MERICARTIEIST

""~ ~;a.,~

Vol.

No.

50 Cents

--------------------------- --------~--------------------------------------

"l BELIEVE THAT RELIGION,

GENERALl.y

SPEAKING,

HAS BEEN A CURSE TO MANKIND."

H. L. MENKEN.

In This Issue ..
NEWS
NEWSCOPE
PRAY FOR PEACE
GOD & THE MAGIC SEVEN
LETTERS TO YE EDITOR
BOOK OF THE MONTH
EDITORIAL

I
U
14
16
20
22

23

The Staff ..
EDITOR IN CHIEF
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Robert Anton Wilson Jack Brady
Ralph Blois
CONTRIBUTING
Lou Alt Virgil McClain
CIRCULATION
William Murray
PUBLISHER THE FREETHOUGHT SOCIETY OF AMERICA. Inc.
PRINTING by THE GUSTAV BROUKAL FREETHOUGHT PRESS

The American Atheist is published monthly by

The Freethought
Society of America, Inc ., a
non-profit corporation.
Publication
office is at
4547 Harford Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21214.
Subscription rate is $5.00 a year; students $3.00.
Ten copies of one issue: $2.50
Second class postage paid at Baltimore !vlaryland

GUSTAV BROUKAL

The news presented

in these columns,
which
fills approximately
one half of the magazine,
is
chosen to demonstrate
to you, month after month,
that the dead reactionary
hand of religion
is always with you. It dictates
how much tax you
pay, what food you eat and when, with whom you
sleep, if you should have children,
if you die in
concentration
camps,
if you are segregated
in
some manner from other human beings, what you
read, what movies you see, and what you should
or should not believe
about life. Religion
is
politics and always the most reactionary
politics.
We editorialize
our news to emphasize
the
above thesis.
Unlike any other magazine
or neto spaper in America ~~ we admit it!

eHU RCH VOTES

'TAX GIFT'

Although America's churches have been for

many years tax exempt in violation of the legal
and constitutional
principle
of separation
of
church and state, one church in Des Moines,
Iowa, has decided it wants to pay something for
the services for which others are taxed.
Central Presbyterian Church voted last month
to donate up to $4,000 a year to the city of Des
Moines, an amount about equa 1 to the congregation's share of the cost of streets, public safety
and sanitation. It also voted to sell its two parsonages and pay its clergymen housing allowances instead. The pastor, the Rev. Arthur Cruikshank, will buy the church-owned manse. which
is exempt from real estate taxes.
"From now on" he says, "I can be a fullfledged citizen living in a house on which 1 am
paying taxes. H We suggest that you write your
local Presbyterian
Church and inform them of
this patriotic and unselfish action.

SPECIAL

FAVORS

The Chairman and Members of the Committee

on Finance, United States Senate, Washington
25, D. C. is currently considering bill number
S.2147 for special favors and tax relief to the
Fischer quintuplets and their family.
Of course, the family will be faced with unusual expenses.
However, newspapers indicate
that cash gifts are about $250,000 to date. Many
large circulation magazines have paid excessive
The American

Atheist,

Baltimore

12, Maryland

News
fees for exclusive
stories and pictures. The
father is still employed and the family seems to
be faring very well without tax relief other than
that available to anyone and everyone. That this
Roman Catholic family should be singled out is
base discrimination
against all other families,
especially
families which are larger than the
Fischer family.
Just because predominantly Roman Catholic
Canada favored the Dionne quintuplets
is no
reason why our country should favor a family because of the actions of nature, and because they
are Roman Catholic. Many people in the United
States could use a special tax relief measure for
their group - particularly the aged who are on
fixed income.
The bill number and the correct
the appropriate
Senate Committee
article, for your use.

address of
heads this

MEMO
President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first
American to receive the Grand Cross of Merit
from the Roman Catholic Order of Malta.

OF ALL THINGS!
"Ngo Dinh Diem {of South Vietnam). .. rejected
by a Catholic seminary, because he failed to
qualify, was picked up by Cardinal Spellman and
the State Department to be groomed as 'their man
in Saigon'. tt from Wilfred G. Burchett's The Furtive War, p. 83.
And from The Register,
the U. S. RomanCatholic weekly of October 13, 1963, "Mme. Nhu
- outspoken but a sincere convert."
We always
thought they were the worst kind. Remember
Clare Luce Booth? And, who has not read the
book:

DALLAS,
Fourteen

Methodist

TEXAS
Ministers

have rallied to
Page

the defense of a fellow preacher whose life was

threatened after he said there had been applause
in a Dallas public school classroom when a
teacher announced Pres ident Kennedy had been
shot. Each minister has come up with the name
of at least one high school student or teacher
who had witnessed cheering in the Dallas classrooms when the shooting was announced.
The threatened
Methodist
minister,
Rev.
William Holmes made his statement on a national
television program on November 26th. Within five
minutes after the interview the network's station
received an outpouring of telephoned threats on
Mr. Holmes' life and a warning that the station
would be blown up. Police threw up a protective
net around the station. Five squad cars went to
the minister's home, shut off his telephone, set
up a guard on the grounds and took his wife and
two small sons to an undisclosed place. As of
December 2nd the family had not been allowed
to return home.
Neither of Dallas' two newspapers
has reported any of this--the bomb threat or the murder warnings. The news papers did carry a statement by Dallas schools superintendent
W. T.
"White which flatly denied there had been any
outbreak of cheers in the schools.
Spokesman for the 14 ministers, Rev. Wilfred
Bailey, minister of Casa View Methodist church
advised both the Dallas newspapers
that his
group had proof, with sworn statements from students and teachers that the ambush of Mr. Kennedy had been cheered. He said, "I am still
waiting for a reply from either newspaper.".
This leaves you, dear reader, in the same
quandry as the lover who awaited the lady or
the tiger. Do you believe the truth comes from
the Da llas government and school s uperinterident or from the ministers, or from that third party
- the newspapers?

HISTORY

OF AN ATHEIST

CENTER.

Marvin Vangilder of the Carthage, Missouri,

Press newspaper, inspired by the news of the
projected Atheist Center to be established
in
Kansas has dug up the story of another midwestern town with a similar purpose and beginning.
Liberal, Missouri, was founded in 1881 as an
atheist center by George H. Walser, an Illinois
Page 2

attorney who
soll, agnostic
ficer in the
after the war.
superintendent
attorney and

was a disciple of Robert G. Ingerleader. Walser, who was an ofUnion Army, went to Lamar, Mo.,
He became the Barton County first
of schools,
later prosecuting
then a member of the legislature.

A land speculator, he dreamed of a town free

of churches where a man might pursue any line
of thought or belief without interference or complaint. He acquired land on the prairie just five
east of the Kansas line. Libera I's Catalpa Park
became the site of a large pavilion and ampitheater, with an open stage, and a well-kept race
trac k.
G. W. Baldwin, an Atheist financier, and a
host of other Atheists, agnostics,
free thinkers
and later - spiritualists,
joined the colony.
Walser established
the Instruction School, then
the Liberal Normal School and Business College
which later merged with the new Freethought
University. Classes were held at the Universal
Mental Liberty Hall. Famed mediums came for
seances in Spiritualist Hall.
Christians took up the challenge and established the town of Denison, across the tracks of
the Memphis and Fort Scott Railroad.
A political battle between the co-founders,
Walser and Baldwin was the beginning of the
downfall of the experiment. On the eve of the
1888 presidential election, the community assembled in Universal Mental Liberty Hall to hear
Walser, a Republican speak in favor of Benjamin
Harrison and Baldwin, a Democrat, laud Grover
Cleve land. After the meeting the hall was
"closed
for repairs ", and never again opened
under non-Christian auspices.
In the same year Spiritualist Hall caught fire
during a spiritualist
seance session. Later, the
Christians
of Denison began moving en masse
across the tracks. The Methodist Church bought
Universal Mental Hall and converted it into a
"'''house of worship". By 1920 the power of the
founders had been broken. Walser retired to a
country home to write poetry and the churchmen
in Liberal made the usual tired claims that they
converted the Atheists and agnostics
"by the
hundreds
although they did concede that mo st
of those "not converted
eventually departed.
II

Il

Liberal,

today, has five churches, with mernThe American Atheist,

Baltimore
12, Maryland

bership
encompassing
town's 612 residents.

Hthe

majority"

WE INSIGN I FICANT

of the

FEW

Rev. Albert Cavanaugh,

minister
of evangelism at Central
Methodist
Church,
1875 North
Central Street, and Hev. C. Vaughan Rock, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church, 1202 N.
Third St., both in Phoenix,
Arizona were asked
recently
if Atheists
are more outspoken
against
religion
than previously,
or whether they have
become tranquil
because
they fear social sanctions.
"Atheists
probably have a harder time today
getting a platform. People just are not interested
in listening
to them.",
Mr. Cavanaugh
said. lie
said Atheism had never been an important. movement and he dismissed
U. S. Atheists
as an "insignificant'
group. He added that social
s anctions against
Atheists
have decreased
in recent
years.
He felt that "An Atheist
would enjoy it
if society
used pressures
against
him. They're
oddballs,
anyway."
He was not convinced
that
your editor was an Atheist,
but added that "We
have never had to take them very serious ly .
Rev. Rock said that "Today
Chris tian ity has
been watered
down so that church is more acceptable
to Atheists."
He further said that there
are more Atheists
in the United States today, but
that they generally
keep their opinions to themselves.
If Atheists
do not say much to ministers
or
employers,
they do talk to the census takers.
In
the Bureau of Census,
U. S. Department
of Cornmerce, Statistical
Abstract
of the United States,
48 (83d ed. 1962) we find that about 3% of our
population
profess
no re Iig ion whatever.
Three
percent
of our population
is 5,400,000
people.
I n addition
75,000,000
do not go to any church,
nor are they affiliated
with any church. This is
a whopping big number of an "insignificant
few."

GRAVEN

IMAGES

A suit to compel the Department

of Motor Vehicles
in Los Angeles,
California,
to excuse
a
truck driver from having his photo taken for a
new driver's
license
was filed by the American
Civil Liberties
Union on December 3rd.
The driver

is John

The American Atheist,

E. Shubin,

a member

of

Baltimore 12, Maryland

the Russian
Molcke n Christian
Holy Spiritual
Jumpers faith. The driver contends
that the Mo~
tor Vehicles
Code deprives
him of his constitutional right to freedom of worship since the sect
believes
photography
a violation
of Exodus 20:4
of the Bible:

"Thall shalt
images
or any
heaven
above,
or thai is in the

not make unto thee any graven

likeness
of anything
that is in
or that is in the earth beneath,
water under the earth."

The pastor
of the Old Romanski
Church of
which Mr. Shubin is a member explained
that the
Molokans
migrated
from Czarist
Russia
from
19U5 to 1914 "to live in a land with freedom and
just.ice for all". The main body of the church migrated to Los Angeles
and the majority
of the
sect lives there.

FREEDOM

OF THE PRESS

Protestants
United of Washington,
D. C. last
month released
a statement
in regard to their
difficulties
in purchasing
advertising
in national
magazines.
Answering
a question
which is often
asked,
'The Knights
of Columbus
advertise
in
magazines,
why don't you?' they replied through
their Executive
Director,
Glenn L. Archer,
as
follows:
"The
answer
is simple.
POATJ's advertisements are refused by the major magazines.
Why?
They give many reasons,
but the real one is
probably their unstated
fear of reprisal
by clerical censors.
"On my desk right now are letters from TIME
LOOK, NEWSWEEK and the SA TURDA Y EVENING POST,_ All say the same thing in different
words: NO! (Even though the same ad has run in
five of the nation's
most respected
religious
magaz iues . r"
This appears
to us as a typical
every day
example
of Freedom
of The Press ... for Catholies,
while Protestant
groups struggle
for expression
in leading
magazines,
and Atheist
groups
do not have a prayer
(excuse
the expres s ion l). Yet these
same magazines
prattle
away about the great Free World's Press.
For those of you who subscribe
to the above
magazines
- you all know how to write letters!
Page 3

ALLIANCE

FOR WHAT!!

The United States is aiding Columbia's Public School system through the Alliance for Pro.gre ss . In 1962 the aid was $3,500,000 in grants.
In the
taught to
emies of
employed
schools.

public schools Colombian children are

hate and sus pect Protestants
as enthe Fatherland. No Protestant may be
as a teacher or Principal in the public

A recent study by the Evangelical Confederation of Columbia reveals

that the public
schools there are more "parochial"
than the private schools of the Roman Catholic Church in
the United States.
Many North Americans, including non-believers, are concerned over this aid to the Colombian public schools as they are presently organized. They and we believe that aid should be
given in accordance
with the United States
principle of separation of Church and State.

IN THE NAME OF RELIGION

A recent Supreme Court decision in the case
of ex-dictator Perez Jiminez of Venezuela now
takes on some added importance for the case of
Andrea Artukov ich , the "Himmler of the Nazi
Satellite Croatia". The decision sets an important precedent for it decrees that an exile charged with crimes against his own country must return to face tria 1.

ation on the ground that he would be subject to

persecution
if forced to return to Yugoslavia!
But, under the ruling now given by the U. S.
Supreme Court, He must be deported to Yugoslavia and face trial for crimes against his own
country.
Artukovic is a Catholic and he has been able
to get Catholic support such as Luke E. Hart,
the former supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus. Yet, the Vatican has recorded ,"shock"
officially over the wholesale murder of Jews and
Protestants
under his direction. The Catholic
bishop of Mostar commenting on the murders said,
"Small wonder ... the conversion of the Orthodox to Catholocism has been a complete failure .
if the Lord had granted the competent authorities
more understanding
and the common sense to
car.ry out the conversions
with more. tack and
less violence, the number of Catholics could
have increased at least 500,000 and the Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina would have risen
from 700,000 to 1,300,000."
When the word of these atrocities reached
Vatican, Archbishop Stepanic addressed an
peal to the- Croatian Nazi regime asking
special treatment for Jews. and Serbs who

the.
apfor

had

entered the Catholic church.

The Yugoslav government
kovic's extradition for trial as
the state department supported
ter much tedious litigation the
ruled him deportable.

requested yArtua war criminal; .

the request. AfSupreme Court

Artukovich, who lives at Surfside, California,

is the man officially charged with instigating the
death of 750,000 orthodox Serbs, 60,000 Jews
and 26,000 Gypsies. This is the greatest genocide, in proportion to a nation's population, that
took place in World War II.

Yet, our Justice

Department does not act.
We wonder if 750,000 Roman Catholics
were
ever massacred just how long it would take for
the perpetrator of the deed to be brought to justice?

The systematic and brutal murders had as a

goal to exterminate Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox
Church and the Jews, and as a collateral goal to
convert the population and the state to a Roman
Catholic
nazi-fascist
stronghold,
similar to
Spain.

A
documented book by Edmond Paris is a-.
vailable from our book service for $5.00. This
is Genocide in Satellite Croatia, 1941 - 1945.
The book is strong medicine, and anyone who
reads it must be prepared to come away shocked
and deeply disturbed.

Artukovic has previous ly been ruled deportable. He entered this country from Ireland under a false name, Aloys Anich, which is sufficient reason for deportation alone. However,
the immigration service has stayed his deport-

Page 4

$400,000

GOODBYE

There was a private offer of $400,000 to Cook

County, Illinois, this fall to establish
a' birth
control clinic at the County Hospital. The main

The American Atheist,

Baltimore 12, Maryland

purpose of the clinic was to have been to help

families
who rely on the Hospital services
(those on welfare) to have the same family planning advice available to those with greater incomes. Those who asked for it would have been
given instruction in contraceptive
methods, including the rhythm method which has the approval of Roman Catholic authorities.
It was assumed that the clinic would pay for
itself in a practical way by cutting the number
of deliveries of babies handled at taxpayers
expense by the County Hospital. The obstetrical
department is overcrowded, a condition which
threa tens its accred ita tion.
I

Dr. Karl Meyer, head of Cook County medical

institutions said that space could be made avaiL
able at the hospital complex for the clinic. Medical authorities believe family planning is part
of good medicine. And so, in an unbelievable
move Cook County Board members deferred action, unanimously, until after the December 1st
deadline given by the donor - thus killing the
project!!!
I n this manner they declined to talk over the
arguments in favor of the clinic or even to put
on record their reasons for not accepting the
private offer. One member explained that the
clinic "would be against a good portion of Cook
County res idents ' wishes."

that we quote them in full.

"The revolution in ethical thinking of Protestants has occurred with such speed that many
Catholics seem unaware that contraception is no
longer in Protestant eyes an evil thing, but may
be a good, virtuous and even holy action, demanded by the changed conditions of modern life
and commended by the vast majority of physicians.
"The failure to recognize this revolution in
testant ethical and religious thought leaves
a few Catholic laboring under the erroneous
pression that their views on contraception
reflect the moral concensus
of virtually
whole Christian community.

"It is this cultural lag-the failure to appreciate

the radical change in Protestant thinking--that
partly explains their occasional
recourse
to the
police power of the state to suppress contraceptive birth-control
practices,
advertis ing and
clinics. "
Father O'Brien noted that there are 300 denominations
represented
in the nation's
religious life and they must learn to live together.
"The consequences
of such pluralism is that no
one group may impose its distinctive
creedal
or moral viewpoint through the clenched
fist of
legis lative

The Chicago Sun Times in an editorial decried the actions of the Board. The editorial
said:
"Let us be frank. Obviously, he (the Board member) believes that all Roman Catholics of the
community are opposed to such a clinic even lor
those who are not Catholics
and who have no
scruples against birth control. This is not neeessarilya
correct belief.
"The time is overdue for public officials to face
up to the religious issues involved in discussing birth control and particularly to acquaint
themselves
with the dialogue that is going on
within the Catholic church itself about it."
The
written
fessor
Dame.

editor quotes at length from an article

by Rev. John A. O'Brien, research proof theology at the University of Notre
We find Rev. O'Brien's remarks so frank

The American

Atheist,

Baltimore

12, Maryland

Pronot
imstill
the

fiat

or governmental

directive

upon

those of other faiths.

"The attempt to do so is rightly resented as an
intolerable arrogance; it is an utterly unwarranted infringement on the constitutional
rights of
others and is doomed to failure. Its only result
is the generation of bad blood, bitterness, hatred
and strife."
Father O'Brien clearly demonstates here the
Roman Catholic Church's use of political power
in America to render unto God that which is
Caesar's.
The Sun-Times' editorial concludes that there
needs to be not only a good deal more discussion about the need for a Cook County Hospital
birth control clinic but discussion about the cultural lag which was evidenced in the County
Board's action. The editorial opined that "The
pity is those who exhibit the cultural lag, do
not know that it exists."
Page

AWAKE WITNESSES
"Awake" is the semimonthly magazine published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (117 Adams St.k Brooklyn
1, New York) The Watchtower Society is the
voice of the Assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses.
In Volume XLIV, Number 16 they print a four
page article titled "Bible Reading - But Not in
School" in defense of the Supreme Court Decision.
They ask how the decision stands in the light
of the Holy Bible and answer in this vein:
"For true Christians it (the decision) merely underscores what the Bible clearly teaches-that
it
is the parents'
res ponsibility
to teach their
children true worship. This is made clear not only in the Hebrew Scriptures but in the Christian
Greek Scriptures where fathers are told: "Go on
bringing them up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah."
(Eph , 6:4; Deut. 6:6,7)
Christians are not to sidestep their God-given res pons ibil ity , trying to turn it over to schools or
the state. God gave it to you parents. He holds
you responsible, ... Rather than talk against a
court decision that places the responsibility
for
religious training where God has already placed
it, Christian parents will talk Bible truths, to
put in the minds of their children the "authoritative advice" of Jehovah God.

AND PRESBYTERIANS
On November 28th the General Council of the
United Presbyterian Church issued a letter to its
3,200,000 members. In the historical existence
of the church only three previous letters have
been issued on matters of such "extreme importance. The letter also appeared in the December issue of the denomination's
official publication, "Presbyterian
Life".
Essentially
the United Presbyterian
Church
said through their General Council that they will
not back down on their support of the Supreme
Court ruling prohibiting Bible Reading and Prayer in the public schools and on their stand for
racial justice.
The letter stated':
"We cannot afford the luxury of being s pectators of history. God calls us to be participants,"
Page 6

." "When children are coerced by law, intimidation, custom or other pressures to express or accept a faith that is neither theirs nor that of
their parents, their humanity is denied."
"When men are turned away from God's house
because of the color of their skin, their humanity is denied. When men, women and children, because of their color, are berated, beaten and
bombed for trying to vote, to get an education,
buy a house, or be served in a public place,
their humanity is denied."
The letter, entitled" Of Judgment and
c iliation " was signed on behalf of the
by Rev. Silas G. Kessler, moderator of
hundred seventy-fifth General Assembly
Rev. Theophilus
M. Taylor, Secretary
General Council.

Rec oncouncil
the one
and the
of the

AND THE U. S. CONGRESS

Proposals in the House of Representatives
to
force a vote on a Constitutional
amendment permitting prayers and Bible reading in public
schools are stalled. In a 'clever' move to speed
up the process a petition to sidestep the House
Judiciary Committee has been circulated. It was
drafted by a six member committee from the 57
Representatives
who had introduced similar bills
for a Constitutional
amendment.
The petition requires 218 signatures to bypass the Judiciary Committee (which has not
acted on the proposal). The petitioners
have
gathered only 93 names. They must obtain 125
more.
This is good news for our side, but by no
means is it a sign that we can relax our activity.
Each of us have the burden of contacting our
Congressmen to make our views known. Also, we
need to know what is involved. Remember that
constitutional
amendments must be approved by
two-thirds of both the House and Senate and ratified by three-fourths of the 50 states. However,
the sooner we defeat this nonsense, at the lowest level of its operation, the less difficulty we
will have later.

YOUR HONOR?
In a decision that hits squarely at freedom
of religion, the U. S. Court of Appeals in Illinois has upheld a lower court's denial of a
The American Atheist,
Baltimore
12, Maryland

prisoner's
right to receive the Holy Quran, bible
of the Mus lims. The petitioner,
Thomas Cooper,
age 31, who was sentenced
to two one hundred
year terms ten years ago after a tavern killing,
had asked the court to be permitted
to receive
Mus lim literature.

Canon
John
Poarce-H iggins
of Southwark
Cathedral,
Church of England,
in London, criticized the Brhle this fall as a record heavy with
wrong history and unfulfi l.ed prophecies.

Appeals
Judge F. Ryan Duffy brazenly
ftsserted the denial was based on "certain
social
studies"
which purport to show that the Muslims
are not a religious
movement, but one dedicated
to "the overthrow of the white race".

"I cons idc.r the pre seri. use of the Bible made
by the average Christian
teacher to be one of the
greatest
obstacles
to hunan brotherhood
and interracial
understanding
that exists."
the Canon
said.

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

He as ket' his re llow clergy

if they cannot
help but ask theruse lve: what evidence
they
have that the Bible is any more or less the word
of God than any of the other anc iant holy books
of the world, or even ot any other serious
ins pirational
contribution
or record
of human
know ledge and experience.

In Seattle,
Washington,
an ordinance
has been
proposed for opening housing so that discrimination because
of race or creed would beprohibited. Opposition
was expected,
but the type of
opposition
and the direction
it has taken is unusual.
Rev. Thomas W. Miller, minister
of the Calvary Bible Presbyterian
Church, has appointed
himself 'the voice' of the conservative
religious
groups which oppose
the ordinance.
He daily
preaches
against
the ordinance
in broadcasts
over Radio Station
KNBX, Seattle,
Washington.
Mr. Miller bases
his reasons
for opposition
to
the ordinance
on religious
grounds. He would not
rent to an Atheist
for any reason,
and reasons
in this manner:
"The ordinance
forbids a Christian
to rent a
house
to a Negro who is a Christian
if an
Atheist were first to discover
the availability
of
the accommodation.
I personally
know of a family who would rather rent to a Negro Christian
than a white Atheist because
of many sad experiences with neighbors
who are Atheists."
But whether
he really
wants a Negro Christian for a neighbor
is revealed
in his further remarks:
"What the Negro and white civil-rights
leader reed is more understanding
of the will of God
-- 'Thou shalt not covet'.
As an individual,
every individual,
every person finds acceptance
by forcing his way into another's
life with the
attitude
of being as good as the other fellow?
The real solution to present racial problems will
come from the milk of human kindness
obtained
by the preaching
of the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ. "

The American

Atheist,

Baltimore

12, Maryland

BUT THEftE

ARE SOfl,1E SANE CLERGY

There is too much fo.rgy pleading

the Canon
argued, am or.g Christ ian r.polog ists , who seek to
defend either the r.uth or icy of the Bible or the
authority
of the church as the proper exponent
of Biblical
thinking.
The use of the Bible in an
age of sc ience is l.ard ly nos s ible until it is admitted that Ce Bible is o.ily one among the holy
books
of the worl l. Ch-ist ian ministers
must
start to d is c over non-Christian
literature,
and
Christian
scholars
must "state
fearlessly
that
there was much in the Biule that, if taken liter .
ally at least. was just plr.in wrong. tJ
"Some of the history
is wrong, some of the
details
are obviously
Earbled,
incidents
and
events have got out. of context,
prophecies were
not always fulfilled."
"St. Paul was c orr plete ly wrong in his idea
of a Second Coming and the sudden transformation of the bodies (if the sti ll living into etheric
or spirit bodes . I have c.rme to the painful conclusion that for a very large number of the supporters of religion,
their .re lig ious views are infantile
psychological
systems
which have been
acquired
under the stres - of the early years of
life, which give p rnotior.al
satisfaction
to the
particular
psvcholcgical
make-up of the individ .
ua l concerned,"
tho canon concluded.

WHAT NOW?
On October
lege

in South

25th of thi-, year St. Mary's ColBend, Ind ie.na , opened a drive to

Page 7

collect $10.3 million for new buildings and en

dowment for that Catholic College. The millions
sought in direct gifts is supplemented (Sister
Maria Renata, president of the College says) by
the $2,550,000 loan the college received in June
from the federal government to finance the dining
hall and the first residence hall.
Now the announcement has been released
that Studebaker Corporation is quitting South
Bend, and in fact the United States. The last
day of scheduled work was in the third week of
December. Since South Bend's economy was
dominated by this industry, we worry a little about the church college's drive. If they cannot
milk the now-unemployed-ex-Studebaker workers
will they go back to the federal government for
more "loan" money to complete their building,
and thus dip into our pockets and yours?

GOODBYE

DR. SILVER

We can, with confidence, say 'Goodbye' to

Dr. Silver, for he is certain now to be booted out
of his job as professor of history at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Silver was courageous
enough to speak some tr uths and this is absolutely verboten in the State of Mississippi, U. S.
In an address made as the outgoing pres ident
of the Southern Historical Association he Iabe l-:
ed Mississippi as a "totalitarian
enslaved society". The historian said there was little evidence that the state would ever possess "the
moral resources to reform itself.".
Dr. Silver's remarks sought to reveal the reasons underlying the racial crisis that exploded
in bloody rioting at the university a year ago
after the admission
of James H. Meredith.
He asserted:
"Mississippi
has been on the defensive against inevitable social change for more than a
century.
"The all-pervading doctrine then and now has
been white supremacy, whether achieved through
slavery or segregation rationalized by a professed adherence to state's rights and bolstered by
religious fundamentalism. "
Organized religion can take little pride in its
role in the controversy, according to Dr. Silver.
Page 8

"In the past year many preachers and a few

ministerial groups have made courageous stands,
but the church as a whole has placed its banner
with the status quo," he said.

OUT OF THEIR

OWN MOUTHS

If one sits bac k and observes the re Iig ion ists

generally convict themselves out of their own
mouths. For instance, a year long study has
just been completed by Rev. Conrad Bergendoff,
executive secretary
of the Luthern Church's
Board of Theological Education on the Academic
Talent of Divinity Students.
The study has uncovered a serious lack of
academic talent among Divinity students. Dr.
Bergendoff reported:
"We have long lived under the impression
that the ministry has attracted the best of our
college graduates. It comes as a shock, therefore to find in all our seminaries there were in
1962-1963 only 117 students out of 1,027 with
an average of "A" from their college."
He said that almost 60 per cent were in a
"C" class ification and 18 per cent were "C
minus" students in college. That is 78 per cent
just made it through.
Calling for increased academic standards for
theological education, Dr. Bergendoff said the
church had the right and obligation to ask prospective ministerial students to show proof in
college of academic prowess.

VATICAN

BRASS NEEDS MORE PRIVATES

The Vatican decided recently not to be so

choosy. Pope Paul VI issued an apostolic epistle recently titled
"Summi Dei Verbun"
or The Word of Supreme God. This epistle called by the Pope "the firs t of its kind and important" called for more students for the Roman
Catholic priesthood in the modern world.
The Pope said it was necessary to create an
adequate spiritual atmosphere in families and
schools for the developing of priestly vocations.
The Pontiff urged parents and priests and "all
who have responsibilities
over children and
youths" to send them to seminaries or religious
institutions "at the moment they show signs of
aspiring to the priesthood."
The American Atheist,
Baltimore
12, Maryland

At the same time he appealed to bishops for

a greater' severity in the selection of student
priests to prevent "deplorable
defections
of
some ministers from the sanctuary".
He reiterated that those called to be priests must live in
"v irgina I chas tity" and "be ready to sacrifice
not a few legitimate desires of nature in order to
faithfully fulfill their tasks of good pastors."
While talking in this vein, Pope Paul did not
explain the papal cultural policy of "nephews
and nieces".
In recent history, since it is vulgar for the Popes to acknowledge their sons and
daughters as their lusty predecessors did - openly - the custom has arisen to designate their offs pring as "nephews and nieces".
The fornication
producing the children is
most probably 'virginal chastity' with a 'magic
wand'.

BUT THE METHODISTS

But the Methodists were unhappy with their
flocks! Bishop James K. Mathews, of Boston, in
addressing the 15th biennial Methodist Conference on Christian
Education told over 1,000
directors of education, religion professors and
Sunday school teachers that:
"The great multitude of church members try
to get a lifetime of mileage out of their teen-age
view of the Christian faith. The church is confronted today with a massive, compelling and inescapable task of adult education. At precisely
the time when we are telling laymen that they
must be the church of the world, we find them
almost totally
illiterate
as regards both the
church and the world."

SEPARATION

OF CHURCH

AND STATE

The Chilton County News, Clanton, Alabama,

carried a front page story in the November 28th
issue titled,
"County
Paves Church; School
Facilities".
Bursting with community pride the
paper states that:
"Judge J. C.
County Board of
roads to all our
fast as possible
Road Program.
"Judge
The American

White reports that the Chilton

Revenue and Control is paving
churches and schools just as
along with our Farm to Market

White further states

Atheist)

that he and the

Baltimore
12) Maryland

Board believes (sic) that road money spent in

paving roads, driveways and parking areas to
our churches and schools is one of the best and
most appreciated ways of spending our road money.
"The County has done ... paving and ground
improvement at each of the following churches
during the past year (1963):
"Mt. Bethel Church, Lime's Spring Church,
Mt. Zion Church, Verbena Methodist Church,
Verbena Colored Church, Verbena Baptist Pastorium, Clanton Church of Christ, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Bethsalem Baptist Church,
Kingdom Hall, First Baptist Church of Lomar,
Pinedale Church, Jemison Church of God, the
Big Springs Colored Church, New Salem Baptist
Church.
"Plans are either complete or in the making
to place many more of our fine churches on good
paved roads or do driveway and parking area
work within the next six to twelve month (sic).
They are as follows: The Oak Grove Church, the
Center Hill Church, the Thompson's
Chapel
Church, the Mt. Pisgah Methodist Church, the
New Harmony Primitive Baptist Church, the Jackson's Chapel Church, the Bell Lane Church, the
Victor's
Chapel Church, the Maples Springs
Church, the Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, the
new Mt. Carmel Church, the Pate's
Chapel
Church, the Pleasant Hill Colored Church, the
new Pleasant Grove Church and the old Pleasant
Grove Church.
"Judge White states in conclusion that he
would like to thank each Member of the Board of
Control, the County Engineer, all county employees and all the fine people in all the named
churches, ... and
communities
for their
fine
spirit of harmony and cooperation
in helping
make it possible for him to make this report to
all the fine people of Chilton County."
Here is the record of a massive violation of
the United States Constitutional
principle of
separation of Church and State. In addition there
is sectarian aid given for no Jewish nor Catholic
Church nor Synagogue is named. Will our many
attorney subscribers please write to our office to
advise us if and how we could try to intervene in
this appalling situation.
Will an Alabama subscriber

volunteer

for a test?
Page

ONLY IN BALTIMORE

EXPLOIT

Maryland is an infamous state. It is the home

of Cambridge
where the National
Guard had to
stop racial
riots and Gwynn Oak Park where
civil rights
were defied
and even clergymen
jailed en masse. It is the site of the legal and
physical
harassment
of the Murrays for three
years ..... and so, wouldn't
one expect a Constitutional
Prayer Foundation
to be spawned there?
Wouldn't one expect the Superintendent
of Public Schools to be one of the incorporators?
That
is exactly
what happened.
Francis
Burch, city
solicitor
who fought and lost the Bible-Prayer
case is chairman and co-founder.
In something
akin to a second
grade movie
plot, the Foundation
is staffing
names on its
Board of Directors.
William Randolph Hearst Jr.
editor-in-chief,
The
Hearst
Newspapers,
announced his support of the foundation
recently.
Also, directorships
have been accepted
by:
**His Excellency
James
Pike,
Bishop
of the
Episcopal
Diocese
of the State of California.
**Governor Love of Colorado.
**Governor Fanin of Arizona
**Governor Carvel of Delaware
**Attorney General of Maryland Thomas Finan.
Announcing

support

of the foundation

are:

**Francis
Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop
**Governor Dempsey of Conneticut.
**Governor Reed of Maine
**Governor Burns of Hawaii
**Governor King of New Hampshire
**Ex-President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
**Conrad Hilton

of N ,Y.

The Foundation
releases
news reports
generously headlined
in the local Hearst paper. The
latest tidbit is a plan to form local chapters
in
each state and begin a vast membership
drive.

TM E LITTLE

The National Information

Bureau, the nation's
leading advisor
on philanthropy
recently
issued
an evaluation
of Boys' Town, Nebraska,
With
a tone of discouragement
it advised
that Boys'
Town has refused all requests
for audited f'inancial statements
and budgets.
Said the NIB:
"Requests
for information
have been completely ignored.
It continues
to fail to meet the
minimum standards
of your Bureau. It
Actually,
Boys' Town is so rich that it is embarrassed
to give out financial
statements.
An
estimate
of the worth of Boys' Town by authorities
in the field
range
from $24,000,000
to
$40,000,000.
The Boys' Town accommodates
about 900 boys. In other words, it has assets
of
at. least,
but most
probably
in excess,
of
$30,000 per boy.
Some years
ago a legis lative
inquiry
into
charity
rackets
showed
that more than half of
all money received
at Boys' Town was going into the hands of the solicitation
promoters.
Since
then, Boys'
Town has discontinued
the use of
the high pressure
promoter,
but not the use of
his technique.
Boys'
Town does its own fund
raising.
Des pite the fact that it is literally
money, the mail campaign
for financial
tions has been intensified.

To all of which we quote a familiar Bible, "God

be with them for they know not what they do."
Page 10

rolling in
c ontr ib-

The Catholic
control of this gold mine - er,
excuse us - ah, of this children's
home is now
flaunted
in a name change.
Currently
it is
designated
as "Father
Flanagan's
Boys' Home".
The President
Bishop of Omaha,
Need anyone

of it is the
Nebraska.
say

Roman

Catholic

more?

WHAT THEY'RE
The religionists
in this country, in their selfish clamoring,
will never be able to unite together long enough to do anything
other than
to form a new group. The listing above
speaks
for itself, with names known to every intelligent
and informed American.

CHILDREN

SAYING

"Countries
that practice
death control must
also practice
birth control or prepare now for a
time when their people will have to live standing up because
there won't be room to s it or lie
down. "
Dr. Clement Markert
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore,
Mary land
The American Atheist,
Baltimore
12, Maryland

Newscope
Congress has passed and President Johnson
has signed a one and a quarter billion College
Aid Bill.
The bill, authoriz ing money for grants and
loans over the next three years, was passed, 54
to 27, over the protests of senators who objected
to its provision for aid to church-related colleges
and UII ivers ities .A
A floor fight on the college aid bill was led
by Senators Ervin <D., N. C.) and Cooper <R.,
Ky.), who had sponsored an amendment designed
to guarantee a court test of the constitutionality
of a id to institutions with re ligious ties.
This provision was discarded in conference
at the insistence of House negotiators. A s imiJar clause had been defeated on the House floor.
Ervin called the grants to church-related institutions "a violation of the First Amendment."
He and Cooper asked the Senate to reject the
conference bill, then go back and insist on the
amendment. Cooper said it "would be a travesty
if the Congress would permit this bill to pass
without giving the Supreme Court a n opportunity
to say" if the grants are constitutional.
Senator Hill <D., Ala.), chairman of the Labor
and Public Welfare Committee, called the grants
a "complete negation of the fundamental principle of the separation of church and state."
But 37 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted
for the bill, while only 17 Democrats and 10 Republicans opposed the bill. E
Eleven of the 45 senators who had originally
voted for the Ervin-Cooper amendment on October 15 switched sides and voted for the bill withwithout amendment.
This bill, along with tax exemptions, put the
churches now, in strength, in the education business. This is th~ field in which there is most
danger for the shaping of minds is involved.
The American Atheist

Baltimore 12, Maryland

Perhaps a look at the business enterprises

of the churches will give us an indication of
w hat we can expect their ethics to be in the
field of education.
The favored gimmick now is a "lease back".
With a tax break, a church can net more than a
private firm running a similar business.
The
churches go into business for one reason: money.
The risks are not large. Little money is needed
to begin. The paper game is something on this
general order, with variations for each individual transaction:
for X number of dollars, the
church buys a business on paper. Wealthy members pledge X dollars in personal loans for the
down payment. The business is leased back to
the seller with rent to be applied against interest costs and the balance of the debt. The bus iiness firm can run the bus iness tax free.
Examples

of these operations

are as follows:

Owners of Yankee Stadium, in .1953, sold the

property to a Chicago broker for $ 6.5 million,
who sold the land to Knights of Columbus, who
leased it back to original owners for 24 years
at an annual rental of $182,000 a year.
The friendly Knights of Columbus also own
Crucible Steel Company's
Detroit warehouse,
Brunswick-Ba lke-Collander
Company Building,
in Chicago, the site of the New Sheraton Hotel
in New Haven Connecticut, the new $1.8 million
steel tube mill of Bridgeport Brass Company and
department stores in St. Louis, Missouri, Camden, New Jersey and Philadelphia,
Penna., valued at $9 million, Knights of Columbus assets,
as far as anyone can guess, are valued at $177
million.
Boston's
Loew's State theater, New England's second largest movie house was purchased by the Catholic church four years ago, and is now known as the Donnelly Memorial
Theatre. It is rented for commercial functions
such as the annual meetings of International
Page 11

Business
Machines
(IBM) Corp., and United
Fruit Company Wine, Beef and Trading Stamps ,
:}:
St. Andres Church, Chicago, owns Hollywood Roosevelt and Sacramento EI Rancho hotels purchased for $10 million.

;'0;

St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass,'Colo-,

rado raises Hereford cattle' for its own use, but
markets about 300 surplus head a year at the
Denver stock market.
Christian Brothers of California (owned by
De La Salle Institute) largest manufacturers of
commercial brandy in the United States, claimed
exemption from profit taxes because it was a
church and the property belonged to the Pope:
U. S. District Judge Sherril Harlbert, Sacramento, California, on July 24, 1961, stated that the
Internal Revenue Service had been too lenient to '
religious orders by adopting a regulation exempting subsidiary corporations owned by such orders and he ld the winery liable for $489,000 taxes for years 1952, 1953 and 1956. The winery
appealed from this Federal Court decision.
Jesuit
Order (through Loyola University)
. owns Radio and television Station, WWL; New
Orleans, which until 1950 netted $500,000 annually in tax exempt profits. WDSU-TV in New
Orleans, the competing station, complains that
WWL-TV, which pays no federal income taxes,
charges $325 a minute for commercials in 'the
prime evening
hours while WDSU-TV must
charge $375. Louis Read, general manager of
that station says, "There's
a big difference III
their dollars and ours."
But the Roman Catholic Church is not the only money consc ious religious organization We
see the same pattern with the Protestant Church;
The Temple Baptist Church, Los Angeles,
owns all stock of Auditorium Company, operator
of Auditorium Office Building and Philharmonic
Auditoriu, valued at several million dollars.
In 1959, Southern Baptist Annuity Board purchased Burlington Mills, Cheraw, South Carolina, for $2.9 million and leased the property
back to the firm.

ten years. J. C. Cantrell, their executive secre.tary says their lease-backs

are an excellent
'hedge: against inflation. These properties,
ineluding super-markets and service stations, provided 17% of the foundation's
1962 gross income of $2.8 million.
Three Bloomington,' Illinois,
churches
the
First Baptist, First Christian and Second Presbyterian started a hotel business without ever
spending a penny - using the X money deal and
membership pledge manuever outlined at the beg inning of this article. They purchased Dayton's
Biltmore Hotei from Hilton Hotels Corp. in 1952.
(Hilton is pledged to put prayer back in schools).
The hotel was then leased back to the corporation. The last heard, the profit to the churches
was $450,000. This hotel is in Dayton, Ohio.
The First Church (Congregational)
of Clairmont, New Hampshire, operates
a
laundry.
~
.

First Methodist Church, Chicago, owns and

operates Chicago Temple. ~'22 story building,
rented commercially'to
lawyers, 'professionals,
accountants.
The Church pays property taxes,
but no income taxes on rental receipts .
Wes leyan Univers ity , (Method ist) in Illinois,
purchased two California hotels for $10 million
in 1954. Five years, later, the University had its
cash investments
($200,000) back, plus tax-free
profits. The two hot~ls were sold t'hen to St.
Andrew's Cathol ic .D'iocese ,'(~ee above) whic,h
operates them on a tax-exempt bas is.
The Roosevelt Hotel is in Hollywood, California and the EI Rancho Hotel is in Sacramento,
California.
The Mormon Church owns" and operates, ,a
radio 'and television
station,
mercantile
and
banking establishments,
a newspaper,
hotels ,
hundreds of welfare farms....- one in Florida has
740,000 acres and 100,000 cattle.
They
lage, in
dancing
spending

have invested $1'.5 million in Laie VilHawaii. Here they feature Samoan fife
and other entertainment
to bait th~

tounst.

Assets of the Baptist Foundation of Texas

rose from $20 million to $53 million in the last

Recently the Mormons have constructed a 48

story office building and added 17 stories to
Hotel Utah, Salt Lake City. They als o purchased

Page 12

The American Atheist

Baltimore

12, Maryland

786 acres and 14 industrial buildings

ment and development purposes.

for invest-

Original value of real estate

paid by Catholics

$11.700,000
133,227

Many of the Mormon bus ines ses are set up as

separate corporations,
but most often Zion Securities Corporation handles the business enterprises. The Mormons' pride themselves on paying property and corporate income taxes, but the
Church pays no income taxes on d ivfdends from
business activities.

A run down of tax exempt property held by

churches looks something like this - with the
percentage given as that percent of total taxable property.

A religious sect called the Self-Realization

Fellowship,
operating its own bus iness directly, made so much money on the Mushroomburger Restaurant in Hollywood that it opened another one in Encinitas, California.

Pennsylvania:
Ohio
California
Maryland
New Jersey

In Milbank, South Dakota, United' Brethern

Church sells bread and cheese.

We have one question. When churches in America have 'gift' incomes alone of approximately $4.5 billion a year, when they have incomes
from businesses
-- really only touched upon above, why should they need this additional
windfall from the College Aid Bill?

A religious press prints for Scott Tissue

ganization in Harrisburg, Penna.

or- -

A religious press prints Top Value Stamps in

Dayton, Ohio.
The Seventh Day Adventists produce and market vegetarian
foods through their firm, Lorna
Linda Food Company, California.

Original value of real estate

paid by Protestants

.
.

$ 25,200,000
398,662

..... 14%
...... 14.9
13.5
17.
18.

Who was behind this - and why?

11
PI

I BELIEVE

In 1951 a member of their Church gave, the

Adventists
the Harris Pine Mills in Oregon.
They have paid full taxes on this income since.

I believe for every drop of rain that falls someone gets wet.
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night someone does fret.

Under current Internal Revenue Service rules,

churches may take over a profit-making industry for five years, tax free.

I believe that anyone who goes his way

Will come to clergy, who count and pray.

Since 1950, all income of a church (or association or convention of churches) is tax exempt
whether it is related or unrelated business in-'
come.
Many churches are moving in fast where there
are urban renewal developments in maj or cities.
The Supervis or of the Federal Government surplus disposal program reports the following figures for the period since 1945:

Sale or grant transactions

recorded: 527
to Catholics
209"
-to Seventh Day Adventists ......125
to.Proteetants generally.........
183
The American Atheist,
Baltimore 12, Maryland

I believe.
I believe.

I believe above the storm the loudest prayer

cannot be heard.
I believe that one One in the great nowhere
hears nary a word.

Every time I hear a new born baby cry,

I'm convinced,
his pants aren't

dry.

But to be lieve , it's hard to even try.

........... Sam Kushner
Louisville, Kentucky
Page 13

Pray for Peace

by Jack Brady

Jack Brady has been in newspaper

work most
of his adult life and published
a newspaper
of
his own for nine years.
After many years of research and observation
of the Priest-King
fraud, Brady concludes
that
the very foundation
of today's so-called
"ciuilization"
is founded upon fraud and exploitation.
It is Brady's opinion that it is man's pocketbook
that makes man an animal of note, and without,
the pocketbook,
man would go through life as unnoticed as a den of ants.
Jack Brady is a member of The Rationalist
Press Association,
London,
England;
and The
Academy
of Political
Science,
Columbia
Univers ity .

A recent news item stated that Pope Paul VI,

head of the Roman Catholic hierarchy has urged
Roman Catholics throughout the world to pray
for peace.
Is the utterance "pray for peace" backed by
past performances, or is it merely another declaration to get world-wide publicity?
Let's take a look at the past 'peace
of the Roman Catholic Church.

efforts'

The facts are that during World War I, the Roman Catholic church took the lead in urging the
prosecution of the war, and that on both sides.
Most revealing is the fact that in 'The Kaiser's
Memoirs', William II tells of the friendly, trusting relationship
existing between .him and the
Pope (Leo XIII) and how this Pope once had
said to him: "Germany must become the sword
Page 14

of the church." "I remarked that the Old Roman

Empire of the German nation no longer existed,
and that conditions had changed. But he stuck
to his word." The Pope assured him that his
Catholic subjects would stand by him with "absolute fidelity" in good times and in bad.
And they did. The Roman Catholic church
gave wholehearted support to the war, fully endorsing its ruthless methods and the ambitious
aims of the Junker class. Its Center Party \so called because it happened to occupy the
center section of the Reichstag -- was the first
to call for the capitulation
of Germany to the
military under General Ludendorf. In the strongest of terms Catholic prelates denounced the revolution that deposed the Kaiser and that set up
a democratic form of government (1).
On the Allied side also the Roman Catholic
church was in the forefront in prosecuting the
war. Proudly the United States Catholics published the book, 'War Addresses from Catholic
f,ulpit and Platform'. 'I'ypica 1 of these addresses
is the one by Cardinal McConnell, in which, among other things, he said: "The great and historic Catholic Church of Christ has been the
leader and guide." It has "pointed the way to
the highest patriotic duties ... With the result that
over a third of the forces in the field and on the
seas are at the same time her loyal children and
America's defenders ... May your holy deeds sanetifya holy cause."
As for the Vatican itself, it changed its policy with the fortunes of war. "Benedict XV ... was
seriously handicapped
by" the fact that "the
:rhe American Atheist
Baltimore
12, Maryland

Central
course
flict. "

powers
would
only in the last

win, and changed

few months of the

it ~
CO]t-

This position
of the Roman Catholic; church
was in line with her policy. Thus the "Homiletic
and Pastoral
Review"
of May, 1949 states,
"Ail
sorts of private individuals
may feel that a given
war is unjustifiable;
but that is scarcely
enough
to justify them in refusing
to fight and. undergoing the consequences
therefor."
Roman Cath clies in the United States who have claimed conscientious
objection
have had their claims voiced by the courts on the grounds that their church
did not support
their position .(3) No wonder,
then, that Abrams, author of "Preachers
Present
Arms",
said he was unable to locate a s iuglc
priest who had scruples
against World War 1.
That the major blame for World War II must be
laid at the feet of totalitarianism,
and es pec ia lly Nazism,
is well known. But not equally we'I
known
is the fact that the Roman Cathol ic
church played the leading role in Nazifying
Germany. This, however,
should not seem s ingulcr
in view of the success
of dictators
in Italy, Spa in
and the Dominican
Republic,
all of whom the Roman Catholic
church claims are 99 or more percent hers. The Nazi Party was formed in Germany's most Catholic
state, Bavaria.
The great
majority of the Nazi hierarchy
were Roman Catholics, even though Germany at the time was orly about one-third Roman Catholic.
Adolph Hitler was a baptized
Roman Catholic
(4); so were the Goebbels
(5), "Kaltenbrunner,
Eichmann's
immediate
superior officer, He inric 'i
Mueller,
the Gestapo
chief,
and Rudolf Hes s ,
the Commandant
of Auschwitz
(6), who E tates .n
his autobiography,
"I personally
arranged on 01ders from Himmler in May, 1941 the gassing
of
two million persons between June-July
194J and
the end of 1943, during which time I was Commandant of Auschwitz."
Another was Walter Schultze,
sentenced
as
recently as May 10, 1960 for his part in the murder of 380 mental patients.
He did not feel that
he had done anything
wrong, because
"at that
time an order from the Fuehrer was law for us."
(8) Hitler's vice-chancellor
who suspiciously
es
caped
the death
sentence
at the Nuremberg
trails, was made a Papal Secret Chamberlain
c.
the Cape and Sword by Pope Pious XI. Althougl
The American

Atheist,

Baltimore

12, Maryland

I'ope Pius XII did not reconfirm

this appoint,
n.ent, Pope John XXIII did so, much to the consternation
of the West German government
and of
German Roman Catholics
(9), but perhaps not of
Adenauer,
as he, when Lord Mayor of Cologne in
1929, sent his congratulations
to Mussolini
for
s ign ing the Lateran Treaty,
telling him that his
name will be written into the history book of the
Homan Catholic
church in golden letters.
(10)
Further,
it was a Roman Catholic
priest,
Stae mpf'le , a man of learning
and a newspaper
editor
who took Hitler's
manuscript
of "Mein
,
Kampf" and spent months in rewriting
and editTrlg it. so as to make it an effective
instrument
for Nazi propaganda.
(11)

---.-.-

Particularly
vital was the role the Roman
Catholic
Center Party played in Hitler's
rise to
rower. I ts chancellors,
Dr. Bruening and Franz
yon Papen, together
with its head Msgr. Kaas.
japa l prelate and professor
Ecclesiastical
Law
at Bonn paved the way over a period of several
years for Hitler to take over. (12)
The Roman Catholic
church must therefore
e cce pt her full share
of blame for that dark
llotch on the pages of Germany's
history,
the
horrors of the concentrations
camps, as told in
such books as "The
Theory
and Practice
of
Hell" by Kogen; "Forgive-But
Do Not Forget"
by Salvesen,
"Commandant
of Auschwitz"
by
Hoes s , to mention but a few. They tell of the
slaughter
of some seven million
in concentration camps alone,
the majority
of whom were
Jews;
of Doctors
sadistically
degrading
the ir
profession
by performing
all manner of diabolica I experiments
on human guinea pigs, of ever
so many being beaten to death, cooked to death
by steam,
buried
alive
in trenches,
torn to
death by dogs.
The

Concordate

that

the

Vatican

concluded

ith Mus s ol in i on February

11, 1929 and with
Hitler on July 20, 1933, played a vital role in
with Mussolini
on February
11, 1929 and with
Hitler on July 20, 1933, played a vital role in
the support Roman Catholics
gave their dictatirs . The Concordat
with Mussolini
was part of
the Lateran Treaty, which treaty included
"The
Reconciliation
Treaty"
and "The
Financial
Convention".
It was all made HIn the Name of
be Most Holy Trinity."
It restored
the Pope to
temporal power, gave the Vatican
1,750,000,000
y"

Page 15

lira, and recognized

as the State church,
number of concessions

the Roman Catholic

church
in turn the Church made a
to Mussolini
(13).

References
1. The Case of Dr. Bruening,
Bernhard Mennes,
pp. 15-79.
2. The Vatican and the War, Camille C laniarra,
p.325.
3. Hitler, Konrad Heiden, p. 10.
4. The Christian
Century, Nov. 17, 1954.
5 .. Wiesbadener
Tagblatt,
Feb. 28, 1960, p.2
6. Die Weit, June 11, 1960, p. 17
7. Commandant
of Auschwitz,
Rudolf
Hoes s,

These
Concordats
gave Mussolini
and Hitler
great advantages.
Each held the Roman Catholic
church to its side of the bargain. Especially
useful to the Dictators
were these Concordats
in
World War II. Then history
repeated
itself,
for
the Roman Catholic church again vigorously
supported the war on both sides.

p,

Does our present

for peace?

Pope

really

mean

17.

8. New York Times, May II, 1960, p. 2.

9. Minneapolis,
Minnesota
Star, Nov. 7, 1959
10. Hamburger Fremdblatt,
Feb. 12, 1929.
11. Hitler and I, Otto Strasser,
pp. 56, 57
12. Lewiston,
Maine, Evening Journal,
Nov. 23,

The foregoing
should be sufficient
to show
how much the Roman Catholic
Church
is responsible
in relation
to the two World Wars and
the Nazi and Fascist
terrors.

1959.

to pray

13.
pp.
14.
pp.

Documents
216/241.
Documents
442-452.

on International
on International

Affairs,
Affairs,

1929,
1933,

It
v;

God &. The Magic Seven

by Ralph S. Blois
Ralph S. Blois was born in Canada in 1926.
He was reared in a traditional
Protestant
religious atmosphere.
At the age of 12 a Little Blue
Book "Can The Individual
Control His Conduct"
by Clarence Darrow, opened his mind to the possibility
that Christianity
might be false.
Since
that time he has read several hundred books on
freethought
and is a confirmed Infidel. Mr. Blois
has lectured
on many subjects,
including
Atheism,
and has written many articles
for freethought magazines.
During 1959 and 1960 he was
Mid-West Organizer,
National Secretary,
and Editor of Rationalist
News for the American
Rationalist
Federation.
He was owner and publisher, as well as writer, of several
small publications including:
FACT,
a bi-weekly
newsletter
of freethought
action material, and FACT Digest
- a quarterly devoted
to freethought
articles.
He
is involved
in several other activities,
such as
part time night school teaching
of General Semantics.
He was> also a President
of the RockPage

16

ford
eral
ager
has
year

Chapter of the International

Semantics.
Mr. Blois is an
for an industrial
firm. He
five children,
4 girls and 1
to 16 years old.

Society for GenAdvertising

Manis married and
boy, ages from 1

The number seven has always been popular among those who attempt
to prove the existence
of God. Apparently
one or two reasons
is considered
insufficient.
Let us examine
some of
these
"magic
sevens"
and see if the proof is
valid.
The American Atheist,
Baltimore
12, Maryland

Reader's
Digest for October,
lS3Q., carrie: a
reprint
of a December,
19'f6, article
on sev m
p.oofs of God. The Plain 'I'rut'i, Fe bn.arv , 19;'0,
c.irries a similar art ic le which offe: s seven s !Ui.ar proofs. Let's examine the] 1.

s utes all sorts

Number 1 - Natural Law. There are de fin te

immutable
laws that govern the umvers e , Lavs
require
a lawgiver,
therefore
God must have
wade these laws.

Consider
this:
did you ever notice
how a
legs are just exactly
the right length
b reach from its body to the ground?
If the
1 gs were shorter they would not touch, and if
t .ey were longer they would dig into the ground.
1 he legs are exactly the right length, therefore
(od must have given them to the horse. Silly?
(:f course,
but it is the basis of many religious
a .guments , such as the two we have just exami ed.

Comment: There seems to be a c nfusion h.re

between
'laws'
and "laws '. Nat r 1 lav.s , s c.ch
as gravity, are not legislated
into e. istence
like
traffic laws. Nor can they be revoked.
A sc i-ntist observes
an apple fall. After sufficient
such
observations
we call this the 'law of gravity'
It
is merely an observance
of something
that has
happened enough times in a certain way that we
can be fairly certain
it will happen in the same
manner next time. A human made law tries to ;:revent things from happening.
The first error is one of logic - an attempt to
compare apples with oranges (natural with human
laws). The second error is the assumption
tl. it
God must have made the laws. Why not a Murti m ,
Joe Doakes, or why indeed anyone at all?
Number 2 - Creation of Life. Scientists
hale
been able to recreate
many of the wonders
of
nature - except life itself. Nature did not create
life - it could not create
life from iuariim ite
chemicals.
Life is the breath of God.

Comment: There is no proof here - just " ,e

dogmatic
statement
that
nothing
else
could
create life, so it must have been God. Recent
study of the DNA molecule
indicates
that cur
scientists
may in fact be very nea to creating
life in the laboratory.
There are many theories
regarding
life. SOl e
that it was the result of a ch rn ica I react i.m
in the early atmosphere
of our earth. Others'
ay
that life always
existed,.
or that it floats
in
in s pace until it finds a fertile
planet.
A 11 of
these theories
offer a better explanation
than 1.18
God hypothesis.
The life-giver
argument
offers
no evidence other than that already examined 1 ader argument number 1.
SHY

The religious
man takes something
that exis.ts
(such as life, a tree, the solar system) and then
The American Atheist
Baltimore
12, Maryland

of facts

about

it.

"You

see,"
he says,
"if this thing did not
and so, it would not exist, therefore
must have given it this quality."

l ive such
Cod

r ors es

Number 3 - Animal Instinct.

Geese fly south
h the winter. Homing pigeons have built in radar. Instinct keeps animals alive. God must have
given it to them.
Comment:
This is the horse and
again, in different
clothes,
No
f red for anything.
There is just the
rr.ent "God did it".
God should sue
a 'er the things of which he has been
n.ent

. 'umber
11

ust have

legs arguproof is ofblunt statefor slander /

accused.

4. Man is capable
of reasoning.
been given this power by God.

He

Comment: Does one really need to comment?

I 1 spite of the many variations,
so far we have
I' .d only one argument presented
to us -- restatE d in four different
ways. The fact that man is
c apable of reasoning
is a tribute to his environmental evolution
-- not to any God. I have a
n e ighbor with several children.
When a window
i- broken, cookies
stolen,
one boy always
is
lIamed for it. It does not matter that no one saw
him do it, or that he was not even home at the
t me. He is blamed.
There is no proof offered.
r, )t even good circumstantial
evidence.
This is
t -e same type of logic applied in the 'God did it'
a -gumen ts .
Number 5 . The microcasm,
A gene is so tiny
yet it holds within it the shape of each person's
f rture , God did it.
Comment:
Aw, come on! Not again, please!
is a waste of time to keep answering
the same
8 gument.
No evidence
is presented.
The argun . nt is not logically
va lid.
Page

17

Number 6 - Economy of nature. It is so amazing how God provides checks and counterchecks
in nature to prevent one species from overrunning the earth.

Again? The same argument deserves the same answer. There is an added c omment. The checks provided (by what?) have not
been adequate. Many species have become extinct, and at the moment man is very apt to overrun the earth. He should get out of bed once in
awhile and try to make this a better life for living, not make more life to crowd out living.
Comment:

Number 7 - The idea of God. The fact that

man alone of all creatures can conceive of God
must prove his existence.
Since- our minds are
bound to our environment we cannot possibly
think of things which are not in that environment.
Comment: At long last, we are given a different argument. It is so obviously fallacious
that we need not spend much time with it. Man
has conceived of all sorts of things that do not
exist, such as: goblins, witches, flying dragons,
Santa Claus, bug-eyed monsters. Thinking of
such things in no way proves their existence.
One can conceive of having a beautiful mansion,
a million dollars in the bank, and one's own private rocket to the moon. This is a far cry from
actually possessing them. A dream is not proof.
It is merely a dream. If one acts too strongly on
a dream, one will be put away where one cannot
harm people.

That takes care of the Reader's Digest seven

proofs. The Plain Truth offers only four different ones.
1. - Deterioration
of matter. They take the fact
that scientists
can measure the deterioration
rate of radioactive
elements and they claim
these elements must have been created when the
earth was made by God.
Comment:
This is a switch on the First
Cause argument. It is another example of arguments 1 through 6. This shows a fallacy in knowledge. They are apparently not aware that radioactive materials are being created daily. Carbon
14, for example, is created when cosmic rays
bombard our atmosphere. The argument falls on
the ground that it is not true. All radioactive
elements were not made at the same time. Matter
Page 18

deteriorating
does not indicate that it was ~11
made simultaneously,
or that it was 'made' at
ell.
2 - Design. This is the claim that everything
in the universe operates in a certain way. A design requires a designer - hence, God. This is
the basic argument that most religious persons
use. Let us examine it once more.
Comment: Logic infers that if a complex thing
like the universe requires a designer, merely because it is complex, it must have been designed
by something more complex than it. Hence God
had a designer, ad infinitum.

It is claimed that the universe operates as it

does because it was designed by God. For example: the moon circuits the earth in 28 days
not 27 or 29, but 28. We can even predict the
the phases of the moon. Because the moon is so
consistant,
it is claimed that it must have been
designed to be so. Stop for a moment and try to
imagine any motion of the moon about which it
would be impossible to claim a design. If the
moon revolved around the earth for 10 days,
reversed orbit for 3 hours, rushed offjto Mars for
6 weeks, and behaved very erratically,
would
this disprove design? Not in the least - they
would simply say,
"See the moon never does the same thing
twice. In order to do that it must be guided by
some intelligence,
like God."
In short, no matter what happens in the universe,
whether erratic or routine, the believer will say
it must have a God in order for it to do what it
does. If it is erratic, it is a guiding intelligence;
is systematic, a designer. An argument which can
play both sides of the fence is not valid.
3. Prophecy

- God is proved by Bible

proph-

ecy,

Comment:
Check these prophecies, which disprove the claim: Gen. 2:16-17; Gen 3:14; Matt 24:
34-35. There are many others.
4. Answered

prayer.

Comment: For those who believe in the power

of prayer, I recommend the suggestion in Mark 16:
17-18 that 'true believers' can drink any deadly
The American Atheist,
Baltimore
12, Maryland

thing and it will not hurt them. Have a drink of

arsenic and then pray that it will not harm you.
This is 'kind of' drastic - but they say they believe in prayer.

Now isn't that just like a Christian? I never

said that God did not exist. I simply said there
was no evidence to indicate such an existence.
If the Christian says God exists, then it is up to
him to prove it. So far, he has not done so.
spite this fact, priests and ministers readily
take money from their flock under false pretenses. They falsely claim that the existence of
God has been proven. It has not.

De-

Not one of the arguments given is valid proof

of the existence of God. The usual re tort is,
"All right, if you do not accept any of our arguments then you prove that God does not exist."

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\J

letters to Ye Editor
Dear Editor:
The magazine
(November issue) inc luded
some comments from a Russian journal about the
inculcation of Atheism in Russia, but no editorial explanation
made it clear to your readers
whether you favoured the inculcation of certain
ideas (Atheism) and not others (re ligionism ) by
the coercive power of the State.
Put simply, I am a devout believer in the nonexistence of God, but I want awfully to be free
to disbelieve in my own way, and I would feel
every bit as coerced in the Soviet Union (more
so, even) being made to disbelieve
after the
Marxist dialectical
pattern, as I feel coerced
and violated in my freedom here when my kids
are forced to mouth the sickly putty-pieties
of
the masses from social, not so much political,
conformism.
Bette Chambers
Minneapolis, Minnesota
I do not favour the coercive
power of the
State, for any reason whatsoever
- least of all
for the inculcation
of ideas. We agree 105%.
Ye ed.

Dear Editor:

On the cover of the November issue you have

the quote "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession" from Abraham Lincoln.
Since our local library was unable to locate
its source would you please tell me what book.
letter or other source it came from as I would
like to know under what circumstances
it was
spoken or written by him.

ness of the Christian

scheme of salvation
have
become
clearer
and stronger
with advanc ing
years,
and I see no reason for thinking
I shall
ever change them. II
This is cited in "Rome'e Responsibility
for
the Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln",
published
in 1897 by Thomas
M. Harris, Brigadier
General, U. S. Army, and member of the Military
Commission
which tried and convicted
the conspirators
to the murder.
Other

quotes
from
this
source
include:
"Lincoln was an avowed and open infidel. He
went further against Christian
beliefs,
doctrines
and principles
than any man I ever heard."
John
T. Stewart, Lau: Partner.

"I! Lincoln were asked whether he believed

in
God, he would have said 'l do not know that a
God exists'."
William H. Herndon,
Law Partner.
"He never joined a church. He wa{ not a technical Christian.
He had no hope or faith in the
usual acceptation
of those words."
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln.
UWhat is to be will be; and no prayers
can arrest the decree."
Abraham Lincoln.

of ours

Ye ed.

Dear Editor,
Elmer E. Hansen, 3632 Jones Street, Sioux
City, Iowa, would like to get in touch with any
Rationalists
who are amateur radio operators.
He operates WOAF.
Dear Lady.

Mrs. Vernon Owens.

Louisville. Kentucky

So many of you wrote and asked

question

that

"The Bible
my profession.
Page 20

we quote

his

remark

this
in full

same
here.

I humbly suggest you consider publishing the

enclosed practically word for word. periodically.
and regularly in the rear of your excellent booklet. magaz ine.

is not my book, nor Christianity

views of the unsound-

My earlier

The American

Atheist,

Baltimore

Dr. Ed. H.
California
12, Maryland

(The enclosure was an article from another freethought journal, and we quote it here, changed
to suit ourname.d.qorporati on.) - ..

if we could be of any help. Perhaps if wills

could be drawn that beneficiaries
would receive
their legacies
otily=uihen proof was shown to a
:~>.~
. .: ,._,.
_
trustee that-a humaniet funeral service was prot- . i
vided this practice:
personal' revenge
on a
GIFTS, n~NA:r:.~Q~S.~,WIL:LS:#ANDBEQUESTS
1~-~;i
.~;,: ~-~~."(-'~;
':"~/~'~'I:~'~
~:; = : :~. ", corpse would be stopped.
We have received from. time. to time iqqtiirjes.
from our re;ders ~regarding' i~8tj~ills
and Ct~~ta_': . We would -:be happy to hold wills in escrow
and- see ihai::burial services
or wills of bodies
ments. Sam'e :~iend's have' to'ldu~ that tl;!ey have

'.1'''
to
hQspltals,'Or
cremations
were
carried out as
remembered
us in 'their wlllsand~want tobesure
that such donations stand up incourt. '.-;' -...~ :;.;, . ,:f'-;
each individual
desired.
After all, our bodies
are ours, and our wishes should be respected.
The correct wording of such bequest is:
Ye ed,
I give and bequeath to the Freethought Society of America, Inc., a non-profit organization,
Dear Editor,
incorporated in the State of Ohio, the fol lowing
monies, personal .or real property ...............
:...
AA I sit observing the national observance
to be use'~ by the Soc iety to,"promote fre<;l.;thought, . day, of mourning of the death of our Pres ident
by all l~gal means .as stipulated"int'Jie;;'Artib:r~~'"
Kennedy my": heart and mind 'goes back to the
of I nc or.J:?or'lctionf '-'
..
r, ,:""'~
...
f""'d""">."..'; ,;., 'Dear E'dif6f';r:
,J.

."

~:

"

':1'

.'-

'

"

of

. ~ ~--"

'<

In most states such a statement is subject to

certain conditions and should be drawn and witnessed by a lawyer if possible,' Donations and.
property can be conveyed to. the Freethought
Society",'R.t:Am~rie'lf~d'fiflng
'tpe lifetime of the
-.~
, .1''''
donor ~j.n
many ways this-is a much more rewardin~~lliethod to help your movement ~'bJ'ca1J.se
the dortj,r c~~ ha,:,e the satisfactlon to.: observe
and pe~p's'
even assist in ~the applic~tJonof
,':).
th. e g i'ft,' :if\,f~''';'
'<,;"'~ .. l.t
":-~f.~~:
; .t;.., ~ . .: . '; . "':{.;'

'-'C

.0.,'

.'.....

,~
/"".

.:.

.'~ ~

":',

-.-- .

Whatever your plans may be to support the

cause in which you have believed all of your
life, you may write to us for assistance
and our
attorney, Leonard Kerpe lman., will give you any
information you may need.
'.
Do not give aid and comfort to bigotry and
superstition
due to neglect. Without the loyal
help of a group of devoted people we would not
be having such a healthy growth and development.

As I sit observjng the national observance

day of mourning; of the death of our President
Kennedy my he~rb~nd mind goes back tQ the
years that. he,~as our President. I did not vote
for him and was' no(of the same faith but I can
never remember of being ill at ease when he was
in hearing or. seeing distance. He never persecuted me with his own views on dogmatism. He
never used such language and intolerance as
'God Bless You' or 'Go to Church' or anything
that might hurt your feelings or take advantage
of you over the air on in the press.
When our Supreme Court banned prayer and
the Bible out of our public schools our President
only meekly appraised the law as maybe it would
be a good idea to put 'prayer back in the home
and church ..where it belongs. Our President had
a real sense of humor and never stepped on your
religious. toes by saying grace anywhere. He
seemed to love everybody and most everybody
loved him, even if he was a Catholic.

The above is timely.

Within the last six
months we have been notified of the deaths' of .
He made a few boneheads, but who doesn't?
ten of our subscribers.
The relatives
went' oUt,He
carried the cold nuclear war in his hip pockof their way to write cruel and uindictive letet when he knew it was capable of destroying
ters. Two of them described almost pagan Christhe whole world ..
tian burials ot their dead husbands. What could
Glenn Benedict
not be forced on them in life was forced upon
Torrance, California
them in death.
Amicus humani generis?
We have been thinking of this, and we wonder
Ye ed,
Page 21
The./flheric(wAtheist,
Baltimore 12, Maryland

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Page 22

The American Atheist,

_.

._

.._..

Baltimore 12, Maryland

Book of The Month

We wish to re-introduce everyone to our Book
of The Month Club Service. It operates a little
differently from the ordinary club because books
are not mailed automatically each month. Instead
each month w'e will stock one particular book in
quantity and review it in this column. The books
which will be chosen will be the best that can
be found in current publication.
They will include contemporary writings and the best of old
freethought masterpieces - in attractive editions.

Since we all recognize religion as a hoax, we

need to turn to other sections of organized s ociety and analyze it wi th the penetrating discernment of fre ethought. This book is a beginning for
many as it points out the most obvious hoaxes
of this and earlier society. But any beginning is
a good beginning when it is focused on clarification of the forces that shape our lives, and
our opinions.
What is a hoax?

When you have purchased five Rook .~f The} ~,

Dr. MacDougall (Professor of Journalism
at
Month selections
you will receive ..; free - a
Northwestern
Univers
ity
,Evans
ton,
Illinois)
dea book of your choice from a list of bonus books.
fines it as "a deliberately concocted untruth to
These will be select important books. All prior
made to masquerade as fact."
monthly book se lec tions tbecause they are all
stocked in quantity) will continue to count toHe divides his volume into two studies, and
ward book bonus credits no matter when they are
he
lashes away in a good humor at both. The
purchased. Frankly, we can make money this
first
part is an attempted, but not exhaustive,
way - and pass savings on to you. Everything
analysis
of why Hoaxes succeed. In this he aredounds to the benefit of the freethought movegain
divides
his study into why we do not disment, and helps to increase the number of perbelieve and why' we have incentives to believe
sons who are informed in this intellectual area.
hoaxes.
Prior book selections
values are:

which still carry bonus

Letters from Earth

by Mark Twain

$5.95

Morals and Religion............................

by Fred Elder

3.75

Depotism, A Pictorial History of Tyranny

by Dagobert D. Runes
A Philosophy of Time.......................
by Louis A. Reitmeister
Mormons are Peculiar People...........
by G. T. Harris on

12.50

7.50

..

3.00

The current selection is 'Hoaxes'by

Curtis
D. MacDougall, a paperback, 338 pages, at $1.75.
The American

Atheist)

Baltimore

12) Maryland

The most compelling reasons we do not disbelieve, Dr. MacDougall finds, are indifference,
ignorance and superstition,
suggestion, prestige,
and the most compelling incentives to believe
as financial gain, vanity and conspicuous waste,
promoting a cause, chauvinism, prejudices and
'pet' theories,
the thirst for vicarious thrills,
and cultural climate.
He turns to examine just how the hoaxes succeed in different fields. The particular hoaxes
which he scrutinizes are historical hoaxing, government hoaxing, religious
hoaxing, scientific
hoaxing, literary hoaxing, journalistic
hoaxing,
public relations hoaxing, hoaxes of exposure and
hoaxing on the wing.
Although the book covers hundreds of deceptions,
we are able. to judge the depth to
which Dr. M'acDougall exposes, if we take the
Page

23

chapter on religious hoaxing as a criteria

ability to make some basic analysis.

Church.) These are the Decreta ls and the DonatiQ(! of Constantine.

All who are advised on
church history know of the power which derived
from these celebrated frauds. It is hardly brave
to point out in 1960 a forgery of the year about
600 .. and by implication
give a clean bill of
health to the thousands and thousands of other
forgeries, fakes and hoaxes of religion, the biggest one of which is the total concept of God.

of his

He examines briefly the Book of Joseph, the

famed faked Fifth Gospel and using this reinforces the Church's rejection of the Apocrypha.
He cites criticism of the orthodox books of the
Old Testament, Pentateuch, Daniel and Psalms.
When viewed in a fragmented manner thus, his
general theme could well be inferred to be:
"these are questionable,
but generally the entire Bible is not."

As we read then the hoaxes of history and of

government a small window of truth is opened to
us for as much of that is revealed as of religion
=-c learly indicating our need for total evaluation
and reevaluation
of every authoritarian concept
presented us.

In a small show of bravery he cites two bold

forgeries of the Church (being very careful not
to pinpoint 'the' Church as the Roman Catholic

"

Editoria I
We feel there should be three magazines in
the free thought field. There should be a magazine for beginning Atheists couched in language
and replete with articles of a nature to fortify the
first signs of non-belief. There should be ample
opportunity to express ideas in a large lettersto-each-other section of this magazine, and some
way to contact others to dispel that horrible feel
of a lonene s.' with which the newcomer
to
Atheism struggles.
There should be a second magazine for those
who have staunchly converted but who want to
read theoretics, church history criticism, and to
examine in depth the tenets of religion and the
philosophical foundations of Atheism.
There should be a third magazine for those
who graduate from the above two and who are
ready for action to combat the closing circle of
religiosity which threatens to bring us to 1984
on schedule. We have just exactly 20 years to
get there.
But, alas, there is no divis ion of labor in the
freethought movement, and so this magazine,
coupled with the Murray newsletter undertakes to
fill all three functions.
This makes for some
difficulty as we try to 'sign up' associate ediThe American Atheist,
tsammo7e 12, Maryland

tors who will appeal

dience we have.

to the diverse

reading

au-

All Atheists,
we find, are individualists.
As we go to press Lou AIt, still ill, could not
.send his to-be-regular column of 'Observations.'
Virgil McClain, .caught in the lay-off at South
Bend (see News) and in the uncertainty of what
will happen now, did not get his popular 'Ripsaw' col~mn in to us. Bob Wilson's manuscript
is lost somewhere in the Christmas mail.
We have a word, too, about our new name.
We are still split in our ranks with many people
feeling we must take a stand and say what we
are and many feeling that we must camouflage
what we are.
In the last analysis,
the decision carne to
rest with your editor. Buck passing stops here.
I am responsible
for choosing the new name.
Atheism will be respectable
when respectable
people say,simply,'I
am an Atheist', first, to,
their fam ily, later to their friends, eventually to
their business associates.
As long as we are ashamed of the label, it
will be shameful in society. As long as we do
not accept it, i.t will_be unacceptable in society.
Page 24-

THE FREETHOUGHT SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC.

A Non-Profit auJ Non-Political Organization

THE ALi\\S OF THE SOCIETY

1. To stimulate and promote freedom of thought
and inquiry concerning religious beliefs, creeds
dogmas, tenets, rituals and practices,

6. To promote the study of the arts and sciences

and of all problems affecting the maintenance,
perpetuation and enrichment of human life.

2, To collect and disseminate

information, data,
and literature on all religions and promote a
more thorough understanding
of them, their origins and histories.

7. To engage in such social, educational,

and
cultural activity as will be useful and beneficial to the members of this Society, and to
soc iety as a whole.

3. To ar'vocate , labor for, and promote in all

lawful w iys , the complete separation of Church
and State, the establishment
and II aintenance of
a thoroughly secular system of education avai l sable to all.

The Atheist - materialist philosophy declares

that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious
purpose; that it is governed by its own inherent,
immutable and impersonal law; that there is no
supernatural interference in human life; that man
finding his resources
within himself, can and
must create his own destiny; and that his potential for good and higher development is for all
practical purposes unlimited.

4. To encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system, stres s ing
the mutual sympathy, understanding
and interdependence of all people and the c orres pond ing
responsibility of each individually in relation to
society.

5. To develop and propagate a social philosophy

in which man is the central figure, who alone
must be the source of strength, progress, and
idealism for the well being and happiness of
humanity.

Freethought may be defined as the menta 1 attitude which unreservedly

accepts the supremacy of reason, and aims at establishing
a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority or creeds.

THE TRADITIONAL SYMBOL Of FREETHOUGHT

PANSY
FRENCH ...
pensee: thought
penser:
to think
LATIN ...
pensare:

to weigh}

or

ponder

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