June, 1985

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

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AMERICAN ATHEISTS
is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization, dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of
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American Atheists are organized to stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning
religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals and practices;
to collect and disseminate information, data and literature on all religions and promote a more thorough
understanding of them, their origins and histories;
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and the scientific method,
independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.
Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own
inherent, immutable and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life; that man finding his resources within himself - can and must create his own destiny. Materialism restores to man his
dignity and his intellectual integrity. It teaches that we must prize our life on earth and strive always to improve
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man and man's ability to transform the world culture by his own efforts. This is a commitment which is in very
essence life asserting. It considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation and impossible without noble
ideas that inspire man to bold creative works. Materialism holds that humankind's potential for good and for an
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American Atheists - P.O. Box 2117 - Austin, TX 78768-2117

Vol. 27, No.6

June, 1985

American Atheist
A Journal

of Atheist

News

Editorial: That Was The Year That Was - Jon Murray

News and Comments: Four Down, Three to Go.
Thus Spoke Nietzsche - Maurice LaBelle
Historical Notes
Atheists Come Home
New Zealand Rationalism - John S. Jones
The Poison of Prudery - Ben Edward Akerley
Photo Section
Dial-An-Atheist
The Enlightenment Revisited: A Challenge to Contemporary
State, Church, and The Supreme Court - Henry Martin
King-Makers, King-Breakers - Margaret Bhatty
Poetry
Henry Heatherington, English Atheist - Madalyn O'Hair
Me Too - Royce J. Bitzer
Book Reviews
Letters to The Editor
Classified Advertisement
Reader Service

and Thought

7
9

Atheists -

Maurice LaBelle

13
14
16
20
21
28
29
32
35
37
38
40
41
42
44
44

On The Cover: Now and then Atheists strike back. Such was the case with (Mississippi) American Atheist Paul Tirmenstein. He struck
back -long and hard! And, with the aid of attorney Henry Martin and fellow Mississippi Atheist John Marthaler, his effort to rid the
Mississippi State Constitution of an absurd religious requirement was successful (see page 7). Thanks Paul, from all true Americans! ...
Also in this issue is a summary of events concerning the Fifteenth Annual National Convention of American Atheists recently held in
Austin, Texas. There are transcriptions of a number of the presentations delivered by the speakers and a centerfold section of photos of
events and/or personalities. Each of our convention related articles bears the logo which was used on promotional material for same - a
geometric diamond emblem overprinted with the (year date) figure 85.

Editor/Robin Murray-O'Hair, Editor Emeritus/Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Managing Editor/Jon G. Murray, Assistant Editor/Gerald Tholen,Poetry/Angeline
Bennett, Gerald Tholen, Production Staff/Bill Kight, Gloria Tholen, Sandra M.P.
McGann, Non-Resident/G. Stanley Brown, Lowell Newby, Merrill Holste, Margaret
Bhatty, Fred Woodworth, Frank R. Zindler.

I~,

The American Atheist magazine

is indexed in
Monthly Periodical Index
ISSN: 0332-4310
copyright 1984 by Society of Separationists, Inc.

TheAmerican Atheist magazine is published monthly by the American Atheist Press

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Page 1

EDITORIAL / Jon G. Murray

~
/~~

THAT WAS THE

Y_E_A_R_T_H_A_T_' W_A_S __

The "Editorial" this month is your

written reference for the speech delivered at the American Atheist Fifteenth
Annual National Convention, in Austin
Texas, by Jon G., Murray.
Mr. Murray is the Director of the
American Atheist Center, a position
which he has held since his graduation
from the University of Texas in 1975.

those facts combine to impinge on my

ability, and your ability, to function as an
open and avowed Atheist in society such as
it is today.
Statistics regarding religion and/or nonreligion remain just as obscure now as they
have been, principally since the end of
World War II. That obscurity has been
exacerbated by popular fundamentalist surveys that continue to make outlandish
claims, causing Atheists to dig even deeper
uring the turbulent sixties there was into the closet. Just prior to this Convenan old Pete Seger song which said tion, the Austin newspaper carried a survey
something about "the times . . . they are of religion in Texas claiming religious ada-changing ... " Truer words were never
herence in the ninety percentile. Just the
spoken, the times are changing. They are other night on C.B.S. Dan Rather blurted
changing in a lot of ways both good and bad,
out that ninety-five percent of the nation
depending upon one's point of view. As an "believes," - no challenge, just a presentaAtheist I must say that I think that things are tion of alleged "fact."
not changing for the good for those of us
Fundamentalist
political conservative
who still use our minds for more than a groups made their clouts felt everywhere
last year, and the Roman Catholic Church,
holding tank for drugs or the absurd. I must
agree with Dr. LaBelle, who also spoke at on its anti-abortion crusade, filledthe nation
this Convention today, when he came to the with violence and paralyzed the federal
conclusion that we are becoming dumber as court and police systems into inaction, lest
a nation. I think that we can see the change
they offend this large political group. The
"a-coming" in the very incidents surroundRight to Lifers had a convention in Chicago
ing the holding of this conference. For the
in March of '84 with the object of overthrowfirst time in fifteen consecutive annual suc- ing the Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
cessful meetings of American Atheists we decision. The Hyde Amendment abortion
were forced to move our Convention site, at funding cases, Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S.
297 (1980) and Williams v. Zbaraz, 448 U.S.
the last minute, on account of Christian
fundamentalist forces in this city. That is 358 (1980), had successfully denied funding
foreboding. This means that we can expect
for abortions for poor women. Prior to that,
to have fundamentalist opposition in every the armed forces had enforced an adminiscity, from now on, year after year, and that
trative decision to stop funding of abortions
in any army hospitals.
we can anticipate going back to the "good
old days" when hotel and other meeting
The year started out with a Texas ruling
facilities desired not to host an Atheist
that the teaching of evolution was to be
meeting - not because of anything any discretionary with individual teachers in the
Atheist ever did but because of fear of what public schools. Biology texts for the nation's
the religious community might do in return,
schools were, very early in the year, rea community that the facility management
vealed to have been- watered down in the
has to live with year round and not just for a presentation of evolution, often with a great1y reduced number of words, vague stateconvention weekend once a year.
Looking beyond the immediate difficulties ments, and with inclusion of references to
of holding this meeting we find that the year religious origins.
Legislation to introduce creationism into
1984 was a particularly trying and difficult
one for Atheism and for state/church sep- . public schools was again put in the hopper in
congresses of several states - Texas, Ariaration concepts in the culture of the United
zona, Arkansas, lowas, New York, CaliforStates as a whole. Iwant to say at the outset
of my presentation to you here today that I nia, and Missouri. In Louisiana, judicial apam not a pessimist about the future of our peals were not yet exhausted concerning
cause, but Iam rather a realist in terms of my the teaching of evolution.
Meanwhile surveys, structured in such a
appreciation of the facts at hand and how

Page 2

June, 1985

way as to reach the conclusion that religion

was necessary to life, continued. One good
example was a study of "select" groups of
residents at retirement and nursing homes
that issued findings that "religiosity exerted
the strongest relative influence on the life
satisfaction" of the old people.
The Reagan administration, hoping for a
return to the White House, also quickly
escalated political rhetoric into the fundamentalist religious area. In his State of the
Union address, Reagan invoked the aid of
god five times, called upon the return of
religion to the public schools, and opined
that American was great because it was
godly. Using the annual January convention
of the religious broadcasters as a vehicle,
Reagan characterized Atheism as "evil."
Immediately he began a push to have legislation passed in the First Session of the
federal Congress to return prayer to the
public schools, to outlaw abortion, to restrict the distribution of birth control information, to give financial aid to religious
schools, and to gain "free access" for religious ceremonies in the public schools. This
was accomplished by the promulgation of
even additional I.R.S. regulations which favored the religious community. A primary
thrust of this was with Black churches
attempting to give financial support to Jesse
Jackson in his presidential bid. In January, a
bill was introduced to make mandatory
Social Security coverage for employees of
religious organizations. Heretofore, the Roman Catholic church's fraternal organization retirees (nuns and brothers of Catholic
orders) had been awarded Social Security
benefits on attaining of age sixty-five, without having made payments into the program. The benefits, naturally, were claimed
by the orders to which the retirees belonged.
A new Reagan appointee to the U. S. Civil
Rights Commission began his term with a
declaration that he would introduce protection of religious education as a new concern
of his Civil Rights agenda. This was another
religious fight brewing as A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education) schools in many
states fought to be completely removed
from any qualifying standards imposed by
those states for the health, education and
welfare of all our children. (See "Mental
Circumcision," American Atheist Vol. 26,
NT. 9, September, 1984.)

The American Atheist

In the Baby Doe cases, (the rule originally South sponsored by the U. S. Postal Serhaving been promulgated in March of 1983) vice.It was held March 17th through 19th in
New Orleans, and Iattended the conference
the U. S. Surgeon General placed authority
for intervention with local hospitals, again on behalf of the American Atheist Press.
reinforcing the "local option" rule which so Robin Murray-O'Hair was also in attendance
benefits the churches. The Office of Civil with her concerns for the American Atheist
Rights was empowered to defend the rights magazine. This conference was held for
of these children (specifically Spina Bifida large volume mailers to participate in semand Down's Syndrome babies) by revoking inars with postal officials concerning mail
the hospital's federal funds grants. This was preparation, rate structures, routing, and
an administrative tightening up. But later in generally information as to how the postal
the year, legislation was actually passed to customer could help improve service from
make it statutory.
his end of the contract. Every major session
of this conference was opened with an
Evangelical Christian publishers reported
a twenty-three percent increase in sales. invocation, some lasting as long as five
minutes, each delivered by a clergyman of a
Gospel music had a boom that placed it near
the top ranks of the nation's music, with different "faith." What prayer has to do with
1,400 radio stations playing gospel music a delivery of the mails I am still at a loss to
total of 50,000 hours a week. Gospel music understand, despite the statement of the
also captured an increased percentage of Post Master General that it was the duty of
record sales in stores, coming in at $210 the postal service to keep god's children in
million. Most often in the past Gospel music contact one with the other. Religion was
presented by this quasi-government agency
sold more volume through the churches,
T.V. commercials, or at gospel concerts.
as essential to its continued operation.
The radical religious right wing, meanReligious television increased so that by
the end of 1984 there were seventy-six all- while, was forming a Coalition for Religious
Freedom to fight Black integration. The U.
religious stations in the country. According
to the 1985Directory of Religious BroadcastS. Justice Department was abandoning the
ing there were ninety-two television sta- fight for Affirmative Action. Jesse Helms
tions with full-time or part-time religious organized the Center for Legal Studies, a
religious and right wing "think tank." A
formats - an increase of about twenty-one
percent since 1984.C.B.N (Christian Broad- Religious Liberty Foundation, characterized
casting Network) is now available to twenty- by fundamentalism, was formed by anum"
three million cable television households
ber of former government officials of the
through over 3,900 cable systems. Religious legislative and executive branches of the
cable systems are now the third largest cable federal government. In addition, Christian
system network behind E.S.P.N and Ted fundamentalists began to open up "Crisis
Turner's Atlanta based "super station.t'The
Pregnancy Centers" throughout the U. S. to
P.T.L. (Praise The Lord) club is now on 825 lure young pregnant women, ages thirteen
cable systems reaching 8.1 million sub- to seventeen, to have their babies and give
scribers. Religious broadcasting, in general,
them up for placement in "real Christian
grew at an estimated annual rate of ten homes." All of this was characterized by
percent. Religious films for television in- news of millions of dollars poured into these
creased thirty percent in 1984 over 1983. fundamentalist religious endeavours while
The demonology and possession films, most science and opposition magazines,
including our own journal, the American
which are really highly religious in content,
made up the bulk of this increase along with Atheist, continued to function either in the
red or with severe financial difficulties.
films like "Star Wars" that have messianic
More and more states passed laws to
themes. There are now 1,043 radio stations
with religious formats, which is an increase
accommodate the religious rights of employof 101from the previous reporting year. The ees, prohibiting discrimination on the basis
state with the largest number of religious of religion, i.e. that employees do not need to
radio stations is not surprisingly North Car- work on their designated sabbath days or on
olina, home to Jesse Helms, with fifty-four. their designated religious holidays.
California with fifty-two, Texas with forty- . The A.M.A. (American Medical Associanine, Pennsylvania with forty-seven, and tion) could have made an effort to stop the
Georgia with forty-six round out the top five. fraud of "faith healing" but did not intervene
For the "Believe It Or Not" category, the despite the fact that fifteen states now have
laws prohibiting local prosecutors from goLoma Linda University Medical Center took
up the the practice of exorcising demons in ing after parents who withhold medical
1984, while Christians Science practitioners
treatment, for religious reasons, from minor
were being paid through Medicare for pray- children or aged parents in their care.
ers on behalf of the sick.
The Falwellians launched an attempt to
Government and military agencies con- stop media advertising of beer, to close
stantly were being exposed as carrying on down "happy hours," and the like, but not to
religious activities. A good example of this curb smoking since tobacco growing is the
was the recently held National Postal Forum
chief industry of Jesse Helms' home state of

Austin, Texas

June, 1985

North Carolina. Helms, however, did launch

an attempt to take over C.B.S. because its
programming was too "liberal."
In Colorado, the Hare Krishnas won the
right to roam State Fair grounds passing out
literature and seeking contributions. They
have won in most airport cases as well.
Meanwhile, Chapters of American Atheists
continue to be turned down when asking for
the right to pamphleteer at malls, airports,
and fairs.
National Bible Week and National Prayer
Days received special emphasis from our
"born again" president, and Ed Meese, determined to make Attorney General (which he
did) made it clear that he was not only a
born-again Christian but that he could speak
in tongues.
And, in a final round of a legal fight two
young Harvard law students lost their case
against paid chaplains in the military. Annual
appropriations for Army chaplains alone,
not counting Navy, Air Corps, Marines, etc.,
was $85 million last year.
And then, there were the elections of
1984. As they wore on the National Pro-Life
PAC (Political Action Committee) targeted
Charles Percy for defeat in the Senatorial
campaign in Illinois, and Jesse Helms built
up a $14 million budget for his Senate re-run
exercise in North Carolina. Phil Gramm
won the Senate seat in Texas vacated by
that bastion of militarism, John Tower. And,
the U. S. Supreme Court finally ruled that
there could be no cap put on PAC financial
aid to candidates, giving a blessing to the
best government that money can buy.
To ice the cake the U. S. Roman Catholic
Conference sent a Bishop to the Democratic Platform Committee hearings to tell that
body what to think and how to do. This was
followed by the President of the National
Conference of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church making an official authorized
pronouncement (August 10th) that the bishops feel it to be the duty of both lay and
political Roman Cahtolics to transform the
church's doctrinal positions into public policy and law.
The Republican National Convention was
simply a religious rally, with Sen. Paul Laxalt,
(R-Utah) sending out a pre-convention letter
to 45,000 ministers asking them to support
Reagan & Company as "leaders under God's
authority."
The difference in the campaigns of Mondale and Reagan were, actually, not substantive. It was once again the "shove it down
their gawd-damn throats" laissez-faire capitalism of the Radical Right Republicans
versus the "force feed them with palliatives"
approach of the "me too, but ... " Democrats. The Republicans want to return to the
"robber baron" type of capitalism; the Democrats want to follow the maxim of Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, "If you want to retain
capitalism, you must reform it."
Page 3

A theme of the Pope during the election

was: "Let us recall the fact that Atheism and
denial of the human person, his liberty, and
rights are at the core of the Marxist theory.
This (Atheist) theory, then, contains errors
which directly threaten the truth of the faith
regarding the eternal destiny of individual
persons." Following that statement surveys
showed in March of this year that thirtyseven percent of the people in the U. S. feel
that Marxism is dangerous because it is
atheistic - and thus the Pope wins the
propoganda war.
During the race, the peace loving Republicans supported a boost in the budget for
"defense" (read aggressive war) to over a
trillion dollars. The Democrats joined the
Republicans in every congressional vote,
including a vote for the MX missile system,
despite the promises of their candidate in
the field to the contrary.
Everyone thought that it would be the
Falwellians who would cause the most troubles in the national elections. Actually, when
one looks back on it now, it was the Roman
Catholic church mostly involved with the
issue of abortion and the positions of Democrats Ferraro and Cuomo which dominated
the religious issues. And, after the elections
came several months of increased abortion
clinic bombings.
In the end god-fearing Reagan won an
overwhelming victory. The other candidates
were afraid to take him head-on. They were
all tooting the same horn, in a "me too ...
but" run for the White House. They all said
essentially: (1) peace in the future, but a
defense build up now; (2) capitalism, as is, is
the best of all possible systems; and (3)
religion is sacrosanct. In every area and on
every issue they were basically in agreement
with Reagan. They were simply saying, "we
support what the president supports but we
would do it in a different way." They all
attempted to sell "style of approach" rather
than substantive change.
In the midst of the election year, however,
the incumbent adminstration still had its
agenda, and it rolled on. On January 10th,
President Reagan established formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See before a
vote by Congress on the issue was had. The
new ambassador, William Wilson, was pictured on the front page of the New York
Times kneeling before the Pope to kiss his
ring. Naturally, Congress confirmed the
presidential act.
Mayor Ed Koch of New York City, by
executive order, had courage enough to say
that agencies receiving funds from the city
must pledge to respect a law which requires
that there cannot be discrimination in hiring
on the basis of "sexual orientation or affectional preference." Archbishop O'Connor
refused to comply and was threatened with
the loss of $72 million from the city. The
question no one asked but American AthePage 4

ists was why was the City of New York

giving this much money to the Roman
Catholic Church to distribute (primarily to
Roman Catholics) when reports from around the nation indicated that in investment and stock portfolios the Roman Catholic church was experiencing unprecedented
financial growth. The outreach to gobble up
real estate by the churches continued. In
Chicago, for example, the Roman Catholic
Church owned $2.4 billion in land alone.
The U. S. Supreme Court in March,
reinforced its prior cases with a ruling in
respect to a nativity scene in Pawtucket,
Rhode Island, Lynch v. Donnelly, 52 U.S.L W.
5163 (March 5, 1984). A chilling statement in
that decision was the death knoll for statechurch separation:
Nor does the Constitution require
complete separation of church and
state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance,
of all religions, and forbids hostility
toward any.
March was characterized by the House of
Representatives of the United States going
berserk over the "prayer in public schools"
issue. The U. S. Suprme Court handed
down the Pawtucket nativity ruling on the
same day that the U. S. Senate interrupted
its prayer debate to confirm William Wilson
as an ambassador to the Vatican. Picket
lines ringed the U. S. Congress in Washington, D.C.. Religious fundamentalists manned banks of telephones to keep up the
pressure for prayer. Letters by the truckloads inundated the legislators. Religious
lobbyists were everywhere on Capital Hill.
Ronald Reagan moved to personally lobby
by telephone and by calling Senators to the
White House. The Senate finally found
barely enough bravery to vote against the
"school prayer bill." The final vote on "Joint
Resolution, Senate Bill#73," for a proposed
constitutional amendment for prayer in the
public schools was defeated 56 to 44.
The U.S. Supreme Court's approval of
tuition tax credits against state income tax
in Minnesota was the catalyst for bills on
that scheme to be introduced in the legislatures of Michigan, Kentucky, Rhode Island,
New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and New Jersey. An example of just
two states shows what was being sought. In
New Jersey the Roman Catholics wanted a
$1,000 tax deduction per child per year. In
Michigan they were asking for $700 per child
per year.
Meanwhile, thirty-four states being needed to ratify a call for a Constitional Convention, thirty two had agreed to such a call by
end of 1984. New efforts were made during
the year to get the two additional sponsorships in Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont and
California none of which were successful.
The only prior constitional convention in
our nation's history was the one at which the
June, 1985

original Constitution was drafted. Thus, it is

argued, any such convention call now would
throw the entire document open to review
and possible rewriting. The entire exercise
is a product of right-wing and religious
urging.
Almost immediately after the prayer battle was concluded (that is, for the time
being) the House and Senate took up the
issue of "equal access" of religion into the
public schools. The evangelicals were joined
by all of the "established" churches to push
this through Congress. Senator Jeremiah
Denton (R . Ala. and a religious fanatic)
introduced Senate Bill #425 and Trent Lott
(R Miss.), Jack Kemp (R NY), and Henry
Hyde (R - Ill. of the notorious anti-abortion
funding Hyde Amendment) filed a cornpanion bill, H.R. #2732, in the House. The
Roman Catholic church's announcement
regarding the fight was ominous.
The (Roman Catholic) Conference
(of Bishops) supports the concept
that school facilities used for extracurricular activities should be extended on an equal basis to students who
want to meet voluntarily during noninstructional periods for religious instruction and prayer. This is consistent with the position of unqualified
support which the United States Catholic Conference has given to the public expression of faith in God.
The billwent through the Congress hands
down. The House approved it in May by a
vote of 337 to 77 and the Senate topped it off
on June 27th by a vote of 88 to II.
The organizations which supported equal
access were: Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party, Terrel Bell, Secretary of Education of the United States, the Christian
Legal Society, the Catholic League for Civil
and Religious Rights, Campus Crusade for
Christ, Fellowship of Christian Atheletes,
National Association of Evangelicals, Rutherford Institute, the Freedom Council, the
National Council of Churches, the SeventhDay Adventists, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, the United
States Catholic Conference, the Roman
Catholic Council of Bishops, the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the
Friends (Quaker) Committee on National
Legislation, the Moral Majority, the Christian Voice, the Free Congress Foundation,
the Leadership Foundation, and the national A.c'L.U. - because so many of its
chapters endorsed it.
Reagan, meanwhile, appointed four liaison officers to work full time with the
religious community, one for the Roman
Catholics, one for the mainline Protestant
groups, one for the Jews, and one to work
with fundamentalist and politically conservative evangelicals. The salaries for these
liaison officers ranged from $40,000 to
The American Atheist

$60,000 a year. The House voted an approval of the appointments on May 11, 1984.
On August 11th, 1984, Reagan officially
signed the Equal Access bill into law. It had
all begun, actually, with the Widmar v.
Vincent equal access case, decided December 8, 1981 - a case which had relied
heavily on O'Hair v. Wotjka. In the latter
case American Atheists had attempted, in
the first equal access case, to prevent the
Pope from using the Washington, D.C. Mall
to give a full mass, principally for Roman
Catholics in the area. In that case, the
A.c.L.U. and other so-called state/church
separation groups (such as Americans United for Separation of State and Church) had
joined with the Roman Catholics against the
American Atheists. Equal Access for religion on any public land or in any public
institutions, became the law of the land in
just six years - because alarm was not
taken at the first experiment against our
liberties.
The elections were fullof religion from the
first but some actions went unnoticed. On
July 25th a rider had been attached to Title
VII of the Billto provide financing to schools
for mathematics and science courses, that
being Sec. 709, which read:
Sec. Grants under this title may not
be used for consultants, for transportation, or for any activity which does
not augment academic improvement,
or for the courses of instruction the
substance of which is secular humanism.
On July 26th, the next day, a "Voluntary
Silent Prayer" bill was passed as part of the
General Education Provisions Act, as follows:
Sec. 420A, No State or local educational agency shall deny individuals
in public schools the opportunity to
participate in moments of silent prayer. Neither the United States nor any
State or local educational agency shall
require any person to participate in
prayer or influence the form or content of any prayer in such public
schools.
No media reported on either law.
Ferraro was under immediate attack from
Bishop John O'Connor of New York. Mario
Cuomo, the Governor of that state, intruded to demonstrate that Roman Catholics
may take all positions. The Bishops retaliated with heavy criticism in respect to prochoice on abortion. With Cuomo and Ferraro
expressing one viewpoint and the Bishops
hard-lining their response the populace was
utterly confused. The situation was larded
over with attacks on secular humanism and
Atheism, and deliberately cautious "heated"
debates on prayer and equal access.
The Moral Majority issued its Moral Report Card on candidates in August. A fortypage, four-color, magazine to provide moral-

Austin, Texas

ity ratings for members of Congress, it

pivoted on the issues of anti-abortion, antihomosexuality, pro-school prayer, pro-national "defense" (read: aggessive war), antiERA, anti-affirmative action (read: racist),
pro-balanced budget (read: Constitutional
Convention), and anti-gun control. The National Committee of the Republican Party
endorsed the Moral Report Card. Of the
6,000 delegates and alternates to the Republican National Convention held in Dallas,
"more than 1,000 first-timers were bornagain Christians" according to the Dallas
papers. Reagan appeared at a prayer breakfast in Dallas before 12,000 evangelicals to
say,
The truth is politics and morality
are inseparable, and as morality's
foundation is religion, religion and
politics are necessarily related. We
need religion as a guide.
The United Nations' International Population Conference in Mexico City opened on
August 8th and by August 11th the Pope
and the Roman Catholic nations had forced
it into the adoption of a recommendation
that abortion "in no way should be promoted" as a family planning method. The
U.S.S.R., some of the Eastern bloc countries, China, Sweden, and the Philippines
opposed the measure. William F. Buckley
was the U. S. delegate, an open insult to the
world. In this year of 1984 the United States
cut off any famiy planning funds to China
since it sanctions abortion - and warned
that all such nations would be treated thus.
Both before and after this Conference Reagan was often reported as "on the hot-line"
with the Pope to discuss international issues
with him - primarily the U. S. sanctions
against Poland.
Medicare authorities decided to issue
payments to "Diagnostic Related Groups"
which, it turned out, included the chaplains
at hospitals.
The U. S. Supreme Court took the case
of School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball,
with about five other crucial state/church
separation cases. This was the practice
wherein Michigan sent public school teachers to religious schools to teach while they
were being paid by the state. It was only one
of the many cases in which the Justice
Department filed an amicus curiae brief.
The Attorney General has filedsuch "friends
of the court" briefs in the tuition tax credit
case, the Alabama school prayer case, the
Bob Jones Unversity case, the Nebraska
legislative prayer case, the Pawtucket nativity display case, the equal access case, and
the Baby Doe cases. In fact, the Justice
Department has intervened in more state
church separation cases, brought by members of the private sector, during Reagan's
first term in office than in all other presidential administrati;ns combined.
Cuba, our neighbor to the South, autho-

June, 1985

rized the Evangelical churches of Cuba and

the Cuba Biblical Commisson to import
120,000 Spanish-language Bibles into the
country ... and Castro reportedly came out
to say, "I am a Christian."
The Pope was calling for the return of
nuns to their habits (which ones he failed to
say) and the priests to celibacy. He also
reiterated that the Roman Catholic church
regards sex outside of marriage as forbidden, and copulation in marriage as acceptable only for reproductive purposes. He
declared the abandonment of sex education
in schools to be essential, the return of the
women to the home to be necessary, the
abolition of abortion to be imperative, and
any non-approved (by his church) method
of birth control to be anathema to all.
The U. S. Supreme Court, busy as it was,
also later picked up the public access law's
first challenge in a Williamsport, Pennsylvania, case. The Reagan administration had
asked the court to do so. This test case will
decide if the new federal law on Equal
Access is constitutional. The case, is titled
Bender v. Williamsport School District.
Since the person who brought the case does
not work any longer, and because the
School Board does not oppose the student's
position any more, there is no "case or
controversy." But the Supreme Court, willy
nilly, took it under the urging of the Reagan
administration. The same situation was involved in the Connecticut Sunday work case.
The man who had brought the suit died
- thus making the issue moot, but the
Court took that suit also. if it had been an
Atheist in either case, the U. S. Supreme
Court would have refused certiorai (review).
Robert Dolan, chairman of the YAF,
Young Americans for Freedom (read: Young
Americans for Fascism), a group put together by William F. Buckley, resigned from
that position and headed for the White
House.
And the new mayor of Washington, D.C.
quickly learned a bitter lesson. He decided
to try to tax some church property. His
formula for the tax was: exemption would
be denied and tax imposed if the religious
institution failed to use sixty percent of its
floor space for worship more than thirty
percent of the time. He wanted to define a
church in terms of "religious worship."
When he made the proposal, he was attacked by every religious group in town and after
forty days of pressure he gave in and ditched
the idea of denial of religious exemption on
real property.
On June 19th of 1984, a Federal District
Court in Rhode Island in the case of Fausto
v. Diamond permitted a privately financed
"Unknown Child" memorial to be permanently erected on public land and maintained at public expense. The memorial
consisted of two plaques on a renovated

PageS

fountain plaza in front of a Roman Catholic

church. The move had been pushed by the
right -to-lifers and was an anti-abortion propaganda ploy. The Court held that the memorial was simply "another piece of municipal
decoration" despite the Biblical cite that it
bore.
And, the Baby Doe law passed Congress
in August of '84. This requires that all
handicapped newborns be given treatment
and sets up a network of bureaucrats
to
monitor what physicians do lest they give
the parents the right to decide if and what
medical treatment is appropriate for severely handicapped newborns. It was a clear cut
bid to save the monsters, which had, heretofore, been permitted to die.
To end the year, on December 30th, the
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a
ruling by a Federal District Judge in New
Mexico that a cross on the Bernadillo County seal was constitutional
as representing
"history."
During the entire year, opinion polls continued in the back ground as all else was
going on. Among other issues, they named
the "most admired" persons in the world as
Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa of Calcutta,
the Rev. Billy Graham and Pope John Paul
II.
Although Reagan campaigned on the idea
of eliminating tax shelters the Treasury
Department is now promoting a plan whereby deductions
could be claimed only on
voluntary contributions up to two percent of
a taxpayer's gross income. All of the mainline churches immediately set to fight the
proposal. Another "poll" was brought forward saying that eighty- one percent of the
public favor such deductions. The denouement was in the statistics: an estimated $180
billion a year is given away by taxpayers and
the churches receive the lion's share of that.
A little mathematics
is instructive. If your
salary was $20,000 a year and you gave two
percent to your church since that gift was
tax exempt, you would give $400 in one
year. The churches are fighting to see that
you can give more. And, in 1984, the U. S.
Government
gave $13.5 billion to various
organizations
for "welfare, education and
. culture" and - yes - most of that went to
religion.
In January, 1985, came more news relevant to '84. The Department of Education of
the United States finally proposed a rule
concerning the Secular Humanism provision passed by Congress in July, 1984. Ho
hum; the rule was that schools receiving
federal funds could not earmark any of it for
any courses that were determined
to be
"secular humanistic."
About this time, our President announced
that he had "Prayer Fellowships" throughout the major sections of government. Prayer Fellowships require:
(1) An intensely personal, devotion-

Page 6

ai, study of the Bible.

(2) Reliance on continuing prayer.
(3) Semi-secrecy.
(4) Manifestations
of miraculous,
personal, events.
.
(5) Charismata
of the involved individual - which is speaking in tongues (glossolalia) and prophesizing.
(6) A dramatic change in personality because of the presence of mana,
or "power," from heaven due to a
conversion experience.
Also, early this year, the U. S. Supreme
Court heard arguments
in a case from
Alabama,
Jaffree
u . Wallace
which goes to silent prayer in the public
schools and from Connecticut,
Thornton u.
Caldor, Inc. concerned
with a law that
prohibits any employer from requiring an
employee to work on the day the employee
designates as his Sabbath.
Christian colleges and universities
are
thriving and the A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education)
schools are keeping up
fights in Nebraska, Maine, and Ohio to be
free from any state supervision in regard to
teacher qualification,
course content, or
building, health, or safety codes. Substantively they are winning since in the Nebraska
lead "show" case the state had to back
down and make rules which specifically
released the A.C.E. schools from the minimal requirements
necessary for state public
schools.
During 1984, into 1985, as one listened to
the justices of the U. S. Supreme Court in
the important cases now before it, there has
been a complete abandonment
of the issue
of state/church
separation. In its place, the
Court uses the issue of "freedom of speech,"
saying that it cannot differentiate speech on
the basis of the "contents" of that speechand hence religion can and should intrude

-rr/ Y

anywhere. However, when freedom of speech

includes the MOVE formula in Philadelphia,
the ultimate solution is violent eradication of
the speakers.
.
I realize that I have, here, run through
quite a litany of recent past defeats and
events
that
lay
the
f o u n d ation for future defeats for both Atheism and
state/ church separation. I did so not to drive
all of you back into the closet but to impress
upon you the need to come further out. We
find ourselves in the position here today,
April of 1985 at this Convention,
of having
essentially lost the battle to keep our nation
from becoming a theocracy. It is a sad day
indeed when I must stand before you, as
fellow Atheists, and make that admission.
You are not the persons who are to blame.
You are here and you have committed
yourselves to the support of an organization
dedicated
to keeping the many events,
about which I have told you here today,
from deepening tomorrow.
The fault lies
with those of lesser courage who have
remained hidden and who have failed to get
into the fight. Had Atheists in this country
awakened
even forty years ago, we may
have had a fighting change. The foundations
for the events of 1984 were laid in the lack of
response of the Atheists of yesterday. We
cannot do anything about that now, but we
can dedicate ourselves to the task of making
certain that future generations
of Atheists
cannot look back at us and say that we did
not try.
I am doing my best, and I know that many
of you are doing what you can, when you
can, to the best of your ability - American
Atheists and I appreciate
each and every
one of you who are doing that. Let's try to
make one more effort together, you and I,
for we have the future to face. ~

Go OUT IN PUBLIC LIK

June, 1985

The American

Atheist

FOUR DOWN - THREE TO GO

Mississippi Succumbs to
Tirmenstein and Marthaler
His reaction was typical. "I'm glad I won it
before I croaked."
It was April 22, 1985, and the U.S. District
Judge, Southern District of Mississippi,
Jackson Division, had just ruled in the case
of Tirmenstein v. (Gov.) Allain that Article
14, Section 265 of the Constitution of the
State of Mississippi conflicted with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States and
hence, was unconstitutional. That section
read:
No person who denies the existence of a supreme being shall hold
any office in this state.
He went on, "I was doing it as a matter of
principle in behalf of the twenty-five percent
of the people in this state who do not believe
in God. I found out about the section in 1975
and it riled me so I decided to try to have it
taken out of the constitution if it cost every
cent I had.
"Not a Mississippi lawyer would take my
case. All of them were God-damned cowards. I had to get an out -of-state attorney." It
was then that the eighty-six-year-old Paul
Tirmenstein, Director of the Northern Mississippi Chapter of American Atheists, added, "I'm glad I won it before I croaked."
Indeed, he had had a long wait. The
temper of the citizens, politicians, and courts
of Mississippi had been evidenced in a long
article written in the Clarion Ledger newspaper of June 25,1979. A reporter had run
across Section 265 of the Constitution of the
State and had gone to both the Attorney
General and the Secretary of the State of
Mississippi and asked why the provision had
been written into the (1817) constitution and
if it was still effective.
The Attorney General knew nothing of
the history of the Section and thought it
amounted to "a big question mark." He said
that some people might interpret it as discriminatory or in conflict with the U.S.
Constitution's provision for separation of
state and church. He added, "This being a
part of our constitution and not necessarily
Austin, Texas

tied to the church, it could be to contribute

to getting good men or good women and to
prevent an Atheist holding office."
The Secretary of State opined that anyone who looks at the sky on a starlit night or
watches a plant grow "would have to be
nuts" not to believe in a Supreme Being and
that state law allowed for the removal from
public office of any person found to be of
"unsound mind."
The Attorney General went on to say that
ifanyone were to challenge a candidate or an
officeholder's beliefs, the challenge would
have to be in a lawsuit. "I suppose it would
come under the heading of a taxpayer's suit,
and they would have to prove that a certain
individual did not believe. They would have
to go through due process of law."
That is exactly what American Atheists
did. When it was discovered that seven
states in the United States still, in our times,
had such provisions directed against Atheists in public office, American Atheists had
challenged each state beginning with North
Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
When it came to Mississippi, however, it was
impossible to find legal counsel. When it was
decided to use an out-of-state attorney,
American Atheists was still unable to find a
local attorney" ofrecord." It was at this point
that Paul Tirmenstein filed the suit himself,
"pro se," hoping that, from. the publicity
which the filing generated, a Mississippi
attorney could be found. A number of
attorneys had been contacted, including
those associated with the A.c.L.U. and the
evening before the filing of the case, Jon
Murray, Dr. O'Hair, and Paul Tirmenstein
had sat in a hotel watching one attorney sob
bitterly saying that his career would be
ended if he touched it. Meeting the press in
Jackson the next day, four years ago, Tirmenstein came with a paper in hand on
which he had carefully written a statement
that he wanted to make to the media. If no
attorney had the courage to say what needed
to be said, he felt that he did. They stood side
by side, the three of them, with every media
in the town represented, newspapers, radio,
and television, making their statements.
June, 1985

And then, Tirmenstein read his:

I am bringing this suit on behalf of
every citizen in this state who has the
kind of patriotism that calls for obeying and supporting the Constitution of
the United States.
Section 265 specifically bars Atheists from holding office in Mississippi.
This mandates belief in a mythical
supernatural god, which an Atheist
does not have. This religiously motivated attempt to bar men of the
mental capacity and calibre of Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Luther Burbank,
Atheists all, from holding office, is
unequivocally unconstitutional and
should be declared so by the court. A
mere declaration of its unconstitutionality is insufficient to correct this insult
to and discrimination against those
Americans who have the mental capacity to recognize a fraud and refuse to
believe in fairy tales and Santa Claus.
When a former Attorney General
in an interview with the Clarion Ledger said that Section 265 is not discriminatory he was lying through his teeth,
giving us a prime example of the kind
of doubletalk which devious religionists use to befuddle those who lack the
intelligence which enables them to
separate truth from falsehood. His
statement that 265 was intended to
contribute to getting good men and
women by preventing Atheists from
holding office was the assumption of
the right to declare that Atheists are
not good people. No one has this
right. This 'is the obnoxious kind of
tyranny which Christianity
has
spawned throughout the ages and
which the First Amendment was intended to eliminate from all levels of
government, Iwould suggest that anyone who entertains such opinions of
Atheists and has the temerity to express them should turn his finger
. Page 7

NEWS AND COMMENTS

around 180 degrees and then point. It
will then be in the direction of a
bigoted un-American whose idiotic
statements carry the full imprint of
fundamentalist lunacy.
This suit is being brought in a legal
attempt to correct an abusive and
discriminatory law of which Mississippi Christians should be deeply
ashamed.
It was almost a year later before Henry
Martin of Tennessee, having won a similar
contest in that state, was able to take over
the case. Even then, it took Martin months
to find any lawyer in Mississippi who would
be the needed "counsel of record." Martin
would do all the work; the counsel of record
would merely be the required contact in
Mississippi.
The proceedings were interminable. Talking on the telephone the office of the Attorney General could admit freely that the
provision was unconstitutional but said that
it would be political suicide to sign a "consent decree" to that effect. The federal
district judge did not desire to be put in the
position that he was the one to make a
judgment on it. And for months, nothing
could be gained. Costs mounted, and Paul
Tirmenstein was there with his checkbook.
And he ticked off his birthdays - he was
eighty-two years old when he filed the suit,
and then eighty-three and eighty-four. About
that time it was thought that it might be
better to join a younger person with the suit.
John Marthaler of Mississippi came forward
and became a party, as did the American
Atheist organization. Both Tirmenstein and
Marthaler filed affidavits of harm:
The continued publication of Article 14, Section 265, of the Mississippi
Constitution and the Mississippi Code
of Laws, without any indication of its
constitutional invalidity, causes me
and others who deny the existence of
a supreme being serious harm. It
indicates to all of society that I, and
others who feel as I do, are secondclass citizens who are not even worthy
of holding public office. Its appearance of legalityand unchallenged validity is extremely offensive to me. Its
placement in the State Constitution
perpetually defames me and my good
name and character. It give official
sanction to a climate of hostility, intolerance, and repression which is directed towards me and my beliefs. It
tends to have a chilling effect on me
and others who share my beliefs, or
would share my beliefs, from holding
or expressing such beliefs, and from
attempting to exercise the constituPage 8

tional right to seek public office. Therefore, it has the effect not only of
preventing me from holding public
office, but also from voting for or
being served by public officials who
share my beliefs. Thus, I have been
denied the right to be treated as an
equal citizen with equal rights and
privileges in my state and community.
Finally, by late 1985, the State of Mississippi
was agreeing that the case could not possibly proceed further for the provisions were
in fact unconstitutional. The Attorney General's office, however, wanted the onus of
declaring this to be so to be on the federal
judge and not on the state. The thing to do
was to wait.
And wait everybody did, while Tirmenstein turned eighty-six years of age and
Henry Martin, cautiously but consistently,
pressed the case.
The Consent Decree never came out, for
the federal district judge was finallyforced to
act on Tirmenstein's Motion for Summary
Judgment, which was granted on April 22nd
1985. The American Atheist Center staff
read about it in the newspapers, and heard
about it from a jubilant John Marthaler and a
happy Tirmenstein, both of whom had been
contacted by the media. The Court's clerk
was so hostile that he never sent a copy of
the order to Martin, who was forced to
obtain a photocopy from the Mississippi
attorney of record. The pettiness and meanspirit of both the Mississippi officials and the
judge were evident in the decree:
ORDER
This case is before the Court on the
Motion of the Plaintiffs for Summary
Judgment. The Plaintiffs, avowed
Atheists, filed this Complaint attacking the constitutionality of Article 14,
Section 265 of the Constitution of the
State of Mississippi which provides as
follows: "No person who denies the
existence of a Supreme Being shall
hold any office in this state." The
Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment
holding this provision of the Constitution unconstitutional, nominal damages, attorney's fees, and injunctive
relief requiring the Attorney General
to indicate in the annotations following this section of the Mississippi
Constitution that this Section is invalid. The affidavits of the Plaintiffs are
included with the Motion for Summary Judgment alleging injury because they are denied the right to hold
public office, denied the right to vote
for those who share their beliefs, and
general injury resulting from the presJune, 1985

ence of a statute which is offensive to

them and those who share their beliefs. Defendants agree the matter is
ripe for consideration under the Motion for Summary Judgment.
The Court need not belabor the
question of standing as it is bound by
the resolution of the question by the
United States Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit in O'Hair v. White,
675 F.29 680 (5th Cir. 1982). The
allegations of the Plaintiffs fall within
the analysis of the Fifth Circuit to
O'Hair v. White. The language of the
constitutional provision before this
Court is almost identical to the objectionable language contained in the
Texas state constitution which was
attacked by the plaintiffs in O'Hair v.
White. Additionally, it is clear that
under the analysis of the Supreme
Court in Torcaso v. Watkins 367 U.S.
488 (1961) that this provision of the
Mississippi State Constitution is constitutionally infirm. For the reasons
set forth above this Court shall enter a
judgment declaring this provision of
the Mississippi State Constitution to
be in violation of the constitution and
laws of the United States. Additionally, the Plaintiffs are entitled to nominal damages of $1.00 and attorney's
fees. The injunctive relief requested is
denied on the basis that there is no
indication that the Attorney General
would not fulfillhis statutory duty by
indicating the constitutional infirmity
of this provision of the Mississippi
State Constitution.
.
The parties are directed to confer
and attempt to arrive at an agreement
with respect to an award of attorney's
fees. Ifwithin thirty days from the date
of the entry of this Order the parties
are unable to agree, the Plaintiffs are
directed to file their motion for attorney's fees with supporting affidavits
and materials. The Defendant shall
respond stating with specificity the
particular items to which any objection is interposed. A final judgment
will be entered by the Court either
upon notification by the parties that
attorney's fees have been agreed upon
or at such time as this Court rules on
the Motion for Attorney's fees if such
is necessary by lack of agreement of
the parties.
Well, Paul Tirmenstein - you did it. You
won before you croaked. And let that be a
lesson to one and all that everyone who
wants to achieve a gain for Atheism really
has to "hang in."
The American Atheist

Thus Spoke Nietzsche

"When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left his home and ...
went into the mountains. Here he enjoyed his self and the solitude
for ten years. But then he changed his mind ... 'Behold! I am tired
of my knowledge! I am like a bee which has gathered too much
honey. I need hands outstreched to take my wisdom. '" Thus spoke
Zarathustra, and so begins one of the greatest works of Atheism,
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrick Nietzsche (1844-1900).
By the turn of the twentieth century, Nietzsche had become one
of Europe's most celebrated and influencial writers. His stentorian
call for individualism and elitism touched a nerve in Western
culture, but because of anti-German propaganda of World War I,
his popularity faded. To add to the problems of understanding his
ideas, the Nazis took many of them out of context, warped
them to their own ends, and turned Nietzsche into an
apologist for fascism. This view of Nietzsche prevailed
until Prof. Walter Kaufmann published his monumental Nietzsche, Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist in 1950. Prof. Kaufmann proved that much
of Nietzsche's reputation was formed by the editil!~of many of his works by his sister, Elisabith
Forster-Nietzsche.

the most prestigious in Europe for training students in classical

languages, literature, philosophy, and philology. The last discipline
eventually attracted him. It was at the Pforta School that Nietzsche
became an Atheist. He concluded that the Bible was interpreted by
the religious with a flagrant lack of concern for scholarship. He
wrote:
How little Christianity teaches a person to be honest and fair
can be seen in the honesty of Christian scholars. They
repeatedly maintain their views are correct because "that's
what's in the Bible," and then they concoct interpretations
which are completely and flagrantly arbitrary. Any philologist who reads such interpretations has to either laugh or
become angry. Can such interpretations be possible, let
alone intellectually honorable and respectable?
But what can one expect from a religion which
perpetrates the incredible philological
farce of taking the Old Testament
from the Jews by maintaining that
it was Christian.
Nietzsche is correct. Any
scholar who would take a
line from any work of literature and lecture on it
without the slightest concern for its biographical,
historical, sociological, or
culture milieu would be
laughed at as an ignoramus, an amateur, or
person of suspect intellectual training. Yet the
Pope, BillyGraham, Jim;
my Swaggert, and Jerry
Falwell do it all the time.

Thus Spoke Elisabeth

Elisabeth married Bernhard Forster, a
rabid German chauvinist and anti-Semite.
Before her marriage, she asked her
brother for his approval of her
choice of husband; he not only refused but would not attend the wedding. While he had no respect for
Judaism, he was not an anti-Semite;
Nietzsche opposed the religion but
not the people. Elisabeth went
to Paraguay where her husband
tried to establish a utopia, "New
Germany." It failed. She remained faithfulto her husband's
concepts of Aryan superiority and anti-Semitism.
When Nietzsche suffered his
mental collapse in 1889, his
mother became his administratrix, and shortly before her
death (April 20, 1897), Elisabeth
emerged as his literary executrix.
She edited his works to suit her bigotries, and "Her interpretations of her
brother's thought were immediately accepted
almost everywhere; and right up to the present [1950]." Prof. Kaufmann exposed
the errors and deceptions of her ..
work. Because of his superb
study, Nietzsche is once
again considered to be one
of the monumental minds of
Western thought.
Nietzsche, the son of a third-generation Lutheran minister, was born in 1844 in Rocken, Saxony. He
obtained a scholarship to attend the famous Pforta School, one of

And Then, Richard Wagner

One of the most important
influences on Nietzsche's life was
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), the
legendary musical composer. Nietzsche
was initially one of his most ardent supporters, but their disagreements sharpened and they eventually parted ways.
Nevertheless, Wagner's influence on
Nietzsche was seminal. Hollingdale
rightly notes that Wagner
turned Nietzsche's attention
to music and drama. This
interest proved to be the
foundation stone of his
thought, because once he
began considering them,
he addressed the question of the goal of art, which led
him back to the study of ancient Greek tragedy,
then to the question of Western culture's direction, Christianity,
and eventually to his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872).

bLf Maurice LaBelle

Austin, Texas

June, 1985

Page 9

The Birth of Tragedy

The Birth of Tragedy is, at first reading, a
study of Greek tragic drama, but the work
quickly broadens into an analysis of the
human psyche and then Western culture.
The fundamental question which Nietzsche
addressed is, "What makes a culture gen
erate genius?" A study of the "Golden Age of
Athens" (the fifthcentury B.C.) was certainly
the place to begin. The first problem Nietzsche confronted was why the ancient
Greeks devoted so much of their energy to
writing and performing tragedy. For instance, the Oresteia revolves around an
uncle murdering his nephews, a wife killing
her husband, and matricide; Oedipus the
King deals with incest and murder; and
Medea deals with a mother killing her children. "The Greeks and pessimistic art,"
Nietzsch rhetorically asks. "The Greeks:
The most sophisticated and intellectually
healthy people - of all people! How could
they conceivably create tragedies?" Why?
Nietzsche's analysis of Greek culture and
ultimately of the human mind remains one of
the most stimulating and insightful of all
views of ancient drama: The ancient Greeks
used tragedy as a means of relating themselves to the cosmos and realizing the great
joy of life.
"Isn't Rationality a Dodge?"
Nietzsche's analysis is based on three
aspects of the human personality. The first is
the "Apollonian," which is exemplified by
the aphorisms chiseled into the Temple of
Apollo at Delphi: "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much." These are the only two
"divinely revealed" statements in the ancient
Greek religion, and Nietzsche analyzes each.
These are the vaunted maxims which are
customarily viewed as the epitome of ancient
Greece.
The goal of the maxim to "Know thyself'
is to permit the individual to become completely aware of his or her uniqueness,
individuality, and particularism - what
Nietzsche calls the principium individuationis. Socrates - the Socratic mind - was
antithetical to Nietzsche because, as he
rhetorically asks in The Birth of Tragedy, "Is
it not possible that the 'inquiring mind' might
really be terrified by pessimism and trying to
escape from the view that the human is
governed by 'barbaric Dionysianism' by constructing a rationalized dike against the
truth? ... To be frank about the matter, isn't
rationality a dodge? Isn't this escapism your
innermost secret, Oh great Socrates?"
Socrates represented much of what
Nietzsche detested. To him, Socrates asserted that "Whatever is beautiful must also
be reasonable" and that "reason alone
makes men virtuous." Nietzsche asks his
reader to "Consider the implications of the

Page 10

Socratic dicta: 'Virtue is knowledge; sin

orginates in ignorance; only the virtuous are
content.'" "What," Nietzsche asks, "does
Socrates represent? ... Is it possible that a
logician does not know everything? Perhaps
there is a realm of wisdom, after all, from
which the logician is excluded?"
Nietzsche's genius also surfaces in his
examination of the second Apollonian maxim, "Moderation in all things." While allowing the individual to be aware of his or her
uniqueness, the dictum requires a person to
be aware constantly of "the norm." How else
can "excess" be determined? Because the
individual is required to focus on the norm,
the result is catastrophic: The individual is
reduced to being a logician trying desperately to suppress the pleasures of corporeality. Nietzsche rejects this attitude and its
underlying doctrine of conformity.
The Ultimate Synthesis
Nietzsche, surpassed only by Freud (who
greatly admired his analysis of the human
personality), was well aware of the antirational forces in the human animal, and
these he called "barbaric Dionysianism."
One of the most significant aspects of this
attitude is the condition of "rapture," which
can be initiated by drugs, incantations, or
sexual frenzy. The result is a state of mind in
which the individual casts aside the bonds of
individuality and particularism and totally
identifies with a "higher community," such
as the cosmos, god, or nature - "the vision
of the mystical Oneness." Nietzsche viewed
the "barbaric Dionysianism" condition as
the most significant of artistic creativity as
well as one of the most important and
forceful aspects of the human animal. The
artist - the creator - must transcend
technique and merge "with the primal architect of the cosmos, and it is only then that he
or she can know the essence of art."
Nietzsche concluded that the triumph of
Hellenic culture resulted from a unique
integration of "barbaric Dionysianism" and
Apollonianism. According to his analysis,
the clash between the two forces was resolved by the former sloughing its barbarities, such as sexual promiscuity, while retaining its ability to excite people "to sink
back into the original oneness of nature ...
the mystical process of un-selving" (Francis
Golffing, The Birth of Tragedy and The
Genealogy of Morals; 1956). Meanwhile,
Apollonianism recognized the extreme precariousness of its existence because it can
very easily be destroyed by the "Dionysiac
whirlwind." Thus, each facet of the human
personality yielded to the other: Apollo
saved Greece from falling back into the
chaos of "barbaric Dionysianism," and
"barbaric Dionysianism" saved Greece from
falling into the life-destroying sterility of
Socratic logic. The ensuing synthesis is not

June, 1985

easily obtained, but the result is a psychologically healthy person who has integrated
both the emotional and rational aspects of
the personality.
"We Have Outgrown Christianity"
The only time in Western culture when
the two antagonistic forces of Apollonianism
and "barbaric Dionysianism" were successfully integrated into "Dionysianism" (the
term he used for the unification of the two
opposite forces) was during the period of the
great tragedies of ancient Greece, the culmination of which was Oedipus the King.
Since that time, Western culture has degenerated into Judeo-Christianity and Apollonianism (science), both of which are "lifedestroying"; it is a culture of "window-dressing." Prof. Kaufmann rightly comments that
"Nietzsche turns away from all faith in
progress, admits that the Greeks, three
thousand years ago, took a step which
raised them above ourselves." The contemporary age, therefore, is inferior to "The
Golden Age" of ancient Greece, the culture
which spawned Oedipus the King. In contrast, "We live in an era of theory, a time in
which science is more honored than true
art."
The Birth of Tragedy was poorly received
in scholarly circles because it was not replete with secondary sources and documentation. But Prof. Kaufmann, who speaks for
modern scholars of Nietzsche, says that
"this book [anticipated] a new era in the
interpretation of Greek culture." One of the
most universally celebrated authorities on
ancient Greek, Prof. Francis Cornford, concludes that The Birth of Tragedy is "a work
of profound imaginative insight, which left
the scholarship of a generation toiling in the
rear." He is too conservative. It was the
twenty-eight-year-old Nietzsche who forced
Greek scholars to question whether Socrates and Aristotle, the vaunted gods of the
"Golden Age" of ancient Greece, truly represented its "Golden Age." To Nietzsche,
they represented its degeneration.
Nietzsche significantly developed his
Atheism in his masterpiece, Thus Spoke
Zarathustra (1883-1885). Very early in the
work, Zarathustra announces that "God is
dead." This assertion is widely misunderstood. A common rebuttal to Nietzsche's
assertion by Christians is that ifGod is dead,
then he must have been alive. Not at all.
God, to Nietzsche (and later to Freud) is a
psychological concept, a product of "human
insanity." In the modern world, god is no
longer of any value. For instance, the vast
majority of contemporary people are far
more concerned with Sunday football games
than whether Jesus was really an ignoramus
or the savior of the entire cosmos. Nietzsche
concluded that "We have outgrown Christianity."

The American Atheist

The Will to Power

The fundamental question Nietzsche
poses is what the Westerner is to do with the
moral implications of the death of god.
Morality, to Nietzsche, must be based upon
the realization of that which makes a person
an individual, something unique, particular.
This is a refinement of Nietzsche's concept
of Dionysianism: To be an individual, a
person must be a non- individual, which
means to experience "the Dionysiac whirlwind" - Life. The contradiction between
individualism and unity with Life is resolved
in Nietzsche's concept of "will to power."
Nietzche's personal motto was "Become
what you are!" As he had stated in The Birth
of Tragedy, self-knowledge is impossible;
the motto means that a person should bring
his or her "will to power," which is the
intrinsic nature of each individual; it is what
makes a person unique and distinct while
simultaneously allowing the individual to feel
part of Life. The problem which every person confronts is how to realize this "will"and
bring it to "power." To bring the "will to
power," the person must transcend social
values, that is, the morality imposed by the
Judeo-Christian religion and the vaunted
"norm" of Apollonianism. In order to be free
and bring the "will to power," the individual
must first destroy all values because it is only
after destruction ofthem that the person will
be able to create a new morality in light of
Dionysianism. Out of destruction comes
creation. Thus Nietzsche should be viewed
concomitantly as a nihilist and a creator.
One of the greatest impedimentia to bringing the "will to power" is Christianity.
Nietzsche viewed Christianity as a "slave"
religion. It was founded by slaves in the
Roman Empire, and thus the religion reflects
the social and economic caste. For instance,
Christians refer to meekness, "turn the
other cheek," and "render unto Caesar
what is Caeser's." Nietzsche does not appreciate such attitudes - they are statements by slaves. But he concludes that such
attitudes of supposed meekness and humility are really masks for ressentiment. This
concept is based on the conclusion that
once a slave gains supremacy (such as the
Christians did), then he or she is going to
lord it over the deposed master and suppress his or her rights. What follows is
murder, the pillory, abridgement of freedom
of speech - anything to maintain and
enforce supremacy. The vast majority of
people no longer believe in a god, but the
morality based on that belief remains to a
significant extent. The sin is that the suppliant submits his or her willto a member of
the priestcraft; in short, the religious person
obeys rather than commands. Such moral
strictures blunt the development of the "will
to power," and thus there is no possibility
that the human animal can be anything other

Austin, Texas

than a zombie, a robot, a psychologically

diseased creature.
While Nietzsche emphasizes the role of
emotions in human existence, he should not
be considered simply as an advocate of the
irrational. As he states in The Birth of'
Tragedy, the proper development of the
human animal is Dionysianism. Such a person is the great opera singer, pianist, painter
who has so mastered the Apollonian skills of
technique that he or she is then able to use
that supremacy to transcend mere mechanics and create that which is new, to have the
courage to create anew, and to enjoy the act
of creating. The words create and joy prevail
in Nietzche's work. The "will to power" is
reasonable: who does not want to be himself
or herself? Who does not want to create?
Who does not want to be complete? What
great artist does not logically seek to be able
to be rational and simultaneously transcend
logic and to become joyful? To create is to be
Dionysian -logical and emotional. Without
the integration, there can be only chaos,
disease, and the destruction of life.
Ubermensch - Overman
The solution to overcoming the obstacles
to bringing the "willto power" is the "Superman." This is one of the most misunderstood concepts of Nietzsche. In order to
understand it, it is necessary to comment on
a problem in translating Nietzsche's term
Ubermensch. The word literally means
"overman," that is, something over, above,
beyond, superior to man. Prof. Kaufmann
translates Ubermensch as "Overman." A
rather dull translation, but the meaning of
Nietzsche's term is clear. The word "Superman" is more vivid, but it connotes for
Americans the caped, well-muscled, and
righteous figure jumping out of a phone
booth. The depiction by the Nazis as the
Superman being a blond, blue-eyed, muscular Aryan was nothing but propaganda; to
Nietzsche, the Superman was the person
who brought the "will to power."
In order to become a Superman, the
individual must "revalue allvalues," because
only when a person "revalues all values" can
the indivdual transcend the values he or she
has been taught, which are fundamentally
Judeo-Christian and thus are based on a
misunderstanding of the nature of the human animal. He comments that "A very
common misconception [is] that a person
should have the courage to hold to his
convictions; the fact is quite to the contrary
- the problem is to have the courage to
evaluate your own views!!!" Only a very few
people willhave the courage and strength to
"revalue all values" and to create new ones;
therefore, Nietzsche became an elitist. larathustra: "Wherever the herd drinks, the well
is poisoned."
Once religion is discarded, the individual

June, 1985

should live in such a way that each moment

will have such supreme value that the person would want to live it eternally. This is
Nietzsche's Doctrine of Eternal recurrence.
His "scientific" support for his doctririe is
tenuous:
The total amount of energy in the
universe is finite; consequently, the
number of positions, changes, combinations of this energy, although almost
innumerable, is nevertheless finite.
But time is infinite . . . until this
moment an infinity has already
elapsed, that is, all possible combinations have already existed. Thus the
events of this very minute have occurred before.
While Nietzsche's "scientific" proof of
eternal repetition is questionable, ethically
the concept is monumental: Because god is
dead, Nietzsche concludes that people
should conduct themselves so that they will
want their thoughts and actions to be eternally repeated. Nietzsche affirms that the
Doctrine of the Eternal Present, that is, each
moment has supreme value and joy. Perhaps the particular moment is agonizing, but
in retrospect, that sorrow and pain was
necessary to the development of the individual and the "will to power." "That which
does not kill you makes you stronger," and
thus that time of sorrow should recur because of its consequences. Life is bearable.
But there was the Doctrine of Agon with
its dictum that life must always be a contest.
Agon was a concept of Homeric Greece that
the way for a person to improve was is to be
in a state of struggle with other people.
Competition was not the goal; the aim of
Agon was for people to associate in such a
way that they would improve each other.
Each person much seek "enemies" who will
challenge their views, respect differences of
opinion while contesting them, and excite
confrontation in order to develop.
Nietzsche was not just a philosopher, a
person who was concerned about the great
truths in life; Nietzsche was also a great
literary artist, which he masterfully demonstrated in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The
work is based on the aphoristic style, that is,
the thoughts are presented in short, pithy
statements which leave the reader to formulate the conclusion. The literary style is
marvelously suited to Nietzsche's aims. As
Prof. Kaufmann rightly states, "Nietzsche
begs his readers to keep in mind that he does
not write to endorse a course of action. His
book wants to stimulate thought. It is impossible to teach a person to bring the 'willto
power.''' The reader must be stimulated but
not told, encouraged but not taught; the
reader must become Dionysian.
Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse in
1889. His critics frequently claim that his
Page 11

Atheism caused his psychiatric problems,

but scholars rightly dismiss such an explanation. There are two respected explanations
for his insanity. First, there had been a
history of mental illness in his family. His
father had died at an early age with a series
of mental problems and perhaps his paternal
grandfather as well. Secondly, it might very
well be that Nietzsche had contracted syphilis.
Prof. Hollingdale tells the story of Nietzsche's mental collapse:
As he was leaving his lodgings on the
morning of the 3rd January, 1889,
Nietzsche saw a cabman beating his
horse at the cab rank in the piazza
Carlo Alberto. With a cry he flung
himself across the square and threw
his arms about the animal's neck.
Then he lost consciousness and slid to
the ground, still clasping the tormented horse. A crowd gathered and
his landlord, attracted to the scene,
recognized his lodger and had him
carried back to his room. For a long
time he lay unconscious. When he
awoke he was no longer himself ....
He lived for eleven more years. Initiallyhe

was able to take walks with his mother and

sister, but then the walks became quite out
of the question. His mind ranged from
ranting and raving to apathy, from being a
"half crouching ... mortally-wounded wild
animal" to having "lifeless eyes." Death was
mercilessly late.
Prof. Kaufman has summarized many
views of Nietzsche's insanity and death:
Some will, no doubt, see Nietzsche's
final catastrophe as the last act in
which the Devil claims his own, while
to the more extravagant disciples it
appears as a transfiguration. Less
spectacular than some of these conceptions, but juster perhaps, is the
assertion that few men have fought
more heroically against illness and
agony, seeking to derive insight from
their suffering, utilizing their talents to
the last, and making their misery a
stepping stone to new and bolder
visions.
Friedrich Nietzsche's mind was of such awesome profundity that it grasped all of Western culture. He saw what a cultural disaster
the Judeo-Christian period has been, and he
also recognized how the Western mind must

return to sanity and health, which he called

Dionysianism. The ancient Greeks, according to Nietzsche, understood the human
animal; all else since then has been a mistake. This strange German professor of
philology saw with stunning clarity that in
order to be healthy and happy', a person
must be an Atheist; "life is basically boundlessly joyful." Zarathustra's words are his:
"Behold! I am weary of my wisdom, like a
bee that has gathered too much honey; I
need hands outstretched to take it." ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Prof. Maurice M. laBelle holds a Ph.D.
in Comparative Literature. He
presently teaches in the Department
of English at Drake University in Des
Moines, Iowa. His work has been
published in both French and English
in scholarly journals throughout the
United States, Canada, England, and
France. His book on the French
Atheist, Alfred Jarry (AI/red Jarrry,
Nihilism, and the Theatre 0/ The
Absurd) appeared in 1981.

rr

AN/)

PLEASE-

NO ,41~RWRINKLES.'))
Page 12

June, 1985

The American Atheist

HISTORICAL NOTES

100 Years Ago ...

The June 4, 1885 Index reported that:
"The eighteenth annual meeting of the
Free Religious Association, held in this city
on the evening of last Thursday [June 28,
1885]and the morning, afternoon, and evening of Friday [June 29, 1885], was largely
attended, the themes discussed were of
current interest, the addresses were worthy
of the subjects and the occasion, and the
proceedings throughout were marked by
most earnest enthusiasm ... "
Those reading John Jones's presentation
on New Zealand Atheism to the Fifteenth
Annual National Convention of American
Atheists in another section of this issue of
the American Atheist might find the following interesting. These comments on the
condition of state/church separation and
Atheism in New Zealand were found in the
June 27th, 1885edition of The Truth Seeker,
published by the National Liberal League.

60 Years Ago ...

The Haldeman-Julius Monthly had the
following motto: "Make the World Unsafe
for Hypocrisy." And in that vein, the following, written by its editor E. HaldemanJulius, appeared in the pages of its June,
1925 issue:

25 Years Ago ...

"What is the motive that underlies all
religion? that defines religion? that is, more
often than not, clearly revealed on the
simple, speaking surface of religion? It is
beggary. Worship is prayer, and prayer is a
pious, particular beggary. The first man who
talked to a god, asked that god for something - to ward off evil happenings or to
shower blessings according to the Christian
hymn. The most distinct and common religious belief is that man, by appealing to a
god, can secure divine aid and gifts and
guidance. Thus religion is for the weak ... "

30 Years Ago ...

"The religion of New Zealand, although
church and state are not united, is quite
stupid enough to suit the most primitive
Scotch Presbyterian, and these old fosil [sic]
preachers are still trying to enlighten the
people upon the mysteries of circumcision
and such like antiquities, still thought essential to salvation in New Zealand, or at
least in Dunedin; while at Christ Church, an
English colony, the Church of England prevails with the utmost rigor of pomp and show
which superstition and bigotry can devise.
And yet morals are at a low ebb. Sporting
seems to be the order of the day; horse
racing, cock and dog fighting, rat baiting,
and beer drinking seem to be religious
exercises in the colonies. The Salvation
Army runs riot here, with a fullbrass band in
the lead - tJ-;,~most fanatical and degraded
lot I ever saw vho seem to think that God is
deaf, and the more noise the better. On the
other hand, Freethought is rapidly on the
increase, and Secular societies are being
organized in all the large towns. At Dunedin,
the largest city on the island, the Freethought people own a magnificent hall, and
have a large membership and Lyceum
school. Their prosperity is largely due to
Robert Stout, the present premier of the
government of New Zealand. I was a little
surprised to find two Infidels and a Jew at the
head of government in this church and
priest-ridden country - prophetic of a better state of things in the future, when the
people wake up to the sham of royalty by .
divine right.
J.L. York."

Austin, Texas

whims and desires. Documented, factual,

and extremely interesting, this book, we
feel, willbecome one of the most widely read
in the coming years. It is now available to you
inspite of the censorship which was tried and
found wanting ... "

The Liberal of June 1955 gave this report:

"Some time ago the Post Office saw fit to
ban from the mails the book Catholic Imperialism and World Freedom by Avro
Manhattan. This book is printed by Watts &
Co. in England, and the Customs Office
refused to accept the book.
"Protest from various organizations, however, caused the P.O. to re-consider its
original ruling, and on April 18th, in answer
to a protest from F.L.L. [Friendship Liberal
League], the followingletter was received ...
"Dear Mr. Alt:
"This willacknowledge your letter of April
3,1955, addressed to Assistant Postmaster
General Robertson, relative to the book
entitled Catholic Imperialism and World
Freedom by Avro Manhattan.
"The question of the mailability of this
book has been reviewed and the original
ruling reversed, so that mailings thereof will
no longer be treated as nonmailable matter,
but willbe delivered.
"Sincerely yours,
"ABE McGREGOR GOFF,
"The Solicitor.
"By: William C. O'Brien
"Assistant Solicitor
"Fraud and Mailability Division
"Manhattan's book deals with the policy
of the Roman Church and its attempts to
use argument, ruse, intrigue, and even force
and violence to subject the human race to its
June, 1985

The British weekly The Freethinker, in its

June 17th, 1960, issue had this report on the
1960 National Secular Society Conference:
"A blazing summerlike day greeted delegates and members of the National Secular
Society when they arrived at Birmingham on
Saturday, June 4th, for their Annual Conference the following day ...
".. .The more serious side of the Conference started promptly at 10 A.M. on Whit
Sunday, with the Society's President, Mr.
FA Ridley, in the Chair ...
"Then, after a thunderstorm, the weather
cleared, enabling an outdoor meeting to be
held in Calthorpe Park, Edgbaston. Mr.
J.W. Barker was Chairman, and the Freethought case was ably put by Mr. Tom
Mosley (now - to the pleasure of all members - fully recovered after being knocked
off his platform at Nottingham), Mr. L.
Ebury, and Mr. E. Mills. There was clearly
need for this forceful propaganda, which
provoked heckling ... "

5 Years Ago ...

On June 2nd, 1980, "The Atheist Hour", a
livecurrent events talk -show presented from
the atheist viewpoint, became a regular
feature on KPFT, a non-profit, educational
station in Houston, Texas owned by the
Pacifica Foundation and affiliated with National Public Radio.
"The Atheist Hour" was, and still is,
hosted by Howard Kreisner, a long-time
officer of the Houston, Texas Chapter of
American Atheists.
"The Atheist Hour" originally consisted of
four elements. The first was the educational
presentation of a subject of interest to
Atheists. The second was "Nirvana Newsreel," a collection of recent news of the
various acts of violence, greed, and prejudice by religion. The third was an interview
with a civic or educational leader. And lastly,
the show would feature live phone calls from
listeners. "The Atheist Hour" continues to
be one of the most popular talk-shows in the
Houston area. ~

Page 13

ATHEISTS COME HOME

In cities and towns across the nation San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachussetts; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Des
Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Sandusky, Ohio; Salt Lake City, Utah - Atheists spent late March and early April enthusiastically planning to attend the Fifteenth
Annual National Convention of American
Atheists, The meet was to be held in the seat
of American Atheism: Austin, Texas. There
Atheists would not only greet others of their
ilk (an event all too rare for many) but they
would be able to see the American Atheist
Center, the headquarters for their fight for
civil rights. At that same time, however,
administrators at the American Atheist Center were discussing just where to hold the
"never to be forgotten" convention.
Meanwhile, Back in Austin
For the American Atheist Center had
learned early in March that a ninety-minute
talk show, regularly aired on a fundamentalist station, five days a week had calumniated the American Atheist Center, its
personnel, and its upcoming National Convention for several days. The show depicted
the Convention as being calculated to assemble Red Chinese hordes, agents of the
KGB, Russians, Gays and Lesbians, transvestites (headed by Sister Boom-Boom),
pro-abortionists, gun-control advocates,
Peaceniks, anti-nuclear buildup com-simps,
pro-pornographers,
disarmament advocates, blasphemers, mockers of "the Lord
God," and other heathens and undesirables.
Soon the host of the talk show seized upon
the idea of having a "God and Country
Rally" t6 confront the convening Atheists.
The plan proposed, and later effectuated,
was to rent the other side of a large ballroom
in which the American Atheist Convention
was to be held. The two parts of the facility
would be divided only by a thin pull-out
partition; the God and Country Rally would
feature a religious rock band and several
large choirs. Between the "joyful" noises and
the likely jostling crowds of the two groups,
trouble could quickly brew. Given the contentious tone of many of the fundamentalists' statements, American Atheists - after
much negotiating - did the only reasonable
thing: It moved the convention site across
the city. Jon Murray, the Director of The
Center, performed this veritable miracle of
public relations, business acumen, and suave

Page 14

convincing all within a forty-eight hour period. Little did the fundamentalists realize
that they had only accomplished having the
American Atheist Convention move to a
much finer hotel.
And Then It Began
Despite concerns over potential confrontations with overexcited Christians, the Fifteenth Annual National Convention of American Atheists began smoothly on the morning of Friday, April 5th. While "early bird"
conventioneers registered at the booth graciously manned by Mrs. Gloria Tholen, the
Board of Directors of American Atheists
met to discuss the current national situation
for Atheists. That morning also, the first bus
left for the American Atheist Center.
Throughout the Convention, members of
American Atheists were given tours of the
National Headquarters nearly ten miles
away; complimentary shuttle service was
provided, and six departures were scheduled over two days time.
BillKweder, Director of the Austin Chapter of American Atheists, and Claudia
Kweder, his wife, had spent over a month
coordinating a volunteer work crew from
the Austin Chapter to clean, paint, arrange,
repair, renovate, and "spit and polish" The
Center. Shirley Nelson, Director of the
Arkansas Chapter of American Atheists,
had designed manufactured and affixed a
new Center sign.
The staff of the American Atheist Television Forum had set up its temporary
studio in one of the hotel's attractive suites.
During all three days of the convention,
various atheist celebrities were interviewed
for the popular series. More than fifteen
individuals were "caught" by the camera.
Lex Stevens, the Forum's producer, artfully
managed to coordinate the tapings despite
the interviewees' reluctance to leave the
excitement of the convention hall.
The first day of the annual American
Atheist Convention was filled with business
meetings and informal get-to-gethers. At
noon, a luncheon was held for local media
representatives. There they had an opportunity to meet and question American Atheist officials,highlighted convention speakers,
and over twenty representatives of chapters
of American Atheists. Afterwards a Chapter
Directors' Meeting was held, and chapter
representatives had a chance to gather

June, 1985

information from Center officials and their

peers. Meanwhile, other conventioneers had
a chance for a leisurely stroll through the
book and product display room - filled to
the brim with national and chapter products
and displays, some of which could not be
had elsewhere - or to make casual acquaintance of each other.
Already the convention site was filledwith
a virtual "Who's Who of Atheism." The
founders of four companion organizations
to American Atheists were there: Arnold
Via, of the Prison Atheist League; Bob
Bolger, of the Deaf Atheist Materials Network; Bill Talley, of American Atheist Addiction Recovery Groups, Inc.; and Dominic
Florio and Don Sanders of American Gay
Atheists. Rubbing shoulders with them were
various members of the Board of Directors
of American Atheists, including Minerva
Massen, Mary Holder, Gerald Tholen, Lloyd
Thoren, Henry Schmuck, and Shirley Nelson. Several members of the non-resident
staff of the American Atheist strolled the
halls, namely Merrill Holste (''The Angry Old
Atheist"), Frank Zindler ("The Probing
Mind"), and Lowell Newby. Maurice LaBelle,
author of the recently published American
Atheist series on the Enlightenment, was
also there. The man who helped engineer
the victory in Tirmenstein u, Allain and two
other American Atheist victories - namely,
attorney Henry Martin - was there for
everyone to meet. Paul Tirmenstein, Director of the Northern Mississippi Chapter, and
John Marthaler, Director of the Southern
Mississippi Chapter, were both in attendence. For more on their recent legal victory, see the "News and Comments" section
of this issue of the American Atheist. Many
other chapter directors were there: Richard
Reinhold, of South Florida; Larry Carter, of
Iowa; Brian Lynch, of Boston, Massachusetts, winner of the 1984 Outstanding Chapter Director Award; Ellen Johnson, of
Northern New Jersey; William Brooks, of
Beaumont, Texas; Scott Kerns, of Houston,
Texas, recipient of the 1984 Most Hated
Atheist Award; and David Chris Allen, of
Salt Lake City, Utah. Larry McHoliand and
Kyrin Alves, the long-time Tucson, Arizona,
chapter officers, once again had led one of
the largest chapter delegations to a convention. August Berkshire, of the dynamic Twin
Cities, Minnesota Chapter, was there along with over a dozen chapter members
from his area. In addition, various other

The American Atheist

chapters had sent representatives when

their Directors were unable to attend. And
of course, the staff of The American Atheist
Center was about.
Fun under Texas Stars
Theists may get to dress up each Sunday
and sit in a grim church, cathedral, or
synagogue to be bored to sleep or harangued with their sins, but when Atheists
get dressed up they enjoy themselves - or
at least they did at the cocktail reception and
formal dinner on the night of Friday, April
5th. More than one hundred and eighty
people milled and talked and then sat down
for an enjoyable dinner at tables decorated
with Texas wildflowers. (Texas is known as
the Wildflower State.) Jon Murray, Director
of the American Atheist Center and Managing Editor of the American Atheist, MC'd
this event, introducing the many notables in
the Atheist community and presenting several awards to outstanding individuals. As if
this allwere not enough to make the evening
memorable, a special documentary about
the historicity ofJesus Christ (imported from
abroad) was later presented.
But the conventioneers were still up early
Saturday morning to catch the opening
remarks by William Kweder, Director of the
Austin Chapter of American Atheists, and
Jon G. Murray. Informative lectures filled
the day from 10:00A.M.to 7:00 P.M.Though
many individuals took the opportunity to
tour the American Atheist Center, the convention hall was still usually packed with
persons straining at the bit for the data
available. Most of the presentations were
concise and succinct, but the livelyquestionand-answer sessions often stretched the
lecture over the alloted time.
The speakers presented a common concern for the state of civil liberties and of the
First Amendment in the United States.
Henry Martin, attorney-at -lawand representative for the plaintiffs in O'Hair v. Hill and
Tirmenstein v. Allain, addressed "State,
Church, and the Supreme Court." Atheists
were urged to take a more activist stance
against the Reaganites in "The Enlightenment Revisited: A Challenge to ConternporaryAtheists," a presentation by Dr. Maurice
M. LaBelle, of the Department of English at
Drake University. Dr. LaBelle should be
familiar to American Atheist readers as his
work has been featured in an American
Atheist six part series this year. Following
the lunch break, conventioneers were
treated to John Henry Faulk's "Look at the
First Amendment." Faulk is a well-known
political satirist and First Amendment advocate. Jon G. Murray, Director of the
American Atheist Center, gave a chilling
account of the current theopolitical situation
in his presentation "The Death of the First
Amendment." Another angle was given on

Austin, Texas

the question of freedom of speech by Frank

Morrow, producer of the acclaimed cable
access program "Alternative Views News
Magazine."
Turning to a different problem, Ben
Edward Ackerly, University of Southern
California instructor, attempted to unravel
the Gordian knot of religion, censorship,
and sex in his lecture "The Poison of Prudery." This was not only informative but
entertaining.
A special speaker this year was Mr. John
S. Jones. "New Zealand Rationalism" outlined the state/ church separation problems
in his country and the growth of Atheism in
that part of the world. American Atheists
invites a representative from a different
foreign atheist organization each year to
speak at its National Convention and then
sponsors a tour of the "States" as an encouragement to international atheist communication. Conventioneers were particularly impressed with Mr. Jones' information
and outlook, and all concerned were left
with a warmth of international unity after his
speech.
A Break for Refreshment
Even Atheists, inquisitive as they are, can
not engage in learning all the time. And
besides, where else but at the American
Atheist Convention can one talk about all of
the three great social taboos - religion,
politics, and sex - at a dinner or cocktail
party? So it was that Life Members, national
officers, the Board of Directors, and chapter
representatives set off Saturday evening for
a delicious Life Members' dinner at the
Murray-O'Hair home. Later, conventioneers
met for a soiree complete with entertainment by an accomplished pianist.
Fortunately, the first event on Sunday
was not until 10:30 A.M.and that was only a
brunch buffet, for Atheists were up until all
hours of the night getting to know one
another.
Sunday, April 7th was not so filled with
activities, but there was still a great deal for
conventioneers to see and hear. First, R.
Murray-O'Hair, editor of the American Atheist, discussed the historical trends in atheist
and freethought literature in her "New Directions in Atheist Literature." Readers also
had the opportunity to question her on
magazine policies and to offer many excellent suggestions.
As Gerald Tholen put it in his introduction, extra time was "filled up" by the last
speaker of the convention: Madalyn Murray
O'Hair, President of American Atheists. She
presented a challenging hypothesis of what
might be the real origins of religion. Questions and answers continued for over an
hour.
The last event of the convention was - as
it is traditionally - the members' Business

June, 1985

Meeting. This featured the Secretary's Annual Report as well as many questions about
and suggestions for organzational strategy
from the members-at -large. Also, Bob Bolger
reported on the recent formation of an
auxiliary group for the hearing impaired:
Deaf Atheist Materials News (DAMN).
Transcripts of many of the presentations
follow, as well as photos of the convention
activities.
Despite pre-convention fears that theists
would appear at the new convention site to
cause serious disruptions of the proceedings, only two minor "incidents" occurred.
Both were easily handled (plain-clothed Austin police were on duty all three days of the
meeting to make sure that all was in order),
and the pace of the convention was not
interrupted.
And an old trite saying sums it up best: "A
good time was had by all."
Awards
It has been the habit of American Atheists
to make an "Atheist of the Year" award to
litigants in state/church separation cases.
As the judicial doors close to Atheists it has
become necessary to find other criteria as
the basis of such award and, these not being
as yet defined, no award was given for 1984.
The Chapters and chapter workers, however, cleaned up: the Outstanding Chapter
award to Twin Cities, Minnesota Chapter,
for its exceptional promotional accomplishments and its team work; the Television
Forum Award to Alexander Stone for expanding the Forum to a dozen new outlets in
Minnesota; the Houston Chapter members
for their extra dedication in regularly driving
to Austin to assist in magazine production
and mailing; to Scott Kerns, Houston's
Director, the Most Hated Atheist award for
his gallant efforts against Gideon Bible distribution in Houston; to Ann Zindler for
being the most overworked Chapter Secretary (Ohio); to William J. Kweder (Austin)
and Arnold Via (Virginia) for extraordinary
efforts in re-roofing the American Atheist
Center; to Robert Melsha the Outstanding
Member Award for consistent and conscientious volunteer work at the American Atheist Center; and to Jon Ftergotis, the Boston
druggist, for supplying medication (needles,
alcohol swabs, insulin) to Dr. O'Hair, our
fearless leader.
All of these persons are shining lights in
the darkness of the Christian climate in our
nation. The heartfelt awards were given to
them from grateful American Atheists. Their
efforts are very sincerely appreciated. It is
hoped that many of you will try to emulate
them.
Photo Credits
Steve Streeter and James Steamer.

Page 15

John S. Jones

NEW ZEALAND RATIONALISM

"Jack" Jones is the National Secretary of the New Zealand Rationalist
Association (Inc.) He has previously
held the post of National Treasurer and
was president of their Christchurch
Branch. Born in Great Britain, he graduated from London University and
served in the Corps of the Royal Engineers from 1946 to 1952. He then took up
permanent residence in New Zealand,
where he gained his Chartered Accountant's qualification (similar to a
U.S. CPA), and now is an Estate Planning Consultant.
In "New Zealand Rationalism", Jones
covers the background of the state/
church separation problem in New Zealand, explaining the different aspects
peculiar to his country. This includes a
discussion of the religious infiltration of
their educational system (a grim warning to us in the U.S.), a presentation of
their census statistics on religious preference, and the history and activities of
the New Zealand Rationalist Association.

constitutional background.
New Zealand is a sovereign, independent
state with a population of approximately
3,200,000_ It is a parliamentary monarchy.
Its link with the mother country, Great
Britain, is that the Queen of Great Britain is
also the Queen of New Zealand as she is
Queen of Canada and Australia, While the
Queen is absent from New Zealand, the
function of Head of State is vested in the
Governor-GeneraL New Zealand is a unitary state with a single chamber legislature
of ninety-five members elected every three
years by universal adult suffrage at age
eighteen. The form of government is that of
a parliamentary democracy based on the
Westminster System. Like Great Britain we
have no written constitution, This means
that Parliament is absolutely sovereign and
there is no system of judicial review of
legislation as you have under your written
constitution. Although the judicature is separate and independent, the separation of
legislature and the executive is not nearly as
clearly defined as in the U-S_A
Church and State in New Zealand

Firstly I have to thank you all for your

kindness in inviting me here to Austin to
address your fifteenth Annual National Convention, I bring you fraternal greetings and
best wishes for the success of the Convention from the New Zealand Rationalist Association. We are particularly pleased to
participate because we have vivid memories
of Mrs. Madalyn Murray O'Hair's visit to
Auckland just a few years ago. There is also
some topicality in the fact that you have a
guest speaker from New Zealand when
there are certain differences of opinion between your government and mine over the
ANZUS treaty and nuclear ships issue, I
might just take the opportunity later to make
some passing reference to this controversial
matterI have been asked to tell you something
about the relationship of church and state in
New Zealand, the impact of the various
religious cults and sects on daily life in New
Zealand, and finallyto give you some insight
into the history and present day activities of
the New Zealand Rationalist Association,
Before discussing the interaction of
church and state it might be helpful to give a
brief outline of New Zealand's political and

Page 16

Unlike the mother country, there is no

established Church in New Zealand, This is
not because there is any law that says there
is not to be an established church but rather
because there is no law that says there is to
be. Under the law, religion as such has no
legal status or preference over non-religion
in any sphere; neither is anyone religion to
be preferred over another. In reality, of
course, there is a strong Christian tradition
and many people persist in wrongly referring
to New Zealand as a "Christian country."
Certainly considerable deference is paid to
the views expressed on every subject by the
spokesmen for the various Christian sects.
However, I am pleased to say that in some
limited areas we are very liberaL For example:
1. We have an absolute statutory right to
refuse to take an oath for any purpose
whatsoever and to affirm instead. No reason
need be given for choosing to affirm nor may
any person or institution in any proceedings
whatsoever make enquiry as to why a person elects to affirm rather than swear. After
the last general election, fourteen of the

June, 1985

ninety-five members of Parliament chose to

affirm the Oath of Office. Several members
of the ousted government party, now the
opposition, made adverse comment on this
exercise of statutory rights and this was
reported in the press with some degree of
approvaL My Association wrote many letters to the press, only some of which were
published, endeavouring to educate the public as to the correct statutory position and
we also made representations to the Human
Rights Commissioner- He agreed with our
stand but declined to act officially.
2. Our Human Rights Commission, which
was set up by statute, does outlaw discrimination on the grounds of religion or ethical
belief in certain limited areas, such as right to
work, housing, commercial contracts. The
terms of reference of the Commission, however, are much narrower than we would like
and the Commission has no penal powers. It
acts in a conciliar role only and its final
sanction is to publicize an issue and report
to the government_
3. Most governmental and official forms
(including tax returns) have now dropped
the use of the word "Christian name" and
instead refer to either "first" or "fore" names.
We regard this as a useful breakthrough.
4. Marriage is entirely a civil matter and it
is easy and commonplace for persons to be
married without a religious officiant and
ceremony. Myself and several Rationalist
colleagues are state-registered civilmarriage
celebrants. All ministers of religion of whatsoever denomination are automatically appointed marriage celebrants.
5. Divorce is fairly easily and cheaply
obtained. There is a system of family courts
separate from the panoply and expense of
the criminal and civil court system. These
family courts deal with divorce, adoption,
alimony, custody of children, etc. Divorce is
granted on the sole ground of irremedial
breakdown of marriage. There are no fault
grounds such as adultery, cruelty, etc. In
fact one can say that divorce is available on
demand, subject to a waiting period of two
years, although this can be reduced in
certain circumstances.
6. Birth control and family planning information and appliances are freely available.
However, the birth control pill can only be
obtained by a prescription from a registered
medical practitioner. Following pressure

The American Atheist

from religious groups the state has severely

reduced its financial assistance to family
planning clinics and advisory centers.
7.The question of abortion is very complex. The New Zealand law on abortion was
previously modelled on the Iridian Penal
Code formulated towards the end of the
nineteenth century. A leading case in the
early 1970s, taken to the highest appeal
court, decided that no abortion was illegalso
long as it was carried out by a registered
medical practitioner and so long as that
practitioner believed that the abortion was
necessary to the physical or mental health of
his patient. In fact we had abortion on
demand. This alarmed the Roman Catholic
Church and the Protestant fundamentalists
and in turn our politicians ran for cover as is
the habit of politicians everywhere. New
legislation was rapidly enacted which, while
not outlawing abortion, did make it more
difficult to obtain. A woman now can only
have an abortion after receiving a certificate
of approval from a special state-appointed
certifying consultant. In effect just about as
many abortions are being carried out as
there were before the law was changed, but
some religious people feel happier that women have to undergo more mental stress and
anxiety: Abortion is still freely available for
women with means. They can always buy an
airline ticket to Sydney, Australia, where
abortion clinics do a thriving business and
package deals with the various airlines are
common.
8. Funerals may be conducted on an
entirely secular basis and members of our
Association conduct non-religious funerals
both for members and non-members.
State and Church Overlaps
On the other side of the coin there are still
many areas in our life which are subject to
religious influence or where religious views
are given undue weight or special privileges:
1. All churches are free from rates and
taxes. This privilege is denied my Association.
2. Religion has a strong foothold in our
state education system and this is important
enough to refer to in more detail later.
3. Chaplains are paid out of the taxpayer's
money both in prisons and the armed services.
4. Euthanasia is effectively prohibited.
This is dealt with under our penal code by
treating it as an offense known as "aiding
and abetting suicide." Suicide itself is not
illegal but assisting someone to commit
suicide is.
5. The law regarding homosexual males is
most unsatisfactory. All homosexual acts
between males are illegal and carry very
heavy penalties. Oflate the police have been
less zealous in enforcing the law. The law
does not recognise that homosexual acts
Austin, Texas

can take place between women, and conThese are entirely secular.
sequently lesbian practices are not illegal.
In the state primary schools "religious
This follows the British tradition. During the
education" may be carried out either by
reign of Queen Victoria her ministers, intendthose state teachers who volunteer to do so
ing to alter the Crimes Act to provide. or by outside volunteer instructors for up to
heavier penalties for homosexual acts, felt one hour a week. During this period the
themselves unable to explain to her just
school is deemed to be offically closed and
what lesbianism was and accordingly dropaccordingly parents have the right to opt out
ped it from the statute. A bill has recently
and to withdraw their children from this
been introduced seeking to decriminalise
indoctrination. There is no precise definition
homosexual relations. This has caused a . as to what "religious education" means and
storm of protest from the churches and the our interpretation of the statute is that it is
result is in doubt.
not confined to the Christian religion or any
6. The celebration of Christmas is en- sect thereof, and that if a sufficient majority
dorsed by the state and local authorities. At of parents were so inclined, Islam, Budthis season we have religious motifs on dhism, or any other religion could be taught
postage stamps and local authorities erect
in that one hour available. Apart from this
Christmas trees and crosses, all paid for out
one hour a week no religious ceremonies or
of the taxpayers' and ratepayers' funds, and observances are legally permitted, but I fear
without regard to the feelings of taxpayers
that the law is not observed and many
who have no religion or who may not be zealous teachers do subject the pupils to
Christians.
some form of religious observance. My
7. Parliament and many local government
Association has an ongoing case with the
councils commence their proceedings with Human Rights Commission and we have
prayer.
achieved some limited success.
8. The rules governing the setting up and
Secondary Education
tax status of charities are biased in favour of
religious objects and it is impossible for my
Association and others of similar objects to
The position in secondary schools is more
be classified as charities. This means that
complex. Every parent can demand that his
donations to my Association are not tax child be enrolled in a primary school serving
deductible as are donations to churches.
the area in which he resides and there are no
9. Access to television and radio is very conditions attaching to such enrollment.
difficult for non-Christians as well as non- Secondary schools are administered by their
believers and there is considerable press
own Boards of Governors elected by parents and they set the rules for admission.
bias.
10. The Sunday observance laws are not One is entitled to enroll a child in the high
as Draconian as they used to be. However,
school serving one's district or in any other
bars may not open and liquor may not be high school which willhave the child, but one
sold on a Sunday except in conjunction with must agree when enrolling to abide by the
a meal in specially licensed premises. Most school regulations. If those regulations include religious services or religious educashops have to remain closed on Sunday.
Cinemas are open and all sports and other
tion there is nothing that can be done about
activities can be freely carried out. No it. Parents may have their children excluded
advertising is permitted on TV and radio on from religious classes, but particularly durSundays. Many of us have no quarrel with ing the teenage years this can make life very
that.
difficult for the children.
The Catholic Church exercises a powerReligion and Education
ful influence on the state in educational
matters and for well over a hundred years
Perhaps I could now tell you something
now has operated its own primary and
about our education system. When New secondary schools outside the state system.
Historically these schools have been staffed
Zealand was first founded, and for many
years thereafter, education was expressed
by nuns and brothers and have been kept
to be free, secular, and compulsory. Unfor- running on the church's own resources and
tunately ail we can say today is that it is such contributions as could be extracted
compulsory.
from the parents. Around 1960, however,
It is compulsory from the age of seven to the system was about to break down and the
fifteen, although parents may enroll their church was, or said it was, facing bankchildren at state schools at the age of five ruptcy. Tremendous pressure was brought
and most children do start their education
on both the government of the day and the
then. Primary education covers the period
opposition to obtain state support. The rot
from age five to thirteen. There is a separate
set in when one government cravenly agreed
structure of secondary or high schools for to pay for textbooks in Catholic schools.
persons from age thirteen to seventeen or The next government paid the cost of the
eighteen. Tertiary education is carried out teachers' salaries (even though most of the
by the universities and technical colleges. teachers had taken vows of poverty, chasJune, 1985

Page 17

tity, and obedience and the salaries went

straight into the church's general coffers).
Finally we have now reached a stage where
our Catholic schools are totally financed by
the state. We are constantly lobbying M.P.s
and campaigning against this iniquitous system, but realistically I must say there is little
chance of success while the Catholic vote is
perceived by politicians to be sufficient to
swing an election one way or another.
Religions and the Census Statistics
At this stage it is instructive to consider
the statistical strengths and weaknesses of
the various cults and sects in New Zealand.
Fortunately we do not have to rely on the
self-seeking and inflated claims of the
churches themselves. This is because we
have a census every five years in New
Zealand and one of the questions in the
census form relates to religious persuasion
or denomination. There is a statutory right
to object to answering that question. The
following is a table analysing the results of
the 1981 census together with comparative
figures for the 1976 census.
The following pattern emerges:
1. Religion in New Zealand is predominantly Christian and Protestant.
2. The three big religions are Church of
England or Anglican (your Episcopalian),
Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic. Between them they account for 56.5 percent of
the population. This, however, is a drop of 4
percent from the last census. Even the
Catholic Church dropped almost 1percent
which is quite astonishing considering its
rigid stance on birth control and abortion.
3. Almost 15 percent of the populace
exercised their statutory right and objected
to answering the question, up almost 1
percent since the last census. It is hard to
maintain with any statistical integrity that
the objectors are all people with no religion
who fear committing themselves on the
census form. What I think we can safely say
is that there would be at least the same
percentage of non-believers among objectors as among those who respond.
4. The most important trend is the number of those who state that they have no
religion or describe themselves as Atheists,
rationalists, agnostics, etc. You willsee that
in numerical terms there was a jump from
131,429 in 1976 to 214,800 in 1981. In percentage terms the increase was 4.2 percent
of the population in 1976 to 6.8 percent in
1981. Significantly also there are very few
who do actually describe themselves as
Atheists, rationalists, agnostics, etc.
5. The number of non-Christian religious
adherents is very small. They cover some
eighteen classifications ranging from 6,000
Hindus, 3,700 Buddhists and 2,000 Moslems
down to 213 Hare Krishnas, 81 Sun Worshippers, and 246 Rastafarians.
Page 18

The Christian sects outside the big three

increased over the intercensal period from
582,765 to 673,031, or in percentage terms
from 19.15%to 21.8%. As you would expect
the increase is mainly in the ranks of Charismatic and Pentecostal-type churches or
"Born Again Christians." However, the number of Christian religious denominations
outside the "big three" embraces more than
sixty different sects and cults and the census
separately records any group in excess of
fifty members. These range from 148,512
Methodists with 5.5 percent of the population through Assemblies of God 12,528
(0.4 percent of the population; doubled since
the last census) down through Mormons
37,686 (stable at 1.2 percent) and 418 "Bush
Baptists."
7. The inescapable conclusion to draw
from the census is that free thought or
irreligion has a strong foothold in New
Zealand and is gaining ground - very much
more rapidly than the growth in the Charismatic and fundamentalist Christian sects.
The two main Protestant sects are losing
ground rapidly and even the Roman Catholic Church is unable to maintain its membership in line with the general increase in
population. I suspect, but of course cannot
prove, that a large proportion of those who
object to state do in fact have no religion.
Obviously any adherents of minority sects
would not classify themselves as objectors
because they would want to maximize the
numbers of their church.
Some Observations
1. Church of England or Anglican (U.S.
equivalent is Episcopalian). This is the preferred sect of the middle and upper class. It
is totally ineffectual and its own Bishops
concede that the vast majority of people
who describe themselves as C. of E. have no
coherent religious convictions at all. Their
numbers are declining, but they have no
shortage of funds. The church has great
wealth, including substantial land holdings.
Can be described as wooly rather than
liberal.
2. Roman Catholics. The church in New
Zealand is in crisis. Despite its bitter opposition to birth control and abortion, numbers are dropping. There is a severe shortage of recruits for the priesthood and the
various orders of nuns and monks. The
Catholic schools are increasingly having to
rely on lay persons. Some parishes are short
of priests and in some areas Masses are only
available irregularly. Notwithstanding, the
Roman Catholic Church is a powerful pressure group and Catholics have successfully
penetrated the power structure. They exercise an influence on government and the
media far beyond their numerical status.
While Catholics are drifting away from their
church, they no longer constitute a solid
June, 1985

block vote and are increasingly refusing to

vote the way their parish priest tells them.
However, our politicians still perceive them
to be a monolithic voting block and act
accordingly. There are definite signs of radical views among younger priests and nuns.
3. Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian church is in deep crisis. Most of its
leaders and theologians are very liberal in
their approach to theological matters and
Bible interpretation and are at odds with a
large section of the laity. Generally the
church is liberal on political and social
matters.
4. Mormons. The Mormons are growing
fast as a result of their aggressive evangelisation tactics. They attract a lot of converts
from Maoris. The Seventh Day Adventists
are similar in their methods but on a smaller
scale.
5. The most vocal groups are the small
fundamentalist Protestant sects, which are
loosely referred to as Charismatic, Pentecostal, or "Born Again Christians." They are
equivalent to your "Moral Majority" or "Religious Right." They are newsworthy and the
media gives them far more attention than
they deserve. It must be conceded that they
are the only church groups which are really
capturing the imagination of the young people. They are ultra-reactionary and strongly
influenced by similar groups in the U.S.A.
and use their propaganda material and techniques.
6. There are a few non-Christian religious
minority groups in New Zealand. These are
the Moslems, Hindus, and Buddhists, who
find their support from small communities of
Indians and Chinese. Generally they are well
assimilated into the community and are
model citizens. The Jewish community is
small - generally Reformed and actively
Zionist, pro-Israel, and anti-Palestine.
7. Despite the numbers who profess nominal adherence to some religion, New Zealand is very definitely not a church-going
nation. The numbers in the congregations
are falling, and churches are closing. All
denominations have difficulty in replacing
clergy. There are definite signs that some
clergy have become secularized if not actually radicalized.
History of Rationalism
The history of our movement goes back
to 1856when Charles Southwell came to live
in Auckland. Southwell was a contemporary
of George J. Holyoake and had been jailed in
England for offences under the Blasphemy
Act in connection with his publication of the
journal Oracle of Reason. In Auckland he
became editor of the Auckland Examiner.
This was a liberal muckraking periodical in
which freethought coverage was merely
incidental. Organizations devoted specifically to the cause of secularism and free
The American Atheist

thought started to spring up in the 1870s.

The first recorded was the Dunedin Ethical
Society in 1876 - later known as the
Dunedin Free Thought Association - which
provided a forum for theists, Atheists, agnostics, spiritualists, pantheists and Unitarians. At one time the membership reached
two thousand, which was phenomenal for
the population at that time was little more
than half a million. The President was Mr.,
later Sir, Robert Stout. Stout had a fascinating career and was at various times Attorney General, Prime Minister (1884-1887),
and from 1899 until his death in 1926, Chief
Justice of New Zealand. The first free
thought Hall in Australasia, the Lyceum,
was set up in Dunedin in 1880. In those days
communication between the main centres of
New Zealand was very difficult and remained so until completion of the main trunk
railway early in the twentieth century. Hence
the proliferation of small autonomous
groups. In 1881 the "Free Thought Association" was set up in Wellington and the
following year changed its name to the
"Wellington Secular Society." Throughout
this period small free thought groups were
springing up all over the North and South
Islands. In September 1881the Christchurch
Free Thought Association was founded and
of all the organizations formed at this period
this is the one that enjoyed the longest life.A
Federal Union of New Zealand Free Thought
Societies was formed in 1884with Sir Robert
Stout as President and John Ballance (himself to become a Prime Minister of New
Zealand) as Vice-President. The Auckland
Rationalist Association, which traces its history back to the turn of the century, was
revived in 1927 and about this time published a monthly magazine named The Truth
Seeker which later changed its name to The
New Zealand Rationalist and Humanist.
This organization later absorbed all the
other provincial organizations and what was
purely a local Auckland organization then
became the national body known as "The
New Zealand Rationalist Association" with
branches in other centres. The organization
continued to publish The New Zealand
Rationalist and Humanist which now comes
out three times a year. We also publish a
monthly newsletter to members.
Activities
Unfortunately, although the numbers of
people professing to hold no religious beliefs
are increasing rapidly, our paid membership
is not holding up. The average age of our
members continues to increase and with the
passage of time we are losing more and more
through death and they are not being replaced. We had 1,200 members when the
population of the country was less than two
million; now the population is over three
million we have less than 1,000 paid-up

Austin, Texas

members, although many others support

our aims and attend our meetings. It seems
that although most young people in New
Zealand are drifting away from religion, they
have no interest in the struggle against
religious bigotry and influence.
The main work of the Association is
carried out in Auckland where we have a
meeting hall in our own building on a prime
site. Space not used by us is rented for
offices and this income enables us to keep
operating. Subscriptions from our members
would not anywhere near finance our activities.
All work of the organization is carried out
on a voluntary basis, apart from a part-time
office assistant.
We hold regular meetings on one Friday
night a month and one Sunday afternoon a
month. These take the form of members'
discussion groups on matters of public interest with specific reference to rationalist
attitudes and speakers on similar subjects.
The day-to-day administration of the organization is carried out by an elected executive
council of twelve, comprising president, two
vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, and
seven council members.
The society is "incorporated" under the
New Zealand Statute governing "Incorporated Societies" and enjoys corporate identity, perpetual succession, etc. The individual
members are not personally responsible for
any liabilities, debts, etc., incurred by the
Association, and we may own land and
benefit under wills.
There are also branches at Palmerston
North, Wellington, and Christchurch which
also hold regular meetings.
Much of our work is involved in lobbying
the government by direct approaches to
M.P.s, submissions to commissions, parliamentary committees, and government departments and submissions to the Human
Rights Commission. We are zealous to take
up cases where teachers and others exceed
their authority in peddling their own particular brand of religion contrary to legislative authority. We write letters to the press
and make statements on matters affecting
the rights of non-believers. We took an
active part in opposing our government's
participation in the Vietnam War, and we
have been active in the movement to defend
freely available abortion. Many years ago it
was our Association which successfully challenged the bluenose and Sunday observance laws. We take advantage of every
opportunity to gain access to the media and
to publicly debate with Church spokesmen
on all issues. Our biggest task today is
exposing and challenging the massive transfer of taxpayers' funds to prop up the Roman
Catholic educational edifice.
Just now we do find ourselves in complete
support of the government on one issue.
This is in respect of its stand on the visits of

June, 1985

nuclear-armed and nuclear-capable warships to our ports.

We are small but energetic. We have
achieved much, but we are deeply conscious
that there is very much more still to be
achieved. We are the only purely free
thought organization in New Zealand. There
is a Humanist Society, but this is inclined to
have diffuse aims.
On a proportional numerical basis we are
stronger than any other similar organization
in Australasia. Australia has a federal structure with six states and two territories, and
the freethought movement is itself fragmented on a state basis and there is no coordinating national body. We maintain close links
with yourselves in the United States and
with sister organizations in Australia, India,
Canada, the United Kingdom, Holland, and
Germany. Our journal goes to all similar
organizations in the world and to libraries
throughout New Zealand.
At the beginning I made some reference to
the disagreement between our governments
over the ANZUS and "nuclear ships" issues.
I know that there is a feeling that my government is "making waves" and that this viewpoint is assiduously cultivated by your socalled "Moral Majority" or "Religious Right."
Your fellow Atheists in New Zealand, however, while strongly supporting our government's stand, continue to hold the United
States of America in great affection and
respect. They know the apostles of apocalypse and the advocates of Armageddon do
not represent the real American tradition.
Your Republic was founded on the very
concept of dissent. We believe that these
spiritual fascists, these ecclesiatical stormtroopers, such as Spellman, Cushing,
Graham, Armstrong, and Falwell will inevitably end up in the trash can of history, like
torn pages from an old textbook of abnormal psychology. The American tradition
that your fellow Atheists in New Zealand
believe willand must regain its rightful place
is rather that of Thomas Paine, Robert
Ingersoll, Joseph McCabe, H. L. Mencken,
Clarence Darrow, and ... Madalyn Murray
O'Hair. ~

'CONFOR!1ITY'
Page 19

Ben Edward Akerley

THE POISON OF PRUDERY

Ben Akerley, a Pittsburgh native,
holds degrees in music education and
language teaching. After many years as
a music and language instructor, Mr.
Akerley began a new career as a specialist in teaching English to the foreign
born. He feels that the most convincing
argument for Atheism is sex, the most
direct link between mankind and the
animal kingdom.
In "The Poison of Prudery", Mr.
Akerley discusses the impact of religion
on human sexuality. He covers many
aspects of religious intolerance about
sex, including homosexuality, pornography, sex education, prostitution, and
sex research. Throughout, he notes the
underlying hypocrisy and puritanical
attitudes responsible for such intolerance and the resulting attempt to legislate people into a "moral" state. He
finishes this analysis with a series of
quotes, matching those of religionists
with those of the rationalist-humanists.
St. Augustine lamented that we are born
"between the feces and the urine," and with
that pronouncement, he neatly summarized
the reason why from time immemorial sex
has been viewed as a "dirty" act. St. Bernard
surpassed even St. Augustine in his summation of fleshly desires and told his discipies in his Meditations that "Man is nothing
else than fetid sperm . . . You have never
seen a viler dunghill." St. Jerome referred to
woman as a "sack of filth," and Tertullian
called her "a temple on top of a sewer."
While these sex-obsessed early church
fathers and theologians can hardly take
credit for originating the idea that sex is
dirty, they certainly did much to reinforce
that prudish notion. Yet, many would argue
that sex becomes even more enjoyable
because it is "dirty" since, like any taboo, the
violation of accepted moral code adds a
certain spice and piquancy to participation
in the forbidden act.
In his masterfully-researched book Sex in
History, Gordon Rattray Taylor has this to
say:
Man is, I suppose, the only living
creature which has found reasons for
deliberately inhibiting his sexual drive.
The bull does not hesitate to mount
the cow nor sit moping in the corner of

Page 20

the field. The flower does not primly

close its petals against the pollenbearing bee. That man should hedge
the sexual drive with rules designed to
protect the rights, or fancied rights, of
individuals is natutal; but that he
should claim a special virtue in complete abstinence from sexual activity
is a paradox which calls for close examination (p. 87).
Let us now examine some of the effects of
prudery - a virulent poison which has
contaminated us all, and we willsee how, in
the worlds of Nietzsche, "Christianity has
poisoned Eros."
The word "prude" is actually a shortened
form - an abbreviation of the Old French
term prude-femme which means "virtuous
woman." Therefore, the root form of
"prude" is inextricably bound up with the
idea that there are only two types of women
- the virtuous and the sluts, the madonnas
and the whores, the upright and the fallen.
So ingrained is this sexist concept that it is
unthinkable to refer to a man who has lost
his virginity as a "fallen" man. The evolution
of the double standard dictated, however,
that women should remain chaste if unmarried and faithful if married, although men, if
unmarried, were expected to "sow their wild
oats" and if married, to have an occasional
affair on the side.
Fortunately, women's liberation and the
rise of feminism have done much to raise
everyone's consciousness about how severely women have been oppressed and how
unfair the discrimination against them has
been. But there are notable exceptions,
such as Phyllis Schlafly with her anti-ERA
crusade and Anita Bryant with her campaign
to return women to their traditional roles as
mothers and houswives.
Also, underlying the vociferous opposition to freedom of choice on the abortion
issue by so-called Right to Life forces is the
moralistic slogan: "If they play, let them
pay." This implies, of course, that any female
who seeks sexual fulfillment deserves to be
prepared to pay the penalty of enforced
incubation and motherhood. The recent
spate of firebombings of abortion clinics
reveals how determinedly the Religious Right
wants to deprive women of their fundamental right to regulate their reproductive
destiny.

June, 1985

Gays and Lesbians

On August 9, 1975, the cover of Time
magazine pictured an Air Force sergeant in
fulluniform with the arresting caption, "I Am
a Homosexual" emblazoned across the
page. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, a decorated
Vietnam veteran who earned both a Bronze
Star and a Purple Heart, chose to challenge
the military's long-standing anti-Gay bias by
revealing his sexual orientation in what Gay
activists felt sure was a model test case.
Upon being immediately discharged, Matlovich told the media: "They gave me two
medals for killing men and a dishonorable
discharge for loving men."
Five years later, in 1980, the court
awarded Matlovich $50,000 in back pay and
ordered his reinstatement, but the Air Force
offered him an unprecedented cash settlement of $160,000 provided that he not reenter the service. Matlovich reluctantly accepted the offer on the advice of his attorney, but called it "the most difficult decision of my life."
Not so fortunate as Leonard Matlovfch
was twenty-three-year-old Charles Howard
who on July 7, 1984, was thrown from a
bridge in Bangor, Maine, by three teenage
youths. Despite his screams of "I can't swim,
I can't swim," the youths hurtled the mildmannered, effeminate Gay man into the
water where he drowned in minutes. In
sentencing the three youths on a reduced
charge of manslaughter, the presiding judge
stated that the acts of the youths merely
reflected the deep-seated hatred and fear
which society feels both for homosexuals
and homosexuality.
On the distaff side, tennis champion Billie
Jean King lost many lucrative endorsement
contracts in 1981 when a palimony suit filed
by her former secretary-companion
revealed a seven-year-Iong lesbian relationship
between the two women.
Recent revelations about the extramarital
and extracurricular Gay loves of former first
lady Eleanor Roosevelt and pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead have done
much damage to their highly-regarded reputations. And last year, when Vanessa
Williams had to relinquish her Miss America
crown because of pictures published in
Penthouse magazine with decidedly lesbian
overtones, the former Miss America had to
explain to the press: "I am not a Lesbian and

The American Atheist

William Kweder, Director Austin Chapter of American Atheists,

makes opening remarks as convention convenes.

Jon G. Murray, Director American Atheist Center, chairs a

session. Mr. Murray was master of ceremonies for Convention XV.

John Henry Faulk, noted humorist and First Amendment advocate, presents "A Look at The First Amendment."

Dr. Madalyn O'Hair, Founder and President of American Atheists,

presents her original theory on the origin of religion to the
convention.

Robin Murray-O'Hair, Editor of the American Atheist, talks about

"New Directions in Atheist Literature."

Gerald Tholen, Vice President of American Atheists, aids in the

presentation of awards and with introductions.

Austin, Texas

June, 1985

Page 21

John S. Jones, Secretary of New Zealand Rationalist Association,

presents the "state of the union" of Atheism in New Zealand.

Ben Edward Akerley of Southern California speaks on "The Poison of Prudery."

The conventioneers, over 300 in all, listen to one of the excellent

presentations.

Chapter Directors from across the country gather for a photo.

Page 22

Dr. Maurice M. LaBelle of Drake University offers "The Enlightenment Revisited: A Challenge to Contemporary Atheists."

June, 1985

Shirley Nelson, Board Member fror

Bill Gosnell of Houston erect a
preparation for the convention.

(Left to right) Jon Murray, Robin Murray-O'Hair, Paul Tirmenstein

of Mississippi - a Life Member at age 86, and Dr. O'Hair.

The American Atheist

WYNDHAM HOTEL

Frank Morrow, producer of cable access shows on alternative

views of the news, talks about the future of freedom of speech and
the minority viewpoint.

romArkansas, (top of ladder) and

a new sign for the Center in

Conventioneers line up at registration table

Conventioneers browse in the book and products display area.

Austin, Texas

Henry Martin, attorney from Nashville, Tennessee, reviews the

standing of separation of state and church from a current case law.

Scott Kerns, Director Houston Chapter of American Atheists, displays one

of two Houston Chapter awards.

Some of the Life Members in attendance pose for the camera.

June, 1985

Page23

Bob Bolger, deaf Atheist and Founder of DAMN (Deaf Atheist

Materials Network), addresses the convention with EllenJohnson,
New Jersey Chapter Director, standing by to help translate.

Ann Zindler, the "better half' of American Atheist columnist Frank

Zindler, accepts her awardfor Most Outstanding Chapter Worker.

August Berkshire, Director Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

Minnesota Chapter, accepts dual awards for the Chapters outstanding year during 1984.

Page 24

June, 1985

Brian Lynch (left), Director Boston Chapter of American Atheists,

accepts an award on behalf of the Boston group.

Arnold Via,Virginia Director and Founder of PALA

(Prison Atheist League of America), reflects on the
days events.

Gerald Tholen (right), prepares to tape an Atheist Forum interview

with Scott Kerns, one of seventeen such interviews taped on site
during the convention.

The American Atheist

never have been, though I'm not putting

those people down. Those pictures were
choreographed to look that way. Sure, I
know people think I'm a Lesbian. Just the
other day, someone went by my house and
said, 'Oh, that's where the Lesbian lives.'
But no matter how many boyfriends I bring
out to testify that I'm not Gay, people will
only believe what they want to believe."
As Gay student groups across the nation
have pushed for official recognition, they
have encountered unbelievably hostile resistance to their efforts. At Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the year-long
campaign by the Gay/Lesbian Student Support Organization provoked so much controversy that SMU faculty members commented that they had not seen such divisiveness since the Vietnam War.
At Berkeley, graffitisuch as "KillFaggots"
are commonplace on bathroom walls. At
Stanford, a sculpture by renowned artist
George Segal was vandalized because it
portrayed a Gay and a Lesbian couple, and
on the same campus, a poster advertising a
Gay picnic had scribbled on it the name of
the often fatal Gay-related disease AIDS,
with this additional interpretation: AIDS America's Ideal Death Sentence.
Undoubtedly the person who wrote that
commentary was a member of the Campus
Crusade for Christ because, as an arm of the
Moral Majority, it regards AIDS to be a
plague sent by Jehovah to punish all sinners
guilty of sexual transgressions.
Sex Research
Masters and Johnson, the well-known sex
research team, have repeatedly complained
about how difficult it is to get funding for sex
research. Foundations in particular are extremely sensitive about giving grants for this
purpose. Initially, Alfred Kinsey's sex research was heavily underwritten by the
Rockefeller Foundation. After the publication of the male volume in 1948, there was
much criticism and a loud outcry from moral
gurus to cut off funding from the Rockefeller
Foundation, but the board of trustees was
able to continue the funding until the publication of the female volume in 1953. Then,
all hell broke loose.
It was one thing to shatter the illusions
about male sex behaviour, but quite another
thing to shatter cherished illusions about
what women really do in the bedroom. The
myth still prevailed that nice women weren't
even supposed to experience sexual desire,
much less achieve climax and orgasm.
A leading critic of both Kinsey reports was
theologian Harry Emerson Fosdick. When
the Rockefeller Foundation terminated all
funding to the Kinsey Institute in 1954, it
simultaneously awarded $525,000 to Harry
Emerson Fosdick's Union Theological Seminary, one of the largest grants it had ever
Austin, Texas

made. It would appear in an instance like this

that prudery can payoff handsomely.
America's first true sexologist, Dr. Robert
Latou Dickinson, came to prominence when
even medical texts on sexual anatomy and
physiology were considered obscene, as
well as all manuals describing birth control
methods. The renowned obstetrician and
gynecologist observed in 1933 how lack of
adequate sex research has had disastrous
consequences:
Evasion of instruction concerning
anatomy in action is in part responsible for the physical discords alleged
to be the original cause for half the
mental maladjustments and threequarters of the divorces and desertions ... Many of our present beliefs
concerning average sex experience
and normal sex life have the status of
. surmise standing on foundations no
more secure than general impressions
and scattered personal histories.
In 1944, Dr. Dickinson collaborated with
the German obstetrician and gynecologist,
Dr. Ernst Grafenberg, who had made a
revolutionary discover during his research
on birth control methods. Grafenberg discovered a patch of erectile tissue in the front
wall of the vagina, directly behind the pubic
bone, that acts like a second clitoris. This
area has been nicknamed the "G spot" after
its discoverer and ifstimulated by deep pressure, the G spot produces a vaginal orgasm
distinctly different from a clitoral orgasm. It
also may secrete a fluid - a form of female
ejaculation. Admittedly, these two theories
fly in the face of most other sex research
which claims that both female ejaculation
and vaginal orgasm are myths.
The most intriguing aspect of this controversy is the finding that the usual "missionary" position in sexual intercourse with
the female on her back represents the least
effective way to stimulate the G spot and
that the popularity of the missionary position explains why the G spot was not
discovered until 1944 - and why its very
existence is still disputed even in medical
circles.
Sex Education
In nineteenth century United States, the
status of sex education can best be exemplified by a popular cartoon of the times. The
cartoon showed a young man discovering
his newlywed young wife unconscious from
chloroform on their honeymoon bed with a
note nearby which read: "Momma says you
can do anything you want with me."
Well, sex education in the twentieth century has progressed somewhat from that
time, but unfortunately most of the progress
has been in colleges and universities where it
June, 1985

comes far too late in the lives of sexually

capable and sexually active adolescents.
Consider the following startling recent statistics:
- Almost one in five live births is to a
teenage mother.
- Only one in five sexually active
teenage women use contraception consistently.
- Most births by teenage mothers
result from unplanned pregnancies.
Notwithstanding the sexual revolution,
narrow moral strictures blind most parents
who never stop to reflect that, like it or not,
their children will be exposed to sex education. As parents, their choice is not whether
or not their children willget sex education their only choice is what kind of sex education it. will be. Will it be the hearsay, the
myths, the misinformation, and stereotypes
learned on the street, or will it be straightforward.accurate, practical, and non-judgemental information provided by the parents
themselves or by a competent and knowledgeable source, such as a classroom
teacher?
Jane Addams, one of our pioneer social
reformers and founder of Chicago's famous
Hull House, lambasted the denial of sex
education to the young with these words;
It is incomprehensible that a nation
whose chief boast is its free public
education, that a people always ready
to respond to any moral or financial
appeal made in the name of children,
should permit this infamy against children to continue!
Ironically, the Religious Right has declared that sex education in our public
schools is a Communist plot to take over the
minds of our nation's youth and to indoctrinate them with the immmoral and godless
tenets of secular humanism. Yet, Communist countries are notorious for being even
worse than Puritanical America with regard
to implementing sex education courses. No,
Virginia, they do not as yet have even
anatomically-correct baby dolls available in
the Soviet Union.
The principal organization in American
dedicated to upgrading the state of sex
education and in serving as a resource and
consultation service is the Sex Information
and Education Council of the United States,
popularly known as SIECUS. It has adopted
a wonderfully provocative motto:
You're born with it.
It's yours till you die.
Most people enjoy it.
Some people are afraid of it.
Some are embarrassed by it.
Some would like to change theirs.
Without it the world would end.
What is it?
Page 25

It's sex. And that's what SIECUS is all

about.
Censorship
The Victorian author, Lady Gough, amply
demonstrated the extremes to which censorship can go in her 1863 book entitled Etiquette, in which she advocated the following
preposterous rule: "The perfect hostess,"
she warned, "willsee to it that the works of
male and female authors be properly separated on her bookshelves. Their proximity,
unless they [the authors] happen to be
married, should not be tolerated."
We are all too familiar with censorship
efforts against literary works which are
already completed, for these are the books
which typically are banned or even burned.
What staggers the mind, however, is how
many literary works of erotic nature might
have been aborted or abandoned by major
authors who were not so intrepid as a James
Joyce, a D. H. Lawrence, or a Henry Miller.
To be sure, there have been some vietories in the never-ending struggle for freedom of expression, most notably in the
proliferation of adult bookstores, in the
publication of explicit sex manuals, in the
new rating system for motion pictures, and
especially in the realistic use of language
now permitted in the cinema and, increasingly, on TV. In today's more permissive
atmosphere, it is hard to believe that it was
only in 1953 that Otto Preminger released
his movie The Moon is Blue without a
Production Code seal because he steadfastly refused to excise the word "virgin"
from his script.
The United States has an incredible array
of three-hundred-plus smut-hunting organizations with such picturesque names as 1)
Americans to Stamp Out Smut; 2) Guardians of Morality in Youth; 3) Operation
Moral Upgrade; 4) The American Coalition
for Traditional Values; 5) The National Federation for Decency; 6) Morality in Media,
and 7) The Christian Force for our Righ
teous Christian Environment. Even the
names of these groups of "do-gooders"
underscore the truism that repression
breeds obsession, but a particularly alarming trend is for these self-appointed moralists to organize boycotts of sponsors of TV
programs which they dislike, of stores which
sell what they consider to be pornographic
material, and recently, of hotel or motel
chains which have X-rated TV channels in
their rooms.
George Bernard Shaw once quipped that
it is impossible to explain obscenity without
being obscene. An 'oldItalian proverb says it
well: "A book whose sale is forbidden, All
men rush to see. And prohibition turns one
reader into three."
Yes, obscenity, like beauty, truly lies in
the eye of the beholder and nothing better

Page 26

illustrates this maxim than a news item from

the Los Angeles Times on October 21, 1974.
The headline read: "Smut Handbook Too
Specific For Pastors." Then it continued: "A
religious handbook mailed to all Southern
Baptist pastors in Texas to aid them in
urging their congregations to oppose pornography is being criticized as too graphic
and may be banned by the church as
pornography. "
Prostitution
The world's oldest profession is also the
most despised. In his 1983 book entitled
Smut, author Murray S. Davis comments
wryly on the function of prostitution in
society:
Considering the obstacles, one wonders how two people ever manage to
copulate at all. The love affair maximizes mutual desire but not availability; marriage maximizes mutual availability but not desire. Prostitution has
traditionally compensated for the
scheduling deficiencies of both (p. 20).
Although many European countries have
legalized prostitution with the side benefits
of reduction of venereal diseases and the
generation of increased tax revenues, the
United States has the dubious distinction of

having only one state with a constitution

which permits legal prostitution - the state
of Nevada. Evan as liberal a state as California classifies prostitution as a crime with
both parties - the client and the hooker equally guilty under the law.
, On January 13, 1985, Olympic track and
field star Edwin Moses was arrested in
Hollywood for soliciting an undercover female police officer who was working the
streets as a decoy. With the help of four
clever attorneys, Moses beat the rap in
court. However, the LAPD continues to give
priority to such vice arrests, even when they
involve entrapment, because, they argue,
prostitution is usually linked to drugs and
other serious crime. It is hard to perceive
what serious threat a horny athlete looking
to get laid poses to the community-at-large,
but the LAPD is determined to enforce a law
which, like most anti-vice statutes, confuses
sin with so-called "crimes against nature."
Civil libertarians protest that prostitution
is a victimless crime and that the police
should concentrate on serious crimes with
real victims, but the police reply with the
argument that the prostitutes themselves
are victims and so the entrapment, the
arrests, and the destruction of people's
careers and reputations continues unabated.
When California legalized all consensual
adult sex acts in 1975, but stopped short of

Hi Sweetie!
How'd YOU
like to
"wine
and
dine"
a vice cop?

June, 1985

The American Atheist

legalizing prostitution, Municipal Court

Judge George CraWford declared:
... while some persons spend money
"wining and dining" to engage in sex
acts, an "honest exchange" of money
for sex is prohibited.
In effect, Judge Crawford was urging
hookers to lobby for liberalization of laws
against the world's oldest profession.
Hypocrisy
The old adage "Do as I say, don't do as I
do," reflects the irrational and hypocritical
nature of prudery par excellence. In the
heyday of Puritanism in 1655, when the New
Haven Colony drafted their legal code, although every male legislator had surely been
guilty of the practice, they made masturbation a capital offense.
In Hawthorne's
The Scarlet Letter,
Hester Prynne is condemned to wear the
scarlet letter A embroidered on her breast
as punishment for adultery. Hawthorne's
plot reveals that Hester's real sin was in
getting caught, and his main thesis contends
that everyone is guilty of harboring secret
sin in their heart.
In 1976, after the revelation of John F.
Kennedy's frequent dalliances with Judith
Exner became a major scandal, a Roman
Catholic high school in the Midwest named
after the late and great president voted to
change its name rather than to have the
name of a known adulterer disgracing the
institution of learning.
At one time, boxes of Ivory Snow had the
wholesome and appealing face of Marilyn
Chambers on the outside. After she became
a popular porn queen and well-known sex
star, Proctor and Gamble hastily recalled all
boxes with her picture on them since it had
decided that Ivory Snow with Marilyn
Chambers on it could not qualify as being
99.44 percent pure!
False Modesty
When Walt Disney released his true life
adventure The Vanishing Prarie in 1954, it
contained a very beautiful and moving scene
of a mother buffalo giving birth, but there
were many complaints from the very people
who probably limited their sex talk to the
birds and the bees that the birth scene was
much too graphic and therefore offensive.
On September 9, 1973,the followingletter
appeared in all syndicated newspapers:
Dear Abby:
I was disappointed in your reply to
the girl who resented having a male
physician give her a breast and pelvic
examination. She said she wanted to .
remain chaste for her husband. You
Austin, Texas

said an examination of that kind would

in no way violate her chastity.
I disagree with you. I am no prude,
but I place a high value on the privacy
of my body, and I do not care to share
it with anyone other than the man I
marry. A male physician is no different
than any other man, and I wonder
how many husbands would allow their
wives to go to a male gynecologist if
they knew how intimately their wives
would be touched and examined.
P.J.
DearP.J.:
It is indeed your right to select a
female physician if you wish, but a
male gynecologist has about as much
erotic feeling while examining female
patients as an electrician has when
he's looking for a loose connection.
At least in this situation, the female patient
had the alternative of seeking out a female
doctor. Until 1849, no one in this country
had that choice. In that year, Elizabeth Blackwell earned her M.D. degree and became
America's first woman physician. She decided to pursue medicine largely because a
woman friend of hers had died of a painful
disease rather than to allow herself to be
treated by a male doctor. Much of this false
modesty was even encouraged by the male
doctors themselves. A leading medical professor from Elizabeth Blackwell's era stated:
"I am proud to say that in this country
generally . . . women prefer to suffer the
extremity of danger and pain rather than
waive those scruples of delicacy which prevent their maladies from being fully explored. I say it is an evidence of a fine
morality in our society." It is indeed sad to
contemplate the many lives thus sacrificed
on the altar of false modesty.
Conclusion
Most poisons have an antidote, and prudery is no exception. The most potent force
which Atheists can employ to counteract
the insidious influence of false moral superiority is reason - our stock-in-trade in this
complex business of everyday living.We can
then listen to the ravings of monomaniacal
purists and moralists and can counter their
arguments with the cool, calm voice of
reason.
In the followingquotes, Iwilljuxtapose the
uptight, rigid, and authoritarian viewpoint of
the champions of sexual repression with the
realistic, down-to-earth, and often humorous statements of the rationalist-humanist
outlook.

which binds civilization together."

Aldous Huxley: "Chastity: the most unnatural of the sexual perversions."
Virtue
Proverbs 31:10: "Who can find a virtuous
woman? for her price is far above rubies."
Mae West: "I used to be Snow White, but
then I drifted."
Abortion
Roman Catholic Church: "Abortion is
murder!"
Gloria Steinem: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
Sexual Perversion
Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae: ", .. each
and every marriage act must remain open to
the transmission of life."
Alfred Kinsey: "The only unnatural sex
act is one that can't be performed."
The Conflict of Good vs, Evil
St. Paul (Romans 7:19): "For the good
that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do."
Mae West: "When I'm good, I'm very
good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."
Overpopulation
Father Coughlin, the famous radio priest
of the 1940's, during a typical broadcast:
"Babies troop down from heaven as a gift
from God."
ZPG (Zero Population Growth), in a nationwide campaign to reduce overpopulation .
adopted this catchy slogan: "No deposit, no
return."
Homosexuality
Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with
mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination: they
shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them."
Woody Allen: "Homosexuality? It doubles
your chances of a date on Saturday night."
Adultery
The Seventh Commandment (Exodus
20:14): "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the opera
Don Giovanni: "To be faithful to one is to be
cruel to all others."
Celibacy vs. Marriage

Chastity
Mary Baker Eddy: "Chastity is the cement
June, 1985

St. Paul (1 Cor. 7:8-9): "I say therefore to

the unmarried and widows, It is good for
Page 27

them if they abide even as I. But if they

cannot contain, let them marry: for it is
better to marry than to burn."
Samuel Johnson: "Marriage has many
pains, but celibacy has few pleasures."
Temptation
Alexander Pope: "To err is human, to
forgive divine."

Mae West: "To err is human, but it feels

divine."
Masturbation
Vatican Delaration on Sexual Ethics, 1975:
"Masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act."
Woody Allen: "Don't knock masturbation. It's having sex with someone I deeply
love."
Sexual Energy

Russell with no clothes on than with Ulysses

S. Grant in his full dress uniform."

self free until she can choose consciously

whether she willor willnot be a mother."

- The Duty of Wives

Clean Living and Purity of Thought

St. Paul (Eph. 5:22-23) "Wives, submit

yourselves unto your own husbands, as
unto the Lord. For the husband is the head
of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
Church."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in a letter to
Susan B. Anthony: "Man in his lust has regulated long enough this whole question of
sexual intercourse. Now let the mother of
mankind, whose prerogative it is to set the
bound for his indulgence, rouse up and give
this whole matter a thorough, fearless examination."

Martin Luther: "If no other work were

commanded than chasteness, we would all
have enough to do, so dangerous and raging
a vice is unchasteness. It is furiously active in
all our members: in the thinking in our heart,
in the seeing of our eyes, in the hearing of
our ears, in the speaking of our mouth, in the
acting of our hands, our feet, and our entire
body . To keep allof these under control calls
for labor and exertion."
Mae West: "Is that a gun in your pocket,
or are you just happy to see me?"
Our Animal Nature

Frequency of Intercourse
Martin Luther:
"A week two
Is the woman's due.
Harms neither me nor you,
Make in a year, twice fifty-two."

St. Augustine: "Conduct the water which

is flowing into the sewer to the garden
instead."
Mae West: "It's not the men in my life, it's
the life in my men that counts."

Mae West: "You can't get enough of a

good thing."

Lust

Birth Control

St. Paul (Gal. 5:16-17): "This I say then,

Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfillthe
lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would."
Mark Twain: "After all, my aims are
simple: I would rather be in bed with Lillian

Pope Pius XI in his encyclical "On Christian Marriage": ". -.. any use whatsoever of
matrimony exercised in such a way that the
act is deliberately frustrated in its natural
power to generate life is an offence against
the law of God and of nature, and those who
indulge in such are branded with the guilt of
a grave sin."
Margaret Sanger: "No woman can call her-

Immanuel Kant: "All men and women do

their best to make more alluring not their
humanity but their sex, and direct their
activities and lusts entirely toward the latter.
Humanity is thereby sacrificed to sex ... By
making human nature an instrument to
satisfy their lusts, they dishonor it by lowering it to the level of animal nature. Sexuality,
therefore, exposes mankind to the danger of
equality with beast."
Montaigne: "On the one hand Nature
urges us on to this desire by associating it
with the noblest, most useful, and pleasant
of all her acts; and on the other hand she
allows us to condemn it and flee from it as
shameless and immodest deed, to blush at it
and recommend abstinence. Are we not
indeed brutes to call the very act that
created us, brutish?" ~

m__

I_DI_A_L_-_A_N_-_A_T_H_EI_S_T_I __

The telephone listings below are the various services where you may listen tc short comments on state/church separation
issues and viewpoints originated by the-Atheist community.
Tucson, Arizona
San Francisco, California
South Bay (San Jose), California
Denver, Colorado
South Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Northren Illinois
Des Moines, Iowa
Lexington, Kentucky
Boston, Massachusettes
Detroit, Michigan
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Page 28

(602)623-3861
(415)668-8085
(408)377-8485
(303)692-9395
(305)925-7167
(404)455-8860
(312)335-4648
(515)266-6133
(606)278-8333
(617)969-2682
(313) 721-6630
(612)566-3653
(505)884-7360
June, 1985

Schenectady, New York

Sierra Nevada
Columbus, Ohio
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Portland, Oregon
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

(518)346-1479
(702) 972-8203
(614) 294-0300
(405)677-4141
(503) 771-6208
(412) 734-0509

Austin, Texas-DIAL-THE-ATHEIST_(512)
Houston, Texas
Dial-A-Gay-Atheist
Salt Lake City, Utah
Northern Virginia

458-5731
(713)664-7678
(713)527-9255
(801)364-4939
(703) 280-4321

The American Atheist

Maurice LaBelle

THE ENLIGHTENMENT REVISITED:

A CHALLENGE TO
CONTEMPORARY ATHEISTS
Dr. Maurice LaBelle, a Professor English at Drake University, studied at the
University 0/ Paris (Sorbonne) after
completing his Doctorate 0/ Comparative Literature in the United States. As
he lectured in the United States, Canada, Yugoslavia, India, and later taught
in the United States, the atheist inspired
"Enlightenment" held his interest. His
book Aldred Jarry, Nihilism, and The
Theater of The Absurd, published by
New York University Press in 1980 was
a first statement 0/ his atheist concern.
He has just completed the writing 0/ a
series 0/ articles on the Enlightenment
for the American Atheist.
His address to the Convention /0cuses on the sad lack 0/ reason and
intellect in the education and politics 0/
a nation, our own United States, which
historically contributed much to that
French Age 0/ Enlightenment.
It is a pleasure to be with you this morning.
I have written a series of articles for the
American Atheist magazine on the Age of
the Enlightenment and its influence upon the
development of Atheism. I trust I have
shown that Atheism is hardly new to Wes
tern culture and that, in spite of being
denegrated by religious zealots and McCarthyites, we have a long and illustrious heritage.
I have no wish this morning to recite the
articles which I wrote for the American
Atheist magazine. I want to "revisit" those
essays and to think of the Enlightenment in
terms of present American Atheism. We
have important lessons to learn from our
intellectual ancestors.
A few words about the Enlightenment. It
was a period of about fifty to seventy-five
years in the eighteenth century. The movement was prevalent in almost all countries of
the west, but it was especially strong in
France, Scotland, and America.
The prestigious American historian, Professor Henry Steele Commager, called the
Enlightenment the "Empire of Reason." His
enthusiasm is understandable because the
contributions of the Enlightenment to WesAustin, Texas

tern culture are difficult to exaggerate, but I perty, eliminating prayer in courts and in
have some reservations about his title for legislative bodies, etc. The list is shockingly
the period.
long.
The Enlightenment spread science, reI would like to focus on several examples
oriented much of Western thought away to demonstrate the point that our age is
from metaphysics and theology toward the "The Age of Faith."
pragmatic and the mundane. The EnlighWho controls our schools? The Atheist,
tened mind was concerned with the tyranny
the scientist, the rational mind? Hardly. Try
of throne and altar, the proper goals of the minister, priest, or rabbi. Their control is
education, and the construction of viable rarely overt, but I assure you that it is very
ethics.
real. Let me give you a few examples. First,
The Enlightenment crested with three let us think about a Superintendent of
events, the first of 'which was the Ency- Instruction who is about to appoint a princlopedie. This massive work of twenty-eight cipal to a high school. What would happen if
volumes represented a rewriting of much of the minister of the First Methodist Church
Western thought in terms of science. The objected to that appointment? Would a
second was a triptych: The Declaration of superintendent contest the power of a preIndependence of the United States of Amer- late? Ifyou were a betting person, you would
ica; the Constitution of the United States of bet that that person would not become the
America; and the Bill of Rights. All three principal.
blatantly asserted that people did not need a
A second example is over control of the
god to order their lives.
content of textbooks. How many publishers
It is misleading to refer to the period 1770- are going to resist the pressure to "sanitize"
1789 as the Age of the Enlightenment or the (that's the expression which is used profesEmpire of Reason; it was not. The vast sionally) grade school and high school textmajority of people blindly followed the robes books? How about a high school history
of priest and king; only an elite few were able textbook in which the author says that
to escape the intellectual millstones of altar "Some people have questioned whether
and throne. A similiar situation exists today. Jesus ever existed, but most people accept
To be certain, there are people who, as my His historicity." That is an accurate statefirst great professor used to say, "have a ment. Suppose Jerry Falwell were to teleteaspoon of intelligence" and can be rea- phone the publisher and note that the words
sonable, but our age is, in my view, fun- "Some people have questioned whether
damentally irrational. It is an "Age of Faith." Jesus ever existed" are offensive to him and
The achievements of the Enlightenment
thus the Moral Majority would contest any
overshadow the fact that the society was school board approving that textbook.
controlled by prelate and potentate. Who
But it does not take a national figure like
controls contemporary American society? I Jerry Falwell to cause a publisher to reign in
do not think it is a secret that Jerry Falwell, an author and "sanitize" a textbook. In fact,
Jimmy Swaggert, Jesse Helms, the Council
Jerry does not have to make that call at all.
of Bishops as well as other religious groups
May I now comment about the textbook
exert considerable control, especially when
trade?
integrated with the beliefs and position of
It is quintessential to understand that
Ronnie. Can anyone "with a teaspoon of there is big money in textbook publishing. It
intelligence" think that reason, logic, and is also important to understand that many
science characterize our age in light of the scholars spend several decades establishing
problems getting sex education for pre- their reputations and then turn to writing
pubescent children, free contraceptives, free textbooks because that is where the big
abortions on demand, obtaining the rights of money is. An interesting marriage ensues.
homosexuals, keeping prayer out of public
The textbook publisher does not want
schools, religious scenes from public pro- single-issue purchases, because they want
June, 1985

Page 29

to sell ten thousand volumes in Des Moines,

Iowa; forty thousand in Dallas, Texas; one
hundred thousand in California. Texas is the
largest buyer of textbooks in the country, so
a sale of a textbook to that state can mean
millions of dollars to a publisher and tens of
thousands of dollars to the author in royalties. No publisher is going to jeopardize such
huge profits because of a few comments or
items which are offensive to some people. Is
an author going to object to dropping a few
words here and there in the manuscript?
Accuracy and scholarship are sacrificed to
profit.
Falwell does not even have to bother
picking up the telephone; he can have a
minion attend a public hearing on textbook
selection and complain that "scientific creationism" is not being adequately represented
in science textbooks and that "secular humanists" are given undue weight in a textbook. Why risk having a textbook contested? Why risk profit and royalties?
Wouldn't it be reasonable to "sanitize" the
manuscript even before it is published?
Consequently, there will be no problems
with the religious zealots; however, the high
school student will not be given a professional discussion of Darwin and Darwinism,
Marx, Freud, Clarence Darrow, and other
such luminaries. But, of course, there willbe
the usual non-scholastic presentation of the
little baby Jesus.
There is yet another way by which the
religionists impose their faith upon the contemporary age: oppression of teachers, especially high school teachers. Again, the
techniques are rarely overt. For example,
the teacher, displeased with the "sanitized"
version of the supposed history of the little
baby Jesus, might prepare a lecture on the
views of Renan, Freud, or Joseph Campbell.
Suppose the Rev. Numbskull over at the
First Baptist Church hears of this lecture,
calls the teacher's principal, and inquires if
the lecture was indeed presented. The principal checks with the teacher; the teacher
then gets the message "not to make waves."
The teacher is being watched - the minister
has a "mole" in the classroom. Can a
teacher sincerely and reasonably expect a
principal to support him or her when confronting the power of a priest, minister, or
rabbi? If you want to keep your job, get a
good teaching report, or merit pay, then you
"play ball."
Iwillsteal, blatantly, honestly, and openly,
a concept from Dr. O'Hair, who once remarked to me that President Carter's election was a watershed in American politics
because Carter did not appeal to reason; he
asked the American electorate to "trust"
him and to put its faith in him and in the
promised glories yet to come for America.
He helped create the "the climate of opinion," that logic, reason, and research are not
valued; faith is all that is necessary. Carter's

Page 30

mentor, Nixon, waxed on: Remember him

asking the Americans to vote for him because he had a "plan" to get the United
States out of the war in Viet Nam. He would
give the details of his "plan"; just trust him.
Have faith! Guess who won the election?
Ronnie is of the Nixon/Carter-faith heritage. I have written an article in which I point
out that nobody refers to Ronnie as having
any intelligence or sophistication. Do you
know of any book he has read? Does he go
to concerts? Carter was known for his
voracious reading as well as inviting such
great artists as Andre Segovia, Mikhail
Baryshnikov, and Vladimir Horowitz to perform at the White House, but such luminaries are sadly missing from Nancy's White
House. Unsophisticated, uncultured, andI suspect - functionally illiterate, Ronnie
was elected and reelected. Why?
Why was he elected? An answer is provided by farmers of the state of Iowa. Iowa is
primarily agrarian. It is estimated this year
that about eight thousand Iowa farmers will
go bankrupt. Nevertheless ninety percent of
them voted for Ronnie Reagan. This is the
result of a poll of the Des Moines Register.
They voted against their best economic
interests. Moreover, they voted against reducing pollution standards, although they
themselves suffer from pollution as we all do;
they voted against controlling natural resources; they voted against women controlling their reproductive rights. I assume
that somewhere on the farms of Iowa there
must be one women who wants to have an
abortion. They voted against that. They
voted against rights for homosexuals; I presume that at least somewhere in the fields of
Iowa there is at least a father or a mother
who has a son or a daughter who is gay.
They voted against that. They voted against
adequate school lunch programs. You do
know of course that catsup is a vegetable.
Remember that? And they voted for solving
allof our problems in school through "prayer
and discipline." Ronnie gave the Iowa farmers faith in capitalism, faith in a militarily
strong America, and faith in old-time morality.
I have used the Iowa farmers (ninety-two
percent of them) to exemplify Ronnie and
the "Age of Faith." Well, how about university students? I told one of my classes that
since Ronnie said the cure for their ignorance was "prayer and discipline," from now
on I would lead the class in prayer and I
would bring a bullship and chair to maintain
discipline. The students laughed, but they
overwhelmingly voted for Ronnie - even
after he told them he was going to cut back
on federally-funded financial aid to students.
How can one expect an "Empire of Reason" when the educational industry has
failed? Can a person expect an enlightened
mind when one-third the population is functionally illiterate, that is, the individual can-

. June, 1985

not read a bus schedule, cannot correctly fill

out a credit application form, cannot read
the instructions on a medicine bottle? In a
quiz in a geography class at California State
University - Fullerton, most ofthe students
showed a woeful ignorance of where Nicaragua and Venezuela are as well as the
Soviet Union. A few years ago, fifty-seven
percent of the entering class at University of
California - Berkeley had to take remedial
English. In short, our high schools have
become social centers rather than educational institutions; they have become temples of pleasure rather than training grounds
for people to be reasonable, able to analyze
concepts critically, capable citizens - enlightened minds.
What can Atheists do when confronted
with this wave of irrationality, this bastion of
faith? Let us learn from the titans of the
Enlightenment. The first lesson is that it is
extremely difficult for the individual to combat the "Age of Faith." Consequently, we
must form an association, such as the American Atheist Center represents. The people
of the Enlightenment did so, although the
association was not as well organized as
American Atheists.
Secondly, we should react as the titans of
the Enlightenment did - fight! First, we
have to fight for our rights. We live in this
country - let's not forget that - and let's
stand up for our rights! We also have to
stand up for the rights of those yet to come.
Do you want them to suffer the denigrations,
the intolerance, the discrimination you and I
have experienced? Let's do something about
it!
Third, write letters to the editor of your
local newspaper. You might touch a nerve in
a closet Atheist. Those are the people we
want - the Enlightened minds. Several
words of advice. First, keep your letters
short. The Des Moines Register received
24,000 letters to the editor last year, but only
8,000 were published. Second, be reasonable. Editors, generally, will permit the hysterical ramblings of a religious zealot but not
the intemperate comments of an Atheist.
Third, sign your letter as a member of the
American Atheists. Thus, you will not be
viewed as a lone voice; you are a member of
an organization. Lastly, do not forget that
even if your letter is not published, it can be
effective in letting the editor know that you
are critical and vocal. I remember when the
Des Moines Register ran a series of articles
by local members of the priestoraft about
the meaning of Easter; I wrote to the editor
informing him that as an Atheist I have an
interpretation of Easter that I would be
pleased to contribute as an essay the following year. The series was dropped.
Get accustomed to writing letters. Don't
worry about punctuation and spelling - the
copy editor of the newspaper will take care
of that. Write - it was the great medium of

The American Atheist

the Enlightenment.
There is no way to escape the issue of
money. The vast majority of the titans of the
Enlightenment had no concern for money
-they were wealthy or they had rich friends
who became their patrons. For instance, the
Enlightenment in France was based on the
sa/on, a social institution in which people
were invited to a home on a rather regular
basis for dinner and conversation. Here
ideas were exchanged and minds stimulated. The sa/on ofthe Baron d'Holbach was
famous: He entertained on Tuesdays and
Thursdays; 16-20 people were invited; the
cuisine was lavish and the wine cellar su-

Austin, Texas

perb. The sa/on was financially very costly,

but d'Holbach could easily afford it. Moreover, I wonder what would have happened
to the Enlightenment if it had not been for
the wealth of the Baron d'Holbach and his
willingness to spend it on various enlightened projects, such as the Encyc/opedie.
Money! What a mundane, crass, and provincial concern!
The fact is that money is necessary for the
advancement of Atheism, that is, our organization, the American Atheist Center. We
are an organization, but the organization is
only as strong as its financial support. Iknow
that Dr. O'Hair has been criticized for

June, 1985

soliciting money just as priests, rabbis, and

ministers do. I think that this is a simplistic
criticism. The answer is inescapable - money. Please donate to the American Atheist
Center - and please do not be cheap!
The Enlightenment died in 1789, but its
powerful legacy compels us to action and
association. Given the "Age of Faith" in
which we live, it is clear that we have many
obstacles before us before we can truly
enjoy the "Empire of Reason." Our task is
not an easy one. Our cause is the freedom of
the mind for those who are yet to come. Ijoin
you in working toward it! ~
Thank you.

Page 31

Henry Martin

STATE, CHURCH,
AND THE SUPREME COURT
Henry Martin, a graduate of Vanderbilt University, has been practicing law
in Nashville, Tennessee since 1975. He
is the attorney who presided over two
recent "wins" (O'Hair v. Hill and Tirmenstein v. Mississippi) where state
constitutions prevented Atheists from
holding either public of/ices or positions
of public trust.
In "State, Church, and the Supreme
Court," Mr. Martin discusses the history of legal appeals under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and using this history, attempts to
predict how the court will act on such
cases in the future. In this analysis, he
points to recent cases that show the
Justices abandoning previous precedent in favor of their own personal
views.
The purpose of this discussion will be to
identify what is going on with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in
the United States Supreme Court right now
and then by examining the history of the
Establishment Clause litigation in the Supreme Court, to try to determine whether
there are any trends or patterns evident by
which we can anticipate what will happen
with the Establishment Clause in the Supreme Court in the future.
On December 4, 1984, oral argument was
heard before the Supreme Court in the case
of Wallace v. Jaffree. Ishmael Jaffree, the
parent of three minor students in the public
schools of south Alabama, filed suit in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 1982 claiming,
among other things, that two Alabama
"prayer statues" violated the Establishment
Clause of the First Amendment of the
United States Constitution. One of the
statues provided for the daily recitation, in
every institution of public education in the
State of Alabama, a prayer written by the
son of the then governor of Alabama, Fob
James:
Almighty God, You alone are our
God.
We acknowledge You as the Creator
and Supreme Judge of the world.
May Your justice, Your truth, and
Your peace abound this day
Page 32

in the hearts of our countrymen,

in the counsels of our government,
in the sanctity of our homes
and in the classrooms of our
schools.
In the name of our Lord, Amen.
The lawsuit also challenged a statute
which provided that in the beginning of each
day in each public classroom the teacher
may "announce that a period of silence not
to exceed one minute in duration shall be
observed for meditation or voluntary prayer,
and during any such period no other activities shall be engaged in."
The District Court in a lengthy opinion
held that the First Amendment does not
apply to the states and that therefore the
states are free to establish a religion and are
free to conduct prayer in the public schools
and dismissed Jaffree's complaint. Jaffree v.
Board of School Commissioners,
554
F.Supp. 1104 (SD.Ala. 1983) and Jaffree v.
James 554 F.Supp. 1130 (SD.Ala. 1983).
Jaffree appealed to the Eleventh Circuit
Court of Appeals, which first lectured the
District judge on whether or not he had to
follow Supreme Court precedent, arid then
ruled, in accordance with the Supreme
Court cases, that the First Amendment
does apply to the states and that both
Alabama prayer statutes violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
and were therefore unconstitutional. Alabama petitioned the Supreme Court for a
Writ of Certiorari. The Supreme Court
accepted Certiorari only as to the question
of whether the moment of silence for meditation or prayer statute constituted an establishment of religion. It did not agree to
reconsider the constitutionality of the Fob
James III prayer meaning that, for the time
being at least, the issue of recitation of state
prayer in public schools remains dead.
Accounts of the oral argument of the
Jaffree case in December do not give any
clear indication as to the expected ruling of
the Court. Therefore, it would be necessary
to review prior decisions of both the Warren
and Burger Courts to look for guidance in
what to expect from the Burger Court on
this case and on other cases that may come
before it in the near future.
Although the history of the First AmendJune, 1985

ment itself dates back at least to the debates

in the Virginia legislature over religious freedom in the late eighteenth century, the
history of the First Amendment in courts is
relatively modern.
Although there were sporatic pronouncements on the First Amendment in Supreme
Court cases in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries (Reynolds v. United
States, 98 Us. 145 {1878} and Reuben
Quick Bear v. Leupp, 210 Us. 50 (1908}),
the first discussion of the meaning of the
First Amendment and its application to a
challenged statute came in 1947. Everson v.
Board of Education, 330 US. 1 For the
thirty-five years from 1947 to 1982, a review
of the Establishment Clause cases decided
by the Supreme Court shows a fairly consistent application of that clause to challenged
activities and statutes and the development
of a series of tests based upon principles
enunciated in these cases, by which tests the
court could analyze challenged practices
and statutes to see ifthere was a violation of
the Establishment Clause. A brief review of
the cases decided during this period is
informative.
In the Everson case, decided in 1947, the
Supreme Court sustained a state law that
provided for reimbursement of school transportation costs to parents of children who
were going to parochial schools. Although
this provided a benefit to the parochial
schools by reducing the actual costs to
parents of the parochial education, it did not
violate the Establishement Clause since it
was really no more than an accommodation
of religion similar to the provision of policemen to act as school crossing guards at
parochial schools. In 1948, the Court struck
down a "released time" program where
volunteer religious teachers came to public
schools to teach religion in the classrooms
to students
with parental
consent.
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 US.
203. However, in 1952 the Court approved a
similar "released time" scheme with the
difference being that the students left public
school and received the religious training on
private property. Zorach v. Clauson, 343
US. 306.
We then move into the years of the
Warren Court with the Court first sustaining
the mandatory Sunday closing laws, popuThe American Atheist

larly known as "blue laws." McGowan v.

Maryland, 366 US. 420 (1961). In that same
year the court struck down a provision of
the Maryland Constitution which prohibited
Atheists from holding public office. Torcaso
v. Watkins, 367 US. 488 (1961). This is the
decision which over twenty years later was
the basis for the successful attacks in Tennessee, Church v. Alexander, and Texas,
O'Hair v. Hill, on similar provisions of those
state's constitutions, and is the basis for the
current American Atheists challenge to a
similar provision in the constitution of Mississippi, Tirmenstein v. A/lain.
In 1962 the Establishment Clause entered
the golden years with the decision in Engel v.
Vitale, 370 US. 421, where the Supreme
Court struck down a New York statute
providing for the compulsory recitation of a
state-authored prayer at the beginning of
each school day. The next year the Court
decided the companion cases of Abington
School District v. Schempp and Murray v.
.Curlett, 374 U.S. 203 (1963). Here the Court
struck down statutory schemes in Pennsylvania and Maryland that required the daily
reading of Bible verses and recitation of the
Lord's Prayer in the public schools. Five
years later in the last major Establishment
Clause case decided by the Warren Court,
the Court stuck down the Arkansas "monkey law" that made it a criminal act to teach
the theory of evolution in the public schools
of Arkansas. Epperson v. Arkansas, 393
US. 97 (1968).
As we move into the years of the Burger
Court, the treatment of the Establishment
Clause does not change significantly. In
1970,the Court sustained tax exemptions to
religious and other non-profit, charitable
institutions. Walz v. Tax Commission, 397
US. 664. However, the next year the court
struck down a statutory scheme that provided subsidies to religious schools. Lemon
v. Kurtzman, 403 US. 602 (1971). Here, in
an opinion written by Chief Justice Burger,
the court articulated a three-part test, based
on principles enunciated in earlier Supreme
Court decisions, that set forth a means by
which the court would analyze statutes
challenged under the Establishment Clause
in the future. In order to survive a challenge
under the Establishment Clause, a statute,
activity, or practice must first have a secular,
non-religious purpose; second, it must have
as its primary effect that it neither advance
nor inhibit religion, and third, that it not
foster excessive entanglement between
church and state, or create political divisiveness. The Court used this test to determine
the constitutionality of a series of increasingly complex statutory schemes challenged
under the Establishment Clause up through
the middle of 1983. The test was generally
recognized by judges and commentators as
a valid test that insured a degree of consistency and continuity in Establishment Clause
Austin, Texas

cases. In 1971, in a companion case to

Lemon, the Court approved federal grants
to religious colleges for the construction of
buildings that would be used exclusively for
non-religious education. Tilton v. Richardson, 403 US. 672. In 1973, the Court struck
down a statute that provided for grants for
the maintenance and repair of church school
buildings and for a complicated scheme of
tuition tax credits. Committee for Public
Education v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756 (1973).
Seven years later the Court struck down a
Kentucky law providing for the posting of
copies of the Ten Commandments in each
public school classroom. Stone v. Graham,
449 U.S. 39 (1980). In Larson v. Valente, 456
US. 228 (1982) the Court struck down a
Minnesota statute exempting from certain
registration and reporting requirements only
certain religious organizations. Later the
same year the Court struck down a statute
which gave to churches a veto power over
the issuance of liquor licenses to establishments within their neighborhood. Larkin v.
Grendel's Den, 459 US. 116. Finally, at the
end of June, 1983, the Court sustained a
Minnesota statute providing for tuition tax
credits, since the credits were available for
children attending sectarian schools. Mue/ler
v. A/len 77 L.Ed.2d 721 (1983).
Although one could notice a gradual relaxing of standards in determining when the
"wall of separation" had been breached,
during the first decade and more of the
Burger Court, the decisions consistently
relied upon the same tests and principles in
deciding cases. Then, suddenly, the mood
and emphasis of the Court in regard to
Establishment Clause cases changed. In a
decision issued weeks after the Mue/ler
case, the Court, speaking through the Chief
Justice, sustained the Nebraska legislature's
practice of opening each legislative day with
a prayer by a chaplain paid by the state.
Marsh v. Chambers, 51 US. 5163, 77
L.Ed.2d 1019 (1983). Here Justice Burger
neither mentioned the Lemon case nor
relied upon the test articulated therein and
used by the Court for over eleven years, but
sustained the challenged practice on the
basis of an analysis of its historical significance. Essentially what the Court found
was that there had been paid legislative
chaplains as far back as the drafting of the
First Amendment. In fact, the same congress that sent the First Amendment to the
states for ratification had itself authorized
tha payment of a legislative chaplain. Therefore, the Court felt that such practice could
not be inconsistent or violative of the Establishment Clause. Justice Brennan wrote a
lengthy and carefully documented dissent
chastising the Court for abandoning its
years of precedent and suddenly formulating a new means for analysis of Establishment Clause cases. Perhaps as a result of
this chasilsement, the Court gave at least
June, 1985

token attention to the Lemon test and other

precedent, when it upheld the constitutionality of a state-owned creche, or nativity
scene, in Lynch v. Donne/ly, 52 U.S. 4317, 52
Law Week, 4317 (March 5,1984). Here the
Court, before reaching a Lemon test analysis, essentially justified the constitutionality of the state-owned creche by a combination of historical significance of state
recognition of religious holidays and the
benign nature of the practice. In short, the
Court felt that for generations national and
state governments had recognized and hon- _
ored religious holidays, and that even if the
use of a state-owned creche would give
some benefit to religion, the benefit would be
so slight as not to constitute any establishment of religion. Once again, Justice
Brennan chastised the majority opinion in
his dissenting opinion. Justice Stevens also
wrote a dissenting opinion asking whether
the Court was now "at sea, free to select
random elements of America's varied history solely to suit the views of five members
of this Court."
Certain patterns appear to be emerging in
the Marsh and Lynch cases, which are
relevant to making an educated guess as to
how the Court will decide the Wa/lace v.
Jaffree case. First, the court appears to be
clearly divided into two camps. The majority
of five, consisting of the Chief Justice,
Rehnquist, Powell, White, and O'Connor,
speaking generally through the Chief Justice, and the minority or dissenting group,
consisting of Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun,
and Stevens. It does not seem likely that this
division will shift before there is a substitution in the personnel of the court. Secondly, by a careful reading of the dialogue
between Burger's majority opinions and
Brennan's dissenting opinions, it is clear that
the majority opinions are less carefully analyzed with reference to the precedents or
prior decisions of the court in similar cases,
and that the majority therefore feels less
bound by precedents of the past, and more
free to decide the Establishment Clause
cases based upon the current personal
feelings of the five members of the majority.
Perhaps the most disturbing trend evidenced in these two most recent cases is the
shift-in the Chief Justice's perception of the
First Amendment and his attitude towards
Establishment Clause challenges from prior
decisions of the Court, including his own. As
to the scope and purpose of the Establishment Clause, in 1971 the Chief Justice
stated:
Its authors did not simply prohibit
the establishment of a state church or
a state religion, an area history shows
they regarded as very important and
fraught with great dangers. Instead
they commanded that there should be
"no law respecting an establishment
Page 33

of religion".A lawmay be one "respecting" the forbidden objective while falling short of its total realization. A law
"respecting" the proscribed result,
that is, the establishment of religion, is
not always easily identifiable as one
violative of the Clause. A given law
might not establish a state religion,
but nevertheless be one "respecting"
that end in the sense of being a step
that could lead to such establishment
and hence offend the First Amendment. (emphasis original)
Lemon u, Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602,
612
Thirteen years later, writing the majority
opinion in the Lynch case, Burger had a
more narrow opinion of the scope of the
First Amendment:
The court has scrutinized challenged
legislation or official conduct to determine whether, in reality, it establishes a religion or religious faith, or
tends to do so. (emphasis added) and
quotes Joseph Storey:
The real object of the [First] Amendment was ... to prevent any national
ecclesiastical establishment, which
should give to an hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government.

of establishment of a state church is

far-fetched indeed.
So it would appear that the Chief Justice
is not only concerned with those statutes
that would establish a state church, but he is
in fact offended by those who would challenge less dangerous statutes as violative of
the Establishment Clause. This is a far cry
from the concern expressed by Justice
Clark writing for an eight member majority
of the court in Abbington and Murray cases:
The breach of neutrality that is today
a trickling stream may all too soon
become a raging torrent, and in the
words of Madison, "It is proper to take
alarm at the first experiment on our
liberties."
- 374 U.S. 203, 225
What do these cases tell us about the
outcome of Wallace u. Jaffree? The questions asked at oral argument by O'Connor,
White, and the Chief Justice seem to indicate a feeling that the "moment of silence for
meditation or prayer" statute, whatever else
it might be, is not much of a threat to the
separation of church and state. Thus the
court may find that even if it has a positive
impact on religion, the impact is essentially
benign and is really nothing more than an

accommodation of religion and a means of

informing students of something that they
have had a right to do all along anyway that is, to engage in silent prayer in public
places, including schools. Or will the court,
stung by the dissenting opinions of Brennan
and Stevens, view this as an opportunity to
make a token sacrifice to the First Amendment Establishment Clause without really
doing any harm to the forward march of our
Christian nation? The majority might even
be tempted to effect a compromise by
striking that portion of the statute mentioning prayer and leave intact the moment of
silence for meditation, leaving unspoken the
message that the moment may be used for
voluntary prayer.
Regardless of how the court answers the
question raised in Jaffree, at the very least
we should then know whether the court will
fall back and rely on the three-part test of
Lemon u. Kurtzman, or willmodify that test
by adding a fourth and fifth prong (historical
significance and "benign nature of the activity"), or will discard all formally articulated
tests and decide future Establishment
Clause cases based upon the whim and
fancy of the majority of the court. The way
the court answers this question will give us
insight for a prognosis for the survival of the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. ~

Lynch u. Donnelly, 52 Law Week at

4320
In these thirteen years the Chief Justice
seems to have lost sight of the adjective
"respecting" and is now concerned only with
those statutes or practices that would establish or tend to establish a state religion.
Just as alarming is the contempt with which
Burger apparently views cases raising Establishment Clause challenges. In the Lynch
case he says such things as "It is far too late
in the day to impose a crabbed reading of the
Clause on the country," (emphasis added),
and "... a stilted over-reaction contrary to
our history and our holdings," and the
following:
The court has acknowledged that the
"fears and political problems" that
gave rise to the Religion Clauses in the
eighteenth century are of far less
concern today ... We are unable to
pereceive the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Vicar of Rome, or other
powerful religious leaders behind every public acknowledgement of the
religious heritage long officiallyrecognized by the three constitutional
branches of government. Any notion
that these symbols pose a real danger

Page 34

June, 1985

The American Atheist

REPORT FROM INDIA / Margaret Bhatty

KING-MAKERS, KING-BREAKERS

of forecasting the desFortinytheof apurpose

country, astrologers make use

of mundane astrology. In India it is a very

ancient subject, since soothsayers were always part of a king's court. Regarded with
superstitious awe, they were rewarded and
feared. They still are.
The king, who usually belonged to the
warrior caste, had for his chief adviser a
Brahmin who also officiated as priest and
astrologer. Since allpredictions are made on
the assumption that the time and date of
birth foreshadows one's destiny and since it
isn't always possible to fix the birth date of a
nation, the king's stars were consulted to
reveal the kingdom's destiny.
A Country's Horoscope
When we attained independence from
British rule in 1947, astrologers fixed on the
midnight hour of August 14th as the most
auspicious, so that a golden age would dawn
on our Independence Day - August 15th.
The event was heralded by a bloodbath in
the form of Hindu-Muslim riots. Perhaps the
best thing this auspicious moment of birth
achieved was to provide Collins and'Lapierre
a fine-sounding title for their book of historical fiction, Freedom at Midnight.
Somehow, astrologers of today have short
memories. I have read forecasts for the
country in which the salient feature in India's
horoscope is given as Taurus ascendant
with Dragon's Head (Rahu) and Moon in
Cancer. The Dragon's Head accounted for
the communal killings at the time of Partition. And furthermore - the presence of
the Dragon's Tail indicates the persistence
of disruptive and divisionary forces! It would
appear that the soothsayers who kept us all
awake wellpast the midnight hour in August,
1947, didn't know their stuff.
Astrologers-cum-magicians are still very
much at the center of our country's political
destiny. They haunt the corridors of power
in Delhi and in state capitals. They are
known to wield enormous influence by holding in thrall the men of straw who head
government departments. It is a common
thing for the signing of pacts, treaties, and
agreements to be delayed until the minister
concerned gets a green signal from his
astrologer. It seems the landing of Queen
Elizabeth's plane was delayed at Delhi beAustin, Texas

predict a leader's defeat at the polls or death

by accident or bomb blast. After Sanjay
Gandhi, Mrs. Gandhi's younger son, died in
a plane crash, umpteen astrologers reminded the public they'd known it would
happen. It is now several months since Mrs.
Gandhi was assassinated, and with their
remarkable hindsight, any number of soothThe occult in the backshop of the
sayers will declare they knew that was also
Government of India is a terrifying
spectacle. A legion of astrologers and
going to happen.
charlatans are making a comfortable
Indians love politics, so any astrologer
worth his salt has to be into political foreliving as consultants of ministers; officials, and politicians. I also hear of
casting. I collect clippings and enjoy a good
homeopathic magic for or against cerchuckle, also using hindsight. A year ago, all
tain political cliques or politicians, for
were predicting "bad periods" for Mrs.
example, of the repetition of the BogalGandhi, a prediction which even a child
amukhi mantra, a spell for the general
could have made.
discomfiture of all enemies, known
According to one astrologer who threw
and unknown, at various places in
his mind forward in April 1984:"Mrs. Gandhi
Delhi, in the interest of this or that
is Kark (Cancer) and so the troubles are
minister.
there. Till February, 1985, the period is not
good. She might win the elections and yet
find herself out of power." (Her party won
In 1964, when Nehru suffered a severe
stroke in the closing weeks of his life, the elections, and she is out of power!)
newspapers reported that a tantric (magical)
On Rajiv Gandhi: "I have no prejudice
rite for his death was being performed by a against Rajiv Gandhi - but he willnever be
certain minister in a temple of the goddess
prime minister."
Kali. The matter was considered serious
On Reagan: "Even ifhe contests again and
enough to be raised in a state assembly and wins, he willnot complete the second term.
strongly condemned. The rumor was un-" This is true of Mrs. Thatcher, too."
founded, but people believed it nonetheless.
On a black becoming a U.S. President
As the ailing leader began losing his grip (This should really interest readers): "Libra
on life, however, a secret life-saving tantric
is rising and in Libra there is Saturn, and
rite was conducted in the famous Kali since Saturn is a commoner, and a black is a
temple near Delhi. It extended from January
commoner, there is a goodly goodly chance
26 to April 2 and involved repeating the
for a black to become president."
maha-mrityunjaya mantra (the great deathIran-Iraq War: "The war will end earliest
conquering spell) no less than twenty-five May 6, or at latest September 23,1984."
How does this fraud justify his poor ratthousand times to the accompaniment of
fire-sacrifices. Twenty-five priests, sworn to ing? "Astrologers are not God," says he. His
secrecy, performed the rite for a fee. The
hits he ascribes to the "grace of God," and
magic of this spell lies in five meaningless
every miss to the possibility that it is not in
syllables: om, haum, om, jum, sah. Nehru
his stars! "You see, we too have our horodied the following month.
scopes!"
Such fee-fi-fo-fum is part and parcel of
astrology. It also uses other crafts like
Desai's Soothsayer
palmistry, numerology, signs and omens,
visions and dreams, on-the-spot planetary
A soothsayer in residence in Delhi during
positions, Tarot cards, and even I-Ching. the brief circus staged by the Janata govWitchcraft, divination, exorcism, and other
ernment of 1977 (headed by the urine-drinksorceries is also used by tantrics (magicians).
ing Morarji Desai) was a man from Gujarat, a
tantric called Pravin Jivanlal Talati. He disdains holy ash, saffron robes, and beads but
Hindsight
goes for safari suits. His style is unique: for
It is quite common for our astrologers to "twenty-seven minutes every day his psyche
cause pundits said the noon hour was not
propitious. Cabinet changes and swearingin ceremonies are said to be astrologically
fixed.
Nirad Chadhuri, in his book The Continent of Circe, says:

June, 1985

Page 35

goes into a sudden tailspin, revving up his

pulse. Charged with psychic power (shakti)
he cries "My pulse is throbbing! My pulse is
throbbing! Ask! Ask!" Any question asked
at that precise moment willreveal the future
correctly.
He says he's been keeping a log of his
predictions since 1978 and has scored 810
out of 1000. The misses were because God
didn't wish it.
Talati brought about Arafat's defeat in
Beirut by performing a maran (destructive)
magical rite. It was on his advice that Jerry
Ford packed his bags and got ready to quit
the White House long before the presidential election results were announced. Talati
made a great deal of money during the rule
of the Janata government. It was his magic
which held the many factions together for so
long. He performed a rite to send one of the
leaders to a hospital, then relented, and
performed another to make him prime minister - that was Charan Singh, who lasted
forty-five days in office. Even this quick exit
was effected by Talati performing countermagic on behalf of a rival. He wasn't overharsh on Charan Singh, says Talati. He
could have performed maran prayog (death
rite) and killed him off altogether.
The maran prayog is frequently used by
politicians in their power games. Talati
claims it was performed by someone to bring
about Sanjay Gandhi's death. He ascribes
Mrs. Gandhi's trouble to the fact that from
November, 1983, some tantric rites were
being performed against her. (Perhaps by
himself?)
On Reagan: "President Reagan willnot be
the next president. This is my greatest
prediction in the world."
Swami Sadachari, facing charges of kidnapping a young woman, was introduced
into the Delhi goon show by a benighted
chief minister of our most backward state of
Bihar. Sadachari has been operating from
inside since 1968. What's his score?
He converted Brezhnev from Atheism to
a belief in god with "magical events" which
occurred in the fifteen minutes in which he
met the Russian leader visiting India.
Brezhnev then invited the swami to Russia
where he initiated fiveRussian girls in tantric
rituals. This he did simply with a touch, with
shakti flowing through to them. These girls
are now creating "a storm in Moscow" with
more and more falling under their spell.
Sadachari is a close family friend of the
Thatchers! It was he who advised her to go
for a mid-term poll when she sent out a
special envoy to consult him. He then went
to 10 Downing Street and conducted a
special magical rite to help her win the
election. "They call it praying there," he
explains. "It went on for three days."
Now I'm sure you could read funnier jokes
elsewhere, but I'm writing this rot to demonstrate how the credulous are influenced by
Page 36

such frauds. Their influence has sinister

implications for the country. They can make
and unmake governments. But they are
more active in places where they function as
liaison men between foreign firms, business
houses, and arms manufactureres and the
government officials who believe in their
magic. They also operate as moles for
foreign spy agencies.
Most Hindus, even prominent scientists,
believe in astral control of their destinies.
Many Indians of other religions also go in for
horoscopy and other forms of future-casting. In many Hindu households you will
always find some kind of astrological almanac. The best-known are prepared by
Brahmins from traditional centers. They
also enjoy a booming market abroad.

who can magically change things with a

wave of their wand or the uttering of a magic
switch-word.
Fatalism is a negation of human freedom.
It not only saps one's courage, it promotes
the idea that to be moral is to be passively
obedient to even the most irrational and
extreme superstitions. And this belief absolves one of the intolerable burden of
taking responsibility for one's own actions.
Failure isalways blamed on bad luck.
Says one perceptive Indian psychotherapist, in many Indians "The world of magic
and animistic ways of thinking lies very close
to the surface." As a result the Indian grasp
on reality is "relatively tenuous." V. S.
Naipaul quotes Dr. Sudhir Kakar in his book
India: A Wounded Civilization:

On A Certain Day

Generally among Indians there

seems to be a different relationship to
outside reality, compared with one
found in the West. In India it is closer
to a certain stage in childhood when
outer objects did not have a separate,
independent existence, but were intimately related to the self and its
affective states. They were not something in their own right, but were good
or bad, threatening or rewarding, helpful or cruel, all depending on the
person's feelings of the moment."

What are the kind of rules laid down in

these almanacs? Nirad Chaudhuri in his
book, Hinduism, selects random samples
for just one day - April 14, 1969. This was
also the first day of the Bengali year 1376.
The planetary positions are given in detail
and the class to which a person belongs if
born on this day. Thereafter all suspicious
and inauspicious times of the day are specified.
Food tabus are listed: eggplants cannot be
eaten till11hours, 43 minutes, and 2 seconds
at night. After that period a particular kind of
pulse (a seed mixture) is taboo; so also are
women, oil, fish, and meat. Nor can penances be undertaken.
Travelling is permissable but not towards
east or south. After 4hr. 4Bm. 58s. only east
is forbidden. But after 8hr. 7m. 2s. south is
again forbidden.
Paddy (rice) cannot be cut on this particular day. But boat journeys, commercial
transactions, the making of idols and gods,
preparing and taking medicines, sowing
seeds, planting trees, taking and giving loans
must all be done before 4 hours, 48 minutes,
and 58 seconds in the afternoon.
For commencing new ventures, Monday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are auspicious. In this particular almanac, writes
Chadhuri, it is laid down "that Tuesdays are
propitious for theft; and that for riding an
elephant or a horse for the first time, Saturdays are auspicious. But again, certain
hours of the day, otherwise good, may have
certain times when action is harmful. This is
particularly true of the afternoon of Thursday."

The detailed social organization of Indian

life results in an underdeveloped ego. When
such men are given power, individual observation and judgement being absent, they
find it safer to entrust responsibility to some
father figure, guru, godman, conman, astrologer, king-maker, or king-breaker. ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In the year 1978, your editors, assisted
by Joseph Edamaruku, editor of an
Indian Atheist publication, combed
India seeking writers who would
consistently offer an interpretation of
Indian religious events. Margaret
Bhatty, in Nagpur, a well-known
feminist journalist, agreed that she
would do so in the future. She joined
the staff of the American Atheist in
January, 1983.

In Search of Father
It is hardly surprising that a nation of
people who are conditioned from childhood
through fear and a belief in karmic inevitability so readily fallunder the spell of those who
appear to be sitting over a box of tricks, and
June, 1985

The American Atheist

POETRY

METAMORPHOSE
The bitter taste of icy stone
is on my tongue,
stones of guilt lay heavy
in my belly.
Terror breathes its frigid life
through empty veins,
Pounding endlessly against aching eyes,
that scream away the tears,
lost in misty visions of the years.
I long for the touch of hot asphalt,
inhale sweet exhaust,
risk my retinas to caress the sun.
Leaving reason,
Ibloody my hands,
against ghostly bars.
Through the windows
of my fear Isee
my captorRoman Justice,
Damn the Romans.

MY DAY

Charles L. Carr

Isaw some litter on the road,

And Iwondered who put it there,
And if they had dirty nails, bad breath, and greasy kitchen floors.
Iheard a Christian talk
Of love, and truth, and eternal damnation as if they belonged together.
Iheard a man on a television commercial
Repeat a ten-digit phone number four times
Followed by a fat furniture salesman in a cowboy hat
Who sang "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and said,
"Drive a little and save a lot. Ya'll come see us, hear?"
Then Isaw your face, my Love.
Iheard your lips say kind words.
The ugliness went away;
Ireleased my breath again.
LoweUNewby

WHO LOST THE HUMAN RACE

As St. Francis looked down from
The chapel he spied St. Luke with
Some National Riflemen as they
Stood in a crowd of thousands
Trying to shoot down
Once and for all that big
Orange ball on the horizon
By evening it was bleeding red
And fell from the sky and the
Crowd having nothing left to
Shoot turned and
Shot St. Pius as he stood in
Silver robes by his strange
Saucer-shaped aeroplane.
Tom James

Austin, Texas

June, 1985

Page 37

AMERICAN A THEIST RADIO SERIES / Madalyn O'Hair

HENRY HETHERINGTON,
ENGLISH ATHEIST
When the first installment of a regularly scheduled, fifteen-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 regular production of the
series ended on October 18, 1975, when no further funding was available.
The following is the text of American Atheist Radio Series program No. 150, first broadcast on July 5, 1971.
today I had never heard of Henry
and this is despite the
UntilHetherington,

fact that I have been attempting to reconstruct the history of western Atheism for
about five years now, working in a concentrated way.
Henry Hetherington was born in England
in 1792 and as a child was apprenticed to a
well-known printer of parliamentary reports.
When his apprenticeship was over, trade
was so slack that he was out of work for
about eighteen months, and therefore he
went to Belgium where work as a printer did
exist. He spent several years there before
returning to England. When he returned he
fell in with a group called "Freethinking
Christians" and stayed with them for some
time, until a Jew asked for admission into the
church. The Jew had been invited to attend
meetings and after some time had decided to
ask for admission into the church. The
members began to think they had been
indiscreet in inviting the Jew and wished to
be rid of him. An elder in the church was
asked to visit him, and the injunction given
by the members was "Rid us of this Jew."
The elder declined and a fight developed:
Hetherington defended the Jew and was
eventually cut off from the church. He
subsequently wrote a pamphlet concerning
the episode in which he "endeavoured to
dispel the delusion in which a credulous
public are held by a society of the most
skilful and consummate hypocrites of the
present day - the Freethinking Christians."
He then turned to organizing trade unions
of working men. This work resulted in the
formation of the National Union of the
Working Classes,
which eventually
merged into the Chartist Movement. Hetherington moved constantly across England
forming unions everywhere. He, at the same
time, ran Hetherington's Press. From this
press he issued a series of political publications, uniform in form, but having no
general title. Each number had on the front

Page 38

page the famous design he had invented

which marked his defiance of the infamous
press laws of England. He was determined
then to achieve "Freedom of the Press." He
published twenty-five numbers from October 1 to November 23, 1830. They were
four octavo pages long. The series was
dated but not numbered. On December
25th, 1830, he gave a name to the publication, A Penny Paper for the People. In the
spring of the following year he commenced
the Republican. He was immediately arrested, indicted, and imprisoned for refusing
to conform to the Stamp Act. The Stamp
Act required a payment of a fee and the
appearance of a government stamp on each
issue. Hetherington spent six months in jail
and immediately upon his release on July
9th, 1831,issued a new paper titled The Poor
Man's Guardian, a weekly newspaper for
the people. In place of the government
stamp was an illustration of a printing press
labeled "Knowledge is Power" and on the
forme (the mast-head) appeared the words
"Liberty of the Press."
Hetherington kept it going for four years.
Of course, just twelve days after the first
paper was issued, he received a pressing
invitation to attend at Bow Street Police
Court. He answered this summons with a
note that it was not convenient for him to
attend, however anxious he might be to hear
what possible right the court, or anyone
else, had to censure his conduct, his publication, or to call him to account. The men
who vended the paper were immediately
arrested. Each policeman who arrested one
of the vendors was given a reward of twenty
shillings upon conviction of the vendor, and
the trade in arrests was brisk. We have a
court transcript of an exchange between a
judge and one defendant which is so interesting you must hear it:
JUDGE: Why do you hawk unstamped almanacks? (newspapers)

June, 1985

DEFENDANT: Because I have had

no voice in stamping them, and no
man ought to be governed by laws
which he has not previously approved
of.
JUDGE: Hold your tongue a moment.
DEFENDANT: Ishall not! Iwish every
man to read these publications.
JUDGE: You are very insolent, therefore you are committed to three
months imprisonment in Knutsford
House of Correction - to hard labour.
DEFENDANT: I've nothing to thank
you for; and whenever I come out, I'll
hawk them again. And mind you, the
first that I hawk shall be to your house
(here looking at officer who arrested
him).
JUDGE: Stand down.
DEFENDANT: No! I shall not stand
down for you.
The defendant was then forcibly removed
from the dock and taken back to the New
Bailey.
Hetherington himself was finally arrested
on September 28, 1831, about sixty days
after this publication had begun. He was
hurried off to Clerkenwell Prison where he
served a sentence of six months. At the end
of 1832 he was again convicted and again
imprisoned for six months in the same gaol.
Both charges were for the "high crime and
misdemeanour" of selling a penny paper
without a taxed stamp.
The English government was determined
and levied a fine of two hundred and twenty
pounds on him. In the name of the Commissioners of Stamps, saying he was not a
registered printer, they swept his premises
of all equipment. But Hetherington fought
on, rising out of the ruins. For four years,

The American Atheist

from 1831 to 1834,he led the fight in England

for a free press. He was fined, imprisoned,
hunted as an outlaw during the duration of
this time. Over five hundred persons were
imprisoned in his fight, as they tried to sell
the newspaper he continued during those
four years. Finally, in 1834 he obtained a
special jury for a last trial, and on June 17,
1834 this jury found that the publication was
legal. The fight was in the Court of the
Exchequer, and through Hetherington a
free press came to England.
During this entire struggle the Church of
England fought Hetherington also. From the
pulpit he was given abuse, contempt, and
condemnation. He was it~beledas "seditious"
and "blasphemous."
When Hetherington was in Clerkenwell
Prison in 1832, the prison chaplain labored
assiduously to convert him. He insisted that
Hetherington should write a refutation of the
religious tracts which were being sent to him
by one of the magistrates in his case. Hetherington insisted that this was a waste of time,
and the chaplain then insisted that he enter
upon a study of religion generally. In the
many discussions, Hetherington demanded
that should he write such a tract, the "Society for Christian Knowledge" should be reo
quired to print and distribute it. The chaplain
refused to consider this. Incidentally, the
chaplain was paid by the government three
hundred pounds a year, a considerable sum
in those days.
Finally Hetherington wrote the tract, and
titled it "Cheap Salvation; or an Antidote to
the Priestcraft, written at the express desire
of the Rev. D. Ruell (Chaplain of Clerkenwell
New Prison)."
When he got out of prison Hetherington
discovered that Charles Junius Haslam had
written a series of pamphlets under the title
of Haslam's Letters to the Clergy of all
Denominations. Hetherington published
them and was immediately arrested, on
December 8, 1840. The indictment read,
"That Henry Hetherington, being a wicked,
impious, and ill-disposed person, and having
no regard for the laws and religion of this
realm, but most wickedly, blasphemously,
impiously, and profanely devising and intending to asperse and vilifythat part of the
Holy Bible which is called the Old Testament, on February 3, in the third year of
the reign of our sovereign lady Victoria, by
the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender
of the Faith, did publish, and cause to be
published a certain scandalous, impious and
blasphemous libel of and concerning that
part of the Holy Bible which is called the Old
Testament, containing therein, among other
things, divers scandalous, impious, and blasphemous matters according to the tenor
and effect following, that is to say, "What
wretched stuff the Bible is, to be sure! What
a random idiot its author must have been! I

Austin, Texas

would advise the human race to burn every

Bible they have got. Such a book is actually a
disgrace to ourang-outangs, much more to
men. I would advise them to burn it, in order
that posterity may never know we believed
in such abominable trash .. .' "
Hetherington conducted his own defense.
He was immediately found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison. Soon after
this Hetherington began to publish the Library of Reason. I am attempting to find
some of these little books now. Some of the
titles are beautiful: Infidel's Text Book, Atheism Justified and Religion Superceded, A
Few Hundred Bible Contradictions, A Hunt
After the DeLJil.
In 1849 a cholera epidemic swept London,
and on August 23rd, Hetherington died.
George Jacob Holyoake, another Atheist
hero of ours, spoke at his grave. His hearse
was covered with a canopy of silk on which
appeared in silver letters Hetherington's
most famous single phrase: "We ought to
endeavour to leave the world better than we
found it."
Hetherington left behind him a document
which he called his Last Willand Testament,
and considering that he fought for freedom
of the press, for the first workmen's unions.
in England, and against a national guard
which was to be a police force against the
people, to all of which he could have spoken
... it is very instructive that the Will says:
As lifeis uncertain, it behoves everyone to make preparations for death; I
deem it therefore a duty incumbent on
me, ere I quit this life, to express in
writing, for the satisfaction and guidance of esteemed friends, my feelings
and opinions in reference to our common principles. I adopt this course
that no mistake or misapprehension
may arise through the false reports of
those who officiously and obtrusively
obtain access to the death-beds of
avowed Infidels to priestcraft and
superstition; and who by their annoying importunities, labour to extort
from an opponent, whose intellect is
already worn out and subdued by
protracted physical suffering, some
trifling admission, that they may blazon it forth to the world as a Deathbed-Confession and a triumph of
Christianity over Infidelity.
In the first place, then - I calmly
and deliberately declare that I do not
believe in the popular notion of the
existence of an Almighty, All-wiseand
Benevolent God - possessing intelligence, and conscious of His own
operations; because these attributes
involve such a mass of absurdities and
contradictions, so much cruelty and
injustice on His part to the poor arid
destitute portion of His creatures -

June, 1985

that, in my opinion, no rational reflecting mind can, after disinterested

investigation, give credence to the
existence of such a Being.
In the second place, I believe death
to be an eternal sleep - that I shall
never live again in this world, or
another, with a consciousness that I
am the same identical person that
once lived, performed the duties, and
exercised the functions of a human
being.
In the third place, I consider priestcraft and superstition the greatest
obstacle to human improvement and
happiness. During my life I have, to
the best of my ability, sincerely and
strenuously exposed and opposed
them, and die with the a firm conviction that Truth, Justice, and liberty will never be permanently established on earth till every vestige of
priestcraft and superstition shall be
utterly destroyed.
In the fourth place, I have ever
considered that the only religion useful to man consists exclusively of the
practice of morality, and in the mutual
interchange of kind actions. In such a
religion there is no room for priests and when I see them interfering at
births, marriages, and deaths, pretending to conduct us safely through
this state of being to another and
happier world, any disinterested person of the least shrewdness and discernment must perceive that their
sole aim is to stultify the minds of the
people by their incomprehensible doctrines, that they may the more effectually fleece the poor deluded
sheep who listen to their empty babblings and mystifications.
In the fifth place, as I have lived so I
die, a determined opponent to their
nefarious and plundering system. I
wish my friends, therefore, to deposit
my remains in unconsecrated ground,
and trust they will allow no priest, or
clergyman of any denomination to
interfere in any way whatever at my
funeral. My earnest desire is, that no
relation or friend shall wear black or
any kind of mourning, as I consider it
contrary to our rational priciples to
indicate respect for a departed friend
by complying with a hypocritical custom.
In the sixth place, I wish those who
respect me, and who have laboured in
our common cause, to attend my
remains to their last resting place, not
so much in consideration of the individual, as to do honour to our just,
benevolent and rational principles.
I hope all true Rationalists willleave
pompous displays to the tools of

Page 39

priestcraft and superstition. If I could

have my desire, the occasion of my
death and burial should be turned to
the advantage of the living. I would
have my kind and good friend,
Watson, who knew me intimately for
many years - or any other friend well
acquainted with my character - to
address to those assembled such observations as he may deem pertinent
and useful; holding up the good points
of my character as an example worthy
of imitation, and pointing out my defects with equal fidelity,that none may
avow just and rational principles without endeavouring to purge themselves of those errors that result from
bad habits previously contracted, and
which tarnish the lustre of their benign
and glorious principles.
These are my views and feelings in
quitting an existence that has been
chequered with the plagues and pleasures of a competitive, scrambling,
selfish system; a system by which the
moral and social aspirations of the
noblest human being are nullified by
incessant toil and physical depravations; by which, indeed, all men are
trained to be either slaves, hypocrites,
or criminals ...
I freely forgive all who have injured
me in the struggle; and die in the hope
and consolation that a time is approaching when the spirit of antagonism will give place to fraternal affection and universal co-operation to
promote the happiness of mankind.
(Signed) Henry Hetherington
Witnessed by:
George Jacob Holyoake.
Henry Allsop Ivory.
John Kenny.
August 21, 1849.
~

ME TOO
"Me Too" is a feature designed to
showcase short essays written by readers in response to topics recently covered by the American Atheist or of
general interest to the atheist community.
Essays submitted to "Me Too" (P.O.
Box 2117, Austin, TX 78768-2117)
should be 600 to 800 words long.
to respond to Frank Zindler's article,
Iwish
"Ethics Without Gods." (February 1985

issue). He explains reciprocity between

equals very well. But I feel his view that
religion alone is responsible for moral cruelty and hypocrisy is oversimplified. He fails to
note the dark side of relations between
creatures - their dominance, submissiveness, and headless conformity for mindless
ends. These generate the "labyrinthine complexity" of traditional moral codes and make
it more difficult to derive a naturally-based
value system than he claims.
Tradition is not foremost a scare tactic to
get people to follow a deity. That is evolutionarily pointless. Rather, the deity is a way
of scaring people into accepting senseless,
self-destructing traditions. For example, convincing a woman to submit to her husband
and breed many children is easier if the
priests tell her she will burn in hell if she
refuses. Religion so used is but another
social pressure among many.
Sociobiology enters here. It holds that
creatures act not so much to preserve
themselves as to transmit their own genes.
They do so by aiding relatives who are
statistically more likely to share their genes,
as well as by enhancing their own prospects.
Or they aid non-relatives who are likely to
return the favor. While placing our altruism
on a natural basis, sociobiology also opens a
field for grotesque forms of self-sacrifice. For
example, when a black widow spider attempts to mate, he risks being eaten by the
female. Ifhe was interested only in saving his
own life, he wouldn't try in the first place.
Genetically, however, his self-sacrifice is

"adaptive" for him. If the female eats him

after they mate, his substance will nourish
the eggs he has fertilized. That gives the
young a better start and a better chance to
live and transmit their parent's genes.
Spiders, being simple creatures, do allthis
automatically. But people, being more selfaware, value themselves more highly. It
takes a lot of pressure to get people to act
against their own well-being. Societies do so
by making the consequences of refusing to
act even more horrible than the act itself.
Hence, religious fear-mongering and other
social pressures.
If we mated in the same way as spiders,
our priests would likely exhort men to let
themselves be eaten by their women as a
sacred duty and promise men heavenly rewards if they did. We would be only semiaware that this practice enhanced our fitness. Most of us would only imagine in some
vague way that it is "good." We might even
give it a "human" touch by elevating it to
ritual feasting.
Also, a male spider sometimes escapes.
The young from his first mating end up less
well-nourished, but he gets the chance to
mate again and leave more young. If we did
likewise, we might pay lip service to the
"virtue" of being eaten, while really feeling it
is better to escape. Here is moral complexity.
and hypocrisy - naturally generated.
That is the current state of our culture.
Religion likewise pressures us to adopt submissive roles or to go to war as a "duty" merely to speed up population growth and
promote society's mindless expansion. It
also generates hypocrisy. Such behavior is
"natural" but hardly humane.
Baboons which aid other members of
their own troop are therefore not that noteworthy ethically. For animals acting to transmit their own genes, aiding their relatives is
as matter-of-fact as their helping themselves. Even pirates look out for one another. The Bible has its heroes, too, although the people who wrote it were a nasty
bunch in general.
That is not to say that concern for your
family or nation is wrong or shameful. It is
not. But when people claim their local group
is "superior" and declare open season on
their neighbors, they become monsters.
Such behavior is equivalent to the territorial
strivings of wolf packs and ape bands. Each
kin-group races to outbreed the others and
occupy all the territory it can. So have most
nations, ethnic groups, and religions. Nature
needs help from human reason, else we will
be neither secure nor moral.
-Royce

Page 40

June, 1985

J. Bitzer

The American Atheist

BOOK REVIEWS

In God's Name
An Investigation into The Murder of
Pope John Paul I
is a 6Ytx 9Ythardback book which
Thiscovers
the life, thirty-three-day reign

and death (on September 29, 1978)of Albino

Luciani - Pope John Paul I. The reason for
writing the book is given by the author on
page 243:
Wishing to avoid "grave insinuations"
I willmake instead a categorical statement: I am completely convinced that
Pope John Paul I was murdered.
The author is then left with the need to show
the why and the how of it. He does this by
painting the Pope as a saintly, seemingly
simplistic, and devout person of intense
religious conviction thrust into the papacy
against his will.His dream was to reverse the
harsh dictates of the Humanae Vitae encyclical on birth control (published on July
25,1968) which had alienated so many ofthe
faithful and to bring the church back to the
true doctrines of Jesus Christ. The author's
thesis is that evil forces, in opposition to this
outreach of kindness and concern, did in
Pope John Paul I .
Albino Luciani, however, was hardly the
person described. A hard-liner of the church,
supportive of all the doctrines of Pope Paul,
reactionary, with a history of collaboration
with fascism, his Ph.D. in the mysticism of
Thomism and an all-out attack on the works
on Antonio Rosmini, endorsing nuclear
stock-piling, attacking public schools, he
was not the liberal the author depicts. When
elected he pledged his pontificate to the
teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
Anyone who has ever analyzed the documents of that Council realizes that its alleged
liberal posture is more the hopeful reading
into the Council of that attitude than reality
reflected from it.
Who would want to kill the new Pope,
then? Would it be those opposing the liberalization of birth control? Would it be those
who quickly had voted him into office upon
his own record as bishop, archbishop, and
cardinal? Would it be those who stood with
the new Pope on the issues above indicated?
No. Enter the bad guys: those who were
bungling, mismanaging, and abusing the
financial base of the Vatican. The villainsare
corrupt money manipulators who had been
brought in to handle the Vatican fortune. It is
at this point that the atheist interest in the
denouements can quicken for the author

Austin, Texas

has done his homework on Vatican financial

corruption. He outlines the basis of Vatican
wealth, its growth, its infiltration into the
money markets of Europe and the United
States, its later international ramifications
its political and financial entanglements with
the c.i.A., and its manipulation of the political scene in Italy.
Two particular persons appear to the
author as principal villains: the Gorilla and
the Shark. The former is Cardinal Paul
Marcinkus, the latter, Michele Sindona. But
the revelations are more extensive as he
explores the notorious "P2" cell of the
Masons, Mafia laundering of money, stock
market manipulations, the infamous Banco
Ambrosiano, attempted government coups,
and the financing of Exorcet missiles for Argentina in the Falkland Island war.
For some reason, not really connected to
the thesis of this book, the author decides to
expose Cardinal John Cody of Chicago.
Among the information is that money from
Chicago, with the largest Polish population
outside of Poland, was regularly funneled by
Cody to Poland through the Continental
Illinois Bank. (The Solidarity union received
over $100 million channeled through the
Vatican.)
When it comes to evidence of murder, the
author's primary concern is that no autopsy
was performed on John Paul I and that
circumstances surrounding the announcement of the death were suspicious. He
dismisses that the 66-year-old Pope could
have had a heart attack, which was announced as his cause of death.
In a final attempt of blame-placing, he asks
who benefited from Luciani's death? Karol
Wojtyla, sworn in as the new Pope, returned
everything to an "as was" position, although
the author insists that Luciani would have
made dramatic changes. The new Pope, a
medievalist of the most reactionary sort,
moved Opus Dei into the very Vatican,
raised the Gorilla to the rank of Cardinal
and hung out a "business as usual sign.':
Only Sindona suffered when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted and charged
him with ninety-nine counts of fraud, perjury, and misappropriation of bank funds (all
stemming from the collapse of the Franklin
National Bank, into which the U.S. had
needed to pump over two billion dollars).
The author arrives at his conclusion on
page 314:
", . . the man I believe to be at the
very heart of the conspiracy to murder Albino Luciani: Licio Gelli."

June, 1985

Gelli, whom he calls a puppetmaster, was

a political figure in Italy and the head of the
"P2" Masonic cell. He is the only person in
the book separated out to be called "the
unbeliever." That tells you where Atheists
stand in this scheme of things.
The book is highly recommended, not for
it being a scream of protest for the murder of
a pope, but rather because of its revelations
of the interlocking network of politics and
finances of the Vatican, each equally as poor
in adminstration as in concern for the wellbeing of humankind. ~

1hate Father. 1hate Mother.

1hate Brother. 1hate Sister.
but 1LOUE YOU Jesus!

BIBLE LESSONS
A READING FROM THE
NEW TESTAMENT
Page 41

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New York
Irving Fierstein
Joseph Lassman
Francis Smith
Carmine Spatola

$10.00
25.00
10.00
10.00

Pennsylvania
In the February and April issues of the
American Atheist, this column featured an
appeal for aid to Rufo Baes of the Philippines. Weighted down with medical bills
following the death of his child, a sevenmonth-old daughter, Mr. Baes saw his home
and livelihood destroyed by the super typhoon "Undang" on November 5, 1984. He
asked that fellow Atheists might help him in
his time of need.
American Atheists initiated the "Rufo
Baes Fund" with $100.00. Since that time,
readers have added $945.05 to it, and
American Atheists has since contributed
another $100.
The April issue listed the contributors to
the fund up to press time. Subsequent
donors are:
California
Charles Amlim
Helen E. Johnson
Helen E. Johnson
F.E. Thompson

$5.00
5.00
5.00
10.00

Anonymous
Blair A. Moyer

$5.00
5.05
Texas

T.M. Henning

$5.00

We wish to thank each of these individuals for lending a helping nand to a fellow
Atheist.
If the amount previously raised - nearly
$1000 - is again provided by the Atheists of
the United States, the Baes family will be
completely clear of debt and ready to start a
new, proud life.
Rufo Baes has repeatedly written to say
that "some part of the aid will be shared
with my sisters who were victims of the
typhoon." If this individual can stop to help
others in his distress, surely the Atheists of
America - giving $5 here or $10 there can see him clear of his troubles.
The editor and staff

Connecticut
Richard Williams

$20.00

Delaware
Alice L. Dailey

$5.00
Illinois

William Ford
Arlene B. Nelson

$5.00
5.00

Kentucky
Milan Rafayko

$20.00

Massachusetts
Magnhild Erickson
Gerald F. Hayden

$5.00
10.00

Minnesota
Randy L. Holm
Rosemary Nagy
Page 42

$5.00
5.00

judged" (not that Christ himself observed

this one). "Let he who is without sin cast the
first stone ... Mother! Put down that stone!"
The term "Paulism" emphasizes whose
teachings the churches actually follow, and
Paul is a much more unsavory character
than Christ. Perhaps the heat generated by
irritation with these observations produce
might help thaw out a few brains!
Also, Christ when separated thus from
Christianity looks rather pre-Marxist, which
willamuse only Marxists!

I have been using the term "Paulism"

instead of "Christianity" in my ravings lately.
When questioned about this, as always
happens, I happily note the following discrepancies between Christian practice and
the teachings of the alleged Christ:
1) Sexuality. The prostitute Mary Magdalen is accepted without reservation. Punishment for adultery is opposed. A naked
young man flees from the chamber in which
Christ is arrested. If '''raca'' translates to
"effeminate man," Christ condemns the
persecutors of homosexuals (no letters from
the leather crowd, please; I'm aware of the
stereotype) .
2) Personal Wealth. Christ said those who
wish to live perfectly should give away all
they have to the poor. And of course, there
is the camel and the needle.
3) Family. Christ told his followers to
forsake their families. On the cross, he said
to his mother "Woman, what have I to do
with you?"
4) Law and Order. "Judge not lest ye be

June, 1985

Jeff Wilson
California

I was very appreciative of Maurice

LaBelle's informative article "Titan of
Reason" in the March 1985 issue, since I
have been in search for some years for a
copy of d'Holbach's System of Nature or
any other of his works, with no success,
other than short excerpts in an occasional
collection of readings in philosophy.
Although I am sure this is not an original
suggestion, it would be gratifying if A.A.P.
was to find it possible to distribute this book,
which seems rather rare. I believe an edition
was printed in Boston around the Civil War
period, but I know of none later.
I enclose another news clipping related to
our separate school financing teapot tempest. The scale is small, the players are
similar, the objectives are venal, the Canadian public is, ifpossible, stupider and more
brainwashed, the outcome probably identical to the U.S.
It is doubtful if religious polarization can
develop in Canada at this late date: Canadians are too intellectually homogenized
(addled?) to support it.
Ira Stenebaugh
Canada

"Atheism and Children" in the January

1985 American Atheist was the best article I

have ever read on Atheism. As you know,

Christianity gets the children when they
don't know any better and holds them with
fear as a rule tilldeath. It held this old man for
forty years.
I was happy to read the credit Madalyn
O'Hair received in the March 1985 American Atheist "Letters to the Editor." It was
The American Atheist

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

summed up beautifully with the Jeannie

Emmons statement, ''Thank you for your
hard work. You (Madalyn O'Hair) are a hero
of our times." What magnificent letters
these all were.
That brings up another subject - don't
price the American Atheist any higher. You
have reached the saturation point where the
awakened Christian can no longer afford it. I
have stopped two magazines last year when
subscriptions were due. That is why each
quarter I designate one hundred dollars of
my donation to the magazine deficit fund.
This requires no answer, so please save
your time for those wonderful articles and
your many other works.
Fred Jackson
West Virginia

I read somewhere that "Atheism cannot

compete with religions such as Christianity
or Mohammedanism since it cannot promise a life after death."
Man, being the only animal that is able to
foresee his/her own death, has never been
reconciled to the idea that death is the end of
his consciousness. That is why fie has
thought up Heavens, Paradise, Valhalla,
reincarnation, etc.
It takes a lot of mental fortitude to reject
all this Pie in the Sky.
Nathan Weintraub
West Virginia

I saw Ronald Reagan become president,

again, in January. On inauguration day, on
televisions across the country, he gave a
speech and lied to the American people. He
said that the transfer of power in this country has never been accomplished at the
point of a bayonet. This simply isn't true.
Many years ago, power was in the hands
of many different tribal units, each with its
own language, culture, and traditions. Then
the European Christians arrived. At first,
while their numbers were small, they were
friendly to the Native American people,
learning from them new ways to survive in
this "New World." As their population grew,
however, they advanced across the land,
mile by mile, making one peace treaty after
another, and breaking them whenever they

Austin, Texas

no longer served the plans for white Christian domination. They called it "Manifest
Destiny," and they sent out the military to
eradicate any who would dare resist. This
racist philosophy was firmly rooted in the
book they brought with them called the Holy
Bible (e.g. Exodus 22:20, which says that
anyone who sacrifices to a god other than
Jehovah shall be destroyed). A Native American leader once stated: "The white man
made many promises, but kept only one: he
promised to take our land, and he took it."
Is President Reagan ignorant of these
facts? I don't think so. It's just that he's built
his political reputation solidly on the backs
of the white Christian majority, and this
maneuver has paid off handsomely by landing him two victorious presidential elections.
Naturally he would not want to say anything
that would put Christianity in a bad light.
Could it be that he actually believes what
he said? Maybe he's been watching too
many of his old cowboy movies. Folks like
him enjoy talking about "how the West was
won." Some of us know better. Some of us
know that it was lost.
Robert Bandonis
Pennsylvania

I am writing in regard to the most recent

publication of the American Atheist Press.
However, before I begin I would like to
note that I saw Madalyn O'Hair speak on
Detroit's "Kelly and Company", and I
thought her facts and opinions were long
overdue in a country such as ours. I fully
intended to write to you about your publication had my father not done so first.
I am in my early twenties and would like to
see young people in this country grow up to
be thinking, well-informed human beings.
In the same vein, I found some of the
articles full of anger and unecessary name
calling, which might make it offensive to
some people who begin reading with an
open mind. It is reminiscent of the treatment
you received from the audience on the talk
show.
I am speaking particularly about the article on Auguste Comte, by Gerald Tholen. I
don't think you need to resort to writing in
this fashion and Ithink we could reach more
people by not appearing so negative, simply
stating the facts.
I know time is precious, but if at all
possible I would appreciate a reply. Meanwhile, Iwillcontinue to enjoy the publication.
Robin Miller
Michigan

Congratulations, Gerry Tholen! Your column "Nature's Way" and the conclusion of
your April, 1985, article "Here Comes De
Judge" brings to mind one of the immutable
laws of nature, to wit: "Nature's Way ...
'only survivors can exist!' "
In my experience, regardless of politics,
economic systems, or philosophy, only survivors do exist. (For example, Mrs. O'Hair.)
Moreover, what proof do you offer that a
nation is ethically obligated to do anything
which would attempt to defeat these immutable laws that hold that only survivors
can exist?
It should be obvious from history and
intelligent efforts to defeat nature have always been doomed from the start. The only
effective intelligence is that which accommodates nature.
Personally, I cannot conceive of a better
utopian concept than a country club nation
filled to the brim only with survivors, can
you?

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June, 1985

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LQQK! .. A very important title for all

Abortion Rights Movement supporters.
T

his is an 8W x SW paperback book,

published in England and Australia in
1984. It is extracted from the author's thesis
for a Ph.D.
Beginning with the British Act of 1967 the
author traces a world-wide trend to relax
the laws of abortion. Seeing the beginnings
of concern in the increase of world population, and noting the trial of birth control
information disseminators (Charles Bradlaugh and Anne Besant, atheist leaders, trial
of 1877) as being a turning point in the
approach to the problem, the author deals
frankly and forthrightly with the problems
which are caused by religion doctrines.
The author documents "the facts" claimed by each side. and then examines the four
main disputes which seem as having arisen
therefrom: (1) the effects on attitudes to life,
(2) effect of legislation on "back-street"
abortions, (3) medical effects, and (4) public
opinion.
As one would expect, the book being
based on dissertation material, it is well
documented with statistics.
Although it looks grim to those of us who
are involved in the birth control fight, it is
reassuring to lay down the book with a
feeling that there has been documented
progress and that it is just as likely as not to
continue, transcending all reactionary efforts.
The author has some short failures of
understanding in regard to the cultural
milieu of the United States, but by and large
her grasp of the essentials seems to be more
than adequate to enable this educational
publication.

by Colin Francome
London, England:
George Allen & Unwin

241 pages; Price, $7.95

(plus $1.00 postage and handling)

eo

Ves! Send me [ ] copy(ies) of Abortion Freedom A Worldwide Movement

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AMENDMENTI

CONGRESS

SHALL MAKE NO LA W RESPECTING

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"The continued publication of Article 14, Section 265, of the Mississippi Constitution . . .
causes me and others who deny the existence of
a supreme being serious harm. It indicates to all
of society that I, and others who feel as I do, are
not even worthy of holding public office ... "
- Paul Tirmenstein

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