Christianity’sChristianity’s RoleRole inin thethe RiseRise ofof thethe NazisNazis PartPart IIII • Gregory S. Paul

Celebratingf Reason and Humanity DECEMBER 2003/JANUARY 2004 • VOL. 24 No. 1

RICHARD DAWKINS Blasts a New Drug WENDY KAMINER Challenges het WhiteHo use • Planetary Ethics BETH BIRNBAUM • Cartoon Religion

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Published by The Council for Secular THE AFFIRMATIONS OF HUMANISM: A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES*

We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems. We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation. We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life. We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understand- ing. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orienta- tion, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species. We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest. We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferenc- es, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity. We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences. We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion. We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our think- ing. We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich per sonal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others. We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality. We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings. *by Paul Kurtz

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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 2 EDITORIAL FEATURES 5 Planetary THE RISE OF Humanism THE NONES Paul Kurtz 24 A Paleostatistical OP-ED Inquiry: Part 1 Otis Dudley Duncan 9 Gerin Oil DECEMBER 2003/JANUARY 2004 VOL. 24, NO. 1 ISSN 0272- 0701 WHO BEARS THE BLAME 11 Trust and FOR NAZISM? Ignorance Wendy Kaminer 28 The Great Scandal Part 2 13 America’s Gregory S. Paul Disappeared 35 Religion’s Nat Hentoff Anthropocentric Conceit 15 The Genetic Bill Cooke Fallacy 39 It’s So Easy Massimo Pigliucci Seeing Green 16 Tithing Without God DEPARTMENTS Mark Berger 7 Letters 17 On Advocating Infant Euthanasia 23 Frontlines Barbara Smoker 42 Church-State Update 18 Self- Tom Flynn Brighteousness Arnell Dowret 42 World Report Bill Cooke 20 The Tragedy of 43 Applied Ethics Our Time On Having Your Head Richard Taylor Up Your Assumptions Robert M. Price 21 Mixed Blessings Tom Flynn 45 Living Without Religion On the Death of an Atheist BOOK REVIEWS Jerry Kurlandski

52 Under the Banner 54 Solitary Sex 47 Humanism and Social Change of Heaven By Thomas W. Laquer Rethinking Radicalism By John Krakauer Vern L. Bullough David Anthony Frank L. Pasquale 49 Faith and Reason Opposing Political Islam 53 Pragmatic Naturalism and Roy Brown Realism By John R. Shook 56 Humanism at Bill Cooke Large Cartoon Religion Beth Birnbaum FI Editorial Staff FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published bimonthly by the Editorial Board Editor-in Chief Council for , a nonprofit educational corporation, Paul Kurtz P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Phone (716) 636-7571. Robert Alley Editor Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright ©2003 by the Council for Secular Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Thomas W. Flynn Humanism. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be Univ. of Richmond, Virginia reproduced without permission of the publisher. Periodicals postage Managing Editor Deputy Editor Hector Avalos Andrea Szalanski Norm R. 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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 4 Planetary Humanism

EDITORIAL PAUL KURTZ

his magazine often turns its critical eye to issues of public concern neglected by the mass media. I should point out, however, that the heart of our editorial mission is to Thighlight affirmative alternatives. We are not simply debunkers of the religious-moral mythologies of the day; instead we wish to suggest positive policies that we hope can enhance the public good. Some readers may disagree with our recommendations and find them provocative; we offer them as a contribution to constructive ethical dialogue. I wish to revisit one area that we have discussed in FREE INQUIRY in the past, but that needs—in our judgment—to be restated; that is, the intrinsic rele- vance of ethical principles and values to Planetary Humanism. By this I mean that as humanists we are keenly aware of the interde- pendence of all regions of the world. We recognize that all humans share a common planetary habitat and that our moral obligations do not end at the boundaries of our own nation-states, but encompass the entire globe and every person on it. Much of this was spelled out in Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for a New Planetary Humanism, which was published in these pages in the fall of 1999.1 This Manifesto was endorsed by many distinguished humanists, and has been translat- ed into eighteen languages (including Spanish, German, Russian, Serbian, Polish, Arabic, and Hindi). Alas, Manifesto 2000 has been largely ignored in the United States itself, especially by political leaders. I traveled to twice in the summer and fall of 2003. Visiting France, England, Poland, and Serbia, I was overwhelmed by the extent of opposition to American foreign policies, which were considered outrageously chauvinistic. America’s unilateral use of military power and its bypassing of the United Nations were especially viewed with alarm. In view of this, I think that secular humanists need to redouble our efforts in the United States on behalf of the planetary community. This is all spelled out in Humanist Manifesto 2000. The underlying ethical prin- ciple of Planetary Humanism “is the need to respect the dignity and worth of all persons in the world community.”2 This means that we ought to be concerned with the well-being of every person on the planet, as far as we can, and in protecting and enhancing his or her rights and responsibilities. To realize this objective, Humanist Manifesto 2000 presented a “planetary bill of rights and responsibilities.” It also offered a “new global agenda.” Concretely, it maintained that the world needs to develop new planetary institutions: “We need now more than ever a world body that represents the people of the world rather than nation states.”3 Thus we urged that at some point in the future we need “to establish an effective World Parliament” that is elected by the people of the world and is more effective that the General Assembly, which is made up of the independent nation- states of the United Nations—in effect an international bicameral legislature. This would include two bodies: a new Parliament (following the European model) and a General Assembly. The Manifesto crucially points out that “the world needs a workable security system to resolve military conflicts that threaten the peace.” Regrettably, the United States has assumed the role of policeman, reserving unto itself the right to launch pre-emptive wars as it did in Iraq. Humanist Manifesto 2000 recommended that we

Paul Kurtz is editor-in-chief of FREE INQUIRY, professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and chair of the Center for Inquiry.

5 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 employ the United Nations to maintain This would accelerate economic and tration in media ownership and control. collective security, and that “the veto social development, the maintenance Whether the U.S. Congress and/or the in the Security Council by the Big Five of health and sanitation, and the erad- courts will limit this process is still needs to be repealed.”4 This provision, ication of diseases such as AIDS and uncertain. The same battle needs to written into the charter of the UN fif- malaria, so urgently needed. be waged in all of the democracies. We ty-eight years ago, granted dispropor- The Manifesto further recommends hope this battle can be won. tionate power to the victors of World War “some regulation of multinational cor- In spite of these shortcomings on the II. To be effective in the contemporary porations and state monopolies.” The global scene, economic, political, cultur- world, the Security Council needs to be rationale for state monopolies has been al, and social progress can continue to updated, expanded, and strengthened. replaced by market economies, which provide a healthier, happier, and fuller The Manifesto also urged that “we are far more productive. On the other life for more and more citizens of the develop an effective world court and hand, global conglomerates have them- world. Humanist Manifesto 2000 closes international judiciary with sufficient selves become so powerful and exten- with an optimistic declaration, which sive as to undermine competition and provides an alternative to the pessimis- elude meaningful regulation by national tic and nihilistic voices of gloom and governments. Hence there is some need doom: “We recognize that for the enforcement of transnational all humans share laws, especially where the vital welfare Although many problems may seem of the world community is at stake. intractable, we have good reasons a common planetary to believe that we can marshal our habitat and that our Finally, the Manifesto declares that best talents to solve them, and that by there is a pressing need to “keep alive a goodwill and dedication a better life is moral obligations do not free market of ideas,” respecting diver- attainable by more and more members end at the boundaries sity of opinion and cherishing the right of the human community. Planetary of dissent. Fortunately, dictatorial state Human ism holds forth great promise of our own nation-states, for hu mankind. but encompass the monopolies throughout the world are The future can be wholesome and being eroded and democratic govern- bountiful, and it can open up new, entire globe and ments are emerging everywhere. For this daring, and exciting vistas. Planetary every person on it.” process to continue, countries such as Humanism can contribute significantly China and those in the Islamic world need to the development of the positive atti- tude so necessary if we are to realize to democratize their political institutions. the unparalleled opportunities that await But similar considerations apply to the humankind in the third millennium and power to enforce its rulings.” Powerful established democracies. We need to beyond. conservative forces in the United appreciate the importance of open societ- States—such as Senator Helms during ies in the free planetary community. It ends with this clarion call to all sec- the Clinton presidency and the Bush Unfortunately, as we have observed tors of the world community: administration today—have flaunt- in the pages of FREE INQUIRY, more needs We invite other men ed efforts to uphold the institutions of to be done in democratic free market and women to join international law. The United States societies because of the increasing con- with us in working for still does not recognize the legality of centration of ownership of the media of a better world in the planetary society the World Court. communication so that fewer and fewer that is now emerging. The Manifesto observed that “the voices are heard. Witness NBC’s recent world needs a planetary environmental acquisition of Vivendi Universal. But this Notes monitoring agency on the transnational process is happening everywhere. Italy’s 1. Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for a president and private media mogul Silvio New Planetary Humanism was published in level” with teeth in order to maintain a paperback edition in 2000 by Prometheus the integrity of our planetary habitat. Berlusconi virtually dominates Italian Books, Amherst, New York. To leave this to voluntary compliance commercial television. Similarly, there 2. Humanist Manifesto 2000, p. 35. is surely insufficient. The violations of is increased conglomerate control of the Kyoto Treaty by the United States, media in Germany, France, the United Russia, and other counties, and Amer- Kingdom, and the United States. FREE THANK YOU, ica’s refusal to ratify it, are unfortunate. INQUIRY has long opposed this, and it In its most far-reaching proposal, has especially deplored the fact that the DEAR READERS Humanist Manifesto 2000 boldly rec- scientific, rationalistic, humanistic view- ommends the enactment of “an inter- point is so often ignored or under-repre- We wish to thank our many national system of taxation in order to sented in the mass media. readers who have responded to assist the underdeveloped sectors of the We are encouraged that, at long our appeal for funds to enable human family and to fulfill social needs last, the American public seems to be FREE INQUIRY to go bimonthly not fulfilled by market forces.” This recognizing this vexing problem. There and have contributed more than suggested a tax levied “on the GNP of has been broad opposition to new rules $100,000 to our operating funds. all nations” (.007 percent at first), the proposed by Michael Powell and the Gratefully acknowledged, proceeds of which would be used to mit- Federal Communications Commission igate the vast disparities between the that would further loosen regulation The Editors poor and affluent societies of the globe. and contribute to even greater concen-

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 6 LETTERS

But brights? To insist that bright can be Right activist Bill Bright? passed off as a noun without a connota- Robert M. Price tion of arrogance is linguistic sleight of Selma, North Carolina hand at best, dishonesty at worst. The intent is all too clear. Even the cartoon (p. 14) and the sketches of the children “Brights!? That is so insipid and down- (p. 13) have the same touch of arro- right geeky, I was stunned when read- gance. Note that the “bright” child was ing the proposal. We live in a world of nicely typed as male and European—a image-making and marketing. People young Dawkins no doubt. who are freethinkers are usually intel- Alternative nouns: “Smarts,” “Sapi- ligent with strong character. The ability ents,” “Acutes,” “Eurodites,”“Rationals”? to form judgments and make evalua- Same problem. Why not go with “athe- tions about philosophy, our human con- ist,” which has a perfectly clear and hon- dition, questions of identity, and integri- est meaning? Anyone with a naturalistic ty need a label with more sophistication worldview is, by definition, an atheist. or more punch to present to the myth Why try to camouflage it? No need to folks. “Brights” conjures up a picture of confuse “atheist” with “agnostic” since those people who hang out in vegetarian there are devoutly religious persons who restaurants, in limp granny gowns and identify themselves as agnostics—as not untrimmed beards. It’s closer to passé knowing, but believing. “Atheist” may hippie than hip. well have certain negative connotations One alternative suggestion might be for some persons, but the task of con- “verities.” A verity is, in one dictionary, The Plight of Bright sciousness raising includes that of rais- “a permanent truth.” In another, ver- ing perfectly legitimate worldviews to the ity is a “quality or state of being true, Let me see if I understand Daniel level of respectability. or real; that which is true, real.” And Dennett correctly (“The Bright Stuff,” Wayne G. Johnson it comes with a time-honored estab- FI, Oct./Nov. 2003). Because the secular Racine, Wisconsin lished Latin motto, Truth Conquers All. humanist movement has had only limit- Veritas Omnia Vincit. Furthermore, ed success with a name that is accurate, a term such as Verities would confound unambiguous, and actually tells people “Brights”? It seems appropriate that the more simple minds among the fun- something about our core values with- this proposal appeared in an issue with damentalists. Besides, hard consonants, out insulting anyone, why don’t we see Hitler on the cover, since one might as such as the V, have been shown, in if we can be more visible by choosing a well announce, “I’m a member of the advertising, to radiate a more powerful title guaranteed to offend almost every Aryan super-race!” Despite Dawkins’s image. You’ll see many successful prod- believer, while saying nothing about nitpicking, the arrogance of the term ucts on the shelves with V, Z, X. who we are and what we stand for? will be evident to all and is one more “Brights” against a giant Hydra Public relations wizard Madalyn example of the tin-eared right-brained- whose history is made up of torture, Murray O’Hair would have been thrilled ness of certain rationalists. And yet the burning, hanging, stoning, ostracism? by Dennett’s suggestion! Bill O’Reilly and term Brights is simultaneously just so Shame on Dawkins and Dennett! Rush Limbaugh are already sharpening cute, so precious, as if Vacation Bible Anne Lieb their swords. We’ll be so busy explaining School students had come up with it. It Indiantown, Florida that we don’t mean we’re smarter than sounds like atheists are advertising a religious folk even though that’s exactly new brand of low-tar cigarettes! I am what we said that no one will hear us proud to be associated with both the Just Say ‘No’ to when we discuss something substantive, Council for Secular Humanism and the like the evidence for evolution. Atheist Alliance, but if any organization Dogma Lawrence I. Bonchek, M.D. I belonged to adopted the term Brights Lancaster, Pennsylvania to describe itself, I for one would sever Re: “The Day Religion Died,” by Guy my connection the same day. I haven’t Harrison (FI, Oct./Nov. 2003). The con- seen so misguided and cringe-worthy ventional wisdom propagated by main- The essays by Richard Dawkins (“Now an example of self-promotion since fun- stream media is that “everything has Here’s a Bright Idea,” FI, Oct./Nov. damentalists mounted the “Things Go changed since 9/11.” That slogan seems 2003) and Dennett—two bright people— Better With Christ” campaign! Speak ing to apply to Guy Harrison’s understand- certainly caught my attention. Perhaps of which, is it just me, or does the tag put ing of the malevolence of fundamental- some new term to identify those with a anyone else in mind of Campus Crusade ist religion, if we can believe what he naturalistic worldview would be helpful. for Christ founder and big-money ultra- writes. Harrison probably has a suffi-

7 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 cient knowledge of history to see that “needs to be eradicated for the greater people simply must use the basest brute horrendous deeds have been carried good.” That same argument contrib- force on them, we put ourselves in the out by individuals (e.g., New York’s utes to deforestation and destruction of position of the Nigerian Muslim who feels Mad Bomber, George Metesky; Timothy native cultures in Borneo, and is easily the adulterous woman is just so awful McVeigh in Oklahoma City) as well as by used against the people currently wield- that she must be buried up to her neck groups of secular fundamentalists (e.g., ing it as a weapon. All extremists are and have her head shattered with stones. the United States in Vietnam; the USSR the same, dangerous yahoos. And the Odd, indeed, is Price’s claim that in the Katyn forest). Secular fundamen- rest of us are caught in the cross-fire. atheists would gladly give their lives talists include mindless free market Ethan Young for their country and its way of life. If adherents, as well as xenophobes who Portland, Oregon we know we must remain dead forever, believe that collective ownership will dying for our country is a sucker play. solve all problems. Such groups hold Furthermore, I have no inclination to die dogmatic beliefs based upon inadequate Harrison is preaching to the choir. How for Wal-Mart, pro wrestling, or Enron. models of human life; they ignore reality do you change minds that are filled Mr. Price feels that pacifists are whenever it rears its differing head. with this religious gobbledygook? The soon going to be attacked by someone To assign the commission of inhu- misguided souls that adhere to god- like Hitler. Albert Einstein had a better mane acts only to religious fanatics, based religions are generally initiated approach. Rather than arm ourselves though true in many historical cases at birth and are spoon-fed religious doc- with ever-more horrible power, try to and perhaps true in the 9/11 case, is trine throughout their developmental teach every young person of every nation generally inaccurate. A conclusion in years. How can you beat this? And how that generals are not great men, but the 9/11 case is conditional, because we can you not get depressed when you murderous buffoons playing mad games. don’t have the truth about those events. think about the enormity of the task of As iconoclasts we FI readers have The Bush administration resisted ef- changing minds? I just keep repeating some obligation to smash the most forts at independent investigation and to myself—you have to say that it can entrenched icon—an 8-by-11-inch pho- now withholds testimony and classified happen before it ever will happen. There to of the father, son, or husband who documents from the congressionally is some irony in the fact that I, as a a greed to wear a uniform, follow gov- appointed commission. devout atheist, must have “faith” that a ernment orders, and kill without ques- Robert M. Goldberg religion-free world can, and will, happen tion “the enemy.” Jericho, New York somewhere down the road. We should work to send executions Keith Varney and war the way of human sacrifice, Colorado Springs, Colorado slavery, and cannibalism and leave Religion is a tool, much like a hammer. ar guments supporting any primitive You can use it to help build someone a barbaric practices to Fox News. house, or you can bash someone’s head Larry Surber in with it. That a tool can be hijacked— On Agnostic Stoneville, North Carolina like the 9/11 planes were (by terrorists) or the memory of 9/11 itself was (by pol- Oddballs iticians)—is not the fault of the tool. It is I was flabbergasted by Robert Price’s In “An Odd Crop of Agnostics” (FI, merely indicative of a deeper situation: piece. Price vigorously defends the Oct./Nov. 2003) Robert Price says that, that we can creatively see any object as death penalty, calling objection to it though fallible, our system of justice is a tool and any tool as a weapon is iron- a “blatant example of the moral dec- rational. He sneers at bleeding-heart ically one of the reasons humans have adence Nietzsche blamed on Christ- survived in our corner of the universe. death penalty protesters. ianity.” I think that Price has a “blatant Take away religion; something else One wonders if Price’s daughter were example of Old Testament degeneracy” with the same function will replace it. We convicted of a capital crime she didn’t with its eye-for-an-eye “justice.” The all have faith in something. For this rea- commit, and if a sadistic George Bush- death penalty has, to my knowledge, son, for better or worse, we will always like governor refused to even consider never been shown to have any beneficial have tools to work with, to kill with. But new evidence that proved her innocence effect on society. If Price has evidence to our competitive focus for survival has beyond doubt, he’d consider the death show such a benefit, let’s see it. Without since turned inward from nature toward penalty rational. Would he be cool and it, the death penalty with its inherent the more immediate threat: ourselves. If calm about the low degree of fallibility? risk of killing the innocent and its pref- we do not mature as a race, our creative Would he scorn those who protested her erence for certain groups of our society intelligence will undo us as a race—with execution? should not be carried out. or without religion. Price will get no argument from me Price writes that atheistic pacifists It is articles like Harrison’s—written in claiming that some people are bet- “have caught the Christian disease of from an extremist viewpoint claiming ter than others. The thirteen-year-old undiscriminating moral decadence” (take other belief systems must disappear— Japanese piano virtuoso with the 200 that, you atheistic pacifists). I would rather which disseminate shallow opinions IQ was certainly better than the man say that Christians are too quick to use vio- that keep the secular humanist move- who dropped the atomic bomb on her. lence, not even counting our current war in ment from becoming mainstream. No But when we announce that sometimes one deserves to hear their way of life the bad people are so bad that we good (Continued on page 51)

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 8 OP-ED

RICHARD DAWKINS

Such follower-pathology can long post- date the original leader’s death, and may expand into bizarre psychede- Gerin Oil lia such as the cannibalistic fantasy of “drinking the blood and eating the flesh” of the leader. erin Oil (or Geriniol, to give it Chronic abuse of Geriniol can lead its scientific name) is a powerful to “bad trips,” in which the user suffers drug that acts directly on the cen- G terrifying delusions, including fears of tral nervous system to produce a range being tortured, not in the real world

of symptoms, often of an antisocial or Photo by Lalla Ward but in a postmortem fantasy world. Bad self-damaging nature. It can permanently trips of this kind are bound up with a modify the child brain to produce adult morbid punishment-lore that is as char- disorders, including dangerous delusions acteristic of this drug as the obsessive that are hard to treat. The four doomed flights of Sep tember 11, 2001, were Gerin Oil trips: all nineteen of the hijack- “Gerin Oil does not ers were high on the drug at the time. Historically, Geriniolism was responsible seem to reduce the for atrocities such as the Salem witch libido per se, but it hunts and the massacres of native South in themselves dangerous, can distort per- Americans by Conquista dores. Gerin Oil ceptions of reality. Beliefs that have no frequently leads to a fuelled most of the wars of the European basis in fact are immunized, by the drug’s Middle Ages and, in more recent times, direct effects on the nervous system, preoccupation with the carnage that attended the partitioning against evidence from the real world. reducing the sexual of the Indian subcontinent and of Ireland. Oil-heads can be heard talking to thin air Gerin Oil intoxication can drive pre- or muttering to themselves, apparently pleasure of others.” viously sane individuals to run away in the be lief that private wishes so from a normally fulfilled human life and expressed will come true, even at the retreat to closed communities of con- cost of other people’s welfare and firmed addicts. These communities are mild violation of the laws of usually limited to one sex only, and they physics. This autolocutory vigorously, often obsessively, forbid sex- disorder is often accom- ual activity. Indeed, a tendency towards panied by weird tics and agonized sexual prohibition emerges as a hand gestures, manic ste- drably recurring theme amid all the col- reotypies such as rhyth- orful variations of Gerin Oil symptomatol- mic head-nodding toward a ogy. Gerin Oil does not seem to reduce wall, or Obsessive Compulsive the libido per se, but it frequently leads to Orien tation Syndrome a preoccupation with reducing the sexual (OCOS: facing towards pleasure of others. A current example is the east five times a the prurience with which many habitual day). “Oilers” condemn homosexuality. Gerin Oil in strong As with other drugs, refined Gerin doses is hallucinogenic. Hardcore main- Oil in low doses is largely harmless, and liners may hear voices in the head, or can serve as a lubricant on social occa- experience visual illusions that seem sions such as marriages, funerals, and to the sufferers so real that they often state ceremonies. Experts differ over succeed in persuading others of their whether such social tripping, though reality. An individual who convincingly harmless in itself, is a risk factor for reports high-grade hallucinations may upgrading to harder and more addictive be venerated, and even followed as forms of the drug. some kind of leader, by others who Medium doses of Gerin Oil, though not regard themselves as less fortunate.

9 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 Outpacing its origins as a dissenting publisher, today’s Center for Inquiry (CFI) movement has emerged as an educational resource, think tank, and advocacy organization. We have a bold plan to advance critical thinking, freedom of inquiry, and the scientific outlook through research, publishing, education, advocacy, and social services.

As before, CFI: Branch Centers Across the United States and the World • Supports the Council for Secular Humanism and the Committee for Amherst, New York (HQ): We increased the library space 30 percent and have com- Scientific Investigation of Claims of pleted acquisition of a three-acre parcel the Paranormal (CSICOP) for future expansion. • Operates the world’s premier freethought and skeptical libraries Hollywood, California: Renovation of our 9,000-square-foot Center for Inquiry – • Offers distinguished adult education West is almost complete. There, a new Center for Inquiry-International, programs through the Center for National Media Center will reach out Inquiry Institute. to — and critically examine — the enter- But, the Center needs to reach out tainment media. The 99-seat Steve Allen in new ways … tackling new prob- Theater will also serve as a television production facility. lems, exerting influence. New York, New York: Our fledgling Center That’s why the Center for Inquiry’s for Inquiry – Metro New York, now in New Future Fund seeks millions , will reach out to the of new dollars for program needs, nation’s financial, intellectual, and news capital expansion, and endowment. media centers.

Your New Future Fund Tampa Bay, Florida: Center for Inquiry – Gift Can Support: Florida is launching pilot programs and activities, pending a search for perma- Center for Inquiry-West, Los Angeles, Independent Publications. Besides aiding nent quarters. Free Inquiry and , CFI publishes the independent American International Centers: in a bold program Rationalist. Soon it will sponsor critical expansion, new Centers for Inquiry now scientific reviews of alternative medi- operate in Russia, Mexico, Peru, Nigeria, cine and mental Germany, France, and Nepal, doing vital work in defense of the open society.

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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 10 OP-ED

festation” (amputation of one hand), up makers whom he had never met, and to the sinister fantasy of allo-punish- against whom he bore no personal ment or “cross-topping,” the execution grudge. Some people in the court were of one individual for the sins of others. shocked at his lack of remorse. Far You might think that such a potential- from remorse, his response was one ly dangerous and addictive drug would of obvious exhilaration. He punched head the list of proscribed intoxicants, the air, delirious with joy that he was with exemplary sentences handed out to be “martyred,” to use the jargon of for pushing it. But no, it is readily his group of abusers. Make no mistake obtainable anywhere in the world and about it, this beatific smile, looking you don’t even need a prescription. forward with unalloyed pleasure to the Professional traffickers are numerous, firing squad, is the smile of a junkie. and organized in hierarchical cartels, Here we have the archetypal mainliner, openly trading on street corners and doped up with hard, unrefined, unadul- in purpose-made buildings. Some of terated, high-octane Gerin Oil. these cartels are adept at fleecing poor Whatever your view of the vengeance people desperate to feed their habit. and deterrence theories of capital punish- “Godfathers” occupy influential posi- ment, it should be obvious that this case is

Photo by Beawiharta. Reuters 2003. tions in high places, and they have the special. Martyrdom is a strange revenge Indonesian Muslim militant Amroz reacts in a Den pasar ear of royalty, of presidents, and of against those who crave it, and, far from courtroom August 7, 2003, after receiving the death pen- alty for his role in October 2002’s Bali bombings that killed prime ministers. Governments don’t just deterring, it always recruits more martyrs more than 200 people. turn a blind eye to the trade, they grant than it kills. The important point is that it tax-exempt status. Worse, they sub- the problem would not arise in the first sidize schools founded with the specific place if children were protected fear of sexuality already noted. The intention of getting children hooked. from getting hooked on a drug I was prompted to write this article with such a bad prognosis for their adult punishment-culture fostered by Gerin by the smiling face of a happy man in minds. Oil ranges from “smack” through “lash” Bali. He was ecstatically greeting his to getting “stoned” (especially adulter- death sentence for the brutal murder Richard Dawkins’s most recent esses and rape victims), and “demani- of large numbers of innocent holiday- book is A Devil’s Chaplain. He is the

WENDY KAMINER Trust and Ignorance

ritney Spears says we should faith that maintains his support among trust President Bush. She does. grownups. “He’s a straight-shooter,” B “Honestly, I just think we should Bush supporters say. “We elected him. trust our president in every decision that Now let’s just let him do his job,” some he makes, and we should just support people on the street opine to inquisitive that, you know, and be faithful in what reporters. While it’s true that the presi- happens,” Spears told Tucker Carlson dent’s approval ratings have dropped (to on CNN shortly after she French-kissed around 60 percent in September 2003), Madonna. The often half-dressed and he still retains the apparent trust of a always salacious young pop star doesn’t majority of Americans. How else can exactly exemplify the values Bush’s con- we explain the fact that over two-thirds servative Christian supporters exhort us of the public still mistakenly believes to embrace, but they may be eager to hop Saddam Hussein was involved in the into bed with her anyway. Spears has a September 11 attack? The president sizeable constituency; someday, many share of her fan base. led them to believe in Iraq’s complicity of them may vote. The most pious polit- Besides, the unquestioning faith in the in the attack, and their belief persists, ical operatives would be pleased with a president she expresses is, you know, the despite an utter lack of evidence and

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repeated reports that most of the hijack- supervision of law enforcement agents, restricting liberty to prevent terrorism. ers were Saudi. for example, allowing them to conduct What’s the basis for these opinions? Trust like this seems un-American secret searches of ordinary citizens Only 10 percent of survey respondents to me. Liberty doesn’t rest on trust; it without demonstrating probable cause claimed they were very familiar with the rests on mistrust or skepticism and a for a search to independent courts. PATRIOT Act; 40 percent claimed they willingness to question the people in It gives the attorney general unilater- were “somewhat familiar” with it. Since charge. Democracy is not a game of fol- al power to detain noncitizens practi- few people in America have actually cally indefinitely, with no meaningful read the entire 300 or so page statute judicial review. A proposed sequel to (I doubt President Bush is one of them), the PATRIOT Act, dubbed PATRIOT and only a relative few are likely to II, would give the attorney general have read substantial summaries of it, I “The unquestioning unreviewable power to deport foreign suspect that general familiarity with the nationals, including legal residents, for law claimed by half of all survey respon- faith in the president any reason or no reason at all. It could dents is sketchy at best. Support for the also subject American citizens to loss of law is probably based on trust—trust [that Britney Spears] their citizenship for supporting the legal that president and federal law enforce- expresses is, you know, activities of any group the attorney gen- ment agents don’t need to be monitored, eral decides to designate as terrorist. trust that they’ll use their expanded the faith that maintains There is growing grass-roots oppo- powers only against the bad guys, trust sition to the PATRIOT Act (three states that, like Santa Claus, the president his support among and some 160 communities have passed and his men unerringly distinguish the grownups.” resolutions denouncing it). But while civil naughty from the nice. libertarians can take some comfort and Which group of Americans is most pride in this movement, it’s still dwarfed critical of the PATRIOT Act, according by popular support for the president to Gallup? Those who are most familiar and his law. According to an August with it. Knowledge isn’t power; often low the leader. Mistrust shaped the very 2003 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 48 ignorance reigns. But sometimes knowl- structure of our government: a system percent of adults believe the PATRIOT edge threatens power. Sometimes the of checks and balances is a system of Act strikes the right balance between more you know, the less you’re apt to institutionalized mistrust, or wariness liberty and security, and 21 percent believe, like Britney, and “be faithful in at least. say the act doesn’t go “far enough” in what happens.” That system is at risk today, thanks to so far successful efforts of the Bush Wendy Kaminer is administration to increase the power of a lawyer and social critic. Her latest book the executive branch, at the expense is Free for ALL: Defending Liberty in America Today.

of Congress and especially the courts. Consider the PATRIOT Act, which Attorney General Ashcroft is currently promot- ing on a national tour. This law, enacted a mere six weeks after Sep tember 11, 2001, before even being read by many members of Congress, is sometimes described by critics as a power grab by government; but that description is a little imprecise. It’s a power grab by the president and his appointees. The threat posed by the PATRIOT Act to civil liberty derives in large part from its shifting of power. It greatly minimizes judicial

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NAT HENTOFF

“Padilla, before any charges were lodged America’s against him, was whisked away by the ‘Disappeared’ government into a

f all the ways the Bush admin- military brig where he istration has undermined the remains indefinitely in O Constitution—while continually vowing to protect our individual lib- solitary and without erties from the terrorists who would access to his attor- destroy them and us—the most radical has been its claim that the president, ney.” solely on his say-so, has the power to indefinitely imprison American citizens Hamdi was allegedly captured fight- in a military brig on this soil without ing with the Taliban, in Afghanistan. But, charges or access to a lawyer or anyone as the lower district court judge in this else but their guards. case, Robert Doumar, thundered from There are already two American cit- the bench, the government’s two-page “evidence” in a nine-paragraph state- izens labeled “enemy combatants” who [This] marks the first time in our his- ment by the Defense Department “never have thus disappeared, Yaser Esam tory that a federal court has approved claims that Hamdi was fighting for the Hamdi and José Padilla. Harvard law the elimination of protections af ford- ed a citizen by the Constitution solely Taliban, nor that he was a member of professor Laurence Tribe—whose on the basis of the Executive’s des- the Taliban. . . . Is there anything . . . that constitutional-law casebook, it is said, ignation of that citizen as an enemy says Hamdi ever fired a weapon?” has been quoted by the Supreme Court combatant, without testing the accu- Because Hamdi has never been more than any other—said on ABC TV’s racy of the designation. Neither the Constitution nor controlling prece- allowed to see his lawyer, public defend- Nightline: dent sanctions this holding. er Frank Dunham, he has never been It bothers me that the executive branch is taking the amazing position that, just on the president’s say-so, any American citizen can be picked up, not just in Afghanistan, but at O’Hare Airport or on the streets of any city in this country and be locked up with- out access to a lawyer just because the government says he is connected somehow with . . . Al Qaeda. That’s not the American way. It’s not the constitutional way. . . . And no court can even figure out whether we’ve got the wrong guy. On July 9, 2003, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, decided that this is the American way. The ruling has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Dissenting Fourth Circuit Judge Diana Gribbon Motz—in a passionate plea to rescue the Bill of Rights hardly men- tioned in the media—wrote:

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able to refute the government’s accu- defense secretary, and the secretary Circuit Court of Appeals, Padilla v. sations, which have never been put into of state have repeatedly assured us Rumsfeld, an imposing array of former a formal charge. Adding to this judicial that whatever has to be done to assure circuit courts of appeal and district farce, a previous ruling by a three-judge our security will be—as John Ashcroft court judges, among other pillars of the panel of the Fourth Circuit said piously habitually intones—“within the bounds establishment bar, accuse the president that Hamdi was entitled to “the great of the Constitution.” of threatening “the ‘basic rule of law’ on writ”—habeas corpus—to prove in a And Judge Andrew Napolitano—for- which our country is founded, the role of merly on the Superior Court of New the federal judiciary and the separation Jersey, hence the honorific—said of powers in our national government, “The president has during his regular commentaries on the and fundamental individual liberties Fox News Channel (yes, the network of enshrined in our Constitution.” defied the judiciary, “We report, you decide”): They quote Supreme Court Justice Congress, and the The president—using standards not Robert Jackson in a 1953 case in which legislated by Congress, not approved a defendant was not allowed to even Constitution. by any court [except the Fourth appear for a hearing before a neutral and Circuit], and never made known to the independent judge: “It is inconceivable Are we indeed that public—has claimed the right to incar- to me that this measure of simple justice cerate enemy combatants [including far gone?” American citizens] until the war on and fair dealing would menace the secu- terrorism is over. But when will that rity of this country. No one can make me be? . . . Who is an enemy combatant? believe that we are that far gone.” courtroom that the government has no Today, it can be anyone the president It should also be noted that in 1971, wants. And that is terrifying. legal right to hold him. Congress made clear in 18 U.S.C. 4001 But since Hamdi is not permitted Have you heard that from any other (a) that “No citizen shall be . . . detained to appear on his own behalf in an network commentator? by the United States except pursuant to American courtroom, or even talk to his The second American citizen being an act of Congress.” lawyer, his “right” to habeas corpus is held in what his attorney Donna The president has defied the judicia- a bizarre chimera. He is a citizen who Newman accurately calls “a legal black ry, Congress, and the Constitution. Are has lost the right to have rights. Or, as hole” is José Padilla. He was arrested at we indeed that far gone? And what if Judge Diana Gribbon Motz put it, this Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and initially the Supreme Court of the United States “breathtaking holding” by the majority imprisoned as a material witness on agrees with him? of the Fourth Circuit is “pure hearsay suspicion of being involved in a plan to . . . a thin reed on which to rest abro- construct and detonate a “dirty bomb.” Nat Hentoff is a regular columnist for the gation of constitutional rights, and one But Padilla, before any charges were Village Voice, Legal Times, Washington that collapses entirely upon examina- lodged against him, was whisked away Times, and Editor & Publisher, a United tion. For Hamdi has never been given by the government into a military brig Media syndicated columnist, and the the opportunity to dispute any facts.” where he remains indefinitely in soli- author of Living the Bill of Rights From September 11, 2001 on, the tary and without access to his attorney. (University of California Press). president, the attorney general, the In an amicus brief to the Second

Gay & Lesbian Gay and Lesbian Humanist (G&LH) is pub- readers’ letters. lished by the U.K. charity the Pink Triangle Trust, The U.S. annual subscription rate is $20.00 which and is a unique publication: the only magazine world- is payable in U.S. dollars via the Internet by going wide that looks at life from a gay atheist/agnostic to http://www.galha.org/glh/subscriptions.html and perspective. following instructions. Alternatively, payment can Edited by a professional journalist, G&LH is a be made by U.S.-dollar check made payable to well-illustrated 16-page quarterly with U.K. and John Lauritsen, 11 Elton Street, Dorchester, international news, a “Web Watch” column, fea- MA 02125. Please include your name, postal ture articles, book/video/compact disc re views, and address, and e-mail address (if you have one) with

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 14 OP-ED

MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI

alleged paranormal phenomena such as haunted houses, telepathy, clairvoyance, Bigfoot sightings, and the like. Never The Genetic Fallacy mind the fact that many people across the world have investigated as many of these instances as they could afford to f you ever have the misfortune of debating a creationist, religious I fundamentalist, Holocaust denier— or even someone who claims that there is no global warming, that smoke doesn’t “But the question cause cancer, and that people, not guns, needs to be asked: kill people—sooner or later you will be tempted to commit what philosophers how many times do call “the genetic fallacy.” The fallacy consists of dismissing an argument not we have to show the on the basis of its intrinsic merits (or lack world that trying to thereof), but on the basis of who defends the argument. It is a fallacy because, at find water with a stick least in the abstract world of logic, there is no necessary connection between the just doesn’t work?” character of the person who makes an the methods used by these scientists argument and the validity or soundness with particular care, or of suspending judgment, pending the outcome of other and turned up nothing but honest mis- studies funded by other sources. takes or fraud. But the question needs to If this is true in the case of what, be asked: how many times do we have to “Continuous competi- after all, is verifiable research presum- show the world that trying to find water tion of ideas among ably conducted by credentialed scientists, with a stick just doesn’t work? Since should we not be even more suspicious resources are limited, at some point we scientists . . . guaran- when we uncover a recurrent “genet- need to move on. Estimates of the cred- ic” signature characterizing people who tees that science works ibility of our information sources should advance unverifiable or downright incred- legitimately enter into this decision. I am as a process of cumula- ible doctrines? For example, could it be a not about to waste my time investigat- coincidence that if someone is a creation- ing yet another claim that human foot- tive discovery.” ist he is also very likely to be a fundamen- prints were found next to dinosaur ones talist Christian or Muslim? Compare that unless such claim comes from a respect- with people who “believe” in the theory of ed paleontologist who knows what he evolution; their ideological and religious or she is doing (and even in that case of the argument itself. As some Catholic backgrounds are as varied as our entire I will be extraordinarily careful, given priests say: “Do as I preach, not as I do.” society. Could it be a coincidence that the extraordinary scope of the claim, as But is the genetic fallacy really people who categorically deny the evi- David Hume taught us we should be). such an unreasonable move, at least dence of global warming tend to belong All of this raises the question of where in certain circumstances? Just because to conservative think tanks or industries the “objectivity” of scientific investigation the tobacco industry pays a research heavily dependent on our willingness to comes from. Why do I think it is reason- group to study the potential causal link pollute? Again, contrast this peculiar able to question the alleged scientific between smoking and cancer, we should association with the fact that scientists claims of a creationist more thoroughly not automatically dismiss the findings who study and acknowledge the reality than those of an established scientist? of such research. Yet, most people of climate change tend not to espouse a (Incidentally, this is something that cre- would agree that it is reasonable to particular political party and work for all ationists themselves recognize, hence be particularly skeptical of results sorts of independent organizations and their desperate quest to find respectable obtained through research funded by academic units. academics—usually not biologists—who a clearly interested party. Such skepti- Skeptics are often accused of not are willing to stake their reputation in cism may take the form of scrutinizing being willing to investigate cases of defense of absurd religious beliefs.)

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Helen Longino, in a book entitled be boosted if they can show that some- yourself about to commit the genetic Science as Social Knowledge: Values body else has been wrong, especially if fallacy, go ahead, don’t be intimidated and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry that somebody else is a big fish. And by philosophical jargon. Just remember (Princeton, 1990), has provided at least Darwin, by all accounts, is the biggest that ideological bias is only one among a partial answer. It is not that scientists fish that ever swam in the waters of many lines of evidence you can use to are a particularly objective bunch— organismal biology. reasonably dismiss a claim, and that, despite what they themselves would like It is this continuous competition of the more independent clues you have, to believe. Scientists are human beings, ideas among scientists coming from the firmer your conclusions will be. Just and as such are as biased, egocen- different social and ideological back- like in the practice of science. tric, and emotional as any other human grounds that balances things out in the being. Rather, it is the fact that science long run and guarantees that science Massimo Pigliucci is professor of ecol- is a social enterprise that ensures a works as a process of cumulative dis- ogy and evolutionary biology at the high (but not perfect) degree of objectiv- covery. Conversely, it is precisely the University of Tennessee and author of ity. This is because the findings of any ideological homogeneity of creationists, Denying Evolution: Creation ism, Scien- given scientist, even years after publica- global warming deniers, and the like, tism and the Nature of Science. More tion, are always subject to the scrutiny that immediately marks them as lacking of his ramblings can be found at www. of a legion of peers whose careers will objectivity. So, the next time you find rationallyspeaking.org.

MARK BERGER

ingness to tithe monthly—make her a valuable supporter of her causes. Financial planners will tell you to pay Tithing without God yourself first. Fund your 401(K) before you pay the mortgage, buy the grocer- And all the tithe of the land, whether right horse. American churches collect ies, or spend it on beer. The 10 percent of the seed of the land or of the fruit $46 billion each year from tithing and you may choose to save comes out of of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. by just asking for it. That’s just plain your paycheck before you even see brilliant, and it sucks for us. it, and you don’t even miss it. After a —Leviticus 27:30 (NKJ) Tithing has a long and storied histo- ry well covered in these pages and oth- ometimes the Lord sayeth some- ers. Your local librarian will be happy to thing worthwhile. That’s why she help you if you wish to research the sub- “O.K., so we grew Sgets the big office. The Christian ject. Take the case of Collette Larsen, notion of tithing goes way back, and a homemaker and mother, who found out of the God thing, it’s one hell of a program for getting, herself divorced and abandoned with growing, and keeping cash flow in an two handicapped children. She started and we don’t organization. a business, worked diligently from her go to church A City University of New York home, and took care of her kids. In (CUNY) Graduate Center survey reports five years, she had a great income and on Sunday. that 190 million Americans identi- a huge enthusiasm for her work. She fy themselves as Christian. Some of also gave the first 10 percent of her mil- But we have needs.” these advocate and encourage the tithe: lions to her local church and to support a commitment of 10 percent of one’s cystic fibrosis (CF) research. In 2002, income to the local church, off the top, Collette was the world’s top contributor few years, you realize you have some before paying more pedestrian living to the fight against CF. In memory of the serious money saved up. And when you expenses. If I were to build a church, daughter she lost to this awful lung dis- retire, you’re going to love eating foie I’d do the same. There would be regular ease, she has committed to remaining gras instead of Fancy Feast. cash flow, a guaranteed monthly contri- so for the rest of her life. We should be doing the same for bution that probably outpaces inflation, Too bad she’s not one of us. Her . O.K., so we grew out of the and the chance to strike it rich when combination of skill, drive, upward God thing, and we don’t go to church on one of my “children” finally bets on the mobility, and success—plus her will- Sunday. But we have needs. We need a

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 16 OP-ED

voice in Washington, a magazine to read, word for it: it doesn’t hurt a bit. As a do you? A few bucks a few times a week advocates in every city, a legal fund, and matter of fact, it feels really great. and you’ve got some real money there. a moment of science in every single Endowing a nonprofit organization Keep drinking the coffee, by all means, school—and we need some money to with regular and reliable income is like but give a few cups’ worth to the fight make it all happen. And you know what? helping someone to retire with a fat pen- against loopy thinking and the celebra- We all have a little bit. Some more than sion. It’s like being General Electric’s tion of science, reason, compassion, and others, some hardly any at all. We all Jack Welch—the money is there, the pleasure. have a little to share, though, I’ll bet. My stuff you want is paid for, and the Two percent, that’s all I ask. Do it voice isn’t quite so booming as God’s, bourbon is really, really smooth. Every now, before you spend it on beer. and I can’t really smite you with locusts person who wants to change the world or sores, but let me try handing down a in his or her image can help create Mark Berger coordinates the little commandment: Give the first 2 per- this sort of financial independence and San Mateo Atheists Recreation Team cent of your income to something you security in chosen organizations. Make (SMART) on the San Francisco penin- really love. Give the first 2 percent to the a monthly contribution, automatically sula, manages editorial operations for a noble struggle to create a post-religious deducted from your checking account, publishing company, and rides a recum- world, a world where we live fully in the and try to forget about it. After all, you bent bicycle, just to be different. life we have rather than for the (after) don’t worry about every latté you drink, life we want (but won’t get). Take my

BARBARA SMOKER

for something as crucial as euthanasia should be postponed until the child is old enough to decide for himself or her- On Advocating self. I disagree: the decision to postpone euthanasia is itself a crucial decision Infant Euthanasia on behalf of the child. In fact, it is a

ost secular humanists advocate ally born, why should the child be forced “I feel strongly that it the legalization of voluntary to endure an intolerable life until he or is cruel, and therefore M euthanasia or assisted suicide she is old enough to choose suicide or for those with incurable medical condi- until natural death finally brings relief? immoral, to preserve a tions that are, to themselves, intolerable. The situation immediately after birth More contentious is euthanasia for is not the same as that of an older child baby’s life when there seriously defective newborn babies— becoming severely disabled, perhaps are such severe because it cannot, of course, be volun- through illness or accident: whereas a tary. However, though a baby naturally newborn baby has very limited aware- handicaps that chanc- arouses warm, protective feelings in us, ness, no idea of any future, and no real es of happiness are I feel strongly that it is cruel, and there- stake in life, an older child has become fore immoral, to preserve a baby’s life a real little person, with personal rela- manifestly low.” when there are such severe handicaps tionships, a sense of his or her own that chances of happiness are mani- identity, and an idea of purpose—the festly low. For life can, of course, be far very things that give human beings decision to condemn him or her to, say, worse than death. human rights and status. eighteen years of extreme suffering. In a sense, the euthanasia of a new- Parents or doctors, or other respon- In practice, it is usual in Britain born baby is a very late abortion—and, sible people, naturally have to make (and probably in the United States and when severe defects have unfortunately every decision on behalf of a newborn other civilized countries) for doctors to not been diagnosed until the baby is actu- baby; but it is often said that a decision instruct nurses to starve seriously defec-

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tive neonates to death—giving them only human life. agreement with me, of course, on this water, not milk. This is certainly better I am no stranger to obloquy for my issue but they shy away from saying than keeping them alive—but not as campaigns on various social issues over so in public, especially to a young merciful as a quick, lethal injection, if the years, but it has been my advocacy audience. Understandably so, as their only the law allowed it. Starvation may of the legalization of infant euthanasia, professional reputations could hardly take about ten days, and though the both in print and on television, that survive the description “baby-killer” or babies themselves, being sedated, are has attracted the fiercest and most “child-murderer” often leveled at me— unlikely to suffer much, their parents sustained hatred. Not least from school- whereas I have little to lose, so long as and nurses certainly do. children: when a debating book, Whose the hate attacks remain verbal. And what of the duty to society? In Side Are You On?, was compiled for use most cases the parents of a neonate who in British schools, with signed articles Barbara Smoker is a former president dies could produce a perfectly healthy on opposing sides of each controversial of Britain’s . baby in a year’s time, and, since we now issue, I was the only writer the compiler She is spearheading a campaign to have have a social duty to limit our families, could find who was willing to contribute nonreligious speakers appear on the it is only sensible to limit them to those an article advocating infant euthanasia. BBC’s “Thought for the Day” segment of with a reasonable prospect of a normal Many medical practitioners are in the morning news.

ARNELL DOWRET

overcome in order to achieve it. In this case, the obstacle is that the general pub- lic—let’s not mince words—really hates Self-Brighteousness atheists. There are many reasons for this. Some people are so deeply immersed in magine that, in order to promote that Lush is a poor choice of word, as it faith and worship that they assume that a greater regard for those of Irish could easily be misunderstood as rein- anyone who doesn’t truckle before their ancestry, it was proposed that Irish forcing the existing negative stereotype deity is a rotten sinner. Trying to change I their minds is most likely a wasted effort. people stop calling themselves “Irish,” of the Irish as alcohol abusers. “Oh, and instead substitute the word Lush. no!,” Lush enthusiasts would dismis- As for the rest of the public, even a sively insist. “Not at all! When we say cursory overview of why average folks ‘I’m a Lush,’ it should be clear that we dislike atheists should steer us away are referring to the bucolic beauty of the from any proposed solution that smacks Irish landscape.” of intellectual elitism. “Even a cursory over- The inanity of basing a public Members of the public who aren’t relations campaign on such a flawed obsessed with God and the Bible do none- view of why premise is obvious. Yet somehow, many theless regard a number of personal qual- ities as important in other people. These average folks dislike otherwise brilliant freethinkers have gotten enthused about a new self-descrip- include warmth, passion, sincerity, and a atheists should steer tion for atheists and naturalists that is, in sense of being a part of something larger my opinion, equally ill-advised. The term than oneself. Many theists assume that us away from any being touted to help atheists and natural- atheists neither possess nor value these proposed solution ists gain “. . . social and political power in qualities; they regard atheists as cold, a society infused with supernaturalism” heartless, arrogant snobs who look down that smacks of is Bright, as in “I’m a Bright!” on the “ignorant masses.” Unarguably, In the tried and true profession of pub- some atheists are short on warmth, pas- intellectual elitism.” lic relations, a series of important steps is sion, and humility—but the same is true involved in launching a successful cam- of some among the faith-based. Still, the paign. Step 1 is to determine our goals. perception that atheists are less likely With regard to this “bright” idea, the goal than people of faith to be warm, pas- is apparently to provide a new way for sionate, humble, and able to appreciate Instead of saying, “I am Irish,” they people to encounter atheism that might their relative smallness in a boundless would say, “I’m a Lush!” No doubt the engender greater public acceptance. and awesome universe is common and proponents of this audacious public Having defined our goal, our next widespread. That perception needs to be relations coup might face the objection step is to identify the obstacle we must challenged.

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 18 OP-ED

This brings us to the final step of (which its founders are seriously consid- planning a public relations campaign: ering labeling “The EnBrightenment”) “Many freethinkers have determining our course of action. Is it sparked such extraordinary enthusiasm? reasonable to think that widespread Obviously some of us lack awareness articulated concern for erroneous beliefs about atheists could of how we are perceived by people of developing a better be challenged by adopting some clever faith. Still, it is encouraging that so many upbeat word? Some have argued that freethinkers have articulated concern for relationship with the the widespread use of the word gay for developing a better relationship with the homosexuality has been instrumental faith-based world that surrounds us. If faith-based world in facilitating greater public acceptance only we could approach it in a manner that surrounds us.” of homosexuals, but this seems fairly that might actually be effective. dubious. Without decades of militan- How should we proceed? We could cy (remember Stonewall?), exhaustive begin by recognizing that many peo- legal wrangling, and a social revolution ple who are faith-based are nonetheless edness of everyone and everything that in attitudes regarding sex for pleasure, sufficiently reason-oriented and open to modern science reveals. I sincerely doubt whether homosexuals’ science to recognize that, when people If we succeed at informing the gen- describing themselves as gay, happy, or are properly supported by their society, eral public that these ideas are of par- even downright hysterical would have every human has the greatest chance amount import, and that those who made any difference in the way they are of realizing his or her full potential; but hold them stand at the vanguard of perceived. when deprived of their basic needs, there freethought, many among the general It should also be noted that, unlike is no limit to how damaging humans can public will realize that a reason-based offensive words such as faggot or dyke, be to themselves and the world around worldview is something they already which should be replaced by the far more them. We should inform those believers subscribe to. If we do this we will truly neutral, yet equally casual word gay, the that we regard their understanding of experience a major advance. word homosexual is not supposed to sug- the human journey, through the rational gest a positive or negative connotation. lenses of science and history, as the most Rather than latching on to some It provides a unique function as a purely important departure from ancient reli- silly, self-important word that can do descriptive word, not unlike words such gion-biased and supernatural thinking little but antagonize, we must make it as atheist, agnostic, and skeptic. For this that anyone could make. known that we who embrace science reason homo sexual continues to be used Perhaps this could be achieved if we and reason are filled with a desire to not only by opponents but also by advo- find more ways of stressing that, like experience our world and each other cates of the rights of same-sex-oriented them, we recognize that our universe with passion, openness, humility, individuals and couples. is filled with vast mystery and wonder. and equality. When that happens, Even if, for the sake of argument, Perhaps, we can find a way to explain things will indeed begin to look we assume that popular perceptions of why we see the scientific method as bright. Or even lush! atheists as lacking humility and heart the most intense and passionate way could actually be changed by adopting to engage that mystery; and why we Arnell Dowret is a freethought activist, a new word, given its inescapable ring believe that hanging on to a dualistic a writer, and the facilitator of “Secular of self-importance, that word certainly natural/supernatural worldview simply Connections” an alternative, experien- would not be Bright! acts as an obstruction, preventing a full tial workshop for freethinkers. He is an Why, then, has the Bright campaign appreciation of the solid interconnect- associate producer and co-host on the

THE FOUNDERS RESPOND “Brights” movement founders Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert You might use [the term]the non-Brights.1 have begun responding to inevitable criticisms that if we call I cannot help sympathizing with critics of this movement ourselves “Bright,” we are obviously implying that everyone who have suggested that the entire “Brights” campaign is else is, well, less bright. In their online “Brights’ Bulletin #4,” either a Christian fundamentalist plot to make atheists look Futrell and Geisert answer this objection with a degree of foolish or an elaborate hoax perpetrated by The Onion. denial that would do the Vatican proud. In total seriousness — Arnell Dowret they write: Note The most serious and common accusation is that, by using Bright, we are claiming that we are intelligent and that religionists are 1. “Commentary from Mynga and Paul — ‘About the Word,’” “Dims” or “Dulls.” Brights must not foster or perpetuate this con- “The Brights’ Bulletin #4,” an e-mail broadcast dated August ceptual hangover from the adjectival form of “bright.” . . . There 14, 2003, and archived at http://www.thebrights.net/broadcast exists no antonym for Bright. _archive.htm#8/15/2003.

19 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 OP-ED

RICHARD TAYLOR

sixteen million women to volunteer to have these embryos implanted in their wombs, so they can raise them to be full The Tragedy of voting citizens. And certainly any politi- Our Time cian who makes this his main governing “We must therefore ’ve been increasingly concerned the toilet. That means that perhaps six- about embryos ever since our teen million little people or more just get make it a crash pro- I president pointed out how wicked flushed away. Terrorism and war pale it would be to use them for medical in significance compared with this vast, gram to develop research. They are, after all, little peo- ongoing tragedy. Human existence, embryo filters and get ple, entitled, he said, to the full protec- after all, begins at conception. So every tion of our Constitution. one of these embryos has received its them distributed to I am not so troubled by all the embry- soul from God. One might wonder why os sitting in frozen tanks in medical cen- God would permit such tragedy on such every woman of ters, left over from in vitro fertilizations. a scale, but the answer is obvious: He is child-bearing age.” They will presumably all get adopted, challenging us to do something about it. implanted in volunteer mothers, and We must therefore make it a crash grow up to be fine men and women. program to develop embryo filters and But what about all those we never hear get them distributed to every woman of mission will easily be swept into office, much about? child-bearing age. This will be costly, by a landslide. There are over four million live births but far better than pouring money into in this country every year. Medical schools, hospitals, welfare, or trying to Richard Taylor experts note that, for every embryo that save distant countries with oil reserves is the Leavitt-Spencer Professor of gets implanted in the womb, probably from their cruel dictators. Once we do Philosophy (emeritus) at Union College. four or more do not. They just end up in that there should be no difficulty finding

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 20 OP-ED

TOM FLYNN

Same-sex marriage Mixed Blessings has gained traction

nly a year ago, most antifami- activists couldn’t ly activists believed that legal have hoped for O same-sex marriage lay decades in the future. The best near-term bets just twelve months for unmarried cohabitors—gay, lesbian, in the past. bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) couples included—seemed to be either Too bad it’s expanding domestic partnership rights (as in California, the District of a bad idea. Columbia, Hawaii, and ) or winning recognition for civil unions (as in Vermont and Quebec, Canada). In recent years progress on each front has prise more than two persons. It can be been slow but steady. objected that this latter group is small, In June and July 2003, Canadian but you can’t say that about oppo- court rulings opened legal matrimony to site-sex unmarried couples. According same-sex couples in Ontario and British ples: hospital visitation rights, health to the Alternatives to Marriage Project, Columbia.1 As I write, the Supreme care decision-making, parental rights, 9.7 million Americans cohabit with an Judicial Court of Massachusetts will inheritance privileges, Social Security unmarried opposite-sex partner, 89 per- soon rule on Goodridge et al. v. Depart- benefits, access to joint insurance pol- cent of all cohabitors. Only about 1.2 ment of Public Health, perhaps legaliz- icies, joint home ownership, tax-free million Americans cohabit with a same- ing the first same-sex marriages in the gift-giving between partners, estab- sex partner.4 United States. Across North America, lished legal frameworks for determin- I’m one of those 9.7 million straight the issue of same-sex marriage has ing child custody and dividing shared cohabitors. If my lifepartner, Susan, is gained a level of traction activists property when a partnership ends, and hospitalized, I may be restricted from couldn’t have hoped for just twelve many more.3 It’s unfair, discriminatory, visiting her. I’ll have no voice in her months in the past.2 This momentum and just plain wrong that married cou- health-care decisions. When one of us could be blunted if any of the conser- ples enjoy these benefits automatically dies, any assets passing to the other will vative initiatives to declare marriage a while they are denied to men or women be taxed. And on and on. Susan and I are bond between one man and one woman who choose to form less conventional as thoroughly cut off from that menu of succeeds. But right now, what is most lifepartnerships. 1,049 benefits, rights, and responsibilities startling is how suddenly perceptions So why might a secular humanist view as any gay or lesbian couple. Granted, we of same-sex marriage switched. Yester- same-sex marriage with ambivalence? could marry, which same-sex partners day’s utopian dream now looks like an Wouldn’t its legalization solve all 1,049 of cannot (at least without a trip to Canada). achievable short-term goal; to some, the those problems, and more besides? But we choose not to, in our case for rea- drives to widen domestic partnership Well, no. sons of conscience5; why should we—and or establish civil unions have become To be sure, extending the privi- millions like us—be excluded from bene- history’s discards. leges of conventional matrimony to fits that same-sex couples may soon be Stand back while I commit heresy: same-sex couples would largely end able to attain by tying the knot? I’m not convinced that legalizing same- unequal treatment of same-sex couples, Legalizing same-sex marriage is at sex marriage is such a great idea. a desirable step. But same-sex cou- best a mixed blessing. If activists kept Daunting inequalities confront all ples are only one class of individuals pressing to expand domestic partner- unmarried couples, and also partici- whom current matrimonial law unfair- ship rights—ideally making them avail- pants in more complex nonfamilial liv- ly burdens. Current law discriminates able not only to couples, but to any vol- ing arrangements. The activist group against unmarried opposite-sex couples untary grouping of individuals willing to Marriage Equality counts 1,049 feder- too, to say nothing of individuals who declare themselves a household —they al benefits, rights, and responsibilities form households that are open, com- could eventually reverse social injus- available only to legally married cou- munal, polyamorous, or otherwise com- tice for gay couples, for the far-larger

21 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 OP-ED

population of unmarried straight cou- the parents of strangers.”6 html#whydont. For a fuller exposition of my ples, and even the for experimentalists Twelve months ago, this unmarried objections to traditional marriage, see “Legit who find “couple” too timid a category. opposite-sex cohabitor watched with imize Bastardy!,” Secular Humanist Bulletin Spring 1996, pp. 8–9, http://www.secularhuman As an added bonus, they would satisfy elation as vigorous, influential GLBT ism.org/library/shb/flynn_12_1.html. the ideological objections of antifamily organizations worked to widen domes- 6. Ruben Bolling, “Tom the Dancing Bug” activists who spurn traditional mar- tic partnership or establish civil union. #660, Universal Press Syndicate, August 2003. I had reason to hope that their activism would emancipate not just gay couples, but all Americans who have chosen to form nontraditional households. Today I feel a sense of abandonment as many “How suddenly GLBT activists transfer their energy, resources, and organizational skills to “Legalizing same-sex perceptions of same- the far narrower and in some ways marriage helps only sex marriage switched. retrograde goal of legalizing same-sex marriage.7 I can only wonder—now that … the 11 percent of Yesterday’s utopian they’ve lowered their sights, where will cohabiting couples the momentum come from to emanci- dream now looks like pate the rest of us? that are GLBT.” an achievable A mixed blessing, indeed. short-term goal.” Notes 1.http://www.hrc.org/issues/marriage/ background/faq_ont_bc.asp. 2. If your passport’s current, same-sex marriage has been available for years in 7. The GLBT advocacy group Human Scandinavia and the Benelux countries, but Rights Campaign maintains an excellent and these unions may not be available to U.S. informative Web site at http://www.hrc.org/ riage because it entails sanction by nationals, and in any event would not be familynet/ which, laudably, still gives roughly equal prominence to the gay marriage, civil church or state. If activists focused recognized in the United States. See Doug union, and domestic partnership agendas. instead on establishing civil unions, Ireland, “Marriage of Convenience,” The that might reverse injustice for gay and Nation, September 1/8, 2003, pp. 4–5. 3.http://www.marriageequality.org/facts. Tom Flynn is editor of FREE INQUIRY and straight couples. Depending how the php?page=why_marriage_matters. rules are written, civil union could also 4.http://www.atmp.org/statistics.html, author of the novel Nothing Sacred, forth- fill the needs of participants in complex interpreting data from the 2000 U.S. Census. coming from Prome theus Books. D.J. nonfamilial partnerships. The only peo- 5. For a digest of reasons why couples Grothe provided research assistance in ple civil union would leave behind are remain unmarried, see http://www.atmp.org/faq. the preparation of this article. those with conscientious objections to letting any outside authority legitimize their partnership. Either goal, if attained, would eman- STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, cipate unmarrieds in a wide range MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION of nontraditional relationships. An added benefit: by providing a full- Date of filing: September 11, 2003 Title: FREE INQUIRY featured alternative to marriage, a. Total no. copies printed Frequency of issue: Quarterly (Net Press Run) 37,521 37,933 expanded domestic partnership or civil Complete mailing address of known office of union would break matrimony’s social publication: FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, b. Paid/and or Requested Circulation Amherst, NY 14226-0664 1. Paid/Requested Outside County 26,940 27,051 2. Paid In-County Subscriptions 0 0 monopoly. By contrast, legalizing same- Complete mailing address of known office of 3. Sales through dealers and carriers, publisher: Council for Secular Humanism, P.O. sex marriage helps only the 11 percent street vendors and counter sales 7,368 7,735 Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664 of cohabiting couples that are GLBT. 4. Other Classes Mailed Through the UPS 0 0 Complete mailing address of headquarters of c. Total paid circulation 34,308 34,786 And far from weakening traditional publisher: Council for Secular Humanism, P.O. d. Free distribution by mail 415 408 Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664 marriage’s inequities, GLBT reformers e. Free Distribution Outside the mail 0 0 Editor: Thomas Flynn, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY f. Total Free Distribution 415 408 who embrace a matrimony broadened 14226-0664 g. Total distribution 34,723 35,194 to include them will wind up back- Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski, P.O. Box 664, h. Copies not distributed 2,798 2,739 hand-edly affirming an outmoded insti- Amherst, NY 14226-0664 TOTAL (Sum of g and h) 34,723 37,953 Known bondholders, mortgagees and other Percent paid and/or requested circulation 98.805% 98.841% tution whose “traditional definition,” security holders: None cartoonist Ruben Bolling reminds us, is “an exchange of property arranged by

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 22 FRONTLINES

CHILE READIES DIVORCE LAW SIDE LINES

Chile is the only country in the Western hemisphere that prohibits divorce, and activists have been trying to change that for 120 years. They now appear on the verge of success. Desperate Measures— fire- Polls show that 70 percent of Chile’s fifteen million people support legalizing fighters sickened after participating in rescue divorce. The move is opposed by Roman officials and conservative efforts at the destroyed World Trade Center have turned to a detoxification regimen Catholics, who have been lobbying legislators, even suggesting those who vote for a recommended by L. Ron Hubbard, the late divorce law might be excommunicated. founder of the Church of Scientology. The But the reform-minded seem resistant to the pressure. The country’s largest treatment consists of exercise, pills, and sau- television network, the state-funded Television National, has refused to broadcast nas, provided by a clinic called Downtown church-produced spots that speak against the proposed law and claim that children Medical, which is not formally affiliated with of divorced parents are more likely to have drug, alcohol, and behavioral problems. the Church of Scientology. The Uniformed Television National has told the Church that their advertisements do not qualify as Firefighters Association is supporting the public service announcements as there is no national consensus on the matter. clinic as it seeks financing for its work, Opponents of the law claim that it will damage families and lower values. However, but Fire Department officials are worried they may want to review the statistics before they press on with these charges: Since because some firefighters have rejected their 1990, the number of recorded marriages has dropped from 100,000 annually to 60,000. regular doctors’ advice and stopped taking In addition, nearly half of all children now born are to unmarried couples. prescribed blood pressure medication, anti- The Chilean Senate is to vote within six months on the measure. It was intro- depressants, and inhalers to combat their duced six years ago. As the battle winds down, opponents are preparing for defeat lingering health problems. by pressing for amendments that would make obtaining a divorce as difficult as Why the Poor Will Always Be With Us— possible. They include requiring divorcing couples to undergo mediation, waiting Catholic officials in south Texas have periods of up to five years, mutual consent, and marriage ceremonies with a no-di- quashed an attempt by parish workers to unionize. Upset by the diocese’s change in their pension plans, workers at the Holy Controversial Humanist Edward Said Dies Spirit Church had consulted with United Farm Workers and joined with employees at five Edward Said, a noted author, critic, and his ideas profoundly influenced the other churches to form a union. One pastor scholar, and political activist, died of humanities and the social sciences. who signed the agreement was transferred; leukemia on September 25, 2003. Said However, some humanists have been his replacement fired four of five union work- came to prominence primarily as a crit- highly critical of Said. Council of Secular ers at Holy Spirit. They were accused of being ic of Western power and its influence Humanism member Ibn Warraq, author “mavericks” who advocated for changes upon international politics and culture. of Why I Am Not a Muslim and other troubling to church officials, such as women The publication of his book Orient alism books, wrote a strong critique of Said priests. A state district court reinstated the in 1978 led to his remarkable career as in the Wall Street Journal. According workers pending the outcome of mediation. a commentator on the plight of peoples to Warraq, Orientalism aided the cause More License Photo Trouble—In the last in Palestine, India, Africa, Australia, of Muslim extremism, making it unac- issue, we wrote about a Muslim woman and the Caribbean. ceptable for Westerners to objectively who differed with the state of Virginia over Said was born in Jerusalem when it examine Islam and to deal with the root its requirement to have her face photo- was still Palestine. He became a leading causes of Islamic fanaticism. graphed uncovered for her license picture. advocate for justice for the Palestinians. Afterward, humanists such as Pervez She’ll find support for her case among the However, he railed against national- Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist that Amish-Mennonites of Kentucky, who consid- ism and religious fanaticism. He was spoke at the Free Inquiry conference in er photos a symbol of self-admiration and committed to a secular humanist vision Atlanta in 2001, attacked Warraq and pride and also have refused to sit for license in which he advocated peaceful coex- rushed to the defense of Said. Secular shots. Until now, circuit court clerks have istence among people of all faiths and humanists are still divided on Said’s leg- been bending the rules, but increased con- none at all. He criticized the Palestinian acy, and the controversy will probably cerns about security after 9/11 have led to authorities and called for Arafat’s res- continue for many years to come. a crackdown. “It [license photos] would open ignation (after which Arafat banned his The fact that Said has so many sup- the door to what we consider unscriptural,” books). He forcefully attacked the Israeli porters and detractors from so many said Lester Beachy, a bishop in an Amish- occupation of Palestine and received different camps is evidence of his com- Mennonite congregation. “I can see the death threats from both Israelis and mitment to free inquiry and his willing- state’s concern, but I am not convinced that the state granting us an exemption on a reli- Palestinians. ness to challenge the ideas of friends gious basis would endanger the situation.” Said analyzed the ways in which and foes alike. This is a legacy that all culture had been used in the service humanists should strive to leave. of imperialism. He argued that theory and activism must go to hand in hand, —Norm Allen

23 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 The Rise of A PALEOSTATISITICAL INQUIRY: PART 1 the Nones Otis Dudley Duncan

hen the City University of New York’s recent ous estimates from GSS (Figure 1). American Religious Identification Survey There are other misconceptions about the meaning of “No (ARIS 2001) reported that the proportion religion.” The term belief group, as Nones were labeled by the of “Nones” (respondents who chose “No religion” instead of investigators cited in the FREE INQUIRY article, is not a fortu- statingW a religious preference) rose from 8 percent in 1990 to nate one. Those who reject any denominational preference or 14 percent in 2001, the news was received with enthusiasm in religious identification are actually quite heterogeneous as the community of reason. Both FREE INQUIRY and to religious belief and religious posture. In the 1998 GSS (the ran articles on the finding.1 Elsewhere, enthusiasm outran only survey that asked the respondent whether he or she is discernment. One atheist leader announced that 29 million a “religious person”), 45 percent of the Nones indicated that Americans identified themselves as atheists. Actually, accord- they were slightly, moderately, or very religious. Some 43 ing to ARIS 2001 results, only 902,000 volunteered that label; percent signified belief in a personal God, and 50 percent felt a like number, 991,000, called themselves agnostics. Barely that the Bible is either the actual word of God or was divinely 100,000 described themselves as humanists or secular. inspired. Cross-classifications show that appreciable numbers Moreover, the rise in respondents claiming no religious of Nones are found in all the logically possible combinations preference, welcome as it was, should not have been a sur- of these indicators, even such a priori “impossible” combina- prise. Well before ARIS 2001 appeared, the General Social tions as respondents who do not believe in a personal God but Survey (GSS), a benchmark social survey administered by the do think the Bible is divinely inspired. Only 40 percent of the

15 “Appreciable numbers Gallup A ARIS of Nones . . . do not believe 10 NES in a personal God but do think the Bible is divine- ? ? ? ly inspired.” 5 Gallup B

? Harris Nones correspond to the ideal type—more Gallup A bluntly, the stereotype—of the rational NES secular humanist who does not believe

% None 0 in a personal god; considers the Bible 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 to be a collection of fables, history, and Figure 1. Percent No Religion in Six Poll Series, 1947–2002 the moral precepts of those who wrote it; and describes her- or himself as “not religious.” National Opinion Research Center, also reported a marked To deepen our understanding of what recent poll results rise in the percentage of Nones. By coincidence, the relevant may—and may not—mean, let us embark on an exercise in findings in ARIS are virtually the same as the contemporane- paleostatistics, the investigation into and cross-comparison of Otis Dudley Duncan is a retired sociologist/statistican whose data from historical social surveys and polls. forty-year career featured the analysis of survey data. He has taught several university-level courses and is an emeritus lthough it takes much smaller samples than ARIS, the GSS member of the National Academy of Sciences. Aprovides a longer historical record, having been adminis- tered twenty-three times since its introduction in 1972. This

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 24 THE RISE OF THE NONES

15 percentage points from the 1947 reading to that of 1952 is implausible. The Harris poll provides an extraordinary record of no less than eighty-three poll results for the period 1967–1979, plus one lone result for 1981. 10 Inasmuch as the individual Harris polls are rather erratic, the 1981 result may be one of several outliers, or anomalous results, that should be disregarded in light of the evidence from other sources. In Figure 1, I show the 5 annual averages for the multiple polls in the twelve-year period as the Harris data points in the figure. As for the Gallup B series (as I call it), it is clearly set off from Gallup A, not only by the sudden drop in percentage

% None 0 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 answering “None” from 1991 to 1992, but also by changes in the wording of its question and Figure 1a. Suggested Stages in the Rise of the Nones, 1952–2002 in the number of categories recognized in the tabulations. Gallup’s failure to detect the recent rise of the Nones contrasts with its timeline repays close study. From online sources I found three altogether plausible documentation of the earlier one. additional time series that help us put the changes of the past These details are worth pondering not just for their own decade into further historical perspective. The National Election sake, but as illustrations of what we are up against in any Study (NES) series, although it does not track the GSS precisely interpretation of survey statistics. The discrepancies between during the years covered by both, supports it fairly well—and different polls taken at about the same time usefully remind us provides useful data for the preceding decade, despite some of the “margin of error” to which any survey based on sampling large fluctuations that average out to rea- sonable estimates. For reasons to be men- 25 tioned shortly, we can ignore the Gallup B series, the Gallup A reading for 1947, and 20 “The first rise of the Nones occurred 15 during the late 1960s.” 10

Adults, all ages, 18+ the Harris figure for 1981 (the question marks on Figure 1). 5 With these distractions erased, a pat- Raised w/no religion tern emerges. During the earliest period, 0 which stretches more or less indefinitely % None 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 into the remote past, the proportion of Nones was minuscule, 2 to 4 percent. The first rise of the Nones occurred during Figure 2. Percent Raised with No Religion, and Percent with No Religion as Adults, by Year of Birth: GSS, 1973–2002 the late 1960s and early 70s. It was fol- lowed by a plateau at about 7 to 9 percent—which continued is subject. Any large collection of poll readings is likely to dis- until about 1990—and then by the recent increase into the 13 to play erratic variations not all of which are explicable as mere 14 percent range. In Figure 1a, I have rendered this reading of sampling error. The paleostatistician has to make some judg- the data graphically. The heavy line is just my freehand averag- ments that cannot be rigorously defended. Moreover, all data ing of the data from the five different sources. Others might read are “old” by the time they are published; like paleontologists, we the trend somewhat differently. But with the questionable data paleostatisticians must work with fragments of information that from Figure 1 removed, the sequence, plateau-rise-plateau-rise, were created in the past and happened to be preserved to our is evident. time, critically evaluating whatever comparisons are available. Why remove this questionable data—why assume that it Indeed, no poll result has any meaning until the investigator has obscures, rather than reveals, useful information? I ignore arrived at a useful answer to the question, “Compared to what?” Gallup’s 1947 estimate because it is inconsistent with the With that caveat in mind, we can do more to press forward evidence presented in Figure 2 below, and the drop of 4 our historical inquiry than simply finding more surveys in the

25 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 archives. Under favorable circumstances, data providing infor- reach 4 percent. Only in the two cohorts born most recently mation about respondents’ age or date of birth may justify cir- have we seen the proportion of Nones rise to 10 percent. cumspect conjectures for periods preceding the earliest survey. The top line in Figure 2 depicts the adult religious commit- In the GSS we have not only the respondent’s answer to “What ments of the nine birth cohorts—that is, what religious position is your religious preference?” but also to “In what religion were they reported when surveyed as adults. Here it is of interest you raised?” Respondents can be stratified (borrowing the not only to compare each cohort with its predecessors (which geologist’s term) by year of birth to yield a historical series. is done by reading the graph horizontally), but also to compare We have GSS data for both questions from twenty-two surveys the adult and childhood identifications of the same cohort (mak- taken during 1973 and 2000, so that the series for “religion of ing the comparisons that are available when reading vertically). upbringing” is nearly a century long, a rarity in social measure- ment. See the bottom line in Figure 2. Each of the nine data points pertains to a ten-year period, so the point on the far left shows the proportion reared with no religion for persons born any time in the 1890s, and the one on the far right does the same “Paleostatisticians must work with for those born any time in the 1970s. The rearing, of course, will fragments of information that were have occurred over a period of time, so that one might add, say, 10 to each birth year to indicate that the persons born in created in the past and happened to the 1890s probably got most of their childhood reli- gious indoctrination during the 1900s. Since the be preserved to our time.” beginning of this extended time series, it took some forty years for the percent raised as Nones to get above 3 percent, and another twenty years for it to The GSS has been administered for only thirty years, so that data for the earliest cohorts are available only after their mem- bers were rather advanced in age, whereas more recent cohorts are represented in terms of responses obtained when they were relatively young adults. (Note to any methodologist who may be eavesdropping: Yes, I did look at age cross-classifications. No, they do not matter much for the present discussion. Anyone who wants to argue the point may contact me individually.) Of course, some people acquire a religious identification late in life, while others having such an identification in early adulthood may drift into the None catego- ry later on. But these moves essentially cancel each other out. Hence, from the readings for the early cohorts it is plausible to infer what the trend was like long before 1973. It is the GSS figures for the four earliest cohorts that cause me to

call into question the higher

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 26 THE RISE OF THE NONES

figure in Gallup A for 1947. If you can imagine the lower line moved twenty years to the left, you will see that the percentage raised as Nones (which may be taken as a crude proxy for the parental cohorts) antic- ipated and presumably gave rise to the accelerated rise in Definitions the adult readings seen in the cohorts of the 1940s and later. ARIS 2001: The American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York by a team led by Barry A. Kosmin, Egon Mayer, and Ariela “Only 40 percent of the Nones Keysar. A ten-year followup study following correspond to the ideal type—more blunt- 1990’s National Survey of Religious Affiliation. Its report is available online at http://www.gc. ly, the stereotype—of the rational secular cuny.edu/studies/aris.pdf. humanist.” Cohort: A group of people who share a com- mon characteristic, especially within a shared range. Persons born in the 1960s make up a birth cohort for that decade; persons born in the 1970s would make up the succeeding What we see, therefore, in the vertical comparisons is the cohort, and so on. gap between the childhood and the adult prevalence of Nones GSS: The General Social Survey (GSS), a bench- increasing dramatically with the cohort born in the 1940s—that mark social survey administered by the is to say, with the cohort reaching adulthood in the 1960s—and National Opinion Research Center beginning remaining large thereafter. The adults of the 1960s, or some in 1972. of them, became parents of new cohorts that entered the adult NES: National Election Study series, a series of population in the 1990s. Whatever caused this break with the surveys administered by the Survey Research past—and there is no shortage of plausible stories about the Center Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, in connection with American elec- tions. Paleostatistics: The analysis of and cross-com- “No poll result has any meaning parison of data from historical social surveys and polls, particularly to elucidate trends and until the investigator has arrived relationships that emerge only as later inqui- at a useful answer to the question, ries produce information comparable to data ‘Compared to what?’”

change.2 Contemporaneously, Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney offered this accurate anticipation: “The nonaffiliat- ed sector of the population will probably continue to grow.”3 turmoil of the 1960s—one consequence is that the children of the 1970s cohort, who will be entering the adult population in To be continued. Next issue: Why did the population of Nones the 2020s, have parents whose cohort displayed a historically expand so sharply in recent years? Is gaining high prevalence of Nones. In other words, an extraordinary ground, or are other, more abstruse factors at number of children of Nones will be reaching adulthood circa work? 2020. Between now and then, the cohorts born after 1940 will be replacing those born earlier, so that the overall percentage of Nones in the population will tend to increase. (Technically Notes trained demographers will forgive the oversimplifications of the 1. FREE INQUIRY’s article was Tom Flynn, “Survey: foregoing scenario; the general idea of cumulative change is all Nonreligious More Than Doubled Since 1990,” FI, Winter I am trying to convey.) 2001/02, p. 32. Of course, unforeseeable countervailing factors could over- 2. Andrew Greeley, Religious Change in America (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 33. whelm this effect. For this reason social forecasting is at least 3. Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney, American as fallible as weather prediction. The hazards of forecasting Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape of the Religious are illustrated by the contrasting conclusions of leading inves- Establishment (Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, tigators just prior to the recent rise of the Nones. In 1989, 1987), p. 236. Andrew Greeley wrote off the increase in Nones as a function of the age composition of the population rather than a “real”

27 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 The Great PART 2: CHRISTIANITY’S ROLE IN THE RISE OF THE NAZIS Scandal Gregory S. Paul

In the first part of this article (published in the October/ initiatives. Contrary to claims that Hitler relied primarily on November 2003 FREE INQUIRY), Gregory S. Paul probed the terror to cow domestic opposition, he curried public opinion, foundations of Christian anti-Semitism from the early church repeatedly backpedaled in the face of popular outrage, and through Martin Luther into the twentieth century. By the 1920s eschewed using mass force against his volk. When Nazi zeal- several distinct religious strands allied and battled with one ots stripped crucifixes from Bavarian schools, widespread another in Germany. Protestantism and Catholicism (collec- protest persuaded Hitler to order them replaced. Numerous tively, “traditional Christianity”) remained strongly antimodern German housewives defied a 1943 campaign to employ them and anti-Semitic. Aryan Christians were fierce racial anti-Sem- in war industries, without reprisals. The same year Goebbels ites who denied that Christ was a Jew. Aryan neopaganism detained some two thousand Jewish Berlin men married to blended Germanic bombast with Norse myth and rejected Christian women. For a week the Gentile wives stood before Christianity because Christ was Jewish. Collectively Aryan the holding center on the Rosenstrasse chanting, “We want Christianity and paganism comprised Volkism, fount of Nazi our husbands back!” Fearing public embarrassment, Goebbels myth and doctrine. Still, neopagan influence was modest com- and Hitler avoided crushing the protesters as the Jews were pared to Chris tianity’s. Contrary to some Christian apologists, released. Meanwhile, despite being Hitler’s small dependent atheism played no role in the rise of the Nazis. ally, the democratic Finnish government firmly refused to All principal Nazi leaders were Protestant or Catholic cooperate with Nazi wishes to deport the nation’s Jews, and by birth. Hitler’s religious views were complex. A nominal none were harmed. Catholic who neither disavowed his faith nor was excommuni- Defenders of Christian behavior under the Nazis face cated, his mature beliefs included Christ as his Savior, along- a dilemma: If Berlin housewives could openly oppose the side a conviction that annihilating the racial enemies of the Führer’s racial policies— if willful Scandinavians could defy Volk was God’s work. Hitler publicly and privately condemned the greatest military empire—how much further horror might atheism and boasted of stamping it out. He hoped to sub- have been averted had millions of Catholics and Protestants sume existing Protestantism and Catholicism into a reformed consistently opposed the Nazis?—EDS. church free of Jewish and Roman influence. Occult and neopa- gan influences on Hitler were minimal. Instead he saw himself THE GYRE OF CONFUSION not as Christianity’s enemy but its ultimate reformer. The Nazi takeover required Christian collaboration. It he relationship between Nazis and the churches was was welcomed by a German majority who disdained the schizophrenic at best. Hitler dutifully paid the religious Weimar Republic. Germany’s Catholics would give the Nazis taxes he had instituted while he disparaged and schemed ultimate power. Devout Catholic chancellor Franz von Papen T against the clergy those taxes supported. The party that once engineered Hitler’s electoral victory and brokered a coalition plucked crosses from schools it had encouraged to teach between the Nazi Party and the formerly anti-Nazi Catholic religion also held rallies in Christian venues blazoned with party, the Zentrum. Zentrum was ultimately destroyed by crosses. Nazi literature frequently set cross and swastika side its head, Ludwig Kaas, a priest who drafted the infamous by side. Then again, Hermann Goering declared that the Nazi 1933 Concordat between Hitler and the Vatican (alongside stiff-arm should be considered “the only salute to Christ.” Some Papen and the future Pope Pius XII.) The Concordat subjected religious schools and monasteries were harassed, even closed, German Catholics to Nazi authority in return for various ben- and church property confiscated; others were protected by the efits, including extravagant financial transfers to the Roman regime. The newly crowned Pope Pius XII protested one such Church. round of closings and dabbled in a plot against Hitler’s rule. Yet Hitler was very popular; few religious leaders resisted Nazi he sent the Führer fawning greetings, and cheerful birthday Gregory S. Paul is an independent evolutionary scientist messages yearly.1 and paleontologist with interests in the relationship between Other figures in our narrative exemplify this same confu- science and religion. His books include Dinosaurs of the Air sion. Among the politicians, consider Franz von Papen. A year (Johns Hopkins University Press) and Beyond Humanity after helping Hitler to power, he criticized the party and barely (coauthor Earl Cox, Charles River Media, 1996). escaped with his life. Yet he went on to give the Nazis good

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 28 WHO BEARS THE BLAME FOR NAZISM? Bildarchiv Adolf Hitler with papal nuncio Cardinal Vasallo di Torregrossa. service as special minister to Austria, and later as ambassa- Kristallnacht, and often removed references to Jews when dor to strategic Turkey (1939–44). After the war Papen was quoting from the Bible. In July and August 1941, he preached acquitted at Nuremberg, but convicted by a denazification three famous sermons against Nazi power, but they focused court—the sentence was overturned under pressure from almost entirely on Gestapo attacks against the church. In one Papen’s church. sermon Galen denounced Hitler’s euthanasia project, but he Among the clergy, consider Bishop Clemens Galen. Often never decried the plight of minorities or urged Catholics to aid touted as a Hitler opponent, the “Lion of Muenster” was an them. Quite the contrary, he described the Jewish people as ardent nationalist who detested democracy and allowed uni- “the only one that rejected God’s truth, that threw off God’s law and so condemned itself to ruin” (a passage Catholic defenders rarely republish) and exhorted Catholics to “fight and die for “One feels sympathy for those Germans Germany.” Galen never discussed the Holocaust nor objected to Jews being deported from his diocese. In 1943 he gave a pro- who questioned the decency of the Nazi war sermon later used by the Nazis to recruit for the S.S. After regime, as their men of God led them in the war he called the Nuremberg proceedings “show trials.” One feels sympathy for those Germans who questioned the confusing circles of moral decency of the Nazi regime, as their men of God led them in relativity and ethical depravity.” confusing circles of moral relativity and ethical depravity. THE MARCH OF ANTI-SEMITISM Though Jews had won substantial acceptance in Germany formed Schutzstaffel (S.S.) and Sturmabteilung (S.A.) mem- prior to 1933, the Nazis had little difficulty fanning anti-Sem- bers into his consecration procession. Although he some- itism to pogrom heat. This was possible only because tradi- times criticized Aryan racism, Galen offered no response to tional Christianity furnished the foundation Nazi ideologues

29 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 “Christianity in Germany bears a greater responsibility “The Lord is a man of war.” — Exodus 15:3 before God than the National Socialists, the SS, and the Gestapo.” — Observation by Martin Niemöller hundreds of thousands killed throughout the Nazi period. As (in Hitler’s Willing Executioners, Daniel Goldhagen, p. detailed in Part 1 of this article, Hitler valued domestic public opinion and had no wish to exterminate the people from whom he hoped to fashion a purified and reformed Aryan Christian could build on.2 If anything, records show, anti-Semitism body, free from the influence of Rome or the synagogue. tended to be higher among more religious Germans.3 Many Nontraditional Christian groups could face greater peril. Protestant bishops openly supported fascist racial policies, Germany’s Jehovah’s Witnesses were pacifist, pro-Zionist, leading to a notorious group proclamation to that effect in 1941. Across Germany, lay Protestants were anti-Semitic in varying degrees: moderates favored voluntary conversion to solve the “Jewish problem,” while Volkish hardliners thought “The Holocaust could not have elimination the only way to deal with the Semites. As for Catholics, the fact that a small minority occasion- happened without Hitler. But it also could ally rescued Jews no more proves their lack of bigotry than not have happened without would the sight of Southern segregationists rescuing Blacks from a flood.4 More telling, as the Holocaust loomed and later traditional Christianity. Hitler was no raged, Pius XII and the church he ruled went on promulgating the view that Judaism was defective. In the same vein, when Buddhist, no secular humanist.” Archbishop Bertram voiced opposition to the proposed forced divorce of Catholics and Jews in 1942, he hastened to caution that he was not minimizing the “harmful Jewish influences upon German cultural and national interests.” small enough to be vulnerable—and harshly dealt with. When Apologists point to the hundreds of thousands of Jews the quasi-religious White Rose movement blossomed among saved by valiant Protestant and Catholic clergy throughout students in wartime Munich, its leaders were beheaded. occupied Europe—among them the future Pope John XXIII, (As previously noted, German Mormons and Seventh-day a true friend to the Jews. Although laudable, the hard truth Adventists accommodated the Nazis and were spared.7) is that by 1945 80 percent of Europe’s Jews were dead, their On the other hand, traditional Christians of non-Aryan community all but cleansed at the hands of people of Christian heritage were naked before Nazi brutality. After invading faith or heritage. Poland, Hitler ordered most Polish priests liquidated because Though ordinary Germans varied in the depth of their these Slavic members of the ruling class could help organize racism, most understood that their country had become incon- resistance. The pope who had negotiated the Concordat was ceivably brutal. Much as Americans once mailed postcards of horrified, but his birthday greetings to Hitler continued. lynchings,5 Germans hoarded still photos and motion pictures In truth, few observant traditional Christians went to the of atrocities in private and official troves. Drawing on this camps because few offered serious resistance to the regime. material, Gellately recounts the massive use of slave labor in Jews are outraged by attempts to memorialize individual German war industries. In many locales, sick and deliberately Christians lost in the horrific system, since most Catholics ill-fed slaves were marched to and from work in open view of and Protestants in the camps were the loathsome administra- citizens, who could scarcely avoid seeing the slaves’ wretch- tors and guards. Instead of accusing the Nazis of massacring ed condition. Survivors recount occasional sympathy and traditional Christians, they should be charged for their crimes assistance, but the usual reaction of ordinary Germans was against atheists and freethinkers, who were explicit targets of indifference, disgust, or hostility. Nazi oppression and died in the camps in substantial numbers. The Holocaust could not have happened without Hitler. But it also could not have happened without traditional FOLLOW THE MONEY Christianity. Hitler was no Buddhist, nor a secular humanist. Even more than their racist and anti-enlightened attitudes, Christian authorities had the basest of reasons to cooperate ERE RADITIONAL HRISTIANS W T C with fascists—money. Stripped of her last papal states in MASS-MURDERED? 1925, the Mother Church lay bankrupt until Benito Mussolini Christian defenders assert that believers also faced Nazi per- came to the rescue. In exchange for the pope’s support, Il Duce secution for their beliefs. However, the numbers were modest: made an up-front payment equivalent to about $100 million Thomsett estimates that, over twelve years, about six thousand and instituted state salaries for the Italian clergy. Best of all, German clergy were sent to camps, of whom two thousand Mussolini restored Vatican City’s nationhood. Today’s Vatican died.6 And most or all were targeted for anti-Nazi activities. The has its roots in fascist largesse.8 scale of this horror pales compared to the ten thousand leftists But the pope coveted richer booty. How might he tap the far arrested in Bavaria during just two months in 1933, or the grander wealth of Germany? No German Protestant dictator or

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 30 WHO BEARS THE BLAME FOR NAZISM?

Protestant-dominated democracy would pay tribute to Rome; Christians resolved to put a stop to it. no out-and-out papist could rule Deutschland. Then came the miracle: Hitler, the nonpapist Catholic who inexplicably rose PIUS XII AND THE HOLOCAUST from obscurity to the brink of power and—eyeing the fas- How might a meaningful Christian resistance to fascism have cist-Catholic concordat in Italy—eagerly sought similar ties come about? It would never arise spontaneously; anti-demo- with the church. Surely this was God’s amazing work. cratic and anti-Semitic attitudes were too widespread. A unit- The result was one of history’s richest kickback schemes. ed front against fascism would have demanded strong leader- The pope gave Hitler legitimacy, his office, and the enforced ship from someone who could make clear in forthright terms loyalty of German prelates. In return, one-tenth of the income what was right and what had to be done—someone who could tax paid by German Catholics would flow from Hitler’s trea- set an inspiring ethical example and back it with moral power. sury to the church accounts.9 This averaged the equivalent of With nearly half a billion adherents worldwide and a third $100 million per year, approximately $1 billion over the life of of Germany’s population, the Roman Catholic Church had the potential for enormous influence. Daring action by Pius

“Jews are outraged by attempts to “In the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Whereas the Holy See and Italy have recognized the desirability of elim- memorialize individual Christians lost in the inating every reason for dissension existing between horrific system, since the vast them . . . his Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and . . . his Excellency the Cav. Benito Mussolini . . . have hereby majority of Catholics and Protestants in the agreed to the following articles.” camps were the loathsome — Opening of the Lateran Treaty of 1929 administrators and guards.”

XI, Pius XII, and other Catholic leaders could have changed history, preserved democracy, and saved millions of lives, furnishing a shining example of Christian morality in action. the Third Reich—many times that in today’s dollars.10 Because But that would have meant turning off the fascist money taps. the grateful pontiffs held the same absolute control over the Apologists make much of Pius XI’s 1937 encyclical to German church’s funds that the Führer exercised over the German Catholics, which attacked Nazi racism. Yet it never mentioned treasury, it can be fairly said that Pius XI (reigned 1922–1939) the Jews. In 1939, Pius said Jews had access to God’s grace and Pius XII (reigned 1939–1958) were on Hitler’s payroll. like all others (a point he would repeat in 1943). But he under- Nor did Hitler forget his evangelical friends. Ten percent mined himself, using the same encyclical to reprise the charge of Protestants’ tax payments was diverted to their churches that Jews bore guilt for Christ’s death. “Blinded by their dream too. Hitler needed no loyalty oaths from Germany’s minis- of worldly gain and material success,” he proclaimed, Jews ters, who realized the equivalent of about $2 billion over the deserved “worldly and spiritual ruin.” life of the Reich. Catholics obsess over how in one 1942 speech Pius XII Flush with wealth, the churches invested heavily in fascist included a few sentences condemning the suffering of unnamed enterprises, many of which would manufacture weapons, innocents. Yet he never identified perpetrators or victims, employ slave labor, or both.11 Ironically, as church leaders masking his most public indictment of history’s greatest began to act as financiers and brokers, their prejudice against slaughter as a bland statement of general principles. Viewed usury, ancient keystone of anti-Semitism, melted away. critically, Pius XII’s 1942 Christmas statement was a minimal, It cannot be said too bluntly: a principal reason that tradi- ineffectual effort of the kind often made by a conflicted collab- tional Christian clergymen, from the humblest country parson orator, who, under intense pressure from the Allies, had to put to the popes, so often cooperated with Hitler was that they some statement on the record. Nor did he revisit the Holocaust, were being bribed. however obliquely, in his Christmas messages of 1943 or 1944, when the killing was at its height. Nor did he instruct the cler- THE PRICE gy or those who prepared church publications to discontinue Christendom paid for its avarice. Some 2.5 million European traditional attacks on Jews as “Christ-killers.” Nor did he take Protestant soldiers and civilians died; the Catholic toll, which public action to prevent the mass transport to Auschwitz of included people from other countries where Catholics were those Italian Jews not hidden by Catholics. not in the minority as they were in Germany, was broadly The Catholic Church controlled the largest, most experi- similar. Perhaps half of all Soviets were Orthodox, and so enced propaganda machine in the world. Every pope under- their Christian dead amounted to fifteen million or more. All stood the importance of ceaseless, drumbeat promulgation of told, more than twenty million Christians died. That probably an idea in effective campaigns. Yet so few and so feeble were exceeds the toll of nontheists. It far exceeds the Holocaust toll Vatican thrusts against the Holocaust that apologists must of six million Jews. scour the records to glean unconvincing scraps of evidence for And it all could have been prevented had Europe’s Pius XII’s good intentions.

31 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 Given the extent of Rome’s international intelligence appa- the Nazi extermination campaign. ratus, Pius XII must have known at least in outline what Apologists try to deflect such criticisms by arguing that Pius was taking place in the camps. Because of the international XII was wiser to conduct secretive rescue operations rather than breadth of his organization, his neutrality, and his potential “endangering others with grand public gestures.”13 But great as a moral leader, he was best positioned to reveal, condemn, horrors require bolder action to stop them. There was no quiet and act against the Holocaust. Even if he did everything his way to rescue millions being destroyed by a vast machine that defenders contend he did to save hundreds of thousands, could only operate in secrecy; safety for protesters lay precisely the fact remains that the man who considered himself the in great numbers. The way to minimize both risks and losses supreme arbiter of moral values on Earth proved unable to was by just the outspoken public actions that Catholic defender save millions more when he alone had the potential tools to get Ronald Rychlak disparaged as “foolish.”14 the job done. But he could not, and did not. Why? Pius XII failed in part because he feared too much for his DON’T BLAME ATHEISM flock and its victims, fearing a backlash as he underestimat- There is blame to spare for the calamity of World War II. Some ed the church’s power to bend Nazi behavior. He failed in part because, a seasoned diplomat, he held egotistic dreams of negotiating an end to the war himself. But he also failed “The pope gave Hitler legitimacy, his office, and the enforced loyalty of German prel- “I am convinced that I am acting as an agent of our Almighty creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for ates. In return, one-tenth of the income tax the Lord’s work.” paid by German Catholics would flow from — Hitler, in Mein Kampf and a 1936 speech Hitler’s treasury to church accounts.” because of Catholic doctrine, because he hated democracy as well as Bolshevism, and because he cared too little about Jews and atheists. Most of all, Pius XII failed because his church atheists supported leftist dictatorships; some scientists advo- enjoyed the fascist revenue stream. cated racial eugenics and otherwise facilitated tyranny. But in no way was Nazism the invention of Europe’s atheists. Their WHAT IF . . .? influence was severely limited and at most indirect. (To the Imagine not just one Rosenstrasse demonstration, but thou- degree that European atheists tended to support communism, sands. Imagine if Germany’s Lutheran ministers and Catholic they opposed fascism.) Nazi ideology grew and thrived in a priests had ceaselessly preached anti–anti-Semitism from the land dominated by Christianity. pulpits. Imagine if its churches had showed the same resolve Because Nazism has left so horrific a stain on history, as occupied Denmark and Finland. Christian apologists struggle to lay its causes in the lap of athe- If Pius XII had worn the Star of David in sympathy with the ism. This is historical spin of the highest order. Mein Kampf Jews, the worldwide effect would have been electric. Imagine never mentions evolution, Darwin, or Nietzsche. “Science” if Pius XII had called explicitly, incessantly, for equal treat- justified Nazi racism the same way pseudoscience “backs” cre- ment of Jews and open international inspection of the camps. ationism. Far from atheism spawning a Nazi machine that pro- Imagine if he had consistently demanded the privilege of con- ceeded to assault Christianity, atheists and their organizations ducting his own personal inspection of any camp on two days’ were targeted and destroyed while German churches not only notice, with the right to interview inmates without interfer- survived, but thrived on Nazi graft. That atheists are not regu- ence. Imagine if he had called Jews and atheists his brothers larly listed with Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and other principal and sisters, and released an encyclical commanding Catholics targets of the Holocaust betokens an ongoing injustice. to do all they could to aid them.12 Imagine if he had consistently denounced authoritarianism and aggression, perhaps under- BLAME THEISM taking a pilgrimage to Berlin to discuss the errant ways of The tragic truth is that top-ranking Nazis, as well as the his nominal theological subject, Adolf Hitler. The Nazis would German multitudes who initially supported them, were prod- have been tied in knots. ucts of a traditional Christian culture that had eagerly reject- A regime that could not figure out how to handle obstruc- ed the brief Weimar experiment. It is especially meaningful tionist Scandinavians or outraged housewives would have had that the Nazis most responsible for the Holocaust—Hitler, either to accommodate the pope’s demands, or persuade the Himmler, Heydrich, and Hoess—all came from conservative Italian fascists to put an end to them. The latter course would Catholic households, steeped in obedience to clerical authority not only have destroyed Italian fascism’s critical relations and reflexive anti-Semitism. All of the Nazi leaders were the- with the papacy, but outraged the world. Forthright papal ists, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Aryan. Hitler’s grandiose defiance would have carried risks, but it could have disabled schemes flowed from a fanatical religious worldview. Mein

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Kampf is a creationist tract that repeatedly cites providence, human souls into categories of “us” and “them,” the former the eternal creator, almighty lord, God, and Christ as the destined for a loving but tyrannical utopia, the latter for eternal divine power that made most non-Aryans soulless subhumans torment. suitable only for slavery, or worse.15 It cannot be overempha- Beyond the Bible, traditional and Aryan Christians could sized that to believe that Jews were subhuman, yet ingenious draw on long-standing Germanic-Christian traditions of enough to take over the world, was conceivable only if one aggression, authoritarianism, and anti-Semitism. Who could regarded them as the product of diabolical supernatural forc- oppose Jew-hating if the greatest Christian reformer (Luther) es, a concept beyond the reach of “scientific” anti-Semitism. promoted it and the greatest Christian church practiced it? The Holocaust was as much an act of faith as the attacks of Tribal and tyrannical, Nazism could thrive in a Christian 9/11. culture whose obsolete doctrines provided a subtle but perva- A movement is best judged not by its doctrines or the sive socio-moral tradition of mass violence and theft as a way goodness of its minority, but by the actions of its majority. to deal with opponents of the one true utopia. Hitler stands as Apologists contend that Christians failed to oppose fascism the ultimate example of the dangers of education in the Bible and Christian history. CONSEQUENCES “If Pius XII had worn the Star of The world wars and the Holocaust gave Europe a spiritual David in sympathy with the Jews, shock that drove the continent to break with faith at last. Only about a quarter of today’s Europeans remain devoutly the worldwide effect would have Christian; a like number doubt the existence of any higher been electric.” power. Demographic indicators favor continued seculariza- tion.17 Secular forces, not the churches, are associated with resistance to fascism and anti-Semitism in the European mind. It is therefore not surprising that across today’s remark- ably de-Christianized, modernistic, democratic, tolerant, and because they did not understand its true intentions or feared hedonistic Europe, biblical-scale atrocities are limited to those liquidation if they spoke out. Although sometimes true, most enclaves where religion remains strong.18 Less affected by the Continental Christians accepted, even favored, fascism because darker side of Christian doctrine and history—and hence less they approved of right-wing authoritarianism, approved of Nazi cognizant of them—the United States remains the only first- racial policies as they understood them, or felt that fascism’s world nation to retain a level of religious belief seen otherwise benefits outweighed the sufferings of Jews and other social out- only in the third world.19 casts. So extensive was Christian collaboration that efforts to After decades of refusal, the Vatican is claiming that it will oppose Nazism by atheists and other minorities were crushed. release more of its Nazi-era records. This begs the question We should not be surprised that a strongly Protestant and why an organization claiming nothing to hide and much to be Catholic culture could so readily accommodate profound evil. proud of has not always followed a fully open-door policy for historical records and current accounts. Protestant involve- ment in fascism also demands further historical inquiry. Across the board, there is a critical need for objective, non- “Atheists and their organizations were tar- polemical research into a subject that has too long been “off geted and destroyed while German church- limits”: the role of European religion in facilitating the rise of the Nazis. es not only survived, If, as some apologists still claim, German Christians did but thrived on Nazi graft.” the best they could, they were remarkably impotent and corruptible, the more so since courageous exposure of and opposition to Nazi atrocities could likely have ended them. The great scandal overturns Christian tales of heroic resistance to Christian morality springs from the Bible, a collection of texts fascism and their claims to large-scale victimhood. The claim written by tribal peoples with primitive moral codes. From that their faith is the best and only path toward a just society it we receive the doctrines that there is only one truth, that is forever refuted. dissent is heresy, that slavery is acceptable. Democracy is foreign to any biblical tradition, while Scripture abounds with The complete compilation of excerpts “final solutions” in which God brutally slaughters whole pop- from material linking Christianity ulations. Moses and Joshua are explicitly portrayed as com- and Nazism (featured in sidebars here) is avail- mitting genocide at God’s behest.16 Nazi propagandists could able on the Web at www.secularhumanism.org/text hardly cite Jewish scripture to justify their actions, but Old excerpts. Tim Binga, director of the Center for Inquiry Testament tales of conquest influenced Hitler, who privately Libraries, contributed additional research in the preparation cited them as a guide to his own methods. of this article. By comparison with the Old Testament, the New calls for brotherhood—but only in a doctrinal context that segregates

33 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 Notes Catholic laity would have risen to the occasion will never be known, 1. See Ian Kershaw, Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris (New York: W since their leader declined to risk the experiment. W Norton, 1998); Kershaw, Hitler: 1936–1945: Nemesis (: 13. Ronald Rychlak, “Goldhagen v. Pius XII,” First Things, Allen Lane, 2000), and Robert Gellately, Backing Hitler: Consent June/July 2002, pp. 37–54. Many less polemical researchers, such and Coercion in Nazi Germany (Oxford: Oxford University Press, as Gordon, have also mistakenly assumed that mass protests 2001). would have been ruthlessly suppressed. 2. See James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword: The Church and 14. Ibid. the Jews (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001). 15. Mein Kampf was a blunt handbook for party members, not 3. See Gellately; also Sarah Gordon, Hitler, Germans and a carefully targeted recruiting tract. Some abbreviated transla- the “Jewish Question” (Princeton: Princeton University Press, tions ex punge most of Hitler’s religious comments. 1984), p.260. 16. God ordered the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites 4. One priest who rescued Jews told them he disliked them utterly. Extensive tracts detail subsequent ethnic cleansing, anni- but that rescuing them was “the Christian thing” to do. Marthe hilating millions of “man and woman, infant and suckling.” These Cohn, Behind Enemy Lines (New York: Harmony, 2002). mythical accounts probably helped inspire Hitler’s extermination 5. Philip Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The of leftists, intellectuals, and Jews during Operation Barbarossa. Lynching of Black America (New York: Random House, 2002). 17. Gregory S. Paul, “The Secular Revolution of the West: It’s 6. See Michael Thomsett, The German Opposition to Hitler Passed America By—So Far,” FREE INQUIRY 22, no. 3 (Summer (Jefferson: McFarland & Co, 1997), p.67. 2002). 7. See Christine Elizabeth King, The Nazi State and the New 18. Though secularism seems effective in suppressing atroci- Religions (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1982), pp.89–119. ties, Christianity often remains helpless to prevent them. Catholic 8. See Paul Williams, The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder and Protestant churches proved ineffectual in Northern Ireland and the Mafia (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2003), pp.15– and the Balkans; Rwanda is the most Christian African nation 32. with over 80 percent believers, the majority Catholic, who widely 9. This religious tax continues to be collected and distributed participated in the atrocities of 1996 during which clergy were to this day (about $8 billion yearly to all sects) though increasing either complicit or ineffectual. In particular, the pope could have numbers of Germans opt out by stating no denomination. flown to the scene and ordered his flock to cease participating in 10. Williams, op. cit. the killing, but chose not to do so. 11. Williams, op. cit. 19. Paul, op. cit. 12. In her Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Editor’s Note: The cover photo of the October/November 2003 Socialism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), Beth Griech- Free Inquiry showed, from left to right, Adolf Hitler, Catholic Polelle wonders whether Pius XII feared that his followers were Abbot Albanus Schachleiter and Protestant Bishop Ludwig Müller too anti-Semitic to obey orders to help Jews. Whether or not the at a Nazi rally. Bildarchiv is a German photo archive.

SAVE THE DATES MAY 13–17, 2004 International Conference “SCIENCE AND ETHICS”: “HOW CAN SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY HELP US TO FRAME VALUE JUDGMENTS?” Toronto, Ontario (CANADA) and the University of Toronto Sponsored by the Center for Inquiry–International with the cooperation of: The International Academy of Humanism, The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), The Council for Secular Humanism (CSH), The Council for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health (CSMMH), The Ontario Skeptics Topics: • How and in What Sense Can Science Frame Ethical Prescriptions and/or Modify Values? • Science and Medical Ethics • Freedom of Scientific Research vs. Censorship on Moral Grounds • The Rule of Science in Environmental Issues • The Policy Sciences and Ethical Judgment • Who Owns Life? • Naturalism in Science and Ethics and the Enlightenment

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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 34 Religion’s Anthropocentric ATHEISM’S COSMIC MODESTY IS MORE MORAL Conceit Bill Cooke

ne of the first books I read upon my arrival in the this anthropocentric conceit is a notable feature. So many United States was a fundamentalist tract that had, accounts of pious converts tell of suffering low self-esteem that I was told, sold very well. The book was called Mind was then resolved by being told that they did indeed matter; Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium, and not that despite being one biped among millions on one planet Osince Mein Kampf had I read a more venomous, misanthrop- among millions, the creator of this entire universe is inter- ic travesty of reality and truth. And nowhere have I seen a ested in their welfare. The success of religious conversions clearer example of what I view as “anthropocentric conceit” and apologetic arguments consist of religion’s ability to inject than in this book. After repeated invocations of the “lies” of people with such quantities of anthropocentric conceit that it humanists, feminists, and liberals (including religious liber- almost becomes plausible. As Joseph Goebbels als), the inherent evil of homosexuality, the United Nations, said, the bigger the lie, the more likely it is peo- and art the authors cannot understand, they had the temerity ple will believe it. to picture their reception upon reaching heaven. “Try to imag- And neither is this phenomenon restricted ine the moment,” they wrote, “when this life is over and you to the fundamentalist fringe. Recently, a stand before the bema and hear from the lips of Jesus Christ, prominent “intelligent design”’ proponent ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You have been my in New Zealand—one who specifically lighthouse to the world.’”1 Here is the key to the ongoing success of religion. One can spit tacks at the world, make outrageous judgments, besmirch the integrity of anyone one disagrees with, and then expect the creator of the entire, fifteen-billion-year-old,

“Anthropocentrism … compounds the built-in errors of anthropomorphism with a more selfish and narrow focus.”

multibillion-star universe to glow with pride at one’s achieve- ments! While actually being hateful, ungracious, and petty, one can bask in the glow of humility. Even among people more in tune with toleration of differ- ence than Mind Siege authors Tim La Haye and David Noebel, Bill Cooke is international director of the Center for Inquiry– International, based at Amherst, New York. His most recent book is The Blasphemy Depot: A Hundred Years of the Rationalist Press Association (London: Rationalist Press Association, 2003). This article was originally presented as a paper at the Inaugural Conference of the Center for Inquiry–Florida, held in St. Petersburg on February 7–9, 2003.

35 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 distanced himself from creationism—got to the nub of the mat- besiegers La Haye and Noebel.4 ter when he claimed that “[m]ost astrophysicists are now But, of course, the hierarchy known as the Great Chain of convinced that the universe is not only created but fine tuned Being has no foundation in evolutionary thinking at all, and for the express appearance of life on this planet.”2 Wouldn’t it relies on a self-referential and self-congratulatory set of val- be wonderful to be so important? One of the many annoying ues. As we all know, Charles Darwin proved that we evolve by things about presumptuousness of this sort is that atheists, so means of natural selection, an excruciatingly long, wasteful often accused of presumptuousness themselves, have a long process that works by a series of ad hoc adaptations from what history of warning against it. To take one example from many, is available to deal with the issues most pressing upon one’s Bertrand Russell wrote in 1935: “Is there not something a tri- chances of immediate survival. It has nothing whatever to do fle absurd in the spectacle of human beings holding a mirror before themselves, and thinking what they behold so excellent as to prove that a Cosmic Purpose must have been aiming at it all along?”3 In the face of such a metaphysical cornucopia, humanism “Believing one matters to God is likely to can offer only thin gruel. But, as most of us realize along our various roads to some sort of maturity and acceptance of our- have a positive effect on one’s self-esteem. selves and the world, we can’t always get what we want. And Its main problem is that it isn’t true.” what is more, most of the metaphysical agencies designed to give people what they want are ones we are supposed to out- grow, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy being examples. To my mind, the outgrowing of all make-believe providers of things we wish for is an essential element of our development to full humanity. Such an approach is more coherent philosophically with preserving or bolstering a vertical chain of command in and scientifically; but, and this is just as important, it is also descending order from gods down to globules. Since Darwin, morally necessary. human beings have had to come to terms with the essential A century ago humanists used to say that there is no reli- interdependence of all life forms on the planet. The Darwinian gion higher than truth. Today, we would rephrase this to say axis is a horizontal one of all being members of the same plan- that there is no value higher than truth. And this is where etary ecosystem, rather than a vertical one of fixed species, anthropocentric conceit is dangerous. Believing one matters the authority for which emanates from a metaphysical entity. to God is likely to have a positive effect on one’s self-esteem. Without doubt, the next major assault on humankind’s Its main problem is that it isn’t true. Anthropocentric conceit anthropocentric conceit is happening as we speak. The great rests on a fundamental untruth that, in the long run, has to revolution in genetics taking place right now is the next, and undermine its moral benefits. The basic ethical consequence potentially most decisive, assault on our inflated notion of our of scientific naturalism is that we don’t matter to the universe; importance as a species. So, not only are we not the center of there is no bearded nice guy, vital spark, first principle, cosmic the universe, or even the star act among the players on this law, or anything else waiting to usher us in to the dress circle in the sky. This means that our anthropocentric conceit is not a sign of humility but a sign of immaturity and arrogance. And it’s not as if we haven’t had enough time to prepare ourselves for this realization. The human race has suffered “Science is fundamentally three fundamental challenges to its anthropocentric conceit. averse to pedestals.” The first was when Copernicus showed that Earth was not the center of the universe. Since then, and with ever-increasing clarity, we have come to understand that our planet is but one, not very distinguished, orb surrounding a sun of singularly mediocre aspect, in a nowhere-in-particular solar system in a planet, it is no longer clear what we mean by words like I. As nowhere-in-particular galaxy, in, for all we know, one universe scientist/philosophers such as Daniel Dennett have shown, we among many. cannot speak of an “I,” which somehow constitutes the essence But the heliocentric universe as outlined by Copernicus of what and who we are. There is no Cartesian theater, as was, of course, only the first of the assaults on our anthro- Dennett called it, orchestrating what it is to be me or you.5 This pocentric conceit. If the Copernican revolution dethroned us means that there is no mind, soul, or psyche in which resides from the center of the universe, Charles Darwin dethroned the blueprint of god, or any other metaphysical entity. And this us from the apex of the Great Chain of Being. He did this by goes for reason as much as it goes for God. We can no more toppling the Great Chain’s entire structure. Since Aristotle, give reason a capital letter and imbue it with a mystical signifi- human beings had presumed for themselves the spot second cance as a process immune from error than we can for God. As only to the gods in the divine hierarchy. This divine hierar- Donald Calne puts it, reason is a biological product fashioned chy proceeded vertically from the gods, through men, then for us by the process of evolution to help us survive in an inhos- down to women, and on to higher animals, lower animals, pitable and unpredictable physical environment.6 plants, and rocks. This view of nature can also be found in the Whatever view one takes on the momentous questions Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 8: 5–6) and to this day is endorsed of cloning or genetic engineering, few people would dispute by fundamentalists, the most recent examples being the mind Michael Ruse’s point that our biological origins “can and should

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 36 be a starting point for philosophy today.”7 And if biology can inveigle anthropomorphism back into naturalistic philosophy. and should be a starting point for philosophy today, how much The role of science as a principal weapon against anthro- more uncontroversial is the recognition that science is abso- pocentric conceit is one of the chief reasons that humanists lutely essential as the principal tool by which we can recognize value it. Humanists place great value on methodological anthropocentric conceit, see it for what it is, and then eliminate naturalism—what used to be called the scientific method— it? Religions around the world have contributed to instilling and because it is our insurance against anthropocentric conceit. preserving a sense of our special value as a species, but science This is what Paul Kurtz had in mind when he wrote about the transcendental temptation, which is the temptation many of us feel to create some supernatural realm for ourselves as a means of creating.11 To me the notion of anthropocentric con- ceit conveys a greater sense of urgency in the outcome of this “The outgrowing of all make-believe provid- particular development we each need to make. The notion of ers of things we wish for is anthropocentric conceit is essentially a moral protest at the presumptuousness required to presume for oneself a central an essential element of our place in the cosmic drama. development to full humanity.” There are many forms in which our anthropocentric con- ceit can be seen, but for me its most alarming manifestation comes in the form of our rampant population growth, with its sanguine presumption that the more homo sapiens there are, the better. Many countries are already finding that the simple weight of numbers is putting such a strain on natural eco- and philosophy have been the methods by which we have sought systems and political and social infrastructures that endemic to outgrow such dangerous folly. Extolling the value of science corruption, the return of previously conquered diseases, is frequently to risk being accused of scientism or positivism or increasing scarcity of water, and a renewed communal and some such ghastly pejorative. But scientism, as I understand religious fanaticism are direct corollaries of the central issue the term, is devoted to putting science on just the same sort of of too many people.12 But rather than a planetwide focus on pedestal people have traditionally put religion; as an agency population control and management, huge resources are being of salvation. Herein lies the difference between science and put into opposing the provision of contraceptive information, scientism. In the context of anthropocentric conceit, science is safe abortion, and the education and liberation of women so fundamentally averse to pedestals. that they can decide these issues without fear. And make no The role of science as antidote to anthropocentric conceit mistake, the opposition to these measures comes from those whose worldview remains centered around the vertical hier- archy of the Great Chain of Being. The guiding metaphysical motif that informs their actions is anthropocentric conceit. To my mind, this constitutes the most significant, and most “Any growth in secular liberties is a net dangerous, example of anthropocentric conceit in the world today. For women to have access to reliable contraceptives increase in the freedom of women around and the degree of control over their own bodies to be able to the world.” decide when they should be used seems to me the number one challenge facing the planet in the twenty-first century. In this way, the best contribution an environmentalist could make would be to work for the worldwide liberation of women. And it should go without saying that any growth in secular liberties is a net increase in the freedom of women around the world. was articulated well by Stewart Guthrie in his fine book, Faces While this for me is the main issue facing our errant spe- in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion. Guthrie argues that cies, there are many other pressing that capable people are anthropomorphism lies at the heart of religious experience. devoting their lives to solving. The inestimable value of the All religions share the feature of “ostensible communication philosophy of humanism is that it provides a framework under with humanlike, yet non-human beings through some form which many people can work, in many different fields, for of symbolic action.”8 But Guthrie is careful to go on and add the betterment of humankind. Those driven to work for the that, while anthropomorphism is understandable, it is also, environment, those who find themselves working for social or by definition, mistaken.9 Anthropocentrism is more willful political causes, for charities, for the skeptics’ battle against still; it compounds the built-in errors of anthropomorphism nonsense and misinformation—every one of these activities with a more selfish and narrow focus. And understanding our is a legitimate example of humanist eupraxsophy. And for natural anthropomorphism and its frequent slide into anthro- humanists to be engaging in any of these struggles is to do so pocentrism becomes a key to understanding the importance of for the simple sake of doing good, and in full knowledge that science. For Guthrie, the chief role of science is to “eliminate we can expect no reward from beyond the grave. Any of these human features from representations of nature. Science is one activities constitutes an effective antidote to anthropocentric of the most systematized forms of knowledge and one of the conceit. Paul Kurtz noted this in Forbidden Fruit. Fear of least anthropomorphic.”10 This, incidentally, is one of the expla- punishment or hope of reward, he wrote, “is hardly an ethi- nations of the popularity of pseudoscience: it is an attempt to cal reason to follow God’s commandments. It masks a basic

37 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 self-interest: one is moral out of prudential considerations. ally serious, in which case it’s derided as gloomy, or it’s not, in Indeed, in one sense, the theists’ argument is immoral, for it which case it’s written off as superficial and unable to grapple abandons the moral conscience for an authoritarian ground, with the major issues facing humankind. It depends on which and thus sidesteps the content of the moral imperative itself.”13 of these misconceptions of humanism one is most inclined to Okay, so where does this leave us? Is the price of recog- react against. Each humanist will work out ways to reconcile nizing the dangers of anthropocentric conceit that we should himself or herself to the truth of their cosmic irrelevance. For me, I find relief in the British tradition of absurdist humor. It really is important not to take life, or oneself, too seriously. I have a poster in my office that proclaims that “seriousness is stupidity with a degree.” “Without doubt, the next major assault on So if we are to shed once and for all our tendency to anthro- humankind’s pocentric conceit, then we are going to need to recognize just how closely allied atheism is to the naturalist worldview. anthropocentric conceit is Atheism matters, not just because atheism happens to be the happening as we speak.” most accurate view of the cosmos, and not just because of its philosophical and scientific coherence. Important though these elements obviously are, it is just as necessary to take atheism seriously for moral reasons. Contrary to the foolish fear-mongering of religious apologists, atheism is the surest succumb to a grim sort of scientific Calvinism posing a secular guarantee of cosmic modesty, and few things are more imme- version of original sin? The answer to this, thankfully, will diately required of our species than a good dose of cosmic vary from individual to individual. Optimists will tend to see modesty. Having played such a foundational role, both intel- the glass as half full, pessimists as half empty. I would have lectually and morally, atheism can then retire from the field to say that I am more of a pessimist at the moment. It seems and allow interest to turn to the understanding and apprecia- to so many people that there is no viable alternative between tion of the naturalist view of the world. But it is difficult to do the various anthropocentric conceits of the past, most of one without the other. As Bertrand Russell said, “It is not by which are veiled in the language of religion, and the mindless delusion, however exalted, that mankind can prosper, but only narcissism of contemporary commercialism. The current by unswerving courage in the pursuit of truth.”14 paralysis of the West is exacerbated by postmodernism, which

Notes 1. Tim La Haye and David Noebel, Mind Siege: The “I find relief in the British tradition of Battle for Truth in the New Millennium (Nashville: World Publishing, 2000), p. 286. absurdist humor. It really is important not 2. Ian Wishart, “Intelligent Design Creationism: A Defence,” The Open Society 76 no. 2 (Winter 2003). to take life, 3. Bertrand Russell, Religion and Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961 [1935]), p. 221. See also or oneself, too seriously.” H. James Birx, Interpreting Evolution (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1991), p. 17. 4. La Haye and Noebel, p. 247. 5. Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained (London: Penguin 1993 [1991]), especially chapters 5 and 7. does nothing more than throw its arms in the air and declare 6. Donald B. Calne, Within Reason: Rationality and any constructive attempt at a solution as little more than the Human Nature (New York: Pantheon Books, 1999), p. 12. arbitrary grasping of a discredited modernism. But there is 7. Michael Ruse, Taking Darwin Seriously (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989), p. xiii. an alternative to the stifling certainties of the religions and 8. Stewart Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory the intolerable dreariness of commercialism and postmodern- of Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 197. ism. Humanism is a comprehensive worldview that, because 9. Ibid, p. 204. it takes science seriously, is better equipped to rid itself of 10. Ibid, p. 165. 11. Paul Kurtz, The Transcendental Temptation (Am herst, the anthropocentric conceits that so disfigure religions. And, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1991 [1986]), p. 449. Also, see Victor unlike postmodernism, humanism offers a vision of how the Stenger, who recommended we take a cosmic perspective as world could be made better and what this would require of a tonic against anthropocentric conceit. See Victor Stenger, each individual. This has been done most recently in the Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe (Am herst, N.Y.: Humanist Manifesto 2000. Prometheus Books, 1998 ), p. 182. 12. I recommend readers consult the Web site of the Whatever field of humanist work in which one chooses to World Population Foundation for further information on involve oneself, it would be understandable to be overwhelmed these facts: www2.tribute.nl/wpf/uk/main.html. occasionally by the scale of the problem and soldier on with 13. Paul Kurtz, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Humanism something of the Calvinist grimness mentioned above, bereft (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books), pp. 149–50. 14. Bertrand Russell, “The Pursuit of Truth,” in Fact and of hope that one could effect any real change. But soldier on Fiction (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1961), p. 46. we must, and, if that sounds Calvinistic, then so be it. It’s real- ly a case of damned either way. Either one’s humanism is mor-

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 38 It’s So Easy A FICTIONAL VIEW OF THE FUTURE Seeing Green Tom Flynn

This excerpt is adapted Ensign Lyle Atlee, a from Tom Flynn’s new believing Mormon and black-comic science a mission specialist on fiction novel, Nothing the heavy star cruiser Sacred, forthcom- Forthright. ing from Prometheus Forthright’s execu- Books. Like its pre- tive officer is Seneka quel, Galactic Rapture, Willesgar. Willesgar is Nothing Sacred is set about 250 years after the vast, wealthy a highly capable officer; yet he is also a virtuoso believer, capa- Galactic Confetory (an advanced interstellar confederation) ble of holding two or three diametrically opposed supernatural stumbled across the planet Earth. The Galactics insisted on call- worldviews all at once. He’s notorious on shipboard for his devo- ing it “Terra”; far worse for them, they found Terran religions tion to Anthropism, a popular future religion in which readers charming. In short order our dear blue planet was exporting may detect a satirical jab at today’s intelligent design and “fine gods faster than a tropical republic ships out bananas. tuning” movements. As Nothing Sacred opens, the Confetory has finally realized As this excerpt opens, the mighty Forthright lies crippled as that in embracing Terra and its creeds it made a dismal mis- the result of a failed physics experiment. Willesgar is ordered to take. A sorrowful decision is made: Terra is to be Sequestered— take a small boarding party and fly to the nearest large space- placed under planetary quarantine so that its religions can ship to seek help. His destination is a star trawler owned by the damage Galactic society no further. A couple of billion Terrans New Restorationists, an arch-conservative “back to the roots” now live and work on other worlds; they have two years to Mormon community. (Galactic Rapture readers may recall the decide whether to return home for good, or to remain in the quirky Mormon televangelist Alrue Latier, who makes his mad- Confetory with no possibility of return. One such Terran is cap return in the new book.) Since Atlee is Forthright’s most senior Mormon crewmember, Willesgar brings him along to aid Tom Flynn is the editor of FREE INQUIRY. in negotiations. Of course, it’s almost the year 2400, and like a

39 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 great many other things, Mormonism’s not what it used to be. . . . “So you want to raise all the sensitive topics,” Willesgar chuckled. “Very well. You plan to go back to Terra before it’s Sequestered?” “The moment my duty cycle ends.” “Did you think about staying out?” “No.” Atlee shrugged. “My roots, my family . . .” illesgar peered out the transport scout’s aft view- “Yes, you Mormons are still enthusiastic about—what’s the port, looking backward as the small craft rode a term?—nuclear families.” pillar of exhaust out of Docking Bay Eight. Deeply “Not so much anymore. There must be two hundred mem- tired, he surveyed the mothership. At short range Forthright bers just in my home temple who grew up in procreant cliques, seemed a jumble of mismatched parts, most of them badly and no one says a word about it.” damaged. “Mormons in procreant cliques!” Ensign Atlee joined Willesgar at the viewport. “That’s one “Believe it or not,” Atlee affirmed. “Collective crèches, melancholy looking cruiser.” ward captains, gero-mentors, no two blood relatives raised “If you or I were that banged up, they’d euthanize us together, the whole program. I told you we’d gone mainstream. and reconstitute us.” Willesgar shook his head. “You’re the But a conventional family is what I knew. Galactic life has its Mormon expert, right?” wonders, but if I have to choose between the Galaxy and home “I’ll offer what help I can, gentlehom. But you should know . . .” Atlee clasped his hands together. “Anyway, I was asking that I’m a Saint.” about Anthropism.” “Come again?” Willesgar nodded. “Pose your question.” “I’m a Latter-day Saint,” Atlee explained, “LDS for short— “Anthropists argue that human beings must have been that is, I belong to the mainstream Mormon church. The Church intended by someone . . . something . . . because otherwise it’s of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the one based in the tem- too improbable that the universe should have come together in ple on Great Salt Lake in Usasector of Terra. You need to know such a way that human life could arise. Do I have that right?” how little I have in common with the people we’ll be visiting.” “That’s a fair sketch.” Willesgar shifted in his jumpseat. “In “Go on.” humankind—and, who knows, maybe in other intelligences— “For lack of a better expression, today’s LDS church has the universe attains self-awareness. Through consciousness, grown up. It’s put its obscure doctrines and jarring supersti- existence reflects on itself and delights in its own splendor. tions behind it. Today we consider ourselves sophisticated, To an Anthropist that’s an inspiring vision, yet one that could rational, entirely at peace with science—in other words, firmly never be fulfilled in a universe driven merely by physics. The in step with contemporary life.” balance of material constants that makes life feasible is too Willesgar nodded. “So what do you believe in?” delicate. So we infer the hand of guiding intelligence.” “Not much,” Atlee admitted. “Vacuum knows it’s more comforting to believe that we’re Willesgar jerked a thumb vaguely in their scoutcraft’s part of someone’s plan than to think that everything just direction of travel. “What about the folks we’re going to see?” happened,” Atlee admitted. “I mean, if we arose by accident, “The New Restorationists?” Atlee scowled. “They’re com- what’s to say we won’t disappear the same way?” ic-opera reactionaries who’ve ransacked my church’s attic, “Exactly. And if that’s all the meaning life holds, we might not to say its dumpster. Their leader, Alrue Latier, has revived as well not exist.” all the most embarrassing early Mormon traditions.” “Still, and here I don’t want to say anything to offend you, “Just what we need,” Hinsin said sourly. “A nutcase.” gentlehom—” Silently they watched the crippled Forthright recede in the Willesgar smiled. “Speak your mind.” viewport. “Permission to speak freely?” “Though I find Anthropism comforting, I don’t find it intel- “Shoot.” lectually compelling. Under sharp scrutiny, it just degenerates “It’s about religion,” Atlee warned. into another argument from ignorance, or so it seems to me.” Willesgar shrugged. “Interesting. Explain.” Atlee palmed a wall panel, which dropped down on air rams Atlee frowned. “It’s not as if we know life could never have to offer itself as a bench. The two men settled onto it facing arisen from nonlife without a designer. Some people think so, each other. “You’re an Anthropist, right?” but only because they can’t imagine how life and intelligence “Among other things,” answered Willesgar. could have developed without help.” Atlee’s hands drew “I know that feeling,” Atlee said with a smile. “My church abstract shapes in the air. “To assume that life and intelli- is so eclectic nowadays, nobody cares what anyone believes. gence are the product of design only because we can’t imagine Sometimes we even have Anthropist speakers at our temple.” how else they could arise—that’s embracing the answer that “Really?” seems to satisfy what you don’t know. Viewed in that light, “Now and again. Some of the Anthropist ideas I’ve heard Anthropism strikes me as one more sandcastle argument, sound appealing, but I have lingering questions I’ve never doomed to collapse the moment a real answer washes in.” been able to discuss with—you know, with a Galactic.” Now Willesgar frowned. “Some mysteries are so vast that Willesgar nodded darkly. He wasn’t eager to see the if we consider them frankly, we can be certain that their solu- conversation veer into an argument with a Terran about his tions must transcend ordinary knowledge.” He tapped a near- homeworld’s pending quarantine. by control console. It bore a standard bank of system status “I don’t suppose I’ll get many more chances to discuss any- indicators. “Look at these displays.” thing with Galactics,” Atlee pressed. Atlee nodded. “What about them?”

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 40 “What’s the color that shows up most frequently on them?” mundane explanations?” “Huh?” “What, that displays use a lot of green?” “Squint and steal one quick glance at the displays,” “The middle of the visible spectrum,” Willesgar urged, Willesgar suggested. “What color predominates?” “exactly the frequencies where human visual acuity peaks.” Atlee complied. “Hmm, green.” He slapped the display console. “How extraordinary that this scoutcraft’s displays radiate just at the frequencies to which human eyes are most sensitive. Clear evidence of design!” “You’re working toward some metaphor here, right?” “No metaphor,” Willesgar said conclusively. “This is proof! “To assume that life Clearly, the link between output color and human vision is a coincidence too extraordinary to explain away.” and intelligence are the Atlee looked crestfallen. “That’s actually your argument?” Willesgar’s manner suggested he thought he’d given Atlee product of design only the answer to everything. because we can’t imagine Atlee rose from the bench, his posture broadcasting stupe- faction. “Gentlehom, please don’t read disrespect into what I’m how else they could about to say. The cosmos didn’t design this displays, people did—for the express purpose of making them easy for other arise—that’s embracing people to see. Of course they’re optimized for human vision!” Willesgar pursed his lips. “When you trivialize it like that, the answer that seems you blunt the mystery.” to satisfy what you “What mystery?” “Humans designed this console, that’s true enough.” don’t know,” said Atlee. Willesgar said impatiently. “But how was it arranged that humans were endowed with this capacity to bend nature to our purposes? Why did they develop a visual acuity that peaks just at the frequency they would later exploit for so many dis- play consoles? Now there’s design in action for you.” “Dead center in the visible spectrum,” Willesgar said “Hom Willesgar,” the pilot’s voice crackled from the con- enthusiastically. “Doesn’t that strike you as wondrous—I sole. It was not green. “It’s time for the inflight briefing. Please mean in a big way, so fundamentally wondrous as to rule out join me forward.”

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41 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 CHURCH-STATE UPDATE logue poster. In Pennsylvania, plaintiffs freely. Funds could benefit some church declined to appeal a ruling upholding a building projects and support students Commandments plaque on the Chester training for the ministry. County Courthouse; a Pittsburgh judge upheld a county courthouse Decalogue Richmond, Virginia. The U.S. Fourth Tom Flynn plaque there. In Kansas City, Kansas, District Court of Appeals declined to hear a Commandments monument will be an appeal by the Virginia Military Insti- moved from the county courthouse lawn tute (VMI), upholding a lower court ruling Decalogue Follies Continue. Con- to a church across the street. ordering VMI to end group before fronta tions over Ten Commandments Conservative Alabama congressman dinner. Virginia’s attorney general plans displays in public spaces continued in Robert Aderholt (R) and seventy cospon- an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ari zona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mary- sors have introduced a “Ten Com mand- land, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, ments Defense Act” that would force Grand Canyon National Park. “Easy Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, Decalogue cases into state courts. go, easy come back”: three Bible verse and Wiscon sin. Of the cases resolved, most plaques removed from canyon overlooks ended in removal of the Decalogue—the White House, Congress Resume “Faith in July following an ACLU inquiry have City of Milwaukee even removed one mon- Based” Agenda. The Bush administra- been replaced. National Park Service ument voluntarily rather than face trial. tion’s faith-based initiative isn’t dead yet. leaders in Washington ordered the In Alabama, Roy Moore was suspend- Returning from late summer recess, law- plaques restored pending review of Park ed as chief justice of the state’s Supreme makers once again considered a bill to Service policy on religious displays. Court, and his 5,000-pound Comman- let churches participate in political cam- dments slab was removed from the paigns. The Senate was to consider two Los Angeles, California. U.S. District Judicial Building rotunda. In Barrow, bills already passed by the House that Judge Stephen V. Wilson has struck Georgia, hundreds protested an Amer- permit religious groups to discriminate down the portion of the 2000 Religious ican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) call in hiring. Meanwhile the White House Land Use and Institution alized Persons for removal of a county courthouse Deca- announ ced ten changes in regulations Act (RLUIPA) that makes churches that will let religious groups spend as effectively immune from local zoning Tom Flynn is editor of FREE INQUIRY much as $28 billion in public funds more ordinances.

WORLD REPORT their conservative colleagues? the rise of pseudoscience in that country. It was decided to speed up the growth MODERATES TROUNCED and funding of the recently founded Com- IN KUWAIT mittee for Struggle Against False Sci- One prediction made by opponents of the ence. Valerií Kuvakin, executive director war in Iraq has come true. In Kuwait, of the Center for Inquiry–Moscow, took a Bill Cooke elections were held in July among the leading role in the meeting. small percentage able to vote (men only of Academy Vice President Genadii THE DIFFERENT FATES OF “OPENLY course, and only those who can trace their Mes yats praised the Russian Humanist GAY” BISHOPS ancestry as Kuwaitis back to 1920—that So ciety (the sister organization of the is, about 137,000 of Kuwait’s 2.2 million Center for Inquiry–Moscow) and its jour- The responses of the Anglican church people). Before the election, the promi- nal, Common Sense. The Academy of on each side of the Atlantic regarding nent liberal Saad Bin Tifla al-Ajami criti- Sciences has agreed to meet a significant “openly gay” prospective bishops was cized Islamists as those who cannot cope percentage of the costs of Common Sense instructive. In Britain, the new Arch- with the world and who will be bypassed. and help with its distribution throughout bishop of Canterbury had the poor chap The Kuwaiti electorate disagreed, hand- Russia. Professor Kuvakin has also writ- over to tea and pressured him to with- ing the conservatives a landslide victory. ten textbooks on humanism for use in draw his name from consideration. This One influential Islamist saw the victory in Russian high schools and universities. won’t have done the archbishop’s repu- terms of a rejection of globalization and tation as a bold progressive much good. an endorsement of traditional Muslim val- HUMANISM IN NIGERIA In America, by contrast, open battle was ues. Thus, the prediction that the war in had, with victory going to the liberals. The Center for Inquiry–Nigeria host- Iraq would isolate moderate Muslims and And has anyone yet commented on ed a successful lecture to mark World put them at a disadvantage in the face of the incongruity of the term openly gay? Humanist Day on June 1, 2003. The anti-Western zealots, making the chance There have been gay bishops ever since lecture was delivered by Professor of peace even more remote, has—here at there have been bishops. Why should it Ag wonorobo Eruv betine of the Depart- least—been borne out. now be imperative that they also be hyp- ment of English, University of Lagos. His theme was “Towards and African ocrites for the sake of the consciences of GOOD PROGRESS IN RUSSIA Hum anist Engagement of Nigeria’s Bill Cooke is international director of the A meeting of the prestigious Russian Seem ingly Intractable Problems.” Center for Inquiry–International. Academy of Sciences in May addressed

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 42 APPLIED ETHICS

justify its belief in an infallible God who guarantees knowledge. It must try to convince us that such a God exists. If On Having Your so, our problem might be solved. But whether such a God does exist is just the point at issue. If you’re going to beg the question, at least don’t be proud of it! Head Up Your If you really mean you will cut the knot by presupposing that God exists and provides a guarantee of knowledge Assumptions and leave it at that, how can you com- plain if I eliminate the middleman, or middle god, and simply presuppose that Robert M. Price human reason can achieve certainty? I have no need for the God hypothesis if I hen one hears the word apol- believers who mainly just can’t believe ogetics—a word that denotes what they’re hearing. W the rational defense of the Though I was an evangelical and “If you really mean you faith—one usually thinks of people like even in a small way an apologist, I have will cut the knot by Josh McDowell and William Lane Craig, never seen the sense of the presupposi- who urge the cogency of “the evidence tionalist argument. I have read it from presupposing that for the resurrection” and for the infalli- Van Til, Francis A. Schaeffer, and Alvin bility of the Bible. Plantinga, but it never captured me. God exists and pro- But there is a growing legion of apol- Here’s my problem. It seems to use a vides a guarantee of ogists who blatantly reject such an (at probabilistic argument to vindicate a least ostensibly) inductive approach. They stance that ostensibly repudiates prob- knowledge … how are called “presuppositionalists.” As far abilistic argument. It says we must can you complain if as I know, “presuppositional apologetics” despair of attaining certain knowledge is the brainchild of Cornelius Van Til, through our own reason. Certainty, we I eliminate the mid- a stalwart of Westminster Theological are told, is possible only if we posit the dleman, or middle Semin ary, a school that was formed when existence of a God in whose certain fundamentalist faculty fled Princeton knowledge we share. Schaeffer com- god, and simply pre- Theo logical Seminary in the 1920s. pares presuppositionalism to someone suppose that human Van Til was ahead of his time. The looking through an old house for the rest of us began catching up only in missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Months reason can achieve the 1970s and 1980s when we began later he discovers what appears to be certainty?” reading Thomas V. Kuhn (The Structure the piece in an old trunk in the attic. of Scientific Revolutions) and realized It wasn’t with the other pieces in the how much our perception of the “facts” box, so he can’t be sure it belongs to presuppose that we do in fact know. The is shaped by paradigms, the conceptual the same puzzle, but its shape does fit sauce for the Christian goose is surely models we use to interpret them. Van the remaining gap perfectly, and it com- sauce for the naturalist gander. Til had already been advising apolo- pletes the puzzle’s picture perfectly, too. But let me turn the tables: if you say gists not to seek common ground with Wouldn’t a reasonable person conclude belief in God guarantees certain knowl- unbelievers, just to proclaim Christ and that he had found the missing piece? edge, I ask how? By sheer illuminism? summon them to jump ship and come And if the Christian Gospel fits so well Do you intuitively know what God is on over. Since Christ is the Universal the epistemological need of the human saying? You can’t be that naïve! Every Logos, the Christian worldview would mind, supplying the needful certainty, pietist can remember thinking he or she be seen as ipso facto logical once it mustn’t we accept it as the truth? knew God’s will, and it blew up in his or was embraced. Until one did, it would But this is itself a probabilistic argu- her face. Or is infallible knowledge found make no sense; whether one embraced ment, the sort of exercise in reason in Scripture? Then we will be left in the it or not was a moral decision. Recently, and evidence that presuppositional- lurch as soon as we ask a question that more and more debates between the- ism thinks to refute. It is an argument Scripture, an ancient book, does not deal ists and atheists have been contests among many other arguments about with. Even the presuppositionalist will between presuppositionalists and non- epistemology, or how one can have real be left, like everybody else, with fallible knowledge. It is no less a human striv- guesswork. Besides, remember the ambi- Robert M. Price is professor of biblical ing for an epistemological guarantee guity of the Bible on many points: what criticism at the Center for Inquiry and than those theories it hopes to have certainty is possible there? author of Deconstructing Jesus. stultified. And then it cannot evade, Worse yet, the Bible itself contains as it seems to want to do, the need to

43 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 instances of God making false reve- 2:11–12). point that we have certain knowledge lations, a collection of texts strange- I would say that, if we take these only tends to choke off the progress of ly never mentioned in those surveys cases seriously (and I know that no research. of biblical teachings about inspiration. theologian does), God does not guaran- Sometimes presuppositionalists sound Remember when Micaiah told the king tee true knowledge. like they mean that logic is self-evidently of Israel that God had sent a lying spirit But in fact I think the presupposi- true, that there is a manifest logos-struc- into the mouths of his prophets to trick tionalist argument is a kind of shell ture in the universe, but that we must and humiliate him? game that depends parasitically on the very doctrine it pretends to vindicate. Then a spirit came forward and stood It is like asking, “What can wash away before Jehovah, saying, “I will entice my sin?” and answering, “Nothing but him.” And Jehovah said to him, “By the blood of Jesus.” But the doctrine of what means?” And he said, “I will Original Sin was posited for the very “Who says go forth and will be a lying spirit in purpose of justifying the death of Jesus. we either need the mouths of all his prophets.” And So if you ask the Christian question, it he said, “You are to entice him, and is no surprise that only the Christian or have certain you shall succeed! Go forth and do answer will fit! Presuppositionalism knowledge? so!” Now, therefore, behold: Jehovah compares to arguing that “Jesus must has put a lying spirit in the mouth have truly died, since he then rose from Only the dogmatist of all these, your prophets. (1 Kings the dead. How could he rise if he had not 22:21–23) requires dogmatic died?” The deck is stacked! In the same way, who says we either need or have certainty. No certain knowledge? Only the dogmatist one else will requires dogmatic certainty. No one else will miss it. miss it.” Many of us find the ancient advice “The of the Skeptic philosophers useful: you presuppositionalist can live without certainty on matters where no certainty seems available. argument is a kind Just because you feel the need for cer- of shell game titude doesn’t mean you have the right somehow account for it and explain where to posit that you have it, any more than it came from, or else we will have no right that depends my felt need for money justifies me in to it. And they account for it by saying God parasitically on robbing a bank if there is no other way must have created it. That would be anoth- to get it. er form of the hackneyed argument from the very doctrine And don’t tell me that I contradict design, which Hume long ago refuted. And myself by dogmatically claiming that you don’t argue for your presuppositions. it pretends we can have no knowledge. I make no That’s what makes them presuppositions. to vindicate.” such claim at all. I merely say I do not Presuppositionalists sometimes seem see that certain knowledge is available. to be saying that a denial of God as the I make no claim on what knowledge author of logic would vitiate logic; that is or ever will be possible. If you are a a denial of God ought to undermine our dogmatist, you may tend to assume that confidence in logic. But this argument everyone’s position is held dogmatical- results in a fatal backfire. It implies that Remember when Ezekiel said God ly. Some are, some aren’t. logic is merely nominal in character. had once commanded infant sacrifice Any historian knows that certainty It would seem valid and count as valid to lead his people astray: “Moreover, I about the past is never possible; we deal only because the Creator made it seem gave them statutes that were not good only in shifting probabilities. Any liter- so. And if he wanted, he could reverse and ordinances by which they could ary interpreter knows that we can never things tomorrow such that henceforth not have life; and I defiled them in their be sure we have definitively captured A should be the same as Non-A. This is very gifts in making them offer by fire the author’s intention in a text. Any divine voluntarism, and it undermines all their first-born, that I might horrify scientist knows that future discoveries logic as surely as it undermines ethics, them” (Ezekiel 20:25–26). may alter today’s best working hypothe- making both into arbitrary products of Remember when Paul said that ses, and that those hypotheses must be God’s whim. Otherwise the presupposi- God would send the rebellious a lie cast away as soon as a better one enters tionalist would have to admit that God to believe since they did not prefer the arena. The “final truth” is like the commands morality and logic because he the truth: “Therefore God sends upon North Star: it is an ideal by which we himself acknowledges an objective truth them a strong delusion, to make them navigate; it is not a destination we imag- they possess prior to his endorsement. If believe what is false” (2 Thessalonians ine we can ever reach. Thinking at any logic is valid only insofar as

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 44 LIVING WITHOUT RELIGION

Perhaps Gale’s colleague meant that he was interested in searching for more than mere scientific knowledge. She On the Death of knew him much better than I, so for all I know that could have been true. But I think she felt that to call him an atheist and leave it at that was a form of slander. an Atheist Which probably explains why no mention of Gale’s atheism was made the night of his funeral service. “Don’t Jerry Kurlandski speak ill of the dead,” the saying goes, and to describe one of the dead as ill Gale, a friend and former pro- respective religious backgrounds, and an atheist perhaps comes too close to fessor, passed away last summer. the “humanity” of nonhuman primates. breaking the precept, especially at the He worked at Bell Labs during The latter topic is what prompted B dead person’s memorial service, where the latter part of his professional life, him to lend me (though “force me to then was forced into early retirement borrow” would more accurately describe because of ill health. I first met him in the transaction) a video entitled Bonobo the final year of his life, when, because People. It was his belief that animals of his expertise in an area in which I capable of such intelligence and emotion “The difference was (and still am) a novice, he wound up as the bonobo were no lower on the hosting two other students and myself ladder of animal hierarchy than human between what athe- for weekly classes in what is called beings. Even after having seen the video ists and theists ought Statistical Natural Language Processing. I remain unconvinced, but I fully ac- He had never taught formally before, knowledge that perhaps the difference to say over their dead but he threw himself into the role with in reaction between Gale and myself was is perhaps not as great enthusiasm and dedication. We met at due to the fact that I remain tethered to his home because his infirm condition a traditional, Judeo-Christian view of as we might at made it difficult for him to get out. human beings’ place in the world. first think.” Though separated by a couple of So when I went to attend the eve- decades, many life experiences, and at ning service held in his remembrance, I least one advanced academic degree, I was surprised to see, hanging conspic- thought of him and myself as kindred uously from the wall beside his coffin, a three-foot-high cross. The first two there is family who may be insulted and speakers were both ministers—friends solemnity that could be marred. of the family, I assume, since they both Do not misunderstand me. I am not I think Gale’s seemed to have known Gale personally. criticizing the service. The podium was They were both adept at saying the right open to whomever wanted to speak, and colleague felt that to words for such an occasion. Yet, inter- we were entertained by many delightful call him an atheist and estingly, neither one acknowledged that stories about Gale from the time he was the deceased had been an atheist. One a child until the last few weeks of his leave it at that was a described him as “more of a Buddhist or life. I who had known him only briefly, form of slander. a Unitarian” than a Christian, but that towards the end, left that evening with was as close as either came to admitting a much clearer picture of the entire per- flat out that Gale was an nonbeliever. son. I liked and admired him even more Nor did anyone else, during the course of after the service than before. So I am the service, mention Gale’s lack of faith. not suggesting that the service failed to spirits. From his bookcase I could see The previous day, one of Gale’s pro- do what such rites are meant to do. I am, that we shared a number of interests and fessional colleagues and I had ad dressed rather, exploring the significance of our both subscribed to FREE INQUIRY. I used that very issue. “He was an atheist,” she collective refusal to acknowledge the fact to try to get to his house a little early so had said, “but he was one of the most that the deceased did not believe in a god. that we could spend some time chatting religious people I have ever met.” Of course, the point must be made alone. We only discussed atheism directly “In what way was he religious?” I asked. that such rituals are at least as much for on one occasion, but our shared disbelief “Because he was always a seeker,” the survivors who grieve as for the dead lay at the back of many of our other con- she replied. they mourn. Assuming that the major- versations on topics such as abortion, our “But wasn’t he a scientist?” I want- ity of those present were Christian, Jerry Kurdlanski is a software engineer ed to reply. “Aren’t scientists seekers in this light it only makes sense that working in natural language processing. by de finition?” However, it was not the they should need to view the death of place for that kind of discussion. their friend and family member from a

45 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 Christian perspective. Still, he had been address the issue of my own. Should and theists ought to say over their dead a godless man. Shouldn’t someone have I now, while alive, attempt to script is perhaps not as great as we might at my own service so that my atheism is first think. Like theists, we atheists need openly acknowledged? Should the script to recall occasions of pleasure or insight Funerals are for the leave no room for the needs of those I that we shared with our dead when leave behind? To attempt to ban any they were living. We should honor those living. Still, at mention of God from my service strikes moments when they displayed the kind the funeral of a me as mean-spirited and selfish. On of character we ourselves would like to the other hand, I do not want a three- emulate. And we can pay homage to their godless man, foot-high cross next to my coffin. And life’s work, whether it be raising a fam- shouldn’t someone who should conduct my funeral if not a ily, driving a taxi, or, as in Gale’s case, member of the clergy? What other occu- authoring a large body of scholarly arti- have pointed that pation has “administers death rituals” cles. These three—the times we shared, out? as part of its job description? the occasions on which they displayed a After some reflection, it now seems certain quality of character, and their to me that, apart from the cross and the life’s work—comprise the legacy of our careful avoidance of the “A” word, Gale’s dead. That legacy is the extent of their pointed that out? memorial service was a fitting one. For afterlife, I regret to say. But, for peo- Gale’s funeral has forced me to the difference between what atheists ple we have truly loved

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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 46 HUMANISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE

than a complete upheaval of the sys- tem, could be sufficient to address most social problems. Is it possible, then, that Rethinking there is no justification for urging radi- cal change in modern Western society? Hardly. While it is hard to deny the material Radicalism abundance and technological advanc- es that Western society has produced, one need not look far to find areas ripe David Anthony for revolutionary change. It may be that even poverty, militarism, national- recently had the pleasure of engag- tieth-century communist practice was ism, economic exploitation of undevel- ing in an interesting discussion with often a perversion of Marxian theory. oped countries, and excessive corpo- an old-time Marxist, a respected But even so, we cannot blame Marxism’s I rate power can be addressed through author, university professor, and activ- late twentieth-century decline entirely less-than-radical measures. But if we ist. The subject of our discussion was upon its misapplication. Indeed, the pri- the state of radical thought, but in the mary reason for its decline is that Marx midst of this discourse the subject of underestimated the ability of capitalism religion emerged. “I agree with Marx to appease the masses. Whereas he that religion is an opiate,” the esteemed predicted large-scale revolution by dis- “The established professor said. “When we solve funda- gruntled, exploited industrial workers, mental problems of peace and justice, the highly developed capitalist countries religious institu- religion will fade in importance.” usually managed to provide the masses tions are bastions of This, of course, is the standard with sufficient material comfort to avoid Marxian line on religion. While Marx widespread insurrections. ignorance in a world paid more than lip service to the sub- At the dawn of the twenty-first cen- ject of religion, his historical analysis— tury, then, radicalism in the West finds where knowledge has indeed, his entire philosophy—gave pri- itself in disarray. Marx, the philosopher become the most mary importance to economics. Not sur- upon whom radicalism placed all bets prisingly, when Marxian thought became during the twentieth century, has lost his valuable commodity.” a philosophical force in the twentieth authority. Having been synonymous with century, its followers continued to view Marxism for so long now, can radicalism religion as relatively insignificant, cer- evolve past its dependence on the old master? Without Marx radicalism is a dig still deeper, we encounter funda- ship without a rudder. Without Marxian mental problems that mere legislation doctrine, what’s a good radical to do? If or policy changes cannot solve. These one looks at modern society and sees not problems manifest themselves in the “Without Marx just a need for change, but a need for difficulty most Westerners seem to have great change, what is the philosophical radicalism is a ship in meeting basic needs for mental and foundation for achieving it? To answer physical health, spiritual peace, and a without a rudder.” these questions, one must consider the sense of fulfillment. While society and fundamental notion of radicalism itself. its “establishment” institutions seem If a social system is generally accept- secure, the people are doing far less able but nevertheless in need of some well. tainly secondary to issues of econom- mild improvements, then radical change Consider that, viewed objectively, ic and social justice. Twentieth-century is not necessary. One could argue that the West actually has no fundamental Marxists considered religion a curious such is the case in the West today—that philosophy. Its philosophy can best be premodern institution that temporarily the dominant political and economic defined as the lack of a philosophy. One continued to enamor the masses. Most systems may need to be altered modest- can say that Christianity is the dominant Marxist radicals simply paid little atten- ly, but not reinvented overall. Certainly religious institution in the West, but a tion to it. large pockets of injustice remain, and religious institution is not a philosophy. Although Marx’s historical impor- the West has no shortage of social (In a pluralistic society where many peo- tance cannot be denied, by the close problems. But to the extent that these ple practice other religions or no religion of the twentieth century the heyday of problems can be addressed through at all, no single religion could serve in a Marxian philosophy was clearly past. mainstream politics and economics, few philosophy’s place.) Moreover, neither This is perhaps partly because twen- would argue that revolutionary mea- Christianity nor Judeo-Christian-Islamic David Anthony is an attorney, author, sures are necessary. Major legislation belief in general can be taken seriously and educator. and ambitious policy changes, rather as a fundamental philosophical founda-

47 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 tion for modern society; at their founda- One day these now-ancient religions philosophical system. This does not tions they reject reason and contradict will find their way to history’s proverbial mean that society needs unanimity on the accumulated scientific knowledge trash heap. The actual fall of the estab- religious issues. Certainly, the concept of two thousand years. Millions cling to lished religions may seem unimaginable of nonbelief can be expected to grow religious institutions out of respect for to many, but their rapid decline (indeed in popularity as society advances, but tradition, ignorance, or plain intellectual collapse) is not just possible, but proba- even those who adhere to belief in a laziness, but the fundamental dogmas bly inevitable. The only question is when. these institutions espouse can no longer The best answer, at least for anyone concerned with seeing human progress, is soon . . . preferably very soon. The demise of the ancient religions “One area … clearly will provide an exhilarating gust of fresh ripe for radical ideas “The West actually air to modern society, tearing down has no fundamental senseless walls of division and creating is the area of new avenues toward common ground. religious belief.” philosophy.” The established religious institutions are bastions of ignorance in a world where knowledge has become the most valu- able commodity. Well-entrenched, these god will do so within the realm of rea- be taken seriously. These institutions lin- institutions hold back social progress, sonable belief. Few, however, will give ger on without philosophical credibility. dividing people who otherwise have no credence to ancient prophets, myths, If we define radicalism as a system reason to oppose one another, fanning superstitions, and apocalyptic visions. of thought that seeks to tear down old the flames of militarism and nationalism. The common ground uniting all in the institutions and reconstruct new ones, Most of all, however, they are promoting postmodern world will be a respect for then one area within Western society ignorance and falsehoods at the expense humanity, social justice, and ethics. that is clearly ripe for radical ideas is of truth. How can society advance under Thus, idle radicals looking for a just the area of religious belief. Replacing such erroneous belief systems? cause—a movement that could trans- religious institutions that are thousands When large institutions fall, they form society and bring about more of years old and hostile to reason with a usually do so because the masses who human progress and social justice than reason-based belief system would trans- formerly supported them suddenly shift any political cause—should consider form society in a positive way more than their loyalty. When the Judeo-Christian the long-neglected area of religion. Marx any mere political or economic-policy religions fall in the West, the general may have been right change ever could. shift will be towards a reason-based about the old reli-

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free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 48 FAITH AND REASON

behavior during women’s menstruation; from the amputation of limbs for theft to the stoning of adulterers and killing Opposing of apostates; from the preparation and handling of food to the giving of evi- dence in a court of law. No detail of daily life, public or private, escapes its atten- Political Islam tion. The individual is barely at liberty to think or decide for himself. Virtually all activity is preordained; one has but Roy Brown to accept Allah’s laws as interpreted by the mullahs and ayatollahs. n the West, and despite the religious port the Islamists received from the Much of the social progress of the inspiration of much of its current United States during the Cold War. past two centuries in the West can be Ileadership, the separation of religion The rise of Political Islam may have credited to the courage and energy of and state is still widely recognized as been fueled by the failures of secular the pioneers who introduced reforms the sine qua non of a modern, dem- governments in Muslim countries to such as public health, the abolition of ocratic society. In the Islamic world, tackle basic economic problems, and by slavery, and even democracy itself, often however, with very few modern excep- the arrogance of the West towards the against the violent opposition of the tions, religion and state have never been Muslim world. These failures increased established order. Such progress would separate. To propose the separation support for Islamic extremists, particu- scarcely have been possible without the of Islam and the state is to risk being larly after 9/11 and the American reac- belief that one’s conscience should be branded an apostate. Yet the Islamic tion to those events. Since the 1970s, one’s guide. Without the revolution of world was not always like that. For cen- Political Islam has become a powerful individual conscience there would have political movement in many countries in been no concept of individual responsi- Africa, the Middle East, and Asia: Iran, bility or of individual rights. Without the Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya, the Renaissance and the Reformation there Sudan, and northern Nigeria and — very could have been no Universal Declar- “Political Islam is not importantly—in Pakistan. The Islamists ation of Human Rights. the answer to either have now succeeded in imposing strict In the Islamic world, no such refor- Islamic law, the Sharia, in many of these mation has happened. Western arrogance or states. The Sharia became notorious in Sharia law forcefully opposes free political corruption. Afghanistan under the Taliban for its thought, freedom of expression, and oppression of women and for the brutal- freedom of action. Accusations of impu- It seeks to return the ity of its punishments. rity, impiety, or apostasy are waiting Islamic world to the For many young Muslims in both to silence any voice of dissent. Sup- Islamic countries and the West, Political pression and injustice shape the lives dark ages.” Islam represents the only serious oppo- of all free-minded people, above all sition to Western arrogance and eco- atheists. One is born a Muslim, and nomic imperialism. By creating a victim one is forced to stay a Muslim to the mentality coupled with the absolute cer- end of one’s life. Islamic law restricts tainty that God is on their side, Islamist the rights of women and non-Muslims. turies under relatively benign, liberal leaders have brewed a heady mix for Unbelievers are shown no tolerance: the regimes, Muslims, Christians, and Jews Islamic youth. choice is death or conversion. Jews and lived in peaceful harmony. In the secu- But increasingly audible alongside Christians are treated as second-class lar states of the mid-twentieth century the saber-rattling of the mob are the citizens. there was very little tension between voices of dissent. Political Islam is not In countries that have proclaimed the various communities living in rela- simply about opposition to the West. an Islamic state, such as Iran, the tive peace. But what is new—what has It sets itself against every aspect of Sudan, Pakistan, some states in north- overthrown “the benign Islam of our modernity. And ordinary Muslims are ern Nigeria, and Afghanistan under grandparents”—is the phenomenon of beginning to protest this. They have the Taliban, we can see the pernicious Po litical Islam. This movement, dating much to protest against. effects of the Sharia: the stoning to from the 1940s, was given a new lease The primary tool used by Political death of women exercising their right on life by the Iranian revolution, and Islam to control the lives of ordinary to personal freedom; random accusa- then—what dread irony—by the sup- Muslims is the Sharia. The Sharia pre- tions of blasphemy carrying a manda- scribes every aspect of private behav- tory death penalty; being used to settle Roy Brown is president of the ior and public conduct: from how to personal grudges; public hangings for International Humanist and Ethical prepare for to when and how to apostasy, real or alleged; and many Union. pray; from the provision of dowries to other acts of wanton cruelty.

49 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 Many Islamists claim that the Universal sometimes to death. To add to the inhu- “The more closely Declaration of Human Rights is an mane nature of the executions, they are a government iden- attempt to force Western standards and frequently carried out in public as a ideals on to others who do not share warning to others. tifies itself with Islam them. But abuse of human rights cannot To Western eyes one of the worst the more likely that be excused by cultural relativism. If we aspects of Islamic society is the subordi- believe that everyone has the right to life, nate position of women. This is not just critics of the govern- freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, a matter of theoretical concern. Every ment then we must oppose any system that day our television screens are full of seeks to deny those rights to others. To examples of the appalling treatment of will be accused of her- accept religion, culture, or tradition as a women. In the September/October 2003 esy, blasphemy, justification for human rights abuses is issue of FREE INQUIRY, Azam Kamguian to discriminate against the abused and powerfully exposed the inhuman treat- or apostasy.” to send the message that the victims are ment handed out daily to women under undeserving of humane consideration. the Sharia.1 Perhaps the most unsavory aspect of Sharia dictates that there shall of a non-Muslim carries less weight Islamic law is the severity of the punish- be no equality between Muslims and than that of a Muslim. In criminal pros- ments it prescribes. Adultery, or indeed non-Muslims. Under strict Sharia law ecutions non-Muslims are given harsher any behavior that fails to conform, is only Muslims can be full citizens of an punishments than Muslims, and crimes punishable by flogging, amputation, or Islamic state. Many states shamelessly against Muslims are often punished more stoning to death. Homo sexuality, too, is discriminate against non-Muslims. In severely than crimes against others. forbidden and punishable by flogging, court under the Sharia the testimony

Political Islam Say is a movement “No” orig- Muslim to reformers Political have opened up to moveIslam forwards, not backwards. inally founded in the 1940s as a new vistas of intellectual and cultur- We oppose Political Islam and reaction to foreign domination and al achievement, tolerance and diver- its agenda of hatred and oppres- corruption. Nurtured in the 1980s by sity. Political Islam, on the contrary, sion, and its illegitimate pursuit Western governments, it has grown seeks a narrow, petty, joyless, intol- of the most barbaric interpreta- in leaps and bounds since the Iranian erant, and closed society. It rejects tion of Islamic law. We seek a revolution and the events following all modernity, science, and technolo- future in which all people, men and September 11. But Political Islam gy—except the technology of death. women, Muslims and non-Muslims, is not the answer to either Western Political Islam is a reactionary can enjoy the benefits of equality, arrogance or political corruption. It movement that has no place in democracy, human rights, freedom seeks to return the Islamic world to the modern world. Over the last of inquiry, freedom of thought, and the dark ages, limiting education- two decades, millions have been, freedom of expression. al opportunity, denying the right of and continue to be, murdered— Join our campaign: NO to Political women to participate fully as adults shot, decapitated, stoned to death, Islam. Say YES to Freedom, Equal- in the life of the community, denying and publicly hanged—by Islamic ity, and Human Rights. You can sign equality to non-Muslims, and impos- re gimes and movements in Iran, the petition below online at http// ing its own brutal and outmoded the Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, www.notopoliticalislam.org. interpretation of Sharia law on every Egypt, Nigeria, and Central Asia, aspect of public life. while millions more have been PETITION Among the hungry and desti- forced into exile. The Islamists We, the undersigned, oppose Poli- tute, Political Islam gained support equate even well-founded dissent tical Islam, its agenda of hatred with the promise of salvation for with blasphemy. Thousands of and oppression, and its imposition the dispossessed. But while draw- Muslim opponents have been killed of the most barbaric interpretation ing its strength from those who and millions silenced through fear. of Islamic law. We seek a future in would fight oppression, it seeks Our silence is taken as support for which all people, men and women, to enslave all Muslims. It opposes the Islamist agenda. But the vast Muslims and non-Muslims, enjoy progressive movements for liberty, majority of the world’s Muslims the benefits of equality, justice, freedom, justice, and equality, and reject Political Islam. The time has democracy and human rights, and is opposed to cultural and intellec- come for our voices to be heard. freedom of inquiry, freedom of tual progress. Throughout history The way to restore our pride is thought, and freedom of expression.

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 50 Freedom of religion and belief does For a Muslim living in the Islamic world of practice and belief. The claim that not mean merely the freedom to have a this is simply not true. Read Leaving its laws are divinely inspired should faith but also the freedom to change one’s Islam, edited by Ibn Warraq (Prometheus, no more shield it from criticism than religion or belief. But under Sharia, apos- 2003), for the testimonies of over twenty Christianity should have been spared tasy is not permitted and in many states is brave souls who have left Islam, often at criticism for burning heretics or for immense personal cost. massacring unbelievers. Many aspects of In those states where Political Islam Islamic law fall far short of the standards holds sway, writers, thinkers, philos- widely accepted by the international com- “No religion should ophers, activists, and artists are fre- munity. quently denied freedom of expression. Now, moderate Muslim voices are seek immunity from Islamic regimes are notorious for the being raised in protest. A coalition of the examination of violent suppression of free thought. liberal Muslims and human rights and The more closely a government iden- women’s rights activists are organiz- its claims, or seek tifies itself with Islam the more likely ing a worldwide, Web-based campaign. that critics of the government will be See www.notopoliticalislam.org with its freedom from moral accused of heresy, blasphemy, or apos- on-line petition, links to human rights, criticism of its practic- tasy. Under Sharia people are deprived women’s rights, and secularist organi- of many pleasures such as drinking zations, and with sidebars on Islamic es. Islamic law should alcohol, playing music, even reading theology, science, Islamic reform, and be open to analysis, literature or philosophy, and are denied the Sharia. The organizers have issued the opportunity of fully expressing their the statement on page 50. research, and criticism sexuality or enjoying the arts. Many humanist and secularist orga- like any other system It is frequently claimed that crit- nizations are adding their support to ics of Islam are guilty of racism and this campaign. It deserves the support of practice and belief.” Islamo phobia. But no belief, rational or of every humanist, secularist, atheist, irrational, scientific or divinely inspired, agnostic, and freethinker. should be exempt from critical exam- ination. If a belief is sound it will stand punishable by death. Even when the death on its own merits. If it is unsound it penalty is not applied, those accused of deserves to fail. No religion should seek Note apostasy can be subject to the most violent immunity from the examination of its 1. Azam Kamguian, “Islam and treatment. In a feeble attempt to disguise claims, or seek freedom from moral the Liberation of Women in the Middle East.” FI October-November the Islamic attitude toward apostasy, criticism of its practices. Islamic law 2003, pp. 34–36. apologists often quote the Qur’anic verse: should be open to analysis, research, “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” and criticism like any other system

(Letters cont’d. from page 8) able arguments, can reach different, even opposite, conclusions on matters of life Iraq, while nonviolent action has been used and death, criminal justice, or war and too rarely by other societies. peace. Ernst Kallenbach Tolerance and respect for the opin- WRITE Gainesville, Florida ions of others is, or should be, one of the hallmarks of humanist discourse. I TO FI would have welcomed a reasoned argu- I was appalled by Robert Price’s article. ment in favor of the death penalty or Send submissions to As an atheist who adamantly opposes the opposed to pacifism. I would even have Norm Allen, Jr., Letters Editor, death penalty (for reasons that are quite enjoyed an article decrying the fact that FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, reasonable and rational, in my own hum- some atheists and agnostics seem to be Amherst, NY 14226-0664. ble opinion), I deeply resent Price’s car- incapable of escaping from religionist For letters intended icature of my arguments without having for publication, arguments to justify preconceived opin- please include name, even heard them. Space limits prevent ions. But Dr. Price sets up a straw man ad dress, city, and state, me from detailing those arguments here by portraying all atheists who oppose and daytime phone number (although I have written separately to the death penalty or favor pacifism as (for verification purposes only). Dr. Price), but I would like to make the pseudo-Christians and then proceeds to Letters should be 300 words or less point that—given the complexity of the knock it all down. This, it seems to me, and pertain to previous human brain, human societies based on is an unethical misapplication of ethics, FREE INQUIRY articles. that brain, and, indeed, of life itself—it whether applied or theoretical. should not be surprising that rational Robert E. Daniell, Jr. humanists, using reasoned and reason- Stoughton, Massachusetts

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killing blade, not Ron; to this day, Dan ANOTHER STORY OF VIOLENT FAITH calmly contends from his prison cell that he “was doing God’s will, which is not a crime” (p. xx). Frank L. Pasquale By alternating chapters between the Lafferty story and accounts of the many aspects of LDS Church history that pro- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, by Jon Krakauer (New vide the context for the brothers’ ideas York: Doubleday, 2003, ISBN 0-385--50951-0) 372 pp. including Notes, and actions, Krakauer shows, without Bibliography, and Index. Cloth $26. being the least bit didactic, how church beliefs and behavior gave rise to those nder the Banner of Heaven is ers (and two sisters) were raised in of the brothers Lafferty. We see how the far more than a story. True, it a strict and devout, but mainstream, brothers found in LDS history and doc- Uhas the structure and pacing of LDS family. Dan’s curiosity, however, trine everything needed to receive and a murder mystery. It draws you in from led him farther and deeper into church act on a “removal revelation,” including the first page and won’t let you rest until history and doctrine. His research led the foundational revelations of Joseph you’ve finished the last. But along the him to conclude that the mainstream Smith, a tradition of saints’ direct con- way, Jon Krakauer manages to provide church’s rejection of Joseph Smith’s versation with God, a prophesied coming a thumbnail sketch of Mormon history, revelations concerning polygamy,3 a of “one mighty and strong,” and histori- a description of LDS (Latter-day Saints) divinely ordained practice, was wrong. cal precedents that sanction vengeance, Church structure and methods, a case He was by no means alone; Krakauer violence, and righteous execution. study of the psychology and theology of details the persistence and extent of In another strand of the narrative, fundamentalism, an exposé of Mormon Mormon polygamy in fundamentalist Krakauer provides a glimpse of the dark polygamy, and an eloquent essay on the communes and communities dotting the side of polygamy among Mormon fun- destructive potential of religious faith. North American West and Mexico. damentalists, even as it is practiced Krakauer’s narrative is woven As Dan Lafferty stated in conversa- today. We learn of charismatic patri- around the case of Ron and Dan tion with Krakauer, the contradictions archs, schisms and splinter-groups, the Lafferty, who murdered their youngest and fraudulence of the LDS Church betrothal of under-aged girls to over- brother’s wife and daughter on July 24, “inevitably [lead] you back to the reli- aged men, spousal envy, incest, rape, 1984.1 This act was in partial fulfillment gion as it originally existed, before it was physical abuse, violent conflict, and mur- of a revelation and divine command. We corrupted” (p. 313). The other Lafferty der. All of this is made possible by the learn, however, that this was not the brothers came under the sway of Dan’s forces of unquestioning faith, powerful rash behavior of the criminally insane, “quest to find the truth” (p. 138), but personalities, and blind cultural trans- but rather the conscious and calculated none more than Ron, the eldest. Perhaps mission from generation to generation. result of intense religious faith under compounded by a faltering career, Ron In yet another strand that lays out worldly pressure. As Krakauer zooms took this quest far beyond the modi- LDS organizational history, Krakauer back from the scene of the crime, the fied dictates of the mainstream LDS provides sufficient detail about the insti- psychological, circumstantial, histori- Church, and even beyond that of estab- tutional structure and methods of main- cal, and doctrinal bases for the Lafferty lished fundamentalist Mormon sects. His stream Mormonism to remind at least brothers’ “violent faith” come into clear increasing rejection of secular society this reader of its parallels with the classic view. By alternately weaving these and law, imposition of ascetic strictures Roman Church: patriarchy, centralized strands into an “intricate architecture,” on his family, and insistence on plural power within a pyramidal authority struc- as Krakauer has described it,2 the read- marriage ultimately led his wife to take ture, the demand for unquestioning obe- er sees how the brothers’ acts were their children and leave him. Ron placed dience, tight control of information flow, grounded in a rich, prescriptive history primary blame for her decision on his suppression and/or excommunication of of beliefs and behavior extending deep youngest brother’s vocal wife, Brenda, critics and apostates, claims to be the one into the doctrinal roots of the religion. and two of his wife’s extra-familial confi- and only true church on Earth, aggres- The central strand in Under the dants. These three adults, together with sive proselytizing, political power, great Banner of Heaven concerns Mormon his 15-month-old niece (“a child of per- wealth, a violent history, and much more. fundamentalism, which grows direct- dition”), were ordained by Ron’s divine It is hardly surprising that the main- ly out of the original doctrines of the revelation to be “removed.” So fervent stream LDS Church quickly expressed church as revealed by God to the proph- was his revelatory belief that his brother disapproval of Under the Banner of et, Joseph Smith. The six Lafferty broth- Dan became persuaded that the murder Heaven and Krakauer’s critical treat- of their sister-in-law and niece was, ment of Mormon history, doctrine, and Frank L. Pasquale, Ph.D., is a cultural indeed, “the will of God” (as well as the fundamentalism.4 Apart from the at- anthropologist doing research and writ- two persons outside the family, whose tempt to discredit Krakauer’s work on ing on religion, humanism, church-state lives were ultimately spared by mere the basis of selected factual disputes, separation, morality, and ethics. happenstance). Interestingly, by his own the church’s reactions remind us how admission, it was Dan who wielded the religions seek to manage their images

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 52 REVIEWS

for mass consumption by accentuating Anything can happen. Absolutely any- of intransigent belief. [p. 339] the positive, and distancing themselves thing. [p. xxiii] Under the Banner of Heaven deserves from the negative effects of their doc- It might be asked whether Krakauer a large and diverse audience. While it trines and histories. The Church of offers any antidotes to the “dark side of will no doubt disturb many, one can Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is by religion.” He has said publicly: “I don’t hope that it will penetrate some readers’ no means alone in this. But as Krakauer know what the answer is, but it seems defensive rationalizations and get them has said elsewhere, “to suggest that that recognizing the problem, and your thinking. It is important for all of us to do there is no dark side to religion seems 6 responsibility for it, is a first step.” In what we can to move the species from its a strange form of denial. . . . It seems Under the Banner of Heaven, he allows penchant for blind surrender and uncrit- disingenuous to argue that religion has DeLoy Bateman, a former fundamental- ical belief, religious or otherwise, in an nothing to do with such things. If you’re ist, now an atheist, to deliver stronger effort to minimize the destructive conse- going to take credit for saints, then you medicine: quences of this tendency. Jon Krakauer have to take responsibility for those like It’s amazing how gullible people are. has already done more than his share in Dan Lafferty.”5 . . . But you have to remember what this endeavor with Under the Banner of The rich narrative fabric of Under a huge comfort the religion is. It pro- Heaven. the Banner of Heaven is embroidered vides all the answers. It makes life with one more strand—the lessons that simple. Nothing makes you feel better Notes Krakauer himself draws from this com- than doing what the prophet com- mands you to do. . . . But some things 1. He also touches on the more recent plex story, among them, that: in life are more important than being case of abduction of Elizabeth Smart by Brian David Mitchell in 2002, which, he indi- There is a dark side to religious happy. Like being free to think for cates, grew from the same seed of Mormon devotion that is too often ignored or yourself. [p. 331] fundamentalism as that of the Lafferty case. denied. [p. xxi] Krakauer himself admits in his clos- 2. In a presentation at the First Congre- All religious belief is a function of ing remarks that he personally has gational Church, Portland, Oregon, July 29, nonrational faith. And faith, by its 2003. very definition, tends to be impervious . . . come to terms with the fact 3. In 1890, while under U.S. Congres- to intellectual argument or academic that uncertainty is an inescapable sional, popular, and military pressure. criticism. [p. 68] corollary of life. An abundance of 4. “Church response to Jon Krakauer’s mystery is simply part of the bar- Under the Banner of Heaven,” Meridian Faith is the very antithesis of rea- gain—which doesn’t strike me as Magazine, The Place Where Latter-day son, injudiciousness a crucial compo- something to lament. Accepting the Saints Gather (www.ldsmag.com), August nent of spiritual devotion. And when essential inscrutability of existence, 5, 2003. religious fanaticism supplants rati- in any case, is surely preferable to its 5. See Note 2. ocination, all bets are suddenly off. opposite: capitulating to the tyranny 6. Ibid.

edges that pragmatic naturalism recog- PHILOSOPHY AND NATURALISM nizes that the sciences and the scientific method are superior to other modes of inquiry. But, rather unhelpfully, he Bill Cooke then equates scientific naturalism with reductionism and eliminativism. In this Pragmatic Naturalism and Realism, edited by John R. Shook (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, way, the place of pragmatic naturalism 2003, ISBN 1-57392--997-2) 360 pp. Cloth $32. is found by shifting scientific naturalism to the periphery, identifying it with its various caricatures. Shook also uses terms like reductionism in ways usually ragmatic Naturalism and Real ism spectrum from idealism to realism. The employed only by opponents of scien tific is primarily the anthology of a con- purpose of the book is to “tackle the naturalism. Pference held in 2000 to honor Peter problems of realism in the context of Shook tries to create the same mid- Hare, Distinguished Service Professor pragmatic naturalism” (p. 9). dle ground in his essay later in the book, Emeritus of Philo s ophy at the State Most contributors seek some sort of when he distinguishes moderate from University of New York at Buffalo. The middle ground between scientific natu- extreme scientific naturalism, linking book contains fourteen essays that deal ralism and the neo-pragmatic critique the latter with the insistence that all with a variety of questions related to the of certainty (antifoundationalism in observed qualities are located only state of contemporary pragmatism, in philosophical jargon), particularly as through experience. Pragmatism, Shook particular its place on the philosophical championed by Richard Rorty. But this argues, “understands experience not middle ground is often hard to place. In Bill Cooke is a Free Inquiry senior as something exclusively pertaining to his introduction, editor John R. Shook, editor and international director of the events occurring within passive observ- assistant professor of philosophy at Center for Inquiry. ers, but rather as a natural process that Oklahoma State University, acknowl- occurs wherever human beings active-

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ly interact with their environment”(p. acknowledge but celebrate our reduced What this collection really needed 338). Very sensible, but I have read condition. With most of Continental was a full-frontal examination of what plenty of scientific naturalists who say postmodernism ignored, Ryder can some of today’s important realists actu- the same thing, so we’re not really much effect a reunion between modernism ally say: Daniel C. Dennett and John further ahead. and his genial form of postmodernism; Searle go unmentioned even in pass- While Shook is contriving “middle but as with Shook, were aren’t really ing, to my mind a serious lapse. Sami ground” between an extreme realism that much further ahead. Philström’s essay had a very interest- and idealist pragmatism, John Ryder Peter Manicas, it seemed to me, has ing account of historical developments reverses the process when he tries to a surer grasp of what postmodernism since the Second World War, but his reconcile modernism with postmod- is about. His essay deals more satis- argument for a complementary con- ernism by underplaying the extremes, factorily with the issues, as does that tinuum from the transcendental to the particularly in the case of postmodern- by Murray Murphey, openly recogniz- natural seemed eccentric to me. ism. Ryder describes the postmodernist ing the idealist origins of pragmatism, I enjoyed Pragmatic Naturalism and points of view in terms of the contingent abandoning those elements of pragma- Realism. This book is unlikely to trou- and perspectival nature of human inqui- tism that are no longer credible, and ble the best-seller lists, but for those ry. True enough, but in doing this he replacing them with a sturdy realism. interested in understanding the philo- overlooks two relevant points: on the one In fact, one of the highlights of this sophical depth of the naturalist world hand, he overlooks scientific naturalists book for me was discovering the degree view, these essays are valuable reading. like Bertrand Russell, who made these to which John Dewey, in many ways However, at the end of the book, I felt very observations long before the rise the most influential pragmatist think- no compelling reason to transform the of postmodernism; and, on the other, er, owed a debt to Hegel—with all the scientific naturalism I adhere to into a he ignores the more extreme versions harmful implications to naturalism such pragmatic blend. of postmodernism, which don’t simply a commitment implies.

masturbation and coitus interruptus GOING IT ALONE equated—by an anonymous writer now known to be the quack doctor and med- ical pornographer John Marten. Marten Vern L. Bullough wrote Onania in or around 1712, baldly fabricating the connection between “wil- Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation, by Thomas W. Laqueur ful self-abuse” and the Genesis story of Onan. Having invented the disease, (New York: Zone Books, 2003, ISBN 1-890951--32-3) 501 pp. Cloth Marten offered a cure at a steep price. $34. His book became wildly popular, dis- seminating the belief across Europe that Onanism was the cause of diseases from tuberculosis to what we now know he general history of masturba- writers passed over. While records of as third-stage syphilis. Laqueur finds it tion has become widely known in masturbation exist from ancient Egypt, interesting and difficult to explain why Tthe past fifty years. I myself have and the Greeks and Romans made it the dangers of masturbation came to written on it in several different articles a subject of jokes and puns, medieval be so grossly exaggerated just at a time and books. But no one has examined writers largely ignored it—aside from when sexual pleasure itself was enjoy- the history of the topic in the detail and noting it as a sexual failing by those ing greater secular approval. Though range that Thomas W. Laqueur has in attempting to be celibate. The sin of Marten was at best a huckster of his this tour de force of cultural history. Onan, with which masturbation was new remedy, his theory received the He fills in the details that I and other later associated, was first equated with imprimatur of important authorities of coitus interruptus, which was distinct the time. For example, the prominent Vern Bullough is a senior editor of from masturbation and severely con- French physician S.A.D. Tissot pub- FREE INQUIRY. He is a noted author and demned.1 John Calvin declared that, lished his treatise L’Onanisme in Latin researcher in human sexuality. Cur- though masturbation was a monstrous in 1759 and in French in 1760. Both rently, he is adjunct professor of nursing act, it could not be compared to the sin Marten and Tissot would be translated at the University of Southern California. of Onan. into most of the languages of Europe. Not until the eighteenth century were The alleged dangers of masturbation

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 54 REVIEWS

not only entered mainstream medical Havelock Ellis, Magnus Hirschfeld, and er themselves the most enlightened of belief; they were adopted as doctrine others openly challenge these beliefs. humanity can subscribe to a popular by Rousseau and expounded upon by Their case was made easier by expand- belief that has no scientific evidence Vol taire, John Ruskin, and David Hume. ed medical knowledge, such as the dis- to support it. To ultimately reject such Its American champions included prom- covery of bacteria and the sources of be liefs takes time, as well as a different inent physician Benjamin Rush and such diseases as tuberculosis. Even- mindset. “health reformers” such as J. H. Kellogg, tually the medical establishment and One wonders just how many other inventor of corn flakes, and Sylvester ultimately the general public had to popular beliefs we humanists hold and Graham of Graham cracker fame. Lord abandon the notion that masturbation have yet to discard even though there is Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, was linked to disease. Still, the belief in little evidence to support them. Change attempted to ingrain the fear of the its dangers hovers over us. For exam- is never easy; if you are unconvinced “beastliness” of the act into his followers. ple, one consequence of the fear of of this read Laqueur’s Girls were told that if they masturbated masturbation in the United States was well-documented book for a their nervous systems would collapse. wide adoption of male circumcision. Even the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. This practice remains with us although Note Department of Labor advised mothers its original justification, to help pre- 1. In Genesis 38, Onan was that masturbation would ruin the lives of vent masturbation, is no longer valid. It struck dead by God when he spilled their children. was the sexual revolution of the 1960s, his seed instead of impregnating So deeply was the unsubstantiated particularly the work of such women his widowed sister-in-law as he had belief in the dangers of masturbation as Betty Dodson, Judy Chicago, Annie been commanded to do. His offense lay not in committing coitus inter- ingrained that even Freud fretted about Sprinkle, and others that finally forced ruptus, but in refusing to do what its dangers in his earlier work. Only in popular rethinking of the topic. tradition said he owed to his dead the late nineteenth and early twentieth One of the lessons from Laqueur’s brother’s memory. century would sex reformers such as book is that even those who consid-

Mission Statement of T Council For Secular Huma The Council for Secular Humanism cultivates CENTER FOR INQUIRY–International inquiry, ethical values, and human development through the advancement of secular humanism. PO Box 664 • Amherst, NY 14226 To carry out its mission the Council for Secular Tel. (716) 636-7571 • FAX (716) 636- Humanism sponsors publications, programs, and organizesMission meetings Statement and other group activities.of Th 1733 Council For Secular Human www.centerforinquiry.net m To promote secular humanist principles to the public, media, and policymakers. CENTER FOR INQUIRY–West CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Nepal m To provide secular humanist activities and 4773 Hollywood Blvd • Los PO Box 5284 communities to serve the needs of nonreligious Angeles CA 90027 Kathmandu, Nepal people and foster human enrichment. Tel. (323) 666-9797 • FAX (323) m To demonstrate the viability of the secular human- 666-4271 CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Peru ist www.cfiwest.org D. Casanova 430 eupraxophy as an alternative naturalistic Lima 14 Peru 51-1-9215741 life-stance. CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Metro New York , #2829 • New m CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Nigeria To engage in research relating to the critical York, NY 10112 PO Box 25269 examination of religious and supernatural claims Tel. (212) 265-2877 • Fax (212) and the humanist outlook. Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State 265-2844 Nigeria m To conduct educational programs for all age levels. www.cfimetrony.org Tel 234-2-2318420

CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Florida CENTER FOR INQUIRY–Russia PO Box 8099 • St. Petersburg, FL 119899 Russia 33738-8099 Moscow, Vorobevy Gory Tel. (727) 209-2902 • Fax (727) Moscow State University The Council for Secular Humanism is a nonprofit educational 393-8052 Philosophy Department organization. FREE INQUIRY is its official journal. www.cfiflorida.org

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toons are deliberate, but not so overt. The computer-generated,

Cartoon Religion proactive Veggie Tales franchise (a toss ed salad for God) is for tots whose Beth Birnbaum parents were scandalized by the sinful

elevision, today’s default substitute biblical knowledge; for relationships and community, is 2. Disgusted with all that multicul- One scholar described Talso a marketplace for offerings of tural crap the kids are fed on Sesame the sacred in the commercial, the profound Street; Lisa Simpson, who in the profane. Sermons, even prayers 3. Willing to shell out major bucks for once pitied her moth- and blessings, have moved be yond point- all the episodes, instead of dragging the of-purchase houses of worship. Televised kids to Vacation Bible School or church; er for versions of spiritual enlightenment for 4. Able to force their kids to watch having faith, as a every demographic and degree of religious them. piety abound, from “commitment-light” to Note: these cartoons are not to be stand-in for Jesus fundamentalist, feel-good, New Age psy- confused with the live-action Bible sto- ries sold by Charlton (“pry-my-gun- Christ. from-my-cold-dead-hands”) Heston for older children. Other car- homosexual orientation of Tinky Winky the Tele tubby. They act out biblical sto- ries and morality plays with asparagus, cucumbers, tomatoes (a fruit?), and other assorted veggies. They’re even starring in their own major motion pic- ture. But the best way to reach the major- ity of our nation’s youth, who avoid overtly religious programming like the chological, to an entire station plague (unless they really like the clay- of that old-time religion (WORD mation technique on Davy and Go liath) Network). is covertly through the cartoons they From televangelist Benny Hinn’s already watch. healing the afflicted through their Religious references abound television sets to astrology or Feng in almost every past and cur- Shui home decorating, it’s enough rent cartoon series: from to make an otherwise rational the prehistoric Flint- person wear a protective tin- foil helmet when holding the remote. But television religion isn’t confined to programs with “An gel” in the title, “Touched” or otherwise, or commercials for toilet tissue and calling collect. Children, the youngest entertainment product consumers, begin their reli- gious education with cartoons. Some are deliberate and overt, like the Bible story cartoon series, sold through a tele- vision informercial offer, for parents: 1. Concerned about their children’s Beth Birnbaum is a freelance writer.

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 56 stones, whose characters “lived” before galaxy far, far away, well before Christ. of Religion in the USA (sic).” mono theism, all the way to the futuristic It’s no wonder some Brits listed their In The Gospel According to the Jetsons. From the very beginning of the religion as Jedi on the last census. Simpsons, author Mark I. Pinsky, the art form, cartoon plots were taken from Religious themes are also secular- Orlando Sentinel’s religion reporter, the Bible. It meant parents would allow ized for cartoons, like the cute, cud- uncovers (allegedly) religious lessons and their children to watch cartoons. The dly, cloud-based Care Bears, who came socially redeemable value in the cartoon. Bible is also a great free source of pop- to Earth whenever the “Care-o-Meter” There’s also The Gospel According to ular material, having spent centuries in dropped below a certain level, similar to the Simpsons: Leaders Guide for Group the public domain. the Jewish belief that the world will end Study, which Pinsky wrote with Samuel Early cartoon characters prayed, when the number of the righteous falls F. Parvin, who also wrote Weekend at the deliberated between good and evil with below seven. Movies: the Best Retreats from Reel to a tiny angel on one shoulder and a tiny The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reel, which tells how to create movie-in- devil on the other, wore halos, died, and changed the mix. Although the four spired religious retreats for young people pizza-eating Turtles were named after and explains the religious lessons to be Renaissance painters, they were granted found in blockbusters like Big, Dave, and sentience by chemical mutation (science, Pleasantville. not God, was their creator) and fol- Relying on the aforementioned The “More people identi- lowed the teachings of a Sensei rat. They Gospel According to and the helped establish an Asian influence in groundbreaking work of The Tao of fy Ned Flanders with American cartoons, paving the way for Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, perhaps The Christianity than ‘the Pokemons and other Japanese animé. Nickelodeon broke another barrier, the Pope, Mother Theresa, Rugrats celebration of Jewish holidays a or even Billy Graham.’” clear multicultural wake-up call. But, since even the minds of the blas- “From the . . . begin- phemous come from God, a new form of ning of the art form, scholarship was born. It looks not to the study of the Scriptures to find the Word cartoon plots were had souls rise to heaven or down to of God, but to popular cartoons. taken from the Bible hell—or got resurrected holding a lily. Charles Schultz deliberately built in The cartoon world boasts a vast popula- his religious messages, so the concept . . . a great free source tion of spirits, ghosts, and other super- behind The Gospel According to Peanuts of popular natural manifestations, from friendly by Robert Short (1965) wasn’t much of a ones like Casper to malevolent demons, stretch. He may have made his case for material, having spent with only the skeptical Scooby Doo team Lucy as a stand-in for Original Sin, but to expose the hoax. Snoopy as Jesus is probably a bit over centuries in the public The use of cartoons for propagan- the top for most theologians. domain.” da during World War II indicates that Matt Groening’s The Simpsons began cartoon makers know exactly what as a from the cartoonist who they’re doing—in spite of All Dogs Go wrote Life in Hell. The Simpsons has to Heaven. been accused of skewering every value Gospel According to the Simpsons is an When other cultures relate reli- that decent, God-fearing people hold attempt to wrest control from the more gious observance to animals, inanimate dear; it has been shunned, reviled, and scholarly and inclusive The Simpsons objects, or natural phenomena, they’re protested by religious leaders and par- and Philosopy: The D’oh! of Homer, edit- considered primitive, pagan, or even ents alike. Groening himself admitted ed by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, worse. Their adherents are targeted for that he wouldn’t let his own kids watch and Aeon J. Skoble. conversion to monotheism—peacefully it. But many former critics are getting on The D’oh of Homer is comprised of by missionaries, or forcefully by the the show’s religious bandwagon, includ- eighteen essays by contemporary phi- army. In cartoons, however, Christianity ing the magazines Christian Century losophers, mostly college professors, is inherent in everything: the sun, the and Christianity Today. interpreting aspects of the show accord- ocean, dolls, toys, animals, trees, stars, According to sociologist John ing to Aristotle, Marx, Kant, epistemolo- foodstuffs, etc. Christmas ornament effi- Heeren, apparently a man with much gy, heuristic values, politics, sexual pol- gies of almost every imaginable cartoon free time on his hands, an analysis of itics (three-quarters of the characters character, cultural icon, and product seventy-one episodes of The Simpsons are male), ethics, etc. abound: Pepe Le Pew, Elvis, Marilyn for Christianity Today revealed that 69 All this attention to a cartoon says a Monroe, Speedy Alka-Seltzer, Chinese percent contained at least one religious lot about our contemporary intellectual Barbie (a Confucian convert), the Three reference, and 10 percent of the plots climate: if you don’t reference pop cul- Stooges (who were Jewish), even Darth directly concerned religion. He present- ture, even the intellectuals won’t read Vader, who was born long, long ago, in a ed his findings to “The Scientific Study your book.

57 http://www.secularhumanism.org Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 REVIEWS

In one essay, David Vessey explains ed by the burnt out Reverend Lovejoy a poll, more people identify Ned with that Simpsons character Ned Flanders doesn’t exactly indicate religious zeal Christianity than “the Pope, Mother is “only that which Matt Groening and on Homer’s part, especially since he Teresa, or even Billy Graham.” (Apol- his staff make him to be . . . because corrupts an innocent tribe as the story ogies to John Lennon, who once precip- quite obviously, Ned has no beliefs and unfolds. itated outrage when he compared the does not actually act.” He explains his Prior to the fairly recent episode in which she became a Richard Gere Buddhist, shown after Pinsky’s book was published, Lisa Simpson came across “All this attention to an atheist, or at least an agnostic. An acartoon says “Cartoon makers intellectual most of the time (see “Lisa and the American Anti-intellectualism” a lot about our know exactly what by Aeon J. Skoble in The Simpsons and contemporary they’re doing — in Philosophy), possessing a strong pro- gressive, pro-reason, antisuperstition, intellectual climate: spite of All Dogs Go antipollution, pro-animal rights, pro- if you don’t to Heaven.” feminist, and prohumanist agenda, Lisa remains a (somewhat) innocent child. reference pop Therefore, Pinsky describes Lisa, who once pitied her mother for having faith, culture, even the as a stand-in for Jesus Christ. She’s intellectuals won’t probably a better match than Snoopy. methodology of treating Ned and the The Simpsons are basically equal read your book.” other characters as if they are real, opportunity satirists, skewering any while acknowledging the role of dozens and all religions except Islam, which of writers. they never found funny. They’ve driven In contrast, Pinsky, who is Jewish, the Catholic Church apoplectic. The Beatles’ popularity to that of Jesus, are admittedly takes the cartoon family at show has sometimes been called upon long overdue.) face value, placing them firmly into the to apologize to their targets, notably the Pinsky’s The Gospel According Judeo-Christian camp, though touching entire city of Rio de Janeiro. to Disney will be published shortly, upon other influences in the diverse Krusty the Clown, Springfield’s sole al though The Gospel According to Dis- Springfield community. Interviewing Jewish (you should pardon the expres- ney: Christian Values in the Early Ani- the real, live, unanimated writers, he’s sion) role model, reconciled with his mated Classics by Philip Longfellow forced to admit that the two believing father, an Orthodox rabbi, in an episode An derson was published in 1999, mostly Protestants on the staff are a rarity. Pinsky deems significant. Convenience sticking with the early, Walt Disney him- The vast number of Simpsons writers store manager Apu, his wife, Manjula, self, pre-Michael Eisner (the man who are former Catholic and Jewish avowed their octuplets, and the Kwik-i-Mart guru brought us Mickey Mouse menorahs) atheists, or at least agnostics, mostly who dwells high atop the Himalayas in a classics. It explores, among other par- Harvard- or Ivy League-educated. twenty-four-hour market, have caused ables, the role of the apple in both the Pinsky feels the show upholds moral great mental anguish to Hindus every- Garden of Eden and in precipitating family values because Marge hasn’t where. Snow White’s coma. divorced Homer in spite of his knock- But not everyone takes offense. The It may be a book series and major ing her up before their marriage, child main religious character The Simpsons motion picture series and not a cartoon, abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, bigamy, offers is Ned Flanders—Homer’s next- but there’s also The Gospel According public sex, bootlegging, conning old peo- door neighbor, nemesis, and sometimes to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the ple, murderous Halloween stunts, sell- friend, the ultimate Christian nerd, a Stories of the World’s Most Famous ing his soul to the Devil, breaking most guy so obsessed with godliness that even Seeker by Connie Neal, which pains- of the Ten Commandments, world-class his minister runs from him. Ned and his takingly compares Potter to the Bible, gluttony, and myriad assorted other dearly departed wife, Maude, and their looking for spiritual enlightenment in venal and mortal sins. two sons have become heroes to Christ- the series Christians love to ban and In the episode where Homer acciden- ians, at least to some Christians who burn. She’s developed a career explain- tally becomes a missionary, Pinsky, who have trouble separating fantasy from ing Potter, having also published What’s academically (almost biblically), cites reality. In the last year, a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? chapter and verse of these episodes (as a Ned Flanders look-alike contest had so Neal has also collaborated with Pinsky’s did the philosophers in D’oh), sees reaf- many participants that many had to be partner Parvin in writing the soon-to-be- firmation of faith as Homer repeatedly turned away. released The Gospel Accord ing to Harry hollers, “Help me, Jeebus.” Not knowing This identification is deliberate, Potter: Leader’s Guide for Group Study. his Lord and Savior’s name is spite of at least on the part of Christianity As Thomas Aquinas rolls his regular attendance at a church head- Today, which notes that, according to in his grave, somewhere

free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 58 biophysical science, State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) Alberto Hidalgo Tuñón, professor of philosophy, Transnational Universidad de Oviedo (Spain) Donald Johanson, Institute of Human Origins (discov- Affiliates of the INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF HUMANISM erer of “Lucy”) (USA) ACADÉMIE INTERNATIONALE D’HUMANISME Sergeí Kapitza, chair, Moscow Institute of Physics and The Academy is composed of nontheists who are: Technology; vice president, Academy of Sciences (1) devoted to the principle of free inquiry in all (Russia) fields of human endeavor; (2) committed to the George Klein, cancer researcher, Karolinska Institute, scientific outlook and the use of reason and the Stockholm (Sweden) The Center for Inquiry–Intern ational scientific method in acquiring knowledge about György Konrád, novelist, sociologist; cofounder, is affiliated with the following nature; and (3) upholders of humanist ethical val- Hungarian Humanist Association (Hungary) organizations around the world: ues and principles. Sir Harold W. Kroto, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (UK) Ioanna Kuçuradi, secretary general, Fédération Asia HUMANIST LAUREATES Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie (Turkey) Indian , Pieter Admiraal, medical doctor (Netherlands) Paul Kurtz, professor emeritus of philosophy, State New Delhi, India Shulamit Aloni, former education minister (Israel) University of New York at Buffalo (USA) Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, India Ruben Ardila, psychologist, National University of Gerald A. Larue, professor emeritus of archaeolo- Colombia (Colombia) gy and biblical studies, University of Southern Europe Kurt Baier, professor of philosophy, University of California at Los Angeles (USA) Instytut Wydawniczy “Ksiazka i Prasa” ul, Pittsburgh (USA) Thelma Lavine, Clarence J. Robinson professor of phi- Warsaw, Poland Etienne-Emile Baulieu, Lasker Award for Clinical losophy, George Mason University (USA) Russian Humanist Society, Medicine winner (France) Richard Leakey, author and paleo-anthropologist Baruj Bonacerraf, Nobel Prize Laureate in (Kenya) Moscow, Russia. Physiology or Medicine (USA) Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry South and Central America Sir Hermann Bondi, professor of applied mathe- (France) Asociación Mexicana Etica Racionalista matics, King’s College, University of London; Jolé Lombardi, organizer of the New University for Fellow of the Royal Society; Past Master of the Third Age (Italy) AC, Churchill College, London (UK) José Leite Lopes, director, Centro Brasileiro de México City, México Elena Bonner, author, human rights activist (Russia) Pesquisas Fisicas (Brazil) Asociación Ediciones de la Revista Jacques Bouveresse, professor of philosophy, Paul MacCready, Kremer prize-winner for aeronautical Peruana de Filosofía Aplicada, Lima, Collège de France (France) achievements; president, AeroViroment, Inc. (USA) Perú Paul D. Boyer, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (USA) Adam Michnik, historian, political writer, cofounder of Vern L. Bullough, distinguished professor, KOR (Workers’ Defense Committee) (Poland) Middle East University of Southern California (USA) Jonathan Miller, OBE, theater and film director, phy- The Institute for the Secularization of Mario Bunge, Frothingham Professor of sician (UK) Islamic Society (ISIS) Foundations and Philosophy of Science, McGill Taslima Nasrin, author, physician, social critic www.secularislam.org University (Canada) (Bangladesh) Averroes and Enlightenment Jean-Pierre Changeux, Collège de France, Institute Conor Cruise O’Brien, author, diplomat, University of International Association, Pasteur, Académie des Sciences (France) Dublin (Ireland) Patricia Smith Churchland, professor of philos- Indumati Parikh, M.D., president, Radical Humanist Cairo, Egypt ophy, University of California at San Diego; Association of India (India) Africa (in cooperation with African- adjunct professor, Salk Institute for Biological John Passmore, professor of philosophy, Australian Americans for Humanism) Studies (USA/Canada) National University (Australia) Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author, Commander of the Jean-Claude Pecker, professor emeritus of astrophys- Action for Humanism, Ogun State, Nigeria British Empire (Sri Lanka) ics, Collège de France, Académie des Sciences Rational Centre, Accra, Ghana Bernard Crick, professor of politics, Birkbeck (France) The Uganda Humanist Association, College, University of London (UK) Steven Pinker, professor of brain and cognitive sci- Kampala, Uganda Francis Crick, Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology, ence, MIT (USA) Salk Institute (USA) Dennis Razis, medical oncologist, “Hygeia” Diagnos tic & Oceania Richard Dawkins, Charles Simonyi Professor Therapeutic Center of Athens S.A. (Greece) New Zealand Association of Rationalists of Public Understanding of Science, Oxford Marcel Roche, permanent delegate to UNESCO from & Humanists, Auckland, New Zealand University (UK) Venezuela (Venezuela) José M. R. Delgado, professor and chair, Max Rood, professor of law; and former Minister of International Department of Neuropsychology, University of Justice (Netherlands) International Humanist & Ethical Union, Madrid (Spain) Richard Rorty, professor of philosophy, University of London, Great Britain Daniel Dennett, director of the Center for Cognitive Virginia, Stanford University (USA) Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), Studies, Tufts University (USA) Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., professor of history, City Los Angeles, United States Jean Dommanget, Belgian Royal Observatory University of New York (USA) (Belgium) Léopold Sédar Senghor, former president of Senegal; Umberto Eco, novelist, semiotician, University of member of the Académie Française (Senegal) Bologna Jens C. Skou, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (Denmark) Paul Edwards, professor of philosophy, J. J. C. Smart, professor emeritus of philosophy, College, City University of New York (USA) Australian National University (Australia) Luc Ferry, professor of philosophy, Sorbonne Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, playwright (Nigeria) Lionel Tiger, professor of anthropology, Rutgers— University and University of Caen (France) Barbara Stanosz, professor of philosophy, Instytut the State University of (USA) Antony Flew, professor emeritus of philosophy, Wydawniczy “KsiÅÛka i Prasa” (Poland) Sir Peter Ustinov, actor, director, writer, Reading University (UK) Jack Steinberger, Nobel Laureate in Physics (USA) Commander of the British Empire, 1975 (UK) Betty Friedan, author, founder, National Svetozar Stojanovi´c, director, Institute for Philosophy Mario Vargas Llosa, author (Perú) Organization for Women (NOW) (USA) and Social Theory, University of Belgrade Simone Veil, former Minister of Social Affairs, Yves Galifret, professor emeritus of neurophysiol- (Yugoslavia) Health, and Urban Affairs (France) ogy at the University P. and M. Curie; general Thomas S. Szasz, professor of psychiatry, State University Gore Vidal, author, social commentator (USA) secretary of l’Union Rationaliste (France) of New York Medical School, Syracuse (USA) Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist (USA) Johan Galtung, professor of sociology, University V. M. Tarkunde, senior advocate, Supreme Court; chair- Mourad Wahba, professor of philosophy, University of Oslo (Norway) man, Indian Radical Humanist Association (India) of Ain Shams, Cairo; president of the Afro-Asian Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Laureate; professor of Richard Taylor, professor emeritus of philosophy, Philosophical Association (Egypt) physics, California Institute of Technology (USA) University of Rochester (USA) Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winner; professor of Adolf Grünbaum, professor of philosophy, Sir Keith Thomas, historian, president, Corpus Christi physics, University of Texas at Austin (USA) University of Pittsburgh (USA) College, Oxford University (UK) George A. Wells, professor of German, Birkbeck Jürgen Habermas, professor of philosophy, Rob Tielman, professor of sociology, Universiteit voor College, University of London (UK) University of Frankfurt (Germany) Humanistiek, Utrecht; former copresident, Inter- Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor, Herbert Hauptman, Nobel Laureate; professor of national Humanist and Ethical Union (Netherlands) the Agassiz Museum, Harvard University (USA)