Thoughts of a Freethinker

My wife taught Sociology for decades and sometimes would come home amused at the moral values and attitudes her students revealed. One was from a classroom exercise she did. She would draw three big circles on the black board. She asked students to list in one all the favorable traits a student should have to be likeable, popular and accepted. Another circle was for traits that were less favorable but not deal breakers. A third circle was for taboos, traits the shunned a student to outside accepted circles. Students would enthusiastically make suggestions for the good traits, maybe one or so to the mild less desirable circle. After a while, professor would say, "What about this one? Should it go in circle three?" She would dramatically write the word, "GAY." Most students back then would vote for circle three. Some would say nothing. Of course, today the exercise would go much differently.  One place the circle exercise would still work is in today's Christian r...

I'm sure many of our large denominations now have task forces that are charged with developing a strategy to stop losses in membership. But, I'm skeptical as to how much those in the home office actually want to know.  A religious survey organization, the Barna Group, has contracted with the denomination of the Church of God in Christ for an in depth look at the thoughts and attitudes of members. I'll be trying to follow this and figure out what is found. In the meantime, it's interesting to speculate about what those in the pews are thinking. Certainly, we have seen large denominations split up over the gay marriage issue. The Methodist is the most recent. While early on, there was one new domination that attracted those Methodists who believed gay marriage a sin. More liberal Methodists drifted in different directions, some unaffiliated and some forming new smaller denominations. Now, apparently, some of the conservative churches are not all signing up with the new br...

I've discussed the economics of religion here often. In a pod cast recently a pastor in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod discussed how helpful his classes in economics have been for understanding what is going on today in Christianity. For some years, surveys have shown that those who attend church regularly tend to be college educated and in the upper middle to higher income brackets. Those who can be seen entering church are the same people entering the golf Country Club and Tennis Club. Why is this and how did it come to be? Often when I have discussed money and some of the faithful have angerly told me the faith is not about making money. There are those mega preachers, they say, who take in huge sums for themselves but that is not the neighborhood church where the pastor received a salary just adequate to support him/herself they tell me. I try to point out, unsuccessfully most of the time, the rich TV preacher and small church preacher are the same. Each has to be supported...

One economic aspect of Christianity has worked against it since its early years. That is the church building and paid clergy. Normally, most of the building is used a very few hours a week and a preacher can work only a few hours a week. A large amount of collection plate money goes into a bottomless financial pit.  Religions that give people whatever they need but don't require either a building or a paid preacher will always have a competitive advantage. A competitive product at a lower cost will outsell others. All the major religions of the world try to beat back the lower cost competition by claiming to be monopolies. They preach, "Only our religion is the true one. Only our god(s) is the real one." To be successful, any monopoly needs to have natural or manmade "barriers to entry." Sometimes a monopoly owns the only place something is mined. Diamonds are sort of like that. Other times the public passes laws creating monopolies such as your electric company...

I've been looking at video material related to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). It not a particularly important denomination nor especially interesting. For some reason, however, I've found a lot of YouTube videos reflecting on the question I'm interested in, what is the future of Christianity? To its credit LCMS has several young preachers recognizing the failure and sharp decline in the size of their domination. Also, however, it has old white men bound and determined to do nothing and change nothing.  From what I read elsewhere, the falling memberships and disagreements about what is happening and what the future might hold in the LCMS is quite similar in the majority of both the Protestant and Catholic branches. I was especially impressed by an interview with a retired faculty member from a LCMS seminary. The question being addressed in the video was why LCMS membership has dropped so much and what can be done about it. The professor reviewed our changing soci...

Russell Moore held a big position in the Southern Baptists. He was pushed out for telling the truth. Now he is head of the magazine Christianity Today  and has written a new book. Moore says many devoted Christians are waiting for things to get better. If only we get through this worrisome 2016 election, then 2020 they thought, things would get better.  Church membership and attendance continued to fall.  Every week there are articles written by Christian leaders calling for a "revival." This revival, Moore says, will not happen because the sensuism in Western societies is too great.   There have been so many fallen leaders and fallen causes a most of society will not buy in again. It would be refreshing if other leaders would be as honest as Moore and tell their public this is not going to happen. Then there is the theory of "church plants." This theory quotes data saying that about 40% of new church attendees are people who did not attend church. Of course, is mea...

Since day one the Bible has been edited. We do not have the original copies, copies of the original authors. First, there were scribes who changed what they were to copy into something they liked better. After a couple thousand years of the printing press, which edited it further, came technology that made printing new versions of the Bible more accessible to everyone. With the Bible being online every online reader of the Bible can alter it to suit what they want it to say or mean. Moving passages from one place to another is easy. Instead of two people arguing about what some passage "means", they can each make it say what they think is means and go their separate ways. Each preacher can start his/her own "Bible-based Church." Preachers will be able to tape their own version of scripture into an authentic-looking Bible and pretend the online was in the printed book. Is it a stretch to think pastors would do that? I don't think so. They already do it by claimin...

If ever there was a predictable pattern, it is that extreme politics in on direction will be followed by a strong push to go further in the other direction. Overturning Roe, which put abortion in the hands of states, has been met with states taking very liberal stances on abortion. California has passed very liberal legislation. Now, a small liberal state on the Atlantic Coast, Maine , has passed a law permitting late term abortions that require only the approval of a physician. These will often save the lives of women and, I believe, become more common as time moves on. I'm not sure this is exactly correct, but these state laws mirror the Roe rules and may be even a little more permissive. This is because of one basic assumption. If the assumption is made the life of the woman is more important than the life of the fetus abortion decisions must be left up to the woman and her doctor. There is no other way to see it. If the there is an assumption the fetus is more valuable than the...

Growing up several of my high school friends went to a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) church in the next town over. Our closest neighbor couple went there. My best friend from back then died recently and I went to his funeral in that church. Recently I poked around the internet to see what has happened to that denomination.  In 1970 LCMS membership peaked at 2.8 million. Thirty years, 2020, membership was down some 30% to 1.9 million. According to a presentation on YouTube membership by 2041 will be 1.1 million and continuing to fall. The link presentation is by a LCMS pastor who took lots of courses in economics. His view of the denomination's future is quite different from the view of its President. I saw a presentation of the denomination's President where he celebrated data that shows LCMS parents have at least a slightly higher average number of children than parents of other denominations. The pastor with training in economics in the link said however, "there ...

A passionate anti-abortion publicist recently admitted the "secular" arguments made against abortion are not working. Many of these so called "secular arguments" have been run up the flag but never amounted to much. A few years ago there were highway signs which read "babies have finger prints at six weeks." Another said a "baby" recognized its mothers voice at a few weeks. There was "feeling pain" and others. The current game is "DNA." These have not and will not be game changers the link author says.  The link author hates legal suicide assistance as much as abortion. But she admits it is gaining support. She thinks legal suicide opens the door to legal abortion. Opposing legal suicide assistance will not stop its march for public approval--that is my guess.  I think legal suicide is gaining support because people are living longer. As they live longer they are contracting the diseases of aging that are so miserable it makes...

The Pope is naming more African Cardinals. The Methodists are splitting up because the growing African membership will not endorse gay marriage or clergy. One thing the human experience has shown us is that cultures invent religions to reenforce current beliefs and values. It is inevitable African culture will mold the next version of Christianity. This link discusses the emerging differences between the African continent and the West. Since much of Africa is poorer than much of the West it changes the cultural and political environment. Abortion , for example, is as common in Africa than in the U.S. Some countries have strict laws against it but others do not. Enforcement differs more widely than in the West.  Some countries have laws punishing homosexuality with death. Certainly there are Christians in the U.S. that believe such a thing but this represents how difficult it might be to merge the Christianity of the West with the political culture of Africa. Apparently, there ...

As the Supreme Court says yes to cases after case in which someone wants to be exempted from a law because of some religious belief, both liberal and conservative observers must be wondering where it will draw the line. When will it say, "Yes this violates your religion, No, you are not exempt from the law." As the link notes , an Amish group was exempted from a law requiring treatment of water used for dishes and bathing. What will happen when a request comes for exemption from raw sewage? To someone outside religion, it is impossible to understand how this Court, or any Court, can sort through requests from the religious for exemptions from laws and decide which merit exemption and which do not. To me, all requests are arbitrary products of the human brain, imaginary gods and rules of these imaginary gods to be followed. If judges grant one exemption how can they then turn down any other? It is possible, I suppose, for judges to reason just like some church goers and their ...

I recall a study group in the church student center in the 1950's where we students struggled with the question of why we are here. A famous book, The Purpose Driven Life, and its author Rick Warren were the talk of the town a few decades ago. I don't know of people today who are writing and discussing this big question, "Why are we here?", except in religion.    The ones I see in religion are always disappointing because they are merely a variation of Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. The "purpose" always turns out to be to be a good Christian. The link is a discussion of the decline in interest in the humanities and how that decline has tracked with the decline of interest in Christianity. The link author laments a decline in the study of the humanities. The humanities, he believes are the "bigger picture," the purpose of life. Because the link author is a devout Catholic, predictably, the purpose of humans is to serve the Christian god. He i...

The denominations of Christianity each talk of their own importance. There is a case there to be made for denominations in Christianity. It is difficult to find the wherewithal to focus on the strong points of organized religion, however, when its members shoot denominations in the their own feet.  The link is about an interview with an interfaith advocate. He says the public just does not hear enough about the charitable work done by denominations. Instead, denominations fight among themselves and the message of good is lost. He says denominations could get along better and present a better imagine of Christianity in general if they would join forces in good causes. He suggests liberal churches and very conservative ones join together is food banks and house building. Unfortunately, the positive spokesperson is on a hopeless mission. When members of one denomination consider another denomination headed for hell there is not a lot of common ground. When one denomination tells anoth...

It does not matter to me whether there was a human Jesus, whether the Jesus of the Bible was an amalgamation of several characters who walked around preaching "the end is near" or whether such a person existed only in myth. It is still fascinating to read the various views and speculate about them.  I refer often to Bart Ehrman, a professor and public figure. He fits into the circle of academic scholars with what one could call, "high toned academic credentials." These are academics with Ph.D.'s from prestigious universities with departments of ancient literature. Among atheists in this circle the only "acceptable" view is that there was a actual human named Jesus. Ehrman and the majority of others like him do not consider quotes of Jesus nor the stories about him in the Bible to be historical events.  On the other end of the spectrum is a scholar with "high toned credentials" who considers it unlikely there ever was a human Jesus. This is Ri...

First it was drag queens reading books to children will cause harm to children. Now it's bigger. Drag queens holding high rank in the nuclear arsenal will destroy us all. This is the view of Republican Matt Rosendale of Montana. He has heard there are drag shows on Air Force military bases. From this he deduces there might be officers performing in drag who hold high rank. Anyone who performs in drag must be removed. It could be true these are the same officers assigned to decisions to launch nuclear. But, it doesn't stop there. An officer who performs in drag for fun at Air Base events is an officer uncertain about his own gender. Anyone unsure of his/her own gender is not of sound enough mind to hold the decision-making power in national defense. Therefore, anyone who has performed in drag must be removed from his/her position. This presents an opportunity to discuss qualifications of people who have high level decision-making authority in defense. Should a man who dresses as...

An Alabama Senator, Tommy Tuberville, has the power to hold up promotions in the military. He has held up all promotions for a couple of months and is determined to continue. He wants to stop women in the military from getting abortions paid for by the military's health care package. Several Republican pro military Senators want him to back off. He is determined to hold up all promotions until his religious views on abortion are followed by the military. Every time I see a political leader like this make ridiculous religious demands I'm think back to many decades ago. I recall when Southern Baptists were flirting with abandoning the Democratic Party and switching to become Republicans. The TV face I recall is Senator Bob Dole. He said something like, "We welcome all into the Republican Party including those in the religious community." I remember thinking that brand of Christianity is not Bob Dole's brand. Does he know where this might lead. Of course, Dole had no...

It's hard to get arms around the huge and complex issue of priest abuse and the lawsuits that have resulted from it. The number of cases and sizes of settlements largely is known . But what happens after a Catholic unit declares bankruptcy is shrouded in mystery. Are these dioceses impoverished or do they remain wealthy? From 1950 to the 2000's, over 4,000 priests were accused of sexual violation of children. Over 11,000 children were violated, mostly young boys. In most of this criminal activity, bishops merely covered up the crimes, moving priests around to prey again. A huge dam held back the information about these crimes until the first victims came forward. Then the dam broke with lawsuits everywhere. While huge amounts of payments have been made to victims, it appears there remain many unresolved issues and the entire saga will go on for some time to come. In California 12 dioceses have filed for bankruptcy. In New York, five of eight dioceses have done so. The link atte...

The link discusses indirectly one of the most profound bits of writing produced in recorded history. It was not the Bible. It was a tiny bit of Adam Smith's book, The Wealth of Nations . Adam Smith came to mind this morning as I read a headline in our local paper. The headline is the Governor here has called a Special Session of the legislature to pass yet another anti-abortion bill. All others, including one passed just a few weeks ago, have been tossed by the Iowa Supreme Court. If one is finally upheld women in this state will simply drive east to Illinois or north Minnesota. Both states have increased protection of abortion rights. The question then is why do Iowa legislators and Governor have so much idle time they can waste it on pointless legislation? Adam Smith's book included several hypotheticals which I like to call parables. We usually associate the word parable with what the Bible claims are quotes from Jesus. There is a more general definition: A parable is a succ...

An Archbishop in Argentina, a long-term friend of the Pope, has been appointed to a high position in the Catholic bureaucracy He refused for a long tine to believe reports of abuse by a priest who worked for him. The Pope weighed in early with support of the wayward priest. Then the dam broke and assusations poured in. The Pope walked back his defense of the guy. The Pope is appointing this Archbishop to a post that is charged with handling wayward priests. The Archbishop says he did not violate to Catholic law by transferring the priest instead of turning him over to civil authorities.  Perhaps it is safe to say there is less sexual abuse among Catholic clergy today than there was in the past. It is not the case, however, sexual abuse has stopped altogether. The Freedom From Religion Foundation Newsletter lists all cases of crime for all clergy of all religions which appears in newspapers. New cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy show up regularly.  Most of the cases of c...

With the declining influence of the Catholic Church in politics, some now speculate on its ability to pass or keep legislation that withholds medical services to those who need them.  Besides refusal to do abortions except just before a woman dies, Catholic hospitals today withhold some services to trans and gay people. They do this because of "conscience." This "conscience" does not include that of the patient. That patient's conscience or religious views do not count, period. If a church denomination said it would not perform a medical service because a patient is black, we would call this discrimination. The Catholic Bishops do not allow Catholic hospitals to perform certain kinds of gender changing surgeries. This is discrimination just as refusing black patients. Religion was once used to discriminate against black people. I've read that Catholic teaching encourages religious freedom. In addition is encourages freedom of conscience. It would be wonderfu...

The wedding website case decided in favor of "religious liberty" by the Supreme Court was based on an event that never happened. Lies and deception is part of the right's legal and political portfolio. We can wish for some honesty but probably there is no hope. After years of screaming the Supreme Court "Must not legislate from the bench" that is exactly what the current court is doing. In simple terms, we think of legislatures as bodies which might see a problem coming and pass laws to prevent the problem. Courts are bodies which hear events that actually happened and rule on the laws in question. In the anti-gay web designer ruling, no request had been made by a gay person or persons for a wedding website. A name was provided but the person named had never requested a website and apparently is not gay. At least, that is what we know at this time. The court, then, acted exactly like a city council, state legislature or DC House and Senate. It made up a law abou...

It was almost jaw dropping to read the results of a poll in Germany. Use of the Bible in Germany borders on none. Only 1.6% claim to read the Bible daily. Only 3.2% read it or hear it each week. The latter may represent the percentage that attends a church. The poll asked Protestants, Catholics and all others including those with no religious affiliation.  Social trends seem to flow from Europe to the U.S. and not the opposite just as they flow within the U.S. from the East and West Coasts into the Middlewest. If Germany's Bible reading has all but ended, and polling in the U.S. shows continual decline, Germany is the future U.S. This is like a huge earthquake. Countless Christian denominations justify their own particular niche in the faith by their "expert" interpretation or understanding of the Bible. The more distant and obscure the Bible the less importance its already obscure passages become. All of this is happening after decades of promoting the Bible. Giddeons ha...

There are things forced-birth advocates really hate. One is that abortion is quite common and that many women you know may have had one or two and have not told others. Force-birth crazies do not like women telling others the story of their abortions. Story telling is something to be closely regulated in force-birth circles. The story most liked is the one of someone who worked in an abortion clinic, found Jesus and now gets fees at anti-abortion rallies. It of a story repeated over and over. This even though it represents a meniscal percentage of women who worked at clinics. The story they do not want told are ones like the pregnant ten-year old raped by her father who had to leave her state to get an abortion. Forced-birth wanted, well, a forced birth. When a doctor talked about the case they charged the doctor with revealing too much about the patient. The story about forcing birth on a ten year old girl is one they did not want told. In fact, a whole group of stories involving rape...

Has anyone asked parents who bring their children to drag story hour if they worry about sexual confusion or "grooming." A parent who brings her child to this event says the crazy protestors are more upsetting than the men in drag. I have trouble tracking the conservative logic. "Family" is supposed to be big it says. "Government influence that contradicts a family's 'values'" is bad. But when a family's values include learning from books read by men in drag it is time for the government to stop it. I suppose the case is made that men in drag in a public library is somehow the public sector indoctrinating children. The audience is there voluntarily. It doesn't seem anymore indoctrinating for men to appear as women than it does for women to wear bib overalls. I can't tell you how many local theater productions I have been to where women play male characters. That is done often if men, or the right men, do not try out for the roles. I...

Going way back, I mean way back, I taught for a year at what was still called a "black college" in Missouri. It is Lincoln University in Jefferson City. At that time, just a few years after school integration and all protests and violence, quotas for racial balance were being established for some corporations. I recall a white recruiter coming to my office and saying, "I'm behind the eight ball. I need to hire several black graduates. Could you give me a list of you best black students and maybe put in a good word for my company?" I think it is accurate to say that quotas and the hiring of racial minorities and the later gender balance in hiring has turned out to be good for business. Corporations led the way in providing family benefits to gay couples and there are lots of women with CEO positions.  While there are plenty of arguments that racial and gender equality have not been reached, I have not seen any part of what I'll call "corporate America...