Thoughts of a Freethinker

The anti abortion propaganda mill tries to create the impression that when they persuade a young woman not to have an abortion, "a life is saved." Statistically, this is not true.   Childbirth kills some women. In poor countries, childbirth is one of the largest killers of women during their child bearing years. Abortion is an ancient practice that has been done, so far as we know, since the earliest humans. During those early times, when food and shelter were limited, it appears people calculated carefully the food available and compared it to the mouths to feed. When missionaries first encountered the Eskimo they learned of infants killed when there were too many and older tribal members committing voluntary suicide when they could not long help the clan survive. Instead of cranking out their regular diet of bogus statistics, those who oppose abortion should just say they oppose it because they do not like it. Abortion is safe. It does not affect the long term ment...

Many experiences written about in the Bible were hallucinations . Those who wrote the Bible admit it. Yet, they are treated as historical events similar to the way we consider the 2016 election. None of us believe the 2016 election did not happen. When Paul talked to Jesus long after Jesus was dead we are to believe it was as real as the 2016 election. How can people today believe such stuff Today on the religious site, The Christian Post, there occasionally are stories of dreams and visions. These are giving the same prominence as documented news stories. Christian Post does refer to them as visions, however, so readers can decide on their importance. The link discusses whether or not hallucinations or visions are a sign of mental illness. A conclusion seems to be that they are not, by themselves, mental illness. Mentally ill people, however, can have so many hallucinations they lose touch with reality itself. It seems to me the line is never perfectly clear between the reli...

A recent study and book on the topic show that young girls who attend churches where women are pastors have a more positive outlook and move on to more college and careers than those who experience only male pastors. I think it is a wonderful thing when young girls do not see roadblocks, real or imagined, in front of them. That there are Christian denominations which do not prevent women from becoming pastors is a modern development that is a credit to both the faith and those particular branches. Any denomination that declares certain classes of people are unfit to serve as clergy is a denomination in decline. Blocking women and gays from the pulpit is no different than saying black people cannot be pastors as was the case in the old Southern Baptist Convention. It was not until 1995 that the SBC renounced it racists past. Now, almost 25 years later the Christian denominations which segregate against women have yet to renounce that practice. I would recommend that any pare...

At this moment, abortion is not legal in Argentina. The lower house in Argentina has approved making abortion legal. Shortly its Senate will vote yes or no. Abortion rights have done well in Latin America and in Ireland. Predictably, the Bishop of Argentina made a statement about the rights of fetuses but said nothing about the rights of women. The pattern for approval of abortion is so obvious it can be called self evident. When the percentage of women who are the main family breadwinners increases support for abortion rights increases also. Women are a large part of the workforce in Argentina. Statistics show that the percentage of women in the workforce of Argentina has been increasing rapidly  and is now 40%. Women are the primary breadwinners in 1/3 of Argentine households. I am not predicting the outcome of the Argentine Senate vote. I am saying legalized abortion will come to Argentina sooner or later. Making endless proclamations that fetuses have unique DNA,...

Some decades ago a Pope named "Paul" issued a controversial paper on what kind of birth control Catholic couples are allowed to practice. It's OK to limit the number of children a couple has, the Pope wrote. It's just that limiting the number of children by using a condom is a grave sin but limiting children by not having sex during the woman's maximum time of fertility is not a sin. A paper recently discussed this peculiar reasoning. There is no logical reason to declare one method of birth control sin and another not sin. Either both are sins or neither is a sin. Surely we can all agree that before there was human understanding of the female fertility cycle humans did not know how to limit the number of pregnancies. They followed there natural urge to have sex. So called "natural law" would be to follow urges that nature provided humans. The ultimate "natural law" would be no effort whatsoever to avoid pregnancy. The link explains t...

Bible passages used against homosexuality are full of absurdities. No place in the Bible is there an essay or explanation of a theological condemnation. This opened to door to a large part of Christian chest beating about the issue. The link explains in careful detail why we should treat the "abomination" passage in Leviticus with great caution. There is good reason to argue it was inserted into material which was about something else entirely. Then there is the Southern Baptist Convention theory. It is that the Bible has several isolated remarks condemning homosexuality so that is that. The passage in Leviticus where the abomination appears is all about incest. It defines what is incest. It is sex with your uncle's wife, with your daughter in law and so forth. The link author points out the principle of "the exception contains a rule." For example, if the sign in a store window says, "CLOSED SUNDAYS" it implies the store is open all the ot...

Nearly every day there is an article proclaiming the moral decay that is supposedly happening in our country. This one talks about abortion, gay marriage, cohabitation and whatever else. These do not actually constitute moral decay. Instead, they represent the change going on behind the preaching. The preaching is oblivious to reality. One of the things this represents is the personal opinions of those claiming "moral decay." If those people do not like assertive women they claim abortion is a sin. If they do not like gay people then gay marriage is a sin. Anyone can see from the Bible it authors wanted to impose their own personal hang ups and assign God's wrath to them. Those who are disliked are condemned as sinful. If someone is liked, eyes are shifted away from the "sin" and it is ignored. Some Christians claim their belief system is superior to other religions and to those who find there is no evidence of a god. Experience does not show they are...