Spring 1995 Vol 15. No.2

Secularism in Islamic Countries • Abortion Violence Critiques of The Bell Curve and the Cult of Lenin SPRING 1995, VOL. 15, NO. 2 ISSN 0272-0701 ~ ree áIÿ furl Contents

Editor: Paul Kurtz 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Senior Editors: Vern Bullough, Thomas W. Flynn, Gerald Larue, Gordon Stein 4 THE MANY FACES OF FEMINISM Executive Editor: Timothy J. Madigan Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski 4 Introduction: Who's a Fan of Virginia Woolf? Timothy J. Madigan Contributing Editors: 5 FI Interview: Camille Paglia on Freethought, Feminism, Robert S. Alley, Joe E. Barnhart, David Berman, H. James Birx, Jo Ann Boydston, Bonnie Bullough, and Iconoclasm Paul Edwards, Albert Ellis, Roy P. Fairfield, Charles 8 Toward a Partnership Society Stuart Jordan W. Faulkner, Antony Flew, Levi Fragell, Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Jean Kotkin, Thelma 13 Feminism, the Noble Lie Robert Sheaffer Lavine, Tibor Machan, Ronald A. Lindsay, Michael 17 Radical Feminism's Martin, Delos B. McKown, Lee Nisbet, John Novak, Skipp Porteous, Howard Radest, Robert Rimmer, Mistake Judith Sherven and James Sniechowski Michael Rockier, Svetozar Stojanovic, Thomas Szasz, 18 Feminism and Public Policy Joan Kennedy Taylor V. M. Torkunde, Richard Taylor, Rob Tielman Associate Editors: 21 FI Interview: Eleanor Smeal on Feminism Present and Future Molleen Matsumura, Lois Porter 23 Feminism and Modernity Rosi Braidotti Editorial Associates: 30 On Feminist Nomadism Barry Smith Doris Doyle, Thomas Franczyk, Roger Greeley, James Martin-Diaz, Steven L. Mitchell, Warren 31 Nomad, Come Home Ellen R. Klein Allen Smith 32 Nineteenth-Century Women of Freethought Carole Gray Cartoonist: Don Addis Chairman, CODESH. Inc.: Paul Kurtz 36 SECULARISM AND ENLIGHTENMENT IN Chief Development Officer: James Kimberly ISLAMIC COUNTRIES Public Relations Director: Norm R. Allen, Jr. Executive Director, Secular Organizations for 36 The Cairo Conference: A Hopeful Sign Paul Kurtz Sobriety: James Christopher 39 A Call for a New `Enlightenment' Ioanna Kuçuradi Chief Data Officer: Richard Seymour 40 Some Thoughts on Islamic Fundamentalism Vern L. Bullough Fulfillment Manager: Michael Cione Typesetting: Paul E. Loynes 42 POLAND TODAY: Graphic Designer: Jacqueline Cooke A CHALLENGE FOR SECULAR HUMANISM Audio Technician: Vance Vigrass Staff. 42 Poland's New Totalitarianism Marian Hillar Georgeia Locurcio, Anthony Nigro, Ranjit Sandbu 45 Humanist Activity in Poland Jan Wolenski Executive Director Emeritus: Jean Mlllholland

46 The Pope and the Myth of the Family Barbara Stanosz FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published quarterly by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation, 3965 Rensch 48 A Bicentennial Glance at The Age of Reason Frank Smith Road, Amherst, NY 14228-2713. Phone (716) 636-7571. Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright 01995 by CODESH, Inc. Second-class postage paid at Amherst, N.Y., and at 51 REVIEWS additional mailing offices. National distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, Solana Beach, The Defense of Rationality, Alberto Hidalgo Tuñón / Reflections on California. FREE INQUIRY Is available from University the Cult of Lenin, Paul Kurtz / Scientist Nitwit Atheist Proves Microfilms and is indexed in Philosophers' Index. Printed in the United States. Existence of God, Vcior J. 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Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE INQUIRY, Box 664, Amherst, Cover art by Bruce Adams. NY 14226-0664. Declaration" is quoted: "We do not think it is moral to baptize infants, to confirm Letters to the Editor adolescents, or to impose a religious creed on young people before they are able to consent. Although children should learn about the history of reli- Culture Wars a person wise enough to run people's gious/moral practices, these minds lives? should not be indoctrinated in the faith Paul Kurtz ("Culture Wars Intensify," FI, Remember, we are concerned with eth- before they are mature enough to evalu- Winter 1994/95) expresses surprise over ical values. It is ethically wrong to force a ate the merits for themselves." the 1994 elections, and evaluates the person to do something with his money It seems here that humanists are trying political options now alive. What are our that he does not want to do. Yes, libertari- to deny to others the freedom they claim chances for secular ethical values to pre- ans want to end all taxes, because taxation for themselves—they themselves want to vail? He separates into two "senses of is theft. Find a difference. indoctrinate young minds. Why do freedom" conservativism and liberalism. humanists have the right to impose a He distrusts the conservatives who are Everett De Jager humanist creed on young people before willing to trust you and me with econom- Cincinnati, Ohio they are able to consent? ic freedom, but want to control our per- A couple of letters to the editor in that sonal liberties and put God in charge. The Paul Kurtz replies: issue provide further examples of this liberals favor personal, but not financial, mindset. Sidney Kash describes how he liberties. FREE INQUIRY tries to take no political would indoctrinate children: "If they do I place Kurtz with the liberals. He position per se. Secular humanists may not get religious training, they should be fears economic liberty and criticizes lib- differ on a wide range of political and provided with a basis in science and skep- ertarians as extremists who want to end economic measures. Some are liberals, ticism. ... To introduce science, I suggest all government taxation and regulation. some are libertarians, and some are con- reading about biology (including the evo- He fears powerful corporations and sup- servatives. lutionary progression of animals) and ports a mixed economy in which these Our editorial staff includes one astronomy. Children ages three to five are powers are regulated by elected represen- Republican, one Independent, two not too young. Taking a leaf from religion, tatives. Democrats, and one Libertarian. it is important to expose children early to When I examine my condition of life Speaking for myself only, I said in my modern scientific views of the world at age seventy-five and ask what corpo- editorial that I believe in balance: in a around us...." rations have done to me, I look around free market economy with some govern- If parents shouldn't impose their nar- and see two cars in my garage, a com- ment regulation. Huge multi-national row ideas on their children, how do we puter on my desk, a TV and VCR in the corporations have enormous power and prevent it? Thought police? It's scary. living room, an excellent hi-fi system, they are gobbling up small and mid-sized Some parents will be allowed to pass their good furniture, a heating and air condi- firms everywhere. Granted, one should values on but others will not. tioning system that works fine, and lots not trust big government; on the other more. I also see a retirement package that hand,the implicit faith that large corpo- Francis M. Brislawn accumulated while I worked for a corpo- rations if unregulated would be benefi- Laramie, Wyo. ration. cent is questionable. As corporations When I ask what government regula- pursue their own bottom lines, the public Paul Kurtz replies: tions have done for me, I find that the good may not always be realized. Hence, cable TV that now serves me was in my view, we need the government to We were simply saying that children delayed thirty years. Medication that I play some role as a countervailing force have the right to cultural enrichment may need in a few years will likely still to defend the public interest. and educational opportunities. This be delayed by the Food and Drug It is one thing to reduce high taxes and includes learning about science and how Administration, and when it is finally excessive regulation, but to call for the to think. If parents are not allowed to available will cost ten times as much to reduction of all taxes and regulation is beat or abuse their children or deny pay for the bureaucratic process and surely extremist. them food, then they should not deny delay. I could name many other "bene- them the benefits of a well-rounded edu- fits" of government regulation, but you cation. This moral principle is widely get the idea. In "Notes from the Editor" (FI, Fall accepted by the democratic society. I am Mr. Kurtz, please describe the dangers 1994) the question is raised: What right surely not calling for thought police; of the large corporations. Exactly what do parents have to impose their own nar- merely advocating the right of a child to bad things can corporations do that must row and chauvinistic ideas on their off- an education. be regulated by elected representatives? spring? Further down in this article a Does getting elected automatically make principle of the "Secular Humanist (Continued on p. 64)

Spring 1995 3 The Many Faces of Feminism

Introduction: Who's a Fan of Virginia Woolf? Timothy J. Madigan

Women have as yet made little contribu- To balance these natural law arguments brother. What would her lot in life have tions to philosophy. But when women who for women's inherent inferiority, I then been, at a time when all actors were male, are not mere students of other persons' have the class read several poems by one social mobility for females was strictly philosophy set out to write it, we cannot of my favorite authors, Emily Brontë. The limited, and the field of literature was conceive that it will be the same in view- child of an obscure cleric, living in isola- thought to be improper for them? Women, point or tenor as that composed from the tion in the moors of Yorkshire, England, if they are to reach the heights of their standpoint of the different masculine Emily—along with her sisters Charlotte capabilities, must have an independent experience of things. and Anne—created a body of work rich in income, the time to reflect, and a space in observations. She was a rebel against con- which to do their work—conditions that —John Dewey, "Philosophy ventionality, as is witnessed in her poem until quite recently were generally denied and Democracy," 1919 "The Old Stoic": to female members of society.

ewey's prescient words (given one Riches I hold in light esteem; he articles published below offer a year before women received the right And Love I laugh to scorn, kaleidoscopic look at the varieties of D And lust of fame was but a dream T to vote in the United States) are a fitting That vanished with the morn: feminist thought available today—a wide beginning to the feature of this issue— range of opinion, from the individualistic "The Many Faces of Feminism." What is And if I pray, the only prayer approach of Camille Paglia to the empha- the current situation regarding the femi- That moves my lips for me sis on organization of Eleanor Smeal. nism movement? Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear, Rosi Braidotti's article deserves special And give me liberty!" One of the questions I raise when mention. A professor of Women's Studies teaching Introduction to Philosophy Yes, as my swift days near their goal, at the University of Utrecht, she recently courses is why there have been so few `Tis all that I implore; gave an address to the University of female philosophers until recent times. I In life and death, a chainless soul, Humanistic Studies entitled "Feminism have my students read selections from With courage to endure. and Modernity." (See page 23.) It was Plato's Republic, where it is argued that enthusiastically received by many human- there cannot be a truly just society until all Yet the Brontë sisters initially pub- ists present, even though its postmodern citizens, male and female, are given equal lished their works under male pseudo- slant called into question the rationalistic opportunities to excel. We then study nyms, for they realized that otherwise no basis of humanism. In some ways contin- Aristotle's rejoinder that such a policy attention would be paid to them. uing Woolf's theme, she argues for a would be perverse, since women are by Next, I have my students read a selec- "nomadic" feminism, which she feels is nature inferior to men, intellectually, tion from Virginia Woolf's seminal essay, opposed to "the dogmatic self-seriousness emotionally, and physically. This point is "A Room of One's Own," in which she of patriarchal thought." However, philoso- later reiterated by selections from the argues that women have been systemati- phers Barry Smith and Ellen R. Klein, in writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, a vocif- cally banned from all academic fields and their responses, object to the corrolation erous misogynist, who argued that women denied proper educations. Woolf (herself of scientific reasoning with male domina- were really just big children, unable to the daughter of a philosopher, the noted tion. Is it not scientific reasoning and understand abstract thought. (Ironically, agnostic Leslie Stephen) uses the Brontë technological advances that have done his mother was one of the first female sisters as a poignant example of naturally more than anything else to liberate novelists to publish in her own name— talented women whose only options were women, offering more career opportuni- she understandably did not get along very to become governesses—a particularly ties than ever before? Is rationality really well with her son.) horrid task for three women with no fond- gender based? ness for children! Consider if Shakespeare Not only the profession of philosophy, Timothy J. Madigan is executive editor of had had a sister, Woolf proposes, who but all professions are now being changed FREE INQUIRY. possessed the same creative powers as her as more and more women enter the work-

4 FREE INQUIRY force. Questions both ancient and new are freethought, particularly the criticism of new freedom, but also by a new severi- being raised—do women think differently religious dogmas, has played in bringing ty. For it will be enforced by the realities of associated life as they are disclosed about increasing equality for women. than men? How relevant are biological to careful and systematic inquiry, and and social determinants? Is equality As Dewey pointed out, in a paper writ- not by a combination of convention and among the sexes possible, and, if so, what ten in 1931, an exhausted legal system with senti- mean? The following arti- mentality. does this really The growing freedom of women can cles detail the current debates being raised hardly have any other outcome than the about these issues in feminist circles. In production of more realistic and more The significance of this new freedom is addition, they show the important role that human morals. It will be marked by a explored in the following pages. •

FI Interview Camille Paglia on Freethought, Feminism, and Iconoclasm conducted by Timothy J. Madigan One does not really interview Camille Paglia—author of the best-selling works Sexual Personae; Sex, Art, and American Culture; and Vamps and Tramps—one gives her a forum to express her free-wheeling opinions in machine-gun delivery style on whatever issues she wants to address. What follows is a prime example of what might be called her "in-your-face feminism."—Ens.

REE INQUIRY: You're one of the few America. Fpublic intellectuals whose work is FI: In Vamps and Tramps, you state discussed both on college campuses and that "the silencing of authentic debate in working-class bars. Why do you think among feminists helps the rise of the far you've touched such a nerve? right." CAMILLE PAGLIA: It's pretty amazing. PAGLIA: That's right, and the fruits of Don't forget by the time I burst on the this are now being seen. I've warned about scene five years ago, I was in my forties, this for years—the suppression of debate and I'd gotten absolutely no attention by the liberal wing has moved the entire whatsoever. I couldn't get published. Not nation to the right. People who were sur- only was Sexual Personae rejected by prised by the Republican sweep have sim- seven major publishing houses, but parts ply not been listening to me. It happened of it had been rejected for years by maga- not because of any right-wing conspiracy; zines. it happened because of a spiritual vacuum But by the beginning of the 1990s, the on the left. The left became too removed culture seemed to change, and suddenly from the people. Leftism began 150 years people were listening to me. There was a ago supposedly to speak for the silent big shift. I represent the best of the 1960s, majority, for the people. True sixties radi- which was all about freethought and free calism really was populist. I'm a Clinton speech. I hate dogma in any form. I hate it supporter and I'll vote for him again (God in the Roman Catholic church, which is help me), but he has surrounded himself why I left it twenty-five years ago. I hate air. with these white, upper middle class elite it in gay activism and feminism now. People who are interested in ideas wel- professionals who speak about "the peo- Dogma has also taken over the humanities comed me, and people who cling to a ple" from a very great distance and, in a departments in elite schools—poststruc- fixed belief system find me threatening. very paternalistic, condescending way, as turalism and so forth. I think people are There's nothing more dangerous to a lib- "victims." It is insulting—I'm remember- sick of the ideological and clichéd ways in eral democracy than fixed dogma. I don't ing my background in an immigrant fam- which cultural issues were approached in like coteries. I have struggled to maintain ily when I say this—they are totally the 1980s. So I came like a breath of fresh my outside position, which is very rare in removed from the people they pretend to

Spring 1995 5 speak for. These false progressives are Generation X. It's no coincidence that would be so easy for the left to say, "A merely voices of reaction, clinging to out- Kurt Cobain killed himself. What we have moment of meditation in the schools is moded, broken-down liberal ideas. After bequeathed is chaos to the young. The far fine." What is the big deal? People who all, a lot of sixties radicalism was critical right accurately observed the hollowness are religious can think religious thoughts. of the liberal establishment, like Leonard at the heart of our culture; but I disagree Let people just gather their thoughts. Bernstein having the Black Panthers over with the cure that the far right offers. I'm in the posture of attacking the left for tea—radical chic. Liberals were the What I'm saying to the left is, "Wake up! and saying to them "You have spawned worst hypocrites in the 1960s. I despise The far right sees something you are in Newt Gingrich." Rush Limbaugh is neces- "limousine liberalism." denial about" sary. He's one of the few freethinkers in FI: You also say, "To rescue feminism, Everything is blighted for the young. the whole culture. The people at Harvard, we must give religion its due, but require They have reduced aspirations. They are Princeton, Duke, and Stanford aren't free- it to stay in its place." in a dead end. Because of this total neglect thinkers. They're just a bunch of lem- PAGLIA: That has to be done to rescue of spiritual values we have the tremen- mings compared to Rush Limbaugh, all progressive politics. One of the major dous appeal of the right. There's two thou- who's out there with his own independent crises that the heirs to the left have sand years of developed thought behind point-of-view. He's a principled speaker received is the neglect of spiritual values. Christianity. There's three thousand years and thinker, even though my politics are I'm an atheist, but we people of the sixties behind Judaism. So, better Jehovah than not his. The left can no longer claim to be were very spiritual in our own ways. That Foucault. Jehovah at least brings along the voice of the people. is, we abandoned organized religions, but this incredible work, the Bible. What a FI: You also talk about a renewed we sought out Hinduism and Buddhism. great collection of poetry, magnificent, interest in the pagan. Certainly organized We were very interested in cross-cultural filled with things of spiritual use, whether religion had tried to eradicate pagan ele- spiritual experiences. A passage to India, you believe in God or not. The grandeur ments. as it were. and intellectual development of Catholic PAGLIA: The overall theme of my Now what's happened as part of the theology is staggering. Foucault is a work is this: Judeo-Christianity never collapse of the progressive left is a fraud; and that's the diet our best kids in defeated paganism. Instead, paganism, descent into social constructivism, which the elite schools are being fed. It is after the fall of Rome, was driven under- says that everything that we are is made appalling. The man knew nothing. ground, and it has erupted in Western cul- by society. There's no feeling for nature We have destroyed the young's natural ture at three key moments. The first was anymore. The feminism that's being instincts. We told them you cannot look at the Renaissance. Greco-Roman human- taught now is a very shrunken view of life. art without thinking of a prefab social ism came back—Botticelli did a painting We are defined as nothing but social agenda—racism, sexism, homophobia. of Venus rather than the Madonna. The beings, the product of environmental pres- We have destroyed the natural, pleasur- second moment was Romanticism. And sures. There's a whole wing of feminism able response to art. We've turned them the most glamorous of my three eruptions that insists there's no difference between into dried-up cynics. True creativity is the twentieth century. I call it not male and female—we're exactly the same, means being willing to make a fool of Sartre's Age of Anxiety, but rather the Age and we become different because society yourself, letting it all go. of Hollywood. Modern popular culture is shapes us in one direction or another. The left is to be blamed for the appeal in fact an eruption of the buried pagan ele- Gloria Steinern believes that, for example. of the right. The right offers stable, tradi- ment in Western civilization—the very There's another wing of feminism—the tional religious values. And when people things the far right finds most unpalatable. only one that does think of nature—and it marry and have children, they are con- Christianity has never been able to hon- sentimentalizes nature. It sees it as a won- cerned about what kind of values to give estly deal with sex, because it belongs to derful goddess figure, and she's all good. them. That's why so many people are the natural realm and Christianity imag- I criticize that as being Rousseauist; and turning back to the old religions. Religion ines us as transcending our natural selves, it's not true. The great fertility religions of has tremendous cultural power. becoming like God up in heaven who's the world have seen nature as having dual What I have offered in my work is a sexless and bodiless. "Turn the other parts. Nature is a cycle of birth and death. compromise solution. There should be cheek" does not deal with the innateness It's positive and negative. Creative and shared educational experiences in all of aggression. Many feminists believe one destructive. There's a profound kind of nations. The history of any culture is its is taught to be violent by a violent society. collapse and contraction. religion. I'm looking for a scholarly view Those things that people most deplore are The Enlightenment turned away from of religion. Everyone in the world should precisely what the culture needs. It is the organized religion, but put reason and sci- know Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judeo- strange truncations, limitations, and ence in its place. Romanticism rebelled Christianity, African tribal religions, and repressions of Judeo-Christianity that against organized religion, but put nature so forth. What we would do in effect is have in fact produced the cult of the striv- and art in its place. What has modernism say, "Here are all the possible ways of ing, heroic, turbulent individual artist, done? It turned against organized religion, spiritually apprehending the universe." from Michelangelo to Baudelaire to Lord and given nothing in its place. The effects Trying to produce an education that's Byron down to Elvis Presley. This is part of this are being felt by the young today. completely clear of religion is stupid. It of the greatness of the West. It's based on

6 FREE INQUIRY neurosis and repression. don't seem to catch the irony that these be living in grass huts." I knew that this FI: The artists are somewhat like oys- are male thinkers telling them about sentence would inflame these women, that ters producing pearls from the irritants of "phallocentrism." they would not read my book, and I could their upbringing. PAGLIA: Precisely. Most of the women stampede them to go in the wrong direc- PAGLIA: Judeo-Christian theology is in academe who pretend to be feminists tion. They would assume that I was of the fascinating—very complex, very intellec- are not. They do not know the history of far right. They were absolutely convinced tually stimulating. In some ways, it's an feminism. They never studied history, that they knew what my system was. overdevelopment of one part of the brain, anthropology, psychology, biology. And It worked brilliantly. I managed to and the body suffers. We need a long that is why, for all their attacks on the evade early tackles. I had the field to view. But we're in a period of postmod- canon and tradition, they created an myself for a long time. I often say, I mod- ernism, where people have this stupid idea instant canon of their own, all the more eled my hits—my one-line attack sound- that there are no great narratives anymore. false. I speak as a feminist. My feminism bites—on those great crisp hits in the mid- Everything is discontinuous. predates the feminism of Gloria Steinem. dle of the field that you can hear all the FI: Postmodernism seems to lead back I go way back. Most of these women in way in the back row. I love that kind of to premodernism: questioning all the pre- my view have drifted from their own cul- style, where a free safety appears out of sumptions of modernism reawakens inter- tural or ethnic or religious identities and nowhere. I'm doing quick, sharp hits, very est in ancient theologies. they cling to feminism as a new religion. violent but also with great bravura. If I PAGLIA: Postmodernism is a big fancy That's why they are absolutely irrational were to be asked what position I'd play it word for nothing. It is so passé. Let's get when you try to argue with them. They would be either free safety or tight end— past Beckett's Waiting for Godot. The have accepted passively certain received those big guys who run right over people view of the world that there's nothing but truths, and they have not thought them to the goal line. Football is a great model a nihilistic landscape is completely out- through. They cling together in bands, and for keeping your vision, concentrating moded. That's not our world. I feel that never listen to anyone outside their group. energy, planning, and keeping in condi- African-American music has entered very They had the idea that if they ignored tion. deeply into our psyche. The negativity and someone like me, I'd go away. It was per- FI: It would be nice if you could coach alienation in the African-American expe- fect for me, because it allowed me to ram- the Buffalo Bills. They might actually win rience is our native sensibility, and it's page unchecked. They're stupefied now. I a Super Bowl with your attitude. revolutionized the world in terms of music have had three best-sellers in five years. You have a very Nietzschean element and dance. I'm trying to assassinate post- FI: Speaking of your tactics, you write in your writing style—you, too, "philos- modernism. I'm at war with the people in that football is your only religion, and that ophize with a hammer." You make many our universities and academic journals feminists should learn strategies from it. statements that are deliberately provoca- and everywhere where people are still Our editor Paul Kurtz published an article tive. Here's one from Vamps and preaching this line. It's the worst thing in defending football in our Spring 1994 Tramps: "It's not male hatred of women, the world to say to someone, "The world issue, and a lot of our readers got very but male fear of woman that is the great is empty, the world is meaningless, no upset, accusing him of advocating vio- universal" ideals are possible." lence. PAGLIA: I think that that is my best FI: Related to postmodernism is the PAGLIA: Ugggh. Baseball is a sport contribution to feminism. When I came on claim that rational thinking is "phallocen- that all intellectuals pretend to like. It's the scene, all these wonderful archetypes tric." very passive. I've never liked it, even from the whole of world history—the PAGLIA: Oh! That kind of talk is so though I played softball in school. But I femme fatale, the medusa, the gorgon— embarrassing. It comes out of Jacques love football. It's controlled violence. were considered to be hallucinatory pro- Lacan. Even the word phallocentric is There are rules to circumscribe uncon- jections by women-hating men. And what such a stupid neologism. What kind of trolled violence. You're penalized. I think I did was to recover the stereotypes and idiots do we have pretending that that is that football is absolutely magnificent. I show that they contain some terrible truth supposed to be a big philosophical term? watched it with my father in Syracuse about sexual relations. Take a film like All of Lacan's work is a big pile of when I was young. The way the coaches Basic Instinct, which feminist and gay manure as far as I'm concerned, com- and players strategize, plan, marshall the activists picketed. I loved Basic Instinct. I pletely useless. Thank God, when I troups, anticipate, develop subterfuge— thought Sharon Stone gave one of the entered college in 1964, I was exposed to it's a wonderful combination of brain and great performances in the history of film. great literature, great art, great thought, brawn. She showed, in the interrogation scene everything from Plato and Aristotle down There's no doubt that I have modeled a where all the men are turned to jelly when to Hegel, Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. lot of my tactics on football. When the she uncrosses her legs, that the sexual People who use the word phallocentric academic feminists tried to stonewall me, woman dominates man. She is in such are desperate academic careerists who I ran a misdirection play. My most notori- command there. Men don't hate women. want to sound important. ous sentence is in the first chapter of There are some men who hate their moth- FI: Female writers who make these Sexual Personae—"If civilization had ers—usually they end up being serial claims and refer to Lacan and Foucault been left in female hands, we would still murderers.

Spring 1995 7 Mostly men are fascinated by and fear called a misogynist! Does that make any feminist who is a critic of the feminist women. Woman represents the origin of sense? Someone who's an open lesbian, establishment. I'm someone who's trying man—every boy comes out of a woman's who's written on Madonna and Diana and to reform feminism, as much as my great body. It's beyond personality. It has to do Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy heroine, St. Teresa of Avila, who wasn't with this huge force that is nature itself. Onassis? I'm constantly writing evoca- trying to get rid of Catholicism, but was Some feminism tries to cut us off from tively of women. trying to reform it. Which she did. She nature and says "We're just the same"— By the way, I hope you will identify me was great trouble to the archbishop and well, we're not just the same. Woman's as a feminist. Some people just carelessly the Catholic hierarchy, but she complete- reproductive capabilities are very mysteri- call me an anti-feminist. Gloria Steinern ly, single-handedly reformed the Spanish ous. Science still can hardly come up with just did that again recently in the New York Carmelites. And that's what I feel I'm terms to analyze it. I regard man as Times. That is so stupid. I am a dissident doing to feminism, and to academe. • peripheral, marginal, to this huge reality. I got this idea from studying literature and art and realizing that so much of world mythology has certain shared themes. When you find something so widespread through so many periods, Toward a Partnership Society then you must say there is something to female sexuality that gives rise to these nightmare visions. I have a larger vision as a scholar, with a huge view of histo- Stuart Jordan ry—most of my opponents are pathetic. They know nothing. They might know rr raditional thinkers often say, "There modern periods, they might know the is nothing new under the sun." renaissance, but they really do not have Arguing that human nature is a rock on this broad overview. which many utopian ideas have Men do fear being sucked back into the foundered, they look with skepticism on womb again, shrunk down into infancy the denial of a "fixed" human nature that again. It's not clear how intimate men can has characterized much liberal thought be with women without masculinity being since the Enlightenment. Some even suffocated and terminated in women's describe the current movement toward greater power. This is a profound prob- equal rights and opportunities for men lem. A lot of behavior that looks like male and women as one more example of an ill- domination, I began to realize, was part of considered reform. the way that men keep themselves free. Even if we grant the existence of a Masculinity is very very fragile. Men go fixed human nature, this does not prove directly from control by their mothers to that people of either sex should dominate control by their wives. They have one society. The partnership society, a term "It is hard not to imagine almost brief period when they're free, and that's adopted from a contemporary book, is continuous improvement in many people's when they run and rampage. We need to based on equal opportunity for all regard- personal lives if the rights and understand this. Warren Farrell, in his ing ethnicity and race but especially gen- opportunities of both sexes were book The Myth of Male Power, says that der.' We argue below that our future sur- to converge." "Female beauty is the world's most potent vival may depend on this condition, which can lead to improvement in our drug." That is so true, and feminism does religion has had a profound influence on personal lives as well. not understand the allure that women the development of civilization, or that have, that men are awed by women and the gender orientation of religion is Historical Observation then become defensive because they don't important in how we view men and want to be castrated or become slaves to women today. We also know that main- D egardless of their views on religious women. There's a real tension, back and stream traditional religion throughout the ogma, few scholars would deny that forth through history. world has been overwhelmingly patriar- I have a peculiar way of looking at chal since at least the Minoan culture of things, through male eyes. It's probably Stuart Jordan is a past president and cur- the second millennium B.C.E.' It should because of my bisexual experience. Many rent board member of the Washington not be surprising, then, that our societies of the things I'm saying are obvious, but Area Secular Humanists. He is a Senior remain largely patriarchal today, indepen- feminism is so stuck behind its own blind- Staff Scientist at the National Aeronautics dent of what might be "built into our ers. One of the worst of these is to con- and Space Administration Goddard genes" This observation is important for stantly see misogyny everywhere. I'm Space Flight Center. what follows.

8 FREE INQUIRY Why a `Partnership Society'?

f traditional religion, and society, have t WEAR THE PAIJT6 l MADE Ibeen patriarchal for so long, why seek change? Experience usually teaches us ARoVNP HERE! THE PAi4V ! not to change what has worked for a long time, and more of us live fulfilling lives today than ever before while few would volunteer to return to an earlier era. Thomas Jefferson, certainly no tradition- alist, said it well in the Declaration of Independence: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and tran- sient reasons...." Neither should basic cultural values upon which governments are based. I believe the strongest argument for change to the partnership society is the vital role it could play in our collective sur- vival. To see this, consider the history of war, the role of men in war, and some results of current neurophysiological research into male-female differences. This turing than men, but there is some evi- lives as individuals, not as some "superor- evidence points toward (1) the utterly cata- dence this may be the case as well.' ganic" being. So we might ask what strophic nature of modern global warfare; However, if we assume that men are, on advantages would accrue to individuals (2) the preeminence of men in war; and, the average, just as capable of empa- under partnership conditions. most relevant of all, (3) a growing body of thetic behavior as women, we are still While this question has many facets, evidence that men may indeed have a left with a nurturing male who is, in let us illustrate by choosing one that is greater natural inclination to resort to it. spite of his empathy, more strongly important to most people: sexual rela- We know that the large-scale use of urged by his hormones to strike back tions. Since the advent of reliable contra- nuclear weapons would be a catastrophe physically when stimulated by an exter- ceptives, we have entered a "sexual revo- for civilization, and that the conduct of nal irritant. If the woman proves more lution," in which many traditional restric- warfare and most of the political postur- empathetic to boot, the case simply tions on acceptable behavior have been ing leading up to it are primarily male becomes stronger. relaxed by all but the most conservative. activities. The real issue, then, is whether The issue of global war has assumed Yet a skeptic, even a liberal skeptic, can there exist statistically significant, biolog- such importance in this century than any still argue that relations between men and ically determined differences between the possible change in society that would women, sexual and otherwise, have not sexes that bear on the question of violent reduce the chance for its occurrence is necessarily improved as a result. physical aggression. Current evidence worth exploring. To this argument for Reactionaries are quick to use signs of suggests that there are. empowering women one can add others. continuing problems as symptoms of a Always speaking statistically, there is These include our priorities when choos- "Romanlike" degeneracy requiring a a growing body of well-documented re- ing between larger populations and a bet- rapid return to traditional ignorance and search in biology, medicine, and neuro- ter quality of life, or between more pro- repressiveness; and an army of psychoan- physiology that suggests: (1) there exist duction for its own sake and maintaining a alysts, not all sympathetic to real partner- significant differences between the sexes healthy environment. Finally there arise ship, have offered a variety of often-con- in brain anatomy and physiology; (2) the issues of simple justice that also involve flicting views on this contemporary puz- hormonal differences between the sex the other issues mentioned above. The zle. While many of these experts empha- are interwoven with brain and body greatest of these may be the question of size the importance of good communica- development in complex ways, leaving who really "owns" a woman's body. tion between men and women, some still the "typical" man with far higher testos- overlook the obvious, that there are often terone levels than the typical woman.' Personal Advantages fundamental barriers to communication That testosterone is related to physically of Partnership that one always finds between a master aggressive behavior has been demon- class and a subordinate group. We know strated by a large body of research. o far we have considered the partner- that in-depth communication between two Perhaps less agreement exists on ship society from the viewpoint of people under these conditions is practical- whether women are naturally more nur- society as a whole. However, we live our ly impossible. Though they treat an

Spring 1995 9

Construction Cash Gap Remains to Be Closed THE PRICE OF Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our readers and supporters, the Price of Reason Campaign is precisely on target. The Center for Inquiry, Phase II—new joint headquarters REASON of FREE INQUIRY and Skeptical Inquirer—will be completed in Spring 1995. By one measure we have already exceeded our goal. Thanks to bequest, trust, and endowment giving, the aggregate campaign total stands at almost $4,200,000—well above our original $3.9 million target. It is still imperative that we close an estimated $150,000 gap in cash giving. By raising these funds during Spring 1995, CODESH will avoid the necessity of tapping a costly line of credit in order to finance the final stages of construction. Your support can make a cru- cial difference at this time. If you have not yet participated in the Price of Reason Campaign, please make your decision of support today. If you have already given, please consider expanding your gift.

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JOIN US FOR A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME CELEBRATION The Center for Inquiry, Phase II will be dedicated at a gala weekend event. Join us from Friday, June 9 through Saturday, June 10, 1995, at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. Famed entertainer and campaign co-chairman Steve Allen will dedicate the building and offer a spe- cial, intimate performance for campaign donors. Also on hand will be FREE INQUIRY editors Paul Kurtz, Tim Madigan, Tom Flynn, Gordon Stein, Gerald Larue, Joe Barnhart, Robert Alley, Edythe McGovern and Molleen Matsumura; members of the CSICOP Executive Council; and other notable speakers to be announced. Call 1-800-458-1366 to receive program information. YOU MADE IT POSSIBLE Never before in the history of humanism or freethought has there been a capital fund drive on this scale. The Price of Reason Campaign has col- lected the largest single sum ever raised through private sources for the defense of reason through skeptical inquiry. As a result, CODESH will share in the benefits of a permanent headquarters, including a top-flight library and conference facilities that will transmit a progressive image of our move- ment for years to come. We can all share in the pride of this achievement. To all our readers and friends, we offer our most profound thanks.

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Steve Allen, one of America's most beloved entertainers, will perform Rooms should be reserved no later than May 24. an evening of song and comedy. The creator of NBC's "Tonight Use Visa or MC to register for opening and call toll free Show," he is the author of 45 books and a pre-eminent intellectual in the American media. 1-800-458-1366 extreme case, studies of slavery in the gians are quick to point out. No humanist means guarantees that all professions and United States yield excellent examples4; can ignore this, for it serves notice that we vocations will be filled by equal numbers but basic honesty and common sense are are all at risk in crises where a rational of both genders. It simply means the all one needs to see the point. collective response offers the best hope opportunities become equal and the out- The pleasures of sexual love may seem for our survival. come will be dictated by individual tal- an insufficiently serious topic for scholarly Nevertheless, the time may have come ent, not cultural ideology. For those who consideration of the foundations of civiliza- when humanity no longer has the "luxu- argue that this increases competition tion, but history and everyday experience ry" of embracing the most emotionally between the sexes, it can be noted that teach us that the subject is of no less inter- consoling ideology proffered, indepen- most people choose to compete only in est to serious academicians than to "the dent of the evidence. Are our societies areas where they know they are good in people." It is hard not to imagine almost now too macho for our collective sur- the first place. Speaking statistically, men continuous improvement in many people's vival? And if so, what might mitigate this may continue to dominate professions personal lives if the rights and opportunities situation? Partnership between the sexes, like engineering in the future. If women of both sexes were to converge. on both the political as well as the person- become dominant in medicine and psy- al level, would be a large step in the right chiatry because more of them really are Opposition to a direction. more empathetic, so be it Besides, in a Partnership Society partnership situation there will be plenty Conclusion of crossover both ways. f so many arguments suggest that part- nership between sexes would be more he argument presented here in favor I Notes productive and fulfilling, why is there so Tof a future partnership society is much opposition to it? Many causes can based upon what, in the view of this 1.Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (New be proposed, but opposition from tradi- writer, is in the best interest of society as York: Harper and Row, 1987). 2. Richard M. Restak, M.D., The Brain (New tional patriarchal religion is certainly one a whole, men as well as women. The pri- York: Doubleday & Co., 1987). of the most powerful. We see this opposi- mary rationale is pragmatic, not philo- 3. Anne Moir and David Jesse], Brain Sex (New tion in our current "culture wars" over sophical, though one can invoke a prag- York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, Inc., 1989). 4. William W. Freeling, The Road to Disunion many contemporary issues,' including the matic naturalistic humanism as an under- (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). question of equal rights for both sexes. lying philosophy. The evidence seems 5. James Davidson Hunter, Culture Wars (New Dogmatic traditional religion is often strong that greater participation by York: Basic Books Division of Harper Collins, 1992). found leading the opposition. women in worldly affairs will tend to A common argument traditional reli- reduce the danger of war, and I have little gion offers to defend its view of women doubt that communication between men Acknowledgment is, "You don't understand the position of and women as equals will greatly improve traditional religion. In fact, it exalts the all aspects of their lives together, includ- Some of the views expressed here have result- ed from numerous group discussions of the woman highly." This depends on what is ing the most intimate ones. Patriarchy, partnership society conducted under the aegis meant by exalts. Women are indeed often which has provided the sociopolitical and of the Washington Area Secular Humanists put on a pedestal by the traditional faiths, ideological foundations for our civiliza- (WASH). I thank all members of that group and become, in effect, men's most cher- tion over much of the past, seems to have for their lively participation, and am especial- ished and most fought-over possessions. largely run its course as a productive form ly indebted to Lois Porter, my official coleader (but the real discussion organizer) But the nearly infantile state of submis- of social organization. and my wife, Sue, who has been my primary sion attendant upon this hardly worthy of Finally, we note that the equality of teacher in the subtleties of human relation- an autonomous adult today.. Is Eve really opportunity partnership entails by no ships. • exalted when viewed as a product of Adam's rib, or by her total immersion in "sin" through exercising a healthy Charitable Gift Annuities curiosity? In today's economic environment you may wish to consider the advantages of a This opposition is not to be taken light- Charitable Gift Annuity with the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism. ly by those of us who believe humanity Benefits to you include: • Guaranteed income for life • Partially tax-free has reached a point where consoling doc- income •Current charitable income tax deduction. trines alone do not justify an institutional Send to: CODESH, Charitable Gift Annuities Information, P.O. Box 664, position, if these doctrines also advocate Amherst, NY 14226-0664 values and actions that are placing our Name collective viability in serious danger. The Address opposition is real and formidable, and his- City State tory demonstrates the frequent appeal of Zip dogmatic religion to vast multitudes in Date of Birth Daytime Phone times of crisis, as the conservative theolo- 3/95

12 FREE INQUIRY peaceful, egalitarian, gender-equal but woman-centered society before its inva- sion by brutal, patriarchal Indo-Europeans Feminism, the Noble Lie more than four thousand years ago. She promoted this idea in several large, beau- tifully illustrated books depicting the sup- posed universal goddesses of this period. Robert Sheaffer Virtually all of Gimbutas's profession- al colleagues dismiss her Idyllic Goddess n the Republic, Plato argues that, in visions. The proponents of the Idyllic Iorder to build a proper Utopia, it would "The world as depicted by contemporary Goddess theory of history teach a variant be necessary to depict the gods as virtu- feminism is a peculiar one. It teaches a of the "lost Garden of Eden" myth. In this ous. Hence censorship and deception history that is at variance with that taught new version the human race was ejected were seen as requisite for instilling virtue: in history departments, a view of science from a paradise because of the sins of "The lie in words is in certain cases useful incorporating only selectively that taught in men, but not those of women. In the femi- and not hateful." This has come to be science departments, and a paradoxical, nist fable, men alone are responsible for known as Plato's "Noble Lie." In the pre- illiberal approach to morality in which the evil, and women represent everything sent age, another would-be builder of correctness of an action depends to a large good. This sentiment is encountered again utopias has, almost unnoticed, adopted the extent on who is performing it." and again in feminist thought, clearly Noble Lie in pursuit of its goals, while implying the moral superiority of women. somehow yet retaining an aura of moral "blaming the victim." Additionally, chival- Other feminists claim to find gender- rectitude: the politically correct feminist rous feelings make most men feel it is reversed or gender-equal societies in movement, which reigns virtually unchal- somehow unfair to attack women, even if other, always-inaccessible places. Alleged lenged in academe and in government. those same women are spouting bizarre non-patriarchal societies, like alleged The world as depicted by contempo- nonsense in the process of vigorously occurrences of psychic powers, exhibit a rary feminism is a peculiar one. It teaches attacking men. The result has been that a shyness effect, and can never be observed a history that is at variance with that great deal of selective truth, half-truth, and directly. Some feminists claim the exis- taught in history departments, a view of even untruth has been unquestioningly tence of actual contemporary matriarchies science incorporating only selectively that accepted by a large portion of the educat- in remote places in Africa, Asia, and taught in science departments, and a para- ed public. In Plato's Utopian state, the Madagascar, but when pressed for sub- doxical, illiberal approach to morality in rulers would have a monopoly on the right stantiation invariably there is none. The which the correctness of an action to tell lies; through the enforcement of most recent sighting of a "non-patriar- depends to a large extent on who is per- "hostile speech" codes on campus (and in chal" society was on remote Vanatinai forming it. The world-view created by some instances questioning feminist doc- Island near Papua New Guinea (New York contemporary feminism has much in com- trine has been construed as hostile Times, March 29, 1994). However, on mon with that of the illusionist, who can speech), modern-day academic feminists closer inspection it turns out that, even conjure an impressive scenario, but only seek the same privilege. though some women sometimes become when viewed from a certain angle, and very influential, the great majority of the only when all attempts at critical scrutiny ne of the most obvious absurdities influential persons are men (exactly as in are muted. Indeed, it is difficult to quell Otaught as women's history concerns our society). the suspicion that the reason feminists the supposed "Idyllic Goddess" era, Some people simply confuse existing have always insisted on a separate depart- whose best-known proponents are the late matrilineal or matrilocal societies (denot- ment for Women's Studies is because they Marija Gimbutas and Riane Eisler and ing the primacy of the mother's role in require exemption from the peer review which has spawned a large number of inheriting property or in determining resi- and critical scrutiny that their material uncritical, emotionally charged articles dence, respectively) with nonexistent would otherwise receive were it taught as and books.' This is a new twist on the matriarchal ones (ruled by women). In a history, philosophy, or science. "ancient matriarchies" theme that has matrilineal or matrilocal society, the Feminists have largely gotten away long been popular among Marxists and woman typically is subject to the authori- with these deceptions because the wide- feminists. Feminists often speak derisive- ty of her brother or maternal uncle, rather spread and highly successful inculcation ly of the last few thousand years as the than her husband. The late anthropologist of male guilt allows them to claim that any period since "the rise of patriarchy," a Eleanor Leacock, a feminist and Marxist, critical scrutiny of their claims amounts to statement intended to create the entirely cited as a supposed gender-equal society spurious impression that things were once the seventeenth-century Montagnais- Robert Sheaffer is a consulting editor for otherwise. Gimbutas, who was a professor Naskapi of Quebec, whose gender-equal the Skeptical Inquirer and author of of Indo-European Studies at the Uni- status was said to have been recorded by Resentment against Achievement (Pro- versity of California at Los Angeles, early Christian missionaries before those metheus Books). claims that Neolithic Europe enjoyed a Native Americans were supposedly cor-

Spring 1995 13 rupted into their current patriarchal state and somehow always was. Contemporary politically correct femi- by Western colonialism and oppression' Steven Goldberg argues persuasively nists, like Marxists, feel obligated to pos- However, Leacock's claim is wholly spu- that the popular claim of socialization to tulate a purely environmental explanation rious, requiring the selective omission of explain sex roles gets the causality back- for all sex-related differences in behavior, statements such as "I never heard the ward. He writes that feminist theorists because, as soon as biological differences women complain because they were not "make the mistake of treating the social are admitted as relevant factors, the pre- invited to the feasts, because the men ate environment as an independent variable, sumption that women's career choices are the good pieces, or because they had to thereby failing to explain why the social forced by discrimination cannot be sup- work continually,"° while quoting another environment always conforms to limits set ported. Should any male/female differ- statement from the same paragraph! by, and takes a direction concordant with, ences in behavior and career choices be Other feminist scholars misrepresent, the physiological (i.e., never does envi- admitted as innate and real, then the null either through carelessness or deceit, ronment act as sufficient counterpoise to hypothesis—the assumption that in the Margaret Mead's somewhat disingenuous enable a society to avoid male dominance absence of discrimination, no differences description of Tchambuli men as "effete," of hierarchies)."6 Societies observe the in the two groups would be observed—is claiming that this demonstrates a society patterns of behavior that biology seems to no longer tenable. The feminist would in which the usual sex roles have been render inevitable, then attempt to socialize then be placed in the position of needing reversed. They conveniently ignore the women and men into roles that it expects to separate the effects of so-called dis- fact that the Tchambuli men were literally they will be able to fulfill. Hence, accord- crimination from those of biology, a clear- headhunters. To call such fierce warriors ing to Goldberg, socialization is the ly impossible task. Hence, male/female effete is to misuse the word. Mead herself dependent variable, not the independent differences in biology must be declared repeatedly denied ever having discovered one, as is commonly supposed. ipso facto to have no possible observable any sex-role reversed society. Yet, sociol- If sex roles really are arbitrary con- consequences. Biologist Garrett Hardin ogist Steven Goldberg found that thirty- structs of society, created to keep women notes that the epithet "biological deter- six of thirty-eight new introductory text- "in their place," why is it necessary to give minism," carrying "implications of books of sociology cited Mead's supposed transsexuals—individuals who already absolute rigidity," is "a straw man set up discovery of the role-reversed Tchambuli display many characteristics of the oppo- for the convenience of polemicists; we as proof that sex roles are environmental- site sex—hormones of that opposite sex, would do well to ignore it." He adds, ly determined.' Such are the lies that are prior to and separate from any surgery, to being fed to students today in the pious enable them to genuinely fit into their new to suppose that human behavior is unin- name of feminism. The harsh reality is role? Invariably these male or female hor- fluenced by heredity is to say that man is not a part of nature. The Darwinian that the entire history of the human race, mones are reported as having profound assumption is that he is; Darwinians from the present to the earliest written mood-altering characteristics. For exam- insist that the burden of proof falls on texts, is an unbroken record of so-called ple, in the documentary film Max by the those who assert the contrary. patriarchy, presumably extending back at lesbian director Monika Treut, a pre-surgi- least as far as our early primate ancestors cal female-to-male transsexual comments Philosopher Michael Levin wryly (since chimp society displays extreme on the profound effects experienced upon describes feminist theory as a form of male dominance). In every human society, being administered male hormones in the Creationism, which he defines as without exception, leadership is associat- course of treatment. She reported that her ed with the male and the nurturing of chil- energy level suddenly increased dramati- any refusal to apply evolutionary theory to man. It is irrelevant whether this refusal is dren with the female. cally, as did her sex drive. Her moods were sustained by a literal reading of scripture Those who argue that socialization greatly affected, and she found herself or commitment to a secular ideology. must somehow explain sex roles find unable to cry as much and as easily as she themselves unable to explain why social- did before. Feminists, however, attribute He chides scientists like Richard ization always proceeds in a uniform such behavior in men to "socialization." Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould, who direction, when according to their Now if the feminist "society-is-respon- take a wholly naturalistic stance toward assumptions it ought to proceed randomly, sible" hypothesis were true, sex hormones all living creatures apart from man.' resulting in a patchwork of matriarchies, would have no effect on behavior, and The fact that men have much greater interspersed with patriarchies. Why does transsexuals could presumably be trained physical strength than women cannot pos- every society, without exception, socialize into their new roles just by reading a sibly be admitted as a factor causing men men for leadership and women for domes- book. The reason that the feminist theorist to predominate in strenuous jobs; the tic tasks? Why not the reverse? attempts to force us to ignore the powerful dearth of women in such jobs is instead Thus, the strict environmentalist expla- role of male and female hormones as attributed to a hostile working environ- nation falls into an infinite regress, and determinants of behavior is that we would ment created by sexist men. If it is admit- finds itself postulating an uncaused cause: then have to acknowledge that sex roles ted that few women actually want to do the male dominance we observe in every are not only arbitrary, but are in fact per- such work, this must be explained away as society is said to be caused by socializa- manent and ineradicable (short of radical a consequence of them having been brain- tion, yet the socialization has no cause, medical intervention). washed into accepting negative patri-

14 FREE INQUIRY archal stereotypes. That men predominate athlete into a respectable linebacker for posed "forgotten incest" is largely a femi- in higher-paying positions is itself seen as the National Football League. This then nist-led campaign.) evidence of a vast conspiracy to keep places the feminist in the curious position This ideology seeks to replace the liber- women out of better jobs, in spite of the of arguing that innate factors account for al ideal of "equality under the law" with the fact that, when we correct for factors such the profound difference in male/female sinister "some are more equal than others," as the number of hours worked, the num- performance in sports, but in absolutely awarding women special rights and special ber of years of education and in the posi- nothing else. This violates parsimony. protections unavailable to men. One of the tion, etc., the differences all but vanish .8 If Michael Levin argues that it is absurd to most glaring examples concerns the status it were really true that women were being claim that there is no paid job outside ath- of single-sex schools. The small number of paid fifty-nine cents (or whatever number letics where the kind of skill, stamina, and remaining all-male colleges, mostly of mil- you choose to believe) for every dollar speed manifested in athletics conveys itary orientation, such as Virginia Military that men make, for doing the same work advantage.' Truly, it is ideology, not logic, Institute and The Citadel, are under unre- at the same level of skill, then no business that prompts the hypothesis of absolute lenting political and legal pressure from could possibly be competitive if it male/female interchangeability (most feminists to end their single-sex policy, employed any men. feminists will disavow the claim of inter- which is held to be discriminatory. Yet, That differences in career choices changeability, yet vigorously defend when a few years back the directors of all- might arise from mutual preferences and everything that follows from it!). female Mills College decided to begin independent choices made by two groups Contemporary politically correct femi- admitting men students, this same relentless having significant innate psychological nism with its emphasis on group rights feminist juggernaut came down upon them differences is not a to preserve same-sex permissible hypothe- education, forcing sis, even though it them to reverse their has seemed obvious H t'toRIGAI,l,Y, decision. to every other society MATIZIAkHAL SoGItiTIES The justifica- except our own. No tion offered was that explanation will be / HAVE € W 6UI?ERIoR r men tend to domi- satisfactory to con- nate classroom envi- temporary feminists ronments owing to unless it depicts men Fti -foRIGALLY, their greater aggres- as exploiters and 'VHERE ARE TtIEY siveness. Feminists women as victims (a who argue this way, depiction that itself NDW? however, are in the belies the feminists' delicate position of claim to believe in maintaining that, strict equality). while male domi- In order to defend )I nance of classrooms the employment con- is caused by the spiracy hypothesis, male's greater ag- feminists must argue gressiveness, male either that there are dominance of the no genuine, innate business world is differences in the entirely the result of skills, attitudes, and a conspiracy against abilities of women and men, or else that and group offenses is fundamentally illib- women. such differences may exist but have eral, a dramatic break from the long absolutely no observable effect. As soon as humanistic tradition that emphasizes indi- t is invariably objected that the kinds of such differences are admitted as a mean- vidual rights, rewards, and punishments. Ipositions and doctrines described ingful factor influencing career choices It attacks free speech wherever freedom is above are those of extremists and that rea- and performance, the case for the sup- used in ways it does not approve; many sonable feminists and feminist organiza- posed omnipresent discrimination vanish- feminists have recently joined forces with tions do not hold them. The question I es. the religious right to attack so-called next ask is: just where are all these rea- Most feminists will reluctantly admit pornography. (Another coalition of femi- sonable feminists? The answer invariably that, at least in sports, the difference in nists with the religious right, crusading is that they are sitting next to me, or in the performance between women and men is against alleged satanic cults, threatens to office down the hall; yet somehow these a result of innate factors and not social become a witch-hunt in a literal sense! supposed voices of moderation manage to conditioning. No amount of political And the zealous use of highly dubious play absolutely no role whatsoever in the indoctrination will transform a female "repressed memories" to uncover sup- formulation of public policy. We are asked

Spring 1995 15 to believe that the largest feminist organi- ones (and this in spite of the fact that the advantage. Women are simultaneously zation in America, and the largest-circula- average woman works far fewer hours per strong and independent, fully prepared to tion feminist magazine, each of which year than the average man). Women, sup- prevail in the hell of combat, yet at the endlessly promotes the image of women posedly discriminated against in educa- same time so weak as to need special rules as victims while vigorously lobbying for tion, make up 55 percent of current col- under which they receive compensatory special preferences and quotas (and each lege graduates. They claim to be discrim- advantages to assist them in competition is or recently was headed up by a lesbian), inated against in politics, yet cast seven with men; they also need special protec- are somehow unrepresentative of what the million more votes than men in electing tion against unwanted sexual advances supposedly typical feminist does and presidents. They win almost automatical- and dirty jokes. This is much like a magi- believes. Again, this is just a cheap rhetor- ly in child custody disputes. Victims of cian's silk that appears to have a different ical trick: by definition, the largest organi- violent crime are overwhelmingly male, color each time it is revealed. It is pre- zations and publications in any movement and wives assault husbands more fre- dictable that this article will be answered are representative of that movement. Were quently than the reverse. Women can mur- far more with ad hominem insults and they unrepresentative, some other spokes- der a sleeping husband or lover in cold expressions of moral outrage than with women would step forth, and gather a fol- blood, then claim the "battered woman" reasoned argument; such are the defenses lowing larger still. defense and very likely receive only the employed by illusionists who are infuriat- No reasonable person could deny that lightest sentence or perhaps even no sen- ed when their deceptions are revealed. women and men ought to have the same tence at all, even in the absence of any But there can be great harm in false- legal rights in matters of a career, proper- proof that they were actually battered. hood unopposed, especially when it results ty ownership, etc. Likewise, no reason- (There is no "battered man" defense.) in suspicion, hostility, and envy between able person could expect that equality of If convicted of a felony, a man serves the sexes, where love frequently used to opportunity would automatically turn into out a sentence averaging more than 50 per- exist as recently as a generation before. In equality of result when two groups are as cent longer than a woman convicted of the no other countries has politically correct different as women and men. It also seems same crime, and a man in prison is more feminism gained such power as in the to me that no reasonable person could than ten times as likely to die there than is United States and Canada (which is itself deny the moral equality of women and a woman. Men's suicide rate is four times interesting: why have European women men: that neither sex has any credible that of women. Twenty-four out of the largely declined to fight in the war against claim to greater goodness or cooperative twenty-five jobs ranked worst in terms of men?). As a consequence, we have here behavior than the other. Yet, this is pre- pay and working conditions by the Jobs what is almost certainly the highest cisely what contemporary feminism at- Related Almanac have one thing in com- divorce rate in the world, a crumbling edu- tempts to deny, with its incessant depic- mon: they are all 95 percent to 100 percent cational system, and a seemingly unstop- tion of men as cruel exploiters and women male. Of those killed in work-related acci- pable spiral of rising crime and related as their innocent victims. dents, 94 percent are men, as were 96 per- social pathology. Recent studies demon- The rhetoric of the feminist movement cent of those killed in the Gulf War. If men strated a powerful correlation between this portrays history as a dismal scenario of the have supposedly arranged everything to be social pathology and the children of unending oppression and subjugation of so wonderful for themselves, then why are fatherless families." It remains to be seen women for the selfish benefit of men. they dying, being mutilated, murdered, or whether any society can remain intact (That men might themselves be a "victim" killing themselves at rates vastly higher largely without viable families in which to class, given that men have made up almost than those of women, who end up having raise psychologically healthy children. 100 percent of the cannon fodder of every more money in spite of having worked One can argue that the U.S. family died of battle in history, is not worthy of consider- less?' It makes much more sense to call natural causes at precisely the same time ation.) But the depiction of woman as per- contemporary American women "privi- feminists began shooting at it; after exam- petual victim does not survive critical leged" than "oppressed!" ining the depth and ferocity of the feminist scrutiny. Whatever rights women may not The world-view erected by contempo- attack against women's roles as wives and have had at various points in history, such rary politically correct feminism, the only mothers, one can be convinced. as the right to vote, had typically only been kind that plays any role in shaping public Nietzsche warned against systems of won by men a short time earlier. policy, is a house of cards. It requires its morality grounded in what he called Throughout most of history, nobody had adherents to jump from one unsteady limb ressentiment, pretending to represent any rights, outside the ruling elite! And the to another, never quite sure whether sex compassion while actually embodying the very real informal power women hold in differences in behavior are illusory or covert destructiveness of those who impo- families and other situations is simply very real but insignificant; uncertain tently desire revenge against those they ignored when painting the weepy scenario. whether women behave exactly the same envy. He cited Christian morality as the As for contemporary American soci- as men, or are emotionally and morally primary example of such a system. ety: women live an average of seven years superior, oriented toward life (unlike men, While feigning an attitude of passivity longer than men; female-headed house- who love death); switching from and love, the early Christian actually holds have a net worth that averages 41 "absolute égalité" to "special provisions," worked to bring down any person or insti- percent higher than those of male-headed depending on which confers greater tution esteemed for worldly success. We

16 FREE INQUIRY must not fail to note that contemporary Storm" by Peter Steinfels, New York Times, Feb. 13, 8. See, for example, George Gilder's Wealth and politically correct feminism and Marxism 1990. For a detailed critique of the "goddess" claims Poverty (New York: Bantam Books, 1982) Chapter of Gimbutas and others, see Ronald Hutton, The 12. are both manifestations of ressentiment.13 Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (Oxford: 9. Michael Levin, Feminism and Freedom (New In spite of its success in masquerading Blackwell, 1991), Chapter 2. Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1987) Chapter 10. as a harmless, even noble, movement 3.Eleanor Leacock, Myths of Male Dominance 10.These statistics come from Warrent Farrell's (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981); "Women in The Myth of Male Power (New York: Simon & dedicated to simple fairness, the contem- Egalitarian Societies," in Becoming Visible Koonz and Schuster, 1993). porary feminist movement is in fact a Bridenthal, eds. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1977). 11. See "Dan Quayle Was Right," Atlantic Noble Lie. No matter how many people 4. Paul LeJeune in Jesuit Relations, vol. 6, p. Monthly, April 1993. 235, R. G. Thwaites, ed. (New York: Pageant Book 12.Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals, Book may have been sincerely persuaded to Co, 1959). 1. See also Robert Sheaffer, The Making of the believe its pronouncements, the empress 5. Steven Goldberg, "Feminism Against Sci- Messiah (Prometheus Books, 1991) Chapter 2. has no clothes. And a Noble Lie is none- ence," National Review, Nov. 18, 1991. 13.Simone de Beauvoir is generally acknowl- 6. Steven Goldberg, When Wish Replaces edged as the Founding Mother of contemporary fem- theless a lie. Thought (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1991) p. inism. In her tome The Second Sex, she plainly 173. grounds her theory of the "exploitation" of women 7. Garrett Hardin, Naked Emperors: Essays of a in "historical materialism" (i.e., Marxism), and in Notes Taboo Stalker (Los Altos, Calif.: William Kaufmann, particular in the now-discredited historical specula- Inc., 1982), Chapter 8. Michael Levin, Feminism and tions of Engels. Today, the feminist establishment, 1. The Republic, Book H (382c). Freedom (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, and socialists, are on the same side of every signifi- 2. See "Idyllic Theory of Goddess Creates 1987), Chapter 3. cant political issue. •

nism ignores the biological realities of hormone differences and men's greater Radical Feminism's Mistake physical strength. He suggests such dif- ferences are responsible for the disparity in power positions between the sexes. Judith Sherven and James Sniechowski However, if women are thereby relegated to second-class status, society is doomed to a dominating-submissive structure of obert Sheaffer is courageously male/female relationships. As Sheaffer "politically incorrect" in his correct "The radical feminists, unfortunately, are espouses such "facts," his position consti- observation that the radical feminists, cur- blinded by their personal agenda of tutes a not-so-Noble Lie. Women can be rently dominating the women's move- childlike dependency and revenge and so excellent leaders and men superb parents. ment, have created a "Noble Lie." are unable to conceive a balanced and Biology is far from destiny. Sheaffer concludes, "The empress has no caring vision for the lives of women Both Sheaffer and the radical feminists clothes," but she nevertheless "reigns vir- and men together." overlook the mind-set of almost all tually unchallenged in academe and in women that keeps them dedicated to fore- government." In fact her reign is so coer- acknowledge that sex roles are not only bearance and misery all the while blaming cive, guilt squeezing, and lethally pre- arbitrary, but are in fact permanent and men for their plight. cious that legislators and university ineradicable" (our emphasis). Yet, con- Although Sheaffer attempts to lift what administrators have been frightened into temporary values, attitudes, and laws have we call the "lace curtain" that protects the obedient mindlessness. And, seemingly, been heavily influenced by the intimidat- feminist thought-police, he fails to under- so has the vast majority of the public. ing leadership of these less than nurturing stand them. Such feminists epitomize the Sheaffer argues that, "In ever human women. Sheaffer's analysis does not bear attitude that has held women back for cen- society, without exception, leadership is up under his own description of the force turies. They are committed to seeing associated with the male and the nurturing of their dominance and demands. women as helpless victims, rescuable of children with the female." He contends Women are as capable of leadership as only by the benevolent actions of the all- that "male and female hormones as deter- men. The radical feminists, unfortunately, powerful though despicable male. While minants of behavior [would require us] to are blinded by their personal agenda of they are insufferably more dominant, con- childlike dependency and revenge and so trolling, and abusive than many of the Husband and wife Judith Sherven, Ph.D., are unable to conceive a balanced and car- males they revile, their position is inher- and James Sniechowski, Ph.D., are ing vision for the lives of women and men ently dependent on men for its success. national spokespersons on gender issues together. Compelled by revenge camouflaged as well as corporate consultants on the Their need to portray "men as the under an insistence that women are changing gender culture in the workplace. exploiters and women as victims (a depic- "morally superior," they use victimhood Judith is writing a book on women and tion that itself belies feminism's claim to as a terrifying sledgehammer. Any woman victimization while James is writing on believe in strict equality)" is understood who doesn't wail from oppression has the metaphysics of the masculine image. by Sheaffer as a means by which femi- been "duped by the white male tyrant."

Spring 1995 17 No matter how successful these leaders example, it is men who must be ordered passion [they are] actually embodying the are, not matter their academic credentials, to change, thereby protecting women covert destructiveness of those who impo- they are unwittingly devoted to self-sabo- from date rape and sexual harassment. tently desire revenge." While he points to taging agony. This voice of feminism is as devoted to its men as the objects of their revenge, we Why are they so myopic? What truth own version of the myth of Prince suggest that men are merely projections are they fiercely protecting themselves Charming as the millions of women who for the deeper rage women feel toward from seeing? They fear that which they are faithful readers of romance novels. their mothers. But that is "blaming the project onto others. In other words, rather These feminist leaders are no more liber- victim" and very "politically incorrect." than admit and be accountable for their ated than their mothers. Radical feminist women do not want own ruthless, castrating behaviors, they In the name of equality and liberation, progress. They seek revenge, instead, by point the finger at similar qualities in men they demand redress for all injustices to guilting men and hold no women inno- and thereby disavow their own culpability. women. But Sheaffer wisely understands cent, even if it undermines their goal of This brand of feminism pleads for that while "pretending to represent com- equality. • more and more Prince Charming-come- to-save-us protective legislation. Laws are passed to protect women by legally oblig- ing men to change. Men are held account- able for women's safety and comfort, while women maintain a purportedly Feminism and Public Policy innocent, virtuous status quo. Least on their agenda is the need to teach women how to integrate their own fierce, bold dark side, to become more Joan Kennedy Taylor internally powerful and, thereby, resign from victimhood. Self-respect, compe- here are more points in Robert tence, strength, and the capacity to value TSheaffer's "Feminism, the Noble Lie" differences—including male differences— that could be discussed than I have room would result. But such equality, however, for, so I'm going to respond primarily to carries an unforeseen consequence. the policy issues. But first, I must com- As we have travelled nationally and ment on Mr. Sheaffer's basic oversimplifi- internationally giving seminars and work- cation. I think he is himself aware that his shops on gender reconciliation, we have use of "feminists" and "contemporary asked women with whom they would be feminists" is misleading if he wants to angry if they stopped perceiving men as talk about that part of the feminist move- their targets. Their answer almost always ment that is "politically correct" and is mother. Feeling neglected, betrayed, whose sphere of influence is academe and and even hated by her, they watched as government. I would have little quarrel mother sold herself in deference to her with him if that were all he was criticiz- father or husband. Nonetheless, the ing, although I would think he would be thought of becoming strong, delighting in interested in the counter-movement in the self-confidence, authority, and worth feminist world that has recently become would be disloyal to mother. Although vocal, but when he dismisses such a pos- depicting Chinese tradition, a recent film, sibility by asking, "Where are all these The Joy Luck Club, is a brilliant portrayal reasonable feminists?" it makes it appear "All feminists agree that women have of just such mother-daughter bondage. In that he wants to tar all feminists with the suffered and continue to suffer legal and order for feminist leaders to grow beyond ideas he disagrees with. social disadvantage because of their their need to blame and be taken care of Clearly, the landscape of feminism is gender, but from there they disagree. by men, they must renounce their loyalty very confusing to Mr. Sheaffer. Feminism They disagree as to whether government is to and protection of their mothers. predates Marxism. Eighteenth and nine- the answer or the problem." Because they have not, radical femi- teenth-century classical liberal feminists nist women express some of the deepest wanted to extend the rights of man to shadows of female consciousness— women, and this classical liberal tradition fiercely pseudo-independent yet insa- Joan Kennedy Taylor is the author of of feminism is honored by most feminists tiably reliant on men. They are romantics, Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist today. But "contemporary feminism" is expecting men to take care of women's Feminism Rediscovered (Prometheus generally considered to have begun in the needs and comfort and make up for the Books) and vice president of Feminists for late 1960s and early 1970s, and came lack women bear within themselves. For Free Expression. from a number of sources: New Left

18 FREE INQUIRY activists, disgusted with the way male nism is not monolithic, let me say where ion is that both the supporters and the activists treated them; radical separatists; in the spectrum I belong. I have been a detractors of the amendment strayed from and—most of all—generally "liberal" feminist since the 1970s. I identify with principle over the years, but that is anoth- women, believing in the Bill of Rights and the long, classical liberal and humanist er story), but meanwhile, a number of the American free enterprise system, tradition of feminism, which I have writ- state ERAs were passed, so that the still- whose lives were turned upside down in ten about previously in FREE INQUIRY (see existing common law discrimination 1963 by Betty Friedan's The Feminine "Feminism and Humanism," Fall 1990). against married women was almost Mystique. Marxism is only a small part of My contemporary allies in the feminist entirely eradicated. the mix: Marxist feminists were often iso- world are people like Ann Stone, chair- lated, although some were arguing that man of Republicans for Choice (which et me give an example of this, they should work with "the largest sector will probably influence the Republican ecause some people don't believe of the women's movement: liberal femi- Party and therefore public policy); Nadine that any such discrimination has existed, nists.... [W]ithout this work with liberal Strossen, president of the American Civil at least in this century. I bought a house feminists, the left wing of the feminist Liberties Union (who is already influenc- for my husband and myself in movement will remain isolated from ing public policy); Christina Hoff Massachusetts. My lawyer, knowing that struggles with the state [such as the Equal Sommers, professor of philosophy at the house was bought with my money, Rights Amendment] which is just what Clark University and author of Who Stole advised me to put it in a common law right wing elements of the state want" Feminism? (who will, I hope, by calling legal form that put it totally in the control All feminists agree that women have attention to the influence in academe of of my husband—who then could rent it or suffered and continue to suffer legal and the feminists whom Mr. Sheaffer even sell it without my consent, as long as social disadvantage because of their gen- deplores, affect future funding policy); he split the money with me. Did my der, but from there they disagree. They Marcia Pally, film critic, author of Sex and lawyer do this because he wanted to disagree as to whether government is the Sensibility, and board president of oppress me? No way. He was used to pro- answer or the problem. They disagree as Feminists for Free Expression (FFE) (of tecting women. But the fact remains that to whether they see women as strong or which, more later); and Wendy McElroy, he didn't look at me as an individual need- weak, victims of oppression or remark- chair of FFE/Canada and author of the ing the best legal advice. It's the sort of able even in adversity, genetically and forthcoming book, tentatively entitled assumption about men and women that morally very different from men or basic- Pornography: Women Possessing Them- feminism wants to change. The fact that ally having the same spectrum of interests selves. All of these women are self- my husband would never have sold my and talents. Reference books give differ- described feminists. We are called "equity house out from under me is irrelevant; the ent names to the different feminisms: feminists" by Sommers, "equal rights lawyer didn't know that. Leftist, liberal, Marxist, and radical, in the feminists," by Strossen and Pally, and I am not advocating some sort of equal case of a scholarly survey of feminist "individualist feminists" by Stone, distribution of jobs; I am speaking of the ideas and their influence on policy2; McElroy, and myself. way in which both men and women have socialist, radical, and women's rights, in I do not mean to exclude the work of accepted assumptions about "woman's the case of a feminist history of the many other anti-victimization, anti-cen- nature" that led to women having to fight women's movement' Mr. Sheaffer criti- sorship feminist authors; many, like Betty for social acceptance of their competence cizes two differing feminist schools as if Friedan and Karen De Crow, date back to to enter the professions, of the possibility they were the same—proponents of the beginnings of contemporary femi- that they could have a career outside of androgyny who were vocal in the early nism. The lawyers, librarians, novelists, the arts, of the idea that they could exist in seventies but have since then generally businesswomen, and people down the hall society by their own efforts, without the disappeared, and proponents of gender from Mr. Sheaffer who are on our side are protection of a man or of government. In differences, who have adopted the view he simply too many to count. other words, that their part in the division seems to support but turned it upside Such feminists had a big impact on of labor was not limited, socially and down. Such difference feminists substi- policy in the 1970s. They took as their legally, to bearing children and caring for tute for the nineteenth-century idea of priorities laws against abortion and equal them and the home, but that they could woman's inferiority (which was used to rights before the law. They got a constitu- also take their chances in the marketplace. legally and socially bar her from many tional decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. For the main thrust of the ERA fight educational and occupational possibili- Wade, in 1973, and founded National was a fight against state protective legisla- ties) the idea that women are instead Abortion Rights Action League. They tion laws, and the state ERAs pretty much superior. Most feminists take a middle lifted the Equal Rights Amendment from won that fight. Today, the fight being position—agreeing that there are a num- its crackpot position as the brainchild of waged is by "liberal" feminists—whom I ber of sex differences but that not all dif- the minuscule National Women's Party— prefer to call individualist feminists— ferences in social treatment of men and which had introduced it in every against government "protection" of women can be shown to be genetic in ori- Congress since 1923—and got it deliber- women from a subdivision of feminism gin. ated and passed by both houses in 1973. itself—the utopian "cultural feminists," Having, I hope, established that femi- It failed to be ratified (my personal opin- who believe not only that women are

Spring 1995 19 morally superior, but that society must be transformed to reflect women's culture, including some sort of eradication of male Feminists For Free sexual mores. Their first move is to pro- tect women from violence engendered by pornography. In pursuit of this, they have Expression's Uncommon formed an alliance with the religious right to attempt to pass laws reflecting their Feminism views. The "feminist" anti-pornography eminists For Free Expression themselves as victims. movement in England led to the formation (FFE)—a national nonprofit orga- The first premise of defending fem- of Feminists Against Censorship there in nization—was launched in 1992 in inist ideals is that women have a voice 1989, whereas the first local censorship response to the many efforts to solve in defending these ideals. Feminists ordinances in the United States seemed society's problems by book, movie, or historically have been especially vul- defeated in the mid-1980s. It was not until music banning. While messages re- nerable to censorship efforts, which the Pornography Victims Compensation flecting sexism pervade our culture in have led to the imprisonment of birth Act seemed about to pass the Senate many forms, sexual and nonsexual, control advocate Margaret Sanger, the Judiciary Committee that feminists began suppression of such material will nei- suppression of the landmark women's to organize in this area in the United ther reduce harm to women nor further self-help manual Our Bodies, Our- States. This was a law that assumed with- women's goals. selves, and the banning of plays by out evidence that pornography causes sex- FFE is unique among anti-censor- feminist playwright Holly Hughes and ual crimes, and therefore provided for the ship organizations because it considers young adult novels by Judy Blume— third-party suits against authors and dis- freedom of expression to be crucial to still the most censored author in tributors of books, pictures, films, music, women's rights. FFE speaks for many America. etc. by victims of such crimes. Here again, women who see censorship—even of FFE does not believe that women individual feminists did affect policy. FFE sexual material—as more dangerous to are fragile flowers in need of protec- was formed in early 1992. An FFE letter women than sexually explicit material tion. A free and vigorous marketplace to the Senate Judiciary Committee signed itself could ever be. is the best guarantee of democratic by over two hundred feminist women The women who founded FFE— self-government and feminist future. (writers, filmmakers, museum curators, including, among others, authors For information on FFE, write to professors, businesswomen, feminist Barbara Ehrenreich, Betty Friedan, and 2525 Times Square Station, New activists) was sent that February, saying, Erica Jong; Nadine Strossen, president York, NY 10108-2525, or call 212- in part, of the American Civil Liberties Union; 702-6292. and Dr. Patti Britton, sexologist— Women do not require "protection" from believe that feminism cannot flourish —Rachel Hickerson explicit sexual materials. It is no goal of as long as women continue to see FFE Executive Director feminism to restrict individual choices or stamp out sexual imagery. Though some women and men may have this on their platform, they represent only them- of the Judiciary Committee around. tion, both of which foster a Victorian selves. Women are as varied as any citi- Before a feminist opposition was mount- belief in women's special delicacy and zens of a democracy; there is no agree- ment or feminist code as to what images ed, the committee thought that the censor- sensibility in the workplace. are distasteful or even sexist. It is the ship position was the feminist position, FFE's influence is growing within right and responsibility of each woman and that therefore the bill would be "for NOW, which is "the largest feminist orga- to read, view or produce the sexual women." Bill Holland of Billboard wrote, nization" referred to by Mr. Sheaffer. This material she chooses without the inter- "Until the new groups announced their is an umbrella organization that includes vention of the state "for her own good." We believe genuine feminism encour- position, many opposition groups be- feminists of different stripes. Local chap- ages individuals to make these choices lieved the Senate would pass the bill and ters can take their own positions on any- for themselves. This is the great benefit had all but retreated to stage a battle on thing except where the state organization of being feminists in a free society.' the House side."' has taken a position; states can similarly FFE has since grown into a nonprofit take differing positions unless they con- Members of FFE who were also mem- organization that monitors proposed legis- flict with a national position. National bers of the National Organization for lation, sends speakers to college campus- NOW has always refused to take a posi- Women got the two largest chapters of es, and files briefs in court cases. It is tak- tion on pornography, so three state organi- NOW, New York (35,000 members) and ing on applications of sexual harassment zations (New York, California, and California (40,000 members), to write let- law that conflict with free speech, point- Vermont) were able to oppose the ters to the committee also, and these were ing out in its briefs the parallel between Pornography Victims Compensation Act. credited with having turned the thinking such rulings and protective labor legisla- In a recent case involving a Los Angeles

20 FREE INQUIRY County Fire Department fireman reading the area of censorship (except in Canada, "Contemporary politically correct femin- Playboy at the stationhouse, FFE's brief but FFE/Canada has only just been ism" is not only not "the only kind that on the winning side was thought by many formed). It has been the feminist groups plays any role in public policy," its mar- to be decisive to the decision of the Mr. Sheaffer hasn't noticed: not just FFE, ginal role is rapidly diminishing. District Court: Los Angeles NOW was on but the Feminist Anti-Censorship Task the other side. But two other chapters of Force (the first such group, which fought Notes NOW in California cheered the decision, censorship ordinances in the early to mid- and several prominent members of NOW 1980s and then disbanded until 1992), and 1. Lydia Sargent, "Introduction," in Women and associated themselves with the FFE brief. the Working Group on Women, Censor- Revolution, Lydia Sargent, ed. (Boston: South End Press, 1981) p. xxix. So you see, Mr. Sheaffer, some of the ship and "Pornography" of the National 2. David L. Kirp, Mark G. Yudof, and Marlene "rational feminists" that you can't find are Coalition Against Censorship, who are Strong Franks, Gender Justice (Chicago and actually operating within the "largest fem- prevailing. Academe is another matter, but London: University of Chicago Press, 1986). 3. Barbara Deckard, ed., The Women's Move- inist organization" and are influencing its the same feminist groups I am speaking of ment: Political, Socioeconomic, and Psychological positions. are speaking out against "hate speech" Issues (New York, Evanston, San Francisco, The fact is that the cultural feminists rules, and I predict that the heyday of London: Harper & Row, 1975). 4. From my copy of the text. with whom Mr. Sheaffer and I disagree unquestioned funding of the cultural fem- 5. Bill Holland, "Feminists, NOW Blast Sex- have not been able to influence policy in inist agenda on campus is already over. Crime Bill" Billboard March 7, 1992, p. 6.

FI Interview Eleanor Smeal on Feminism Present and Future

Eleanor ("Ellie") Smeal is one of the best-known figures in the modern movement for women's equality, gaining a reputa- tion as a political strategist and grass-roots organizer. She served three terms as president of the National Organization for Women, increasing its membership sixfold and transforming it into the nation's preeminent feminist organization. In 1987 she co-founded and became president of the Feminist Majority and Feminist Majority Foundation, which recruits feminists to run for public office and advocates gender balance laws for state and city boards and commissions. This interview was conducted by Timothy J. Madigan.—EDs.

REE INQUIRY: How do you respond They have to say it's those radical femi- Fto people who say this is a "post-fem- nists they don't like, because they know inist" era? doggone well that a huge portion of peo- ELEANOR SMEAL: We never had a ple believe in women's equality. Frankly, feminist era. If you look at a feminist era I think if you just ask the question, "Do as one in which woman have achieved you believe in equality?" the number of equality, we're obviously a long way people who would answer "Yes" would away from it. The whole "post-feminist" go way up. Yet, that is the most difficult rhetoric is more or less wishful thinking feminist issue, the fight for equality. on the part of those who saw the sixties as FI: One of the main tasks of FI is to a feminist era, and who are trying to write critique claims of organized religion. I the women's movement out of the future. wonder if you can talk a bit about the But the women's movement is very much ways in which organized religions cur- alive and isn't about to go away. rently are helping or hindering the femi- FI: The word feminism itself is often nist movement. tagged with the word radical in front of it. SMEAL: Some of the largest religious SMEAL: I think this is wonderful, be- movements are fighting equality. The cause those who do that know that femi- Catholic church is fighting the ordination nism has a tremendously large following, of women priests and increasing women's rights issues. Many Protestant denomina- really larger than any other subdivision leadership roles within the church. It is tions have accepted women in the clergy, like liberal or conservative, and certainly also, of course, leading the anti-abortion although not with open arms—many larger than most religious denominations. forces, which is one of the major women's women find they can become ordained

Spring 1995 21 cannot find a parish or congregation to clear there is a big taxpayer's revolt, I think that same scenario is present lead. Orthodox Jews have still excluded us which the right wing is using to its advan- today, where so many feminists and peo- from the rabbinate, and fundamentalist tage. What's fueling this whole conserva- ple in general are afraid to speak out on, Muslims are still fighting over whether tive movement are the bad economic for example, the Roman Catholic church's women must wear the veil. Estimates run times. opposition to abortion or woman's equali- into the thousands as to how many women Incidentally, feminists abroad tell us ty. Not speaking out is costing us dearly. in Islamic countries have been killed for what's fueling the fundamentalist move- For example, there's a terrible silence in not wearing it. ment, for example in Muslim countries, is our progressive forces on pedophilia with- FI: Is your organization in touch with poverty. The biggest followers of funda- in the priesthood. Here's a church that feminists in Muslim countries? mentalism are men who have lost jobs and says it has the moral answers for teenage SMEAL: Yes. We've been particularly who see no light at the end of the tunnel. girls, and yet has a gigantic moral scandal interested in the veil issue, since it sym- They're being promised salvation when within its ranks. bolizes the subjugation of women. In they can't cope in this world. They see FI: I suspect that such reports are Algeria women have been killed even feminism as part of the modern world that nonetheless having a major impact on though moderates are still in control of the is cheating them. The modern woman has people within the church. government. We've also been very active been made the scapegoat for the failed SMEAL: It's the biggest scandal since in the Taslima Nasreen case. We led a economy. the Reformation, and the biggest chal- picket of the Bangladesh embassy and FI: In the United States, as more lenge to date to the church's moral author- were told that that demonstration influ- women enter the workforce, there be- ity. Note the church's hypocrisy on homo- enced the decision to release her. comes a sense of increased competition sexuality: a priest who died in a gay sauna FI: What about the recent Cairo con- between men and women for jobs. in Ireland was given the last rites by two ference on population (see p. 36) and the SMEAL: For the men who have failed other priests who were there. But all that attempts of religious groups to have their to compete we've become the whipping got was a little blurb in the Pittsburgh Post views prevail? person. A little bit of that can be seen in Gazette. Such incidents make a mockery SMEAL: It's encouraging that the the Rush Limbaugh phenomenon, the of what the church is teaching, and church Vatican's attempt to forge an alliance with laughing guy who bashes feminists and authorities need to address the issue much the Muslims failed. At the end the Vatican gays and anybody he thinks is not "nor- more vigorously. Newt Gingrich is now only had four countries voting with it. The mal." It's not necessarily low-income peo- talking about orphanages and foster care document that came out of the conference ple who participate in these attacks. It's a run by churches. How can the church do is a testimony to the strength of the femi- way for threatened men to feel important. that when it has a major pedophilia prob- nist movement worldwide, because it FI: You've written about the different lem? What politician would point this highlighted the need to increase women's strategies used by Susan B. Anthony and out? I can guarantee you that if there were rights if we're ever to stabilize the popula- Elizabeth Cady Stanton in combatting scandals like this among the feminist tion of the world. organized religion. How are they relevant leadership, we'd be out of business. FI: What are your reflections on the today? FI: What are your views regarding recent congressional and state elections in SMEAL: Stanton believed that church- reforming existing religions, with non- the United States and how they will affect es—in that time primarily the Protestant sexist language and female clergy? Are the drive for a feminist majority? ones—were determined to keep women in some of these institutions patriarchal by SMEAL: It is a disaster for a lot of their place. And that unless you changed their nature? women's issues, especially abortion. the notion of women's place in the Bible, SMEAL: One questions if such changes Forty-seven right-to-lifers are now esti- you couldn't achieve equality. That's why go to the very heart of theology. The lan- mated to be in the Senate, and in the she spent a great deal of her later life writ- guage of mysticism has a lot of sexual House twenty-nine pro-choicers were ing The Women's Bible, reinterpretating allusions. The fight is much more vigor- defeated by pro-lifers. I estimate we lost the Bible to show that it was essentially ous than most would have thought. about forty seats in the House and quite a rewritten to argue for woman's inequality. I'd estimate that most of the women in few in the Senate. It's a very serious set- She felt that if you didn't fight woman's theological training are feminists. Even back, especially considering the weakness inequality in the church, you couldn't most nuns are now predominantly femi- of the current presidency. achieve equality in the greater society. nist—I saw that report in a right-to-life On the other hand, I believe Congress Susan B. Anthony thought it was dan- publication! There is no question that the is lagging behind the rest of the nation in gerous to take on too many opponents— women religionists are a different breed supporting women's rights. Maybe this she thought temperance was important for than the men. will create the momentum for more woman's equality. She didn't see that that FI: Molleen Matsumura, our associate change. could be slowing up women's drive for the editor, has a sixteen-year-old daughter I don't think we've seen the end of vote. Anti-temperance forces were behind who, when she heard I was going to be political change in this country. In fact, I the anti-woman's vote movement. They interviewing you, wanted me to ask you think we're in a very turbulent time. We were afraid that if women got the vote this: "What do today's young feminists don't know yet how it's going to end. It's they would outlaw liquor. need to do to continue the movement's

22 FREE INQUIRY work of expanding women's identities the-minute technology, while we're still gasp of the traditionalists. and opportunities?" pounding away on fifteen-year-old com- SMEAL: I'm not that sanguine. I've SMEAL: The first thing to do is become puters. seen far too much ability to slow down involved in the movement. I hope they SMEAL: The problem here is money. progress. We should have made far more don't sit on the sidelines while history is Established interests are funding the fun- gains than we have by now. We are still being made—the women's movement damentalists. It's not that they're popu- debating issues, like abortion rights, that will influence our culture more than any lar—they're funded. Let's remember, this should have been settled years ago. other movement. election was not run on religious or social If anything, it's because of the power If we could figure out how to organize issues, but fear of crime, illegal immi- of television and mass communication more efficiently and effectively, we would grants, and not being prosperous. What that it might be even easier to manipulate reach equality. Our structures come from gives them the appearance of popularity is mass hysteria and emotions negatively. the turn of the century and need to change their ability to communicate effectively to This is not a time for us to think, "Well, to work in modern times. their minority audience. They have re- they'll be defeated, it's only a matter of FI: Your answer applies to the human- sources we don't. It is tragic that the time." It could be more than forty years ist movement as well. It strikes us as very money interests have bet on old, reac- from now, you know. That's why we'd ironic that the forces advocating a back- tionary forces. better organize and work even harder than ward-thinking message are using up-to- FI: We have to hope that this is the last ever!

ally began. The German critical theorists, Feminism and Modernity especially Habermas, argue against this notion because they think that modernity is still to come; it is a horizon toward which we are moving, like some kind of Rosi Braidotti utopia. The French critical philosophers, on the other hand—especially Foucault, n this article, I will defend a feminist Deleuze, and Lyotard—argue that moder- Ipostmodernist, anti-relativist stand- nity is a philosophical and political point. This position rests on the assump- notion that started in the eighteenth cen- tion, which I shall outline presently, of the tury with the humanist project of the historical decline of the classical view of Enlightenment and has exhausted its his- the human subject. It also supports an torical function. alternative vision of human subjectivity as I find myself much closer to the French a complex, multi-layered phenomenon, way of assessing the question of moderni- more akin to a process than a substantial ty. I believe that the central notions that entity, more like an event than an essence. animated the Enlightenment project, espe- This is what I call "nomadic subjectivity." cially the belief in the fundamental rea- What is at stake in feminist postmod- sonableness of the human being, the uni- ernist, anti-relativist theory is the redefin- versal usefulness of reason, and the liber- ition of our understanding of human sub- ating powers of education and science— jectivity. It means that feminist experi- all of these humanist notions have been ences have been elaborated in such a way rudely shaken and contradicted by the as to be able to produce ideas that have a events of modern history. More specifical- more general range of application than ly, I am thinking of phenomena such as "What is at stake in feminist before. I feel very committed to the task of colonialism and European fascism, which postmodernist, anti-relativist theory is the elaborating a feminist epistemological and are marked by episodes of genocide and redefinition of our understanding of ethical position that is suitable to modern- industrial-scale exploitation. human subjectivity" ity, i.e.: the end of this millennium. Even closer to us, confronted by episodes of "rational" violence such as it Rosi Braidotti is professor of Women's Modernity indicates an intellectual was displayed in Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Studies at the University of Utrecht, The and ethical standpoint, not a specific date; the gulag archipelago, Vietnam, and Netherlands. She was born in Italy, raised as a matter of fact modernity remains Cambodia, not to speak of the systematic in Australia, and educated in Paris. She is chronologically open insofar as historians destruction of the tropical rain forests and the author of Nomadic Subjects (Colum- and philosophers alike do not seem to the events of Bosnia Herzegovina—and bia University Press, 1994). agree as to when, if ever, modernity actu- this list is unfortunately open, of course—

Spring 1995 23 I think it would be irresponsible in the has always functioned by dualistic oppo- post-industrial climate where the only most sentimentally vacuous manner to go sitions—for instance between masculinity constant variable is change, then it on believing in the reasonableness of the as active and femininity as passive— becomes apparent that today the challenge human being. Similarly, since the which create subcategories of "others." In for feminism and philosophy alike is how Manhattan Project and the advent of the Western history, difference has been pred- to think about and how to account ade- nuclear age, with its capacity to overkill, icated on relations of domination and quately for changes and changing condi- science and technology—far from holding exclusion: to be "different from" came to tions: not the comfort of static truths, but the key to our future progress and mean to be "less than," to be worth less the stimulation of having to think through growth—have become the source of per- than. Difference has been colonized by living processes of transformation. sistent anxieties about our present. power relations that reduce it to inferiori- The challenge for contemporary I am not sketching this contextual pic- ty; it has consequently acquired essential- thought is to dare to reinvent itself. It will ture in order to depress you, or lead you to istic and lethal connotations, which made come as no surprise that change is hardly despair; nor is it the case, as some malig- entire categories of beings into devalued a welcome or popular topic in the political nant critics have suggested, that I am trau- "others" and therefore disposable. To be climate of today; nor is it accepted as the matized by watching too much television. disposable means that you are just as central intellectual issue in many universi- It is rather the case that I am committed to human but slightly more mortal than the ty departments. The 1990s are a very con- thinking alongside my world and not pre- first-class subjects. servative period, when notions of transfor- tending that it does not exist, or hoping As a critical thinker, as an intellectu- mation and change tend to get pushed that maybe it will go away. I am neither in al raised in the baby-boom era of the away from the hard-core political agenda favor of ivory tower academic isolation, new Europe, as a feminist committed to and to be confined to more private or even nor of nostalgia for an allegedly better enacting empowering alternatives, I intimate spheres of experience. past. What I believe firmly is that we are choose to make myself accountable for In a feminist perspective, however, historically condemned to feeling respon- this aspect of my culture and my history. change has been interpreted also as the sible for our history, because, as late I consequently want to think through dif- effort to redefine human subjectivity. twentieth-century people, we are the ones ference, through the knots of power and Feminism has developed a form of resis- who come after the historical failure of violence that have accompanied its rise tance against the vision of subjectivity that the promises of the Enlightenment. Far to supremacy in the European mind. posits rationality as the dominant mode, in from giving in to the classical teenage This notion is far too important and rich favor of the multiple, the plurality, and complaint, "I didn't ask to be born in to be reduced to a problem of relativism multiplicity of women's discourses. these times!" I think our context demands of values. I would want to add here that, while from us all renewed maturity and a more The central point I want to argue is feminism is an extremely important rea- encompassing sense of interconnection. that, as a result of my definition of both soned critique of rationality, it is neither Whether you choose to call our feminism and modernity, I see it as a pri- the only one—I think that various forms predicament "postmodern," "post-human- ority to radicalize our understanding of of radical humanism as well as anti-racist ist," or "neo-humanist" makes little differ- human subjectivity, so as to achieve a thinking are extremely important—nor do ence. What does matter, however, is our double aim: on the one hand to end the I think that feminism is just trying to shared awareness that living as thinking complicity between subjectivity and mas- establish philosophical counter-cate- beings at the end of this millennium culinity and on the other hand to incorpo- gories. The point is not to turn the means that we must make ourselves rate difference as a positive value, instead oppressed into a new race of masters—or accountable for the history of our culture of projecting it outward as a sign of infe- mistresses—but rather to transform the without burying our heads in the sand, but riority. As end-of-millennium feminists, whole framework once and for all. also without giving into relativism or that we need to radicalize the universal subject In attempting to undermine the aggres- typical yuppie feeling that: "Alright then, altogether, not only to get rid of "him" so sive binary model of thinking of the patri- if that's how things are, anything goes." as to make place for "her." Consequently, archal system, feminists have pushed their This project is extremely relevant for I do not think anyone today can seriously ethical passion so far as to develop new feminism, because it affects the under- raise the question of the crisis of the mod- intellectual styles. By emphasizing the standing of sexual difference, that is to ern subject without also raising the issue style I do not mean to imply that the form say, the definition of woman as the of the status of sexual difference, or of is all that matters; quite the contrary, I "other" or the "second sex," which is a gender. Modernity and sexual difference think the propositional content of femi- typical feature of our culture. In this cul- contain each other as two sides of the nists thought is very high. What I do mean ture, masculinity has also become identi- same coin. is that in feminist thought, form and con- fied with the normal and it is synonymous tent cannot be easily detached and this with subjectivity; hence, the standard Beyond Dualism: unity is one of the features of the feminist feminist joke at Descartes' expense, "I A Nomadic Subject style. I would like to suggest that this style think, therefore He is." is a new kind of linguistic nomadism that In a feminist analysis, "difference" is a f you set these statements in the context postulates the activity of thinking as a set central concept insofar as Western thought Iof this culture of end of century, in a of interrelated "situated knowledges."

24 FREE INQUIRY Nomadic Style where I was trained, a certain disregard many other women, mostly through cita- for style was conventionally taken as a tions. This assumes, however, that, s opposed to the dogmatic self-seri- sign of seriousness, or even of scientifici- although women may and will act toge- Aousness of patriarchal thought, femi- ty, as if writing beautifully were the ther, they are not in any way the same. In nists take ideas as mobile, alive entities expression of a soft, i.e., non-scientific this respect, the idea of the politics of that resist systems and assimilation into mind. As if we could separate the emo- location is very important. This idea, exclusionary ways of thinking. What is at tions from the life of the mind and also as developed by Adrienne Rich into a theory stake in feminist thought is not the glorifi- if language itself allowed for such distinc- of recognition of the multiple differences cation of a feminine essence but a radical tions to be upheld. I think the functional that exist among women, stresses the re-reading of the subject. It is because of style in which so much feminist research importance of rejecting global statements this dynamic, life-giving element that I in the social and human sciences is writ- about all women and to attempt instead to have chosen the term nomadic to describe ten is a great defeat for intellectual life. I be as aware as possible of where one is this feminist style. Nomadic subjects are would much rather fictionalize my theo- speaking from. Attention to the situated as capable of freeing the activity of thinking ries, theorize my fictions, and practice opposed to the universalistic nature of from the hold of phallocentric dogmatism, philosophy as a form of conceptual cre- statements is the key idea. returning thought to its freedom, its liveli- ativity. The many voices of other women in ness, its beauty. There is a strong aesthetic Feminist nomadic thinking implies that the text is also a way of celebrating the dimension in the quest for alternative thought is not a matter of theory, but subtlety and theoretical relevance of nomadic figurations and feminist theory rather a way of being. It is a mode of exis- women's intelligence. I want to reclaim such as I practice that is informed by this tence that expresses the human being's what women have offered to the life of the joyful nomadic force. creative, positive power. Therefore, it fol- mind, in spite of the belligerent opposition Some of the features of this style are, lows that any attempt to alienate thought of established institutions. I see this as an first, the crossing of disciplinary bound- from this creative force constitutes a muti- important step in the process of constitut- aries without concern for the disciplinary lation of the human spirit. As a result, cri- ing feminist genealogies as commonly distinctions that organize knowledge. ticism, or the "reactive" moment of read- shared discursive and political practices. One important implication of this first ing and commenting and creation, or the Genealogies are, for me, forms of feature is the element of risk it introduces "active" moment of production, are inex- counter-memory, that is to say, spaces of into intellectual activity. Nomadic thought tricably linked, so that it becomes impos- mental resistance to dominant forms of is a more daring, more risky form of intel- sible to say where fiction starts and pure thought. ligence, which is freer and more disre- theory stops. The nomadic feminist consciousness is spectful than the established norms. I Furthermore, the mixture of the lyrical therefore akin to what Foucault called think it is extremely important for femi- with the theoretical is also a way of mak- "counter-memory"; it is a form of resist- nists to break away from the patterns of ing room in my writing for the voices of ing assimilation or homologation into masculine identifi- cation that high the- ory demands, to CrïMETtcALLY, I'M step out of the para- THEN HON CoME A 136111A LEADER lyzing structures of IM IN FROPJC? an exclusive aca- THAN YOU! demic style. 7 A second impor- tant feature of the nomadic style is the mixture of speaking modes; for in- stance, in what I write, I always try to mix the theoreti- cal with the poetic or lyrical. These shifts in my speak- ing stance are a way of resisting the pull toward cut-and- dried academic lan- guage. In the philo- sophical schools

Spring 1995 25 dominant ways of representing the self. emotions lived and half-forgotten." This remark always struck me as peculiar- The feminists—or other critical intellectu- Memory is made of omissions: identity is ly apt for a person who is constantly inbe- als as nomadic subject—are those who a backward journey through places we tween different languages. forgot to forget injustice and symbolic have been. I was born in Italy, more specifically poverty. Their memory is activated This is why, while educated men on that stretch of northeastern land that against dominant opinions; they enact a invented the full "I" of the Cartesian sub- the Venetians colonized way back in the rebellion of subjugated knowledges. ject, so many women who never had the thirteenth century. Venice was created I think there is much in women's cul- right to formal education continued doing under the sign of nomadism, when the tures that needs to be treated like a special most of their serious thinking while doing local people took to the water, in a flight counter-memory or as the account of a something else, mostly the housework. I from Attila the Hun and his mighty very special journey: to be preserved as a think the great space of female theoretical Eastern warriors. It was to provide a source of wealth and inspiration. creativity is all the spaces where repetitive steady flow of globetrotters, not the least Women's cultures are many and multi- chores are made, especially doing the known of whom, Marco Polo, still shines faceted: such as our mothers' gardens, so dishes or ironing the clothes. It is in those on as one of the world's greatest decoders beautifully celebrated by Alice Walker; moments of half-consciousness that the of foreign signs. our mothers' recipes and cookbooks, so thinking is sharpest and the inner mental I was subsequently raised in wittily caricatured by Gertrude Stein; or, landscape the clearest. At times like that, Australia's poli-cultural metropolises, just quite simply, our mothers' silence. In the the mind is in transit between different before the trend of multiculturalism texts I write, playing with different voices things, floating around, not quite focused became fashionable. Contacts between is a way of keeping open the lines to these migrants and Aborigines were not encour- other genealogies; it is a way of speaking aged; in fact, contact with Aboriginal cul- my mother's silence while I triumphantly "The challenge for contemporary thought ture was nonexistent even in the inner city occupy the masterful position of a keynote is to dare to reinvent itself." ghettos. Yet, the cover-up of Aboriginal speaker. presence and the silence of mainstream For me, this multiplicity of voices that and yet perfectly alive: this is a nomadic Australian culture about racism, class are connected to feminist genealogies and state of discontinuous presence. stratification, colonial nostalgia, and the to many aspects of women's cultures that Virginia Woolf knew this, as did many plight of the Aborigines rang to my ears as cannot be easily translated into dominant of the mystics, from which I draw two a constant, unspoken sign of inner turmoil discourse is also the perfect illustration of conclusions: first, that nomadic thinking within the Australian psyche and way of another philosophical point. Namely, that is a form of mental association with which life.' It made me feel torn apart and intel- "I" is not one but many different facets most of us are familiar, though we may lectually uncomfortable. and aspects and levels of experience that call it by a different name. Second, that Cultural identity being external and are held together by memory; that is to there is enough evidence here to suggest retrospective, the most immediate effect say, by revisiting places where one has that, if the noncentrality of the "I" is cen- of the Australian experience was to make already been. Identity is a retrospective tral to postmodernism, women have been me discover the depth of my European- and complex notion, not a pre-given ratio- postmodern since the beginning of time! ness, which was far from a simple notion nal entity. The nomadic style is about or a single experience. Not only was I a transitions and passages without predeter- The Nomad as Polyglot white immigrant, when compared to the mined destinations or lost homelands. Aborigines, but also I was off-white (a What matters to the nomad is the going, ast, but not least, the nomadism that I "wog," or a "dago") when compared to the fact of being able to pack up and go. Ldefend as an intellectual and theoret- the Anglo-Saxon minority who ran the The destination is quite unimportant; it is ical option is also an existential condition country. How to do the right thing, then? the journey that counts, and the journey is that reflects my own multicultural situa- It was by opposition to the Anglo- all about story-telling and revisiting tion as a migrant who became a nomad. Australians that I found out, often at my places one has already seen, even if only My work as a thinker has no mother own expense, that I am, indeed, a in one's imagination. tongue, only a succession of translations, European. I often wonder whether this This idea about the non-centrality of displacements, and adaptations to chang- awareness would have been so acute had I the "I" to the project of thinking is critical ing conditions. not experienced the loss of European for postmodern thought. Just ask any The nomad as a polyglot is a person roots through migration. Can cultural woman, however, and I bet they will find who lives inbetween languages; as such identity emerge from an internal dynamic, this a perfectly banal and familiar notion: s/he is a specialist of the treacherous or is it always external, that is to say, "Of course, the 'I' is not the king of cre- nature of language, of any language. oppositional? ation! Of course, the belief in the unique- Words have a way of not standing still, of This retrospective and external sense ness of the self is a form of transcendental following their own ways. In Alice in of my "European-ness" had many contra- narcissism that is so typical of masculine Wonderland,' Humpty Dumpty reminds us dictory implications: it stood first of all pride! Of course the self is a collection of that all that really counts in understanding for Continental as opposed to the British pictures: fragments of hope and desire, of the meaning of a word is who is the boss. colonial attitude. In this regard, calling

26 FREE INQUIRY myself a European was a way of vindicat- into a life-style based on the permanence of this particular moment of our history. ing an identity they wanted me to despise. temporary arrangements and the comfort The polyglot surveys this situation On the other hand, I had enough knowl- of contingent foundations. with the greatest critical distance; a per- edge of European history to realize that Over the years, I have developed a rela- son who is in transit between the lan- this European identity was not and had tionship of great fascination toward guages, neither here nor there, is capable never been One: its alleged unity was at mono-lingual people: those who are com- of some healthy skepticism about steady best a poor fiction. In its diasporic ver- fortably established in the illusion of identities and mother tongues. In this sion, through the innumerable Little familiarity that their mother tongue gives respect, the polyglot is a variation on the Italys, Little Greeces, and Spanish Quar- them. In a mixture of envy and conde- theme of critical nomadic consciousness: ters, Europe revealed its true face as a scension, I think with gratitude about being inbetween languages constitutes a concoction of diverse cultural, linguistic, Lacan's vision of the subject, which con- vantage point in deconstructing identity. and ethnic groups with a high level of firms my innermost feelings on the matter. As the Vietnamese-Californian feminist conflicts. Not all diasporas are equal, Lacanian psychoanalysis shows us that Trinh T. Minh-ha shows, multiculturalism through they get homogenized by the gaze there is no such thing as a mother tongue, does not get us very far if it is understood of the colonial observer. Thus, discover- that all tongues carry the name of the only as a difference between cultures. It ing my European-ness was not the tri- father and are stamped by its register. should rather be taken as a difference umphant assumption of a sovereign iden- Psychoanalysis also teaches us the within the same culture; that is to say, tity, but rather the sobering experience of irreparable loss of a sense of steady ori- within every self. dis-identifying myself with sovereignty gin, which accompanies the acquisition of This is not to say, however, that empir- altogether. Moreover, when I realized the language, of any language. ically multilingual people are automati- extent to which the British and the I also found both solace and intellectu- cally endowed with nomadic conscious- Continental brands of European-ness al support in Foucault's work on subjec- ness. Far from it, the emphasis on the could forego their hostility to join forces tivity. He argues one becomes a subject sacredness of the mother tongue, a sort of in the rejection of native Australians and through a set of interdictions and permis- nostalgia for the site of cultural origin— black and Asian immigrants, I lost all illu- sions, which inscribe one's subjectivity in often more fantasmatic than real—tends sions. In this hegemonic mode, European a bedrock of power. The subject, there- to be all the stronger in people who speak identity has managed historically to per- fore, is a heap of fragmented parts held many languages or live in multicultural fect the trick that consists in passing itself together by the symbolic glue that is surroundings. Is it because of their moth- off as the norm, the desirable center, con- memory, which in turn is made of lan- er tongues that women in Bosnia fining all "others" to the position of guage, which in turn is indexed upon a Herzegovina and Croatia are being sys- periphery. It is indeed quite a trick to com- symbolic system. As the Norwegian- tematically raped and held in procreative bine universalistic aspirations and capital- Australian feminist Sneja Gunew put it: concentration camps? Is coercive mother- intensive aims to establish cultural "Paradoxically, it is languages that speak hood by gang-rape the price to pay for homologation of all peripheral others. us. Ask any migrant.."" A heap of rabble, speaking the "wrong" mother tongue? Is Being a European means for me to inhab- calling itself the center of creation; a knot not every appeal to the "right" mother it such historical contradictions and to of desiring and trembling flesh, projecting tongue the matrix of terror, of fascism, of experience them as an imperative political itself to the height of an imperial con- despair? Is it because the polyglot prac- need to turn them into spaces of critical sciousness. I am struck by the violence of tices a sort of gentle promiscuity with dif- resistance to hegemonic identities of all the gesture that binds a fractured self to ferent linguistic bedrock that s/he has long kinds. Thus, I can say that I had the con- the performative illusion of unity, mas- since relinquished any notion of linguistic dition of migrant cast upon me, but I tery, self-transparence. I am amazed by or ethnic purity? chose to become a nomad, that is to say a the terrifying stupidity of that illusion of There are no mother tongues, just lin- subject in transit and yet sufficiently unity, and by its incomprehensible force. guistic sites one takes her/ his starting point anchored to a historical position to accept Yet, the political resistance to the illu- from. The polyglot knows that language is responsibility and therefore make myself sion of unity and metaphysical presence not only and not even the instrument of accountable for it. remains an important priority. All around communication, but a site of symbolic I subsequently moved in and out of us, in this culture of end of millennium, exchange that links us together in a tenuous Italian, French, and the English language the belief in the importance, the God-given and yet workable web of mediated misun- not in straight lines, but rather by an infi- seriousness and foundational value of derstandings, which we call civilization. nitely shifting scale of degrees of mother tongues is ever so strong. In this Since Freud and Nietzsche, Western phi- hybridization. Even when I decided to set- new Europe that witnesses all of its old losophy has argued that meaning does not tle for English as the main vehicle of problems, in a wave of murderous return coincide with consciousness, that there is a expression, it only resulted in a web of of the repressed, in this ethnocentric non-conscious foundation to most of our hyphenated English dialects: Italo- fortress, the concept of the mother tongue actions: cogito ergo sum is the obsession of Australian, Franglais, Dutchlish, and many is stronger than ever. It feeds into the the West, its downfall, its folly. No one is others. With my move to The Netherlands renewed and exacerbated sense of nation- master in their house: desidero ergo sum is in 1988, this shifting landscape got settled alism, regionalism, localism that marks a more accurate depiction of the process of

Spring 1995 27 making meaning. desire to explore and legitimate political Many contemporary critical thinkers' "The nomad does not stand for agency, while taking as historical evi- bank on the affective as a force capable of homelessness, or compulsive dis- dence the decline of steady identities. freeing us from hegemonic habits of think- placement: it is rather a figuration Implicit in the choice of this figuration ing. Affectivity in this scheme stands for for the kind of subject who has is the belief in the potency and relevance of preconscious and for prediscursive: desire relinquished all idea, desire, or the imagination, of myth-making, as a way is not only unconscious but it remains non- nostalgia for fixity." to step out of the political and intellectual thought at the very heart of our thought, stasis of these postmodern times. Political because it is that which sustains the very entity, confronting complexity and yet fictions can be more effective, here and activity of thinking. Our desires are that avoiding relativism. now, than theoretical systems. The choice which evades us, in the very act of pro- The nomad does not stand for home- of an iconoclastic, mythic figure such as pelling us forth, leaving as the only indica- lessness, or compulsive displacement: it is the nomadic subject is consequently a tor of who we are, the traces of where we rather a figuration for the kind of subject move against the settled and conventional have already been—that is to say, of what who has relinquished all idea, desire, or nature of theoretical and especially philo- we have already ceased to be. Identity is a nostalgia for fixity. It expresses the desire sophical thinking. Nomadism is therefore retrospective notion. for an identity made of transitions, suc- also a gesture of non-confidence in the The polyglot as a nomad inbetween cessive shifts, and coordinated changes, capacity of theoretical language to undo languages knows how to trust traces and without an essential unity. I shall take the the power foundations on which it rests. to resist settling into one, sovereign vision nomad as the prototype of the "man or Philosophy as a discipline of thought is of identity. The nomad's identity is a map woman of ideas"`; as Deleuze put it, the non-nomadic in that it requires mecha- of where s/he has already been: s/he can point of being an intellectual nomad is nisms of exclusion and domination as part always reconstruct it a posteriori, as a set about crossing boundaries, about the act of its standard practices. Philosophy cre- of steps in an itinerary. But there is no tri- of going, regardless of the destination. ates itself through what it excludes as much umphant cogito supervising the contin- as through what it asserts. I consequently gency of the self: the nomad stands for Theoretical Nomadism doubt the theoretical capacity, let alone the movable diversity; the nomad's identity is moral and political willingness of theoreti- an inventory of traces. Were I to write an rr he new feminist nomadic combines cal discourse, to act in a non-hegemonic, autobiography, it would be the self-por- features that are usually perceived as non-exclusionary manner. trait of a community. opposing, namely to have a sense of iden- I am offering the image of nomadic The polyglot also knows intimately what tity that rests not on laxity, but on contin- subjects as a figuration for a state of con- De Saussure teaches explicitly: that the gency. The nomadic consciousness com- sciousness. Although it is inspired by the connection between linguistic signs is arbi- bines coherence with mobility. It aims to experience of peoples or cultures that are trary. The arbitrariness of language, experi- rethink the unity of the subject, without literally nomadic, the nomadism in ques- enced over several languages, is enough to reference to naturalistic beliefs, without tion here refers to the kind of critical con- drive one to relativist despair. Thus, the dualistic oppositions, linking instead body sciousness that resists settling into social- polyglot becomes the prototype of the post- and mind in a new set of intensive and ly coded modes of thought and behavior. modern-speaking subject: struck by the often intransitive transitions. Not all nomads are world travelers; some maddening fulminating insight about the The feminist task is how to respect the of the greatest trips can take place without arbitrariness of linguistic meanings, and yet cultural diversity of women's intellectual physically moving from one's habitat. It is resisting the free-fall into cynicism. and political traditions, without falling into the subversion of set conventions that My experience as a polyglot taught me relativism or political despair. Relativism defines the nomadic state, not the literal the courage to face this arbitrariness, and is a pitfall in that it erodes the grounds for act of traveling. Nomadic shifts are there- still not jump to the conclusion that any- possible inter-alliances or political coali- fore a creative sort of becoming; they are thing goes, that arbitrary does not equate tions. The challenge for feminist nomads a performative metaphor that allows for absurd and polyvalence does not mean in particular is how to conjugate the multi- otherwise unlikely encounters and unsus- anarchy. In some respects, my polylin- layered, multicultural perspective, with pected sources of experience and, there- guism forced upon me the need for an responsibility for an accountability to their fore, of knowledge. ethics that would survive the many shifts gender. Nomadic thinking is the project Being a nomad, living in transition, of language and cultural locations and that consists in expressing different does not mean that one cannot or is make me "true to myself," although the images or representations for this kind of unwilling to create those necessarily sta- self in question is but a complex collec- de-centered subjectivity. ble and reassuring bases for identity that tion of fragments. I trained myself to see The nomadic subject is a myth, or a allow one to function in a community. that the interchangeability of signs is not a political fiction, that allows me to think Nomadic consciousness rather consists in medieval death dance, but a pattern of through and move across established cate- not taking any kind of identity as perma- orchestrated repetitions. That one must gories and levels of experience: blurring nent; the nomad is only passing through; respect complexity, not drown in it. Thus, boundaries without burning bridges. The s/he makes those necessarily situated the polyglot can end up being an ethical choice of this figuration translates my connections that can help her/him to sur-

28 FREE INQUIRY vive, but s/he never takes on fully the lim- Collapsing the will with desire, or discontinuous line, where progress is its of one national, fixed identity. The positing the primacy of the one over the often achieved by twisting and turning, nomad has no passport, or has too many other are equally inadequate moves. I repeating and going back. History as re- of them. think that each level has to be respected in petition is a genealogical cycle, the care- This idea of passing through, of cut- its complexity, yet points of transition and ful sifting through of old notions, to ting across different kinds and levels of overlapping must be developed between improve them to make them less regula- identity is not a way of avoiding con- them. One cannot take shortcuts through tive, more beautiful. Teleologically frontation with the very real ideological one's unconscious; the women who ordained historical "progress" in the and social constraints under which one attempt to cheat their way across are play- eighteenth-century sense may not be has to operate. Quite the contrary, ing with fire. I call "ethics of sexual dif- available to us as an historical option, but nomadic consciousness expresses a way ference"—adapting the concept proposed this does not mean that no progress at all of dealing with these constraints. It by Luce Irigaray—a feminist nomadic is possible and that nihilism is around the stresses the historical decline of the idea project that allows for internal contradic- corner. that political agency and effective social tions and attempts to negotiate between Walter Benjamin' warned us that the criticism require steady and substantial unconscious structures of desire and con- angel of history moves on by walking foundations as their necessary premise. scious political choices. In this respect backward toward a future that s/he neither Postmodern nomadic feminism argues feminism is a form of consciousness of controls nor predicts. Stumbling on to a that you do not have to be settled in a sub- complexity. Insofar as it allows for contra- new age, we are all like Benjamin's angel, stantive vision of the subject in order to dictions and flaws, it is also quite a liber- walking backward in hope and in dismay, be political, make willful choices or criti- ating inner experience. toward a future that we desire as much as cal decisions. To sum up, I would say that speaking we fear. Nomadic feminism goes even one step "as a feminist woman" does not refer to further and argues that political agency one dogmatic framework but rather to a has to do with the capacity to expose the knot of interrelated questions that play on Notes illusion of ontological foundations. As different layers, registers, and levels of the 1. I am using the seemingly paradoxical notion Judith Butler put it: the task is to question self. Feminism as a speaking stance and of the rationality of violence in the sense suggested what the theoretical emphasis on steady consequently as a theory of the subject is by Jessica Benjamin in The Bonds of Love (New foundations allows you to think and what less of an ideological than of an epistemo- York: Pantheon, 1988). Resting on the work of the Frankfurt School, Benjamin suggests that in the precisely it excludes or conceals.' In a logical position. West there is a special link between rationality and nomadic perspective, the political is a The task confronting the nomadic fem- the exercise of violence and that both of these affect form of intervention that has to do with inists includes the working through of the the construction of masculinity. 2. Alice in Wonderland (New York: Puffin the ability to draw multiple connections. stock of cumulated images, concepts, and Books, Harmondsworth, 1977). What is political is precisely this aware- representations of women, of female iden- 3. A great deal has happened to Aboriginal ness of the fractured, intrinsically power- tity, such as they have been codified by activism and to Australian critical consciousness since, and Australian feminists have been instrumen- based constitution of the subject. the culture we are in. It is a repertoire of tal in bringing out this issue. See, for instance, In my assessment, one of the central regulatory fictions that tend to fix us in Maeghan Morris's analysis of the film Crocodile issues at stake in this project is how to re- expectations set from outside and by Dundee in The Pirate's Fiancée (London: Verso, 1988). concile historicity, and therefore, agency, somebody else. Real-life women always 4. Sneja Gunew, "Discourses of Otherness," in with the (unconscious) desire for change. run the danger of being caught in the Displacements: Migrant Story-Tellers (Melbourne: The most difficult task is how to put Medusa-like gaze of the essential or eter- Deakun University, 1982) p. 1. 5. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Anti- together the will to change with the desire nal feminine. Taking a nomadic trip Oedipe (Paris: Minuit, 1974); English translation: for the new, which implies the construc- through these images in order to assert Anti-Oedipus (London: Athlone, 1984); see also tion of new desiring subjects. alternative representation of the new kind Gilles Deleuze, "La pensée nomad," in Nietzsche Aujourd'hui (Paris: Union Génerale d'edition, This difficulty is due to the fact that of women that we are is an essential part 1973); English translation: "Nomad Thought," in inner, psychic, or unconscious structures of the feminist project. David B. Allison ed., The New Nietzsche. are very hard to change by sheer volition. Like the gradual peeling off of old Contemporary Styles of Interpretation (Cambridge. Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1985). Of Luce Irigaray see: Experience has brought to the fore the skins, the achievement of change has to be Speculum. De l'autre femme (Paris: Minuit, 1974): importance of recognizing the pain in- earned by careful working through: it is English translation: Speculum of the Other Woman volved in processes of change and trans- the metabolic consumption of the old that (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985). 6. Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men formation. In-depth transformations are as can engender the new. Difference is not Have Done to Them (London: The Women's Press, painful as they are slow. If female femi- the effect of willpower, but the result of 1982). nists want to posit effective politics, they endless repetitions. These require shifts of 7. Judith Butler, "Contingent Foundations: Feminism and the Question of Postmodernism," need to keep in mind the distinction of locations, displacements: nomadic moves. Judith Butler and Joan Scott, eds., Feminists levels between willful political choices Just like new language is born of Theorize the Political (London and New York: and unconscious desires and attempt to patient frequentations, caring, and fre- Routledge, 1992), p. 7. 8. In the text called "Theses on the Philosophy of develop strategies that are suited to the quent encounters with the old, so equally History," Illuminations (New York: Schoken Books, complexity of each. history is not a four-lane highway, but a 1968) pp. 253-264. •

Spring 1995 29 marked by "a mixture of speaking modes." We are told further that On Feminist Nomadism Braidotti herself always tries "to mix the theoretical with the poetic or lyrical" in what she writes. The nomadic style of thinking is marked in addition by its interdisciplinary nature. Then Braidotti Barry Smith tells us, in the same self-advertising tone that is a constant feature of what she o grasp the full poignancy of Rosi writes, that: TBraidotti's piece, and of the sad strain "Braidotti gives us an extra insight into of academic feminism that it represents, it why the work that is done in such One important implication of this .. . is necessary to think back to a time, not so [Women's Studies] departments is in many feature is the element of risk it intro- duces into intellectual activity. Nomadic long ago, when children still represented cases of such such low quality: its method- thought is a more daring, more risky the primary form of social insurance for ology consists not in formulating and test- form of intelligence, which is freer and almost all groups in society. This was a ing hypotheses and subjecting one's more disrespectful than the established time, too, when infant mortality rates results to the hard court of norms. were by modern standards atrociously experiment and criticism, but rather, high, giving rise to the inevitable conse- merely, in 'listening to the At the same time, we are told that this quence that the bulk of the creative energy multiplicity of women's voices." same "more daring, more risky form of of women was spent in a struggle with intelligence" is rather easily come by: childbirth, a struggle that was often liter- science is reduced in her eyes to the level ally fatal for both mother and child. In the I think the great space of female theo- of a mere "source of persistent anxieties." retical creativity is all the spaces where modern world, of course—as a result of In its stead (which is to say in place of repetitive chores are made, especially tremendous strides in medical technolo- hard thinking, the often thankless working doing the dishes or ironing the clothes. gy—women have for some few decades out of the experimental and theoretical It is in those moments of half-con- (though still only in relatively restricted consequences of scientific hypotheses sciousness that the thinking is sharpest portions of the globe) been freed from this and the inner mental landscape the over what may be many years, the clearest. cruel necessity to devote to childbirth the painstaking testing of results, the often larger part of the most creative period of hard-fought battles that must be won if Our nomadic heroine will not, of course, their lives. The creative talents of women one is to persuade one's colleagues and be troubled by this and the many other have, accordingly, begun very rapidly to competitors of the reasonableness of one's blatant contradictions in her "discourse." make themselves felt to increasing ideas, the often mammoth technical hur- Consistency, after all, is a mark of "phal- degrees in all spheres of human activity. dles that must be overcome to translate locentric" (male) thinking, where feminist Western science and technology have in scientific results into products of benefit nomadism is somehow able to "combine this way brought about a liberation of to the wider society), Braidotti proposes coherence with mobility." womankind, a social transformation that what she calls a "nomadic style"—a way has few parallels in human history. of thinking that she identifies, rather I call "ethics of sexual difference"— It is odd, then, that a representative of vaguely, as "a mode of existence that adapting the concept proposed by Luce academic feminism should choose, in the expresses the human being's creative, Irigaray—a feminist nomadic project fashion of Braidotti, to denigrate just that positive power." that allows for internal contradictions and attempts to negotiate between Western reason that has made possible the Braidotti provides no indication at all unconscious structures of desire and very liberation for which feminists have as to how this non-theoretical mode of conscious political choices. In this fought. This denigration becomes more being/thinking might lead to any sort of respect feminism is a form of con- understandable, however, when one real- humanly valuable outcomes. She tells us sciousness of complexity. Insofar as it izes that Braidotti has almost no notion of only that these outcomes, whatever they allows for contradictions and flaws, it is also quite a liberating inner experience. what Western science in fact consists. The are, will be "beautiful," "ethical," and free essence of Western science she sees as of "violent impulses"; that they will enable Feminist nomadism believes in a "de-cen- lying, not in the myriad ways in which it the nomadic thinker "to confront complex- tered subjectivity," and is able enables all of us to enjoy healthier, longer, ity" and yet "avoid relativism." Certainly and more fulfilled lives, but rather in what Braidotti nowhere explicitly advocates a to think through and move across estab- she calls the "rational violence" of the return to pre-Enlightenment technology; lished categories and levels of experi- Manhattan Project and Pol Pot. Western she merely attacks those forms of thinking ence: blurring boundaries without burn- and of intellectual organization upon ing bridges. The choice of this figura- tion translates my desire to explore and Barry Smith is professor of philosophy at which modern science and technology, legitimate political agency, while taking the State University of New York at including medical technology, rest. as historical evidence the decline of Buffalo and editor of The Monist. Nomadic thinking is, we are told, steady identities.

30 FREE INQUIRY Where phallocentric reason believes in is aware of this challenge to provide a jus- ic, feminist philosophy; therefore, I have conscious, discursive, argumentative, lin- tification for her views; but because she got one. At the time same she disguises guistically expressed thought, nomadic denies theoretical reason and the disci- her lack of justification for every single feminists, following such contemporary pline that it presupposes, she has no one of the claims she makes by utilizing a critical thinkers as Deleuze and Irigaray, rational means to confront it. She turns for pseudo-theoretical style, spiced with a "bank on the affective as a force capable help, instead, to her basic principle of "I dash of glamorous daring-to-be ethical, of freeing us from hegemonic habits of want; therefore it is the case." I want a all of which amounts, in the end, to noth- thinking." Feeling, then, or better still, non-relativist, committed, non-hegemon- ing more than nonsense on stilts. desire is to be the motive force of the fem- inist nomadic style. Not "I think, therefore I am," which is "the obsession of the West, its downfall, its folly," but rather, or so it Nomad, Come Home seems from what Braidotti writes: "I want; therefore it is the case." Feminist nomadism, in other words, embodies a rather touching, not to say childlike, Ellen R. Klein "belief in the potency and relevance of the imagination, of myth-making, as a way to used to believe that no area of philo- sorize logic, it stands alongside it as an step out of the political and intellectual Isophical criticism was more epistemi- equal. Unfortunately, in her heady flight stasis." cally and pedagogically insidious than from the traditional, Braidotti gets caught that espoused by the "analytic" feminists. in the rigorous muck that sticks to and n her excellent piece "The Market for Unfortunately, I was wrong. If Rosi holds together all of philosophical moder- IFeminist Epistemology,"* Harriet Braidotti's work is any indication of what nity. Thus, in the final analysis, the new Baber refers to the "pink fluffy ghettos" of it means to do philosophy as a "postmod- nomadicism is really nothing more than Women's Studies Departments that have ern" feminist, then philosophy has the old postmodernism in drag.' arisen in universities throughout the reached yet a new low. Briefly, Braidotti attributes "nomadic" Western world. She points to the special Braidotti is "very committed to the task to any brand of feminism that restores to system of incentives to which young of elaborating a feminist epistemological" thought "a freedom of movement and a women academics are subjected by the position in terms of what she refers to as a vital power such as they have rarely existence of such departments, whose "nomadic style." Features of this style known," and that returns to ideas their relaxed standards and accelerated avenues include, first, its interdisciplinary "freedom of movement, their vital force, of promotion have tended to insulate nature—with its ability to introduce "risk" and their beauty...." Of course, what women from the pressures in operation in into any philosophical structure—and sec- these nomads are freed from is the now more established academic disciplines. ond, the fact that it incorporates a "mix- all-familiar bogeyman of feminism— Braidotti gives us an extra insight into ture of speaking modes; for instance .. . "phallocentric dogmatism." why the work that is done in such depart- the theoretical with the poetic." But Braidotti's claim is thin on evi- ments is in many cases of such low quali- I am hard pressed to see just what dence in that it is based solely on a single ty: its methodology consists not in formu- could be so "risky" about the "crossing of claim by a single philosopher—Descartes. lating and testing hypotheses and subject- disciplinary boundaries," or why such a Unfortunately, this leaves her vulnerable ing one's results to the hard court of crossing is peculiarly feminist, or even to the charge of strawmanning with experiment and criticism, but rather, why she does not simply use the pret-a- respect to the rest of classical epistemolo- merely, in "listening to the multiplicity of porter term interdisciplinary. gy.' For epistemology is not merely women's voices." Moreover, she is not forthcoming in rationalism; rationalism is not merely Of course one additional problem offering an account, or examples, of the Descartes; Descartes is not merely the faced by those who would deny thought, nomadic style in a way that separates it cogito; and the cogito is only incidentally reason, and the diligent search for truth, from the corpus of traditional Western about the "I"—the "king of creation" of and who would substitute instead a mere thought. If the only distinction is that an ahistorical pure self. It is more funda- "listening to a multiplicity of voices," is nomadic feminist philosophy intermingles mentally about broad, radical, philosophi- the political relativism that is thereby poetry with logic then such a style is as cal skepticism (with a twist of theism implied. For on what basis could one old—and as male—as Plato. tossed in). admit some "voices"—those, for exam- For Braidotti, however, style runs Furthermore, there is the problem that ple, which are in harmony with one's own deeper. Metaphor does not merely acces- without an "I" Braidotti's exclamations political goals—and exclude others—say, (e.g., "I think it irresponsible" and "I am those of the pro-life movement or of Ellen R. Klein is professor of philosophy amazed") are no longer hers. Such aston- Islamic fundamentalist women? Braidotti at the University of North Florida and ishments become no one's or everyone's, *"Feminist Epistemology: For and Against," The author of the upcoming Feminism Under and I, as an "I," do not want them for my Monist, 77, 4, October 1994. Fire (Prometheus Books). own. More important, however, is the

Spring 1995 31 problem that, despite Braidotti's desire to Theory, Interpretation, and Application (Boulder: Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Ferdinand de Saussure, and see herself without her own "I," the fact Westview Press, 1995). Michel Foucault. I wonder if she appreciates the 2.1 use the term classical (as in ballet or cui- irony. remains that her piece has a hidden nor- sine) as opposed to traditional to conjure images of 4. See, for example, James F. Harris, Against mativity—"classical epistemology is a aesthetic excellence instead of historical domina- Relativism (LaSalle: 0pen-Court, 1992); Harvey bad man"—which presupposes a self with tion. Siegel, Relativism Refuted (Dordrecht: Reidel, 3. Braidotti attaches credit for most of her ideas 1987). its own history and telos, i.e., her "I.' to the following men: Claude Levi-Strauss, Gilles 5. Tuana and Tong, p. 431. • In Braidotti's hysterical desire to escape her "I" she has lost the ability to see the true beauty of philosophical analy- sis—its relentless, critical attitude. To use the cogito, through the fallacy of humor— Nineteenth-Century Women "I think, therefore He is"—as evidence that systematic, essential sexism is episte- mology—after all, only masculinists of Freethought would ignore the fact that "I is not one"— is nothing short of philosophical malprac- tice. Braidotti, whether or not she be an Carole Gray "I," is not solely to blame; for the post- modern rose she has (merely) renamed roadly stated, a freethinker of the grows best in the barren soil of relativism. Bnineteenth century was someone "No one faced more social rejection As a philosophical thesis, relativism is whose thoughts were free, or outside the than the women freethought plagued with logical problems and prag- dogmas of established religions—a per- pioneers of the nineteenth century, and matic difficulties' As a feminist thesis, it son who did not simply accept what was yet they persevered." is even more compromised. "If feminism preached without question. is to be without any standpoint whatso- It is not surprising that the same per- people to be saved, or for the existence of ever, it becomes difficult to ground claims sonality would also question other con- a hero to save them. Remove the fable of about what is good for women or to temporary ideas, such as subordination by Eve and Christianity would cease to exist. engage in political action on behalf of sex, race, or class. We find most of the Making woman the scapegoat for the women.' women of freethought were also the pio- wrongs of the world was espoused by the Braidotti must face the fact that when neers of other movements, fighting for early church fathers, who vehemently pro- the nomad has "relinquished all idea, women's rights, abolition, worker's rights, claimed, "Every woman ought to be filled desire, or nostalgia for fixity," she can no and church/state separation. with shame at the thought that she is a longer roam for the good of women As these women of freethought woman"' and that it was easier for a man because, despite her posturings to the con- learned, Christianity had little to do with to bring the dead back to life than to live trary, she is wedded to relativism. And love, brotherhood, equality or justice. with a woman without endangering his when "nostalgic fixities" are lost and Instead, it practiced just the opposite. soul.' To women it was taught, "Thou art everything is up for grabs, my guess is Unless you study the history of the rela- the devil's gate, the betrayer of the tree, that men will grab it all. tionship between church and state, and the first deserter of the divine law,"' and Poor innocent Braidotti: though you how the church's opinions of women that "after learning of the living God and believe classical epistemology and its affected law, you cannot realize why these her own condition as a woman, [no Cartesian well are somehow poisoned, women rebelled against the established woman of faith] would dare to seek gay still you thirst mightily for reason and religions of their time. apparel, but dress in rags and remain in consistency. Well, fear not my wandering The first indication of the way women dirt as a sorrowful and penitent Eve."' philosopher-princess. In one form or were viewed by the Christian religion can They taught that woman brought death another rationality is the mother's milk of be seen in the primary idea of into the world, saying, "the race of women our discipline. So come home and pour Christianity, "salvation." In a salvation is prone to slip and is unstable and low in yourself a tall one. cult, you must have a problem from which their thoughts,' and opposed the worship to "save" people and a hero to save them. of Mary,` and ordering, "Let no one call Notes The problem from which you are to be Mary the Mother of God, for Mary was saved in the Christian religion is "sin," but a woman, and it is impossible that 1. "For postmodernists, such a search [for a and we all know who brought sin into the God should be born of a woman:" In the woman's voice] is neither feasible or desirable. It is world. With the fable of Eve's "crime" of sixth century, a council met whose chief not feasible because women's experiences differ across class, racial, ethnic, and cultural lines. It is not wanting knowledge, sin entered the world. subject of discussion was whether women desirable because the 'one' and 'True' are philo- Without sin, there would be no need for even had a soul, or if, like the so-called sophical myths that have been used to obscure and even repress the differences that actually character- lower animals, they didn't. After much ize people." Nancy Tuana and Rosemary Tong, Carole Gray is a freelance writer living in argument, the men decided that indeed, Feminism and Philosophy: Essential Readings in Columbus, Ohio. women did have souls, but they were 32 FREE INQUIRY inferior to men's souls, a sort of halfway inherited, sue, or make out a will, the law ostracized from their churches for speak- soul between animals and man.' saying, "Wills may be made out by all ing outside "meetings." Women's status did not improve under persons, except idiots, persons of unsound An example of the established church's Protestantism, with Luther saying, "A mind, married women and infants." At the view of women was seen when the first woman does not have complete mastery beginning of the nineteenth century col- few religious women began speaking for over herself. God created her body that lege was out of the question for women. the abolition of slavery.15 The Orthodox she should be with a man and bear and She was "given away" by her father, Congregational church, then the largest raise children" and "If women grow promised to "obey" her husband, and lost and most influential ecclesiastical body of weary or even die while bearing children, her identity in his upon her marriage. If Massachusetts, issued a pastoral letter in that does no harm. Let them bear children the wife died, the husband got everything; 1837 calling upon all "churches under to the death, that's what they're there in many states, if the husband died with- their care" to defend themselves by clos- for."" He also told of boxing his wife on out a will, the wife was allowed to live in ing their doors against the abolitionists, the ear if she was "saucy" to him." It is no their home for forty days, rent free, then who had "set aside the laws of God by wonder then that, even to this day, women got one-third of its value, with the rest welcoming women to their platforms and who are the victims of domestic violence going to the nearest male relative. If the allowing them to speak in public." often feel ashamed, as if they are some- time of the death of the husband and wife In 1843, the Congregationalists of New how to blame for the man beating them. could not be determined, the estate would Hampshire unanimously enacted a statute The result of the attitude of the church pass to the husband's family, on the against women opening their lips in was, of course, the Inquisition, in which understanding that men were stronger church, even to "sigh" or "groan" in con- tens of thousands of women died. than women and so the woman must have trition, believing that women were inca- Travelers wrote of whole villages in died first. pable of understanding a talk directed to Germany in which not one woman The husband was absolute guardian of the men, who alone were allowed to shout remained alive." Tortures were of the the children, there being no rights for the "Amen," "Bless the Lord," and "Glory."16 most sadistic type, frequently sexually mother. The husband could will away or This prohibition was due to the biblical based. sell the children into bondage. If the mar- injunction, "Let your women keep silence Some men were also killed for witch- ried woman worked, she earned much less in the churches." The religious women craft, but their punishment differed great- than men doing the same job. Her earn- stopped lecturing, obeying the church ly. In the seventeenth century, for ings did not belong to her, but rather were leaders. instance, a man found guilty of witchcraft her husband's property. was hanged, while a woman found guilty A woman accused of a crime was tried aking all this into consideration, can was burned alive. That included pregnant by a jury of men and sentenced by a male Tyou imagine the unbelievable bravery women, for the church did not decide the judge. If sent to a state mental institution, it took for women to speak up in those fetus had a soul at conception until 1869." she was attended by a state-appointed days? When Fanny Wright began speak- Men who opposed church doctrines, how- male physician. Forms of pain relief in ing in 1826, in front of "promiscuous" ever, were burned, such as the famous childbirth, such as ether, were violently audiences—that is, audiences containing Bruno and Servetus. opposed by the established churches both men and women—it was a scandal. because they allowed women to escape Fanny, who was from Scotland, was ith the growth of the middle class the pain to which they had been con- appalled at American slavery, at the posi- Wand the intellectual awakening of demned by God. It was illegal to distribute tion of women, and at the condition of the the Enlightenment, emphasis began to information on conception prevention that working class. The churches and press change from life after death to the present might have saved many women's lives. labeled her "The Red Harlot of Infidelity," and how to make it better. People began Single women and widows did, howev- or "The High Priestess of Infidelity" "sent trying to make changes in society toward er, have to pay taxes, although they could straight from hell." Still, she put her words equality of power. The fruit of the not vote. The position of women was into actions, buying and educating slaves, Enlightenment was our Founding Fathers, indeed, at least in some ways, worse than then freeing them." In addition, Fanny and they came under extreme fire. When that of slaves. joined an egalitarian workers' commune's God was left out of the Constitution, the The established churches in the United and helped edit its newspaper.2° Fanny was ministers of the country led a huge States supported all these inequalities. A brilliant and far ahead of her time, but she "revival" of religionism, condemning devout religious woman could lead fund- made one mistake—she got married. Her Jefferson and others as atheists, saying raisers for her church and sew and bake husband took all her money, according to that a vote for Jefferson was a vote against for it, but she couldn't be a minister, or law, and took their daughter, raising her to God. even a deacon, because of her sex. Quaker hate her mother. Today, most people think that the fight women, who traditionally had been Ernestine Rose" was the next great for women's rights was only to secure the allowed to speak in their meetings, were freethinker heroine of the nineteenth cen- vote and don't realize how few rights some of the very first to speak up for tury after Fanny Wright. Coming to the women had then. A married woman could women's rights, and had the advantage of United States via England from Poland, not sign contracts, hold property she some experience, but even they were Ernestine saw the terrible inequality of

Spring 1995 33 women. She began a petition drive for Later in the married women's rights, intending to pre- movement, sent the petition to the legislature of New when religion- York State. So unpopular was the idea that ists took it over in the first year of her attempt, she col- and censored lected only five signatures. her friend Because of her women's rights posi- Elizabeth Cady tion and her atheism, Ernestine was turned Stanton and oth- away from speaking engagements. The ers for being federal government chaplain refused to freethinkers, allow her to speak in the Capitol building Matilda started because she was an atheist. She was even her own group turned away from speaking in the of freethinking Smithsonian, an institution begun by a women fighting freethinker." for women's Ernestine's social ostracism due to her rights and hu- atheism did not stop with clergymen and man rights. government officials. As more religious • Helen women joined the woman's rights move- Gardener ar- ment, her atheism led them to attempt to gued against keep this pioneer for women's rights out those who said of "their" movement.'-' women's brains There were many giants of thought as were smaller woman began to assert her intellect in and thus they society and fight for social reforms: were less intelli- • Lucretia Mott was a renegade gent than man. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Quaker, thrown out of her church for her Helen wrote radical views and socially ostracized, her many books and articles and spoke coun- the underdog and for running for governor home almost being burned around her by trywide correcting social, medical, and of New Hampshire. a rioting mob. scientific so-called proofs of women's • Josephine K. Henry was a Kentucky • Susan B. Anthony declared herself an inferiority. women's rights advocate. She sent literal- agnostic" and defended Elizabeth Cady • Anne Royall's" travel writings and ly thousands of documents to Congress to Stanton's religious views against the commentary on religious hypocrisy in promote the cause, all at her own expense, Johnny-come-lately women's rights advo- America resulted in several attempted and and had over two hundred articles pub- cates who brought their religious preju- one successful assault upon her by reli- lished in various newspapers. She spoke dices to the movement. gionists. before the Kentucky Constitutional • Abby Kelley Foster was thrown out • Voltairine de Cleyre'-" was an atheist Convention, attempting to convince them of her church for her abolitionism and fighting and suffering for the rights of to include women's rights in the new ostracized by society for leaving her women and laborers. Although she could Constitution. "home sphere" to speak for the freedom have been wealthy from speaking and I must mention that giant of the of the slave. Her church refused to writing, she chose to live in slums all of women's movement, Elizabeth Cady become involved with the slavery issue her life. Stanton. Her departure from established and yet taught its followers that each per- • Emma Goldman," also an ardent sup- religion was due to a search for truth and son must follow his or her own divinely porter for worker's rights, was called "The justice that took her outside the accepted inspired directives. Abby believed in pas- High Priestess of Anarchy" and was even- norms of society. She began her early life sive resistance, and when she refused to tually deported for her support of labor as a dedicated Christian, but through quit demanding action on the slavery rights. investigation and research into Chris- question in meeting, the men rose and car- • Lucy Parsons' was the widow of tianity found it false and manmade. She ried her out. Once outside, they set her Albert Parsons, a Haymarket martyr. Lucy was a good politician and used many ref- down, but in a minute, in she came again. survived many disabilities, including erences to God in speeches to promote her The women inside were scandalized at being a black woman married to a white cause. But in her correspondence with such behavior and beat her as she was man at the turn of the century, having two Josephine K. Henry she said she agreed being carried out again. children to raise alone after her husband's with her in her atheism. You will find her • Matilda Joslyn Gage in her epic murder, being an atheist, and supporting ideas regarding religion in her autobiogra- Woman, Church, and State traced the role the unpopular cause of labor rights. phy Eighty Years and More, including this of women through history as affected by • Manilla Ricker was an attorney and one: "When women understand that gov- religious dogmas acting upon the state. atheist. Manilla was known for fighting for ernments and religions are human inven-

34 FREE INQUIRY

ernments and religions are human inven- history of the fight for human rights Wright, Rebel in America, Celia Morris, University of Illinois Press, 1992. tions; that Bibles, prayerbooks, cate- against religious prejudice. This is a diffi- 16. Fanny called her settlement "Nashoba." chisms, and encyclical letters are all ema- cult and socially unrewarding choice, Feeling that the prejudice against blacks was so nations from the brain of man, they will because you will be ostracized by those extreme in the United States, she paid to take her for- mer slaves to independent Haiti, where she felt they no longer be oppressed by the injunctions who prefer not to think. But you will could live in equality with other citizens. that come to them with the divine author- know the truth, and that is a reward unto 17. New Harmony,with Robert Dale Owen. ity of 'Thus saith the Lord.""' itself. No one faced more social rejection 18. The New Harmony and Nashoba Gazette or Free Enquirer aimed at "free, unbiased, and univer- Stanton co-authored The Woman's than the women freethought pioneers of sal enquiry" in order "to aid in the diffusion of truth, Bible, which discusses biblical references the nineteenth century, and yet they perse- in the spread of liberal principles, and in the dissipa- to women. It was considered so radical it vered. tion of those prejudices which observation and expe- was denounced by the organization that rience may designate as obstacles in the progressive march of the world from error and•suffering toward she had created, but that, by the time of Notes wisdom and enjoyment." the book's publication had been overrun 19. Ernestine L. Rose, Women's Rights Pioneer, by religionists, and this despite the argu- 1. Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Yuri Suhl, Biblio Press, 1990. 20. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony: ments of Susan B. Anthony in Stanton's Clemens) late second century. 2. St. Bernard (1091-1153), opponent of ration- Correspondence, Writings, Speeches, edited by defense. Stanton wrote, "Much as I desire alistic theology, such as that of French philosopher Gerda Lerner, Schocken Books, New York, 1981, p. the suffrage I would rather never vote than and theologian Peter Abelard. 70-77. 21. The Woman's Bible, Part II, New York: to see the policy of our government at the 3. Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus), ca. 155-220, born in Carthage of European Publishing Company, 68 Broad Street, mercy of the religious bigotry of such pagan parents, "On Adornment of Women," quoted 1898, p. 215-217. women. My heart's desire is to lift women in various books, including The Subordinate Sex, 22. A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations, by J. M. Wheeler, Progressive out of all these dangerous and degrading Vern L. Bullough, University of Illinois Press, 1973, p. 114. Publishing Company, 1889, p. 18. superstitions, and to this end will I labor 4. Tertullian, "On the Adornment of Women." 23.1 Speak for My Slave Sister, The Life of Abby 5. Tertullian, letter to his wife. Kelley Foster, Margaret Hope Bacon, Thomas Y. my remaining days on earth."' Crowell, Co., 1974. Unfortunately, her words about the dan- 6. Epiphanius, fourth century, friend of St. Jerome, writer of many papers against paganism. 24. Reminiscences, Lucy Colman, H. L. Green, gers of religion were not heeded by the 7. Anastasius. Publisher, 1891. 25. Anne Royall's U.S.A., Bessie Rowland majority of women, who continue to cling 8. Woman, Church and State, Matilda Joslyn James, Rutgers University Press. to old superstitions and who credit mere Gage, Ayer Company, Publishers, Inc., reprint edi- tion, 1985, p. 56. 26. An American Anarchist, The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre, men with supernatural powers of wisdom 9. Sex and Power in History, Amaury de Paul Avrich, Princeton and follow their words unquestioningly. Riencourt, Dell Publishing Co., 1974, p. 258. University Press, 1978. 10. Conjugal Crime, Terry Davidson, Hawthorn 27. Many books have been written about Emma Books, Inc., 1978, p. 100. Goldman. See her autobiography, Living My Life, hese women were the activists and the 11.The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demon- Dover Publications, Inc., 1970. ology, Rossell Hope Robbins, Crown Publishers, 28. Lucy Parsons, American Revolutionary, Tthinkers of the nineteenth century- Carolyn Ashbaugh, Charles H. Kerr Publishing freethinkers all. It is amusing to hear the Inc., 1959, p. 219. 12. The Sexual Experience, B. J. Sadock, H. I. Company, 1976. claim of religionists today that religion Kaplan, A. M. Freedman, Williams and Wilkins, 29. Eighty Years and More, Reminiscences promoted reform movements when the real Co., 1976, p. 352. 1815-1597, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1993 (first published pioneers were freethinkers. Christian lead- 13. Angelina and Sarah Grimké. 14. Woman, Church and State, Matilda Joslyn 1898), p. 285. ers only joined as the movements under Gage, Ayer Company Publishers, Inc., reprint edi- 30. Draft of "Criticism of Bigotry of Women," these freethinkers gained strength and the tion 1985 (original, The Truth Seeker Company, a response to the NAWSA's resolution to disavow The Woman's Bible, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, churches began losing their influence. N.Y., 1900), p. 476-477. 15. Several biographical books, including Fanny Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony: There remains today, as there was then, Correspondence, Writings, Speeches, edited by the constant threat of a reversal of human rights led by religious organizations. Many churches today are working to return women to their former slavery. Religionists and others flood the airwaves FREE INQUIRY Holders with propaganda and downright lies to Storing your issues of FREE INQUIRY on your bookshelves will be easier with the purchase of a vinyl holder. Each holder has gold-colored ornamentation, a slot for labeling and can accommodate four further their agenda. The true history of years of FREE INQUIRY and the Secular Humanist Bulletin. the effect of religion on society is either ignored or presented incorrectly, so that $11.95 each, postage and handling included Total for holder (s) the average citizen receives a totally false picture depicting religious organizations E Check or money order enclosed E Charge my Visa or MasterCard Name throughout history as ever kind and lov- Street ing, and anyone opposing them as evil and morally depraved. Exp. Date. City/State/Zip Code Unlike those who blind themselves to Signature historical and scientific truths, you can Daytime phone begin to investigate for yourself the true Mail to Free In • ui , Box 664 Amherst N.Y. 14226-0664 or call toll-free 1-800-458-1366

Spring 1995 35 Secularism and Enlightenment in Islamic Countries The Cairo Conference: A Hopeful Sign

Paul Kurtz n historic conference was held in ACairo, Egypt, from December 5 to 8, 1994. It brought together Muslim and sec- ularist scholars to debate for the first time the ideals of the Enlightenment and secu- larism. The conference was organized by Professor Mourad Wahba of Cairo University, and the editors of FREE INQUIRY magazine worked closely with him. It took several years of hard work. We were aware that the term secularism is anathema to many in the Islamic world. The conference was sponsored by the Afro-Asian Philosophy Association (founded by Professor Wahba); the Egyp- tian government; the League of Arab States; and the Federation of International Societies of Philosophy (the leading inter- national philosophical organization); among other groups. Participants arrived from Islamic countries such as Egypt, Conference participants. Mourad Wahba and Mona Abousenna, conference organizers, are seated Tunisia, Pakistan, Turkey, India, Iran, and in the center. Paul Kurtz stands between them. Indonesia, and from the Western countries of Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, and ference, Egypt's Nobel Prize-winning Islam's greatest philosophers. He was the United States. novelist, Naguib Mahfouz, had been born in Cordoba, Spain, in 1126 and died Three editors of FREE INQUIRY— stabbed in the streets of Cairo and was still in 1198. He lived through a period of great myself, Vern L. Bullough, and Timothy J. hospitalized. cultural and philosophical ferment in Madigan—attended, as did Rob Tielman The Cairo conference was to be held Spain, then a pluralistic society in which and Matt Cherry of the International near the Olympic stadium, where Pres- three religious traditions—Islamic, Humanist and Ethical Union. When we ident Anwar Sadat had been assassinated Christian, and Judaic—peacefully coex- informed our relatives and friends of our by extremists in 1981. Nevertheless, we isted. The Islamic world from the eighth intention to visit Egypt, we were invari- found fears for our personal safety to be to twelfth centuries experienced consider- ably warned not to do so because of the unwarranted: our hosts were congenial, able intellectual creativity and it preserved danger of attack foreigners faced. Sheikh the venue was safe, and the atmosphere many of the classical philosophical writ- Omar Abdel-Rahman has even brought cordial. The immediate purpose of the ings, which had been lost to Christianized Egyptian terrorism to the United States. conference, entitled "Averroes and Europe. Some six hundred people have been killed Enlightenment," was to celebrate the Averroes devoted himself to translating by fundamentalists in Egypt in the past approaching 800th anniversary of the Aristotle into Arabic and commenting on three years. Moreover, at the time of con- death of Averroes (Arab name Ibn Rushd). his long-forgotten writings. His interpre- This was the first of many commemora- tations of Aristotle as a naturalistic, Paul Kurtz is editor of FREE INQUIRY. tions to be held throughout the world. indeed humanistic, philosopher were in Averroes is considered to be one of sharp contrast to the theological outlook

36 FREE INQUIRY that dominated large sectors of the world he need for a new Enlightenment in fundamentalists are gaining strength so at that time. Averroës argued for the I the Arab world today was expressed rapidly in the Islamic world that it will be autonomy of philosophical reason and sci- in most of the papers delivered at the con- difficult to overtake them. ence. He accepted Aristotle's view of the ference; for example, by Egypt's minister The participants at the conference active intellect, which denied the exis- of culture, Farouk Hosney; by Ambass- deplored this violence and they defended tence of personal immortality; and instead ador Mahmoud Osman, who read a mes- the ideals of the Enlightenment and secu- of focusing on salvation, he argued that sage from the minister of foreign affairs, larism. Ambassador Osman told the con- reason can contribute to the good life and Amr Moussa; and by the deputy chief of ferees that Egypt is becoming a secular must have priority over faith. the Arab League. Their views were the society, a development he welcomed. "We Averroës's books were ordered to be most gratifying for the participants to need to modernize," he said, "if we are to burned by his caliph in response to funda- hear, especially since the Islamic world is compete and to participate in a rapidly mentalist criticisms of them (though in a convulsive state of confrontation with changing world; and if we are to raise our Averroës regained official favor just Muslim fundamentalists. Many flash- material and cultural standards of life. Al- before his death). His influence waned in points around the world dramatize the though Egypt is an Islamic state, we wish the Islamic world in subsequent centuries explosive character of the situation. We to proclaim democracy and human rights, for he was thought to be dangerous to the have witnessed brutal conflicts in Chech- and we oppose any kind of terrorism." The faith. However, his work had a strong nya, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Palestine, etc.; revival of Averroism is all for the good, he influence on Jewish scholars who translat- Islamic fundamentalists resist moderniza- said, for it is important that Arabs ap- ed his writings into Hebrew and especial- tions and secularization; they threaten preciate the rich Islamic philosophical tra- ly on Latin scholars in Europe between governments in Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, dition and the roots of the Enlightenment 1200 and 1600, where his writings were Pakistan, and other countries. In Algeria in Averroës. These views were reported in translated into Latin the press. Indeed, I and widely read, for was interviewed on example, by Egyptian television, Albertus Magnus where I made the and Thomas Aquinas same points. De- at the University of fending an Islamic Paris. scholar who lived At first banned eight centuries ago, because they seemed however, is not to contradict the viewed as dangerous Catholic faith, Aver- as publicly defend- roës's books had a ing secularist ideals. profound impact in the West. His influ- efore the estab- ence on the Italian Blishment of the universities, espe- state of Israel, Egypt cially in Padua and had a large Jewish Bologna, helped lead community. Most of to the emergence of the Jews have since modern science (as fled. However, an Vern Bullough ar- ancient Christian gued in a paper read FREE INQUIRY editors Paul Kurtz, Vern Bullough, and Tim Madigan (seated on camel) tour the pyra- Copt community of at the conference), mids. six million persons and these develop- still remain in Egypt; ments eventually culminated in the the Islamic Salvation Front is carrying on they feel beleaguered by the surrounding Enlightenment. Indeed, as Professor a war of attrition "against all dialogue, all larger Islamic population. Boutros Wahba pointed out, had Averroës had as cease-fire, all reconciliation." Even in Boutros-Ghali, the secretary general of the much impact in the Muslim world as he Turkey, the only avowedly secular state in United Nations, is a Copt, and incidentally did in the Western world, then Muslims the Muslim world, the fundamentalists are is married to a Jewish woman. And might have experienced a similar demanding an end to the secular republic Professor Wahba, our host, is also of Copt Renaissance, Enlightenment, and scien- established by Ataturk. Many Arab gov- background. There is a powerful impulse tific revolution. Instead Muslim scholar- ernments, including the Egyptian, are among Egypt's influential Christian ship languished and became sterile, and fearful of the rise of fundamentalism, but minority to defend pluralism, freedom, tol- theologians such as Al-Ghazali attacked they are hesitant to openly attack religious erance, and human rights. If Egypt and rational inquiry and defended the revela- fanaticism or to defend the virtues of sec- other Islamic countries are to solve their tions of the Koran. ularism. Some pessimists believe that the severe problems of rapid population

Spring 1995 37 growth and poverty, they need to empha- Clearly, there are liberal forces in the human rights. Is this not a great opportuni- size education, cultural enrichment, and Muslim world who welcome rapproche- ty to defend the separation of church and scientific research, but this can only be ment and peace. Moreover, with the peace state and also to cultivate a respect for sec- pursued where there is freedom of inquiry. process underway between the Israelis ular principles among a new generation of If economic growth is to be stimulated, and Palestinians, perhaps an era of mutual young people of Islamic descent in then Egypt must enter into the modern coexistence and prosperity can develop in Western democratic countries? We hope world. These advanced views are shared the Middle East, and perhaps a new this same respect will in time spread to the by many educated Egyptians. Unfor- Islamic Enlightenment, long overdue, can rest of the Arab world. tunately, there is tremendous opposition to emerge. But it is an uphill struggle against This issue is especially important for them by dogmatic Islamists. powerful opposition. secular humanists in Islamic countries, for Mona Abousenna, secretary of confer- In my view, significant liberalizing of Islamic fundamentalists have refused to ence and professor at University Ain Islam will come from growing Islamic extend the right of nonbelief to them—as Shams, has written that freedom of inquiry minorities in Western countries. There the cases of Taslima Nasreen in has a long way to go in the Muslim world. are an estimated twenty million Muslims Bangladesh and Salman Rushdie so If there is to be an advance, then the Koran living in the West—five million in the poignantly demonstrate. Blasphemy is itself needs to be read as any other book, United States, four million in France, considered the cardinal sin, punishable by and so there is a vital need for Koranic three million in Great Britain, and sig- death. But how can Islam be a full partic- criticism analogous to the kind of bibli- nificant minorities in Germany, Italy, ipant in the world community without rec- cal/literary criticism that thrives in the Spain, Scandinavia, and elsewhere. ognizing the right of individuals to West.' Freedom of inquiry into the founda- These minorities are asking for equal express dissenting opinions? tions of the Muslim religion and the claims rights. In some countries, where the state The Cairo conference was a significant of Muhammad is almost impossible to funds Christian or humanist schools, though very modest first step in bridging attain in Arabic culture, she said, but if the barriers between Islam and secular- there is to be progress, she argued, it needs "The Cairo conference was a sig- ism. At the very least, it stands as a sym- to be not only permitted, but encouraged. nificant though very modest first bol of the need to moderate the shrill voic- Professor Ioanna Kuçuradi, secretary gen- step in bridging the barriers be- es of Islam and allow people from the eral of the Federation of Philosophical Islamic world to enter into the broader Societies and commissioner for human tween Islam and secularism." planetary community, a community in rights in Turkey, was also forthright in her which the ideals of humanism and democ- defense of freedom of conscience and the Muslims are demanding equal support of racy prevail and in which the basic human need for an Islamic Enlightenment.' their schools. When I petitioned the right of freedom of conscience—the right Although the West hears the loud voices of Congress as a secular humanist to open to believe or not to believe—is a cherished militant fundamentalists from Islamic the House and the Senate with a nonreli- first principle. countries, it does not hear the views on the gious statement six years ago, I was behalf of freedom, which are more often denied that right by a federal court, Notes than not muted by intimidation. There is because I did not intend to engage in great fear of possible retaliation from fun- prayer. But one can ask if Christians and 1. See her new monograph, Language and Culture (Cairo: 1994). damentalist forces. Jews can open the Congress with a 2. See the article on p. 39. At a summit meeting of the fifty-two prayer, should not the same right be 3. The Egyptian Gazette, December 13, 1994. • member Organization of the Islamic accorded to mullahs to intone the Conference (OIC), which convened in Koran? What will fundamentalist Bap- MOVING? Make sure Morocco just after our conference, a plea tists or conservative Catholics who con- FREE INQUIRY follows you! was made for moderation in the Islamic sider the United States to be a Christian world. The conference began by stating state say to that? Name that there is a need for "an alternative With the rise of Islam, perhaps the mer- image to a Western world whose percep- its of secularism, where the state is neutral Subscriber # tion of Islam is been dominated by the about religion, will be better appreciated. New address fundamentalists and not by the forces of In many Western countries Muslim City development and moderation."' On women now demand the right to wear the State Zip December 13, 1994, Moroccan King head scarf in classes. In France this had Hassan II (a descendant of the Prophet been denied by the government, which is Old address Muhammad) attacked Muslim extremists. defending France's secular tradition in the City He said, "No one and no authority is enti- public schools. At an inauguration of the State Zip tled to ... take the path of extremism and Grand Mosque of Lyons in France recent- resort to aggression." Speaking of Egypt's ly, it was encouraging to read that the Mail to: Muslim Brotherhood he said: "In Islam, mosque's leaders praised the French FREE INQUIRY nobody can tell you what to believe." Revolution and its ideals of tolerance and Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226

38 FREE INQUIRY own "intelligence without the guidance of another": democracy is based on the con- cept of citizenship, the idea of equal A Call for a New `Enlightenment' political rights for enlightened individual citizens, for the better fulfillment of the implications of basic human rights. The demand for respect for different cultures Ioanna Kuçuradi and ethnicities in a country amounts to a demand for respect of different norms, e see, to our astonishment, striking to identify and reconstruct culture, i.e., the which are not only discrepant among Wfactual similarities between the world-view, the concept of man and pre- themselves but sometimes in contradic- intellectual climate of the period of transi- vailing norms before the colonization era. tion with human rights. This tends to lead tion from classical to medieval thinking This understanding was globally support- to a new communalism, based on and the intellectual climate of our day. On ed and the demand for equal respect to all acknowledging equal rights to communi- the one hand, we have the promotion of cultures came to the fore. It still escapes ties, which are differentiated by the dif- human rights and the so-called fundamen- attention that respect for all human ference of their norms. tal freedoms as universal principles. beings, whatever their cultures might be, In order to tackle this and many other Because of our well-intentioned but not and respect for the cultures themselves are problems, we need a new enlightenment. sufficiently scrutinized promotion of cul- two quite different things. We need enlightenment so that democra- tural-ethnic identities—based on the cul- In some countries the tendency to cy can function. And for enlightenment, tural differences of groups, which are a divorce modernization from "Western- we need philosophical education, i.e., fact, not an ideal—we defend the develop- ization" led to confrontation and conflict training people to use their own intelli- ment of cultural identities as a human between different cultures within the gence and to be able to relate every action right. This discrepancy appears to be one they are about to perform to philosophi- of the main causes behind the increasing "We need enlightenment so that cal-ethical knowledge. The aim is to help spread of religious fundamentalism, democracy can function. And for them become conscious of their human nationalism, racism, and ethnic prejudice, identity before any other identity they whose "embers of hatred" were "rekin- enlightenment, we need philo- might have—a consciousness that is a dled by the winds of freedom," as sophical education, i.e., training sine qua non for the enlightened protec- Federico Mayor, the General Director of people to use their own intelli- tion of human rights at national and glob- Unesco, observed in an article about the gence and to be able to relate al levels. • proclamation of 1995 as the "Year of every action they are about to Tolerance." perform to philosophical-ethical The failure of developmental policies Indian Secular to fulfill the expectations for which they knowledge." Society were introduced on the global level was ascribed to understanding development same country and even unscrupulous mur- • The Indian Secular Society is a non- political organization of men and only as an economic process and the idea der. Governments attempting to limit such women committed to secular humanist of "cultural development" gained ground. actions are accused of violation of human values and their promotion in Indian "Cultural development" was nevertheless rights. society. understood differently in different coun- It also escapes attention that the ideas • It seeks to combat obscurantism in all tries. In the West it was understood as of the Enlightenment are used for spread- its forms, in all spheres of life, and to "broadening for the masses of the possi- ing norms preventing enlightenment. educate public opinion, particularly where public sentiment runs counter to bility to have access and participation in What makes this use possible is—so far public interest. culture," i.e., in artistic, scientific, and as I can see—the prevailing understand- • It believes that the most serious threat philosophical activities considered to ing of freedoms as basic rights of the to the development of India as a secular afford individuals the possibility to devel- individual. This same understanding of democratic state guaranteeing individ- op their potentialities as human beings. In freedoms makes democratic, European ual freedom and social justice to its citi- developing countries, mainly African, the governments unable to stop increasing zens comes from religious obscurantism and intolerance. concept was understood as being allowed racism and nationalism, which leads even • The bimonthly journal of the Society, to killing people from other cultures— The Secularist, is sent free to all its mem- Lonna Kuçuradi is Secretary General of immigrant workers for example. bers. Annual Membership U.S. $10; Life the Federation of Philosophical Societies. Something else escapes notice in the U.S. $100. This article is adapted from her address global promotion of democracy, which Write to: opening the Cairo conference on "Ibn presupposes enlightenment in the The Indian Secular Society Rushd and Enlightenment." Kantian sense, i.e., "man's leaving his 850/8A, Shivajinagar, self-caused immaturity" and using his Pune 411 004, India

Spring 1995 39 home, often assisted by the Central Intelligence Agency as in Oliver North's Some Thoughts on arms deals. As the United States began to slowly awaken to the dangers of its policy with the assassination of Sadat in Egypt Islamic Fundamentalism and the fall of the Shah in Iran, it began to withdraw some support. The United States supported Saddam Hussein and his efforts against Islamic fundamentalists. It also took some tentative steps toward end- Vern L. Bullough ing our long dispute with Syria. Since both Iraq and Syria claimed to be "secu- ne of the after-effects of the collapse ever, is stronger than it might otherwise lar" states, this marked some change in Oof communism has been the growing have been, particularly in Islamic third- our policy. Even when Saddam Hussein influence of fundamentalism. In fact, world countries, because the United attacked Kuwait, the United States some of the same forces that in the past States' fear of communism led it to sup- government was reluctant to force him to led to the growth of communism have port any alternative, including fundamen- resign, fearful that his removal would now resulted in individuals embracing talism, which previously had been only a make fundamentalist Iran more danger- fundamentalism. This is particularly true fringe movement. The United States also ous. Instead, a treaty was made that kept in the Islamic world, which has been had another reason for supporting funda- him in power, but then quarantined him so undergoing a period of rapid change over mentalism—namely, vast quantities of severely that in order to hold on to his own the past fifty years. Though Western- Arab oil, mostly in more conservative power, he began to rely on some of the ization and modernization have benefitted Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia— very fundamentalist Islamic groups that many, particularly members of the upper and it did not want to threaten the he had previously condemned. He even economic and professional classes, it has American investments there. tried to lessen the gap between the unsettled even larger numbers. When such The result was that money from both Iranians and himself. It was probably not changes took place in the United States the U.S. government and U.S. businesses until the bombing of the World Trade and other Western countries in the nine- (as well as those of some other Western Center that the American government teenth and first part of the twentieth cen- countries) supported Islamic fundamen- finally realized the full extent of the dan- turies, it gave rise to movements ranging talism. The most noticeable result of this ger it had helped create. Islamic funda- from secular socialism to the rebirth of effort was the defeat of the Soviet Union mentalism was no longer a problem sim- Protestant fundamentalism, to utopian in Afghanistan by a coalition of forces, ply in Islamic countries—it had become dreaming. made up mostly of Islamic fundamental- one in our own. For a time, communism seemed to be ists. The defeat caused tremendous disil- Further complicating the issue is that the movement of the future, and many fell lusionment in the Soviet Union. Islam traditionally has not accepted a sep- under its sway. Communism differs from In Egypt, when Nasser broke with the aration of church and state, or even a dif- fundamentalism in its ultimate world- United States over its refusal to build the ference between the two. No Christian view. It looked to the future rather than the Aswan Dam, he turned to the Soviets. country, even the medieval church at its past. Communism claimed to accept the American policy makers saw the Islamic height, claimed the kind of unity that modern world but hoped to make it more fundamentalists, whom Nasser opposed, Islam does between the two. Church and egalitarian. Fundamentalists, for their as an irritant in his side. Fundamentalists state are essentially the same in most part, have responded to the crises of today were also seen as a potential source of Islam-dominated countries. This does not by attempting to turn the clock back. opposition to Khadafi in Libya. Even in necessarily mean that other religious With the weakening not only of com- countries that were friendly to us, as minorities have been suppressed, only that munism but of democratic socialism, it is Egypt later came to be, and as the Shah in they must recognize they are living in an easy to understand why Islamic funda- Iran was, we gave refugee status to funda- Islamic state. Jewish and Christian mentalism with its simplistic answers mentalists who opposed them, in part to minorities had been tolerated in the past, appears to be so attractive. The commun- curry favor with the conservative Arab providing that they did not proselytize, ist alternative seems no longer viable to powers. and conversions were allowed only if they most, and Islam never had the utopian tra- Similar action was taken by France were to Islam and not to any other denom- dition of the West. Fundamentalism, how- regarding regimes in French-speaking ination. Even some non-biblically based North Africa and by England with many religions were tolerated by some Islamic parts of its former empire. In fact, Islamic states. Vern L. Bullough is.professor of history at fundamentalism thrived in France, in This traditional "toleration" has been California State University in Northridge England, and to some extent in the United severely challenged by both Muslim fun- and FREE INQUIRY senior editor. States, and the fundamentalists funneled damentalists and Arab nationalists. With money and arms to their compatriots back the founding of Israel, the large Jewish

40 FREE INQUIRY

minority communities more or less disap- was an effort to provide an Islamic intel- But this collapse will not happen soon, peared, except in Syria, and in today's lectual foundation for the acceptance of and in the immediate future Americans world Christians in many of the Islamic modern science. But even as Egypt mod- will reap some of the seeds they earlier countries are threatened. In fact, Egypt, ernizes, fundamentalism grows. planted. which as late as the 1960s had large Interestingly, one of the real trouble spots The West, however, cannot weaken Armenian and Greek colonies, increas- in the growth of Islamic fundamentalism fundamentalism just by supporting the ingly adopted policies that encouraged growth of business and wealth among the them to leave. Even the Coptic communi- few. It has to work with governments to ty there has had a disproportionate share "With the weakening not only of support massive social programs if the of its members migrate to the West. communism but of democratic ordinary person in the Islamic world is to socialism, it is easy to understand experience some of the benefits of the ike their Christian counterparts in the why Islamic fundamentalism with modern world. We might well end up sup- LWest who want to "restore" prayer to porting some of the same left-wing secu- the schools and again live in a "Christian its simplistic answers appears to lar groups that we once fought so bitterly. country," the Islamic fundamentalists be so attractive." When even Saddam Hussein, however, want a Muslim state, and demand that turns to the fundamentalists, we have to their state be ruled by Islamic law, that is, is in Iran, the center of one form of realize that we might well be in for a long law based on the Koran. This effort has Islamic fundamentalism, where there siege. proven increasingly distasteful to non- seems to be growing disillusionment with Humanists can help by emphasizing, Muslims and even sometimes to adher- the fundamentalist government, in part as we recently did, the important contri- ents to different sects of Islam. So far this because economic and social conditions butions of Islamic scientists and philos- demand is something that Christian fun- are not any better than under the Shah, but ophers of the past to the development of damentalists in the United States have not in fact for the majority are far worse. the Western Enlightenment and the made, perhaps influenced by the Perhaps there is some hope. growth of secularism. This will empha- Puritans, who, after some attempts at Though we tend to think of secularism size to the Islamic world that there is using the Bible as a law code over three as alien to Islam, Turkey is an example of another tradition than Islamic fundamen- hundred years ago, decided to abandon a modern secular state with a Muslim talism and it offers a better way of coping such efforts except as a general guide, majority. It has its fundamentalists, but with the modern world. Another way we opting instead to follow English common remains, even within the Western defini- can help is by struggling against funda- law. tion, a modern secular state. Perhaps if mentalist inroads in our own official poli- Though many Islamic governments, American government and business cy, emphasizing the all-important separa- such as in Egypt and Algeria, are opposed increased their support of potentially tion of church and state. Some American to most of the more outlandish proposals Islamic secular states such as Egypt, fundamentalists have yet to accept this, of the fundamentalists, it is not clear how Syria, Algeria, and Tunisia, and other but their refusal to do so can be disastrous much influence the fundamentalists will Western nations followed, fundamental- for any attempt to lessen the onrush of be able to exert. The Cairo conference ism would collapse from its own failures. Islamic fundamentalism.

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Spring 1995 41 Poland Today: A Challenge for Secular Humanism

Poland's New Totalitarianism

Marian Hillar

cent dramatic events in Poland cal, social, and moral arenas. This on January 22, 1556, to the death of Itinked to political changes in Eastern occurred during the Reformation in Samuel Przypkowski in 1670. But it made Europe elicit comparison with the situa- Poland, which inspired the most advanced an outstanding contribution to Polish liter- tion in Poland in the seventeenth century legislature in Europe of its time to allow ature and gradually developed the most when the development of the nation was freedom of conscience. This legislature advanced and pioneering ideas in social, interrupted by imposition of religious was composed of a powerful and enlight- political, and religious fields. About 500 laws. From 1668 to 1768 apostasy in ened nobility who were anxious to defend treatises are still waiting to be examined. Poland was punished by death. The death their individual rights against a central- The Polish Brethren was committed to a penalty was then changed to banishment. ized authority. However, their legislation sincere application of original Christian Poland was the last country in Europe to was a short-lived phenomenon, as the teachings to personal, social, and political abolish such a law, in 1921. What we Catholic church organized a counter cam- relations. Their ideology was character- observe today is only a change in the paign that systematically "eliminated reli- ized from the beginning by: freedom of dominant power, an imposition of a dif- gious freedom and culminated in the religious thought; applying reason to the ferent totalitarianism with different slo- church's having one of its own, a cardinal interpretation of the scriptures, the revela- gans and approaches. Also, we are wit- and a Jesuit, ascend the throne in 1648. tion, and theological matters in general; nessing a revival of traditional anti- It was a reaction to the counter- absolute tolerance of all creeds and sepa- Semitism among the members of the Reformation that gradually resulted in the ration of church and state; and the strug- Catholic hierarchy in Poland` who behave formation of advanced moral ideas on gle for social equality among people. as absolute rulers of the country and soci- religious freedom and church-state rela- At their first synod in Wegrów in 1565, ety. Traditional and dangerous slogans tions. It was a group known under various the Polish Brethren settled the matter of such as "To be a Pole is to be a Catholic" names as the Polish Brethren, anti- freedom of conscience: "Everyone has the and "God and the Fatherland" have reap- Trinitarians, Arians, Unitarians, or abroad right not to do things which he feels to be peared. as Socinians that contributed most in this contrary to the word of God. Moreover, all respect. Members of this group (to be may write according to their conscience, Poland's Contribution to referred to interchangeably as Polish if they do not offend anybody by it." the Enlightenment Brethren or Socinians) were particularly Protestant and Catholic reaction described singled out for persecution and later freedom of conscience and tolerance owever, Poland has made a unique expelled because anti-Trinitarian beliefs propagated by the Polish Brethren as "that contribution to the development of and ideas on religious freedom were Socinian dogma, the most dangerous of modern humanistic societies in the politi- abhorrent to the church. They were forced the dogmas of the Socinian sect.."' into oblivion for three centuries, forgotten The ideas on the Polish Brethren on Marian Hillar is a native of Poland. He in a country that continued to be dominat- religious freedom were later expanded, has been in the United States for twenty- ed by the Catholic church. perfected and popularized by John Locke six years and is professor of philosophy The Polish Brethren lasted in Poland (1632-1704) in England, Pierre Bayle and biochemistry at Texas Southern for about one hundred years, from the (1647-1706) in France and Holland, and University in Houston. time when Peter of Goniacdz delivered his Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) in Holland. credo at the Calvinist synod in Secemin It should be noted, however, that neither

42 FREE INQUIRY Locke nor the Socinians tolerated athe- 1795) as the interrex during the interreg- press: "The entire Polish government con- ism: "Lastly, these are not at all to be tol- num between the elections of the king and sisted of 75 percent Polish Communist erated who deny the being of God." They the second figure after the king. He Jews, appointed by Joseph Stalin with the believed that "Promises, covenants, and opposed the agreements in Geneva in specific intention of introducing atheism oath, which are the bonds of human soci- 1986 and 1987 between the Catholic into Poland.."` ety, can have no hold upon an atheist." church and Jews on the relocation of the Glemp's political mentors are The ideas of the Socinians and John Carmelite nuns from the perimeter of the Professor Maciej Giertych and political Locke were transplanted directly to Auschwitz/Birkenau complex which was theorist Roman Dmochowski, founder of America by James Madison and Thomas designated by the United Nations as an the anti-Semitic and proclerical National Jefferson, who implemented them for the international monument to martyrdom.' Democratic Party (1869-1919). Dmo- first time in the American Constitution. He also delivered an offensive homily at chowski believed in a national state, con- They were philosopher-statesmen who the Jasna Góra Monastery in Czestochowa sidering ethnic minorities a threat to the shared a strong conviction in absolute on August 26, 1989, accusing Jews of Polish nation. Jews for him were an alien freedom of conscience and distrusted any inducing the peasants to drink, propagat- element, and he accused them of corrupt- kind of established ecclesiastical institu- ing communism, collaborating with the ing European societies. He advocated get- tion. They believed that the established Nazis, and controlling the mass media in ting rid of them by emigration and boy- churches create only "ignorance and cor- Poland to encourage anti-Polonism. He cotting them economically. Glemp is ruption" and introduce a "diabolic princi- said: "Without anti-Polonism there will be obviously disturbed by the cult of person- ple of persecution," and that the exercise no anti-Semitism here either." Finally he ality surrounding the pope in Poland and of religion should be completely separat- accused Jews who, under the leadership of is not satisfied with his position as "being ed from government. To them, toleration Rabbi Avraham Weiss of Riverdale, New the second in command." It appears that was not enough; only absolute freedom York, peacefully protested the nuns' pres- Polish church leaders have never heard of was acceptable. Democracy was an insti- ence at Auschwitz, of attempting to kill Vatican II and its spirit of reconciliation tution that erected a "wall of separation" the nuns: with the Jews, separated Protestants, and between church and state, and protected the Eastern Orthodox church. The docu- the liberties of the minority against the Recently, a squad of seven Jews from ments of Vatican II have never been trans- imposition of the majority. Both were New York attacked the convent in lated into Polish, probably on purpose. Auschwitz. Admittedly the sisters were broadly educated. Jefferson had a keen not killed nor was the convent destroyed Poland has a long tradition of anti-Semitic interest in studying religions, including because they were restrained—but do and theocratic primates. that of the Socinians. Their writings fol- not designate them heroes.... Let us Poland has always been a theocratic low Locke's ideas and echoed the differentiate between Oswiecim- country governed by the church through Socinian literature Auschwitz where mainly Poles and peo- direct participation in the government. ple of other nations perished, from The Polish Brethren were forerunners Brzezinka-Birkenau a few kilometers Bishops were members of the Senate, cler- of the later thinkers who developed the apart where most of the victims were gy were in the Diet (Parliament), and the ideas of the Enlightenment and humanis- Jews. Let us differentiate next between kings were controlled by their clerical tic modern times. The Socinian doctrines, secular and the theological levels. Let advisors, preachers, confessors, and mem- if allowed to develop, would probably the new doctrine on the presence or bers of the cabinet. Poland had two brief absence of God at the place of sacrifice have brought true enlightenment to to be explained and clear to all those periods of religious freedom: one during Poland. Their achievements were the believing in God, and let it not become the short-lived Reformation between 1556 highest in Europe of their time and origi- a political tool in people's hands, partic- and 1638, and the second during the com- nated all modern trends in political, ularly of non-believers.` munist regime between 1945 and 1989. social, and moral sciences, in biblical and Contrary to church propaganda, during the religious studies, and in concepts of the It is appalling that a leader and a sup- latter period the church was free to per- absolute freedom of intellectual inquiry, posed moral guide of the faithful would form its religious functions. The church liberty of conscience, and complete deliver such an amoral and hatred-inciting was the only organization with private nonantagonistic separation of church and diatribe in a "homily" to thousands of property and its own private university. state. They put to practice the highest eth- believers who are obliged to heed him. The church was also able to organize con- ical standards. His scheme is clear and an old trick spicuous and massive religious festivities played over and over again in Poland by and services without any restriction, to Growth of Theocracy in Poland the church hierarchy: to blame the Jews or publish whatever it wanted (nobody else the intellectual elites for all Polish prob- could do it!), to teach religion, and spread specially eager to control the modern lems, to stir up anti-Semitic feelings its propaganda on church premises. It Epost-communist society in Poland is among the simple-minded, and then to complained, however, since the state the Primate Józef Glemp. He is a man of exploit their nationalistic and patriotic became a secular institution, and no longer tremendous ambition, wanting to revive emotions. Glemp was parroted by Mother included the church as an official part. the role that the primates played in Poland Superior of the Carmelite convent Sister Abolishing the communist system in for two centuries (between 1572 and Teresa Magiera in an interview to the Poland in 1989 turned out to be only an

Spring 1995 43 illusory victory for democratic and moral resign, and as Walesa succinctly described rights, privileged access to television and forces. Unfortunately, Poland entered into it in his autobiography: "Jaruzelski got the radio, and exemption from custom duties. a new version of ecclesiastical totalitarian- message."9 In 1993 the church imported among other ism that has long and bloody traditions in The church applied all possible legal objects about 1,000 cars (Mercedeses and European history. The true ruler in Poland and illegal, moral and immoral methods to Alfa Romeos among them) and sixty- is the Catholic church with the govern- promote Walesa. He himself described his seven tons of chocolates, without paying ment as its secular arm. Before the elec- attitude in words: "I knew I was the right any duties.' tions in 1989 when Solidarity became man for the job of being the first elected The report reads further: legalized as a trade union and was getting president of Poland's Third Republic." ready for elections to the Parliament, a One cannot dismiss his achievements and The Church has become institutional- ized as a part of of the State. Among group called the Civic Committee orga- the role that he played in abolishing the other encroachments on secular author- nized in a church in Zytnia Street in communist system. However, his belief in ity, the army has been clericalized, with Warsaw. On April 19, 1989, Lech Walesa superstition (amply documented in his priests now playing the role of the for- with bishop Tadeusz Godowski went to autobiography The Struggle and the mer political commissars; the Church Rome to "give thanks to Pope John Paul H. Triumph), his total submission to the hierarchy is regularly "consulted" on the filling of state posts ... religious Visits to and consultations with Primate church, his lack of understanding of ceremonies have been made a program- Jozef Glemp became routine events. In democratic principles, and his fusion of matic part of national holidays and cel- May 17, 1989 the Parliament passed the piety with servility to the church make ebrations; religious symbols and icons law recognizing the Catholic church and him an ideal puppet who can be easily have been introduced into the buildings "restoring a number of privileges." manipulated. Walesa and similar individu- of all public institutions, including the parliament. During the June 4, 1989, election, als in the government seem to be the ideal Solidarity gained 35 percent of the seats front for the Catholic church in Poland. More dangerous is the encroachment in the Diet. Later President Lech Walesa The control of political leaders is done of the church on the consciousness of called this victory "35 percent democra- today openly and shameless. Most recent- society: cy." Only July 19, 1989, the Parliament ly the archbishop of Gdansk, Tadeusz elected General Wojciech Jaruzelski pres- Goolowski, invited leaders of all of the The legislature's refusal to order a refer- ident for the term of six years. Walesa political parties to his palace in order to endum—despite a nationwide petition remained restless and aspired to a more discuss strategy for the September 1993 garnering 1.3 million signatures—on prominent role than that of union leader. elections. making abortion illegal has taken away During a consultation with the pope at Recent reports from Poland indicate the sense of individual security. There is a common belief that the church is a ris- Castel Gandolfo on August 27, 1990, the that the church influences the legislature ing, new guiding force for society, with pope advised him to commit Poland to directly by controlling the state and an obligatory "one true world view." Catholicism and obedience to the church. imposing church laws and regulations. Not surprisingly, the social response has Evidently, the pope had specific plans, been one of fear; the similarities with since one month later, on September 18, In 1991 Parliament passed a bill which the past are too conspicuous to go unno- ticed. Hypocrisy and self-censorship Primate Józef Glemp called all leading declares that the Christian ethical sys- tem is the basis of education in the pub- have returned like a plague. New false- politicians and the entire Polish govern- lic schools, and that the will of the par- hoods, full of "blank spaces" and sim- ment (twenty-seven persons in total, ents is binding—the child has no choice plifications that distort the Polish past, including then president Wojciech about attending religious classes... . have replaced those of communist histo- Jaruzelski) to his palace on Miodowa Masses and prayers have become part of ry. A new set of stereotypes have been introduced into Polish culture and tradi- Street. We read in Gazeta International, official ceremonies, as Poland shifts back towards being a Catholic country. tion. Well-tested Orwellian principles of an English version of the Gazeta There are crosses in official offices, Newspeak are deforming language: dis- Wyborcza, an organ of the Solidarity police buildings, schools and the army. tinctions are made between freedom and group: "Polish Primate Joseph Glemp A bill has been passed ordering the state "real freedom" or "well-organized free- hosted Tuesday's `summit' (September to return Church property taken by the dom." Many concepts are being wrong- ly identified: universal moral values are 18, 1990) to determine whether future communists (no other organization or individual has yet received such recom- Christian values, abortion is the equiva- presidential elections would precede gen- pense). ... Politicians related to the lent of killing children; moral relativism eral elections or whether they should be Church often say officially that homo- is nihilism; anti-clericalism is anti-God; held together, and when." A more detailed sexuals are sinners. Divorce cases have atheism is communism.... The school description of what happened was given been transferred to the higher court is a principal target of the Church's efforts.... Religious classes in Poland, by President Walesa in his book The level to increase their cost and so decrease their number. There is no sex mandated by law, [have as their aim] Struggle and Triumph. The purpose of the education program, and efforts are introduction of formal instruction in the meeting was to decide on future parlia- being made to limit the availability of catechism, which is to say religious mentary elections and the future presi- contraceptives.' indoctrination. A centuries-old tradition dent. Evidently, the pope decided that of religious instruction that excludes practice of skepticism or counter-argu- Jaruzelski should be replaced by Walesa. The church has obtained enormous mentation is used in the classroom... . The pressure was applied on Jaruzelski to benefits, special tax privileges, property The introduction of catechism to the

44 FREE INQUIRY classroom undermines the school's fun- the Polish anti-Semitism go to the religious indoctri- 147 ff. damental purpose.... It dulls the abili- nation, and thus to the church's social, political, and 8. "Report from Poland," International Human- ty to think critically and introduces cog- theological doctrines. ist, April 1992, p. 17. nitive dissonance.... The classes .. . 5. Homily is quoted in Bartoszewski, op. cit., p. 9. Lech Walesa with collaboration of Arkadiusz 109 ff. Rybicki, The Struggle and the Triumph: An Auto- damage the secular authority since the 6. Quoted in Alan Dershowitz, Chutzpah (New biography. Translated by Franklin Philip in collabo- classes are in essence obligatory... . York: Simon and Schuster, 1991) p. 183. ration with Helen Mahut (New York: Arcade Many children attend religion classes 7. The Auschwitz affair was resolved finally by Publishing, 1992). only because they fear the academic intervention of the pope. Bartoszewski contrasts the 10. Barbara Stanosz, "Emerging Democracy or consequences of having a blank space in attitude toward Jews of the Pope John Paul II with Religious State?" Uncaptive Min4 vol. 6, no. 2, the "religion/ethics" section of their that of the primate as two worlds apart; op. cit., p. 1993, pp. 33-36. • school certificate. Instead of honesty and moral courage, the schools are teaching opportunism, hypocrisy and cynicism. The schools are also propa- gating both intolerance and the belief in Humanist Activity in Poland the existence of "only one truth" in the sphere of morality. To serve this truth, new "family life" classes are being pre- pared to supplement existing religion Jan Wolenski classes, in order to teach the Church's views on family... .'° he Society for Humanism and Although Warsaw is SHIE's headquarters, The emerging totalitarianism is more 1. Independent Ethics (SHIE) was branches have been organized in other vicious and dangerous than communist established in 1991. The tasks of SHIE Polish cities. rule because it destroys the will, initiative, comprise: the cultivation of values rooted Several SHIE seminars and lectures intellect, moral sensitivity, and human in the tradition of humanism; advocating have been mainly devoted to ethics. These dignity and makes out of a free and intel- freedom of thought and movement for activities are closely connected with the ligent being an automaton reacting to the individuals and groups; achieving com- introduction of the study of ethics in sec- commands of the church. promises and fostering sympathy and tol- ondary schools. Ethics is conceived as an erance among competing social interests; alternative for students who do not want Notes creating a community of all people while to participate in religious education. SHIE respecting ethnic, political, social, or reli- organized two conferences, both in 1993: 1. Andrzej Bryk "Poland and the Memory of the gious bonds; and promoting a rational and "Liberalism and Christianity" and "Poli- Holocaust," in Partisan Review, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. tical Controversies and Choices in 228-238; Mieczyslaw Maneli "A Clerical and scientific attitude in explanations of phe- Present Danger," in The Humanist, March/April nomena as well as education. SHIE Poland." Materials of the first conference 1990, pp. 19-33, 36, Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewski, opposes anti-democratic and anti-pluralis- have been published in a book, and the The Convent at Auschwitz (New York: George Braziller, 1991); first published in London, 1990. tic activities; the subordination of govern- proceedings of the second meeting are 2. On the Socinians, Polish Brethren, their devel- ment policies to any ideology; national- being prepared for publication. Also a opment, and their ideology see my articles: M. ism, racism, and all forms of discrimina- conference on the axiological aspects of Hillar, "Poland's Contribution to the Reformation: Socinians and their Ideas on Religious Freedom," in tion; threats to the use of reason and sci- the future Polish constitution is being The Polish Review, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 447-468. M. ence; and restrictions on human rights. planned. • Hillar, "From the Polish Socinians to the American SHIE realizes its goals through sup- Constitution," in A Journal from the Radical Reformation. A Testimony to Biblical Unitarianism, porting seminars; discussions; lectures in vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 22-57. colleges; conferences; publishing bul- SOS Can Help 3. Jurieu, Protestant professor of theology at letins, journals, and books; issuing decla- Rotterdam, cited by H. John McLachlan, Socinianism in Seventeenth-Century England, rations on important social issues; and The Secular Organizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951), p. 9. collaborations with other like-minded for Sobriety (SOS) is a Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704), bishop of societies in Poland and abroad. Due to national network of more Meaux, called the universal tolerance "cette théolo- than 1,000 groups for indi- gie de l'impiéte des socinens." Oeurvres Completes economic problems in Poland, SHIE's de Boussuet, ed. F. Lachat (Paris: Librairie de Louis activities are restricted. Membership fees viduals with addictions or Vives, 1862-1863), vol. 16, p. 151. must be relatively modest. Nevertheless, addiction recovery profes- 4. A detailed description of the entire affair is sionals. The SOS Newsletter given by Bartoszewski, op. cit. The affair was also a SHIE has succeeded in publishing three triggering point for evaluation in the Polish society issues of its bulletin. SHIE also cooper- publishes information about of their attitudes toward Jews past and present. ates in publishing and distributing the sobriety from a secular per- Though Poles have a good record during World War spective, research into alco- II, in the past their anti-Semitism was undeniable. journal Bez Dogmatu (Without a Dogma). Bartoszewski correctly concludes that the recent holism and addiction, and anti-Semitic atmosphere was a result of complete more. To order write SOS at lack of knowledge of Judaism and its principles. Jan Wolenski is a professor in the Institute Box 5, Central Park Station, Some members of the Polish hierarchy, still deeply of Philosophy at Jagiellonian University Buffalo, NY 14215. Cost: 1 anti-Semitic, exploited the situation in trying to enhance the interests of the church and seize the in Kraków. year, $18.00 opportunity to enhance theocratic rule. The roots of

Spring 1995 45 ensured that women's professional careers were and are harder to build, The Pope and the regardless of their qualifications. All this happens with the tacit consent of women who succumb to the pressures Myth of the Family of custom no less than men. They are exhausted by working double time—pro- fessionally and at home—and, on the whole, they are resigned. They treat their position as something assigned to them by Barbara Stanosz God or nature. Few rebel and break the stereotype. Feminism made its appear- he laws, morals, and customs upheld bers is firmly established: the man bears ance in Poland very late and did not pene- Tor recommended in a society can pro- the main responsibility for its subsistence, trate outside the intellectual elite. vide the basis for a reconstruction of its the woman for the upbringing of the chil- Nor does one see young women break- world-picture and of its mythology, that dren and for "running the home," which ing free of institutional family ties. On the largely unquestioned and subconscious entails the provision of a range of daily contrary, women marry young (in 70 per- system of beliefs relating to different services for husband and children. cent of marriages the woman is under social phenomena and their causes that Children should be blindly obedient to twenty-five); they have children young are treated as truths and equal to the laws their parents, and essentially have no (42 percent of births are to women under of science. They are expressed in loose, at voice at all ("silent as fish," the Polish twenty-five); and the number of children times quasi-poetic, language and accepted saying goes). The man is "head of the per family is comparatively high (an aver- either as God-given truths or on ill- family," he has an unwritten right to the age of 2.3). In Europe the figures are high- defined "intuitive" grounds without scien- "final word" in all matters in which he er only in Albania, Ireland, Spain, and tific verification or correction when chooses to voice an opinion. Romania. experience undermines their credibility. At the social level, this model is oblig- The mythology of the family incorpor- In my own cultural tradition, one of the atory and natural, even though for sever- ates the dogma of the indissolubility of most powerful myths links the notions of al decades at least life has forced people marriage. Divorce is treated as something woman, family, and nation. Versions of to encroach upon its very foundations: profoundly nefarious, associated with a this myth function in the cultures of many the division of roles. In the "People's grievous fault, to be prevented even at the societies, particularly those that have been Democracy" Polish women achieved full cost of the greatest renunciations. Divorce heavily influenced by the Catholic church equality before the law and easy access figures are consequently low while the over the centuries. History and its present to education. Differences between men number of broken marriages and families political or cultural composition make this and women in education and training (caused particularly by male alcoholism) is myth especially vigorous in modern were erased with relative speed. In edu- huge. In 1988 there were only 195 divorces Poland. cation women began to be more success- for every 1,000 marriages. These figures The idea that the family forms the ful than their male colleagues; in medical have decreased since new legislation made basic unit of society is like a slogan, schools and universities women have divorce even more difficult. Furthermore, repeated at every opportunity with cere- long had the advantage. All this motivat- as a result of intensive religious indoctrina- monial emphasis, suggesting that it is not ed women to professional activity, the tion, divorce is now surrounded by a thick- a straightforward descriptive device, but more so as in a socialist economy the ening aura of transgression. something deeper, a fundamental truth man's income was generally inadequate The most serious mythological incur- that individuals and whole societies must to keep a family. This continues to be sion into the lives of modern Polish fami- respect, under the threat of hazy but disas- true today. In effect, women began to lies has been the anti-abortion law passed trous consequences. "The family" is share the burden for their family's mate- less than two years ago. It allows the ter- strictly defined: it is a marriage (monoga- rial welfare equally with men. But this mination of a pregnancy only in the event mous and heterosexual), sanctioned by didn't lead to an analogous expansion of of rape, threat to the woman's life, and civil law and a church sacrament, with the male role. Men did not make any sig- heavy damage to the fetus. Resistance to children sprung from that union. The nificant contribution to household duties the new laws was fairly high: 1.5 million functional division of roles between mem- nor to the upbringing of children (except signatures were collected in a petition in the case of an insignificant number of calling for a national referendum. This Barbara Stanosz is professor of philoso- young "partnerships"). The myth of the demand was rejected by the previous par- phy at the University of Warsaw, a founder "normal family" has decisively shaped liament which was dominated by the pro- of the Society for Humanism and legislation. This is true even though the Catholic right. In June 1994 the present Independent Ethics, and an editor at Bez equality of women before the law helped parliament passed an amended law, per- Dogmatu. to level the start men and women had in mitting abortion in cases of "extreme life. But no more than that: custom hardship." But President Walesa, unstint-

46 FREE INQUIRY ingly loyal to the church, refused to sign of the population. This will deepen the successor to Marxism—Leninism. and parliament was unable to overthrow poverty crisis to catastrophic levels, while In contrast to other Eastern European his veto. The prohibition still stands. The turning the difficult lives of many Polish countries, the national and historical tradi- number of abortions has not fallen; the women into unmitigated hell. tions of Poland would create an auspi- number of births has remained steady; The political changes since 1989 have cious climate for this: the age-old myth of neither contraception nor sex education not raised living standards for the majori- every "true Pole" as a Catholic; or the have been made more widely available. ty of people, nor led to improvements in myth of the "Polish mother" as a woman But the costs of illegal terminations per- the state of education, but they have whose vocation it is to sacrifice herself formed by doctors have risen radically exposed people to Western cultural influ- boundlessly for the good of family and and the number of unprofessionally stim- ences. While this may eventually help nation. It is favored too by the malicious ulated artificial miscarriages has grown, people—women—to break customary twist of fate that combined the fall of the with disastrous consequences for the stereotypes, there are grounds for pes- communist system with the aggressively health and lives of women. Unless abor- simism. The increasingly strong position conservative pontificate of John Paul II. tion is legalized soon, the dogma that of the Catholic church—despite the He has been built up by the church hierar- abortion is "the murder of innocents" may change of political parties in govern- chy and a large section of the victorious lead to a considerable increase in the ment—may lead to the formation of a reli- anti-communist opposition in Poland as number of births within the context of gious state with a legally sanctioned an unassailable moral authority and the growing impoverishment in large sector Catholic social and moral doctrine as the Greatest Pole of All Time. • TAKE A STAND! Become an ASSOCIATE MEMBER of the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism Associate Members will receive (exclusively) the redesigned, expanded Secular Humanist Bulletin (which incorporates the CODESH Chronicle), and a 10 percent discount on registra- tion fees for conferences and seminars, audiotapes and videotapes, and a select list of books.

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Spring 1995 47

A Bicentennial Glance at The Age of Reason

1994 marked the 200th anniversary of Thomas Paine's great critique of organized religion.—EDS.

Frank Smith

t is a truism that Thomas Paine is generally considered the was the inerrant word of God. Deism, child of the Renaissance greatest pamphleteer in history. His writings were weapons and the beginning of modern science, was the common bond of Iin the American and French revolutions, demonstrating anew a loose movement of thought originating in England. The deists that the pen is sometimes mightier than the sword. His genius is criticized the Christian system as intellectually incredible and exemplified in the titles of his most famous pamphlets— morally at fault. They argued for the existence of one God, the Common Sense for America and The Rights of Man and The Age law-giver of the natural universe, and for "virtue and piety" as of Reason for the world. the chief parts of religious worship. They nervously called them- In mid-1793 Paine was alone in his lodging in Paris. The selves "Christian," and the titles of their books—Toland's Reign of Terror was ablaze. He no longer sat in the National Christianity Not Mysterious, Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Convention, where he had pleaded in vain for mercy to Louis Creation, Chubb's The True Gospel of Jesus Christ Asserted— XVI. His friends were dying every day under the guillotine. evinced a common design to purify the Christian religion by When would the gendarmes come for him? restoring it to its origins. Was any great book ever written in more terrible circum- Paine did not know the deistic treatises firsthand, but he knew stances? (Alas, yes, Boethius wrote De Consolatione the Bible, he had studied science and appreciated the scientific Philosophiae while awaiting execution.) In The Rights of Man, method, and he drew ideas from the air like a sponge. Although Paine declared, "My country is the world and my religion is to he belongs intellectually in the tradition of respectable deism, his do good." Did he have anything more to say on the ultimate was a new voice: he was a revolutionist. meaning of life? Now, though he had no English Bible at hand, Two hundred years later some of his arguments against reve- he put his thoughts together. He had barely finished when the lation appear so obvious that one cannot help wondering why he gendarmes were at the door. Under arrest and on the way to gave so much space to them. Part One begins with a profession prison in the old Luxembourg Palace, he was allowed to leave of faith: with a friend the manuscript that became Part One of The Age of Reason. For more than ten months he was to languish under the I believe [in] one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness shadow of death, a pawn of international intrigue and double- beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that the religious dealing until James Monroe, the new ambassador to France, duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to obtained his release on November 6, 1794. make our fellow creatures happy. In The Age of Reason, Paine synthesized the religious radi- I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, calism of the period into an argument that made history and was by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish a milestone in the evolution of the free mind. The Christian creed church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my church. as practiced in the eighteenth century was a system of dogmas on which Catholics and Protestants were in essential agreement: It is the fundamental thesis of God had created the universe and Adam in his own image; Adam The Age of Reason that any reli- gion deserving the allegiance of intelligent men and women must sinned and the burden of his guilt had to be borne by all his harmonize with the highest human concept of God and the most descendants; a supernatural redemption was wrought by God's exacting demands of human intelligence. The doctrine of the vir- only begotten son, Jesus Christ, on the cross; faith in Christ gin birth is the product of only common talk, and the Ascension assured salvation and the avoidance of hell-fire; and the Bible and Resurrection, which, if true, would have been witnessed by multitudes, rest upon the reports of eight or nine persons. The Frank Smith, now retired, was a professor at George Washington absurdity of the Satan myth is self-evident. University and an attorney in private practice. He is the author of Thomas Paine, Liberator and Robert G. Ingersoll: A Life. He is then introduced into the garden of Eden in the shape of a snake, or a serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar con-

48 FREE INQUIRY versation with Eve, who is no ways surprised to hear a snake talk, Part Two of The Age of Reason develops a basic tenet for Part and the issue of this tête-a-tête is, that he persuades her to eat an One—that the Bible is not the Word of God—by a thousand and apple, and the eating of the apple damns all mankind. one evidences drawn from almost every book in the Old and New Testaments. Moses did not write the first five books of the Old The dogma that the Old Testament is the word of God is based Testament attributed to him. They describe his own funeral, and only upon the vote of a church council, which has endorsed "the they refer to events shown elsewhere in the Old Testament as obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tor- occurring centuries after his death. Further, Moses was a moral turous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness" of more than monster; he could not have been divinely inspired when he com- half the Old Testament. The New Testament bears no proof of manded in Numbers, in the name of the Lord, to "kill ever male divine authorship. If Jesus was the divine being pictured by the among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a mythologists, He suffered on Earth in living, not in dying, for man by lying with him; but all the women-children that have not death restored Him to heaven. The doctrine of the vicarious known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." atonement is morally repulsive. "Moral justice cannot take the Joshua, Kings, and Chronicles are accounts of assassinations and innocent for the guilty even if the innocent would offer itself. To wars that could not have been committed in compliance with support justice to do this is to destroy the principle of its exis- directives from God. The Book of Jonah is "a fit story for tence, which is the thing itself. It is no longer justice. It is indis- ridicule, if it was written to be believed, or of laughter, if it was criminate revenge," he wrote. intended to try what credulity could swallow; for, if it could There is, Paine proclaims, a religion equal to the demands of swallow Jonah, it could swallow anything." The Age of Reason. God speaks to mankind with rational testi- And what of the New Testament, "the fable of Jesus Christ?" mony, in the universal and unmistakable language of his creation. The genealogy of Christ, given in Matthew, lists twenty-eight generations from David to Joseph; in Luke there are forty-three. Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensi- ty of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We If we cannot believe the Gospels on the natural genealogy of see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Christ, how can we believe them on his supernatural genealogy? Whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? The virgin birth is not mentioned in Mark and John and is relat- We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we ed differently in Matthew and Luke. It requires much more proof want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding than is given. that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the scripture, which any human hand might make, but in the scripture called Were any girl that is now with child to say, and even to swear it, Creation. that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and that an angel told

Spring 1995 49 her so, would she be believed? Certainly she would not. Why The prosecution was conducted under the auspices of the then are we to believe the same thing of another girl whom we Society for Carrying into Effect His Majesty's Proclamation never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor where, nor when? against Vice and Immorality. Prosecution counsel was Thomas Erskine, greatest of barristers and later Lord Chancellor, who had The last words of Part Two are "when opinions are free, either represented Paine in the trial as author of The Right of Man. in matters of government or opinion, truth will finally and pow- Defense counsel was Stewart Kyd, who had himself stood trial for erfully prevail." high treason. The brief trial was marked by vitriolic exchanges The Age of Reason had a seismic impact in England. Thirty- between counsel and between defense counsel and the judge. The six replies are in the British Museum. Some of the respondents, jury immediately found Williams guilty. Erskine requested that like Joseph Priestley and the Bishop of Llandaff, treated Paine the Society recommend a sentence of time already served. The with respect as a fellow-seeker of the truth. To the rest he was the Society refused, and Erskine withdrew from the case and returned target for an outpouring of outrage—"renegade," "popinjay," his retainer. Williams submitted an affidavit begging for mercy: "toad," a "nincompoop" with "so little conscience as to vomit he was the sole support of his wife and two small children, the such trash upon the bosom of the public." The massive pile of pamphlet had been sold openly for three years without prosecu- inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible he had exposed tion and he had supposed that sale was within the law, he had were "of little consequence." He had derided trivial-minded meant no harm, he repudiated Kyd. Williams was sentenced to mathematics claiming to prove the supernatural truth. Thomas prison for one year at hard labor, no allowance for time served. Williams retorted in The Age of Infidelity, "May I not reveal a In America, stronghold of literal Christianity, The Age of truth to a third person, through the medium of a second of such Reason created a sensation more widespread than profound. The veracity as to demand belief? Is this possible with men, and copies of Part One that had found their way across the Atlantic impossible with God?" On the virgin birth Robert Thomson were supplemented in the fall of 1795 by a cargo of 15,000 averred in The Divine Authority of the Bible that he believed in copies of Part Two sent by Paine to Benjamin Franklin's son-in- that miracle for the very fact that it is narrated in the Bible, and law. "What baneful success has attended this vile and insidious "When Paine therefore asks, 'Were any girl that is now with effort," lamented the Reverend Daniel Dana of Newburyport to child to say that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and that an his congregation in 1799, "you need not be told that infidelity angel told her so, would she be believed?' Our answer is easy, we has had, for several years past, a rapid increase among us, seems would recommend her to bedlam, and give her The Age of a truth generally acknowledged." Deistic societies sprang up in Reason to amuse herself." Embracing the barbarities of the God New York and Philadelphia. Bold college students badgered their of the Bible its apologists unwittingly illustrated Paine's thesis professors with arguments out of The Age of Reason. "That was that belief in a cruel God makes men cruel. "Justice only was to the day of the infidelity of the Tom Paine school," Lyman be executed, when all hope of reformation was cut off," said Beecher recalled of life at Yale in 1795-1796. "Boys that dressed Williams in approving the law in Deuteronomy prescribing cap- in flax in the barn, as I used to, read Tom Paine and believed ital punishment for unruly children. him." Before His Majesty's Government awoke to the dreadful dan- ger posed by Paine's pamphlet, it was distributed by the thou- uch were some of the battles long ago as the new Moses led sands among the common people, whom Edmund Burke his battalions against the citadel of superstition. The dust has described as the "Swinish Multitude." Robert Hall grieved in S settled. Deism, having breached the walls of supernaturalism, Modern Infidelity: died a natural death as Darwinian science undermined its ratio- Infidelity has lately grown condescending: bred in the specula- nale. Philosophers rejected not only the God of Revelation but tions of a daring philosophy, immured at first in the cloisters of the God of Nature. They averred that the universe is meaningless, the learned, and afterwards nursed in the lap of voluptuous and of that nature is indifferent to the human race, that dead men rise up courts; having at last reached its full maturity, it boldly ventures never. By and large, in England this was the philosophy of to challenge the suffrages of the people, solicits the acquaintance of peasants and mechanics, and seeks to draw whole nations to its Charles Bradlaugh, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Thomas standard. Henry Huxley (who coined the word agnosticism); in the United States of Robert G. Ingersoll and the American Secular Union. It One Thomas Williams (not the Thomas Williams who wrote is the philosophy of Bertrand Russell's A Free Man's Worship The Age of Infidelity!), bookseller, stitched printed sheets of the and Sigmund Freud's The Future of An Illusion. pamphlet together and sold the package for a shilling. In 1797 he It was said of Paine's mentor Franklin that he wrested the was hauled before the King's Bench to answer the charge of pub- thunderbolt from the skies and the scepter from tyrants. It cannot lishing blasphemy "to the great displeasure of Almighty God, to be said of Paine that he wrested the pulpit from priests. the great scandal and infamy of the Christian religion, to the evil Orthodoxy is still in the saddle, freethought the challenger. The example of others, and against the peace of our said lord and 103rd Congress has authorized a statue of Thomas Paine on pub- king his crown and dignity." The committee seeking contribu- lic land in the nation's capital. This is a tribute to his revolution- tions for his legal fees consisted of a shoemaker, a grocer, two ary politics, not a benediction on his revolutionary religion. The printers, and a hatter. (Perhaps committee and contributors occa- Age of Reason is a dynamic artifact in the ongoing struggle for sionally drank to a toast popular among the radicals: "May the the liberation of the human spirit. We pay homage to Thomas last king be strangled in the bowels of the last priest.") Paine, who led us part of the way toward a new horizon. •

50 FREE INQUIRY The Clouds, when confusing him with the sophists. Finally, Popper claims to be a Reviews disciple of Kant, and like him, an advo- cate of emancipation through rational knowledge, however falsifiable, precari- The Defense of Rationality ous, and corrigible it may be. At first blush, articles by Thelma Lavine in "New American Pragmatism," Richard Rorty on "Trotsky and the Wild Orchid," and Adolf Grünbaum's "In Defense of Alberto Hidalgo Tuñón Secular Humanism" circumscribe to the American milieu. This is a wrong impres- Challenges to the Enlightenment, ed. by Karl Popper, Richard Rorty, Edward sion, since the open debate by the Paul Kurtz and Timothy J. Madigan Wilson, among others) is the fact that American left, as demonstrated in Allan for the Academy of Humanism these ideals are today questioned by sup- Bloom's famous The Closing of the (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, posedly well-informed intellectuals: post- Modern Mind, whose echoes resound here, 1994) 320 pp., cloth $25.95. modernist criticism thrown against scien- actually has a universal philosophical tific thinking; the accusation of elitist reach. That Rorty's position has hardened s paradoxical as it may seem, the tri- technocracy raised by constructivist soci- somewhat is obvious in this phrase sup- Aumph of science as a social form of ologists and relativists of science; the porting Dewey's dream of a democratic knowledge has been accompanied in the inconsistent character of a purely formal community: "The actually existing approx- last two decades by a loosening of the ide- equality; and the individualist bias in pro- imations to such a fully democratic, fully ological and philosophical justifications claimed political rights. secular community now seem to me the that certified its superiority. Enlightened Paul Kurtz sets the tone for the book, by greatest achievements of our species. In rationalists find themselves challenged by speaking out against Heidegger's Nazi anti- comparison, even Hegel's and Proust's postmodernism, and some, like Paul Kurtz humanism and the economic determinism books seem optional, orchidaceous extras." and Timothy J. Madigan, have finally of vulgar Marxism, and advocating a "new Insofar as Enlightenment humanists decided to respond in Challenges to the Enlightenment" that hinges upon universal proclaim themselves as "eternal seekers Enlightenment. ethical values. For Kurtz, "History is not after the truth, knowing that we do not The Enlightenment proclaimed the fixed. There are no inevitable laws of social have the final answers, but certain that we necessity of liberating man from the intel- development that we discover. What will have the best method yet devised for lectual slavery generated by the dogmatic occur depends on us. Whether the twenty- determining the truth or falsity of most of authority of ancient sacred texts. It first century and beyond will be the human- today's assumptions," in the words of advanced the application of scientific ist century depends in part upon Lady Luck Vern Bullough, those chapters in the book methods as a means of releasing mankind and chance, the contingent and unexpected, that defend science have one thing in from ignorance, and resolving world but it also depends upon our efforts and common: they rely on the actual state of problems, such as famine and poverty. It what we do." scientific knowledge in order to extrapo- tried to avoid inequalities based on race, Kurtz's response to the challenges of late it to arguments in favor of enlightened sex, and/or religion; and it also endorsed postmodernism gains support with the rationalism. Thus, for example, Richard the implementation of political rights for arguments of French philosopher Luc Dawkins develops his celebrated prophy- each and every citizen. Ferry. The other philosophical articles lactic thesis against viruses of the mind, Unfortunately, only those in highly provide a wide range of conceptual José Delgado promotes the pursuit of hap- developed democratic societies of the artillery. For Canadian philosopher Mario piness on a neurological basis, while Western hemisphere have as yet benefited Bunge, the modern sociology of science sociobiologist Edward Wilson, after deter- from such ideals. In pretty much the rest of Latour and Woolgar only repeats in mining the biological origins of religion, of the planet, fundamentalisms have sociological form an old counter-Enlight- proposes a curious, though difficult, resisted their penetration. But what most enment romantic leit-motiv, presented by alliance with Catholic bishops that "put surprises the new paragons of enlightened Fichte's and Hegel's German idealism, into enduring poetic form the highest thought in this book (including Mario irrationally refurbished by Nietszche in moral values of society consistent with Bunge, Bernard Crick, Richard Dawkins, his day and resuscitated now in the ques- empirical knowledge and to lead into Antony Flew, Jean-Claude Pecker, Sir tionable hands of ethnomethodology. moral reasoning." John Passmore, president of the Austral- Most of the articles in Challenges to Alberto Hidalgo Tuñón is president of the ian Academy of Science, tries to explain the Enlightenment deal with social mat- Sociedad Asturiana de Filosofa, Oviedo, to us how and why certain hostile attitudes ters, where it is no longer the postmod- Spain, and a member of the Academy of against science have the same logical ernist philosophies that pose a challenge Humanism. form as the indiscriminate criticisms that to enlightened thinking and values, but Aristophanes hurled against Socrates in mainly the religious fundamentalism of

Spring 1995 51 the Catholic church in Poland with the lining the benefits that would follow for Challenges to the Enlightenment demon- pope at its head (according to Adam the great majority of the population, par- strates that rational thinking, even when Michnik); Islamic terrorism (according to ticularly women. The need to introduce critical, can also be fun. More important, Antony Flew); or U.S. Protestant funda- principles of scientific rationalism in the what is clear from reading this book is mentalism (as discussed by Carl Sagan construction of societies in Latin America that the future of our planet depends on and Ann Druyan). Elena Bonner, wife of is defended strongly by José Leite Lopes, the use of reason, science, and the social Andrei Sakharov, analyzes the difficult whereas Bernard Crick, in an ironic and political ideals of the Enlighten- rebirth of democracy in Russia. Indumati mood, talks about British tolerance, which ment—upsetting as this may be for post- Parikh argues for the need of implement- could end up producing a kind of "entro- modernist obscurantism. • ing humanist rationalism not only in morphic, ecumenic, Moslem, Christian, India, but in all of the Third World, out- Hindu, Baptist, holistic unitarianism." Translated by Etienne Colon-Rios

history can be assessed. The Collected Reflections on the Works of Lenin has been published, edit- ed and, reprinted five times; and, accord- Cult of Lenin ing to official Soviet sources, was com- plete. This was not the case, and with the Paul Kurtz ascension of Boris Yeltsin to power and the collapse of the Soviet Communist Party, the heretofore secret archives have Lenin: A New Biography, by Dmitri Lenin was no angel and that the dictator- been made available to scholars. Volkogonov (New York: The Free Press, ship of the proletariat that he founded was Thousands of new letters, memoranda, 1994) 529 pp., cloth $30.00. forged in blood and terror. A number of and documents withheld from publication authors, many of them socialists, such as can now be analyzed. There are 3,724 ladimir Illych Ulyanov (better known Max Eastman, Alexander Berkman, pieces of material in all, plus another Vas Lenin, the name he assumed) was Emma Goldman, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl 3,000 official documents signed by one of the central revolutionary figures of Kautsky, even Maxim Gorky, pointed out Lenin. What they reveal is that this bril- the twentieth century. A man of iron will the excesses of Lenin's rule. Other liant but complex revolutionary was any- and dedicated purpose, the Bolshevik authors—Sidney Hook, Bertrand Wolfe, thing but pure in motive or deed, and he Revolution would not have succeeded Robert Conquest, and Arthur Koestler— committed dreadful crimes. without him. Much has been written about have eloquently diagnosed the cruel char- Perhaps the most significant analysis Lenin, but also much concealed. It is clear acter of the Leninist regime. Many devo- of of this new material to date is the pow- that a cult has developed around him. For tees of Lenin considered these detractors erful new book, Lenin: A New Biography, a long time many within and outside of to be biased and in some ways to have by Dmitri Volkogonov, a former lieu- the Soviet empire considered him to be an betrayed leftist ideals. And many human- tenant general in the Red Army in charge idealist, even a man of goodness and ist fellow travelers had long extolled the of psychological warfare, and a former virtue. Dedicated Communists who wor- virtues of Leninism. Within Russia even dedicated Communist. I was pleased to shiped his name sought to memorialize Gorbachev, although he condemned have met General Volkogonov, who holds him by erecting a monument just outside Stalinism, never turned against the doctorates in philosophy and in history, the Kremlin walls; tens of millions of founder of the Marxist-Leninist state and through the good offices of Valeri Russians have shuffled by to gawk at his believed that a return to his principles was Kuvakin, his former student, who is pro- mummified body. essential. fessor of Russian philosophy at Moscow The Soviet empire grew out of Lenin's Today, although Lenin's reputation has State University.' As publisher of vision and determination. Now crumbling been tarnished, he has still not been fully Prometheus Books, I was allowed to enter and in disarray, the brutal excesses of the dethroned and his body has not as yet the secret archives and to arrange for the monolithic regime that he created are been removed from its mausoleum in publication of several documents? I was blamed by many on Stalin, his successor, Moscow. Until this is done and the surprised at being given the opportunity to who, it is said, betrayed the ideals of the Russian soul confronts the true picture of examine these documents directly. revolution inspired by Lenin. That, at Leninism, perhaps Russia cannot bind its Volkogonov had just published a study least, is the scenario that so many wounds and recover from its legacy. of Stalin' He said that he was working on Communists, Soviet citizens, and even This is now possible, given the fact two other manuscripts. One was on the social democrats and liberals throughout that the secret Soviet archives from the life of Trotsky, whose true place in the the world have in the past accepted. There Communist Party, the KGB, and the revolution and the early years of the have been abundant skeptical debunkers Kremlin have been opened and a truer Soviet regime has not yet been conveyed of the Lenin myth, who pointed out that account of Lenin the man and his role in to the Russian public, and the other was

52 FREE INQUIRY about Lenin. These books, said Russia, but to other liberals, leftists, democrats, who thought that socialism Volkogonov, would offer a more accurate socialists, and social democrats—anyone could only come into being by peace- appraisal of Lenin's character and role who threatened his authority or ques- ful parliamentary means, and Marx- and would be based upon what tioned his policies. According to ists—Leninists, who were willing to use Volkogonov had discovered in the Volkogonov, Lenin approved of the mur- terror to achieve the revolution, has been archives. I endeavored to secure publica- der of the czar and his family and attempt- resolved. The virtues of the democratic tion of both books and offered contracts to ed to cover up the foul deed. Under Lenin, society, where pluralistic parties and the General Volkogonov. Unfortunately, Pro- the rule of law was abandoned and right of opposition and dissent is permit- metheus Books did not have the financial Revolutionary Tribunals were used to ted, indeed encouraged, has been vindi- resources to outbid larger publishing condemn thousands of people without a cated. Alternative authoritarian and totali- houses. I eagerly awaited the appearance trial or hearing. It was Lenin who first cre- tarian systems, although efficient for a of both books, which have since been ated the secret police, the dreaded Cheka time, are too dangerous to human well- published in Russia, The Lenin book has (later the NKVD and the KGB) under the being: for from them any kind of mon- just been published in English. tyrannical control of Felix Dzerhinsky, strous crimes might ensue. Volkogonov had been summarily dis- who tortured and murdered thousands of Many still believe that had Lenin lived missed from the army during the Brezh- innocent people. or had his policies prevailed, Russia nev era for saying that the Soviet leader- Lenin wanted earthly happiness for the would not have suffered the awesome ship had to come to terms with people, and his utopian ideal justified any bloodbath that was to follow under Stalin. Stalinism—a radical view at that time. He means; nothing was allowed to stand in In another book, Lenin's Will: Falsified was reinstated by Gorbachev, who asked the way of the revolution. Volkogonov and Forbidden, Yuri Buranov, who had him to read the Kremlin archives and tell reveals that Lenin came from a well-to- direct access to the archives, argues that as him what was in them. Volkogonov was do family and that the execution of his Lenin lay incapacitated by a stroke Stalin badly shaken by what he uncovered. The older brother, who was involved in the used Machiavellian means to secure his Communist leaders apparently saved assassination of Czar Alexander, left a own power. According to Buranov, everything. They no doubt had a sense of permanent scar on his character and Lenin's famous will, which raised doubts history. engendered bitterness toward the ruling about Stalin's character and his leader- When Gorbachev was deposed in a regime. ship, was distorted by Stalin's wife, coup, Volkogonov was high on the list to A letter written in August 1918 by Alliluyeva, who served as Lenin's secre- be eliminated by conservative Com- Lenin and addressed to the Bolsheviks in tary; indeed, as Lenin lay on his deathbed, munists. When Yeltsin prepared to seize Penza clearly shows his attitude. the Central Committee decided to sup- power, the Central Committee ordered all press his last testament. Much of this was sensitive documents in the archives to be Comrades! The kulak uprising in [your] revealed by Max Eastman in a book he five districts must be crushed without burned. Yeltsin abolished the Communist published in England in 1925, but his pity. The interests of the whole revolu- Party and appointed Volkogonov chair- tion demand it, for the "final and deci- views remained suppressed from the man of the Presidential Commission sive battle" with the kulaks everywhere Soviet public. Stalin maneuvered himself Examining the Archives, thus saving the is now engaged. An example must be into power, and the terrible bloodletting in archives for posterity. made. 1) Hang (and I mean hang so that which an estimated 20 million people died the people can see) not less than 100 eventually emerged. True, Lenin's terror known kulaks, rich men, bloodsuckers. olkogonov's account of Lenin is dev- 2) Publish their names. 3) Take all their pales in comparison to Stalin's. Yet Vastating. It was Lenin who first con- grain away from them. 4) Identify Volkogonov argues that the totalitarian ceived of the dictatorship of the proletari- hostages as we described in our state was already formed by Lenin. at, and used the Communist Party, espe- telegram yesterday. Do this so that for Stalin's book, The Principles of Leninism, cially the Central Committee and the hundreds of miles around the people can which he published in 1927, spelled this see, tremble, know and cry: they are out clearly. Leninism viewed the Com- Politburo, as a vehicle for the revolution. killing and will go on killing the blood- Moreover, it was Lenin who rejected par- sucking kulaks. Cable that you have munist Party as a "combat organization; liamentary democracy—as espoused by received this and carried out [your every person had to be a selfless fighter the Mensheviks and the Social Demo- instructions.] (p. 69) with gun in hand" Dissent was forbidden. crats—and went on to use terror, violence, Stalin later suppressed many of the letters and coercion to achieve his goals. He In another document Lenin attempted to and documents of Lenin that were stored demanded absolute obedience. Indeed, vindicate his use of terror. He said: "The in the archives and made Lenin appear from the time he seized power in 1917 dictatorship means nothing other than semi-divine. until his death of a stroke in 1923, hun- power totally unlimited by any laws, unre- The lesson is clear and needs to be reit- dreds of thousands of people were execut- strained by regulation, and based directly erated: one cannot hope to build a better ed under his regime. This applied not only on the use of force" (p. 237). society using mendacious means; nor can to "right-wing deviationists, reactionaries, one sacrifice an ethic of principles for an or monarchists" during the battles with n retrospect, the great debate in the ear- ethic of ends without disastrous conse- the White Army and the civil war within Ilier part of the century between social quences. For in the process of creating the

Spring 1995 53 ideal society the conditions of power used of Lenin. How important it is for the peo- (Summer 1992). to achieve it will corrupt those who wield ple of Russia and others who were enam- 2. Four books have been published by the power. Will future reformers learn or Prometheus Books or are in press: Yuri Buranov, ored of Leninism to confront the truth of Lenin's Will: Falsified and Forbidden (Amherst, will some still unknown Robespierre sac- Lenin, abandon the icon, and move on. N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1994); Yuri L. Dyakov rifice human dignity on the altar of revo- and Tatyana S. Bushuyeva, The Red Army and the lutionary zeal? Given the prostrate, tragic Wehrmacht: How the Soviets Militarized Germany, Notes 1922-33, and Paved the Way for Fascism (Amherst, character of life in Russia today, it is clear N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1995); Gennadi V. that the ideal end was not worth the price 1. I have written three articles in FREE INQUIRY Kostyrchenko, Out of the Red Shadows: Anti- about my visits to Russia in 1989, 1991, and 1992 as in suffering that it exacted from the peo- Semitism in Stalin's Russia (Amherst, N.Y.: the Communist state was breaking up, "Militant Prometheus Books, 1995); and Valentina Vilkova, ple. Atheism Versus Freedom of Conscience: Reflections Struggle for Power: 1923 (Amherst, N.Y.: Pro- What a pity to have had an entire on the Moscow Atheist/Humanist Dialogue" (Fall metheus Books, forthcoming, 1995). 1989); "The End of 'Kremlin II'?" (Spring 1991); nation predicate its existence on the myth 3. Dmitry Volkogonov, Stalin: Triumph and and "Letter from Moscow: Russia in Transition" Tragedy (New York: Grove Atlantic, 1991). •

homo sapiens will likely have long van- Scientist Nitwit Atheist Proves ished from the universe. Finally, after the passage of a billion Existence of God billion years, give or take a hundred bil- lion years or so, the universe will be uni- formly populated with an extremely Victor J. Stenger advanced form of life that will be capable of feats far beyond anyone's (but Tipler's) imagination. The Physics of Immortality: Modern Chronicle, October 26, 1994). At that point, Tipler assumes the uni- Cosmology and the Resurrection of the Tipler hedges no bets. He assures the verse will begin to contract toward what is Dead, by Frank J. Tipler (New York: reader who may have lost a loved one or is called "the big crunch," the reverse of the Doubleday, 1994) 528 pp., cloth $24.95. afraid of death: `Be comforted, you and big bang. Now, it should be noted that they shall live again" (p. 1). He claims his most cosmologists currently do not expect he jacket of The Physics of deductions follow straight from the laws that the big crunch will happen. The best TImmortality tells us that author Frank of physics as we now understand them. guess based on current observation and Tipler had arrived at a "... stunning con- Frank J. Tipler is professor of mathe- theory is that the universe is open; that is, clusion: Using the most advanced and matical physics at Tulane University. He it will expand forever. Tipler, however, sophisticated methods of modern physics, is already well known from his earlier claims that his theory "predicts" that the relying solely on the rigorous procedures book, The Anthropic Cosmological universe is closed. It is a strange sort of of logic that science demands, he had cre- Principle, co-authored with John D. scientific prediction, when a desired result ated a proof of the existence of God." Barrow, that has become an authoritative far in the future is used to predict a current Conservative radio newsman Paul Harvey source for the new generation of Christian fact. But, at least we have a falsifiable obviously had read this when he apologists who claim that science and claim: if someday cosmologists convinc- exclaimed: "Professor Frank Tipler was a religion are converging, and that what ingly demonstrate that the universe is typical scientist nitwit and an atheist. As a they are converging on is religion. Before open, then Tipler will be refuted. physicist, he could not accept anything he the apologists get too excited about Tipler makes other "predictions," such could not prove. But when he began to cal- Tipler's latest effort, however, I urge them as the masses of the top quark and Higgs culate the ultimate end of the universe— to read it very carefully. boson. But these are essentially based on wow! He discovered God!" (Conservative Tipler's idea is not new, being the sort the unrelated calculations of others and he of thing cosmologists prattle about when is being a bit disingenuous to claim them Victor J. Stenger is professor of physics they sit around drinking beer. However, he as his own. and astronomy at the University of has added a few wrinkles. The author The big crunch is not sufficient for Hawaii and the author of Not By Design: argues that the robots we should be able to immortality. The crunch must happen in a The Origin of the Universe (Prometheus build by the next century will ultimately highly specific way in order to maintain Books, 1988) and Physics and Psychics: spread themselves throughout the uni- causal contact across the universe and pro- The Search for a World Beyond the verse, each generation of robot producing vide sufficient energy for what life must Senses (Prometheus Books, 199O). He is ever-superior versions of itself. He esti- then accomplish in order to avoid extinc- currently working on The Unconscious mates that robotic life will blanket the tion. In other words, the collapse of the Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern galaxy in a mere million years. In a hun- universe must be very carefully controlled. Physics and Cosmology. dred million years, it will spread to the Now, if Tipler believed in a supernatur- Virgo cluster of the galaxies. By then, al cosmic mind controlling everything, he

54 FREE INQUIRY could simply say "anything is possible." told Moses, in Hebrew, "Ehyeh Asher them "nitwits," so I will not mention their But he does not escape to supernaturalism. Ehyeh," which Tipler translates as "I will names. Rather he escapes to chaos. He notes that be what I will be" in place of the conven- However, Harvey and other believers the equations of general relativity imply tional "I am that I am." Omega is the God should read The Physics of Immortality that the collapse of the universe is chaotic, of the early Christians who will reassem- carefully, though much of the text is meaning that it is very sensitive to the con- ble the complete bodies of all humans on incomprehensible to non-physicists. For ditions that exist at the start of the col- Judgment Day. Omega is the God of Tipler's Omega Point God is not the lapse. According to Tipler, the "butterfly Islam, who continually destroys and supernatural, spiritual being that their reli- effect" that characterizes chaos will be uti- recreates the universe from moment to gious leaders have imagined. Tipler's lized to guide the collapse of the universe. moment and provides for his warriors a Omega is completely material rather than The advanced life-form that evolves paradise of total pleasure. spiritual, natural rather than supernatural. from our twenty-first century robots must Tipler finds parallels of Omega Point His resurrected humans do not have bod- collapse the universe in a highly con- Immortality with the views of rebirth in ies or souls—they are bits in a computer. I trolled way. Assuming it can manage this, Taoism and early Hinduism. He finds doubt very much that this is what Paul life then converges on what the French Buddhism also consistent, interpreting Harvey or the pope has in mind. Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called nirvana as "heaven" despite its literal Is the Omega Point possible? Who can the "Omega Point." Tipler associates the meaning of "extinction." And not one to say what will happen a billion billion Omega Point, as did Teilhard, with God. be politically incorrect, Tipler finds paral- years in the future. Tipler, despite his Being the ultimate form of power and lels as well in African and Native claim, cannot predict that we will be res- knowledge, the Omega Point would also American religions. urrected at the Omega Point. And I can't be the ultimate in love. Loving us, it Scientists have been less kind than predict we will not be. Maybe we are liv- would proceed to resurrect all humans media reporters in their evaluation of The ing a simulation right now. who ever lived (along with their favorite Physics of Immortality. George Ellis starts Others have imagined computers and pets and most popular endangered his review in Nature magazine: "This has robots as a means for extending human species). This is accomplished by means to be one of the most misleading books survival. While a purely material immor- of a perfect computer simulation, what ever produced ... a masterpiece of pseu- tality may be problematical, the chances Tipler calls an "emulation." doscience" (Nature 371, September 8, are surely better than those provided by Since each of us is defined by our 1994, p. 115). Other prominent scientists supernatural fantasies. It's too bad Tipler DNA, the Omega Point simply emulates have called the book "awful" and accused makes his case so poorly, providing so all possible humans that could ever live, Tipler of writing it for the money. many targets for ridicule. I am not sure he which of course includes you and me. Our Undoubtedly, Paul Harvey would call isn't pulling our legs. memories have long dissolved into entropy, but Omega has us relive our lives in an instant, along with all the other pos- sible lives we could have lived. Those that Books in Brief Omega-God deems deserving will get to live even better lives, including lots of sex with the most desirable partners we can The following are a list of books that Karen Green (New York: Continuum, imagine. Even this Tipler places on a might prove helpful for those who wish to 1995) 220 pp., cloth $24.95. Green reex- mathematical basis, computing the relative further pursue the topic of contemporary amines the humanistic tradition's influ- "psychological impact" of meeting the humanism and feminism.—EDs. ence on feminist thought and argues that most beautiful women whose existence is rationality is not a masculine attribute, but logically possible compared to simply the Reclaiming the Mainstream: Indi- rather the means by which individuals most beautiful woman in the world. He vidualist Feminism Rediscovered, by throughout history have struggled against finds this to be [log o10` ").c""]/[logio109] = Joan Kennedy Taylor (Buffalo: oppression. 100,000 (p. 257). Prometheus Books, 1993) 271 pp., Those deemed undeserving by Omega cloth $24.95. Taylor utilizes the work of Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and will be put through purgatories, but if they John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a human- Sexual Difference in Contemporary perform satisfactorily they may gain heav- ist and feminist, to show the importance Feminist Theory, by Rosi Braidotti en. So, we can all correct our mistakes. I of individualism as the starting-point for (New York: Columbia University Press, will live where I learn to hit a curveball. social change. She gives a masterful cri- 1994) 326 pp., paper $15.50. Heavy- Hitler will live a life in which he is tique of the dangers that collectivist going for those unfamiliar with postmod- Jewish. Bill Clinton will be president over thinking has wrought on the feminist ernist jargon, this book calls for a reap- and over again until he finally gets it right. movement. praisal of "classical rationality" and its Tipler claims that the Omega Point role in oppressing women—but it might represents the God of Judeo-Christian The Woman of Reason: Feminism, well offer a case study in the danger of religion. Omega is the God of Jews who Humanism, and Political Thought, by abandoning such rationality when it

Spring 1995 55 comes to public discourse. orary member of the American Academy The Astonishing Hypothesis: The of Arts and Letters as well as Humanist Scientific Search for the Soul, by Feminism as Radical Humanism, by Laureate in CODESH's Academy of Francis Crick (New York: Macmillan, Pauline Johnson (Boulder, Colo.: West- Humanism. Many in Nigeria's establish- 1994) 317 pp., cloth $25.00. One of the view, 1994) 168 pp., paper $17.95. A ment dislike his having issued a "call for most important issues to distinguish complex evaluation of contemporary the abolition of the theocratic ideal in all humanism from supernatural religions is feminism as springing from two contrast- forms of government." His warnings whether there is a human mind (soul, ing sources: an Enlightenment concern about censorship have been considered a spirit, personality) that can survive inde- with universality, and a Romantic empha- serious threat by Nigerian leaders. pendently of the body. If not, such con- sis on individual differences. Johnson In his latest book, a second edition of a cepts as an afterlife and salvation make makes clear the close connection between 1988 work with the same title, Soyinka little sense, and humanists must define the aspirations of feminism and human- fights back against those who accuse him the purpose of life and the future of the ism. of not being sufficiently African, for writ- species for themselves. The Astonishing ing in English, and for the alleged Hypothesis is an important contribution Vamps and Tramps, by Camille Paglia "Euromodernism" of his work. He tells on the side of humanism. Crick's book (New York: Vintage Books, 1994) 532 that his parents worshiped Christ but that provides an important polemic against pp., paper $15.00. A collection of recent he, a Yoruban, prefers Ogun, the Yoruban those who persist in thinking of the essays, interviews, book reviews, and tele- deity of creativity and destruction alike. human mind as a "ghost in the vision and film appearances, this polemi- Unspeakable cruelties, he laments, were machine." It is an important addition to cal potpourri has something to offend "perpetrated on African humanity in the a growing literature that makes it everyone's sensibilities. An excellent name of Islamic conversion." Religious increasingly difficult to argue that a con- introduction to one of today's most fanaticism, he has written, "has once scious mind could survive the organic thought-provoking and dogma-shattering again attained prime position as the most death of the brain. intellectuals. implacable enemy of the basic rights of Crick chooses the visual system as a humanity.... I have one abiding religion: gateway to the understanding of con- Situating Feminism: From Thought to human liberty." sciousness: vision forms a large part of Action, by Sondra Farganis (Thou- our conscious experience, but is not so sand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, —Warren Allen Smith unique to humans that it cannot be studied 1994), 194 pp., paper $14.95. An exam- in animal models. Quantitatively precise ination of the social, political, and eco- The Rational and the Moral Order, methods are well developed for adminis- nomic factors that have splintered the Kurt Baier (Peru, Ill.: Open Court tering visual stimuli and recording their feminist movement in recent years, and Publishing Co., 1995) paper $18.95, effects. Much is already known about the a consideration of the relationship be- cloth $44.95. This book propounds a pathways that visual information takes tween that movement (in all its many new theory of reason and a new theory of through the brain. For all that, it is an facets) and the overall development of morality, both of which have already enormously complex and poorly under- women's equality. generated excitement and critical atten- stood system; we still have very little idea tion. Baier argues that our possession of how the brain perceives color, motion, Emily Brontë: Heretic, by Stevie Davies reason and our ability to reason depend subject versus ground, or three-dimen- (London, England: The Woman's on our having grown up in a rational sionality. Press, 1994), 274 pp., paper £8.99. A order: a social order that engages in the The Astonishing Hypothesis is a con- critical study of the poems, novel, and enterprise of reason and, through social- cise report of the state of the art in this sci- essays of one of the most independent- ization, passes on from one generation to ence, and its implications for the philoso- minded writers in English literature. the next the knowledge of the recognized phy of mind. A brief "postscript" propos- Davies amply demonstrates Brontë's general principles of reasoning, the abil- es a model for why the brain perceives remarkable development from cleric's ity to apply them to particular cases, and itself to have free will, and describes some dutiful daughter to a heretic from all con- the methods for further improvement. cases of brain injury that suggest an ventional religious teachings. Baier goes on to argue that sound moral- anatomical locus for the sensation of free ities are society-relative, and it can be will. —Timothy J. Madigan shown that sound moral reasons are This book has few shortcomings, but always paramount over reasons of self- one may be that it seems at times to lack interest. Kurt Baier is Distinguished a clear sense of who its audience is, vac- Art Dialogue, and Outrage, by Wole Professor of Philosophy at the University illating from a rather shallow gloss on Soyinka (New York: Pantheon Books, of Pittsburgh. He has published widely in brain anatomy, to some arcane apologet- 1994), 305 pp., cloth $25.00. Soyinka, philosophy of mind, and in moral, legal, ics seemingly directed toward other spe- the first black African to receive a Nobel and political philosophy. cialists. Laureate in Literature, is Nigeria's most important author. He also is a foreign hon- —James Cox —Kenneth S. Saladin 56 FREE INQUIRY Governor William Phips of Massachusetts issued an edict that spectral evidence would no longer be admissible in the News and Views courts.) Events are being planned across the country. For details, contact Tim Madigan at (716) 636-7571 or by electron- be delivering the Prometheus Lectures for ic mail, timmadigan@aol. corn. Fifteen Years and Counting 1995. This series was initiated by Prometheus Books to defend a naturalistic CODESH to Take the Lead in philosophical outlook. The overall title of 1995 marks the fifteenth anniversary International Development of the founding of FREE INQUIRY mag- Nielsen's talks (which will be published by Prometheus) is "Naturalism Without azine. We wish to thank our readers for The Council for Democratic and Secular Foundations." There will be three lectures, your enthusiastic support over the Humanism, publisher of FREE INQUIRY, on the following dates: March 22, years. It has enabled FREE INQUIRY to will establish a new International Secre- "Nonscientistic Historicized Naturalism"; emerge as the strongest and most tariat for Growth and Development. The March 23, "Naturalism and Method"; and influential humanist magazine in the secretariat will coordinate efforts by March 24, "Religious Belief and world. CODESH and humanist organizations in Responsibility." The lectures will be given other countries to encourage the establish- at the Prometheus Books headquarters in ment of new humanist groups across the Amherst, New York, and on the campus of world. the State University of New York at CODESH Opens Office The last five years has been a time of Buffalo. For details, call (716) 636-7571. in Los Angeles unprecedented growth for international humanism. For example, there are now Secular Organizations for Sobriety, more than ninety member organizations in CODESH's secular support group for Jo Ann Boydston Library of the International Humanist and Ethical recovering substance abusers, has opened American Naturalism Union (IHEU), including new groups in a headquarters in Los Angeles, California. the former Communist bloc, Africa, South The Center for Inquiry (headquarters of The new address is 5521 Grosvenor America, and Asia. FREE INQUIRY) wishes to announce the Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90066, (310) The new secretariat will be housed in establishment of the "Jo Ann Boydston 821-8430. SHOLA (Secular Humanists of FREE INQUIRY'S offices in the new Center Los Angeles) will share the office. All of Library of American Philosophical for Inquiry. It will act as a clearinghouse Naturalism." The purpose of the library is this is under the auspices of CODESH. between existing humanist organizations to collect books, articles, and papers by or engaged in international development about America's leading naturalistic work and those interested in founding new philosophers, such as John Dewey, Vern Bullough New humanist groups. IHEU Co-President George Santayana, Sidney Hook, and Ernest Nagel, among others. It was made The newly elected co-president of the possible by a grant from Jo Ann British Humanists Protest International Humanist and Ethical Boydston, former director of the Center Pakistani Blasphemy Trial Union, replacing retiring co-president for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois Paul Kurtz, is Vern Bullough, FREE University at Carbondale. To donate The national organizations of the British INQUIRY senior editor. A former Dean of materials or to receive further details humanist movement have sent a strong Natural and Social Sciences at the State about the library, please contact the statement to the High Commissioner for University of New York College at Center for Inquiry, P.O. Box 664, Pakistan expressing serious concerns Buffalo, he is currently a visiting profes- Amherst, N.Y. 14226. about the case of the Masih family, sor at California State University at Christians who have been brought to trial Northridge. His most recent book is under the blasphemy law of 1992. The Science in the Bedroom: A History of Sex National `Proclaim You're a immediate concern is for the life of Research (Basic Books, 1994). Nonbeliever Day' Salamat Masih, who has been convicted of and sentenced to death for an alleged CODESH is spearheading a movement to offense committed when he was only Prometheus Lectures declare Sunday, October 8 as a day for all twelve years old. Equal concern is for the willing nonbelievers to publicly declare proper conduct of the case. Members of Kai Nielsen, professor emeritus of philos- their lack of religious faith. This will begin the family and their lawyers have been ophy at the University of Calgary and national freethought week (October 8-14), subjected to mob violence. Humanist author of numerous books (including Why an idea of CODESH member Catherine organizations are calling for the law itself Be Good? and Ethics Without God), will Fahringer. (October 12, 1694, was the day to be repealed.

Spring 1995 57 death threats, two chemical attacks, two stalkings, and one gunfire attack during just seven months in 1994. Viewpoints Understandably, the killing and wounding of abortion doctors attracts the most media attention. What receives too little scrutiny is the disturbing pattern of Abortion Violence: support for the new anti-abortion war- riors. When Michael Griffin shot and killed Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, The Crisis Deepens Florida, in 1993 donations poured in from across the country to defray the costs of Thomas W. Flynn Griffin's defense and to support his wife and children. Michael Hirsh, then a law student at Pat Robertson's Regent I realized then how hard it is to preserve Since then, the relatively large numbers of University, sent the Regent's law review a some balance between the dictates of chiefly working-class, fundamentalist, faith and the dictates of social reason, sixty-page article defending Griffin's to disapprove of abortion and call your- church-going "right to lifers" who were action as justifiable homicide. He wrote: self a Christian and at the same time once abortion providers' greatest worry "Though Michael Griffin could have fled separate yourself from the anti-abortion have become bit players. They have not for his own safety, the children he protect- extremists. gone away: small Christian-right posses ed could not flee and had their backs to —Verlyn Klinkenborg still appear like clockwork outside clinics. the wall—the uterine wall." "Violent Certainties,"Harper's They still brandish ghastly altered images In the Summer 1993 Secular Humanist January 1995, p. 43 of bloody fetuses. They scream falsehoods Bulletin, I wrote: about the risks of breast cancer, sterility, Dr. Gunn's murder was a horrible act, f you watch the crowds, you might think and death from abortion. And ruthlessly, but one that followed with perfect clari- Ipeace had been declared in America's they heckle women as they struggle to ty from conservative Christian theology. abortion wars. The middle and late 1980s enter clinics to obtain legal reproductive The only wonder is that it took this were a time of massive, overt anti-abortion health care. But they are no longer the many years for one of the soldiers of protests. News photos of the day show greatest danger to abortion rights. Christ to work through the logic that made it inevitable. Now that the cat is hundreds of activists blockading clinic The tempo and style of the conflict out of the bag—now that everyone doors and driveways—tens or scores have changed. Large, open, marginally knows that a fundamentalist prepared to storming clinic waiting rooms and lashing violent activism is out. Scattered, covert sacrifice his or her own future can gun themselves together with bicycle locks. activism, often shockingly violent, is in. down a physician with the confidence Mass anti-abortion activism of that sort Years ago, Randall Terry told abortion that spouse and family will be provided for—I'm afraid we're going to see many went out of style in April 1992. In that opponents, "If you believe abortion is more attempts on the lives of abortion- month, concerted, mostly local, opposition murder, act like it." Today dangerous new ists and clinic personnel. prevented more than two thousand out-of- Christian commandos have taken the van- town "pro-life" activists from closing clin- guard in anti-abortion activism, answering There are times when one would rather ics in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, Terry's war cry in a way even he might not have been right. Gunn's death was the where FREE INQUIRY is published. never admit to having anticipated. first in a string of savage attacks. In August Covering the confrontations, Time dubbed 1993, Oregon "pro-life" activist Rochelle Randall Terry's Operation Rescue The New Violence "Shelley" Shannon shot and wounded Dr. "Operation Fizzle." I was on the clinic George R. Tiller of Wichita, Kansas. defense lines each morning during the of only doctors who perform abor- Before she was sentenced to ten years in two-week "Spring of Life." Looking back, Ntions, but people who work in clinics prison, Shannon promised the judge that what I remember most clearly is how little where abortions are performed, have new she would not touch a gun again. Nor, she actually happened. The mass forays by reason to fear for their safety. Since 1990, pledged, would she bomb any more clin- crawling demonstrators that had so frus- there have been 190 bombings or fire- ics—a surprising assertion, since Shannon trated Wichita, Kansas, police the year bombings of abortion clinics and 600 acts was not then a suspect in any clinic bomb- before—and which we had been so thor- of vandalism—including attacks with ings. Investigators searched Shannon's oughly trained to repel nonviolently—sel- butyric acid, a penetrating, vile-smelling Grants Pass, Oregon, home. Letters and dom materialized. When tried they failed. compound that can render a facility unus- diaries found there led to charges that she able for weeks. Seven people have been had firebombed eight clinics in four states. Thomas W Flynn is senior editor of FREE shot and wounded. Tragically, five have Searchers also found a book called The INQUIRY. been killed. In New York State alone, clin- Army of God, an anti-abortion how-to ics reported four clinic incursions, three manual that advocated cutting off abor-

58 FREE INQUIRY tionists' thumbs and urged Christians diag- with expanded caution and sophisticated Anderson has not performed an abortion nosed with fatal diseases to devote their countermeasures. Clinics are adding bul- since 1993. He was one of the only last days to campaigns of clinic terrorism. letproof glass, metal detectors, and high- providers in the area who would give poor At a pro-Shannon rally held near the tech security systems. The Planned women abortions at a reduced fee. Now, time of her sentencing, one "pro-life" Parenthood Federation of America, he says, "Those who need an abortion spokesman declared: "What Shelley did whose 163 nonprofit affiliates operate have my sympathy. I just don't want to be was not only justified but honorable." The more than 900 medical centers with killed." While lobbying in Albany, New speaker was the Reverend Paul Hill, who 22,000 staff and volunteers, has commit- York's state capital, I heard Repre- on July 29 would fatally shoot abortion ted $100 million of its $500 million annu- sentative Martin A. Luster (D-Ithaca) doctor John Bayard Britton and escort al budget to security. lament in a State Assembly debate that in James Barrett outside another Pensacola Violence begets violence, it is said. the county that is home to Cornell clinic and wound Barrett's wife. Unwilling to wait for high technology, University a Planned Parenthood clinic As Paul Hill had supported Michael one Buffalo clinic frisks all its visitors. has been unable to fill a medical position Griffin, Hill in turn received enthusiastic Workers were amazed how many patients' because of the fear of violence. support from anti-abortion extremists. significant others, friends, and family The threat of violence doesn't just dis- Father David Trosch, a Mobile, Alabama, were carrying concealed weapons. courage today's physicians from perform- Catholic priest who had earlier tried to Though New York is the nation's most ing abortions. It is also discouraging place newspaper ads describing the killing handgun-hostile state, most of those tomorrow's from learning how. Just 47 per- of abortion doctors as justifiable homi- whom clinic guards disarmed had valid cent of obstetrics and gynecology chief res- cide, said of the violence, "I hope there's carry permits. Apparently if a Brookline- idents now graduating perform a first- going to be more." He added that Hill style shooting had unfolded while they trimester abortion as part of their training. "deserves a medal of honor." Jackson, were in the waiting room, they planned to In the Winter 1995 Secular Humanist Mississippi, activist Roy McMillan said shoot back. Bulletin, I urged pro-choice organizations Hill's actions were "biblically consistent." to fund scholarships that would pay part or Bowie, Maryland, activist Michael Bray, Will We Lose the Abortion Wars? all of a new physician's educational costs who had served four years for clinic in return for an ironclad commitment to bombings, said: "Anyone who truly o their credit, most anti-abortion lead- perform abortions for a period of years believes that the slaughter of children is ers have publicly deplored the new after beginning to practice. Some say this what we have with abortion should go out violence. But they can afford to take the idea is too radical. Others say it's too little, and shoot an abortionist." high road. Commando activism may suc- too late. Meanwhile, the carnage continued. In ceed in doing what their own more peace- One thing is clear. With the movement November 1994, abortion doctor Garson ful protests never could—drastically cur- from massive, medium-intensity anti-abor- Romalis was shot and wounded in his tail access to safe, legal abortion services. tion activism to the furtive, individual, Vancouver, British Columbia, home while Though abortion remains legal, the often homicidal pattern of today, America's eating breakfast. right .to choose it rings increasingly hol- abortion wars have entered a deadly new On December 30, Catholic hairstylist low. In much of the American South and phase. Keeping abortion legal is no longer John C. Salvi allegedly killed two recep- Midwest, women must travel hundreds of the issue. Keeping abortion available at all tionists and wounded five others in rifle miles to get an abortion. Even on the in the face of maverick Christian violence attacks at two Brookline, Massachusetts, coasts there are fewer clinics, and the per- is now the primary concern. abortion clinics. He was apprehended on ceived risk involved in visiting one has As secular humanists, we should December 31, after allegedly pumping never been higher. defend the availability of safe, legal abor- twenty-three bullets into the windows of a Over the last decade, more than 500 tion not only out of a commitment to Norfolk, Virginia clinic. (No one was U.S. hospitals and clinics have stopped choice, but because abortion so powerful- injured.) Demonstrators appeared outside offering abortion services. "The availabil- ly expresses the Promethean impulse: the Norfolk's jail to laud Salvi and his alleged ity of abortions is diminishing," reported desire to take action to improve quality of crimes. A clergyman called through a the Washington Post, "because fewer doc- life, even when—perhaps especially megaphone: "Thank you for what you did tors are willing to perform the procedure." when—that means empowering individu- in the name of Jesus." Another protester According to the Alan Guttmacher als to pursue options that outmoded reli- called the killings "a righteous deed" and Institute, the number of facilities has gious moralities might otherwise place cried "John Salvi, we care about you. We dropped faster than the U.S. abortion rate off-limits. In simple terms, abortion is a love you. We support you." itself. At 25.9 abortions per 1,000 women good per se because, in a way that nothing of child-bearing age, that rate lies at its else can, it allows women to make their Responding with Caution lowest level since 1976. Most observers own decisions whether or when to and Technology say declining access, not some positive embrace the joys and obligations of moth- trend like broader use of contraceptives, erhood. That avenue for self-determina- bortion doctors and clinic workers underlies the trend. In Norfolk, where tion is one we cannot allow to be closed Aare responding to the new violence John Salvi was arrested. Dr. Abraham by violence—or through apathy. •

Spring 1995 59 would be inherently inclined toward immorality. A belief "in the fullest real- Humanism and Intelligence: ization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings" certainly could not be applied to all human beings, A Critique of The Bell Curve particularly those with low IQs. Indeed, if biodeterminism is true, humanism is largely a mistake. Norm R. Allen, Jr. Unfortunately, despite the millions of deaths and ruined lives biological deter- minism has led to (the enslavement of s humanists, we like to emphasize basketball, boxing, tap dancing, etc.). blacks, the decimation of Native Amer- the importance of critical intelli- If the authors are correct, we are faced icans, the Jewish Holocaust, etc.), such gence in solving the world's problems. with major challenges to humanism and thinking persists. Even if such racial theo- Most of us believe that, though we cannot humanistic ethics. Consider these lines rists are right about the alleged existence all be scientists, most of us can learn to from "The Affirmation of Humanism: A of "inferior" and "superior" races, would think scientifically. Statement of Principles and Values": it be ethical to promote such ideas know- But for centuries, many whites have ing that far more harm than good has We believe in an open and pluralistic made a fetish out of discussing supposed society and that democracy is the best come to the world as a result of such racial differences that affect intelligence. guarantee of protecting human rights beliefs? They have asserted that certain races from authoritarian elites and repressive In any case, such notions have been (other than their own), or the majority of majorities. advanced and exploited numerous times members constituting those races, are We are concerned with seeking jus- before. In the 1920s IQ tests showed that tice and fairness in society and with incapable of serious intellectual thought eliminating discrimination and intoler- the Chinese ranked lower than blacks rank and that any attempts to teach them are ance. today, with an average IQ between 65 and mostly wasted. We believe in supporting the disad- 70 (blacks today reportedly average about This kind of thinking is now being pop- vantaged and the handicapped so that 85.) The Chinese were deemed intellectu- ularized in a controversial book called The they will be able to help themselves. ally inferior to whites and discriminated We believe in the cultivation of moral Bell Curve, by political scientist Charles excellence. against. But today Chinese Americans Murray and the late psychologist Richard We are deeply concerned with the score higher than whites. Furthermore, J. Herrnstein. Traveling down the smooth moral education of our children. We earlier in this century, Poles, Italians, road paved for them by the enemies of so- want to nourish reason and compassion. Irish, and Hungarians were believed to be called political correctness, Murray and of lower intelligence than those persons of Herrnstein argue that certain groups And last but not least: "superior" Nordic stock. But today this (including blacks) are not as intelligent as We believe in the fullest realization of notion has been shattered. It was also others on average and that America is the best and noblest that we are capable believed that Jews, Italians, and Irish were steadily becoming a nation in which only of as human beings. not only inferior to other groups of the minority of intelligent people will be European descent, but many maintained able to find good jobs and avoid poverty. Though these are noble aspirations, that they were genetically predisposed to Their grim conclusion is that there is little they cannot be achieved if so many people commit crimes. (See Stephen Steinberg's that can be done to raise IQ, and people lack the natural intelligence and propensi- The Ethnic Myth for a good discussion of with low intelligence may be genetically ty toward ethical behavior that scholars this idea.) predisposed to have lives filled with such as Murray and Herrnstein believe are Such ideas were embraced throughout immorality, crime, and poverty. essential for life in modern society. They history. In 55 B.C.E. when the Romans But on the "bright side," Murray and argue that a wealthy, intelligent elite will conquered the British Isles, they believed Herrnstein suggest that intellectually dis- inevitably arise due to the supposed that the inhabitants thereof were the most advantaged groups can take pride in their dumbing down of America. And if such is savage people on Earth and totally inca- accomplishments in areas supposedly to be the case, justice and fairness cannot pable of being educated. requiring little intelligence (presumably be secured under such conditions, and And it is curious that the white advo- discrimination, intolerance, and authori- cates of biodeterminism conveniently for- tarianism will rise dramatically. There get that, for centuries, whites from all Norm R. Allen, Jr., is executive director of will be no sense in "supporting the disad- walks of life argued that blacks were ath- African Americans for Humanism. AAH vantaged and handicapped," because they letically inferior to whites. Ironically, holds the improvement of cognitive skills will be permanently unable to help them- many people now believe the opposite is through critical thinking as one of its car- selves and will be a burden upon society. true. dinal aims. It would be useless to cultivate moral Oddly, as many critics of The Bell excellence in many people, because they Curve have noted, the inventor of IQ test-

60 FREE INQUIRY ing, Alfred Binet of France, never intend- ed for it to be used to support a hereditar- Chaplains Retained for Congress ian IQ theory. Binet was interested in identifying students with learning diffi- The session of the new Republican- probability) that almost any denomina- culties, not with ranking them from controlled Congress had not even tion would be glad to send their own dullest to brightest. Indeed, Binet had begun before there was a blatant exam- clergyperson to the Congress to say an foreseen and opposed the misuse of his ple of the hypocrisy behind many of opening prayer, if so requested. The test by the hereditarians, and did not the campaign promises contained in "office" could rotate. believe that individuals were doomed to the Republican Contract with America. Why then, did Newt Gingrich not failure because of their genes. It was decided to retain the office of abolish the chaplain's office? He didn't As biologist Stephen Jay Gould writes chaplain in both houses of Congress. want to appear to downplay the impor- in Natural History (2/95, p. 18), it is The congressional chaplains cost tance of prayer, especially since he had "tragic" and "ironic" that "this reversal— taxpayers $289,000 per year and would already been forced to backpedal about the establishment of the hereditarian theo- seem a likely candidate for elimination immediately seeking a Constitutional ry of IQ—occurred in America, not in elit- in this cost-conscious era. Couldn't amendment to force prayer back into ist Europe. The major importers of Binet's members of Congress seek out their the public schools. Newt, your methods to our shores promoted the own spiritual advisors at the church or hypocrisy is showing! biodeterminist version that Binet had synagogue of their choosing? Then opposed—and the results continue to ring there is the distinct possibility (nay, —Gordon Stein falsely in our time as The Bell Curve." With this information in mind, and with so many reputable anthropologists and scientists distancing themselves from industry once again and make good jobs such values now scream for a return to the arguments in The Bell Curve, the con- with decent pay available to more peo- "traditional family values.") Moreover, tention of Murray and Herrnstein is incon- ple—the educated as well as the unedu- media images depicting and glorifying clusive at best. All throughout history cated. Moreover, we must continue to sex and violence without consequences peoples and nations (including blacks) oppose racism, sexism, and other forms of negatively influence many people from all have risen and fallen, often under seem- discrimination wherever they may exist. backgrounds. Until society acknowledges ingly inexplicable or little-understood cir- But in the meantime, poor and lower its own responsibility in creating and cumstances. To try to explain the rise and middle class people must plod on, making exacerbating many of the problems fall of peoples and nations by focusing wise moral choices while working two or afflicting the underclass, the widening obsessively on supposed differences in three jobs if necessary and forgoing luxu- gulf between the haves and the have-nots intelligence is to engage in simplistic ries until they are able to afford them. will continue to spell disaster. thinking. But because all too many middle-class Any solution to human problems must Murray and Herrnstein have brought a and upper-class Americans display a pen- necessarily have human answers, and very important point to the nation's atten- chant for greed, conspicuous consump- humanist values will be especially rele- tion. Employers are putting increasing tion, and instant gratification, this will not vant in bringing about improvement in the emphasis on education—even for the be easy. Many American media, business, human condition. Rather than becoming most mundane jobs. But ever since the political, and religious leaders and others obsessed with supposed IQ differences Industrial Revolution, poor and lower with great influence routinely equate and viciously attacking the poor, human- middle class people have been dependent material possessions with human worth. ists must take the lead in using intelli- upon unskilled and semi-skilled labor for This message is not lost on the poor. (How gence to bring about better conditions for their existence. Historically, a college curious it is that those who have fostered all sectors of society. education was necessary for only a minor- ity of citizens. In the future, however, more people will be faced with unem- SUPPORT ployment and under-employment because they will not have college educations. But African Americans for Humanism rather than writing them off as hopeless For just $18.00, subscribers to African Americans for Humanism's losers, society must ask itself how far the Examiner newsletter receive: a 10 percent discount on registration technological revolution should be taken. fees for conferences and seminars, audiotapes and videotapes, and a If it leaves millions of people to wallow in select list of Prometheus Books. poverty, is it really worth the trade off? Write to: African Americans for Humanism, Box 664, Buffalo, NY 14226-0664. he tremendous task that lies before Or call toll-free to charge your subscription: Tsociety—particularly urban planners 800-458-1366 and economic theorists—is to develop

Spring 1995 61 their husbands. Paul, in a much-debated statement, said women are to be silent in `Femi-Nazis' vs. `Macho-Nazis' church. With all this background, it's no won- der that the Reverend Pat Robertson said on his "700 Club": "I know this is painful Skipp Porteous for the ladies to hear, but if you get mar- ried you have accepted the leadership of a eminism looms as a formidable threat feminist agenda is not about equal rights man, your husband. Christ is the head of Ato the power structure of our male- for women. It is about a socialist, anti- the household and the husband's the head dominated society. That is why loud- family political movement that encour- of the wife and that.'s just the way it is. mouths like Rush Limbaugh employ the ages women to leave their husbands, kill This is the way the Bible sets it up." not-so-endearing term femi-Nazis to their children, practice witchcraft, destroy Feminism represents freedom for describe the movement. capitalism, and become lesbians." women. And anyone, male or female, Some feminists are rankled, and for (This came from a man whose wife desiring freedom for women is a feminist. good reason. Women simply do not have once said of his religious fanaticism: "I'm Pregnancy, and the fear of pregnancy, equal rights in America. Theoretically, a a nurse and recognize schizoid tendencies can enslave women. Reproductive rights woman is allowed to do just about any- when I see them, and I think you're sick." liberates women because it offers them a thing allowed to a man. The first excep- He sure straightened her out.) choice. Men cannot possibly understand tion that comes to mind is the right to fight As a former Christian fundamentalist the gravity of that choice. on the front lines. I don't really under- minister, I've observed numerous men The anti-abortion movement, naturally, stand the rationale behind this. The bibli- attracted to fundamentalism because it is led by men—or "macho-Nazis," as I see cal Deborah did all right, as did Joan of gave them power over women. When you it. Abortion could be greatly diminished if Arc. have an already violent man, this power birth control was more widely practiced. With at least 51 percent of the popula- translates into the threat of personal Unfortunately, the men leading the radical tion female, women certainly are not get- injury, and even death. I've seen women religious right oppose that, too. ting a fair shake. Why is this? Perhaps who were beaten, stripped naked, and Randall Terry, founder of Operation there is some truth behind the claim that thrown out into the street by their Bible- Rescue, glorifies women who give birth to America was founded on biblical princi- believing husbands because of insubordi- five, ten, or even twelve children. He ples. It is those very biblical principles nation. warns against sympathy for women who that kept Native Americans, African Fearful of completely losing power have sought abortions. He orders women Americans, and women out of the demo- over women, the radical religious right is who have been sterilized to seek a medical cratic process for so many generations. fighting hard to impose a Bible-based reversal. In 1992, the state of Iowa placed an society. And, naturally, the movement is Full rights for women is one of the last Equal Rights Amendment on its ballot. In led by men. The few women religious great battles in the struggle for human an effort to help it pass, I traveled across right leaders are in total submission to rights. We must all join it. • that state holding press conferences and their husbands. appearing on talk shows. While the Bible is indeed sexist and ERA supporters were unprepared for anti-feminist, I've often heard fundamen- the opposition we encountered. Women talist ministers say Jesus did more to who should know better bitterly fought it. advance women's rights than anyone in PROGRAM Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for history. They say this because the man America, activated her hysterical troops to Jesus was often surrounded by women, OFFERED fight the feminists. Then, Phyllis Schlafly, one of whom supposedly washed his feet also betraying her gender, entered the and dried them with her flowing hair. If you are a college student fray. Both proved the theory that women Today, these women might be called or faculty member and are their own worse enemy. Next, Pat groupies. would like to arrange a Robertson cranked up his printing presses, In Genesis, women are considered debate on your campus flooding Iowa with direct mail. In one of "help meet" for men, meaning "suitable about the existence of God the most amazing pronouncements in helpers." The Book of Proverbs refers to a between Dr. Gordon Stein recent memory, Robertson wrote: "The wife as "a crown to her husband." In the and a theist, please write to New Testament, Peter tells wives to be Dr. Stein at P.O. Box 972, Skipp Porteous uses the inside knowledge "submissive" to their husbands. He tells Amherst, NY 14226. Dr. gained from his personal experiences in husbands to honor their wives as "the Stein's expenses are paid Christian fundamentalism to comment on weaker vessel." from a grant. the religious right. Timothy and Titus, respectively, instruct women to stay at home and obey 62 FREE INQUIRY A Modern-Day Daniel

In the Name of God London—A religious fanatic who threw himself into the lion's den at London Zoo was permanently banned when he went back to apologize to Arfur the Winning Ticket? Go to Hell computerized list, held secretly by the lion. Tony Sarumi, twenty-four, was Religious Affairs Ministry and naming attacked the month before when he Brasilia, Brazil—An unemployed maid thousands of Israelis prohibited from mar- climbed into the den, saying he wanted and mother of seven burned a winning rying fellow Jews, has stirred a bitter dis- "to prove he was the son of God." Zoo $60,0OO lottery ticket because her minister pute over where theological requirements officials escorted him out when he was said she would go to hell if she took the end and civil laws begin. How Israelis caught trying to apologize to Arfur and devil's money. Maria Benoiza Nascimento, land on the list is disputed. Rabbi Eliahu said he had now been banned. Sarumi, thirty-nine, said she was "confused" by Bakshi-Doron, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, clutching his Bible, said, "I was look- the warning from her minister at an says the roster is based on rabbinical rul- ing forward to seeing Arfur again. Assembly of God church in Fortaleza, ings, but critics cite instances of anony- People can do what they like with me 1,20O miles northeast of Brasilia. The min- mous phone tips. One such call caused a but I know now I am indestructible." ister, identified only as Preacher Wagner, thirty-year marriage to be dissolved a few (Reuters) reportedly said her plane would "sink in years ago. (New York Times) sin in hell" if she tried to receive the prize of 5O,O0O reals, worth about $6O,OOO. Out of the Mouths of Babes "Destroy the ticket—the devil's work—to A Fundamental Mistake save yourself from hellfire," the minister Overheard in New York City: a woman said, as the congregation chanted, "Burn, Enigma, Georgia—Dewey Bruce Hale, on a Brooklyn-bound R train, talking to burn, burn." Nascimento went home to forty, attended services at New River Free a friend, said, "So my daughter asks me, her one-room shack and burned the ticket. Holiness Church carrying a rattlesnake in 'Why did God let that mommy kill her Then, for good measure, she burned her a box. Church members take the Bible lit- two boys?'And I say, `Well, honey, God identification card and her children's birth erally, particularly a passage in Mark didn't have enough angels up in heaven, certificates. (AP) saying that one sign of those who believe and they were so good and innocent, he in Jesus is that "They shall take up ser- had to take them.' So then she says, pents." When Hale took up his serpent, he `Mommy, if God needs more angels, will Where's Mary When You was bitten and died at home late that you kill me, too?"' (New York Really Need Her? night. (Toronto Star) Magazine)

Barcelona-Four American tourists tra- adafitastrtnotpaapv•euge- -rut es—. veling to Lourdes were killed and nearly forty other people injured when their bus ,,slow WE'LL AU. 6OW OUR HEADS, overturned in northeastern Spain. The EXCEPT FOR THIS 60DGESS group of forty-three Americans, most of Li-KE them from Arizona, had set off from HEATHEN,601W Barcelona for Lourdes, a frequent destina- WHO DOESN'T BELIEVE 1NA tion for Roman Catholic pilgrimages. t)USTAND MERCIFUL 600. Lourdes, at the foot of the Pyrennes near Toulouse, is visited by tens of thousands of sick and disabled persons each year because of an underground spring deemed to have miraculous powers. (Reuters)

Marriages Not Made in Heaven

Jerusalem The young Israeli woman learned suddenly that she could not law- fully marry her fiancé because his name turned up on a list of people whom the rabbinical authorities had declared reli- gious untouchables. The existence of this Reprinted by permission. tribune Media Services

Spring 1995 63 (Letters, Cont'd. from p. 3) Harold Camping's in fact 599 years, one month, and seven- Apocalypticism teen days old. This almost forces one to Opus Dei and Other conclude that the venerable old Secret Societies In "Harold Camping and the Stillborn Methuselah was not considered worthy of Apocalypse" (FI, Winter 1994/95), being saved with his grandson, and that he As a member of Opus Dei, I found your Edmund Cohen refers to a "lack of serious came to a watery end. articles (FI, Winter 1994/95) on our order harm resulting to anyone except Camping in many ways perplexing and in some himself." I fear this is not true. On Einar R. Kvaran ways amusing. The ultra straight-laced September 29, 1994, the Philadelphia Pueblo, Calif. fascistic organization you painted simply Inquirer printed the obituary of a Baptist doesn't exist in the Opus Dei I belong to. minister who fully accepted Camping's Living in this so-called free society, I've prediction that the world would end I got a quick laugh out of Edmund observed that people whose habits or before October. It said that "In a tragic Cohen's excellent article when at the end views are deemed politically incorrect are and surprising manner, he was proven he summarizes, "If the Bible were true, actively persecuted by those whose views right. He died after slipping into a diabet- then the world ought to have ended in and opinions are considered to be of a ic coma." As I pointed out in a letter to the 1994." Well, it probably isn't what the more "correct" nature. I find it odd for any Inquirer (published October 8), "People Bible-thumpers have in mind, but how group to claim moral superiority over seldom die in diabetic comas without pre- else would you describe a year in which other groups. vious symptoms. In all likelihood, he had right-wing fanatic Republicans took con- It is the opinion of this writer that been controlling his disease with medi- trol of our poor country? we're in this together. We senescent cine. Religiously convinced that the end beings have common enemies to unite of the world was at hand, he probably saw Dain L. Hardison against. Labeling certain groups as "the no need to continue the treatment, and Kennedy Space Center, Fla. bad guys" simply because you may dis- thus he died." agree with them doesn't help much to rid our lives of the real culprit, our own neg- William C. Waterhouse Exoevolution ative thought/action patterns. State College, Pa. In "The Challenge of Exoevolution," (FI, Fred C. Wilson, III Winter 1994/95), Dr. H. James Birx Chicago, Ill. Mr. Camping's calculations based on defines well the excitement over the sub- information from the Bible reminded me ject. Yet, he also recognizes: "Unfor- of a related mystery, namely: how did tunately, there is no empirical evidence to Jesus Puertas Fuertes (author of "The Methuselah die? This must have been support exobiology at this time." Masked, Dangerous Cult," FI, Winter addressed centuries ago considering all Expressing together hope, imagination 1994/95) replies: the studies of the Bible that have been and melancholy, consciousness and limi- made, but I have never seen anything on tations, courage in front of reality, these I do not share the opinion that criticiz- this subject. are reflections that define secularism in its ing one institution is persecution, main- According to Genesis 5, Methuselah naturalist and universal expression. It is ly when my statements about Opus Dei was 187 years old when he begat Lamech for humankind the only reality without are corroborated by all those ex-mem- and then lived for another 782 years, false promises. bers who have revealed their experi- dying at the age of 969. Lamech was 182 Andrée Spuhler ences. I do not share either the idea that years old when he begat Noah, so at that Winter Park, Fla. belonging to a cult is a right way of time Methuselah was 369 years old. fighting against our negative thought Genesis 7.6 tells us that Noah was 600 patterns. years old at the time of the flood. By that Helping Humans and Humanism But the biggest mistake by Wilson is to time Methuselah would have been 969 forget paragraph number 61 of the Opus years old (187+182+600). This raises the I believe in what you are doing. But may Dei Bible, The Way: "When a lay man question whether he died in the flood or in I suggest something all of us in the secu- sets himself up as Master of morals, he the same year just prior to the flood. lar humanist movement should earnestly frequently goes wrong. Lay men can not But wait: Genesis 7.11 gives more consider? Just in the last few days the sub- be but disciples." So Opus Dei founder detailed information on the timing of the ject was brought to my attention in a very Father Escrivá, not me, claimed a moral flood, which started in the six hundredth striking way. A former student of mine, superiority for a group. In fact, his per- year of Noah's life, second month, the sev- who married another former student, was ception of moral expertise was a pyrami- enteenth day. In other words, Noah was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver dal one. On top was Josemaría Escrivá, not quite 600 years old when the fountains who struck her in her wheelchair from chosen by the Almighty to carry out the of the great deep were broken up and the behind. (The driver was later apprehend- Work of God. windows of heaven were opened; he was ed, I'm glad to say.) His fellowship of

64 FREE INQUIRY Christians has come to his and his wife's comes as no surprise that initial reactions Helm's review of Five Gospels and the aid in a truly wonderful and loving way. were negative (Letters to the Editor, FI, "Defending Prometheus" articles and was People take him to visit her in the hospi- Winter 1994/95) especially against hit by the thought that the real Jesus was a tal, bring by food, call to see how they are, Carley's demotion of free will. But Carley Promethean rebel, rebelling against the etc., etc.—and are a support to both. Ido is just a solitary iconoclast flaunting disre- legalistic hierarchy of the temple. not find this kind of fellowship among gard for a cherished belief. The totality of secular humanists. Rather than concen- physical science has no need for free will. Frank B. McCorrison trating on challenging their beliefs in God And this isn't merely because free will Brookline, Mass. we ought to be showing the religious that carries zero scientific data credentials, but we are as concerned as they are about worse, as physical theory it is a complete those in need. I hear that one can only be void. Even cold fusion is more tenable. Unlikely Support a moral person with a belief in God; I Technically it is an hallucination and cul- know this is not so. But we need to turally a superstitional incantation. Its Although associated loosely with the counter this view with actions not just results are tragic, for free will breeds false Jehovah's Witnesses since 1977, I feel words. expectations and accusations, and it obfus- compelled to support FREE INQUIRY John H. Moe cates the actual determinants of human because of the fine quality and research of Long Beach, Calif. behavior, not the least of which is learning. your articles. I have a letter-writing min- With its long history of witless trouble- istry in which Ifrequently quote your arti- making, free will merits every measure of cles, in order for my readers to seek the Eric Hoffer rejection. true God, Jehovah, and his Son, Jesus. Jerome Mendeleyev Although my views on God are dia- I must express some disagreement with Belvedere, Calif. metrically opposed to yours, I firmly Richard Arnold's portrait of Eric Hoffer believe in the spirit of inquiry. I would ("Eric Hoffer, Philosopher for the hate to see your publication fold up for People," FI, Winter 1994/95). As Isee it, The Promethean Spirit lack of funds. Hoffer himself came to manifest many of the characteristics of the "true believer." I found the Fall 1994 issue of FREE Robert A. Nichols After many years of alienation, his reinte- INQUIRY very interesting. I read Randel Middletown, N.Y. gration into society apparently had the characteristics of a religious conversion— the Longshoreman's Union serving as his "church" and community, while a rather Catch Up on idealized form of the American political system and traditional virtues became his credo. This interpretation is supported not What You've Missed in only by his failure to realize that Johnson's Vietnam policy had become a O costly failure, but by his performance in Er@e rI~na u~i5ry the 1967 Eric Sevareid interview as well. My recollection is that Hoffer eschewed a subtle or nuanced discussion of the issues and instead adopted the oracular tone and Back issues from Winter 1980/81 (vol. 1, no. 1) to rhetorical excesses more typical of a mind closed to alternative viewpoints than a the present are available at $6.95 each (20% off dispassionate observer. Consequently, I orders of 10 or more). find it hard to accept Arnold's conclusion that Hoffer "redeemed" himself with this The FREE INQUIRY Six-Year Index (1980-1986, vols. interview. The American public was not as 1-6) is also available, for $10.00 (postage includ- uncritical as all that. Gerald Christoff ed) . Flushing, N.Y. To order or to have a complete listing of the issues sent, call toll-free Exploring Consciousness 800-458-1366 Regarding Adam Carley's article ("What Visa and MasterCard accepted Is Consciousness?" FI, Fall 1994), it Spring 1995 65 CODESH Marketplace No free inquirer should be without these intriguing items .. .

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Council for Democratic and Secular Inquiry Media Productions Humanism (CODESH, Inc.) Thomas Flynn, Executive Director Paul Kurtz, Chairman Produces radio and television programs presenting skeptical and sec- ular humanist viewpoints on a variety of topics. The Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH) is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt educational organization dedicated to fos- Institute for Inquiry tering the growth of the traditions of democracy and secular human- Vern Bullough, Dean ism and the principles of free inquiry in contemporary society. In 0ffers courses in humanism and skepticism; sponsors an annual addition to publishing FREE INQUIRY magazine, C0DESH sponsors summer session and periodic workshops. many organizations and activities. It is also open to Associate Membership. Members receive the Secular Humanist Bulletin. International Development Committee Paul Kurtz, Chairman Works closely with individuals and groups in various parts of the The Academy of Humanism world, especially in developing countries, and assists them in spread- Timothy J. Madigan, Executive Director ing the humanist point of view. The Academy of Humanism was established to recognize distin- Robert G. Ingersoll Memorial Committee guished humanists and to disseminate humanistic ideals and beliefs. Roger Greeley, Honorary Chairman Dedicated to running the Robert G. Ingersoll birthplace museum in African Americans for Humanism Dresden, N.Y., and to keeping his memory alive. Norm Allen, Jr., Executive Director James Madison Memorial Committee Brings the ideals of humanism to the African-American community. Robert Alley, Chairman Keeps alive James Madison's commitment to the First Amendment and to liberty of thought and conscience. Committee for the Scientific Examination of Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS) Religion (CSER) James Christopher, Executive Director Gerald A. Larne, President A secular alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous with more than 1,000 Examines the claims of Eastern and Western religions and of well- local groups throughout North America. Publishes a newsletter avail- established and newer sects and denominations in the light of scien- able by subscription. tific inquiry. The committee is interdisciplinary, including specialists in biblical scholarship, archaeology, linguistics, anthropology, the Society of Humanist Philosophers social sciences, and philosophy who represent differing secular and Timothy J. Madigan, Executive Director religious traditions. Promotes and defends the study of humanist philosophy.

Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies (ASHS) H. James Birx, Executive Director The Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies is a network created for mutual support among local and/or regional societies of secular humanists. If you are interested in starting or joining a group in your area, please contact PO 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664, (716) 636-7571, FAX (716) 636-1733. ARIZONA: Arizona Secular Humanists PO Box 3738, Scottsdale, AZ 85271 (602) 230-5328 / CALIFORNIA: Secular Humanists of the East Bay, P0 Box 5313, Berkeley, CA 94705 (415) 486-0553; Secular Humanists of Los Angeles, PO Box 661496, Los Angeles, CA 90066 (213) 310-3354; Atheists and Other Freethinkers, PO Box 15182, Sacramento, CA 95851-0182 (916) 446-0182; San Diego Association of Secular Humanists, PO 927365 San Diego, CA 92122 (619) 272-7719; Humanist Community of San Francisco, P0 Box 31172 San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 342-3999; Secular Humanists of Marin County, P0 Box 6022, San Rafael, CA 94903 (415) 892-5243; Siskiyou Humanists, PO Box 223 Weed, CA 96091 (916) 938-2938 / CONNECTICUT: Northeast Atheist Association, PO Box 63, Simsbury, CT 06070 / FLORIDA: Secular Humanists of South Florida, 3067 Harwood E., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442 (305) 428- 7861; Atheists of Florida, Inc., PO Box 530102, Miami, FL 33153-0102 (305) 936-0210; Humanists of The Palm Beaches, 860 Lakeside Dr., N. Palm Beach, FL 33408 (407) 626-6556; Freethinkers, Inc., PO Box 724, Winter Park, FL 32790 (407) 628-2729 / HAWAII: Hawaii Rationalists, 46187 Lilipuna Rd., Kaneohe, HI 96744 (808) 235-0206 / ILLINOIS: Peoria Secular Humanists, PO Box 994, Normal, IL 61761 (309) 452-8907; Free Inquiry Network, PO Box 3696, Oak Park, IL 60303 (708) 386-9100 / KENTUCKY: Louisville Assoc. of Secular Humanists, PO Box 91453, Louisville, KY 40291 (502) 899- 7640 / LOUISIANA: New Orleans Secular Humanists, 180 Willow Dr., Gretna, LA 70053 (504) 366-7498; New Orleans, LA 70122 (504) 283-2830; Shreveport Humanists, 9476 Boxwood Dr., Shreveport, LA 71118-4003 (318) 687-8175 / MARYLAND: Baltimore Secular Humanists, PO Box 24115, Baltimore, MD 21227 (410) 467-3225 / MICHIGAN: Secular Humanists of Detroit, 220 Bagley, Room 908, Detroit, MI 48226 (313) 962-1777 / MIN- NESOTA: Minnesota Atheists, PO Box 6261 Minneapolis, MN 55406 (612) 484-9277; University of Minnesota Atheists and Unbelievers, 300 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612) 731-1543 / MISSOURI: Kansas City Eupraxophy Center, PO Box 240401, Kansas City, MO 64124 (816) 241- 9162; Rationalist Society of St. Louis, PO Box 2931, St. Louis, MO 63130 (314) 772-5131 / NEW HAMPSHIRE: Secular Humanists of Merrimack Valley, PO Box 368, Londonderry, NH 03053 (603) 434-4195 / NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Humanist Network, PO Box 51, Washington, NJ 07882 (908) 689- 6820 / NEW YORK: Western New York Secular Humanists, PO Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226 (716) 636-7571; Capital District Humanist Society, PO Box 2148, Scotia, NY 12302 (518) 381-6239; Secular Humanist Society of New York, PO Box 7661, New York, NY 10150 (212) 421-2641 / NEVADA: Secular Humanist Society of Las Vegas, 240 N. Jones Blvd, Suite 106, Las Vegas, NV 89107 (702) 594-1125 / OHIO: Free Inquirers of Northeast Ohio, PO Box 2637, Akron, OH 44309-2137 (216) 869-2025; Free Inquiry Group, Inc., PO Box 8128 Cincinnati, OH 45208 (513) 557-3836 / OREGON: Corvallis Secular Society, 126 N.W. 21st St., Corvallis, OR 97330 (503) 754-2557 / PENNSYLVANIA: Pittsburgh Secular Humanists, 405 Nike Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15235 (412) 823-3629 / SOUTH CAROLINA: Secular Humanists of the Low Country, PO Box 32256, Charleston, SC 29417 (803) 577-0637, Secular Humanists of Greenville, Suite 168, Box 3000, Taylors, SC 29687 (803) 244-3708 / TEXAS: Agnostic and Atheist Student Group, M.S., 4237 Philosophy, Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX 77843; Secular Humanist Association of San Antonio, PO Box 160881, San Antonio, TX 78280 (512) 696-8537; WASH- INGTON, DC: Washington Area Secular Humanists, PO Box 15319, Washington, DC 20003 (202) 298-0921 / WISCONSIN: Milwaukee Area Unbelievers, 1908 E. Edgewood, Shorewood, WI 53211 (414) 964-5271. 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 understanding. • 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 them- selves. • We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, 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 preferences, 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 com- passion. • 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 thinking. • We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich person- al significance and gen- uine satisfaction in the ser- vice 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, com- passion 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.

For a parchment copy of this page, suitable for framing, please send $4.95 to FREE INQUIRY, PO Box 664, Buffalo, New York 14226-0664.