merican theist American Atheists A A A JOURNAL OF ATHEIST NEWS AND THOUGHT Coming Out of the Closet: Why It’s Worth It
An Interview with Richard Dawkins Also in this issue: • The Science of Faith • How Adults Can Help Young Atheists • Gideon Bibles Make Room for Atheist Books
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 1 ATHEISTS.ORG FIRST QUARTER 2014 AmericAn Atheist Subscribe to American Atheists A JOURNAL OF ATHEIST NEWS AND THOUGHT American Atheist
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1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 2 AMERICAN ATHEIST A Journal of Atheist News and Thought 1st Quarter 2014 Vol. 52, No. 1 ISSN 0516-9623 (Print) ISSN 1935-8369 (Online)
Photo by Rick Wingrove Above: Chad and Lena Brown, proud to be openly Atheist. Cover: The license plates from American Atheists members across the U.S. Cover Concept by Ken Loukinen. Photo of Richard Dawkins by Lalla Ward. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pamela Whissel [email protected] LAYOUT and GRAPHICS EDITOR In This Issue Rick Wingrove [email protected] 5 Coming Out of the Closet as an American Atheist | J. T. Eberhard COPY EDITOR | Karen Reilly 8 An Interview with Richard Dawkins David Muscato PROOFREADERS 10 Good News Clubs - Part Three: What We Learned | Dale DeBakcsy Gil and Jeanne Gaudia Shelley Gaudia 13 Parents, Teachers, and Administrators Help Young Atheists | Hemant Mehta AMERICAN ATHEIST PRESS 16 The Godless Congregations of the Sunday Assembly | Becky Garrison MANAGING EDITOR Frank R. Zindler Secularism’s Pope: A Misleading Misunderstanding | David Orenstein, Ph.D. [email protected] 20 The Science of Faith: Part One | Ce Atkins Published by 22 American Atheists, Inc. | Mailing Address: 24 All of the Good, None of the God - Part Two: Uganda Conor Robinson P.O. Box 158 Cranford NJ 07016 28 Gideon Bibles Make Room for Atheist Books | Ed Buckner, Ph.D. Phone: 908.276.7300 FAX: 908.276.7402 32 How I Stood Up for My Right to Sit Down | Grover Helton www.atheists.org 34 DOGMA WATCH: Eat at Yahweh’s | Michael B. Paulkovich ©2014 American Atheists Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part Why I am an Atheist | Pinghui V. Liu, M.D. without written permission is prohibited. American 46 Atheist is indexed in the Alternative Press Index. American Atheist magazine is given free of cost to members of American Atheists as an incident of their membership. Annual Individual Membership with subscription for one year of American Atheist print magazine: $35. Online version only: $20. Couple/Family Membership with optional print magazine: $35. Sign up at www. atheists.org/aam. Discounts available for multiple year subscriptions: 10% for two years, 20% for three or more years. Additional postage fees for foreign addresses: Canada and Mexico: add $10/year. All other countries: add $30/year. Discounts for libraries and institutions: 50% on all magazine subscriptions and book purchases.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 3 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
What do you call a wrong decision made in the name of religion? A clerical error.
That’s what the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) called it when they were asked why they first told American Atheists President Dave Silverman that his application for the custom license plate ATHE1ST was “offensive” but then reversed the decision. The reversal came after a rash of bad publicity. As the news report from the U.K.’s Daily Mail put it, “they didn’t realize who they were rejecting.” If they had known who they were rejecting, they would have known that, as soon as his application was rejected, Silverman would share the news on his Twitter account @MrAtheistPants. They would have known that our Public Relations Director, Dave Muscato, would send out a press release. And that the press release would include a picture of Silverman holding a piece of décor that’s been in the American Atheists Center for as long as anyone can remember: a vintage New Jersey license plate that says ATHEIST. (Silverman’s has a numeral 1 because this all-letter version was already taken.) So why the red light for Silverman’s application but a green light for the earlier one? A spokesperson for the MVC told one reporter that “the clerk had exceeded her authority.” In other words, Silverman’s application was randomly assigned to an employee who happens to have a personal problem with Atheism but has no authority to decide that the MVC officially has this problem, which it clearly doesn’t. In fact, no one in the U.S. ever has the authority to decide that the laws of their god outrank the laws of the state. But it happens all the time, and, for a number of reasons, nothing’s done to remedy it. No one in the U.S. ever has the authority to decide that the laws of their god outrank the laws of the state.
Sometimes nothing’s done because a person doubts their ability to fight the injustice. Sometimes they second-guess their understanding of their rights. Often, a person will assume they’re the only one who’s ever encountered such a roadblock. They assume this because they’ve never encountered another Atheist. And they’ve never encountered another Atheist because too many are still in the closet. American Atheist is a handbook for coming out of the closet. This magazine is also a handbook of how to show others the way out. This issue also features an excerpt from The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide, Hemant Mehta’s new book, which is full of ways that adults can assist students who want to stand up for their rights as non-believers. We’re also featuring the words of ten-year-old Grover Helton, who tells us how he demanded fair treatment in his school—and got it. Grover’s activist career is off to a great start, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he turns out to be like Ed Buckner, the former President of American Atheists, whose article is about his most recent victory: the placement of Atheist books right next to the Bibles that the State allows the Gideons to place in all the cabins of Georgia’s state parks. When Atheists refuse to be denied the rights that everyone should enjoy, it’s more than an opportunity for progress. It’s also an opportunity for closeted Atheists to take notice and realize that they are far from alone. And every time an Atheist comes out, it strengthens this country’s wall that separates church and state without separating believers from non-believers. Maintained properly, it’s the best thing that can happen to both.
Pamela Whissel Editor-in-Chief [email protected]
LEFT: President Dave Silverman with the vintage plate RIGHT: No offense after all: Silverman’s new plate
4 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 Coming Out of the Closet as“ an American Atheist: Why It’s Worth It by J.T. Eberhard
No price is too steep for the privilege of owning one’s self.
always like to start an article with a statement of the obvious, Campus Crusade for Christ? These days, they’re calling themselves to help the reader and writer begin on common ground. just “Cru.” They organize clubs on college campuses. The Secular For this article, the statement is: We live in a very religious Student Alliance (SSA) organizes similar clubs for Atheists who nation. It wasn’t hard to come up with that, because in the United aren’t interested in a crusade so much as they’re interested in eating States churches outnumber schools and libraries by several orders of pizza with other Atheists. I used to work for SSA as their high school Imagnitude. Yet Atheism is growing, which means there’s not only a organizer. All in all, it was a pretty sweet gig. As soon as I started that “decent chance that you, my lovely reader, are a non-believer yourself, job, I immediately noticed a big difference between religious students but there’s also a good chance you’re relatively new to your non-belief. and non-religious students: most of the non-religious students hadn’t You may even still attend church—while not buying into a word of told their parents about their disbelief. the preaching. I’ve never heard of a Christian student living in fear of their own If you are a believer, there are decent odds that you are questioning family discovering their Christianity, so I began to wonder about and wondering what life is like on the other side. (The “other side” what was stopping the Atheist students from being open with their being Atheism in this life, not heaven or hell in the next.) Let me help parents. It quickly became evident that the reason was fear—a most fill you in. As an “out” Atheist, I’m perhaps a little biased, but I think heartbreaking fear of the very people who loved them. These students being out is pretty damn grand. But even I can admit that there is good feared losing a happy relationship that seemed to hinge entirely on the and bad to living out of the closet as a non-believer. Since I’m a cynic, lie that two millennia ago, a man rose from the dead. In extreme cases, we’ll begin with the bad. the students feared total ostracism. I’m sad to say that, during my time For two and a half years, I worked for an organization called the with the SSA, I frequently saw these fears become reality. Can you Secular Student Alliance. Have you heard of the national organization imagine parents withholding Christmas presents from a child because By indulging your very humanity and freely enjoying life in all its splendor, you can be an inspiration for others to do the same.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 5 Being out does your loved ones the honor of being able to love you, not the person you’re pretending to be. the child cannot make themselves believe a man walked on water— is? Consider, for a moment, that many Christians believe hell to be as if that belief is what made a child worthy of love rather than any a place of such immeasurable suffering that, within a few seconds of of their other virtuous qualities? After two and a half years working arrival, a person will experience pain greater than the sum of all the directly with high school Atheists, I’m sad to say, I can imagine it very agony in human history. Being someone who might separate another clearly. person from their faith, and thereby condemn them to hell, is enough Take the case of Damon Fowler, a Louisiana teen who not only to make you a villain in the eyes of an appreciable number of your came out to his parents, but also asked his public high school to stop American neighbors. issuing sectarian Christian prayers at graduation. While the school This is why so many believers fight not merely to expose other complied—they understood they were breaking the law—countless people’s children to religion, but to keep it constantly in their faces, even Christians in the community were merciless. In one newspaper in public-school classrooms. It’s why Jessica Ahlquist’s home town of interview, a teacher of Damon’s questioned his worth to the school. Cranston, Rhode Island, spent two years demanding that their school Lifelong friends stopped board take money—lots speaking to him. He of money—earmarked received death threats. for education and spend it One “true believer” instead on an unsuccessful texted Damon’s brother court fight to keep religion to tell him that he was in their public schools. going to put Damon’s life With hell in the balance, in danger. Damon was who could blame them? booed at his graduation These people wanted to rehearsal. His parents help and they were acting even stopped speaking rationally within the to him and eventually context of their beliefs. kicked their underage Because if they are right, son out of the house by it’s not life and death. It’s throwing his possessions much more. outside (where some of It’s easy to see how them were then stolen). Coming out is the best way we have to make a believer can view an To an Atheist, Atheist not as a mere disbelieving in the sure the hate stops in our lifetime. skeptic, but as an agent miraculous tales of the Bible may seem to be of no more consequence of suffering, if that Atheist is telling people not to fear hell. That’s what than disbelieving the stories of the Koran or the fables of Aesop. But catalyzes this behavior towards other people’s children, and it doesn’t to believers, the prospect of either eternal paradise or eternal suffering get much better in adulthood. Most of us have been presumptuously are very, very real and very, very consequential. Pity is often the best- asked where we go to church instead of being asked if we even go to case scenario for when a fundamentalist neighbor learns that you’re an church. I’ve known adults who’ve feared losing their jobs if they didn’t Atheist. After all, they believe that regardless of how kind, generous, partake of lunchtime prayer circles—with their boss presiding. and virtuous you may be in this life, you’re destined nonetheless These things and more are what it can mean to be an Atheist in for eternal torture in the afterlife. But it can be much worse. Our America, and they are ever on my mind when I talk to an Atheist skepticism can make us seem like we are as bad as criminals. about coming out of the closet. And the great irony is that the deepest And it can get even worse. What if, like me, you are the type of of believers will suggest that Atheists stay in the closet out of shame, Atheist who critiques the reasons people give for their faith—not as if Atheism is a flaw to hide, rather than a reason to fear the social because you are mean, but because you find it interesting and no more penalties crafted by religious people. offensive than when a co-worker talks about how lovely a chap Jesus But this is how religion wins: through fear. It is how religion has People just like you are continually adding their names, in full public view, to the ranks of the religiously skeptical.
6 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 You don’t need to pretend to believe in things you don’t in order to have a community. always won. Why should we believe in Jesus? Because you’ll go to hell people—the very people whom believers themselves know to be kind if you don’t. Be afraid! Drive along any stretch of Interstate and you’ll and honest—to hell. see plenty of signs and billboards threatening eternal punishment for And, as the adage goes, no price is too steep for the privilege of disbelief. What you will never see is one that proclaims, “Come to our owning one’s self. Living without fear, free to indulge your curiosity church, we have evidence!” Religions do not win by reason. They do to its fullest, is a luxury that is incompatible with the arbitrary taboos not win by behaving honorably. They win by keeping people afraid of religion. Without religion, you can love the consenting adult of because there are no natural consequences for disbelief in the here- your choice, regardless of gender and regardless of any Bronze-Age and-now. The faithful need to make up for that dearth themselves. prohibition that still survives today. You can touch the person you And they do. love in the ways you imagine. By indulging your very humanity and So why does someone like me, who generally doesn’t wish freely enjoying life in all its splendor, you can be an inspiration for suffering on anybody, encourage most people to risk all this misery others to do the same. and come out of the closet? Because it has to stop. The fear that keeps Being out also does your loved ones the honor of being able to Atheists in the closet will suck just as much for future generations as love you, not the person you’re pretending to be. Being honest about it does for you. I grew up in a world where people were afraid to be who you are is the only way to never make liars of your family and Atheists. I’m still living friends who say they love you in a world where people when they don’t know who you are afraid to be Atheists. are. To keep quoting axioms I don’t want anybody that did not originate with me, else to grow up there. it is far better to be hated for It’s not the world I want who you are than to be loved to hand to my kids. It’s for who you aren’t. not the world I want to Remember, the good news hand to your kids. And is that Atheism is growing fast despite all the slings in the United States. In virtually and arrows that come every city and every small town with it, coming out is there are secular groups waiting the best way we have to to welcome you. You don’t need make sure it stops in our The most crafty arguments are less effective than three to pretend to believe in things lifetime. simple words said to a loved one: “I’m an Atheist.” you don’t in order to have a As someone who community. You need only argues with religious people for a living, I believe arguments are bring yourself, as you are, without pretension or lies. powerful. And yet my most crafty arguments are less effective than Atheism is growing so rapidly because people just like you are three simple words said to a loved one: “I’m an Atheist.” Someone who continually adding their names, in full public view, to the ranks of believes Atheists are pathological in the extreme might not believe the religiously skeptical. As soon as enough people have the courage that their daughter is pathological in the extreme—or their parents to wrest control of their lives from religion, we can show Christians or their best friend. This is what the gay rights movement has been how to be a majority that behaves kindly and compassionately. I so incredibly successfully with: urging LGBT people to come out of hope you will help us get there, for there is a joy in living openly the closet. Because of this campaign, many Americans are realizing that will never be available to those who cater to the arbitrary rules for the first time in their lives that not only do they know gay people, of a religion. but that they like and love gay people. So it can be with Atheists. This is how we show others that, no matter how they feel about Jesus, J.T. Eberhard is the co-founder of the Skepticon conference and served Atheists are loveable, good people—who are already loved. It’s how as the event’s lead organizer for its first three years. His blog, What we force the question of the morality of a god who would condemn Would J.T. Do?, is at Patheos.com/Blogs/WWJTD. Living free to indulge your curiosity to its fullest is a luxury incompatible with the arbitrary taboos of religion.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 7 An Interview with “ Richard Dawkins by David Muscato
All religions are absurd, but Mormonism is in a class of its own.
Dawkins’ new film, The Unbelievers, will be in “ theaters and released digitally in early 2014. is is one of the most eloquent voices for reason. His book, The HSelfish Gene, published in 1976, is widely held to be one of the most important books of the 20th century. His latest, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, is an intimate memoir of the childhood and intellectual development of this evolutionary biologist and world-famous Atheist. He also stars with Lawrence Krauss in a new feature film, The Unbelievers. It trails the two scientists on their global speaking tour where they encourage their audiences to cast off antiquated religious and politically motivated approaches to the most important issues of our time. Here, he talks about his work as well as the latest activism of American Atheists.
8 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 Q: Your new movie, The spirit as the question suggests. I say “Happy Unbelievers, follows your Christmas” rather than the awkward and speaking tour with Lawrence embarrassing “Happy Holiday Season,” Krauss. Do you consider it a “road and send Christmas cards, not holiday trip” story in the style of Jack cards. Most people in academic science Kerouac’s On the Road? who call themselves Jews are actually Atheists, and I don’t mind calling myself a RD: Lawrence and I had cultural Anglican in the same spirit. filmed conversations in cities including Sydney, Canberra, Q: American Atheists is suing Melbourne, Phoenix, London, the Internal Revenue Service for and Oxford. You have to do a good discrimination. In the U.S., churches and deal of traveling to get from one religious non-profits don’t have to reveal of those places to another, and their financial records while all other non- the director artfully interposed profits do. They don’t have to disclose the scene-shifting travel shots. So, in value of their assets, how much they pay that sense, you could call it a road staff, and what they are spending on child trip movie, but that description molestation lawsuits. How do you predict doesn’t do justice to the film, nor this will all play out? would comparison with any great American novel. RD: It is impossible to overstate how We talk to each other passionately I support this initiative. I have about science, religion, and the no confidence that it will succeed, partly interface between the two. It’s an for the general reason that, to borrow from intellectually challenging film, Dickens, “the law is a ass, a idiot” and partly but I think it’s fun, too, and there’s because the current Supreme Court is so lots of humor. The format of shockingly biased. Nevertheless, I so much the conversations is the “mutual want it to succeed, so I will be donating tutorial”—the biologist learning $1,000 to the fund supporting the lawsuit. from the physicist and vice versa. It also could be said that we are pioneering a moderator-free style Q: The American Atheists annual convention is in Salt Lake City, of interview. We both believe that moderators often get in the way and April 17-20, 2014. If you aren’t able attend, what would you like to say impede rather than facilitate public conversation. to the brave non-believers who will gather in a state with millions of The Unbelievers will be both in theaters and in digital format in potentially angry Mormons? early 2014. RD: All religions are absurd, but Mormonism is in a class of its Q: Your new book, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a own. Founded by a proven charlatan, historically steeped in racism Scientist, is an autobiography that leads up to your writing The Selfish and sexism, its founding document a palpable fake (a 19th-century Gene when you were 35. Do you recommend that an aspiring scientist document written in 16th-century English), Mormonism ought to be write a book to further their career? a public laughing-stock. It is extraordinary that influential and powerful people pander to it. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t insult individual RD: No, I wouldn’t recommend it as a career move for a scientist, Mormons, just mercilessly ridicule and satirize their preposterous although it might be for a philosopher or historian or literary critic. I beliefs. suppose it did work out for me, but a colleague published a series of excellent books, making important and original creative contributions to evolutionary and taxonomic theory, and his career suffered because David Muscato is the Public Relations Director for American Atheists. they were books rather than papers in “high impact” journals. Dawkins’ official website, RichardDawkins.net, features a newsletter Q: American Atheists put up an animated digital billboard in Penn which names a Secular VIP of the Week, as well as a Question of the Plaza in New York City that said, “Who needs Christ during Christmas? Week competition, where the winners receive a copy of Dawkins’ latest Nobody!” It urged people to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas: book, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. Everyone who friends, family, gifts, and food. Do you support people who celebrate a signs up for the newsletter receives a digital copy of the first chapter. non-Christian Christmas, or are we enablers? For the latest information on the release of The Unbelievers, go to RD: Along with my family, I celebrate Christmas in exactly the same UnbelieversMovie.com.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 9 Good News Clubs by Dale DeBakcsy
Katherine Stewart wrote the definitive work on the stealthy Part Three: and deceptive methods of the Good News Club. What We Learned, How They Stayed, and Why We Will Eventually Win
n the two previous issues of American Atheist, Dale DeBakcsy has chronicled the efforts of parents in California’s Castro Valley School District to protect their children from the pervasive and deceptive Good News Club (GNC). A product of the Child Evangelism Fellowship, the clubs exist in public schools nationwide with the sole purpose Iof indoctrinating children in the beliefs of Christian fundamentalism. Yet their “harvesting” efforts (their term), aimed at children as young as four, falsely present the Good News Club as an after-school activity that teaches morality in general, sprinkled with a little Bible instruction. The clubs always meet on school grounds, even when nearby church space is free and available to them, so that they are perceived by children to be part of the school system. In Part One, DeBakcsy gave us an overview of the tactics of the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), quoting from their own training literature. For example, the pamphlet “Why Evangelize Children?” makes the case that “it is clear from the Bible that a child who has not trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior—no matter how young he is—is therefore spiritually dead, a sinner by nature and action.” In Part Two, he interviewed Katherine Stewart, author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children. In it she chronicles her investigation into the way the clubs stealthily establish their presence in public schools nationwide. In this final installment, we catch up with the Castro Valley parents. While they haven’t been able to eradicate the clubs from their school district, they did cast light on the true motives of the CEF and, in the process, opened the eyes of many more parents.
10 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 t is a story that begins, as few tales do these days, with a We wrote to our district superintendent to determine how this invasion letter to the editor of my local newspaper, The Castro was permitted in the first place, attended GNC meetings to confirm that Valley Forum. It’s the sort of newspaper that shows the children were repeatedly compelled to identify themselves as hopeless pictures of dogs up for adoption and runs front-page sinners, and reported the details of what we’d learned to The Forum.3 We news stories like Food Trucks to be Part of Castro found that the people who initially wrote in defense of the idea of the Valley Farmer’s Market. The op-ed page of this paper clubs did not continue their defense after we showed precisely what is has long been where Castro Valley, California, an done there. This was the second thing we learned. unincorporated town of 60,000 people, grapples with “The Big Issues.” And on April 24, 2013, I found there a six-paragraph note penned by our resident civil rights champion, Billy Bradford, warning about the arrival in Castro Valley of something called the Good News Club (GNC).1 IWorse, not only had the GNC arrived, but it had been in place in two of our elementary schools for three years already, quietly expanding its operation. The school attended by my children, ages 6 and 9, was not infected in the first GNC outbreak, and until Bradford’s letter to the editor, I had no idea that any of this had been happening for years in my own town, a testament to just how well the GNC parent organization, the Child Evangelism Fellowship, has trained its volunteers in quietly acquiring new territory for their child-proselytizing efforts. As I read up on the GNC and their tactics, I was aghast that any organization so explicitly devoted to the emotional bullying of children would not only be allowed to exist in our schools, but was apparently thriving there. Scores of parents were happily sending their kids into the maw of this carefully constructed, innocence-mauling machine. It was time to flex the muscles of the most potent tool for social change yet constructed The second-grade daughter of one of the parents in our group found this flyer under her on the wings of human fancy: It was time …to post…something on backpack after the final GNC meeting of last year. At that time the kids were encouraged Facebook! And this is where the first Lesson Learned comes. to share a paper cut-out “wheel of sin” with their friends. We don’t know yet if this flyer is connected to the GNC or not, but the timing was interesting. Expect consequences. My Facebook friends are entirely used to me cocking snooks at A little fact goes a long way. organized religion, so going on about the Good News Clubs did me no The Good News Clubs thrive on secrecy and no one looking too personal harm, but those acquaintances of mine who seconded my call closely beneath the artfully constructed mask.4 The defenders they for some level of organized response found themselves losing actual, in- tend to attract are people well-disposed to the generic idea of children the-flesh friends as a result. That would be bad enough, but the GNC- receiving instruction in morality. That same defense crumbles when it is sympathetic parents didn’t keep their feelings quietly to themselves. pointed out, by using specific quotes from their own literature, how the Instead, they told their children to be suspicious of our children. As a GNC goes about achieving its ends. It’s important to understand that result, within a week of posting our thoughts on Facebook and writing attacking the GNCs from the standpoint of “church stuff should never to The Castro Valley Forum in support of that first letter,2 my older be allowed near school stuff” will stir up resentment. But attacking it daughter was cornered at school by two boys who told her that if she on the grounds of its publicly stated attitude toward children moves the didn’t shape up and believe in god, she would burn in hell. Meanwhile, discussion away from the realm of the Culture Wars and in the direction a friend’s daughter had that charming flyer from Part One of this series of those tactics which nobody is particularly keen to defend: self-esteem shoved beneath her backpack. crippling and psychological bullying. How could our kids go from having no problems about their lack Once people ceased rallying to defend an increasingly skeezy- of belief to being the objects of religious hate speech within the turn looking cause, we turned our attention to what could be done at the of a week? Such timing strikes me as too exact to be a coincidence. You school-administration level. We kept up a correspondence with the might be all manner of John-Thomas-Scopes-brave, but you should superintendent and addressed the school board at its final meeting. seriously ask yourself if you are prepared to let children bear perhaps To us, the issue seemed pretty clear-cut: these people are encouraging the greatest part of the fight. children to think of their classmates as sub-human, and so they shouldn’t I was aghast that any organization so explicitly devoted to the emotional bullying of children would not only be allowed to exist in our schools, but was apparently thriving there.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 11 Our schools are so underfunded that they simply can’t protect themselves, and the GNC presses that fact to its advantage. be allowed anywhere near a school. It seemed like it would be easy to get Or at least that would be the position they’d be in if the public them out of the Castro Valley School District. And that’s where lesson weren’t prepared for the tussle by an information campaign ahead of three comes in. time. As it stands now, the GNC has a choice between giving up the flyers and thereby gaining the ability to perhaps settle unobtrusively It isn’t. into the muck again, or raising a fuss over them and risking even closer Three years ago, when the GNCs first elbowed their way into the scrutiny of their universally awful beliefs and practices. The rank and district, the superintendent fought the encroachment and actually took file believers in the movement would doubtless choose the latter, the Child Evangelism Foundation to court. Thousands upon thousands thinking that they have nothing to hide, but long experience has taught of dollars later, the district lost and the GNC haughtily enjoyed the the puppet masters controlling CEF strategy that such publicity can spoils of its legal muscle: a harvest of children, willingly given. In only work against their best interests. California, school funding is in a dire state, so the idea of spending And that’s how it’s worked out for us. Even though the district hasn’t, more money to fight the GNC in yet another likely futile court case is as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, taken steps to amend their distribution something the district is rightly cautious of. It is a horridly tragic thing policies, the flyers have yet to surface again in the elementary school to have to write, but our schools are so underfunded that they simply attended by the girl who received the infamous note under her backpack. can’t protect themselves, and the GNC, with the sure predatory instinct Seemingly, the GNC has pulled them of their own accord. And that’s the of a wolf pack, presses that fact to its advantage. biggest lesson of all in the months-long story of our grapple with them. The 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Good News Clubs v. Milford Central School, which upholds the rights of GNCs to exist in Change is an ion engine. public schools, is too much for a single district to summon the resources One of the most exciting ideas in space travel is to use tiny beams of to combat. Thus, if a GNC wants to set up shop at a public school, there particles to act as thrusters; each little escaped ion adds a fraction of a is pretty much nothing that can stop them. So, for those who treasure boost to the speed of the vessel until, ion by ion, it hurtles through the notions of standing up before the Supreme Court and declaring, “No, galaxy at thousands of miles an hour. Minute drops of energy, delivered sir! I defend the children and justice!” you should probably start regularly enough, can produce huge results. We can’t wipe out the clubs moderating your expectations now. in one fell swoop just yet, but we can make them so highly doubt their And so we did. If the club must be tolerated after school, we could ability to function in a public arena that they will concede the field on at least try to ensure that they not be allowed to advertise in any way matters of ever greater import. Giving way on their flyers today will set during school hours on school grounds. We made the case that the a precedent for future such skin-saving timidity, until their recruiting flyers for the club, which school volunteers place in the packets that resources are whittled away so much that somebody at the CEF gets go home with the children every week, should be barred from such tired of all the backsliding and strikes out on some bold gesture to distribution. The trick is that, according to the district, you can’t bar regain momentum. And when that gesture is made, and when it shows an organization from distributing material based on that organization’s itself to be as truly appalling as it must be, we’ll be waiting and ready— beliefs. I’m skeptical about that claim. I doubt if the KKK would hundreds of thousands of parents the country over, poised to bring our get very far in their attempts to insert a “Come to our Ku Klux Klan case before the Supreme Court once more. And this time, we’ll win. Barbeque! It’ll be Racist-astic!” flyer into the kids’ take-home packets, but it’s the reigning rationalization for allowing the club access to the school’s messaging methods. Largely, then, club-infected schools have Dale DeBakcsy’s blog, Twilight of the Nearly Everything, is at the choice between letting the flyers go into the take-home packets or SkepticFreethought.com. He’s also a regular contributor to The Freethinker stopping the distribution of all flyers. (Freethinker.co.uk) and Philosophy Now (PhilosophyNow.org). For the Good News Club, it’s a great position to be in. If they are allowed to distribute their flyers, then they appear to have official school Endnotes sanction in the eyes of the children. And if they’re not allowed, they can 1. http://tinyurl.com/LetterToEditor-April23 point to their opponents and say, “Look at those cold-hearted bastards 2. http://tinyurl.com/LetterToEditor-May1 who have made all of the other clubs suffer—just to keep our innocent 3. http://tinyurl.com/LetterToEditor-May15 morality-boosting group from sending out a few modest fliers.” 4. http://tinyurl.com/LetterToEditor-May8 If a GNC wants to set up shop at a public school, there is pretty much nothing that can stop them.
12 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 How Parents, Teachers, “ and Administrators Can Help Young Atheists
by Hemant Mehta
He surveyed the teachers who had to cut class short to make room for the monthly Bible lessons and discovered that several of them felt as he did.
early a third of Americans under the age of 30 have no religious affiliation, the highest in any recorded generation. In this growing segment of “nones” are many young Atheists who have faced prejudice in their high “ schools and communities for standing up for their constitutional right of freedom from religion. In the freethought community, the focus has largely been on what these young Atheists themselves can do to form their clubs, promote their personal views, or defend separation of church and state. Just as important, however,N is the support they get from the adults in their lives: their parents, teachers, and school administrators. The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide: Helping Secular Students Thrive is the latest book by Hemant Mehta. He discusses how to deal with teachers and administrators who promote faith in public schools, how to handle the peer pressure and ostracism that may come with being an outspoken Atheist, and how to create successful student groups that encourage conversation over conversion. This excerpt from the book shows how one doesn’t even have to be an Atheist to support non-religious students in pubic schools.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 13 The head of the state’s Christian Family Association believed the Constitution needed to take a back seat to his faith.
Many of the students I profile in the book have had to struggle just Michael took that information to his principal and a change was made: to get their schools to follow the law when it comes to church/state There would be no more Bible lessons for students in grades four through separation. But perhaps nobody had it as bad as Michael Chandler. six. However, the principal said, students from kindergarten through third Michael was in a district where violations of church/state separation grade would continue them because they “need their Bible stories.” weren’t just occasional occurrences; they were literally a part of the It wasn’t good enough. Michael took his complaint to the district schedule. superintendent and, with his reputation on the line, got the district to What makes his story especially interesting is that Michael wasn’t a stop the Bible lessons completely. It was a victory, but it fixed only one student at the school. He was one of the administrators. of many infractions in the district. Michael wasn’t done yet. For 25 years, he worked in the DeKalb County School District in The Gideons—best known for putting Bibles in hotel rooms—were Stone Mountain, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta. He spent the first 12 his next opponents. As you might expect, their goal was to get a copy of the years as a teacher before being appointed as assistant principal of Valley Bible into as many hands as possible, including those of schoolchildren. Head High School (actually a K-12 school) For years, well-dressed representatives came in 1985. One of his first tasks, assigned to to Valley Head, visiting the fifth through him by the principal, was to schedule a time eleventh grade classrooms, handing copies for the Ponderosa Bible Camp to come into of the New Testament to the children. If any the classrooms and teach Bible lessons. student refused, the Gideons rep would say, Even though Michael pointed out the “Why not? You need this. It will save your potential legal issues to his boss, he was told soul. You need to take this home to your this was a tradition and it would continue, mother and father.” so Michael did as he was told. This was a Michael, again, spoke with his principal new job, after all, and he didn’t want to seem about the legal problems surrounding too pushy. Every month, for the rest of the bringing religion into the classroom school year, a portion of academic time and, again, it worked. The Gideons were was set aside for religious indoctrination at banished from the classrooms. But they the hands of the Christian group. Students didn’t disappear entirely. Instead, they set who wished to be excused had the option up shop at a sidewalk across the street from of sitting in the hallway or going to the the school, hoping to catch students as they principal’s office. No matter which option left the building. Just to avoid the Bible- students chose—if they chose one at all— thumpers, Michael made sure the buses for the other students were bound to “criticize, the youngest children were rerouted to pick ostracize, and demonize” them. Hemant Mehta them up from the back of the building. Michael didn’t realize how bad things The arms race didn’t stop there. One were for kids who chose not to participate until he sat down with two day, when the Gideons knew Michael would be out of the office, they new transfer students. “One day during my second year at Valley Head went directly onto the buses to give the Bibles to children. “Even I was enrolling two little girls in school. They were in third or fourth Alabama says you can’t do that,” Michael said later. grade. These two girls came from another school in the same system so On another occasion the following fall, on a day warm enough that they were aware of how things worked in DeKalb County. I finished and the windows on the buses were down, the Gideons threw Bibles through I asked them if they had any questions. One girl looked at me and asked, the windows in order to get them in the hands of students. Michael only ‘Do you have Bible stories in this school?’ found out what happened because he ran into a student the next day “I said, ‘I’m afraid we do. Why do you ask?’ who had a cut lip as a result of being hit by one of the books. “Tears ran from that little girl’s big brown eyes. She teared up and said, The Gideons kept at it for several years. When Michael’s own son ‘At my other school I had to sit in the hall and the kids were mean to me.’ Jesse began fifth grade—the first grade level the Gideons paid special “That was a number of years ago, but I can still see that little girl’s attention to—he came home with a New Testament. When pressed, face today. She was harassed and intimidated because she was, at that Jesse said that he took it because he “thought he had to.” point, a Jehovah’s Witness, and her mom didn’t want her listening to Michael couldn’t believe it. “The separation of church and state the Bible stories. I looked in her eyes and decided that day… to do failed because the school gave him the impression [that accepting the something, or do what I could, to stop it.” Bible] was something he was supposed to do—it had the school stamp He surveyed the teachers who had to cut class short to make room of approval on it.” for the monthly Bible lessons and discovered that several of them felt It resulted in another argument with the principal, who told Michael, as he did—that religious proselytizing had no place in a public school. “You’re going to hell because you dare question what I’m doing.” It was
14 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 On a day warm enough that the windows on the buses were down, the Gideons threw Bibles through the windows in order to get them in the hands of students.
1994. Michael had been in his administrative position for nine years. lunch in a separate classroom instead of going back into the cafeteria. At that point, he began reaching out to attorneys who could help him Michael, who also held teaching duties at his school, wasn’t file a lawsuit against the district. Of the 25 or so lawyers he contacted in immune from the Christian students’ retaliation. According to one of the state of Alabama, not a single one accepted the case. It would hurt his students, “When he comes into the class, we stop whatever we’re business too much to side with someone trying to get religion out of doing and start talking loudly about the Bible.” Those students would the classroom. Finally, he spoke with the ACLU. Its representatives told have been surprised to learn that Michael was a Christian, too. He just Michael to document everything, which he did for the next two years, believed in the separation of church and state. videotaping instances of Christianity permeating into the public school Judge Ira DeMent finally told the school in March of 1997 to put curriculum and getting his colleagues to do the same. a stop to all religious activities immediately. He reaffirmed that ruling After all that time, what did Michael find? later in the year. In his judgment, Judge DeMent delineated what the law did and didn’t allow.1 • The D.A.R.E. drug-awareness program, mandatory for fifth- What did it allow? Students could use religious textbooks in an graders, included a Bible reading and minister-led devotional. objective way. They could pray or proselytize on their own time (not (The teacher in charge curiously argued that the Bible verses during class). They could make a reference to God in a speech as long as weren’t “religious in nature.”) it didn’t call for an audience response. They could announce meetings of religious clubs over the intercom. They could wear jewelry or clothing • Local ministers at a Parent Teacher Organization meeting delivered expressing their faith (appropriately). two separate invocations. What students and teachers were not allowed to do was lead prayers during class time, graduation ceremonies, or over the intercom. They • Jesse’s fifth-grade teacher made sure a Bible story was read aloud could not allow third parties (like the Gideons) to hand out Bibles on before the kids went to lunch. their property or during class time. Despite the ruling permitting private prayer and limited public • Homeroom teachers would pass out flyers advertising church events. acknowledgment of God, Christians were incensed. Dean Young, the head of the state’s Christian Family Association, • Devotionals were recited over the loudspeakers before home football believed the Constitution needed to take a back seat to his faith. “It is a games, which Michael was required to attend as an administrator. sad day in this state and nation when a single judge can force his opinion on the people of Alabama when the vast majority of the citizens in this • Graduation services and mandatory school assemblies included state disagree with that opinion…If one federal judge can dictate to the prayers or Bible readings. people of this state how they cannot perform religious activities, we are not very far from the time when they will remove all religious rights of On February 1, 1996, Michael finally filed his lawsuit against the the people.” district with the help of Americans United for Separation of Church Of course, the only activities that were banned were the ones that and State and the ACLU. Even though the county’s attorney signed suggested school endorsement of religion or forced that religion upon paperwork promising all religious activities would stop, they didn’t. students against their wishes. A member of the school board later referenced the lawsuit by saying While the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected part of Judge that the majority ought to rule in cases like this and anybody who didn’t DeMent’s ruling (thus allowing student-led prayers at graduation like it could go “return to wherever they came from.” and over the intercom system), the Supreme Court later vacated that Michael wasn’t sure how to take that. “I’ve lived here for 47 years. I have ruling in 2000 in Chandler v. Siegelman, forcing the Appeals court to nowhere to go. So he’s going to have to put up with me for a lot longer.” reconsider its decision.2 The lowest point during the Chandler family’s fight may have been It took well over a decade, but Michael ultimately prevailed. that following October, when young Jesse went to eat lunch. By this time, students were aware that his father was trying to “ban Christianity” Hemant Mehta is a high school math teacher in Chicago. He from the schools. As Jesse stepped into the cafeteria that day—and blogs at Patheos.com/Blogs/FriendlyAtheist. The Young Atheist’s many others after that—nearly two hundred other students stood up to Survival Guide is available on Amazon.com, as are his two other recite the Lord’s Prayer. This was hardly free exercise of religion; it was books, I Sold My Soul on eBay and The Friendly Atheist: Thoughts bullying. It was a verbal slap in the face to Jesse’s entire family. When on the Role of Religion in Politics and the Media. Michael heard about the incident, he asked his son if everything was okay and if there was anything he could do. Endnotes Jesse responded courageously, “I’m all right. As long as it doesn’t 1. CaseLaw.FindLaw.com/US-11th-Circuit/1044189.html bother me, they’re not winning.” Eventually, though, Jesse began to eat 2. CaseLaw.FindLaw.com/US-11th-Circuit/1181490.html
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 15 SundayThe Assembly Two British comedians have a vision to plant a godless congregation in every town, city, and village that wants one.
by Becky Garrison
Photo credits: Jack Davolio
Sunday Assembly, London
he myth about there being no Atheists in foxholes has been disproved for some time. The current frontier (but hardly the final one) is Atheists in church pews –and synagogues and temples and mosques. As more and more of them share their doubts openly, it’s becoming clear that many of them stick around because they still find value in the community aspect of their religion, even after they stop believing the doctrine. TLast year, British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans founded The Sunday Assembly as a godless congregation to celebrate life. Their motto is “Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More.” Sunday Assemblies are now popping up all over in the United States, England, Ireland, and Australia. Becky Garrison is a regular contributor to this magazine and to ReligionDispatches.com. On that site, she recently posted an interview with Jones and Evans, which we are reprinting here.
The Sunday Assembly was conceived by British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans as a “godless congregation that celebrates life.” In just a few days on Indiegogo, they’ve raised almost £24k (toward a £500k goal) to help plant Atheist churches in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, the United States, Canada, and beyond. They took some time from their busy touring schedule to chat via Skype about this accidental movement that’s now becoming a global phenomenon.
16 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 If you start talking about living this one life as fully as possible, you can suddenly open the door very wide.
Is this how you envisioned Sunday Assembly playing out Evans: We’d like to have children come to Sunday Assembly. Our when you launched your first service in London in January? oldest person is over 80 and our youngest person is under one.
Pippa Evans: No, we didn’t think it would take off this fast and Jones: My show “Taking Liberties“ got investigated by the police that we’d be touring around the world spreading the word of the Sunday during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a few years ago for being deemed as Assembly. We thought this would take a lot longer to grow. London too obscene. But here we’d like to have a service that appeals to the entire could be such a lonely place, and church has always played that role in family. We realize we need to work on diversity. As a comic, you just want bringing people together. So we assumed people would come, see it was anyone who turns up. We don’t want just people who look just like us. a good time, and eventually we would start doing community things. Evans: We need more ugly people to show up. Sanderson Jones: Given our background as comics, we’re used to trying things out and then if enough people come, you do it again. We thought we’d give it an experiment and see what happens. Who were your influences and mentors in this venture?
Evans: Well, I was inspired by church, having gone to church when I was younger.
Jones: I had the idea in my head for some time. When Alain de Botton’s book Religion for Atheists came out, I realized if I don’t do this soon, then someone else will. So I might as well get a move on.
Evans: We now hold our church in the same building as his School of Life.
Jones: The difference between our two programs is that his has a lot more price tags. We want it to be free for people to enter. Also, we’re about building a community, not a business. What were the origins of the Sunday Assembly’s Public Charter? Pippa Evans Jones: We were going for a walk in the woods when we heard a voice that told us to go to a tree and dig it up. What gifts do comics bring to Sunday Assembly that one Like Joseph Smith? doesn’t find in traditional church planters?
Evans: Yeah. Well, we wanted to write down what Sunday Assembly Jones: No idea. I’ve never met a church planter. I think we’ve is all about. Also, we asked some people who come to Sunday Assembly learned things from putting on events that are certainly useful like what they thought and incorporated their thoughts. knowing how to entertain a crowd and make sure they come back. Also, we know how to present an idea that you can package and promote. My Jones: Some said it was too joyful. So we put the bit in there that career has been mostly massive self-promotion. says life is hard. We want to make sure this is a celebration of life— which is the philosophy that undergirds our work. Evans: We give those wanting to start church plants a crib sheet and advice on how to set up the services. Also, we’re only planting In a rather odd reversal, we now have hipster pastors churches in places where people have indicated a desire for such a dropping the f-bomb and comics working clean. church plant. Once people have started their congregation, we give
We need to make sure we put in the structures that don’t let men climb to the top and put themselves in charge.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 17 We were going for a walk in the woods when we heard a voice that told us to go to a tree and dig it up. them specific community management tools, turning all of the talent Jones: We’re also working on our branding. Humanism is such a into the congregation and making it available to the wider community. wonderful idea, but it’s got some of the worst marketing that I’ve ever seen around it. Jones: We decided while the spotlight was on us, let’s go a hundred percent and see what happens. If we can get the momentum to get this How does Sunday Assembly address the sexism and up and running, then we can help people launch their own services. If homophobia inherent in U.S. church culture? we can unite them using one website that we’re calling Sunday Assembly Everywhere, then we can scale it and make it really easy to set it up. Evans: The fact that we’re a woman and a man running things helps. Instead of us doing our own thing, our effort can be multiplied a million Jones: As we develop these assemblies, we realize we need to make times over. sure we put in the structures that don’t let men climb to the top and put themselves in charge. So far, though, I’d Sanderson Jones say most people who want to get a Sunday Assembly started are women.
Often in the U.S., a church plant becomes a vehicle for a charismatic pastor to launch their author/ speaker show. How do you envision Sunday Assembly becoming more than an entertaining service?
Jones: Our guides for starting a Sunday Assembly are mostly resources and recommendations, not rules. One recommendation is that the host rotates. No host can do more than three Sunday Assemblies a year. This prevents someone from seeing Sunday Assembly as a chance where they get to stand up and deliver a talk once a month. We found that if people who come to speak happen to have books to sell, we don’t find it’s appropriate for them to market their books in this venue. We’re trying to weed out the person who wants to Launching a crowd-funding campaign to raise £500,000 just get in and bang the drum. Also, if you sounds like mega-church-pastor money. look at our accreditation process, it’s a bit like a trade association. Let’s say if someone starts getting a bit Islamophobic, we can tell them they have Jones: We’re trying to build a series of tools so that not tens or the freedom to say what they want but we won’t post them on the website. hundreds but thousands of congregations can be started. The bulk of this money is to build the digital platform, and this amount is what it Evans: And we’re very big on feedback. costs to build and maintain comparable international platforms for a Jones: When we came up with our first set of Sunday Assembly two-year period. Once we raise this money, we can build this digital guidelines, some people felt it looked a bit businesslike and controlling. platform that will make it easy for people to meet up with people in their We try to listen to criticism that we think is valid. area, start their own community, and grow their community virally. Describe your relationship with the Humanist Community at Evans: This has become an international organization so quickly. Harvard. We were sort of okay running Sunday Assembly from our bedrooms, but international movements can’t be done by emails at three in the Jones: Both Greg Epstein and Chris Stedman have spoken at the morning anymore. Sunday Assembly in New York City. Greg has been so helpful to us as a
18 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 Some said it was too joyful. So we put the bit in there that says life is hard. sounding board and advice-giver. He is great. What’s your response to those who say that by calling this a “church,” you’re making Atheism into a religion? How do you address concerns that by calling this a “church,” you may be giving people the impression that Sunday Jones: I think religion has become associated with some certain Assembly is equipped to provide actual pastoral care? practices, which, because people don’t like religion, they think that all of the things associated with it are bad. But that’s not the case. There are Jones: We have always said that Sunday Assembly is a phased loads of things which it does that are not bad in and of themselves, but growth into a full, church-like structure. At Sunday Assembly London they’ve become guilty by association. The big difference is there’s no we are going to try to go weekly in 2014, and we are adding the services supernatural in our thing. that you get at church. Pastoral care will first come in the form of small groups, with more serious problems being passed on to relevant service How does Sunday Assembly bring together like-minded providers. However, we want to take care of the whole person. liberal Christians who no longer believe in the supernatural or worship a Father God, but like church community with Since launching the first Sunday Assembly in New York City on humanists/Atheists in a quest to live an authentic life? June 30, 2013, this group experienced some growing pains with some the board of directors choosing to form their own Jones: We’ve got some people who love the Sunday Assembly who group called The Godless Revival. Your thoughts? fit that description. If you start talking about living this one life as fully as possible, you can suddenly open the door very wide. I’d like to make this Jones: It’s my understanding that the chief split is between those as un-Atheistic as possible. Atheism is boring. We’re both post-religious. who are more on the Atheist side of the fence, and then those who want to have a more inclusive message. This division has meant that Evans: We don’t check anyone’s beliefs at the door but seek out the inclusive contingent resigned from the board. This then led the people who are just happy to be alive. remaining gang to start a new group called The Godless Revival. To learn more, go to SundayAssembly.com. Obviously, I think it is very sad that this has happened but, ultimately, it is for the benefit of the community. One day, I hope there Becky Garrison is a storyteller and religious satirist. Her seven books will soon be communities for every different type of Atheist, agnostic, include Roger Williams’ Little Book of Virtues and Red and Blue God, and humanist. We are only one flavor of ice cream, and one day we hope Black and Blue Church (a Publishers Weekly Starred Review). Her there’ll be congregations for every godless palate. website is BeckyGarrison.com and she’s on Twitter (@Becky_Garrison).
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 19 Secularism’s“ Pope: A Misleading Misunderstanding by David Orenstein, Ph.D.
To do good works for the sake of the work without any reward is called humanism.
ews reports in recent The Pope recently reached out to Atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari and has even suggested that Atheists can indeed be moral people (but months have shown that we knew this already). He’s now gone on record bemoaning the Church’s Pope Francis is focusing past obsession with rooting out homosexuality (what a relief to all those rather passionately on gay priests and LGBTQ parishioners alike) and has asked the faithful to turn to good works (let’s forget about waterboarding being invented by remaking the Roman the Church during the Spanish Inquisition and, more recently, bishops Catholic Church into a less attempting to stop the Affordable Health Care Act from becoming exclusive and perhaps a bit law). These papal actions seem on the surface to put even those who “ objectify the Church at ease a bit. more open and humanely The Pontiff’s rather liberal statements appear like a 180-degree turn focused entity. At the same time, he is making for the papacy and the institution of the Church alike. And perhaps reform is needed. But why now? Well, for starters and based on survey statements that the faithful and the Church itself data, although there are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics should be less obsessed with bedroom topics and worldwide, there are far fewer Catholics who view the Church as having personal lifestyle choices and focus on charity any relevance in their day-to-day lives. In the United States, a large N majority of American Catholics find the Church philosophically out of work instead. step with the modern world. Even if the Pope appears as a change agent, remember that the real change must call for the eradication of the Church’s doctrine, at least as it confronts secular society.
20 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 It wasn’t until 1992 that Pope John Paul II apologized to Galileo.
So this apparent “liberalization” is really nothing more than what • Witch hunts – Religion is superstition, and authoritative religion is clearly the secular world again changing the religious institution by knows no bounds. literally dragging it into a new century and a new way to see and be • Political involvement – Constantly attempting to enact church seen. Church progress—if that’s what we wish to call it—is not really doctrine in secular society through political lobbying defined by it moving forward on its own merits so much as it is defined • Clerical celibacy – Why, for goodness sake? Really? by adapting to the cultural trends, mores, and beliefs in a given society. • Satan – There is a devil and he wants your soul. Otherwise, the Church would still be telling people rather seriously • Heaven and Hell (depending on how good you are) – either way, that the Earth is the center of the solar system and that biological living forever would be terrible, really. evolution isn’t real. Of course, in these instances, they tried first to • Obedience and martyrdom – Best way to control the poor and stifle the guy who made the claims about the orbit of the earth and it keep a flock. If your station in life is bad, just wait to be rewarded wasn’t until 1992 that Pope John Paul II apologized to Galileo. (You try in the next life. holding your breath for 350 years!) To this day, the Church’s position • Prayer – Pray for change, pray for external help, don’t really try to on evolution is that it is real, but god created it and he is the first cause of change anything yourself. the Big Bang. The evidence for supernatural creation is not just lacking but is totally absent—regardless of what Creationists may say or write. No one doubts that there are Catholics and people of other faiths It’s just not science. who do good work to benefit humanity. People of all faiths feed the It’s important to note that this Pope is a Jesuit, meaning that he poor, help the sick, and sincerely try to heal the world in numerous is a member of the Society of Jesus, a religious order that is itself a ways. However, we do know that such good works can be done without modern adaptation to change. The Jesuit order didn’t exist until after religious faith and without reasons based on superstition, obedience to the earlier Protestant Reformation. At that point in history, a call to sky gods, and access to heaven. To do good works for the sake of the bring enlightenment to Catholics was mandated by Pope Paul III. So work without any reward is called humanism, not religion. an educated and enlightened priestly class was born to attest that the There are also Church leaders of a priestly class who have attempted Church wasn’t just about total authority, prayer, idol-worship, and to lead social revolutions. In modern times, Archbishop Oscar Romero liturgy even though up until that time (and today still) it was exactly of El Salvador paid for his service with his life in 1980, and 92-year-old that. The Jesuits are an evangelical order and also the only Catholic Daniel Berrigan, is a radical priest still calling for socialist revolution priestly order that takes a special pledge of obedience to the Pope. in the name of Jesus. Both men were and remain outsiders in Church But we must remember that the Roman Catholic Church is still a hierarchy. Both men are also Jesuits. very conservative church whose doctrine, theology, and dogma of faith But while we should accept the proposed and attempted changes are substantial, misogynistic, myopic, and anti-humanistic. Here are Pope Francis is suggesting, we must remember that this is a drop of some of its highlights, both past and present: paint on large wall. In fact, it is a wall which really doesn’t need to exist at all. It is a non-weight-bearing wall, like all faith is non-supportive of • Original sin – You are born dirty, bad and a sinner. humanity’s ultimate goal to live in peace and harmony. So even if the • Contraception – No usage ever, even to avoid sickness, STDs, Pope appears as a change agent, remember that the real change must or pregnancy. call for the eradication of the church’s doctrine, at least as it confronts • Abortion – Every fetus must be brought to term, no matter its secular society, and not just a refocus of doctrine and Church teaching. actual health or viability. • Women – Second class by virtue of gender, cannot be priests, just nuns and lay leaders David Orenstein, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of Anthropology and • Homosexuality – A sin, although Jesus never mentions it Department Chairperson at Medgar Evers College (CUNY). A lifelong • Indulgences – Pay the church in cash for your sins and go to Atheist, he is an international speaker on humanist issues. This article heaven. was adapted from a post on his blog, PaleoLibrarian.info.
This apparent “liberalization” is really nothing more than what is clearly the secular world again changing the religious institution by literally dragging it into a new century.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 21 SCIENCE INTERVIEW SERIES The Science of Faith Part One by Ce Atkins
J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D. Introduction True or false: it’s natural to believe in god. The well-known maxim “everyone’s born an Atheist” implies that it’s not. In his book Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D., demonstrates that it is natural to believe in god. But he doesn’t take issue with the idea that everyone’s born an Atheist. In Part One of our interview with Thomson, he explains to American Atheist contributor Ce Atkins how it’s really both.
You say that religion is a by-product of innate biological cognition, attachment, agency detection, moral inferential systems, a mechanisms. What do you mean by that? minimally counter-intuitive world, intentionality, and theory of mind. A lot of people, when they hear the word “by-product,” become dubious These are fancy names for things that we take for granted because they’re because they think that sounds weak. How could something so powerful common, everyday mechanisms that we use to negotiate our social world. like religion be a by-product? I think that’s contributed to the school of Let’s start with decoupled cognition, which means that I can decouple thought that hypothesizes that group selection fosters the existence of my cognition from time and place. We can think about a conversation that religion. Because religion has been such a powerful and extraordinary force we’re going to have with someone in the future and we can also remember in human history, they reason, something that powerful must come from conversations we’ve had with someone in the past. We can have a complex powerful reasons, and the word “by-product” sounds puny. social conversation with an unseen “other.” We do this all the time. For But we need to keep in mind that reading and writing are by- example, you and I are doing this interview and concentrating on it right products of biological mechanisms. They are cultural creations built now. But I guarantee we will also, at several moments in this conversation, with biological mechanisms that evolved originally for other purposes. think about a personal interaction that is disconnected from this time and Reading and writing are vision, language, and fine motor skills, all of place, like a conversation we must have next week or one we had last week. which evolved originally for other purposes. We brought them together We take that ability for granted, but it’s actually a pretty unique piece of in this cultural invention we call “reading and writing.” I doubt anyone human cognitive software. And it illustrates how religions take everyday would underestimate the power that reading, writing, and literacy had on social mechanisms and utilize them so we can have a conversation with the human species. Religion is also a cultural creation that builds on, or is an unseen other, a dead ancestor, or a god. All the beliefs that go into a by-product of, biological mechanisms that originally evolved for other religions, no matter how bizarre they seem, are actually one small step purposes. Religion is not directly a biological adaptation itself. from everyday psychological mechanisms. I think decoupled cognition is a nice way to illustrate that. Would you touch on some of these mechanisms? Right now, I could ask you to imagine having a conversation with I think one can make a list of about 25 to 30 mechanisms that are President Obama. We have the ability to do that instantly. We can imagine utilized to create, sustain, and spread religious beliefs. A nice mnemonic a conversation where we ask for something from him and promise to give to help remember seven of the prominent mechanisms is DAAMM IT or, him something in return. That’s an appeal to someone much higher on if you are an engineer, DAAM MIT. Those mechanisms are: decoupled the hierarchy than you or I. It’s appealing to an authority and it’s promising
22 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 reciprocity—reciprocal altruism. I’ll do something for you if you do something for me. You can see that it’s just one more small step to praying to a god and asking him for something or to talking to a dead ancestor. Similarly, all of us who have had a loved one die can very easily call them up in our minds and imagine a conversation with them. That’s another example of decoupled cognition. To me, one of the most interesting parts of decoupled cognition is that it’s built into the very anatomy of the brain. We can process our own thoughts and the thoughts and feelings of others in the medial aspect of our frontal lobes, the midline. But we process our bodies, and our perception of other peoples’ bodies, in the lateral cortex. So the mind/body split is built into the very architecture of our brains. We don’t see minds as connected to bodies. That’s the default setting of our brains. But obviously they are. As Steven Pinker says, the mind is what the brain does. That separation of mind and body makes it very easy to think about souls. What are souls? Souls are just minds disconnected from the body. For me to think ahead about this interview, I might think about what questions you may ask. I can do that without you literally sitting in front of me. I can have a complex interaction with you in my mind before I’ve met you or talked to you directly. I can imagine a conversation with someone I’ve never met.
So that leads right into praying to a god, asking a god for advice, and the god speaking to you? And we’ve never met god nor seen his picture. But that’s not unusual. We have conversations all the time with people we’ve never met and people we are going to meet in the future.
Can you speak to other mechanisms in DAAMM IT? Think about it like “vision.” We’re not conscious of the myriad adaptations that go into vision. We just experience vision in all its three- dimensional splendor. But there are very specific mechanisms. There are color detectors, edge detectors, movement detectors, and many specific mechanisms. Anything that you view is originally an upside-down, also use that attachment mechanism in other relationships, like father- two-dimensional image on your retina. A complex array of machinery infant, close friendships, and romantic partners. We have a fundamental converts that into the three-dimensional image that you see. When I refer attachment system that religion harnesses beautifully. The Judeo- to these mechanisms, again, it’s not just a single mechanism, it’s multiple Christian god is a parent, a supernormal parent. The Catholic Church mechanisms at play. But we experience it as a single whole. preys on our kin attachment mechanisms. The pope is the holy father, the What I’m trying to do is to break it down into its component parts while priests are brothers, and the nuns are sisters. keeping in mind that all these mechanisms are operating simultaneously. One of my favorites examples of religion’s use of the attachment Let’s go back to the example of making a request to President Obama. mechanism can be seen in two-year-olds. A distressed two-year-old will We have social hierarchies, we have authority figures, and we are all walk over to you, look up, extend their arms towards you, and beseech more deferential to authority than we care to believe. Remember the you to pick them up. That’s one visible display of the basic attachment famous Stanley Milgram experiments in which people gave lethal electric mechanism. If you attend a Pentecostal worship service, what do you shocks to an errant subject on the order of an authority? The victim was see? The congregants’ hands are outstretched above their heads. They’re an actor and no electric shocks were actually given, but it remains one beseeching god, the parent, to pick them up. They’re expressing the of the most sobering and shocking experiments in social psychology. fundamental attachment mechanism. We have automatic behavior mechanisms in the face of authority, like Another biological mechanism that religion exploits is agency detection. submissiveness, which come into play. We have what are called hyperactive agency detection mechanisms, or HADD. If we hear a door slam, we startle and assume it’s human agency So those become operable in the face of religious authority? until proven otherwise. We will mistake a shadow for a burglar, but never Yes. The ultimate religious authority is god, but then there are his a burglar for a shadow. We over-read agency, and we especially over-read messengers, agents of what is known as “the mere messenger strategy.” human agency. If we look at a computer screen and one circle is moving The mere messenger exercises authority, but without full responsibility. towards another circle, we think of it as literally one circle chasing the other. It is a brilliant strategy deployed by every priest, nun, preacher, and used We can very easily over-read agency and intention. car salesman. “I’d like to give you a bigger discount on this five-year-old Toyota, but I need to check with the boss.” After going into the back And that tendency is a survival mechanism? room and smoking a cigarette, he comes out and says sadly, “Sorry, but Yes. Think about the smoke detector in your home. The steam from the boss won’t budge.” The Pope is just the mere messenger for god. He boiling water can set if off. A false positive is noisy and inconvenient, but commands authority, but shirks full responsibility. a false negative, a fire where the smoke detector fails to go off, is deadly. So we have a low threshold that is biased towards false positives, because Can you speak to the attachment mechanism? if the rustling in the leaves is just the wind, and we’ve been startled and The basic mammalian attachment mechanism that we have was frightened, that’s momentarily inconvenient. But if the rustling in the originally the mother-infant bond. It’s a caretaking mechanism. Humans leaves is a predator, and we’re not paying attention to it, we’re dead— CONTINUED PAGE 31
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 23 All of the Good, None of the God Part Two: Uganda by Conor Robinson
Nursery students at Kasese Humanist Primary School
athfinders Project is a year-long international service trip sponsored by the Foundation Beyond Belief, a non-profit organization with the mission to focus, encourage, and demonstrate the generosity and compassion of secular humanists. Through the project four young Atheist leaders are completing clean water, education, human rights, and environmental conservation projects in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These projects will give the volunteers an opportunity to engage in dialogue across religious, cultural, and ethnic boundaries, as well as to evaluate countries and partner organizations with the ultimate goal of selecting one site for launching the Humanist Service Corps. American Atheist is following them as they do good for the world, not for god. PIn Part One, Conor Robinson, a 2010 graduate of Yale University and the project’s director, wrote about the groups experience in Cambodia. In Part Two, he takes us to the towns of Kasese and Kamuli in Uganda, where they volunteered as school teachers. The national curriculum hides the existence of most of the world’s faiths and explicitly teaches that nonreligious people are bad people.
24 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 Although the Constitution says “Uganda shall adopt no State religion,” all government schools are religious.
In Uganda and other parts of Africa, every white person is a muzungu. The word either comes from the Kiswahili language, where zungu means “spinning in place,” like the dazed and confused Europeans who first set foot on the continent, or from the Bantu language, where wachizungu means “aimless wanderer,” again like the first explorers who inevitably got lost on African land. Nowadays, the word muzungu is used to describe anyone who is not black, but it has alternate meanings too, which are telling. East Africans, for example, use muzungu to refer to any rich person, regardless of skin color. But in Uganda, muzungu might as well mean “money.” Ugandan children get excited any time they see a muzungu. Whenever we walked past young ones, they insistently shouted, “Muzungu!” until we turned around so they could wave to us enthusiastically. They were often the same children who fought with each other to hold our hands as we walked from house to house, visiting the families of our students. The same children who, when we were stationary, stroked our arms and inspected every hair and freckle. Some of this is nothing more than curiosity and interest in a rare sight, but Kasese students it’s also because they believe we have money and they think we will
give it to them. Our colleagues offered by way of explanation that the children wanted to touch us because “the muzungu have money.” This perception is not limited to children, although it takes slightly different forms in adolescence and adulthood. Whereas the children approach with their hands out and demand what we are carrying or whatever is in our pockets (“I want that ball” or “Give me my money,” for example), our fellow teachers ask us for tuition money for themselves or the children. Others ask us to purchase computers for them or sponsor their soccer teams. To be fair, it is true that we are rich in comparison to our Ugandan colleagues and students. Our money is a factor not only in our ability to travel, but also in the willingness of the schools to host us. Indeed, many organizations only accept volunteers because of the funds they bring. And our cash does make a difference. At Kasese Humanist Primary School, our presence meant more chalk, pens, pencils, notebooks, soccer balls, netball balls, and a volleyball net—things that benefited all students. Similarly, when we arrived in Kamuli, we found out that the Mustard Seed Secondary School computer lab lacked a CD/DVD drive with disc-writing capability. The national exam for the practical computers The Pathfinders with Kasese Humanist course was only three weeks away, and in order to pass, each student is Primary School Director Robert (center). required to burn a data disc. The computer teacher had been begging the administration to buy a disc drive for months. We bought one for
In secondary school, the Christian religious education curriculum teaches students that moral behavior is inseparable from religiosity.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 25 We were surprised to find that our interest in understanding others through their beliefs was regarded as strange. them our first weekend in town. So it was, at least in part, because of our animals that “God created.” In secondary school, the Christian budget that we were able to produce these tangible outcomes. religious education curriculum teaches students that moral behavior But our impact in Kasese and Kamuli cannot be measured in is inseparable from religiosity, while the English curriculum, for dollars, cents, or Ugandan shillings. Across Kasese Humanist Primary instance, uses propagandistic texts as reading-comprehension School and Mustard Seed Secondary School, we collectively spent passages. nearly 1,000 classroom hours teaching English, computers, science, The instructional emphasis on rote memorization over critical religious education, and math. In her computers classes, Michelle thinking only exacerbates the problem. For almost the entirety of their exposed students to desktops, laptops, and the Internet for the first educational careers, Ugandan students are never challenged to examine time. Ben used his enthusiasm and vast knowledge of experiments to their assumptions about themselves, the world, and others. They rescue students from the tedium of rote memorization and opened their never come to understand the value in exploring differences because eyes to the wonder of scientific discovery. Wendy helped her students, difference is scorned rather than celebrated. Tolerance and empathy who had had a lifetime of classes fostering religious faith, see the value aren’t merely overlooked, they are actively discouraged. Indeed, the of a truly comparative religious education that fosters religious literacy national curriculum hides the existence of most of the world’s faiths
Conor Robinson warming up students in PE class
and tolerance. For my part, I gave students some of the first systematic and explicitly teaches that nonreligious people are bad people. Our reading instruction and reading intervention they had ever received. I primary and secondary school students expressed skepticism when we also demonstrated several high-impact teaching methods that were easy explained that there are religions which not only worshipped deities for my colleagues to implement. other than God/Allah, but even multiple deities. But the most important work we did was outside the classroom. In more than one way, we were able to serve as a living counter- When we arrived in Uganda, we were surprised to find that our example to the odious elements of Uganda’s curriculum. The students interest in understanding others through their beliefs was regarded as were able to see that we are Atheists with a knowledge and interest in strange. First at Kasese Humanist Primary School and then at Mustard world religions. They were able to see that we are good people. Most Seed Secondary School, we discovered that the students valued an importantly, they were able to see our desire to learn from others education about the natural world, but did not feel the need to learn precisely because they are different. We engaged directly with the about each other. Having seen the Ugandan curriculum up close, we students, their families, and their communities, trying to glean all now know why. Although the Constitution says “Uganda shall adopt we could from them in the short time we had. And the truth is, the no State religion,” all government schools are religious. Moreover, the Ugandans taught us lessons from the moment we stepped off the plane religious education curriculum overtly indoctrinates students, while the in Entebbe on September 11 to the time we boarded the plane for curriculum for every other subject reinforces the privileged position of Ghana two months later. religion in Ugandan society and politics. Some of our first lessons in Uganda were in openness and warmth. For example, the Religious Education curriculum in primary Hospitality and generosity are built into the very vernacular in Uganda; school requires students to identify their savior and their creator, the most common greeting in Kasese is, “You are welcome,” and it and the science curriculum asks students to draw, label, or identify is meant literally. In Kamuli it’s, “Well done.” And we did feel truly
26 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 to their backs. Students, we found out our first week in Kasese, keep hours that would make many American students blanch. Many students opt to live on campus so as to have more time for their studies. The teachers, obviously, must follow the same schedule, and some do so while continuing their own education. Because of all the hard work, there is a level of respect between Ugandan teachers and students that I have seldom seen elsewhere. Students can often be heard thanking teachers for their lessons, and teachers feel comfortable leaving classes alone for at least two periods a day, knowing that the students will lead each other in review sessions from their notes. Our female colleagues demonstrated what it means to remain upbeat in the face of all odds. They make the most of limited career Michelle (second from left), Ben (center), options and are never cowed by gender dynamics that affect their lives and Conor (far right) explore Kasese with daily. Dowries are still the norm in Uganda, and women are expected Deputy Head Teacher Gideon (far left) and to repay their husbands for the “bride price” through their obeisant Director Robert (second from right). welcomed and appreciated, even by total strangers. For example, the Director of Kasese Humanist Primary School traveled eight hours by bus to pick us up from the airport and then accompanied us on the eight hour bus ride back to the school, where the teaching staff welcomed us not as volunteers, but as peers. The local families made us comfortable in their homes and their children continue to email us their questions about the subjects we taught. At an exhibition netball match between the female Members of Parliament and a Kasese club team, the politicians pulled us into the action. On our very first night in Kamuli, the Mustard Seed Secondary School staff welcomed us with a faculty dinner. The proprietor of our guest house in Kamuli was Uganda’s former ambassador to France, and The Pathfinders with KHPS staff at the Equator he took time out of his busy schedule to show us around and give us the history of the region.
behavior for the duration of the marriage. The results are predictable: because of the perceived debt, Ugandan women remain in abusive relationships. Domestic abuse statistics are daunting. Even outside the confines of any relationship, Ugandan women are expected to be deferential to men. They serve food to them, pour water for them to wash their hands, and kneel when greeting them. These are simply the ways that women show them the respect they are due because they are men—and for no other reason. For their part, men are not expected to show respect for women, and yet these women deserve incredible respect. As we encounter obstacles in our travels and in our own lives, I hope we are able to keep them in perspective and learn from the intelligence, determination, optimism, and humor demonstrated by our female colleagues in these hostile conditions. The Pathfinders with their students in Kasese I have no doubt that we will continue to discover even more lessons from our experiences here. The beautiful and recursive paradox of The secondary-school students asked excellent questions about Pathfinders Project in Uganda was that by teaching, we put ourselves in American culture and politics, and the faces of random people on the the best position to be taught. Because we wholeheartedly committed street lit up when they discovered we were teachers. Time and time ourselves to learning from others, we were able to teach, by example, the again, the residents of Uganda showed us how to be gracious hosts. most important thing any student could ever learn. Knowing how it feels to be welcomed in such a way, I don’t see how we could fail to incorporate more warmth and generosity into our own The next issue of American Atheist will feature highlights from the interactions with others from around the world. Pathfinders’ journey in Ghana. In the meantime, follow each of them on The Ugandans also taught us about diligence and hard work. their blogs at PathfindersProject.com and visit their Facebook page at Women work the fields and the markets with newborn babies swaddled Facebook.com/PathfindersProject.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 27 Gideon Bibles Make Room for Atheist Books Why state parks in Georgia are giving drawer space to both
by Ed Buckner, Ph.D.
Left: The Skeptic's Annotated Bible now keeps company with Gideon Bibles in Georgia's state park cabins. Opposite page, top to bottom: New roommates; Steve Wells, co-publisher of The Skeptic's Annotated Bible; the original nine Bibles in the three-bedroom cabin; Jeff Dore of Atlanta's WSB- TV reporting on the arrival of the Atheist books
his is the story of an impromptu vacation that Psalms and Proverbs. (That two were softcover may prove to be legally evolved into an international news event and, quite significant, as we shall soon see.) possibly, a rest-of-my-life campaign—and, for When we checked out at the end of our stay, I brought all nine books once, I was not even trying to attract publicity. My to the front desk. I stacked them—one on top of the other for effect— wife, Diane, our son, Michael, and I (all Life Members of American and advised the desk clerk that I objected to the books’ presence in a Atheists) have long been big fans of state and national parks and have state park cabin. I also asked that management respond to my objection. visited most of Georgia’s 62 state parks. Long ago, when I was an I exchanged e-mails with the manager but alerted no media, hired employee of the State of Georgia (and Michael was a toddler—he’s no lawyers, notified no Atheist groups. A few weeks later, I received now in his forties), we often stayed in state park cabins when I traveled a call from Colonel Homer Bryson, Deputy Commissioner of the Ton business. These days, we visit parks mostly on day trips and only Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which oversees all rarely stay overnight. the state parks. He told me that DNR had directed all parks with lodging When Michael mentioned last spring that he had a three-day to remove the Bibles from the bedrooms, pending review from Georgia weekend around the time of his birthday, Diane and I jumped at the Attorney General Sam Olens. chance to celebrate by taking him to Amicalola Falls State Park, north of I was well pleased and slightly surprised—I foolishly thought I’d Atlanta. It was fairly short notice, and they had no two-bedroom cabins quietly won. I guess it does pay to complain, I remember thinking. left, so we took a three-bedroom, though it was more than we needed. Sic transit gloria. The next day, Nathan Deal, the Governor of During our stay, we discovered first one, then another Gideon Bible Georgia himself, announced at a televised news conference that all in our cabin. In their article about me, The Economist magazine said Bibles would be restored to all lodging in all parks. He added that it best: “Then he found another. And another, and another. The final materials from other religions and perspectives could also be donated tally was nine, enough for all but the largest families.” Seven of these to the park properties, but that he couldn’t guarantee their safety. were the whole package—Old and New Testaments. Two, one of these I want to re-emphasize that I was not seeking out church/state in Spanish, were softcover editions of just the New Testament plus violations on my vacation. If there had been only one Bible in our cabin,
28 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 Of course there are government-operated places where it is appropriate to have and display Bibles. They are called libraries. we might not have even noticed it. But we ran across more and more Bibles in every room of the cabin as we put a few items in drawers for our brief stay. The number of Bibles is not really important to the constitutional problem—but it certainly did improve the chance we’d notice. Of course, I’m always interested in Bibles, whether it’s an older King James Version that, for example, includes a reference to drinking one’s own “piss” in Isaiah 36:12, or the newer version with the language cleaned up slightly. (The ones we found were all of the older variety.) All nine also included the infamous—at least to Atheists—Psalm 14:1: “The Fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” I have often been told by fundamentalists that Psalm 14:1 “proves” I’m a fool (and it is repeated almost verbatim in Psalm 53:1, so Jehovah is apparently really serious about this). I’m asked all the time, even by fellow Atheists, why I care about a Bible in a dresser drawer that I could, after all, just ignore. I remind them that some Christians use this book—especially Psalm 14:1—to try to bludgeon me (only metaphorically—so far) with their claimed “truth” that I’m an immoral fool whom they can therefore rightly oppose and control. When that book, which includes that outrageous verse, is placed in a way that appears to be endorsed by my state’s government, I’m especially concerned. After the Governor’s proclamation of biblical harmlessness, the floodgates opened and my “ordeal” began. Woodall’s Campground Management was one of many magazines to interview me, and it was in their article that all this was described as an “ordeal” for the Buckners. I never used that term. (Of course, I’m enjoying all this immensely—even as I am disappointed in my own state government.) It was especially delightful to see the fantastic support from Atheist organizations and publishers. American Atheists seized the opportunity to accept the Governor’s gracious invitation to use Georgia’s state parks to promote Atheist education and provided copies of John Henderson’s Fear Faith Fact Fantasy and Ibn Warraq’s Why I Am Not a Muslim. Steve and Phil Wells, the father-son writers and publishers of The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, provided over 100 free copies of their beautiful, leather-bound book. Months later, the pair made a follow-up visit to Georgia to help verify that the Atheist books, including theirs, were still in the two parks where we had donated them earlier. Others paid attention, too. A Christian in a nearby suburb mailed me a Bible and the address of his church, declaring that he wanted me to know of biblical wisdom and Christian love. (I wondered if maybe he also wanted me to know he knew my not-readily-available home address, but I didn’t ask.) It took a while, but eventually the state got around to sharing with us the rules for donating material to the parks. At first, they pretended that they had previously had no official policy regarding Gideon Bibles. But an open records request revealed that, for years, park management had had an operations manual known as the Red Book, a kind of “bible” for managing the parks, which lists the normal inventory of things to be placed in park bedrooms. And, yes, you guessed right. Bibles are on the list, but no other allegedly sacred text or Atheist book or reference work. The new policy specifies that donated books must be hardback, no thicker than two inches, and no bigger than eight by ten inches. And park staff will take no responsibility for protecting or replacing materials. Recall that two of the Bibles in our cabin were softcover. No word on whether management has complied with its own new rules and removed them yet. The policy also requires donors to deliver exactly the same number of books as there are bedrooms in any given park. Whether intentional or not, the hardcover requirement is a real problem for many Atheist donations. It’s hard to come by large quantities of hardcover books by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others. The Atlanta Freethought Society wanted
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 29 The number of Bibles is not really important to the constitutional problem—but it certainly did improve the chance we’d notice.
our books would be placed within 24 hours. That trip was in August. In October, Steve and Phil Wells visited both parks and were able to confirm that the books are still there. I have since sent the attorney at Georgia DNR a letter formally requesting that the state change its apparently arbitrary policy and allow softcover donations. Next park? Probably Indian Springs State Park, the oldest in Georgia and one of the oldest in the U.S. My complaint and the governor’s subsequent actions have put me on local TV, national radio, and in news stories all over the nation and in Britain. I know I never saw all the blog entries and comments thereon, but I saw hundreds of them, mostly from the U.S. but also elsewhere. Thanks to those, and some incredibly naïve media inquiries, I got to write and be quoted about things we Atheists know but others seem not to. Here is a small sample of what I got to say. Individual American citizens are completely free to hold with outrageous opinions such as that Atheists are fools, or not, of course. But state-owned parks must not favor Protestants or Catholics, Atheists, Mormons, or Muslims, thus protecting to donate some of its titles, such as Keith Parsons’ Why I Am Not a everyone’s religious liberty. The Georgia Constitution is actually Christian and Carol Faulkenberry’s An Uppity Old Atheist Woman’s clearer even than the U.S. Constitution: “Separation of church Dictionary, but they’re softcover only. and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, After collecting the books from American Atheists and SAB, Inc., directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious we pasted appropriate labels in each copy. (We wanted to be sure that denomination or of any sectarian institution” (Paragraph VII, Governor Deal and Attorney General Olens get the credit they deserve Section II, Article I). for promoting Atheism). Then Diane and I took a road trip. Our first and stop was Red Top Mountain State Park, near Cartersville, in northwest My personal goals in life include promoting Atheism, but I Georgia, where we were met by a state-level public relations spinmeister emphatically don’t want state government to do so. Reading, from the Department of Natural Resources. Also attending was Jeff talking, observing, taking courses, etc., led me, long ago, to the Dore of Atlanta’s ABC affiliate WSB-TV to report the event. firm (though still slightly tentative) conclusion that humanity Then we drove another 100-plus miles to A. H. Stephens Historic and our physical universe make much more sense if seen as Park in east Georgia. One reason for choosing this park was that it has strictly natural. Gods appear to be inventions of man and only eight bedrooms, making a small number of books sufficient to meet culture, not real. I’d be happy to provide a reading list for anyone the requirements. But another reason was that its main attraction is the who wants to know more about Atheism. restored home of the park’s namesake, Alexander Hamilton Stephens, and the Vice President of the Confederacy—a Christian nation—who, in Administrations come and go, in Washington and in Atlanta, his Cornerstone Address of 1861, declared that the guarantees of the but secularism has been one of the key American ideas since our U.S. Constitution founding in the 1780s. Violations of church/state are common rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an but dangerous. error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government and built upon it-when the storm came and the wind blew, it fell. Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; The U.S. is not a Christian nation, except in terms of a label a its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great majority of its citizens use in various ways. It has not ever been truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, a Christian nation, but is instead a free country, for Christians subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral and everyone else. (A majority of us are females, but we don’t condition. This, our new Government, is the first, in the history refer to the U.S. as a female nation.) Anyone really interested in of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and secularism and the false idea that we are or should be a Christian moral truth. nation is invited to read [the book I wrote with my son, Michael,] In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty. The irony—apparently not lost on current park manager Andre McLendon—is that the site is now overseen, and the history preserved, and by a manager who is black. He was most cordial to us, assuring us that It is quite silly to say that I am “afraid of a Bible in dresser
30 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 drawer.” I have dozens of Bibles in my house and would wager played for and thought of as a fool—by conservative, Bible-believing I know more about the Bible than most clergy, much less most literalist Christians and by Georgia’s governor. lay Christians. What I am afraid of—and every Christian should Lawsuit(s) to come? Stay tuned. One way or another, this is a story also be afraid of—is giving any government the power to endorse to be continued… religious viewpoints or to make religious decisions for citizens. and Ed Buckner is the past President of American Atheists and a current Of course there are government-operated places where it member of the Board of Directors. He and his son, Michael, are the co- is appropriate to have and display Bibles. They are called authors of In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist’s Guide to Religious Liberty libraries—places where all manner of Atheist and religious (Prometheus Books). books are and should be available for individual readers to check out as they see fit. and Our state parks don’t provide dictionaries or even guides to the flora and fauna of Georgia in state park bedrooms. Any Protestant Christians who want to consult a King James Version of the Bible can certainly bring one—or even nine—with them when they visit our state parks. So, if it is not to provide the appearance of endorsing Protestant Christianity, what is the real reason for Bibles in state park bedrooms? I don’t know how this will all finally play out; I may be delivering books for the rest of my life. If it all draws attention to Georgia’s wonderful state parks, I’ll be delighted. But the Bibles? The right answer—the one I quietly suggested at the beginning—is to keep state government and our state parks out of the religion business. The cultural and natural preservation and recreation mission of the parks is an important one, and I don’t think turning state park cabins into battlegrounds over religion is wise or constitutional. I don’t plan to give Another title that’s joined Gideon up on reaching the right outcome if a way can be found to do that. I Bibles in Georgia’s state parks. hope not to tire of this fight till I win it, but I’m tired already of being
THE SCIENCE OF FAITH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 particularly if it’s a human predator. So we over-read agency and human Will it eventually be possible to map out the basic components agency because it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s easy for us to imagine of our innate moral inferential systems? an agent who is responsible for things, so a deity can become not just I think we’re well on our way to mapping out our basic moral another agent, but a supernormal human agent. psychological mechanisms. Not only that, we’ll be able to trace their One of the chief arguments for the necessity of religion is that if it development arcs and map out their manifestations in infancy—when didn’t exist, we would be unable to behave morally. There are different they come online, so to speak. Another book on this topic is The Righteous arguments against that view. One of the best is that our moral inferential Mind by Jonathan Haidt. In the chapter on moral psychology, he lists systems are part of our biology. Moral inferential systems are adaptations five domains where we have these automatic mechanisms. We make to help us negotiate group living. They’re hardwired in us. They operate judgments automatically about harm and care, fairness and reciprocity, automatically and, much of the time, unconsciously. in-groups and loyalty, authority and respect, and purity and sanctity. Language is an analogy often used. We have innate grammar, and then Is there a module in the brain, a set of connected neurons that we learn our group’s language. We have innate moral systems, and then comprise the moral inferential system? we learn the cultural variation that is the morality of our tribe. Religions Yes. There’re called moral inferential modules. What is utterly claim that if weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have morality, and that’s really fascinating is the research that some child development psychologists not the situation. Religions, in a sense, profit from or exploit the fact that are mapping in infants as young as three to six months of age. To me, our moral systems are largely unconscious and automatic. All of us will these are some of the most beautiful child development experiments have moral judgment, and we have a hard time saying why we make the that have been done. Look at Paul Bloom’s article in the [May 5, 2010] decisions we do. We have to come up with the reasons afterwards. New York Times Magazine, “The Moral Life of Babies,” or his new book, Just Babies, The Origins of Good and Evil. His wife, Carol In Part Two, Thomson will explain the neurobiology of ritual (the brain Wynn, is one of the chief researchers. The research shows infants being on religion), the original religion, how he talks to people who believe, able to discern between good and bad behavior, between helpful and and more. not helpful behavior. These are pre-verbal infants making sophisticated social judgments about agents that they do not interact with directly, Ce Atkins is the creator and editor of PostGenetic.com. He proposes but that they observe. The research was so stunning that the first report new cultural coding mechanisms for interfacing with exponentially of it was in Nature [March 25, 2010]. accelerating complexity at the societal level.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 31 How I Stood Up for My“ Right to Sit Down by Grover Helton, age 10, as told to American Atheist
My dad said it was okay if I stood and said the pledge, and it was okay to not say the pledge. But avoiding my problems was unacceptable.
Young American Atheists Grover and Kelly Helton
have never said the Pledge of Allegiance at my school standing during the pledge, but then she was allowed to sit. because it says “one nation under god” and I don’t believe in When I went to the principal, I said I was uncomfortable about god. But I always stood up with the rest of the class. Then I saying the pledge and I spoke to my teacher, and he said I had to say the didn’t want to do that anymore. pledge. I said to the principal that I did some research on the law. Then “My dad has the original Pledge of Allegiance hanging on a wall at the principal said I did not have to say the pledge, and it was his job to Ihome, and I wanted to show it to my teacher. So I brought it downstairs find the laws of school. one morning to take to school and my mom said, “Are you sure you are Then he said to tell him about the research I did. I told him there allowed to take it?” I told her that Dad said it was okay (he didn’t). was a girl in school and the girl was being punished for not standing When I got to school, I showed it to my teacher and I tried to sit during the pledge. So she sued the school and she won and that was how down during the pledge, but he made me stand up. The next day, I tried the law was made. The principal said, “I’ll speak with the teacher and let again. I told my teacher that I didn’t want to say the pledge because it him know you are allowed to sit during the pledge.” makes me feel uncomfortable and I sat down again. He told me to stand At recess, the teacher asked me what I was going to do when the up and said to me I had to say the pledge because I’m an American pledge started, and I said to him I was going to sit down. Most people citizen. Then I tried going out in the hall during the pledge so that I didn’t care. Only one classmate got mad at me for doing it, but I told didn’t have to say it. At that point, I was trying to figure out what to do. him it was the law. He eventually got over it. When I told my dad, he said to me that it was okay if I stood and In the middle of all this, we had a parent-teacher conference. The said the pledge, and it was okay to not say the pledge. But avoiding my teacher kept asking my dad if there was anything else he would like to problems was unacceptable. So I decided to talk to the principal. discuss. He kept telling him no and only talked about my schoolwork. Before I did that, I went online and researched the court cases of kids My dad always said if something didn’t bother me enough to do sitting during the pledge. I put “student pledge lawsuit” into Google. something about it, then he wasn’t going to do anything about it for me. There were a lot of links that came up. There was one from Brownsville, He wanted to see if I could take care of it myself. Pennsylvania, where a middle-school student was first punished for not I’m glad I did it. I was nervous, but I was confident I was right and Only one classmate got mad at me for doing it, but I told him it was the law.
32 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 I went online and researched the court cases of kids sitting during the pledge. had the support of my dad. When my sister, Kelly, found out, she said if I didn’t have to stand, then why did she? I told her she didn’t have to. But I didn’t know what would happen because she sits in the very front of class, right by the teacher. I sit in the back of class so when I first tried it, not many kids noticed. But she didn’t have any problems on her first try. My dad asked her if she is the only one in her class who sits during the pledge. She said not anymore. Now there are three other kids who sit, too.
Editor’s note: Grover Helton is a fifth-grader in Louisville, Kentucky. His sister, Kelly, is in fourth grade. His dad is Jim Helton, American Atheists’ Regional Director for Kentucky. He’s still waiting to get his poster back from Grover.
To read the article Grover showed his principal, go to TinyURL.com/ GroversResearch.
The lawsuit referenced in the article is West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943). In it, the Supreme Court ruled that no official “can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word Dad’s poster of the pre-god Pledge of or act their faith therein.” Read the entire ruling at OpenJurist.org/319/ Allegiance, which was made religious US/624. in 1954. He got it at EvolveFish.com.
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 33 Religion has had an enormous impact on the world. In this series, Michael B. DOGMA WATCH Paulkovich examines dogmas, myths, and religious notions, past and present.
by Michael B. Paulkovich
n the Bible, Hebrew law asserts its kosher food notions in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy—an early attempt at a healthy diet it seems, a sort of ancient Atkins. However, Mr. God administers convoluted instructions on how to separate the lawful foods from the prohibited. For instance, in Leviticus 11:3, he ordains that his subjects may ingest hooved animals—but only when the hoof is cloven and only if they also chew their cud. I am not joking: cud. It thus implies that pigs are poison (no cud, no good). Leviticus 11:7 explicitly proscribes pork. This repeats in 11:26 and, again, in Deuteronomy 14:8. Yahweh would have been a total drag at a pig roast or football tailgate. Seems god could have taken pork off the menu just as effectively by stating, Eat not beasts that wallow in filth. Even better: Do not eat animals that might carry trichinosis. But then, omniscient god surely did not know what trichinosis was—yet—or high blood pressure for that matter. The omniscient deity also thinks rabbits chew their cud (Deuteronomy 14:7).
Fins and Scales and Flying Squirrels’ Tails in his description of forbidden foodstuff? Why didn’t god, in all his Leviticus 11:9 permits consumption only of those piscine varieties omniscience and douchenozzlery, simply say, “Do not eat flying “that hath fins, and scales.” So god is dolphin-friendly! The tasty squirrels or pygmy gliders”? Moreover, why are we not allowed to eat Imeat of the shark is nutritious, but god damn it, forbidden by the four-footed flyers? totalitarian dictator the Hebrews dreamed up. Both Leviticus 11:12 and Of course, those gliding mammals were unknown to the Near East Deuteronomy 14:9 repeat this fins/scales edict—more redundancy in writers of the Pentateuch. Perhaps the various authors were referring this mottled manuscript of fabled perfection. to mythical airborne animals of other ancient writings? Such winged Leviticus 11:20 forbids eating beasts with four feet that fly. Take a quadrupeds include the gryphon, the Zu, and Bellerophon’s horse, moment to ponder all flying four-footed animals. I came up with three: Pegasus. The Bible, it seems to me, is pure baloney (another among god’s pygmy gliders, flying squirrels, and flying lemurs, none of which actually porcine verboten, unless it’s all-beef). fly but simply float unflappingly. A quick trip to Google revealed a few The engineer in me has compelled that I draw up a flow chart as a more: flying phalangers, pseudocheiridae, and feather-tailed possums, for visual aid to the weary and righteous believer who wishes to, as it were, example. Eat At Yahweh’s (See Figure 1). If that is what god means, then why the hell did the old bastard not Even today, one can discover men and women of faith who believe mention them specifically? Why was god so cryptic and backwards such hooey to be the word of their wacky and fictional overlord, and
The author writes that under a microscope, the molecules of “holy water” are actually cross-shaped.
34 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 What about kangaroos, penguins, koala bears, marine iguanas, and the flightless cormorant? Are we allowed to eat those or not? therefore to be historical and valid. In my doctor’s waiting room recently, consumed them after improper preparation, thus becoming sick. I thumbed through Alkalize or Die by Theodore Baroody. It is largely a Or some hungry fisherman caught a jellyfish, also lacking “fins and valid, scientific treatise on nutrition. scales” and got stung. My suspicions about the author’s credulity first arose when I came It is curious that those dietary precautions were placed in a book across a passage declaring that, for health reasons, one should eat seafood of Hebrew theocratic law rather than some tribal text of secular stature. only with “fins and scales.” I immediately recognized that preposterous I suppose the Tanakh is an all-in-one compendium of history, law, piffle. Thus, a skeptical eyebrow twitched. Later, the author writes that and science. Or at least one of the first attempts—although feeble and under a microscope, the molecules of “holy water” are actually cross- childish—at such a grandiose undertaking. Chimps at the typewriter, I shaped—and so squirmed another annoyed eyebrow. Recent, legitimate suppose. Long before typewriters.1 studies have shown that most holy water vessels are infested with microbes What does Yahweh McPartypooper say about kangaroos, such as e. coli. Perhaps that is what Baroody is seeing through his Mattel penguins, koala bears, marine iguanas, and the flightless cormorant? microscope. Are we allowed to eat those or not? Of course those ancient and I am always suspicious of anyone claiming the nebulous and ignorant Hebrew writers knew nothing of animals indigenous to the occult concept of “holiness.” Following the Baroody theme, let’s wrong and godless corners of the globe, chimps included. Corners of consider The Creation Diet, God’s Pattern for Health, Happiness, the globe included, for that matter. and Holiness by Joy Brown. We read therein that “modern lifestyles “Corporations are people, my friends,” presidential hopeful Romney wreak devastation on the spiritual, mental/emotional, and physical famously exclaimed. Yeah, Mitt, and your god thinks bats are birds. This well being” (11). She leaves out the part about pre-modern lifestyles we discover in Leviticus 11:13-19: embracing the wise teachings of Jesus, who said, in John 5:11-14, that And these are they which ye shall have in abomination the cause of illness is sin. among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an Lots of other times, he said that devils are to blame. See: Matthew abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey, 4:24, 7:22, 8:16, 8:28, 8:31, 8:33-34, 10:8, 12:24, 12:27-28; Mark 1:32- And the vulture, and the kite after his kind; 33, 1:39, 3:15, 3:22, 5:12, 6:13, 9:38; and Luke 4:41, 8:33, 8:35-36, 8:38, Every raven after his kind; 9:1, 9:49, 10:17, 11:15, 11:18-19, 11:20, 13:32). We thus have the savior And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and to thank for stalling medical advances for some 1,800 years. Exorcism just the hawk after his kind, doesn’t cut it. And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, The author buzzes and beeps and prattles on for 350 pages, explaining And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, how to follow the obtuse food edicts of the Hebrew Tanakh, right down to And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, the “fins and scales” decree (243). and the bat (italics mine). Any heathen of heterodoxy who has enjoyed crab cakes, grilled mako, lobster, or shrimp is likely to ignore that such fruits de mer are forbidden “Translation errors,” the court apologist or jester will claim, “the by the hoary Hebrew cuisinier. And bacon? I loves me some B.L.T., but it original Hebrew word was…” Okay, whatever. Let us suppose god indeed ain’t even legal according to Yahweh of the sky-way. knew bats are mammalian and not avian. Why then in this “inspired word Yet one discovers anti-pork dictates long before Jewish superstition. of god” did he not reach his heavenly hand down to earthly translators to The Tanakh mandates have obviously been pilfered from the Egyptian stay their errant quills and keep sacrosanct scriptures scientifically sound Book of the Dead, Spell 112: “And Ra said to the gods, The swine is in all translations? an abomination to Horus; may he get well. And the swine became an Note that when god was dictating his kosher food menu to Moses and abomination to Horus“ (Renouf, 184). So the Egyptians proscribed pork Aaron, he failed to mention that humans are not to be eaten.2 Seems like before 1600 B.C.E., a millennia before the Hebrew Bible. the entirety of Leviticus 11 could have been summed up quite well if god Note that these strict culinary charters contradict Genesis 9:3, had anticipated Orwell to proclaim, “Two legs bad, four legs good.” Flying which alloweth consumption of “every thing that moveth.” I don’t squirrels and the like notwithstanding. know if they alloweth thingth that only moveth when windth bloweth, like planth. What Would Jesus Stew? I can entertain a possible reason for some of this: an ancient Let us peek into the New Testament in hopes of discovering what Hebrew got hold of European lobster (Homarus gammarus) or the haloed and hallowed prophet of Judea hath proclaimed regarding round crab (Atelecyclus rotundatus), indigenous to the region, and Heaven’s Kitchen. Consider the sage counsel from the Sermon on the
These strict culinary charters contradict Genesis 9:3, which alloweth consumption of “every thing that moveth.”
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 35 Mount: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body... Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them” (Matthew 6:25-26). He advises us against seeking or growing food. Jesus thinks that birds put no effort into hunting for berries, seeds, or fish. He says god feeds birds, so why should humans bother seeking food? God takes care of birds, and that’s all you need to know, or so declares Jesus. And a little prayer and worship and tithing wouldn’t kill you either, would it? I studied the New Testament until I puked, and my considered opinion is that Jesus was a couple of Denny’s pancakes short of a Grand Slam. Starting in Matthew 5:28, he goes on for dozens of verses accusing us of thought crimes and proclaims we should “take no thought for the morrow” because all we have to do is pray, and all your wishes will be granted by god: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). And don’t forget love thine enemies (Matthew 5:44). Let’s invite Al-Shabaab over for a weenie- roast. Hebrew National, of course. Either Jesus or Matthew, or both, were complete numbskulls: don’t bother farming or fishing— or studying, or working, or thinking. Go ahead and guzzle Jolt cola, finish off another box o’ wine, and cram more pork rinds into your gullet. (Except they wouldn’t References have been pork rinds. Not kosher. Maybe they snacked on rockfish rinds.) Baroody, Theodore, Alkalize or Die. Holographic Health Inc, 1991. The halo-boy from heaven declared it is all of no consequence, as his dad Brown, Joy, The Creation Diet, God’s Pattern for Health, will take care of you. Just pray, pray, pray like Jesus always did. Happiness, and Holiness. Maitland: Xulon Press, 2006. But then in the perfectly circular logic of Christianity, Jesus was Encyclopedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, praying to himself. Eat (kosher), Pray (to yourself), Love (your enemies). Political and Religion History, the Archeology, Geography and However, dear reader, take good care in the manner of your prayer. Natural History of the Bible. Edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and J. Jesus said, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen Sutherland Black, 1899. 3 do” (Matthew 6:7). Surely you are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, Renouf, Peter Le Page, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: repeated weekly by rote from the mouths of pious and unwavering Translation and Commentary, Volume 1. London: The Society of Christians: Our father, who bla bla in heaven, bla bla be thy bla. One Biblical Archaeology, 1904. wonders why contemporary Christians do not heed the commands of their savior. Endnotes Perhaps a better question: Why don’t Christians actually read their 1. Chimps at the Typewriter would be a good name for a band. Bibles? If they would do so, I guarantee most of them would renounce 2. I know a rugby team from Uruguay that is more than simply glad Christianity. As the heathen do. of that. 3. The Encyclopedia Biblica (vol. 3, 2901) attributes this statement Michael B. Paulkovich is a Contributing Editor at The American Rationalist. by Jesus to his belief in magic and superstitions. He also writes for Free Inquiry and other journals. His book, No Meek Messiah: Christianity’s Lies, Laws and Legacy, was published in 2013.
36 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 American Atheists is Now Accepting Applications for the 2014 Student Activist Scholarships
High school students graduating in 2013-2014, full-time undergraduate students, and full-time graduate students are eligible to apply. Applicants must complete the application located at Atheists.org/Scholarship.
Submit a 500- to 1,000-word essay describing your specific Atheist activism. Winners will be announced by February 28, 2014. All applicants will be awarded a free one-year membership to American Atheists. The scholarship winners will receive free admission to the American Atheists National Convention, April 17-20, 2014, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The following will be awarded:
$2,000 O’Hair Scholarship for Atheist Activism $1,000 President’s Scholarship for Atheist Activism $1,000 Chinn Scholarship for LGBT Atheist Activism
For an application, please visit Atheists.org/Scholarship.
All submissions must be made electronically to [email protected].
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 37 REGIONAL DIRECTORS For detailed information visit Atheists.org/State-Directors or contact Ken Loukinen at [email protected]
DIR. REGIONAL OPERATIONS FLORIDA (NORTH) MINNESOTA RHODE ISLAND Ken Loukinen (S. Florida Reg. Dir.) John Porgal Randall Tigue Brian Stack 954-907-7893 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] FLORIDA (SOUTH) MISSOURI TEXAS MILITARY DIRECTOR Ken Loukinen Carla Burris AronRa Nelson Paul Loebe (954) 907-7893 P.O. Box 722 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Columbia, MO 65205 VIRGINIA/DC ALABAMA GEORGIA [email protected] Rick Wingrove Chuck Miller Scott Savage NEBRASKA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] William Newman WASHINGTON ARIZONA IOWA [email protected] Wendy Britton Don Lacey Randy Henderson NEW YORK [email protected] P.O. Box 1161 P.O. Box 375 Michael Dorian WEST VIRGINIA Tucson, AZ 85641 Ankeny, IA 50023 [email protected] Charles Pique [email protected] [email protected] OHIO P.O. Box 7444 CALIFORNIA (NORTH) KENTUCKY John Welte Charleston, WV 25356 Larry Hicok Jim Helton [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] OKLAHOMA CONNECTICUT MASSACHUSETTS Ron Pittser Dennis Paul Himes Zach Bos P.O. Box 2174 P.O. Box 9203 P.O. Box 354 Oklahoma City, OK 73101 Bolton, CT 06043 Boston, MA 02125 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
38 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 American Atheists’ TV Show is All New New Format - New Set - New Episodes Always playing on Atheists.org.
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1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 39 AFFILIATES AND LOCAL PARTNERS For the most up-to-date list, visit Atheists.org/Affiliates or contact Greg Lammers at [email protected].
State Group Name City Site LOCAL PARTNERS FL FLASH - Florida Atheists and Secular Humanists Orlando http://www.meetup.com/Critical IA Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers Des Moines http://www.meetup.com/Iowa-Atheists-and-Freethinkers MN Minnesota Atheists Minneapolis http://mnatheists.org OK Atheist Community of Tulsa Tulsa http://www.ACTOK.org PA PA Non-Believers York http://www.panonbelievers.org TX Metroplex Atheists Arlington http://www.metroplexatheists.org AFFILIATES AK Alaskan Atheists Anchorage http://www.meetup.com/AlaskanAtheists/ AL Auburn Atheists & Agnostics Auburn http://www.facebook.com/groups/auburnatheistsandagnostics/ AL Birmingham Atheists Meetup Birmingham http://www.meetup.com/atheists-132 AL Marshall County Atheists & Agnostics Marshall http://www.themcaa.org AL Montgomery Area Freethought Association Montgomery http://www.montgomeryfreethought.org AL North Alabama Freethought Association Huntsville http://www.meetup.com/thenafa AL UA Alabama Atheists and Agnostics Tuscaloosa http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2234029305 AL UAH Non-Theists Huntsville http://www.facebook.com/uahnontheists AL West Alabama Freethought Association Tuscaloosa http://www.meetup.com/westalabamafreethought AR Arkansas Society of Freethinkers Little Rock http://www.ARFreethinkers.org AR ArkLaTex Freethinkers, Atheists, Agnostics & Humanists Texarkana http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128265161357 AZ Tucson Atheists Tucson http://www.meetup.com/Tucson-Atheists/ CA-N Atheist Advocates of San Francisco San Francisco http://atheistadvocatesofsanfrancisco.com/ CA-N Atheists and Other Freethinkers Sacramento http://aofonline.org CA-N Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics Fresno http://www.cvaas.org CA-N Contra Costa Atheists & Freethinkers Pleasant Hill http://www.meetup.com/Contra-Costa-Atheists-and-Freethinkers/ CA-N East Bay Atheists Oakland http://www.eastbayatheists.org CA-N San Francisco Atheists San Francisco http://www.sfatheists.com CA-N Santa Cruz Atheists Santa Cruz http://santacruzatheists.org CA-S Atheist Coalition of San Diego San Diego http://www.atheistcoalition.org CA-S Backyard Skeptics Villa Park http://www.backyardskeptics.com CA-S Humanist Society of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara http://www.santabarbarahumanists.org CA-S New Atheists of East County Jamul http://www.meetup.com/New-Atheists-of-East-County/ CA-S Orange County Atheists Orange http://www.ocatheists.com CO Atheists and Freethinkers of Denver Denver http://athofden.tripod.com CO Boulder Atheists Boulder http://www.boulderatheists.org CO Metro State Atheists Denver http://metrostateatheists.wordpress.com CO Western Colorado Atheists & Freethinkers Grand Junction http://westerncoloradoatheists.org CT Atheist Humanist Society of CT and RI Norwich http://atheisthumanist.org CT Connecticut Valley Atheists South Windsor http://www.cvatheists.org DC American University Rationalists and Atheists Washington http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34367344446
40 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 DC Washington Area Secular Humanists Washington http://www.wash.org FL Central Florida Secular Alliance Dunnellon http://cfsecularalliance.weebly.com FL Florida Atheists, Critical Thinkers & Skeptics Longwood/Orlando http://www.meetup.com/Critical FL Gator Freethought (UF) Gainesville http://www.gatorfreethought.com/ FL North Florida Atheists Starke http://www.meetup.com/north-Florida-atheists FL Ocala Atheists Ocala http://www.meetup.com/Ocala-Atheists/ FL Rebirth of Reason Orlando http://rebirthofreason.com/Florida FL Sarasota-Manatee Atheists & Secular Humanists (SMASH) Nokomis http://goo.gl/K2koj FL Secular Student Association at Univ. of Central FL Orlando http://ssaucf.com FL St. Petersburg Atheists Freethought Group St. Petersburg http://www.meetup.com/atheists-209 FL Tallahassee Atheists Tallahassee http://www.tallahasseeatheists.com/ FL Treasure Coast Atheists Stuart http://www.meetup.com/atheists-600 GA Albany Georgia Atheists Albany http://www.albanygeorgiaatheists.com/ GA Atlanta Freethought Society Atlanta http://www.atlantafreethought.org GA Black Nonbelievers of Atlanta Atlanta http://www.blacknonbelievers.org GA Fayette Freethought Society Peachtree City http://www.meetup.com/Fayette-Freethought-Society GA Kennesaw State U. Student Coalition for Inquiry Kennesaw http://www.facebook.com/ksusci GA Macon Atheists & Secular Humanists Macon http://www.meetup.com/georgiamash/ IA Atheists United for a Rational America Iowa City http://rationalamerica.com IA Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers Des Moines http://www.meetup.com/Iowa-Atheists-and-Freethinkers IL Chicagoland Freethinkers Chicago http://www.meetup.com/chicago-freethought/ IL The Chicago Freethought Project Chicago http://www.facebook.com/thechicagofreethoughtproject IL IL/WI Stateline Atheists Society Rockford http://www.meetup.com/statelineatheists IL IWU Atheist, Agnostics, and Non-Religious Bloomington http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5558627959 IL The Secular Segment Mt. Vernon http://www.secularsegment.com IN Atheists of Northern Indiana Mishawaka http://atheistsofnorthernindiana.webs.com KS U of K Society of Open-Minded Atheists & Agnostics Lawrence http://www.kusoma.org KY Humanist Forum of Central Kentucky Lexington http://www.facebook.com/groups/kyhumanists/ KY Lexington Atheists Lexington http://www.meetup.com/The-Lexington-Atheists-Meetup-Group KY Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers Louisville http://www.louisvilleatheists.com/ KY Tri-State Freethinkers (KY, IN, OH) Union http://www.meetup.com/Tri-State-Freethinkers/ LA New Orleans Secular Humanist Association New Orleans http://nosha.org MA Atheists of Greater Lowell Lowell http://www.meetup.com/lowellatheists MA Boston Atheists Boston http://bostonatheists.org MD Freethinkers Union at McDaniel College Westminster
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 41 MO Columbia Atheists Columbia http://www.meetup.com/The-Columbia-Atheists-Meetup-Group MO Joplin Freethinkers Joplin http://www.joplinfreethinkers.org MO Kansas City Atheist Coalition Kansas City http://www.kcatheists.org MO MU Skeptics, Atheists, Secular Humanists & Agnostics Columbia http://muSASHA.org MO O’Fallon Freethinkers O’Fallon http://www.meetup.com/OFallon-Freethinkers MO Rationalist Society of St. Louis St. Louis http://www.rssl.org MO Secular Student Alliance @ UCMO Warrensburg http://www.centralskeptics.org MO Springfield Freethinkers Springfield http://www.meetup.com/SpringfieldFreethinkers MO St. Joseph Skeptics St. Joseph http://stjosephskeptics.org MS Humanist Ethical Atheist Rational Thought Society Biloxi http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/HeartsOfTheSouth MS Great Southern Humanist Society Biloxi http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/southernatheist NC A-News Raleigh http://www.apartmentJ.com NC Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics Charlotte http://www.charlotteatheists.com NC Hickory Humanist Alliance Claremont http://goo.gl/K2koj NC MASH Ft. Bragg Fayetteville http://www.mashfortbragg.org NC MASH Ft. Bragg Fayetteville http://www.mashfortbragg.org NC MASH Ft. Bragg Fayetteville http://www.mashfortbragg.org NC WNC Humanists Fairview http://www.wnchumanists.org ND Red River Freethinkers Fargo http://redriverfreethinkers.org NE Lincoln Atheists Lincoln http://www.lincolnatheists.org NE Omaha Atheists Omaha http://omahaatheists.org/ NJ New Jersey Humanist Network Somerville http://njhn.org/ NJ Secular Student Alliance @ Montclair State Univ. Montclair http://secularstudents.org/montclair NJ William Paterson Univ. Secular Student Alliance Pompton Lakes https://www.facebook.com/SSA.WPUNJ NM Roswatheists Roswell http://www.meetup.com/Roswatheists NV Reno Freethinkers Reno http://www.RenoFreethinkers.org NY Freethinkers of Upstate New York Syracuse http://www.funygroup.org NY Hudson Valley Humanists Saugerties http://hudsonvalley.humanists.net NY New York City Atheists New York http://nyc-atheists.org NY Westchester Atheists Chappaqua http://www.meetup.com/atheists-504 OH Free Inquiry Group Cincinnati http://www.gofigger.org OH Freethought Dayton Dayton http://www.meetup.com/freethoughtdayton OH Humanist Community of Central Ohio Columbus http://www.hcco.org OH Mid-Ohio Atheists Mansfield http://midohioatheists.org OK Atheist Community of Tulsa Tulsa http://www.ACTOK.org OK Oklahoma Atheists Oklahoma City http://www.oklahomaatheists.com PA NEPA Freethought Society Wilkes-Barre http://www.nepafreethought.org SC Piedmont Humanists Greenville http://www.PiedmontHumanists.org SC Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry Charleston http://www.lowcountryhumanists.org SC Upstate Atheists Boiling Springs http://goo.gl/K2koj TN Memphis Freethought Alliance Memphis http://memphisfreethought.com TN Nashville Secular Life Nashville http://www.meetup.com/secularlife TN Rationalists of East Tennessee Knoxville http://www.rationalists.org TX Atheist Community of Austin Austin http://atheist-community.org
42 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 TX Corpus Christi Atheists Corpus Christi http://www.meetup.com/CCAtheists TX Denton Atheists Denton http://www.meetup.com/The-Denton-Atheists-Meetup-Group TX El Paso Atheists El Paso http://www.elpasoatheists.com TX Freethinkers Association of Central Texas San Antonio http://FreethinkersACT.org TX Freethought Oasis of Amarillo Amarillo http://freethoughtoasis.org TX Golden Triangle Freethinkers Beaumont http://goldentrianglefreethinkers.org TX Houston Atheists Houston http://HoustonAtheists.org TX Kingwood Humble Atascocita Atheists Atascocita http://www.kha-atheists.org/ TX Lubbock Atheists Lubbock http://www.meetup.com/atheists-496 TX UNT Freethought Alliance Denton http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7647566521 TX Wise Free Thinkers and Skeptics Wise http://www.meetup.com/Wise-Free-Thinkers-and-Skeptics UT Atheists of Utah Salt Lake City http://atheistsofutah.org UT Salt Lake Valley Atheists Salt Lake City http://nowscape.com/a VA Beltway Atheists Leesburg http://www.meetup.com/Beltway-Atheists-Inc VA NOVA Atheists Leesburg http://www.meetup.com/NOVA-Atheists WA Seattle Atheists Seattle http://www.seattleatheists.org WA Tri-City Freethinkers Pasco http://www.tricityfreethinkers.org WI Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers Milwaukee http://swiftnow.org WV Mountain State Freethinkers Martinsville http://www.meetup.com/Mountain-State-Freethinkers WV Morgantown Atheists Morgantown http://www.morgantownatheists.com US Atheist Nexus http://www.atheistnexus.org US Black Atheists of America http://www.blackatheistsofamerica.org US Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers http://www.militaryatheistsorg Intl Southeast Asia Freethought Association Intl Humanistas Seculares de Puerto Rico San Juan http://goo.gl/K2koj Intl Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society http://www.patas.co
NEW LIFE MEMBERS
ince the last issue of this magazine, 7 members of American Atheists increased their commitment by becoming Lifetime Supporters or by upgrading their Lifetime Supporter memberships. Thanks to the Sfollowing for their continued support to further promote our shared goals and values: LIFE SILVER PLATINUM Sheryl Lee Jordan Chris Allen Scott Mastro Eileen Mitchell Pam Woodley Peter Nothnagle EllenBeth Wachs
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 43 AIMS AND PURPOSES merican Atheists, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, educational organization dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of state and church, accepting the explanation of Thomas Jefferson that the First Amendment toA the Constitution of the United States was meant to create a ‘wall of separation’ between state and church. American Atheists is organized:
• To stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals, and practices; • To collect and disseminate information, data, and literature on all religions and promote a more thorough understanding of them, their origins, and their histories; • To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church; • To act as a ‘watchdog’ to challenge any attempted breach of the wall of separation between state and church;
• To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the establishment and maintenance of a thoroughly secular system of education available to all;
• To encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society;
• To develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity;
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• To engage in such social, educational, legal, and cultural activity as will be useful and beneficial to the members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.
Definitions theism is the comprehensive world view of persons who are free from theism and have freed themselves of supernatural Abeliefs altogether. It is predicated on ancient Greek Materialism. theism involves the mental attitude that unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a life- style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authorityA and creeds.
aterialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own inherent, immutable, and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life; that humankind, finding theM resources within themselves, can and must create their own destiny. It teaches that we must prize our life on earth and strive always to improve it. It holds that human beings are capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. Materialism’s ‘faith’ is in humankind and their ability to transform the world culture by their own efforts. This is a commitment that is, in its very essence, life-asserting. It considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation that is impossible without noble ideas that inspire us to bold, creative works.
Materialism holds that our potential for good and more fulfilling cultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.
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1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 45 Why I am an Atheist by Pinghui V. Liu, M.D.
If all of these gods really exist, then why don’t they fight among themselves for dominion over our world? became an Atheist because none of the world’s religions I had the chance to attend a meeting of her group, and it was there that ever made much sense to me. I was born in Taiwan and I learned that they worship a man by the name of Bahá’u’lláh, whom have been exposed to many different faiths and it’s my they believe to be the messianic figure whom God made manifest. impression that religion causes much hatred among Then I learned about the United Society of Believers in Christ’s people and has caused much destruction in the past. Second Appearing, which was brought to the U.S. in the 18th century In Asia, many people still associate Christianity with from England by Ann Lee. Her followers, who became known as the colonial empires and the racial prejudices of Westerners. Shakers, believed that she was made manifest by God as embodied in My grandfather was the first native minister of the Presbyterian the female form. Church in Taiwan, which was introduced to that country by the As a professor in the Department of Microbiology of the IChurch of Scotland in the early 20th century. Both of my parents University of Louisville School of Medicine, I had some exposure to were pious Christians, and I grew up in a very conservative, religious Islam through my students from countries like Iran and Turkey. Then environment. The Taiwanese are descendants of the Chinese, who I eventually found out about the Unitarian church, but I don’t feel that have three major religions. Taoism is essentially the worship of nature. this group is really a religion because they don’t have any particular Confucianism has as its god the great teacher Confucius. The third, creed to believe in. However, I started attending this church because I Buddhism, came from India. felt comfortable around the people. If there was no Garden of Eden, then there was no forbidden fruit. And if there was no forbidden fruit, there is no original sin.
When Taiwan was transferred to Japan’s rule in 1895 after the It was the study of anthropology that led me to reject Christianity first Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese religion of Shinto (which means in spite of my family background. I came to realize that there was no “God’s way”) came to Taiwan. My parents sent me to a Japanese grade such thing as the Garden of Eden or Adam and Eve. And if there was no school, where I became familiar at an early age with Shinto practices. I Garden of Eden, then there was no forbidden fruit. And if there was no observed Christianity at home, I saw the Shinto religion at school, and forbidden fruit, there is no original sin. And if there is no original sin, when I stepped out into the street, I saw the practices of the other three. then the basis of Christianity falls apart. It seems pretty stupid that god When I was 12, I was sent to a German-language high school in would create forbidden fruit with the only purpose of tempting Adam Tokyo because my father was planning to send me to medical school and Eve in order to create original sin. The story was created to explain in Germany in 1940. (But because of World War II, I never went.) why human beings are living in a world full of misery. The high school was founded by an association that promoted Japan’s All through my life, I kept wondering, if all of these gods really friendship with Germany, so I had some exposure to Germany under exist, then why don’t they fight among themselves for dominion over Nazi rule. We had visitors from Germany called Hitlerjungend (the our world? The answer is that they don’t fight because they don’t exist. Hitler Youth). Our teacher for German language class, Jacob Saar, was The statement in the Bible that god created man in his own image is a member of Nazi party. To greet his students in the classroom, he wrong. These gods were created by men in their own image. This is would raise his arm and say, “Heil Hitler!” That was the environment the reason that I don’t believe in any god. in which I grew up. After I came to America in 1954, I joined an international club at Pinghui V. Liu, M.D., is a professor emeritus of microbiology at the the YWCA, where I met a girl who was a missionary of the Baha’i faith. University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Why are you an Atheist? We are soliciting submissions that answer this question in 800 to 1,000 words. Send them to [email protected]. Essays may be subject to revision and publication is at the sole discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
46 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org 1ST QUARTER 2014 “I stand for equality under the law, for treating others how I want to be treated, for the fundamental human right to live a happy life free of tyranny.” – Chris Kluwe Professional Football Player & Keynote Speaker
PHOTO BY: JOE BIELAWA
Featuring keynote speaker CHRIS KLUWE, professional football player, as well as special guests DENISE STAPLEY, winner of Survivor: Philippines, and MARK WHITE, bassist for the Spin Doctors, the American Atheists National Convention celebrates the diversity of the atheist community. Come be a part of the largest annual gathering of atheists in the United States, April 17-20, 2014.
Learn more at www.atheists.org/convention2014 Activist Training Workshops | 50+ Speakers | VIP Dinner | Art Show | Vendors Comedy Show | Costume Party | Live Music | Karaoke | Book Signings
We hope that you will join us in Salt Lake City for our 2014 National Convention. Please register by filling out and returning this form along with payment for your registration. If you are a current member or Life Member of American Atheists and would like to take advantage of our special pricing options, or register with a credit card, please visit our website. If you require assistance, please contact us at (908) 276-7300.
CONVENTION TICKETS Name: ______General Admission: _____ x $329.00 (Admission to all sessions except special events.) Address: ______New Member Admission: _____ x $319.00 (Join or renew your membership and get the special member price plus a year’s membership.) Student Admission: _____ x $40.00 City: ______State: ______ZIP: ______(Includes a one-year membership. Requires student ID.) Email: ______SPECIAL EVENTS Activist Training Workshops: _____ x $99.00 Dinner with the Stars: _____ x $300.00 Phone: ______Friday Awards Dinner: _____ x $60.00 Friday Comedy Show: _____ x $25.00 Return to: American Atheists Saturday Costume Dinner: _____ x $60.00 Convention Registration PO Box 158 TOTAL: $______Cranford NJ 07016 Make checks payable to American Atheists
1ST QUARTER 2014 www.atheists.org | AMERICAN ATHEIST | 47 Chris Kluwe Denise Stapley Mark White Barbara Hillary Juan Mendez Maryam Namazie Professional Football Player Winner, Survivor: Philippines Bassist, The Spin Doctors Arctic & Antarctic Adventurer Arizona House of Representatives Iranian-born Ex-Muslim Activist Celebrate the diversity of our community at the largest annual gathering of atheists in America. Our 2014 National Convention will be the most fun you can have in Salt Lake City without breaking the law.
APRIL 17-20, 2014 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Learn more and register at: www.atheists.org/convention2014
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