defy prohibition were so powerful the law was all but ignored. It gave rise to an industry of crime along with death and destruction.   No doubt, some branches of law enforcement in some states will actively try to stop abortions. Law enforcement can subpoena all kinds of information and/or it can buy reams of data from companies that collect it. How will women who want an abortion or simply want to have that option available hide their personal health data from law enforcement?  I predicted ten years ago that when a woman claimed a miscarriage law enforcement would look at her phone or co

There is a typical story today about a group with a Christian name, "House of Prayer, stealing money from the government and from military veterans. No doubt there are crooks who are atheists, but I have never seen a con job using "atheism" as the reason to give money which in turn is stolen. There is no "House of Atheism." The most reliable way to steal people's money is to use "Christianity." What can we make of this? To me, it's reasonable to conclude Christianity hides a lot of scams and crooks. If you give to a Christian organization, it would be wise to ask questions. But what questions? I would ask whether its "god" has ever been seen or it those who founded the religion had their own selfish motives. If the answers are "no" and "yes," one should walk away. That includes a few billion Christians. Further, if the group claims to heal you or bring opportunities not available elsewhere, run. Among the opportun

Hundreds of anti-trans bills have been written in states that went for Trump and have high Christian numbers. When visits to trans porn sites is tracked, the most visits come from these states. One of the cities that ranks high is Bismarck, ND, where Republican legislators eagerly pass anti trans and anti-gay bills. The closets of anti-trans and gay legislators, and their supporters, are especially dark. This follows another better-known statistic, spousal abuse. The Bible Belt has the highest numbers of that. Over 300 anti LGBT bills were introduced last year. We better testament to the high moral standards of anti-gay areas than to plot how many visits to porn sites came from those area. I can't help but recall the veteran Police Chief who still held the position when I first was a mayor. The bombastic Chief talked loudly about how well the establishment of our city ran things. Businesspeople were the best leaders in his view. He made an enthusiastic announcement his police depar

The Catholic Church of Canada has been ordered to sell about 40 pieces of its properties to pay victims of sex abuse by clergy. Some of them are properties no longer used because of declines in membership. Some seem to be land bought for speculation of future churches that never materialized. Nevertheless, a good question is why it ever had, and still has, so much wealth and property.  When the topic of large payouts from many Catholic dioceses resulting from sexual abuse by clergy is discussed here, often the response from devout Catholics is, "You and others who hate the Catholic Church just want to destroy it."  No one can destroy the Catholic Church or most any other church. It takes no money to have religious gatherings is someone's home or is a public park. A religion that exists because followers believe in its tenets requires no money at all. When the purpose of a denomination or religion is to amass wealth and property, it's reasonable to ask how much religio

That the State of Ohio has obstacles to a ten year old getting an abortion is more evidence anti abortion is not about "saving lives." Statistics show the dangers of a birth, even if cesarian, poses much more risk  for a little girl than it does for an adult. If anti-abortion is not about saving lives, what is it about? Mega preacher TD Jakes recently gave a sermon that explains much of conservative Christianity. He said the social order laid out in the Bible is not being followed. The appropriate role for women is being violated. He meant; women must be controlled by men.  The history of this control is not hard to follow. When the Bible was written less than one percent of the population was literate. These were men. There is no evidence women wrote any of the Bible. These men wrote into the Bible that males are good, females are bad. That is the message they placed in the made-up story of Adam and Eve. Male authorship has been followed by centuries of male interpretation a

Several cases have been filled by various religious groups who believe the right to an abortion is part of their belief system. I would guess anti abortion groups are shaking their heads, "You mean there are other religious groups who really believe their god is real when it is really fake?" The original case for Roe was based on women's privacy. Making the case FOR abortion using religion is mostly new. With this Supreme Court which hints of theocrasy it could be it will rule the U.S. to be a Christian nation and abortion is a Christian sin so that's that. That what they learned in law school and history classes was entirely different may not matter.  It is hard to understand why, if parts of one religion, Christianity, has decided anti abortion is their religious preference why would not a view in favor of abortion not be in some other religion. Religions all over the world have far flung ideas and in the U.S, they are no better.  My impression is the religious peop

It will take a few minutes, but it is worthwhile to read the link from The New Yorker.  It covers the entire gamete of thoughts from a woman who was raised in an anti-abortion sphere, had a child and now reflects of a woman's rights to abortion.   She went to a Catholic elementary school and was taught abortion was sin done to cover up another sin. The other sin was having unapproved sex. She explained the theology taught to her this way, The moral universe was a stark battle of virtue and depravity, in which the only meaningful question about any possible action was whether or not it would be sanction in the eyes of God. This helps me understand some anti-abortion zealots who post comments here. One wrote, "God hates abortion."  This even though "God's word," the Bible, never says this. It helps me understand why when I ask people who criticize my blogs what rights a pregnant woman has it is met by silence. The silence means I would surmise what Judge Amy C

The "War on Drugs" employed thousands of people. All of them were stamping out sources of illegal drugs. I'm not sure anyone knows how many billions of dollars were spent or how many lives were lost in murders and shoot outs. I don't think anyone disputes the War on Drugs was a total failure. Now many of the drugs we were at "war" with are legal. So it was a sad but almost amusing that the Catholic Clergy and Protestant right thought it could abolish abortion by appointing religious zealots to the Supreme Court. Roe has been eliminated. But an industry sprung up almost out of nowhere smuggling abortion pills from Mexico into the U.S.  The pills are paid for by donors, drug store chains and pharmaceutical companies. The two latter have to destroy meds approaching their "sell by" dates. They instead give them to the underground. Phone numbers of women's rights groups in Mexico are made available all over the U.S. Women in Mexico answer the phones

An article appeared recently in the Christian press with the view there have been three phases in how the general public views Christianity. The first, many decades ago, was that Christianity was a positive force in society. That changed to decades where it was neither positive nor negative, neutral. Now, the article said, a majority has a negative view of Christianity. Discussion since has been about how conservative branches of the faith, the most visible and most discussed, should react to this new setting.  The link points to an alarming fact, no strategy has been agreed upon in the faith to deal with this new reality where a majority either dislikes or despises it. The closest thing that might be called a strategy is to move further to the right, be more aggressive and dogmatic, and hold onto a hard core of believers. This hard core, it is assumed, will launch a new, aggressive and successful effort when the public turns to again admire Christianity.  Why do optimists in the faith

The FDA is considering making a famous birth control pill which is available now only by prescription available over the counter. Women all over the world can buy it over the counter but the U.S. has succumbed to religious opposition. What a great step forward it would be to push religion aside and allow women more freedom to run their own lives. Women demanding rights that should never have been taken away has come to be a worldwide and formidable political force. Most pundits conclude the legalization of abortion in, for example, Ireland and Chile happened mostly because women refuse to put up with bull$hit. Male clergy in the Catholic Church has prohibited Catholics from using birth control for many decades. Surveys find about 99% of Catholic couples use birth control.  The only reason laws in the U.S. today require a prescription for some birth control medicine is religion. Churches lobby law makers, law makers acquiesce. Having been an elected official for a good share of my adult

First it was bestselling books by Richard Dawkins and others lampooning Christianity. Now it is comic book movies. When there is more money to be made skewering Christianity than praising it, it may be in trouble. According to the link the company Marvel, a comic book giant who now makes movies based on comic book themes and characters, has a god character who is all powerful. The god figure was to be worshipped by all mankind and had the purpose of keeping order in the world he created. Then, however, he began punishing people who did not follow his rules. The god is a self-absorbed and petty character miffed at slights. Instead of being a force for good the god becomes a force for bad.  The link author believes the Marvel god's behavior and the assessment of its pettiness reflects young people today. They find, he believes, the God they have heard about is more bad than good. That is, of course, if they believe such a being exists at all.   This rebellious story line is several m

In orthodox Christianity, not only do religious leaders have to be male, husbands also have to be the religious authorities in a marriage. No wonder violence by men against women is so common in the Bible Belt. A few times in my past public life I was invited to gatherings where the "proper" role of husbands and wives was discussed. I recall that along with being the "spiritual leader" and husband was to be the "public voice" of the family. The old stuff about the wife yielding to whatever the husband wanted was there too. I didn't argue much but I remember thinking this was a recipe for abuse. All the dictates for which gender does what in Christianity are harmful rules made by men at some point back in history for the benefit of men. They have been harmful in holding back women from opportunities that should be available to them. I suppose if you asked women in these religious groups if they are happy without the same opportunities as men, the majori

I've discussed here many times the parallel of prohibition to anti-abortion laws. There are differences, of course, prohibition was a national law while states regulate abortion. But the way anti-abortion casts itself as a kind and moral movement and prohibition cast itself as moral and family saving is so similar it's striking. But the pious and moral prohibition movement's image of being moral and good changed on a dime. The image replacing it was one of busy bodies with nothing to do but regulate the lives of others. News stories of the past couple of weeks hint something similar is happening to anti-abortion. I've always wondered how the anti-abortion tactics of screaming insults and prayers at young women would bring the broad support among the general public. Of course, they thought their theory of a human being existing at conception would be so persuasive the general public would eat it up. Certainly, that has not happened, not even among the majority of Catholi

There is a growing sense the effect of abortion bans in some states will reduce total abortions for only a short time, if at all. What is not clear is whether they will affect numbers in the longer term. New ideas are appearing to circumvent the restrictive laws.  Anti-abortion groups will be playing whack-a-mole forever. A group is now raising funds for a medical ship off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. It would be in international waters out of reach from the no abortion state governments on the coast. The site "PRROWESSS" is where it is being discussed. Another version of the story is here . I don't understand the economic model of a hospital ship, moving patients by boat and doing abortions in stormy weather. Better it seems is an underground of pills and surgery.  The world of 24 or 48 hours of waiting and telemedicine abortions is being met by enterprising business people in states adjoining the prohibition states. Inexpensive places to stay with access to telemed

One of the best, and most realistic, analysis I've seen of the current problems in Christianity is this one. The author, a believer, sees societal forces beyond control of the faith continuing to make it smaller in number. He adds what commenters here have said, those in the faith need not necessarily adjust to this trend. They may refuse to change irrespective of numbers. What he says need not change, however, is his own version of the faith. Every branch of the faith thinks theirs must be the part that survives. The forces he sees driving numbers smaller comes from both inside the faith and outside. We all know about the outside, the perception of sex and money scandals. Inside it is increasing doubts about tenets of the faith we have discussed here. What I found interesting about the link was his version of what the surviving faith will look like. He sees it as a smaller group strongly united in a worship experience and undaunted by the forces making the faith smaller. For examp

The prominent pollster, George Barna, penned a piece recently lamenting the results of another survey group. The other group found Christian clergy, when surveyed anonymously, admitted they themselves do not believe much of Christian orthodoxy. Survey results showed the younger the clergy the less likely to believe. Youth pastors, whom the faith depends on for survival, are least likely to be believers. Barna's point was that each church goer needs to study the faith and decide for themselves what is the "truth."  Clergy can no longer be the source. This is another example of Barna not understanding modern society.  I've been trying to understand the murky world of Christian marketing and Barna's alarm might explain some of it. What I've been trying to understand is the popular practice of disguising the origin or pedigree of modern urban churches. There are several churches in my urban area called "Hope Lutheran" or "Lutheran Church of Hope&quo

When I was a Mayor, I was invited to many events and whenever possible attended them. It was my job. I went to a big banquet where the featured speaker was a woman doctor who once worked in an abortion clinic. She now opposed abortion. She seemed like a nice person. Since then, I've seen advertisements of others like her who make the pro-life banquet circuit. With all the news coverage of the Roe reversal, the news is flooded with stories it did not have before. One is about doctors who opposed abortion but now provide them. One is Dr. Jennifer Villicencio. Dr. Villicencio grew up a devout Catholic in Cuba. It never occurred to her she would support or perform abortions. They were wrong and against her faith. Then she needed a prescription for "morning after" pills and decided to stop and pick it up at a Planned Parenthood clinic. While walking in protestors called her a whore. "Why are they saying this when I'm one of them?" she wondered. She realized some

She was just passed the deadline for abortions. So, the answer was NO, she could not have an abortion in Ohio. She is getting one in Indiana. This is the cruel and pointless world of anti-abortion politics. The ten-year-old doesn't count for anything. The zero-year-old is more important than any ten-year-old.  It's time to recognize anti-abortion for what it is, cruel and heartless. As a pundit noted, "Those protesting in front of clinics have a mouthful of scripture and a heart full of hate." I suppose there are know-it-all anti-abortion goons out there who would say, "Gosh, that 10 year old should have known she could become pregnant. She should not have had sex. She needs to be forced to give birth and raise that child. She needs help? No, she needs to grow up, get a job and take care of herself. Public assistance will turn her into a freeloader." As an aside, one wonders how Indiana would have abortion available when its Governor was Mike Pence?  Childre

As the U.S. Court turns to the right on abortion, the rest of the world is turning left. Several countries that did not allow abortion have legalized it and now Israel has taken down some of the barriers. About 20,000 abortions take place in Israel now each year. An obstacle has been each woman has had to appear before a committee and reveal the private reasons for an abortion. This requirement has now been abolished. Some parts of the requirements are still required and can be completed on-line. The objective, according to a health officer, is to make abortion a private matter more available to women.  The health official said the liberalization came to Israel as a result of the backwards step in women's rights taken by the Supreme Court. Here in the U.S. various things are happening which are making abortions more accessible even while Roe has been overturned. Some states like California are using state funds to provide abortions. There is a long list of companies providing finan

When Supreme Court Justices have to resort to "The Southern Way of Life" to put their religious views into law we know the outcome will be bad. This court is doing that. The only difference is they use a different phrase which means the same thing, "History and Tradition." What is not "history and tradition?" Women not voting is history and tradition. Black people enslaved was called the "Southern Way of Life" but it was history and tradition in the South. There is also the term "traditional marriage" that implies falsely marriages have always been between one man and one woman. That wasn't true in the Bible. It was not true before the Bible. There is an old saying, "When you are losing an argument, get personal." Or, "Change the subject." That is what "History and Tradition" is about. It is something to toss out there in court or in politics when you do not have a strong argument. When there is not a g

Chris Wallace recently pressed Pete Buttigieg to say Buttigieg would be OK with third trimester abortions. Buttigieg gave an answer that has gone all over the world. It is an answer that will enrage holier-than-thou-anti-abortion cult members. Even though the interview has been covered by major news sites and is all over social media, it has not appeared on Christianpost.com. Perhaps all religious sites have avoided publishing it. Buttigieg pointed out that when a woman is in the third trimester of a normal pregnancy, she intends to give birth. One would expect a name for the child has been considered and the equipment and room for a baby has been acquired. When something happens that brings up the choice of terminating the pregnancy or going forward with huge risks, complications or difficulties, who should be making the decision? If we ranked in order the possible people/institutions who should make the decision, there can be no doubt the person with the most in the game should make

That Catholic Bishops are proud of harming women by overturn of Roe and now asking the nation for "healing" is cynical to say the least. Many women's lives will be at risk because of the Roe overturn. That does not matter to the Catholic Bishops because women do not matter. What matters to clergy is themselves. They are emersed in politics and winning in everything. But once they have succeeded in putting your life at risk they want to be your "friend." Conservative Bishops remain against giving communion to divorce/remarried couples. Here again, they are proud of their power. They have no sympathy for those who are hurt by being turned away. They seem oblivious to the fact a majority of Catholics oppose both their views on abortion and on sacraments for divorced and remarried Catholics. A statement from the Bishops says they intend to support and advance policies for the common good. From their position on Roe, we have to conclude improvement in the lives of wo

With the bluster and aggressiveness of this Court's conservative majority, one would think it would rule all abortion murder. This would have required a declaration the one fertilized cell is a human being. Much to the bitter disappointment of some pundits, it did not. Instead, as the anti-abortion link says, it opened the door to "massive increases" in abortion in abortion rights states. The reason the court did not seems obvious. It could not. It is impossible to establish factually that one cell is a human being. A human being is still defined by the birth certificate. The one cell human being is still defined by religion. The ruling that overturned Roe made no progress in defining when a human being comes into existence. It did make progress in harassment of women. It helped to remind all that Eve was responsible for the Original Sin and women must pay for her sin of eating the apple. By not passing a law establishing one fertilized cell a human being, the Court left

Has anyone else noticed how self centered abortion protestors are. A writer recently listed all the places the faithful could pray and offer help--places where they never show up.  The link talks about slum housing, public hospitals, used car places, appliance rentals and consumer loan places with high interest rates. Some people take their possessions to pawn shops so they can buy groceries. No one is praying out loud at these places to attract attention to themselves. Prayers done not want to be seen among lowlifes. They want to be seen at abortion clinics.  Those who pray at abortion clinics could pray when a city comes and destroys an encampment of homeless people. The residents under the bridge now need another place and could use some support. Helping those under the bride does not make for a good photo op. I once arranged for the late Senator Quintin Burdick to spend the night in a shelter--I stayed there too. In talking to the men there, it was a male only place, I had the impr