February 1990

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

Religion in the Public Schools

The Equal Access Amendment Corpus Christi Bible Courses

$2.95

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AmericanAlheisl

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

American Atheist

Religion in the Public Schools

February 1990

Editor's Desk
R. Murray-O'Hair

Director's Briefcase
Jon G. Murray

Talking Back

33

Why don't Atheists believe in a god?

Straight answers are given in "Life
after God."

The concept of "Equal Access" is just

another ploy to give government
sponsorship to religion - but willthe
Supreme Court agree? It has a chance
to rule against it in a case now on its
docket.

Th,fqll'II,\",".\llIlndlTlt'nl.(')frll,(lmSllfll~II(l'lIfSt',

News and Comments

Cover art and design by
Czesraw Sornat.

13

Odorless Book Burning - A German Atheist publisher is trying to

bring to light the collusion between
the Roman Catholic church and fascist forces during the Second World
War. But a new kind of censorship is
working to prevent that. - 13
Corpus Christi's Christian Caper
and Its Consequences - A Texas
school district has been giving credit
for a course that brings students
closer to the god of the Christian
Bible. But American Atheists has
sprung into action to stop it. - 15

The Probing Mind

Frank R. Zindler

34

Ritual sexual mutilation of males and

females is explored in "Circumcision:
The Stone Age in the Steel Age."

Poetry

41

Report from India

Margaret Bhatty

42

The religious conflicts dominated

politics in the centennial year of one of
the greatest leaders India has ever
had. The result was not a celebration
of Nehru but "Nehru Trivialised."

Historical Notes

45

The mantle of leadership was passed

from one giant in Atheist history to
another just one hundred years ago.

American Atheist Radio Series

Madalyn O'Hair
The Turn of the Wheel
Marion Stein

Volume 32, No.2

Austin, Texas

29

In this short story, traditional Hindu

beliefs are confronted by lifeon a new
world in the year 2019.
February 1990

47

The question is not what are "The

Ethics of Jesus" - but did he have
any?

Letters to the Editor

50

Classified Advertisements

52
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AlDerican Atheist

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February 1990

American Atheist

Editor's Desk

Religion right between

the legs
rom time to time, nonreligious persons in search of an excuse not to
participate in the fight for their
rights lit on the excuse that religion is
not relevant to modern life.The premise,
of course, is that nothing is worth fighting if it does not encroach on one's personal wants and rights.
How, they ask, does religion affect
day-to-day life? Does a priest tell you
what socks to wear or a minister order
you what to put in the dinner pot, they
demand smugly. How, such advocates
of disactivism ask, does religion hurt
you personally?
For most American men, the answer
to that is right in the crotch of their
pants.
In the United States, circumcision is a
rite of birth for male infants. It is a painful surgical procedure which can have
complications. Like any surgery, it
should not be undertaken lightly. But
in American society, it is usually not
thoughtfully considered, and parents
authorize circumcision with absolutely
no idea of the reasons for the procedure
or what it involves. Most likely few
doctors know the origins of circumcision, when it first became popular in
America, or what, if any, research evidence demonstrates its usefulness.
Because of their open minds, Atheists,
however, should be ready to investigate
any topic, no matter the peer pressure.
And they should be particularly anxious
to question the benefits of a procedure
so closely linked to religion.
In his column this month, Frank R.
Zindler takes on the semi-sacred topic
of circumcision. In "Circumcision: The
Stone Age in the Steel Age," he probes
the religious origins of the sacrifice of
the foreskin. Religion apologists often
like to claim that the founders of whatever cult they are hawking actually had
some valid reasons for the bizarre rules
they made up. As Zindler shows, the
early advocates of foreskin-snipping

R. Murray-O'Hair
Austin, Texas

were hardly thinking of the health benefits it might bestow. To them, the importance was solely an improvement in the
relationship of themen and some imaginary god or gods.
But those same religious apologists
often offer some impressive sounding
medical reasons for taking sharp implements to newborn penises. Who has not
heard that sexual partners of circumcised
men have a lower incidence of vaginal
cancer?
As those of you who have enjoyed his
columns on what creationists call science
know, Zindler is expert at tearing apart
impressive sounding, pseudoscientific
nonsense. And when he took his probing
mind for a look at the annals of "circumcision science" that is exactly what he
found: nonsense. None of you American men who wonder why your personal
parts look the way they look should
miss this article - and no expecting or
expecting-to-be-expecting parents should
fail to give this article a second look before they are in a position to decide the
fate of a son's foreskin.
Women, however, should not feel
slighted at all this attention to men's
crotches, as theirs also are a focus of
study in Zindler's article. Sexual mutilation of women is as common an occurrence in Moslem parts of the world as
foreskin-snipping is in ours. As with
most religious rituals in this maledominated world, women get the raw
end of the bargain. Male circumcision
may be painful at first and may be unnecessary - but it does not deprive
men of any ability to enjoy sex or cause
men the kind of pain it does women.
I personally found the section of Zindler's article which deals with female'
circumcision very difficult to read - he
is quite candid in his description of the
process. I am sure that many of his
readers will be as repelled by the description of the female circumcision rite
as I was - probably more so, as I have
read several other accounts and was
familiar with the details of the procedure.
February 1990

It is because of the horror which the

description inspires that I think it is vital
that it be read.
In the semicivilized West, we Atheists
speak in academic terms of the horrors
of religion. We talk of guilt, of the loss of
a feeling of self-worth. We use as examples the deaths in religious wars in other
centuries and other lands. We chat
about time wasted in religious rituals or
claim that religion makes people feel
bad.
And from time to time, we remember
to point out that religion uses sex as a
control mechanism. Cults of all kinds,
from the pope's brand to Falwell's, try to
tell us with whom we may have sex and
when we may have sex. It informs us
that some kinds of sexual behavior are
good, some are all right, and some are
downright bad. Like all other animals,
we like to "do it," and religion has convinced the more gullible among us that
we cannot unless we have its prior permission. Apparently the idea is that
what teenagers call the hots will get a
person into church if nothing else can.
Sadly, that is true; even an Atheist
shows up at the altar if the object of his
or her affection keeps those legs crossed
until an authority says the magic words.
It is when we talk about sex that we
are really talking about the horror of
god-ism. For every day of every year
millions of women have sex joylessly,
feelinqlessly because of religion. And
every day of every year millions more
have sex with pain, excruciating pain,
and give birth with more pain than necessary because of religion. Many die of
infections and complications of "circumcision surgery" - because of religion.
And every day in America, the genitals
of little baby boys are attacked - because of religion.
.
That is what we should keep in mind
as we talk about religion. Ifyour own experiences are not enough to motivate
you to fight the god-system, think about
the little children, male and female, who
feel the impact of religion in their lives
every day - right between the legs. ~
Page 3

It may be educational but it's also a lot of fun

W

hat we're talking about, of

course, is the Annual National
Convention of American Atheists the three days a year when hundreds
of Atheists from all states of the
Union come together to trade news
and views and to share good times.
This year the Convention will be in
scenic St. Petersburg, Florida, on the
weekend of April 13, 14, and 15.

When the Convention schedule is

made up, we make sure that there are
plenty of parties, banquets, and breaks
for you to chat up a storm. Most repeat Conventioneers (and the Conventions are so thrilling that there
are many, many "repeat customers")
say that the best part of the Convention is getting to be with so many
others of like mind.

Fighting the good fight

Where it all is

If you are raring to start or continue

your work as an Atheist activist - or,
being an inquiring person, you just
want to know more about the issues
important to Atheists - you will
want to visit this year's Convention.
A mix of panels and speakers will
bring you up-to-date on the most important topics which will face Atheists in the next decade. But presentations will be more than topical, they'll
be practical. After all, the point of the
whole endeavor is for you to return
home ready to fight for truth, justice,
and the Atheist way.

All Convention events will be held at:

St. Petersburg Hilton and Towers
333 1st Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
(813) 894-5000

But it's still fun

The Hilton is offering American

Atheist Conventioneers
a special
rate of $55 per night (plus tax) for a
single or double room, for reservations made by March 11. These rates
are good from April 11-16.
Call and say you are now reserving
your room for the American Atheist
Convention. Name the Convention
- or you won't get these rates!

Just because the Convention will be

educational doesn't mean you wouldn't
have plenty of opportunities to kick
up your heels with other Atheists.

You might want to make the Convention weekend the start (or end) of a

Have a vacation too

vacation. St. Petersburg is near worldfamous amusement parks, art museums, botanical gardens, and historical
sites. And then there are the beautiful
beaches minutes from the Convention
hotel.

Registration
They say the early bird gets the
worm. But in this case, he gets the discount. If you register by March II,
1990, the registration fee is only $60
per person. After that date, registration increases to $65 per person.
(Registration is nonrefundable.)
If you have any questions, call the
National Office of American Atheists
at (512) 458-1244. Or write: American
Atheist Convention, P. O. Box 140195,
Austin, TX 78714-0195.

Return form to: Convention Registration, American Atheists, P. O. Box 140195, Austin, TX 78714-0195
Telephone: (512) 458-1244
FAX: (512) 467-9525
D It's before March 11, 1989. I'm signing up for registra-

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February 1990

American Atheist

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Director's Briefcase

Equal access

Ii

Shall a high school

education include equal

access to ignorance?

A graduate of the University of Texas

at Austin and a second generation
Atheist, Mr. Murray is a proponent of
"aggressive Atheism." He is an
anchorman on the "American Atheist
Forum" and the president of American
Atheists.

Jon G. Murray
Austin, Texas

he public schools! of the United

States have been a target of forces
religious since their inception.? It
should require little cognition to determine why. When the state decided that
it was indeed a valuable thing to do to
pull youngsters away from their parents
and home environments for a specified
number of hours each day to "teach"
them "reading, writing, and arithmetic,"
it created a forum for controversy. The
first question was who would decide
what was to be taught and how. This responsibility fell ultimately on community leaders (translation, "the rich") on the
lowest level of our now unruly governmental apparatus. With this snatchingup of the nation's youth, and a holding
of those young and presumably impressionable minds in a government edifice,"
came a host of those who sought to impress upon those little tabulae rasae
their particular opinions. One of the first
"special interest groups," for lack of a
better label, standing in line to make its
mark on these ripe young minds was
religion. If the state was to hold youngsters captive for a period each day,4
what a succulent audience for religious
ideas. Prayers, Bible reading, Bible
!For our colleagues outside of the United
States, our public schools are what you call
"government schools," which I deem to be
an altogether more fitting appellation.
21n1647the Colony of Massachusetts enacted
a law which laid the precedent for later legislation throughout the United States. "It
required every town of fifty house-holders to
establish a school, the master of which
should be paid either by the parents of the
children taught or by public tax, as the majority of the town committee might decide;
... [A] penalty was attached to neglect of
this legislative requirement, in the form of a
fine to be devoted to the maintenance of the
nearest school" (Encyclopaedia Britannica,
11th ed., S.v. "education").
3By 1907thirty states, one territory, and the
District of Columbia had enacted compulsory education laws, leaving fifteen states
and territories with no compulsory education
laws (Ibid.).
February 1990

study, history of religion, sociology of

religion, religion as good, religion as fine,
religion as necessary, religion as indispensable - the prospects for indoctrination under the cloak of education
were boundless. Religion has tried them
all. It became a duty of school officials,
government officials, and finally the
courts to police the schools and to attempt to set some guidelines as to what
could or could not be introduced into
the class day.
The church knows that it has, at best,
four or five opportunities a month to get
at the minds of the young ones to impress on them the value of not just a belief system in general but, in addition, a
particular flavor thereof. In excess of
those church appearances, youth is under the wing of parental guidance or "at
school." The church had to reach the
children outside of church attendance,
Sunday school, or through the parents.
When the golden opportunity came
along of having children taken out of the
home and the parents' immediate control during the day and placed in a government holding area, the church knew
it had to have access to this place of still
bodies and wondering minds. It could be
an incubator for religious thought and
produce the hatchling minds that would
fill tomorrow's pews and collection
plates.

4The federal congress first established a

bureau of education in 1867.On the city level
schools came to be administered through
boards of education headed by a superintendent of schools. The first superintendent
was appointed in 1837at Buffalo, New York.
"In general, it may be said that the progress of public education in the United States
is marked by (1) compulsory schools, (2)
compulsory licensing of teachers, (3) compulsory school attendance, and (4) compulsory school supervision, and by the increasingly efficient administration of these provisions. The compulsion comes in each case
from the state government, which alone, in
the American system, has the power to
prescribe it and to enforce it" (Ibid.).
Page 5

, rr-=--~~

~- ----

,\

,-.

..

, I'

Religious intrusion into what should

have been an arena of learning only, began immediately and with little or no opposition as to form, but the problem of
content was quite another story. There
was agreement
that Bible reading,
prayer recitation, or a combination of
both was generally a good and "wholesome" thing for American youth, but
the questions of which Bible and what
prayer spawned dissent which quickly
rose to the level of civil, disobedience.
This process of strife over the type of
religion in public schools got under way
most sincerely in the second half of the
nineteenth century and continued until
the post-World War II era when the
Supreme Court began to intervene on
behalf of such persons
as Vashti
McCollum and then Madalyn Murray.
Without court guidance as to what is
allowed in the public school arena vis-avis religion, we would certainly, by now,
have but a national publicly funded
parochial system and nothing more. We
may still reach that juncture in our
history, an end toward which Britain and
Australia have come the furthest to
date, if the Roman Catholic church in
particular and Protestantism
in general
has its way.

The Widmar disaster

Then came the 1980s and the combination of the "F undies'" and one Ronald
Reagan, their favorite son, in the White
House. In that atmosphere of Looney
Tunes politics and Hollywood photoopportunity schmaltz, many ideas were
generated in the right-wing think tanks
of the East as to how to inject religion
into the school system under the epiderPage 6

mis, now a little thin and bruised, of the

Warren and Burger Courts' dicta. The
winning entry was the "Equal Access
Act." That act was not the sale brainchild of the Reagan administration, because it came as the result of the Supreme Court cases arising out of a fact
situation at The University of Missouri
at Kansas City. At that institution, registered student groups were generally
allowed to use its facilities, except for
groups desiring to use the facilities for
religious worship and religious discussion.
The fact situation, reported from the
lower courts to the Supreme Court,
was:
From 1973 until 1977 a registered
student group named Cornerstone
regularly sought and received permission to conduct its meetings in
University facilities.' In 1977, however, the University informed the
group that it could no longer meet
in University buildings. That exclusion was based on a regulation,
adopted by the Board of Curators
in 1972, that prohibits the use of
University buildings or grounds
"for purposes of religious worship
or religious teaching."8

S"Fundies" is short for Fundamentalists.

Fundamentalists are those who want to live
by the fundamental or basic elements of the
Bible which they pick out and like. There are
many types of Fundies, each selecting that
particular piece of nonsense out of the common trough of bibles that they find most
emotionally appetizing.
Iprefer the term Fundies with an auxiliary
meaning as well which adds depth and color
to' the foregoing: Fundies equals "fundamentally stupid."
6Widmar u. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263, 102S.Ct.
269, 70 L.Ed.2d 440 (8 December 1981),
opinion of the court by Justice Powell.
7Footnote in original: Cornerstone is an organization of evangelical Christian students
from various denominational backgrounds.
February 1990

In order to understand the Equal Access Act, we need to take a brief look at
this Widmar v. Vincent. The issue in
Widmar was whether the pre-l972 "equal
access" policy at the university allowing
registered student religious groups to
meet could pass muster under the Establishment Clause, the district court
having "found the regulation (4.0314.0107,
above, against such access) not only
justified, but required, by the Establishment Clause of the Federal Constitution."? The Supreme Court applied the
Lemon test-" and concluded, albeit erroneously, that the pre-1972 accommodat-

8Footnote in original: The pertinent regulations provide as follows: "4.0314.0107 No

University buildings or grounds (except
chapels as herein provided) may be used for
purposes of religious worship or religious
teaching by either student or nonstudent
groups .... The general prohibition against
use of University buildings and grounds for
religious worship or religious teaching is a
policy required, in the opinion of The Board
of Curators, by the Constitution and laws of
the State and is not open to any other construction. No regulations shall be interpreted to forbid the offering of prayer or other
appropriate recognition of religion at public .
functions held in University facilities.... "
9Chess u. Widmar, 480 ESupp. 907 (WD Mo.
1979)at 916.
lOLemon u. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 612-13,
91 S.Ct. 2105,2111,29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971),to
wit:
Every analysis in this area [Establishment Clause cases] must begin
with consideration of the cumulative
criteria developed by the Court over
many years. Three such tests may be
gleaned from our cases. First, the
statute must have a secular legislative
purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither
advances nor inhibits religion, Board
of Education u. Allen, 392 U.S. 236,
243, 88 S.Ct. 1923, 1926, 20 L.Ed.2d
1060 (1968); finally, the statute must
not foster "an excessive government
entanglement with religion." Walz u.
Tax Commission, 397 U.S. 664, at 674,
90 S.Ct. at 1414,25L.Ed.2d 697 (1970).
American Atheist

ing of religious meetings "created

a
forum generally open for use by student
groups"!' that did not violate any prong
of that test. The Court arrived at that
conclusion along the following lines.
1. The "equal access" policy's '.'secular
purpose" was the fact that one of the
university's purposes is to provide a
forum for the exchange of ideas between students (454 U.S. at 271 n. 10,
102 S.Ct. at 'Zl5 n. 10).
2. The policy did not have a "primary
effect of advancing religion" because
any benefits conferred on religious
groups were "merely 'incidental' "
(454 U.S. at 273, 102 S.Ct. at 276).
The primary factors taken into consideration to reach this second conclusion were:
(a) The policy did not "confer any imprimatur of state approval on religious sects or practices,"
(454
U.S. at 274, 102 S.Ct. at 276)
because young adults, ages eighteen to twenty-one, are able to
comprehend
the "neutrality"
of
such a policy toward religion (454
U.S. at 'Zl4 n. 14,276 n. 14).
(b) A "secular effect" would be generated (no doubt spontaneously
in the creationist manner) by the
fact that the benefits would be
bestowed upon a wide variety of
nonreligious as well as religious
groups (454 U.S. at 274,102 S.Ct.
at 277).
3. The likelihood of "entanglement"
of
the university with religion would actually be mitigated by an equal access
policy rather than a policy of religious
exclusionism, the latter requiring the
university not only to define "religious speech" but also to constantly
monitor the meetings of registered
student groups (454 U.S. at 272 n. 11,
102 S.Ct. at 275 n. 11).

11Widmar u. Vincent, No. 80-689, opinion of

the Court, p. 4.

Austin, Texas

The Reagan strategy

With the Supreme Court having concluded all of that, the Reagan White
House unleashed its minions upon Congress to push through the "Equal Access
Act," with the objective of extending the
Widmar decision to the public secondary
school level. The maestro of the trickledown economic theory had orchestrated
another comic opera, along those same
theoretical lines, with which the day-today administrators
of public education
would have to bear. The Widmar decision had come down in 1981 and it only
took Congress until August of 1984 to
draft, pass, and present for presidential
signature this "Equal Access Act." In
terms of the usual character of congressional motion, that kind of speed is nothing short of miraculous.
The act was a simple one, but with far
reaching implications. It reads as follows:

Title VIII
The Equal Access Act12
Sec. 802.13 (a) It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school
which receives Federal financial
assistance and which has a limited
open forum to deny equal access
or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who
wish to conduct a meeting within
that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the
speech at such meetings.
(b) A public secondary school
has a limited open forum whenever such school grants an offering to or opportunity for one or

more noncurriculum
related student groups to meet on school
premises during noninstructional
time.
(c) Schools shall be deemed to
offer a fair opportunity to students
who wish to conduct a meeting
within its limited open forum if
such school uniformly provides
that (1) the meeting is voluntary and
student -initiated;
(2) there is no sponsorship of the
meeting by the school, the government, or its agents or employees;
(3) employees or agents of the
school or government are present
at religious meetings only in a
nonparticipatory
capacity;
(4) the meeting does not materially and substantially interfere with
the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school; and
(5) nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend activities
of student
groups.
(d) Nothing in this title shall be
construed to authorize the United
States or any State or political
subdivision thereof (1) to influence the form or content
of any prayer or other religious
activity;

12LegislativeHistory: Considered and passed

House March 2,1984 (H.R. 1310). Considered
in Senate June 6 and 26, 1984 (S. 1285). Considered and passed Senate June '2J, 1984,
amended, in lieu of S. 1285. House concurred in Senate amendment, July 25, 1984.
Signed by the President, August 11, 1984.
1320 USC 4071.
February 1990

Page 7

This makes as much sense to me as requiring a hospital to have a separate

area in its emergency admittance section for a witch doctor to be sitting,
rattle, magic dust, talisman, and all, to administer to those patients who had
a preference for superstition over medical science.
(2) to require any person to participate in prayer or other religious
activity;
(3) to expend public funds beyond
the incidental cost of providing the
space for student-initiated meetings;
(4) to compel any school agent or
employee to attend a school meeting if the content of the speech at
the meeting is contrary to the beliefs of the agent or employee;
(5) to sanction meetings that are
otherwise unlawful;
(6) to limit the rights of groups of
students which are not of a specified numerical size; or
(7) to abridge the constitutional
rights of any person.
(e) Notwithstanding the availability of any other remedy under
the Constitution or the laws of the
United States, nothing in this title
shall be construed to authorize
the United States to deny or withhold Federal financial assistance
to any school.
(f) Nothing in this title shall be
construedto limit the authority of
the school, its agents or employees, to maintain order and discipline on school premises, to protect the well-being of students and

faculty, and to assure that attendance of students at meetings is

voluntary.
Definitions
Sec. 80314As used in this title (1) The term "secondary school"
means a public school which provides secondary education as determined by State law.
(2) The term "sponsorship" includes the act of promoting, leading, or participating in a meeting.
The assignment of a teacher, administrator, or other school employee to a meeting for custodial
purposes does not constitute sponsorship of the meeting.
(3) The term "meeting" includes
those activities of student groups
which are permitted under a
school's limited open forum and
are not directly related to the
school curriculum.
(4) The term "noninstructional
time" means time set aside by the
school before actual classroom instruction begins or after actual
classroom instruction ends.
Severability
Sec. 804.15 If any provision of
this title or the application thereof
to any person or circumstances is
judicially determined to be invalid,
the provisions of the remainder of
the title and the application to
other persons or circumstances
shall not be affected thereby. 16
The Equal Access Act bears rereading
ifnecessary, because it shall continue to
be a debated issue, just as is Roe v.
Wade and legislation directing federal
spending in areas that may lead to abortion.

Subsequent to its passage there was,

and still is, a measure of uneasiness
among members of Congress as to its
ultimate constitutionality. This act, like
many others of the Reagan years, requires court tests which pit it against individual fact situations on one side and
the First Amendment on the other. Notice, please, that Congress evidenced its
concern for the possibly shaky ground
on which the act was built by tacking a
"Severability" section onto the end of
the law to produce the same benefit one
derives from purchasing a string of
Christmas lights strung in parallel rather than in series - ifone light (provision
of the act) goes out, the rest remain lit.
I ask also for you to think about all the
legislative effort, for which we all pay
more dearly each year, that went into
this act from its inception to its being
signed into law. Can you imagine that
much effort being put into guaranteeing
every American a job, a decent retirement income, a roof over his head, a full
stomach, or true equal justice under
law? I can imagine it, but the chance of
Congress expending the effort in those
directions is millions to one. Religion is
so important, from an individual view,
that the entire Congress can be involved for two years in making certain
that institutions of learning make a place
for students to gather to reinforce their
ignorance through religion. This makes
as much sense to me as requiring a hospital to have a separate area in its emergency admittance section for a witch
doctor to be sitting, rattle, magic dust,
talisman, and all, to administer to those
patients who had a preference for superstition over medical science. I have
no doubt that such a scenario will be
part of the hospitals of the future under
current judicial "wisdom."

Testing the act

1420USC 4072.
1520USC 4073.
16Courtesy staff of Lloyd Bentsen, United
States senator.
Page 8

February 1990

Well, it wasn't long before a fact situation presented itself to be tested against
the Equal Access Act. In October 1985
(decided March 25,1986), the Supreme
Court reviewed a case on appeal from
American Atheist

Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in which a

high school student by the name of
Michael Bender wanted to form a religious study group called Petros (Bender
et al. u, Williamsport Area School District, et al.)17 and his application had
been rejected by the school superintendent. The appeal was taken, however,
on a jurisdictional question and the 5-4
decision never addressed the constitutional issue. The question arose after
the district court had ruled in the students' favor.l'' The school district took
no appeal but simply complied with the
judgment and allowed the group to
meet, but respondent John C. Youngman, Jr., who was then still a member of
the school board, did appeal on his own.
There was no question raised as to his
standing to appeal, and the court of
appeals held in his favor and against the
continuation of Petros meetings.'? The
Supreme Court held that the respon. dent had no standing to appeal and
therefore the court of appeals had no
jurisdiction to hear his appeal. It vacated
judgment of the appeals court, thus reinstating the judgment of the district

17Supreme Court of the United States, No.

84-773,certiorari to the United States Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, argued
October 15, 1985,decided March 25, 1986.
18The written opinion of the district court,
rendered May 12, 1983,stated in part: "After
carefully reviewing those facts, and after
giving fullconsideration to all pertinent legal
authority, the court concludes that because
the defendant school district is not constitutionally required to deny the plaintiffs the
opportunity to meet, by doing so solely on
constitutional grounds it has impermissibly
burdened their free speech rights. ; .. "(563
ESupp., at 699-700).
19The majority of the court of appeals held
"that the particular circumstances disclosed
by this record and present at the Williamsport
Area High School lead to the inexorable conclusion that the constitutional balance of
interests tilts against permitting the Petros
activity to be conducted within the school as
a general activity program" (741E2d 538 at
561).
Austin, Texas

Must school clubs have

something to do with academics?

court. So there was still no definitive

Supreme Court test on the merits of the
Equal Access Act as applied to this fact
situation.
On January 17, 1989, the United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit ruled on a case that had come up
from Renton, Washington. Inthe case of
Garnett u. Renton School District No.
403, from Charles Lindbergh High, the
Ninth Circuit ruled that school officials
could limit student groups to those that
they believed were related to its educational purposes. The circuit court said
that they could ban a Bible study and
prayer group, but did not find the Equal
Access Act to be unconstitutional.
Judge Jerome Farris of the panel wrote,
Allowing a student religious club
to hold meetings in a public secondary school classroom at a time
closely associated with the school
day would violate the Establishment Clause. The school districts
refusal to approve a student religious group as a district activity is,
therefore, not only reasonable,
but required.P
At least three other circuit courts
have handled cases involvinghigh school
Bible study clubs with differing rulings,
leaving the circuits divided on the
issue."

20Church and State, March 1989,p. 5.

21James Kilpatrick's
column, Austin
American-Statesman, 29 December 1989,
sec. A, p. 15.
February 1990

We are now into a new year and on

January 9, 1990, the Supreme Court
heard oral arguments on a case on appeal from the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. This
case (Westside Community Schools us.
Mergens) squarely places the issue of
the constitutionality of the Equal Access
Act before the high court for the first
time.
In September of 1984,Bridget C. Mergens, age seventeen, along with some of
her friends came up with the idea of having a Christian fellowship group at Westside High School= in Omaha, Nebraska.
They wanted to call it the Christian
Bible Study Club, and the students led
by Mergens went to the principal of
Westside High School in January 1985
with the idea. The principal denied their
request, so they went back again in February and met with him and the associate superintendent of schools. The principal and associate superintendent discussed the matter with the superintendent, and all three men agreed that the
request should be denied because they
feltthat it would violate the Establishment
Clause of the First Amendment.
At the time Mergens and friends approached the principal, Westside High
School had thirty after-school clubs,
including chess, scuba-diving, and community service groups. Students were
allowed to choose from the clubs on a
voluntary basis, and all of the clubs had
faculty sponsors. Recognized clubs had
the right to be in the yearbook and have
access to club fairs, the public address
system, and bulletin boards.
On March 4, 1985, Mergens and five
other students petitioned the Westside
Community School System School
Board. The board denied their request,
saying that to grant same would be inconsistent with board policy "which permits school buildings to be used only for
22Fifteen hundred students in size.
Page 9

school-sponsored, curriculum-related,
activities. "23
In April 1985, Mergens and her fellow
students brought suit in the District
Court for the District of Nebraska. The
case was picked up by Doug Veith, an
attorney in Omaha associated with the
National Legal Foundation. This is a
group that was founded by Pat Robertson.24The foundation has picked up the
students' legal fees from the ground up.
Veith alleged violations of the students'
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
freedom of association, and freedom to
exercise religion rights under the First
and Fourteenth Amendments, Article I
of the Nebraska Constitution, and the
Equal Access Act. On February 2, 1988,
the district court ruled in favor of the
school board based on a finding that the
Westside Community School System
maintains a "closed forum" and that
therefore the Equal Access Act does not
apply.25

What is curriculum related and what isn't

The students appealed to the Eighth
Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in St.
Louis. The appeals court ruled unani-

23Mergens v. The Board of Education of the

Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66),
No. 88-1227,United States Court of Appeals,
Eighth Circuit. Submitted Oct. 17, 1988.
Decided Feb. 8, 1989.'i!J7E2d 1076,at 1077.
24See American Atheist, October 1988, pp.
19-24.
25Bridget Mergens, et 01 v. The Board of
Education of the Westside Community
Schools, et 01., No. CV 85-0-426.
Page 10

mously that the Equal Access Act is

constitutional and that its provisions
. can be applied to Westside High, reversing the decision of the district court. The
appeals panel said essentially that the
Westside High officials could not argue
that all of the thirty existing clubs at the
school were curriculum related. The
principal had argued in the district court
that the chess club, for example, was
"related to the curriculum because it
fosters critical thinking and logic."26The
appeals panel did not buy that argument, opining that by that same logic
the Westside High officials "could arbitrarily deny access to school facilities to
any unfavored student club on the basis
of its speech content." The panel went
on to add that "[t]his is exactly the result
that Congress sought to prohibit by enacting the Equal Access Act."27Driving
the point home further, the panel continued:

Equal Access Act and Widmar is

the Equal Access Act's express extension of the equal access principle to public secondary school students. Any constitutional attack
on the Equal Access Act must
therefore be predicated on the difference between secondary school
students and university students.
We reject this notion because
Congress considered the difference in the maturity level of secondary students and university
students before passing the Equal
Access Act. We accept Congress'
fact-finding.
Indeed the facts in the case before us today are the same as the
facts in Widmar except for the setting. Therefore, even if Congress
had never passed the Equal Access
Act, our decision would be the
same under Widmar alone.s?

A public secondary school cannot

simply declare that it maintains a
closed forum and then discriminate
against a particular student group
on the basis of the content of the
speech of that group.28

Bridget Mergens, now MergensMayhew is married and is the mother of

a one-year-old daughter, and the family
lives in Bellevue, Nebraska. She had
been reared in a Roman Catholic family
and now attends Assembly of God
church. Allen Daubman of Omaha
argued the case on behalf of the school
board before the Supreme Court. The
school board did not challenge the constitutionality of the Equal Access Act to
the Supreme Court but made the thrust
of the appeal that the school board
should decide what is and is not cur- .
riculum.P
The issue of the constitutionality of
the Equal Access Act's extension of
Widmar v. Vincent to the secondary
school level is now squarely in front of
the Supreme Court. I must say that I
have little hope, with the present Court,
that it will do anything but uphold the

The panel concluded, therefore, that

Westside High did maintain a "limited
open forum."
The appeals panel said also that it
would not agree with the notion that the
Equal Access Act violates the Establishment Clause. It opined that the Equal
Access Act codified the Widmar v. Vincent decision and delivered an important finding on the issue which the Supreme Court must now address.
The language of the Equal Access Act closely tracks the holding
. of the Court in Widmar. In fact,
the only difference between the

26'i!J7 F.2d 1078.

27Ibid.
28Ibid.
February 1990

29'i!J7 E 2d 1080.
30Newsday, 7 January 1990, pp. 13 and 33,
and Times-Advocate, Escondido, California,
8 January 1990, sec. A, p. 3.
American Atheist

decision of the Eighth Circuit. I base this

prediction on the dissenting opinion of
then Chief Justice Burger, joined by
Justice White and Justice Rehnquist in
the Bender v. Williamsport decision
previously discussed. In that dissent,
Chief Justice Burger agreed with the
majority in its ruling on the jurisdictional question but wanted to go further and
reverse the Third Circuit U. S. Court of
Appeals on the merits. Chief Justice
Burger opined:
I would reach the issue the
Court granted certiorari to address:
whether the Establishment Clause
requires a public high school to
prevent a student -initiated,studentled group from meeting during an
extracurricular activity period.
The Establishment Clause prohibits Congress and, through the
Fourteenth Amendment, the States
from passing any law "respecting
an establishment of religion." As
we have observed on other occasions, the precise contours of this
prohibition remain unclear. But it
is common ground that nothing in
the Establishment Clause requires
the State to suppress a person's
speech merely because the content of that speech is religious in
character. In McDaniel v. Paty,
435 U.S. 618, 641 (1978), Justice
Brennan emphasized in his opinion
concurring in the judgment that
"[t]he Establishment Clause does
not license government to treat religion and those who teach or
practice it, simply by virtue of their
status as such, as subversive of
American ideals and therefore
subject to unique disabilities."
And more recently, in Widmar v.
Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981), we
held that the Establishment Clause
did not justifya university's contentbased exclusion of religious speech
from a forum generally open to
student groups ....
The Court of Appeals agreed
Austin, Texas

that the Establishment Clause

prohibited Petros from meeting on
school premises because to allow
them to meet could have been
misinterpreted by other students
as active state support of religion.
Under that analysis, because an
individual's discussion of religious
beliefs may be confused by others
as being that of the State, both
must be viewed as the same. Yet
the several commands of the First
Amendment require vision capable
of distinguishing between state
establishment of religion, which is
prohibited by the Establishment
Clause, and individual participation and advocacy of religionwhich,
far from being prohibited by the
Establishment Clause, is affirmatively protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of
the First Amendment. If the latter
two commands are to retain any
vitality, utterly unproven, subjective impressions of some hypothetical students should not be
allowed to transform individual
expression of religious belief into
state advancement of religion.!'
I feel this opinion of then Chief Justice
Burger is extremely important, because
it embodies the analysis that the current
court willapply to the Mergens v. Westside Community Schools case presently
at bar. The remarks of the now retired
chief justice also gave us a window, four
years ago, on the major shift in perspective on state/church issues of the Rehnquist Court from the Warren Court
days when such issues were viewed
from the Establishment Clause side of
the question. We have seen over a fortysome-odd-year span of high court interpretation of the First Amendment the
movement of the Supreme Court from

rulings based on Establishment Clause

analysis to rulings based more on Free
Exercise analysis, and now the move is
toward basing analysis of the intrusion
of religioninto the public schools on
"free speech."

Can Atheists take advantage

of the Equal Access Act?
I don't think that there is anything
that we, as Atheists, can really do to
stop this trend. We will simply need to
begin thinking in terms of living in a
world of "free speech" doctrine allowing
religion to go where it has not gone
before. We can only muster ourselves to
move into those situations and areas
into which religion has been and willbe
allowed to creep, with Atheist thought.
Ifthe public schools are to truly become
"open forums" for student-initiated
groups, then we must now be thinking
in terms of Atheist students seeking
meeting rooms for Atheist students to
meet in to discuss religion in a critical
way.
This is not, however, to say that we
should define ourselves as a religion in
order to gain the ground for ourselves
that the religionists are now gaining.
That would be highly hypocritical. Atheism is not a religion and cannot be rationalized into one. We must rather demand

31Supteme Court of the United States, No.

84-773, Michael Bender v. Williamsport
Area School District, Slip Opinion.
February 1990

Page 11

equal time and equal space on the basis

of the "free speech" argument that the
religionists have chosen to use for themselves. If the religionists claim that it is a
matter of freedom of speech for the
history of religion to be in school textbooks, then we must argue that the
same free speech dictates that the contributions of Atheist thought be given
equal space. If the creationists can base
an intrusion of their dogma into the
science classroom on free speech, we from religious thinking.
Finally, the statute in question does
can claim that the teaching of evolution
as fact, and not merely theory, is also a indeed foster an excessive government
entanglement with religion. Every aspect
matter of free speech for scientists.
I must also add that I am firmly con- of the Equal Access Act requires some
vinced that the provisions of the Equal type of monitoring on behalf of school
Access Act cannot possibly pass consti- officials or staff. How can officials detertutional muster under the Lemon test. mine ifa given student group meeting is
There is no clearly secular legislative noncurriculum or curriculum related
purpose to the Equal Access Act. It was without forcing the student initiators to
conceived and thrown into the legisla- reveal what they plan to do or say at the
tive hopper for the express purpose of meeting? In order to determine any
allowing students to bring the religious change in status in the group's activities
ceremonies which were correctly re- which would cause it to shift from curmoved from the official school day into riculum related to non-related, or vice
the periphery thereof as a kind of stag- versa, would require continued moniing area from which larger and larger toring of meetings or the employment
forays can and willbe launched into the by school officials of a student "snitch."
heart of the curriculum. To my mind, it 'Under the provisions of the act, the
schools are supposed to provide that
is the same as the rimming of church
edifices around college campuses. If "the meeting is voluntary and studentchurches cannot be on the campus of a initiated." This would require individual
and possible crossstate institution, they willget as close as interrogation
they can and wait until they can move in. examination of each student group
In short, the Equal Access Act was born member to determine if he or she really
was a "voluntary" member of the group
of legislative and executive frustration
and the inability to circumvent the Su- or was coerced by fellow students, parpreme Court's so-called school prayer ents, ministers, priests, or rabbis, in any
decisions. The principal and primary way. School officials might possibly
effect of the Equal Access Act is one need to. have student group members
that, indeed, advances religion. It was followed during their journeys to or
surely not an act conceived to advance from school to see if they stopped at a
education when its purpose was to allow church perhaps, or talked to a clergystudents to use the facilities of educa- man en route, who could have planted
tional institutions for prayer groups.
the idea of starting a religious student
Prayer is hardly an intellectual or educa- group in their little heads. The act states
that "employees or agents of the school
tional endeavor. Education concerning
religion, if the facts are presented and or government are present at religious
not whitewashed, is one key to laying meetings only in a nonparticipatory cathe cornerstone of doubt that eventu- pacity." That would require a minimum
of two employees or agents of the
ally germinates, in some, into an escape
Page 12

February 1990

school to be at each religious meeting,

one to be a monitor of "curriculum relatedness" and the other to monitor the
monitor to make certain that the monitor was not participating in any way. Is
that clear? But the act also states that
the state may not "compel any school
agent or employee to attend a school
meeting if the, content of the speech at
the meeting is contrary to the beliefs of
the agent or employee." So, what happens when you have a student Talmud
Study Club and there are no Jewish employees or staff at the school? Does that
mean that the school would have to go
out and "rent a Jew," to monitor the
Talmud Study Club meetings? If school
officials did so, then they would need to
expend taxpayer funds for religious purposes and that would violate the provision of the act which states that "there
is no sponsorship of the meeting by the
school, the government, or its agents or
employees." I think that it is fair to say
at this point that the Equal Access Act
has failed the third prong of the Lemon
test.
All of this goes to show the length to
which religionists will go to ensure selfpreservation, and that sounds strangely
a bit too Darwinian for them to be associated therewith.
The bottom line is that the public
school should be centers for the education of our youth in the fundamentals of
how to think and not what to think. I had
a high school math teacher who
drummed into my head that the mastery
of mathematics was the ability to understand the theorems and to set up your
equation properly to allow you to solve
for the missing variable. That was most
of the battle and the arithmetic was the
easy part. I have never forgotten that instruction. I fail to see how we can teach
problem-solving
and informationgathering methods to upcoming generations if we are, at the same time, going
to be judicially required to provide them
a forum to practice subjective thinking
and escape from reality, for it is those
two things that religion teaches best. ~
American Atheist

News and Comments

Odorless book burning

hriman-Verlag, an anticlerical
publishinghouse in West Germany,
was recently refused advertising
space in a left-wing magazine in that
country. The rejection of the advertisement means, in the words of press
spokespersons, that "in West Germany
it is presently not possible for Atheists to
advertise their books and periodicals,
for the boycott and press ban for Atheist
publications is now complete."
Ahriman- Verlag, which publishes the
anticlerical periodical Ketzerbriefe, had
contracted for monthly advertisements
in Konkret (published by Neue Konkret
Verlag in Hamburg). For several months,
advertisements for the Ketzerbriefe
were indeed published in Konkret. But
Konkret breached its contract when
Ahriman-Verlag attempted to advertise

ative venture of the Nazi regime and the

church led by the "Vicar of Christ on
Earth." The book is the first extensive
publication in the German language
about the crimes of the fascist, Vaticanbacked Ustascha. The advertisement
for the periodical emphasized the fact
that "Hitler's crimes stood not alone."
The excuse given for the cancellation
was that "The advertised publication ...
is obviously an attempt to play down the
crimes of Hitler by the fact that other
countries respectively, other peoples,
have also committed crimes." The rationale is an absurdity; Ahriman- Verlag
wishes not to cover Hitler's activities but
rather to disclose his collusion with the
church.
At the time of the cancellation, the
advertising contract between the two
publishing houses was still
valid for more than three
months. In a stroke of justice
that seems unusual in a country which still pursues blasphemy persecutions,
the
Hamburg district court did
find that Konkret
had
breached its contract with
Ahriman- Verlag. As a result,
the magazine finally had to
publish the advertisement.
Konkret had previously
shown some sensitivity to
the Atheist viewpoint by
publishing in 1988 an article
dealing with the blasphemy
Attorney Niemietz (left) and Vladimir Dedijer
(center left), president of the Russell Tribunal.
persecutions in West Germany. In an act that is most
a special edition of its periodical devoted
unusual in media treatments of controto the crimes of the Roman Catholic versial issues, the magazine allowed the
church in Serbo-Croatia.
Atheists to speak for themselves rather
This special edition of Ketzerbriefe
than being interpreted. The article
spotlighted the work of the well-known which it ran, "The Middle Ages Are
historian Vladimir Dedijer, particularly Alive,"was written by Gottfried Niemietz,
his recent book Jenenovac - the Yugo- a spokesperson for Bunte Liste Freiburg,
slavianAuschwitz. The book, published an anticlerical organization based in
by Gottfried Niemietz, is an informative Freiburg. Bunte Liste is associated with
look into the Roman Catholic church's
the publishing house Ahriman Verlag.
involvement in the deaths of 800,000 (The same article was published in the
orthodox Serbs and Jews between 1943 March 1989 issue of the American
and 1945. These deaths were a cooper- Atheist.)

In the "free" state of

West Germany, censorship reigns supreme.

The news in this magazine is chosen to

demonstrate, month after month, the
dead reactionary hand of religion. It
dictates our habits, sexual conduct,
and family size; it dictates life values
and life-style. Religion is politics and,
always, the most authoritarian and reactionary politics. We editorialize our
news to emphasize this thesis. Unlike
any other magazine or newspaper in
the United States, we are honest
enough to admit it.

Austin, Texas

February 1990

Page 13

News and Comments

Professor Vladimir Dedijer, the Yugoslavian author featured in this controversial issue of Ketzerbriefe, is the president of the [Bertrand Russell] International War Crimes Tribunal, an entity
founded by him, Bertrand Russell, Isaac
Deutscher, and Jean-Paul Sartre to investigate U.S. actions in the Vietnam
War. His American publishers include
Ayer, McGraw and the University of
Michigan, and his other works include
The Battle Stalin Lost, Tito, History of
Yugoslavia, and his own War Diaries.
He coauthored a book with Sartre on
the Vietnam War. His credentials as a
responsible historian are not in question, and he cannot be called a fringe
lunatic. Perhaps that is why religious
persons might be frightened of his book
exposing the Roman Catholic massacre
in Serbo-Croatia.
A former contributor to Konkret,
American linguist Noam Chomsky, expressed indignation about the magazine's act of censorship while calling
Dedijer "one of the heros of the modern
age." Representatives
of AhrimanVerlag had, however, stronger words for
the situation: "This is the odorless version of book burning, because a book
that is not advertised nobody can read;
it is as good as a burnt book."
American Atheists are familiar with
the refusal of major magazines and
newspapers to run articles on issues
which might reflect badly upon religion.
But in the last decade, more American
magazines and newspapers have been
willing to accept advertising money
from the very Atheists whose views they
willnot represent.
For West German Atheists, however,
money willnot only NOT buy them love
- it willnot buy them advertising space.
- R. Murray-O'Hair ~
IS the Bible

a dirty

book?

Read
for
yourself. 428 pp. Paperback. Prod
uct #5000. S 10.00. A.A.P., 7215
Cameron Rd., Austin, TX 787522973. Telephone: (512) 467-9525.

The X-Rated Bible and judge

Page 14

WAIT

FOR

PRAYERS?

DIAL -AN-ATHEIST
The telephone listings below are the various services where you may listen to
short comments on state/church separation issues and viewpoints originated by
the Atheist community.
Phoenix, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
Sonoma County, California
South Bay (San Jose), California
God Speaks
Greater DC
Denver, Colorado
Southern Florida
Tampa, Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Northern Illinois
Dial-a-Gay-Atheist
Detroit, Michigan
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
Northern New Jersey
Keene, New Hampshire
New York City, New York
Dial-a-Gay-Atheist
Mansfield, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Findlay (Toledo), Ohio
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DIAL-THE-ATHEIST
Austin, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Houston, Texas
Dial-a-Gay-Atheist
Salt Lake City, Utah
Seattle, Washington
February 1990

(602) 273-1336
(602) 623-3861
(619)660-6663
(415)647-8481
(707)792-2207
(408)377-8485
(408)257-1486
(703) 280-4321
(303)252-0711
(305)474-6728
(813)677-7731
(404) 662-6606
(708) 506-9200
(708) 255-2960
(313)272-1981
(612)631-1882
(201) 777-0766
(603) 352-0116
(212)861-6520
(718)899-1737
(419)522-2686
(614)294-0300
(419)423-4090
(503) 771-6208
(215)533-1620
(512)458-5731
(214)824-5800
(713)776-3309
(713)880-4242
(801)364-4939
(206)859-4668
American Atheist

News and Comments

Corpus Christi's Christian

caper and its consequences
e were at first bemused when
we received an envelope with a
return address of "The Butterfly
Effect." But when we made that first slit
in the first envelope and took out the
contents, the bemusement turned to
outrage. The author ofthe letter inside
was a taxpayer, an Atheist, who lived in
Corpus Christi, Texas. He had been engaging, he wrote, in one of his usual dangerous occupations: reading. The local
newspaper, the Corpus Christi CallerTimes, on February 5, 1989, headlined
an article on the first page: "Religion in
the Classroom, CCISD's Bible Course
Is Part of State Experiment in CurricuIa. "
The article reported, with some pride,
that the Corpus Christi schools had the
only Bible content course in Texas being
taught for credit toward high school
graduation. A quoted but unnamed
state official hoped that the "Bible Survey" course could become the model
for all such courses statewide by 1994.
A problem was immediately apparent
to our Atheist as he read the article,
because the teachers volunteered to the
newspaper reporter that "keeping religious beliefs out of their classroom discussion is difficult." Most of the students related that they were learning
more about personal religion than about
the "literary and historical aspects of
biblical literature." One student volunteered:

Even one small butterfly

can have an eventual
effect.

SUMMARY:A Texas school district is

experimenting with for-credit Bible
classes in high schools. While
authorities claim that the classes are
secular in nature, students and
teachers leave them feeling closer to
the Christian god.
An American Atheist is fighting to
keep such evangelical outreaches
where they belong - in local churches,
not government schools.

Austin, Texas

I'm understanding the Bible all

over again. I'm trying to get closer
to God. I'm not doing enough for
God because I don't know enough
about the Bible.
One of the teachers, a minister's wife
named Mary Anne Harvey, said that
Bible teachers were teaching religion
" ... when you get right down to it."
That's what the Bible is - a set
of beliefs about God. I try not to do
it from a sectarian point of view.
But it's hard.
February 1990

One of the teachers informed her

students that "Most women don't like
snakes" because of the temptation of
Eve by a snake in the Bible book of
Genesis. She also felt that "women's lib
people would holler" at the conclusion
she drew from Genesis that Eve's being
created from Adam's rib meant that
although women are equal with men,
their husbands should make final decisions in marriage. She added:
There's a lot of moral teaching
in the Bible. It's good to see (students) wrangle with these things....
Sometimes questions about religion and denominations come up.
... [The Bible] strives to see the
central story from creation to
where we are right now. . . . We
want to teach morality. Morals are
so low. They've got to come from
somewhere.

What's behind it?

It is just at points such as this that the
media often gives more information
than it thinks it gives. For, in the middle
of this story on Corpus Christi, the reporter switched to Thayer Warshaw of
Newton, Massachusetts. He reported
that Warshaw was the author of eight
books "on teaching the Bible in public
schools, and a recognized pioneer in the
field." Actually Books in Print lists only
one "book" by Warshaw, which is a
forty-nine-page paperback booklet issued in 1981 and titled, A Compact
Guide to Bible Based Beliefs. The publisher is Abington, which is a division of
the United Methodist Publishing House
out of Nashville, Tennessee. (A telephone call to Abington revealed that the
little booklet, normally sold for twentyfive cents, has been out of print for a
number of years.) Nonetheless, Warshaw
decided to disagree with the Corpus
Christi Bible teachers. Keeping a Bible
teacher's religious beliefs out of the
classroom is the thorniest problem he
has encountered in more than twentysix years of study. "The problem is more
Page 15

News and Comments

common than not," he explained.

To give you, dear reader, some idea of
the kind of people who are behind Bible
courses in public schools, Warshaw,
along with Indiana University "Bible
scholar" James S. Ackerman, led the
summer Institute on Teaching Bible in
English Classes from 1970 to 1979.
These were six-week institutes to "raise
consciousness and sensitivities." Warshaw claims that:

priate. I think there should be

more of it in the classroom.
Personally that's no worse than
a biology teacher saying that creation theory is not a viable fact and
that Darwinism is.
The newspaper also reported that the
Bible in Schools teachers were paid only
$244 a month since, the executive board
chairman explained, teaching the Bible
" ... is a labor of love."

I taught them what to do in class

with the Biblethat is not evangelical
or insensitive [to others' beliefs].
Such training, he further explained,
was "absolutely necessary" because
even many of the best teachers are not
aware of their biases and how personal
beliefs shape their academic presentations.
When the reporter queried a local
Corpus Christi Baptist minister on this
matter, his response was that:
Our own religious tradition does
not equip us to deal with the Bible
academically, without some academic training.
The situation is fraught with danger,
as the reporter found. One CCISD
Bible student in answering the routine
question of what he had learned in the
course, on his final exam responded:
To trust in God no matter what
happens to me, or what pressure
I am put under.
The teacher wrote in red ink on his
exam paper after this response, "Good
lesson! Remember, God will not give
you more than you, by relying on him,
are able to do."
When the reporter queried the executive board chairman of Bible in Schools
regarding this incident, he could see no
problem with the teacher's response.
A moralistic response is approPage 16

Bible classes in the schools? Not if Atheist R. A. Hudson has his say.

Survey course.
He was amazed to learn that the Bible
has been taught in this district "from an
historical and literary perspective" for
forty-four years, i.e., from 1945. During
this entire period not one of the intimidated citizens of the city (named "the
body of Christ") had protested. Not one
of the school personnel had questioned
the practice. He quickly discovered to
his amazement that the teachers during
the entire period had been selected and
funded through a religious organization
known as the "Bible in Schools Committee" - something which the newspaper
had not mentioned.
He decided he would find out as much
as he could about the situation first, and
then try to do something about it. Actually he subscribed to the theory of the
Butterfly Effect, which he had discovered when researching chaos. This theory is simply that something very small
- even a butterfly - can with its small
action have an effect on all, bringing
perhaps an eventual great reaction. He
saw a need then for his small effort
against the teaching of Bible in the public schools of Corpus Christi. He knew
not what the eventual great reaction
might be but hoped it would be the ultimate removal of the Bible course ..

Enter, an Atheist
R. A. Hudson, for he it was who had
written to American Atheists, hit the
ceiling. Not having any children in
school he had not known that Bible
classes were in the public schools, but
he knew that he was being assessed a
"school tax" on his home and hence he
was paying for the Bible classes in those
schools. All of which is to say that Mr.
Hudson stumbled upon the situation in
the Corpus Christi Independent School
District (CCISD). As a taxpaying citizen,
he would never have known that there
had been, and was still, a major intrusion
of religion into the public schools of the
city in which he lived, had not an article
appeared, willy-nilly,for no reason, in
the newspaper. He promptly demanded
that the CCISD discontinue the Bible
February 1990

Background
When Hudson first approached the
CCISD, he was given a sheet of paper
which was titled: "Miscellaneous Instructional Policies: Neutrality in Religious Matters." Basically this stated that
no religious ceremonies would be permitted in the Corpus Christi Public
Schools. Concerning the "Study of Religion," it revealed the followingapproved
course of action:
The District may allow study of
the Bible or religion for literary and
historic qualities, when presented
objectively as part of a secular program of education. Teachers may
explain the background or significance of religious content and
American Atheist

News and Comments

beliefs where appropriate to the

subject matter being taught.'
An additional paragraph in the "Board
Policies" statement concerned itself
with the "Board Legal Status."
The Board derives its legalstatus
from the Texas Constitution and
the state legislature. In discharging its duties the Board shall function in accordance with applicable
state and federal statutes, controlling court decisions, and applicable regulations promulgated
pursuant to statute by state and
federal agencies. Opinions of the
Attorney General [of the state of
Texas] shall be used for guidance
in interpretation of applicable law.
The Board shall constitute a body
corporate and shall have the exclusive power to manage and govern the public free schools of the
District."
The date this memorandum had been
adopted appeared to be February 23,
1987.
Later, of course, it was to be found
that the CCISD pointedly ignored several major opinions of the attorney general of the state of Texas in order to
continue the Bible Survey courses in its
high schools, although it was apparent
that if the opinions were merely applicable to colleges, they were imperatives
for secondary schools. We'llget to those
Attorney General's Opinions in good
time.

IU.S. Constitution Amend. I; Murray v.

Curlett and District of Abington Tp., Pa. v.
Schempp, 83 S.Ct. 1560 (1963); Committee
for Public Education v. Nyquist, 93 S.Ct.
2955 (1973); Gaines v. Anderson, 421 ESupp.
337 (0. Mass. 2976); Atty. Gen. L.A. No. 128
(1977); Lubbock CLU v. Lubbock ISO.
2Education Code 1.04(a), 23.25; 23.26(a),
(b); Texas Ass'n of Steel Importers, Inc. v.
Texas Highway Commission, 372 S.W2d 525
(Tex. 1963).
Austin, Texas

On further investigation, it appeared

that the Flour BluffIndependent School
District (FBISD) in Corpus Christi was
equally involved with the same Bible
Survey course. Later Hudson was to
find out that the course had been
offered in the FBISD for ten years, and
on June 30 he contacted the superintendent demanding that the courses
cease in the Flour Bluff schools also.

What to teach
He was able to obtain the syllabus for
the Bible course for Flour Bluff High
School for the year 1988-89,which appeared innocuous enough on its surface. The students were required to
memorize the divisions and the books of
the Old Testament, a weekly "memory
verse," the Ten Commandments, and
the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Of course, the content of the "memory
verses" alone could well kill all chances
for the courses to be secular. Hudson
was unable to obtain the exact biblical
weekly "memory verse" assignments.
But in addition the students were required to memorize the Twenty-third
Psalm, an ugly, frightening psalm, hardly a piece of secular forthrightness.
. You all remember that little gem and
can judge whether or not it is "secular,"
literary, or historical.
Psalm 23
A Psalm of David
1. The Lord is my shepherd; I
shall not want.
2. He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures: he leadeth me
beside the still waters.
3. He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,
I willfear no evil: for thou art with
me; thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.
5. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with
February 1990

oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my
life: and I willdwell in the house of
the Lord for ever.

Prayers too?
With this much at hand, Hudson
decided to attend the Regular Meeting
of the CCISD Board of Trustees on
March 13,1989. He was shocked to find
out that it opened for business with an
invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance
- both of which were appeals to god.
He, of course, protested in vain."
Hudson then sent letters to each
CCISD board member asking three
questions:
(1) Do you think it is good and/or legal
for the CCISD to endorse the Christian
theory of religion through continuance
of the "Bible Survey" course?
(2) Do you have any objections to the
invocations that are given before the
Board Meetings? (They are of Christian
genre.)
(3) Has Mr. Gary ever spoken to the
legality of such invocations?
Finally, he put a letter in the mail to
the United States Department of Education, which responded that decisions
about curriculum are made at state and
local levels. In fact, the Department of
Education Reorganization Act prohibits
the department from exercising any
directiori, supervision, or control over
the curriculum, program of instruction,
or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system. Although
the federal government aids in funding
schools, it doesn't have a snowball's
chance in hell to monitor what goes on
at "local option" level. And that is a
fundamentalist right-winger's dream
come true.

3AIl subsequent meetings he attended April 24, June 12, June 26, and August 28 were the same.
Page 17

News and Comments

Another letter to the same department

brought a reply on July 20, 1989,that a
telephone call had been made to the
Texas Education Agency. That agency
had advised the United States Department of Education that the Bible Survey
class was elective and that the Bible was
only to be studied as literature and a
source of historical fact. It further was
posed as being presented in a nonsectarian manner and, therefore, that "separation of church and state is not violated because public funds are not being
spent on religious indoctrination or support of a specific religion."

How to enter the course

Don Sanders, the president of the Houston-based American Gay Atheists, let
Corpus Christi school officials know
that the eyes of Texas were watching
them.

Hudson was also able to obtain "A

Bible Survey Course Application Form"
which was deliberately written in such a
way as to pose the course as "exploring
the Bible" only for literary and historical
aspects of it. However, certain aspects,
even in this specially written outline,
boded nothing but difficulty including
religious indoctrination of any students
taking the course. For example, the student was advised that (s)he would need
to:

Relate past events in the Bible to

current events today.
An experiment
Investigate the times and places in
which the Bible was written and the purWhat had happened historically was
that the course had been put into the for state credit instead of local credit, poses for which it was written.
schools following World War II, at the bounding up from 9 students in the 1987 Explore and enumerate reasons for
88 course to 159students in the 1988-89 reading the Bible today.
beginning of the Cold War. It continued
unabated until 1984. At that time the course. Of this figure, 25 students with Trace the historical events depicted
in the Old Testament from 2000 a.c. to
Texas Education Reform (Chapter 75) drew prior to the end of the semester.
the Birth of Christ. (Note capitalization;
At this point, Don Sanders, president
Act went into effect and the school
could no longer give graduation credit of American Gay Atheists, Inc., also as in original.) Also, of course, it is generally accepted by fundamentalist Chrisfor the Bible courses. Although the learned, independently, of the Corpus
CCISD continued to give "local credit" Christi situation and began a series of tians that all history began in 4004 s.c.
on September 14, at 8:30 A.M.4
for the course, attendance immediately letters to the CCISD and the TEA.
The content of the Bible Survey
dropped from 300 in the school year
Reproduce from memory selected
1984-85.In the year 1986-87,enrollment courses was written by three staff per- psalms, quotations, and proverbs that
dropped to 85. Attendance continued to sonnel (or by an administrative officer are frequently found as allusions in literdrop dramatically then until only 9 stu- together with several district staff per- ature.
dents were registered for the course in sons - depending on which edition of
Trace the historical events depicted
1987-88.Obviously something needed to the newspaper one reads) of the CCISD, in the New Testament from the Birth of
Office of Secondary Curriculum. It was Christ to about 96 A.D.
be done by the religious if the course
was to be saved.
reviewed and approved by the CCISD
Recognize the dates of significant
The only solution would be for the Board of Trustees on January 11, 1988, historical and biblical events.
Bible Survey to gain acceptance as a and then scrutinized and approved by
Explain Jewish and Christian fes"graduation credit" course in order to the Bible in Schools Committee. Ulti- tivals.
lure students into taking it. The CCISD mately the curriculum was approved by
Students were also expected to act
set about trying to obtain state approval the senior high school principals, the
of the course.
Division of Instructional Services Man- out selected passages, write a story
from the Bible in contemporary lanThe three-year experimental Bible agement Team, the Superintendent's
Management Team, the CCISD Board guage, or write a play, poem or essay, or
Survey course which was introduced
execute an artwork based on a section
into the CCISD, approved March 14, of Trustees, and the TEA.
Itwas at about this point that Hudson
1988,was for the school years 1988-89,
1989-90,and 1990-91.On June 29, 1989, discovered that the president of Bible in
the first report of the plan was forward- Schools was also the principal of Chula 4According to the chronology of history laid
ed to the TEA by Charles W. Benson, Vista Academy for the Fine Arts and in out by Archbishop James. Ussher (1581superintendent of schools, CCISD. This the restaurant business as a partner in 1656).The date was first used in an Oxford
revealed that enrollment increased im- "The Happy Chicken." It would need to edition of the King James Version of the
mediately when the course was offered be happy if it was a Christian chicken!
Bible published in 1679.
Page 18

February 1990

American Atheist

News and Comments

of the Bible.
The book for the course was the King
James Version of the Bible itself. No one
had undertaken to describe the Bible,
which generally is accepted to be, "a
book of divine instruction with respect
to the creation of man and woman and
their relation to, dependence on, and
responsibilities toward God." Webster's
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, of
course, carries the definition: "the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising
the Old Testament and the New Testament." The eleventh edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that the Bible
is the sacred writings of Christendom,
collectively described by the word Bible.
Nothing could be more prima facie
sectarian.
The Bible course, bucked up to the
state of Texas by the CCISD, was then
approved on March 14, 1988, by the
Texas Education Agency (TEA) as a
three-year (1989-91)experimental, onesemester, one-half credit course to be
included for state graduation requirement purposes. It was, however, required
to submit reports to the TEA after the
first and the third year of the experimental program. If it was approved it could
be considered for a permanent place on
the state's list of approximately five hundred approved experimental electives.
The TEA was later (May 17, 1989)to
inform R. A. Hudson that a review of the
course had been conducted under the
rules of Chapter 75.164 State Board of
Education Rules for Curriculum. The
course met the criteria and, therefore,
was approved.
All of these shenanigans occurring
after forty-five years of Bible teaching
were to bring the Bible course into conformity with the regulations promulgated
by Texas House Bill 246 (Chapter 75)
which had approved of a state-mandated
curriculum and standardized graduation
requirement.

Is everything kosher?
On February 8, 1989,the administrator
of the CCISD decided that a legal quesAustin, Texas

tion might exist regarding the Bible in

Schools Committee's involvement in
funding the Bible Survey course, selecting teachers for it, and either formulating or approving its curriculum.
The two Texas Attorney General
Opinions, which had been ignored until
Hudson brought them to the attention
of the CCISD, seemed to indicate that
the school had a state/church separation problem on its hands, for these
opinions went to the substance of the
arrangement. Therefore, the CCISD
administrator sought a private legal
opinion from the law firm of Gary,
Thomasson, Hall & Marks, although he
could have contacted Jim Mattox, the
attorney general of the state. This move
was reported in the "Local News" section of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times
newspaper that day. Immediately the
paper went to the Bible in Schools Committee. Its head advised the media that
a Corpus Christi attorney, David Smith,
had at one time provided an outline of
court cases and a legal rationale for
keeping courses about the Bible in public schools. Smith was, naturally, a
board member of Bible in Schools Committee. The CCISD, itself, said that it
had had no idea that the attorney general of the state of Texas had issued several opinions in respect to the teaching
of Bible in publicly supported institutions and that it had only recently come
to that knowledge.
Hudson kept in hot pursuit of the
issue and wrote to Bible in Schools
demanding to be advised as to who its
officers were,if it was a tax-exempt
organization, if it was affiliated with any
national group, what its funding was,
and what the teachers were paid. He
also demanded of the CCISD if any
Bible course was being taught by a person not an employee of CCISD, dates of
employment, how such teachers were
chosen, how their salaries were paid
and by whom, ifthey were monitored as
to class content, and if the persons
employed were certified teachers. His
letter to his United States congressman
February 1990

was full of indignation, but the answer

he received from Rep. Solomon P.Ortiz
was simply that he would keep Hudson's
"views in mind if this matter should
come before the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote."
The issue was causing some excitement in the Corpus Christi area and
consequently on March 5 a lengthy
"Public Forum" report appeared in the
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, written by
a teacher with twenty-six years experience in the local schools. Titled, "There's
a Place for the Bible in the Public
Schools," the thrust of the very lengthy
and prominently displayed advisory
article was that Christianity was so endemic to our culture that no one could
understand our history, our literature,
our art, our architecture, and our mores
without a history of the Bible and of
Judeo-Christian religion. The author
condemned the biblical "illiteracy" of
our populace and could find only one
remedy: to re-educate all in the values of
this religion and the book upon which it
is all premised: the Bible. This, she argued, could be done simply by teaching
"about" religion, rather than "teaching
religion." In her argument the distinction is minute.
She then went on to reveal that:
The Bible is being taught in
most states except Texas. I spent
the summer of 1970 at Indiana
University attending a course on
the Bible In The Public Schools, an
Eli Lilly Foundation program,
consisting of fifty carefully chosen
applicants. My files are replete
with curricula developed during
this time, as well as texts used
throughout the country. The Lilly
grant was operative for almost a
decade.
Well, learn one new thing each day.
During that ten-year period, this operation was not reported in any media
prominently enough to inform anyone in
opposition to such a program that it was
Page 19

News and Comments

gomg on.
From this teaching she felt that Psalm
1 should receive the fullest attention in
any literature class "because it happens
to be one of the finest literary creations
in our language."
In case you, dear reader, want to evaluate that remark, here is the item.
Psalm 1
1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful.
2. But his delight is in the law of
the Lord; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night.
3. And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper.
4. The ungodly are not so: but
are like the chaff which the wind
driveth away.
5. Therefore the ungodly shall
not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the
righteous.
6. For the Lord knoweth the
way of the righteous; but the way
of the ungodly shall perish.
Hudson thought that was a gratuitous
swipe at Atheists and continued to pursue his Butterfly Effect.
While Hudson was undertaking his
own course of action, the CCISO was
involved in obtaining a private legal opinion as to its own involvement with the
Bible Survey course. The Texas Education Agency approved a similar experimental Bible Survey course for the
Flour Bluff High School, but specified
that it would not count toward graduation. The March 15, 1989,announcement
in the Corpus Christi Caller- Times indicated that the teachers' salaries would
be, in Flour Bluff, paid by the Bible in
Schools Committee.
Page 20

The results of the study

Within two weeks, the law firm, paid
by the citizenry, completed its analysis
of the Bible Survey course and transmitted it to the CCISO on April 3, 1989.
In its report, the firm found that the
Bible Survey course was offered at all
five high schools in Corpus Christi as a
"joint venture" between the Bible in
Schools Committee and the CCISO.
When contacted the committee proclaimed itself to the law firm as being a
nonsectarian group "which supports
the teaching of the Bible from a literary
and historical perspective" in the public
schools.
The firm suggested to the CCISO
administrator that a possible state/
church constitutional violation could be
cured if CCISO had exclusive control
over the course and if it eliminated the
non-financial involvement of the Bible in
Schools Committee in the course. The
"non-financial" involvement, which the
law firm suggested should be terminated, was the selection of teachers.
CCISO was advised, basically, that
the course was unconstitutional because of the Bible in Schools Committee's part in the arrangement for it. The
first action of the CCISO was to run to
the Bible in Schools Committee with the
legal opinion. On AprilS, a representative of the CCISD met with the president of the Bible in Schools Committee
to advise him that there was a constitutional question concerned with the Bible
in Schools Committee selection of
teachers and to see if the committee
would continue to fund the teachers'
salary if the CCISO took over their selection. The president of the committee
agreed to relinquish the selection of the
teachers and agreed to continue to fund
salaries for a CCISO selection of teachers if the money was used for the Bible
Survey course.
By April 8, the Corpus Christi CallerTimes had obtained a copy of the opinion of the law firm, Gary, Thomasson,
Hall & Marks, and headlined the situation on the front page again, this time as
February 1990

"CCISO Bible Course Unconstitutional,

Opinion Says." This article disclosed,
also, that the FBISO course approved
by the TEA was scheduled to be offered
in the fall of 1990.
When the newspaper contacted Grace
Grimes of Austin, Texas, assistant commissioner for curriculum and instruction of the Texas Education Agency,
with the news that the courses offered
were considered by the local law firm to
be unconstitutional, her amazing reply
was: "We don't review that part of it."
The newspaper used as a pull-out to
highlight the situation the following
quote:
The mere fact that a private
presumably religiously motivated
group has the final determination
regarding teachers for a course of
Bible literature may be enough to
make the entire Bible course unconstitutional. - lawyer, L. Timothy Perrin

The CCISD meeting

A regular meeting of the CCISO
Board of Trustees was then had on April
10, 1989. At that meeting there was a
query as to whether or not the trustees
knew the religious composition of the
Bible in Schools Committee. The president was in attendance at the meeting
and revealed that it was composed of
Protestants and Roman Catholics, but
no Jews. The members of the committee were all persons who had made contributions to it. It was then blatantly suggested that a token Jew be put on the
committee. Later in the discussion this
point was elaborated to include persons
who represented "the public," generally, also.
A question was put as to how the
committee was financed. The president
answered that a fund drive was had on
Mother's Oay each year, but other than
that, the committee obtained money
mostly from collections made at local
area churches and from word-of-mouth
communications which brought in conAmerican Atheist

News and Comments

tributions. In addition, the chaplain of

the United States Naval Air Station had
been helpful in raising funds. The discussion revealed that money came from
religious folk who wanted religion in the
public schools. The question of the
CCISO knowing exactly whence the
funds came was viewed as a possible
entanglement of state and church and
one member stated basically that it was
better if the CCISO did not know the
origin of the funding of the committee.
The meeting was characterized by
statements indicating that there were
fears that the school could be accused
of "entanglement" of religion and government and that the trustees understood that the Bible courses were not
"objective" but that they were only
"supposedly objective."
Another asked if there was a "contract" between the committee and the
teachers concerning the funds for their
salaries. Another query was whether
the teachers would be entitled to state
retirement. Were the teachers being
paid in a manner similar to the NROTC
advisors (teachers)? It was finally decided that the teachers were under the
control, evaluation, and supervision of
the school, and that they were, therefore, "just teachers." It is obvious that
the teachers were charged with promulgating fundamentalist Christianity,
and just as obvious that this was being
covered. The issue as to who paid the
teachers, how much, and why, was not
covered.
In respect to funding, the trustees of
the CCISO then decided that it did not
matter whence the money came for the
Bible course, it mattered only if strings
were attached to the money. If the committee controlled the curriculum or
controlled the teaching, there would be
entanglement; if not, there would not
be. The curriculum had, however, been
submitted to the committee and this
was seen as "skating on thin ice." If the
curriculum was changed by the committee, the question was asked if such a
revision would be censorship by the
Austin, Texas

committee? It was also obvious that

none of the teachers hired by the committee were going to be changed. They
would simply be hired by the CCISO.
In addition, apparently, the CCISO
was paying some costs of the teachers
since the trustees discussed the payments from the committee as "subsidies." One trustee made his position
clear:
I'm for taking money from anybody. We'll clean it. We'll bless it.
We'll use it the best way we know
how. I don't have any problem
with that.
A feature of this meeting was the review of options to change whatever was
needed so that the courses could continue but to create "the appearance" of
being in conformity with constitutional
mandates. One suggestion, then, was
made to "remove the appearance of decision making" on the part of the committee. Such specific language speaks
to the ultimate of deception. The committee could be posited as "any group"
saying, "Let me see curriculum. It's
public information" and this would clear
the committee of any taint of censorship
or sectarianism. In reading the minutes
of the meeting, it is somewhat awesome
to see that the school trustees and the

"Come on. Alicel Don't

40U

February 1990

members of the committee who were in

attendance at this meeting very openly
schemed to continue this intrusion of
religion into the public schools. They
discussed how they could dissemble
and deceive so that what was actually
happening would "appear" to be other.
The trustee meeting concluded with
the introduction of a Ms. Louisa Pearson
Hugg, who was billed as the founder of
the Bible in Schools Committee in 1942.
The entire board was asked to stand
and applaud the woman, which they did.
Also, it was noted that when the very
low enrollment in the class set in after
1984the decision had been made, by the
Bible in Schools Committee, to continue
the classes "regardless of the enrollment." In reading the minutes of the
meeting, it is not possible to know if this
decision was made by the committee or
by the CCISO. It appears, however, to
have been a committee decision. It was
also stated at this meeting that the Bible
in Schools Committee was not an incorporated organization and little was really known as to its composition as CCISO
continued to deal with many unknowns.

The response
The following morning, the Corpus
Christi Caller-Times headlined another
article, "CCISO Should Select Bible
Teachers, Board Is Told." This article

think:this evangelist thing is getting out of handl"

Page 21

News and Comments

quoted George Wetzel, an assistant superintendent of the CCISD, as saying

that the district should "take the reins"
in selecting teachers and designing curriculum since the current practice, as
measured against the Attorney General
Opinions "could be" unconstitutional.
On May 1, 1989, American Atheists
got into the act, on this occasion corresponding with the Texas Education
Agency, pointing out that no changes
were contemplated other than doublespeak
But immediately the CCISD announced that it would take over the hiring and payment for teachers of the Bible Survey course from Bible in Schools.
The CCISD would purchase and distribute books and other materials for
the Bible Survey courses. This could only lead the school into more difficulty
since a federal district court had already
held in Meltzer v. Bd. of Pub. Instr. of
Orange County, Florida, 548 E2d 559
(5th Cir. 1977):
Religious texts or materials shall
not be distributed to students, but
may be indexed, shelved, and circulated as library material.
It also contradicted a statement by a
teacher that the students brought their
own Bibles, and raised the question as
to whether or not school districts should
be purchasing Bibles, and if so what
kind - Jewish, Roman Catholic, or
Protestant. The CCISD also assured
that the Bible Survey course would be
presented in a "nonsectarian manner."
Also, the course would count toward
the determination of class rank in each
.school, The teachers would be monitored and evaluated by the principal
using Texas Teacher Appraisal System
procedures that are generally applicable
to allteachers in the district. Howentanglement could be avoided with such direct supervision and evaluation was not
pointed out. But, of course, with hand
behind back, the CCISD went merrily
on to explain that it would continue to
Page 22

accept funding for all of it from the Bible

in Schools Committee.

The new old Bible course

Classes immediately began on all five
high school campuses in Corpus Christi
and the 1989spring semester enrollment
was 97 students. After all, graduation
crediting had been won from the TEA.
But, despite all warnings, CCISD continued with the same curriculum, the
same teachers, the same situation, except that the money to remunerate the
teachers and for the Bible Survey was
now simplyfunnelled through the CCISD
bank account. This was the identical
procedure that had been practiced for
the past forty-four years. Although the
teachers were not "directly employed"
by the district, they were under the supervision of each high school principal
and were evaluated by the principal
utilizing the Texas Teacher Appraisal
System (TTAS) instrument. A formal
observation of the teacher in the classroom was conducted by the principal of
the school to which the teacher was assigned at least once a year. Both the
teacher and Department of Personnel of
the CCISD receive copies of the completed evaluation. The teachers were
also under the instructional supervisor
(consultant) of the English language
arts. There could not have been any
clearer evidence of the entanglement of
religion and government than this arrangement evidenced.
As indicated, it was in this period that
one of the teachers, who attends Travis
Baptist Church, which sends contributions to the committee, advised the
world in general that the children brought
their own Bibles to class. Then, the assistant superintendent of the CCISD
reported that the school district did not
have books in its libraries to support the
courses.

evasive, he began to search out what

was happening. By mid-year he was
deep into the problem, shooting off letters of inquiry and complaint constantly. His one demand was that the unconstitutional teaching of the Bible in the
public schools be discontinued. At this
time, he did not know that there had
been two prior cases regarding Bible
courses in schools which had been challenged, first in Tennessee in 1980 and
later in Virginia in 1983. Generally, the
courts involved had held that the courses
must be taught objectively and confine
themselves to lessons "about" religion.
How a study of the Bible could be
objective in our public school systems,
the courts did not disclose.

Other states and Bible Surveys

Just how Bible courses were conducted had been made clear in the case
of Wiley v. Franklin. 5
Court testimony revealed that the
courses taught dealt with god punishing
the Babylonian king named Belshazzar,
god threatening to destroy the Israelites
following their worship of a golden calf,
and the destruction of the cities Sodom
and Gomorrah because of angels' inability to find even ten righteous people
there. Testimony revealed that the intent and purpose of these teachings was
to convey religious, rather than literary
or historical messages, and the primary
effect of the lessons was to promote religious beliefs. It was not to convey biblical literary, historical, or social incidents, themes or information in a secular
manner.
The court finally held that the ultimate test of constitutionality of any
course of instruction founded upon the
Bible would depend upon the classroom
performance.
The second case involved was Crockett v. Sorenson." In that, the federal
district court held that Bible could be

Salvation efforts
R. A. Hudson had started out simply
making a protest at the CCISD about
the Bible course. When answers were
February 1990

5D.C. Tennessee (1980), 4W ESupp. 390.

6D.C. Virginia (1983), 568 ESupp. 1422.
American Atheist

News and Comments

taught in public schools without violation of the Establishment Clause of the

First Amendment to the Constitution
only under certain guidelines:
a. supervision and control of the
course should be under the exclusive
direction of the school board;
b. the school board should do the
hiring and firing of teachers for the
course in the same manner as it does for
all other teachers;
c. the teachers should be certified in
elementary education by the state;
d. no inquiry should be made to determine the religious beliefs, or lack thereof,
of teacher applicants;
e. the school board should prescribe
curriculum and select all teaching materials including the appropriate translation of the Bible;
f. the course should be offered as an
elective; and the school board could
solicit contributions from any private
organization, with "no strings attached";
and
g. the course needed to be taught in
an objective manner with no attempt
made to indoctrinate children as to
either the truth or falsity of the biblical
materials.

Texas troubles
Several years later, the matter came
up of offering religion and biblical courses in state colleges and universities in
Texas. Dr. Madalyn O'Hair had been
involved in a continuing argument with
the University of Texas at Austin for a
number of years and at one point demanded that she be permitted to give
accredited courses on Atheism. For several years she had such a regularly
scheduled class in the Student Union
Building,accommodating whoever came
to hear her lectures.
The matter came to a head in 1985, in
Texas, when others were involved in the
legalityof the Bible courses. At that time
North Texas State University wanted to
transform the university's philosophy
department into a department of philosAustin, Texas

ophy and religious studies. This would

necessitate the establishment of six
Bible chairs at the university. Religious
organizations were to appoint and pay
the salaries of the ministers or rabbis
who occupied the Bible chairs. There
was the possibility that students could
apply from six to twelve semester credit
hours in religion courses as electives
toward their degrees.
This type of situation had pertained at
the University of Texas in excess of
eighty years. Academic credit was given
for the courses taught, off campus, by
instructors paid by different denominations affiliated with the Biblical Studies
Association. The courses were listed in
the University of Texas catalog.
At that point, the issue was referred
to the attorney general of the state of
Texas for an opinion, which he issued on
September 6, 1985.7

stand on a different level, since college

students are presumed to be less impressionable and less susceptible to religious indoctrination than are elementary and secondary students. A state
institution may not allow teachers of religious studies to proselytize in classes
which are officiallyoffered or sponsored
by the university?

Attorney General's Opinion

Therefore a university cannot involve

itself in a scheme which willgive a potential for and the appearance of advancing, endorsing, or favoring religion. The
university may accept private donations
to fund such courses, by accepting
funding to set up a "Bible Chair," but
donors may not be permitted to exercise
control or influence over religious studies courses or professors.
This is all to say that the Attorney
General's Opinion held, essentially, that
Bible courses at public colleges, in
which the instructors were being paid
by religious organizations, violated the
doctrine of separation of church and
state, particularly because such a course
made for the impermissible and excessive entanglement of state and church.
If a religious organization was able to
take on even partial responsibility for

No. JM-352
6 September 1985
Question: may a state institution
of higher education constitutionally
appoint individuals who are nominated and salaried by a religious
denomination to a faculty position
to teach religious studies courses.
The attorney general pointed out that
the Supreme Court consistently interprets the First Amendment to require
that the states assume a position of
neutrality with regard to religion. The
Establishment Clause proscribes sponsorship, financial support, and the active involvement of the government in
religious activity,"
A study of the Bible in public schools,
he stated, must focus on the nonsectarian aspects of religious history and writings. Institutions of higher learning

7 AG

Opinion No. JM-352.

8Grand Rapids School District v. Ball 105

S.Ct. 3216 (1985).
February

1990

Government promotes religion

as effectively when it fosters a
close identification of its powers
and responsibilities with those of
any - or all - religious denominations as when it attempts to inculcate specific religious doctrines.
If this identification conveys a
message of government endorsement or disapproval of religion, a
core purpose of the Establishment
Clause is violated.'?

9 Americans

United for Separation of Church

and State v. School District of Grand
Rapids, 718 E2d 1389 (1983), aff'd. 105 S.Ct.
3216.
10105 U.S. at 3221; 53 U.S.L.W
June 25, 1985).

5006 (U.S.

Page 23

News and Comments

Jim Mattox, Texas' attorney general

since 1983, has given opinions against
for-credit Bible courses in state institutions on several occasions.

choosing a paying faculty member to

teach a religious course this would sanction a degree of supervisory control
over university activities.

Second go-round
Followingthe issuance of this opinion,
the attorney general was approached by
a group which called itself "Friends of
the Biblical Tradition" asking for a further clarification as to whether or not
such Courses could be offered in a con. stitutional manner.
The attorney general responded with
another opinion.

Attorney General's Opinion

No. JM-711
28 May 1987
In this he stated that it was not the
intent of JM-3S2to "ban" the teaching of
religion courses at state institutions of
higher education. He reaffirmed, however, that a state college or university
could not appoint to a college or university position an individual who was nominated or paid by a religious organization to teach a course in religion. Such
a person would not be identified as a
state college or university instructor, the
courses must remain distinct from university courses, and the universities
could decline to give credits toward
graduation for such courses.
This did not lay the matter to rest.
The religious group, the Bible Studies
Association, simply attempted to go
around the Attorney General's Opinion.
They sought to have the classes given at
a local community college in Austin so
that the credits could be transferred to
the University of Texas. When this
failed, the group tried to have the Texas
legislature pass an act enabling such
Bible courses to be taught. At this time
Madalyn O'Hair not alone appeared at
several legislative hearings in 1987 to
oppose such classes offered at the University of Texas in Austin, but contacted the university and the attorney general stating that she would demand
courses in Atheism at the University of
Page 24

Texas to counter the Bible

courses. The Texas legislature, to its credit, did not
pass a special bill to accommodate the religious group.
The two Attorney GeneraI's Opinions made it clear to
all concerned that the involvement of a religiousgroup
in the teaching of Bible in
state-supported colleges and
universities was forbidden
by United States constitutionallaw. If this was so at a
college and university level,
the same legal evaluation
would obviously be made of
such activities in secondary
schools. The Supreme Court,
in fact, in the case of Widmar
v. Vincent,l1 spoke specifically of the maturity of college-level students as opposed to impressionable
secondary students.

Enter Arkansas
Meanwhile another case had been
filed in Arkansas." There a Bible class
had been taught in the public schools of
Gravette for at least fifty-one years. No
course credit was given for the classes
and attendance was voluntary, but %
percent of the children attended the
Bible classes, which were Christian.
Many of the songs taught in this course
were primarily religious, including the
song "Countdown," which discusses
Jesus' second coming to earth, the song
"My B-I-B-L-E,"which is clearly reverential, the song "This Old Saint" which the
court noted "unapologetically states
Christian dogma," and "L.o.V.E." which
speaks of Jesus' love for mankind,
exemplified by his crucifixion.
In the classroom one teacher taught:

11Widmar u, Vincent (1981), 102 S.Ct. 269,

454 U.S. 263, 70 L.Ed.2d 440.
12Doe li. Human, Civ. D.C. Arkansas (1989),
89-5088.
February 1990

Jesus is our gateway to Heaven.

He laid down his life for us so that
we could get to Heaven. He is our
shepherd and he wants us all to be
one big flock of sheep.
Another teacher, a devout Christian,
believed that the Bible was of great
value
in helping children to develop
sound moral values and to understand and appreciate the culture
in which we live, since that culture
has been largely shaped by the
Bible.
A major exhibit featured "The Bible in
Felt," which depicted biblical events
without elaboration. The court held that
all of this so unconstitutionally advanced
religion that nothing further needed to
be said.
The school district felt that the impurities in the Bible course could be cured
by modifications, but the court retorted:
This court has repeatedly said
that it has no inclination whatever
to issue advisory opinions or to
take over the Gravette Public
American Atheist

News and Comments

School District, and it therefore

declines defendants' invitation to
outline a constitutionally permissible form of Bible instruction.
When the school argued that the refusal to permit a teacher to teach the
Bible was a denial of freedom of speech,
the judge - who simply had to be an
Atheist - replied:
Mrs. Smith certainly has the
right to discuss religion, but she
has no right to teach a religious
course during school hours on
public school grounds.
The judge issued his opinion in this
case on November 3, 1989.

An opinion
But let us return to Corpus Christi.
When the law firm of Gary, Thomasson,
Hall & Marks reported to the CCISD on
March 3, 1989, it relied primarily on a
review of the Tennessee and the Virginia
cases above, the Arkansas case not
having been heard yet by that date.
The report stated that the situation
was that the teachers of the Bible Survey course were supervised and evaluated by the senior high school principals
and that they were monitored through
classroom operations, the review of lesson plans, and the review of final examinations to insure adherence to the curriculum requirements. At this point the
teachers were considered "contract
service consultants" to CCISD.
The Supreme Court in its school
state/church cases has considered the
public elementary and secondary school
system a "special context." This is
because:
(1) state and local school boards
are generally afforded significant
(broad) discretion in operating
public schools, and in formulating
the curriculum for the schools;
and
(2) schools exercise pervasive
Austin, Texas

influence over the children who

attend them, because the students'
attendance is involuntary and the
students are (very) highly impressionable. Edwards v. Aguillard,
107 S.Ct. 2573 (1987).
In regard to teaching "about" religion,
the lawfirm pointed out that the Supreme
Court said, in Murray/Schempp:
It certainly may be said that the
Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates
that such study of the Bible or of
religion, when presented objectivelyas part of the secular program
of education, may not be effected
consistently with the First Amendment.
Just what the criteria for this might be
has actually not been determined. However, the Tennessee case" stated:
The ultimate test of the constitutionality of any course of instruction founded upon the Bible
must depend upon classroom performance.
[All]depends on selectivity, emphasis, objectivity, and interpretive manner, or lack thereof, in
which the course is taught; if students are neither encouraged or
discouraged to make a commitment to a set of religious beliefs.
The law firm emphasized that mandatory study of the Bible for elementary
students violates the Constitution, since
the Supreme Court is "particularly vigilant" about primary and secondary
school compliance with the Constitution.I! In fact, schools cannot create

13Wiley v. Franklin, 474 E Supp. 525 (D.O.

Tenn. 1979).
.
14Crockett v. Sorenson, 568 ESupp. 1422
(WD. Va., 1983).
February 1990

even a "mere appearance" that the state

has placed its imprimatur on a particular
religious creed, or on religion in general, even ifthe study of the Bible in public
schools is not unconstitutional per se.1S
In the Crockett case, also, the court had
found that "the Bible is a religious document."
In both Hall and Crockett the courts
had found that private, religiously motivated, and identifiable committees'
involvement in establishment of curriculum, selection, training, and supervision of the teachers, and funding of the
course violated the Establishment Clause.
A question is a "test of faith" which
should be used when an outside group
selects the teachers. One member of
the hiring committee in Wiley asked
each applicant whether she had a "love
of God." School districts may not inquire as to the religious beliefs, or lack
thereof, of teacher applicants (Wiley
and Crockett).
The law firm did, however, point out
that both Crockett and Texas Atty Gen.
Op. No. JM-352 (1985)held that a school
system may accept private contributions to fund teachers' salaries.
Crockett held specifically:
The School Board may solicit
contributions from any private organization for the purpose of funding any and all costs of a Bible
course. Such contributions shall
be received with "no strings attached" other than the understanding that such funds may be
earmarked for the Bible course
exclusively.
Wiley agreed. Therefore, the law firm
was of the opinion that the CCISD
could fund its Bible Survey course
through any arrangement it might elect
with any individual or organization, in-

lSHall v. Board of School Commissioners of

Conecuh County, 656 E2d 999 (5th Cir.
1981).
Page 25

When the Corpus Christi Independent School District made up

its "Strategic Plan 1989-1994,"the
first thing noted was that the school
district believed "a Supreme Being
exists and gives meaning and purpose to life." The similarity of the
school district's logo and that of
the Lexington Baptist church is
interesting,

News and Comments

Corpus Christi
Independent
School District
BACKGROUND
BELIEFS
We believe thai:

o A Supreme Being exists and

gives meaning and purpose to
life.

o The home is the primary

influence on a person and on society.

o Unrestricted

access to educational, economic and personal

opportunity is a basic human
right.

o All people can learn.

o People are the greatest

Good planning is essential to the success of an organization, and

planning is not new to the Corpus Christi Independent School
District. Strategic Planning is a futuristic approach which focuses
on directing the future through proactive leadership, creativity, and
decision making that is both top down and bottom up. It is both a
discipline and a process aimed at total concentration of an organization's resources on mutually predetermined, measurable outcomes. It means a commitment to generate rational decisions
about deployment of resources towards fixed goals and priorities.
The Board of Trustees and the Superintendent became interested in
Dr. Bill Cook's Strategic Planning Program in the spring of 1988.
Subsequently, three Board members and the Superintendent participated in a week-long certification training workshop with
Dr. Cook on the Strategic Planning Project. In August 1988, the
Board of Trustees approved the concept to enable the District to
embark on Strategic Planning for the next five years.

natural

resource.
STRATEGIC

PLANNING TEAM

o There is a direct relationship

between self-esteem and success.

In October 1988, a 25-member Strategic Planning Team was

. . '- -'-'.,-- -- Board. The Team
e community and

ning workshop with

orkshop was the beop was conducted by
Group. Dr. Cook
exas Association of
Facilitator. The
ements, a mission
of weaknesses and
rives and fifteen

"",""_~_-";-";_--Iresentatives

trategic Planning inmmunity, and action

rsons volunteered to
on the action teams
d school personnel.
who were

is worth the effort.

o All people have the capability

and responsibility to contribute to
society.

o Diversity is strength.
o People can create their own
future

ACTION PLANS
The action teams worked on action plans through April 1989 and
developed 228 action plans. The action plans were reviewed by
the Strategic Planning Team on May 9 and 10, and again on June
30,1989. One hundred seventy-three action plans were finally
approved by the Strategic Planning Team and submitted to the
Superintendent for consideration.

Page 26

February 1990

cluding the private committee that

was sponsoring the course. However, such funding must be without
any quid pro quo to the committee;
no committee control over the
Bible literature course.
Also, in both Wiley and Crockett the court had held that it must
be the school district which supervises and evaluates the teachers of
its Bible literature courses.
Another legal fight erupted in
Tennessee over Bible classes also.
Two couples, with four children,
filed suit in the United States District Court in Greenville because
of Bible classes taught in the Carter County school system in the
school year 1986-87.In that case,
the school system acknowledged
that "religious activities occurred
in the Carter County school system" and that such activities "violated the First Amendment rights
of the individual plaintiffs and class
members." On November 23,
1988,the district court judge agreed
and issued a permanent injunction
perpetually restraining and prohibiting the school district, and its
successors, from allowing, approving, and encouraging such religious activities in the Carter
County school system on public
property during public school
hours.
The Christian Bible Ministries
was dismissed in the suit in April
1989, after paying an undisclosed
monetary settlement and admitting that it was wrong. The parents
and children were awarded an undisclosed amount of money for
damages and for attorney fees.
The law firm described the Bible
Survey course as elective, not
sponsored by any church, nonevangelical, nonsectarian,
and
taught by certified teachers qualified in English and social science
and assured that they "fully complied with all Constitutional reAmerican Atheist

News and Comments

quirements." It found, however, that the

committee's involvement constituted a
"strong religious overlay" and imputed
an improper purpose to the school
district for offering the course. Also,
numerous contacts between the committee and the CCISD is excessive
entanglement.

How the lines are drawn

In June 1989, R. A. Hudson was attempting, utilizing the Texas Open
Records Act, to find out what the education was of the teachers assigned to
the Bible courses. All three did have
college degrees, one from a Bethany
Nazarene College with a Master's degree
from Fuller Seminary Institute in Pasadena, California. All had degrees in
English, Spanish, or Music.
On June 6, 1989, our hero was notified
by the law firm of Kleberg & Head as to
the following:
a. The CCISD had decided that
it would select from any English or
social science certified teachers,
those whom it would choose to
teach the Bible Survey classes.
b. These teachers would be
paid by the CCISD, beginning with
the 1989-90 school year, using
funds contributed by the Bible in
Schools Committee.
Hudson immediately shot back a protest, pointing out that the public schools
were here accepting funds from a religious organization for a specific purpose,
which was religious, the Committee
having told the CCISD that it would
only contribute so long as the Bible
Survey courses were the object of the
donation.
The committee was then quietly incorporated on July 7, 1989, under the
new name of "Bible in Public Schools of
Corpus Christi, Inc." It was now described as a local interdenominational
group supported by donations from
churches and individuals.
In early August, Hudson wrote to the
Austin, Texas

Texas Education Agency, demanding

the evaluation which it made of the Bible
course. He received only an evasive
reply. The CCISD did move, nevertheless, and somewhat defiantly. It issued
its "Strategic Plan for 1989-1994" which
had been approved on August 28,1989.
The plan was forwarded with a column
of "Beliefs," the first of which was: "A
Supreme Being exists and gives meaning
and purpose to life."
It was all too much to bear for our
Atheist taxpayer.

Sue the bastards

What else to do but sue? The situation
at the CCISD and FBISD schools remained essentially the same. The only
correction which had been made was to
have the committee funnel money to the
school district. Everything else actually
remained identical - business as usual
of religiously indoctrinating the kids.
Hudson and American Atheists, together,
filed suit in the Federal District Court on
December 6,1989, challenging the Bible
courses in both Corpus Christi LS.D.
and Flour BluffLS.D.1t was decided that
a shotgun approach should be taken
and that all concerned in the Bible Class
caper should be named. Consequently
the suit was filed against the Texas
Education Agency; William N. Kirby, its
commissioner; the Corpus Christi Independent School District; and both
Charles Benson, its superintendent,
and the entire school district board; the
Flour BluffIndependent School District;
and both W K. Clayborn, its superintendent, and the entire school district
board; the law firm of Gary, Thomasson,
Hall & Marks; the attorneys J. W Gary
and L. Timothy Perrin; the Bible in Public Schools Committee; the Bible in
Public Schools of Corpus Christi, Inc.;
Anson R. Nash, Jr., a school principal
and one of the founders and the president of the Bible in Schools Committee
and a member of the Lexington Bible
Church; allthe teachers and supervisors
of Bible Studies courses, including Mary
Anne Harvey, her husband, the Rev.
February 1990

Edwin E. Harvey, and his All Souls

Episcopal Church; the Rev. BillyStorm,
the writer of the Bible courses and his
Trinity Baptist Church; the Lexington
Baptist Church; all of the writers for the
courses; the CCISD administrators of
the courses; and one of the incorporators
of the Bible in Schools of Corpus Christi
Inc. organization; and the attorney general of the state of Texas, Jim Mattox.
The case simply challenged the state
and federal constitutionality of the Bible
Survey courses in both CCISD and the
FBISD in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Specifically, Hudson and American
Atheists charged that the Bible Survey
courses violated Art. I, Sec. 3, 3a, 6, and
7 of the Texas Constitution, which provide for Equal Rights, Equality Under
the Law, Freedom of Worship, and
Appropriations for Sectarian Purposes,
and they charged that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
had also been violated. It was also
claimed that there had been a civil conspiracy of all those named above with
the object of promulgating and continuing unconstitutional religious teaching in
the public schools.

The Butterfly Effect

Hudson and American Atheists can
only see what becomes of its challenge
to the entire scheme of Bible Survey
classes in Texas - and by extension in
the United States. And the process has
now started as the butterfly goes on its
wing. - Madalyn O'Hair $

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Page 27

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American Atheist

The turn of the wheel

is

only son, Rishi, no longer

pleased him.
Shaky, Datta leaned against
the hut he had built for himself. He was
loathe to leave it. The clay of the hut,
always moist, stamped his arm with its
orange color. He did not mind that. His
lifeof meditation in the pale green forest
on this planet called Nors pleased him.
"You are impatient, like all young
men, Rishi - you seek new frontiers
just because they are new," he said to
his son who towered over him. The
young man's wide, sculptured lips parted
slightly, but he refused to answer his
father's charge.
"What I tell you is correct," Datta declared.
"Father, I respect your opinions. But
I do not agree with you. You failto grasp
my position. My wife and I must leave
Nors."
"You choose to leave your father
during his last days? This is something
no real Hindu can accept," Datta answered, trying to cloak his fears.
An orthodox Hindu, Datta believed
that when an old man's hair began to
turn white, he had to abandon his hut
and wander the land. By 2020, the corning year, he would own nothing, attach
himself to nothing. He would wander
through all the paths on Nors. Today his
attachments to his hut and his heartless,
tan-faced son, burdened him.
One by one Datta counted the needlelike leaves on the tree. The air, full with
bits of clay and too much water, nourished all sixty of the leaves on the tree.
Sometimes he feared that the scientists
from Earth had created a chemical imbalance on Nors, that an all-permeating
rust would infiltrate his bones, then bury
him, his hut, and all the leaves on Nors.
Other times he told himself how foolish
his worries were. On Nors life flourished.
"And your wife, Mitravati - she, too,
wishes to leave Nors? She will raise the
grandson I await - without a grandfather?" Datta asked.
His son winced. Datta was satisfied.

It is the year 2019 and a

traditional Hindu is
trying to adopt his
beliefs to an manmade
plant named Nors.

Marion Stein shares her life on Long

Island with human, feline, and other
friends; has an M.A. in English from
the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill; and has published diverse
poems and articles in The Poet; Beyond Baroque; Images Forever; Sands
of Time II; Up Against the Wall, Mother ... ; The Greensboro Sun;
Conradiana; Unisa English Studies;
The Markham Review; The Polish Review; The Walt Whitman Review; Career World; and Better
Communication.

Marion Stein

Austin, Texas

February 1990

He glanced away from the stubborn

young man, gazed at the silky, green
bark on the trees so different from those
his eyes had feasted on in India.
"Father, you refuse to hear what I am
telling you," Rishi mumbled.
Too old to hope to live much longer,
Datta demanded Rishi's presence during his last hours in this life. Only his son
could perform the ceremonies which
would assure his naked soul a new spiritual body; only then could he pass on to
his next life. Datta, slowed down by his
bent, stiff legs, often hoped that he
would become a green grasshopper in
his next life on Nors, the planet which
the finest scientists from each nation on
Earth had developed in imitation of the
unspoiled, earliest environment of their
own planet. Nors was too wet, too layered with orange clay for Datta's taste.
But in comparison to Earth, where forests no longer grew, Nors was almost
perfect.
"Yes, yes, Father, you will feel lonely,
you will miss my visits, and I am sorry
about that - but you don't know what
is happening to us here. Our lives are
changing at a faster pace than yours did
in the twentieth century," Rishi said nervously.
With his right hand, he wiped a speck
of orange dirt from his chin. Even the
windless air deposited the clay everywhere on the planet. He sighed. The
infant he and his wife had hoped to welcome into their life, to present to his
father, had passed from his wife's womb
last week - deformed and stillborn. He
didn't know how to tell his father.
"Nors won't sustain human life -as
long as Earth did, as long as India .... "
"What do you know of INDIA? Nothing!" Datta shouted, indignant. His left
hand began to twitch; he pressed it
against the sticky, orange wall of his hut.
He wondered what sin he had committed in his last life to have such an
ungrateful son in this life.
"Father, the India of your youth no
longer exists. You and I fled from the
same India, the same dumping-ground
Page 29

for the nuclear wastes of the super- animal sacrifice, untouchability, and so
on - had been long gone. People were
powers; one offered us token weapons,
the other, token tastes of food. Now ... " starving to death. Do you forget that?
"Now WHAT, Rishi? Now I am an old That was the single reality. Do you reman growing older. Soon I willbe home- member how we groveled for food, built
less. That is as it should be. But a Hindu a barricade between us and the hungrinear his death shouldn't become SON- er people surrounding Delhi? Do you
LESS, too!"
forget the aches at the center of your
Naturally Datta wanted his son to body? The stench of decaying flesh
stay on Nors to be his helper. His son's everywhere? The dust which plugged
our nostrils, nearly choked us? Or the
absence would curse the old man's
chances for a happy rebirth. An ideal night you hammered open the head of
Hindu must bless the man who curses your former law partner who had scramhim, must do penance for the welfare of bled over our barricades - crazy with
his soul. But on Nors, his son, then his hunger?" Rishi shouted at his father.
grandsons, would be able to further the
"YOU are the one who forgets! You
Three Aims of Human Life: pleasure,
forget the timeless values! You know
prosperity, and religious merit. His own nothing!" Datta exclaimed.
last turn of the wheel of life, his religious
In an effort to control his fury, Datta
retreat, would provide a proper moral
touchstone for his son and grandsons.
In the hope that Rishi would stay on
Nors after all, Datta promised himself
that he would be good, he would be just.
The ancient words of Gandhi flashed
into his mind. A full turn of the wheel
is a revolution, a return to the First
Principle. One need only let the hand
of a clock go on its way for it to come
back to its starting point of its own
accord. Rishi would turn back to him.
Datta would be patient.
"Sonless? I, too, am sonless - and
daughterless. Do you wish me to remain childless for all of my time?" Rishi asked, in an anguished
tone of voice. With the calloused heel of his
right foot, he pushed a stray leaf into the
soft ground. Walking was the only mode
of transportation on Nors. After a
year there, his feet were stained
orange.
"What do you mean?"
Datta asked.
"I mean nothing, Father. I mean that the
India you believe in
stopped blossoming
long before we grabbed
its dry stems to bribe
our way to a new life on
Nors. I mean that even in the
year 2018, your old ways Page 30

February 1990

turned his back to his son and propped

himself up with his hands flat against his
hut. Datta remembered everything. He
had sacrificed his entire stock of salted
elephant meat, everything he had owned,
to accompany Rishi and Mitravati to
Nors so that they might start a family
safe from the stones and curses of the
Punjabis who had dominated the former
territory of the Bengalis. The savages
had clubbed down his own wife, Svasti,
slashed her into small pieces which they
had scattered around the barricade. He
remembered only too well.
Now her only son dared to claim that
the Earth which had absorbed her blood
no longer existed. Indignant, Datta
thumped his bare heels into the clay
ground. The young man had matured
during the nightmare of India. He hadn't
learned that the father's needs came
before the son's.
"Maybe we'll talk again tomorrow
morning," Rishi said. He walked
away from his father, down the
green-pebbled path, out of the
forest.
"Tomorrow ... " Datta muttered
to himself. "Who knows if an old
man willsee the orange hailstones of
another morning?" He retreated inside his hut.
J

American Atheist

The old man tried to empty his mind

of all thoughts. He would purify himself.
He would recite the Vedic verses, which
he would pass on orally to his grandson
- ifhe lived long enough to see the boy
turn three years old. No, no more
thoughts about sons or grandsons.
Datta would cleanse his spirit. He would
imagine the pouring of ghee - the
clarified butter unavailable on Nors upon the domestic fire, as the oldfashioned Hindu did in India. Yes, he
would recite the Vedic verses.
His life hadn't been all bad. Few Indians had escaped to the planet on
which the scientists had contrived oxygen, moderate temperatures, protection from ultraviolet radiation, and too
much water. Even orange, the essential
color of the air, water, and earth on
Nors, had begun to seem right to him.
The red and yellow of the color orange
were the colors of life. At their wedding
in India, Svasti had dressed traditionally in red. Red was the color of blood, of
life; and yellow was the color of the
Earth's sun, its giver of life.So Datta was
grateful to have left the ruins of India for
Nors. He would be good; he would be
just.
Weary, Datta almost fellasleep on the
damp floor of his hut. The faint steps of
a visitor surprised him. No one came to
see him there, no one but his son. Surely
Rishi hadn't returned so soon to apologize to him. With effort, Datta pulled
himself upright from the bare floor of his
hut and started to brush off the tiny balls
of clay from his arms and legs. Before he
could bend down to clean his feet, Datta
faced his son's wife, Mitravati.
"You come here without Rishi?"
Datta asked, startled to see her. He
peered into her round black eyes. She
looked ill; she looked frightened, too.
No, Rishi hadn't convinced her to leave
Nors with him. In desperation she had
come to him to beg him to persuade his
son to stay on Nors, Datta was convinced. The poor young woman had become thin, as if she no longer were with
child.
Austin, Texas

"I have come alone to see you, Father.

Rishi is upset. He can't bear to have a
falling-outwith his father right before we
leave Nors," she said.
"So, you, too, wish to leave Nors?"
Datta asked, incredulous.
"Rishi did tell you that much, didn't
he? That we have to take our chances
in outer space .... You can join us - we
wish you would come with us, . . . "
Mitravati said. Her fingers slid in and out
of the front folds of her gold-colored
sari.
"Leave the call of myoid age, leave
my hut in the forest? No!" Datta exclaimed. His voice sounded like thunder.
"But Father, we must adapt the old
ways to the new times and places which
our ancestors never dreamed of. The
hut in the forest symbolizes a condition
of the mind, of the spirit, no? Here we
can do nothing for the broken babies,
the broken hearts of the parents - or
of the grandparents .... "
"Broken babies?" Datta asked. Rishi
had whispered that he, too, was sonless.
Now Mitravati's flat stomach and enigmatic talk about broken babies made
Datta suspicious- that no one had told
him the whole truth. In the old days,
young people rushed to communicate
matters of importance to their elders.
Today an old man's children didn't share
their concerns with him.
The chore of saving his soul had become his alone. With a stubborn look on
his lined, nut brown face, Datta sat down
then crossed his legs on the clay floor.
No, no one would force him to forsake
his hut before the time was ripe for him
to wander the land.
February 1990

"Go, if you must," he said bitterly.

"Give birth to your children on a spaceship doomed to circle the universe, if
you must," he added, with a note of petulance in his voice.
With a bowed head, Mitravati slipped
out of the hut then began to run, faster
and faster, down the damp path through
the forest.
The old man listened to the slight
echoes of her footsteps. Alone again, he
brooded about his son's selfishness, the
secrets he kept from him, the loneliness
of an old man in contemporary times,
and the fate of his soul.
Tense, he wandered outside his hut,
glowered at the pale green trees, the
orange earth, and the tiny plasticlike
insects there. The kinds of lifefamiliar to
him didn't live in this forest; nevertheless, it was a forest, and an old man must
live in a forest. Datta turned his back to
the trees which never swayed with the
wind, the trees which failed to give him
any hints about the truths of life.
He must meditate. Rishi and Mitravati
were young. His turn of the wheel of this
life was almost complete. His soul
yearned to reunite with the First Principle, the Origin of Life. He must prepare
himself properly for his end on Nors, for
his new beginning.
In front of his hut, Datta spied what
seemed to be a grasshopper, colored
orange, not green, as it ought to be.
Nothing on Nors was quite familiar to
him. Still, it was a better place for an old
man today than his homeland, India,
where the nuclear wastes had eaten
through Vatsa, Magadha, and even
Suhma in the hills of his boyhood, the
promised retreat of his old age. Tears
slipped down the creases on his cheeks.
If only he could become a giant grasshopper, even an orange one, that could
hop over, transcend, all the broken
promises of the human race. Datta tried
to straighten and throw back his
shoulders, but they refused to bend up
and back. His bones were stiff from the
dense humidity on Nors. He hobbled
into his hut, willed himself to meditate.
Page 31

An old man, so close to his creator, had

no right to feel sorry for himself.
Again the rustle of footsteps on the
path to his hut interrupted his concentration on the salvation of his soul.
Mitravati had returned to him. He would
ignore her. He would continue to meditate until she spoke to him, begged his
forgiveness, and vowed to raise her children - his grandchildren - near him.
At the opening to the hut, Mitravati
immediately addressed him: "Father, if
no one else willwalk the way of an elephant, if no one else willdare to shatter
an old man's dreams - I must. I have no
choice. We have no choice but to flee
Nors, to hope for the best on the faraway
planet, Duhls, newly reconstituted for
human survival."
"Broken babies?" he asked, as if all
along he had suspected what had been
happening to the infants on Nors.
"You know then? Now what? You
would prefer to rot in the nuclear wastes
of Nors rather than in the nuclear
wastes of India? What's the difference?
Why won't you come with me and Rishi
to Duhls? The chances are fair that
neither China nor the United States had
the technology a few years ago to reach
it, to dump their nuclear garbage there,
too .... "
"Broken babies?"
"Father, when we landed on Nors we
thought that we had spun the wheel
back to its starting position, that we
could start fresh lives. But we had
turned the wheel only half way. We implore you to finish the turn of the wheel
with us. This is no place for human life.
Come with us, Father - come to Duhls.
We have nothing to lose," Mitravati said,
with a note of desperation.
"Nothing to lose? What do you stand
to gain? You're worried about split
chromosomes, about the babies. Before
today, I did not know that. I thought we
had travelled beyond our own time.
Now Duhls? Do you still hope to flypast .
your own time? Rishi, too? You hope to
redirect the signals of your bodies?
Have a healthy baby now? How?" Datta
Page 32

asked. Distraught, he limped back and with it.

forth across the floor of his hut.
"So, this is how an old man comes
His daughter-in-law faced him in a back to his starting point," he mumbled
rigid position. She said nothing. He without feeling. "Was the infant a grandstopped pacing. He stared at her. Her son or a granddaughter?"
Mitravati said nothing.
eyes were expressionless, frozen in the
Datta would be patient. She would
memory of that blank, promising moment when she had first landed on Nors, speak to him again. Rishi would turn
the perfect planet engineered by the back to him, too. Of their own accord,
best scientists on Earth. The blackness
all their damaged selves, their souls,
of her eyes appeared bottomless, empty. would come back to their beginning
The wheel had made a full turn. Per- points, to their comers of the First Prinhaps his soul, too, had splintered into a ciple, now fragmented, too, now powermultitude of warped future spirits, with- less to generate the new bodies needed
out bodies, which he would have to live for the spirits of all time.
"So we'll go, if we must. ... " he whisthrough simultaneously. Nothing in his
religion had prepared him for such an in- pered.
terpretation of what might be in store
Now face down on the floor, Datta
for him in his next life or lives. He had mourned for his unseen grandchild;
imagined becoming a grasshopper then he mourned for the fate of his own
but not becoming fragments of fleshless soul. Flakes from the clay ceilingdropped
spirits doomed to an unthinkable fate. on his back; he feared that bit by bit his
He, Rishi, and Mitravati were back whole hut would fall on him, bury him
where they had begun on Earth: in a alive. It was disintegrating, going back to
struggle to flee the devastation of the its beginning point, just like him, spinning in the revolution of its own wheel.
nuclear wastes. The three of them
formed a small wheel within the wheel of
His hands began to tremble, then
shake uncontrollably. He clasped them
the human race which had developed
the supreme weapon against life. They together, tried to halt the movements.
had developed it through conscious de- His daughter-in-law remained silent, did
not seem to notice that he had lost
sign, through ignorance, and through
negligence. The First Principle itself control of his hands.
"Still, I am loathe to leave this life," he
probably had altered its essence, just
when Datta had been close to his reunion .whispered to himself. ~

Help us keep our suits up

All over the nation, the Society of Separationists, a watchdog Atheist
organization, is going to court to stop state/church
violations and
protect the civil rights of Atheists. Your help is needed to pay the legal
costs in these efforts to protect all Atheists from mandatory support of
religion. Please send your tax-deductible donations to:
Society of Separationists, Legal Fund
P. O. Box 140195
Austin, TX 78714-0195
First Amendment

February 1990

rights are your rights too. Help us protect them.

American Atheist

Talking Back

Life after god

This month's question:

Why don't you believe
in god?

So you're having a hard time dealing

with the religious zanies who bug you
with what you feel are stupid
questions? Talk back. Send the question you hate most and American
Atheists will provide scholarly, tart, humorous, short, belligerent, or funpoking answers. Get into the verbal
fray; it's time to "talk back" to religion.

Austin, Texas

Mark Spencer, Life Member of American Atheists, replies:

Adults found it perfectly reasonable
for me to drop childish beliefs as I grew
older (tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the
Easter bunny) and developed the ability
to examine their accuracy. Iwas expected
to exchange the comfort of unthinking
beliefsfor the mature process of thought.
It is astonishing that many people exempt the belief in supernatural gods
from that same maturing process.
Martin Mauldin, senior in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech
and member of American Atheists,
replies:
I don't believe in god for the same reason that I do not believe in Santa Claus
or the Easter bunny. I grew up in a Presbyterian household. Of course, Christmas and Easter were celebrated in our
house, even the secular aspects such as
Santa and the Easter bunny. When I became old enough, my parents dispelled
these myths and symbols of giving and
rebirth. Later, I started doubting the virgin birth. My mother told me that this
too could be interpreted as symbolism.
The "days" in the creation story were
symbols for eons. Well, the symbolism
in all of this got me to thinking. Finally,
in my senior year in high school, I figured it out. The Christian myth was
something that people had made up for
various reasons. It explained how humans
came to be, it provided a system of law
and order, and it provided a sympathetic hero. People needed symbols to explain things they could not explain by
themselves. So, I discarded the Christmyth as easily as I did Santa Claus and
the Easter bunny.

of the three most precisely verified principles of physics.

Madalyn O'Hair, founder of American Atheists, replies:
The god idea has caused more harm
to the human race, all other species of
every animal, every other living organism, and even the basic earth itself than
all other ideas together which have been
formulated, institutionalized, and acted
upon by humankind. The god idea has
caused incalculable harm to each individual person who has been caught up
in it, emotionally, intellectually, and even
physically. All cultures, large and small,
in all ages of humankind, have been
caused to diverge from full societal and
communal intellectual development by
this oppressive, reactionary, and stultifyingwarped idea. The distorted "value
systems" predicated on this disastrous
idea have mutated all branches of civilization into unconscionable idiopathic
perversions.
The god idea has always exalted
death over life, mental slavery over free
thought, obedience and servility over
freedom, subjugation of women, children, and nonwhite races. It is a heinous
idea that should strike terror into the
hearts of all men.
Why don't I believe in god - because
I could never embrace any idea which is
antilife and antinature. I am deeply insulted when some religious idiot even
poses the query, for the question is not
why I, as one individual, do not believe
in god, it is rather how anyone can.

Paul Keller of North Dakota replies:

Einstein's principle of equivalence
states that the laws of nature are exactly
the same all of the time and everywhere.
There is no escaping the laws of nature.
All of the supernatural is thereby ruled
out. The principle of equivalence is one
February 1990

Page 33

The Probing Mind

Circumcision: The Stone Age

in the Steel Age

n inscription in the Great Temple

at Karnak records the triumph of
Memeptah- over Libyan invaders
of Egypt. "Then returned the captains of
archers, the infantry, and chariotry,
every contingent of the army," it reads,
"driving asses before them, laden with
the uncircumcised phalli of the country
of Libya." The hieroglyphic catalogue of
the vanquished lists six "children of the
chief of Libya whose uncircumcised
phalli were carried off," and 6,359 "Libyans, slain, whose uncircumcised phalli
were carried off." It also makes note of
the "Ekwesh ... who had no foreskins,
slain, whose hands were carried off, for
. they had no foreskins."
The distinction between uncircumcised
Libyans and circumcised Egyptians was
the difference between subhuman barbarians and the only true humans - the
Egyptians. (By what rationale the
circumcised "Ekwesh" were adjudged
subhuman is not known.) The Egyptian
custom of circumcision derives from
very early antiquity, inscriptions from
mastaba tombs of the Sixth Dynasty
(2625-2475B.C.E.?) depicting the operation in process (see figure I). It is believed that the Egyptians borrowed the
custom from Black African cultures
farther south. The fact that the Egyptians
circumcised their boys at the time of puberty makes it likely that the origins of
the custom are to be sought in the religious rituals of Stone Age fertility cults.
Nevertheless, no inscriptions are known
which ascribe religious significance to
this act of sexual mutilation. Only later,
among the Jews, would phallus-flaying
become a sacred act. Among the Jews
(and also among the Moslems) as among
the Egyptians, circumcision was the emblem of the chosen of god: the uncir~

Genital mutilations of
both men and women
have their origins in
humankind's most
misguided past.
Nonetheless, these
atrocities are common
today.

Formerly a professor of biology and

geology, Frank R. Zindler is now a science writer. He is a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Chemical Society, and the American
Schools of Oriental Research. He is
the director of the Central Ohio Chapter of American Atheists.

Frank R. Zindler
Page 34

lRegnant 1225-1215 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era).

2James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of
Egypt: Historical Documents, vol. 3 (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1906), pp. 2479.
February 1990

cumcised goyim were barbarians, on

par with dogs.
The origins of circumcision rites derive, it can scarcely be doubted, from
the sex-mutilation ceremonies of longforgotten Stone Age fertility cults. Acts
such as piercing the penis with stingray
spines to make it bleed (once practiced
by various "civilized" Central American
tribes), subincision (slicing the underside of the penis lengthwise down to the
urethra, diverting urine and semen
away from the end of the organ), unilateral castration (removal of one testicle),
and removal of the foreskin appear often to serve as sacrifices made to fertility gods or goddesses to ensure the fructifying blessings of the deities. Sexual
sacrifices - like all religious sacrifices
- appear to involve quid pro quo situations: covenants in which the votary
performs certain acts in exchange for
certain services to be performed by the
divinities. Sometimes the magical services of the deities are expected to extend beyond the individual offering the
sacrifice, as in the circumcision rites of
certain pre-civilized societies yet today
- where the severed foreskin may be
eaten by a younger brother in expectation of increased strength. (When the
foreskin is to be eaten, it is often roasted,
and there may be officials who can
foretell the sexual fortune of its former
owner by interpreting the pattern into
which the tissue has shriveled.)
The Jewish Scriptures do not record
the obvious fact that the Jews borrowed
the practice of circumcision from the
Egyptians. Rather, they describe the
practice as originating from a conversation between a small-town divinity (Yahweh) and a legendary ancestor of the
Jews (Abraham). According to the tale
in the seventeenth chapter of Genesis,
Abraham was ninety-nine years old
when Yahweh suddenly introduced himself to the patriarch by announcing, "I
am god almighty!" Instead of suffering
cardiac arrest, Abraham appears to
have whipped out a notebook and taken
down god's instructions word-for-word.
American Atheist

Figure 1. Circumcision in the early Sixth Dynasty Egypt. Mastaba of Ankhmahor,

Saqqara. (Redrawn with corrections from page 410 of Aegypten und Aegyptisches
Leben im Altertum by Adolf Erman [Tiibingen: 1923], revised by Hermann Ranke,
1977;published by Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim.) Corrections made with the aid
of photograph published on page 46 of Dictionary of Egyptian Civilization by
George Posener (New York: Tudor Pub., 1959).

"Live always in my presence and be

perfect," Yahweh told him, "so that I
m~y set my covenant between myself
and you and multiply your descendants." Instead of telling Abraham to
sign on the dotted line in his steno pad
to confirm the fertility contract, Yahweh
told him to go circumcise himself! According to Genesis, Abraham never suspected he was dealing with a sex -crazed
sicko who would have enjoyed kiddy
porn if it had been invented at the time.
Instead, we are told, he circumcised his
thirteen-year-old son Ishmael, all the
men and boys under his control, and
then - at the age of ninety and nine! he circumcised himself! Yahweh then
told him, in effect, that all his male descendants and those of his fellow tribesmen forever would personally (how personal can you get?) have to renew this
fertilitycontract on the eighth day after
birth - by surrendering their foreskins.
Just think! If typewriters and ballpoint
pens had been available for producing
contracts in the days of Abraham and
Yahweh, circumcision might never have
gotten started among the Jews!
Of course, not all the Jewish patriarchs were circumcised. Moses himself
- the supposed inventor of Judaism apparently was not circumcised, although
his son was! The account of the circumcision of Moses' son is one of the strangest passages in the Old Testament. It is
found in the fourth chapter of Exodus
(Exod. 4:24-26), and is interpolated into
Austin,Texas

the tale about Yahweh ordering Moses

to return from Midian to Egypt. "During
the journey," the New English Bible
Version tells us,
while they were encamped for the
night, the Lord met Moses, meaningto killhim, but Zipporah [Moses'
wife] picked up a sharp flint, cut
off her son's foreskin, and touched
him with it, saying, "You are my
blood-bridegroom." So the Lord
let Moses alone. Then she said,
"Blood-bridegroom by circumci. "
sion.
Just what this utterly mad story may
have meant to the compilers of Exodus
we may never know. It does show, however, that there is magic in a bloody foreskin - magic so powerful that even
Yahweh himself cannot withstand it. No
wonder, given the nasty nature of their
deity, that Jews to this very day circumcise their male children as soon as possible to protect them from a god who
might try to kill them! (Actually, unless
the child dies beforehand, circumcision
is delayed until the eighth day. Dead
infants too must be circumcised before
burial, even though it is obvious that
Yahweh's dirty work already has been
done!)

Kosher cuts
According to the Book of Joshua
(Josh. 5:2-4), Yahweh ordered all penile
February 1990

mutilations to be done with a flint knife:

Stone Age tools for Stone Age practices!
So "Joshua thereupon made knives of
flint and circumcised the Israelites at
Gebeath-haaraloth (Hill of Foreskins)."
Edward Wallerstein, in his excellent
book Circumcision: An American Health
Fallacy,3 gives a most readable summary
of the history of circumcision among the
Jews, including modern Jewish practices. Before the Hellenic period (ca. 300
a.c.s-I C.E.), Wallerstein claims, circumcision among the Jews consisted of simply lopping off the tip of the prepuce
(foreskin) projecting beyond the head
(glans) of the penis. Known as milah,
this minimal mutilation had been practiced for nearly two millennia. But during the Hellenic period, many Jews tried
to pass for pagans by trying to obliterate
the evidence of sacred surgery. This
they did by blistering the tip of the
remainder of the foreskin in order to
enlarge it. To prevent this, religious authorities decided that men had to "take
it all off." Thus began the procedure
known as periah. To aid in the removal
of the entire foreskin, as it is being cut
away with the ritual knife, the inner
lining of the foreskin and the frenum are
torn away from the glans by means of
specially sharpened fingernails which
the ritual surgeon (mohel) cultivates for
just this purpose. So much for the notion that circumcision was really instituted for hygienic reasons!
In the Talmudic period (ca. 500-625
C.E.), according to Wallerstein, periah
was supplemented by mezziza, which
consists of moistening the lips with wine
and then taking the bleeding penis into
the mouth to suck the blood - the process being repeated several times, the
blood being spit out into a special receptacle. Although the bloodsucking ritual
has been outlawed by Jewish authorities
in America and Europe, some of the

3EdwardWallerstein,"Jews and Circumcision,"chap. 16 in Circumcision: An American

Health Fallacy (NewYork:Springer, 1980).
Page 35

Like all Jewish males, we are told, Jesus was subjected to circumcision.
How a being can be born supposedly perfect - indeed, be born
the archetype of perfection - and still be in need of corrective surgery,
is perhaps the most puzzling of all religious mysteries.
more orthodox and backward Jews in
the Near East and Africa still practice
mezziza.
I cannot leave the topic of Jews and
circumcision without mention of another
rationale for the practice: producing
foreskins to be used inlieu of money!
According to the tale recorded in the
eighteenth chapter of First Samuel,
David wanted to marry Michal, the
daughter of King Saul. David lacking
money for the bride-price, Saul let it be
known that he would settle for the foreskins of a hundred Philistines in lieu of
coin of the realm. So,
David went out with his men and
slew two hundred' Philistines; he
brought their foreskins and counted
them out to the king in order to be
accepted as his son-in-law. So Saul
married his daughter Michal to
.David. (1 Sam. 18:27)
It is interesting to note that there is some
controversy among Hebrew scholars
concerning the meaning of the word

Figure 2. A representation of the penis

of a native of Celebes with "Kambiong,"
a rod which pierces the glans. Tied
around the margin of the glans are the
eyelids and eyelashes of a buck. (From
Circumcision in Man and Woman by
Felix Bryk [New York: American Ethnological Press, 1934]).
Page 36

'r/oth - here rendered as "foreskins."

According to Gesenius' Hebrew and
English Lexicon, 'r/ah (singular) can also
have the meaning of membrum praeputiatum, i.e., the uncircumcised penis
itself - and so some scholars claim that
David actually paid in penises, not prepuces!

Christianity: circumcision
as a "feast"
It is a curious fact of cultural anthropology that Christians worship a god
who belongs to a different religion. Even
though Jesus today sits at the top of the
Christian totem pole, the biblical Jesus
is clearly a Jew. Like allJewish males, we
are told, Jesus was subjected to circumcision. How a being can be born supposedly perfect - indeed, be born the
archetype of perfection - and still be in
need of corrective surgery, is perhaps
the most puzzling of all religious mysteries. The mystery deepens when we reflect that the Jewish rite of circumcision
is allegedly the mark of a man's contract
("covenant") with a god he worships.
With whom, we may ask, was Jesus
covenanting, if he himself was the only
god in town? Moreover, since the original
meaning of the covenant was to increase
a man's fertility and the number of his
descendants, it is clear that whoever it
was who made the contract with Jesus
didn't honor the bargain. Jesus sired no
children at all - at least, none that the
pope willadmit to! Ifan omniscient deity
had been involved in the circumcision of
Jesus, wouldn't it have known that circumcising Jesus to seal a sacred fertility
contract would be as inappropriate as
circumcising a eunuch?
However perplexing these questions
might be, the Gospel of Luke says it is
a fact that Jesus was circumcised. Despite the fact that St. Paul and his followers rejected circumcision as being unnecessary for Christians, since ancient
times the Christian Church has celebrated the day of Jesus' genital truncation as a holy day - the "Feast" (!) of the
Circumcision, celebrated on the first
February 1990

day of January.
Although the scriptural accounts of
Jesus' resurrection and ascension into
heaven make it impossible to infer very
much about the condition of the body
he 'piloted into outer space," we can be
sure that the penis he packed along was
missing a part - the prepuce. If Jesus
didn't take his foreskin with him to
heaven, Christians reasoned, the sacred
snippet must still be here on earth! And
so quite a few legends and traditions
have come down concerning the fate of
the foreskin of god.
Legends mentioned by Wallersteinto have been believed by Christians
include the ideas that the Virgin Mary
carried the foreskin on her person, that
the penile paring had been entrusted to
St. John or Mary Magdalen, that the
Apostles inherited it, that it was brought
to Charlemagne, that it was stolen by
Charles V in 1527, and that the divine
deciduum once appeared simultaneously
in twelve abbeys across the continent of
Europe. It was claimed, Wallerstein tells
us, that "the relic emitted a wonderful
odor which had a strange effect upon
women." Perhaps as an example of such
"strange effects," some nuns were alleged to have engaged in "insolent
conduct" with the relic.
The prepuce of piety was also of importance to several female saints. St.
Birgitta claimed to have had a vision of
the Mother of God holding the foreskin
in her hand, and St. Agnes of Blannbekin
went berserk every January 1, when she
would have visions of herself swallowing
the only earthly remnant of her lord.

4For example, we do not know if he was

launched with a full or empty bladder,
whether or not his toenails needed clipping,
how many milligrams of earwax he took
along, how much mucus there was in his
nasal passages, whether or not any spermatozoa remained in his seminal vesicles, or
how much of the last supper remained to be
evacuated from the colon.
sCircumcision, pp. 9-10.
American Atheist

Figure 3. Jesus undergoing corrective

surgery. (From History of Circumcision
by P. C. Remondino, M.D. [Philadelphia
and London: F. A. Davis, Publisher,
1891];modeled after a sixteenth-century
Italian print).

Lest it be thought that only the rude

and ignorant believed in such nonsense,
we may note that one of England's kings
fellprey to the allure of the priapal paring:
At some remote period - in the
thirteenth or fourteenth century
- the abbey church of Coulombs,
in the diocese of Chartres, in
France, became possessed in
some miraculous manner of the
holy prepuce. This holy relic had
the power of rendering all the
sterile women in the neighborhood
fruitful, - a virtue, we are told,
which filledthe benevolent monks
of the abbey with a pardonable
amount of pride. It had the additional virtue of inducing a subsequent easy delivery, which also
added to the reputation and pardonable vanity of the good monks
... The royal spouse of good and
valiant King Henry V - he of
Agincourt, whom England waded
up to its knees in the sea at Dover
to meet on his return from that
campaign - had followed the example of all good dames and was
about to give England an heir.
Henry then governed a good part
of France. Having heard of the
wonderful efficacy of the relic of
Coulombs, he early one morning
threw the good monks into consternation by the arrival at the
convent gate of a duly equipped
herald and messenger from his
kingship, asking for the loan of the
relic with about as much ceremony
as Mrs. Jones would ask for the
loan of a flat-iron or saucepan
from her neighbor, Mrs. Smith.
The queen, Catherine of France,
was of their own country and
Henry was too powerful to be put
"off or refused; there was no room
for evasion, as the holy prepuce
could not be duplicated; so the
poor monks with the greatest reluctance parted with their preAustin, Texas

cious relic, entrusting it into the

hands of the royal envoy, which
wended its way to London, where
it in due time, being touched by
the queen, insured a safe delivery.
Honest Henry then returned the
relic to France ... [but] a full period of twenty-five years occurred
before the monks of Coulombs
again regained possession of their
prize, during which period the
population of the neighborhood
must have suffered from the natural
increase of sterility and the . . .
increased difficulty and complications of labor induced by the absence of the relic. On its return,
the relic was found to have lost
none of its virtues ....
In 1870,
when the writer was in France, it
was still working its miracles. Balzac found ample facts to found his
famous "Droll Stories" without
straining his imagination. 6

Circumcision and health

It is claimed that circumcision of the
male brings with it a host of hygienic
benefits - the most important of which,
it would appear, is that it allows men to
bathe more rapidly. In addition to that
benefit, circumcision is supposed to
reduce the incidence of venereal disease, prevent a variety of cancers, cure.
premature ejaculation, and inhibit - if
not stop entirely - the wicked practice
of "solitary vice." Almost every person
I talk with on the subject of circumcision
"knows" that the wives of circumcised
men have a lower incidence of cervical
cancer. Although they find the idea of
sexual mutilation repugnant, most people conclude that a foreskin is a small
price for men to pay in exchange for the
salvation of their lovers. I too believed
this bit of folk wisdom until just a few

6p' C. Remondino, M.D., History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present
(Philadelphia& London: E A. Davis, Publisher,
1891), pp. 70-72.
February 1990

months ago, when I read Edward Wallerstein's book, Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy. Much to my astonishment, I discovered that most "research" on the subject of circumcision is
on par with that done by "creation
scientists." Space permits me only to
review Wallerstein's analysis of the
"evidence" on circumcision and cervical
cancer,"
It appears to be a fact that the incidence of cervical uterine cancer is lower
in Jewish women than in other women,
despite the fact (as Wallerstein shows)
that pro-circumcision researchers have
greatly inflated the rate of cervical cancer among Gentiles and covered up the
fact that cervical cancer does occur in
Jews. Why is this?
The first idea which comes to many
minds is the fact that almost all husbands of Jewish women are circumcised.
(The fact that in America the vast majority of all husbands are circumcised does
not often spring to mind.) There must
be some aspect of the uncircumcised
penis which is associated with cancer.
The working hypothesis - which was
rapidly elevated to the status of a "fact"
- was that smegma (a cheesy secretion
produced beneath the foreskin) was a
carcinogen. The notion that smegma is
a carcinogen persists to the present,
despite the fact that careful studies have
failed to show that smegma can -induce

7"Circumcision and Cancer," chap. 10 in

Circumcision, pp. 88-114.
Page '57

genital cancers in experimental animals.

The only apparent exception to this
statement is to be found in a study done
by Plaut and Kohn-Speyer in 1947at the
Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.8
In the conclusion of their paper the authors commented:
Provided our results can be duplicated and improved, this may be
the first experimental production
of cancer by external application
of an external product of the animal body.
Wallerstein's critique of this paper? is
devastating and shows why the results
have never been duplicated:
The study employed horse smegma as the test substance and cerumen (earwax) for control. A buried
skin tunnel was made midline in
the back of mice, and the test or
control substance was inserted
into the tunnel. Of the 800 experimental animals, 250 died before
the experiment was concluded
and were not included in the test
results. No cause was given for the
premature death of 31% of the
sample. The skin tunnel broke
down in "approximately 40%" of
the remaining animals. In such
cases the test or control substance
was injected under the skin. At the
conclusion of the experiment, 53%
of the test and 53% of the control
animals were "available" for examination for evidence of cancer. No
reason was given to explain why
47%of the sample (test and control)
were unavailable for the examination. The researchers found a variety of tumors . . . in 30% of the

8Alfred Plaut and Alice C. Kohn-Speyer,

"The Carcinogenic Action of Smegma,"
Science, vol. 105, no. 2728 (April 11, 1947): p.
392.
"Circumcision, pp, 9798.
Page 38

February 1990

..

American Atheist

Unlike male circumcision, which is most often performed under the aseptic
conditions of hospitals these days,
removal of the clitoris is very often done under unhygienic,
grisly conditions by nonmedical practitioners.
test and 15% of the control animals
examined. Longevity was carefully
monitored.
Among Wallerstein's criticisms of this
experiment are the following:
The study is invalid in its conceptualization and research design.
No animal deposits smegma in
coitus via an artificially created
mid-back skin tunnel. [Wallerstein
curiously neglects to criticize the
fact that in some cases the smegma
was injected under the skin!] What
serious conclusions can be drawn
from an experiment in which: 31%
of the animals died before the experiment was concluded; 40% of
the skin tunnels broke down; 47%
of the test or control animals were
not investigated
for tumors?
Strangely, the survival rate for
smegma-treated animals was much
higher than for the control group.
No conjecture was made to explain
this phenomenon; perhaps it can
now be claimed that smegma injections increase longevity!
So much for smegma. But what about
the lower rates of cervical cancer among
Jewish women? If it is the circumcision
status of their husbands that is the
deciding factor, then it should be true
that cervical cancer rates should be low
also among Gentile women married to
circumcised men. One study often cited
as proof that this is indeed true is the
1954 study done by E. L. Wynder et al.l?
- despite the authors' caution that
Epidermoid cancer of the cervix
has been noted in women exposed
only to circumcised males and in

JOE.L. Wynder et aI., "A Study of Environmental Factors in Carcinoma of the Cervix,"
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 68, no. 4 (October 1954): pp.
10161046.
Austin, Texas

virgins. Other etiological factors

must therefore exist.

Academy of Pediatrics ad hoc

Task Force on Circumcision (1975)
that "there is no absolute medical
indication for routine circumcision
of the newborn."ll

How does this study stand up against

critical scrutiny? Is there really a link
between male circumcision status and
female cervical cancer rates? The Achilles What's sauce for the gander is ...
It would be surprising if the genital
heel of the study, it turns out, is the fact
mutilations practiced upon the human
that the circumcision status of husbands
was determined not by direct examina- male did not have their counterpart in
tion, but by asking the wives! In screen- the human female. Not only is this true
in the case of circumcision, it is true with
ing women to be studied, the authors
discovered that 10 percent of White a vengeance. Although true circumciwomen and 30 percent of Black women sion (excision of the hood or foreskin
were unable to state the circumcision covering the clitoris) does exist and is
status of their husbands. Could there extolled in the pages of Playgirl magahave been errors in the diagnoses given zine, it is rare for cutting to stop with reby the women who claimed they did moval of the foreskin. In the vast majorknow the circumcision status of their ity of cases of female "circumcision"
husbands? Indeed there could have around the world, part or all of the
been, according to Wallerstein, who clitoris itself is removed (clitoridotomy
or clitoridectomy). In 1976, according to
cites one study showing that 50 percent
of women's statements as to the circum- Fran P. Hosken.V twenty to twenty-five
cision status of their husbands were in million women in Africa alone had been
error, and another study which showed . subjected to clitoridectomy. The mutilathe men to be wrong about their own tion of these women was one of the
status! Other studies have failed to find "benefits" of their being born into a
a correlation between circumcision sta- Moslem society. Although the Koran
tus of husbands and cancer rates in nowhere requires female "circumciwives. It is amusing to note that re- sion," the practice is rare in other relisearchers generally forget to check the gions, and is taken for granted in many
circumcision status of women's lovers, Moslem societies in Africa. It is reported
that clitoridectomy was practiced by the
and to find out what kinds of contraceptive techniques (if any) are employed. ancient Egyptians and Jews as well. The
practice is increasing in the United
The fact that condoms would prevent
the deposition of smegma upon the cer- States, due to the increasing numbers of
vix and the fact that "the pill" would not Black Muslims. I have been unable,
however, to find reliable estimates of
ought to be relevant!
Although many claims have been
how many American women have been
made in support of the notion that cir- subjected to this outrage.
Unlike male circumcision, which is
cumcision has hygienic value (see sidebar), I have been unable to find any that most often performed under the aseptic
are supportable by hard facts. Space conditions of hospitals these days, relimitations require us to conclude this moval of the clitoris is very often done
under unhygienic, grisly conditions by
section by quoting the 1978 declaration
of The American College of Obstetri- nonmedical practitioners. Worse yet,
cians and Gynecologists on the subject
of neonatal circumcision:
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports the position of the American
February 1990

llCited in Wallerstein, Circumcision, p. 218.

12Fran P. Hosken, "Female Circumcision in
Africa," Women and Health, vol. 1, no. 6
(December 1976).
Page 39

The literature on circumcision,

both male and female,
is vast but generally of low quality as science,"
A great deal of it is on par with creationist "research."
the surgery performed may not stop
with removal of the clitoris! In so-called
Pharaonic circumcision and infibulation,
the small and/or large labia are also removed, and the genital area is stitched
together to block entry to the vagina. A
partial description of this procedure, as
it is performed in Somalia, was given by
Jacques Lantier: 13

twentieth century, or that the practice

should be stopped. It is clear that clitoridectomy is performed solely for the
sexual repression of women. It is sometimes claimed that it is performed to prevent masturbation and to prevent women from "straying" from their husbands
- if they get no pleasure from sex, the
reasoning goes, they won't go out looking for it. I am happy to report that efAfter separating outer and inner
forts are being made to halt this ne plus
lips (labia majora and labia minora)
ultra of sexual abuse. Fran Hosken,
with her fingers, the old woman
mentioned previously, is waging an inattaches them with large thorns
creasingly effective war on the practice
of female genital mutilation. To spread
onto the flesh of each thigh. With
her message worldwide, she publishes
her kitchen knife the woman then
pierces and slices open the hood
The Women's International Network
of the clitoris and then begins to
(WIN) News.14
cut it out. While another woman
In recent months Pharaonic circumcision and infibulation have become subwipes off the blood with a rag, the
woman (or operator) digs with her
jects of worldwide concern not only for
fingernail a hole the length of the
reasons of ordinary humanitarian conclitoris to detach and pull out that
cern. Some preliminary information
organ. The little girl screams in exfrom Africa indicates that there may be
treme pain, but no one pays the
a link between these practices and the
slightest attention.
heterosexual transmission of AIDS. It is
The woman finishes the job by
thought that the frequent occurrence of
entirely pulling out the clitoris and
bleeding during intercourse with sexualthen cuts it to the bone with the
ly mutilated women makes it easier for
kitchen knife. Her helpers again
the AIDS virus to gain entry to their
wipe off the spurting blood with a
bodies. It has been claimed that the inrag. The woman then lifts up the
cidence of AIDS is much greater among
skin that is left with her thumb and
circumcised women than among their
index finger to remove the remainuncircumcised peers. If subsequent
ing flesh. She then digs a deep hole
. studies bear out these reports, it willbe
amidst the gushing blood. The
a most ironic turn of events.
neighbor women who take part in
While we shrink instinctively from the
the operation then plunge their
thought of Pharaonic circumcision and
fingers into the bloody hole to verinfibulation, not everyone is repulsed by
ifythat every remnant of the clitoris
the idea of female. circumcision in its
is removed.
narrowest sense - the removal of the
hood or foreskin of the clitoris. In fact,
After printing the above quotation, it as articles in Playgirl and Cosmopolitan
seems hardly necessary to state that the magazines have demonstrated, surprispractice of Pharaonic "circumcision" is ing numbers of sophisticated American
a Stone Age outrage surviving in the women are clamoring to have it done!
The reason is that the operation, by baring the sensitive surface of the clitoris,
13Jacques Lantier, La Cite Magique et
Magie en A/rique Noire (Paris: Libraire A.
Fayand 1972),p. 226. Quoted in Wallerstein,
Circumcision, p. 166.
Page 40

14Availablefrom 187 Grant St., Lexington,

MA02173.
February 1990

allegedly makes a woman sexually more

responsive, more capable of enjoying
sexual stimulation during intercourse.
The operation is offered as a cure for
"frigidity," a method to make "nonorgasmic women" capable of experiencing orgasm. Unfortunately, the operation is about as successful in making
women "orgasmic" as is male circumcision in preventing cervical cancer. It
seems to be yet one more method surgeons have devised for performing walletectomy. Circumcision, whether of the
male or of the female, I believe to be a
Stone Age practice surviving in the Steel
Age. Like the religious ideas which
spawned it, it has no place in the modern
world. The literature on circumcision,
both male and female, is vast but generally of low quality as science. A great
deal of it is on par with creationist "research." Like creationist researchers,
who start with the required conclusions
and then try to find supporting evidence, it would appear that many procircumcision authors "know" before
they start that circumcision is a good
thing. All they need to do is sift through
data and retain those that support their
thesis. Data that do not fit or contradict
the thesis are ignored. After having read
quite a number of authors dealing with
circumcision, I find that the only one I
can agree with almost completely is
Edward Wallerstein. It seems appropriate, therefore, to end this article with the
paragraph which ends his book, Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy:
Today circumcision is a solution
in search of a problem. The operation, as prophylaxis, has no place
in a rational society. The final conclusion to be drawn is that routine
infant health circumcision is archaic, useless, potentially dangerous,
and therefore should cease. IS ~

IsWallerstein, Circumcision, p. 197.

American Atheist

Poetry
Cathedral

The god of my childhood

Rising stone by heavy stone

to house a ritual of myth,
it clambered upward to become
a monument to sacred fear.
From cold and dusty sanctuary
whisper sounds of praise and prayer,
and vows impossible to keep
still struggle with the intellect.

He dangled before them an apple, the sweetest,

and charged them with passion the fruit to consume,
but with a wink and a grin forbade them to eat it
on pain of expulsion and the tomb.
On his favored children he constantly doted
according to certain Old Testament notes
and hoards of their enemies happily smoted
reaping his share of sweet virgins and goats.

Entombed within its floors and walls

a privileged few lie safely blessed
while faces streaked with poverty,
eyes haunted by elusive ease,
heads bowed in trained unworthiness
seek solace in god's holy crumbs.

Like a hawk in a pine tree sleepless he waited

sharpening his beak, great hunger unsated,
watching and ready for goodness's sake
to send me hell-bound for one small mistake.
The god of my childhood shipped wholesale
billions of babies to broil in Hell,
unbending as a bloody Tartar
if they'd not been dipped in holy water.

Angeline Bennett

Primal Scream
Out of the depths
Have I cried unto god
But there was
No god to hear me
Rend the empty air.

But dissolved by seas and oceans of

all those little babies' tears,
that god dwindled down to a mortal size
and was lost among the years.
Ronald G. Crowe

When I was hungry;

he fed me not;
When I was in prison;
he visited me not
Naked,
he clothed me not
No god to save me from:
Humiliation;
Poverty;
Suffering;
Pain;
Illness;
Despair;
Death.

"All Things Bad and Ugly"

The hurricanes, the typhoons, the meteorites that fall,
The cyclones and the earthquakes,
The "good" lord made them all.
The poisonous snake, the bed bugs,
the roaches on the wall,
Disease germs and the plagues of yore,
the "good" lord made them all.
Arthritis, meningitis, diseases of the gall,
cancer, AIDS, and polio,
the "good" lord made them all.
Colds and gout and allergies,
herpes and the flu,
These things and many others,
they're all god's gifts to you.

In unity
And adversity,
There is strength.
Foxholes make Atheists;
Not believers.

Matthew Gambardella

Drusilla Davis

Austin, Texas

Our help cometh

Not from any god;
But resteth in ourselves
Our families,
Friends And class.

February

1990

Page 41

Report from India

Nehru trivialised
ne of the bloodiest general elections ever held in our secular
democratic republic is now behind
us. The media takes pride in slugging us
with statistics on the immensity of this
mind-boggling operation, where sheer
weight of numbers is shown as proof of
our dynamism. The battle of the ballot
box, in which bullets are also a kind of
franchise now, threw up a surprising result. In the northern states it proved that
Mr. Gandhi had squandered the magnificent mandate granted him five years
ago. But more disturbing was the remarkable improvement in the number.
of seats bagged by the Hindu fundamentalist party, the BJP
(Bharatiya Janata Party).
Early in 1990 other
states must have assembly
elections. Muscles are
'already being flexed. In
this state of Maharastra,
the BJP combined with
the Shiv Sena have only
one plank to their platform
-the establishment of a
Hindu government. And
when this is achieved only
the most stupid among us
willfail to see that it willbe Ramrajya the Hindu millennium - the kingdom of
god on earth in which everybody willbe
assured of food, clothing and shelter,
everybody meaning those who identify
with Hinduism.
The Nehru Centenary Year, 1989,has
proved a disturbing one for those of us
who went through the closing decades
of the British Rai and can recall the
stature of the men and women who led
us to freedom in 1947.Men like Nehru,
of Kashmiri Brahmin stock but steeped
in Western rationalism, and Dr. Babasahib
Ambedkar from the other end of the
caste spectrum, an Untouchable who
learned his law in England and framed
our country's constitution, putting into
it his own and Nehru's aspirations for a
secular democratic republic.
Nobody can fault Nehru's grandson
for failing to bring Nehru back into

t+J

Despite the example

of Nehru,
on his hundredth
birthday the greatest
issue in Indian politics
was the drive to make
the subcontinent
a Hindu nation.

In 1978,your editors, assisted by

Joseph Edamaruku, editor of an Indian
Atheist publication, combed India
seeking writers who would consistently
offer an interpretation of Indian religious events. Margaret Bhatty, in
Nagpur, a well-known feminist journalist, agreed that she would do so in the
future. She joined the staff of the
American Atheist in January 1983.

Margaret Bhatty
Page 42

February 1990

public awareness by staging a year-long

razzmatazz.
Nehru marathon runs
were held, outside teams came in to play
Nehru cricket and football and hockey,
Asian musclemen wrestled for Nehru,
and other athletes took part in track and
field events. Long distance cycle rallies
were held between Bombay and Delhi,
and much else, funded by the government. Athletes went sprinting across
the country carrying torches and the
year was climaxed by a show to end all
shows on Nehru's birthday, November
14,when forty thousand children staged
mass drills in Nehru Stadium in Delhi.
There were some tame seminars and
discussions on the man's
political philosophy, some
books published, and
some awards given out.
But there was no spirited
public debate. That might
have caused some red
faces in Nehru's Congress
party. Because, even while
the nation remembered
this great liberal, in towns
and countryside blood
flowed freely in HinduMuslim riots. Not once
did the celebrations falter, however,
even though all Nehru stood for in terms
of secularism was being challenged and
overthrown by Hindu and Muslim fanatics in every region of the country.
Readers will recall my account of the
slow criminalisation of religious politics
with the raising of private armies ("Armies
of the Just," American Atheist, March
1987).The flash points in northern India
are two disputed spots where the mythical Hindu gods, Ram and Krishna, were
born of legendary parents. But former
Mughal rulers a few centuries ago
thoughtfully built mosques over the
sacred Hindu shrines ("Secularism Eyeball to Eyeball," American Atheist,
May 1987).
While Rajiv Gandhi's government observed a hundred years of Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, fundamentalist Hindus and Muslims worked assiduously in
American Atheist

China
Amritsar
De~hi

New Delhi Agra

Jaipllr

N P I
.lucknow

K ;'inpu~
INDIA

preparation for the expected general a religious assembly at Chitraloot in

election. Side by side with news coverage south India. They were told that they
of the spectacular sporting events, our must return to the world they had
papers told of communal killingsin cities renounced to save Hinduism from exwith no history of riots even during the tinction. An organisation was formed
time of Partition in 1947. One disturbing for the "liberation" of Ram's birthplace,
aspect was their appearance in remote to be followed by that of Krishna and
rural areas. The entire scenario was other former Hindu shrines.
Certain sections of the Muslim leaderpart of a well-planned campaign mounted
by the Vishva Hindu Parishad, the mili- ship countered this by setting up a com-
tant arm of the rightist fascist Hindu mittee to save the Babri Masjid. Rajiv
party, the RSS. Both are based here in Gandhi's government, anxious not to
Nagpur. The leaders of the BJP are all alienate either Hindu or Muslim, played
men who have been indoctrinated by a devious role of placating each party to
the dispute to its best politicaladvantage.
the RSS from boyhood.
Early in 1989, when hordes of Hindu asRewriting history
cetics gathered at Allahabad for the
Like so many other religious conflicts famous Kumbh Mela, they took vows to
in other parts of the world, Hindus and lay down their lives for the cause. The
Muslims also suffer from a defective per- entire nation was about to rise or fall on
ception of history. The Hindus would what happened to a small piece of real
like to obliterate all reminders of the estate in a dusty rural town of eighty
time when Muslims ruled the peninsula. thousand inhabitants, of which, about 2
This obliteration will set the record
percent are Muslim.
straight by affirming, once again, that
India is a Hindu country and has been Brick by brick
The finalphase of the VHP's campaign
from ancient times. This blinkered vision comes from our school texts draw- went into action after years of grounding heavily on Hindu myth and legend work. All over the country, we now saw
for early history. (In contrast, Pakistani the spectacle of pious Hindus worshipping bricks stamped with the name Shri
school texts are somewhat truncated
and start with Arab conquests in the Ram. These pufas took place in every
eighth century in regions now in Paki- village with more than twenty thousand
stan.)
inhabitants upwards to towns and cities.
Rabid Hindus now seek to scrub eight The bricks were to be carried to Ayodhya
hundred years of Islamic domination.
to rebuild the temple of Ram. Bricks, or
Some Hindu scholars claim all the finest donations for buying them, came in
Muslim architecture, including the Taj from the devout abroad. We read of a
Mahal, was originally Hindu. And in- jade brick sent from China and two of
deed, early Muslim dynasties, with icon- solid silver from someplace else.
oclastic zeal, demolished Hindu shrines,
Everybody who loves Ram gave a
smashed idols, and built mosques over brick. These were loaded on trucks and
the same foundations. One such mosque, set off for Ayodhya accompanied by
in the small town of Ayodhya where the loonies shouting slogans, waving saffron
god Ram was supposedly born, is the flags, armed with tridents - members
Babri Masjid.1t was built in the sixteenth
of Hindu mercenary corps - along with
century by the Moghul emperor Barbar. saints and sadhus. Wherever the brickSome ascribe it to his descendant
worship was held and processions takAurangzeb.
en out, Muslims were killed in running
In 1984, taking a long view to this gen- battles. But the Nehru Centenary exeral election, the Vishva Hindu Parishad travaganza went on, under the benign
summoned Hindu saints and ascetics to gaze of his grandson.
Austin,Texas

February 1990

Indor;

/Nagpur

Patna

Bangl

Benares
(Varanasi)
Calculla

Hyderabad

In October, tension peaked as the

nation watched, waitingfor the explosion.
Mobs of screaming sadhus and holy
men, along with Hindu religious soldiers,
some even masked and dressed like
monkeys after the apes of the Ramayana
legend, complete with tails, watched the
laying of the foundation stone within the
precincts of the Babri mosque. The government said it could not prevent this
since the land was not in dispute. The
VHP declared that the government lied,
and the foundation had been laid with its
approval on land belonging to the
mosque.
Then, to prove that it really meant no
harm, the VHP leadership called a halt
to the campaign and the country breathed
a sigh of relief. The dispute has been in
the Allahabad High Court for decades
now. But whether either party is prepared to accept a decision by the judiciary
is the question.
The fallout from this gigantic exercise
in organised madness was a return to
the central parliament of enough Hindu
candidates to make them a telling force
in a coalition government at the centre.
Though not within the government, the
BJP has agreed to support V. P. Singh
from outside to assure him the necessary
majority in parliament. But he has also
been forced to make a similar agreement
with the Marxists, at the other extreme
of the political spectrum. Both groups
are bitter enemies.
Among the many problems demanding the new prime minister's attention,
the Ramjanambhoomi (Ram's birthplace) remains a priority. Any placating
Page 43

of Muslim sentiment will appear to the

Hindu electorate as a betrayal of their
electoral manifesto. Despite that, V. P.
Singh has appointed a Muslim as Home
Minister. This is the very first time since
Independence that the ministry for law
and order has been entrusted to a
Muslim.
The BJP leadership in parliament
points out that it never used the Ramjanambhoomi question in its election
campaign, nor mentioned it in speeches.
It didn't need to. The virus has been
spreading on its own for some years.

"Awakening" Hindus
In May 1986,when the VHP launched
its campaign for "awakening" the Hindus,
its leader said it had a four-fold programme: to unite all Hindus to fight
under one banner for Hindu causes, to
put a stop to all proselytizing by other
religions, revive Sanskrit as a living language and give political support to all
those who promote Hindu interests.
This state of Maharastra will have
assembly elections early in 1990. Battle
lines are being drawn with the Shiv
Sena-BJP combine contesting on the
Hindu cause. Bal Thackeray, a humourless newspaper cartoonist, founder of
the Shiv Sena goon squad, whose hero
is Adolf Hitler, declared recently: "As far
as we're concerned the colour of this
country has been saffron since ages, we
willnever let it become green. This will
remain saffron Hindustan."
The cauldron simmered at Ayodhya
as 1989drew to a close. Many hundred
thousand bricks are piled up awaiting
the rebuilding of the temple. It is to cost
millions of rupees, the largest and most
magnificent in the world. And it willgobble up the Babri mosque, of course, and
many human lives in the process.
In actual spirit this religious lunacy
and the blind fervour being whipped up
by fundamentalist leaders is closer in
spirit to Gandhi's revivalism when he
moved the Hindu masses with his fasts,
asceticism and celibacy. But he remained
free of personal ambition. The same
Page 44

cannot be said of those making a bid for

power by manipulating the same Hindu
psyche today. Nehru expressed serious
misgivingsabout Gandhi's use of religion
in politics, and he spoke out against it.
He deplored the blind obedience Gandhi's
methods demanded, and the miracles.
he was expected to perform through
them using magic.
Rajiv Gandhi's defeat at the hustings,

and the dubious role his government

played in all the chaos and bloodshed,
was despicable. But nothing diminished
Nehru more than the vulgar display of
the government celebrations along with
its crass populism. We came fullcircle in
the Nehru Centenary Year.Like Gandhi,
Nehru has now become a national mascot. ~

Jobs Around The House

(Or How You Can Help Without Leaving Your Home)
1. Next time you read your favorite magazine (besides the
American Atheist, of course) turn to the classified ad section
and find out how to place an ad for American Atheists in it.
The ad you send in can be short, simple, and cheap. For
example: "For a sample copy of the American Atheist magazine, send $ 1to: American Atheist G.H.Q.,P.O.Box 140195,
Austin, TX 78714-0195." Or place an ad for your favorite
American Atheist Press book.
2. Do you get book catalogs in the mail? The American Atheist

Library needs to keep up-to-date with new publications on

religion and state/church separation. So next time you order yourself a book on something of interest to Atheists,
why not order an extra copy for the American Atheist Library? Have your gift(s)mailed to: American Atheist Library,
P. O. Box 14505,Austin, TX 78761-4505.
3. Start burning up those telephone lines! Buzz your congres-

sional representatives and tell them that, as an Atheist, you

don't appreciate having "In God We Trust" on your coins
and "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. If the "American
Atheist Television Forum" appears on a local cable access
channel, call the cable company to let it know that you do
appreciate having a voice of reason on the air in your area.
Telephone regular television and radio stations and ask
them to have representatives of American Atheists appear
on their programs. Let your voice be heard!
American

February 1990

Atheist General Headquarters

P. O. Box 140195
Austin, TX 78714-0195

American Atheist

Historical Notes

Charles Bradlaugh as he was just seven

months after his resignation as president of the National Secular Society.

150 years ago

Ferdinand August Bebel, the German
socialist, was born on February 22, 1840,
in Deutz, a suburb of Cologne. Early in
lifehe was a journeyman turner, but his
keen intelligence and aptitude for politics soon made him a central figure in
the socialist movement of Germany.
Because of his political opinions, he received several prison sentences - but
at the same time he was extremely popular among workingmen and was elected
to the Reichstag repeatedly.
August Bebel not only held what were
in his day considered revolutionary
opinions on politics and economics but
also on the position of women and the
usefulness of religion. In one speech, he
noted that "Christianity is the enemy of
liberty and civilization. It has kept mankind in chains." During one term of imprisonment he wrote Woman and Socialism (1893).This criticism of capitalist
society and exposition of the possibilities of a socialist society was extremely popular with German workingmen and their sympathizers. By 1%1
this work had been printed in fifty-two
German editions and had been translat-

ed into many languages. In it, he pointed

out:
That which ... gradually improved
the situation of woman was, not
Christianity, but the advance culture of the West struggling agains.t
the Christian doctrine.
To the end a critic of religion, Bebel
died of heart failure in Passug, Grisons,
Switzerland, on August 13, 1913.

100 years ago

On February 16, 1890, Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891)formally resigned as
president of the National Secular Society,
the most prominent freethought society
in Great Britain.
Bradlaugh had founded the National
Secular Society in 1866,and his powerful
lectures had attracted much attention
to it. He is probably best known, however, for his fight against religious parliamentary oaths. He was elected to the
English Parliament in 1880,and because
he refused to take the oath "So help me
God," he was not allowed to represent
his district in that body until 1886.In Parliament, he pushed through a bill allowing members of Parliament the right to
an affirmation in place of an oath. He
also attempted, unsuccessfully, to have
a bill passed to abolish the Blasphemy
Law. Outside of Parliament, he was active as a freethought publisher.
Bradlaugh served as president of the
National Secular Society for twenty-

three years (one year, 1872, Arthur

Trevelyan, J.P', served in his stead) and
through his steadfast championship of
Atheism throughout those years had
won the affection of British freethinkers.
At the special conference of the National
Secular Society called at the Hall of Science to receive his resignation, according
to the February 23, 1890, issue of The
Freethinker:
Mr. Bradlaugh, who on rising, as
upon entering the hall,was received
with rounds of applause, could for
some moments scarcely speak
from emotion and appeared as
though he would actually break
down. Old men, many of whom
had come from various parts of
the Kingdom, were also observed
to be overcome by their feelings
during the proceedings and furtively wipe away the tears.

Bradlaugh gave as his reason for resignation that his health could
no longer stand the pressure
of the work, and that he preferred to resign rather than
fail to do the whole of his
duty. He nominated George
William Foote (1850-1915)to
replace him. This nomination
was accepted unanimously.
G. W Foote had founded
The Freethinker in 1881and
from 1883 to 1884 had been
From 1859 to 1860, August Bebel worked in this
imprisoned, with labor, for
modest building in Salzburg, Austria.
blasphemy as a result of
Austin, Texas

February 1990

Page 45

Joseph McCabe in his youth.

publishing satirical sketches of Bible

stories. His contributions to the literature
of Atheism remain popular even today.

75 years ago
The Melting Pot was a political and
heretical magazine published out of St.
Louis, Missouri, and under its masthead
every issue it had the delightful announcement that "No organization, politicalor religious, is responsible for anything that goes into the Melting Pot. Pile
all your cussin' on the editor," who was
Henry M. Tichenor.
Given the climate of the times, perhaps that warning was justified, for the
February 1915issue began with a bang.
The headline was "Hell-fire and Damnation," and the article started thusly:
Hell-fire and damnation, like all
con games, was invented for the
purpose of skinning suckers.
The priests couldn't sellreserved
seats in Paradise at a big profit if
they didn't have Hell-fire and
Damnation to frighten people into
buying these reserved seats.
Of all the miserable methods of
obtaining money under false pretense, the preaching of Hell-fire
and Damnation is the most disreputable.
The sight of a grown-up, ablebodied male standing up in a pulpit and making his living by frightening women and children with
threats of eternal torture if they
didn't "come to Jesus," is the most
shameless graft that society tolerates; and if there is anything blasphemous in all the Universe, it is
when one of these frocked fortunetellers backs up his fake with a
book of fables in his fist that he
swears was inspired by a God.
The crazy, craven, Christian religion, with its Hell-fire and Damnation, its beastly, bloody sacrifices, its monster Gods and goblins, has driven more men and
women mad - aye! and innocent,
Page 46

little children, too - than any

other poison on earth.
It is high time that the public
preaching of this horror was outlawed.
It has filled the world already
with enough madness and bloodshed ....

35 years ago
The February 4, 1955,Freethinker of
London published an essay titled "A
Sick Man Looks on Life" by Joseph
McCabe (born 1867),the prolific Atheist
author and lecturer, who had died the
month before. Written during the last
months of his life, the essay served as a
summing up of McCabe's philosophy:
. .. What is the frame of mind of
the Freethinker when he is nearing
the end?
I may say that one of his chief
feelings is of the massive frivolity
of the common life of man, and
religion is one of the most frivolous
of them all. I have enjoyed life as
much as any. I have learned half a
century ago, and found it the same
with no less a person than Herbert
Spencer, the typical "black intellectual," that man's chief business
in the world is to enjoy himself,
whether it be at billiardsor baseball,
mathematics or music. We work
so that we may play. No aim, end,
purpose is imposed upon us when
. we first become conscious of our
powers. And the lament of a few
literary men and philosophers that
they see no end or purpose is as
vain as the contention of the theologian that the Freethinker must
be haunted by a feeling of the
February 1990

emptiness of life.The Race chooses

its purpose, and in the fullness of
time, when the illusions of religion,
royalism, and spurious ethical
ideas are over, it willchoose as its
overwhelming purpose and pursue
with its resources the idea which
the pioneers of our movement set
up - the greatest happiness for
the greatest number ....
In the essay, McCabe went on to criticize
war and expenditures for it. First he
pointed at the waste of money that
"could have transformed the face of the
planet" with hospitals, schools, and libraries. But he found even more terrible
the fact that through the modern machines of war man could render the
world uninhabitable. He summed up his
position thusly:
Do not talk to me of the action
of a God in such a universe. Do
not talk to me about immortal
souls and heavens. Do not talk to
me about that jumble of ancient
stories called Christianity. We
shall gain enormously when we
rule out the whole of this preposterous nonsense from the administration of our planet.
The essay, originally published in the
December 1954Progressive World, had
been the last printed before his death.
30 years ago
At the beginning of the "space age,"
the Progressive World, a U.S. Atheist
magazine, published the following news
in its "Live News and Comments" section (February 1%0):
The Vatican has announced
that it willclaim religious dominion
over any "intelligent beings" that
may live on other planets or anywhere else in outer space. Of
course! But there might be some
difficulty in convincing really "intelligent" beings of the justice of a
claim so idiotic.~
American Atheist

 American Atheist Radio Series

The ethics of Jesus

hen our country was being founded, religious persons in the state
of Virginia actively sought government aid for religion by actually introducing before the assembly of that
state a measure to levy a tax for the support of all Christian denominations. The
proposal was defeated in 1779. It was
offered again in 1784.
When it was, it roused James Madison
to write his famous "A Memorial and Remonstrance" and caused Thomas Jefferson to write his famous "Statute of
Religious Freedom."
So concerned were people in those
days that there should not be taxation
for support of religion that from this
there came a culmination in the adoption of the First Amendment to the federal Constitution of the United States.
I have in front of me that first bill
which demanded money for the teachers of the Christian religion from the
taxpayers of that day and age. The first
sentence of it is a declaration that the
church has made for all the years of its
existence. Let me quote it to you.

The ethical system put

forth by the hero of the
New Testament is rests
on two simple points:
threats and promises.
But is that a good
enough guide by which
to live?

When the first installment of a

regularly scheduled, fifteen-minute,
weekly American Atheist radio series
on KLBJ radio (a station in Austin,
Texas, owned by then-President
Lyndon Baines Johnson) hit the
airwaves on June 3, 1968, the nation
was shocked. The programs had to be
submitted weeks in advance and were
heavily censored. The regular production of the series ended in September
1977, when no further funding was
available.
The following is the text of "American
Atheist Radio Series" program No. 51,
first broadcast on May 19, 1969.

Madalyn O'Hair
Austin, Texas

rational light.
What the synoptics are mainly concerned to do is to tell a story, the story
of the wonderful life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In this telling, his lifeas a leader and teacher is depicted and we must analyze what we
can. Professor Robinson did this in the
original Greek language, attempting to
steep himself in the exact meaning of the
authors. His findings are as follows:
The writings [of the New Testament, specifically the Synoptic
Gospels] are by no means wholly,
or even primarily, concerned with
ethical teaching, that is, telling us
what things are good and what
acts should be done ...

Jesus is neither a moralist nor a teacher primarily "but a mysterious and miraculous divine leader." He does occupy
himself with certain ethical teaching according (especially) to Matthew.
To view it: "in the first place, it is quite
unsystematic. There is nothing like a
treatise," or a methodical list such as the
two lists of the two different Ten ComWhereas the general diffusion of
mandments of the Old Testament. The
Christian knowledge hath a natuteaching consists of "separate and inderal tendency to correct the morals
pendent sayings." There is no mention
of men, restrain their vices and
of how precepts and valuations are to be
preserve the peace of society . . .
coordinated. In two cases there is a refI have heard so much about Christian erence to the greatest commandment
morals that I decided I would try to find and then to the second. I will get to
out what they are as outlined by Jesus . those later.
"A great deal of the teaching is vague,
Christ in his words and actions in the
New Testament.
puzzling and obscure. Much of it conWhat are the ethics of Jesus Christ? sists of fascinating but mysterious stoIn order to determine this I have used ries whose point is doubtful." One does
the synoptic gospels of the New Testa- not know - and it is freely open to inment as laboriously scrutinized and terpretation - as to what could have
classified by a lecturer at Oxford Uni- been meant by "the foxes have holes,
and the birds of the air have nests, but
versity, England: Richard Robinson.
The New Testament has been inter- the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head." Actually some of the direct expreted so often in so many countries
that it is important to divest ourselves of hortations are very uncertain in meanthe elements of these previous interpre- ing. What is to be the interpretation of
tations and to look at that recitation of "Blessed are the pure in heart." What is
purity in heart? When we try to elucidate
the thoughts, ideas, and deeds of Jesus
Christ in an entirely new, scientific, and by comparing other parts of the texts,
February 1990

Page 47

Right: Zoroaster (628-551 B.C.) of Persia

apparently said the Golden Rule long
before the mythical Jesus Christ was
supposed to have thought it up.
Below right: Kung Fu Tse (551-479 B.C.),
popularly known as Confucius, spread
the Golden Rule throughout China.

owing to their fragmentary or atomic

character, this cannot be done. When
we turn to other writers to find out what
they think is meant, we can get an interpretation such as from other old Jewish
writings - for example: "give not that
which is holy unto the dogs" is said to
mean "do not tell my gospel to anyone
who is not a Jew."
There are some very general precepts on which great emphasis is laid;
some discussion of middling matters;
some small change of moral advice, but
the teaching is paradoxical and may
have been intended to be so. The one
underlying element seems to be that the
statements had the intent of shocking
the hearers of that day and age. Jesus is
given to sayings such as "the last shall
be first; and the first shall be last" - just
as ifto say that the governor of our state
should or ought to change places with
say - a garbage collector. The idea is as
shocking to many now as it was then.
Many people are still scandalized by
the saying that "whosoever hath, to him
shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance; but whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken away even that
he hath."
The teaching has a prominent strain
of harshness in it. Jesus threatens weeping and gnashing of teeth. He threatens
anyone who does not receive his missionaries with great misery. He threatens damnation to those who do not believe in his gospel. He threatens whoever blasphemes against the holy ghost.
He is remarkably abusive. He harshly
neglects his family relations. He expects
his gospel to result in parricide (the
death of close relatives) and in the betraying of brothers and children to
death. He withers a figtree and destroys
a herd of swine.
There are, however, five main commandments which appear. Devotion to
god appears to be the main one. This is
a devotion to piety, a fulfillment of the
religious obligation to propitiate god
through our thoughts and actions.
Jesus stresses this over and over

again, citing that it will bring strife, the

sword, the denial of family claims, disapproval of others, poverty, with no
thought of tomorrow at any level. He
does not advocate making of one's self
materially secure. As a complete substitute for prudent action, he recommends
improvidence and a reliance upon prayer
and faith.
Very closely related to this first idea is
Jesus' insistence that everyone must
"believe in me." Usually this appears to
be that one should believe in him as being "the anointed" or the "son of man"
or the "son of god." Although he is reluctant to say these things of himself, he
tries to get others to utter these opinions of him. All of the notion of faith in
the synoptic gospels appears to cluster
around this idea of "believing on him" as
the son of god.
The third precept is the love of man,
and coupled with that is the precept that
this love is so extended as to entail nonresistance to evil, love of the enemy who
harms you.
In connection with these two latter
precepts, they are both contradictory to
the first in view of Jesus' overwhelming
insistence on the priority of the law of
piety. We cannot give material help to
our neighbors because the law of piety
demands improvidence and poverty.
We cannot take family love very seriously because it may interfere with our
devotions. Coupled still further with the
first law of piety is the last precept of
Jesus that demands that we humiliate
and lower ourselves, at all times and at
all costs. While we engage in these,
there is something which is nebulously
termed "purity in heart" which means
that the laws are to be maintained externally, yes, but internally as well. For instance, Jesus repudiates ritual and ritual
laws as existing for their own sake, but
sees these as being an extension of the
internal condition of the supplicant.
If we condense this we find that the
five major precepts are: love god, believe
in me, love man, be pure in heart, be
humble. So that the greatest virtues are

-,

Page 48

February 1990

American Atheist

Left: Vardhamana, the Mahavira (599527 B.C.), echoed the Golden Rule in the
religion he founded, Jainism.
Below left: Gautama, the Buddha (563483 B.C.), made it popular in India, but it
took J.e. to turn it to brass in the West.

piety, faith, love, purity, and humility.

The only great good beyond these virtues is god and Jesus. Jesus has no
arguments in favor of these ideas, but he
has several brief reasons for them, plain
matters on the one hand of threat and
the other of promise.
The two are: Promise: the kingdom of
heaven is at hand, and your reward is in
heaven. Threat: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth for those who are
not either obedient or in agreement with
his terms.
There are certain ideas which are
prominent in every age of man which
are curiously missing, conspicuously
absent, from the ideas of Jesus .
. the ideal of beauty is wholly absent,
and ignored. The ideal of truth and
knowledge is not alone absent, but on
the contrary a target of contempt. He
never recommended the use of reason
at any level. The virtue of conscientiousness or respect for the moral law offends Jesus rather than pleases him as
he condemns and rails against the Pharisees.
Jesus never touches any social question except divorce. He does not pronounce on war, capital punishment,
gambling, justice, the administration of
law, the distribution of any abundance,
equality of sex, equality of color, tyranny,
freedom, slavery, self-determination or
even on sex. He is against divorce and
speaks of adultery as a vice, but in the
story of the woman taken in adultery he
preaches a humane and giving attitude
toward the "sexual error" of adultery.
Professor Robinson feels that we
must judge these values which are
taught. But first he points out that there
are certain inconsistencies which destroy
the value of the ideas at the outset. For
while Jesus insists that god should be
recognized and revered, while all others
remain humble, nonetheless he insisted
on his own recognition as god, in his
own divinity, thus setting a peculiarly
bad example. While he asked others to
love their enemy and forgive, he threatened unforgiving damnation to those
Austin, Texas

moral to do so, for ifyou don't obey, hell

awaits you, so it is prudent to obey. This
is the exact evil he projects in "purity of
heart." If the outward form of conduct
is motivated by the inward impure desire to get to heaven instead of recognition of the intrinsic value of our acts,
then neither we, nor Jesus, are pure of
heart.
The other religions and moral systems which called upon man to act in respect to others in a certain way did not
appear to attach to their admonitions
the piety, or humility associated with the
Christ ideas. Let me give you some of
their Golden Rules:

who disbelieved what he had to say.

While he preached love, he showed himself as an unloving, threatening, destructive divinity.
And when we come to what is popularly called the "nitty gritty" of it, we find
that Jesus asks people to obey his precepts because it is prudent to do so, not
February 1990

Mohammedanism: No one is a believer

until he loves for his brother what he
loves for himself.
Buddhism: Do not hurt others in ways
that you would be hurtful to yourself.
Taoism: Regard your neighbor's gain as
your own and your neighbor's loss as
your own loss.
Sikhism: As you deem yourself, so
deem others.
Jainism: In happiness as in suffering, in
joy as in grief, we should regard all
creatures as we regard ourselves. We
should therefore refrain from inflicting on others such injury as would
appear undesirable to us if inflicted
on ourselves.
Hinduism: This is the quintessence of
duty: Do not do to others which
would cause pain if done to you.
Confucianism: Is there one rule which
ought to be acted upon throughout
one's whole life? Surely it is the rule
of loving kindness: Do not do to
others what you would not have
done by them to you.
Zoroastrianism: That nature is good
when it shall not do to another whatever is not good for its own self.
With this rule of conduct before Jesus
was born, it is no original thought with
him, and indeed transcends his ethical
design when he is insistent upon its violation. ~
Page 49

Letters to the Editor

Keeping politicians warm

Edward Hrynkiewicz
California

be a new individual human being, in

whatever form, present at that time.
It may be in a different form than a
mature tree, but there is an oak tree in
every acorn. It's in there, it must be in
there, for from where else could an oak
tree come?
When someone comes up with good
sound reasons to do so, I'm ready to
change my thinking on this subject, but
until then I must say no to abortion on
demand for the purpose of convenience.

A matter of breeding
Of course we all know that god,

Jack Wilson
California

There's two ways to get politicians to

do anything.
One way is to buy them with money,
or the other way is to light a fire under
their butts.
Well, I'm a senior, and I can't afford to
buy them with money, but I damn sure
can afford to buy a lot of matches.

spelled backward, is dog. And, of course,

a dog is a son-of-a-bitch. Nuff said.
Milan Rafayko
Kentucky

An anti-choice Atheist

~:nA~;n;:bl ic
nyto n

lISA

"Letters to the Editor" should be either questions or comments of general

concern to Atheists or to the Atheist
community. Submissions should be
brief and to the point. Space
limitations allow that each letter
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preferably, less. Please confine your
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Page 50

The position of the church on any

issue should not affect Atheist thinking,
however, I have an uncomfortable feeling that because the church is opposed
to abortion many Atheists overreact
and automatically become pro-abortionists.
The "ensoulment of the fetus" nonsense makes the decision regarding
abortion a simple matter for the religious,
but for the rest of us who try to think for
ourselves, it is not a simple matter.
It seems to me that it all hinges on establishing the exact time in the development of this living thing at which it becomes a human being and, therefore,
under the laws of civilized society, is
protected from being murdered.
The laws of nature require the son to
resemble the father in at least some
physical aspects. Occasionally the son
resembles the father so closely they can
be .mistaken one for the other. This, of
course, is an observable fact.
Now, since the one and only contact
between the father and his unborn child
occurs at the instant of conception and
the genetic instructions from the father
to the child must be transferred at that
time, it logically follows that there must
February 1990

No place is safe
I am a first-year graduate student in
zoology and my department is preparing a new catalog with which to recruit
promising students. Photos were taken
for inclusionin the catalog and I happened
to be in several shots. Those shots were
not printed, however, because I was
wearing an American Atheist T-shirt
and the print was clearly readable.
Apparently, the department does not
want to offend any prospective students
who are religious. If I was wearing a
"Christ is King" Tvshirt, would they be
equally concerned about offending
Atheists? I doubt it.
Many Atheists are inactive or apathetic because they feel safely insulated
from religion, but not even ivory-tower
academia is safe from its pervasive influence. Complacency is a luxury that no
Atheist can afford.
David K. Webb
Vermont

Buying time
on religion's bandwagon
Seneca (c. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65), Roman
statesman and philosopher, said, "Religion is regarded by the common people
as true, by the wise as false and by the
rulers as useful."
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),
French conqueror, after his easy coup
d'etat over the French in 1799, the folAmerican Atheist

Would Napoleon Bonaparte have a few

words of advice for Mikhail Gorbachev
on the usefullness of religion?
Rob Sherman, a national spokesperson
for American Atheists, shows, off U.S.
money that does not have "In God We
Trust" on it.

he requires for perestroika to succeed.

We sincerely trust that he is aware
that granting "tolerance" to the Church
willlead to its expecting and demanding
undeserved exemptions and privileges
from the State, as it does in the U.S.A.

lowing year reopened the churches. He

is quoted, "Religion is excellent stuff for
keeping common people quiet."
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German
conqueror, a baptized Roman Catholic,
convinced the Lutherans of Germany
that, "We Germans must become a
pious Volk (people, race), a Volk in
which the gospel has power over conscience" - Emanuel Hirsch (18881972), German systematic theologian.
The preceding quotations, indicating
one of the "advantages" of Belief,should
alert the sentimental Christians around
the world who are hailing Michael Gorbachev's meeting with the "Holy Father"
as a triumph for religion over "godless
communism" that perhaps they should
pause and sober up.
Everyone recognizes the serious economic and nationalist reaction that is
occurring in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's many accommodations are primarily being made in order to save his
government. For him to formally.grant
the lifting of restrictions. from Roman
Catholics in-the U.S.S.R. will- like an
opiate - "gentle-down" the masses to
caring less when their stomachs are empty, and help him to gain more time that

Marcel Stratton
Minnesota

Anybody got a date?

Every time I date a document I am
forced to think of Jesus Christ. What a
drag! Iam curious to know if there is a
feasible alternative to A.D/B.C. dating,
be it Eastern or Western, or Martian, for
that matter! As long as it is not based on
some religion, or religious history.
Just like saying "Do you need a
tissue?" instead of "God Bless You"
when someone sneezes, Iwould like to
put down 7564 or something like that
instead of the implied 1989 A.D. Otherwise, Imight have to resort to writing
"One thousand nine hundred and eightnine years after the supposed birth of
the supposed son of a supposed god."
S. Thomas
Georgia

Cheers!
Ihope many of you had the opportunity
to view Robert Sherman on CNN this
past December.
On December 18, Sherman debated
Jerry Falwell on the Larry King program.
Rob's crowning achievement occurred

when, in the finalseconds of the program,

he deftly produced the notorious "God
is Make-Believe" bumper sticker for all
the nation to see. Believe me when Isay
that little stunt packed a wallop. Bravo,
Rob!
Several days later on the Crossfire
program, Sherman tackled the issue of
whether to allow Bible study clubs access to public schools as an extracurricular activity. He held his own against the
heavy frontal assault levied by conservative Pat Buchanan. Buchanan's reference to Sherman as "our favorite Atheist" brought chuckles from both the liberal Mike Kinsley and Sherman.
Mr. Sherman is an excellent, effective, and entertaining spokesman for
Atheism. He is bright, articulate, and
has a great sense of humor (which clearly won over Larry King from the start).
Please, let's all be more generous in
monetarily supporting the herculean
efforts that Madalyn O'Hair, Robin
Murray-O'Hair, Jon Murray, and others
like Rob Sherman are making. They are
doing one helluva job!
Ronald Kochan
Colorado

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February 1990

Religion is a disease ...

is the cure!
The notorious Bible-burning rock band has
performed a miracle and released their debut
album, "Praised for Their Music, Damned for
Their Lyrics." To get your copy of this "high
infidelity" album, send $7.00 (check or money
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Caligula Records, 370 Turk Street, Suite 74, San Francisco, CA, 94102. Mention this magazine for free Atheist gift.

American Atheist

suggested

American Atheist
introductory reading list

II
Literature on Atheism is very hard to find in most public
and university libraries in the United States - and most of
the time when you do find a book catalogued under the
word A theism it is a work against the Atheist position.
Therefore we suggest the following publications which are
available from American Atheist Press as an introduction
1. Why I Am An Atheist, including a history of materialism, by Madalyn O'Hair. Stapled. 39 pp. Product#5416
........................................................................................... 4.00
2. The Case Against Religion: A Psychotherapist's
by Dr. Albert Ellis. Stapled. 57 pp. #5096

View
4.00

3. All the Questions You Ever Wanted to Ask American

Atheists with All of the Answers by Jon Murray and
. Madalyn O'Hair. Paperback. 248 pp. #5356
9.00
4. What on Earth Is an Atheist!
Paperback. 288 pp. #5412

by Madalyn

O'Hair.
8.00

5. An Atheist Speaks by Madalyn O'Hair. Paperback. 321

pp. #5098
8.00
6. All about Atheists by Madalyn O'Hair. Paperback. 407
pp. #5097
8.00
7. Ingersoll the Magnificent
342 pp. #5216

by Joseph Lewis. Paperback.

10.00

8. Essays on American Atheism,

Paperback. 349 pp. #5349

vol. I by Jon G. Murray.

10.00

9. Essays on American Atheism, vol. /I by Jon G. Murray. Paperback. 284 pp. #5350
10.00
10. Essays in Freethinking,
vol. I by Chapman
Paperback. 229 pp. #5052

Cohen.
9.00

II. Essays in Freethinking,

vol. /I by Chapman
Paperback. 240 pp. #5056

Cohen.
9.00

12. Life Story of Auguste Comte by F. J. Gould. Paperback.

179 pp. #5132
6.50
13. The Logic and Virtue of Atheism
Stapled. 58 pp. #5280

by Joseph McCabe.
4.00

American

into the multifaceted areas of Atheism and sratc church

separation. To achieve the best understanding of thought in
these areas the featured publications should be read in the
order listed. These by no means represent our entire collection of Atheist and separationisr
materials.
14. Atheist

Truth vs. Religion's Ghosts by Col. Robert G.

Ingersoll. Stapled. 57 pp. #5156
4.00

15. Some Reasons I Am a Freethinker

Ingersoll. Stapled. 37 pp. #5184

by Robert

G.
4.00

16. Our Constitution

- The Way It Was by Madalyn
O'Hair. Stapled. 70 pp. #5400
4.00
17. A merican A theist Heritage: Jefferson,
Franklin,
Lincoln, and Burbank by Joseph Lewis. Stapled. 56 pp.
#5212.....
.
4.00
18. Fourteen Leading Cases on Education, Religion, and
Financing Schools. Paperback. 273 pp. #5500
5.00
19. Sex Mythology
#5440

by Sha

Rocco.

Stapled.

55 pp.
4.00

20. Women and Atheism,

The Ultimate Liberation
by
Madalyn O'Hair. Stapled. 21 pp. #5420
3.50
21. Christianity
Before Christ
Paperback. 237 pp. #5200

by John

G. Jackson.
9.00

22. The Bible Handbook (All the contradictions, absurdities,

and atrocities from the Bible) by G.W. Foote, W.P.
Ball, John Bowden, and Richard M. Smith. Paperback.
372 pp. #5008
9.00
23. The X-Rated Bible by Ben Edward Akerley. Paperback.
428 pp. #5000
10.00

All of the above publications are available at a special set

price of $125.00 - a savings of $31 offthe single issue price.
Postage and handling is $1.50 for orders under $20.00;
$2.50 for orders over $20.00. Texas residents please add 7~
percent sales tax.

Atheist Press, P.O. Box 140195,

Austin, TX 78714-0195
U.S.A.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government
for a redress of grievances.

"Christ came, and Christianity arose .... But originating in Judaism, which knew woman only as a
being bereft of all rights, and biased by the Biblical
conception which saw in her the source of all evil,
Christianity preached contempt for woman."
- August Bebel

Woman and Socialism