American Atheists Essential Reading List

Books on this list have been selected to provide introductory

a wide range of important

information

on topics of interest to Atheists. They address

subjects such as:the history of Atheist thought, the origins of modern religion, the role

religion plays in modern culture and politics, Atheist parenting, and the ongoing battle for the separation between
church and state. While these titles represent only a fraction of the books available from American Atheist Press,
collectively they provide a broad overview of Atheist thought.

Natural Atheism by David Eller

Our best-selling book. A great overview of Atheist philosophy

stock# 5902
$18.00
352 pp.
from the perspective of a "natural" Atheist.

Christianity before Christ by John G.Jackson

stock# 5200

$14.00

stock# 5096

$6.00

stock# 5588

$12.00

paperback

237 pp.

paperback

57 pp.

stapled

157 pp.

paperback

Christian doctrines are traced to their origins in older religions.

The Case Against Religion by Albert Ellis

A psychotherapist's view of the harmful aspects of religious belief.

Living in the Light by Anne R.Stone

Subtitled "Freeing Your Child from the Dark Ages,"this book serves as a manual for Atheist parents.

Our Constitution: The Way It Was by Madalyn O'Halr

stock# 5400

American Atheist Radio Series episodes about the myth that our founding

What on Earth Is an Atheist! by Madalyn O'Hair

$6.00

70 pp.

stapled

fathers created a Christian nation.

stock# 5412

$18.00

288 pp.

paperback

372 pp.

paperback

302 pp.

paperback

American Atheist Radio Series episodes on various topics of Atheist philosophy and history.

The Bible Handbook byG. W.Foote, W.P.Ball,etal.

A compilation

stock# 5008

of biblical absurdities, contradictions,

atrocities, immoralities

An Atheist Epic by Madalyn O'Hair

stock# 5376

The personal story of the battle to end mandatory

$17.00

and obscenities.
$18.00

prayer and bible recitation in schools in the United States.

65 Press Interviews by Robert G.lngersoll

262 pp.

paperback

stock# 5372
$6.00
A humorous look at god concepts will help children (and adults) have a clear view of religion.

30 pp.

stapled

An Atheist Looks at Women & Religion by Madalyn a'Hair

stock# 5419
Why attempts to reconcile religion with civil rights for women are self-defeating.

$10.00

42 pp.

paperback

The Jesus the Jews Never Knew by Frank R.Zindler

$20.00

544 pp.

paperback

80pp.

paperback

$3.00

20pp.

stapled

$8.00

55 pp.

stapled

24 pp.

pamphlet

Ingersoll's 19th-century

stock# 5589

newspaper interviews as a Freethinker and opponent

$15.00

of superstition.

An Atheist Primer by Madalyn O'Halr

stock# 7026

A search of ancient Jewish literature yields no evidence for the existence of any historical Jesus.

The Great Infidels by Robert G.lngersoll

How nonbelievers and Atheists have contributed

stock# 5197
$7.00
to civilization and enriched our lives.

Our Pagan Christmas by RJ. Condon

stock# 5064

The non-Christian origins of common Christmas customs are explored.

Sex Mythology by Sha Rocco

stock# 5440

A scholarly study explores the sexual origins of religious symbols including the Christian cross.

Morality without Religion

Atheist leaders and philosophers

stock# 831 0

$1.00

give their views on godless ethics.

Please see the order form located in the center of the magazine for member discounts and shipping & handling.

www.atheists.org

FEBRUARY 2008
Vol 46, No.2

American Atheist Magazine

ISSN 0516-9623 (Print)
ISSN 1935-8369 (Online)
Editor. American Atheist Press
FrankZindler

CONTENTS

Editor. American Atheist Magazine

Ellen Johnson
Designer
Elias Scultori

From The President

A Tribute to Darwin, Lincoln and Washington - All Non-Christians
by Ellen Johnson

Cover Design
Tim Mize

Representing You

Editorial Assistants
Gil and Jeanne Gaudia

War-Torn Middle East Seeks Solace In Religion

Published monthly
(except June & December)
by American Atheists Ine.
Mailing Address:
P.O.Box 5733
Parsippany. NJ 07054-6733
phone - 908.276.7300
FAX - 908.276.7402
editor@americanatheist.org
www.atheists.org
2008 by American Atheists Ine.
All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission
is prohibited.
American Atheist Magazine
is indexed in the Alternative Press Index.
American Atheist Magazine
is given free of cost to members of
American Atheists as an incident
of their membership.
Subscription fees for one year of the
American Atheist magazine:
Print version only: $40 for 1
subscription and $25 for each
additional gift subscription
Online version only: $35
(Sign up at www.atheists.org/aam.)
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Discounts for multiple-year
subscriptions: 10% for two years
20% for three or more years
Additional postaqe fees
for foreign addresses:
Canada & Mexico: add $ 1O/year
All other countries: add $30/year
Discount for ltbraries and institutions:
50% on all magazine subscriptions
and book purchases

The Onion

Letter to the Editor

Charles Darwin And His Never-Ending

by

Controversy

Conrad F.Goeringer

Abraham Lincoln: Freethinker, Soldier and Martyr

by Joseph

Lewis

Obituary
Hans Kosten

Beyond Belief:The Joy Of A Camp For Non-Belivers

by

Samantha

Stein

Christian Rewriting of History

Trading Faith for Spirituality:
The Mystifications of Sam Harris
by

Meera Nanda

Britain's National Secular Society Prominent

at Windsor Castle Seminar
Atheists & Co.
Bill Treloar

Dawn Of Animal Vision Discovered

Book Review
God Is Not Great
by Gil Gaudia, Ph.D.

Atheist Singles
State Director Listing

from the president

A Tribute to Darwin, Lincoln and

Washington - All Non-Christians
Ellen Johnson

this
n issue of American Atheist Magazine we pay tribute to three
remarkable people, Presidents Washington, Lincoln and British
naturalist Charles Darwin.
President's Day is celebrated every year on the third
Monday in February because both Washington and Lincoln were
born in that month. They were born on February 22 and 12 respectively. This year President's Day falls on the 19th.
Another great man Charles Darwin, like Abraham Lincoln,
was born on February 12 and many Atheists celebrate his birthday
in February as well.
Of course Christians want to claim Washington and Lincoln
as their own. To have these American heroes portrayed as Christians bolsters their revisionist history of America as being an official
"Christian" nation. Bogus quotes, which have these men promoting
prayer and calling on a god to protect our nation, have been attributed to both presidents and the religious establishment in America
makes sure that their followers are well versed in them. Here are two
questionable quotes attributed to them.
It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God
and the Bible.
-George Washington

AMERICAN
.>:

ATHflSf

FEBRUARY2008

The only assuranceof our nation'ssafety is to lay ourfoundation in morality and religion.
-Abe Lincoln
This is why the Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library
& Archives is so important. It was established to preserve our history

so that Christian revisionists could not erase us from that history.

One wonderful book we have in the library is tided, ABRAHAM
LINCOLN Was He A Christian. It was written in 1893 by John
B. Remsburg and published by The Truth Seeker Company. Tn the
preface to the book, Mr. Remsburg wrote:
Almost immediately after the remains of America's most
illustrious son were laid to rest at Springfield, one of his
biographersput forward the claim that he was a devout
believer in Christianity. The claim waspromptly denied
by the dead statesman'sfriends, but only to be renewed
again, and again denied And thus for a quarter of a
century the question of Abraham Lincoln's religious belief
has been tossedlike a battledoorfrom side to side.
The author states that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian
and cites newspaper articles, previously written books about Lincoln

and interviews with personal friends of whom he noted, "and when

we realize how rapidly those who lived and moved with him are passing away- that erelong none of them will remain to testify-the importance of this evidence can hardly be overestimated. The book is a
marvelous refutation of Lincoln being a Christian.
And what about George Washington? He, like Thomas Jefferson, was a Deist. He thought that the universe was brought into
existence by a god and that was the end of it. He did not accept
that there was a personal god which was involved in the day-to-day
existence of humans.
There are many extant quotes from George Washington on
the subject of religion which sound very similar to those made by
another Deist, Thomas Jefferson. I wrote my masters thesis on the
religious philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and I am well versed on his
statements on the subject and from what I have read, George Washington was as much a Deistas was Thomas Jefferson.
And last but not least we honor Charles Darwin with an article by Conrad Goeringer. Next to me on my desk is a book from
the CESAALA titled, ''Autobiography of Charles Darwin." It is from
The Thinker's Library, No.7.
(With Two Appendices, Comprising A Chapter Of Reminiscences And A Statement Of Charles Darwin's Religious Views, By
His Son, Sir Francis Darwin (Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge).
It was published in London by Watts & Co. in 1929.
From this wonderful treasure I quote Mr. Darwin on the subject
of religion, in a letter to a Dutch student written on April 2, 1873:
'It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am
not sure that I could do so even if I wrote at some length.
But I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this
grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves,
arouse through chance, seems to me the chief argument for
the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real
value, I have never been able to decide. I am aware that
if we admit a First Cause, the mind still craves to know
whence it came, and how it arose. Nor can I overlook the
difficulty ftom the immense amount ofsuffiring through the
world. I am, also, induced to defer to a certain extent to the
judgment of the many able men who have fully believed in
God; but here again I see how poor an argument this is. The
safest conclusion seems to me that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do his duty. "
At the CESAALA in the American Atheist Center we have
many similar books and materials dating back to the 1700's. Madalyn O'Hair began to collect and preserve our written history thirty
years ago, so that the truth about Atheists, Humanists, Rationalists,
Freethinkers and other non-believers would never be forgotten. We
have 21,000 books alone. I have applied for a grant so that we could
catalogue this collection, but we were turned down. So we need your
help to purchase computer software and hire a full time employee
to do this necessary and important work. Once it is catalogued we
will know what all is on the shelves and where to locate it. This will
make it easy to find the right materials to do research. And knowing
what we have will make it easier to add new titles to the collection. So
please give gen~rously to American Atheists so that we may continue
to collect, preserve and share our history.

To see commentary by Etten Johnson on video please visit

www.atheists.org and click on the video screen on the home page.

representin

YO

11/05/07

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Ellen Johnson gave an interview to the Columbus

Dispatch newspaper on the decision by New Line
Cinema to edit out anti-Christian portions of the
movie/The Golden Compass."
AA Legal Director Edwin Kagin was a guest on the
"The AI Rantel Radio Program on KABC.
AA President Ellen Johnson was a guest on the FOX
Network's FOX & Friends program to talk about the]
controversy over the movie "The Golden Compass."
AA President Ellen Johnson was a guest on CNN's
Headline News to talk about "The Golden Compass"
movie.
Ellen Johnson appeared on CNN to discuss Georgia's
governors prayers for rain.
Ellen Johnson gave an interview to the Family News
In Focus on American Atheists Utah Highway Cross
lawsuit.
Ellen Johnson gave an interview to Religion News
Service on the Golden Compass movie controversy.
Ellen Johnson gave a phone interview with a World
Religions class at Nikiski High School in Nikiski,
Alaska.
Ellen Johnson appearedon the Glen Beck program on
Headline News to discuss our Utah cross lawsuit.
Utah State Director Richard Andrews appeared on
the FOX Network's Hannity & Combs program to talk
about our Utah cross lawsuit.
AA Communications Director David Silverman gave
an interview to FoxNews.com about our Utah cross
case.
Our attorney in the Utah cross case Brian Barnard,
was a guesfon the Alan Combs radio program to talk
about the case.
Virginia State Director, Rick Wingrove, gave a talk on
Atheism to the Washington DC Freemasons Lodge
No.4
The Salt Lake Tribune had an article about our Utah
Highway Cross case decision.
FoxNews.com had an article about our Utah Highway
Cross case. AA Spokesman David Silverman and our
attorney in the lawsuit Brian Barnard were quoted in
the article.
The Deseret Morning News reported on our Utah
Highway Cross lawsuit.
Ellen Johnson appeared on the FOX Network's
"America's Pulse" program to talk about our Utah
cross lawsuit.
Ellen Johnson appeared on the CNN Headline News
Program to talk about the movie -The Golden Compass
with Bill Donohoe from the Catholic League.
The Utah Daily Herald printed an article about our
Utah Cross case decision.
Newsweek.com ran a story on out Utah cross case
decision.
FEBRUARY 2008

AMERIOW

ATHEIST

War-Torn Middle East

.Seeks Solace In Religion
by the onion-www.theonion.com
(Humor)
JERUSALEM-As an uneasy truce between Israel and Hezbollah
continues, millions of average men and women in the Holy Land are
turning to the one simple comfort that has always seen them through
the darkest days of their troubled history: the steadfast guidance of
their religious faith.
"I take solace in knowing that my faith is a sanctuary, an escape
from the bloodshed and turmoil," said Haifa resident Yigal Taheri, who
last week lost his wife and newborn daughter when a Fajr-3 longrange rocket launched by Lebanese militants struck the synagogue
where his family was attending services."YHWH, Elohim, whatever you
wish to not call Him-His love comforts all those who are willing to
open their hearts to Him. Praise be to G-d."
"Religion is the one thing that has never let us down,"Taheri
added over the low rumble of AK-47 fire emanating from the nearby
home of a radical Israeli rabbi.
Taheri is not alone. In a time of seemingly unending conflict between Israelis and Arabs, a growing number of Middle Easterners are
fervently embracing the unshakeable wisdom of Judaism and Islam.
Palestinian Omar Abdel-Malik, a resident of the Gaza Strip town of
Khan Younis, credits his Islamic beliefs for preserving his sanity.
"The Israelis have fired missile upon missile on my neighborhood,
but it has only made my trust in Allah that much stronger," Abdel-Malik said."1cringe to think where the people of the Middle Eastwould be
right now if it weren't for our steadfast belief in one true, merciful, and
loving Supreme Being."
. Palestinian widow and mother of three Dareen Idriss agreed,
citing the healing power of prayer as a way to cope with the relentless
slaughter she and her family witness every day."When the children
cannot stop crying because of the bombs, we all gather our families
in the rubble of the mosque to pray for justice," Idriss said."During this
calm meditation, we also pray for the annihilation of the Hebrew race."
West Bank settler Ari Chayat, whose neighborhood has also been

Letter to the Editor

ravaged by violence, echoed this profound reliance on faith."The

world is so brutal and unfair,"Chayat said."Many days, my uncompromising belief in a vengeful creator is all that gets me out of bed in the
morning."
"If it wasn't for my faith that the God of Abraham has given these
lands to Jews and Jews alone by divine decree, I probably wouldn't
even be here today,"Chayat added.
Lebanese militant Jawad Hamid, who recently lost his best friend
to an Israeli helicopter attack while the two men were on their way to
pick up a Katyusha rocket, said his faith in Allah was the only way he
could cope with the tragedy.
"Every time I want to give up hope, I just open the Quran to my
favorite passage,Surah 2:194:'Whoever acts aggressively against you,
inflict injury on him:" Hamid said."Whenever I read those words, I am
immediately filled with inspiration and a renewed sense of purpose."
Even political leaders have tapped into the public's reliance on
religion and used it as a way to encourage them to never give up.
"In this time of strife, the only way to endure the unending suffering is through an unwavering, uncompromising faith in one's religious
beliefs," Israeli hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday. Hezbollah
leader Hassan Nasrallah went so far as to quote from the Quran in a
speech delivered to followers the same afternoon.
"It's always frightening to be reminded of your own mortality, as
we all were this past Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday," Hezbollah commander Mahdi ai-Zaidi said."But rather than react
irrationally, I looked deep within my faith, consulted the Quran, and by
the mercy of Allah, I gained the resolve to oversee a massive airstrike
against the enemy."
"We will get through this, so long as we have God on our side:' he
added.

Reprinted with permission ofTHE ONION.

copyright by ONION, INC.

Identical Mistakes
by Lloyd Foster

Editor:
I respectfully request of the American Atheist journal that
unimportant words such as christianity or god or catholic not
be capitalized, against your better judgment, because these
words are certainly not deserving of any such reverence, nor will
they ever truly be. I thank the American Atheist organization for
standing up for me and who I truly am and just simply being
level headed, my search is finally over.
Cliff Hillington
Palm Springs, California.
Our editorial policy is to capitalize the names of religions and
specific gods but not the generic word "god." We capitalize Theist
and Atheist as well as Humanist, Freethinker, Agnostic, Skeptic and
Rationalist because they are as much proper nouns as are Christian,
Protestant and Catholic. (Editor)

AMERICAN ATHEIST

FEBRUARY2008

You have probably never seen issues of religion or race in this

light before. Never looked at politics, corporate life or the
threat of terrorism from such a unique angle either. And just
in case you are thinking that this is a collection of boring essays by a disturbed academic ... This is a novel! A mystery
novel, no less. A bona fide mystery that will keep you guessing
to the very last page.
Go out and grab a copy.
You will see.
Available on amazon.com
(Not available from American Atheists.)

Get ready now to join us for

The 34th Annual National Convention

of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
March21- 23/2008 - Minneapolis, MN

The venue is the new, luxurious Minneapolis Marriott

City Center Hotel in the heart of downtown. It offers
everything from stunning views to magnificent
accommodations, and you're within walking
distance of many regional attractions. There are
also convenient mass-transit and other connections
to spectacular destinations including THEMALL OF
AMERICA,the world-class Minneapolis Institute of Art
and so much more! Thespecial convention room

rate for the American Atheist convention is only

$99 per night (single, double, triple or quad).
Reserveyour room now. Besure to say you are with
American Atheists 2008 to qualify for the special
room rate ... and don't forget to ask about "shoulder
dates" if you want to extend your stay before or

after the convention weekend! You can visit the

YAHOO!Travel web site for the Marriott City Center at
http://travel. yahoo.com/ p-hote 1-345643-ma rriott
city center minneapolis-i to learn more about the
hotel and the local tourism sites and amenities. The
hotel web site is at http://www.marriott.com/hotels/
travel/mspcc -minneapol is-marriott -city-center / .
Remember, you must make your reservations directly
with the hotel at:
Minneapolis Marriott'" City Center
30 South 7th Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 USA
1-612-349-4000 (phone)
1-612-332-7165 (fax)

GETTING THERE ...

Major airlines service the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International airport. Oncethere, you can take a
cab or private shuttle, or for only $2.50 hop the light
rail which takes you downtown to the Marriott! Visit
http://www.mspairport.com/msp/ Airlines/passenger.
~ forinformation on flying to the convention.
SPEAKERS, EVENTS AND MORE ...
Checkforthcoming issuesofthe American Atheist
Magazine, and the American Atheists Convention
web site at http://www.atheists.org/conventionfor
updates on Convention events! We promise you a
blockbuster line-up of speakers, fun social events and
so much more - what you've come to expect from this
annual Convention bash. Make reservations now!

We'll see you in Minneapolis!

FEBRUARY 2008

AMERICAN ATHEIST

Charles

D.".,...~

And His NeverEnding Controversy

by Conrad F. Goeringer
Nearly two centuries after the birth of naturalist
Charles Darwin, his discoveries about the origin
of life on our planet remain at the center of a
heated culture war debate touching on the status
of science and religion ...

his February, 2008 will mark the

199th anniversary of the birth of
Charles Robert Darwin, the British naturalist whose scientific career
crystallized evolution and natural selection as the
unifying explanation for the development-and
diversity-oflife.
In a remarkable series of books, Darwin
established this complex process as the driving force behind
the spectacular abundance of different, but related, natural forms.
Despite his considerable corpus of evidence, though, and the
even weightier body of findings that scientists have uncovered since
his 1895 book On the Origin of Species, Darwin and "Darwinism"evolution through natural selection -remain centerpieces in centuries-old debate over the intersection of religion and science. As this
issue of The American Atheist Magazine heads to press, for instance,
the PBS is airing its critically-acclaimed NOVA segment, "JUDGEMENT DAY-Intelligent Design on Trial" which probes the legal,
cultural and scientific aspects of teaching so-called "alternatives" to
evolution in the public schools. In a recent debate among candidates for the U.S. presidency, White House hopefuls were grilled' as
to whether they "believed" in evolution. Equally disturbing are polls
which show that a near-majority of Americans "believe creationism,"
the religious doctrine that God created human beings and other life
in their present form within the past 10,000 years.
Charles Darwin was born in 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
England. His heritage was laced with religious nonconformists including Unitarians and Freethinkers like his father, financier Robert
Darwin. Charles studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh,
Scotland, but-abandoned the prospect of a medical career and ended
up studying taxidermy from a freed black slave who regaled him with
tales of the South African rainforest. In 1827, he enrolled at Christ's
College, Cambridge where his interest in natural history continued
to thrive. It was here that he met botanist John Stevens Henslow
8

AMERICANATHEIST

FEBRUARY2008

......

....

'"

and expanded his interest in geology. Thanks to Henslow, Darwin

was recommended as resident naturalist for the voyage of the HMS
Beagle which was to spend two years charting the coastline and surrounding waters of South America.
Despite the vicissitudes of a prolonged sea voyage (Darwin
frequently suffered from seasickness and fever), the young naturalist
managed to amass a considerable body of fossils and newly-discovered
living organisms many of which he shipped back to Cambridge along
with his observations. He had also gathered evidence to support his
thesis that creatures could evolve into different species when isolated,
a process of transmutation which he detailed in his "Red Notebook."
Upon his return to England, Darwin was hailed for his revolutionary
findings. His name also became associated with the expansive debate
over what role, if any, "god" played in the fashioning of life on Earth.
He also set to work putting his theory on the transmutation ofliving
creatures to paper, first in a 230-page paper, and later in a series of
books which would ignite a controversy that even the famous naturalist could not have anticipated.
God, religion and Darwin
Many viewed the publication and growing acceptance of
Charles Darwin's ideas on the development of life as a threat to religious orthodoxy, and the account of human origins found in the
Old Testament. Evolution postulated "deep time" whereby a gradual

0\ ,,~,

pm'"'' unfolded ow, million, and even tens of million,

far cry from the brief creation cycle described in Genes:~ It also
raised questions about divine agency. Darwin sropped short o~philosophical speculation, or declaring that a "First Cause" did or did not
create the universe. Indeed, he remained a Theist throughout his
life despite his explicit critiques of Christianity and other religious
orthodoxy.
Following publication of "On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection" in 1859, Darwin was propelled to the center of religious controversy. Fueling this was the development of "higher criticism" within the established churches, where theologians and clerics
were undertaking a critical examination of Biblical texts and claims. In
1860, for instance, a small coterie of Anglican thinkers published "Essays and Reviews"where they attacked biblical literalism, and expressed
support for Darwin's insights on the evolution of living forms.
Perhaps more significant than Origins was Darwin's 1871
opus, "The Descent of Man." Here, among other topics including
the evolution of the human species, he argued his case for the origin
of religion and ethical sensibilities as useful, socially beneficial traits.
But he also argued against the suggestion that, somehow, belief in a
deity was an innate part of the human character.
"There is no evidence that man was aboriginally endowed
with the ennobling beliefin the existence of an Omnipotent
God. On the contrary, there is ample evidence derived not
from hasty travelers, but from men who have long resided
with savages, that numerous races have existed, and still
exist, who have no idea of one or more gods, and who have
no words in their language to express such an idea ... "
His skepticism in a deity which guided the development of
life and presided over the most superficial events in a vast universe
continued to grow. Charles Darwin remained an Agnostic, though
never abandoning his fall-back belief in a "first cause."
"Formerly, I was led to the firm conviction of the existence
of God and the immortality of the soul. In my Journal I
wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of
a Brazilian forest, 'it is not possible to give an adequate
idea of the high feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.' I well remember my
conviction that there is more in man than the mere breath
of his body. But now the grandest scenes would not cause
any such convictions and feelings to rise in my mind. "Ill
Darwin's most eloquent musings on religion, though, were
saved for a posthumous memoir he began in May of 1876 and tided "Recollections of the Development of my mind and character. "This
work-published
after his death as "The Autobiography of Charles
Darwin"-was
heavily redacted by his wife, Emma, who held strong
religious convictions. The complete, unexpurgated text was not published until 1958 when Darwin's granddaughter Nora Barnes published a complete edition of the great naturalist's musings. A full
section is devoted to Darwin's opinions in respect to theology and his
gradual disillusionment with traditional Christianity.
'/It the present day the most usual argument
tence of an intelligent God is drawn from the
conviction and feelings which are experienced
sons. But it cannot be doubted that Hindoos

for the exisdeep inward

by most per(sic), Maho-

madans and others might argue in the same manner and

with equal force in favor of the existence of one God, or
of many Gods, or as with the Buddhists of no God ... This
argument would be valid one if all men of all races had the
same inward conviction of the existence of one God; but
we know that this is very far from being the case. Therefore I cannot see that such inward convictions and feelings
are of any weight as evidence of what really exists ... "121
Darwinism and the roots of the American culture wars
Darwin's writings on the evolution of species along with other findings abour "deep time" and the age of the universe won the
day in the scientific community. Liberal religionists made efforts to
reconcile their Biblical narrative with the growing body of evidence
that clearly pointed to different origins for life and universe. Atheists
and other Freethinkers could point to the corpus of Charles Darwin's
writings as evidence of a naturalistic view of how life began. Liberal Christians chose to accept Darwinism as well, though, suggesting that the biblical accounts of the Old and New Testaments were
symbolic, allegorical and products of their time while still conveying
a "deeper message."
In America, the strongest expressions of anti-Darwinism began with a set of four volumes published by the Bible Institute of Los
Angeles in 1917 tided The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth.
The project was the brainchild of two wealthy Protestant oil
tycoons, Lyman and Milton Stewerr. The Fundamentals reaffirmed a
literal interpretation of the Bible as the immutable word of a god and,
it was hoped, would be an efficacious bulwark against the encroachment of modernism. The volumes were to give "fundamentalists"
a defense against everything from Roman Catholicism to Atheism,
contemporary philosophy, political liberalism and, of course, evolutionary accounts of human origins. Chapters were authored by the
leading voices of Protestant revanchism, and featured titles such as
"The Fallacies of Higher Criticism," "The Testimony of the Monu-

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ments to the Truth of the Scriptures," and "Science and Christian

Faith." With its emphasis on biblical literalism and infallibility, The
Fundamentals set America's Protestant stalwarts against the growing
cultural and scientific consensus that accepted science-and Darwin's
important explanation-as the pre-eminent way of comprehending
how the universe, and life, operated.
Biblical literalism, though, remained a popular and entrenched
belief throughout much of the American South and Midwest, and in
a wider Protestant fundamentalist subculture. Numerous states had
laws that attempted to circumvent the teaching of evolution, including Tennessee which enacted its statute in 1925. It declared:
"... that it shall be unlawfol for any teacher in any of
the Universities, Normals and all other public schoolsof
the State which are supported in whole or in part by the
public schoolfonds of the State, to teach any theory that
denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught
in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended
from a lower order of animals. "[3J

In the public imagination, the trial of high school biology instructor John Scopes remains the symbol of the conflict between government-sponsored religious fundamentalism and modern science.
Scopes was charged on May 5, 1925 with violating the Tennessee
statute by teaching from a textbook citing contemporary evolutionary findings. The American Civil Liberties Union had sought an
opportunity to challenge the law. The subsequent trial pitted William
Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow against each other rendering
it one of the most spectacular, if not significant legal confrontations
of modern times. There was little Darrow could do to challenge the
basic facts of the indictment, that Scopes had indeed violated the
Tennessee anti-evolution law.!" Instead, he put the Book of Genesis
and biblical liFeralism on trial. Historian Edward J. Larson noted,
"Like so many archetypal American events, the trial itself began as a
publicity stunt.T"
John Scopes was convicted, but to many-particularly
in the
academic and scientific communities-the
tide had turned, and bib;0

AMERICAN ATHEISt

FEBRUARY2008

lical literalism was rendered a quaint but irrelevant belief that was
vanishing from America's classrooms. The nation's natural history
museums openly displayed exhibits that illustrated the fact of evolution and the transmutation of species. For most, Darwin and Darwinism had carried the day.
Laws against evolution, though, lingered on the books for
decades. In 1987, the u.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision (EDWARDS, GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA, ET AL. v. AGUILLARD
ET AL.) struck down a Louisiana statue that required creationism
taught in science classes along with Darwinian evolution. Nevertheless the rise of the contemporary religious right saw a flurry of new
efforts throughout the country to promote an anti-evolution agenda.
"Creationism" morphed into "Intelligent Design" or 10, which used
the vernacular of the scientific enterprise but proposed a "designer"
who created entire species and presumably guided their development.
Creationists and 10 advocates promoted their cause as a legitimate
"alternative" to evolution. Several state education departments and
numerous local school boards passed regulations proposing "disclaimer" stickers on textbooks, while others called for "revised" standards for teaching science and even the use of "10" approved texts.
Charles Darwin and his findings have
remained topics of wide misunderstanding
ever since the brilliant naturalist first began
publicizing his research. His "Theory of
Evolution" is not a "theory" as much as established fact which is constantly confirmed
by a growing body of empirical evidence.
Polls find that a near-majority of Americans,
though, reject the proposition that modern
humans and other creatures evolved from
earlier ancestors, and that a combination of
natural selection and mutation steers the development of all life on Earth.
The controversy also retains its sharp
religious edge.
The leading proponent
of "Intelligent Design," the Seattle-based
Discovery Institute, has close ties to the
country's fundamentalist movement. Other
groups like the Center for Science and Theology vigorously attack evolution and instead promote a "comprehensive Christian
worldview,"
Science, faith and boundaries
The legal battle over how and what to teach in respect to human origins has also fueled the debate about the chasm separating
faith and science. Does evolution eliminate the need for divine creation and guidance? The religious and the scientific community remain divided. For most Atheists, Darwin's work and the rest of the
scientific enterprise steadily vanquish the need for any supernatural
entities or processes to explain how nature works. 161 Others at the
opposite end of this epistemological spectrum argue that science and
religion need not be in "conflict." The late Stephen Jay Gould argued for what he described as "nonoverlap ping Magisteria," but critics have attacked his views for failing to resolve basic theoretical and
factual dilernrnas.F'
Strangely, biblical literalism has not led fundamentalists-at
least in large numbers-to
attack other areas of the scientific enterprise. There is no robust movement, for instance, to doubt Coperni-

can or Keplerian descriptions of the solar system. The Roman Catholic Church has apologized for its persecution of Galileo, and one does
not hear complaints at school board meetings that a heliocentric solar
system diminishes the "dignity" of human beings. The Bible remains
a fertile and literal source for critiques of modern culture over issues like gay rights or the status of women. The country's thriving
Christian evangelical and fundamentalist subculture remains silent
on much of modern science. Why then the continued acrimony over
Charles Darwin?
Perhaps it is because Darwin and the course of biological sciences since his time deal with us. lt locates humans in a vast, interconnected web of life made possible through an almost infinitelycomplex matrix of chemical interactions. This process, in turn, is
now understood in an even wider and grander set of events touching
on the very existence and evolution of stars. We are, as Carl Sagan
often declared, "star stuff." The metals and other complex constituent components of our bodies-and the rest of the universe-were
"cooked" in fantastic stellar furnaces which exploded and threw
these building blocks of life out into space. From there, gravity
took over. Clumps of matter accumulated, accretion disks formed,
matter compressed, planets took shape and-with a myriad of other
processes-the first constituent elements capable of self-replication
came to be.
lt is a process we only partly understand. Nearly two hundred
years after his birth, though, the discoveries and insights of Charles
Darwin remain a foundation stone in giving human beings insight
into how we came to be. Even without the need for a god, designer
or first cause, life and the universe remain fascinating and wondrous
objects of inquiry.

Notes
[I]

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Darwin was frequently asked if the different variants of Theism were compatible with his findings in evolution. In 1879, for instance, he replied to
one correspondent that "a man can be an ardent Theist and evolutionist,"
but that he himself had "never been an Atheist in the sense of denying
the existence of a God," and that "an Agnostic would be a more correct
description of my state of mind ... "
See Darwin, Charles (1958), N. Barlow, editor, The autobiography of
Charles Darwin 1809-1882.
With the original omissions restored; edited
and with appendix and notes by his grand-daughter Nora Barlow, London,
England: Collins.
The Tennessee law passed both houses of the state legislatute by impressive margins, but was less than enthusiastically supported by Gov. Austin
Peay. He nevertheless signed the legislation on March 21,1925 declaring,
"Probably the law will never be applied."
Scopes willingly incriminated himself and encouraged students to testify
that they had studied evolution from the class textbook and in classroom
discussions.
See Larson, Edward J., "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, "( 1997) Basic Books.
Interestingly, most fundamentalists would conditionally agree with this
assertion, declaring that Darwinism supports a "materialist" or non-theistic conception of the universe.
.
See http://www.stephenjaygould.orgllibrary/gould_noma.html.
Gould's
essay, dedicated to Carl Sagan, first appeared in the journal Natural History, March 1997.

Conrad Goeringer is a staff writer for American Atheist magazine. He

is also Editor of AANEWS, our electronic newsletter. Mr. Goeringer is
a former antiquarian book dealer, reporter and freelance writer. He can
be reached at cgastbook@aol.com

The

Folll\lIers

I-rlenCis

So many of you help American Atheists with donations

and other financial support-and
we want to find a
way to say "Thank You!"We are pleased to announce the
re-establishment of an American Atheist tradition-The
Founders' Friends, begun by the Murray O'Hair family.
Those contributing $50 or more to American Atheists
will have your name and amount entered in subsequent
issues of the AA Magazine. Just fill out the blue card with
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Mailing addresses will not be mentioned.
This is our way of saying THANK YOU to an
extraordinary group of people-those
of you who want
to "do more" and financially support the critical work of
American Atheists!
American Atheists Thanks The Following Persons For
Their Generous Contributions To Our Cause.

Harold L. Saferstein, M.D., AZ - $2,000

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11

Radio address delivered Feb. 24th 1957 over Radio Station WMIE,
Miami Florida. (Reprinted from Classic Radio Addresses and other
works by Joseph Lewis, Late President of the Freethinkers of America
MEMORIAL EDITION) courtesy of the Charles E. Stevens American
Atheist Library and Archives.

ood evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

No one will deny the courage of the uniformed
soldier who goes forth to battle. Neither will anyone
withhold from him the credit and respect to which he is
entitled. But not all soldiers wear uniforms. Neither do all soldiers die
upon the battle-fields 'mid shot and shell.
There are soldiers, who do. not know how to operate a gun;
who do not go forth to battle amid the beating of drums, the waving
of flags or the cheering of people.
There are soldiers who fight, not upon the battle-fields, but
upon the field of thought. Upon the battle-field there is somewhat
of an equal contest. Man power can be met with man power and destructive explosives with devastating projectiles. But infinitely more
courage and superior ammunition are required to do battle in the
larger arena of human action.
The progress of mankind has been one bitter struggle against
the forces of reaction; a battle of Herculean effort against invisible
and deadly enemies.
On the battlefield; the roaring of guns and the bursting of
shells are a signal that the enemy is approaching and preparation is
made by the defending army to withstand the attack; but in the battle
for human progress, the enemy gives no such signs of approach.
Ignorance, Hatred, Bigotry and Superstition are the malignant enemies of the human race, These vicious enemies do not fight
in open fields. They do not fight fairly. With them equal combat is
unknown. Their victories are won in the dark. Stealth and hypocrisy
are their weapons.
Thousands have died, millions have died in mortal combat
upon the battlefields in defense of their country, in defense of their
homes, on behalf of liberty.
And thousands, yes millions,- have died in that grand army
of human progress-soldiers in the army of Science, of Art of Medi12

AMERICANATHEISf

FEBRUARY2008

cine of Invention and Discovery and in the army of Justice and

Freedom.
The world is ever ready to do homage to the soldier upon
the battlefield. But in the realm of human progress it is lamentably
true that only too often does the gallant soldier receive rebuke and
calumny for his reward.
Seldom, in his own day, does the soldier who fights for liberty
taste the fruits of his victory.
Abraham Lincoln, the Soul of America, was a soldier in both of
these armies. He donned a uniform, shouldered a gun, and marched
to battle in defense of his country. He suffered the hardships and endured the trials of a soldier's life. As captain of a regiment in the Black
Hawk War in 1832, Lincoln acquitted himself with honor. And upon
his return from battle he received the plaudits of his countrymen.
War brutalizes our natures and hardens our hearts; it warps
our thoughts and makes us callous to the sufferings of human life.
But Lincoln never permitted war to harden his heart nor stunt
his feelings. He was possessed of a rare love for humanity. His kindliness knew no bounds and his honesty was so widespread that he was
affectionately known as "Honest Abe." There were many who chided
him for his "soft heartedness," but Lincoln was Lincoln and was not
to be swayed from his convictions.
Lincoln's soul was touched with the kinship of 'life by the
magic wand of a mother's love, To Lincoln his mother was his Star of
Hope, his Rainbow of Life, the myriad-colored arch that ever beckoned him to "carryon." Lucky indeed is the child whose mother inspires him 'with humanitarian ideas and thoughts and with the urge
that he may so live that when he passes on the world will be better
for his having lived.
We have only pity for Lincoln's mother-Nancy Hanks-because
Lincoln never knew his real father. He got his name from his stepfather. Lincoln was one of. the great "Love Children" of the world.
When became fully aware of the situation, it left a scar deep
upon his sensitive mentality, which became more poignant with the
years, and undoubtedly accounts for the deep channels of sorrow that
lined his face.
He was often heard to sigh, "My poor mother, my poor mother."

Lincoln never forgot the lowliness from which he came and it

was the memory of his hardships which caused him never to abuse his
power except on the side of mercy.
You remember the case of William Scott? While Scott was on
sentry duty, after a strenuous day of fighting, and exhausted from the
wear and tear of battle, his strength failed him and he fell prostrate
upon the ground. When discovered by another soldier and awakened, it was revealed that he was dreaming of his mother, and that she
had awakened him to remind him of his duty as a soldier!
But in time of war, excuses for being asleep while on sentry
duty are not acceptable or valid, and Scott was taken to his superior
officer, tried by court-martial, convicted and condemned to be shot!
The case was brought to Lincoln's attention. His heart was
touched. He could not make himself believe that the boy was a traitor, and ordered his release. You know what followed: Scott died
fighting valiantly for the union cause!
On another occasion, a woman went to the White House and
begged an audience with the President. Her husband had been captured, tried, convicted and was to be shot. Lincoln consented to see
her. She told her story and pleaded with the President to suspend judgment. Lincoln asked her whether her husband was a good man and
whether he treated her children kindly. She replied that he was a good
husband and a good father and that the family could not live without
him. She said he was a fool about politics and if she ever got him home
he would do no more fighting for the South. "Well," said Lincoln,
"I will pardon your husband and turn him over to you for safe keeping." The poor woman, overcome with joy, sobbed as though her heart
would break. "My dear woman," said Lincoln, "if I had known how
badly it was going to make you feel, I never would have pardoned him."
"You don't understand," cried the woman between her sobs. "You don't
understand, Mr. Lincoln." "Yes, yes, I do," answered the President,
"and if you do not go away at once I shall be crying with you."
In our thoughts of Lincoln, let us not forget that he was a human being, born just as you and I were born, only that his hardships
were immeasurably greater than ours, his difficulties far more numerous. He had to struggle for everything he possessed. He had no teachers. He was self-taught. Tramping through the woods for six miles to
borrow a grammar book is an indication of his thirst for knowledge
and the obstacles he overcame to acquire it.
He had an unquenchable desire to learn. A burning urge to
accomplish. This urge prompted him to read every book he could
get. He was once asked what he was reading, and he replied: "I'm not
reading-I'm studying." He was particularly fond of controversies. He
loved an argument. He was never satisfied unless the sparks flew in
the discussions. "Hew to the block, let the chips fly where they will,"
was his motto. And fortunately this trait of Lincoln's broke down all
barriers and prejudice in seeking knowledge. He was carried' on the
wave of Rationalism which swept this country in the Forties. This
brought him in contact with the writings of Voltaire, Volney and
Thomas Paine. They were his intimates.
As a result of Lincoln's reading of the books of these great
Rationalists, he became a Freethinker.
He even wrote a book against the inspiration of the Bible, and
questioned the legitimacy of the birth of Jesus Christ.
He never became a member of any church, and his wife testified that he w:s not a Christian believer. Abraham Lincoln belonged
to no sect; he professed no creed.
When he ran for Congress against the Rev. Peter Cartright he
was charged with being an "infidel." Lincoln said he would not deny
the charge, because it could be easily proved.

It is an established fact, verified by indisputable evidence that

Lincoln wrote the original draft of his famous Gettysburg address,
with the words, "under God" left out.
These words were later inserted, at the suggestion of a religionist, who wanted a copy, to be sold for the benefit of a church.
Lincoln accommodated him.
A similar incident accounts for the reference to a Deity in the
Emancipation Proclamation.
It is an historical fact, and noteworthy to us, that the 'Emancipation Proclamation, was written, and printed, by Lincoln BEFORE he
consulted the members of his cabinet. When he called them into conference, he handed each member a copy, and asked for suggestions.
One member, the overly pious Salmon P. Chase-Secretary
of the Treasury-noticing that there was no reference to God in the
proclamation, suggested that some mention be made of it. Lincoln
replied, "Won't you make a draft of what YOU think ought to be
inserted."
And this accounts for the reference' to God in this great document.
However, they are not Lincoln's words, nor his convictions.
They are the pious and useless sentiments of a fanatical religionist.
In every great crisis there are always religious fanatics, who
have spoken directly to God, and who are directed by God to deliver certain messages. The Civil War was no exception, and Lincoln
was not free from these religious cranks. It is said that Lincoln, more
than any other President, was constantly pestered by clergymen with
advice "directly from God." He controlled his temper only because
of his sympathy for the mentally deranged. To indicate, his attitude
toward such people, I will quote his words of contempt for them:
'1 am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and by religious men who are certain they represent
the Divine Will. I hope, it will not be irreverent in me to
say, that ifit isprobable that God would reveal His will to
others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be
supposed He would reveal it directly to 'me."
We must not lose sight of the fact that Lincoln was the most
misunderstood and hated man of his day. There were conspirators in
every branch of the Government, and, it has been intimated, even in
his own cabinet. We must not judge him for what he permitted others to do in order to accomplish his glorious undertaking, and if the
churches of his day were ready to strike him down on the slightest

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provocation, the over sentimental references to "God" in his messages

can be readily understood as of little importance.
When chided about his Thanksgiving Day messages as being
contrary to his known convictions on the subject, Lincoln said to
Judge James N. Nelson: "Oh! this is some of Seward's nonsense and
it pleases the fools!" Lincoln knew the power of the church's hostility, and was a compromiser in the sense that he believed in "doing a
little harm for a great good," particularly so when the end meant the
liberation of thousands of human beings from the bondage of slavery.
To the church, it is more important to crush the infidel than to add
a step of progress to civilization and for that reason, while president,
Lincoln was reticent in public upon the question of religion. By this
act of discretion he carried the nation safely through the most trying
period of its history.
It is very curious, indeed, that if Lincoln were a Christian, as
some say, nowhere in any of his writings does there appear a single
mention of the name of the founder of Christianity.
With the cares of the Civil War hanging heavily upon his
shoulders, with the poignancy of the death of his son Tad, still searing his heart and mind, and with the thought that death might not
be too far distant, Lincoln wrote to his life long friend, Judge J. A.
Wakefield, this "testament" of his beliefs:
"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme
of salvation and the human origin of the Scriptures, have become
clearer, and stronger, with advancing year, and I see no reason for
thinking I shall ever change them,"
It was utterly impossible for Lincoln to be a believer in the
Bible-with its sanction of slavery-and the author of the Emancipation
Proclamation.
Voltaire had shot his bolts at the caste system of Europe, and
the chains began to fall from the minds and bodies of men.
Thomas Paine was the first man on the American continent to
raise his voice in behalf of the Negro slaves.
Fired by these men with the love of Liberty and human rights
Abraham Lincoln entered the Army of Progress.
In retrospect, we see him on a flat boat navigating down the
Mississippi River. We see him arrive at New Orleans. We see him in
company with two friends come upon the market place. We see him
watch the sale of a Negro slave girl. We see him rebel at the revolting
scene. As the girl is examined by her bidders, her flesh pinched, her
form displayed, her nudity exposed, we see his sad face become more
sorrowful, we see him clench his fist, and with a quiver in his voice,
and an oath upon his lips, utter this statement: "If I ever get a chance
to hit that thing (meaning slavery), I'll hit it hard." On his return to
Springfield we see him enter the political arena with a short but crude
declaration only to be concluded by that everlasting monument to his
name, the Emancipation Proclamation. We now see him competing
for public office. We see him defeated, halted in his march. But defeat
and discouragement were words not to be found in Lincoln's vocabulary. When questioned concerning his defeat he said he felt like the
boy who was too big to cry and too hurt to laugh. Determination was
the quality of Lincoln's character and he knew that "the harder the
struggle the more glorious the triumph," and so we see him overcoming the obstacles which had beset his path.
We now see him in his famous debate, with Douglas determining whether the nation can remain "half slaves, and half free,"
and "whether a house divided against itself can stand."
And in this struggle let us not lose sight of the fact that Lincoln received the brunt of the battle. He was the most misunderstood
and hated man of his day. The people did not welcome the economic
14

AMERlCANATHElST

FEBRUARY2008

and social changes, which he advocated. The vilest of arguments were

used against him. Arguments now known to be utterly ludicrous. He
was vilified. He was slandered. The churches of his day opposed him
and bigotry supported their contention. Let us take a lesson from the
way Lincoln was treated and be not too ready to dismiss a new idea
or condemn a new proposal.
In his fight for human emancipation he met the bitterest f<lesof battle. But not once did he falter, not once did he swerve. He had
tasted battle as a soldier fighting for human rights against an institution whose only strength was that it was supported by "divine right."
But Lincoln knew that man had no property right in man, and that
the marks of the vicious lash upon the tender skin were not and could
not be right by divine sanction, and that the damnable institution of
slavery was a living lie against our Declaration of Independence!
We see Lincoln gaining in his struggle. We see a Convention
assembled. We see him nominated for President by an almost unanimous acclamation! We see him at the head of the Republic. Commander-in-Chief of its army, to determine "whether this nation, or
any nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are create equal, can long endure!"
We see him appealing for support-appealing to the nation's
men to fight for the battle of freedom. After man anxious, and uncertain moments we hear the murmur of footsteps and the beating of
drums and the welcome exclamation "We are coming Father Abraham: we arc coming 300,000 strong!"
And we see Lincoln, this giant of a man. who was too big
to cry and too hurt to laugh, weeping for joy at the triumph that
3,000,000 human beings were to be released from the shackles of
bondage; weeping for joy that the American Flag, the symbol of Liberty, was to rise once more over a united nation without a blemish
and without a stain!
It is the duty of the soldier upon the battlefield to carry the
flag of the country for which he fights, and if perchance he is shot
and wounded and falls, another soldier must lift it from his hands,
and carry it high to battle. This was the task delegated to Lincoln. He
carried the flag of freedom which the American Revolutionists had
given to Washington and just as victory was won, just as he crossed
the line with the flag waving high, this grand man, this soldier of the
Republic, this Liberator was struck down in battle and dies that millions might be free!
Upon the grave of Lincoln. the military soldier, let us drop
flowers of gratitude. and upon the brow of Lincoln the Emancipator.
the soldier in the Army of Freedom. let us place a laurel wreath. as a
symbol of the everlasting love; and thanks of the human race.
I can not more appropriately conclude this talk than by quoting these eloquent words of Robert G. Ingersoll:
''Abraham Lincoln was, in my judgment, in many respects, the
grandest man ever President of the United States. Upon his monument these words should be written: 'Here sleeps the only man in the
history of the world, who, having been clothed with almost absolute
power, never abused it, except upon the side of mercy.'"
Thank you for listening.
Good night.

34th Annual Convention of American Atheists

March 21-23, 2008 - Minneapolis, MN
details on page 7

OBITUARY
Hans Kasten
Atheist -In-A-Foxhole,dead at 90
ansKasten - Atheist, Bon Vivant, and World War II
veteran and hero, died at his home in the Philippines
on August 9. He was 90.
Mr. Kasten was a long-time friend of the Murray
O'Hair family and supporter of American Atheists.
He was born on August 18,1916 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and
grew up in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. At age 15, he concluded that
religion was "pure mythology."
Kasten volunteered for the U.s. Army in 1943, and was among
the wave of young men landing at "Omaha Beach" as part of the
second European Front on D-Day. His unit was surrounded by the
German Army during the infamous Ardennes Offensive (Battle
of the Bulge), and Kasten along with thousands of other'young
Americans was captured and ended up in the notorious Stalag
IX-B,and later shipped to the Berga concentration camp. There,
with his fluency in German, he became the "man of confidence" or
liaison between the camp administration and his fellow prisoners.
His experiences, including two escapes and a later unsuccessful hunt for his captors when the war in Europe ended, became the
stuff of legend. He was awarded the EAME (European-African-Middie Eastern Campaign) Medal; World War II Victory Medal; Combat
Infantry Badge; Prisoner of War (POW) Medal; Bronze Star; Purple
Heart; and Good Conduct Medal.
Hans Kasten was profiled in numerous newspaper and
magazine articles and an evocative book by fellow internee Joseph
Littell,"A Lifetime in Every Moment." In the years after World War
II,Kasten settled in the Philippines, married and raised a family,
and collected art. He spoke at veterans' reunions and other public
forums recounting his experiences as one of "The Greatest Generation" that defeated Fascism and Japanese Imperialism. Kasten
provided valuable accounts of his service to the Veterans History
Project and other scholarly archives preserving the memories of
those who served in the war.
He also saw the horrific story of the American POWsat Berga
fade from public memory.
Nearly six decades after WWII, a new generation learned the
story of the paws sentenced to forced labor at Berga. PBSaired

Charles E.Guggenheim's acclaimed documentary "Berga: Soldiers

of Another War" on May 28, 2003. This was by followed by articles
and a book, "Soldiers and Slaves"by reporter Roger Cohen.
Historian, playwright and author Ward Just described the
significance of this recovered history. "Before reading Soldiers and
Slaves,"Just commented to the New York Times, "I never heard
of concentration camp Berqa/an ephemeral little hell' within the
larger hell of World War II. But I know it now, and won't ever forget
it ... "
Kasten was profiled extensively in the October, 2006 edition
of American Atheist Magazine.
Hans Kasten was honored on November 11,2005 at the
historic "Atheists in Foxholes" event in Washington, D.C. Hundreds,
including veterans of World War II,gathered on the National Mall
to salute Kasten and other nonbelievers who served in the military,
and to dispel the odious notion that "there are no Atheists in
Foxholes." Kasten beguiled those present with his moving account
of what happened to him and fellow paws during one of the most
brutal episodes in that historic conflict. He was then, as decades
before, an American hero.

Jesus Is Dead

God's Brothel

by Robert Price

by Andrea Moore-Emmett
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The extortion of sex for salvation in

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15

The Joy Of A Camp For Non-Believers

by Samantha Stein
ereI am, staring
mournfully out
of the window,
feeling a distinct
sadness. Truth be told, the experience of Camp Quest 2007
was so fantastic that it has
made everything, including
opera, fried chicken, and even
provoking Jehovah's Witnesses,
seem dull and lifeless in comparison. This story was not always so rose tinted, however,
but because I do not wish to
put off generations of potential counsellors, I shall gloss
over the long hours of forced
slave labor in favour of stories
about invisible unicorns and
S'mores.
In case you have been living in a foxhole for 11 years (although
I have it on good authority that the Atheist population of foxholes is
extremely small), Camp Quest is a non-profit organization that provides a residential summer camp for children of an Atheist, agnostic,
freethinking or humanist inclination. It is in fact the first summer
camp of its kind in North America, started in 1996 by the aforementioned Edwin and his lovely wife Helen, which came about partly as
a reaction to the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) pro-theist policy. In
order for a person to be granted membership or a position of leadership in the BSA, he must sign a Declaration of Religious Belief, in
which he must agree that "only a person who acknowledges his duty
to God can be the best kind of citizen." It is not specified which God
they must believe in, be it Allah, Yahweh, or L. Ron Hubbard, but I
do wonder what their acceptance rate of Pastafarians is. I imagine it
would go down about as well as declaring your religion as "Jedi" on
the National Census.
Still, the camp for non-believers took off, and soon the original camp in Ohio blossomed into five more across North America, including the most recent addition set up and run by Leonard
Zanger: Camp Quest Michigan. It was here this August that I had the

16

AMERICANATHElSf

FEBRUARY2008

honor of volunteering my services. But sitting on the plane

to Detroit, I certainly had my
doubts about exactly what I
was getting myself into. To
all intents and purposes I had
just spent most of my worldly
money on a plane ticket to a
city about which I knew nothing (other than that a lot of
people get shot there), to meet
a group of complete strangers
with whom I would work for
a week. Throw in a multitude
of potentially uncontrollable
children, and you have one
very nervous Brit.
Upon meeting the other counsellors, my fears were
lifted. I was, without warning, thrown into a group of individuals,
united in a passion for education and reason. It offered me exactly
what Camp Quest is offering the campers - a retreat from the judgement of others, and a chance to be around likeminded people. Many
of the campers were returning for a second year, but many newcomers arrived just as unsure and wide eyed as I, burdened with the usual
camp fears added to the fact that everyone knows that Atheists eat
babies, and very occasionally, small children. They were to be left,
for an entire week, with lunatics who think that learning about Fibonacci numbers is more fun than hurling rocks at each other. There
was naturally the inevitable homesickness, but once the camp routine
was established, their concerns settled down, and some of them even
began to - gasp! - have a good time; (you know, despite the weather,
bugs and the lunatics .... I mean, counsellors.)
After a couple of days, the children began to open up, telling
horror stories from their schools. A common theme among them was
how others reacted when they used the ''A'' word. A few had already
chosen to identify themselves as "freethinkers" instead of Atheists,
simply to avoid being stigmatized by the other children. It became
evident that for some of them it was the first time they were in a place
where it was okay to believe whatever they believed; to express their

thoughts and ideas without fear of mockery or reprimands and to

question the supposed wisdom of authority.
I wholeheartedly shared those sentiments. Even living in the
UK, where religion is far less prominent in everyday life, being able
to speak my mind without fear of inadvertently offending someone's
religious sensibilities is a freedom I often miss. Not forgetting that
we are not fortunate to have an official separation between Church
and State, which means that the Church of England has a far greater
influence on government than many of us would like. Public schools
are obligated by law to have an act of "collective worship" that was
amended in 1988 to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian
character," even though an estimated 80% of schools do not abide
by this. Over the last few years, "faith schools" in Britain have been
strongly encouraged by the government and are set to be on the rise,
causing many parents to switch religions. The reason they switch is
because certain faith schools are better schools, but their policy is
to take a certain number of students who comply to the religion of
the school (say 75%). So in order to get their children into a "good"
school, parents may often compromise their religious faith or lack
thereof, making notable appearances at church around the time of
the admissions procedure. The majority of faith schools in England
are Catholic/Protestant, with Islamic schools on the rise. I think official secular schools are few and far between, if any exist at all. Yes,you
are reading correctly - to ensure their children a place at the school
of their choice, people are "juggling their philosophies of life." I am
starting to think that establishing a Camp Quest UK has become a
matter of urgency.
Due to the difficulty in finding any school in the area that
does not ascribe to any religion, both my junior and senior schools
were Church of England. One of my favorite stories from my childhood (apart from the one about me calling strangers "poo poos" and
"wee wees" on a shaky bridge in Disneyland) was one particularly
well orchestrated day at school. During history, we learned about
the evolution of humans and drew pictures of ape men. All was well
until it was time for our scripture lesson in which we learned about
the "creation story." Sure enough, we were being told by the same
teacher who had just told us that we evolved gradually from primordial "goo" that it was in fact God who created Adam and Eve,
the first humans. Needless to say, after that day at school I was a lot
more discerning about what I believed. I recently came across some
of my school work from that time, and while a lot of it claims to be
merely "the Christian version of events," one handout we were given
declares "this is a true story that took place a very long time ago."
It saddens me that such propaganda is being freely distributed in
schools even today.
The fact that I was a self-proclaimed Atheist back when I was
still hurling names at strangers on bridges, brings me back to the children of Camp Quest, the "Questlings," "Questerians," or however
they prefer to be called. The most striking thing about these children
was their minds. With a combined IQ of about a jazillion, they stood
united on the fact that they had all rejected dogma and blatant lies in
order to embrace a critical, rational approach. Not that we supervised a
camp filled with Richard Dawkins clones, tweed jackets and all. They
are normal kids who enjoy sponge fights and soaking their counsellors
with stagnant, putrid, disgusting alligator tank water just as much as
the next child. They are living, breathing, crying, bleeding kids (don't
worry; we only bled them a little for the ceremonial sacrifice) - but I
truly believe these children are our future. They are set to become the
people that change the world: doctors, lawyers, presidents. Some of
them might even grow up to be Camp Quest counsellors.

Aside from bleeding and boring them to death by trying to be

educational, the camp took on a very relaxed, informal atmosphere.
The kids took part in high ropes courses, canoeing, archery, zip lines,
and free swims in the lake. In the evenings we had campfires, discussions about the existence of invisible unicorns (though certainly not
pink ones), astronomy lessons, talent shows, S'mores and near death
sugar highs from Edwin's peach cobbler surprise. It was bliss. On the
last two nights of camp, we were fortunate enough to be able to watch
the Perseid Meteor Shower from our camp fire ring. And staring up
at the stars, I am convinced I felt both more alive and more at peace
than any amount of religion or faith could make anyone. I wholeheartedly echo Richard Feynrnan's sentiments: "But I don't have to
know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by
being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose
- which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't
frighten me"
The most important thing that I hope Camp Quest encourages in the campers is for them to regularly employ the Camp Quest
Michigan 2007 slogan, "How do you know?" I do however hope
that they will take great pleasure in knowing that they do not have
to know everything; Pretty hard for a bunch of fantastic know-itails.

To find out more about Camp

Quest please visit:
http://www.camp-quest.org/
and to find out about the upcoming
Camp Quest UK, visit:
http://www.camp-quest.org.

uk/

Samantha Stein is a final

year psychology undergraduate at
York University, UK She can be
reached at samanthastein@yahoo.
co.uk

Women, Food and Sex

(All Four Volumes)
by Soledad de Montalvo

inhistgm

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1.7-

Christian Rewriting
of History
Thefollowing is a transcriptfrom a tape of "The American Atheist
Radio Series"broadcastover KI'BC in Austin on the 17th of February,

1964.

ello
there,
This is Madalyn Mays O'Hair, American Atheist, back to talk with you again.
Probably the single thing which angers Atheists
more than any other practice of Christianity is the insistence the religious community has in bending the facts of history to conform with
their dogmas.
Sherman Wakefield, who is married to Robert Ingersoll's
granddaughter, has undertaken a study of some of the specific instances when such liberties have been taken with history itself.
He became particularly aroused at President Dwight Eisenhower at one point and wrote a short rebuttal to one of the president's
activities. I quote with Sherman's permission.
"On Washington's Birthday, President and Mrs. Eisenhower
attended services in Christ Episcopal Church of Alexandria, Virginia,
where George Washington was a vestryman and occupied Pew No.
60. The service was conducted by the
, Reverend Braxton Bragg Comer Lile, the rector, who did not tell his congregation that Washington
refused to take communion and walked out of the church before each
communion service. When taken to task by the Reverend James Abercombie of Philadelphia for this conduct, Washington stayed away
from church entirely on communion Sundays. However, according
to tradition in. the parish church, the Reverend Mr. Lile read Washington's so-called 'prayer'."
Now, this "prayer" has been known to New Yorkers for some
years, as it is inscribed on a bronze tablet adjoining the Washington
pew in St. Paul's Chapel in that city. As a prayer this is a forgery. It
was made up from a circular letter which General Washington addressed to the governors of the 13 states upon his disbanding the
army, dated Newl:JUrg, 8 June 1783.
Forgery Done In God's Name
The "prayer" was manufactured from the last paragraph of
Washington's letter by omitting words in the original and replacing
them by words of divine petition. The letter was addressed to the
respective governors of the states, and not to god, and the original
"you" was changed to "thou" in the prayer. The text of the "prayer"
follows, with additions as I will note. First, the "prayer:"
Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep
these United States in Thy holy protection, that Thou wilt incline the
hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one
another and for their fellow citizens and the United States at large.

18

AMERICANATHEIST

FEBRUARv2008

And, finally that Thou

wilt most graciously be
pleased to dispose us all
to do justice, to love
mercy and to demean
ourselves with that
charity,
humility and pacific
temper' of mind
which were the
characteristics of
the Divine Author of our blessed
religion and without
an humble imitation
of Whose example in
these things we can never
hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee,
through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Amen. "
Now, I have
underlined
[italics} in the text the
insertions which
were put into this
letter in order to
read into it an actual prayer to god.
Let me see how I
can explain this forgery to you.
The original letter from
which this "prayer" was manufactured is to be found in We. Ford's edition of Washington's Writings (VoL 10, pp. 254-265) and also in the
official govern ment edition of Washington's Writings,
edited by].E. Fitzpatrick (VoL 24, pp. 483-496).
Lifted From A Letter
The text of the last paragraph of the original letter follows, and
includes the words that the prayer-makers omitted. I think you will
see the difference immediately.
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and
the State over which you preside, in his holy protection that he would
incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination

and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and

love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at
large, and particularly for their brethern who have served in- the field,
and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all,
to do justice, to love mercy, and to demand of ourselves with that
charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an
humble imitation whose example in these things, we can never hope
to be a happy nation."
J have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, Sir, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, George Washington.
Now, the amount of material in this short paragraph
which has been omitted and changed to make the "prayer"
is about 33 percent of the whole, thus making the "prayer"
a real pious fraud. When Washington wrote the governors it was his "earnest prayer" - he meant, of course,
his earnest wish, and his use of the word "prayer" according to the custom of his day does not justify
forging a letter into a prayer to a deity.
Washington never actually penned any of
the 13 letters to the governors, and they were
written by different aides on different days.
The copy written on 8 June 1783, as published, was penned by David Cobb. Washington may have made the original dictation, or furnished the ideas expressed in
the letters, but they may also have been
piously embellished by those who wrote
them, after the custom of those times. In
any event, the last phrase of the "prayer,"
which is similar to the Episcopal Prayer
Book, is not in Washington's style and nowhere else in his writings does he mention
Jesus Christ by name.
The fact of this forgery has been pointed out to the officials of St. Paul's Chapel and
Trinity Church, many times in past years, but
the bronze tablet remains in the church and
in addition the "prayer" is inscribed in a large
framed background which rests in the Washington pew and is much easier to read than the tablet
itself. This is all in spite of the fact that in 1935 a
group of Atheists sued Trinity Church for capitalizing
on a fraud, during which suit the alteration was admitted
but was justified as making the quotation "appropriate for
display and distribution in a place of religious worship."
This is by a leading representative of Christianity,
which claims to be the arbiter of our morality.
Sherman Wakefield spends much of his time
tracing down some of the forgeries in American history
which the churches have perpetuated and he gets more and
more furious with each one he uncovers. And, so do we all.
He became quite incensed over Abraham Lincoln's.alleged letter to Mrs. Bixby. He began to trace the original letter and readily
found several facsimilies - only to discover that there were several
variations in the handwriting, discrepancies in the formation of single
letters, entire words between the two. Mr. Wakefield has facsimilies
of three of these letters, all with differences in handwriting and test,
and he queries:

"If facsimilies from a supposed original document do not

agree among themselves, which one, if any, is correct?"
The two most famous copies stemmed one from Michael F.
Tobin, a dealer in pictures and prints of New York City, who applied
to the Librarian of Congress for a copyright on a facsimilie on 25
April 1891. This was about 30 years after the letter was written. Later
in the same year, Humber's Museum which dealt in a collection of
freaks and fakes of various kinds started to exhibit a document which
was claimed to be the original. The letter was supposed to have been
written on 21 November 1864, and sent directly to Adjutant General
Schouler in Boston, who delivered it in person to Mrs. Bixby on 25
November.
Mrs. Bixby is said to have lost five sons in the Civil War.
Yet strangely a search of the records reveals that two were
killed in battle (Charles and Oliver), one was honorably discharged
(Henry), and two deserted to the enemy (Edward and George) .
The Bixby letter is much quoted because in it, Lincoln, who
was known as a non-believer in religion, was purportedly to have
said, "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of
your bereavement."
The battle over these letters has been long and enduring and
the authenticity of the three quite different facsimilies of the original
letter has not been a barrier to the Christian communities' intent
endeavors to authenticate this as a true Lincoln letter, and after its
having found its way into a number of Lincoln's collected works the
stamp of authority is now upon the letter.
Completely ignored are three rather striking documents.
One written by Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, a president of
Columbia University, in which was recounted a story giving the authorship of this letter to a Lincoln secretary, John Hay.
The second document is a letter from Rev. Gildart Arthur
Jackson, in which it is recounted that Lincoln had instructed Hay to
write a suitable letter of condolence and that Hay had done so.
Herndon, a friend and one-time law partner of Lincoln, recounts that Lincoln once made him erase the word "god" from a
speech which he had written because the language indicated a person
known as "god," whereas Lincoln "insisted no such personality ever
existed." In the original drafts of the Gettysburg Address, twice Lincoln wrote out that speech without mention of this nation "under
God," an insertion later suggested by Simon P. Chase, a member of
Lincoln's cabinet.
We wish our Christian brothers would be more honest and
permit us our heroes. We do not deny them theirs.

The Case Against Religion:

A Psychotherapist's View and The Case Against Religiosity
by Dr. Albert Ellis
-rua

CASE "GAlS!>.
,'I.l'sychOlhe.roiliBI'S

}tEl.l(;IOS:
View

,"d

-ruu CASf: AGAINST

RELIGIOSITY

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19

Faith for Spirituality

The Mystifications of Sam Harris

by Meera Nanda

Spirituality at Faith's Funeral

here is something decidedly weird about this business of

spirituality. Just say the word "spiritual," or, if you prefer
more gravitas, "mystical," and you will witness a strange
phenomenon. You will find many tough-talking, God-isdead rationalists morph into Mahesh Yogi lites, peddling sweet-nothings about merging the "self" into the universe, and promoting world
peace and reason while they are at it.
In his much acclaimed The End of Faith, Sam Harris declares
the death of faith, only to celebrate the birth of spirituality. He wants
to convince us of the proposition that "Mysticism is rational ... religion is not" (p. 221). Traditional judeo-Christian and Islamic conceptions of God-who-heeds-your-prayers is a mere leap of faith, "an
epistemological black hole, draining the light out of our world"(p.
35). Faith in a personal God is "intellectually defunct and politically
ruinous" (p. 221). It is time to grow up, Harris tells us, and trade faith
for spirituality or mysticism, which is "deeply rational, even as it elucidates the limits of reason" (p. 43). Unlike religion, mysticism is only
a "natural propensity of the human mind, and we need not belie~e
anything on insufficient evidence to actualize it" (p. 221).
To my skeptical ears, though, this sounds like a clarion-call
to leave the frying-pan and to step bravely into the fire. It is easy to
debunk faith. Faith, by definition, is a "leap of faith," a relationship
of trust regardless of evidence. In contrast, spiritualism has learned
to dress up its metaphysical abstractions in the clothes of empiricism
and neuro-physiology. But the empiricist pretensions of mysticism do
not make the experience itself any more reasonable and empirically
justified than we faith of those who believe in God. Consistent empiricists can hardly afford to take the scientistic rhetoric of mystics at
face value, as Harris, a practicing spiritualist himself, ends up doing.
But in order to understand Harris's celebration of spiritualism,
it is important to understand what he is pitting it against.
20

AMERICAN Aruasr

FEBRUAI1Y2008

A Rationalist Jihad against Jihad

The End of Faith is a response to religious extremism from a

rationalist extremist perspective. Disturbed by the rise of religious
violence around the world, especially the 9-11 attacks on America,
Harris has taken on the traditional theological beliefs about God and
afterlife that motivate some to kill innocents. Brushing aside all political and historical factors that have contributed to religious extremism in the contemporary world, Harris singles out theological beliefs
as the primary (and pretty much the sole) cause of religious violence.
He indulgently turns a blind eye on the "spiritual" teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which have a proven track-record of
justifying nationalistic wars and ethnic cleansings. Instead, he saves
all his venom to use against the Koran, condemning it as if it were a
manual of war. His analysis of religious extremism goes along these
lines:
Question: Why do Islamic terrorists do what they do? Why
has Osama bin Laden chosen the path of violence against the West,
especially against America?
Answer: Because men like bin Laden actually believe in the
literal truth of the Koran. And because the literal truth of the Koran
is "intrinsically" violent and intolerant, they have no choice but to
commit acts of violence.
In short, it's the theology stupid!
In his rationalist Jihad on Jihadi theology, Harris's motto seems
to be (with due apologies to Barry Goldwater): "Extremism in the defense of reason is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of secularism is
no virtue." Harris can barely curb his enthusiasm for George Bush's
disastrous wars, announcing gleefully that "we are at war against Islam" - not at war against violent extremists, mind you, but against
the very "vision of life prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran" (p.
109). He finds tortured justifications for torturing suspected terrorists in America's Gulag. He goes even further:

some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be

ethical to kill people,for believing them .... Certain beliefs
place their adherents beyond the reach of every peacefol
means of persuasion, while inspiring them to commit acts
of extraordinary violence against others. There is, in fact,
no talking to some people. If they cannot be captured, and
they often cannot, otherwise tolerant people may be justified in killing them in self-defense. We will continue to
spill blood in what is, at bottom, a war of ideas. (p. 53).
The villains who are beyond the pale of reason and who deserve to die are all Muslims. While he has some harsh things to say
about Christians and Jews as well, he spares them the wars and the
torture, for unlike the Muslim barbarians, they have had their reformations and their enlightenments.
This bilious attack on faith only sets the stage for what seems
to be his real goal: a defense - nay, a celebration of - Harris's own
Buddhist/Hindu spirituality. (He has been influenced by the esoteric
teachings of Dzogchen Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta and has spent
many years practicing various techniques of meditation, Harris informs his readers). Spirituality is the answer to Islam's and Christianity's superstitions and wars, Harris wants to convince us. While he is
quick to pour scorn on such childish ideas as the virgin birth, heaven
and hell, the great rationalist has only winks and nods to offer when
it comes to such "higher" truths as near-death experiences, ESP and
the existence of disembodied souls, all of which he finds plausible.
Our fearless crusader against faith puts his reason to sleep when it
comes to the soul-stuff of the Eastern faith traditions that he himself
subscribes to.
Harris has made a name for himself as an uncompromising
and fearless champion of reason. His The End of Faith has made it to
the New York Times best-seller list, and he is being feted by secularist
organizations and thinkers in America and around the world. I am
sure that Hindu nationalists in India, who have long condemned "Semitic monotheisms" (their preferred label for Islam and Christianity)
as irrational and superstitious compared to Hinduism's rational mysticism, will find much to celebrate in Harris as well. Be that as it may,
if being a rationalist has come down to declaring a war against those
who we deem beyond the pale of reason in the name of "higher"
truths of mystics, then at least this rationalist wants no part of it.
One disclaimer before we go any further. I grew up as an
observant Hindu in my native India. My critical engagement with
Hindu spirit-centered metaphysics and Hindu nationalist politics is
often painted by my Indian critics as an act of disloyalty to Mother
India and, even more weirdly, as a sign of my hidden sympathies for
Christianity and Islam! Not unlike Harris, these critics can not imagine that one can be a consistent, equal-opportunity skeptic andrnaterialist, rejecting faith in both, a creator God and the subtle spiritual
"energy" that is supposed to animate the entire world. Unlike Harris,
who seems to have found a shelter in spirituality after he found faith
wanting, I insist upon subjecting both to an equally rigorous test of
reason and evidence, and I find them both equally wanting. I have no
axe to grind, for or against, any particular religious tradition. If! have
any axe to grind at all, it is for a naturalistic worldview which denies
all forms of supernaturalism, regardless of whether they are located in
God, in heaven, or spread out in all of the cosmos.
Wh;t I find particularly galling about spirituality is its pretensions of "higher" rationality, its false and dangerous claims of being
"empirical" and "scientific" in the sense of being 'testable by "experience" (which invariably means non-sensory experience). Western

converts to Eastern spirituality, along with Eastern apologists themselves, end up presenting an air-brushed, sanitized picture of the real
thing. That is the reason why I felt that Harris's brand of rational
mysticism had to be examined carefully and challenged.
New Age Mystifications
Spiritualism is not just good for your soul, Harris wants to
convince us, it is good for your mind as well: it can make you "happy,
peaceful and even wise ... by searching for truth" (p. 215). Results
of spiritual practices are "genuinely desirable [for they are] not just
emotional but cognitive and conceptual as well," and Harris wants us
to actively seek them out (p. 40).
In the rest of this essay, I want to examine these cognitive and
social virtues that are supposed to follow from spiritualism or rnysticism. (Harris uses the two interchangeably. I will follow the practice
as well.) I will use Harris's own criteria of rationality of beliefs to ask
if the existence-claims routinely made by mystics can stand up to the
demands of empirical evidence. Likewise, I will use Harris's own diagnosis of dualism between subject and object as the source of all the
evils of faith, to ask if ending dualism is really the path to peace.
But let us first look at what Harris means by spirituality.
Harris offers a standard characterization of the mystical/spiritual experience. He describes it as tuning, or focusing, the mind
through meditation, fasting, chanting, sensory deprivation or using
psychotropic drugs, that enables it to overcome, or dissolve, the sense
of the self that stands separate from the objects of its consciousness.
The goal of spiritual experience is to "experience the world perfectly
shorn of self... to lose the subject/object perception ... to continue to
experience the world, but without the feeling that there is a knower
standing apart form the known. Thoughts may arise, but the feeling
that one is a thinker of these thoughts vanish." (p. 212-213) The
goal is to dissolve the ego-bound, individuated subject by ending its
separation from the object itself Harris is describing the classic all-isone and one-is-all experience that mystics and spiritual adepts tend
to report.
For Hindus, this attempt to divest the ego by consciously realizing its identity with the ground of the entire macrocosm - what
the Hindus call the Brahman - is the very essence of what the Vedas
and Upanishads teach: "Thou art That," "all this Brahman" and the
atman (self) in you is the Brahman. Brahman, the Vedas teach, is
the sole, truly existing, non-material, eternal reality which is beyond
space, time and causation. Once you experience the sense of being
beyond space, time and causation through yoga, breath control and
meditation, you will realize the truth of the Vedas, namely, the self in
you (annan) is identical with Brahman, your consciousness encompasses the entire macrocosm, and that you are, in fact, God.
Once you reach this state of mind, you are not held back by
fears or tempted by desires: the here and now of the material world
become illusionary and lose their grip on one's mind. Thus, the
achievement of the sense of "one-ness" with the universe is a central commandment of Hindu and Buddhist teachings. While judeoChristian and Islamic traditions have their mystics, only the Eastern
traditions provide a doctrine that can make sense of the mystical experience of unity or one-ness.
I would have no argument with Harris if he were only recommending spiritualism as a means for mindful relaxation, and the
delight and even ecstasy that sometimes accompany the sensation of
losing one's sense of space, time and self Indeed "wise mystics" have
long realized that the mystical experience does not confer existential
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21

status on its content. Rather than construct metaphysical systems,

wise mystics have learned to simply enjoy and value the experience
itself!'! There is enough data to believe that meditation, if done consistently and over many years, does bring about a deep state of relaxation, with dramatically lowered heart rate and brain activity. If the
goal is to reduce stress, even the most militant rationalist will have
to admit that meditation does provide some benefits. (It does not
follow, however, that all the claims of yoga and pranayam, must be
accepted. There is very little rigorous controlled testing of the more
extravagant claims of those who believe in the power of the mind to
cure everything from blindness to cancers).
Unfortunately, Harris is not one of the wise mystics. He loads
spiritual practices with metaphysical baggage, all the while claiming
_to stand up for reason and evidence. By the end of the book, I could
not help thinking of him as a Trojan horse for the New Age. While
Harris tries to distance himself from the more extravagant Whole Life
Expo type fads (crystals, colonic irrigation and the like), he ends up
endorsing fundamental New Age assumptions as rational alternatives
to traditional religiosity. Here are three of his assumptions, in an increasing order of obfuscation.
To begin with, there is this nugget, tucked away in the end
notes, which celebrates the prospect of revival of the occult: " Indeed,
the future looks like the past ... We may live to see the technological perfection of all the visionary strands of traditional mysticism:
shamanism, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Hermetism and its magical Renaissance spawn (Hermeticism) and all the other Byzantine paths
whereby man has sought the Other in every guise of its conception.
But all these approaches to spirituality are born of a longing for esoteric knowledge and a desire to excavate ... the mind -in dreams, in
trance, in psychedelic swoon - in search for the sacred" (end note 23,
p.290).
It is hard to believe that the author of this stuff is the most
celebrated rationalist of our troubled times.
Secondly, Harris rejects a naturalistic understanding of nature
and the human mind. He sets consciousness free from such mortal
things as brains and bodies, allowing the possibility of pan-psychism,
the doctrine of immanence of awareness or consciousness throughout
the universe. For someone studying to be a neuroscientist, Harris
holds rather unconventional views. He scoffs at the physicalism of
the mainstream of scientists who believe that our mental and spiritual
lives are wholly dependent upon the workings of the brain, treating it
as an irrational "article of faith" which methods of science can neither
prove nor disprove. He gives full credence to reports of near death
experience and leaves open the possibility that the disembodied soul
can survive the death of the body, claiming that we don't know what
happens after death. After denying that consciousness is a product of
our physiology, he presents it as a fundamental ingredient of nature,
"a far more rudimentary phenomenon than living creatures and their
brains" (p. 209). This is nothing but the good old mind-matter holism, the first principle of all New Age beliefs.
Again, the problem is not that Harris holds these beliefs. The
problem is that Harris wants to convince us that it-is the very height
of rationality to hold these beliefs.
Thirdly, and I examine this more closely in the next section,
Harris believes that spiritual experiences are knowledge experiences,
or as he puts it, altered mental states induced by spiritual practices
can "uncover g~nuine facts about the world" (p. 40). Investigation of
our own subjectivity, Harris believes, is a "proper and essential sphere
of investigation into the nature of the universe, as some facts will be
discovered only in consciousness." (p. 209). Again, as before, he tries
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to distance himself from the more extravagant metaphysical schemes.

But he buys into the basic idea that what mystics see in their minds
actually has an ontological referent in the world outside their minds.
Or to put it in the vocabulary he prefers, when the gap between the
subject and object vanishes, "pure" awareness of one's subjectivity can
tell us something about the objective reality.
Here, Sam Harris is not all that far apart from Mahesh Yogi,
Deepak Chopra and others who claim that spiritual practitioners
have the most objective view of the world because they can see it
"directly," just the way it is, completely "shorn of the self," and the
many biases and dogmas that "I-ness" brings.
How Rational is Mysticism?
In loading spirituality with ontological baggage, Harris is making, let us say, a leap of faith. He is falling in the noetic, or intellectualist, trap that William James identified in The Varieties of Religious
Experience when he noticed how mystical experience has the quality
of a profound knowing: "although similar to the states of feeling,
mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states
of knowledge. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance
and importance ... and as a rule, they carry with them a curious sense
of authority" (emphasis addedl.!" [Ed: where is the emphasis?]
At their peak, meditative experiences invariably bring about
a feeling of having touched something far deeper and far more real
than what is normally experienced by the five senses in our ordinary
lives. And this conviction itself becomes a source of validation of the
objective reality of what they have seen: what they see in their minds,
they assume, must exist outside. Vision gets fixed into metaphysical
systems built on super-sensory entities and processes. The experience
oflosing the boundaries of one's ego, the feeling of having transcended time and space, gives the feeling of becoming one with the universe, of "seeing" the entire macrocosm in one's own mind. It is not
a coincidence that the teaching of Vedanta - "Thou art That" - has
been interpreted by so many as implying that I (the enlightened one)
am Brahman, that I am the universe, that my mind is the mind of the
entire cosmos and by controlling my mind, I can control the cosmos.
Contrary to Harris's attempt to rationalize it, the mind-matter unity
has been the metaphysics underlying the search for paranormal powers and extra-sensory perceptions. It is not a coincidence that rational
mystics like Harris who subscribe to the thesis of mind being an element of matter, end up making excuses for paranormal phenomena
such as ESP and near death experiences (see p. 41).
This noetic propensity to make existence claims with absolute
certainty is not a metaphysical excess or a delusion: It is part and
parcel of the mystical experience. Neurosciences are revealing the biological grounds for why mystical experiences feel as if they are actually uncovering genuine facts about the world. Andrew Newberg and
Eugene D'Aquili, in their well-known Why God will Not Go Away,
offer a clue. They believe that the ontological fallacy stems from the
process of reification - "the ability of the brain to convert a concept
into a concrete thing, or more succinctly, to bestow upon something
the quality of being real or true. Reification refers to the power of the
mind to grant meaning and substance to its own perceptions." On
this account, meditative practices slow down the transmission of neural information to the posterior superior parietal lobes of the brain,
which control spatial orientation, resulting in the sensation of pure
awareness which is incapable of drawing boundaries between the limited personal self and the external material world. This sensation gets

reified into the image of "reality as a formless unified whole, with no

limits, no substance, no beginning and no end."!"
What the neurosciences seem to be telling us is that while
the neurological processes that give rise to mystical experiences are
real, they prove nothing about the ultimate nature of reality or God.
Just because we can study the neuro-physiology of mysticism in a
scientific manner, does not make the experience scientific or rational
in any way. (We can study schizophrenia in a scientific manner, but
that does not mean that schizophrenics are rational). Harris has a tendency to confuse two things; the fact that spirituality can be taught
and studied in a rational manner, and the rationality of the beliefs
about the world that such experiences engender.
Harris, a doctoral student in neuroscience, hardly needs a
primer on these matters. He realizes, of course, that reification works
on all experiences, sensory as well as non-sensory. The sights and
sounds we hear, Harris tells us, are not raw data from the world outside, but are processed by the higher centers of the brain. The brain
is not a mirror to the world outside, but more like a radio or TV
receiver that is "tuned to deliver a particular vision of the world" (p.
42). Harris wants us to believe that mysticism is only a matter of tuning your brain differently so that it receives signals from an altered,
boundary-less relationship between you and the world (p. 41-42).
The information that this altered state of mind is "tuned" to receive
is nevertheless rational because it "uncoverjs] genuine facts about the
world" (p.40) and discloses closer interconnections in the universe
than are apparent to us in our ordinary sates of consciousness. (One
cannot help wondering, why faith in God is not just such a method
of "tuning the brain differently" for those who believe in the personal
God of the Bible and the Koran? Neurologically speaking, why is
God a "delusion," if mysticism is "astute"?)
But Harris can defend the rationality of mysticism only by
completely contradicting himself, by forgetting the criteria of rationality which he applies so energetically when he is eviscerating faith
in God. If he were to apply these same criteria to spirituality as rigorously as he applies them to faith, he would have no choice but
to admit that mysticism is as much of an "imposter" as faith. He
will have to admit that mysticism, like faith, is an "act of knowledge
that has a low grade of evidence" (p. 65). He will have to admit that
mystics, like believers in a personal God, "seize upon extraordinary
phenomena" and extraordinary experiences, as confirmation of the
beliefs which have gripped their imaginations and filled them with
a sense of awe (pp. 65-66). Mysticism fares no better, and no worse,
than "mere" faith, when judged against the demands of evidence.
Here is why:
What do people mean, Harris asks, when they say that they
believe a certain proposition about the world? What they mean is that
the proposition "faithfully represents some state of the world (51)."
When someone says he believes that God exists, he means that God's
existence is the cause of his belief Likewise, when someone says he
believes in consciousness suffusing the whole world, he means that
the consciousness suffusing the world is the cause of his belief
The obvious next question is: how do we know if our beliefs,
however real they feel to us, are in fact faithfully representing the
world? For beliefs to faithfully represent some state of the world, they
must have some kind of a hook into the world: there must be "some
mechanism that guarantees that the regularities in our nervous system consistently mirror regularities in the environment ... something
in our experience must provide a causal link to the actual state of the
world (p. 58, emphasis added).

GtORGE W. QVSH

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HIS IM"'GINA~Y flUENt>.

~eotle
look

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tbey'J

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Harris rejects God because none of the traditional justifications for belief in God - spiritual experiences, the authority of the
Bible andlor the church- have an adequate hook into reality: none
of them can assure that God exists, or that "belief in god is a consequence of the way the world is" (63). God has to go, because the
experience of God cannot be shown to be caused by anything that
actually exists.
But by this standard, spirituality is no less irrational, for it is
no less lacking in a hook into the reality. Harris has to tell us what
"casual links" do spiritual experiences offer into "the actual state of
the world"? What assurance there is that the "deeper connections"
mystics see in their minds, actually "mirror the regularities in the
environment"? All we have is the mystic's word that he has been able
to vanquish the constraints of his "self," and has come to see world
"directly" by becoming one with it. There is no independently testable reason for non-mystics - for the vast majority of people who
find their non-altered states of consciousness to be perfectly adequate
and satisfying - to accept the mystics' word as evidence. I don't find
the usual analogies with consensus in natural sciences very persuasive
at all (p. 220). In science (Thomas Kuhn notwithstanding) anyone
with functioning senses, adequate training and right apparatus can
see the same star, the same DNA molecule, the same electron. But
not everyone with adequate training in meditation techniques, and
the right atmosphere, sees the same mystical reality: some see God,
some see nothing at all and some, without any meditation at all, see
what the mystics see. I believe that William James had it right: mystical states ... are absolutely authoritative over the individuals to whom
they come. But mystics have no right to claim that we ought to accept the deliverance of their peculiar experiences .... Non-mystics are
under no obligation to acknowledge in mystical states a superior authority (p. 460, 645).
. In sum, Sam Harris is right in that "mysticism is a natural propensity of the human mind." But he is dead wrong when he claims
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that mysticism does not demand that we "believe anything on insufficient evidence to actualize it" (p. 221).
Why does it matter?
The attitude of many moderate rationalists on matters of spiritualism has been of benign neglect or even indulgence. It all appears so
harmless and it might even have some positive contributions to make
to one's health and tranquility of mind. What is more, the attacks by
feminists and environmentalists on the sins of "reductionist Western
science" have created a positive aura around "holistic science" which
overcomes the gap between the subject and the object. The notion
that the reality and our knowledge of it depends upon how we see it
has gained many adherents in the postmodern academe.
But what kinds ofclaims are made by spiritualists and how
they justify these claims, matters a great deal. It matters because, beliefs matter. What we believe in is of utmost importance, as Harris
himself so correctly emphasizes, because "beliefs are actions in potentia, as a man believes, so he will act" (p. 44). I am in full agreement
with Harris when he says that "Even apparently innocuous beliefs,
when unjustified can lead to intolerable consequences" (p. 46).
Mysticism matters because beliefs matter. And for this reason,
metaphysical claims that follow from mystical experiences cannot be
given the appearance of rationality, as books like The End of Faith
are wont to do. As Harris himself admits, while mystical experiences
can be rational, they can become "irrational when people begin making claims about the world which cannot be supported by empirical
evidence" (p. 210)
I have indicated, above, the neurological and philosophical
reasons why mystical experiences show a pronounced tendency to
erect metaphysical systems. I have also indicated why these metaphysical systems lack a causal link, a hook, into reality and therefore
escape the reach of empirical testing.
These issues are not of theoretical interest alone. In countries
like my native India where yoga and spiritualism enjoy the blessings
of the highest religious authorities, metaphysical beliefs that follow
from mystical experiences exert a great deal of social influence. (While
India has a fairly large and advanced scientific workforce, science has
not succeeded in displacing the authority of metaphysical truths from
the cultural sphere. If anything, science has been largely co-opted
into Hindu spiritualisrn.!") These beliefs do not only structure the
worldview of ordinary people, they also serve as their paradigm of
knowledge and truth.
As a Western follower of Buddhism and Hinduism, living and
working in the USA, Harris can afford to pick and choose what he
likes and downplay what he doesn't. But the fact is that, in situ, Eastern religious traditions have encouraged beliefs about nature which, if
accepted, would completely contradict just about every known scientific theory about life on earth. I am referring to the family of metaphysical tenets of Hinduism which support a vitalistic, pan-psychical
conception of life and biological evolution, including such familiar
ideas as rebirth and karma, the belief in a subtle (i.e., inaccessible to
all human senses) life-force, or prana, which is supposed to animate
all that exists and the belief in innate moral qualities in nature. Add to
that the doctrines of spiritual evolution - call them Vedic theories of
"intelligent guidance," if you will - that see spiritualization of all life
until the emergence of "superrnind" that merges with the Brahman.
Now we come to the crux of why mysticism matters and why
the kind of scientisric gloss Harris offers is not helpful. Each and
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every element of the Hindu worldview described above makes an existence claim about the workings of nature, especially living beings,
their birth, death and destiny. And each and every element of this
worldview is defended as an actual "fact" that the authors of the Vedas, the rishis, actually "saw" in their minds in a state of Samadhi, the
state of mystical one-ness. The defense of mystical seeing as experience-based and therefore scientific serves to present poetic, existential
and philosophical speculations as if they are actual facts of nature,
empirically accessible to minds tuned to a different frequency by yoga
and intense meditation.
Take for example, the concepts ofkundalini and chakras, popular among the yoga-Ayurveda crowd. Kundalini is often taught by
modern gurus and yogis as if it were a real biological entity, a "coil of
power" that lies at the bottom of a hollow canal called "sushumna"
that is supposed to run through the spinal column. An explicitly realistic description ofkundalini first appeared in Swami Vivekananda's
lectures on Raj Yoga which introduced the ancient Yoga Sutras ofPatanjali to the West sometime in the waning years of the 19th century.
Vivekananda describes kundalini as if it were a real physical force
that "forces a passage through this hollow canal [the non-existent Sushumna, that is], and as it rises step by step, layer after layer of the
mind becomes open and all the different visions and wonderful powers come to the yogi. When it reaches the brain, the yogi is perfectly
detached from the body and the mind ... "[51According to those who
have studied Patanjali's Yoga Sutras in the original, kundalini and
chakras were never intended to be referential: they were meant to be
imaginary aids to help in yogic meditations. The "subtle body" of the
yogis was never meant to be some kind of a "quantum mechanical
body," made up of morphic fields or unified fields. It was a body image, an abstract image that a yogi could focus his mind upon. Likewise, chakras, which are often presented as actual nerve centers, were
"rungs on an imagined ladder for the yogi to check his progress."[61
Clearly, Vivekananda and his countless neo-Hindu gurus, were reifying imaginary concepts into actual physical entities.
How is this feat accomplished? Vivekananda's writings set the
tone and every modern guru advertising the "scientific" nature of
Hinduism has followed Vivekananda's lead. Vivekananda essentially
presented mysticism as scientific in spirit and content: whereas scientists see "merely" with their senses, yogis were seeing the universe in a
"supersensory" state of consciousness. Thus the existence ofkundalini
gets translated into an objective fact of human anatomy on the testimony of the mystics. Just like science, mystics' vision was also based
upon "experience" and was therefore scientific and commanded rational consent (as compared to the faith-based consent of Christians
and Muslims). One finds exactly similar arguments, dressed up in
quantum mechanical terms in the writings of modern gurus like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Deepak Chopra.
When I picked up The End of Faith, I did not expect to find
a very similar defense of mysticism coming from such a militant rationalist as Harris. Harris concedes the basic point that the Hindu
gurus cited above are making, that mystical experience is a knowledge
experience, and that mystical seeing tells you something about the
objective world.
I believe that Harris is making the same two mistakes that neoHindus routinely make: They confuse the method and rigor of meditation with the rigor of its conclusions, and they confuse the mystical
"seeing" with ordinary seeing that takes place in science. They forget
that empiricism in science is a class apart from the spiritual empiricism of the mystics. Not all experiences qualify as scientific: to forget
that is to open the door to all kinds of pseudo-sciences.

Will spirituality end all wars?

now is treated as an illusion of no consequence when seen from the

mystical high of one-ness. The Gnostic vision of one-ness, mind
you, is not supposed to be available to the hoi polloi, who are supposed to be weighted down by the "gross matter" of their bodies
and fooled by their senses. The enlightened have always constituted
a spiritual aristocracy in Eastern societies. The holism of caste society is what you get when one-ness is made into the highest religious
ideal.
To conclude this review: Mysticism is not a rational alternative
to faith. Dissolving our sense of individual self in a larger spiritual
one-ness will not end wars and oppression. Those who cannot accept
a personal God on faith alone can't hide behind mysticism or spiritualism either. Reason bars them both, and human good transcends
them both.

At the root of all wars, Harris tells us, lies the separateness, or
the dualism, between human beings, between the 'T' and the non
"I": "Every problem we have can be ascribed to the fact that human
beings are utterly beguiled by their feeling of separatness" (p. 214).
He ascribes this separateness - as have so many theosophists and mystics, many of whom held deeply anti-Semitic views, before him - to
the Abrahamic tradition itself which has demanded faith in a God
who is Himself separate from his creation.
Recall that for Harris, it is the content of religious ideas that
alone motivates religious violence. His working principle is "as a man
believes, so shall he act." Those whose faith tradition teaches them
separateness will be intolerant, aggressive and always fighting wars.
If it is all about theology, stupid!, it follows that the solution to
wars will also be theological. Harris's solution is simple: shed the "1." Notes
The more ordinary people can divest themselves of the feeling they
[IJ This distinction between wise and unwise mystics comes from a very wise
call "I", Harris tells us, the more they will divest the feeling that they
mystic, Agehananda Bharati, a Viennese who became a Hindu monk. See
are separate from the rest of the universe (p. 40). And the more they
his The Light at the Center: Context and Pretext of Modern Mysticism.
feel themselves connected to the universe, the less they will have the
Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson, 1976. I count Susan Blackmore, the ex-ESP
feelings of fear and anger. Love and compassion will follow (p. 219researcher and now a major exponent of naturalistic view of consciousness
220). Mahesh Yogi could not have said it any better!
and a serious practitioner of Zen meditation among wise mystics. John
But even if one played along with Harris's badly flawed, theHorgan's exploration of rational mysticism is far wiser than Harris's. See
John Horgan, Rational Mysticism: Dispatches between the Border beology-centered diagnosis of religious extremism, it is simply not true
tween Science and Mysticism, New York: Hougton Mifflin, 2003.
that spjritual, non-dualistic Eastern religions are free from violence.
[2J William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Modern
Library
And it is simply not true that shedding the "I" makes for a free and
Paperback Edition, 2002, p. 414-415.
peaceable society. Streaks of violence and authoritarianism run deep
[3J Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili and Vince Rause, Why God won't
in societies which worship at the altar of "one-ness." Harris, who is
go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief, New York: Ballentine
so alert to the "inherent" violence of the Koran, is completely blind
Books, 2001.pp 149-152.
to the religious sources of violence in the "spiritual East." (Having
[4J I look at the co-option of science into religion in India and America in a
said that, I don't want to turn around and start pinning the social
comparative perspective in a recent essay, "Godless States in God Lands:
problems of the East on to Eastern religions alone. I reject the very
Dilemmas of Secularism in America and India," in Axess, 2005, no. 8. See
also, Is India a Science Superpower? Frontline, Sept. 10-23,2005.
premise that any religion is inherently violent or inherently peace[5J Swami Vivekananda, Raj Yoga, in The Collected Works of Swami Viveful. One simply cannot brush away the social and political context
kananda, Mayavati Memorial Edition, Vol. 1 (Kolkatta: Advaita Center)'
in which religious ideas express themselves for the good and for the
p.160.
bad.)
[6J See Agehananda Bharati, note 1, p. 164-165.
The Jains of India may not be committing acts of suicide
[7J Established in the sixth century BCE by Mahavira, Jainism is one of the
bombings, as Harris reminds us repeatedly!" But can one honestly
oldest religious traditions ofIndia and shares Hindu beliefs in reincarnasay that Jains and pious Hindus, many of whom are strict vegetarians,
tion and karma. Jains reject belief in a creator god and seek release from
have shown any compassion and "one-ness" for the Muslims, Chrisendless reincarnation through a life of strict self-denial. In addition, Jaintians and other religious minorities in India? Has their Hinduism
ism places a special emphasis on ahimsa ("non-injury") to all living beings.
Monks and nuns are sometimes seen with muslin cloths over their mouths
prevented Tamil Tigers from conducting suicide bombings against
to keep out flying insects, and they are enjoined to use small brooms to
the equally "spiritual" Buddhists of Sri Lanka? (And conversely, has
gently
sweep away living creatures from their path, so as to not accidenthe Buddhism of the Sri Lankan majority prevented their vicious distally crush them. See beliefner.corn for more details.
crimination against the Tamils? ). Didn't Zen Buddhists actively and
[8J Some important writings include: Brian Victoria, Zen at War, New York:
enthusiastically support the violent ultra-nationalism of the Japanese
Weatherhill, 1997. Robert Sharf, "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism,"
people in Japan's brutal imperialist wars against China and Korea?
in Donald S. Lopez, Jr. ed, Curators of the Buddha, Chicago University
Were the Japanese kamikazes not motivated by the teachings of BudPress, 1995. Denis Vidal, Gilles Tarabout and Eric Meyer (eds.) Violence/
dhism? Don't some Hindus interpret the Bhagvat Gita to support
Non-Violence: Some Hindu Perspectives, New Delhi, Manohar, 2003.
violence in defense of their dharma? There is a complex history of
nationalism, religion and racism behind each one of these historical
episodes. Critical scholars have begun to question the image of peace Meera Nanda is the author of aforthcoming book, Reclaiming "Scientific
Temper" in the shadow of Hindu nationalism: Arguments for Indian
and harmony that is supposed to be the hallmark of the non-dualist
Eastern religions. Harris would do well to study this emerging lit- Enlightenment. Her preivous books include Prophets Facing Backward:
Postmodernist Critiques of science and Hindu Nationalism in India
erature to bring some balance to his faith-bad ... spiritualism-good
fairy tale. [8[
(Rutgers U P, 2004) and Breaking the Spell of Dharma, Three Essays
Collective,New Delhi, 2002. She is trained in both biology and philosoMoreover, Harris is completely oblivious to the authoritarian
implications of the one-ness he worships. Shedding one's "l-ness" phy of science. She can be reachedat meernanda@comcast.net
is a recipe for group-think and authoritarianism. The individual in
Reprinted with permission from www.butterfliesandwheels.com.
her everyday life, with her everyday sensory knowledge of here- and-

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Britain's National Secular Society

Prominent at Wmdsor Castle Seminar
ith

Porteous Wood and Anthony C. Grayling, a National

Secular Society (NSS) honorary associate, took part in a
high level seminar entitled "Religion in Public Life; the
tlantic Conversation" at Windsor Castle earlier this year.
~
Many of the delegates were senior politicians from the Commons and
Lords as well as prominent lawyers and academics.
Anthony Grayling set out the secularist position in the opening session. He emphasized that religious organizations (churches ere)
are self-selected interest groups on a par with political parties and
trade unions. As such they have a right to put their point of view in
public, provided they stay within the law, but they have no greater
right to do so than political parties or trades union. He denounced
religious privileges and the attempts by religious organizations to seek
to impose their doctrine on others, for example through the law.
Secular speakers were heavily outnumbered. Apart from Anthony and Keith, out of the 30 attendees, only one other delegate
took a consistently secular line.
Keith was the opening and principal speaker on the secular
perspectives, and set the tone for the remainder of the seminar. He
drew attention to the overwhelming evidence for the long term decline of religious adherence in Northern Europe and particularly in
the UK. It is acknowledged by Christian Research that this decline
will continue for the foreseeable future - in fact, they project that
only 2% of the UK population will attend church on an average Sunday by 2040.
Keith also presented the evidence showing that the public no
longer looked to the churches for guidance nor did they any longer
give automatic respect to religious figures at any level. The Church's
claim to "speak for the people" is difficult to sustain in the face of
these facts: on issues such as extra marital relationships, homosexuality and voluntary euthanasia, the churches are completely out of step
with the populace. Yet the degree of influence of religion in public life
had grown alarmingly, both internationally and, domestically.
Internationally, the influence had grown often as a fearful reaction, especially post September 11, 2001. Domestically, we shou"ld
not forget - as if we could - that Blair has been the most religious
PM since Gladstone, and many of his cabinet and advisers have been
devout Christians determined to use their positions to further their
faith. Nowhere could this be more evident than in the expansion of
religious schools with their privileged selection criteria - to the point
that the non-believing non-practicing majority are having to resort to
subterfuge to secure admission in good schools - such as attending
church. Keith raised some laughter by expressing wonderment that,
despite this, the church attendance figures were still in freefall.
He noted the chasing of Muslim votes, which was so evident
in the repeated attempts to introduce the Racial and Religious Hatred provisions, which would have severely compromised freedom of
expression. He criticized the totally disproportionate attention that
26

AMIRICANAn-wsr

FEBRUAI1Y2OO'l

is paid to unelected minority religious leaders. All this practically

disenfranchises the non-religious in minority communities, many
of whom actually feel oppressed by their families and communities.
And, to a lesser extent, the non-religious in the wider community are
disenfranchised too.

Keith Porteous Wood and Anthony

C. Grayling

Fellow delegates
He characterised many of his fellow participants as seeing the
world through rose-colored glasses, of saying "religion" when they
often meant "Christian" and sometimes even just "Protestant". The
many privileges that they had enjoyed for so long were not only unjustified but unsustainable in a multi-cultural society. Other religions
were starting to demand what they saw as their share of the cake, and
often would not subscribe to Enlightenment values.
Keith had been outraged by the suggestion made by an influential Christian at the seminar that since bishops came from the same
background as judges, they therefore are just as able to adjudicate
on Human Rights as judges were. This provoked Keith to assert that
religion was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, threat to Human
Rights, and was it not natural justice, far less a human right, for trials
to be conducted by someone unbiased?
Other delegates coming from a religious perspective were
only too aware of such tensions and were happy to meet on common ground where we all left our preconceptions behind. This was
when the best results were achieved and barriers broken down. Every
opportunity was taken to learn more about, challenge and possibly
influence those, some very influential, coming from other philosophical perspectives.
Delegates came from the United States and the Netherlands
as well as the UK. It was evident how different the three countries are

in their degree of religiosity and the attitude to religion in public life,

and this frequently informed other delegates' contributions.
The international dimension in the seminar provided some
interesting contrasts. While freedom of expression was clearly greater
in the United States than Britain, non-religious perspectives are rarely
expressed in the public domain, even less by politicians. Whether or
not the Dutch were ever as liberal as the British preconception, that
liberality is definitely on the wane. And the motor for this is of course
religious; both from Islam and, perhaps as a reaction to growing Islamic influence, a revival of Christian power (if not adherence).
Many people will be startled to learn that much of Dutch society is split into religious pillars. So, for example, welfare is provided
along religious lines. There are Protestant and Catholic universities
and even a humanist one. As in many other continental countries,
there are specifically religious political parties and the Dutch Christian
party is once more gaining ground, giving concern to social liberals.
Back in Britain, we have our problems too. The UK is the
only Western democracy left giving prelates the right to sit in its
Parliament. Yet what does the Government want to do under the
meaningless guise of "modernization"? Extend it to those of other
faiths. It would become a Synod, not a Parliament, and totally out of
touch with the country, especially on moral matters. The perspective
of non-believers, those non-practicing a religion and indeed religious
liberals between them representing the vast majority of the population would be outvoted time and time again.
So, what are we to do? Keith concluded that we should all
seek to coalesce around: the values of Human Rights and Secularism.
Religious moderates had everything to gain and little to lose from
subscribing to these ideals.
Human Rights are under sustained attack as being some kind
of "Western construct," rather than being Universal and inalienable.
We must resist this dilution at all costs; our civilization depends
on it. Keith found it moving that he had support from a Muslim
woman on this point. And while secularists fight religious privilege,
Secularism is not anti-religious, it is about a level playing field for
all. Theocracies have a pretty poor record on religious freedom.
Secularism has a vital role to offer whether a country is dominated
by one religion, where countries have become more multi-religious,
and indeed have become less religious. In none of these cases can
one religion or several religions be allowed to dominate. So, a precondition to living together in harmony
and equity is Secularism.

Don't you want the religious to

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Atheists & Co.

Bill Treloar

BILL TRELOARis the president of Treloar Associates and Rank

Magic. He started Treloar Associates in 1999 to do relational database consulting and web site design for small and very small
companies. Bill quickly realized that small business web sites
didn't attract customers unless they could be found in the search
engines, so he began offering "search engine optimization" (or
SEa) services in 2000 and in 2002. That business had grown so
much that he spun it off as Rank Magic. Today, Bill does almost
exclusively SEa under the Rank Magic company.
Rank Magic, a division of Treloar Associates, works magic
on your bottom line through search engine optimization. Rank
Magic focuses on the "natural" search engines: those that provide listings from the entire web, not just from companies that
pay to be listed. There are a number of benefits to that, including no ongoing costs associated with your listings in the search
engines.
Rank Magic also practices only ethical search engine optimization. They never engage in practices that violate the search
engines' rules, because even if some of those "tricks" may work
in the short term, they can get your site banned from the search
engines in the long term.
Treloar Associates, is a local IT consulting firm specializing in
IT management consulting, DataEase relational database applications, and web site design and hosting for small companies.
Bill Treloar's background includes nearly 20 years in management of both IT and non-IT divisions at The Prudential, MIS
Operations Manager at Health Information Technologies, and
MIS Director at a major New York City fringe benefits provider.
Bill is widely published on relational database issues in technical periodicals and on search engine optimization issues in small
business and entrepreneurial publications both in print and on
the Internet.
You can visit them at www.RankMagic.com or call (973)
887-0778.

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AMERICAN ATHEISf

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Dawn Of Animal
VISion Discovered
SCIENCEDAILY (Oct. 18, 2007)-By peering deep into evolutionary history, scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara
have discovered the origins of photosensitivity in animals.
The scientists studied the aquatic animal Hydra, a member of
Cnidaria, which are animals that have existed for hundreds of millions of years. The authors are the first scientists to look at light-receptive genes in cnidarians, an ancient class of animals that includes
corals, jellyfish, and sea anemones.
"Not only are we the first to analyze these vision genes (opsins)
in these early animals, but"because we don't find them in earlier evolving animals like sponges, we can put a date on the evolution of light
sensitivity in animals," said David C. Plachetzki, first author and a
graduate student at UC Santa Barbara. The research was conducted
with a National Science Foundation dissertation improvement grant.
"We now have a time frame for the evolution of animal light
sensitivity. We know its precursors existed roughly 600 million years
ago," said Plachetzki.
Senior author Todd H. Oakley, assistant professor of biology
at UCSB, explained that there are only a handful of cases where scientists have documented the very specific mutational events that have
given rise to new features during evolution.
Oakley said that anti-evolutionists often argue that mutations,
which are essential for evolution, can only eliminate traits and cannot
produce new features. He goes on to say, "Our paper shows that such
claims are simply wrong. We show very clearly that specific mutational changes in a particular duplicated gene (opsin) allowed the new
genes to interact with different proteins in new ways. Today, these
different interactions underlie the genetic machinery of vision, which
is different in various animal groups."
Hydras are predators, and the authors speculate that they use
light sensitivity in order to find prey. Hydra use opsin proteins all over
their bodies, but they are concentrated in the mouth area, near the tip
of the animal. Hydras have no eyes or light-receptive organs, but they
have the genetic pathways to be able to sense light.
The findings are published in PLoS One. Co-author Bernie
M. Degnan, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia,
provided bioinformatics tools to complete the study.

Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Santa

Barbara. (www.sciencedaily.com)

Atheist On Board

GODLESS AMERICANS

olitical Actio Committee

Cast Your Vote for

Reason, Science &
State-Church
Separation!
Mike Huckabee, and Tom
Tancredo are running for
president and have publically
declared that they do not
believe in evolution. They
choose to reject rational
scientific knowledge and logic,
instead relying on fairy tales
- and they want to promote
those religious beliefs in our
public school classrooms.
Isn't it about time that more
Americans start voting for
candidates who support reason and the separation of
church and state? Shouldn't we be electing lawmakers
who advocate teaching good science - and more
science - in schools?
The Godless Americans Political Action Committee
(GAMPAC) endorses and financially supports rational
candidates for political office. We ask you to partner with
us and support our efforts with a contribution.
GAMPACdoes not support candidates who seek
out and take advice from an imaginary friend. We do
not work for politicians who want to use our tax money
to support faith-based social services, or violate our
Constitution by creating "special rights"for religious
groups. Instead, we want to elect men and women
to public office who unabashedly speak out for the
separation of church and state, and equal rights for all
Americans!
GAMPACis your voice at the ballot box. We
desperately need principled men and women to serve
our country, and defend the First Amendment. Won't you
help us find and elect these people?

$6.00
stock # 3215
(Please see order form for
member discount and S&H
charges)

GAMPAC
PO Box 5764,
Parsippany, NJ 07054
www.gampac.org
Donations to the GAMPAC are not tax deductible.

28

AMERiCANATIlBSf

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book review

God Is Not Great

A Book Review by Gil Gaudia, Ph.D.

at can you say about a prominent Atheist whose latest work has earned him criticisms such as "Hitchens
has nothing new to say," because '''his argument proceeds principally by anecdote," and besides he offers
nothing more than "sly distortions and grotesque errors," "sloppiness,"
"ignorance," "factual errors," and "obvious misstatements." I say he
must have written a helluva good book. And he has. Hitchens has displaced Richard Dawkins as the guy that Christians most love to hate.
And with good reason. Dawkins comes off as the scholarly, personable, quiet-spoken and careful scientist that he is, but Hitchens in person and in his writing, is sullen, insulting, acerbic, self-assured, and full
of condemnation of everything religious-and he condemns a lot. I
had not seen him on television before reading "God is Not Great," but
I remember as I read, visualizing him as Richard Burton in the role of
drunken George in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?"
... before learning about his a1mitted excessiveuse of alcohol.
"God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" is a
no-holds barred forthright attack upon all religions, but it is mostly
aimed at the so-called Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and
Islam) using the approach and systematic outline of a scientist, despite the fact that Hitchens is primarily a journalist. Like many Atheists, Hitchens tells us that he began life as a member of a family of
believers, but, as with many Atheists he began to question the illogic
of his indoctrination early on.
This fact alone ought to give pause to the hysterical rebuttals
and cries of "Foul!" from conservatives, believers, clergy and other
outraged reviewers who want to charge Hitchens with every literary
crime from plagiarism to ignorance in their frustrated obsession to
argue that god really is great: and religion is actually a wonderful
and necessary support system for the human race. What they don't
seem to get is that some percentage of intelligent and courageous
indocrrinees manage to see through the scam and rise above it. We
call them Atheists.
When Shakespeare had the insight that prompted the line,
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," he elucidated a fact that
bewilders rationalists to this day. The extreme reaction that accompanies awareness of the irrefutability of an opponent's logical, argument
can only represent despairing acknowledgement of a hopeless cause,
when instead it should elicit honest self-examination.
The book's nineteen chapters appear at first to proceed like a
legal indictment, but they actually follow Hitchens' outline of his own

sod

is not

Great

God Is Not Great

How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher

Hitchens

307 pp. Twelve/Warner

Books. $24.99

Christopher
Hitchens

detestation of all things religious. He wanders at times, spending an

entire chapter on topics such as "A Short Digression On the Pig; Or,
Why Heaven Hates Ham." But even these excursions are informative
and full of the bantering whimsicality that characterize his style. Everywhere his sense of humor and biting wit are interjected along with
his skewering of celebrated Christians and other theists like Mel Gibson, all of which is presented in an exceptionally systematic manner.
His logical attacks upon concepts such as "the argument from
design" or biblical inconsistencies involving morality, history and geography are well presented (and at times scathingly humorous) and
most of them are not at all undermined by the undisguised contempt
with which he holds most believers and beliefs, and it would not be
unfair to say that Hitchens is far from an objective reporter.
Although he claims that he really doesn't object so much to
religion as he does to its encroachment upon government and the
individual freedom of non-believers, it his hard to accept that this is
all that motivates the outpouring of contempt that emanates from
Hitchens' pen. Similarly, with regard to his villifiers, many conservative writers whose excoriation seems frenzied at times, may still be
reacting from disguised or latent "McCarthyism" because Hitchens
is or was a Marxist and anyone who has ever thought about "taking
from the rich, and giving to the poor," much less advocated it, becomes immediately in league with the devil.
It isn't hard to understand why some would be offended by
this book especially when Hitchens describes the evolution of Joseph
Smith's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-usually known
as the Mormons-as
being "founded by a gifted opportunist" who,
demonstrated for all who wanted to see "what happens when a plain
racket turns into a serious religion before our eyes." It becomes parFEBRUARY2008

AMERICAN

ATHElSf

29

ticularly

barbed

when

that erstwhile

the leading Republican

presidential

racket is practiced
candidates,

by one of

Mitt Romney.

But

Hitchens spares no one no matter how adored or idolized, as he did in

an earlier work about Mother Teresa, "The Missionary Position," and
he certainly

did not spare the Clintons'

to take notes on some of his more in-

teresting points for future reference when discussing (fighting about?)

the Bible with believers, especially crucial dilemmas like Moses' violation of some of his own received commandments.
the need to engage believers in discussion

Atheists who feel

or debate will find more in

this book than in most other contemporary best sellers on the subject,
especially because its 320 pages are packed with anti-religious (I hate
to use the word) ammunition.
Atheists

But Hitchens,

are tired of being swamped

along with many other

with unexamined

propaganda

that goes unrefuted until someone with the courage and erudition
that he possesses decides to put it all together under one cover and
throw it out for all to see.
I was pleased to discover that Hitchens agrees with one of my
pet theories, namely that religion is largely a product of fear, especially
the fear of death. As I wrote in an article in the Nov/Dec 2006 Ameri-

can Atheist Magazine, "Fear is the real reason for the (Christmas)

sea-

son," Hitchens argues in his very first chapter that unless and until the
fear of death can be eradicated, religion will continue to be with us.
Hitchens

makes assumptions

about his readers' literary

acu-

men that will definitely not apply to all of them.

He is a master
wordsmith and more than one reference sent me to my Bartlett's or
Webster's for clarification.

feelings when he described

them as the biggest liars in America in his brief but excoriating 2000
book "No One Left to Lie to: The Values of the Worst Family." The
title tells it all.
I found myself wanting

. ~theist Singles

But there is elegance and poetry in some

02-01-08 - (Writer lives in Italy) Man of 39 years old. Member of American Atheists for some years now. Single. No
children. I would like to join the US Army. I need an 1-557.
I'm looking for a woman no more than 25 years old with no
children. Would like a recent photo.

The "Atheist Singles" service is a benefit of membership in American

Atheists. It is intended to help members find that special someone.
If you are a member and wish to participate in this service, please
limit your "Atheist Singles" ad to 100 words or less. Please include
your name and postal address so we will know where to forward
your replies when they come in. Entries should be mailed to:
Atheist Singles, P.O.Box 5733, Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733.
Members of American Atheists who wish to communicate with any
of the Atheist singles who placed ads should do the foliowing:Write
your response and place it in a stamped, self-addressed, sealed envelope. On the back of the envelope, place the notation, "A.5."and
the reference number (for example A.5. 00-05-03) of the entry to
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of his constructions,
and any reader with a desire to stretch his own
creative skills will find exemplars that are worthy of emulation.
None of the Atheist "best sellers" can even come close in number of books sold, to the books of Dennis Prager, and Rick Warren's
"The Purpose Driven Life," religious blockbusters
that have sales
reaching into the millions. Hitchens' book has not reached 100,000
in sales, but Hitchens has added an important link in the chain of
writings

from the skeptical

through

Bertrand

positions

of the ancient

Russell to the Atheist quintet

philosophers

of literary defenders

we have today in writers Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Hitchens,

philosopher Daniel Dennett, and astronomer Victor Stenger, (whose
book "God: The Failed Hypothesis" shows how cosmology and astronomy need no supernatural concepts to account for the creation
and development of the universe.)
It is tempting to rank their literary output.

I personally

prefer

Sam Harris' writing, with Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett and Stenger

following in that order. I like to visualize a pair of "good-cop; badcop" teams of interlocutors
all stripes.

going forth to do battle with believers of

I would send Christopher

Daniel Dennett

Hitchens

to do battle with the theologians

along with" good cop"

and apologists while

Dawkins and Stenger (the good cop) would be dispatched to the universities to put the eggheads in their place. Sam Harris could coach
from the sidelines with prompts
fallacy of the Uncaused

Cause."

like, "Don't forget

to point out the

Gil Gaudia is professor Emeritus at the SUNY college at Fredonia. He

was also a clinical psychologist and a fellow at The Albert Ellis Institute
in Manhattan, and now devotes his time to writing. His novel, Outside,
Looking In, is a thinly-veiled autobiography of an Atheist. Dr. Gaudia
can be reached at jggaudia@comcast.net
30

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AIMS & PURPOSES

American Atheists, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, educational organization dedicated to the
complete and absolute separation of state and church, accepting the explanation ofThomas
Jefferson that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was meant to create
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To stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious beliefs, creeds,
dogmas, tenets, rituals, and practices;
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thorough understanding of them, their origins, and their histories;
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to the members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.

DEFINITIONS
Atheism is the Weltanschauung (comprehensive conception of the world) of persons who are
free from theism (free from religion). It is predicated on ancient Greek Materialism.
Atheism involves the mental attitude that unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and
aims at establishing a life-style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific
method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.
Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is
governed by its own inherent, immutable, and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural
interference in human life; that humankind, finding the resources within themselves, can and
must create their own destiny. It teaches that we must prize our life on earth and strive always
to improve it. It holds that human beings are capable of creating a social system based on
reason and justice. Materialism's "faith" is in humankind and their ability to transform the world
culture by their own efforts. This is a commitment that is, in its very essence, life-asserting. It
considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation that is impossible without noble ideas
that inspire us to bold, creative works. Materialism holds that our potential for good and more
fulfilling cultural development is,for all practical purposes, unlimited.

INFORMATION ABOUT TAX DEDUCTIONS

IRSrules state that the tax-deductible portion of membership dues can be found by subtracting the fair-market value of any goods or
services that you receive in return. For most of our membership types, your dues are actually LESSthan the fair-market value ($40 per year)
of a subscription to our magazine. This means that your membership dues are NOT tax-deductible. Life membership dues are also NOT taxdeductible. (If we sold Life magazine subscriptions, they would cost at least as much as life memberships.)
The only membership type that is fully tax-deductible is the Associate membership because Associate members do not receive a magazine subscription. For the Couple/Family ($60) and Wall-Builder ($150) membership types, $40 covers your magazine subscription. The
remainder of your dues ($20 for Couple/Family and $110 for Wall-Builder) are considered to be a tax-deductible donation. For multiple-year
membershfps, the same fraction of your dues (1/3 for Couple/Family and 11/15 for Wall-Builder) is tax-deductible (in the year that those
membership dues were paid).
Also, any donations that you make IN ADDITION TO your membership dues are fully tax-deductible.

34

AMERICAN ATHEIST

FEBRUARY200l

state director listing

MILITARY DIRECTOR
Kathleen Johnson
CMR422, Box 910
APO AE 09067
kjohnson@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/mil
ALABAMA STATE DIRECTOR
Blair Scott
PO Box41
Ryland, AL 35767-2000
(256) 513-5877
bscott@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/al/

CONNECTICUT STATE DIRECTOR

Dennis Paul Himes
P.O.Box 9203
Bolton, CT.06043
(860) 643-2919
dphimes@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/ct/
FLORIDA STATE DIRECTOR
Greg McDowell
P.O.Box 680741
Orlando, FL 32868-0741
(352) 217-3470
gmcdowell@atheists.org

httpi//www.athelsts.orq/fl/
ALASKA STATE DIRECTOR
Clyde Baxley
3713 Deborah Ln.
Anchorage, AK 99504
(907) 333-6499
cbaxley@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/ak/
ARIZONA STATE DIRECTOR
Monty Gaither
P.O.Box 64702
Phoenix, AZ 85082-4702
mgaither@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/az/
CALIFORNIA STATE DIRECTOR
Dave Kong
(415) 771-9872
dksf@atheists.org
And
CALIFORNIA ASSISTANT STATE
DIRECTOR
Mark W.Thomas
(H) (650) 969-5314
(C) (650) 906-1095
mthomas@atheists.org
900 Bush Street, Unit 210
San Francisco,CA 94109
http://www.atheists.org/ca/

IDAHO STATE DIRECTOR

Susan Harrington
P.O.Box 204
Boise, ID 83701-0204
(208) 392-9981
sharrington@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/id/
ILLINOIS STATE DIRECTOR
Sandra Van Maren
P.O.Box 1770
Chicago,IL 60690-1770
(312) 201-0159
svanmaren@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/il/
KENTUCKY STATE DIRECTOR
Edwin Kagin
P;O.Box 48
Union, KY41091
(859) 384-7000
ekagin@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/ky/
MICHIGAN STATE DIRECTOR
Arlene-Marie
amarie@atheists.org
and

MICHIGAN ASSISTANT STATE

DIRECTOR
George Shiffer
gshiffer@atheists.org
Both can be reached at:
P.O.Box 0025
Allen Park,MI48101-9998
(313) 388-9594
http://www.atheists.org/mi/
NEW JERSEY STATE DIRECTOR
David Silverman
1308 Centennial Ave, Box 101
Piscataway, NJ 08854
(732) 648-9333
dsilverman@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/nj/
NORTH CAROLINA STATE
DIRECTOR
Wayne Aiken
P.O.Box 30904
Raleigh, NC 27622
(919) 602-8529
waiken@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/nc/
OHIO STATE DIRECTOR
Michael Allen
PMB289
1933 E Dublin-Granville Rd
Columbus, OH 43229
(614)-678-6470
mallen@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/oh
OKLAHOMA STATE DIRECTOR
Ron Pittser
P.O.Box 2174
Oklahoma City,OK 73101-2174
(405) 205-8447
rpittser@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/ok/

TEXAS STATE DIRECTOR

Joe Zamecki
2707 IH-35 South
Austin TX 78741
(512) 444-5882 Extension 703
jzamecki@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/tx/
TEXAS REGIONAL DIRECTOR
FOR DALLAS/FORT WORTH
Dick Hogan
dhogan@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/dfw/
UTAH STATE DIRECTOR
Rich Andrews
P.O.Box 165103
Salt Lake City, UT 84116-5103
randrews@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/ut/
VIRGINIA STATE DIRECTOR
Rick Wingrove
P.O.Box 774
Leesburg, VA 20178
(H) (703) 433-2464
(C) (703) 606-7411
rwingrove@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/va/
WASHINGTON STATE DIRECTOR
Wendy Britton
12819 SE38th St.Suite 485
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 269-9108
wbritton@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/wa/
STATE DIRECTOR
Charles Pique
P.O.Box 7444
Charleston, WV 25356-0444
(304) 776-5377
cpique@atheists.org
http://www.atheists.org/wv/

WEST VIRGINIA

CONTACTING STATE DIRECTORS

Our directors are NOT provided with contact information for members in!heir area. If you're interested in working with
your director on activism, please use the listing on this page to contact them.
They would love to hear from you!
If you live in a state or area where there is no director, you have been a member for one year or more, and you're
interested in a director position, please contact Bart Meltzer, Director of State and Regional Operations at bm@atheists.
Qffi or visit http://www.atheists.org/states/