american atheist magazine nov 1982

8/9/2019 American Atheist Magazine Nov 1982

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THE 2.50

AMERICAN ATHEIST

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

(VoI.24, No. 11) November, 1982


2/37

AMERICAN ATHEISTS

is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization, dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of

state and church. We accept 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 are 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 allreligions and promote a more thorough

understanding of them, their origins and histories;

to encourage the development and public acceptance of a human 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 culture in which man is the central figure who alone must 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;

to engage in such social, educational, legal and cultural activity as will be useful and beneficial to

members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and

aims at establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method,

independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.

Materialism declares that the cosmos isdevoid of immanent conscious purpose; that itis governed by its own

inherent, immutable and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference inhuman life;that man -

finding his resources within himself - can and must create his own destiny. Materialism restores to man his.

dignity and his intellectual integrity. It teaches that we must prize our lifeon earth and strive always to improve

it. It holds that man is capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. Materialism's faith is in

man and man's ability to transform the world culture by his own efforts. This is a commitment which is in very

essence lifeasserting. Itconsiders the struggle for progress as a moral obligation and impossible without noble

ideas that inspire man to bold creative works. Materialism holds that humankind's potential for good and for an

outreach to more fulfillingcultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS AUSTIN TX 78768-2117.O.BOX 2117

S en d 40 f or o n e y ea r's m e m ber sh ip . Y ou w il l r ec eiv e o u r In s id er 's N ew s le tt er m o n th ly .

y o ur m e m ber sh ip c er ti f ic at e an d c ar d. an d a o n e y ear s u bs c rip tio n t o t his m a gazin e.


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Banco Ambrosiano - Nectar of the Gods 3

State/Church Separation and Abortion

(Congressional Record)

- Sen. Lowell P.Weicker 13

Why Humanism Is A Religion - Archie J. Baum 14

God in the Declaration of Independence

- Sherman Wakefield

16

Statement of Fred G. Lurie - Fred Lurie

27

EXCERPTS FROM BOOKS

The Christian Credibility Gap (excerpted by Frank Zindler)

- Hiram Elfenbein 22

REGULAR FEATURES

Editorial: The Few, The Proud, The Elite

- Jon Garth Murray 2

Sheep In Sheep's Clothing - Richard Smith ,

8

American Atheist Radio Series:

Legalizing the Symbolism of Religion 9

Anecdotes from An Early History of Jehovah

- Merrill Holste 11

The Means to the Beginning - G. Stanley Brown 18

Editor-in-Chief

Madalyn Murray O'Hair

The American

Atheist

magazine is pub-

lishedmonthly at theGustavBroukal Ameri-

can Atheist Press,2210Hancock Dr., Aus-

tin, TX 78756, and 1982 by Society of

Separationists, Inc., anon-profit, non-politi-

cal, educational organization dedicated to

the complete and absolute separation of

stateandchurch. Mailing address:P.O. Box

2117/Austin, TX 78768-2117.A free sub-

scription isprovided asan incident of mem-

bership in the American Atheists organiza-

tion. Subscriptions are available at 25. for

oneyear termsonly. Manuscripts submitted

must be typed, double-spaced and accom-

panied by a stamped, self-addressedenvel-

ope. The editors assume no responsibility

for unsolicited manuscripts.

The American

Atheist

magazine

is indexed in

Monthly Periodical Index

ISSN' 03124310

Managing Editor

Jon G. Murray

Poetry

Robin Murray O'Hair

Angeline Bennett

Gerald Tholen

Production Staff

Art Brenner

Bill Kight

Richard Smith

Gerald Tholen

Gloria Tholen

Non-Resident Staff

G. Stanley Brown

Jeff Frankel

Merrill Holste

Ignatz Sahula-Dycke

Fred Woodworth

On t he bac k

cover: Richard Viguerie's

first allegiance is to fundamentalist

christianity.

Austin, Texas

November, 1982

ON THE COVER

The original inspiration for GOD

WILL PROVIDE came nearly 17years

ago, when I spent a summer as a

Headstart volunteer. I was aware that

the hot lunch we gave these 4 and 5

year old children was often the only

true meal they had all day. At that

time, the Uptown area of Chicago that

our program served was predominant-

ly catholic. It was not unusual for me

to see a 30 year old woman (looking

90) who had more than 7 children to

take care of. I heard the same story

from many of them - they did

not

want more children, but when they

went to the priest witti their stories of

agony, the response was always god

will provide. Many, in despair, had

given up having sexual relations with

their husbands. The priests were un-

bending in their attitudes. Birth con-

trol meant a ticket straight to hell. And

yet, it was difficult to ignore that these

holy men never showed any signs of

deprivation. Hunger was not some-

thing they even related to. So the

image was in my head many years

ago. I think the catalyst for drawing it

was pope john pauill's visit to Ameri-

ca. He was shown blessing a family

with 7 or 8 children, and then went on

to say that it was better to have more

brothers and sisters than to have ma-

terial things. Like food. The image was

there once more. The picture I drew is

directed at all religious figures who

condemn birth control and/or abor-

tion, yet have never themselves

missed a meal in their lives. Besides

their arrogance, the suffering of the

children is the real sin.

Nomi

About the Artist: Nomi is a former college

teacher, but her art is self-taught. Anyone

interested in her other works should con-

tact the Tucson Chapter of American Athe-

ists/ P.O. Box 361921 Tucson, AZ . 85740.

Page1


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EDITORIAL

JON RTH MURR Y

THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE ELITE

As Director of the American Atheist Center one of my

many duties is to oversee the admission of new members

into the organization, American Atheists. The organization

has a standard type membership application which inter-

ested persons are asked to complete and submit with the

appropriate fee. On that application are a number of terms

that one may apply to one's lifephilosophy. A wide choice is

given ranging from Atheist to Objectivist to I evade any

reply to a query to my own appelation as given: .

Over the past period of about six months it has come to

my attention that persons applying for membership in

American Atheists (this journal being an incident thereof)

are in increasing numbers choosing any other lifestyle

designation of the choices given than Atheist. I believe

there to be a reason for this that isjustifiable in the minds of

those who choose to label themselves as other than Atheist.

That reason is very simple in that it, and the labels

themselves, can be denoted in one word. That word is fear.

Fear is one of, ifnot the, mainstay of established religion

in America. You may think when I say fear that I am

speaking of the traditional fear of burning in hell prornul-

gated by the fire-and-brimstone, tent-hopping variety of

minister. That isonly partly true. A greater fear is the fear of

being out of place, of not being accepted as a part of the

whole - the whole family, the whole school, the whole job,

the whole town, the whole community. Everyone must

belong to something or somebody, or so we have been

enculturated to believe.

In the lasting words of John Donne the lesson has been

taught and learned well by generation after generation:

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; Every man is a peece of the

Continent, a part of the maine; ifa Clod bee washed away by the

Sea, Europe isthe lesse, as wellas ifa Promontorie were, as wellas

ifa Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any man's death

diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde;

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls

for thee.

Donne was no Atheist. In fact, he was one of the

outstanding religious fanatics ofhis day. But he does make a

valid point about our culture. The problem with Atheists or

near- or pseudo-Atheists is that they yearn to become a part

of the wrong whole. They are fearful of establishing their

own order, free from dogma, to have whatever comforting

loyalties and solidarities they wish just as wellas those they

hold hypocritically within the prevailing establishment.

At this point in our nation's history we are at a new high of

christian resurgence. Resurgence for what? To reestablish

the fear ofnonconformity to minimize the losses suffered by

attrition in more lenient times. The pope is probably the

best example of this in his return to medievalism. In that

push for return to basic or fundamental doctrines ofthe

church he is not asking of the catholics any more than

Falwell is asking of the protestants. Returning to basics

means returning to conformity. Fundamentalism cannot be

Page 2

November, 1982

only piecemeal with any given congregation. The nature of

religion demands fullparticipation in it by all concerned.

Fear has even spread into our economic system. All

commercial advertising is based in whole or in part on fear:

fear ofhaving your natural body cooling processes stain the

clothing under your arms. (Oh, what if someone saw me

sweat? The indignity of it alll); fear of not having the latest

model car; fear of body odor or Am I using the right

soap? ; fear of grey underwear or a dull kitchen floor.

So you see Ido understand why many newcomers to an

Atheist organization prefer another appelation than Athe-

ist. They prefer those other laels for entirely the wrong

reason. They don't prefer humanist over Atheist because it

better describes them, but because itisinnoxious. If,on the

other hand, all whom the label Atheist fit came forward

and used it with pride there would be a new whole , a new

body ofwhich to be part, withwhich to belong, that would

not disturb their encultured security.

Atheism is a label under which you can and should

maintain your individual autonomy but at the same time be

reinforced by the ideas and achievements of others freely

instead of in a rhythmic dogmatic way as inthe church. You

can stillbe a part of a group - just a different kind ofgroup.

Eclecticism does not necessarily rule our collectivism of

thought. Many individuals can all come to the same

conclusion about the same thing with input from widely

various sources and being from quite distinct backgrounds.

Atheism is a very fine example of that. Persons from many

different social, political, educational, monetary and reli-

gious backgrounds have all, for the most part independently

and eclectically, come to the same conclusions about

religion - leading them to the rejection of its principles. If

that isn't a strong basis for unity, Idon't know what is. What

better or stronger feeling of belonging could you have

than to belong to a group of people who achieved the same

result from the widest possible number of standpoints.

It's a very special group and Ihave a very special sense of

solidarity to it that I don't have to most. of the mainline

culture around me anymore. There is nothing the matter

with that. The black community isslowly coming around to

being proud to be black. They have formed a solidarity

around being black. As Dick Gregory said, Let them call

me

Mr.

Nigger Let them call me

Mr.

Atheist.

You may feel that you are downgrading yourself by giving

up a larger identity or a smaller one when you come out as

an open Atheist, but that identity will not always be the

smaller. Christianity was the smaller at one time, too.

Whenever I see those Marine advertisements urging

young men to join The few, the proud, the Marines, Ithink

to myself The few, the proud, the Atheists. That is one of

the main purposes of this journal. The information in each

and every issue Iview as a shot ofcortisone for the spines of

Atheists to help you on the road from weak arthritic

Atheism and residual fear to bold and forthright pride.

The American Atheist


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Banco Ambrosiano

NE T R OF THE GODS

Back in the mid 1800's, Italy seized land which the pope

claimed to be his own property from the religious land wars

that the papacy had conducted in Italy for hundreds of

years. From 1848to 1870, especially under Garibaldi, Italy

had fought for unification of the boot. In 1867 land held in

mortmain (literally dead hand ) by the church was national-

ized; that is, it became by state fiat a part of the land of the

nation of Italy. The impotent papacy's only choice was to

sulk and to refuse to recognize a unified Italy or the loss of

its lands. Out of the turmoil of those years had come the

famous 'syllabus of errors, issued in 1864by pope pius IX

condemning every major principle of advancing civilization

and liberalism, then spreading throughout the nations of the

world. That syllabus has never been repudiated by the

roman catholic church and stands as a monument of

ignorance, intolerance, stupidity and reaction. The papacy

fought the advance of civilization in every country but

especially in Italy wherein it was based until 1929. In that

year, Benito Mussolini, an avowed Atheist but also a fascist,

bribed the vatican into recognition ofthe Italian government

and a blessing for his troops which were poised to invade

Ethiopia.

The ostrich reaction to all modernizing ideas of govern-

ment has been the classic of burying one's head in a hole in

the ground to pretend that nothing is amiss in the inter-

national community. This has been made into a high art by

the United States as well as the vatican, for our nation

refused to recognize that the USSR existed after the

revolution inthat country unseated the czar. The US never

extended diplomatic recognition and the USSR was said to

, exist de

facto

(i.e. in reality) but not de

jure

(i.e. by legal

recognition.) The US later exercised this same right(?) of

pretense with China, North Korea, South Vietnam and then

Cuba. However, it was quick to give de jure recognition to

both Taiwan, which posed as China for many years, and to

Israel, in the face of objections from the Palestinians. The

US learns wellits lessons ofintolerance from its mentor, the

vatican, in this as wellas other areas, such as those covered

in the Syllabus of Errors.

Nonetheless in 1929, Benito Mussolini gave a gift of $2

billion (1982 currency rate) to the vatican as compensation

for its loss of papal estates under the Italian 1867 confisca-

tion, which had occurred 62 years prior to his reign. Benito

sweetened the deal with $2millionof is own; recognized the

vatican as a soverign state, granted itcustom immunity, tax

immunity and innumerable special privileges. The vatican

took the $2 billion, $2 million and used the money to

purchase interests in Italian firms of credit and banking,

electric power, gas, steel, cement, textiles, pasta, agricul-

tural implements and communications. And, in return for

his favors the vatican assisted Benito and the fascist

countries to move money between the diverse warring

nations from 1939to 1945. Itthus soon became obvious that

the vatican needed its own bank. Of course, priests move

Austin, Texas

throughout the world on vatican passports. They need not,

and quite frequently do not, take out citizenship in any

country. They are agents of the vatican and need report to

none other. The ability to be monetary couriers is imrnedi-

atelyapparent. Nonetheless in 1942, in the the middle ofthe

Second World War, the vatican set up an instrumentality

which it was constrained to designate the Institute for

Religious Works. This has come to be called the I.

0

.R. In

actuality was then an international bank. Your editor has

visited often in Rome and, while there, the vatican. One

goes into the lOR to exchange currency, to cash travelers'

checques. It has teller's windows, vaults, all the parapher-

nalia of an ordinary working bank.

But, during this entire period from 1929 to the end of the

Second World War, the vatican moved into the Italian

economy and gained either controlling or strong interest in

thousands of that nation's business companies.

Again, your editor's personal interest was aroused when

Nino LoBello, a newsman living and working in Italy

contacted her, even making a trip to The American Atheist

Center in Austin. He was aghast to find out, in the mid

1960's that every bit of livingin which he was involved was

touched by the vatican. It owned the water company, the

gas company, the telephone company and the building in

which he lived - as well as the entire block of houses on

both sides of the street. He asked ifanyone was aware that

the home fuelof citizens ofMilan,Rome, Turin, Venice, had

to be purchased from the vatican at exorbitant rates. As he

checked further he found that the vatican owned govern-

ment bonds in protestant Britain. It bought gold from the

US Treasury Departments and ingots still on deposit with

the US Federal Reserve Bank are set aside and held for the

vatican. Ithad purchased the largest textile company inItaly

(SNIA-Viscosa), the largest construction company (Societa

Generale Immobiliare). As an interesting aside this is the

company which built the Watergate complex in Washing-

ton, D.C., the Montreal Stock Exchange in Canada and the

Pan-American Building in Paris, France. He explained to

your editor the magnitude of the building then in Italy,

pointing out that in 1966alone, this construction firmhad in

Rome built 3 apartment houses, 7 garden villages, 12luxury

homes, 2 office buildings each with 174 office units and 12

villagarden developments; in Milan3 housing projects with

62family dwellings, 18offices, 17stores, an 80 car garage, 7

other housing projects of 196 apartments and a shopping

center; in Genoa a 150 apartment development, 92 plush

apartments and a motel near the vatican owned Hotel Eden.

He could hardly believe that the vatican also owned the

Manifattura Ceramic a Pozzi which made the sinks, wash

basins, toilet bowls, bidet and bathroom fixtures put in not

alone in these units but used in almost every home in Italy. It

also then owned, controlled, or influenced by its substantial

holdings all of the following companies: Societa Mineraria

del Trasimeno (mining), L'Instituto Farmacologico Serona

November, 1982 Page 3


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(pharmaceuticals), La Societa Dinamite (dynamite and

ammunition, La Torcitura di Vittorio Veneto (yarn), Fisac-

Fabbriche Italiane Seterie Affini Como (silk), Concerie

Italiane Riunite de Torino (furs), Cartiere Burgo (paper

products), Industria Libraria Tipografica Editrice de Torino

(publishing) and Sansoni de Firenze (also publishing),

Societa Santa Barbara (mining), Caffaro Societa per l'In-

dustria ed Elettronica (chemistry and electronics), La

Salifera Siciliana (salt), La Societa Prodotti Chimici Superfos-

fati (chemicals), Bottonificio Fossanese (buttons), Saici

Societa Agricola Industriale per la Cellulosa Italiana (cellu-

lose), Cotonificio Veneziano (cotton), Lanificio de Garvar-

do (wool), Fabbriche Formenti (textiles), Sacit (ready-to-

wear clothing), Molini Antonio Biondi di Firenze (spaghetti),

CIT (travel and tourism), and CIM (department

stores).

In addition, Italy has a unique institution called the IRI, the

Instituto di Ricostruzione Industriale. This is a public law

corporation to which the Italian government assigns speci-

fic entrepreneurial functions. It controls hundreds of firms,

including television and radio, railroads, airlines and ship-

ping, steel, automobile manufacturing and banking. The

single biggest investor in this conglomerate is the vatican,

which now owns controlling interest Nino LoBello was

concerned that the vatican, in actuality, owned the Italian

economy,

He was later to write to-expose-type books

concerned with his findings: in 1968, The Vatican Empire,

An

Authoritative Report That Reveals The Vatican as

A

Nerve Center of High Finance - and Penetrates The

Secrecy of papal Wealthand in 1972, Vatican, US

Of course, after the Second World War the vatican

prospered under the CIA-financed reign of the Christian

Democrats. The IRI now handles 40% of Italian investments,

the father company having 300,000 employees. And, the

vatican moved out to take holdings in Alfa Romeo (automo-

biles), Firmeccanica (engineering combine), Finmare (ship-

ping, and the lucrative banana market The IRI constructed,

for example, the Fiumicino Airport and the vatican profited

from it all. In Rome it now owns 102 million square feet of the

city proper. (There are approximately 2714 million square

feet in a square mile.)

And then, of course, the vatican got serious about banks.

We do know the situation in 1966 and it can only be

presumed that it has flourished since then. At that time the

three leading banks of the country, Banca Commerciale

Italiana, Credito Italiano and the Banco di Roma were

closely tied to the vatican. The Banco di Santo Spirito, it

owned outright, having been founded by pope paul V in

1605, one of the oldest banks in the world. The foremost

bank in the thigh part of the boot was, of course, Banco

Ambrosiano

in Milan, founded in 1896. In the mind 1960's'

Banco Ambrosiano

bought interests in three foreign fiscal

organizations: the Banca del Gottardo di Lugano (Switzer-

land), the Kredietbank S.A. Luxembourgeoise and the

Interitalia (both in Luxembourg.) All of these banks provid-

ed a service whereby Italians could acquire shares of foreign

mutual funds, through over-the-borders holding companies

free of investment regulations of any of the states involved.

But in Italy, the vatican was moving out. In the north it

owned outright seven of the largest banks: the

Banco

Ambrosiano

of Milan, the Banca Provinciale Lombarda,

Piccolo Credito Bergamasco, Credito Romagnolo, Banca

Page 4 November, 1982

Cattolica del Veneto, Banco di San Geminiano e San

Prospero and Banca San Paolo. It owned heavy interests in

13 others (names on request) and in 62 banks it owned

medium interest but had one or more agents of the vatican

on the board of directors or at the policy-making level

(names on request). On the tailing out of the situation there

were thousands and thousands of small rural banks spread

all over Italy owned 100% either by the vatican or by the

local parish church, which submits to vatican controls. This

does not speak to its outreach to the Swiss banking

institutions or those in the United States. The vatican's

intrusion into insurance and credit institutions in all coun-

tries is almost impossible to unravel.

-Sut, it is important to get to

Banco Ambrosiano.

Ambrosia, of course, means nectar of the gods - and

that it is. One of the principal characters in the drama is Paul

C. Marcinkus, an Archbishop of Lithuanian ancestry, born

in Cicero, Illinois. Marcinkus was moved to Rome in 1947 to

become an Archbishop there

later.Tn

Rome he became

involved in the early 1960's with a Sicilian named Michele

Sindona. The ties of the vatican to the Mafia has a long

history of speculation, but it should be pointed out that

Cicero, Illinois and Sicily are Mafia strongholds. It was in

Cicero, Illinois, that your editor was approached by a Mafia

envoy. She was told that throughout the kingdom the

traditionalist split of the gains of the Mafia was one-third to

the family, one-third to the poiiticians and one-third to the

roman catholic church. The envoy wanted to know how

your editor could help to put together a plan to cut out the

money to the church. Her immediate reaction was to get the

hell out of town as fast as she could.

Sindona was in Milan in 1947 where he met Giovanni

Montini, a monsignor who was later to become pope paul.

He eagerly entered the banking business for the church.

When the new pope took over in 1963 he called on

Marcinkus and Sin dona. Marcinkus was known then to the

Italians as II Gorilla. Michele Sindona had purchased the

Banca Privata Finanziaria which was pretty good for a man

who once drove US Army trucks in Sicily. There was rising

unrest in Italy, with the popular fronts moving toward

socialism and the Italian state, in financial difficulty, sudden-

ly decided that it wanted to tax the earnings on the vatican's

stocks and bonds. It was a several year fight before the

vatican finally agreed to pay, but even at this writing, it

appears that all that the State of Italy received was an

agreement for apparently no money has been paid. Instead

the vatican decided to transfer its holdings to the United

States. In 1969, the pope decided to sell the vatican's

controlling interest in Societa Generale Immobiliare and he

assigned the secret sale to Sindona, under the eye of

Marcinkus. The stock was sold to banks in Luxembourg

and Paris. A large chunk was sold to Charles Bluhdorn, who

had established the Gulf & Western conglomerate in the

US. Sindona soon moved into the US where, as an agent of

the vatican, he bought into Chase Manhattan Bank,

General Foods, General Electric, Shell and Standard OiL

This is not to say the roman catholic church in America was

not already heavily into the stock market with holdings in

Hilton Hotels, Grace (steamship) Lines, oil companies,

telephone companies, energy companies and - of course

- blue chip stock such as AT&T, IBM as well as all of the



7/37

war industries. The roman catholic church in the US is

notorious for holdings in assumed names: Angela Co.,

Annunciata Co., August Co., Trubell Co., Bishop Co.,

Lamore Co. and ownership in the names of its orders

(priests and nuns), its fraternal organizations such as the

knights of columbus and its colleges and universities.

In 1972, Sindona bought controlling interest for himself in

the Franklin National Bank in New York and offered

Maurice Stans, Nixon's money raiser, a cool million in a

secret campaign contributions. (Stans did not accept the

deal.)

The vatican wanted diversified investments outside of

Italy and itbegan to selloffits major shareholdings inItalian

companies whileit became a conduit also to smuggle money

out ofItalywhich was becoming a communist country faster

than the pope would admit. The Italian government,

breaking loose from its CIA mentor - the Christian

Democratic party, began to demand that the vatican be

subject to exchange controls and banking regulations. The

vatican became more determined to transfer its holdings to

a reliable capitalist country base. But suddenly in 1974,

there was anywhere from

$150

million to

$1

billion of the

vatican money which simply disappeared, and when it did, 2

foreign (i.e. not Italian) banks collapsed. The first was the

Franklin National Bank of Long Island, New York, which

went into bankruptcy and the Herstatt Bank in Germany.

At this time, Sindona was found to have a network of

fiduciary trust, phantom holding corporations and phoney

deposits scattered everywhere. Although he was indicted,

found guilty and jailed, no one to date has really found out

anything about the maneuvers and no one knows exactly

how much money is missing.

It was felt that those primarily responsible were Marcin-

kus - IIGorilla, LuiggiMennini the second in command

at the lOR in the vatican and Sindona.

But the bankers of the world got together and in 1974

issued something called The Major Bankers Concordat

which was a statement ofan agreement that they would join

together to help bailout any bank which got into trouble.

Since Germany was financially shaky that first help went to

the Herstatt Bank in that nation, but in the good old US of

A, our government had to bailout the depositor in the

Franklin National Bank fiasco. The vatican made no

comments.

But something else which was rotten was going on.

Finally uncovered now by The Wall Street Journal, in 1982.

A former head of the Organized Crime Strike Force in

Southern New York had finallycome forward to talk about

a

1973

operation when he managed to get legal wiretaps

placed in New York and in West Germany to investigate a

possible securities counterfeiting scheme cooked up by

some of the same personnae. Itwas at that time uncovered

that

$950

millionworth of Pan Am, AT&T and other stock

was being counterfeited. The wiretaps resulted in 8 federal

indictments, 18 New Yorkstate indictments and guiltypleas

from a number of U. S. citizens. An Australian con man

(Leopold Ledl) claimed that his vatican connection had

ordered

$14.5

million of the bogus certificates for phony

collateral for loans and that he delivered these to a

monastery outside of Turin, Italy. Subsequently a book by

another author entitled just that, The Vatican Connection

Austin, Texas

is to be in book stores later this year.

It appears that the United States Department of Justice

went so far, in 1971, as to fly a representative to Rome to

talk to Marcinkus about his connection with it all. The

forthcoming book now alleges that he was to receive a $150

million kickback from the counterfeiting scheme.

By

1978

everything had gone askew. Money was missing,

Sindona had taken a

25

year rap, the Governor of Italy's

Central Bank was arrested and eased out of office, an

investigating judge in Italy, Emilio Alessandrini, was assas-

sinated and only a part of the turmoil was showing.

Well, what is the lOR? It's official name, as above

indicated, is the Institute for Religious Works. It has

approximately

7,000

customers which include the vatican,

religious organizations, members of the clergy and select

people who have assisted the church. Your editor's guess is

that it is also probably a laundry for Mafia cash. It has

perhaps

$2

billion in deposits and makes a profit of at least

$20 million a year. However, the Vatican is running a deficit

of

$20

to

$30

milliona year and it relies on the lOR profits to

fillthe gap. Since the exchange is internal in the vatican, no

one really knows what goes on. Peter's Pence, a voluntary

donation given each year to the pope by roman catholics

around the world has dropped off recently in magnitude so

that even the pope now wails that he is hard up.

Marcinkus is the chief administrator of the

108

acres of the

vatican, and he has virtual autonomy in running lOR, with

Luiggi Mennini second in command. When Sindona came

up with the major hole in the vatican finances it was thought

that Marcinkus would be eased out after pope paul's death

but he was instead reconfirmed. He probably knows too

much. The same situation appertained in the United States

with J. Edgar Hoover, a roman catholic who ran the FBI

with an iron hand for years. No one dared to remove him

from office.

Now, the story dramatically changes with a new charac-

. ter on the scene. A mere bank clerk, Robert Calvi, was

working at the Banco Ambrosiano during all of this time.

He came to work on time, kept his cage accounts in order,

was a faithful employee, all of that, and finally - lo the

miracle - he became the head of the Banco Ambrosiano.

This is now regarded as Italy's catholic bank, the l l th

largest in the nation. Once owned outright by the vatican,

since the selling off of interests the vatican is now alleged

to have only a

1.8%

interest, but no one knows for certain. In

the US we have long had. Olivetti typewriters for sale, and

that Italian firm manufactures other office machinery also.

The owner of the firm bought a stake in the Banco

Ambrosiano and within several months got out because he

was appalled at what he found. Whatever that means.

In

1967

the Banco Ambrosiano had reported a capital of

$6Y-tmillion with a net profit of $1.4 million, a fabulous 22%

profit. In

1980

Banco Ambrosiano was

790

million in the

hole on its accounts. In 1981, Roberto Calvi, its director

took

$26.4

million out of the country to Switzerland, was

caught, convicted, fined $19.8 million and sentenced to Y

years in jail. He immediately gave a bond and was out, still

head of the bank, pending an appeal. That's one story. On

the other hand, it is also said that Roberto Calvi was such a

fabulous manager that in 1981 the bank had tripled its

profits and had

18

to

19

billion in assets. Take your pick of

November, 1982

Page S


8/37

the tales; the real one is never going to come out.

In spring, 1982, it was suddenly revealed that Roberto

Calvi was loaning money to

Banco Ambrosiano

subsidi-

aries elsewhere and then on June IOth he disappeared.

Prior to this however he became involved in a scandal

having to do with a secret faction of the Masons in Italy,

heavily roman catholic ( ) and dedicated to the destabliza-

tion of the Italian parliament, which was slowly moving to

the left. The faction was identified by its use of black robes.

One week after Calvi 'disappeared a short notice appeared

in Italian papers that his secretary had defenestrated

herself. In plain English, she committed suicide by leaping

out of a window. The next day Calvi was found hanging

under the Blackfriar bridge in London, quite dead. The

obvious connection of the black robed secret Masonic

faction and the name of the bridge, Blackfriar, sent chills

throughout the Italian banking world. A shaky inquist

verdict of suicide is simply not accepted.

. the reason for the two deaths was obvious when it soon

became apparent that the

Banco Ambrosiano

was not a

mere $790millionshort, but that the real figure was about 15

times that amount. There were $1.4 billion in loans corning

due and no one was around to pay them. Who had those

loans? Some Panamanian companies with mail addressed

only - paper companies - and not even that, mere

phantoms. They were Bellatrix Inc. (beatuiful trick ), Manic

Inc., Astrofine, Inc. Other names are unknown. The money

was loaned by Roberto Calvi from the assets of the Banco

Ambrosiano

because Paul Marcinkus of the lOR, the

vatican bank, had given what is called a letter of

patronage (or a letter ofcomfort ) to Roberto saying that

the lOR had controlling interest in about a dozen of these

Panamanian companies. This letter would not make the

lOR liable for the debts but such a letter of credit (as it is

called inthe United States) would clearly induce the

Banco

Ambrosiano

to approve the loan. Here, it gets sticky

because some of that money went to Peruvian, Nicaraguan

and Nassau subsidiaries of Banco Ambrosiano and it is

known that a Peruvian connection purchased the Exocet

missiles used by Argentina to sink several British ships in

the recent Falkland/Malvinas Islands war. The British

Secret Service, infact, isinvestigating ifthe $1.4 billion

went

to Argentina to finance its confrontation with Britain.

Meanwhile, the Argentine Society of The Defense of

Tradition, Family and Property began to take out half page

ads (even inthe

New York

Times, April 30, '82) on behalf of

catholic Argentina.

When the news got out, in late summer, the stock in the

Banco Ambrosiano fell so dramatically (30% to 40%) on

the Milan stock exchange, with depositors rushing to'

withdraw funds also, that for the first time in 64 years, the

Italian government closed the stock market. Do you read

any of this in your newspaper? So hushed is it all .

The Italian government moved inon August 6th, ordered

liquidation, replaced Banco Ambrosiano's Board ofDirec-

tors with a three-man commission; then decided to sell off

the investment portfolio of the bank, preserve some assets

of its core (particularly La Centrale, a major holding

company and Toro Assicurazioni, an insurance company)

and start a new bank called, Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano

under control of seven other Italian banks which have

Page 6

November, 1982

guranteed loans to rescue the operation of

Banco Ambrosi-

ano.

The Interminister Committee for Credit and Savings of

the Treasury Minister of Italy then went to the vatican and

asked it to assume its share of responsibility for the debt.

With alacrity, Marcinkus produced a purported year old

letter from Calvi dissolving the vatican lOR of any financial

responsibility for the loans. The Treasury Minister was

furious and attempted to serve legal process on Marcinkus.

Concerning the two letters the Treasury Minister stated,

The vatican must have known that the two letters could

not be genuine at the same time; the deal was intended to

defraud and to lead people astray. The powerful vatican

was then characterized as, at least, being guilty of acting

improperly in the transaction Itpointed out that the letter

alleged written by Calvi which absolved the vatican of all

responsibility for the loans had not been approved by the

Board of Directors of the Banco Ambrosi-

ana and, as a private letter, was worthless for the vatican's

defense.

The vatican, naturally, refused to accept any legal service

saying that it was a sovereign state and need not answer to

an Italian action. However, LuigiMennini is an Italian citizen

and that state promptly notified him that he would need to

stand trial in the Sindona affair of 8 years ago. Mennini, as

indicated, is the managing director of the lOR.

But meantime, the

Banco Ambrosiano

Holding Bank of

Luxembourg was found to be in default $400 million and

that state froze its assets. Luxembourg immediately notified

international bankers that in accord with their Major

Central Bankers Concordat of 1974 that it had a bank in

trouble. The bankers replied that this was not really a bank

introuble, itwas a bank (and holding company) which

was

involvent and they would not help. Then the Banco

Ambrosiano

Overseas Ltd. inNassau, Bahama, petitioned

the Bahaman court to liquidate it and the court responded

by suspending its license for 30 days (in late July.) Markin-

cus resigned from the Board of Directors of this bank after

Calvi disappeared. It is not known how much money is

missing there but that bank isapparently also insolvent. The

Banco Ambrosiano

had other subsidiaries, particularly in

Latin America, and news isnot inas yet on what willhappen

with them. The vatican is now stating that it does not own

the Panamanian companies which Markincus said itowned

and on whose behalf he wrote an lOR letter of patronage.

Much pressure was put on the vatican until it finally

agreed to an independent commission of inquiry appointed

by the pope to report their findings to the Secretary of State

- of the vatican. For the whitewash he chose a commission

of three loyal roman catholic bankers, one from the United

States, one from Italy and one from Switzerland. The

current status of the bank formerly headed by the American

is enough to raise the hair on your head. Joseph Brennan,

age 71, is the retired former chairman of the Emigrant

Savings Bank in New York. A graduate of roman catholic

Georgetown university he retired in 1978 to devote his full

time to US domestic roman catholic affairs. The Emigrant

Savings Bank is now in trouble, having lost $20.4 million in

the first quarter of this year. Estimating that its net worth

will be wiped by the end of the year, it has asked for

government assistance to keep it from being closed. Even



9/37

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the patient New York Times opines that the pope has

appointed an ineffective group.

Mostly in Italy, $1.4 billion dollars belonging to Italian

citizens have been lost in this bank fraud. In Luxembourg,

the loss stands at about $400 millionand perhaps the same

magnitude of loss has occurred in the Bahamas. Chase

Manhattan Bank now has announced that it may arrange a

$500 million credit for theIOR, but, of course, as indicted

the vatican has bought heavily into the stock of Chase

Manhattan. Now our countrymen will get their feet in the

glue.

Someone had to finance the arms purchases during the

?

o

Austin, Texas

war over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands and it looks like

Italian citizens were forced to do that, without their prior

approval or consent.

International banking isin trouble and the roman catholic

church is in the thick of it. But, in every nation and

particularly in the United States, bank frauds involving

other churches also are frequent. The same thing could

strike home in our nation any time. Money is the ambrosia

of the gods - and everywhere their henchmen reach to

control or to manipulate it, and they are protected by

government and the media because here in America the

churches are sacrosanct. ~

November, 1982


10/37

Toward More Intelligence

Richard Smith

SHEEP IN SHEEP S CLOTHING

Humanism is one of those nice sweet words likemother-

hood. Who could possibly be against it? On its face it

connotes everything nice and noble to which anyone would

want to aspire.

However, motherhood has its drawbacks. Women can

bear too many children and cause desperate poverty as

they are presently (usually against their willat the behest of

the church or their male husbands) in Mexico and most of

the rest the world. Also, the image of traditional mother-

hood can be and is used by unenlightened men to subjugate

women. And women who have found themselves unwilling

to fit the socially-pressured role ofmotherhood have lived a

nightmare of guilt feelings or continued rebellion against a

callous society around them.

Similarly, humanism has its drawbacks. It can be used to

smother those who want to make some genuine improve-

ments for humanity. How? By diverting people's attention

from the anti-human actions ofsome people by overempha-

sizing that the antihumanists are human, too Thus, a

humanist reaction to someone like Hitler could be - Well,

he's human, too, so let's not talk about racism or militar-

ism. Even ifsuch were not the position of many self-styled

humanists, the effectiveness of their ranks would be

diluted by those who did hold such a position. Thus, they

could not work as much genuine positive good for humanity

as those who simply opposed racism and militarism. Those

who simply opposed such antihuman beliefs and practices

would not have to wear a badge of being humanist

because by simply opposing racism and militarism they

would be proving their humanism.

The same situation exists with respect to humanism

and religion. At present, we are suffocating under the

weight of antihuman religion. All religion is antihuman. The

origin of the word is to tie back and that is exactly what it

does - it ties humans up into a regimented structure of

beliefs and behavior. It is not a quest for ultimate value as

Mr. Bahm has confusedly asserted (quoting from an

authoritative grocery-store-quality paperback) in another

article, titled Humanism and Religion, in this magazine.

Religious believers do not quest for anything. They just

believe what they are told.

The essential component ofallEuropean and Mideastern .

religions (Note when we use the word religion, we are

using a European word.) is submission to a god's authority,

always ultimately through an intermediary. (Our under-

standing of the nature of religion is not advanced by calling

Asian religions like buddhism atheistic, since they make

Iitle or no effort to scientifically analyze god myths. They

also disdain the known world in favor of a mysterious

nirvana, which is equivalent to heaven. ((I'm referring to

the Encyclopedia Britannica, which I think is as good as a

Dellpaperback)) These buddhists do not regard hindugods

as myths but as merely inferior to their system. All


buddhists have simply made buddha into a god - a

legendary, infallible authority - and they are

tied back

by

rituals and beliefs that have little or no basis in fact.) This is

the same as being a slave, and it is not a role fit for humans.

To condone slavery by focussing on the love that a slave

might have for his master is callous and truly inhumane.

Yet, that is the position of religious humanists as we have

seen stated by Archie Bahm. Nauseating, isn't it?

There are self-styled humanists who do call themselves

Atheists. However, they overemphasize their humanism at

the expense of the indispensable tool for humanity's full

mental emancipation - Atheism. No humanist group will

advertise its Atheists or Atheism. You have to work a little

to find that out. Can such behavior ever make the

necessary impact on our culture to free it from the most

powerful and most antihuman institution (other than the

military - which religion feeds) around - religion? I doubt

it for the same reason that Hitler could not be opposed with

a limpwrist. Such humanists do little service for humanity

by hiding from, or making friends with, humanity's true

oppressor - religion. What is needed is for Atheists to

stand squarely and openly against it. Religionists - not

Atheists - should be on the run. These humanists are

sheep in sheep's clothing, and they are on the run.

By not plainly calling a spade a spade, by not making it

exclusively clear that the only genuine humanism is Atheist

humanism, the door is left open for the religious human-

ists to infiltrate and cancel what positive good the Atheists

do - as Mr. Bahm has demonstrated. The same thing

happened to the women's movement early in this century.

Ida Harper's biography of Susan B. Anthony, The Life and

Works of

Susan B.

Anthony,

provides a clear example of

that. For 40 years Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.

Anthony liferally built by themselves the first organized

women's movement. They were Atheists and they es-

chewed religion, but they did not exclude religion from their

movement. Eventually religious women came into the

movement and overwhelmed it, refusing to give up their

religiosity. Soon thereafter, the women's movement ex-

pired (for 50 years), having achieved only suffrage. Similar-

ly, with religious humanists you can be sure that as far as

they are concerned keeping organized prayer out of

schools (something they never worked for) is enough, and

little more should be. done to antagonize other human

beings, even if they are mental slaves.

That is why American Atheists is the only group on the

horizon that I expect will ever the necessary resistance to

entrenched and established superstition, resistance that

humans in this country, hemisphere, and world need - not

only for their mental well-being but, as a corollary, for their

survival. That's -genuine humanism, and we don't need the

extra weigbt of a badge for it.



11/37

THE AMERICAN ATHEIST RADI

LEGALIZING

THE SYMBOLISM

OF RELIGION

I don't know as yet what motivated your nation to

become almost hysterically christian during the period from

the end of the Second World War to date. It did.

Itstarted immediately after the World War, in 1946.First

a .series of acts were passed by the United States Congress

which authorized the Health, Education and Welfare De-

partment of the United States to give sectarian religious

groups whatever federal lands and buildings are declared to

be surplus by government agencies having their use.

As you willrecall in these programs I have given rather

extensive reference to Madison's answer when he was

approached to give federal lands to the church. The House

ofRepresentatives passed a billto give federal lands to the

baptist church in the Mississippi Territory and Madison

vetoed the billon February 28, 181l. His Veto message said,

Because the billin reserving a certain parcel of land of

the United States for the use of said baptist church

comprises a principle and precedent for the appropria-

tion of funds of the United States for the use and

support ofreligious societies, contrary to the article of

the Constitution which declares that 'Congress shall

make no law respecting an establishment ofreligion.'

The politicians who passed this series of acts giving federal

lands and buildings to sectarian religious groups deliberate-

lyviolated the First Amendment inorder to bolster religion.

But, it did not end there. For a series of other acts were

passed also. Let me inform you about some of them. On

June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 907 was passed and in that act it

became mandatory for each federal judge or justice to be

sworn or affirmed into office So help me god, an official

recognition of a need for belief in deity in order to assume

office. This act violated Article 6, paragraph (3) of the U.S.

Constitution which says, ... but no religious Test shall ever

be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust

under the United States.

Eisenhower and Nixon went into office in January, 1953

and it was downhill then all the way. On June 14, 1954 the

words under god were added to the pledge ofallegiance to

make it read one nation under god. In the same year

special mailing rates were enacted by Congressional decree

to give all religious magazines a mail rate so low as to be an

actual federal subsidization of the religious mailings. Actual-

lythe legal fiction was developed that the religious need not

even subscribe to the magazines in order to have the low

rate and to have them mailed to everyone (wanted or

unwanted), since a part of the church budget could be

allocated toward such subscription requirement No other

organization is given this break.

Public Law 140 signed by Eisenhower on July 11, 1955,

that is about a year later, made it mandatory that all

Austin, Texas

currency and coins bear the motto In God We Trust.

Prior to this, dating from a campaign by one rev. M.R.

Watkinson, the coinage act ofApril22, 1864had designated

that In God We Trust be put on coins when and where

sufficient space in the balance of the design would permit

it. Now, under Eisenhower it came to be mandatory not

alone on all coins but even upon paper currency.

Again, a year later, on July 30,1956, Public Law 851 was

signed by Eisenhower. This officially ditched our old

national motto, E Pluribus Unum which means from

many comes one (from many people, one nation) which

had served our nation from revolutionary times forward.

The new

national motto

was designated and it was In God

We Trust.

By 1959, of course, I had begun the case to remove bible

reading and prayer recitation from the public schools, and

the federal government from 1963 forward introduced the.

Becker amendment, the Dirksen amendment, and the

Wylie amendment to return bible reading and prayer

recitation to schools.

The US Congress was so angry that in 1964 when the

CivilRights Law was in front of it, incredibly an amendment

was attached that anyone in America who was discovered

to be an Atheist could be fired from his employment without

recourse: that is, with no right to fight for his job, no

unemployment compensation, no nothing. This bill, known

as the Ashbrooke amendment, actually passed the House

of Representatives and was only stopped narrowly in the

US Senate.

Then, in defiance of the case of Torcaso u Watkins (367

US 488) and indefiance of the US Constitution, Public Law

89-554 was passed on September 6, 1966 (80 Stat. 424; 28

USCA 331) that any individual elected or appointed to office

of honor or profit, in the civil service, or the uniformed

service (except the president) had to take the oath, or

affirmation So help me god upon entering office.

Of course, by then, in 1965 the massive money break-

through had come for religious schools under the Primary

and Secondary Education Acts. By that time the segment of

the United States claiming roman catholicism as a religion

had increased to a politically significant number and this

was simply a bid for that vote.

In early 1969 president Nixon introduced religious cere-

monies into the White House. Inlate 1969the Apollo VIII,in

circling the moon, was given the task of showing the world

what a christian nation could do. In a carefully pre planned

gambit, code named Experiment P-l, actually pro-

grammed into the flight plan, the astronauts were given the

military order to have a spontaneous manifestation of

religious awe at 7:31 PM plus 10seconds,and to, under the

November, 1982

Page 9


12/37

influence of the christian euphoric mood, recite the first ten

verses of genesis, all carefully pre programmed and pre-

printed into the flight plan for them.

And Billy Graham prayed that it would all come off all

right.

I think it also important to remember the bitter battles

going on yet around the so-called Blue Law cases, for the

important ones came up in this period since the Second

World War also_ Two Guys uMcGinley (366 US 582) 1961

and McGowan u Maryland (366 US 420) the same year

were both examples of the United States Supreme Court -

since it could not legislate Sunday as a day of god's rest -

keeping the blue laws intact by the gross pretense that

Sunday as a day of rest belonged to all of western culture.

The unprincipled yielding to religious pressure was poorly

disguised.

But parallel with this has gone many other straws in the

wind - which is what our vaunted principle of state/ church

separation has become - a simple straw blown where the

religious community desires to blow it and with the United

States government giving every accomodation to the

religious community to do so.

Ihave investigated the history of the process of naturaliza-

tion. I began this when a trembling Egyptian came to our

offices in Austin, Texas after an eight month frightening

go-round with the Department of Immigration and Naturali-

zation of the United States. Actually the transcript of

testimony he gave me coincided with the findings in In Re

Weitzman, 426 F. 2d 439. In that case a woman was denied

her citizenship because of her involvement with Atheism

and in the appeal to a federal court won only because a fluke

occurred. Since she was a jew in her rearing and ethnic

identity one federal judge said he would count her as still a

jew - and she got in. The entire case was on an objection to

bearing arms but the plight of the Atheist was ardently

discussed. Justice Blackmun, now on the US Supreme

Court, sat on that case and he quoted an earlier judge with

relish: One cannot speak of religious liberty without

assuming the existence of a belief in a supreme allegiance to

the will of god. The case was a portent of things to come.

Selective Service cases were just about as bad and in the

cases of US u Seeger (380 US 163) decided in 1965 and

Welsh u US (398 US 333) decided in 1970 it came through

loud and clear that A registrant who was an Atheist ...

would not be permitted entitled to classification as a

conscientious objector. In both cases men who little

relished religion were interpreted to have some of the same,

that is in the objector's own scheme of things, religious

and focusing on some external force greater than human

relationship.

Some of the law is absurd. In Anderson uLaird, cadets at

West Point tried to escape from attendance at church. The

case is still in the appeal process (Editors Note: That case

was later won infauor of the cadets in 1972. 499 US 1076).

In that the government contention is that such compulsory

attendance is a purely secular exercise carried out for

purely secular reasons. I can almost hear you cry out,

What could it be? Why the officers must be trained to

understand the religious sentiments of their men But, in so

doing, the roman catholics go to mass and the protestants

to services and the jews to their synagogue. They never

Page 10

November, 1982

cross sectarian lines

In January 1972 the US voted to circumvent all copyright

laws in order to give the mormons a perpetual copyright to

their religious books. In February 1972 the Equal Employ-

ment Opportunity law was amended so that all religious

organizations are exempt from it. Now, the Black man who

cleans up at the local roman catholic church may need to be

roman catholic to get the job. And, in March, 1972 the Dept.

of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance issued an

order that all federal contractors, subcontractors and

federally assisted firms are required to keep records of

religious affiliations of their employees and determine the

number of jews and roman catholics occupying executive

and middle management positions.

Who is paranoid now?

There is a concerted legal drive to make us into a

christian nation symbolically - and it contravenes all the

concepts of state/church separation with which we began

the nation.

I call this the fight for religious symbols. The religious

people in our community are not that dumb. They recog-

nize that they can't get what they really want - tax money

- unless and until they can convince everyone everywhere

that this is a christian nation. The state has its own axe to

grind. For the special privileged position of religion, for its

being sacrosanct and protected in that image by the state a

favor needs to be returned.

The Constitution of the state of New Hampshire let it all

hang out some years ago. That Constitution states:

As morality and piety, rightly grounded onevangeli-

cal principles, will give the best and greatest security

to government, and will lay in the hearts of men, the

strongest obligations to due subjection ..

Beginning in 1946 and coming to date the ground has very

carefully been laid to make us appear to be one nation

under god where prayer and where the oath (or affirma-

tion) of So help me god is important, where everyone in

public office allegedly has entered into that office under a

religious test.

In our continuing confrontation with the Federal Com-

munications Commission we are told over and over again

that there is no controversy in respect to religion in

America, that Atheists do not have a right to speak. Every

radio or TV station which refuses to sell us time stands on

the FCC regulations and rulings against us. Every station

which sells us time does so on its own sense of fair play.

Until earlier this year the total impact of my investigations

had not hit me:

No church in any age of man, no religion, has ever won

either the mind or the heart of man. Left alone,

without the power of force to support it, every

religion, every organized church has failed. The state

has given that force on most occasions. Churches and

states have acted in concert since there has been

either one or the other. Standing alone, trying to get

its own adherents by the force of its doctrines alone,

every single church and religion has failed and has

been succeeded by another in the struggle that

religion has undertaken for survival.

Now is a good time to see that the failure is final. Despite

these laws, I'll see what can be done. Won't you join me?



13/37

Merrill Holste

ANECDOTES FROM

THE EARLY HISTORY

OF JEHOVAH

The gods grow and develop with the passage ofthe years

just as do the tribes of people who create them. The

development of jehovah, as recorded in the old testament,

is an interesting illustration of this fact. The concept of

jehovah as an infinite, omnipotent and omniscient god is a

late development in religious thinking. Students ofcompara-

tive religion know that all the ancient Semitic peoples,

including the Hebrews, as is conclusively shown in many

bible texts, believed in numerous baals - lords, or gods of

different localities such' as rivers, trees, ravines, stones,

mountains and temples. Each locality, of course, was

believed to be the private preserve of its own particular

tutelary spirit - ghost, spook, nymph, dryad, pyxie, satyr,

faun or god. The Hebrews believed as all the other Semites

did, that their god was one of many; that each nation had its

own god, allof which were every bit as real as their own. The

first commandment, as was supposedly given by jehovah

himself, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, insists

upon the existence of other gods. Unless the Hebrews did

believe in many gods, such a commandment would have

been completely unintelligible and pointless.

The exodus story relates some of the original Hebrew

ideas about their jehovah. At that time they believed he

appeared to them in a pillarof cloud byday and a pillarof fire

by night. Such a belief conforms to the primitive Semitic

idea that gods were immanent within some object of nature

- river, tree, ravine, stone, temple, altar, relic, etc., etc.

The Hebrews, according to tradition, wandered in the

desert of Arabia for many years. Travel must have posed

quite a problem to the superstitious, stone age people who

believed in a multitude of locality gods. Their leader and

chief magician, moses, who learned the arts and wiles and

priestly subterfuges in the land of Egypt, devised a plan

whereby they could keep one god for themselves and

remain the peculiar people and sole possession of this one

god, jehovah. Moses, inhis role ofmagician, had his artisans

make a magic-box out of sacred shittim wood. In his role

of priest, he induced their jehovah to adopt this box as his

temporary home so that the porters could carry him about

with them. Keeping one's god locked up in this way seemed

sensible to a primitive savage who wanted to go travelling,

for in those days gods were notoriously jealous, evil-

tempered, blood-thirsty and quarrelsome. The Hebrews

adopted the god-in-a-box plan as the best way to keep their

god from getting mixed up in a lot of useless god-fights with

all the other jealous, bloodthirsty, small-time locality deities

through whose numerous territories they planned to pass,

loot and possibly take over for themselves. Moses's igno-

rant dupes of stone-age culture were eternally grateful to

him for devising such an ingenious scheme - and they are

Austin, Texas

still grateful today - billions of dollars' worth.

The god-in-a-box fable was a universal piece of intellectu-

al baggage among all the tribes in the eastern Mediterrane-

an area. Greek mythology contains a story about pandora

who, through curiosity, opened a box containing all the evil.

spirits, thereby, permitting their escape to plague mankind.

Egyptian mythology, long before moses, contained a story

in which their evilgod, typhon, made a box, likewise called

an ark, into which he induced his brother, the good god

osiris, to enter. Typhon clamped the lid down, soldered it

tight and cast it into the Nile. Thus it became osiris's coffin.

A story in the

arabian nights

tells of the fisherman and the

djinn. In this fable a fisherman found a bottle while casting

his nets. When he opened it, a diffuse pillar of smoke came

out, rose to the clouds and then collected itself together by

. degrees until it became a fierce supernatural being or god

called a djinn. Inorder to dispel the fisherman's unbelief, the

djinn obliginglyreversed the process and entered the bottle

once more, much as jehovah, the cloudy pillar-god of the

Hebrews, must have done when he crawled into moses's

ark. The

arabian nights

stories arose from the same

storehouse of Semitic myths as did the fables in the old

testament.

It isn't hard to demonstrate that the Hebrews once

believed they actually had their god confined in a wooden

box. This edifying story is recorded for us in I samuel,

chapters 4 through 7. In many bible passages we can read

how jehovah promised to fightfor the Hebrew tribesmen in

their battles. Since they thought they had their jehovah in

their box, they decided to test his fighting powers. They

tried to use the sacred box as a secret weapon by carrying

it with them into a battle against the Philistines. As a result,

the Philistines captured the Hebrews' magic-box, defeated

them, and proved the Hebrew god to be what he always was

- an impotent fetish whose alleged promise to fight inbattle

for the Hebrews was only a baseless priestly imposition.

That the Hebrews were convinced they had lost their god

when they lost the sacred box isshown by their extravagant

though brief affectation of grief and by the fact that they

immediately returned to their original worship of local

fertility deities - baal and ashtoreth. Nor did they worship

the traditional jehovah again till his return more than'

twenty years later, still cooped up within the magic fetish-

box. This story, written by Hebrews and for Hebrew

readers, makes out that the Philistines were convinced that

they had in actuality captured the Hebrew god. On its

return, the sacred box passed through the land of the

Beth-shemites and of Kirjath-jearim. The people in these

November, 1982

Page 11


14/37

places, according to the Hebrew-told story, also credited

this magic-box with containing the Hebrew jehovah. In I

samuel 6:19 we read that the men of Beth-shemesh were

killed because they looked into the sacred ark of the

Hebrews. Why? Checking with exodus 33:20 we see the

reason, as given by the Hebrew scribes. We are told that no

(unconsecrated?) man might look upon jehovah's face and

live. Any Hebrew of that day would have understood that

the Beth-shemites had looked upon the face oftheir jehovah

crouched in a corner of his box, glaring back at them with

beady, baleful, malevolent eyes, putting such a hex on them

that 50,070 of them died before its venom had been

assuaged.

In

I k ings

chapter 8, we read about the installation of the

sacred box inSolomon's temple many years later. We note

inverse 9 that the magic box was reported to be empty save

for the two tables of stone. The reason for emphasizing the

emptiness of the box appears in the next two verses where

we are told that the cloud of god filled the temple.

Therefore, their god could no longer be in that box as visual .

examination had supposedly shown. Obviously, the cere-

mony of dedication had either cajoled or permitted the

Hebrew fetish to resume his cloudy shape and leave his box

to take up residence in the roomier quarters afforded byhis

new temple. The installation of their cloudy god in a fixed

place of habitation had been the ambition of the Hebrews

for many generations before Solomon finallyaccomplished

it. That surely was a long time for a supposedly omni-

present, omnipotent, omniscient god to be cooped up in a

box So far, we secularists have never heard any adequate

explanation from either christians or jews of this glaring

theological incongruity.

invented by moses and carried about in a wooden box,

unable to act for himself or to know what to do unless

previously instructed by some practitioner of religious

magic. We have many evidences that the

real

christian faith

is in the little fetish:

1. The billions of dollars collected for propaganda

purposes.

2. Their efforts to insinuate their myths into the public

schools.

3. Their efforts to influence government in their god's

favor.

4. Their efforts to begin a church-controlled censor-

ship of literature.

5. The final evidence that the christians have no faith

in the proclaimed attributes is the constant effort

made by christians to squelch by law any possible

criticism of the little fetish they borrowed from

barbaric stone-age Hebrews.

The christians show no sign of realizing that their fetish-

deity ison exactly the same cultural and intellectual level as

theju-ju fetish of the African witch-doctor. There isonly one

saving difference - in favor of the African, for, when he

discovers that his fetish is a fake and powerless, he has

sense enough to smash it and make a new and (he hopes)

better one to take its place. The christian witch-doctor

(preacher or priest) on the other hand, upon being told that

his fetish is a fake, a fraud and powerless, tries to keep up his

money-grabbing sham, tries to safeguard his racket by

smashing and suppressing by law all criticism of his fetish.

Ifthe christians could have their way, they would enforce

upon us all the old errors embodied in their myths. They

would soon proclaim the earth to be flat; the sun to revolve

... A story in the

r i n nights

tells of the fisherman and the djinn. In this fable a

fisherman found a bottle while casting his nets. When he opened it, a diffuse pillarof

smoke came out, rose to the clouds and then collected itself together bydegrees until

it became a fierce supernatural being or god called a djinn. In order to dispel the

fisherman's unbelief, the

djinn

obligingly reversed the process and entered the bottle

once more, much as jehovah, the cloudy pillar-god of the Hebrews, must have done

when he crawled into moses's 'ark.'The r i n nights stories arose from the same

storehouse of Semitic myths as did the fables in the old testament.

The christians advertise at every opportunity their belief

in those mythical attributes for their god. Always the

christians are loud in professing belief in the grandiose

attributes, yet their actions always betray the fact that their

real beliefis inthe same littletribal deity who once crouched

in a Hebrew fetish-box. They prove this by their constant

prayers telling their fetish-god what to do about this, that

and the other thing. They constantly make the welkin ring

with millionsof payers suggesting, instructing, commanding

their little fetish what to do about every minor detail oftheir

lives exactly as any African witch-doctor instructs his fetish.

Such profession of belief on the part of christians is only

empty talk, coming only from the mouth. By their actions

the christians prove clearly that secretly and deep down in

their hearts their real belief is in the same powerless fetish


around it again; the rain to leak out of holes in the floor of a

brassy, material heaven as it did in the days of noah; the

stars to be once more mere lanterns hung on the under side

of the brassy heaven in.the evening and put away in the

morning by the host of heavenly angels; men would once

again have one less rib than women; and all diseases,

epilepsy, insanity, etc., would once again be caused by evil

christian devils and demons, only to be cured by exorcism

duly practiced by christian preachers and priests. And it

would once more be heresy punishable by the inquisition

and by burning at the stake for scientists who dare to deny

that such misconceptions are true. The true nature of the

christian religion and its aims should never be forgotten. It

has not changed one iota in the past 1900 years ~



15/37

t o n g r t s s i o n a l t c o r d

PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES. OF THE 97

th

CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

United States

America

Vol 127

No. 78

ASHINGTON; THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1981

Senate

Excerpted from. the Congressional

Record, May 21, 1981

Mr. WEICKER - The law of the

land that we are now operating under

by virtue of the last continuing resolu-

tion states as the exceptions except

where the life of the mother would be

endangered if the fetus were carried

to term or except where such medical

proced ure is necessary for the victims

of rape or incest and such rape has

been reported within 72 hours to a

law enforcement agency or public

health service; nor are payments pro-

hibited for drugs or devices to pre-

vent fertilization of the implanted

ovum; nor for ectopic pregnancy.

Of course, the language we are

dealing with today has as the only

exception the life of the mother. So

we have not debated what is before us

today. This is a ban in the extreme.

Mr. President, I think it is incon-

ceivable that Senators on this floor

are going to insist that a woman who

has been raped carry that baby to full

term. Yet that is exactly what will

happen if the Hyde language is adopt-

ed as a part of this appropriations

bill. Even in that regard, it is only

those who are indigent or poor who

will have to carry the baby to full

term. I really do not care to hear

anything about the judeo-christian

ethic or morality when that kind of

reasoning dominates this floor.

Mr. President, I have heard a great

deal- I am going to use exact quotes

from two of the speakers this after-

noon. One referred to the fact that we

are running the country by divine

commandments. Somebody else re-

ferred to instructions from Sinai.

That is the whole issue and it is one of

the great issues before this body.

I care not a whit what any particu-

lar religion states, Mr. President, and

neither should any of my colleagues.

Our only duty is to make certain that

every individual can believe anything

that he or she wants and is free to

practice the articles of their faith in

this nation without any interference

from their government. That is the

only matter that is the proper con-

cern of this body; not judeo-christian

ethics or divine commandments or

instructions from Sinai ...

Despite Sen. Weickers argument, the Senate voted 52-43 to deny

Medicaid abortions to women pregnant by incest or rape. Today,

Medicaid will provide an abortion only to save the life of the mother.

I am not pleased even with the

restrictions that presently exist in the

law; but rape and incest are excep-

tions, the life of the mother is an

exception, an ectopic pregnancy is an

exception, birth control devices are

an exception. The law has been set

forth very clearly on the matter of

abortion, and the public policy has

been set forth with great clarity.

This little procedural end-run of

legislating on this particular appro-

priations bill is meant to obviate all

that public policy and all that law.

The reason given is some sort of

vague reference to orders from above

as to what is right and what is wrong.

... We do not legislate in god's name

but in the name of the people of this

country and its Constitution. That is

the precept that is going to be vio-

lated by this type of legislation, and

there will be no end to it. .. Make no

mistake: Should this be adopted -

and the life of the mother is the last

exception on the books - it will not

be long before that is gone. Then

someone's religious belief will have

been fulfilled.

There is great error in what is being

presented before this body today.

If you care to write to Senator Weicker to congratulate him on his courage in

making this statement on the Senate floor, he is:

Senator Lowell P. Weicker,

313 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Or, if you care to call his office his telephone number is (202) 224-4041.

Austin, Texas

November, 1982 Page 13


16/37

Scattered throughout the members of American Atheists are to be found, from time to time, humanists or unitarians

who exhort us to the example of the national organizations of the same and state what they conceive to be the superior

position of these two groups. The argument is that the humanists and the unitarians are, allegedly, based on a much

more sophisticated position with, clearly, a hightone soft sell which Atheism is said to lack. We are constantly told that

the use of the word Atheism is abrasive; that we must reach out a hand to our religious brethren.

Again and again we have pointed out that the unitarians believe in one god. That is the meaning of the word unitarian.

And, the humanists cling both to religion and the pseudo- respectability that they feel the cover of religion gives to them.

The response has been that both humanists and unitarians are really superbly suave Atheists and that we do not know

what we are talkin~ about to snv that they still suffer from the cuitural Iao of relioious residuals in their thotl~ht

We are,

therefore, delighted to bring to humanists and unitarians

only

in our

ranks, the position of

The American

Humanist Association stated in its newsletter Free Mind under date of December, 1981. Read and learn. For Atheists,

we do not recommend that you read it. Our typesetter and proofreader had a difficult time keeping a settled stomach

when working with it. We dont really want to pass the nausea on to you.

WHY HUMANISM IS A RELIGION

At stake are two questions: What is religion? What is

humanism?

What is Religion?

The misunderstanding of the nature of religion is unfortu-

nately widespread and persisting. The most popular concep-

tion, based on generalization from too few examples,

identifies religion with belief in god, specifically with the

judco-christian-islamic conception of god. Acquaintance

with some additional examples extends the meaning to

include belief in gods and in supernatural or superhuman

powers. But too few people know that some religions,

jainism and theravada buddhism, for example, are explicitly

atheistic.

Jains, believing both that souls are eternal and that the

world is everlasting, have no use for a creator. Believing that

persons must earn their way to salvation - that is, freedom

from rounds of reincarnation - entirely by their own

efforts, Jains practice generosities and austerities to in-

crease their stores of good karmas, which, when suffi-

cient, result in release from Earth. Belief in a savior not only

is unnecessary but is considered an evil, for willingness to

accept help from another is cheating and this results in bad

karmas and greater distance from the goal.

Theravada buddhists believe that all is impermanent;

there are no permanent souls or selves, no permanent

deity, and no permanent things of value. They too have no

need for a creator, since nothing permanent can be created,

and no need for a savior, since appealing for help increases

bad karmas and prolongs the evils of illusory life. Not only

are jains and theravada buddhists explicitly atheistic in their :

doctrines but they regard religions upholding belief in god,

or creator or grace, as inferior religions.

Other examples are available, but these two should

suffice to demonstrate that defining religion as belief in god

is false. Widespread ignorance of this falsity persists and

provides a basis for misunderstanding about humanism as a

religion.

If religion is not essentially belief in god, then what is it?

My conclusion after a lifelong study of and teaching about

religions is: Religion consists in concern for ultimate value

and how to attain it, preserve it, and enjoy it (The Worlds


by Archie J. Baum

Living Religions, Dell Publishing Co., 1964. p. 16).

Orthodox christians locate enjoyment of that ultimate

value as a beatific vision of a perfect god in heaven after

death. Orthodox hindus (advaitins) locate it as nirvana, a

state of bliss from which all self-awareness has disappeared

at moksha. Orthodox jains locate it in an isolated celestial

state freed from desires, motives, and satisfactions. Ortho-

dox theravadins locate it in a cessation of self-awareness as

well as of all desires and satisfactions. All of these religions

locate the ultimate values beyond life. They also recognize

minor and subordinate values within life, but, generally

speaking, the purposes of present life are to serve achieve-

ments beyond this life. Their aim is humanistic in the sense

that they seek what they believe to be best for human

beings. But their explanations of what is best make them

anti- humanistic.

What is Humanism?

Humanism, on the other hand, claims that persons

should locate and seek t

american atheist magazine nov 1982

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