Thoughts of a Freethinker

About the time of the printing press, Popes started publishing long lists of banned books. For hundreds of years, including the present, this practice has continued. Of course, various branches of Protestantism has done this as well. Has this history, along with bans of movies and economic boycotts of "sinful" businesses accomplished anything? The short answer is no.  That is the long answer as well. Book stores and public libraries today have tables displaying "Banned Books" making them even more tempting to readers. A Catholic author explains why banning books is foolish. Banning media coverage is similar. A few years ago in Iowa where I now live, the pig and corn dominated legislature passed a law against anyone becoming an employee of a farm and then photographing on their phone what went on. In particular, farmers did not what videos of walking through a barn of chickens picking up dead ones. Now, certainly it is dishonest to take a job at a chicken farm for on...

For all of its chest beating of being the largest Protestant denomination and having moral standards higher than any others, the Southern Baptist Convention is slipping every year. Membership has declined by 10% annually of decades. The "Largest Protestant Seminary," Southwestern, is no longer the largest. It has gone from 3,000 students to about 1,000. And, it's $12 million in debt.  Southwestern is in the news mostly because a recently hired President up and resigned. He resignation statement hinted at problems that are unresolvable. That seems like the case of this seminary and it serves as a metaphor for much of Christianity.  The seemingly unresolved dilemma is the unmovable puritanical members versus those more pragmatic. The more pragmatic represent better the general public which ultimately is the source of followers and money to keep the lights on. With the puritanical blocking the way for change the result are places like Southwestern Seminary sinking under wate...

It's common these days to see articles by Christians explaining the decline in Christianity. Often appearing are articles telling of the danger caused by weaponizing the faith to use against political opponents. One has to admit it is also done by some on the left. Surely, we would all agree the big users are the political right. The numbers who voted Donald Trump into office exclusively because he promised an anti-abortion Supreme Court have been documented. That he did not receive the voting majority in 2020 indicates a problem for conservative Christianity. If its views do not represent the majority, how can it expect to turn around its declining numbers? While I agree with the author that driving deep into politics does not help and probably hurts Christianity with young people, it is a Christian's view, not necessarily the view of those who have left the faith. The decline is more complicated than that. The bigger problem, in my view, is use of the Bible as the basis for t...

As if we didn't have enough to wonder or worry about, the news about complete loss of organisms is another. It is thought we are experiencing more loss of diversity than ever in the earth's history. This does not mean automatically humans are going to be extinct. There is not a way to predict who or what will survive. One conclusion is this exodus and decline in diversity is due to loss of habitat . This is where humans come in. As one species after another becomes extinct, and new ones are not appearing, it suggests a trend or direction toward nothing is left. Certainly it is not a trend line toward expanding the health of welfare of living things, including humans. There have been many doom's day predictions involving our environment. Because doom's days did not arrive on schedule all such prognostications are scoffed at by some. There were scoffers about climate change. It is here.  Having followed the economics of the environment for decades I'm well aware of th...

Wife and I were married 60 years ago in her Methodist church. We belonged to one for seven years. I remember only a few things. The church we belonged to was hostile to alcohol and retail stores being open on Sunday. Restaurants were open on Sundays and that was OK. It was, however, aggressively liberal about the big issue of that time, ending racial segregation. Decades have passed and I assume alcohol and Sunday open stores is no longer discussed. One thing that seems the same in U. S. Methodist policy is its aggressive liberal views on contemporary issues. A majority of U.S. Methodists want to allow gay preachers. It is evident the majority also has a strong dose of ecumenism. These liberal views are an outrage to U.S. conservative Methodists. The outrage was laid out in a recent rant where we learned the many  liberal topics taught in Methodist seminaries.  For several years, conservatives fought to keep liberal ideas out of Methodist dogma. Through legal and procedur...

A popular columnist from the Methodist denomination recently admitted and lamented that polyamory is practiced among some Methodist preachers in Africa. It is a cultural thing and quite common . In the country of Senegal, for example, the census shows 47% of marriages list more than one wife. An anonymous letter was published recently in a Pittsburg newspaper from an African Methodist preacher complaining Methodism prevents him from openly saying he practices polyamory. He sees nothing wrong with it.  What exactly is the "Christain church" in Africa and what is its future? The Methodist link author noted the salaries of African Bishops and church administrators are paid by U.S. Methodists. They, understandably, speak out against polyamory. Those African Methodists who attend and vote at conferences are strongly against gay marriage. Their collective view of polygamy is not as clear. That  reflects the various cultures on that continent. Polyamory is still common. The Presiden...

Around the world, women are demanding the end of practices, policies and attitudes that hold them back from full participation in society. Some places it is dangerous to practice the politics of equality. But women are doing it, including in Iran. Women there are casting off their hair covering and marching in the streets.  Defiance of rules made and enforced by men does not appeal to all women. It would be wonderful political theater if 60% of the women in the world decided, more or less at the same time, they will no longer tolerate rules that make them 2nd class citizens.  We've already seen some of this in Ireland, Chile and here in Kansas where abortion has been legalized in spite of religious hand wringing. In the U.S. black and gay people said they would not put up with harassment by the majority.  It can happen with women as well.  I wish we knew more about what is going among women in Afghanistan. I blogged a while back about women who lost their jobs becaus...

Some many who call themselves anti-abortion think its politics is the same as their own. They think it is about being kind and helpful to women who see giving birth as beyond what they can handle. Toward that end they promise to provide a few diapers. Will that offset the $200,000 it takes to raise a child? Those naive about forcing birth often think is has something to do with Christianity. A recent poll shows it is not about theology, it's about politics. In today's conservative Christian world, people decide which theological view is correct by whether the advocate is anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage and for Trump. Justification for forced birth comes from politics, not from the Bible. The other naive and dangerous view is that overturning Roe and putting anti-abortion in some states has accomplished the movement's goal. What the real goals are is now starting to show up. Forced birth is not about compassion, it is about punishment . A clever deception took place when fo...

There is a steady trickle of people writing that what are called "nones," those who claim no affiliation with any Christian faith, are not really "ex Christians." Instead, their argument goes, they are still Christians but practicing the faith outside organized religion.  I'm sure there are many, millions, of such people. However, there are also those who stay within organized Christianity who hold religious views so far from orthodoxy you can't see it from here. Such people do not refer to themselves as "nones" but consider themselves Christians, or at least members of long-standing denominations.  The link is about such a person. She had a painful illness that baffled doctors. She prayed asking for relief. Her prayers and visits to doctors led nowhere. Then she encountered a form of energy from another spiritual source and received treatment an unorthodox kind of medicine. From these she found help and practices a form of worship which falls und...

George Barna is a well-known Christian pollster. Recently at a lightly attended conference of Christian propagandists, Barna went deep into the field of philosophy. I looked up his credentials to see if he has actually studied and/or taught academic philosophy. His bio disguises his academic background. He lists "two master's degrees" from Rutgers but does not reveal the field or fields. I suspect they were in fields related to statistics and data collection. Like several who have posted on this blog site, Barna loves to be an armchair expert on "philosophy." He and those who post here like to drop big words and put people and views into distinct categories using these words. What Barna said in his speech has appeared here in various ways at various times. He said Americans are influenced by eight "world views." They are "biblical theism, Eastern mysticism, Marxism, moralistic deism, nihilism, postmodernism and secular humanism." Barna's ...

  My hobby of visiting Christian sites every day to find out what is being discussed is a source of amusement. Today, for example, I learned a fool can spend $1,500 to learn how to pray.   Then I learned Christians must not focus just on being prejudiced against trans people. A good Christian must remember to be prejudiced against lesbian, gay and bi people too . And don't forget if a Christian votes for a Democrat, that is a sin.  I know plenty of people who also call themselves Christian read about such groups and are confident all of them are wrong. Only Christians like us, the readers say, are the true and knowledgeable ones. The three groups above are Christian imposters. What might be called "Main Line Christianity" very recently identifies the "five major heresies" committed by evangelical Christians. These include believing Jesus was "created," not born. It makes me wonder why God does not strike me with lightening for believing neither.  I ha...

Supposedly, the price tag of the new website is $1 million. It will tell women where surgical and medical abortions are available in California. It welcomes both in state and out of state patients. There are instructions to young women on how to navigate when parents do not approve of an abortion. The site includes a values statement from California. Unlike some other states, it is a state that values the rights of women.  One lesson of the California site, plus the vote to maintain abortion rights in Kansas, is that if you support forced births of pregnant women, there may be groups lying to you. These are groups that advertise, "We are well on our way to eliminating abortion in the entire U.S. Send us money so we can finish the job." How can any honest person or organization claim abortion can be eliminated in the U.S. when majorities of voters in several states are dug in the maintain it? Do these forced-birth crooks really themselves believe California voters will support...

An atheist friend recently followed the paths of various "fan fiction" and related them to the Bible. The similarity is striking. Since it is seemingly easy today to have a large group of the public latch onto a fictional character and have them establish a emotional attachment to the character, it would have been easy centuries ago. Probably it would have been easier in ancient times. There was less knowledge of science so fictional explanations would have been easier to sell. That the Bible itself warns of false gods is a clear indication there were lots of gods and lots of people persuading others of these gods. Paul writes in one of his tomes he is actually the author. So many other parts of the Bible were written by imposters. This raises the obvious question, how do we know the "Paul" himself was not an imposter. We have no trail to prove anything was written by "Paul." Once on this blog I made to mistake of commenting on a fictional Star Wars charac...

When George W. Bush became a candidate on a stage larger than Texas, he began by talking about issues the same way they had been talked about in Texas. There were so many. The U.N. was part of the "new world order." Another was the idea our climate was changing was a liberal hoax. Quickly some of his staff, I remember reading, told him the climate really was changing and he best not say otherwise.  I can imagine the message the climate really is changing has not reached some places in Mississippi. Jackson, MS,'s water system has been shut down several times because of large rains and its age. I haven't heard of any politician say the climate is not changing recently but it must have been said regularly up until now.  The metro area of Jackson is about five times as large as Jackson itself. About 4/5th of Jackson is black. Household income is: Jackson 39,000, Mississippi $45,500 and U. S. $67,500. Mississippi has the lowest income and the worst health care in the U.S. ...

It is amusing for people like me to read the rants of the religious right these days. It expected huge victories over Planned Parenthood, gay marriage and its other efforts to control the general population by putting religion into law. The anger and rants seem to be getting louder . The rant, of course, is written by a man. Unfortunately, the forced birth people themselves are now admitting Planned Parenthood's profits have doubled since the big push against abortion.  It is exactly what many of us expected. When rights are taken away from a group, they rally. Money is one of the consistent variables that ramps up. Money flowed to anti-abortion groups when Roe was put into law. My guess is taking away rights from women will juice up women's rights politics like never before. I'm less certain about success in politics but we will see about that. Money does not always translate into votes. But when the outcome of a social issue depends mostly on how many boots on the ground ...

Everyone knows there were a lot of abortions before Roe. The question is who did them and how did women find out where they could get an abortion. Some estimate between 20% and 30% of pregnancies were terminated by abortions all the decades when it was illegal. An article by a couple of doctors written a few years ago explains the underground world of abortions back then. One of the doctors said it was ministers who made the arrangements for women. Ministers called to schedule and gave instructions on where and when to see the doctor. They were, he thinks, ministers from liberal branches of Christianity. To put this in context, several Protestant denominations supported abortion rights during most of those decades--including the huge Methodist denomination. So, in helping women many preachers could be open about doing this and run into no problem with the congregation. Christianity Today had articles regularly endorsing abortion rights. My guess is all across the Northern half of the...

Franklin Graham sometimes tries to pretend he is his father, Billy, who projected a wise and fatherly image.  But the real Franklin, who bitterly condemns women, gay people and political liberals, comes shining through. He pretends he is his father Billy by calling his present U.S. preaching tour the "God Loves You" tour. When asked about the protestors who often put on protest demonstrations at his events he unloads on them. I see that his tour includes "advance staff," people who come to the community days before the event to make arrangements and tell about what to expect. I remember our church in Fargo was visited by an advance guy before some traveling evangelist came to town. It might have been Billy Graham. He told local churches they should be prepared to big crowds the Sunday after the event. People are so affected they start coming to church. I never heard our church had extra visitors, maybe I wasn't even there myself. Now, however, the impact of Bill...

Can a doctor in New York City be prosecuted for providing telemedicine to a woman in Texas if he does not know she is in Texas?  That is the kind of gray legal area abortion providers are pushing into in order to care for patients. According to the link, it presents a time-consuming dilemma for police. Police do not have the resources to prosecute hundreds, maybe thousands, of women at the same time. I've followed the several ways abortions are being performed, abortion pills delivered and information on both is made available. The money being invested in making abortion available has surprised many, including me. That though I have sent a few thousand dollars to groups doing this work. How did we get to a place where politicians have been elected who hold views not held by the majority? It seems to me the best thing that happened to anti abortion was states drawing district lines according to how it benefits the political party, Republican, in many states. The people elected from ...

I will never forget a chilling interview I watched decades ago. Dr. Tiller, the doctor who performed abortions, had just been shot in the back of the head in church and killed. A reporter was interviewing a pro-life activist and asked her if she thought killing Dr. Tiller was OK? Her reply was that it was not OK but people who help make abortions available need to learn this murder is one of the consequences. In other words, to her, it really was OK. The clinic that performed abortions in Fargo, ND, was set on fire at least twice.  Now that religious groups have moved to take rights from women, they are experiencing the same thing from people whom I assume believe in the right to abortions. As is said, what goes around comes around. When I was a mayor, the clinic asked to more police protection of their property. The police department was sympathetic but pointed out their responsibility was primarily to keep the street and sidewalk open and accessible to the public. They gave sugge...

 I just learned about all the things that need to rattle around in your head in order to be classified as a "Christian." If these things are not flying around in your brain you are a "functional atheist ."  If you self-identify as a Catholic but ignore the prohibition of birth control or think women should have the right to determine what happens to their own bodies, it's had to see how you can accurately call ourself a Catholic. Few, no doubt, prefer to call themselves functional atheists. but it seems to fit. The same is true of Protestants who never mastered the tenets of either their own denomination nor the Christian faith in general. I have known so many of these, including some in my own family. Functional atheist in not a term them would be familiar with. But, it is a term that would apply to many.  I don't know if it is fair or not, but I'd like to see a survey of people among people who attended a specific church service and are asked five days...

Pregnant women in jail is not yet a national story. It should be. Forced birth zealots in various local governments are throwing them in jail. As everyone who has watched anti-abortion for years knows one of the objections is complete control of women. The control will be how long the work, what they eat, their exercise schedule, their sleep schdule and anything and everything else about their personal lives. I Alabama there is a law against drug use by women who are pregnant. A young woman, Ashley Banks, did not know she was pregnant until her pregnancy test came back. During that day when she learned of her pregnancy she had one marijuana cigarette. She was told she had violated a law that pregnant women are to be incarcerated for drug use while pregnant and put in jail. The law required her to stay in jail while she attended drug abuse classes. The drug abuse organization said she had no drug problem and would not accept her in their program. She was not formally charged with anythi...

When atheists watch what some Christians do, there are a lot of eye rolls. One of them is when Christians think they need to evangelize in areas where there is hostility toward them. What is the point of risking lives to go there. In Uganda, five missionaries were going to a remote area to start a church. Probably they would have arrived without incident had one or two of them not felt the urge to preach to Muslims during the boat ride. Some violent Muslims told them to stop. An argument ensued and five of the Christians were thrown off and drown. Why could they not just keep their views to themselves? We all know why they could not keep quiet. In Uganda they had to preach. In the U.S. they have to pray before meetings, say the "under God" pledge, post the Ten Commandments in public places, put religious beliefs into law and refuse to perform their assigned jobs if it offends their religious beliefs. The preachers in Uganda are killing whackos but promotors of the faith in th...