Thoughts of a Freethinker

I wish the U.S. experiment with the temperance and beer-is-sin period of our history and its similarity with the Forced Birth religious movement was discussed more. There are so many parallels. The beer-is-sin period was also known as Prohibition. A recent story in The Forum reviewed the history of a series of six fires in Alexandria, MN. The year was 1901. They were all taverns. The arson was never caught. The fires stopped when community outrage appeared.  While we don't know the motive of the arson we do know what anti saloon public figures said about drinking alcohol in the years leading up the Prohibition. Alcohol was evil. God wanted it eliminated. Just as evil abortion is OK in cases of rape and the life of the woman, some places evil alcohol was OK and not evil. Catholic communion required wine and was exempt from Prohibition. It is said many bottles of wine disappeared from church basements. It seems to me some in the country were feeling the same level of passion against

How many times during each Presidential election cycle does someone say the other side is the real demon or contains demonic forces? When someone takes this seriously enough to write down its history it's worth taking a look . Today, I'm sure one can find places on the web discussing the demonic influences on both Trump and Harris. These days it is quite fringe but "demonic influences" have had an ebb and flow and they could come back big. It is believed that in 1849 "spiritualism" was practiced by 11 million people in the U.S. There were large halls filled with practitioners as well as small groups around Ouija Boards. Talking to ghosts and seances were in.  When women's suffrage came along it uprooted traditional gender roles. What better explanation than the presence of demons.  Abolition also upset the social structure, whites on top, blacks on the bottom. As with women's suffrage disturbing the social structure God had orders has to be the work

The National Catholic Register is a conservative publication. A blogger there claims that while atheism (also referred to as materialism) is hardly growing, nones continue to grow. Among nones, he complains, are an endless parade of chiasmatic witches and occults. These, not atheism, are the real threat to Christianity and Catholicism the link claims. Witches and occults are fed to the public by online personalities. The Bible is full of demons, spirits, ghosts and invisible gods. After open minded people, especially young people, have become familiar with witch personalities and then hear the Bible stories, why would they not find them similar? If they realize the witch character is one made up to entertain why would they not conclude the Bible exists for the same reason. One of the constant Christian themes these days is that other notions like witches and cults will crowd out Christianity. The problem, they say, is that Christianity is good while witches and occults are harmful. I d

Fox News and Christian Post are the only two news outlets publishing a picture taken some years back of Kamala Harris and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters are men who perform in drag and include ridicule of Jesus on the Cross among other parodies on religion. My unexpert opinion is Harris is going to be our next President. Not only will she be breaking new ground by being the first female, she will be the first president who is on record as enjoying hanging out with men in drag. The picture is now being used in anti-Harris ads. Using this picture in the campaign against Harris certainly will please the religious right. I think, however, it will ultimately be good for her. The message I get from it is Harris is someone who enjoys her life. She is a person who accepts all kinds of people, even those different from most others. All of us feel a little different and she would accept each of us. On top of that, many thousands of parents took their children to the local libra