Thoughts of a Freethinker

Buried far beneath accusations that liberal Harvard and Yale discriminated against Jews is an underlying tenet of Christianity. That tenet is Jews did not, and do not, accept Jesus as the "promised one." A Christian publication which bills itself as balanced and thoughtful recently published a piece by its editor saying the problem Jews have is one they put on themselves. If they believe God is the almighty, then they must to accept Jesus as the promised one. The Jew's problem, according to this Christian poster, is they refuse to do what they must do.  When I was an Iowa farm boy my family were member of the only local church. It was from the evangelical branch. The church's men's club had gone to some effort to invite a Rabbi to speak. He was from a city 20 miles away. The committee probably went to visit with him and he drove 20 miles on questionable roads. He was introduced in the church and as he approached the pulpit, tthe visiting preacher at the time, who ...

The tale of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey with adoring crowds cheering his arrival just did not happen. No doubt something like it happened in the mythology wealthy men at the time knew about. Only the very wealthy were literate at that time, so the tale comes from that small demographic. Every Easter Chirstian sites carry the orthodox version of the story. The imagery of leaders or famous people passing in front of crowds is, and probably always been, one of being higher than the crowds. This allows them to be seen, but also projects importance. We all know of holy men being carried in splendor on the shoulders of human beings. The donkey seems a compromise. Story tellers needed him to ride into town, not walk. He needed to be a little higher than the so-called crowds but not on the back seat of a shiny convertible car. So story tellers or scribes rewriting the story came up with Jesus on a donkey.  We can notice the Jesus as told in the Bible was not a farmer nor a banker....

Cave sites dated 50,000 years ago and ruins in Turkey of what seems to have been a religious site from 15,000 years ago include detailed and prominent sculptures of animals in various poses. While no one knows for certain what was in the heads of people back they, a majority think the artwork reflected an attitude toward animals directly the opposite of what Christians/Jews taught in the Bible.  What the ancient are work depicts is animals with self-awareness and importance. As on anthropologist said, they depict a world of people, only a few of which were humans. Animals were equals with souls, knowledge and wisdom. Humans were not inferior, just equal partners in efforts to stay alive.  Only recently, a few thousand years ago, came along those unknowns who wrote the Old Testimony. They had a different idea. Animals existed only to serve humans. This180 turn of logic no doubt was self-serving for those who wrote, the few wealthy men who were the only literate people at that t...

It's known the native people who lived on this continent before Europeans stole it had meetings, apparently long meetings and lots of them. I've never heard if they talked to their spiritual beings before the meetings. I suppose the practice of talking to invisible beings before meetings came from Europe. It would be good if it was sent back.  There is a story today about a preacher who took advantage of the invocation to rail at Republicans. In his prayer he denounced the Trump practice of rounding up immigrants and shipping the who knows where. Republicans, needless to say, are angry. It brought back memories of my sixteen years as a mayor. Our city was a destination and many large conventions and annual meetings were held there. Often, the Mayor was invited to give a brief welcome. While the welcome remarks were usually early in the opening session and it was permissible to slip out afterwards it always came after the innovation. I think the invocation, a few comments and a ...

  In right-wing Christian Texas, a rainbow painted crosswalk is sin. That's why Republican Gov. Abbot has ordered crews to sandblast and remove any rainbow paint color from Dallas streets. Those  colors represent the gay community and its supporters who are sinners. What better use of public money than sandblasting sin.   Texas is ground zero for U.S. politics. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has said the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Texas, James Talarico, should be killed by God. Now, Hegseth's pastor said he agrees with this. Talarico is the Democratic Party's endorsed candidate for a Texas Senate seat. He is a theology student in his mid-thirties and says the Bible does not condemn abortion or homosexuality. Perhaps President Trump will declare the sin in Texas is a threat to national security and bring in his ICE forces to stamp it out. It is worth remembering that the most important concern in the Christian right's mind is sin. Professor types ...

I often write about one of my favorite books on religion, Professor Steven Prothero's book, God is Not One.  Prothero starts with the assumption Christianity, and all other religions in the world, are about what followers THINK their faith is about. Often that is different than what leaders or theologians in a faith claim it is about. Recently, I came across an academic definition of how the explain this difference. It is called, among other things, "lived experience." That is, what does a faith mean to the people living or experiencing it? The academic I've encountered spends time in China talking to Christians about how they view their faith and what they think it is about. His message is Christianity in China includes a broad variety of beliefs and interpretations and should not be seen as uniform .  Pundits within the faith are often fishing for good news. For example, one comes across some church that says it has seen in increase in it youth numbers. Or, there wa...

If one wants to understand the right-wing religion of today, was the prohibition era. The star character of prohibition was Carry Nation. The Fargo Forum reprinted coverage of Nation's visit to Mitchell, South Dakota, around 1900. She gave a fire breathing speech about the evils of taverns and alcohol to a big crowd. She counted nine saloons in Mitchal that needed to be destroyed by women with axes.  Alcohol and the saloons that sold it were seen by Nation, and her entourage, as the sources of all sin and evil of that time. Drunkenness, broken homes, absent from work, illnesses and you name it were caused by taverns. She saw the Republican Party as the source of this sin and preached it be taken down. There was already a prohibition political party but she had no use for its efforts to pass laws against booze. Direct action was her thing. Her reputation as an axe swinging weapon of mass destruction preceded her arrival in Mitchell, SD. Local law enforcement pledged to be on guard. ...

  If the term "morality" is about religion, religion is coming back. Not long ago, I searched the New York Times for articles about religion. Religion was mostly absent. Religion seemed one of those things that had once been popular, some had tried to keep in play, but its time had passed. Some may remember that Obama tried to use his faith to illustrate that he identified with those who were in it. His effort fell flat and he stopped bringing it up. The Obamas resigned from their church in Chicago, the preacher was obnoxious, and did not join another.  In recent years, the Times has brought back religion in a big way. Columnists who discuss it are given top billing. It's sort of strange that the NY Times is about "news" and these time worn arguments about what is true and not true in the imaginations of people is again considered "news." Of course, it was "news" when Pres. W. Bush said his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq had Biblical justi...

Only a few of us really old people know about the Bay of Pigs. A short version of the story is a small group of U.S. military invaded Cuba with the ultimate goal of over-throwing the Castro government. The invasion turned out to be almost a joke with tiny and poor Cuban defeating the great power, the U.S.A. While the bombing of Iran and Iran's reaction is yet to fully play out, the short-term conclusion is it has been a failure. Yes, many of its military assets have been destroyed. A country with money, meaning oil, and a well-educated population can rebuild anything that has been bombed.  It's worth recalling the hubris and politics that led up to the Bay of Pigs. My own way of summarizing it is that national politics of the time made communism into a much bigger threat than it turned out to be. This miscalculation drove the notion, "We need to do something about Cuba." One can read how many different ideas were floated and rejected but the over-arching thing was som...

When voters talk about politicians, some will say, "I hired you. Do a better job." I hear this every once in a while and got to wondering how those who voted for Trump evaluate him now. If our country was one giant Human Resources Department, what would an evaluation of Trump look like? Of course, voters have many different reasons for their choices. The conventional wisdom of pundits has been the "Christian" demographic voted for Trump because he had appointed anti-abortion judges during his first term. He reminded anti-abortion voters of that often when he ran in 2024. One has to assume he received lots of votes from the anti-abortion demographic. There is also a slightly different demographic that is usually called fundamentalist Christian. We all know he refers to them often. There is a blue-collar rural demographic that went big for Trump. Of those who voted for Trump because of his anti-abortion judicial appointments or because he seemed more like fundamentali...

It's not news to readers here that the Population Bomb sold three million copies and has been one of the most talked about and controversial books of its century. What remains unresolved, in some quarters, is its importance. Its author Paul Ehrlich died recently.  The link, written be a prominent figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, blows off Ehrlich because Ehrlich did not understand God created the world to be enjoyed by humans. We humans are instructed by the Bible to exploit the earth at our pleasure. Thus, as I would interpret this Baptist, if humans want to destroy the earth by producing more humans that the earth can support, they have the green light from God to do this. I didn't read the entire post to see if he mentions the parts of the Bible that preach stewardship of resources.  The more serious criticisms, if you can call them criticisms, comes from Ehrlich's timetable. He took historic data and projected it forward. For many reasons, the timetable of eve...

It's fun to find writers who dig into the Bible in new and different ways. Bart Ehrman does this. And, I found someone recently who went after statistics about Moses and the Jews "after they escaped Egypt." As every reader here no doubt knows, there is no evidence they "escaped" because it doesn't seem large numbers were captive. There may have been Jews who were slaves but probably there were Egyptian slaves also. Lots of records have survived but none about Jews who were captive nor Jews who "escaped." There are names of high officials in surviving records of Egypt that appear to have been Jews. The "escape" tale was made up for political purposes by Jews later.  The latest thing about the "escape" is a detailed tally of how the Jews would have appeared after they "escaped" from Egypt. There is considerable information about how many Jews were in Egypt at the time of the story. It was about 2 1/2 million. Thus, 2 1/2...

I just read a long review in the New Yorker of three books devoted to the concept of monotheism. Going back to the earliest recorded history there has been a struggle between those who want to control their followers by admonishing there is only one god and the many other gods that come and go. Over time, many of the public in many countries at various times have needed more gods.. For those of us with limited backgrounds in ancient history, it is easy to surmise the struggle. The Old Testament, parts written up to something like 7,000 years BCE, contains the Commandment, Thou Shalt Have no Other Gods Before Me. I take from that there were other gods. They just needed to be ranked correctly. There is surviving written material suggesting all the people of the original Israel were not on board with this order and enjoyed some other gods. Then Christianity comes along with an updated idea of the Jewish God. The God 2.0 was less prone to killing people than the previous version. But a pro...

When someone in the anti-abortion industry came up with the idea of a "heartbeat" bill for state legislators there must have toasts around the room. That a heart beat has to define the beginning of a human being was the celebration.  This followed 50 years of preaching that a human life existed at the moment the egg was fertilized by a sperm cell. This never caught on outside whacko religious circles so some arbitrary new definition that no one could argue with was needed. We now know the "heartbeat" definition was no more successful than the "moment of conception" from decades before. There is no heart at that time. There are nerves firing and they should be called "nerve firings." But the anti-abortion industry called them "heartbeats." Politics being what it is, there is no money (votes) in being truthful. That is why the Republican dominated Wyoming legislature and Governor passed another "heartbeat" bill. Some commented i...

It is not common in the part of society or internet that I live in to encounter a full-fledged review of Satan. The late Pope Francis made headlines a few years ago by saying "Satan is real." Probably it was in answer to a reporter's question and not part of a prepared speech. I never read he talked about the threat of Satan in prepared remarks.  No doubt Satan is preached about often from the pulpit. But it is unusual to find an article lambasting him on the Christian sites I visit. That is why I enjoyed reading an unusual piece devoted to the evils, intentions and defenses of Satan. I don't have credentials as a literary critic. But I have noticed all gods, and imaginary god enemies, have back stories. Whether telling stories around a fire or in a movie, the characters must be established early in the tale. The Greek gods had back stories about infidelity and mischief. God has backstories of floods and anger. Then he mellowed out just a bit. Jesus was a bit cranky a...

Russell Moore is a big name in conservative circles. He held a high position in the Southern Baptist Convention and is now editor of Christianity Today.  Today he posted he has concluded those who "prophesy" the end of the world are not influencing politics but are influenced by it. Can I hear a "duh?" Every person, in the faith or outside of it, has known this since forever.  Maybe Russell is beginning to understand sociology. That is, entire religions, not just crazy offshoots and end times and such, come from cultures and their politics. Christianity arrived at a time when the old Pagan gods had become not so exciting. People were wishing for something besides the Roman Empire. They didn't find their new religion when the main character, Jesus, was born. It came along a long time later when the rumor began that its main character had beaten death. Of course by then no one had seen Jesus--it was all tales passed down around fires. Russell Moore is serving the ...

Have any readers here fasted. I did it for a day or two several years ago. It was a post Vietnam War health thing. I had a book about fasting, long since disappeared. Like everyone else, I do a brief fast before blood tests every year. I "fast" between about 6 PM and 8 AM.  Fasting for religious purposes, however, is about something else. I'm a little suspicious about why it is advocated. The link supposedly gives us an explanation, it's humbling or it puts one closer to the divine. I've heard explanations about going sleepless--that is puts one in touch with some spiritual sense.  Could it be fasting and sleeplessness are about delirium? That is, they provide a buzz or light headedness that some enjoy and it can attribute to their religion?  Perhaps fasting can be put into the long list of things in the Bible we must not eat, must not wear and must not think. Growing up in an evangelical church I can add several taboos that are not in the Bible. That was years ag...

With another milestone year coming up it means more discussion about "who we are." That is, what kind of country did the founding fathers envision? Writing about this by current Christian pundits invariably includes quotes from speeches or writing by Washinton, Madison, Franklin and so on. Often used is a quote from George Washington's last speech as President which included the notion that religion is needed to promote order.  We note that Washington did not mention Jesus or sin. His original work in establishing a stronger government from that of the 13 colonies was motivated by tariffs charges for moving goods through some colonies. We don't see that mentioned by Christians during this period of Mr. Tariff, Donald Trump. It is not mentioned, either, that Washington disliked communion so much he left church before the ritual. Apparently, forgiveness of sins did not weigh heavily on him. Franklin at one point in his life wrote about his theory each of the planets had...

I admit to often being wrong in predicting the outcome of elections. It is helpful to remember Ronald Reagan who said, "In politics, the unexpected often happens." A friend for many years way back in my life once said, "It is not so helpful that a politician say to voters he/she identifies with them or 'likes' them. What matters is that the voter thinks that if the politician knew me, he/she would like me." To understand some of this, recall the time when Trump began talking about running for the Republican nomination. The big name at the time was Jeb Bush. The public might have been tiring of Bushes by then. But Jeb Bush projected a cold personality with little appeal. Trump's colorful nonsense was the perfect foil. Bush's effort was torpedoed rapidly. At another time or against another opponent Trump might has fallen flat. What I find interesting about Talarico is the moment. Among existing Democrats in Congress and Governors I find rather unintere...

As fascinating study was just released which compared how citizens in many countries see the moral standing of their fellow citizens. It shows we are different. The majority in the U.S. thinks its fellow citizens have low moral standards. This was not the case in other countries. Why would we be different in this way? Every reader will have his/her explanation.  It seems to me part of the reason people in this country look down on the moral values of fellow citizens is because of Christianity. As readers know, one of the faith's tenets is that believers must "spread the gospel." That is, it is obligatory to look down on others and believe they are lesser and have the opportunity to improve. This improvement can only happen by glopping on to the faith.  This fervor to chase down and convert others is not part of every religion. I understand the Jewish faith does not preach this as a requirement. A preoccupation with judging others is part of the harm done by the Christian ...

Readers who are political junkies like me already know about the Democratic Primary in Texas. Two fine Democrats ran, a woman with a women's rights theme and a man who is a Presbyterian seminary student in his mid thirties. Both have histories in Texas politics. The man, Jame Talarico, won. He campaigned on the old theme of "let's listen and respect each other." But the headlines about him were not such old and tired ideas. They were new and refreshing. He said the Bible does not condemn either abortion or homosexuality. No button is hotter than that one. Nothing could set Republicans on edge more than a candidate saying such things. All the worse, he won with a big turnout. He did well with the black and Hispanic communities in Texas. Even Trump expressed outrage.   As a clergy-type persona, the "let's listen and respect one another" sounds a little more sincere or has a different quality than it might from someone else.  I wish I could be in Texas watc...

Being old like I am, news is repetitive and a little boring. What bores me now are Pete Hegseth and President Trump bragging about the damage done to Iran. To hear them tell it, Iran has no equipment left to retaliate. How does Iran continue to fight? How can it send bombs to countries that have sided with the U.S.? History tells us the answer.  During the Vietnam war, the news was the same. Big advances by the U.S. The "kill number" was big. So many more North Vietnamese were being killed than U.S. soldiers, a successful victory for the U.S. was inevitable. Our airplanes destroyed bridges and road used to supply North Vietnam's troops. This meant they would have no weapons or even food.  The North knew how to offset U. S. military power. They outfitted bicycles as tiny cargo carriers. When a road was bombed a small path was made and the bicycles moved through. They built tunnels safe from bombs. This went on until we were defeated and flew everyone out in a hurry. Neithe...

For several years there have been occasional news pieces about the growth of Norse paganism in Norway, Sweden and Finland. I assumed these stories were not about large numbers of people. The numbers are still not known but enough money and commitment have been made to construct at least one cemetery and temple. It is a most interesting development .   It seems logical there would develop an interest in some kind of undefined and mysterious belief. Polling shows a huge disconnect to Christianity and organized religion. Out of those who no longer identify as Christian (or other major religion) there have to be hundreds of thousands, maybe some millions, who are agnostics. That it, they believe there may well be "something" out there but we don't know what it is. As theologian Bart Ehrman explained recently, he is an atheist about the Christian God. Since no one can prove no other god exists any where he is agnostic about that. Maybe most "nones" would follow this ...

We know there have been many gods humans have held in their imaginations over the last several hundred thousand years. How many surviving stories are there about beings that are similar to the tale of Jesus? According to a site being passed around today there were a large number.  Let's run through the deeds and traits of god heroes preceding Jesus that were worked into the Jesus story. There were other virgin births, raising others and themselves from being dead, had twelve disciples, was a carpenter, was not believed in his time, son of god and Old Testament snakes. Room was made for all of these in the Jesus tale. I keep coming back to the number of hours each day people spent in the dark during both pre history and early history. Entertaining each other was and remains an art form. Early in my years of writing this blog I recall someone explaining the manner in which each Bible story unfolds. Each story in the Bible starts the same way a modern play, movie, novel or TV series s...

Christianity calls the time of the Old Testament and the supposed time of Jesus as "ancient." There were of course 300,000 years of human experience before the Jews and Christians. This could be a hundred or so generations of human experience. Experience in our own time suggest every conceivable gender definition ever experienced in human history took place over those generations.  On February 2 each year gay and trans people from across Italy come to the Naples area where the variety of genders is celebrated by a Priest. This is to acknowledge and accept all people into the faith.  This I-dare-you-to-stop-me kind of event is a staple of civil rights from early one. Martin Luther King dared to walk down a highway in the center of hatred-land. The world looked on with nerves on edge. The forces opposing him were hapless.  In several places in Europe Catholic clergy are treating gay people with respect, contrary to church teaching. The Catholic hierarchy seems like the hapl...

When I was first a mayor I blind-sided by new worlds, interests people have and beliefs they carry, I did not know existed. An early one was letters from across the country telling me the meaning of certain numbers. These were people who had studied numbers all of their lives and assigned meaning to them. The Mayor's job was part time, so I was also a professor. I told one of my colleagues about this. He happened to know all about this world of people who held beliefs about numbers and explained some of it to me.  I was reminded of this experience when I read today the Shiite Muslims in Iran have declared a period of mourning over the death of their religious leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The period of mourning is for a specific number of days, 40. Readers know how long it rained after Noah built his ark, 40 days and 40 nights. Remembering a little more about the Bible we recall Jesus fasted to in the wilderness, talking to God, for 40 days. Moses spent 40 days on the mountain talkin...

How many claims from the Bible can you think of that are ridiculous? My ancient brain can only keep in mind a few at one time. There is raising the dead, walking on water, loaves and fishes, water into wine, flooding the entire world, the all-knowing and many others. Some believers will say the biggest fish stories are in the Old Testament. But, no, the New Testament also has some doozies. The tall tales begin right away in the New Testament, in its first book, Mathew. My favorite passage from Mathew is about what happened when Jesus was killed. It says the earth shook. It shook so hard graves opened up and long dead people walked out of these graves. Here, the author senses any reader may have some doubts. These doubts may have been expressed when the tale was told after dark as part of evening entertainment when light, like fires, was too expensive. Perhaps a wise-acre child said, "I doubt that." The story-telling entertainer might have replied, "The formerly dead peop...