Thoughts of a Freethinker

I've long believed railing out against homosexuality is one of the causes for declining church membership. A survey found the states where churches successfully lobbied their state legislatures to outlaw gay marriage were the states that experienced the largest church decline. To envision how stupid it is for churches to condemn homosexuality, we first need to look at its "cause." There is no "cause." We don't know why some people are attracted to the same sex. We only know it is not their choice. Calling people with blue eyes "sinners" it would be just as ridiculous as calling gay people sinners. Second, think of the numbers. No one knows for sure the percentage of the gay population but mostly it is considered five to ten percent. Let's use the number five percent. In a church youth group of just 20 kids, there will be a gay kid. That kid will have friends. Plus, he/she will have brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, other relativ...

One thing consistent about politics, it's always changing. The same is true in religion. For decades, Democrats compares the rich to the not rich. This led to support from labor and for redistribution of income. But, around the time of Reagan columnist George Will wrote that the computer gave young people the impression they themselves held the power to their economic status. Whatever lay ahead, they would master it with their newfound tool. Who wants taxes on the rich if they themselves will be rich? In his inauguration speech, President Trump said that if you felt prosperity had gone to those other than yourself he would change that. He made this point across several states in counties that had been reliably Democratic. They switched to voting for him.  He keeps making this same point over and over. One has to wonder if it will push the same emotional buttons. New buttons were available for others in the recent election. For a couple of centuries, Judaeo/Christianity has...

The Catholic Church itself have never determined the percentage of gay priests. Outside groups have tried to determine it. The lowest percentage ever estimated is 15%. Other estimates are much higher. Of course, no one knows. In reality, no one should care. If priests are performing their work as required, what difference does it make whether one is gay or straight? Those defending the Catholic church often blame homosexuals for the child abuse problems. There is not a science based rational for that. I'm sure Catholic research universities would not endorse that view. From everything I read these days, there are not enough priests in the pipeline to replace the huge number approaching retirement. Some perishes do not have priests today because there are not enough of them. So, if the denomination went on a witch hunt to ferret out all gay priests, and the number was about fifteen percent, it seems it would make staffing problems even worse. There have...

I read a fascinating account of a mother whose ten year old daughter asked her, "Mom, what is sin?" Theater performers had used to word in front of them and the child had been raised without religion. She did not recall hearing the word before. There must be today thousands of U.S. children being raised in homes where the word sin never comes up. Their social circles are with people who do not use the word. Most everyone reading this and myself grew up hearing the word daily. How would our lives be different if we, like the ten year old above, had never heard the word. Here is my take on how the word is used. To the groups I call fundamentalists or evangelicals, the word is used to threaten children. The mother above said she was told constantly as a child sin led to punishment from God including hell. If this is the only childhood circumstance you have ever known, you might wonder how children learn right from wrong? For that matter, how do the children's paren...

Nothing is closer to religion than death. The big pitch of Christianity is that death can be defeated. Then, there is the preoccupation with some branches that the death of a one fertilized egg is more important than the death of an already born human. I think is is legitimate to gauge the sincerity of a political or religious idea by the amount of money spent on promoting it. A news release yesterday said that beginning in 2015 the average lifespan of people in the U.S. is falling. It means that about 62,000 more people a year die than before 2015. If a branch of religion is "pro life" it seems like this problem would attract dollars and attention. But, it does not. The big dollars are still attracted to fetuses. I don't recall reading of money spent by anti abortion groups promoting better health or longer lives for those already born. One result of this hang up over fetuses is that health care for pregnant women is less than it could be. I blogged a while bac...

Trump and his appointees are not known for rational thinking. Rational thinking leads to conclusions they do not like. How they will escape cause and effect rational when it comes from within their own Administration is what all of us who enjoy political theater are waiting for. The bad news from climate change is a steady drip that is not stopping. From within his own administration has come a scientific report concluding that man made carbon is an important force in climate change. Melting of ice and the consequences are showing up everyday. The Republican Party and Trump have a united front about what to do: Nothing. In politics there is something called "the long view." Paraphrased, it is "We need to have a Plan B in case things turn against us."  President Trump does not have a long view. He assumes he can will people to do what he wants and everything will go his way. He had a version of long view in business. If things cost more than he wanted to pay...

Someday, pundits will look back at the election of Donald Trump and provide an  explanation that makes sense as to how this strange character became President. These days there is a constant stream of analysis though I'm not sure anyone can quite get their arms around all of it. One thing to note is that religious participation is falling fastest among lower income Americans. Lower income white Americans voted for Trump in big percentages. Does this mean less religion drove political numbers to him? While we are doing arm chair speculation, it is fun to move back up the food chain. While government dollars and employees have been rising, government programs and regulations have been declining. A Presidential aspirant mentioned the other day we should return to an 80% tax on the highest incomes. I can recall a time when the tax rate on income over a high level was taxed at 90%. At that time, welfare programs were easier to obtain. Farm subsidies were larger. There were many...