This Issue:

ISRAEL'S
ROOTS

RELIGIOUS

TROUBLES

OF ATHEISM

THE CHOSEN

FEW

HOLY BALONEY

$1.25
A Journal Of
Atheist News
And Thought

Vol. 20, No.7

July, 1978

RICAN ATHEISTS
"Aims and Purposes"
te freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious
tenets, rituals and practices.
ate information, data and literature on all religions and
h understanding of them, their origins and histories.
nd promote in all lawful ways, the complete and absolute
church; and the establishment and maintenance of a
m of education available to all.
pment and public acceptance of a humane ethical system,
pathy, understanding and interdependence of all people
esponsibility of each, individually, in relation to society.
e a social philosophy in which man is the central figure who
e of strength, progress and ideals for the well-being and
the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the
ion and enrichment of human (and other) life.
I, educational, legal and cultural activity as will be useful
rs of American Atheists and to society as a whole.

"Definitions"
osophy (Weltanschauung) of persons who are free from
n the ancient Greek philosophy of Materialism.
be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly
f reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy
experience, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of
y declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent congoverned by its own inherent, immutable and impersonal
rnatural interference in human life; that man-finding his
an and must create his own destiny; and that his potenevelopment is for all practical purposes unlimited.

Vol. 20, No.7

EDITORIAL
READER COMMENT
NEWS
State-Church Collusion Nets $9 Mil.
I RS: Churches Should Pay
Religious IssuesTrouble Israel.
FEATURE ARTICLES
Testament Of The Holy Garble
The Atheist Letters - 1
Praise The Load!
The Cure-All Box
The Chosen Few
Report FrornTheCountrv Of The Blind
Roots Of Atheism: Charles Bradlaugh
AMERICAN ATHEIST RADIO SERIES
History of Materialism: Epicurus
ATHEIST BOOK REVIEW
Deceptions & Myths Of The Bible

July, 1978

2
3
5
6
7
9
11
13
14
17
27
30
25
35

Editor-In-Chief: Madalyn Murray O'Hair / Managing Editor: Jon Garth Murray

Editor, Layout: Frank Duffy / Production: Ralph Shirley / Circulation: John Mays
Non-Residential Staff: Ignatz Sahula-Dycke, G. Richard Bozarth, James Erickson
Wells Culver, J. Michael Straczynski
The American Atheist magazine is published monthly by American Atheists, 2210 Hancock
Drive, Austin, Texas 78756, a non-profit, non-political, tax-exempt, educational organization.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX, 78768; copyright 1978 by Society of Separationists, Inc.; Subscription rates: $15.00 per year; $25.00 for two years. Manuscripts submitted
must be typed, double-spaced and accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The
editors assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts.

THE AMERICAN ATHEIST MAGAZINE

Post Office Box 2117
Austin, Texas 78768
Enter my subscription for one year at $15.00 (two years at $25.00).
NEW
Total Enclosed $,

RENEWAL

Name
Address
City, State, & Zip
Austin, Texas

Ju1Y,1978

......

ON THE COVER

As most members are aware, Ralph

B. Shirley is a member of the staff at
the American Atheist Center in Austin
with multiple duties. His main function is that of printer with auxiliary
duties of preparing materials for
mailing, writing a column for this
magazine and at times assisting in the
research of some legal matters of
interest to the Center. He also serves as
Treasurer and is a Board Member of
the Society of Separationists, Inc.
His father, a physician, and mother,
a registered nurse, were Protestants
and reared Ralph and his sister to believe in Ch ristianity. Although his
mother played the piano, sang hymns
and quoted Bible passages frequently,
the inoculation just did not take.
Ralph Shirley graduated at the top
of his class at Shenandoah College in
Virginia and was a member of Phi
Theta Kappa, an honorary scholastic
society.
After receiving his J.D. degree in
1954 from The American University in
Washington, D.C. (where he was president of the Student Bar Association),
he practiced law in that city as a real
estate attorney for a large corporation
for several years, and later maintained
a private law practice until 1965. Since
then he has been an entrepreneur in
several lines of business and accumulated sufficient savings to retire in
1975 at the age of 48.
Due to his strong interest in Atheism, Ralph became a full-time employee
at the American Atheist Center in January of 1977. Having attended the New
York City School of Printing and the
Mergenthaler School of Printing in
Baltimore, Ralph was well qualified
to assume the crucial position of
printer for the American Atheist
Center.
In addition, Ralph Shirfev is the
author of a best-seller on Atheism entitled God - The Greatest Hoax,
which he is presently expanding due
to popular request for later publication
as a second edition.
Page 1

Building

Membership

There is no shortage
of instances
of the violation of
the establishment
clause of the First Amendment
to the
Constitution
of the United States. We have no trouble finding
violations which will keep us busy in attempts to rectify the
injustices
for many years to come. These assaults on our
Constitution
are being carried out on the federal, state and
local government
levels by those very officials who have sworn
to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
Of course, it is very easy for government
officials and
their attorneys to claim that by their interpretation,
they are
not violating the Constitution.
No matter how flagrant the
violation, they can always find some reason, no matter how
absurd, which they claim keeps their action within constitutional bounds.
For example, the government claims that the motto on our
coins and currency,
"In God We Trust", has nothing to do
with religion. They claim that this motto is "patriotic."
I
could believe "idiotic," but not patriotic. Now all they have to
do is find some equally zany judges to agree with them.
Other intrusions of religion into the affairs of government
include the use of state and federal funds to construct religious
school buildings, to pay chaplains to dole out superstitious
religion in the armed forces and in prisons, the requirement
of
religious oaths, the use of prayers or invocations
at public
meetings, the encouragement
by the FCC of scores of hours of
superstitious
religious broadcasts on radio and television, and
religious displays on public property.
Other violations
by the government
include allowing a
religious, tax-exempt
organization
to lobby and take other
concerted
actions to influence legislation dealing with moral
and financial matters they are interested
in: i.e. to secure
anti-abortion
and parochial
school aid through
state and
federal funding, even though such lobbying is in violation of
the Internal Revenue Code for non-profit organizations.
The problems are easy to spot, but finding Atheists who
are willing to join an organization
for the purpose of enforcing
the U.S. Constitution
is a slow and laborious process. We hope
that all of our chapters and members will make every possible
effort to obtain new members as well as subscribers
to this
magazine. It is only through the cooperation
of a fairly large
membership
and the contributions
from those members that
the organization
can do the groundwork
and file suits to halt
the violation of constitutional
provisions. We also encourage
members to take legal action individually to halt violations of
state-church
separtaion which they find locally.
Our chapters are urged to have a continuing
program for
increasing membership.
A few chapters have taken aggressive
action in this regard. One of the methods used has been the
placing of classified or small display ads in their local newspapers to notify those who would like to have information
about Atheism
or state-church
separation
matters
to contact the local chapter or write to the national office.
When one or more members wish to organize a chapter,
the national office will reproduce the letter of notification
of

Page 2

July,

1978

the meeting and send it to all of the names on our active and
inactive lists if they live within a reasonable
distance of the
meeting site. Some members may wish to join a particular
chapter even though they Iive too far away to attend any of
its meetings. Through correspondence,
such members can keep
in close contact with their chapter and join in a cooperative
effort to correct state-church
infractions
within their state.
These letters giving notification
of an organizing
meeting
usually produce many new members from our list of inactive Atheists in a certain area and provide the new chapter
with a good start.
Members of some chapters
have made arrangements
to
appear on radio and television
tal k shows to express the
Atheist viewpoint. They have been careful to give the address
of either the local chapter or the national office and many new
members have been acquired as a result, in addition. to the
educational
value of the views expressed on these shows.
Another effective means of increasing membership,
while
educating
the public, is to provide sample copies of The
American Atheist magazine to one or more public libraries in
your city. A library will usually order a subscription
after they
have seen the magazine.
As Atheism
is introduced
to the
public via the magazine, many readers become members as
they wish to play an active roll in' furthering
the constitutional principle of state-church
separation.
One of the most popular methods of educating the public
and attracting
new members for our organization
is the distribution of leaflets or folders which explain the Atheist philosophy and/or are quite uncomplimentary,
to say the least, of
religious ideas. Several different
types of folders can be obtained from the national office. These may be casually left
behind in various business establishments
or public buildings
that you visit. This I find to be a very effective, easy and
unobtrusive method of distribution.
Of course, the obtaining of members and funds is just the
beginning.
Suggestions
pertaining
to the operation
of the
chapter in working for the complete
separation
of state and
church wi II be provided by the national office and the mem bers
have always provided many new ideas of their own. In the past,
a few chapters have taken very aggressive action to curb the intrusion of religion into governmental
functions and agencies.
Should religious organizations
ever succeed in becoming
an integral part of our government,
it will result in the erosion
of our basic freedoms and the end of our republic. Dictatorship has always been the result when the state and the church
have joined together. Don't let it happen to our country.

Ralph B. Shirley

GUEST EDITOR

The American

Atheist

COeMeMENT

N
E
R

Good Riddance
Dear Editor,
Robert Edson Russell's article in
your May issue entitled "Has Religion
a Future?" was an excellent analysis of
the state of religious belief in America
today. You are to be congratulated for
printing it.
When he writes, in conclusion to his
article, that "what the future holds exactly, we don't know, but we do know
that it holds something new" Russell
hits the nail on the head. Certainly we
are witnessing the birth of a new era in
which the doctrines of rational science
are finally beginning to overshadow
the old-fashioned superstitions of oldtime religion.
Religion has served its purpose: we
are the inheritors of various codes of
ethics and moral teachings which guide
us (in the Western world, at least) in
our daily lives. Today, however, we
can separate the ethical codes of religion from the antiquated theological
beliefs that can only be called folkloristic superstitions.
From here on out, science takes
over, forever seeking new truths until
someday we truly understand the reality of this fantastic universe. Russell's
article has given me hope.
Rebecca Armstrong
Washington, D.C.

Welcome Aboard!
Dear Editor,
Thanks for the "Insider's Newsletter." I subscribe to the magazine and
have made contributions but, .did not
plan to become a "member" of the
American Atheists. The Newsletter has
changed my mind.
You struck me right on top of my
head "humanist"
"freethinker"
etc
"Chi~ken!" is m~re like it.
'
.
Now I am determined to express
my thinking when opportunities come.
First, a magazine subscription to our
public library. I have been frustrated
there often.
Next, a brief letter to WRCB, our
local television station.
I am no longer going to hide the
books and magazines when relatives and
friends visit! If this raises eyebrows,
good. I think I can handle it.
Mary A. Bobone
(no address given)
P.S. This is a start, anyway.

Austin,

Texas

Appeasing

Christian
Crackpots

Dear Editor,
I ~as very happy to read the May editorial by Patricia Voswinkel in support of
the Murray-O'Hairs. It think charges of them being too rough are absolute nonsense.
To my way of thinking, it is the duty of Atheists to make their case known in
the strongest possible terms. This the Murray-O'Hairs have done. To do less would
be to fail their cause rather than to keep faith with it.
Of course, I still remain one of those "religionists" at this time but I can assure
you that my views have greatly changed since I began reading Ath~ist literature. In
short, I have been helped.
Another thing that one might consider is that by trying to get the "Old Dragon"
to ease up, you are simply appeasing the Christian crackpots. It's about like asking a
soldier .to go to war without his gun -he might be fool enough to go, but his chances
of survival are not very good.
In conclusion, I would like to state that I have found nothing offensive in either
your magazine or the Atheist literature. The word that would best describe it is
"informative." I do find your magazine lacking in humor sometimes, but Michael
Straczynski sure took care of that - his "Being God is Rough" [May issue] was the
greatest satireI've seen ina long time. Was also glad to see Dr. O'Hair take out after
some of the nonsense concerning "God's Chosen People" [April issue].
Rev. John B. Denson
St. Augustine, Fla.
Mr. Denson,
Thank you for complimenting the Voswinkel, Straczynski and O'Hair articles.
Glad to hear that your educating yourself in Atheist literature has to some
extent "helped" you. We know that all Christians need help (though we don'tfeel
obligated to convert them) in that their religious beliefs are a form of mental
disease which mankind should have outgrown centuries ago. The fact that you are a
minister makes you doubly in need of help, so, keep at it.
We agree that our magazine needs more humor. Commercial artists do not come
cheaply and as a "cause" organization our budget is limited to the point that we
have several areas of improvement which await the day when Atheists are as generous with their giving as are the Christians supporting the well-heeled Elmer Gantrys
who are the subject of our center-fold story this month on page 17: "The Chosen
Few."
Our columnists are devoted enough to the cause of an American "revolution
~etw~en the ears" that they donate their appreciated writing talents gratis. We
likewise would welcome talented Atheist cartoonists who would consider publication of their work in The American Atheist reward enough.
The Editors

July, 1978

Page 3

Kudos & Criticism

Don't Blame Mother Nature

Dear Editor,
I had to write to congratulate you on the May issue of The American Atheist
magazine. Ordinarily the magazine gets a little better each month, this time you
jumped by about a year and a half. Keep up the good work!
I also wanted to respond to a letter to the editor in that issue. In it a woman
states that she is leaving American Atheists because of her recent marriage to "a
believer." Personally I cannot think of a worse reason (if reason ever enters the area
of religion). One's religion is supposed to reflect one's beliefs about the structure of
the universe and Man's place in it both physically and "spiritually" (whatever that
is). What could be more ludicrous as to suppose that all that can change at will?
It shows religion to be a human invention and immune from reality by reducing
it to the level of a pair of shoes which can .be changed with each new outfit. Actually,
religion should be reduced even further but one would expect that even a religionist
could see the ridiculousness of such a thing. If religion is supposed to be absolute
and eternal, it sure is strange how a person can believe first one way and then
another on command.
In closing I want to report on an action I took on behalf of American Atheism
recently. In the December issue of the newsletter you asked members to place ads
for the magazine in trade publications. I wrote the Postal Record, published by the
National Association of Letter Carriers, concerning just such a matter. I also protested the feature, "Monthly Scripture," which that journal carries as being inappropiate and discriminatory; but they refused to discontinue it or to address themselves
to printing our ad. They claim that "Monthly Scripture" is a "popular" feature. I
have yet to reply but plan to point out that sport scores, recipes, and nude women
may also be popular but are equally out of place in a union magazine and will insist
that they respond in some way to our ad. I will keep you informed.
Dan A. Mitchell

Dear Editor,
"Nature's God Should Be Prosecuted" [April issue] was outstanding in
its inane contrast with your other excellent articles in April's issue of The
American Atheist magazine. To refer
to the natural forces of the world in
anthropomorphic terms, even in a poor
attempt at jest, is too silly for words.
The damage spring floods do, which
A.R. Swinnerton blames "Mother Nature" for, is due to the stupidity of
man, not the devilry of Mother Nature. Swinnerton charges M.N. has
given us less land that we need. All the
land in the universe wouldn't be enough
to accomodate the insatiable needs of
the spawning human fish whose universe and greedy farming and forestry
practices have denuded the land and
caused most of the world's deserts and
floods. Yet man doggedly resides in
the path of these and then whines to
"god" when he gets washed out.
Because nature sometimes dishes out
disaster with her otherwise benevolent
and bounteous cuisine is no license to
be childish and irresponsible in our
treatment of the Good Earth.
Harry Nelson
Anchorage, Alaska

A Grand Atheist
I am a foreign-born American citizen who has chosen the USA as my home
where I am now residing and I shall die here. I am an old grandmother now, but age
has nothing to do with what I am going to say.
I had always considered myselfa Christian as I was raised in the Lutheran church
and was taught to pray and read the Bible often. As we Atheists know only too well,
my prayers did no good at all. I have been a widow longer than I was married and
had three children to raise with no help from a god. I had lost faith in a god and was
too busy caring for my children to be concerned with such witchcraft.
Some "born again" Christians said that I must go to church, pray, and give money to the church in order to be saved. "Saved from what?" I asked, but they had
no answer. I didn't know what I was since I was not Christian and I knew I wasn't
pagan. So what am I then?
I started to look around and behold, the whole world was full of freethinkers like
myself! When I found out about American Atheists, I joined and the very first
literature I received made me very happy. I felt I had found some real friends.
There are not sufficient words in my adopted English vocabulary for me to adequately express my joy to be free of all supernaturalism concerning gods and the
Jesus myth.
A new chapter in my life finds me living with my "born again" daughter who recently married a Baptist minister who moved right in with us. Can you picture the
setting: under the same roof in the left corner we have a preacher and in the right
corner we have the grandmother sponsored by American Atheists. Want to make
any bets between god and the devil?
Nothing has happened yet, but he is trying to convert me and he usually gets to
the mailbox before me, so I hope my copy of The American Atheist gets through.
"Granny from Missouri"
(Bertha Goodall)
Columbia, MO
Dear Bertha,
You are beautiful!!! We at American Atheists salute you and want you to know
that we are always in your corner. You are a shining example of the "hardy cactus"
type of Atheist who flowers in an environment made arid and harmful to human life
by religious pesticides.
.
Please keep in touch and let us know if your copies of The American Atheist are
getting through to you.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: readers interested in sending words of encouragement to
Bertha may to so by addressing them to us at P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX 78768.]

Page 4

July, 1978

Bertha Goodall
Dear Friends,
I am an Atheist and I am confined
to prison in Ohio. I am one of many
men serving time here who has no
family, friends or outside help. I
would very much like to correspond
with other Atheists. I am in dire
need of friends and I wish to relieve
my frustrated and depressed state of
mind. I promise to answer all letters
I might receive.
GIVE ME A CHANCE.
Gus George Owens, Jr.
P.O. Box 45699-138775
Lucasville, OH 45699

The American

Atheist

tlll[~_N_EW:_S"--,JlliI1l111!'' illllltitilll''tllllllt\11111'
State/Chureh Collusion
Nets Marquette S9Mil.
Catholic-run Marquette University' in Milwaukee is an embarrassing example for advocates of state-church separation
with regard to the necessity for immediate and well-financed
litigation when such parochial institutions begin to demand
public funds in support of the propagation of their religious
ideologies.
Initially, this nation's religious-based parochial schools (of
which 91.8% are Roman Catholic) sought mere toleration of
their presence in the community, even at their own financial
expense. Once established, however, the next logical step characteristic of the Catholic modus operandi was to undermine
its rivals (the public schools) by having all taxpayers support
the religious indoctrination
of Catholic children through
acquisition of federal, state and local funding for parochial
schools.
Since the early 1960s, under federal and city-funded
"urban renewal" programs, 60 acres of prime city land were
bought up for $12 million and resold to Marquette for $3
million. The $9 million difference was paid two-thirds by the
federal government and one-third by the city of Milwaukee.
Those opposed to such practices on grounds of helping an
independent, Catholic university never took the Marquette
case to court.
"In its best sense, what we have today at Marquette is a
wonderful example of cooperation between an independent
university and city and federal governments," boasted S.J.
Helfer, Marquette's Director of Planning and Construction. Helfer is a 1945 Marquette engineering graduate.
Marquette administrators recognized in the early 1960s that
an avalanche of students, the post-World War II babies, would
soon hit campus, and that their university was not prepared.
The obvious solution to expand Marquette's facilities so as to
reap the benefits of the college-age baby boom was followed
by the question of how to acquire the necessary land, not to
go bankrupt in the process, and try to plan ahead 25 to 30
years.
The immediate and characteristic solution to the Catholic
school's need was to have those very non-Catholic citizens who
least benefit from the university's presence pay for the improvements. Unfortunately for the constitutional provision of
state-church separation, no one ever took the Marquette case
to court.
Incredibly, administrators at Marquette are now concerned
as to whether the university can maintain its "independent
status" with so much government involvement. In an editorial
in the university's alumni magazine, Marquette Today, an
age-old trait of all religions' wanting public benefits without
being responsible to the public was evident:
"Marquette owes it to its students to seek legitimate
support wherever it can be found - and the various levels

of government are engaged in supporting post-secondary

education. Marquette wants to be sure it and its students
receive their appropiate share.
" ... the length to which the University goes in pursuing
government funding is aimed precisely at the objective of
maintaining and protecting its independence even as it secures all the aid to which its students are entitled.
"The .bedrock of Marquette's convictions is the firm
belief that government participation via financial aid to the
student or a contract to purchase a service from the University does not blur in any sense the basic distinction between
a state-sponsored school and an independent one. The basic
distinction is not an economic one, but rather the different
forms of ownership, sponsorship and intentionality.
". " . In Marquette's case, for example, the ultimate
intentionality is to provide a witness to Jesus Christ in the
arena of higher education, and thereby attest to the ultimate harmony between faith and reason. As such, Marquette and other institutions like it, are examples of the
healthy pluralism which is rightly cherished in this nation."
Struggle For The Young
The struggle for the child is the keystone of the fight for
the future of civilization. Be it Communism or Christianism,
official propagators of aggressive ideologies are quick to realize that they must secure an ideological environment in which
the child's mind will respond in a manner favorable to the
claims and teachings of their particular sect.
The churches have always recognized the importance of
gaining access to the child early and keeping the child late
(through college level, if not beyond), so as to instill into the
young mind those patterns of thought that will preserve the
authority of the churches.
Having long since captured the nation's symbols and bound
them with superstitious references to a nonexistent deity, the
churches are now concentrating on undermining the nation's
public school system which is already experiencing difficulty
in other areas and can only crumble away unless those Americans who have long since shed their religious blinders enabling
them to recognize the dangers take positive action immediately.
The Packwood-Moynihan Bill (S. 2142, "Tuition Tax Credit
Act of 1977") authorizing state support of church schools
is due for a Senate floor vote this summer and even its staunchest foes admit probable passage. The erosion of the constitutionally .established wall keeping sectarian influences out of
our public schools and universities has long been underway.
Our nation's symbols have been distorted and religionized
since the DullesMcCarthy hysteria days of the 1950s and the

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

Austin,

July, 1978

Texas

~/

Page 5

generation now in their second decade have been raised to

believe (or to be unconcerned with) the moronic indoctrination
that this nation has always been "one nation under god."
We suggest that you write a letter in oppositon to the
Packwood-Moynihan Bill (S. 2142) both to your senators,
whose address is U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510, and to
your congressmen whose address is U. S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515; and to President Carter at The
White House, Washinffton, D. C. 20500.

Those wishing to contribute to American Atheists' on-going

litigation to recapture the nation's symbols from the grasp of
deadening dogma can doso by sending their tax-deductible donations to:
"Legal Fund"
American Atheists
P.D. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768

IRS: Churches Should Pay

While you've got pen in hand so as
to write to your governmental representatives about the Packwood-Moynihan Bill, why not voice your opinion
to the Internal Revenue Service on a
related issue?
The IRS proposed in February of
1976 that some church-related agencies
and institutions should file financial
information returns. As you might have
expected, the churches are resisting
this measure even more doggedly than
they are pushing for the passage of the
P-M Bill allowing them "divine right"
to raid the public treasuries to support
their religious schools.
The IRS' "integrated auxiliaries"
proposal would limit the church,
owned facilities which are protected
from taxation. Recently Alvin D. Lurie, an IRS official, said he believes
the proposal would not infringe on
the separation of state and church doctrine (as the churches claim). "The
integrated auxiliaries concept was designed to inhibit the proliferation of
the phony church and not to help the
churches define their mission," Lurie
said.
Integrated auxiliaries are facilities
like seminaries, mission boards, men's
and women's organizations and youth
groups. They would be protected from
taxation. But other facilities - hospitals, colleges, children's homes and
homes for the aged - are among those
which would not be in the protected
category.
Parochial, elementary and secondary schools also might enjoy such
protection at the discretion of the secretary of the Treasury.
Lurie advised that the "generating
principle" behind the integrated auxiliaries rule was that church-related organizations which have "secular counterparts" and which derive a portion
of income from the public should be
held accountable by being required to
file an IRS Form 990, an annual financial information form.
Hope Eastman, who formerly belonged to the Washington legal staff of
the American Civil Liberties Union,
said, "Churches should be taxed to
help insure the absolute separation of
church and state. Those who deny that
government is not presently subsidizing religion are not facing the real

Page 6

world."
As you might have expected, the
churches are not about to voluntarily open their books to public scrutiny and are falling back on their "sacred cow" status in our society so as
to thwart growing efforts to make
them accountable.
Dean M. Kelley, author of a book,
Why Churches Should Not Be Taxed,
has argued that religion is entitled to
special civil treatment because it "performs a special function within society."
Among the objections churches
have to the IRS proposal is that they
feel the government is presuming to
define the mission of the church.
Lurie has stated the government has
had no intention of forming such a

definition but admitted the IRS will

probably have to come up with a
working definition of "church" sometime in the future.
Kelley's definition of a church is
that it is "any organization performing
the function of religion - explaining
the ultimate meaning of life for its
adherents. "
Atheists and others concerned with
taxing those in the business of selling
god(s) should write to their governmental representatives and to the IRS
in Washington c/o Alvin D. Lurie voicing their support for the integrated
auxiliaries proposal which would be a
good first step toward reclamation of
the constitutionally
guaranteed principle of state-church separation.

"0

rOpe Owns All Land"

In obvious reaction to a growing

tendency around the world for Catholic
bishops to assume greater autonomy
from Roman influence, the Vatican's
highest court has ruled that the pope
controls all Roman Catholic Church
property throughout the world.
The decision seems certain to stir
disagreements between traditionalist
conservatives in the Vatican and progressives who favor giving greater autonomy to bishops outside Rome.
The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, the church's final court
of appeal, said that Bishop Ramon
Malia Call of Lerida, Spain, could not

transfer property administered by his

cathedral chapter to his own control.
Diocesan chapter leaders opposed
to the attempted transfer took their
case to the Sacred Congregation for
the Clergy, a Vatican ministry headed
by John Cardinal Wright, an American.
Cardinal Wright upheld the bishop's
right to take control of the property.
The chapter then took its case to the
supreme tribunal, which ruled that
church property could be transferred
only for the most serious reasons, and
neither bishops nor sacred congregations could do so without the pope's
permission.

p------------------------I "Flock Lock" Blocked

State fire officials in Iowa have ordered a Roman Catholic church in the town of Garryowen to remove electric door
locks it had installed to keep parishoners from leaving mass
early. The local priest reportedly would trip a switch at the altar
to lock the exits as mass began, and then would unlock the
doors only at the end of the service. Complaints were filed after
four or five churchgoers attempted to slip out of the services
early, only to find the doors locked. They were forced to return
to their pews. Fire marshals ordered the automatic locks removed,
saying they illegally blocked a potential emergency exit.

I.

1-------------------------1
July, 1978

The American

Atheist

Religious Issues Trouble Israel

Israel has made it a criminal offense
for missionaries working in that nation
to pay a Jew money to convert to
Christianitv.
In a law which went into effect on
April 1, anyone offering "material inticement" to an Israeli to change his
or her religion is liable to fine and
five years in prison. Also, anyone convicted of converting to another faith
for such reason is subject to imprisonment - for three years.
Orthodox Jewish leaders who got
the bill through the Knesset (parliament) last December say it was needed
to deter non-spiritual leverage on the
poor, and point out the law applies to
Jews and Christians equally.
But the United Christian Council in
Israel, as well as numerous individual
pastors there, charge that the law
could be "misused in restricting religious liberty" by interpreting any material aid as cause for conversions.
The Rev. Robert L. Lindsey, Southern Baptist representative in Israel,
says backers of the new law wanted
"legal grounds for further intimidation
of Christian citizens and residents in
Israel."
,
However, Yehuda Meir AbraIiamowitz, who sponsored the legislation,
says, "We merely want to protect our
children. There are hundreds of missionaries operating here."
Varying reports list anywhere from
80,000 to 650,000 Christian residents
in the Jewish state, and some estimates
say up to 500 annually are converted
to Judaism, usually through marriage.
Orthodox Jewish groups say 70 to 80
Jews convert annually to Christianity.
Effects of the law doubtless hinge
on how it is interpreted, including answers to such questions as:
Just what is _considered a "mater-

Dallas, Texas vice squad officers

raided a Knights of Columbus-sponsored bingo game on May 18 and arrested
four members of the Catholic men's
order for investigation of possession of
gambling paraphernalia.
About 50 people were participating
in the game at the Knights of Columbus Council 5052, 11422 Harry Hines
Blvd., according to police.
Vice squad officers had previously
warned the council to discontinue
the
illegal gambling or face arrest.

Austin,

Texas

ial inducement?" Would a day-care

center or schools open to Jews and
Gentiles be seen in that category? How
about a book or pamphlet given to explain the faith? Or food or money given as an act of kindness or friendship?
The life of an active Christian in Israel is not always easy. Many institutions have been targets of rocks and
firebombs. Windows of the Baptist
Center in Jerusalem were smashed recently. Protestant Warren Graham says
graves in his Jerusalem community's
cemetery are vandalized frequently
and the culprits are never caught.
Yosef Immanuel, secretary of the
Israel Interfaith Committee, worries
that the new law will alienate Israel's
Christian friends and damage its claim
of being a reliable guardian of all
faiths practicing in an area known to
Christians, Moslems and Jews alike as
"the holy land."
"Can you imagine- such a law being
passed abroad about Jewish activities?"
he asks. "It would be condemned as
downright anti-Semitism."

Does a Jew who believes that Jesus is the messiah have the right to become an Israeli citizen under that
country's law of return?
That question is pending _before Israel's High .Court as a result of a peti-

tion filed by a Bristol, Conn., woman,

Eileen Dorflinger, 34, now of Haifa.
Dorflinger, whose parents are both
American Jews, believes she is still a
Jew, under Israeli law, because she
hasn't renounced her Jewish heritage
nor her practice of Judaism. Neither
has she joined another religious body.
In short, she says she hasn't converted
to another religion.
However, the Israeli law is quite
strict when it comes to defining who a
Jew is. According to the law it's
possible to be born a Jew, be a professed Atheist, and still become an Israeli
citizen. You can be born a Christian,
convert to Judaism, and become a
citizen.
But if you're born a Jew and convert to Christianity, you're no longer
considered a Jew. Israeli law dictates
against Christian conversion. A convert can't marry in Israel.
Mrs. Dorflinger believes her case is
unique because she hasn't joined a
Christian denomination and so, legally,
she hasn't converted to another religion.
Other Jews who believe Jesus is the
messiah are particularly interested in
the outcome of the case. The "Messianic Jews" also believe they have not
rejected Judaism by believing in Jesus.
Many American Jews also are interested because they, too, insist that a
Jew who accepts Jesus no longer can
claim to be a Jew.

MORMON CHURCH
COLLICT. BILLION.
The Mormon Church makes more than $1 billion a year from tithes contributions ,and business income, and in total assets ranks among the nation's top 50 corporations.
An Associated Press study, based on available public and church records interviews and statistics, reveals that among the church's holdings are at least 65 acres
of do,wntown Salt Lake City, including a $50-million shopping mall under construction; a 36-sh?ry apartment building in New York; a village in Hawaii; a 260acre ranch near DIsney World in Florida and $18.3-million worth of stock in Times
Mirror, the company which publishes The Los Angeles Times.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is
formally known, gets approximately $550 million annually from contributions and
the 10% tithe asked of each of its 3.4 million members. Business income is about
$500 million annually, not counting rental of buildings and apartments real estate
transactions, interest and dividends from investments and royalties to the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir, whose members are not paid.
Total church income is more than $1 billion a year, the study estimates.
Among the church's recent capital additions are a $15-million temple near Washington and a $33-million office tower in Salt Lake City.
Church officials refused to confirm or deny the AP figures.
~sked ~o comm~nt on the study, the president of the church replied, "It was
determmed that contmued publication of expenditures was not desirable. As for
income, Idon't think the public needs to have that information."

July, 1978

Page 7

J.C.'s Great Task: Selling Jesus

If Jimmy Carter could manage half as much success in dealing with the plethora of non-religious problems besetting our
nation as he has had in his heaven-directed goal of "reaching
the entire world for Christ by the year 2000," then perhaps his
chances of reelection would be a shade brighter than his current abysmal prospects.
Last June Carter suggested in a videotaped message to a convention of Southern Baptists in Kansas City that they form an
active missionary organization to peddle the Christian scheme
of things "throughout the world." Wealthy Baptists recognized the gift horse when he flashed his teeth and immediately
commenced to amass the necessary funds to form a proselytizing organization designed to replace the world's other gods
with the Baptist one.
This new plan to solve the world's problems by implanting
its population with an addiction to the Christian religion goes
under the odious title of the Baptist denomination's "Bold
Mission Thrust" effort and just recently Carter lent the prestige of his elected office to a fund-raising dinner in Washington
where $750,000 was pledged by 200 "prominent laypersons"
who attended by special invitation.
The Mission Service Corps is a favorite project of President Carter, who has indicated he is considering joining it
himself after his term(s) of office.
In his speech to the Baptists, Carter told the group that
despite the denomination's
pattern of consistent growth,
much remains to be done "to carry the good news (about
J.C., Christ, that is) throughout the world."
Saying that his intention was not to be critical, Carter
said, "Our progress has been mediocre at best .. _ compared
to what we could do if we plumbed the depth of our soul
and made a total commitment to fulfill the great commission"
of Christ to go into all the world.
Earlier President and Mrs. Carter received the group at an
informal reception at the White House, spending more than an
hour with them.
Carter stressed in his speech that financial support for the
Mission Service Corps should not cut into the regular SBC
budget but should rather involve donations "above and be-

Sinful
Priest
Let Off
Easy

Page 8

yond" normal giving. He invited the audience to join him and

SBC leaders "to form a close-knit group" and "consider how
you, led by the spirit of Christ, can join in this renewal ... of
the entire Southern Baptist Convention, indeed our whole
nation, indeed perhaps all Christendom."
No mention was made regarding to which countries the
missionaries would be sent, but, it is assumed it would not be
to wealthier nations such as Saudia Arabia where the population is under the thumb of a different creed and whose leaders have sufficient influence in Washington to resist the imposition of an alien theology on their people. Historically nations
where Christianism was the dominant theology have concentrated their conversion efforts in those poorer nations where
a deprived population would submit to any sermon at all if offered a meal to relieve their deprived physical situation.
In China of the last century such new converts to Christianity were known as "rice Christians" because it took only a daily
bowl of rice to make them realize that, in the short run at least,
the Christian mandarins required less to please than did their
native Confucian overlords.
The current Chinese regime has long since become wise to
the dangers of allowing such Christian missionaries to reap
converts within their borders, and considering Carter's preoccupation with developments in Africa, it would seem a fair
guess to anticipate that it would be to that "Dark Continent"
that the Baptist missionaries of this Bold Mission Thrust effort
would be sent.
Perhaps eventually former President Carter himself will one
day be reaping for his god in Africa. Carter repeated his
suggestion that after leaving office, he and Mrs. Carter may
participate in some form of volunteer mission work. "I wish in a
way ... that I were free to do more, and after my service in
my present office ... I intend to do more," he said.
Referring to the awkwardness of speaking out on such subjects while serving as president, Carter said, "My ability to exhort others and to provide leadership is quite limited because
of a deep belief of all Baptists in the separation of church and
state." He said his appearance before the group was as a "private citizen" and as a "fellow Christian who loves my Saviour."

Priest Guido John Carich, the former fund-raiser for the Pallottine Fathers of
Baltimore, pleaded guilty in May to one of the 60 counts of misappropiating funds
and one count of obstructing justice which had been brought against him by the
state of Maryland.
When Carich was indicted last January, he declared his innocence and denounced
the "state's unfounded and reckless allegations against me." In a statement filed
with the court before sentencing, he acknowledged that he was involved in almost
all of the transactions specified in the indictment. The state of Maryland dropped
the 59 other charges involved in the original allegations that the priest had misappropiated $2.2 million and the obstruction of justice charge.
Criminal Court Judge David Ross, accepting the results of lengthy plea bargaining negotiations, suspended the imposition of sentence for the 58-year-old
priest and put him on supervised probation for 18 months. The judge ordered Carich to work for one year in the state prison system at assignments to be established
by the Division of Correction, subject to the approval of the court.
Carich had streamlined mail order fund-raising to a fine art in the name of overseas charities. But an audit ordered by the Baltimore Roman Catholic archdiocese
showed that although $20 million was raised in an 18-month period ending in December, 1975, less than 3 percent of the money was sent overseas. Much of it was
invested in land and tourist facilities in Maryland and in Florida. And $54,000 of it
was loaned to suspended Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel so he could divorce his first
wife, Barbara, and for medical bills incurred by his second wife, Jeanne.
The extended plea-bargaining and the slap on the wrist sentence were seen as the
only way for Carich and his superiors to keep the public and the people who answered his appeals for funds for the poor from seeing in a court trial exactly what
did happen to the millions upon millions of dollars they contributed in the name
of charity.

July, 1978

II

The American

Atheist

Testament

Holy

Of The

Garblt
By Erik van Kerstetter
Then it was that Solokiah, son of Amanh and the destined
prophet of the Eternal One, went forth into the great desert in
the land of Zhebb, there to witness his holy vision.
On the third day I looked to the east, and Lo! from the
midst of a huge swirling cloud did the Messengers of our Lord
descend from Heaven.
The cloud of Heaven's Children was glorious to behold.
Both in sight and awful sound did the mighty cloud smite the
earth.
And suddenly, amidst an even greater blast of flash and
fury, the holy sign came to rest upon earth's unworthy dust.
But the thundering did cease, as did the trembling of
ground and sky, and also, as I beheld, the glory of the cloud
dimmed and vanished. And there remained in its place a miraculous altar to the Eternal One.
And my astonished eyes beheld a great wonder. For the altar yawned open and from its fearsome innards there emerged
the Messengers of the Lord, two in number.
And I, Solokiah, trembling and sore afraid, did fall to the
ground in terror.

"Oh, oh, Commander! Look's like we've got company!"

"You see something? Where?"
"Straight out there. Could have sworn it moved. There! It
moved again, see? Kind of raised up then ducked down."
"Hell! Why don't they all stay in a bunch somewhere? You
can't find a safe landing site on the whole damn planet!"
"You want to try another area?"
"No, I guess not. He's alone. And I want to get that damn
PCS system unjammed before we try much more flying."
"Yeah, all right. But let's keep an eye on him"
"Crap, I hate daylight landings!"
"It's nice to see where we are, though. Remember when we
put down in that northern quadrant?"
"Hey, don't remind me! My shoulder still aches! You know,
if they want more profiles on those northern savages, they sure
as hell better plan on sending someone else!"

"You and me both. Well, III check out the power pack."
They stood tall and fair and wore not the beards of mortal

men. Their dress had the likeness of worked metal, and it

gleamed like sunlight upon broken waters.

"Pass that wrench, will you, Commander? Has he done anything yet?"
"Nothing. Probably won't, either. But you can't trust them.
I've seen them act shy and retiring as hell one moment and the
next they're lowering you into a stew!"
"Yeah. "
"It's their primative mentality, you know. I don't think
we'll ever understand it, no matter how many expeditions they
send."
"Ouch! "
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's this damn splice. The pressure popped it open and
it snapped my finger."
"Pretty sloppy maintenance, huh?"
"Unbelievable!"
"Well, clean it up and we'll get out of here. I feel like somebody's lunch parked in the open like this."

And the Messengers attended to the altar of the Lord, laying sacrifices round and about its holy form. And they praised
its beauty and power, this in the name of the Eternal One.

"I've been thinking, Commander."

"About what?"
"Well, almost all the profiling of the planet's cultures has
been done in the other quadrants. Wouldn't it help Operations
if they had some advance info on this area, sort of a preview of
what to expect?"
"I suppose. Oh, I see what you're getting at! You want to
talk to that inhabitant out there, don't you?"
"I think it would be worth a commendation at least, sir."
"Oh you do, huh? Always working on that promotion,
aren't you?"
"I do my best for the service."
"Sure you do! Well, I don't know. How's the charge on
your weapon?"
"Full up. I didn't get off a single shot in that northern incident, remember? The stampede blocked my aim."
"Uh-huh. And I've got about thirty percent. That's enough
to melt down an army of them. All right. We might as well
take advantage of the situation."
"I'll get the recorder! "
"But what about the language?"
"Operations says this area's gibberish is similar to the one I
spoke on the Beta mission last month."
"Good. But don't let your guard down. Let's go get him."

And the Messengers of the Lord came to me, saying, Stand

and hear, for We would speak of your world.
And though I feared greatly, I obeyed.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Scared, I guess. What should I ask him, sir?"
"Say something reassuring. Look at the guy! There're not

supposed to be blue, are they?"

"I'll try to calm him down."
"But not too much. I want him to keep in mind our superior position."
"Right. "

Then, seeing that I trembled before their glory, the Messengers of the Lord said unto me, Fear not, for we bring glad tidings from afar.

"Tell him we came from up there, from the sky. We're on

an important mission and need his help."

And the Messenger said to me, We come from Heaven, seeking thee, so that the Lord's work will surely be done on earth.
And I bowed low, saying, Master, I am but bone and dust,
and unworthy of your holy audience.

"Hell! This is going to be tougher than we thought!"

"Want to try a different approach, sir?"
"I'm thinking. Gimme a cigarette, will you?"

And the Children of Heaven grew hot with anger, and they
did fume and rant, and breathe fire unto themselves and spew
forth a smoke most loathsome!
And I cried out and pressed my face to the ground.

"Now what the shit is he doing?"

"Wow! We've got a strange one here, sir!"
"You're telling me! Look, try again. Ask if he understands
where we come from."

And the Messenger asked of me, Solokiah, son of Amanh,

dost thou know of our Home Most Holy?
And I replied, Yea, Master, Thy Home is Heaven above,
yonder, amid the stars. It is the kingdom where I - being
judged worthy - would dwell forever as reward for a life of
supplication.

"Yeah, he understands, I guess."

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere."
"But, sir, he said something I don't quite, well, maybe you
can -"
"So what did he say?"
"He said he wants to go back with us, or at least he wants
to get there sometime."
"What? This guy really is crazy!"
"Well, that's what he said."
"Why? Did he say why?"
"I dunno. But look at the poor slob. He must figure he
couldn't be worse off."
"But why in the hell does he think we'd take him?"
"Something about our rewarding him."
"For a little cultural information? Phooey! Tell him our
chief wouldn't allow it. Tell him, uh, maybe sometime in the
future."
"Oh, that's good, sir. If we gave him a flat no he might really uncork."
"Tell him."

Then the Messenger said unto me, Thou shalt surely dwell
in the House of the Eternal One, for He has seen your righteousness, and would take unto Himself His loving children.
And I wept tears of great joy.

"This isn't working. He's breaking down again."

"How about if I check the bag he's carrying?"
"Go ahead. A couple of artifacts would be ten times more
valuable than anything he's going to say!"

And they took from me bread and wine, and the blessed
fruit of the Ritual which the Lord delivered unto the prophet
Maalatem.

"What's he got there?"

"Just provisions. Nothing handmade. Wait a minute. What
Page 10

July, 1978

are these?"
"Well, well! Those are the damn nuts that grow in the other
quadrant - the one Delta mission screwed-up. Those inhabitants ate them, too."
"The toxic ones, you mean?"
"Damn right! Tell this guy to layoff these things. There's a
cumulative effect that wipes out their entire hormonal equilibrium."
"How the hell am I going to say that, sir?"
"With charm and wit."
"Huh?"
"I don't give a lavender crap how you do it, Pilot! Make
funny faces and point a lot! Just do it!"

Then the Children of Heaven gave to me a revelation, saying,

Know ye that Maalatern was a false prophet, and this fruit is
not of the Lord, but a vile potion from the blackest depths!
And returning the fruit unto my hand, they bade me cast it
aside, for its evil was great. Hearing this, I stomped it into the
dust, toward the earth's darkest bowels from whence it sprang.

"Wow! He really caught on, Commander! Look at him

dance around on that nut!"
"That's it, old fella! Smash it good! That's bad stuff! Heh,
heh. Now if he gets the idea across to his friends -"
"Say, Commander, we'd better take off if you want to
make orbit by the next daylight pass."
"Good idea. Tell our buddy to stay clear of the ship at
launch. If he's this close when that engine kicks in he'll beat us
into orbit!"
"Yes, sir."

We leave in good cheer, said the Holy Messenger, for the

Eternal One has this day been served, and His light is now
yours, even unto the end of your days.
And I basked joyously in His praise.
Then the Messenger said, Behold! this ground is blest, and
Heaven's own power shall be in our departing. Get ye to the
hills yonder, for the song of our leaving shall rend the skies!
And I bowed low and left, until I crouched trembling behind the hillside's great stones.

"Damn it! We've got to clear out some of this junk! Look
at this: an old flight plan from the Beta mission! What the hell
is it doing in here?"
"Beats me, Commander. Hand it over and I'll pitch it out
the door."
Then, with a mighty blast of trumpets, the altar of the Lord
rose on a tail of blinding glory and ascended into the firmament. And the Children of Heaven were once again in their
proper kingdom.
Yet, before their leaving, the Messengers did entrust to me
their Most Holy scripture. And I fell upon my knees and gave
thanks. And at the dawn I took it to the priests at Borkobah,
where it rests to this day.
But it is the pleasure of the Eternal One that no man should
know the meaning of the Holy Text, lest the understanding defile His mysterious intent.
Truly, this is the Lord's way. It is the message of the prophets of old when they spoke unto man, saying, "Verily, there
are some things we're just not supposed to know!"
So be it.

"Looks like we're right on the trajectory, Commander. We

reach orbit in nine minutes."
"Good. Well, at least we learned something about the inhabitants of this quadrant."
"Uh, sir, begging your pardon and meaning no disrespect -"
"Yeah?"
"What exactly did we learn?"
"Pilot, you just blew your promotion!"

Thus did Solokiah, son of Amanh and the destined prophet

of the Eternal One, receive and cherish the Holy Words.
For what they were worth.
The American

Atheist

A JOYOUS ATHEIST
g. riehard bozarth
The Atheist Letters - Part 1
Vacaville, California, is not a hotbed of liberal thought. The
passionate controversies here are growth vs. no growth and
YRE (year round education). I once thought our town newspaper, The Reporter, would publish a letter from an Atheist
only after the canonization of Madalyn Murray O'Hair. This
did not inspire my muse even though there were now and then
provoking reasons to challenge the religionistic nonsense that
is to be found in any newspaper in any city in this country.
Receiving my first issue of The American Atheist fired me up.
About the same time The Reporter published two extremely
provoking pieces. One was a newsstory in which it was reported
that our then mayor had vowed to use all his political power to
keep out of Vacaville two films, "The Passover Plot" and "The
Many Faces Of Jesus," because they are "blasphemous," one
of them supposedly depicting Jesus as gay. The other piece
was a letter from a 13-year-old "born again Christian" applauding the mayor's stand.
Inspired by The American Atheist, and outraged at the idea
of religious censorship going unchallenged, I wrote a letter to
the editor. Surprise! It was published. Even more surprising,
The Reporter permitted me to debate with the religionists of
Vacaville in its Letters Section from 20 March 77 to 27 April 77.
I offer the results of this debate as an example of what Atheists
can expect from religionists when they are confined to reasoning rather than shouting or physical violence.
One note. Quoting only sentences from the religionists' letters is being fair because I restricted my arguments to replying
only to specific statements. This was necessary due to the limi-'
tations of length I had to work with. If I kept my letters short
enough, they were not cut. To do this I had to aim my arguments at what definite targets I could find. '

To protect the world from such immoral ideas as the earth orbiting the sun, Christianity persecuted Galileo until he said, "I
abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies." This is
what mankind gains when Christianity obtains the power to
dictate which ideas are moral and which are immoral.
Where would America be today if the Mayor Carrolls, who
are always to be found, had had from the start control over
what ideas were fit for American consideration? We'd be
where all nations that are excessively controlled by religion are
today - in the Third World, poor and pitiful, but wealthy, I
suppose, in what Mayor Carroll considers moral purity.
One need only look at Sharon McGee's letter in the 13 March
issue of The Reporter to realize the salubrious benefits of Christianity. How can it be called good to so blacken the outlook of
a 13-year-old girl that she would write a line of dismal, sick pessimism describing the world as rotten from their sins? One
wonders what sort of adult this poor, cynical little girl is going
to be. A good Christian, I'm sure, but a pathetic psychological
cripple longing only to die.
I am not now and never have been in need of a bigot like
Mayor Carroll to protect me from any idea that can be filmed
or printed. No American, if they are truly American, needs
such protection. Even less does someone who is not a Christian
need to have his or her basic freedoms destroyed in order to
prevent him or her from seeing a mere man, one Jesus Christ,
get a little bad PRo

The Charges

I must offer rebuttal to Priest Ryan's letter. In it he stated

that nihilistic Christian dogma which claims humans are nothing without Christ and god. This is one of the worst tenets of
the Christian theology. After centuries of telling humanity it is
nothing, is there any wonder that Christian countries have
never been very successful in morality? Morality is a positive
virtue requiring a positive, courageous attitude. A nothing is
the most negative, hopeless thing imaginable.
The great American historians Will and Ariel Durant asked
in The Lessons of History, "Does history support a belief in
god?" The inevitable reply was, "If by god we mean not the
creative vitality of nature but a supreme being intelligent and
benevolent, the answer must be a reluctant negative." It is god
who is nothing.
We humans are the supreme species on a planet that has indescriminately nurtured and extinguished millions of species
over hundreds of millions of years. Of all the mammals, we are
physically poorly equipped to survive. If we were nothing we
would not have survived.
We have bloodstained our history with Gulags and Inquisitions, yet we have also put footprints on the moon. We have
slaughtered one another in wars and pogroms, but in 10 short
years we've also conquered smallpox, one of the most deadly
diseases in the world. There have always been Solzhenitsyns,
Nietzsches, and Beethovens.
Could a deaf nothing have composed the glorious Ninth
Symphony? Could a half-blind, constantly-in-pain nothing produce one of the most influential philosophies in our century?
Could a nothing have written The First Circle when every
word was worth a jail sentence? No!

The Charge
I. Humans are nothing without Christ and god.

Priest Ryan
The Answer

I. "America has enough garbage besides these films that in

no way glorify God in any way!"
2. "Jesus is the Son of God and He died on the cross to save
this rotten world from their sins if they would only believe."
Sharon McGee (13)
The Answer

I am an Atheist.
From that statement it should be easy to deduce that I do
not consider immoral any movie depicting Jesus Christ as a
homosexual or any other type of sexual. The worst these
movies that have Mayor Carroll so outraged can be is artistically
tasteless. Since when has tastelessness been a threat to this or
any other nation?
What is a threat is bigots like Mayor Carroll and their mindless supporters like Sharon McGee who would return us to
Christian tyranny rather than preserve the freedom from it we
have won after much effort. Look to the Constitution and
there try to discover where any of the Founding Fathers felt it
necessary to shackle the healthy spirit of a free America with
the chains Mayor Carroll would like to see us wear. In the 18th
century the men who gave us our Constitution did not feel
America needed moral overlords to decide for citizens of all
philosophies and theologies what was immoral. Today in the
20th century America has proven by her supremacy in nearly
all apsects of human endeavor that not having moral overlords
to restrain our proud, creative spirit has been our nation's
greatest virtue.
Look to history for the benefits of religious control of life.

Austin,

Texas

July, 1978

Page 1 J

We humans should stand proud in the glory of our intelligence and humanity. We should be moral because morality is
the finest tribute we can pay to our humanness. It takes pride
to be strong. It takes strength to be moral. Nothing is the most
humble, weakest thing I can think of. How can a nothing be
moral?
The Priest Ryans who have led their flocks all these centuries, piously degenerating them into nothings, have done great
harm to humanity. They still do it today. It is a lie. Every human can be something if they get off their praying knees and
stand up.
The Charges
1. "It takes a real man or woman to realize that there is a
supreme being, one greater than they are, who created the universe, and woo created their souls, giving them life and the intelligence that you take for granted."
2. "Pride is a weakness. It is the mother of all sin."
Priest Shipman
The Answer
First, what is Atheism? "Atheism may be defined as the
mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of
reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and
ethics verifiable by experience, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority or creeds," according to the American
Atheists. Atheism is a philosophy, which means it must be sustained by reason, and reason requires the fuel of enlightened
education.
Religionism is a theology, needing only faith to sustain it,
and faith requires only ignorant superstition to fuel it. I'm not
calling Christians ignorant. Priests Shipman and Ryan did not
write ignorant letters. Their Saints Aquinas, Augustine, and
Paul were not ignorant. However, even a casual student of history knows religion has flourished best when illiteracy flourished best. Today the Catholic Church is strongest in those
countries where education is weakest.
Education does not make us free, but it gives us the opportunity to be free. Had Voltaire and the 18th century philosophes been left illiterate, they never would have broken the
Catholic Church's stranglehold on French politics and life. In
tribute to these supremely educated men, Will and Ariel Durant
wrote in Vol. 9 of The Story of Civilization, "Because of those
men we, here and now, can write without fear, though not
without reproach." Thanks to those well educated nonChristians, Priest Shipman can only threaten me with a mythical hell and not a very real Inquisition.
To turn to pride. What, I have to ask, has humility accomplished? I have read The Lives of the Great Composers by
Harold C. Schonberg and discovered scarcely a humble soul
among them, but aren't we grateful for the product of their
pride? The Bicentennial year inspired me to read about the
Founding Fathers and none of them were humble. Look what
their pride achieved!
It is another Christian lie that pride "is the mother of all
sin." Pride is the mother of all achievement. Pride is a realistic
evaluation of one's strengths and weaknesses; taking pleasure
in the strengths and exploiting them. Also, it is a healthy
awareness of one's weaknesses and a striving to overcome them.
To persistently denounce pride is, to keep the metaphor
straight, a spiritual hysterectomy. Whoever believes such a lie
has no way to overcome their weaknesses except through an
ugly fear of hell and a not much prettier greed of heaven. The
products of fear and greed are always bad.
Priest Shipman must be meaning arrogance. Arrogance is a
pope assuming the Catholic Church is the only form of Christianity or religion that has a right to exist and waging long
wars to satisfy such arrogance. Arrogance is the statement of
the Vatican's Secretariat for Christian Unity following the recent Anglican ordination of women priests: "It, was a pity that
the congregation did not see fit to consult us. In future discussions with Anglicans, a lot will depend upon the nature of the
arguments used. It will certainly hinder mutual recognition of
ministers." (Time, 7 Feb. 77) That is arrogance. A lot of sin

Page 12

July, 1978

~J

has resulted from arrogance and what Christianity has always

had a lot of is arrogance.
Which should not be surprising. Arrogance is the product of
weakness and the need for religion is a weakness. With unusual
honesty for a Christian, G.K. Chesterton in his pious biography,
St. Thomas Aquinas, describes fear as "rightly rooted in the
beginnings of every religion." What begins in fear can only be
weak and appeal to the weak, humble, meek, etc. And what
sustains itself by nurturing this fear, and encouraging this weakness, cannot be true. Could never have been true.
Atheism is for the strong. It is for those who can shoulder
the responsibility for their guilt rather than go looking for
some "original sin" as the cause. It is for those who can forgive
themselves rather than begging such forgiveness from a myth.
It is for those who can be moral without the terror of a mythical heaven.
Christians have always been fond of being considered the
sheep of the Priest Shipmans of Christianity. How they demean themselves - so willingly. An Atheist is fond of simply
being a human being - fond and proud and strong. I'm certainly not trying to persuade a sheep to walk on two legs. I am
writing to those who feel foolish and somehow unnatural pretending to be four-legged following behind some Priest Shipman. Christianity can have its sheep. Atheism wants only human beings.
The. Charges
1. "If mere survival is a valid criterion for superiority, then
we must share the distinction with frogs, sand crabs, and tunafish."
2. "In your hollow and humanistic arguments, I can find no
stimulus to morality."
Rosearin Long
3. "Atheism is found chiefly among men and women who
find the belief in a personal god an irksome check on the indulgence of their passions."
Priest Shipman
4. Nietzsche's philosophy "not only negated god's existence,
but also paved the way for Hitler."
5; Human achievements are "the tarnished glory of our own
intellect. "
Craig and Marti Seminoff
The Answer
Ms. Long depreciates the distinction of having survived the
hard test of evolution because "frogs, sand crabs, and tuna fish"
have also survived. My point was that not only have we survived, but we have become number one. Not only have we survived nature's hard, unmerciful test, but we are the only species
to gain some mastery over nature.
True, we've damaged the environment while learning by trial
and error the secrets of nature to help us master it, but we can
and will repair the damage. I don't suppose Ms. Long desires to
give up her 20th century lifestyle to return to the days of helpless savagery when our only defense against nature was prayers
and sacrifices. She lives every day with "a valid criterion for
superiority" which she could see if religion hadn't blinded her
to it.
She writes that Atheism offers "no stimulus to morality."
In his notes to his poem Queen Mab, Shelley gives this
quote from Francis Bacon's Moral Essays: "Atheism leaves to
man reason, philosophy, natural piety, laws, reputation, and
everything that can serve to conduct him to virtue." There is
plenty of stimulus and many who live and have lived morally
because of it.
I will personally match my morality against Claudius Vermilye Jr., the Episcopal minister recently arrested for turning
his farm for wayward teens into a homosexual pornography
factory. (Time, 11 April 77) {See page 19 - Editor.]
I will match my morality against that of the Catholic priest
in Portugal who preached to his flock that Jews ought to be
hanged. (Time, 11 April 77)
I will match my morality against Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Owens,
who murdered their infant daughter when they decided prayers

The American Atheist

to god would cure her pneumonia better than a human doctor.

As usual, prayers failed and the courts took away the Owens'
son to insure their piety wouldn't murder him, too. (Sacramento Bee, 16 Sept. 76)
I will match my morality against Garner Ted Armstrong,
head of the World Wide Church of God, who preached such
stern Christian morality, but all those years secretly enjoyed
the pleasures of the sins he condemned. When caught at last,
he angrily told his flock, "You don't need to know about anyone's sins." (Time, 4 March 74)
Ms. Long, the problem of moral stimulus is more serious in
Christianity than in Atheism.
The Seminoffs made a ridiculous charge that Nietzsche
"paved the way to Hitler." Replying to this charge that
Nietzsche was a Nazi philosopher, Walter Kaufmann in the Introduction to Basic Writings of Nietzsche writes: "All serious
interpreters of Nietzsche, no matter how much they may disagree on other points, agree that this absurdity can be supported only by either rank ignorance of his works or an incredible lack of intellectual integrity." I leave it to the Seminoffs
to decide which description fits them.
As to Nietzsche's morals, Freud wrote of Nietzsche, "In my
youth he signified a nobility which I could not attain." (The
Life and Work of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones) I gladly
echo this high praise. Anyone who can read Nietzsche's work
without distortions from religious prejudices, and who knows
the details of Nietzsche's life, will discover one of the noblest
humans to ever have lived.
The Seminoffs depreciate the human triumphs of Apollo
11 and the defeat of smallpox. Not surprising. God is only elevated as high as it is possible to keep humans low. However,
would the Seminoffs like to return to the good old days when
the only defense against this hideous disease was prayers? I
doubt it. Medical science exists because prayers are poor cures.
Human life has benefitted immeasurably from the technolo~ evolving out of the space program. From Tang and pocket
calculators to the new marvelous medical devices that give our
doctors greater powers to save lives.
But the human spirit has benefitted even more! We took
upon ourselves a great challenge, conquered it with the material
products of human reason, and opened the door to the stars. It
was history's most glorious moment to date.

Austin,

Texas

Praise
The Load!
By John C. Yietcos
Dr. Uriah Flotsam, the Millard Fillmore Professor of Systematic Theology and Applied Agriculture, is now working on
a new analysis of the troublesome problem of the origins of
Chris tianity .
"Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes! This whole Christianity business is due to grievous error on the part of my medieval brethren! They didn't know what they were talking about, but I
do!"
.
According to Dr. Flotsam, early church figures misunderstood the origins of their religion. They invented tales in keeping with their misunderstanding.
"This religion started out among agrarian peasants, many of
whom were nomadic wanderers. They didn't know who caused
all the good and bad things they experienced, so they invented
a god to worship. This was some ambiguous deity named
Fahdair, the god of rainfall. They almost went schizo, first
asking Fahdair to make it rain and then asking him to make it
stop.
"Of course, rain without sunshine following was rather
dreary, so the farmers prayed also to the sun. The nomadic
element also sang praises to their domesticated ruminants, the
lowly goats. Thus was originally born the chant, "Praise
Fahdair, Sun and Holy Goats!"
"Oh, other gods were constructed, too. When Fahdair and
Sun worked well together to create bountiful harvests, the
farmers' would pile the produce on their wagons, shouting,
"Praise the Load!" And one of the more commonly named
deities was the god of the End of Things, the god Amen.
"Sooner or later," continued Flotsam, "some clowns told
everybody else that Fahdair had appointed them to be High
Priests in their respective areas. Nobody else had ever seen or
heard from Fahdair, so it was tough for them to dispute the
High Priests' claims.
"Some of the priests played upon latent cannibalistic tendencies of the people by telling them that the sun had once
been a man, but now was in the heavens, and that some day
everybody could go into the heavens - if only they would
share in the left-over body and blood of the sun. Of course,
the only place the people could get the body and blood was
from the friendly neighborhood church, administered by the
High Priest. I guess nobody ever stopped to ask whose freezer
the body and blood had been stored in, since people didn't
have freezers then. They were still waiting for somebody to
shock them with news of electricity in the air, called lightning."
Professor Flotsam's eyes looked moist as he continued. "As
time passed, the later generations forgot the humble agricultural beginnings of their faith. Still, reminders abound. Today
children are sent to Sunday school classes because the priests
feel the kids aren't ready for initiation into the tribe yet they still have to learn more secrets. Choirs are the vestiges of
large bands of warriors and vestal virgins, assembled for nuptial
contracts. Easter happens to be at just the right time for the
spring planting season. Oh, the comparisons are just too numerous and tedious to mention."
Flotsam, a recognized authority on the religious significance
of manure, went back to his agricultural research. His forthcoming book, From Compost to Christianity, promises to be a
fertile field for serious students.

July, 1978

Page 13

Cure

The !

Henry found the machine by accident. He was a meek accountant plodding along in a dreary electronics firm,
and saddled with a coarse, domineering wife. To escape his unhappiness,
he'd become a film buff. One Saturday
afternoon, enthusiastic over an Ingmar
Bergman preview, he arrived at the
Greenwich Village theatre an hour early
and decided to wander around, sightseeing.
On a narrow sidestreet off Bleeker,
in the cluttered window of Abraham's
Curio Shop, there glittered an odd,
metallic cube. Henry paused to examine it, shading his eyes from the sun's
glare. Wide as a shoebox, the cube had
a green knob, and above that a small
printed card that read FRONT. Sprouting from the top, like antennas, were
two levers - the left painted silver; the
right, gold. Impetuously, he stepped
inside the musty shop crammed with
exotic wares, reminiscent
of the
biblical Middle East.
Hearing the doorbell tinkle, a swarthy young man in skull cap of many
colors emerged leisurely from the rear,
threading his way among tambourines,
frolicking camels, and kissing shepherds.

All

By

Box
Bernadette
Miller

Page 14

"I'd like to see that unusual thing

in the window," Henry said.
"Which unusual thing?"
"That metal cube with the knob
and levers."
"Oh, you mean the Cure-All Machine." The young man removed the
heavy object and placed it in Henry's
hands.
He turned it about for inspection.
Each side had a knob: green, yellow,
red, and a larger black one in back. He
tugged gently at the gold lever; it
wouldn't budge. Juggling the cube, he
heard something rustle inside, but
couldn't find an opening. "Why is it
called a Cure-All Machine?"
The young man shrugged. "Don't
know. Some flipped-out professor
talked me into buying it this morning."
"Well, I'll take it!" Henry said,
watching the cube sparkle. "It has
a mysterious quality that's fascinating .... " Excited over his strange purchase, he postponed the film and
caught the East Side subway to his
small Bronx apartment, which his wife
had decorated with garish furniture and
idiotic ornaments. In the peppermintstriped living room, he set the cube on
the gilded coffee table; then he called
out for Evelyn to come and look.
Annoyed because her hair was only
half-set, his fat wife appeared in gaudy
orange robe, her lips pursed as though
expecting every plan to turn sour.
Hands fisted on hips, she glanced at
the object, and said, "Now what in

July, 1978

hell is that, Mr. Smart?"

"A Cure-All Machine," he replied
timidly, worried she'd disapprove. "Intriguing, isn't it?"
"Intriguing, hell! If you think I'll
allow that monstrosity in my lovely
home, you're nuts. Get rid of it this
minute!" In a huff, she snapped back a
bleached hank of hair and flounced
into the ebony bathroom, where she
spent most of her time.
Fond of the object by now, especially since Evelyn had rejected it,
Henry sat disconsolately on the leopardskin sofa. "Hmm, I wonder why it's
called a Cure-All Machine," he mused,
and pressed the green knob on the
FRONT side. Instantly, a slot opened
at the bottom of the cube, and a printed card slipped out. It read:
* Test case no. 2 . . . Your name,
please? I am called Havohej. Press the
yellow knob, and I will satisfy your
desires. All I ask in return is appreciation. **
Aha! It was a sort of modern Aladdin's Lamp -his Ship of Good Luck
finally arrived! Filled with hope, he
pressed the yellow knob. "This is
Henry Farnsworth. Please, give me selfconfidence. Make me aggressive so I
can get a promotion, and -"
Before he finished, bluish smoke
spiralled up from the gold lever. Astonished, Henry watched the smoke hover
like a cloud above his head and then
melt away. He felt a peculiar exhileration, an ecstatic giddiness -like a mystic experience. As he sat there basking
in riotous contentment, the red knob
flashed on the machine and a card slipped out. It read:
* You forgot to say thank you. **
"Oh, thank you, thank you," he
babbled happily but absent-mindedly,
for he began debating other requests.
They were sensible things. For example, he often regretted that his marriage was empty, he and Evelyn barely
tolerating each other. If only she were
more sympathetic,
understood
his
needing films as an outlet. . . . He
pressed the yellow knob, and asked
that Evelyn be kinder. Sure enough, as
soon as the smoke cleared, she appeared.
"Henry, I've been thinking . . . If
that damn thing means that much to
you, you can keep it!"
Elated by her acquiescent attitude,
he watched her return thoughtfully to
the bathroom. Right afterwards, however, the red knob flashed and another
card slipped out. It read:
* You didn't say you love me. **
"Of course I love you," he whispered, puzzled at its petulant demand
for affection. He studied the cube
awhile. Havohej was very valuable; it
shouldn't just sit about. Jumping up,
he stuffed it among the junk in the
bedroom
closet, where his wife

The American

Atheist

wouldn't
discover it, since she never
cleaned the closets. "Oh, I threw out
the eyesore,"
he explained later, and
planned on making requests gradually
to avoid aggravating his sensitive benefactor.

Monday, reporting to work, he was

delighted by his cheerful manner. He'd
always approached
Tenth Avenue with
a sinking feeling that the squat gray
building at the corner was his tomb.
Now, he strode briskly through the dingy corridor toward his cubicle, and energetically attacked a pile of invoices.
After lunch, the haughty president signalled him into the plush corner office
with its paneling and mahogany desk.
"Farnsworth,
I've been thinking ...
For 30 years you've done your job
competently,
never missed a day, never
asked for a raise, never complained.
Well, I'm promoting you to controller
with appropriate
salary."
Overjoyed at this marvelous news,
Henry could hardly wait to tell his
wife. That evening, he hurriedly climbed the four flights in his brownstone,
his heart palpitating
from excitement
and the hot, crowded
subway.
He
sometimes
suffered from a heart murmur, but now he had a cure. While
Evelyn fussed with her hair in the bathroom, he finished his bowl of greasy
stew, hauled out the machine, fondly
patted the gold lever, and stated his request. After the smoke cleared, his
heart
never felt better.
This time,
though, he waited for the flashing red
knob and card. It read:

* A pat on my lever is insufficient.

To show proper thanks for my supreme
generosity, worship me. **
"No!" It debased his pride, grovelling to a machine. Besides, he's always
considered
religious rites a bunch of
nonsense. The next card read:

* Warning! Your rejection hurts my

feelings. Console me at once with worship - or suffer a penalty! **
Henry thought for a moment, and
pressed the yellow knob. "What penalty?"
The machine didn't respond.
"What is the penalty!"
he shouted,
growing frantic.
His benefactor pouted in silence.
Fearful of punishment,
he kneeled
on the purple rug and bowed his head,
hands steepled
as for prayer. "Dear
Havohej," he mumbled, feeling foolish.
"I love you, beg your forgiveness, and
promise to obey your commands."
It wasn't so much worship of a
machine that bothered him; after all, it
was just a silly formality - like praying
to an icon in church. But considering
the cube's excessive need for gratitude,
he thought he should be handsomely
rewarded. One night, after arguing with
Evelyn over a Kubrick
film, Henry
recklessly requested that his crude, ignorant wife have a fatal accident. The

Austin,

Texas

very next morning, she slipped on a

hair roller in the bathroom, banged her
head against an iron cupid, and died.
He attended
the funeral and sadly returned home - feeling like a murderer.
Filled
with
remorse,
he wandered
through
the empty
apartment,
and
glanced wistfully at her portrait on the
shocking pink dresser. Finally, he sat
on the sofa and stared glumly at the
machine, now perched on the coffee
table. The red knob flashed. With reluctance, he reached for the long card,
that began quite poetically:

* I am the Good Shepherd who

leadeth thou into green pastures of
delights; the comfort of thy soul. But
... to repay my benevolence, you must
erect for me in the bedroom a shrine
as per specifications on the ***Holy
Testament*** cards that I shall emit
forthwith. Sunday, at sunrise, pull the
gold lever and say: Hail, oh Glorious,
Divine Machine - to Thee I owe all!
Repeat the above every hour, ending
at sunset. **
"Is that enough?"
Henry muttered
sarcastically,
feeling somewhat
bitter
about the machine killing his wife. The
next card read:

* Your attitude is not loving! To

avert my wrath, you'd better offer me
succulent sacrifices, such as tenderloin,
medium rare, easy on the gravy, and a
tossed salad - I prefer Roquefort dressing. Be sure the rolls are hot and crisp,
not soggy! **
"But, Havohej,
human food!"

a machine

can't

eat

* Despite my superb gifts, you insult me with heretical notions. Therefore, pull the silver lever to learn the
penalty. **
"No! Why should
and suffer for it?"

I pull the lever

* Foolish mortal. Get smart, Henry,

and pull the lever - or you'll be sorry! **
Bracing
lever.

himself,

he pulled the silver

* As penance, you must worship

me for an entire week, which you will
celebrate every year as a holiday in remembrance of your joyful benefactor.
Furthermore, your sacrificial dishes
had better be gourmet, such as ... Beef
Wellington with Yorkshire pudding.
For dessert, let's see now ... ah, flaming Cherries Jubilee! (This is tricky, so
be careful.) Oh, I'd also like a bottle of
good wine, and some lighted candles.
Make sure they don't ouerdrip! ***
Henry dropped the card in astonishment. "A week's worship is impossible!
I can't take off from work whenever I
feel like. Besides, there are important.
art films I haven't seen. De Sica is due
Wednesday,
and Saturday
I want to
catch Kurosawa's
-" Hastily he grabbed the next card.
* Oh child of Haoohej, I shall set

thee on the righteous path. Forget such

sinful ideas as art with its graven im-

July, 1978

ages, and concentrate solely on me

- a wondrous being. **
"Forget
art films?" cried Henry,
horrified.
"Forget the enjoyable
hobby I've spent years studying? Never!"

* You are being stupid by shunning

my commandments.
But enough of
this quibbling! Start praying, fast, or
I'll really get sore. And once my wrath
is aroused, cities may burn down, a
whole civilization scattered like seed in
the wind . . . There's just no telling
how far
"Okay!"
Henry shouted, not finishing the card.
He was thoroughly
alarmed. The machine had become a
Frankenstein's
monster,
a glutton for
adoration!
Henceforth,
he would avoid
further requests, and devise a plan to
dispose of his threatening
benefactor.
That weekend he erected the shrine
- a kind of tented minaret, squeezed
between the bedroom closet and pink
dresser.
For hours he labored
with
knotty pine, hammer and nails, following the instructions
of the ***Holy
Testament*** cards. Worded in a peculiar, archaic English, the meaning was
often contradictory
and obscure. Improvising, he grabbed from the dresser
Evelyn's two pearly angels, crowning
the striped tent with the grinning cherubim, and installed Havohej on a fluffy, cotton-lined
ledge within. He finished Saturday
night, exhausted.
Setting the alarm clock, he rose sleepily at
daybreak to begin the rituals.

As the week progressed,

Henry
learned how draining continual
worship can be. Unable to leave the apartment lest the machine need his services,
he waited on the sofa, glancing at his
watch to check the hour, and wracked
his brain for a plan to destroy his captor. He felt like a prisoner in his own
home, and yearned to see an art film
to alleviate his misery. By Thursday,
he could bear it no longer. That morning he slyly ordered
some delicious
sweet and sour spareribs from the Yin
Yang Restaurant
across
the street.
Storing in the refrigerator
the unconsumed Eggs Benedict served for breakfast, he purified the plate, as per the
***Holy Testament***,
and set .the
steaming spareribs on the shrine's offering table. Then he spent the entire
afternoon
abjectly
declaring his total
love and obedience
- interjecting
for
dramatic effect a fervent "Amen!" and
"Hallelujah!"
After awhile, the cube
began to radiate a warm glow, a golden
aura that hovered over its levers like a
halo. Henry, resting a moment, gaped
at this strange sight, and noticed the
red knob flashing indolently.
The card
read, as though purring:

* More

... More ...

**

Anxious now to appease his benefactor's insatiable

need for affection,

Page 15

he jumped up and wildly promised all

sorts of goodies: a marble temple at
Sutton Place, a cup of his blood poured
daily over the altar, and other grandiose commitments he couldn't possibly
keep. Finally, he closed the velvet curtains, and sneaked out to Greenwich
Village, where he saw an absorbing
Fellini film. He returned several hours
later, having thoroughly enjoyed himself, and feeling refreshed. Entering
the apartment, he heard an eerie hissing
sound from the bedroom -- like escaping steam. He rushed to the shrine and
yanked apart the. curtains. Bluish
smoke billowed from the gold lever,
the red knob flashing hysterically. For
a moment he stood petrified with awe,
not knowing what to expect. A card
shot through the slot. It read, bitterly:
* Ah, the selfish wretch returns at
last! The pure savor my omnipotence;
they shall enter the kingdom of contentment. But the sinner who scorns
my company - what a damned
fool! **
"I only left for three hours," Henry
said sheepishly, wishing he hadn't
dropped by the Happy Hippie Bar for
a drink. But what a relief - away from
his tormentor!
The next card read, coaxingly:
* Come, reconsider, it's nottoo late.
Cast aside your evil thoughts. Let your
,

heart dwell only on me, the Wonderful

One. Just ask, and it shall be given
unto you. Everything . . . everything ... **
"Except freedom," he muttered in
disgust.
The next card read, whiningly:
* I am superior, magnificent, a
glory of perfection! So where are the
converts you promised? Where are the
pretty virgins? The candelabra? Exotic
prayer beads? Where's the mushroom
pizza for my late-night snack! **
Fed up with the machine's childish
chatter,
Henry
said impatiently,
"Okay, you shelled out a few nice
things, but look what you want in return - my enslavement!" Wearily, he
reached for the next card that struggled through the slot.
* ... You ... you ... abominable
golden calf! For your impiety I shall
cast you into hell! Miseries will be
heaped on your head - aye, unto your
entire family, even the seventh generation! I'll send a catastrophic flood, and
then demolish survivors with fire and
brimstone. Wailing in sackcloth and
ashes, they'll beg my forgiveness but
I'll stand firm - not one drop of mercy! Oh boy, just you wait; will I get
even with you and yours! **
Furious, Henry hurled the card at
his snarling benefactor. "Go ahead, do

Marxianity &
Christianism
By James Erickson
It was early evening and Red Brown was passing out Trotskyist leaflets in front of a meeting hall. They were supplied
by the local branch of the Socialist Workers Party to which he
belonged. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Tess Truebeliever walking toward him. Tess's mission in life seemed to
be the passing out of Christian tracts in her spare time. They
were supplied by the local church of a fundamentalist sect
,to which she belonged.
"I am working this side of the street," quipped Red.
She ignored the implication of his remark and parrot-like
said, "Christ died for our sins."
"But Trotsky died for a better society so you wouldn't
need religion as a crutch," he retorted.
That was the way the conversations always went between
Red and Tess. There seemed to be no basis for a serious
discussion because their beliefs had nothing in common.
But maybe Red and Tess were not so far apart after all.
There has been speculation, but no proof, that we may have a
religious gene. Because of it many people in the 20th century
become Marxists instead of Christians. But both are genetically
coded toward the personal need to believe in something deeply
so as too add meaning to their lives. Maybe a switch in the
early environments of each would have made a TrotskyistMarxist out of Tess and a religious fanatic out of Red.
Eric Hoffer has pointed out the similarities of all mass
movements, but he claimed that people joined them because of personal frustrations. For the purpose of this short
article it will be assumed that the religious gene is the key. Of
course, a defense of a genetic supposition would require an
article by itself.
The first similarity between Christianity and Marxism is the
splitting up of each into various sects. When the Protestants
Page 16

July, 1978

your worst! Demote me at work, bring

Evelyn back - I don't care. I'm sick
and tired of your asinine demands and
obnoxious bragging!" Then, too angry
to weigh the consequences, he threw
the machine on the rug, and gave it a
swift kick - right in the lever.
For several moments it writhed like
some obscene animal, sputtering bluish
smoke. Henry watched with satisfaction, Maybe, if angered enough, it
would somehow self-destruct. He suddenly felt a stabbing painlike the
onset of a heart attack. Clutching at
his chest, he frantically sought a way
to deactivate the machine before it
destroyed
him, and impetuously
pressed the black knob in back. His
heaving benefactor shuddered with a
violent tremor and abruptly lay stock
still, the smoke vanishing. Weak from
his ordeal, though the pain was gone,
Henry bent for a final, somewhat mangled card that had wriggled through
the slot. It read, as if gasping in rage:
* ... *@!&t! ... ready for *@!&t!
...
computer invented by Professor
Jacobs. Fulfill man's need for god by
duplicating biblical Jehovah. Ready
. . . Test Case *@!&t! Destroy
Farnsworth. Kill him! No, please, not
that black knob, you ungrateful
schnook! All I asked for was appreciation ... appreciation ... apprecia

divided from the Catholics long ago, they kept right on dividing amoeba-like until today it is hard to figure out how many
sects there really are.
The Marxists haven't been around as long but they are all
split up, too. There is the pro-Soviet faction, as well as the
Trotskyists, the Maoists and those who claim independence.
Each tendency, with the possible exception of the pro-Soviet
faction, is hopelessly divided into parties and provisional
parties. Like the Christian groups, each claims exclusive
possession of the "truth" and the correct way to implement it.
Both belief systems advocate hard work and sacrifice in the
present for a glorious future. The difference is that Christianity promises it the day after the funeral, and the Marxists promise it in this world. The catch is that Marxism warns that the
faithful must spend a lifetime of struggle without being
rewarded either. The alleged benefits of the cooperative commonwealth of the future will probably come after the present
Marxists are also dead.
Christianity claims that all people are equal in the eyes of
"god." The equality theme is also part of the ideological framework of Marxism. So today we read of both Christians and
Marxists supporting liberation movements in such places as
Africa.
Christianity is anti-intellectual and has persecuted indivdualists and thinkers throughout its history. Marxism likewise
discourages individualists. Freethinkers are thought to be disruptive to the party and are often unceremoniously expelled.
Both ideologies tend to make people brutal. The medieval
tortures of the Spanish Inquisition were matched by the
wholesale executions of dissidents in the USSR during the
1930s.

It was early evening and Tess Truebeliever was passing out

Trotskyist leaflets in front of a meeting hall. They were
supplied by the local branch of the Socialist Workers Party to
which she belonged. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed
Red Brown walking toward her. Red's mission in life seemed
to be the passing out of Christian tracts in his spare time. They
were supplied by the local church of a fundamentalist sect to
which he belonged.
The American

Atheist

GarnerTed Armstrong
While TV channel-hopping late in the
evening, you're likely to see the flinty
features of Garner Ted Armstrong. Or
sometimes it's his father, Herbert W.
Armstrong, beaming like an angelic
bank president. The Armstrongs run the
Worldwide Church of God, and Poppa
is grinning for good reason: The Armstrong organization, with a relatively
small congregation of 100,000, is one of
the richest single churches in America
today, grossing over $60 million annually, tax free.
The church operates out of a palatial
estate in Pasadena, California-complete with granite walls and onyx columns. It's furnished in Mortuary Chic,
which makes sense, since Pasadena is an
open-air funeral home. Rich and doddering widows are great prey, and the
Armstrongs know how to stalk them.
Herbert W., the founder and brains of
the operation, is the one who relaxes the
audience. He acts as if the universe were
just a long commencement ceremony at
which he is quite pleased to be the
keynote speaker. Garner Ted, on the
ether hand, seems grim and troubled.
While prophesying that the end of the
world is near, the younger Armstrong
stares intently from the screen, his jaw
set at an angle that ladies, young or old,
can't resist.
Back in April 1972, Garner Ted Armstrong was abruptly dropped from TV,
radio and promotional
appearances.
Wild rumors to the effect that he "was
guilty of all manner of things, with adultery leading the list" (according to
Esquire) began circulating,
and the
church was noticeably reluctant to issue
a denial regarding the matter.
Although he has been back on the airwaves since July 1972-after
speculation that church income had dropped 40
percent when he was removed-these
stories persist. I asked a church spokesPage 18

man, who requested anonymity, about

those allegations. His answer surprised
me: "Let's just say that the newspaper
reports at that time mentioned the subject of adultery. I would find no fault
with that."
Startled, I listened to him elaborate.
Garner Ted Armstrong had faced "disciplinary action" by the church. I had
heard before that it was Herbert W. who
blew the whistle on his own son, but the
spokesman claimed it was the church's
board of trustees that had disciplined
the wayward preacher.
I was unsatisfied with this confession.
If the church was admitting to Armstrong's adultery, what was the full, true
story? Visions of Woodward and Bernstein hovered at my shoulder, saying,
"Investigate! Investigate!"
"So the adultery charges were true?"
I asked him.
"I find no fault with them."
I paused, cleared my throat and fired
off a probing journalistic question.
"Boys or girls?"
No response.
"Widows? Burros? Avocados?"
Our conversation end~d right there.

(One of these allies, Bo Hi Pak, doubled

as a Moon translator and may have been
a honcho of the Korean CIA.)
Today Moon commands an incredible
financial empire. His investments
in
N ew York State and California alone in
the past few years exceed $19 million,
and he's created a world of subsidiary
firms and holding companies that function as a multimillion-dollar
shell game
for the benefit of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Moon's associates, for example, recently purchased 5 percent of the entire
East Coast tuna catch and now publish a
daily paper, The News World, in New
York City. They have interests in comparries selling everything from air rifles
(Tong II Industries) to ginsen~ tea (II
Hwa Pharmaceutical
Company).
Moon and his friends have been
linked to the bribery and influence-peddling scandals currently being uncovered in Washington;
and one consequence of the "Koreagate" investigation
may be to finally and completely discredit the reverend.
The House Subcommittee on International Organizations, which is now looking into Sun Myung Moon's attempts to
influence Congress, has "reliable" information that the reverend has connections with the South Korean government and the Korean CIA, both of
which have been accused of making
"earn paign con tri bu tions" to abou t 20
U.S. legislators.
In a speech to his cronies a few years
ago, Moon stumbled for a moment and
revealed his true intentions. He said: "If
the U.S. continues its corruption, and
we find among the senators and congressmen no one really usable for our
purposes, we can make senators and
congressmen of our members. I have
met many famous, so-called famous,
senators and congressmen; but to my
eyes they are just nothing. They are
weak and helpless. We will win the battle. But shut your mouth tight."
As a matter of fact, on December 29,
The Reverend Sun M yung Moon, a
chubby Korean, doesn't look much like 1973, leaders of Moon's churchGod to me- but that's exactly what his including its president in America, Neil
followers believe him to be ..
A. Salonen-met
in the nation's capital
When he formed his sect in South to plan a way to prevent the possible
Korea in the early 1950s, he called him- impeachment
of the president
they
self "Moon-Jesus."
These days his called "Archangel Nixon." They hoped
message is strongly antisex; but back to help by showing their own strength
then ritual sex was the rule of his and mustering support.
It's hard to decide which prospect is
church.
Fucking
the reverend
was
known as "blood cleansing," and Moon more sickening: having elected officials
was always ready with his own brand of who accept bribes to change foreign
policy, or waking up one day and findfoaming cleanser. In fact, marriages
within the sect were not valid until the ing yourself with a Moonie senator or
congressman. Either way, the Reverend
bride slept with Sun Myung Moon.
Sun Myung Moon is a shining example
Preaching
a bizarre,
anti-Semitic
theology, Moon made powerful friends of how God can be used to make money
and influence friends.
in his country's right-wing dictatorship.

Sun Myung Moon

July, 1978

The American Atheist

Billy James Hargis

Since it's not very surprising to find a
powerful fear of sex behind much of
theology, maybe it shouldn't be too
astonishing to catch an evangelist with
his pants down, naked and squirming in
a net of his own creation - but still it's a
vaguely nauseating sight.
Take, for example, the Reverend
Billy James Hargis. A self-described
"extreme right-winger," founder of the
American Christian College in Tulsa
and popular radio evangelist, Hargis
once numbered 200,000 families in his
flock. His sermons-a simplistic mix of
anti-Communist and antipornography
catch phrases-were broadcast over 350
stations, and in 1969 Hargis's crusade
was publicly endorsed by a close friend,
George Wallace.
Hargis, his pudgy face aglow with
righ teousness, resembles an overfed
Clark Kent, and it's easy to see howbefore his fall from grace in 1974-he
could charm backwoods audiences with
his folksy delivery.
He'd warm them up with cold-war
scare stories, explain how the Communists invented rock 'n' roll music,
and then urge America to "literally censor" all speeches and writings by such
"enemies of the state" as Senators Mark
Hatfield and Edward Kennedy.
But he saved his greatest outrage for
sex-sex
on TV, in magazines, in
schools. His most popular book-which
sold 250,000 copies, but is no longer in
print-is entitled Is the School House the
Proper Place to Teach Raw Sex?
The question sounds rhetorical. But
on February 16, 1976, Hargis's answer
was publicized: Not only was his school
the proper place, but he was also the
teacher, and the sex was as raw as a
.chafed anus. On that day Time disclosed
that this self-righteous savior had been
fucking students at his college.
He had occasionally slept with a girl,
Austin,

but Hargis-a
married man with four
children-found
boys divine. Four
youths, who provided times and locations, admitted having had sex with the
reverend. The sexual encounters took
place at Hargis's Tulsa office, at his farm
in the Ozarks and-most ironic of allduring tours of the American Christian
College's All-American Kids choir.
His trysts might have remained secret
except for a tearful wedding-night scene
involving two members of his sect.
Before the newlyweds consummated
their marriage, the wife had a confession
for her husband: She'd lost her virginity
to Hargis.
"Gosh darn," her husband probably
answered, "so did I." Together the
deflowered couple decided to make
their story public, and Hargis's downfall
was imminent.
At first Hargis confessed to college
officials, attributing his bisexuality to
"genes and chromosomes" -strange
language for a fundamentalist Christian
who scoffs at evolution.
He said, "I have made more than my
share of mistakes. I'm not proud of
them. Even the Apostle Paul said,
'Christ died to save sinners, of whom I
am chief.'''
If there was a hint of a boast in this
Chief of Sinners statement, it soon
vanished along with the apology itself.
For Hargis reversed his original stance,
proclaimed his innocence and blamed
"liberals and Communists"
for the
charges against him.
I interviewed a former close associate
of Hargis-who,
like my source in the
Armstrong case, requested anonymityand the evangelist himself. My informant described the scene when Hargis
was confronted by the accusations.
"He admitted it and blamed the
whole thing on his parents. He asked if
we could do him one favor, considering
his service to Christianity-allow
him to
say he was retiring due to a heart condition. That was a total fake.
"He cast a spell over those children.
One of them described it as 'hypnotic.'
And it's left terrible scars on them. The
male and female who got married are
divorced. The rest had their faith in men
of God completely shaken.
"Worst of all, he (Hargis) justified his
activities by claiming that David and
Jonathan were lovers, based on the
Bible." (This belief is shared by some
gay churchgoers in various denominations.] "He's going to have to answer to
Christ for that."
Hargis himself, in the course of a rambling conversation with me, dismissed
the charges as "old business."
"I go on and on," he said, his voice
suddenly weak and testy. "That was
July, 1978

Texas

three years ago. All I know is, this is the

greatest year in the history of the Christian Crusade."
He laid the charges against him to a
"power struggle" at the college and
sulked when I pressed the matter.
In a more open world, Billy James
Hargis would be free to practice any sex
act he wanted. He wouldn't need to
manipulate the faith of young rednecks
to do it. Unfortunately, he's one of those
who keep that world from coming.

Claudius Vermilye, Jr.

Billy Hargis escaped prison-the
finishing school of buggery-but
the Reverend Claudius Vermilye, J r., didn't. Vermilye, an Episcopal priest, had a great
scam going. It was his Boys Farm, Inc.,
situated near rural Winchester, Tennessee. Boys Farm was a home for
troubled and abandoned youths.
Today Vermilye faces a 25-to-40-year
stretch on a different kind of farm, one
with the word prison preceding it. He's
been convicted on ten counts of "crimes
against nature" and on aiding and abetting in crimes against nature.
The crimes: fucking young boys,
some no older than 11; running a
"chicken farm" whorehouse, where his
wealthy male friends could fuck and
suck in privacy; and filming these gay
orgies for nationwide distribution. He
sold his wares to the home's sponsors
and contributors in Louisiana, Michigan
and Connecticut, and as far away as
Saudi Arabia. One of those receiving the
materials was Richard Halverston, a
New Orleans scoutmaster.
A 15-year-old boy, aptly named Tommy Fly, testified to the reverend's seductive wiles. Apparently, Vermilye at first
asked the boy to pose nude for photographs, claiming the shots would be
mailed to artists around the country to
assist them in their painting.
(By the way, don't these guys have the
worst come-on lines you've ever heard?
Page 19

If you or I had to depend on something

as flimsy as Moon's "blood-cleansing"
routine or Hargis's David-Jonathan rap,
we'd go into the hereafter unlaid. If anything, these holy men should be additionally charged with numerous counts
of Failure to Provide a Decent Seduction-which
is a heavy rap where I live.)
It wasn't a long jump from still photos
to filmed blow jobs, often performed on
Vermilye himself.
Even here the profit motive was
strong. When imposing sentence on the
reverend, Circuit Judge Thomas Greer
said: "I have taken into account the fact
that this crime occurred over a period of
four years and was at least partially for
profit" (editor's italics).

Oral Roberts
"Expect a Miracle" is Granville Oral
Roberts's favorite motto, and no wonder. His life seems full of miracles, all
leading to fame and fortune.
Roberts first dedicated his life to God
and good works when, at 17, he was
miraculously cured of tuberculosis and
stuttering. He immediately joined the
Pentecostal Holiness Church and gospelled throughout the Midwest for the
next 11 years.
Something must have been wrong,
since he eventually settled for a paltry
$55-a-week pastorate in Enid, Oklahoma. When he saw that the best-known
preachers were, faith healers, Roberts
had another miracle: He found he could
heal by laying his hands on the sickly,
infirm, misbegotten
and uneducated
people of the Midwest.
By the late 1940s, Roberts was teaching the way of the Lord over two radio
stations, and the sheaves and souls
started rolling in. Understanding
the
magic of electronics, he'd exhort his
listeners to fondle their radios in order
to find God. In 1948, Roberts incorporated himself as Healing Waters, Inc.,
and by 1955 the religious corporation
Page 20

was being flooded by 3 million "miracles" in the form of U.S. Treasury notes.
No doubt it had also been a miracle to
be promoted into the national limelight
by L. E. "Pete" White, whose publicrelations savvy also made Billy James
Hargis a household name.
Roberts was praying, healing, and
saving souls on hundreds of television
and radio stations weekly. But long
before this, in the late '50s, he was able
to purchase a 280-acre ranch and a 12passenger plane, in addition to building
a seven-story headquarters for the Oral
Roberts Evangelistic Association, Inc.,
the organization to which all "love offerings" are sent.
During the latter part of the '50s,
when several religious organizations and
the American Medical Association denounced faith healing, Oral Roberts
curtailed the practice. Perhaps the death
of a diabetic who stopped taking her insulin shots after attending one of his
"extravaganzas"
helped convince the
evangelist to drop out of the "medical"
profession and concentrate on building
his Oral Roberts University, near Tulsa.
Shortly after the school was completed, Roberts had another of his welltimed revelations: He realized that he
wanted to become a member of a traditionally middle-class religion, so he
joined the Methodist Church. Perhaps
this revelation had something to do with
his renounced Pentecostal faith, which
teaches that true Christians live a simple
life unhampered by worldly goods.
Ironically, when he changed denominations, Roberts's revenue eventually
dropped by 20 percent. With an annual
operating budget of $17 million, that
decrease no doubt hurt the till, but once
again divine intervention saved him. He
wrote and published A Daily Guide to
Miracles and Successful Living Througli
Seed-Faith (the most successful of his
approximately
50 books to date) and
another miracle occurred: the money
tree blossomed.
Roberts currently reigns as president
of his spic-and-span university, where
students cannot drink or dance. In addition, the males have to wear shirts and
ties, the females dresses. Furthermore,
anyone who voices opposition to university policies-the
right of college students nationwide-is
asked to leave.
Even the admission
requirements
have a strange kink-overweight
applicants are routinely rejected. As one student pointed out, "You feel that God is
here," and it appears that Roberts's God
of the '70s allows only perfect people to
rub shoulders with Him.
Reportedly, Roberts's salary as the
school's head is about $25,000, a relatively meager income for a university
July, 1978

president. But Roberts has no complaints. Why should he? His life has
been chock-full of miracles.
Besides the multimillion-dollar
income of his association, Roberts was a
board member of the National Bank of
Tulsa and is now a board member of the
Oklahoma
Natural Gas Company, a
director of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, and was given the greatest honor
possible: playing golf at the exclusive
Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.
And that's not too bad for a man of God.

L. Ron Hubbard
Calling Scientology a religion is tricky
to begin with. It is electrolysis for the
mind. Its method, involving machines
similar to lie detectors, is to erase all
negative
experiences - "engrams"from the minds of followers. If you've
ever had a Scientologist approach you in
a bus terminal, you'll notice that a lot of
other cerebral material seems to have
been erased as well.
Scientology, which has 15 million
followers worldwide, is the brainchild of
a rich hermit named L. Ron Hubbard. A
hack science-fiction writer in the '40s,
even then he knew his true calling.
Addressing a writers' conference in
1949, he announced: "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really
wanted to make a million dollars, the
best way would be for him to start his
own religion." Hubbard soon started to
fulfill his own prophecy. Indeed, Scientology now grosses about $1.4 million
per week.
Hubbard started off strong. In 1950
he published
a best-selling
book,
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental
Health. But, unable to follow up on the
book's success, he traded quack science
for religion, and proclaimed the birth of
Scientology by founding his first church
in Washington, D.C., in 1959.
Like all good evangelists, he first had
to pinpoint his target group-in
this
The American

Atheist

case, miserable and marginally sane

He is bland-and
incredibly rich. His
young people. (Sun Myung Moon has forthcoming book, How to Be Born Again,
since opened up fierce competition in will be issued by Word, Inc., a subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Comthis marked
pany, in a first edition of 750,000 hardThe Scientologists' technical apparacover copies. This will make it the
tus and Flash Gordon terminology
impress the kids. Grasping the "E- largest first printing of any book ever published. And his joyful publishers at
Meter," which is not much more than
two empty tin cans connected by a wire Word are planning audio and video
cassettes of the book, plus a gigantic
and attached to a boxlike electrical
device, the beginning Scientologist can paperback. publishing run. And that
amounts to "millions of dollars.
feel that here, at last, is a modern religion.
Graham himself has become someIt comes through a machine. It must be
true. Scientology charges $1,000 for thing of a god in this country. He began,
abou t 12 hours of holding two tin cans appropriately enough, as a Fuller Brush
and being asked questions such as salesman back in his native North
"What is your favorite dog? Which fruit Carolina. Since becoming a minister,
he's acquired 2,000,000 followers in
tastes the best?"
these United States alone.
Beginners
are called "preclears."
He uses the basic let-Christ-into-yourThat means their minds are still clouded
by an occasional thought. After long life approach, and he's good at it. You
and expensive treatment, they may, if want to believe Billy Graham - he seems
lucky, become "clear."
so harmless. Until recently, he's manIn the "clear" state, the believers can aged to avoid any touch of scandal.
be programmed to perform almost any
But in June 1977, Graham was react that serves the church's interest. And ported to possess a $22.9-million fund
Scientologists are up front about their composed of large donations from fatlove of revenge. Far from being what cat followers and corporations. (When
they contemptuously refer to as a "turnHUSTLER asked for the names of these
the-other-cheek
religion,"
they have donors, we were told by Graham's
compiled a list of enemies, known as organization that their names would be
"Fair Game."
recognizable
instantly, although they
Scientologists are urged to do every- were listed as "confidential." No matter
thing possible to harass those on their how you butter your bread, these "conenemies list. There's even a directive
fidential" donors are getting a tremenfrom Hubbard himself, called R2-.45, dous tax break for their donations, and
describing the ultimate method of deal- that's a lot of money in their pockets.)
ing with "Fair Game": blowout their
A Graham spokesman told me that
brains with a .45-caliber revolver.
the fund has been duly reported since
Church spokesmen refer to this sug- 1970, and that the giant sum was being
gestion as a "joke." Maybe so. But then, "set aside" to build a Billy Graham
Scientologists
aren't noted for their Center on the Wheaton College campus
humor. Charles Manson, for instance,
in Illinois. In the Billy Graham Center
newsletter of June 1977 it was stated
was a part-time adherent of Scientology.
that "the construction company of J.
Emil Anderson and Son will begin excavation in September" (which it did).
The newsletter went on to say that
Anderson and Son has erected most of
the buildings on the Wheaton campus
and that its owner is a member of the
board of directors of the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association. According to
Billy Graham,
"No board member
receives any financial benefit from it
(World Evangelistic
and Christian
Education Fund) whatsoever."
The evangelistic fund just happens to
be helping with the building and financing of the Billy Graham Center at
Wheaton
College. An architect
for
Anderson and Son said that all the
Wheaton College facilities built by the
company were done "for cost. It made
no profit on them."
When I asked if the company could
Compared to some of the zany religious
types like Moon or Hubbard, good old deduct the construction costs from its
taxable income, a financial officer for
Billy Graham seems bland.

Billy Graham

Austin,

Texas

July, 1978

Anderson said, "That's a highly personal question; I'm not in a position to

make any statement." At this point no
fair conclusions can be drawn, except
the obvious one-where
holy water
flows, cash flows too.

Reverend Ike
Reverend Ike-real
name, Frederick J.
Eikerenkoetter II - is probably too slick
to ever be humiliated like his unlucky
white brethren. His slickness comes not
only from those $700 suits, ruby rings
the size of chicken hearts, and wavy,
processed
hair - his slickness comes
from within.
The first time I set foot in Hollywood,
so help me God, the first person I saw on
the street was Reverend Ike. He looked
pretty, in a queenlike way, and he was
followed by a slender young male valet
who kept whispering into his ear. I stood
marveling as they passed me. Ike definitely had his moves down.
Even on TV, Ike's style is openly flirtatious, based on a deep belief in his
own charm. In person you can see the
permanent smirk imprinted on his face.
He looks like the quick-witted little kid
who's just conned Grandma into whipping his brother instead of him.
Thus, it's no wonder those old black
cleaning women mail him the pitiful few
dollars they make scrubbing suburban
floors. Reverend Ike is shamelessly open
about putting the bite on poor blacks:
"Don't give change," he says. "When I
hear change in the plate it makes me
nervous in the service. And you at
home-I
know you've got a little money
wrapped in a sock somewhere, that
you've been saving for an emergency.
This is an emergency! Send it in!" And
send it in they do, at the rate of about
$15 million per year.
Ike, who applies modern banking
principles to his gospel, has come up
with something called the "Blessing
Plan." Under this plan the church memPage 21

ber sends a specific number of dollars

per month to the reverend, and receives
best wishes in return.
The idea is that with God's expert
help, the believer will be repaid 100
times over - sort of a "let-Jesus-beyour-stockbroker"
approach. So Ike
"invests" it for Christ, ending up with
two Rolls-Royces, two Mercedes, a
Bentley, three luxurious homes (two
in New York State, another at Carmelby-the-Sea, California), a massive jewelry collection, and a wardrobe that
alone costs his flock about $1,000 per
week.
Just as Moon, Hubbard and Graham
know their audiences, Ike knows his.
Traditionally, the black church has
preached patience in the face of poverty and racism. Ike appears to offer a
new message: "Forget about pie in the
sky in the by-and-by; get it now with
ice cream and a big red cherry on top!"
Or: "You people really ought to stop
all this kneeling down to pray. When
you kneel, you're in a perfect position
to get kicked in the behind!"
These are great advertisements. But
what they're advertising is just a new
twist on the old numbers racket, and
you know the odds are overwhelming.

You might think that all these evangelists have glutted the God market by
now. Far from it. You don't even need
a figurehead like Moon or Armstrong
to run a money-making religious campaign. A group called the Campus Crusade for Christ proves that with good
public-relations men, the Lord can
work wonders without any specific
leaders here on earth.
Perhaps you've seen one of its billboards or bumper stickers, and not even
realized it. The billboards show a
goofy-looking guy with a blissed-out
smile and wearing a leisure suit. In giant
letters are the words I FOUND IT,
plus a telephone number.
Naturally, you're intrigued - found
what? A new erogenous zone? A tax
loophole for blue-collar workers?
Of course, "it" turns out to be God.
This ad campaign has been amazing.
Devised by Bruce Cook, a former adman for Coca-Cola, it helped the crusade gross a cool $29 million one year.
The crusade has 6,000 full-time staff
members and a payroll of at least $2
million.
These figures don't even include
profits from the lucrative San Bernadino bookstore sales of such material
as cookbooks by Graham Kerr - TV's
former "Galloping Gourmet," who is
now making omelettes for Christ and
selling The New Seasoning (Fleming H.
Revell Company). Using a media blitz,
the Campus Crusade made 10,000 converts to Christ in Sacramento, California, in a single month. Its goal is to get
back into the fold all fallen-away
Christians.
The rise of this movement, and the

Page 22

lessons to be learned from it, have not

been lost on other religious leaders. It
represents the new wave of evangelism
- a combination of old-time religion
and Madison Avenue hard sell.
This survey represents only a few
entries in the Great God Sweepstakes.
It omits a slew of yogis, radio preachers and nondenominational faith healers like Werner Erhard of "est" (which
stands for Erhard Seminars Training,
and means brainwashing couched in
"the awareness that you are").
All told, religious leaders spend $500
million every year for television time
alone. That's only a slight indication
of the money involved in evangelism.
With money comes social and political power. Already many evangelists
are flexing their revitalized muscle in
the public arena: fighting against
abortion, against "left-wingers," against
the right of free speech in magazines,
against fair treatment of homosexuals.
It would be stupid to underestimate
their ability to influence public opinion. As Billy James Hargis told me:
"No one 'can deny that Billy Sunday
brought about Prohibition. And I believe we're entering a revival of the
Lord's battle against Satan."
This powerful lobbying effort is
paying off richly. Witness the recent
decision by President Jimmy Carter a "born-again" Christian who once
rang doorbells to beg people to accept
Jesus - to cut off federal funds for
abortions, or the wide support for the
woman in Florida who believes that
swallowing sperm is the same as drinking blood.
.
I was struck by something else
Billy Hargis said: "For me, preaching

anti-communism is just as religious as

preaching John 3: 16." In fact, as I
interviewed church leaders, I heard
more talk about Andrew Young that
about Jesus Christ. (As a candidate for
the new Antichrist, Larry Flynt ran a
distant second to the U.N. Ambassador.)
Fair enough. The right to a political opinion doesn't stop in the pulpit.
What is disturbing about men like
Armstrong, Moon, Hargis, Roberts,
Hubbard, Graham and Reverend Ike is
their effort to control the lives of nonbelievers. And the fact that they can
spend a half-billion tax-free dollars
every year in order to push their message.
For a truly evangelical person, being good isn't good enough. You must
help others to be good, whether that
means prohibiting sex, censoring their
speech or emptying their wallets.
Naturally, not all evangelists preach
the gospel of repression and fear, hellfire and brimstone - all negative approaches to an already difficult life.
People like Ruth Carter Stapleton (the
president's sister) and the Reverend
Bob Harrington espouse a positive
message that uplifts the spirit and the
mind to a human level. But they are
exceptions.
History shows one period similar
to ours - England in the mid-1800s.
Everyone was suddenly "born again."
That wave of evangelism led to the
Victorian era, when people put skirts
on chair legs. If the Armstrongs,
Moons, et al. have their way, history might repeat itself, while The
Chosen Few rake in souls and untold
millions of tax-free dollars.

\
\
o
"But, if you're an Atheist ...

July, 1978

then you must be in favor of stealing and killing."

The American

Atheist

ON OUR WAY
ignatz sahula-dyeke
Christianist Face-Saving: Anti-Semitism
Dear Perturbed:
Your recent
letter concerning
Jew-hating was so good it warrants the
addition of a few observations of my
own that to an extent explain what I
think this kind of anti-Semitism
presently represents.
To me, it has never been anything
but factual evidence of the inadequacy,
subnormality, and general inferiority
that addiction to a viciously minddemeaning and joy-destroying fantasy
generates in most so-called Christians.
This fantasy is a dysgenic stew made
up of the basically Babylonian idea of
worshipping only one "god," of the
Jewish-Essene idea of a Messiah, of
Saul's (Paul's) preachings, and the later concoctions invented or added to
it all by the Nicene, Roman, and other
clerical councils and meetings after
the year 325. It's a melange that only
a perverted sense of smell and taste
can enable anyone to swallow without
utter revulsion.
As you've said, most Christians subconsciously resent and hate Jews for
having foisted Christianity on them.
But, remember that the Christians of
today aren't any longer forced to believe what they believe. So, for as long
as there'll remain any Christians, so
will there be anti-Semitism. As for me,
since Christians won't depart from
their beliefs, they deserve what they've
been made into by it: fair game for the
clerics and all those who profit from
keeping Christianity alive.
Those who profit from the existence of Christianism also control our
education. Hence today's education
steers clear of telling the people that
their obtuse "faith" traces back some
5,000-6,000 years to the time when
the Jews uiere slaves in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. The Jews of course
know this, but due to the remissness
of our education the Christians don't.
They think their religion is different
from Judaism; they don't know that
for the most part the two are practically alike.
The Jewish belief in but one socalled "god" probably originated as
the result of old Nebu's desire to keep
his slaves from wasting time kowtowing
to the multiplicity of Babylon's earlier
"gods. " My theory is that Nebu's Jewish slaves, after they were forced to
worship only one god, kept on whittling and shaping the one-god idea
which, after they escaped from Babylon to Egypt, was in much the form of

Austin,

today's and which was finally called to

the attention of Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) who, around the year 1,400
B.C., Egyptianized it but totally failed
to make it stick - in Egypt. This shows
that as far back as 3,400 years ago the
Egyptians were a lot smarter than we
Americans.
However, the one-god fable kept on
making the rounds from generation to
generation, and the "all-powerful-one"
did nothing to speak of for his Jewish
worshippers - after a few thousand
years of this the Jews saw themselves
just as enslaved as in the beginning. It
was downright puzzling. No few Jews
gave up believing.
Priestly Ploy
Then, sometime around 1,400 B.C.
or later - after Akhenaton fizzled some smart-aleck got the idea of an
"anointed one" whom that one god
would send down from a place called
heaven to get the Jews out of slavery.
This undoubtedly priestly ploy gave
those who doubted
the one-god's
power a new and fresh cookie to chew
on; it kept 'em in the fold. A fair confirmation of this appears in the Dead
Sea Scrolls - and enables us to figure
out where, when, and by whom, the
superb idea of a Messiah was hatched
that a bit later on Saul of Tarsus decided Jesus was to represent. Whether
or not Jesus ever lived didn't matter Saul (Paul) had a saleable story.
Saul's orations about Jesus - who
now personified the Essene tribe's
"anointed one" - advised his listeners
that Jesus, who died on the cross,
would come back to life a second time
to redeem and rule all who believed
Saul's stories. Thus were laid the foundations of today's Christianity. Saul
was an astute organizer, appointing
helpers for this all over the north
shores of the Mediterranean. The story
travelled like wildfire.
Hence, if we take stock in biblical
fables, what you say about the Jews
foisting Christianism on us is correct,
for in Acts 22 Saul says he is a.Jeui.
But remember that he was a Jew who
opposed the "faith of the fathers" believed in by both the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, whom, for simplification's
sake, we could call the precursors of
today $ Zionists. Those' die-hard Jewish rabbis and elders were having none
of the messianic lies that Saul dreamed
up. If anyone was to announce the

Texas

July, 1978

1/

coming of a Messiah, they were going

to do it themselves, not leave it to
some daffy upstart.
Today the Christian who is more or
less intelligent, more or less consciously
realizes that his religion is dross; the
dullard Christian senses, but only
subliminally, that the priests are mahkin a fool of him. But in one way or
another both of these kinds of Christians feel themselves since childhood
trapped both socially and economically by everything religious. But
very few of them are able to summon
the determination that could set them
free. To compensate for this, each of
them in his way takes it out on the
Jews from who it of course was transmitted first of all by Saul to Western
mankind.
Now - today - it's imaginable but
not probable that American Jeioshaoe
any greater interest in keeping Christianism going than do our religion-wise
authorities, politicians, and manufacturers, who stand to profit from our
citizenry's. Christianity and disregard
for rationality.
If the Jews were indeed interested
.in such a matter, then so many rabbis
and congregations wouldn't be telling
us that they've given up all belief in a
"god" of any kind, and that to all purposes they're A theists and humanists.
Should the state of Israel have in mind
something of the kind, it won 'tamount
to a row of beans due to the very antiSemitism which Christians feel, as
you've remarked. There of course is an
ethnic bond between Jews just as there
is between any racial, national or
societal group, but such ties arise from
worries about self-preservation.
Matters of this kind don't much
worry me, but I'm plenty worried, and
seriously, about the inroads of religion
and what activity' of this kind today
represents that could quite abruptly
lead to our national demise. This today-accelerated activity started about
a century ago when rabid Christianists
began singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and scratching away at making a
theocracy out of this Jeffersonian republic. I dare say that today not a sin
gle counterpart of those earlier dolts
realizes that any unbridled kind of
Christianity will choke to death the
principles that made our nation the
envy of all the globe's others.
Why doesn't the word "god" appear anywhere in our Constitution?
Because our founding fathers realized,

Page 23

long before 1776, that any nation proclaiming it was protected by ''god''
was as good as admitting that it
couldn't survive, that it was a makeshift. Their good judgment was confirmed by the series of revolutions
against ''god-directed'' governments
that took place in Europe beginning
with the French Revolution in 1789.
Giving up the ''god'' guff was what
our American beginnings were all
about. The tea in Boston Harbor was

only one of the first of the symptoms

of the Western world's ''god'' disease.
What keeps me awake some nights
is that should most of my fellow American Christianists fail to realize that by
"trusting in god" and getting "reborn, "
all of us will be badly had - and will
in this way be greasing the skids for
ourselves to a pratfall enabling anyone
a bit aware of the score to take us over.
It's one of the marvels of this era
that a nation which had a start as good

REVIVAL

Yours,
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke

DEATH IN ITSELF IS THE HEAVEN

Peer into antique quarters

and you spot them.

**
**
**
**
**
*
**
**
*****************
A very great philosopher once said:
"Death in itself is the Heaven."

Toothpick people wearing long lives

who dwell in moldy pasts.

When first I read those words, I wondered:

Was the man insane to think such thoughts?

In bleached overwashed linen

they pound plates for the sky.

Then, death came to us and I knew

Exactly what this man had had in m'ind.

They feed other regions

where no flesh resides.

Death is the end of suffering!

The end of torturous pain!
Yes!
Death in itself is the Heaven!

Under the crawling sun

they caper for the void.
They bash drums inscribed with
ghost writing and never know.
Whitened beards wrap parchments
that stammer of their veiled certainties.
Each giant in their stall
throws out the real coin.
And cracked teeth laugh behind crumbled
lips at the pygmies scurrying forward.
But when pedagog meets pomposity
in neighboring turf, teeth pray for weapons.

Death is "the calm beyond the storm",

"The dawn that follows the darkest night",
The anesthesia that brings the blessed sleep,
Where pain and suffering cease to be!

Because, dear one, I'd rather

Than to know your suffering
I came to know the meaning
And knowing brings comfort

part with you,

long must be,
of these words,
to me!

Yes!
Death in itself is the Heaven!
The suffering is the Hell!

]OR]ANNA

And obscene eyes guide insubstantial

claws toward shapeless dogmas.
These are silent, knowing people who
trundle balls like scarab beetles.
They reach inside withered brains
and pull forth dusty facts.
Passersby blink wonderingly and lashes
dance in bewildered obeisance.
When mortals are closing fast
they change their bedsheets.
Then bring out laquered but rusty wares
that confused peasants inspect.
While Allah, Buddha and Jesus Christ
dissolve beneath their feet.

BOB LEE

Page 24

as ours was given, could today, only

two centuries later, have a citizenry
as ignorant about the threats innate in
religion and clericalism as we in fact
every day show we are. And to make
things loom even worse, our "leaders"
and "authorities" are cheering everyone on in it. I wish I could do more
than only sound the tocsin.

*
*

**
**
*

MEEKS

CHURCH SPIRES
Phallic symbols reaching toward
An unknown, distant seer
Erected in frail hope, they stand
A testament to fear.
ANGELINE BENNETT

July. 1978

The American Atheist

Ihe Amtrican Athtist Radio Stri es

History Of Materialism:
Program 386
KLBJ

27 March 76
Austin, Texas

Hello there,
This is Madalyn Mays O'Hair, American Atheist, back to
talk with you again.
Back in 1873, a German scholar by the name of Frederick
Albert Lange attempted to write a history of Materialism and I
have been agonizing through it here for several weeks. The
difficulty is that everyone who ever wrote on Materialism has
been so biased against it that there is almost no chance at all to
find out what the actual history of it was, who was really
involved and what those persons really had to say.
For example, Epicurus is one of our primitive Materialists.
His father was said to have been a poor schoolmaster of Athens
who became a colonist at Samos. There, Epikuros (Lange's
spelling) was born toward the end of the year 342 B.C. or at
the beginning of 341. In hi's fourteenth year, the story is given
that he was studying Hesiod's Cosmogony at school and finding that everything was explained to arise from chaos, he cried
out and asked "Whence, then, came chaos?" When his teacher
had no reply young Epikuros began to philosophize for himself.
Indeed, he was self-taught. The most important ideas which
he incorporated in his system were - individually - already
known. His general education is said to have been deficient. He
joined himself to none of the then prevailing schools, but studied the writings of Demokritos.
Greece was in a state of decline. Alexander the Great had
died suddenly at Babylon and freedom was being suppressed
by Antipater. Amidst the confusion, Epikuros taught in different cities, only returning to Athens in the maturity of his years.
He never filled any public office. He never came into conflict
with religion. He sedulously honored the gods with all conventional observances, without pretending to a belief concerning
them which he did not really feel.
Of death, he said that so long as we are, there is as yet no
death; but as soon as death comes, then we exist no more.
Our fear of death is not caused by our dread of non-existence;
what makes us regard it with such terror is the fact that we involuntarily combine with the idea of nothingness; an idea of
life, that is the notion of feeling this nothingness; we imagine
that a dead man is conscious, that the soul continues to exist
and to feel. If only we could succeed in wholly separating the
idea of life from its opposite, and bravely relinquish all
thought of immortality, death would lose its terrors. We
should say to ourselves: Death is not an evil; neither for him
who is dead, for he has no feeling; nor for the living, for him
death does not yet exist. As long as we are alive, death does
not exist for us, and when death appears we no longer exist.
Hence we can never come in contact with death; we never feel
its icy touch, which we dread so much.
Epikuros wrote 300 books, but the believers in gods saw to
it that not one was preserved. Only fragments quoted by other
authors remain. According to Epikuros, the great evil that afflicts mankind is fear; fear of the gods, and fear of death. To
get rid of these fears was the ultimate aim of his ethics. He believed in making science to be the servant of life.
Epikuros taught the atomic theory of Demokritus. He held
that matter was the positive principle of all things, in opposition to Plato's teaching that matter is non-being. Epikuros
held that matter is composed of innumerable uncreated and indestructible atoms in perpetual motion. The creation or destruction of the world was out of the question. Atoms, space

Austin, Texas

Epicurus

and weight, that is, mechanical causes, were sufficient to explain the world, and he scoffed at the idea of final causes.
He taught that the laws of nature were to be discovered by
actual observation of facts. To abandon observation is to depart from facts and to land in the region of idle fantasies. He
taught that the moon might get its light from the sun. He also
believed in explaining things in household words instead of
confounding ideas by strange-sounding technical terminology. He rejected the Greek dialectis. His own logic was distinctly sensorial and empirical.
All the virtues are derived by Epikuros from wisdom,
which teaches us that man cannot be happy unless he is
wise, noble and just; and, conversely, that man cannot be
wise, noble and just, without being really happy. Thus, the
whole object of the explanation of nature is to free us from
fear and anxiety.
In his maturity, when he returned to Athens, he bought
a garden there, where he dwelt with his disciples. It is said
to have born as an inscription, Stranger, here will it be well
with thee: here pleasure is the highest good. He lived with his
fellows temperately and simply, in harmonious effort, in heartfelt friendship, as a united family. By his will he bequeathed
the garden to his school, which for a long time still had its center there.
According to Epikuros the ultimate basis of all knowledge
is sensible perception. This in itself is always true; only
through its relation to an object does an error arise. If a madman sees a dragon, this perception, as such, is not deceptive:
he does perceive the picture of a dragon, and no reason and no
law of thought can alter the fact. But, if he believes that this
dragon he "sees" will devour him, there he is wrong. The error
lies in the referring of the perception to an objective fact. It is
an error of the same kind as when a scientific man, after the
most sober inquiry, incorrectly explains some celestial phenomenon. The perception is true, the reference to an assumed
cause is false.
Religious

Fantasies

Thus, with regard to the moon, Epikuros supposed that it

might have its own light, but its light might also come from
the sun. If it is suddenly eclipsed it may be that there is a temporary extinction of the light: it may also be that the earth has
interposed between the sun and moon, and so by its shadow
caused the eclipse. You may chose which view you prefer only let your explanation remain a natural one. This natural
explanation must rest upon analogy with other known cases.
The right study of nature must not arbitrarily propose new
laws but must everywhere base itself upon acutally observed
facts. So soon as we abandon the way of observation, we have
lost the traces of nature and are straying into the region of
idle fantasies.
It appears incredible today that this could have been proposed 300 years before Christ and that we could have so long
lost our way.
Epikuros went further. He recognized the formation of
memory-pictures, which arise from repeated perception, and
which, therefore, as compared with the individual perception,
have already the character of a universal. This universal, or
what is equivalent to a universal idea, is less certain than the
original individual idea, but can at the same time, just because
of its universal nature playa much greater part in thought. For
example, one sees a number of individual horses and finally
has the idea of "horse" as an idea apart from the individual
horses one has seen.

July, 1978

Page 25

The criterion of the truth of all universals is always their

ratification by perception, which is the basis of all knowledge.
The universals are not, therefore, by any means especially certain or true. They are, primarily, only "opinions" which are
spontaneously developed out of the contact of man with things.
These opinions are true if they are ratified by perceptions.
Epikuros was the most fertile writer among the ancients.
He used radical sense, by "radical" meaning to get to the root.
This is not infrequently united with Materialistic views - a
disdain for the historical, as compared with the scientific, element. Epikuros was hated for three reasons:
1) he was self-taught and attached himself to none of the
dominant schools,
2) he hated dialectic and employed a universally intelligible
mode of speech,
3) he never quoted, and, as a rule, simply ignored those
who thought differently from himself.
Yet, Lange summarizes his teachings on nature as follows to give you an idea of how far advanced he was:
"Out of nothing, nothing comes, for otherwise anything
could come out of nothing. Everything that is is body; the one
thing that is not body is empty space.
"Among bodies some are formed by combination; the other
are those out of which all combinations are formed. These are
indivisible and absolutely immutable. The universe is unbounded and therefore the number of bodies must also be endless.
"The atoms are in constant motion, in part widely removed
from each other, while in part they approach each other and
combine. But of this there was never a beginning. The atoms
have no qualities except size, figure, and weight.
"Similarly the time in which the atoms move in the void is
quite inexpressibly short; their movement is absolutely with-

TA~EA
~LITTLE
WEIGHT

OFF
,OUR
\~'~~~SHOULDERS

\~

It is useless to appeal to "fair play" when one faces the reo

ligious community
of the United States. Uncle Sam, seeing the
mindless theists as the "best" of citizens, unquestioning
and
submissive to all authority,
looks askance at the honest questioning of American Atheism.
Whatever we want - and that is equal justice, freedom of
speech, freedom of thought, freedom of the press - must be
obtained the hard way: by wresting those civil rights from religion and the state, or from religion protected and reinforced
by the state.
Religion will never submit to scrutiny. The state, knowing
its best ally well, will never voluntarily disclose the corruption,
the deceit, nor its own role of giving religion special privileges
and tax dollars - your dollars.
Atheists alone are the only ones who will ever openly con-

Page 26

July,

1978

out hindrance. The figures of the atoms are of inexpressible

variety, and yet the number of actually recurring forms is not
absolutely infinite, because in that case the formations possible in the universe could not be confined within definite, even
though extremely wide limits.
"In a finite body the number as well as the variety of the
atoms is limited, and therefore there is no such thing as infinite divisibility. In void space there is no above or below; and
yet even here one direction of motion must be opposed to
another. Such directions are innumerable, and with regard to
them we can in thought imagine above and below."
We, of course, today, with refinements premise our understanding of the world and nature upon the idea of atoms.
But, in his Last Words on Materialism, Professor Ludwig
Buechner says,
"Epicurus brings the history of ancient Materialism to a
close, which now for fifteen centuries or more passes almost entirely into oblivion through the overwhelming influence of Christianity. Only timidly and under deceptive
disguises Materialism dared, after the expiration of this
time, to show itself again in a few philosophical thinkers of
the Middle Ages, such as Petrus Pomponatius, Giordano
Bruno, Gassendi and others, some of whom had to atone
for their doctrines on the funeral pyre."
This informational broadcast is brought to you as a public
service by the Society of Separationists, Inc., a non-profit,
non-political, tax-exempt, educational organization dedicated
to the complete separation of state and church. This series of
American Atheist Radio programs is continued through listener generosity. The Society of Separationists, Inc. predicates
its philosophy on American A theism. For more information,
or for a free copy of the script of this program, write to P.O.
Box 2117, Austin, Texas. That zip is 78768.
front the fraud that religion is. They alone will challenge the
unethical and constitutionally
impermissible
collusion of state
and church, totally, everywhere and openly.
To this end, we American Atheists already have in litigation a challenge to the U.S. government's
imprinting
of "In
God We Trust" on both currency and coins. We challenge this
infamous phrase as a national motto. We attempt to monitor,
close down or tax the churches'
multibillion
dollar Bingo
games. We try, legally, to stop prayers which are illegally chanted to open legislative and other governmental
sessions.
Lawyers do not grow on trees; neither does money. At the
American Atheist Center we do everything we can do to try to
raise money for the legal fund: we work long hours, sell books,
work long hours, stage a yearly convention,
work long hours,
get out an informational
and inspirational
radio series, work
long hours, put out the excellent magazine now in your hands,
work long hours, travel and lecture extensively,
work long
hours - and you too can help.
Think about it: we are your mercenaries, your shock troops
out front taking the beating. We volunteer all that overtime for
this best of all possible causes, but our lawyers want to be
paid, and the courts want fees, and the records need to be
printed.
If every subscriber to this magazine - you - would just send
in $10.00 this month, for the legal fund, we would not need to
nag for money for about 3 months! Get us off your backs by
taking, please, a little of the weight off our shoulders.
Please send that $10 to:
s.O.S. Legal Fund
P.O. Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768

The American

Atheist

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J. Michael Straczynski
On January 30, 1978, despite much disbelief and confusion,
I founded and received on-campus status for San Diego State
University's very first - and probably last - Atheist Student
Union (ASU), of which I am currently the president.
En route to creating the ASU - which now numbers well
over 30 members and is growing every day - a number of Keystone Kops-type obstacles had to be overcome, from diametrically opposed on-campus religious groups to dumbfounded
administrators and secretaries chock-full of such neat lines as
"You wanna start a what? Here? For who?" Another handy line
was the question - delivered honestly and with sincere curiosity - "Is that legal?"
Yep. It's in the Bill of Rights. I have still not ceased being
aware of how many people are yet unaware of that fact.
One main difficulty to overcome in creating the ASU and,
most importantly, receiving on-campus status, was gathering
enough initial signatures on a petition. Sandwiched in among
the radical religionists who couldn't begin to understand how
a person could dare be an Atheist, were those who signed and
a disturbingly large proportion of people who said, in effect,
"I believe in what you're doing, but I won't sign any piece of
paper, or give you my name. If it gets on my transcript that
I'm an Atheist, it could really mess up my career."
That's more than simply sad. It's very much in the neighborhood of downright frightening.
But now that the problems have all been overcome, it is
heartening to see the response among university students. It
seems like the moment you come out and admit "I'm an
Atheist," they ALL come out of the woodwork. It's just that
no one wants to be first to admit it, primarily because of the
stigma that seems to be contextually attached to Atheism.
Overall, however, the response has been rather positive. The
most frequently heard comment at our open-air headquarters/
handout table is "Well, it's about time."
(The second time we went out, we found our little stand
directly between a number of representatives from TM and the
Campus Crusade people, a situation which, at the time, I termed
an Atheist Sandwich: Two slices of fruitcake and a ham in the
middle.)
But opposition has not ceased. If anything, it has redoubled.

July, 1978

Page 27

COMMENCEMENT -n- A university ceremony, similar

to the ancient Rites of Passage, signalling a transition in societal status from the Educated into the ranks of the Unemployed.
COMMENTARY -n- In literature, the attachment of inconsequentialities as a postscript to the incomprehensible
for the benefit of the unimaginatively illiterate.
COMMITTEE -n- A group of decisionmakers, created on
the principle that five fools acting in accord are more efficient than one fool acting alone.
COMPASSION -n- Empathic sorrow given to the impoverished on a grand and generous scale, since it is easier to
part with than cash.
.
COMPLIMENT -vt- To invest in the future. A practice
much directed toward the unaccomplished rich, as well as
the accomplished poor, provided that the feats of the latter
do not in any way excel our own.
COMPLY -vi- The art, after logically and judiciously considering all the alternatives, of conceding to the will of the
Abusive, threatening letters and calls have been received at the
SDSU Daily Aztec, a campus paper where I am the weekly
film critic/theatre reviewer/columnist. I and others at the ASU
have been publicly berated, and I myself have been physically
threatened by a passing religionist who stayed to voice his indignant objections to the very fact of our existence.
It seems, at this point, that there is only one thing which
one can say about Atheists as a class: Our natural environment
is hot water.
The two primary things with which the ASU has involved
itself, and which are already generating considerable amounts
of controversy, are the following:
1) We are out to end the abuses of on-campus religious organizations in using university facilities for religious services i.e. prayer meetings - without paying any sort of rental fee.
This results in an on-campus, student-funded church. The repercussions of this one are already spreading up and down the
state.
2) As precedented by the University of Wisconsin's recent
action, we are attempting to remove the forced prayer service
from the yearly commencement exercises.
Yet it is realized by all the members of the ASU that
changes in academia are insufficient in and of themselves, so
we are moving out into the community. For example, in response to a recent controversial situation here in this area,
I have taken on one of the largest single school districts in
Southern California, the Sweetwater Union High School District.
The situation is this: The SUHD recently suppressed a book
in its elementary school libraries entitled, Whistling in the
Graveyard, Tales to Chill Your Bones, on the grounds that it
was theologically and morally improper. (The book is a collection of innocuous short stories which happens to contain a
short four-line poem that some religionists have concluded to
be Satanic.) Essentially, the matter at hand is one of out-andout suppression for religious reasons, despite some fancy
dodges by the officials involved.
. So, in reaction to this impropriety, I have requested that
the Christian Bible be removed or equally limited by the dis-

Page 28

July, 1978

man with the biggest club.

COMPOSURE -n- A sense of tranquil serenity, created
by financial solvency, spiritual realization, or death. In the
pursuit of this most lofty goal, we can point to our own
military forces, who in two wars have composed more civilians that any religion or social movement.
COMRADE -n- In wartime endeavors, a fellow soldier in
whose judgement we have such absolute trust that we allow
him the deference of preceeding us into mine fields.
CONCISE -adj- Unimaginative.
CONDEMN -vt- The act of slandering those activities
which we do not have the enterprise to commit, or the intelligence to pursue without being caught.
CONFESSION -n- Confiding your select transgressions
to a member of the clergy who has abstained from them all,
with the exception of voyeurism, but wishes to be kept
abreast of all the latest trends.
CONGRESS -n- A body of elected officials charged with
the great responsibility of acting on the behalf of those less
intelligent and informed than themselves. (That such constituents can not be found is, of course, quite irrelevant.)
CONSCIENCE -n- A vestigal organ which scientists believe was once part of the digestive system, an assertion that
they are unable to prove since no working examples have
been found in the last century.
CONSERVATIVE -n- One who prefers the accepted, established sins to the experimental ones.
CONSECRATE -vt- To make an object holy by separating it from its surroundings, a divine mission which inspired
the Crusaders to consecrate the heads of vast numbers of
Turks.
trict [see 'Atheist Confronts Dragon"; page 7 of the June
issue of AA - Editor] This request is made on moral, scientific, and other grounds.
Some portions which I find objectionable and which were
included in my protest letter to the Board of Education follow.
Cannibalism:
"So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her
on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and
she hath hid her son." - II Kings 6:29.
Offensive:
". " Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall,
that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss
with you?" - Isaiah 36:12 and II Kings 18:27.
(A command from god:) "And thou shalt eat it as barley
cakes, and thou shalt bake it with the dung that cometh out
of man, in their sight." Ezekiel 4: 12
(god again:) "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread
dung upon your faces." - Malachi 2:3.
Torture:
.
"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
against the stones." Psalms 137: 9.
"And he brought out the people that were in it and cut
them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes.
Even so dealt David with all the cities of Ammon." I Chronicles 20:3.
Sexual Abuse:
"Then Saul said, 'Thus shall you say to David, "The king
desires no marriage present except a hundred foreskins of
the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king's enemies." '... (then) David arose and went, along with his men,
and killed two hundred of the Philistines; and David brought
their foreskins." - I Samuel 18:25-27.
Incest:
"Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie
with him, that we may preserve seed of our father." "Thus
were both daughters of Lot with child by their father." Genesis 19:32 & 36.
In that letter to the board I explained that my reasons for
objecting to these passages are obvious: It is improper to ex-

The American

Atheist

pose an impressionable child to such blatant tales of murder,

torture, incest, rape, and sexual abuse. It is too sophisticated
for some, and could easily lead to the corruption of the morals
of many. If one wishes to argue from the perspective that all
such quotes must be read in terms of a historical background, I
doubt that elementary school children are capable of making
such elaborate considerations.
The 'purpose is not so much to remove the book - although
it might be nice - as to illustrate the degree of insanity involved
by modern religionists, and create a test case on the matter.
In effect, if they are willing to rescind their previous ruling, I
am willing to retract my request. If not, then it is very possible that this may have far-reaching, national repercussions
on educational libraries across the country.
More on this story as it develops.

Addenda:
The Board of Education Follies
On April 4, 1978, as indicated by the first part of this report, I went before the Board of Education, representing the
Chula Vista City School District, and put forth my case on
the Bible as a book in need of the same sort of treatment given
Whistle in the Graveyard, i.e., restriction to older children exclusively. I went in as one citizen, armed with a complaint
against the entire established order of things.
I put forth my views in the clearest, most concise manner
that I could, arguing rationally for an investigation into the
matter. At the present time, they are investigating the issue of
initiating an investigation. It would seem, though, that there is
no way to avoid one, now that it has been brought out into
the view of the public.
In the process, however, the train of events have proceeded
with all the decorum and restraint on the part of the media of
a Barnum & Bailey exposition.

As soon as I finished my report to the Board of Education,

and sat down in the astounded audience's midst, representatives of United Press International and the local San Diego
Union literally flew out of the conference hall. That was at
11:00 in the evening. By 9:00 the next morning, I was flooded
with calls from every local paper; TV Channels 8 and 10 requested - and got - interviews on the matter, and Channel 39
ran a story without an interview. (The stations represent CBS,
ABC, and NBC, respectively.)
THAT'S when the science-fiction elements began to enter
into this confused melee.
I had a hunch that things weren't going to be particularly
factual or objective when the teaser for the 5:00 news on Channel 8 blasted out with the following: "Ban the Bible movement stirs controversy in Chula Vista. News at 5."
"Ban the Bible?" BAN? Who the hell said anything about
BANNING anything? Banning means taking it off the shelves;
to restrict it is, A.) to limit it only to older children, and B.)
only a fair example of turn-around being fair play.
BAN?
In interviews with the superintendent of the Board of Education in Chula Vista, they had him denying unfounded allegations that I never even made! Many of the articles came out
the same. With a few rare exceptions, I came across looking
like a looney tune!
Then UPI runs a story stating that the board AGREED to
ban the Bible!
Then the San Diego Union printed my address. If that won't
make you nervous, nothing will.
Nonetheless, despite the failure to communicate, the point
is slowly starting to get across. I am, in the meantime, continuing to push to establish this test case. I do not intend to rest
until either the original precedent which established" the
groundwork for censorship and restriction of books is removed,
or the goal I aim for is achieved.
They have opened the Pandora's Box of censorship, and I
intend to make them realize the full consequences of what
they have done, while alerting as many as possible to the growing threat of religious censorship and repression in the educational community.

"I don't care who he is. Get him out, he's starting to stink."

Austin, Texas

July, 1978

Page 29

Roots of Atheism
Charles Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

* * * .:,.Charles

Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

,.:..

* *

Charles Bradlaugh/English

ternative but to slander his character - a tactic of religious

neurotics which persists down to the present day.
At this time and throughout much of his life he was burdened with enormous debts from his continual lawsuits, some
against libellers who went bankrupt when beaten, some in resistence to tyrannous prosecutions by oppressive laws which
were enforced in attempts to bring all citizens to honor the
Christian deity while being forced to support his earthly
lieutenants.
W.E. Adams, a journalist on the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle and an early and lifelong friend of Bradlaugh, wrote in
one of the chapters of his autobiographical sketches, "No
public man within my recollection was the mark and object
of more calumnies and falsehoods than Charles Bradlaugh.
Repeated from mouth to mouth, and from pulpit to pulpit,
these stories and inventions were often of the most puerile
and paltry complexion. Almost every week, the National
Reformer [which Bradlaugh edited] denied .this or that lie.
But, sometimes when the offender was particularly offensive,
he was compelled to apologize and send a handsome subscription to a charity fund to avoid a prosecution for libel."
His daughter and biographer Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner
most succinctly diagnoses the illness behind the Christian
psychoneurotics who continually sought to blacken Bradlaugh's
character in a manner characteristic of their religion:

"The Great Question of the day. Can they get him out?"
From the cartoon in Vanity Fair.
Charles Bradlaugh the "Iconoclast" was no less active in
political than in anti-theological work. His predominant passion was always the legal rectification of law, and the legal redress of illegality. When he chose to use methods of force, it
was always with the law on his side.
One of his earliest efforts in Northampton, which he first
visited in 1859 and whose representative to Parliament he
would later be elected in 1880, was to do battle with a clergyman who had been selling his parishoners' goods for church
rates. Opposition which ordinary leaders found uncomfortable
found in Charles Bradlaugh a fighter who would not be deterred by the inhibitions of an effete society.
For the best part of his public life he was battling the government on one point or another. By legal resistance he reformed the law as to the evidence of unbelievers; by legal resistance he broke down the embargo laid on cheap journals by
the enforcement of heavy sureties against the publication of
blasphemy and sedition. Above all it will not readily be forgotten how he vindicated the right of a constituency to return the representative of its choice, and the right of an Atheist to sit in the English Parliament.
Bradlaugh was soundly beaten in his first attempt at election in Northampton in 1868. As an avowed Atheist he was
the target of intense vilification by those whose inability to
best him in open debate and rational discourse left them no al-

Page 30

July, 1978

"Is this eagerness to believe, and to say, the worst about a

heretic, without regard to accuracy, to be taken as one of
the choice fruits of 2,000 years of Christian teaching? The
legal maxim that a man must be looked upon as innocent
until he is proved guilty, carries no weight with the ordinary Christian when he is judging an atheist. Most of the
stories told of my father in the name of Christianity are so
unutterably foolish that it is difficult to understand how
they can be accepted and repeated by persons presumably
sane and presumably honest. These stories may be divided
roughly into two classes: those which represent the atheist
Bradlaugh as a monster of infamy; and those which try to
make out that, although he called himself an atheist, he
really was not one, but was, on the contrary, a true Christian and a Christ-like man. I hardly know which kind of
myth is the more respectable: that which in the teeth of all
evidence tries to represent the detested atheist as a villain of
the deepest dye; or that which, equally in the teeth of evidence, tries to make. him out a brainless fool who did not
know his own mind ....
From the moment he became a
monist none of the many conflicting schools of dualism
and pluralism had any power of attraction for him. Without
God he lived, and without God he died. An yet assertions
to the contrary are constantly being made by Christians,
who apparently labor under the delusion that, by these
lies, they are proving the truth of Christianity. ' 'Tis a mad
world, my masters!'" (Freethinker, 25 Sept. 1910.)
As regular readers of this journal can attest, the stranglehold religion has on the human mind has eased little in the
century since Bradlaugh's attempts at breaking that hoary
grasp from the past. If anything, our immense technological
advances, the continued perversity of our legislators aiding
semiliterate religious hucksters, and a prolifigate birth rate
have only multiplied the unthinking flock and fattened the
assets of their shepherds [see "The Chosen Few, page 17.]
During two more unsuccessful tries at election in Northamp-

The American Atheist

Atheist

Charles Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

* * * *

Charles Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

x ,f Charles Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

* * * *

Charles Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

les Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

". ". ,x,

les Bradlaugh/English

Atheist

* *

.;+

ton, Bradlaugh's unswerving honesty and relentless persistence

in the face of often fanatical opposition was earning him ever
increasing respect from the constituency which in 1880, 12
years and three defeats after his first appeal to the electors of
Northampton, elected him along with Mr. Labouchere. Bradlaugh's greatest struggle was now at hand.
This was the first time in Western history that a notorious
Atheist had won public office in a general election. When Parliament was assembled that year, Bradlaugh was faced with an
overwhelming problem: he had to take the Oath of Allegiance
to the British Crown, "so help him God. '? He could not do it.
He asked first to affirm; later he requested to take the oath at
his legal peril.
The entire British Parliament became embroiled in the argument which lasted for six years. During this fight Bradlaugh's
seat was once vacated on him by law ... but he returned to
Northampton and was reelected each time. This occurred in
1880, again in April of 1881, again in March of 1882, in February of 1884, and again in November of 1885, each time with
increasing voter support.
On one occasion as he tried to go about his duties as elected
official from his district, he was forcibly evicted from the Parliament building by 10 policemen and four messengers. All of
his attempts for legal redress of this physical attack were refused by the courts.

Atheist Bradlaugh beset by five policemen.

Bradlaugh's forthrightness in the face of hateful and often
violent attacks from the earthly pulpits of a "god of mercy"
endeared him to his constituents, as witnessed in his successive

Austin, Texas

reelections. His contempt for mere popularity won him the

hard-earned respect of the voters and the teeth-gnashing hatred
of his intellectual inferiors. He was a lifelong embodiment of
common sense and common candor, and his electors recognized this in him over and above any religious differences they
might have had with him.
He promised neither an afterlife nor an earthly paradise to
those who sought their rewards in the here and now. The
platform on which he ran spoke to the prominent problems of
his day which his electors sought solutions to in their own
lifetimes. His speeches to his constituents were geared toward
remedying those social ills and injustices of his day which
many of his political rivals proclaimed were the manifestation
of "god's will" which the flock would have to bear according
to the dictates of the shepherds.

Northampton Election, 1868

Candidate Bradlaugh's
Election Address
In seeking your suffrages for the new Parliament, I am encouraged by the very warm feeling exhibited in my favor by so
many of the inhabitants of your borough, and by the consciousness that my own efforts may have helped in some slight
degree to hasten the assembly of a Parliament elected by a
more widely extended franchise than was deemed possible
two years ago.
If you should honor me by electing me as one of your representatives, I shall give an independent support in the new
Parliament to that party of which Mr. Gladstone will probably
be chosen leader; that is to say, I shall support it as far as its
policy and action prove consistent with the endeavor to attain
the following objects, which I hold to be essential to the progress of the nation:
1) A system of compulsory national education, by which
the state shall secure to each child the opportunity of acquiring at least the rudiments of a sound English education
preparatory to the commencement of the mere struggle for
bread.
2) A change in our land laws, commencing with the abolition of the laws of primogeniture and entail, diminishing the
enormous legal expenses attending the transfer of land, and
giving greater security to the actual cultivator of the soil for
improvements made upon it.
3) A thorough change in our extravagant system of national
expenditure, so that our public departments may cease to
be refuges for destitute members of so-called noble families.
4) Such a change in the present system of taxation that for
the future the greater pressure of Imperial taxes may bear
upon those who hold previously accumulated wealth and
large tracts of devised land, and not so much upon those
who increase the wealth of the nation by their daily labor.
5) An improvement of the enactments relating to capital
and labor, so that employer and employed may stand equal
before the law, the establishment of conciliation courts for
the settlement of trade disputes, and the abolition of the
jurisdiction in these matters of the unpaid magistracy.
6) A complete separation of the Church from the State, including in this the removal of the bishops from the position

July, 1978

Page 31

they at present occupy as legislators in the House of Lords.

7) A provision by which minorities may be fairly represented in the legislative chambers.
8) The abolition of all disabilities and disqualifications consequent upon the holding or rejection of any particular
speculative opinion.
9) A change in the practice of creating new peerages; limiting the new creations to life peerages, and these only to be
given as rewards for great national services; peers habitually
absent from Parliament to be deprived of all legislative privileges, and the right of voting by proxy in any case to be
abolished.
10) The abolition as a governing class of the old Whig party,
which has long since ceased to play any useful part in our
public policy. Toryism represents obstructiveness to Radical progress, but it represents open hostility. Whiggism is
hypocritical; while professing to be liberal, it never initiates
a good measure or hinders a bad one. I am in favor of the
establishment of a National party which shall destroy the
system of government by aristocratic families, and give the
members of the community born poorest fair play in their
endeavor to become statesmen and leaders, if they have
genius and honesty enough to entitle them to a foremost
place.
... In asking your support I pledge myself, in the event of a
contest, to fight through to the last moment of the Poll a fair
and honest fight ....
and if you elect me I shall do my best in
the House of Commons for the general enfranchisement and
elevation of the people of the United Kingdom.
Following his 2 April 1880 election to Parliament from
Northampton, Bradlaugh delayed presenting himself until the
law officers of the Crown gave their opinion that he had the
PUNCH'S

ESSENCE

OF

PARLIAMENT.

Bradlaugh's expulsion from the House of Commons.

Page 32

July, 1978

right to affirm his allegiance rather than taking an oath to a

deity of whom he had no concept.
On 3 May, at the table of the Clerk of the House of Commons, he presented a written paper in the following terms:
"To the Right Honorable the Speaker of the House of Commons. I, the undersigned Charles Bradlaugh, beg respectfully
to claim to be allowed to affirm, as a person for the time being by law permitted to make a solemn affirmation or declaration, instead, of taking an oath."
A select committe of 23 M.P.s was appointed to examine
Bradlaugh's request and, after three weeks of deliberations,
reported that Bradlaugh could not properly take the oath, and
recommended that he be allowed to affirm "at his legal peril."
Bradlaugh's colleague from Northampton, Mr. Labouchere,
made a motion that Bradlaugh be allowed to affirm. The House
then voted and the motion was defeated by 275 votes to 230.
The following day Bradlaugh again presented himself, asking to be sworn in. He addressed the House from the bar and,
refusing to withdraw from the chamber, he was taken into custody on motion of Sir Stafford Northcote. Bradlaugh was unconditionally released from custody the next day. Later in
that year's session, a Tory bill was introduced to incapacitate
all Atheists for membership.It was defeated.
Excluded

By Force

Time and time again during the next six years Bradlaugh
presented himself to be sworn in so as to assume the duties of
the seat to which he had been elected. On 3 April 1881 occurred the incident with the 10 policemen. He was seized while
trying to enter the House and he, resisting, was forcibly
ejected after a struggle. The Times described the incident thusly: "In the passage leading out to the yard Mr. Bradlaugh's
coat was torn down on the right side; his waistcoat was also
pulled upon, and otherwise his toilet was much disarranged.
The members flocked down the stairs on the heels of the struggling party, but no pause was made until Mr. Bradlaugh was
placed outside the precincts and in Palace Yard."
Bradlaugh suffered the rupture of the small muscles of both
his arms; erysipelas ensued; and by medical advice he went to
the country to recover health and strength.
During this six-year struggle for his civil rights, Bradlaugh
was allowed to address the assembled parliamentarians on four
occasions. He waxed eloquently in these four orations as he
tried to reason with men the majority of whom were yet devotees of. irrational religious dogma which demanded of believers and non believers alike that all must bend their knee or
suffer the consequences: a deprivation of civil rights.
Some of Bradlaugh's reasoning goes thusly:
" ... Of the gentlemen who are now about to measure themselves against the rights of the constituencies of England, I
ask, what justification have they for that measurement?
They have said that I thrust my opinions on the House. I
hold here, Sir, the evidence of Sir Thomas Erskine May [the
House Sorgeant-at-Arms], and I can find no word of any
opinion of mine thrust upon the House at all. I have read it may be that the reports misrepresent - that the cry of
"Atheist" has been raised from that side. (Pointing to the
Opposition side.) No word of all mine before the Committee
put in any terms those theological or anti-theological opinions in evidence before the House. I am no more ashamed
of my own opinions, which I did not choose - opinions into which I have grown - than any member of this House is
ashamed of his; and much as I value the right to sit here,
and much as I believe that the justice of this House will accord it to me before the struggle is finished, I would rather
relinquish it forever than it should be thought that by any
shadow of hypocrisy I had tried to gain a feigned entrance
here by pretending to be what I am not. (Cheers, and cries
of "Order.")
" ... What has been alleged against me? Politics? Are views
on politics urged as a reason why a member should not sit
here? Pamphlets have been read: I won't say with accuracy,

The American Atheist

because I will not libel any of the honorable members who

read them; but, surely, if they are grounds for disqualification they are grounds for indictment to be proved against
me in a proper fashion. There is no case in all the records of
this House in which you have ransacked what a man has
written and said in his past life and then challenged him
with it here. My theology? It would be impertinent in me,
after the utterances of men so widely disagreeing from me
that have been made on the side of religious liberty during
the past two nights - it would be impertinent in me to add
one word save this. It is said that you may deal with me because I am isolated. I could not help hearing the ring of that
word in the lobby as I sat outside last night. But is that a
reason, that because I stand alone the House are to do
against me what they would not do if I had 100,000 men
at my back? (Cries of "Oh!") That is a bad argument,
which provokes a reply inconsistent with the dignity of this
House, and which I should be sorry to give.
" ... I will say no more personally, save this: Members who
have said that I attacked marriage, that I attacked the family, cannot have read what I have said on either subject. I
have never in my life attacked either. Members who charge
me with Socialism or Communism are ignorant of the whole
history of my life, and of the whole political strife in which
I have been engaged. ("Hear, hear.")
But all these, although they were as true as they are false,
give you no right to stand between me and my seat. (Ministerial cheers.) For I ask the House to be logical - (laughter) - I ask the House with all respects to be logical though I do not doubt that it would be difficult for some
members to get into that frame of mind which would enable them to be so. I would ask the House either to declare my seat vacant at once, or introduce a Bill rendering
me incapable of sitting for any constituency. (Ministerial
cheers.) Deprive me of all civil rights by law, and then I
must submit, as better men before be had to submit, whom
the Parliament of England attainted and outlawed; but while
I have civil rights I will claim them." (Ministerial cheers.)

"Kicked Out."

Mankind Born Atheist

-Religion Must Be Force-Fed-

By
Charles
Bradlaugh

Every child is born into the world an Atheist, and

if he grows into a theist, his deity differs with the
country in which the believer may happen to be born,
or the people amongst whom he may happen to be
educated. The belief is the result of education or
organization. Th is is practically conceded by Professor Flint, where he speaks of the god-idea as transmitted from the Jews, and says: "We have inherited it
from them. If it had not come down to us, if we had
not been born into a society pervaded by it, there is
no reason to suppose that we should have found it
out for ourselves." And further, he maintains that a
child is born "into blank ignorance, and, if left entirely to itself, wou Id probably never find out as
much religious truth as the most ignorant of parents
can teach it." Religious belief is powerful in propor-

Austin, Texas

tion to the want of scientific knowledge on the part

of the believer. The more ignorant the more credulous. In the mind of the theist "god" is equivalent to
the sphere of the unknown; by the use of the word he
answers, without
thought,
problems which might
otherwise obtain scientific solution. The more ignorant the theist, the more numerous his gods. Belief in
god is not a faith founded on reason. Theism is worse
than illogical; its teachings are not only without
utility, but of itself it has nothing to teach. Separated
from Christianity with its almost innumerable sects,
from Mohammedanism with its numerous divisions,
and separated also from every other preached system,
theism is a will-o'-the-wisp,
without reality. Apart
from orthodoxy,
theism is the veriest dream-form,
without substance or coherence.

July, 1978

Page 33

All Things Considered

Jon
Inurray
The Enemy Among Us
When one reviews the histories of
Europe and the United States seeking an
overview of the slow but steady movement to free the human mind from religious bondage, he finds a litany of defunct groups and dead heroes scattered
among the many and varied battlefields of this relentless campaign.
Each of these heroes, during their
glory days, brief in terms of history's
records but long and often agonizing at
the moment, led those they could persuade in grand skirmishes against oppressive regimes of every shape and form.
The battle won or the retreat sounded,
they went again and again to war, determined to reach that ultimate goal that
still awaits tantalizingly down the road
like Jason's golden fleece. But as in the
case of those ancient Greeks who sought
the fleece, sleeping dragons lay awaiting
the column on their march.
These reptilian foes are of many different shapes, sizes and 'colors, yet are
mostly recognizable. But some are sly
and hide themselves as if surrounded by
a fog so that they may appear to be
marching within the ranks of the liberators. They are misunderstood (or rather
they breed misunderstanding) in the
ranks of the freedom-fighters who trustingly direct their attention to other surroundings - ever cautious for ambushes
from without but unaware of treachery
from within their own ranks.
Such misunderstandings within the
ranks come in strange shapes. Some confuse motives, making the stragglers of
the column drop off unbeknown to
those ahead. Some confuse the meaning
of the goal which the struggle seeks to
gain. Some ignore the rhythm of the
drummer so that the column loses step
and gives ground to the enemy. Some
confuse the goal with others. The most
dangerous of all these serpents though is
the one who confuses the identity of
their own army as a whole.
The crowds of liberated minds along
the way see the troops less clearly and
become discouraging to troops in need
of support. The bearers of sustenance
for the weary troops are unable to locate the column to deliver their burdens
where they are needed.
What was once an army of liberation
is now only a scattering of individuals
chanting the battlecry alone, their heads
peaking out of the fog here and there like
blades of grass in fields of snow. The
battle anthem has been silenced for the
lookers-on, for the emphasis is now on
one head here or there and not on the

Page 34

union of all.
Times have not changed that much in
these many years, for as we fight today
for that freedom of the mind, hanging
on the tree of liberty as the fleece of
Jason's day hung on a lonely branch far
from. reach, the dragon of misunderstanding weaves its path among us. We
are seen as personalities rather than the
army we are. Mercenary soldiers whose
thoughts are strengthened by the memories of those of brave heart who went
before them are now stranded, awaiting
the supplies needed on the front. Only
with adequate support can the war
continue. If the lines of supply are cut
the army will perish.
Mercenaries
We are your mercenaries, hired by
those who care to be liberated but who
have not the taste for the battle required
to gain the victory. We are willing to
taste the bitterness of the front day
after day, but only as long as we know
that the lines of supply will be kept
open with more than just minimal
rations for many battles yet to come.
A comforting word is always welcome, but' in the face of any foe another
round of ammunition is always more
fortifying. Keep the supply lines open.
Dig deeper into the raw materials where

.:rACK FROST

July, 1978

it

GOO

they can be found but keep the forge

producing those bullets.
Those who desire others to sow for
them that they may reap must provide
the seed. This is all we ask through our
journal and our letters month after
month after month. This we will continue to ask, hoping that you will not
permit the dragon of misunderstanding
to screen our efforts and our needs
with its foul breath.
Feel free to keep your cards and
letters coming, but don't be offended
when we use them for fuel for our
campfires.
Atheists and other Americans as well
have but two roads. Sit behind the walls
and load the guns for those in front, or
join them on the line. Hopefully you
will choose to join us out front rather
than to reload in the dark; but as long
as you will back us we welcome you
just the same.
The third option should hardly be
given comment at all, but sad as it may
seem there are some who prefer neither
to load or to fight. In the face of history's challenge they mouth the infamous evasion of Bartle by the Scrivener,
"I would prefer not to." For them,
freedom must slip from their grasp forever.
From those of us still in the march,
we miss you. Come along.

Three of a Kind"

SANTA CLAUS

The American

Atheist

m[k m@WD@W

By
Lloyd

Deceptions s Myths
Of The Bible

Graham

Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, Is the Holy Bible Holy?

Is It the Word of God? by Lloyd M. Graham, is a 4S4-page
hardback book, 9';4 by 6';4 inches, printed by University Books,
Inc., of Secaucus, N.J., in 1975.
The dust jacket declares:

"Lloyd M. Graham writes that the Bible is not 'the word of

God,' but a steal from pagan sources. Its Eden, including Adam
and Eve, were taken from the Babylonian account; its Flood
and Deluge are but an epitome of some four hundred flood accounts; its Ark and Ararat have their equivalents in a score of
Deluge myths; even the names of Noah's sons are copies, so also were Isaac's sacrifice, Solomon's judgment, and Samson's
pillar act. Moses is fashioned after the Syrian Mises; the laws
after Hammurabi's code. These are but a few of the myths he
discusses. How then can the Bible be a revelation?
"The masses never read the sources of these myths, and the
churchmen who did kept silent about them. In Lloyd Graham's
study, he claims his uncovering these deceptions and myths will
help everyone acquire sufficient enlightment and knowledge
to discover what is false. Graham believes it is time this scriptural tyranny was broken so that we may devote our time to
man instead of God and to civilizing ourselves instead of saving our souls that were never lost."
That's only the beginning.
Graham has done his homework - the tree of life (of which
Adam and Eve partook) he traces to the Greeks, the old Norse,
the Hindus, the Tibetans, the Druids, the Chinese - and that
snake who tempted Eve is Kneph (from Egypt), Naga (from
the Buddhists and the Mayans), Narayan (from the Hindus).
The ark, the Argha of the Hindus, the Cista of the Greeks,
the Argo of the Argonauts, Pandora's Box - came, all, finally to rest - on Mt. Nisir for the Babylonians, on Mt. Himalaya
for the Hindus, on Mt. Parnassus for the Greeks and on Mt.
Arath for the Aramaics.
The author is a scholar: "All the temples of Egypt had carved on their walls Nuk Pu Nuh, the Hindus had their Tat
Twam Asi, and the Persians their Ahmi Yat Ahmi - all the
Old Testament's 'I am that I am'."
He is a smart aleck: About god's covenant with Abraham circumcision - he quips "If the removal of the foreskin was
so important to God, why did he put it on in the first place?"
He accuses: "No man loves God, and any man who says he
does is 'a liar and the truth is not in him.' You cannot love
what you do not know, .. ."
He instructs: " ... peace, justice, health and prosperity ....
If these things come from God, and prayer be the modest price
thereof, why is the world so devoid of them? ... It is for us to
create these things, not beg them form alleged divinity. For

Austin,

Texas

thousands of years we have been begging this divinity for

peace, and only now we are realizing that we ourselves must
establish it, ... [man's] search for truth, his hope for peace,
his efforts towards law and order, what are they but human
efforts ... ?"
He belabors god: "He tells us to 'take no thought' for anything, 'for your heavenly father knoweth your need before ye
ask him' - a perfect example of that 'false security' under
which we have lived .... Refuse to take thought for your own
welfare and this 'heavenly father' will let you starve. Take no
thought for health and hygiene and you die of this 'heavenly
father's' murderous parasites. Take no thought for economic
justice and you become an industrial slave. Take no thought
for political justice and you have a world at war. Caring for
these things is precisely our business, .. ."
He cries out in horror: that the Bible is "to frighten the ignorant into submission to it; it is wild imagery, but intellectual
terrorism used to gain power."
He demands answers: "If these constant companions [the
disciples] of Jesus were historical characters, how is it St. Paul
knew nothing about them? If Christ chose Peter to head [the
church] why did the apostles ignore his wish and elect 'James
the Just' instead?"
He judges: " ... there are only savagery, cruelty, pain and
death in the Bible. And this is what constitutes its truth; the
rest is lies. "
He condemns prayer: "Man owes God nothing; not even
thanks. Whatever is, exists because of necessity, not divine sufferance ... "
As he deals with history and facts, he is atheistic; but as he
builds up a counter-interpretation
of ancient and present cosmological theories he falls into the same pit that recieved our
own Anne Besant. He out-obscures Madame H.P. Blavatsky
with astral planes, eka elements, group-soul, astral matter, race
memory and man as "special ideation." He obscures and obfuscates as he skillfully weaves his own theories of evolution
extending beyond the physical and into the epigenetic soul
consciousness of man.
He propounds that we must free ourself from matter, in
this our existing "third and one-half" plane of "creative processing." He admonishes that we must become divine - and
then, casually, notes "that man is God's moral superior" for
"the only virtue required of anyone is social decency, ... "
It is necessary for the readers to sort out the confusion and this may not be so easily done except by the more knowledgeable and sophisticated Atheist.
Because of this difficulty, we have ordered only a limited
number of this volume - and they are first-come, first-serve
for our intellectual heavyweights. - Reviewed by M O'Hair.
* * * $14.95 plus $.50 postage and handling. * * *

July, 1978

Page 35

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July, 1978

The American Atheist

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$14.95
The subject matter deals with the total effort to remove prayer from public schools
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436
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Professor Carter, after 20 years of
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$3.00
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This extraordinary book is a clear,
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Robert G. Ingersoll
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AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.

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