American Atheists Essential Reading List

Enjoy the introductory information provided in these books, which are of topics of interests to Atheists. These titles represent only
a fraction of the books available from American Atheist Press, yet collectively they provide a broad overview of Atheist thought.

Atheism Advanced: Further Thoughts of a Free Thinker by David Eller

An anthropologist advances Atheists and

16010

$22.00

490

Paperback

Christianity before Christ by John G. Jackson

Christian doctrines are traced to their
in older

5200

$14.00

237

Paperback

The Case Against Religion LJVMIl.'''''''

A psychotherapist's view of the harmful
of
belief.

5096

Living in the Light by Anne R. Stone

Subtitled "Freeing Your Child from the Dark Ages"
This book serves as a manual for Atheist

5588

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

American Atheist Radio Series episodes about the myth
that our
fathers created a Christian nation.

5400

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

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

5412

$18.00

288

Paperback

The Bible Handbook by G. W Foote, W P

et
A compilation of biblical absurdities, contradictions,
immoralities and obscenities.

5008

$17.00

372

Paperback

An Atheist Epic by Madalyn O'Hair

The personal story of the battle to end mandatory prayer
and bible recitation in schools in the United States.

5376

$18.00

302

Paperback

65 Press Interviews by Robert G. Ingersoll

Ingersoll's 19th-century newspaper interviews
as a Freethinker and
of

5589

5.00

262

Paperback

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

Why attempts to reconcile religion with civil

5419

Paperback

$12.00

57

Stapled

157

Paperback

70

Stapled

----------,~~~----------~--,------------------~-

"H_~-~'-~'@~'H~~:""""7."'~~~~

__

__

~._,_@m_H

~~!~~fo~lr_~w~o~m~e~n!..:a~r~e~~~!~~~~~~!~.~,~~~~_~~ ~~."'~
The Jesus the Jews Never Knew by Frank R. Zindler
A search of ancient Jewish literature yields no evidence
for the existence of
historical Jesus.
The Great Infidels by Robert G. Ingersoll
How nonbelievers and Atheists have contributed
to civilization and enriched our lives.

5197

80

The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus by Rene Salm

Jesus couldn't have come from Nazareth
because no one was living there at the time.

16014

401

Illustrated Stories From The Bible by Paul Farrell

You can bet this book won't ever be used
In Sunday Schools!

16000

$16.00

172

16005

$18.00

291

______

=_

,,_,_.,

~~

Paperback
~

__

Paperback

Jesus is Dead by Robert M. Price

Not only is there no reason to believe Jesus rose from the
~':':"W"Hw."'~:H..::... ...:...
:"":""; __

......__

.~h~e,-eMv~er
lived or died at ~

=========================.

Please see the order form enclosed with this magazine for member discounts and shipping details, or consult www.atheists.org.

Sept/Oct 2009

AMERICAN ATHEIST

Vol 47, No.7

ISSN 0516-9623
ISSN 1935-8369
AMERICAN

(Print)
(Online)

ATHEIST

PRESS

Managing Editor
Frank R. Zindler
editor@atheists.org

'A Journal

AMERICAN
of Atheist

ATHEIST
News and Thought'

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Photo

Kiny McCarrick
Published monthly
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also in this edition ...

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In Love with the Preacher

Book Review: The Holy Bible

12

Preachers Who See the Sham

14

Usvs. Them

16

Book Review: Jesus Is Dead

18

How to Win Friends & Influence People to Aheism

21

Suffer the Little Children

24

Dangers of Tribalism & Pulp Christianity

30

Book Review: Snapshots Behind the Facade

32

Religion

34

Oh Ye of Little Faith

2009

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AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

In

Love
with the

Preacher"
nthe 1740s, the Wesley brothers,

both of them

prominent preachers, attracted many young women.

Falling in love with the brothers, several young women

bestowed much of their wealth and carnal lust on them. It is

said that in these forsaken times, the women led dull lives.
For example, this weaver's

daughter, Elizabeth Johnson,

admitted that when she saw how much good others were
getting from their sermons, (and the hanky panky that
followed) she didn't want to be left out. Marriage was a
violent curse to most women. Their entire life was spent in
pregnancies, drudgeries, domestic abuse, and deprivation of
education.

poorer, in sickness and health, till death shall convey me into

In their mind, the gospels meant an escape. Women saw

the gospels as a reality in another time and place, where they
wanted to travel to like through a mirror. The mysticism of
knowing Jesus became an obsession that drove away the
pain of bearing child after child and the despair of seeing
one child live and the next one die. Meeting Jesus became a
goal. A voyage. A shift. A lift to happiness.
Women

readied

themselves

entirely,

and

is said to have been ready with "spirit, flesh, and bone" for
him, and wanted him, "for better, for worse, for richer, for
AMERICAN

ATHEIST

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

These emotional and sexual desires were laid at the feet

of their preachers; the Wesley brothers made known in the
community that they (both) represented Jesus on earth. "She
has longed for my coming as a child for the breast," preached
Charles Wesley. His diary is full of innuendoes.

Double

entendres crafted from the Scriptures were hurled from the

mentally

physically, to meet Jesus at any cost. One Martha Barham

his dear arms and bosom."

pulpit at the congregation in a measured jab to impose on the

weaker sex, much what we still hear in Polygamist churches
in northern America in the 21 st Century.
The fact that women devote more time in church with

the preacher than at home with the family is a case study

Angela Coutts, Dickens's benefactor in all this and heir

for historians and writers alike. In English literature, the

to the Coutts Bank-then

and now the bank to the Royals-

attraction of the lonely woman to the vicar is prevalent.

was the richest woman in London during the industrial

In his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

revolution and a close friend of Queen Victoria. She wanted

repeatedly ridicules this. During his entire career he skillfully

to give the former prisoners (all girls 18-25) who had had

mocks the preachers who live off gullible women. When the

miserable lives and were almost all illiterate-some

evangelical Angela Coutts partnered with Dickens to help

had slept under her windows in Piccadilly-a

rescue young 'fallen' women from the streets of London in

of literary and musical education and household skills to

mid Victorian boom times, he resolutely curbed her wishes to

boost their self-dignity before being literally shipped to their

put preachers in charge of the Urania Cottage where the girls

new destination. She was very ahead of her times.

of whom

certain degree

were to be re-educated before being sent off to Australia.

Dickens's dedication and ultimate success of the Urania

As he had shown in Pickwick, Dickens was well aware that

Home makes me wonder with much sincerity how Lewis

if he was to lift these young women out of the vices that

Carroll would have run the enterprise?

had brought them to their 'fallen' state, he could not trust

of Alice in Wonderland, an Anglican deacon, have made

religious men. To this day, the Church of Rome has proven

pornographic photography ofthe 'inmates' like he did of the

Dickens's precautions wise.

real Alice when she was not yet an adolescent? And would

Would the author

In her recently published Dickens and the Home for Fallen

he have passed those pictures around while he was drinking

Women, Jenny Hartley compares the relationship between

with his fellow clergymen and bishops by the fireplace like

the interviews Dickens had with the young delinquents when

he did with Alice's nude photos? Dickens made one wise

they were introduced to the Home and the characters in his

decision, didn't he?

novels. The living conditions and conduct of these young

thieves and prostitutes inspired Dickens to create the prose
he is loved for worldwide. Trust me, novels they are not.

Patrick Bens is a Life-Member of American Atheists.

Most of Dickens's stories are very real. They are more like
reporting than fantasy. After all, Dickens started out as a
reporter-and

a very good one.

Poor performance

Atheist radio
HOORAY fOR the wonderful,

Is religion a cancer of the mind?

How does one become an Atheist?
Will religion fade out in 100 years?
Are you a closet Atheist?
Is religion the largest business in the world?
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Are most wars a result of religions?
Do heaven and hell really exist?
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plus essays, articles, stories, poems, songs, and famous quotations.
Read the winning entry from the
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009"

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

left to chuckle to ourselves as we see the humour injected in

and cultural importance of the bible, so I thought I

the story of our creation as the god punishes Adam and Eve

might read it from cover to cover and see what all the

for breaking a law that they never understood was wrong.

here are very few books that can rival the historical

fuss is about. Honestly, aside from the literal inconsistencies

Men are sentenced to hard labour for eternity, and women

and the need for a deep-seeded suspension of disbelief, I

are sentenced to have painful childbirth woven into their

thought the bible was a quality supernatural thriller to the

design. For the agent of Lucifer, a symbolic punishment

core and a fantastic allegory for a person's ability to inflict

was needed to maintain the illusion of opposition to god,

suffering on him or herself.

so the snake is cursed to crawl on its belly for all its days.

The main character ('God')

in the book is cleverly

Clearly, this is not really much of a punishment for a snake,

disguised as the all-knowing, all-loving maker of humanity,

but it is the first good humour in the book to see the snake

but he is clearly established as villain to the reader within a

penalized in such an overtly favourable way. This humorous

few short pages.

irony in consequence seems to show the collusion between

His Machiavellian 'scheme to create man as an Orwellian

plaything for his own cruel
purpose is sheer genius of
story-writing. It is a tale akin
to Frankenstein's

creature,

where the creature is man

as he attempts to live up to
the cruel dictates of a master

B00 kS in Review:

The Bible
Jason Burgoyne

who created him to be unable

double

The
veneer

and

genius

manipulation

in

continue

without much subtlety for

hundreds of pages. If you
are squeamish in reading
about

murder,

daughters

into

selling
the sex

to do so. This is evident from the beginning (Genesis), as the

trade, human sacrifice, war, plunder, genocide, rape, infant

author shows us that man is created with no understanding

killings, and slavery, then this book may not be for you,

of right and wrong but is still punished for disobeying the

as the bible can't seem get enough of it. The masterwork

edicts of his nefarious creator. You can almost hear the god's

of this manipulation

villainous laughter over the manipulation of man, whom the

now knows what good is (the forbidden tree of knowledge

god created to fall for these evil traps, and you can't help

gave him that skill), but the god still is able to convince

but wonder how man will escape such tyranny with the odds

him to partake in these terrible, immoral and sometimes

stacked so heavily against him.

nonsensical things (do not plant seeds of different plants?!)

It is in this portion of the story that the god's complex

cohort and double agent, Lucifer, is introduced, seemingly
to help man in his plight. Lucifer is presented to the reader
as the scheming villain while he reveals the god's adroit lie
regarding the tree of knowledge, but quickly we can see
how he is the god's accomplice in his scheme to manipulate
and humiliate man for his own sick pleasure. Lucifer's right
hand man, the snake, helps nudge Adam through Eve (the
first members of our protagonist group that we meet) into
the trap set for them by convincing them to defy the rules
and eat from the forbidden tree. He persuades them to eat
the fruit so that they, too, can be gods, and not knowing
right from wrong, they do it.
BAM!!!
God's cruel plan is fulfilled, and both the god and Lucifer
settle back for a good laugh at humanity's expense. We are

the antagonists against man.

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

'2009

of man comes with the fact that he

in the name of love and goodness. He is like a used car

salesman in that he seems to be able to cover his motives
for evil so well as to bring all of humanity to his cause and
convince us to buy a Kia for the same price as a Mercedes.
This gives the antagonist much pleasure and helps to build
our sympathy for a protagonist who is doomed to play the
part as marionette to a wicked puppeteer in this tragic tale.
When the god's schemes become too great and bring
the world to a state of toiling in its own filth, the god kills
them all to wipe all evidence of his crimes with a flood and
starts all over with only a very naive Noah and his family
to repopulate (with clearly no knowledge of what 'incest'

inconsistencies. Dates are not the same from one chapter

to another, numbers of generations counted are wrong from
page to page, laws and rules contraindicate, and accounts of
story vary greatly depending on the author (the apostles) of
a given chapter. I can forgive much of this in the name of
poetic license, but a greater hand could have been taken in
the editing process.
In the end if you are looking for a book that will bring
you to the edge of your seat with terror, to bring rage to the
fore of your emotion for the injustice, and to bring tears
of sympathy to your heart for man's plight, then this is
the book for you. Quite simply, it has all the makings of a
good Roman Polanski film. Murder, conniving schemes, a
powerful villain, lust, sex, sacrifice, betrayal and the hope of
redemption (that never comes) fill this book from beginning
to end.
If you can see into the allegory for our own existence
and our tendency as humans to work against our own best
interests and past the blood and gore, then this book is a
great cautionary tale. A tale that warns us of our own selfdestructive tendencies (represented by the god) and our
ability to follow without thought the edicts of an absolute
morality that we seem to crave.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars with a bonus star for historical
significance for a total of 4/5.
Now back to the reading and my next project,
Dianetics!

means).
The book slows down from time to time with a bit of
drudgery as the author seems to enjoy his genealogy, but it
picks back up again with the story and all its violence and
lust very shortly after.
I don't want to give away the whole story of manipulation
and deception, but suffice to say that in the second book, the
god tries a new and far more subtle tactic. The genius in
this new approach is that when the reader begins to find
the burden of suspension of disbelief too heavy to carry,
and just when the reader feels like the god's immorality and
violence is too much for man to continue believing that the
god is motivated by good, the god changes his approach and
sends his son with his message of 'peace.' Jesus takes an
outwardly gentler hand that has us falling right back in line
alongside man for a while. Jesus's motivation is given away
to the reader only when, after selling his message of peace, *SPOILER ALERT*
he surprises you by reinforcing all of the god's old rules. Jesus dies on page 681
Now with the message of peace and the continued violence
from the old laws, confusion begins to grow for man.
Jason Burgoyne in a twelve-year veteran in the Canadian
At the end of this tragedy, all of the people that remain military whose interests are philosophy, activist, and
loyal to the cruel joke in hope of the reward that the god Atheism.
promises are guerdoned with the 'rapture.' This is the
ultimate realization of the tragedy and the raptured are sent
to an alternate dimension to continue to toil in the ego of
their tormentor's selfish entertainment for all time. Those
who choose not to accept his conditional, unconditional love
find themselves in a sadistic torture pit of the god's making.
This is the terrible secret: with the god in the picture, we
lose either way.
It is certainly an epic in terror and genius in character
development in its portrayal of man as the eternal victim
of his own making. My only real issue are the constant

www .atheists .org

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2Q09

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

10

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

Reading a friend's magazine?

Good ... Now get your own!

_IWIIAil.

IllEMlli;\Cl.Ei

""""
.... """-

~'-~"'

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11

eep inside, some preachers slowly realize that

deities and devils, heavens and hells, and miracles
and messiahs are fairy tales. But they don't dare
reveal their qualms, so they hedge in the pulpit, living a
pose. However, a few have integrity enough to chuck it allpublicly. Here are four famous cases:

CHARLES TEMPLETON
Growing up in Toronto, Templeton was 'saved' at a
revival, started his own church, and rose to be Canada's top
evangelist in the 1940s. He joined Billy Graham in revivals
across America and Europe.
But Templeton
suffered
doubts. Trying to make his
religion rational, he earned
a
degree
from
Princeton
Theological
Seminary,
then
became a special preacher for the

Wh 0

National Council of Churches,

then head of evangelism for the
Presbyterian Church USA.
The changes didn't help. His
doubts wiped out his faith. In 1957, he announced that he
was an agnostic, stunning the evangelical world.
Templeton's intellect took him on to be a Canadian
television commentator-then
managing editor of the
Toronto Star-then
a leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
- then an advertising executive-then
editor of Maclean
Magazine-then
a host of a daily radio show. In the 1990s,
he wrote Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the
Christian Faith.
His book says Christianity rests on 'fables' that no
educated person can swallow. The church teaches "beliefs that
are outdated, demonstrably untrue, and often ... deleterious to
individuals and to society," he wrote.
Page after page, he lists Bible miracles that are absurd.
Then he asks how an all-merciful father-creator could have
designed cruelty:
"All life is predicated on death. Every carnivorous
creature must kill and devour .... Why does God's grand design
require creatures with teeth designed to crush spines or rend
flesh , claws fashioned to seize and tear, venom to paralyze,
mouths to suck blood, coils to constrict and smother-even
expandable jaws so that prey may be swallowed whole and
alive? .. How could a loving and omnipotent God create such
horrors?"
His book concludes: "I believe that there is no supreme
being with human attributes-no God in the biblical sensebut that all life is the result of timeless evolutionary forces ....
I believe that, in common with all living creatures, we die
and cease to exist." Templeton ceased to exist in 2001.
AMERICAN

ATHEIST

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

Instead of writing a book about his apostasy, Gortner

made a movie.
He was born in the underbelly of religion. His parents
were California evangelists whose revivals were hokum.
Onstage, they exchanged secret signals and roused worshipers
to emotional peaks to extract large offerings. They sold 'holy'
gimmicks guaranteed to heal. They named their son Marjoe
for Mary and Joseph, and trained him as a squeaky child
preacher. They drilled him in sermons and stage antics.

See the Sham

12

MARJOE GORTNER

James A. Haught

For ten years, Marjoe performed across the Bible Belt.

He estimated that his parents reaped $3 million. Then Marjoe
ran off at 14 with an older woman. Eventually he returned
to the revival circuit, strutting and prancing. Money rolled
in again.
Gortner knew that his religious act was a sham, yet he
had an honest streak and decided to expose his own fraud. He
engaged a movie crew to film his' revivals, then follow him
to hotel rooms where he tossed armfuls of money, crowing,
"Thank you, Jesus!"
The film, Marjoe, jolted the fundamentalist world in
1972. Gortner became a minor movie star and recording
artist, although he went bankrupt while attempting to produce
a movie about a crooked evangelist.
During Gortner's revival heyday, another star was faithhealer A.A. Allen, who toured with jars containing bodies
he said were demons he had cast out of the sick. (Doubters
said they were frogs.) Allen vanished from a West Virginia
revival and was found dead of alcoholism in a San Francisco
hotel room, his pockets crammed with cash.
Gortner said Allen once taught him how to tell when a
revival is finished and it's time to go to the next city: "When
you can turn people on their head and shake them and no
money falls out, you know God's saying, 'Move on, son.'''

JAMES BALDWIN
Some bookish Americans may not know that Baldwin,
the great black author, formerly was a boy evangelist like
Gortner.
Baldwin grew up in Harlem, where his tyrannical
stepfather was a Pentecostal preacher. In a New Yorker essay
titled 'Down at the Cross,' Baldwin recounted how, one night
at a prayer meeting, "Everything came roaring, screaming,
crying out, and I fell to the ground before the altar. It was
the strangest sensation I have ever had in my life." Newly
'saved,' he became a 14-year-old junior preacher and became
"a much bigger drawing card than my father."
"That was the most frightening time of my life, and
quite the most dishonest, and the resulting hysteria lent great
passion to my sermons-for a while," Baldwin wrote. Since
crime and vice filled surrounding streets, he said, "It was
my good luck-perhaps-that
I found myself in the church
racket instead of some other."
While he tingled to the 'fire and excitement' of
Pentecostalism, he nonetheless experienced "the slow
crumbling of my faith." It occurred "when I began to read
again .... I began, fatally, with Dostoevsky." He continued
handing out gospel tracts, but knew they were "impossible
to believe."
"I was forced, reluctantly, to realize that the Bible itself
had been written by men." He dismissed the claim that the
Bible writers were divinely inspired, saying he "knew by now,
alas , far more about divine inspiration than I dared admit, for
I knew how I worked myself up into my own visions."
The ex-minister wrote that he might have stayed in the
church if "there was any loving-kindness to be found" in it,
but "there was no love in the church. It was a mask for hatred
and self-hatred and despair."
At 17, Baldwin left religion forever. He later caIIed
himself a 'nothing' theologically. In 'Down at the Cross,' he
summed up:
"Life is tragic simply because the Earth turns and the sun
inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun
will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root
of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all
the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems,
taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races,
armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death,
which is the only fact we have." For Baldwin, the sun went
down a last, last time in 1987.

DAN BARKER
How do supernatural beliefs die? Very slowly, in many
small expansions of the mind-according
to Barker, who
evolved from teenage evangelist to Atheist.
"It was a gradual process, a growth," he says. "It would
be like asking you, 'When did you grow up?'"
At fifteen, Barker experienced a hysterical conversion
at a California revival and then plunged into religiosity. A
gifted musician, he rose in the born-again culture. He married
a gospel singer and they toured the revival circuit for eight
years. But doubts crept in. In his book, Losing Faith in Faith,
he explained:
"It was some time in 1979, turning thirty, when I started
to have some early questions about Christianity .... I began to
read some science magazines, some philosophy, psychology,
daily newspapers (!), and began to catch up on the liberal
arts education I should have had years before. This triggered
a ravenous appetite to learn, and produced a slow but steady
migration across the theological spectrum that took about
four or five years. I had no sudden, eye-opening experience.
When you are raised as I was, you don't just snap your fingers
and say, 'Oh, siIIy me! There's no God.'"
During his backslide, he suffered shame as he continued
preaching: "I felt hypocritical, often hearing myself mouth
words about which I was no longer sure, but words that
the audience wanted to hear .... I became more and more
embarrassed at what I used to believe, and more attracted
to rational thinkers.... I no longer believed what I was
preaching."
Barker's transformation wrecked his marriage. Finally,
he wrote a mass letter to former colleagues, telling them: "I
can no longer honestly caII myself a Christian."
Today, Barker is co-president of the Freedom From
Religion Foundation. He's just as exuberant for inteIIectual
honesty as he once was for fundamentalism.
In addition to the few who make dramatic public breaks,
some other ministers switch to social work or charity service.
How many more remain in the pulpit, reciting dogmas they
don't believe, afraid to face their real selves? Perhaps, like
Tolstoy's Ivan Ilytch, in the final hour before death, they will
see that their lives were meaningless.
James A. Haught is editor of West Virginia s largest
newspaper, The Charleston Gazette. He has written eight
skeptic books and sixty magazine essays.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

13

Us vs. Them

Herb Silverman

But Who Is Us and Who Is Them?

ow many of you are proud to be Atheists? Well,

[See secular.org]. I was thrilled to recently

I'm not, just like I'm not proud to be a Round-

President Ed Buckner that the American Atheists board voted

Earther. I'm mostly disappointed that Atheism isn't

to apply for admission.

the default for all of us who live on this side of Copernicus,

Our organizations are motivated by a desire to speak

Darwin, and the Big Bang. I also wouldn't be particularly

with one loud and clear voice, toward the goal of gaining

proud if were a black .or a gay woman, anymore than I'm

more cultural and political influence, preventing

proud to be a white, heterosexual

theocratic threats to our secular democracy,

man. However, I am

proud to support the rights of African-Americans,

women,

widespread misunderstandings

further

and turning

about our constituency into

and gays. And I'm very proud to be part of a much-needed

greater respect and public acceptance. The gay and lesbian

Atheist movement.

community achieved much of its progress through people

During the 1960s and 70s, I rarely thought about religion.

simply coming out of the closet. Thanks to Richard Dawkins

I assumed that my friends in New York and Massachusetts,

for his wonderful Atheist 'Out Campaign.' And the Secular

where I was living at the time, were also Atheists. Things

Coalition has been urging politicians and others to come

changed when I moved to South Carolina in 1976 and saw

out of their Atheist closets, with some success and more

how important religion was. Things changed a lot in 1990

anticipated.

when I discovered that the South Carolina Constitution

One artificial barrier to cooperation has been what I call

prohibited Atheists from holding public office. Some of you

the 'fixed pie syndrome,'

have heard my 'Candidate Without a Prayer' story about how

of

I challenged this clause and eventually won in the South

own. Poker is an example of a fixed pie, called a zero-sum

Carolina Supreme Court. But that's not my topic for today.

game, where one person's gain is another's loss. However,

'rival' organizations

the false notion that the growth

must be at the expense of your

During my political campaign, I remember thinking

collaboration with nontheistic organizations is not a zero-

how nice it would be were there a national organization that

sum game. For every Atheist and Humanist in all of our

promoted Atheism. Then I found one, which I joined. I found

combined organizations are thousands who have never heard

another, which I also joined. And others. I joined them all.

of any of them.

But skeptic that I am, I wondered why I hadn't heard of any

of them before. Each acted as if other like-minded groups
didn't exist.
Then a metaphorical light bulb went on for me. I had a
vision-ofthe

Christian Coalition-and

I saw that we should

Our players can cooperate in creating a bigger pie, to

the benefit of all. Many who find one of our organizations
wind up joining several others, as I did. This mixture of
cooperation and competition is known as 'co-opetition,'

term used in economics and mathematical game theory. In

be more like them. Though we disagree with everything

cooperative games, players form coalitions, reach agreements,

they stand for, they had a terrific model: Put aside minor

complement one another's strengths and weaknesses, and

theological differences, work together on important political

work together to create a bigger pie. Organizations continue

issues, and grab media attention. That was their scheme for

to promote themselves and compete, with each group getting

changing the culture and making politicians take notice.

a bigger slice than it had before.

Their strategy of demonizing nonbelievers and moving this

14

learn from

Blacks,

women,

Jews, and gays have successfully

country closer to a theocracy worked all too well. I'm willing

asserted their right to be treated fairly. They worked for

to learn from anyone who has something to teach us, even

an end to discrimination, demanded a place at the table of

the Christian Coalition.

public opinion, formed special interest groups, and lobbied

Thus the creation of the Secular Coalition for America,

for political and social change. Discrimination against these

consisting of nine national nontheistic member organizations

groups continues, but not without consequences. Now it's our

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

turn! Atheists have not been as influential as many smaller

Secular Coalition. Then I joined the American Ethical Union,

interest groups, in part because we're an independent lot,

another nontheistic religion, when they joined the Secular

not easy to organize. If we can be recognized as a cohesive

Coalition. Finally, I joined my local Unitarian Church after

unit with shared values and expectations, then we can attain

they invited me to give a sermon on Positive Atheism, and

significant power. This will require those of us within the

most of them agreed with what I said, even when I was

secular community

making fun of them.

to stop focusing on relatively petty

disagreements, almost always having to do with semantics,

and unite to establish our legitimacy as a demographic.

you'll feel comfortable working with other nontheists who

We must build and sustain coalitions among freethinkers,

as well as between freethinkers

So I hope you won't hold my religions against me and that

and liberal religionists.

may lead with different words. Whether we call ourselves

Atheists,

Humanists,

Secular

Humanists,

Agnostics,

We must show our strength in numbers and work for

Freethinkers, Brights, or Rationalists, remember this: we all

opportunities to get a place at the media and political tables.

disbelieve in the same gods! Here's an interesting distinction

The Secular Coalition collaborates and lobbies on issues

between Christians and secularists: Christians have the same

of common interest with a number of organizations

that

unifying word, but fight over theology; secularists have the

are not nontheistic, like the ACLU and Americans United

same unifying theology, but fight over words. At least our

for Separation of Church and State. We also cooperate on

wars are only verbal.

selected issues with explicitly theistic organizations, like the

I said earlier that I wanted our organizations to grow, but

Interfaith Alliance and Baptist Joint Committee for Religious

my real goal is to put American Atheists out of business-

Liberty. Working with such diverse groups provides the

along with all the other organizations, including the Secular

additional benefit of gaining more visibility and respect

Coalition. I'm hoping and working for a day when there will

within the larger culture for our unique perspective.

be no more need of a Freethought Coalition than there is for

Now for my most controversial

pronouncement:

we

have too much fun and waste too much time talking about
the Judeo-Christian

god and quoting the Bible, much like

a Round-Earth Coalition. But we're not there yet!

I urge you to go to secular.org and sign up for Action
Alerts about upcoming

legislation.

The more responses

Christian fundamentalists do. I plead guilty to such a 'sin,'

members of Congress receive from our community, the more

confessing with a couple of personal examples. When asked

attention they will pay to our issues. With the formation of

to say grace before a meal, I've been known to quote from

the Secular Coalition for America, we're finding our voice

Malachi 2: "I will corrupt your offspring, and spread dung

and power as a unit. Our movement has been compared

on your faces." Amen. Or I might belt out the daily Jewish

to herding

prayer, "Thank God I was not born a woman!"

cohesive

Of course, we can have such biblical fun at Atheist

conventions

or when debating

fundamentalists,

but we

cats, as uniting
community

secular Americans

requires

vigilance,

into a

determination,

and a significant investment of resources. The end result,

however, will be well worth it-an

America that respects

turn off potential allies when we assume all religionists are

nontheistic viewpoints, and an America where the influence

fundamentalists,

of conservative religion is mainly limited to within the walls

asking them to justify passages they find

every bit as absurd as we do. As Atheists, we won't win

of churches, not the halls of Congress.

friends and influence people by whining about past injustices

or unhappy religious upbringings. I think we should look

Herb Silverman delivered a longer version of this essay at

for opportunities to bring moderate religionists to our side.

the American Atheists Conference on April 10, 2009.

Movements are most successful when they appeal to folks

outside the group.
You know, I'm probably the most religious person here,
which doesn't say very much in a room full of godless
infidels. But by one measure, I might be the most religious
person in the entire country. You see, I have not one, not two,
but three religions-more

than Pat Roberson and Osama Bin

Laden combined! First I joined the Society for Humanistic

Judaism, consisting of Atheist Jews, when they joined the

www .atheists .org

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009 . AMERICAN

ATHEIST

15

Review of Robert M. Price's Jesus Is Dead

Cranford, New Jersey:
American Atheist Press, 2007.
Review by Bill Hamp/

are, so to speak, each taking a crack

rationalization.

high-level seminary course,

at finishing Edwin Drood. They are

individual has staked everything on a

Robert M. Price remembers

writing fiction" (5).

belief and it seems to be destroyed by

When

group

or

"being impressed with what a fragile

As Price sees it, the problem is not

mind-game it all was" (2) and notes

the creativity of the authors but the

inconvenient

that

demands that readers invest upon the

to believe, especially when reinforced

finished products-that

by one's fellow believers, makes any

"the

conceptual

bridges

[the professors

teaching]

build dwarfed

the Bridge

they

sought

to

these products

the facts, any reinterpretation

of the

facts will do. The will

over the

are historical and 'gospel' truth. Price

explanation

River Kwai" (3). His book examines

notes, "I have tried to show how the

foolish it may look to outsiders" (61).

inconsistencies

inconsistencies

To put it another way, believers (in

regarding the biblical

form

discernible

seem plausible,

Jesus and also analyzes the 1990s texts

pattern: that of various creative authors

the bible or in anything

of several theologians.

reworking

over any inconsistencies

a common

draft to gain

however

else) gloss
and surround

When discussing New Testament

different effects. Not bad witnesses, but

themselves with other people who also

authors, Price notes that Mathew and

good storytellers. Not on the witness

believe and also gloss over the same

Luke use another text as the basis for

stand, but around the campfire. And

inconsistencies.

their own, but each comes up with

the parallels with other ancient stories

conflicting

indicate what genre the stories belong

inconsistencies,

these differences is that the 'gospels'

to: they are religious legends. not a bad

them. What he discovers,

of Matthew are Luke are not fact, but

thing. Not unless you want them to be

earlier, is that the gospels are crafted

fiction: "Since each evangelist's

something else: historical reports" (10).

stories. As a case in point, he notes

bears ample marks of that writer's

As long as readers treat these biblical

the impossibility of anyone's knowing

distinctive

the

books as fiction, literature crafted by

what Jesus prayed in the Garden of

be

actual historical' people, no problems

Gethsemane: "We might ask how Mark

that each is making it up as he goes

will result.

knew what Jesus said in prayer in the

along. Similarly, various writers have

When

most

16

s a born-again Christian in a

results.

The

reason

style and vocabulary,

natural

inference

would

for

[text]

However, instead of glossing over

Price

fully engages
an noted

pondering

how believers

Garden

biblical

inconsistencies,

himself tells us explicitly that Jesus

of Gethsemane

when Mark

tried their hand at finishing Dickens's

deal

fragment The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Price

No one would take a second author's

reduction,

"the process whereby the

we realize: [Mark] 'knew' it because

attempt to continue the abrupt work

mind makes any sacrifice necessary

he had made it up, like lines in a play.

of the first to be historical fact. The

to reconcile clashing realities, either

In short . . . an overt clue, which the

very nature of the enterprise shows the

by forsaking the debunked belief or

author took no trouble

whole to be fiction. Matthew and Luke

embracing even the most outrageous

of the fictive character of the whole

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

with
offers

cognitive

dissonance

had excluded any hearers. And then

to disguise,

enterprise" (66). In other words, the

provable, that the central figure of the

separate points, all of which make for

gospels

gospels is not based on any historical

fascinating reading. His final paragraph

individual. Put simply, not only is the

helpfully

theological 'Christ of faith' a synthetic

discussed earlier, at length: "So, then,

construct of theologians-a

Christ may be said to be a fiction in the

are literature,

not divinely

inspired historical narratives.

Readers might find that the most
scintillating

part of Price's

its conclusion.
'Christ

book is

In the final chapter,

a Fiction,'

Price

offers the

Uncle

Sam

figure-if

symbolic
you

travel through time ...

summarizes

what

he has

could

four senses that (1) it is quite possible

and you went

that there was no historical Jesus, (2)

theory that Jesus's existence is akin

back to First-Century

Nazareth,

you

Even if there was, he is lost to us, the

to that of a mascot: "It is quite likely,

would not find a Jesus living there"

result being that there is no historical

though certainly by no means definitely

(272). Price thoroughly

Jesus available to us. Moreover, (3) the

details four

Jesus who 'walks with me and talks

Robert M. Price

with me and tells me I am his own' is

an imaginative visualization and in the
nature of the case can be nothing more
than a fiction. And finally, (4) 'Christ'
as a corporate logo for this and that
religious institution

is a euphemistic

fiction, not unlike Ronald McDonald,

Mickey

Mouse,

or Joe Camel,

purpose

of which

the

is to get you to

swallow a whole raft of beliefs, atti tudes,

and

behaviors

by an act of simple

faith, short-circuiting

the dangerous

process of thinking the issues out to your

own conclusions"

(279). In closing,

Price's brilliant book investigates the

"intellectual
believers

sin" that
commit

when they "fudge the

meaning of [the New
Testament gospels], to
stretch it to mean what

15

[they] want it to mean"

(3).

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

17

practice, long before the 20th century.

the_mind.html),

Battle for the Mind, on the current

They fully appreciate

Mind"

understanding

is not a matter of argumentation and

1957
n
William Sargant published

of techniques for

"indoctrination, brainwashing, and

thought control." Twenty years earlier,

that religion

certainly not a matter of constructing

convincing cases. It is, rather, literally

htm),

"The Battle for the Mind"

(http://www.hissheep.org/
deliverance/the

battle

for_the _mind.html),
and
"The Battle of the Mind"
(http://www.erwm.com/
AntonBoschBattle.htm)

TO
FRIENDS
AND
INFLUENCE
PEOPLE TO
ATHEISM
David Eller

to

name but a few. Apparently,

we atheists are in a battle for
the mind, whether we fully
know it or not, and that reality
calls for a new orientation as
well as new tactics.
As rationalists,

we value

facts and logic and expect

everyone else to respect them.
However, all of the research
into

belief/attitude

change

indicates that facts and logic

are not the decisive elements
in bringing people around to a
new way of thinking. We love
to argue and think that arguing
is effective,
supports

the

but experience
conclusion

of

Carnegie: "You can't win an

argument."
Instead,
"Nine
times out often, argument ends
with each of the contestants
more firmly convinced

than

ever that he is absolutely

right." While we do not have
to follow
suggestions,

all of Carnegie's
we

must

take

seriously the possibility

that

our current approach

is not

the best approach-if,

that is,
we want to actually change
people to our way of thinking on the

to Win Friends and lrifluence People.

a battle for the mind, as numerous

Christian Web-sites clearly illustrate:

Since then we have learned a great deal

"The Battle for Your Mind" (http://

ourselves

more about how beliefs and attitudes

www.ucgstp.org/lit/vt/vt05/mind.
htm), "The Battle of the Mind"

outrage ourselves with the purported

(http://www.sw-mins.org/battle

opponents.

are formed and changed-and

theists

at least have put these methods into

18

(http://www.joycemeyer. orgi

OurMinistries/Everyday
Answers/
The+Battle+In+Your+Mind/default.

How

Dale Carnegie offered advice on How

"The Battle in Your

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

_ oC

god-question and not merely entertain

with our cleverness

stubbornness

and stupidity

and

of our

In a word, we need to

commitment and consistency. "Once

treat the theist! Atheist encounter as

well enough to get by. When they are

supported by a power structure and an

an exercise in applied psychology, of

organized community, they are all the

we

persuasion, of influence.

more powerful and unshakable.

interpersonal pressures to behave

consistently with that commitment"

learn what works and apply it, to

Atheists are obliged to educate

themselves

on the most successful

techniques of attitude-change,

what

Cialdini's

six tools

people

from

their

thought

and

action

we make a choice or take a stand,

to loosen

preconceived
patterns

will

encounter

personal

and

(52). Getting people to commit

themselves to any part of a position

and

to lead them toward the ideas and

behaviors that you want from them

makes them more inclined to accept

tactics" or "weapons of automatic

influence." I can hear many Atheists

begin with reciprocation,

give-and-

verbally and in person is good; getting

favors. People

to them to commit in public and in

objecting already, complaining

that

are more likely to do or think what

writing is even better. Merely evoking

or influence is beneath

you want if you give them something

a positive response (saying something

first.

nice about the group or position)

Robert Cialdini in his book Influence:

Sc ience andPracticecalls "comp Iiance

persuasion

them, even dishonest,

akin to
advertising or indoctrination. Indeed,
the techniques that Sargant, Carnegie,
Cialdini, and many others advocate

take or exchanging

the rest. Getting

Giving creates "a sense of

without a full commitment

noble and unsuccessful, and wallow

I can hear

or small commitment and working up

to a specific or large commitment.

many

Commitment and consistency operate

in our frustration that people don't

get our finely-crafted arguments, or
we can be practical and successful. I

together, for "If I can get you to

make a commitment (that is, to take

Atheists

a stand, to go on record), I will have

assure you that, despite all their highminded rhetoric, theists employ all of
the possible tactics of influence and

set the stage for your automatic and

ill-considered consistency with that

objecting

earlier commitment"

reap the rewards thereof. In the battle

for the mind, Atheists have so far
been unarmed and disorganized, and

six-part

(59).

why churches encourage

already

This is
people to

come down to the altar, to introduce

themselves

our results speak for themselves.

Accordingly, in this short article
I want to share Cialdini's

is better

than nothing. More subtle aspects of

the technique include getting a general

are akin to advertising, but that is

beside the point: they work. We can be

them to commit

meetings

to each other, to attend

regularly,

to

contribute

financially to the group, or to perform

future obligation"

(20), making

to refuse

it

the supposedly

extreme and demanding acts like

tithing or attending sunrise services

plan for effective attitude change. His

and all such analyses start from the

difficult

generous giver. That is one reason

or undergoing

same premises: first, the human mind

ordeals. Like a fraternity

functions in specific ways that make

why religions focus on doing "good

works" or handing out free things

some approaches effectual and other

like bibles: once someone has done a

approaches ineffectual (and frankly,

good turn for you, it is harder to deny

that goes into a commitment, the

greater is its ability to influence the

it is stupid to persist in ineffectual

physical and mental

initiation

or a boot camp, "the more effort

methods), and second, people tend

their requests. Cialdini specifically

mentions the Hare Krishna practice of

to think and act along what Cialdini

distributing flowers; Christian theists

it" (73). Atheism's much looser

structure-making
no demands on

calls "fixed action patterns."

This
"automatic, stereotyped behavior is

offer everything

people, allowing them to come and

child care and marriage counseling.

go as they please, often letting them

prevalent in much of human action,"

The point is to get people through the

be anonymous

precisely because "in many cases, it is

door and then to get them to feel some

in weaker commitment to groups and

the most efficient form of behaving"

debt, which they repay with loyalty

to the cause.

(7). Fixed action patterns are "short

and increasing commitment.

cuts" of thought that frequently work

The

second

from free soup to

tool,

attitudes

of the person who made

and passive-results

Social proof
then,

IS

is the third tool,

which holds that "We view a behavior

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009

- AMERICAN ATHEIST

19.

as correct in a given situation to the

more valuable to us when they are less

degree that we see others performing

available" (200). People are motivated

it" (99). People are persuaded by

other people, not by facts---or, other

when something is limited in supply

and time, or when they are afraid of

people's belief is a fact. "The greater

losing something they already have,

the number of people who find any idea

or especially when something is in

correct, the more a given individual

will perceive the idea to be correct"

high demand. Religions of course

often claim to be dealing in scarce

(108-09). Here too religion has the

edge, since they are in the majority

goods, like salvation or remittance

of sins. If there are more people than

and regularly encourage members to

can get into heaven, the (alleged)

only consult other members as models

fact inspires competition for the few

for behavior. "Cults" with their own

remammg spaces.

isolated compounds are only the most

extreme version of a general religious

have some

tendency.
An obvious but important facet

these areas: we are, among other

things, a minority with few goodies

of influence

is liking: people

are

distinct

advantages

in

(like eternal life) to offer. And some

more inclined to think and act like

of these recommendations

people whom they find pleasant and

agreeable. Liking can be based on

to implement than others. But we are

physical
with

attractiveness,

the

target

person,

in this case the religious exploiters,

non-enjoyable

activities feature lunches and potlucks

and pizza parties. It would behoove
which

has

been demonstrated again and again.

We are more likely to follow and to
comply with people in authority, who
have power and/of expertise. Humans
are, as well as imitative, inherently
obedient. And this authority could
and should be symbolized with
titles, official-looking clothing, and
the other trappings
knowledge.

of status and

This is why religions

include elaborate robes or decorative

altars or imposing architecture.
Finally,
Cialdini
mentions
scarcity, because "opportunities seem
AMERICAN

ATHEIST

(233),

and we have no choice but to accept

the challenge to fight the influence

some group and feeling good about the

group). Not for nothing do churches

atheists to be nice.
Fifth is authority,

"at war with the exploiters"

flattery,

positive associations between things

(e.g. between getting free food from

and many otherwise

are easier

similarity

cooperation (hence the double value

of reciprocity),
familiarity,
and

20

Atheists will notice that theists

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

they have over people and to try to

influence them to what is, happily, the
correct, atheistic conclusion.

Conrad F. Goeringer

has
t been nearly half a century since the U.S. Supreme

campaign of defiance that has kept FirstAmendment watchdog

Court struck down a battery of practices that had turned

groups like American Atheists busy trying to uphold the intent

public school classrooms into churches by promoting

of those Supreme Court decisions. Meanwhile,

'religious

of religious

freedom' groups have resorted to every conceivable ploy

iconography. These landmark cases were a clear victory on

and legal strategy to smuggle religious exercise back into the

behalf of state-church separation. The justices took a dim

public schools. Student-led prayer, 'spontaneous'

view of activities like unison Bible verse recitation or forcing

at athletic events, or holding a student vote on whether to

youngsters to pledge ailegiance to the American flag "under

have a religious message delivered at graduation ceremonies

God." The involvement of younger impressionable children

have become strategies in this culture war fracas.

raised the bar for judicial scrutiny. Courts rightly noted

have not seen the end of this contentious effort, and there

how peer pressure and the threat of social ostracism-even

is good evidence that fundamentalist Christians-especially

violence-meant

those who hold positions of authority as administrators,

prayer, religious

instruction,

and displays

that religious activities in the classroom

teachers, and school board officials-are

could be especially divisive and inappropriate.

You would think, then, that school board officials,

praying

Courts

not giving up in

their campaign to "take back our schools for Jesus."

All of this makes what has
recently

occurred

particularly

in

Florida

outrageous.

The

case began when unidentified

plaintiffs-fearing,

as

in

so

many First Amendment disputes,

retaliation by the faithful-filed
for

a Preliminary

Injunction

against the St. John's

County

School District and officials at

the Webster Elementary School.

(See S.D. vs. ST. JOHN'S

COUNTRY SCHOOL
DISTRICT [3:09-cv-2S0-J20TEM.])

They charged that the school

had third-grade students practice
a song titled 'In God We Still
Trust' to be performed at an endof-year assembly.
administrators,

and teachers would have understood

the

message. Many have, but across the country there has been a

This was not high church music or a classic rivaling

Handel's

Messiah.

The piece had been composed

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

and

ATHEIST

21

performed by the award winning American country music

with the development of our history and government ... It is, in

band Diamond Rio. The group, founded in 1984, had carved

fact, the religious persecution suffered by our forefathers that

out a niche in the country genre blending several music

makes the freedom to religious opinion a cornerstone of our

influences with religious themes. Early tunes boasted titles

national identities." Quoting the historic opinion from School

like 'Oh Me, Oh My Sweet Baby' and 'This Romeo Ain't

Dist. Of Abington Twp. Pa v. Schempp (1963), Schlesinger

Got Julie Yet.' Two years later, Diamond Rio released a

added: "[I]t is axiomatic to this identity that 'the government

compendium of country-Gospel

remains neutral, and while protecting all [religions], it prefers

music fusion. The band

signed with Word Records, a Christian music label, in 2007.

The lyrics of'In God We Still Trust' are blatantly Judeo-

none and disparages

none.'"

Christian, and demonstrate clear hostility toward the First

Amendment:

Schlesinger
cited

the

"three-

You place your hand on His Bible

prong

test"

for the

When you swear to tell the truth

Establishment

His name is on our greatest monuments

religion

And all our money too

by

high

court

And when we pledge allegiance

in the historic

1971

There is no doubt where we stand

opinion in Lemon v.

There's no separation

Kurtzman:

of
outlined

the

"Through a series

We are one nation under Him

In God we still trust

of cases, the Supreme

Here in America

Court has established

He's the one we turn to

When the going gets tough ...

analyzing claims under

framework

for

hir gra e
students

ractice

song It e
'n 0
eSti
r st'

According to documents, the song was played three times

the

during regular classes and was sung at least once by the

Clause

class of third graders. Students were told that they had the

Amendmen1. .. Under

option of participating in the practice sessions and the school

the Lemon test, the Establishment Clause is violated if the

assembly or being excluded. Parents of two of the students

government's primary purpose is not secular-based, if the

filed a complaint in federal court asking for an immediate

principal effect is to aid or inhibit religion, or if there is any

injunction,

'excessive [government] entanglement' with religion."

arguing that school officials were imposing

sectarian religious beliefs onto the children, thus violating

Establishment
of the First

Schlesinger's 24-page ruling in support of the injunction

their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The

reads

school immediately removed the song from the assembly

School officials blatantly endorsed sectarian religion and

program schedule.

compelled youngsters to participate in the process. Students

Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger, an appointee to the federal

like a legal treatise

who might hesitate

on the First Amendment.

and find the lyrics offensive

had

bunch of former President George H. W. Bush, saw the need

"heightened susceptibility to pressures of conformity and

to excoriate school administrators and teachers because of

possible ostracism."

the important First Amendment issues involved. In a 24-page

Schlesinger, and took aim at the separation of government

opinion granting an injunction, Schlesinger described the words

and religion: "By encouraging

ofthe offending song as "patently religion" and "proselytizing,"

no separation, we are one nation under Him,' the school

adding, "The lyrics ... take aim at one [ot] our nation's

is effectively enforcing a religious view that is contrary to

fundamental principles: the separation of church and state."

well-established constitutional law."

While admitting that "Religion has been closely identified

22

also

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

The lyrics were propagandistic, noted

students to sing 'there is

Although Webster School administrators

supposedly

removed the offensive song from the assembly program on

history.' Indeed, those engaged in such behaviors have won

the same day Judge Schlesinger issued his order-April

15,

significant legal victories, skillfully and persistently arguing

case did not end there. A week later, attorneys for

that "religion has a place in our classrooms." The religious

2009-the

the Plaintiffs were back in court seeking another injunction

content

against a

significant or providing students with an 'alternative'

"blatantly sectarian" song. The Diamond Rio

piece may have been on the back burner, but now a music

is artfully

camouflaged

as being

historically
view

of looking at the world.

instructor had students practicing 'Chatter With the Angels.'

The Webster School case, however, betrays something

The plea for the new injunction stated that this second song

starker and more authoritarian. Religious partisans may speak

had been selected as retaliation against the Plaintiffs and

of a high-school student's right to learn about 'alternatives'

complaining students.

to Darwinian evolution or insist that these same students

There is a political sub-text here that goes deeper

than the trenchant analysis of First Amendment
Judge Schlesinger.

Some teachers

law by

and officials at St.

have a right to vote on issues like graduation ceremonial

prayer. Are third graders equipped to make such judgments,
though?

Do they even know about the intricacies of First

John's School District are clearly engaged in theo-political

Amendment law-a

'warfare,' practicing' acts of resistance' to the constitutional

legal minds on both sides of the ideological divide? Is this

encroachments by secular, constitutional law. It is a pattern

education or proselytizing?

that has emerged throughout the nation, with only a few

sectarian indoctrination?

subject that engages some of the best

Or should we call it what it is-

examples reaching the courts and news media. In the latter

cases, legal advocacy groups like the Alliance Defense Fund

Conrad Goeringer surfs the Internet, watches the sky, and

stand ready to assist a teacher who blatantly proselytizes on

writes about the world from his island home in South Jersey.

behalf of creationism in science class or uses a Bible to 'teach

AVAILABLE AT ATHEISTS .ORG

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

23

Dangersof
Tribalism &
Pulp Christianity

ByRajivThind

haveexamined, studied, admired,

leads a mega-church

imbibed, and critiqued the Christian

as Christians. They never talk about

massacre of Muslims in Bosnia or

faith and Bible for the past eight

Chechnya or Sabra and Shatila. Such

Points Ministries, which has a global

years. Once I derived great sustenance

prejudices

in my darkest hours from conservative

show nothing less than vile deceits,

moral bankruptcy, and violation of

outreach, its broadcasts reach almost

every continent. In past months, his

Christianity

and sermons. Marx said

that religion is the opium of the masses,

but I know from personal experience

omissions

what the person of Jesus stands for. It

that it surely is the opium of a suffering

also cheapens the real persecution of

Christians by making it appear mere

soul, a great comforter, and sustainer.

propaganda.

But after about five years of romance

with literalism, my faith in the person

Even

more

prophecy
televangelists

Progressive instead of fundamentalist,

literal, and liturgical.

To

stand for the freedoms

of religion,

dangerous

these

will somehow get involved with Israel,

and other broadcasters.

but Armageddon will eventually start.

evangelists,

international

forces against Israel that are to converge

cause violence and hatred. In fact, it

is with this very belief that I offer my

very soon the world is

critique in this article. Having made

when the fierce war of

clear where I stand, I must say that even

Armageddon
starts
'the land of Israel.'

coming

apparently,
to Apocalypse

and evangelists disturb me, more so

One

because of their tribalism they directly

Christian

contradict Jesus's compassion

broadcaster

For
of the

a moment, consider most

so-called Christian human

rights

organizations,

Web-sites,

and broadcasts. They will report

persecution of 'Christians' in every
conceivable

corner of the world but

in

American
preacher

and

whom

have always respected

recently came up with
a series about the end
times by joining pulp
Christian
conspiracy
theories,

leaving

me

will totally overlook human suffering

in utter disbelief. This

preacher and evangelist,

if the oppressed

Dr.

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

cannot

be tagged

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

that-as

a biblical news value. For this reason,

prophets,

humanity.

was adamant

the bible says-the

long as they do not directly incite or

for all

The preacher

relations do not exist if they don't have

extreme or irrational they may be, as

the most prominent Christian leaders

recent two part 'Special' sermon about

the end times that goes beyond all
credibility. In brief, the Anti-Christ will

certain

Israel and the Middle

East is all they can think:
about. As per these

thought, and expression, no matter how

TV sermons have become notably

fantastical. But, especially, it was his

be the head of the European Union; he

of

is

San Diego. He also founded Turning

the

business

of Jesus Christ became Humanist and

I wish to mention that I passionately

24

and deliberate

in a suburb of

David

Jeremiah,

Dr. David Jeremiah

number of Eastern

at a precisely forecast battlefield will

I know it sounds like a joke, but

be around 200 million. The preacher

these TV broadcasts reach millions all

assured believers that if you count big

over the world. Their global penetration

Asian countries like China this number

far exceeds reputable media outlets,

is not hard to materialize.

To begin with, you must use your

newspapers,
people-even

wild imagination

to believe that all

have no basic understanding of foreign

countries or powers would

countries,
international
relations,
and politics actually do believe these

'Eastern'

somehow find a big bone to pick with

tiny Israel. Then, even liberal estimates

Even more
dangerous

and publications. Many

the educated ones-who

is the

prophecies.

may push the size of Chinese military

I cannot rule out that the world may

to 2 million; something less than that

end tonight for any number of obvious

would be India, and none others have

or unimaginable

more than 1 million active soldiers,

may also get embroiled in a catastrophic

except North Korea. Even if you factor

in the reserve forces, we cannot even

world war involving nuclear weapons.

prophecy

reasons. The world

stretch the number to 100 million. How

It can start from any of the flashpoints:

Israel-Muslim fundamentalists, India-

on earth will 'Eastern' forces manage

Pakistan, Koreas, Taiwan, Russia-West,

200 million? And in the age of satellite

etc. But to pinpoint and proclaim before

business ...
Christ will come back from clouds on a
white horse to defeat the European AntiChrist-this is the height of lunacy.

An Evening with Dr. David Jeremiah LIVE from the FedExForum in Memphis, TN

guided intercontinental missiles capped

the whole world with dead certainty that

with deadliest nuclear weapons, why

there will be an all powerful Anti-Christ

from the E. u., that an Armageddon

Rajiv Thind is an aspiring writer with

will occur with 200 million soldiers

from 'Eastern' front alone, and that

and journalism from the University of

Canterbury in New Zealand.

on earth "will anyone be stupid enough

to converge at Armageddon with 200
million men?

degrees in English Literature from India

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

25

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU

also a mixed martial arts fighter so I

sociopath!" I'm glad he found religion

REALIZE YOU WERE ATHEIST?

was very brave to be so outspoken.

but in much the same way that I'm glad

My mom and I until recently had

when a heroin addict finds methadone.

Hesse's

a don't ask don't tell policy. I stopped

an Oingo

going to church, and she didn't ask

I UNDERSTAND

Boingo concert when I was 15 followed

why. My Atheism is public enough that

A BRAND NEW BABY GIRL.

by years of residual fear that Avenging

now mom is aware of it. She's been to

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST

Jesus would show up to deliver a smack

my comedy shows and she's a great

CONCERNS

down. Jesus was a no show, which

sport as I make fun of the religion that

CHILD AS AN ATHEIST?

means I win by forfeit. I hear people

she raised me in. She is proud of who

say we're all born atheist. I hate that.

I am, of my morals but I know that she

I'll make sure she knows all about

I was born not believing in evolution

worries about my soul. Oddly enough

religion so she's not hit with these

either, or toilets. The only belief babies

my agnostic father gives me the most

promises of immortality

have that I find profound is their deep

grief. He'd like it if my brother and I

really losing your loved ones, during a

respect for breasts.

would just shut up.

vulnerable time without being equipped.

It started
Siddhartha

with reading

and attending

YOU HAVE

WITH RAISING A

or of never

I also want her to meet nice people of

HOW DID YOU TELL YOUR

WHERE DO YOU

every faith; to know that these people

FAMILY & WHAT WAS THE

GET YOUR MORALS?

that Daddy finds so irrational can still

be good neighbors and friends.

REACTION?
From the same place as everyone
is a

else, self- interest. The more enlightened,

DO YOU PLAN TO HAVE YOUR

minister and we both reacted poorly,

intelligent, long-term this self-interest,

DAUGHTER

engaging in near constant debate for

the better. A friend who is a minister at

CLAUS, THE TOOTH FAIRY, OR

the next decade to the exclusion of

a local mega-church, one of those Wal-

THE EASTER BUNNY?

any other interaction. "Happy Birthday

Mart looking churches, was explaining

John. There is no God." Eventually we

that before becoming

Christian he'd

Absolutely not. We'll watch all the

learned to have a relationship again. I

just as soon step over a dying man then

holiday specials and celebrate every

should mention, this same brother was

stop and help. I thought, "So, you're a

holiday there is, including

My oldest

26

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

brother,

John,

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

BELIEVE

IN SANTA

ones we

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

27

make up, because make believe is fun.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

it on the road. We've hit some of the

But no, she needs to know that mom

WITH POSEIDON?

biggest clubs in the country, even got a

and dad don't bullshit her. Not to say

nice write up in the LA Times.

she won't be pranked at every turn.

These rumors need to be put to bed!

There is no greater way to show

She'll likely have a harder time with

Poseidon and I are just friends. Those

affection for someone than by savaging

dad being a comedian than with dad

photos are misleading.

I was at the

them in a joke. I feel it's more honest

being an outspoken Atheist.

beach, eating a banana, and a bit went

than many 'inter-faith' entities because

down the wrong way. Luckily, Poseidon

we don't pretend to respect each other's

WILL YOU OBJECT TO YOUR

knew the Heimlich maneuver; unlucky

beliefs, we just respect each other. ..

DAUGHTER SAYING "ONE

that the damn paparazzi were around. I

sorta. We like each other at any rate.

NATION, UNDER GOD" IN

didn't realize your magazine was such

PUBLIC SCHOOLS EACH

a gossip rag.

People are so afraid of the topic of

religion. I find myself saying, "Look,

MORNING?

our

She won't be coerced to say it.

message

is that

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE

we can get along!" Nobody that has

RELIGION TO MAKE FUN OF?

booked us has regretted it, and nobody

I don't even like children pledging

their allegiance without the 'god' part.

controversial

that has come to see us has been upset

The Baha'i, they're so nice and just

I can't stand when people, liberal or

the epitome of universalist,

conservative,

children

idealist fantasy fair. I have a good

out at protests or demonstrations with

friend who is Baha'i. I asked about his

IF YOU WEREN'T A COMEDIAN,

stupid little signs. Your kid doesn't

religion and he so generously shared

WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?

hate or love Obama-care. Your child

with me for hours. That night he came

is five years old! They're much more

to the Coexist Comedy show and most

Probably some very important work

concerned with Mac and Cheese than

of my set was on what he'd just taught

that would help mankind out. Whew!

with religion or politics.

me. He loved it.

Thank goodness I found comedy, eh?

march

their

Utopian,

except for the drunk lady I performed

I also like making fun of Islam.

People ask if it scares me to do so.

WHY AREN'T YOU AGNOSTIC?

an exorcism on in Seattle.

I'm sure I'd find some way to be

creative and broke. It's just who I am.

Yeah, because Christians have always

I am,

technically,

but

I think

been so kind to their detractors. I think

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH

it's splitting hairs to say, "Well, we

it would be more offensive to exclude

ALL THAT FREE TIME

can't prove there's no 'god,' so ..." I

my Muslim friends from the ribbing

ON SUNDAYS?

don't come up with special words for

that I give the rest.

the other things I consider remotely

I post 'Atheist Church' to YouTube

possible even if highly unlikely. I'm not

WHAT IS THE COEXIST

every Sunday. As churches go, it's the

agnostic towards Leprechauns, Genies,

COMEDY TOUR?

best. Attend when you want, no need to

or Compassionate

Conservatives,

so

why should I be towards deities?

get up early. Dress up or attend mass

My Hindu friend, Tapan Trivedi and

in your underwear or even buck naked.

I were backstage at a gig cracking on

There's no tithing required (though I

each other's beliefs or lack there of. We

certainly wouldn't stop you from giving

enjoyed this more than the material we

me ten percent of your income.)

were doing onstage. So, we recruited a

Muslim, a Buddhist, a Christian, and
DO YOU HAVE A

28

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

a Jewish comedian to join us and took

2009

The American Atheist is happy to welcome Keith

as the newest member of the writing staff! Watch
for future articles, and be prepared to laugh,

Rare and unusual memestor the discriminating collector:

WWW

.origi n-ot-religions.org

Specializing

in the tinest memes- new memesmonthl~ ...

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

29

Snapshots behind the Facade

By Harry Hamer
Paperback, 2nd edition, $14.95,
published by iUniverse
Reviewed by Bill Hampl

Subtitled

"A

Common

Look at the Fabricated

Environment

in Which We Live," Hamer's

contains

Sense

book

several chapters of interest

killed by a car or in a vehicle. They are

life and death,

meaningless

religion,

hope

and

memorials

to everyone

prayer, and the separation of church and

except to the person or persons who

state. The 'snapshots' refer to Hamer's

put them there. To the rest of us they

own brief, intense glances (as opposed

represent litter, or worse, a distraction

to dialogues with other authors) at the

that could cause another fatality. All

various topics.

too quickly the balloons deflate, the

on the various failures

in today's

society. Two

teddy bears gets [sic] soaked, and the

flowers wilt, and the scene literally
gets ugly. It's time to get back to the

examples are: "Unfortunately, religion's

practice of truly respecting our dead

potential

in the cemetery-not

to do harm may outweigh

in the car as one

its demonstrated capacity to do good.

conveniently drives by on the way to

Christians,

for example,

the store or work" (47).

promoting

'Peace on Earth' for two

have been

I personally

find

such

shrines

thousand years, albeit unsuccessfully"

ridiculous,

(11) and "A religious person's God will

loss of lives in our society. And, from

always be bigger than anyone else's

an Atheist standpoint,

God" (16).

further annoying in that they also serve

Also
Hamer's

of particular
writings

interest

celebrating

the accidental

these sites are

are

as excuses to assault the public with

about death. The

crosses (most often) or other religious

first of these is poetic: "Our life in the

symbols.

Universe is like the beautiful chime of

Although

a bell: there is nothing, and then there

AmericanAtheist

is a momentary, but glorious vibration,

engaging read, especially considering

and then again-nothing"

its breadth of topics of interest to an

(4). A second

passage on this same topic is presented

in its entirety below:
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

they tolerated? You see them all over-

chapters on the origin of the universe,

of religion

ATHEIST

and flowers, come from and why are

marking the spot where someone was

commentary

AMERICAN

their inflated balloons and teddy bears

to an Atheistic audience, notably his

Snapshots contains some concise

30

"Where did roadside shrines, with

2009

not

Atheist audience.

available

from

Press, Snapshots is an

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

31

Religion 101:
Final Exam, Part Two
By Terrence Kaye
1) Conceding that torture is permissible under certain
conditions, which of the following would be the best
justification?
Your prisoner is the only one who knows the date and
time of an assassination attempt on the Pope
B. Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a
nuclear device has been planted in Washington, D.C.
C. Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a
vial of nerve gas has been placed in the London water
supply system
D. Your prisoner has announced that the earth revolves
around the sun

The author gratefully acknowledges the inspiration

provided by E. T. Babinski, Dan Barker, George Carlin,
Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Judith Hayes, James
Haught, Robert Ingersoll, Adam Lee, John Stuart Mill,
Pablo Neruda, Blaise Pascal, Seneca, Julia Sweeney,
Jethro Tull, Mark Twain, and Mark Vuletic.

5)

A.

2)

A.
B.
C.
D.
6)

We know that Christianity is true because the Gospel

writers, inspired by God who can
make no error, recorded the founding events. For
example, on the first Easter morning,
the visitors to the tomb were greeted by which of the
following:

A. A young man (Mark 16:5)

B. No, no, it was no man, it was an angel (Matthew 28:25)

B.
C.
D.
7)

Only human beings have souls, and thus only human

beings can go to heaven. What is the cutoff point for
entry into paradise?

A. Homo habilis
B. Homo erectus
C. Homo Neanderthalensis
D. Homo sapiens
4)

A.
B.
C.

32

AMERICAN

Early in the morning before it gets too crowded

Mid-day when she can compare notes and share
the celebration with other mothers
Late at night when she can enjoy the flames in
starker contrast

ATHEIST-

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

D.

8)

Ask him if he was a virgin

anything
Advise him to forgive her
Talk to your daughter
Go find those rocks

before

you

do

You are eating lunch at a crowded fast food restaurant

occupied
mostly by children, when suddenly
a
gunman bursts in, screams, 'Do not question or test
me,' and sprays the room with bullets. Ten people
are killed instantly; many more grievously wounded,
but somehow you escape unharmed. His ammunition
expended, the gunman heads for the door. What should
you do?
A.
B.
C.

According to at least one sainted church father, one of

the pleasures of the saved in paradise will be to behold
the agony of the damned in hell. What would be the
best time of day in heaven for a mother to behold the
agony of her only son who didn't make it?

Sit him down for a heart to heart talk

Enroll him in AA
Take away his driving privilege for one month
Smash his head in with rocks

In this example, your son-in-law, returned from his

honeymoon, has just told you he suspects your daughter
was not a virgin on their wedding night. Wishing to
abide by God's holy rules as laid out in the Bible, you
should:
A.

C. You're both wrong, it was two men (Luke 24:4)

D. Damn it, there was nobody there (John 20:1-2)
3)

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we always look to the

Bible as a guide. In this example, your teenage son has
returned home from the prom intoxicated. If you want
to follow the Bible, you should:

Call the police and wait for them to arrive

Call the police and leave
Risk death by asking the gunman why he did it,
even though he told you not to
Fall on your knees and give thanks and praise to
the gunman for sparing your life

Why did God show his backside to Moses, as described

in Holy Scripture, Ex.33:23?
A.
B.
C.

He invented everything, and this was simply the

first mooning
He was really ticked off when Moses dropped the
tablets
He was piqued, having just discovered
His
almighty powers were useless against chariots of
iron (Judges I: 19)

D. Moses was too serious and needed to lighten up

a little
9) Jesus was God, and God knows all things, including
all the medical knowledge that will ever be known.
Why did Jesus blame demons for the case of epilepsy
he cured?
A. He was suffering from a temporary case of 'brain
freeze'
B. The Aramaic word for 'demon' is the same as the
word for 'cranial malfunction'
C. Neurology was not his specialty
D. In first-century Palestine, demons really did cause
epilepsy. This affliction only began to be caused
" by electrochemical brain activity after about 1850
A.D.
10) Today's paper carries a story about a suburban father
who became so enraged with his disobedient children
that he carried all nine of them to the backyard pool
where he drowned them, along with their puppies, their
kittens, and their hamsters. How should this father be
treated?

12) Down through the ages, who has been most responsible
for the medical discoveries that have relieved untold
amounts of suffering and pain, extending the length of
that most sacred of creations, the only species made in
the divine image, human life?
A.
B.
C.
D.

13) A great sadness has come into your life which you
feel you cannot bear. A friend informs you of a free
counseling service which has never failed to aid and
comfort many others. You call the counselor; the phone
rings and rings with no answer; you finally hang up.
What is the most likely explanation?
A. The counselor is sitting by the phone but not
answering in order to test your faith in him
B. The counselor is fully qualified and able to help
you, but just doesn't feel like it right now
C. The counselor will not answer because he wants
you to profit by the spiritual strength that only
comes through suffering
D. The counselor is not home

A. He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of

the law
B. He should be banished from the town
C. He should be lynched to save the taxpayers'
money
D. The townspeople should gather together to sing
hymns of praise to him
11) This morning I started my day by insulting my mother
in public, then punched out my father, my brother, and
my sister. Then I gathered up all my clothes, sold them
to a second-hand store, and with the proceeds bought a
used assault rifle and 50 rounds of ammunition. Next,
I went down to the animal shelter and injected all the
dogs with a drug that caused them to go insane and
dive into the nearby canal where they all drowned. By
this time I was hungry, so I went over to my neighbor's
apple orchard and burned it down, because I wanted
an orange and there weren't any. On the way home, I
stopped at the local steel mill to discuss my philosophy
of life with some of the guys. They laughed at me
and said to stow it, so I tossed them all into the blast
furnace. That night I discovered my son looking at a
copy of Playboy. Concerned for his future welfare, I
cut offhis right hand. What historical character did my
activities today most resemble?

Medical doctors
Research biologists
Chemists
The Catholic Church

ESSAY QUESTION
While it is true that there have been and still are many different
gods and many different religions, they are really just different
names by which various cultures approach the same God.
Explain how and why each of the following is the same God:

Quetzalcoatl, who wants you to skin a young virgin

alive, then put on the skin and dance;
Shiva, who wants you to pray over his penis;
Allah, who wants you to fly airliners into buildings;
Catholic God, who speaks directly through the Pope;
Hebrew God, who most definitely does not;
Jesus, who wants you to castrate yourself to ensure
arrival in heaven
Jehovah, who any day now, is going to kill everyone on
the earth except for his Witnesses

.A. Genghis Khan

B. Charles Manson
C. "'Adolph Hitler
D. Jesus Christ

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009

- AMERICAN ATHEIST

33

Oh Ye of Little Faith.
By John E. Shuey

t'sfunny when you think about it; how

revelations come to us at the damnedest
times I mean.
For example: Not too long ago I was
preparing to leave my house to run some
errands when I observed two prim and proper
ladies, each wielding a Bible clutched to her
bosom, as they approached my front door,
paused for thirty se.conds or so, and then
turned away without knocking or ringing the
doorbell, murmuring to each other as they
retraced their steps back down our sidewalk.
I knew of course the reason for their
change of direction and accompanying
consternation. Perhaps four years ago, driven
to distraction by a constant stream of door to
door salespeople and Mormons (along with
other assorted proselytizers) disturbing my
dinner, work, or peace of mind, I had posted
on our front door a "No Solicitors" sign that
reads in part:
" ...If your purpose is religious, to tell us
about your God love for us or to convince us
that we need Jesus to be our personal savior,
please don't knock. Instead, bow your head
and pray as sincerely and intently as possible
for this door to disappear. When it does, feel
free to come on in...we will definitely want to
hear what you have to say!"
Those three sentences, when combined
with the reaction of the ladies, suddenly
became the source of my latest revelation.
Looking back, I can remember at least a
dozen different times over the years since I
posted that sign when religious types-almost
always with a Bible prominently displayedmarched up to my front door, full of the holy
spirit and determined to win a convert for
their particular god or version thereof, only
to stop, read my little sign, and then turn and
retreat with a bit less enthusiasm than they
had displayed only a few seconds earlier.

Up until this particular day though, it had

34

AMERICAN

ATHEIST

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

never occurred to me to ask what should

have been the most obvious of questions all
along: "Why?"
Stop and think about it for a moment. If
these marauding ecclesiastical imperialists
truly believed they were in the service of an
omnipotent god, especially one who heard
and answered prayers, why would they just
walk away? Why would they not bow their
heads and pray fervently for our door-that
sole barrier to winning new souls for their
master-to disappear?
It really didn't take too much thought to
come to the realization that not a single one
of them had anywhere near so much faith in
their god and his powers as they would have
others believe. When the best opportunity
they'd ever had to prove everything true
that they claim about their god stared them
right in the face, they faltered, in the end
unwilling to put their faith to a real test.
Bingo! Real doubt pervades many more
of the faithful than I had imagined. Among
those professing total surrender to their
lord, conviction is apparently shakable by
even the most basic, direct challenge. Are
the ties that bind really that loose? It would
seem so.
You know, in the right hands, revelation
can be a wonderfully entertaining and
uplifting experience.
John Shuey is a secular, libertarian
curmudgeon. Retired, he lives in suburban
Dallas, Texas, with wife Pat, son John
Michael, and two rescued greyhounds. He
is a Life Member of American Atheists
and Atheist Alliance International,
as
well as serving on the Texas Libertarian
Party State Executive Committee and as a
Community Coordinator for Americans for
Fair Taxation. He often rants about things
religious and otherwise at
http://;ohn-shuev. blogspot. com.

Visit us at
atheists .org
to renew
your $20
membership
and be
sure to tell
a friend
about this
organization
and what
we stand
for. Our
members are
the lifeline
of our cause,
and we're

growing
stronger
each year!
~

Is your local or national group interested

in affiliating with American Atheists? If
so, please contact Blair Scott, National
Affiliate Director, at bscott@atheists.org.

Current American Atheists Affiliates

Due to the number of Affiliates, only the group name and Web Page or Email is listed. For a full list including mailing
addresses and phone numbers, please visit http://alabamaatheist.org/naod
or contact Blair Scott at bscott@atheists.org
for additional details.
Is your local or national group interested in affiliating with American Atheists? If so, then please contact Blair Scott,
National Affiliate Director, at bscott@atheists.org or (256) 701-6265.

ALABAMA
Birmingham Atheists
atheists.meetup.com/132

Atheists & Agnostics Group of

Rossmoor
rossmooratheists. info

Florence United Nontheists

FlorenceFreethought.org

Atheists & Freethinkers of Contra

Costa County
contracostaatheists.com
Atheists and Other Freethinkers
Aofonline.org
Atheists of Silicon Valley
godlessgeeks.com

Montgomery Area Freethought

Association
montgomeryfreethought.org
North Alabama Freethought
Association
thenafa.org
West Alabama Freethought
Association
meetup.com/
westalabamafreethought
ALASKA
Anchorage Atheists
http://meetup.com/
anchorageatheists
ARIZONA
Tucson Atheists
atheists.meetup.coml69
CALIFORNIA
Agnostic & Atheist Student
Association
daviswiki.org/agasa

Central Valley Alliance of Atheists

and Skeptics
cvaas.org
East Bay Atheists
eastbayatheists.org
Humanist Society of Santa
Barbara
santabarbarahumanists.org

COLORADO
Atheists and Freethinkers of
Denver
atheistsofdenver.org
Boulder Atheists
boulderatheists.org
Metro State Atheists
metrostateatheists.wordpress.com
Western Colorado Atheists
WesternColoradoAtheists@yahoo.
com
CONNECTICUT
Atheist Humanist Society of CT
andRI
atheisthumanist.org
Connecticut Valley Atheists
cvatheists.org

San Francisco Atheists

sfatheists.com

FLORIDA
Florida Atheists & Secular
Humanists
** Affiliate of the Year, 2008**
freethoughtflorida.com

Santa Cruz Atheists

santacruzatheists.org

Gator Freethought (UF)

gatorfreethought. org

Shasta Atheists & Freethinkers

shasta@atheistalliance.org

Rebirth of Reason in Florida

rebirthofreason.comlFlorida

Orange County Atheists

OCAtheists.com

Atheist Coalition of San Diego

atheistcoalition.org

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

35

Miami County Kansas

Freethinkers
atheists.meetup.coml733

Saint Petersburg Atheists

atheists.meetup.coml209
South Lake Atheists and
Freethinkers
atheists.meetup.coml655

KENTUCKY

Kentucky Atheists
chambers.michael@gmail.com

GEORGIA

Atlanta Freethought Society

atlantafreethought. org

Lexington Atheists
meetup.com/The-LexingtonAtheists- Meetup-Group

IDAHO

Idaho Atheists
idahoatheists.org

LOUISIANA

Ark- La- Tex Freethinkers

(Shreveport)
facebook.com/group.
php?gid=128265161375

ILLINOIS

Bradley Atheists
PTurack@Bradley.edu

MINNESOTA

Campus Atheists & Secular

Humanists
cashumn.org
Minnesota Atheists
mnatheists.org
St. Olaf Agnostic and Atheist
Society
stolaf.edu/orgs/aas
MISSISSIPPI

Great Southern Humanist Society

humanism.meetup.coml164
Mid-South Humanist Society
midsouth-humanist-society.org
MISSOURI

IWU Atheist, Agnostic, and NonReligious

facebook.comlgroup.
php?gid=5558627959

Iowa Secularists
iowasecularist. org
Siouxland Atheists
siouxlandatheists.org

Atheists of Greater Lowell

atheists.meetup.coml33I

Heartland Humanists
heartlandhumanists.org

Boston Atheists
bostonatheists.org

Individuals For Freethought

k-state.edu/freethought

Joplin Freethinkers
jop linfreethinkers.org
Rationalist Society of St. Louis
rssl.org
NEBRASKA

Lincoln Atheists
lincolnatheists.org
Omaha Atheists
omahaatheists.org
NEVADA

MICHIGAN

Michigan Atheists
rnichiganatheists.org

Kansas Freethought Society

atheists.meetup. coml64 2

Mid Michigan Atheists and

Humanists
mmah.org

KC FreeThinkers
kcfreethinkers.org

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Community of Reason
Communitytrfkeason.net

American University Rationalists

& Atheists
facebook.com/group.
php?gid=34367344446

First Church ofFreethoughtlFort

Riley Atheists
faithforthefaithless@gmail.com

ATHEIST

MARYLAND

MASSACHUSETTS

KANSAS

AMERICAN

Columbia Atheists
meetup.com/The-ColumbiaAtheists- Meetup-Group

Freethinkers Union at McDaniel

College
mtm007@mcdaniel.edu

IOWA

36

New Orleans Secular Humanist

Association
nosha.secularhumanism.net

2009

Las Vegas Freethought Society

lvfs.org
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Humanist Network
NJHN.org

NEWYORK
Freethinkers of Upstate New York
funygroup.org
Hudson Valley Humanists
hudsonvalley.humanists.net
Long Island Secular Humanists
LISecHum@aol.com
New York City Atheists
nyc-atheists.org
Science Club of Long Island
scienceclubofiongisland.com
NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics
CharlotteAtheists.com
NORTH DAKOTA
Red River Freethinkers
redriverfreethinkers.org

omo
Free Inquiry Group, Inc.
gofigger.org
Humanist Community of Central
Ohio
hcco.org
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma Atheists
OklahomaAtheists.info
PENNSYLVANIA
Atheist Station
atheiststation.org
Central Susquehanna Valley
Freethought
meetup. com/Central-susquehannavalley -freethought
Northeast Pennsylvania
Freethought Society
atheists.meetup.coml622

PA Nonbelievers
panonbelievers.org
RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island Atheist Society
riatheist.com

VIRGINIA
Beltway Atheists
meetup.comibeltwayatheists
Rational Response Squad @
George Mason
myspace.comlrrs@gmu

SOUTH CAROLINA
Secular Humanists of Low country
lowcountry.humanists.net

WASHINGTON
Freethinkers United Network
freethinkersunitednetwork.com

TENNESSEE
Chattanooga Freethought
Association
chattanoogafreethoughtassociation.
com

Seattle Atheists
SeattieAtheists.org

Memphis Freethought Alliance

memphisfreethought.com
Nashville Secular Life
atheists.meetup.com/699
Rationalists of East Tennessee
rationalists.org
TEXAS
Atheist Community of Austin
atheist-communi ty.org
Denton Atheists Meetup
meetup.comlThe- Denton- AtheistsMeetup-Group
Houston Atheists Meetup
meetup.com/Houston-Atheists

WEST VIRGINIA
Morgantown Atheists
morgantownatheists.org
WISCONSIN
Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers
swiftnow.org
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Atheist Nexus
atheistnexus.org
Atheists for Human Rights
atheistsf?rhumanrights.org
Atheists United for a Rational
America
rationalamerica.com
Military Assoc. of Atheists &
Freethinkers
maaf.info

Metroplex Atheists
metroplexatheists.org
San Antonio Atheists
sa-atheists.org
UTAH
Atheists of Utah
atheistsofutah.org

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

2009

- AMERICAN

ATHEIST

37

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AIMS & PURPOSES

American Atheists, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, educational organization dedicated to the complete
and absolute separation of state and church, accepting the explanation of Thomas Jefferson that the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was meant to create a "wall of separation"
between state and church.

American Atheists is organized:

To stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning
religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals, and practices;
To collect and disseminate information, data, and literature on all religions
and promote a more thorough understanding of them, their origins, and their histories;
To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the complete and absolute
separation of state and church;
To act as a "watchdog" to challenge any attempted breach of the wall of separation
between state and church;
.
To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the establishment and
maintenance of a thoroughly secular system of education available to all;
To encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system
stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and
the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society;
To develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central
and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and
happiness of humanity;
To promote the study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the
maintenance, perpetuation, and enrichment of human (and other) life; and
To engage in such social, educational, legal, and cultural activity as will be useful
and beneficial to the members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.

DEFINITIONS
Atheism is the comprehensive world view of persons who are free from theism and have freed themselves of supernatural beliefs altogether. It is predicated
on ancient Greek Materialism.. It is predicated on ancient Greek Materialism.

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

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