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American Atheists - P.O. Box 2117 - Austin, TX 78768-2117

December, 1984

Vol. 26, No. 12

American Atheist
A Journal

of Atheist

News and Thought

Editorial: Our Irrational World - Jon Murray

Ask AA
News & Comments:
American Atheist Forum
Producer's Notes - Alexander C. Stevens
The Religious Suppression of Man's Progress: A Brief Chronology - Richard Yarbro
Dial-An-Atheist
Fundamental Religious Upbringing as a Contributing Factor in a Case with Multiple PersonalityJohn Higdon and Ahmed Faheem
The Earth Is Round: Columbus Rediscovers - Frank R. Zindler
China
Was There Ever a Jesus? - Gerald Dorset
Finnish Freethought Press - The Early Years - Kimmo Sundstrom
Reader Service
The Atheist Next Door - Scott A Kerns
Vedic Science - Margaret Bhatty
Historical Notes
Potpourri
Who's Kiddin' Who? - Gerald Tholen
Poetry
American Atheist Radio Series - Madalyn O'Hair
Letters to the Editor
Classified Advertising

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On the Cover To livingthings, one day is truely of no greater or lesser importance than any other. Celebrating one particular day, therefore, seems to
relegate the significance of all other days to a role of secondary importance. Yet, it seems to be the pattern of human intellect to place emphasis,
periodically, on certain times and events. Quite often humans, in order to establish "highs" in their psychological order, focus on imaginary reasons for
celebration when, in fact, there are natural events which excite the mind and add pleasure to life itself. The planned birth of an infant, the initiation or
completion of an important project, and other such events all seem to be reason for "legitimate" celebration. Beyond these human-generated events there
are days which directly affect the lives of us all. They are the seasonal changes. Ifwe are going to celebrate anything at all- why not the Solstices and the
Equinoxes?
Gerald Tholen

Editor/Robin Murray-O'Hair, Editor Emeritus/Madalyn Murray O'Hair,

Managing Editor/Jon G. Murray, Assistant Editor/Gerald
Tholen,
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Stanley Brown, Jeff Frankel, Merrill Holste,
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Page 1

EDITORIAL / Jon G. Murray

OUR IRRATIONAL WORLD

have always been a very active person.
I
I cannot stand to just sit around and do
nothing. I have to keep myself busy at
something all day long. I guess it could be
said that I am a bit nervous all the time. I like
order and rationality in my life, and when I
am faced with the irrational or the cluttered I
become angry very easily, or formerly did. I
have had a history of ulcers and gastrointestinal ailment as a result of my suppression of
anger over the many, many things I see
around me each day, as a perceptive individual, that just are not right. My family
doctor has advised me on this. He says,
"Jon, it is O.K. to be concerned over things.
I am concerned over many things as a
doctor, but I don't worry about anything.
There is a big difference between being
concerned and being worried. The former is
healthy, the latter - in overabundance can be unhealthy."
I have tried very hard to take his advice,
and I try to remain concerned about the
many things that I see and hear and read
daily as an Atheist cause leader and not to
waste my time being worried. I think, however, that I am on the verge of beginning to
worry again.
I am getting a feeling, as I go around the
nation and read and listen, that the level of
irrational thinking in my country is on the
rise. More and more bizarre and irrational
behavior is surfacing in every community.
The thing that has me worrying again is that
most, if not all, of that behavior is based on
religion. Just the other day I sat down to
breakfast and picked up the morning paper.
On the front page was an article about a
woman who had an infant daughter in the
city hospital, locally, and the attending physicians were giving little hope for the infant's'
recovery. The mother, therefore, sent to
England for a faith healer to come to the
hospital in our city in order to save her child.
I was speechless. A hospital, a place of
medical science, should not have even allowed the faith healer in the door. Had I
been hospital director I would have told the
mother that she would need to check the
infant out of the hospital and take her to a
church of her choice for this faith healer to
perform whatever strange ritual she sought
but that this could not be done in a place of
science. It was even worse in my eye that
this is happening in a city, taxpayer financed, hospital. No one complained, no one
spoke up, and the paper put the story on the
front page. The paper was lauding the
Page 2

activity as if it was only natural and proper

that a faith healer be called in to assist, as ifit
were a "rational" activity.
That was not enough to spoil my breakfast for the whole day. I finished my morning
household duties and went to the American
Atheist Center. There I began processing
my usual sack of incoming mail which
always includes copious quantities of newspaper and magazine clippings. Two of them
particularly caught my eye and hit my belly.
They were stories from my own state of
Texas. One of them was from Waco, home
of Baylor University, which is the largest
Baptist university in the United States. It
seems that the new first vice president of the
Southern Baptist Convention was upset because two particular professors at Baylor
were not toeing the ideological line, in his
view, according to Baptist dogma. The
status of a Spanish professor who happened
to be a Mormon was in question for his
"corrupting" his students with Mormonism.
The Baptists consider Mormonism a "nonChristian cult" and the Convention vice
president wanted the Spanish professor
kept away from the students and placed "in
a caretaker position." The professor could
not for the life of him understand what the
flap was all about. He said about his classes,
"All we do is conjugate verbs." Another
professor, this time of religion, was also
questioned for his view that evolution is not
necessarily incompatible with the Genesis
account of creation. The Convention hierarchy feels that the Bible is verbally inspired
of God and free of any historical, scientific
or other error and substantively that is the
message that should be delivered by all of
the faculty, uniformly, to the student body of
Baylor.
Some time ago Baylor had been in the
news over its anthropology department delibrately suppressing a find of prehistoric
relics in central Texas because the evidence
would have shown the age of man to be
older than the biblical account.
The Baylor president, however, actually
had courage enough to put his finger on the
meat of the issue. He said, "If you want to
control a group of people, ifyou gain control
of educational institutions and you can put
in people who think and act the same way
you do, you've got a good sausage grinder.
You can turn out clones." This was very
perceptive of him. It surprised me for a
Baptist to think this well.
The second Texas story was even worse.
December, 1984

It took place in Orange, in the far eastern

part of the state. The story goes like this;
hold on to your rationality if you can. A
seventeen-year-old boy was driving home
from a rock concert when his truck, hit an
electrical line and flipped over. The boy
emerged unhurt. Naturally a Department of
Public Safety trooper arrived on the scene
to investigate. (The "D.P.S" is what we call
our state police here in Texas.) The trooper
told the young man that he was "wearing
Satan's clothes and listening to Satan's
music." The trooper then made the youth
get into his patrol car with him and kept him
there for an extended period of time in order
to preach to him. The trooper said he did
this because he likes to "spread the Gospel
whenever the Lord leads me to." "If! was to
deny what the Lord told me to do, he'd
punish me," said the trooper. The poor
youth did not know what to do but to go
along with whatever the trooper said. The
youth later recounted, "I just prayed when
he told me to pray and did what he told me
to do." The trooper, when confronted by
superiors, said that he did not see any
conflict between what he did and the concept of separation of state and church. "I
didn't talk to anyone about a church. I
talked to him about Jesus. People can watch
television as a religion, and that, or any
other religion, wasn't what I was discussing," said the trooper. The youth said that
the trooper questioned him about the past.
He asked the youth if he had ever "sassed"
his mother or stolen candy as a child. When
the youth replied in the affirmative the
trooper took a piece of paper out of his pad
and titled it "Sin Account of ----" giving the
boy's name. He listed the transgressions
and then turned the paper over and wrote,
"I, ----, hereby ask Jesus Christ to be Lord
and Savior of my life and guide each step I
take. I turn my entire life over to Him." He
then forced the youth to sign the statement.
Can you actually believe that this would
happen in the twentieth century? These
three examples are just the tip of the
iceberg. I could go on and on and on with
hundreds, mayhap thousands of them, in all
states of the union and in other countries as
well.Most religiousleaders and other persons,
journalists included, pass these things off as
isolated occurences. I feel that they are not
at all isolated but rather represent a growing
fundamentalist trend of irrationality. More
and more persons in this country feel that it
is their god-demanded duty to thrust their
The American Atheist

religion on to anyone who passes 'by whether that person desires to have it or not. This
religious conflict is sometimes thought to be
"well intentioned" by the perpetrator, and
sometimes it is accompanied by violence
when that is felt to be necessary. But that is
not so important as the rising rate of incidence. Make no mistake; religion has always
been intolerant. In fact, intolerance is a basic
tenet of all religions. Every religion commands its followers to be loyal to but one
faith and to try to convert others thereto. To
me, as an Atheist, it has me worried sick.
What ifI had been the one who encountered
this "trooper of God" on a back road in
Orange, Texas, If I told him I was an Atheist
would he have backed off or just pulled out
his revolver and shot me dead to save my
soul for "the Lord?" There is no telling.
All over the country we have a growing
number of reports of bombs going off in
synagogues, graffiti being smeared over
minority church walls, such as Mormon
temples, Anti-Catholic posters are being
plastered on Roman Catholic churches or
fundamentalist tracts are placed in hymnals
in Roman Catholic cathedrals. The National
Abortion Federation reports that so far this
year there have been nineteen major attacks on abortion clinics or pregnancy counseling centers as compared to four in 1983
and only three in 1982. The Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating such attacks in the states of Virginia,
Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, California and Washington, D.C. Abortion or
pregnancy counseling centers are staffed
with religious people. This is one religious
group visiting harm upon other religious
persons whose conduct is not in agreement
with the attackers' religious ideologies.
Spokespersons for abortion clinics say that
a lot of clinics are being armed and some
doctors now carry pistols to protect themselves. In Florida we see judges opening up
their court sessions with long prayers to
Jesus Christ and sentencing persons to go
to church instead of to jail for their crimes. A
manufacturing plant in Tucson is requiring
employees to attend Tuesday morning "nondenominational devotional services" to keep
their jobs. The same firm puts religious
pamphlets in with the employees' paychecks. The newest member of the staff at
the American Atheist Center, who recently
moved to Texas from Kentucky, went to a
U, S. postal station here in Austin to purchase stamps and "got to talking" with one
of the clerks about being new in town. The
clerk said, "I'm not supposed to do this, but
here is the card of the pastor of the church I
attend and we invite you to come worship
with us." An officer of the Washington, D.C.
Chapter of American Atheists was recently
called to a compulsory meeting at his place
of employment (a government agency) only
to find that the Chaplain of the U, S. Senate
had been brought in to give a lengthy prayer.
Austin, Texas

There is a growing unwillingness on the

part of religious persons to keep their religion to themselves. There is a growing tendency to proselytize more than ever before
and to be proud about being intolerant or
ignorant of other faiths or philosophical
systems. The most frequent reply from
fundamentalists when questioned about
their new boldness with their religion is that
they have no intention of "hiding their lights
under bushel baskets." They feel that those
who are offended by their proselytizing are
merely unwilling to examine their own religious beliefs. All of this is not to be taken
lightly. A Gallup report shows that fifty-six
percent of Americans now say that religion
is "very important" in their lives.
At the time of the recent assassination of
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India the
Sikhs in this country danced in the street
overjoyed at the murder of an unarmed
woman for the sake of their religion. I did not
see one media person taking them to task
for such a display.
I am beginning to become worried again. I
am even becoming downright fearful. Is
irrationality taking over not alone our nation
but the world? It would appear so if we look
at Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, the Philippines, India, Canada, Ireland, South America, Central America and the United States. I
hope that it is not so, but the situation does
not look hopeful. The problem we - as
Atheists - have to face, with this rising tide
of overt irrational religious fervour, is ourselves. The vast majority of Atheists have
always been of the closet variety who cared,
above all, not to offend anyone. They just
want to sit in their own little world and do
their own little thing. Well, now that plan is
going to backfire on them because while
they are in their closets doing their own
thing, the religious nuts willbe in the street
doing everyones' thing. And, ultimately they
will reach into the cozy, safe, closets of the
Atheists and force them to do the nuts'
religious thing. Allthe above examples speak
to that. It is a process already started at the
low level of individual religious nuts who feel
sufficiently justified by national events to
move out and be coercive at their individual
levels.
We, as Atheists, need to start speaking
out too - but rationally. If someone confronts you with religion, don't do the socalled Christian thing and "turn the other
cheek," tell them what you think about their
religion and their attempt to intrude it into
your space. It took the non-smokers in this
country about sixty years to find the courage to stand up against the smokers. For
many many years, they just inhaled the
smoke, or coughed at it, and kept quiet.
They are learning now that they did not
need to do that. We, as Atheists, can learn
the same thing.
I guess this means that it is ulcer-city for
me again. I really can't help but be worried
December, 1984

over the tide of irrationality that I see

engulfing our nation. On top of that this
month represents, at least in this country,
our entry into the Christian heat season,
one of those twice a year frenzies that the
religionists enter around their Christmas
and their Easter. I suppose that I will see
even more irrationality surrounding the
"holy-days" than I have over the past few
months.
There is the chance that I am just overreacting, but there is a much better chance
that others who do not have access to the
abundance of information that I have are
under-reacting. I have always tried to give
"John Q. Public" the benefit of the doubt
when it comes to being basically rational. I
don't know that I can continue doing that
anymore.
We are on a threshold right now. We can
easily slip into a violence-filled hatred, into
religious wars such as those in some of the
Moslem nations, in India, in the Middle East,
or we can keep our equilibrium. In order to
keep in balance we must have a re-education of our nation so that we are not
religiously illiterate and we must have a
reinforcement of the basics of human rights
together with an understanding of the need
for each and every human being to have "a
circle of freedom" on all issues. Whenever I
am asked, "O.K. how would you go about
fighting this trend toward irrationality that
you see?" I always say "education." That is
the only answer. What that really means,
though, is re-educating or as I like to say,
deprogramming a nation. How does one do
that - on a massive nationwide scale and
with total reorganization of our educational
systems, our media, our publication industry and our government bureaucracy from
the ground up? It will require changing the
very way in which we are all taught to think.
But, that task is not impossible. Religion is
the bulwark, the fountain, the source of
irrationality. Everyone needs to have this
pointed out to them and American Atheists
simply must broaden our efforts and outreach so that we can be an effective part of
that re-education, or deprogramming, that
the nation so sorely needs. ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A second generation Atheist,
Mr. Murray has heen the Director
of the American Atheist Center
for eight years. He is also the
Managing Editor of the
American Atheist magazine.
He advocates aggressive Atheism.

Page 3

Ask A.A.
In your pamphlet Great American Thinkers Rejected Chistianity you gave a quote
from George Washington (this nation was in
no way founded on Christian ideals something like that). I need to use that quote
for an editorial in my school newspaper; but,
before I do, I have to verify it and get a
source and date.
Thomas Thompson, Nevada

I have heard Mrs. O'Hair on a number of

occasions and she laughs at the beliefs of the
religious. She should stop doing that. Scorn
or ridicule is not a tactic Atheists should use.
It is well and good that she does say she is
laughing at ideas only and that people who
embrace such ideas do so at their periL But
why laugh at the ideas?
J. Lexing, Ohio

When our nation was just beginning, it

needed all the support it could get anywhere - and it needed to have trade
agreements. Therefore, it sought out allies
and markets for its products. Some of the
nations with which it bargained were then
called "Musselman" nations, i.e. the dominant religion in them was Moslemism.
To make certain that there would be no
mistake in the relationship with a series of
these nations, statements concerned with
religion were put into treaties which the
. new U S. government signed with them.
Treaties are the highest laws of our land.
U_S_ Constitution, Article VI, "This constitution, and the laws of the United States
which shall be made in pursuance thereof;
and all treaties made, or which shall be
made, under the authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme law of the land;
"
The most famous treaty to cite the religious posture of our new nation was the
"Treaty'oj Tripoli" concluded on February
10, 1797; others were signed with both
Algiers and Tunis. Although negotiations
began under the term of George Washington the Treaty of Tripoli was not concluded
until John Adams was in office and he
signed it. It was ratified, of course, by the
Sencre. The religious provision stated, "As
the government of the United States is not,
in any sense, founded on the Christian
religion; as it has in itself no character of
enmity against the law, religion, or tranquility of Musselmen; and as the States never
have entered into any way or act of hostility
against any Mohometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from
religious opinion shall ever produce an inter- .
ruption of harmony existing between the
two countries."
American Atheists have used this quote
extensively and we are gratified to see that
recently Henry Steele Commager, (Emeritus Professor of History, Amherst College)
in his continuing exchange with Falwellians
is now using it to support his statement that
the Founding Fathers were Deists, not
Christians - which also is rrue.

But the answer is so obvious! The ideas

are ludicrous. What Abraham Lincoln called "the Christian scheme of salvation" is
very briefly put. An all powerful, all wise, all
good, all knowing god created one man and
one woman both with sex organs for reproduction, knowing full well in advance that
they had to utilize those organs to reproduce. When they gained knowledge of this,
he expelled them from the Garden of Eden
and punished them by (1) bringing death
into the world, and (2) visiting eternal
misery upon them and their progeny forever. About 2,000 years thereafter he relented, went to earth, and impregnated a
woman with his you-know-what. This is the
exact same activity for which he had condemned Adam. After ignoring mother and
son for thirty years, he arrangedfor the kid's
heinous murder. This son then ascended
into heaven where he became a traijic cop
saving from "death" and his father's eternal
misery those who believed he could do it
and sending everyone else to burning hell
fire ioreoer. This Christian(after-death)scheme
of overcoming death for all and and eternal
punishment for some is simply both bizarre
and ludicrous.
Au contraire, Christians can't laugh at
Atheists because we do not adhere to such
a set of irrational ideas: We accept that
here and now "what you see is what you
got" and go on with living.
And, the most Atheists have ever done
with Christians is to laugh at their dumb
ideas.
But, what have the Christians done to
Atheists?' They have outlawed them from
universities or any teaching careers anywhere at any level, besmirched their reputations, ostracized them, blacklisted them,
banned or burned their books or their
writings of any kind, drove them into exile,
humiliated them, seized their properties,
deprived them of their children, arrested
them for blasphemy, brutalized them with
extended inquisitions or court hearings and
then sent them to prisons. They have dehumanized them with beatings and exquisite torture, gouged out their eyes, slit their
tongues, stretched, crushed, or broken
their limbs, tore off their breasts if they were
women, crushed their scrotums if they were
men, imprisoned them, stabbed them, disemboweled them, hung them, burnt them

Page 4

December, 1984

alive or had them drawn and quartered.

They have killed them in massacres and
wars, boiled them in oil, pressed them to
death, left them to rot in foul dungeons
without food or water.
And you complain that Mrs. O'Hair merely laughs at them?
Suppose that Atheists would turn the
tables. Instead of just laughing at Christians, we should blacklist every professor in
every college or university who is religious, .
then we should have them fired, hound
them out of town, tar and feather them, ruin
their reputations, destroy their writings,
burn their books, persecute them for their
ideas. We could do the same with every
Christian teacher we find in a high school, a
junior high school, elementary school, and
kindergarden. With that for a good start we
should root out all clergymen and beat and
torture them, gouge out their eyes, slit their
tongues, stretch their limbs until they pop
out of the sockets, crush their scrotums,
imprison them, stab them, hang them, burn
them alive. Then, after we get done with the
clergy we could turn to individual Christians
and kill them in gory massacres, crusades
and wars.
Without exception the Christians did that
to every Atheist they could find for lS00
years. Why should we not do it to them
when we get into power? What is sauce for
the goose is sauce for the gander.
Atheists won't do that because we are
decent human beings. We don't have the
insanity of religion to guide us. Rather, we
have the sweet light of reason. The Christians have nothing to fear from us but our
laughter. Atheists had everything to fear
from them, including the taking of our lives,
simply because we would not join them in
their delusions and mental aberrations.
Of course, Mrs. O'Hair will continue to
poke fun and to laugh at religious ideas.
Everyone should.

In "Letters to The Editor" readers give

their opinions, ideas, and information
But in "Ask A.A." American Atheists
answers questions regarding its
policies, positions, and customs, as
well as queries of factual and
historical situations.

The American Atheist

NEWS & COMMENTS

AMERICAN ATHEIST FORUM

The history of Atheists' fight for air time
has been a long and arduous one. It began
back in 1946 when a California Atheist,
Robert Harold Scott, succeeded in becoming the first person in the United States to
get onto the radio and actually admit to
being an Atheist. His historic broadcast was
heard on November 17th, 1946 in San
Francisco, California. It was not until June
3rd, 1968, twenty-two years later, that
Madalyn O'Hair, founder of American Atheists, was able to begin a fifteen-minute, oncea-week American Atheist Radio Series on
KLBJ in Austin, Texas. Scripts of the Radio
Series are published monthly in this journal.
In general the many contacts between
Atheists and the media have been characterized by censorship, a lack of fair play, and
hostility. In the prime media, composed of
the major network stations and their affiliates, the name of the game has been the
exploitation of the controversy value of the
twin topics of Atheism and separation of
state and church. On both radio and TV talk
show hosts, newsmen and women, and
other media personalities have relied upon
the controversial nature of Atheism to whip
crowds of (by and large ignorant and religiously illiterate) religionists into a frenzy in
order to generate a media spectacular calculated to "boost the ratings" of an individual, show or network. Put simply, Atheists have been used. We have been treated
as an anomaly, as the fat lady in a circus side
show. We are essentially billed as the freaks
who "don't love god" as does every other
"normal" person on the face of the earth.
In this circus atmosphere it is difficult
indeed, if not entirely impossible as it on
many occasions seems, to present rational,
calm arguments for the lifestyle of Atheism
or facts concerning the legal and historical
necessities for preserving the constitutional
concept of separation of state and church.
Atheists are nearly always placed in an
adversary position in the interests of "fairness" so that "both sides" can be heard
"equally." This is despite the easily documented fact that religion, in general, has
occupied at the very least twenty percent of
the total air time of both radio and television
since the inception of both forms of these
two media.
For many years the leadership and media
personalities of American Atheists have
known that what was desperately needed
was for Atheists to have their own radio and
TV programs where they controlled the

Austin, Texas

format and the content of the shows. It network. Th~se' st~tions would then .~.
became immediately obvious in the early likely to carry the same programs from their
years of the American Atheist organization
network feed. If one of the ten stations
that Atheists would never overcome the drawn together by the cable company had
stigma of the grossly inaccurate stereotypes
the same program in the same time slot as
of Atheism in the minds of the general public one of the other nine stations, you would
have a duplication-even a triplication was
without its own media outreach produced
by, directed by, filmed by, and featuring
possible. That duplication opened up a time
Atheist talent. The religious community
slot that could be used for another procame to this same conclusion very early in gramming alternative without depriving the
the history of media. But the churches had viewer of a network program choice. It was
this time that had been freed by duplication
the financial wherewithall to turn their
dreams into reality, almost immediately.
that was eventually made available to local
American Atheists, on the other hand,
producers in the communities serviced by
has been struggling now for many years with the various cable companies for programthe handouts, in terms of media access to ming of local origination and local interest.
large numbers of persons, of a relatively few The making of these time slots for local use
stations and station personalities. We must
has, of course, a long and convoluted legal
eventually have our own television and radio history, much too complicated to go into at
stations. But that ideal is still some time and this point but reserved to be presented in
distance in the future. In the meantime, with parts in future issues of this journal as space
the ending of this year we can celebrate an permits.
anniversary of sorts concerning the most
Needless to say it was the religious organmajor breakthrough yet on the road to that
izations of each geographical area in which
future hope. That breakthrough was made
this new electronic type of public outreach
possible by the introduction of a new form of became available which seized upon the
media on the American scene, cable tele- idea with all the fervor of their convictions to
vision.
carry out their biblical admonition to spread
The theory and use of TV has been for the word. The major denominations in the
country were in an excellent position to
many years based upon stations broadcasting a signal into the atmosphere to be picked
seize an outreach opportunity predicated
up by individuals in their homes through
on "community access" to the airways since
various forms of antenna attached to their religious institutions have always been the
receptor, a TV set. Then someone had the largest grass roots organizations around.
idea of collecting those signals from stations
The principle strength of religion is on the
in a wider mileage radius than was possible
community level, so it has captured the
for individuals with antennas on their roofs.
lion's share of this new media opportunity.
The collected signals were strengthened
American Atheists, however, just happened
and sent through a cable into individual to have its national headquarters located in
homes for a monthly fee. In this manner an one of the cities in the nation that was to
individual viewer could have access to a far have one of the earliest and most sophistigreater selection of stations and programcated cable systems. American Atheists
ming. Out of this simple idea cable TV was knew it had a golden opportunity before it to
born. Along with it came an opportunity for acquire the control over the format and
groups theretofore kept out or priced out of content of its media outreach, something for
an audience to reach those individuals who which it had been yearning for years.
subscribed to the cable systems which had
In June, 1980, American Atheists began
spread like wild fire across the land.
to gather information on what had by that
The opportunity was created by the fact time come to be known as "cable access
that the gathering of multiple signals for . television" in the Austin area. It turned out,
rerouting over a cable often resulted in as our luck would have it, that one of the
program duplication. For example: a cable persons who was deeply involved with Austin
company gathered the signals of ten sta- access television from the ground up was an
tions of cities too far for your little roof top Atheist. With the help of this individual, who
antenna to pick up and piped them to you was steadfastly dedicated to promotion of
through a cable installed in your home. Out
the concept of freedom of speech through
of ten stations, chances are some of them
this new vehicle, American Atheists planned
would be different local affiliates of the same
the production of its premier entree into the

December, 1984

Page 5

cable market. Alan Bushong, that dedicated

access worker, is now on the board of
directors of Austin Community Television.
With portable equipment, on loan from
the local cable company, the first ten (as it
was originally called) American Atheist
Center Television News Forum shows were
taped between July 2nd and July 15th, 1980.
The programs were produced for a thirtyminute time slot which made them, actually,
twenty-eight minutes in length. The program concept was to have one or more
representatives of American Atheists present an analysis of current state/church
separation news events from around the
country, with commentary thereon from the
Atheist perspective. The first program of
the initial batch of ten was broadcast on July
22nd, 1980. American Atheists was now "on
the air" with its own, uncensored, program
-an achievement of historic proportion.
The cost of these programs was a mere
$21.00 each, a sum representing the cost of
a blank %" broadcast-quality video casssette. To this date, the principal cost of
production of what is now the American
Atheist Forum series has been only the cost
of the tapes. The needed equipment, lights
and camera, and personnel needed for the
production have been, relatively speaking,
free. The equipment has been obtainable
free of charge from the community access
branch of the local cable company with only
the prerequisite of compulsory classes in
the use and maintenance of the equipment.
These classes have also been a free service
of the cable company. The personnel involved have been almost exclusively volunteer. Without the volunteer help of many
local Atheists from the Austin area the
continued production and success of the
American Atheist Forum series for cable
television viewing would not be possible.
The series began to air weekly in the
Austin area in a prime time evening weekday slot. One of the stipulations on access
television users is that the programs NOT
be commercial in any sense. Therefore the
decision was made to offer a free sample
copy of this journal to any viewer who wrote
to a displayed address at the end of the
program.
The shows were primitive at first, from a
production standpoint, being filmed with
portable equiment and lighting, consisting
essentially of a "talking head" behind a desk.
That "head" was none other than the head
of Atheism itself, Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
Program numbers one through eight were
filmed on the premises of the American
Atheist Center. Dr. O'Hair was soon joined
by Jon Murray, director of the Center and
later by Gerald Tholen, vice-president of
American Atheists. Slowly other Atheists
began to come out of the closet and appear
as guests on the programs from time to
time. These consisted primarily of members
of our board of directors, "old time AthePage 6

ists," and directors and officers of chapters

of American Atheists around the country,
as any of these persons happened to be
visiting in Austin at the designated time of
taping.
With Program Number 39, the community access division of the local cable company acquired its own studio for use by
access producers. The studio had two mobile
cameras, both of better quality than the
(shoulder) portable had been. The fixed
studio quality lighting and mixing capabilities were also far superior to the portable
inadequate lights used on site at the Atheist
Center. The drawback to the new facilities
was the location for the studio was situated
next to the end of the runway of Austin
Municipal Airport. This meant that the roar
of the overhead jets could be heard in the
finished programs. It was odd, indeed, to
schedule community access TV studio time
in coordination with airline peak hour flight
schedules, but often necessary.
In the midst of all the excitement of finally
having an outlet for the Atheist viewpoint,
produced, directed, and executed by Atheists, the omen of angry calls from cable
subscribers and immediate cancellation of
our privileges was anticipated. To the surprise of all concerned, however, the cable
company received very few complaints
about the Forum. Even the preview article in
the local newspaper was non-hostile, just
reporting the bare facts. Strangely, as the
programming continued the American Atheist Forum was to begin receiving programming awards from Austin Community Television.
With Program Number 80 in the series
the American Atheist Forum graduated to
its own "set," designed and built by Shirley
Nelson, Arkansas state director of American Atheists and member of our board of
directors. This represented another milestone in the progress of the series. The set
consisted of a long newscast type desk, with
the atomic corporate symbol of American
Atheists on the front, and a back set of
shelves of books on either side of a chalk
board. The new set, which could seat three
persons, gave the Forum the look of a small
town evening newscast. In various sets used
for the Forum since Mr. Nelson's premier
creation, a similar basic format has been
maintained.
American Atheists recommended to all of
its local Chapter affiliates around the country, in view of the series' success and
acceptance in Austin, that they attempt to
persuade cable companies offering community access in their areas to carry the
National headquarter's produced series. The
Chapters responded favorably to the task
and one by one tapes of the Forum were
accepted for broadcast in other cities around
the country. An odd aside to this process of
airing in other cities is that the first city
outside of Austin to carry the Forum was
December, 1984

Charlotte, North Carolina. Why was that

"odd" you ask? Because Charlotte is the
home base for satellite broadcast of the "700
Club" evangelical TV cable program now
featured on the CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network). In addition, Charlotte is probably one of the most religious fundamentalist communities in the nation outside of
Jerry Falwell's home base of Lynchburg,
Virginia. Patricia Voswinkel, then the North
Carolina Chapter director, placed the Forum
in that city.
As Chapter after Chapter of American
Atheists got on the access bandwagon, the
Forum spread across the country. American Atheists, unlike the religionists, could
not afford satellite time or the kind of ground
uplink equipment required to utilize satellite
technology. It, therefore, had to be content
with circulating tapes around the country by
mail to the various cable companies with
access branches which had consented to air
the Forum. There were many rules and
regulations concerning local sponsorship,
contracts, copyright, scheduling. It all required a great deal of coordination on the
part of a large number of persons around
the country to keep the tapes flowing in an
orderly manner and to maintain the Forum
on the air. One of the immediate problems
with increasing the number of outlets for the
Forum was gaining access to adequate
reproduction and editing equipment. Only
so much time could be had, on a first-come
first-serve basis, to use the local cable company owned equipment designated for access users. It therefore became necessary
as the number of outlets for the Forum grew
for the American Atheist Center to purchase its own studio quality equipment. In
October of 1983, the Center took delivery of
$12,500 worth of reproduction and editing
equipment. This consisted of two studio
quality decks for monitoring and an editing
controller unit to drive them.
While American Atheists improved its
capabilities so did Austin Community Television. The new studios of the company, no
longer located next to the airport, are the
second most sophisticated "access" studios
in the.nation, with New York the first. The
days of a single portable camera have been
replaced by three-camera sophisticated production studios capable of generating major
commercial network quality programming.
Mr. Bushong, who produced the first 138
programs of the series, is now involved in
administrative levels of Austin Community
Television. Alexander C. Stevens Jr., media
coordinator for American Atheists, has produced the series from Program Number 139
to the present. At the time of the writing of
this article, the Forum now consists of some
213 programs (representing four years and
five weeks of broadcasting.)
In April, this year, the Center acquired a
character generator at a cost of$1,625 to
add to its in-house video equipment giving it

The American Atheist

the capability to generate its own headlines

and footers on the screen. Plans are in the
works for American Atheists to acquire its
own full production studio including cameras, lights and special effect generating
equipment.
Through the diligent effort of the Chapters of the American Atheist Center and
individual Atheists from around the country, as well as marketing done from the
Center, the American Atheist Forum is now
airing in over forty outlets around the country. We have come a long way indeed in just
four years.
The progress and success of the American Atheist Forum series has not been all a
bed of roses. Problems have been encountered along the way as expected. Those
problems have been minor, however, in
terms of the overall success of the series.
The simple financing of $23.00 per program has, of course, also become a part of
the past. With fifty video cassettes to mail
weekly, the cost of the tape alone is now
about $1,500 a month even though a bicycling process is used. The costs of UPS
sending and postal returning now averages
over $500 a month. This is a minimal cost
when one considers that for the first time in
the history of this country, or of the world,
an Atheist organization has provided an
outlet with the potential ears and eyes of
millions for expression of the heretofore
thoroughly censored views of Atheist Americans. With the help of concerned individuals
and the Atheist community as a whole,
cable television can become a powerful tool
for Atheists to come out of the closet and
make an important contribution to the future of this nation. The future of statechurch separation and, linked thereto, the
survival and maintenance of civil rights for
Atheists willhinge on our ability to educate
the population at large as to the value of
protecting our rights and thus strengthening
their own. The most powerful vehicle for
education in our nation right now is your
television set. This is where we have to be.
American Atheists has the job of reeducating our nation and cable television
can be not alone a tool but, as we become
more proficient, it willbe a step toward more
comprehensive and outreaching broadcasting. As American Atheists step into the
forefront to break discriminatory barriers,
other minority groups willfollowin our wake
and one day "free speech" may become a
reality in America.
.

Englewood, Aurora, Arvada, Cherry Hills Village,

Greenwood Village, Federal Heights, Sheridan &
Commerce City in Westminster, Adams, Arapaho & Jefferson Cos; New Haven, CT,
Storer Cable TV of CT: New Haven, Hamden
& West Haven in New Haven Co; Torrinton,
CT, Laurel CableVision: Torrington, Watertown, Litchfield, Thomaston, Oakville, Northfield
& Burrville in Litchfield Co; Decatur, GA,
Cable DeKalb: Decatur, Stone Mountain, Lithonia, Tucker, Avondale Estates, Pine Lake, Chamblee & Doraville in Dekalb Co; ChampaignUrbana, IL, Champaign-Urbana
Communications: Champaign, Village of Savoy, Urbana
& other parts of Champaign Co; Oak Park, IL,
Cablevision of Chicago: Oak Park, Bedford
Park, Burbank, East Hazel Crest, Homewood,
Justice, Lyons River Forest, Stone Park & Willow
Springs in Cook Co; Evanston, IL*; Hammond, IN, United Cable TV of Northern
Indiana: Hammond & East Chicago in Lake
Co; Sioux City, lA, Sooland Cablecom: Sioux
City & Sergeant Bluff in Woodbury Co; Lexington, KY, T eleCable of Lexington: Lexington in
Fayette Co; Attleboro,
MA, Inland Bay
Cable TV Assoc: Attleboro in Bristol Co;
Boston, MA, Cablevision Systems Boston:
Boston;
Wakefield,
MA*; Wayne, MI*;
East Lansing, MI, United Cable TV of MidMI: East Lansing, MI State U & Meridian in
Ingham Co; Grand Rapids, MI, General Electric Cable vision: Grand Rapids, E. Grand
Rapids, Alpine, Plainfield, Ada & Cascade in Kent
Co; Kalamazoo,
MI, Fetzer Cablevision:
Kalamazoo, Comstock, Cooper, Oshtemo, Parchment & Portage in Kalamazoo Co; Eden
Prairie, MN, MN Cablesystems
Southwest:
Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka &
Richfield in Hennepin Co; Bloomington, MN,
Northern Cablevision: Bloomington in Hennepin Co; Kansas City, MO, American Cablevision of KC: Kansas City, Mission Hills, Liberty,
Claycomo, Glenaire Village, Pleasant Valley, Mission Woods, Westwood, Westwood Hills, Avondale, Riverside, Houston Lake, Northmore &
North KC in Jackson, Platte, Clay & Johnson
Cos; Clifton! Teaneck, NJ, Rogers UA Cablevision of NJ: Wayne, Bogota, Bloomingdale,
Butler, Clifton, Garfield, S. Hackensack, Washington, Saddle Brook, Westwood, Rochelle Park,

Haledon, Prospect Park, Wood-Ridge, Ho-HoKus, Ramsey, Hasbrouck Heights, Lodi, Elmwood park, Glen Rock, Hackensack, Maywood,
River Edge, Totowa, Paramus, Ringwood, Nutley, Pequannock, North Haledon, Hillsdale, Montville, Waldwick, Midland Park, Passaic, Allendale,
Teaneck, Pompton Lakes, Oakland, Park Ridge,
Wykoff, Upper Saddle River, Ridgewood, Wanaque, Little Falls, Kinnelon, Riverdale, Lincoln
Park & Hawthorne in Passaic, Bergen, Morris &
Essex Cos; Albuquerque,
NM, Albuquerque
Cable Television: Albuquerque, Kirtland AFB,
Bosque Farms, Corrales & Paradise Hills in
Bernalillo, Valencia & Sandoval Cos; Manhattan, NY, Manhattan Cable Television: Manhattan in New York Co; Poughkeepsie,
NY,
Poughkeepsie
Cablevision:
Poughkeepsie,
Pleasant Valley & LaGrange in Dutchess Co;
Saratoga Springs, NY, Saratoga Cable Co:
Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa, Milton, Greenfield & Wilton in Saratoga Co; Schenectady,
NY, Schenectady
Cablevision: Schenectady,
Nishkayuna, Rotterdam & Scotia in Schenectady
Co; Chapel Hill, NC, Village Cable TV:
Chapel Hill in Orange Co; Charlotte,
NC,
Cable vision of Charlotte: Charlotte & Matthews in Mecklenburg Co; Eugene, OR, Group
"W" Cable: Eugene & Springfield in Lane Co;
Portland,
OR*; Pittsburgh,
PA, Warner
Cable Corp. of Pitt: Pittsburgh in Allegheny
Co; Austin, TX, Austin Cablevision: Austin,
Bergstrom AFB, San Leanna, Cedar Park,
Rollingwood, Westlake Hills & Sunset Valley in
Travis Co; Dallas, TX, Warner Amex Cable:
Dallas & Mesquite in Dallas Co; Houston, TX,
QUBE Cable/Houston
Cable TV: Houston &
Jersey Village in Harris Co; San Antonio, TX,
Rogers Cable of SA: San Antonio, Alamo
Heights, Balcones Heights, Castle Hills, Randolph, Lackland & Brookes AFBs, Cibolo, Converse, Grey Forest, Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park, Kirby, Leon Valley, Live Oak, Olmos
Park, Schertz, Selma, Shavano Park, Somerset,
Terrell Hills, Universal City, Windcrest & other
parts of Bexar, Comal & Guadalupe Co; Richmond, VA, Continental Cablevision of Richmond:
Richmond in Henrico Co; Seattle,
WA, Northwest Cablevision: Seattle, Renton,
Kent, Des Moines, Issaquah, Normandy Park,
Tukwila & Burien in King Co.
(*Information unavailable)

WATCH FOR: THE FORUM

SHOWN IN THESE AREAS:
Santa Monica, CA, Group 'W' Cable: Los
Angeles, Alta Lorna, Bell Canyon, Beverly Hills,
Cucamonga, El Segundo, Marina Del Rey, Montclair, Ontario, Santa Monica, Upland & W.
Hollywood in Los Angeles, San Bernardino &
Ventura Cos; San Francisco, CA, Viacom
CableVision: San Francisco in San Francisco
Co; Englewood, CO, United Cable of Colo:

Austin, Texas

December,

1984

Page 7

PRODUCER'S

NOTE

by Alexander C. Stevens,

Jr.

In a recent attempt to meet my colleagues

in
Public Access Televison,
on October 19th and
20th I attended
the National
Federation
of
Local Cable Programmers Southwestern Conference in Dallas, Texas.
I was surprised
howmany people in funny collars were there. Now, I don't know if they were
Catholics or Episcopalians,
but I do know that
they were from churches. There is no reason for
churches to sponge off Access TV- not for the
standard separation
of state and church reasons - but because Access TV is for those who
can't afford the other medi a. In mybook churchesdon't
fall into that group. There were, of
course, all the other main-line
religionists
whodon't wear discriminating
clothing,
but we
all got to wear those colored dotsto
indicate
-whatkindofprogrammingweproduced,whichwas
how I learned that qui te a few of the organizers
of the conventionwere religionists,
too. Then,
to top it all off,
I momentarily attended
a
Networking seminar,
which I discovered
was
designed for and by religionists.
I don't think
I need to tell you what kind of reception
I received. This is not at all uncommon- I have run
into a heavy religious
influence
in Access TV
since I have been involved wi th it - and the
point I want to make is that we need to be out
there letting
people know that there
is an
alternative
to these guilt
peddlers.
Unfortunately,
in some areas,
the situation
has
gotten out of hand, and the religionists
have
somehow acquired
control
of Access TV. For
instance,
when Mike Jolley,
a chapter officer
in NewOrleans,
inquired
about Access he was
gi ven a telephone number, which when called was
answered, "Archdiocese
of NewOrleans. ' ,
I always knew that cable television
was growing at a fast pace , but I hadno idea howquickly .
In July of 1982, the Nielsen Companyestimated
that there were over four thousand cable companies
in the United States
- an estimated
thirty
percent penetration
of the ninety percent of households which have television.
At
that time, there were 250,000 new subscribers
to cable each month. In July of 1983, the Ni elsen Companyestimated that there were 31, 373,630
cable television
households
in the United
States - a 48.24 percent
penetration
of the
television
households.
Out of those four thousand cable companies, 850 provide Access TVfor
their
communities.
Those 850 Access facilities control
anywhere from one to thirty-six
stations,
each. The American Atheist Forum is
cablecast
through forty-one
of those Access
Page 8

facili ties.
Thus, there are a potential
2.3
million viewers each time the Forum is aired.
The Forum is our single most effective
means
of letting
people know that we exist,
not to
mention what we think. There is no way we could
ever hope to reach 2.3 million people, weekly,
through the hard (i. e. printed)
media and the
hard media never permi ts American Atheists
to
say what we want, the way we want, nor does it
show the immediate resul ts that the Forumdoes.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a good example of
this and I ci te G:rand Rapids because it is the
most recent station
that the Forum has picked
up. Li terally
days after the first
cablecast
of
the Forum there,
the cards and letters
began
coming in the mail , with the statement
that I
hear almost every day of mylife:
"I have been
an Atheist
all my life,
and I never knew an
Atheist
organization
existed!"
Everyday we
receive
cards from viewers from allover
the
country,
even from ci ties where the Forum has
aired for years.
Not all cable companies are required
to pro'vide Public Access facilities
for their
communities.
This is decided during franchise
negotiations
between the city and the cable
company, and if the public
doesn't
show an
interest
in Access TVthe ci ty often does not
require it. The 850Access facili ties are often
found in high-dens i ty urban areas, whi ch makes
it that muchmore appealing to us. (The Forum is
aired in many large ci ties,
such as San Francisco, NewYork, Dallas,
Boston, Pi ttsburgh,
San Antonio. )
Wehave attempted to get the Forum on as many
stations
as possible
through a direct
mail
campaign. Following our most recent mailing,
thirty
stations
responded
and fifteen
have
begun to carry the Forum. I recently
discovered
that there are 200 more stations
of which I had
formerly been unaware and I plan to do amailing
to them, as well as to the stations
that did not
respond to the prior mailing. This is all we can
do, and because most Access facili ties require
locally
produced programming,
or at least
locallysponsoredprogramming,theproverbial
ball is now in your court.
As one member recently pointed out in a "Letter
to The Editor, , , it is surprisingly
easy. All you need to
do, as an indi vidual Atheist on a local level,
is to follow these steps,
and your chances of
get t ing the Forum in your community are good.
[1] If you don't know if you have a Public
Access facili ty in your community, call your

December, 1984

cont 'd onpg.

23

The American Atheist

Richard Yarbro

THE RELIGIOUS SUPPRESSION

OF MAN'S PROGRESS:
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY
eligious philosophy and practices have
man's
progress toward enlightenment and happiness. The history of man is replete with
religious superstition, suppression, and persecution. Under the guise of love and sacredness, the insidious demon has choked the
vitality of man's search for truth. Historically
its repression has been varied but persistent
as it continues to cast a looming shadow
over man's freedom to think. This brief
treatise is a humble attempt to highlight
chronologically major inhibiting influences
on the intellectual progress of man perpetrated by religion.
Religion was born and has been reared
through ignorance, superstition, and magic.
From primitive man to our modern age it
has always been available and eager to
provide quick and easy answers to man's
deepest philosophical dilemma. No mountain is too high, no abyss too deep for this
all-prevading panacea to fathom. Its fairytale
illusions coated the realities of life with the
sweet nectar of hope. The invisible and
undemonstrated heavenly promises provided man a happy culmination to the
greatest fairy tale of all.
The gods of nature invented by primitive
man retarded his exploration of the environment and development of his rational thinking potential. The taboos and superstitions
hindered new and different manipulations of
his surroundings. Many patterns of life developed into religious rituals where pressure
for conformity was intense. New and inventive thinking and experimentation was stifled. The fear of offending retaliatory deities
hovered above our ancient ancestors,
threatening their very existence.
As man began to discontinue his nomadic
life and settle in supportive groups, his
religion became more formalized and was
visually reflected in structures to symbolize
his faith. Thus buildings, temples, idols, and
totems became prevalent. These added
further to man's conformity in religious
thinking by focusing attention on tangible
representations of the gods rather than
relying completely on invisible apparitions.
This institutionalization of religion further
suppressed diverse thinking.
The groupings of individuals led to the
formation of "city-states" where social conformity centered in the town and spread into
the surrounding countryside. As these different groupings made contact with each

Rbeen a major factor in retarding

Austin, Texas

other, their desire for dominance and material possessions led to numerous conflicts.
Much of the discontent was aggravated by
the fact they usually worshipped and paid
homage to different deities. The conqueror
always imposed his religion on the conquered while sometimes assimilating some
part of the victims's belief. This resulted in
numerous modifications and changes occurring in philosophy and practices.
The fanatical obsession in paying homage
to illusory spirits led to the bondage of many
individuals as slaves for erecting monolithic
religious structures. Egyptian pyramids,
Babylonian ziggurats, and medieval cathedrals are only a few of the absurd undertakings stimulated by ruling zealots. The
waste of human and material resources in
these foolish extravaganzas is astronomical.
If only a fraction of this effort could have
been directed toward the betterment of man
in his earthly existence, then great strides in
human advancement could have been accomplished.
The golden civilization of Greece is tainted
by its concern for the gods hovering about
the summit of Mount Olympus. Even in the
free-thinking atmosphere of Athens an act
of questioning the gods could not be
tolerated. Progress was held in check as the
great Socrates was directed to sip the fatal
hemlock. Even an advanced civilizationcould
not withstand the probing questions, the
tenacious investigation, the yen for truth.
Christianity began in a state of turmoil
and terror. Even if Jesus professed to be
something he was not, there seems to be
little reason to crucify him. It would seem an
insane asylum would be more appropriate
to his behavior than a sentence of death.
This certainly aided in establishing the pattern of behavior when confronted by someone of a differing religious belief; for this
behavior was destined to be repeated innumerable times.
The effort of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 can be applauded as he made
Christianity equal to other religions in the
empire and forbade persecution of Christians. But it was somewhat like the Arab
feeling sorry for his camel standing in the
sandstorm and allowing the beast to place
his head inside the tent. Like the camel
pushing the Arab out into the sandstorm,
the Christian religion muscled its way into a
dominant position. For in 394 another Roman ruler, Theodosius, commanded all his
December,

1984

subjects to be Christian with no deviation

tolerated. The pattern of all subjects of a
domain having to follow the religion of the
leader was firmly established. The Christians, who were once the persecuted, now
became the persecutors.
Around 476 the final collapse of the great
Roman Empire placed Christianity in a
unique position. As the only remaining institution with a hierarchy of organization, it
quickly moved to a dominant position during the medieval period. Many of the invading barbarians recognized the Catholic
church as a leading institution, and a large
number assumed the Christian faith. During
this period of time the church devised many
schemes to secure an iron-hand rule over all
subjects. The Petrine theory through apostolic succession allowed the complete hierarchy of the church to claim divine direction
from god. To question the church in any
manner was to question god and could lead
to excommunication and even death. The
prevailing ignorance at this time was a fertile
ground for the planting of any absurdity the
church wished to cultivate.
Although the church has been given credit
for keeping learning alive during medieval
times, it was usually strictly for its own
benefit. All church officials were taught to
read Latin so they could read the Bible.
Others were not encouraged to read for this
might lead them to misinterpret the scriptures and lead to damnation. The pope, the
director communicator with god, was the
only mortal capable of receiving divine direction in changing doctrine. Church services
were conducted in Latin; not the vernacular
of the people, and the parishioners were
only allowed to recite, in terms they could
not understand, exactly what the priest
directed. Even powerful nobles were under
such influence and fear of the church that
they would quickly abide by its wishes and
grant huge sums of money and land to the
institution. Hence the Catholic church became wealthy and prosperous beyond belief. The economic drain and intellectual
suppression during the Middle Ages were
enormous. Even the wretched plight of the
lonely peasant was assumed without question in light of their promised rewards in
heaven.
Much religious thinking followed the lines
of Tertullian who felt that individuals should
not be taught to read, for they might encounter pagan thoughts allowing them to be
Page 9

seduced by the devil. Also, this might lead to

reading the Bible and misinterpreting its
message. The most influential writer of the
Middle Ages, Saint Augustine, discouraged
any thoughts not directed toward god. His
writings, The City of God and Confessions,
were a second bible to medieval theologians. Influences such as this virtually assurred the continuance of ignorance and the
dominance of Christian religion.
The preoccupation with other-worldliness rather than this-worldliness distracted
from the human qualities of man. The
dualistic concept of a pure spirit dominated
by god struggling inside an evil body dominated by the devil led to condemnation of
the secular and seeking of spiritual perfection. The plight of man on earth was
trivial compared to the spirit's longing for
the grace of god. Self-mortification, flagulation, and deprivation were embraced, while
the comforts of life, striving for knowledge
and physical health, and attainment of happiness in this life were considered sinful. As
Saint Augustine had said, "The only happiness is through death and union with God."
About a hundred years after the fallof the
Roman Empire, Mohammed attempted to
present his revelations to the inhabitants of
Mecca in Arabia. The reaction of the polytheistic city was to drive him from Mecca,
whence he traveled a short distance to Medina, collected converts, and allowed his
religious thoughts to incubate. Returning to
Mecca with a military force, he conquered
the city and imposed his beliefs on the
inhabitants. Religions and idols were destroyed until all that remained was the
Kaaba with its sacred black stone. This he
retained and used as a holy symbol of his
religion which became known as Mohammedanism or Islam. Within a century after
its institution, the new religion dominated a
large area of the Middle East. Its aggressive
proselytism promised instant heaven to anyone killed in wars attempting to spread
religion. After the Muslims had conquered
Jerusalem and the surrounding area, their
posture was usually favorable to Christian
pilgrims entering the area to worship at the
holy city. As the Turks pushed out the
original Muslims and assimilated the Islamic
religion, they became hostile to the visiting
Christians. Hence, the stage was set for 200
years of religious wars called the Crusades,
which added death and destruction to mankind. With red crosses emblazoned on their
chests and "God wills it" on their lips,
motley groups of thousands set out on no
less than eight excursions to capture the
Holy Land from the infidels. The carnage
was awesome as each side heaped inhumane atrocities on each other at every
opportunity. A definite low point of the
fiasco was the Children's Crusade involving
over 50,000 youngsters believing their approach to Jerusalem would result in god's
intervention causing the enemy to all drop
dead. The juvenile troops never saw the
Page 10

'\
'.

~~I

Holy Land and most died or were captured

and made slaves. Such displays of delirious
obsession are certainly detriments to man's
progress.
Throughout history religion has been a
forerunner in the suppression of women and
is still noted for its reluctance to recognize
this atrocity. The reluctance comes from its
history of male dominance with little incentive to relinquish its sexist power. Women
have had little say in the operation of the
church and only after the Protestant movement has any real progress been accomplished. There are many denominations that
continue to quote scripture denying women
leadership positions. Strong branches of the
Islamic faith allow women to be little more
than servants in their own home. Research
indicates little difference between the intelligence of males and females. There is no
estimate as to the progress that could have
been made for mankind if women had been
allowed to contribute fully.
All differing views had been crushed by
the Catholic church until Martin Luther
challenged many tenets of Christianity. Forerunners of discontent such as Wycliff and
Huss had been adequately dealt with though
the church was not prepared for the building
revolt. The church retaliated but the printing press had allowed Luther's 95 theses to
be widely distributed. Excornmuniation did
not stop the heretic from spreading the
concept that man could gain salvation
through reading the Bible and professing
faith without the all-pervading dictates of the
Roman Catholic church. The church would
have surely put Luther to death had it not
been for the growing resistance in parts of
Germany where he took refuge.
John Calvin and others followed Luther
and soon the Catholic church faced a revolt
that shook its over lOOO-year-oldfoundation. As soon as Calvin gained control of
Geneva, Switzerland, he immediately began
December, 1984

-~~

to persecute and put to death anyone not

agreeing with his drab outlook on life and
morbid concept of predestination. Religious
wars raged in various territories of Europe
and Catholics and Protestants were killed
by the thousands. Most subjects were coerced into accepting the same belief as their
ruler with whole territories switching from
Catholic to Protestant and back to Catholic
again as the fortunes of various rules vacillated frequently. This turmoil did not provide an atmosphere of peaceful advancement for mankind.
Absolute monarchs coming to power and
requiring their subjects to assimilate their
religion did so under the aegis of "divine
right." This meant the king believed he was
given the right to rule by god and therefore
to insult him was a crime and sin against
god. This also gave the monarch a religious
license to persecute as he saw fit. Rulers
such as James I of England and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain stopped
at nothing to insure their countries reached
religious conformity. The Spanish Inquisition was the horrible result of Spain's fanatic
obsession. The French nobles, under the
auspices of Pope Innocent III, had previously annihilated an entire group of deviant believers known as the Albigensians.
The horrible atrocities were approved and
even perpetuated by the church, after 1500,
vigorously supported by the writings of
Niccolo Machiavelli.
Religion struck a tremendous blow to the
advancement of science by denying ideas
that the world was round instead of flat and
the earth was not the center of the universe.
Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin are a few
of the great thinkers and experimenters
who suffered the wrath of religion. Galileo's
being made to recant what he knew was true
and Darwin's holding back the publishing of
Origin of Species and suffering much mental
anguish in the process are examples of the
The American Atheist

suppression. The determined struggle of a

few brave men of wisdom against the idiocy
of the Bible-spewing prelates is to be applauded. Our deepest tribute must be given
to these brave heretics who valued the truth
and were strong enough to persist against
the monolithic brute.
Religion has also opposed the humanistic
movement, especially when it provided the
cultural soil and classical background for
the growth of the science or natural philosophy. Humanism itself can be embraced by
both the Christian and the non-Christian,
but when its emphasis stressed the betterment of mankind without divine supports, a
religious protest was surely the result.
Religion has been a primary suppressor of
freedom of speech. From the Middle Ages
when the masses were discouraged to read,
to the Index of Prohibited Books, to the
current censor hip by Christian fundamentalists, the fear of knowledge and exposure
to ideas has driven the churches to ridiculous actions. Their censorship has been a
primary contributor to unnatural curiosity,
especially in the secular arena. Suppression
of information concerning biological drives
as intense as our sexual ones is destined to
produce harmful effects. Many times the
success of a Christian education on young
people is measured by the extent of their
ignorance just prior to matrimony. The less
they know about sex, the more successful
their education has been.
Various religious beliefs are primary factors in contributing to the over-population
of the world. Many religions have placed a
premium on spawning large families and

view an attempt to limit this proliferation as

sinful. Their resistance to various modes of
contraception has been vigorous. Teetering
on the brink of disaster, our rushing population approaches the limits of the world's
ability to provide sustenance. Blind to the
inevitable results, many religions welcome
each birth as a sacred and holy gift from god.
The strong nationalistic spirit that has contributed to world unrest has been supported
by religion. Imperialism and mercantilism
have found support in religions that rush to
spread their influence and dominance. The
jingoistic attitude of "my country always
being right" is certainly supported by a
religion that is always right. The strong ties
between the political and religious movements in a country combine to foster a
biased approach in facing world problems.
The conflicting religious beliefs prevailing in
our world may present an insurmountable
barrier to world cooperation and peace.
The institution of marriage has been in
serious trouble for some time, yet tenaciously struggles to maintain under the guise
of a sacred and holy sacrament. Statistics
reveal that about 50 percent of marriages
end in divorce and that many sustain under
a facade of happiness. Resistance to seeking
alternatives in human relationships has been
a forte of religion. Its holy judicial reactions
have labeled most deviations as depraved
and sinful. So we struggle with a traditional
"sacred cow" that refuses to face the facts
and provides only one acceptable answer to
our dilemma.
Religious indoctrination promotes cloudy
thinking when considering the question of

euthanasia. The last bit of dignity and selfrespect is squeezed from man and he is
humiliated by being forced to continue his
existence under inexplicable circumstances.
The religious concept of "the sacredness of
life" many times forces a sustained mental
and physical agony on the individual and his
loved ones. This inhumane and insensitive
posture has caused untold suffering on
mankind.
The happiness of man has not been a
primary aim of most religions. It seems that
many seek to insure man sustention in fear
and servitude. The religious suppression of
man continues as all means at its disposal
are used to block and hinder man's adventure in learning. Religion cannot embrace the concept of an evolving universe
reflecting a tentative acceptance of truth.
The acceptance of myths and fairy tales as
truth willnever do. Little does it realize that
the journey to truth is the adventure, not the
arrival. ~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Yarbro
is a professor of education at
Austin Peay State University
in Clarksville, Tennessee.
He has an avid interest in
bodybuilding and is.
a promoter of Physique Contests.
He also holds the following titles:
3rd Place, Mr. U.S.A. over 40 -1982
. Winner, Mr. Tennessee over 40 - 1982
. Winner, Mr. Tennessee over 40 - 1984
His works are published in numerous
educational and bodybuilding journals.

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Page 11

John Higdon and Ahmed Faheem

FUNDAMENTAL RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING

AS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN
A CASE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITY
ince the beginning of the 19th century
S
about 200 cases with multiple personalities have been reported in the world literature.! 2 Some early reported cases relied
heavily on hypnotic techniques for elucidating the various personalities, but more
recent reports! 4 5 6 have shown that this
syndrome can exist without any suggestion
from a therapist and is not an artifact of
hypnosis. Osgood and Lauria? performed
an ingenious and elaborate semantic differential analysis for the three personalities
case of Thigpen and Cleckley, and more
recently they repeated it with another case
"The Three Faces of Evelyn'". Gottlieb?
recently reviewed the history and current
concepts on multiple personality. Among
the various definitions that have been mentioned, DSMII20refers to it as, "Hysterical
neurosis, dissociative type. In the dissociative type, alterations may occur in the
patient's state of consciousness or in his
identity, to produce such symptoms as
amnesia, somnambulism, fugue, and multiple personality" (p.40). Regarding the etiology of the condition, various theories have
suggested it to be a normal variation," 6 role
of ego-defenses and other ego functions
such as introjection and identification in selfconcepts and self-images", early environmental influence and disturbed relationship
with parents!', incestuous relationships+,
invention of imaginary playmates" 12and
identification with an envied rivals. Gottlieb?
has commented about the presence in the
background of many reported cases, "...
frequently, a fundamental religious upbringing which has contributed heavily to the
creation of an emotionally and sexually
stifling atmosphere" (p.20). In this article we
will address this concept and explain our
views in relation to how fundamentalist
religious upbringing might influence the etiology of a case with multiple personality and
the implications of this hypothesis for treatment approaches.
____
CASE REPORT:
_
On April 2, 1977, John, a 33-year-old
white male, was brought to the Emergency
Room at 1:30 a.m. by police who had found
him lying curled up under a bench in a local
church. He was noncommunicative, was
covering his face with his hands, and was
resisting any interference. He was unkempt,
Page 12

dirty, unshaven, was dressed in a crumpled

and dust covered suit, tie and shoes, and his
clothes smelled and looked as if he hadn't
changed or cleaned for days. There was no
evidence of any alcohol intake. He was not
responding to direct questions but instead
was repeating the name Lester very abusively and hatefully, saying that Lester was bad
and evil and was also trying to make the
patient bad and evil and that he had to kill
Lester. Search of his possessions produced
a letter addressed to his wife which was in
the form of a suicide note plus several
religious objects and keys. From the information that the police had gathered on
him, he had been registered missing on
March 12, 1977, and his abandoned van was
found near a bus station with some traces of
blood on the carpet. This blood type had
matched with the patient's own blood type.
Police inquiries following his disappearance
had revealed that several people recognized
John's photo as that of a person who they
knew as Lester and never knew him as .
John. There was also a local post office box
registered in Lester's name.
On the patient's transfer to the psychiatry
ward he became less resistive and more
relaxed. Blood was drawn for drug and
alcohol screening with negative results, and
a physical examination was unremarkable.
Subsequent information from his wife and
family indicated the following details about
the patient's background. John was the
sixth of nine children in the family, his father
had been a strict disciplinarian and a very
domineering religious person, had strict
rules for the children and kept strict control.
The patient's father had reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself about two
years prior to the patient's admission; the
father had been experiencing financial trouble. His mother was described as a hardworking, religious, god-fearing, church-going,
loving woman. John was reportedly brought
up in a very strict fundamentalist religious
background but was himself not a devout
believer in god. He was described as a
daydreamer with a vivid imagination and as
trying to impress people by presenting himself as if very important. He was very
outgoing as a child and made fun of other
family members' religious beliefs and thus
frequently was punished by his father. He
December, 1984

volunteered into the army in 1962, mainly to

get away from his father and, in his words, to
"be something". He served in Vietnam, did
mostly personnel and clerical work and
received an honorable discharge in 1966. He
was married soon after leaving the service to
a woman he described as "a simple, religious, farm girl." His family and friends
noted a great change in John's personality
after his return from Vietnam. He had
become very religious, was very active in his
church, taught Sunday school, was involved
in door to door preaching and distributing
Bibles, took strong stands on controversial
issues like homosexuality and women's role
in society, and changed his religious affiliation several times because of these issues. He succeeded in publishing a patrioticreligious article in a veterans' magazine
which dealt with the theme, "I am America
and I am being corrupted by Godless
forces." Since his return from Vietnam he
had recurrent nightmares following which
he would get up screaming, sweating profusely, and calling some name.
During the subsequent days in the hospital John became more relaxed and communicative and was able to give many more
details about his past life and his stay in
Vietnam, but he consistently pleaded amnesia for the period of his disappearance
from the 12th of March to the 3rd of April.
He also indicated that there have been
several times in the past when he could not
recall what he had done or where he had
been. To fill in these missing gaps from his
memory we decided to use sodium amy tal
interviews. In our first of these interviews he
spoke freely, said that he first suspected the
existence of the entity Lester controlling his
actions about two years before when some
photos of himself in the nude were found in
his desk at work. The photos had on them a
signature "Lester". He could not explain
how these pictures got there as he did not
remember ever having taken them. As a
result of the photos he had lost his job and
felt very humiliated. Since then he had found
pornographic material in his car, parcels
coming from "swinger magazines" addressed to Lester, and he was getting calls at
work from women wanting to talk with
Lester.
As John was talking abut this, suddenly
The American Atheist

the line of conversation was interrupted by a

change in his voice. He acquired an apparent Irish accent, his facial expression
became confident and for a moment the
interviewer felt as if he were talking to
another person. The voice identified itself as
Lester and said that he wanted to talk with
the interviewer. Lester was fully aware of
John's activities and past life. The entity
identifying himself as Lester said that he
gained control over the entity John in Vietnam, referred to the constant fight to gain
control and said John was seeking help from
the church to maintain control himself.
Lester gave all the details of John's disappearance. He indicated that his plan was to
make it look as though John had died and so
he made John take his car and then he drew
some blood from his arm and dripped it in
the van to fake John's death. He wanted
people to believe that John was dead so that
he, Lester, could exist as Lester thereafter.
Lester gave every detail of what happened
during the period of John's disappearance
to the time that John walked all the way to
the church in an effort to gain control.
Lester said that he registered in a St. Louis
motel, had several sexual encounters with
women, and spent all John's money. John
kept fighting to regain control and this
resulted in severe headaches, nausea and
vomiting, but Lester retained control until
John obtained some religious artifacts and
walked until he found the church.
Following two hypnotic regressions and
two sodium amytal interviews, different parts
of the puzzle started falling in place. It
became apparent that after his going to
Vietnam, John enjoyed his freedom from his
strict home environment and heavily indulged in heterosexual affairs and alcohol.
He always dreamed of accomplishing something important, but his aspirations never
were realized. Being dissatisfied with his job
and looking for adventure he several times
went without permission with some troops
on night ambush patrols. One night he
persuaded a close friend to come with him
on such an adventure trip but that night
unfortunately his patrol came under a mortar shell attack and his friend was literally
blown to pieces just feet away from him. The
patient was naturally severely shocked, and
ran back to his camp in severe emotional
upset. He felt extremely guilty and responsible for the death of his friend. He couldn't
talk to anyone for the fear of being reprimanded for his unauthorized absence. Instead he stayed in his room for days experiencing deep depression and emotional
upset. At this point he decided to change,
leave what he considered an evil and irresponsible way of lifeand become a devout
Christian. He continued this way of lifeeven
after his return from Vietnam and was not
aware that his past love for adventure and
fun had apparently been isolated and encapsulated into some form of entity, Lester,
an evil but fun-loving personality, which
Austin, .Texas

made its appearance from time to time.

____
DISCUSSION
_
Early in the proceedings with this case
with dual personality we decided it was
important to try to avoid "reinforcing" the
personality which appeared to be 'the more
repressed. Our reasoning stemmed from
the fact that the more generally repressed
personality (Lester) had reportedly engaged
in activities which were more potentially
damaging, if not actually dangerous or illegal, and further because it appeared in the
beginning, because of such incidents as
blood in the van, that the more predominant
personality (John) was sufficiently threatened and hostile toward Lester's behavior
as to contemplate suicide. Furthermore, the
very fact that Lester had not "come out" in
the hospital setting except when the patient
was either hypnotized or under the effects
of sodium amy tal suggested that the "presenting patient's" defenses were holding the
acting-out entity in abeyance, and much
eliciting of Lester by the therapist seemed
like it would be an unwarranted and artificially-induced intrusion into the presenting
patient's fragile defensive structure. Had the
Lester entity been capable of gaining and
keeping prominence on his own subsequent
to hospitalization, the plan of treatment
would have had to differ markedly from the
one pursued. Since such was not the case,
the therapist (A.F.) and consultant (J.H.)
were mercifully spared the difficult ethical
issue of which entity to support, and how,
with all the possible problems involved in
that kind of an ethical judgment.
We were reminded of the famous case of
The Three Faces of Eue13 which had ultimately resulted in 22 personalities. It has
been suggested that some of her therapists
may have unwittingly reinforced some of the
splitting, or creation of new entities, by their
attention to and fascination with the phenomenon. That patient herself asserted re-

December, 1984

cently that one particular psychiatrist was

clearly most helpful to her final resolution of
her difficulty because he steadfastly refused
to reinforce any new personality formations,
and told her, repeatedly, "You are Chris
Sizemore and I have only one patient."
Because the patient's history indicated a
combination of rejection and support as well
as a rigid fundamentalist religious upbringing, and some authors (e.g.") have cited a
common incidence of religiosity in such
patients' backgrounds, it seemed constructive to explore the possible relevance of
fundamental religion as it is associated with
the multiple personality phenomenon. Although Freud wrote very little about the
multiple personality phenomenon per se,
some of his writings on religion may help.
Freud 14 proposed the view of primitive
people establishing religion by a two-stage
process. In the earliest stage, that of animism, the belief prevailed that thinking about
an event increased the likelihood of the
occurrence of that event. In regard to
neurotics, Freud wrote: "If one of them
undergoes psycho-analytic treatment, which
makes what is unconscious in him conscious, he will be unable to believe that
thoughts are free and will constantly be
afraid of expressing evil wishes, as though
their expression would lead inevitably to
their fulfillment. This behavior as well as the
superstitions he practices in ordinary life,
reveals his resemblance to the savages who
believe they can alter the external world by
mere thinking." (p.87)
Given this view, thinking something of a
taboo nature, presumably sexual or aggressive, must then be avoided as much as is the
actual acting out of that thought; in effect,
"thinking something is just as bad as doing
it." Religious fundamentalists, who by definition interpret the scriptures literally, cling to
the same view, as in their interpretation of
Matthew 5:2815 "But I say unto you, that

Page 13

whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after

her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
This primitive stage in the early origins of
religion evolved into Freud's postulated "religious" stage, in which people projected
their omnipotence of thought onto "gods".
We may postulate an analogous process
whereby the normal child also holds such a
view of omnipotence of thought, and, ifhe is
fortunate, proceeds through a normal process of development which enables him to
reject this view and thus distinguish his own
thinking from reality. Our patient seemingly
did not progress through this process and
had, in fact, held the fundamentalist religious view that thinking something is as bad
as doing it. Either religious fundamentalism
or invasive parents could theoretically prevent the child from achieving this growth.
We know that a major factor distinguishing the cognitive features of most young
children from the cognitive features of the
mature adult is the child's inability to distinguish his own thinking from reality. A
normal attribute of the young child is the
failure to distinguish what he himself thinks
from external happenings, and typical is the
misunderstanding of the child who believes
his own thoughts are capable of giving rise
to external reality (thought magic). For example, one reason it is doubly tragic when
the parent of a young child dies is that the
child may misunderstand the nature of the
event. It is normal, in light of various frustrations which occur in childhood, for the child
at various times to wish the parents were
dead or gone. Given this typical fantasy,
then, ifthe parent does die the child, with his
primitive cognitive skills, believes that it was
his own thought which "magically" led to the
parent's death. The child may suffer intense
guilt and withdrawal as he blames himself for
"murdering" his parent. This is all the more
terrifying given the child's actual state of
dependency. Since to him his very survival
depends upon his parents, he may suffer a
fear for his own survival.
In studying the possible etiology of the
multiple personality phenomenon, then, we
may profit by considering the possible factors which may make for a persistence of
the normal child's tendency to assume his
thoughts affect external reality. Such an
assessment seems to require an understanding of the various complex social-psychological matrices which effect such patients'
upbringing.
Using more psychoanalytic terms, we
may restate the process of "thought magic's" evolution to more reality based ideation. The development of the ego, or, the
change from primary to secondary process
thought (reality testing), occurs normally
when the growing child increases his ability
to actively seek gratification from his environment. Theoretically the transition from
primary to secondary process thought occurs only if the child's attempts at reality
Page 14

testing are adequately reinforced, and the

main agents of such reinforcement are, of
course, the parents. 16One can hypothesize
about the process using somewhat behavioristic terms. Freud had suggested that a
psychopathological process, involving fixation, occurs when the infant or young child
is either over- or under-gratified by the
parents. One must attempt to explain how
such opposite responses to the child may
result in similar outcome. Theoretically both
over- or under-gratification may take place if
the parents feel some rejection toward the
child. If the parents are aware of their
rejection, and act on their awareness in an
overt manner, the child will be undergratified in his attempts to act out realistically
and to effect his external environment. This
undergratification, then, in effect consists of
a failure of the parents to reinforce the
child's attempts to proceed from primary to
secondary process thought. If, on the other
hand, the rejection that the parents feel
toward the child is denied by the parents,
they may then become over-protective and
solicitous of the child and in effect overgratify. By invading the child's cognitions,
and trying to anticipate the child's presumed
needs, the parents then set up a situation in
which the child, in effect, has less of a need
to proceed from primary to secondary process thought, since his needs are already
being met without much reality-testing effort on his part. In both cases, then, the child
would fail to make the transition from fantasies (primary process) to effective interaction with his environment (secondary process.) and thus could remain to some extent
fixated at the earlier level of development.
Such would likely give rise to some form of
psychopathology, since the child would
then maintain some version of the magical
concept that "thinking something is as bad
as doing," or, that his thoughts could lead to
or effect external events. Such "bad"
thoughts, then would presumably require
attempts at defensive suppression or repression.
We would hypothesize that there are four
types of humanity which engage in such
magical thinking: (1) young children, (2)
mentally disordered, (3) primitive mankind,
and (4) religious fundamentalists. Only in
the fourth type of humanity, the religious
fundamentalist, is this thought magic in
effect "institutionalized"; in the other three
groups the phenomenon occurs naturally,
but in the fundamentally religious person
there is an institutional structure set up
deliberately to foster magical thinking on the
part of the otherwise normal adults. One
author!" suggests that efforts to control
others by fundamentalist clergy lead them
to try to foster such magical thinking on the
part of their followers, since fostering such
thinking in effect keeps people feeling tied to
and dependent upon fundamental religious
institutions.
Fundamental religion, in which our paDecember, 1984

tient was reared, may be considered to be

an institutionalized, formalized version of
the "thought magic" idea that thinking some
thing is as bad as doing it. By taking the
scripture 15literally fundamental religionists,
to maintain control over others and perhaps
also over themselves, generally foster this
idea.
If rejection occurs, with parents either
over- or under-gratifying the child, this can
be seen as taking a form of invading the
child's thought processes. Such cognitive
"invasions" or "intrusions" occur when parents attribute their own thinking to the child,
or make warranted or unwarranted assumptions about the child's intentions. They may
do this either in an attempt to be oversolicitous of the child in their denial of their
rejection, or hostilely intruding on the child's
thinking out of overt hostility to the child.
There would seem to be at least two major
types of intrusions on the part of the parents: those which are reasonably correct
and those which are incorrect.
If the parents "invade" correctly, and all
would seem correct to the very young child,
the child may make one or more of several
assumptions: (1) they (people) can read my
mind, and (2) therefore thinking something
is just as bad as doing it because I am just as
likely to be punished for it. Stemming from
this, then, when the child experiences the
emergence of a "negative" or "bad" thought,
he must repress it, because he fears punishment from his fundamentalist or invasive
parents. If the child suppresses fairly successfully, he will perhaps incorporate this
view in the form of an overly rigid superego.
In the process he will be technically rather
well-defended, but with the resultant "cost"
of superstitution and distortion of reality.
According to Gottlieb",
"The restrictive, naive family life has
been a rather consistent finding in the
background of the reported cases
(with multiple personality.) Frequently, a fundmentalist religious upbringing has contributed heavily to the
creation of an emotionally and sexually stifling atmosphere. Under these
circumstances, the parents (and grandparents) cultivate a harsh primitive
superego within the child. This, of
course, sets the stage for the massive
denial and repression so prominent in
the picture of multiple personality."
(p.20)

Ifthe parent's invasions are incorrect, the

child may say, in effect, "they are wrong
(bad)", but because such a rejection of one's
own parents, upon whom a child literally
depends for survival, is such a threat, the
child is forced instead to define himself as a
bad person in order to conform to what his
rejecting parents think of him. He may
become antisocial in the process. As explained by Karen,18
" ... child attempts to deal with his
problem is to deny the bad mother.
The American Atheist

Unfortunately,
this defense is selfdefeating. Despite his denial, his mother still rejects him, and the better the
mother who rejects him, the worse he
must be. The child tries to find something wrong with himself which explains his feelings of rejection. But,
when he changes whatever he thinks
is wrong (such as, his thoughts themselves,) the rejection remains. His
only solution is never to change, or to
attempt to change himself in some
way that he knows is unchangeable."
Even if he is partially able to recognize his
parents' invasions as wrong (bad.) he will
have no recourse but to defend himself by
acting out in order to continue to define
himself as bad in order to deny the badness
of his parents' rejection which is a still
greater threat.
Just as ominously, he may conclude that
he doesn't know what reality is, and since
his fantasies seem to have as much validity
as reality, he loses the distinction between
the two and becomes what we call psychotic. This hypothesis was advanced by Bateson et al 19 to explain some types of
schizophrenia.
Any explanation of such complex disorders has an inherent risk of sounding glib,
and we recognize the various shortcomings
involved in making such a retrospective
analysis. It would seem that the patient
under consideration
hypothetically was rejected and intruded upon by his parents who
were fundamentally religious and who in fact
failed to some extent to distinguish fantasy
and reality themselves. He was hypothetically either over- or under-gratified,
either
one impeding the evolution of a secondary
from primary process thought. Their. invasions of his cognitive sphere led him to
define himself as "bad" to defend against an
awareness
of the parental rejection and
apparently led to an antisocial personality
disorder which lasted until the traumatic
event in the service. There, hypothetically,
the terrifying experience led him to disavow
his antisocial style (which had in fact caused
him to be in that death-dealing situation in
the first place,) and he regressed
to the
earlier mode of acceptance
of his parents'
invasions within their fundamental religious
framework - including the failure to distinguish thoughts from reality, and this caused
a repression of all of his "bad" urges and the
adoption of a super-patriotic,
fundamentalist style demonstrated
by our presenting
patient.
The two personalities,
super-religious
John and psychopathic
Lester, seemingly
represent two responses to parental rejection which was manifested by parental invasiveness and their attempts to control by
use of fundamental
religiosity. The superreligious John accepted
the fundamental
view, with its inevitable (by scriptural definition) thought magic, as a defense against the
death-dealing acting out of Lester that had
almost gotten him killed. A significant conAustin,

Texas

cept is that both personalities were pathological in a different way for a similar reason;
Lester had defined himself as a bad person,
and taken that role, but faced with the
trauma, John as the presenting
patient
represented
a defensive regression to an
earlier stage when animistic fundamental
religiosity offered an apparent
defensive
support. It seems that within this framework
the diagnostic pictures we see may depend
on (1) the extent of parental invasion, (2) the
correctness
or incorrectness
of the invasions, (3) the timing of the invasions in the
child's development,
and (4) the severity of
the punishment
associated with the invasions.
A possiblity is that religious fundamentalism is not so much a "cause" of psychopathology as it is an institutionalized
form of
psychopathology
itself. Religious fundamentalism, which includes the idea of ornnipo-

tence of thought (a la Freud.) encompasses

a defensive structure in response to survival
anxieties or deep feelings of threat from the
environment.
The idea that thinking something is as bad as doing it may be considered
a pathological, primitive thought process in
itself, as well as an attempted
defense
against a still more primitive pathology, an
insecurity brought on by the parental invasions or survival anxieties. The feelings of
insecurity which are conducive to fundamentalism can be a life-long adaptation, or it can
be, as in our case, brought on by later
traumatic incidents. The source in our case
seemed to be the exogenous one: the trauma
brought on by the near-death
in combat.
Such insecurities can also have endogenous
sources, such as the case of the severe
alcoholic who becomes sustantially
brain
damaged. Such alcohol or other substance
abusers, often with the help of such groups

ONE AfTERNOON AT -mE CONFeSSIONAL...

t
1 HAVE BEEN

ODtDD

DECEIVING

TAXPAYERS

OUT OF

LARGE AMOUNTS
OF MONEY FOR
MANY YEARS NOW

DDtDD

December,

YS ,MY SON

1984

0
Page 15

- and changeable - without ever judging

as Alcoholics Anonymous, are often found
himself to be a bad person.
.
to turn to religion as a defensive structure
Still another tactic or point at which to
against the feeling of threat of annihilation
brought on by their organic brain impair- intervene is to attack the credibility of
institutionalized fundamental religion itself.
ment As such, needless to say, the defense
The irrationality, the contradictions and the
of religiosity, through not ideal, at least
unfortunate consequences are repeatedly
holds the advantage that it does not cause
pointed out to the patient until he realizes
further physical deterioration as the abused
that blind faith and superstition can never
substances such as alcohol would do. This
conceptualization, if sound, still fails to serve human interests in any long-range
explain the cause of the extreme "walling sense, and the patient will be happier and
off" of conscious entities as found in multi- under his own healthy controls if he substitutes rationality for superstition. This may
ples.
be the least effective point at which to
A source of our case conceptualization
was our. need to find a framework on which 'intervene since it requires the patient to give
up some superstitions and defensive rituals
to act in therapy. Such conceptualizations
consist of hypothesis building, hypothesis
which continue to give him immediate and
spurious "comfort"
testing in the clinical setting, and then
After the patient's discharge from the
gradual revision of the hypotheses in light of
hospital and his continued followup treatmore incoming data. As in any such conment, he manifested an integrated personalceptualization we must beware of premature
"closure" of assuming the hypothetical conity which seemed more functional than
either of the previous two, neither fundaceptualization is fact and then ignoring
mentally religious nor antisocial in characinconsistent data. Such hypothetical conter. As of a year following discharge he
struction formation is essential to the process of psychotherapy so long as we remain
continued to maintain his integration.
open-minded and flexible in our approach to
The biggest part of our success in this
the infinite variety of nuances which make
case, we suggest, came from the support we
our patients such unique individuals. The
were able to provide the patient in learning
most essential way to accomplish this in the
to define himself (including Lester's chartherapy sessions is to approach the task
acteristics) as other than a "bad" person.
from the standpoint of a learning experience
We were thus able to reduce guilt Since the
for one's self, with the hope that in the
patient was intellectually bright, this enabled
process of clarifying and reflecting the pa- him to learn to grasp the idea that "thinking
tient's communications to enhance one's
is not the same as doing" as he had been
own self-understanding, one will thus es- brought up to believe. It also helped to have
sentially make the picture better undera case in which the less "overt" entity
stood and absorbed by the patient
"Lester" had not been sufficiently strong to
We need to describe some concrete al- continue causing trouble, once John had
ternatives of how to deal with such a patient
been given some reasonable measure of
in therapy, if we can infer that a part of his _________
support by his psychotherapist
SUMMARy
_
problem has been associated with magical
thinking.
Multiple personality syndrome is being
Some practicing psychotherapists (e.g.,
recognized more and more as a valid clinical
Bertram P. Karen-'') attack this psychoentity which can be present without any
pathology at the point of repression, saying suggestion from the therapist and is not an
to their patients over and over, "There's no artifact of hypnosis. Among the various
such thing as a 'bad' thought!" This tactic in associated factors that have been suggestthe context of a developing trusting rela- ed, fundamentalist religious upbringing oftionship can sometimes encourage the per- ten seems to play a significant role in the
son to think anything and learn that no ill formation of multiple personality. A case
consequences result In this way the patient,
report in which fundamentalist religious
no matter how apparently "vicious" his upbringing might have played a part in the
sexual or aggressive fantasies, is able to
formation of dual personality is presented
consider literally any behavior (in fantasy)
and discussed. The. most efficacious treatand thereby become capable of controlling
ment strategies may be those which reduce
and rejecting its overt behavioral exprespathological guilt as well as straightforwardly encourage the patient to recognize that
sion.
Other psychotherapists such as Albert
while some behaviors most certainly may be
Ellis20 and his followers intervene at the
pernicious, mere thoughts in and of thempoint of guilt, and teach the patient that guilt selves can never be. Such a strategy lessens
is in fact totally worthless; that guilt implies
the patient's need to repress and supports
judging oneself as bad because of one's bad
the process of re-integration of previously
behavior. Feeling that one is a bad person
irreconcilable personal styles.
_____
REFERENCES:
_
then implies a hopeless assumption that one
cannot honestly consider one's behavior so
as to change it The therapist teaches the
1. Taylor W.S., Martin, M.F., Multiple personalpatient over and over that he can calmly
ity. J Abnorm PscyhoI87:373-376, 1978
judge his own behavior as bad (regrettable)
2. Sutcliffe, J.P., Jones, J.: Multiple personality
Page 16

December, 1984

and hypnosis. Int J Clin Exp Hypn 10:231-269,

1962
3. Congdon, M.H., Hain, J., Stevenson, I.: A case
of multiple personality illustrating the transition
from role playing. J Nerv Ment Dis 132:497-504,
1961
4. Horton, P., Miller, D.: The etiology of multiple
personality. Comr Psychiatry 13:151-159,1972
5. Larmore, K., Ludwig, A, Cain, R: Multiple
personality: an objective case study. Br J Psychiatry 131:35-40, 1977
6. Ludwig, A, et al: The objective study of a
multiple personality. Arch Gen Psychatry 26:298310, 1972
7. Osgood, C.E., Luria, Z.: Case report: a blind
analysis of a case of multiple personality using the
semantic differential, in the Three Faces of Eve.
Thigpen, C.H., Cleckley, H.I., New York, McGraw Hill, 1957
8. Osgood, C.E., Luria, Z., Jeans, R.F., Smith,
S.W.: The three faces of Evelyn: a case report. J
Abnorm Psychol 85:247-286, 1976
9. Gottlieb, J: Multiple personality: a continuing
enigma. Curr Concepts Psychiatry 3:1523, 1977
10. American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 2nd
ed. Washington, DC, APA, 1968
11. Schreiber,2RF.: Sybil. Chicago, Henry Regency, 1973
12. Arnenewald, T.: Hypnotic techniques without
hypnosis in the treatment of dual personality. J
Nerv Ment Dis 153:41-46, 1971
13. Thigpen, C.H., Cleckley, H.I.: The Three
Faces of Eve. New York, McGraw Hill, 1976
14. Freud, S. : Totem and Taboo, in the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. London,
Hogarth Press, 1955
15. Matthew: Book of, in King James Bible, 5:28
16. Singer, J.L.: Research applications of projective methods, in Projective Techniques in Personality Assessment. Edited by Rabin AI. New
York, Springer Publishing Company, 1968
17. Higdon, J.: Religiosity: the institutionalized
psychopathology of thought magic. Am Atheist
19:16-18,1977
18. Karen, B.P.: The resolution of acute schizophrenic reactions: a contribution to the development of non- classical psychotherapeutic techniques. Psychoth: Theory, Res Prac 1:26-63, 1963
19. Bateson, G., Jackson, D.O., Haley, J., Weakland, J.: Toward a theory of schizophrenia, in
Theories of Schizophrenia. Edited by Buss, AH.,
Buss, E.H. New York, Atherton Press, 1969
20. Ellis, A, Harper, R: A New Guide to Rational
Living. North Hllywood, Wilshire Book Company, 1975 ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Higdon is a Clinical Psychologist
at Truman Memorial VA Hospital,
Columbia, Missouri, and
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
(Medical Psychology)
He has published articles on
paranoid disorders
in three previous issuesof the
Americon Atheist.
The American Atheist

Frank R. Zindler

THE EARTH IS ROUND:

COLUMBUS REDISCOVERS

olumbus is the capital city of Ohio.

Officially constituting "Goal 11" of the
Including the suburbs and aggluti
biology curriculum, the "horror's" title stated
nated communities, about a million people
blithely, "Students willlearn about the major
livethere. It boasts a fine science museum, a ' theories of the origin of life and of the
major university and a number of minor
Universe: Evolution and Creation."
ones. The center of the city glitters with
"This is to be taught even to kids born
space-age architecture which soars into the
with a cerebral cortex?" I asked.
air high above the tallest church steeples
Cathy assured me that the possession of
-a source of considerable pride and satisa central nervous system would not be
faction to any Atheist approaching the city
grounds for exempting a student from. atfrom the surrounding farm lands.
tending classes on biblical biology. Of
Ohio is not normally confused with Mis- course, the word 'bible' would never be
sissippi, Arkansas, or even Texas, and Comentioned in class. After all, the entire scam
lumbus is a northern city. At least that was
known as 'creation science' was invented as
what I thought when, in Yankee arrogance, I a way around the Constitutional barrier to
drove through the city three years ago on
straight-forward teaching of religion in pubmy way from upstate New York (where I lic schools. Since the creationists could not
was a biology professor in the SUNY Systeach their mythology directly, they sought
tem) to Dayton, on my way to attend a
to do it indirectly by removing the most
National Science Foundation-sponsored
obvious red-flag words, adding a dash of
"chautauqua" on the origin of life.The chaupseudo-scientific jargon, and calling their
tauqua was conducted by Dr. Sidney Fox,
Trojan Horse "science."
the world-famous experimentalist and theoWithin seconds, all memory of the originretician whose work has revolutionized our
of-lifechautauqua vanished, and I was transunderstanding of how lifeemerged form the
ported from the twentieth century AD. to the
primordial soup as it cooked in the caultwentieth century RC. . I could not believe
drons of the infant earth.
what she told me. Since 1971, Columbus After the session ended, I drove back to
this northern - city had had an educational
Columbus. Intellectually exhilarated and
policy which read as follows:
"riding a high," I decided to stop off at the
''Teachers in all fields are encourLinguistics Building at Ohio State Univeraged,
when considering or teaching
sity, to pay a visit to Dr. Catherine Calthe origin of life or the universe, to
laghan, whom I had met some months
present all major theories, including
before in Las Vegas at a national convention
those of creation and evolution. These
of biology teachers. Although she was a
should be stressed as theories, rather
linguist and not a natural scientist, Dr.
than established fact, and accorded
Callaghan had presented an excellent paper
proper tr.eatment in time, emphasis,
on scientific creationism, a subject on which
and attitude to protect the rights of all
I too addressed the assembly. Her grasp of
students. An adequate amount of
the scientific issues was excellent, and her
reference material shall be provided
ability to deal with creationist obfuscation
by the Columbus Public School Libwould easily put the majority of natural
raries to lend support to each theory.
scientists to shame.
Teachers should supplement Board
Entering Cathy's office, I was greeted
of Education adopted texts with matewarmly and then presented with what she
rials which attempt to provide uncalled "the fifty-page horror." The docubiased
information about the various
ment in question was part of a teacher's
theories of the origin of life and the
manual and curriculum guide for high school
universe." Adopted 7-0-0.
biology classes in Columbus Public Schools.
The "horror" gave details of how biology
It appeared that Columbus, despite its
teachers - men and women with college
geographic latitude, lay at a cultural latitude
degrees, mind you - were to explain creasomewhere close to the buckle on the Bible
tionist accounts of origins with emphasis
Belt!
equal to that given to scientific accounts.
Cathy was organizing an Ohio "ComAustin, Texas

December, 1984

mittee of Correspondence on Evolution

Education" to fight against the policy. At the
time, I myself was vice-president of the
analogous New York committee which had
been founded by Niles Eldredge, the curator
of invertebrates at the American Museum
and co-discoverer (with Steven J. Gould at
Harvard) of the theory of "punctuated equilibrium". This theory says that evolution
proceeds not smoothly, but in fits and
spurts.
I sympathized with Cathy, offered to help
in any way I could, and set out back to New
York State - never dreaming that in less
that a year I myself would have resigned my
professorship and would be working as a
science writer in Columbus.
During the year that I was still living in
New York, and during my first year in Ohio
developing my new career, I was unable to
do anything about the sorry situation. Fortunately, Cathy Callaghan, together with
two of those wicked "secular humanists",
Pat Shockley and Georgia Pardee, and a
number of other capable believers in statechurch separation, built a good foundation
upon which to mount an attack on the
medieval towers of "scientific creationsim."
Privately, they had lobbied the members
of the board of education. Although they
made some progress, there was one great
stumbling block: Paul Langdon, a creationist member of the board.
By the end of 1983, however, I began to
spar with the creationists in the "Letters-tothe-Editor" columns of the Columbus papers.
More important, Joyce Garver Keller, Director of the Columbus Chapter of People
for the American Way, a group organized to
defend us members of the supposedly Immoral Minority from the assaults of the socalled Moral Majority, became interested in
the case. American Way was already working with Atheists and others in Texas to fight
the anti-evolution textbook policies of that
state. And perhaps the most important,
Langdon retired and moved to California.
The word was out: Creationism was not
going to survive in the midst of civilization
without one helluva fight!
What I derisively refer to as the "OSU
Babble-Study Students" - a campus cult
far more powerful than the Moonies and
Krishnas combined - sponsored a debate
Page 17

on evolution in the spring of 1984. The

protagonists were Duane Gish, the premier
performing artist in all creationdom, and
Steve Shore, an astronomer and co-director
with Cathy of the Ohio Committee of Correspondence.
.
The bible-thumpers came in buses the
night of the debate, and packed the largest
auditorium on the OSU campus. Steve was,
of course, intellectually light-years ahead of
Gish and won the debate on a plane several
stories above the heads of ninety-nine percent of the audience. Unfortunately, Gish
won ninety percent of the theatrical and
rhetorical points. The legions of the illiterati
were ecstatic. They actually thought evolution had been disproven. More stupidly still,
they thought creationism had been proven!
The debate did, however, provide the
occasion for a long series of creation/evolution letters which stirred up the editorial
pages of the two Columbus dailies throughout the summer of 1984. The creationists of
Columbus were led by one Gerald Wegner
- a Ph.D. in entomology from OSU! - and
his side-kick Hugh Miller, who by winter is a
mild-mannered chemist, by summer is an
intrepid explorer in quest of human traces
among the dinosaur-dented Cretaceous
rocks of the Paluxy Creek region in Texas.
Replying to the claims of these men provided a source of merriment for several
months.
In mid-July, however, Joyce Keller bit the
bullet. Behind-the-scenes negotiating appearing to be going nowhere, she called a
press conference to call upon the board of
education to rescind its anti-science policy.
Although I was present at the conference
and spoke to reporters afterward, I was not
invited to be an official speaker. Then, as
today, Joyce tried to pretend I did not exist.
An Episcopal priest who believes in evolution, the president of the Ohio Academy of
Science - these men she needed at her
side. An Atheist she had no need for, even
though I had privately assured her that I
would not mention Atheism and stick to
what I am an expert on: creationist tactics.
No harm done, however. I gave all the
reporters copies of a detailed legal and
scientific analysis of the creationism policy
which I had just sent to each member of the
board and made a few acquaintances
among the media people.
The story was carried by all the media:
radio, television, and the newspapers. The
board girded its loins to prepare for the next
meeting, knowing that both scientists and
creationists would be there to argue their
cases.
Several days after the press conference,
the board of education held its regular July
meeting. The place was packed. The holy
rollers were there with their signs bearing
Bible verses and pleading for "open-mindedness." Once again, however, I was unable to
speak. I had, of course, told Joyce the week
before that I was ready and willingto speak
Page 18

before the board to answer the claims the

creationists were certain to make.
After not hearing from her for several
days, I decided to call the clerk of the board
to be listed as a speaker. Unfortunately, by
then they had barred any further speakers.
There would be four evolutionists (Keller,
who is not a scientist, the Episcopal priest,
and two OSU professors) and four creationists (including Wegner). Although Joyce
was eloquent, and the two professors did a
good job, no one was able to answer the
outrageous claims of the creationists. I bit
my tongue and sat on my hands.
The board listened to the speakers and
appointed a committee to look into the
matter and come back in two months (September) with a recommendation.
The day before the September meeting, I
called Joyce to see if she had gotten any
advance notice of what policy the board
would announce on the following day. She
had not, she said. Moreover, the board had
told her the policy would not be available for
inspection until thirty minutes before the
meeting. Once again, I expressed my willingness to speak (why I still was trying to
integrate my activities with her scenario I
will be able to explain only after prolonged
psychoanalysis). She already had all the
speakers she needed, she said.
Arriving at the meeting, I discovered that
there were three creationists registered to
speak - and Joyce. She had not enlisted
the help of a single scientist!
The three-member committee - headed
by James Ebright, a board member very
sympathetic to science and similar subversive ideas - suggested replacing the
"horror" with the following:

board on whether such a breach of decorum

would be allowed, I strode to the podium.
No objections coming from the members of
the board, I spoke extemporaneously for
fiveminutes. Conscious that my words were
being carried by radio to central Ohio as well
as to the seven members of the board sitting
before me, I was determined to expose the
disingenuous appeal of the creationists for
academic freedom and open-mindedness.
After pointing out that the creationists
had been unsuccessful for over a century in
getting their ideas accepted by scientists,
and that they were now trying to get their
psycho-ceramic ideas imposed upon the
innocent by governmental fiat, I quoted
Thomas Jefferson:
"It is error along which needs the support
of government. Truth can stand by itself."
"Moreover," I said, "you must not be
deceived by the appeal -for open-mindedness, an area in which scientists are emotionally vulnerable. Don't ever forget: there
is a great difference between a mind that is
open, and a mind that is gaping!" Amidst a
ripple of applause, I sat down.
The new policy was formally given its first
reading. It would be voted on at the next
meeting, two weeks later. But one of the
members complained that he would not be
able to be present at the meeting and asked
if it could be tabled until the meeting four
weeks later. The three women and four men
entered into a "gentlemen's agreement" to
postpone the vote for four weeks.
Cathy Callaghan, Georgia Pardee, and I
smelled a rat. Without bothering to consult
with People for the American Way, we all
called in to register as speakers at the
meeting two weeks hence. We hoped to
beat the big, bad wolves to the turnip patch,
"RESOLUTION TO AMEND
in the event that the board should break its
BOARD POLICY 6131.31
gentlemen's agreement and vote early.
" Origin Theory
Teachers in apWhat prescience! Only one creationist
propriate fields are encouraged, when
preacher was present to speak at the next
considering or teaching the origin of
meeting. And sure enough, the board did
life and the origin of the universe, to
break its agreement. After listening to a
make students aware of the many
most eloquent speech by Georgia Pardee, a
existing theories. These should be
fine speech by Cathy, and an expose by me
stressed as theories, and accorded
of creationists' deceptive tactics (i.e., makproper treatment in time, emphasis,
ing up quotations), the board proceeded to
and attitude. An adequate amount of
vote on the proposed amendment to the
reference material on such theories
policy on origins. It passed 4-2-1. By voting
shall be provided by the Columbus
early, the board was able to avoid. the
Public School Libraries."
expected bus-loads of born-agains and the
Joyce was late for the meeting. The last rest of the lobbyists for the Dark Ages.
Despite some serious short-comings, the
creationist was speaking when she breezed
in. She went to the rostrum and said some- new policy is quite an improvement over the
thing to the effect they were aware of her old one. Several board members privately
position on the subject and there was no have assured me that creationism is now out
need to repeat what she had said two of the Columbus curriculum, although there
months before! She said she was not pleased is some possibility it may be included in a
with the new proposal and turned-to find a social studies unit on comparative religion
or such. We seem to have won eighty
seat in the audience.
"Point of information, Mr. President!" I percent of what we sought: a total rescission
shouted from the third row. "Will you allow of the old policy.
one more person to speak on behalf of
Although the new policy deletes all referscience?"
ence to creationism, it is still a bit embarras(cont'd on pg. 40)
While the president conferred with the
December, 1984

The American Atheist

Madalyn OHair
ttook almost three days to find it. Our
guide was a native born American, torn
apart over her personal identity. Born in
New York to Chinese parents who had fled
China during the revolution, but feeling in
her heart that China was home, she suffered
before our eyes.
This enormous land, with its 1 y,; billion
people had always been atheistic, and the
Murray-O'Hairs
represented
Atheism. She
could and could not help at one and the
same times. The telephone system in Beijing
left much to be desired, she explained,
hating and loving everything in China at the
same time. Although we had before her a
letter in English with all address information
in Chinese, she could not locate the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences. We were put in
touch with the Office of Foreign Affairs, the
Office of American Studies, the Cultural
Exchange. Snatching time between tours,
calling from the hotel and other telephones,
it looked as if we were not going to be put in
contact.
The national official, on special assignment with our tour group, was equally
ineffective. The hotel concierge, the manager, the bell captain were at a loss for
English. In desperation we tried the Beijing
guide who was showing subtle contempt for
the capitalist Americans.
He was delighted to find that we were
Atheists and guaranteed that he would put
us in contact. Several times during that
morning series of tours, he stepped into
telephone
booths and we watched as he
made a number of calls. Undismayed,
he
advised that when we returned to the hotel
he would already have made an appointment. We despaired for we were on the last
day in the city, unable to cope with the
language, street signs, taxi-cabs. But when
we returned to the hotel, he was there to
quickly greet us and say that he had been in
touch with Mr. Li Fu-hua. We had an
appointment
in just fifteen more minutes.
The Academy, it turned out, was within
walking distance of our hotel - standing
outside we could see it towering over the
lower-lying buildings, and just blocks away.
To be on time, a taxi was necessary and with
a note written in Chinese we hailed a cab.
Walking would have been quicker; the traffic moved at snail's pace and we were
(uncharacteristically)
twenty-minutes late for

Austin,

Texas

the appointment.
But, Mr. Li Fu-hua was waiting at the
street entrance;
the walk was brisk; the
elevator was rapid; and within a few more
minutes we were in a tastefully appointed
reception room. The tea was hot; the welcome was honestly warm; our Chinese
compatriots were engaging.
Mr. Li Fu-hua had already sent his "A
Brief Discussion on the Formation of Zen
Buddhism" to the American Atheist Center.
He was currently working on a book, The
History of Buddhism in China. Mr. Gao
Wamgzhi, who spoke excellent English, was
a professor at the Institute. Mr. Li Fu-hua
simultaneously
translated
for Mr. Zhang
Xin, Ying, Chief Librarian. Professor Ren
was not immediately available.
We were quickly educated. The Atheist
Society of China was organized just four
years ago. Prior to that, the situation in
China was politically such that an organization was impossible. The First Conference
on Atheism was held three years ago and
the Second Conference in 1983. Professor
Ren, the head of the Institute for World
Religions, the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, is the head of the group.
The Society is basically interested
in
research
on religions. There was never
actually a dominant religion in China. The
strongest tradition was Confucianism,
but
that was not a religion. Confucius
lived
about 550-470 Be and formulated a system of
ethical precepts. The Society finds that the
ancient Atheist scholars simply criticized
the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. There
is a history of Atheism before Christianity in
China and there is work being done on this.
Their quarterly journals "Shijie Zongjiao
Yanjiu" are exceptional scholarly works,
objectively analyzing historical aspects of
religion.
The Chinese government
has a statechurch separation policy which advocates a
"Three Ways" approach to the problem.
This simply mandates that (1) religion must
self-support,
(2) religion must self-govern;
and (3) religion must self-evangelize (propogate.) The state will not assist.
The missionary systems in China were
supported
by foreign churches
and the
governments
of the nations from which
those churches sent missionaries. It was a
foreign intrusion.

December,

1984

In China the total religious population is

very small. There are less than twenty
million in a population of 1 y,; billion. These
include the Buddhists although Buddhism
has no organization,
no church, and is
declining. There are perhaps three million
Protestants,
three million Roman Catholics
and the balance of about fourteen million
are Muslim. The Roman Catholics have the
largest organized
body of believers. The
Roman Catholic Church, however, interfered with politics in the revolution in 1949.
Therefore, relations with the Vatican were
severed. Currently, there is an effort by the
Vatican and the Jesuits to restore relations.
The problem is that the Roman Catholic
bishops in China are now growing old. They
are consecrating
their own bishops in the
system and have contacted
the Vatican
asking for sanction for this action. The
Vatican will not recognize
these homegrown Chinese bishops whose loyalties are
with the Chinese government.
Also, the
Vatican continues to have relationships with
Taiwan, which the Chinese consider a part
of their nation and which they are seeking to
have returned.
Under all of these circumstances
China
finds that its best policy is to keep the
religious peace.
Captions

for Centerfold Picture Section

1. Jon Murray, Center Director, boards a

China airlines plane for flight from Beijing to
Xi'an
2. Norma Cardinal,
member
from Raymond, NH, (left) and Robin Murray-O'Hair,
editor, in Tian An Men Square in Beijing.
3. (Left - right) Zhang Xin Ying, librarian
for the Atheist Society of China, Dr. O'Hair,
Robin Murray-O'Hair,
Jon Murray and Prof.
Gao Wamghzhi of the Atheist Society in the.
Society offices in Beijing.
4. Bruce Harvey, member from Huntingdon
Valley. PA (left) and Jon Murray on the
palace grounds by West Lake in Hangzhou.
5. A high school drill team returning from
the October 1st celebrations held in Tian An
Men Square in Beijing.
6. Dr. O'Hair pauses for a rest in one of the
beautiful gardens of Guangzhou.
7. A panda, actually part of the raccoon
family and not a "bear", in the Beijing zoo.
8. One of the palaces in the Forbidden City,
home of the emperors, in Beijing.
9. One of the many new buildings in Beijing.
This one houses the Atheist Society of
China.
10. (Left - right) Robin Murray-O'Hair,
Jon
Murray and Bruce Harvey visit the Great
Wall.
11. (Left - right) Zhang Xin Ying, librarian,
Prof. Gao Wamghzhi and Prof. Li Fu-hua of
the Atheist Society of China.
12. Sarita Irwin, member from Foster City,
CA stands by the Chinese flag on a cruise on
the River Li in Guilin.

Page 19

Gerald Dorset

WAS THERE EVER A JESUS?

long and stubborn search for historical
corroboration comes up with a few
meagre phrases in Roman and Greek historians and savants close to the beginning of
the "New Era." Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the
Younger, Celsus and other lesser known
names, although in a position to know, have
very little to say about an "extraordinary
Nazarene" founder of a new religion. In
Tacitus' Annals (15, 35) we find a curious
passage about "Emperor Nero, disturbed
by widespread charges that he had instigated the burning of Rome for his own
pleasure (July AD. 64), threw the full responsibility for it on the shoulders of a
subversive group of common people, called
Crestiani, after the name of their leader".
And that is all he has to say on the matter.
Who was that "leader," was he still alive, in
Rome at the time, or far away? He only
explains, en passant, "Their name derives
from one Crestos, who was condemned to
death for fomenting revolt."
Suetonius, in his Life of Claudius (Ch. 25)
writes: "The Emperor succeeded in driving
out of Rome those troublesome Jews (AD.
50), who were stirred by their mischievous
leaders called Crestiani." That information
is even more confusing: the Jews in Rome
had leaders called "crestiani?" Pliny the
Younger, in his Epistles, written as Governor of Bithynia to Emperor Trajan in AD.
112, informs his protector that a "fanatical
sect of Jews, known as Crestiani" (X, 96)
caused riots and disturbances against order
and the state religion (Paganism). They
were duly arrested and interrogated. The
culprits confessed to "holding meetings at
daybreak and singing hymns to their god
Christos."
Celsus (AD. 180), on his part, wrote a
whole book against the subversive activities
of the "Crestiani" - which the early Father
of the Church, Origen, later refuted point by
point - but had nothing to say about Jesus
Christ himself. Tertulian and Justin (AD.
112), who were something of historical experts on the era of Julius Caesar, Anthony,
and Claudius, and described the tour of
duty of the Procurator of Judaea, Pontius
Pilate, don't say anything about Jesus. That
is very strange, indeed, especially since by
that time, the Christians in Rome have
become a force to be reckoned with, having
penetrated into the homes of the Patricians.
Could there have been a coordinated
conspiracy of silence? For four centuries?
Or the answer could be that they all had no

Page 22

direct or indirect knowledge of a real person

called Jesus Christ.
The silence of Jewish writers of the time is
even more perplexing. Philo of Alexandria,
for instance, a man of wide learning and
interests, who was born in 30 B.C. and died
in A.D. 54 - an obvious contemporary of
Jesus - and living several hundred miles
from Jerusalem, should have heard something of the momentous events and the man
who caused them. Philo wrote many books
on many subjects, about fifty of them survived to our day. In none of them is there
any mention of Jesus Christ, or any other
individual of a different name but of similar
background and activities. Justice of Tiberias, who was born and raised in Judaea, and
like many of his co-religionists was fluentin
Greek and Latin, left two great works,
History of the Wars for Jewish Independence and Chronicles: from Moses to Agrippa II. Both manuscripts cover events
coinciding with the time of Christ (30 B.C. to
A.D. 100), among others, yet there is not a
single reference to be found about Jesus, his
followers, or his persecutors. It is as if he
never existed ....
Flavius Josephus (AD. 37 to 100), the
famous author of Antiquities and a foremost
chronicler of Jewish historical events, does
mention Jesus though, which is very interesting. There is a remarkable passage in his
big work (Antiquities, Ch. 18) which says:
"At that time (AD. 30), there lived in Judaea
Jesus, a very pious man, if he really could be
called a man, who performed truly miraculous work, healing the sick, teaching men
the Truth, raising people near death from
their bed. He was followed by many Jews
and Greeks, who worshipped him because
he was the true Messiah. And when Pilate
crucified him, on false and base accusations,
Jesus came back from the grave, appearing
in his flesh to his followers, arising from the
dead as it were on the third day, as it was
predicted by the holy prophets of old."
(Italics ours) "The majority of the impartial
observers and students of the book dismiss
it (the above passage) as an obvious forgery." (Charles Guignebert, Jesus, Univ.
Books 1956) It is evident that an Orthodox
Jew, like Josephus, could not have written
such an effusive paean of Christianity and its
"founder," if he had written anything on the
subject.
In early seventeenth century. well after
the reformation thaw, independent theologians in Switzerland and Germany came
December, 1984

to the sad conclusion that the passage was

inserted later on by zealous Christians to
legalize their contentions. The earliest authentic copy of Antiquities dates from the
nineteenth century, or about eight centuries
after the original was written, and obviously
the copyists could very well amend, adapt
and change the original in accordance with
their beliefs. It is most probable that Flavius
Josephus didn't mention anything at all
about Jesus, as so many of his colleagues,
which must have pained and humiliated the
Christians of later centuries, and they have
decided to correct a "flagrant omission."The Talmud (AD.80) updated by Rabbi
Gamaliel II, includes the section Shemoneh
Esreh, special "bad benedictions" against
the infidel and the minim. The latter term
signifies "heretics" in Hebrew. The Church
Fathers of the newly-established religion
(fourth century AD.), ransacking old writings for possible evidence, decided that
Gamaliel's very vague Talmudic maledictions (bad benedictions) were aimed specifically at the Christians who threatened the
rule of the Pharisees and the Synagogue.
That contention conveniently avoids the
fact that, later on, the updated Talmud
enumerates twenty-four such disruptive
sects (minim), without mentioning once the
followers of Christ by name.
The truth of the matter seems to lie in the
mythologic origin of Christianity, with Jesus
as a pretext and a later creation. This
supposition is strengthened by the fact that
it was Paul who actually created the Church
as an organized religion. "St." Paul, it is
known, was a "tense visionary" (he suffered
from the grand mal, i.e., epileptic seizures)
and had never met or seen Jesus in person.
He merely had a "vision on the road to
Damascus," where "scales fell from his
eyes" and he was converted to a life-long
service to the Master. He had not even met
Jesus' own "disciples" if there really were
any, and by his own admission didn't want to
meet any, "not to be led astray." (S. Case,
Evolution of Christianity, Chicago 1924, p.
131) "The Gospel was communicated to
him from above, in voices and in visions,"
very much as the biblical prophets, and
Moses, had "conversed with God." The new
religion Paul founded, based upon the oral
tradition ofthe "Trinity," goes back to Egypt
and India but is more closely related to the
syncretistic mysteries of the Asia-Minor
Paganism, with which he was intimately
acquainted. The tone, exhortations and
The American Atheist

claims of his many Epistles have not much to

do with Jesus, but are "immersed in his own
mystic hallucinations and transcendental
speculations, impressive and moving as poetic outbursts, but historically baseless."
(Ibid, pp. 145-147)
The sole remaining direct source of information about Jesus Christ is the New
Testament, more specifically - the Four
Gospels. Yet, there is a clear distinction
between the Synoptic (the synopsis of these
coincides along the main events) Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Revelatory
Gospel of John. The latter is quite mysterious, and it is puzzling why the Church
Fathers ever included it in the first place in
the Evangle (Evangelion, Gk. good message). It recounts events which do not
appear at all in the Synoptic Gospels and
covers a much longer time. Also, according
to John, Christ visited Jerusalem five times,
the other Evangelists mention only one visit,
and so on. The latter are immersed firmly in .
Judaic tradition, while John is critical, even
harsh at times to the beliefs of the Jews.
John's Revelatory Gospel was, apparently
written much later and by a Gentile, has
Gnostic elements and decidedly eschatological spirit, concerned not so much with
the past but with the future.
AllGospels are known as, "According to"
(Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), forcing researchers to conclude that they were written not by the "Disciples" themselves (John
was not in their number) but "as told to,"
i.e., they were compiled by one, or more,

anonymous authors-editors, based on hearsay and tradition. The Gospels are traced
back not earlier than the second century
A.D., i.e., 170 years after Jesus Christ's
supposed crucifixion. "That is a great deal of
time elapsed to expect an accurate account
of historical facts witnessed by living contemporaries." (B.J. Bacon, Is Mark's a
Roman Gosple? Harvard Theolog. Studies,
1919,p.45)
To add to the confusion and mystery, the
Four Gospels and "St." Paul's Acts and
Epistles are far from being the only elements
of the "body of Teachings of Christ" there are also: Agrapha, Logia, Apocrypha
and a vast array of imitations, forgeries,
heretic teachings and interpretations of the
"Apostolic Fathers." Logia, for example,
"purports to contain all exact sayings (from
the Gk. logos) of Christ, without interpretations, system or goa\''' (Sh. J. Cass,
Historicity of Jesus, Univ. of Chicago 1927)
Ever since Ernest Renan's "infamous,
shocking and blasphemous" book La Vie de
Jesus (1863 Paris), which Tolstoy and Dostoevsky found startling but very human and
poetic, laymen, liberal theologians and savants have dared to ask more and more
disturbingly bold but logical questions about
the existence of Jesus. In 1947, the startling
discovery of authentic writings from the
time of Christ, known as the Dead Sea
Scrol/s, caused a sensation. Carefully cleaned, unrolled, restored and translated they,
among other things, alluded to the "ministry" of John the Baptist, as one of several

"itinerate rabbis" and member of the medically-oriented sect of Essenes (of which
Rabbi Gamaliel II writes as one of the
minims he was cursing as apostate). Obviously, the land of Canaan was criss-crossed
by a great number of mendicant preachers
of all sorts. There is, however, no mention of
Jesus, his family, friends or his followers.
Most puzzling, John the Baptist did not die
dramatically beheaded by a lecherous king,
but lived to a ripe old age. (8. Erymath, The
Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrol/s, New Spirit
Books, 1950)
Vultis instantis tyranni.
Thus, despite the annointed fashion of the
moment, Jesus Christ of history, as far as it
could be ascertained objectively by unimpeachable sources, and without partisan
preconception, most probably never existed at all, except as Moses, Zeus, Shiva
and Osiris, in the mythos of mystic imagination. [jf]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gerald Dorset is a poet by vocation
and a librarian by avocation,
making a living at Manhattan Community
College of New York.
He has published three books of poetry
and is working now on an
ambitious fictional work, tentatively
entitled, "The Autobiography of
Diya Rilsky."

,IIIIUUIUIIIIIIUCIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.1III111Ullllllllllllllttllllllllllll1IIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltUlIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1111111I111111111111111111'11"111111111111111111111I111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIllIflUlllllltltllIllHHWtlIllIIUUUIlHfflUlHIItHNtIIINIllfllIltMH

PRODUCER'S NOTE
by Alexander C. Stevens,

Jr.

cont 'd from pg.. 8

IIIIU1II1I11IIIIII1I11III11I11II11I1I1I1II1I1I1I11I111I1I11f1HHfltllltHIIIHMltttUfH,"UIfHIHfIIl1IIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIHtttttllllHtllKttMMMttlMUHllllti

cable company and ask. Don't gi ve up i.f you talk

to a telephone representati
ve whodo e an ' t know
- ask with whomyou can talk who will know.
(NOTE:PublicAccesstelevision
is only through
cable TV; it is not Public TVnor PBS. )
[2] If you do have Public Access in your communi ty, callor better yet, go in person - and
ask to speak to the programming director,
the
operations
manager, or the director.
[3}Tell
the person to whomyou talk that you
are an Atheist,
that there is an Atheist
TV
series produced through Public Access TV, and
that you would like to have it aired in your
community.
[4] I f you can arouse an interes t, or if there
is already an interest,
advise that a sample
tape for viewing can be sent to the station,
along with all the other necessary information
about joining the Forum's network.
[5] Carefully
write down the full address,
station
call1etters
or dial posi tion, the name
of the person who is to receive the sample tape
and call or mail that to The American Atheist
Center, Attn: Lex Stevens, P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX, 78768, (tel: 512-458-1244).

ttt.

IIHmIUIUHlnnnIllNJIIf'IfI""lflltfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlllltltIlIlKl"MHI""1IHlllllltlHMHlfllHltltltllllUlllIlIIllIlIlIlUIIUmtnlHnnl

Alexander C. Stevens; Jr. , from the heart of the east

Texas oilfields,
has been producer of the American
Atheist Television Forumfor two years.

11111111111I11111I11I111I11I1111111I1111I11111I1111I111111I11I1111111111111111I1111111111111111111111111111I11I111111I11111I1111I11111111I11I1111111I111111111111111I11111111I11111I11111I11I11I111I1111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIU
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIHIUllllu

Austin, Texas

If the Access s t a.t t-on in your community decides to carry the Forum, you will probably be
required to sign a' 'sponsorship'
, form of some
kind. Do it! This is simply a matter of gi ving
your name and address. Nobooger is going to get
you if you become a sponsor.
If the station
complies because of consti tutional free speech requirements,
but it is not
overly cooperative,
you mayalso need topickup
and deli ver tapes once a month. If the station
is cooperati ve, our ordinary system is that UPS
(usually)
delivers
the tapes
(always once a
month) and the station
simply drops them into
the USmail wi thaprepaidpostage
label affixed
for a return to the Center.
If the station
tells you that it cannot cablecast non-locally
produced programming, it is
probably telling
the truth
and not discriminating
against Atheists
- but you may want to
make extra inquiries
just to make certain.
If it all does not work out, that's
okay too.
At least you tried and the cable company knows
that there areAtheists
inyour ci ty. That helps
too.

December,1984

'ltmll""MtIItNttIttI.....-.....

Page 23

Kimma Sundstrom

FINNISH

FREETHOUGHT
The Early Years

PRESS

This article is a highly abridged and condensed translation from three separate articles published
originally in the Union of Freethinkers' magazine, Vapaa Ajattelija (Free thinker) 1983:6, 111-114, 1983:7,
135-139, 1983:8, 159-166, 1984:1, 7-11, and 1984:2,31-37 in Finnish. Most of the information is collected
from the three magazines themselves and the Union's archives which contain primary material from the
1930s on. In addition old newspapers, literature, unprinted studies, and material from the National
Archives of Finland were used. Some specific details have been omitted as well as the references to
different sources. Original articles can be obtained from the Union of Freethinkers or at the Library of
Helsinki University. - the author

The First Freethought Magazine

in Finland:
Wapaita Aatteita (1889-1890)
(Free Thoughts)
I I Tapaita Aatteita is the first Finnish
I'I'magazine which reasonably can be
seen to be a part of the freethought tradition. With the growth of this entire tradition,
prerequisite conditions to this magazine
were created by a gradual breaking of the
Old Lutheran uniform culture by the growth
of religious liberalism from the 1850s forward. In the 1880s various kinds of forces
were gnawing Lutheranism, for example,
liberalism; naturalism; the alienation of Swedish-speaking cultured people from the church
and Christianity; realistic literature; the freechurch revival which attacked traditional
Christianity, and the rising labor movement.
The Old Lutheranism could not endure this
all.
Minna Canth, a writer, and A. B. Makela,
a journalist, both from Kuopio, were the
publishers of Wapaita Aatteita.
In no form can this magazine be considered radical or Atheistic, but it was a
brave and unprejudiced attempt to promote
freedom of thought given the atmosphere of
its day.
The main goals of Wapaita Aatteita were:
to spread results of the natural sciences; to
emphasize empirical attitudes; and to criticize dogmatic Christianity, religious instruction, traditional Christianity, the statechurch institution, and the clergy.
Dogmatic Christianity and its idealisticromantic interpretation by Leo Tolstoy were
often placed against each other in the magazine. Tolstoy was taken to be "perhaps the
only serious preacher of Christianity in our
time" and many articles by Tolstoy were
published. This shows that the ethical criticism of Christianity was partly substituting
former, more radical, intellectual criticism.
The Wapaita Aatteita did not question
the historicity of Jesus but took him as a
noble figure of history. Still it maintained
that rising enlightenment and judgment
Page 24

would abolish all present churches and

clerical parties just as Christianity in its time
put an end to ancient religions.
By translating foreign articles into Finnish
the magazine spread more radical views to
Finland from central Europe. It brought
forth many writers and philosophers who
had been persecuted by the European nobility and clergy like Beaumarchais, Buffon,
d'Alembert, Diderot, Linguet, Marmontel,
Mercier, and Voltaire.
Along with persons like Hypatia, Socrates
and Galileo, even Jesus of Nazareth and
Martin Luther were named as martyrs of
freethought. This shows clearly that freethinking had not shaped itself into a solid
tradition, but was partly overlapping with
religious liberalism. Compared with the present naturalistic and atheistic interpretation
of freethought it is worthy of notice that in
some articles only the clergy was outspokenly criticized and Christianity itself was
left in peace, sometimes even supported.
Contributors to Wapaita Aatteita were
A. J. Mela, a teacher, and Dr. N. R. afUrsin.
A. J. Mela was a zoologist and one of the
first promoters of Darwinism in Finland in
the 1860s. Af Ursin was a scholar and
arouser of the labor movement in the 1880s.
A considerable part of the published material was translated prose by, for example,
Dostoevsky, Bellam and de Maupassant.
Wapaita Aatteita was only published
about a year and a half. By the beginning of
1890 some articles were omitted because of
the censor. Other' reasons which contributed to the suppression of the magazine
were that editing was more burdensome
than expected, especially for Minna Canth
(because A. B. Makela tippled), and that
disputes about the freedom of belief calmed
down at the beginning of the 1890s. The
rigidity of the censorship depended on the
change in political atmosphere, namely the
growing threat from the east (Russia) towards the special political status of Finland
. (autonomy). A concrete sign of this was the
Postmanifesto published by Alexander IIIin
1890. The radical decade of the 1880s was
gone; the gathering of national forces began
December, 1984

and lasted ten years.

"Disclosure of Clerical
and Political Lies"
Vapaa Ajatus (1910-1917)
(Free Thought)
The birth of Vapaa Ajatus was a logical
result of all those efforts towards freedom
which took place at the beginning of the new
century. I refer only to the struggle against
Russianizing, the radical stand of the Socialists and Social Democrats after 1903, the
general strike, and the suffrage reform.
From the point of view of Freethinkers,
important things were the magazine Euterpe
(1901-1905) which was a very anti-Christian
and anti-clerical magazine and the birth of
Studentforeningen Prometheus (Student
Association Prometheus) in the fall of 1905.
Most of the efforts toward freedom of belief
during the first decade of the century
concentrated around this association. Also,
in the labor press, anti-clerical and antiChristian writings gained plenty of space.
Anti-Christian booklets by A. A. Issaieff,
Paul Lafargue, August Bebel, and Robert G.
Ingersoll were eagerly translated and spread.
The standpoint of Vapaa Ajatus was very
radical. It represented just the typical, old
European freethought line which put the
main emphasis on heavy criticism of religions, churches, and the clergy. The two
principal goals were to separate the church
from the state and to eliminate religious
teaching in the public schools. Compared to
the present stand of the freethought movement, you can still find the old tradition on
the bottom but a considerable change towards positive outlook has already taken
place. Although accusations of socialism
and, later, communism have always shadowed freethought activities nearly everywhere, the journal did not deal with politics
at all. It held that it was difficult to get
politicians to support freethinking because
of party interests. Though the socialist and
bourgeois point of view could be seen in
Vapaa Ajatus, sympathies towards socialThe American Atheist

ism increased during the 1910s when the

middle-class approached the church. Of
course, the state of war in 1914 had an
influence on the insignificance of political
stands.
Vapaa Ajatus had several editors, but the
main figure from the beginning of 1911 was
Sven Elof Kristianson. He had been a journalist in the United States in 1903. S. E.
Kristianson is absolutely one of the most
significant,although forgotten, Finnish Freethinkers. Born in 1880 or 1882, he was a very
qualifiedand productive journalist. He was a
socialist, and statements on his life after the
CivilWar (1918) are contradictory. Another
reason for his present obscurity, besides his
socialism, is that he did not have the kind of
political,literary, or scientific merits of Frans
Viktor Heikel, Minna Canth, Edward Westermarch or Rolf Lagerborg. Without exaggeration, however, we can say that S. E.
Kristianson was the motive, power and soul
of Vapaa Ajatus.
Vapaa Ajatus was a rather high level
publication for a purely freethought magazine. It was carefully edited and among the
contributors were some suprisingly competent and active writers. We can only mention the pen name Monisti (Monist) behind
which was Emil Frithiof Rautell (later Rautela) and the pen name Humanisti (Humanist) behind which was hidden a revolutionary Johann Kock. Later Rautela was going
to gain an important role in the Finnish freethought movement, but Kock had died April
13,1915, in Fitchburg.
This magazine rested totally upon its
publishers and had no organization, party,
fund, or other financial base. Vapaa Ajatus
appeared from the beginning of 1910 unti1
the end of 1917, usually twice a month. A
short interruption took place during 1914
because of the state of war. In Finland,
Vapaa Ajatus was a rather unknown magazine. In a Christian country it was difficult to
spread a freethought publication and on top
of everything the magazine's distribution
was inhibited by a large chain of stores. On
the basis of collected information I have
estimated that Vapaa Ajatus had about
2,000 subscribers, the average edition being
about 3,000 copies and the average number
of readers between 4,000 and 6,000. The
magazine ceased to appear because of large
increases in the price of paper, subscription
money not accounted, a slight falling of the
subscription base, and also probably because of the social effects of the outbreak of
the Civil War in January of 1918.
The magazine's life was everything but
easy. Christians and the censor chased
Vapaa Ajatus severely and without interruption. This was always the case in all
freethought publishing activities. The magazine's editor and the manager of its printing
house were summoned to court in the
spring of 1910. Authorities attacked Freethinkers from all directions. The strategy of
the authorities was to suppress the magaAustin, Texas

zine right at the start. This strategy, however, was grounded because the higher
courts of justice were not ready to act in this
way. That is why the authorities began to
accuse Vapaa Ajatus of blasphemy. Support was received from bishop's councils,
representatives of the freethinkers' number
one enemy, which handed in statements
about whether Vapaa Ajatus was blasphemous or not. Editor S. E. Kristianson was
summoned several times to court and was
sentenced to prison for forty-five days and
fined. Many editors of labor papers were

The

also sentenced to prison and fined during

the 1910s for blasphemy. VapaaAjatus was
full of news of such cases.
But this harassment had no impact on the
radical stand of the magazine. It continued
to criticize authorities and the church and to
hold the opinion. that all this was Russian
intimidation too. ('Russianizing' was going
on again; Finland was not yet an independent state, but a grand duchy of Russia until
December 1917.)
Although Vapaa Ajatus was primarily a
freethought magazine, it published various

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Page 25

articles on the natural sciences and the

science of religion. Foreign material was
translated from magazines like The Freethinker, The Truth Seeker, La Libre Pensee, and Das Monistische Jahrhundert. The
magazine often cited Freethinkers such as
G. W. Foote, Ludwig Buhner, Robert G.
Ingersoll, Wilhelm Ostwald, August Strindberg, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, Maksim Gor
ki, Friedrich Nietzsche, Victor Hugo, and
Francisco Ferrer y Guardia.
A civil war broke out in Finland in January, 1918, and the ideas advocated by
Vapaa Ajatus were not tolerated after the
defeat of the Reds during the 1920s.

Between Lapua Movement and

Winter War: Ajatuksen Vapaus
(1937-39) (Freedom of Thought)
The organizing of a Freethought movement began again in the late 1920s. Before
the (fascist) Lapua movement, at least one
freethought association in Kuopio was registeredo During the year 1930 several associations were still registered, but in May 1930
authorities stopped the organizing. Behind
all of this was the execution of the new laws
concerning so-called "communistic activities." The new laws dealt with freedom of
forming associations, freedom of press, and
criminal law. Authorities prohibited the organizing because they were afraid of Cornmunists making good use of the movement.
This was not a totally wrong line of thought.
The central labor organization (S.A.J.) was
suppressed in 1930 and political activity
tended of course to turn itself somewhere
else. (The Communist party and press were,
of course, forbidden at that time.)
On the other hand, time was favorable to
the church. Conservatives tried to change
the constitution to restore the pre1919
status of the Lutheran church, but the
parliament rejected this proposal because it
was in contradiction with the law of freedom
of belief (1922). Only after dissolution of the
Lapua movement did a new rise of freethought movement become possible.
The birth of Ajatuksen Vapaus is closely
connected with the formation of new freethought associations in Helsinki, Turku and
Tampere in 1936. The correspondence of
active Freethinkers during this period was
the influence which S.E. Kristianson's Vcpaa Ajutus still retained. Freethinkers started to have meetings in order to change
opinions. This had a positive influence on
the venture. Then Tampereen Seudun Siviilirekisteriyhdistys (The CivilRegister Association of Tampere Region - Freethought
associations went by the name of Civil
Register Associations until the 1940s) decided to start publishing a freethought magazine, Ajatuksen Vapaus, September 7,
1937. Freethinkers acted with caution. A
member of the Tampere city government,
Page 26

\ \ I'M GOINGTO ENJO'1 THE HEREAFTER - I

DON'T INTEND TO SPENO IT COP'1ING THIS
TRASH !"
was elected editor although he was a pseudo
editor. The magazine was not distributed in
those towns where an association was not
established. Ajatuksen Vapaus was a kind
of pioneer of the centralization of freethought associations. The Union was founded November 21,1937. Actually, publishing
the magazine went over to the Union at the
beginning of 1938.
The main principles of the magazine were
nearly the same as previous journals, arising
from scientific materialism and developmental optimism. Although the separation of the
state and church was the great, long-range
aim, Ajatuksen Vapaus had several minor
goals. Among these were the founding of
communal cemetaries, the abolition of the
church's status as a population register
authority, and improvement in school affairs
of atheist children. The main demand was
for ethical instruction for non-religious pupils independent of religions and the church.
Suomen Siviilirekisteriyhdistysten Keskusliitto (Central Union of the Civil Register
Associations in Finland) comprised sixteen
associations. The readership of Ajatuksen
Vapaus was mainly formed by members of
these associations. Besides purely organizational information, writings and articles by
Rafael Karsten, RolfLagerborg, Pentti Haanpaa, Arvo Turtiainen, and, naturally, Ernst
December, 1984

Lampen-Iso-Keisari were published; Upton

Sinclair and Albert Einstein represented
foreign writers. It can be seen that Freethinkers gave their support to the regulation
of birth, abolitionism, feminist movement
and efforts concerning humanization of criminallaw. They also defended refugees when
a shipload of Jews was sent back to Germany to die there. This was heavily criticized. It has been regarded that most of the
influences came from papers like The Truth
Seeker and The Freethinker and so were
non-Marxian.
Although Ajatuksen Vapaus, like its predecessors, did not deal with politics, its main
supporters were the organized labor movement and the liberal bourgeoisie. This was
an old combination proved to be good in
many struggles. There was certainly one
absolute line in politics. The political line of
the Lapua movement (fascist) and later on
I.K.L. (Patriotic National Movement - very
fascist also) could not be approved. I.K.L.
fanatically attacked Freethinkers and regarded them allas Communists. Most prominent advocates of I.K.L. were Lutheran
priests playing politics and preaching with
vehemence against Freethinkers in parliament. The Lapua movement and I.K.L. took
also in their use means like murders, kidnappings, and even plots against the govemThe American Atheist

ment.
The editor of Ajatuksen Vapaus was
Armo Immanuel Vuotila of Tampere. He
was an eager and active Atheist. Only three
numbers of the journal appeared during
1937, nine in 1938 and seven in 1939. The
typography and the layout of Ajatuksen
Vapaus were rather modest.
Authorities attacked the magazine again,
aiming to suppress it all together. Probably
this was the case only in Tampere City and a
conservative paper, Aamulehti. The Tarnpere Association was accused for two reasons: 1) persons who did not enjoy civil
rights (meaning Communists) were elected
to the board of the association; and 2)
publications of the association were blasphemous. The charges in the first point
were finally rejected for prosecution but the
association was dissolved on November 16,
1939 because of point two. History repeated
itself. Because Tampere was the centre of
the atheist movement, this act was a decisive blow to the entire movement. Of course,
Ajatuksen Vapaus was suppressed. The
new organization of the freethought movement during the latter part of the 1930s was
strictly opposed by Fascists who all over the
country co-operated with Christians. Conservatives supported Fascists and the Social Democrats were trying delicately to
support Freethinkers. All the struggle was
partly polemics between political parties

and more political tone than necessary was

given to the work of the movement. Freethinkers pointed out that their aim was only
to improve the social status of those who
had separated themselves from the church
and defended civil liberties. Original letters
by Armo Vuotila show that freethinkers
acted according to the law in every detail
and had no intention of going beyond this.
On the other hand, among Fascists and
Christians there had already dissoluted an
organization called Sinimusta-jarjesto (BlueBlack organization) because it acted against
the law. On the whole the situation for a
Freethought magazine was not different
from that of the 191Os.
On the basis of collected information it is
known that printing of different issues of
Ajatuksen Vapaus varied between 1,700 to
3,000 copies. The magazine gained about
900 to 1,050 subscribers and perhaps 2,000
to 3,000 readers. Most of the distribution
work was done by the associations which
were located mainly in greater towns. Most
of the money came from subscriptions and
some part from the selling of single copies.
Costs consisted mainly of printing costs. As
its predecessors Wapaita Aatteita (1889
90) and VapaaAjatus (191017)had,Ajatuk
sen Vapaus promoted the ideals which had
originated from the 19th century. This work
has at the same time been a strugggle for
rudimentary civil liberties like freedom of

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Kimmo Sundstrom studied

sociology and philosphy
at the University of Helsinki.
He was the editor of
Vapaa Ajattaleija 1981-1983.
In 1984 he became general manager
of Kustannus Oy Vapaa Ajattalija Ab
owned by the Union of Freethinkers
and its member associations.
Since 1983 he has managed the
Book Dealer House VOLTAIRE Books
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belief and press. The whole era until 1945

was a period when the freethought movement was prohibited, persecuted, and its
activities interrupted. During the former
part of the 1930s, Finland was politically
national and fascistic, religiously Christiantotalitarian.
Compared with its predecessors, Ajatuksen Vapaus had the advantage of beiog
based on an organized movement and associations. This created continuity and stability. Ideas promoted by Ajatuksen Vapaus
did not die with the suppression of the
magazine. By 1940 a new magazine, Vapaa
Ajattelija (1940-41, 1945-)(Free Thinker, the
present organ of the Union of Freethinkers),
started to appear. ~

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Page 27

THEATHE5TNEXTDOOR
Historically, Atheists have been hesitant to socialize or to communicate
with other people. Their hesitancies
stem from the hostility of the general
(religious) community toward Atheism
over the years_ More recently, however, Atheists have found that a much
larger Atheist community exists in the
U.S_ than had previously been suspected. American Atheists, consequently,
has been receiving numerous requests
for an Atheist person-to-person forum.
If you would like to be "The Atheist
Next Door" in one of our upcoming
issues simply write for a question/ guideline form. Other Atheists are interested
in hearing of your experiences.
Write to: ATHEIST NEXT DOOR
c/o American Atheists - PO Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768-2117.
Featured in this month's column is
Scott A_Kerns, age 29, a male research
virologist. He is also the Houston Chapter Director of American Atheists.
What is Atheism?
To me Atheism is a lifelong process, a
systematic "weeding out," if you will, of
irrational beliefs.
.
Why are you an Atheist?
I am an Atheist, not because I choose to
be, but as a result of my realization that the
religion with which I had been indoctrinated
(and allother faiths that I had studied) was in
direct opposition to my scientific training,
that it was largely responsible for the miseries of my life, and that it simply did not
"work."
How did you become an Atheist?
Amazingly, I managed to maintain my
self-deception through my junior year of
college, at which point the "foundation of
faith" gave in and I was able to free my mind
from the emotional and intellectual enslavement of religion. The process of "dechristianization" took about six months,
wherein my skepticism continued to grow
through Bible study and researching the
world's religions and philosophies. The intellectual realization of my Atheism preceded the emotional break with religious
dependency but I quickly regained mental
health as I resumed in the real world.
What do you consider to be specifically
Atheist values and ethics?
The values that I have (either) adopted
since becoming a "scientific" Atheist (or
those which come naturally to a free mind)
stem from a positive but honest, selfconcept balanced with an acceptance of my
weaknesses. I have found that conducting
Page 28

my life in such a way that my actions best

serve myself and society produces the greatest satisfaction. Being completely responsible for my behavior and always attempting
to perform in what I feel to be the most
rational, productive manner that I can I am
able to minimize regrets which lead to guilt
feelings and other destructive, self-defeating
emotions. Enjoying life, providing pleasure
to myself and others, making the most out of
my options and abilities is the code by which
I live and is a direct result of my Atheism.
What have reactions to your Atheism
been? From family, friends, co-workers?
I have received varying reactions to my
Atheism, from all-out horror to blase indifference to pleasant surprise from other
Atheists, who thought they were alone in a
sea of religious insanity. My parents, if they
were upset by my announcement that I no
longer believed in their god, carefully concealed it, as they have continually expressed
their respect for my right to discover my
own truths. My friends at the time were all
agnostics or highly skeptical and were relieved at my de-conversion. We all grew in
our Atheism together. Reactions from coworkers have not been so accepting. Since I
. have always been quite vocal and unequivocal with my views and opinions I did not
go through a "closet Atheist" stage; I proudly announced my discovery immediately,
perhaps somewhat naively expecting the
world to embrace me for it. As a blue-collar
worker, I was met with alternating suspicion
and amusement (as a peculiar novelty), but
in general, a good-natured interest in how I
arrived at my conclusion. Since moving to
the "Bible-belt" and entering the professional world I found that among my fundamentalist colleagues I would be faced with
cold shoulders, barbed reproaches, prayers,
and criticisms behind my back. Among the
more "enlightened" Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s there
have been private, hushed confessions that
they too were Atheists (but that they "just
don't make a big deal of it"), pleas to "at least
be an agnostic" and worry over possible
controversy. I must say that both the most
highly positive and extremely negative reactions have only been since I have been
director of the Houston Chapter of American Atheists and have received much publicity for "trying to take Bibles away from
little children."
Do you feel that the general situation
for Atheists has grown better or worse
in recent years?
The situation for Atheists has improved in
some ways and become worse in others.
Even church leaders recognize that interest
in religion is once again waning and the
"unchurched" are growing rapidly. Opinion
polls, although not a truly reliable source,
December, 1984

show an increasing number of persons who

are non-religious. American Atheists has
shown itself to be a viable force in fighting for
and achieving separation of state and church,
At the same time we have seen disastrous
Supreme and lower court rulings on state/church issues and on solidification of certain
right-wingreligio-politicallobby groups which
are continually promoting their "equal access," "family protection acts," and prayer
amendments in Congress, with the full endorsement of the president. They have
successfully invaded the electronic media
and collectively have tremendous fiscal
clout. In other words, although more and
more people are coming around to our way
of thinking we still have a lot of work ahead
of us.
How do you deal with traditionally religious activities or ceremonies, like marriages or wakes?
Although my wife and I were married
(largely due to the adverse shunning by our
families because of our cohabitation), I do
not feel that marriage, either as a legal
requirement (as Dr. O'Hair calls it, "a license to f--k") or a ritual, has any significance
to Atheists in today's society. Promising to
remain loyal and "faithful" to one person for
your entire life is a sick and self-denying
commitment. Although each Atheist must
find her or his own companionship needs, it
appears that more open relationships or
shorter marriage contracts are more reasonable approaches. The choice whether or
not to have children, of course, must be
considered .in designating an appropriate
joint commitment. The concepts of marriage and romantic love are deeply rooted in
theology and are methods of control and
possession which have led to much misery,
and as the preacher cautions "should not be
entered into lightly."
I avoid weddings as much as possible,
funerals completely, and would not even
consider attending any other type of religious ritual as all of them are depressing,
embarrassing and farcial.
If you have children or intend to, how
did/are/will you deal with Atheism and
religion with them?
My wife and I have decided against expanding our family, but after having observed the intelligent well-mannered children of other Atheist unions we would,
without a doubt, raise children in a completely atheistic manner. I have a friend who
was raised by Atheist parents who, when in
their pre-teens, sent their five children to
various churches to see what they were like
and then discussed and analyzed what they
observed. Now all five are adults, and are all
flaming Atheists. We would follow a similar
plan. ~
The American Atheist

REPORT FROM INDIA / Margaret Bhatty

VEDIC SCIENCE

part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Maharishi

Mahesh's
Transcendental
Meditation
(TM) movement (1957-1983) many of our newspapers
and periodicals carried display ads with a
picture of this phoney of phonies. It appeared that the World Government
of the
Age of Enlightenment
was now ready to
solve the problems of any government "regardless of the magnitude and nature of the
problem - political, economic, social or
religious; and irrespective of its system capitalism, communism,
socialism, democracy or dictatorship."
A letter of intention was to be addressed
to the Minister of Education at the World
Government
headquarters
in Seelisberg,
Switzerland. Complete confidentiality was
assured after a contract was drawn up by a
mutually acceptable international law firm in
conjunction with an international bank. All
problems would be solved on a basis of cost
reimbursement
after the project was completed.
The ads also appeared in international
publications after a conference held at the
Maharishi International
University, Iowa.
There 7,000 people sat down together in
meditation to "harmonize the world." According to their own statistics this mass
exercise in idleness made stock markets
rise, cut down accident and crime rates,
influenced world leaders towards more positive thinking, and raised the level of love now
extant on the globe. Researchers who even
tracked Reagan's moods declared "positive
developments all over the world."
According to a recent report from Seelisberg, Marco Steifel, President of the Association of World Government, many governments have applied and their applications
are being considered. Success is assured in
every case. "The unified field of all the laws
of nature has been glimpsed by the supergravity theory of quantum physics, and its
complete knowledge is available in ancient
Vedic literature as recently brought to light
by Maharishi."
Beat Odermatt,
professor of cultural research at Seelisberg, says "We have discovered the unified field by linking Vedic
science and modern physics. Scientists are
welcome to come and verify it."
Nobody has, but salesmen are traveling
out to meet politicians and sell them their
technology of the unified field. DemonstraAustin,

Texas

tions of this theory prove "that the square

root of one percent of the world's population (7,000 individuals) is sufficient to enliven
the evolutionary qualities of the unified field
in the world consciousness."
Says Prof. Carlo Rubia of the European
Centre for Nuclear Research in Geneva,
where high-energy physics is used but not to
affect stock markets and politics, "We are
facing a major problem of ignorance here."
Mahesh Yogi discovered the Technology
of the Unified Field in 1971-1982. Displaying
a remarkable
mastery of jabberwocky
he
December,

1984

says that "the objective approach of modern

science has located the unified field as a
self-interacting, self-referral reality. The subjective approach of ancient Vedic science
brings the experience of self-referral reality
in the simplest state of human awareness transcendental
consciousness."
Among all his other obscure sayings one
is "Flood of knowledge through science will
verify Vedic truths."
And again, "Every
accomplished
scientist in India is a Vedic.
The Veda content flows through his veins."
Briefly, this means that everything we
know today was known before. There is no
knowledge, no science which is not already
found in the Vedas. But what are the Vedas?
As the oldest body of revealed literature
the Vedas are the bedrock of Hinduism and
Hindu civilization. They originated with a
group of invaders who arrived in India in the
second millennium B.C. and called themselves Aryans. There are four Vedas: Rig
Veda, Yajurveda, Sama Veda, and Atharvaveda. The Rig Veda is the most important,
and some reject the fourth one because it is
full of magic and hocus-pocus.
Modern
scholars do not consider these scriptures to
be as old as Indians do. Their origin is
probably after 2500 B.C., and they consist
chiefly of hymns and prayers composed for
the propitiation
of the many gods worshipped by the pastoral Aryans. The orthodox, however, believe they were created
when the world began and were dictated by
a god to four chosen persons. They also
believe that the Vedas are the repository of
knowledge and the fountainhead
of every
branch of science. They are timeless and
therefore eternal. Anything worth knowing
about the universe is found in them!
Manu, the ancient Hindu lawgiver, declared
that no one must apply reason to the Vedas.
If he does and condemns them he should be
treated as an Atheist. In Hindu terms, an
Atheist (nastick) is not one who disbelieves
in a god but one who disbelieves the Vedas.
The word Veda comes from the root vid
(to know). For centuries
the Vedas remained an oral tradition, handed down by
trained priests who spent a lifetime learning
their contents and practicing their chanting.
There are still a few surviving centers in
India today where young Brahmins
go
through sixteen arduous years of training of
which four are devoted to astrology and the
rest to phonetics, grammar, etymology, etc.

Page 29

When a Vedic word is uttered there is a

corresponding vibration in a particular nerve
plexus (nadi) of the human body which
tunes the mind and thought. So by the
correct chanting of Vedic mantras it is
possible to produce positive impulses.
Says one Indian expert, quoting noted
German physicist Dr. Brian Josephson's
address to a conference of Nobel laureates
(!!), -there is a connection between the
pattern of sound oscillation of the Vedic
words and their meanings. And, again, Dr.
Carl-Friedich von Weizsaecker believed
that "prana is a vitalizing power extended
into space as a moving power. The quantum
theory describes a phenomenon which is
not totally different from prana."
Each sound must conform to eight rules
with reference to particular parts of the
body from which each sound emanates. The
potency of the mantra depends entirely on
these rules. Any variation in accent from
region to region renders them ineffective. In
fact, ancient seers refused to commit these
cant rips to writing material as inert as stone,
metal, leaves, or paper. They are a science
of sound and accents learned and manipulated only through the ear. The original
Vedas were written in Dev Bhasha, or the
language of the gods, allegedly the mother of
all languages spoken in the world. Being in
an obscure language, unwritten and the
monopoly of the priestly class, preserved
the Vedas for yeqrs. There was vigorous
objection to secular scholars studying their
contenfs. It was argued that those who had
no faith in the magical quality of the mantras
could not possibly grasp the real meaning of
the text.
Indian rationalist and Sanskrit scholar,
Dr. Surenda Ajnat, has closely analyzed the
contents of these holy scriptures in his book
A Critique of the Vedas. He refutes their
infallibility and proves that, like the Christian Bible, they have their obscene passages .
dealing with incest, bestiality, debauchery,
absurdities, medical folklore, contradictions, superstitions and much else.
One chapter of his book is devoted to
"Science in The Vedas." With the spread of
western education in India in the nineteenth
century many Hindus felt a sense of inferiority. They saw themselves "politically slaves,
socially cancerous, economically weak, intellectually stagnant and mentally dogmatic."
They then began looking back into their
past for lost glory in the past could stand less
scrutiny. Obscure texts in their many old
scriptures were now reinterpreted to mean
new things. These interpretations turned up
an astonishing number of scientific inventions and theories which had somehow been
hidden in the text. According to Nirad
Chaudhuri, "It was proclaimed that if a
Hindu kept a pigtail it was only as an
electromagnetic coil." Indeed, many customs and tabus were now scientifically explainable. "If he bathed in the Ganges it was
because an unspecified European (for prePage 30

There is nothing a von Daniken can teach

ference German) had demonstrated that
these scholars! Ancient mantras were actuGanges water killed bacteria instantly. if he
ally computer circuits, we're told. Nuclear
fasted at full and new moon it was only to
weapons were used in the great war of the
counteract the gravitational forces of the
Mahabharata fought on a sixteen-acre plot
sun and the moon."
in northern India somewhere between the
I once had a young Brahmin girl explain to
fourth and the second century B.C. Adme that her mother had taught her ritual
dressing the eighth world conference on the
purity in matters of preventing "others"
Ancient Astronaut Society in Vienna, the
from touching one's food dishes and utensils
Indian delegate declared that ancient India
is essentially a scientific means of avoiding
had about 40 aircraft of eight different
infection. (But this scientific theory does not
designs used by super-humans (gods.) His
explain why contagion is more likely from
was the first scholarly effort to make a
those of lower cast and not of one's own
catalogue of these flying machines mencaste.)
tioned in the Vedas and other scriptures
Since most scriptures were in classical
down to the 14th century scholar SayanaSanskrit known to scholars, the new
charya. These planes had three pilots and
science had to be dug out of the Vedas
carried up to 17 passengers.
which were recorded in older dialects. From
When early western scholars in India tried
that time to the present it is widely believed
to record the Vedas in order to study them,
that the Vedas comprise all branches of
they were met with hostility by the priestly
science and are full of information hereto
caste. Max Muller finallysucceeded in bringunknown to the rest of the world. Closer
ing out the first editions. He was strongly
scrutiny of some of these "facts" hardly
criticized for this sacrilege. His own contensupport this tall claim. The earth is detion was that to "discover in the Vedas
scribed as stationary. The sun is drawn
steam engines, electricity and European
across the sky in a chariot by seven horses.
philosophy and morality is to deprive them
During an eclipse the moon is covered by a
of their true character."
demon of darkness called Rahoo.1t is in this
Creative intelligence, the unified field thesame tradition that the Maharishi has "disory, transcendental meditation, levitation,
covered" the technology of the unified field
the art of turning oneself invisible are some
in his reading of Vedic wisdom. Some deof the discoveries made by the maharishi
cades back one particular Hindu reformist,
from the Vedas. Since the Vedas are inwho founded a new sect with the cry "Back
exhaust able and eternal we can look- forto the Vedas!," turned up evidence that the
ward to more surprises. ~
ancient Hindus knew the wireless. He hung
his theory on a single word "taruiaram"
closely resembling the word for wire (tar.)
Tarutaram really means "defeating the enemy," but his interpretation ascribed to the
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ancients the invention of the wireless.
"Vimana" means celestial chariot. He
In 1978 your editors,
took it to mean airplane. In the 1920s, a
assisted by Joseph Edamaruku,
scholar in Bangalore turned up with detailed
editor of an Indian atheist publication,
drawings of a flying machine supposedcombed India seeking writers
ly designed by the ancients. It was found to
who would consistently offer an
be a fraud with the blueprints done by a interpretation of Indian religious events.
student of engineering. But many Hindus
Margaret Bhatty, in Nagpur
still believe it was genuine.
a well-known feminist journalist, agreed
It is claimed that the ancients also built
that she would do so in the future.
rockets and travelled in space in interShe joined the staff of
planetary rockets. "I have gone to the sky the American Atheist in January, 1983.
from the earth and from the sky to the
heaven," says the text, actually referring to
a household rite recorded in the Veda.

December, 1984

The American Atheist

HISTORICAL NOTES
100 Years Ago ...

of mind, though, and of course the thing is a

farce from a religious point of view.' An
opinion on the same subject was obtained
from a member of the St. Paul's Society: 'I
Under the editorship of E.M. MacDonald,
don't think,' he said, 'that either of the two
The Truth Seeker had the following notice
religious societies - the St. Paul's or the
in its December 6th, 1884 pages:
Christian Brethren - will oppose the peti"Our New Story Book"
tion as a body. In fact, although I regret to
say it, the attendance at the meetings of my
"It is scarcely necessary to call attention
society is lamentably small. Out of a memto the advertisment of our new story book
bership of seventy-five sometimes but five
for children and youth, by the talented
editress of our Children's Corner - it or six attend the society's religious services.'
To another interrogatory as to how the
shows for itself...
"It is the first attempt in this country .....;. students regarded morning prayers, he anand, we think, in any - to publish a book for swered, 'As an exercise to be got rid of, if
Freethinkers' children equal in finish and possible.' 'What do you think,' was further
illustration and general attractivness (sic) to asked him, 'the effect would be upon the
the thousands printed in the interests of attendance at prayers if they are made a
voluntary instead of a compulsory exersuperstition. Books there are, and excellent
ones so far as reading matter goes, but this cise?' 'I don't believe fifteen men would go to
willbe profusely illustrated, printed on tinted them. Some fellows go now willingly bepaper, with illuminated covers, and just cause the habit has grown upon them, and it
is a convenient way to start the day, but they
such a book as we know from experience
willattract the little ones and the youth of might just as well go over at the hour for
prayers to the Delta and walk with unten to sixteen. The lessons the stories
covered heads around the statue of John
inculcate are those of honesty, truthfulness,
kindness, and charity - natural morality, Harvard.' From allof which it is inferred that
on scientific principles. The illustrations are prayer is not held in high esteem by the
selected for their beauty and interest, and students at Harvard."
will,we feel sure, prove of unfailing interest
to the youthful readers of the book."
The December 13, 1884 issue of that
The next report should be of great in- same journal held the next encouraging
terest to the many American Atheists in our note.
nation's colleges and universities. It was first
"The vote in Washington territory on
published in the same issue of The Truth
taxing church property shows a large majorSeeker as the above.
ity in favor of such taxation. At the recent
election the women of the territory cast
"The question of compulsory attendance
at morning prayers is being' agitated at about 11,000 votes. This settles the current
Harvard College. A petition to the board of idea that women willnot vote when they hav
(sic) the right to vote. It is also a straw to
overseers has been drafted, asking that
show that they favor the demand of Secularattendance at prayers be made voluntary
ism that church property pay its share of the
for those students who are twenty-one
years of age and upward, and optional taxes."
according to the wishes of the parents or
guardians of those who are under twentyone years of age. When the petition was first
30 Years Ago ...
issued, it contained a preamble which bound
the signers, if the usual petition failed, 'to
follow it up with decisiv, (sic) concerted
The Progressive World of December,
action,' and a pledge 'when alumni of this 1954 held this report in its "News and Comments" section.
college to use all our influence to destroy
this pernicious system and to cast our votes
for overseers accordingly.' The petition re"In a ruling of a nation-wide importance,
ceived many signatures. This agitation has the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in
been going on spasmodically for several effect upheld a New Jersey decision that
years, but the puritanical, tyrannous ele- distribution of the New Testament in public
ment has thus far prevailed with the over- schools violates the Constitution by showseers. To a question as to what the students
ing preference for one creed over another.
think of the obligatory morning exercises,
The Court also held that the reading of
one of them said recently, 'Oh, they think portions of the Old Testament in the public
that it's a good way to get the fellows up in schools is constitutional because 'the Old
the morning - a sort of roll call, you know. Testament is non-sectarian.' There is some
They are not apt to be in a devotional frame factual basis for this discrimination between
Austin, Texas

December,

1984

the two Testaments so far as the JewishChristian population is concerned. But what
about those of other faiths? Anyway, the
Old Testament will be more interesting to
the youngsters because of all its blood and
thunder."
,
In the same month of 1954, however, the
"Religious News" article by Frank C. Hughes
in the Liberal had this ominous bit to report:
"The Board of Regents at Albany, New
York, has approved inclusion of the words
'under God' in the pledge to the flag in
schools of New York State."

20 Years Ago ...

It should be noted that in December of
1964 the Indian Rationalist Association was
founded by Dr. Ragunath Paranjpye and
was later fortunate to have GORA as one of
its spokesmen.
The Liberal, December, 1964 had the
following news account:
"Speaking of the denial of citizenship by a
Canadian judge to a man and wife of Dutch
birth the Minister of Justice of Canada is
quoted in the Financial Post of Toronto: 1
would say that the fact of a person professing not to be a follower of any given religion
or another or of no religion, ought not to be
taken as an indication that the person so
stating or so professing is not a person of
good character.'"

5 Years Ago ...

Dial-An-Atheist had first been founded by
Lloyd Tholen in Indiana. But when the
Chicago (now Northern Illinois) Chapter of
the American Atheists began the second
Dial-An-Atheist service on December 9th,
1979, it caused a furor. In two months, the
number received over 30,000 calls. Dial-AnAtheist quickly became famous internationally, as well as the voice, that of Troy Soos,
behind it. The service was featured on
ABC's "Eyewitness News," and Time, Playboy, Life, Der Spiegel, and many other
periodicals all reported on its introduction.
This Dial-An-Atheist was even called "The
Best Prerecorded Telephone Message of
the Year" by The Chicago Reader. Comments were received from around the world:
South Africa, Holland, England, Australia,
Canada. Some of the excellent messages
given through this phone service are recorded in Dial-An-Atheist,' available from
the American Atheist Press.
Page 31

POTPOURRI
THOUGHTS ON THE FESTIVE SEASON. As Atheists we need to know what this time of the year really means. We are bombarded with
so much Christian propaganda that we are prone to believe that December 25th is solely a Christian holiday. In reality this time of the year has
been celebrated by humans for possibly thousands of years before the origin of the (vicious) Christian cult. To the ancient people it was a
critical concern what the weather would be. Were the days to continue becoming progressively shorter and colder? Was total darkness to
ensue without a growing season and therefore no more food and no summer heat? The advent of the lengthening of the days after the 22nd of
December was something for which to be thankful. This was a time for celebration, fires were lit, and feasts were the order of the day - much
the same as we do today with all the lights and decorations and the gifts and the lavish feasts in which we take part.
The Christians in their bid for .suprernacy and to perpetrate the myth of their god, Jesus Christ, have and are attempting to give the
impression of being the originators of this festive season. As matter of fact, the Christians have celebrated the birth of their god at different
periods of the calendar year up to the year 440 A.D. when they settled on December 25th, which was a ready made festive season. It could be
said that the Christians have stolen a natural phenomenon and made it into a religious and mystical event.
There is nothing wrong for us as Atheists to celebrate this natural occasion. We should let it be known why we are celebrating. This is one of
the laws of nature, the period of dormancy and hibernation is only temporary; spring with all its beauty and splendor is on its way. Each season
has its beauty but must also give way to the next season.
The following exerpts from the Encyclopaedia Britannica are in reference to the Solstice:
The Eskimos and the Indians of Arizona, the Amozulu, etc., observed the most northern and southern points reached by the sun.
In the beginning many of the earth's inhabitants were sun worshippers because their lives depended on its yearly round in the heavens,
and feasts were held to aid its return from distant wanderings. In the south of Europe, in Egypt and Persia, the sun gods were worshipped
with elaborate ceremonies at the season of the Winter Solstice, as a fitting time to pay tribute to the benign gods of plenty, while in Rome
the Saturnalia reigned for a week. In northern lands mid-December was a critical time, for the days became shorter and shorter and the
sun was weak and far away. Thus these people held feasts at the same period that Christmas is now observed; they built great bonfires in
order to give the winter god strength and to bring him to life again. When it became apparent that the days were growing longer, there
was great rejoicing because of the promise of lengthening days to follow... The exact day and year of Christ's birth has never been
satisfactorily settled, but when the fathers of the church in A.D. 440 decided upon a date to celebrate the event, they wisely chose the day
of the Winter Solstice which was firmly fixed in the minds of the people and which was their most important festival. Henri LeBastard
SA NT A CLAUS WAS FOR REAL I was firmly believing in Santa Claus years after I should, in time's normal abrasion, have outgrown the
jolly gent. But I had irrefutable truth on my side:
One Christmas morning I found sleigh tracks in the snow. They came into our yard and stopped just right for Santa to have his toy delivery.
Only they suddenly ended there right in their tracks. Obviously the sleigh had taken to the air and sped airborne across the fields to Grandma's
house, where the tracks resumed.
Years later my mother explained that Grandpa had visited us early on Christmas morning to bring presents. The wind-driven snow had
covered the tracks in the pattern that was my undeniable evidence.
I sure hated to have Santa Claus go the way of the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, god, and other cherished but mythical characters. Maybe
this is whajthey mean by "growing pains." R.c. W. Davis
THERE IS NO GOD. Not long ago, a mutual friend told my wife, "I was suprised to learn that Lowell is an Atheist because he seems so
close to nature." She was correct in that I do love nature. As I write these words, I am sitting in the woods under a beech tree. It is an idyllic
day in April, and, at my feet, wild orchids are emerging from beneath the dead leaves of a past season. Occasionally a tree frog or a fence
lizard willappear atthe periphery of my vision. The air is rich with the odor of honeysuckle, and the singing of a mockingbird completes the
seeming perfection of the day. It is here that I belong. Only in the wild places do I feel at home in a way that I can never feel with even the best
of people.
Yet, the things that nature has taught me are the very things that led me away from the belief that our world is under the protection of a
divine overseer. For example, a few feet from where I am sitting there stands a hollow tree which is the home of a humble little woodland
creature known as the opossum. A relative of the kangaroo, the female opossum has a pouch that contains thirteen nipples to which her
young attach themselves soon after birth. It is there that they remain until they are four to fiveweeks old. During my years as an elementary
school teacher, I once saw a color illustration of a mother opposum and her babies in a story book, the purpose of which was to teach
children about the benevolence of the Judeo-Christian creator. Unfortunately, the book failed to mention that a female opossum can have
up to twenty-five babies at a time which means that as many as twelve of her offspring are destined to die of early starvation. But,
nonetheless, the book did do some good because the adage that no true religion is ever offensive to a little child struck me, upon reading it,
as a reliable guide in religious matters because it can only lead to the denial of all religions. After all, where is there a child so depraved as to
believe that the sins of an Eve or of a Pandora can in some way explain the suffering of these helpless animals. And as for the theory of
"Saint" Augustine that animals only give the appearance of suffering, such a denial of reality is not only offensive to a child's sensitivity, it is
insulting to his intelligence.
Another example from nature of the falsity of a belief in divine providence is that of a snake I once found that had a broken jaw. Unable to
either catch food on his own or to swallow it when it was given to him, he died a slow agonizing death. Iwould suggest that the corpse of that
snake be hung over a church altar in lieu of Easter lilies.It would better inspire the Christian's appreciation of the true nature of the god-idea
in which he believes. Perhaps the more thoughtful in the congregation would come to wonder why all of the theologians who have ever lived
are at a loss to justify the agony of that one snake.
To the theist, the immeasurable waste and suffering that is an inherent part of nature is an embarrassment that makes his belief system
impossible to defend. His response is to minimize the problem by claiming that the earth is nothing more than a proving ground on the
threshold of eternity. This enables him to live comfortably in a dream world, shut off from the sometimes harsh reality that passes just
outside his window. Unfortunately, his escape from reality also renders him useless at best in the struggle to make the world a safer and a
happier place for all its creatures.
Lowell Newby

Page 32

December, 1984

The American Atheist

WHO'S KIDDIN' WHO?

ets face it folks! There is not now, nor

has there ever been "separation of
state and church" in this or any other
nation.
There are but a few absolutes in this world
and one of them is that all cultures, all
societies and all nations, historically, have
attempted to deify their own greed and
religious insanities through the powers of
government. In many cases religion was
government - pure and simple. In many
countries it still is.
Sure, there have been cases where jealousies and rivalries for dominant control
have caused open and heated hostilities to
flare between priest and politico. But, when
the smoke clears, kings and emperors and
congressmen alike have had the "good
political sense" not to overly antagonize the
childish mythological imaginations of their
citizen charges. So, let's quit pretending
that it has been the duty of American
Atheists to "protect" the separation of state
and church that we naively assumed was
established by the insertion of nine hypocritical words in the First Amendment. That is a dream that we must now
erase from our minds - a tragic miscalculation of what our duty has really been.from
the beginning - an arduous attempt to
establish separation of state and church.
In a sense, Righteous Ronnie was very
nearly correct when he said "religion and
politics are necessarily related." What he
should have said is that religion and politics
are inherently related. Thus amended, his
statement, I must grudgingly admit, is accurate!
No Atheist in his/her right mind can say
that religion has not intimidated, almost
mandated, or otherwise dominated the offices, policies and functions of "civil" government in the United States. Politicians will
kiss any extremity extended toward them
by religion in an attempt to save, or to
establish, their bureaucratic positions. That
is a fact that we should have realized all
along. Its about time we reassess our priorities. As I stated recently in a communication with the various Chapter Directors of
American Atheists, "our so-called heritage
was actually a relic from old ideas, old
customs, antiquated knowledge and prejudiced conformity." To now attempt to change
the entire fabric of our culture seems an
ominous task - but, it is something that we
Austin,

Texas

must do if sanity is ever to rule. Anyone

should know that progress in any context,
including cultural, literally means - change.
The mere writing of a constitutional provision does not, in itself, induce change. A few
elegant words, devoid of executive and
judicial enforcement, are no more than
patronizing official verbiage that carries
about as much clout as a prayer.
I can offer no more significant evidence
for my arguement than may be realized by
the reconsideration of circumstances regarding our recent legal win in the courts of
Texas (O'Hair us. Hill) as was reported in
the October issue of American Atheist
magazine. You may recall that our "favorable" decision culminated an effort that
consumed seven years and over forty thousand dollars in court costs. Perhaps we were
so pleasantly blinded by the "win" that we
completely forgot that we were also "losers." Whether or not we had successfully
gained the removal of the objectionable
clause requiring "acknowledgement of a
supreme being," we had always been considered "good enough" to be Texas taxpayers. As such, we were also financing,
with Atheist tax money, the state's defensive arguments. Try to figure that one out!
Or perhaps some people wouldn't class that
as "entanglement."
There are so many subtle ways in which
our government - state, local and national
- is intricately entwined with religious bias
that the nation's entire concept of "state/
church separation" is little more than a
hollow, perverted delusion. We need not
even take into account the more obvious
entanglements in order to demonstrate the
nation's problems. By now everyone should
be aware that, as we Atheists have cautioned for years, the spectre of right-wing
fanaticism further corrupting our already
pompous bureaucratic system was inevitable. The prior attitudes of the philosophical
pacifists who would "do business with religion" and with whom we, as adamant,
outspoken Atheists, have wasted much
time, have proven how ignorance and trivia
can paralyze an effort. We (the Atheists)
have had to fight our way past not only the
religionists but the "secular humanists"
(whatever the hell that is supposed to mean)
as well. It hurts, somewhat, to know that
unwary, well-intentioned supporters have
sent money to finance totally ineffective
December,

1984

(supposedly atheistic) organizations. They

might just as well have sent "offerings" to
Jim Bakker or Oral Roberts.
We have used a word in our combined
writings in the American Atheist magazine
and in the Insider's Newsletter so many
times that I occasionally tire from its repetition - education. Is anyone out there? Are
we getting the message to any who might
think that they can hide from catastrophic
disaster? I am to the point of gritting my
teeth when I hear otherwise reasonable
people say; "we gotta be fair now - we
gotta let kids decide whether religion is good
or bad, you know - everybody has a right
to their own opinion." Let's face it, that's
always been a crappy, patronizing statement and we know it. Sure, anyone should
want young minds to be forewarned about
the dangers of religious insanity but do you
suppose that the religiously insane are competent to help in such explanations? Would
you expose an unknowing child to a deadly
disease in hopes that he/she might survive
and thereby become immunized? Would
someone simply be exercising a "personal
right" by so doing?
By now the fact that approximately twenty-five percent of the population is "nonreligious" is well known. What's wrong with
all these millions of people? Why are people
not marching - en masse - into the public
schools and governmental offices and demanding change? Why do we have difficulty
in getting many of our close Atheist associates to at least get our American Atheist TV
Forum started in their viewing areas? The
sad part is that I know the answer to these
questions, and, here's that word again "education" - and the apparant lack of it.
When people who are totally involved in a
Page 33

cause - any cause - relate the problems at

hand their words and warnings are subsequently "evaluated" by those who may not
be so closely involved. A significant portion
of the information thus generated may become discounted as "paranoia" or "overreactionism." Why? The fact is that knowledgeable, hard-core Atheist writers dare not
use the explicit language needed to fit the
occasion. The words would be quite obscene and inappropriate for use in a nice
atheist magazine. Thus we must wear the
white gloves of literary respectability while
religious adversaries are free to lie, cheat
and otherwise infect the minds of the young
(and all ages) with their mind-rot.
Fact one. Immediately after birth most
infants' brains are (intellectually) initialized
with fiction - whether by parents or by the
socio-culture as a whole. Now, any computer person knows what initialization means.
It's the necessary preparation of a "floppy
disc" in order to make it compatable with a
particular computer language/system. Children are told that "little animals" can talk
and that houses can be built from gingerbread. They become totally conscious of the
acceptance of psuedo-naturalism that prevails within society. I will be using the word
"pseudo-natural" (instead of supernatural)
in all, future writings as it accurately describes imaginary nonsense. Look the word
up in your dictionary. (i.e: supernatural (1)
"of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond
what is explainable by natural laws or phenomena.") I hate to point out a scientific
error made by the scholarly writers of
dictionaries, but all things are "explainable"
by natural laws because all things are natural.lt does not matter that the human species
is still essentially primitive in its scientific
awareness and I dare say that it willbe quite
some time before every "unknown" is explained. At the rate civilization is progressing, with thousands of Atheists cringing
fearfully, another Ice Age may pass before
we see significant change. At any rate, as a
child you were conditioned to accept pseudo-natural existences/events as reality. This
may be difficult and offensive for Atheist
adults to now admit - but, it is true!
Fact two. After 1.8.1. (infant brain initialization) you were ready for the "really big
stuff' - religious gods, devils and etc. Now,
some of you might think that this doesn't
apply to you; that you were semi-shielded
from religious indoctrination by your parents. I've heard this story many, many
times. I suppose there will always be a
thread of exclusionism existing among the
old-line, philosophical Atheists. You can
pretend that you have not been touched by
religion and perhaps it willafford you some
kind of ethereal security for a while. This
attitude only exemplifies the fact that such
ideas are merely products of minds that are
not really in touch with reality. That is the
identical attitude displayed by religious people; they are exempt from reality; when the
Page 34

ship sinks, they willnot drown. Perhaps you

do not worry that psuedo-natural and psuedoscience are, in truth, identical concepts.
Perhaps you also do not worry that the field
of educational science is saturated with
religious nuts and that, unless they are held
in check, those of the "scientific creationist"
ilk will,and already have been intruding into
medicine, particle-physics, astronomy, and
many other areas of advanced learning.
I have been told by others that the first
step toward the cure of alcoholism is the
self-realization that one is an alcoholic. The
same style of cure works for those who have
been religiously insane. First must come the
realization that religion is insanity. And
equally, every Atheist must be aware, by
their own convictions, that no person is
exempt from reality. Everything that occurs
in society has an unavoidable and direct
effect on everyone in that society. We no
longer livein a horse-and- buggy world where
people were insulated from social problems
by time and distance. What happens in
Washington D.C. in this instant affects you
in the same instant. The problems of our
(largely) urban neighborhoods are only a
few feet from us at all times. It is no wonder
that pressures build and' people become
immune to the fact that individual rights are
declining and will continue to do so. This is
what can be expected when intelligent people neglect to face reality; the fact that state
and church have always been the same twoheaded giant that it is today.
Survival is going to depend entirely on
how well each person re-evaluates his/her
own knowledge of events and conditions.
The education that most people have received historically is so thoroughly saturated with inherited fantasies, from soft-ball
to science, that no one suspects that his
opinions are, in many cases, not really his
own. That is what real, dedicated, professional Atheism is all about; a sorting-out of
knowledge; a purging of mythology from the
mind. And, an astute analysis of the consequences of correct thinking.
Every caring person in the nation must
soon realize a war for quality education is
being waged. Ifyou do not know that by now
it is not likely that you ever will. Even many
"liberal" religionists are beginning to understand this fact. I was amazed at the
following quote by the president of Baylor
University - Herbert Reynolds. "If you
want to control a group of people, ifyou gain
control of educational institutions and you
can put in people who think and act the
same way you do, you've got a good sausage
grinder. You can turn out clones". (Baylor
University is the institutional darling of the
southern Baptists who have been intruding
conservative "guidelines" and censorship
there.)
We have all watched the recent political
conventions and, by the time you receive
this December magazine, the elections will
have ended. The consequences of the elecDecember, 1984

tions, however, willhave just begun. Regardless of who the winner was, your duty to
reality remains unchanged. There are no
four-year holidays between election dates.
The years in front of us willbe filled with the
same incessant attacks by religionist nuts as
have the years throughout recorded history. You can allow the situation to continue
and go on ignoring the damage it willcontinue to cause or you can heed the warning of a
religionist - Mario Cuomo, "... although
everybody talks about a wall of separation
between church and state, I've seen religious leaders scale that wall with all the
dexterity of Olympic athletes. In fact, I've
seen so many candidates in churches and
synagogues that I think we should change
election days from Tuesdays to Saturdays
and Sundays." I don't think that any Atheist
could make a more valid assessment of the
reality of the situation nor can I think of a
time in history when the statement would
not have been equally true.
Somehow it seems ironic that notable
political figures like Ferraro and Cuomo can
be openly attacked by their "preachers" and
still not see through the fallacies of religion.
It is equally puzzling that Sandra Johnson
could not split with the insane Mormon,
anti-woman doctrines. These people appear
to be otherwise normal, intelligent folks.
How can they allow themselves to be publicly scolded and embarrassed as though
they were disobedient children - and by
preachers who lack the natural intelligence
of children? It is easier to understand the
difficulties under which a person like Reagan
must function. He seems to have no measurable understanding of reality with which
to begin. One would expect people like
Reagan (or perhaps Jimmy Carter) to heel
on command when a nit-minded minister
intimidated them. That is precisely why I
have written this particular article. Quite
some time ago I suspected that we were
doing something wrong - that Atheists
should not have great difficulty defending
their rights in a free country. I, like everyone
else, just couldn't put my finger on it. We
have been operating on the wonderful assumption that we ever had "rights" in the
first place. It has taken a Ronald Reagan to
point out to me that America has always
been exactly what it is today: a politicalreligious country club. Now I can better
align my perspectives of past, present and
future conditions. Thanks Ronnie! ~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The "common sense" man of Atheism,
Gerald Tholen
is the product of
the Gulf Coast marshes of Texas.
When he's not slaving over
the American Atheist as
its Assistant Editor,
he is writing poetry of which
an Atheist movement can be proud.
The American Atheist

POETRY
Accepting the challenges impinging on us
Every second of every day
Hearts of joy and words of praise
Said along the way.
Seeing the beauty, harsh though it be
In everything around
Infinite delights of precious insights
Everywhere abound.
Casting out the illusion that
There is such a thing as sin
This one grotesque apparition
Reinforces the rut many are in.

FREEDOM

So sing these songs brothers and sisters

Our institutions will be stormed
If you seek the truth then hear from me
Life is something to be transformed.

Now is the time to sing this song

All you children of the earth
To sing with joy a freedom song
And to feel an infinite worth.

E.J.K.

Today's the day to sing this song

Forgetting illusions of the past
Sing out this song, letting mountains ring
For we are free at last.
Free from superstitions
Mumbled on childhood knees
Free from annual repetitions
Questing for eternity.
Free from every evangelist
Ranting for an hour
Free to continue expanding ourselves
And developing our powers.
Free from inquisitions
And tortures of the rack
Free from authority, duty, and tradition
Looking forward instead of back.

WINTER

Sing these songs of freedom

Oh, you children of the earth
Raising your voices loud and clear
To a crescendo of infinite worth.

And now we turn to Winter

The bleak and cold we fear
The dormant days that we must wait
The cruelest days each year

Grounding ourselves upon the earth

Getting off of bended knees
Embracing the gifts we have to give
Thinking not of eternity.

But should we dread these icy days

The rain and sleet and snow
They're only Nature's needed way
To make Spring's blossoms grow

Releasing ourselves so that feelings soar

experiencing carefully
Waiting and watching and resting ourselves
Appreciating reverently.

The falling seeds of Autumn sleep

In Winter's richened loam
And bring forth stores of life itself
To every creature's home

Respecting our bodies, triumphs of survival

Magnificence to behold
Dissolving the need to indulge ourselves
So we can laugh when we are old.

So now recall each darkened day

Of Winter at its best
It only brings in its own way
A time for life to rest

Touching the children, improves the race

With kind discerning care
Feeding not their heads with tales of gods
Floating in the air.
Austin, Texas

Gerald Tholen

December, 1984

Page 35

AMERICAN A THEIST RADIO SERIES / Madalyn O'Hair

THE SOLSTICE SEASON

When the first installment of a regularly scheduled, 15-minute, weekly American Atheist radio series on KTBC radio
(a station in Austin, Texas owned by then-president Lyndon Baines Johnson) hit the airwaves on June 3,1968, the
nation was shocked. The programs had to be submitted weeks in advance and were heavily censored. The series was
concluded on October 18, 1975 when no further funding was available.
The following is the text of American Atheist Radio Series No. 30 which was first broadcast on December 23, 1968.
In 1968, the first year of broadcasting for
the American Atheist Radio Series, the
organization, American Atheists, sent out
all over the United States copies of what
what was called "The Solstice Season"
program. It was both printed in the organi
zationalliterature and distributed in a small
broadside.
When the American Atheist magazine
was issued later (the organization was not
sufficiently funded to afford its publication
in 1968), the article was reprinted as the
featured radio program script in the December issue. Since then, for a number of
years it has been repeated yearly in the
magazine.
The American Atheist Center is happy to
do so again this year, hoping that the new
subscribers will come to love it as much as
have the old subscribers and the listeners
who have requested a repeat of it in the
American Atheist Radio Series.

omeone
stole something
from me
and I don't like it. What was stolen from
me - and from you - was one of the most
beautiful days of celebration in the world.
Robert G. Ingersoll (an American agnostic
hero of earlier days) was also angry about
this theft. Let me read to you what he had to
say about it.
He wrote a very famous "Christmas Sermon" which was printed in the Evening
Telegram newspaper, New York City, New
York, on 19 December, 1891. The ministers
of the day attacked
the newspaper
and
demanded a boycott of it. The paper printed
the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley's attack, and
Robert Ingersoll's answer. It developed into
a real donnybrook.
"The good part of Christmas is not
always Christian, it is generally pagan;
that is to say, human and natural.
"Christianity
did not come with
tidings of great joy, but with a message of eternal grief. It came with the
threat of everlasting torture on its lips.
It meant war on earth, perdition thereafter.
"It taught some good things, the
beauty of love and kindness in man.
But as a torch-bearer,
as a bringer of
joy, it has been a failure. It has given
infinite consequences
to the acts of
Page 36

finite beings, crushing the soul with

responsibility too great for mortals to
bear. It has filled the future with fear
and flame, and made god the keeper
of an eternal penitentiary, destined to
be the home of nearly all the sons of
men. Not satisfied with that, it has
deprived god of the pardoning power.
"And yet it may have done some
good by borrowing from the pagan
world the old festival we know as
Christmas.
"Long before Christ was born, the
sun god triumphed over the 'powers
of darkness'. About the time that we
call Christmas,
the days began perceptibly to lengthen. Our barbarian
ancestors were worshipers of the sun,
and they celebrated his victory over
the hosts of night. Such a festival was
natural and beautiful. The most natural of all religions is the worship of the
sun. Christianity adopted this festival.
It borrowed from the pagans the best
it has.
"I believe in Christmas and in every
day that has been set apart for joy.
We in America have too much work
and not enough play. We are too
much like the English.
"I think it was Heinrich Heine who
said that he thought
a blaspheming French man was a more pleasing object to god than a praying
Englishman.
We take our joys too
sadly. I am in favor of all the good free
days - the more the better.
"Christmas is a good day to forgive
and forget, a good day to throwaway
prejudices and hatreds, a good day to
fill your heart and your house - and
the hearts and houses of others with sunshine."
Would you believe that such a warm
Christmas
sermon could cause religious
people to launch a vicious attack on a
newspaper for publishing it? Ingersoll used
the word "borrow". He said that Christians
borrowed the pagan holiday. I use a stronger word. They stole it. They stole the most
beautiful day of celebration of humankind and for what?
They claim that this is the birthday of
Jesus Christ. Let's look at their scholars and
December, 1984

their history and see if this is a fact. You

most probably all know of A. T. Robertson,
the late professor of New Testament Greek
at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He had written
a standard textbook on the so- called Broadus Harmony of the Gospels and it is used in
every school of religion across the land. In
this book is summarized
all the findings of
religious scholarship in relationship to Jesus
Christ and among other things, the date of
his birth.
After a lengthy explanation of when Jesus
Christ may have been born, Dr. Robertson
sets the date at - hold on now - the
summer or early fall of the year 6 B.c. or 5
B.C. Did you hear that? He set the date in
the summer or the fall. Recently the idea of
the first week in January has gained some
following. But no one who is a religious
scholar any more accepts or believes December 25th.
One must calculate from the possible
death of Herod, or the appearance
of the
so-called star in the East, which could have
been a comet recorded by the Chinese or a
conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. But the Greenwich Observatory
says
that the conjunction
appearing as a single
star was very unlikely. Or one can judge the
"time of the universal peace," that is the
"time of no war" about which the alleged
heavenly host sang. But there was never any
stoppage of war in that time.
One can guess from the so-called ministry
of John the Baptist, or the age of Jesus upon
his entry into the ministry, or the building of
the temple of Herod, or the closing of the
temple of Janus, or the so-called census of
Augustus Caesar. All of these lead the poor
theologians in ever-increasing
directions away from the idea of Christmas and the year
"zero" or "one" of our present calendar.
Actually, the idea of December
25th is
untenable.
All the ancients
in Christian
history had various days for Christ's birth.
Clement of Alexander, who was closer to
that alleged event in time, said it was May
20th. April 20th and January
6th have
always appeared
as possible dates. Why,
then, the particular date of 25th December?
Why did the Christians
deliberately steal
this very important date from the pagans?
There are four points in our calendar
The American Atheist

which we use and which we call 'Solstice' or

'Equinox' points, two of each. The latter is
easy: we say that the equinox is when the
sun crossed the equator of the earth and
day and night are everywhere of equal
length. The sun does not actually cross the
equator, we all know that. But with the
earth's natural tilt on its natural axis as it
whirls around the sun, this seems to be so.
Then either one or another part of our old
ball of earth gets the most sun. But on these
two occasions, the days are equal in length
everywhere and this occurs about March
21st and September 23rd by our current calendar.
The Solstice is something different. We
don't go around the sun in a circle; we tour
around it - on our earth - in a short
ellipse, which is a flattened circle, or oval.
When we are in the points furthest away
from the sun, we have another phenornenon. That position, along with the 230 inclination of the earth, causes the Solstices. Twice
a year, the sun is at its greatest distance
from the celestial equator, about June 21st
when the sun reaches its northernmost
point on the celestial sphere, or about
December 22nd when it reaches its southernmost point. We call these moments the
Solstices. The Solstice in December is the
time when the days of the year, in our
(northern) hemisphere, are the shortest.
Primitive man and pagan man were not
idiots, you know. They saw this. Apparently
at the first, they feared the days would get
shorter and shorter and shorter and finally
- what if there were only night! What a
frightening thing, when the sun was so
necessary for life, from common observation. So when the day came for the sun to
overcome that darkness, and for the sun to
cause the days to be longer - even ifjust a
moment longer - it meant that there was
not going to be eternal night. The sun had
won a fight again. Darkness had to recede
and slowly the days would get longer and
longer until spring and summer, with food
growing again and the life cycle renewed,
would be everywhere on the earth.
And so every primitive culture had a
festival or a feast on this day which was
recognized as a natural phenomenon. It was
celebrated in China, in India, in South
America, in Mexico, in Africa, in every single
place where man could watch days and
nights and seasons - and this was everywhere on earth. There were presents given
on this great day, exchanged as a symbol,
for the sun had brought the most precious
gift of all to humankind: the warmth needed
for life and a recycle of the seasons again.
The ancient men noticed other things too.
Certain trees stayed green all year round, a
promise of the abundance of spring and
summer to come again after winter, a reassurance that all the greens would return in
their seasons. The light of the sun and the
twinkling of stars became important in symbolism as well as in fact. The mysterious
Austin, Texas

parasite, mistletoe, ever green, intrigued

primitive man. It all needed to be celebrated,
to be noted with awe. If one could not give
life as the sun did - one could give else,
such as sharing of food or the precious few
personal items they had. But, above all it
was a time of revelry. Life had been renewed, literally. It was the most joyous of all
human occasions. There was universal singing and dancing and laughing and well being.
It was wild and wonderful and human and
warm. It was the best of all festivals. It was
the gayest of all feasts. It was the warmest
and best of all collective human activities.
The Christians were no fools. If they
permitted the pagan celebration to continue
to exit, it could challenge the basis of the
mournful Christian religion, with its great
emphasis on death. First came edicts outlawing the pagan holiday. But nothing so
wildly wonderful and natural as this could
ever be outlawed. How could a celebration
which was possibly millions of years old be
outlawed? And then the solution came:
incorporate it into the Christian religion.
Oh, it took some time. It took decades to
effectuate the change. It took propaganda.
It took many reprisals and santions against
those who continued with the old festival.
But eventually the Christian religion, through
brutal suppression of the old, won the day.
There were changes in the calendars too,
because of the precession of the equinoxes.
When the Gregorian calendar was changed
to the present day calendar, Solstice - or
Christmas - shifted a few days also so that
December 25th, by our current calendar,
came officially to be designated as a Christian day.
It took a thousand years and more to rob
the people of the earth of this grand holiday
and to replace it with a personalized myth
story of a "new god born," a god of a horrible
punitive, new religion called Christianity.
But, it is even easier now to perpetuate
the lie, with mass media. There are many of
you in the listening audience old enough to
remember Armistice Day. That was the day
that World War I ended and it was celebrated for thirty years or more until a
Second World War broke out. After we
veterans came home from that Second
World War we found that there was no
more "Armistice Day" on the calendar.
Instead, there was a Veterans' Day. All the
people in the listening audience tonight who

December, 1984

are twenty-five years old or younger (this

program was aired first in 1968 - 16 years
ago) never even heard of Armisti~e Day.
They only know of Veterans' Day, for that is
all that they were ever taught.
That's how it is with Christmas. That is
how it was with the Solstice. Finally, no one
ever heard of the Solstice and its festivities
- and everyone came to believe that the
Christians were celebrating the birthday of
Christ and that was all that this holiday has
ever been or ever meant.
But the Bible scholars know better and
American Atheists know better and we
celebrate that old and wonderful and joyous
season. American Atheists even sell Solstice cards for this season of "Solstice and
New Year" (really, both are one single day).
Let me read to you what we print now, and
have traditionally printed for over twenty
five years, on our solstice cards. On the
exterior of the card we always have joyful
and cheerful signs of the season. The greetings are to wish one and all the glad tidings of
a wonderful, natural, Winter Solstice season. And, the legend on the back of the card
reads:
"December 25th, by the Julian calendar, was the Winter Solstice. This
day, originally regarded by the pagans
as the day of the nativity of the sun,
the shortest day of the year - when
the light began its conquering battle
against darkness - was celebrated
universally in all ages of man. Taken
over by the Christians as the birthday
of their mythological Christ, this ancient holiday, set by motions of the
celestial bodies, survives as a day of
rejoicing that good will and love will
have a perpetual rebirth in the minds
of men - even as the sun has a
symbolic rebirth yearly."
This informational broadcast is brought
to you as a public service by the Society of
Separationists, Inc., a non-profit, non-political, educational organization dedicated to
the complete and absolute separation of
state and church. This broadcast of the
American Atheist Radio Series is continued
through listener generosity.
I will be with you next week, same day of
the week, same time, same station. Until
then, I do thank you for listening and
"goodbye" for now. ~

Page 37

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ithink some of the arguments which are

prevalent among fellow Atheists are somewhat self-defeating.
Let us start with the assumption that that
which is not observable is not assumed to
exist. Next let us take the assumption of
causalism. Then let us take the Big Bang.
Now look at our dilemma: Either the CAUSE
of the big bang must be observable, or that
CAUSE may not logically be assumed to
have existed. Note the credibility which this
dilemma gives to the theory of uncaused
events, a rather Sartrean theory, which is
my view anyway, and how this breaks the
strictness of the theory of causalism.
Note also that if we go all the way with
causalism, we set up a mechanistic universe, which would bracket us into predestination, and thus deprive us of free will,just
as surely, just as the belief in divine omnipotence and omniscience, if followed all the
way thru logically, would do.
Our people also engage in much debate
over "creationism-vs-evolutionism." There
cannot logically be such debate, any more
than there could be debate over "metal-vscopper." The opposite of creationism is not
EVOLUTION, but COSMISM, i.e. the theory
that the universe is aSELF-FUNCTIONING
entity. The opposite of evolutionism is not
CREATIONISM, but the STATIC-STATE
theory. Creationists could welldebate among
themselves over EVOLUTIONARY creationism vs STATIC-STATE creationism,
and cosmists might debate one another on
EVOLUTIONARY cosmism vs STATICSTATE cosmism. But WE just debate COSMISM vs creationism and evolutionism vs
the STATIC-STATE theory. Hence our
Atheist view must be COSMISTIC evolutionism, not just evolutionism.
It is instructive, too, that Charles Darwin
was not an Atheist, but aTHEIST, being a
communicant in the Anglican church, and
that, as a THEIST, he had no choice but to
be a CREATIONIST, tho an evolutionary
one, for omni-creativity is a cardinal attribute of deity. Darwin was not one of "our
boys."
It is also instructive that Darwin taught
that Black people are half-way between
gorillas and white people, and that one day
soon, the white people would exterminate
both the gorillas and the Black people.
Page 38

Darwin also taught that men outshine women as much in mental brilliance as a
peacock outshines a peahen in plumagebrilliance. This one was really "for the
birds," especially since a peacock's brilliance is all on his rump-end and not in his
head! (I'm in sympathy with Monica King
Wollman's letter, Sept. issue.)
We should also note that those "Atheist"
Greek filosofers all burnt incense to Zeus;
that Einstein was a pantheist and not an
Atheist; and that George LeMaitre, a cofounder of the Big Bang theory, was an
Augustian priest. All the Stoic and Cynic
filosofers were strong theists; only the Epicureans were materialists.
It is from the Epicureans that we MarxistAtheists derive our historical (social) materialism. Too bad not more Atheists apply
materialism to society. If they did, the
churches would not now be. making the
inroads they are now making into the once
potentially non-theistic liberal and left-wing
movements, labor, peace, environment, civil
rights, equality, et ai, and we would not now
be losing ground in these movements as we
are.
George LaForest, Illinois

Your opinion that the chief duty of government is to care for the health, education and
welfare of the people is inherently dangerous. (American Atheist/Editorial/September
1984)

Governments, when instituted, must not

violate individual rights, to wit, the rights to
liberty, life and property. The governments'
functions must -be limited to the protection
of those rights: the police, to protect them
from criminals; the armed forces to protect
them from foreign invaders; and the law
courts to settle disputes among individuals
according to objective laws.
No individual has the right to be provided
with the services mentioned herein nor does
a group of individuals, i.e., government,
have the right to force others to provide
those services.
As Atheists, we the undersigned, reject
the doctrine that a particular god may be
invoked in order to force individuals to act
against their better judgment; be it a mystical god as presented to us by the JudeoChristian faction or the government/state
god as presented to us by the statists/ socialists/communists faction.
The elements of force, violence and fraud
are equally present in both doctrines; the
mystics have accomplished the enactment
of laws which have made crimes out of acts
between consenting adults such as prostitution, gambling, pornography and drug laws.
The statists encourage and reward individuals to "pray" with electoral votes in order
December, 1984

to obtain benefits and favors promised by

corrupt, power seeking demagogues. The
consequences are the diminishing of our
liberty in the economic sense as Americans
must work at least five months to pay their
income, "social security" and whatever other taxes are required to support the wealth
redistributing schemes.
Furthermore, the people have the absolute right to send their children to the school
of their choice and to marry as many
individuals as they so desire, the opinion of
those in power notwithstanding. It would be
a very sad day, indeed, ifthe Supreme Court
was to uphold the "right" of Congress to
punish individuals for their membership in
the American Atheists, citing as legal precedent Reynolds u. U.S., 98 U.S. 145 (1878).
Please bear in mind that a government
powerful enough to give to us is powerful
enough to take away from us; therefore, we
must support the attempts of all individuals
to secure and preserve their right to liberty,
otherwise all our liberty will be taken away
by whatever gang is in power: the mystics,
the statists or any combination thereof.
Jose A and Nancy C. Perez, Florida

On the back cover of the September issue

of the AA mag. it says - "The church says
the earth is flat but I have seen it's shadow
on the moon ... etc." What is the apostrophe
doing between the letter "T" and "S" in the
word "its"? I would expect this kind of booboo in a X-tian publication - but it shouldn't
happen in our magazine! I live in the land of
misspelled words, bad grammar, and misplaced apostrophes - (where religion rules)
everywhere you look, highway signs, newspapers, church marquees(?), even on TV,
misspelled words, etc. Oy!
M. Gambardella, Florida

Enclosed are several clippings of the

"god-fearing" who got caught.
I would like to suggest that your publication include a monthly "Christian line up."
Invite your readers to send in clippings. It
might require another issue. With best regards, yours in blasphemy.
Dr. Jesse Cover, Virginia

I noted the letter from Robert L. Pickering

about what should be capitalized, etc.
One of the problems that Atheists - or
some of them - seem to have is whether or
not to capitalize Jesus Christ.
Rather than worry about the minor problem of whether to write jesus christ or Jesus
Christ, why not simply substitute the initials
The American Atheist

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

J.e. for the fellow?
This, of course, will solve the problem of
capitals.
I think it would be rather fitting because
J.e. could stand for "Jesus Christ" or it
could also stand for "just crap," depending
on one's viewpoint.
Language, like beauty, is in the eye of the
beholder.
John B. Denson, Florida

I liked seeing all those mythological names

in lower case, and I particularly thought
"jesuchrist" appropriate. I will miss these
pervasive little reminders of what makes us
different and special.
Tom Flynn, New York

c:..'~
At the risk of being a bore, could I add a
few words to the debate concerning the
capitalization or otherwise of religious
names? I can see a few points on each side of
the argument.
Mr. Pickering (A.A., September, 1984) is
right when he says that our practice has
been overdone in the past. Whatever its
origin, "Jesus Christ" is used as a proper
name, and should be capitalized -like all
other proper names. Similarly, the word
"Roman" - as in Roman catholic - is a
geographical adjective (like "American") and
should also be capitalized. This is "correct"
usage of the English language, and if we
don't observe the rules of grammar, we may
appear illiterate. The twentieth century pen
is not really mightier than the sword (and it's
certainly a lot weaker than the dollarl), but
appearances with respect to literacy are still
very important when communicating arguments to the rest of the world. I believe that
we would benefit by projecting a moderate
image in this respect; plenty of scope to be
radical in other respects (e.g. in continuing
to offer rational analysis and coherent
thought as substitutes for religious n;ythologies.)
But is there a rule requiring capitalization
of the names of systems of superstition?
Conventions are not uniform. People write
of theists, deists or pantheists (occasionally
with capitals, but more often not); so we
might as well write of christians, moslems,
hindus, presbyterians or baptists, even if
adherents of the latter (broader or narrower) systems of superstitition prefer themselves capitalized. (I'm also perfectly happy
to call myself an atheist, even though atheism isn't a system of superstition.) I find
much in favour of Richard Smith's suggestion that capitalization of the names of
systems of superstition affords them a recogAustin, Texas

nition which they hardly merit, and imparts

to them a suggestion of substance to which
they can lay no legitimate claim.
Under no circumstances should "god" be
capitalized; "god" is a generic term, and to
capitalize it with reference to the christian
god would be to imply that the latter is
somehow more "real" than all others - and
this would be directly against the thrust of all
that A.A. is working for. This argument
applies even more forcefully to the pronouns "he" and "him" used to refer to the
Christian god; with reference to the latter, I
think the term "it" is far better, or (if the
context allows it without becoming excessively verbose) "he[him]? she[herJ? it??"
Ian R. Bock, LaTrobe University, Australia

Bravo! The answer that you gave Eyton

Wronkler in the "Ask A.A." column for the
August '84 issue was one I have waited for
someone other than myself to give for some
time. The past has enough honest Atheists
that we need smuggle in no lukewarm
pretenders. Furthermore, I, for one, would
like to go on record as despising this collection of "secular saints" and "humanist heroes." If we admire a man, fine. Should he
have the nerve to speak his mind, wonderful. But let us not get so caught up in
pointing out who is on our side, now and in
the past, that we failto get the job done, now
and for the future. The life of no man, nor
the authority of no voice gives our cause
strength. Our cause is in the right because it
best represents reality; we need no authority beyond that.
Anthony Adams, Florida

I have something to relate that I feel your

readers would find interesting.
Our local fundamentalist television station is channel 50, which is located between
two other stations, 41 and 62. Every so often
I stop at channel 50 for a chuckle. About a
month ago, every time I checked, there was
a message on the screen stating that technical difficulties were being experienced.
More recently, they have had severe problems with picture qualitv. One can only
wonder why god can allow "his station" to
have such troubles. Think of all the "lost
souls" that could have been "saved" during
these penods. J wonder what the station
personnel think the cause is. Looks to me
that god is angry with them. Watch out
channel 50! God can do some terrible things
when he's "mad."
Thanks for recommending Science and
Creationism by the National Academy of
Science. I am studying to be a science
December, 1984

teacher, and this may come in handy if

creationism is in the curriculum when I start
teaching.
Brian Helt, Missouri

I am writing to congratulate you, your

staff, and the A.A.leadership on the outstanding job you are doing with the magazine. I
rarely read the magazine in the past, but
now I enjoy reading it.
The magazine is informative, educational,
factual, and motivating with a positive, intelligent, rational approach. I am glad to see the
demise of the emotional, vulgar, bigoted
attitude that previously characterized the
magazine.
The "Letters to the Editor," "The Atheist
Next Door," "Historical Notes" and "Ask
A.A." features give the members and leadership of A.A. insight to the ideas, values, and
lives of all Atheists, present and past. Please
continue these wonderful features.
I think the magazine now promotes unity
and understanding among members, and
promotes Atheism and church/state separation in general.
Herbert Green, Maryland

Suppose the pox - virgin mary had an

abortion! How many millions would have
been spared and their heirs alive today?
How much bloodletting has been done in
the name of the non-existent god and his/
her/its so-called bastard son, jesus? It cannot be calculated - the loss of life.
I had a run in with some roman catholics
at a Ferraro rally here today and the above
idea occurred to me and shocked them.
F. Elliot, California

NOTICE
Letters to the Editor must be either
questions or comments of general
concern to Atheists or Atheism.
Submissions should be brief and
to the point. Space limitations allow
that each letter should be 200 words, or
preferably less. Please confine
your letters to a single issue only.
Mail them to:
American Atheists
P. O. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768-2117
Thank you.

Page 39

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT
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For membership & newsletter

information write:
Gay Atheist League of America
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Keep control at the end

To receive free copies of a
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Send self-addressed, stamped, legal-size (No.
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Nutrition myths are as wide spread

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AGA's membership is restricted to Atheists and
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issues write:
BACK ISSUES - AA Mag.
Box 2117, Austin, TX 78768

THE EARTH IS ROUND:

COLUMBUS REDISCOVERS
(cont'd from pg. 18)

sing in that it misuses the term "theory"

-the most fundamental term in science.
Instead of recognizing the term as representing what scientists consider the highest
form of knowledge, it implies the colloquial
meaning of the term, viz., "supposition,
conjecture, or speculation." Board member
Carol Williams also is unhappy with this
misuse of "theory," and is determined to
offer a further amendment at a later meeting. We'll keep you posted.
Although we cannot be certain we have
seen the absolute end of creationism in
Columbus, we can breathe easier for at least
a while. We have learned an important
lesson in this affair, however. Dr. O'Hair has
said it for years, and we never seem to
believe her: Atheists must not depend upon
non-Atheists for help. To be sure, we must
accept help when it is forth-coming, but we
must not put all our eggs in non-Atheist
baskets. 00
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April
5,6 & 7,
1985

REGISTER NOW!
write to: American

Atheists

PO Box 2117
TX 78768-2117

Austin,

Registration Fee:
Single $20.00 / Couple $35.00

Page 40

December, 1984

Formerly a professor of biology and

geology, Frank R. Zindler is
now a science writer. A member
of the American Assoc. for the
Advancement of Science, the
American Chemical Soc., and
the American Schools of
Oriental Research, he is also
co-chairman of the Ohio Committee
of Correspondence on Evolution
Education, and director of the
Central Ohio Chapter of
American Atheists.

The American Atheist,

A Lie Is aLie, Is a Lie!

.... here are some whoppers
HISTORY'S GREATEST LIARS
by
Joseph McCabe
HISTORY'S
GREATEST
LIARS

History's Greatest Liars, which has previously been issued as

one of the "remainder"
books out of the Haldeman-Julius
collection, has now been retypeset by American Atheist Press, with
an introduction
by Madalyn O'Hair. In its new format, it is an ordinary paperback book, measuring 5'.4" x 8'.4" and consisting of
180 pages.
At a time when the school books of the nation are under attack by right-wing religious fundamentalists,
this small book of
Joseph McCabe's becomes critically
important.
McCabe was a
scholar of the old school of original objective research. He combed through the voluminous
tomes of his day to seek out the inaccuracies and the errancies which he knew existed because his own
church had educated him well in how to rewrite history. He could
recognize and point out the fallacies, the distortions,
the deliberate lies and deceits. In addition,
from his own independent
research, after having been freed from the intellectual
strictures
which the church had imposed upon him, he was able to weigh
the material at hand.
With this small handbook as a guide, any amateur historian can
start to take an educated look at what is offered to us today in
place of real history and immediately
uncover the fraudulent.
posits which are so apparent when once we have a guiding light.
The scholarly historian can now peel back the layers of religious
accretion and find some small, true, sernblence of truth - what
might have really happened.
The raison d'etre of American Atheists is to educate: to sort
out fact from fiction, truth from fantasy. But, again and again we
are faced with a job which is overwhelming.
How does one deprogram an entire nation, a group of nations, the world? How' does
one dig out from the myriad of lies, that which has some semblance of reality? When religious fanatics have systematically,
for hundreds of years perverted the truth, from whence cal] come
a viable and accurate record?
Hope is here at last in this small book. It is highly recommended. You will enjoy every page of it. The old Haldeman-Julius
copies, yellowed with age, the pages fragile, the print often worn
were selling for $3.00 a copy. They are now absolutely unobtainable. The last one was sold in July, 1983.

I
I
\

by
Joseph

McCabe

INTlIOoucn<>N

By
MADAL YN MURRAY O'HAlR

THIS NEW EDITION

(add $1.00 for postage

;
and handling)

$4.95
:',J
oJ

Send

copies

Texas State Residents

of

HISTORY'S GREATEST LIARS

@ $4.95

Send check, money order, or VISA/MASTERCARD

(+ $1.00 postage)
TOTAL

please add 5(~()sales tax

authorization

to:

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AMENDMENTI

CONGRESS

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