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Transcript of American Atheist Magazine Dec 1985
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December, 1985 A Journal of Atheist News and Thought 2.95
Th e E d ito ria l:
S p e a k i n g O f T h e B o y S c o u t s
one hundred years of commentary -
J\theists On The Solstice
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AMERICAN ATHEISTS
is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization, dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of state
and church. We accept the explanation of Thomas Jefferson that the First Amendment to the Constitution ofthe
United States was meant to create a wall of separation between state and church.
American Atheists are organized to stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious
beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals and practices;
to collect and disseminate information, data and literature on all religions and promote a more thorough
understanding of them, their origins and histories;
to advocate, labor for, and promote in alllawfulways, the complete and absolute separation of 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 human ethical system, stressing the mutual sympathy,
understanding and interdependence of allpeople and the corresponding responsibility ofeach individual in relation
to society;
to develop and propagate a social philosophy in which man is the central figure who alone must be the source of
strength, progress and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity;
to promote the study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the maintenance, perpetuation and
enrichment of human (and other) life;
to engage in such social, educational, legal and cultural activity as willbe useful and beneficial to members of
American Atheists and to society as a whole.
Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at
establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all
arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.
Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own
inherent, immutable and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life; that man
-finding his resources within himself - can and must create his own destiny. Materialism restores to man his
dignity and his intellectual integrity. It teaches that we must prize our lifeon earth and strive always to improve it. It
holds that man is capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. Materialism's faith is inman and
man's ability to transform the world culture by his own efforts. This is a commitment which is in very essence life
asserting. It considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation and impossible without noble ideas that
inspire man to bold creative works. Materialism holds that humankind's potential for good and for an outreach to
more fulfillingcultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.
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, ' American Atheists - P.O. Box 2117 -Austin, TX 78768-2117
• •
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December, 1985
Vol. 27, No. 1
A m e r i c a n
A t h e i s t
Journal of Atheist News and Thought
Editorial: Speaking of The Boy Scouts - Jon Murray
2
News and Comments: Take That You Atheist
-
6
Atheists on The Solstice - One Hundred Years of Commentary: 7
Christmas - Jean Story; The Christ-Child - Annie Besant; Yuletide Greetings - B.M. Saner; Christmas - J.M.
Wheeler; Editorial- December, 1954,Liberal; It's Awfulto be a Heathen - January, 1913,M e lt in g P ot ; Jesus Christ
or Santa Claus - Joseph Lewis; The Origin of Christmas - Sherman Wakefield; Why is Christmas? - Lee L.
Dodds; Those Christmas Cards - November/December, 1965, Rationalist; Ding-Dong Merrily Below - Chris-
topher Morey; Philatelic Fun - George Rulf;The Dickensian Christmas - Peter Crommelin; Following Yonder Star
- R.J. Condon
Turtles AllThe Way Down - Frank R. Zindler 23
It's a Small World - Gerald Tholen
27
Dial-An-Atheist 29
Poetry 30
IfWishes Were Horses - Margaret Bhatty
31
Historical Notes 33
The Solstice Season - Madalyn O'Hair 34
Book Reviews
36
Me Too - Reggie Ball
37
Letters to The Editor 38
Crosswords 39
Classified Advertisement
40
Reader Service
40
OnThe Cover: As the world once more accelerates toward its annual year-end frenzy of virtuous religious rituals (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.), it
would seem appropriate to point out some other things one might celebrate. At the recent (non)summit (non)meeting of the rulers of our world, Reagan
and Gorbachev greeted each other in what one might describe as a social Alice in Wonderland tea-party. Even the mightiest of the media came away from
Geneva with wide-eyed speculation as to what had or had not happened. I suppose we will have to be satisfied, once again, with only loquacious
explanations by our hired governmental mouth-piece, Larry Speaks (appropriately named, I might add). No one seems to be offended by the
contemptuous insult to humanity thus generated by the closed-door secretiveness surrounding the meeting. So, ina continuing manner, the pawns of the
world must wait while the whims of royalty casually deliberate our respective destinies. Moving right along now in our celebrations - Egyptian
commandos have liberated more hijack hostages recently. Give those religious terrorists hell, fellas An ounce of six-gun justice is more effective than a
pound of preventative cure - as all holy men know. Next item worthy of festive mention: our fellow (white) countrymen in Philadelphia - City of
Brotherly Love - are succeeding in ousting a Black family from their neighborhood. Merry Christmas, Philadelphia Iw ish I h ad twenty more pages so I
could relate more ofthe joyous worldly activi ties resulting from religio-cultural bigotries. But, perhaps you will be able to better understand, through this
month's American Atheist articles, the futility of historical religious Christmast ime fantasies that occasion the end of each year. Joy
- G. Tholen
Editor/R Murray-O'Hair, Editor Emeritus/Madalyn O'Hair, Managing Edi-
The American Atheist magazine ispublished monthly by the American Atheist Press
tor/Jon G. Murray, Assistant Editor/Gerald Tholen, Copy Editor/Sandra M. P.
(an affiliate of American Atheists), 2210 Hancock Dr., Austin, TX 78756, and the
McGann, Poetry/Anqeline Bennet, Gerald Tholen, Production Staff/Christina
Society of Separationists, a non-profi t, non-political, educational organization dedi-
Ditter, Bill Kight, Claudia Kweder, Laura L. Morgenstern, Jes Simmons, Non-
cated to the complete and absolute separation of state and church. (All rights
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Frank R. Zindler.
Mailingaddress: P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX 78768·2117. Subscription isprovided as
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Austin, Texas
December, 1985
Page
1
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E D IT O RIA L /
Jon G.
M u r r a y
SPEAKING OF THE BOY SCOUTS
O
n the 5th ofJune, 1985,fifteen-year-old
Paul Trout of Shepherdstown, West
Virginia, received a letter from the national
office of the Boy Scouts of America inform-
ing his parents that he could no longer be a
Boy Scout because he had said that he did
not have any personal belief in God or
recognition ofany Supreme Being or force.
He stated also that he had complete belief
in self and self-reliance. The letter from
national Scout headquarters delivered the
soon-to-be-controversial line: If a person
does not have belief in a Supreme Being,
then they [sic] cannot be a member of the
Boy Scouts of America.
A
Pseudo-Controversy
That sentence touched off a veritable
storm of controversy when Paul's mother
went to the news media. Newspapers, mag-
azines, and editorial writers around the
country debated back and forth the ques-
tion of whether or not Paul Trout could
belong to the Boy Scouts and be at the very
same time that most dreaded of dreadful
things - an Atheist.
As soon as the news of Paul's expulsion
from the Scouts hit the wire services the
ever-vigilant public relations director of the
IllinoisChapter ofAmerican Atheists was on
the phone and spoke to Mrs. Trout to ask if
there was any way inwhich American Athe-
ists could be helpful. Information on Ameri-
can Atheists and on the history of religion
within the founding documents of Scouting
was rushed to the Trout home.
Only American Atheists really under-
stood what was happening when Paul Trout
was denied his Life Scout rank, scouting's
second-highest rank below Eagle Scout, and
was expelled from The Stonewall Jackson
Area Council of which he was a member
scout. The Boy Scouts, from its inception,
has been an organization dedicated to instill-
ing into the minds of young men the virtues
ofpatriotism and piety. Ithad the same type
oforigins as the YMCA, which was set up to
keep tender young men from the farm from
going astray in the big city during the great
period ofmigration to urban lifeof our indus-
trial revolution. Having been incorporated
by an act of Congress on December 6, 1915,
the Boy Scouts was subject to the same kind
of thought indicative of that era of our
Page 2
nation's history. The kind ofthinking ofearly
twentieth-century America with regard to
religion and patriotism can be laid down in
one sentence from the preamble ofthe Con-
stitution of the State of New Hampshire:
... morality and piety, rightly ground-
ed on evangelical principles, willgive
the best and greatest security to
government,
and willlay,
in
the hearts
of men, the
strongest obligations
to
due
subjection.
As Viewed from Here
The YMCA was founded in1881,and just
thirty-four years later Comstockery was still
very much in vogue when the Boy Scouts of
America was founded. Article IX, Policies
and Definitions, Section 1, Religion, Clause
1of the Boy Scout Charter states, The Boy
Scouts of America maintains that no mem-
ber can grow into the best kind of citizen
without recognizing an obligation to God.
Nothing could be more simply or succinctly
said. The Boy Scouts of America is
not
an
organization in which an Atheist should be
seeking membership.
It is incumbent upon any rational person
to investigate the aims and purposes of any
group to which that person desires to
belong. Ifthose aims and purposes are con-
trary to the principles of the individual seek-
ingmembership, it is
not
incumbent in turn
for the organization being reviewed to
change its policy to fit the desires of the
would-be member. Itis rather for the would-
be member to decide if he or she can be
comfortable inassociation with persons who
subscribe to the aims and purposes of the
organization in question. If the answer to
that question, upon self inspection, is no
then the would-he member should simply
not seek membership. For some bizarre
reason, many persons. these days feel that
any given organization that they choose to
target for membership must modify its aims
and purposes to suit their particular tastes
- even if those tastes run in direct opposi-
tion to even long-standing principles of the
group. One of the most recent examples
outside of Scouting was the insistence of a
female member of t~e Mormon Church
demanding that religious body change its
policy in favor of women's liberation. Such
December, 1985
a request would have meant abandonment
of the Church's founding principles by its
leadership. It was more proper that the sin-
gle women simply leave the church. In like
manner persons come tothe American Athe-
ist organization and demand that it change
its fundamental positions on scores ofissues
and even in many cases change its very
name to suit the applicant. This is patently
absurd.
In the case of Paul Trout, the question
arises: Ifhe is really an Atheist, why does he
want to be a Scout inthe first place? That is a
very good question indeed. The Boy Scouts
is not alone an organization dedicated to
fostering an America fiber Alles mentality,
but its literature and structure reek with reli-
gion. In the Southern states, most of the
troops meet inchurch facilities. Irealize that
there is a peer pressure aspect that draws
young men with a siren-like determination to
the Scouts. The same is true of the church
which draws naive young people into its
clutches through its social agenda, claim-
ing only to be providing a wholesome
atmosphere for young people to meet.
IfPaul Trout, or any other of his peers of
like mind, could think his way out ofreligion,
then he should be able to have evaluated the
Scouts as an organization basically hostile to
the Atheist position and not have joined in
the first place. Some years ago a similar
question came up in Canada in which a
Scout was denied his Eagle rank because he
said that he was an Atheist. How did he get
as far as qualifying for Scouting's highest
rank and not notice its aversion to Atheism?
These unanswered questions are not the
end of the controversy in this matter. Many
members ofAmerican Atheists wrote to Ben
H. Love, Chief Scout Executive, at Scout
National Headquarters inIrving, Texas, pro-
testing Paul Trout's dismissal, many saying
that they had been Scouts and some even
returning their Scout memorabilia Vietnam-
veteran-protest style. In addition, the Illinois
Chapter of American Atheists staged a his-
toric protest in suburban Chicago.
A Media Challenge
On Saturday, October 12, some 3,500
scouts, principally from the Northwest Chi-
cago suburbs, gathered for a camporee at
the Shoe Factory Woods Cook County
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Forest Preserve west of Hoffman Estates,
Illinois. The gathering was the Northwest
suburban scouts' largest camporee in ten
years, according to its local organizers.
About fifteen Atheists from Chicago, Min-
neapolis-Saint Paul, and Ohio chapters of
American Atheists picketed at the entrance
to the preserve during the early morning
arrival ofthe scouts. Plans for the picket had
made headline news in Chicago since the
Wednesday prior to the protest. Robert
Sherman, spokesman for the Chicago Chap-
ter, told the press that the Boy Scouts was
a group of bigots who discriminate on the
basis of religion. He went on to say that
There isnothing patriotic about bigotry and
nothing patriotic about religious intoler-
ance. Sherman's point was that A kid nine
or ten years old doesn't know if there's a
god. He doesn't care ifthere's a god. He just
wants to make friends, to go camping.
This may be true, but it does still not
excuse Atheist parents from knowing better
and taking the time to find out the true
nature of the organization to which their
children want to belong. In many-cases Iam
convinced that it is sheer cowardice on the
part of the parents because they don't wish
to rock the boat. Iwould rather be unpop-
ular in my community and have my child be
temporarily unhappy or unpopular than to
sacrifice my principles as an Atheist. Chris-
tian parents are never called upon to sacri-
ficeeven an inch oftheir principles without it
driving them to scream their heads off at
school and other authorities. Atheist par-
ents have a fine track record of sitting back
and taking almost anything.
Bigotry Reaffirmed
Iam not prepared to say that it was as the
direct result of the Chicago picket and the
publicity attendant thereto, but at an execu-
tive board meeting of October 10, the Na-
tional Board of the Boy Scouts drafted a
resolution which it released to the press on
Friday, the day before the picket. The press
billed this resolution across the country as
Boy Scouts change religion rules ... or
something equivalent. This was, in fact, not
the case. What the resolution actually said
was the following:
Boy Scouts of American Resolu-
tion:
Reaffirmation of the Position of
the Boy Scouts of America on
Duty to God
Resolved, that the followingreaffirma-
tion ofthe position of the Boy Scouts
ofAmerica relating to Duty to God
be, and hereby is, enacted and that
the Bylaws, Rules and Regulations,
and literature of the Corporation
reflect this reaffirmation accord-
ingly.
Austin, Texas
This year, America is celebrating the
seventy-fifth anniversary of the Boy
Scouts of America. Since 1910, sev-
enty-two millionAmericans have sub-
scribed to the Scout Oath and the
Scout Law which have stood the test
of time.
The national Executive Board of the
Boy Scouts of America proudly
states, through its Mission Statement,
that the values which the organization
strives to instill in young people are
those based upon the Scout Oath and
the Scout Law. A Scout pledges: On
my honor I willdo my best, to do my
duty to God and my country, and to
obey the Scout Law....
The first Boy Scouts of America
Handbook for Boys which was pub-
lished inAugust 1911declares that ...
no boy can grow into the best kind of
citizenship without recognizing his
obligation to God. (p. 215.)
The latest edition of The Official Boy
Scout Handbook, published in Feb-
ruary 1979, reads: 'A Scout is rever-
ent.' All Scouts show this by being
faithful in their duty to God. (p. 484.)
While not intending to define what
constitutes belief in God, the Boy
Scouts ofAmerica isproud to reaffirm
the Scout Oath and its declaration of
Duty to God.
In the October 11press release from Boy
Scout headquarters, Raul Chavez, its na-
tional communications director, said that
Paul Trout iseligibleto receive his Life
Scout Award because he subscribes
to the Scout Oath with its Duty fo
God as wellas to the Scout Law that
asks a Scout to be reverent. Earlier
this year, the fifteen-year-old Scout
was not approted for his Life Scout
Award because it was understood he
could not support the Scout Oath and
Scout Law.
The press release went on to say that
The Boy Scouts ofAmerica has made
a thorough analysis of the matter.
This involved contacts with members
of the Boy Scouts of America's na-
tional Religious Relationships Com-
mittee, the young man and his family,
and local Scouters. It has been deter-
mined that Paul Trout, indeed, does
subscribe to the Scout Oath and
Scout Law.
December, 1985
Hypocrisy as Usual
What allof this rhetoric means inlayman's
terms is that absolutely nothing has been
changed by the Boy Scouts of America. It
still requires participants in its organization
to have a Duty to God and to be rever-
ent. An Atheist can have neither a Duty to
God or be reverent and be an Atheist.
This means that when the Scout national
office called Paul Trout on October 10 and
explained its new resolution to him and
asked him ifhe could subscribe to the Boy
Scout Oath and Law and he said he could,
that he was lying during his Life Scout local
board of review back in June or that he was
lyingon October 10.He could not have been
honest on both occasions. The only conclu-
sion to which I can reasonably come is that
Paul Trout valued being a member of the
Boy Scouts more than he valued his intellec-
tual integrity.
The Boy Scouts changed nothing with its
resolution of October 10; it merely reaf-
firmed what had been its policy since 1910.
Infact, on Friday, October 11, Raul Chavez,
Communications Director for the national
office of the Boy Scouts, appeared by tele-
phone on a talk show on WIND radio in
Chicago immediately followingRobert Sher-
man ofthe IllinoisChapter ofAmerican Athe-
ists. Chavez said, on the air, that the Boy
Scouts of America had not changed any of
its policies. He also refused to appear with
Mr. Sherman and at a mid-point in the con-
versation with the host refused to take ques-
tions via telephone from the audience. Why
would he refuse to answer audience ques-
tions on a major Chicago 'area all-talk radio
station? Could it have been that he would
not want the callers to really figure out that
in fact the Boy Scouts was only putting up a
media smoke screen of changing its policy
when in fact it had made no substantive
change? You bet it could
What the Boy Scouts did in its statement
on this issue was the same thing that the
religious community, of every denomina-
tion, has been doing now for some time in
state-church matters. Ithas been equivocat-
ing itsposition where and when necessary to
save an established though unconstitutional
practice. Let me give you some examples.
Any Excuse
1) In nativity scene cases, religious
leaders have allowed both their attor-
neys and the court to say that the
creche has no religious significance.
In a Texas case, the religious com-
munity even went so far as to argue
that the creche was a symbol of the
nuclear family and was a mere bau-
ble under the tree.
2) In a case involving the slogan In
God We Trust on coins and cur-
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rency, the religious community ar-
gued that the word God in that slo-
gan had nothing to do with religion
and that the slogan was purely
patriotic
3) Inone case after the other involv-
ing the opening of city councils with
invocations, religious leaders and pub-
lic officials have said that an invoca-
tion or prayer has no religious signifi-
cance, The only value of the invoca-
tionwas as a gavel to quiet the room
and set the tone for the legislative
meeting.
Allof these arguments are highlyabsurd,
but they show that religion will take any
degradation in order to survive in the cul-
ture. This isthe same principle on which the
Boy Scouts of America has operated in the
case of Paul Trout. It has redefined a belief
in God as whatever an individual Scout
says it is. I am sorry, but god has been
amply defined over the course ofhistory and
that definition cannot be changed now by
the Boy Scouts of America to exclude the
concept of a Supreme Being - which is
exactly what it is trying to do.
An Area of Agreement
In response to the Boy Scout resolution,
Cal Thomas of the Moral Majority (Jerry
Falwell's right-hand man) wrote an editorial
that was carried nationwide in major news-
papers in which he said:
This isnot about Paul Trout's right to
hold whatever beliefs he wishes. It is
also not an argument for the existence
of God. It is a criticism of the adults
who run Boy Scouts of America, and
who are supposed to set an example
for their young charges, for waffling
on the principles by which the organi-
zation has always lived and taught
boys to live. What message will
Scouts get when they learn that prin-
ciples can be watered down on the
challenge of only one of millions of
Scouts?
As much as I hate to agree with a right-
wing religionist, I must agree completely
with Cal Thomas on this point. The Boy
Scouts ofAmerica should not have changed
its rules or compromised its principles either
infact or inpretense. Paul Trout's expulsion
should have been permanent. To have
changed its rules in pretense rather than in
fact was even more wrong than had it made
a substantive change.
Paul Trout should have known better
than to join the Boy Scouts inthe first place.
His parents should have stood up for their
lifestyle. That they did not makes them
either theists or Atheist hypocrites. I agree
Page 4
with Cal Thomas in that young people
should not be led to aspire to waffling on
principles. It would have been far better for
both Paul Trout and the Scouts to have
proudly stood their ground and parted com-
pany. In the final analysis, they both lost
their dignity.
References
1. Charter: To Incorporate the Boy Scouts
of America And for Other Purposes, 64th
Congress, First Session, December 6,
1915.
2.Letter from National Office, Boy Scouts of
America, to Mr. & Mrs. Robert N. Trout,
dated June 5, 1985.
3. Letter with attached News release from
the Communications Division, Boy
Scouts of America (Contact: Raul
Chavez), dated October 18, 1985, to the
Milwaukee County Council Boy Scouts of
America.
4. Letter to American Atheists member in
Arlington, Virginia, dated October 16,
1985, from National Office, Boy Scouts of
America, signed Ben H. Love, Chief
Scout Executive, withattachment of Boy
Scouts of America Resolution: Reaffir-
mation of the Position ofThe Boy Scouts
of America on Duty to God.
5. Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1985,
editorial page.
6. Houston Post, October 14, 1985.
7. The Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Illi-
nois, October 9, 1985, Sec. 1-11; ibid.,
October 13, 1985, front page;
ibid.,
October 15, 1985, Sec. 1-11.
8.San Antonio Light,
October 13, 1985,Sec.
A21.
9. The Washington Post, October 12, 1985,
Sec. Dl.
10.The New York Times, October 13, 1985.
11. Austin American Statesman, October
14, 1985, Sec. M. ~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A second generation Atheist,
Mr. Murray has been the Director of
The American Atheist Center for nine
years and is also the Managing Editor
of the American Atheist.
He advocates Aggressive Atheism.
Make your plans now for
American Atheists
Convention 1986
April 18,19,and 20(Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday), 1986
are red letter days for Athe-
ists Make yo ur plans no w to e nte r
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ture s; pa rt icipa te in spo nta ne ous
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con t inen t.
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Special rates for conven-
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to :
Convention Registration
American Atheists
P. O. Box 2117
Austin, Texas 78768-2117
December, 1985 American Atheist
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SK
InLetters to the Editor readers give
their opinions ideas and information.
But in Ask A.A . American Atheists
answers questions regarding its poli-
cies, positions and customs as well as
queries of factual and historical sit-
uations.
The picture of Paul Tirmenstein [Amen-
can Atheist,
June, 1985] shows some ob-
jects on his ears and nose. Are they orna-
mental or do they serve some other
purpose?
Ihink a little explanatory note regarding
this would have served to satisfy the curios-
ity of many readers.
Max Levine
New York
It is hardly worth writing about, but curi-
osity does eat at people. The items showing
inthe photo which are being inquired about
are simply silver jewelry. They have abso-
lutely
no
significance whatever except that I
like to wear them. That's it. Simple, isn't it?
Paul Tirmensiein
Ihave been trying to locate a copy of
Joseph McCabe's The Story of Religious
Controversy without success.
My wife insists that the reason for that is
the Roman Catholic Church destroyed all
the copies printed.
I
can't believe that
explanation.
Do you know where I might get a copy?
Harold T. Porter
Missouri
The Story of Religious Controversy, all
six hundred and twenty-three hardbound
pages of it, was published by the Stratford
Company of Boston, Massachusetts in
1929. Edited by
E.
Haldeman-Julius (of the
Little Blue Book fame), it
is a classic
of
Atheist literature. The table of contents lists
topics of special interest to the Atheist
community for centuries: The Revolt
Against Religion ; The Origin of Religion ;
A Few of the World's Greatest Religions ;
The Myth of Immortality ; The Futility of
Belief in God ; The Human Origin of Mor-
als ; The Forgery of the Old Testament ;
Religion and Morals in Ancient Babylon ;
Religion and Morals in Ancient Egypt ;
The Conflict Between Science and Reli-
gion - just to name a few.
Copies are still extant, but they are not
common. The Charles E. Stevens American
Atheist Library and Archives, Inc., has five
Austin, Texas
in its holdings at this time.
It is true, though, that Atheist literature is
often destroyed by the religious. Widows
and widowers willburn the libraries of their
spouses. Seventh Day Adventists search for
old and rare Atheist works for the pleasure
of sending them to the furnace. But just as
often the literature
is
inadvertently de-
stroyed or ruined because of improper care.
Atheist and freethought material is not the
only printed matter which is lost through the
years.
There are basically only three ways for
you to find a copy of The Story of Religious
Controversy: 1) you can personally search
used and rare book stores for the title; 2)
you can employ aprofessional book search-
er to do so; and 3) you can advertise in
periodicals (such as the American Atheist)
that you are interested in purchasing it -
another individual might own a copy and
might be willing to sell.
The American Atheist Press isslowly try-
ing
to reprint many of the Atheist and free-
thought classics, but this particular title is
not scheduled to be published at this time.
Other of McCabe's works will definitely be
reprinted, however.
We would like to take this opportunity to
encourage Atheists to help preserve our
heritage. The Charles E. Stevens Library is
attempting to
bring
together allAtheist and
freethought literature; too much of the his-
tory of Atheism has already been lost. And
as
the feature of this issue, Atheists
on
the
Solstice attests, that literature is more than
t·
worth saving. Atheists can help in the strug-
gle to save our history from the ravages of
time and theists
by
sending donations of
either money or literature to c.E.S.A.A.L.A.,
Inc., 2210 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas,
78756.
In most of your literature, you list your
address as P.O. Box 2117, Austin, Texas,
78768-2117. Yet every once in a while, I
receive a pre-addressed envelope in one of
your mailings which has the same address
on it only with the zip code of 78768-9989. I
have been carefully correcting the zip code
whenever Ise them, but you keep sending
them out with the wrong zip code. Hasn't
anyone there noticed the mistake?
Liza Snyder
South Carolina
That isn't a mistake
The envelopes on which that zip code
appear are business reply envelopes,
which means that American Atheists pays
the postage
on
them. You simply drop them
in the mail without a stamp, and American
Atheists is billedfor the cost.
The Post Office wants these envelopes to
go
directly to
its
processing office, before
reaching American Atheists' post office
box,
so
that it will be easier to
bill
American
Atheists. The zip code differentiation facili-
tates this.
Than~oufor your concern - but please
don't keep correcting the zip code.
~1)~A\ - A \ \ o
If I m a Bride of Christ, does
that moke God m4 father-in-law?
December, 1985
PageS
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N E W S A N D C O M M E N T S
TAKE THAT YOU ATHEIST
There are continuing sagas inthe activity
of individual Atheists. And the difficulties
that are encountered often seem to be
interminable. And so it is with Arnold Via,
the Director of the Virginia Chapter of
American Atheists.
As reported inthe May, 1985,issue of the
American Atheist [Vol.
27,
No.5, p.
10, in
Via Atheism ]' Arnold, as far back as
March of 1982, was interested in obtaining
an automobile license plate which would
openly identify him on the roads as he took
pride in his Atheism. Permitted six letters
only, he asked the Department of Motor
Vehicles in the State ofVirginia for individu-
alized license plates which would have car-
ried messages such as NO-GOD, GOD-
LES, ATH-IST, ATHE*ST, A-THEST, or
ATHEST. All these choices were refused.
When he could obtain none of his first
choices, he finally settled for ATH-EST.
Receiving the plate in January of 1983, he
put it on his maroon-colored Cadillac and
happily drove down the rural highways ofhis
home state.
Vl r g l nJ a0~
A T H - E S T
o
But often an Atheist cannot stay on the
yellowbrick road of happiness and so it was
with Arnold.
Quite inexplicably, a letter of notifica-
tion was sent to him from:
Division of Motor Vehicles
2300 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
April 16, 1985
Dear Mr. Via:
Ithas been brought to our attention
that you have been issued license
plate ATH-EST. The complainant be-
lieves that this refers to atheist and
is offended that we allow such a
license to be displayed.
It is our policy not to issue licenses
that may be offensive to any person or
group of persons. Therefore, you are
requested to select another Communi-
Page 6
plate by completion of the attached
application and return it to this office
witha copy ofthis letter. Ifyour choice
is available we will issue the license
without any cost to you.
If you do not wish another Com-
muniplate, please advise so we may
issue a regular series license and we
willrefund a portion of the reserved
license fee previously paid by you.
Sincerely
B. F. Moore,
Ass't. Manager
Title and Regulations Department.
Arnold was at first stunned, and then he
came out fighting. He had richly enjoyed
those plates for well over two years, and
there was no way he was going to give them
up because they offended what was prob-
ably a religious person.
He immediately contacted the American
CivilLiberties Union inVirginia - as did Dr.
O'Hair, President of American Atheists,
since she knew many of the officers of the
organization in that state. Nothing was
accomplished, and Arnold took several
months seeking out an attorney who would
challenge the state. One was finally located,
and quickly (on June 27) this attorney was
able to obtain a temporary order restraining
the state from snatching away Arnold's
plates. A hearing for a permanent injunction
was set for July 2. Arnold turned to the
members of American Atheists and an
appeal for funding for the suit was made in
the Insider's
Newsletter, Vol.
24,
No.7,
of
July 1985.
There were delays, and the hearing was
rescheduled for September 3 by an Augusta
County (Virginia) judge. Arnold was per-
mitted to keep his tags until at least then.
But, as of July 25, he had received $867 in
146 letters from American Atheists mem-
bers in every state in the Union - and two
from Canada - all toward his battle fund for
legal expenses.
When the case was heard, the silence in
the media was deafening. However, some-
where along the way, theA.C.L.U. did begin
to take notice - although neither Arnold
nor The American Atheist Center was made
aware of it in a timely fashion. Philip Hirsch-
kop, an attorney inAlexandria, Virginia, and
a member of the Board of Directors of the
ACLU of that state, in a personal letter to
December, 1985
The Center cleared the matter up in this
manner:
August 9, 1985
Dear Madalyn:
Mr. Via wrote Chan Kendrick, the
Executive Director of the ACLU, on
April 25 and Kendrick promptly con-
tacted the State within the next sev-
eral days. He received a reply in mid-
May and referred the matter to me
since Mr. Via had already sent a copy
ofhis April 25letter to me. [Dr. O'Hair
had requested Arnold to send such a
copy.] I had my office research the
matter and as soon as the research
was completed I referred the matter
to the National Legal Director for fur-
ther assistance in New York as we
had found a case inCalifornia that was
foresquare [sic] against us. Mr. Via
was sent a copy of that communi-
cation. After reviewing the informa-
tion supplied by the National Legal
Office, I recommended to Chan Ken-
drick that the case should be under-
taken by the ACLU and Mr.
Viawas
sent a copy ofthat correspondence. In
the interim, without consulting with
myself or Chan, Mr. Via hired Wat-
kins Ellerson to represent him, who
then very successfully got him a tem-
porary injunction. There are several
more pieces ofcorrespondence withme
on behalf ofthe ACLU trying to assist
Mr. Ellerson in any way we could.
The bottom line is that the ACLU
undertook to help Mr. Via and would
have proceeded to filesuit for him had
Mr. Via stayed in touch with us. The
ACLU is still helping his privately
retained attorney ....
Evaluate that as you may; Arnold still- in
the view of the media - stood alone in the
battle with none but American Atheists
ostensively backing him up.
The blow fell on November 14. On that
date, rather than handing down an opinion,
the judge involved sent a lengthy letter to the
attorneys. It read as follows:
Gentlemen:
First, I would like to apologize to
you for my inexcusable delay in advis-
(cont'd. on page 22)
American Atheist
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: j9 escribed simply, the Winter Sol-
e - -
stice seems a boring enough thing.
The Winter Solstice is merely one ofthe two
points at which our sun reaches its greatest
declination north or south. On the projec-
tion of the plane of our planet's orbit on the
celestial sphere, a solstice is 90° from the
equinoxes. The Winter Solstice, usually oc-
curring around December 21st, is the short-
est day of the year in the Northern
hemisphere.
Doesn't sound like anything to break out
the champagne about, does it?
Perhaps not to the average urban man or
woman, to whom the only meaning of the
turn of the seasons is whether to light the
pilot on the furnace, but the change of the
seasons was a life and death matter for our
agrarian forefathers. For them, the solstices
and the equinoxes signaled the all-important
change of seasons. The movements of the
moon, of the sun, and of the numerous con-
stellations (now hard to notice against city
lights) marked significant events such as the
planting time, the harvest time, the approach
of cold months, or the return of warm
months. Unless they paid careful attention
to the changes in the night skies, primitive
men and women might lose track ofagrarian
schedules.
Bereft of ever-bountiful grocery stores,
the people of ancient times were dependent
on the sun and the soil for nourishment.
Caught without convenient central heating
systems, they needed the sun or fuel for
warmth. As the days shortened during the
latter part of the year, they understandably
worried about their future survival. What if
the sunlight days disappeared altogether?
in many cases they were going into the
realms of history where no man has gone
before - or very few men, at any rate.
Sometimes their opinions have been bitter.
After all, Atheists have been excluded by
religion from one of the basic celebrations
that humankind has for thousands of years.
Sometimes they have gleefull>-ioined in the
almost worldwide Winter Solstice celebra-
tions, only pausing on the way to remind
everyone that it really is not a religious
festival.
We have reprinted here the commentary
of Atheists on the Solstice during the past
one hundred years. I n the following
pages you will read everything from
the old-time Atheists' commen-
tary on the origin of Christmas
to modern writings on the
significance of church
bells. We hope you
enjoy it.
one hundred years of
commentary -
Jheists On The Solstic e
If one looks at it from this point of view,
the importance of solstices to primitive (and
not-so-primitive) humankind is obvious.
When the Winter Solstice passed, the days
grew longer. There was hope that it would
once again be warm and comfortable, that
food would start to grow again, that the
young animals would begin to be born. Life,
happiness, and joy were keyed to the grow-
ing seasons, and the growing seasons were,
and are, keyed to the sun.
Back then, the Winter Solstice was, with-
out a doubt, exciting enough to break out
the champagne, or whatever else one could
lay one's hands on.
Evidences of ancient solstice celebrations
can be seen in almost all cultures today. I n
the vast majority of these cases, the old and
joyous occasions have become mildewed
with religious significance.
And Atheists of all types and in all centu-
ries have been fascinated with religious sig-
nificance. They have wondered why people
engage in what can be ritualized and some-
times bizarre acts. They have wished to
know the origins of Christmas and of winter
celebrations of all types. They have wanted
the behind-the-scenes stories on all the
Solstice (and Christmas) customs.
More often than not, the information they
wish to have is unavailable. It is lost in the
mists of time or the fires ofthe Inquisitions.
But over the years, Atheist writers and
researchers have managed to un-
cover a few things of interest.
Sometimes their research has
been faulty; sometimes it
has been guesswork.
On the other hand,
Austin, Texas
December, 1985
Happy
Solstice.
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a c o n t r ib u t io n b y J ean S to ry to th e Free e l i g i o u s n d e x o f
Dec em ber 30, 1880
< Ihr is tmas
VOL. XII. OLD SERIES. XO. 5i5.
VOL. I.. NEW SERUtS ~O 21'.
BOSTON, ~fASS., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1880.
THREE DOLLARS A YEAR.
SI:: U LF.
COPlES
SEY EN C~TS.
ltltl e would not, and could not if we
~ would, lessen the world-wide inter-
est manifested from prehistoric ages in this
day of common rejoicing, the day when the
Sun of Heaven begins its annual return
northward after the winter solstice. It mat-
ters not what national tradition, secular or
religious, the day may be assumed to com-
memorate, whether it be the anniversary of
the miraculous birth of Osiris, or that of
Hercules or Bacchus or Adonis, or Mithra or
Khrishna, or the Christ child, it is nature's
ever-welcome guarantee of another seed-
time and harvest. The wherefore that all
these demi-gods had the same natal day,
corresponding to our Christmas, is because
they all had the same virgin mother, the
constellation Virgo. Owing to the precession
of the equinoxes, the constellation Virgo is
now in the autumnal equinoctial sign. And,
as it extends over more than forty-five
degrees of the zodiac belt, ithas been within
the limits of this sign for about twenty-five
hundred years. During all these years, the
earth has always been on a direct line
between the sun and some portion of this
constellation at every vernal equinox. This
overshadowing of the Celestial Virgin by the
sun's vernal rays was the annual procreation
ofthe sun's son, their common offspring on
the earth.
After the sun has passed through
the six signs of the lower or southern heav-
ens, and through three signs of the upper or
northern heavens to its greatest declination
north, it becomes apparently motionless for
three days. This, to our pagan ancestors,
Page 8
was a time of fearful suspense. They not only
feared the sun was leaving the earth during
its prolonged declination; but, when it stood
still,
they mourned its death. The morning of
the day when its first movement northward
changed their mourning into feasting was
celebrated by all nations as the anniversary
of the accouchment of the Celestial Virgin.
Hence, the resurrection of their god Sol
from his annual death at the end of the win-
ter solstice was simultaneous with the birth
of his earthly son, the man-child. But this
infant representative of the sun's procre-
ative power within the earth's northern hem-
isphere is always hidden until the vernal
equinox, when the earth is again at the
autumnal equinox. Here, on the celestial
atlas, we find the son of the winged virgin,
the immortal Hercules, who withone hand is
dealing a death-blow upon the head of the
great red dragon, the symbol of cold; while
with the other he is dragging away the dog
Cerberus, the symbol of darkness, thereby
forcing the cold and darkness ofwinter from
the northern heavens into the southern
heavens, in order to maintain astronomic
justice within the earth's northern and
southern hemispheres.
However necessary the seasonal labors of
this mediator during the earth's infancy,
when mankind assumed that it was cradled
in the great deep as incapable of self-
provision as a human infant, and believed
that the sun was obliged to make the entire
circuit of the heavens, a journey of about
two hundred and eighty millions of miles,
December, 1985
daily, as well as annually, during which it
must needs pass through the underworld
or infernal regions in the lower heavens,
over which the great serpent Hydra, whose
deadly wound from the club of Hercules had
become healed, presided with fiery opposi-
tion, these labors evidently ended when
humanity attained a more mature plane of
thought. The fact that the earth
now
attains
its needed quota of light and darkness, of
heat and cold, by its own axial rotations and
revolutions around the sun, is a significant
hint that its human inhabitants should
depend on their own self-provisional powers
rather than on heavenly or miraculous aids.
Although the sun is the most glorious and
most beneficient object known or knowable,
and its annual return northward promises
the greatest boon vouchsafed to man, yet it
is in no way profited by either adoration or
sacrifice. The radiation ofits heat and light is
as much a necessity of its nature as their
reception is to the nature of its terrestrial
offspring. This is equally true of each more
remote ancestral sun, and ofeach ideal of its
creative power. But our fellow-beings can-
not only be benefited, but ourselves en-
riched, by opening the mines of love within
our pent -up hearts, the truly enjoyable fruits
ofwhich multiply in the ratio oftheir recipro-
cal impartation and reception. And no more
appropriate day can be selected on which to
bestow gifts or exchange mementoes than
on our long-cherished and time-honored
anniversary, Merry Christmas.
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by Annie Besant and from the December, 1883, O u r C orner
~ IIover Christendom the bellswillsoon
C \ be ringing in celebration of the anni-
versary of the birth of Christ. In Germany
the Christ-Child will visit every home and
bring presents to all his little brothers and
sisters. In Italy the Bambino willlie in every
church, and sweet young mothers willfeelas
ifthey had a share in the maternity of Mary.
In England the Holy Child will be joyously
greeted, and holly wreath and mistletoe
berry willhang in every hall. In France less
notice willbe taken ofhis coming, yet many a
Bethlehem in sacred fane will find a wor-
shipping crowd of women and children. In
far offRussia the sacred icon willbe greeted,
and the halo-encircled infant willstretch out
hands of blessing from his mother's arms.
Europe willrejoice from East to West. Tur-
key alone willhave no Christmas Day.
If from Christmas, 1883, we throw our
glances backwards across the centuries,
many another Christmas Day rises before
our eyes. Back over the years when wassail
bowland huge boar's head carried highinair
might be seen inevery baron's hall;when the
Yule log was cut with ceremony and carried
joyously home for burning on Christmas
night; when white-robed Christian priests,
eastward turning, sang how
Very early, very early,
Christ was born.
Back over the years, growing rougher and
and rougher, tillwhite-robed Druid priests
cut greet the Christ-Child, turning eastward
as the first pale rays of the sun dawned on
the the sacred mistletoe of the oak with
golden horizon on December 25th. Back yet
further, tillwe stand under the cloudless sky
in the rainless Egyptian land, and see the
white-robed knife, priests of Osiris hymning
their new born God, turning eastward to
greet the dawn in the early morning of
Christmas Day, 2,000 years before the Jew-
ish Christ was born. Back still, and ever
back till under the burning sun of India we
find priests, still white-robed and eastward
gazing, pouring out the sacred soma to hail
the birth of Christna, on Christmas Day,
5,000 years ago. And then our eyes grow
dizzy at the distance, and the mist of the
ages hides from us the earlier Christmas
Days.
Who is this Christ-Child, born ever in the
dawn of the 25th of December, who has
Austin, Texas
< ITheC hr is t-Chi l d
been born on that date each year as far
backward as historical search can press?
Let us take his story, which is one in its
outline allthe world over, though local color-
ingmay touch its details. And let us take itin
the oldest form yet known to us, in the
Hindu legend, most venerable of all religious
myths.
Three thousand fivehundred years before
the Christian era, there was a maiden named
Devanaguy (or Devaki), sweet and pure, liv-
ing in the province of Madura, and it was
revealed in a dream to Kansa, king of the
land, that this maiden should bear a child
who should be royal, and kingof the Hindus.
So when Devanaguy had attained woman-
hood, Kansa threw her into a tower hermet-
ically closed, that she might never bring a
child into the world. One evening as the
virginprayed, a light shone round about her,
and Vishnu appeared to her in allthe glory of
his divine majesty. The power ofthe Highest
overshadowed her, so that the Holy Child
who should be born of her might be called
the Son of God. And when the time came for
the birth of the infant long prophesied of by
Poulastya, and by other holy men, a sound
was heard as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the tower where Devanaguy lay with
the new-born child, and the wall was rent,
and the Virgin and the Child were guided by
an angel to a stable, and the shepherds run-
ning to the place worshipped the newly-
born. And the child was named Christna, in
Sanscrit the sacred one.
Then Kansa, learning what had occurred,
was wrath, and he sent out and ordered the
massacre of all the male infants within his
states, who had been born during the night
previous to Christna's birth. But Christna
was miraculously saved, and was carried
away with his mother by Nanda, Devana-
guy's uncle, into a sure place of refuge.
At the age of sixteen Christna left his
home and began travelling over the country,
preaching as he went. A band of disciples
followed him, being attracted by the mira-
cles he wrought. He raised the dead, healed
the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and
the ears of the deaf. Once, to encourage his
disciples, he was transfigured before them,
and he appeared in the glory of his divine
majesty, his face shining with such brilliancy
that Ardjourna and his companions, unable
to support the sight, fellon their faces. And
after that they named him Jezeus, or the
December, 1985
issue of the pure divine essence.
The day came when death was drawing
nigh, and it came to pass that two women of
base extraction approached him, and pour-
ing over his head precious perfumes, they
worshipped him. And the people murmured
at their presumption in touching the Holy
One, but Christna gently accepted their
homage. Then, knowing that his hour was
come, he withdrew from his disciples, and
kneeling down he awaited death. And a band
ofconspirators who were seeking to killhim,
surrounded him and pierced him with their
arrows, and taking his body they hung iton a
tree. And in the morning his disciples came
to seek him, that they might bury his sacred
body, but ithad disappeared, itwas revealed
to them that he had returned to the heavenly
home whence he had come to earth.
Such is the outline of the most ancient
legend of the Christ-Child, as given in the
Holy Scriptures of the Hindus. In Egypt, in
the story of Osiris, born, persecuted, mur-
dered, rising, ascending we have the Christ-
Child under another name. In Judea, in the
story of Jesus of Bethlehem, we have the
repetition of the Hindu legend, slightly
altered in many details, but broadly identi-
cal. To Christendom Jesus of Bethlehem is
the Christ-Child, and to him are given the
same love and homage offered to his prede-
cessors in every Eastern land.
Who then isthis Christ-Child born inwin-
ter, encircled by peril in his infancy, fighting
against difficulties through is short life,
conquered by a violent death, risingfrom the
dead triumphant, ascending into heaven and
reigning from his seat in the sky?
This Christ-Child is the Sun, the bright-
ness of the supreme glory, and the express
image of the Deity, himself Light of Light,
Very God of Very God. The story repeated
every year is a solar myth, and in this sym-
bolic story is traced the yearly circle of the
sun.
Therefore is the Christ-Child always born
at the winter solstice, and as the sun is then
in the sign ofthe Zodiac called Virgo, he is a
child in a virgin's arms; comparatively weak
and feeble he is then, but still it is his birth,
because from that time onwards he gains in
power, as he begins his yearly climb. But
danger surrounds his cradle, and Kansa,
who tries vainly to slay him, symbolises the
short days and long nights of winter and its
accompanying storms. And so pass the
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early months of the year, the sun's time of
struggle with the powers ofdarkness, tillthe
last struggle ofthe equinox draws near. Day
and night grow equal and seem to struggle
for the mastery, tillthe fullmoon is reached,
the Paschal moon, the first after the 21st of
March. If the death and resurrection of the
Jewish Christ be historical events, why
should their dates vary year by year? The
anniversary ofthe death ofVoltaire isalways
the 30th ofMay; the anniversary ofthe death
of Christ is the Friday before the Sunday
which falls after the full moon first after
March 21st. The reason for the variation of
this date isa very simple one. The resurrec-
tion is a solar festival, and it varies with the
moon. I n this triumph of the Christ it is the
Lamb of God who triumphs; he is the
Paschal lamb, without blemish and with-
out spot. The sun is then in the sign of the
lamb, and in this sign is his triumph; hence
the lamb becomes the sacred animal, the
symbol of the Savior. Long ages since the
zodiacal sign at the time of the spring equi-
nox was the bull, and then the bull was the
sacred animal, and the Bull of God was the
sun triumphant, as is the Lamb of God now.
After the Easter resurrection the sun rises
higher and higher in the heavens, ascend-
eth up on high, pouring down his beams of
Light and Love on man. He ripens the grape,
and the juice thereof becomes his very
blood; he ripens the corn, and the grain ishis
body, his very flesh, given to eat to his wor-
shippers. All the world knows how this
graceful myth isvulgarised and coarsened in
the Christian Holy Communion, and how
the poetical fancy that the beams ofthe Sun-
god are in very deed transformed into the
corn and grape, becomes the revolting the-
ory of eating the flesh and drinking the
blood of an actual human being.
Each Christ has his band oftwelve faithful
followers, for twelve are the signs of the
Zodiac, twelve the months ofthe solar year.
The artificial division of the solar cycle into
twelve, and the fanciful signs given to the
constellations which were the twelve
Houses of the Sun, have become in course
ofages twelve actual followers inattendance
on the central deity. As sign of their solar
significance the deity and his chief saints
wear the halo, the solar circle, drawn often
as the round sun itself at the back of their
heads, while the Virginmother stands on the
crescent moon, and round her head the
crown of seven stars, the sacred planets.
Twelve, as one of the two sacred solar
numbers, is constantly repeated in the his-
tory of every Christ-Child. Regarding only
the Jewish myths, its continual reiteration
with its multiples and submultiples would be
curious, were not the solar significance
clear. Jacob has twelve sons; there are
twelve tribes of Israel; twelve stones in the
breastplate of the High Priest of the Sun-
god; twelve apostles of Christ; the woman
Page 10
clothed in the sun has a crown of twelve
stars; the city of God has twelve founda-
tions, twelve gates, twelve angel porters,
twelve names written on it; the tree of life
bears twelve sorts offruit. Seventy-two (six
times twelve) are the second rank of disci-
ples; four and twenty (twice twelve) are the
elders round the throne; one hundred and
forty four thousand (twelve times twelve
thousand) are sealed out ofthe twelve tribes
of Israel; one hundred and forty thousand
virgins are redeemed from the earth, and
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
The walls of the holy city measure twelve
thousand furlongs alike in breadth, length
and height. Four, a submultiple oftwelve, is
also of constant occurrence, signifying the
four seasons of the year, and the four points
of the compass. The sacred river of Eden
divides into four heads; four livingcreatures
support God's throne in Ezekiel's vision;
each of these has four faces and four wings,
and each ofthe faces (lion, ox, man, eagle) is
that of a Zodiacal sign; inthe Apocalypse, a
mere book of astrology, there are four living
beasts in the throne of God; four mystical
horses appear; four angels stand on the four
corners ofthe earth and hold the four winds;
four angels are bound inthe river Euphrates.
The number seven obtained its sacred-
ness from the ancient theory of the seven
planets, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn; our week of
seven days has its basis insolar worship. Not
to trouble ourselves with the sevens of the
Old Testament, as inthe animals saved from
the flood, or the seven-branched candlestick
ever burning in the sacred temple of the
Jewish deity, it will suffice to take those
occurring in the Apocalypse. There are
seven golden candlesticks, surrounding the
Son of man, who holds seven stars in his
right hand; there are seven churches, with
. seven angels; a book is sealed with seven
seals; and only the Lamb (the Sun victo-
rious) with seven horns and seven eyes may
open that book. There are seven spirits of
God, and seven thunders roll; seven chief
angels stand before God, and they have
seven trumpets; the dragon has seven heads
and seven crowns; the beast has seven
heads; seven angels have seven vials filled
with the seven last plagues; the scarlet
woman sits on a scarlet beast with seven
heads; there are to be seven kings before the
end comes. Ifallthese sevens are accidental
they are very inexplicable; but accept the
Apocalypse as an astrological romance, and
it becomes interesting and curious.
The custom of turning eastwards during
the recital of the creeds; of building
churches pointing eastwards and of placing
the altar at the east end; of burying the faith-
ful dead with their feet pointing eastwards,
so that on rising their faces may be eastward
turned; what have allthese things to do with
a God everywhere present, no more a
December, 1985
dweller in the East than in the West? But
they admit ofthe simplest explanation ifthey
are merely relics of solar worship, and are
traditions of the time at which our forefa-
thers turned eastwards to greet the rising
Sun, and bowed towards the sun-rising as
they proclaimed their faith in the Light of
Light.
The language of solar worship is inter-
woven with our every thought and speech.
Light is to us the symbol of joy, of knowl-
edge, of hope; darkness of misery, of ignor-
ance and of despair. Reformers are ever
speaking of the dawn of a better day. Stu-
dents [speak] of light thrown on obscure
questions. Lovers [speak] of the sunshine
from the faces of the beloved. We worship
the sun today in realest fashion, identifying
with him all that is fairest and dearest on
earth.
Well might we enter the churches of
Christendom on Christmas morning with
the olden words on our lips: Ye know not
what ye worship .... Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, him declare we unto
you.
f rom the December , 1949,
L ib e r a l
iuletide
Greetings
The sun has completed its journey
And now willreturn once again;
To gladden the crops and the vineyards,
And comfort the spirits of men.
Ere Jesus and all of his cohorts
Had made their appearance in time;
Or even ere glorious Homer
Had written one immortal line -
When Athens was still in the future
And Memphis was stillin the mold;
By bards of the barbarous peoples
The story was told and retold.
Yes, even before the God Krishna,
Whose legend the Christian Church thieved
And tagged on their mystical Jesus
A story by millions believed -
The Sun God was worshipped at Yuletide
By peoples all over the earth.
Who knelt and gave thanks and oblations
To honor their patron's rebirth.
Far saner to worship this day star,
Which brings us the heat and the rain.
Then kneel to the God of the Christians
With horrors and wars in its train.
So, in line with this old pagan custom,
From which our holiday grew;
But freed from the latter's delusions,
I send my best greetings to you
- B. M. Saner
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f r om
J
M . W h eel er s
F o o t s t e p s o f Th e P a s t
(1895) -
< 7 7 T he Christian institution of our
\ . J ; principal festival is best stated in the
words of St. Chrysostom (Horn., xxxi): On
this day the birthday of Christ was lately
fixed at Rome, in order that while the hea-
thens were occupied in their profane cer-
emonies the Christians might perform their
holy rites undisturbed. But they callthis day
'the Birthday of the Invincible One [Mith-
ras].' Who is so invincible as the Lord that
overthrew and vanquished Death? Or be-
cause they style it the 'Birthday of the Sun.'
He is the Sun of Righteousness, of whom
Malachi saith, 'Upon you, fearful ones, the
Sun ofRighteousness shall arise with healing
in his wings.'
The only connexion between jolly old
Father Christmas and the young man ofsor-
rows, said to have come to an untimely end
inJerusalem, isa church-made one. On the
face of it Christmas is a Pagan festival. The
head ofthe house, who invites his scattered
family to make merry with him at this time,
does exactly what his Pagan ancesters [sic]
did centuries before the Christian era. Nor
has the strong arm ofreligion quite banished
the Pagan name, for inmany parts Yule-tide
and Yule-log and a gladYule are stillfavorite
terms. And Yule signifies the revolution of
the year.
The hauling home of the Yule-log and
lighting it from a remnant of last year's log,
the custom down to modern times, was the
survival of the ever-burning house fire,
rekindled once a year from the ever-burning
village fire; and takes us back to the early
times when, inthe words ofMax Maller, the
hearth was the first altar, the father the first
elder, his wife and children and slaves the
first congregation, gathered together round
the sacred fire. The Yule festival was cele-
brated by the Druids with great fires lighted
on the tops of the hills.
The Venerable Bede says (de
Rat. Temp.
xiii)that inEngland the heathen inhabitants
celebrated this very time. They began, he
says, their year on the 8th of the Calends of
January [25th December], which is now our
Christmas Day; and the very night before,
which is now holy to us, was by them called
Maedrenack, or the Night of Mothers;
because as we imagine of those ceremonies
which were performed that night. The days
at this time just beginning to lengthen, the
Mother night was held to give them birth.
The women took part in a nocturnal watch,
now generally transferred to New Year's
Austin, Texas
Olhristmas
eve.
To get back to the origin ofChristmas, we
must put ourselves in the place of men who
had no clear conception ofthe uniformity of
natural law, and to whom, when winter with
its long gloomy nights came, killingoff vege-
tation, the question of questions was, When
would brighter seasons return? Evergreens
which told ofthe vitality ofnature would be
honored, and the first assurance of the
longer day hailed with acclamation.
The Northern nations looked with special
interest on the conflict oflight and darkness.
The passing of the period of the shortest day
is the renewal of hope, the birthday of the
Savior. Before Christians brought their
superstitions to these islands the inhabitants
celebrated the return of lighter days with a
festival of rejoicing. The mistletoe is a Dru-
idicalemblem. The YuleJoggoes back to our
Pagan forefathers. These show a solar char-
acter, as did likewise the bonfires lighted at
Midsummer or St. John's Day. How ap-
propriately does the genius of Midsummer,
St. John, say ofthe genius ofChristmas: He
must increase, but I must decrease, as the
days begin to lengthen from December 25,
and to shorten from June 24, till they reach
the shortest, ofwhich the genius saint isthe
unbelieving Thomas, standing inallthe dark-
ness of unbelief as to whether the Lord will
rise again. I n the Christmas service chant,
Sol novus oritur, we see the adaptation of
ancient solar thought to Christian allegory.
When Christianity spread through the
Roman Empire it found everywhere among
the heathen a festival to the sun-god, or the
general spirit of life and vegetation cele-
brated at the winter solstice. From De-
cember 21 till the end of the year the
Romans held the Saturnalia, a season
marked by the universal prevalence of li-
cence and merry-making. Temporary free-
dom was given to slaves. Everyone feasted
and rejoiced, work and business were for a
season entirely suspended, the houses were
decked with laurel and evergreen, visits and
presents were exchanged between friends,
and clients gave gifts to their patrons. The
whole season was one of rejoicing and
goodwill, and all kinds ofamusements were
indulged in by the people (see Chambers'
Book of Days ). I n the now extinct Lord of
Misrule, and schoolboys barring out, may
be traced a remnant of the Saturnalia.
Some also think, says Bingham, that the
very design of appointing the feast of
December, 1985
Christ's Nativity and Epiphany at this sea-
son of the year, was chiefly to oppose the
vanities and excesses which the heathen
indulged themselves in, upon their Saturna-
liaand calends ofJanuary at this very time of
the year. Precisely so.
The Puritans saw that Christmas was a
remnant of Paganism, and when in power
during the Long Parliament did their best to
suppress the festival. Ear-cropped Prynne,
inhis Histrio-Mastix, lets out infine style: If
we compare our Bacchanalian Christmases
and New Year's Tides with these Saturnalia
and Feast of Janus, we shall find such near
affinitybetween them both in regard of time
(they being both inthe end ofDecember and
the first of January) and in their manner of
solemnising (both of them being spent in
revelling, epicurism, wantonness, idleness,
dancing, drinking, stage plays, masques,
and carnal pomp and jollity), that we must
needs conclude the one to be but the very
ape or issue of the other. But Christmas
was too strong for the Puritans, and at the
Restoration the old festival was celebrated
with new vigor.
The custom of decorating houses with
evergreens, evident symbols of life contin-
ued through the dead of winter, prevailed
long anterior to Christianity. The Christian
Father Tertullian, early in the third century
affirmed it be rank idolatry to deck their
doors with garlands or flowers on festival
days according to the custom of the hea-
then. Polydore-Vergil says, the decorating
of temples with hangings of flowers, boughs,
and garlands, was adopted from the Pagan
nations, who decked their houses and tem-
ples in a similar manner. The Christmas
tree, derived from our Teutonic forefathers,
and carried through the world wherever
Teutons go, with its fruit of good things for
the little ones, is another sign of faith in
returning spring and harvest. The mistletoe
was regarded by the Druids as the seed
which carried over vegetative life from the
old year to the new. Hence, to kiss, and
pluck a seed, was a sign of lifeand fertility.
The infant Christ is as much a symbol of
the returning year as the holly or the
Christmas tree. The birthday of Christ is the
birthday of the new year. Just as they now
sing carols to the new-born king, so, in
ancient times, they sang carols to the vege-
tation itself, ofwhich Shakespeare's Heigh-
ho the holly is a remnant. I n the North they
carry round the Christmas tree, so the
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Southern Catholics carry round the infant
Christ with his mother. In English villages
this used to be the custom. Girls carried a
wax dollin a box surrounded with evergreen
and fruits. Whoever gave them money took
a leaf which, carefully preserved, brought
luck. This was good tidings of great joy, so
that there was a proverb, As unhappy as
the man who has seen no advent images.
So bakers would bake Yule doughs or little
images, with currants for eyes, which were
presented to their customers. These were
intended as images of the Newborn King,
and it was believed that he who preserved
his Yule dough unbroken all through the
year would not be injured by fire or water or
be slain by the sword.
Barnaby Googe thus refers to the old
midnight mass:
Then comes the day wherein the Lord
did bring his birth to passe;
Whereas at midnight up they rise and
every man to masse.
This time so holy counted is, that div-
ers, earnestly,
Do think the waters all to wine are
changed suddenly
In that same hour that Christ Himself
was born and came to light,
And unto water strait again trans-
formed and altered quite.
There are beside that mindfully the
money still do watch;
That first to the altar comes which
they privately do snatch.
The priests, least others should have
it, take oft the same away,
Whereby they think, throughout the
year, to have good luck in play,
And not to lose. Then strait at game
tilldaylight do they strive
To make some present proof how well
their hallowed pence willthrive.
That is to say, they first stole the money
from the altar, and then began to gamble
with it in church to prove its virtue as pro-
tecting them from loss. InSouth America, to
this day, they hold a cock-crowing mass on
Christmas. The young people at midnight
interrupt the priest with cock-crowings and
shouting, and after they leave the church
spend the time inrevelry. Googe thus refers
to the masses on Christmas Day:
Three masses every priest doth sing
upon that solemn day
With offerings unto everyone that so
the more may play.
This done, a woodden childe in
clowtes is on the altar set,
About the which both boys and girls
do dance and trimly jet
And carals sing in prayse of Christ,
and for to help them heare
The organs answere every verse, with
Page 12
sweet and solemn cheare.
The priests do rore aloud; and round
about the parentes stande,
To see the sport, and with their voice
do help them and their bande.
On Christmas morning, before break of
day, the greatest uproar prevailed through a
great number of boys going round from
house to house, rapping at
every
door, and
roaring out, I wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year which words were
vociferated again and again, till the family
was aroused, and the clamorous visitors
were admitted. Cole
(Hist. and Antiq. of
Filey,
p. 137), says: The first who came
were treated with money, gingerbread and
cheese, which are distributed to all on the
Christmas morning, but less liberally than to
the first comers. No person, boys excepted,
dared presume to go out of doors till the
threshold had been consecrated by the
entrance of a male. Females had no part in
this matter, for although a lady were as fair
as an angel, her form would be viewed as
prognostic of death, were she the first to
cross the threshold on Chrismas morning.
These customs of first footing and lucky-
birding are now transferred to the New
Year.
In Yorkshire children still go vessel-
cupping - as they call going round with the
box containing Christmas dolls, or images
taken from the mantelpiece. Please may we
sing you the 'Vessel-cup' they say; but
instead of singing the Wassail-cup, they sing
a Christmas carol. The box in old times
would sometimes contain a cup instead of
dolls. Drinking from the wassail bowl was a
pledge ofhealth and fortune. In some places
stillthe wassailling oforchards, pouring beer
or cider on the roots of trees at Christmas is
still maintained, a venerable fragment of
tree-worship. It was the custom in Devon-
shire, and probably inother counties also, to
perform the following ceremonial on Christ-
mas Eve. In the evening the farmer's family
and friends being assembled, hot wheat-
flour cakes were introduced, with cider. This
was served round, the cake being dipped in
the cider and then eaten. As the evening
wore on, the company adjourned to the
orchard, some bearing hot cake and cider as
an offering to the principal tree; the cake was
deposited on a fork up the tree, and the cider
thrown over it, the men firing off muskets,
fowling pieces, pistols, etc. In Norfolk they
sprinkled spiced ale
over
the orchards and
meadows, and inthe New Forest they mixed
apples with the drink, singing:
Apples and pears with right good corn
Come in plenty to everyone,
Eat and drink, good cake and ale
Give Earth to drink; and she'll not fail.
Eating the boar's head was a symbol ofthe
December, 1985
triumph over winter. The allegation that it
was done in abhorrence of the Jews is a
comparatively modern explanation. The old
Oxford carol, The boar is dead, explains
the symbol:
The boar is dead,
So here's his head,
What man could have done more
Than his head off to strike.
Meleager like,
And bring it as I do before?
He livingspoiled
Where good men toiled
Which made kind Ceres sorry;
But now dead and drawn
Is very good brawn,
And we have brought it for ye.
Then set down the swine yard,
The foe to the vineyard,
Let Bacchus crown his fall.
Let this boar's head and mustard
Stand for pig, goose, and custard,
And so ye are welcome all,
In the Odin Religion as Carlyle tells us in
his article in the Westminster Review,
October, 1854, Freir rode on a golden-
bristled boar,
Gullinburste;
his festival was
held at the turn of the year, at Yule-tide; and
is still commemorated in that season at
Oxford and other places, where 'the proces-
sion of the boar's head,' Freir's symbol, is
solemnised at Christmas time; a custom
really venerable, considering how far down it
has travelled on the road of ages
Plum puddings and mince pies are not, as
Brady says, In token of the offerings of the
wise men from the East, but representative
sacraments. They are compounds of the
good things of the past season, partaking
which would ensure prosperity for that ensu-
ing. Hence the saying, as many pieces of
pudding or mince-pie are partaken, so many
happy months. As the communion was orig-
inally taken by all the clan, to this may be
traced the family re-unions at the present
day.
Pantomimes are associated with Christ-
mas; and because the harlequinade is of
Latin origin some think they are quite mod-
ern. I hold that this and the common view
that the drama has grown from the miracle
plays of the Middle Ages is wrong. It has
been so usual to ascribe everything to the
Church, and this theory has been supposed
to reflect such credit upon the stage, that it
has been allowed to pass unchallenged. Yet I
am convinced this is a mistake. The Christ-
mas pantomimes have developed from the
court masques performed at Christmas, and
these again from the Yule-tide mummers,
who were long anterior to the miracle plays.
In Ben Johnson's
Christmas, His Masque,
two of the characters are taken by Minced
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Pie and Bride Cake, as in Shakespeare's
Midsummer Night's Dream we have the
personal representation not only of a lion
and a wall, but of moonshine. This takes us
back to the old idea ofmummery, which was
that of imitative magic. Both the Christmas
mummers and the miracle plays, developed
from a common source; the idea expressed
infestival ceremonies ofsavages, the buffalo
and other dances of North American Indi-
ans, and the carrying of the Bambino to
child-bearing women; the notion that the
representation of actions was a charm to
realise them. The Christmas mummers
wore the heads of animals. The principal
characters of the harlequinade represent
the four seasons. The harlequin with his
magically changing wand is the spirit of
spring. The gay dancing columbine is sum-
mer, the sausage-stuffing clown, autumn,
and tottering pantaloon, winter. The clown
also preserves features ofthe lord ofmisrule
and abbot ofunreason, a character probably
derived from the temporary kings, and ear-
lier than Christianity.
The following act of a pageant which
took place at Christmas 1410 is extracted
from the Records ofNorwich, and throws
light on the character of the festival. John
Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made disport
with his neighbours and friends, and was
crowned KingofChristmas. He rode instate
through the city, dressed forth in silks and
tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons as
the twelve months ofthe year. The Records
continue: After King Christmas, followed
Lent, clothed in white garments trimmed
with herring skins, on horseback, the horse
being decorated with trappings of oyster
shells, being indicative that sadness and a
holy time should followChristmas revelling.
I n this way they rode through the city,
accompanied by numbers in various gro-
tesque dresses, making disport and merri-
ment, some clad inarmor; others dressed as
devils chased the people, and sorely affright-
ed the women and children; others wearing
skin dresses and counterfeiting bears,
wolves, lions,and other animals, and endeav-
oring to imitate the animals they repre-
sented, in roaring and raving, alarming the
cowardly and appalling the stoutest hearts.
Stow in his Survey (37) says: At the
feast of Christmas there was in the king's
house, wheresoever he was lodged, a Lord
ofMisrule, or Master ofmerry disports, and
the like had ye in the house of honor or good
worship, were he spiritual or temporal.
Amongst the which the mayor of London,
and either of the sheriffs, had their several
Lords of Misrule, ever contending, without
quarrel or offence, who should make the
rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.
These lords beginning their rule on Allhallow
Eve, continued the same till the morrow
after the Feast ofthe Purification, commonly
called Candlemas Day. I n all which space
Austin, Texas
there were fine and subtle disguisings,
masks, and mummeries, with playing at
cards for counters, nails, and points, in
every house, more for pastime than for
gain. The lawyers also elected a Christmas
lord, and they had the usual shows per-
formed in their several Inns of Court. Their
lord was up early inthe morning hunting out
his officers, and pulling all the loiterers out
of bed to make their early sport, but after
breakfast the fun was suspended until the
evening, when itwas opened again day after
day with great spirit until the holidays ended.
The Judges attended every evening, and the
'under barristers' were bound to dance
before their lordships. On one occasion,
when this was omitted, the whole bar was
offended, and at Lincoln's Inn, the offenders
were by decimation put out of commons for
example's sake; and should the same omis-
sion be repeated, they were to be fined or
disbarred; for these dancings were thought
necessary 'as much conducing to the mak-
ing of gentlemen more fit for their books at
other times.'
When the old mysteries came to be
adopted bythe monks, they preserved some
curious features. There is one called The
Miraculous Birth and the Midwives, the
object ofwhich isto exhibit the Nativity, and
to hold up those to dishonor who ventured
upon questioning the purity of Mary. It
opens with a scene inwhich Joseph informs
Mary that they must go up to Bethlehem to
be taxed; but he fears to take her.
Myspowse ye be with childe; Iferyow
to kary;
For, me semyth, it wer' werkys
wylde:
But yow to plese, ryght fayn wold I:
Yitt women ben ethe to greve,
whan thei be with childe,
Now latt us forth wend, as fast as we
may,
& al myghty God spede us, in our
jurnay.
While they are on their journey, Mary espies
a tree, and inanswer to her question, Joseph
informs her that it is a cherry-tree. Alluding'
to her then condition, she asks him to pluck
freely for her eating, and urges that she longs
for some of its fruit. But Joseph says, Let
him pluck you cherries that gat you with
child. Mary now prays to God to make the
tree bow down so that she may pick for
herself, and immediately her wish isgranted.
When Joseph saw the tree bow, he humbled
himself. Then follows the staying in the sta-
ble, the bringing in of midwives, who make
speeches, and one of them - incredulous as
Thomas - declares that the story of the
other nurse, that Mary is a virgin pure
cannot be true, for which she immediately
loses the use of her arm, which falls dead
and dry. This alarms and convinces her,
she prays for pardon, her arm is restored,
and then she declares her resolve to publish
the wondrous birth unto all men. With this
the mystery terminates.
As kept us by the laity Christmas mum-
ming usually preserved features of old
nature worship. Father Christmas himself
was a popular character, or St. George, the
sun-god, many of whose features are like
those of Horus, was at the head of the seven
champions of Christendom, originally the
seven days of the week. But the merest
glance at Christmas customs should suffice
to show that Christmas was not instituted to
celebrate the birth of Jesus in Palestine at a
time when shepherds could not watch their
flocks by night, but Christ was said to have
been born at the time of the winter solstice,
since this was the Pagan season for celebrat-
ing the re-birth of the Sun.
from the December 1954 L i b e r a l
a Solstice
Ziditorial
® nce again we are about to be treated to the nauseating nonsense that has grown
up around the so-called Christmas. It has been commercialized to the Nth degree.
Stores are keeping open longer hours, with all kinds ofjunk offered the unwary as suitable
gifts to give to their relatives and friends. Central city streets are festooned with strings of
vari-colored incandescent lights, which bring revenue to the men who put them up and to the
lightingcompany. Street peddlers dangle toys under the noses ofpedestrians and tobacco-
chewing, rum-nosed Kris Kringles on every street corner ring bells, blow horns, and curse
the inclement weather. Radios and television sets monotonously blare about White Christ-
mases' Holy Nights, Noels, until both indoors and outdoors becomes a veritable bedlam.
Night clubs and hot spots of all kinds sell reservations to their shows which are eagerly
bought by the mobs who welcome a chance to celebrate. Office parties interrupt allbusiness
with plenty of booze and smootching [sic]. All of which fillsa lot of cash registers whose
owners would sadly miss the unholy Saturnalia. Christmas has, in fact, become one huge
swindle, and today's children hardly know whether it ' s the birthday of the Christchild [sic],
Santa Claus or Mr. R. H. Macy. Well, who cares anyhow?
December, 1985
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f r om T h e M e l t i n g P o t Vo lu m e I, Nu m ber I (J an u ary , 1913) -
~t's Awful to be a Hea th en
m e who have just celebrated once
~ more the birth of the founder of the
brotherhood ofman must realize how awful
it isto be a heathen and have no Christmas.
What does an ornery heathen know about
the Christmas song of Peace on earth,
good will towards men? Not a thing - the
cusses never hear of it till we pound it into
them with our missionaries and muskets.
Of course, this Peace on earth, good will
towards men comes high as a eat's back,
but we've got to have it in our business. It
takes three hundred milliondollars a year to
run our army and navy and buy guns and
ammunition, but our Christianity is dirt
cheap at that. The poor, wicked, God-
forsaken heathen couldn't do this to save
their gizzards - they couldn't raise the price
even if they wanted to do it - and how can
the Lord be expected to bless them with
brotherhood and peace and good will
when they haven't got plenty ofguns to back
it up?
And what do the unregenerated heathen
know about Suffer little children to come
unto Me when they haven't any big cotton
millsto gather the littlechildren inand make
them suffer?
The heathen have no Christmas - they
don't know a thing about Jesus, who was
born in a manger, and who gave us our
religion of the brotherhood of man. Even if
Jesus had been raised among them the
chances are they wouldn't have known
enough to crucify him as a sacrifice for their
own sins.
The heathen have no ideawhat Christmas
means; they have no brotherhood and good
will;no Standard Oil, Steel Trust, Supreme
Court, standing army, white slave traffic,
child labor, slums, landlords and mortgages,
or any of the other trimmings that go with
our Christianity. They don't even know
what suicide and crime and insanity are -
there are whole sections of heathen lands
without even a bughouse or penitentiary.
You can read Stanley's
Darkest Africa
and
you won't find a word mentioned about
these things.
As remarked, it's awful to be a heathen
and have no Christmas - no merry reo
minder of the birthday ofthe founder of our
brotherhood of man that we Christians
enjoy. We ought to be ashamed of our-
selves, especially along Christmas time, for
not saving the heathen a blamed sight faster
Page 14
than we do. We've prayed for over 1900
years for the kingdom of heaven to come on
earth, and outside of the United States and
Europe the world is still floundering along
without the blessed peace and brother-
hood ofman and good will. Hellis proba-
bly crowded already 'way out to the suburbs
with the lost heathen. It isn' t fair to ask God
to build hell any bigger in order to accom-
modate the rush, when we, if we only will,
can furnish the heathen with our salvation,
and at the same time more than get our
money back selling them embalmed meat,
shoddy clothing, boots, shoes and a tolera-
bly fair article of liquor.
Let us, who have just celebrated the
Christmas season, and who enjoy all the
blessings ofbrotherhood, etc., etc., that our
Christianity bestows on us, implore our
good brothers in the faith whom the Lord
has blessed with lots of stolen boodle, to
cough up more dough so more missionaries
can go forth to the heathen with our Christ-
mas carol of Peace on earth, good will
towards men. Let these miserable heathen
know that our gospel is free - all they have
to pay for are the shoddy goods and booze
that go with it. Show them how precious it is
to be saved and happy like we are. We may
have to shoot hell into them to do it, but
what else are you going to do with a lost
heathen that won't let us save him? We can
easily baptize what are left - water ischeap
- and that beats letting them allbe eternally
damned.
In the meantime we who are redeemed
and sanctified, and who are practicing the
brotherhood of man, and peace on
earth, and good will, and allthe rest ofthe
Christian virtues, can offer heartfelt prayer
and praise that we are God's chosen people.
We're saved all right any way - anybody
can see that from the way we are running
things.
f r o m th e March-Apr i l 1965
A g e o f R ea s o n
an es s ay b y J o s ep h L ew is -
JJesus C hr ist
or San ta C laus
It ? egularly, about this time of the year, a small group of over-zealous religionists
~\. get undue publicity by using the slogan Let's put Christ back into Christmas. Some
go so far as to have stickers on their cars. To this suggestion, I say, ifyou put Christ into
Xmas you will take the Joy out of the Yuletide season.
Xmas, as we know it today, was originally a Norwegian Festival of gift-givingand had
absolutely nothing whatever to do with the so-called birth of Christ. It was a day of
Celebration, after harvesting, when the days began to lengthen, giving vent to Joy that
darkness would not befall the earth. Scientifically it was the Winter Solstice.
In fact, there is not a particle of evidence whatever that December 25th is the birthday of
Jesus Christ. Ifsuch a person ever existed, the date of his birth is historically unknown.
When Christianity came into existence, the Festival of the Winter Solstice was widely
observed as it had been for centuries before and efforts were made to suppress this Pagan
Celebration. Some religionists, even today, deplore this celebration as sacriligious. The
early church fathers, unable to stop this joyous holiday, finallyappropriated itas the birth of
Christ No greater fiction was ever perpetrated
Santa Claus, that Jolly Good Fellow, is a non-sectarian character and knows no distinc-
tion of race, color or creed. He is a Harbinger of Good Cheer and Happiness and to replace
this symbolical Giver ofJoy with the crucified Jesus would, indeed, be a stark tragedy for the
world.
Put Christ in Xmas and take out Santa Claus ... NEVER
December, 1985
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a c las s ic b y Sh erm an W ak ef ie l d f ro m th e D ec em b er , 1948,
Pro qre ssio e -
« th e O r ig in o f C h r is tm as
V?r
he study oforigins isalways a fascinat-
\ j..
ing and interesting one, but when our
popular institutions and customs are under
consideration the interest is easily doubled.
Just now the Christian world ispreparing to
celebrate Christmas, one ofthe favorite fes-
tivalsof the Christian Church. Ifone were to
ask the average Christian the reason for the
celebration, he would undoubtedly reply
that it is the birthday of his Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ that isbeing observed. But, one
may ask, what have hearth-fires, green dec-
orations, mistletoe, and Santa Claus to do
with the birth of Christ? Itwas with the pur-
pose of answering such questions that this
article was written. However, their roots are
so varied and far-reaching, and their ramifi-
cations so many, that it will be possible to
sketch only in broad outline the motives
back of the chief present-day customs at
Christmas, and of some that are now
extinct.
From time immemorial the winter solstice
has been celebrated universally as the
Birthday of the Sun. Then it is that the days
begin to lengthen, and the power of the sun
to increase. As the sun inprimitive times was
usually personified and made into gods who
lived on earth in human form, we find that
such deities as Mithra, Osiris, Horus, and
Adonis were said to have been born on or
near December 25th, the day that was
believed to be the winter solstice. On this
day the Egyptians represented the newborn
sun by the image of an infant, which was
exhibited to his worshipers. Both in Syria
and Egypt the celebrants retired into certain
inner shrines the evening before, from which
they rushed at midnight crying: The Virgin
has brought forth The light is waxing
Since allthese deities were said to have been
born of a virgin it is hard to say what she
represented. Perhaps she was the Zodiacal
sign Virgo which began to appear at that
time, as Carpenter and others suggest. Be
that as itmay, there entered into the Roman
Empire during the latter part ofthe first cen-
tury of our era the cult of Mithra, a Persian
sun-god. From this time it grew so rapidly
that up to the end of the fourth century it
remained the foremost cult of paganism.
Mithra was regularly termed
Sol Inuictus
(the Unconquered Sun), and the 25th of
December was called Natalis Solis Inuicti
(Birthday ofthe Unconquered Sun). On this
Austin, Texas
day festal lights and fires were kindled to
celebrate the joyous occasion. It 'is signifi-
cant, as willbe indicated later, that Mithra-
ism became the most powerful rivalof Chris-
tianity, and very nearly the officialreligion of
the Roman Empire. If that had occurred,
undoubtedly the western world would now
be Mithraic rather than Christian.
A celebration of a different nature from
that of the Birthday of the Sun, was the
Saturnalia which was observed in Rome
from the 17th to the 23rd of December. It
was held in honor of Saturn, the god of sow-
ing and of husbandry, who was reputed to
have once lived on earth as a righteous and
beneficent king of Italy. His reign was called
the Golden Age, and during the celebra-
tion the conditions of that time were sup-
posed to be duplicated. All public business
was suspended, declarations of war and
criminal executions were postponed, and
friends gave presents to. one another. In
general, the occasion was one of feasting
and revelry. But the most remarkable fea-
ture of the celebration was the license
granted to the slaves. They were allowed to
rail at their masters, become intoxicated,
and were even waited upon at table by their
masters. Another phase of the Saturnalia
was the casting of lots bythe freemen for the
election ofa mock King, who may originally
have represented Saturn himself. He was
merely in charge of the festivities, however,
and issued playful commands to his tempo-
rary subjects to furnish entertainment.
Frazer is of the opinion that originally the
Kingin his part as Saturn was sacrificed, but
without settling the point it should be stated
that Fowler insists there isno evidence what-
ever that a human victim was sacrificed on
this occasion.
The sun was also worshiped by the Celtic
and Teutonic peoples, but it is impossible to
identify it with the names of any of their
deities. The winter solstice was celebrated
with fires, feasting, and rejoicing. In Scandi-
navia the festival was called Yule, and in
every house was performed the rite of burn-
ing the Yule log. This rite of the Yule log,
clog, or block, as it was variously called,
soon spread, so that wefindearly traces ofit
in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland,
England, and throughout Europe generally.
Among Christians it was sometimes given
the name of
Christbund
or
Christklotz.
December, 1985
There were various superstitions associated
with the Yule log, which were generally that
the fire had the power of inducing fertility.
For example, if a piece of the wood was
steeped in the water given the cows to drink,
it was believed it would help them to calve.
Some people thought they would have as
many chickens as there are sparks which fly
from the burning logwhen itisshaken. Itwas
also believed that if pieces of the Yule log
were kept throughout the year, they would
protect the house against fire, and especially
lightning. The purpose of the fires seem
primarily to have been to help the sun re-
kindle his apparently expiring light by magi-
cal influence. As a secondary object the fires
had the power to induce fertility, because
the sun had that power. The power to ward
off fire and especially lightning requires
further elaboration to explain.
The worship of the oak-tree or of the oak-
god appears to have been a common prac-
tice of the Indo-Europeans in Europe. In
Greece one ofthe most famous sanctuaries
was the oak of Zeus at Dodona, where the
deity delivered his messages to mankind. All
places which had been struck by lightning
were fenced in and dedicated to Zeus the
Descender. Altars were set up within these
enclosures and sacrifices were offered on
them. In Italy every oak was sacred to Ju-
piter, and in Rome he was worshiped as the
god of the oak, the rain, and the thunder.
Going northward, we find that the Druids
among the Celts of Gaul deemed nothing
more sacred than the oak, and they chose
oak groves for the scene of their services
and performed no rites without oak leaves.
In fact, the very name of Druids is believed
by good authority to mean nothing more
than oak men. Among the Teutons the
oak was especially sacred, and it was dedi-
cated to the god ofthunder, Donar, Thunar,
or Thor. Now the identification of this Teu-
tonic god with the Italian thunder-god, Ju-
piter, was made when the Latin dies Jouis
was rendered into Thunar's day or Thurs-
day. In view of the sacredness of the oak
among the Indo-Europeans, it is interesting
and significant that when a kind of wood is
specified for the Yule log itisusually oak that
is designated. Now the reason that the oak
tree was deemed sacred is the same for
which mistletoe was held in veneration as
the two are inseparably connected. Mistle-
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toe was considered sacred by the Druids
provided it grew on an oak tree, for they
believed that whatever grew on those trees
was sent from heaven, and was a sign that
the tree had been chosen by the god himself.
The mistletoe was ritually cut by a priest ina
white robe with a golden sickle, and was
caught in a white cloth so that it would not
touch the ground. It was believed that a
potion prepared from the mistletoe would
make barren animals fertile, and that itwas a
remedy for all poisons. In general, these
views regarding the mistletoe were also held
by the Italians. Evidence was lent to the view
that mistletoe had fallen from heaven by the
fact it is not a plant of the soil, and is found
onlyamong the branches oftrees. Mistletoe,
likethe Yule log, had the property ofprotec-
tion against fire, on the theory that it fellon
the tree during a flash of lightning. Another
great virtue of mistletoe was its ability to
afford protection against sorcery and witch-
craft. The mistletoe was viewed as the seat
oflifeof the oak, and it was thought that an
oak could not be injured or destroyed until
the mistletoe had first been cut from it. This
view was probably reached by the observe-
tion that in winter the oak was leafless while
the mistletoe remained green. On the other
hand, the connection of the oak with the
thunder god and with fire was probably an
inference based on the observation that the
oak is struck by lightning more frequently
than is any other tree. The mistletoe has the
added association with fireby the fact that it
turns a golden color allover when itwithers,
and for this reason itwas called 'The Golden
Bough.
Christmas, on December 25th, as the
celebration of the birth of Jesus, was a late
festival in the Christian Church. We first
hear of it through John Chrysostom about
the year 385, who calls it The birth ofChrist
after the flesh. He says It is not yet ten
years since this day became manifest and
known to us. He indicated further that it
was far from being generally accepted at that
time, and one may gather that eastern
Christendom was even opposed to it. This
reference to the new feast as of the birth
after the flesh
implies the existence of an
older feast to celebrate the birth of Jesus
after the spirit.
There was such a feast,
which was celebrated on January 6th, and
we call it today the feast of the Epiphany.
The original significance of the feast was to
celebrate the new birth of Jesus at his
baptism, when he was spiritually anointed
the messiah. For the early Christians, the
baptism was the great event in the life of
Jesus, and it didn't matter whether his
fleshly birth was natural or not. Because the
Christ was held to have been born in the
waters of the Jordan, he was symbolized as
a big fish, and Christians who had also been
reborn by baptism were called little fish.
What little notice was given to Jesus' birth
Page 16
after the flesh was celebrated with the fes-
tival of his spiritual birth on January 6th.
But as time went on the original significance
of the baptism was lost sight of, and Jesus
came to be regarded as having been the
Christ from his mother's womb. Hence the
miraculous birth became all-important, and
the celebration of another day than January
6th as the birthday after the flesh became
necessary. At the same time that old Epiph-
an explanation by Lee L. Dodds from
the December, 1947, issue of
T h e F reeth ink er
~hy
is C h r istm a s?
fiT
hristmas has been celebrated by the Christian Churches for nearly 1600years
\ J . - as the birthday of the Christ Jesus. Many willbe surprised by the mention of
1600years, as this isthe twentieth century. But, as a matter of fact, the church did
not adopt the 25th of December as the birth date until the year 354 A.D.
The exact date has never been definitely determined and even Mary, his mother,
did not remember, or did not reveal the date. Why then, was this particular date
selected? In the early days of the Christian era, allof the inhabitants of the Roman,
Greek and Egyptian world were familiar with the custom of a great celebration on
or about the 25th of December, in honor of the birth date of their particular God.
The early fathers ofthe Christian Church were having a difficulttime in their efforts
to supplant the old, or pagan religions and in pure self-defense, were compelled to
adopt many of the pagan holidays and ceremonies of those older religions. The
myth of a virgin birth for their heroes and Gods was a common belief of practically
all religions, for thousands ofyears before the time of Christ. Julius Caesar, Plato,
Alexander the Great, King Cyrus ofPersia, Apollonius and myriads ofothers were
supposed to be divinely conceived. As for the Gods, one did not amount to much if
he was not conceived ofa virgin. It would be impossible to list allof them, ifknown,
in an article of this scope. The most popular at the beginning of this era were
Mithra, Dionysos, Heracles (Hercules), Jupiter, and many other older Gods, too
numerous to mention.
Of the virgin mothers of Gods, who, after all, should be given some considera-
tion, we find such names as Venus, Danae (Diana), Isis, Apis, Cybele, Demeter,
Juno, Kore (Persephone), Ceres, Ino, Here (the Greek Juno), just to mention a
few. The fact ofthe intercourse of a God with mortal woman was conceded by all to
be a perfectly normal proceeding. In fact; a normal conception of a God would have
been considered abnormal. Such is the logic o f superstitious ignorance.
There is not a single precept or dogma of the Christian religion that cannot be
found inmost of the older, so-called pagan religions; especially so are the rites and
devotions ofthe birth inthe manger. This was just as much a part of the ritual as the
virginbirth itself. Itwas common to all the Gods, for thousands of years before the
time ofJesus. The Christian church adopted the whole myth, even to adopting the
cave in Palestine as their own, which had been, for centuries, used for the same
purpose by the Mithrians.
The basis of most ofthe older religions was Sun worship. Jupiter, Mithra, Horus,
etc. were descended from the sun, or sky father (Heavenly father). In making a
study of these various religions, we swim in a sea of myths that almost leaves us
dizzy. We find Christs and Christmases, virgin mothers and divine sons, stable
births and persecuting monarchs, annunciations and foster fathers throughout the
whole religious world, so that the whole story of Jesus dissolves away into a
mythical mosaic of ancient beliefs. Seriously, the idea of Sun worship would seem
to be the most logical of all forms of religious worship. It does not take any very
extended line of argument to convince us of what would happen ifour Sun should
suddenly happen to be blocked out. This short synopsis of the beginnings of the
Christmas celebration isabhorrent to the intelligence of this Atomic age. How long
willwe continue to poison the minds ofour children with these superstitious myths?
December, 1985
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any feast took on the new significance of
commemorating the visit ofthe Wise Men to
Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus. In time,
however, the Wise Men were identified with
three mythical kings variously called Maga-
lat, Galgalat, and Saraim, or Athos, Sates,
and Paratoras. The Christians called them
Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These
kings were probably the three bright stars
forming the belt in the constellation of
Orion, for the name Trois Rois is com-
monly given to these stars by French and
Swiss peasants to this day. Thus originated
the familiar Three Kings of Orient in
Christian tradition, as there is no Biblical
authority for regarding the Wise Men as
kings or for fixingtheir number at three. The
Star of the East was merely the inclusion
of pagan astrological beliefs in the Christian
story. Itwas the star under which the Christ
was born.
Why the 25th day of December was
selected for the celebration ofChrist's birth,
when it was changed from January 6th, is
clearly set forth by an early Syrian Christian
as follows (quoted inFrazer,
Adonis,
1:304):
The reason why the fathers trans-
ferred the celebration of the 6th of
January to the 25th of December was
this. Itwas a custom of the heathen to
celebrate on the same 25th of De-
cember the birthday of the Sun, at
which they kindled lights in token of
festivity. In these solemnities and fes-
tivities the Christians also took part.
Accordingly when the doctors of the
Church perceived that the Christians
had a leaning to this festival, they took
counsel and resolved that the true
Nativity should be solemnized on that
day and the festivalof the Epiphany on
the 6th of Janury [sic]. Accordingly,
along with this custom, the practice
has prevailed of kindling fires tillthe
sixth.
Hence with the Christian acceptance of the
pagan winter solstice celebrations, there
entered into Christianity the customs of
lighting candles and giving presents, which
have persisted to the present time. How-
ever, the celebration ofChrist's birth on the
25th of December is not universal among
Christians even today, for the Armenians
still celebrate his birth and baptism together
on Epiphany, the 6th ofJanuary.
We now enter upon another branch ofthe
modern Christmas celebration. St. Nicholas
was born at Patara in Lycia, Asia Minor,
about the beginning of the fourth century
A.D. He became the Christian Bishop of
Myra. His historicity is doubted, however,
and his name is thought to be the Christian
title ofthe Greek god Apollo, whose worship
was very popular in Patara during the third
century. Be that as it may, various legends
grew up about him showing him to be the
Austin, Texas
patron saint of children. St. Nicholas has
always had two festival days; one on May
9th, the day of the Thargelia of Apollo, and
December 6th. So when the split came
between the Eastern and Western Christian
churches, the Eastern Church retained May
9th as St. Nicholas Day while the Western
Church accepted December 6th. As far
back as 600 or 700 years ago it became the
custom for children to hang up their stock-
ings or shoes on the eve of December 6th,
and to findthem filledwithcandy and toys in
the morning, which had been placed there
by the good St. Nicholas. Up to about 200
years ago St. Nicholas was the most popular
saint in Christendom. He was especially
beloved in Holland, and there he received
the popular nickname ofSanta Claus; Nico-
laus, the Low Dutch for Nicholas, being
abbreviated to Claus, and Santa being cor-
rupt Latin for Saint. But the Santa Claus that
weknow today, coming on Christmas eve, is
a late American creation, for he was origi-
nated in 1823 by the Rev. Clement Clarke
Moore, in his famous poem The Night
Before Christmas. The American Santa
Claus is now accepted universally.
There remain a few more Christmas cus-
toms to be considered. Decking houses and
churches with evergreens seems to have
been a pagan custom which the early Chris-
tians were sometimes forbidden to imitate.
We first hear of a Christmas tree in 1605 at
Strasbourg, and as late as 1840 it was intro-
duced into England and France. We have
already considered the sacredness of the
mistletoe to the pagans, so we are not sur-
prised to find it in Christianity. The tradi-
tional privilege allowed to men ofkissing any
woman found under mistletoe is probably a
relic ofa period oflicense likethe Saturnalia,
or perhaps of a custom similar to the rite of
Mylitta at Babylon. The first man to hymn
the nativity was Prudentius, in the fourth
century. The degeneration of the Miracle
Plays in the Middle Ages occasioned the
general diffusion ofnoels, pastorali, and car-
ols. The earliest German Weihnachtslieder
date from the eleventh and twelfth centu-
ries, the earliest noels from the eleventh cen-
tury, and the earliest carols from the thir-
teenth century. The general giving of pres-
from the November-December,
1965 Rationalis t of South Africa -
he wishes well, however much they may be
lost in obscurantism. How can he maintain
his rational principles and at the same time
respond graciously to the kindness of his
friends? This is perhaps the smallest of the
problems of daily lifewhich beset the intran-
sigeant freethinker.
To decide not to send any cards is a nega-
tive attitude and one which has no great
propaganda value; moreover, it may be
attributed to meanness. But freethinkers
above all else are not joy-killers and have no
wish to be so reputed. They are not mean in
matters ofcakes and ale and mistletoe. Also
the home-made greeting card, even not par-
ticularly wellexecuted, may give more plea-
sure than ninety-and-nine handsome printed
cards. So let us either send cards issued in
aid of some cause or devise our own cards,
saying, with no religious leit-motif, some-
thing of our good wishes for the new year.
Suggestions: Wishing you a wonderful
year, or Here's to 1966 or Wishing you
happy inevery new year Hackneyed? Yes,
indeed. It's up to you to invent your own
messages and trim them with your own
cheerful designs.
W h ose C hr is tm a s
Ca rd s
~
wry joke in Punch: None of these
cards seems to strike the right note of
ogus cordiality towards a person whose
birthday you basically don't care about
(drawing by Handelsman), reminds us ofthe
Christmas greeting problem.
This affairof Christmas cards has become
an elaborate, costly and largely meaningless
racket. Creators of designs, paintings,
sketches and of those touching little verses,
are already hard at work for Christmas,
1966, even while you and I are coping with
December, 1965. The thing is a snowball
which gathers moss as it rolls through the
years.
Many people are revolted by the gross
commercialism of this flood of conventional
greetings. And, revolted, we may revolt. I
am not sending cards this year. But, as the
cards arrive and pile up on the mantelpiece,
resolution wavers. Who willbe a mean cur-
mudgeon in the midst of so much goodwill?
We end by slipping out, when the best
designs have been sold, to buy ofthe poorer
remnant cards and post them hastily.
For rationalists the problem isdifficultina
special way. Even the rationalist has friends
whose good wishes he values and to whom
December, 1985
Page 17
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ents at Christmas is a
survival
of the Satur-
nalia; the Yule log is derived from our Teu-
tonic ancestors, as has been indicated. Alto-
gether the celebration of Christmas is so
thoroughly pagan that throughout its history
it has been condemned by conservative
Christians. Its observance being forbidden
inEngland by a special Act of Parliament in
1644, isperhaps the outstanding instance of
that. But the custom willprobably continue
as long as the human race lasts, for it seems
to be a general human tendency to rest and
enjoy oneself at the time of the winter
solstice.
a s l ig ht l y d i f feren t So ls t ic e s ub jec t b y C hr is to p her M orey , c o ur tes y
o f th e Dec em ber 26, 1970, Freethinker o f G reat B r i ta in -
~ing-Dong Merrily Below
f
fyou live near a church it isquite likely
c D your peace was disturbed the other
evening as the faithful eagerly assembled to
devour their Saviour the moment his mother
had been delivered of him.
The ringing of bells for this midnight ritual
reminds us they have been associated with
the Church almost from its inception. One
writer even claims that there is no trust-
worthy evidence of the use of really large
bells before the dawn of Christianity and
they owe their existence to Christian influ-
ences. Like most claims that Christianity is
uniquely superior, this one is misleading.
The bells referred to own their existence not
to Christian influences but to a techno-
logical advance.
Bellsor similar objects have been used for
religious purposes ever since man fell into
such beliefs, because they made a loud noise
which was thought to frighten offevilspirits.
Bishop Latimer was pleased to note in 1552
that there was hardly a spot in England
where bells could not be heard, and con-
sequently where one would be likely to
encounter the devil. If you are wondering
why large bells, being religious ornaments of
such superstitious potentiality, are so littlein
evidence inRoman Catholic churches inBrit-
ain' it must be remembered that until 1926
they were forbidden by Law from having
bells. Elsewhere they have not been so
hampered; as late as 1852inMalta the bells
were rung in the hope of abating a violent
storm.
Effective Witness
One imagines that religious people no
longer believe the ringing of bells to be so
efficacious.
However,
it is still claimed that
they have a public religious function apart
from the now largely redundant means of
summoning potential worshippers to an
impending service. The Dean of St. Paul's
thinks that sinners would be impressed if
bellringers were let loose to ring the bells
whenever they wanted, and the Bishop of
Derby considers bells the most effective
external witness the Church has
ever
had.
Page 18
The rector of Stoke-on-Trent in a sermon
preached in 1967 described ringers as
knights in shining armour sounding trum-
pets in a sinful world.
Although the views expressed by these
reverend gentlemen are occasionally reiter-
ated by ringers themselves, it is doubtful to
what extent they take their role as church-
wardens seriously. Itwas certainly not their
role in the past, or likely to be in the future.
From the middle ofthe sixteenth century
ringing became very popular as a means of
exercise. Such was the enthusiasm for
ringing that in 1602 the Duke of Stettin
Pomerania noted inhis diary: On arriving in
London we heard a great ringing of bells in
almost all the churches, going on very late in
the evening. We were informed that the
young people do that for the sake ofexercise
and amusement, and sometimes they pay
considerable sums as a wager, who willpulla
bell the longest, and ring it in the most
approved fashion.
Later, while the puritan
revolution
was
fixing men's minds on religious matters, a
development in the ringing of bells was hav-
ing the opposite effect among ringers.
Technical Development
For the first time the bellrope was at-
tached to a wheel fixed at right-angles to the
axis about which the bellrotates.
Previously
a halfor three-quarter wheel had been used.
The use ofa complete wheel enabled the bell
to swing full circle, by which ismeant, not
over
and
over,
but swinging from being
mouth upwards round to being in that
position again and then swinging back.
Because with each swing the bell is ap-
proaching the point ofbalance its
movement
can be controlled more precisely, and this
made possible the development of change
ringing.
This development demanded greater
mental and physical agility by ringers, and
led to an increase inpopularity of ringing for
its own sake. Ringers and the Church ig-
nored one another. Puritan clergy were
reluctant to have bells rung for services,
December, 1985
except to indicate when a sermon was to be
preached, and John Bunyan gave up ringing
as vain. It was at this time that the first
significant ringing societies were formed.
Their rules were modelled on those of the
guilds and were completely secular. It is
remarkable that in an age of such concern
about religion the rules of these societies
should contain no more than the odd refer-
ence to the Divine Being, and certainly no
religious
objectives.
I n 1668the first treatise
on change ringing [was] written by a lover
of that art (probably Richard Duckworth,
rector of Hartest, Suffolk). From his work
you would not guess that any god existed, or
even that bells were hung in churches. In
1684 ringing was recommended by the
author of The School of Recreation along
with hunting, racing, hawking, riding, cock-
fighting, fowling, fishing, shooting, bowling,
. tennis and billiards as a suitable recreation
for the gentry ofEngland. (Areference to the
Church was expunged from later editions.)
In the countryside, ringers acquired a
reputation for drunkenness and the exis-
tence ofringers' jugs ofup to sixteen quarts
capacity tends to support the view that the
ringing chamber was an extension of the
alehouse. However one writer+ reminds us
that: People at large of that time would be
no more shocked by such things than by the
burning of old women reputed to be
witches. (Indeed, drunkenness is under-
standable in view of that particular religious
observance.) The country ringer would
celebrate such secular feasts as Pancake
Day, Easter, May Day, Harvest Home and
Christmas, and the ringingof bellsmarked a
local win at a cockfight or horse race.
Politically Motivated Ringers
By the early nineteenth century, ringers
had acquired a certain political awareness.
I n 1820 a peal was rung for the acquittal of
Queen Caroline. The passing ofthe Reform
Act in 1832was celebrated by the ringers at
High Wycombe, who some days later de-
dined to ringfor the annual
visitation
of their
bishop, who had voted againsf the billin the
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House of Lords. But at this time ringingwas
in decline, and before any revival could take
place on a secular basis the Oxford Move-
ment decided that bells had an ecclesiologi-
cal function. Several devices were adopted
to bring ringers into the orbit ofthe Church.
One was to extend the ropes so that ringing
took place on the ground floor inside the
church. Another was to force ringers to
leave the belfry through the church by
blocking up the tower doorway. Some
ringers resisted, as at Thurnby, Leicester-
shire, where in 1862 they were imprisoned
for breaking into the tower after the vicar
had locked them out. Most ringers recog-
nised that this sudden interest in them on
the part of the clergy meant that money was
available for badly needed restoration
work.
Organisations
Itwas at the end ofthe nineteenth century
that the ringing associations which exist
today were founded, usually based on a dio-
cese with an ecclesiastic as patron or presi-
dent, and often a cleric as elected chairman.
In 1891 the Central Council of Church Bell
Ringers was formed with its first object, to
promote ... the exercise both inits scientific
aspect and as a branch of Church work.
That it has succeeded in the first aim of this
is beyond doubt, but itis very difficult to tell
to what extent the second part is not just a
way of salving the collective conscience for
accepting the Church's unwitting generosity
in providing a fascinating hobby free of
charge. Although the number ofAtheist ring-
ers is small (Iknow of onlyone), the number
who could accurately be described as
church workers is not large. Those who
climb the tower steps in search of church
work often turn out to be persistent but
incompetent ringers. It is interesting that
when a tower captain wrote to the Ringing
World
this year saying he refused to teach
someone who would not be confirmed, the
ensuing correspondence comprised one let-
ter of three lines supporting his action, and
(although some made religious noises) six
condemning it. It is likely, too, that the
increasing number of university students
who take up bellringing willbe disinclined to
accept Christianity.
At present there are onlyten secular rings
of bells in this country. It is to be hoped,
therefore, that when religionjoins witchcraft
inintellectuallimboland, as many as possible
of the churches which are preserved for
their architectural merits willbe available for
the performance of this minor art-form. It is
possible to control the sound ofbells so that
it annoys no one, but in the meantime the
Church prefers to imagine that when a ring-
er sets his bell he is likely to remark: I bet
that impressed those sinners.
Austin, Texas
Bibliography
1. G. S. Tyack, A
Book About Bells,
p. 6.
2. Ringing
World,
1970, p. 911.
3. Ringing
World,
1970, p. 792.
4. E. Morris, History
and Art of Change
Ringing, p. 61.
for the stamp fans, a little something by
George Rulf from the
Freethinker
of
December 5, 1970
J lh i l ate l ic Fu n
£
ike our policemen, our Yuletide postage sta,?ps are wo.nderful. According to the Po~t
Office's official blurb, this year's three Winter Solstice stamps ---:beg pardon, It
should, of course, be Xmas stamps - are allin a religious vein. However, Itwas not stated
whether this vein was, perhaps, somewhat diseased and whether it should not really come
under notifiable diseases. Anyhow, the information was that the motifs had been taken from
the de Lisle Psalter of the Arundel Collection in the British Museum.
Cunningly suppressed was the rather astonishing fact that the depicted three scenes were
already, at least, 2,000 years old
before
the New Testament was concocted, for they
appeared already on the Temple walls at Luxor, Egypt, round about 1705 B.C. There, one
can see the so-called Nativity scenes, uiz., the angel's announcement to the shepherds
tending their flocks inthe fields; the annunciation of the angel to the virgin;the adoration of
the infant by the three Magi; and the nativity scene itself. .
Inother words millennia Be the Egyptian mythology used already the symbohsm of the
birth of a baby, much in the
same
way as we use the figure of a youngster at the side of Old
Father Time.
Unfortunately, the priestly falsifiers of the New Testament ~urned alle~orical ~gures into
historical ones, and thereby saddled the Western World WIth the white man s burden,
namely: the impossible figure of a saviour who cannot save and a redeemer who does not
redeem, despite ecclesiastical assurances to the contrary. .
On the fourpenny stamp (whichwillbe the last special stamp issued at such a cheap price),
can be seen a robust angel, trailinga banner with the words
Gloria
in
Excelsis Deo
- Glory
to God inthe Highest - which must have frightened the poor sheep no end, for they can be
seen jumping higher than any goalkeeper. .
The fivepenny stamp shows the nativity scene with the recumbent godd~ss ISIS(Mary).o.n
a delivery-couch, with the newly-born baby Horus (Jesus) ina manger, whilst the god Osiris
(Joseph) sits nearby with a troubled mien. In the background can be seen the heads of an ox
and an ass. These two animals belong to the Egyptian mythos as Yorkshire pudding belongs
to roast beef. The ass's head was the symbol of the Messiah - not an irreverent joke in bad
taste but sober fact for Anup was the ass-headed god of the Egyptians. That is why the
Gospel Jesus was
portrayed
as riding on an ass - and, according to one version, even
astride an ass and her foal, a very clever circus act which must have impressed the populace
immensely .
On the tomb ofRameses VIcan be seen the Sungod riding into fullgloryon the back ofthe
dark moon. This was turned into a phantom Messiah's triumphal entry into Jerusalem
(Aarrw-Salem
or Fields of Peace), which scenario should have come
after
?is de~t?
The masculine bull (or ox) symbolised creation and was part of the Egyptian religion and
greatly venerated. The Israelites must have liked it too and the so-called golden calf'
aroused the great anger of Moses. Actually, it was a brass figure of Taurus, the Bull, the
well-known sign ofthe zodiac, which dominated that particular era. This was followed by the
age ofAries, the lamb which played such a great part in early Christian symbolism, so much
so, that the lamb was equated to an imaginary saviour and often invoked in hymns and
prayers.
Byfar the best stamp isthe one shilling-sixpence one, portrayi~g a sit~ing.Mary,showinga
rather too prominent spot of rouge on her cheek. But the funniest thing ISthe way she IS
holding the holy infant who, for all the world, looks likea ventriloquist's dummy The three
Kings, who are seen offering presents to the newly born baby, ~ere already a feature of
Egyptian mythology thousands of years before the alleged ev~nt In the gos~ls. However,
pietistic philatelists willbe pleased to have another set of yuletide stamps, SUItablyadorned
with the Queen's head in gilt which seems to say: We are not amused
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Peter Crommel in s commentary from the December 23, 1972,
issue of Great Bri tain s
F re e t h i n k e r
<TIh eD ick en sian Christm as
7 1
or more than a hundred years the
C genial humour and humanism of
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has contri-
buted much to the festivity of an English
Christmas. It is for this reason that I have
selected 25 December as the best day in the
year for celebrating the coming of Dickens
into the world. Having recently read
The
Misery
of Christianity
(a plea for a humanity
without God) byJoachim Kahl, Ihave come
to the conclusion that the coming ofDickens
is worthy of joyful celebration.
The joy of Christmas may come to be
associated more with the death of the Chris-
tian faith rather than with its apparent surviv-
al in an unbelieving world. The Dickensian
point of view is essentially that of a good-
tempered humanist livingin what purports
to be a Christian community and making the
best of it, without much inner conviction
that Christianity is really contributing any-
thing worth having to the better distribution
of health and happiness here on earth. The
strategic genius of Dickens enabled him to
avoid any direct confrontation either with
science or theology, but he demonstrates
fairlyconvincingly that the human individual
can and must be able to live his or her own
life without too much dependence on any
external. As science and theology must inev-
itably be external to the individual, they only
appear as shadows from the Dickensian
point of view.
Dickens makes no attempt to see any-
thing from a purely scientific or from a purely
theological point of view. He always tries to
see things from the human point ofview, and
that means infact from the point of viewofa
specific individual in one particular and well
defined set of circumstances. Ifthere is a god
in Dickens it is not the God of Christian
theology; and ifthere is Atheism inDickens
itis not the kind ofAtheism that might result
from overabsorption in physics or chem-
istry.
Natural Genius
Dickens was no philanthropist; he was a
professional writer who achieved wealth and
fame in the full exploitation of his natural
genius. More than a hundred years after his
death, a multitude of readers have cause to
be glad that he did not fail in his self-
appointed task of making a geniune contri-
Page 20
but ion to the literature of humanity. Ido not
say that this ismore important than the liter-
ature of science or the literature of philos-
ophy, but it is
equally
important.
Dickens was the greatest comic writer of
all times, but like all masters ofcomedy was
well aware that lifeis not all fun and games.
Even now, Dickensian poverty has not been
totally extinguished by Social Security. The
nastier characters created by Dickens can
still be found from time to time in public
positions and institutions; they may be a bit
of a joke, but rather a poor joke as far as
their victims are concerned. The Guilty
Governments who contributed to the con-
version of Scrooge were not perhaps en-
tirely figments of the Dickensian imag-
ination.
As a secular humanist, however, Dickens
was not infallible. He makes Scrooge cele-
brate his conversion to humanity by going to
church on Christmas morning: that was a
mistake. In vulgar parlance, He didn't
ought to 've done that. Going to church as a
duty creates an unpleasant smell of cant,
hypocrisy, and humbug. Dickens and
Scrooge shared the same hatred of hum-
bug. So going to church is certainly not
necessary to the celebration of a Dickens
Christmas.
Nor is the eating of meat. When one
thinks of the millions of livingorganisms that
are maltreated from the moment of birth to
the moment ofdeath simplyto provide nour-
ishment for the human species, one begins
to feel that far more encouragement should
be given to the vegetarian habit. By eating
meat I deprive myself to some extent of the
right to protest against the vicious cruelty of
those who spend their working lifein tortur-
ing living organisms for the cause of scien-
tific research. The end desired is excellent;
the means employed are a disgrace to
human nature, and are for this reason a
crime against humanity. A similar crime
against humanity iscommitted bythose who
torture the human organism in order to
induce total submission to some form ofmil-
itary or political dictatorship. If by eating
meat we place ourselves on the same moral
level as cannibals, torturers or murderers,
then it is high time that we all became
vegetarians.
I am very glad that the ethical objections
to the eating of meat do not apply to the
December, 1985
drinking of alcohol. Beers, wines and spirits
are all much more conducive to human
happiness than the eating of meat, and are
much less costly interms ofanimal suffering.
It would be difficult to imagine the celebra-
tion of a Dickens festival with nothing
stronger to drink than milk and water.
Dickens, the Bible and Shakespeare
The greatness of Charles Dickens can
only be measured by comparison and con-
trast with such literary entities as the Bible
and Shakespeare. The Bible is sometimes
called The Good Book : it presents the
human race as something which, apart from
a Chosen Few, is fit only for eternal damna-
tion. God, we are assured again and again,
willhave no mercy on his enemies.
The morality of Shakespeare is better
than that of the Bible but not so good as
Dickens. For Shakespeare, all the world isa
stage, and men and women are merely act-
ing out a play that is not oftheir own making.
This really is a most unsatisfactory concept
of the real world. A good man is something
much more important than a good actor,
and a bad man issomething infinitely worse
than a bad actor. A novel, no doubt, isa sort
ofstage but isone inwhich the author can be
much more true to life and down to earth
than one who works within the narrow con-
ventions ofthe theatre. Certainly the novels
of Dickens have done much more to stimu-
late the social conscience than the plays of
Shakespeare.
The works of Dickens (not excluding his
history of England for children) are the writ-
ten record of his own personal genius. They
also provide a unique course of study in the
art and science of being human. That I take
to be the essence of all that we call secular
humanism.
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f ro m R. J C on d on an d th e Dec em ber 23, 1972, F r e e t h in k e r
J t fo l low ing
Yond e r Star
< 7 7 r
he stable of Bethlehem, with its Holy
\ . J .
Family, its ox and ass, the adoring
Magiand their shining star, has always been
the most appealing feature of the gospel
story, appreciated as poetry even when its
historical truth is no longer acceptable. So
far as the Star in the East is concerned,
theologians have proved more ready than
astronomers to concede its unreality. In
1605the great Kepler announced that a con-
junction ofJupiter and Saturn had occurred
in7B.C.~and this was widelyaccepted as the
wonderful star. In 1892 an astronomer
named Stockwell argued in favour of the
conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in 6 B.C.
More recently Biela's Comet has been pro-
posed; with an unusually short periodicity of
seven years itcould wellhave been visible at
the time ofthe Nativity, assuming there was
such an event. Believing astronomers have
never thought it odd that the Star, after trav-
ellingwestwards to Jerusalem, turned south
to Bethlehem and then stood still
Borrowings from Earlier Mythology?
Stars heralding the births of gods and
great men were a mythological common-
place. The birth ofBuddha was said to have
been announced in the heavens bythe rising
of an unusual star, by which wise men
known as holy rishis were informed of the
event. Stars signalled the births of Krishna
and Lao-Tsze, and of Moses and Abraham
inJewish legend. The Persian Zend-Avesta,
compiled long before the Christian era,
attributes a remarkable prophecy to Zo-
roaster. It reads:
You, my children, shall be the first
honoured by the manifestation ofthat
divine person who is to appear in the
world. A star shall go before you to
conduct you to the place of his nativ-
ity, and when you shall find him, pre-
sent to him your oblations and sacri-
fices, for he isindeed your lord and an
everlasting king.
That the gospel writer knew ofthis proph-
ecy and applied it to Jesus is likely enough,
but there isa parallel to the story ofthe Magi
inRoman history which may have suggested
some ofthe details inthe Matthew version of
the legend. Pliny, in his Natural History,
mentions that the Parthian king Tiridates,
Austin, Texas
attended by Magi, paid a visit to Nero. Dio
Cassius, writing about 220 A.D. adds the
following:
Tiridates ... was driven inthe chariot
which Nero had sent to him ... And
bending his knee to the earth and lift-
inghis hands, he called him [Nero] his
lord and worshipped him For he
spoke thus: I, my lord, am thy
slave. And Iam come to thee as to my
God, worshipping thee, even as Mith-
ras ... But Tiridates did not travel
back by the way he had come . . .
[compare Matthew 2:1·12].
Since the first two chapters of Matthew are
generally acknowledged to be late additions
to the gospel, direct borrowing from Dio
Cassius cannot be ruled out; more probably
both the historians and deutero-Matthew
drew from an earlier account no longer
extant.
The Massacre of the Innocents
When the Magiarrived, neither Herod nor
all Jerusalem knew anything of the birth of
Jesus, although according to Luke 2:15-17
shepherds from Bethlehem, fivemiles away,
had been busy spreading the news. Herod's
reaction to the inquiry: Where is he that is
born King of the Jews? was to order the
killing of all the infants - of both sexes
apparently - in and around Bethlehem, an
atrocity which would have been avoided had
the Star conducted the Magi directly to the
birthplace. Josephus, whorecords the many
misdeeds of Herod, omits this, by far the
worst ofthem. The Massacre ofinnocents is
of course unhistorical; its Old Testament
prototype isExodus 1:15·22.The gospel writ-
er may also have known the tradition pre-
served in Josephus
(Antiquities
2:9:2) that
Pharaoh gave the command to killthe Israel-
ites' male children after a scribe had pre-
dicted the birth of a boy who would one day
become dangerous to him. Both massa-
cres are variations ofwhat has been termed
the myth of the dangerous child. Krishna
and Jason survived similar holocausts, and
tradition has it that the life of the infant
Abraham was sought by KingNimrod, who
had all the children ofBabylonia slaughtered
as the result ofa prophecy that a rivalwould
be born there.
December, 1985
Roman history records a threatened
massacre of innocents shortly before the
Christian era. Suetonius, inhis
Life
o Augus-
tus, says: Julius Marathus tells us that a few
months before the birth ofAugustus a prod-
igy occurred in a public place at Rome,
whereby the announcement was made that
Nature was to present the Roman people
with a king, whereupon the Senate, being
alarmed, decided that no child born in this
year might be brought up. But those whose
wives were with child, since each one of
them applied the hope to his own case, took
care that the Senate's decision should not
acquire the force of law. Suetonius also
relates that Augustus's mother Atia, before
conceiving him, dreamed she was visited by
Apollo in the shape of a serpent, as a result
of which Augustus was reputed to be a son
of the god.
The 'Saviour' Augustus
There is a strong presumption that who-
ever inserted the birth story inLuke's gospel
- like Matthew it originally began with the
third chapter - made use of phrases from
inscriptions announcing the salvation
brought to the world by the birth of Augus-
tus, during whose reign Jesus is said to have
been born. One, from Prienne inAsiaMinor,
reads:
Now, when that Providence which
guides allthings inour lifereawakened
emulation and zeal, and conferred on
our lifethe most perfect ornament by
granting to us Augustus, and for the
well-being ofmankind (to men a good
pleasure) filled him with virtue and
sent him to us and to our offspring to
be a saviour, destined to make every
war to cease ... the birthday of this
god is become the beginning of glad
tidings regarding him for the world ...
Many such inscriptions have been found,
and the wording ismuch the same inall. One
from Halicarnassus calls Augustus the sav-
iour of the whole human race ... for peace
prevails on earth ...
Fortunately for biblical research, the
Church Fathers, relying on human credu-
lity, never thought it necessary to destroy
this damning historical material.
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NEWS ND OMMENTS
(cont'd. from page 6)
ing you of my decision. Both of you
filed your briefs in accordance with
the time schedule established, but as a
result of a breakdown in communica-
tions between the Clerk's Office and
myoffice,Iwas not aware until recent-
ly that the briefs had been filed.
In order to explain my decision, a
brief recitation of what I view as the
relevant facts would appear to be
appropriate.
Mr. Via acquired a Communi-
plate reading ATH-EST from the
Division of Motor Vehicles in 1982.
Mr. Via is an atheist, and he acquired
this particular license plate for the
purpose of publicly expressing his
views. An unnamed citizen, claiming
to be offended by this license plate,
registered a formal complaint with the
Division ofMotor Vehicles in 1985.As
a result of this complaint, the Division
is attempting to repossess this plate.
The DMV has offered to give Mr. Via
another Communiplate or, in the
alternative, issue a regular license
plate and refund the extra fee to him.
The sale of Communiplates gener-
ates substantial revenue for the Com-
monwealth. The popularity of these
plates is increasing annually, and the
plates are aggressively marketed by
the Division.
The Commissioner has appointed
an informal committee to regulate the
permissible content of these plates.
So far as is relevant to this case, the
Commissioner maintains that he will
permit no Communiplate express-
ing any type of religious belief. The
weight of the evidence would tend to
support the Commissioner's position
on this point, although he apparently
has tried to draw some distinction
between gods he categorizes as myth-
ologicaland those which do not fitinto
this category. The Commissioner
openly admits that license plates
which violate his policy have been
issued by accident. In those cases,
nothing is done until a complaint is
received.
By statute, every motor vehicle to
be operated on the highways of this
State must be registered. Section
46.1-41 of the Code of Virginia. The
Division ofMotor Vehicles is required
to furnish license plates to every
owner whose motor vehicle is regis-
tered, and that motor vehicle cannot
be operated without those license
plates being displayed. Section 46.1-
99. The only statutory requirement
Page 22
for these license plates and decals is
that they display the name of the
state, the registration number as-
signed to that motor vehicle and the
year or month and year issued, and
that these plates be clearly visible.
The license plates and decals issued
by the Division remain the property of
the Division. Section 46.1-102.With a
few exceptions (see e.g. Sections
46.1-104.1 through 46.1-105.13), the
decision as to whether to issue any
Communiplates at all is left to the
discretion of the Commissioner. Sec-
tion 46.1-105.2(a). Considering these
Sections together, it is apparent that
any license plate issued remains the
property ofthe Division, and that the
make-up of the plates issued is left
almost entirely to the discretion ofthe
Commissioner. Accordingly, it is my
opinion that no person has any statu-
tory right to any particular license
plate.
AsMr. Ellerson so very ably demon-
strated, the Virginia Constitution and
Statute ofReligious Freedom afford to
the citizens of this Commonwealth
absolute freedom from governmental
influence upon their beliefs and opin-
ions concerning religiousmatters. Vir-
ginia Constitution, Article I, Section
16, Virginia Code, Section 57-1. Ac-
cordingly, neither the Commissioner
nor any other agency or officialof the
government can prevent Mr. Viafrom
holding and espousing any belief he
may have concerning religion. Sim-
ilarly, the Commonwealth could not
require him to express a belief with
which he disagreed. Virginia Code
Section 57-1, Wooley v.Maynard, 430
U.S. 705,51 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977). How-
ever, inthis case, Mr. Viaseeks to use
State property to express his beliefs,
and he is asking this Court to enjoin
the Commissioner of the Division of
Motor Vehicles from exercising the
discretion reposed in himby the Gen-
eral Assembly.
Based on the evidence, the Court is
satisfied that the Commissioner has
adopted a policy, the proper execu-
tion of which would prevent the dis-
play of any type of religious belief
upon a license plate issued by the Divi-
sion. There isno basis inthe evidence
for a finding that the Commissioner
has singled out Mr. Via for special
treatment because of his beliefs con-
cerning religion. Accordingly, it is my
view that there simply is no constitu-
tional issue involved in this case.
December, 1985
Furthermore, it is my opinion that
there is no significance to the dis-
tinction between refusing to issue a
particular license plate and repossess-
ing one previously issued. As pre-
viously pointed out, the license plates
are State property and were furnished
to Mr. Via pursuant to statutory re-
quirement. Since the Division has no
basis to revoke the registration issued
to this motor vehicle, it is obligated to
issue new license plates to Mr. Via
when the ones previously issued are
repossessed.
Accordingly, it is my opinion that
the prayer of the Petition for an
Injunction filed by Mr. Via should be
denied, and that the Petition should
be dismissed. I would appreciate it if
Mr. Spencer [the Department of
Motor Vehicles' attorney] would pre-
pare an appropriate Order, submit it
to Mr. Ellerson for his endorsement,
and, inturn, submit it to me for entry.
This Order should authorize the Divi-
sion to retrieve the license plates in
question and should direct the Divi-
sion to replace these plates with ones
that are suitable. This Order should
contain a provision noting Mr. Via's
objection to the action of the Court.
Sincerely yours,
/sig/
Arnold's response is what could have
been expected: I can't imagine how my
license plate would infringe on someone
else's rights. Messages including SAVE,
RISEN, and PRAY have been issued to
other Virginiamotorists, and Arnold has not
tried to strike down their freedom ofexpres-
sion by filing a complaint that such plates
offend him - which surely they do.
And, ofcourse, the DivisionofMotor Vehi-
cles staunchly refuses to identify the person
who made the complaint against Arnold, so
he does not even have a chance to face his
comdemnatory accuser.
Any Atheist reading the letter decision
can point out the flaws in it - so that exer-
cise willbe left to you, dear reader.
Meanwhile, Arnold Via and his attorney
are talking in terms ofa possible appeal. The
Commissioner, in his discretion, has stated
that there willbe no Communiplate issued
which expresses any type of religious belief,
but alternately excuses all those which have
by accident fallen through this basic net.
So, Arnold points out that not alone We are
going to appeal it, but I object to Atheism
being compared to religion; that is the ulti-
mate insult.
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TH E PRO BING M IND / Frank R Zindler
TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN
The
Hindu,
when asked what the
earth rested
upon,
replied
An
ele-
phant. When asked what the elephant
rested upon, he replied, A turtle.
When asked what the turtle rested
upon, he replied, A bigger turtle.
When asked the obvious next question,
he
replied,
It s turtles all the way
down.
- Story told bycreationist Wayne Frair
I
ve never owned a time machine that
worked worth a damn. This has made it
very difficultto take vacations to the past. In
fact, until I happened upon a momentous
discovery about a year ago, such temporal
tripping was downright impossible. But then
I learned of the existence of Bible-Science
(BS) Conventions - conferences to which
creationists, geocentrists, catastrophists,
and a variety of other madcaps flock from
the four corners ofthe (possibly flat)earth. I
found that, for the price of a few nights'
lodging and a modest registration fee, itwas
possible to travel as far back in time as 3000
B.C., and from thence back to as recently as
185 9 - the year inwhich Darwin published
On the Origin of Species.
Lest readers begin to think my elevator
doesn't reach the top any more, Imust clar-
ifymy claim. I didn't really learn how to take
myown body into the past: Idiscovered that
the past could stillbe found in the present if
one looked in the right places. The greatest
minds of the eighth century, I discovered,
are still alive and thriving in America.
Although I had occasionally encountered
miscellaneous escapees from the present in
such places as school board meetings, city
parks, and Bible-college parking lots, I had
never seen a whole tribe of them at once
- until I attended the North-coast Bible-
Science Conference, a convention held near
Cleveland in June of 1984 . Readers of the
American Atheist may remember my report
of the affair, Report from the Center of the
Universe, published in the November 1984
issue. In August of this year, I travelled to
Cleveland for a National Creation Confer-
ence. The theme this year was Reformation
for Distorted Science.
Last year was said to have been an off-
year, in that the national conferences are
held every two years, with merely regional
conferences in-between. This year was sup-
Austin, Texas
posed to be a biggie. Imagine my surprise,
therefore, when Idiscovered that there were
no more participants this year than last At
no time during the three-day meeting did I
count more than sixty-seven (forgive the
term) souls - including other creationist-
watchers such as I. Only four in number
last year, my kind had increased to ten or
twelve this year. By next year, the bird-
watchers may outnumber the birds
In addition to the usual science writers,
college professors, and wingless gadflies, the
creationist-watchers this year included one
or two social anthropologists doing doctoral
research on the several tribes of creation-
ists. Although they wouldn't admit it, I sus-
pect they chose to study creationists only
because the Reagan administration down-
thumbed grant requests for study in New
Guinea or Upper Amazonia. However that
may be, it was a bit disconcerting to think
that my obtrusive presence inthat primitive
society might be adding unnatural perturba-
tions to the normal flow ofevents, thus con-
taminating a delicate system being studied
by fellow scientists. My only rationalization
was that creationists are by no means an
endangered species; anthropologists and
paleopsychologists will have many other
specimens to examine.
One reason for the sparse attendance, I
was quick to learn from some amazingly
candid creationists, was the fact that the
Gishites (including Duane Gish, the premier
performing artist in all of creationdom, and
his disciples at the San Diego-based Institute
for Creation Research) were boycotting the
powwow. Itseems that some ofus criticized
Gish in print last year for sitting unprotest-
ingly through various geocentricity talks. At
no time did he object to the idea that the sun,
weighing
333,000
times as much as the
earth, revolves around the earth, a body so
small that if it were placed at the center of
the sun, the moon's orbit would lie only a
littlemore than halfway out toward the sun's
surface Knowing that there would be criti-
cal creationist -watchers present again this
year, Gish (rumored to be a heliocentrist)
probably didn't relish the thought of having
to argue with geocentrists in front of com-
pany. Perhaps more to the point, one of the
geocentrists holds a Ph.D. in astronomy,
and Gish probably didn't relish the possibil-
ity of losing such an argument So without
December, 1985
the Gishites, that left mostly Bedlamites.
And us Evolutionites. Like the Gishites, the
Hittites and the Hivites also stayed away in
crowds.
An Atheist At The Prayer Breakfast
Almost every
university is writing a
book
against us in one
way
or an-
other ...
I
think this
demonstrates
that
God
has blessed
us.
- Rev. Walter Lang, founder,
Bible-Science Association
The conference was to begin on a Wed-
nesday, August 14, at 7 :30 P.M ., with a scrip-
ture reading and invocation by Rev. Paul
Bartz, the editor of the Bible-Science News-
letter. Suffering as I do from a clock neuro-
sis, Iarrived several hours early at the Har-
ley Hotel in Independence, Ohio. Not only
was that place the convention center, it
would later be alleged to be pretty close to
the center ofthe universe itself After check-
ing in and unloading my baggage in my
room, I wandered down to the still-empty
conference rooms to see if any other early
birds had arrived. The only person Iencoun-
tered was Rev. Walter Lang, a Missouri
Synod Lutheran minister and founder some
twenty-five years ago of the BS Association,
now headquartered in Minneapolis. Rev.
Lang was inspecting the tables on which
creationist literature would be laid out for
sale. As he smilingly approached me to
shake myhand and introduce himself, it was
obvious he did not remember me from the
previous conference.
My name's Walter Lang, and your name
. ?
IS ..••
Frank Zindler, from Columbus.
I see . . . do you have a large group in
Columbus?
Well ... Iguess it's growing. Idon't know
if Gerry Wegner or Hugh Miller [two of the
more vocal Columbus creationists] are com-
ing or not. 1haven't been in contact with
them for some while.
Sensing that my answer was not quite
straightforward, Lang's next question
struck right to the root: What church do
you go to?
I was brought up as a Lutheran, but 1
don't go to church any more.
Lang wrinkled his brow as he added up
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the data. You must know that guy from
Iowa, Patterson ... [referring to Prof. John
Patterson, a professor of engineering at
IowaState University and the bane offlying
Maharishis and creationists alike].
Yes, indeed, Jack and I both attended
the Bible-Science Conference here last
year.
Lang sort of harrumphed, and added, I
suppose you know Bob Schadewald from
Minnesota too ... ? [Schadewald is a free-
lance science writer and is not only an
expert on creationism but also is perhaps
one of the world's foremost authorities on
the flat-earth and geocentrist movements.]
Yes, Bob and I have been friends for
some time. Changing the subject, I opined,
I guess there'll be a lot more participants
this year than last ...
Not necessarily, Lang countered, I
think about the same.
But this year is a
national
convention
year. Last year was an off-year. Shouldn't
this be much bigger?
Not necessarily, Lang replied and went
about his business. This was my first hint
that not everything is hunky-dory in crea-
tiondom. Not only was there the embarrass-
ing absence of the Gishites, many of the
creation scientists in attendance were pri-
vately very critical of each other. This even
came out occasionally after lectures, when
criticism ofspeakers - almost unknown the
year before - was frequent and often
pointed.
As I spoke privately with many different
attendees, itbecame clear that Lang, in par-
ticular, had become an embarrassment to
creationists who had less modest creden-
tials in science than he. More than one par-
ticipant said that Lang was incompetent
and should step aside. Now seventy-one and
in his anecdotage, Lang had not slowed
down physically at all and was still able to
introject his own off-the-wall ideas into just
about every event of the conference. Not
onlywas he a formal speaker ( Christ for the
World: A Creation Challenge ), he con-
ducted two prayer-and-Bible study break-
fasts dealing with Job and Science.
Since heathen science meetings never
have prayer breakfasts, I decided to attend
both the Thursday and Friday morning
affairs to see what scientists do after for-
saking science. Arrivingearly, Ioccupied the
chair closest to the speaker's position at the
breakfast table. Gradually, people began to
arrive. My presence was doubtless the
cause of much consternation, but no one
revealed his feelings openly. Finally Lang
arrived, took his place at the speaker's spot
at the end of the long table, and started to
speak. Somewhere in the midst of his first
sentence, he became aware that it was I
sitting at his right hand How much this may
have discomfited him, Ido not know. He did,
however, almost forget to say the prayer,
Page 24
and at the second prayer breakfast, it
seemed to be a foregone conclusion that
there would be no prayer - and there
wasn't.
As Lang launched into his exposition of
the book of Job and its bearing upon the
survival of dinosaurs into the present age, I
could sense the modern world fade from his
consciousness. Not only did I disappear
from his awareness, I believe the entire cor-
pus ofmodern scientific knowledge did too.
He was free to let his arm-chair musings
bubble up and out, without any worry ofhow
they might jibe with the scientific evidence
available in the twentieth century.
As he began his exposition of Job, Lang
passed out a pamphlet entitled Job and
Science: A Bible Class Study. Iopened it up,
and my eyes immediately fell on a section
titled Bigfoot. Read Job 24:4-8and 30:1-7: I
started to read.
Even today in remote areas of the earth
there seem to be creatures which may be
either animal forms or degenerate humans.
They livein remote areas of the world, lead-
ing a lifemuch like that of an animal. In His
providence the Lord provides even for these
creatures. They wear no clothing and their
body hair grows long. Itseems their pituitary
gland is responsible for their huge size,
somewhat over eight feet. Weight is about
six hundred pounds ...
Wanting to continue to read on about
Sasquatch, Yetis, and Abominable Snow-
men, and wanting to find out who had done
the pituitary studies on the creatures, I had
to force myattention back to what Lang was
talking about. Over the course of the two
breakfasts, however, Inever again had trou-
ble attending to his spiel. For what he had to
say was so utterly outre that I found myself
hanging on his every word, trying to antici-
pate what he would say next - and never
once succeeding.
One of the major theories that the
Reverend Mr. Lang was advancing at both
prayer breakfasts and inhis formal lecture
was that dinosaurs had floated out Noah's
flood and several types were stillalive today.
Moreover, his scholarly examination of the
book of Job showed quite clearly that
Job's Leviathan was a flesh-eating dinosaur
(probably a plesiosaur) and the biblical
Behemoth was a. plant-eating dinosaur
(probably a brontosaur of some sort). The
Leviathan, it should be noted, is able to
breathe fire - just likeSt. George's dragon
Merely to describe Lang's theses would
be to deprive my readers ofthe opportunity
of seeing exactly how the creationist mind
reasons its way from its preconceived
conclusions to its misperceived evidence.
Therefore, I have decided to transcribe part
of a tape-recording of the last breakfast,
and let readers scrutinize the transcript the
way a psychoanalyst examines a patient's
dream - an appropriate analogy, I think.
December, 1985
What follows is exactly what Lang said,
along with a little editorial kibitzing in square
brackets.
Of course there are many creatures that
can make electricity invarious ways, like the
firefly [ ],the electric eel ... and it appears
that there is a distinct possibility that [the
ability to make electricity and, perhaps, fire]
could be in this Leviathan, and then Iread a
book on the Loch Ness Monster by Thomp-
son, who spent thirty years studying de-
scriptions ofabout two hundred sightings ...
He saw it himself once ...
One of the things that he notes most
people report who see the Loch Ness Mon-
ster is a terrible smell. It's got a purposeful
repellant on its skin [how he knows it's pur-
poseful, and why the most ferocious beast
on earth would need a repellant, Lang did
not divulge], and itappears that this issulfur,
and, uh, this could be with this Leviathan,
that he had this sulfur, and probably phos-
phorus too. So with all these elements in
him, it wouldn't be any problem for him to
breathe out fire and smoke, uh, and of
course, if the bombardier beetle can make
an explosion, why couldn't this happen too?
You all know about the Japanese fisher-
men in 1977, I think it was, captured one of
these plesiosauruses - it was about 167
pounds [how many ounces, give or take,
was not revealed; if anyone thought 167
pounds a bit small for a dinosaur, no one said
so] - off the coast of New Zealand and, uh,
it was dead, it was stinking up the fish catch
so much they took a picture and threw it
back in the ocean. I guess they lost a million
dollars right there, because they're that rare
[nonexistent creatures are as rare as you
can get ] ... pictures appeared in all the
newspapers, if you remember, about
1977 ... [According to Robert Schadewald,
the carcass was that of a basking shark.]
My contention is that the plesiosauruses
are still with us today, and I think some of
them would fit probably the descrip ... we
don't know of any of them having those
scales that are described here inthe, uh, Job
41, but I wouldn't be surprised if some do
[pink scales with purple polka dots might
surprise him, but don't bet on it ]. They're
extremely rare, you see. Inevery generation
there's two or three sightings of them ...
The Loch Nesses [sic. Lang repeatedly
uses the plural], you know, cut right across
Scotland. Ihave a theory this is the breeding
ground of these rare plesiosauruses, that
some of them could be like the Leviathan
here in Job. [Lang uses one myth to explain
another ]
To understand the Behemoth as a plant-
eating dinosaur, and the Leviathan as a
meat-eating dinosaur ... [a lengthy digres-
sion here on the various animals mentioned
in Job, and on Job's righteousness] ... three
months ago, Iwas trying to get into Africa in
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March and I couldn't remember what
Rhodesia had become, heh , the name ofthe
new country [Zimbabwe is now five years
old] ... so Icalled Bob Elfenstein, one ofour
workers in Minneapolis, if he could reo
member the name of that country . . . I
wanted to make sure I had the name of the
country right ... and then Iasked him ifhe
knew some doctor, some missionary . . .
somebody who knew about the dinosaur
that was in the Congo ... I thought it was
alive,and the natives said no, it died.
So he said, 'Oh, this fellow is here now,
he's on furlough, he's a dentist missionary,
he's right here inAnoka,' a northern suburb
of Minneapolis. So I called him up.
He's a dentist and he went to seminary in
France and you know, the Marxist Congo
used to be French Congo so he got in there
in spite of the fact that it's Communist.
Because ofhisdentistry work, he was able to
preach the gospe . They didn't stop him,
and, uh, this is where there's at least six
hundred square miles [Lang appears to
think this is big. Perhaps he meant six
hundred miles square.] ofrain forest. It rains
constantly there. Mostly you have to go on a
canoe in about eight feet of water. The
natives, pigmies, and the Latonowas [??]live
on islands.
He said for a while he doubted that there
was a dinosaur, he'd heard the same stories.
Then he discovered that there were some
there, but the natives were worshipping it as
a god, and they were purposely misdirecting
everyone looking for it - they took their
money. He said, 'What's in that lake?' - it
was about one hundred miles to the west -
and so one day he had a chance to see it. The
guide says, 'I'llshow itto you.' And when the
Chief heard this, he got so upset, they
thought it the better part of wisdom not to
look for it. But he thinks not only isit there,
but there are two or three of them in there.
They're about forty feet long, they're not
hippopotamuses ... [Ileave it to the reader
to decide if more solid evidence could be
asked for.]
Of course this would be a plant-eating
dinosaur, but you see there how ideal the
weather conditions would be for the large
dinosaurs ... Iwas on the Galapagos in '79
and I had quite a bit of fun with our guides.
Our guides were young people just out of
college and they were rather open to our
testimony. But when I called these guanas
[sic] baby dinosaurs, they, heh, heh, didn't
appreciate it too much. Some of these gua-
nas - you know ifyou look at an iguana, it's
a perfect picture of a two-legged dinosaur [I
replayed this part of the tape six times to be
sure I heard correctly. Were the Galapagos
iguanas dancing a quadrille when Lange
observed them? Bipedal locomotion by
iguanas could be downright hernia-produc-
ing ], just that it's smaller, that's all ... much
better than a chameleon or a lizard [does
Austin, Texas
Lang know that chameleons are lizards?]. I
think that the iguanas fit even better than a
kokono [sic] dragon ...
I talked to a missionary in El Paso. He
remembered seeing some ten-foot guanas in
the Philippines ... so you see, you just need
the right weather conditions. We really have
dinosaurs today, without any question. You
just need the right weather conditions, as I
see it, to get huge creatures. And in the
ocean, ofcourse, we
have
huge creatures ...
this is where the plesiosauruses seem to be
today, and perhaps also this fire-breathing
dragon is still down there - very rare, but
occasionally there. [The physics of under-
water fire-breathing was not discussed.]
From a scientific viewpoint, there's no rea-
son that we shouldn't take the Behemoth as
a plant-eating dinosaur and Leviathan as a
meat-eating dinosaur. There's no reason
why we shouldn't at all.
The above monologue is so utterly mad
that no further commentary is needed. But
before proceeding to discuss the rest of the
creationism conference, I have to mention
one last amusing item in the case of Walter
Lang and the dinosaurs in the book of Job.
Inhis booklet, Job and Science, Lang argues
that Job's Behemoth had to be a
Brontosau-
rus (Lang calls it Bronto inhis comparison
tables), not a hippopotamus (as many Bible
commentators opine). Among the criteria
by which Lang evaluates the Bronto are:
Eats grass, Strength in his loins, Tail
like a cedar, Bones like brass and iron,
and Sinews of stones wrapped together.
While I'm not sure that hippopotami
satisfy these criteria any better than a
Bronto would, there's one other criterion
which Lang lists which definitelywould seem
to rule out a reptile. Lang cites Job 40:16, to
the effect that Behemoth has Force in the
Nave ''' Our expert on dinosaurs does not
seem to know that reptiles don't have na-
vels. Only mammals do. To be sure, some
modern translations of the Bible translate
the Hebrew word
sharir
as muscle, or sinew,
instead ofnavel, and itistrue the meaning of
the Hebrew term is a bit obscure. But it is
likelythat navel is the originalmeaning ofthe
term, since the Greek version of the Old
Testament, the Septuagint (translated dur-
ing the third and second centuries B.C.),
uses the Greek word omphalos, a word
which clearly means 'nave .' But whatever
the ancient primitives intended, it was all
wasted on Lang. Despite the limitations of
reptilian anatomy, Behemoth was a dino-
saur, and Behemoth had strength in his
navel
Of Noah's Ark And Nobel Laureates
To report on all the pseudoscientific
doings that transpired during the three-day
conference would require an entire issue of
this magazine, and so some telescoping isin
December, 1985
order. Once again, Richard Elmendorf ofthe
Pittsburgh Creation Society was offering a
$1,000 Reward for Scientific Proof-Positive
that the Earth Moves. Dr. John R. Meyer
reported on The Research Emphasis ofthe
Creation Research Society - but only
after making itpointedly clear that his organ-
ization was not the same thing as the Insti-
tute for Creation Research (the kingdom of
the Gishites). Meyer's research emphasis
was underwhelming at best. At worst, itwas
embarrassing and a bit reminiscent of
someone trying to get ready for a high
school science fair.
Also present, but somewhat chastened
since last year, was my fellow Columbusite
Hugh Miller. Miller is a devotee of Cretace-
ous man-tracks, which he fancies he has
found beside dinosaur tracks along the
Paluxy Creek in Texas. When John Cole, an
anthropologist who has visited Paluxy and
examined the alleged man-tracks, pointed
out the deficiencies of the plaster casts
which Miller had trotted out for examina-
tion, Miller- to everyone's astonishment-
admitted that his evidence was inadequate
to prove the coexistence of Alley Oop and
Dinnie. Even more surprising, we learned
that he was no longer associated with the
Rev. Carl Baugh, a snake-oil salesman who
has been giving away aluminum casts of a
Bigfoot track to anyone givingone hundred
dollars or more for the Christian Evidence
Museum which Baugh plans to build. Miller
discovered that Baugh was not interested in
doing things in a scientifically responsible
manner. This may be the end of what has
been called the creationists' Piltdown
hoax.
Another Ohioan, Robert Garbe, tanta-
lized us with an account of his expedition to
Mt. Ararat and a story of the ark that got
away. Maybe next year. But most tantalizing
ofallwas a comment by Dr. Jerry Bergman,
a former professor at Bowling Green State
University who was fired, he claims, because
of his creationist religion. Bergman claimed
he personally knows a Nobel laureate who is
a cryptocreationist. Since Bergman shortly
later mentioned a friend who isa very prom-
inent neurophysiologist, Iam guessing that if
indeed there exists such a contradiction in
terms as a creationist Nobel laureate, it is
the neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles. Sir
John has been decorated by at least one
pope, and he is a member of the Pontifical
Academy of Science. Some years ago, Ihad
an opportunity to quiz him about some ofhis
odd beliefs, especially his beliefin the sou '''
Mysoul isin the left hemisphere ofmy brain,
he told me, because that iswhere my speech
center is. Out of deference to his age, and
respect for the genuine achievements ofhis
earlier career, I bit my tongue and refrained
from asking, Does that mean that people
who are mute, due to a defect in their speech
centers, are soulless zombies?
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The Great Debate
A second possible thing that crea-
tionists might look for issome kind of an
instrument that will detect darkness. It
is
my
conclusion, based
on
[scripture],
that darkness is a positive thing.
- Prof. Richard Niessen,
Christian Heritage College
I have
no
problem with the firma-
ment being firm. I have no problem if
out at the end of the universe, billions of
light years
[out] ...
if there s
a
solid shell
out
there.
I
have
no
problem with that
at
all,from either a physical
or
a theologi-
cal standpoint.
- Prof. Gerardus Bouw,
Baldwin-Wallace College
Throughout the three-day conference,
one had a sense that everything was being
drawn toward a point of final consumma-
tion: the great debate which was to be the
grand finale of the whole BS-shebang. The
purpose of the debate was to decide an issue
which had never been debated by a major
scientific society: Does the universe actually
revolve around the earth, or does it only
appear to do so? The actual thesis being
debated was the following:
The geocentric model of the uni-
verse isa better model because (1) itis
more faithful to the scriptures and (2)
it better explains the observations.
The debate was actually a double-bar-
reled affair:on each side was a theologian to
debate the biblical aspects of the question
and a scientist to deal withthe less important
aspect - reality. Serving as theologian for
the geocentrists was Dr. Gerardus Bouw,
who holds a Ph.D. in astronomy (really )
from Case-Western Reserve University.
The would-be heliocentrist theologian was a
dour fellow, Prof. Richard Niessen from
Christian Heritage College, who described
himself as loosely associated with the
Institute for Creation Research. As far as I
could establish, Niessen was the only Gish-
ite at the meeting, and he had come to chal-
lenge the BS Association in the relatively
safe area of biblical one-upmanship.
Niessen tried valiantly to prove that the
Bibleallows the earth to move, but it was an
impossible task. Bouw had little difficulty in
proving that the Bible isgeocentrist. Joshua,
after all, had made the sun - not the earth
- stand still. Since the Bible is also predi-
cated upon the earth being flat, science writ-
er Robert Schadewald tried to get a three-
way debate going (both he and Iwere willing
to defend the biblical position on the flat-
earth question), but the creationists
wouldn't bite. To say that the sun revolves
around the earth is one thing, but to say the
earth is flat is embarrassing even to many
Page 26
creationists
The assembly was shocked by Niessen's
call for creationists to devote more time to
darkness research. Itwas his viewthat dark-
ness isa thing in itself - not just the absence
oflight. In Genesis, after all, god is depicted
separating the light from the dark - a pro-
cess resembling the straining of black-eyed
peas out oftapioca pudding.
Ergo,
darkness
is itself a thing. When Iasked the two theolo-
gians about the firmament, Niessen went
against the Hebrew etymology ofthe term (a
smithing term meaning something ham-
mered out into thin sheets, as ofcopper) and
claimed itmeans an expanse. Bouw, how-
ever, believing the King James Version as
well as the autographs to be totally iner-
rant, agreed that the firmament was firm.
When asked about the supposed windows in
the firmament, he thought they might be
hyperspace tubes.
Geocentricity vs. Acentricity: that s
the argument. Acentricity meaning
there is
no
center whatsoever ....
To
me, this is a hellish nightmare. This is
worse than evolution, as far as I'm
concerned.
- Prof. James Hanson,
Cleveland State University
There were three systems [of the
universe] about the year
1600 -
which
is probably where this debate belongs.
- Francis Graham,
University of Pittsburgh
Although the geocentrists won the theol-
ogy debate, this was not true ofthe scientific
debate. It seems that in all of creationdom
there was not a single creation scientist
capable of defending the double motion of
the earth. Thus it fell to my fellow heretic,
Prof. Emmanuel Sillman of Duquesne Uni-
versity, to recruit a theistic evolutionist (an
ex-Roman Catholic turned Greek Ortho-
dox, a University of Pittsburgh Astronomy
Department doctoral candidate named Fran-
cis Graham) to exorcise the ghost of
Ptolemy. Graham had never debated before
in his life, but he was highly motivated to
defend the honor of his science. What he
may have lacked in experience, he made up
for in intelligence. Graham was bright.
The ghost of Ptolemy that Friday was
residing in the body of James Hanson, a
professor of computer science at Cleveland
State University. His presentations were full
of impressive claims ( I can easily derive an
equation to show that _ .. ), but precious
littleproof. Graham was ready. After rapidly
restating the classical proofs of the motions
of the earth, he tossed off - almost as an
afterthought - the brilliant argument which
was to receive no rebuttal from Hanson.
Graham crumbled Hanson's cracker with
the observation that earthquakes some-
times cause a variation in the length of the
December, 1985
day. In heliocentric terms, this means that
the earthquake has altered the rate of the
earth's rotation. In the geocentric model,
however, itwould be the heavens - sup-
posedly revolving around the earth - which
are speeded up or slowed down by the
quake. How does the information get from
the earthquake allthe way out to the distant
galaxies . . . then back to the earth, much
faster than the speed oflight? he asked. He
never got an answer.
Graham proceeded to analyze the tech-
niques of geocentrists (and creationists) in
trying to prop up their theories with end-
less numbers of ad
hoc
hypotheses. In a
clever variation on Wayne Frair's joke about
turtles allthe way down, Graham quipped,
What holds up the theories ofgeocentrists?
It's ad hoc hypotheses all the way down
00
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Formerly a professor of biology and
geology, Frank R. Zindler is now a
science writer. A member of the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the
American Chemical Society, and the
American Schools of Oriental
Research, he is also co-chairperson of
the Committee of Correspondence on
Evolution Education and Director of
the Central Ohio Chapter of American
Atheists.
A T H E IS T W IN T E R
S O L S T IC E C A R D S
Order
NOW
$3.50 per dz.
(including envelopes)
Style 1. The December, 1985 calendar
page highlighting the Winter Solstice.
Styles 2 & 3. Cartoon characterizations
of typical urban activities during the
Solstice (Xmas) Season - humorous-
lydone by the talented European line-
art specialist - CORK.
Order now for immediate delivery from:
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Austin, TX 78768-2117
Include payment of $3.50 per dz.
(plus l OO /dz postage)
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NA
TURE'S
W A Y /
Gerald Tholen
r ~ -
I~•..••V .-
l;
IT S A SMALL WORLD
\ ;
I
m sure that most people have used the
verbal automatism It's a small world on
more than one occasion. A chance meeting
with someone in some distant or unusual
location generally prompts just such mech-
anically orchestrated conversation.
Actually, the size of the world is grossly
underevaluated in this time-honored ex-
pression. Inreality, the earth isenormous -
in a physical sense. For instance, let's sup-
pose there were only two people living on
the African continent - one near the north-
ern shores along the Mediterranean and the
other somewhere in Mozambique. With or
without transportation conveyances -
whether walking, flying,or riding - it is not
likelythat the two would ever meet. Multiply
the chance factors byfifteen or so times and
try to figure the odds ofsuch a meeting over
the entire global surface. Pretty slim, right?
Like I said - the earth is an enormous
place - nothing small about it. So vast isthe
earth that itis capable ofsustaining, at pres-
ent, the existence of over four billionpeople
- plus hundreds of billions of other plants,
animals, and insects. Yet, when two pre-
viously acquainted American tourists from
Chicago happen to bump into each other in
Madrid, Spain - it's a small world
Look at it this way - Madrid is a large
city, but when compared to the total land
mass of Spain, its actual geographical area
seems rather small. Add to this the fact that
travelers visiting Madrid usually frequent
certain specific areas of tourist interest and
itbecomes easier to see that such a meeting
would be quite likely - even as likely as the
same two Chicagoans bumping into each
other inplaces frequented intheir own home
town. If circumstances had been different
- if there were no cities or towns or travel
routes in Spain, only a large impenetrable
fence around its borders - it is probable
that two such travelers might never confront
each other - even in a country no larger
than Spain.
So, the idea of the earth being small is
rather ludicrous - geographically speaking.
Inan allegorical sense, however, there isstill
a measure of validity in using the words
small world. Ifthe term isused to describe
the probity ofhuman behavior, the extent of
civilized intelligence, the concern of one
human for all others or for all other living
things - Iam inclined to agree withits merit.
Austin, Texas
You're probably thinking, Jeez, what a
negative outlook. But - is it really a nega-
tive outlook or simply a statement of fact
that people somehow refuse to accept?
Surely, every individual with only minimal
reading and communicating capabilities or
who has experienced awareness can look
back through the past of human existence
and find a bit ofagreement with my point. Is
everyone then negative ?
The real truth is that humankind is not
truly civilized as is usually implied with the
use ofthe word
civilization.
To the contrary,
we - the world's population collectively-
are still more primitively uncivilized than we
dare to admit. We speak of survival and of
the law of the jungle as if they were some-
thing separate and apart from our own pri-
vate (individual) feelings. We can't seem to
accept that survival is as much a part of the
lives of people today as it ever was, and as it
has always been, for all livingthings. Admit-
tedly, we may have sporadic fits of human
compassion, but - not to worry; they are
usually with us only momentarily. Perhaps
you might even question the use of the term
fits of compassion, feeling it is inappropriate.
Look up the word fit, t hen tell me you
disagree as you recall that starvation inEthi-
opia or the continuing plight of the inde-
pendent U.S. farmer is no longer our media
headlines.
The haves still look down their noses at
the have nots and the have nots still scratch
and claw in order to have. In the embryonic
American society, amid ample resources,
we have become more or less intellectually
impotent insofar as world conditions are
concerned. Have we become immune to the
illnesses of dire necessity? Instead of tech-
nology generating a broader educational
expansion ofknowledge inbasic skillsand in
the arts and sciences, it has in many cases
insidiously created only a growing depen-
dency on technology itself. Yet, our com-
petitively-ordered economic expertise inthe
various fields has catapulted us into a com-
manding position inworldwide entrepreneur-
ism and we are too blinded by national self-
interests to see that our entrepreneurism is
simply the modern-day replacement for old-
world imperialism. Then, we pompously
boast of being the people-magnet nation of
the world. Everybody wants to come to
America we say - the land of opportu-
December, 1985
nity. Have we ever wondered why? The
answer, as I see it, is quite obvious -
nobody wants to be a loser Iguess the only
solution isto have everybody move toAmer-
ica - all four billion of them. Can you
imagine the consequences?
I've given a great deal of thought to these
things for a long time. I'm sure that mostof
you have had similar thoughts on occasion.
We keep reiterating the excuse that there is
really nothing that can be done about world
conditions on a meaningful scale. Yet, when
we make such absurd statements we know
that we're really lying through our teeth.
World poverty and hunger could be elimi-
nated tomorrow ifthat's what people really
wanted. We excuse our lack of concern by
claiming to be civilized. Civilization has no
direct connection with being compassion-
ate. It is defined as a condition of human
society characterized by a comparatively
high degree of cultural and technical devel-
opment - period - that's all. It doesn't
mention anything about being humane or
compassionate or even possessing the quali-
ties of human dignity, probity, or social con-
cern. It simply means that, relative to the
other animals which roam the outdoors, we
have become technological social groupies
with indoor plumbing. We do as we please -
we take what we want - so long as we can
outdo the other fellow or the other nations.
The sophists of technology become more
and more efficient in their exploitations
of those who, unfortunately, are a little
less clever either individually or collectively.
The key to the whole sordid mess is an
innocent-sounding little word - compet-
itiveness.
Now, undoubtedly, that statement is
likely to get me into a bit of trouble with the
gung-ho advocates of machoism (male or
female) - the beefcakes of the sporting
world, the wizards of economy, the aficio-
nados of every ilk. I can almost hear the
anguished indignations, What do you
mean, competitiveness is the problem
Don't you know that competitiveness is
what made America great? Actually, I'd
also like to think that competitiveness made
America great. But, with better understand-
ing ofthe complex functioning ofthe human
brain, Iknow that itsimply isn't true. Let me
explain.
Some while back, in another article I
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wrote for the American Atheist magazine, I
made the seemingly brash statement that
many (perhaps even most) human beings
possess certain schizoid characteristics. As
I recall, my accusation was primarily aimed
at those particular asses who present them-
selves as scholarly physicists on weekdays
and godists on Sundays. It is also apparent
to me, and has been for about forty years,
that this condition is as socially widespread
in humans as is the common cold. More
recently, psychological research reports
seem to add credibility to my opinion. Ifyou
disagree, or ifyou are interested in the mat-
ter, you may want to read The Social Brain
by Michael Gazzaniga in the November,
1985,Psychology Today. In general the arti-
cle explains how the two brain hemispheres,
under conditions considered normal, oper-
ate both independently and, at the same
time, cooperatively. The explanations show
how the brain modules manufacture be-
liefs, sometimes rational, sometimes emo-
tionally and credulously irrational. It there-
fore clinically describes how certain minds,
through imaginary needs, can invent gods,
ghosts, or whatever, based on automatic
reponses actuated by the most primitive
implementor ofhuman behavior - emotion,
i.e., fear, hate, love, etc.
At this point you may be wondering what
this all has to do with people being compas-
sionate or non-compassionate, or being able
or unable to believe (in gods), and how all
this could possibly relate to
competitive-
ness. As I said earlier, competitiveness isthe
key to human inequities, so let's start there.
Based on the analyses of recognized psycho-
logical researchers, human beings ingeneral
possess the qualities when emotionally
stimulated that we only superficially detest
in characters like Dallas 's
J.
R. Ewing.
Consciously we reject such qualities when
we see them as the characteristic embodi-
ments of other people. Yet, under similar
conditions, most people would become as
ruthless in their business tactics as anyone
else. No multi-millionaireoilexecutive would
share resources, knowledge, or capabilities
with another company. Neither would he
cry over the bankruptcy ofa competing firm.
The primary concern of any business is
profit. Any variation from this basic rule
would soon destroy the company in ques-
tion. Even the so-called charitable endow-
ments offered by some companies or
wealthy individuals are, at best, relief-valves
aimed at minimizing the taxation of corpo-
rate gains and profit. Everyone even re-
motely connected with business knows
these things. In isolated cases charitable
gestures may be the futile(or even belatedly
gallant) attempts of rich people to ingratiate
themselves to humanity. Only rarely, I fear,
are any such actions the common practices
of affluent people. Generosity is more
abundant in persons who are not so com pet -
Page 28
itively inclined. My convictions parallel the
fact that human beings have evolved, totally,
in the continuing atmosphere of competitive
existence since the very beginnings of his-
tory. In essence, we are as jealous of our
positions and resources as any other terri-
torial animal. The only difference is that we
refuse to accept our inequities because we
see ourselves as superior creatures -
incapable of such things as selfishness or
lack of concern. And, when I say superior
creatures, I'm not only talking about reli-
gious nuts and their special creation non-
sense - I mean to include non-believers as
well. Knowing the evolutionary and histori-
cal paths that humans have followed, it
could not be otherwise.
So what, some may ask, Suppose I have
gotten to the top by being a little more
aggressive - a little more dedicated in my
attempts to succeed. Isn't that how great-
ness is established? I suppose the answer
lies in how one defines greatness. Competi-
tive greatness once again clouds the issue.
Why does anyone feel the need to be great?
If a food company executive happens to
control the major portion of world rice pro-
duction, that doesn't increase his or her per-
sonal consumption needs. It only means that
the person has a measure of control over the
rice consumption of others. As I have said
before, this demonstrates the true essence
of capitalism or any other authoritatively-
controlled economic system.
To all the high-rollers of the world, I
would ask one question: Ifyou stand alone in
your greatness - at the apex of accom-
plishment - on what do you stand? Look
down the conical pile below you - are they
all losers? If they have not measured up to
your achievements, the best they can be is
second-place. For every winner there are
scores, hundreds, or perhaps even millions
of losers. Yet, in many cases, perhaps
even most cases, the losers may be, in
essence, happier, more satisfied or secure,
and more concerned with the status ofthose
losers who have fallen below the poverty
level than are those champions who jeal-
ously .guard their positions at the top. But,
there also exists the tragic condition where
many of the individuals at the lower end of
the economic scale fallto a point where they
are psychologically. resolved that social or
economic betterment can never be theirs.
Their situations can be further aggravated
when they are told by reasonably successful
people they should strive harder - never
give up. The so-called reasonably success-
ful people do not understand that there are
persons who, for one reason or another,
lack the tools and talents with which to suc-
ceed according to the standards of others.
A logical question to be asked is that ifall
the losers - from second place on down -
should suddenly cease to exist, what would
the very fewwinners do in order to preserve
December, 1985
their control over the competitive economic
systems? Would they operate their own
mills - buy their own goods - and/or pro-
vide their own resources? Logical observa-
tions should tell us that the only things really
needed in order for society to function suc-
cessfully are ideas, newer ideas, and reason-
able effort. I stress the word reasonable. If
we were not all so busy competing in order
to outdo the next guy, reasonable effort
would be enough for the satisfaction of real
human needs. As for the claims of the
trickle-down theorists who feel that the
crumbs of wealth that are allowed to sift
down to the losers should be gratefully
received, Imight ask - wanna trade places,
J.R.?
Who is to blame for this confounded way
of life that has persisted since our half-ape
beginnings? We all are - every human that
has ever lived It's the only way we know
because it's the only way that we have ever
experienced. We even start out in lifeunder
the influence of competitiveness. First, we
are indoctrinated into belief systems which
are based on our (particular) socio-parental,
irrational misconceptions provided by the
aforementioned schizoid tendencies of the
human brain. Then, being of like species, we
inherently indulge in similar misdirected
conduct and opinions. Following this, we
willinglyintensify the process in every aspect
of social life - in nationalistic militarism, in
our endeavors to provide economic self-sus-
tainance, in sports, in racial prejudices, even
to the .extent of personality conflicts with
family, friends, and associates. Nowhere is
the contest more clearly demonstrated than
inwhat should be the least ofallour personal
worries - religion.
How can we change all of this? We can't
Could anyone psychologically realign the
modules ofhis or her brain in order to assure
rational thinking in all situations? It has
apparently been tried by a few; and, in
extremely rare cases, with rather remark-
able success. Those who have managed are
the very few recognized social and scientific
benefactors in history who have significantly
aided inthe real accomplishments of human-
kind. Some are considered history's great
minds, but some are not even remembered.
Perhaps such people simply forgot about
competing with others in their field and ded-
icated their time and talent to impartial
effort. In the final analysis - after they died
- what difference could greatness make
to them anyway? I presume that most of
them were reasonably happy with their lives,
their work and interests, and their own per-
sonal situations while they were alive. That's
all that really counts
Inour struggles to be outstanding - to be
important to others - quite often we
create more anxieties for ourselves than we
do for the rest of humanity. Unless, that is,
you happen to be the keeper-of-the-keys to
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the various international nuclear weapons
systems. Even these terrifying circum-
stances could be neutralized if people
wanted them to be. Keep in mind that we
the people are the creators ofallthe Hitlers
of history.
I n
a similar manner we all tend to
cheer on the million-dollar bonus-baby ath-
letes every sporting season. We even create
for ourselves the secret little Walter Mitty
fantasies concerning our idolized heroes.
Every human is included in this process of
competitive effort - men, women, and
children of all races So, who are we to
blame? Added to the difficulties are the
fanatical right-to-lifers who want to re-
move all sensible forms of population con-
trol from the reach ofthe present mountains
of losers, thereby generating entire new
mountain ranges of losers - within our
lifetimes.
Iflifeon this planet had evolved in a spirit
of
cooperatiueness -
ifthere were real con-
tinued concern by parent for child - by
child for parent - by person for person -
and by everyone for life in general, things
might be different now. Instead of insane
auto races where drivers kill themselves,
spectators and opponent drivers, we may
have devised systematically-controlled ve-
hicle testing programs aimed only at devel-
oping efficient road vehicles that offered
only passenger safety and comfort. Sounds
rather dull by comparison, doesn't it?That's
because people, by their very nature, thrive
on the evolutionary stigma of competitive-
ness. Face it, there wouldn't be much
excitement generated if the Rams and the
Redskins were only concerned with taking
the football across the same goal line in
cooperative togetherness. On the other
hand, would starvation exist on a world-wide
(or even local) scale if the common interest
was simply raising and processing an ade-
quate food supply for four billion - or even
ten billion people? Suppose we had never
invented religion and its after-effect - com-
petition between religions. That alone would
have prevented the cultural and racial barri-
ers that now exist. Sexism - as we know it
- would probably never have occurred.
If the human brain had not been inher-
ently afflicted with its schizoid hemispherical
maladjustments, as revealed in recent psy-
chological studies, things might have been
different. Instead of occasional displays of
kindness and warmth on special occasions
or during certain festive seasons, we may
have attained a real and lasting quality of
human integrity - year-round.
Then, when those two Chicagoans
chanced to meet infar-away Madrid - amid
thousands of healthy, happy, smiling Span-
ish faces - they could have said, Gee, it's a
big world ~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The common sense man of Atheism,
Mr. Tholen is the product of
the Gulf Coast marshes of Texas.
While he's not slaving over
the American
Atheist
as its Assistant Editor,
he's writing poetry of which
an Atheist movement can be proud.
D IA L · AN ATH IEST
The telephone listings below are the various services where you may listen to short comments on state/church separation
issues and viewpoints originated by the Atheist community.
Tucson,
Arizona (602)
623-3861
San Francisco, California (415) 668-8085
South Bay (San Jose), California (408) 377-8485
God Speaks (408) 732-4646
Denver, Colorado (303) 692-9395
Greater DC (703) 280-4321
South Florida (305) 925-7167
Atlanta, Georgia (404) 662-6606
Mid-Hudson (914) 338-0162
Northern Illinois (312) 506-9200
Des Moines, Iowa (515) 266-6133
Lexington, Kentucky (606) 278-8333
Boston, Massachusetts (617) %9-2682
Detroit, Michigan (313) 721-6630
Austin, Texas
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota (612) 566-3653
Northern New Jersey (201) 777-0766
Albuquerque, New Mexico (505) 884-7360
Schenectady, New York (518) 346-1479
Reno, Nevada (702) 972-8203
Columbus, Ohio (614) 294-0300
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (405) 677-4141
Portland, Oregon (503)' 771-6208
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (215) 533-1620
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (412) 734-0509
Austin, Texas DIAL-THE-ATHEIST __ (512) 458-5731
Houston, Texas (713) 664-7678
Dial-A-Gay-Atheist (713) 527-9255
Salt Lake City, Utah (801) 364-4939
December, 1985
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POETRY
THE PILL
Mywifehas had eight babies and the priest has blessed them all
The bedrooms are allcrowded and we're sleeping in the hall
I went to Father Murphy to ask about the pill
He crossed himself, blessed my wife and looked a little ill.
The pill's a tool of Satan, the dear old father screamed
And if you use an I.U.D. you cannot be redeemed
Condoms, foams and diaphragms should never leave the shelf
But here's a method recommended by the pope himself.
SO LS TIC E M A RSH ES
First you put your two knees close up tight
Firmly lock your ankles, stay that way all night
Lock your husband in the closet 'till the morning light
You'll hear him toss around and toss around withallofhis might
Thoughts of sexual pleasure from your mind erase
You know you shouldn't do it or you'll fallfrom grace
Say a rosary and an
aue
too
'Cause if the pope can't do it, well neither can you.
Ah, what memories winter carries
Of the days when I was young
How I scamped across the marshes
Chasing tunes the geese had sung
Our Father,
Who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name,
Bless us for we have sinned;
We have no enemies except old Charlie;
Dear Lord, striketh Charlie with a lightning bolt.
Amen.
Gerald Tholen
I saw gentle icy rainfall
That would beckon day's first light
And I saw the crisp cool starlight
Of a clear and frigid night
Bill Dignan
And to add to all this beauty
As I watched the scenes unfold
Was my faithful dog beside me
One more splendor to behold
(First verse to the tune of Mananna. Second verse to the tune
of Mississippi Mud. )
Little wonder that this hour
Holds a special treat for me
Other seasons just can't equal
Solstice marshes by the sea
And when people tell their stories
Of their mountains and their streams
I can sense a tearful glimmer
As they reminisce their dreams
For I've felt the same sweet sadness
That such memories retain
And I know those cherished visions
Throughout ages willremain
BENEDICTION
But no matter what the season
Or wherever I may be
In my thoughts I shall remember
Solstice marshes by the sea
Tom James
Page 30
December, 1985
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R E P O R T F RO M IN D IA / M arga re t B h a tty
IF WISHES WERE HORSES
I
May of this year we saw the
revival
of a
spectacular sacrifice - the Great Horse
Sacrifice - the most popular ofmajor sacri-
fices among the early Aryans, thousands of
years ago. This sacrifice was last performed
around 1734 by Maharajah Jaya Singh,
founder of Jaipur.
Horse Thief
The Ashvamedha or horse-sacrifice was a
demonstration of muscle-flexing indulged in
by ancient kings. A special horse was
allowed to wander at will outside a king's
territory, followedby a band ofsoldiery. The
kingthen laidclaim to new lands and forced
their rulers to pay tribute. War was declared
on any chief who tried to turn back the
sacred animal.
This was theoretically permitted only to
kings who were very powerful and could
support such a claim, according to one his-
torian. The sacrifices were conducted on a
vast scale, involving many hundreds of
priests and large herds of animals, not to
mention the various objects used in the
ceremony. For the population they were
vast
spectacles to be talked of for genera-
tions. No doubt they kept the more critical
minds diverted and depicted the king as an
exceptional person in communicating with
the gods, even if only through the priests.
The priests too were not ordinary mortals,
since they were in effect the transmitters of
divinity. Thus the throne and the priesthood
worked hand in hand.
That Was Then
While the horse and soldiers ranged the
countryside, at home the king, his queen,
and court performed daily sacrifices for a
year. Legends of the greatness and glory of
the royal linewere told. On the return ofthe
horse, the queen anointed it. Dr. Surendra
Ajnat in his Critique of the Vedas, quoting
from the Yajur Veda, describes how the wife
of the householder addressed the sacred
animal: Oh horse, come to me. I willdraw
your semen inside. I want to be pregnant
with your semen. She then lay with the
creature. Afterwards, it was killed and the
flesh roasted. A special treatise on the Rig
Veda gives meticulous details on exactly
how the flesh was to be shared out among
Austin, Texas
the priests. Sacred texts detailed the bless-
ings assured when the distribution was cor-
rectly done. Anyone adopting a different
system of carving it up was doomed to go to
hell.
To those who divide the sacrificial animal
in the way mentioned above, it becomes a
guide to heaven. But those who make the
division otherwise are like scoundrels and
miscreants.
This
Is Now
Undoubtedly, a lot of color has gone out
of our
lives
since those ancient days. Our
rajas and ranis have been reduced to tourist
attractions. Today our rulers mark out their
territories differently. And we have lost the
taste for horse meat - even of the sanctified
sort. The Horse Sacrifice is mentioned in all
school texts, but sanitized of its sexual
details. We still, however, have our priests.
The Horse Sacrifice held in Hoderabad
was of necessity a pale reflection of those
grander times. Shorn of all its more bizarre
details, itcould hardly be termed a true sac-
rifice according to the book. But its cost left
no room for criticism. Lasting for a week
from May 27, it cost more than 2,500,000
rupees. Food, accommodation, and travel
expenses were provided for devotees com-
ing infrom other places, and into the sacrifi-
cial fire went 10,000 kilograms of clarified
butter, 7,000 kilograms of gingelly oil, 250
kilograms of rice, 100 bags of sugar, and
much else. Members ofthe Indian Rational-
ist Association tried, without success, to
stop this criminal waste and prevent the sac-
rifice. But the Chief Minister of the State, a
former actor who still casts himself in the
role ofa demi-god, supported the organizer,
the Jagathguru Swami Ramanujachary of
Kashi Pith. The Jagathguru is the Hindu
equal to a pope and one of the staunchest
advocates of fundamental Hinduism, which
he would like to see restored to its pristine
form.
More than 15,000 people attended the
rites every day, some coming in from foreign
countries. In an interview published by a
weekly newspaper from Bombay, the Jag-
athguru stoutly defended the ¥agna (sacri-
fice). For one thing, his purpose was purely
spiritual. Said he: Nothing is right in the
world today. Everything is deteriorating. So
December, 1985
you see a few conscientious individuals try-
ing to stem this rot in their own different
way. Through science and all that. Asvam-
edha ¥agna is my way.
He rejected the historical view that the
Horse Sacrifice was performed only to
further imperialistic ambition. Brahmins per-
formed ittoo for absolving themselves ofsin.
Its scope is unlimited. It's a very powerful
yagna,
rather the most powerful one, he
declared. One can achieve almost any
objective through it. We have done it to
clean our political scene, and promote peace
and prosperity in the world. Besides, people
who perform or even just attend the yagna
get cleansed of all their sins and attain
salvation.
And, It Is Still Insanity
He, however, conceded that one
shouldn't expect improvements overnight.
But you can rest assured no force on earth
can deny Asvamedha ¥agna its due.
The Jagathguru draws his wisdom from
the oldest books in the world - the Vedas.
I tell you there is nothing in the universe
which is not mentioned inthe Vedas. Vedas
were not written by man. When man was
created, Vedas were put into his hands to
guide him through life. They embody the
truth, the eternal truth. Allman has to do is
follow them implicitly. I won't arrogate to
myself the capability of analyzing them.
God's ways are inscrutable.
The disappearance ofthis powerful rite he
attributed to the Atheism which dominated
Hindu society after the advent of Buddha.
Thanks to state patronage it received from
Ashoka and other upstarts like him, Bud-
dhism spread far and wide and threatened to
swallow up our age-old religion.
The Rationalists denounced the whole
circus as blind superstition. But what they
called blind faith, the Jagathguru saw as faith
in the Vedas (Ved-Viswas). When a journal-
ist remarked Intellect, a god-given faculty,
apparently has little role to play in your
scheme of things, the pontiff replied with
some asperity: I think you must stop asking
me questions inthis vein, he said. I've had
enough of it. If putting one's faith in the
Vedas is a sign of being dumb, call me so by
all means. This is a typical Indian attitude
which is keeping us poor and backward,
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while foreigners derive their concepts from
the Vedas and forge ahead.
Iwould like to believe that our backward-
ness comes from not sending enough food-
stuff up insmoke accompanied by the chant-
ing ofmagical cantrips. Ironically, one of the
commonest criticisms of enlightened Indi-
ans among us is that they have forgotten
their ancient cultural heritage, whereas for-
eigners are reaping rich rewards from believ-
ing in Hinduism.
Flexing Muscle
There were two interesting worldly con-
siderations which intruded on the whole sub-
lime scene. Hyderabad has a large Muslim
population and a long Islamic tradition in its
culture. Its choice as a venue for a show of
strength by more rabid Hindu devotees was
obviously intended. And, of course, the
caste factor intruded once again. Harijans
(Untouchables) were not allowed into the
holy of holies, close to the sacred fire, with
the Brahmin priests. Only Brahmins well-
versed in reciting the Vedas were chosen.
Everything demands certain qualifica-
tions, said the Jagathguru. You wouldn't
let any quack perform surgery on you. You
WHAT S
MYTHOLOGY,
DAD?
Page 32
willinsist on a qualified surgeon.
But then what about Untouchables who
attain a mastery ofreciting the Vedas? They
still remain outside the pale, he declared.
Beingable to recite the Vedas doesn't trans-
form an Untouchable into a Brahmin. But if
he continues to do good karma inthis birth,
yes, he can get promoted in the next birth
and perform any
yagna
he wishes to then.
The horse paraded through the streets
didn't end up as steak. Since the Yagna was
forthe promotion ofpeace, the creature was
a messenger of peace. You simply don't eat
messengers of peace. Instead, a dummy
made of dough was sacrificed - according
to the proper carving technique, no doubt,
recommended as absolutely unchangeable
and immutable in ancient texts.
Alas, For Our Side
And what of the benighted Rationalists
who were foolish enough to set themselves
up against the infallibilityof the Vedas? The
pious Chief Minister, who supported the
show staged by the Jagathguru and his
magicians, provided them with proper po-
lice protection throughout the Yagna.
That proved useful from the very first
day when those so-called Rationalists tried
to disturb the Yagna, said the Hindu pon-
tiff. The police rounded them up and kept
them in custody till the last day of the
Yagna.
The most disturbing aspect ofthe revival-
ism now evident in Indian religions is its
implacable nature. Rites and rituals are now
becoming elaborate power games for which
venues are selected for confrontation and
challenge. Maybe the day isnot far offwhen
reason and sanity - ifallowed to speak at all
- willdo so only from behind cage bars.
~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In the year 1978, your editors, assisted
by Joseph Edamaruku, editor of an
Indian Atheist publication, combed
India seeking writers who would
consistently offer an interpretation of
Indian religious events. Margaret
Bhatty, in Nagpur, a well-known
feminist journalist, agreed that she
would do so in the future. She joined
the staff of the American Atheist in
January 1983.
IT S
A
REL\610N THAT
HAS BEEN
FOUNDOUT
December, 1985
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HISTORI L NOTES
100 Years Ago ...
The Truth Seeker
was one ofthe fewfree-
thought publications which ever undertook
to answer the special needs ofthe children of
Atheists and freethinkers. It not only pub-
lishedseveral books for youngsters, but also
featured the Children's Corner monthly
- a special page devoted to the younger set.
The Children's Corner was composed of
various puzzles, letters from children seek-
ing freethinking friends, poems, real-life
stories about children, and essays on
science. For instance, in 1885 stories about
PollyPeppercorn and her friends inwhich
Polly explained physiology to her peers fre-
quently appeared. The followingstory about
religion was published in the December 5,
1885, Children's Corner. Titled A Fable,
it was contributed by William Scott of
Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania.
Once, through some transaction not
necessary to mention, a man came in pos-
session of a hyena that was extremely sav-
age and ravenous. It had killed many per-
sons, and, in fact, had lived for some time
principally on human flesh and blood. The
people were afraid of it, and it had been
permitted to roam at large, devouring what-
ever came inits way, and doing pretty much
as it pleased.
But this man had it caged and deprived of
the prerogatives it had previously enjoyed,
and denied it the pleasure of subsisting on
human flesh. Although .the hyena opposed
every reform proposed by the man until it
was compelled to adopt it, after many years
it became domesticated, and, forgetting its
past life, claimed to have always been as
harmless as a dove. The man was good and
kind, and the foolish people, strange as it
may seem, said: 'See how the hyena has
civilized the man Note how affectionate he
is What a civilizinginfluence the hyena has
on the man how tender, how sympathetic, it
makes him '
That man represents the people, and the
hyena, popular religion.
30 Years Ago ...
The following editorial, which was pub-
lished in the December, 1955, Liberal,
summed up the year's activities of the
Friendship Liberal League. The F.L.L.
sponsored the publication of the Liberal.
F.L.L. has appeared before several
committees inWashington on behalf of sec-
ular freedoms. Our attorney has been
instructed to filea brief as friend ofthe court
in the Manners case. The Hillcase was sup-
ported both financially and otherwise, We
Austin, Texas
were successful in purchasing time on the
radio for two broadcasts, and willcontinue if
permitted. If not, we will appeal to the
F.C.C. for redress. Several members of the
F.L.L. formed the Rationalist Press, which
now insures printing of freethought litera-
ture not only for us but foralldesiring same.
We have printed and distributed free over
100,000leaflets and tracts. We have reached
the $7,000 mark inour Thomas Paine Fund.
This should become a reality next year. We
have increased the range and subscriptions
to the Liberal. And lastly we have partici-
pated actively inthe formation of a National
Federation ofSecular Societies whereby we
can more effectively make the Liberal view-
point known and felt. This willmean much
before committee hearings in Washington
where it willprove most effective.
15 Years Ago ...
The Atheist, an English publication edited
by GORA before his death, often featured a
question and answer section. The Decem-
ber, 1970, issue, published during GORA's
1970 visit to the United States, contained
this question and answer:
Q :In the west religious belief isgoing out
offashion. Churches are half-empty. Where
isthe need ofpropaganda for atheism inthe
west?
A: The west is the rich man of the world.
Like rich men everywhere, the west is more
atheistic than their fellowmen. On account
of their atheism, they are realistic in outlook
and they make their lifecomfortable.
But atheism does not stop with personal
comfort. Atheism imposes a moral obliga-
tion on every individual. Social relations
require that everyone should be atheistic
and happy for anyone to be always happy. A
rich man cannot be happy as long as there is
poverty anywhere. Through secret theft or
by open rebellion the poor will disturb the
unequal comfort of the rich. The revolts in
Asia, Africa and South America disturb the
rich comforts of the west. ...
The rich man is satisfied with his own
comfort. He preaches religious faith to the
rest inorder to exploit the superstitious gull-
ibles. This isthe immorality ofthe rich. Athe-
ism frees the poor of superstition and the
rich of immorality.
-GORA
5
Years Ago ...
The December, 1980,American Atheist,
in its Front Page Review section, had the
followinggood news:
Another victory for Atheism came
December, 1985
through this month. Since the person
involved laid his Atheism openly on the line
and cited it in the law suit as a reason for
filing the suit, the reporting on it was so
muted as to be almost unnoticeable.
Ernest Chambers is a duly elected state
senator of the Nebraska Unicameral Legis-
lature, District 11,a citizen, a taxpayer ofthe
State of Nebraska, a Black, and an Atheist.
Senator Chambers, offended by the prac-
tice of the Legislature opening each session
with prayers and by the content of those
prayers, absented himself from the opening
of each session, where he was - by law -
required to be. He attempted to find out
when, where and why the prayers. First he
found that the prayers were delivered by a
chaplain who was paid $319.75 month by
the state for every month the legislature was
in session and that the prayers were later
printed, at government expense, and issued
in 'prayer book' form, the cost of which was
$70.01 for 200 copies in 1975,$260.40 for 200
copies in 1978and $128.15 for 100 copies in
1979. Second, he found that the State of
Nebraska had use of a chaplain for opening
of its daily legislative session beginning as
early as 1855, twelve years before state-
hood. In 1867 a law was passed providing
that the chaplain be a salaried employee of
the legislature. In 1973a final lawwas passed
under which a rule was made requiring the
legislature's Executive Board to recommend
a chaplain to attend and open each day's
sitting with prayer.
Therefore, Senator Chambers fileda suit
asking that the State Treasurer be enjoined
from the payment of a salary to the chaplain
or from making any payment for the printing
ofprayers in a 'prayer book.' He pointed out
that he was an Atheist and that the prayers
offended him.
The decision inthe case came down from
the United States District Court for the Dis-
trict of Nebraska on December 24th, 1980
- Christmas eve It was a delightful present
forthe zanies. Judge Warren K. Urbom held
that (1) the printing of prayers at state
expense contravened the First Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States and
that (2) the paying from public funds of a
chaplain to open a legislative body was viola-
tive of the same.
He quoted from a Supreme Court deci-
sion Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S.
4 21 ( 19 63 )
that:
'It is neither sacriligious nor antireligious to
say that each separate government in this
country should stay out of the business of
writing or sanctioning official prayers and
leave that purely religious function to the
people themselves and to those the people
choose to look to for religious guidance.'
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AM ERIC AN ATHEIST RADIO SERIES / M adalyn
O'Hair
THE SOLSTICE SEASON
When the first installment of
a
regularly scheduled, fifteen-minute, weekly American Atheist
radio
series onKTBC radio (a station inAustin, Texas, owned by then-president Lyndon Baines Johnson) hit
the airwaves on June 3,1968, the nation was shocked. The programs had to be submitted weeks in
advance and were heavily censored. The regular production of the series ended in September, 1977,
when no further funding was available.
The following is the text of American Atheist Radio Series program No. 30, first broadcast on
December 23, 1968.
In 1968, the first year of broadcasting
for the American Atheist Radio Series,
we sent out, all over the United States,
copies
of what
we
called The Solstice
Season
program.
We printed
it in our
literature and distributed it in a small
broadside.
When the
American Atheist maga-
zine was issued later (we could not
afford to publish it in 1968), we re-
printed the article as the featured radio
program
script in December. Since
then, for a number of years it has been
repeated yearly in the magazine.
We are happy to do soagain this year.
We hope that
our
new subscribers will
come to love it as much as have our old
subscribers who have requested a re-
peat of
it
in
our
American Atheist
Radio Series.
S
omeone stole something from me. I
don't like it. What was stolen from me
- and from you - was one of the most
beautiful holidays in the world. Robert G.
Ingersoll (an American Atheist hero of ear-
lierdays) was also angry about this theft. Let
me read to you what he had to say about it.
He wrote a very famous Christmas ser-
mon. It was printed in the Euening Tele-
gram newspaper, New York City, New
York, on December 19, 1891.The ministers
of the day attacked the newspaper and
demanded a boycott of it. The Telegram
accepted the challenge and set off an issue
across the country. The paper printed the
Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley's attack, and Robert
Ingersoll's answer. It developed into a real
donnybrook.
Let's hear what Ingersoll had to say:
The good part of Christmas is not
always Christian, it isgenerally Pagan;
that is to say, human and natural.
Christianity did not come with tid-
ingsof great joy, but witha message of
eternal grief. Itcame withthe threat of
Page 34
everlasting torture on its lips. Itmeant
war on earth and perdition thereafter.
It taught some good things, the
beauty of love and kindness in man.
But as a torch-bearer, as a bringer of
joy, it has been a failure. It has given
infinite consequences to the acts of
finite beings, crushing the soul with a
responsibility too great for mortals to
bear. It has filled the future with fear
and flame, and made god the keeper
of an eternal penitentiary, destined to
be the home of nearly all the sons of
men. Not satisfied with that, it has
deprived god ofthe pardoning power.
And yet it may have done some
good by borrowing from the Pagan
world the old festival we know as
Christmas.
Long before Christ was born, the
sun god triumphed over the Powers of
Darkness. About the time that we call
Christmas the days began perceptibly
to lengthen. Our barbarian ancestors
were worshipers of the sun, and they
celebrated his victory over the hosts
of night. Such a festival was natural
and beautiful. The most natural of all
religions is the worship of the sun.
Christianity adopted this festival. It
borrowed from the Pagans the best it
has.
I believe in Christmas and in every
day that has been set apart forjoy. We
in America have too much work and
not enough play. We are too much
like the English.
I think it was Heinrich Heine who
said that he thought a blaspheming
Frenchman was a more pleasing
object to god than a praying English-
man. We take our joys too sadly. I am
in favor of all the good free days, the
more the better.
Christmas is a good day to forgive
and forget, a good day to throwaway
prejudices and hatreds, a good day to
December, 1985
fillyour heart and your house, and the
hearts and houses of others with
sunshine.
Would you believe that such a warm
Christmas sermon could cause religious
people to launch a vicious attack on a news-
paper for publishing it? Ingersoll used the
word borrow. He said that Christians bor-
rowed the Pagan holiday. I use a stronger
word. They stole it. They stole the most
beautiful holiday of man - and for what?
They claim that this is the birthday of
Jesus Christ. Let's look at their scholars and
their history and see if this is a fact. You
most probably all know of A. T. Robertson,
the late professor ofNew Testament Greek
at the Southern Baptist Theological Semi-
nary in Louisville, Kentucky. He had written
a standard textbook on the so-called Broa-
dus Harmony of the Gospels,
and it is used
in every school ofreligion across the land. In
this book is summarized all the findings of
religious scholarship in relationship to Jesus
Christ and, among other things, the date of
his birth.
After a lengthy explanation ofwhen Jesus
Christ may have been born, Dr. Robertson
sets the date at - hold on now - the
summer or early fall of the year 6 B.C. or 5
B.C.Did you hear that? He set the date inthe
summer or the fall. Recently the idea of the
first week in January has gained some fol-
lowing. But no one who is a religious scholar
any more accepts or believes December 25.
One must calculate from the possible
death of Herod, or the appearance of the
so-called star in the East, which could have
been a comet recorded by the Chinese or a
conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
Saturn. But the Greenwich Observatory
says that the conjunction appearing as a
single star was very unlikely. Or one can
judge the time of the universal peace, that
is the time of no war a bout which the
heavenly host sang. But there was never any
stoppage of war in that time.
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One can guess from the so-called ministry
ofJohn the Baptist, or the age ofJesus upon
his entry into the ministry, or the building of
the Temple of Herod, or the closing of the
temple of Janus, or the so-called census of
Augustus Caesar. Allof these lead the poor
theologians in ever-increasing directions
away from the idea of Christmas and the
year zero or one of our present
calendar.
Actually, the idea ofDecember 25is unten-
able. Allthe ancients inChristian history had
various days for Christ's birth. Clement of
Alexander, who was closer to that alleged
event in time, said it was May 20. April 20
and January 6 have always appeared as pos-
sibledates. Why did the Christians want the
twenty-fifthofDecember? Why that particu-
lar date? Why did they deliberately steal this
very important date from the Pagans?
There are four points in our calendar
which we use and which we call Solstice or
Equinox points, two of each. The latter is
easy: we say that the equinox is when the
sun crosses the equator ofthe earth and day
and night are everywhere of equal length.
The sun does not actually cross the equator;
we allknow that. But with the earth's natural
tip on its natural axis as it whirls around the
sun, this seems to be so. Then, either one or
the other part ofour oldballofearth gets the
most sun. But on these two occasions, the
days are equal inlength everywhere and this
occurs about March 21 and September 23
by our current calendar.
The Solstice is something different. We
don't go around the sun in a circle; we tour
around it - on our earth - in an ellipse,
which is a flattened circle, or oval. When we
are inthe points furthest away from the sun,
we have another phenomenon. That, along
with the 23° inclination of the earth, causes
the solstices. Twice a year, when the sun is
at its greatest distance from the celestial
equator, about June 21 when the sun
reaches its northernmost point on the celes-
tial sphere, or about December 22 when it
reaches its southernmost point, we call
these moments the solstice. The solstice in
December is the time when the days of the
year, in our hemisphere, are the shortest.
Primitive man and Pagan man were not
idiots, you know. They saw this. Apparently
at the first, they feared the days would get
shorter and shorter and shorter and finally
. - what if there were only night What a
frightening thing, when the sun was so
necessary for life, from common observa-
tion. So when the day came for the sun to
overcome the darkness, and for the sun to
cause the days to be longer - even ifjust a
minute longer - itmeant that there was not
going to be eternal night. The sun had won a
fight again. Darkness had had to recede and
slowly the days would get longer and longer
until spring and summer, with food growing
again and the lifecycle being renewed again,
Austin, Texas
would be everywhere on the earth.
And so every primitive culture had a festi-
valor a feast on this day. Itwas celebrated in
China, in India, in South America, in Mex-
ico, in Africa, in every single place where
man could watch days and nights and sea-
sons. There were presents given on this
great day, exchanged as a symbol, for the
sun had brought the most precious giftof all
to man: the warmth needed for life and a
recycle of the seasons again. The ancient
men noticed other things too. Certain trees
stayed green allyear round, a promise ofthe
abundance of spring and summer to come
again after winter, a reassurance that allthe
greens would return in their seasons. The
light ofthe sun and the twinkling light ofstars
became important insymbolism as wellas in
fact. The mysterious parasite, mistletoe,
ever green, intrigued primitive man. It all
needed to be celebrated, to be noted with
awe. Ifone could not give lifeas the sun did
- one could give else, such as a sharing of
food or the precious few personal items one
had. But, above all it was a time of revelry.
Life had been renewed. It was the most
joyous of all human occasions. There was
universal singing and dancing and laughing
and well-being. It was wild and wonderful
and human and warm. It was the best of all
festivals. Itwas the gayest ofallfeasts. Itwas
the warmest and best ofallcollective human
activities.
The Christians were no fools. Ifthey per-
mitted the Pagan holiday to continue to
exist, it could challenge the basis of the
mournful Christian religion, with its great
emphasis on death. First came edicts out-
lawing the Pagan holiday. But nothing so
wildly wonderful and natural as this could
ever be outlawed. And then the solution
came: incorporate it into the Christian reli-
gion. Oh, it took some time. It took many
years to effect the change. It took much
propaganda. It took many reprisals and
sanctions against those who continued with
the old festival. But, eventually the Christian
religion won the day. There were changes in
calendars too. When the Julian calendar
was changed to the present-day calendar,
Solstice - or Christmas - shifted a few
days also, so that December 25, by our
calendar, came officiallyto be designated as
a Christian
day,
It took a thousand years, and more, to rob
the people of the earth of this grand holiday
and to replace it with a personalized myth
story of a new god born, a god of a horri-
ble, punitive, new religion called Chris-
tianity.
But, it is even easier now, with mass
media. There are many ofyou inthe listening
audience old enough to remember Armi-
stice Day. That was the day that World War
Iended and itwas celebrated for thirty years
or more until a second world war broke out.
After we veterans came home from that
December, 1985
second war we found that there was no
more Armistice Day. Instead, there was a
Veterans' Day. Allthe people inthe listening
audience tonight who are twenty-five years
old or younger, never even heard of Armi-
stice Day. They only know Veterans' Day,
for that is all that they were ever taught.
That's how it is with Christmas. That is
how itwas with the Solstice. Finally, no one
ever heard of the Solstice and its festivities
- and everyone came to believe that the
Christians were celebrating the birthday of
Christ and that was all that this holiday had
ever been.
But Biblescholars know better and Athe-
ists know better and we celebrate that old
and wonderful and joyous season. We even
sellSolstice cards for this season ofSolstice
and the New Year (which, really, are both
one day). Let me read to you what we print
traditionally on our Solstice cards.
Joyful and cheerful, with mistletoe and
signs ofthe season, the greetings are to wish
one and all the glad tidings of a wonderful
Winter Solstice season. The legend inside
the card says:
December 25, by the Julian calen-
dar, was the Winter Solstice. This
day, originally regarded by the Pagans
as the day of the nativity of the sun,
the shortest day of the year - when
the light began its conquering battle
against darkness - was celebrated
universally in all ages of man. Taken
over by the Christians as the birthday
of their mythological Christ, this
ancient holiday, set by motions of the
celestial bodies, survives as a day of
rejoicing that good will and love will
have a perpetual rebirth in the minds
of men - even as the sun has a sym-
bolic rebirth yearly. ~
CROSSWORDS
(From page 39)
SOLUTION
ACROSS: I-ENGLISHMAN 6-
IBIS 9-CLASS lO-LEITMOTIV
12-CACTUS GARDENS 14-
MISSIVES IS-FIESTA 17-
HOOPOE 19-CANOESUP21-
BATS OUT OF HELL 24-
AMIDSHIPS 2S-RUSTS 26-
STEP 27-TENSOR LAMP
DOWN: I-EACH 2-GLANCES
3-INSECTIVOROUS 4-HALF-
USED S-APING 7-BITIERS 8-
SAVE STAMPS ll-MARGIN
OF ERROR 13.AMPHIBIANS
16-MAYFESTS 18-0UTLIVE
20-SILESIA22-TRIPE 23-RSVP
Page 35
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B OOK RE VIE WS
Jerry Falwell
an unauthorized profile
by Dr. William R. Goodman, Jr. and
Dr. James J. H. Price
Lynchburg, Virginia
Paris
&
Associates, Inc.
1981,170 pages, $6.95 paperback
T
his is a 6 x 9 paperback book written
by two ordained ministers inthe Presby-
terian Church, who serve as interim pastors
to local congregations in Falwell's home-
town and who both teach religion at Lynch-
burg College.
Since both men are religious there is no
way that they are going to expose the evilsof
Christianity - even of the fundamentalist
variety - for any such expose would
redound against what they teach. Instead
they exhibit traditional Christian love by
first taking a broad swipe at Jerry the man,
and then nit-picking away at his ministry.
The book purports to answer two ques-
tions: (l) Who isJerry Falwell?and (2)What
is he really like? Actually the two questions
are vehicles used to slap Jerry with every-
thing just south of libel. This is a Christian
dirty tricks book.
Itis not possible to derive from the writing
why they chose the first topic to be con-
sidered other than the opening having been
deliberately designed to (1) split Jerry off
from his love-affairwith Israel, and (2) divert
some Jewish venture capital to the publica-
tion and distribution of this book.
The opening Chapter istitled The Jewish
Indiscretions and explores, primarily, one
Falwellian statement (not even a gaffe) of
1980which is taken out of context in order
to make a point. Intheir analysis the authors
are simply naive. Falwell is supporting Rea-
gan's international doctrines and if Ronnie
turned on the Jews tomorrow so would Fal-
well. His Zionistic support of Israel has little
to do with religion and everything to do with
the politics ofthe radical right. Israel is pro-
tected to be a thorn in the Mediterranean
side of the U.S.S.R. and a military niche for
the U. S. to watch the flow of oil from the
area. It is embarrassing all the way around
that Israel, the citizens of which are largely
Atheists, couches its existence in terms of
Old Testament-based Judaism and permits
Zionist extremists to head up the state.
The second chapter is concerned with
fund-raising, and in a capitalist nation where
money is king anyone who has the ability to
accumulate money becomes charged with a
Page 36
mystique. Such a person is held up as an
example of what the system can do, while
the subject person isreally envied and hated
by those who cannot manipulate that sys-
tem so well. The chapter material is superfi-
cial. There ismuch available on the finances
of Jerry Falwell but the authors have done
no research at all.
The meat, if one can call it that, of the
book and in which you, dear reader, may be
most interested, is a thirty-one page section
on the Moral Majority. Here isan interesting
account of its inception, with at least an
identification of those who are involved on
the religious and political right. Unfortunate-
ly the people are simply named and unless
you are thoroughly politicized already you
may need to go on a search for information
on all of them. But, all the bed-fellows are
exposed with the sheets off.
Then, in order to separate the wolf from
the sheep, the good fundamentalists are
given a chance to take a crack at Jerry.
These, ofcourse, include Dr. Bob Jones, Jr.,
Chancellor of Bob Jones (gasp ) University,
and Herbert W. Armstrong of the World-
wide Church of God. And, the representa-
tives from the mainline denominations are
quickly reviewed to illustrate that their
Christianity is not corrupted by the Falwel-
lian taint.
Another twenty-five page section is de-
voted to The Quotable Falwell, who is
shown through selective excerpts (filledwith
ellipses indicating omitted text) to be the
dunderhead that Atheists can see in each
and everyone of his broader sermons and
discourses.
And, taking off on those quotes, was he a
racist in his beginning church? Would he let
his daughter marry a Black? Anyone upon
whom the image of Falwell has been thrust
knows the answer to those questions - and
the media has inflicted him on all of us.
Believe itor not, old Jerry iseven indicted
as being easy on pornography since a search
of the texts at his Lynchburg College has
come up with a few four-letter words. But,
then, Jerry doesn't read much and probably
doesn't even know that the four-letter words
are there. But one of the authors knew
something was there, for he had searched
them all out before he got to the school. In
fact, when he went to the Thomas Road
Baptist Church Hallowe'en Scareniare
where the evils of sex were shown, he got so
carried away that just thinking about what
he saw caused him to write a delightful, lyric
passage concerned with sexual arousal into
this book on pages 87 and 88.
Falwell's attitude concerned with women
December, 1985
usually brings the religious of that sex to
their knees to thank god they are - at least
- not married to him. A short section deals.
with the Falwellian female ideal which turns
out to be a satellite around her husband.
The last chapter in the book is filled with
questions that the authors would like to
have asked Falwell, but never had the op-
portunity to do so. Using the device ofquot-
ing heavily from him, the questions are - of
course - calculated to belittle or plague
him. For example, he owns a complex of
property in Lynchburg in which an old
watering hole is located. Cruikshanks, as it
is called, is a favored meeting place for
(aghast ) meetings and drinkin' (booze ) in
the late afternoons and the not-so-early
evenings. Why would he own such a place
The authors would hardly believe him ifhe
could have been asked and if he had an-
swered honestly that it brings in money.
A typical example ofthe Proposed Ques-
tions gimmick is illustrative.
Q. At a National Press Club luncheon
you were asked about comments at-
tributed to you in a newspaper report
of a 1977rally with Anita Bryant. You
were quoted as saying: It's time we
returned to the McCarthy era and
stamped communists on the head and
sent them back to Russia. Your
answer (at the luncheon) went as fol-
lows:
I - the only time that statement
was ever made was not in a rally, but
in an informal setting a number of
local pressmen there and in a joking
way ... I said [it.]
But Dr. Falwell, you know that the
meeting you speak of was not an
informal setting. It was the Sunday
evening church service at Thomas
Road Baptist Church on October 23,
1977 when Anita Bryant was the
guest. ...
Why, once more, Dr. Falwell have
you lied?
Well, the good ministers missed the point.
Where it was said doesn't really matter.
Indeed the whole book isa classic demon-
stration of the old Pennsylvania Dutch epi-
gram: The pot is calling the kettle black.
And that's the way itiswiththis book. Itis,
nonetheless, interesting, informative - and
cheap. You probably want to buy it for a
delightful couple of hours of chuckles at
least and also to see who all the enemy
embraces. For that exercise, the book is
recommended.
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ME TOO
Me Too is a feature designed to
showcase short
essays
written
by
read-
ers in response to topics recently cov-
ered
by
the
American Atheist or
of
general interest to the Atheist com-
munity.
Essays submitted to Me Too (P.O.
Box
2117,
Austin, TX 78768-2117)
should be 600 to 800 words long.
A
response to Mr. Philip M. Buckley's
letter in the August, 1985, issue:
Ifthere seems to be a sense of aloofness in
Atheism, then Atheists may have earned
that right. After all, they are free thinkers.
My view is, that all Christians are, at the
least, ignorant. I know of none capable of
defending their beliefs or their Bible. If any
seem to know the contents of the Bible (the
overwhelming majority do not), they know
nothing or little of the available history and
origin of the Bible. Those that are knowl-
edgeable are generally called Atheists.
Ifthere are many hypocrites professing to
be Christians, then I look on that to be a
condemnation of both Christianity and its
morals.
Our writer seems to think that Christian-
ity rests its faith on Jesus Christ and him
alone. Without the Bible, there is no Jesus
Christ, and the Biblecollapses at the least bit
of criticism. Even using the contradictions
within the Bible,the foundation ofJesus falls
apart.
Which Jesus are you talking about? Ifyou
were to read the Gospels, you would find
four contradictory Jesuses. The Old Testa-
ment, on which Matthew relies so heavily,
falls apart starting with page one ofGenesis.
Which creation story does one believe? The
first (Genesis, Chapter One) is immediately
contradicted bythe second (Genesis, Chap-
ter Two). They are both copied from the
much older Sumerian
Enuma Elish.
When it comes to the study of Jesus, it
certainly is different. One must obliterate all
common sense and reason from his mind.
There is an abundance of information point-
ing to Jesus never having lived and no con-
temporary information available at all that
he did live. Even the Bible has him living
during the reign ofHerod, who died in4 B.C.
If we rest all of our proof on words like
followme, the charlatans, better known as
evangelists, become saviors. Ridiculous
Who could follow anyone based on a few
words that are meaningless and are spoken
by leeches on the poor and ignorant?
The same Jesus that said, follow me
also said, trade your cloak for a sword and
many other things we-would not advise our
Austin, Texas
children to do.
It seems to me that Buckley came to the
conclusion that there was a Jesus and then
went around proving it. This type of reason-
ing is typical of Christians. To give an exam-
ple, a piece of wood is found on the lower
slopes of Mount Ararat and is immediately
identified as a piece of the Ark, although the
wood is only 1,400 years old. Or an impres-
sion is found in a rock formation and
instantly it becomes man amongst the
dinosaurs. Little does it matter that the
prints are twenty-three inches long and have
no toes. When this kind of primitive logic is
used, it soon collapses.
We findJesus Christ inJosephus' writings
(A.D. 70) and use this as historical proof.
Don't look any further or you willdiscover
that the only version you willfind it in is the
Russian version and the comments them-
selves are very late additions by some primi-
tive hand.
Take the Book of Mark. Every expert,
Christian or non-Christian, agrees that the
last twelve verses of the sixteenth chapter of
Mark are later additions; not by the hand of
the author of Mark at all. The last twelve
verses? The resurrection, of course. Since
Mark is the oldest gospel and Matthew and
Luke were copied from Mark, we have the
resurrection carried over to these two
books. Where the author of the book of
John (earliest possible date, A.D.100)got his
information is anybody's guess. It certainly
does not resemble any of the other three
gospels.
AlD
TO
T\-\E -
STARVING-
December, 1985
These few fragments, used as examples,
certainly do not reflect the enormous wealth
of information and documentation that is
available to any person who wants to
research this question.
In final analysis, Buckley, ifyou truly want
to find the truth about Jesus Christ and the
Bible, then you must pursue truth with
objectivity. If not, you will remain in the
society that wears the brand of the greatest
killer of human beings ( religion has
125,000,000 deaths logged in history), the
inventors of the most heinous devices to
bring about the most torturous methods of
death (Christianity). The rewards heaped on
the Protestant and Roman Catholic church
by Hitler bought silence from the clergy. But
let us not credit Hitler with originality; he
merely carried out the master plan for the
ultimate solution of the Jewish problem
laid down by Martin Luther.
The bloodshed around the world today is
mostly due to religion. Iran is ruled by god;
the Middle East strife is all religious; North-
ern Ireland is fullof Christian-based atroci-
ties; and, the Sikhs and Hindus in India are
killing one another in the name of religion.
We need not go back into history; the evi-
dence is with us. Pancho Villa stated that,
The greatest disease to hit Mexico was the
Roman Catholic Church. Go one step
further - the greatest disease that ever hit
the world is religion.
- Reggie
Ball
Texas
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Three cheers forFrank R. Zindler's article
on gerontology. I have wondered why it is
that you don't hear gerontology talked about
in Atheist circles very much when really it
should be. It helps settle one of the oldest
arguments between Atheists and theists: the
mind/body argument. Gerontology shows
that death is an end result of aging; just a
natural process. A soul isnot needed for life;
a body is. I think all Atheists should expose
themselves to some gerontology.
BillReeder
Kentucky
e , . . . - : )
As a supporter of Madalyn [O'Hair] since
those Baltimore days and a student ofrevo-
lutionary Cuba (two trips there, one in
1984
in spite of Reagan's ban), I would like to
comment on the article Marti and the
Mass in the October issue.
Although I certainly agree with the criti-
cisms of Radio Marti and its c.1.A. mes-
sage, I feel that it is somewhat naive to
ascribe Reagan's enthusiasm for Radio
Marti to his nostalgic fondness for radio or
even to his religiosity. The truth is that Ron-
nie the Ripper simply represents the U.S.
ruling class. Thus, his job is to try to crush
the Cuban revolution so that the profits will
once again flow into the multinational
corporations.
I might add that, from my personal expe-
rience, religion is far from flourishing in
Cuba. You don't see religion on Cuban TV
and you don't hear it on Cuban radio. Nor
do you see preachers on Cuban street
corners any more than you see prostitutes
or beggars. Moreover, Fidel never calls on
almighty gawd. Religion is simply irrelevant
to the lives of the Cuban people, who are
busy constructing socialism without the
blessing of Ronald Reagan.
Allen Strasburger
New Jersey
c . , . . - : )
Score one for the Christers. After a ten-
year wait, I finallygot cable TV inmy neigh-
borhood; and upon checking the Lifestyle
channel listings, I found: 1) Christian Chil-
dren's Relief Fund, 2) Family Guide Pre-
Page 38
sents, 3) Herbert W. Armstrong, and 4)
numerous rerun, old but clean programs.
Gone is Dr. Ruth Westheimer's Great
Sex and the many other informative, perti-
nent, and secular formats for which this
channel was known. The USA channel,
which had some fine productions, has gone
the same way.
First, the Christers whined about the filth
being broadcast by air into private homes.
So, we complied, by FCC fiat, by construct-
ing closed-circuit cable TV systems to pre-
vent offending the Christers. Now even the
cable system is polluted with their junk.
Next you'll be seeing the Playboy channel
and the X-rated channels all slipping in an
hour from some electronic minister. What
next?
Leslie G. Cook
Ohio
e , . . . j
Congratulations on the publicity and sales
aroused with publication of
The X-Rated
Bible. I have not yet read it, but I am pretty
familiar with the good book, having read
the King James, Old and New Testaments,
at nine years old - the first time.
The purpose of this letter is to make sug-
gestions for follow-ups. The pornographic
sections of the Bible are - or should be
-less offensive than its god-ordained advo-
cacy of racial prejudice; opposition to
democracy; lineal despotism; cruelty; tor-
ture; unrestrained warfare; oppression of
women, children, the disabled, the senile,
and infants. The Bible and the god it extols
are utterly disgusting by every measure of
human dignity
Harry R. Le Grand
Florida
e , . . . j
I saw you [Madalyn O'Hair] speak at the
University of Arkansas in the fall of 1976.
Since then, Ihave been successfully married
for eight years; I have received an engineer-
ing degree; and I.have been gainfully em-
ployed for five years. You probably think
that these things are a mere coincidence,
but I know better. After hearing you speak,
my whole attitude toward life changed
dramatically. Since I was Jewish, Ifelt that I
had to marry a Jewish girl.After Ibecame an
Atheist, that notion vanished. The woman I
married ismore ofa closet Atheist, but Iam
satisfied with that.
Inschool my motto had always been gawd
would take care of me whether I studied or
not. Upon becoming an Atheist, that notion
changed also. I know the apologist saying,
December, 1985
gawd helps those who help themselves,
but it feels so much better to say I did it
myself.
Iwillalways be proud that Iam an Ameri-
can Atheist, and I am looking forward to
contributing more in the future. Thank you
very much, Madalyn.
Robert L. Cranford
Florida
e , . . . j
Your lament in the October issue of
American Atheist
[ On Seizing Power, Jon
G. Murray] relative to the inability of liberals
ofallstripes to cooperate incommandeering
the media in behalf of spreading the mes-
sage is evidence of your complete misread-
ing of your predicament. In terms oforgani-
zation and finance, for instance, the ultra-
liberal and well-financed Mondale-Ferraro
machine was all one could ever desire in the
way ofmedia-manipulation, as wellas media-
domination. Just consider some of the most
prestigious special-interest groups allied
with the Fritz-and-Gerry show - every
group from the Gays to NEA to NOW to the
woefully out-of-touch AFL-CIO hierarchy.
Yet, forty-nine states went conservative.
Why?
The answer is so obvious as to be almost
instinctively, rather than intellectually, rec-
ognizable. The perception on the part of the
public was that Mondale had
no
message;
therefore, no quantity or quality of endeav-
ors relative to organizational or philosophi-
cal considerations could have saved the day.
Reagan, on the other hand, was perceived
to have had the message. This perception
was formed through the observation of
empirical evidence, as wellas the gut feel-
ing that the man could be trusted as the
guardian of traditional values and personal
possessions - this, in spite of the fact that
all three major TV networks, the largest
newsmagazines, and probably most of the
largest newspapers were arrayed against
him.
Perhaps you should face this issue square-
ly on the basis of the message you seek to
convey. Could it be that your message is,
simply, no message?
J. L. Clark
Kentucky
c . , . . , , : )
Iwas intrigued and intensely interested by
Frank Zindler's The Prospect of Physical
Immortality in the September number of
American Atheist, with its memorable in-
troductory poem by Edna St. Vincent
Millay.
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L ET T ERS TO TH E E D ITOR
say nothing of the noise pollution and the
destruction ofour privacy and our liberties.
So, until zero population growth can be
achieved, let us not be too concerned with
physical immortality, or we willbecome as
overcrowded as that mythical heaven from
which no one has ever returned to demand a
refund. •
As things stand at present, I willhave to
opt for death
I would really love to live forever on this
Earth, but at this time, I am forced to con-
clude that Nature knows best, as all of us,
including Mr. Zindler, should know that
overpopulation (even including religious
dogma) is the underlying cause of most of
our world problems: famine, which iscaused
not as much by drought as by the overgraz-
ing, overcultivating, and erosion of allarable
land; the pollution of our streams, ocean,
and atmosphere; the destruction of our
forests and wilderness areas; and the using
up of our energy and mineral resources, to
NOTICE
Donnafred
Arizona
Letters to the Editor must be
either questions or comments of
general concern to Atheists or
Atheism. Submissions should be brief
and to the point. Space limitations
allow that each letter should be two
hundred words, or preferably,
less.
Please confine your letters to a single
issue only. Mail them to:
American Atheist
P.O.
Box 2117
Austin, TX 78768-2117
Cryptic crossword puzzles are not like the puzzles
seen inmost American publications; they are much more
devious. The clues are almost never what they seem to
be. Some of the clues are anagrams of the word sought;
these are indicated by clues such as sort of or crazy.
Some clues are puns giving an association of sound or
meaning. Charade clues are built up by definitions of
parts of the answer word. In some cases the answer is
actually hidden among the letters of the clue. Punctua-
tion can be used to obscure clues and change the appar-
ent meaning.
In general, the cryptic clue consists of two parts. One
part isa definition of the word sought, and the other isthe
cryptically constructed part. The fun and challenge of
this sort of puzzle is to figure out which part is which.
Often the relationship between clue and answer is a
humorous one or one that presents a peculiar viewofthe
world of words.
Austin, Texas December, 1985
The numbers in parentheses are the numbers ofletters
in each word of the answer.
If you would like a sample puzzle with answers and
explanations of clues, send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to Steve Bratteng, Division of Biological Sci-
ences, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712.
ACROSS
1. Jacks' nemesis reportedly found one to have distinc-
tively odorous humor. (10)
6. A nib is just part of a bird, but a whole may also be
found. (4)
9. Young lady follows a hundred showing elegance. (5)
10. Wagnerian theme sounds like it might not be too
heavy. (9)
12. Places one might find Opuntia and its ilk. (6, 7)
14. Fail to catch Burl? Send him letters instead (8)
15. Feat is sort of like a party. (6)
17. Bird who I hear before one who wrote of a bird (while
he pondered weak and weary). (6)
19. One goes against the current when paddling so. (6,2)
21. They must fly like the devil (4,3,2,4)
24. Among boats or just at the center of one? (9)
25. Truss shows signs of deterioration. (5)
26. Pets return but get under foot. (4)
27. Common desk fixture sounds less relaxed. (6, 4)
DOWN
1. Everyone in turn affected by terrible ache (4)
2. Peeks, seeing lance stuck in it. (7)
3. Attribute of shrews and certain sticky-leafed plants.
(13)
4. Part-time employment? (4-4)
5. A sound associated with table tennis shows one act-
ing like a monkey. (5)
7. Hops to make such sensations. (7)
8. What evangelical postal workers attempt, or just the
mess mixed up in pa's vat? (4, 6)
11.Border mix-up or just room enough for safety? (6,2,5)
13. Apparently these animals possess two of what cats
have nine of. (10)
16. Parties, but not tillafter April (8)
18.Survive or perhaps rough it the other way around. (7)
20. Crazy Elisa is known in central Europe. (7)
22. Journey to the east to find trash. (5)
23. Politely invited response. (4)
(Solution on page 35)
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8/9/2019 American Atheist Magazine Dec 1985
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/american-atheist-magazine-dec-1985 43/44
ChEista hand me down?
Is our very own Judeo-Christian tradition a
hand-me-down from past cultures? Hasour soci-
ety really inherited out-dated
religious tales from now-
dead older siblings?
It is now possible to read
of the old flood myths which
predate Noah and his ark.
But few people have ever
been given a glimpse of the
numerous stories of messi-
ahs, of virgin-born saviors
and their miracles.
Most of the information
concerning the ancient
christs has been available
only to academic research-
ers - the average reference
book will rarely tell the read-
er the strange tales of mes-
siahs who date back to hu-
mankind's darkest past.
flood myths, from the Old Testament's Noah to
the Babylonian Xisuthrus to the Hindu Satyav-
rata.
But did the individual
called Jesus ever exist? And,
if so, when? It is with the
answers to these challeng-
ing questions that Jackson
concl udes th is stu nn ing
work. The American Atheist
Press expects
Christianity Before Christ
to be as
classic as the author's best-selling Pagan Ori
gins of the Ghrist Myth.
No one interested in the history of religion
should miss
Christianity Before Christ.
Give it to
yourself as a Solstice present - or to someone
you care enough about to educate.
CHRISl lL \N Y
Befo re
CHRIST
by John G. Jackson
Nowa noted educator, lecturer, and scholar
has written an eye-opening account of the old
myths - Christianity Before Christ. InChristian
ity Before Christ Professor John G.Jackson first
examines the many tales of the origin of man-
kind, outlining the parallels between Tahitian
myths and Hebrewfables. Then he goes on to the
With this background,
he investigates the many
savior stories. Carefully, he
examines the lives of the
great messiahs. Tales of de-
ities with which few West-
erners are familiar are told
- Adonis, Attis, Mithra,
Prometheus, Krishna, Bud-
dha, and others. He makes
an unmistakable case for the
hand-me-down nature of the
Judeo-Christian Jesus.
Cut and Mail to: American Atheists, P.O. Box 2117, Austin, TX, 78768-2117
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8/9/2019 American Atheist Magazine Dec 1985
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/american-atheist-magazine-dec-1985 44/44
The fact that the earth now attains its
needed quota of light and darkness, of heat
and cold, by its own axial rotations and
revolutions- around the sun, is a significant
hint that its human inhabitants should de-
pend on their own self-provisonal powers
rather than on heavenly or miraculous aids.
- Jean Story
Free Religious Index
December 30, 1880
AMENDMENTI
CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LA W RESPECTING