Thoughts of a Freethinker

If we have wondered what the U.S. would be like if the Christian religion took over its government we need merely look at Massachusetts in the 1600's. It was as bad as we who against church/state entanglement think it will be.  During the 16-1700's a branch of Baptists was the state church in Massachusetts. The now famous Roger Williams, later the founder of Rhode Island, was born in England and came to Massachusetts filled with enthusiasm about religious freedom. What he found appalled him. Government and Baptists had a lock hold on life everywhere in the state. Nonbelievers were hanged. Others were banished from the state. People's religious views were monitored by state officials. Williams began to gather people secretly in his home. Others were quietly angry. Williams was lucky to escape to Rhode Island alive. That state remains today the most secular state in the U.S. The link points out there was a lot of resistance to religious freedom. There were people fighting it ...

Doing this blog for over a decade has brought me into contact with what seems to me to be a bizarre practice. it is arguing about the most unimportant issues imaginable. I don't if anyone has written a book or published a list of the most ridiculous issues brought up for discussion and how much time and money has been spent discussing them. I came across an example today. It is about these four words in the Apostle's Creed, "He descended into hell." The link author is listed as student in a religious university and the post sounds like a term paper written in such a place. The paper gives the various groups that do and do not include the phrase and the conditions of the Middle Ages when it appears. Then there is discussion of what various writers have presented as the literal meaning of the four words. It turns out there is so much literature about the four words it has a commonly used title, "Descent." There is what is called the Orthodox view of Decent and...

The NY Times obtained videos of Republican zoom meetings where those at the top rallied the troops to fight against Democrats. An official told participants that with the possibility of some defeats on the way, God wanted the Party to bring up "illegal voters." It mattered not to her there were almost no illegals voters. It interested her because God told her to hype that issue. Being a little cynical about using God to justify whatever political views one might hold it's fun to speculate about just when God gets interested in certain issues. In this case, it's looking like Trump could well lose. God, such as opportunistic guy, decided to tell the lady there is no option other than to tell lies about vote counting. God would like to have come up with some better idea, but it is the only one available. I would like to know more about what God told the lady. That is, where did God tell her to look for cheating. The TV and religious guy, Mike (My Pillow) Lindell, charged...

I'm not tuned in well enough to the Bible to pick up Trump's use of this political technique. It's helpful when others pick up on this and tell us how the game is played. According to the link Trump portrays the country as a beautiful City on the Hill and immigrants a blight that needs to be removed. The City on the Hill is from Revelations. The smell of immigrants living in our City on the Hill is not in Revelations but added by Trump. I can't think of another nationally prominent politician, even a very conservative one, who initiates references to the inferiority of other races the way Trump does. A few others pick up on what he says and agree but they don't go out of their way to bring up the topic as he does regularly. As some pundit said recently, Trump gives approval of racial and class prejudice. We all know the racial thing is there, always has been. It's apparently present in every country and every subgroup within countries. I recall so long ago short...

In 1785 Jefferson published his views on government and religion. He saw government entering peoples' lives only when on person inflicted physical or mental harm on another or on another's property. It was in a section entitled "Religion" that Jefferson made a case for keeping religion and government separate. Even though some in religion today scoff at keeping them separate Jefferson's argument is so powerful it pushes back, at least to some degree, religious zealotry.  His famous "Wall of Separation" was and remains a great metaphor for keeping religion out of government. As we know he had no use for the miracles in the Bible nor for using religious views to limit the liberties of individuals. I wish we know what he would say today about limiting the freedom of women who want merely the medical services that should always be available to them. While it's hard to judge now 250 years later how much resistance there was to Jefferson's skepticism a...

  When rap music first appeared our son, a teenager, remarked, "It seems like rap could be a big as Elvis and 50's rock n roll. It separates the generations." Now, decades later, he was not far off the mark. Her we are in the mid 2020's, rap is old, Christianity is fading, and as always, times are changing. What sound and ideas could connect with new generations separated from rap generations? Not that I have any reason to know such a profound thing but it's such fun to peruse current art forms and speculate on what might appeal to young people even though they have no meaning to me. A professor friend of mine studied the Mongolian art form of throat singing. Throat singing is found in other cultures as well including the Innuits. It is hard to describe except as a low-pitched vibration from the throat. I've read it is two or more notes at the same time caused by coordination of the throat and togue. Perhaps it carries longer distances than normal voice pitche...

Right wing Christianity is in an uproar because Archbishop Justin Welby said sex, between two genders or between one gender, is OK if it is part of a committed relationship. He admitted not everyone agrees with this but it is how he sees it.  Bishop Welby recognizes the Western culture has moved on from condemning gays, trans and bi and the faith needs to stay out of the condemnation business. It could be also that he has read the Bible and cannot find the condemnation others claim is there. Certainly any Christian conservative will site chapter and verse where it is claimed intimate relationships between people of the same gender is a sin but the message is always prefaced with, "What this means is,,,,"  The Bishop reflects what I have read of public opinion in England. A majority of the public supports gays and gay marriage. It seems logical to me that aliening religious views with views of the public is what all religions must do in the long run. Liberal branches have alre...

Three states, Missouri, Kansas and Idaho, were/are in a tough place because the Supreme Court threw out their case to prohibit abortion pills. The Supremes overruled a Trumpy Federal judge and appellate appeal. No, the Court said, these states do not have standing, they are not harmed by what individual women do about an unwanted pregnancy. So, the states' Attorney Generals made up a reason they have standing and are trying to get back into court. Their new reason, women need to be forced to give birth so states can get more federal grant money. Since forever, women have been seen as vessels to deliver babies to benefit men and these states are keeping up that tradition. If women are forced to give birth and this benefits the broader society, society should collect lots of tax money and give it to the women. Oh heavens, no, say conservatives. That is welfare and we're all in against that. Forced Birth benefits the women because they learn the consequences of their sinful sexual...

While data is not perfect, that which is available says the numbers of abortions has not fallen and probably is rising . This, as we have discussed here often, is the history of trying to stop or slow the numbers of abortions. Stopping abortions has never worked. For the most part, the number of abortions in the states that have laws prohibiting remains about the same. Passing these laws is laughable. What Forced Birth operatives did not expect was a.) the resolve of women who wanted abortions and b.) the money available from the abortion rights community.  The resolve is shown when women find a way to leave work for a day or two to travel long distances for out-of-state abortions. The link shows the large numbers who continue to do this. In nearly all cases, it is a rational decision. If is costs a woman a thousand or two to get an abortion but she knows it will cost $2 K to raise a child, decision made. The amount of money available to subsidize abortion is huge, even though more...

It's taken a while for women to gain a foothold behind the pulpit. They are still not welcomed in the largest denominations. As gay people gain acceptance across the broader society, they will find Christianity easier to navigate. My favorite new saying is: Religion is downhill from culture. Religion will change faster and faster as it gets to the bottom of the hill. I enjoyed reading about a young gay man who grew up in a Bible thumping family but discovered he is gay. Religion is such a part of his make up he could not leave. Instead he kept searching for ways to find a place in it. Today he is a religion major and an Episcopalian.  There seems no doubt that homosexuality will eventually not be an issue in any part of Christianity. It is an issue now only because of a cultural bias. The cultural bias against gays is no different than that of black people and a host of others. In every case, parts of Christianity used that to justify the cultural bias. As we all know, the bias eve...

There must be hundreds, maybe thousands, of articles published each year that say , "Atheists are lost and unhappy. In addition, there would be no absolute moral standards without religion, especially Christianity." This is more ridiculous than flying invisible gods and ghosts.  Facts on the ground are that humans have existed for about 300,000 years. The Judeo/Christian religion has existed for 5,000 years give or take. How did humans live for 295,000 years with no Ten Commandments to base laws on and how did they survive 295,000 years of sin because there was no "absolute moral standard?" I guess their making what they believe to be a statement of fact, that there would be no moral standard without Christianity, is supposed to give the faith some importance. That is absolutely is not true makes the faith less important than it was before the incorrect assertion. It would be smart of Christians to never use that laughable statement again. As discussed before here, ...

Those who read the fine print and look behind the scenes say the U.S. Bishop's organization is not spending much money trying to defeat abortion rights initiatives. Apparently, they see the state-by-state measures to ensure abortion rights as something they cannot win. One slippery Bishop said, "We will not go down without a fight," but that is exactly what they are doing.  The bishops have some money to spend on such things. They threw in millions on the first states to vote on abortion rights like Ohio. They lost big. To the Bishops, abortion is important. But, it is not as important as hanging onto their money.   It is smart of the bishops to throw in the towel on Forced Birth. Perhaps it is starting to dawn on them that harming women is 50% of voters is not good politics or business. Is it possible that have come to realize women are 50% of the population they need to recruit and maintain as members of their denomination? If the bishops refuse to empty their pocketboo...

There is ample evidence a majority of the early colonists did not belong to the early churches. Whether they were "religious" or not we don't know. Some wrote letters which remain today inferring they were religious. Could it be they wanted to give that impression to that particular reader, often a relative? The best answer is we don't really know . The worst answer is "Our founding fathers intended this to be a Christain nation."  Like all of us, the all male crew called the "Founders" came from a variety of backgrounds and had different experiences that influenced them. From what I've read, their primary preoccupation was not religion but business. George Washington wanted to sell the products from the expansive farm he married into and was annoyed at tariffs between the colonies. There were very wealthy businessmen who loaned money to the government because it allowed them to prosper.  Where did "a Christian nation" fit into all th...

Right wing religious zealots met at a conference, the first since they learned national Republicans have abandoned them on a national abortion ban. They are split between voting for "the lesser of two evils" of not voting or voting for some third party. The establishment, those who make their living in right wing Christianity, advised the lesser of two evils, Republican Trump. Those who make their living in anti-abortion politics see no cash cow in smaller third parties.  The establishment talks were chilling in their celebration of on-going court cases. They want to continue to stop any recognition or help of trans people. Very alarming is their desire to legally discriminate and treat various groups as lessor and unworthy people. Shortening the voting periods, harassing voters and women going to their private medical appointments is something they enjoy and want to continue. The summary of Trump-is-God's-President is, "Yes, he has despicable moral values. He is not...

For many decades, our family were members of a Presbyterian Church. For several years, we received newsletters from a national group which complained that the denomination must "return to the Bible." As I recall, a wealthy local member provided the national groups with the addresses of all local members and paid for the newsletters to all.  As time went on, this national group put its nose in the air and walked out of the national denomination. I think years later there another group separated. The original group that left is now in the news. While the group split over the "sin" of being gay, one of its original churches eventually hired a gay man as pastor. He claims his is celibate. Things about this church are now so complicated they are in court. It more fun than a barrel of monkeys.  Christians who comment here on this blog have said that while different denominations have broken off from their original, all branches agree on a few fundamentals. This assumes th...

All of us who follow such stuff know church membership in Europe has been falling for decades. It was interesting to read there are still people trying to start new churches there. The link is about a father/son team trying to start a church in the tiny country of Lichenstein. They are certain God wanted them to do this but it sounds like they will abandon the idea at the end of this year. The team says less than one in ten people in their small city attend a church each Sunday. About 3/4 identify as Catholic. There are several small Protestant churches but most of the people the pastors call on have little to no interest in the topics of religion. On the one hand, the pastors restate to old mantra one hears constantly, "There is a longing that only the faith can fulfill." On the other hand they admit people there just do not turn to religion during difficult times.  While chest beating Christians often point to falling numbers in liberal churches, I've always thought to ...

Perhaps the first expression of disgust about the Catholic church in Ireland began long ago with an arrogant and authoritative priest or bishop. For a century at least, the Catholic Church has had its hammer down on Ireland's politics. Abortion, for example, was illegal until a few years ago. The denomination's most recent problem came from a movie shown round the world about Catholic homes for unwed mothers. These Catholic homes received payments for children adopted by people in other countries. Some birth mothers were known to have protested but were overruled, their children gone. An exhaustive study has been completed by the government assembling testimonies and available information. According to the link , the study cast a wide view of the practice of housing unwed mothers. It reported other denominations had these homes as well as the government itself. The Catholic homes were reported to be better than those run by the government. The context of these homes included se...

The Catholic Synod on Synodality has a large group from all over the world. It is closed to the press and public but those attending do talk to the press. At the opening session, statements were allowed from advocates of female clergy, GLBT+ and from Africa, polygamy. While these are claimed by the Vatican as not on the horizon, study groups and committees continue meeting and preparing position papers. The Vatican is not saying these meetings or groups must stop. It is not promising either that anything will change. The Vatican is good at hinting things might change but not going very far with changes. Abortion was like that for decades. There was a hint abortion might someday be outlawed. In the meantime, cash flow was maintained by putting restrictions like waiting periods and forcing women to look at ultrasound images. Nearly all the Forced Birth industry liked this system of good revenue but low expectations. The same strategy will go on forever with women in the clergy, gay marri...

I cannot help but recall the first time on this blog I pointed out that the inevitable result of defining one cell as a "human being" would result in women becoming criminals. The reply was "Anti abortion has always considered women the victims when abortions are prosecuted. This will not change." This was ridiculous then and not true now. This past year many women were charged with crimes over miscarriages and abortions. Forced Birth judges may well continue prosecuting women even if voters make abortion legal in more states. Women have become the criminals, not the victims. There is an effort, almost a desperate effort, to allow women to escape prosecution for miscarriages and abortions. This is to give women in Forced Birth states the money and information to escape the state they live in to get abortions. Money if being collected to pay for gas, airplane tickets and whatever is needed so they can escape.  This effort of paying women to escape is working well exc...

The Ice Age affected many parts of the Mid West. It was living in Fargo for four decades that its reality sunk into my head. People who live there learn the flat characteristics of the land in that region were caused by a giant glacier and a lake that formed when the glacier melted. The land around Fargo and up to Winnipeg has another odd characteristic that it slopes to the north while the rest of the land slops to the south. This slope to the north was caused by the tremendous weight of the high pile of ice. The ice was so deep and contained so much of the earth's water the oceans elsewhere in the world were as much as 300 feet lower. Humans apparently lived in the area before the glacier and moved east. The glacier is dated about 20,000 years ago and maybe melted away about 10,000 years ago. I always wondered how it happened the glacier formed back then  and is it possible it could return? This hurricane season we are learning the climate is changing and, while no one knows the ...

 Annually for about the last six years the Nuns on the Bus Tour has gone across the U.S. speaking and gathering people to talk about points of view conservatives hate. They talk of opportunities for women and the issue of unequal wealth in our country. They do not advise specifically who to vote for, but it seems clear it is not Trump.  This year's theme is making things better for everyone. The nuns are talking up better health care for women and a more equal distribution of income. Interpreting this could only mean abortion rights and higher taxes on the rich. While there are male clergy, especially Jesuits, advocating the same ideas, the Nuns on the Bus  seem to fearlessly advocate in a unique way. It makes one wonder if the Catholic denomination would be different if women had held clergy positions for the past 50 years. I don't see how female clergy could ignore the well-being of women in the abortion battle the way men have ignored them.  There are women meetin...

Rev. Benny Hinn recently needed money for his divorce. Rev. Robert Tilton said if you send him your last $5 God will bless you with success. He had people who testified this happened to them. I remember seeing Pat Robertson hint at this. Now, several preachers are criticizing one of their own for preaching the message that giving to a prosperity preacher will help the giver and giving to the poor is money down the drain. One would guess this trick has been played on the faithful since the beginning of humans. It will continue as long as there are humans.  While the practice of claiming a donation to the preacher will bring blessings and prosperity is cruel and exploitive, I've always wondered about using the word exploitive for giving money the any Christian or Christian organization when there is some promise, stated or implied, the giver will receive "forgiveness" or never have to die. If making promises about money are exploitive it seems like promises about death are ...

Forced Birth schemers have been somewhat successful in painting advocacy of abortion rights as a white women thing trying to prevent black women from having children. This simply is not true. Black women have been leaders in the demand for abortion rights. The accusation against abortion provider comes from an activist decades ago, Marget Sanger, who advocated abortion rights so poor black women would not be set back by unplanned babies.  Forced Birth operatives jumped on this interpreting it to be for limiting the number of black people. I don't know about the views of the woman who promoted abortion rights but black women know they need options to unplanned pregnancies the same as white women. As the link points out, several black women have taken strong leadership positions in favor of abortion rights for both black and white women. Forced Birth gas bags are the last people we should trust in the effort for abortion rights. I had a lively exchange about abortion this past weeken...

Most writing by the Incas and Mayans of Central and South American was stolen and burned by the invaders from Spain. The invaders were not smart enough, however, to destroy art work that told of history and gods of the time. Inscriptions and art have survived and the story of those societies lives on. The more excavation of ancient artifacts the more knowledge about these societies. The Christians brought three gods, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Mayans already had three gods and thought they were just fine. The gun and diseases eventually put the three favorites of the Mayans on the shelf waiting to come back. In the meantime, the three interlopers of the Catholics and Protestants filled in as substitutes. These countries formerly were majority Catholic. Now some are majority Protestant. One has to assume societies will continue to change as will the religious beliefs that fit the changed societies. Today we have hurricanes. The ancient Mayas had a god name Huracan. Huracan was ...

Where is God now when My Pillow founder Mike Lindell needs him the most. Mike launched to media program called "Prove Mike Wrong." He offered $5 million to anyone who could prove the 2020 election of Biden was honest. Mike, of course, had been going around like Trump claiming the election was fraudulent. Four men took up Mike's offer and proved it was not fraudulent. Mike now needs God's help coming us with both the $5 million but also money for his attorneys and the money for the other side's attorneys. Now another group needs God's help. A Texas mega church which has taken in $150 million in donations said it would give 10% to "missions." Further, it promised that if donors were unhappy with the mission work accomplished it would refund the money to donors. Like the guys who brought down Mike Lindell, some members said they wanted audit of the mega church finances to establish the money actually was spent on missions. The church would neither provi...

It is astounding, boarding on the unbelievable, how much and how fast atheism has grown and how much believe in religion has fallen. In England, atheism now exceeds Christianity. More people do not believe there is a god than believe there is one. No one can explain completely why this has happened. There is little doubt it has happened.  There is always speculation on whether this trend in England/Europe will arrive in the U.S. Certainly, it is possible, likely in my view, the U.S. could arrive at the same place. At the rate things are changing it will be sooner than many expect. What is interesting to speculate is how minds in the U.S. will change or where the majority will go? Without the "god" what will fill the minds? The longest running accommodation to religion seems to have been one with many "gods" and the gods coming and going. This would be fine, everyone who wanted a god would have one and those who do not need one would not be required to listen to pray...

The Christian polling organization, Pew Research, found that women priests are favored in Latin America. If that news isn't bad enough for the Pope and the Vatican, Latin American Catholics also favor abortion rights. The Vatican can always refer to Peter hearing from Jesus that men are supposed to run the church but these days it just causes an eye roll. Does anyone care anymore what the old-time Catholic guy organization thinks? And the same eye rolls happen in Protestant denominations that prevent women from taking the pulpit. I'd suggest the old white men check the calendar.   The is lots of internet ink discussing the decline in Christian numbers, churches closing and a smaller Christian footprint. Christian pundits dance around the real issues, particularly the role of and respect for women. It's as if, "We can handle this temporary downturn in our numbers. All we have to do is shout 'God will punish you' louder and people will knuckle under and come back...

Leaders, and ordinary church members too, could learn from those, especially sociologists, who study the history of the Christian faith. The pattern is constant and unavoidable. People in denominations eventually disagree and split off. It's as predictable as the sun coming up each morning. Currently, the reason given is homosexuality. Actually, it's just change , any change. If it was not homosexuality, it would be something else. There are the don't change nothin' and the ok this new thing is all right groups. Some commenters on this blog have said gay people have ruined denominations by demanding gay marriages and that gay pastors can serve. The gay issue has been blamed for several splits. The link suggests disagreements over theology, like "gay is sin", may well not be the problem. The problem instead is simply that factions form within groups. In most churches there may be some Republicans and some Democrats. Wouldn't it be logical for them to fall i...

As has been said here many times, the Bible has something for everyone. A late American Baptist preacher friend of mine said the Bible is more of an argument going back and forth. As we know, it is most often portrayed as a set of rules against sin. Surely, even the loudest Bible thumper must admit the Bible has a lot about welcoming the stranger. A liberal Christian group, or maybe several, is making noise that the Christian at this moment should be welcoming all who enter the U.S., legal or not.  This is the opposite of what Trump preaches, "They are not sending us their best, only their criminals and rapists." (I don't know if that is exact or not, but it summarizes what he has said various times.)  Probably some conservative can find in the Bible something that could be construed as, "Be kind to the stranger if he is of your race and has no police record."  We're approaching ten years of big numbers coming across the border. Certainly, there are example...

Pope Francis keeps being asked if the Catholic door is open even a tiny bit on women in the clergy or abortion rights. He keeps answering that the door is not open, even a tiny bit. That the questions keep being asked is, to me, a signal the door is not shut forever. The old line he used that women are "so important" in the denomination will not hold up forever. It has the same impact as "We're praying for women." The impact is none. The German Catholic Church is a model for denominational change. There are several stories of priest performing gay marriages. Demands are made that Rome "punish" the German Catholic Church, The German Catholic Church has lots of money, Rome needs them more than it needs Rome. There is teeth grinding and scolding but Germany does not budge. What if Germany, or some other country with plenty of money, starts ordaining women priests. Would not the same thing happen, Rome saying this is not acceptable but unable to do anythin...