american atheist magazine jan 1980
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair
MANAGING EDITOR
Jon Garth Murray
ASSISTANT EDITOR
G. Richard Bozarth
READING EDITOR
Barry Cashman
NON-RESIDENTIAL STAFF
Bill Baird
Angeline Bennett
Wells Culver
Conrad Goeringer
Connie Perazino
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
Elaine Stansfield,
Gerald Tholen
The American Atheist magazine is
published monthly by American
Atheists, located at 2210 Hancock
Drive, Austin, Texas, 78756, a non-
profit, non-political, educational or-
ganization. Mailing address: P.O.
Box 2117, Austin, Texas, 78768.
Copyright 1980 by Society of
Separationists, Inc. Subscription
rates: $20.00 per year. Manuscripts
submitted must be typed, double-
spaced and accompanied by a
stamped, self-addressed envelope.
The editors assume no responsibility
for unsolicited manuscripts.
The American Atheist magazine is in-
dexed in:
MONTHLY PERIODICAL INDEX
Austin, Texas
A m e r i c a n h e i s l
Volume 22, No.1
January, 1980
articles
Isaac Asimov - Do Scientists Believe in God? 11
Elizabeth Cady Stanton - The Woman's Bible,
a Series 15
Oliver Evans - Myths
&
Mental Mayham 22
Anthony J. Pasquarello - Religion & Morality 23
features
Editorial - Jon G. Murray - You're Out,
Mrs. Johnson 2
Letters to the Editor 3
Atheist News
Utah 4
Atheism Asks For An Open Mind 9
Roots of Atheism - Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Part 1 20
Columnists
G. Richard Bozarth - The Holely Bible 29
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke - The Baited Hook 32
Angeline Bennett - It Could Be Verse ',.'. 33
Gerald Tholen - Education - The Terrible ..
Tragedy? 36
American Atheist Radio Series
Madalyn Murray O'Hair - Ernst Haeckel,
German Atheist 34
Poems 37
Film Review - Elaine Stansfield - Alien 38
Book Review - The God Fixation 40
our.co~er
Richard Andrews, Chapter Director
Utah Chapter, American Atheists
P. O. Box 11622
Salt Lake City, Utah 84147
Telephone: [801] 3632562
January, 1980
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Editorial
onG. urra
You're Out./' Mrs. Johnson
be useless. Rules for the game of religious life are se t up to be
One of the most common areas of conflict in the arena of broken so that a penalty can be levied and that penalty, in
separation of state and church is 'that of civil rights vs. religion. turn, can be absolved by a higher authority.
A graphic example of this was played out in Utah last month. The ultimate penalty, of course, as in any game, is to be
There, a.good Mormon woman, Sonia Johnson, waS excom-thrown out of the game, or excommunicated. The Mormon
municated from her church for supporting the ERA and assoc- church had, in effect,
tuio
choices with Mrs. Johnson. It could
iating and working with those who favor its passage as an a- penalize her so many yards' iff 'her rush-for the goal of heaven
mendment to our Constitution. or throw her out of the game altogether. It chose the-latter.--- ,.
Mrs. Johnson was tried by a Bishops' court of the Mormon Mrs. Johnson does not know how lucky she is for the
church, according to internal church policy, and excommuni- choice. She is now, officially, a spectator at the Mormon game
cated. The outcry in Utah was that Mrs. Johnson's civil rights instead of a player. She
is
now one step closer to the position
had been violated in that her church trial lacked any of the of an Atheist. An Atheist
is
a spectator to all religion not just
Constitutional guarantees of the right to face one's accusers, a particular team: Mrs. Johnson
is
likely to find a ne'w church
the right to counsel, etc. Critics failed to realize, however, that with a spectrum of allowable activity, or rules, which is wider,
Mrs. Johnson gave up her rights under the Constitution when wide enough to encompass her position on the ERA.
she entered into a church setting. Civil rights in a courtroom Her excommunication, or being kicked out of the game,
extend only to proceedings in courts operating under the con- was an effective punishment of her only because she believed
trol of some governmental branch of the city, county, state or in the intrinsic value of staying in the game. As a player, the
national jurisdiction. They do not extend into a Mormon Bish- team effort for all the players to reach the goal of heaven was
ops' court. . paramount. To a spectator, who sees the game as entertain-
Internal procedure within the confines of the doctrinal ment or only a game, a player being thrown .out is only a
disciplining of any church
is
its own business. If one chooses temporary lull in the action.
to belong to a particular church one comes under the jurisdic- To an Atheist religion has but an entertainment value. It is
lion of the rules and regulations of that church. The Mormon something at which to laugh.
can only hope that out of the
churcb did nothing illegal when it tried Mrs. Johnson, [it church Mrs. Johnson will learn to laugh also.
being immoral would be another matter.] It merely exer- Within the game she was laboring under the illusion that
cised its internal policy on the subject of women's rights. If civil rights had a place within the game structure. Just as any
Mrs. Johnson wished to remain within the church, she had the sporting event
is
irrelevant to human life so is the game of reli-
option of coming to terms with those internal
policies:
gion. Real human concerns have no place within the rules of a
The same would apply to the American Atheist organiza- game, there the rules themselves are the only relevant ele-
tion. American Atheists is perfectly within its rights, as a pri- ments.
vate, membership organization (like the Mormon church) to . What can we learn from all this? We learn {ust one more
expel anyone' who comes into contradiction with its stated lesson on the point that one must examine any system of
corporate aims and purposes. If, for example, American A- controls of human behavior before one subscribes to it. The
theists expelled a born-again. Christian from membership for'most important decision one can make in life is the setting up
practicing religious evangelism under the name of an Atheist' of a system of rules to guide. one's self along the way. The
organization it would be perfectly within its rights. choice is between a selfmade system wfiicnoife tailors to one's _ ,
Every religion and, for that matter, every church has a set own needs, tempered by the trial and error guidelines of all hu-
of rules which are open for the inspection of anyone seeking man, as well as one's personal, history and a so-called inspir-
admission to that religion or church. If one
is
not willing to ed system that one accepts on faith. For my money, I choose
remain within the spectrum- of allowable activity set up by the self-made one.
those rules, one does not join the religion (or the particular If one chooses a system ready made, one must be prepared
denomination thereof). Each world religion, historically, de- to be let down by it, for ready-made lifestyles cannot grow
rives the boundaries of this spectrum of allowable activity with one, one must instead grow to fit the system. If one
within the church from its holy book, or whatever it deems mahes one's own system, modifying it as one grows, one never
to be the inspired word of its particular deity. Those activities, has to fear a situation outside of its bounds, for it has none.
both mental and physical, that are allowable are then consid- Don't box yourself in like Mrs. Johnsoti. Leaoe plenty of grow-
ered to be virtues. Those that are unallowable are sins. ing room; your mind needs it.
It is essential toa church for human activities to be grouped I don't know of any life style with any more growing room
into the allowable and nonallowable, or those things inside and and, self-control built into it than has Atheism. It's like the dif-
outside of the spectrum of church dogma. Unless the spectrum
ference
between living in a box or in an ever expanding bal-
is not only finite, but a subset of allowable human activity in loon.
nature, - then - sinning cannot be accomplished. Sin must Think about it.
exist in order for redemption to be possible. If everything one
can do, as a human being, in one's natural environmen t, is
permissible then there is no sin. Without sin there is nothing
from which to be redeemed or saved. The religion would then
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January, 1980
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Letters to The Editor
HOW THE BLACKS GOT INTO
THE MORMON PRIESTHOOD
Dear Friends,
Here is an experience I had this
summer.
A school was tom down, and help
was hard to get, so they imported
some Negro and Mexican boys to do
the work. It was across the street, so
I got acquainted with them. The fore-
man had time to chat with me, and it
was highly amusing when he told a-
bout their entry into the Mormon
church.
Quote: You know the black boys
were not satisfied to be only members;
they wanted to get into the thing big,
mingle with all the white gals, and you
know to get there, you have to be a
deacon. But Mistuh Kimball, he said,
'Nope, you can't because god said you
don't qualify.' So anyway, the pres-
sure mounted, and finally old Spence,
that's Mr. Kimball, he said, 'Well, I
talked to god, and he said he would
think it over.' But it seems god could
not make up his mind for two or three
years. Finally god said to Father Kim-
ball, 'OK. It seems you have been los-
ing money account your white boys
just can't compete. with the schools
that have 'them tall black boys - they
won't let your boys have the ball.' So,
when god told old Spence that, we got
in with god's blessing. Now we just
about have all the say up at that
Brigham Young school - and the gals
come around and joke and tickle our
ribs.
Fred Girard
Arizona
Dear Fred,
We always knew the real reason
that the Mormons decided to let the
Blacks into full membership was to
play ball, with the idea of equality,
but as an Atheist don't fall into the
trap of letting anyone persuade you
that all Black men want white women.
T'ain't so - and we will have a sociol-
ogist write to that myth in another is-
sue of the magazine.
The Editor
Austin, Texas
What More Do You Want?
Editor:
I was upset by the movie review on
The Life of Brian
by Elaine Stansfield.
It seemed to me that she was trying to
outdo Monty Python by being com-
pletely different. Whatever .the rea~on
for her drab thinking, she did Atheism
a disservice by her negative review of
the most Atheist-like movie that has
ever been done commercially, besides
Simon in the Desert
by Luis Bunuel.
I don't know where she saw the
movie - maybe Mexico - but most
intelligent people in this country en-
joyed it immensely.
The movie clearly showed the peo-
ple of that epoch for the sorry, gull-
ible confused lot that they were,
whi~h strongly implies where the
Jesus myth came from. When people
are picking up gourds after Brian
exits and exclaiming, It's a miracle ,
they are being clearly exposed as i~-
iots. That is a direct put-down of reli-
gion. When people parr.ot their lea.der
no matter how unthinkingly, that ISa
direct put-down of religious people.
When a guy on a cross advises another
not to worry because we came from
nothing and will go to nothing, and
then proceeds to sing a beautiful song,
Always Look on the Bright Side of
Life he is making an Atheist affirm-
atio~ of the noblest kind. In other
words don't pray to some non-exist-
ent g~d for one's troubles; just man-
age them in the best possible way.
What more do you want?
Richard M. Smith
Idaho
Never Had Anything Like It
Editor:
Contrary to the review by Elaine
Stansfield I think that
Life of Brian
is the biggest
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Wherever there are walls ~shall inscribe this eternal
accusation against Christianity upon them
- I can write in letters which make even the blind
see.... .I call Christianity the ONE great curse, the
ONE great intrinsic depravity, the ONE great
instinct for revenge for which no expedient is
sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean,
PETTY - I call it the ONE immortal blemish of
mankind ..... And one calculates TIME from the
DIES NEFASTUS. [unlucky day] on which this
fatality arose - from the FIRST day of Chris-
tianity WHY NOT RATHER FROM HIS LAST?
~ FROM TO DAY? - Revaluation of all values
Friedrich Nietzsche
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