December, 1985

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

$2.95

The Editorial:

Speaking Of The Boy Scouts

one hundred years of commentary -

J\theists On The Solstice

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

Vol. 27, No. 12

December, 1985

American Atheist
A Journal

of Atheist

News

and Thought

2
Editorial: Speaking of The Boy Scouts - Jon Murray
6
News and Comments: Take That! You Atheist!
Atheists on The Solstice - One Hundred Years of Commentary:
7
Christmas - Jean Story; The Christ-Child - Annie Besant; Yuletide Greetings - B.M. Saner; Christmas - J.M.
Wheeler; Editorial- December, 1954, Liberal; It's Awful to be a Heathen - January, 1913, Melting Pot; Jesus Christ
or Santa Claus - Joseph Lewis; The Origin of Christmas - Sherman Wakefield; Why is Christmas? - Lee L.
Dodds; Those Christmas Cards - November/December, 1965, Rationalist; Ding-Dong Merrily Below - Christopher Morey; Philatelic Fun - George Rulf;The Dickensian Christmas - Peter Crommelin; Following Yonder Star
- R.J. Condon
Turtles All The Way Down - Frank R. Zindler
23
It's a Small World - Gerald Tholen
27
Dial-An-Atheist
29
Poetry
30
31
If Wishes Were Horses - Margaret Bhatty
Historical Notes
33
34
The Solstice Season - Madalyn O'Hair
Book Reviews
36
Me Too - Reggie Ball
37
Letters to The Editor
38
Crosswords
39
40
Classified Advertisement
40
Reader Service
On The Cover: As the world once more accelerates toward its annual year-end frenzy of "virtuous" religious rituals (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.), it
would seem appropriate to point out some other things one might "celebrate." At the recent (non)summit (non)meeting of the rulers of our world, Reagan
and Gorbachev greeted each other in what one might describe as a social Alice in Wonderland tea-party. Even the mightiest of the media came away from
Geneva with wide-eyed speculation
as to what had or had not happened.
I suppose we will have to be satisfied, once again, with only loquacious
explanations
by our hired governmental
mouth-piece,
Larry Speaks (appropriately
named, I might add). No one seems to be offended by the
contemptuous
insult to humanity thus generated by the closed-door secretiveness
surrounding the meeting. So, in a continuing manner, the pawns of the
world must wait while the whims of royalty casually deliberate our respective destinies. Moving right along now in our "celebrations"
- Egyptian
commandos have "liberated" more hijack hostages recently. Give those religious terrorists hell, fellas! An ounce of six-gun justice is more effective than a
pound of preventative
cure - as all holy men know. Next item worthy of festive mention: our fellow (white) countrymen
in Philadelphia - City of
Brotherly Love - are succeeding in ousting a Black family from "their" neighborhood.
Merry Christmas, Philadelphia! I wish I had twenty more pages so I
could relate more of the "joyous worldly activities" resulting from religio-cultural bigotries. But, perhaps you will be able to better understand, through this
month's American Atheist articles, the futility of historical religious Christmastime
fantasies that occasion the end of each year. Joy!
- G. Tholen
Editor/R Murray-O'Hair, Editor Emeritus/Madalyn
O'Hair, Managing Editor/Jon G. Murray, Assistant Editor/Gerald Tholen, Copy Editor/Sandra M. P.
McGann, Poetry/Anqeline Bennet, Gerald Tholen, Production Staff/Christina
Ditter, Bill Kight, Claudia Kweder, Laura L. Morgenstern, Jes Simmons, NonResident Staff/Margaret Bhatty, Merrill Holste, Lowell Newby, Fred Woodworth,
Frank R. Zindler.
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ISSN: 0332-4310
copyright 1985 by Society of Separationists, Inc.

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EDITORIAL / Jon G. Murray

SPEAKING OF THE BOY SCOUTS

of June, 1985,fifteen-year-old
OnPaulthe 5th
Trout of Shepherdstown, West
Virginia, received a letter from the national
office of the Boy Scouts of America informing his parents that he could no longer be a
Boy Scout because he had said that "he did
not have any personal belief in God or
recognition of any Supreme Being or force."
He stated also that "he had complete belief
in self and self-reliance." The letter from
national Scout headquarters delivered the
soon-to-be-controversial line: "If a person
does not have belief in a Supreme Being,
then they [sic] cannot be a member of the
Boy Scouts of America."

A Pseudo-Controversy
That sentence touched off a veritable
storm of controversy when Paul's mother
went to the news media. Newspapers, magazines, and editorial writers around the
country debated back and forth the question of whether or not Paul Trout could
belong to the Boy Scouts and be at the very
same time that most dreaded of dreadful
things - an "Atheist."
As soon as the news of Paul's expulsion
from the Scouts hit the wire services the
ever-vigilant public relations director of the
IllinoisChapter of American Atheists was on
the phone and spoke to Mrs. Trout to ask if
there was any way in which American Atheists could be helpful. Information on American Atheists and on the history of religion
within the founding documents of Scouting
was rushed to the Trout home.
Only American Atheists really understood what was happening when Paul Trout
was denied his Life Scout rank, scouting's
second-highest rank below Eagle Scout, and
was expelled from "The Stonewall Jackson
Area Council" of which he was a member
scout. The Boy Scouts, from its inception,
has been an organization dedicated to instilling into the minds of young men the virtues
of patriotism and piety. It had the same type
of origins as the YMCA, which was set up to
keep tender young men from the farm from
going astray in the big city during the great
period of migration to urban lifeof our industrial revolution. Having been incorporated
by an act of Congress on December 6, 1915,
the Boy Scouts was subject to the same kind
of thought indicative of that era of our

Page 2

nation's history. The kind ofthinking of early

twentieth-century America with regard to
religion and patriotism can be laid down in
one sentence from the preamble of the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire:
... morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical principles, will give
the best and greatest security to
government, and willlay, in the hearts
of men, the strongest obligations to
due subjection.
As Viewed from Here
The YMCA was founded in 1881, and just
thirty-four years later Comstockery was still
very much in vogue when the Boy Scouts of
America was founded. Article IX, Policies
and Definitions, Section 1, Religion, Clause
1of the Boy Scout Charter states, "The Boy
Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen
without recognizing an obligation to God."
Nothing could be more simply or succinctly
said. The Boy Scouts of America is not an
organization in which an Atheist should be
seeking membership.
It is incumbent upon any rational person
to investigate the aims and purposes of any
group to which that person desires to
belong. If those aims and purposes are contrary to the principles of the individual seeking membership, it is not incumbent in turn
for the organization being reviewed to
change its policy to fit the desires of the
would-be member. It is rather for the wouldbe member to decide if he or she can be
comfortable in association with persons who
subscribe to the aims and purposes of the
organization in question. If the answer to
that question, upon self inspection, is "no"
then the would-he member should simply
not seek membership. For some bizarre
reason, many persons. these days feel that
any given organization that they choose to
target for membership must modify its aims
and purposes to suit their particular tastes
- even if those tastes run in direct opposition to even long-standing principles of the
group. One of the most recent examples
outside of Scouting was the insistence of a
female member of t~e Mormon Church
demanding that religious body change its
policy in favor of "women's liberation." Such

December, 1985

a request would have meant abandonment

of the Church's founding principles by its
leadership. It was more proper that the single women simply leave the church. In like
manner persons come to the American Atheist organization and demand that it change
its fundamental positions on scores of issues
and even in many cases change its very
name to suit the applicant. This is patently
absurd.
In the case of Paul Trout, the question
arises: If he is really an Atheist, why does he
want to be a Scout in the first place? That is a
very good question indeed. The Boy Scouts
is not alone an organization dedicated to
fostering an "America fiber Alles" mentality,
but its literature and structure reek with religion. In the Southern states, most of the
troops meet in church facilities. I realize that
there is a peer pressure aspect that draws
young men with a siren-like determination to
the Scouts. The same is true of the church
which draws naive young people into its
clutches through its "social agenda," claiming only to be providing a wholesome
atmosphere for young people to meet.
If Paul Trout, or any other of his peers of
like mind, could think his way out of religion,
then he should be able to have evaluated the
Scouts as an organization basically hostile to
the Atheist position and not have joined in
the first place. Some years ago a similar
question came up in Canada in which a
Scout was denied his Eagle rank because he
said that he was an Atheist. How did he get
as far as qualifying for Scouting's highest
rank and not notice its aversion to Atheism?
These unanswered questions are not the
end of the controversy in this matter. Many
members of American Atheists wrote to Ben
H. Love, Chief Scout Executive, at Scout
National Headquarters in Irving, Texas, protesting Paul Trout's dismissal, many saying
that they had been Scouts and some even
returning their Scout memorabilia Vietnamveteran-protest style. In addition, the Illinois
Chapter of American Atheists staged a historic protest in suburban Chicago.
A Media Challenge
On Saturday, October 12, some 3,500
scouts, principally from the Northwest Chicago suburbs, gathered for a camporee at
the Shoe Factory Woods Cook County

American Atheist

"

Forest Preserve west of Hoffman Estates,

Illinois. The gathering was the Northwest
suburban scouts' largest camporee in ten
years, according to its local organizers.
About fifteen Atheists from Chicago, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and Ohio chapters of
American Atheists picketed at the entrance
to the preserve during the early morning
arrival of the scouts. Plans for the picket had
made headline news in Chicago since the
Wednesday prior to the protest. Robert
Sherman, spokesman for the Chicago Chapter, told the press that the Boy Scouts was
"a group of bigots who discriminate on the
basis of religion." He went on to say that
"There is nothing patriotic about bigotry and
nothing patriotic about religious intolerance." Sherman's point was that "A kid nine
or ten years old doesn't know if there's a
god. He doesn't care ifthere's a god. He just
wants to make friends, to go camping."
This may be true, but it does still not
excuse Atheist parents from knowing better
and taking the time to find out the true
nature of the organization to which their
children want to belong. In many-cases I am
convinced that it is sheer cowardice on the
part of the parents because they don't wish
to "rock the boat." I would rather be unpopular in my community and have my child be
temporarily unhappy or unpopular than to
sacrifice my principles as an Atheist. Christian parents are never called upon to sacrifice even an inch of their principles without it
driving them to scream their heads off at
school and other authorities. Atheist parents have a fine track record of sitting back
and taking almost anything.
Bigotry Reaffirmed
I am not prepared to say that it was as the
direct result of the Chicago picket and the
publicity attendant thereto, but at an executive board meeting of October 10, the National Board of the Boy Scouts drafted a
resolution which it released to the press on
Friday, the day before the picket. The press
billed this resolution across the country as
"Boy Scouts change religion rules ... " or
something equivalent. This was, in fact, not
the case. What the resolution actually said
was the following:
Boy Scouts of American Resolution:
Reaffirmation of the Position of
the Boy Scouts of America on
"Duty to God"
Resolved, that the followingreaffirmation of the position of the Boy Scouts
of America relating to "Duty to God"
be, and hereby is, enacted and that
the Bylaws, Rules and Regulations,
and literature of the Corporation
reflect this reaffirmation accordingly.

Austin, Texas

This year, America is celebrating the

seventy-fifth anniversary of the Boy
Scouts of America. Since 1910, seventy-two million Americans have subscribed to the Scout Oath and the
Scout Law which have stood the test
of time.
The national Executive Board of the
Boy Scouts of America proudly
states, through its Mission Statement,
that the values which the organization
strives to instill in young people are
those based upon the Scout Oath and
the Scout Law. A Scout pledges: "On
my honor I will do my best, to do my
duty to God and my country, and to
obey the Scout Law.... "
The first Boy Scouts of America
Handbook for Boys which was published in August 1911declares that" ...
no boy can grow into the best kind of
citizenship without recognizing his
obligation to God." (p. 215.)
The latest edition of The Official Boy
Scout Handbook, published in February 1979, reads: "'A Scout is reverent.' All Scouts show this by being
faithful in their duty to God." (p. 484.)
While not intending to define what
constitutes belief in God, the Boy
Scouts of America is proud to reaffirm
the Scout Oath and its declaration of
"Duty to God."
In the October 11 press release from Boy
Scout headquarters, Raul Chavez, its national communications director, said that
Paul Trout is eligible to receive his Life
Scout Award because he subscribes
to the Scout Oath with its "Duty fo
God" as well as to the Scout Law that
asks a Scout to be reverent. Earlier
this year, the fifteen-year-old Scout
was not approted for his Life Scout
Award because it was understood he
could not support the Scout Oath and
Scout Law.
The press release went on to say that
The Boy Scouts of America has made
a thorough analysis of the matter.
This involved contacts with members
of the Boy Scouts of America's national Religious Relationships Committee, the young man and his family,
and local Scouters. It has been determined that Paul Trout, indeed, does
subscribe to the Scout Oath and
Scout Law.

December, 1985

Hypocrisy

as Usual

What all of this rhetoric means in layman's

terms is that absolutely nothing has been
changed by the Boy Scouts of America. It
still requires participants in its organization
to have a "Duty to God" and to be "reverent." An Atheist can have neither a "Duty to
God" or be "reverent" and be an Atheist.
This means that when the Scout national
office called Paul Trout on October 10 and
explained its "new" resolution to him and
asked him if he could subscribe to the Boy
Scout Oath and Law and he said he could,
that he was lying during his Life Scout local
board of review back in June or that he was
lying on October 10. He could not have been
honest on both occasions. The only conclusion to which I can reasonably come is that
Paul Trout valued being a member of the
Boy Scouts more than he valued his intellectual integrity.
The Boy Scouts changed nothing with its
resolution of October 10; it merely reaffirmed what had been its policy since 1910.
In fact, on Friday, October 11, Raul Chavez,
Communications Director for the national
office of the Boy Scouts, appeared by telephone on a talk show on WIND radio in
Chicago immediately following Robert Sherman of the IllinoisChapter of American Atheists. Chavez said, on the air, that the Boy
Scouts of America had not changed any of
its policies. He also refused to appear with
Mr. Sherman and at a mid-point in the conversation with the host refused to take questions via telephone from the audience. Why
would he refuse to answer audience questions on a major Chicago 'area all-talk radio
station? Could it have been that he would
not want the callers to really figure out that
in fact the Boy Scouts was only putting up a
media smoke screen of changing its policy
when in fact it had made no substantive
change? You bet it could!
What the Boy Scouts did in its statement
on this issue was the same thing that the
religious community, of every denomination, has been doing now for some time in
state-church matters. It has been equivocating its position where and when necessary to
save an established though unconstitutional
practice. Let me give you some examples.
Any Excuse
1) In nativity scene cases, religious
leaders have allowed both their attorneys and the court to say that the
creche has "no religious significance."
In a Texas case, the religious community even went so far as to argue
that the creche was a symbol of "the
nuclear family" and was a mere "bauble" under the tree.
2) In a case involving the slogan "In
God We Trust" on coins and cur-

Page 3

rency, the religious community argued that the word "God" in that slogan had nothing to do with religion
and that the slogan was purely
patriotic
3) In one case after the other involving the opening of city councils with
invocations, religious leaders and public officials have said that an invocation or prayer has no religious significance, The only value of the invocation was "as a gavel" to quiet the room
and set the tone for the legislative
meeting.
All of these arguments are highly absurd,
but they show that religion will take any
degradation in order to survive in the culture. This is the same principle on which the
Boy Scouts of America has operated in the
case of Paul Trout. It has redefined a "belief
in God" as whatever an individual Scout
says it is. I am sorry, but "god" has been
amply defined over the course of history and
that definition cannot be changed now by
the Boy Scouts of America to exclude the
concept of a "Supreme Being" - which is
exactly what it is trying to do.
An Area of Agreement
In response to the Boy Scout resolution,
Cal Thomas of the Moral Majority (Jerry
Falwell's right-hand man) wrote an editorial
that was carried nationwide in major newspapers in which he said:
This is not about Paul Trout's right to
hold whatever beliefs he wishes. It is
also not an argument for the existence
of God. It is a criticism of the adults
who run Boy Scouts of America, and
who are supposed to set an example
for their young charges, for waffling
on the principles by which the organization has always lived and taught
boys to live. What message will
Scouts get when they learn that principles can be watered down on the
challenge of only one of millions of
Scouts?
As much as I hate to agree with a rightwing religionist, I must agree completely
with Cal Thomas on this point. The Boy
Scouts of America should not have changed
its rules or compromised its principles either
in fact or in pretense. Paul Trout's expulsion
should have been permanent. To have
changed its rules in pretense rather than in
fact was even more wrong than had it made
a substantive change.
Paul Trout should have known better
than to join the Boy Scouts in the first place.
His parents should have stood up for their
lifestyle. That they did not makes them
either theists or Atheist hypocrites. I agree

Page 4

with Cal Thomas in that young people

should not be led to aspire to "waffling" on
principles. It would have been far better for
both Paul Trout and the Scouts to have
proudly stood their ground and parted company. In the final analysis, they both lost
their dignity.
References
1. Charter: To Incorporate the Boy Scouts
of America And for Other Purposes, 64th
Congress, First Session, December 6,
1915.
2. Letter from National Office, Boy Scouts of
America, to Mr. & Mrs. Robert N. Trout,
dated June 5, 1985.
3. Letter with attached "News" release from
the Communications
Division, Boy
Scouts of America (Contact:
Raul
Chavez), dated October 18, 1985, to the
Milwaukee County Council Boy Scouts of
America.
4. Letter to American Atheists member in
Arlington, Virginia, dated October 16,
1985, from National Office, Boy Scouts of
America, signed Ben H. Love, Chief

Scout Executive, with attachment of Boy

Scouts of America Resolution: Reaffirmation of the Position of The Boy Scouts
of America on "Duty to God."
5. Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1985,
editorial page.
6. Houston Post, October 14, 1985.
7. The Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Illinois, October 9, 1985, Sec. 1-11; ibid.,
October 13, 1985, front page; ibid.,
October 15, 1985, Sec. 1-11.
8. San Antonio Light, October 13, 1985,Sec.
A21.
9. The Washington Post, October 12, 1985,
Sec. Dl.
10. The New York Times, October 13, 1985.
11. Austin American Statesman, October
14, 1985, Sec. M. ~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A second generation Atheist,
Mr. Murray has been the Director of
The American Atheist Center for nine
years and is also the Managing Editor
of the American Atheist.
He advocates "Aggressive Atheism."

Make your plans now for

American Atheists
Convention 1986
April 18,19,and 20 (Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday), 1986
are red letter days for Atheists! Make your plans now to enter
into the excitement of the 1986
Convention. Atheists from the four
corners of the United States will be
gathering together in Somerset, New
Jersey, for an information-packed
three days. Join them; meet others
of like mind. Listen to unique lectures; participate in spontaneous
and invigorating debate with other
Atheists. See the largest sale of
Atheist books and literature on this
continent.
This one-of-a-kind meet will be
held only at the Somerset Hilton,
200 Atrium Drive, Somerset, New
Jersey. Close to Manhattan, it is
only $13 RT on public transportation. The Somerset Hilton is also
convenient to the Newark Airport

December, 1985

(home of People's Express airlines);

transportation from there to the
convention site is $15.
Special rates for conventioneers are available at the Somserset Hilton. If your reservation is
received lty April I, the cost for a
single or a double will be only $60 a
night plus tax.
Registration for all three days
of the Convention, including a
luncheon on Saturday, is $50 per
person.
Start making plans now to take
part in the 1986 American Atheist
Convention! Send your registration
to:

Convention Registration
American Atheists
P. O. Box 2117
Austin, Texas 78768-2117

American Atheist

ASK A.A.

In Letters to the Editor, readers give

their opinions, ideas, and information.
But in "Ask A.A." American Atheists
answers questions regarding its policies, positions, and customs, as well as
queries of factual and historical situations.
The picture of Paul Tirmenstein [Amencan Atheist, June, 1985] shows some objects on his ears and nose. Are they ornamental or do they serve some other
purpose?
Ithink a little explanatory note regarding
this would have served to satisfy the curiosity of many readers.
Max Levine
New York
It is hardly worth writing about, but curiosity does eat at people. The items showing
in the photo which are being inquired about
are simply silver jewelry. They have absolutely no significance whatever except that I
like to wear them. That's it. Simple, isn't it?
Paul Tirmensiein
I have been trying to locate a copy of
Joseph McCabe's The Story of Religious
Controversy without success.
My wife insists that the reason for that is
the Roman Catholic Church destroyed all
the copies printed. I can't believe that
explanation.
Do you know where I might get a copy?

in its holdings at this time.

It is true, though, that Atheist literature is
often destroyed by the religious. Widows
and widowers will burn the libraries of their
spouses. Seventh Day Adventists search for
old and rare Atheist works for the pleasure
of sending them to the furnace. But just as
often the literature is inadvertently destroyed or ruined because of improper care.
Atheist and freethought material.is not the
only printed matter which is lost through the
years.
There are basically only three ways for
you to find a copy of The Story of Religious
Controversy: 1) you can personally search
used and rare book stores for the title; 2)
you can employ a professional book searcher to do so; and 3) you can advertise in
periodicals (such as the American Atheist)
that you are interested in purchasing it another individual might own a copy and
might be willing to sell.
The American Atheist Press is slowly trying to reprint many of the Atheist and freethought classics, but this particular title is
not scheduled to be published at this time.
Other of McCabe's works will definitely be
reprinted, however.
We would like to take this opportunity to
encourage Atheists to help preserve our
heritage. The Charles E. Stevens Library is
attempting to bring together all Atheist and
freethought literature; too much of the history of Atheism has already been lost. And
as the feature of this issue, "Atheists on the
Solstice" attests, that literature is more than

worth saving. Atheists can help in the struggle to save our history from the ravages of
time and theists by sending donations of
either money or literature to c.E.S.A.A.L.A.,
Inc., 2210 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas,
78756.
In most of your literature, you list your
address as P.O. Box 2117, Austin, Texas,
78768-2117. Yet every once in a while, I
receive a pre-addressed envelope in one of
your mailings which has the same address
on it only with the zip code of 78768-9989. I
have been carefully correcting the zip code
whenever Iuse them, but you keep sending
them out with the wrong zip code. Hasn't
anyone there noticed the mistake?
Liza Snyder
South Carolina
That isn't a mistake!
The envelopes on which that zip code
appear are "business reply" envelopes,
which means that American Atheists pays
the postage on them. You simply drop them
in the mail without a stamp, and American
Atheists is billed for the cost.
The Post Office wants these envelopes to
go directly to its processing office, before
reaching American Atheists' post office
box, so that it will be easier to billAmerican
Atheists. The zip code differentiation facilitates this.
Than~oufor your concern - but please
don't keep "correcting" the zip code.

Harold T. Porter
Missouri
The Story of Religious Controversy, all
six hundred and twenty-three hardbound
pages of it, was published by the Stratford
Company of Boston, Massachusetts in
1929. Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius (of the
"Little Blue Book" fame), it is a classic of
Atheist literature. The table of contents lists
topics of special interest to the Atheist
community for centuries: "The Revolt
Against Religion"; "The Origin of Religion";
"A Few of the World's Greatest Religions";
"The Myth of Immortality"; "The Futility of
Belief in God"; "The Human Origin of Morals"; "The Forgery of the Old Testament";
"Religion and Morals in Ancient Babylon";
"Religion and Morals in Ancient Egypt";
"The Conflict Between Science and Religion" - just to name a few.
Copies are still extant, but they are not
common. The Charles E. Stevens American
Atheist Library and Archives, Inc., has five

Austin, Texas

I(t

~1)~A\

-A\\o

"If I'm a Bride of Christ, does

that moke God m4 father-in-law?"

December, 1985

PageS

NEWS AND COMMENTS

TAKE THAT! YOU ATHEIST!

There are continuing sagas in the activity
of individual Atheists. And the difficulties
that are encountered often seem to be
interminable. And so it is with Arnold Via,
the Director of the Virginia Chapter of
American Atheists.
As reported in the May, 1985, issue of the
American Atheist [Vol. 27, No.5, p. 10, in
"Via Atheism"]' Arnold, as far back as
March of 1982, was interested in obtaining
an automobile license plate which would
openly identify him on the roads as he took
pride in his Atheism. Permitted six letters
only, he asked the Department of Motor
Vehicles in the State of Virginia for individualized license plates which would have carried messages such as NO-GOD, GODLES, ATH-IST, ATHE*ST, A-THEST, or
ATHEST. All these choices were refused.
When he could obtain none of his first
choices, he finally settled for ATH-EST.
Receiving the plate in January of 1983, he
put it on his maroon-colored Cadillac and
happily drove down the rural highways of his
home state.

VlrglnJa0~

~o

ATH-EST
o

But often an Atheist cannot stay on the

yellow brick road of happiness and so it was
with Arnold.
Quite inexplicably, a "letter of notification" was sent to him from:
Division of Motor Vehicles
2300 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
April 16, 1985
Dear Mr. Via:
It has been brought to our attention
that you have been issued license
plate ATH-EST. The complainant believes that this refers to "atheist" and
is offended that we allow such a
license to be displayed.
It is our policy not to issue licenses
that may be offensive to any person or
group of persons. Therefore, you are
requested to select another Communi-

plate by completion of the attached

application and return it to this office
with a copy of this letter. Ifyour choice
is available we will issue the license
without any cost to you.
If you do not wish another Communiplate, please advise so we may
issue a regular series license and we
will refund a portion of the reserved
license fee previously paid by you.
Sincerely
B. F. Moore,
Ass't. Manager
Title and Regulations Department.
Arnold was at first stunned, and then he
came out fighting. He had richly enjoyed
those plates for well over two years, and
there was no way he was going to give them
up because they "offended" what was probably a religious person.
He immediately contacted the American
Civil Liberties Union in Virginia - as did Dr.
O'Hair, President of American Atheists,
since she knew many of the officers of the
organization in that state. Nothing was
accomplished, and Arnold took several
months seeking out an attorney who would
challenge the state. One was finally located,
and quickly (on June 27) this attorney was
able to obtain a temporary order restraining
the state from snatching away Arnold's
plates. A hearing for a permanent injunction
was set for July 2. Arnold turned to the
members of American Atheists and an
appeal for funding for the suit was made in
the Insider's Newsletter, Vol. 24, No.7, of
July 1985.
There were delays, and the hearing was
rescheduled for September 3 by an Augusta
County (Virginia) judge. Arnold was permitted to keep his tags until at least then.
But, as of July 25, he had received $867 in
146 letters from American Atheists members in every state in the Union - and two
from Canada - all toward his battle fund for
legal expenses.
When the case was heard, the silence in
the media was deafening. However, somewhere along the way, theA.C.L.U. did begin
to take notice - although neither Arnold
nor The American Atheist Center was made
aware of it in a timely fashion. Philip Hirschkop, an attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, and
a member of the Board of Directors of the
ACLU of that state, in a personal letter to

The Center cleared the matter up in this

manner:
August 9, 1985
Dear Madalyn:
Mr. Via wrote Chan Kendrick, the
Executive Director of the ACLU, on
April 25 and Kendrick promptly contacted the State within the next several days. He received a reply in midMay and referred the matter to me
since Mr. Via had already sent a copy
of his April 25 letter to me. [Dr. O'Hair
had requested Arnold to send such a
copy.] I had my office research the
matter and as soon as the research
was completed I referred the matter
to the National Legal Director for further assistance in New York as we
had found a case in California that was
foresquare [sic] against us. Mr. Via
was sent a copy of that communication. After reviewing the information supplied by the National Legal
Office, I recommended to Chan Kendrick that the case should be undertaken by the ACLU and Mr. Viawas
sent a copy of that correspondence. In
the interim, without consulting with
myself or Chan, Mr. Via hired Watkins Ellerson to represent him, who
then very successfully got him a temporary injunction. There are several
more pieces of correspondence with me
on behalf of the ACLU trying to assist
Mr. Ellerson in any way we could.
The bottom line is that the ACLU
undertook to help Mr. Via and would
have proceeded to filesuit for him had
Mr. Via stayed in touch with us. The
ACLU is still helping his privately
retained attorney ....
Evaluate that as you may; Arnold still- in
the view of the media - stood alone in the
battle with none but American Atheists
ostensively backing him up.
The blow fell on November 14. On that
date, rather than handing down an opinion,
the judge involved sent a lengthy letter to the
attorneys. It read as follows:
Gentlemen:
First, I would like to apologize to
you for my inexcusable delay in advis(cont'd. on page 22)

Page 6

December, 1985

American Atheist

one hundred years of

commentary -

!Jheists On The Solstice

':j9
e--

escribed simply, the Winter Solstice seems a boring enough thing.

The Winter Solstice is merely one of the two
points at which our sun reaches its greatest
declination north or south. On the projection of the plane of our planet's orbit on the
celestial sphere, a solstice is 90 from the
equinoxes. The Winter Solstice, usually occurring around December 21st, is the shortest day of the year in the Northern
hemisphere.
Doesn't sound like anything to break out
the champagne about, does it?
Perhaps not to the average urban man or
woman, to whom the only meaning of the
turn of the seasons is whether to light the
pilot on the furnace, but the change of the
seasons was a life and death matter for our
agrarian forefathers. For them, the solstices
and the equinoxes signaled the all-important
change of seasons. The movements of the
moon, of the sun, and of the numerous constellations (now hard to notice against city
lights) marked significant events such as the
planting time, the harvest time, the approach
of cold months, or the return of warm
months. Unless they paid careful attention
to the changes in the night skies, primitive
men and women might lose track of agrarian
schedules.
Bereft of ever-bountiful grocery stores,
the people of ancient times were dependent
on the sun and the soil for nourishment.
Caught without convenient central heating
systems, they needed the sun or fuel for
warmth. As the days shortened during the
latter part of the year, they understandably
worried about their future survival. What if
the sunlight days disappeared altogether?

Austin, Texas

If one looks at it from this point of view,

the importance of solstices to primitive (and
not-so-primitive) humankind is obvious.
When the Winter Solstice passed, the days
grew longer. There was hope that it would
once again be warm and comfortable, that
food would start to grow again, that the
young animals would begin to be born. Life,
happiness, and joy were keyed to the growing seasons, and the growing seasons were,
and are, keyed to the sun.
Back then, the Winter Solstice was, without a doubt, exciting enough to break out
the champagne, or whatever else one could
lay one's hands on.
Evidences of ancient solstice celebrations
can be seen in almost all cultures today. In
the vast majority of these cases, the old and
joyous occasions have become mildewed
with religious significance.
And Atheists of all types and in all centuries have been fascinated with religious significance. They have wondered why people
engage in what can be ritualized and sometimes bizarre acts. They have wished to
know the origins of Christmas and of winter
celebrations of all types. They have wanted
the "behind-the-scenes" stories on all the
Solstice (and Christmas) customs.
More often than not, the information they
wish to have is unavailable. It is lost in the
mists of time or the fires of the Inquisitions.
But over the years, Atheist writers and
researchers have managed to uncover a few things of interest.
Sometimes their research has
been faulty; sometimes it
has been guesswork.
On the other hand,

December, 1985

in many cases they were going into the

realms of history where "no man has gone
before" - or very few men, at any rate.
Sometimes their opinions have been bitter.
After all, Atheists have been excluded by
religion from one of the basic celebrations
that humankind has for thousands of years.
Sometimes they have gleefull>-ioined in the
almost worldwide Winter Solstice celebrations, only pausing on the way to remind
everyone that it really is not a religious
festival.
We have reprinted here the commentary
of Atheists on the Solstice during the past
one hundred years. In the following
pages you will read everything from
the old-time Atheists' commentary on the origin of Christmas
to modern writings on the
significance of church
bells. We hope you
enjoy it.
Happy
Solstice.

Page

a contribution by Jean Story to the Free Religious Index of

December 30, 1880

<!Ihristmas

VOL. XII., OLD SERIES.-XO. 5i5.

VOL. I.. NEW SERUtS.-~O. 21'.

ltltl

BOSTON,

e would not, and could not if we

~
would, lessen the world-wide interest manifested from prehistoric ages in this
day of common rejoicing, the day when the
Sun of Heaven begins its annual return
northward after the winter solstice. It matters not what national tradition, secular or
religious, the day may be assumed to commemorate, whether it be the anniversary of
the miraculous birth of Osiris, or that of
Hercules or Bacchus or Adonis, or Mithra or
Khrishna, or the Christ child, it is nature's
ever-welcome guarantee of another seedtime and harvest. The wherefore that all
these demi-gods had the same natal day,
corresponding to our Christmas, is because
they all had the same virgin mother, the
constellation Virgo. Owing to the precession
of the equinoxes, the constellation Virgo is
now in the autumnal equinoctial sign. And,
as it extends over more than forty-five
degrees of the zodiac belt, it has been within
the limits of this sign for about twenty-five
hundred years. During all these years, the
earth has always been on a direct line
between the sun and some portion of this
constellation at every vernal equinox. This
overshadowing of the Celestial Virgin by the
sun's vernal rays was the annual procreation
of the sun's son, their common offspring on
the earth. After the sun has passed through
the six signs of the lower or southern heavens, and through three signs of the upper or
northern heavens to its greatest declination
north, it becomes apparently motionless for
three days. This, to our pagan ancestors,

Page 8

~fASS.,

THURSDAY,

DECEMBER

30, 1880.

was a time of fearful suspense. They not only

feared the sun was leaving the earth during
its prolonged declination; but, when it stood
still, they mourned its death. The morning of
the day when its first movement northward
changed their mourning into feasting was
celebrated by all nations as the anniversary
of the accouchment of the Celestial Virgin.
Hence, the resurrection of their god Sol
from his annual death at the end of the winter solstice was simultaneous with the birth
of his earthly son, the "man-child." But this
infant representative of the sun's procreative power within the earth's northern hemisphere is always hidden until the vernal
equinox, when the earth is again at the
autumnal equinox. Here, on the celestial
atlas, we find the son of the winged virgin,
the immortal Hercules, who with one hand is
dealing a death-blow upon the head of the
great red dragon, the symbol of cold; while
with the other he is dragging away the dog
Cerberus, the symbol of darkness, thereby
forcing the cold and darkness of winter from
the northern heavens into the southern
heavens, in order to maintain astronomic
justice within the earth's northern and
southern hemispheres.
However necessary the seasonal labors of
this mediator during the earth's infancy,
when mankind assumed that it was cradled
in the "great deep" as incapable of selfprovision as a human infant, and believed
that the sun was obliged to make the entire
circuit of the heavens, a journey of about
two hundred and eighty millions of miles,

December, 1985

THREE DOLLARS A YEAR.

SI::"U LF. COPlES SEY'EN C~TS.

daily, as well as annually, during which it

must needs pass through the "underworld
or infernal regions" in the lower heavens,
over which the great serpent Hydra, whose
deadly wound from the club of Hercules had
become healed, presided with fiery opposition, these labors evidently ended when
humanity attained a more mature plane of
thought. The fact that the earth now attains
its needed quota of light and darkness, of
heat and cold, by its own axial rotations and
revolutions around the sun, is a significant
hint that its human inhabitants should
depend on their own self-provisional powers
rather than on heavenly or miraculous aids.
Although the sun is the most glorious and
most beneficient object known or knowable,
and its annual return northward promises
the greatest boon vouchsafed to man, yet it
is in no way profited by either adoration or
sacrifice. The radiation of its heat and light is
as much a necessity of its nature as their
reception is to the nature of its terrestrial
offspring. This is equally true of each more
remote ancestral sun, and of each ideal of its
creative power. But our fellow-beings cannot only be benefited, but ourselves enriched, by opening the mines of love within
our pent -up hearts, the truly enjoyable fruits
of which multiply in the ratio of their reciprocal impartation and reception. And no more
appropriate day can be selected on which to
bestow gifts or exchange mementoes than
on our long-cherished and time-honored
anniversary, Merry Christmas.

American Atheist

by Annie Besant and from the December,

1883, Our

Corner -

'<ITheChrist-Child
~

IIover Christendom the bells willsoon

of the anniversary of the birth of Christ. In Germany
the Christ-Child will visit every home and
bring presents to all his little brothers and
sisters. In Italy the Bambino will lie in every
church, and sweet young mothers willfeel as
if they had a share in the maternity of Mary.
In England the Holy Child will be joyously
greeted, and holly wreath and mistletoe
berry will hang in every hall. In France less
notice willbe taken of his coming, yet many a
Bethlehem in sacred fane will find a worshipping crowd of women and children. In
far off Russia the sacred icon willbe greeted,
and the halo-encircled infant willstretch out
hands of blessing from his mother's arms.
Europe will rejoice from East to West. Turkey alone will have no Christmas Day.
If from Christmas, 1883, we throw our
glances backwards across the centuries,
many another Christmas Day rises before
our eyes. Back over the years when wassail
bowl and huge boar's head carried high in air
might be seen in every baron's hall; when the
Yule log was cut with ceremony and carried
joyously home for burning on Christmas
night; when white-robed Christian priests,
eastward turning, sang how

C' \. be ringing in celebration

Very early, very early,

Christ was born.
Back over the years, growing rougher and
and rougher, till white-robed Druid priests
cut greet the Christ-Child, turning eastward
as the first pale rays of the sun dawned on
the the sacred mistletoe of the oak with
golden horizon on December 25th. Back yet
further, tillwe stand under the cloudless sky
in the rainless Egyptian land, and see the
white-robed knife, priests of Osiris hymning
their new born God, turning eastward to
greet the dawn in the early morning of
Christmas Day, 2,000 years before the Jewish Christ was born. Back still, and ever
back till under the burning sun of India we
find priests, still white-robed and eastward
gazing, pouring out the sacred soma to hail
the birth of Christna, on Christmas Day,
5,000 years ago. And then our eyes grow
dizzy at the distance, and the mist of the
ages hides from us the earlier Christmas
Days.
Who is this Christ-Child, born ever in the
dawn of the 25th of December, who has

Austin, Texas

been born on that date each year as far

backward as historical search can press?
Let us take his story, which is one in its
outline all the world over, though local coloring may touch its details. And let us take it in
the oldest form yet known to us, in the
Hindu legend, most venerable of all religious
myths.
Three thousand fivehundred years before
the Christian era, there was a maiden named
Devanaguy (or Devaki), sweet and pure, living in the province of Madura, and it was
revealed in a dream to Kansa, king of the
land, that this maiden should bear a child
who should be royal, and king of the Hindus.
So when Devanaguy had attained womanhood, Kansa threw her into a tower hermetically closed, that she might never bring a
child into the world. One evening as the
virgin prayed, a light shone round about her,
and Vishnu appeared to her in all the glory of
his divine majesty. The power of the Highest
overshadowed her, so that the Holy Child
who should be born of her might be called
the Son of God. And when the time came for
the birth of the infant long prophesied of by
Poulastya, and by other holy men, a sound
was heard as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the tower where Devanaguy lay with
the new-born child, and the wall was rent,
and the Virgin and the Child were guided by
an angel to a stable, and the shepherds running to the place worshipped the newlyborn. And the child was named Christna, in
Sanscrit the sacred one.
Then Kansa, learning what had occurred,
was wrath, and he sent out and ordered the
massacre of all the male infants within his
states, who had been born during the night
previous to Christna's birth. But Christna
was miraculously saved, and was carried
away with his mother by Nanda, Devanaguy's uncle, into a sure place of refuge.
At the age of sixteen Christna left his
home and began travelling over the country,
preaching as he went. A band of disciples
followed him, being attracted by the miracles he wrought. He raised the dead, healed
the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and
the ears of the deaf. Once, to encourage his
disciples, he was transfigured before them,
and "he appeared in the glory of his divine
majesty, his face shining with such brilliancy
that Ardjourna and his companions, unable
to support the sight, fell on their faces. And
after that they named him Jezeus, or the

December, 1985

issue of the pure divine essence."

The day came when death was drawing
nigh, and it came to pass that two women of
base extraction approached him, and pouring over his head precious perfumes, they
worshipped him. And the people murmured
at their presumption in touching the Holy
One, but Christna gently accepted their
homage. Then, knowing that his hour was
come, he withdrew from his disciples, and
kneeling down he awaited death. And a band
of conspirators who were seeking to killhim,
surrounded him and pierced him with their
arrows, and taking his body they hung it on a
tree. And in the morning his disciples came
to seek him, that they might bury his sacred
body, but it had disappeared, it was revealed
to them that he had returned to the heavenly
home whence he had come to earth.
Such is the outline of the most ancient
legend of the Christ-Child, as given in the
Holy Scriptures of the Hindus. In Egypt, in
the story of Osiris, born, persecuted, murdered, rising, ascending we have the ChristChild under another name. In Judea, in the
story of Jesus of Bethlehem, we have the
repetition of the Hindu legend, slightly
altered in many details, but broadly identical. To Christendom Jesus of Bethlehem is
the Christ-Child, and to him are given the
same love and homage offered to his predecessors in every Eastern land.
Who then is this Christ-Child born in winter, encircled by peril in his infancy, fighting
against difficulties through "is short life,
conquered by a violent death, rising from the
dead triumphant, ascending into heaven and
reigning from his seat in the sky?
This Christ-Child is the Sun, the brightness of the supreme glory, and the express
image of the Deity, himself Light of Light,
Very God of Very God. The story repeated
every year is a solar myth, and in this symbolic story is traced the yearly circle of the
sun.
Therefore is the Christ-Child always born
at the winter solstice, and as the sun is then
in the sign of the Zodiac called Virgo, he is a
child in a virgin's arms; comparatively weak
and feeble he is then, but still it is his birth,
because from that time onwards he gains in
power, as he begins his yearly climb. But
danger surrounds his cradle, and Kansa,
who tries vainly to slay him, symbolises the
short days and long nights of winter and its
accompanying storms. And so pass the

Page 9

early months of the year, the sun's time of clothed in the sun has a crown of twelve
struggle with the powers of darkness, tillthe stars; the city of God has twelve foundalast struggle of the equinox draws near. Day tions, twelve gates, twelve angel porters,
twelve names written on it; the tree of life
and night grow equal and seem to struggle
bears twelve sorts of fruit. Seventy-two (six
for the mastery, tillthe full moon is reached,
the Paschal moon, the first after the 21st of times twelve) are the second rank of disciMarch. If the death and resurrection of the ples; four and twenty (twice twelve) are the
Jewish Christ be historical events, why elders round the throne; one hundred and
should their dates vary year by year? The forty four thousand (twelve times twelve
anniversary of the death of Voltaire is always thousand) are sealed out of the twelve tribes
of Israel; one hundred and forty thousand
the 30th of May; the anniversary of the death
virgins are redeemed from the earth, and
of Christ is the Friday before the Sunday
which falls after the full moon first after follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
March 21st. The reason for the variation of The walls of the holy city measure twelve
thousand furlongs alike in breadth, length
this date is a very simple one. The resurrection is a solar festival, and it varies with the and height. Four, a submultiple of twelve, is
moon. In this triumph of the Christ it is the also of constant occurrence, signifying the
"Lamb of God" who triumphs; he is the four seasons of the year, and the four points
"Paschal lamb," without blemish and with- of the compass. The sacred river of Eden
out spot. The sun is then in the sign of the divides into four heads; four livingcreatures
support God's throne in Ezekiel's vision;
lamb, and in this sign is his triumph; hence
the lamb becomes the sacred animal, the each of these has four faces and four wings,
symbol of the Savior. Long ages since the and each of the faces (lion, ox, man, eagle) is
zodiacal sign at the time of the spring equi- that of a Zodiacal sign; in the Apocalypse, a
nox was the bull, and then the bull was the mere book of astrology, there are four living
sacred animal, and the Bull of God was the beasts in the throne of God; four mystical
sun triumphant, as is the Lamb of God now. horses appear; four angels stand on the four
After the Easter resurrection the sun rises corners of the earth and hold the four winds;
higher and higher in the heavens, "ascendfour angels are bound in the river Euphrates.
eth up on high," pouring down his beams of
The number seven obtained its sacredness from the ancient theory of the "seven
Light and Love on man. He ripens the grape,
and the juice thereof becomes his very planets," the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus,
blood; he ripens the corn, and the grain is his Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn; our week of
body, his very flesh, given to eat to his wor- seven days has its basis in solar worship. Not
shippers. All the world knows how this to trouble ourselves with the sevens of the
graceful myth is vulgarised and coarsened in Old Testament, as in the animals saved from
the Christian "Holy Communion," and how the flood, or the seven-branched candlestick
the poetical fancy that the beams of the Sun- ever burning in the sacred temple of the
god are in very deed transformed into the Jewish deity, it will suffice to take those
corn and grape, becomes the revolting the- occurring in the Apocalypse. There are
ory of "eating the flesh and drinking the seven golden candlesticks, surrounding the
"Son of man," who holds seven stars in his
blood" of an actual human being.
Each Christ has his band of twelve faithful right hand; there are seven churches, with
followers, for twelve are the signs of the . seven angels; a book is sealed with seven
Zodiac, twelve the months of the solar year. seals; and only the Lamb (the Sun victoThe artificial division of the solar cycle into rious) with seven horns and seven eyes may
twelve, and the fanciful signs given to the open that book. There are seven spirits of
God, and seven thunders roll; seven chief
constellations which were the "twelve
angels stand before God, and they have
Houses of the Sun," have become in course
seven trumpets; the dragon has seven heads
of ages twelve actual followers in attendance
on the central deity. As sign of their solar and seven crowns; the beast has seven
heads; seven angels have seven vials filled
significance the deity and his chief saints
wear the halo, the solar circle, drawn often with the seven last plagues; the scarlet
woman sits on a scarlet beast with seven
as the round sun itself at the back of their
heads, while the Virgin mother stands on the heads; there are to be seven kings before the
crescent moon, and round her head the end comes. Ifall these sevens are accidental
they are very inexplicable; but accept the
crown of seven stars, the sacred planets.
Twelve, as one of the two sacred solar Apocalypse as an astrological romance, and
numbers, is constantly repeated in the his- it becomes interesting and curious.
The custom of turning eastwards during
tory of every Christ-Child. Regarding only
the recital of the creeds; of building
the Jewish myths, its continual reiteration
with its multiples and submultiples would be churches pointing eastwards and of placing
curious, were not the solar significance the altar at the east end; of burying the faithclear. Jacob has twelve sons; there are ful dead with their feet pointing eastwards,
twelve tribes of Israel; twelve stones in the so that on rising their faces may be eastward
breastplate of the High Priest of the Sun- turned; what have all these things to do with
a God everywhere present, no more a
god; twelve apostles of Christ; the woman

Page 10

December, 1985

dweller in the East than in the West? But

they admit of the simplest explanation ifthey
are merely relics of solar worship, and are
traditions of the time at which our forefathers turned eastwards to greet the rising
Sun, and bowed towards the sun-rising as
they proclaimed their faith in the Light of
Light.
The language of solar worship is interwoven with our every thought and speech.
Light is to us the symbol of joy, of knowledge, of hope; darkness of misery, of ignorance and of despair. Reformers are ever
speaking of the dawn of a better day. Students [speak] of light thrown on obscure
questions. Lovers [speak] of the sunshine
from the faces of the beloved. We worship
the sun today in realest fashion, identifying
with him all that is fairest and dearest on
earth.
Well might we enter the churches of
Christendom on Christmas morning with
the olden words on our lips: "Ye know not
what ye worship! .... Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, him declare we unto
you."
from the December, 1949, Liberal -

iuletide
Greetings
The sun has completed its journey
And now will return once again;
To gladden the crops and the vineyards,
And comfort the spirits of men.
Ere Jesus and all of his cohorts
Had made their appearance in time;
Or even ere glorious Homer
Had written one immortal line When Athens was still in the future
And Memphis was still in the mold;
By bards of the barbarous peoples
The story was told and retold.
Yes, even before the God Krishna,
Whose legend the Christian Church thieved
And tagged on their mystical Jesus
A story by millions believed The Sun God was worshipped at Yuletide
By peoples all over the earth.
Who knelt and gave thanks and oblations
To honor their patron's rebirth.
Far saner to worship this day star,
Which brings us the heat and the rain.
Then kneel to the God of the Christians
With horrors and wars in its train.
So, in line with this old pagan custom,
From which our holiday grew;
But freed from the latter's delusions,
I send my best greetings to you!
- B. M. Saner

American Atheist

from J. M. Wheeler's Footsteps of The Past (1895) -

Olhristmas
<77T'

he Christian
institution
of our
principal festival is best stated in the
words of St. Chrysostom (Horn., xxxi): "On
this day the birthday of Christ was lately
fixed at Rome, in order that while the heathens were occupied in their profane ceremonies the Christians might perform their
holy rites undisturbed. But they call this day
'the Birthday of the Invincible One [Mithras].' Who is so invincible as the Lord that
overthrew and vanquished Death? Or because they style it the 'Birthday of the Sun.'
He is the Sun of Righteousness, of whom
Malachi saith, 'Upon you, fearful ones, the
Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing
in his wings.' "
The only connexion between jolly old
Father Christmas and the young man of sorrows, said to have come to an untimely end
in Jerusalem, is a church-made one. On the
face of it Christmas is a Pagan festival. The
head of the house, who invites his scattered
family to make merry with him at this time,
does exactly what his Pagan ancesters [sic]
did centuries before the Christian era. Nor
has the strong arm of religion quite banished
the Pagan name, for in many parts Yule-tide
and Yule-log and a glad Yule are still favorite
terms. And Yule signifies the revolution of
the year.
The hauling home of the Yule-log and
lighting it from a remnant of last year's log,
the custom down to modern times, was the
survival of the ever-burning house fire,
rekindled once a year from the ever-burning
village fire; and takes us back to the early
times when, in the words of Max Maller, "the
hearth was the first altar, the father the first
elder, his wife and children and slaves the
first congregation, gathered together round
the sacred fire." The Yule festival was celebrated by the Druids with great fires lighted
on the tops of the hills.
The Venerable Bede says (de Rat. Temp.
xiii)that in England the heathen inhabitants
celebrated this very time. "They began," he
says, "their year on the 8th of the Calends of
January [25th December], which is now our
Christmas Day; and the very night before,
which is now holy to us, was by them called
Maedrenack, or the Night of Mothers;
because as we imagine of those ceremonies
which were performed that night." The days
at this time just beginning to lengthen, the
Mother night was held to give them birth.
The women took part in a nocturnal watch,
now generally transferred to New Year's

\!.J;

Austin, Texas

eve.
To get back to the origin of Christmas, we
must put ourselves in the place of men who
had no clear conception of the uniformity of
natural law, and to whom, when winter with
its long gloomy nights came, killing off vegetation, the question of questions was, When
would brighter seasons return? Evergreens
which told of the vitality of nature would be
honored, and the first assurance of the
longer day hailed with acclamation.
The Northern nations looked with special
interest on the conflict of light and darkness.
The passing of the period of the shortest day
is the renewal of hope, the birthday of the
Savior. Before Christians brought their
superstitions to these islands the inhabitants
celebrated the return of lighter days with a
festival of rejoicing. The mistletoe is a Druidical emblem. The Yule Jog goes back to our
Pagan forefathers. These show a solar character, as did likewise the bonfires lighted at
Midsummer or St. John's Day. How appropriately does the genius of Midsummer,
St. John, say of the genius of Christmas: "He
must increase, but I must decrease," as the
days begin to lengthen from December 25,
and to shorten from June 24, till they reach
the shortest, of which the genius saint is the
unbelieving Thomas, standing in all the darkness of unbelief as to whether the Lord will
rise again. In the Christmas service chant,
"Sol novus oritur," we see the adaptation of
ancient solar thought to Christian allegory.
When Christianity spread through the
Roman Empire it found everywhere among
the heathen a festival to the sun-god, or the
general spirit of life and vegetation celebrated at the winter solstice. From December 21 till the end of the year the
Romans held the Saturnalia, a season
marked by the universal prevalence of licence and merry-making. Temporary freedom was given to slaves. Everyone feasted
and rejoiced, work and business were for a
season entirely suspended, the houses were
decked with laurel and evergreen, visits and
presents were exchanged between friends,
and clients gave gifts to their patrons. The
whole season was one of rejoicing and
goodwill, and all kinds of amusements were
indulged in by the people (see Chambers'
"Book of Days"). In the now extinct Lord of
Misrule, and schoolboys "barring out," may
be traced a remnant of the Saturnalia.
"Some also think," says Bingham, "that the
very design of appointing the feast of
December, 1985

Christ's Nativity and Epiphany at this season of the year, was chiefly to oppose the
vanities and excesses which the heathen
indulged themselves in, upon their Saturnalia and calends of January at this very time of
the year." Precisely so.
The Puritans saw that Christmas was a
remnant of Paganism, and when in power
during the Long Parliament did their best to
suppress the festival. Ear-cropped Prynne,
in his Histrio-Mastix, lets out in fine style: "If
we compare our Bacchanalian Christmases
and New Year's Tides with these Saturnalia
and Feast of Janus, we shall find such near
affinity between them both in regard of time
(they being both in the end of December and
the first of January) and in their manner of
solemnising (both of them being spent in
revelling, epicurism, wantonness, idleness,
dancing, drinking, stage plays, masques,
and carnal pomp and jollity), that we must
needs conclude the one to be but the very
ape or issue of the other." But Christmas
was too strong for the Puritans, and at the
Restoration the old festival was celebrated
with new vigor.
The custom of decorating houses with
evergreens, evident symbols of life continued through the dead of winter, prevailed
long anterior to Christianity. The Christian
Father Tertullian, early in the third century
affirmed it be "rank idolatry" to deck their
doors "with garlands or flowers on festival
days according to the custom of the heathen." Polydore-Vergil says, "the decorating
of temples with hangings of flowers, boughs,
and garlands, was adopted from the Pagan
nations, who decked their houses and temples in a similar manner." The Christmas
tree, derived from our Teutonic forefathers,
and carried through the world wherever
Teutons go, with its fruit of good things for
the little ones, is another sign of faith in
returning spring and harvest. The mistletoe
was regarded by the Druids as the seed
which carried over vegetative life from the
old year to the new. Hence, to kiss, and
pluck a seed, was a sign of life and fertility.
The infant Christ is as much a symbol of
the returning year as the holly or the
Christmas tree. The birthday of Christ is the
birthday of the new year. Just as they now
sing carols to the new-born king, so, in
ancient times, they sang carols to the vegetation itself, of which Shakespeare's "Heighho the holly" is a remnant. In the North they
carry round the Christmas tree, so the
Page 11

Southern Catholics carry round the infant

Christ with his mother. In English villages
this used to be the custom. Girls carried a
wax doll in a box surrounded with evergreen
and fruits. Whoever gave them money took
a leaf which, carefully preserved, brought
luck. This was good tidings of great joy, so
that there was a proverb, "As unhappy as
the man who has seen no advent images."
So bakers would bake Yule doughs or little
images, with currants for eyes, which were
presented to their customers. These were
intended as images of the Newborn King,
and it was believed that he who preserved
his Yule dough unbroken all through the
year would not be injured by fire or water or
be slain by the sword.
Barnaby Googe thus refers to the old
midnight mass:
Then comes the day wherein the Lord
did bring his birth to passe;
Whereas at midnight up they rise and
every man to masse.
This time so holy counted is, that divers, earnestly,
Do think the waters all to wine are
changed suddenly
In that same hour that Christ Himself
was born and came to light,
And unto water strait again transformed and altered quite.
There are beside that mindfully the
money still do watch;
That first to the altar comes which
they privately do snatch.
The priests, least others should have
it, take oft the same away,
Whereby they think, throughout the
year, to have good luck in play,
And not to lose. Then strait at game
till daylight do they strive
To make some present proof how well
their hallowed pence willthrive.
That is to say, they first stole the money
from the altar, and then began to gamble
"with it in church to prove its virtue as protecting them from loss. In South America, to
this day, they hold a cock-crowing mass on
Christmas. The young people at midnight
interrupt the priest with cock-crowings and
shouting, and after they leave the church
spend the time in revelry. Googe thus refers
to the masses on Christmas Day:
Three masses every priest doth sing
upon that solemn day
With offerings unto everyone that so
the more may play.
This done, a woodden childe in
clowtes is on the altar set,
About the which both boys and girls
do dance and trimly jet
And carals sing in prayse of Christ,
and for to help them heare
The organs answere every verse, with

Page 12

sweet and solemn cheare.

The priests do rore aloud; and round
about the parentes stande,
To see the sport, and with their voice
do help them and their bande.
On Christmas morning, before break of
day, the greatest uproar prevailed through a
great number of boys going round from
house to house, rapping at every door, and
roaring out, "I wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year!" which words were
vociferated again and again, till the family
was aroused, and the clamorous visitors
were admitted. Cole (Hist. and Antiq. of
Filey, p. 137), says: "The first who came
were treated with money, gingerbread and
cheese, which are distributed to all on the
Christmas morning, but less liberally than to
the first comers. No person, boys excepted,
dared presume to go out of doors till the
threshold had been consecrated by the
entrance of a male. Females had no part in
this matter, for although a lady were as fair
as an angel, her form would be viewed as
prognostic of death, were she the first to
cross the threshold on Chrismas morning."
These customs of first footing and luckybirding are now transferred to the New
Year.
In Yorkshire children still go vesselcupping - as they call going round with the
box containing Christmas dolls, or images
taken from the mantelpiece. "Please may we
sing you the 'Vessel-cup' " they say; but
instead of singing the Wassail-cup, they sing
a Christmas carol. The box in old times
would sometimes contain a cup instead of
dolls. Drinking from the wassail bowl was a
pledge of health and fortune. In some places
stillthe wassailling of orchards, pouring beer
or cider on the roots of trees at Christmas is
still maintained, a venerable fragment of
tree-worship. It was the custom in Devonshire, and probably in other counties also, to
perform the following ceremonial on Christmas Eve. In the evening the farmer's family
and friends being assembled, hot wheatflour cakes were introduced, with cider. This
was served round, the cake being dipped in
the cider and then eaten. As the evening
wore on, the company adjourned to the
orchard, some bearing hot cake and cider as
an offering to the principal tree; the cake was
deposited on a fork up the tree, and the cider
thrown over it, the men firing off muskets,
fowling pieces, pistols, etc. In Norfolk they
sprinkled spiced ale over the orchards and
meadows, and in the New Forest they mixed
apples with the drink, singing:
Apples and pears with right good corn
Come in plenty to everyone,
Eat and drink, good cake and ale
Give Earth to drink; and she'll not fail.
Eating the boar's head was a symbol of the

December, 1985

triumph over winter. The allegation that it

was done in abhorrence of the Jews is a
comparatively modern explanation. The old
Oxford carol, "The boar is dead," explains
the symbol:
The boar is dead,
So here's his head,
What man could have done more
Than his head off to strike.
Meleager like,
And bring it as I do before?
He living spoiled
Where good men toiled
Which made kind Ceres sorry;
But now dead and drawn
Is very good brawn,
And we have brought it for ye.
Then set down the swine yard,
The foe to the vineyard,
Let Bacchus crown his fall.
Let this boar's head and mustard
Stand for pig, goose, and custard,
And so ye are welcome all,
In the Odin Religion as Carlyle tells us in
his article in the Westminster Review,
October, 1854, "Freir rode on a goldenbristled boar, Gullinburste; his festival was
held at the turn of the year, at Yule-tide; and
is still commemorated in that season at
Oxford and other places, where 'the procession of the boar's head,' Freir's symbol, is
solemnised at Christmas time; a custom
really venerable, considering how far down it
has travelled on the road of ages!"
Plum puddings and mince pies are not, as
Brady says, "In token of the offerings of the
wise men from the East," but representative
sacraments. They are compounds of the
good things of the past season, partaking
which would ensure prosperity for that ensuing. Hence the saying, as many pieces of
pudding or mince-pie are partaken, so many
happy months. As the communion was originally taken by all the clan, to this may be
traced the family re-unions at the present
day.
Pantomimes are associated with Christmas; and because the harlequinade is of
Latin origin some think they are quite modern. I hold that this and the common view
that the drama has grown from the miracle
plays of the Middle Ages is wrong. It has
been so usual to ascribe everything to the
Church, and this theory has been supposed
to reflect such credit upon the stage, that it
has been allowed to pass unchallenged. Yet I
am convinced this is a mistake. The Christmas pantomimes have developed from the
court masques performed at Christmas, and
these again from the Yule-tide mummers,
who were long anterior to the miracle plays.
In Ben Johnson's Christmas, His Masque,
two of the characters are taken by Minced

American Atheist

Pie and Bride Cake, as in Shakespeare's

Midsummer Night's Dream we have the
personal representation not only of a lion
and a wall, but of moonshine. This takes us
back to the old idea of mummery, which was
that of imitative magic. Both the Christmas
mummers and the miracle plays, developed
from a common source; the idea expressed
in festival ceremonies of savages, the buffalo
and other dances of North American Indians, and the carrying of the Bambino to
child-bearing women; the notion that the
representation of actions was a charm to
realise them. The Christmas mummers
wore the heads of animals. The principal
characters of the harlequinade represent
the four seasons. The harlequin with his
magically changing wand is the spirit of
spring. The gay dancing columbine is summer, the sausage-stuffing clown, autumn,
and tottering pantaloon, winter. The clown
also preserves features of the lord of misrule
and abbot of unreason, a character probably
derived from the temporary kings, and earlier than Christianity.
The following act of a "pageant" which
took place at Christmas 1410 is extracted
from the "Records of Norwich," and throws
light on the character of the festival. "John
Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made disport
with his neighbours and friends, and was
crowned King of Christmas. He rode in state
through the city, dressed forth in silks and
tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons as
the twelve months of the year." The Records
continue: "After King Christmas, followed
Lent, clothed in white garments trimmed
with herring skins, on horseback, the horse
being decorated with trappings of oyster
shells, being indicative that sadness and a
holy time should follow Christmas revelling.
In this way they rode through the city,
accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making disport and merriment, some clad in armor; others dressed as
devils chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others wearing
skin dresses and counterfeiting bears,
wolves, lions, and other animals, and endeavoring to imitate the animals they represented, in roaring and raving, alarming the
cowardly and appalling the stoutest hearts."
Stow in his "Survey" (37) says: "At the
feast of Christmas there was in the king's
house, wheresoever he was lodged, a Lord
of Misrule, or Master of merry disports, and
the like had ye in the house of honor or good
worship, were he spiritual or temporal.
Amongst the which the mayor of London,
and either of the sheriffs, had their several
Lords of Misrule, ever contending, without
quarrel or offence, who should make the
rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.
These lords beginning their rule on Allhallow
Eve, continued the same till the morrow
after the Feast of the Purification, commonly
called Candlemas Day. In all which space

Austin, Texas

there were fine and subtle disguisings,

masks, and mummeries, with playing at
cards for counters, nails, and points, in
every house, more for pastime than for
gain." The lawyers also elected a Christmas
lord, and they had the usual shows performed in their several Inns of Court. Their
lord was up early in the morning hunting out
his officers, and "pulling all the loiterers out
of bed to make their early sport, but after
breakfast the fun was suspended until the
evening, when it was opened again day after
day with great spirit until the holidays ended.
The Judges attended every evening, and the
'under barristers' were bound to dance
before their lordships. On one occasion,
when this was omitted, the whole bar was
offended, and at Lincoln's Inn, the offenders
were by decimation put out of commons for
example's sake; and should the same omission be repeated, they were to be fined or
disbarred; for these dancings were thought
necessary 'as much conducing to the making of gentlemen more fit for their books at
other times.' "
When the old mysteries came to be
adopted by the monks, they preserved some
curious features. There is one called "The
Miraculous Birth and the Midwives," the
object of which is to exhibit the Nativity, and
to hold up those to dishonor who ventured
upon questioning the purity of Mary. It
opens with a scene in which Joseph informs
Mary that they must go up to Bethlehem to
be taxed; but he fears to take her.
My spowse ye be with childe; I fer yow
to kary;
For, me semyth, it wer' werkys
wylde:
But yow to plese, ryght fayn wold I:
Yitt women ben ethe to greve,
whan thei be with childe,
Now latt us forth wend, as fast as we

may,
& al myghty God spede us, in our
jurnay.
While they are on their journey, Mary espies
a tree, and in answer to her question, Joseph
informs her that it is a cherry-tree. Alluding'
to her then condition, she asks him to pluck
freely for her eating, and urges that she longs
for some of its fruit. But Joseph says, "Let
him pluck you cherries that gat you with
child." Mary now prays to God to make the
tree bow down so that she may pick for
herself, and immediately her wish is granted.
When Joseph saw the tree bow, he humbled
himself. Then follows the staying in the stable, the bringing in of midwives, who make
speeches, and one of them - incredulous as
Thomas - declares that the story of the
other nurse, "that Mary is a virgin pure"
cannot be true, for which she immediately
loses the use of her arm, which falls "dead
and dry." This alarms and convinces her,
she prays for pardon, her arm is restored,
and then she declares her resolve to publish
the wondrous birth unto all men. With this
the mystery terminates.
As kept us by the laity Christmas mumming usually preserved features of old
nature worship. Father Christmas himself
was a popular character, or St. George, the
sun-god, many of whose features are like
those of Horus, was at the head of the seven
champions of Christendom, originally the
seven days of the week. But the merest
glance at Christmas customs should suffice
to show that Christmas was not instituted to
celebrate the birth of Jesus in Palestine at a
time when shepherds could not watch their
flocks by night, but Christ was said to have
been born at the time of the winter solstice,
since this was the Pagan season for celebrating the re-birth of the Sun.

from the December

1954 Liberal,
a Solstice

Ziditorial

nce again we are about to be treated to the nauseating nonsense that has grown
up around the so-called Christmas. It has been commercialized to the Nth degree.
Stores are keeping open longer hours, with all kinds of junk offered the unwary as suitable
gifts to give to their relatives and friends. Central city streets are festooned with strings of
vari-colored incandescent lights, which bring revenue to the men who put them up and to the
lighting company. Street peddlers dangle toys under the noses of pedestrians and tobaccochewing, rum-nosed Kris Kringles on every street corner ring bells, blow horns, and curse
the inclement weather. Radios and television sets monotonously blare about White Christmases' Holy Nights, Noels, until both indoors and outdoors becomes a veritable bedlam.
Night clubs and hot spots of all kinds sell reservations to their shows which are eagerly
bought by the mobs who welcome a chance to celebrate. Office parties interrupt all business
with plenty of booze and smootching [sic]. All of which fills a lot of cash registers whose
owners would sadly miss the unholy Saturnalia. Christmas has, in fact, become one huge
swindle, and today's children hardly know whether it' s the birthday of the Christchild [sic],
Santa Claus or Mr. R. H. Macy. Well, who cares anyhow?

December, 1985

Page 13

from The Melting Pot, Volume I, Number I (January, 1913)-

~t's Awful to be a Heathen

m

e who have just celebrated once

~
more the birth of the founder of the
brotherhood of man must realize how awful
it is to be a heathen and have no Christmas.
What does an ornery heathen know about
the Christmas song of "Peace on earth,
good willtowards men?" Not a thing - the
cusses never hear of it till we pound it into
them with our missionaries and muskets.
Of course, this "Peace on earth, good will
towards men" comes high as a eat's back,
but we've got to have it in our business. It
takes three hundred milliondollars a year to
run our army and navy and buy guns and
ammunition, but our Christianity is dirt
cheap at that. The poor, wicked, Godforsaken heathen couldn't do this to save
their gizzards - they couldn't raise the price
even if they wanted to do it - and how can
the Lord be expected to bless them with
"brotherhood" and "peace" and "good will"
when they haven't got plenty of guns to back
it up?
And what do the unregenerated heathen
know about "Suffer little children to come
unto Me" when they haven't any big cotton
mills to gather the little children in and make
them suffer?
The heathen have no Christmas - they
don't know a thing about Jesus, who was
born in a manger, and who gave us our
religion of the brotherhood of man. Even if
Jesus had been raised among them the
chances are they wouldn't have known
enough to crucify him as a sacrifice for their
own sins.
The heathen have no idea what Christmas
means; they have no brotherhood and good
will;no Standard Oil, Steel Trust, Supreme
Court, standing army, white slave traffic,
child labor, slums, landlords and mortgages,
or any of the other trimmings that go with
our "Christianity." They don't even know
what suicide and crime and insanity are there are whole sections of heathen lands
without even a bughouse or penitentiary.
You can read Stanley's Darkest Africa and
you won't find a word mentioned about
these things.
As remarked, it's awful to be a heathen
and have no Christmas - no merry reo
minder of the birthday of the founder of our
brotherhood of man that we "Christians"
enjoy. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves, especially along Christmas time, for
not saving the heathen a blamed sight faster

Page 14

than we do. We've prayed for over 1900

years for the kingdom of heaven to come on
earth, and outside of the United States and
Europe the world is still floundering along
without the blessed "peace" and "brotherhood of man" and "good will." Hell is probably crowded already 'way out to the suburbs
with the lost heathen. It isn't fair to ask God
to build hell any bigger in order to accommodate the rush, when we, if we only will,
can furnish the heathen with our salvation,
and at the same time more than get our
money back selling them embalmed meat,
shoddy clothing, boots, shoes and a tolerably fair article of liquor.
Let us, who have just celebrated the
Christmas season, and who enjoy all the
blessings of brotherhood, etc., etc., that our
"Christianity" bestows on us, implore our
good brothers in the faith whom the Lord
has blessed with lots of stolen boodle, to
cough up more dough so more missionaries

can go forth to the heathen with our Christmas carol of "Peace on earth, good will
towards men." Let these miserable heathen
know that our gospel is free - all they have
to pay for are the shoddy goods and booze
that go with it. Show them how precious it is
to be saved and happy like we are. We may
have to shoot hell into them to do it, but
what else are you going to do with a lost
heathen that won't let us save him? We can
easily baptize what are left - water is cheap
- and that beats letting them all be eternally
damned.
In the meantime we who are redeemed
and sanctified, and who are practicing the
"brotherhood of man," and "peace on
earth," and "good will," and all the rest of the
Christian virtues, can offer heartfelt prayer
and praise that we are God's chosen people.
We're saved all right any way - anybody
can see that from the way we are running
things.

from the March-April 1965 Age of Reason,

an essay by Joseph Lewis -

JJesus Christ
or Santa Claus
It?

egularly, about this time of the year, a small group of over-zealous religionists
~\.
get undue publicity by using the slogan "Let's put Christ back into Christmas." Some
go so far as to have stickers on their cars. To this suggestion, I say, if you put Christ into
Xmas you will take the Joy out of the Yuletide season.
"Xmas," as we know it today, was originally a Norwegian Festival of gift-giving and had
absolutely nothing whatever to do with the so-called birth of Christ. It was a day of
Celebration, after harvesting, when the days began to lengthen, giving vent to Joy that
darkness would not befall the earth. Scientifically it was the Winter Solstice.
In fact, there is not a particle of evidence whatever that December 25th is the birthday of
Jesus Christ. If such a person ever existed, the date of his birth is historically unknown.
When Christianity came into existence, the Festival of the Winter Solstice was widely
observed as it had been for centuries before and efforts were made to suppress this "Pagan
Celebration." Some religionists, even today, deplore this celebration as "sacriligious." The
early church fathers, unable to stop this joyous holiday, finally appropriated it as the birth of
Christ! No greater fiction was ever perpetrated!!
Santa Claus, that Jolly Good Fellow, is a non-sectarian character and knows no distinction of race, color or creed. He is a Harbinger of Good Cheer and Happiness and to replace
this symbolical Giver of Joy with the crucified Jesus would, indeed, be a stark tragedy for the
world.
Put Christ in Xmas and take out Santa Claus ... NEVER!!!

December, 1985

American Atheist

a classic by Sherman Wakefield from the December, 1948,

Proqressioe -

!theOrigin of Christmas
V?r

he study of origins is always a fascinat-

\!j.. ing and interesting one, but when our

popular institutions and customs are under

consideration the interest is easily doubled.
Just now the Christian world is preparing to
celebrate Christmas, one of the favorite festivals of the Christian Church. Ifone were to
ask the average Christian the reason for the
celebration, he would undoubtedly reply
that it is the birthday of his Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ that is being observed. But, one
may ask, what have hearth-fires, green decorations, mistletoe, and Santa Claus to do
with the birth of Christ? It was with the purpose of answering such questions that this
article was written. However, their roots are
so varied and far-reaching, and their ramifications so many, that it will be possible to
sketch only in broad outline the motives
back of the chief present-day customs at
Christmas, and of some that are now
extinct.
From time immemorial the winter solstice
has been celebrated universally as the
Birthday of the Sun. Then it is that the days
begin to lengthen, and the power of the sun
to increase. As the sun in primitive times was
usually personified and made into gods who
lived on earth in human form, we find that
such deities as Mithra, Osiris, Horus, and
Adonis were said to have been born on or
near December 25th, the day that was
believed to be the winter solstice. On this
day the Egyptians represented the newborn
sun by the image of an infant, which was
exhibited to his worshipers. Both in Syria
and Egypt the celebrants retired into certain
inner shrines the evening before, from which
they rushed at midnight crying: "The Virgin
has brought forth! The light is waxing!"
Since all these deities were said to have been
born of a virgin it is hard to say what she
represented. Perhaps she was the Zodiacal
sign Virgo which began to appear at that
time, as Carpenter and others suggest. Be
that as it may, there entered into the Roman
Empire during the latter part of the first century of our era the cult of Mithra, a Persian
sun-god. From this time it grew so rapidly
that up to the end of the fourth century it
remained the foremost cult of paganism.
Mithra was regularly termed Sol Inuictus
(the Unconquered Sun), and the 25th of
December was called Natalis Solis Inuicti
(Birthday of the Unconquered Sun). On this

Austin, Texas

day festal lights and fires were kindled to

celebrate the joyous occasion. It 'is significant, as will be indicated later, that Mithraism became the most powerful rival of Christianity, and very nearly the officialreligion of
the Roman Empire. If that had occurred,
undoubtedly the western world would now
be Mithraic rather than Christian.
A celebration of a different nature from
that of the Birthday of the Sun, was the
Saturnalia which was observed in Rome
from the 17th to the 23rd of December. It
was held in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing and of husbandry, who was reputed to
have once lived on earth as a righteous and
beneficent king of Italy. His reign was called
the "Golden Age," and during the celebration the conditions of that time were supposed to be duplicated. All public business
was suspended, declarations of war and
criminal executions were postponed, and
friends gave presents to. one another. In
general, the occasion was one of feasting
and revelry. But the most remarkable feature of the celebration was the license
granted to the slaves. They were allowed to
rail at their masters, become intoxicated,
and were even waited upon at table by their
masters. Another phase of the Saturnalia
was the casting of lots by the freemen for the
election of a mock King, who may originally
have represented Saturn himself. He was
merely in charge of the festivities, however,
and issued playful commands to his temporary subjects to furnish entertainment.
Frazer is of the opinion that originally the
King in his part as Saturn was sacrificed, but
without settling the point it should be stated
that Fowler insists there is no evidence whatever that a human victim was sacrificed on
this occasion.
The sun was also worshiped by the Celtic
and Teutonic peoples, but it is impossible to
identify it with the names of any of their
deities. The winter solstice was celebrated
with fires, feasting, and rejoicing. In Scandinavia the festival was called Yule, and in
every house was performed the rite of burning the Yule log. This rite of the Yule log,
clog, or block, as it was variously called,
soon spread, so that we find early traces of it
in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland,
England, and throughout Europe generally.
Among Christians it was sometimes given
the name of Christbund or Christklotz.

December, 1985

There were various superstitions associated

with the Yule log, which were generally that
the fire had the power of inducing fertility.
For example, if a piece of the wood was
steeped in the water given the cows to drink,
it was believed it would help them to calve.
Some people thought they would have as
many chickens as there are sparks which fly
from the burning log when it is shaken. It was
also believed that if pieces of the Yule log
were kept throughout the year, they would
protect the house against fire, and especially
lightning. The purpose of the fires seem
primarily to have been to help the sun rekindle his apparently expiring light by magical influence. As a secondary object the fires
had the power to induce fertility, because
the sun had that power. The power to ward
off fire and especially lightning requires
further elaboration to explain.
The worship of the oak-tree or of the oakgod appears to have been a common practice of the Indo-Europeans in Europe. In
Greece one of the most famous sanctuaries
was the oak of Zeus at Dodona, where the
deity delivered his messages to mankind. All
places which had been struck by lightning
were fenced in and dedicated to Zeus the
Descender. Altars were set up within these
enclosures and sacrifices were offered on
them. In Italy every oak was sacred to Jupiter, and in Rome he was worshiped as the
god of the oak, the rain, and the thunder.
Going northward, we find that the Druids
among the Celts of Gaul deemed nothing
more sacred than the oak, and they chose
oak groves for the scene of their services
and performed no rites without oak leaves.
In fact, the very name of "Druids" is believed
by good authority to mean nothing more
than "oak men." Among the Teutons the
oak was especially sacred, and it was dedicated to the god of thunder, Donar, Thunar,
or Thor. Now the identification of this Teutonic god with the Italian thunder-god, Jupiter, was made when the Latin dies Jouis
was rendered into Thunar's day or Thursday. In view of the sacredness of the oak
among the Indo-Europeans, it is interesting
and significant that when a kind of wood is
specified for the Yule log it is usually oak that
is designated. Now the reason that the oak
tree was deemed sacred is the same for
which mistletoe was held in veneration as
the two are inseparably connected. Mistle-

Page 15

toe was considered sacred by the Druids

provided it grew on an oak tree, for they
believed that whatever grew on those trees
was sent from heaven, and was a sign that
the tree had been chosen by the god himself.
The mistletoe was ritually cut by a priest in a
white robe with a golden sickle, and was
caught in a white cloth so that it would not
touch the ground. It was believed that a
potion prepared from the mistletoe would
make barren animals fertile, and that it was a
remedy for all poisons. In general, these
views regarding the mistletoe were also held
by the Italians. Evidence was lent to the view
that mistletoe had fallen from heaven by the
fact it is not a plant of the soil, and is found
only among the branches of trees. Mistletoe,
like the Yule log, had the property of protection against fire, on the theory that it fell on
the tree during a flash of lightning. Another
great virtue of mistletoe was its ability to
afford protection against sorcery and witchcraft. The mistletoe was viewed as the seat
of life of the oak, and it was thought that an
oak could not be injured or destroyed until
the mistletoe had first been cut from it. This
view was probably reached by the observetion that in winter the oak was leafless while
the mistletoe remained green. On the other
hand, the connection of the oak with the
thunder god and with fire was probably an
inference based on the observation that the
oak is struck by lightning more frequently
than is any other tree. The mistletoe has the
added association with fire by the fact that it
turns a golden color all over when it withers,
and for this reason it was called 'The Golden
Bough."
Christmas, on December 25th, as the
celebration of the birth of Jesus, was a late
festival in the Christian Church. We first
hear of it through John Chrysostom about
the year 385, who calls it "The birth of Christ
after the flesh." He says "It is not yet ten
years since this day became manifest and
known to us." He indicated further that it
was far from being generally accepted at that
time, and one may gather that eastern
Christendom was even opposed to it. This
reference to the new feast as of the birth
after the flesh implies the existence of an
older feast to celebrate the birth of Jesus
after the spirit. There was such a feast,
which was celebrated on January 6th, and
we call it today the feast of the Epiphany.
The original significance of the feast was to
celebrate the "new birth" of Jesus at his
baptism, when he was spiritually anointed
the messiah. For the early Christians, the
baptism was the great event in the life of
Jesus, and it didn't matter whether his
fleshly birth was natural or not. Because the
Christ was held to have been born in the
waters of the Jordan, he was symbolized as
a big fish, and Christians who had also been
reborn by baptism were called "little fish."
What little notice was given to Jesus' birth

Page 16

"after the flesh" was celebrated with the festival of his "spiritual birth" on January 6th.
But as time went on the original significance
of the baptism was lost sight of, and Jesus
came to be regarded as having been the

Christ from his mother's womb. Hence the

miraculous birth became all-important, and
the celebration of another day than January
6th as the birthday "after the flesh" became
necessary. At the same time that old Epiph-

an explanation by Lee L. Dodds from

the December, 1947, issue of

The Freethinker -

~hy is Christmas?
fiT hristmas has been celebrated by the Christian Churches for nearly 1600 years

\!J.-

as the birthday of the Christ Jesus. Many will be surprised by the mention of
1600 years, as this is the twentieth century. But, as a matter of fact, the church did
not adopt the 25th of December as the birth date until the year 354 A.D.
The exact date has never been definitely determined and even Mary, his mother,
did not remember, or did not reveal the date. Why then, was this particular date
selected? In the early days of the Christian era, all of the inhabitants of the Roman,
Greek and Egyptian world were familiar with the custom of a great celebration on
or about the 25th of December, in honor of the birth date of their particular God.
The early fathers of the Christian Church were having a difficult time in their efforts
to supplant the old, or pagan religions and in pure self-defense, were compelled to
adopt many of the pagan holidays and ceremonies of those older religions. The
myth of a virgin birth for their heroes and Gods was a common belief of practically
all religions, for thousands of years before the time of Christ. Julius Caesar, Plato,
Alexander the Great, King Cyrus of Persia, Apollonius and myriads of others were
supposed to be divinely conceived. As for the Gods, one did not amount to much if
he was not conceived of a virgin. It would be impossible to list all of them, ifknown,
in an article of this scope. The most popular at the beginning of this era were
Mithra, Dionysos, Heracles (Hercules), Jupiter, and many other older Gods, too
numerous to mention.
Of the virgin mothers of Gods, who, after all, should be given some consideration, we find such names as Venus, Danae (Diana), Isis, Apis, Cybele, Demeter,
Juno, Kore (Persephone), Ceres, Ino, Here (the Greek Juno), just to mention a
few. The fact of the intercourse of a God with mortal woman was conceded by all to
be a perfectly normal proceeding. In fact; a normal conception of a God would have
been considered abnormal. Such is the logic of superstitious ignorance.
There is not a single precept or dogma of the Christian religion that cannot be
found in most of the older, so-called pagan religions; especially so are the rites and
devotions of the birth in the manger. This was just as much a part of the ritual as the
virgin birth itself. It was common to all the Gods, for thousands of years before the
time of Jesus. The Christian church adopted the whole myth, even to adopting the
cave in Palestine as their own, which had been, for centuries, used for the same
purpose by the Mithrians.
The basis of most of the older religions was Sun worship. Jupiter, Mithra, Horus,
etc. were descended from the sun, or sky father (Heavenly father). In making a
study of these various religions, we swim in a sea of myths that almost leaves us
dizzy. We find Christs and Christmases, virgin mothers and divine sons, stable
births and persecuting monarchs, annunciations and foster fathers throughout the
whole religious world, so that the whole story of Jesus dissolves away into a
mythical mosaic of ancient beliefs. Seriously, the idea of Sun worship would seem
to be the most logical of all forms of religious worship. It does not take any very
extended line of argument to convince us of what would happen if our Sun should
suddenly happen to be blocked out. This short synopsis of the beginnings of the
Christmas celebration is abhorrent to the intelligence of this Atomic age. How long
willwe continue to poison the minds of our children with these superstitious myths?

December, 1985

American Atheist

any feast took on the new significance of

commemorating the visit of the Wise Men to
Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus. In time,
however, the Wise Men were identified with
three mythical kings variously called Magalat, Galgalat, and Saraim, or Athos, Sates,
and Paratoras. The Christians called them
Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These
"kings" were probably the three bright stars
forming the belt in the constellation of
Orion, for the name "Trois Rois" is commonly given to these stars by French and
Swiss peasants to this day. Thus originated
the familiar "Three Kings of Orient" in
Christian tradition, as there is no Biblical
authority for regarding the Wise Men as
kings or for fixing their number at three. The
"Star of the East" was merely the inclusion
of pagan astrological beliefs in the Christian
story. It was the star under which the Christ
was born.
Why the 25th day of December was
selected for the celebration of Christ's birth,
when it was changed from January 6th, is
clearly set forth by an early Syrian Christian
as follows (quoted in Frazer, Adonis, 1:304):
The reason why the fathers transferred the celebration of the 6th of
January to the 25th of December was
this. It was a custom of the heathen to
celebrate on the same 25th of December the birthday of the Sun, at
which they kindled lights in token of
festivity. In these solemnities and festivities the Christians also took part.
Accordingly when the doctors of the
Church perceived that the Christians
had a leaning to this festival, they took
counsel and resolved that the true
Nativity should be solemnized on that
day and the festival of the Epiphany on
the 6th of Janury [sic]. Accordingly,
along with this custom, the practice
has prevailed of kindling fires till the
sixth.
Hence with the Christian acceptance of the
pagan winter solstice celebrations, there
entered into Christianity the customs of
lighting candles and giving presents, which
have persisted to the present time. However, the celebration of Christ's birth on the
25th of December is not universal among
Christians even today, for the Armenians
still celebrate his birth and baptism together
on Epiphany, the 6th of January.
We now enter upon another branch of the
modern Christmas celebration. St. Nicholas
was born at Patara in Lycia, Asia Minor,
about the beginning of the fourth century
A.D. He became the Christian Bishop of
Myra. His historicity is doubted, however,
and his name is thought to be the Christian
title of the Greek god Apollo, whose worship
was very popular in Patara during the third
century. Be that as it may, various legends
grew up about him showing him to be the

Austin, Texas

patron saint of children. St. Nicholas has

always had two festival days; one on May
9th, the day of the Thargelia of Apollo, and
December 6th. So when the split came
between the Eastern and Western Christian
churches, the Eastern Church retained May
9th as St. Nicholas Day while the Western
Church accepted December 6th. As far
back as 600 or 700 years ago it became the
custom for children to hang up their stockings or shoes on the eve of December 6th,
and to find them filledwith candy and toys in
the morning, which had been placed there
by the good St. Nicholas. Up to about 200
years ago St. Nicholas was the most popular
saint in Christendom. He was especially
beloved in Holland, and there he received
the popular nickname of Santa Claus; Nicolaus, the Low Dutch for Nicholas, being
abbreviated to Claus, and Santa being corrupt Latin for Saint. But the Santa Claus that
we know today, coming on Christmas eve, is
a late American creation, for he was originated in 1823 by the Rev. Clement Clarke
Moore, in his famous poem "The Night
Before Christmas." The American Santa

Claus is now accepted universally.

There remain a few more Christmas customs to be considered. Decking houses and
churches with evergreens seems to have
been a pagan custom which the early Christians were sometimes forbidden to imitate.
We first hear of a Christmas tree in 1605 at
Strasbourg, and as late as 1840 it was introduced into England and France. We have
already considered the sacredness of the
mistletoe to the pagans, so we are not surprised to find it in Christianity. The traditional privilege allowed to men of kissing any
woman found under mistletoe is probably a
relic of a period of license like the Saturnalia,
or perhaps of a custom similar to the rite of
Mylitta at Babylon. The first man to hymn
the nativity was Prudentius, in the fourth
century. The degeneration of the Miracle
Plays in the Middle Ages occasioned the
general diffusion of noels, pastorali, and carols. The earliest German Weihnachtslieder
date from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the earliest noels from the eleventh century, and the earliest carols from the thirteenth century. The general giving of pres-

from the November-December,

1965, Rationalist of South Africa -

Whose Christmas
Cards
wry joke in Punch: "None of these
cards seems to strike the right note of
~ogus cordiality towards a person whose
birthday you basically don't care about"
(drawing by Handelsman), reminds us ofthe
Christmas greeting problem.
This affair of Christmas cards has become
an elaborate, costly and largely meaningless
racket. Creators of designs, paintings,
sketches and of those touching little verses,
are already hard at work for Christmas,
1966, even while you and I are coping with
December, 1965. The thing is a snowball
which gathers moss as it rolls through the
years.
Many people are revolted by the gross
commercialism of this flood of conventional
greetings. And, revolted, we may revolt. "I
am not sending cards this year." But, as the
cards arrive and pile up on the mantelpiece,
resolution wavers. Who willbe a mean curmudgeon in the midst of so much goodwill?
We end by slipping out, when the best
designs have been sold, to buy of the poorer
remnant cards and post them hastily.
For rationalists the problem is difficult in a
special way. Even the rationalist has friends
whose good wishes he values and to whom

December, 1985

he wishes well, however much they may be

lost in obscurantism. How can he maintain
his rational principles and at the same time
respond graciously to the kindness of his
friends? This is perhaps the smallest of the
problems of daily life which beset the intransigeant freethinker.
To decide not to send any cards is a negative attitude and one which has no great
propaganda value; moreover, it may be
attributed to meanness. But freethinkers
above all else are not joy-killers and have no
wish to be so reputed. They are not mean in
matters of cakes and ale and mistletoe. Also
the home-made greeting card, even not particularly well executed, may give more pleasure than ninety-and-nine handsome printed
cards. So let us either send cards issued in
aid of some cause or devise our own cards,
saying, with no religious leit-motif, something of our good wishes for the new year.
Suggestions: "Wishing you a wonderful
year," or "Here's to 1966!" or "Wishing you
happy in every new year!" Hackneyed? Yes,
indeed. It's up to you to invent your own
messages and trim them with your own
cheerful designs.

Page 17

ents at Christmas is a survival of the Saturnalia; the Yule log is derived from our Teutonic ancestors, as has been indicated. Altogether the celebration of Christmas is so
thoroughly pagan that throughout its history

it has been condemned by conservative

Christians. Its observance being forbidden
in England by a special Act of Parliament in
1644, is perhaps the outstanding instance of
that. But the custom willprobably continue

as long as the human race lasts, for it seems

to be a general human tendency to rest and
enjoy oneself at the time of the winter
solstice.

a slightly different Solstice subject by Christopher Morey, courtesy

of the December 26, 1970, Freethinker of Great Britain -

~ing-Dong Merrily Below

1f

f you live near a church it is quite likely

was disturbed the other
evening as the faithful eagerly assembled to
devour their Saviour the moment his mother
had been delivered of him.
The ringing of bells for this midnight ritual
reminds us they have been associated with
the Church almost from its inception. One
writer! even claims that "there is no trustworthy evidence of the use of really large
bells before the dawn of Christianity and
they owe their existence to Christian influences." Like most claims that Christianity is
uniquely superior, this one is misleading.
The bells referred to own their existence not
to "Christian influences" but to a technological advance.
Bells or similar objects have been used for
religious purposes ever since man fell into
such beliefs, because they made a loud noise
which was thought to frighten off evil spirits.
Bishop Latimer was pleased to note in 1552
that there was hardly a spot in England
where bells could not be heard, and consequently where one would be likely to
encounter the devil. If you are wondering
why large bells, being religious ornaments of
such superstitious potentiality, are so little in
evidence in Roman Catholic churches in Britain' it must be remembered that until 1926
they were forbidden by Law from having
bells. Elsewhere they have not been so
hampered; as late as 1852 in Malta the bells
were rung in the hope of abating a violent
storm.

cD your peace

Effective Witness
One imagines that religious people no
longer believe the ringing of bells to be so
efficacious. However, it is still claimed that
they have a public religious function apart
from the now largely redundant means of
summoning potential worshippers to an
impending service. The Dean of St. Paul's"
thinks that sinners would be impressed if
bellringers were let loose to ring the bells
whenever they wanted, and the Bishop of
Derby" considers bells the most effective
external witness the Church has ever had.

Page 18

The rector of Stoke-on-Trent in a sermon

except to indicate when a sermon was to be
preached in 1967 described ringers as
preached, and John Bunyan gave up ringing
"knights in shining armour sounding trumas "vain." It was at this time that the first
pets in a sinful world."
significant ringing societies were formed.
Although the views expressed by these
Their rules were modelled on those of the
reverend gentlemen are occasionally reiterguilds and were completely secular. It is
ated by ringers themselves, it is doubtful to remarkable that in an age of such concern
what extent they take their role as churchabout religion the rules of these societies
wardens seriously. It was certainly not their
should contain no more than the odd referrole in the past, or likely to be in the future.
ence to the "Divine Being," and certainly no
From the middle of the sixteenth century
religious objectives. In 1668 the first treatise
ringing became very popular as a means of on change ringing [was] written by "a lover
exercise. Such was the enthusiasm for of that art" (probably Richard Duckworth,
ringing that in 1602 the Duke of Stettin
rector of Hartest, Suffolk). From his work
Pomerania noted in his diary: "On arriving in you would not guess that any god existed, or
London we heard a great ringing of bells in even that bells were hung in churches. In
almost all the churches, going on very late in 1684 ringing was recommended by the
the evening. We were informed that the
author of The School of Recreation along
young people do that for the sake of exercise
with hunting, racing, hawking, riding, cockand amusement, and sometimes they pay fighting, fowling, fishing, shooting, bowling,
considerable sums as a wager, who willpull a . tennis and billiards as a suitable recreation
bell the longest, and ring it in the most
for the gentry of England. (A reference to the
approved fashion."
Church was expunged from later editions.)
Later, while the puritan revolution was
In the countryside, ringers acquired a
fixing men's minds on religious matters, a reputation for drunkenness and the exisdevelopment in the ringing of bells was hav- tence of ringers' jugs of up to sixteen quarts
ing the opposite effect among ringers.
capacity tends to support the view that the
ringing chamber was an extension of the
Technical Development
alehouse. However one writer+ reminds us
that: "People at large of that time would be
For the first time the bellrope was at- no more shocked by such things than by the
tached to a wheel fixed at right-angles to the
burning of old women reputed to be
axis about which the bell rotates. Previously
witches." (Indeed, drunkenness is undera half or three-quarter wheel had been used.
standable in view of that particular religious
The use of a complete wheel enabled the bell observance.) The country ringer would
to swing "full circle," by which is meant, not
celebrate such secular feasts as Pancake
over and over, but swinging from being Day, Easter, May Day, Harvest Home and
mouth upwards round to being in that
Christmas, and the ringing of bells marked a
position again and then swinging back.
local win at a cockfight or horse race.
Because with each swing the bell is approaching the point of balance its movement
Politically Motivated Ringers
can be controlled more precisely, and this
made possible the development of "change
By the early nineteenth century, ringers
ringing."
had acquired a certain political awareness.
This development demanded greater
In 1820 a peal was rung for the acquittal of
mental and physical agility by ringers, and
Queen Caroline. The passing of the Reform
led to an increase in popularity of ringing for Act in 1832 was celebrated by the ringers at
its own sake. Ringers and the Church ig- High Wycombe, who some days later denored one another. Puritan clergy were dined to ring for the annual visitation of their
reluctant to have bells rung for services,
bishop, who had voted againsf the bill in the

December, 1985

American Atheist

House of Lords. But at this time ringing was

in decline, and before any revival could take
place on a secular basis the Oxford Movement decided that bells had an ecclesiological function. Several devices were adopted
to bring ringers into the orbit of the Church.
One was to extend the ropes so that ringing
took place on the ground floor inside the
church. Another was to force ringers to
leave the belfry through the church by
blocking up the tower doorway. Some
ringers resisted, as at Thurnby, Leicestershire, where in 1862 they were imprisoned
for breaking into the tower after the vicar
had locked them out. Most ringers recognised that this sudden interest in them on
the part of the clergy meant that money was
available for badly needed restoration
work.
Organisations
It was at the end of the nineteenth century
that the ringing associations which exist
today were founded, usually based on a diocese with an ecclesiastic as patron or president, and often a cleric as elected chairman.
In 1891 the Central Council of Church Bell
Ringers was formed with its first object, "to
promote ... the exercise both in its scientific
aspect and as a branch of Church work."
That it has succeeded in the first aim of this
is beyond doubt, but it is very difficult to tell
to what extent the second part is not just a
way of salving the collective conscience for
accepting the Church's unwitting generosity
in providing a fascinating hobby free of
charge. Although the number of Atheist ringers is small (I know of only one), the number
who could accurately be described as
church workers is not large. Those who
climb the tower steps in search of church
work often turn out to be persistent but
incompetent ringers. It is interesting that
when a tower captain wrote to the Ringing
World this year saying he refused to teach
someone who would not be confirmed, the
ensuing correspondence comprised one letter of three lines supporting his action, and
(although some made religious noises) six
condemning it. It is likely, too, that the
increasing number of university students
who take up bell ringing willbe disinclined to
accept Christianity.
At present there are only ten secular rings
of bells in this country. It is to be hoped,
therefore, that when religion joins witchcraft
in intellectuallimboland, as many as possible
of the churches which are preserved for
their architectural merits willbe available for
the performance of this minor art-form. It is
possible to control the sound of bells so that
it annoys no one, but in the meantime the
Church prefers to imagine that when a ringer sets his bell he is likely to remark: "I bet
that impressed those sinners."

Austin, Texas

Bibliography
1. G. S. Tyack, A Book About Bells, p. 6.
2. Ringing World, 1970, p. 911.

3. Ringing World, 1970, p. 792.

4. E. Morris, History and Art of Change
Ringing, p. 61.

for the stamp fans, a little something by

George Rulf from the Freethinker of
December 5, 1970

Jlhilatelic Fun
7
ike our policemen, our Yuletide postage sta,?ps are wo.nderful. According to the Po~t
C- Office's official blurb, this year's three Winter Solstice stamps ---: beg pardon, It
should, of course, be Xmas stamps - are all in a religious vein. However, It was not stated
whether this vein was, perhaps, somewhat diseased and whether it should not really come
under notifiable diseases. Anyhow, the information was that the motifs had been taken from
the de Lisle Psalter of the Arundel Collection in the British Museum.
Cunningly suppressed was the rather astonishing fact that the depicted three scenes were
already, at least, 2,000 years old before the New Testament was concocted, for they
appeared already on the Temple walls at Luxor, Egypt, round about 1705 B.C. There, one
can see the so-called "Nativity" scenes, uiz., the angel's announcement to the shepherds
tending their flocks in the fields; the annunciation of the angel to the virgin; the adoration of
the infant by the three Magi; and the nativity scene itself.
.
In other words millennia Be the Egyptian mythology used already the symbohsm of the
birth of a baby, much in the same way as we use the figure of a youngster at the side of Old
Father Time.
Unfortunately, the priestly falsifiers of the New Testament ~urned alle~orical ~gures into
historical ones, and thereby saddled the Western World WIth the white man s burden,
namely: the impossible figure of a saviour who cannot save and a redeemer who does not
redeem, despite ecclesiastical assurances to the contrary.
.
On the fourpenny stamp (which willbe the last special stamp issued at such a cheap price),
can be seen a robust angel, trailing a banner with the words Gloria in Excelsis Deo -"Glory
to God in the Highest" - which must have frightened the poor sheep no end, for they can be
seen jumping higher than any goalkeeper.
.
The fivepenny stamp shows the nativity scene with the recumbent godd~ss ISIS(Mary).o.n
a delivery-couch, with the newly-born baby Horus (Jesus) in a manger, whilst the god Osiris
(Joseph) sits nearby with a troubled mien. In the background can be seen the heads of an ox
and an ass. These two animals belong to the Egyptian mythos as Yorkshire pudding belongs
to roast beef. The ass's head was the symbol of the Messiah - not an irreverent joke in bad
taste but sober fact for Anup was the ass-headed god of the Egyptians. That is why the
Gospel Jesus was portrayed as riding on an ass - and, according to one version, even
astride an ass and her foal, a very clever circus act which must have impressed the populace
immensely!
.
On the tomb of Rameses VI can be seen the Sungod riding into fullglory on the back of the
dark moon. This was turned into a phantom Messiah's "triumphal entry into Jerusalem"
(Aarrw-Salem or Fields of Peace), which scenario should have come after ?is de~t?
The masculine bull (or ox) symbolised creation and was part of the Egyptian religion and
greatly venerated. The Israelites must have liked it too and the so-called "golden calf'
aroused the great anger of Moses. Actually, it was a brass figure of Taurus, the Bull, the
well-known sign of the zodiac, which dominated that particular era. This was followed by the
age of Aries, the lamb which played such a great part in early Christian symbolism, so much
so, that the lamb was equated to an imaginary "saviour" and often invoked in hymns and
prayers.
By far the best stamp is the one shilling-sixpence one, portrayi~g a sit~ing.Mary, showinga
rather too prominent spot of rouge on her cheek. But the funniest thing ISthe way she IS
holding the holy infant who, for all the world, looks like a ventriloquist's dummy! The three
Kings, who are seen offering presents to the newly born baby, ~ere already a feature of
Egyptian mythology thousands of years before the alleged ev~nt In the gos~ls. However,
pietistic philatelists willbe pleased to have another set of yuletide stamps, SUItablyadorned
with the Queen's head in gilt which seems to say: "We are not amused!"

December, 1985

Page 19

Peter Crommelin's commentary from the December 23, 1972,

issue of Great Britain's Freethinker -

'<TIheDickensian
71+' or more

than a hundred years the

genial humour and humanism of
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has contributed much to the festivity of an English
Christmas. It is for this reason that I have
selected 25 December as the best day in the
year for celebrating the coming of Dickens
into the world. Having recently read The
Misery of Christianity (a plea for a humanity
without God) by Joachim Kahl, I have come
to the conclusion that the coming of Dickens
is worthy of joyful celebration.
The joy of Christmas may come to be
associated more with the death of the Christian faith rather than with its apparent survival in an unbelieving world. The Dickensian
point of view is essentially that of a goodtempered humanist living in what purports
to be a Christian community and making the
best of it, without much inner conviction
that Christianity is really contributing anything worth having to the better distribution
of health and happiness here on earth. The
strategic genius of Dickens enabled him to
avoid any direct confrontation either with
science or theology, but he demonstrates
fairly convincingly that the human individual
can and must be able to live his or her own
life without too much dependence on any
external. As science and theology must inevitably be external to the individual, they only
appear as shadows from the Dickensian
point of view.
Dickens makes no attempt to see anything from a purely scientific or from a purely
theological point of view. He always tries to
see things from the human point of view, and
that means in fact from the point of view of a
specific individual in one particular and well
defined set of circumstances. Ifthere is a god
in Dickens it is not the God of Christian
theology; and if there is Atheism in Dickens
it is not the kind of Atheism that might result
from overabsorption in physics or chemistry.

C! J

Natural Genius
Dickens was no philanthropist; he was a
professional writer who achieved wealth and
fame in the full exploitation of his natural
genius. More than a hundred years after his
death, a multitude of readers have cause to
be glad that he did not fail in his selfappointed task of making a geniune contri-

Page 20

Christmas

but ion to the literature of humanity. I do not

say that this is more important than the literature of science or the literature of philosophy, but it is equally important.
Dickens was the greatest comic writer of
all times, but like all masters of comedy was
well aware that life is not all fun and games.
Even now, Dickensian poverty has not been
totally extinguished by Social Security. The
nastier characters created by Dickens can
still be found from time to time in public
positions and institutions; they may be a bit
of a joke, but rather a poor joke as far as
their victims are concerned. The "Guilty
Governments" who contributed to the conversion of Scrooge were not perhaps entirely figments of the Dickensian imagination.
As a secular humanist, however, Dickens
was not infallible. He makes Scrooge celebrate his conversion to humanity by going to
church on Christmas morning: that was a
mistake. In vulgar parlance, "He didn't
ought to 've done that." Going to church as a
duty creates an unpleasant smell of cant,
hypocrisy, and humbug. Dickens and
Scrooge shared the same hatred of "humbug." So going to church is certainly not
necessary to the celebration of a Dickens
Christmas.
Nor is the eating of meat. When one
thinks of the millions of livingorganisms that
are maltreated from the moment of birth to
the moment of death simply to provide nourishment for the human species, one begins
to feel that far more encouragement should
be given to the vegetarian habit. By eating
meat I deprive myself to some extent of the
right to protest against the vicious cruelty of
those who spend their working lifein torturing living organisms for the cause of scientific research. The end desired is excellent;
the means employed are a disgrace to
human nature, and are for this reason a
crime against humanity. A similar crime
against humanity is committed by those who
torture the human organism in order to
induce total submission to some form of military or political dictatorship. If by eating
meat we place ourselves on the same moral
level as cannibals, torturers or murderers,
then it is high time that we all became
vegetarians.
I am very glad that the ethical objections
to the eating of meat do not apply to the

December, 1985

drinking of alcohol. Beers, wines and spirits

are all much more conducive to human
happiness than the eating of meat, and are
much less costly in terms of animal suffering.
It would be difficult to imagine the celebration of a Dickens festival with nothing
stronger to drink than milk and water.
Dickens, the Bible and Shakespeare
The greatness of Charles Dickens can
only be measured by comparison and contrast with such literary entities as the Bible
and Shakespeare. The Bible is sometimes
called "The Good Book": it presents the
human race as something which, apart from
a Chosen Few, is fit only for eternal damnation. God, we are assured again and again,
will have no mercy on his enemies.
The morality of Shakespeare is better
than that of the Bible but not so good as
Dickens. For Shakespeare, all the world is a
stage, and men and women are merely acting out a play that is not of their own making.
This really is a most unsatisfactory concept
of the real world. A good man is something
much more important than a good actor,
and a bad man is something infinitely worse
than a bad actor. A novel, no doubt, is a sort
of stage but is one in which the author can be
much more true to life and down to earth
than one who works within the narrow conventions of the theatre. Certainly the novels
of Dickens have done much more to stimulate the social conscience than the plays of
Shakespeare.
The works of Dickens (not excluding his
history of England for children) are the written record of his own personal genius. They
also provide a unique course of study in the
art and science of being human. That I take
to be the essence of all that we call secular
humanism.

American Atheist

from R. J. Condon and the December 23, 1972, Freethinker

Jtfollowing Yonder Star

<77r
\!.J,.

he stable of Bethlehem, with its Holy

Family, its ox and ass, the adoring
Magi and their shining star, has always been
the most appealing feature of the gospel
story, appreciated as poetry even when its
historical truth is no longer acceptable. So
far as the Star in the East is concerned,
theologians have proved more ready than
astronomers to concede its unreality. In
1605the great Kepler announced that a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn had occurred
in 7 B.C.~and this was widely accepted as the
wonderful star. In 1892 an astronomer
named Stockwell argued in favour of the
conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in 6 B.C.
More recently Biela's Comet has been proposed; with an unusually short periodicity of
seven years it could well have been visible at
the time of the Nativity, assuming there was
such an event. Believing astronomers have
never thought it odd that the Star, after travellingwestwards to Jerusalem, turned south
to Bethlehem and then stood still!

Since the first two chapters of Matthew are

generally acknowledged to be late additions
to the gospel, direct borrowing from Dio
Cassius cannot be ruled out; more probably
both the historians and deutero-Matthew
drew from an earlier account no longer
extant.

Borrowings from Earlier Mythology?

The Massacre of the Innocents

Stars heralding the births of gods and

great men were a mythological commonplace. The birth of Buddha was said to have
been announced in the heavens by the rising
of an unusual star, by which wise men
known as "holy rishis" were informed of the
event. Stars signalled the births of Krishna
and Lao-Tsze, and of Moses and Abraham
in Jewish legend. The Persian Zend-Avesta,
compiled long before the Christian era,
attributes a remarkable prophecy to Zoroaster. It reads:

When the Magi arrived, neither Herod nor

"all Jerusalem" knew anything of the birth of
Jesus, although according to Luke 2:15-17
shepherds from Bethlehem, five miles away,
had been busy spreading the news. Herod's
reaction to the inquiry: "Where is he that is
born King of the Jews?" was to order the
killing of all the infants - of both sexes
apparently - in and around Bethlehem, an
atrocity which would have been avoided had
the Star conducted the Magi directly to the
birthplace. Josephus, who records the many
misdeeds of Herod, omits this, by far the
worst of them. The Massacre ofinnocents is
of course unhistorical; its Old Testament
prototype is Exodus 1:1522.The gospel writer may also have known the tradition preserved in Josephus (Antiquities 2:9:2) that
Pharaoh gave the command to killthe Israelites' male children after a scribe had predicted the birth of a boy who would one day
become dangerous to him. Both "massacres" are variations of what has been termed
"the myth of the dangerous child." Krishna
and Jason survived similar holocausts, and
tradition has it that the life of the infant
Abraham was sought by King Nimrod, who
had all the children of Babylonia slaughtered
as the result of a prophecy that a rival would
be born there.

You, my children, shall be the first

honoured by the manifestation of that
divine person who is to appear in the
world. A star shall go before you to
conduct you to the place of his nativity, and when you shall find him, present to him your oblations and sacrifices, for he is indeed your lord and an
everlasting king.
That the gospel writer knew of this prophecy and applied it to Jesus is likely enough,
but there is a parallel to the story of the Magi
in Roman history which may have suggested
some of the details in the Matthew version of
the legend. Pliny, in his Natural History,
mentions that the Parthian king Tiridates,

Austin, Texas

attended by Magi, paid a visit to Nero. Dio

Cassius, writing about 220 A.D. adds the
following:
Tiridates ... was driven in the chariot
which Nero had sent to him ... And
bending his knee to the earth and lifting his hands, he called him [Nero] his
lord and worshipped him
For he
spoke thus: "I, my lord,
am thy
slave. And I am come to thee as to my
God, worshipping thee, even as Mithras ... " But Tiridates did not travel
back by the way he had come . . .
[compare Matthew 2:112].

December, 1985

Roman history records a threatened

"massacre of innocents" shortly before the
Christian era. Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, says: "Julius Marathus tells us that a few
months before the birth of Augustus a prodigy occurred in a public place at Rome,
whereby the announcement was made that
Nature was to present the Roman people
with a king, whereupon the Senate, being
alarmed, decided that no child born in this
year might be brought up. But those whose
wives were with child, since each one of
them applied the hope to his own case, took
care that the Senate's decision should not
acquire the force of law." Suetonius also
relates that Augustus's mother Atia, before
conceiving him, dreamed she was visited by
Apollo in the shape of a serpent, as a result
of which Augustus was reputed to be a son
of the god.
The 'Saviour' Augustus
There is a strong presumption that whoever inserted the birth story in Luke's gospel
- like Matthew it originally began with the
third chapter - made use of phrases from
inscriptions
announcing
the salvation
brought to the world by the birth of Augustus, during whose reign Jesus is said to have
been born. One, from Prienne in Asia Minor,
reads:
Now, when that Providence which
guides all things in our lifereawakened
emulation and zeal, and conferred on
our life the most perfect ornament by
granting to us Augustus, and for the
well-being of mankind (to men a good
pleasure) filled him with virtue and
sent him to us and to our offspring to
be a saviour, destined to make every
war to cease ... the birthday of this
god is become the beginning of glad
tidings regarding him for the world ...
Many such inscriptions have been found,
and the wording is much the same in all. One
from Halicarnassus calls Augustus "the saviour of the whole human race ... for peace
prevails on earth ... "
Fortunately for biblical research, the
Church Fathers, relying on human credulity, never thought it necessary to destroy
this damning historical material.

Page 21

NEWS AND COMMENTS

(cont'd. from page 6)

ing you of my decision. Both of you

filed your briefs in accordance with
the time schedule established, but as a
result of a breakdown in communications between the Clerk's Office and
my office, Iwas not aware until recently that the briefs had been filed.
In order to explain my decision, a
brief recitation of what I view as the
relevant facts would appear to be
appropriate.
Mr. Via acquired a "Communiplate" reading "ATH-EST" from the
Division of Motor Vehicles in 1982.
Mr. Via is an atheist, and he acquired
this particular license plate for the
purpose of publicly expressing his
views. An unnamed citizen, claiming
to be offended by this license plate,
registered a formal complaint with the
Division of Motor Vehicles in 1985. As
a result of this complaint, the Division
is attempting to repossess this plate.
The DMV has offered to give Mr. Via
another "Communiplate" or, in the
alternative, issue a "regular" license
plate and refund the extra fee to him.
The sale of "Communiplates" generates substantial revenue for the Commonwealth. The popularity of these
plates is increasing annually, and the
plates are aggressively marketed by
the Division.
The Commissioner has appointed
an informal committee to regulate the
permissible content of these plates.
So far as is relevant to this case, the
Commissioner maintains that he will
permit no "Communiplate" expressing any type of religious belief. The
weight of the evidence would tend to
support the Commissioner's position
on this point, although he apparently
has tried to draw some distinction
between gods he categorizes as mythological and those which do not fitinto
this category. The Commissioner
openly admits that license plates
which violate his policy have been
issued by accident. In those cases,
nothing is done until a complaint is
received.
By statute, every motor vehicle to
be operated on the highways of this
State must be registered. Section
46.1-41 of the Code of Virginia. The
Division of Motor Vehicles is required
to furnish license plates to every
owner whose motor vehicle is registered, and that motor vehicle cannot
be operated without those license
plates being displayed. Section 46.199. The only statutory requirement
Page 22

for these license plates and decals is

that they display the name of the
state, the registration number assigned to that motor vehicle and the
year or month and year issued, and
that these plates be clearly visible.
The license plates and decals issued
by the Division remain the property of
the Division. Section 46.1-102. With a
few exceptions (see e.g. Sections
46.1-104.1 through 46.1-105.13), the
decision as to whether to issue any
"Communiplates" at all is left to the
discretion of the Commissioner. Section 46.1-105.2(a). Considering these
Sections together, it is apparent that
any license plate issued remains the
property of the Division, and that the
make-up of the plates issued is left
almost entirely to the discretion of the
Commissioner. Accordingly, it is my
opinion that no person has any statutory "right" to any particular license
plate.
As Mr. Ellerson so very ably demonstrated, the Virginia Constitution and
Statute of Religious Freedom afford to
the citizens of this Commonwealth
absolute freedom from governmental
influence upon their beliefs and opinions concerning religious matters. Virginia Constitution, Article I, Section
16, Virginia Code, Section 57-1. Accordingly, neither the Commissioner
nor any other agency or official of the
government can prevent Mr. Via from
holding and espousing any belief he
may have concerning religion. Similarly, the Commonwealth could not
require him to express a belief with
which he disagreed. Virginia Code
Section 57-1, Wooley v. Maynard, 430
U.S. 705,51 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977). However, in this case, Mr. Via seeks to use
State property to express his beliefs,
and he is asking this Court to enjoin
the Commissioner of the Division of
Motor Vehicles from exercising the
discretion reposed in him by the General Assembly.
Based on the evidence, the Court is
satisfied that the Commissioner has
adopted a policy, the proper execution of which would prevent the display of any type of religious belief
upon a license plate issued by the Division. There is no basis in the evidence
for a finding that the Commissioner
has singled out Mr. Via for special
treatment because of his beliefs concerning religion. Accordingly, it is my
view that there simply is no constitutional issue involved in this case.
December, 1985

Furthermore, it is my opinion that

there is no significance to the distinction between refusing to issue a
particular license plate and repossessing one previously issued. As previously pointed out, the license plates
are State property and were furnished
to Mr. Via pursuant to statutory requirement. Since the Division has no
basis to revoke the registration issued
to this motor vehicle, it is obligated to
issue new license plates to Mr. Via
when the ones previously issued are
repossessed.
Accordingly, it is my opinion that
the prayer of the Petition for an
Injunction filed by Mr. Via should be
denied, and that the Petition should
be dismissed. I would appreciate it if
Mr. Spencer [the Department of
Motor Vehicles' attorney] would prepare an appropriate Order, submit it
to Mr. Ellerson for his endorsement,
and, in turn, submit it to me for entry.
This Order should authorize the Division to retrieve the license plates in
question and should direct the Division to replace these plates with ones
that are suitable. This Order should
contain a provision noting Mr. Via's
objection to the action of the Court.
Sincerely yours,
/sig/
Arnold's response is what could have
been expected: "I can't imagine how my
license plate would infringe on someone
else's rights." Messages including SAVE,
RISEN, and PRAY have been issued to
other Virginia motorists, and Arnold has not
tried to strike down their freedom of expression by filing a complaint that such plates
offend him - which surely they do.
And, of course, the Division of Motor Vehicles staunchly refuses to identify the person
who made the complaint against Arnold, so
he does not even have a chance to face his
comdemnatory accuser.
Any Atheist reading the "letter" decision
can point out the flaws in it - so that exercise will be left to you, dear reader.
Meanwhile, Arnold Via and his attorney
are talking in terms of a possible appeal. The
Commissioner, in his discretion, has stated
that there willbe no "Communiplate" issued
which expresses any type of religious belief,
but alternately excuses all those which have
"by accident" fallen through this basic net.
So, Arnold points out that not alone "We are
going to appeal it," but "I object to Atheism
being compared to religion; that is the ultimate insult."

American Atheist

THE PROBING MIND / Frank R. Zindler

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN

The Hindu, when asked what the
earth rested upon, replied "An elephant." When asked what the elephant
rested upon, he replied, "A turtle."
When asked what the turtle rested
upon, he replied, "A bigger turtle. "
When asked the obvious next question,
he replied, "It's turtles all the way
down."
- Story told by creationist Wayne F rair
've never owned a time machine that
Iworked
worth a damn. This has made it

very difficult to take vacations to the past. In

fact, until I happened upon a momentous
discovery about a year ago, such temporal
tripping was downright impossible. But then
I learned of the existence of Bible-Science
(BS) Conventions - conferences to which
creationists, geocentrists, catastrophists,
and a variety of other madcaps flock from
the four corners of the (possibly flat) earth. I
found that, for the price of a few nights'
lodging and a modest registration fee, it was
possible to travel as far back in time as 3000
B.C., and from thence back to as recently as
1859 - the year in which Darwin published
On the Origin of Species.
Lest readers begin to think my elevator
doesn't reach the top any more, I must clarifymy claim. I didn't really learn how to take
my own body into the past: I discovered that
the past could still be found in the present if
one looked in the right places. The greatest
minds of the eighth century, I discovered,
are still alive and thriving in America.
Although I had occasionally encountered
miscellaneous escapees from the present in
such places as school board meetings, city
parks, and Bible-college parking lots, I had
never seen a whole tribe of them at once
- until I attended the North-coast BibleScience Conference, a convention held near
Cleveland in June of 1984. Readers of the
American Atheist may remember my report
of the affair, "Report from the Center of the
Universe," published in the November 1984
issue. In August of this year, I travelled to
Cleveland for a National Creation Conference. The theme this year was "Reformation
for Distorted Science."
Last year was said to have been an "offyear," in that the national conferences are
held every two years, with merely regional
conferences in-between. This year was sup-

Austin, Texas

posed to be a biggie. Imagine my surprise,

therefore, when Idiscovered that there were
no more participants this year than last! At
no time during the three-day meeting did I
count more than sixty-seven (forgive the
term) souls - including other "creationistwatchers" such as I. Only four in number
last year, my kind had increased to ten or
twelve this year. By next year, the birdwatchers may outnumber the birds!
In addition to the usual science writers,
college professors, and wingless gadflies, the
creationist-watchers this year included one
or two social anthropologists doing doctoral
research on the several tribes of creationists. Although they wouldn't admit it, I suspect they chose to study creationists only
because the Reagan administration downthumbed grant requests for study in New
Guinea or Upper Amazonia. However that
may be, it was a bit disconcerting to think
that my obtrusive presence in that primitive
society might be adding unnatural perturbations to the normal flow of events, thus contaminating a delicate system being studied
by fellow scientists. My only rationalization
was that creationists are by no means an
endangered species; anthropologists and
paleo psychologists will have many other
specimens to examine.
One reason for the sparse attendance, I
was quick to learn from some amazingly
candid creationists, was the fact that the
Gishites (including Duane Gish, the premier
performing artist in all of creationdom, and
his disciples at the San Diego-based Institute
for Creation Research) were boycotting the
powwow. It seems that some of us criticized
Gish in print last year for sitting unprotestingly through various geocentricity talks. At
no time did he object to the idea that the sun,
weighing 333,000 times as much as the
earth, revolves around the earth, a body so
small that if it were placed at the center of
the sun, the moon's orbit would lie only a
little more than halfway out toward the sun's
surface! Knowing that there would be critical creationist -watchers present again this
year, Gish (rumored to be a heliocentrist)
probably didn't relish the thought of having
to argue with geocentrists in front of company. Perhaps more to the point, one of the
geocentrists holds a Ph.D. in astronomy,
and Gish probably didn't relish the possibility of losing such an argument! So without

December, 1985

the Gishites, that left mostly Bedlamites.

And us Evolutionites. Like the Gishites, the
Hittites and the Hivites also stayed away in
crowds.
An Atheist At The Prayer Breakfast
Almost every university is writing a
book against us in one way or another ... I think this demonstrates that
God has blessed us.
- Rev. Walter Lang, founder,
Bible-Science Association
The conference was to begin on a Wednesday, August 14, at 7:30 P.M., with a scripture reading and invocation by Rev. Paul
Bartz, the editor of the Bible-Science Newsletter. Suffering as I do from a "clock neurosis," I arrived several hours early at the Harley Hotel in Independence, Ohio. Not only
was that place the convention center, it
would later be alleged to be pretty close to
the center of the universe itself! After checking in and unloading my baggage in my
room, I wandered down to the still-empty
conference rooms to see if any other early
birds had arrived. The only person I encountered was Rev. Walter Lang, a Missouri
Synod Lutheran minister and founder some
twenty-five years ago of the BS Association,
now headquartered in Minneapolis. Rev.
Lang was inspecting the tables on which
creationist literature would be laid out for
sale. As he smilingly approached me to
shake my hand and introduce himself, it was
obvious he did not remember me from the
previous conference.
"My name's Walter Lang, and your name
.

IS ..

?"

"Frank Zindler, from Columbus."

"I see . . . do you have a large group in
Columbus?"
"Well ... I guess it's growing. I don't know
if Gerry Wegner or Hugh Miller [two of the
more vocal Columbus creationists] are coming or not. 1 haven't been in contact with
them for some while."
Sensing that my answer was not quite
straightforward,
Lang's next question
struck right to the root: "What church do
you go to?"
"I was brought up as a Lutheran, but 1
don't go to church any more."
Lang wrinkled his brow as he added up

Page 23

the data. "You must know that guy from

Iowa, Patterson ... " [referring to Prof. John
Patterson, a professor of engineering at
Iowa State University and the bane of flying
Maharishis and creationists alike].
"Yes, indeed, Jack and I both attended
the Bible-Science Conference here last
year."
Lang sort of harrumphed, and added, "I
suppose you know Bob Schadewald from
Minnesota too ... ?" [Schadewald is a freelance science writer and is not only an
expert on creationism but also is perhaps
one of the world's foremost authorities on
the flat-earth and geocentrist movements.]
"Yes, Bob and I have been friends for
some time." Changing the subject, I opined,
"I guess there'll be a lot more participants
this year than last ... "
"Not necessarily," Lang countered, "I
think about the same."
"But this year is a national convention
year. Last year was an off-year. Shouldn't
this be much bigger?"
"Not necessarily," Lang replied and went
about his business. This was my first hint
that not everything is hunky-dory in creationdom. Not only was there the embarrassing absence of the Gishites, many of the
"creation scientists" in attendance were privately very critical of each other. This even
came out occasionally after lectures, when
criticism of speakers - almost unknown the
year before - was frequent and often
pointed.
As I spoke privately with many different
attendees, it became clear that Lang, in particular, had become an embarrassment to
creationists who had less modest credentials in science than he. More than one participant said that Lang was "incompetent"
and should step aside. Now seventy-one and
in his "anecdotage," Lang had not slowed
down physically at all and was still able to
introject his own off-the-wall ideas into just
about every event of the conference. Not
only was he a formal speaker ("Christ for the
World: A Creation Challenge"), he conducted two prayer-and-Bible study breakfasts dealing with "Job and Science."
Since heathen science meetings never
have prayer breakfasts, I decided to attend
both the Thursday and Friday morning
affairs to see what "scientists" do after forsaking science. Arriving early, Ioccupied the
chair closest to the speaker's position at the
breakfast table. Gradually, people began to
arrive. My presence was doubtless the
cause of much consternation, but no one
revealed his feelings openly. Finally Lang
arrived, took his place at the speaker's spot
at the end of the long table, and started to
speak. Somewhere in the midst of his first
sentence, he became aware that it was I
sitting at his right hand! How much this may
have discomfited him, I do not know. He did,
however, almost forget to say the prayer,

Page 24

and at the second prayer breakfast, it

seemed to be a foregone conclusion that
there would be no prayer - and there
wasn't.
As Lang launched into his exposition of
the book of Job and its bearing upon the
survival of dinosaurs into the present age, I
could sense the modern world fade from his
consciousness. Not only did I disappear
from his awareness, I believe the entire corpus of modern scientific knowledge did too.
He was free to let his arm-chair musings
bubble up and out, without any worry of how
they might jibe with the scientific evidence
available in the twentieth century.
As he began his exposition of Job, Lang
passed out a pamphlet entitled Job and
Science: A Bible Class Study. I opened it up,
and my eyes immediately fell on a section
titled "Bigfoot. Read Job 24:4-8and 30:1-7:" I
started to read.
"Even today in remote areas of the earth
there seem to be creatures which may be
either animal forms or degenerate humans.
They live in remote areas of the world, leading a life much like that of an animal. In His
providence the Lord provides even for these
creatures. They wear no clothing and their
body hair grows long. It seems their pituitary
gland is responsible for their huge size,
somewhat over eight feet. Weight is about
six hundred pounds ... "
Wanting to continue to read on about
Sasquatch, Yetis, and Abominable Snowmen, and wanting to find out who had done
the pituitary studies on the creatures, I had
to force my attention back to what Lang was
talking about. Over the course of the two
breakfasts, however, I never again had trouble attending to his spiel. For what he had to
say was so utterly outre that I found myself
hanging on his every word, trying to anticipate what he would say next - and never
once succeeding.
One of the major "theories" that the
Reverend Mr. Lang was advancing at both
prayer breakfasts and in his "formal" lecture
was that dinosaurs had "floated out" Noah's
flood and several types were still alive today.
Moreover, his scholarly examination of the
book of Job showed "quite clearly" that
Job's Leviathan was a flesh-eating dinosaur
(probably a plesiosaur) and the biblical
Behemoth was a. plant-eating dinosaur
(probably a brontosaur of some sort). The
Leviathan, it should be noted, is able to
breathe fire - just like St. George's dragon!
Merely to describe Lang's theses would
be to deprive my readers of the opportunity
of seeing exactly how the creationist mind
"reasons" its way from its preconceived
conclusions to its misperceived evidence.
Therefore, I have decided to transcribe part
of a tape-recording of "the last breakfast,"
and let readers scrutinize the transcript the
way a psychoanalyst examines a patient's
dream - an appropriate analogy, I think.

December, 1985

What follows is exactly what Lang said,

along with a little editorial kibitzing in square
brackets.
"Of course there are many creatures that
can make electricity in various ways, like the
firefly [!!], the electric eel ... and it appears
that there is a distinct possibility that [the
ability to make electricity and, perhaps, fire]
could be in this Leviathan, and then I read a
book on the Loch Ness Monster by Thompson, who spent thirty years studying descriptions of about two hundred sightings ...
He saw it himself once ...
"One of the things that he notes most
people report who see the Loch Ness Monster is a terrible smell. It's got a purposeful
repellant on its skin [how he knows it's "purposeful," and why the most ferocious beast
on earth would need a repellant, Lang did
not divulge], and it appears that this is sulfur,
and, uh, this could be with this Leviathan,
that he had this sulfur, and probably phosphorus too. So with all these elements in
him, it wouldn't be any problem for him to
breathe out fire and smoke, uh, and of
course, if the bombardier beetle can make
an explosion, why couldn't this happen too?
"You all know about the Japanese fishermen in 1977, I think it was, captured one of
these plesiosauruses - it was about 167
pounds [how many ounces, give or take,
was not revealed; if anyone thought 167
pounds a bit small for a dinosaur, no one said
so] - off the coast of New Zealand and, uh,
it was dead, it was stinking up the fish catch
so much they took a picture and threw it
back in the ocean. I guess they lost a million
dollars right there, because they're that rare
[nonexistent creatures are as rare as you
can get!] ... pictures appeared in all the
newspapers,
if you remember,
about
1977 ... [According to Robert Schadewald,
the carcass was that of a basking shark.]
"My contention is that the plesiosauruses
are still with us today, and I think some of
them would fit probably the descrip ... we
don't know of any of them having those
scales that are described here in the, uh, Job
41, but I wouldn't be surprised if some do
[pink scales with purple polka dots might
surprise him, but don't bet on it!]. They're
extremely rare, you see. In every generation
there's two or three sightings of them ...
"The Loch Nesses [sic. Lang repeatedly
uses the plural], you know, cut right across
Scotland. I have a theory this is the breeding
ground of these rare plesiosauruses, that
some of them could be like the Leviathan
here in Job. [Lang uses one myth to explain
another!]
"To understand the Behemoth as a planteating dinosaur, and the Leviathan as a
meat-eating dinosaur ... [a lengthy digression here on the various animals mentioned
in Job, and on Job's righteousness] ... three
months ago, I was trying to get into Africa in

American Atheist

March and I couldn't remember what

Rhodesia had become, heh!, the name of the
new country [Zimbabwe is now five years
old] ... so I called Bob Elfenstein, one of our
workers in Minneapolis, if he could reo
member the name of that country . . . I
wanted to make sure I had the name of the
country right ... and then I asked him if he
knew some doctor, some missionary . . .
somebody who knew about the dinosaur
that was in the Congo ... I thought it was
alive, and the natives said no, it died.
"So he said, 'Oh, this fellow is here now,
he's on furlough, he's a dentist missionary,
he's right here in Anoka,' a northern suburb
of Minneapolis. So I called him up.
He's a dentist and he went to seminary in
France and you know, the Marxist Congo
used to be French Congo so he got in there
in spite of the fact that it's Communist.
Because of his dentistry work, he was able to
preach the gospe!. They didn't stop him,
and, uh, this is where there's at least six
hundred square miles [Lang appears to
think this is big. Perhaps he meant six
hundred miles square.] of rain forest. It rains
constantly there. Mostly you have to go on a
canoe in about eight feet of water. The
natives, pigmies, and the Latonowas [??] live
on islands.
"He said for a while he doubted that there
was a dinosaur, he'd heard the same stories.
Then he discovered that there were some
there, but the natives were worshipping it as
a god, and they were purposely misdirecting
everyone looking for it - they took their
money. He said, 'What's in that lake?' - it
was about one hundred miles to the west and so one day he had a chance to see it. The
guide says, 'I'll show it to you.' And when the
Chief heard this, he got so upset, they
thought it the better part of wisdom not to
look for it. But he thinks not only is it there,
but there are two or three of them in there.
They're about forty feet long, they're not
hippopotamuses ... [I leave it to the reader
to decide if more solid evidence could be
asked for.]
"Of course this would be a plant- eating
dinosaur, but you see there how ideal the
weather conditions would be for the large
dinosaurs ... I was on the Galapagos in '79
and I had quite a bit of fun with our guides.
Our guides were young people just out of
college and they were rather open to our
testimony. But when I called these guanas
[sic] baby dinosaurs, they, heh, heh, didn't
appreciate it too much. Some of these guanas - you know ifyou look at an iguana, it's
a perfect picture of a two-legged dinosaur [I
replayed this part of the tape six times to be
sure I heard correctly. Were the Galapagos
iguanas dancing a quadrille when Lange
observed them? Bipedal locomotion by
iguanas could be downright hernia-producing!],just that it's smaller, that's all ... much
better than a chameleon or a lizard [does

Austin, Texas

Lang know that chameleons are lizards?]. I

think that the iguanas fit even better than a
kokono [sic] dragon ...
"I talked to a missionary in El Paso. He
remembered seeing some ten-foot guanas in
the Philippines ... so you see, you just need
the right weather conditions. We really have
dinosaurs today, without any question. You
just need the right weather conditions, as I
see it, to get huge creatures. And in the
ocean, of course, we have huge creatures ...
this is where the plesiosauruses seem to be
today, and perhaps also this fire-breathing
dragon is still down there - very rare, but
occasionally there. [The physics of underwater fire-breathing was not discussed.]
From a scientific viewpoint, there's no reason that we shouldn't take the Behemoth as
a plant-eating dinosaur and Leviathan as a
meat-eating dinosaur. There's no reason
why we shouldn't at all."
The above monologue is so utterly mad
that no further commentary is needed. But
before proceeding to discuss the rest of the
creationism conference, I have to mention
one last amusing item in the case of Walter
Lang and the dinosaurs in the book of Job.
In his booklet, Job and Science, Lang argues
that Job's Behemoth had to be a Brontosaurus (Lang calls it "Bronto" in his comparison
tables), not a hippopotamus (as many Bible
commentators opine). Among the criteria
by which Lang evaluates the "Bronto" are:
"Eats grass," "Strength in his loins," "Tail
like a cedar," "Bones like brass and iron,"
and "Sinews of stones wrapped together."
While I'm not sure that hippopotami
satisfy these criteria any better than a
"Bronto" would, there's one other criterion
which Lang lists which definitely would seem
to rule out a reptile. Lang cites Job 40:16, to
the effect that Behemoth has "Force in the
Nave!''' Our expert on dinosaurs does not
seem to know that reptiles don't have navels. Only mammals do. To be sure, some
modern translations of the Bible translate
the Hebrew word sharir as muscle, or sinew,
instead of navel, and it is true the meaning of
the Hebrew term is a bit obscure. But it is
likelythat navel is the original meaning of the
term, since the Greek version of the Old
Testament, the Septuagint (translated during the third and second centuries B.C.),
uses the Greek word omphalos, a word
which clearly means 'nave!.' But whatever
the ancient primitives intended, it was all
wasted on Lang. Despite the limitations of
reptilian anatomy, Behemoth was a dinosaur, and Behemoth had "strength in his
navel"!
Of Noah's Ark And Nobel Laureates
To report on all the pseudoscientific
doings that transpired during the three-day
conference would require an entire issue of
this magazine, and so some telescoping is in

December, 1985

order. Once again, Richard Elmendorf of the

Pittsburgh Creation Society was offering a
"$1,000 Reward for Scientific Proof-Positive
that the Earth Moves." Dr. John R. Meyer
reported on "The Research Emphasis of the
Creation Research Society" - but only
after making it pointedly clear that his organization was not the same thing as the Institute for Creation Research (the kingdom of
the Gishites). Meyer's "research emphasis"
was underwhelming at best. At worst, it was
embarrassing and a bit reminiscent of
someone trying to get ready for a high
school science fair.
Also present, but somewhat chastened
since last year, was my fellow Columbusite
Hugh Miller. Miller is a devotee of Cretaceous "man-tracks," which he fancies he has
found beside dinosaur tracks along the
Paluxy Creek in Texas. When John Cole, an
anthropologist who has visited Paluxy and
examined the alleged man-tracks, pointed
out the deficiencies of the plaster casts
which Miller had trotted out for examination, Miller - to everyone's astonishmentadmitted that his "evidence" was inadequate
to prove the coexistence of Alley Oop and
Dinnie. Even more surprising, we learned
that he was no longer associated with the
Rev. Carl Baugh, a snake-oil salesman who
has been "giving away" aluminum casts of a
Bigfoot track to anyone giving one hundred
dollars or more for the "Christian Evidence
Museum" which Baugh plans to build. Miller
discovered that Baugh was not interested in
doing things in a scientifically responsible
manner. This may be the end of what has
been called "the creationists' Piltdown
hoax."
Another Ohioan, Robert Garbe, tantalized us with an account of his expedition to
Mt. Ararat and a story of the ark that got
away. Maybe next year. But most tantalizing
of all was a comment by Dr. Jerry Bergman,
a former professor at Bowling Green State
University who was fired, he claims, because
of his creationist religion. Bergman claimed
he personally knows a Nobel laureate who is
a cryptocreationist. Since Bergman shortly
later mentioned a friend who is a very prominent neurophysiologist, I am guessing that if
indeed there exists such a contradiction in
terms as a creationist Nobel laureate, it is
the neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles. Sir
John has been decorated by at least one
pope, and he is a member of the Pontifical
Academy of Science. Some years ago, I had
an opportunity to quiz him about some of his
odd beliefs, especially his belief in the "sou!'''
My soul is in the left hemisphere of my brain,
he told me, because that is where my speech
center is. Out of deference to his age, and
respect for the genuine achievements of his
earlier career, I bit my tongue and refrained
from asking, "Does that mean that people
who are mute, due to a defect in their speech
centers, are soulless zombies?"

Page 25

The Great Debate

"A second possible thing that creationists might look for is some kind of an
instrument that will detect darkness. It
is my conclusion, based on [scripture],
that darkness is a positive thing."
- Prof. Richard Niessen,
Christian Heritage College
"I have no problem with the "firmament" being firm. I have no problem if
out at the end of the universe, billions of
light years [out] ... if there's a solid shell
out there. I have no problem with that at
all, from either a physical or a theological standpoint."
- Prof. Gerardus Bouw,
Baldwin-Wallace College
Throughout the three-day conference,
one had a sense that everything was being
drawn toward a point of final consummation: the great debate which was to be the
grand finale of the whole BS-shebang. The
purpose of the debate was to decide an issue
which had never been debated by a major
scientific society: Does the universe actually
revolve around the earth, or does it only
appear to do so? The actual thesis being
debated was the following:

creationists!
The assembly was shocked by Niessen's
call for creationists to devote more time to
darkness research. It was his view that darkness is a thing in itself - not just the absence
of light. In Genesis, after all, god is depicted
separating the light from the dark - a process resembling the straining of black-eyed
peas out of tapioca pudding. Ergo, darkness
is itself a thing. When I asked the two theologians about the "firmament," Niessen went
against the Hebrew etymology of the term (a
smithing term meaning something hammered out into thin sheets, as of copper) and
claimed it means "an expanse." Bouw, however, believing the King James Version as
well as "the autographs" to be totally inerrant, agreed that the firmament was firm.
When asked about the supposed windows in
the firmament, he thought they might be
"hyperspace tubes."

day. In heliocentric terms, this means that

the earthquake has altered the rate of the
earth's rotation. In the geocentric model,
however, it would be "the heavens" - supposedly revolving around the earth - which
are speeded up or slowed down by the
quake. "How does the information get from
the earthquake all the way out to the distant
galaxies . . . then back to the earth, much
faster than the speed oflight?" he asked. He
never got an answer.
Graham proceeded to analyze the techniques of geocentrists (and creationists) in
trying to prop up their "theories" with endless numbers of ad hoc hypotheses. In a
clever variation on Wayne Frair's joke about
"turtles all the way down," Graham quipped,
"What holds up the theories of geocentrists?
It's ad hoc hypotheses all the way down!"

"Geocentricity vs. Acentricity: that's

the argument.
Acentricity
meaning
there is no center whatsoever ....
To
me, this is a hellish nightmare. This is
worse than evolution, as far as I'm
concerned."
- Prof. James Hanson,
Cleveland State University

Formerly a professor of biology and

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

The geocentric model of the universe is a better model because (1) it is

more faithful to the scriptures and (2)
it better explains the observations.

"There were three systems [of the

universe] about the year 1600 - which
is probably where this debate belongs."
- Francis Graham,
University of Pittsburgh

The debate was actually a double-barreled affair: on each side was a theologian to
debate the biblical aspects of the question
and a scientist to deal with the less important
aspect - reality. Serving as theologian for
the geocentrists was Dr. Gerardus Bouw,
who holds a Ph.D. in astronomy (really!)
from Case-Western Reserve University.
The would-be heliocentrist theologian was a
dour fellow, Prof. Richard Niessen from
Christian Heritage College, who described
himself as "loosely associated" with the
Institute for Creation Research. As far as I
could establish, Niessen was the only Gishite at the meeting, and he had come to challenge the BS Association in the relatively
safe area of biblical one-upmanship.
Niessen tried valiantly to prove that the
Bible allows the earth to move, but it was an
impossible task. Bouw had little difficulty in
proving that the Bible is geocentrist. Joshua,
after all, had made the sun - not the earth
- stand still. Since the Bible is also predicated upon the earth being flat, science writer Robert Schadewald tried to get a threeway debate going (both he and I were willing
to defend the biblical position on the flatearth question), but the creationists
wouldn't bite. To say that the sun revolves
around the earth is one thing, but to say the
earth is flat is embarrassing even to many

Although the geocentrists won the theology debate, this was not true of the scientific
debate. It seems that in all of creationdom
there was not a single "creation scientist"
capable of defending the double motion of
the earth. Thus it fell to my fellow heretic,
Prof. Emmanuel Sillman of Duquesne University, to recruit a theistic evolutionist (an
ex-Roman Catholic turned Greek Orthodox, a University of Pittsburgh Astronomy
Department doctoral candidate named Francis Graham) to exorcise the ghost of
Ptolemy. Graham had never debated before
in his life, but he was highly motivated to
defend the honor of his science. What he
may have lacked in experience, he made up
for in intelligence. Graham was bright.
The ghost of Ptolemy that Friday was
residing in the body of James Hanson, a
professor of computer science at Cleveland
State University. His presentations were full
of impressive claims ("I can easily derive an
equation to show that _ .. "), but precious
little proof. Graham was ready. After rapidly
restating the classical proofs of the motions
of the earth, he tossed off - almost as an
afterthought - the brilliant argument which
was to receive no rebuttal from Hanson.
Graham crumbled Hanson's cracker with
the observation that earthquakes sometimes cause a variation in the length of the

Page 26

December, 1985

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NA TURE'S WA Y / Gerald Tholen

r''''~"'''I~
..'V,.-

'""l;
-\

IT'S A SMALL WORLD

'm sure that most people have used the

Iverbal
automatism "It's a small world" on
more than one occasion. A chance meeting
with someone in some distant or unusual
location generally prompts just such mechanically orchestrated conversation.
Actually, the size of the world is grossly
underevaluated in this time-honored expression. In reality, the earth is enormous in a physical sense. For instance, let's suppose there were only two people living on
the African continent - one near the northern shores along the Mediterranean and the
other somewhere in Mozambique. With or
without transportation
conveyances whether walking, flying, or riding - it is not
likelythat the two would ever meet. Multiply
the chance factors by fifteen or so times and
try to figure the odds of such a meeting over
the entire global surface. Pretty slim, right?
Like I said - the earth is an enormous
place - nothing small about it. So vast is the
earth that it is capable of sustaining, at present, the existence of over four billion people
- plus hundreds of billions of other plants,
animals, and insects. Yet, when two previously acquainted American tourists from
Chicago happen to bump into each other in
Madrid, Spain - "it's a small world!"
Look at it this way - Madrid is a large
city, but when compared to the total land
mass of Spain, its actual geographical area
seems rather small. Add to this the fact that
travelers visiting Madrid usually frequent
certain specific areas of tourist interest and
it becomes easier to see that such a meeting
would be quite likely - even as likely as the
same two Chicagoans bumping into each
other in places frequented in their own home
town. If circumstances had been different
- if there were no cities or towns or travel
routes in Spain, only a large impenetrable
fence around its borders - it is probable
that two such travelers might never confront
each other - even in a country no larger
than Spain.
So, the idea of the earth being small is
rather ludicrous - geographically speaking.
In an allegorical sense, however, there is still
a measure of validity in using the words
"small world." Ifthe term is used to describe
the probity of human behavior, the extent of
civilized intelligence, the concern of one
human for all others or for all other living
things - I am inclined to agree with its merit.

Austin, Texas

You're probably thinking, "Jeez, what a

negative outlook." But - is it really a negative outlook or simply a statement of fact
that people somehow refuse to accept?
Surely, every individual with only minimal
reading and communicating capabilities or
who has experienced awareness can look
back through the past of human existence
and find a bit of agreement with my point. Is
everyone then "negative"?
The real truth is that humankind is not
truly civilized as is usually implied with the
use of the word civilization. To the contrary,
we - the world's population collectivelyare still more primitively uncivilized than we
dare to admit. We speak of survival and of
the law of the jungle as if they were something separate and apart from our own private (individual) feelings. We can't seem to
accept that survival is as much a part of the
lives of people today as it ever was, and as it
has always been, for all living things. Admittedly, we may have sporadic fits of human
compassion, but - not to worry; they are
usually with us only momentarily. Perhaps
you might even question the use of the term
fits of compassion, feeling it is inappropriate.
Look up the word "fit," then tell me you
disagree as you recall that starvation in Ethiopia or the continuing plight of the independent U.S. farmer is no longer our media
headlines.
The haves still look down their noses at
the have nots and the have nots still scratch
and claw in order to have. In the embryonic
American society, amid ample resources,
we have become more or less intellectually
impotent insofar as world conditions are
concerned. Have we become immune to the
illnesses of dire necessity? Instead of technology generating a broader educational
expansion of knowledge in basic skills and in
the arts and sciences, it has in many cases
insidiously created only a growing dependency on technology itself. Yet, our competitively-ordered economic expertise in the
various fields has catapulted us into a commanding position in worldwide entrepreneurism and we are too blinded by national selfinterests to see that our entrepreneurism is
simply the modern-day replacement for oldworld imperialism. Then, we pompously
boast of being the people-magnet nation of
the world. "Everybody wants to come to
America" we say - "the land of opportu-

December, 1985

nity." Have we ever wondered why? The

answer, as I see it, is quite obvious nobody wants to be a loser! I guess the only
solution is to have everybody move to America - all four billion of them. Can you
imagine the consequences?
I've given a great deal of thought to these
things for a long time. I'm sure that mostof
you have had similar thoughts on occasion.
We keep reiterating the excuse that there is
really nothing that can be done about world
conditions on a meaningful scale. Yet, when
we make such absurd statements we know
that we're really lying through our teeth.
World poverty and hunger could be eliminated tomorrow if that's what people really
wanted. We excuse our lack of concern by
claiming to be civilized. Civilization has no
direct connection with being compassionate. It is defined as a condition of human
society characterized by a comparatively
high degree of cultural and technical development - period - that's all. It doesn't
mention anything about being humane or
compassionate or even possessing the qualities of human dignity, probity, or social concern. It simply means that, relative to the
other animals which roam the outdoors, we
have become technological social groupies
with indoor plumbing. We do as we please we take what we want - so long as we can
outdo the other fellow or the other nations.
The sophists of technology become more
and more efficient in their exploitations
of those who, unfortunately, are a little
less clever either individually or collectively.
The key to the whole sordid mess is an
innocent-sounding little word - competitiveness.
Now, undoubtedly, that statement is
likely to get me into a bit of trouble with the
gung-ho advocates of machoism (male or
female) - the "beefcakes" of the sporting
world, the wizards of economy, the aficionados of every ilk. I can almost hear the
anguished indignations, "What do you
mean, competitiveness is the problem!
Don't you know that competitiveness is
what made America great?" Actually, I'd
also like to think that competitiveness made
America great. But, with better understanding of the complex functioning of the human
brain, I know that it simply isn't true. Let me
explain.
Some while back, in another article I

Page 27

wrote for the American Atheist magazine, I

made the seemingly brash statement that
many (perhaps even most) human beings
possess certain schizoid characteristics. As
I recall, my accusation was primarily aimed
at those particular asses who present themselves as "scholarly physicists" on weekdays
and godists on Sundays. It is also apparent
to me, and has been for about forty years,
that this condition is as socially widespread
in humans as is the common cold. More
recently, psychological research reports
seem to add credibility to my opinion. If you
disagree, or if you are interested in the matter, you may want to read "The Social Brain"
by Michael Gazzaniga in the November,
1985, Psychology Today. In general the article explains how the two brain hemispheres,
under conditions considered normal, operate both independently and, at the same
time, cooperatively. The explanations show
how the brain modules manufacture "beliefs," sometimes rational, sometimes emotionally and credulously irrational. It therefore clinically describes how certain minds,
through imaginary needs, can invent gods,
ghosts, or whatever, based on automatic
reponses actuated by the most primitive
implementor of human behavior - emotion,
i.e., fear, hate, love, etc.
At this point you may be wondering what
this all has to do with people being compassionate or non-compassionate, or being able
or unable to "believe" (in gods), and how all
this could possibly relate to competitiveness. As I said earlier, competitiveness is the
key to human inequities, so let's start there.
Based on the analyses of recognized psychological researchers, human beings in general
possess the qualities when emotionally
stimulated that we only superficially detest
in characters like "Dallas" 's J. R. Ewing.
Consciously we reject such qualities when
we see them as the characteristic embodiments of other people. Yet, under similar
conditions, most people would become as
ruthless in their business tactics as anyone
else. No multi-millionaire oilexecutive would
share resources, knowledge, or capabilities
with another company. Neither would he
cry over the bankruptcy of a competing firm.
The primary concern of any business is
profit. Any variation from this basic rule
would soon destroy the company in question. Even the so-called charitable endowments offered by some companies or
wealthy individuals are, at best, relief-valves
aimed at minimizing the taxation of corporate gains and profit. Everyone even remotely connected with business knows
these things. In isolated cases charitable
gestures may be the futile (or even belatedly
gallant) attempts of rich people to ingratiate
themselves to humanity. Only rarely, I fear,
are any such actions the common practices
of affluent people. Generosity is more
abundant in persons who are not so com pet -

Page 28

itively inclined. My convictions parallel the

fact that human beings have evolved, totally,
in the continuing atmosphere of competitive
existence since the very beginnings of history. In essence, we are as jealous of our
positions and resources as any other territorial animal. The only difference is that we
refuse to accept our inequities because we
see ourselves as superior creatures incapable of such things as selfishness or
lack of concern. And, when I say "superior
creatures," I'm not only talking about religious nuts and their "special creation" nonsense - I mean to include non-believers as
well. Knowing the evolutionary and historical paths that humans have followed, it
could not be otherwise.
So what, some may ask, "Suppose I have
gotten to the top by being a little more
aggressive - a little more dedicated in my
attempts to succeed. Isn't that how greatness is established?" I suppose the answer
lies in how one defines greatness. Competitive greatness once again clouds the issue.
Why does anyone feel the need to be great?
If a food company executive happens to
control the major portion of world rice production, that doesn't increase his or her personal consumption needs. It only means that
the person has a measure of control over the
rice consumption of others. As I have said
before, this demonstrates the true essence
of capitalism or any other authoritativelycontrolled economic system.
To all the "high-rollers" of the world, I
would ask one question: Ifyou stand alone in
your greatness - at the apex of accomplishment - on what do you stand? Look
down the conical pile below you - are they
all losers? If they have not measured up to
your achievements, the best they can be is
second-place. For every winner there are
scores, hundreds, or perhaps even millions
of "losers." Yet, in many cases, perhaps
even most cases, the losers may be, in
essence, happier, more satisfied or secure,
and more concerned with the status of those
losers who have fallen below the poverty
level than are those champions who jealously .guard their positions at the top. But,
there also exists the tragic condition where
many of the individuals at the lower end of
the economic scale fallto a point where they
are psychologically. resolved that social or
economic betterment can never be theirs.
Their situations can be further aggravated
when they are told by reasonably successful
people they should strive harder - never
give up. The so-called "reasonably successful" people do not understand that there are
persons who, for one reason or another,
lack the tools and talents with which to succeed according to the standards of others.
A logical question to be asked is that if all
the losers - from second place on down should suddenly cease to exist, what would
the very few winners do in order to preserve

December, 1985

their control over the competitive economic

systems? Would they operate their own
mills - buy their own goods - and/or provide their own resources? Logical observations should tell us that the only things really
needed in order for society to function successfully are ideas, newer ideas, and reasonable effort. I stress the word reasonable. If
we were not all so busy competing in order
to outdo the next guy, reasonable effort
would be enough for the satisfaction of real
human needs. As for the claims of the
"trickle-down" theorists who feel that the
crumbs of wealth that are allowed to sift
down to the losers should be gratefully
received, I might ask - wanna trade places,
J.R.?
Who is to blame for this confounded way
of life that has persisted since our half-ape
beginnings? We all are - every human that
has ever lived! It's the only way we know
because it's the only way that we have ever
experienced. We even start out in life under
the influence of competitiveness. First, we
are indoctrinated into belief systems which
are based on our (particular) socio-parental,
irrational misconceptions provided by the
aforementioned schizoid tendencies of the
human brain. Then, being of like species, we
inherently indulge in similar misdirected
conduct and opinions. Following this, we
willinglyintensify the process in every aspect
of social life - in nationalistic militarism, in
our endeavors to provide economic self-sustainance, in sports, in racial prejudices, even
to the .extent of personality conflicts with
family, friends, and associates. Nowhere is
the contest more clearly demonstrated than
in what should be the least of all our personal
worries - religion.
How can we change all of this? We can't!
Could anyone psychologically realign the
modules of his or her brain in order to assure
rational thinking in all situations? It has
apparently been tried by a few; and, in
extremely rare cases, with rather remarkable success. Those who have managed are
the very few recognized social and scientific
benefactors in history who have significantly
aided in the real accomplishments of humankind. Some are considered history's great
minds, but some are not even remembered.
Perhaps such people simply forgot about
competing with others in their field and dedicated their time and talent to impartial
effort. In the final analysis - after they died
- what difference could "greatness" make
to them anyway? I presume that most of
them were reasonably happy with their lives,
their work and interests, and their own personal situations while they were alive. That's
all that really counts!
In our struggles to be outstanding - to be
"important" to others - quite often we
create more anxieties for ourselves than we
do for the rest of humanity. Unless, that is,
you happen to be the keeper-of-the-keys to

American Atheist

the various international nuclear weapons

systems. Even these terrifying circumstances could be neutralized if people
wanted them to be. Keep in mind that "we
the people" are the creators of all the Hitlers
of history. In a similar manner we all tend to
cheer on the million-dollar bonus-baby athletes every sporting season. We even create
for ourselves the secret little "Walter Mitty"
fantasies concerning our idolized heroes.
Every human is included in this process of
competitive effort - men, women, and
children of all races! So, who are we to
blame? Added to the difficulties are the
fanatical "right-to-lifers" who want to remove all sensible forms of population control from the reach of the present mountains
of losers, thereby generating entire new
mountain ranges of losers - within our
lifetimes.
If life on this planet had evolved in a spirit
of cooperatiueness - ifthere were real continued concern by parent for child - by
child for parent - by person for person and by everyone for life in general, things

might be different now. Instead of insane

auto races where drivers kill themselves,
spectators and opponent drivers, we may
have devised systematically-controlled vehicle testing programs aimed only at developing efficient road vehicles that offered
only passenger safety and comfort. Sounds
rather dull by comparison, doesn't it? That's
because people, by their very nature, thrive
on the evolutionary stigma of competitiveness. Face it, there wouldn't be much
excitement generated if the Rams and the
Redskins were only concerned with taking
the football across the same goal line in
cooperative "togetherness." On the other
hand, would starvation exist on a world-wide
(or even local) scale if the common interest
was simply raising and processing an adequate food supply for four billion - or even
ten billion people? Suppose we had never
invented religion and its after-effect - competition between religions. That alone would
have prevented the cultural and racial barriers that now exist. Sexism - as we know it
- would probably never have occurred.

If the human brain had not been inherently afflicted with its schizoid hemispherical
maladjustments, as revealed in recent psychological studies, things might have been
different. Instead of occasional displays of
kindness and warmth on special occasions
or during certain festive seasons, we may
have attained a real and lasting quality of
human integrity - year-round.
Then, when those two Chicagoans
chanced to meet in far-away Madrid - amid
thousands of healthy, happy, smiling Spanish faces - they could have said, "Gee, it's a
big world!" ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The "common sense" man of Atheism,
Mr. Tholen is the product of
the Gulf Coast marshes of Texas.
While he's not slaving over
the American Atheist
as its Assistant Editor,
he's writing poetry of which
an Atheist movement can be proud.

DIALAN-ATHIEST
The telephone listings below are the various services where you may listen to short comments on state/church
issues and viewpoints originated by the Atheist community.

Tucson, Arizona
San Francisco, California
South Bay (San Jose), California
God Speaks
Denver, Colorado
Greater DC
South Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Mid-Hudson
Northern Illinois
Des Moines, Iowa
Lexington, Kentucky
Boston, Massachusetts
Detroit, Michigan

Austin, Texas

(602)
(415)
(408)
(408)
(303)
(703)
(305)
(404)
(914)
(312)
(515)
(606)
(617)
(313)

623-3861
668-8085
377-8485
732-4646
692-9395
280-4321
925-7167
662-6606
338-0162
506-9200
266-6133
278-8333
%9-2682
721-6630

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

Northern New Jersey
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Schenectady, New York
Reno, Nevada
Columbus, Ohio
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Austin, Texas DIAL-THE-ATHEIST __
Houston, Texas
Dial-A-Gay-Atheist
Salt Lake City, Utah

December, 1985

separation

(612) 566-3653
(201) 777-0766
(505) 884-7360
(518) 346-1479
(702) 972-8203
(614) 294-0300
(405) 677-4141
(503)' 771-6208
(215) 533-1620
(412) 734-0509
(512) 458-5731
(713) 664-7678
(713) 527-9255
(801) 364-4939

Page 29

POETRY

THE PILL
My wife has had eight babies and the priest has blessed them all
The bedrooms are all crowded and we're sleeping in the hall
I went to Father Murphy to ask about the pill
He crossed himself, blessed my wife and looked a little ill.
The pill's a tool of Satan, the dear old father screamed
And if you use an I.U.D. you cannot be redeemed
Condoms, foams and diaphragms should never leave the shelf
But here's a method recommended by the pope himself.
First you put your two knees close up tight
Firmly lock your ankles, stay that way all night
Lock your husband in the closet 'till the morning light
You'll hear him toss around and toss around with allof his might
Thoughts of sexual pleasure from your mind erase
You know you shouldn't do it or you'll fall from grace
Say a rosary and an aue too
'Cause if the pope can't do it, well neither can you.
Bill Dignan
(First verse to the tune of "Mananna." Second verse to the tune
of "Mississippi Mud.")

SOLSTICE MARSHES
Ah, what memories winter carries
Of the days when I was young
How I scamped across the marshes
Chasing tunes the geese had sung
I saw gentle icy rainfall
That would beckon day's first light
And I saw the crisp cool starlight
Of a clear and frigid night
And to add to all this beauty
As I watched the scenes unfold
Was my faithful dog beside me
One more splendor to behold
Little wonder that this hour
Holds a special treat for me
Other seasons just can't equal
Solstice marshes by the sea
And when people tell their stories
Of their mountains and their streams
I can sense a tearful glimmer
As they reminisce their dreams
For I've felt the same sweet sadness
That such memories retain
And I know those cherished visions
Throughout ages will remain
But no matter what the season
Or wherever I may be
In my thoughts I shall remember
Solstice marshes by the sea

BENEDICTION
Our Father,
Who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name,
Bless us for we have sinned;
We have no enemies except old Charlie;
Dear Lord, striketh Charlie with a lightning bolt.
Amen.

Gerald Tholen

Tom James

Page 30

December, 1985

American Atheist

REPORT FROM INDIA / Margaret Bhatty

IF WISHES WERE HORSES

n May of this year we saw the revival of a
Ispectacular
sacrifice - the Great Horse

Sacrifice - the most popular of major sacrifices among the early Aryans, thousands of
years ago. This sacrifice was last performed
around 1734 by Maharajah Jaya Singh,
founder of Jaipur.
Horse Thief
The Ashvamedha or horse-sacrifice was a
demonstration of muscle-flexing indulged in
by ancient kings. A special horse was
allowed to wander at will outside a king's
territory, followed by a band of soldiery. The
king then laid claim to new lands and forced
their rulers to pay tribute. War was declared
on any chief who tried to turn back the
sacred animal.
"This was theoretically permitted only to
kings who were very powerful and could
support such a claim," according to one historian. "The sacrifices were conducted on a
vast scale, involving many hundreds of
priests and large herds of animals, not to
mention the various objects used in the
ceremony. For the population they were
vast spectacles to be talked of for generations. No doubt they kept the more critical
minds diverted and depicted the king as an
exceptional person in communicating with
the gods, even if only through the priests.
The priests too were not ordinary mortals,
since they were in effect the transmitters of
divinity. Thus the throne and the priesthood
worked hand in hand."
That Was Then
While the horse and soldiers ranged the
countryside, at home the king, his queen,
and court performed daily sacrifices for a
year. Legends of the greatness and glory of
the royal line were told. On the return of the
horse, the queen anointed it. Dr. Surendra
Ajnat in his Critique of the Vedas, quoting
from the Yajur Veda, describes how the wife
of the householder addressed the sacred
animal: "Oh horse, come to me. I will draw
your semen inside. I want to be pregnant
with your semen." She then lay with the
creature. Afterwards, it was killed and the
flesh roasted. A special treatise on the Rig
Veda gives meticulous details on exactly
how the flesh was to be shared out among

Austin, Texas

the priests. Sacred texts detailed the blessings assured when the distribution was correctly done. Anyone adopting a different
system of carving it up was doomed to go to
hell.
"To those who divide the sacrificial animal
in the way mentioned above, it becomes a
guide to heaven. But those who make the
division otherwise are like scoundrels and
miscreants."
This Is Now
Undoubtedly, a lot of color has gone out
of our lives since those ancient days. Our
rajas and ranis have been reduced to tourist
attractions. Today our rulers mark out their
territories differently. And we have lost the
taste for horse meat - even of the sanctified
sort. The Horse Sacrifice is mentioned in all
school texts, but sanitized of its sexual
details. We still, however, have our priests.
The Horse Sacrifice held in Hoderabad
was of necessity a pale reflection of those
grander times. Shorn of all its more bizarre
details, it could hardly be termed a true sacrifice according to the book. But its cost left
no room for criticism. Lasting for a week
from May 27, it cost more than 2,500,000
rupees. Food, accommodation, and travel
expenses were provided for devotees coming in from other places, and into the sacrificial fire went 10,000 kilograms of clarified
butter, 7,000 kilograms of gingelly oil, 250
kilograms of rice, 100 bags of sugar, and
much else. Members of the Indian Rationalist Association tried, without success, to
stop this criminal waste and prevent the sacrifice. But the Chief Minister of the State, a
former actor who still casts himself in the
role of a demi-god, supported the organizer,
the Jagathguru Swami Ramanujachary of
Kashi Pith. The Jagathguru is the Hindu
equal to a pope and one of the staunchest
advocates of fundamental Hinduism, which
he would like to see restored to its pristine
form.
More than 15,000 people attended the
rites every day, some coming in from foreign
countries. In an interview published by a
weekly newspaper from Bombay, the Jagathguru stoutly defended the agna (sacrifice). For one thing, his purpose was purely
spiritual. Said he: "Nothing is right in the
world today. Everything is deteriorating. So

December, 1985

you see a few conscientious individuals trying to stem this rot in their own different
way. Through science and all that. Asvamedha agna is my way."
He rejected the historical view that the
Horse Sacrifice was performed only to
further imperialistic ambition. Brahmins performed it too for absolving themselves of sin.
Its scope is unlimited. "It's a very powerful
yagna, rather the most powerful one," he
declared. "One can achieve almost any
objective through it. We have done it to
clean our political scene, and promote peace
and prosperity in the world. Besides, people
who perform or even just attend the yagna
get cleansed of all their sins and attain
salvation."
And, It Is Still Insanity
He, however,
conceded
that one
shouldn't expect improvements overnight.
"But you can rest assured no force on earth
can deny Asvamedha agna its due."
The Jagathguru draws his wisdom from
the oldest books in the world - the Vedas.
"I tell you there is nothing in the universe
which is not mentioned in the Vedas. Vedas
were not written by man. When man was
created, Vedas were put into his hands to
guide him through life. They embody the
truth, the eternal truth. All man has to do is
follow them implicitly. I won't arrogate to
myself the capability of analyzing them.
God's ways are inscrutable."
The disappearance of this powerful rite he
attributed to the Atheism which dominated
Hindu society after the advent of Buddha.
"Thanks to state patronage it received from
Ashoka and other upstarts like him, Buddhism spread far and wide and threatened to
swallow up our age-old religion."
The Rationalists denounced the whole
circus as blind superstition. But what they
called blind faith, the Jagathguru saw as faith
in the Vedas (Ved-Viswas). When a journalist remarked "Intellect, a god-given faculty,
apparently has little role to play in your
scheme of things," the pontiff replied with
some asperity: "I think you must stop asking
me questions in this vein," he said. "I've had
enough of it. If putting one's faith in the
Vedas is a sign of being dumb, call me so by
all means. This is a typical Indian attitude
which is keeping us poor and backward,

Page 31

while foreigners derive their concepts from

the Vedas and forge ahead."
I would like to believe that our backwardness comes from not sending enough foodstuff up in smoke accompanied by the chanting of magical cantrips. Ironically, one of the
commonest criticisms of enlightened Indians among us is that they have forgotten
their ancient cultural heritage, whereas foreigners are reaping rich rewards from believing in Hinduism.
Flexing Muscle
There were two interesting worldly considerations which intruded on the whole sublime scene. Hyderabad has a large Muslim
population and a long Islamic tradition in its
culture. Its choice as a venue for a show of
strength by more rabid Hindu devotees was
obviously intended. And, of course, the
caste factor intruded once again. Harijans
(Untouchables) were not allowed into the
holy of holies, close to the sacred fire, with
the Brahmin priests. Only Brahmins wellversed in reciting the Vedas were chosen.
"Everything demands certain qualifications," said the Jagathguru. "You wouldn't
let any quack perform surgery on you. You

willinsist on a qualified surgeon."

But then what about Untouchables who
attain a mastery of reciting the Vedas? They
still remain outside the pale, he declared.
Being able to recite the Vedas doesn't transform an Untouchable into a Brahmin. But if
he continues "to do good karma in this birth,
yes, he can get promoted in the next birth
and perform any yagna he wishes to then."
The horse paraded through the streets
didn't end up as steak. Since the Yagna was
for the promotion of peace, the creature was
a messenger of peace. You simply don't eat
messengers of peace. Instead, a dummy
made of dough was sacrificed - according
to the proper carving technique, no doubt,
recommended as absolutely unchangeable
and immutable in ancient texts.
Alas, For Our Side
And what of the benighted Rationalists
who were foolish enough to set themselves
up against the infallibilityof the Vedas? The
pious Chief Minister, who supported the
show staged by the Jagathguru and his
magicians, provided them with proper "police protection" throughout the Yagna.
"That proved useful from the very first

day when those so-called Rationalists tried

to disturb the Yagna," said the Hindu pontiff. "The police rounded them up and kept
them in custody till the last day of the
Yagna."
The most disturbing aspect of the revivalism now evident in Indian religions is its
implacable nature. Rites and rituals are now
becoming elaborate power games for which
venues are selected for confrontation and
challenge. Maybe the day is not far off when
reason and sanity - ifallowed to speak at all
- willdo so only from behind cage bars.

~
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.

WHAT'S

IT'S A REL\610N THAT

MYTHOLOGY,

HAS BEEN FOUNDOUT!

DAD?
I

Page 32

December, 1985

American Atheist

HISTORICAL NOTES

100 Years Ago ...

The Truth Seeker was one of the few freethought publications which ever undertook
to answer the special needs of the children of
Atheists and freethinkers. It not only published several books for youngsters, but also
featured the "Children's Corner" monthly
- a special page devoted to the younger set.
The "Children's Corner" was composed of
various puzzles, letters from children seeking freethinking friends, poems, real-life
stories about children, and essays on
science. For instance, in 1885 stories about
"Polly Peppercorn" and her friends in which
Polly explained physiology to her peers frequently appeared. The following story about
religion was published in the December 5,
1885,"Children's Corner." Titled "A Fable,"
it was contributed by William Scott of
Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania.
"Once, through some transaction not
necessary to mention, a man came in possession of a hyena that was extremely savage and ravenous. It had killed many persons, and, in fact, had lived for some time
principally on human flesh and blood. The
people were afraid of it, and it had been
permitted to roam at large, devouring whatever came in its way, and doing pretty much
as it pleased.
"But this man had it caged and deprived of
the prerogatives it had previously enjoyed,
and denied it the pleasure of subsisting on
human flesh. Although .the hyena opposed
every reform proposed by the man until it
was compelled to adopt it, after many years
it became domesticated, and, forgetting its
past life, claimed to have always been as
harmless as a dove. The man was good and
kind, and the foolish people, strange as it
may seem, said: 'See how the hyena has
civilized the man! Note how affectionate he
is! What a civilizing influence the hyena has
on the man! how tender, how sympathetic, it
makes him!'
"That man represents the people, and the
hyena, popular religion."

30 Years Ago ...

The following editorial, which was published in the December, 1955, Liberal,
summed up the year's activities of the
Friendship Liberal League. The F.L.L.
sponsored the publication of the Liberal.
"F.L.L. has appeared before several
committees in Washington on behalf of secular freedoms. Our attorney has been
instructed to filea brief as friend of the court
in the Manners case. The Hill case was supported both financially and otherwise, We

Austin, Texas

were successful in purchasing time on the

radio for two broadcasts, and willcontinue if
permitted. If not, we will appeal to the
F.C.C. for redress. Several members of the
F.L.L. formed the Rationalist Press, which
now insures printing of freethought literature not only for us but for all desiring same.
We have printed and distributed free over
100,000 leaflets and tracts. We have reached
the $7,000 mark in our Thomas Paine Fund.
This should become a reality next year. We
have increased the range and subscriptions
to the Liberal. And lastly we have participated actively in the formation of a National
Federation of Secular Societies whereby we
can more effectively make the Liberal viewpoint known and felt. This will mean much
before committee hearings in Washington
where it will prove most effective."

15 Years Ago ...

The Atheist, an English publication edited
by GORA before his death, often featured a
question and answer section. The December, 1970, issue, published during GORA's
1970 visit to the United States, contained
this question and answer:
"Q: In the west religious belief is going out
of fashion. Churches are half-empty. Where
is the need of propaganda for atheism in the
west?
"A: The west is the rich man of the world.
Like rich men everywhere, the west is more
atheistic than their fellowmen. On account
of their atheism, they are realistic in outlook
and they make their life comfortable.
"But atheism does not stop with personal
comfort. Atheism imposes a moral obligation on every individual. Social relations
require that everyone should be atheistic
and happy for anyone to be always happy. A
rich man cannot be happy as long as there is
poverty anywhere. Through secret theft or
by open rebellion the poor will disturb the
unequal comfort of the rich. The revolts in
Asia, Africa and South America disturb the
rich comforts of the west. ...
"The rich man is satisfied with his own
comfort. He preaches religious faith to the
rest in order to exploit the superstitious gullibles. This is the immorality of the rich. Atheism frees the poor of superstition and the
rich of immorality.
-GORA"

5 Years Ago ...

The December, 1980, American Atheist,
in its "Front Page Review" section, had the
following good news:
"Another victory for Atheism came

December, 1985

through this month. Since the person

involved laid his Atheism openly on the line
and cited it in the law suit as a reason for
filing the suit, the reporting on it was so
muted as to be almost unnoticeable.
"Ernest Chambers is a duly elected state
senator of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, District 11, a citizen, a taxpayer of the
State of Nebraska, a Black, and an Atheist.
Senator Chambers, offended by the practice of the Legislature opening each session
with prayers and by the content of those
prayers, absented himself from the opening
of each session, where he was - by law required to be. He attempted to find out
when, where and why the prayers. First he
found that the prayers were delivered by a
chaplain who was paid $319.75 month by
the state for every month the legislature was
in session and that the prayers were later
printed, at government expense, and issued
in 'prayer book' form, the cost of which was
$70.01 for 200 copies in 1975, $260.40 for 200
copies in 1978 and $128.15 for 100 copies in
1979. Second, he found that the State of
Nebraska had use of a chaplain for opening
of its daily legislative session beginning as
early as 1855, twelve years before statehood. In 1867 a law was passed providing
that the chaplain be a salaried employee of
the legislature. In 1973 a final law was passed
under which a rule was made requiring the
legislature's Executive Board to recommend
a chaplain to attend and open each day's
sitting with prayer.
"Therefore, Senator Chambers filed a suit
asking that the State Treasurer be enjoined
from the payment of a salary to the chaplain
or from making any payment for the printing
of prayers in a 'prayer book.' He pointed out
that he was an Atheist and that the prayers
offended him.
"The decision in the case came down from
the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska on December 24th, 1980
- Christmas eve! It was a delightful present
for the zanies. Judge Warren K. Urbom held
that (1) the printing of prayers at state
expense contravened the First Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States and
that (2) the paying from public funds of a
chaplain to open a legislative body was violative of the same.
"He quoted from a Supreme Court decision Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1963) that:
'It is neither sacriligious nor antireligious to
say that each separate government in this
country should stay out of the business of
writing or sanctioning official prayers and
leave that purely religious function to the
people themselves and to those the people
choose to look to for religious guidance.' "

Page 33

AMERICAN ATHEIST RADIO SERIES / Madalyn O'Hair

THE SOLSTICE SEASON

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 in September, 1977,
when no further funding was available.
The following is the text of American Atheist Radio Series program No. 30, first broadcast on
December 23, 1968.

In 1968, the first year of broadcasting

for the American Atheist Radio Series,
we sent out, all over the United States,
copies of what we called "The Solstice
Season" program. We printed it in our
literature and distributed it in a small
broadside.
When the American Atheist magazine was issued later (we could not
afford to publish it in 1968), we reprinted the article as the featured radio
program script in December. Since
then, for a number of years it has been
repeated yearly in the magazine.
We are happy to do so again this year.
We hope that our new subscribers will
come to love it as much as have our old
subscribers who have requested a repeat of it in our "American Atheist
Radio Series."
omeone stole something from me. I
don't like it. What was stolen from me
S
- and from you - was one of the most
beautiful holidays in the world. Robert G.
Ingersoll (an American Atheist hero of earlier days) was also angry about this theft. Let
me read to you what he had to say about it.
He wrote a very famous "Christmas sermon." It was printed in the Euening Telegram newspaper, New York City, New
York, on December 19, 1891. The ministers
of the day attacked the newspaper and
demanded a boycott of it. The Telegram
accepted the challenge and set off an issue
across the country. The paper printed the
Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley's attack, and Robert
Ingersoll's answer. It developed into a real
donnybrook.
Let's hear what Ingersoll had to say:
The good part of Christmas is not
always Christian, it is generally Pagan;
that is to say, human and natural.
Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy, but with a message of
eternal grief. It came with the threat of

Page 34

everlasting torture on its lips. It meant

war on earth and perdition thereafter.
It taught some good things, the
beauty of love and kindness in man.
But as a torch-bearer, as a bringer of
joy, it has been a failure. It has given
infinite consequences to the acts of
finite beings, crushing the soul with a
responsibility too great for mortals to
bear. It has filled the future with fear
and flame, and made god the keeper
of an eternal penitentiary, destined to
be the home of nearly all the sons of
men. Not satisfied with that, it has
deprived god of the pardoning power.
And yet it may have done some
good by borrowing from the Pagan
world the old festival we know as
Christmas.
Long before Christ was born, the
sun god triumphed over the Powers of
Darkness. About the time that we call
Christmas the days began perceptibly
to lengthen. Our barbarian ancestors
were worshipers of the sun, and they
celebrated his victory over the hosts
of night. Such a festival was natural
and beautiful. The most natural of all
religions is the worship of the sun.
Christianity adopted this festival. It
borrowed from the Pagans the best it
has.
I believe in Christmas and in every
day that has been set apart for joy. We
in America have too much work and
not enough play. We are too much
like the English.
I think it was Heinrich Heine who
said that he thought a blaspheming
Frenchman was a more pleasing
object to god than a praying Englishman. We take our joys too sadly. I am
in favor of all the good free days, the
more the better.
Christmas is a good day to forgive
and forget, a good day to throwaway
prejudices and hatreds, a good day to

December, 1985

fillyour heart and your house, and the

hearts and houses of others with
sunshine.
Would you believe that such a warm
Christmas sermon could cause religious
people to launch a vicious attack on a newspaper for publishing it? Ingersoll used the
word "borrow." He said that Christians borrowed the Pagan holiday. I use a stronger
word. They stole it. They stole the most
beautiful holiday of man - and for what?
They claim that this is the birthday of
Jesus Christ. Let's look at their scholars and
their history and see if this is a fact. You
most probably all know of A. T. Robertson,
the late professor of New Testament Greek
at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He had written
a standard textbook on the so-called Broadus Harmony of the Gospels, and it is used
in every school of religion across the land. In
this book is summarized all the findings of
religious scholarship in relationship to Jesus
Christ and, among other things, the date of
his birth.
After a lengthy explanation of when Jesus
Christ may have been born, Dr. Robertson
sets the date at - hold on now - the
summer or early fall of the year 6 B.C. or 5
B.C. Did you hear that? He set the date in the
summer or the fall. Recently the idea of the
first week in January has gained some following. But no one who is a religious scholar
any more accepts or believes December 25.
One must calculate from the possible
death of Herod, or the appearance of the
so-called star in the East, which could have
been a comet recorded by the Chinese or a
conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
Saturn. But the Greenwich Observatory
says that the conjunction appearing as a
single star was very unlikely. Or one can
judge the "time of the universal peace," that
is the "time of no war" about which the
heavenly host sang. But there was never any
stoppage of war in that time.

American Atheist

One can guess from the so-called ministry

of John the Baptist, or the age of Jesus upon
his entry into the ministry, or the building of
the Temple of Herod, or the closing of the
temple of Janus, or the so-called census of
Augustus Caesar. All of these lead the poor
theologians in ever-increasing directions
away from the idea of Christmas and the
year "zero" or "one" of our present
calendar.
Actually, the idea of December 25 is untenable. Allthe ancients in Christian history had
various days for Christ's birth. Clement of
Alexander, who was closer to that alleged
event in time, said it was May 20. April 20
and January 6 have always appeared as possible dates. Why did the Christians want the
twenty-fifth of December? Why that particular date? Why did they deliberately steal this
very important date from the Pagans?
There are four points in our calendar
which we use and which we call "Solstice" or
"Equinox" points, two of each. The latter is
easy: we say that the equinox is when the
sun crosses the equator of the earth and day
and night are everywhere of equal length.
The sun does not actually cross the equator;
we all know that. But with the earth's natural
tip on its natural axis as it whirls around the
sun, this seems to be so. Then, either one or
the other part of our old ball of earth gets the
most sun. But on these two occasions, the
days are equal in length everywhere and this
occurs about March 21 and September 23
by our current calendar.
The Solstice is something different. We
don't go around the sun in a circle; we tour
around it - on our earth - in an ellipse,
which is a flattened circle, or oval. When we
are in the points furthest away from the sun,
we have another phenomenon. That, along
with the 23 inclination of the earth, causes
the solstices. Twice a year, when the sun is
at its greatest distance from the celestial
equator, about June 21 when the sun
reaches its northernmost point on the celestial sphere, or about December 22 when it
reaches its southernmost point, we call
these moments the solstice. The solstice in
December is the time when the days of the
year, in our hemisphere, are the shortest.
Primitive man and Pagan man were not
idiots, you know. They saw this. Apparently
at the first, they feared the days would get
shorter and shorter and shorter and finally
. - what if there were only night! What a
frightening thing, when the sun was so
necessary for life, from common observation. So when the day came for the sun to
overcome the darkness, and for the sun to
cause the days to be longer - even ifjust a
minute longer - it meant that there was not
going to be eternal night. The sun had won a
fight again. Darkness had had to recede and
slowly the days would get longer and longer
until spring and summer, with food growing
again and the life cycle being renewed again,

Austin, Texas

would be everywhere on the earth.

And so every primitive culture had a festivalor a feast on this day. It was celebrated in
China, in India, in South America, in Mexico, in Africa, in every single place where
man could watch days and nights and seasons. There were presents given on this
great day, exchanged as a symbol, for the
sun had brought the most precious gift of all
to man: the warmth needed for life and a
recycle of the seasons again. The ancient
men noticed other things too. Certain trees
stayed green all year round, a promise of the
abundance of spring and summer to come
again after winter, a reassurance that all the
greens would return in their seasons. The
light of the sun and the twinkling light of stars
became important in symbolism as well as in
fact. The mysterious parasite, mistletoe,
ever green, intrigued primitive man. It all
needed to be celebrated, to be noted with
awe. If one could not give life as the sun did
- one could give else, such as a sharing of
food or the precious few personal items one
had. But, above all it was a time of revelry.
Life had been renewed. It was the most
joyous of all human occasions. There was
universal singing and dancing and laughing
and well-being. It was wild and wonderful
and human and warm. It was the best of all
festivals. It was the gayest of all feasts. It was
the warmest and best of all collective human
activities.
The Christians were no fools. If they permitted the Pagan holiday to continue to
exist, it could challenge the basis of the
mournful Christian religion, with its great
emphasis on death. First came edicts outlawing the Pagan holiday. But nothing so
wildly wonderful and natural as this could
ever be outlawed. And then the solution
came: incorporate it into the Christian religion. Oh, it took some time. It took many
years to effect the change. It took much
propaganda. It took many reprisals and
sanctions against those who continued with
the old festival. But, eventually the Christian
religion won the day. There were changes in
calendars too. When the Julian calendar
was changed to the present-day calendar,
Solstice - or Christmas - shifted a few
days also, so that December 25, by our
calendar, came officiallyto be designated as
a Christian day,
It took a thousand years, and more, to rob
the people of the earth of this grand holiday
and to replace it with a personalized myth
story of a "new god born," a god of a horrible, punitive, new religion called Christianity.
But, it is even easier now, with mass
media. There are many of you in the listening
audience old enough to remember Armistice Day. That was the day that World War
I ended and it was celebrated for thirty years
or more until a second world war broke out.
After we veterans came home from that

December, 1985

second war we found that there was no

more Armistice Day. Instead, there was a
Veterans' Day. Allthe people in the listening
audience tonight who are twenty-five years
old or younger, never even heard of Armistice Day. They only know Veterans' Day,
for that is all that they were ever taught.
That's how it is with Christmas. That is
how it was with the Solstice. Finally, no one
ever heard of the Solstice and its festivities
- and everyone came to believe that the
Christians were celebrating the birthday of
Christ and that was all that this holiday had
ever been.
But Bible scholars know better and Atheists know better and we celebrate that old
and wonderful and joyous season. We even
sell Solstice cards for this season of Solstice
and the New Year (which, really, are both
one day). Let me read to you what we print
traditionally on our Solstice cards.
Joyful and cheerful, with mistletoe and
signs of the season, the greetings are to wish
one and all the glad tidings of a wonderful
Winter Solstice season. The legend inside
the card says:
December 25, by the Julian calendar, was the Winter Solstice. This
day, originally regarded by the Pagans
as the day of the nativity of the sun,
the shortest day of the year - when
the light began its conquering battle
against darkness - was celebrated
universally in all ages of man. Taken
over by the Christians as the birthday
of their mythological Christ, this
ancient holiday, set by motions of the
celestial bodies, survives as a day of
rejoicing that good will and love will
have a perpetual rebirth in the minds
of men - even as the sun has a symbolic rebirth yearly. ~

CROSSWORDS
(From page 39)
SOLUTION
ACROSS: I-ENGLISHMAN 6IBIS 9-CLASS lO-LEITMOTIV
12-CACTUS GARDENS 14MISSIVES IS-FIESTA 17HOOPOE 19-CANOESUP21BATS OUT OF HELL 24AMIDSHIPS 2S-RUSTS 26STEP 27-TENSOR LAMP
DOWN: I-EACH 2-GLANCES
3-INSECTIVOROUS 4-HALFUSED S-APING 7-BITIERS 8SAVE STAMPS ll-MARGIN
OF ERROR 13.AMPHIBIANS
16-MAYFESTS 18-0UTLIVE
20-SILESIA 22-TRIPE 23-RSVP

Page 35

BOOK REVIEWS
Jerry Falwell
an unauthorized profile
by Dr. William R. Goodman, Jr. and
Dr. James J. H. Price
Lynchburg, Virginia
Paris & Associates, Inc.
1981,170 pages, $6.95 paperback
is a 6" x 9" paperback book written
Thisby two
ordained ministers in the Presbyterian Church, who serve as interim pastors
to local congregations in Falwell's hometown and who both teach religion at Lynchburg College.
Since both men are religious there is no
way that they are going to expose the evils of
Christianity - even of the fundamentalist
variety - for any such expose would
redound against what they teach. Instead
they exhibit traditional "Christian love" by
first taking a broad swipe at Jerry the man,
and then nit-picking away at his "ministry."
The book purports to answer two questions: (l) Who is Jerry Falwell? and (2) What
is he really like? Actually the two questions
are vehicles used to slap Jerry with everything just south of libel. This is a Christian
"dirty tricks" book.
It is not possible to derive from the writing
why they chose the first topic to be considered other than the opening having been
deliberately designed to (1) split Jerry off
from his love-affair with Israel, and (2) divert
some Jewish venture capital to the publication and distribution of this book.
The opening Chapter is titled "The Jewish
Indiscretions" and explores, primarily, one
Falwellian statement (not even a gaffe) of
1980 which is taken out of context in order
to make a point. In their analysis the authors
are simply naive. Falwell is supporting Reagan's international doctrines and if Ronnie
turned on the Jews tomorrow so would Falwell. His Zionistic support of Israel has little
to do with religion and everything to do with
the politics of the radical right. Israel is protected to be a thorn in the Mediterranean
side of the U.S.S.R. and a military niche for
the U. S. to watch the flow of oil from the
area. It is embarrassing all the way around
that Israel, the citizens of which are largely
Atheists, couches its existence in terms of
Old Testament-based Judaism and permits
Zionist extremists to head up the state.
The second chapter is concerned with
fund-raising, and in a capitalist nation where
money is king anyone who has the ability to
accumulate money becomes charged with a

Page 36

mystique. Such a person is held up as an

example of what the system can do, while
the subject person is really envied and hated
by those who cannot manipulate that system so well. The chapter material is superficial. There is much available on the finances
of Jerry Falwell but the authors have done
no research at all.
The meat, if one can call it that, of the
book and in which you, dear reader, may be
most interested, is a thirty-one page section
on the Moral Majority. Here is an interesting
account of its inception, with at least an
identification of those who are involved on
the religious and political right. Unfortunately the people are simply named and unless
you are thoroughly politicized already you
may need to go on a search for information
on all of them. But, all the bed-fellows are
exposed with the sheets off.
Then, in order to separate the wolf from
the sheep, the "good" fundamentalists are
given a chance to take a crack at Jerry.
These, of course, include Dr. Bob Jones, Jr.,
Chancellor of Bob Jones (gasp!) University,
and Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God. And, the representatives from the mainline denominations are
quickly reviewed to illustrate that their
Christianity is not corrupted by the Falwellian taint.
Another twenty-five page section is devoted to "The Quotable Falwell," who is
shown through selective excerpts (filledwith
ellipses indicating omitted text) to be the
dunderhead that Atheists can see in each
and everyone of his broader sermons and
discourses.
And, taking off on those quotes, was he a
racist in his beginning church? Would he let
his daughter marry a Black? Anyone upon
whom the image of Falwell has been thrust
knows the answer to those questions - and
the media has inflicted him on all of us.
Believe it or not, old Jerry is even indicted
as being easy on pornography since a search
of the texts at his Lynchburg College has
come up with a few four-letter words. But,
then, Jerry doesn't read much and probably
doesn't even know that the four-letter words
are there. But one of the authors knew
something was there, for he had searched
them all out before he got to the school. In
fact, when he went to the Thomas Road
Baptist Church Hallowe'en "Scareniare"
where the evils of sex were shown, he got so
carried away that just thinking about what
he saw caused him to write a delightful, lyric
passage concerned with sexual arousal into
this book on pages 87 and 88.
Falwell's attitude concerned with women

December, 1985

usually brings the religious of that sex to

their knees to thank god they are - at least
- not married to him. A short section deals.
with the Falwellian female ideal which turns
out to be a satellite around her husband.
The last chapter in the book is filled with
questions that the authors would like to
have asked Falwell, but never had the opportunity to do so. Using the device of quoting heavily from him, the questions are - of
course - calculated to belittle or plague
him. For example, he owns a complex of
property in Lynchburg in which "an old
watering hole" is located. Cruikshanks, as it
is called, is a favored meeting place for
(aghast!) "meetings and drinkin' (booze!) in
the late afternoons and the not-so-early
evenings." Why would he own such a place!
The authors would hardly believe him ifhe
could have been asked and if he had answered honestly that it brings in money.
A typical example of the "Proposed Questions" gimmick is illustrative.
Q. At a National Press Club luncheon
you were asked about comments attributed to you in a newspaper report
of a 1977 rally with Anita Bryant. You
were quoted as saying: "It's time we
returned to the McCarthy era and
stamped communists on the head and
sent them back to Russia." Your
answer (at the luncheon) went as follows:
"I - the only time that statement
was ever made was not in a rally, but
in an informal setting a number of
local pressmen there and in a joking
way ... I said [it.]"
But Dr. Falwell, you know that the
meeting you speak of was not "an
informal setting." It was the Sunday
evening church service at Thomas
Road Baptist Church on October 23,
1977 when Anita Bryant was the
guest. ...
Why, once more, Dr. Falwell have
you lied?
Well, the good ministers missed the point.
Where it was said doesn't really matter.
Indeed the whole book is a classic demonstration of the old Pennsylvania Dutch epigram: "The pot is calling the kettle black."
And that's the way it is with this book. It is,
nonetheless, interesting, informative - and
cheap. You probably want to buy it for a
delightful couple of hours of chuckles at
least and also to see who all "the enemy"
embraces. For that exercise, the book is
recommended.

American Atheist

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.
response to Mr. Philip M. Buckley's
letter in the August, 1985, issue:
Ifthere seems to be a sense of aloofness in
Atheism, then Atheists may have earned
that right. After all, they are free thinkers.
My view is, that all Christians are, at the
least, ignorant. I know of none capable of
defending their beliefs or their Bible. If any
seem to know the contents of the Bible (the
overwhelming majority do not), they know
nothing or little of the available history and
origin of the Bible. Those that are knowledgeable are generally called Atheists.
Ifthere are many hypocrites professing to
be Christians, then I look on that to be a
condemnation of both Christianity and its
morals.
Our writer seems to think that Christianity rests its faith on Jesus Christ and him
alone. Without the Bible, there is no Jesus
Christ, and the Bible collapses at the least bit
of criticism. Even using the contradictions
within the Bible, the foundation of Jesus falls
apart.
Which Jesus are you talking about? Ifyou
were to read the Gospels, you would find
four contradictory Jesuses. The Old Testament, on which Matthew relies so heavily,
falls apart starting with page one of Genesis.
Which creation story does one believe? The
first (Genesis, Chapter One) is immediately
contradicted by the second (Genesis, Chapter Two). They are both copied from the
much older Sumerian Enuma Elish.
When it comes to the study of Jesus, it
certainly is different. One must obliterate all
common sense and reason from his mind.
There is an abundance of information pointing to Jesus never having lived and no contemporary information available at all that
he did live. Even the Bible has him living
during the reign of Herod, who died in 4 B.C.
If we rest all of our proof on words like
"follow me," the charlatans, better known as
evangelists, become saviors. Ridiculous!
Who could follow anyone based on a few
words that are meaningless and are spoken
by leeches on the poor and ignorant?
The same Jesus that said, "follow me"
also said, "trade your cloak for a sword" and
many other things we-would not advise our

Austin, Texas

children to do.
It seems to me that Buckley came to the
conclusion that there was a Jesus and then
went around proving it. This type of reasoning is typical of Christians. To give an example, a piece of wood is found on the lower
slopes of Mount Ararat and is immediately
identified as a piece of the Ark, although the
wood is only 1,400 years old. Or an impression is found in a rock formation and
instantly it becomes "man amongst the
dinosaurs." Little does it matter that the
prints are twenty-three inches long and have
no toes. When this kind of primitive logic is
used, it soon collapses.
We find Jesus Christ in Josephus' writings
(A.D. 70) and use this as historical proof.
Don't look any further or you will discover
that the only version you willfind it in is the
Russian version and the comments themselves are very late additions by some primitive hand.
Take the Book of Mark. Every expert,
Christian or non-Christian, agrees that the
last twelve verses of the sixteenth chapter of
Mark are later additions; not by the hand of
the author of Mark at all. The last twelve
verses? The resurrection, of course. Since
Mark is the oldest gospel and Matthew and
Luke were copied from Mark, we have the
resurrection carried over to these two
books. Where the author of the book of
John (earliest possible date, A.D. 100)got his
information is anybody's guess. It certainly
does not resemble any of the other three
gospels.

AlD

These few fragments, used as examples,

certainly do not reflect the enormous wealth
of information and documentation that is
available to any person who wants to
"research this question."
In final analysis, Buckley, ifyou truly want
to find the truth about Jesus Christ and the
Bible, then you must pursue truth with
objectivity. If not, you will remain in the
society that wears the brand of "the greatest
killer of human beings" (religion has
125,000,000 deaths logged in history), the
inventors of the most heinous devices to
bring about the most torturous methods of
death (Christianity). The rewards heaped on
the Protestant and Roman Catholic church
by Hitler bought silence from the clergy. But
let us not credit Hitler with originality; he
merely carried out the master plan for the
ultimate solution of the "Jewish problem"
laid down by Martin Luther.
The bloodshed around the world today is
mostly due to religion. Iran is ruled by god;
the Middle East strife is all religious; Northern Ireland is full of Christian-based atrocities; and, the Sikhs and Hindus in India are
killing one another in the name of religion.
We need not go back into history; the evidence is with us. Pancho Villa stated that,
"The greatest disease to hit Mexico was the
Roman Catholic Church." Go one step
further - the greatest disease that ever hit
the world is religion.
- Reggie Ball
Texas

TO T\-\E-

STARVING-

December, 1985

Page 37

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Three cheers for Frank R. Zindler's article

on gerontology. I have wondered why it is
that you don't hear gerontology talked about
in Atheist circles very much when really it
should be. It helps settle one of the oldest
arguments between Atheists and theists: the
mind/body argument. Gerontology shows
that death is an end result of aging; just a
natural process. A soul is not needed for life;
a body is. I think all Atheists should expose
themselves to some gerontology.
BillReeder
Kentucky
e,...-":)

As a supporter of Madalyn [O'Hair] since

those Baltimore days and a student of revolutionary Cuba (two trips there, one in 1984
in spite of Reagan's ban), I would like to
comment on the article "Marti and the
Mass" in the October issue.
Although I certainly agree with the criticisms of "Radio Marti" and its c.1.A. message, I feel that it is somewhat naive to
ascribe Reagan's enthusiasm for "Radio
Marti" to his nostalgic fondness for radio or
even to his religiosity. The truth is that Ronnie the Ripper simply represents the U.S.
ruling class. Thus, his job is to try to crush
the Cuban revolution so that the profits will
once again flow into the multinational
corporations.
I might add that, from my personal experience, religion is far from flourishing in
Cuba. You don't see religion on Cuban TV
and you don't hear it on Cuban radio. Nor
do you see preachers on Cuban street
corners any more than you see prostitutes
or beggars. Moreover, Fidel never calls on
almighty gawd. Religion is simply irrelevant
to the lives of the Cuban people, who are
busy constructing socialism without the
blessing of Ronald Reagan.
Allen Strasburger
New Jersey
c.,..-":)

Score one for the Christers. After a tenyear wait, I finally got cable TV in my neighborhood; and upon checking the Lifestyle
channel listings, I found: 1) Christian Children's Relief Fund, 2) Family Guide Pre-

Page 38

sents, 3) Herbert W. Armstrong, and 4)

numerous rerun, old but "clean" programs.
Gone is Dr. Ruth Westheimer's "Great
Sex" and the many other informative, pertinent, and secular formats for which this
channel was known. The USA channel,
which had some fine productions, has gone
the same way.
First, the Christers whined about the filth
being broadcast by air into private homes.
So, we complied, by FCC fiat, by constructing closed-circuit cable TV systems to prevent offending the Christers. Now even the
cable system is polluted with their junk.
Next you'll be seeing the Playboy channel
and the X-rated channels all slipping in an
hour from some electronic minister. What
next?
Leslie G. Cook
Ohio
e,..."'j

Congratulations on the publicity and sales

aroused with publication of The X-Rated
Bible. I have not yet read it, but I am pretty
familiar with the "good" book, having read
the King James, Old and New Testaments,
at nine years old - the first time.
The purpose of this letter is to make suggestions for follow-ups. The pornographic
sections of the Bible are - or should be
-less offensive than its god-ordained advocacy of racial prejudice; opposition to
democracy; lineal despotism; cruelty; torture; unrestrained warfare; oppression of
women, children, the disabled, the senile,
and infants. The Bible and the god it extols
are utterly disgusting by every measure of
human dignity!
Harry R. Le Grand
Florida
e,..."'j

I saw you [Madalyn O'Hair] speak at the

University of Arkansas in the fall of 1976.
Since then, I have been successfully married
for eight years; I have received an engineering degree; and I.have been gainfully employed for five years. You probably think
that these things are a mere coincidence,
but I know better. After hearing you speak,
my whole attitude toward life changed
dramatically. Since I was Jewish, I felt that I
had to marry a Jewish girl. After I became an
Atheist, that notion vanished. The woman I
married is more of a closet Atheist, but I am
satisfied with that.
In school my motto had always been gawd
would take care of me whether I studied or
not. Upon becoming an Atheist, that notion
changed also. I know the apologist saying,

December, 1985

"gawd helps those who help themselves,"

but it feels so much better to say I did it
myself.
I willalways be proud that I am an American Atheist, and I am looking forward to
contributing more in the future. Thank you
very much, Madalyn.
Robert L. Cranford
Florida
e,..."'j

Your lament in the October issue of

American Atheist ["On Seizing Power," Jon
G. Murray] relative to the inability of liberals
of all stripes to cooperate in commandeering
the media in behalf of spreading the "message" is evidence of your complete misreading of your predicament. In terms of organization and finance, for instance, the ultraliberal and well-financed Mondale-Ferraro
machine was all one could ever desire in the
way of media-manipulation, as well as mediadomination. Just consider some of the most
prestigious special-interest groups allied
with the Fritz-and-Gerry show - every
group from the Gays to NEA to NOW to the
woefully out-of-touch AFL-CIO hierarchy.
Yet, forty-nine states went conservative.
Why?
The answer is so obvious as to be almost
instinctively, rather than intellectually, recognizable. The perception on the part of the
public was that Mondale had no message;
therefore, no quantity or quality of endeavors relative to organizational or philosophical considerations could have saved the day.
Reagan, on the other hand, was perceived
to have had the "message." This perception
was formed through the observation of
empirical evidence, as well as the "gut" feeling that the man could be trusted as the
guardian of traditional values and personal
possessions - this, in spite of the fact that
all three major TV networks, the largest
newsmagazines, and probably most of the
largest newspapers were arrayed against
him.
Perhaps you should face this issue squarely on the basis of the "message" you seek to
convey. Could it be that your message is,
simply, no message?
J. L. Clark
Kentucky
c.,..,,:)

I was intrigued and intensely interested by

Frank Zindler's "The Prospect of Physical
Immortality" in the September number of
American Atheist, with its memorable introductory poem by Edna St. Vincent
Millay.

American Atheist

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

NOTICE
I would really love to live forever on this
Earth, but at this time, I am forced to conclude that Nature knows best, as all of us,
including Mr. Zindler, should know that
overpopulation (even including religious
dogma) is the underlying cause of most of
our world problems: famine, which is caused
not as much by drought as by the overgrazing, overcultivating, and erosion of all arable
land; the pollution of our streams, ocean,
and atmosphere; the destruction of our
forests and wilderness areas; and the using
up of our energy and mineral resources, to

say nothing of the noise pollution and the

destruction of our privacy and our liberties.
So, until zero population growth can be
achieved, let us not be too concerned with
physical immortality, or we will become as
overcrowded as that mythical heaven from
which no one has ever returned to demand a
refund.

As things stand at present, I will have to

opt for death!
Donnafred
Arizona

Cryptic crossword puzzles are not like the puzzles

seen in most American publications; they are much more
devious. The clues are almost never what they seem to
be. Some of the clues are anagrams of the word sought;
these are indicated by clues such as "sort of" or "crazy."
Some clues are puns giving an association of sound or
meaning. Charade clues are built up by definitions of
parts of the answer word. In some cases the answer is
actually hidden among the letters of the clue. Punctuation can be used to obscure clues and change the apparent meaning.
In general, the cryptic clue consists of two parts. One
part is a definition of the word sought, and the other is the
cryptically constructed part. The fun and challenge of
this sort of puzzle is to figure out which part is which.
Often the relationship between clue and answer is a
humorous one or one that presents a peculiar view of the
world of words.

"Letters to the Editor" must be

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

The numbers in parentheses are the numbers of letters

in each word of the answer.
If you would like a sample puzzle with answers and
explanations of clues, send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to Steve Bratteng, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712.
ACROSS
1. Jacks' nemesis reportedly found one to have distinctively odorous humor. (10)
6. A nib is just part of a bird, but a whole may also be
found. (4)
9. Young lady follows a hundred showing elegance. (5)
10. Wagnerian theme sounds like it might not be too
heavy. (9)
12. Places one might find Opuntia and its ilk. (6, 7)
14. Fail to catch Burl? Send him letters instead! (8)
15. Feat is sort of like a party. (6)
17. Bird who I hear before one who wrote of a bird (while
he pondered weak and weary). (6)
19. One goes against the current when paddling so. (6,2)
21. They must fly like the devil! (4,3,2,4)
24. Among boats or just at the center of one? (9)
25. Truss shows signs of deterioration. (5)
26. Pets return but get under foot. (4)
27. Common desk fixture sounds less relaxed. (6, 4)
DOWN
1. Everyone in turn affected by terrible ache! (4)
2. Peeks, seeing lance stuck in it. (7)
3. Attribute of shrews and certain sticky-leafed plants.
(13)
4. Part-time employment? (4-4)
5. A sound associated with table tennis shows one acting like a monkey. (5)
7. Hops to make such sensations. (7)
8. What evangelical postal workers attempt, or just the
mess mixed up in pa's vat? (4, 6)
11. Border mix-up or just room enough for safety? (6,2,5)
13. Apparently these animals possess two of what cats
have nine of. (10)
16. Parties, but not till after April! (8)
18. Survive or perhaps rough it the other way around. (7)
20. Crazy Elisa is known in central Europe. (7)
22. Journey to the east to find trash. (5)
23. Politely invited response. (4)
(Solution on page 35)

Austin, Texas

December, 1985

Page 39

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ChEista hand-me-down?
Is our very own Judeo-Christian tradition a
hand-me-down from past cultures? Has our society really inherited out-dated
religious tales from nowdead older siblings?

flood myths, from the Old Testament's Noah to

the Babylonian Xisuthrus to the Hindu Satyavrata.

CHRISllL\N ITY

It is now possible to read

of the old flood myths which
predate Noah and his ark.
But few people have ever
been given a glimpse of the
numerous stories of messiahs, of virgin-born saviors
and their miracles.

Before
CHRIST

Most of the information

concerning
the ancient
christs has been available
only to academic researchers - the average reference
book will rarely tell the reader the strange tales of messiahs who date back to humankind's darkest past.

With this background,

he investigates the many
savior stories. Carefully, he
examines the lives of the
great messiahs. Tales of deities with which few Westerners are familiar are told
Adonis, Attis, Mithra,
Prometheus, Krishna, Buddha, and others. He makes
an unmistakable case for the
hand-me-down nature of the
Judeo-Christian Jesus.

But did the individual

called Jesus ever exist? And,
if so, when? It is with the
answers to these challenging questions that Jackson
by John G. Jackson
concl udes th is stu n n i ng
work. The American Atheist
Nowa noted educator, lecturer, and scholar Press expects Christianity Before Christ to be as
has written an eye-opening account of the old classic as the author's best-selling Pagan Orimyths - Christianity Before Christ. In Christian- gins of the Ghrist Myth.
ity Before Christ, Professor John G. Jackson first
No one interested in the history of religion
examines the many tales of the origin of man- should miss Christianity Before Christ. Give it to
kind, outlining the parallels between Tahitian yourself as a Solstice present - or to someone
myths and Hebrewfables. Then he goes on to the you care enough about to educate.

Cut and Mail to: American Atheists, P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX, 78768-2117
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AMENDMENTI

CONGRESS

SHALL MAKE NO LA W RESPECTING

"The fact that the earth now attains its

needed quota of light and darkness, of heat
and cold, by its own axial rotations and
revolutions- around the sun, is a significant
hint that its human inhabitants should depend on their own self-provisonal powers
rather than on heavenly or miraculous aids."
- Jean Story
Free Religious Index
December 30, 1880