Thoughts of a Freethinker

I've read that spending on Halloween decorations, costumes, food, etc. now rivals Christmas. I don't claim to understand why it has become so popular. A Christian columnist recently provided a theory from the Christian point of view. Why the ten foot high skeleton, he wondered. It seems to me part of some change in our culture. Over-thinking things like this is a temptation. Maybe Halloween is just something fun to fill up leisure time and something to do with children.  I recall decades ago an active Christian professor friend of ours who had preteen children said he and his wife would not allow any Halloween activity in their family. He said it was just not a morally healthy activity. I'm sure his children now have children of their own and I wonder what happens there. I would guess that Halloween takes over households of those who don't like it just as Christmas has taken over people who scoff at its origins. If it is correct that people spend more time and money on ...

Now in both Texas and Kansas holes are being poked in old Christian myths. It's wonderful. The Methodist preacher candidate in Kansas says Christians can go to heaven even if they don't believe in the crazy myth Mary got pregnant with Jesus without sexual intercourse (God blew into her ear and she got pregnant).   I've been saying for years the liberal branch of the faith will be the one that survives the longest. The conservative literal Bible is just too nuts to hang in there with the changing times. Even if liberal preacher candidates lose they will have had an impact on many peoples' thinking about religion.  Kamala Harris ran for President and talked a lot about abortion rights. Her theory at the time was that because several states had voted to liberalize abortion availability it would translate into votes. We know it did not. Yet, the number of abortions rose after her candidacy, and availability has increased in the mailed pill. There are many other variables in...

  A secular poster on a religious site recently wrote that right wing Christians do not carry the gene that allows them to understand consequences. So many Christians feel it is always open season on bashing opponents, and it does not occur to them opponents have available the same rules to bash them. Decades ago when I was a mayor and protestors were screaming at patients entering the abortion clinic in our city there were others pushing back. People who supported abortion rights spoke out and sometimes carried signs among the protestors.  For some months one of the loudest most aggressive protestors was a man who owned a small chain of hamburger carry out restaurants. One of the supporters of abortion rights suggested publicly her group might picket his restaurants. There were no plans or interest in actually doing this, just a suggestion of the idea. The man was outraged. "Why would anyone picket my restaurants when I'm only exercising my freedom of religion rights?" H...

The Reformation is not discussed enough. In it lies a story that applies to today and all times to come. To summarize, it was a time when Martin Luther, a priest in good standing, wrote and talked about the evils then going on in the Catholic church. That evil was priests taking money for promises they made about the fate of dead people. If grandma sinned and needed a break to get into heaven after she was dead the priest could arrange that for you. But the priest demanded money.  People were fed up with this but, in their limited knowledge, thought they had no choice. Luther came along just at the right time and a revolt took place. He did not intend to start a new branch of the Christianity but that was the outcome. He made up his own stuff; he preached hatred of Jews and no doubt contributed to centuries of grief for them. To me, the Reformation illustrates the dark side of religion. It is a thing those in positions of power use to punish others in the public. The scheming pries...

During much of the past few decades, politicians running for local and state offices saw little downside to preaching against abortion. They would each claim to be more against abortion than their opponents. Then things changed. Abortion is seldom brought up now. What changed, of course, was abortion rights winning statewide referendums. Now politicians do not see anti-abortion as a risk-free issue and seldom bring it up. Readers know Talarico is studying to be a preacher and has stated the Bible does not condemn abortion. He supports gay marriage. Paxton, his Republican opponent along with the religious right, are making the election into a referendum on the right's interpretation of the Bible. If Talarico wins, endorsement of the right's version of the Bible and putting that version into various laws will not be see as no risk postures. Bible Belt politics will be different. It could be even worse for the right. Liberal candidates may see an advantage in lampooning the right...

  In the past when families were large, entering the priesthood training was the pride of parents and siblings. Now it is seen as peculiar. The commitment of years in training and celibacy is no longer on the table for either many parents or children. Some lament this and blame parents and young people.  We all know the variables punishing against being in the Catholic clergy. Plenty of Protestant denominations need clergy but also have in place ridiculous obstacles.  A couple of generations ago families were bigger. Parents may not have lamented a childless child of their own. With only one or two children, the notion of a celibate adult child may not seem as appealing. College costs are more formidable today. Even with the denomination subsidizing the entire life package may not look appealing. If one works all of his/her life, the retirement reward of a nice place in Florida may look better than the denomination's housing for poor clergy.  Most young people look f...

  Along with friends in Red River Freethinkers, I spent several years trying to move a stone engraved version of the Ten Commandments off City of Fargo (ND) property. My wife, Elaine, and I put not only time but a considerable amount of money into the effort. While we were unsuccessful and the stone still stands there, it was an interesting experience and provided a life-long thread of events I still follow. One was an article published recently by a law professor at the Christian university, Liberty. To my amateur eyes it seems like a balanced view of the history and current status of displaying the Ten Commandments on public property.   These Ten Commandment display go back mostly to the 1950's. There was sort of an irony of history that Cecil B. Demill was promoting his movie, "Ten Commandments" at the same time a judge in Minneapolis concluded that children behaved better if the Ten Commandments are displayed in their homes. The result was stones being installed on pu...

In 2002 a Canadian writer regarded as an authority in religion predicted a religious revival would sweep through Canada. Instead, religion went into a nose-dive and has never recovered. Canada is ahead of the U.S.in the decline of religion but the U.S. is headed in the same direction.   The reason for the projected increase in the faith numbers made back in 2002 was, "There is a longing out there which can only be satisfied by engaging the faith." It turned out the "longing" was not there of if it was it was satisfied with something else. What's ironic is that one can read the identical words written about the U.S. today on religious sites. It is said there is longing in today's society which will be satisfied by large numbers coming back the church.  I suppose this comes from testimony of people who join or return to the faith. That some people claim the need experienced by recent converts can be assigned to the broader society. The facts are there is no ...

When Mitt Romney ran against Obama, Republican polling told Romney just before election day he would win. Election night he watched the returns in black districts in Ohio. He knew he was defeated. Republican polls had treated black voter turnout as average. A large black turnout turned the tide in states Romney needed. I don't understand why the turnout of black voters varies. We do know voter turnout varies among all groups. Logic would tell us, and voter drive activity reinforces, the prediction there will be a large black turnout in the coming election. It will be for Democrats but more meaningfully a vote against Trump and Republicans. The link explains the gradiences of various groups. One I had not thought of is the thousands of people laid off from Federal jobs. A disproportionate number of these are black voters. They are the kind of people knowledgeable about elections and the organizing that precedes them.  Our effort to understand electoral politics is helped by the 2024...

All of us learn over the course of our lives that some things we were taught earlier turn out not to be true. Sometimes it was "history" that was incorrect but passed down with good intentions. Sometimes it was myth. And sometimes the myths were passed down with bad intentions, such as the desire to control or take advantage of others including ourselves.  The passage of time has put the Bible on the defensive. While a few today treat it in its entirety as "true", the more common approach in Christianity is to select certain parts, treat those as true and powerful, and disregard other parts as myth. When trying to convince others of the Bible's importance the marketer has to convince the customer that not only is the favorite part "true" but the speaker, writer or preacher is the one that knows and can separate the chaff from the wheat.  Gambling can teach us about the probability of "truth." If you flip a coin and guess "heads" you...

Trump and company has been lampooning environmental rules and ridiculing concerns. The longer this goes on, and we're still here, it's easy to imagine there are no consequences. An end to our current standard of living is out there. Some scientists are still talking about it. The link calculates known resources and our rate of using them. The conclusion is the earth needs to cut its population by billions in order to shoe-horn back into the available resources. When I have brought up the need to reduce the earth's population before skeptics always say dire predictions of the past have never materialized. It is, of course, impossible to predict exactly when and how environmental damage will take its toll. It is not hard to realize the problem is out there. Rational people will see the need to adjust.  One simple way to see the problem is to recognize our food production depends on artificial fertilizers. We can produce food without it. We just cannot produce as much. In ingr...

Growing up in a tiny rural community we all knew the serious sins. The Sin Leader Board, as I remember, was beer, doing work in farm fields on Sunday, dancing and playing cards with clubs and spades. Probably it was not a place good for mental health. There was right there in the Bible a sin no one mentioned.  A recent article in Christianity Today reminds us the Bible's Sin Leader Board has near the top the sin of "usury." I don't have a subscription so a pay wall keeps me from reading the entire article. I think I know what it says, however. The conventional wisdom within the faith today is that "usury" refers to charging unfair or extraordinary interest. It is to take advantage of the borrower. "Reasonable interest" is OK. That is not how the Bible passages were interpreted during much of the time since its existence. Interest was bring in money for no labor. Nothing was produced, why should anyone be paid? There have been times and places in hi...

The older I get the more difficult it is to read history. On every continent of the world are people there because of brutal conquests back in time. I don't know of any place we can be certain is "indigenous." Reading about this country and my people, the white ones, is especially painful. One of the "heroes" is Columbus. He wrote of his capture and enslavement of indigenous people he found here and bragged at length of the victory for Christianity. Today, we have the same thing in Secretary of Defense Hegseth using his religion to justify cruelty. The link contains a picture of Columbus' own handwriting which spells of the Godly virtue of his capture and enslavement of some natives. It was the work of the Lord. Of course, those who later brought slaves here from Africa also claimed a pious cause. The Bishops of Italy gave Columbus their blessing as he sailed off. He made two more trips here for fame and profit. I have beside the chair where I am sitting nex...

Some decades ago I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba with our son's scout group. Most of the group was hosted overnight by a church in the downtown. The congregation had been declining. The solution was to tear down the church building and build a high rise affordable housing building. The congregation continued to meet in rooms on the main floor. I remember marveling at the moveable furniture and attractive appearance. Why don't we do that in the U.S. I wondered? Now this is being done in downtown Madison, WI. As in Winnipeg, the smaller congregation will meet in the new building. Maybe this is underway in other places.   Everyone agrees more affordable housing is needed in the U.S. Mostly people do not want such housing near them so acquiring land zoning is difficult to impossible. Land itself, of course, is expensive in the downtown areas where people need to live so they can find work nearby.  Downtown churches can help because usually they own land free of debt. When they de...

A convert from Islam to Christianity recently penned a post lamenting the number of Christians going the other way, from Christianity to Islam. Her theory is that Christians are too pushy and judgmental and that is why some leave for Islam. This theme of obnoxious Christians has been appearing more frequently in the Christian press recently. The posts always include some quotes from the Bible admonishing the faithful to win over those in other faiths with kind behavior. If these quotes are helpful, why are they being put out there now? Earlier would have been better. The link lady makes one big error. She writes that the Christian message is not just one message competing with others. She thinks it is something above all that. Unfortunately, it is actually just one more group pumping out propaganda. It is not different from all the others. New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman claims Jesus, that is the writing claiming to quote Jesus, was different than anything else during that period. Eh...

Democrats have been burned so many times in recent decades they refuse to believe they can really win in Republican states. Texas is an example. Yet, everyone who talks to Texans says the same thing. Texans have questions about Talarico. But there is deep dislike his opponent, Paxton. We all have a tendency to predict voting patterns on past experience. As Reagan once said, "In politics the unexpected often happens." There are other generalizations made by prominent politicians. Tip O'Neil wrote a book, All Politics are Local. I have that book. Tip says politicians are known locally and how they are perceived locally often supersedes national issues. Hubert Humphry said, "You cannot talk down to voters." To me, Trump and his version of the Republican Party are doing that. Making outcomes even more difficult to predict are changes in demographics. Every day, some voters die and young people have birthdays moving them into the voting age. All of us know the old te...

The Christian press has tried lampooning Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion for all of these 20 years. Yet the book's impact, or the cultural change that gave rise to its popularity, continues. Dawkins penned a wonderful essay about the conflict between the faith and those of non faith and it's worth reading.  Dawkins points out that the power of Charles Darwin's book explaining where humans came from. It destroyed creationism as the explanation. Darwin wrote this around the time of the Civil War. Christian creationism started downhill and has never stopped. Dawkins points out in last week's essay the destruction of creationism has been so complete those in Christianity with academic backgrounds have all but abandoned it. Dawkins points out these Christians who have been forced to abandon creationism have now turned to another argument. That is about the universe. Readers all know the argument. It is that so many things in the universe had to happen to arrive at an e...

When the Secretary of Defense announced a new office of religion in the miliary he did not refer to it as encompassing all religions. It was as if he had never heard of religions other than Christianity. He quoted from the Bible.  The Office of Religion is the Office of Christianity in the military.  The U. S. military is so huge I suppose there are many specialized enterprises within it. There is a chaplaincy corps that considers all or nearly all the faiths represented in the military. Chaplains are prepared to conduct religious services in religions they themselves are not part of. Where does Secretary Hegseth's Office of Religion and the Bible verses he used fit into the Chaplaincy Corps? I would guess most of the career Chaplains do not know where it fits in either. I read over the years about the part of the military that deals in propaganda. We all know playing with the heads of the enemy has always been part of warfare. Where does Hegseth's own religious propaganda fit...

With more Democrats who are clergy running for office and suggesting there is more than one version of Christianity other than the Christian right we are seeing bitter commentary about these liberal politicians. If several of these liberal clergy win election, will there be anyone that disapproves of any version of the faith? Will there be any blasphemy left? Christians are so fragmented it's hard to see a central definition in the future. Not long ago, Christian factions united against liberal who did not want prayer in schools and at public meetings. Now Christians themselves are in different camps. Some are saying the Constitution itself was flawed in wanting a separation of church and state. Apparently, they want a new Constitution requiring the Christian right.  Political groups now seem to be forming religions that conform to politics. This may not be all bad because it is more honest than what we see today. Today religious groups say their politics are a result of their reli...

One of the most humorous things conservative Christians say about their faith is, "The culture changes but the faith never changes." Beliefs in Christianity have morphed in many directions since day one. When studying the faith as a whole, we need to distinguish among the various ways its many parts are organized. Groups like the Southern Baptist Convention join it voluntarily. Churches can be kicked out but there is not a church bureaucracy like the Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians. Yet the economic base of the latter is those in the pews who pay the bills. The members navigate the cultural waters to a large degree. People leave one denomination and go to the competition. To gage the struggle in the faith, the Catholic denomination is the place to look. It has been for the last several hundred years very top down. The "truth" is at the top, not in the pews. The current struggle I've been following for several years is the German Catholic  determination t...