Thoughts of a Freethinker

Author Stephen Prothero wrote in his successful book, God is Not One , that if one focused not on what theologians write and lecture but on what those in the pews think about it would be summarized in one word, SIN. Christians just love to worry about their sin and afterlife.  Sometimes when I write about this view of Prothero comments show up here saying he, and those in the pews, are wrong. With noses quite high in the air, commenters have explained that if one understood Christianity correctly, he would know that "substitutional atonement theory"  trumps other theories about sin. This theory is Jesus suffered that our sins will be forgiven. This theory does not put the faithful at ease with sin, however, because no one has ever seen it happen. Besides, we are not to know the "mind of God." So, worries of the faithful remain on what they know best, sin. To amuse myself when I attend our nearby liberal church I count the number is times the word "sin" is

Every political confrontation between forced birth and women's rights to abortion has been won by the latter. Normally, we would see something like this end. In a Wisconsin vote on a State Supreme Court Judge women's right are expected to win again. It is an election that should be won easily by Republicans. Pundits are predicting a "political earthquake" win by abortion rights. While forced-birth has been really successful at electing anti women legislators, in some cases helped by redistricting, there are circustances where state wide votes on abortion happen. These are iniated measures that put laws into place by voters. Only some states allow these.  Another is U. S. Senate elections. Mostly, of course, incubants win these so the success of women's rights is harder to come by. A third is election of a state's judges. These are sometimes done on a state-wide basis and this is the case in Wisconsin. There is a clear difference between the two top candidates,

There has been a lot of publicity about a big religious experience on a college campus. A prominent NY Time columnist and converted Catholic, Ross Douthat, frequently defends his version of Christianity. He has, however, the ability to see it and the rest of religion in a rational way. Important, he says, are the sociology and economic forces of our time that I like to write about. However, he points out, the future of religion, Christianity and all others, also depends on who has, or claims, an encounter with the deity. The deity may not be one that exists today or has ever been heard of previously. He notes the entire history of religion, all religions, has taken unpredictable directions because someone claimed to have had a revelation. Douthat notes the Bible claims Paul had only one encounter that changed the course of world religion. The rest of his life, so the Bible says, consisted of walking about telling of his encounter and writing letters to keep his organizations going.  In

The notion that this country is unique in that it was founded and remains a place where individual ambition is the key to personal satisfaction and financial success is largely myth. One only needs to look at our actual experience.  I recall as an optimistic young man just out of college reading the most popular book of that time, The Organization Man. That book, published first in 1956 is still called today one of the most important books in the field of management. What I saw for myself at the time was leaving the rural Midwest, donning a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase home every night. I wanted a job in a big corporation doing international business. My future would be out working others and moving up.  What a bummer it was to read The Organization Man . In that book the author described the most common career path in large corporations. It is starting at an entry level position, putting in your years, going through the motions of rum dumb jobs and waiting for someone above t

Events that yield irony or expose unknown strengths and weaknesses in high profile people in politics, sports and show business, is an enduring interest of many. If ever there was a series of events that illustrates the differences between two Presidents, it is Ukraine .  Back when Trump was President, he was searching for a way to smear Joe Biden. There was an opportunity in front of Trump to step into the biggest spotlight of the world and leave Biden in the dust. It was right there in front of him, only a few steps away. The opportunity was in Ukraine. Putin had troops taking over the area called Crimea. It had started during the Obama administration, 2014, and was in full bloom when Trump was elected in 2016. Trump could have said, "I am more patriotic than that wimp Obama. I stand with freedom loving people and democracy. I am not only continuing the $400 million commitment to supply Ukraine against the Russian invasion, I'm doubling it and will offer the Ukrainian army m

As we all know, the forced-birth narrative is fetuses are human beings and must not be harmed. Those who harm them must themselves be imprisoned. Lawyers for a pregnant woman in Florida are arguing the fetus cannot be imprisoned if it is not charged with breaking the law.  This is just one of many complicated legal issues that go with the absurd concept that a fertilized egg is a human being. One I've wondered about is inheritance. What if grandpa's will said, "My millions are to be distributed to those who are my decedents at the time of my death." So, the judge distributes the fortune to his decedents.  Then a woman appears with a baby. On the night Grandpa died she had a secret sexual affair with Grandpa's grandson. Her baby was born exactly nine months later. The grandson claims he does not know her but she has pictures and a motel receipt. DNA confirms the baby is his. The heirs claim the baby did not exist when Grandpa died so they are not required by the wi

Christianity, and all other religions I know of, are filled with imaginary gods, spirits and invisible attributes of villains. That is why a preacher, Rev. Tiphani Montgomery, referred  to singer Beyonce as a witch. People who go to her concerts should be aware, Rev. Montgomery preached, that the concert is a ritual designed to put attendees under the influence of Satan. Rev. Montgomery considers herself qualified to provide such declarations because she is a "prophetess." I'm well aware most Christians think this is nonsense. Yet, the faith left open the door by not requiring a way to evaluate claims of those who are whackos. That she calls herself a "prophetess" is perfectly OK because the Bible and many contemporary stars in the faith are referred to a "prophets." Most Christians, I would guess, would walk right by the booth at the local county fair which advertises, "Fortune Teller." They fall for the same scam by referring to both ancien

Fire alarms go off in the Christian right when something thought to be sin turns out to be almost universally acceptable. Chicken Little's the "Sky is Falling" is standard operating procedure with that group. Every step in giving minorities equal rights and treating everyone equally is met by panic.   A columnist in the Fargo Forum today said some ancient wise person had "revealed" to her that Satan would attack the family. Somehow, this invisible being, Satan, would bring down the world by bringing down the family. It is obvious to the columnist, and apparently her circle in the Catholic Church, Satan will destroy the family by making gay marriage commonplace. We are supposed to take it for granted that the long ago "revealed" message about Satan destroying the family referred to gay marriage. Certainly, gay marriage, the sin, is on its way to becoming commonplace. It has been here for about 20 years. It has had no effect on families. When will deteri

While many factions within Christianity claim to be the "only" or "true" Christianity, it is carried to the absurd at times. The Church of England, a huge denomination with 85 million members, declared it will consecrate marriages of same sex couples. Now it is being called by the right no longer a Christain denomination but some entirely different religion. We know a significant part of the Christian community favors embracing gay marriage in their churches. That part of Christianity has successfully recognized use of their faith against gay people is simply using their faith to justify a long-standing prejudice that exists in our culture. What a service the faith could do for society if it would be candid about its weaknesses. It could instruct people that no one can say with certainty what the original authors of the Bible wrote or what was going on at the time that caused them to write it. They could warn the faithful against using the faith to justify prejudice

Where the state where I live, our Baptist Governor and big Republican majority passed a bill without hearings that gives money to students to spend on any school they or their parents wish. Several Republican governors with Republican legislatures have passed such bills. It goes without saying most of the non public schools in this state or any state are religious schools. Left unresolved is whether there will be education standards in the future and, if there are, what will they be. While we are all aware of Catholic and Protestant sponsored schools, I don't think we can assume these are the only alternatives that will exist going forward. Today I read about the "Trump cult", the QAnon group. According to the article, this group believes sincerely Trump is a god or god-like figure. The article describes his fans as "all-consuming for Trump." What one wonders, then, is whether a group like this could start elementary schools across the country that focus on the

It's predictable giving to churches would fall when church attendance and membership declines. Good for our country that giving to non profits is up.  The link author facies himself as an expert in church affairs and earns his living giving churches advice. He suggested in the link churches be more transparent in their accounting and insist that giving is part of membership. He implies that some of the drop in church giving has to do with distrust about what happens with church money. Anyone giving to a church probably knows well much of the money goes to pay the preacher/staff and the church building. This is almost the opposite of "giving to charity." Neither the staff nor the building are "the poor."  That said, nearly all non profits have staff and offices that are paid for out of donations. I looked this up and the overhead expenses of non profits runs about 35% of their revenue. Also, there are associations and, I believe, some government oversight of non

The mission to force conservative politics into publicly-funded universities has been unrelenting for 100 years of more. I took some graduate classes at the Un. of Puerto Rico in the early 1960's. My favorite professor had been on the Rutgers University faculty in the mid 1950's. This was during the McCarthy anti-communist era. During that period, various "suspicious" professors were singled out by the right as "communist sympathizers." Prominent conservative senators told university presidents to fire these professors. Some Presidents told the anti-communists cranks to butt out. Others, such as the President of Rutgers at the time, caved and disciplined or fired faculty.  Various waves of this went through academia while I was a professor--so many I've forgotten some of them. One was "socialism vs capitalism." Some state lawmakers in North Dakota wanted to know which professors were teaching the merits of capitalism and which were not. Then th

There should be a website where we could learn who religious conservatives plan to demonize each month. They hate so many their list has no end.  It helps understand crazies to have them lay out their minds for all to see. One of the best recent ones is a State Senator in Oklahoma, Sen. David Bullard. He is championing his bill called "The Millstone Act." The Millstone Act is based on the Bible, Matt. 18:6. There we learn But whoever causes one of the little ones who believe in me to sin, it's better a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. Senator Bullard believes all trans people have their eyes focused on children with the intent of making every child change from their gender assigned at birth to the opposite of to gender indeterminant. All the other issues facing our society are dwarfed by this "huge" threat to ever youth.  I don't understand the numbers here. If, for example, half of the children at any time are

One wonders what it would take for forced-birth operatives to care one twit about deaths of women in childbirth. I know they talk and "pray" about the problem but really, they don't care. Deaths from childbirth in the U.S. are the highest among wealthy nations. It is well known how to prevent most of these deaths. The Christian right is not interested. To reduce the number of childbirth deaths so it is equal to that of other similar countries we need only adopt medical practices used in these countries. It's not like this is a problem impossible to solve.  Yet, it is seemingly impossible to solve because of politics in the U.S. A part of our society does not value the lives of women. A terrible part of the statistics are those involving race. The rates of deaths of women of color is much higher than those of white women. This reflects lack of concern about lives of women of color and of women without much money.   As I write this I'm seeing on TV anger by conserva

There is one topic most anti-abortion groups avoid. It is money required to give birth and raise a child. After the anti-abortion and anti-tax merged into one political faction the topic of money imposed on forced births was dropped entirely. Subsidizing the woman for an unwanted pregnancy means higher taxes. In anti-abortion politics, forcing women themselves to pay for forced births is a win win. It not only keeps the anti-tax faction in the anti-abortion camp but adds to the punishment for their sin of having sex. Changing diapers and paying for them will help women eliminate sin from their lives.  Rational and logical anti-abortion people do exist. They are the ones who say if giving birth is the business of people other than only the pregnant women, those other people have a responsibility to pony up the money for what them claim is a public matter.   I have a book on my shelf by a pseudo intellectual named Ryan T. Anderson. He tries to make the case gay marriage is not in the pub

While large Dioceses facing bankruptcy is no longer breathtaking news, the number of sexual abuse victims and the size of settlements is astounding. The Diocese of San Diago believes it will ultimately pay $550 million in legal fees and payments to victims. California is lifting the statute of limitations allowing cases from even further back in time to be considered.   Defenders of the faith often point out child sexual abuse occurs in many areas and organizations in our society. That is true. What makes the Catholic church (and the Southern Baptist Convention) so worthy of scorn is its holier-than-thou posture about sin and its advice on avoiding sin in its public political positions. Going back to Europe, Bishops and kings joined hands to make laws, collect money and serve each other's selfish interests.  Corruption was prominent in the historic Catholic Church in Europe. Its corruption opened the door for a reformer named Martin Luther. If it had "stuck to its knitting&quo

Ehrman has been quoted on this blog often. I have paid to receive his daily blogs but let it expire a couple of times. My assumption always was the blog had maybe a thousand or two subscribers. Now I learn he is far more popular than I had imagined. He has over 8,000 subscribers. The money from subscriptions is given to charities, including Doctors Without Borders (he does not pay himself but pays two part time assistants) and has donated two million dollars. These 8,000 subscribers reflect the interest in what Ehrman writes. He has published more than a dozen books, some best sellers, that have sold millions of copies. People also buy his on-line lectures. He is a Professor of Religion and Department Chair at the University of North Carolina at Chaple Hill. There are a host of other authors and public personalities such as Richard Dawkins who have become both famous and, I'm sure, at least somewhat wealthy. How could it be that simply writing and talking about an ancient book coul

There are a few, not enough, conservatives who recognize women often have abortions because they cannot afford to miss work and pay the costs of raising a child. Of course, the puritans in our midst will say these women should not have sex. Payments of public money to mothers is the perfect partner to anti-abortion. The less money a woman has available to have a baby and raise it the more likely she will find an abortion, even if it is illegal. Conservatives advocating these payments do not oppose abortion for the purpose of controlling women which is the motive of much of the forced-birth political circle. They are interested in expanding opportunities for women who give birth.   To move forward with the goal of expanding opportunity for young mothers this group of anti abortion activists want to do exactly what other anti abortion activists do not want to do, increase welfare payments and services to women. Going back to Reagan, there has been a visceral hatred of welfare payments. R

I've discussed this book by Ben Rawlence before here. Now that I've finished it I'm trying to get a handle on what it was about.  Rawlence traveled the circle around the Artic Circle. In each new country, he tried to travel north to its tree line. These countries, for the most part, have scientists studying the tree line and trying to put into a global wide perspective what they are seeing. That is, they try to determine the broader global warm affects the tree line and how the tree line, in turn, affects the rest of the globe.  To a person, the scientists who live and work along the Treeline in all those countries are pessimistic about our Mother Earth. While neither they, speaking many different languages, nor author Rawlence, wants to engage in hyperbole, certain hard facts cannot be ignored.  One fact is that the vast forest of sparsely inhabited territory that circles are the lungs of the earth. They contain a large percentage of the trees which soak up carbon dioxide

There is a wind bag who publishes a lot in the Christian press, Wallace Henley, who went on a tear recently after he saw Satan portrayed on Grammy Awards show. He railed against "the establishment." Goodness, we have "God" on our coins, prayers in Congress and God preached about in public schools across the South and "the establishment is made up of anti-Christian views? Hard to fathom. The link author outlines specifically which parts of "the establishment" is out to harm Christianity. 1.) The Information Establishment and its Elites.  We've heard this before, the press hates conservatives and especially those who are religious. My observation is the opposite. All views, including my own are subjective.  2.)    The Entertainment Establishment and its elites . This is big just now after the recent awards show that had some Satan looking people. Too bad, but today Satan sells. It's the public that wants this. Anyway, it's harmless. 3.) Th

Those who believe their particular branch of Christianity can reemerge as a central force in society need to read this essay on religion and post modernism.  First, it might be good to review modernism, at least my own understanding of it. To me, the first hint of modernism was way back in ancient Irael. Leaders of that society thought control was the goal and one god instead of several provided what they needed. One god for a disparate society was modernism. It served leaders of Europe well because kings could call themselves best friends of the one god.  Pagans, on the other hand, represented ancient post modernism. There were lots of gods, local and reginal.  As we know modernism outran paganism. Yet the post-modern paganism existed far longer than has religious modernism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, etc. To me, post modernism is not "modern." What we call post modernism predates "modernism' and may well be baked into human DNA. Most humans like variety and cha

  A church believing all pregnancies should be forced to birth thought it had a really clever idea. That was to call itself the Church at Planned Parenthood. It held raucous gatherings in front of the clinic. A pro bono firm took Planned Parenthood's case. The forced birth "church" had to move its protests 35 feet away from the clinic and pay $960,000 of expenses to the clinic for defending its patients and its legal expenses. The protests were organized by a local Covenant Church in the Spokane, WA, area. The organizing preacher called the judgment against his church "corrupt." Damage to the business was about around $100,000 and the rest were legal fees. Firms that represent abortion providers sometimes do not charge the providers but, when the win, charge to losers to make up for lost compensation. What is really annoying about coverage of a story like this Christian media is reporting is the way media succumbs to manipulation. The link reports the protestors

A Protestant Preacher in NYC has been in the news for years, pundits amazed at his success. He started a church in one of the most secular settings in the U.S. and it has grown. Around his church are a collection of repurposed church shells. He is now proposing a path forward for survival of the faith. His basic idea is plausible. His idea is to leave the politics of today behind and embrace social justice. Exactly what is meant by social justice, of course, is not so clear. The link explains what he means and there are other meanings. Today the word "brand" is often used to simplify somewhat complex explanations. I like to use it with another popular word, "narrative." Together they tell us a group's brand is the narrative in popular use by the public when the group is discussed. The brand the public places on a group often is not the how the group likes to brand itself. For example, Christians have assigned a brand for atheists. It that atheists want to sin bu

The person arrested in the most recent effort to burn down a Planned Parenthood facility was angry he could not control a girlfriend three years ago when she had an abortion. His police record shows a history of domestic violence. While the anti-women violence of the abortion center arson does not represent many in anti-abortion political circle his desire to control women is not unusual.   Even after Democrats did surprisingly well and polls showed reversing Roe tipped several close races, Republicans are doubling down, raging and trying to expand abortion prohibitions. This failed effort persists because the issue is more complex than "saving lives." Newer and more sophisticated polling has revealed the dark side of anti-abortion. It is resentment of women and resentment among women who support male domination. Political pages have been since 2016 full of analysis of why Trump swamped Hillary in rural areas to win the Presidency. Everyone wants to figure out what is going o

  Years before he became Pope Benedict, he wrote that the church, i.e. Christianity, must become smaller and purer before growing again. From time-to-time people write essays restating this idea. The link author had a practical justification for saying there is something positive about a smaller church, it is getting smaller.  I would guess that if we could unearth what people have said about declining religions over the entire history of humans we would find every time a faith was declining someone preached, "They will learn we were right. Our religion will come back." I recall reading that about Pagans when Christianity was growing. It was in the vein of, "We are the known and established religion. No upstart can replace us." The "smaller but better" church theory does not fit human behavior. Pope Benedict had in mind, of course, a church made up of people who think exactly as he did. Advocates today say the same thing. Reality is religious opinions have

When I was a mayor, a steady stream of people called, stopped by or wrote letters (in pre email days) passing along their experiences or information they had heard. I miss being tuned in to so many different parts of a community. I remember hearing that a group belonging to one prominent Pentecostal church in the city engaged in sleep deprivation. By not sleeping on weekends they would arrive at some kind of delirious state of mind and closeness to their deity they could not attain otherwise. I also heard of less extreme versions of what I would call "mood alteration" like burning incense. More common is "mood" music dialed up at crucial moments in a service like the closing prayer. I once went to a Native American "sweat" in which you get uncomfortably hot, maybe light headed, while the leader asks you to be introspective about your life and shortcomings. Native use of peyote is considered a religious experience. From what I gather, none of these tricks t

In a recent essay in a religious site, an anti-gay marriage Catholic needled members of a Jesuit order for saying anti-gay marriage is a product of hatred toward gay people. The author noted this was the argument Justice Kennedy used in advocating marriage rights. Kennedy's opinions said decisions cannot be based on hatred of some group.  The Catholic Brothers are saying Catholic opposition to gay marriage should not be based on hatred either. The link author thinks Catholic gay marriage opposition is not based on hatred. It seems inevitable it is.  An old history keeps being repeated over and over. A group is singled out as inferior and hated. A religious justification is found and used to justify withholding rights and equal treatment. When the guilty parties are confronted, they fold their hands, look up in the sky and say they are only doing what God told them to do. This is what the advocates of both slavery and later segregation did.  The question of our time is, is this what

The Pope has had it with the criticism he gets for not putting the hammer down on those who refuse to follow the arcane rules of the Catholic Church. No doubt some other denominations and even free- standing churches have the same arguments. When millions of people are absolutely certain they know what the Bible says or means but among them are a litany of disagreements there needs to be a crafty political operative to navigate troubled waters. The Pope seems such a person. The Pope has schedules big confabs over the next couple of years trying to resolve what should be done in the Catholic church about rules which are claimed to be definite but no longer work. One is turning away those who are divorced and remarried. We've read about self-important Bishops who will not give communion to President Biden. There are gay people who want badly to be card carrying Catholics but are turned away.  From a distance, it looks like the Pope's strategy has two thrusts. One is to leave many