from the many ideas connected with accepting life on Earth in Indian villages, when a well is full of bacteria, a priest and using the human mind for arriving at central values. is called for to read mantras over the well. Then the people But to deal with practical matters we have made it a part think it is safe to drink the water and more die. Humanists of our bylaws that we should build upon the ideas and should go into the village and say, "You cannot drink this the principles in the United Nations' Declaration of Human water, it must be clean." Rights. FI: So you think that humanism is relevant to today's world FI: Looking at the world scene there have been such rapid problems? changes recently. What do you think the prospects for Fragell: Absolutely. I believe in going to the Third World, humanism are? First, in Norway, will you continue to grow, which has more than half the world's population, with and what about other places? humanism. Fragell: I think humanism could be the new basis for ethics. FI: Many questions have been raised about what is We have to have some frame of reference for ethics, and humanism. Maybe we can end by your giving a succinct I think humanism could be that reference in the next century definition of humanism. because religions are not trustworthy anymore; they're Fragell: We must find the line that divides humanism and outmoded. But I think we have problems in making this point religion. Humanism is a cause and ethical life stance with because we do not have a clear identity. People don't realize all the connotations that go with the humanist tradition. But what humanism is. But I haven't given up hope, and I think it is very important in addition to forcefully say that humanism we could—and Paul Kurtz has suggested this—be missionaries. is nontheistic, naturalistic, and secular. And if we are not This has been very controversial, partly because the term is willing to say those things, we disappear into the shadow associated with religion. of religion. FI: Do you think ambassadors would be better? FI: And it involves what from the individual? Fragell: Yes. In the Third World, the humanist ambassadors Fragell: I heartily support self-determination, self-reliance, could encourage people to give up the old, dysfunctional and responsibility in the individual. These are some of the religions, which in all respects stop development. For instance, most positive attributes of humanism. •

Why I Am Not a Fundamentalist

Skipp Porteous alvation is not a victimless crime. I was an after-school arts-and-crafts club Word of Life "boot camp" at Schroon Sknow, for as a youth I became a that they offered without charge in their Lake, New York, which reinforced my victim. I was "saved" at the age of eleven. home. Its purpose was to entrap innocent life as a "new creature." Fundamentalist I call it a crime because my "salvation" youngsters from the village. I fell prey. tradition was pounded into us at Word was not by chance; it was carefully Soon, those who attended the club were of Life in more ways than one. As orchestrated by misguided people who invited to Billy Graham movies on soldiers of the Lord we weren't taught thought they were doing God a favor. Sunday nights at the little Baptist church. how to turn the other cheek. In fact, Their actions sent me on a long, arduous Who could resist free movies? Our town one summer, after beating the devil out journey. didn't have a movie theater and only one of an opponent, I became a Word of The scheme was launched after a channel was available on television. Life boxing champ. fundamentalist minister came to the Upon returning home from Word of small town in which I was reared. He was vulnerable and the church Life I wanted to preach the Gospel in and his wife employed two methods to Iexerted a strong influence on me. the streets of our town. Perhaps to save build a congregation. First, they stole Week after week I listened to Billy the family from embarrassment, my "sheep" from other churches. Second, Graham's sermons, followed by the mother forbade me. they resorted to deceptive devices. One pastor's pleas to "accept Christ." Soon Despite a brief but happy and free I was convinced that without Jesus I was interval as a back-sliding teenager, I a vile sinner destined to spend eternity remained brainwashed. Fear of being out Skipp Porteous is the editor of the in hell. I had to make a choice. I chose of God's favor hounded me. quarterly newsletter Walk Away, from Jesus. At twenty-one, I married and moved which this article is reprinted. Through my new affiliation I spent to Los Angeles. Soon I enrolled in the two summer stints at the fundamentalist Lighthouse of International Foursquare

46 FREE INQUIRY Evangelism Bible College (LIFE), an Elim Fellowship, the same Pentecostal for which I would have formerly prayed unaccredited school founded by the sect with which Operation Rescue's came to pass without having to beg God. controversial evangelist Aimee Semple Randall Terry is affiliated. It did not I was amazed. McPherson. The school is connected approve, and my ministry was threat- A gradual change developed. My with the Foursquare movement, a ened. I was assured by church authorities mind began to come back. Oh, I had Pentecotal denomination. By then, the that I had biblical grounds for divorce, never been overtly crazy. I acted as Full Gospel Businessmen in Los Angeles but the possibility for remarriage was out normal as the next guy. Internally, had convinced me that mere fundamen- of the question if I wanted to remain though, my world view was a narrow talism was void of spiritual life. They in the ministry. one shaped by extreme biblical view- were right, but at the time I didn't know In order to determine my future points. For instance, I believed that we the aberrant practices of "full gospel" course, I took what I thought would be were living in the last days and Jesus Pentecostals and Charismatics. a year-long leave of absence. I had no could appear at any moment. Along with At LIFE one of my favorite courses intention of leaving the ministry or this, I looked forward to Armageddon, explored "cults and isms." I learned why rejecting my deeply held convictions. the end of the age. I also was taught we were right and everyone else was No longer a pastor/shepherd, I didn't that Satan ruled this world with a horde wrong. It felt great to be a member of have to work at keeping my flock of demons and that Christians must the correct religion. inspired. The absence of sermon and always be on guard from their attacks. Bible study preparation allowed me to As I began to exercise reason and or ten years I experienced a wide- open my mind. This process turned out logic a whole new world opened up. I Franging ministry—as a missionary, to be my first step in walking away. couldn't believe what I had been missing. street evangelist, radio evangelist, and Having to feed the sheep had been my No longer bound, the possibilities were pastor. I tried to save everyone, including own source of spiritual food. Born-again endless. Free at last! cult-leader Charles Manson in California Christians have to work hard at keeping I began to realize that I had been self- and the artist Norman Rockwell in their religious experience fresh. They deceived for most of my life. Even the Massachusetts. attend Bible studies and prayer meetings. "signs, wonders, and miracles" that are I encountered Manson on a Holly- They devour inspirational books from part of the Pentecostal-Charismatic wood street corner where I ran a ministry Christian bookstores, drive around with belief system could easily be explained. to hippies called "The Chapel on the their ears glued to "anointed" tapes, and Before, I would fast—up to seven days Strip." It was a few months before he gawk at televangelists. The pump must at a time—and would see demons. No was arrested for murder. Each of my be kept primed. wonder! As I fasted my glands released attempts to reason with him failed. Some Christians work full time just powerful mind-altering, euphoric- Manson thought he had a profound to keep the devil at bay. I've know many producing chemicals into my system. understanding of the Book of Revela- who have had more faith in the power This was my body's survival mechanism. tion. He was the most irrational person of Satan than in the power of God. As a believer, I experienced other I've ever met. For me, this struggle to be a "vic- evidence of "supernatural" activity in my Norman Rockwell was quite another torious" Christian ceased. With more life. One was "speaking in tongues." I story. We talked in the parlor of his time on my hands I began to read later learned that this gibberish could be Stockbridge home. Rockwell, a publicly previously forbidden secular novels and taught to anyone. It was not a language liberal Christian, was more likely a bona nonfiction books. Newspapers took on at all, as I had been led to believe. Every fide humanist. Employing his gentle wit, new relevance as I read them without "healing" I had witnessed was either he brushed off my efforts to convert him. looking for fulfillment of Bible prophecy. intentionally fraudulent or had a per- Throughout my ministry I observed: Because my Christian friends shunned fectly rational explanation. the abuse of children in the name of me I had to find new friends. Discussions biblical discipline; shameful disregard with them broadened my outlook. or a while I felt like an imbecile. for the poor and needy (Any time the Two years after I walked away I was F"How could I have been so stupid?" poor were helped by Christians it was still bothered by some guilt and fear, the I wondered. Then I remembered how simply a tool to get them saved. "The two unmistakable building blocks of much guilt and fear had played a part poor you always have with you," Jesus fundamentalist Christianity. Even when in my bondage. Fundamentalism utilizes said.); little or no concern for the born-agains talk about love, they have these emotions like a ball and chain on ecology; and veiled anti-Semitism by a way of making one feel guilty about its unknowing victims. bigoted Christians. Yet, I remained a it. It had been easy to accept simplistic faithful follower to my unseen god. During that early period I wondered, answers for every question. The Bible Then, my marriage of twelve years "Could I be wrong?" I found reading purportedly had the answer for every- broke up. It was a marriage that should the Sunday paper more enjoyable than thing. And, like millions of others, I have never taken place. I knew this in attending church. I felt a twinge of guilt wanted answers. I needed to know that the first month, but as a Christian I was because I didn't feel guilty. My prayers I was right in my understanding of life's committed to keeping the marriage ceased. Through the use of visualization, mysteries, and that I had embraced the intact. I held my ordination papers with hard work, and chance, all the things one true belief system.

Winter 1990/91 47 My whole life had been built upon the Bible. Now it was time for a reassessment. An objective study of the Bible's historical origins dismantled my The Natural History of Altruism old foundation. Christianity is based upon the New Testament record of Jesus. Yet there is no account of a single word written by Morton Hunt him. We have the word of others who claim to tell us what Jesus said. These T ast year about nine million Amer- "should"; I suggest that a more rational writers, with few exceptions, never knew i Jicans willingly gave their blood, approach is to look at what science has him. What they put into writing, as much without payment or reward, to benefit been discovering about its origins and as ninety years after Jesus' death, was people they would never know and extent, its functions, and the conditions hearsay. The Gospel writers don't agree whose thanks for the gift they would that either elicit or inhibit it. on Jesus's genealogy, or exactly what he never receive. Since it personally bene- Ayn Rand and various others have said, or the details of his life, leaving fitted none of the donors to do so, why identified altruism with welfare or us with a record replete with inconsis- did any of them give? entitlement programs, but the programs tencies and contradictions. In 1987, television newscasts reported themselves are not altruism; rather, Most of the New Testament is a that seven-year-old Ronald DeSillers, altruism is the individual emotional re- collection of Saul/ Paul's letters. Paul Jr., had rejected a transplanted liver and sponse to the awareness of distress in was a sexist, bigoted zealot. Yet, his would soon die if he could not get others and the behavior that response carefully crafted monographs succeeded another, which his mother could not produces—individual help or individual in creating a major religion out of the afford. Unasked, thousands of people all willingness to support programs that life of an obscure Jew. The fruit of Paul's over the country sent in a total of achieve collectively what we cannot letters has been the root of more than $690,000 to help the child, who was a achieve individually. three hundred Christian denominations stranger to them. Why? The mystery and wonder of altruism and sects. Most were formed as a result In 1988, according to a survey com- is that it runs counter to self-interest, of disagreement over the correct mean- missioned by the Independent Sector, an the most basic of motivations, yet is ing of Paul's words. organization that keeps track of philan- normal, natural, and all but universal. I've come to realize that a simple How can that be? The answer: It is thropy and volunteerism, Americans in three-letter word perpetuates the entire essential to social life, as virtually every seven out of ten households gave nearly born-again industry: "sin." social scientist from Durkheim $87 billion to charities of one sort or on has recognized. What benefits society bene- another, mostly for the benefit of o one is perfect. Everyone occasion- fits the individuals within it. distressed strangers they neither knew ally makes poor choices and some- But although altruism is nearly uni- N nor would have any contact with. Why? times acts maliciously, but no one "sins." versal, it is subject to wide variations. The answer, in each case, is that "Sin" is nothing more than a theological Individually, there is an Albert people acted as they did because, concept that has no basis in reality. Sin Schweitzer at one extreme, a Josef contrary to common belief, altruism is sells religion. No one is going to be Mengele at the other, and most of us as basic a component of human nature punished by God for sins. I firmly believe somewhere in between. In some socie- that, and that idea has set me free. as selfishness, aggression, and ethnocen- ties altruism is prevalent, in others it As a Christian I was taught—and I trism. This is not a fatuously romantic is close to nonexistent; most others are taught it to others—that one should view but the realistic conclusion of many in the mid-range. What accounts for the grow into maturity. And this is where hundreds of research studies of "proso- variations? If we knew that, we would maturity has brought me. Perhaps those cial behavior" conducted by social and know how to promote altruism within who can't accept this suffer from a pang developmental psychologists, and others ourselves, our communities, our of jealousy. For, without punishing over the past twenty-five years. society—and even, conceivably, across myself, I have found what they seek. The ongoing debate about altruism societal boundaries. When I appeared with Jerry Falwell in the pages of FREE INQUIRY has And we do know a good deal about on a national television talk-show, he focused on it as an ethical principle, a it by now; enough scientific findings said to me, "God didn't fail you. You exist to be a guide to making a more failed God." The studio audience booed Morton Hunt is a science writer spe- compassionate world. It is these find- him for his remark. They saw through cializing in the behavioral and social ings, rather than ethical and political the evangelist's shallowness. I've never sciences. This article is based on his argument, that should guide secular claimed that God failed me. Nobody book, The Compassionate Beast: What humanism, for it is a belief system that, failed anybody. Since walking away, I've Science is Discovering About the unlike those of the major religions, is experienced growth and satisfaction, not Humane Side of Humankind. based on empirical and rationally failure. • derived knowledge.

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