Thoughts of a Freethinker

Genisus has the story of the original sin . The entire creation story is discussed by intelligent people as if it was a historical event. For whatever reason, religion sends otherwise working brains on a vacation. To understand the Bible, an old and reliable rule to follow is this: The Bible was written by ancient males who were very wealthy. Only the very wealthy could afford to go to school and not work to survive. Wealthy people, and all others for that matter, have self interest in mind most of the time. There are exceptions but that is a good generalization. When the ancients took the considerable time required to write with crude paper, ink and feather they had a specific audience in mind. On top of that, they had a specific message they wanted to deliver to that specific audience.  Every society has a creation story. The Old Testiment is but one. I think it is fun to speculate on why the ancients recorded the specific story that appears in Genisus. What was the audience the writ

It's widely believed that the 2016 victory by Trump was, more than anything else, caused by a demographic of those who felt "left behind." Women and black people were making progress. Cities were growing and prospering. A group said, "Hey, what about me?" This was the lower middle class, especially rural areas. They voted in big numbers. I don't listen to Taylor Swift's music, but the link explains the songs she writes and performs gives legitimacy to the feelings women have about their lives. No one in the arts, religion or politics does this except her. This gives her a lot of power over how women spend their money and vote. Trump's group will not be energized like that of Swift. What group has a more legitimate claim to being left behind than young women? For decades we have heard the forced-birth political operatives chant, "A human life is present at conception. Abortion kills a human being." The fetus has always been a part of the wom

Religion gets itself twisted into knots with the definition of "life." I put the word in quotations because we do not really know what it means. Everyone who follows forced-birth politics knows those who want to force women to give birth define human life in varying ways, a fetus feeling pain, having fingerprints, have a "heartbeat," or having a unique DNA. They wrongly attribute their positions to "science." There is no consensus in science any of these things declare that a human being exists. It turns out this is also the case for "life" in general. There is a lot of agreement that 3 1/2 billion years ago life as it is often thought of did not exist. The earth was rocks, sand, soil and water. Then something, often thought to be a chemical reaction, happened and something different than what was on earth before began to show up. The exact form of "life" that first came along has never been agreed upon. The link discusses fire. It uses

When Trump first introduced himself to the country as a politician, he listed his net worth at $10 billion. Previously, he had sued the NY Times for publishing his worth as less than $1 billion. Commenters on this blog marveled at the skill, wisdom and talent of this "extraordinary" man.  Now, a judge has determined Trump systematically under and overstated his assets in order to avoid paying taxes and to get loans. As I understand it, this will bar him from owning properties in the State of New York where he owns property. That he conducted his business in a dishonest way was illustrated in his Trump University gambit where he took millions from gullible students and gave nothing in return. It, like some other of his enterprises to come, was shut down. I know I'm retiling old ground when I point out the absurdity of Trump's "business accomplishments," but it is worth a review. The famous business publication, Forbes, estimates Trump would be worth about hal

 A long article in the NY Times reviewed an underground publishing enterprise that published in China during the worst and most repressive time in its history. A handful of students recorded the starvation that was happening and told of the repressive actions by the government to stamp out solutions to the problems. Today, with another repressive regime, there are underground historians publishing information the ruling party does not want circulated.  There were underground groups operating against both Hitler and Stalin. All during the decades before Roe made abortion legal there were secret individuals and groups doing abortions across the U.S.  In Chicago, an anti-abortion city, the Jane Group, staffed with volunteers who learned how to give women free abortions did tens of thousands of abortions. Bits of information is leading out about underground groups providing abortion meds and arranging for abortions in states like Texas and Mississippi. While the cost of getting abortions h

A survey reveals young women calculate carefully the risks to their lives when considering pregnancy. The increased risk of death in pregnancy is persuading increasing numbers of women not to get pregnant. Decisions not to get pregnant are happening in both states with liberal choice laws and ones which are prohibiting abortions.  Any woman who travels knows she will be risking her life is she is in a state with bad health services to women when something goes wrong. Young women are smarter than the old white men who are trying to run women's lives.   One has to assume the same calculation is made for unplanned pregnancies. The cost of giving birth and raising a child are one or two hundred thousand. Getting in the car and driving to an abortion friendly state next to nothing in comparison. I've never understood why the clergy hierarchy of the Catholic Church could not see the simple math of their own self-interest. Of course, they understand that more babies in the church migh

  When conservative Christians draw a line in the sand and say, "We will not allow anything to cross" they always later cross the line themselves and the line disappears in the sands of time. It happened with gay marriage. It is happening with abortion. Now the line drawn about heterosexual and gender are being crossed regularly by those in the faith. Nearly a fifth of college students polled checked the box of trans or uncertain gender. Students today are not as certain about clear gender distinctions as was the case in the past. As this demographic and the ones behind it move into adulthood it is predictable it will not hold to the religious rights dogma "God made only males and females." They are experiencing something different in themselves and among their peers. As with abortion and gay marriage, the religious right does not have the wherewithal to hold its piece of ground. The religious right's game is repeated over and over again. It is NO, absolutely n

A Catholic author provided a good overview of what is being attempted today . To put this in lay language, I may miss the mark to some degree, Integralism is a.) for a Pope to order what the government should do and b.) that is a good thing. While the link goes deep into scholarly writing about Catholic theology surrounding Integralism we can skip this and go to simple examples. These examples are the many monarchs who took on Popes as collaborators and Popes who did the same with civic rulers. They used each other. The link points out that arrangement sometimes worked to the benefit of the average citizen. The Pope was an independent actor as was the king. When either of them was tempted to go off the deep end it was sometimes in the interests of the other to push back.   This model of integralism was established in the Middle Ages when communication and travel was slow and costly. Thus, out in the countryside were both representatives of the King and the Pope. Policies and practices

In the writing that appears regularly these days lamenting the decline in church membership and religious identity is a theme about what goes on in people's heads. The theme is that there is a "longing" in peoples' minds that causes a "search" for meaning and purpose in their lives. I interpret this to mean the level of "happiness" is lower than people believe it should be or that there is "unhappiness" they think should not be there. It would be refreshing to hear a preacher or religious author repeat what the 100 year old billionaire Charlie Munger said recently. Paraphrasing, he said, "To be happy, lower your expectations." This is not, of course, the message of pundits in religion. Their message, such as that in the million seller, The Purpose Driven Life, is that anyone can raise her level of happiness by imagining there is a god and then living a life of devotion to that imaginary god. To achieve happiness with this latter

There is no "Demonization Committee."  However, there are committees, consultants and strategy groups who meet to discuss who to demonize next. We all know it started with slavery. Within the Southern part of the Democratic Party demonization of black, brown and Asian people was the go-to way to win elections. It was the Republican Party, largely run by big city, anti-taxation and anti-union which treated demonization of black people with indifference or even distain. When the parts of the Southern Democratic Party began to flirt with leading Republicans about switching parties, I recall Senator Bob Dole saying, "We Republicans welcome people of all persuasions." What he meant, of course, was Republicans wanted more anti-tax/regulation voters and it would nod politely and ignore the demonization part of converted Southern Democrats. The guests were invited into the house. Then the guests kicked out the owners. An author in the NY Times regrets her remark in a women&

Every week, articles are published in the Christian press warning a dire future if Christian numbers continue to fall. Some of the authors present themselves as well read and thoughtful intellectuals. "Do all those leaders allowing Christian numbers to fall recognize the terrible consequences of a non Christian society?" they ask. Eventually, they list specifically the "dire" consequences. A non Christian society would allow gay marriage and abortion. I mean, this is a serious outcome of a secular society? Ridiculous.  Let's look at one piece of Christian history ( Smithsonian, Sept-Oct 2023). About 71 CE Arab people, Muslims, sailed the short distance from Northern Africa to the string of land of very Southern Spain. They conquered the area and established the most advanced civilization of that time, the Emirate of Granda. Travelers of the era recorded beautiful structures, very clean cities, a healthy population and use of the most advanced technology of the t

I can't say for certain Hillary would have won if most "prolifers" had voted for her. It was close in several states and it seems to me she would have won. For political junkies like me it's fun to speculate about what would have happened and compare that to what is actually happening right now. Let's recall that Trump published a list of people he would select for the Supreme Court when openings came along. Many times I read quotes from well know Christian right clergy who said, "Golly, Trump is not a traditional Christian, quite the opposite. But his list for the Supreme Court makes him an attractive candidate for Christians." We all know that he was elected, appointed dufus judges and Roe was overturned. We know also some states have increased availability of abortions and several state elections coming up will be won by abortion rights candidates. Some statewide measures will win also. It appears, to me at least, that in a short while abortions will

Catholic priests still practice something called exorcism. I've read it claims to remove "demons." The Pope believes demons, hell, a ghost and rest of that imaginary work really exist. Now, we learn of a preacher in Missouri who is convinced autism is caused by a demon. He got elected to the local School Board and lectured everyone at a public meeting about the demon he knows about. He has now resigned. When it comes to demons, it's a whack-a-mole contest.  We have an autistic granddaughter with who is now 22 years old and just graduated from college. I can't imagine she would have survived if she had been born into this guy's church or if the public schools she attended treated her as if she was possessed with a "demon." When commenters to this blog remind me of all the hospitals Christian churches have started and ask me not to scoff at Christianity I remind myself of the terrible harm Christianity has and continues to do.  There is a front-page ar

I should perhaps apologize for my preoccupation with the arguments being test marketed by the "pro- life" political circle as it loses time after time across the country. Now that it is so obvious it will lose big time in Congress and the Presidency I would think we would see something reflecting smarts emerging. A new effort by what I would consider the best source for pro-life political ideas put his out there in the New York Times.  That source is author David French. He was an anti-abortion attorney, became a widely read author and was recently taken on by the Times. Perhaps there were many liberal people like myself who did an eye roll when he was hired as a columnist. I would classify him as a "wise man" in the forced-birth circle. While he does not understand much of the secular world, I read his columns because he comes at things a bit differently.  In his column this week he tries to present a solution to the growing support for abortion rights. Here is a l

I've come to think Christian leaders or what we might call intellectuals would be better off not saying anything at all than trying to justify their arguments. One of these is about marriage.  Slowly but surely, Western countries and their cultures have come to see that humans come in a vast variety. As races mixed, which was originally considered a deep sin, another variation began to be recognized, a variety of genders.  It is an understatement to say religion is most persuasive when answers are simple. Religions do not prepare themselves for the high probability the public will come to realize answers to some things are complex. When the realization arrives those in charge of religions are not prepared.  A detailed argument was presented recently by a U.S. professor of religion who has written many books. He explained the three reasons Christianity treats marriage as a sacred institution. The reasons are a.) reproduction, b.) following a marriage draws a line in the sand there a

Christianity, especially Christian churches and denominations are declining and need new strategies to hang on. They might help themselves by acknowledging churches and denominations are businesses in a crowded market and adjust accordingly. They have wrongly assumed they are monopolies and conduct their business as it they had the market power true monopolies have. A monopoly, of course, is a market where there is only one supplier. Sometimes monopolies exist because there is some rare product that one firm owns and no one else has access to is. If there was only one source of uranium, for example, that firm would have a monopoly. I've read there are rare metals needed for electric car batteries.  Even a company owning something rare has to be on the lookout for others searching for the same product or a substitute product. It needs what is called "barriers to entry." These might be laws or permits preventing other firms from finding the rare product.  The ancients who w

God is just not coming up as often in the Republican Presidential campaign as in previous ones. I don't follow all of the candidates, especially the ones I've never heard of and are not in the news. As I recall there is a preacher who says God called him to run. After reading an in-depth article defining Christian Nationalism and reviewing its history, I got to wondering which candidate such Republicans are circling around now. Is it Trump or someone else?  I myself do not understand precisely the code language being aimed at the Chrisitan Nationalist voter. Several seem to parrot, "I will stand up to China." While there are, no doubt, plenty of complicated issues involving China, there is one agreed upon conclusion about China today. It is on its arse. There is pressure to raise wages but gains in production per hour are not rising. It has a growing percentage of senior citizen population. A healthy Chinese economy sells cheaper goods to the U.S. and fights inflation

When the political history of this era is written it will be one of subtle and undetected-at-the-time change. It will reflect a difference between "Christians" who go to church and "Christians" who do not go to church. "Christians" who do not go to church are voting in the primary for Trump. Those who go to church are more likely to back other Republican candidates. This difference explains many things. Churches are closing rapidly everywhere, but most rapidly in rural areas. Those who were in those churches no longer attend. And they are unhappy with rural decline. Trump has promised help. Of course, he cannot change the direction of rural to urban migration but he can talk about it. Abortion is a separate issue from rural anger. Trump is not in favor of a national ban. The national ban people no longer have Trump or the Trump supporters. In Iowa there is a group often in the news, the Iowa Christian Coalition. It is mostly an anti-abortion political gro

What are called "Doomsday Scenarios" come along every so often. When they do not materialize the concepts they were based on are scoffed at. I think it is accurate to say the predictions sometimes prevent them from happening. Let's review what current thinking, leaving out religion and morals, are potential causes of future catastrophes: Unchecked disease, shortages of food/water, air pollution, weather changes (heat/cold, not necessarily the same as food/water shortages), nuclear disaster, war, inability to reproduce. Carbon production is thought by many to be the reason our world's population may plummet . Stopping abortions or birth control will not reverse it (if carbon production is the main problem). It has been said many times on this blog it would be in the interests of the anti-abortion religious group to endorse enthusiastically good environmental policy. Instead, it does what is not in its best interest, opposes environmental protection. A dramatically fall

Super conservative Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri recognizes the political losses Republicans have encountered since Roe was overturned. He knows some other terrible statistics Republicans have always wished would disappear. Instead they have become more widely known. These are the deaths of women in childbirth. By endorsing a policy of forced birth the Republican Party is endorsing more deaths of women. The term "prolife" is being laughed at.  Sen. Hawley thinks that if attention is misdirected away from the deaths in childbirth then anti-abortion can become again a political asset instead of liability. Hawley says focusing on "babies" will divert attention away from childbirth deaths. He wants Republicans to use the term "pro baby." Hawley should be more honest and admit the Republican Party is "anti women." Being against abortion is neither "prolife" not "pro baby." To actually be "pro baby" an individual politician

Right wing Catholics think they can wait out Pope Francis and when he dies replace him with another version of Pope Benedict and whomever the guy was before Benedict. Was it John (whatever)? Pope Francis has been criticizing conservative U. S. Catholics. They, such as defrocked Priests of Life founder Frank Pavone , think they will force their will into the naming of the next Pope.  Catholics who are more anti-abortion than they are Catholic are waiting to name the next Pope--no doubt New York's Archbishop Tim Dolan thinks he is a great candidate. Their people have not done the math. Pope Francis has appointed 70% of the Cardinals who will name his replacement. The numbers of Cardinals from continents that are not strongly anti-abortion like Africa have been increased. It seems inevitable the old Catholic sleight of hand system is coming or already here. It is to simply never again speak of old rules which remain theoretically in place. Clergy are already prevented from declaring a

The former VP goes well out of his way to use a passage to justify his anti-abortion opinions. He would do well to be more circumspect. When it comes to understanding society, Pence defines the term "lightweight." So does everyone else who makes his claim about the Bible. There are members of the Jewish faith who are filing legal protests against states that are outlawing abortions. The reason given is the Jewish faith finds the fetus is not a person. A person, according to the groups interpretation of the Jewish faith, does not qualify as a person until birth. So much for the zealot's word "personhood" or other gimmicks used to crush women's right to abortions. Pence's interpretation of the Bible also flies in the face of millions of other Christians who do not interpret his favorite passages as advocating the fetus is a person. The old and often used line, "I knew you in the womb" does not translate directly into "you were a human being

 Anti-abortion has only one political card to play, it's a bogus card, and tries to get it in game in new ways. The card is that the fetus is a human being. The latest is a mass memorial for all the dead fetuses. They don't understand abortion rights can play their own "lives lost" card. I don't think there has ever been a concerted effort to publicize lives of women lost in childbirth. Giving birth is a dangerous event. In poor countries it is among the highest causes of death among young women. I think a memorial for women who died in childbirth would be a nice offset to this phony anti-abortion gambit. A memorial to women who died in childbirth would include those women who were victims of the Forced Birth Moment. The Forced Birth Movement is, of course, the entire anti-abortion enterprise. Women need to be controlled. Eve enticed Adam to eat the apple and put us under the yoke of sin forever. How could we now give women control over their own bodies? We know a

An earlier Mexican Supreme court ruling decriminalized abortion in one state bordering Texas. Now it has been decriminalized across the entire country. Country by county, Latin America is legalizing abortion. Men with tiny brains, anti-abortion opportunists, have been saying for decades the public does not like abortion and they would ban it across the entire U.S. and eventually across the world. It's amusing to see exactly the opposite happen. It seems inevitable eventually abortion will be more easily obtained than it was during the Roe period. When common sense was passed out these anti-abortion men were out of town. How could any rational person believe taking away rights of women would be successful? As abortion rights wins elections here in the U.S., courts are advancing women's rights in Mexico. As religious leaders shout louder and louder their influence is smaller and smaller. I can imagine Bishops across Mexico will be holding news conferences telling us abortion is s

Box-like structures were built and remained well preserved because of the bogs in the area. They required huge amounts of labor and appear to have been for religious ceremonies. No one knows what was worshipped. The more famous Stone Hedge rocks have been dated to around the same time. No one is certain what they were all about either.  One of the most interesting National Parks I have visited in the U. S. is Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. It is much more recent, around the years of 1,000 CE. But the imagery is similar to Stone Hedge. It has a road like structure set in perfect line that goes on for miles. It may have been used as a road but it seems also to have had some spiritual meaning. Those who have studied it say it aligns with certain stars. The settlement itself is the ruins of several round structures made of rock and mud. Window openings seem to have some intensions. One can only conclude it was all about some god or gods. Like Europe, the gods were there but we don't know wh

The Irish Archbishop thought perhaps he would be popular in his political circle of clergy by inviting his predecessor, Cardinal Sean Brady, and the Bishop of New York City, Tim Dolan, to a celebration of the church. Brady of Ireland has been accused of hiding a large number of child-abusing priests and victims plus the general public are outraged. Dolan tried to isolate money from lawsuits over child abuse when he was Bishop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was promoted for this attempt by the hapless late Pope Benedict. Inviting these two scheming and less than worthy clergy to a ceremony of celebration was too much for victims of priest abuse. They want the Irish head gone. That would be a just end. Why the Irish Archbishop is so tone deaf is a mystery. Irish voters are so mad at the Irish Catholic church they voted to legalize abortions in Ireland. One would think the Archbishop would say to himself, "Maybe I should trend lightly with the public. It does not seem to like us."

Yet another Christian organization is wringing its hands about empty churches. It is trying, maybe more seriously than others, to find the magic key that turns back the exodus from Christianity.  The leader of one of the leading Christian polling organizations, Pew Group, gives talks around the country admonishing Christian parents to raise children that are Christian adults. Raising children is an academic field but not his. He sort of says, "Just do it," but he doesn't seem to know how. I came across another Christian group which is trying to more specifically pinpoint what happens to the youth leaving and when it happens. Not being that interested in the specifics, I had always assumed children leave the faith in their late teens when they start reading more sophisticated material and begin the find the holes in Christian tenets.  Most of the polling about lost Christians were from adults remembering, or trying to remember, when they lost interest in the faith. This  g

The local paper here, the Des Moines Register, just published the results of a quite exhaustive study it did on the kind of books banned or requested to be banned in Iowa public schools.  One important thing to note first is that there is not overwhelming support for citizen screening and banning of books. The Iowa Legislature, dominated by Republicans, passed a law setting up a procedure for people who want books banned to approach their local School Boards. Iowa's religious right Governor, Kim Rynolds, endorsed and signed the bill. So far, cranky Christians have challenged 60 books.  To assess how "serious" the problem of "bad" books is in Iowa we can measure how many districts have experienced book banning requests. Iowa has 327 school districts. Challenges about books has happened in 36 districts. One would think if sin was overrunning the state in the form of lurid books the number of districts complaining about these books would be more than about 10%. The

I was a church member and church officer for a long period of my life. In the early decades there was a lot of talk about ecumenicalism. That is, as I recall, a field that advocates common ground among branches of Christianity. I remember a couple of sermons by a young associate preacher in our church who had studied and participated in this goal.  Then some years went by and I never heard ecumenicalism discussed. I don't know why, perhaps it was because rigid religious dogma had moved to front. Anti-gay and anti-abortion became, by a good portion of Christianity, synonymous with the word "Christian." There was no room for accepting any compromises. Perhaps the cycle is returning toward ecumenicalism. The new term is "inter faith." The University of Utah has a position devoted to the promotion of inter faith discussion. Perhaps the time of rational thinking will arrive when differences in the interpretations of the Bible are not as important as paying the electr

Years ago, when I first started blogging about atheism I was also President of the local atheist organization, Red River Freethinkers. I had lots of comments from both places. Christians often asked, "What happened to you?"  This was followed by speculation I must have been wronged by someone in my church or had some crisis in my life that I dealt with by abandoning the faith. Using today's language, being Christian is an American default position. We start life being Christian, it is thought, and leave only reluctantly. The faith tells us babies are born sinners. The unstated assumption is babies in the U.S. are also born Christians. The phrase, "The U.S. is a Christian nation," confirms Christianity as the default belief. Babies, of course, are not born Christian. They are born with no religion. Slowly, too slowly for me, an understanding is seeping into our common national understanding that millions of U.S. adults do not have a default belief in orthodox Chr