~I

AmericanAtheist
September, 1979

Vol. 21, No.9

articles

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair
MANAGING EDITOR
Jon Garth Murray
ASSIST ANT EDITOR
G. Richard Bozarth

Amedeo Amendola - On The Origin Of The Gods

14

John F. Higdon - Precursors Of Chauvinism

18

Thomas C. Taskonis - Waiting For God - Oh!

20

Pavel Antonov - Atheism And Religion

25

Arthur R. Maier - Barnum Against Religion

29

features
Editorial -

Our Readers' Opinions

Atheist News
READING EDITOR
Barry Cashman

A Tale of Shoes

Religion and Government

NON-RESIDENTIAL STAFF
Bill Baird
Angeline Bennett
Wells Culver
Conrad Goeringer
Connie Perazino
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
Elaine Stansfield
Gerald Tholen
The American' Atheist magazine is
published monthly by American Atheists, located at 2210 Hancock Drive,
Austin, Texas, 78756, a non-profit,
non-political,
educational. organiza
tion. Mailing address: P.O. Box 2117,
Austin, TX, 78768. Copyright 1979
by Society of Separationlsts,
Inc.
Subscription rates: $20.00 per year.
Manuscripts submitted must be typed,
double-spaced and accompanied by a
stamped, 'self-addressed envelope. The
editors assume no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts.
The American Atheist magazine is
indexed in:
MONTHLY PERIODICAL INDEX.

Church Fears Disclosure

6
'

Get Ready For Christ-mess

Austin Sues American Atheist Center

Film Review
Elaine Stansfield - Manhattan, et al

36

Poems .......................................

24

Columnists:
Angeline Bennett - It Could Be Verse

29

Ignatz Sahula-Dycke - Our Dilemmatic Twins

;;. .30

G. Richard Bozarth - Faith Healing

34

Roots of Atheism - Susan B. Anthony, Part 3

21

American Atheist Radio Series

Religion And Population Control

31

Book Review
Mormonism Now And Then

40

our cover
TRIBUTE

TO AUTUMN

g. tholen

With the changing of the season

As the days begin to fade
Ending now the gracing harvest
Nature's gift to man is paid

Awed with hues of solemn splendor

Cherished are these passing days
Neither hard nor cold but tender
Welcome now to Autumn's ways

Standing counted are all creatures

As we honor Fall's first breeze
And behold that special beauty
, Of the changing of the trees

Merely actors in this epic

Taking roles in Nature's plan
Pay your tribute to the Autumn
Equinox that comforts man

Autumnal Equinox:
September 23, 1979,10:17 P.M.KS.T.,

Austin, Texas

12

September, 1979

15:17 G.M.T.

Page 1

c:

Atheist Paranela vs Empty Pews.

As a spokesperson for American Atheism on a national
level, I have occasion to travel extensively. I have been involved with the media in almost every major city in the
United States. As I meet groups of Atheists in each of these
cities, I am met with a recurring theme which says something
about the position of Atheism in America. That theme usually
comes out in a statement like, "You had better watch what
you say hi this town; this is the Bible Belt," or, "You are in
the buckle of the Bible Belt; we have a lot of fanatics here."
These quotes just don't happen where stereotype dictates.
You would expect such a reaction in the "Deep South" land
of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, or Louisiana. This area has
been characterized over and over again as backward, uneducated and a breeding. ground for prejudice. The "sophisticated" East of New. York, Washington, Newwark, Boston,
Philadelphia and the like have been billed as above dlscrimination.
. Where am I told I am in the Bible Belt? In "sophisticated"
New York, "liberal" Los Angeles, "flowerchild-anything-goes"
San Francisco, the "bedrock-middle-America"
of St. Louis
or Kansas City, tL1e"corporations-only-count"
Dallas, the. . .
The Deep South and the mountains of Virginia, Kentucky
and Tennessee never enter into the picture.
What this points out is that Atheists everywhere feel that
they, wherever they are, are in the middle of the worst oro.
ganized religion has to offer. They see the church surrounding
them in every direction like some blob out of a late night
horror rerun. They are terrorized by every new church that
goes up in town; driven further and further into the closet
until they may never see again life not framed by a coathanger.
Although I feel that a great deal of the closet nature of
Atheists is a needless paranoia, they do have a point. Organized religion is on the move with an unprecedented fury, or so
it seems. What fearful Atheists don't realize, is what they see
as a move by all the churches to swallow them up is only a
move by a very few. The evangelicals make noise to fit twice
their size. With the help of slick ad agencies and religious
radio and TV station owners, they can blow up god much
bigger than he has ever been blown up before.
While the evangelicals howl, the mainline churches sit in
dismay of empty pews and schisms. They are split over such
issues as women in the clergy, homosexuals, abortion, relations
with Israel and interpretation of doctrine. They have much
more to worry about internally than just spreading the word.
Remember, only one out of every four Americans attend.
church regularly. There are over 91 million persons in our
population who have never even entered a church. In that
total population of some 105 million church goers (that is,
assuming church figures only after deducting the 18 percent
puffing they do according to the US Census Bureau), average
attendance is three to five times a year - usually on major
religious holidays.
What the Atheists must realize is that the church is just as
scared of them as they are of the church. Organized churches
in America know the statistics as well as we do. They know
how many persons no longer believe, or have become disenchanted with particular doctrines and no longer attend. They

Page 2

know how many Closet Atheists and Agnostics exist across

the country. They are scared of the horrible fact that some
day those Atheists are going to come out of their hibernation
and realize they are not alone and put an end to religion once
and for all. They also know that if they can keep them in
. their closets and make sure that they don't let others know
that they are similarly negative toward religion, the churches
are safe.
As long as Atheists continue to feel that they are alone
and fail to come out even enough to let their family and close
personal acquaintances know of their distaste for religion, the
church will continue its course unimpeded. If Atheists will
. identify themselves, they will find that others will identify
as well. This is what the church is afraid of.
Identification and organization are the key concepts for
. Atheists toward the downfall of organized religion. If you
identify yourself as an Atheist, and then organize with others
. who have done the same, you can easily keep religious dictates
and moral patterns out of your life. If you don't identify, you
can't.
That is what American Atheists is all about as an organization. That is what this journal tries to do month after month;
push identification and organization. We know you are out
there in hiding. We know that you are fed up with religion and
its influence on your daily life. We also know that that in fluence will not goaway with time ifyou ignore it. The church
is stronger today than it ever was from hundreds of years
of-apathy in persons like yourself.

September, 1979

.
Religion has always taught the following:
[1] Your worthlessness as an individual - you must be
part of the whole; one of god's children.
..
[2] The futility of individual effort - you must have god
as your co-pilot in life.
.
[3] The necessity of giving up those things that you enjoy
as. a human being for an opportunity at life after death - you
give up a list of very human and pleasurable endeavors as
. "sins" as the purchase price for life after death in a never-never
'land.
[4] Apathy for the world of here and now - concern only
for the ephemeral.
[5]
Predestination - you cannot change the present to
make the future better because the future is already made.
The opposition, in an organized manner, to these ideas has
been- seriously deficient. Countless individuals have come to
.the conclusion that these are not good concepts for human behavior, but they have failed to gain the needed support to do
.something about them. We must all realize that we are not
alone < in our distaste for these concepts. Others, too, are of
like mind. We must speak out so that they can find us, ally
with us, and generate an organized resistance movement.
American Atheists has initiated that step. It is now up to
all of you out there to cast aside your coathanger manacles
and join in the fight. You have nothing to fear. Religion has
more to fear from a freed mind actively engaged in resistance
than it does all the empty pews in the world.

The American Atheist

(J

I
~

I
B

COeMeMENT

R
N
E

Dear Jon, '

1 just wish to offer a bit of constructive criticism with regards to page
19 of the April magazine.
A few people have commented on
it, "not in good taste." It did not
bother me, but it is just at a time we
are trying to get libraries to accept the
magazine. They ask to leave the magazine for review, which might take two
months. 1 would not leave this issue at
a library; it would give them good reason to reject our magazine.
I am a hard-core Atheist. My main
interest is to create a good image. Do
. not get me wrong. 1 have been around
and 1 can throw around some pretty
good cuss language, like my Christian
friends do.
Don Bravo
California
Dear Don,
We agonize over the contents of
the magazine, particularly the cartoons. You should see the ones we do
not put in!!
We understand the problem. We
hate to pull punches. Every single
thing that is "bad" in our culture is
, "bad" because religion says that it
is. We want to rub their collective
noses in all of this "sexual" and
"body" sin concept.
.
Every once in awhile, we do it.
We will do our best to be decent in
the future, Don, and remember that
our main goal must mean that we subvert. our small pleasure now and then
... but every once in awhile you may
see a cartoon like that - and you will
know that we succumbed to a desire
to let them know what we really
think they are, these religionists!
The Editor
Dear Editor,
Re "A Computer-Made Atheist"
(March A.A.). 1 ran-into a similar problem while in the Army. On the space
on one's "dog tags" for religious preference 1 said 1 wanted it listed
"none." The Army, instead, stamped
it "no preference." See enclosed dog
tag.
On another matter concerning the
Army's position toward religion, 1 find
it rather abhorrent that last yea~,-

April, 1978 - the Department of the

Army published Pamphlet No.' 165-13
"Religious Requirements and Practice;
of Certain Selected Groups. "
This pamphlet, of which 1obtained
a copy, contains the history, beliefs,
worshipping paraphernalia of practically all .the major kooky cults, so that
chaplams can properly conduct services, funerals, marriage ceremonies,
etc. for them.
It includes Scientology, Worldwide
Church of God, the Krishnas, Muslim
Movement, Church of Satan, Children
of God, Divine Light Mission (Guru
Mahara Ji's racket), World Plan Executive Council (Transcendental Meditation), Nichiren Shoshu Academy and
many others. (No, Jim Jones' Jerks
were not included.)
Perhaps the U.S. Army - known
for its liberal policies in the area of
human relations - should reassess its
position regarding the crazy cult
crowd. The way the cults are proliferating, is the Army going to spend
more tax dollars on booklets like
these and on more chaplains to keep
up with all of them?
Write your Congressman today.
David W. Batterson
California
Dear Mr. Straczynski,;
Your article in the May issue of
The, American Atheist was very interesti.ng.
1 am not interested in this death
penalty issue.
1 am glad that the man (John Spenkelink) was treated as a criminal and
not as a repentant sinner by the
judges.
.
Sincerely,
Grant Wells
Kansas
Dear Jon and Madalyn,
1 suggest that you may be spreading yourselves too thin. It may be
better in the long run to concentrate
on a couple of main areas, as far as
the national office is concerned. An
American Atheist magazine in every
public library in the United States
subscribed to by them, would prob:
ably have the greatest long term effects.
Let the chapters take care of the
law suits from now on. Division of

Austin, Texas

September, 1979

1/

labor may accomplish more, .with less

headaches. A Lucifer's Handbook in
every library !
There is a law in Minnesota on the
books that says in short, "You can't
fuck a dead bird." Maybe Christians
did th~t at. one time. But, thanks to
education, the law has become meaningless (I hope). The laws have been
u.ndermined from within. The magazme could pull the same trick on the
Christians.
Thank you for your kind attention
Paul R. Kelle;
Minnesota
Dear Madalyn,
Either the Atheist Press or Joseph
Lewis has an error on page 16 of Lincoln, The Atheist:
4th paragraph - "Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 1" should be "1 Tim.
6:1."
Charley Amlin
California
Hey, Charley!
It's always good to hear from you.
We must be personal friends now for
at least 100 years - I have known you
so long!
We know that should we ever make
a mistake, one of our eagle eyed Atheist cohorts will catch it and call our
attention to it so that we can change
it.
Thank you. It will be corrected in
the next issue we print.
The best of our good wishes to you
- that of health [or many years.
Thank you for writing.
Fondly, Madalyn
Editor,
1 enclose' a copy' of my letter,
written to Jimmy Carter:
"Mr. President:
"Media reports that today at the
'Camp David Domestic Summit' the
President will meet with religious leaders to obtain their input on energy and
other domestic problems.
"It is incredible that a man in the
Presidency would consult' religious
leaders on matters of such importance.
1 consider this meddling on behalf of
the religions and promotion of religious influence in state affairs by the
President. Such actions are indicative
of despair on behalf of the President.
"I protest these meetings strongly.
"Further, I voted for the President
in 1976. I will not vote for Jimmy Carter in 1980.
"Very truly yours,"
William P. Ellsworth
Texas

Page 3

The "A" stands

for ATHEIST

"There was an old lady who lived in a shoe," but the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) now wants to move in on the shoe,
too. It all happened, or is happening in Norwood (near Cincinnati, Ohio).
The City Council of Cincinnati granted a $5.6 million tax
abatement to. the U. S. Shoe Corporation in January, 1979.
This was done to assist the commercial corporation in its projected move from its 18 acre Norwood site to Eastwood Industrial Park in Cincinnati. At first the company asked for a
$16 million tax abatement on the buildings and equipment at
its new headquarters, also. It was estimated that the corporation would be liable for $280,000 in property taxes on' the
developed value of its share of the Eastwood property and it
proposed to the Cincinnati City Council that the tax collector
forego that amount for 20 years, in consideration of the
company staying' in Cincinnati and providing jobs to an
estimated 1300 employees there,
Meanwhile, the Norwood property
to be vacated consisted of a 140,000
square foot office building, four warehouses and parking spaces for 800
cars. The City of Norwood had been
enjoying a tax income of $730,000 a
year from the 1.7% tax which it applied to individual gross incomes and
corporate income of the shoe company. The ad valorem taxes paid on
the Norwood real estate have not been
made ,public.
However, U.S. Shoe continued to
report record high sales and earnings,
paying $1:20 a share per quarter on
dividends, up from 91 cents a share
one year before. Sales rose 17% to
$206.5 million per quarter from the
prior year's $176.3 million. Sales in-

creased 16%, but net earnings rose

50%. It should be noted that the
$280,000 a year real estate tax which
the company wanted abated on the
new site was 1% of the $28 million net
profit made in 1978.
At the same time, the U.S. Dept. of
Housing and Urban Development approved a $7.8 million grant to the City
of Cincinnati for roads, sewers and
other improvements at Eastwood Park.
U.S. Shoe and Coca Cola Bottling Co.
were to be the principal benefactors of
this grant. In return the two companies were to provide jobs for Cincinnatians and to install $22 million
worth of buildings at the, park.
Eastwood Park had formerly in;
cluded Eastwood Village,' a low in-

come housing project. Forty-eight

acres of this land had been bought by
ECURC (Eastwood Community Urban
Redevelopment Corp.) from HUD for
$500,000. The land was then sold to
U.S. Shoe and Coca Cola for $1 million-all tax free, while no one seemed
to k~ow plans for the profit made.
The Cincinnati City Council, mean:
while, counter-proposed a tax abatement which would depend on employment levels for the next 20 years. It
was agreed that about 250 employees
would be added to the work staff each
year for the next 20 years, all from the
local area.
The shoe company, meanwhile,
stated it was relying on the proposed

The news which fills one half of the magazine is chosen to demonstrate, month after month, the dead reactionary hand of religion, It dictate~
good habits, sexual conduct, family size, it censures cinema, theater, television, even education, It dictates life values and lifestyle. Religion is
politics and, always, the most authoritarian and reactionary politics. We editorialize our news to emphasize this thesis. Unlike any other magazine or newspaper in the United States, we are honest enough to admit it.

Page 4

September, 1979

The American Atheist

NEWS
$5.6 million exemption to help it pay
for the new facilities.
It was then that Richard Scholten,
Director of the Ohio Chapter of the
American Atheists, asked a basic question. Why didn't the U.S. Shoe Corp.
sell its old plant at Norwood, worth
approximately $6 million and use that
to pay for the new facilities instead of
asking for United States HUD funds
and Cincinnati tax payers' subsidies by
way of tax abatement?
It could not, the shoe corporation
said, because it was giving the 18.2
acre site, the 140,000 square foot office building and the warehouse
buildings, as a free gift, to Xavier
University, owned and operated by the
Roman Catholic Society of Jesus
(Jesuits). The company could then
take a tax write-off on corporate
(U.S.) income tax returns for the
amount of puffed value put on that
land and those buildings.
The Jesuits, meantime, thought the
office building would be just fine for
their business and computer offices. It
might be noted that the Director of
Community Relations of Xavier University is also a councilman on the
City Council of Cincinnati.
The 20 year tax abatement was approved by the City Council in the last
week of January. Two weeks later the
shoe corporation
reported another
gain in sales and profits with shares per
quarter earning $1.51 as of 22 February, 1979 and sales rising another 14%
to $225 million a quarter. Six months'
profits were reported as $20.3 million.
All of this was too much for Richard Scholten. Writing a letter to the
editor of the Washington Post, he
stated:
"This is a protest against U.S.
Shoe's donation of a $6 million piece
of property to a Catholic institution
(Xavier University) and then asking
the city (us) for $5.6 million in tax abatement.
"Isn't it obvious that the net effect
is that we, the citizens of Cincinnati,
would be giving XU the property? This
is a clear violation of separation of
church and state.
"I'll bet that the majority of the
board of directors of U.S. Shoe is
Catholic. They have figured out a way
to give a large donation to their religion and have us tax-payers pay for it.
I certainly hope those of us who see
through this ruse voice enough objections so it won't happen. "
Later, Dick was in direct communication, by letter, with each member of
the Cincinnati City Council advising

each one of the breach of the nation's

state/church separation doctrine.
It took Dick about another month
to have a legal analysis made and on
30 March, 1979 in behalf of American
Atheists, Ohio Chapter, he filed a suit
in the U.S. District Court, Southern
District of Ohio, Western Division,
contra the City of Cincinnati, the U.S.
Shoe Corp., Ohio's Commissioner of
Tax Equalization, the Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. and Xavier
University seeking a declaration that a
city ordinance approving the tax a
batement was unconstitutional
since
the benefit, in a conduit through several of the above,' was $6 million
worth of tax aid given to a religious
institution, Xavier (Roman Catholic)
University. An injunction prohibiting
U.S. Shoe from turning over the property to Xavier University was requested.
The suit charged: "The primary effect and substantial impact is that Cincinnati is participating in a direct, unrestricted grant, valued in excess of
$6 million to Xavier University.
"This scheme violates the First Amendment's proscription of aiding or
advancing a religion ... "
The law firm Dick hired had, of
course, uncovered the "scheme." It
isn't that difficult. Follow this:
The U.S. Shoe Corp., knowing that
it wanted to move to Eastwood Industrial Park, _on 20 October, 1978 created "Community Urban Redevelopment of Duck Creek, Inc." (which will
be referred to as "Duck Creek" from
here on). Duck Creek was created only
(1) to obtain the $5.6 million tax exemption, above; (2) to facilitate the
grant of the $7.8 million in federal
funds; and (3) to hide the flow of aid
to Xavier University, for the grant to
Xavier was contingent
upon the
scheme for tax exemption and federal
aid to U.S..Shoe.
The City of Cincinnati enacted Ordinance No. 29-1979- which approved
the $5.6 million tax exemption. By
this scheme Cincinnati was to purchase
the Eastwood land (48.~ acres) from
ECURC (see above) and convey 21.1
acres of that land, at a loss, to Duck
Creek, a subsidiary of U.S. Shoe, immediately. An additional 27.3 acres
were to be leased to Duck Creek for
ten years and then would be purchased
by Duck Creek at a nominal price.
Meanwhile, U.S. Shoe would be excused from. paying $280,000 a year in
ad valorem (real estate) taxes.
Cincinnati and the United States
federally supported Housing and Ur-

Austin, Texas

September, 1979

ban Development agency is granting at

least $13.4 million in benefits.to U.S.
Shoe through Duck Creek-with U.S.
Shoe serving as a conduit so that $6
million goes to Xavier University, a
pervasively sectarian (Roman Catholic)
university.
On 23 April, Xavier University filed
a Motion to Dismiss. the claim of
American Atheists, or alternately to
have Xavier University dismissed as a
party defendant.
Xavier admitted that (1) U.S. Shoe
had announced its intention to make
the gift; (2) that Xavier is a sectarian
institution; and that (3) the property
was available to it by reason of the tax
abatement ordinance enacted by the
City of Cincinnati. The Jesuits argued
that if a governmental enactment indirectly makes it possible for a private
corporation to donate to a religious
institution, or even provides a positive
inducement to do so, that action does
not "violate" the Constitution.
A response by Ohio Chapter, American Atheists' attorney was filed on 11
May, 1979 reiterating the rationale of
impermissible aid to a sectarian (Roman Catholic) institution. Readers will
be apprised of the progress of this suit.
Joining Dick Scholten in this suit
were three other members and property owners in (or near) Cincinnati and
Norwood, Ohio. We salute them all:
Richard A. Scholten, individually and
as Director of the Ohio Chapter of
American Atheists, Janice Williams,
Orville Simpson, II and Leola Ashenhurst:
Perhaps, the old lady w1fo lived in a
shoe will stay there and Ohio will be
free from Jesuits in the shoe factory.

$
OFF

WITH

THEIR

HEADS!

At the recent Southern Baptist

Convention in Houston, attended by
over 15,000 delegates representing the
13-million member group, one sermon
was given by a Hurst, Texas, Baptist
minister which will endear him to the
hearts of American Atheists everywhere.
His outburst urged the elimination
of doubters. He explained by saying
"I would not tolerate a rattlesnake in
my house or a cancer in my body -,
Those who question the word of God
are worse."
Oh well, "love thy neighbor".

Page 5

NEWS

Rtligion and G"utrnmtnt

~

You and Your Tax

... from the Constitution of New Hampshire:
"...
morality and piety, rightly grounded on [Christian] evangelical principles, will give the best and greatest security to
government, and will lay, in the hearts of men, the strongest obligations
due subjection. "

to

448 million dollars. In addition, the

church will also desire money for their
released time programs for five million
such, with a cost of 500 million dollars
there.
Packwood and Moynihan want the
United States to pay one billion dollars a year the first year (1980), going
to 2.5 billion dollars in 1982, so that
they may obtain continuing Roman
Catholic votes to keep them in office
and to strengthen the Roman Catholic
Church by tax funding.

They are at it again! This time the

boobsie-twins, Packwood and Moynihan, have introduced Senate Bill No.
1095 for tuition reimbursements for
parents of children sent to parochial
schools.
Robert Packwood (R-Ore.) and
Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) were the
sponsors, for the pope, of the last "Tuition Tax Credit Act of 1977" (see the
April, 1978 issue, American Atheist,
Vol. 20, No.4).
This time the scheme is for "Tuition Reimbursement" federal income
tax credits for 50% of tuition payments. The elementary-secondary portion of the bill would start off with a
limit of $100.00 per student per year,
to rise to $250.00 by 1982. The higher
education credits would be $250.00
per student per year and rise to
$500.00 by 1982. Considering that
450,000 students attend Roman Catholic colleges and universities, the first
year would cost 112.5 million dollars;
with 3,600,000 elementary-secondary
students, the first year for them would
cost 335.5 million dollars, a total of

Page 6

Not to be outdone, William V.

Roth, Jr. (R-Del.) and Abraham Ribicoff (D-Conn.) in a 'Jews for Jesus'
move, sponsored two tax credit bills
for up to.$250.00 per student per year
for college and university students
(S. 1050) and the same for elementary
and secondary students (S. 1051).
The former tuition tax credit bills
were defeated in late summer-1978 after protracted battles in both houses
of Congress, with endless hours of legislative time lost. In October, all tax
credits bills were defeated when Pres-

September, 1979

~I

ident Carter's program of expanding

student grants and loans were passed.
Both tuition tax credit and tuition
grant parochiaid plans have been ruled
unconstitutional by the United States
Supreme Court (Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 US 756, 1973).
Moynihan wants tax credit parochiaid to be an issue in the 1980 presidential campaign. It may as well be; almost every issue of importance: in the
United States is rooted in the insanity
of religion. We doubt if public debate
will clarify those issues since "the
people" are so highly and intentionally
misinformed.
You are going to be involved in this
issue soon, on a national level, as the
Roman Catholic Church moves, under
command of the pope, to have its
schools financed by the tax payers. It
would not be untoward to write to
your Senators now; asking them where
they stand and why, so that when the
issue peaks you will know fully who
supports it and why.

The American Atheist

NEWS

Churehes
Fear Diselosure
In the early part of the century, the
Congress of the United States passed
legislation for the Bureau of the Census to enumerate the membership and
the real estate holdings of the church.
The Bureau issued exhaustive decennial reports in 1906, 1916, 1926 and
1936.
However, it was constantly hampered in its research because of the
failure of pastors, clerks or officers of
church organizations to furnish informational returns either promptly or
accurately. There was a continuing unwillingness to comply and many
churches protested against any inquiries.
Finally, in 1936 the Bureau received Congressional authority to advise the churches and religious organizations that they were subject to fine
($500) or imprisonment (60 days) or
both for refusal or neglect to comply
or for willfully giving false answers. In
1938 the Alabama Baptist State Convention adopted a resolution that its
ministers not cooperate. Led by other
Baptist groups, the religious organiza-

tions and the churches of the United

States thumbed their collective nose
at the federal government and no religious census has been tried since. The
1946 report was never issued.
However, the government's try was
a good one. In 1906 when the U.S.
population stood at 76 million, the
churches were reluctantly admitting
to holdings of $1% billion or $16..5
worth of real estate for each person in
the land. By 1936, with a total U.S.
population of 123 million, the church
holdings rose to $4 billion or $32.5
worth of real estate for each person in
the land. The last good estimate done,
in 1976, revealed a total U.S. population of 210 million and church holdings of $160 billion or $762 worth of
real estate for each person in the land.
In July, 1979 the IRS issued an estimated calculation of gifts alone to
churches at $16 billion annually. This
does not include business income,
wills, dividends, earnings, rents or direct grants from the government.
The dread of mortmain against
which our founding fathers enveighed

is upon our land. It is more than mortmain now. It is the threat of mortebrain, as we become stultified. and do
not challenge the encroachments.
All of which brings us to the
strange case of Hugh McDiarmid of
Detroit, Michigan.
The diverse legislative bodies in the
. United States generally go about their
business, which usually has nothing to
do with the business of our people collectively, with no attention attached
to them. They legislate away, for and
in behalf of the special interest groups
they represent.
For some reason, a columnist of the
Detroit Free Press went snoopingand
discovered House Bill 4177 then before the Michigan legislature. This bill,
essentially would require churches to
report annually the value of all their
real estate holdings. McDiarmid, the
columnist, wrote an article concerned
with the .proposed legislation, which
column appeared in the Detroit Free
Press on June 5, 1979. It is reproduced
here, by photograph, exactly as it was
published.

Why the secrecy on church property?

LANSING- The bishops and archdeacons and their political acolytes are
slumming around in the Michigan Legislature again, trying to protect their massive property holdings from public inspection.
It is one of those grand ecumenical
crusades in which conventional Catholics and Protestants stand shoulder to
shoulder with shave-topped Hare Krishnas and assorted Children of God, Unifi-,
cationists and store-front crackpots in
defense of their rights to representation
without taxation.
At best the crusade is self-serving. At
worst it's an outrageous cover-up for a
lot of secular-perhaps
pagan-activity
that trucks along profitably under the
flag of piety.
The Antichrist in this instance is legislation designed to permit local and state
governments and presumably the public
to measure the extent and value of tax
exempt property held by churches and

Austin, Texas

BUlb

McDIarmid

other non-profit organizations in the

state and insure that such exemptions are
justified.
NOBODY AT THIS point is saying
that.pews and parsonages or schools and
orphan homes should be taxed.
What they're saying is that it's high
time that responsible public authorities
be allowed to lift the ecclesiastical curtains and see for themselves what's
what.
The legislation was introduced in
February by Rep. Claude A. Trim, a 44year-old Oakland County Democrat and
straight arrow whose impeccable re-

September, 1979

sume lists duty with the Jaycees, tHe

Rotarians, the Boy Scouts and 20 years as.
deacon of the Davisburg Baptist Church.
Unfortunately for the bishops, Trim is
also a former township assessor.
And he has suggested gently that
appearances may be deceiving in the
wonderful world of tax exempt Michigan. Specifically. he questions the propriety of exemptions for cults and fringe
groups whose religions are ill-defined,
and he suggests strongly but respectfully
that a lot of conventional churches have
been at work cutting business deals and
making profits on tax exempt buildings
and land that the state Constitution says
are supposed to be used "exclusively for
religious or educational purposes."
TRIM HAS some ardent supporters in
the Legislature who aren't nearly so
reverent.
"If those churches were legit, they
wouldn't have any problem with the bill.

Page 7

--'

NEWS
What the hell have they got to hide?"
asks state Sen. Harry DeMaso, RBattie
Creek, who has introduced similar legislation in years past and intends to do so
again.
And Rep. Cushingberry, D'Detroit,
says that "it is unbelievable what's going
on" in certain areas of Detroit where, he
says, absentee landlords and storefront
men-of-God are mixing exemptions withwrite-offs while the neighborhoods
around the so-called churches go to pot.
Cushing berry's concern extends
statewide, too.
"I'd guess the Catholic Church and
the Baptists and the Lutherans and the
others probably own one-third of the
property in this state...
They've got
country clubs, camps, big land holdings
that wind up in timber, leased prop- '
erty ... the whole deal," he says.
Trim's bill, which is now through
committee and before the full House,
would require churches and other nonprofit groups to' file .annual statements
with local assessors estimating the value
of their tax exempt property and certifyThe reply was electric. Sen. Joseph
S. Mack (Dvlronwood, Upper Peninsula) immediately called on the Michigan Senate to pass a resolution censuring the columnist for what Mack
called "a vicious attack on Michigan's
religious community." Saner heads referred the request for resolution to the
Senate Administration and Rules Committee.
Mack, a Roman Catholic, told reporters he introduced the censure resolution because he thought McDiarmid's column "stinks" and that "this,
kind of language" should not be used
when "writing about religion." Mack
also had a statement printed in the,
Senate's Journal about "this kind of '
tripe in the public press."
The issue broke out in "Letters to :
the Editor", (complete with a cartoon'
illustration) as well as in radio and
television commentary.

ing that its use is in keeping with the'

charitable spirit of the state Constitution.
Simple enough, eh?
Wrong. The tumult from the churches '
has been deafening.
'
,THE MICHIGAN Catholic Confer.
ence waded in with dire warnings from'
its spokesmen of "the chilling effect" of
such legislation on good works, especially those performed by churches, and
hinted of sinister "surveillance" by government agents over free religious ex.
pression.
The conference also declared the bill
unconstitutional, claimed that it would
impose severe financial burdens on local
governments and small churches and, of
course, insisted that it was a foot in the
door for-shhh!-eventual
taxation. '
"We think the intent behind'it is to tax
property that is now exempt ... This is
the first step," said the, conference's

Rep. Claude Trim 'explained that the

church people "misunderstood
the
bill's intent. It is not meant
an en,
croachment. We just want the information. "
The information asked is a list of
properties for which the churches
claim exemptions and why, together
with an estimate of the properties'
cash value.,

Surprisingly, the editor of a United

Methodist church magazine agreed
with Trim and himself raised the issue
of tax exemptions for houses owned

as

. Meanwhile, the churches and reli-:

gious organizations "put pressure on!
legislators", according to later media!
"reports, to send the bill back to the I
,Taxation Committee from which it'
had been reported out on May 23rd.1
That battle was won by the churches I
on June 7th.
I
The Michigan ,Council of Churches
(a tax exempt, apologist organization
for the churches) began, in a panic, to
wave the First Amendment to the .U.S.
Constitution as it screamed of an "encroachment by the state on the affairs'
of the church."

Page 8

September, 1979

Tony Derezlnski, a former state-senator, turned- lobbyist.

No less strident is Michigan IMPACT,
a consortium of Methodist, Presbyterian, '
Episcopal and other churches whose di- :
rector, the Rev. Allen B. Rice II, argued
that Trim's bill would open the door. '
"It is a logical and easy step from'
filing of information (Trim's bill) to saying, 'Hey, that's a good (tax) source, let's '
slap it on them,' " said Mr. Rice, who
intends shortly to publish a special alert
and distribute it widely to churches in
I Michigan.
And the threat evidently is awesome.
In a newsletter passed out in April, :
Mr. Rice suggested that the timing of the:
legislation, coming as it does on the heels'
of last year's tax revolt, might tempt:
lawmakers to give unusual scrutiny to ' ,
church property.
"If this bill passes and if the holdings
of churches are made known," warned,
the newsletter, "considerable publicity
is bound to result. It
Amen.
by churches in which priests and ministers live rent free.
"Why should a church that can afford to buy, a, $75,000 parsonage be
able to own that house tax free, while
a poor family on the next street lives
in a house worth $15,000 and still has
to pay taxes?" he asked. "It doesn't
seem to make much sense when you
consider what churches are supposed
to be about. There are too many moral
inconsistencies here."
However, he did not weak for the
United Methodist church, the conduct
of which was otherwise. During early
1979, tax assessors in Ann Arbor, Plymouth and Livonia, Michigan tried to
tax second residences in parishes already having one tax exempt residence
, for the clergyman in charge and the
United Methodist church appealed the
tax assessments-and won.
The Michigan Roman Catholic Conference was, of course, inalterably op-,
, posed to the bill. With this bill safely
in the Tax Commission Committee
and assigned to die there, the churches
momentarily breathed a sigh of triumph.
Meanwhile Rep. Lynn Jondahl (DEast Lansing) introduced another bill.
, Estimating that the state of Michigan
: spends "indirectly" (because of tax ex, emptions, rebates, credits, deductions
, and special rates) in excess of $5 bil- .
lion a year when only $4.5 billion is
raised by taxation, he asked for an
"annual value" be placed on tax exempt lands, and buildings. The church-

The American Atheist

NEWS
es saw this as another attack and rallied round the Roman Catholic Conference to crush that legislative effort.
Rep. Jondahl was furious. "This amounts to a defense of ignorance," he
said. " ... I am embarrassed to see the
. church taking that position. Their logic is that their (tax) exemptions are
safe only so long as the people don't
know the extent of them."
The Jondahl bill, not especially
-aimed at the churches, called for a report each year to the Legislature on
the amount of tax revenues lost
. through various exemptions. This ineluded exemptions granted to property owned by churches as well as nonprofit, educational, health and welfare
organizations, and also public schools,
state universities and publicly owned
land.
In the review of the battles, the
media revealed that Jondahl is an ordained minister with United Church of

. Rep. Claude Trim: "It (the

'bill) is not meant as an encroachment. "
Christ and that the
the Michigan Senate,
Clio) is an ordained
Church of God. The
Catholic Conference

floor manager of
Gary Corbin (Dminister of the
Michigan Roman
involved itself in

heavy lobbying-with
its tax exempt
income as an aid.
Jondahl's bill was successfully assaulted by the provision of an amendment that churches and religious organizations need only report number
of acres owned, even if those acres are
under the central city skyscrapers of
downtown Detroit.
It's a beginning.
If the average citizen of the United
States was ever to find out how much
real estate, how many businesses, how
large the holdings of stocks and bonds,
how enormous the income from wills- ,
there would be a universal demand for
taxation of church holdings.
As in 1906, 1916,1926,
1936 and
1946, so today, the churches know
they must keep the populace in ignorance. It is time for renewed agitation
for "disclosure laws." Isn't it time you
asked all your legislators, city, county,
state and federal, about the possibility
of it?

liet 'Re"d~ for

All over the United States, it has been the habit of the
god sloqan on the nation's paper currency and coins to nativiChristians to push their symbolism on the populace-and
this
ty scenes in government, buildings, from "Christmas"
celebradespite the fact that the Christian 'churches, with all their
tions in schools to prayers in government
meetings, from the
money, power, political influence and terrifying philosophy,
recapturing
of natural holidays (the solstices and the equinoxes) to that of our national motto.
have never been able to influence even 50% of the population
Currently the New Jersey, Arizona, Texas and California
of our nation to go to church. The American people have
chapters of American Atheists are involved in or are preparing
shown uncommon good sense in staying away from churches,
to be involved in litigation concerned with qovernrnent prayer.
persistently, throughout
our nation's history.
The Ohio, Wisconsin and Texas chapters are doing the same in
The battle for "symbols"
has intensified in the United
respect to nativity scenes.
States since the end of World War II and almost all of what the
The Ohio chapter director, Richard A. Scholten, in the purChristians designate as "time honored" is no more than about
suit of a nativity scene case has hired a law firm which fur30 years old, having their inception during the years of "Cold
nished a "memorandum"
on the constitutionality
of such exWar" McCarthy terrorist political tactics when Christianity was
hibits. Since you can utilize this to begin making your comconceived as an instrument with which to fight the "Atheistplaints and taking your actions, locally, in your city, against
Communists."
such continuing symbolism, that memorandum
is here reproThose days of political naivete are gone. No one seriously,
duced for your use.
.
now, considers that all Atheists are Communists
or that all
Communists are Atheists. It is evident that Atheism is an intelMEMORANDUM
ON CONSTITUTIONALITY
OF THE
lectual position in respect to reirgion and that Communism is a .
CRECHE AT EDEN PARK
socio-economic
political system. We are freed from some of
the inane ideas, but not from the symbolism upon which the
churches again place their hopes.
Annually, during the holiday season, a Nativity display conWe must be totally free. The human mind should endure no
sisting of a replica of the Bethlehem stable, animals, and sta- .
shackles.
tues of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the shepherds,
and three kings, are placed in Eden Park, which is under the
Therefore, the American Atheist Center has undertaken
to
rid the United States of religious symbolism, ranging from a
jurisdiction
of the Cincinnati Board of Park Commissioners.

Christ-mess
Austin, Texas

September, 1979

Page 9

NEWS
This creche is constructed and financed by the Western-South- ,
ern Life Insurance Coo; the role of the Park Board in maintaining the display. is unclear, but the Park Board must consent to
the use of the park land, Cincinnati's Charter, Art. VII, t1.
Many citizens, including large numbers of school children, visit
the permanent floral displays at the Krohn Conservatory.
Stnce the Nativity display is in close proximity to the permanent floral display, the Park Board in a sense, provides the
spectators for the creche.
The display depicts one of the most dogmatic stories of the
New Testament. This Bible story is not a tenet of the Jewish
faith, and if accepted.would necessarily negate a Jew's beliefs.
Likewise, the Nativity passages are the very antithesis of the
beliefs of other non-Christians and Atheists.
The creche is more than a religious symbol, such as, the
Latin Cross or Mer)orah; it is a presentation of the Bible story
Itself, of God coming to earth via a virgin-birth. While the Nativity story is of paramount significance to Christians, it no'
doubt, insults a large percentage of Atheists, Jews, and nonChristians; since a state agency presents the display on public
property, thereby giving the state's stamp of approval to the
religious belief, and thereby stigmatizing the beliefs of nonbelievers, and thereby imposing the religious views of the majority on the minority.
THE LAW

"The first amendment has erected a wall between Church and

State, that wall must be kept high and impregnable." Everson
v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 18,67 S.Ct. 504, 513,
(1947).
The Supreme Court in Nyquist, infra. formulated three criteria, which apply to state aid to religion, each criteria must be
met for constitutionality:
-(a)the law or state conduct must reflect
purpose;
(b) the law or state conduct must have a
neither advances nor inhibits religion
tiple primary effects);
(c) it must avoid excessive governmental
both administrative and political.

a clearly secular
primary effect that
(there may be mulentanglement,

The propriety of any secular purpose may not immunize

, "
(

from further scrutiny an administrative order which either has

a primary effect that advances religion or which fosters excessive entanglement, Committee for Public Ed. v. Nyquist, 413
U.S. 756,93 S.Ct. 2955, 2966 (1973). These three guidelines
are not precise constitutional limits but only serve to identify
instances in which objectives of the Establishment Clause have
been impaired, Meek v. Pittenger,421 U.S. 349,360,95
S.Ct.
1753,1760 (1975).
.
In Everson, supra, the Supreme Court adopted a strict neutrality doctrine so that any state aid to a religion was unconstitutional. Justice Black wrote that the First Amendment
means:
"Neither a state nor federal government can pass laws
which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one over
another." 330 U.S. 1, 15; 67 S.Ct. 504,511 (1947).

The three criteria are usually employed to show that neutrality is breached, but where direct state aid is involved, an
obvious breach of neutrality can be shown without the criteria. A de minis defense does not allow the bulwark between
church and state to be breached, it being no defense to urge
that the religious practices involved may be relatively minor
encroachment of the First Amendment, De Spain v. De Kalk
School District, 384 F2d 836 (CA7 1967). "The breach of
neutrality that is today a trickling stream may all too soon become a raging torrent." School District of Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225;-83 S.Ct. 1560, 1573.
Even though a private group constructs the creche, if a governmental agency must consent to the use of the park, it is
government activitY,Al/en v. Hickel, 424 F2d 944, 947.
It is also well established that the First Amendment protects the non-believers, Atheist and Agnostic, as well as the
adherents to minority faiths, Torasco v. Watkins, 367 U.S.
488,81 S.Ct. 1680 (1961).
With respect to the creche failing the secular purpose portion of the test, there must be a determination as tothe Park
Board's purpose in consenting to the creche. It is indisputable
that the Nativity scene is of great religious import; it is more
than a symbol; it is frequently positioned in churches, so that
the faithful can meditate on the scene as they pray. If the Nativity display is a part of a larger Christmas display, which has
a secular purpose, then the creche's purpose may be secular,
Allen v. Morton, 495 F2d 65 (D.C. 73), only if other safeguards are implemented. In Lowe v. City of Eugene (Or.
1969), 463 P2d 360, the placir1g of an illuminated cross in a
park was unconstitutional, since the city council consented to,
preferential display of the preferred religious symbol of the
majority religious group. The Oregon Supreme Court stated:
"Public land cannot be set apart for the permanent display
of an essentially religious symbol when the display connotes government sponsorship. The employment of publicly owned and publicly maintained property for a highly visible display of the character of the cross in this case neces'sarily permits an inference of official endorsement of the
general religious beliefs which underlie that symbol."

In Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97,89 S.Ct.266 (1968),

the Arkansas anti-evolution statute prohibiting teachers from

Page-lO

September, 1979

The American Atheist

NEWS
discussing evolution was found to be in violation of the First
Amendment Establishment Clause, since the act did not have a
secular purpose. There was no justification of public policy for
the law, other than the religious views of a large number of Arkansas citizens.
The California Supreme Court in Fox v. Los Angeles, 587
P2d 663 (1918) held that an illuminated cross on the city hall
violated the California Constitution and that "whatever the
city's subjective purpose, an impressive religious preference has
objectively resulted." Ohio's Constitution, Art. I and VII, is
similar to California's in that "no preference shall be given, by
law, to any religious society."
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203, 68 S.Ct.
461, stands for the proposition that the State can advance religion by means other than financial support; namely, by allowing religious instructors to temporarily use public property in
the form of a classroom. In Lemon v. Kurtzman, 91 S. 2105,
2111, the Supreme Court recognized three evils, against which
the Establishment Clause was intended to afford protection:
sponsorship, financial support-and active involvement of the
sovereign in religious activity. There is no doubt that the Cincinnati Park Board, by its consent, is sponsoring the creche
and is actively involved in religious activity.
Many forms of state assistance to religion, other than direct
financial aid, have been declared unconstitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court, Hunt v. McNair, 93 S.Ct. 2868, 2880.
With regard to the "privacy effect".test, in Hunt v. McNair,
'Justice Powell noted:
"Aid normally may be thought to have a primary effect of
advancing religion when it flows to an institution in which
religion is so pervasive that a substantial portion of its functions are subsumed in the religious mission or wnen it funds

a specifically religious activity in an otherwise substantially

secular setting." (Emphasis added).
It is our contention that the creche itself is a religious activity in an otherwise secular setting, just as this was Judge Leventhal's opinion in Allen v. Morton, 495 F2d 65, 87.
Additionally, the decision in Nyquist clarified that there
could be multiple primary effects; in the sense that the constitutional propriety of state action depends not on whether the
state action in any way has the 'direct and immediate' effect
of advancing religion, 93 S.Ct. 2971 n. 39; also see Allen v.
Morton, 495 F2d 65, 70.
Justice Black in Engel v. Vitale 82 S.Ct. 1261, 1267, described the effect of government action:
"When the power, prestige, and financial support of govf!rnment is placed behind a particular religious belief, the
indirect coercive pressure upon religious minorities to
conform to the prevailing officially approved religion is
plain. But the purposes underlying the Establishment
Clause go much further than that. Its first and most immediate purpose rested on the belief that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and -to
degrade religion. The history of governmentally established
religion, both in England and in this country, showed that
whenever government had allied itself with one particular
form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had

Austin, Texas

incurred the hatred, disrespect, and even contempt of those

who held contrary beliefs. "
Similarly, in Lowe v. City of Eugene, 463 P2d 360, the Ore-

gon Supreme Court decided that an illuminated cross in a public park stigmatized or officially deemed less worthy the beliefs of those who did not follow the dogma, symbolized by
the Latin cross, which was officially endorsed by the city.
Likewise, in Fox v. City of Los Angeles, 587 P2d 663 (1975),
the California Supreme Court decided that:
"Moreover, the cross was lit on the-ffiCe of the city building
which indicated government's sponsorship of the display in
the clearest of terms.
'When a city so openly promotes the religious meaning of
one religion's holidays, the benefit reaped by that religion
and the disadvantage suffered by other religions is obvious.
Those persons who do, not share those holidays are relegated to the status of outsiders by their own government;
those persons who do observe these holidays can take pleasure in seeing the symbol of their belief given official Sanction and special status.
"The simple but crucial fact at issue is that the city government of Los Angeles has identified itself with the central
symbol of one religion. As judges, it is our unmistakable
constitutional duty to protect those of other faiths or no
faith from the coercion toward conformity
that attaches to
every official endorsement of any religion, particularly the
majority religion. "

The third part of the test is excessive government entanglement. In Lemon v. Kurtzman, 91 S.Ct. 2105, the Supreme
Court held that entanglement could result from both 1) comprehensive state administrative surveillance of indirect aid to
religion; and 2) divisiveness and polarization of political groups
along religious lines.
The present dispute may not involve excessive administrative entanglement unless park personnel plav a daily role in
maintaining the creche or unless park personneTare involved in
planning the creche display. In passing, it should be rioted that
the presentation of the creche, at the White House, was so limited by Allen v. Morton, supra, because of excessive entanglement, that the creche was removed.
Generally, political excessive entanglement would be
spawned by annual appropriations for aid to parochial schools.
The theory being that divisiveness and acrimony would result
between Christian religions as they vied for increased funding
and that the different sects would polarize political parties
along religious lines.
lnour dispute there is no annual funding, but each year the
Park Board must consent to the Nativity display. If the predominate religious group realized that the annual consent
would not be given, then the Board would be overwhelmed by
acrimony and would easily perceive the divisiveness and polarization caused by their considerations on the creche.
CONCLUSION

The Society of Separationists and its members are prepared

to litigate this matter. Their action would seek declaratory and
, injunctive relief along with a civil rights claim for monetary
damages under 42 U.S.C. 1983.

September, 1979

Page 11

NEWS
,

Ci,ol

Austin Sues
'American Atheist Center

these small stalwart bands of separationists insist that

If Atheists are unified, at all, on anyone aspect of
the matter be measured against the Constitution
of
state/church separation without dissent it is for the
the United States which mandates, under the First
the future hope of churches, church and religious orAmendment,
that government can not assist religion
ganizations and administrators,
executives or clergy
by "establishment"
legislation. To "establish"
relipaying their fair share of the tax burden which we all
gion is to give it a preferential standing, a special rehave.
cognition or the tax money that religions always deThe injustice of Atheists, Agnostics, non-church
mand.
goers, being taxed for the support of the churches,
paying for their police protection,
fire protection,
traffic control, garbage collection, sewage disposal,
without the churches so much as giving a collective
"thank you" to the taxpayers of any given city,
county or state - this is the big irritant.
On the other hand, the Atheists, Agnostics, someFor many years, American Atheists have asked of
times, if not all the time, have had to stand patiently
the American Atheist Center, "Why do you not start
by and watch the clergy obtain special rates for posta suit to force the churches to pay their taxes?" and
age, exemption from sales tax, inheritance tax, tax on - the churches uniformly shouted, "The power to tax
capital gains, business tax, corporate tax, while they
is the power to destroy." The family in the United
have free earnings and dividends on stocks and bonds,
States endures although it has been taxed on land,
rents, sales and contributions. At the same time that
income, purchases, amusements, inheritances, for use
churches refuse to accept any of the monetary burof toll roads and bridges as well as much more. The
dens for living in this World, they demand - and ob- government's power to tax has not destroyed either
tain - extraordinary grants from government in their
mankind or the family. The churches will endure.
support of advocacy of life in another world. The
Meanwhile they fight all progress, political, scienfight is incessant, rising in crescendo over the years as tific and social, as they cling to the basic philosophy
the religious organizations and churches become more
of the medieval ages.
demanding and the government becomes more yieldFor years the American Atheist Center nas been
ing. The thin, but now wavering, line of the court
trying to figure a way to start a suit which would not
systems, particularly
the United States Supreme
cost $5 million, a suit where it would need (lot take
Court, buckles under the barrage- of assaults, the de- the initiative and be required to give figures, which mands for tax money "for busing, tax money for i in reality - only the government can gather, concernbooks, tax money for tuition grants, tax money for' ed 'with church wealth.
In mid~1978, it was, therefore, decided that the
hospitals, tax money for retirement
homes, taxmost expeditious route might be to default on some
money for schools, tax money for record keeping, tax
taxes, somewhere, and wait until the government, at
money for social services, tax money for special child
some level, decided to sue in a tax court and then try
care ... all in the name of sectarian religious groups
to take issue at that point, refusing to pay because
as they all hammer away at that final barrier, the
the taxes were calculated on a base from which reliqFirst Amendment to the Constitution of the United
.Ious holdings had been excluded. It was decided at
States.
the summer (1978) Board of Directors meeting that
They have won; they do win and they shall continthe tax would need to be insignificant so that interest
ue to win as they assault the legislative and the executive branches of the nation. Petty politicianswant
re- on it would not be a drain but of such a nature that a
turned to office and they yield their principles consuit might have a chance if predicated on it. Personal
property tax was suggested as one on which the Censtantly to the demands of the churches in return for
the promise of votes to keep them in office. In a conter might default and on which a suit might still carry
tinuing way, unyielding state/church separation prothe day.
The American Atheist Center has rolling stock:
ponents bring law suits to challenge the illegal legisautomobiles. It was therefore decided to permit this
lative grants and almost every suit in the last ten years
"automobile or business tax" to become delinquent
has been of that nature. Executive and legislative
simply so that a suit could be fought if the Center
branches of government "do favors" for rei igion,
was ever sued by the City of Austin over the tax.
usually tied in with the spending of tax dollars. Then;

Page 12

September, 1979

The American Atheist

NEWS.
Actually, at one point, it seemedthat day would
never come. However, on July 18th, 1979, the following was finally received.
SPECIAL NOTICE: The City of Austin has filed
tax suit in court naming you asdefendant.
THE TAX SUIT was filed in order to collect delinquent automobile or businesstaxes you owe to
the city and/or school district.
CAUSE No. 1234386
TO THE HONORABLE JUDGE OF SAID COURT:
NOW COMES the City of Austin, Texas, a Home
Rule City, for itself and/or on behalf of the Austin
Independent School District, hereinafter called
PLAINTI FF, complaining of:
Society of Separationists, Inc.
(i.e. the American Atheist Center)
2210 Hancock Dr., Austin, Texas 78756
hereinafter called DE FENDANT and for cause of
action would respectfully show to the Court:
1. That the following described personal property
was owned by Defendant and said property was
situated for tax purposeswithin the Corporate Limits
of the City of Austin and/or within Austin Independent School District on 1 January for each year for
which taxes are sought; and as to eachof the following items separately assessed,there is now due, owing
and unpaid taxes, penalty and interest for the following years and in the amounts indicated, plus costs of
court, for a total current sum of $499.85 after which
there is additional penalty, interest and court costs as
provided by law.

That is hardly a propitious beginning for what Is

hoped may become a suit to end the tax free rides.
The costs of which the suit makes mention is $8.00 at
this point, including the title search.
-:;/
No pressconference-has been scheduled. Paul Funderburk, the staff attorney for the American Atheist
Center quietly entered an appearance on July 21st
with a notice that the suit would be contested, i.e. a
generaldenial was filed.
It is important to realize that it is asyet uncertain
as to whether or not this suit can be turned around
and used as the American Atheist Center desires to
use it. There is always the possibility that the City of
Austin, Texas, rather than involve itself in litigation
concerned with the churches, may just drop the suit.
That is always the danger inherent in the use of this
kind of legal action.
-The $500 involved here is so minimal, that the
"chance" is nothing for us. The rolling stock of the
corporation is not threatened. There can be no interest until there is a judgment and.the costs involved
at this moment amount to $8. total.
Although American Atheists have wanted a suit
such as this for many years, there has been a great .
reluctance to finance one. The least costly road has
been chosen. The casewill be carefully, legally, tended. Reports will be issued on a continuing basis.

Walk on the water

if you need to .....
just get there
DETROIT
..

in
1980

DATE FILED: Jul. 18, 1979.

Property discription: automobiles
2. That in the assessmentand levy of taxes, all things
required by law to be done havebeen legally perform.ed by the proper officials, and the Assistant City Attorney is legally authorized to institute and prosecute
this suit; also a title check has incurred costs.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays judgment against Defendant for the total amount of said taxes, together ,
with all penalties, interest and costs that may be or
become legally due and owing, and for personal judgment against said Defendant owning said personal
property at time same was assessedfor taxation for
the amount shown to be due on it, plus interest on
judgment at rate of 9% per annum, until paid, and
cost of title check.
Winfred D. Craft
Assistant City Attorney

Ernest A. Simon
Assistant City Attorney

Austin, Texas

l Oth National Annual American Atheist Convention

April,"1980
For details
Call:
[313] 7216630
Write:
Helen Weaver, Convention Coordinator
Detroit Chapter, American Atheists
P. O. Box 37056
Oak Park, Michigan, 48237

September, 1979

Page 13

The Origin or Ihe Gods

Amedeo

In 1975, I submitted a paper to the American Philosophical

Association entitled "Must Religion Be Destroyed?" as a contribution for a conference to be held at Princeton University.
The question was answered in the positive, "religion must be
destroyed" for, like the presumptuous, threatening, and
wrongdoing Carthage, religion deserves a Cato-like censure,
"religio delenda est. " However, because of time limits, only
the first part of the thesis was elaborated, namely the falsity
of religion. The paper was politely rejected, even though my
criticisms were as strict, if not more strict, than those of the
best philosophers. Having had a disillusioning participation in
a previous conference, this time I resigned from the A.P.A.
The reason for mentioning this incident is that the present
essay (which cannot possibly be as accurate and clear as a detailed long exposition would be) touches on an area which I
was suggesting in that conference-paper. I was saying that it is
not sufficient to either disprove and discredit religion or
accept Nietzsche's proclamation that God is dead; it would be
a mistake to believe that God is dead and that all we have left
to do is to bury and forget Him. Indeed, some people have not
hesitated to build religions and .theologies on empty sepulchers and traditionalists have not stopped preserving the
psychological, socially consequential,
existence of gods.
To wage war op the gods is a necessary but negative task.
Hence I proposed and was thinking that positive tasks include
rescuing many good things which lie around, fell in, or have
been associated with religions, and seeking an understanding
of- the gods and religions as the historical phenomena they are.
This essay has to do with a positive area of inquiry.
Whatever else may be said about gods, at least this much
must be said for the sake of a minimal definition of tlie word
"god": a god is an exceedingly powerful and immortal reality.
"Exceedingly" need not mean "infinite"; it must mean "in
excess of human power". A simply exceedingly powerful
reality would be simply super-human; it must be true of a
genuine god that it cannot be overpowered by anything so as
to be destroyed. But then "immortality" is an indicator of
a relatively superior "passive" power. Hence "god" is reducible to "supremely powerful", provided that this definition implies no more than "super-humanly powerful" and
"able to withstand any destructive power".
In -this seemingly arbitrary definition of God (that is, any
god), man is implicitly the primary analogate, the point of
reference, the criterion or measuring-rod of all things. And it
is in the light of man that we can understand the gods.
Let us consider the earliest men in terms of life needs,
which' are also our needs. The following are absolute requirements for living: clean air, a sufficiently warm surrounding or
clime, fresh water (a river, a natural spring, a rain-pond), and
food (edible plants, fruits, and animals). In other words, the
four life class elements are fresh -water, the fruitful earth,
clean air, and a limited range of environmental heat. All of
these four elements can be noxious, but insofar as they are
healthy: air is (was) always present; water and earth are
variable in availability according to the seasons, use, and sporadic events (floods, fires, etc.), so that they may be conducive
to search-migrations (nomadism); and heat, understood as
environmental or climatic temperature, varies not only periodically (daily, seasonally.and over longer periods), but also
territorially.

Page 14

September, 1979

Amendola

In a given territory which is suitable for human life in terms

of the four elements, animals and other menaces may promote
migration. Thus there can be various reasons for migration
from suitably warm to unsuitably cold zones. Tribes which so
migrate may satisfy the need of heat temporarily by staying
near fires caused by lightning and more permanently by
staying near continually or frequently erupting volcanoes.
Fire-tending (feeding afire) will be required for greater permanence, but only reliance on one's ability to produce fire (to
ignite materials without the use of fire) will provide the full
solution to the heat problem.
A volcano is a visible fire-producer and can be recognized;
the fire-producing sky has no visible fissure or other mark after
its fleeting flashes (which bring about forest fires). Thus if
early men acquainted with volcanoes were impelled to migrate
to colder zones, they "logically" travelled near water
such as rivers, and searched for volcanoes. River banks became
the earliest highways, and volcanoes, with or without nearby
caves (for men began to construct "houses"), became the
earliest landmarks and town-centers. Whether independently
or as a result of their pursuit of warmer environmental conditions, volcanic fire began to be desired more than anything else
(more than lightning fires and sun heat) for cooking, for
clearing forests, and for defensive and offensive purposes.
For men emerging (evolving) in a zone where daily and
seasonal heat conditions can be tolerated or adopted to by the
organism, sun heat is almost as inconspicuous as the air which
is breathed. With life needs fulfilled and no migration, there
would be no occasion for human invention, which is the true
beginning of humans, Migrators tend to develop into two
(though not necessarily exclusive) cultures.
There are two kinds of fire. One is volcanic (which, upon
further acquaintance and in terms of origin, can be called subterranean); the other is lightning-induced (which-eventually is
conceived of as supra-celestial in origin). Hence we may
speak of volcani an and fulminian cultures,
Volcanians have their eyes on the earth; fulminians have
their eyes on the sky, but the incendiary power is not stationed anywhere. Only occasionally it makes sudden appearances and disappearances. Unlike a tree or a river or an active
volcano, the heavenly incendiary power is invisible, absent, beyorid the visible sky (supra-celestial). On the other hand, a volcano (an active volcano) is a visible fire-emitter as well as an
incendiary power.
Whether coming from the earth or from the sky, fire is
one of the greatest powers. As for destructiveness, nothing
surpasses it. If fire were only a spectacle, something seen,
probably it would have been unnoticed by early man. Merely
visible lightning and volcanic explosions might have startled
this creature, but only when he began to get burnt and when
he "experimented"
with small burning patches of earth did
he begin to know fire as a power. (Power, Plato's dynamis, is
evident either in producing effects or in undergoing effects.)
And what a power it is! Some (active) volcanoes are present
generations after generations, that is, "from time immemorial"
and "for all time to come". The sky flashes again and again.
Thus, whether by' constant presence or by recurrence, mighty
fire is perennial, inexhaustible, immortal. Fire is the greatest
god. (To be sure, Fire itself is ambiguously one or two gods.)
The god Fire is undoubtedly the greatest and the first to be

The American Atheist

"born", to emerge in the human field of existence.

Living in the world as we do, how could early man ever
doubt, ever question, or ever deny the existence of gods?
There was nothing more obvious than the gods, and there was
no creature on earth which could be called human unless it
had gods, that is, unless it was really interrelated with and
began to develop an awareness of such immortal powers as
Fire.
(Incidentally, the Latin oolcanus or vulcan us was at once
the name of volcanoes and of the fire-god, the earliest Roman
god. This god is the derivative of the Etruscan Vulch. Etruscan
sites and towns made use of this divine name -- which is not
strange, since Italy lies on an S-shaped string of 'volcanoes,
most of which are extinct now. The fact that the Vestal virgins
safeguarded and fed a fire until as recently as 2,000 years
ago, and that lamps still burn in churches, points to the volcanian cultural substrata of Italy, despite the long-used invention
of ignition and the floods of Sumerian derivative sky-religions
since agricultural times -- anonymous, Greek, and Jewish. With
the advent of agriculture and the relative interest in celestial
and atmospheric phenomena, celestial religion virtually banished earth religion.)
'In the first stage of human history, truly whatVico calls
the Age of the Gods, the gods were more conspicuous and real
than anything else. Fires, Storms, Floods, and Ferocious
Animals could overpower man and, like day and night, the
warm and the cold seasons, they always came back as from an
eternal and inexhaustible matrix. (This kind of matrix underlies Plato's view of reality and is called eidos by him.) In time,
many things were granted sameness but no identity; that is, it
was not one and the same individual which, apparently gone
or dead, came back (either by being reborn or by resurrection).
But then they lost divinity, regardless of their power. And, of
course, what man could overpower was no longer divine;
powerful man and the gods existed in indirect proportion.
It is quite natural and not at all a human aberration that
there should be many gods. Of course, these gods could- be
called numinq, for they are exceedingly powerful and seemingly immortal parts of our universe. Eventually clusters of gods
were distinguished: sky-gods, (such
the Flasher, the Sun,
etc.), earth-gods, ocean-gods, and air-gods (winds, etc.). For
our hemisphere, anybody's experiential world, could be
divided into four zones. (Empedocles will refine the conception of elements to the point that it served as one foundation
of modern chemistry.) Men avoided, fled from, or fought
gods, and men looked for gods, hoped for the return of gods,
and in desperation vocally summoned gods to return. Religion
proper was an intentional practice; that is, the making of
preparations relative to the gods, such as devising defensive
schemes, luring or calling gods, and so forth. So, religion
revolved around protection against evil and propitiation; it is
reflected in deranged derivations such as the carrying of amulets (to avert bad luck) and of talismans (to bring good luck).
Religion was less extensive than the field of human activities or of preparations for activities (for it is relative to the
gods only), but it was in no way different from profane
preparations insofar as it was efficacious, successful. Only in
the face of failures to control the gods did religion become a
magical undertaking, a ritual, something differentiated from
artisanship.

as

The Age of the Gods was innocent. We lived, moved, and

had our being in the divinely pulsating universe. If one word
had been invented for this universe, it would have been "God".
(In terms of both power and duration, it is obvious that, with
respect to man, a part, the Universe, the whole" can be called

Austin, Texas

God. Those who accused Bruno of the greatest heresy, thedenial of God's existence, were quite right and did not hav.e to
bum him at the stake to emphasize the point. Bruno's God
is nothing but the name of the universe considered as a whole.
He was an atheist, for his whole philosophy is an implicit
denial of any super-natural, universe-transcending
god or
other god of magic-religions.
To use Vico's terminology, the Age of the Gods was succeeded by the Age of Heroes (that is, princes or aristocratic
men). In the latter Age. the nature of the gods changed, and
here Vico is an innovative mythologist and original historian
who sees man through his works, regardless of what is considered real and fictitious. Briefly speaking, in the Age of the
Gods, human are those creatures which differentiate themselves from brutes primarily by virtue of religion, marriage
and the burial of the dead -- all eminent phenomena ofman's
existence in the world (Dasein, as Heidegger might have
said). Two key facts lead to the Age of Heroes: man's increased power through technological advance (the supersession of the stone age by the metal age) and the invention of
agriculture, which reduced nomadism and brought about the
formation of estates and kingdoms.
In the Heroic Age, the gods are anthropomorphic; that is,
they are endowed with desires, will, consciousness, intelligence, memory, likes and dislikes, loyalties, and so on and
on. We might say that initially the gods (the might and immortal parts of the universe in this Age) are animistic. For
example, the Sun, a great god, is still exactly the visible sun
which moves across the sky, warms us, etc., but it has a
"soul" (it has consciousness, can hear, can deliberate, has
desires, can act).
Deception is one of the most important facts in the transition from animism to spiritualism. An animal may be deceived
by a hunter who uses masking. In human relations, a man may
be deceived through that mechanism which is called telling a
lie. In other words, what appears, what is manifest, need not
be equal to what is; what-is is kept hidden. What is apparent is
body; genuine reality (the occult, the hidden) is sp~*. So, pn
the one hand, the human soul is something interior (for we can
think without speaking, we can feel one way and manifest
something else, we can know one thing and say the opposite,
etc.) and is the genuine reality of man (as the Orphics and
the Pythagoreans will say), spirit (not body); on the other, the
visible gods are the appearances or bodies of the genuine gods
(the Spirits, who as such are exactly invisible). The body-soul
dualism in man's conception of himself is naturally carried
over into the world around us, wherefore the animistic gods
become fully dichotomized into.Bodies and Spirits. The Spirits
control or affect the Bodies from behind the scenes, as from
the other side of the celestial vault, from the subliminalparts.
of the earth, from -- we might say -- the interstices of water
.and air molecules. As Spirits, the gods may live lives quite
differently from what the Bodies do. (In the 6th century B.C.,
the Ionian physicists were the men who could no longer find
any point in referring to the gods, the Spirits, for an understanding of what takes place in the world of bodies and, relinquishing gods and religions, initiated -the Age of Man.)
The aforementioned dualism in man as well in deity, however, is too simple, too neat, and too recent. Either before or
simultaneously with this polished dualism, there was the reminiscence that a great power, the Flasher, was in toto either
present or absent. It could be conceived as existing integrally
above the celestial vault, just as an integral man stands behind
a wall. There is such a thing as integral appearing and disap-

September, 1979

Page 15

Divination belongs to the aforementioned magic-religion,

for the earliest, simple, religion is nothing but ordinary artisanship preparation relative to those overwhelming powers
which we call gods. Divination is a practice in the progressive
degeneration or derangement of religion. One type of divination makes use of scrutiny (which Vico states in terms of
theoremata and mathematas; another type makes use of questioning (which includes the consultation of oracles and obviously can exist only when the gods are anthropomorphic).
Theoremata are literally "god-seeings (gazings upon the

pearing _. physis, if I may be forgiven the use of the initial fact

of the Ionian physicists. (There is the beautiful Latin word
fulmen,'lighting, which is a contraction of FU and LUMEN,
light. Identical with the Greek PHY, FU denotes transition,
appearing and disappearing, evanescence. Thus the future is
what is about to come to pass, and a fugitive person is one
whose going, IRE, is evanescent. Unfortunately physis got
translated as natura rather than something like fuentia.)
A god which preserves integrity in its appearances and
disappearances and which is conceived more and more anthropomorphically cannot avoid undergoing duplication. For
example, the sun is obviously not man-like in either looks
or behavior, but if anthropomorphism is applied to the limit,
it becomes necessary to say that the visible sun is one thing
and the god (the Sun) is something else. The divine sun,
Hellos, is like a king who rules his own kingdom (the visible
sun) ... and so forth. (If duplicated, man has a body and an
"astral" body.)
Like men, the gods have families, have different opinions,
engage in warfare (within the limits of immortality), and,
being powerful, can assume different visible form, can copulate with humans, and indeed they have begotten a superior
race of men, the natural lords of earth-born men.
The theologian Hesiod compiles and organizes various
myths: in the beginning were Ouranos (the Sky or Fatherprinciple) and Gea (the Earth or Mother-principle), who were
literally united by that binding power which is called Eros
(Love). But Earth plotted with the first-conceived son,
Chronos, to have Sky castrated. In pain, Sky lifted himself
and, 10 and behold, in the open abode were born the gods
and eventually all that is not divine -- plants,' animals, and
men. Eventually Zeus dethroned Chronos, thus making himself the heavenly king (analagous to Jupiter or Ju-pater as well
as Yahweh, as the Romans realized), with the air and the earth
as his domain, as well as world-emperor, for he maintained
supremacy over Poseidon, the oceanic king, and Hades, the
~~w~d~~
~

gods)" or the resulting information. Vico's studies in this area

delve especially into the sky-gods. Of course, such gazings,
which evolved into astrology, would be jypical of the agricultural age. (In Aristotle, "theory" will mean "investigation of ai'lything by man's mind alone" or the resulting
findings, the linguistic "god" or "theo-" being no longer
functional, in the Age of Man.) Practically nothing is known
of theoremata in pre-agricultural times; some vague and
ambiguous hints may be found in cave-paintings of the 35,0005,QOOB.C. period.

Hesiod's account of the creation of men is more fanciful

than the Hebrew one, but the differentiation of the sexes
told by a speaker in Plato's Symposium is more interesting:
Zeus had many troubles with rebels (Titans and Giants) and
felt threatened even by the power of the hermaphroditic
human unit which he had made. So, he decided to split the
unit into two halves, wherefore each half seeks the other half
(and presumably will use its energies in copulating rather than
in bothering the government). In the Hebrew account, the
words of the Canaanite god EL (whence come names such as
Michael, Gabriel, and Daniel) and his divine wife are put in
Yahweh's mouth: Let us make man in our own image, male
and female. Were we in total ignorance of the Hebrew decision
(about 800 B.C.) to recognize only one of the gotls as the god
of Israel, we might infer that Yahweh, as the one and only
god, was hermaphroditic, for the "image" in question is
literally and explicitly referring to "male" and "female".
Vico's sequence of Ages (for any historical cycle) is:
Age of the Gods, Age of the Heroes, and Age of Man. As
far as government (one aspect of human history) is concerned, what is typical of the Divine Age is replaced by the rules
imposed by the wills of princes, but this Age of "might is.
right" is replaced by the rule of reason. What is typical of
the Divine Age? Although it is always -men that rule, in this
Age there is theocracy, for the ruler is simply following divine
dispositions and dictates. These dispositions are known by way
of divination, the priestly deciphering of various phenomena ..

Mathemata (that is, learnings) are older than those learnings

which we call mathematical or, more specifically.igeometrical.
Vico's term is useful, since there are historical "divinations"
which are not scrutinies of the gods (wherefore the words
"divination" and "theorizing" do not literally apply). Interpretative scrutiny of bird-flights, of animal livers or intestines,
etc., might as well be subsumed under mathemata. More remotely and more specifically, necromancy (that is, "divination" by means of dead bodies, human or animal) may have
been the only counterpart of divination proper (theoremata).
The livers of sacrificial victims in relatively recent times are
correlated to the sky "houses" of astrology. The partitioning of
the sky in the manner of arable land, or vice-versa, belongs to
agricultural times. In earlier times, necromancy may have involyed funereal banquets, for the eating of the human heart
or brain should have been considered as efficacious (to
obtain information or decision-making power) as blood (to
obtain life-power) or gonads or sperm (to obtain sexual potency or fecundity). In fact, in later times, the Homeric
Shades of the Underground yearn for blood; in the 20th century, the present writer has witnessed the vanishing practice
of eating nearly raw testes of castrated animals. At any rate,
the burial places (the realistic basis of the eventual Hades) of
important (special? nibbled? dream-frightening?) people were
held down by grave-stones such as monoliths, stelae, or
tombstones. (Those neat cranial perforations were not necessarily made for medical purposes. Of course, a stone-sealed

Page 16

September, 1979

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cave or an undergound chamber is equivalent to a grave overlaid by a stone.) Thus, before the formation of land estates,
there were "geographies" (man-made land demarcations-and,
hence, land-configurations). The abstract figures on ceramic
surfaces (in agricultural times) lie between these "geographies" and that branch of mathematics which we call .geometry.
(Many situations may contribute to the creation of gods.
For relationships of the living to the interred and for the use
of narcotics, see Madalyn Murray 0 'Hair's Program 23 in
What on Earth is an Atheist and John Allegro's The Sacred
Mushroom and the Cross.)
All divination is a decision-making inquiry. Theoremata
may be thought of as co-natural with fulminian and agricultural cultures; mathemata, with volcani an cultures. Fulminians are prone to anthroporphosizing the gods; volcanians
are bent on forming mystical religions, whose gods are interior inspirers and whose aim is enthusiasm (en-thee- ... ,
being rapt in the divine).
The history of religion should have ended (and within
limits it did) with the emergence of philosophy in the 6th
century B.C., with the door opened by the Ionians (with fulminian backgrounds) and the Pythagoreans (with voleanian
backgrounds), but a relapse took place. One cycle of history
closed and another opened. There was a positive insurgence
of religions within the Roman commonwealth which can be
understood primarily as a reaction to the Roman ways, not
the tyrannical or otherwise criminal ways (which were fewer
and milder, in comparison of the barbarian ways), but the
godless way of the Roman troops which were, above all,
work-forces. They brought useful technology and art everywhere. Godless leaders even resorted to breaking into templetreasuries for the sake of public works, to bring water to the
cities, to relieve the accepted punishments of the gods, and
the like. The Roman drive to create a fine human world,
both material and political, could only arouse the deepest
sacred wrath of the priests. Religions which previously had
been dormant and local became zealous and missionary;
eventually they succeeded in overwhelming the works of
civilization, as the extant ruins attest. (The destructiveness
by invaders, long after the fall of Rome in 312, was minor
and often insignificant.) Furthermore, religious believers
who came in contact with philosophy had the choice of
either dismissing philosophy (as many did and with good
reason, since philosophy had little to promise for this world
or the next), or dismissing religion (which hardly any of
them did), or accepting both, with reservations on philosophy and modifications on religion. Thus, for about two
centuries before the beginning of Christianity, Philo and
other Jews fanatically accepted their traditional Scriptures as true revelation, even at the cost of re-interpreting
them. The Scriptures began to be read according to their
literal sense and their spiritual sense; the former may- contain human mistakes, while the latter contains God's truth.
From the very beginning, the Christian theologians continued to dichotomize all sacred Scriptures, so as to really
accommodate divine authority to human authority. The return to the pure Scriptures attempted by Luther and others
amounted to religious purism and the implicit rejection of
philosophy and all that pertains to the Age of Man, (If
Protestantism had really succeeded, we would be in the
middle of a thriving Age of the Gods. However, today's
insurging religions, absurd and groundless as they may
be, may still make the world the footstool of God. "Man
is rational" is a proposition which remains to be demonstrated by each man.) Christianity was one of the features

Austin, Texas

of the latest Age of the Gods; therefore, we ask how the new
god was born.
Wh~ther or not there was a particular man called Jesus
(Joshua) who was born in Bethlehem and died under Pontius
Pilate has no importance whatsoever. The fact is that there
were many men in Palestine who sought to dethrone Herod,
a spurious king who did not descend from the house of
David, and to expel the Romans. That. some men died for the
theocratic cause, the restoration of the legitimate kingdom,
can be expected and granted. Thus it is quite possible that
there was a Jesus from the house of David (as one Gospel
takes pains to show) who died for the cause, whether circumstantially or out of personal ambitions.
The death of Jesus (a real person, or though unlikely, a
personification of the restoration movement) was capitalized
upon by Simon Peter: the fact that God worked miracles
through Jesus shows that the latter was chosen as lord and
king (Christ). No wonder that in evangelical accounts, the
inscription on the Cross, in no less than three languages, proclaims that this is Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. Among
other outspoken men, we find Stephen, whom Saul heard
and about whose martyrdom was pleased. On his way to
Damascus, Saul was struck by a blinding idea ... and slowly
he raised Jesus to the level of a god. This wholly conceptual
process was finalized by John the Evangelist (who is unlikely
John the disciple of Jesus). Thus, within seventy years
(33-100 A.D.) and especially between the destruction of
Jerusalem (in the year 70) and the death of John (around
100), a new god was born and the basis of the Christian religion was laid.
The deification of Jesus was not a simple one; Jesus was
both human and divine. In the mainstream which is called
Catholicism (for it is the logical continuation of John's theology), God consists of three persons: The Father (who is
the anthropomorphic
Yahweh, Creator of the world), the
Son (who assumed a human nature but in' itself is Logos,
that according to which all things are made -- a notion ultimately derived from the philosophy of Heraclitus of
Ephesus, the city in which John resided some six hundred
years later), and the Paraclete (or Holy Ghost,.which may become manifest in various physical forms). At the same time,
the Christian theologians were conceiving God according to
some ideas in the philosophies of Parmenides and Plato,
wherefore there emerged a god which is-absolutely singular
and purely spiritual, the final contradiction of the firs't
historical gods, many and material.
The upshot of Christian theology is that there is absolutely one God, but it consists of three persons; that God is
pure spirit but (aside from the literal features of Yahweh
and the occasional materializations of the. Ghost) is united
with the human nature of Jesus, which contains materiality;
that God is infinite in being, not one amongst many realities,
but there is more than God, that is, God plus the created
world (which is not nothing); and so forth. Nevertheless,
the inherent contradictions or absurdities of God have hot
prevented fanatics from making absurdity the reason 'for
believing. Actually, this "reason" exists only in words, for
one does not and cannot believe in anything absurd, such
as a line which somebody proclaims to be straight as well as
non-straight. The information provided about such a line is
zero. "There cannot be judgments, belief or disbelief, about
that which is not asserted to begin with.
Gods are born, but they are not immortal; sooner or later
they evaporate into absurdity.

September, 1979

Page 17

Cultural and Religious Precursors

of
Chauvinist Pigotrg.
by
In two previous essays in The
American Atheist I suggested that religionists perpetuate magical thinking
in order to retain social, sexual, and
financial power, and I described some
of the causes of religionists' fanaticism. In this essay I will explore some
possible cultural and religious origins
behind male domination, or sexism,
found almost universally in religions,
most notably Christianity.
Most Atheists have some awareness
of a relationship between fundamental
religion and males' sexual and social
domination of women. Most are also
aware of religious fundamentalists' obsessional hatred of birth control, masturbation, incest, adultery, and homosexuality. Recently we see emerging
an understanding of an interplay between population pressures, male dominance, and religious anti-sexualism ,
which serves to designate fundamental
.religious institutions as a major factor
impeding most advancement of human
rights, especially in areas related to
sexuality.
Marvin Harris, in his book Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures (1977), presents important evidence from cultural anthropology
which sheds light on population pressures, warfare and female infanticide
as leading to male dominance, with
religious theologies serving as institutionalized rationalization
for that
dominance.
In his book Harris presents compelling evidence that in early primitive human communities technological
improvements tended to increase fertility and lower death rates until populations increased beyond the capac.ity of the ecosystems, or the natural
environment, to support them. Inliabitants of early human communities
perceived their population pressures as
.being most specifically related to the
reproductive capacities of women. Although simple-minded to us, we must
remember that safe birth control and
safe abortion did not exist in primitive
cultures as they do now.
Superstitious Rationalization
Also, it is likely, primitive people

Page 18

were capable of understanding the superfluous nature of male reproduction.

Since, realistically one man could as
easily keep ten women pregnant as
could ten men, primitive people saw
specifically the female reproductive
capacity as the major threat to their
survival as population pressures increased. Primitive rituals based on fear
of the menarche and various superstitions strongly suggest that it was
specifically the female reproductive:
capacity that was feared.
Harris proposed two major outgrowths of this fear of female repro-:
ducjive capacities; one was the institution of war and the other was wide-:
spread reliance upon killing of female
infants. Both of these required a male
supremacist notions, and male supremacism in turn requires institutionalized religion as a superstitious structure of rationalization to support male .
supremacy.
.
Population pressures theoretically
led to warring factions for several
reasons. War serves to disperse populations by what are essentially forced
migrations, out of areas threatened by
population pressures. War also creates
and perpetuates "no man's lands" between warring factions which serve to
preserve valuable resources. Furthermore, wars kill, which helps to reduce
population.
The selective killing of female infants, strongly supported by historical
demographic data, was a gruesome but
understandable attempt to limit the
reproductive. capacity of populations
at a time when, unlike today, methods
of abortions were much more dangerous to the women involved than was
continuing the pregnancy. Female in. fanticide, first done by- selectively
"laying over" (rolling over) on female
infants ostensibly I1y accident, later
became institutionalized and was carried out through systematic neglect in
orphanages and foundling homes run
by the clergy. Harris cites data from
Europe, India, and other places veri-.
fying this infanticide.
. Sex-Object-Rewards
To perpetuate

the warfare men de-

September, 1979

John F. Higdon
liberately fostered a warlike capacity
in males from birth on, both physically, through strenuous competitive activities and mentally, by fostering ago
gressive psychology and denial of sexual impulses except under rigidly controlled circumstances. On the flip side
of the coin women, regardless of their
physical strength or stature, had to be
relegated to the role of drudges and
stay-at-home, sex-object-rewards
for
the soldier males. This, in spite of the
obvious fact that there are some
women who are bigger and stronger
than some or most men.
Deliberately defining the role of
men as warriors and women
men's
sex-object-rewards then required the
generalized male supremacy (male superiority) notion, generalized sex-role
stereotyping
and, in effect, male
ownership of women as well as children. And this entire sexist system required religion as a superstitious, invented structure to rationalize sexism
by deference to supernatural power(s)
and reward systems in "the hereafter."
In his book Harris cites various
specific instances in 'which religion is
used to justify various customs or conditions, such as dietary laws, made
necessary by realistic survival' anxieties
in response to population pressures.
Religion may also be perceived as an
instrument to lessen frustrations and
secure submission in 'people subjugated
by helplessness in response to overwhelming political forces.

as

Justifying Sexist Traditions

-Bertrand Russell, in What I Believe
(1925), pointed out how reliance on
"inner faith" by ancient Romans
caught on because of the unsurmountable power of the totalitarian state and
the political impotence of the common people at that time. But early religion, by rationalizing positions of
submission, prevents reform and later
takes on a totalitarian power of its
own - which brings us up to our present circumstances.
Our contemporary religions, especially the fundamentalist kind, can be
seen as existing for a prime purpose of
continuing and justifying essentially

The American Atheist

sexist traditions set up by earlier religions. It's clear enough that our
"god-the-father" figure embodies the
male supremacist notion, but various
rituals and beliefs become more clear
in their implications if we view them
in light of their histories which involve
fear of female reproduction which
leads into male supremacist notions.
An obvious example of the religiously institutionalized male supreme
acy is in the Roman Catholic Church,
where unfortunate nuns and other
women - totally without real power
except perhaps over children or other
women - prostitute themselves to an
exclusively male hierarchy. The spiritualized premium put on celibacy (said
by some psychologists to be the sick. est sexual deviation) augurs back to
. the fear of reproduction seen in religion's origins. Fundamental Protestants also whore themselves to the male
supremacist notion, however.
Fundamental
churches'
role in
perpetuating the male supremacist idea
shows itself in its attempts to suppress
the sexual conduct and even the sexual urge in all except the confines of
marriage, a "sacrament" clearly intended to signify male ownership of
women. In the ceremony itself one
man "hands over" his daughter to the
ownership of another man, and the
woman traditionally is expected to
change her name to conform to her
husband's, thus symbolically disavowing much or all of her worth or identity which existed before marriage. In
our culture it has been only the very
few most powerful women, in show
business or the professions, who are
considered important enough to retain
their identities by retaining their
names upon marriage.
If religion can be seen as a superstitious rationalization
for male supremacy notions, then many of the
obsessional interests of religionists
become more explicable. Safe and
effective contraception,
sterilization,
and abortion are abhorred by fundamental religionists because the effective use of these procedures would
allow women to escape the ownership
status held in relation to men; who, of
course, run the anti-contraceptionanti-abortion Roman Catholic Church.
The Ultimate Irony

Homosexuality, adultery, and masturbation - essentially harmless acts

in and of themselves - are all likewise
feared because safe sexual satisfaction
with oneself or with varied jiartners
would similarly raise a threat to male

Austin, Texas

from controlling their reproduction

because such control threatens the
males in positions of 'entrenched power - power originally created in response to the population pressures.
The anti-contraception and anti-abortion stands held by the sickest
churches thus display a zealousness
based on the insecurity of an ironically weak. foundation;
churches,
such as the Roman Catholic Church,
were actually set up originally to
justify the response made to population pressures. Thus, when such
churches cry out hysterically against
effective birth control, they cry out
against the one technological advance
that could break the cycle of war and
other inhumanities that have invariably followed behind population pres'sures caused by earlier technological
advances.
We must all work to understand
and expose the hypocritical churches
for what they are: institutional structures to foster power drives that have
an obsolete foundation, that perpetuate inhumanity of all types and that
are the major effective factors standing in the way of the ultimate conquest of human welfare over natural
processes. Religious institutions rest
on obsolete foundations and we must
all help religion to crumble under the
weight of its own bigotry, while humanity still has some potential to
survive.

ownership of woman as sex-object-rewards. As Bertrand Russell wrote in

Marriage and Morals, the religious
prohibition of adultery was never intended to protect the stability of
marriage but rather was more primarily to perpetuate male ownership
of the women.
Ironically, riot only effective birth
control but celibacy itself (except
when "elevated" to the clergy) is prohibited by Roman Catholic and some
other fundamentalist churches, since
voluntary celibacy would also keep
women out of males' control.
It seems the ultimate irony in the
origins of religion that humanity has
actually come full circle. When tech- .
nological advances led to greater fertility and longevity, which led to survival threats based on population
pressures, wars and female infanticide
were used to deal with female reproduction, which was seen as the cause
of the threat. In rationalizing gruesome war and infanticide with male
supremacy, religious theologies were
created to give supernatural credence
to the resultant injustice.
Now when technology has finally
made safe birth control, sterilization
'and abortion
available, humanity
could break the vicious cycle which
was originally created by population
pressures. Yet, the very churches
which rose up to help justify the inhumane response to population pressures, are now striving to keep people

Holy Baloney
By Wells Culver

CHRIST AT wORk ~ IN

INDIA

\\

September, 1979

III (///

,
I

I/
Page 19

The author describes himself thusly: "I am a member and a subscriber

to the magazine, and attended the
Atheist convention in Chicago. I received my B.A. in '73 from the University of Wisconsin Parks ide
(Kenosha) in Political Science, Philosophy and Modem American Society (triple major). I entered the
Marine Corps in '74 [one big, loud
urrrrr-rah! from the Joyous Atheist],
and was back at Parkside in '76 on the
G.!. Bill, taking teaching and cultural appreciation courses. In '77
I went to New York and eventually
became a manager for the Fuller
Brush Company. I returned to Racine
, one year later ."

Guests are getting out of hand, like

'Plutarch and Aquinas. Martin Luther
has been heard making derogations
against the Pope. You wouldn't believe the things people like Copernicus
and Columbus are saying about this
flat center-of-the-universe we live on.
There are some Puritans tying some
women to stakes in the back yard. It
seems the women claimed to have
some of the same talents the guest of
honor has. The Puritans are now
searching for matches in order to
"punish the flesh to save the soul."
All of the modern-day evangelists are
lining up at the sink to wash their
hands.
In view of the Holy See's budget,
some are suggesting that we get the
Bishop of Rome listed on the New
York Stock Exchange, and now that
Jesus Christ is a "Superstar," there is
talk of moving the Vatican to Las
Vegas - circular bread being served at
the dinner show, of course.
Some still remain loyal though.
The exorcists are screaming at those
involved in the orgy for being possessed by invisible little devils; they
are continuing to throw holy water
at them. Unfortunately,
this only
stimulates the orgiasts further.
My Lord and My God, where in
Hell are you? Shouldn't we call the
police department and have an A.P.B.
put out on our Savior? Perhaps if
we file a missing persons' report, we
can expedite his appearance. Did he
take the wrong train? Is he stacked

As we meander through life, we

are lectured to by various.and sundry
religious cults of the existence of a
First Cause, Prime Mover, Supreme
Being or what have you. Additionally,
some of the largest or most influential
of these peculiar assemblages warn of
the coming of a "Messiah." In the case
of the Jews, it would be the first visi-'
tation 'by this tardy (about 5,500
years) visitor; in the case of the
Christians, it would supposedly be the
second in almost 2,000 years.
I, myself, have more patience than
most people I know. However, if I was
awaiting a visitor for 2,000 years, I
would probably show begiiming signs
of vexation.
I would begin to question those
who assured me that this individual
would be on the next train. I would
point out that the food is cold, and
that some of the other guests are leaving. I realize that 2,000 years is nothing for one who lives for an eternity ,
but I have to get up for work in the
morning.
It's been so long that the ceremonial barrels of water have turned to wine
, of their own accord. The guests were
quick to take advantage, and then began opening gifts. The myrrh is being
splashed allover, the frankincense has -~~~~
gone up in smoke and the gold was
made off with by a little man seen
climbing into a black limousine bearing Italian license plates.

Page 20

September, 1979

up over' Kennedy? Did he get snowedin in Chicago? Where could he be? I

understand the importance of "making an entrance," but surely there
, must be limits!
It's a quarter-to-three; there's no
one in the place, except you and me.
The wine is good.
That's gratitude for you. I tried
to make it a real' bash, too: wine,
women to know, and Ernie Ford..
Nobody shows up: not the Kid; not
the Old Man; not even the Bird..
The food's gone. I had fish; he
should've liked that. And figs. Mary
Magdalene and those two guys she'
brought in on leashes are all gone.
The Apostles have paired-up and gone
to the baths.
Thomas had a little too much wine
and kept poking the rib roast all night
and showing everybody his finger.
Judas left with more friends than he
came with. Bertrand Russell had a
little too much and got into a fist-,
fight with Bishop Sheen. Oral Roberts
asked Kathryn Kuhlman why she
didn't come to him, while Rennie
Davis listened
attentively
to the
Reverend Jimmy Joe Jeeter. Pat
Boone was there but hadvto leave
early due to curdled milk.
Despite these frivolities, the party
had seemed a little sterile without
. the guest of honor.
.Most guests took it rather well,
though, and upon leaving would say
something like, "Maybe next time" except for General MacArthur who
vowed to ,never r,eturn again!

The American Atheist

'1
J

Ro ts
of theism

... they [lawyers] , in our name,

recant with 'contrition' the
opinions which we go into
court to maintain.
- George Holyoake

Part III
Susan B.Anthony,
,!ii

It was very late in their careers that Mrs. Stanton decided to

write The Women's Bible, that being simply a commentary
upon the chapters of the Bible directly referring to women. (It
is interesting to note that Eva Ingersoll, Robert G, Ingersoll's
wife, was on the committee of revision). In her preface, Mrs.
Stanton wrote " .. .I do not believe that any man ever saw or
talked to God, ... "
Immediately, fears arose that the National American Suffrage Association would be injured by this and official action
was demanded, the committee on resolutions reporting the following: "This association is non-sectarian, being composed of
persons of all shades of religious opinions, and has no official
connection with the so-called Woman's Bible, or any theological publication."
Miss Anthony was fired with indignation over the insult to
Mrs. Stanton, and leaving the chair over which she presided,
arose and proclaimed, "The one distinct feature of our association has been the right of individual opinion for every member. We have been beset at each step with the cry ~hat somebody was injuring the cause by the expression of sentiments
which differed from those held by the majority. The religious
persecution of the ages has been carried on under what was
i
.claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those people
who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. All along the
history of our movement there has been this same contest on
account of religious theories. Forty years ago one of our no~\: ..
blest men said to me, 'You would better never hold another
,~"
..
,,,..,..
convention than allow ErnestineL. Rose on your platform;'
because that eloquent woman, who ever stood for justice and
things have been said and done by our orthodox friends
freedom, did not believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bi- which I have felt to be extremely harmful to our cause; but I
ble. Did we banish Mrs. Rose? No. indeed!
should no more consent to a resolution denouncing them than
"Every new generation of converts threshes over the same
I shall consent to this. Who is to draw the line? Who can tell '
old straw. The point is whether you will sit in judgment on
now whether these commentaries may not prove a great help
one who questions the divine inspiration of certain passages in . to woman's emancipation from old superstitions which have
the Bible derogatory to women. If Mrs. Stanton had written
barred its way? Lucretia Mott at first thought Mrs. Stanton
approvingly of these passages you would not have brought in
had injured the cause of all woman's other rights by insisting
this resolution for fear the cause might be injured among the
upon the demand for suffrage, but she had sense enough not
liberals in religion. In other words, if she had written your
to bring in a resolution against it. In 1860 when Mrs. Stanton
views, you would not have considered a resolution necessary.
niade a speech before the New York Legislature in favor of a
To pass this one is to set back the hands on the dial of reform.
bill making drunkenness a ground for divorce, there was a gen"What you should say to outsiders is that a Christian has
eral cry among the friends that she had killed the woman's
neither more nor less rights in our association than an atheist.
cause. I shall be pained beyond expression if the delegates here
When our platform becomes too narrow for people of all are so narrow and illiberal as to adopt this resolution. You
creeds and of no creeds, I myself can not stand upon it. Many
would better not begin resolving against individual action or

(~

Austin, Texas

~.
'.

September, 1979

Page 21

you will find no limit. This year it is Mrs. Stanton; next year
it may be I or one of yourselves" who will be the victim.
"If we do not inspire in women a broad and catholic spirit,
they will fail, when enfranchised, to constitute that power for
better government which we have always claimed for them.
Ten women educated into the practice of liberal principles
.would be a stronger force than 10,000 organized on a platform
of intolerance and bigotry. I pray you vote for religious liberty, without censorship or inquisition. This resolution adopted
will be a vote of censure upon a woman who is without a peer
in intellectual and statesmanlike ability; one who has stood for
half a century the acknowledged leader of progressive thought
and demand in regard to all matters pertaining to the absolute
freedom of women."
The vote resulted in 53 ayes and 41 nays; the resolution
'was adopted. Miss Anthony characterized it as "this miserable,

rights;' while I shall keep pegging away, saying, 'Get political

rights" first and religious bigotry will melt like dew before
the morning sun ;', and each will continue still to believe in and
defend the other:"
In February of 1896, Nelly Bly published the results of an
interview with the now aged 76 year old Miss Anthony in the
New York World newspaper. Her questions arid Susan's reo
sponses were instructive: " 'Do you believe in immortality?'
'I don't know anything about heaven or hell,' ...
'Do you
pray?' 'I pray every single second of my life; not on my knees,
but with my work. My prayer is to lift women to equality with
men. Work and worship are one with me. I can not imagine a
God of the universe made happy by my getting down on my
knees and calling him 'great.' ... ' "
Susan B. Anthony, conventional in outward observances,
was totally radical in thought and speech. She was honest,.

Attic Work Rooms Where The Biography Was Written

narrow action." To a friend she expressed herself in this way:
"I don't know what better one could expect when our ranks
are now so filled with young women not yet out of bondage to
the idea of the infallibility of that book."
To Mrs. Stanton, she hJl" aut her argument of priorities ...
"You say 'women must be emancipated from their superstitions before enfranchisement will be of any benefit,' and I say
just the reverse, that women must be enfranchised before they
can be emancipated from their superstitions. Women would be ,
no more superstitious today than men, if they had been men's
political and business equals and gone outside the four walls of
home and the four of the church into the great world, and
come in contact with and discussed men and measures on the
plane of this mundane sphere, instead of living in the air with
Jesus and the angels. So you will have to keep pegging away,
saying, 'Get rid of religious bigotry and then get political

Page 22

September, 1979

abrupt, resolute, uncompromising and never accepted a defeat

as final; constantly rallying from each, just.one more time. Her
job would have been easierhad any of the rich or powerful financed her, or openly allied with her. Every penny was hard
earned, yet her 'detractors stooped so low as to comment on .
the one new dress she usually allowed herself each year.
At the time of her 50th anniversary as' head of the suffrage
movement, at a memorial, she spoke, but briefly, of that fifty
year struggle, "When I was the most hated and reviled of
women, ... , " and then immediately, as always, she asked for
money and allies to continue the work.
She died on 13 March, 1906 at the age of 86. Her conscious
thoughts during her last and brief illness were not of religion.
She pled with all to continue her work and right before death
remarked, (holding up her hand and measuring a little space on
one finger), "Just think of it, I have been striving for over sixty years for a little bit of justice no bigger than that, and yet

The American Atheist

I must die without obtaining it. Oh, it seems so cruel!"

Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Anthony said, "Yes, I
think she wished to be cremated; in time this will be the universal method of disposing of the dead." She requested the
same for herself. Both were buried in orthodox manner and
the families of each had ministers hold forth over the bodies.
Susan had expressed herself on immortality in a letter to
her sister Mary in 1880, at age 60, concerned with her sister
Hannah's death: "Just three years ago this day was our dear
Hannah's last on earth, and I can see her now sitting by the
window and can hear her say, 'Talk, Susan.' I knew she wanted
me to talk of the future meetings in the great beyond, all of
them, as she often said, so certain and so beautiful to her; but
they were not to me, and I could rrot dash her faith with my
doubts, nor could I pretend a faith I had not; so I was silent in
the dread presence of death."
This great American Atheist, every woman in the United
States who can vote, attend college,hold property, have custody of children, or live with some independence owes these
liberties to the great Atheist fighters of the suffrage move.ment, led by Susan B. Anthony. She is revered in the common
every day routines of living by women everywhere. The small
freedoms-as well as the large-hard won victories of her singleminded devotion and dedication, remind us constantly that we
all need to struggle to maintain them and enlarge them, in her
memory and for our personal expanding satisfactions of a
good life.

MEDALLION IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Addtndum
Our own Art Jones, [see his regular
column, this issue] wrote a "Letter to
The Editor" of the New York Times,
which appeared [Imagine! a cartoon in
those columns of the New York
Times!] on 7th July, 1979, as reproduced here. The letter was later carried
by the Washington Post and the Charlotte, North Carolina Observer.
Art reports that it brought telephone calls from as far away as upper
New York state.
He writes " ... but two written responses I thought might give you as
much of a kick as they did me:
(A) in its anonymous entirety, mailed from Washington, D.C. and (B) a
response printed by the Washington
Post on 8th July, 1979."

In God No Trust

and
(B) "My answer to Arthur H. Jones,
who wrote about the "a-theism" of
Susan B. Anthony, is that 'In God We
Trust' belongs on American money,
since money is America's god."
Emmanuel M. Bolakas
Washington, D.C.
Letter writers have more fun! .
Just thought you, too, would get a
chuckle.

[);j/~ ...
(.

'

\.

"-

r-------------------1
New York Times
Letters to The Editor

(A) "When they tried to hand me

that coin with that scrawny, old sonofabitch on it, I gave it back to them.
"Now with your stupid letter to the
Post, I KNOW I won't carry the Goddamn thing around with me (and I
hope nobody else does either) dumb
bastard!"

September, 1979

Austin, Texas

To the Editor:
_ The new U.S_ silver dollar implies
that Susan B. Anthony trusted in God.
She did not. A nontheist, she trusted no
deity. Atheist Anthony would reject
"In God We Trust," the motto adjacent to her profile, there by Governmentfiat.
She would applaud Madalyn Murray
O'Hair's battle in the courts to strike
that motto from our money, and
advocate her own: "Equal Rights for
All." She put no trust in God, Allah,
Moloch, Baal, or Golden Calf to
eliminate inequality because of race,
color, religion or sex.
Her lifetime of meetings; conventions, letters and speeches were devoid of any deity invocation in .any
form. She believed that society can
and must create its own noble destiny
and fulfillment, with man and woman,
equal, together, the sole source of
strength, progress and ideals for its
well-being and happiness.
Instead of her profile on a (depreciated) silver dollar, she would have
preferred to.see her goals imprinted in
golden letters on the hearts and minds
of all free-thinking men and women.
Salute, Susan!
ARTHURH. JONES
Chapel Hill, N.C., June 27, 1979

Page 23

I DON'T BELIEVE
I don't believe First Father Man
Th/ mud pie of some god
I tend to travel in th' path
That Darwin once did trod
A RATHER STRANGE GOD
Our congressmen believe in God
It must be quite a deal
He seems to let 'em rip us off
And lie, and cheat, and steal
God's churches never pay a tax
Th' Christian votes are there
So I must find some extra cash
To pay God's churches' share
God's ministers seem often fat
And many live quite' well
Yet I must give 'em ten percent
To keep me out of hell
Some say that I am cynical
But I still fail to see
Some god who aids dishonest bums
And keeps on screwing me...
John B. Denson

THE FEW
Those who have lived with uncheined mind as guide,
And looked upon truths few men can abide,
Turn not towards faith's womb-like philosophy,
But look the other way,
Where knowledge is a harsh reality,
Or a delightful wine.
Those who know that from death we cannot hide,
And that man's deeds by gods shall not be tried,
Will now view their search for joy as life's goal,
And so live day to day,
Without ever paying a shaman's toll,
Or entering a shrine.
Those who have learned in logic to confide,
And will not with priests or witch doctors side,
Are always more loving than "holy" men,
Who would our growth delay,
For sound reasoning is beyond their ken,
So thinkers they malign.
Douglas Platt

Page 24

September, 1979

I can't believe that Adam's wife

Wasmade from Adam's rib
Or that it was a virgin birth
That laid Christ in his crib
I don't believe non-Christians damned
Nor thrice-blest murder good
I just believe a life is best
When lived in brotherhood ...
John B. Denson

THE ATHEIST
If you ever go
Where they
And you want
To fashion

ALAMO

to Texas
like a damn good fight
to see some history done
matters right

When you've gone from San Jacinto

Where the massacre was won
To Goliad where heroes died
Your journey's just begun
For valor wasn't conquered
At the mission Alamo
So head yourself to Austin
There's a place you ought to go
To a little fort on Hancock street
Who's walls refuse to fall
And the battle there that's raging
Is the greatest one of all
It's the fight to free the human mind
From religion's tyranny
And the courage of the sieged within
Is courage fit to see
A.s bold defiant volleys rise
From ramparts barely manned
Religion's paying dearly
As they charge this rebel band
And no matter what the world will face
As ages come and go
Each noble mind will yet recall
This Atheist Alamo
Gerald Tholen

The American Atheist

AND
RELIGION

Pavel Kurochkin, Director

of the Institute of Scientific Athe ism,
is interviewed by Pavel Antonov,
SOVIET LIFE correspondent.

"Citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of conscience, that is, the right to profess or not to profess any
religion, and to conduct religious worship or atheistic
propaganda. Incitement of hostility or hatred on religious
grounds is prohibited" (Article 52, USSR Constitution).
How is the right to conduct atheistic propaganda realized?
This interview is an excerpt from
the August, 1978, issue of Soviet
Life magazine.
Opening the interview, Pavel Kurochkin said: "Atheism helps form a
consistent and optimistic attitude. It
gives people a clear and sound approach to human relations."
Q: Does this mean that, in your,
view, religious people are unable to
appreciate the joys of life?
A: Of course not. Religious people
can also enjoy life on Earth. But there
is a point here we must clarify. Most
believers who lead a full life have to
make compromises, consciously or unconsciously, with their religious beliefs. In my view, only for a narrow
circle of people does religious faith
constitute an integral all-encompassing
world outlook. As far as the others
are concerned, religious faith is ambiguous and amorphous, and it is
not religion that determines their
behavior.
Naturally, a profoundly religious
person may be an optimist, though
in a religious way.
As distinguished from religion, scientific Atheism asserts real, not illusory, joys. The aim of Atheism is to
show what an individual who abandons religion gets in exchange, to show
what a scientific world outlook offers
a believer, a person who vacillates,
anybody, in fact. To provide a complete answer to this question, we examine in depth such problems as the
influence scientific Atheism exercises
on our intellectual, ethical and emo-

tional world, such problems as Atheism and humanism, Atheism and cultural progress.
Scientific Atheism naturally implies
a thorough study of the history of
religion and present-day
religious
trends. It would be correct to say that
in the 60 years since the Great October Revolution in 1917, religion has
been studied more exhaustively than
ever before.
Q: Why was that?
A: "Before the Revolution Russia
was one of the most religious countries. The Russian Orthodox Church
played a dominant role. Other faiths,
such as Islam or Judaism, were either
tolerated or persecuted. But they too
had millions of followers. Thus, as
some people in the West say, "The
Bolsheviks received a very weighty
religious heritage."
With so dominating a religious
heritage, the success of Atheistic
propaganda was determined primarily
by the new social conditions of Soviet
reality. In the first few decades of
Soviet power, the broad masses of
people gradually gave up religion and
the church. Two-thirds of the adult
population in the towns and cities
and about one-third in the countryside abandoned religion by the midthirties.

However, generally speaking, the

process of abandoning religion is one
of social and personal emancipation
from the influence of the church,
and that takes many centuries.

Austin, Texas

September, 1979

Freedom of
religion is
guaranteed.
But the
overwhelming
majority
of Soviet
people are
atheists.
Why?

Profound Transformations
Q: Many centuries?
A: Yes, this process has been going
on for many centuries. The propaganda for Atheistic knowledge has a
long history with a whole constellation of thinkers, scientists and people
of culture who dared challenge the
control of the church in the grimmest
ages. However, in the early period
this process was limited in character
for historical reasons and developed
slowly. In prerevolutionary
Russia,
too, the ruling classes and the dorninating ideology prevented it from developing intensively. It was only the
rapid social progress of Soviet society
that gave it a powerful-thrust,
It is worth noting that by the
early period of Soviet power there
was already some question of t1'le
validity of the thesis about the "ageold religious commitment"
of the
Russian soul.
Q: But the religious commitment
of the masses continued for many centuries. And it took only two decades
to. work such a quick change in the
minds of people. Wasn't this process
catalyzed artificially?
A:
The world outlook for the
absolute majority of the Soviet people
changed under the impact of the
profound
transformations
that occurred in the political, economic,
social and cultural spheres of life.
It changed also because the social
and cultural levels of the nations
and nationalities of the USSR were
brought closer to one another. Socialism involves very broad sections
of the people in social action, and
this is hard to combine with deep
religious commitment.

Page 25

To put it in a nutshell, the question

of religion and Atheism cannot be
resolved by the use of force or persecution; it is resolved by the objective social develDpment of the
country, by the establishment of a
new way of life.
This transition,
naturally,
was
sometimes .difficult and contradictory
for those who had to change established views and give up the faith of
their fathers. Of course, there were
some errors in individual cases and
attempts to encourage Atheism by
administrative methods. But this was
not the determining factor.
Q:
A rising cultural level does
not always lead to abandonment of
religion. There are many examples
showing that these processes do not
develop along parallel lines.
A: I am sure that they are interconnected. But sometimes the rate of
development is different. Take the
relation between scientific Atheism
and such a cultural factor as morals.
The ethical progress of society is a
vital factor in the development of
Atheism. However, the connection
between morals and Atheism is not
always direct. Morality is fundamental
to the individual's spiritual makeup.
Therefore, the moral sense is most
intimately related to tradition, habits
and psychology. It is more stable than
the other sphere of consciousness.
As a result, there might be a certain
lack of harmony between the scientific
world outlook and the individual's
ethical countenance.
Q: Despite this, there are quite a
few people who still go to church and
believe in god.
A: To establish the percentage of
believers, we have conducted local
studies .. One was in Penza Region.
We believe that our findings are
typical for the population of the
central zone of the European part
of the USSR.
Each New Generation Freer
Q: How about. the other regions
df the country?
A: We have also conducted studies
in Central Asia. The proportion of
believers there is somewhat higher
than in Central Russia. I believe this
can be traced to historical circumstances. The percentage of believers
is also somewhat higher in the western
regions of the Ukraine and Byelorussia, where socialist development
began later than in the rest of the
country. Beyond the Ural Mountains,
in Siberia and the Soviet Far East,

Page 26

the religious influence was weaker. In

the seventeenth century pioneers began to explore these lands. They
were energetic and daring people
who were used to relying on themselves, on their keen' eye and' firm
hand.
But to return to our studies in
Penza, Region. We found that no
more than 10 to 12 per cent of the
adult population
are actively religious. These, people observe fasts,
confess, attend church services regularly, .say their. prayers at home.
Now if we take age into account,
we get the following picture. Among
young people under 20, only two to
three per cent believe in god. In the
age group from 20 to 30, the figure
rises to eight per cent. The younger
the age group, the greater the number
of Atheists.
Q: From your findings it is possible to draw the conclusion that as
people grow older they turn to god
more frequently.
A: Some people try to find comfort in faith if their social ties have
been broken off or weakened,' if
they have been beset by misfortune
or disease. If we take a particular
age group, say, the 50-year-olds,
we see that with each new .generation
the percentage of believers declines
sharply.
Q:
Didn't your probing into
religious beliefs .of people evoke
a negative response?
A: No. Our study was conducted
for scientific purposes, and people
accepted that. Besides, the respondents were anonymous.
Q: Two or three boys and girls
per hundred believing in god is not
many. But what is it that causes
young people who .have grown up
under mature socialism to turn to
religion?
A: As. you see, religious commitment is not typical of Soviet young
people. Religion occupies a very small
place in the minds of youth. It is
somewhere in a remote corner of
their spiritual life.
Sometimes a boy or- a girl takes
an interest in church architecture
or church choral singing; not for
religious reasons, but to learn more
about the historical or artistic past
of the people. And, of course, sometimes a keen interest in the church
as a cultural and historical phenomenon may grow into a religious feeling. But, as a rule, love for the historical past alone will not work this
transformation.
A young man may
be prompted to turn to religion by

September, 1979

unrealized
ideals, sickness or suffering. But, of course, such things
seldom occur.
Most of the young people who are
religious come from religious families
and have been under the influence
of religion from childhood.
\
Q: Today there are quite a few
clergymen and church officials who
have been awarded Soviet orders
and medals. The church supports the
peace efforts of the Soviet Government. It also cooperates in other
political efforts. But it wasn't always
so, was it? How was this rapprochement achieved?
A: On the eleventh day after the
victory of the Great October Socialist
Revolution, Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. As an
irreconcilable
opponent
of Soviet
Russia, he was regarded as the leader
of the crusade launched against it.
In 1922 alone the members of the
clergy who were hostile to Soviet
power organized 1,414 armed actions
and bloody skirmishes. They thus
formed an anti-Soviet church front.
Patriarch Tikhon refused to donate
some of the church's valuable items
to assist the starving population of
the Volga Region. Many people
were dying of hunger there because
a severe drought had caused a crop
failure.
However, it gradually became clear
that the church's confrontation with
the Soviet Government was isolating
it from the masses of believers. In
an attempt to find a way out of the
situation, the church made its first
step toward reorientation.
In 1923
it declared itself nonpolitical.
But this did not mean that the
church recognized the Soviet Government. This was done by Metropolitan Sergius (Stargorodsky), who
succeeded Tikhon after his death in
1925. In the summer of 1927 Metropolitan Sergius appealed to believers
to be loyal to Soviet power.
Church Bows To State
In his appeal he wrote:
"We wish to be Orthodox Christians and, at the same time, regard
the Soviet Union as our civil homeland."
The appeal condemned the views
of the clergymen who declared the
Revolution
in Russia an "error."
Later, during the Great Patriotic
War of 1941-1945,
the majority
of' clergymen and church officers
proved to be patriots. They helped
the people in the fight against the

The American Atheist

invaders who had overrun a part

of the Soviet homeland. The congregations of the Russian Orthodox
Church collected funds to form the
Dmitri Donskoi tank unit and the
Alexander Nevsky air squadron. Both
the -muftis and rabbis prayed for
the Red Army.
The Local Council of the Russian
Orthodox Church held in 1971 to
elect the present Patriarch, Pimen
(Izvekov), declared that the church
shall render political support to the
Soviet state and social system. The
council expressed satisfaction with the
existing legislation on religion and
the relations between the church and
the state.
I believe that this political reorientation of the church was quite
natural. The first thing the church had
to do after the victory of the Revolution was determine its attitude toward
the new state. But in doing this, it
had to keep the religious community
intact. Had the church chosen to fight
against the new society, against the
new system, it would have isolated
itself from the people.
As the situation developed, the
attitude imposed by this need became the thought-out policy of the
churchmen
toward Soviet society.
Western authors who allege that the
"Russian church bears the stigma
of subservience to authority"
are
wrong. A study of religious and'
church .Ilfe shows that the majority
of the clergymen
have sincerely
accepted and support the socialist
state and social system.

universe - is a purely scientific task.

As for the "aim and purpose," it is
possible to deal with this only if it
is implied that there is a reasonable
(intelligent) will in the universe, for
aim and purpose are spiritual categories. To assume that such a will
or purposeful force (which are synonyms for god) exists means to
admit that the supernatural exists,
too.
Of course, as reasonable beings,
humans are also part of the universe.
Therefore,. the question
may be
reduced to the aim and purpose,
say, of the existence of the human
race. But this is a philosophical problem. To solve it, we do have to turn
to religion.
The other assumptions of theologians can also be subjected to a
critical analysis of this kind. A case
in point is when they extend the
physical uncertainty principle (quantum mechanics states that it is possible to determine with an adequate
degree of accuracy either the position
of an elementary particle in space
or its velocity and direction of motion,
but it is not possible to determine
with any degree of accuracy both
things at the same time) to the "lovefairness" relationship (if you love a
person, you cannot be fair to him
or her at the same time).
Q:
But such categories as love

and fairness (justice) belong to the

field of ethics.
A:
At present the discussion
between religion and science is being
transferred from the sphere of natural
science precisely to the field of ethics.
Questions of social development,
purpose of life, the individual's calling,
his or her responsibility and duty interest the ideologues of the church
most of all. Materialist thought will
provide the most profound
and
complete answers to these questions.
It is important to work out and
promote
the positive social-ethical
values that believers are trying to
find in religion.
Q:
My last question is about
manifestations of religious extremism.
A: Such manifestations do occur
in the Soviet Union. While the overwhelming majority of religious associations try to meet the crisis by
adapting to the new social conditions, a very small number of clergymen and religious activists do it by
breaking Soviet laws. The religious
extremists are eager to place their
religious organizations
in political
opposition to the state.
Oppositionist elements do not get
any serious support from the religious
communities.
The church centers,
clergy and believers condemn activities
designed to subvert normal relations
between the church and the state.

Fighting Science
Q:
The church cannot afford
to ignore the achievements of sdentific thought. How do you think
it is able to make them compatible
with religious dogma?
A: Modernization of religion has
also extended to its relations with
science. Theologians have added to
their arsenal such discoveries as the
second principle of thermodynamics,
the uncertainty principle and other
scientific findings. Their main aim
is to discredit the importance of
scientific knowledge, to prove that
"divine truth" is superior to provable
scientific truth.
For example, theologians assert
that the aim of science is to cognize
the order in the universe; the task
of religion is to comprehend the aim
and purpose of the universe. Problem
one - knowledge of the laws of the

Austin, Texas

"

WELL, I'M RADY

September, 1979

Now ... FOR

ANYTHING

Page 27

Reagan for God and Country InThat Order

The Republican now forecast as the most likely to win the
nomination as that party's 1980 presidential candi date is
ultra-conservative Ronald Reagan, former actor and governor
of California. Many American Atheist readers are conservative in politics; no one takes issue with that. This is, however,
a warning against voting for a man who is as religiously deluded as Jimmy Carter. But, let Reagan's own words speak
for him, as recorded in this campaign flyer designed to seek
votes from fundamentalist Christians.

In mid-1976 Ronald Reagan,then a candidate for

the Republican nomination for president, was interviewed by George Otis, a born-again Christian with a
syndicated television program called "High Adventure. "
Following are excerpts from the interview:
GEORGE OTIS: I have a copy of a statement that
you. made earlier this year regarding a need for
spiritual renewal in America and I wonder if I could
impose upon you to share it.
RONALD REAGAN: Yes. The best that I could do
was to say... "In this Bicentennial year we are daily
reminded that our strength and our greatness grew
from a national commitment
to god and country.
Those institutions of freedom which became famous
world-wide were forged in the fires of spiritual belief;
yet today many of these institutions are in jeopardy.
"The time has come to turn back to god and reassert our trust in him for the healing of America. This
means that all of us who acknowledge a belief in our
Judeo-Christian
heritage must reaffirm that belief
and join forces to reclaim those great principles embodied in that Judeo-Christian tradition and in ancient Scripture. Without such a joining of forces, the
materialist quantity of life in our country may increase for a time, but the quality of life will continue
to decrease.
"As a Christian I commit myself to do my share
in this joint venture.
"Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual
renewal. Such a renewal is based on spiritual reconciliation - man with god, and then man with man.
"A Bicentennial celebration is only important if we
can learn from its history. One lesson should be that
as a nation it's 'In God We Trust.' "
OTIS: What are your views on legislating prayer
out of the school?
REAGAN: I don't thinkhe ever should have been
expelled! First of all, there is a double threat there.
There is not only the removal of the calling upon god,
but the second threat is that by taking prayer out it

Page 28

September, 1979

appears in the eyes of the young people that there

has been an official ruling out of god - that,therefore, he wasn't of sufficient importance to be i'n the
schools.
OTIS: Now I want to ask you a very personal question. You have said and written in your spiritual
statement that you are a Christian. I would like to
know what that means to you. In the New Testament
it tells about a Jewish leader who came one night to
Jesus and asked Jesus about his relationship with god.
Jesus answered back to him, "Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of god." I would
like to know what this phrase "born again" means to
you? And, if it is not too personal, have you been
born again?
REAGAN: Well I think I know what the expression means. I can't remember a time in my life when
I didn't call upon god and hopefully thank him as often as I called upon him. And yes, in my own experience there came a time when there developed a new
relationship with god and it grew out of need. So,
yes, I have had an experience that could be described
as "born again."
OTIS: This is very interesting. It was a very straight
statement that Jesus made to Nicodemus. And you
are saying, "Yes, I have really answered back to Jesus
and said I want god to be my leader." Is that what
you are saying?
REAGAN:.That
is what I am saying.
OTIS: About the Bible, more and more.people believe what the Bible really says about itselfthat
it has
been given to mankind under the inspiration of god
himself, yet others say it is merely a great collection
of writings about ancient history, folklore and poetry. We would like to know what you believe and what
the Bible really means to you.
REAGAN: I have never had any doubt about it be, ing of divine origin. It had to be of divine origin. How
can you write off the prophecies in the Old Testament that hundreds of years before the birth of
. Christ predicted every single facet of his life, his
death, and that he was the messiah?
OTIS: The last question I would like to know is, if
you have the privilege to be at the helm of the United
States of America, do you envision yourself as a president who not only sits at his desk but would be a
president on his knees a fair amount of the time?
REAGAN: It is inconceivable to me that anyone
could have done the job I had to do as governor and
certainly the job in Washington would be impossible
unless that man felt he could calion
god for help
knowing that help was forthcoming.

The American Atheist

!T"~ I

There's A Sucker
.Born Every Minule
(BARNUM

AGAI NST

In any list of foes of established religion, one name that

you might not expect to see would be that of Phineas Taylor
Barnum. Barnum, after all, is known as America's first master
showman, not as a man devoted to philosophical debate.
However, in The Fabulous Showman, Irving Wallace's
biography of Barnum, there is a sentence which, in summing
up Barnum's incentives, casts a different light on the matter.
"Barnum was attracted to showmanship", Wallace writes, "because, even as a newspaper editor, he was seeking to combat
those forces of religion, government and commerce which
made life drab."
Notice the reference to Barnum as a newspaper editor.
Early in his life he did edit a newspaper and it was that part of
his career that made particularly clear his opposition to the
established church.
Barnum was brought up in Bethel, Conn. "At the time of
Barnum's birth and the years of his growth", Wallace writes,
"Bethel was a tight little prison of Puritanism, not unlike a
thousand villages of the new America, but probably more
strict... The Congregational Church dominated the community.
Arrest by a deacon, with subsequent fine or imprisonment, awaited the man found riding his carriage or horse on a Sunday.
Forty lashes were meted out to a blasphemer. All lived under
what has been called 'the awful shadow of Calvinistic doom'."
Barnum's most dramatic reaction to this came when he
turned 21. "The old established church, with its zealous Puritans, was suffering the defection of liberal Democrats and
liberal Universalists -- among them Barnum -- and now the old
church put forth its own political party. The Church and State
Party, Christian and narrow, was a momentary threat to freedom. Barnum resisted. He felt strongly that church and state
should remain separated."
Barnum wrote several letters to the editor, opposing the
Church and State Party, to the newspaper nearest Bethel, the
Danbury Recorder. But the editor would not print them.
So, on Oct. 19, 1831, Barnum published the first issue of
his own newspaper, The Herald of Freedom. "In its columns,"
Wallace says, "Barnum inveighed against militant Calvinism
and religious oppression."
Naturally, such behavior did not go unpunished. Barnum
was arrested on charges of libel three times in the succeeding
three years. He was fined as the result of the first suit, the
second was withdrawn, and, in the third, he was fined $100
and sent to jail for 60 days. He had accused a Bethel deacon
of "usury of an orphan boy." Tried before a judge who had
been described by the editor of the Hartford Times as "the
enemy of the friends of civil and religious freedom", he was
quickly found guilty.
Barnum's term in jail was something of a personal triumph,
because his friends decorated his cell for him, he entertained
a stream of well-wishers during his term, and when he was released, the occasion was celebrated with a festive dinner 'in

Austin, Texas

RELIGIONl
ARTHUR

R. MAIER

the very courtroom where he had been tried and with a parade
led by 40 horsemen, followed by a six-horse coach carrying
Barnum and a band of music, and in turn followed by 60 carriages. Talk about showmanship!
So all this lay behind Barnum's penchant for entertaining
people. Writes Wallace, "Barnum believed that amusement and
sensation were the natural prerogatives of the masses, who
had little else, and that those who deprived them of pleasure
were evil."
What's really ironic is that the religious forces which fought
Barnum's ideas so hard in those days have now jumped on the
bandwagon themselves, luring the suckers to their sermons
with their
George Beverly Shea's, their gospel quartets, their
Christmas festivals and the rest of the hoopla.

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Stashed away in secret places

In small wedges of my mind
Is the real me I alone know
Where no one can seek and find
There transpires whatever pleases
Or displeases only me.
Outer gestures may be shackled
But my mind is shackle free.
There I go in deep depression
Or in ecstasy unbound.

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September, 1979

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Page 29

ON OUR WAY
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
OUR DILEMMATIC

TWINS

No human can be called a person, arid mature, unless aware

of the contributions he is expected to make to the life of his
time. In Western civilized life, Education plays in this awareness a leading part. Without teaching, the human wouldn't
rank higher than any other animal. The quality of the teaching
that raises the human above other creatures is more important
than its quantity. As' happens very frequently, an individual
who has been excellently taught, and is superbly trained or
conditioned in a particular line of work mayor may not be
truly educated.
No matter how good the training, training alone doesn't
provide the compassionate understanding of life which the
.pedagogic process was intended for. The person well trained
frequently assumes at the end of conditioning that he now is
educated. But the one truly educated is painfully aware that
the outlook derived from his studies has revealed vistas that
virtually sentence him, for the rest of his life, to be their explorer. In a few words, only those humans are adequately educated whose course of training also makes them aware of the
limitations of their knowledge - of what they actually do and
do not know. They improve the quality of out life.
The preceding has a great deal to do with how and why
people nowadays think and behave, and reveals that sundry
problems currently annoying all of us are the result of causes
that appear only remotely responsible for them. The conditions of today, for example, differ substantially from those of
35 years ago.
At the end of World War 2, the American citizen breathed
a sigh of relief and returned to all the things that loomed important to him before the war began. He saw that time had
changed almost everything. Post-war conditions of the American economy now provided him with more leisure: with time
in which to reflect; and, before a decade elapsed, he almost
without being aware of it was living a life of a new kind. Before the war, the most important item in his life was his job,
but now his attention focused first on the diversions he found
he was able to enjoy that the job provided.
Nearly everyone, male or female, began to view life in a
new light. People took up outdoor sports, went in for additional courses of study, had time for reading, movies, for
watching television'S" science programs. The women coiffed
their hair piled up in bouffant fashion, the men grew beards
and let their hair grow long. These, and similar other changes
transformed the nation, provided it with a new countenance;
and within fifteen more years the population increased by as
many millions as numbered the years since the war.
.
A Flash-Back

'. had shown everyone how impotent both of these forces were
in the war. Religion showed everyone now useless for winning
were its prayers to god; Education had to admit it took a back
seat in favor of bombs, bullets, ships and planes.
Now - a flash back.
In thf 18th century, religion was deigned to be a form
of knowledge, claiming that" its theological symbolism explained any mystery. But in the 19th century and so on,
people in America were accepting religious dogmas more or
less on the basis of blind belief, and not on proofs such as
supposedly were innate in theological cant and argot.
And our American educational fraternity, which throughout the 19th century supported Protestantism's biblical sectarianism as much as possible despite the industrialism pushing
the people to regard existence in factual terms, now saw itself forced to depart from religion as a form of knowledge, and
devise methods and curricula which prepared the student body
to live with the facts corroborated by science.
This situation,_ a bit embarrassing to both of these two
I
formerly closely associated forces presently dynamizes the
constant search for educational methods able to stay abreast
of America's fast advancing technology, and for the frantic efforts of religion to regain the support of Education. Though
this estrangement exists more as a psychological hurdle than as
an accomplished fact, neither one of the two sides in question
has budged from the positions the war had forced them to
assume almost 35 years ago. Religion still preaches god and the
devil; Education is willy-nilly being forced to side with Science.

The least noted, though important, changes took place in

the people's attitude toward religion, and in Education's responsibility toward the people. Broadly, these two forces
emerged from the war pretty much as they had existed before;
and, since during this period almost everything else moved
ahead at an astonishingly accelerated pace, they fell behind.
This forced them to relinquish their former leading roles.
Student riots then_became common occtirrences, and church
attendance ~ropped to an unprecedented low. The war years

Page 30

September, 1979

A Waste Of Brains
In a predicament such as theirs, which can't help but affect
our collective American outlook, the prudent course for us to
pursue is not to trust either one of them. Enmired in irresolution, their unresolved problems constrain us to use judgement
all our own.
This doesn't mean that people whom tutoring has merely
trained are less capable of dealing successfully with their responsibilities than those who are trained and also educated.
The duties of citizenship are easier to fulfill than anyone's
duties to himself. The difference between these two categories
of individuals - the trained and the educated - is that the
broadly educated one - because understanding the outlook
of the other larger group of individuals - will anticipate and
solve whatsoever problems if and when they occur. The
trained one is only prepared to solve those that fall within
the scope of his limitations.
Now, obviously, any process that trains anyone to believe
in this or that dogma as the final answer to any problem, defeats the basic mission of Education, namely its search for
truth. Now dogmas, though virtually lies, continue being religion's safe stock in trade because anyone's acceptance of
a dogma in place of the truth doesn 't necessarily consign him
to a life of unhappiness. Many such believers exemplify that
ignorance is bliss. But rarely bliss of the level to which dialectically gleaned truth can uplift one. The lone danger in this sub(Continued

on p. 33)

The American Atheist

......

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

The American Atheist Radio

Religion and Population Control
Program 261. ....

15 Sept. 73 .....

KLBJ ....

Austin, TX

************************************************
Good Evening,
This is Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American Atheist, back to
talk with you again.
The American Atheist community has been worrying about
birth control for over one hundred years. And, recently, I
came across an article in respect to this from a publication,
now defunct - an article written by the very respected Dr.
Ira Cardiff in 1946, which I give to you now in its entirety:
During the evolution of the human race there have probably always existed two types of mentality - the scientific
and .the superstitious, .the skeptical and the gullible, the logical and the lazy. There was, and is, of course, no definite line
of demarcation between the two; the extremes, however, of
the two groups are very distinct.
, The scientific, the skeptical, the logical, though invariably
a' minority group, have furnished the thought and the culture
which have made of man something more than a mere animal.
This group, though the cream of the race, has at times been
repressed and submerged by the overwhelming numbers of the
mediocre. The latter aggregation has sometimes completely
dominated and controlled humanity and human institutions,
as it did Europe from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries the period which the historian aptly designates the Dark Ages.
To the great majority of mankind the uppermost problems
are food, shelter, and reproduction, plus some sort of amusement. Few, very few, give any thought to the general welfare
of the race. Only a handful have any regard for the quality or
quantity of future generations. To the few thoughtful, these
two features of humanity are of deep concern.
Let us. consider for a moment the problem of population
numbers. Are there sufficient people in the world? Or are
there already too many? How shall we know? There are at
present over two billions of humans milling about this mundane sphere. The population of the earth is increasing at the
rate of over fifty thousand a day. A simple calculation reveals that this amounts to approximately 2,000,000,000 in a
century. Unbelievable!
Will the population of the earth double in the next hundred
years? What has it done in the past century? It doubled in
the past ninety years. Yes, we may as well face the facts. In.
.the year 2046, the earth will have a population of well over
4,000,000,000 - an appalling fact to some of us. [Even more
appalling is the fact that Dr. Cardiff was too optimistic the population topped four billion in 30 years, not 100! Editor.]
The land area of the earth is slightly over 52,000,000
square miles, which means at present approximately 42 persons per square mile, but this is calculated on the basis of all
land, whereas less than half of the earth's land area is good
arable land. Therefore the present population per square mile
is, for practical purposes, well over 80, and a short hundred
.years from now will, if present population increase continues,

Austin, Texas

be approximately 200 per square mile.

But why stop with another century - relatively a short
period - but little over a lifetime? If the 21st century finds
our population has doubled to 4,000,000,000, the 22nd century will have 8,000,000,000, the 23rd century 16,000,000,
000, the 24th century 32,000,000,000, and so on, the 31st
century chalking. up a nice little human family of 4,096,
000,000,000, or a per square mile population of approximately 160,000 - 250 per acre, or over 42 per average city
lot of 50 x 150 feet. Each individual would have a space of
about 12 x 15 feet - approximately the area of a small bedroom. (Of course this condition would never actually exist,
for long before this density were reached the population
would be reduced by famine, some terrible plague or an atrocious war.)
Crime Against Humanity

Please don't think me fantastic. This is exactly what will

occur unless there is a check to this inordinate population increase. Why don't we stop it? Well, that is exactly the question
thoughtful people have been asking for a long time - ever
since Condorcet and Malthus focused attention upon it a century and a half ago.
That this population increase cannot continue is just as
obvious as the population itself. That its continuance spells
human disaster of the most appalling nature should be apparent to all. That it should be checked should b.e:.equally apparent.
Why, then, is the problem not faced and acted upon? Do
we note any measures introduced in our state or national
legislatures for meeting this tragic situation? Are our statesmen concerning themselves with this question? If not, why
not?
If the reader desires some interesting amusement, let him
inquire of some of his legislative representatives. Or, still more
interesting and edifying, try to induce some newspapersor
popular magazine to discuss the matter, and it will be found
who controls the press of the country.
Our neglect in meeting this critical problem must be laid definitely at the door of the Christian church, surprising as this
may- seem to some of its communicants. Of all the crimes
Christianity has committed against humanity - and it has
committed many - this is one of the worst - almost as bad as
poisoning the minds of children.
Any legislator who values his political future fears to approach this problem. Any newspaper which is at all sensitive
about its advertising business - and all are - dares not tell the
truth about population increase or control. Both are well
aware of the intolerance and vindictiveness of the "sacred
cow."
A speaker who attempts to discuss the question in public is
in grave danger of being mobbed and suffering bodily injury .
Cultured and well-meaning women who have attempted to

September, 1979

Page 31

speak upon this most vital matter in some of our cities have
been arrested by partisan police and subjected to the indignities of grossly unfair trials in church-controlled courts, the demeanor of which harks back to the Dark Ages, when the
church was supreme. We are wont to boast of freedom of the
press, yet there is probably not a daily in the country which
dares tell the truth about the church, or about the population
problem and the attitude of the hierarchy toward the same.
Unlawful And Wicked
Is there in the entire realm of human interests any more
important question than that dealing with the quantity and
quality of population? There can be but one answer to this
question, yet throughout the Americas and most of Europe
the question is strictly tabooed by the church.
The Vicar General of the Diocese of Newark, NJ, said:
"This [birth control] teaching which threatens by its practice,
if not impeded, to inundate this land of ours with a danger
more devastating them war, an offense unknown to animals
and a crime against morality for which men must blush; if not
degenerate, and hopelessly given up to Paganism .and sensuality
.....
[Birth control propaganda] ... .is fit only for the deni: zens of the underworld and (is) finally severely punished by an
angry god."
These are not the careless statements of minor minions of
the church. They are authoritive, for note the following from
the "Encyclical, On Marriage, Divorce, and Birth Control," by
. PiusXl, issued December 31, 1930:
"But no reason,however
grave, may be put forward by
which anything intrinsically against nature may become comformable to nature and morally good. Since, therefore, the
conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting
of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate
its natural power and purpose sin against nature and commit
a.deed which is shameful andintrinsically vicious.
"As St. Augustine notes, intercourse even with one's legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of.
the offspring is prevented."
Here, therefore, is the "divine" dictum, and, inasmuch as
Pius XII was Secretary of State to Pius XI at the time the
above encyclical was issued, it undoubtedly represents the
church's position today. [As anybody who reads the daily
newspapers knows, this is also the position still maintained
by John Paul II 30 years later - Editor.]
.
Wherever and whenever any progressive move is made for
improvement of the population quality or for control of
quantity, the church is found arrayed vindictively against it.
It opposes laws for sterilization of defectives; it" by one de-'
vice or another, manages to thwart most eugenic measures, I
even going so far as to oppose the teaching of the principles
of heredity or the doctrine of evolution in our public schools.
In other words, we are traveling in a scientific age, propelled
by scientific ideas and processes, but guided by mentalities
and superstitions of the Dark Ages.
.
Poorly Equipped For Thinking
Recent authors call attention to the fact that Plato, Aristotle, Jefferson, and Hamilton, four of the greatest minds in
history, differed from one another on various subjects, but
they all seem to be agreed that democracy can not exist unless the quantity of the population is limited and the quality
of the population is kept high.
Plato and Aristotle felt so strongly about these matters
that they advocated infanticide as the lesser of two evils. One
would imagine that Jefferson and Hamilton, living on the .edge

Page 32

September, 1979

of a vast and rich continent whose small population was rigidlyselected by the difficulties of getting to this country and the
hardships of pioneer life, would not have felt concerned about
either the quantity of the population increasing too rapidly or
the quality of the population decreasing. But, as a matter of
record, they were concerned.
These authors greatly delude themselves with the idea that
they will be able to convert the clerics to modern thinking,
overlooking the fact that many of them are poorly equipped
for thinking of any nature, and few of them have any scientific
training. An attempt to get them to appreciate evolution,
heredity or eugenics, or population problems generally, with
no scientific background, would be like attempting to teach
.accounting to a person who had no knowledge of the multiplication table, or attempting to teach scientific medicine to
'one with no knowledge of anatomy or physiology.
With reference to the attitude of the church on this question, the opinion Of G. L. H. Harvey, a Dean of the Church
of England, is illuminating. He says: "We are no more likely
today to receive an effective, authoritative lead on birth control from any ecclesiastical body than were the men who, a
century ago, fought for the abolition of slavery and the slave
trade."
Hope for cooperation of the hierarchy in this problem is a
forlorn hope. Evangelists state that "god created the human
race for his glory," a doctrine generally considered theologically sound. The greater the number of humans, the more god is
glorified (whatever that may mean). It apparently makes no
difference as to type of humans. A moron or an idiot is just
as good a glorifier as the most capable thinker; thus the 'more
morons, the greater the glory to god.
We of the unbaptized are impelled to wonder whether a
population of three or four trillions will then be able to
furnish sufficient glory to satisfy god's colossal vanity. One
should not, however, be deceived by this theological "glorification." It is merely pulpit claptrap palmed off on the gullible.
The real opposition to population control is the numerical
danger to a religious organization which is slowly but surely
losing in numbers and influence, for the world contains two
classes of men, intelligent men without religion, and religious
men without intelligence. Therefore any eugenic measure
which will increase general intelligence will be detrimental to
the church and any general practice of birth control will likewise be fatal to the church, for the intelligent are already
practicing population control.
Los's Of Idealism
The world definitely has too many people - now! Any increase is perilous. All of the Axis' Powers gave "over-crowding"
as one of the causes of going to war. Whether they were sincere in this matters not, overcrowding of population was one
of the causative factors. If our daily increase of over fifty
thousand continues, the pressure for food will increase correspondingly - an irresistible pressure which knows no scruples and gives no quarter. When a people get hungry, their
idealism goes with the wind and tragic consequences follow.
The population question is not entirely one of food. In a
more sparsely populated territory, there is better health, opportunity for better recreation, greater general cultural development and enjoyment of nature and its beauties. Then there
is the ethical side of man's relation to other life on the earth.
As humans increase, other forms of life decrease - except for
a few types of domestic plants and animals. The firs and the
oaks, the flowers and the ferns, the birds and the bison, the
elk and the antelope all must give way to man's gross and
vulgar increase.

The American Atheist

Where did Homo get the right to

drive all other life from the earth - except for the "glorification of god," if
one can tolerate -such as asinine idea?
With great crowding, the individual
has no chance, He must fit a pattern.
His regimentation is inevitable. Pearl
Buck, with extensive experience in
densely populated China, states that,
"In all those countries where population is too abundant, the cause of the
individual is lost."
The crying need of the world today
is population control. Establish this
control and two-thirds of humanity's
problems will be solved in a few
generations.

BE FRuI7!="UL.
.4Nb MUL71PLy
AND REPLEN'IS/I

1iIi4R11-/, 4Nb
SUBf)UE rr: -4Nb

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11-4VE. /)oMlNloA! .
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OF IRE 54, AN6

OVER ,1-1 FOWL.Or ,ilEAl!?, AAb

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This informational
broadcast is
brought to you as a public service by
the Society of Separationists, Inc., a
non-profit, non-political, tax-exempt,
educational organization dedicated to
the complete separation of state and
church.
This series of American
Atheist Radio Series programs is continued through listener generosity,
The Society of Separationists, Inc.,
predicates its philosophy on American.
Atheism. For more information, or, for
a free copy of the script of this program, write to PO Box 2117, Austin,
Texas. That zip is 78768.

UPON

7/1t:- EARTI-I.

~I~-V~_Courtesy of HUSTLER magazine

Theistic Jag

,...----

(Continued

from p. 30)

ON OUR WAY
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke

OUR DILEMMATIC

TWINS
.

stitution and acceptance of dogma instead of truth rests in

the recipient's resulting stultification: in a waste of brains.
It is presently impossible to say with how much tongue in
cheek the Western philosophers and theologians, before the
time of Kant, postulated that religious beliefs revealed the
truth. In one respect belief, of course, revealed it; just as
engaging in hate, bigotry, hypocrisy, etc. finally reveals the
truth that all are wrongs. But what those early savants were
proclaiming was that biblical belief was an indispensable topical component of the instructional process without which no
human could deem himself properly educated. Apparently in
that day very few thinkers realized that intellectuality is proportional to the intensity of the mind's inquiring faculty, and
that the dogmas of theology are arrogant pseudo-truths: inhjbitive to intellectual growth.

Austin, Texas

Hence, it seems to me that any open-minded-reader of the

preceding comments about training and education will agree
with any dictum maintaining that it's wrong for religion to
meddle in secular studies. Religion is interested in other matters than the development of intellect, first of all in money.
Only minutes ago I heard a radio evangelist invite his audience to "pray for Christian America." I ~6)ndered, when I
heard his words, why he thought "Christian America" needed
anyone's prayers. I feel sure that he, like all clerics who benefit from the contributions that pour in after such broadcasts
and sermons, sincerely hopes that "Christian America" will
keep on going for him just as is.
.
The best that could happen for America would be for
him and his brethren to find themselves disappointed.
- The people of our America - were they to respect the
judgement and walk in the footsteps of Washington, Adams,
Jefferson, Madison, Paine, and others who already two hundred years ago were not theist believers but admittedly either
nature-deists or tacit Atheists, would realize that we of today
are god-daffy, and on a theistic jag of no salutary use in the
solution of weighty problems many of us are trying to obviate
by turning our backs on their impending threat, or asking a
nonexistent god to assume the responsibility for - instead of
coming to grips with them ourselves. In this situation only the
American Atheist, and others of his rational breed, stand protecting the foundations upon which Americanism has grown
and flourished.

September, 1979

Page 33

A JOYOUS ATHEIST

G. Richard Boza.rth

Faith Healing
Magical healing has always been popular with humankind.
Why? As Will Durant observed in The Age of Faith, "Myth is
free and science is dear." That is one reason. Another, and perhaps more important, reason is that "miraculous" cures are
seen by religionists as visible proofs of the reality of their gods.
Humans, even superstitious mystics, tend to feel more secure
with tangible evidence than elaborate abstract arguments.
What about faith healing? Christianity, or at least a highly
visible portion, makes much of faith healing as tangible evidence that their god is a real being, not a mythological fairy
tale. Many Roman Catholic saints owe their sainthood to the
cures they made in life, and the ones their relics made after
their death. Kathryn Kuhlman and Oral Roberts achieved great
fame and wealth as faith healers.
Are old Yahweh and his boy JC Superstar at work here?
Are we Atheists faced with the hard evidence of their existence we always challenge Christians to produce? Are we actually following Madalyn to hell? The Christians would have us
believe so.
Let's take an Atheist look at faith healing to see if we ought
to become born again or not. First, we must keep in mind that
evidence to be valid must prove only one claim if all claims are
mutually exclusive. If faith healing is to be allowed as evidence
of old Yahweh's and Superstar's existence, then only Christian
faith healing should be effective because Christians stoutly
maintain the only god existing is their god.

would "relax on the holy grounds, take in the beauty of the

surroundings, listen to hymns, and wait for the night. Then
each patient would be required to lie down in the sacred hall
called the abaton ('place of no walking') and wait.for the god
to appear and give advice in a dream." (The Healing Hand by
Guido Majno, p. 201)
Did the god heal these hopeless ones? In the ruins of the
Asklepieion at Epidauros a large marble stele was found, plus
the remains of three others, giving case histories. Majno gives a
few, such as Gorgias of Herakleia, who had carried an arrowhead in the lung from a war wound. He carried it a year and a
half and had filled 67 basins with pus before resorting to the
care of the god. In a dream the man saw the god extract the arrowhead and the next day "he walked out well holding the arrowhead in his hands."
Anticrates of Cnidos was blinded in battle by getting a
spear in the eyes. He went to the Asklepieion with the spear
still in his face. The good god yanked out the spearhead and
repaired his eyes. Gosh!
Asklepios is obviously a real, living god. Look at the evidence! Look at the healing powers of Pyrrhus! It seems. the
Greek gods must have been more than myths. Could it be that
we are following Madalyn to tartarus?
As tempting as conversion to Greek paganism now must
seem by such hard, tangible evidence, I confess to be hesitant.
I'm cursed with being too well-read. You see, I know about
Vespasian, the Roman emperor from 69 to 79 A.D.

Place of No Walking
Healing Spit.
Right away, I must ask about Pyrrhus, King of the Molossians, who lived from 319 B.C. to 272 B.C., well before JC. As
a Greek, you can bet he didn't worship old Yahweh, even if he
knew such a deity was worshipped. The god of a people as insignificant as the oft-conquered Jews of those ancient times
would hardly attract the faith of a Greek king with the visions
of conquest and glory Pyrrhus had.
Yet, we read in Plutarch's The Lives of the Noble Grecians
and Romans that "it was the general belief he could cure the
spleen by sacrificing a white cock and gently pressing with his
right foot on the spleen of the persons as they lay down on
their backs." (Great Books of the Western World, Vol. 14, p.
315) It was the toe of Pyrrhus' right foot that was charged
with divine virtue. This was certainly true because Plutarch records that after the king's death, his body was "burned with
all due solemnity." In the ashes his mighty right toe "was
found unhurt;' and untouched by the fire." What a marvel!
What a testimony to the power and reality of the Greek gods!
Pyrrhus was not the only hope for sick Greeks. And good
thing too! Hippocrates wrote in the treatise "On the Articulations" that "it is disgraceful in every art, and more especially in medicine, after much trouble, and much talk, to do
no good at all." (GBWW, Vol. 10, p. 105) To avoid such disgrace and the unprofitable taint of failure, Greek physicians
were loathe to take on a hopeless case.
Where would the hopeless cases go? Fortunately, there was
the Asklepieion, the temple of Asklepios, the patron god of
physicians. Where mortals fail, the real and living god can succeed! The hopeless would flock to the temple where .they

Page 34

September, 1979

Only this story is slightly different. The god from whom

the emperor derived his healing power was not a.Roman god!
Serapis was "the god of Alexandria and the chiefdeity of Ptolemaic Egypt." (Man, Myth, & Magic, Vol. 18, p. 2527) Evidently the god wanted to demonstrate the awesomeness of his
power because Vespasian was a skeptic about Serapis. But let
Tacitus tell the tale. It's found in his The Histories, Book IV
(GBWW, Vol. 15, p. 292).
"In the months during which Vespasian was waiting at
Alexandria for the periodical return of the summer gales and
settled weather at sea, many wonders occurred which seemed
to point him .out as the object of the favour of heaven and of
the partiality of the gods. One of the common people of Alexandria, well-known for his blindness, threw himself at the
Emperor's knees and implored him with groans to heal his infirmity, This he did by the advice of the god Serapis whom
this nation, devoted as it is to many superstitions, worships
more than any other divinity.
"He begged Vespasian that he would deign to moisten his
cheeks and eye-balls with his spittle. Another with a diseased
hand, at the counsel of the same god, prayed that the limb
might feel the print of a Caesar's foot. At first Vespasian ridiculed and repulsed them. They persisted; and he, though on
one hand he feared the scandal of a fruitless attempt, yet on
the other, was induced by the entreaties of the men and by the
language of his flatterers to hope for success.
"At last he ordered that the opinion of physicians should
be taken as to whether such blindness and infirmity were with-

The American Atheist

in the reach of human skill. They discussed the matter from

different points of view. 'In the one 'case,' they said, 'the faculty of sight was not wholly destroyed, and might return if the
obstacles were removed; in theother case, the limb, which had
fallen into a diseased condition, might be restored, if a healing
influence were applied; such, perhaps, might be the pleasure of
the gods, and the Emperor might be chosen to be the minister
of the divine will; at any rate, all the glory of a successful remedy would be Caesar's, while the ridicule of failure would fall
on the sufferers.
"And so Vespasian, supposing that all things were 'possible
to his good fortune, and that nothing was any longer past belief, with a joyful countenance, amid the intense expectation
of the multitude of bystanders, accomplished what was required. The hand was instantly restored to its use, and the
light of day again shone upon the blind. Persons actually present attest both facts, even now when nothing is to be gained
by falsehood."
Few historians have attained the respect and stature and immortality Tacitus enjoys. He is no scatterbrained religionist
carried away with enthusiasm for his deities. So, obviously Serapis must be the real and living god. The proof is conclusive!
Perhaps, when he feels like showing off again, he'll cause Madalyn, who is certainly as skeptical as Vespasian was about Serapis, to make some miracle cures, and the organization' will
change its name to the American Serapisists.
Healing By Absorption
Before we do anything hasty, consider the wonders of Sri
Haranath, an Indian who lived from 1865 to 1927. He was the
reincarnation of Gouranga, a 16th century saint who was an
embodiment of Krishna, the incarnate form of Vishnu. This
god loves his worshippers far more than old Yahweh loves his,
because as the god himself was recorded as declaring, "whenever the law of righteousness withers away and lawlessness arises, then do. I generate myself on earth. For the protection of
the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, for the setting up
of the law of righteousness I come into being age after age."
(M, M, & M, Vol. 10, p. 1313)
Certainly that makes it easy to believe in the reincarnation
of Gouranga/Krishna/Vishnu
in the form of Sri Haranath.
What's more, the blessed event was prophesied by Manohardas
Goswami in 1592. (Take that, Isaiah!) Therefore, it's not incredible to read that "Haranath had no equal as a healer, and
relieved sufferers. by absorbing diseases into his own body. For
hours and sometimes days afterwards his body registered the
symptoms and agonies of the sufferer; yet he described the
sensations as blissful." (M, M, & M, Vol. 9, p. 1209) Wow! To
hell with Madalyn, where's the nearest guru?
About now one wants to come to a screeching halt. All
these gods can't be real! As vast as the universe is, I just do not
believe there is room in it for Yahweh, Superstar, Asklepios,
Serapis, Vishnu, Krishna and all the rest to exist simultaneously. Where are we at now? Instead of being reliable evidence,
faith healing turns out to be one of the most common features
of any religion, living or dead.
How can that be? Here, being an Atheist and therefore rational, it is time to apply what science calls Occam's Razor:
the elimination of all but the simplest explanation suggested
by the available evidence. What is the simplest explanation?
God? If only the faith healers of one particular religion were
the ones who could work magical cures, god would be a simple
answer, indeed-and I wouldn't be writing this column, either!
God fails as an answer because of the success all religions
have with faith healing. The answer, I believe, begins with the

Austin, Texas

.human body. It is a marvelous disease and injury fighting

machine. The body's own defenses can produce its own miracles, often baffling doctors and scientists. We have a long way
to go before we figure out the complex organism that is the
human body.
What Faith Healing Won't Do
If you have any doubts, get a good modern war history that
deals with the experiences of the common soldiers. (I strongly
recommend The Killing Zone by Frederick Downs, who lost
an arm and received other horrible wounds as an army lieutenant in Vietnam.) You will find it hard to believe some of the
injuries soldiers have survived, and the cases of Gorgias and
Anticrates won't seem so miraculous. Or look to the many survivors of the Nazi death camps. Look what their bodies endured. Or read Solzhenitsyn's history of GULAG for more
proof of the abuse and damage the body can take and survive.
Let's not forget the POW's of WW II, Korea and Vietnam. (An
adequate book about the Nam POW's is Six Years in Hell by
Jay R. Jensen, but I warn you, he rarely misses a chance to
promote Mormonism.)
The body 'is fully equipped to produce its own healing miracles. Except one, which is beyond faith healers and their gods
as well. No matter how devout an amputee might be, no faith
healer has ever caused a limb to regrow. That seems to be beyond the power of any and all gods, just as it is beyond the
power of the human body.
The other part of the answer lies in the human mind. Mental distress or illness can produce physical symptoms of disease. Although the body suffers, it is the mind that requires
treatment. Faith healing is psychological. The laying on of
hands or feet, or the possession of relics, or staying in an Asklepieion or at one of the Roman Catholic healing shrines in
Lourdes, doesn't do anything physically for the body. Such
things act on the mind and can work if the mind is susceptible
to such influence. Someone who would seek faith healing is
someone susceptible to the psychological influence of faith
healing.
What faith healing won't do is serve as tangible evidence
that a particular god is the real and living god: So I can continue the happy work of writing this column, and we can all
follow Madalyn knowing she is leading us only to a freer, more
rational world under the glorious banner of American Atheism,

September, 1979

Jp

\II TOLD YOU ACUPUNCTURE

WOULDN'T WORK/ "

Page 35

Filln

The Innocent
Wifemistress
Manhattan

Revie""
elaine stansfield

I am flaming mad. I am so angry that it is going to be extremely difficult to keep my patience. long enough to write
this review. ALL three of the above movies had been recommended to me as good for Atheism. What a sad, pathetic
"good" it turns out to be, for in point of fact, NON E of them
are. My informants,
young and full of enthusiasm
for movies,
particularly
art films (and that means most particularly
those
not made in the United States), apparently think that because
someone is known to be an Atheist, or whose character so professes in the movie, then "Hurray for Our Side."

._ ..Manhattan

Taking them in reverse order, let us discuss Manhattan first,

for a minute. A minute is just about all it deserves-although
I
am well aware I am turning in a minority report (I'm used to
being in a minority, as I think all good Atheists are.) Hailed as
Woody Allen's masterpiece,
I am instead reminded of those inept pieces of improvisational
acting school films photographed
with hand-held cameras by the likes of John Cassavetes, which
are the grossest cheats (especially with the cost of movies these
davs.) Manhattan appears to have been hastily and loosely
scripted each morning, the scenes shot during the day and
never thereafter
studied or polished. Such plot as there is centers around an egocentric man with nothing to be egocentric
about, who breaks a couple of girls' hearts because he doesn't
know what he wants. It's hard to imagine Allen breaking any
hearts, but what hurts me the most is the fact that Allen, who
is an avowed Atheist, simply will not come right out and say
so in his films. (I alluded to this in my review of his Interiors.)
One would think he might have enough confidence in his audience by now to say so, but one is left with the sad belief that
the money is more important.
The closest he can bring himself
to it is when he has Keaton say "Hey, what do I know, I come
from Philadelphia,
I believe in God" and Allen responds "Now
what does that mean, 'I believe in God', what does that
mean 7" End of dialogue.
When I attended this movie, the audience did not seem to
be very amused. Considering the fact that it is supposed to be
a bright, sophisticated,
witty comedy, I was disappointed
on
every count. I was not amused.

._ .._Wifemistress

On to Wifem is tress r which has an interestingly

outrageous
premise; that until a woman is freed from the domination
of
her husband, she can't break loose, but this husband is hiding
out in the house across the street and spies on her new independence through the slats of the window blinds. He is. sup-

posed to have gotten in trouble with the authorities

because he
is an Atheistic anarchist,
hence the hideout. When the wife
breaks loose from religion because the priest castigates her
amorous affairs from the pulpit, she begins publishing the husband's papers, but nobody seems to mind. The implication
is,
however, that everyone is indulgent because it's only a woman
somewhat deranged by her husband's disappearance.
I will not bore you with the rest of the plot, which is silly
while being told as serious drama, but I'd be derelict in my duty were I not to mention that this heroine, Laura Antonelli,
hailed as the most erotic, beautiful star of Italy, is just about
as good an actress as my lovely but expressionless
cat (were
she able to speak.) Antonelli has Expression A, and whereas it
is housed in a beautiful face, she never reacts, she almost never
smiles and she reads all her lines, no matter how high the. drama, as if she were talking about the weather. No, I take that
back, I have seen people discuss the weather with far greater
animation
and ability. If, indeed, she and the director think
that her perfect complexion
and lovely body are enough, then
well and good, but this does not constitute
acting for me. (I
understand she used to make porno films.)

.._._.
The Innocent

The fact that this same young lady appears in The Innocent
should have warned me, but I masochistically
pressed on in the
hope of at length finding a good plug for Atheism. Again the
word "masterpiece"
was flaunted in my face in all the press releases for this film. Again hope sprung to my breast. Again
hope sank to defeat as I drowned in a plot, if you can believe
it, worse than either of the other two. Again I found to my
distress the same problem I faced in reviewing Foul Play: that
it was the villain who was the Atheist. I may never see an Italian picture again.
It has been said that this' film is Visconti's finest, which, at
any rate, relieves me of ever having to see any of his other
films.
For here we have another
period
wife and a
husband appalled that his wife, whom he has ignored for years
while he savors one affair after another, has had an affair of
her own and become pregnant. He tells her he will arrange for
her to have an abortion.
Being a good Catholic, she refuses ..
Since this is in the days of horse-drawn carriages, one wonders
at the ease with which he speaks of making such an arrangement, but then he is a man of the world who fights duels,
takes trips to Paris and insists on his wife wearing a revoltingly
opulent floor-length,
real fur cape saying, "The peasants enjoy
seeing you dressed up." In any event. after the baby is baptized without his consent, as he peeks from behind a wrought
iron courtyard
fence, he kills the baby, his wife swears never
(Continued

Page 36

September,

1979

on p. 38)

The American

Atheist

Is religion
a threat to sanity?
As serious scholars of Atheism,
and with the American
Atheist Library and Archives housed in the national Center,
associated as that is with United World Atheists, every effort
has been made to do research concerned with the personalities
[see "Roots of Atheism,"
this issue] philosophy and history
of the same. Dr. O'Hair, the founder of the organization
and
Jon Murray, the Director of the American Atheist Center, have
made trips to England, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Iran,
India, and Japan to gather materials toward a complete understanding of Atheist outreach.
Rare books have been researched out in every nation and many thousands
of dollars have
been expended
on securing them for the growing American
Atheist Library and Archives.
Every country in the world has been happy to cooperate
with this scholarly research - except Russia.
The Library and Archives have a standing order with the
Library of Congress of the United States (which cooperates in
an exceptionally
fine way) to be notified every time a book on
Atheism is published anywhere in the world. The notices are
received regularly and the activity, in respect to research in
this area, is intense. France, Germany, Poland, Hungary are all
doing research. So is Russia. an the average, the Library of
Congress notifies the Center of at least two more books each
month published in Russia.
Russia has an Atheist research organization
and an .A:theist
museum - and Russia absolutely refuses to cooperate
in any
way with any scholar. The American Atheist Center has contacted the Russian Embassy, the Russian Consulate, written. directly to the Russian Atheist organization,
the Russian rnuseum - all to no avail. Russia's "official line" is that the country is not interested in "exporting
Atheism."
A reply such as
that is an insult to a scholar of any nation.
Meanwhile, of course, we can all watch the wooing of the
Vatican by the Kremlin, the Catholicization
of European Communism and the entanglement
of Catholicism and Communism
in South America. Brezhnev, in a recent summit meeting with
Carter over the SALT treaty - in his opening statement
opined, "God will not forgive us if we fail." It was a gratuitous
insult to Atheists of the world. His mention of god, coming as
it did on the heels of Pope John Paul II's triumphal visit to
Poland, is cause to wonder if the Kremlin has realized how
many "divisions" the pope really has - all over the world. The
remark was the. occasi on for many newspaper editorials and
cartoons throughout
the nation, for instance, the one in the
Phoenix Gazette.

look Who's Talkingl

[c o ur tesy ]
[Phoenix
Gazette.]

However, something
odd is afoot. The Russian Circus is
touring the United States and arrived in Austin, Texas, last
month, as a part of a cultural exchange. Dr. O'Hair and Jon
Murray, who attended it, were shocked when at curtain time
the enti re cast came into the large arena to say, "God Bless

Austin, Texas

You All."
ance.

The rhetorical

farewell

soured

the entire

perform-

Now, a curious article comes out of Russia, dateline, Moscow, titled "Is Religion A Threat to Sanity?" It was not repro.
duced in major American newspapers and it is not certain that
the entire article was printed in full in the "Press C-onnection"
of Madison, Wisconsin.
It is brought to you in its entirety.
If you can figure out
what goes on with Russia, please let us know!!
Moscow - A Soviet psychiatrist described religion as a
threat to sanity in an article published Friday [no dates were
given-ed.J, and said some believers needed psychiatric help to
stay sane.
"Religion not only frustrates scientific progress but threatens human reason, deforming it and often inflicting serious
damage," Dr. V. Krupko said in the newspaper Rural Life.
Krupko, a practicing psychiatrist from the the Moscow reo
gion, cited the case of a woman whose fear of God stopped her
eating and sleeping, gave her hallucinations and made her hear
voices. "Today she is completely calm. She answers the doctor's questions correctly and has even asked to be discharged,"
he reported. It took 10 days' treatment in a psychiatric hospital to cure her, he said.
Kr~pko said such cases were rare, but "they testify to the
fact that man's belief in supernatural forces combined with
certain conditions hides a real danger for his psyche." The danger was particularly strong in children brought up to fear god,
he added.
Publication of Krupka's article in Rural Life was thought to
reflect state concern over the number of believers in country

September,

1979

Page 37

areas.
The psychiatrist said that because a believer inevitably came
across phenomena every day that did not correspond to the
Holy Scriptures, he was forced tetind exptenetions: "He is often tormented with doubts and suppresses the voice of reason
in himself," he said.
As in the case of the woman 'with hellucinstions, modern
medicine could control the neuropsychic states that resulted
and help patients come to terms with themselves again, Krupko suggested.
Last March [1979J, the Communist Party newspaper Pravda said sociological surveys indicated between eight and ten
percent of the adult population were active believers. The
newspaper called for more A theist propaganda but denied
reports in the West that Soviet believers and clergy were
persecuted.

Should you desire to write to Russia, to ask the powers that

be what in the hell is going on that they can not have a scholarly exchange on this subject, the addresses are:
'
Paul Kurochkin,
Director
The Institute of Scientific Atheism
Moscow, U.S.S.R.

End of article.

The Innocent
Wlfemlstr
anhattan

Film

Georgi I. Isachenko, Editor,

Soviet Life Magazine
Washington Editorial Board
1706 18th St. N.W. .
Washington, D. C. 20009
Alexei I. Herovskv, Editor in Chief
Moscow Editorial Board, Soviet Life Magazine
APN, Pushkin Square 2
Moscow, U.S.S.R.

(Continued from p. 36)

Review

eI
.
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fiield

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to speak to him again and goes into seclusion and when he attempts to return to his mistress, she calls him a monster. So he
shoots
himself,
presumably
in expiation
for his Atheistic
machinations,
although all motivations have become so murky
by now that this ending seems arbitrary and highly unlikely.
At least the dozen people in the theater seemed to think so,
for it was obvious the nude lovemaking scenes were no compensation for a stupid' script and an even more incomprehensible production.
As for some vague nod to Atheism, forget it. '
In this case, no publicity would be infinitely preferred to any
publicity. One wonders if the Catholic church in Italy..still has
such
hold on movie makers that this new villain is highly acceptable to everybody; the church is happy and the producer
doesn't have to worry about protests from ethnic or handicapped groups, from whose ranks many villains have been recruited in the past.
Perhaps one of the major problems with such movies is that
the' producers seem to equate drama with gloom and undoubtedly the church has a hand in such antiquated
thinking. Nobody mentions
a moral dilemma,
supposedly
because the
church solves all moral dilemmas by having a rule for every occasion, but on the other hand nobody has any fun either. If I
recall correctly,
nobody smiled throughout
this entire film.
The lovemaking was all very serious-I
don't think they had
any fun doing that either. In a recent talk-show interview, I
heard Glenda Jackson, who is a consummate
actress, being
asked how she accomplished
so much tension in a scene 'in
which she had no dialogue. She replied, "Well, you have to put
all your being into showing what you are thinking." Poor little
Miss Antonelli, who probably never heard of such an approach
to acting, but wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do it if
she did!
,
And poor you, if you actually pay good money to see anv'
of these surprisingly
inadequate
movies. I remember
when
movies were tightly constructed,
superbly
acted, brilliantly
produced and scripted with eminent craftsmanship.
Can it be
that I may be reduced to a fictitious prayer? Please god bring
me a good movie to review.

By Wells Culver

Page 38

September,

1979

__"Boy, do I feel like the scum of the earth."

"Yeah, it was a good sermon, wasn't it?"

The American

Atheist

INSIDE OUT
J. Michael Straczynski

A Modern Cynic'sDictionary
........
BULLET -If- A marvelous device whose continued use has
contributed greatly to the growth of the American Medical
. Association.

"She's just not my type!"

B~AINLESS -adj- Freedom from the burden of intelligence.
BRAINSTORM -If- In the case of most humans, a brief
cloud over an endless desert.
BRASSIERE -n- An upper-class bra.
BRAT -If- The neighbor's kid. Every child to every parent
to whom he/she does not belong. The State of the Art in.
child rearing.

...

Austin, Texas

c
o
-o
c
o
.J

.' 1t6IOJl
-:

[All HUSTLER

BRAVADO -n- Attempting to explain to an official in a

confident and reasonable tone of voice why youclaimed
your cat as a deduction on your income tax statement.
BRAVE -adj" Uncommonly stupid. A usually terminal
mental disorder.

magazine cartoons,

special courtesy

<,

"

s:
o
c

of Larry Flynt.]

"I'm cured' I'm cured of my totally illogical belief in reliqion!"

September, 1979

~I

Page 39

BOOK ~IEV~IEW
Mormonism Now and Then, written by G. T. Harrison, a
member of American Atheists, is a 368 page book, 9%" x 6".
It is a wide ranging book, totally condemnatory
of, both
Mormonism as a specific and Christianity as a general, religion.
The thesis is an inspection of precepts of the church, as given
by its founder, compared with its practices today, but fortunately the author strays from the thesis.
Although
writing with serious intent (the book was published privately in 1961 since no publisher in the United States
would touch the material), Harrison comes across with such hilarious examples of religious insanity that one finishes reading
it in rare good humor.
The errant offenses of the church fathers, the elders and the
scoundrel Smith are materials for a Gilbert & Sullivan opera.
The review of bizarre ideas is far-ranging:
Adam is God; the
dead are baptized; blood can atone for sins.
No one knows who Ethan Smith was, but the parallels of
his writings published in 1823, with the Book of Mormon published in 1830, by Joseph Smith, are as startling as the parallels
of Quimby's writings with those of Mary Baker Eddy. Both of
these "greats" were literary thieves. Ethan's book was, indeed,
titled with the very root idea of Smith's religion, being View
of the Hebrews or The Tribes of Israel in America. There are
59 parallels in the two books and the author carefully sets
them all out.
What is more, there are devils, holy ghosts speaking in
tongues, communism,
temple garments as second skins, raising
of the dead, only white priests as ministers of god, the 1830
A.D. predicted coming of Christ, immunity
to poison (Mormons only, please l), snake handling, feet washing, human slavery, restoring sight to the blind. The insanities of this religion,
in an unending
progression,
march through all the pages of
this book. Nothing is too absurd for a true believer.
One of the nicer gimmicks of this church is Fast Day, the
first Thursday of each month, when each Mormon must do
without two meals and give the money ordinarily
spent on
those meals to the church. This, on top of the 10% of gross in:
come (tithing)~ plus all the other assessments on members has
made the Mormon church one of the richest in the world.
Mormons- traditional
contempt
for women was classically
evidenced in polygamy and the author peeps at this practice,
too.
The history of Joseph Smith has oft times been written and
in this book deference is given to that so that only the causes
'of his murder are here discussed: "Joseph Smith was not killed.
because he was ... a prophet of God
He was killed because
he was a despotic, lying dictator,
arrogating himself to be
above common law." A final event was his destruction
of the
press of Nauvoo Expositor, with axes, hammers, clubs and
guns, for that sheet's challenge of Mormonism. The publisher
fled to Carthage and instituted
legal proceedings
against the
church council. Joseph Smith, charged. with the crime, was the
presiding judge at his own trial and found himself and the
church council not guilty. Naturally, the state of Ohio charged
them with treason when the Mormon plan of destruction
of
the city, massacre of non-Mormons
~nd flight from it became

Page 40

September, 1979

MORMON.ISM
Now

and
Thtn.
G.T. Harrison
known. A 1200-man state militia was sent in, the disturbance
being so great.
Harrison, in addition to writing the book, needed to write
his own dust cover review-and
that is so cogent, we reproduce
it here.
'.
"All reliqions are based primarily
on fear. Undeveloped,
superstitious
ignorant humans fear the unknown; they fear the
mysteries of nature, of insecurity, of defeat an'd death. They
like the idea of a good uncle, or God in the sky, true or false,
who, they hope, will stand by them and favor them in all their
trials and troubles.
"The promises of reliqiorr cannot be fulfilled, and have not
been fulfilled.
Religion has not, and cannot solve a single
moral or ethical problem, and its promise of a life after death
is a cruel sham. If religion, and particularly
Mormonism, could
solve or cure the ills of the world we would today be living in
Paradise, but religion does nothing of the kind. It can produce
only ecclesiastical
rituals and rules and never something useful
to mankind
like a cure for cancer. Religion is the cruelest
fraud ever perpetrated
on the human race. The Mormon'
Church leaders must know this as well as we do.
"The Mormon Church professes to believe in and respect
the Constitution
of the United States. Then it has held the
threat of excommunication
over the heads of certain members
who have endeavored
to exercise the Constitutional
rights of
freedom of speech and the press, if their ideas differed in any
way with the Church policy or interests.
"This book endeavors
to expose all of these things and
much more. It also shows how every fundamental
principle,
belief, teaching and dogma of Mormonism
has been changed,
modified, reversed or abandoned."
.

The American Atheist

When you join American Atheists you receive a complete membership

packet.
This includes the current
issue of the "Insider's"
Newsletter, Membership card
and certificate all of which are pictured here.

Membership
certificate
is 8%" x 11" parchment
paper.
Dr. O'Hair signs each certificate
personally
after Board of Trustees votes for membership.
Only
one issued per member.

~~......AMERICAN ATHEIST
NEWSLETTER
"\~<"'=====------~==c;-7===
~~~~'V<..

AMERICAN

ATHEISTS

P. O. 80_ 2117, AU$\'''.

TX

18768

1512)458124.4

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bership certificate and card.

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