Bert Bigelow - A Tippling Philosopher

A Tippling Philosopher

Sign in Subscribe

Bert Bigelow

A collection of 13 posts

We are living in a judicial dictatorship

Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, just in the past few weeks, have profoundly changed life in our nation. These changes involve abortion, gun control, government funding of religion, and most recently, climate change regulation. All of these rulings were made with a 6-3 or 5-4 conservative majority. In

Supreme Court Storm

Supreme Court forces taxpayers to fund religious education

“What a difference five years makes. In 2017, I feared that the Court was ‘lead[ing] us ... to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment. Today, the Court leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a

Evolution of an atheist

Blaise Pascal, the famous 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, had some advice for those who were undecided about the existence of God. In what has become known as “Pascal’s Wager,” he argued that, given a choice between believing or not believing in God, the wise decision is to believe

SCOTUS and the city of Boston's forced flag attack

The Supreme Court just ruled that the city of Boston must allow religious flags to be flown on flagpoles at city government buildings. The ruling is based on the premise that the city had created a “limited public forum” by allowing the flags of other nations or private organizations to

A penny saved: Why are churches tax-exempt?

Growing up in a small town in Michigan in the middle of the twentieth century, I heard this proverb frequently, and it always puzzled me. In elementary school, I earned a weekly allowance by performing household chores like mowing the lawn and drying and putting away the dishes as my

Faith with a smile

Guest post by Bert Bigelow, a long-time contributor to A Tippling Philosopher. Sometimes dreams can be quite entertaining. Here is one I had recently. I was shopping for veggies at a local farmer’s market, and I noticed a guy who was watching me closely. In fact, he was staring

A conversation with God

My jogging companion didn’t show up yesterday. He was suffering from muscle spasms in his back, and decided to take the day off. So, I was on my own for the daily five-mile walk. It was a gorgeous day…sunny, light breeze, a few wispy clouds, about 70 degrees.

What would Jesus literally do? That is the question.

This is an often-asked question by Christian believers. Usually, the answer they provide to their own question is a preachy sermon, extolling the wonderfulness of Jesus and the religion that is named after him. Or, it’s used to justify some action that an individual intends to take anyway. I

Entitlement: Will we ever return to a 'we' society?

I work out at a local gym almost every day. Today it was too much. Too much workout? No. Too much entitlement. When I walked in and looked at the exercise machine that I usually start with., it was unoccupied... Or so I thought. As I approached, I saw a

'Acts of God' and the climate crisis: Who's responsible?

Religious believers often invoke the name of the Almighty in their speech. Survivors of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes thank God for protecting them…and apparently absolve Him of blame for failing to protect those who perished. They may justify that in their own mind by believing

RFRA – Religious Rights vs. Civil Rights

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” — Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution The original intent of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was to relieve religious groups from criminal prosecution for religious activities that break laws, like Native American

Creation vs. Big Bang

I have been reading a lot of Thomas Paine recently. I just finished “Age of Reason.” I know that Robert Ingersoll, “The Great Agnostic” of the 19th Century, admired Paine, and it is clear that many of his ideas came from Paine’s writings, especially “Age of Reason.” The phrasing

Book Review: Blaming Jesus for Jehovah

Book Review Blaming Jesus for Jehovah By Robert M. Price In Chapter I, the author says, “I love the Bible.” But at the end of Chapter VI, after compiling a long litany of atrocities, inconsistencies and contradictions, he says that the Bible is so inconsistent that it cannot even be