Thoughts of a Freethinker

Trump made his own choice to go to some religious event at the National Cathedral. The National Cathedral is Episcopalian but has successfully fashioned itself as a venue for "national events" like addresses of Presidents, funerals of Presidents and ceremonies of national implication. I look at news about the Cathedral occasionally and see it hustles money to pay it enormous on-going expenses. Having events there involving Presidents keeps it in the news. Presidents get political benefit by the implication they are Christians and have Christian approval. As a mayor for 16 years I was at countless ceremonies and events where there was a prayer. When local preachers gave a prayer to open a conference at one of the large hotels I would often be embarrassed. Attendees were often from all over the U.S. and undoubtedly included people who were not Christian. Yet, local preachers on automatic prayer mode would end, "In Jesus name...." At national events in large cities, th...

  Arrogance and a sense of superiority is a most unattractive trait in Christianity. It is in Protestantism as well as Catholicism. In my view, however, it is not taught  in all parts of the faith. Instead, some denominations drill into clergy that they are special people who know more than those in the pews and this gives clergy certain license. This license shows up, to me, in the Catholic denomination but also in Protestant denominations closest to Catholics. I follow one Lutheran denomination, Missouri Synod, in which clergy repeat to each other their interpretation of the Bible in superior to all others. This sense of superiority has not resulted in child abuse but the denomination's numbers are falling rapidly. Statements about the Catholic Church in the Philippines, however, paint a picture of clergy who have a sense of license and superiority. The child abuse there is not "old" and long forgotten history but has taken place since the world-wide disclosures of abus...

Rounding up and shipping out undocumented people in the U.S. sounds like a sure-fire political formula. Going back to slavery days black people were the undesirables. It was the Japanese Americans, the Germans, gays, trans and now the undocumented. Trump called for those with criminal records but anyone else is game also. The opportunity is there always to demonize some group for political gain. Other groups, like liberal clergy, can gain influence and power by resisting this demonization. That is happening .  A smaller round happened in Postville , Iowa in 2008. A kosher meat processing plant was raided and several hundred immigrant workers hauled off to a cattle area for processing. Several were parents and had no opportunity to see their children or make arrangements for their care. The toll on the community was severe. The plant closed and many residents were left destitute. As I recall, a decision was made that some different technic would be used in the future.  So far a...

What we consider to be "mainstream" denominations scoff at what is called the "prosperity gospel." As most know, the prosperity gospel is generally known as the belief that if you give your money to the church God will reward you with money.  A new poll shows there is a lot of support among Christians across the board for parts of what is preached by those known as prosperity gospel preachers. The most famous current such preacher is Joel Osteen. Osteen tells people Jesus wants then to be prosperous. I'm sure there is something in the Bible to support that, just as there is something in the Bible telling people to give their money away. Should the faithful believe Jesus wants them, personally, to be prosperous? Looking at the various claims Christians make that claim is not out of line. No one can prove there is or was a Jesus nor what the Jesus thinks if there is one. But most of the faith claims it knows there is a God, heaven, hell and a Satan. These are ever...

Once in a while I get mad at myself for not seeing the obvious when the obvious is right in from of my eyes. It happened today. I mistakenly clicked on a headline in a respected site that publishes about religion. I don't know precisely how this site is funded, I recall it asked for donations and maybe has other sources as well. The site needs readers to support it, whether that brings donations, grants or ad revenue.  The title I clicked on involved whether there was a religious case against cremation. It is estimated that in a few years cremation will be used in 80% of U.S. deaths. In Europe it is already that popular.  The link makes the case that cremation is a Pagan practice. I'm not certain that is correct because really there is no simple faith representing Paganism. There have and exist today endless variations of Paganism. I've seen Christians assign the term Paganism to agnostics. Agnostics who believe there well may be some force out there greater than that which...

There are firms selling churches software intended to put every member online and church services tailored to people who have busy and complicated lives. The focus seems to be connection through the computer screen and not with a church building and a traditional church service.  The pitch of the link in that there are millions of lonely people who need interaction with others and a sense of "community." The assumption presented is that a community formed around religion is better than a community centered around any other interest. While I don't understand this software apparently it provides something different from a "streamed" or video recorded church service. It goes without saying that church services will change to accommodate this new way of doing church. I can imagine services that move along faster. The long pause while someone makes their way to the podium to speak will be eliminated. Long draggy hymns may be victims.  No reader needs to be reminded o...

In recent centuries, men have done language interpretation and surmised what are the lessons in the Bible. The result is a men-centric religion with women not leading but supporting male leaders. That this scheme is hog wash was pointed out at least one hundred years ago. I think if all women everywhere had demanded this game stop it would have stopped. But they did not all resist and today are ordered about by men.  One of the most revolting notions in the Bible is that Eve was created from one of Adam's ribs. The link states there is no word for "rib" in the Old Testament's original language. The Bible did not actually say she was created from his rib. Many scholars challenge that the originators of the faith held up men as superior in intellect. Plenty of denominations claim God meant for men to interpret scripture. Men have exploited their superior position for their own power and money.  Maybe we need a national debate to determine once and for all whether men, i...

It's amusing to read about preachers who believe that the old fake threat versus fake reward will work. This one acknowledges most preachers have abandoned this old ruse. But the link says threatening people will bring them to cower in the preacher's power. According to the Bible, Jesus used the carrot and stick. He is quoted as saying the end would come in his lifetime. But, of course, it didn't. Early on those selling the faith cut back on the threats because the end never came as predicted. Still, the link preacher feels the fake threat of hell and the fake offer of rising to a heaven with Jesus will sell.  I realize it's risky to underestimate the fear of hell and the appeal of some divine place. Many religions have done this since prehistory and do it today. If you asked all church goers today what would happen if it was found there is no hell after death my guess is a majority would say the population would go sin crazy.  Even though the majority of Christians tod...

Snippets of news show up periodically about the Catholic operation in China. Perhaps it is so complex no one outside either China or the Vatican can really understand it. Those who are independent and who write about the relationship cannot understand what the Catholic Church gets from the deal. Certainly, the Vatican can bump up their worldwide numbers by claiming to have members in China. But whether these so-called Catholics have anything in common with Western Catholics is hard to determine. The latest " news " is that Rome has agreed to make the boundaries of some dioceses conform to the boundaries of government determined regions. Efficient government makes for efficient churches. In the link a Catholic official who deals with China tried to put a good face on the relationship. He said that in years past, the Chinese would simply notify the Vatican about a new Bishop at the same time it made a public press release. Now things are better, the Vatican guy said, the Chines...

Like most everyone else, I want a reduction in fossil fuel use. The electric car was supposed to be the answer. Future events are not predictable so we cannot predict for sure EV will fail. We can, however, look at the current economics and see that unless there is never again an EV explosion EV's cannot succeed. The link is about economics and tells us we can summarize economics with four words, "Everything has a cost." In the case of gasoline powered versus battery powered we can quickly figure out the costs to the owner. But costs to the owner may include the real or total costs. The total costs must include externalities, costs not born by those driving either kind of car. The Biden administration correctly took on the external costs of gasoline powered cars. It said, correctly so far as I know, that the carbon they produce is causing climate change. Biden's people concluded, correctly again, the rational solution was to push this external cost back onto those who...

Timithy Dolan was one of departed Pope Benedict's stars. He is a back slapping guy always with a joke at hand. But underneath he is a down and dirty power guy defending the conservative, backwards and cruel wing of the denomination.  Dolan is approaching his 75th birthday, the age when Bishops are required to submit their letter of retirement. The link lobbies Pope Francis to allow Dolan to stay on some years which the Pope can do. The Pope knows that in selecting his successor Dolan would be campaign for someone backwards, mean and conservative like the late Pope Benedict. That is exactly what Francis does not want. But the pressure is on. Such intrigue. One can almost see inside the mind of Dolan. He is of the school that sees the Catholic denomination are flawless. Problems that come up are from individuals, not the denomination. This thinking was so apparent when Dolan was Bishop of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Diocese was swamped with lawsuits from abusive priests. Dolan did not ...

The ranking of clergy as trustworthy and esteemed members of society has fallen below auto mechanics. Each time a survey is done clergy rank lower than they did in the previous one. One aspect of this is the continual effort to separate "the clergy" from "the church." The Pope, and every Pope, repeats that wayward priests are the problem, the problem is not the Catholic denomination itself. It falls in line with the schtick that will be repeated today (Sunday) in churches across the country, "The fires in Los Angeles were not caused by God. God is there to help." The "church," that is any denomination, is nothing but a group of people. The church and the people who run it are one and the same. "Wayward priests" are actually a wayward church. That clergy continue to be ranked lower has to be partly a product of lower support for the Christian religion. The growth of "nones" and the fall in respect for clergy have to be part of ...

While the link is by a Catholic who fancies himself as an intellectual, it's sentiments are repeated every Sunday in countless sermons in Protestant churches. The message is, "We cannot have a Christain faith, Catholic or Protestant with naysayers, doubters or skeptics." In other words, the faith cannot survive questions raised by critical thinking. One thing working against a religion, any fundamentalist version of any religion, is, in my opinion, the cell phone. About 20 years ago my wife's graduate student arranged a visit with world leader, Mohamed Eunos , in his office. He envisioned cell phones would swamp the world and bring a level of literacy never before experienced. At the time cell phones were expensive and there was not coverage like we have today. I think we could say Eunos' prediction was correct. Cell phones bring not only learning and reading to more people they bring information by video. Isolating people from information, as some religious leade...

For myself, the next great political theater will not be more of Donald Trump's buying Greenland. Instead it will be the new secretary of defense pledging to invade liberal Greenland to bring Jesus to its citizens. Why pay money to own Greenland when Jesus wants you to just take it? Apparently God does not like women to be soldiers in combat so he is against that. Republicans have a history of religious whackos holding big positions. One was the Secretary of the Interior James Watt under Reagan. I met him when he spoke at an event in Fargo. I remember his speech because it was weird. Instead of staying on the topic of the vast amounts of land managed by Interior, Watt's mind was on his just completed trip home to little Lusk, Wyoming. His voice got shaky went he tried to describe the feeling of being in his home church looking at the U.S. flag standing beside the Christian flag. That was huge to him.  James Watt didn't last long, however. The Department of Interior is in ch...

First, the Catholic denomination should be praised for disclosing the settlements that have been paid. Second, there are other places sexual abuse happens, especially Protestant churches. Focusing on the Catholic denomination, however, helps us understand the evil side of Christianity. The sphere of our society that claims the high road of moral superiority has no grounds to make its claim. One of the questions those in the Catholic faith and those outside of it wonder is whether the end of the abuse claims is in sight or if many other claims are still out there. Recently the Diocese of Long Islan paid $323 million to victims. All parishes in the diocese had to find some of this money even if some dioceses had no claims against them. The Bishop of Lond Island said most of the bad priests did their abuse before he was even born. He would like to think he was not responsible. Yet, he admitted, all in the faith need to take ownership. It borders on the unthinkable that people of limited m...

  What will the world be like when its population stops growing and begins to decline. I suppose its accurate to say none of us cares so much about what the world will be like as we care about what it will be like for us or for those family members who will be alive when that time comes.  When societies were agrarian, children made a positive contribution to a families' standard of living. They worked in the fields as soon as they were able. More children meant more money. Now children are an expense much larger than any income they might bring into the family. More children reduce the standard of living of a family. There are other social science theories, religious and cultural values, etc., all play some role in the number of children but surely economics I'm convinced economics remains the largest factor.    If I'm correct it is economics that drives the birth rate to be lower than the rate of death, it seems inevitable there will be a large drop in world populat...

The dramatic turnaround for gay men in the Catholic Church has arrived without much fanfare. The Pope has approved out gay men as candidates to the priesthood in Italy. They, like their heterosexual colleagues, are to remain celibate.  We have to remember Italy is the location of the Vatican itself. The Pope has complained in the past about what he calls "The Gay Lobby." He never explained what he meant. It may very well have been gay men in the Vatican or employees who live nearby but work in the Vatican, i.e. locals.  If you were in the Pope's shoes, how would you handle the argument that straight men profess celibacy and are priests but gay men who profess celibacy are not allowed? This is identical to saying white men can be priests but black men cannot. Even if you think gay sex is sin there is no reason to discriminate against those men who do not sin. The Catholic faith has impaled itself on its own sword. In 2005 a Vatican document said men who have deep seated ho...

Preacher Joel Osteen reportedly is worth about $100 million. He is the lead preacher of a church but does not take a salary because he makes so much money from his books and big events on the road. At each performance, I have heard, he holds up a Bible but does not refer to it otherwise. One of his powerful shouts to the audience is "Jesus wants you to succeed." Both parts of both the Christian and secular communities scoff at Osteen with his riches and Christian-lite message. Yet, the marriage of Christianity and prosperity is as valid as that of Christianity and poverty. Yes, Jesus was supposed to have said the likelihood of a rich person getting into heaven is the same as that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. But, if "tradition" has a legitimate place in the faith then personal wealth has a seat alongside poverty. The group considered quite pious, the Puritans, approved of making money. Joel Osteen was approved by the Puritans.  There was some chur...

When an institution of any kind makes a big mistake and says, "The people in charge at the time did not understand what they were doing. We now understand their mistakes. Our institution continues providing the high quality, truthfulness and integrity that has always been its mission." be skeptical.  The best example of this that appears almost every day is the Catholic Church. I remember decades ago watching a Catholic TV show where the host said, "That our church was wrong back in history does not mean at all that it is wrong today. Quite the contrary." What he meant was that leaders of the church were wrong but the church itself was not wrong.  Pope Fracis used precisely the same shell game recently. He apologized for mistreatment of children in Catholic Indian schools. He said the people who ran the schools should not have abused those children. He made the same remarks about past treatment of Jews and racial segregation. Priests who sexually abused children had...

  A TV reporter was doing on the street interviews with people getting views about the California fires. A man she randomly chose to interview told her, "It was caused by the gays." Apparently, this was live so the interviewer quickly said she disagreed with that. Gays have been blamed for everything so why not the fire in CA.  I'm interested in the insurance aspect of these fires. It appears to my amateur observation that the value of the damage will be much greater than the damage in Florida by hurricanes.  I read that some insurance companies, including State Farm, cancelled a large number of customers recently because it felt there was a serious fire risk and the claims would outrun its ability to paid them. Other companies also cancelled their customers. A woman was interviewed who said her company cancelled her a day or two before the fires started. Apparently, there is some kind of state government supported insurance but not everyone has this. As these climate rel...

The Freedom From Religion Foundation started a secure site several years ago for clergy who secretly no longer believe the tenets of Judeo Christianity. Some of them have left the field and many still feel trapped and need to make house payments and support their families. Apparently, the site has a large number of subscribers. One of the ex clergy said, "One of the unpleasant requirements of being in the clergy business is to take God off the hook, to make sure that when disasters happen the disasters are not blamed on God. The Sunday following a disaster a take-God-off-the-hook sermon is required."  You can be certain take-God-off-the-hook sermons are being written at this moment for sermons coming up this Sunday. The fire story is so large these sermons will be required across the country. A prominent Rabbi just published his version today.  He wrote that God is not in Southern California where to fires remain. He has no explanation for the fires but suggested that God wil...

With the outrage against Face Book for dropping one kind of monitoring and retaining some other it might be a good time to talk about this entire business of "fact checking." I have a personal interest in the new Face Book policy because occasionally Face Book takes down a post of mine on this blog. When I click on "explanation" the word "community standards" and other verbiage shows up and I never learn what needs to be altered to meet Face Book standards. I experiment taking out bits and pieces and eventually it goes up. Maybe the new system will leave this little blog alone. I must mention I really have no grounds to complain about Face Book because I pay nothing and use it every day. The fact check issue I'm wondering about involves religion. Today, and every day I suppose, there were a prominent article saying each of us has a passionate fear of death. The solution to this fear, of course, it to believe no one has to die. It does on to say each of...

Christian prayers are critiqued by other Christians and if you are going to pray in public expect others to say you don't do it properly. House of Representatives Speaker, Mike Johnson, wanted to gain political points and announced he would pray Thomas Jefferson's prayer. The words Republicans tend to claim were in the prayer are " Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from evil in every way. ” Johnson was on a roll and said Jefferson repeated this prayer daily. A Representative from California asked Mike Johnson to stop making things up. This is because there is no record of anyone recalling Jefferson reciting the prayer. Scholars say it is unlike anything else Jefferson wrote and remains highly doubtful he wrote or recited the prayer. The prayer began circulating long after Jefferson was dead and there is no record of where it was found. A practice of reading the prayer and attributing it to Jefferson started long after he had died. ...

Apparently, there is a new preacher drawing crowds and being written about. But what he preaches about is the same old stuff of generations past. He has a deal for you. The deal is you can be selfish and accumulate a lot of money and stuff or you can be poor and get yourself a good deal in the afterlife. He says the latter is a better deal for you personally. If you give all your money to the church you can look forward to a big win. Why is it getting a better deal in the afterlife less selfish than the selfish deal in real life? I don't know. Of course, giving one's money away always means giving it to your church. I assume handing it out near the bars on Skid Row does not count. Afterall, Godly conservatives have warned God hates lazy people. Send your money to a wealthy TV preacher to protect yourself.  Today we have Christians in other countries being murdered for what they believe. Sometimes it is missionaries themselves. Are current missionaries or past ones who left chur...

We're seeing a familiar pattern in business. When some product has the overtone of sin there will be businesses who declare themselves "holier than our competitors" and we will not sell such a thing. I'll only mention a couple, there are many. One was Cracker Barrel. For decades its owner said he is a Christian and will not sell alcoholic beverages. When sales fell it was suddenly OK to sell it. Walgreens said tobacco is unhealthy and said it would not carry it. CVS did not follow so soon Walgreens again sold tobacco. Just now, abortion is the big sin. Sam's Club and Kroger say they will not sell the home administrated pills. How long this continues remains anyone's guess. This schtick is as old as marketing. When I was a farm kid there was a B level movie star with the screen name, "Lash Larue." His cowboy movies were about villains who defeated every sheriff who chased him. At a dramatic moment, Lash arrive and used his bull whip to take away the v...

Many decades ago I visited Atlanta for the first time. I remember people watching in the downtown and noticing the confidence of black people there. They were successful and projected the aura of doing things their own way and blending to no one. I've been back to Atlanta countless times since then and wondered how it could be part of the conservative South. As anyone who follows politics knows, it now votes solidly for Democrats and has liberal mayors. The State of Georgia itself has voted for Democratic Party Presidents.  A state with one of the largest atheist groups is Alabama. I had a friend in theater at the University of  Alabama. Theater productions there included gay themes not acceptable in other parts of the state but were welcomed there.  One of the largest Unitarian Universalist churches in the country is in Bible Belt Tulsa, Oklahoma. That city suffered a huge race riot where the black business area was burned down and many killed. Tulsa is the home of Oral ...

I don't recall ever seeing a survey of Christians on the Shroud of Turin, but my guess is millions across the globe believe it is the actual garment the body of Jesus was wrapped in. One can read the long complicated history of the thing in Wikipedia . I was not aware the myth went back to around the 1200's. Even though a Pope back then declared it to be authentic the Catholic Church has backed off just a bit. Currently, its position is that it neither affirms nor denies its authenticity. The ruse is called "of Turin because it has been displayed in the City of Turin, Italy, for hundreds of years. Twice it was damage by fires and then repaired.  The history of evaluations outside of religion is lots of fun. The image is that of an entire body. Someone measured the arms and found them to be impossibly long. Others have done carbon dating and found it to be of the 12-1300's. What appears to be blood has been found to be fruit or vegetable dyes. The type of fabric was not...

One thing that does NOT sell newspapers or the modern version of newspapers, talk and news on our screens or trolling on the internet, is a script that reads, "No one has any idea why these things are happening." Better for selling ads and making money is, "Today we're going give you inside information. We'll to talk to experts and learn why these things are happening." An example is this essay. It seems to me most often there is no explanation. The exception is people with religious or political passions that have gone over the edge. Otherwise, it is next to impossible to explain why people go off the rails and kill numbers of other people. To pretend we can explain why these tragedies happen seems out of reach. Maybe it would be more helpful for the news media to admit this, even though it would not be as profitable as teasing the public into thinking an answer is coming. An early idea that seemed good to me at the time was to limit access to firearms. Tod...

Even though the total amount of money donated to religion is still huge, a survey found the average amount given by evangelicals continues to fall . If one were to choose a single variable that predicted the future success or failure of an organization, it has to be how much money it brings it. Money pays for preachers and church buildings. These are two large marketing variables. Without these, membership will fall. The old saying is, "It pays to advertise." I follow a site in the Lutheran Missouri Synod denomination. There preachers and professors at its seminaries talk about how to stop the dramatic downward trend. The denomination still has a large amount of money stashed away. But the discussions involve what it should do to reverse its decline in membership.  The denomination's dilemma, not much different I'm sure than similar denominations, is that its preachers are to do considerable academic work in order to be ordained. This, of course, is expensive if done ...

Re-ploughing old ground is what Christianity does. So, too, does the community of doubt . That there is scant evidence there ever was a Jesus continues to be raised.  Since way back, Jesus and his life was called "history" by believers and a "story" by skeptics. In either case it was a very successful public relations effort. Jesus remains a topic discussed endlessly. The more modern word for the Christian religion based on Jesus is "narrative." That is, in spite of critics, doubt and lack of evidence, the Christian narrative remains that there was a Jesus and words and ideas he actually used are repeated in the Bible. I don't remember a year when I read quotes from prominent Christians repeating what skeptics have said for years, "Jesus may not have been born on January 25th. But that does not matter." I would call this a new narrative. It would never have become this common were it not for skeptics raising doubts for years. The new narrativ...