GOD AND THE GLADIATORS

EVANGELICAL

THE GREAT

TARGET - JEWISH TEENS

MERICAN
lHEISf

DEBATE OF '78

FREEDOM

OF CHOICE

$1.25

A Journal Of

Atheist News
And Thought

September, 1978

Vol. 20, No.9

!I

Vol. 20, No.9

EDITORIAL
COMMENT CORNER
NEWS
American Judaism Ailing
Zanies Afoot In Kentucky
The Great Debate - O'Hair Zaps Preacher
FEATURE ARTICLES
An Atheist Deals With Death
8utterfly
McQueen - Our 4-Star Atheist
God & The Gladiators
Catholic Immigration:
Domination Through
Women, Know Thine Enemies
Religious Broadcasts & Other Sit-Coms
Bill Baird's Column
AMERICAN
ATHEIST RADIO SERIES
ATHEIST BOOK REVIEW
The Naked Emperor

September,

2
3
5
7
9
14
16
18
22
24
.25
26
34

Numbers

36

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair / Managing Editor: Jon Garth Murray
General Editor: Frank Duffy / Production: Ralph Shirely / Circulation: John Mays
Non-Residential Staff: Ignatz Sahula-Dycke, G. Richard Bozarth, James Erickson,
Wells Culver, J. Michael Straczynski, Joe Kirby, Elaine Stansfield, Bill Baird,
Gerald Tholen
The American Atheist magazine is published monthly by American Atheists, 2210 Hancock
Drive, Austin, Texas 78756, a non-profit, non-political, tax-exempt, educational organization.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX, 78768; copyright 1978 by Society of Separationists, Inc.; Subscription rates: $15.00 per year; $25.00 for two years. Manuscripts submitted
must be typed, double-spaced and accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The
editors assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts.

THE AMERICAN
ATHEIST
Post Office Box 2117
Austin, Texas 78768
Enter my subscription
NEW
Total Enclosed $,

MAGAZINE

for one year at $15.00

(two years at $25.00).

RENEWAL

Name

Address

City, State, & Zip

Austin,

Texas

September,

1978

.....

ON THE COVER

1978

Summer wanes and Autumn

arrives irregardless of humanity's
calendars.
Nature's indifference
to the shrieks and whispers of
her passengers is unaffected
by
our tally sheets.
Our calendars are a convenience to us, but mere graffiti
etched in an impartial universe.
Summer's
departure
and
Autumn's arrival are heralded by
vassal leaves whose colors supply
their own superlatives.
To attempt description
of them with
mere adjectives is as futi Ie as trying to have nature coordinate her
seasons' arrivals and departures
with our schedules. The leaves
bud, blossom and wither,
the
seasons come and go as we watch
and realize that we are as expendable as the once-green, now crimson leaves.
But the Autumnal
Equinox
season is also harvest time. Its
theme is maturity,
not death,
and its predominant
characteristic is movement and change as
our pulse quickens on leaving the
low lush closeness of Summer for
the mountain airs of a blue-sky
October.
It's a "great-to-be-alive"
season. A lung full of azure Autumn
air will inevitably lead to a smile
which mirrors in appreciative eyes
unendingly.
How rare, and yet
how very regular.
Page 1

SOFT SEASONAL CHANGES

September is a season unto itself. It's a time of
ripeness and fulfillment
which comes after the peak
of summer whose blossoms, though colorful and endearing, are but a promise of September's harvest.
It is a "season" of soft changes which allow those
reluctant to let go of summer sufficient time to adjust
as its days are warm at noon, cool at dusk and misted
with a chill dampness at dawn. We getthe best of both
the season departing and the one arriving. A Saturday
nap in the September sun is disturbed only by the
restless sound of crisping leaves.
Change is at hand. For those who would linger in
the less demanding days of summer the adjustment to
nature's cycles and to the impersonal laws inherent in
the cosmos may prove too much to bear without the
crutch of comfortable myths to sustain a delusion.
, A subjective rendering of objective realities immutably present in nature and human life is nonetheless
an individual
inadequacy which has become institutionalized,
shared and reinforced by millions of likeminded casualties who find tomorrows
threatening
without
the deadening yarns of yesterday to sooth
them.
Were the inadequates few in number and recluse in
habit we.could let them be to live their own lives on
their knees before the illusions of 'their choice. Such
is not the case, however, as their insecurities are
lifelong and inherent in the Judeo-Christianity
which
demands of its adherents that they tolerate neither
false gods nor the godless.
, They must seek converts to their brand of lunacy
in much the same wayan infectious virus requires an
unending
series of host organisms. "God-fearing"
people have sacrificed their courage to doubt so as to
retain the will to believe.
Temporary refuge from the swarm to conform can
be had by isolating oneself in a locale still resistant
and inhospitable
to the virulent strain of militant
Christianity
which has long since invaded and tainted
our institutions
to the extent that the neutrality of
our public school system has been ravaged and many
of its graduates are but intellectual geldings.
These stunted ones are resistant to the enlightening
effects of reason and instead value the submission of
all to their clergy and the triumph of their creed as
goals to be attained by bloodshed if need be.
Some have achieved a temporary respite from the
Page 2

September, 1978

religious onslaught so long as they do nothing to hinder the devouring creed. Under the guise of Olympian
intellectualism
they linger in their dignity with arms
folded and backs toward the religious beast which
will eventually devour them as they lecture condescendingly to those who fight their battles for them.
As psychologist Nathaniel Branden has written:
"I n
logic these two positions [Atheism and Theism] exhaust the possibilities.
Agnosticism
is not a third
position, it is the evasion of a position."
Hence it is that as Atheists we go it alone against
the mindless behemoth of religion while potential
allies are immobilized
because, in his/her desire to
"play it safe," an Agnostic's belief in the possibility
of god's existence - without
reason - is, in effect,
a capitulation
to the forces of irrationality
who likewise sustain their faith entirely bereft of reason.
For the Agnostic, contemplation
of the large nurnbers of Theists (slhe would provoke should (s)he reveal the Atheist within which supports the Agnostic
without
is cause enough to evade a choice between
Theism and its superior - Atheism. It is a reluctance
and/or an inability to prosper amid the hostility from
one's inferiors which distinguishes a cactus-like Atheist
from the Agnostic who would please all and offend
none.
Like the browning leaves which rain from the trees
during this and every Autumnal
Equinox season, the
Agnostic is subject to the wind of greatest velocity.
Leaves are expendable as trunk and branch and root
- and often thorns - are required for lasting permanence in a universe which acknowledges no "third
position"
between existence and non-existence.
To
seek such an alternative where none is possible is to
pretend to be rational.

Summer slips away almost imperceptibly

as Autumn
descends over the land according to schedules governed
by the land itself - not by myths or the fools who
worship them. Autumn is harvest time when another
season's growth has come to maturity.
It is to our fellow American Atheists who by the
realistic nature of their chosen life philosophy
are
maturation
personified that we here at the American
Atheist
Center send our warmest greetings for a
happy Autumnal Equinox Season.

(19.78 Autumnal Equinox: 23 Sept. at 09:26 GMT)

The American Atheist

COeMeMENT
O
.R

Mother Atheism
Dear Editor,
In the May 1978 issue the article, "Whose Sister Is Science?" by G. Richard
Bozarth states: "Perhaps it is better to describe Atheism as the child of science."
This is wrong. Atheism is not the child of science. Science is the child of Atheism.
In the July 1978 issue Mr. Bozarth, in his wonderful "Atheist Letters -I", states
in answer: First, what is Atheism? Atheism may be defined as the 'mental attitude
which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason.' "
This is the mental attitude that put science to work. From primitive times to today, man, not satisfied with his condition, has tried to better his life.
We owe all our progress to Atheism. We should understand that all scientific
thought, from medical science to anthropology, belongs only to Atheism. We can't
live without Atheism. Atheism is as necessary to every human being as are the water,
food and air that we must have to live. There is nothing contradictory about Atheism.
It would be wonderful if everybody would study the book, The Necessity of
Atheism, by D.M. Brooks, M.D.
I C
ampos
,
Topeka, KS
.Mr, Campos,
, Science is the child of Atheism only in the sense that what we call scientific curiosity is an atheistic virtue. By this, I mean, one who is scientifically curious accepts
no explanation about natural phenomena simply because an authority insists the
explanation be accepted. Aristotle and Galen were once such authorities, and William
Harvey's great work on the motion of the heart and blood begins by blasting away
at blind acceptance of these ancients' "truths."
God, or rather the various priesthoods have always been such authorities. But, as
Harvey put it, true scientists, "who are only eager for truth and knowledge, never
regard themselves as already so thoroughly informed, but that they welcome further information from whomsoever and from whencesoever it may come." This is a
disticntly Atheist sentiment, for priests and their flocks usually always consider
themselves thoroughly informed by their special "divine truth."
However, many great scientists have been and are devout religionists. The
atheistic spark of scientific curiosity is obviously not enough to account for the astounding rise of Atheism in the past two centuries. Scientific knowledge is responsible. The increase of such knowledge has given us so many answers about nature,
when once humans could helplessly only explain by the magical operations of deities,
that the necessity of a deity has steadily diminished. In this sense I mean Atheism is
the child of science. The unprecedented success of the American Atheists came
after the unprecedented explosion of scientific knowledge that is the most unique
aspect of this century. Not even an Ingersoll could put together a comparable organization last century, prior to the explosion.
..
..
I agree that a successful scientist must necessarily have a degree of atheistic spirit,
and this has always been true, as Mr. Campos so correctly observes. But Atheism that is, atheistic philosophy - in order to thrive and grow and build national centers, requires a truly scientific civilization such as Western Civilization has become
in this century. What is a cause may be called a parent.
G. Richard Bozarth

N
E
R

Rabbi Agrees

One Generation

To Another

Dear Mr. Straczynski,

I read your article in The American
Atheist magazine, "Report from the
Country of the Blind" [July '78J.
Three cheers for you. It pulled back
the curtain on events of my childhood.
When I was 12 years old (I'm now 82),
I was studying at a country school in
western Pennsylvania. Our class consisted of eight boys and six girls and our
teacher was a student of law. He taught
to earn his college money.
Each morning he had us sit in the
first row of seats (boys on one side,
girls on the other) while we read the
Bible and said the Lord's Prayer. He
chose the chapter we would read. When
my turn came I skipped it and read the
next verse. Teacher said, "Ethel, you
are reading the wrong verse." I refused
to read it - all the boys were laughing.
Teacher siad, "Read it or I'll expel you
from school." I refused an d he sent me
home.
.When my father saw me he asked
why I had come home early and I told
him. He put on his coat and hat and
rushed out of the door. Next day my
father said, "Go to school." I did and
we never read the Bible again. I never
found out what my father had said
to my teacher. My Dad was an unbeliever and I have followed in his footsteps.
Thank you for your look at the
"holy book." We need more people
like you and the American Atheists.
Keep up the good work - it will pay
off.
Ethel Foley
Hot Springs, AR

Mr. Shirley,
In your recent AA column ["Theological Mythomania", June issue] you wrote,
"I beseech you [the clergy J , let your congregations of unthinking sheep go free and
earn your bread by the sweat of your prow ... "
.
.
I would like you to know that I take your words to heart. I am a Jewish rabbi
(in Hebrew rabbi means, simply, "teacher") - a lay rabbi - nev.er went to theology school, and I work as a social worker for the state of Alaska With t~en-agers.
Both in my social work and in the Sunday school classes I occasionally teach
to Jewish children, I do not preach the biblical line, but the scientific and rational.
I find it's possible to reach the students on this level. So you see, there are some
rabbis (and probably some ministers) .who are fig~ting thei~m and ~rying to free
people's minds from the old superstIt~ous. ~rap. suu, I remam a Je~lsh teacher. I
don't teach Judaism, though. I teach scientific theory and human ethics,
Dan Bloom
Juneau. AK

Austin, Texas

September, 1978

Page 3

More
Reader
COlDlDent
Mutual Vibes
Dear Editor,
As a long-time S.O.S. member I
would like to comment on a recent article.
In the July issue of The American
Atheist writer Ignatz Sahula-Dycke in
his article, "Christianist Face-Saving:
Anti-Semitism", makes few references
to the Arab world. I feel you should've
noted how few Jews there really are in
this world. Also, I believe there are
more Jewish Atheists than any other
sect ratio-wise.
You must understand that I as a
Jewish Atheist have two stigmas to
overcome: that of being labeled a Jew
in addition to the hated term of Atheist.
If you'll pardon the expression, I have
two crosses to bear in life.
I am a Jew because I am called one.
It has nothing to do with religion.
Rather, you'll find I am one of the
best damned Atheists you could ever
meet!
This does not mean I am capable of
disregarding the pains my people endure. I assure you that I can fight Jewish fanatics much easier than those of
any other sect.
In summary, I say bug off the Jews.
They have and will continue to have
problems of their own without the
help of this magazine to which I subscribe and sympathize with as I consider Madalyn the heroine of our times.
Long after we are dead she will be remembered - positively, I hope.
I may have taken your article somewhat out of context, yet I detected
certain "vibes."
I would also like to say, Mr. SahulaDycke, that you are a brilliant intellectual and an outstanding writer. Let's
stick together in the fight for reason
for our mutual benefit.
As author Tom Robbins said:
"People need logic, but want magic."
H. Harold Riloff
Wynnewood, PA
Mr. Riloff,
Yes, the people want magic, but,
sadly, all they get from religion is
double-talk. You're right about the
vibes. Thanks for writing.
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke

Page 4

Special Thanks
Dear Editor,
The two weeks that we spent at the American Atheist Center in Austin were
quite an experience. The daily long hours of work which we witnessed and shared
proved how deeply dedicated our "leaders" are to the cause of American Atheism.
From early in the morning till almost midnight, seven days a week, we were impressed with the efficiency of the national staff.
It was an extremely encouraging experience, but it was also disheartening at
times. We were pleased to meet so many people with like opinions who shared our
Atheist philosophy. It was great to watch a computer print mailing labels for thousands of Atheists all over the world. The printing press, which on many occasions
seemed to run non-stop, was fascinating to watch as it turned out thousands of
sheets of Atheist news.
Working in the library with the thousands of very old (and new) Atheist-oriented
books was very informative. Itis so important for Atheists to have a secure place to
store and protect the old Ingersoll, Paine, McCabe, and other titles on Atheism.
Stamping and "golding" the new American Atheist membership cards enabled us
to become acquainted with the names of Atheists from almost every state. Hopefully
we will be able to meet most of these people at next year's convention in Dallas.
What was discouraging was NOT the religionists' fight against Atheism, but
instead a situation which finds Atheists fighting among themselves. Some would
write that they were going to cancel their magazine subscription [see below] because
they. didn't like American Atheism being symbolized by the atomic energy insignia.
Another Atheist asked that his name be taken off the mailing list because he didn't
agree with a particular article in the magazine. Some would cease mailing in a
monthly pledge because they weren't receiving personal replies from the center.
Unless everything was done exactly as these people demanded, they would quit!
We ask that before any fellow Atheists quit our organization they visit the
national center in Austin. See how busy things are all the time. See how many letters are received each day, all of which cannot possibly be answered. Judge for yourself how dedicated to Atheism every person working there is. We can only be effective if we are UNITED.
We like our American Atheist Center. We are impressed by the people working
there. If you live too far from Austin to visit in person, please don't neglect your
monthly pledge of support. The center can't operate without YOU, and you can't
be adequately represented without the center!
Kurt Lenhart
Megan Zusne
Tulsa, OK
Indeed it was our distinct pleasure to have two hard-core Atheists such as Megan
and Kurt visit and share the load with us. As coworkers they were outstanding in
their perseverance in seeing a difficult task completed. As fellow Atheists these two
teen-agers from Oklahoma were immeasurably encouraging to us as representatives
of a new generation of freethinkers who will see the Aims & Purposes of American
Atheism achieved. Megan and Kurt: thanks.
The National Staff

.....!!@*%*!!&t*%*$!!I. .....

Dear Editor,
The editorial justification for the use of the atomic energy symbol as the emblem
of the Atheist movement [June issue] leaves me cold with disgust. To say that the
attack on atomic energy is "an attack on the scientific method" only mouths the
insanity spewed by those lovers of progress at any cost - even the survival of
humankind.
It is not the scientific method at issue here; many rational people have in fact
used that method to arrive at their position in opposition to the unbridled use of
nuclear energy.
I regret that as much as I desire to contribute to the spreading of Atheist thought
in this country, I cannot in good conscience support an Atheist organization such
as yours. Please cancel my subscription.
Hal Nelson
Granite Falls, WA

September, 1978

~I

The American Atheist

Illt[~ _N_EW_S -JII111'1!111111111!lliI1!lilliilll1.11111IflijI.III1111

American JudaismAiling
American Jewry is facing extinction
because the traditional myths around
which the Jewish community
is
organized and fortified are neither
competent nor productive, according
to a Cincinnati rabbi.
Dr. Alvin Reines is a professor of
philosophy at Hebrew Union College
Jewish Institute of Religion as well as
head of the Institute of Creative Judaism. He charges that the myths which
are emasculating Judaism in America
include:

* All is well with American Jewry.

* Existence of the State of Israel
ensures American Jewish survival.
The State of Israel and Russian
Jewry are the only endangered Jewish
communities.
* Indoctrinating and propagandizing
Jewish children in religious schools,
rather than educating them, will keep
them loyal to the Jewish community
all their lives.
* Only traditional, authoritarian
and legalistic Judaism can enable American Jewry to survive.
* Liberal Jews' needs for a national
religious organization are served today
by national Reform Jewish bodies.
* Nonreligious .Jewishness and nonreligious Jewish organizations are adequate by themselves to perpetuate
American Jewry.
* The impending extinction is not
the fault of established American Jewish religious institutions, but is to be
blamed entirely upon the Jewish laity.

Dr. Reines feels that these myths, if

perpetuated, will be suicical for Jewry
in America.
"The fundamental reason for the
crisis of American Jewry is that great
numbers of American Jews simply db
not believe in any of the institutional
Judaisms, neither Orthodox Judaism,
Conservative Judaism nor the traditional Reform Judaism."

The rabbi feels he has the solution

in a type of Judaism already subscribed
to "without having identified it and
given it a name. It is a silent Judaism
that resides unspoken within them, in
their minds and hearts."
"Polydox Judaism" is Reines' answer. It is based on the "theological
freedom" which allows each Jew to
decide "about the meaning of the
word 'god'." Polydox Judaism, he
claims, is the religion of many of that
vast majority of American Jews who
rarely worship in the synagogue.
The core of poly doxy is the teaching
that the the individual is free to determine what religious beliefs and practices he will hold. "The only thing that
would keep a person out of a polydox
community would be if he violated the
freedom covenant by trying to exercise
authority over others' beliefs when he
has no right to do so," the rabbi explained.
The notion of infallible scripture is
destroyed, he said, and the base of
authority
for traditional,
universal
doctrine crumbles.
"When there is no longer one sure
source," Dr. Reines said, "then the
freedom of the individual emerges."

According to recent denominational

figures most U.S. Jews do not affiliate
formally with a synogogue and surveys
on religious practice indicate few attend
weekly services.
When the low U.S. birth rate [see
"Scholar:
U.S. Jews Diminishing",
August issue, page 8] is added to the
calculation, American Jews are headed
for voluntary extinction, Dr. Reines
claimed.
Attempts on the part of many
American Jews to compensate for this
defection with secular Jewish organizations has a "fatal flaw," he continued.
"Compared to shared religion, the
shared elements of ethnicity are derivative and trivial and call for no special
loyalty."
Ethnicity

Not Enough

"Jewish communal loyalty is produced by beliefs in the religion or Judaism of the community." Basing Jewish survival on "ethnic-oriented nonreligious institutions"
is absurd, he
charged.
Advocates of polydoxy do not see
their movement leading to the downfall of Reform congregations. Rather,
they say, the Institute of Creative
Judaism will supply educational materials to allow Reform Jews to learn the
widest possible range of religious
views.
Reform Judaism is an American
phenomenon that assimilated the influx of Jewish immigrants from Europe
in the early 1900s. It abandoned many
rituals of the stricter forms of Orthodox
and Conservative Judaism.
But, Reines said, in recent years too
many Reform congregations have begun taking on the older trappings and
forcing their members to follow certain beliefs. He called that attitude a
mental straitjacket.
"Reform Judaism never came of

'The news which fills one half of the magazine is chosen to demonstrate,
month after month, the dead reactionary
hand of religion. It dictat~
good habits, sexual conduct, family s!ze,. it censures cinema, theater, television.' even education.
It dictates life valu~s and ~ifestyle. 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.
.J

Austin, Texas

September, 1978

Page 5

age," he said. "It never came to know

who it was or what it was. Reform
never made the hard decisions that had
to be made if it was going to be a true
liberal institution."
In poly doxy , all beliefs are optional
and all beliefs are welcome - even a
belief in Jesus Christ, Reines said. But
he added that such a belief would

hardly be new in Judaism.

"We have had a number of Jews
who really thought of Jesus in a semidivine manner. It's not uncommon for
some Jewish theologians to think highly of Jesus Christ. After all, who originally believed Jesus was the Messiah?
Jews."
Because polydoxy makes no one

viewpoint essential, Reines said a

polydox view would be unlikely in
Christianity, which has as its central
belief the acceptance of the divinity
of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Reines often repeated his assertion that American Judaism, which is
largely Reform, is in danger of estinction unless it can adapt to modernity.

Evangelical Target - Jewish Teens

The focus of Christian conversion
efforts among America's Jewish population has shifted from the marginal,
middle-aged Jew to the Jewish adolescent, according to a Jewish researcher.
Mark Cohen, writing for the Institue of Jewish Policy Planning and Research of the Synagogue Council of
America, says that Christian missionary activity directed at U.S. Jews, dismissed in the past as a marginal phenomenon, has provoked an "alarm
response" recently among the Jewish
community.
Cohen, in an in-depth look at the
situation, finds that there is a "sense
of vulnerability" among the Jewish
community about these missionary activities, partly traced to the Jewish historical experience and partly traced to

the realization within the community

that many young Jews have only "marginal" Jewish identities.
Jewish leaders, historically aware of
centuries of persecution and forced
conversion to Christianity, fear the
new public stance of the evangelical
zealots is a threat to continued Jewish
identity and existence.
It was this widely held fear of the
Christian evangelical crusade to convert
Jews which caused the recent flap over
Ruth Carter Stapleton's scheduled address to a Hebrew-Christian group bent
on converting Jews to Christianity.
Evangelist Stapleton was scheduled
to speak to B'nai Yeshua, a fundamentalist, pentacostal-oriented group which
seeks to convince young Jews that Jesus is the Messiah and that only in ac-

Italian WOlllenDefying
Pope's Abortion Threats
Many Italian women are openly defying the Roman Catholic Church as
they are taking advantage of Italy's
new liberalized abortion law.
This despite a major campaign
by the church, the refusal of many
doctors and nurses to perform the
operation, and a shortage of beds so
acute that in one Rome hospital
women admitted for abortions were
crammed two to a bed.
On June 6, a new law superseding
an old Fascist-era statute went into
effect permitting abortion for the first
time in Italy, whose dominant Roman
Catholic Church considers it tantomount to murder as a crime against
the "purity of the Italian race."
Passed in Parliament by Communist, Socialist and moderate parties
over the opposition of the ruling
church-backed
Christian Democrats,
the law allows a woman over 18 to
seek an abortion for physical, economic, social or psychological reasons dur-

Page 6

ing the first 90 days of pregnancy.

Official figures say 425 women in the Rome region of Lazio
had abortions during the first month
the law was in effect. In the Piedmont
region of north Italy there were 500
abortions, and in the Milan area there
were 794, despite a boycott by 63 percent of the doctors.
A big problem for those seeking an abortion is that the church
urges doctors and nurses to sign
up as objectors - they must do
this to avoid having to perform the
operation - and warns that anyone
connected with an abortion, from
woman to the attendants,
faces
excommunication.
In the Rome area, 76 percent
of obstetricians and gynecologists have
registered as objectors, the local health
office said. A cook in one hospital
reportedly is refusing to feed women
in for an abortion.

September, 1978

~/

cepting him as such can a Jew live a

fulfilled life. After strong protests by
both Christian and Jewish leaders,
Stapleton
canceled
her scheduled
speech, saying that her ministry was
seeking "reconciliation among various
Christian denominations and Christian
and non-Christian faiths.
"I would not associate myself with
any effort that would seek to undermine the survival of the Jewish people
as a distinctive religious group," she
said.
Similarly,
when the Lu theran
Church-Missouri Synod launched its
campaign to convert Jews to Christianity, it likewise drew heavy protests
from Jewish civil rights organizations.
These protests, however, were aimed
not only at the underlying theme of
the campaign - that Jews need to be
converted to Christianity for salvation
- but because of the material used.
Some of the material, prepared by
the evangelical Jews for Jesus, showed
what it called a "typical" Jew, focusing
an alleged indifference to Jewish religious life and an exaggerated love for
money, golf and the luxurious life.
Under heavy pressure, Synod officials asked congregations not to use the
material.
The evangelical Christian movement
is the most powerful religious force in
the nation as scores of young people
have moved from the political activism
and drug culture of the 60s to the
"Jesus movement" of the 70s. Though
the evangelical "left" is a small minority of the estimated 40 million "bornagain" Christians, its influence is rising.
A prime area for evangelical activities for these youthful zealots for Christ
is among America's younger Jewish
population the majority of whom retain
only marginal Jewish identities. This
added to the evangelicals' necessity of
attaining salvation through Jesus Christ
and the need to convert others is cause
for alarm among the Jewish community.

The American Atheist

Zanies Afoot In Kentucky

Fundamentalist Christians in Kentucky are banding together in legal action to enjoin the Kentucky Board of
Education from imposing state standards on their religious schools.
The beliefs of fundamentalists and
their zeal in perpetuating their creeed
from being tainted with "modernism"
has brought them as plaintiffs to declare that they do not want their
schools accredited, a requirement under state law, nor do they want their
teachers certified. Further, they said
that they are unwilling to accept stateapproved textbooks
because those
books either ignore or discredit the
biblical version of creation.
Parents, pastors and students representing 20 fundamentalist
schools
across the state have filed suit asking
Franklin County District Judge Henry
Meigs to prevent the state from "interfering" in fundamentalist parents' educating their children in a certain manner according to the dictates of their
religion.
"I am a fundamentalist," one witness said. "I believe in the one literal
interpretation of the Bible. I believe in
Christ, the virgin birth of Christ and
Christ's vicarious death for us. Modernism does not accept the virgin
birth of Christ, Christ as our Savior
and the creation as set forth in the
book of Genesis. Those are the differences, and that is why I say I'm a
fundamentalist. "
One modernist who testified for the
state was Rev. Bob W. Brown, pastor
of the Trinity Baptist Church in Lexington, who was chairman of the state
Board of Education when it denied the

joekirby's
--bottom line onthe divine
Austin,

20 schools accreditation last year.

"I do not think the Bible is a scientific text," Brown said. "The Bible is a
book of religion." Later, Brown added,
"If the Bible cannot stand without
forcing it against truth, then there is
something wrong with the Bible."
Compulsory Attendance
The suit grew out of a ruling issued
by the Kentucky attorney general before school opened in the fall of 1977.
The ruling held that a parent having a
child enrolled in a private school not
approved by the state would be deemed
truant and that the board should take
"appropiate legal proceedings against
anyone violating the compulsory attendance laws." Under that ruling, a parent who kept his child out of a stateaccredited school could be fined $500
and sentenced to one year in jail.
The ruling was apparently an attempt to stifle the growing number of
fly-by-night private schools that sprang
up in Kentucky after enforced busing
went into effect in 1975.
"I would think that our strongest

point," said Bert Combs, chief counsel for the board, who is a former governor of Kentucky, is that the state
has not only the right but the obligation
to assure itself that there are qualified
teachers teaching these children."
The lawyer for the plaintiffs, William
A. Ball, who successfully fought a similar suit for the Amish in Minnesota, is
contending that the current situation
is "excessive entanglement between
the state and church schools." His
witnesses in three days of testimony
have said repeatedly that any state interference in their schools would be
a violation of their religious liberty.
Witness for the plaintiff Rev. C.C.
Hinton Jr. of the Saline Christian
Academy in Somerset, Ky., delivered
the fundamentalists' view.
"Th Bible says that we are to diligently train our children to love the
lord and serve the lord," Hinton said.
"In order to be diligent about it on a
day-by-day basis it must be a part of
every subject, not an addition to our
subjects. For instance, our basic textbook in the science department is
the Bible."

THOU SHALT NOT THINK

Resulting from legislation recently
passed by the General Assembly of
Kentucky, in all of that state's 31,000
classrooms will have to be posted.
16-by-20 inch copies of the Ten Commandments.
The Kentucky lawmakers, however,
neglected to allocate money for the
project and as of mid-July only $11
had been donated to the state to prepare the 31,000 copies.
The author of the legislation, Rep.
Claudia Riner of Louisville, has offered
to help raise donations and oversee
production of the copies, which she estimates will cost $17,000.
Mrs. Riner, whose husband is a minister, said getting sufficient donations
is a matter of making the public aware
of the program. "I think that once
people know what they are putting in
the classrooms, they will be happy to
contribute," she Said.
Both Rep. Riner and her husband

Texas

September, 1978

feel that while the law's intent was

simple, the program may be "choked
to death in' red tape." They have
charged that the state is foot-dragging
on enforcing the law which took effect in mid-June,
Shirley Williamson, a state Department of Education official who is
coordinating implementation
of the
new law, denies such a charge and
explains, "We can't do anything if
the money doesn't come in.
"There's no point in getting all excited until we get the money," Mrs.
Williamson said.
She explained that more than $11
actually has been donated, but some
of the money was returned because it
was earmarked for a specific school.
"A lot of church groups are sending in doantions and saying they want
the copies to go to certain schools,"
Rep. Williamson said. "I'm not sure
that's allowable."

Page 7

Court OKs Entanglement

The Supreme Court of New Jersey
has overturned a 1975 ruling and permitted religious groups in that state to
use the public schools for worship services and classes during non-school
hours. Such entanglement of state and
church will be allowed as long as the
groups pay full out-of-pocket expenses
and show evidence they intend to buy
or build other quarters.
On a 5-2 vote, the high court in midJuly overturned Judge David Furman's
1975 decision in New Brunswick requiring East Brunswick to halt such
practices. The court pronounced its
ruling of "benevolent neutrality" by
saying it was drawing its policy from a
reading behind the lines of the "more
strident exhortations of the (federal)
Supreme Court," and a review of
actual case results.
All Must Pay
It said it believed that taxpayer support for the "incidental expenses of
wear and tear" on a school building
through church use was just as permissible as taxpayer support for student busing to church schools, which
was upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court in a New Jersey case in 1947.
The court, however, set several con-

ditions for church use of the schools.

It said that the school boards must
charge full "related out-of-pocket expenses" for school use by religious
groups, defining these expenses as the
"actual costs of utilities, administrative
and janitorial services."
It said the church groups can use
the schools only when "school-related
activities are not scheduled, and where
another organization has not already
claimed a given time slot," and that
East Brunswick must continue to give
"even-handed treatment."
It went on to say that the school
use can only be temporary, and that
the benefiting church group must
show "evidence of immediate intent
to construct or purchase its own building."
The majority decision, written by
Justice Morris Pashman, held that the
East Brunswick practice met all parts
of the test derived by the federal
courts to determine the constitutionality of government actions affecting
religion, reversing Furman on this
conclusion.
It specifically found that the practice failed to have a primary effect of
advancing religion, although it gave
some congregations "obvious advantages," and it failed to foster excessive

governmental entanglement with religion.

Justice Robert L. Clifford, and Superior Court Judge Milton B. Conford,
sitting in the absence of Justice Worrall Mountain, delivered heated dissents, however, saying the practice violated both the "primary effect" and
"excessive entanglement" tests.

Unfair Advantage
Clifford said the practice posed
"potential political divisiveness," and
gave religious groups a financial advantage which they could not obtain by
renting space in the commercial market.
Conford said that any use of public
buildings for religious purposes, no
matter what the taxpayer cost and involvement of public officials, was
"antithetical to the fundamental principle of separation between church
and state embedded in both the federal
and state constitutions.
"It is particularly opprobrious to
countenance violation of separatism in
public schools, where children are
taught to respect the basics of democracy, including that fundamental principle," he said.

Marsa: Graduation Prayer Illegal

New Jersey Atheist activist Paul
Marsa has lodged a formal protest with
the Metuchen Board of Education over
its policy of allowing clergymen to lead
prayers at Metuchen High School graduation ceremonies.
In a June letter addressed to board
President James Wilson, Marsa said,
"I respectfully request the Board of
Education and superintendent's office
reexamine this policy (prayers in the
commencement ceremonies). All prayer in the public school was declared
unconstitutional in 1963."
Marsa, who was awarded American
Atheists' Outstanding Chapter Member
Award at its April convention, filed a
law suit in Superior Court last year
against the Borough Council to halt its
practice of opening meetings with a
prayer. The suit was filed on the

Page 8

grounds that prayers before council

meetings violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Marsa contends the commencement
invocation, and religious training in
general, is harmful to students because
it is based on dogma and creed that
goes against the scientific and rational
method of reasoning.
"Religious people have many outlets where they can practice their psychotic beliefs," Marsa said in a later interview with local reporters. "But they
feel it has to be shoved down everybody's throat in any way it possibly
can. They're never satisfied to keep it
to themselves.
"Religious people have the opportunity to pray in tax-exempt churches," he said. "It has no place to be
formalized in a secularized school sys-

September, 1978

~/

tem. If they want to pray, let them do

it before they go in, or after, or while
it's going on. But I draw the line when
an official of the state leads everybody
in formalized prayer. I object to it,
and 111 fight it all my life. It has
nothing to do with Atheism; it's just a
matter of law."
In his letter to Wilson, Marsa said
he contacted Metuchen High School
Principal John A. Mulhern concerning
the participation of Rev. Carl H. Kearns
at the commencement ceremonies in
June.
Marsa said Mulhern "pointed out
that the presence and participation of
various clergymen and/or the inclusion
of prayers are traditional."
Marsa concluded the letter by
writing, "Tradition cannot supercede
constitutionality. "

The American Atheist

Great Debate
Of '78!!
O'Hair Zaps Cincinnati Preacher

Part of an audience of 1,200 Cincinnati-area residents who came to witness the "Great Debate of '78.
At the American Atheist Center there is general agreement
that debating Christians is a waste of time. Often we recommend to persons who ask for "replies to religious arguments"
that they should not bother to give. any. The Christians use
Atheists to reinforce their own beliefs and go away even more
fortified in their insanity.
It has become the practice of the president of American
Atheists, Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, to debate only for one
purpose: money. It is a gratifying experience to take Christian
money and use it for the advancement of Atheism.
In mid-June, one such debate was arranged to be held in
Cincinnati, Ohio. The minister of the largest Church of Christ
wanted a formal, structured presentation, with a timekeeper, a
moderator and the hiring of a large auditorium. He desired to

Austin,

debate on three subjects (remember, the holy trinity has that

magic number also).
Upon agreement the contracts and codicils to contracts
multiplied. A minister of the gospel, member of the Council of
Churches and city councilman all rolled into one was to moderate. A Ph.D. was found to count minutes and at the last minute a professor of religion was flown in from Arkansas to be
the minister's second.
It was agreed that the minister, situated in the city (Cincinnati) and knowing the media, would obtain publicity. He was
also authorized to place some ads in conjunction with American
Atheist Ohio State Director Richard Scholten. It was agreed
that the debate would be taped and tape cassettes manufactured and that a book would be made of the transcripts, all

September, 1978

Texas

Page 9

Dr. Q'Hair attempting to educate the largely religious

audience as her opponent and his second (left) sit enthralled.
proceeds being split 50-50.
Before the debate the minister attempted to change this
provision, demanding private rights to the debate. All publicity
began to appear in the religious sections of the Cincinnati
newspapers.
This- is so characteristic of "debates" from the year 1950
forward that Atheists know exactly what to expect. Next
would be churches busing in their flocks - and, of course, on
the night of the debate six busloads of parishioners from various Chruches of Christ appeared.
A news conference was called and the antagonists met over
breakfast just before that event. There, the second for the minister stated that all Atheists were communists! A heated discussion ensued. At that point Mrs. O'Hair notified the minister
that if any attempt was to be made to impute communism to
Atheism that the debates would terminate five seconds after
the matter was broached, as the Murray-O'Hairs would gather
up their material and leave the stage.
The minister's second, Dr. James D. Bales, then demanded

A minister of myth attempts to rebutt fact with fiction

as Dr. Q'Hair and second Jon Murray prepare to parry.

Page 10

September, 1978

~/

proof that all Atheists were NOT communists, and the debate
came close to terminating before it began. It was finally agreed
to suspend discussion on this issue and to not have a reference
to it in the debate.
However, at the news conference the same issue was introduced by hostile media persons. The minister responded with
remarks about "reds" and Mrs. O'Hair almost blasted him out
of his chair refusing to have this issue joined to the debate or
to American Atheism and again it was agreed to set it aside.
Every TV and radio station and newspaper covered the
press conference. News concerned with the debates appeared
in half-page articles in the first issue of each newspaper, then suddenly - was dropped from later issues and during the three
days of debate little further coverage was given.
The weekend chosen was unfortunate because the pennant
contender Cincinnati Reds baseball team was playing an important home series at that time and each game that weekend
drew more than 50,000 fans. Again unfortunately for the introduction to reason for residents of Cincinnati, Frank Sinatra
was appearing in town that weekend before standing-room-only
crowds.
These other "events" were going on in the same general
area and traffic was heavy; still, 1,200 persons came to the
first debate on Friday night, 16 June. This debate was to be
contesting ''That there is a god" vs "That there is no god."
Knowing the futility of "debates," Mrs. O'Hair seized this
opportunity to educate those in attendance and presented a
complete survey of every argument ever advanced for the god
idea, with historical references as to who had introduced each
argument, where (in what countries) and when. A review of
the tenets of materialism was also given, in a carefully worded
presentation aimed at a high-school level of comprehension.
The minister used the primitive argument of "causation."
'That is: everything must be caused by something else, and,
"in the beginning" the first "cause" was god. However, in
counter argument he did not understand the phrase "infinite
regression" - his hold on the argument being popular instead of scholastic.

Ineducable Audience
It was obvious that the religious persons (who compromised 95% of the audience) did not know what was being
said. The philosophical arguments were clearly over their
heads. When they understood a sentence or phrase here or
there they would jeer, or alternately applaud or shout encouragement for the lord. When the minister first stood up his
mere presence was met with much enthusiasm.
The minister himself did not understand that his argument
had been countered and picked several themes for the benefit
of his audience. One of these was "brute matter" as he hammered away that people, with their "living souls," must be
special creations of god. His presentation was so bad that Mrs.
O'Hair went on with two other educational tidbits, one on the
nature of life as seen by microbiologists and the other on the
nature of the universe as seen by astrophysicists, attempting to
give a simplified analysis.
One can educate, if people are educable. These hallelujah
Christians were not. By the time of the third counter, the
"debate" began to have ludicrous moments as seen from the
Atheist viewpoint. The minister, Gaston Cogdell, however, was
deeply earnest, concerned and serious. He really felt that if he
said there was a god, there must be one. He pleaded that since
he existed, god must have made him, because he could not be
"matter" alone.
Jon Murray, Dr. O'Hair's second, parried all arguments,
writing them in longhand, and she simply read them, elabor-

The American Atheist

ating when necessary, which was not often.

The minister and his second arrived with a score of books,
many articles, booklets, references, etc. The Murray-O'Hairs
had their written notes only.
After the first debate the newspaper coverage was to the
effect that "the sentiments of the crowd" were clearly with
the minister.
The Atheist rooting section of the audience was an encouragement. Often the religious did not understand jokes
concerned with their god ideas but the Atheists roared approval in hearty laughter. The Michigan Chapter of American Atheists was in attendance in force, clearly identified with
Atheist badges.
There was a brisk sale of Atheist books, mostly to Christians
in attendance.
On Saturday, 17 June, the debate subject was "That the
Bible is the divinely inspired word of god." The minister, of
course, did not even have a chance, as the evidence is so
overwhelmingly against such an absurdity. However, in this
debate, as in all, he distributed a copy of his debate to the
audience, asking them to follow along as he made his points.
They would take up the paper and read when he told them to
do so or put it down when he so desired.
During the debating of this issue much of the material was
found to be very amusing and the Atheists were responding
with glee. On several occasions even the religious were forced
to laugh.
Again, Dr. O'Hair's emphasis was on educating those in attendance while the minister's primary thrust appeared to be to
to reaffirm his commitment to the godhead of fundamental
Christianity. His followers were enthusiastic to join him in this
reaffirmation.
On Sunday, 18 June, the debate subject was "That Jesus is
the Christ, the son of god." As more and more scholars are
convinced of the mythology of the Christ story, this again was
an easy presentment for the Atheist side to make, and the minister was on the defensive, with only his unauthenticated Bible
in hand.
Dr. O'Hair is relentless, offering no quarter, and as the debate proceeded the superficial "friendship," which had been

LAUGH

AND
BE
WELL

Austin, Texas

the facade at the debate's opening, yielded to a clear animosity

on the part of the minister. His purpose had been an intellectual triumph, which he could not attain, or alternately a conversion of his opponent, which was even less likely ..
The minister of myth was whipped and whipped good! But
he and his parishoners could not even understand their own
devastation at the hands of reason. Even explanations aimed at
a high-school level of comprehension were clearly over the
heads of these sheep and Dr. O'Hair found it necessary time
and time again to repeat statements in still simpler terminology
as Christians are used to being spoon-fed their soothing myths
by parasitical ministers who prefer them to be dumb and
gullible.
This particular minister used phrases from liturgy and from
his past sermons in a sort of baby-talk which these intellectual
children could grasp as easily as an infant would hold its
mother's breast. He thundered his belief in original sin, hell,
damnation, prayer, and in a literal interpretation
of the
Bible. He was bogged in cliches and sloganeering and he encapsulated ideas which had no meaning to rational minds.
The shepherd of human sheep was stunned when Dr. O'Hair
said "infinity"
was a nonsense word because no one
knew (or knows) what it could possibly mean. In distortion
characteristic of his profession, the minister used words with a
precision that they do not have.
Atheists in attendance cracked up a dozen times in uncontrollable laughter in response to the preacher's response to
such questions as, "Why two versions of creation in Genesis?"
His response that god makes two of everything - two hands,
two ears, two eyes, two creations! - had freethinkers rolling
in laughter while many of the sheepish Christians blushed for
their desperate shepherd.
As you might expect, the questions which later came from
such an audience unused to thinking were often pathetically
comical as the intellectual level left something to be desired.
But this is a chore we have as Atheist spokespersons, so we
do it.
The exercise in futility was completed. Out of this will .
come an excellent handbook for Atheists, some interesting
tape cassettes and some funds for the cause of Atheism.

Laughter is often an Atheist's immediate and most effective reaction to

a Christian's attempts to explain away
the pile of absurdities upon which his
or her religion is erected.
Hence it was that Atheist spokesperson Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair
frequently laughed at her debating opponent's theological maneuvering in,
their confrontation in Cincinnati in
June. For those who take their delusions seriously, laughter - particularly
that from an unbeliever - can be most
disconcerting and often results in
shocked expressions on the faces of
folks accustomed only to the deadly
seriousness of their religion.
This is because all religions have the
stench of death about them and those
who "believe" in a life after death
would rather not be reminded of the
life they are wasting while dwelling
piously in ignorance.
"Jesus Christ was a bum who lived
by begging," announced Atheist O'Hair
as the Cincinnati audience gasped.

September, 1978

"Can you believe she said that?" a

shocked woman in the audience asked
the man next to her.
O'Hair attributed
the recent increase in numbers of "born-again"
Christians like President Carter to
America's "enormous consumption of
junk food." She later explained that
people have been inventing gods to explain things they don't understand
ever since the beginning of time. She
cited the Greek god Zeus and the Nordic god Thor as examples of superior
beings that have been left in the dust
in man's search for an explanation for
his world.
Never one to submit to reason, Mrs.
O'Hair's clerical opponent responded
that the universe logically must have
been created by a god because "nothing
can come from nothing."
And so it went. The many who prefer not to think follow the path ofleast
resistance as they cling to their Linus
Blanket religions in fear of natural
phenomena and the future.

Page 11

ON OUR WAY
Ignatz sahula-dyeke
Misplaced Devotion
If there is one characteristic that above all others distinguishes the human creature from all the others of earth, it is
his ability to think. Were we more charitable, we might concede
that up to a point the creatures of the animal world also think,
but this sentiment hasn't been generally applauded.
Anyhow, man's thinking enables him to deal with life in
terms of the future and, to an extent, also of his past. It permits him to anticipate that at some future time, on the basis
of his manifested faculties, he will be able to identify in himself precisely the mental and corporeal qualities that his ancestors developed for him during their peripatetic adventurings perhaps many generations before he was born.
We already think we know that many of our traits and talents are transferred to us from our fore bearers; and for this
reason can pretend that man, as a species, leads a kind of
everlasting existence. But our thinking ability should also prod
us to understand that our body is an organism that will die
when improperly nourished, or diseased, and that, once it
dies, it is impossible to reconstitute it - that it can't be restarted and brought back into the cycle of life - as some or
most of the religious confidently claim.
Only a person who can convince everyone that murder is
no crime should believe the religious claim that the dead can
be resurrected. Otherwise such belief is unjustifiable.
The human creature, over a period of a few million years,
evolved slowly and painfully into the civilized man of the
present. The human being wasn't from the very first moment
of his appearance on earth the thinking creature that many
religions preach he was. Last of all, as every realist is aware,
anthropological investigations have shown beyond all argument that any number of types of human creatures that
once existed became totally extinct, and disappeared without
leaving a trace of their characteristics. Among these extinct
types were the Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, Peking, Java, and
other specimens of prehistoric humankind.
Hence, much that you and I can say we know about ourselves and our species might have validity, but we still don't
know whether our kind of people are the descendants of a
type of human that lived before the types mentioned above
became extinct, or are the descendants of a type that appeared on earth at some later time.
Sophistic theologians (there are no other kind) and inveterate believers of religious mishmash derive great comfort
from the dearth of the data that science has thus far been able
to classify about anthropoid life; it encourages them to boast
that Genesis is much more consistent, especially if viewed
symbolically, and that the "Good Book" holds more truth
between its covers than all the data of science.
The delightfully amusing thing about theologians is that
they're able to see only their own "revealed" side of this
vexing problem. As to truth, the only really authentic thing
about religion and its fables is that both still exist, misleading
. the thoughtless and the simple-minded, adding up to a profitable, untaxed business.
The preceding paragraphs have taken us to the point
where any reasonably honest cleric who happens to be in the
know of clergydom might agree that religion is profitable. But

Page 12

even if he were to say so, it wouldn't be the whole story, for

he'd more than probably be conceding it was profitable fiscally, and in this way dragging a red herring across the trail
we are following - he hoping we won't discover that the real
profit in religion is actually the power religion wields over the
people who believe its blandishments, dogmas, and edicts.
Practically all of this power that exists is everywhere now
seen diligently clearing the way to the people's acceptance of a
fable which for once isn't recognizably religious - though religious it is, and odiously so. The fable implies that the United
States is a land and a nation that's protected by "god" for the
reason that its people trust in "god."
Whoever backs this attempt is backing a brazen move - one
so bold as to trump anything that was attempted in the hectic
Watergate era; but also as ridiculous as anything of this kind
that's ever been tried, and is seditiously anti-American besides.
Sure, it was tried before: Kaiser Wilhelm with his "Gott mit
Uns," and look what it did to Germany. Only a Christian panicked by thoughts of the Second Coming could think that anything now dead for 60 years could be resurrected for consumption in Jefferson's Land of the Free. It's the Big Lie deal of
Hitler's all over again, but dusted off for 1978!
Religious Binge
The amazing factor in all this stupidity is that people with
whom we rub shoulders every day and consider normal behave in this matter as though dazed. Why are they unable to
see that this religious binge they're on is veritably stabbing to
death the country whose Constitution gives them the opportunity to attempt mayhem on it?
In no other free nation of the globe would they be permitted to destroy the very thing that here enables them to be as
free as they are. This paradoxical interlude, in which religious
fanaticism runs wild, is beyond doubt being watched with glee
and satisfaction by all the nations who aren't our friends, but
who yet respect the might that our founders' wisdom provided
us with, for the protected enjoyment of our American existence.
Why is this true? And whence our strength? From a ridiculously small group of rational minds, using foresight deeply appreciated by a sane and resolute colonial citizenry: by people
who were self-reliant, and happy that this new kind of government was relieving them from bending their knee to a tradition
that in countries from which they departed was made up of
superstition and fantasy - and called "god-worship." In designing our Constitution, the founders purposely avoided mentioning any "god" or "gods," knowing, from the experience of
European governments, that anything of that kind was killingly
destructive to brawny citizenship.
Today, nearly everyone, barring the rabid religionist, can
see that our Chief Executive's retrogressive statements about
his being a "reborn Christian" show that he has only little if
any regard for the wise provisions of the Constitution which in
fact enabled him to assume the duties of president - the office
that we, the people, deem the most important in the land.
These times in which we live are bizarre almost beyond

September, 1978

~I

The American Atheist

belief - only recently Nixon, and now practically on his heels

the former governor of Georgia. While typing these paragraphs,
I hear reported on the radio that only last night, during a
meeting of Baptists, the ex-governor said he was being hampered by the doctrine of separation of state and church.
And even the National Advertising Council that once was
composed of intelligent, rational members has joined this revoltingly brazen act. Well, overcoming the fascination that religious trumpery holds for people who occupy elitist levels is
no less difficult than uprooting it in those of the lowest.
The great majority of our citizens, who represent the
stratum between these two extremes, is the one that no doubt
is watching this tragi-comedy more attentively than the other
two. During my lifetime I've been made aware of the responses
of all three, and the different way each of them responds to
the same question. It makes prediction hazardous.
A number of years ago, I by choice came to live in a small
town in New Mexico, with the foothills of the Rockies a stone's
throw from my door, among people who for many generations
were traditionally religious. Their religion isn't a matter they
give much thought to - they worship the way they do because
it's a habit they in childhood acquired from their progenitors,
who worship in the same way for the same reasons. I live among
these native New Mexicans because I learned to love this region and their carefree ways more years ago than I offhand remember.
Those of them who are proximate neighbors know me to
be an Atheist, and never fail responding to my salutation when
on a Sunday they pass by on their way to early worship. The
empathy between us of course is flawed by this difference of
our outlook which, unless mine modifies theirs, will more
than likely remain just as is until the desert winds blow all of
us away. They, it seems to me, respect my disbelief in a "god"
a lot more than I respect the belief they have acquired in theirs.
Such being the case, preaching Atheism to them would on my

part be of little use. My owning up to Atheism is thus the

better part of valor - and common sense.
Who knows but that an Atheist living among them hasn't
got some of them thinking? It certainly must suit them not to
hear me haranguing them about it - suffused as they are by
the preaching they hear repeated from the other side. In recent years many of them, university B.A. 's to Ph.D. 's, have
written papers inspiring their kind to take pride in the Hispanic culture, but most of these college men continue to respect and even panegyrize the old, traditional belief in a "god."
So what price education? It doesn't enable me to admire a university graduate of that kind nearly as much as I do the older
folk who were given no chance to inspect university library
shelves, or freely discuss, pro and con, contemporary trends
with others in quest of an education.
It gets me to pondering the ways of our human breed. I
often wonder about how many people in. our population today realize that no difference exists between being tyrannized
politically and tyrannized religiously. For the moment we are
safe from the former, but seriously endangered by the latter.
As implied, if "educated" Americans in the east, south, north,
and west, in preponderant numbers, keep plodding on and
grovelling before an afreet conceived in Babylon six or seven
thousand years ago; if the leaders and authorities of our
nation can straight-faced boast publicly that they're reverting
to a habit that characterized the Dark Ages, it makes me fear
for the safety of this wondrous country: my home.
Am I to think that undermining the life we live is the way to
appreciate it? Surely not. All of us need educating in the religion-free Americanism that brought to us the boons that distinguish our way of life from all others. Today's responsibilities command that we examine, marvel at, and guide ourselves
by the fundamental principles of our USA, a land within whose
borders decent and honorable men and women can grow, enjoy
life, and become knowledgeably loyal Americans.

The World's No.1 Litterer

Austin, Texas

September, 1978

Page 13

Madalyn
Murray
O'Hair
An Atheist
Deals With
Deat h

Reprinted by permission of
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By Pattie Klein
Star-Telegram Writer
The death of a loved one always is hard to accept, but for
most people, the blow is softened somewhat by religious convictions. The anguished mind can take sustenance from the belief that god provides eternal life, and someday, somehow,
somewhere, a reunion awaits.
But if it's hard for the average person to accept death, then
certainly, the Atheist's agony is compounded.
The Atheist cherishes no such soothing visions to quiet his
grief. In the Atheist's view, no heavenly being awaits to greet
the deceased and lovingly wrap him in a cloak of eternity.
When you're dead, you're dead.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the nation's most outspoken and
Page 14

active Atheist, recently had to face the death of her husband,

Richard.
He died slowly, painfully, succumbing at last on March 12
to cancer, the cell abberration that causes the body to virtually
self destruct. Upon his request he was buried in a floral coffin
in Arlington National Cemetery.
But Mrs. O'Hair said the death did not sway her atheistic
convictions. In fact, she said, it would have been harder to
take if she believed in god.
"I think if I were a Christian, I couldn't accept his death at
all," the 59-year-old Austin Atheist said in a recent interview.
"In Christianity, we have this heavenly father who guides us
through life, aids us with problem-solving, has a grand plan for
our lives.
"Well, his grand plan for my husband was that he suffered

September, 1978

The American Atheist

from April 1 of one year to the next, with operations, drugs

and excruciating pain.
"Merciful god? You would not dream up 11 months of exquisite suffering. My god, Hitler wasn't that bad! Stalin wasn't
that bad!"
Mrs. O'Hair said she met her husband in 1966 while living
in the Mexican resort town of Valle de Bravo where she sought
asylum from Maryland charges that she assaulted a police officer. The charges were later dropped.
"I was down there in a little hacienda when he rode up to
the door on his big black horse. Honest to god, if I may use
that expression. He was a professional spy for the FBI and the
CIA. He was in Mexico on a job.
"We sat and talked and drank ... I was American and he
was American ... Richard swept me off my feet. That was a
matter of only two or three hours. You know, he had a
handlebar moustache and red hair and he was tall and skinny.
"He had a Lincolnesque quality about him - he could tell
good tales. We sat before an open fireplace with the trees burning and snapping and talked and fell in love. He swept me off
my feet, I must say. I felt like I was 13 years old."
Not a bad feeling for a middle-aged woman with two children from a previous marriage. "We married as soon as we
could. Six weeks later in Austin. We were married by a court
judge," she said.
"We had a bizarre marriage. The judge started reading out
of the Texas Legal Journal. When he came to Jesus, I stopped
him and said, 'What the hell are you going through?' and I
stopped him when he made references to the virgin Mary. "I interrupted the marriage so often, Richard finally said,
'Madalyn, will you keep quiet long enough for us to get married?' "
With the two children from Richard's previous marriage and
the adoption of one of their grandchildren, the couple had five
children. They had their fair share of marital problems but
worked together side by side for the Atheist cause, finally
founding the American Atheist Center..
Mrs. O'Hair said their personalities and outlooks complemented each other's, providing a balance that enriched them
both. Where she was serious and analytical, he was light-hearted
and fun-loving.
"Richard taught me to live for the moment ... He taught
me that time wasn't important. To hell with time. Time doesn't
count.
"We'd be minding the store and Richard would say, 'There's
a good wind out. Let's go fly a kite.' He taught me you could
eat breakfast at two in the morning. Or you could say, 'To hell
with it, let's go out and bicycle for the rest of the day, come in
the next day and do twice as much work.'
"Richard also insisted that sooner or late he was going to
teach me to relax. He taught me a great number of things,"
Mrs. o 'Hair said.
She also describes Richard as having great sensitivity and
empathy.
"He got to the essence of human beings. He had a feeling
for people and I was constantly amazed by him. I agonize over
people. I'm constantly putting people on a couch in my mind
and psychoanalyzing them. When I got all done with thatagonizing and we were sitting alone, I could always say to Richard,
'What do you think of that person?' One sentence and he
would have it cold.
"He would say, 'The guy is a cheap windbag and don't waste
your time on him.' And a year later, I would find out the guy
was a cheap windbag and I shouldn't have wasted my time on
him."
But if Mrs. O'Hair speaks wistfully of Richard while he was

Austin, Texas

alive, there is no sentimentality in

her voice when she discusses his
death.
"Sitting around missing him,
that's useless. Richard is dead right
now. He's visibly rotting. He is

done for, kaput, terminated, anything you want to say. He no longer

exists as an individual entity and
there is no place for him to go but
down exactly six feet," she said.
"This is one of the reasons that
it's extraordinarily
important to
live decently now. Because we
know we have a short span. We
know human relations are ephemeral. We must work on them now."
Mrs. 0 'Hair doesn't believe in

pining away for Richard.

"Any longing that I have can be
fulfilled with something quite verifiable. For instance, if any time at
all you need to talk, you go to
another human being. Any time
you have a need for warmth, go get
a good wool blanket and cuddle up.
There are always people and things
in all directions at any time."
But that said, doesn't she miss

the unique personality,

unique
character,
unique style, unique
being that was Richard?
"I don't miss him. When he's
here, he's here, when he's gone, he's
gone," she said. "If you have a full I
understanding and recognition of
death, .there is no such thing as saying, 'I miss the person who
has died.' Death is a nonsense word. None of us can experience
death. The only thing that we can experience is life.
"There's absolutely nothing to know about death. There's
some leaves dying, I can see them on the palm trees through
the window. Recently, I had a cat that died. I had a husband
die. We're all on the same boat.
"I'm just an honest woman. I admit it. Everybody else
makes up fairy tales," she said.
Mrs. O'Hair also said society and language insist that one
should have a feeling of longing for the dead. "Our language
says, 'Your husband has died, you will feel sad and sorrowful.'
"Richard did the things he wanted to do. He was completely satisfied with his life. That's a complete measure
of success as far as I'm concerned.
"Also, remember, they change. If Richard was alive today,
he wouldn't be the same person of three months ago, He
would probably be down to 80 pounds. It would be abnormal for me to desire to have him," she said.
"If you are longing, you are fixated at the time of his death
and the whole world is moving on, including you."
Mrs. O'Hair said she had been deeply affected by deaths in
the past.
.
"I've had deaths come as a great shock. My father, who was
very healthy, dropped over and was dead in two minutes after
a heart attack.
"My grandmother died when I was little. I thought, 'Well,
the sun won't shine tomorrow. I know it won't shine tomorrow,' it was such an important, world-shattering event. And

"
Death
Isa
nonsense
word.
None
of us

can
expenence
death.
The only
thing
that
we can

expenence
islife.

September, 1978

~I

"

Page 15

then the sun came up on schedule and it dawned ori me that it

was not an important, world-shattering event at all."
"The thing is, I'm 59 years old and I'm disciplined now. I've
been doing things with my head for a long, long time rather
than with my heart."
But even in the most disciplined person, the heart often
pays no heed to the wisdom recommended by the head.
Is Mrs. O'Hair honestly able to let the sorrow of death flow
past her effortlessly? Doesn't she feel emotions in spite of her
intentions?
"Sitting around missing him. That's useless. I don't say,
'What would have happened if Columbus didn't discover
America?' It's impossible. That's a complete and total waste of
human effort," Mrs. o 'Hair said.
"It's not sad, it's trying to explain to oneself the inexplicable. I feel the helplessness that all of us feel when faced with
illness. But I feel that nature is absolutely neutral in everything
it touches and everything it handles.
"When my father died, I was stunned that a man with so
much between his ears was dying with so much there. The
same with Richard. He had knowledge. He had not passed it

American Atheist Butterfly McQueen

truly embodies the definition of an Atheist
in that her potential for good and higher
development is for all practical purposes
unlimited.
This fall, she'll appear as a fairy godmother in ABC-TV's "The Seven Wishes of
Joan Peabody", and in July she put on a
one-woman show at New York's Reno
Sweeney cararet.
"Unemployment is not in my vocabulary," says the actress made'
famous for her role as Prissy
(inset photo) in "Gone With
the Wind" of 39 years ago.
Since then Butterfly has
turned down numerous roles
which would have cast her as
a "handkerchief-head"
all
too similar to Prissy.
Butterfly is a "regular" at
annual conventions of American Atheists and her onewoman skits are a highlight
of those yearly events as "our Butterfly"
is always requested to do several encores
for appreciative fellow Atheists.

~ef,tte~~

11tc2etf~

4-Star

Atheist

Page 16

on to other generations. Richard should have written books,

given understanding. There are many things from him that
should have been available to all the kids of the next generation. "
Mrs. O'Hair said the only other aspect of death that chills
her is the thought that her children might precede her in
death.
"I do not want to bury any of my children, come war,
come anything else," Mrs. O'Hair said. "As a parent, I
couldn't handle that at all. In the natural. order of things,
they should bury me.
"These are the things that are difficult to handle."
Isn't Mrs. o 'Hair afraid of sounding like a heartless, thoughtless, cold-blooded person?
"I don't give a damn what the public thinks. I never have.
You can't involve yourself like that. Do you know how many
'people hate me? If I hated them back, I would never get anywhere.
"And that's the same way it is with death. You are not involved in it, so you pick up whatever pieces there are and you
go on."

September, 1978

~/

The American Atheist

elaine stansfield
Sci-Fi & The Occult
Generally speaking, the movies are
uneasy on the subject of religion, either
indulging in "family" schmalz, as television does in "The Waltons", where
everyone talks familiarly of god as if
he were kissing cousin to Uncle Sam
(or maybe Uncle Don from Schneetady), or they approach the subject
sideways via the devil or beings from
outer space.
Indeed, one wearies enormously of
the long procession of priests and
Good Guys clutching crucifixes as
they pursue vampires in steam-clouded
bogs, valiantly saving the heroine, or
priests clutching same as they always
"succeed" in exorcizing the evil beings
who have possessed her body. Or her
house. Better yet if they have handy a
pointed stake in the shape of a cross to
plunge into the heart of the devil creature!
Long before "The Exorcist" made
everybody connected with it a millionaire, the movies had been making vampire films to frighten the children, and
possession stories to bewilder or terrorize their parents. There is a rumor
that the Catholic hierarchy not only
will not give these pictures bad marks,
but in fact promotes such undertakings,
for does not the church always win in
the end?
Are not they the ones with the
Secret Weapon? And do they not come
on like the landing of the Marines to
save the people in a rousing climaxconclusion? And do they not cause the
departing moviegoer a sigh of relief
that the church will always save them
in the nick of time?
'
In the meantime, the moviemaker is
twice blessed, for "Of course I'm not
proselytizing, I'm just giving the people what they want - a good horror
movie," he says, as he rakes in the money. And are we, the Atheist outcasts,
doomed to be forever trapped in theaters where the second feature is another
"Carrie", or "Omen", or "Damien',?
(Coming up: "The Amityville Horror! ")
Or perhaps we even forget to criticize these pictures, vaguely thinking of
them as just another scary piece of entertainment, like "Jaws". But stop and
think a minute: an excellent case can

Austin, Texas

be made that the enormous shark in

"Jaws" is a similar symbol of evil, just
as Captain Ahab allowed Moby Dick
to symbolize all kinds of religious confusion in his mind.
Never forget that these films have
great power for the simple reason that
we are watching them supposedly happen to real people. To illustrate the
point, I might mention that I once had
an argument with a friend about a
"fact" she had read. "What makes you
think it's true?" I asked. "Because I
saw it right there in print," she replied.
It is a common misconception that
reaches across all levels of intelligence.
Now we come to the enormous popularity of "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters", the culmination of the interesting fact that science fiction has
blossomed from pulp and paperback
to hardcover, from the Bug-Eyed Monster stuff to the Intelligent Beings
from Outer Space genre, out of "Star
Trek", "Chariot of the Gods", and
"2001", with UFO investigations and
the Bermuda Triangle hovering along
the sidelines.
World Gone Mad
It is not difficult to probe for the
mystery. People are troubled by the
turmoil and stress of life today, and
those who have not been brainwashed
into fanatical religious belief from infancy are disillusioned enough to see
that any benevolent god would have to
be blind and deaf to tolerate our overpopulated world, gone slightly mad
with death by starvation at Qne end
and murder for greed at the other.
But they have been brought up to
believe in goodness via the JudeoChristian ethic, and if there is no
benevolent god, they scramble about
in a panic of need to believe in something else. They turn to ESP, ghosts,
astrology, encounter groups, and space
travel.
It begins to seem quite logical that
gods from another age populated Peru
and taught us how to build cities and
irrigate them. Or that advanced people
are watching us from their flying saucers - they who are so technologically
advanced that they translate to gods
far superior than the gods of ancient

September, 1978

Greek mythology.
"Star Wars" is a fairy tale, and fairytales and religion go hand in hand, so
when the good monk (played by Alec
Guiness) and later Luke, fight the
black-masked Darth Vader, spirit of
evil, there is absolutely no doubt who
will win. The fleet space cars and fighter planes are so much hardware (spectacular fun to watch) and, incidentally,
inspired the hilarious short-subject
spoof called "Hardware Wars", using
waffle irons and old automobile parts
for their space vehicles.
It may be, aside from the excellent
special effects, that "Close Encounters"
is the worst copout on the audience.
The script leaves much to be desired, since it spends nine tenths of its
length setting up The Visit. Well, again,
we were there, so we were convinced
at the time, but thinking about it outside the theater, it seems everyone
went crazy. One could scarcely blame
the hero's wife for leaving him, as he
began throwing the whole back garden into the kitchen in order to build
the replica of a mountain in there. Nor
could one see anything benevolent in
the practical jokes and kidnappings
the space beings practiced on other benighted earth people.
But at long last they gather at the
mountain as the huge vehicle of a
space city lands. The creatures have a
fuzzy but skeletal outline, with long
legs and large heads. They deposit the
people who have been kidnapped, and
before they leave engage in a musical
dialogue, with earth scientists playing
an enormous xylophone, and the space
vehicle responding with a tuba - somewhat reminiscent of the dreadful misuse of the Strauss waltz accompanying
space flight in "2001".
Granted, my plot outlines are cynical, but how can it be that people are
accepting these charming lunacies as
substitutes for some kind of religious
outlet? It boggles the mind.
It would seem as if all "space-converts" should be excellent candidates
for Atheism. It is a pity we have no
similar movie to reach them. If any
fellow-Atheists are scripwriters, I urge
them to think about tackling the project.

Page 17

Gill all the Gladiators

By
Joe
Falls

More Athletes Turn To Religion

ohnny Mowers, the old goaltender

of the Detroit Red Wings hockey
team, likes to tell the story of how
coach Jack Adams tried to stay out
of the penalty box with God.
Mowers
and Adams were good
friends and they enjoyed taking walks
on the day of a game. They might be
strolling along the streets of New York,
Boston, Chicago, Toronto or Montreal
(only six cities in the National Hockey
League tthen) and if they came to ' a
church, Adams would grab Mowers by
the arm and say: "let's go in."
He wanted to put a few bucks in the
poor box or, if the church didn't have a
poor box, to light a candle.
"Old Jack wasn't going to miss a trick,
not when he was trying to stay ahead of
Montreal and Toronto," smiled Mowers. "It didn't matter what we were
passing either, Cathol ic or Protestant
church or even a synagogue. He'd stop
and go in every time."
In those days around World War II,
about the only place where religion
came into play was at Notre Dame,
where "those Catholics" were always
getting the best Catholic players in the
land. (Nobody ever dared mention that
Knute Rockne was
Protestant.) Anyway, religion was a personal thing with
most athletes. The Catholics on a team
would usually get together and go to
mass on Sunday morning while their
teamma,tes
stayed- in bed. Nobody
made a big deal out of it. Some went
to church, some didn't.
Today, whole leagues have organized
religious services. Major league base-

ball has chapel services for all 26 of its

teams (in 1973 only two teams took
part: the Minnesota Twins and Chicago
Cubs), and the 28 teams in the National Footba!1 League conduct some
sort of religious service before Sunday
games. Both of these are non-denominational gatherings and are usually held
at a team's hotel or sometimes in the
dressing room.
last season attendance at these services soared over the 7000 mark. A
proportionate
number attended the less
formal but just as serious football services. In many cases, the players themselves conduct the proceedings, though
they do bring in special speakers.
Question: Are we undergoing a religious boom in sports?
The answer: It sure looks that way.
To cite just two examples:
Craig
Morton, Denver Broncos quarterback,
says he saw the light last summer. He
married his second wife and went to
Bible class with her. He says he was
"born again." Morton had been booed
with the Dallas Cowboys and again with
the New York Giants and tried to lose
himself in a free and easy life. On his
third chance, with Denver, he changed

his philosophy of life.

George
Foreman,
former
heavyweight champion, says that while fighting Jimmy Young last May and reeling
around the ring he saw a vision. He says
it was God. At 28, with a 46-2 record,
Foreman left boxing. last month, however, he announced
his return to the
ring-s-the better to spread the word of
God. Foreman says he now feels secure
for the first time in his life.
"Religion is becoming a big factor in
sports,"
says Father Gene Jakubek,
chaplain for the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team. "I think the guys realize
that some of them have gone off the
straight and narrow and' haven't turned
out to be happy people. Religion used'
to be a sissy thing. Now it's the virile
thing to do. Fellows used to come to me
years ago and say, 'Don't talk religion.'
Now they come up and say, 'Father,
pray with me.'''
I

Says Dr. Billy Melvin, executive director of the National Association of

Evangelicals:
"I believe the religious movement
in
sports is real. What's happening is there
are a lot of pressures on the athletes of
today. A lot of money is available to'
them, and this creates great pressure to
perform-to
remain healthy and hold
their lives together.
"We have a generation
which has
been given everything,
and it hasn't
been enough for them. They've this lifestyle and haven't been satisfied, and so
when they find peace in God, they want

Page 18

September,

1978

A lot of pressures'

The American

Atheist

to share
<it with their teammates.
That's

why we have chapel services and such

among professional athletes."
This represents a distinct departure
from the past when only a few openly
embraced their religion. Billy Sunday, a
major league outfielder, quit the game
and became one of the first turn-of-thecentury evangelists. Dr. James Naismith,
who invented the game of basketball,
was a minister before he ever became
involved in sports. Branch Rickey, who
built baseball empires in St. louis and
Brooklyn, would not attend Sunday
games because of his religious scruples.
Hank Greenberg, a Detroit slugger, refused to play on Jewish high holidays,
and Sandy Koufax did the same years
later with the los Angeles Dodgers,
passing up a starting assignment in the
World Series. Muhammad Ali, Kareem
Abdul-labbar
and others adopted Muslim names to proclaim their newly espoused religion.
Today religion is everywhere
in
sports. The prime mover has been a former Detroit sportswriter named Watson Spoelstra. He was a wild one in his
newspaper days, a heavy drinker. You
stayed out of his way when he was
drunk, which was often.
Spoelstra, an Episcopalian, began to
change in 1957 on the day the Detroit
lions won the NFL championship from
the Cleveland Browns. When he got
home that night, he found his 18'Y'C'd"fold daughter Ann on the bathroom
floor, suffering a brain hemorrhage.
When he took her to the hospital, he
went to the chapel and made a deal
with God.
"look, lord," he said. "If you do
something for Ann, I'll let Jesus do
something for me."
She recovered-he
quit drinking.
When he retired from the Detroit
News after 29 years, Spoelstra went to
Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn
and suggested there was a need for
some organized religion in baseball.
Kuhn agreed and told him to get it going. In a few years, Spoelstra had every
team in baseball involved in the project
and some of the biggest names-AI
Kaline, Reggie Jackson, Jim Perry and
Brooks Robinson, to name a few.
Rico Petrocelli, hard-flitting
third
baseman of the Red Sox, was his representative . in Boston. Petrocelli says:

Austin, Texas

"There was a big need for something

like this. In the old days, there was a
lot of drinking and carrying on. That
image doesn't fit anymore. The player
of today has a more balanced personality. He has more direction in his life
... and much of this is coming from
Christ. The players needed a chapel to
help them in their search for the truth."
Sparky Anderson, manager of the
Cincinnati Reds, conducts the services
for his team. Anderson told Spoelstra,
"You send me a speaker and I'm sure
my guys will listen. I'll sit by the door."
"Nobody has to make us sit down
and listen," says George Foster, Cincinnati slugger and -Most Valuable Player
in the National league last year. "We
all know God carries the big stick."
Years ago, comments such as this
Would have been met with ridicule and
derision from the other players, and
even members of the press.
The New England Patriots football

team has gone a step further by holding

Bible study on Thursday afternoons.
Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys says: "I think Christianity is merely
caring for other people-your
wife,
friends, teammates, even your opponents. That's how I try to live."
By no means does religion in sports
confine Itself to the professionals. If
anything, the pros are Johnny-Comelatelys. The amateurs have been at it
for years, beginning with the founding
of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
(FCA) in 1947.
This is a group of older athletes
-mostly
collegians from the South,
Southwest and Midwest-who
attempt
to show the way to younger athletes
through (1) example and (2) simply talking to them.
The FCA, with an annual budget of
more than $2 million, holds nationwide
"huddles"
between
the older and

..... ...
~

September, 1978

younger
athletes.

A religious group of more recent vintage is Athletes in Action (AlA). These
are top basketball players;' wrestlers,
gymnasts, etc., who banded together
in an effort to produce excellence in
their chosen sport. The idea is that
the public is more apt to listen to them
if they have something to show. In
other words, get their attention, then
their 'souls, The AlA basketball team
is one of the best in the country and
has beaten some of the top college
teams in the last two years. The interesting part takes place at- halftime.
While their opponents return to the
dressing room, the AlA players remain on the court and talk to the fans.
They speak to them as individuals, trying to explain their religious beliefs,
with the hope they can enlighten some
and recruit others to their faith.
Sports Ambassadors is an overseas
equivalent of Athletes in Action, sending basketball teams to play and preach
in more than 40 countries in Europe,
the Orient, Africa, and Central Jnd
South America.
listen to how some famous athletes
found God:
Don Gullet, Yankee pitch-er: "It
seems like I was always getting hurt, my
arm, a leg, something else was always
going wrong. I never felt more sorry for
myself than when my knee buckled in
the 1976 World S-eries in Cincinnati. I
was led from the field and doctors told
me I had suffered a dislocated tendon.
It couldn't have come at a worse time.
I had played out my option with Cincinnati and now I was in line to get a
big contract with another team. Now I
didn't know what was going to happen.
. I moped around the house all winter
until my wife Cathy finally said to me
one day, 'God has a reason for everything. Sometimes He puts things in our
path just to test us: I'd heard all of this
stuff before, but it made me think of a
familiar Bible verse: 'But seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added
unto you. Take, therefore, no thought
for the morrow: That did it. I looked
around at Cathy and my kids and my
house-heck,
the food she was cooking
even smelled delicious-and
I said to
myself, 'Good night! look what the
lord has given me already!' "

Page 19

 Margaret Court, Australian tennis

star: "I decided God had given me the
gift to play tennis, so I decided to devote my life to it. I had considerable
success, winning at Wimbledon and in
the U.S., but I always felt a certain
emptiness about it a". One day in Scotland I ran into an old friend, Ann Brinkworth. She talked me into going to a
prayer meeting.
"I wasn't much into religion, but the
moment I got there, the whole room
seemed to come alive with a warmth
I'd never experienced
before. The
next night, checking my daughter's
bedroom, I looked above the door and
a beautiful woman seemed to be looking down at me. It was Our Lady, the
mother of Jesus. I had two more visions

still playing for the New England Whalers last month, when he turned 50.

and while they are difficult to explain, I

found a new life, both on and off the
tennis court. My tensions disappeared
and everything seemed to have a meaning for me. I found myself with an understanding and tolerance which I'd
never known before. It was beautiful."
And, finally, hockey star Gordie
Howe remembers his early years with
the Detroit Red Wings when Jack
Adams would try to get him to go to
Sunday mass though Howe was-n't
Catholic.
"You mean if I light one of those
candles, 1'" do good?" Howe asked.
"That's right," said Coach Adams.
"You light a candle, and things will
work out we" for you."
He was right about that. Howe was

-~:::::::-..

....................

'

==~
--

Jocks For Jesus

Wow, can you seriously believe the
alcoholic-like testimonials of the "god
guys" in the preceeding article about
jocks turning to religion? I guess it was
only to be expected that sooner or later
the national mania to become publicly
"born-again" would attract the daring
dolts of professional sports.
It's not that these 20th-century
gladiators have until now been resisting
the lemming-like swarm to conform.
No indeed. It's just that the majority
of them are dullards surrounded by
like-minded peers all of whom are slow
to pick up on the current craze sweeping the nation.
When the national herd is led to
make a course alteration it simply
requires more time for big-league jocks
to discern which way the rumps in
front of them are stampeding before
they can manage to rejoin the herd.
Hence it is that after years of Vitalisslicked crew cuts our meat men are
finally sporting long flowing locks
held in place with The Dry Look.
The "hippyjlorighairs" of the antiwar 60s whom these very same jocks
would've "stomped on" a few years
ago are now emulated by males contin-

Page 20

nually in search of "The virile thing to

do." If it offers hope of increased
physical potency these intellectually
impotent centaurs will pick up on it.
As Milwaukee Bucks chaplain Gene
Jakubek admitted: "Religion used to
be a sissy thing." So now it's considered
virile among the stallions of sport to
win for Christ (whatever happened to
the Gipper?). Manager Sparky Anderson of the Cincinnati Reds "sits by the
door" during locker-room chapel services so as to prevent any who "would
prefer not to" from following their
pwn preferences.
Monopoly On Morality
For Jesus Freak Roger Staubach of
the Dallas Cowboys, being a Christian
is "merely caring for other people your wife, friends, teammates, even
your opponents." Under that definition
ninety-some percent of the world's
population
could be classified as
Christian whether they choose to be so
designated or not!
Staubach is embarrassingly characteristic of a Christian-inspired American
ethnocentrism in that he suffers from

September, 1978

~J

the delusion that the sun rises and sets

only in "Christian America" and that
the rest of the world's inhabitants are
in darkness and will sooner or later
come to bend their knees before the
American god AND his earthly representatives.
These earth-bound demigods of the
religious racket are quick to exploit
such mental impotence among sports
personalities whose lucrative product
endorsements can sell anything from
hair oil to foot powder to an American public long since stripped of its
ability to recognize the process of its
own psychological conditioning. Like
Pavlov's dogs we salivate on cue and
rush out to buy packaged junk on the
advice of some klutz whose IQ is lower
than a pitcher's batting average.
Worse yet is the inevitable influence
these god guys will have on impressionable youth whose inclination to emulate political or military heroes fell victim to the cynical fallout which descended over the land following the Vietnam and Watergate fiascoes.
Drug addiction was a temporary haven for many who later degenerated
still further into a submissive belief in

The American Atheist

Biblical nonsense taught by hucksters

who had earlier learned to reap converts by foisting such irrationalities onto recovering alcoholics. Thus is fulfilled an age-old reality which nevertheless holds true in the space age: all religions feed and fatten off the mental
disorders of their adherents.
Will Jimmy Carter in his "divine
misguidance" in foreign affairs lead us
down the same trails of moral righteousness earlier blazed by "good Christian" John Foster Dulles? The young
ones already have such a distaste for
science and the future that they resurrect the music, fashions and tight-assed
morality of the 50s as though they're
regressing to a less demanding period
when someone else would do all our
thinking for us.

From Jocks To Gis

The disfavor into which U.S. militarism fell following Vietnam has already
touched bottom as we as a nation prefer to cover our mistakes with layer
upon layer of mother of pearl until
history as we write it and teach it to
our young transforms gross impurities into precious stones. Thus, in true
religious fashion, we can order reality
served up as we would have it rather
than the way it actually is.
Perennial war comic Bob Hope
would visit "our boys" in Vietnam each
winter solstice season with a troupe of
entertainers
which always included
several ieggy women and a sports star
or two. The carefully edited film footage showing only the smiling, clean-cut,
and predominantly white GIs would
then be shown to the folks "back in the
world" sandwiched between numerous
commercials for Chrysler Corp. autos.
No mention was made of the blacks,
Chicanos, and white-trash GIs who were
busy getting their rear ends shot off in
foxholes and bunkers dense with a haze
of marijuana smoke. For those with god
on their side war becomes a splendid
sport which usually consumes those
unfortunates least inclined to partake.
Already there is talk of reinstating
the military draft as the all-volunteer
army has produced a military composed of poorly educated mercenaries
who chose economic security over
long weekly waiting in unemployment
lines. The American young people
needed to fill out the ranks for our
next war will come largely from the already mindless ranks of born-again.
evangelicals who deem it god's will to
convert the world.
Just imagine what good soldiers the

Austin, Texas

Athletes in Action and the Campus

Crusaders for Christ will make in the
next war in Africa or the Middle East.
It's just a small adjustment - when
done in collusion with the f1ock'sshepherds - to arm the zealots with M16s
rather than Bibles and point them in
the direction of the "enemy" to be
killed in the name of Christ.
Such is an old lesson newly learned
by contemporary evangelical hucksters:
get them while they're young. Divert
the rams and the sheep will follow submissively. It is through the conversion
of the TV jocks and other such bovine
"entertainers"
that the wolves of
religion will gain access to the lambs.
The electronic and printed media
which so very much controls the image
these "stars" have with the general
public are now projecting them to us
as stylishly long-haired beefcakes who
wear colorful bikini briefs and douse
themselves in cologne which comes

bottled in a container shaped like an

erect penis. One need only page through
the girlie magazines to determine the
trail along which the mindless herd is
being led.
The pimps of religion do what they
must in order to promote their creeds.
If it requires advertising in Playboy to
recruit young males for vacant Catholic
seminaries they'll do it. Likewise, in
order to get to the millions of naive
youngsters who idolize the equally
naive pro jocks the dealers in superstition go after these mainstays of the
male mystique in earnest.
Pro Baseball Commissioner Bowie
Kuhn's allowing the invasion of organized religion into major league baseball
is comparable to a shepherd permitting
a hungry lion loose amidst a flock of
oafish sheep.
In an historical turnabout ripe with
irony, the gladiators have been fed to
the lions of Christianity.

Holy Baloney
By Wells Culver

II

Are YOU The Saviour ... ?"

September, 1978

Page 21

Museum
Of God

By

Arthur
Maier

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen; welcome to the Museum of God. As you know, the Museum of God is one of the
oldest museums on the moon, having been opened back in the
year 2002, when people considered it a miracle that there were
daily flights to the moon, and that the trip only took 22 hours,
Incidentally, I used that word, miracle, back there for a purpose, because the original meaning of the word suggested that
it involved something done by god. But I am getting ahead of
myself; let's start with the earliest concept of god and follow
the rise and fall of this remarkable and often amusing conception back to the earliest times of man's existence on earth.
Modern time-travel techniques have revealed that the idea
of god was originated by an early Homo sapiens whose name
sounded something like "Bin," approximatley 13,000 B.C. He
conceived the idea of the sun being god, and he made it a
practice to bow down to it each morning as it arose.
Soon, others copied him; Bin became recognized as the
leader of the sun-worshippers, and soon his followers, much to
his own surprise, insisted on bringing gifts to him in tribute to
his discovery, so that he no longer had to hunt for his food. Indeed, he found himself receiving more food than he needed for
he and his wife and their small son, at which point he invented
the religious principle known as polygamy. It is said that at
one point in his long career he had 34 wives and 146 children.
As might be expected, time-travellers have brought back
evidence that other wise men wasted no time insetting up
competing religions; there were the moon-worshippers, the
fire-worshippers, the water-worshippers with their amazing innovation of total immersion, and the war-like snake-worshippers.
However, religions finally became so diverse and numerous
that the profits made by any individual priest, unless he was
particularly tragico-dramatic, were barely enough to feed and
clothe him and one wife plus a few children. It was at this
point that the concept of marriage was invented, providing a
way of guaranteeing fidelity on the part of a wife even if
her husband was not prospering.

Later, along about the Brass Age, out time-explorers have

discovered an innovator almost as great as Bin. He has been
named "Git," and Git's revolutionary idea was that, instead of
just waiting for people to pay them for their leadership, priests
should act as intercessors with god for a specific price.
Git explained to his flock that god expected them to make
sacrifices to him - animals, fruit, grain and the like should be
brought to Git, who would sacrifice them to god and, so that
they would not subsequently be defiled, actually would consume them himself. Git, incidentally, arose in Asia, and it is
believed that all the fat, smiling Buddhas of that great continent were modelled directly on him. Git did not have any wives
or children, but he weighed 400 pounds.
At the same time that religion was on the rise, government,
too, was becoming more sophisticated. It was not long before
kings found out that they could wear their crowns more securely if they worked closely with the priests, and the priests,
in turn, learned that their heads would remain securely attached to their bodies if they spoke respectfully of the kings when
delivering their sermons.
However, things didn't always go smoothly between kings
and priests. Some of the smarter kings, for instance, found out
that they could take over the priests' jobs as well as reap
profits of their own if they let it get out that they were themselves directly descended from whatever god happened to be
in style in their kingdom.
This worked out very advantageously for a lot of kings until a man named Jesus turned the tables on the kings and declared that he, a penniless carpenter, was descended from god.
He was quickly executed, but not quickly enough, for his idea
had caught hold and soon everybody was declaring himself
equally descended from god.
The result, of course, was the total fragmentation of religion. It wasn't very long before there were hundreds and
hundreds of different religions, and everyone in possession of
a good suit and an audible speaking voice was claiming to be
the direct spokesman of god.
It was at this point that a man named Eric Swidgehammer,
of the ancient religious center of Los Angeles, California, finally
defined god in terms that every schoolboy now understands.
"God," pronounced Swidgehammer, "is the imaginary being
you give credit to for any of your ideas you want a lot of
other people to believe. They'd never believe you if you took
credit for the ideas yourself, because they consider themselves
just as smart as the next man, but tell them the ideas are god's
and they'll be convinced they represent all wisdom. Once you
get them hooked on that, you can tell them god wants them to
give you money, and you are, as they say, in business."

Catholic Immigration:

By
Esther
Mattson

Domination Through Numbers

In 1938, Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician and Atheist, prophesized that the Roman Catholic
Church would dominate the United
States "'in another 50 or 100 years ...
by sheer force of numbers."
Will his prophecy prove correct? As
Atheists, we should be concerned about
the prospects for Catholic control of

Page 22

the United States. In his 1958 edition

of American Freedom and Catholic
Power, Paul B1anshard outlines the
roads to domination that the Catholic
Church may take: the increase of the
Catholic minority to a majority in the
population, and the capture of our
public school system.
However, it need not capture the

September, 1978

public school system to achieve its

ends, it need only destroy it. Anyone
who has been involved in the parochial
aid battle [see "Parochiaid Threatens, "
April '78 issue of The American Atheist} over a period of years knows that
the battle is interminable and that our
adversaries are strong and growing
stronger every year.

The American Atheist

Should
Catholic
schools
gain in
strength
through
infusion
of public
money, the outcome will be a gradual
weakening of the public school system
and the growth of a separatist society,
to the detriment of all.
The main purpose of this article,
however, is to alert the reader to the
real prospect
of domination
through
numbers, primarily the numbers gained
through
immigration
to the United
States from Catholic countries, chiefly
from Mexico and points South since
they are the main contributors.
The last great mass migration from
Mexico to the U.S. took place in the
late 1940s and early 1950s and was
finally halted toward the close of Truman's term by North American labor
protests, only to begin again on a mass
scale in the early 1970s. Zero Population Growth has focused on the problem of immigration,
both legal and illegal, from the standpoint
of overpopulation and its attendant problems.
Statistics
available from ZPG (as
interpreted
by Atheists)
show that
Catholic immigration
is indeed a serious threat on many fronts. The problems of overpopulation
and resource
depletion and their solution should be
matters of primary concern to us all,
and I hardly need to mention
they

would never be solved in a predominantly Catholic America. Indeed, they

would grow worse.
(I don't wish to absolve Protestants
of their share of the blame. Many conservationists
are aware that the Christian attitude that "all of the earth's resources were furnished by god to be exploited for human benefit," stands in
the way of wildlife and resource preservation, sound ecological practices, etc.)
But also of great concern to the Atheist is that, should Catholics achieve a
numerical
superiority
in the United
States, it would mean the end of religious freedom.

Dogmas Take Priority

When women's
rights, gay rights,
and abortion
rights were dormant issues,
the
churches
presented
the
appearance of having religious toleration since they were having it all
their own way anyhow. But now that
these groups are demanding
that society change in ways which are in conflict with their beliefs, the churches
are making it clear that they are prepared to uphold their religious dogmas
at the expense
of our American
Constitution.
The proposed constitutional
amend-

ment to outlaw
abortion
- which
gets its impetus
from the Catholic
hierarchy [see list of U.S. diocesan antiabortion
contributions
on page 24 Editor]
is a case in poin t. There is
more at stake here than loss ofreligious
freedom. At stake is our Constitution.
The only thing that stands between any
one of us and. the whims, the arbitrariness, the prejudices
and the special
interests of those who have authority
over us are the protections
guaranteed
us in our Constitution
and the Bill of
Rights.
If our Constitution
is to be amended
every time it stands in the way of special interest pursuits, it follows that we
could amend away our entire Bill of
Rights. Should Catholics become a majority in this country,
they will have
the power to do exactly that.
For all of the reasons stated here, I
believe it is the duty of Atheists to inform themselves
on the issue of immigration,
legal and illegal (for both
types are causing problems) and to do
whatever they can to bring these problems to a halt.
For free information
on the subject
of immigration,
write to: Esther Mattson, 11328 N. Riverland Rd., Mequon,
WI 53092

Convert Them, Or Outbreed Them

Some demographers
are calling it the greatest population
shift of this century. A relentless human migration out of Mexico and into the United States has been under way for several
years and each year the number of new arrivals rises.
The overwhelmingly
Roman Catholic illegals head for the
U.S. due to a seemingly
hopeless
economic
depression
in
Mexico and are attracted
by the promise of jobs from U.S.
employers needing cheap labor.
Leonel J. Castillo, the Carter administration's
commissioner
of Immigration
and Naturalization,
readily admits that his
agency cannot handle the job required of it when he estimates
that for every illegal Mexican his people turn away at the border, two, three and possibly five others get through. The INS
admits to expelling illegal aliens from the United States at a
rate of more than a million a year.
For Mexico the mass migration to the U.S. functions as a
safety valve for that Roman Catholic society's immense social
pressures
caused
by economic
problems
and population
increases attributable
to the long-time influence the Roman
Catholic Church has held over Mexico's natives.
Mexico's population
totals roughly 65 million, nearly half
of whom are under 14 years of age. In typically
Catholic
fashion the birthrate is high as young marrieds are encouraged
to be fruitful and multiply an already overburdened
population. With 42 births per 1,000 people per year, Mexico
is
easily out-producing
the birthrate
of India (34). These figures contrast
with 15 births per 1,000 in the U.S. and 12
in Sweden.

Austin,

Texas

Yet the death rate in Mexico is relatively low: 8 deaths

per 1,000 people per year, compared
to 14 in India, 11 in
Sweden and 9 in the United States. Hence Mexico's population increases and its working population
grows at a rate of
600,000 persons per year.
Mexico's unemployment
rate remains over 30 percent so
the overflow heads North. Money sent home to Mexico by
Mexican workers - legal and illegal - constitutes
one of Mexico's largest sources of foreign exchange, perhaps as much as
four percent of the country's
entire gross national product,
according to U.S. State Department
experts.
Forty-two
percent
of America's
Hispanic-origin
population is under 18, a harbinger of the day expected to come in
the next .decade when Hispanics will become the nation's
largest minority
group. This bloc of voters is overwhelmingly
Roman Catholic and is strongly subject to the dictates of its
priests on issues such as abortion rights, women's rights and
gay rights which are in opposition
to Catholic dogma.
Prospects of educating the flood of new arrivals about the
need for a strict separation
of state and church are slim as
most Hispanics place their Roman Catholic Church and its policies above any civil laws. Last year at the "Segundo Encuentro
Nacional Hispano de Pastoral" national meeting held for Hispanic-Americans,
Priest Frank Ponce of the Catholic Bishop's
Secretariat
for the Spanish-Speaking
urged resolutions
"that
will assure that our Hispanic culture and our church, which
go together
and are one single heritage, is maintained,
protected, fostered and promoted."

September,

1978

Page 23

Wqmen,

Know Thine
Enemies

Celibate Fathers Know Best - Catholic bishops are the chief source of funds for the campaign to deny women
freedom of conscience on abortion. The National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, a committee operated' by
the bishops, raised $906,404 between January 1976 and March 1977. Of this sum, $459,403 came in the form of donations ranging from $500 to $200,000 from 120 separate Roman Catholic dioceses around the country. A breakdown of
these donations diocese-by-diocese follows. Contributors of $500 or more are required by law to report such contributions to the Internal Revenue Service.
(figures rounded to dollars)
Diocese of Albany, NY
$ 1,500
Diocese of Alexandria, VA
1,485
Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA .. 3,000
Diocese of Arlington, VA ...
1,535
.4,000
Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD
1,525
Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA
Diocese of Beaumont, TX .
1,000
Diocese of Belleville, IL
.
1,100
Diocese of Bismarck, ND
.
1,510
Diocese of Boise, ID
.
1,200
15,000
Archdiocese of Boston, MA .
5,000
Diocese of Bridgeport, CT .
10,000
Diocese of Brooklyn, NY .
Diocese of Brownsville, TX
. 500
12,000
Diocese of Buffalo, NY.
Diocese of Burlington, VT.
1,500
Diocese of Camden, NJ ...
6,610
Diocese of Charleston, SC '.
. 500
.1,000
Diocese of Cheyenne, WY .
5,070
Diocese of Cincinnati, OH .
13,500
Diocese of Cleveland, OH .
Diocese of Columbus, OH .
4,055
1,500
Diocese of Corpus Christi, TX.
2,085
Diocese of Covington, KY .
Diocese of Davenport, IA .
2,055
Diocese of Denver, CO .
6,000
Diocese of Des Moines, IA .
1,600
Archdiocese of Detroit, MI
'7,500
. 4,600
Archdiocese of Dubuque, lA
1,000
Diocese of Duluth, MN ..
2,000
Diocese of Erie, PA .....
Diocese of Evansville, IN. .
900
Diocese of Fairbanks, AK .
500
7,000
Diocese of Fall River, MA .
3,000
Diocese of Fargo, ND ....
i.sio
Diocese of South Bend, IN.
Diocese of Ft. Worth, TX
500
2,500
Diocese of Fresno, CA .
2,000
Diocese of Gary, IN. . . . .

Page 24

Diocese of Gaylord, MI. ...

Diocese of Grand Island, ME
Diocese of Great Falls, MT.
Diocese of Green Bay, WI .
Diocese of Greensburg, PA.
Diocese of Harrisburg, PA .
Diocese of Hartford, CT .
Diocese of Helena, MT ...
Diocese of Honolulu, HI ..
Diocese of Houston, TX ..
..
Archdiocese of Indianapolis, IN.
Diocese of Jackson, MS .....
Diocese of Jefferson City, MO..
Diocese of Joliet, IL
.
Diocese of Kalamazoo, MI
.
Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS.
Diocese of Kansas City, MO.
Diocese of Lafayette, IN ..
Diocese of Lansing, MI
.
Diocese of Lincoln, NE
.
Diocese of Little Rock, AR
.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, CA
Archdiocese of Louisville, KY.
.Diocese of Madison, WI ..
Diocese of Manchester, NM
Diocese of Marquette, MI .
Archdiocese of Miami, FL .
Diocese of Milwaukee, WI .
Diocese of Nashville, TN ..
Diocese of Jackson, MS ..
Archdiocese of New Orleans, LA .
Archdiocese of New York, NY ..
Diocese of Norwich, CT
.
Diocese of Oakland, CA . . . . . .
Diocese of Ogdensburg, NY ....
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, OK
Archdiocese of Omaha, NE
Diocese of Orlando, FL ..
Diocese of Owensboro, KY
Diocese of Peoria, IL ....

September, 1978

720
1,000
500
5,000
2,270
2,900
16,000
1,470
3,000
7,250
5,000
. 840
. 750
5,000
. 900
2,900
2,750
. 850
4,101
1,200
1,100
10,000
3,875
1,850
5,263
1,944
5,000
7,000
1,127
. 840
11,600
20,000
.4,000
5,000
750
1,220
2,000
1,630
500
2,200

Diocese of Phoenix, AZ .
Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
Diocese of Portland, ME .
Archdiocese of Portland, OR
Diocese of Providence, RI .
Diocese of Pueblo, CO . . .
Diocese of Reno, NV. . . . .
Diocese of Richmond, VA. .
Diocese of Rochester, NY . .
Diocese of Rockville Center, NY
Diocese of Sacramento, CA . .
Diocese of Saginaw, MI. . . . ..
Diocese of Salt Lake City, UT. .
Diocese of San Antonio, TX. ..
Diocese of San Diego, CA . . . ..
Archdiocese of San Francisco, CA
Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA.
Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM .
Diocese of Scranton, PA. .
Archdiocese of Seattle, WA
Diocese of Spokane, WA. . . .
Diocese of Springfield, IL . .
Diocese of St. Cloud, MN . . .
Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO .
Archdiocese of St. Paul, MN. .
Diocese of St. Petersburg, FL .
Diocese of Steubenville, OH..
.
Diocese of Stockton, CA
Diocese of Superior, WI .
Diocese of Syracuse, NY. .
Diocese of Toledo, OH. . . . . ..
Diocese of Trenton, NJ. . . . . ..
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C..
Diocese of Wheeling, WV. .
Diocese of Wichita, KS. . .
Diocese of Wilmington, DE
Diocese of Winona, NM . .
Diocese of Worcester, MA .
Diocese of Yakima, WA
Diocese of Youngstown, OH.

1,000
9,000
1,100
1,700
12,000
. 500
. 500
. 2,265
. 1,500
10,040
. 3,224
. 1,754
. 500
. 2,000
10,673
. 4,000
. 1,100
1,000
7,200
6,849
. 700
. 1,815
. 2,970
. 5,000
10,000
. 3,950
. 1,300
2,000
. 1,700
. 3,316
. 3,380
. 8,018
. 4,000
20,000
1,900
2,000
. 2,000
. 6,800
.. 500
. 3,035

The American Atheist

NATURE'S WAY
gerald tholen
Religious Programs & Other Sit-Coms
How many times have you had to restrain the urge to do
violence to your radio or TV because of some of the idiotic
claims and antics aired on pathetically fashioned religious programs?
Many people with whom I've talked have become so aggravated that they refuse to turn their sets on any more. Others
do as I do and listen to the absurd goings-on while rolling
on the floor as if they were watching a Laurel & Hardy classic.
Listening to the likes of "The PTL Club", or that all-time
favorite, "700 Club" is far better than watching science-fiction
and even more unbelievable.
Recently a very interesting thought occurred to me concerning the psychological effect these programs are bound to eventually have on the public mentality. The thought came to mind
most vividly a while back when Madalyn and our A.A. organization were being accused of trying to have the FCC prohibit
such programs. Why in the world would we want such naive
programs banned or even limited? The reverse psychological
effect that such programs afford can only benefit people seeking rationality. The statements and actions of clowns make
even an average intelligence seem to carry an air of genius.
It is true that some of the religious "soap operas" attract
large audiences of people who, at best, have an adolescent mental capacity. So what else is new? This has been going on for
centuries.
Still we find that real human intellect has managed to creep
forward at a steady pace. Consider the national outlook only a
few years back in our lifetime under the holocaust of McCarthyism. By comparison, the Atheist outlook is even more awesome because of the shabby efforts of our adversaries. This
fact is becoming more evident by the hour: people who are
semi-shocked at the childishness of these pitiful air-wave
attempts by the clergy are beginning to become even more
bored with religion.
A most interesting occurance happened to me about a month
ago. John Matthews, the MC for a very popular radio talk show
on KAUM-FM in Houston, invited me on his show as a spokesman for Atheism.
Needless to say, I was overjoyed at the opportunity! The
show airs from 10-12 p.m. on Sundays and, in my anxiety to
represent the Atheist viewpoint, I and wife Gloria arrived at
the studio at 8:30 and had to wait for what seemed and eternity for the program to start. Matthews arrived at about 20
minutes before air time and we sat and talked a few minutes
to get acquainted. He told me that the station had already received numerous calls inquiring about the program and that he
was expecting a record number of "call-ins." Beautiful! What
more coud I ask for?
Apparently Matthews had seen my truck in the parking lot
because the first question he asked me during the on-the-air
introduction was, "Please tell me and the radio audience
about the bumper sticker on your camper - 'BORN AGAIN
ATHEIST'."
It was a most welcomed and delightful experience to inform
them that every creature is born an Atheist - free of religious
affiliation of any kind. A "BORN AGAIN ATHEIST" simply
reverts to his/her innate Atheism after they realize that the

Austin, Texas

layer after layer of religious nonsense poured over them since

childhood is nothing more than a religious fairy tale. My answer
was completely unquestioned and uncontested throughout the
next two hours.
This particular talk show is serviced with a revolving, fivecircuit telephone switchboard. All five "line lights" remained
on throughout the entire program and about 40 to 50 calls
were completed. Of course I was asked, right off, why I
thought so many millions of people adhered to religious beliefs if they were of no value. I explained that people who ask
this question do not seem to be aware of the fact that such intellects are in dire need of their "crutch" - i.e. religionism,
alcoholism, tranquilizers, narcotics etc. I then explained that
my "crutches" - nature and science - were both rewarding
and educational!
I recall especially a conversation with one lady who was trying to point out to me the ethical benefits of Christianity. She
actually related to me the story of Solomon who decided which
of two women was lying when questioned as to which of them
was the real mother of an infant child. Solomon, very "wisely"
and "ethically," forced the truth from them by deciding that
he would have the baby cut in half and give a half to each of
them, whereupon a confession was easily obtained.
I should certainly hope that such a terrible threat would
resolve a ridiculous circumstance such as that! Needless to say,
I told the caller that Hitler and some communist countries
used tactics similar to Solomon's to extract information from
people and found it very effective. Most people of sound mind
would also find such tactics a very revolting practice, yet this
lady became a little hostile at my comparing her "ethics" with
those of Adolf Hitler.
Catch-All Prophecies
Another age-old intriguing question popped up during the
evening: "How do you account for the fact that the "ancient
religious scholars" seemed to know in advance that the earth
will finally be destroyed by fire? (This seems to be in line with
scientific estimates that our planet may, indeed, eventually
fall into the sun around which it orbits.
This one I found very easy to answer! How else would you
go about destroying something the size of our planet? You obviously could not dig it up with a shovel! So, how would anyone surmise its destruction? Floods won't destroy it, nor famine, nor disease - they would simply destroy the life on it.
The only remaining answer would be the same fire theory that
has always been imagined! Nothing new has been added by the
religious soothsayers.
A often-asked question arose once again, "Why do we
(Atheists) object to the motto "In God We Trust" on our
coins and currency? The question was posed by a young man
whom I asked to think for a moment about a very subtle and
seemingly innocent circumstance.
I said to him, "Suppose you and I each owned a fried chicken franchise - the name of his being "Joe's" and mine "GeraId's." Then suppose Joe were to persuade the U.S. Treasury
to print on all monies the slogan, "Eat At Joe's." I then asked

September, 1978

1/

Page 25

him, "In all fairness, who would have the definite economic
advantage between the two of us." He admitted that, of course,
he would. Enough said.
The most beautiful opportunity of all came when a visiting
Baptist preacher called in. This I welcomed dearly. In his oratorical clergy style he asked me, "Why is it that so many people call for a minister when they are dying?"
I do not think that the man realized the immense egotistical implications of his question. I answered him very slowly
and clearly. "Dying is a very traumatic experience. People
nearing death are often hysterical with fear or paralyzed with
hopelessness. Certainly he and other clergy had not ministered
to every dying person and, in fact, he was only aware of those
pitifully doomed persons who had called for a minister.
What else could we expect from a person whose mind had

been tatooed since childhood with the delusion the (s)he would
receive his/her reward in heaven? In the weakened, frantic
stages of dying many people are not strong-minded enough to
recount the wonderful times they have had with their family
and friends.
Instead they turn to a total stranger who, in reality, can do
nothing but hand them their ever-present crutch once again!
Many of us train our dogs when they are just pups to fetch the
newspaper. Should you then expect that creature, in its last
days preceding death to act any differently? I suppose we're
all creatures of habit to some extent.
Host Matthews was elated over the tremendous audience
response the program received ("possibly my best show"). He
assured me continual repeat performances in the future. I can
hardly wait!

FR,EEDOM OF CHOICE

hill
Compulsory
Hi. I'm Bill Baird. I've been invited by Dr. O'Hair to write a
monthly column sharing my views and experiences with you.
Just to give you a little background about myself, I've been
seriously involved for the past 15 years in the struggle to legalize birth control and abortion. The belief that we the people
have the basic human right of freedom of choice concerning
birth control and abortion has taken me on a collision course
not only with governmental powers but also with the awesome
power of organized religion, primarily the Roman Catholic
Church. The price for this belief in individual human rights has
been high since I've been in prison eight times in five states.
Cases such as Baird us Eizenstadt in the U.S. Supreme Court
decision of 1972 legalized birth control nationally and was
quoted in the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortions.
I am also the director of two non-profit abortion facilities
in Hempstead, Long Island, and in Boston, Massachusetts. A
case due soon before the U.S. Supreme Court called Baird us
Bellotti concerns the rights of minors to abortion services
without parental interference will also be an important struggle
for the freedom of young people. I've also appeared in the
national media such as NBC's "Today" show, "Good Morning,
America", Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, Newsweek, Time, Life,
etc. I'm interested not only in sharing my experiences with
you but also in hearing from you.
By the time this article goes to press, Massachusetts Attorney General Frank Bellotti is expected to have announced
that he is appealing my recent court victory that permits
minors equal rights to have an abortion.This was won a few
weeks ago in the U.S. Federal District Court in Boston. It is
important that we realize that approximately 1 million abortions are done nationally of which one-third are performed on
teen-agers. It is also important that we realize that governmental figures reveal abortions are nine times safer than childbirth, because teen-agers have a 30 percent greater chance of
death if they maintain the pregnancy for reasons such as
toxemia pregnancy, etc.

Page 26

September, 1978

haird

Pregnancy
Ninety percent of all abortions are done before the twelfth
week whereby the tissue is usually smaller than an acorn. We
all know that acorns are not oak trees any more than embryos are people as the Roman Catholic Church would have
you believe.
I would like you to think back to the time when you were a
teen-ager. What would you do if you or someone else close to
you became pregnant? Think about that. Years ago when I set
up the nation's first abortion clininc and birth control center
in Hempstead, Long Island, pregnant women came to my center from every state in the nation seeking help in terminating
unwanted pregnancies. Many of them were teen-agers. Many of
them would take a douche bag and fill it with Lysol or bleach
or turpentine in an effort to force it into the uterus. Some
would fill it with soap suds, not aware that soap was made not
only from lye, but also from fats which can be absorbed by
the body and often the minor could die from a fat embolism.
Often a youngster would take a baster, the kind that you
would use for gravies on a turkey roast, and fill it with a saltwater solution, squeeze it into the uterus and often squeeze
it so hard that air would be forced into major blood vessels
and the woman would die from an air embolism. Many times
I would see women who had used coathangers, knitting needles, catheters, rammed into the uterus. In fact, I gave up a
career as clinical director for a drug company after a woman
died before me with an 8-inch piece of wire coathanger imbedded in her uterus.
Rights Of The Individual
Yet, when the U.S. Supreme Court did rule in 1973, they
said something very important: they said if the right of privacy means anything, " ... it is the right of the individual to
be free . . . to decide whether to bear or begat a child."
(Baird us Eizenstadt) They didn't say the right of the adult,
they said the right of the individual. Now we are talking about
the individual rights of minors.

The American Atheist

The law dealing with minors states that if a minor wants an

abortion, she must have the written permission of both parents
or a superior court judge for "good cause" (whatever the devil
that means!). Under the penalty of a five-year prison term, the
recourse left to the minor is to go to the judge and, in effect,
sue her parents.
A minor doesn't need her parents' permission to have intercourse, to have a child, or to place it up for adoption. In fact,
minors don't need permission to get treatment
for VD or for
drug addiction. The law continues by stating that if a minor is
pregnant or thinks she is pregnant, she may have any other
medical procedure performed other than an abortion or sterilization, Therefore abortion is the only medical procedure discriminated against.
Incidentally,
Massachusetts
is currently
in the process of
passing a law which says that if you help a minor to go into
another state for an abortion
by giving her a ride across the
state border, such an act would also carry a five-year prison
term.
The current law that I am fighting was passed in August of
1974, and went into effect on 1 November. I deliberately
waited three months to see if some other organization
would fight
this battle because I personally was weary of always being in
debt after all these years of fighting. Practically no one from
any group stepped forward. Finally on 30 October, the day before the law was to go into effect, I walked into federal court
with my attorneys and got a restraining order.
Through the last four years this case has been in and out of
court numerous times, including an appearance before the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976 whereby it was sent back to Massachusetts on a technicality.
(Incredibly,
I was ordered to pay the
state of Massachusetts
almost $4,000 for the sum of their legal expenses.)
This law was declared unconstitutional
two times by the
U.S. Federal Court in Boston. And yet, the attorney general
is continuing
his personal vendetta at taxpayers'
expense, as
well as an attempt to broaden his base for his political activities
by this emotional appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Parents Need Education

The anti-abortion
forces, primarily led by the Roman Catholic Church, has its propaganda machinery in high gear and in
eludes extensive
fund-raising
activities. Catholic publications
run stories about how the minors' law, if ruled illegal, would
"destroy
family life." On the contrary,
I maintain that this
law could lead to the destruction
of family life. Who can honestly believe that forcing a minor into a position of having to
sue her parents would bring the family unit closer together?
Ideally, parents should be made to realize that young people
are sexual beings. However,
often parents have their own
personal
problems.
Many parents are alcoholic,
many are
mentally ill, many batter their children. Just the other day the
mother of a teen-ager angrily told me, "Don't help my daughter. Let god punish her to teach her a lesson for having intercourse. "
Often I see fathers who beat up the boyfriend
of their
daughter
for "Ruining
my daughter's
virginity."
The other
day a mother beat up her daughter, called her a whore, and
later called me while her daughter was there as our patient to
tell her daughter she loved her and that she had prayed all
night asking for god's forgiveness. I urged the mother that she
had asked the wrong energy level, she should have certainly
asked her daughter's forgiveness, not some god's.
On the other hand I have had anti-abortion
people who
have come to my abortion center in Boston asking for free
abortions so that their husbands wouldn't find out that their

Austin,

Texas

teen-age daughter had had intercourse.

But they felt, in this
particular
case, "that god would understand."
I recently had
a 12yearold
who had been raped by her father, a Roman
Catholic and despite the fact that we aborted her for free, we
were picketed by 400 people led by three priests carrying a
huge banner reading, "Bill Baird is the devil and a murderer."
The Catholic Church has for years conducted
a personal
vendetta against people like myself. For instance, some of you
may remember a few years ago in Marlborough,
Massachusetts,
the Immaculate
Conception Church refused to baptize the three
month-old
child of Carol Morreale unless the mother consented to denounce Bill Baird as "the devil." The Catholic Church
flew a black flag at half-mast with a sign saying, "We protest
the presence of Bill Baird, peddler of death." The Catholic
Church is currently being sued for libel and slander in Boston
Federal Court for these attacks against me. St. Anne's Roman
Catholic Church in Brentwood,
Mass., held a public mass "for
Bill Baird's soul."

Parental Hypocrisy
The hypocrisy of a society that refuses to recognize the sex
uality of its citizens, including minors, is appalling. Often it is
because of the seeds of discontent
sown by the Roman Catholic Church in particular.
This has often led to the realization
that many parents refuse to recognize their children as sexual
beings. Ninety-three
percent of the teen-agers I've seen cannot
tell their parents they have intercourse,
let alone that they are
pregnant.
I wonder how many of those who are now reading
this have ever sat down with their teen-agers and recognized
their
sexuality and discussed openly and freely intercourse,
birth control and abortion?
The denial of a realistic sex education also presents its share
of problems.
I, personally,
have been continually
fighting
school administrators
at institutions
whose students have written asking me to address them about birth control and abortion, yet the administrators
refuse to permit me to be heard.
For instance,
at Bernier HIgh School in Masapequa,
Long
Island, recently students invited me to speak but school administrators
said no because "this is not an issue for students."
I had to go into a courtroom
and threaten
them with legal
action before we were allowed to be heard. Two weeks ago,
Methan High School in Bellmoor, Long Island, refused two of
my employees
from giving their scheduled
birth control
lecture
because of "their connection
with Bill Baird and
abortion. "
I found out that three years ago a resolution
was passed
banning me for life from several school districts in Long
Island because of "Bill Baird's attacks against organized reo
ligion." We are currently
in the process of filing a lawsuit
against these school districts, but all of this is expensive and
takes time.
The case that we have which is on its way to the U.S. Suo
preme Court concerning
minors' rights has national
signifigance. It affects every state in the nation. Tragically, much of
the Massachusetts
press suffers from benign neglect or outright
hostility toward this case. For instance, last week the Boston
Globe's columnist, David Farrell, wrote in a featured column,
"Bill Baird is a huckster."
It's the old story, which I know
Madalyn Murray is so painfully aware of, that if you can't win
on the issue itself, you attack the personality of your foe.
My concern is that this case is as important
as any other
case going before the Supreme
Court. Look at the Bakke
case concerning reverse discrimination
and how much the public has been informed about this case. Here Baird us Bellotti is
a case which really concerns medical discrimination
against a

September,

1978

Page 27

class of people, primarily minors, yet when was the last time
you heard the media report any matter concerning this case?
When have you heard any of the "pro-choice" groups consistently and openly support this case? I am personally in debt
for over $50,000 for this struggle. What is so painfully frustrating is that society says, give your energy, give your freedom, take the abuse that follows (often death threats, punches,
kicks, etc.), yet as you are undergoing this abuse you must
finance it also. And if you lose the case you must pay the state
of Massachusetts and the anti-abortion forces their legal expenses.
Brilliant attorneys such as Joseph Balliro, Joan Schmidt
and RoyLucas don't come inexpensively.
All across this nation you are witnessing a direct assault
upon our abortion laws. You saw what happened with the
Medicaid ban of abortion babies. Thirteen states have passed resolutions calling for a ban on all abortions. Only 21 more
states are needed to call for a constitutiinal amendment. We've
seen the restrictive clinic licensing procedures, and now the
attack upon the rights of minors.
This is .prirnarily an unholy "holy war" financed in a good
part by the Roman Catholic Church.
If you believe in individual rights and in our freedoms,

now more than ever we must stand up, unite our forces and
let our voices be, heard. Write letters of support, join demonstrations, sign petitions, economically boycott the church's
business holdings such as Trappist Hams, Monk's Bre-ad, Christian Brothers' Wine, etc. I am trying to establish a lecture tour
to make myself available to speak in your community, college,
high school, civic group on the issue of birth control and abortion. I'd be grateful if you would write me at the:
Bill Baird Abortion Center
673 Boylston St.
Boston, Mass 02116
or at
107 Main St.
Hempstead, Long Island
N.Y. 11550
I would like to conclude by saying that the issue is not
abortion, it is an issue of compulsory pregnancy. Can a nation
force minors, or anyone else for that matter, to go through an
unwanted pregnancy against their will? To me that is sexual
slavery and it is a barbaric concept which must be fought by
all freethinking people.

POLEMIC SYNOPSIS
ralph b. shirley
-Bogeyman
... Which one is the devil and which the god? ...

A person's life hangs on a thread

the least little thing and, Oops! You're dead.

The one who

this misery arid your fate

or the one just waiting for you to bake?

If you eat too much cholesterol and shovel snow

six feet under you will go.

......

But have no fear, my friend:

Your god has a warm place in his heart for you

If your triglycerides are high and your exercise low

and another warm place with a southern view.

Whamo! So long, Joe.

.....

planned

Years ago you stopped believing

Your fate may be the automobile:

in the bogeyman in .the closet.

It did away with the horse

and, "You're next!" may be its will.

Now don't you think that by and by

you could quit believing in the bogeyman in the sky?

High blood pressure and overweight?

Come out of the dark ages and into the light

a short life may be your fate.

there is no god enjoying your plight.

Multiple sclerocis, cancer, emphysema and acidosis

Join with folks who are mature

does god Apollo love us or loathe us?

licking a god's boots is for the mythological sewer.

Balanced meals and pray to Baal

eat hearty but don't go over 2,000 cal.

When you've got to go, you've got to go,

but at least until then don't cower and kowtow.

Are you neglecting your isometrics?

Have a ball and when you go

shortly you may see some pyrotechnics.

I'll bet you'll be the last to know.

Skip rope and run two miles

the god who cursed Adam & you is now all smiles.

Page 28

September, 1978

The American Atheist

A JOYOUS ATHEIST
,~ g. riehard bozarth
How Not To Write A Holy Book
Writing about the Bible in his The Church and the Bible,
B.C. Butler, Abbot of Downside, assures us, "God cannot be
the author of false meaning. He cannot lie, and he is the divine
author of these books." This is standard dogma almost any
Christian will reverently tell anyone who will listen. Chances
are the Christian doing the telling hasn't read the Bible, except for recommended verses like John 3:16, which are supposed to impress or frighten potential converts. When challenged by someone who has read the Bible, the Christian soldier
can usually be made to look like an idiot. I know, for I've
made idiots out of them more than once.
How can that be? If the books of the Bible are divinely
authored, surely nothing could be more self evident than that.
It should be as plain as talking to a burning bush. How, then,
can a book containing no lies and no false meanings be turned
into a weapon to rout earnest, apple-cheeked Christians?
The answer begins immediately - in the beginning, so to
speak. In Chapter One of Genesis there is an account of the
creation of the world. In Chapter T)Vo of Genesis there is a
radically different account of the creation of the world. But
this is too easy, and a lazy Atheist would stop half way through
Chapter Two, laugh out loud, and throw god's true word aside
assuming he or she needs no more than this to convince a
rational person that the book is mythological nonsense.
Dealing With Madness
We must remember, we are not dealing with rational people.
We are dealing with Christians. More work is required.
First, let's turn to Genesis 22: 1-19, which records one of the
famous biblical stories, the one about Abraham's almost-sacrifice of his son, Isaac. Anyone who had sunday school as a part
of their childhood knows the story. Old Yahweh demands
Abraham sacrifice Isaac to him. Being insane with devotion to
god, Abraham proceeds as ordered. Just in the nick of time,
old Yahweh stops him, and the lesson learned is that while god
expects one to be devoted to him enough to sacrifice one's
child to him, god would never want such a sacrifice because he
is the true god. Human sacrifices are only for false, evil pagan
gods.
One might even believe this until one reads Judges 11:29-40.
Here one finds a pleasant bedtime story for one's children.
Jephthah is going off to fight the Ammonites. Naturally, he
wants to win. Being a pious man, he prays to old Yahweh and
vows that if god gives him victory, he will make to god a human sacrifice of "the first person to meet me from the door of
my house when I return in triumph."
What did old Yahweh do? Naturally, he gave Jephthah a
victory over the Ammonites. Upon returning, the first person
he meets at his house is his daughter, his only child. What did
Jephthah do? Naturally, "he treated her as the vow that he
had uttered bound him." After all, he was a religious man.
This makes me regret General Westmoreland failed to learn his
lesson. If only he had, we could have won the Vietnamese
war! Gosh!
Another famous Bible story is told in 1 Samuel 17:1-51.

Austin, Texas

This is the famous account of David and Goliath. Remember,

David was just a kid, and Goliath was a real big dude. He carried a spear with a shaft "like a weaver's beam." Nevertheless,
David brought him down with a slingshot, then killed him by
hacking off his head with Goliath's own sword.
That would seem enough to keep anyone out of action. Not
Goliath! Imagine David's dismay when, in a warfought towards
the end of his reign, Goliath showed up again, still carrying the
spear with a shaft "like a weaver's beam." Never let it be said
that David was a glory-hog. He let Elhanan son of Jair handle
the big boy this time, and once again Goliath got killed. Or,
so 2 Samuel 21:19 claims. I have my doubts, and maybe
there's something to the rumor that all Israeli soldiers have to
qualify with the slingshot in bootcamp.
In 2 Samuel 24:1-25 this tale is told. Old Yahweh got angry
with the Israelites, and "he incited David against them." The
action David was incited to take was to hold a census. Unlike
today, back then a census was a grave sin, and old Yahweh had
to fully punish the nation for discovering that it had 1,300,000
"men capable of drawing sword." For this crime, which god
caused to be committed, "Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel."
Even a religious person might wonder why god would punish anybody for doing what god made him or her do. This evidently struck god as not the sort of image he desires, because
when he wrote the same story in 1 Chronicles 21, he changed
it in one detail. He stuck Satan with the guilt, saying it was the
devil that made David do it. Now, surely, any god worth his
worshippers would have to punish a people who obey the devil.
What confuses me is why god now decided David had counted
1,570,000 men "capable of drawing sword"?
Things don't get any better in the New Testament. When
these books were divinely authored without false meaning, god
wanted to let us know the genealogy of his bouncing baby
boy, JC Superstar. He gave a list of ancestors in Matthew and
in Luke. Boy, for a god, his memory is - well - the word that
best fits is senile. Let me show you what I mean, starting with
Joseph and going back. The Matthew genealogy will be matched
with the one in Luke (which will be in parentheses):
Joseph (Joseph), Jacob (Heli), Matthan (Matthat), Eleazar (Levi), Eliud (Melchi), Achim (Jannai), Zadok (Joseph),
Azor (Mattathias), Eliakim (Amor), Abiud (Nahum), Aperubbabel (Esli), Shealtiel (Naggi), Jechoniah (Maath), Josiah
(Mattathias), Amon (Semein), Manasseh (Joseph) ...
on it
goes.
Particularly interesting is that in Matthew JC Superstar has
15 fewer ancestors between him and David than he does in
Luke. Pretty sloppy record-keeping on the part of god. There
must be a lot of sinners in heaven if the records of humanity's
sins are not better kept.
One would think god would be a little more accurate describing his son's arrest. Not a chance. Of course, he didn't like,
but ...
In Luke 22:47-53 Judas brings "the chief priests and captains of the Temple guard and elders" to arrest JC Superstar.
In Matthew 26:47-56 and in Mark 14:43-52 our divine author
decided Judas brought only a "number of men armed with

September, 1978

Page 29

swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and scribes and the
elders." When god wrote John 18: 1-11, he must have felt
a bit more drama was needed, so he added a Roman cohort to
the arresting mob.
The famous kiss of death given by Judas takes place in
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in John. Maybe god was
worried Anita Bryant might start thinking JC Superstar liked
getting kissed by Judas.
In all four gospels, a servant of a high priest gets an ear
cut off, but the divine author of these books can't make up
his mind who did it. In John he squarely names Simon Peter,
but in Mark it was done by a bystander. In Matthew and
Luke it was done by an unnamed follower. This whacked off
ear only gets healed by JC Superstar in Luke. In the other
three he leaves the poor guy suffering. In Mark there is a unique
happening. A young man trying to run away loses his clothes
and flees naked. Not so in Matthew, Luke and John. Well,
it must have been a pretty confused situation, so we mustn't
be too hard on god. He's only omniscient, you know.
JC Superstar gets nailed to the cross, then buried. All four
gospels agree Joseph of Arimathea took the body and buried
it. Our author is a little confused on who accompanied Joseph
on the task. In Matthew 27:57-61 it was Mary of Magdala and
"the other Mary." In Mark 15:42-47 it was Mary of Magdala
and Mary the mother of Joset. In John 19:38-42 the only person accompanying Joseph was Nicodemus. Okay, this looks
bad, but maybe god was asleep, and had to fill in the details
with inaccurate human testimony. Or maybe the big fella was
showing Mary how he did the virginal conception trick again
when all this was happening.
Surely, though, he was right there, pen in hand, to accurately record the details of JC Superstar's resurrection. This was
the Big Event, for as god wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14: "If
Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and
your believing it is useless." God rises to the occasion by leav-

Lttttr

from An Athtist family

God does not exist - he never has.

The whole god idea is a very cruel myth.
Our family finds it very disappointing that more people will not stand up
and "tell it like it is." The world has
been brainwashed for thousands of
years by power-motivated
priests,
witch doctors and tribal chieftains. We
are told that god loves us and wants
the best for us, yet we must bow down
to him and be continually threatened
with eternal damnation by this "benign" ruler. It is impossible for anyone
to be all-merciful and all-powerful at
the same time, because one potentiality by nature negates the other.
.
Millions, perhaps billions of people
have been tortured and/or murdered
in the name of some god since the first
one was invented by some ancient tribal chieftain who took advantage of
early man's fear of natural phenomena
and his own dreams. Where is god's
love when innocent people are being
butchered? Where was god's mercy

Page 30

ing no doubt that his pride and joy was indeed resurrected. It's
the events afterwards god can't get straight.
In Matthew 28: 9-10 JC Superstar appears first to Mary of
Magdala and the mysterious "other Mary." In Mark 16:9 and
John 20:11-18 he appears only to Mary of Magdala. In Luke
24: 13-35 he doesn't mess around with women; he finds two
men, one named Cleo pas, to appear to when they were enroute to Emmaus. These fellows returned to Jerusalem to tell
the apostles, only to have those boys tell them JC Superstar
had already appeared to Simon. When god was writing Paul's
epistles, he changed the story again, so in 1 Corinthians 15: 5
the first person to see the resurrected son of god is a fellow
named Cephas.
What is incredible about the Bible is not its divine authorship; it's that such a concoction of contradictory nonsense
could be believed by anyone to have been written by an omniscient god. To do so, one would first have to not read the
book, which most Christians do not, or, if one reads it, dump
in the trash can one's rational intelligence - become a fool
for god, in other words.
If Christians can believe the Bible was written by a god, is
it any wonder they can be so easily suckered into dying on
Crusades, supporting
Inquisitions,
subverting the First
Amendment, and perpetuating horrible cruelities by denying
women the right to legal abortions?
This is what I mean when I say Atheism involves one in
the least amount of foolishness. To be a Christian, one has
to pervert his or her mind so that all of the befuddled myths
described above no longer are contradictory or befuddled or
myths.
To be an Atheist, one need only be able to laugh when such
obvious nonsense is offered as divine truth. To be an Atheist
is to have the joy of being free from the burden of ridiculous
holy books like the Bible. To be an Atheist is to have a human
mind that has not been sacrificed on the altar to god.

during the Holocaust? And where is

his "mighty vengeance" against people
like Charles Manson?
One theory proposed by religionists is that everything has to have a
meaning and be caused by some supernatural force. For example: who created our world and the universe if god
didn't? Our reply: following that reasoning, who then created god?
Shabby Proof
Believers also point to the Bible
when asked for proof of god's existence; but this highly inaccurate book
proves nothing. Men did not even begin to assemble the Bible until 400
years after Christ's death - at a time
when there were no printing machines,
no dictionaries, and when the Hebrew
language contained no vowels or punctuation. Quite remarkable!
It took another 1,000 years before
these manuscripts were printed as the

September, 1978

Old Testament and the Bible has been

edited countless times before and since.
It contains contradictions, confusion,
and over 150 verses demeaning to
women. Why didn't god just leave
complimentary
Bibles allover
the
world instead of trusting to the wordof-mouth system in a small nation that
rarely mingled with others?
Reading of the many times god demanded human sacrifices should be
enough for any reasonable person to
reject this barbaric tribal deity. No,
the Bible is shabby proof of any supreme being's existence, and all the
scientists and laboratories in the world
cannot prove his existence.
When the Constitution of the United
States was first drawn up, its framers
specifically left out any mention of a
"god." They knew how religion could
be used against non-believers and
believers alike, and they felt it should
be kept completely separated from
interfering in government, and vice

The American Atheist

versa. In the words of James Madison,

father of the Constitution, "Strongly
guarded as is the separation between
Religion and. Government in the Constitution of the United States, the
danger of encroachment by Ecclesisstical Bodies may be illustrated by
precedents already furnished in their
short history."
There can be no doubt about his
feelings! But all that has been forgotten
as now we see religion's influence in
every aspect of government and private
life. Indeed the average citizen is considered "nice" if he is church-affiliated.
An admitted Atheist could never expect to attain a political office, and in
some states the testimony of a nonbeliever is invalid in the courtroom.
A taxpayer can expect to be relieved
of an average $200 to $500 a year in
hidden taxes he/she must pay because
god does not. These figures do not include the land and cash grants religions
receive from Uncle Sam. We believe society is finally waking up to this particular gross injustice.
Atheists follow a life philosophy
which promotes freedom of thought,
the importance of reason and logic,
and man's ability to advance through
action and brain-power - not "bendedknee" power. We reject religion because it is a very negative force which
uses fear and threats to manipulate its
"flock. "
Religion teaches that because of its
warped concoction of "original sin"
ALL people are born sinners and are
inherently evil. How depressing!
Atheism teaches that man is inherently good and his capacity for greater
achievement is virtually unlimited.
Now that is true liberation!
If religion disappeared tomorrow
the world would not fall into anarchy
because common sense says that life
would be miserable for all of us if we
allowed a total disruption of sensible

"Now then, don't you worry your head about that.

There's bad poetic license and there is good poetic license."

routines.
In 1787, Thomas Jefferson in a
letter to his nephew wrote: "Question
with boldness even the existence of a
god." If anything is a "sin," it is teaching a child that a god exists. Paralyzing
a child's mind with the idea that his or
her puppy died "because it was god's
will," or that prayers to god can solve

some family problem is tantamount to

teaching him/her to live a lie.
We should not unquestionably
accept all "truths" just because our
parents say it is so. Let's get off our
knees and back into the world of
reality.
The Buck Clark Family
Conyers, Georgia

Dallas, Texas In '79

American Atheists will gather in Dallas, Texas - "The Big D" - in the spring of 1979 for a convention
which
promises to be as big and as lively as the city itself. The Ninth Annual American Atheist Convention will be held at
the spacious Dupont Plaza Hotel which is located in the heart of in this Texas-sized metropolis. The convention
will
be held on April 13-14-15 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and the time to make your reservations is now. Please contact
us as early as possible so that we may reserve a sufficient number of rooms. For further specifics please write to:
John Mays, Convention Coordinator
American Atheists
P.O. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768

Austin,

Texas

September,

1978

Page'31

INSIDE-OUT
j. Iniehael straeznski
Journal Of A Brown-Bagger
MONDAY: Had a terrible night last
night. Again I have been tormented by
frightening dreams and the inability to
get change for a twenty after ten
o'clock. I dreamt that I was in a small
room, being interrogated by a nearsighted minister who demanded that I
either tell him the meaning of Life, or
betray what E.F. Hutton has really
been saying in all those television commercials. I, however, refused to answer his questions, and would only repeat my name, rank, and a series of
phone numbers that I'd memorized
off a men's room wall.
This must not go on any longer.
(Actually, this can't go on much longer. My lease expires at the end of the
month, at which time I shall be evicted
in favor of a Nazi soccer team from
Cleveland.)
TUESDA Y: Had another close call
today. My producer invited me to a
football game, and when the benediction began, I broke out in another
coughing fit, which I could only get
rid of by sticking my foot in my mouth
and blowing air out through my ears,
an act which a drunk beside me found
incredibly amusing.
My producer was not pleased at all.
My analyst says that these attacks
are all signs of a deep-seated psychological repression, and that I should either
stop denying portions of my own character or take up saving balls of string.
She then tried to explain that we live
in a modern world, and that people are
more accepting of the eccentricities of
others. Realizing the truth in her statements (as well as the fact that my hour
was up, and there was another patient
standing by the door, twitching), I
confided my great secret to her ... that
I am a closet Atheist.
Her reaction was quite unusual. I've
never had anyone try to force-feed me
a couch before.
WEDNESDA Y: Nothing whatsoever
happened today. I'm beginning to
think that the Existentialists are right.
THURSDAY: Went for a walk in
the park today. This, I have since concluded, was a definite mistake. While
walking through the lush scenery and
the scenic lushes, I literally stumbled
upon a group of people who were doing

Page 32

the most disgusting things to one another. It was the most offensive display
of perversion that I have ever stood
and watched for 20 minutes with
sweaty palms and a 50-millimeter Minolta with only three rolls of film
which I didn't get to use all of anyway,
since I was discovered and brought to
their leader.
He proclaimed his name was Jesus
Abdul
Mohammed
Isis Topinski.
(JAM-IT, his monogrammed jammies
with the little booties and pink rabbit
read.) He went on to say that he was
the Head of the First Church of the
Bleeding Pusswart, and that he and his
'followers had found Truth through
meditation and the study of French
postcards. They all then invited me to
join their group. Anyone was eligible,
they said, provided that he had taken
at least three lessons from an Arthur
Murray School of Dance, or seen more
than five Fred Astaire movies.
I respectfully declined the offer,
and their leader let me pass by giving
his group's traditional gesture of farewell
gesture I had, in my ignorance,
previously reserved for drivers that cut
in front of me on the freeway - and
by striking me repeatedly about the
nose and face with a live chipmonk.
FRIDA Y: Went to the funeral ceremony for a friend whose last wish was
to be cremated and to have his ashes
sprinkled over Rex Reed. Unfortunately, the mortuary had neglected to
pay its gas and utilities bill, with the
result that we all had to sit in a circle
around the coffin, throwing lit matches.
It's been a very depressing day. I
called my agent, Jim Fitch - of Fitch,
Fitch, and son of a Fitch - to find out
what he thought of my last screenplay.
He said it looked great in his birdcage.
It stood up under wear much longer
than The National Enquirer, and more
morally proper than the financial section of The Wall Street Journal. (He
always used to complain that he never
could adjust to waking up in the morning and discovering that during the
night his parrot had crapped all over
IBM, IT&T, and DuPont.
SATURDA Y: Have decided to begin
work on another motion picture, an
experimental film to be entitled "Death

-a

September, 1978

of a Dove", where for 90 minutes a

man will stuff a dove into a blender to
the melodic strains of "The Blue
Danube". Should go over well with the
Anita Bryant crowd.
SUNDAY: Disaster! Ran out of gas
on the freeway this morning, and was
stuck until I managed to flag down a
carload of Baptists on their way to a
gang-pray. I asked if they would let me
siphon off a little gas. They said it was
okay, provided that I wasn't a communist, an Atheist, a presbyterian, lefthanded, or related in any way to Truman Capote.
Given the fact that I was already
late for a highly sensitive meeting, I
decided to embroider the facts a bit
and tell them that I was simply an agnostic. (This is also known as drawing
a mustache on the truth. The meeting, by the way, was to discuss and
preview a new film by Dino de Laurentis, entitled "Satyricon II", a $30-million epic that takes place entirely in a
New York subway station, waiting for
the B-train.)
On hearing this, they grudgingly
agreed to let me siphon off some gas,
but they refused to drive below 50
miles per hour while I 'was doing it, a
situation which complicated the task
immensely.
(For reasons not yet understood by
me, ever since this event, the engine of
my car will not shut off until I park it
in such a way that it faces Mecca.)
As if all that were not bad enough,
later on in the day, the envelope that
contained my last issue of The American Atheist was spotted on the living
room table by the neighbors. (The
least they could do would be to ship
those things out in plain brown wrappers, like they do with Hustler and
The Congressional Record. It would
just make life so much easier.)
Anyway, they squealed to the landlady, and she has informed me that the
Nazi soccer team also heard about it,
and in revulsion cancelled their arrangements for my apartment, so I would
be able to stay longer than I had planned ...
Gee ... I guess maybe it does pay
sometimes to be an Atheist.

The American Atheist

ATHEIST
Poems are made by fools like me
But only god can make a tree
And on Iy god who makes the tree
Also makes the fools like me

IT MAKES ME BLUE

But only fools like me, you see

Can make a god, who makes a tree

Though' the Puritans died a long time ago,

Their descendants have come to strike a blow.

E. Y. HARBURG

They hit me on Sundays with "don'ts" and with "do's";

They send out their missionaries by one's and by two's.
I'd like to challenge them to a brawl,
Then they'd end up with a black-and-blue

law.

S.H. CRANE

SENIOR CITIZEN ATHEISTS

Admitting you're an Atheist
Will give your friends a shock
But they will soon get used to it
And you'll be in as solid as a rock.

CREATION'S

RIDDLE

Of creation, the riddle's been solved!

What it took, a question was all of:
"You made me," (that I knew.)
"But pray, who made you?"
"Don't be silly," said god, "1 evolved."

He only sent a dollar

But is that so very bad?
If he's a Senior Citizen
That's probably all he had.
Admitting you're an Atheist
When you're old and retired
Is easy because we don't have a job
From which we might be fired.

ERIC FREDERICK
Old folks like me
Don't have money to spare
But we can still carry a banner
For Atheist Madalyn O'Hair.

BERTHA BROOKS

Austin, Texas

September, 1978

Page 33

The American Atheist Radio

Early Freethought Groups
Program 429 .....

5 February 77 ....

KLBJ ....

Austin, TX

*******************************************
Hello there,
This is Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American Atheist, back to
talk with you again.
Way back in the history of America, persons in opposition
to Christianity tried to organize - when and where they could.
Usually, but not always, the organization was attempted in
larger towns, or cities, but the religious forces were more organized in large towns or cities and suppression or dispersion of
the anti-Christian forces was generally rapid.
Immediately after the revolution in the United States there
was a widespread period of irreligion, but it was, by and large,
unorganized. It was not until about the 1820's that any real organization was begun. A well-known skeptic, Dr. Thomas Cooper
of South Carolina, wrote, "In a great city it [destruction of
priests 1 may be done; but in the scattered villages of this country, the mass of the people are too ignorant, and too timid, to
afford their support to anyone who opposes the prevailing
clerical pre ten tions."
There is a world of difference between one man fighting a
single-handed fight against the prejudices of his community
and a compact, determined organization of persons gaining
courage in union.
The wealthy and the educated had been Deist during the revolution, but their children returned to orthodoxy or paid lipservice to the beliefs of the multitude in order to control the same.
Let's look first at New York and the situation there. On 29
January, 1827, forty people held the first Thomas Paine Birthday Celebration in Harmony Hall in New York City and established a "Free Press Association" to involve itself with "natural
religion" - as opposed to the Christian religion. The idea was
to have a forum where these persons could meet for debates,
lectures and social gatherings. One of their first thoughts was to
form a library. What was "natural religion?" Well, someone
signing himself only as "a Deist" wrote concerning this early in
the Association's history. His statement was:
"Our religion is the religion of nature - the belief in one
God; and our golden rule, to do to others as we would wish
to be done by ....
"The sacred banner is now unfurled with 'Truth' for its
motto; and a rallying point established. We invite all freemen
who yet groan under the yoke of religious despots to shake
off their fetters and join with us in the good work: we have
no founder of doubtful parentage to force upon them; we
lead them up to the fountain head. We have no holy mother,
virgin, or myriads of saints to look up to. Our god is not the
Bible god, who visits the sins of the father upon his innocent
offspring. Our god is a god of mercy, who will not punish

Page 34

September, 1978

mankind for not believing what they cannot understand .... "
The weekly lectures which this Association featured became
quite successful. Indeed, the meetings needed to be moved to a
larger hall and at one point even some "ladies came to them.
At first the lectures were largely theological in that attacks were
made on Christian tenets. However, by the end of the first year,
scientific lectures were inaugurated. The popularity of the meetings and lectures was such that there were two a day on the day
of assembling - and Sundays were the days of these meetings.
Some 200-300 persons were usually in attendance, of which 50
to 60 would be ladies.
The success of this downtown New York City meeting was so
great that a group called the "Society of Free Enquirers" decided
to hold an uptown meeting each week.
Some of the titles of the debates and lectures are instructive
as to what was going on. For instance the debate on 28 December,
1828 was titled "Whether a revelation by a supreme being has
ever been made to man; and if so, what are the evidences?" In
1830 these lectures and discussions were heard: "Is the sum of
human happiness augmented or diminished by the belief of a revealed religion?" "Are the evidences of the Christian religion
better attested than the Mohametan or any Pagan creeds?" and
"Is the evidence drawn from miracles sufficient to prove the divine origin of the Christian religion?"
When Frances Wright hit New York, the attendance at the
series of lectures was so good that it is reported.that "thousands
were turned away" because they could not get into the halls. On
3 January, 1829 there were 1,500 people in the Masonic Hall
for the first lecture. It was reported that there had not been
such Jxcitement in New York since Thomas Jeffereson had been
elected to the presidency in 1800.
Clergy Above Criticism
At first the newspapers were not openly hostile, as they reported with astonishment about the success of the lectures. But
when Frances Wright attacked the clergy, the counterattack began. She was labeled as a "blasphemer" and "a voluptuous
preacher of licentiousness," a"female monster," an "infidel."
The word "blasphemer" does not sound all that bad today, but
in the era reported here there were criminal laws against blasphemers. One must remember that in the colonies blasphemy had
been punishable by death.
One newspaper hinted at the possibility of wrecking the Park
Theatre where she lectured if she persisted in "publicly and ostentatiously proclaiming doctrines of atheistical fanaticism, and
even the most abandoned lewdness."
But everything was going well for the freethinker, and in
March of 1829 Frances Wright took the proceeds from her lectures, added some of her own money, and purchased the old
Ebenezer Baptist Church, near the Bowery, which had been up
for public auction. She paid $7,000 for it and christened it the

The American Atheist

"Hall of Science." It seated from 1,200 to 1,300 persons. see to it that our history is gathered and saved and passed on to
The Hall of Science was kept open from April of 1829 to every succeeding generation from this date forward.
May of 1932 and by and large it was a fairly profitable enterI cannot help but admire the bravery of a group of persons
prise, paying expenses out of admission fees. As the organization
in Galena, Illinois, in their forming an organization in 1884 and
undertook other areas of concern, the broadening of it finally restricting the membership so that entry to the organization was
destroyed it. As it undertook to be concerned for the rights of refused "to any minister of Christ, or devotee of the Christian
the working man, for republican education, for injustice in the creeds, or individual having the ability, but not engaged in some
legal system, the thrust of that for which it had been organized useful employment or occupation."
diminished. As an example, in September of 1831 the Hall of
There were many German Rationalist groups in the United
Science began to be, among other things, a medical dispensary
States too, and wherever German immigrant groups settled,
for the relief of the sick, to administer medical advice and give there were to be found these advocates of reason. Can you imagordinary medicines free. Such an endeavor became a heavy fi- ine a group of these new arrivals "renouncing all religions" and
nancial burden and the Hall of Science had to raise money by pledging themselves to "follow the dictates of reason, the laws
renting to a Presbyterian congregation for services on Sunday
of nature and the voice of our conscience, in all our actions,"
morning. It was, then, unlikely that the Presbyterian church or and yet, that was as early as 1843!
its tenets would be attacked in a lecture in the afternoon.
What would happen today if a group of Atheists asked memSoon the Hall of Science was closed and later sold to a Meth- bers to sign alliance regulations that they would "never join any
odist congregation.
church or synogogue," never "contribute to church ends," "nevAlso, a group called "Moral Philanthropists" came into exis- er be married or buried by a priest," "never allow their children
tence, with Abner Kneeland in command. This was functioning
to be educated in the Christian or any other religion?" We
at Tammany Hall. By 1832 the idea came to have rationalist re- would probably be attacked as bigots - and that is just what
vivals in imitation of the religious revivals. The idea caught on happened to these old groups.
and the meeting room was often overflowing - a signal success
when one considers that the seating was for 2,000. The Panic of
This informational broadcast is brought to you as a public
1837, of course, brought a financial disaster to this venture as service by the Society of Separationists, Inc., a non-profit, nonwell as to many others.
political, tax-exempt, educational organization dedicated to the
But there were many freethought organizations in New York complete separation of state and church. This series of Amerduring this period, most of them small. As the largest ones, which ican Atheist Radio series programs is continued through listener
I have described here, diminished in membership or influence,
generosity. The Society of Separationists, Inc. predicates its
they relocated and took other names.
philosophy on American Atheism. For more information, or for
It was apparent that the organizations needed a base, that they a free copy of the script of this program, write to P.0 Box 2117,
needed paid functionaries, but often salaries were unavailable or Austin, Texas. That zip is 78768.
if paid, they were small, and irregular. What one could get as a
lecturer one year was not available the next. Libraries were
needed to preserve material. Some kind of old-age security was
needed for those who spent their lives in the cause. Efforts were
made toward all these ends, but the efforts were not great enough
or concerted enough to accomplish what was needed:
Developments in Boston and New York were about parallel.
The success of the organizations often depended upon the charismatic leadership of one person and the organization would
fluctuate in success as that leader attended to the cause. When
he was superceeded by a lesser star, the organization would
wane. Other cities had similar situations on a smaller scale.
These included: Philadelphia, Pa; Providence, Rhode Island;
Tariffville, Connecticut; West Avon, Massachusetts; Woodstock,
Vermont; Camden, Maine; Calais, Vermont; Rochester, New
York; Paterson, New Jersey; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wilming.'--''1~)ct9-:Cl-'
ton, Delaware; and St. Louis, Missouri.
I suppose the most shocking thing about it is that no one in
(EXCEPT
FOR)
our era ever heard about this stream of irreligious history. The
A
MAN
f=OR
A MAN
fact that there have been small and large organizations ever since
A
WOMAN
FOR
A
WOMAN
we were a nation has been completely hidden.
One could almost say that there has been a conspiracy of
A BOY FOR A BOY
silence in respect to them. Unless one has a Ph.D. dissertation or
A GIRL /=ORAGIRL
a Master's degree thesis to follow where someone has researched
A D06 FOR. A DOC;
it out, there is no general information.
A CAT FOR A CAT
We have most recently come through our bicentennial year,
BEFORE CHVRCH
and during this there was much emphasis placed on the fact
AFTER CHURCH
that Christianity has been here during those two centuries.
There was no mention of the fact that anti-Christian factors
DURING CHlJRC~
have also existed during that same period.
ON TI-lE, FRONT PORCH
. It will take much research, many dissertations or theses to unN6 ULL M
c.
cover that which Christian historians have made to disappear.
DURING ~\G~11t>E.
We have a long and honorable history and it has been, in a sense,
stolen from us. It is safe for me now to put everyone in the
world on notice that it will not happen again. I will personally
III'

We PJ.eaclJ"

ILWIE
ILVJE
I1n

I
I

Austin,

Texas

September, 1978

Page 35

The Naked Emperor, is a soft-cover, 171-page

book, 5% x 8% inches, authored by one of our
own members, Hermon M. Levine. Because of
the usual hostility of American publishers, the
author had the book privately printed in Mexico.
The author writes in a casual, almost homey
style and the book is quickly read. At this point
one is startled to find that it was packed with
facts and that it gave an in-depth overview of the
fraud that passes for religion: with ease, one has
been educated.
The scheme of the book is simplicity itself.
The first section is a reminder to you of the
facts about the universe, the galaxies, our solar
system and our planet. It's been so long for most
of us since we've thought about it that the
review puts the picture together again and back
into our minds.
The second section takes us through our
"savage" heritage and one may argue with an
interpretation
here or there, as did this reviewer,
but one knows the author is on the right track.
The third section deals with the development
of religion. It is introduced with a novel idea
concerned with how religions began and truth is
inherent in the fiction of Cyril, the first priest.
In his survey of the beginning of Christianity, he
packs much history and incisive interpretations
of Paulene and Nicean triumphs and delineates
them for the frauds which they are.
Reading of the holy relics is an exercise in
hilarity which turns into alarm as it becomes
clear that this was the money-grubbing end of
religion which has led straight to our day, to our
tax dollars. When the relic that is religion should
be put to a burial in our age, we see instead a
new investment of our nation's children into
parochial schools: i.e. the Packwood-Moynihan
bill for tuition grants.
It is al( here, the fraud of the soul, the churches'
capture of all art expression, religion's insistence
that it is the sole arbiter of morality - in none
of which the contrary Atheist can be induced to
believe.
The last section of the book deals with
Sincostan - the mathematical, atheistic land of
the future - in which the author permits his
own fantasy solutions to become reality in a
new world. Here, a young reporter,
Alice,
encounters the ideas ofa future Wonderland. As
we all have thought of possible solutions to
human problems, so has Hermon Levine. In this
short science fiction application of those ideas
to a future reality, he comes to gut grips with
current ideas.

....-..-.-.--.-.--.-.--.

~
YES! . ..
I would like to order
copies of Hermon M.
Levine's THE NAKED EMPEROR at $3.95 per copy plus 40 cents
postage and handling. Enclosed please find $4.35 for each copy.
Make checks/money

orders payable to:

AMERICAN ATHEISTS
P.O. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768

VISA

MASTERCHARGE

No.

Name

Expiration

Date

Address
City

Signature~
(Texas Residents add 5% Sales Tax)

Page 36

-----------State

Zip --

September, 1978

It's a good book, seemingly light summer

reading, but well founded in fact and in theory
to educate you with the small effort on your
part of investing in some delightful reading.
* * $3.95 plus 40 cents postage & handling * *

The American Atheist

AMERICAN ATHEIST
POST CARDS
5 for $1_00

ATHEIST CASSETTE TAPES

Why I Am An Atheist
$14.95
The subject matter deals with the total effort to remove prayer from public schools
in the U.S. as well as Dr. O'Hair's personal philosophy of Atheism.
2 Hours
American Atheist
Set 3
436
437
438
439. . . . . .
Set 4
440. . . . . .
441 . . . . . .
442
443

$10.00
1 Hour
'.'
Joseph Lewis on Robert G. Ingersoll
Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part I
Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part II
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part III
1 Hour
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part IV
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part V
Ingersoll on The Holy Bible, Part VI
Robert G. Ingersoll on Superstition

A beautiful 4" x5Y>" picture post

card of the Atheist Center in Austin.
Send it to your favorite minister.

Radio Series

Lucifer's Handbook
Lee Carter, Ph D
$5.00
Professor Carter, after 20 years of
extensive research, has compiled all of
the arguments for the existence of god
that have been proposed throughout
the centuries. These arguments, and all
of the objections to them, have been
condensed and simplified.
An Atheist Epic - Bill Murray,
The Bible, and the Baltimore
Board of Education

Bible Handbook for Atheists

G.W. Foote & W.P. Ball, Editors
$3.95
This extraordinary book is a clear,
precise assault upon the basis of JudaicChristianity: a review of the contradictions and irrationalities of the Old
and New Testaments. Atheists seeking
proof of the Bible's fallacies need only
open this Handbook for overwhelming
facts.

Robert Ingersoll is the single best

known Atheist writer and orator, of
all time. In this he presents 61 compelling arguments as to the absurdity
of the Bible having come from god.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.

You have another freedom - freedom from religion. American Atheists,
Inc. is a non-political, non-profit, educational, tax-exempt organization
dedicated to the complete separation of state and church. Membership dues
are $15.00 per person per year, and contributions to American Atheists, Inc.
are tax deductible for you. Members of the organization receive a monthly
copy of "Americn Atheists Insider Newsletter." Membership in the national
organization automatically gives you entrance to your local chapter.
You don't want to miss this road into tomorrow. You will want to be a
part of the decision making, now, for a decent life today as well as in the
future.
What On Earth Is An Atheist!
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
$4.95

Why I Am An Atheist
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
$2.00

$3.00
The complete unexpurgated story
of how Bible and prayers were removed from the public schools of the
United States.

A Few Reasons for Doubting

The Inspiration of the Bible
Robert G. Ingersoll
$2.00

One of a series of lectures delivered

to universities and colleges across the
nation.

For the first time in print, the complete texts of fifty two radio programs
presenting the Atheist Point of View.

Freedom Under Siege, The Impact of Organized Religion

On Your Liberty and Your Pocketbook
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
$8.95
Mrs. O'Hair deals with politics, not religion; with separation of state and
church, and not Atheism. This report shows how your treasured liberties are
slowly being eroded as the churches increase their power over every aspect of
. American life, limiting your freedom of choice and even your access to information regarding those choices.

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For more information contact:

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American Atheists, Inc.

P. O. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768

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" AMERICAN

ATHEISTS

P. O. BOX 8223