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American Atheist Magazine Nov 1982
American Atheist Magazine Nov 1982
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AMERICAN ATHEIST
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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 all religions 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;
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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
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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 is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own
inherent, immutable and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life;that 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. It considers 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.
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The American Atheist magazine is published monthly at the Gustav Broukal American Atheist Press, 2210 Hancock Dr., Austin, TX 78756, and 1982 by Society of
Separationists, Inc., a non-profit, non-political, educational organization dedicated to
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November, 1982
Page 1
EDITORIAL
Page 2
November, 1982
Banco Ambrosiano
NECTAR 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 1848 to 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 nationalized; 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 1864 by 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 of the Italian government
and a blessing for his troops which were poised to invade
Ethiopia.
The ostrich reaction to all modernizing ideas of government has been the classic of burying one's head in a hole in
the ground to pretend that nothing is amiss in the international 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 in that 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 well its lessons of intolerance from its mentor, the
vatican, in this as well as 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 confiscation, which had occurred 62 years prior to his reign. Benito
sweetened the deal with $2 million of is own; recognized the
vatican as a soverign state, granted it custom 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, agricultural 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. It thus soon became obvious that
the vatican needed its own bank. Of course, priests move
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 3
(pharmaceuticals),
La Societa Dinamite (dynamite and
ammunition, La Torcitura di Vittorio Veneto (yarn), FisacFabbriche 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'Industria ed Elettronica (chemistry
and electronics),
La
Salifera Siciliana (salt), La Societa Prodotti Chimici Superfosfati (chemicals), Bottonificio Fossanese
(buttons), Saici
Societa Agricola Industriale per la Cellulosa Italiana (cellulose), Cotonificio Veneziano (cotton), Lanificio de Garvardo (wool), Fabbriche Formenti (textiles), Sacit (ready-towear 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 specific entrepreneurial
functions. It controls hundreds of firms,
including television and radio, railroads, airlines and shipping, 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, USA
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 (automobiles), Firmeccanica (engineering combine), Finmare (shipping, 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 (Switzerland), the Kredietbank
S.A. Luxembourgeoise
and the
Interitalia (both in Luxembourg.) All of these banks provided 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
war industries. The roman catholic church in the US is is to be in book stores later this year.
It appears that the United States Department of Justice
notorious for holdings in assumed names: Angela Co.,
Annunciata Co., August Co., Trubell Co., Bishop Co., went so far, in 1971, as to fly a representative to Rome to
talk to Marcinkus about his connection with it all. The
Lamore Co. and ownership in the names of its orders
(priests and nuns), its fraternal organizations such as the forthcoming book now alleges that he was to receive a $150
million kickback from the counterfeiting scheme.
knights of columbus and its colleges and universities.
By 1978 everything had gone askew. Money was missing,
In 1972, Sindona bought controlling interest for himself in
the Franklin National Bank in New York and offered Sindona had taken a 25 year rap, the Governor of Italy's
Maurice Stans, Nixon's money raiser, a cool million in a Central Bank was arrested and eased out of office, an
secret campaign contributions. (Stans did not accept the investigating judge in Italy, Emilio Alessandrini, was assasdeal.)
sinated and only a part of the turmoil was showing.
Well, what is the lOR? It's official name, as above
The vatican wanted diversified investments outside of
Italy and it began to sell off its major shareholdings in Italian indicated, is the Institute for Religious Works. It has
companies while it became a conduit also to smuggle money approximately 7,000 customers which include the vatican,
out of Italy which was becoming a communist country faster religious organizations, members of the clergy and select
than the pope would admit. The Italian government,
people who have assisted the church. Your editor's guess is
that it is also probably a laundry for Mafia cash. It has
breaking loose from its CIA mentor - the Christian
Democratic party, began to demand that the vatican be perhaps $2 billion in deposits and makes a profit of at least
subject to exchange controls and banking regulations. The $20 million a year. However, the Vatican is running a deficit
vatican became more determined to transfer its holdings to of $20 to $30 million a year and it relies on the lOR profits to
a reliable capitalist country base. But suddenly in 1974,
fillthe gap. Since the exchange is internal in the vatican, no
there was anywhere from $150 million to $1 billion of the one really knows what goes on. Peter's Pence, a voluntary
vatican money which simply disappeared, and when it did, 2 donation given each year to the pope by roman catholics
foreign (i.e. not Italian) banks collapsed. The first was the around the world has dropped off recently in magnitude so
Franklin National Bank of Long Island, New York, which that even the pope now wails that he is "hard up."
went into bankruptcy and the Herstatt Bank in Germany.
Marcinkus is the chief administrator of the 108 acres of the
At this time, Sindona was found to have a network of vatican, and he has virtual autonomy in running lOR, with
fiduciary trust, phantom holding corporations and phoney
Luiggi Mennini second in command. When Sindona came
deposits scattered everywhere. Although he was indicted,
up with the major hole in the vatican finances it was thought
found guilty and jailed, no one to date has really found out
that Marcinkus would be eased out after pope paul's death
anything about the maneuvers and no one knows exactly
but he was instead reconfirmed. He probably knows too
how much money is missing.
much. The same situation appertained in the United States
It was felt that those primarily responsible were Marcin- with J. Edgar Hoover, a roman catholic who ran the FBI
kus - "II Gorilla," Luiggi Mennini the second in command
with an iron hand for years. No one dared to remove him
at the lOR in the vatican and Sindona.
from office.
Now, the story dramatically changes with a new characBut the bankers of the world got together and in 1974
. ter on the scene. A mere bank clerk, Robert Calvi, was
issued something called "The Major Bankers Concordat"
which was a statement of an agreement that they would join working at the Banco Ambrosiano during all of this time.
together to help bailout any bank which got into trouble.
He came to work on time, kept his cage accounts in order,
was a faithful employee, all of that, and finally - lo! the
Since Germany was financially shaky that first help went to
the Herstatt Bank in that nation, but in the good old US of miracle - he became the head of the Banco Ambrosiano.
A, our government had to bailout the depositor in the
This is now regarded as Italy's catholic bank, the l l th
Franklin National Bank fiasco. The vatican made no
largest in the nation. Once owned outright by the vatican,
comments.
since the "selling off" of interests the vatican is now alleged
But something else which was rotten was going on.
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
Finally uncovered now by The Wall Street Journal, in 1982.
A former head of the Organized Crime Strike Force in
that Italian firm manufactures other office machinery also.
Southern New York had finally come forward to talk about
The owner of the firm bought a stake in the Banco
a 1973 operation when he managed to get legal wiretaps
Ambrosiano and within several months got out because he
placed in New York and in West Germany to investigate a
"was appalled at what he found." Whatever that means.
possible securities counterfeiting scheme cooked up by
In 1967 the Banco Ambrosiano had reported a capital of
some of the same personnae. It was at that time uncovered
$6Y-tmillion with a net profit of $1.4 million, a fabulous 22%
profit. In 1980 Banco Ambrosiano was 790 million in the
that $950 million worth of Pan Am, AT&T and other stock
was being counterfeited. The wiretaps resulted in 8 federal
hole on its accounts. In 1981, Roberto Calvi, its director
indictments, 18 New Yorkstate indictments and guilty pleas
took $26.4 million out of the country to Switzerland, was
from a number of U. S. citizens. An Australian con man
caught, convicted, fined $19.8 million and sentenced to 2Y2
(Leopold Ledl) claimed that his "vatican connection" had
years in jail. He immediately gave a bond and was out, still
ordered $14.5 million of the bogus certificates for phony
head of the bank, pending an appeal. That's one story. On
collateral for loans and that he delivered these to a the other hand, it is also said that Roberto Calvi was such a
monastery outside of Turin, Italy. Subsequently a book by fabulous manager that in 1981 the bank had tripled its
another author entitled just that, The Vatican Connection
profits and had 18 to 19 billion in assets. Take your pick of
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page S
Page 6
November, 1982
J.
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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 million and 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
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The American Atheist
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November, 1982
Page 9
Page 10
November, 1982
1
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Merrill Holste
ANECDOTES FROM
THE EARLY HISTORY
OF JEHOVAH
The gods grow and develop with the passage of the years
just as do the tribes of people who create them. The
development of jehovah, as recorded in the old testament,
still grateful today - billions of dollars' worth.
is an interesting illustration of this fact. The concept of
The god-in-a-box fable was a universal piece of intellectujehovah as an infinite, omnipotent and omniscient god is a al baggage among all the tribes in the eastern Mediterranelate development in religious thinking. Students of comparaan area. Greek mythology contains a story about pandora
tive religion know that all the ancient Semitic peoples,
who, through curiosity, opened a box containing all the evil.
including the Hebrews, as is conclusively shown in many spirits, thereby, permitting their escape to plague mankind.
bible texts, believed in numerous baals - lords, or gods of Egyptian mythology, long before moses, contained a story
different localities such' as rivers, trees, ravines, stones,
in which their evil god, typhon, made a box, likewise called
mountains and temples. Each locality, of course, was an "ark," into which he induced his brother, the good god
osiris, to enter. Typhon clamped the lid down, soldered it
believed to be the private preserve of its own particular
tutelary spirit - ghost, spook, nymph, dryad, pyxie, satyr,
tight and cast it into the Nile. Thus it became osiris's coffin.
faun or god. The Hebrews believed as all the other Semites
A story in the arabian nights tells of the fisherman and the
did, that their god was one of many; that each nation had its djinn. In this fable a fisherman found a bottle while casting
own god, all of which were every bit as real as their own. The
his nets. When he opened it, a diffuse pillar of smoke came
first commandment, as was supposedly given by jehovah
out, rose to the clouds and then collected itself together by
himself, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," insists . degrees until it became a fierce supernatural being or god
upon the existence of other gods. Unless the Hebrews did called a djinn. In order to dispel the fisherman's unbelief, the
believe in many gods, such a commandment would have djinn obligingly reversed the process and entered the bottle
once more, much as jehovah, the cloudy pillar-god of the
been completely unintelligible and pointless.
Hebrews, must have done when he crawled into moses's
The exodus story relates some of the original Hebrew
ideas about their jehovah. At that time they believed he "ark." The arabian nights stories arose from the same
appeared to them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire storehouse of Semitic myths as did the fables in the old
testament.
by night. Such a belief conforms to the primitive Semitic
It isn't hard to demonstrate that the Hebrews once
idea that gods were immanent within some object of nature
believed they actually had their god confined in a wooden
- river, tree, ravine, stone, temple, altar, relic, etc., etc.
The Hebrews, according to tradition, wandered in the box. This edifying story is recorded for us in I samuel,
desert of Arabia for many years. Travel must have posed
chapters 4 through 7. In many bible passages we can read
quite a problem to the superstitious, stone age people who how jehovah promised to fight for the Hebrew tribesmen in
believed in a multitude of locality gods. Their leader and their battles. Since they thought they had their jehovah in
chief magician, moses, who learned the arts and wiles and their box, they decided to test his fighting powers. They
priestly subterfuges in the land of Egypt, devised a plan tried to use the sacred box as a "secret weapon" by carrying
whereby they could keep one god for themselves and it with them into a battle against the Philistines. As a result,
remain the "peculiar" people and sole possession of this one the Philistines captured the Hebrews' magic-box, defeated
god, jehovah. Moses, in his role of magician, had his artisans
them, and proved the Hebrew god to be what he always was
make a magic-box out of sacred "shittim" wood. In his role - an impotent fetish whose alleged promise to fight in battle
of priest, he induced their jehovah to adopt this box as his for the Hebrews was only a baseless priestly imposition.
temporary home so that the porters could carry him about
That the Hebrews were convinced they had lost their god
with them. Keeping one's god locked up in this way seemed
when they lost the sacred box is shown by their extravagant
sensible to a primitive savage who wanted to go travelling, though brief affectation of grief and by the fact that they
for in those days gods were notoriously jealous, evil- immediately returned to their original worship of local
tempered, blood-thirsty and quarrelsome. The Hebrews
fertility deities - baal and ashtoreth. Nor did they worship
adopted the god-in-a-box plan as the best way to keep their the traditional jehovah again till his "return" more than'
god from getting mixed up in a lot of useless god-fights with twenty years later, still cooped up within the magic fetishall the other jealous, bloodthirsty, small-time locality deities box. This story, written by Hebrews and for Hebrew
through whose numerous territories they planned to pass,
readers, makes out that the Philistines were convinced that
loot and possibly take over for themselves. Moses's igno- they had in actuality captured the Hebrew god. On its
rant dupes of stone-age culture were eternally grateful to return, the sacred box passed through the land of the
him for devising such an ingenious scheme - and they are Beth-shemites and of Kirjath-jearim. The people in these
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 11
"... 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. 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 arabian 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 belief is in the same little tribal 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 millions of payers suggesting, instructing, commanding
their little fetish what to do about every minor detail of their
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
Page 12
November, 1982
tongrtssional Rtcord
United States
0/ America
Vol 127
PROCEEDINGS
WASHINGTON;
THURSDAY,
97th
CONGRESS,
FIRST SESSION
No. 78
Senate
Excerpted from. the Congressional
Record, May 21, 1981
November, 1982
Page 13
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 don't really want to pass the nausea on to you.
What is Religion?
The misunderstanding
of the nature of religion is unfortunately widespread and persisting. The most popular conception, 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 increase their stores of "good karmas," which, when sufficient, 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 World's
Page 14
November, 1982
What is Humanism?
Humanism,
on the other hand, claims that persons
should locate and seek the ultimate values of human life
within life and not beyond it. This claim is a common
denominator
of all varieties of humanism. Claiming that
human beings do have ultimate intrinsic values that ought to
be realized and optimized is what makes humanism a
religion.
Many varieties of humanism exist. Humanists differ in
their conceptions of human nature and of human values,
including how to conceive, and then achieve and optimize,
what is ultimate. Some emphasize enjoyment of personal
integrity, others gregarious generosity. Some idealize individualism, others socialism. Some claim small is beautiful,
others that all is beautiful. Some emphasize the values of
reason, others emotion; some culture, others physique;
some enjoyments of the moment, others enduring security.
Humanistic explanations often succumb to reductionistic
tendencies. Whereas some religions reduce the significance
of ultimate human values by subordinating them to some
partly or wholly other-than-human
values regarded as
superior, humanists sometimes reduce the significance of
the ultimate values of human life as a whole by regarding the
values of some parts of human beings as representative
of,
even at times somehow superior to, the values of human life
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 conceiue 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 abrasiue; that we must reach out a hand to our religious brethren.
Again and again we haue pointed out that the unitarians belieue 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 couer of religion giues to them.
The response has been that both humanists and unitarians are really superbly suaue Atheists and that we do not know
what we are talkin~ about to sav that thev still suffer from the culturai iac; of relieious residuals in their thou~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 don't really want to pass the nausea on to you.
What is Religion?
The misunderstanding
of the nature of religion is unfortunately widespread and persisting. The most popular conception, 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 increase their stores of "good karmas," which, when sufficient, 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 World's
Page 14
November, 1982
What is Humanism?
Humanism,
on the other hand, claims that persons
should locate and seek the ultimate values of human life
within life and not beyond it. This claim is a common
denominator
of all varieties of humanism. Claiming that
human beings do have ultimate intrinsic values that ought to
be realized and optimized is what makes humanism a
religion.
Many varieties of humanism exist. Humanists differ in
their conceptions of human nature and of human values,
including how to conceive, and then achieve and optimize,
what is ultimate. Some emphasize enjoyment of personal
integrity, others gregarious generosity. Some idealize individualism, others socialism. Some claim small is beautiful,
others that all is beautiful. Some emphasize the values of
reason, others emotion; some culture, others physique;
some enjoyments of the moment, others enduring security.
Humanistic explanations often succumb to reductionistic
tendencies. Whereas some religions reduce the significance
of ultimate human values by subordinating them to some
partly or wholly other-than-human
values regarded as
superior, humanists sometimes reduce the significance of
the ultimate values of human life as a whole by regarding the
values of some parts of human beings as representative
of,
even at times somehow superior to, the values of human life
as a whole.
For example, many humanists enjoy the value of reason,
but some make reason the supreme value of life(even of the
universe) and subordinate all other human values to it.
Many humanists enjoy the value of romantic emotion, but
some make enjoyed emotion the supreme value of life and
subordinate all other values to it. Whether it be reason or
emotion, health or wealth, privacy or popularity, reputation
or power, self-pity or service to humankind, any claim that a
particular value is the only locus of ultimate human value
becomes reductionistic and in a measure anti-humanistic,
to the extent that it then also serves to eliminate or reduce
other equally available human values.
It is true that personal preferences, potentialities, and
opportunities lead to specializations providing value enhancement. But, when any humanist claims that a specialized and partial human value is either the whole or superior
goal of human life, his claim is reductionistic. It is antihumanistic to the extent that it intends to exclude or
denigrate other equally enjoyable values.
Mistakenly defining religion as belief in god (that is, in the
judeo-christian-islamic god) leads to mistakenly defining
humanism as not a religion. However, when religion is
properly recognized as concern for the ultimate values of
life as a whole, it should be obvious that humanism's belief
that human beings do have intrinsic value and that life
should be devoted to optimizing those values constitutes
not only a religion but a religion par excellence.
Is humanism essentially atheistic? Humanism is essentially positive. It affirms intrinsic values in human life and
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 15
"GOD" IN THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
By Sherman D. Wakefield
the grandson-in-law
of Robert G. Ingersoll
".'.. Ina long letter of advice to Peter Carr, one.ofhis favorite nephews, dated August
10, 1787 he (Jefferson) wrote: "Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal
every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god;
because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of
blindfolded fear."
The deistic god was the god of nature or nature's god, not
the theistic god of christianity. Alexander Pope, in his
deistic poem, "An Essay on Man," described this idea of god
in two lines:
Page 16
November, 1982
"Itis now clear that references to 'Nature's god,' 'creator' and 'providence' in the
Declaration of Independence of 1776 were not to the christian god but to the deistic
god... and by 1787 even the word 'god' was omitted from the Constitution of the
United States ... It is time, therefore, that pious christians of our own day, from the
president down, should look to their facts before making public pronouncements on
this subject."
and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the
human mind, that no candid man can say he has any
idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no
idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself.
He proves also, that man, once surrendering his
reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder is
the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility,
which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of
reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.
Jefferson went beyond Paine in that he was willing to
question the existence of a god. In a long letter of advice to
Peter Carr, one of his favorite nephews, dated August 10,
1787, he wrote:
Fix Reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal
every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness
even the existence of a god; because if there be one,
he must more approve of the homage of reason, than
that of blindfold fear ... Do not be frightened from this
enquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a
belief that there is no god, you willfind incitements to
virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its
exercise, and the love of others which it willprocure
you.
The Declaration of Independence starts off with a salute
to "Nature's god," the god of deism, not the god of
christianity:
When in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's god entitle them ...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable rights ...
But the Declaration ends with an apparent contradiction:
"with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence,
we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our Sacred Honor."
The Encyclopedia of Religion, in its article on "Providence," says: "The doctrine of providence is a phase of
christian theism. It is to be distinguished from deism on the
one hand and impersonalistic conceptions of god on the
other. .. An aspect of providence is divine guidance; god's
assistance to individuals in the ordering of their lives."
Hence one would not expect a deist to believe in providence. However, this definition fails to make a distinction
between general and special providence and defines only
the christian belief in special providence. But most of the
deists believed in general providence, which means that
Austin, Texas
REGISTER NOW!
$20.00
November, 1982
G. Stanley Brown
alBER'S PARADOX
We can do some elementary cosmology by looking at the
clear night sky. We see a few bright stars, more average
brightness stars, and many faint stars. Binoculars show still
more stars too faint to be seen with the eye alone. There
appear to be ever more stars at ever fainter levels. If we
interpret the faintness as being due to distance, it appears
that space is filledwith stars as far away as we wish to look.
However, ifwe proceed with an assumption of an infinite
universe with stars scattered throughout, a problem arises.'
As you look between two stars you would expect to see
another fainter pair, and between them still another, etc. In
an infinite model universe there is no reason to expect to
run out of stars, so wherever you look, in no matter how
small a patch of sky, there should be a star. So the whole sky
should be filledwith stars and everywhere you look your line
of sight willrun into the surface of a star.
Stars are self-luminous balls of gas. Their surface is bright
like the sun. So in a sky filled with stars, the sky should be
bright, all over, like the surface of the sun. Imagine the sky
filledwith suns! That would really light things up down here.
So this is Olber's paradox (Heinrich albers was an 18th
Page 18
century German astronomer). The sky is dark; the innumerable distant stars do not make it bright.
You may attempt to resolve the paradox by pointing out
that our sun is in an arm of a flattened spiral galaxy. So ifwe
look in a direction perpendicular to the plane we would
expect to run out of stars. True, but in that direction there
are galaxies of stars. And the galaxies increase in number as
we look to fainter ones. So the argument used for stars
should apply to these groups of billions of stars. Still the
paradox exists and indicates a need for more information.
RED SHIFT
Light from stars is rich in information, ifwe know how to
read it. Physicists, in their laboratory, working with flames
and machines that modify light, have learned how to read
light for many kinds of data. Astronomers have adapted the
techniques to telescopes so they can learn more about
stars. One of the things that can be known is how fast a star
is moving with respect to the earth, and whether that
movement is toward us or away from us. The technique
relies on a principle known as the Doppler shift (C.J.
Doppler was a 19th century Austrian physicist and mathematician). The principle explains what happens to a pulsing
signal when the distance between the source and receiver
changes. It can apply to sound as well as light.
Let us suppose that a man strikes a drum once each
second. You hear the sound at one second intervals. If you
ride away from the drum on a bicycle, your distance from
the drum will be greater each time the drum is struck, so
sound willtake longer and longer to reach you, and you will
judge the interval between strikes to be greater than one
second. Conversely, if you ride toward the drum, the time
interval between strikes willbe less than one second. If you
know the speed of sound, and the time interval between
strikes you hear, and the time interval at the source, you
can compute your speed.
The same technique applies to light, except that instead
of a drum we have atoms emitting and absorbing light.
Because of the structure of atoms, the light from them has a
well-defined time interval associated with it. A device called
a spectrograph can measure this time interval. A quantity
associated with the time interval is called "wavelength." The
wavelength will change in proportion to the speed of
movement toward or away from us, and astronomers
routinely calculate that speed. They do it for stars and for
whole galaxies.
In the early part of this century, astronomers noticed that
all galaxies further away than our closest neighboring
November, 1982
THERMAL RADIATION
All of us are familiar with the connection between light
and heat. A light bulb is hot to the touch. Additionally, we
may have seen what happens when light passes through a
prism. The white light is revealed to be a composite of many
colors. Occasionally we see an automobile headlight which
looks fainter and redder than normal. This is caused by low
voltage, or insufficient energy being put into the light. All of
these are examples of the fact that something which is as
hot as a bulb filament emits all colors and heat and the
relative contributions
change as the power changes. Science classes teach us that light and heat are the same thing,
electromagnetic
radiant energy, and radio and television
(11
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Optical astronomers
have applied the technique
to
measure the temperature of stars. Radio astronomers use it
for clouds of gas and dust between stars. But the most
outstanding
development
in this area occurred in 1965
when Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered radiation
from something very cool coming from all directions. By
using a radio antenna at Bell Laboratories and measuring in
several frequencies,
they found a distribution of signal
strengths which suggested something was very cool and
radiating everywhere. Other researchers
confirmed their
work and Penzias and Wilson were awarded a Nobel Prize.
This discovery has cosmological significance because its
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Figure 1
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 19
Frg~~~-'
GEOMETRY OF SPACE
"WATERFALL,"
a black-and-white lithograph by Maurits C. Escher, is an example from the
world of art of how space might be locally quite ordinary and yet globally quite surprising.
Page 20
November, 1982
$,
"It's ONE NATION UNDER GOD, son - not one nation under a Constitution."
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 21
Excerpts from
Hiram Elfenbein
Page 22
November, 1982
"The tragic paradox of formal worship of god is that it survives from one generation
to the next by virtue of its basic vice: It is preserved by transmitting it to children.
Moreover, it is absorbed by infants when they cannot understand its literal meaning,
nor its emotional impact, nor - what is more important - its ultimate influence on
their individual personalities and social involvements."
In view of these childish queries, it is incomprehensible
how scientists ignore the primary question of how the
infantile introduction
to god affects his character
and
personality and conduct. Yet I have never encountered an
objective analysis of the influence that a belief in a jewish or
christian god exerted on childish "believers."
On the
.contrary, nearly all commentators
on the effect of organized religion drift unwarily into laudatory exaggerations of
the one or another such creeds without thought or question, without explanation or argument.
Unless we grasp the full import of this initial, hypocritical
indoctrination of the child - who must accept unquestioningly the un demonstrable
instruction of the parents and
learn to pretend silently to agree with an idea (i.e., learn the
practical, personal benefit of mute tolerance of imposed
adult concepts) - we cannot gauge the lifelong harm and
degradation resulting to society at large by this youthful
inculcation of the belief in a ruling god.
If the insinuation of this particular false practice were an
isolated case affecting only one child, we could understandably conclude that its effect - even if of major influence on
the child - would be dissipated entirely in later life. But
unfortunately,
here we have the diametrically opposed
situation. Instead of an occasional youngster, or even a
small handful of children, being morally corrupted by this
deceitful device of being induced to say falsely that they
know or believe in an arbitrary god, we have virtually an
entire new generation
so afflicted with the custom' of
misrepresentation.
or demonstration
- an inconsistent notion of obedience to
some vague whims of a hidden personality that knows all
and demands all and controls all. Under normal conditions,
the child gets all he needs from his parents, and fear or love
of them is not an element. Now he is to be motivated in what
he does by an invisible god who will punish him for doing or
not doing certain things.
**********
**********
For the normal child, acquisition of speech is due to his
own, internal urge. It is a rational mental process of a
complexity that the average adult hardly appreciates
or
understands, since he has long ago forgotten the method he
himself used to develop his art of speech. The child must
learn to associate an action (eat) or a thing (spinach) with
the words or specific sounds. He must think: "That sound
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 23
"The full effect of this early and almost universal deceit is totally ignored by
students, as far as Ihave learned. As a whole, the intellectual members of our society
do not even recognize the implantation of the idea of god in pre-school minds either
as a deceit, or as a long-lasting deceit, or as a deceit that has any particular collateral
mental or social consequences on the child, on his family, or on his community."
In learning the art of communication, the child is at the
outset only a mimic, first aping sounds of its elders, and then
using them when he learns their various meanings. A child
thus develops mentally by copying sane and logical and
understandable actions of its guardians and companions.
The child in its initial basic learning, learns to think and
express itself without doubting or questioning - as well as
without an inducement of love or fear. It accepts completely, not only the names (sounds) applied to objects ("shoe,"
"hand"), but it adopts the grammar (use or arrangement) of
those sounds.
The habit of blanket compliance with parental thinking as
expressed in vocal language is a necessity if the child is to
learn to speak its own thoughts and to understand the
words of others. But this custom has a strong influence on
its own attitude in accepting this first great abstract thought
of an arbitary god when it is presented to him. The child has
already learned how necessary and convenient it is to use
the "words" or language of its parents. So at this stage,
being obsessed, as it were, with the need to hear and say the
"words" of its elders, it is now pre-conditioned to accept and
repeat and use these "words" about god - as if they meant
something to it. If it is inexplicable to a child why what he
drinks is called "milk," it likewise becomes accustomed in
many cases not to have an explanation of why the
controlling force of all existence is called "god" without
explanation. Just as he became adjusted to the idea that he
must accept the idea and the action of drinking milk
because it is "good" for him, so he is likely to be induced to
accept the idea of "god" as being "good" for him also
without elaboration. Thus, behind the bare presentation of
this initial idea of god is both a materiality, or a quasimateriality, and a benefit, or quasi-benefit. He is inclined to
accept the idea not because he understands it, but because
it is told to him by those he trusts and respects. Thus, the
idea of god is again induced by, and conducive of, a
fundamental hypocrisy of gain, not truth or reality.
deity, cannot escape observing the failure and the avoidance of his elders to answer these defects, such as "Why
does god hide himself?" Compounding this evasion, the
grownupsalso show no desire:"'" and offer no opportunity
- to discuss the childish objections. To the thoughtful
child, therefore, the impression inevitably arises that he is
obliged to accept the idea of an arbitrary god without test,
protest, or contest. It is something the adults cannot justify,
and everyone must pretend to know and to believe in its
undisplayable accuracy.
By dint of constant repetition - all before the articulate
powers of the child are developed - the child becomes
mentally adjusted to act as ifit both understood and agreed
with the idea of an arbitrary god - a position that is fortified
by the fear of doubting or questioning that god's existence.
In this way, the idea is hypocritically repeated until it is a
habitual or reflex mental concept without logic or fact to
support it - similar to the belief that primitive people have
that it is evil to speak to one's mother-in-law, or that
orthodox jews have that it is a sin to pronounce the name of .
god, which in the old testament is spelled YHWH.
The adolescent girl or boy will forget all his own factual
and logical objections to the concept, just as adults have all
forgotten the details of how they learned language. Only the
fear that accompanied the idea now remains. The youth is
afraid to think about the subject; he fears that the arbitary
god willpunish him for merely doubting or considering god's
nature.
**********
Page 24
November, 1982
"But the child is in a sorry plight. He can then barely express in speech the simplest
ideas. Yet his elders call upon him to accept the involved notion of an omniscient and
omnipotent god who rewards or penalizes humans for what they do and don't do.
This child soon learns that the only practical course open to him in his then helpless
dependency on his elders is to tacitly 'agree' with the parents. This conduct, in cruder
language, we must describe as pretending to agree."
If, however, the child does not make this last interpretation of why the parents take care of him, the alternative
thought remains open to it: that the parents do not mean
what they say about the duty to please god. Either attitude
assumed by the child is thus the adoption of a hypocritical
parental example.
There is another ramification of this matter when, like a
blown-up balloon pricked by a pin, the idolizing offspring's
exaltation of its parents as the height of knowledge and
power is abruptly deflated by the bewildering announcement that a hidden arbitary god rules the world and knows
all that happens. This disclosure to the budding intellect is,
as far as I can observe, the first ideological abstract learning
of a major sort which it has met. From thinking of facts
-observable realities - the child is irrationally dragged to
hypothesis and conjecture about an undetectable and
unverifiable hidden identity which it can imagine only as a
person.
Furthermore, we must consider the fact that this unanswerable question as to whether an arbitrary god exists is a
question which, until its presentation, has no parallel in the
child's experiences in the depth of its intellectual nature.
The greatest mental effort thus far exercised by the child is
the learning of language - a truly heroic mental accomplishment.
A child who is taught to "eat" is taught something to do
with his mouth and his food, and perhaps with his spoon.
But in his mind, "eat" may mean either the act of swallowing, or the food he is consuming, or it may mean stirring the
dishful with his spoon. He must learn to make these
distinctions. And this calls for lengthy observation and
analysis of when and to what the word "eat" is applied by his
mother in feeding him.
Yet no sooner has the infant accomplished this almost
miraculous task of puzzle-solving, when he is met with the
bewildering idea of an arbitary god about which he "learns"
in a new way - by being told, not taught. And in this he
"learns" by believing, not by knowing or experiencing.
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 25
"Ifthe insinuation of this particular false practice were an isolated case affecting
only one child, we could understandably conclude that its effect - even if of major
influence on the child -would be dissipated entirely in later life. But unfortunately,
here we have the diametrically opposed situation. Instead of an occasional youngster, or even a small handful of children, being morally corrupted by this deceitful
device of being induced to say falsely that they know or believe in an arbitrary god, we
have virtually an entire new generation so afflicted with the custom of misrepresentation."
becomes the model par excellence: "Believe what you are
told; or pretend to believe what you are told. Don't demand
verification; don't use your reason."
The parents' forceful suppression of the child's legitimate
queries aobut an arbitrary god when it first tries to
comprehend the idea thus becomes an ingrown pattern of
illogical thinking after the child grows up. The infant's tacit
acceptance of the obvious nonsense of that idea becomes
the model of its later hypocrisy. How prevalent this
hypocrisy is is only too well known to the readers of this
periodical. To repeat them here would render this article
unmanageable. How pervasive they are I have shown in my
book on Organized Religion: The Great Game of Make
Believe.
Telling the child that god merely exists as an observer and does not interfere with
human affairs would completely destroy the desired concept of god. If god does not
interfere, he can he - and would be - ignored."
Page 26
November, 1982
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 27
Page 28
November, 1982
troublesome problem in a stage drama, it being acknowledged that the proper magic words had been uttered to
produce the intercession.
There is no doubt that the brain ideates words and
images in the hope of controlling events in moments of dire
exigency, as when a gambler rolling dice yells at them to
make them come up lucky. Perhaps school children should
be taught how to rub and talk to rabbits' feet. And a school
showcasing of that phrase from the old testament - "Love
thy fate." - would undoubtedly be denounced by glory
christians as far too modern, secular, and fatalistic.
What increment of benefit will accrue from having
something put into a school ritual that reinforces the fear of
"god?" This fear works in church or temple largely because
the parent is present with the child and the fear of deity is
reinforced by fear of the parent. The school has a moral
influence of its own form of organization in the peer morality
expectations of other children and the role image of the
teacher. Little is to be gained and much will be lost by
intruding theistic imagery any farther in the schools.
Our secular literature is replete with fiction and nonfiction that does a good job giving children a full-picture
insight into lifecrisis situations, although it is to be conceded
that providing comfort at time of death remains a central
problem. However, there is no reason to believe that
incorporating silent ritual or theistic religious terminology
into public school practice will have much effect in better
fitting any child to accomodate the trauma of a loved one's
death or in more easily considering the imminency of his
own. A philosophy of secular fatalism is bound to develop to
make the starkness of lifepalatable to the young and tender
in this age of the emerged cosmology and genesiology of
science. And, it should be mentioned in passing that this
secular fatalism will have a humane moral imperative as
compelling in its own way as that of the christian which has
always been flawed by a too easy escape from immediate
involvement to an ideation of existence in a hereafter.
There has been accepted what might be called a tactful
accomodation area of school participation in presenting a
reinforcement of certain religious terms and symbols to
placate the majority of the people of the community. This
has been accepted despite the "hands off religion" policy
called for in the First Amendment that is looked to by a large
minority who place great emphasis on the pathic effects of
any government reinforcement of the terms and practices
of religion.
A central issue for the court seems to be whether the
minute of silence willbe accepted into the tactful accomodation area. The central issue for Congress with the prayer
amendment plan is whether prayer as tactful accomodation
shall be challengeable as being unConstitutional. That
prayer in the schools could lose for public education the
support of a large number of educated secularists seems
not to bother the ultra-conservative faction who support
the amendment. What with their white racism, christian
fundamentalist bigotry, and support for heavy tax credits
for private school education they are enemies of the public
school system to begin with.
So the total impact of a possible tactful accomodation
practice becomes of major importance to both courts and
Congress, with the courts still having the critically impor-
Austin, Texas
tant issue of basic lawfulness under the present Constitution to decide. In the judicial balancing act of weighing the
possible good that might be derive from another religious
practice in the schools (for the purpose of tactful accomodation) as against the harm would be caused by the practice, a
good starting point might be the notion that the "establishment clause" in and of itself creates a humane imperative
superior to anything deriving from either or both the jewish
and christian parts of bible religion.
All humanitarian admonition found in the bible is always
qualified as a reward device for gaining recognition of the
deity or for gaining power as a means of spreading the faith.
This is quickly made nationally elitist or imperialist by the
contrivance that the "god" of the bible created all of
humanity but is accessible to communication from and
worship by the jewish people exclusively, and, derivatively,
by christians. The power thrust of this thought complex
sees a modicum of humanitarianism combine with religious
symbolism to justify total political and military activism with
this activism often becoming a travesty of anything humane.
The establishment clause creates an American identity as
superior to any religious identity. Qualified solely by the
being a person in this country, its humaneness is purely
empathetic with no ideological ulterior purpose or motive.
Limited by the powers of our government to our own
geographical territory, this humaneness still becomes the
basis for our nation to develop into one of those continental
humanity's countries that must begin to emerge in the world
if we are to have the peace that our good life and form of
government need for survival, to say nothing of bringing
American hope to the rest of world humanity.
Avoiding a community divided by religious authoritarianism where faith is indoctrinated on the one hand and
questioning and communication is avoided on the other is
basic to a free, open, and vital community dedicated to the
person as an individual and humaneness as superior to any
faith. The minute of silence law intrudes the notion of faith
as pre-emptive of and superior to both knowledge and
humaneness, a tyrant's doctrine well-developed in the bible.
The minute of silence is another inching of the foot of
religious tyranny in the door of separation between church
and state. Furthured in the belief that comfort and control
as goodness are a greater truth, necessarily, than descriptive truth that does not achieve quickness in comfort and
control, we are given pause by the knowledge that in times
past this has also been exclusively the point of view of those
who avoided, suppressed or denounced ideas of goodness
contrary to or different than theirs.
The minute of silence law has been implemented by a
community that perpetrates the historical hoax that bible
religion and the judaic-roman tradition are the basis of our
form of government, and, indeed, of all of "western"
civilization. This completely avoids the ultimately more
important Hellenic-scientific tradition. In their hands the
actual practice of the minute of silence would quickly
degenerate into open support for biblical and, particularly,
christian reference.
This plaintiff believes that the ritual minute of silence
perpetuates the authoritarian power mode and devices that
are part of the inherited control system of the class of
religious shamans - priests, ministers, and rabbis - who
November, 1982
Page 29
Page 30
November, 1982
words and symbols? Invoke the word "god," talk about the
flag, and the voters react as if you knew something about
the job or the issues and problems you willface in office. At
the very least, you are bound to be considered an honest,
decent sort.
The phrase "under god" was placed into the pledge to the
flag by a pressure campaign on Congress orchestrated by
cardinal Spellman of New York - he of the careful plan
worked out with president John F. Kennedy, our only
catholic president, to put a communicant of his church into
the office of the presidency of South Vietnam to act as this
country's ideological puppet there. This was the beginning
of our catastrophic involvement in that country, an involvement that was basically an American attempt to continue in
power a roman catholic government established during the
days of the French empire and bitterly hated by the 90% of
the Vietnamese people who are buddhists.
Ah, the white man "lord god" of bible religion, used as the
basis for military aggression and political control and
subjugation of a people brown-skinned and buddhist. They
were led by one Ho Chi Minh who was a national hero of
liberation to buddhists as buddhists and Vietnamese as
Vietnamese long before he started calling himself a "communist." And the American people just knew that they were on
the side of freedom all along, and if they lost the war it was
only because of all that jungle foliage.
Much of the world sees our American national continuum
as something of a continuation of the British empire, whose
two theme songs were "Rule, Britannia" and "Onward
christian soldiers." If we do not abide by the first, we
certainly have not given up the latter, nor the holier-thanthou cultural imperialism that goes with it. An opportunity
to foist the christian religion is a basic explanation for the
westering of Americans, isolationist in regard to Europe for
so long but interventionist in the Far East for so long. Seeing
a christian Chiang-Kai-Shek supported as "president" of
China by the United States, when there was no such thing
as a christian community in China, undoubtedly acted as a
trigger to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931,
generally considered to be the start of World War II.Did not
"Onward christian soldiers" spark the enunciation by
Japanese leadership of the "Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere" that would be an Asiatic defense, led by
Japan against the economic and political and religious
control and domination of the peoples of Asia by the
arrogant white christian American? And was not this
Japanese orientation the basic explanation for the militarily
quixotic but totally meaningful Japanese attack on the
American base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941? (Note the.
date is even based on the mythical christian calendar.) The
verdict of history will undoubtedly better apportion the
infamy in which that date is held.
For the sake of the position in the world of this nation that
our children shall inherit, it behooves us to look closely at
any unthinking reinforcement of political symbols by religious symbols of absolutism. If the phrase "under god"
urgently needs to come out of the pledge to the flag, the
immediate issue is to not reinforce it with a ritual minute of
silence, or institutionalized bible-referent school prayer.
The phrase "under god" allegedly was taken from
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but the original
Austin, Texas
November, 1982
Page 31
Page 32
November, 1982
One-megaton (1,000,000tons of TNT) nuclear bomb exploded 6,500 ft. over New York City.
1.8 SECONDS AFTER DETONATION
BRONX
GEORGE
WASHINGTON
BRIDGE
PRIMARY BlAST
WAVEFRONT
FIREBAlL
RIVERSIDE
CHURCH
EMPIRE
STATE
BUILDING
WORLD
TRADE
CENTER
STATUE
OF
LIBERTY
STATEN
ISLAND
OVERPRESSURE
18 P.S.I.
s
REFlECTED BlAST
-eFRONT
WNl VELOCITY
1110 M.P.H.
OVERPRESSURE
~ 6 P.S.I.
At 11 seconds and 3.2 miles from ground zero, the overpressure Is 6 pounds per square Inch,
--
WINO VELOCITY
- 40 M.P.H.
OVERPRESSURE
= 1 P.S.I.
--+
At 37 seconds and 9.5 miles from ground zero, overpressure Is one pound and winds 40 mph. Thermal radiation
is small, but gamma rays may be lethal.
10
2
1
0
1
2
3
DISTANCE FROM GROUND ZERO (MILESI
10
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