Ah, How Refreshing it is to be an American Free Thinker!
I became a skeptic, so to say, at a very young age in the Mormon Church, as a 20 year old mother, of a new baby, being told by the Mormon prophet of the time, to not hold off having your family, for your education. As I sat home on beautiful fall days, like these, with a brand new baby, as of October 3, 1975, I started to rage against the machine of the old stodgy, white, all male, Mormon patriarchal system, that relegated me to baby vessel, ironing white shirts for meetings, cleaning house, and making meals for my family. I remember thinking at that time, yes, way back then, as the second wave of the woman's movement was mounting, that I wanted to go to law school specifically to tell the brethren of the Church, were to shove it, that all of us, women, are not to be relegated to the ranks and file of house-wivery, drudgery, indentured servitude, slavery, and motherhood, as our only way of expressing our self's to the world. Just like, they, as men, would not like to all be told to be farmers, finding all creative outlet on the farm, so they would always be close to home, and available to their families. I needed an audience, a stage, listeners, learners, and fellow thinkers. The first time my husband ever heard me swear, or that I ever did actually swear, was when he had been gone for a week, in Texas, on a planning conference, I was pregnant, and the only people I had to talk to were under the age of 7!
With young children at home, sequestered to laundry duty, babysitting, house cleaning, and church work, my mind started to turn to mush! Keeping my vocabulary to a minimum, so that my children and their cadre of friends, could understand what I was telling them to do, referring to blankets, as blankies, and bottles as bobas, or go get the baby's pinkie, etc., my life was going to hell in a laundry basket! I would sit folding endless loads and baskets of laundry, and picture myself on the cover of TIME Magazine as either woman of the year, or lawyer of the year, mind you, I didn't even have an undergraduate degree yet, that took 4 kids, 4 colleges and 12 years to get . . . just as the women in the early suffragist movements, me, Lucricia Mott, Elizabeth Cody Stanton, and Earnestine Rose, female leaders of the women's movements, joined by abolitionists, and free thinkers, of the times, almost a century apart, were seeing things pretty similarly . . . the religious teachings of the Bible, and other doctrine, in Mormonism, like polygamy, or the New Testament statement by misogynists like Paul, that women were to be silent in church, were having a meeting of the minds.
I remember reading, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and other novels, life the one I related most to, Madame Bovary, with women, who did all they could, to fight the boredom of marriage, agreeing with lines, like, sex was an expected dessert, after a monotonous dinner, or being so bored, that I wanted the rocks in the garden to talk to me, after having thoughts of affairs, in my mind, with roofers, across the street on the Mormon Church, with their shirts off, even taking them lemonade and cookies, as my Mormon version of adulterous rebellion, staying within the bounds of marriage covenants--I am glad that the scriptures only refer to a man, looking on a woman with lust--there are some advantages, to that sexist book, but later wanting lovers--that was Madame Bovary, not me, then volunteering to sew underclothes for the orphans, in the book, or the modern day substitute for that, as some form of repentance. I thought, if having children and temple marriage is so right, then, why am I so miserable . . . I think it was my age, the institution, not necessarily my husband, perfect for me at the time, and the one who rescued me, by telling me that I had so many talents, that could not be fulfilled within the walls of the house, and I needed to go back to school!
Thank God, Richard, or Zeke, as I called him, was a liberal, a free thinker, and a Christian! My children, are my pride and joy, and even more so, now that they are free thinkers also, more fun, the older they get, the more educated they get, and the smarter they get, with almost all, if not all of them way smarter than their mother! And, I still agree, that no success can compensate for failure in the home, but there is a life out there, beyond the four walls of a woman's home, for her to explore! Careers to conquer, and adventure to be had, lovers to experience, and risks to be taken, thoughts to be entertained, and a life without bounds to enjoy . . . free thinker!
The Free Mind--Like A Rocket, Fighting the Gravity Field of Earth, Then Breaking Through the Atmosphere, To A Gravity Free Zone!
That is the feeling I had meeting with the Flathead Area Skeptics Association, that will be meeting again, at the Kalispell Brewing Pub, this Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., to explore anything from UFO, so the psychic phenomena, para-psychology, the occult, superstition, magic, and about anything else anyone wants to entertain talking about, exploring, thinking about, and it appears, that anything goes, but, that is me, speaking, not the leader of the group. The newspaper, to the amusement and humor of the group, said the meeting was semi-secret, but everyone was welcome, and that was entirely honest, everyone was welcomed, all thoughts a comments were discussed, nobody was asked to leave, or looked at as making strange comments, this is a mecca of free thinking and I found it to be delightful!
Some of the community efforts and projects this varied group of individuals, that came from Whitefish, to Lakeside, and all in between, are doing is:
- 3 mile, adopt a highway
- Ask An Atheist Event
- Darwin Day
- National Day of Freedom of Thought
- Freedom in the Pub
- Jesus statue lawsuit, Knights of Columbus placed that statue on Forest Lands, or Public Lands, over 60 years ago, and for the time being, the judge ruled that it can stay, but it sounds like it is on appeal
- ACLU/FASA--Stopped high school chorus and choirs from being required to perform at a Mormon Church Christmas function as part of their grade . . . couldn't agree more!
- monthly meetings, the first Tuesday of the month, at the Kalispell Brewing Pub, 5:30 p.m., this week!
- 1st Sunday of the month, there is a fellowship meeting for fellow Atheists and Agnostics, Deists, etc.
- Solstice Parties . . . summer and winter
- every year in Glacier National Park, the group transplants seedlings
- help local shelters, this year when a boiler broke and the shelter couldn't afford to repair it, these guys did . . . thanks!
- Center for Inquiry . . . Council for Skeptical Inquiry
U.S. Constitution, Referred to as a Godless Document!
Many of the founding fathers, were agnostics, deists, liberals, free thinkers, and considered radicals of their time. Thomas Paine, who wrote the pamphlet, that probably saved America in the Revolutionary War against Britain, Common Sense, was later condemned, as the father of free thinking, was attacked as an infidel, in this book, the Age of Reason, later was condemned as blasphemous, and ridiculed for his free thinking, but he was also the inspiration for many who would later, champion free thought across America, like Robert Ingersoll, who was a noted speakers, and drew crowds of 50,000 at times, to decry religious bigotry, slavery, triumph women's rights, freedom of thought, and did much to preserve the America, that the founding fathers, intended it to be, secular, not religious in nature!
They did, the founding fathers, who drafted the U.S. Constitution, what all Americans, should do, when attending secular, local, state, and national meetings, leave their religion at the door, not necessarily, abandoning their principles, their religious beliefs, adherence to the 10 commandments, in their personal or private lives, but to respect every one's beliefs, as different, valid, varied, multiple and complicated, even respecting those who didn't believe in God, or Jesus Christ, atheists, agnostics and deists, seeing all men created equal, with equal access to law, justice, speech, freedom and liberty, and that applied to their religious tenants, and thoughts also, respecting both Jew and Gentile, if you will, male and female, black and white . . . that is the ideal and the goal!
Prosecutions for Blashpemy, Obscenity, Heresy & as Infidels
Today, at the meeting, the film, American Free Thought, the second of a 4 or 5 part series, with the rest of the series to be shown, every two weeks to completion, was viewed and discussed, and what an amazing portrayal of the battle for the ideas, that are the fountainhead of the U.S. Constitution, the bedrock principles, this country is founded on, and the fight, mainly with the religious community over the basic tenants, proposed in the Constitution, with many fighters, finding trials and even death at the end of their journey to promote the thoughts, feelings, concepts, liberties, and freedoms whether, intended at the times of the signing of the document of not, but contained in the ideas, notions, if not the letter, but the spirit of the work, of pure genius, in my opinion! The document, encapsulates, and promises, everything, that history has delivered by way of Supreme Court cases, that interpret the plain language, intent and history of the writings of a group of brilliant men, of letters and education of their time, with, heaven forbid, 28 of the 50 signers being lawyers . . . many will say, that explains it all! LOL!
I would refer this time period, around 1850 and forward, up to an including the 13th, through the 19th amendments of the Constitution, as a very politically active and charged time period, with the 13th amendment giving blacks the right to vote, and later, in the 19th, giving women the right to vote, but many free thinkers of the time, abolitionists, suffragists, and such, worked together to form the freedom of thought, among this union of states and territories, with many travelling far distances, to reach the ears and hearts of many to change the thinking, from the old country, puritanical, slavery oriented, Bible thumpers, who were trying to keep the status quo, with regards to women, slaves, and male led religious patriarchies, denying many the freedoms, that were part of a more perfect union. Based on the outcome of the last election, and the alleged, religious right, while cloaked in whited sepulchres, and full of dead man's bones, in my humble opinion, we have not yet, reached the free thinking landscape of Thomas PAINE!
New Obscenity Law Enforced, Many By Hypocrites, Connected to the YWCA
Many young men, were coming to New York to work, without parental supervision, oversight, and limits, with money and freedom, they started to get into pornography, corruption, and deviance's, you know, the old, boys will be boys excuse, and highly respected men, like J.P. Morgan and Colgate, who started up and funded the YMCA, to house and keep the young men, with a much different objective than the Y has today, lobbied for laws that would seize erotic materials, that were sent through the mail, known as the Comstock Laws, with Comstock, being a former U.S. Post Master, who took it upon himself, to seize materials he found objectionable, like pamphlets, of free thinkers, right along with the smut, and later, volunteered, to do the same, with laws in his name, without taking a salary, so he could not be held accountable for taking material that was in opposition to the religious stance of Morgan and Colgate, who had large, personal collections of pornography, or what was considered of that level of obscenity, back in the day.
Today, you would think that the Comstock laws that mentioned but never defined terms like vulgar, obscene, erotic, pornographic, leaving the gates wide open for whatever judge happened to be sitting on the bench, many the sons of preachers, who took the religious stances of the time and confiscated, whatever, they thought, personally, fell into that genre of obscene materials, really, arbitrary and capricious, in their application of the laws. What is funny, is that when the U.S. Supreme Court, in more recent history, viewed some pornographic material, were asked to define obscenity, were not of much more help, nor specific, but merely said, we will know it when we see it! That is not a whole lot of help! LOL! So what ensued after that was a battle between the Gospel of Free Thought, stumping the country, as the religious organizations of the day, were stumping handing out, religious pamphlets and Bibles at an unprecedented rate, calling the other side's, scholars and speakers, like the attorney general for Illinois, Robert Ingersoll, a favorite, I mentioned in one of the above paragraphs, speaking on evolution, science, woman's rights, Darwin's survival of the species, promoting Thomas Paine, and others to huge crowds.
Preachers on the other side, cried, destruction, eternal punishment & cruelty that Deity would assign them to unending punishment and hell! The interesting thing was, the more hell fire and damnation the preachers, levied at Ingersoll, the more popular he became, with people coming to see what he was being condemned for . . . the free thinkers, even thought the religious movement would die out, and the religious movement, didn't gain anything without a fight. Exciting times in the OK Corral! And the question I would have for you, is have we progressed much beyond that now? To me, it doesn't sound much different, than what we have, maybe digressed to, going back in time, to the 1950's, or further, with a Republican house and senate, who knows what we as Americans are in for . . . hopefully, they will take the mantle of leadership seriously, and use reason, free thought, rational basis for their ideas, relying on fact, example and statistics, leaning a little toward the science side of things, not pooh, poohing, the latest UN report on Climate Change, and at least see that man, is somewhat responsible . . . I haven't progressed much, I just rely on the fact that there used to be 127 glaciers up at Glacier National Park, and there are only about 27, barely left?
One Thing I Have Learned Over the Years, Is That Iron Sharpens Iron!
What I mean by that, is that reasonable people, agree to disagree, and generally, seeing the world in terms of black and white, doesn't work, that life, situations, laws, and people are much more complicated that that, and we need to consider exceptions, oxymoron's, paradoxes, allegories, hypothetical alternatives and thoughts, and thinking with every condition, from all sides of the issue, is not from a circular argument, in any equation to fix a problem, not just from a religious, or an died in the wool stance, unyielding, unwilling to work, or consider the other sides, arguments of positions, that just won't work! If there is one thing, you learn in the law, as you go from start to finish, is that the other side's arguments, sharpen and make you define your own arguments, purifying them, crystallizing them, cleaning them up, making your point better, stronger, more powerful, with more weighty authority, that your opponent's arguments. At times, you are only as good as your opposition, so don't want for a lesser enemy, so to say, you want the best and the brightest, coming up against you with all the force, power, energy, to make the best laws, decisions, especially, when there is so much at stake, like the economy, jobs, climate changes, pipelines, immigration, and overall rights! We don't want to skimp, or be without the iron on the other side, to sharpen us!
I heard a great thought about politics, sometime back, and I can't quote it, but politics is a really smart group of people coming up with a plan or law, and another really smart group of people arguing against it, or coming up with an alternative plan . . . it is not enough, to just complain, criticize your opponent's plan or ideas, when you have little yourself to replace it with, or no other alternative. We need opposition in all things, as the scriptures would say . . . I rely on them, because I think there is wisdom and people understand them and can relate, but not if I haven't tried and tested the results of following that information or the ideas, I am not a blind follower, by any extent, but I do adhere to true and tested thoughts.
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