american atheist magazine sep 1981
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The journal Of Atheist News And Thought
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H. G.
WELLS
H. G. Wells was born on September 21,1866 and died
on August 13, 1946. We know from his association with
our own Baron Avro Manhattan that he was an Atheist.
No reference book cites him as the author of the in-
famous Crux Ansata, An Indictment of The Roman
Catholic Church written in 1943. Yet when asked con-
cerned with this church what his feelings were, in inter-
view he stated:
1 think that it stands for everything most hostile to
the mental emancipation and stimulation of mankind. It
is the completest, most highly organized system of pre-
judices and antagonisms in existence. Everywhere in the
world there are ignorance and prejudice, bu the greatest
complex of these, with the most extensive prestige and
the most intimate entanglement with traditional institu-
tions, is the Roman Catholic Church. It presents many
laces toward the world, but everywhere it is systematic
in its fig,ht against freedom
Copies of Crux Ansata were confiscated by Customs
Officials when first it was tried to irnport Tt into the
United States. The manuscript finally was sent in as a
private letter to obtain an edition for our country.
We honor H. G. Wells, in this month of his birth.
JANE ADDAMS
Jane Addams. was born September 6, 1860. Having a
medical education Interrupted by illness, she travelled in
Europe extensively for two years. While there she be-
came interested in Toynbee Hall, a settlement house, in
the notorious Whitechapel industrial district of London.
Upon her return to the United States she determined to
establish a similar project. Purchasing the home which
Charles Hull had built in Chicago in 1856 she, and some
persons in sympathy with her project, moved into what
was to become famous as Hull House on September
18,1889.
She entered the battle for juvenile courts, tenement
house regulation, an eighthour day for women, factory
inspection, workmen's compensation, women's suffrage,
and justice for both immigrants and Blacks.
In 1910 she became the first president of the Nation-
al Conference of Social Work. In 1919 she became Presi-
dent of the Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom. She opposed the entry of the U.S Into World
War I and in 1931 won the Nobel pnze for her efforts for
world peace.
We are all indebted to Jane Addams, an open Atheist,
(who died on May 21, 1935 and we salute her in the
month of her birth, the month of the opening of Hull
House.
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FRUCTIDOR (September) 11981; Vol. 23, No.9
NEWS
Bagels and Foulwell - International Intrigue
..... . .. , ..... 3
Second National Annual Picnic ~ 4
FEATURED COLUMNISTS
The Visible Atheist - James E. Brodhead : 13
All for The Take - Ignatz Sahula-Dycke 14
Life in A Theocracy - Fred Woodworth 16
There He Goes - Mr. Candidate - Gerald Tholen 17
Benefit of Clergy - D. L. Kent 19
REGULAR FEATURES
Editorial - Atheists as Outcasts 2
Atheist Masters: The Faith of A Rationalist - Bertrand Russell 8
American Atheist Radio Series - The Eighth Commandment 21
Poems ; ' 24
Editor-in-Chief
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Managing Editor
Jon G. Murray
Artist
Felix Santana
Poetry
Angeline Bennett
Robin Eileen Murray-O'Hair
Gerald Tholen
Production Staff
David Kent
Richard Richardson
Ralph Shirley
Richard Smith
Gerald Tholen
Gloria Tholen
Non-resident Staff
James E. Brodhead
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
Fred Woodworth
The American Atheist magazine is
published monthly by the American
Atheist Center, 2210 Hancock Drive,
Austin, TX 78756, a non-profit, non-
political, educational organization.
Mailing address: P. O. Box 2117, .
Austin, TX 78768. ~ 198.1 by
Society of Separationists, Inc.
Subscription rates: $25/ one year;
$40jtwo years.
Manuscripts
s
ub r n
i t
ed. must be
typed, double-spaced, accompanied by a
stamped, self-addressed envelope. The
editors assume no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts.
The American Atheist magazine
is indexed in
MONTHLY PERIODICAL INDEX
ISSN: 0032-4310
ON THE COVER
Following the biblical admonition
of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth, our artist has here reversed the
traditional maze and straight path con-
cept so that the dark and fruitless
path isthat of religion and the good and
rewarding path is that of Atheism.
However, that light touch does not
tell it all, and that dark path should be
described by another female Atheist,
an Anarchist naturally, since most of
the best Atheists are individualist
Anarchists.
Emma Goldman then succinctly de-
scribes that horrible road:
Religion How it dominates man's
mind, how it humiliates and degrades
his soul. God is everything, man is
nothing, says religion, and out ofthat
nothing god has created a kingdom so
despotic, so tyrannical, so cruel, so ter-
ribly exacting that naught but gloom
and tears and blood have ruled the
world since gods began.
For not until you think and judge
for yourself, will you get rid ofthe do-
minion of darkness, the greatest ob-
stacle to all progress.
,::
U P P O R T
M E R I C N T H E I M
Austin, Texas
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E ITORI L
JON G RTH MURR Y
theists as Outcasts
Last month I commented on the case of
Marsa v. Wernik,
which has been decided by the Supreme Court of the State of
New Jersey. That case involved the opening of borough
council meetings with prayer or an invocation . Since the
time of the Marsa decision, The American Atheist Center
has filed two new important Establishment cases in two
different states in quick succession. These were filed in
Arkansas and Mississippi on the 14th and 15th of July
respectively.
In order to understand their importance and why they
were filed we need to look at a little history. Five states of the
Union have sections in their constitutions that speak to the
rights of Atheists. These states are North Carolina, South
Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas. In each state a
belief in God is required as a prerequisite to holding public
office. Back in 1979 the constitution of North Carolina was
challenged in a suit filed by the Charlotte Chapter of
American Atheists. That suit never came to trial, because
the governor and attorney general of North Carolina both
admitted to the unconstitutionality of the belief require-
ment. As a result a consent decree was signed by all
involved to declare the requirement of belief in god to be
unconstitutional, and this decree was then issued by a
Federal District Court.
A similar case filed in Texas has not been met with similar
cooperation from that state's authorities. It has been
opposed since 1977, and now rests in the Fifth Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana. The
State of Texas has spent tens of thousands of dollars of
taxpayer funds fighting this case, and shows no sign of
giving up yet. The Appeals Court itself has had a rather odd
reaction to the case, however, doing something that it has
very rarely done in its history. When the Texas case first
reached the appellate level, oral arguments were heard and
the court upheld the Texas constitution by a vote of two to
one (with a three judge panel). Thedecision was sent back
down to the Federal District Court in Austin, Texas,
remained on the desk of the Federal District judge for about
one week, and was recalled by the three judges of the Fifth
Circuit Appeals Court. Since the recall both sides have
been puzzled as to what the Fifth Circuit had up its sleeve.
No word came from the court for several months.
While the recall of the Texas case was pending further
action, The American Atheist Center filed the two actions in
Arkansas and Mississippi. Article 19, Section I of the
Arkansas Constitution says, No person who denies the
being of God shall hold any office in the civil departments of
this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any
Court. Article 14, Section 265 of the Mississippi Constitu-
tion says, No person who denies the existence of a Supreme
Being shall hold any office in this state. Both of these
provisions can be seen to be clearly, on their face, abroga-
tions of the rights of Atheists in those two states. Yet, prelim-
inary indications are that both states are willing to fight for
these provisions. no matter what the cost or how long the
struggle.
To give you an idea of how the people of these two states
regard these laws: In Mississippi a former attorney general,
while in office, remarked that he thought the provision in his
state's constitution was valid and that it would serve to see
that only good men occupied public office. He felt and said
that anyone who could look at the flowers and not see the
wonder of god's handiwork was insane, and that the state
had a legitimate right to keep insane persons out of public
office. When American Atheists went to Jackson, Missis-
sippi, to file the action on behalf of an Atheist and member
in that state, the organization was unable to find an attorney
in the Jackson area - or the state, for that matter - with
the courage to represent them. One attorney came to the
motel room of Dr. O'Hair and myself and said that he would
be ruined if he associated himself with the word Atheist
publicly in the state. He said that he must think of his family
and children, and that he would never be able to practice his
vocation of law again if he associated with Atheism . To
this date no attorney in the state of Mississippi has come
forward to handle the case. As a result, the individual
Atheist involved had to file pro se, tackling the case on his
own until such time as counsel could be found. The local
Atheist involved is in his 80s. The entire legal community of
the state of Mississippi is afraid to challenge a law that is
blatantly unconstitutional. and are willing to be led by an
octogenarian.
In Arkansas, official reaction seems to lJ~ that the
provision in the state's constitution has not been enforced in
recent years and therefore does not merit consideration for a
change. From their view, discriminatory law is permissible
as long as it is in form only and not in application. Form is,
however, very important. If the state can deny a section of its
population full rights on paper, it has set the tone for
discrimination on all other levels of daily life, both business
and personal, against that section by the general population.
States such as Arkansas know that they dare not enforce
such discriminatory provisions in their constitutions, since
the act of enforcement would give standing to a member of
the class discriminated against, to allow the courts to strike
it. A state creates a law, allows it to become vestigial, and
then claims that its vestigial character makes changing it
unnecessary and gives grounds for resisting that change.
Only those laws which are meritorious in their own right
and enforced or are enforceable should be on the books. If a
law is ceremonial only and is not enforced, what is the
purpose of its continued maintenance as a law? It is like an
official at a sporting event insisting on keeping a rule in the
rule book that is never enforced on the field of play and is
considered to have no bearing on the outcome thereof. Yet,
over and over again government entities argue for the reten-
continued onpage 24
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front llagt l\tbitw
i n e ar t
man
a~ b tll
The news is chosen to demonstrate; month after month, the dead reactionary hand of religion. t dictates your habits, sexual
conduct, family size. It censures cinema, theater, television, even education. It dictates life values and lifestyles. Religion is poli-
tics and, always, the most authoritarian and reactionary politics. We editorialize our news to emphasize this thesis. Unlike any
other magazine or newspaper in the United States, we say so.
BAGEL AND FOULSMELL
Should an Atheist wonder who and what controls our foreign policy, it is not
necessary to look afar. The concept is that judeo/christianity is the bulwark
against Atheistic/Communism. Hence it is urgently important to keep the jewish
religion ensconced in Jerusalem, since this was the heritage source of christian-
ity. Therefore, it axiomatically follows that we must send $3 billion a year to '
Israel to keep a footing for judeo/christianity in Israel else the heretical muslims
and the gotterdammerung Communist/Atheists may move into that area.
It is no suprise therefore when the fanatical religious zealot who rules Israel
to the detriment of the non-believers who inhabit that nation suddenly decided
to bomb the ancient whore (Babylon) on the Pentecost. Using the outworn
holocaust theme Israeli planes destroyed Iraq's Tammuz Nuclear Center, which
now is admitted by all to have posed no threat to Israel.
The White House received notice of the attack three hours after the raid,
since Israel desired to save the shipment of the F-16s so that it could continue its
fight for lebensraum and for Drang noch Westen.
But, the real power was recognized when Prime Minister Bagel telephoned
Jerry Foulsmell three days later to explain the rationale behind his terrorist
raid, knowing that fundamentalist christians know and accept terrorism. The
call was to express Bagel's deep appreciation for the friendship of bible-believ-
ing christians in the United States. He wanted Foulsmell to explain to the
christian public (to hell with the Atheists, agnostics, humanists and sundry) the
reasons for the bombing. Foulsmell felt that the United States should be con-
gratulating Israel instead of condemning it and assu;ed him of the support of
bible-believing christians. Later Foulsmell strongly condemned the National
Council of Churches which had criticized Bagel after the unprovoked Israeli at-
tack.
The exchange was not done.
Menachem Bagel felt the need of sending an international telegram to Foul-
smell for the support he had given terrorism. The telegram read:
Dear Friend, Your statement was broadcast on Israeli radio and made a great
impression on all the people of the country. I am deeply grateful for your help
emanating from real friendship for Israel. God bless you for your incessant ef-
forts in the service of a just cause. Rabbi Schindler told me about your meeting
and I was happy to see real reconciliation between you. Your common stand in
love and courage will be of great importance in the future. Yours sincerely,
Menachem Begin.
The jewish attack against their semite brothers, Operation Babylon, was
scheduled three times. The Iraqi name for its atomic plant, Tammuz 17, is
incidentally the date of the beginning of a traditional fast, since Tammuz 17th is
the lunar date beginning of an old testament fast common to the traditions of
the muslim semites as well as the jewish semites.
In this case, one religious fanatic, Bagel, reached out to another, Foulsmell.
And it is patently obvious that if the reasonable persons in the United States and
in the world continue to maintain their silence in the .face of such gross idiocy,
it does not bode well for humankind.
TILL DEATH DO US PART
In July pursuant to Section 10(a)(2)
of the Federal Advisory Committees Act,
the eleventh meeting of the President's
Commission for the Study of Ethical
Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and
Behavioral Research was held in in Vir-
ginia.
The action was in part focused on a
draft report on the definition of death
including the recommendation of uni-
form statutes for all of the states of the
union.
At the session discussion of the Com-
mission to be reviewed were decisions to
forego life-sustaining therapy.
All of this indicates that the religious
community will flood the Commission
with its concepts while those persons of
the Atheist community who are unable to
attend these public meetings because of
the constraints of time and money are un-
heard.
,-
It is urgently important, therefore,
for you to see that your input is available
to the Comission and we suggest that you
write the Atheist viewpoint to the Com-
mission's office:
Commission for The Study of
Ethical Problems in Medicine and
Biomedical and Behavioral Research
Suite 555
2000 K Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20006
Austin, Texas
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focus
o n ~tbrtsts
a n b w o n t t a k e t annncret
Second
Petersburg,
National Annual Picnic
Indiana Summer Solstice 11981
The Summer Solstice Picnic is held each year, about June 21st, which is usually the Summer Solstice, at the American Atheist
Museum imagined, created and achieved by lloyd Thoren, American Atheist extaordinaire. We salute you lloyd for your vision
and your dedication to the life supporting concepts of Atheism. We all thank you - and some of us love you - Mr. T.
Inside the museum lloyd, and Pam who is the Curator of the Museum, have focused attention on two slogans - one theistic,
one Atheistic. The former
Quia Credo Absurdum Est
translates to What is absurd is that which is believed; the latter
Damnant
Quod Non Intelligent affirms They condemn that which they do not understand. Outside the Museum the single sign which
has brought out more closet Atheists than any other' effort staunchly proclaims: If you cannot speak your mind, you are a.
slave.
Robin Eileen MurrayO'Hair had
just finished graduating from high
school the week before the national
Summer Solstice affair.
When the final scores came in
she ranked in the highest group
of national finalists for the National
Merit Scholarship Awards. Note
that big smile
With her, holding our youngest
Atheist Life Member - Jenifer Tho-
ren, is Gloria Tholen.
The day was beautiful. The at-
tendance was more than expected
and the traditional good time
was had by all.
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Fr uc tidor Sept embe r) 11 9R 1
Ralph Shirley, our in-house legal
consultant, printer, columnist and a
member of the Board of Directors
made it to the picnic this year -
and the Board of Directors semi-
annual meeting will from hence-
forth be held at the time of the
summer solstice at the American A-
theist Museum.
Henry Schmuck, the famous
Uncle Henry of the Michigan
chapter, who has held many elec-
tive offices there and who is also a
member of the Board of Directors
was in attendance. Henry is on
every picket line, everywhere with-
in driving distance of Detroit.
My how nicely they both say
Jeez for the camera
Ameri c an Ath eis t
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The atmosphere at the American Atheist Museum, which is
situated in the farm belt of southern Indiana, is one of down
home farm or country folk.
There is the big porch, with a swing hanging on chains, and
it is here that most of the intellectual exchanges take place.
It is here that the beer drinking goes on and here where the
first friendships are started. .
Always at these affairs, if the Murray-
O'Hairs attend, a few inspirational words
are expected.
Always the Murray-O'Hairsare happy
to do thei r duty.
, On the porch from left to right one
can see Jon Murray (in a dark shirt), then
in the foreground, Pam Thoren, the Dir-
ector of the American Atheist Museum,
Gerald Tholen, our Chapter Coordinator,
Madalyn Murray O'Hair, with her mouth
open, and lloyd Thoren, who had just
himself finished giving an amusing, warm-,
Iy appealing and informative welcome to
all. And on the porch steps, an old stal-
wart, Lillian Ramsden of Chicago.
The Museum is not air-conditioned and all of the American
Atheist staff members who come up from Austin, Texas,
for
the event are used to being spoiled rotten with air condition-
ing - since the whole state of Texas is air conditioned. There-
fore, most of the national office staff stay on the porch or in
the shade of the trees outdoors, cold beer in hand.
There is a little of the kid in everyone, and Gerald Thoten
demonstrates this on the see-saw swing. .-
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Earl Meyers, Chapter Director
for Eastern Missouri with Lynet-
te Longston of St. Louis and
Shirley Nelson, member of the
Board of ,Directors , s top to chat.
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With Atheists coming and going
it is difficult to obtain an official
picture, but each yftar we trv.,
By the time we reduced the pic-
ture to get it into the magazine we
could not recognize anyone but
that littlest Atheist, Jenifer, again ;
Uncle Henry grilled endless
stacks of sausages - and the good
odors hung over the entire enclave.
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Everyone is always glad to be at
an Atheist gathering. Only smiles
come in Here, Theo Kayes wears a
big one.
The rear view was apparently so
lovely to the cameraman that he
made certain we got it
Austin, Texas
Fructidor (September) 11981
Atheist
Tvshirts
abounded. Here
Bob Mangus, Detroit Chapter Direc-
tor, sports his red, white and blue
No prayer' in Government shirt.
The Summer Solstice is that time of the yea:i when the
number of daylight hours and the number of night hours are
equal. It is one of the four great moments of nature, shared
every year by all persons on earth - transcending any idea of
nation, sex, race or age.
It
is a moment when all humankind is
one. These four moments, set by the movement of the earth
around the sun and by the inclination of the earth have always
been marked and celebrated in every age of human existence
from time before memory.
The religious communities In each nation, in each time era,
have always claimed these days as related to events in the life
of their gods. What should be the celebration of the Summer
and Winter Solstices, acts of nature, have become the feast of a
saint and the birthdate of Christ. What should be merely
celebrated as the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes has become
also a saint's fete and the christian easter. We need to seize
these, the days of celebration of natural phenomena, and re-
store them to humankind and to their natural meaning
and that is the why of our Summer Solstice Picnic.
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THE FAITH OF
A RATIONALIST
When Itry todiscover what are the original sources of
my opinions, both practical and theoretical, I find that
most of them spring ultimately from admiration for two
qualities'- kindly feeling and veracity. To begin with
kindly feeling: most of the social and political evils of the
world arise through absence of sympathy and presence
of hatred, envy, or fear. Hostile feelings of this sort are
common between nations; at many times they have
existed between different classes or different creeds
within one nation; in many professions envy is an
obstacle to the recognition of Negroes, contempt for all
who are not white, have brought and are bringing
suffering to would-be oppressors as well as to those
whom they havesought to oppress. Everykind of hostile
action or feelinq provokes a reaction by.which it is
increased and so generates a progeny of violence-and
injustice which has a terrible vitality. This can only be
met by cultivating in ourselves and attempting to
generate in the young feelings of friendliness rather
than hostility, of well-wishing ratherthan malevolence,
and of cooperation rather than competition.
If I am asked Why doyou believe this? I should not
appeal to any supernatural authority, but only to the
general wish for happiness. A world full of hate is a
world full of sorrow. Each party, where there is mutual
hatred, hopesthat the other party will suffer, but this is
seldom the case. And even the most successful op-
pressors are filled with tear - slave-owners, for exam-
ple, have been obsessed with dread of a servile insur-
rection. ,From the point of view of worldly wisdom,
hostile feeling and limitation of sympathy arefolly. Their
fruits are war, death, oppression, and torture, not only
for their original victims but in the long run, also for
their perpetrators or their descendants. Whereas if we
could all learn to love our neighbors the world would
quickly become a paradise for us all.
Veracity, which I regard as second only to kindly
feeling, consists broadly in believing according to evi-
dence and not because a belief is comfortable or a
source of pleasure. In the absence of veracity, kindly
feeling will often be defeated byself-deception. It used
to be common for the rich to maintain either that it is.
pleasant to be poor or that poverty is the result of
shiftlessness. Some healthy people argue that all ill-
ness is self-indulgence. I have heard fox-hunters argue
that the fox likes being hunted. It is easy for those who
have exceptional power to persuade themselves that
the system bywhich they profit gives more happiness to
the under-dog than he would enjoy under a more just
system. And evenwhere noobvious bias is involved, it is
only by means of veracity that we can acquire the
scientific knowledge required tobr inq out our common
purposes. Consider how many cherished prejudices had
to be abandoned in the development of modern medi-
cine and hygiene. Totake adifferent kind of illustration:
how many wars would have been prevented if the side
which was ultimately defeated had formed a just
estimate of its prospects instead of one basedon conceit
and wish-fulfillment
Veracity, or love of truth, ISdefined byJohn Locke as
not entertaining any proposition with greater assur-
ance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant. This
definition is admirable in regard to all those matters as
to which proof may reasonably bedemanded. But since
proofs need premises, it is impossible to prove anything
unless some things are accepted without proof. We
must therefore ask ourselves. What sort of thing ISIt
reasonable to believe without proof? I should reply: The
facts of sense-experience and the principles of mathe-
matics and logic - including the inductive logic em-
ployed inscience. These are things which we can hardly
bring ourselves to doubt and as towhich there is a large
measure of agreement among mankind. But in matters
as to which men disagree, or as to which our own
convictions are wavering, we should look for proofs, or,
if proofs cannot be found, we should be content to
confess ignorance.
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There are some who hold that veracity should have
limitations. Some beliefs, they say, are both comforting
and morally beneficial, although it cannot be said that
there are valid scientific grounds for supposing them to
be true; these beliefs', they say, should not be critically
examined. Icannot myself admit such doctrine. Icannot
believe that mankind can be the better for shrinking
from the examination of this or that question. Nosound
morality can need t9 be based upon evasion, and a
happiness derived from beliefs not justified on any'
ground except their pleasantness is not a kind of
happiness that can be unreservedly admired.
These considerations apply especially to religious
beliefs. Most of us have been brought up to believe that
the universe owes its existence to an all-wise and all-
powerful Creator, whose purposes are beneficent even'
inwhich to us may seem evil. Ido not think it is right to
refuse to apply to this belief the kind of tests that we
should apply to one that touches our emotions less
intimately and profoundly. Is there any evidence of the
existence of such a
Bainq?
Undoubtedly belief in Him is
comforting and sometimes has some good moral effects
on character and behavior. But this is no evidence that
the belief is true. For my part, I think the belief lost
into a means of mass destruction. I can imagine a
sardonic demon producing us for his amusement, but I
cannot attribute to aBeing who is wise, beneficent, and
omnipotent the terrible weight of cruelty, suffering, and
ironic degradation of what is best that has marred the
history of man in increasing measure as he has become
more master of his fate.
There is a different and vaguer conception of cosmic
Purpose as not omnipotent but slowly working its way
throuqh a recalcitrant material. This is a more plausible
conception than that of a god who, though omnipotent
and loving, has deliberately produced beings sosubject
to suffering and cruelty as the majority of mankind. I do
not pretend to know that there is no such Purpose; my
knowledge of the universe is too limited. But I do say,
and I say with confidence, that the knowledge of other
human beings is also limited, and that no one can
adduce any good evidence that cosmic processes have
any purpose whatever. Our inadequate evidence, sofar
as it goes, tends in the opposite direction. It seems to
show that energy is being more and more evenly
distributed, while everything to which it is possible to
attribute value depends upon uneven distribution. Inthe
end, therefore, we should expect a dull uniformity, in
no supernatural reasons are needed to make men kind
and to prove that only through kindness can the human race
achieve happiness
whatever rationality It once possessed when it was which the universe would continue forever and ever
discovered that the earth was not the center of the without the occurrence of anything in the slightest
universe. Solong as it was thought that the sun and the degree interesting. I do not say that this will happen; I
planets and the stars revolved about the earth. it was sayonly that. on the basis of our present knowledge, it is
natural to suppose that the universe had a purpose the most plausible conjecture. ._
'connected with the earth, and, since man was what Immortality, if we could believe in it, would enable us
man most admired on the earth, this purpose was to shake off this gloom about the physical world. We
supposed to be embodied in man. But astronomy and should say that although our souls, during their sojourn
geology have chanqed all trus. The earth is a minor here on earth, are in bondage to matter and physical
planet of a minor star which is one of many millions of laws, they pass at death into an eternal world beyond
stars in a galaxy which is one of many millions of the empire of decay which science seems to reveal in
galaxies. Evenwithin the. life of our own planet man is the sensible world. But it is impossible to believe this
only a brief interlude. Non-human life existed
-for :
unless we think a human being consists of two parts
countless ages before man evolved. Man, even if he ~ soul and body - which are separable and can
doesnot commit scientific suicide will perish ultimately continue independently of each other. Unfortunately all
through failure of water or air or warmth. It isdifficult to the evidence is against this. The mind grows like the
believe that Omnipotence needed sovast asetting for so body; like the body it inherits charactersitics from both
small and transitory a result. parents;' it is affected by disease of the body and by
Apart from the minuteness and brevity of the human drugs; it is intimately connected with the brain. There is
species, Icannot feel that it isaworthy climax tosuch an .noscientific reason tosuppose that after death the mind
enormous prelude. There is a rather repulsive smug- soul acquires an independence of the brain which it
ness and self-complacency in the argumentthat man is never had in life. I do not pretend that this argument is
so splendid as to be evidence of infinite wisdom and conclusive, but it is all that we have to goon except the
infinite power in his Creator. Those who usethis kind of . siender evidence supplied by physical research.
reasoning always try to make us forget the Neros and' Many people fear that, without the theoretical beliefs
Attilas and Hitlers and the millions of mean poltroons to that I find myself compelled to reject, the ethical beliefs
whom such men owed their power. And even what is which I accept could not survive. They point to the
best in us is apt to lead to disaster. Religions that teach' growth of cruel systems opposed to Christianity. But
brotherly love have been used as an excuse for perse- these systems, which grew up in a Christian atmos-
cution, and our profoundest scientific insight is made -phere, could never havegrown up if either kindly feeling
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or veracity had been practiced; they are evil myths,
inspired by hate and without scientific support. Men
tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel
men believe inacruel god and use their belief to excuse
cruelty. Only kindly menbelieve in akindly god, and they
would be kindly in any case. The reasons for the ethic
that. in common with many whose beliefs are more
orthodox, I wish to see prevail are derived from the
course of events in this world. We have seen a great
system of cruel falsehood, the Nazi system, lead a
nation to disaster at immense cost to its opponents. It is
not by such system that happiness is to be achieved;
even without the help of revelation it is not difficult to
see that human welfare requires a less ferocious ethic.
More and more people are becoming unable to accept
traditional beliefs. If they think that, apart from these
beliefs, there isnoreason for kindly behavior the results
may be needlessly unfortunate. That is why it is impor-
tant to show no supernatural reasons are needed to
make men kind and to prove that only through kindness
can the human race achieve happiness.
CAN MEN BE RATIONAL?
I am in the habit ofthinking of myself as a Rationalist;
and a Rationalist, I suppose, must be one who wishes
men to be rational. But in these days rationality has
received many hard knocks, sothat it is difficult to know
what one means by it, or whether, if that were known it
is something which human beings can achieve. The
question of the definition of rationality has two sides,
theoretical and practical: what isa rational opinion? and
what is rational conduct? Pragmatism emphasizes the
irrationality of opinion, and psycho-analysis empha-
sizes the irrationality of conduct. Both have led many
people tothe view that there is no such thing as an-ideal
rationality to which opinion and conduct might with
advantage conform. It would seem to follow that if you
and I hold different opinions, it is useless to appeal to
argument, or to seek the arbitrament of an impartial
outsider; there is nothing for us to do but to fight it out,
by the methods of rhetoric, advertisement, or warfare,
according to the degree of our financial and military
strength. Ibelieve such an outlook to bevery dangerous,
and in the long run, fatal to civilization. Ishall, therefore,
endeavour to show that the ideal of rationality remains
unaffected by the ideas that have been thought fatal to
it, and that it retains all the importance it was formerly
believed to have as guide to thought and life.
To beqin with rationality in opinion: I should define it
merely as the habit of taking account of afl relevant,
evidence in arriving at a belief. Where certainty is
unattainable, a rational man will give most weight tothe
most probable opinion, while retaining others, which
have an appreciable probability, in his mind as hypo-
theses which subsequent evidence may show to be
preferable. This, of course, assumes that it ispossible in
many cases to ascertain facts and probabilities by an
objective method - i.e.. a method which will lead any
two careful people to the same result. This is often
questioned. It is said by many that the only function of
intellect isto faci litate the satisfaction of the individual's
desires and needs. The Plebs Text-Books Committee, in
their
Outlines ofPsychology
(p.68), say:
The intellect is
above all things an instrument ofpartiality.
Its function
is to secure that those actions which are beneficial to
the individual or (he species shall be performed, and
that those actions which are less beneficial shall be
inhibited. (Italics in the originaL)
But the same authors, inthe same book (p. 123), state,
again in italics:
The Fai th of the Marxian differs
profoundly from religious faith: the latter is based only
on desire and tradition; the former is qrounded on the
scientific analysis of objective reality.
This seems
inconsistent with what they say about the intellect.
unless, indeed, they mean to suggest that it is not
intellect which has led them to adopt the Marxian faith.
Inany case, since they admit that scientific analysis of
objective reality is possible, they must admit that it is
possible to have opinions which are rational in an
objective sense.
More erudite authors who advocate an irrationalist
point of view, such as the praqmatist philosophers, are
not to be caught out soeasily. They maintain that there
is no such thing as objective fact to which our opinions
must conform if they are to be true. For them opinions
are merely weapons in the struggle for existence, and
those which help a man to survive are to be called
true. This view was prevalent in Japan in the sixth
century A.D., when Buddhism first reached that coun-
try. The Government, being in doubt as to the truth of
the new religion, ordered one of the courtiers to adopt it
experimentally; if he prospered more than t~e others,
the religion was to be adopted universally. this is the
method (with modifications to suit modern times) which
the pragmatists advocate in regard to all religious
controversies; and yet I have not heard of any who have
announced their conversion to the Jewish faith, al-
though it seems to lead to prosperity more rapidly than
any other.
In spite of the pragmatist's defi nition of truth,
however, he has always, in ordinary life, a quite
different standard for the less refined questions which
arise in practical affairs. A pragmatist on a jury in a
murder case will weigh the evidence exactly as any
other man will, whereas if he adopted his professed
criterion he ought to consider whom among the popula-
tion it would bemost profitable to hang. That man would
be,bydefinition, guilty of murder, since belief inhis guilt
would be more useful, and therefore more true, than
belief in the guilt' of anyone else. I am afraid such
;,.
If rationality I s hould define
as the habit of taking account of all relevant
evidence in
arriving at a belief
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practical pragmatism does sometimes occur.; I have
heard of frame-ups in America and Russia which
answered to this description. But in such cases all
possible efforts after concealment are made, and if they
fail there is a scandal. This effort after concealment
shows that even policemen believe in objective truth in
the case of a criminal trial. It is this kind of objective
truth - avery mundane and pedestrian affair - that is
sought in science. It is this kind also that is sought in
religion so 10nQas people hope to find it. It is only when
people have given up the hope of proving that religion is
true in a straightforward sense that they set to work to
prove that it is true in some newfangled sense. It may
be laid down broadly that irrationalism, i.e. disbelief in
objective fact arises almost always from the desire t}
assert something for which there is no evidence, or to
deny something for which there is very good evidence.
But the belief in objective fact always persists as
regards particular practical questions, such as invest-
ments or engaging servants. And iffact can be made the
test of truth of our beliefs anywhere, it should bethe test
everywhere, leading to agnosticism wherever it cannot
be applied. .
It is only when people have
given up proving relig ion true in
a straigh tforward sense that
they set to work to prove it
tru e in some new fangled
sense. -,
The above considerations are, of course, very in-
adequate to their theme. The question of the objectivity
of fact has been rendered difficult by the obfuscations
of philosophers, with which I have attempted to deal
elsewhere in a more thoroughgoing fashion. For the
present I shall assume that there are facts, that some
facts can be known, and that in regard to certain others
adegree of probability can be ascertained in relation to
- facts which can be known. Our beliefs are however,
often contrary to fact; even when we only hold that
something is probable on the evidence, it may be that
we ,ought to hold it to be improbable on the same
evidence. The theoretical part of rationality, then, will
consist in basing our beliefs as regards matters of fact
upon evidence rather th~J,lupon wishes, prejudices, or
traditions. According to the subject-matter, a rational
man will be the same as one who isjudicial or one who
is scientific.
There are some who think that psycho-analysis has
shown the impossibility of being rational in our beliefs,
by pointing out the strange and almost lunatic origin of
many people's cherished convictions. I have avery high
respect for psycho-analysis, and I believe thatitcan be
enormously useful. But the popular mind has somewhat
Thequestion of the
objectivity of fact has been
rendered difficult by the
obfuscations of philosophers
.Iost sight of the purpose which has mainly inspired
Freud and his followers. Their method is primarily one.of .
therapeutics, away of curing hysteria and various kinds
of insanity. During the war psycho-analysis proved to be
far the most potent treatment for war-neuroses. Ri,
vers's Instinct and the Unconscious which is largel)'
based upon experience of shell-shock patients, gives
abeautiful analysis of the morbid effects of fear when it .
cannot be straightforwardly indulged. These effects, of
course, are largely non-intellectual; they include var-
ious kinds of paralysis, and all sorts of apparently
physical ailments. With these, for the moment, weare
not concerned; it is intellectual derangements that form
our theme. It is found that many of the delusions of
lunatics result from instinctive obstructions, and can be
cured by purely mental means - i.e. by making the
patient bring to mind facts of which he had repressed
the memory. This kind of treatment, and the outlook
which inspires it, pre-suppose an ideal of sanity, from
which the patient has departed, and to which heis to be
brought back by making him conscious of all the
relevant facts, including those which he most wishes to
forget. This isthe exact opposite of those Whoonly know
that psychoanalysis has shown the prevalence of ir-
rational beliefs, and who forget or ignore that
-its
purpose is to diminish this prevalence by a definite
method of medical treatment. A closely similar method
can cure the irrationalities of those wfio are not re-
cognized lunatics, provided they will submit to treat-
ment by a practitioner free from their delusions. Presi-
dents, Cabinet Ministers, and Eminent Persons, how-
ever, seldom fulfill this condition, and therefore r.emain
uncured.
So far, we have been considering only the theoretical
side of rationality. The practical side, to which we must
now turn our attention, is more difficult. Differences of
opinion on practical questions spring from two sources:
first, differences between the desires of the disputants; .
secondly differences in their estimates of the means of -.
realizing their desires. Differences of the second kind
'are really theoretical, and only derivatively practical. For
example, some authorities hold that our first line of
defence should consist of battleships, others that it
should consist of aeroplanes. Here there is no dif-
terenceas regards the end proposed, namely, national
defence, but only as to the means. The arqurnent can
therefore be conducted in a purely scientific manner,
since the disagreement which causes the dispute is
only as to facts, present or future, certain or probable. To
all such cases the kind of rationality which I called
theoretical applies,. in spite of the fact that a practical
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issue is involved.
There is however, in many cases which appear to
come under this head a complication which is very
important in pr
actrce.
A man who
desrr
es to act In a
certain way will persuade himself that by so acting he
will achieve some end which he considers good, even
when. if he had nosuch desire. he would see no reason
for such abelief. And he will judge quite differently as to
matters of fact and as to probabilities from the way in
which a man with contrary desires will judge. Gamb-
lers, as everyone knows. are full of irrational beliefs as
tosystems which must lead them to win inthe long run.
People who take an interest in politics persuade them-
selves that the leaders of their party would never be
guilty of the knavish tricks practised by opposing poli-
ticians. Men who like administration think that it is good
for the populace to be treated like a herd of sheep. men
who like tobacco say that it soothes the nerves, and men
who like alcohol say that it stimulates wit. The bias
produced by such causes falsifies men's judgments as
to facts in a way which is very hard to avoid. Even a
learned scientific article about the effects of alcohol on
the nervous system will generally betray by internal
evidence whether the author is or not a teetotaller; in
either case he has atendency to seethe facts inthe way
that would justify his own practice. In politics and
religion such considerations become very important.
Most men think that in framing their political opinions
they are actuated by desire for the public good; but nine
times out of ten a man's politics can be predicted from
the way in which he makes his living. This has led some
people to maintain, and many more to believe practi-
cally. that in such matters it is impossible to be ob-
jective. and that no method is possible except a tuq=of-
war between classes with opposite bias
It is just in such cases, however. that psycho-
analysis is particularly useful, since it enables men to
become aware of a bias wrucn has rutherto been
unconscious. It gives a technique for seeing ourselves
as others see us. and a reason for supposing that this
view of ourselves is less unjust than we are inclined to
think. Combined with atraining in the scientific outlook.
this method could. if it were widely taught. enable
people to be infinitely more rational than they are at
present as regards all their beliefs about matters of fact.
and about the probable effect of any proposed action.
And if men did not disagree about such matters, the
disagreements which might survive would almost cer-
tainty be found capable of amicable adjustment.
There remains. however, a residuum which cannot be
treated by purely intellectual methods. The desires of
one man do not by any means harmonize completely
with those of another. Two competitors on the Stock
Exchange might be in complete agreement as to what
would be the effect of this or that action, but this would
not produce practical harmony. since each wishes to
grow rich at the expense of the other. Yet even here
rationality is capable of preventing most of the harm
that might otherwise occur. We call a man irrational
when he acts in a passion, when he cuts off his nose to
spite his face. He is irrational because he forgets that, by
indulging the desire which he happens to feel most
strongly at the moment, he will thwart other desires
which in the long run are more important to him. If men
were rational, they would take a more correct view of
their own interest than they doat present; and if all men
acted from enlightened self-interest the world would be
a paradise in comparison with what it is. I do not
maintain that there is nothing better than self-interest
as amotive to action; but Ido maintain that self-interest.
like altruism. is better when it is enlightened than when
it is unenlightened. In an ordered community it ISvery
rarely to a man's interest to do anything which is very
harmful to others. The less rational a man is, the oftener
he will fail to perceive how what injures others also
injures him, because hatred or envy will blind him.
Therefore, although I do not pretend that enlightened
self-interest isthe highest morality, Ido mantain that. if
it became common, it would make the world an im-
measurably better place than it is.
Rationality in practice may be defined as the habit of
remembering all our relevant desires, and not only the
one which happens at the moment to be strongest. Like
rationality in opinion, it is a matter of degree. Complete
rationality is nodoubt an unattainable ideal, but so long
as we continue to classify some men as luoatics it IS
clear that we think some men more rational Ulan others.
I believe that all solid progress In the world consists of
an increase in rationality, both practical and theoretical.
To preach an altruistic morality appears to me some-
what useless, because it will appeal ony to those who
already have altruistic desires. But to preach rationality
is somewhat different. since rationality helps us to
realize our own desires on the whole, whatever they
may be. A man is rational in proportion as his intelli-
gence informs and controls his desires. Ibelieve that the
control of our acts by our intelligence is ultimately what
is of most importance, and what alone will mi'l'kesocial
life remain possible as science increases the means at
our disposal for injuring each other. Education. the
press, politics, religion - in aword, all the great forces
in the world - are at present on the side of irrationality;
they are in the hands of men who flatter King Demos in
order to lead him astray. The remedy does not lie in
anything heroically cataclysmic, but in the efforts of
individuals towards a more sane and balanced view of
our relations to our neighbours and to the world. It is to
intelligence, increasingly widespread, that we must
look for the solution of the ills from which our worlrl is
. suffering. . ~
rom the American Atheist Bookstore ...
AN A THEIST S BERTRAND RUSSELL
(Edited by Jon G_Murray)
Six essays for beginners, 50 pp. __.. $3.29
-AM I AN ATHEIST OR AN AGNOSTIC?
Bertrand Russell
32 pp _ _ _._ __ __. $3.00
P. O. Box 2111..Austi~, TX 78768
\
i
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This last phrase was the only one normally inflected. The
talk was not conversation but acloud of sound much as asquid
squirts ink, keeping the enemy at bay, and it had the
hilariously artificial quality of novice actors in a bad high-
school play, overemphasizing every word that seemed signifi-
cant in the script - SPIRitual , BIBLE , CHRIStian .
T H E A T H E IS T T T H E S U P P E R T L E James E .Brodhead
THE VISIBLE ATHEIST
The scene would have warmed Jerry FoolweWs heart - a
vignette of all-white family suburbia right out of.the Fatuous
Fifties. Open house had Just ended at the nearby Junior high
school, and from the shopping center ice cream store, light
and laughter streamed out into the warm spring night. A
giggle of -teen-agers huddled in the rear. Near the front, a
pleasant blonde woman ordered cones for her two. boys,
talking over her shoulder to a neat couple seated against the
wall. The man and his wife were in their 30s, but the pursy,
pouchy look about the corners of her mouth, and his rimless
spectacles and sleeked-back short hair suggested premature
middle age, a pair of American Gothic apprentices.
Everyone was chatting and chuckling quietly a'sDad came
through the door with his two sons, the seventh-grader and
the ninth-grader. Dad hardly merited a second glance, being
impeccably togged out in Suburbia Informal - a polo shirt,
jeans and running shoes, the whole ensemble topped by one
of those visored nylon caps with a cloth emblem on the front.
Friendly nods and smiles all around, as Dad drifted closer to
the counter and ordered cones for his boys. The blonde
woman smiled, made room for him at the cash register, and
exchanged some commonplace pleasantry with him about
children and icecream. Her glance strayed up to the emblem
on Dad's cap. Her eyes grew round, she turned in panicky
embarrassment to the seated couple. Their eyes flicked over
Dad's cap, and suddenly the three of them - American
Gothics and blonde - burst into nearly hysterical chatter.
They're doing much better in public school, cried the
blonde woman, ostentatiously turning her back on Dad and
moving closer to the neat couple. But I miss the spiritual
guidance of their old school---
Yes, but they get that in Sunday school, shrilled the old-
young wife, and
we->
Thank god for Sunday school, chattered the young-old
husband, because we---
-:-so wonderful with the ki---
---our class won the Bible->-
---portant that they have reliq->-
---said it's our Christian duty to->-
---can teach right thinking and rnoral->-
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The more times thst the word Jesus , or Morality , or
Moral Msjority csn be plsced in front of the public via all
medi.
the quicker they will begin tobelieve in that morality
of Jilsusand the Msjorityl We must play the same word
recognition game with the word Atheist . That takes money.
(yet). A very few are hostile or embarrassed, fewer still are
pleased and eager for more information, and everyone else
seems extremely interested in discovering that there is a
viable, vital organization of American Atheists.
Absolutely. I send all I can spare, but that isn't enough.
There is another thing I can do, I realized, and that's to place
the name of American Atheists infront of the public by myself.
A trip to a sporting-goods. store brought back two light-blue
adjustable caps (one for me, one for Will); and an hour with My
Best Friend's sewing basket and some dark-blue thread to
mat~h the patch produced exactly what we needed. The caps
arouse responses that the lapel pin and pendant never could
The Publication list offers the patch free with each member-
ship application accompanied by a donation. It's worth a lot
more than that. If you're already a member, why not order a
handful at a dollar apiece, for your family and friends? The
light, inexpensive sport cap is probably the best way to display
the patch, since you can wear it with any informal clothes,
summer or winter. Adolescents, always eager epeter les
bourgeois
(or more colloquially, to shake up the straights), are
often admiring and eager to spread the message. ~
ON OUR WAY
Ignatz Sahula- Dycke
ALL FOR THE TAKE
It'shigh time in this period of our
national existence that we noted the
freshly bubbling ferment of public
opinion that shapes, if nothing else,
our day to day outlook and conduct.
Too, despite appearances, it's reas-
suring to see that the public con-
sensus is having little effect upon our
determination to stand ideologically
united in the current crisis. Let's hope
it means that the country isn't gping
to let itself be' dictated to, by the
evangelistic saviors of whom there
are three or four times asmany trying
to divide us as were attempting it
twenty years ago. Every generation
produces its quota of such self-
elected crusaders for morality who
tell Us how in a vision GA WD
appeared before them and bade them
go out and spread the great good
news of christ's suffering and dying
ori the cross for our salvation. Just
do as I say each of them tells us.
There's nothing about any reli-
gion; faith, or belief so harmful that
an equal measure of good old Athe-
ism wouldn't straighten out. Atheism
is 80all-fired sane and sensible it can
in no time to speak of transmute a
cringing and snivelingworshiper into
a mentally respectable specimen of
humanity, into a personage whomno
Page 14
amount of fantasying about angels,
ghosts, gods or demons will do any
harm. The Atheist's outlook is clear
and free of fear; Atheists are sane.
They know that belief of claims such
as that Moses had a talking acquaint-
ance with jehovah, or Mohammed
with allah, or that prostration before
a construct hung with a facsimile ofa
tortured human cadaver is going to
save you from harm and admit you to
heaven is nothing but pure patho-
genic daffiness nuttier than a fruit-
cake. Don't kid yourself into think-
ing that minds which run that way
are normal just because most peo-
ple's minds do. They've beeri
switched onto that track by the
millions of clerics, dervishes, proph-
ets and other holy men who propa-
gate It -lor the money InI t that here
in our United States runs into count-
less millions of dollars, and provides
those who direct it with a life of ease
and power equaling that of any
tycoon who ever lived.
Of course taking advantage of the
public's gullibility this way ismorally
reprehensible, even criminal; but
because it's condoned, and ISN'T
ILLEGAL, is universally practiced
as a business that here in our USA
now ranks in terms of receipts some-
Fructidor (September) 11981
where among the top ten. In this
milieu, escaping public notice is that
the American people's current addic-
tion to religion's traditional dogma-
tism deprives our public treasuries of
tax monies in TWO ways. First, the
people who support religion fiscally
are authorized to deduct their con-
tributions from their gross income;
and, second, also untaxed is this
enormous sum received each year by
the sundry churches. So much for
this tremendous waste of fiscal mus-
cle which religionary addiction actu-
ally represents.
Though most all of us know that
theology is nothing but an impres-
sive word for the lying with which
religionary nabobs have been bam-
boozling humanity since times im-
memorial, the age of electronics has
beyond any doubt complicated what,
before the onset of radio and tele-
vision, was a commonplace activity
within mankind. The really alarming
facet in this new situation is that
'electronics has enabled anyone at all,
who has the wherewithal to buy time
on radio and television, to hawk his
wares in anyone of the ways devised
for fleecing the gullible populace. No
matter how ridiculous the message,
the claims,or the subject being thus
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disseminated, it is permitted and to a
large extent protected by a laissez
faire interpretation of Article I of our
Bill of Rights.
As a consequence, evangelists,
preachers, and self-proclaimed proph-
ets of various kinds - especially
those with followings amassed. I;>y
appeals to the least informed and
most reactionary stratum of the
existing social order - have attained
a measure of power so great that they
with impunity are instructing many
members of our Congress how each
is to vote. Jefferson said long ago
that No nation is permitted to live in
ignorance with impunity. More
than a truth-fraught statement, these
words constitute a warning we'd
better take to heart before it is too
late for us to control the electonic
preachers, of whom nearly all were
driven into an obsession with riches
by the avarice, the greed, and envies
born of the penury that's common in
the backwoods and crossroads settle-
ments whence most of them came
after they heard of the never-empty
trough.
Our good shepherds Although
this is what they imagine themselves
to be we must face the unpleasant
fact that they're really the children of
our own spawning. We brought them
into our world, into life in it, because
we to this day want nannies like them
around to tell us not to be afraid of
dying and that we - if we'll only be
good girls and boys and believe all
they tell us about Jesus - will live
forever in heaven. Can anyone blame
them for hanging on? How many of
us have quit listening to the words
we've put in their mouth? And all for
our own selfish mollification and
insulation against our childishly fool-
ish fear of extinction - a fear that
lurks in every organism.
Within the limits circumscribed by .
his own experience, the human
creature can employ his imagination
for disclosing cogent answers to
divers cryptic questions about his
racial past. But only to the extent
enscoped by the empirics of his
native curiosity is he qualified to
speculate how he himself would
respond were he, in similar straits, to
have played the same part as his
ancestors. When we face historic
puzzles that must be analyzed before
Austin, Texas
understood, no twelve-year old
would be of much help; not even after
being informed about every circum-
stance prevailing during a given
period in the past. For instance, he
couldn't even give us more than an
inkling about the behavior of his
parents - why they at such and such
a time comported themselves as they
did.
The child is unequal to the task
because in his own short life he hasn't
dealt with circumstantial pressures
such as his progenitors had to face
and overcome. The child is too young
to have found out that experience is
indispensable for an understanding
of life's whimsies. He can't know that
the raw cruelty of existence makes
anything tortured to death a danger-
ous subject of contemplation. When
we consider that christian children
are told as early as at four and five
about the sufferings of Jesus, we can
understand why not even a child of
twelve (or an adult of like I.Q.)
realizes the beastly consequences to
his life of having been taught that a
cross hung with a replica of a
tortured human cadaver is a sacred
object and a fit adjunct of worship.
So, what can we expect of people so
reared? Doesn't their training ac-
count for much that now perplexes
the globe?
Much like the ingenuous tot, the
run-of-the-mill preacher - more or
less insulated from worries such as
beset the average human - is experi-
entially unqualified to advise people
how they should live. His stock in
trade is a patois of biblistic blabbings
and homilies. When a crisis threatens
his flock he props this platitudinous
outflow with the promise that the
faithful need have no fear because all
sufferi.ng (as said the pope during his
recent meanderings in Micronesia) is
a part of god's ineffable plan. Encour-
aging
bloke. iisn t
he? Evangelism has
in recent days made a few temporary
gains. and disproportionately prof-
ited by it for two reasons. First,
because religious belief requires mini-
mum effort and promises to bring
back the good old days now forever
gone; and Second, because religion's
preachers assure their constituents
that their staunch trust - in their
father god together with regular
tithing - is all it takes to secure them
Fructidor (September) 11981
V
heaven's protection while alive and,
come death, their resurrection and
existence in paradise. Pure flummery
on both counts.
Here let's not forget that the pen-
dulum as ever swings to and fro. The
topmost minds of all nations and
races of our globe have for many
centuries been advising us that no
better antidote exists for religious
flummery than antitheism. Were
anything to rank abit higher, it could
be only outright Atheism of our
American kind, supporting the civil
rights of all the citizens of these
United States of America. ~
NON TION IS PERMITTE
TO L IV E IN IG NORANCE
W IT H I M P U N I T Y T J E F F E R S O N
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Fred Woodworth
liFE IN A THEOCRACY
To the wilds of Arizona and Utah came the religious zealots of
the late nineteenth century. Bands of Mormons, trundling their
possessions in covered wagons to the westernpart of what is now
the United States, settled in the high mountain country away from
the prying eyes of the world, and formed clannish towns of large
families with deep-lying traits of pa riarchyand suspicion of
outsiders. In isolation for decades, some of these communities
retained virtually complete religious purity through the nineteen
sixties, resisting contamination by secular civilization's books,
schools, or ideas. Here the will of the LDS Church ruled, through
the moral policeman, the censor, the propagandist, and even the
night-raider, with the ranks of the faithful constantly swelled in
giant polygamous families where the word of the father was stern
Law. .
Books and articles about the e Mormons usually stress their
self-reliance, their preparedness for emergency with stores offood,
and their retreat from religious intolerance in the rest of the
Christian world. But little is said of their own violent intolerance to
others or the authoritarian nature of their church which, even in its
expressed concern with preparedness by its people, appears more
'preoccupied with insuring that it as an institution continues to
exist, than 'with acting out of humanitarianism,
Since the most often heard statement about the Mormons has to
do with their alleged rejection of religious intolerance, a glance at
this people-must linger first on its own treatment ofthose who do
not belong to the LDS religion. And we should examine the
QUALITY of life.in the Mormon theocracy top, because without
freedom .c-individual self-determination - for all their stores of
food and busy activity they are no better than acolony of ants. As a
typical LDS community, let's visit the small town of Morrnonville,
in the mountains above Arizona's Mogollon Rim.just north of the
Fort Apache Indian reservation.
Mormonville in 1957 had a population of about 850, nearly
every single one of whom was a member of the LDS Church. Every
teacher at the local school was a Mormon,
.as
were all town
officials, policemen, bank officers, postal workers and even the
doctor. If-you wanted to buy a magazine, you bought it from the
Mormon who owned the newsstand, and if you needed gas for your
car, you made a trip to a Mormon-owned service station. Now this
may not appear at first too surprising, but what makes such
unanimity somewhat odd in this instance is the fact that Mormon-
ville lay squarely on a major transcontinental highway, U.S. 60,
which in fact formed the main street of the town. Surrounded by
attractive To re st land, transfixed by a busy road that carried people
from every part of the country, Mormonville nonetheless kept its
sectarian character, and even by 1964, when the population had
grown to above 2,000, there were still only two or three non-
Mormon families in town.
One way the latter-day saints (this is what they call themselves)
discouraged outsiders was by stopping other religions from coming
in. When baptists attempted to build a hall on property they had
obtained just outside of town, in the late '50s, the construction site
was repeatedly visited by thieves and vandals, and some of the
original proponents of the church ended up leaving the region.
While the baptis ts did manage to complete their project eventually, .
it took them several years, and even when finished, the church had
to collect its congregation from farms and outposts scattered far
throughout the countryside. .
Page 16
Incoming busmess establishments found it hard to get bank
loans if they weren't Mormons, unless credit was extended long
enough to set up a business, after which it could be maneuvered
into the hands of an authentic Mormon. The local radio station,
started by an outsider with cash borrowed from the town bank, was
made the subject of a campaign to bankrupt it soon after it went on
the air, so that members of the church could repossess it and turn it
completely to Mormon interests. Although the station survived
after the owner illegally boosted his power output in order to be
able to reach non-Mormon communities some miles away. vicious
sabotage and violence were leveled against the installation by the
Mormon populace after the station began running preaching
shows featuring methodist, baptist, and holy roller ministers.
Telephone and power lines to the station were cut in the night with
an axe after a methodist preacher challenged Mormons to an
on-the-air debate about doctrines. Technicians were shot at while
on the job, and announcers were made objects of terror campaigns.
One young non-Mormon who lived in the town was followed to
work most mornings by a policeman who drummed up traffic
tickets against him as the two-car caravan moved through the
empty streets. Moving violations resulted not only in fines but
in
higher insurance rates, all of which tended to discourage the n011-
Mormon resident. (One ticket cited him for traveling at 26 miles
per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone.)
Meanwhile, in the public schools, Mormon teachers who were
relatives of the Mormon principal showed Mormon films on his
tory of the LDS Church in the classroom, dismissed students early
when their stake or church ward was conducting some activity,
and gave lectures on topics peculiar to Mormons' beliefs, such as
diatr ibes against Coca-Cola. Coke was firmly claimed to have
properties of removing shellac from old furniture, so think what it
must do to your stomach. A beefsteak submerged in a bucket of
Coke for a week, one teacher declared, would rot away into pieces.
One pupil inquired what effect a bucket of WATER would have on
a similar steak over a week's time, whereupon the teacher visited
the lad's parents to urge that he be prohibited from reading so
much.
School activities like graduations were usually held not in public
school buildings, but actually in the Mormon church itself, over
the protest of an occasional non-'saint'. In 1964 one high-school
student circulated a petition to gather signatures of those opposed
to holding grad uation ceremonies in the church, but he managed to
collect only three names, one being later erased by its owner, a
Japanese exchange student from Tokyo who had qualms after
pondering the fact that a Mormon family had sponsored his stay in
the U:S. following a Mormon missionary's marriage in Japan to
his sister. Foreseeing possible ramifications to his signature's
appearance on such a document, he asked to have it obliterated,
although, as he explained at the time, I'm not a Mormon, I'm a
Buddhist, but I g o to church because the family I stay with expects
me to. Frightened by even this minuscule show of resistance and
disagreement, school officials - remember. this was a PUBLIC
school- held a special assembly for Mormon students only, which
the few non-Mormons were barred from attending, and decided to
proceed anyway with plans to hold graduation in the main hall of
the local church.
continued on page 23
Fructidor (September) 11981
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N TURE S W Y
Electing candidates in the U.S. has become, as the
expression goes, a real 'fun thing.' Certainly everyone will
agree that our political conventions, complete with hats,
horns and confetti, are some of the most gala extravaganzas
on Earth. Considering that these wild displays follow closely
on the heels of months of campaign theatrics, how can
anyone be~other than caught up in the carnival-like atmo-
sphere of it all.
It therefore seems quite understandable that we generally
wind up selecting ex-movie actors or 'golden-throated'
orators rather than sober studious business persons. After
all - wouldn't it be a shame to waste all the 'B-movie' stage
presence offered up by the multitudes of office seeking
professional smile makers? Yes, I'm afraid the
Jeffersonian image is dead Serious politicking has gone the
way of all passing things.
Along with the phasing out of the electoral processes
several otherchanges might be noted. Candidates nowadays
are much more capable of delivering long-winded speeches
than were their earlier counterparts. It used to be that when
a senatorial hopeful had something to say, he'd come right
out with it. How unimaginative Hell, I 've heard Nixon talk
for hours and still not tip his hand as to what he really
intended. Perhaps it has become the anxious anticipation of
trying to grasp some idea of what candidates are talking
about that really stirs the voters' blood today. Or maybe
we're just intrigued in a childlike manner by the promise of
endless social 'goodies' during the days prior ry election.
And of course, a good old down and dirty mudslinging fest
has great appeal in more recent times. It's not at all like the
bygone days when a public slur or personal insult was likely
to initiate a duel of honor. No sir - we're too 'civilized' for
that now Catcalling is the modern name of the game.
So, after the wild fever-pitched pace of the campaigning,
it seems only fitting that we should top it off with a week-
long convention party. The only problem with this new
'high-timing' way of political life is that every party is
followed by its own 'morning after.' Six months after
election time, when the bleary-eyed voters begin to recover,
they always find that they've 'hung another one on.' Our
social hangovers are always the same: unemployment,
inflation, dishonesty in office, etc. Yet the promise-
intoxicated mind of the gullible voter stands ever ready for
the next party: And so the ongoing saga of uninformed
voters stays with us. We are too easily fooled by the
'minstrels' who have infested our political system.
A case in point was called to my attention by my own dear
sister, Beverly Sims. Beverly is a very conscientious and
intelligent person, and I am indebted to her for sending me
two letter copies recently. Her evaluation of our misguided
political practices is masterful, and I would like to share with
you her appraisal of a particular 'political action committee.'
Austin, Texas
The first letter I shall call the 'apple pie patriotic pitch letter.
It goes as follows:
ALAMO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
Post Office Drawer 26547
Austin, Texas 78755
June 5, 1981
Dear Republican Official:
Senator Roger Staubach
As an official of the Republican Party, you know
that Roger may be the only candidate who can win the
Senate race in Texas in 1982. He is known and
respected by Texans of both parties as a man devoted
to the preservation of the family, the restoration of
moral principles and the rebuilding of America's
military defenses.
Roger Staubach does not think that his name
recognition is a qualification for political office and
neither do I. I do think his character and his principles
mark him as a man who is qualified for public trust.
We are fortunate to have a man of his calibre who is
widely known and can be elected.
Upon his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy,
Roger could have resigned his commission and started
playing immediately for the Dallas Cowboys. At high
personal cost he chose to honor his committment [sic]
to his country and served his full four years including a
year in war-torn Vietnam.
Roger knew his duty and he accepted it without
complaint or reluctance.
Some people feel that Roger will not seek the
Republican nomination for the Senate from Texas, I
know though that if you and I demonstrate the true
strength of the respect and admiration Texans have for
Roger as a man of principle and conviction, he will
again accept his call to duty. Roger Staubach in the
United States Senate We can make it happen
The Staubach campaign will be the most interesting
and closely watched race in the nation in 1982. Our
candidate will hold high the flag of limited govern-
ment, economic sanity, strong national defense and
the conservative principles you and I share.
Roger Staubach will run if you and I do what is
required of us. All that is necessary is to give our fellow
Texans a chance to voice their support. Texans know
Roger Staubach as a leader, as a man and as a
concerned citizen. Now is the time for Alamo PAC's
Draft Staubach Committee to show Roger how strong
his support is and the deep committment [sic] Texans
Fructidor (September) 11981
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have for the principles he represents.
For Roger Staubach to take his seat in the United
States Senate you must make you [sic] voice heard
now. We would be honored for vou to join the growing
. number of distinguished Texans as a member of the
Draft Staubach Steering Committee. You have the
knowledge and expertise we need now to call Roger to
duty. .
It l~ vital that you complete the Invitation Accep-
tance I have enclosed and rush it to me here in Austin.
Let us not let this rare opportunity pass us by. I hope to
hear from you by return mail.
Sincerely,
James Meadows, Political Director
JM/kgl
P.S. the work we do now, inadvance of the 1982
campaign, will give us an opportunity to help elect
other conservatives to the House and Senate even if
Roger does not run. We can't lose:
Did you note the way the word 'conservative' was
innocently snuggled in with 'the flag,' 'economic sanity,'
'national defense,' etc. Aren't they clever? A more appro-
priate political definition for our ongoing brand of ultra-
conservatism is FASCISM.
Now we come to the good part of this little story; my
sister's reply to the above malarkey.
Mr. James Meadows
Alamo Political Action Committee
P. O. Drawer 26547
Austin, Texas 78755
Dear Mr. Meadows,
Received your letter of June 5, regarding the
proposed candidacy of Roger Staubach for the United
States Senate. How interesting.
Sorry I cannot help you. I am currently Chairperson
of the. Draft Dandy Don Meredith for the United
States Senate Steering Committee. We of the
DDDMFTUSSS Committee believe Dandy Don is a
far better qualified candidate. Granted, both were
highly esteemed Dallas Cowboy quarterbacks, and
both are great guys. We, however, like Dandy Dons
Lipton Tea Lover commercials a lot better than
Roger's Rolaids commercials. Dandy Don is ob-
viously more intellectual. He knows relief is
not
spelled R-O-L-A-I-D-S Also, Dandy Don is cer-
tainlya much better, more experienced actor, and we
all -know acting talent is a paramount quality for
seeking election to higher office these days
If the Draft Dandy Don Committee proves unsuc-
cessful, I am also Co-Chairperson of the We Want
Willie Nelson for the United States Congress Steering
Committee. Not only can Willie act, he can sing He
also has the good ole boy vote hands down What a
candidate Enthusiasm is high in the WWWNFTUSCS
Committee
Again, sorry I cannot help you with the Draft
Staubach Steering Committee, but I'm sure you can
see the problem.
Sincerely,
Beverly Sims
P.S. Hooray for Show Biz
I harbor no animosity toward Roger Staubach. Indeed, I
think that Roger is one of the finest athletes of all time.
However, when I vote for a senatorial candidate it will be
because I know that he is knowledgeable in the business of
spending MY tax dollars wisely - not because of his/ her
physical prowess. It will be beca use he she conscientiously
studies our foreign involvement and desires to keep
America's nose clean with regard to other nations and
peoples. It will NOT be because he/ she was perhaps
outstanding in other non-related fields.
It would be comforting indeed if, for one time in my life, I
could feel that we were not playing at politics ~ but that we
were actually being serious about what is going on in
America. I'm convinced that we will only achieve that end
when we can have, as an alternate choice, a good American
Atheist candidate who will have the guts to tell the likes of
Jerry Falwell to go In his own mythological hell Fascism is
not my bag .... ~
OINS
Three coins in the fountain -
Which one will the fountain bless?
Empty words of the mystic fool
Bound by his idleness
Better the sparkling fountain's flow
Would quench the thirsty fool
Who throws the price of a poor man's bread
On the floor of this lavish pool
Tempting coins in the sha