Also Inside: Mark Twain's Blasphemous Satire of Christian Science

American Atheists Inc.

is a nonprofit,nonpolitical,educational
organization dedicated to the complete
and absolute separation of state and
church, accepting the explanation
of Thomas Jefferson that the First
Amendment to-the Constitution of the
United States was meant to create a
"wallof separation" between state and
church.
AmericanAtheists is organized
to stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas,
tenets, rituals, and practices;
to collect and disseminate
information, data, and literature on
all religions and promote a more thorough understanding of them, their
origins, and their histories;
to advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the complete
and absolute separation of state and
church;
to act as a "watch dog"to challenge any attempted breach of the
wall of separatrion between state and
church;
to advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the establishment and maintenance ofa thoroughly
secular system of education available
to all;

to encourage the development

and public acceptance of a humane
ethical system stressing the mutual
sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the
corresponding responsibility of each
individual in relation to society;
to develop and propagate a
social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the
source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness
of humanity;
. to promote the study of the
arts and sciences and of all problems
affecting the maintenance, perpetuation, and enrichment of human (and
other) life; and
to engage in such social, educational, legal, and cultural activity
as will be useful and beneficial to
members of American Atheists and to
society as a whole.
Atheism is the Weltanschauung
(comprehensive conception of the
world) of persons who are free from
theism - i.e., free from
religion.
It is predicated on ancient Greek
Materialism.
Atheism involves the mental
attitude which unreservedly accepts
the supremacy of reason and aims at
establishing a life-style and ethical

outlook verifiable by experience and

the scientific method, independent of
all arbitrary assumptions of authority
and creeds. An Atheist is free ofbelief
in supernatural entities of all kinds.
Materialism
declares
that
the cosmos is devoid of immanent
consciouspurpose; that it is governed
by its own inherent, immutable, and
impersonal laws; that there is no
supernatural interference in human
life; that humankind - finding their.
resources within themselves - can
and must create their own destiny.
Materialism restores dignity and
intellectual integrity to humanity. It
teaches that we must prize our life
on earth and strive always to improve
it. It holds that humans are capable
of creating a social system based on
reason and justice. Materialism's
"faith" is in humankind and their
ability to transform the world
culture by their own efforts. This is
a commitment which is in its very
essence life-asserting. It considers
the struggle for progress as a moral
obligation that is impossible without
noble ideas that inspire us to bold,
creative works. Materialism holds
that our potential for good and more
fulfilling cultural development is, for
all practical purposes, unlimited.

American Atheists Inc., Membership Categories

Wallbuilder
Couple*lFamily
Individual----------------------------------------------------Distinguished Citizen**
Student**----------------------------------------------------Life Membership-----------------------------------------------*Include partner's name
**Include photocopy of ID

$150/year
$60/year, International
$35/year, International
$25/year, International
$25/year, International
$1500

$70/year
$45/year
$35/year
$35/year

All membership categories receive our monthly American Atheist Newsletter, membership cardis), and additional
organizational mailings such as new products for sale, convention and meeting announcements, etc.
American Atheists Inc. P.O. Box 5733 Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Telephone: (908) 276-7300 FAX:(908) 276-7402 E-mail: info@atheists.org. Website: http://www.atheists.org
American Atheist on-line edition: www.americanatheist.org

Membership Application for

American Atheists Inc.

American Atheist
Volume
44 Number
Jan-Feb-Mar
2005

EDITOR / MANAGING EDITOR

Frank R. Zindler
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Ann E. Zindler
CONTRIBUTING
EDITOR
Conrad F. Goeringer
BUSINESS MANAGER
Ellen Johnson
The American Atheist is published by
American Atheist Press ten times a
year. A subscription to American Atheist is
included as a prerequisite in membership
to American Atheists, Inc.
Printed in the USA, 2006 by American
Atheist
Press. All rights
reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without
written permission is prohibited.
ISSN: 0516-9623
Mailing address: P.O. Box 5733
Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733.
Voice: 908-276-7300
FAX: 908-276-7402.
E-mail: editoI<iPatheists.org
For information on electronic access to
American Atheist Press publications,
consult: http://www.atheists.org
ftp.atheists.org/pub/
The World-Wide-Web edition ofAmerican
Atheist can be accessed at:
http://www.americanatheist.org
American Atheist is indexed in Alternative
Press Index.
Manuscripts submitted must be typed,
double-spaced, and accompanied by a
stamped, self-addressed envelope. Documents may be submitted on computer disk
also, but print copies should be included
with disks. A copy of American Atheist
Writers' Guidelines is available upon
request. The editor assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts.
American
Atheist
Press
publishes
a variety of Atheist, Agnostic, and
Freethought
material.
A catalog is
available for $1.00

Subscriptions to the American Atheist

magazine are $40 for ten issues ($45
outside the U.S.). Gift subscriptions are
$30 for ten issues ($35 outside the U.S.).
The library and institutional discount is
50 percent. Sustaining subscriptions are
$50 for ten issues

Parsippany, New Jersey

Lastname:

Firstname:

Address:

City/State/Zip:

This is to certify that I am in agreement with the aims, purposes, and the definitions given
by American Atheists inside the front cover. I consider myself to be an A-theist (i.e., non-theist)
or Materialist and I have, therefore, a particular interest in the separation of state and church
and the efforts of American Atheists Inc. on behalf of that principle.
As an Atheist I hereby make application for membership in American Atheists Inc., said
membership being open only to Atheists.
Signature

Date:

Signature

Date:

Those not comfortable with the appellation "Atheist" may not be admitted to membership but are invited to subscribe to the American Atheist magazine or the American Atheist
Newsletter. Both dues and contributions are to a tax-exempt organization and may be deducted
on income tax returns, subject to applicable laws. (This application must be dated and signed by
the applicant to be accepted.) Memberships are non-refundable.
Membership in American Atheists Inc. includes a free subscription to the American Atheist
Newsletter and all the other rights and privileges of membership. Please indicate your choice
of membership
dues:

o
o
o
o
o
o

Individual,

$35/year, $45/year

CouplelFamily,

Distinguished

International.

$60/year, $70/year

Internat.

(Please give all names below).

Citizen (Age 65 or over), $25/year, $35/year

(Photocopy of ID required).
Student, $25/year, $35/year International.

(Photocopy

International

of ID required).

Wall Builder, $150/year.

Life Membership,

$1,500.

Upon your acceptance

into membership,
you will receive
a handsome
membership
card and your initial copy of the American Atheist Newsletter. You
will be notified of all national and regional meetings
and activities,
and you will
receive the special members'
codes with which to benefit from discounts
offered
from businesses
participating
as American Atheists Savings Partners.
The

American Atheist,

a quarterly

journal,

is available

separately

for

$20.00 per year, $25.00 International.

Sign

me up for a one-year

subscription

to the

American Atheist.

American Atheists Inc., P.O. Box 5733

Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Telephone:

(908) 276-7300
E-mail:

FAX: (908) 276-7402

editor@atheists.org

Web Site: http://www.atheists.org

Magazine: http://www.americanatheist.org

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Pagel

American Atheist

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

EDITOR'S DESK
Iconoclasm & Secular Society
Frank R. Zindler
The smashing of images and destruction of representational
art has a long history in the Abrahamic religions. Judaism
and Christianity have pretty much outgrown the superstition underlying the taboo that prompted such wanton
behavior, but Islam has not. An examination of the violent
response to the publication of a dozen innocuous cartoons
in a Danish newspaper exposes a complex mixture of highminded principles and deceit, superstition and enlightenment, and hypocrisy and double standards. It engenders
the sense that Islam is irreconcilably incompatible with the
survival of free and secular societies.

Cover Art:

"What's

Allah

Hoopla?" by Keith McCaffety.

A collage featuring one of the
Danish cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad
that is alleged
to have touched of weeks of
violence throughout the Arab
world and noisy demonstrations
in Europe. The cartoon is surrounded by images of protesters and their messages.
We have learned shortly
before going to press that the
sign reading "Behead those
who say Islam is violent" is the
creation of a non-Muslim with a
droll sense of humor.

A Tale of Cartoons, Cartoonacy & Cartoonatics

Frank R. Zindler
The Islamic flap over the publication of a dozen cartoons
relating to Muhammad in the Danish newspaper JyllandsPosten last fall is placed in its historical context, going back
to the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa in 1989 calling for the
murder of Salman Rushdie as punishment for his offending Muslim sensibilities by writing the satirical novel The
Satanic Verses. The cartoons are all reprinted and analyzed
and found to be too innocuous to have spawned all the violence in the Muslim world. Instead, a disinformation campaign launched by several Copenhagen Muslims appears
to have used three extra cartoons - extremely vile cartoons
that had never been published - to stir up Muslim violence
against Denmark.

o
29
Volume 44, No.1

Page 2

The REAL Bible: Who's Got It?

Frank R. Zindler
How do you know which books should be in the Bible?
How do you know which - if any - of the thousands of
different manuscripts of a given book contains the correct words? How do you know what the ancient writers
intended those words to mean? It turns out that Biblebelievers are completely dependent upon scientific
scholars to tell them what should and should not be in
the bibles in which they believe. Without faith in science, they can't have faith in the Bible!

Letters from a Bible Belt Heathen

Gary Sloan
American Atheists always has encouraged its members
and supporters to engage the struggle against superstition and religious tyranny by writing - books, popular
and scholarly articles, and good-old-fashioned letters to
the editors of newspapers. Here, one of Atheism's most
articulate activists shows us how to shine in the Letters
Department.
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

GOD: What Is that?

Don Havis
Despite the perennial efforts of religionists to define their god, the
word god remains elusive in meaning. So elusive is it, it is in fac
a meaningless term. Mr. Havis explains, "I cannot 'believe in' the
god concept because I simply do not understand what the god-belief
advocates mean when they use the word 'god.'

Psychoanalysis

of Supernatural Salvation-Crusading

Robert K. MacDonald
A professor of history, government, and philosophy for 44 years, Dr.
MacDonald brings a deep knowledge of Psychoanalysis further to enhance
our understanding of America's crusade in the Near East. "In this age
of rapid global overpopulation, hyperaccelerated democratization, widespread ecosystem degradation, and nuclear proliferation, we have a survival imperative to understand the disguised emotional causes of chronic
war-making."

In Memoriam: Dillard Wilson Henderson

About those Quails: A Funny Story

www.godisajoke.com
From the blogosphere comes insight into the interrelations between quails,
quail hunting, government, and religion. About those quails: ya gotta check
it out!

Christian Science
Mark Twain
Long suppressed and known to only a few Mark Twain enthusiasts
until recent decades, this blasphemous satire on Mary Baker Eddy and
her plagiarized system called 'Christian Science' is arguably the funniest short piece Twain ever wrote.

My Turn!
Cartoons as Political Weapons of Mass Destruction
Reza T. Saberi
Dr. Saberi brings an Iranian perspective to the furor over the Danish cartoons and focuses on the double standard and hypocrisy so often involved
when freedom of expression collides with religious imperatives.

Me Too!
Jihad Me!
Keith McCaffety
An Atheist cartoonist follows a unique - and tough - approach to the Danish Cartoon
controversy. "Tolerance of religious extremism is not 'tolerance.' At best, it is reckless
and irresponsible. At worst, you may be digging your own grave."

Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 3

Editor's Desk

"You shall not make for yourself a

graven image or any likeness of what
is in heaven above or on the earth
below or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve
them; for I, Yahweh, your God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquities of
the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them
that hate me; and showing mercy
unto thousands of them that love me
and keep my commandments."
-Exodus 20:4-6

lame the Jews - or at least,

blame their ancestors - for
being the first to promote
the superstitious phobia of representational art. During the Bronze
Age and the Iron Age (and still
today in the more primitive Jewish
and Christian cults that thrive in
the midst of a technological society)
words were conceived to have magical potential. 'Curses' and 'blessings'
were thought to be real-world phenomena resulting from the utterance
of certain sounds under certain ritual
conditions. Likewise, statues - 'idols'
- and images were thought to have a
voodoo-like connection to the beings
they were intended to represent.
They were a threat to the cult of
Yahweh, the god whose name must
never be pronounced correctly under
pain of death [Lev 24:16].

The Hebrew prophets were forever fulminating against any society that made statues. There is the
famous prophecy of Jeremiah against
Babylon:
The word that the LORD
[Yahweh] spake against Babylon
and against the land of the
Chaldeans by Jeremiah
the
prophet. Declare ye among the
nations, and publish, and conceal
not: Say, Babylon is taken, Bel
is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken
in pieces [Jeremiah 50:1-2].
Then too, there is the curious and
titillating prophecy of Micah against
Samaria:
Therefore I will make Samaria
as an heap of the field, and as
plantings of a vineyard: and I will
pour down the stones thereof into
the valley, and I will discover the
foundations thereof. And all the
graven images thereof shall be
beaten to pieces, and all the hires
thereof shall be burned with the
fire, and all the idols thereof will
I lay desolate: for she gathered it
of the hire of an harlot, and they
shall return to the hire of an harlot [Micah 1:6-7].

More than a millennium later,

when the religion now known as
Islam was coalescing out of the
religious ragout of seventh-century
Western Arabia, the Jewish phobia of
'images' was incorporated along with
the taboo against the flesh of swine.
Muslims were instructed to fight
against 'idolatry':
"Fight for the sake of God those
that fight against you, but do not
attack them first. God does not love
aggressors.
"Slay them wherever you find
them. Drive them out of the place
from which they drove you. Idolatry
is more grievous than bloodshed. But
do not fight them within the precincts of the Holy Mosque unless they
attack you there; if they attack you
put them to the sword. Thus shall the
unbelievers be rewarded; but if they
mend their ways, know that God is
forgiving and merciful.
"Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion
reigns supreme. But if they desist,
fight none except evil-doers" [Sura 2:
190-193, N.J. Dawood translation].
According to Muslim tradition
(hadith), when Muhammad conquered Mecca and 'cleansed' the
Ka'aba, his son-in-law Ali destroyed
all the idols of that pagan shrine
and Umar destroyed the pictures on
its walls. Missionaries were sent out
to destroy the idols at other pagan

Frank R. Zindler
Page 4

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

shrines. Thus began the violent ern church of idols. This first icono- iconoclastic riots took place in Zurich
program of Muslim iconoclasm that clastic period lasted from 730 to 787 [1523], Copenhagen [1530], Munster
continues to the present day - a CEoA second iconoclastic period was [1534], Geneva [1535], Augsburg
particularly egregious example being initiated by the Byzantine Emperor [1537], and Scotland [1559]. In
the Taliban destruction of the statues Leo V in 813. Iconoclasm survived 1566 what are now Belgium and the
until 842 until the Empress Netherlands were swept by a wave
of the Buddha at Bamiyan.
Soon after the invention of Islam Theodora restored the veneration of of iconoclasm. In England in 1643,
iconoclastic hooligans waged war
(its supposed inventor Muhammad is icons in 843.
alleged to have lived ca 570--ca 632
against art after Parliament passed
After the Dark Ages, Christianity
CE), conquering Muslim forces began
seemed to have matured and out- an ordinance against superstition
and idolatry.
to exert more than military
pressure against the Christian
Ultimately, of course, both
churches of the region. Quite
Christianity and Judaism grew
up enough to conclude a truce
understandably, Muslims considered the Christian 'venerawith a civilization in which
tion' of images to be tantamount
representational art not only
to idolatry. The iconodule
is tolerated but honored and
('image-serving')
theological
respected. Islam, alas, has not
distinction between venerating
ever really grown up - although
a statue and worshipping it was
there have been periods and
seen to have no anthropological
places in which even Muslims
significance even in the seventh
tolerated this fine art. Overall,
century. (In veneration, one
it has clung to its taboo against
worships the being represented
representational
art with a
by the image, not the image
ferocity not seen in the West
itself But of course, that is not
since the Dark Ages.
different from the practice of
And that's a problem. For this
idolaters who almost always
and many other reasons, Islam
understood that their idols at
is incompatible with secular
most were habitations* for the
civilization. It poses a mortal
spirits of their gods and usually
threat to societies in which men
were merely symbols on which
and women have equal rights,
to focus attention.)
where freedom of expression
The fact that the Catholic
exists, and where freedom of
Church even today doesn't print
and from religion is respected.
Journey of the Prophet Muhammad:
leaf from a
the
Second Commandment
Islam must be defanged, and
copy of the Majmac al-tawarikh ('Compendium of
- the one prohibiting 'graven Histories), ca. 1425; Timurid. Herat, Afghanistan.
declawed. It must be neutered
images' - in its list of the Ten This may be compared with the Danish drawing of if any civilization worth having
Commandments never helped Muhammad leading a donkey (see page 17).
is to survive.
matters any. (Although the www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive
Even though it is almost cer/
Second
Commandment
is islamic mo Jull /
tainly true that the immediate
deleted, Catholics still end up
triggers for the recrudescence
with ten by the device of splitting up grown iconoclasm, coming to a peace- of aggressive Islamic fundamenthe anti-coveting commandment into ful coexistence with representational
talism have been American and
two.) The Christian churches had a art. In fact, the Roman Catholic European imperialistic adventures
hard time converting Muslims, who Church became one of the greatest
in the Muslim Near East - includstrongly resisted conversion to 'idola- patrons of fine art in all of western ing the Afghan and Iraq wars - and
try.' What to do? The icons would history. But then came the Protestant
America's boundless support for
have to go.
Reformation, with its literalist under- the war of slow-motion genocide
A major program of iconoclasm standing of the Bible.
Israel has been waging against
(smashing of icons) was initiated by
At the start ofthe sixteenth centu- the Palestinians, Islam has almost
the Byzantine Christian Emperor Leo ry, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin always been a threat to humanistic,
III [r, 717-775]. His son Constantine 'encouraged' their minions to destroy free societies. All religions resist
V [r; 741-775] summoned a church Catholic works of art when appropri- change to varying degrees, and Islam
council in Hieria in 754 (the "icono- ating their churches for Protestant
is extremely resistant - hence the
clast council")that cleansed the east- worship. According to the Wikipedia,
great danger it poses to civilization.
*The Hebrew 'Ark of the Covenant' was a box in which Yahweh was believed to reside. This god-in-a-box was often paraded into battle
in exactly the same way that the idols housing the gods of their enemies were arrayed in battle.
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 5

For if civilization is to improve, it is compared to the genocidal Yahweh of down the house of a man because he
axiomatic that change is necessary. the Hebrew Bible. So too, few if any is Catholic than it would be to burn
Because Islam resists change, it Muslims are as evil as Allah or as the same house because its owner
resists improvement. Qualitatively, morally maimed as Muhammad.
had stolen the incendiary's wife!
of course, it is no different from other
In the case of the Danish cartoon
Muslims have rightly pointed
religions in this regard. It differs only flap, the absolute innocuousness of out the double standard in the West
quantitatively - but the difference is the pictures that were actually pub- that is implicit in the printing of
crucial at this moment in
the Muhammad satire
history.
while putting people in
It is clear that neuprison for denying the
tralizing Islam must be of
Holocaust. If we are
highest priority for westto make any headway
ern societies. The fatwa
in getting Muslims to
against Salman Rushdie,
accept criticism of their
the murder of the Dutch
religion, we must abolfilmmaker
van
Gogh,
ish all our sacred cows.
the million-dollar bounty
The total moratorium
on the head of a Danish
on criticism of Jews
cartoonist, the riots and
and Judaism must be
murders in response to the
broken, and we must
publication of innocuous
continue to poke fun
cartoons - these things
at Christianity. All reliand more show that Islam
gions must be treated
has to be stopped. But
as absurdities that are
how?
equal in their invalidHalting the advance Miniature of Muhammad re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Ka'aba. ity.
of militant Islam must From Jami'al-Tavarikh('The Universal History'), written by Rashid
There can be no
involve actions of two Al-Din, illustrated in Tabriz, Persia, ca. 1315. Certainly this Islamic
doubt but that the
sorts: immediate, short- illustration must be more shocking than most of the Danish cartoons intensity and violence
term therapy aimed at to the sensibilities of the current protesters.
of the response to the
/ islamic_moJull /
cooling off the fever pow- www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive
cartoons have been
ering the present world
powered by Muslim
crisis, and long-term therapy aimed lished must be emphasized. Enemies anger over America's military presat neutralizing the virus that causes offree speech, free press, and freedom ence in the heart of the Muslim world
of expression have tried to explain and by America's unconditional supthe fever.
if not excuse - the violently insane port of Zionism. Most of the world
First of all, the arguments of
American Islamic apologists must response to these pictures as being a - not just Muslims - views the Israeli
be exposed for their disingenuous- response to "hate-speech." Of course, presence in Palestine to be an extenness. This must be done not to try this is not true; and we must remem- sion of European colonialism. Hardly
ber that the 'crime' of hate-speech anyone possessed of the facts of the
to convince the Muslims, but rather
to strengthen the resolve of western is a recent substitute for the 'crime' unrelenting, slow-motion genocide
societies to defend themselves against of blasphemy. When western societ- being waged by Israel against the
the danger. When Muslims insist that ies became too sophisticated to take Arab population thinks the reality of
seriously the notion that blasphemy the Holocaust is sufficient excuse to
Islam is a religion of peace, abundant
evidence must be brought out from could be a crime, clever religionists justify this horrific program.
the Qur'an, the hadith, and history argued that blasphemy was hurtful
There
is probably
nothing
to show that the assertion is just to believers. (Noone dared to reply America can do at this late date to
that people who believe stupid things undo the disaster it has wrought upon
as false as saying that Christianity
or Judaism are religions of peace. deserve to have their feelings hurt Iraq in its effort to enrich the stockAs with Christians and Jews who - for their own good.) Blasphemy holders of Bushbuddy Industries,
advance ethically reasonable posi- became hate-speech. Hate-speech Inc. Impeaching George W. Bush
tions, reasonable Muslims must be became a crime. The crime of hate- and impaneling a Nuremberg-type
praised for being individuals who speech served as a model for the new tribunal to try him for war crimes
have risen above the ethically chal- class of crimes known as hate-crimes: would help, but that seems imposlenged religion to which they cling. crimes which carry heavier penalties sible. Even so, withdrawal of troops
Almost all Christians are better than because they are motivated by bigot- from Iraq, Arabia, and the Persian
the Jesus of the New Testament, and ry. One must presume that it is much Gulf would help immensely to defuse
even the most racist Zionist is a saint more serious for a Calvinist to burn the explosive culture war now being
Page 6

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

In the case of America, where not

begun. Withdrawal of troops seems borders. What can we do about
possible politically, now that Bush's them?
all alien enemies of secular society
ratings are sinking to very low levAt the beginning of March a are Muslims, a more general screennews report from Australia created ing might be in order. Aliens seeking
els.
Withdrawal of American troops an international sensation, but sug- residence in America for any reason
from Arab lands will not be sufficient gested a solution to our problem. - and legal aliens already residing
to defuse the situation as long as we Prime Minister John Howard, after here - might be made to take a secucontinue to support Israel against a group of mainstream Muslim lead- lar oath of loyalty to America's Bill of
the rightful owners of
Rights and affirm that
the territory of Palestine.
they agree that citizens
Forcing Israel to withof this country, regarddraw its illegal colonies
less of sex or sexual
from the West Bank
orientation, should have
and making it stay out
the right to freedom
of expression, equality
of Gaza, the Golan, and
southern Lebanon. will
before the law, freedom
be absolutely necessary.
of and from religion, the
But this will not be posright to vote, the right
sible unless Americans
to privacy, the right to
understand the reason
practice birth control,
for the world-wide anithe right to choose in
mus against Israel. The
the matter of abortion,
hatred of Israel is not the
and other rights of free
result of anti-Semitism
and secular societies.
- although the atrocities
What must be done
daily committed by that The Birth of the Prophet Muhammad. From Jami'al-Tavarikh('The over the longer term is
Universal History'), written by Rashid AI-Din, illustrated in Tabriz,
nation certainly contribless clear. It all depends
Persia, ca. 1315. This may actually be a good example of why so many
ute to the growth of anti- modern Muslims claim that pictures of the Prophet must be avoided upon how much - if
Semitism.
to prevent idolatry. This picture shows that Muslims were following in anything - of the aboveTo people in posses- the path of Christianity by practically deifying the man Muhammad.
described
short-term
sion of the facts of what www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive
actions are taken. The
/ islamic_moJull /
has been going on since
challenge of Islam, comers pledged loyalty to Australia at a ing as it does just as the environmenWorld War II in Palestine/Israel,
the resentment of Israel is perfectly special meeting with him, announced tal and sociopolitical effects of world
reasonable. But few Americans are that Muslims who want to live overpopulation are beginning to be
in possession of the facts due to the under Islamic Sharia law instead of felt, makes it clearer than ever before
heavy self-censoring of news and the Australian law would have to leave that religion not only is the enemy of
way news from Palestine is reported. Australia. Treasurer Peter Costello free societies, it is a mortal danger
(For example, when Palestinians are hinted that some radical clerics to the human species. The failure of
killed they are "suspected terror- would be asked to leave the country reality testing that religion promotes
ists," not "freedom fighters." When if they did not accept that Australia is a weakness we can ill afford as we
Palestinians attack Israelis, the rea- was a secular state and its laws were try to chart a safe itinerary for our
son is almost never given - leaving made by parliament. "If those are not journey on this spaceship we call
the American reader with the feeling your values, if you want a country earth.
that all Palestinians are madmen or which has Sharia law or a theocratic
When fundamentalists
of any
religious fanatics.) American support state, then Australia is not for you," religion mischaracterize our critifor Israel would melt away if news he said. "I'd be saying to clerics who cisms as lack of respect for their relireports were objective - and com- are teaching that there are two laws gion, we must remember the words
plete. Americans do not know what governing people in Australia, one of Flemming Rose, the Danish editor
they don't know. Self-censorship of the Australian law and another, the who printed the Muhammad carIslamic law, that this is false. If you toons: "When Muslims say you are
our media has to end.
We cannot expect that withdraw- can't agree with parliamentary law, not showing respect, I would say: You
ing from Iraq and developing a more independent courts, democracy, and are not asking for my respect, you are
even-handed policy in Israel and would prefer Sharia law, and have asking for my submission."
Palestine would defuse things imme- the opportunity to go to another
And - we must never forget that
diately. There will still be Islamic country which practices it, perhaps, in Arabic, islam means submission.
jihadist aliens residing within our then, that's a better option."
~
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 7

A Tale Of

CAI<TOON6~
and

by Frank R. Zindler

s I remember it, the first battle in the present Muslim war

against freedom of expression
took place back in September of 1988
when the British author Salman
Rushdie published his satirical novel
The Satanic Verses. The following
year, the world's most authoritative
Muslim, Iran's Ayatollah Ruholla
Khomeini, issued a Valentine's Day
fatwa calling for the murder of the
novelist:
In the name of God Almighty.
There is only one God, to whom
we shall all return. I would like
to inform all intrepid Muslims
in the world that the author of
the book entitled The Satanic
Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published in
opposition to Islam, the Prophet,
and the Qur'an, as well as those
publishers who were aware of its
contents, have been sentenced
to death. I call on all zealous
Muslims to execute them quickly,
wherever they find them, so
that no one will dare insult
the Islamic sanctities. Whoever

PageS

is killed on this path will be

regarded as a martyr, God willing. In addition, anyone who has
access to the author of the book,
but does not possess the power to
execute him, should refer him to
the people so that he may be punished for his actions. May God's

A marked
man: Salman
Rushdie,
author of the novel The Satanic Verses
[Wikipedia photo]

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

blessing be on you all. Ruhollah

Musavi Khomeini. [Wikipedia
article "Salman Rushdie"]
Ten days later, Khomeini put a
$3 million bounty on the author's
head, forcing him to live in hiding
more or less forever after. Bookstores
in Berkeley, California, were firebombed for stocking the book.
Bombed also was the Bronx newspaper The Riverdale Press which had
defended the right to read the book.
On 24 February 1989 five protesters were killed by police outside the
British consulate in Bombay in India.
Throughout the world, Rushdie's
book was proscribed and burned. The
pop musician Cat Stevens (by 1989
renamed Yusuf Islam) added his support to the murderous contract on the
writer put out by the Ayatollah.
In
1991, Hitoshi
Igarashi,
who had translated the book into
Japanese, was stabbed to death
at the university north of Tokyo
where he taught. Rushdie's Italian
translator was beaten and stabbed
in Milan. In 1993, his Norwegian
publisher William Nygaard was

American Atheist

shot and severely injured outside his

house in Oslo. Protests against Aziz
Nesin, Rushdie's Turkish translator,
resulted in the burning of a hotel in
Sivas, killing 37 people.
Khomeini died in 1989, but the
fatwa remained in force. Muslim clerics insisted that such a fatwa could
only be retracted by the person who
issued it - and to this day the Grand
Ayatollah has made no visible effort
to reconsider his edict. In 1997 the
bounty was doubled, but in 1998 the
Iranian government said it would not
carry out the fatwa. Nevertheless, in
1999 an Iranian foundation offered
a $2.8 million bounty on the author
who had come out of hiding. The
fatwa was reaffirmed in 2005 by
Ayatollah Ali Khameinei in a message to pilgrims making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
At the time of the fatwa, no
Muslim group in the world would
disavow or condemn the intended
murder - prompting the American
Atheists chapter in Columbus, Ohio,
to picket the local mosque. To this
day, no Muslim group in Ohio has
ever condemned the Khomeini fatwa,
simply repeating the all-purpose
mantra "Islam is a religion of peace."
Taslima Nasrin
Before the Rushdie case had
cooled off, Taslima Nasrin
of
Bangladesh was in mortal danger for
her "blasphemous" advocacy of equal
rights for women and defense of nonIslamic minorities in Islamic societies such as Bangladesh. According to
the Wikipedia,
In 1993, sparked by a series
of newspaper columns in which
she was critical of the treatment
of women under Islam, Islamic
fundamentalists pronounced a
fatwa against her and offered a
bounty for her death. Later, the
government banned her book
Lajja (a Bangla word meaning
shame), which drew attention
to the torture of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. Again there
were calls for her death and her
passport was confiscated by the
government.
Parsippany, New Jersey

Bangladeshi Taslima Nasrin, a novelist threatened with imprisonment

and
execution for blaspheming
the Qur'an
[Wikipedia photo]

In 1994, organised groups identified with religious fundamentalists demanded her execution
by hanging after she was quoted
in the The Statesman stating
that "...the Koran should be
revised thoroughly." The government of the day, whilst not taking action against those who had
issued threats, filed a court case
against Nasrin on the charges
of hurting the religious feelings
of people and an arrest warrant
was issued. Although she anticipated that she may have faced
a jail term of up to two years,
Nasrin felt it was very likely that
she would have been murdered in
jail; she went into hiding. After
two months she was granted bail
and left the country. [Wikipedia
article "Taslima Nasrin"]
American Atheists was among
the freethought organizations around
the world that tried to intercede with
the government of Bangladesh to get
it to grant her bail, ultimately allowing her to flee the country.
Younus Shaikh
So much for what used to be the
Muslim territory of East Pakistan.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

In August of 2001 in West Pakistan

(already then simply Pakistan) the
medical doctor and rationalist Dr.
Younus Shaikh was imprisoned under
sentence of death for - what else? blasphemy. The specifics of his crime?
He "defied" the Prophet Muhammad
by teaching that he did not become a
Muslim until he was forty years old
(when he received his first supposed
message from Allah) and that his
parents were non-Muslims - for the
compelling reason that they had died
before Islam existed. More shockingly, Shaikh was accused of having
taught that the Prophet probably did
not shave his armpits because the
custom was unknown to his tribe at
the time.
As in the case of Taslima Nasrin,
American Atheists did all it could
to intercede with the Pakistani government to release him. Some of
its members picketed the Embassy
of Pakistan in Washington, DC,
and American Atheists President
Ellen Johnson spoke on Shaikh's
behalf with the ranking member
of the embassy staff present at the
moment. Other freethought organizations joined the campaign, and
Shaikh ultimately was released. He
now lives in exile in Switzerland. He
was slated to speak at the American
Atheists convention last year in
Philadelphia, but the United States
would not grant him a visa.
Theo van Gogh
As frightening as all these cases
were at the time they were playing
out, they all had more or less happy
endings - at least in the sense that
all the persecuted 'blasphemers' are
still alive and now are able to exercise their right to freedom of expression. Such was not the case, however,
with the Dutch film-maker Theo van
Gogh.
A descendant of the brother of the
renowned painter Vincent van Gogh,
Theo was notorious for his Atheism,
his hostility to all religions including
Judaism, his political incorrectness,
and his scatological habits of speech.
(In more exasperated moments during
his public campaign against Islam,
he was known to dismiss Muslims
Page 9

Parliament! - promptly went

Calamitous Cartoons
into hiding. The murderer,
The murder of Theo van Gogh
a 26-year-old Dutch citizen sent a shock wave of fear through
named Mohammed Bouyeri, Europe, where many countries now
was apprehended, tried, and have sizable Muslim minorities.
sentenced on 26 July 2004 to Knowing how touchy many Muslims
life in prison.
are about their customs and taboos,
After the murder, an Islamic mainstream
European
writers
elementary school in Uden, and publishers began to exercise
in the south, was set on fire. restraint, lest they give offense to the
Half a dozen other Muslim Muslims in their midst. It had become
sites were attacked during as problematic to criticize Muslims
the
following week. In retali- and Islam as it was to criticize Jews
Dutch film-maker Thea van Gogh, brutally assasation,
arsonists tried to burn and Zionism. (In America, of course,
sinated in 2004 for criticizing Islam in his film
Submission [Wikipedia photo]
down Protestant
churches not even the pope can be criticized.
in Rotterdam, Utrecht, and In 1992, when Sinead O'Connor
as geitenneukers
- 'goat-fuckers.')
Amersfoort after yet another ripped up a photo of John Paul II on
That fact alone probably would have Muslim elementary
school was Saturday Night Live, NBC reran the
been enough to get his name placed bombed in Eindhoven.
show without O'Connor's act.) Selfon every ayatollah's hit-list. But
According to the Wikipedia, a censorship, long a characteristic of
there was more. With the aid of a majority of children under the age the mainline American media, began
Somali-born Member of Parliament
of fourteen in the four biggest Dutch to spread through Europe like con- Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali - van Gogh cities are Muslims - raising fears sumption through Italian operas.
produced a ten-minute film ironically that soon Muslims will be a majortitled Submission. (The Arabic word ity in those cities and the liberal,
Flemming Rose
islam means 'submission.') The film secular Dutch society may become
Flemming Rose, the culture editor
deals with the anti-woman character
only a memory. Criticism of religion of the Danish newspaper Jyllandsof Islamic society by telling the sto- may become as dangerous in the Posten, took alarm when he discovries of four abused women. Qur'anic Netherlands as it is in Saudi Arabia. ered that the translators of a book by
verses in Arabic are
the Dutch MP Ayaan
painted on the women's "The Netherlands has been too tolerant to Hirsi Ali (the writer
bodies. When the film
of the film that got
intolerant people for too long."
was released in 2004,
van Gogh killed)
- Geert Wilders, Dutch Member of were insisting on
both van Gogh and Ali
received death threats.
Parliament anonymity and that
Ali publicly called the
the Danish author
Prophet Muhammad a
After the murder, Dutch Minister of Kare Bluitgen could not find an art"pervert" (probably for his reported Justice, the Christian Democrat Piet ist brave enough to illustrate his book
taking of a six-year-old bride) and a Hein Donner proposed more strin- on the life of Muhammad. Writing in
"tyrant."
gent application of blasphemy laws. the 13 February 2006 issue of TIME,
The threats were not idle expres- For good measure, he suggested they Rose explained:
sions of fury against the blaspheming
should be made stricter! This led to
Dutchman. Early in the morning of the liberal party demanding instead
In mid-September
[2005] a
2 November 2004, Theo van Gogh that the blasphemy laws should be
Danish author went on the record
was at the corner of Linnaeusstraat
abolished altogether.
as saying he had problems finding
and Tweede Oosterparkstraat
in
Geert Wilders, an independent
illustrators for a book about the
Amsterdam. He was shot dead with a member of the Dutch parliament,
life of the Prophet Muhammad.
Croatian handgun. Eight bullets did advocated a five-year halt to nonThe [eventual] illustrator insisthim in almost immediately, it would Western immigration, declaring "The
ed on anonymity. Translators of
appear. No matter. Already dead, Netherlands has been too tolerant
a book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the
his throat was slit (rumor has it, he to intolerant people for too long. We
Somali Dutch politician who
was nearly decapitated) and he was should not import a retarded political
has been critical of Islam, also
stabbed in the chest. He was left with Islamic society to our country." Like
insisted on anonymity. Then the
two knives stuck in his body - one of fellow MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert
Tate Britain in London removed
them being used to stick a five-page Wilders also had to go into hiding.
an installation called God Is
letter to his corpse. The letter threatBoth have been protected by body
Great, which shows the Talmud,
ened western governments, Jews, guards ever since. [Wikipedia article
the Koran and the Bible embedand Hirsi Ali. She - a Member of "Theo van Gogh"]
ded in a piece of glass. To me, all
Page 10

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

those spoke to the problems of

self-censorship and freedom of
speech, and that's why I wrote
to 40 Danish cartoonists asking
them to depict Muhammad as
they see him.
Some of the cartoons turned
out to be caricatures because this
is just in the Danish tradition.
We make fun of the Queen, we
make fun of politicians, we make
fun of more or less everything.
Of course, we didn't expect this
kind of reaction, but I am sorry if
some Muslims feel insulted. This
was not directed- at Muslims. I
wanted to put this issue of selfcensorship on the agenda and
have a debate about it. [TIME, p.
48]
A Cartoonatic

Chronology

17 September 2005 Politiken,

a Danish newspaper, reports that a
writer cannot find an illustrator for
a children's book about the Prophet
Muhammad, because artists fear
reprisals from extremists.
30 September 2005 JyllandsPosten publishes twelve cartoons,
including caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad. Unwittingly, this coincides with the start of Ramadan, the
Muslim holy-month. Immediately
after the cartoons appear, editor
Flemming Rose gets an angry call
from a Muslim news vendor who says
he is pulling the paper from his racks.
A bit later, another caller makes
threats against the artists. When
apprehended by police, he is judged
to be mentally ill. (Exactly how mental illness was distinguished from
ordinary Islamic fundamentalism
is not explained.) Muslim clerics in
Copenhagen and elsewhere denounce
the paper in their sermons.
12 October 2005 Ambassadors
from ten Muslim nations and
the Palestinian representative in
Denmark write to Prime Minister
Anders Fogh Rasmussen "to take all
those responsible to task."
.
14 October 2005 An estimated
3,500-5,000 of Denmark's 200,000
Parsippany, New Jersey

Muslims stage a peaceful demonstration in Copenhagen and demand an

apology from Jyllands-Posten. The
paper refuses to apologize.
17 October 2005 The cartoons
are republished in the Cairo weekly
paper Al-Fagr and in three Egyptian
magazines. The drawings produce
little reaction.
At approximately
the same
time, Copenhagen's fundamentalist
Palestinian cleric Ahmed Abu-Laban
founds the "European Committee for
Honoring the Prophet." According
to The Wall Street Journal of 7 Feb.
2006, "the committee decided after
a series of meetings in October and
November that 'our only option was
take our case outside Denmark,' Mr.
Abu-Laban says. There was growing
interest from Muslim ambassadors
in Copenhagen and their home governments, including Egypt."
Mr. Abu-Laban, who grew up
in Egypt and was arrested there
in the early 1980s after being
expelled from the United Arab
emirates for his preaching, took
charge of writing statements for
the group and communicating
with Muslim ambassadors. He
denies holding extremist views,
but acknowledges hosting visits to Denmark by Omar Abdel
Rahman, before his arrest in
New York, where the blind sheik
now is serving a life sentence in
connection with the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing. [The Wall
Street Journal, 7 Feb. 2006, page
A25]
19 October 2005 Ambassadors
from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and
nine other Muslim nations request
a meeting with Danish Prime
Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
who declines, saying that his government had no right to interfere with a
free press. The same day, a group of
Danish Muslims announce a visit to
the Middle East in order to amplify
the controversy. Around this time
in Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city, a radical mullah gives an
interview in which he denounces
JanFebMar 2005

Flemming Rose and reminds him of

"what happened" to Theo van Gogh.
After a security briefing from police,
Rose has his address and phone number de-listed.
21 October 2005 Prime Minister
Rasmussen declines to meet with the
ambassadors.
27 October 2005 A coalition of
eleven Danish Muslim groups files a
criminal complaint against JyllandsPosten.
Early December 2005 A Danish
Muslim delegation leaves for Cairo,
where the cartoon issue might be
used as an issue in the final round of
the first democratic election in modern Egyptian history. The delegation
meets with a special assistant to the
foreign minister. Most importantly,
however, it meets with the head of alAzhar - reputedly the oldest university in the world and the most famous
center for advanced Islamic studies.
They meet with the Egyptian head of
the Arab League, Amr Moussa, and
with Cairo's senior Muslim cleric.
Delegates draft a fatwa calling for a
boycott of Danish goods.
9 December 2005 A meeting is
held in Mecca, and 57 Muslim nations
condemn the "desecration of the
image" of Muhammad. Throughout
December, Danish
Muslim delegations visit Cairo, Damascus, and
Beirut - fanning the flames of protest with a 43-page dossier on the
case.
Late December 2005 A second
delegation travels to Lebanon to meet
with religious leaders and appear
on television. Ahmed Akarri, the
Copenhagen activist, travels alone
to Syria in order to give the dossier
to its senior Sunni cleric. "Back in
Denmark," The Wall Street Journal
reports months later, "the pressure
on Mr. Rose mounted. He was warned
that a security-service informant had
reported that some Muslim radicals
were spreading word that killing him
was halal, meaning sanctioned by
Islam. 'It was the only time I felt cold
Page 11

running down my spine,' he says." [7

Feb. 2006, page A25]
1 January 2006 Prime Minister
Rasmussen condemns any expression
or action that "attempts to demonize
groups of people on the basis of their
religion or ethnic background" but
reiterates Denmark's commitment to
freedom of speech.
7 January 2006 A Copenhagen
prosecutor decides not to press charges against Jyllands-Posten.
10 January 2006- A Norwegian
Christian
newspaper, Magazinet,
reprints the cartoons, in solidarity
with Jyllands-Posten.
25 January 2006 Religious
leaders in Saudi Arabia demand that
Jyllands-Posten be punished.
26
January
2006
Saudi
Arabia recalls its ambassador from
Denmark. Boycotts of Danish goods
are begun.
29 January 2006 Libya says it
will close its embassy in Denmark.
Palestinians burn Danish flags.
30 January 2006 JyllandsPosten's Web-site carries an apology
of sorts, saying it is sorry for offending any Muslims but reaffirms its
decision to publish the drawings.
Late January-early February
Media in France, Germany, the United
States, Britain, Iceland, Italy, Spain,
Belgium, Switzerland,
Hungary,
Greenland, Bulgaria, Portugal, and
Jordan reprint the cartoons.
31 January 2006 The Danish
Muslim group demands a more definite apology.
1 February 2006 Newspapers
all over Europe, including France,
Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain,
and Hungary, reprint the cartoons in
a defense of freedom of the press.
The owner of France Soir, an
Egyptian-born businessman named
Raymond Lakah, fires Jacques
Page12

LeFranc, the paper's editor, for

reprinting the cartoons. "We present
our regrets to the Muslim community and to all people who have been
shocked or made indignant by this
publication," he says. The issue of the
paper in question carries its own cartoon that shows Muhammad alongside Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist
holy figures. The Christian god says
"don't complain, Muhammad, we're
all being caricatured here."
2 February 2006 About a dozen
gunmen assault the offices of the
European Union in Gaza, firing automatic weapons. They spray-paint a
warning on the outside gate reading "Closed until an apology is sent
to Muslims." Then they hand out
a pamphlet saying that Denmark,

toons. "Any insult to the holy prophet

(peace be upon him) is an insult to
more than one billion Muslims," he
declares. [New York Times, 3 Feb.
2006, p. A3]
The Danish flag is burned in
Pakistan, and a boycott against
Denmark is begun in Bahrain.
Tunisia and Morocco ban the sale of
France Soir. Secretary General of the
United Nations, Kofi Annan, chides
the press, saying that the press must
respect religion and that freedom of
the press should always be exercised
in a way that fully respects the religious beliefs and tenets of all religions."
The Jordanian newspaper Shihan
reprints some of the drawings, saying it wants to show its readers
how offensive the cartoons are but

"WhenMuslims say you are not showing respect,

I would say: you are not asking for my respect,
you are asking for my submission."
-Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten editor
Norway, and France have 48 hours to
apologize.
In Nablus on the West Bank, two
gunmen kidnap a German from a
hotel, mistaking him for a Dane or
a Frenchman. They release him to
the police when they realize their
mistake.
Jamila al-Shanty, a newly elected legislator of the Hamas party
announces that large rallies are
being planned in Gaza for the next
few days. "We are angry - very, very,
very angry... Noone can say a bad
word about our prophet." [New York
Times, 3 Feb. 2006, p. A3]
France Soir publishes an editorial
defending its decision to publish the
cartoons. It asks what would remain
of "the freedom to think, speak, even
to come and go," if society adhered to
all of the prohibitions of the world's
various religions. The world would
be like "the Iran of the mullahs, for
example." [New York Times, 3 Feb.
2006, p. A3]
Hamid Karzai, President
of
Afghanistan, issues a statement
condemning "in the strongest terms"
France Soir's publication of the car-

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

also urging Muslims to be reasonable and accept the apology of the

Jyllands-Posten
editor. Hours later,
the Jordanian government threatens
legal action against Shihan, whose
owners fire the chief editor, Jihad
al-Momani, and withdraw the issue
from sale.
Nick Griffin, chairman ofthe antiimmigrant British National Party, is
acquitted on race-hate charges. He
had called Islam a "vicious, wicked
faith."
3 February 2006 Prime Minister
Rasmussen holds a meeting with the
diplomatic corps in Copenhagen to
try to calm things down. He's too
late.
Flemming Rose insists his intentions concerned only the right to free
speech over religious taboos. "When
Muslims say you are not showing
respect, I would say: you are not asking for my respect, you are asking for
my submission." [New York Times, 8
Feb. 2006, page A9]
The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) begins an "education campaign" about the life and
American Atheist

message of Muhammad. Dr. Asma

Mobin-Uddin, president
of the
Central Ohio chapter of CAIR, says
she hopes Muslims will respond
"with restraint and compassion and
education." That is what Muhammad
did when people vilified him, she
claims. More plausibly, she opines
that newspapers would not have
published similar cartoons offending
Jews or Christians. "I think there is
a different standard," she says, in
which attacks on Islam are justified
as free speech but those on other
faiths are condemned as hate-speech.
[Columbus Dispatch, 3 Feb. 2006]
The Pakistani parliament condemns the cartoons as "blasphemous
and derogatory... This vicious, outrageous and provocative campaign
cannot be justified in the name of
freedom of the press."
In Qum, the holiest city in Iran,
the streets are full after the Friday
Prayers. A protest is called to declare
outrage over the caricatures of the
Prophet and that freedom of speech
stops at sacrilege. Maryam Geraei
asks people to sign her petition condemning the cartoons. A crowd of
women, all draped in black chadors,
press close to support Roghayah
Purkandi as she declares, 'We will
hit anybody who insults our Prophet!
America cannot do anything to stop
this." [New York Times 6 Feb. 2006]
The International Association of
Muslim Scholars calls for a "day of
anger." In Gaza, as many as 50,000
people demonstrate against the cartoons. Protesters in London call for
execution of those who insult Islam.
4 February 2006 Jordanian
editor Jihad Momani and Hisham
Khalid, editor of al-Mehwar, another
Jordanian weekly that published the
cartoons, are charged with insulting religion. The King of Jordan
claims to be a lineal descendant of
Muhammad.
4-5 February 2006 Muslim
mobs set fire to Danish and
Norwegian embassies in Damascus
"with our blood and souls we defend
you, 0 Prophet of God!" the demonstrators chant. The New York Times
Parsippany, New Jersey

reports that the Swedish Mission in

Damascus also is set on fire. [New
York Times, 6 Feb. 2006]
An early morning march through
downtown Beirut explodes into violence as the crowd surges toward a
high-rise building that houses the
Austrian and Danish Missions. They
chant obscene anti-Danish slogans
in Arabic and vandalize cars, office
buildings, and a Maronite Catholic
church nearby. The building housing the Danish Mission is set on
fire. People are seen jumping out of
windows to escape the flames. One
person dies. A Dutch news photographer is beaten when demonstrators
mistake him for being Danish. [New
York Times, 6 Feb. 2006]
A South African court prohibits
publication of the cartoons.
Danish flags have been burned
and violent protests have been
staged at European institutions in
Indonesia, Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq,
and other countries. Boycotts of
Danish products across the Middle
East are costing the Danish company
Arla Foods a million dollars a day.
The company has operated in the
region for nearly forty years.
For reasons no one can discover,
the Chilean Embassy in Damascus is
torched, but no one is injured.
The Vatican deplores the violence
but argues predictably that certain
provocative forms of criticism are
unacceptable.
6 February 2006 Hundreds of
demonstrators hurl stones and gasoline bombs at the Danish Embassy in
Tehran.
At least five people are killed in
protests in Afghanistan,
Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada alSadr draws thousands of supporters onto the streets to denounce
Denmark. In the southern city of
Kut, they bum Danish flags and call
for the Danish military contingent
to be expelled from Iraq. This is one
day after a gunman shot at Danish
soldiers, children hurled stones at
a Danish patrol, and a homemade
bomb was defused near the Danish
base in Qurnah, 300 miles southeast
of Baghdad.
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

7 February 2006 Dyab Abou

J ahj ah, the founder of the Arab
European League, protests the cartoons by mounting a holocaust cartoon on the organization's Web-site.
Hitler is in bed with Anne Frank
and says to her, "Write this one in
your diary, Anne." Jahjah explains,
"Europe has its sacred cows, even if
they're not religious sacred cows."
At least three more people are
killed in protests in Afghanistan.
Protesters in Iran attack the Danish
Embassy.
Protesters in the northern Afghan
city of Maymana, armed with assault
rifles and grenades attack the NATO
base manned by peace-keepers
from Norway, Finland, Latvia, and
Sweden.
At this time, Muslims in Europe
number over 20 million, including
three percent of the population of
Britain, four percent of Denmark, and
about five percent of the European
Union.
In London, the Egyptian, Abu
Hamza al-Masri, considered a terrorist in the United States, is sentenced
to seven years in prison for incitement to murder.
The Danish Refugee Council,
an aid organization working in
Chechnya, is expelled from Chechen
territory as fury over the cartoons
spreads. Acting prime minister
Ramzan A. Kadyrov says that
Chechnya will not admit "anything
that comes out of Denmark."
Hamshahri,
Iran's largest daily
newspaper, announces an international competition for Holocaust cartoons, in retaliation for publication
of the Danish cartoons. It wants to
see whether freedom of expression
extends to mocking the Holocaust, so
inviting foreign cartoonists to enter
the contest. "The serious question for
Muslims is whether the West extends
freedom of expression to the crimes
committed by the U.S. and Israel, or
an event such as the Holocaust ... Or
is its freedom only for insulting religious sanctities?" [New York Times, 9
Feb. 2006] (A more likely reason for
Iranian selection of the Holocaust
as a topic for ridicule and its recent
denial of Holocaust historicity is a
Page 13

and says they should pay a heavy

price for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Denmark warns all Danish citizens to leave Indonesia, saying they
were in danger because of an extremist group. Denmark announces that
it has withdrawn embassy staff from
Jakarta, Iran, and Syria.
Yemen announces that three chief
editors of privately owned Yemenite
papers will stand trial for printing
the Danish cartoons and their publishing licenses will be suspended.
Thousands of Muslims take to
the streets in protest in London.
Noisy but peaceful rallies are held in
Turkey, Indonesia, the Netherlands,
Germany, France, and Switzerland.
political one: many Zionists try to
justify the existence of Israel and
its occupation of Palestine by saying
that the Jews are entitled to their
ancestral homeland as a sort of consolation prize and reward for having
suffered the Holocaust.)
The Dutch newspaper NRC
Handelsblad
opines, "In America,
few people fear that they will have to
live according to the norms ofIslam ...
In European countries, with a large
or growing Muslim minority, there is
a real fear that behind the demand
for respect hides another agenda: the
threat that everyone must adjust to
the rules of Islam."
8 February 2006 Three more
protesters are killed in Afghanistan,
9 February 2006 Danish Prime
Minister Rasmussen argues that
the cartoon crisis has been hijacked
by Middle Eastern interests using
the caricatures for domestic ends.
He says that Iran, isolated over
its nuclear program, is using the
cartoons to generate support in the
Muslim world, while Syria, under
investigation for the assassination of
the former Lebanese prime minister,
Rafik Hariri, is trying to cause a distraction. The Palestinian Authority,
divided over the recent election of
Hamas, is exploiting the cartoon
crisis to unite its disparate elements.
"We have religious extremists," he
says, "who exploit the situation

Page 14

and fuel the flames to pursue their

own agenda... Denmark is a liberal
country. We do believe in individual
liberty and freedom. People can live
according to their own customs.
however, I think we have to insist on
respecting our core values, including
freedom of expression, gender equality for women and men, and a clear
distinction between politics and religion." [New York Times, 10 Feb. 2006,
p.A61
10 February 2006 Flemming
Rose, claiming exhaustion, takes
a leave of absence from JyllandsPosten.
After Friday prayers, thousands
of Muslims demonstrate against the
drawings throughout the Middle
East, southern Asia, and Africa.
In Kenya, police shoot and wound
one person among about 200 demonstrators trying to march to the residence of the Danish ambassador.
In Tehran, protesters
throw
firebombs at the French Embassy,
shattering all the windows. "Down!
Down with France! Down! Down with
Israel!" they chant. One firebomb
explodes in the embassy and starts a
small fire,
Outside Cairo's al-Azhar Mosque,
a thousand people chant "Osama bin
Laden, explode Copenhagen!" They
burn a Danish flag.
11 February 2006 Iran's president accuses the United States and
Europe of being "hostages of Zionism"

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

12 February 2006 Ultra-nationalist Turks pelt the French consulate

in Istanbul with eggs. About 2,500
Islamists shout "Down with America,
Israel, and Denmark!" In southeastern Turkey, about 30,000 protesters
denounce publication of the drawings
in a peaceful rally.
Graffiti equating Muhammad
with a pig are found scrawled on a
West Bank mosque. Israeli soldiers
erase the slogans, but they still ignite
protests in which three Palestinians
are shot by Israeli soldiers.
13 February 2006 Pakistani
police fire tear gas on thousands
of student
protesters.
Egyptian
demonstrators call for a boycott of
European countries, and hundreds of
Palestinian school-children trample a
Danish flag.
14 February 2006 In Lahore,
Pakistan, 15,000 protesters set fire
to the Punjab provincial assembly,
burn down four buildings housing a
hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant,
and the office of Norwegian cellphone company Telenor. Two movie
theaters are torched also. Elsewhere
in Pakistan, protesters vandalize a
Citibank and break windows at a
Holiday Inn and a Pizza Hut.
15 February 2006 The Danish
prime minister is burned in effigy
in Karachi, Pakistan, during a third
American Atheist

day of rioting over the Muhammad

cartoons.
17 February 2006 In Pakistan,
outside the Mohabat Khan mosque
of Peshawar, cleric Mohammed
Yousaf Qureshi announces a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist
- apparently unaware that twelve
different cartoonists had drawn the
Danish pictures. He says the mosque
and the religious school he controls
will give a $25,000 reward and a
car for killing the cartoonist who
drew the blasphemous caricatures.
He says a jewelers association. will
give $1 million to reward the murderer. Denmark temporarily closes
its embassy in Pakistan and advises
its citizens to leave the country.
[Columbus Dispatch, 18 Feb. 2006]
Nine protesters are killed in a
demonstration in the Libyan city of
Benghazi, as police fire bullets and
tear gas into a crowd of more than a
thousand demonstrators. The Italian
Foreign Ministry reports that the
first floor of the Italian consulate
has been set on fire after the crowd
surges onto its grounds.
18 February 2006 Nigerian
Muslims in Maiduguri, protesting caricatures
of the Prophet
Muhammad, attack Christians and
burn churches, killing at least 15
people.
In Libya, parliament suspends
the interior minister after 11 people
die when his security forces attack
rioters who have torched the Italian
consulate in Benghazi.
Italian Reforms Minister Roberto
Calderoli resigns under pressure
after being accused of fueling the
fury in Benghazi by wearing a T-shirt
emblazoned with one of the cartoons.
He says he wore the shirt to show
"solidarity to all those who were hit
by the blind violence of religious
fanaticism."
Muslims protest in Britain,
Pakistan, and even Austria.
20 February 2006 The Russian
weekly newspaper Our Region, published in Vologda, north of Moscow,
announces it is closing after publishParsippany, New Jersey

ing the Danish cartoons. The editor,

Anna V. Smirnova, faces charges of
inciting religious animosity, a crime
punishable by a maximum sentence
of two to four years in prison. The
decision to close down follows a similar closure of a paper in Volgograd
in Central Russia. It printed a different illustration
that included
Muhammad,
along with Moses,
Jesus, and Buddha.
The Red Cross announces that
the death toll in Nigeria in protests
against the cartoons has risen to 24.
British historian David Irving is
sentenced to three years in prison
after admitting to an Austrian court
that he had denied the Holocaust.
Holocaust denial is a crime in the
country where Adolf Hitler was
born.
21 February 2006 In Jordan,
Jihad Momani - the editor who
reprinted the cartoons - is out of jail
but a prisoner in his home. He has
no work, no immediate prospects,
a criminal case against him, and a
lifetime of friends who privately support his message but say they dare
not support him publicly." Momani
is exasperated when asked why he
printed the cartoons. He insists it is
the work ofjournalists to inform, and
that he did so after speaking to many
people who were outraged without
ever seeing the cartoons. "I am telling
my people, 'Be rational, think before
you go into the streets,'" he says. "Who
harms Islam more? this European
guy who paints Muhammad or the
real Muslim guy who cuts a hostage's
head off and says, 'Allah-ti akbar?'
Who insults our religion, this guy or
the European guy?" [New York Times,
22 Feb. 2006]
Also in Jordan, Hisham Khalidi,
whose newspaper Al Mehwar printed
the cartoons a week earlier - along
with a story condemning them
- is awaiting trial for his journalistic
crime.
8 March 2006
al-Assadi, editor of
Observer, is denounced
lawyers for reprinting
toons of the Prophet

Muhammad
The Yemeni
by 23 Yemeni
Danish carMuhammad.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

They ask the court to close his weekly

newspaper, confiscate its assets and
pay damages to "all those people who
suffered from the republishing the
Danish cartoons." Although al-Assadi
currently faces a year in jailor a fine,
the lawyers cite a tradition in which
a woman was executed for insulting the Prophet and he praised her
killer. This seems to imply the editor
should be sentenced to death. Mr.
Assadi defends himself by pointing
out that his intent was to condemn
the drawings and the images were all
obscured by a black X.
Two other Yemeni journalists
stand trial for the same 'crime':
Abdulkarim Sabra, managing editor of the weekly Al Hurriya, and
Yehiya al-Abed, a reporter for the
paper. Both claim they reprinted the
pictures solely to condemn them. On
this day, eight other journalists in
five countries are facing prosecution
for republishing the cartoons.
Can These Really Be
the Cartoons?
Ostensibly, the publication of
twelve cartoons in Jyllands-Posten on
30 September 2005 ignited violent even lethal - protests throughout the
Muslim world from Gaza to Jakarta.
To an Atheist, the utter triviality
and innocuousness of the cartoons
render incomprehensible the hysterical reaction of the Muslim world. As
we shall see, only two of the cartoons
can be considered to be even remotely
insulting to Islam or Muhammad.
This leaves us to suppose that the
outrage really has concerned Danish
violation of the Muslim taboo against
images of Muhammad. We shall see.
First of all, we must note that
four of the twelve cartoons - a third
of the total - actually have nothing
whatsoever to do with Muhammad
but are caricatures of JyllandsPosten's staff, its editor, and a rightwing Danish politician!
The cartoons are reprinted from
www.zombietime.com/mohammed
image_archive/jyllands-posten_cartoons/
1. The first cartoon contains no
conceivable insult to Muhammad
Page 15

nor violation of the image taboo. The

Persian writing on the blackboard
declares "Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs."
2. The caption reads "Hm... I don't
recognize him." According to The
Wall Street Journal, this cartoon is a
lampoon of a female far-right politician - presumably person Number2 in the line-up. However, it appears
that Number-7 is intended to be the
Jyllands-Posten
editor, Flemming
Rose, wearing his characteristic
glasses. This cartoon is actually a
clever way of avoiding drawing an
image of Muhammad!
3. This cartoon looks as though it
might actually have been drawn by
a Muslim! It is a full-faced attack on
editor Flemming Rose. Shown here
in a turban wearing his trade-mark
glasses and holding up a stick-figure
instead of a picture, Rose carries an
orange on his head - probably to
indicate he's a fruitcake or not playing with a full deck. Certainly, this
cartoon could not have caused a riot
anywhere, and Rose is to be admired
for printing a cartoon so openly satirical of himself.
4. This fourth cartoon is a satire of
the cartoon project itself, not a satire
of Muhammad. The Danish caption,
equivalent to "Relax folks, its just a
sketch made by a Dane from SouthWest Denmark," seems to employ a
Danish regional prejudice to put down

Page 16

the cartoonist. If created in

America, this cartoon could
be equaled by a picture of a
Boston Brahmin looking at
a picture and sniffing, "Well,
what would you expect? It's
from Kaaansas!"
5. This cartoon does in fact contain a
sketch of "Mohammed" - the label at
the top makes that clear. The cartoonist's
cowering in a darkened room would seem
to indicate that this is a lampoon of the
ridiculous situation where an artist has
to fear for his life simply because he is
not a Muslim and is violating a Muslim
taboo. Rather than rioting, Muslims
should have taken this cartoon to mean
that they have a serious image problem
they need to deal with.

6. Apart from the fact that

this picture violates the Muslim
taboo against images of the
Prophet, it is hard to believe
that this picture would give
offense to more than one percent
of the world's Muslims. It would
be quite suitable for a children's
book on Muhammad.
7. Although violating the taboo
against imaging the Prophet,
this is a very clever cartoon that
takes the Islamic symbol of a
star inside the cavity of the
crescent moon and makes
Muhammad the equivalent
of the man-in-the-moon.
(The star and the crescent
moon are green.) There is
nothing insulting to Islam
in this design.
8. The Danish caption is
more or less equivalent to
"Prophet! daft and dumb,
keeping
women
under
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

thumb." The Islamic symbols of

the. star and crescent moon are
here woven into simple figures
of women wearing chadors. Here
there is mild cause for Muslim
anger as this cartoon criticizes
Islam for its subjection of women
and accuses Muhammad as being
the one who started it. There is no
violation of the taboo of imaging
Muhammad, however.
~
~
9.
This clever picture
blacks out the eyes and face of
the Prophet - necessary to avoid
giving offense
to
Muslims
- but shows
two niqab- or
burqa-clad
women
of
whom
only
the eyes are
showing. The
fact that he is
brandishing a
dagger is not
particularly
insulting
to
Islam as the
Qur'an depicts
Muhammad
as involved in
various wars.
Again, instead of getting hysterical,
sensible Muslims would take this
drawing as a sign that they have a
major image problem - the doubleentendre being completely intended!

Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

10.
This cartoon presents
Muhammad as a mildly doofy
character who perhaps doesn't
need to be taken seriously. The
Islamic crescent-moon symbol is
converted into a halo. This might
be offensive inasmuch as halos are
used in Christian art to depict deities, angels, or saints - something
verboten in Islam. Nevertheless,
examples of Islamic art do exist in
which Muhammad is depicted with a
circular halo, and he is often shown
with a halo of flames - as in the
next photograph, a mural on a building somewhere in Iran which shows
Muhammad sporting a halo of green
flames and mounted on Buraq, the
white horse with the face of a woman
and the tail of a peacock. Buraq, of
course, is the magical creature that
carried Muhammad on his equally
magical 'Night Voyage.' One would
think that Iranian Muslims would be
more upset over this mural in their
midst than in the mildly daffy cartoon in Copenhagen.
11. Muhammad riding Buraq
Depicted in a mural over the entrance
to a building somewhere in Iran.
This brings us to the last two cartoons of the twelve published on 30
September 2005 in Jyllands-Posten
- the cartoons that ignited fury
throughout the Muslim world and
resulted in a Pakistani cleric placing
a million-dollar bounty on the head
of an unspecified Danish cartoonist.
Almost all observers have assumed
that these two cartoons are what
triggered the violence.

Page 17

13

12.
This depiction of Muhammad
in Paradise probably refers to the
seventy virgins that are believed to
be the reward of suicide-bomber martyrs. It's offensive to Islam, without a
doubt. But could it have triggered all
the burning and killing?
13. This is the cartoon noted in
almost every press report on the cartoon calamity. Depicting Muhammad
as an angry figure with a bomb for
a turban would appear to link the
Prophet to the terrorist acts being
committed by Muslims in the world
today. The calligraphic inscription
on the bomb might add a note of
sacrilege to the picture. In Arabic,
it is the famous saying, "There is no
God but Allah and Muhammad is
his Prophet." You might call this the
Central Dogma of Islam. It is, in fact,
the motivating concept that makes
so many Muslims seek to subdue
the world for Allah. Certainly this
will be offensive to most Muslims.
But could it have been sufficient to
convert slow-burning Muslim resentment of Western societies into the
religious frenzy that has been ignited
throughout the Muslim world? For
reasons that follow,I think not.
Cartoonacy or Villainy?
Now that all the cartoons published in the Danish newspaper have
been examined, I ask my readers to
review the chronology of violence
that the sketches are alleged to
have caused. Is it conceivable that
just these twelve cartoons - many
of which have nothing to do with
Muhammad - by themselves could
Page 18

even those had to have been catalyzed into action by something stronger than the twelve pictures printed
on one page of Jyllands-Posten on 30
September 2005.
The missing factor needed to
force so many people to abandon
their reason is a well-known one
- something commonly found in professional creationists and religious
apologists of all religions: deceit. In
the Danish cartoon case, two men so
far have been identified as responsible for spreading disinformation
.................
3~.
about Jyllands-Posten
throughout
the Muslim world. Their names
are Ahmed Abu-Laban and Ahmed
Akarri.
Muhammeds ansigt
Ahmed Abu-Laban is a fundamentalist Palestinian cleric at the
Islamic Faith Society in Copenhagen.
He is one of the founders of the
European Committee for Honoring
the Prophet, an umbrella group for
27 Islamic organizations. Ahmed
Akarri is a 28-year-old Islamic activist who is active in the Committee.
Together, they prepared a 43-page
dossier on the Jyllands-Posten
case
to take to the Near East to stir up
rage against Denmark. Their dossier contained the twelve cartoons
we have examined along with other
material relating to the case. But
a crucial bit of information - their
Only twelve cartoons appeared on a single
dossier also contained three extra
page of Jyllands-Posten, as can be seen
pictures that had been sent anonyhere. The dossier carried to Cairo and
other Middle Eastern cities contained extra
mously to some Danish Muslims at
cartoons that were much more insulting to some point during the controversy.
Islam.
The three extra pictures - picReprinted
from
www.zombietime.com/
tures that had never been published
mohammed_image_archive
/jyllandsin Jyllands-Posten
nor any other
posten_cartoons /
Danish paper - were truly offensive.
have caused such calamity? The
innocuousness of the cartoons and
the disproportionate response indicate that there is more to the story.
There must be other factors more
weighty than the single page of a
minor newspaper.
Many political factors have been
identified that show how particular
Muslim politicians have been able to
use the uproar to advance their individual political agendas. However,

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

It is clear that many of the Muslim

officials in the Near East were
allowed to believe these disgusting
pictures were part of the lot published by the Danish paper against
which animosity was being solicited.
In fact, however, these pictures had
never been published but had been
sent anonymously and privately
to particular Danish Muslims.
These were the images that
ignited the powder-keg of Muslim
fury. It is necessary to examine
these extra pictures to evaluate
my thesis.
Again, the pictures are reprinted from www.zombietime.com/
mohammed_image_archivel
jyllands-posten_cartoonsl
1. This picture of a man with a
pig's nose is Bob Edme's photo of
comedian Jacques Barrot, published by the Associated Press as
part of a 15 August 2005 article
about a French pig-squealing
contest. Both the Danish and
Arabic texts read "This is the real
picture of Muhammed." Muslims,
like Jews, consider the pig to be defiling and unclean. It was not among
the pictures originally published by
Jyllands-Posten, but was published
later when other media had shown
its inclusion in the 43-page dossier
used to mislead Islamists in the Near
East.
2. This is a poor photocopy of
uncertain origin, showing a dog (as
unclean in Muslim tradition as a
pig) copulating with a Muslim man
in prayer. Both Danish and Arabic
texts read, "That's why Muslims
pray." Jyllands-Posten did not print
this originally nor subsequently, saying that publication would violate the
paper's ethical code.

D~Rl'OR

EEDRR

MUSLIMKg

3. This
crude
drawing
of
Muhammad as a devil, with genitalia
visible, exhibits Islamic stereotypes
such as the beard and pointy shoes.
Both Danish and Arabic texts read,
"The pedophile 'prophet' Mohammed."
This most likely is a reference to the
tradition of Muhammad taking Aisha
as a wife when she was only six years
old. Jyllands-Posten
did not print
this originally nor subsequently, saying that publication would violate the
paper's ethical code.
While it is impossible to believe
that the twelve original pictures could
have led to the "cartoonatic chronicle"
printed above, it is hard to imagine
any religious person maintaining
composure when being assaulted by
these three gratuitous images. Given

NATURAL ATHEISM

even a little political motivation, any

Muslim leader might be expected to
whip up superstitious mobs into the
fury we have witnessed. Muslim mendacity can move millions of otherwise
decent people into acts of unspeakable inhumanity. Of course, we
should not expect Muslims to differ
qualitatively from Christians or Jews
- and we know from centuries of history what Christian chicanery and
Jewishjugglery can do. Nevertheless,
the actions of Akarri and Abu-Laban
have taken Islamic terrorism to a
new level: instead of merely trying
to demolish large buildings and kill a
few thousand infidels, they are trying
to destroy an entire civilization and
culture.

ByDavidEller

Everything is here to help those who already are Atheists better understand the logicoftheir lives and see
Atheism's social and political implications. Those who are not yet Atheists will be helped by this scientist's
common-senseanalysis of the so-called 'proofs of God' to see the irrationality - indeed, the meaninglessness - of god-beliefs.What is belief? What is knowledge? As Pilate is alleged to have asked, "What is
truth?" Understandable and clear answers to these questions are in this book.
354 pages. Paperback

Parsippany, New Jersey

ISBN 1-57884-920-9

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Stock #5902

$18.00

Page 19

--III 111...
1~

WHO'S GOT IT?

by Frank R. Zindler
Prologue On The Street
Evangelist: Brother, you're in trouble if you put your faith in science.
Science can never give you absolute
truth. Science is always having to
correct its mistakes. Science can't
save!
Heathen:
You're probably right
that science cannot give us absolute
knowledge. But as long as it gives us
information which is solid enough to
stake our lives on, what more do we
need? Anyhow, there doesn't seem to
be any other source of information
that's any more reliable - and lots
that are much less reliable than science. As for saving, penicillin's record
isn't too bad.

Evangelist: Friend, there is something more certain than science.

There is a source of absolute, unfailing truth. You don't have to go with
the guesses of science any more. You
can go directly to the source of all
knowledge.
Heathen: Really? What is it?
Evangelist: The Holy Bible, Brother,
the Book of Books!
Heathen: Which bible is the Holy
Bible? I mean, there are lots of different bibles floating around. There's
the Koran ...

Evangelist: Sinner, I'm talking about

the Christian Bible, not the
false bibles of the superstiFormerly a professor
tious heathens.
of biology and geol-

ogy at a branch of
the State University
of New York, Frank
R. Zindler currently
serves as a linguist
and editor of biochemical literature for
a scientific publishing
society in Ohio. He is
the editor of American
Atheist Press, and can
be reached bye-mail
at: editor@atheists.org. An earlier version of
this article appeared in his American Atheist
column "The Probing Mind," in May of 1986.

Page 20

Heathen: Well, even if I

admit that Christian bibles
are better than Muslim or
Mormon bibles, how do you
know which Christian bible is
the correct one? The Catholic
bibles contain 73 books, the
Protestant bibles have only
66.
Evangelist: The Catholics are
in thrall to the devil, brother!
They have some false books
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

along with the true ones. The true

bible is the King James Version
- translated
without error from
the original tongues into God's own
English. You don't think God would
let the transmission of his own word
to us fall into error, do you? The King
J ames Version has been preserved
inerrant to bring the message of salvation to sinners like us.
Heathen: No kidding? How do you
account for the fact that some of 'us'
are Catholics? Why has god allowed
the transmission
of his word to
Catholics to become corrupted? Why
did god allow Protestants to be sold
the first editions of the King James
Version, which still contained all the
73 books found in the Catholic bible?
Three Problems
True believers who wish to put
all their faith in the Bible are faced
with three problems: (1) How can
one know which books are 'inspired'
and should be part of the scriptural
canon? (2) How can one know which
one - if any - ofthe existing contradictory manuscripts (MSS) of a given
book preserves the 'true' wording? (3)
Assuming that one has the correct
manuscript (MS) of a given book,
how can one know what the particular Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic
words mean? As we shall see, there
American Atheist

had their stay-at-home, Aramaic- or

Hebrew-speaking cousins. When the
Christians adopted the Greek 'Old
Testament' for their own (including
the new-fangled books that went
with it), Palestinian Jews had to
circle their wagons. At the Council
of Jamnia, the Jews threw out such
books as Baruch, Ecclesiasticus,
and both Books of Maccabees. By a
slender vote, they narrowly avoided
throwing out Ezekiel, Proverbs,
Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
Which Books?
Solomon. In the case of the Book of
Daniel, the Jews threw out the last
two chapters, settling for an even
As just mentioned, the first
dozen chapters. (The Catholic Book
problem believers have to face is the
problem of which books belong in the
of Daniel still contains fourteen chapBible, which ones don't, and how to
ters.)
decide. Actually, it is extremely rare
Just as the list of holy books
for individuals to decide these quesdiffered from Jewish community to
tions on their own. Usually, they
Jewish community, so too the list
inherit a set of 'holy books' from the
of books considered holy among the
early Christians differed from church
families they are born into. Catholic
children inherit a somewhat ampler
to church, although Christians gennumber than do Protestant children,
erally preferred the larger Greek Old
and Jewish children get still fewer
Testament to the smaller Hebrew
- thirty-four less than the Catholic
one. In addition to the Jewish
.kids do. Shortestscriptures,
each
changed of all are What divine principle
Christian communihas left the Samaritans
Samaritan kids: they
ty developed its own
only five or six books, the 'New Testament'
get
only
Genesis, with bibles containing
Exodus,
Leviticus, Jews with thirty-nine,
the Protestants with sixty- scriptures, creating
Numbers,
Deuteromore than a dozen
six, and the Catholics with seventy-three?
nomy, and - if they
different
gospels
eat their lentils and an uncertain
Joshua. If, to be 'saved,' one needs been translated) is no good either: number of epistles and apocalypses.
to have information found, say, in it differs from the Samaritan text in Many of them even adopted pagan
Revelation, 2nd Paralipomenon, or more than 6000 variant readings. But productions such as the Sibylline
Baruch, isn't it odd of a savior god to alas for the beliefs of the Samaritans
Oracles!
let so many people be born into envi- and the Jews: the small size of the
It is instructive to see which
ronments deficient in books needed Samaritan bible and the 6000 vari- books were included in actual bible
ant readings of the Masoretic Text MSS that have survived from antiqfor salvation?
How comes it, then, that there is are due to no discernibly divine prin- uity. It is unlikely that books would
such diversity of opinion as to which ciple of selection. They are merely be included in a bible if they were not
books are 'canonical,' i.e., should accidents of political history - and considered to be authoritative.
be part of the official collection of warfare.
The
3rd-4th-century
Codex
'inspired' scripture? What divine
Throughout Jewish history up to Sinaiticus arguably the most
the Council of J amnia (held near the famous of all biblical MSS - includes
principle has left the Samaritans
with bibles containing only five or six present-day city of Joppa, near the the books of Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4
books, the Jews with thirty-nine, the end of the first century CE), the list Maccabees, Wisdom, and Sirach, as
Protestants with sixty-six, and the of books thought to 'defile the hands' well as the Epistle of Barnabas
Catholics with seventy-three? Why (i.e., were inspired) differed as a and the Shepherd of Hermas. The
did ancient Christians have even function of geography and political 4th-century
Codex
Vaticanus,
more books in their bibles? (Catholic affiliation. By the time the Christian
includes Wisdom, Sirach, Judith,
apologists, it would seem, could just- Church was formed, Greek-speak- Tobit, Baruch, and the Letter of
ly accuse Protestants and Jews of not ing Jews had accumulated quite a Jeremiah. The Codex Alexandrinus
playing with a full deck!)
few more hand-defiling books than (5th century) includes Baruch, the
is no way these questions can be
answered with absolute certainty. At
best, believers must trust to the probabilities - not certainties - that
arise from a scientific investigation
of the facts surrounding the biblical
texts and traditions. Believers will
have to face the fact that there is
no way at all to know which bible to
believe - let alone what to believe
in it. Believers still have to put their
'faith' in other human beings.

Parsippany, New Jersey

In the case ofthe Samaritans, the

small number of books in their bible
reflects nothing more significant than
the fact that the Samaritans, living
in the northern part of Palestine,
became split off from the main center
of Jewish cultural evolution - the
southern kingdom of Judah - before
the prophets and other writings had
come to be considered scripture by
anyone.
To this day, the pitiful remnant of believers calling themselves
Samaritans claims all books outside
the Pentateuch (the first five books of
the bible, the so-called Five Books of
Moses) are uninspired and, therefore,
uncanonical. A possible exception is
the sixth biblical book, the Book of
Joshua, which seems to be given
quasi-scriptural status. Not only are
the later books of the Jewish canon
'unscriptural,'
in the Samaritan
view even the Hebrew version of the
Pentateuch (the Masoretic Text, the
so-called Textus Receptus or 'received
text' from which our King James
Version (KJV) and later bibles have

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 21

Letter of Jeremiah, Tobit, Judith,

written by the same hand that wrote Maccabees. The most recent infallible
enumeration of the Catholic canon
1-4 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Corinthians, Romans, etc.
arguably the Psalms of Solomon.
It comes as no surprise to learn, took place at the Council of Trent
Although no actual bibles autho- then, that no 'Church Father' is (1563cE), in the midst of the German
rized by the Gnostic Marcion ofSinope known who drew the line of canonic- Reformation. The Greek Orthodox
have survived from antiquity - they ity in the same way as does the Fire- Church closed its canon some time
all perished in the long sequence of Baptized Full-Gospel Pentecostal
in the tenth century, when it finally
book-burnings with which the ortho- Holiness Church of God in Christ of admitted the Book of Revelation
dox Christians celebrated their tri- today.
(although it still does not use quotaumph over heresy - we do know to
The illustrious Irenaeus (b. ca. tions from this book in its lectionara high probability what it contained 130CE),for example, considered the ies). The Syrian Orthodox Church
and what it was like from Tertullian's
Shepherd of Hermas to be inspired, grudgingly adopted Revelation a
polemic Against Marcion. Marcion's but rejected Hebrews, Jude, James, century later still.
bible contained not a single book 2nd Peter, and 3rd John. (Irenaeus
Although most church councils
from the Jewish
did not debate which
collection.
(Quite Constantine made a great speech to the assembly
books belonged III
reasonable, Marcion
the Bible, it is nevOracles as ertheless true that
recognized the god in which he appealed to the Sibylline
issues
decided
by
of
the
so-called scripture on par with the Jewish and Christian
earlier councils helped
Old Testament as
books - and no one objected.
to shape the decisions
a malevolent, evil
of later councils that
force incompatible
defined the canons. Contrary to the
with his Christian 'Gospel'.) What also is notable for having argued that
modern Christians call the New Jesus lived to be over fifty years old!) naive opinion that the deliberations
Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-ca.
of church councils were infused by
Testament constituted his entire
bible. In fact, only part of the so- 213CE) included the Apocalypse of the power of divine guidance, most of
called New Testament made up his Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the councils - and their aftermaths
bible, for his bible contained only one the Shepherd of Hermas in his bible. - were pretty ghastly affairs.
Tertullian (b. ca. 160CE) - best
The Council of Nicaea, for
'Apostle' and one 'Gospel'.
The only true Apostle for Marcion remembered for his dictum, certum example, was convened in 325cE
was Paul, and the only genuine est, quia impossibile est ("I believe it by the Roman emperor Constantine
Gospel was what is now known as because it's impossible") - threw out - the first Christian emperor. After
all the New Testament books except being converted to Christianity,
the Gospel of Luke. (Apparently,
the
four gospels, Acts, 13 'Pauline' Constantine put to death his wife,
Marcion did not attribute the writepistles,
Revelation, and 1st John.
his son, a nephew and his wife, and
ing to Luke, simply calling it "the
As
certain
churches (such as had Licinius (his coemperor) and
Gospel.") According to ancient witnesses, Marcion's Luke lacked the those at Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, his son strangled after promising
gained in them their lives. These chores out
birth legends concerning both Jesus and Constantinople)
and John the Baptist, and it doubt- political power, each made strenu- of the way, he convened the bishless reflected a much earlier stage in ous efforts to stamp out 'heresy' (any ops and patriarchs of the realm to
the evolution of that evangel. This is views that might impede the flow of define the nature of the trinity and
quite significant when one realizes money into their treasuries or under- decide which of the squabbling factions of believers should be given
that the first draft of that gospel was mine the power of their potentates),
and church councils were convened the imperial patent for orthodoxy.
cobbled together about the time that
Interestingly, Constantine made a
Marcion was born and that Marcion (even by the Roman Emperor, rather
almost certainly had a more 'authen- than by Popes or Patriarchs) to vote great speech to the assembly in which
tic' version than did his critics half a on which books were canonical- and he appealed to the Sibylline Oracles
to anathematize those who could not as scripture on par with the Jewish
century later.
Marcion's collection of Pauline buy enough votes to be on the win- and Christian books - and no one
objected. In particular, he quoted the
letters also was smaller than the ning side.
The history of these councils is famous ICHTHUS
double acrostic.
standard issue. It contained just
both
bewildering
and
abominable.
(This
is
the
Greek
word we often
ten of the letters usually attributed
The
Council
of
Laodicea
(363cE)
see in the astrological fish symbols
to Paul - omitting 1 & 2 Timothy,
displayed on the hind-ends of motor
Titus, and of course Hebrews. Here included Baruch in the Old Testament
again, Marcion was better than his but barred Revelation from the New. vehicles co-piloted by Jesus.) The
critics, as modern scholars have The Council of Carthage (ca. 397cE) word ICHTHUS is an acrostic for the
Wisdom, Greek words 'Jesus Christ God's Son,
shown quite conclusively that these included Ecclesiasticus,
four 'epistles' could not have been Tobit, Judith, and First and Second Savior,' and is the Greek word for
Page 22

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

'fish.' Originally of astrological mean- Constantinople, then kicked his canon, how could we tell if anyone
ing and signifying the movement of rival in Christ so severely that he of the many extant MSS of Matthew
the vernal equinox into the sign of died three days later. Summoning a contains the correct, inspired wordPisces (The Fishes), it became the mob of monks and soldiers wielding ing? Most true believers know nothsymbol of the new-age religion now staves, swords, and chains, Dioscoros ing at all about this problem, because
called Christianity. It is amusing, I convinced the bishops who had it is a well-kept secret among bible
think, to see people who believe the planned to vote for Flavian to vote scholars that no two MSS of Matthew
Bible contains everything one needs 'correctly.'
- or any other biblical book - are
to know nevertheless sporting a
Such were the means by which exactly alike. Worse yet, for each
symbol that derives
book there exist
Bible
apologists
try
to
wave
away
the
hundreds
of
from a pagan, extradifferent families
biblical source - the thousands
of variant readings in the extant MSS of MS types, often
Sibylline Oracles.
of approximately
The
burning by saying that the differences are trivial and do not equal
antiquity
question
of
the affect passages essential for Christian doctrine.
but differing from
Council of Nicaea
each
other
in
was the argument between Arius truth was determined in the ortho- characteristic ways. To try to keep
and Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. dox Catholic Church. Among the track of all the different wordings
Arius claimed Jesus was essentially Protestants it was every sinner for in Matthew and other books of the
distinct from the Father, having himself when it came to deciding bible, scholarly editions of the Greek
been created ex nihilo by the latter.
which books belonged in the bible.
New Testament contain a so-called
Alexander, however, claimed "as God
Among the Protestant 'reform- apparatus critieus, a complicated
is eternal, so is his Son, - when the ers,' opinions differing greatly from system of footnotes and symbols indiFather, then the Son - the Son is those held by Protestants today were cating the major variant readings for
present in God without birth, ever- common. Luther didn't think Esther
each passage in the 'preferred text'
begotten, an unbegotten-begotten."
belonged in the Bible, but he thought
[see Figs. 1 and 3].
By a packed vote, Arius was con- highly of 1st Maccabees and Sirach.
Concerning the preferred text of
demned as a heretic, excommuni- He had a low opinion of Hebrews; the Greek Bible, readers may wonder
cated, and exiled. Three years later, and Revelation he thought to be of just who decides - and how - what
however, Constantine went soft on little value, being neither apostolic the preferred readings should be?
heresy (or changed his mind as to nor prophetic. The Epistle of James Space does not permit a discussion
who were the heretics) and recalled he termed "an epistle of straw."
of the scientific (and sometimes very
Arius to Constantinople. On the very
The Swiss reformer Zwingli pro- un-scientific) principles involved.
day on which Arius was to reenter
nounced Revelation to be unbiblical. We can only observe that it is both
the Cathedral in triumph, however, John Calvin denounced that book of laughable and sad to see the more
his bowels suddenly burst out in a ravings as being unintelligible, and intelligent fundamentalists diligentprivy, obviating any need to redefine he forbade the pastors of Geneva to ly learning Greek in order to "read
orthodoxy. The orthodox considered attempt to interpret it.
God's word in the original tongue."
it a miracle, the Arians knew it was
Study of the history of bibles Little do they suspect, while staring
murder.
shows that their content and compo- at the nearly footnote-free pages of
Poison, however, was not the sition have been determined not by their Westcott-Hort Greek testaonly way to decide questions of the- any spiritual or supernatural guid- ments, the thousands of scientific and
ology. At the 'Ecumenical' Council of ing principles, but rather they are not-so-scientific decisions underlying
Ephesus, (431CE)St. Cyril, the Pope the products of the same theopoliti- what they see - or don't see - on
of Alexandria, bribed enough bishops cal and economic forces that motivate each page. Still less do they realize
to be able to convene the Council the popes, preachers, and politicians that not one Greek MS in the whole
before the arrival of the Patriarch of of the modern world.
world has the exact same wording as
Antioch, whose opposition he feared.
the printed Greek bibles from which
Without opposition from the delegaWhich Manuscripts?
their English bibles are translated!
tion from Antioch, it was a simple
Bible apologists try to wave away
matter to condemn one Nestorius as
Even if we pretended that we the hundreds of thousands of variant
a heretic and to proclaim the Virgin could somehow know for certain
readings in the extant MSS by sayMary to be theotokos, or "Mother of that the Gospel of Matthew - even ing that the differences are trivial
God."
though like Luke it plagiarizes the and do not affect passages essential
At the Second Synod of Ephesus Greek text of Mark and copies quo- for Christian doctrine. "Merely spell(449CE), Dioscoros, the Pope of tations from a long-lost book called ing differences," they say. The falseAlexandria
(Cyril's
successor) Q - is truly inspired and, thus, a ness of this assertion can be seen not
condemned Flavian, the Pope of legitimate book to be included in the only in the examples given in Figs.
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 23

I Ch. 3. 15.
16
1. Esr.
I. 3'<:

LXX
I Ca. 3.17
Ez r. 3.

I I

12

A,uwS' 8~ EyeVVYjUEV TOV 'I oscelav, 1 'I cooelos DE

YEVVTjUEV TOV 'Ixovlav KU' Toils aOEAcpovS av-rov
E7i~ ri}s p"erOl-KEutas
Baj3v'Awvos. MeTa OE T~V
1J.iol-KEalav

I3
14
15
16

17

1::,.:,;0\ 1::,.:,; 0 ~

KaTa Maeouwv

1.10-18

BaJBvAwvos

:I

IExovLas

EYEVVT)fJEV

; a....a,.::)

TO])

EaAaOt1)A, EaAuOt1)A
OE Ei,ivv1)UEV TOV ZopoflaflA, Zopoflaf3A OE EYEVV1)UV T6v Aflwvo,
A,8tavO OE eyEVV1)UV T6v EAtaI(Et!-',
EAtUl<Ct!-' OE
Ey~VV7jaEV
TOY
A~wp, A~wp OE EYEVVYjUEV 'TOJ)
EaOWK, Eaowl( OE EYEVV1)UEV TO)) AXEt!-, , AXEtf-t
3E EYEVV'qUE)) TOV EAtovo, EAwvo 3E EYEVV EV
TOV EAwsap,
E'\w~ap
8E eYEVV1)UEV TOV aeOav,
Maeeav
OE EYEVV1)UV TO)) IaKwfl,
I IaKw,B 8E
EYEVV1)UV TOV Iwu1)cP TOV avSpa Maplas, Jg iis
EYEVV~e'7 17)uof), " AEY0!-'EVOS XptUTOS".
,
[JuGae. DDV at YEvEaL a7TD Af3paafl' EWS .daVEtO

YEVOJ 8Ka'TEUaapes,
p.TOl-KEULaS

ano TfjS

KaI

Ba{)VAWVOS

I-'ETotl(wias

ano

LlavLD

Ba.,8vAwvoS"

EWS

I.

35

rS

Tov oJ J1)uov XptUTOV 1]

*!-,V1)uTEvedu1)s Tfis !-,1)TPOS

o YLOS'

7'OV

eEOU

Dial Tim et Aqu3,:

f,Lv17OTw8uIu7rap-

er , q) k!. ErYEVVlJO"V JT}oovv 'TOV "(y-vol'

XplJJTOll
543) 826 828 pc agI (k q): ead., sed er CK." X
.
D
d: ead., sed M . g "IS .Ytl'V1}8'f} etc. ut text. I'
.: W
c
!'-V'IfJTV8"1
"ap8.
M., '1 '7'K'V
I. Xp.
. /wa'l)q" w
v-0"l7f'. M., cY"'V1}afY 1. 70," A-VOV Xp. sy' Bars).:
textui
~
ad Kat IW<rf/q, CyEW. 1. T. A. Xp. DialI
[8 I. Xp.]
Xp. I. B: Xp. 7 t latt sy'C Irpt: I'IfJ. W; Rm I YVEatS
~BWe fz pm; R] yEVV1}fJtSfI3 28 33 565 700 at Ir Or <;
8fl'oS

;O\~

!'l.lOr<

* :War<

.:;)C\n' \

~~

~C\~
O

sr.

Figure 1. A page from E Kaine Diatheke, a Greek New

Testament published by The British and Foreign Bible Society
(1958), showing the preferred text and critical apparatus for
Matthew 1:11,16, 18.
A. The traditional text of verse 16 reads: "And Jacob begat
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, the
[oneJ called Christ."
B. The beginning of the variant readings for verse 16, with
symbols for the various manuscripts followed by their different readings.
C. The symbol for the Syriac (sy) Sinaiticus (s) manuscript, a
3rd-4th-century document reflecting the state of the biblical text in the second century, before believers in the virgin
birth myth had succeeded in altering all the gospel texts.
[See Fig. 2J

16

~om
~Or<

""",aX..""

r<~u.

~a:s

r<-=:r.s~

~m~r<

r<bu..

!\.aa~

r<;~;r<

Page 24

-~
;~~

.:;)~

r<;.a~~

(om

For there are three that bear

record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost: and
these three are one.

~~
:WOr<
~a...t..lr< .~o.....l~ IS

e (346

1-3 (variations affecting the doctrine

of the virgin birth as well as the doctrine that true disciples can drink
poison and caress cobras), but also in
passages striking at the heart of the
doctrine of the trinity.
When Erasmus of Rotterdam
published Europe's first Greek New
Testament in 1516, he omitted the
Trinitarian proof-text, I John 5:7:

14

!'l.lOr<

,pO~

.r<~o~

r=

I I TOV IExoVLuvJ
TOt-' IWUKHJ1-) IwuKt:
E YEVVrJoev Me fr 33 al (cf. D d in Lc.]
!6 70V ""Sp" ...
XptO'T0<j70V ps-norevoouevov Map,a!,-, .g "IS 'Y<vV~O"l 0 Xp.

;O~

. :W0r< __ ~

EWS rijs

B
O,';TW, ijv.
Maptas
3.5

YEVWt"

~Or<

. ~Or< ;~r<
2.IO

-rof XpWTOV

alnof)

~..l~

. ~Or<

YEVEal. OEKiiTEuaapES.
Lk.

~r<

13

:WOr< ~r<

OEKUTEuaapes, Kat

YEVEaL

r< ;~~

,pO~

:WOr<
:WOr<

~cn..U

17

D. The greatly abbreviated Greek reads: "And Joseph begat

Jesus, the one called Christ."
Figure 2. No virgin birth here! Part of the genealogy of Jesus
in the Syriacus Sinaiticus manuscript referred to in Fig. I-C.
(Printed text 1894 by Agnes Smith Lewis, The Four Gospels
in Syriac, Transcribed from the Sinaitic Palimpsest, Cambridge
University Press).
Syriac reads from right to left. Asterisks mark the Syriac
word 'wid, 'begat.' Underlines show names repeating in the formula: A begat B, B begat C, C begat D, etc. Verses 15-16 read:
Eliud begat Eleazar, Eleazar begat Matthan, Matthan begat
Jacob, Jacob begat Joseph; Joseph, to whom was betrothed a
young woman, Mary, begat Jesus [(l)yshw' the last name underlinedJ who is called Messiah."

Needless to say, Erasmus was

stoutly criticized for the omission. He
defended himself by declaring that
he would have included the verse
(well-known in the Latin Bible) had
he been able to find a single Greek
MS that contained it. Soon thereafter, Erasmus was presented a
Greek Bible containing the verse.
Suspecting a fraud, but being
unable to prove it, Erasmus added
the verse to later editions of his
bible, the book destined to become
the Textus Receptus - the book from
which the King James translators
Jan-Feb-Mar

2006

would derive the 'authorized' English

version of 1611. Tough luck for the
trinity, Erasmus' intuition was correct. To this day, no Greek MS older
than the 15th-16th century has ever
been found to contain the passage.
It is now known that the verse was
a 4th-century Spanish invention,
finally appearing in manuscripts of
the Latin Vulgate (the official bible of
the Roman Catholic Church) around
the year 800.
The discovery that the oldest bibles omit I John 5:7 leaves
Christians without biblical proof of
American Atheist

Since Luke is the only evangelist who documents the ascension of Jesus Christ into
heaven, if the MSS that omit this important information are correct, Jesus may never
have left the earth. He may still be alive - perhaps hiding in Argentina.
the trinity. While there are still other
verses which are compatible with
Trinitarian doctrine, none is proof
of it. Unless Christian apologists consider the Trinity trivial, they must
admit that the differences in MSS
are important!
The magnitude of the differences
between different MSS of the same
book can be astonishing. One of the
Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jeremiah scroll
4QJer-b, is one-eighth shorter than
the Masoretic text of Jeremiah! Even
in ancient times wild differences in
MSS of individual books existed. The
Church Father Irenaeus tells us that
the MSS of Matthew's gospel used ca.
185cE by the Ebionites (the original
Jewish Christians of Jerusalem)
lacked the first two chapters - the
chapters containing the imaginary
genealogy of Jesus, the virgin birth
story, the wise men, and Herod's
slaughter of the innocents. Small
wonder that the earliest Christians
did not believe the story about Mary
and the angel!
We may note one other oddity
concerning the 'received text' used to
produce the KJV bible. Because the
Book of Revelation was never popular in the Greek Orthodox Church, it
was hard for Erasmus to find Greek
manuscripts of the book. Indeed, he
could not find a single manuscript
that contained the last six verses.
Consequently, he had to make up
his own Greek - translating the last
six verses into Greek from the Latin
Vulgate. To this day, no Greek text
has ever been found that reproduces
Erasmus' version of the last six verses of the bible, yet it is the source of
the KJV rendering.
While we are discussing the Book
of Revelation - the book beloved of
President Reagan and the gematriasts (biblical numerologists and
bible-coders: the word rhymes with
pederasts) who advise him - we
should note that "the number of the
name of the beast" [Rev. 13:18] may
not be 666 after all. In some very

Parsippany, New Jersey

ancient sources the number is 616.

Doubtless to the dismay of the gematriasts who seek to guide American
nuclear foreign policy on the basis of
biblical clues, neither singly nor in
combination do the names Madalyn,
Murray, or O'Hair total to 616 or 666
when written in the Greek alphabet.
At 651, Murray comes closest to 666:
close, but no cigar!
An extremely candid discussion
of the difficulties involved when bible
scholars have to produce (by voting!) an agreed-upon standard text
from which to translate vernacular
versions of the Bible is presented
by the conservative New Testament
scholar Bruce M. Metzger. In his
A Textual Commentary
On the
Greek New Testament [United Bible
Societies, 1971], a companion volume
to the third edition of United Bible
Societies' Greek New Testament, he
discusses the extraordinary problems
involved in trying to establish an
authentic Greek text for the Acts of
the Apostles. It seems that the Book
of Acts circulated in the early church
in two very different text-forms, the
so-called Alexandrian and Western
texts. According to Metzger,
The two forms of text differ in
character as well as length. The
Western text is nearly one-tenth
longer than the Alexandrian text,
and is generally more picturesque
and circumstantial, whereas the
shorter text is generally more
colorless and in places more
obscure ... [emphasis added]
Metzger then goes on to explain
that an Alexandrian text of Acts published by Westcott and Hort contains
18,401 words, whereas a Westerntype text published by A. C. Clark
has 19,983 words - a difference of
about 8.5 percent! He then makes
some truly revealing comments:
...there are variants ... peculiar
to the Western text of Acts. These

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

include many additions, long and

short, of a substantive nature
that reveal the hand of a reviser.
Working upon a copy of the
"Western" text in the first sense,
the reviser, who was obviously
a meticulous and well-informed
scholar [but was he inspired?],
eliminated seams and gaps and
added
historical,
biographical, and geographical details.
Apparently the reviser did his
work at an early date, before the
text of Acts had come to be generally regarded as a sacred text that
must be preserved inviolate.
So that's how bibles are written!
Since Acts is supposed to have
been written by the author of the
Gospel of Luke, Metzger of necessity
has to refer to problems in that gospel
while considering the Book of Acts. It
turns out that one of the differences
between Western and Alexandrian
forms of Luke calls into question the
ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven
after his resurrection!
Several ancient MSS of Luke
24:51 (a Western text known as 'D'
and the Old Latin version) omit the
ascension, reading simply "and in the
act of blessing he parted from them"
[NEB], whereas the KJV has "And it
came to pass, while he blessed them,
he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." As can be seen,
this important omission was adopted
by the committee that produced
the Greek text for the New English
Bible.
A parallel omission of the ascension is found in the Old Latin Codex
Gigas (also a Western type) text of
Acts 1:1-2. The KJV has "The former
treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus,
of all that Jesus began both to do
and teach, 2 Until the day in which
he was taken up, after that he
through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen ..." Some prominent scholars have reconstructed a

Page 25

Ka-

16.3-12

MapKOV

4 ~f1-v 'TOY At80v EK Tfjs Bvpas 'TOV f1-Y7)f1-Elov; Kat

avaf3Mifiaum

5 M80s'

on

BEWpOvUtV

~v yap f1-EyaS ucpoSpa.

'TO f1-V7Jf1-ELOV
dSov

SEgtoS

avaKEKVALlYTaL
Kat ElUf:AeovUat

<>

Els

VEavtUKOV KaB~f1-EVOV Jv 'TOLS

7TEPLf3Ef3A7)f1-EVOV
U'TOA~v AWK-ryV, Kai. EgE-

6 8af1-,81j87)uav. <>
'I7)UOVV ~7).EL'E

Se MyEL

aJ3'TaLS,M~ EK8af1-f3Eu8e 232.2

'T6v Na~apT}vov

TOV EU'TaVpW-

f1-EVOV'ijYEp87), OJ3K ElYTtV cJiSE' rSE <> .07TOS onov

aAAd V7T(iYE'TE dna'TE

7 e(7)Kav atmSv.

'Tats aV'Tov Kat 'Tip IU'Tpo/

14 28

'TOLSf1-aB7J-

on llpOaYH

uf1-aS Els

raALAaEav' EKE;; aV'T6v 5ifim8E, Ka8<iJs elarev

8 Vf1-tv.
'"
't '8ouaat
".I.
'\
- f1-V7Jf1-EtoV,
I
Ka~\ E!,E/\
E,/,VYOV
azro
'TOU
233.2
~v

dXEV yap aJ3'TaS'TPO/.l.OSKat EKlYTa.ats Kat OVSEV

ovSev E[nav'

3fin-] add s~bito autem ad horam tertiam tenebrae

diei factae sunt per tatum orbem terrae et descenderunt
de cael.isangeli et surgent in claritate vivi Dei simul
as derunt cum eo, et continuo lux facta est. Tunc
illae ac serunt ad monimentum k
6 'TOV Nan om
N*D d
8-20
om
favid
8 g.\O.] aKOvaaUG.f, e:
aKOUU.
b}>-Oov KG.f, W syS sa(2) i 'TPOfLOS] q,o{3os DW it
8 fin. NB avid k sySarmt" Cl Or Eus; Rm] add 9-20 (ut
infra) ADwe ix fI3 pilat 5Y(C) p co ~ Tat If; Rt

C
~

Lk. S.:

In.

20. Il-

Ecp0f30VPTOyap.

'A
\
L'iVaUTas

18

'TOV Maplg.

~\
DE

"
,
I
'.I. '
- (234)
7TPWL7TPW'T'[]
ao:f3'Q
l'-'a'TOVE,/,aV7)7TPW-

rfi

10 7T'Ta Satf1-ovta.

MaySaA7)vfj.

7Tap'

~s

EKdv7J 7Topw8Eiua

EKf3Ef3A~KH

a~yyLAEV

(235)

'TOS f1-ET' aV-rov YEVOf1-EVOtS 7TEV80vULKat KA'alovII

Lk. 24.133S

KaKEtVOt aKOVUaV'TES 8n

mv'
,

11K

~ \

~fi Kat E8Ea87)

A

12 aVT7JS7)7TtO"'TTjuav. lY.LE'TaDE 'TaV'Ta oVUtv

rjJaVTJ 'fTpW'TOVl

q,avpwaV

"PWTOtS

'l:.

E50

-un'
' - 234 8
aV'TWV (236)

Page 26

Actually, the footnotes relating to the end of Mark continue for two more pages after the one shown. One of the later
notes tells us that some manuscripts contain an alternative
'short' ending to Mk. 16:9-20 which reads:
"But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all
that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent
out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and
imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."
Another footnote tells us that there are several manuscripts which include both endings!

162

Greek text of Acts which omits the

ascension from the preface of Acts as
well! Since Luke is the only evangelist who documents the ascension of
Jesus Christ into heaven, if the MSS
that omit this important information are correct, Jesus may never
have left the earth. He may still be
alive - perhaps hiding in Argentina.
Clearly, only inspired readers can be
certain of exactly what this inspired
author wrote!
We shall end this discussion of
variant manuscripts by considering
the problem of translated versions
of the bible. The problem of knowing what meanings to give to words
in foreign languages will be considered in the next section of this essay.
What concerns us here is a problem
of even greater concern to those who
want to know what the 'original text'
of the bible once said.
Between the third
century

Figure 3. The end of the Gospel of Mark, from the Greek bible
used in Fig. 1, showing the state of total confusion in which
the Gospel ends.
A. Latin text of a 4th-5th century African Old Latin version
manuscript, the Codex Bobbiensis (k) which adds to
verse 3 of Mk. 16 the verses: "Suddenly at the third hour
of the day there was darkness over the whole earth, and
angels descended from heaven and stood up with the
living god, [and} ascended [to heaven} along with him,
and immediately there was light. Then they [women}
approached the tomb."
B. Note saying that verse 8, as well as verses 9-20 are omitted by an early Egyptian Fayyumic (fa) manuscript.
C. Note saying that verse 8 is the concluding verse of the
oldest and best manuscripts,
including the famous
Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and the Syriacus
Sinaiticus shown in Fig. 2. This means that all the
post-resurrection tales of the traditional 'long ending'
are absent, along with Mk. 16:18 - the passage so
beloved of snake-handling, poison-drinking, true believers in the South. The oldest manuscripts end their story
with the women fleeing from the sepulcher, "for they
were afraid."

and the first century CE,

Greek-speaking Jewish scholars in
Alexandria and elsewhere translated
the Hebrew scriptures into Greek,
producing a series of editions of the
Greek Old Testament known collectively as the Septuagint (abbreviated
LXX).A comparison of the LXX with
the Hebrew Masoretic Text shows
fundamental differences in content
- differences which cannot be waived
away as translation errors, but rather can be seen as evidence that the
Hebrew text used by the translators
differed profoundly from the Hebrew
text known today. Among the many
differences between the LXX and the
Masoretic Text are the numerical
discrepancies. Thus, Enoch was 65
years old when he begot Methuselah
in Hebrew, but he was 165 when
he did the deed in Greek. After the
birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived
782 years in Hebrew, but 802 in
BCE

Jan-Feb-Mar

2006

Greek. Not only are there numerical differences between the Greek
and Hebrew texts, verses and paragraphs are added or deleted and, in
the case of Jeremiah, the individual
prophesies are scattered around so
differently in the two versions that it
is very difficult to compare the two at
all.
The problem for true believers
is this: the Greek version reflects a
Hebrew text more than a thousand
years older than that of the Hebrew
manuscripts used as the standard
for the KJV. Shouldn't we follow the
Greek - even if it is a translation
- instead of the Hebrew? It should
be noted that the authors of the
New Testament, when citing the Old
Testament, cited it in Greek resembling the LXX far more often than
the Masoretic Textus Receptus. If
the LXX was good enough for Jesus,
shouldn't it be good enough for PresAmerican Atheist

Although
words in
literally
words in

it is often difficult to discern the meaning of

Shakespeare's English writings, it can be quite
impossible to know the meaning of certain
ancient biblical manuscripts.

byterians?
The discovery of the Dead Sea
Scrolls has confused the problem
further. These Hebrew and Aramaic
scrolls date to a time almost as old as
the time at which the LXX translating began, and temporally overlap
the period in which translation was
completed. Do these scrolls settle
the issue of which is better, LXX or
Masoretic Text? Not on your life!
Some of the scrolls, such as the
Great Isaiah Scroll, are extremely
close to the Masoretic Text. This is
why fundamentalists never seem
to tire of telling us about this scroll
and how it vindicates their bible
(they won't tell you about the Short
Jeremiah Scroll, mentioned above,
which resembles the LXX). In the
case of Jeremiah, scrolls similar to
both the LXX and Masoretic texts
have been found. MSS of Exodus
have been found which resemble not
only LXX,but the Samaritan version
also. Just for good measure, some
scrolls reflect still other, hitherto
unknown textual traditions.
Which is the correct MS? The
question itself has become meaningless at this stage in the scientific
understanding of the biblical texts.
Different oral traditions gradually
were reduced to writing, at different times and in different places.
Differing from each other at the
moment they were committed to
writing, the various written forms
of a given story continued to diverge
further, as the individual texts were
copied and recopied, and errors
and 'corrections' were made by the
scribes. Periodically, scribes discovered contradictory MSS dealing with
the same story. Then the process of
harmonization came into play - the
scribe combining the contradictory
texts into one 'harmonious' narrative.
One extreme example of such
harmonization is seen in certain
late manuscripts of the gospels
Parsippany, New Jersey

of Matthew and Luke, where the

two genealogies of Jesus - which
in the Textus Receptus differ from
each other almost totally - have
been 'harmonized' into one-hundredpercent identity! Another extreme
example is the well-known case of
the 2nd-century Syrian Tatian who
was converted to Christianity by
Justin Martyr at Rome. Tatian 'harmonized' all four canonical gospels
into a single, contradiction-free gospel known as the Diatessaron ('Out
of Four') in Greek. In its Syriac form
it was used for centuries by certain
Syrian churches in place of the mutually contradictory Big Four.
After all their study, bible scholars have come to a simple conclusion:
trying to find the 'correct reading' of
most biblical manuscripts is as hopeless - and as meaningless - as trying to find the 'average voter'!
Which Dictionary To Use?
One of the most perplexing problems facing a believer is one almost
never recognized even to exist: how
can one know what a given word in
an ancient manuscript means? It is
not enough to have a good Greek or
Hebrew dictionary. The most brilliant of dictionary writers cannot be
certain of the meaning of every word
as it is used in every culture and subculture, at every period in history. If
we find the Hebrew word zabach,
'sacrifice,' for example, in an ancient
sentence reading "King Ishkibibbel
sacrificed much and Jahweh protected him and his chamber pots," does
it mean the same thing as it does in
a modern Jerusalem newspaper sentence reading, "Shmuel sacrificed a
lot and got his kids through college"?
One need not go to ancient texts
to see the magnitude of this problem.
The plays of William Shakespeare
(1564-1616) date from almost modern times - and they are in English.
Yet it is often quite impossible to
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

know for certain what Shakespeare

intended certain lines to mean. In
the third act of Hamlet, just after the
famous "Tobe, or not to be" soliloquy,
Hamlet says to Ophelia, "Get thee to
a nunnery."
What could be simpler to understand?
It was quite a shock, fifty
years ago, when I learned that the
Elizabethan slang term for 'brothel'
was 'nunnery'. In all the years since,
I have been unable to decide whether
Hamlet wanted Ophelia to go to
a convent or to a bordello. Either
meaning fits the context. Hamlet
could be worried that Ophelia was
likely to become "a breeder of sinners," and should remove herself
from the temptations of the world by
withdrawing into religion. Or - considering the presence of words such
as harlot and bawd in the immediate
context, and considering that Hamlet
decries Ophelia's "wantonness" - it
is plausible that Hamlet, in disgust,
was telling Ophelia to join the world's
oldest profession.
While the ambiguity of this passage is merely amusing or annoying,
depending on how much one wishes
to understand
Shakespeare,
the
situation would be deadly serious
if Hamlet were a book of scripture
instead of a work of art. What if a
true believer tried to imitate 'St.
Ophelia' and went to the wrong
place? She could spend eternity in
'the wrong place,' indeed, if she went
to a convent, say, instead of a cathouse!
Although it is often difficult to
discern the meaning of words in
Shakespeare's English writings, it
can be quite literally impossible to
know the meaning of certain words in
ancient biblical manuscripts. In the
New English Bible (NEB), a modern
translation produced by an all-star
panel of Oxford-Cambridge scholars,
it is not at all rare to find pages with
footnotes saying "Probable reading"
or "Hebrew unintelligible," or with
passages wildly different from those
of the KJV. For example, in the KJV
translation of Job 39:13-14, we read:
Gavest

thou the goodly

wings
Page 27

unto the peacocks? Or wings and

feathers unto the ostrich? Which
leaveth her eggs in the earth and
warmeth them in dust ...
In the NEB, however, we read:
The wings of the ostrich are stunted;*
her pinions and plumage are so
scantyr"
that she abandons her eggs to the
ground,
letting them be kept warm by the
sand.
The two associated footnotes read:
*are stunted: probable
Hebrew unintelligible.
**Probable
reading;
[means] godly or stork.

reading;
Hebrew

Although neither Oxford nor

Cambridge was up to the problem of
Job 39:13-14, the New International
Version (NIV), a fundamentalist production, somehow decided to render
our verse:
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but they cannot compare with the
pinions

and feathers of the stork ...

While the lack of footnotes might
lead us to suppose that the fundamentalists are never in doubt as to
what 'the word of god' means, in the
introduction to the NIV we find the
admission,
As in other ancient documents,
the precise meaning of the biblical
texts is sometimes uncertain. This
is more often the case with the
Hebrew and Aramaic texts than
with the Greek text. Although
archaeological
and
linguistic
discoveries in this century aid in
understanding difficult passages,
some
uncertainties
remain ...
[Oxford
New
International
Version Scofield Study Bible,
E. Schuyler English, Chairman,
Editorial
Revision
Committee,
Oxford Univ. Press, 1984, p. xix]
Page 28

How can this be?

Part of the problem derives from
the fact that Hebrew and Aramaic are
written with a defective alphabet, i.e.,
an alphabet in which most vowels are
not written. It was only very late in
the history of Hebrew bible-making
(late 5th to 9th centuries) that vowel
points (the so-called 'jots and tittles')
came to be added to the consonantal
texts. Unfortunately, there is no way
to know that the correct vowels were
supplied. As a matter of fact, during
the 9th and 10th centuries, there
was a long-lasting feud between two
families of Jewish scholars, the ben
Ashers and the ben Naphtalis, over
the vocalization of the scriptures.
Unfortunately, the ben Ashers beat
out the ben Naphtalis so completely
that almost all history of them has
been expunged, and we are left with
a false sense of security concerning
the apparent uniformity of vowel
points in the Hebrew text today.
It is easy to see what a mess
we would have in English if we did
not indicate vowels in writing. If we
came across the two-letter word by,
for example, how would we know if
the word intended was by, bay, boy,
buoy, buy, or obey? Of course the
context - if there were one - would
help in figuring out vocalizations and
meanings. But what if, in the case
of by, the real word intended were a
rare word such as bey?
The difficulties caused by the
lack of vowel letters in Hebrew are
compounded by the unbelievable
number of hapax legomena, words
that occur only once in the entire
Bible. A quick sampling of the
Hebrew and Aramaic vocabulary
of the Old Testament reveals that
there are more than 1500 words
(approximately twenty percent of the
entire Old Testament vocabulary!)
used only once. These include the
word dibyonim, rendered as "dove's
dung" in the KJV, but which Young's
Analytical Concordance to the Bible
assures us means "roasted chick pea"
- even though the NEB translates it
as locust-beans, and the NIV renders
it as seed pods.
Imagine the perplexity of a bible
scholar - to say nothing of a true
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

believer - coming across a sentence

such as "Unless thou puttest the
shnurq upon the altar before thou
givest up the shew-bread, thou shalt
surely die." Assuming that the word
shnurq appears in no other context,
we can conclude only that a shnurq
is probably something smaller than
a hippopotamus. The frightful uncertainty resulting from not knowing
what to put on the altar could force
a true believer to give up giving up
shew-bread altogether!
Why Bother?
Although we have only been able
to discuss a few of the problems faced
by persons wanting to believe in the
bible, it should be obvious that the
problems are insurmountable. When
the ballots were cast at the great
ecclesiastical councils which settled
the canon, what assurance do we
have that the chief god of the universe wasn't off somewhere counting
fallen sparrows instead of counting
ballots before they were cast - and
seeing to it that the right bishops got
the poison? What assurance do we
have that the forger who slipped the
Trinity into Erasmus' third edition
did his forging under the inspiration
of a triune contradiction in arithmetic? What assurance do we have that
the people who write the dictionaries
of biblical Greek and Hebrew know
what definitions to put into them?
How will we know if we are reading
about chick-peas or dove's dung?
So, how confident can Fundamentalists be that their Englishlanguage bible versions of the New
Testament, say, have been translated
from an authentic Greek text? Bruce
Metzger whom we quoted earlier
while discussing the Book of Acts,
explains [p, 271] that
Since no hypothesis thus far proposed to explain the relation of
the Western and the Alexandrian
texts of Acts has gained anything
like general assent, in its work
on that book the Bible Societies'
Committee proceeded in an eclectic fashion, holding that neither
Continued on page 49
American Atheist

Letters From a Bible Belt

By Gary Sloan
In the past fifteen years, I have
written about 200 letters to the
two largest newspapers in north
Louisiana, the Shreveport Times and
the Monroe News-Star, whose combined circulation is around 140,000.
In many letters, I cast a skeptical eye
on superstition, Biblicism, orthodoxy,
articles of faith, and irrationality.
The letters have elicited 400 or so
published responses, bringing me a
modicum of dubious notoriety. One
editor told me that publishers like
my letters because they ''bring in
more," a refreshingly mercenary
endorsement.
As I noted in "Weird Tales from
the Annals of a Bible Belt Atheist"
(American Atheist, Autumn 1999),
most of my respondents are Christian
fundamentalists who assail my ignorance, malice, conceit, pseudo-intellectualism, degeneracy, and demonic
intent. While I labor to critique the
foibles of religion, they labor to critique me and my tribe.
Given the relentless condemnation my letters provoke, why do I
continue to write? Partly because no
one else does, partly from the gratification of self-expression, and partly,

no doubt, from a streak of exhibitionism. Above all, though, I continue to

churn out letters because they air
views shared by a silent but sizable
minority. Over the years, I have been
heartened by a number of supportive
phone calls and email messages.
I exhort readers of American
Atheist to write to their local papers,
being vigilant for opportunities to
defend Atheism and Freethought.
As the following batch of letters, all
fairly recent, suggests, opportunities abound. Most of my letters are
responses to items in the Times or in
the News-Star.
Nature's Destructive Force
a Common Enemy
(Times, 9/21105)

From a historical perspective,

Katrina is a rather banal instance of
nature plying her trade. If we are in
the wrong place at the wrong time,
nature will pummel us, drown us,
incinerate us, suffocate us, pulverize
us, disembowel us as casually as we
might swat a fly or step on a cockroach. Nature harbors no ill will. It
matters not a jot to her whether we
writhe or thrive. As Stephen Crane
notes in his short
story
"The
Open
Gary Sloan is a retired
Boat," nature is neiEnglish professor in Ruston,
ther kind nor cruel,
but "indifferent, flatly
Louisiana. He receives email
indifferent."
at
sloangg@bellsouth.net.
In
deadliness,
Letter titles were devised
Katrina
has
been
by newspaper editors, not
vastly
outstripped
by Prof Sloan. Editors also
by numerous disasmade minor changes in
ters, most recently
the Asian tsunami
some letters.
that claimed 250,000

Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

lives. Thirty thousand died in 79cE

when Mt. Vesuvius erupted; 800,000
in a Chinese earthquake of 526cE;
300,000 in an 1881 Chinese typhoon;
4 million in an 1888 Chinese flood;
6,000 in a Galveston tidal wave of
1900; 100,000 in a 1923 Japanese
earthquake; 2,000 in a 1928 Florida
flood; 75,000 in a Peruvian earthquake of 1970; 1 million the same
year in a Pakistani cyclone. These
death tolls pale beside the gargantuan lethality wrought by epidemic
diseases. The worldwide Spanish
influenza epidemic of 1918-1920
smote 40 million; cholera, typhus,
and smallpox have claimed millions; recurrent outbreaks of bubonic
plague, the worst in 1347-1351, have
dispatched up to 100 million unfortunate souls.
Natural disasters are abetted by
human ignorance, negligence, stinginess, and stupidity. Were ours a sensible species, we would stop warring
with one another and instead collectively wage war against a common
enemy, the destructive vicissitudes of
nature.
Lack of Doubt
Has Worldwide Impact
(Times, 8/20105)

Bertrand Russell, the eminent

British philosopher, once remarked:
"The whole problem with the world
is that fools and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, and wiser
people are so full of doubts." In light
of this moral axiom, how fares the
current occupant of the Oval Office?
As governor of Texas, George W.
Bush presided over a record 152 executions. He said: "There is no doubt
Page 29

Were it not for vociferous critics of the American gooernment, African-Americans

might still be slaves, women disfranchised, debtors imprisoned, children working in
coal mines, soldiers dying in Vietnam~ nuclear bombs falling on recalcitrant foes.
in my mind that each person who has
been executed was guilty." As president, Bush justified the invasion of
Iraq thus: "Intelligence gathered by
this and other governments leaves no
doubt that the Iraq regime continues
to possess and conceal some of the
most lethal weapons ever devised."
When Pope John Paul II died, Bush
averred: "There is a living God. And
no doubt in my mind the Lord Christ
was sent by the Almighty."
Bush's intractable certitude is
noteworthy only because it has global
consequences. In truth, dogmatism is
a universal ill, responsible for the
incivility that marks public discourse
on volatile issues. When people entertain a modicum of doubt about their
own convictions, they are inclined to
ponder, not assail, contrary views.
Recall Socrates. The Delphi oracle, who never lied, told him he was
the wisest of mortals - not, he later
discovered, because he knew more
than others, but because he knew
how much he didn't know. In a related vein, rational people are distinguished not by what they believe, but
by how they arrive at their beliefs.
Faith Is Often Praised,
But Rarely Scrutinized
(Times, 7/12/95)
Re: July 8 letter by Deena
Lachman titled "Religion not so fragile; don't be manipulated"
As the writer describes it, religious faith is potent indeed: "History
shows you could torture people, kill
people, or force them to deny their
faith, but faith withstands all of
that."
While I don't doubt that faith is a
puissant force in the lives of millions,
I must confess I have never quite
understood what faith entails. Faith
is often praised, but rarely scrutinized.
Does faith provide knowledge
inaccessible to observation, experimentation, and rational inquiry?
If someone says, "I have faith in
Page 30

the existence of an omniscient and

benevolent creator who cares for his
creatures and rewards those who
trust in him," should I believe such a
being exists even if logic and the preponderance of evidence seem to me to
work against the existence of such a
being?
If faith refers to belief despite
a paucity of evidence, how does one
determine which of two or more conflicting faiths is true? How, say, does
one adjudicate between the articles of
faith embraced by Muslims and those
endorsed by Southern Baptists? Does
faith encompass punitive theological
doctrines? Does one believe through
faith that billions of hapless souls
will spend eternity in hell?
All beliefs one holds true should,
in my view, ultimately rest on observation, logic, experience, and reason.
If I believe John Smith will help me
out in a pinch, my "faith" in him
stems from previous experience of his
reliability. If Smith has consistently
disappointed my expectations, I
would be ill advised to trust in him.
Freedom Includes
Right to Dissent
(News-Star, 7/8/05)
From a literary vantage point,
John P. Spires' July 5 letter to The
News-Star,
"Enemies Aren't Just
in Iraq," is intriguing. Is the letter a sincere polemic against liberal Democrats and left-leaning
Republicans? Or is it a parody of
right-wing polemic? The stock diction and hyperbolic assertions smack
of parody: "back-stabbing traitors"
without "guts" or "spine," radicals
abetted by "totally biased mainline
news media," "cancerous liberals"
who "glory in every soldier killed," a
moribund nation "rotting within."
As parody, the letter is amusing. As candid critique, not. Perhaps
the writer hasn't sufficiently mulled
the dictum that "Eternal vigilance
is the price of liberty." Critics of the
American occupation of Iraq aren't
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

necessarily
unpatriotic
demons.
Nor are supporters inevitably patriotic. Beware W. H. Auden's Unknown
Citizen, a mindless parrot of the
party line: "He wasn't a scab or odd in
his views." He "held the proper opinions for the time of the year; / When
there was peace, he was for peace;
when there was war, he went."
True patriots place their consciences above prevailing opinion,
policy, and law. As a result, they
are often viewed as enemies of the
state while really its benefactors.
Were it not for vociferous critics of
the American government, AfricanAmericans might still be slaves,
women disfranchised, debtors imprisoned, children working in coal mines,
soldiers dying in Vietnam, nuclear
bombs falling on recalcitrant foes.
While America has its quota of
virtues, it is far from perfect. When
the freedom to dissent is discouraged,
the imperfections multiply.
Religious Books
Endorse Violence
(News-Star, 5/18/05)
The violent response to the
alleged desecration of the Koran by
U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo
Bay is instructive. Like patrons of
the Bible, proponents of the Koran
maintain that the book inculcates
tolerance, forgiveness, civility and
wisdom.
Perhaps it does, if one ignores
numerous verses like the following:
"And think not that the infidels shall
escape Us! They shall not weaken
God. Make ready then against them
what force ye can, and strong squadrons whereby ye may strike terror
into the enemy of God and your
enemy, and into others beside them
whom ye know not, but whom God
knoweth" (Sura 8: 61-62).
Lest Christians and Jews feel
complacent, the Bible contains a
plethora of kindred bellicose exhortations: "When the Lord your God gives
a city into your hand you shall put
American Atheist

While
ability
resort
hasn't

dabblers in science may invoke the complexities of living cells, the improbof life, or Big Bang quantum fluctuations as proof of theism, they customarily
to faith or redefine the terms of the debate when they realize science not only
found God, it isn't even looking for him.

all its males to the sword, but the

women and the little ones, the cattle,
and everything else in the city, all
its spoil, you shall take as booty for
yourselves .... In the cities of these
peoples that the Lord your God gives
you for an inheritance, you shall
save alive nothing that breathes"
(Deuteronomy 20: 13-14, 16).
Both Bible and Koran endorse
concepts noxious to civilized societies:
glorification of war, chosen people,
devils and demons, subordination of
women, polygamy, slavery, authoritarianism, irrationalism, intolerance
of heretical views, and eternal damnation.
Were the barbaric matter excised
from the two holy books, the world
might be a happier place. The Golden
Rule may be scripture enough.
New Effort Threatens
Science Education
(Times, 5/5/05)
The political ascendancy of religious fundamentalism is threatening
science education in U.S. schools. In
nine states, proponents of a newfangled version of creationism called
Intelligent Design (ID), which alleges
that living structures are too complex
to have evolved by natural forces,
have proposed legislation
In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled
a Louisiana act requiring publicschool teachers to teach creationism
violated the Establishment Clause
of the First Amendment because the
act "endorses religion by advancing
the religious belief that a supernatural being created humankind." The
ruling explains why advocates of ID
never specify that the Intelligent
Designer is God and why they insist
the theory is scientific, not religious.
Despite the protestations, ID
isn't science. Unlike a scientific
theory, ID can't be verified or falsified. ID doesn't explain how the
Designer made life forms. It merely
trots out the mysterious Designer
Parsippany, New Jersey

when naturalistic explanations seem

insufficient to proponents oflD. ID is
a manifestation of the so-called God
of the Gaps. Historically, whenever a
gap has existed in scientific understanding of a natural phenomenon,
some theists have found therein a
sphere of operation for a deity. When
science fills in one gap, theists seek
until they find another.
Ironically, the labyrinthine complexity ofliving forms is an argument
against, not for, the existence of God.
As John Stuart Mill notes in the
essay "Theism," complex contrivances (like eyes or DNA) imply difficult
ends, and for an omnipotent designer
there are no difficult ends. A wave of
the wand is sufficient.
Incidentally, anyone who thinks
the human body is intelligently
designed
should
read
Earnest
Hooton's classic Apes, Men, and
Morons.
Life Value Depends on
"Meaningful"
(News-Star, 3/2/05)
Typified by comments in a Feb.
28 letter to The News-Star, many
theists contend human life is meaningful only in a universe created by
a transcendent being. Whether the
assumption is true depends on what
one means by "meaningful." It isn't
enlightening to say life is meaningless if God doesn't exist because God
is the source of all meaning. A circular argument proves nothing.
If "meaningful" is used in its
ordinary sense, the theistic slant on
meaning is patently false. Human
virtues like honesty, courage, fairness, sympathy, and tolerance are
just as meaningful in an uncreated
universe as in a created one. So are
thinking, reading, observing, studying, writing, singing, socializing,
exercising, laughing, playing, eating,
drinking and loving. Whether human
nature was designed by a deity or
by Darwinian selection, people can
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

derive meaning and satisfaction from

a variety of activities, pursuits, and
behavior.
When I attribute my existence
to a fortuitous sequence of unlikely
events, I value my life more than I
would if I viewed it as the product
of an inscrutable divine foreordination. The odds of my existing are
inconceivably minuscule. When my
father's sperm fertilized my mother's
egg, the zygote that developed into
me contained one of 64 trillion possible combinations of paternal and
maternal chromosomes, each combination of which would have developed into a person different from the
ones produced by the other combinations. Each of my numerous ancestors
fought the same odds, exponentially
stacking the odds against me.
No wonder I sometimes feel
blessed.
Religious Skepticism
Stigmatized in America
(Times, 2/27/05)
In her Feb. 20 column, "Bible
Belt town can embrace creative
class," editor Martha H. Fitzgerald
may have magnified the provincialism of Shreveport. In truth, a Bible
Belt mentality blankets the entire
American scene. Polls consistently
show about 90 percent of Americans
believe in God, 85 percent in the
resurrection of Jesus, 70 percent in
angels, 60 percent in the devil and
50 percent in the literal truth of the
two creation accounts in the Book of
Genesis.
Owing to the large sweep of the
Bible Belt ethos, most Americans
give short shrift to the application
of logic and reason to religion since
these modes of understanding are
no longer loyal handmaids of theology. While dabblers in science may
invoke the complexities of living
cells, the improbability of life, or Big
Bang quantum fluctuations as proof
of theism, they customarily resort
Page 31

Yahweh could have easily attached a pithy rider to the First Commandment: "Thou
shalt have no other gods besides me. Especially an impostor named Allah." Yahweh
must have had a reason for his silence.
to faith or redefine the terms of the
debate when they realize science not
only hasn't found God, it isn't even
looking for him.
The American belief machine has
a fail-safe component. Nothing shuts
it down. Ecclesiastical institutions,
which dot the American landscape,
implant powerful psychological deterrents to unbelief Despite obligatory
panegyrics to free speech, religious
skepticism is heavily stigmatized.
Across the national Bible Belt, few
Atheists advertise their unbelief.
Politicians, businessmen, lawyers,
doctors, journalists, teachers, athletes, entertainers - with few exceptions, they all toe the line.
While Shreveport is scarcely a
hive of freethought, neither are a
hundred other American cities of
comparable size. Were Shreveport
as populous as Atlanta or Dallas, it
might be more like them than one
would guess.
Iraq Election
Might Solve Mystery
(News-Star, 2/8/05)
Should the recent election in
Iraq lead to the dissolution of hoary
animosities between Muslims and
Christians, the faithful in both camps
will be left to ponder why Yahweh,
the biblical god, didn't act sooner. Let
me explain.
In the Koran, the god of the
Israelites melts into the god of Islam.
Allah says he is Yahweh: "And We
gave the Book to Moses and ordained
it for guidance to the children of
Israel - 'that ye take no gods other
than me'" (Sura 17:2).
In the Bible, Yahweh is strangely
mum on the matter. Being omniscient, he must have foreseen the
sectarian
dissension that
rival
claims to the heavenly throne would
produce. If he is indeed Allah, why
didn't he announce in holy writ that
he would vouchsafe further revelations to an Arabian prophet named
Muhammed? Yahweh might thereby
Page 32

have prevented centuries of enmity,

distrust, and carnage engendered by
an unwarranted cleavage between
infidel and believer.
If, on the other hand, Allah
stole Yahweh's identity, why didn't
Yahweh alert posterity to Allah's perfidious machinations? Yahweh could
have easily attached a pithy rider
to the First Commandment: "Thou
shalt have no other gods besides me.
Especially an impostor named Allah."
The clarion edict would have given
Muhammed pause. He might have
deduced that the revelation he had
received was bogus.
Yahweh must have had a reason for his silence. Logic tells us
there can't be two omnipotent gods.
Perhaps a committee of democratically elected Muslims, Christians,
and Jews should investigate the
emgma.
Disaster Frays Concept
of Benevolent Designer
(Times, 117/05)
Like most natural
disasters,
the Asian tsunami undermines the
concept of a benevolent designer.
As Robert Frost observed, were the
universe designed, it is a "design of
darkness to appall." Yet according
to proponents of Intelligent Design
(ID), the uppity scion of creationism,
the universe exhibits a degree of finetuning incompatible with random
natural processes.
Fortunately, the argument for
design is fundamentally flawed. Just
because the existence of the universe
seems highly improbable, it doesn't
follow that someone designed it. In
distant retrospect, any event can be
viewed as massively improbable.
Toss a coin 30 times and record
the sequence of heads and tails.
Now, toss the coin another 30 times.
Your chances of duplicating the first
sequence are one in a billion. Do 150
tosses and the odds of duplicating the
sequence are 10 to the 45th power (1
followed by 45 zeroes). If everybody
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

in the world flipped coins for the rest

of their lives, they would have to live
a billion years before anyone replicated your sequence of 150 tosses.
Some might allege you couldn't have
done it without supernatural aid.
If, as some theists believe, the
purpose of design was to produce
humans, why the long prologue? Why
not bring us onto the stage immediately, an easy feat for an omnipotent
designer, and forego the billions
of years of preliminary sound and
fury?
A universe with humans is
scarcely more improbable than one
with hummingbirds and cockroaches.
Were the concept of design not flattering to human vanity, it would
seem less compelling.
Superstitions of Religion
Were Earlier Rejected
(Times, 9110/04)
Re: Aug. 13 letter by R.B. Gibbs titled
"Founding Fathers made no laws
about religion"
While the Founders were indeed
nominally Christian and attended
church, they weren't as gung-ho for
Christianity as the writer alleges. In
an 1831 sermon in Albany, New York,
Rev. Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister and historian, groused that "the
founders of our nation were nearly
all Infidels."
Vetoing a bill granting public
lands to a church, James Madison, a
chief architect of the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights, observed: "During
almost fifteen centuries has the legal
establishment of Christianity been
on trial. What have been its fruits?
More or less in all places, pride and
indolence in the Clergy, ignorance
and servility in the laity, in both
superstition, bigotry and persecution."
In an 1816 letter, John Adams
mused: "How has it happened that
millions of fables, tales, legends, have
been blended with both Jewish and
Christian revelation that have made
American Atheist

As people drive home from work, they pass the following buildings: First House
of Atheists, Southern Atheists, Assembly of Atheists, Reformed Atheists, Bertrand
Russell's New Atheists, Darwin's Witnesses, Apostles of St. Marx, Sacred Word of Our
Holy Nietzsche.
them the most bloody religion that
ever existed."
According to Asa Green, chaplain
to Congress during George Washington's administration, Washington
"never, on any occasion, said a word
to the public which showed a belief
in the Christian religion." At the
Episcopal church he attended while
president, Washington was invariably absent on Communion days.
In his
autobiography,
Ben
Franklin notes that at an early age
he stopped attending church because
he found theological doctrines "unintelligible."A month before he died, he
reaffirmed his disbelief in the divinity of Christ.
The Founders were creatures
of eighteenth-century rationalism.
While they applauded the ethical
teachings of Jesus, they eschewed the
superstitions and dogmas of institutionalized Christianity.
Christians Should Tryon
Other Shoes
(News-Star, 6/30/04)
Recently, Michael Newdow, the
Atheist who challenged the constitutionality of "under God"in the Pledge
of Allegiance, appeared on CNBC's
The Dennis Miller Show. Atheists,
Newdow noted, are the most disliked group in America, ranking
below homosexuals and Muslims.
Were Atheists identifiable by color,
he suggested, they would be widely
snubbed.
The reaction of the studio audience was troubling. When Newdow
scored a point, only three or four
clapped. When
Miller
twitted
Newdow with gratuitous comments
like "why don't you give it a rest"
and "I kind of like God,"the audience
thunderously applauded.
Many Christians, it seems, have
never tried to put themselves in the
shoes of American Atheists. As an
academic exercise, Christians should
try imagining they live in a country
Parsippany, New Jersey

in which Atheism, not Christianity, is

the predominant "religion." To wit:
As people drive home from work,
they pass the following buildings:
First House of Atheists, Southern
Atheists, Assembly of Atheists,
Reformed
Atheists,
Bertrand
Russell's New Atheists, Darwin's
Witnesses, Apostles of St. Marx,
Sacred Word of Our Holy Nietzsche.
All U.S. coins bear the inscription "Never trust in God."
By a 99-0 vote, the U.S. Senate
condemns the inclusion of "under
God" in the Pledge.
President Bush ends his State
of the Union address thus: "Being
an Atheist, I won't ask God to bless
you."
In accepting the MVP award for
the Detroit Pistons, Chauncy Billups,
instead of praising God, says: "As
Atheists, we knew we had to do it
alone."
When people complain that politicians ignore Christians, they are
told: "If you don't like it, leave."
Gibson Must Have
Inside Knowledge
(Times, 3/2/04)
Since about 75 percent of
Americans believe Jesus Christ
was crucified and resurrected, "The
Passion" was bound to have market
appeal. Local Christians, it seems,
could hardly be more thrilled by the
Second Coming.
The spoilsport must point out
that many scholars consider the
biblical account of Jesus largely, if
not wholly, apocryphal. They view
Jesus as a patchwork accretion of
legend, fantasy, surmise, and creative
engineering that evolved from a few
slivers of biographical truth. The
construction work was well advanced
in various oral traditions before anything was written down.
From these traditions and a few
rudimentary compilations of sayings
of Jesus, the Evangelists culled what
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

suited their purposes and tricked out

the material with their own embellishments and innovations. They
might import an incident from the
life of some mythic or real hero, put
into Jesus's mouth some doctrine
espoused by their own sect, or impute
to Jesus a background, character and
deeds consistent with what they
thought were Old Testament predictions about the Messiah.
The
Evangelists
were
not
averse to imaginative glosses on
Old Testament passages. Matthew,
for example, transformed a "young
woman" who would bear a child
(Isaiah 7:14) into a virgin who would
bear Jesus and converted a prophecy about Israel (Hosea 11:1) into a
prophecy about Jesus.
In light of the dense encrustation of artifice and myth surrounding
Jesus, the renowned German theologian Rudolph Bultmann groused:
"We can now know almost nothing
concerning the life and personality of
Jesus."
What did Mr. Gibson know that
Bultmann didn't?

Letter Writer
Simply States His Beliefs
(News-Star, 1115/04)
Poor Will Brooks. Because he
publicly defended his gayness, local
biblicists have thumped him black
and blue.
In citing biblical injunctions
against
homosexuality, biblicists
merely demonstrate their own belief
in biblical authority, not the moral
status of homosexuality. The salient
issue should be not what the Bible
says, but whether it is, as biblicists
claim, the word of God. Millions of
thoughtful
Americans,
including
some prudently silent souls in northeast Louisiana, think it is not.
Two centuries ago in The Age of
Reason, Thomas Paine noted some
basic flaws in the thesis that the
Page 33

Why doesn't he restore amputated limbs or revivify rotting carcasses? Destroy pathogens before they wipe out entire populations? Eliminate deadly mutant genes? Save
passengers on airliners that crash into skyscrapers? Dismantle missiles before they
strike the innocent? Prevent holocausts?
Bible is divinely inspired. Why, Paine
asked, would an omnipotent being
communicate his wishes through a
notoriously imperfect instrument
- namely, a book? Books can be
(and have been) forged, burned, suppressed, revised, edited, altered and
mistranslated. Moreover, before the
printing press was invented in the fifteenth century, few people had access
to books. Even if they had, most
couldn't have read the Bible because,
until recent times, most were illiterate. Paine further observed that the
Bible contains no internal evidence of
divine origin. Very little, if anything,
in it is original. Its commandments,
precepts and teachings have antecedents and parallels in many ancient
cultures. Like Thomas Jefferson and
Ben Franklin, Paine believed nature
is the "word" of God.
Be assured, Will, that some readers of the News-Star admire your
courage and share your perception of
the "good"Book.
Christians Have Role in
Diminishing Christ
(News-Star 12/30/03)
In a Dec. 29 letter, W. Courtney
Oliver laments
the
vanishing
celebration of Jesus Christ in the
public sector. Jesus, Oliver believes,
has fallen victim to political
correctness. Secular forces are
waging war on the Christian ethos.
While Oliver may have a point,
Christians themselves are partly
responsible for the loosening hold
of Jesus on the public imagination.
By routinely ignoring some of his
most important precepts and teachings, Christians tacitly obliterate the
distinction between themselves and
heathens.
Why be a Christian when the
Christian seems ethically indistinguishable from the secular humanist? Why don't Christians, as the
nominal founder of the religion bids,
sell all they have and give the proPage 34

ceeds to the poor? Why don't they

open purse and wallet to every beggar and borrower? Why don't they
amputate hands and other anatomical instruments of sin? Why do they
lay up treasure here below? Why do
they prepare for the morrow? File
lawsuits instead of forgiving wrongdoers 77 times? Call police instead of
turning the other cheek?
Why don't Christians
move
mountains by faith? Raise the dead?
Cast out demons? Why do many
reject eternal damnation, Satan,
angels, and miraculous intervention
in the course of nature, all of which
the biblical Jesus believed in?
Are most Christians hypocritical
or ignorant of the Gospels? Not necessarily. Perhaps they merely jettison
biblical teachings inconsistent with
their own reason, experience, and
common sense.
God Can Change
(Times, 7118/03)
Re: July 14 letter by Connie
Sullivan titled "Some are emotional
when worshipping"
In a skateboard accident, a teenager sustains severe damage to the
head. Despite surgery, doctors fear
for his life. Family members and
doctors pray. Boy recovers. The mysterious ways of Providence are again
vindicated.
Convinced prayer was the instrument of the boy's recovery, the writer
asks: "How can we limit God?"
A better question: Why (foes God
limit himself? Why does he restrict
his miraculous interventions to a
minuscule scope? Why doesn't he
restore amputated limbs or revivify
rotting carcasses? Destroy pathogens
before they wipe out entire populations? Eliminate deadly mutant
genes? Save passengers on airliners that crash into skyscrapers?
Dismantle missiles before they strike
the innocent? Prevent holocausts?
Give all sadists, torturers, tyrants,
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

and bullies a dose of their own medicine?

The writer avers "God never
changes." That is a pessimistic assessment. If, as most Christians believe,
the Almighty is truly omnipotent, he
has the power to change. Perhaps he
will see the light and atone for eons
of moral indolence.
Sea of Slogans
Isn't Always Right
(News-Star, 5115/03)
In this best of times and worst
of times, the American landscape is
bedecked with patriotic slogans. In
Ruston, merchants have scrawled on
their display windows a smorgasbord
of rousing shibboleths: "United We
Stand," "Support Our Troops," "Pray
for Our Troops," "Let Freedom Ring,"
"Land of the Free," "Home of the
Brave," "Justice for All," "One Nation
Under God," "God Bless the USA,"
"God Bless America."
Cursed with an inveterate propensity for analysis, I try to explicate the slogans when I shouldn't be
thinking at all. After all, the slogans
are designed to evoke warm feelings
of national camaraderie, not grimaces and cocked brows.
Yet I persist in my folly. To wit:
How, exactly, does one support the
troops? With prayer? Pep rallies?
Homemade cookies? Letters? Does
paying taxes count?
Are "Let Freedom Ring" and
"United We Stand" compatible? If
everyone exercises freedom of speech,
will we remain united? Some might
opt to ring their dissent to patriotic
polity and policies.
"Home of the Brave"? Obviously,
many Americans aren't physically
brave. Millions are afraid to walk
the streets at night and unlock their
doors to strangers. If "brave" refers to
moral courage, can the courage manifest itself in persistent pacifism?
"God Bless America" is almost as
inscrutable as the utterance of the
American Atheist

Though deeply embedded in the American psyche, the hostility toward unbelievers is
irrational. Most Atheists are fairly civilized. We value freedom, democracy, and security. Most of us abhor tyranny and terrorism. When the horrific events of 9/11 are
dispassionately examined, Atheism looks benign.
Delphi oracle. Which God? Yahweh?
Allah? The Over-Soul? The Ineffable
One? Bless with what? Compassion?
Intelligence? Bullish stock market?
Smarter smart bombs? And does
"America" mean Americans, every
single one, no matter how felonious
or dissolute or perverted?
"Justice for all"? Even for those
who can't afford a good lawyer?

In his Faith, President

Seems Insensitive
(Times, 2/13/03)
In his Feb. 6 address at the 51st
annual National Prayer Breakfast
in Washington, President George W.
Bush again revealed his insensitivity
to the 30-40 million Americans who
don't believe in divine providence.
Speaking to members of the
House, Senate, and Cabinet, military
Religion, Militarism
brass, ministers, foreign dignitaries,
Is Noxious Mixture
and their families, Bush pontificated:
(Times, 3/23/03)
''We can be confident in the ways
In 2001, after the horrific events of Providence, even when they are
of Sept. 11, President George W. far from our understanding. Events
Bush told members of Congress: "Our aren't moved by blind change and
nation was chosen by God and man- chance. Behind all of life and all of
dated by history to serve as a model history, there's a dedication and purof justice. Freedom and fear, justice pose, set by the hand of a just and
and cruelty, have always been at war, faithful God."
and we know that God is not neutral
"The Almighty God,"he said, "is a
between them."
God to everybody, every person."
In a 2002 speech in Knoxville,
Had Bush not packaged his perTenn., Bush explained how to deal sonal beliefs as inviolable truths, his
with evildoers: "The best way to fight sermonizing might be excusable. Like
evil is to do some good.Let me qualify every other American, he has the
that - the best way to fight evil at right to tell people what he believes.
home is to do some good. The best
Millions of us believe the cosmos,
way to fight evil abroad is to unleash life, and human experience can be
the military."
adequately explained without appealReligion and militarism can be ing to the intervention of supernatua noxious mixture when warlords ral entities. Both intellectually and
view themselves as instruments of morally, the world-view of atheists
the divine will. Wars become holy and agnostics is as defensible as the
crusades. Supporters become saints, Christian perspective of President
protesters sinners. To squash the Bush.
foreign devil, collateral damage of
America won't be truly free as
cataclysmic magnitude becomes jus- long as presidents try to foist articles
tifiable - devastation of infrastrucof religious faith on the electorate.
tures, wrecking of world markets,
destruction of the innocent.
At Least Atheists Don't Kill in
To the anointed, every battle
Name of Religion
seems winnable. With Providence as
(News-Star, 411102)
ally, how can one fail?
According to a survey conducted
Ask
Richard
the
Lion- last year by the Pew Forum on
Hearted. Ask General Custer. Ask Religion and Public Life, 66 percent
Adolph Hitler's soldiers, whose of Americans view Atheists unfavorbelt buckles bore the inscription
ably. A Kaiser Foundation survey
Gott mit uns ("God is with us"). revealed 69 percent of Americans
As George W. Bush should know, don't want a family member to marry
the Lord moves in mysterious ways.
an Atheist. In the last presidential
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

election, 49 percent of the electorate

said it wouldn't vote for an Atheist.
By pitching its messages to believers, the George W. Bush administra. tion tacitly excludes Atheists from the
public arena. Last November, Bush
told Muslim dignitaries: "America
seeks peace with people of all faiths."
In February, Attorney General John
Ashcroft said: "Civilized individuals, Christians, Jews and Muslims,
all understand that the source of
freedom and human dignity is the
Creator."
By implication, Atheists are bestial threats to civilization.
An Old Testament mentality
underpins the animosity. American
freedom, prosperity and power - i.e.,
the American Way - is sustained (it
is thought) by divine favor. Should
Atheism flourish, an offended deity
will withdraw from the Chosen
People his beneficent guidance.
Losing its privileged status among
nations, a godforsaken America will,
like Sodom and Gormorrah or the
Roman Empire, careen to irreparable
ruin.
Though deeply embedded in
the American psyche, the hostility toward unbelievers is irrational.
Most Atheists are fairly civilized. We
value freedom, democracy, and security. Most of us abhor tyranny and
terrorism.
When the horrific events of
9/11 are dispassionately examined,
Atheism looks benign. The culprit
was bellicose theism. Whatever our
faults, we Atheists will never kill
ourselves or anyone else for the sake
of God or religion.

Page 35

IIVha~ Is Tha~?
By Don Havis
I have a confession to make. I am
confused. For most of my 72 years
people have talked to me, from time
to time, about god; and in all of that
time I have never been quite clear on
what it is they are talking about. In
fact, probably the main reason I profess for not believing in a god is that I
don't clearly understand exactly what
it is I am urged by the god-believers
to 'believe in.' Oh, people have given
me definitions, but even after reading
or hearing the definitions, I am still
unclear on the concept. To illustrate
what I mean, let's start out with a
fairly standard definition from my
unabridged Webster's Dictionary:

God - noun. Any of various

beings conceived of as supernatural, immortal, and having special
powers over the lives and affairs
of people and the course of nature
... regarded as eternal, infinite,
all-powerful, and all-knowing; a
supreme being.
The 'special powers' referred to
in the above definition are agreed
to by most theologians (those who
study this mysterious 'god concept')
as consisting of (1) all powerfulness
or omnipotence, mentioned above,
(2) all-knowingness or omniscience,
also mentioned above, (3) 'infinite'
- also characterized as omnipresent,

Don Havis is a retired public school teacher and

administrator. Don has been an active Humanist
and Atheist since sometime in the mid-nineteen
fifties.
He presently serves on the Steering
Committee of the very active San Francisco
Chapter of American Atheists and is also active
in 'left politics' and serves on the County Council
of the Green Party of San Mateo County, CA.
His publications include several articles for the
American Rationalist, Secular Nation, and the
article "Jesus Never Was" in the Spring, 2004
issue of American Atheist. He receives e-mail at
<donmtts@rcn.com>

Page 36

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

and (4) all-benevolence, or all-lovingness. This fourth characteristic,

unaccountably not mentioned above,
is also known as omnibenevolence.
Some more modern liberal theologians would classify their god, whom
they would agree 'exists' in some
unfathomable sense, not as a 'being'
but more as a 'spirit.' I'll spare the
reader a lengthy and pointless discussion as to how something might
be said to exist as either of those two
options, and what might possibly be
thought of as the difference.
In an attempt to be all-inclusive,
I am aware of two other conceptions
about, or versions of, the god concept. God for the deist is simply the
mysterious force that got everything
started. This god/force is not something that intervenes in the affairs
of humankind, nor does it answer
prayers, nor does it espouse any
dogma. This deist god had no sons,
nor did it dictate any texts. A wellknown late eighteenth century deist
(not an Atheist) and patriot, Thomas
Paine, also considered the deist's
god as a sort of 'source' of all moral
authority - the fountainhead, if you
will, of all that is good, benevolent,
and just. The god of the pantheists
is conceived of as the sum total of all
American Atheist

there is, with a special emphasis on sicalness of the idea that some form revealed knowledge, and spiritual
nature. In other words, the universe, of consciousness could somehow exist or supreme combined with being. I
nature, all that exists is the same outside of a functioning, blood-nour- understand the words knowledge
thing as god.
ished brain. Clearly, what we call and being, but the adjectives seem to
These latter two conceptions of consciousness - as opposed to some- negate the meaning of the very words
god - the deists' god and the pan- thing one might call artificial intel- they modify.
theists' god - are distinct from the ligence - is a necessary prerequisite
As far as I am able to determine
gods of any of the Abrahamic reli- in order for the possessor of such all ofour knowledge is and has always
gions (Christianity,
been
acquired
Islam, or Judaism) As soon as one begins to try to understand any through our five
because they have
senses.
Revealed
and is said to knowledge implies
no
attributes
or sort of god that has attributes
characteristics
that have effects on how we humans live and inter- that one just 'gets'
further define them.
the
knowledge
act with our environment and each other, then from
Therefore, these two
some indefintypes of god concepts we immediately run into problems.
able supernatural
might be thought of
source,
presumas tautologies. Tautologies are simply consciousness to know anything, and ably from this mysterious god - the
self-describing expressions like "God with that knowledge, make judg- existence of which is what we are
is 'the force,'" or "God is love,"or "God ments and then, somehow without attempting to verify. Secondly, I
is everything." One of my favorite any physical form, take action; that
understand what a being is. Webster's
gods of this type is "God is the ground is, intervene in worldly affairs, thus defines it as a "living thing." However,
of being." Now, what the hell is that
using its power. Nothing in my life I can not distinguish between a spirisupposed to mean? Obviously, such experience up to this point has made tual being and expressions like an
descriptions or definitions are value- it possible for me to blithely accept imaginary being, such as the fabled
less simply because they don't really such blatant nonsense.
unicorn, or mythical beings such as
say anything. They are equivalent to
And then there is the vocabulary Hercules or Santa Claus. All such
saying, "God is god." We will be con- problem - the words that my god- adjectives clearly put the noun being
cerned here with only the god or gods believing friends frequently use. I outside of the realm of something
who have attributes and are said to have great difficulty understanding
that truly exists. Therefore, we can
cause on-going effects.
what is meant by many of them. certainly speak of supernatural or
As soon as one begins to try Some of these difficult-to-understand
mythical beings, but I don't see how
to understand any sort of god that words are incorporated in the very we can claim that they in some sense
has attributes and is said to have definition of the god concept itself. 'exist,' except in our imaginations. I
effects on how we humans live and They are abstract words which refer hasten to add that I think imaginainteract with our environment and to intangible or even non-existent (as tion is a wonderful thing. I'm all in
each other, then we immediately run far as I can tell) things. (More than favor of magical and mythical stories.
into problems. The most
However, I do also believe
immediate and long-rec- Despite my best efforts, I still don't fully that both the story-tellerl
ognized problems ensue understand precisely or even anything
reader as well as the
when it is recognized that
receiver of such stories
near precisely, what the god-believers must
an all-knowing, all-lovbe clear about the
ing, and all-powerful god mean when they utter the word god.
fact that such stories are
allows things like wars,
indeed imaginary.
pestilence,
devastating
Finally, after many
one waggish skeptic has pointed out
earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. to occur, that an undetectable being resembles years of puzzling over the problem,
often killing thousands if not millions a non-existent being suspiciously I confess my ignorance. Despite my
of his apparently favorite creatures
closely.)
best efforts, I still don't fully underwhom he created, it is said, in his
A couple of examples would be stand precisely or even anything
image. These obviously irreconcilable the words spirit and soul. I have near precisely, what the god-believcontradictions have been endlessly found no scientifically verifiable evi- ers mean when they utter the word
discussed and pointed out by skeptics dence for what I am told a spirit is, god. It strikes me that this impasse
for the past two millennia, but appar- or what a soul is. In other instances, continues to exist as a result of one of
ently this point has had little or no I am confused by many adjective- two possibilities: Either (1) I simply
effect on the masses of the general noun combinations in which the do not have the intellectual capacity
population's belief systems.
noun is something I understand, but to understand what they are trying
Besides these obvious internal
the adjective is vague or completely to explain to me - in other words, I
conflicts, there is simply the nonsen- indefinable. Two examples would be am just too stupid to get it - or (2) my
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 37

god-believing friends come from such itself would not be possible in a

Given the above definition, this
a vastly different Gestalt or point of two-world paradigm. Given this fact, has helped me - and I hope you too
view that we simply do not share I am always further amazed that - to clarify my thinking regarding my
enough commonly held understandsomething like 85 percent of the US. stand or viewpoint in relationship to
ings and meanings for words, etc., population do not identify themselves the god concept. In my youth I had
such that we can effectively commu- as Atheists, or at least non-religious. many questions. I therefore claimed
nicate. How the god-believers have The good news is that in the latest to be an Agnostic. I no longer have
come to this entirely
these questions as to the
'believe in' the god concept existence or even posdisparate point of view I cannot
with its many differ- because I simply do not understand what
sible existence of what
ent word meanings
I understand to be god.
is itself interesting to the god-belief advocates mean when they (See above definition.)
ponder. When I talk use the word 'god.'
Therefore, I can now
with them, many seem
more confidently proto have very clear understandings in highly respected American Religious claim, "I am an Atheist."
their heads, which make perfectly Identification Survey of 2001, 14.1 %
I would like to close with a relatgood sense to them, for words or of the US. population check the none ed suggestion that we Atheists and
phrases like soul, spirit, revelation,
box when asked about their religion. scientific thinkers have an obligation
Holy Ghost, divine intervention, etc. This has grown remarkably, since in to do whatever we can to improve
It has become clear to me that we do the ARIS poll of 1990 only roughly efforts on the part of secular society
not share common understandings of 8% identified with this category.
to educate our youth in the modern,
My
original
thesis
is
that
I
cannot
post-Platonic,
scientific point of view
these and other words which point
to a Platonic 'second world' or 'other 'believe in' the god concept because I or orientation. I believe, in short, that
realm' of existence.
simply do not understand what the beyond and in addition to our fight
Most philosophers since the god-belief advocates mean when they for separation of church and state,
time of Aristotle have accepted the use the word god. I have, however, we as citizens and activists have an
'this-world' - which can be discerned concocted a sort of parody definition obligation to support and encourage
and understood through our senses - so that I can be clear about what it is our public schools to do a much betpoint of view. Christianity comes out I do not believe. It is as follows:
ter job of teaching scientific materialof a Platonic, two-world point of view.
ism, the scientific method, and how to
God - noun. Scientifically classithink much more than what to think.
The true believers in the Christian
fied - tongue in cheek, of course
As a critical part of this activism,
religion seem to have at least large
- by the early twentieth' century
we need to be vigilant in speaking
parts of their brain operating in this
up for barring from our classrooms
more ancient orientation or viewfreethought writer and publisher,
E. Haldeman-Julius as a "gaseous
the idea that there are such things
point, while at the same time living
vertebrate." However, the "gas" is
as other-worldly, so-called revealed
and functioning in this modern science-based secular world which funcso spread out that it appears to
truths - or religious truths - which,
in some areas, students are urged to
tions from the one-real-world point of
have virtually no atomic weight.
It abides in a realm never locatconsider as parallel to and equally
view. I'm not sure how they manage
ed;
has
a
consciousness
and
thus
as valuable as scientific truths. The
it, but many seem to navigate this
knowledge
without
a
brain,
and
renewed
push to teach creationism,
course fairly well. What amazes me is
powers
or
characteristics
(i.e.
now
re-labeled
'intelligent design,'
how many people - what percentage
omniscience, omnipotence, omniwould, of course, fall into this catof the US. population for example
egory of beliefs. In plain language,
- seems to be stuck in this two-world
benevolence, omnipresence) that
are not only never demonstrated
we need to be sure we are diligent in
orientation, especially since it was
but that also are in many ways
getting what Thomas Edison called
so long ago abandoned by at least
logically incompatible with one
those folks who seem to be the real
the "bunk" out of education.
social and scientific 'engineers' of
another.
the modern world. Indeed, science

Published by AMERICAN ATHEIST PRESS

$16.00

ISBN 1-57884-922-5

Illustrated Stories From The Bible

(that they won't tell you in Sunday School)
Written by Paul Farrell

P&ulf~"W

m".>jo,j~,,,'b;yI,,,,,,,h'K~

Page 38

Illustrated

No dentist's waiting room should be without this very adult

parody of children's Bible-story books. Because it is extremely
accurate - even anatomically accurate - in depicting the often
shocking tales that make the Bible an ethicist's nightmare,
Illustrated Stories From The Bible can be recommended for
children no more than one could recommend the Bible itself.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

by Kathy Demchuck

Each illustrated tale is told in the wide-eyed, isn't-God-wonderful manner of the books usually employed to entice children
into churches. Each story is followed, however, by a rationalist,
ethical critique of the story that draws upon the best modern
scholarship concerning the Bible.

American Atheist

SUPERNATURAL
SAL VATXON-CRUSADXNG
by Robert K MacDonald
White American evangelicals by
87 percent supported the decision to
invade Iraq. Some leaders, like Rev.
Franklin Graham, claimed the invasion would create exciting new prospects for proselytizing Muslims. (1)
Tim LaHaye hailed the invasion as
"a focal point in end-time events." In
2004, Rev. Jerry Falwell wrote "God
is pro-war."
This essay uses the theoretical
works of many psychoanalytic cultural anthropologists and diagnostic
critics of our 'spiritualized' foreign
policies to suggest deep emotional
connections between the repressed
but haunting horror of inescapable
personal death and the obsessivecompulsive 'redemption reassurance'
found in the recent global military
campaigns of America's salvationseekers. It examines their self-righteous missions to evangelize and

Americanize the world. It connects

Christian Chauvinist morality-theology with our self-anointed role as
God's Global Police Force. It suggests
emotionally compelling religious
causes for some of our most dangerous and regrettable imperialist
adventures since 1953, when, for
example, the CIA conspired shortsightedly to install and control Shah
Reza Pahlevi as America's brutal
puppet-ruler of oil-rich Iran (for
25 years, 1954-1979). The humiliations caused by that re-colonization
policy provoked the many explosive
Islamic-fascist retaliations that we
are tangled in today.
This investigation also connects
the increasingly popular evangelical
End-Time biblical prophesy-fantasies
of excited and impatient eternal-life
pretenders with their heavily funded
Christian-American/Israeli-Zionist

Robert K. MacDonald
holds a BA in Philosophy
from Boston University, an MA in History from
University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in History of Ideas
from Brandeis University. He has taught history, government, and philosophy for 44 years. He was a peace
activist from the 1950s to the 1980s, when he was the
principal founder and head of the Hawaii Society for
American-Soviet
Friendship. He tried to persuade
Soviet peace leaders to end the Cold War unilaterally.
He receives e-mail at<drmacdon1932@cox.net>
This article was published previously in the Marchi
April issue of the American Rationalist.

Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

programs designed to hasten the outbreak of Armageddon and the longawaited biblical promise of Rapture
to eternal life. (2) It also links
Christian America's traditional (high
hubris) 'chosen nation' propagandabelief with its imperialist military
and political control of the Muslim
Middle East. (3)
The psychological phenomena
analyzed are: invidious separation
of 'chosen' and 'not-chosen' peoples,
Manichean 'displacement
projection' of all inner evil motives onto
strategically selected non-Christian
scapegoat-target groups; disguised
political use of biblical intimidationterrorism; spiking up of neurotic and
apocalyptic redemption-purification
obsessions; 'transference' of eternal
personal glorification fantasies onto
sacrosanct national, military and
religious-groups; and retardation of
the maturation of critical thinking
and intellectual development processes (cultural neoteny). (4)
Because salvation-seekers fear
most that their almighty supernatural Redeemer may be only imaginary,
they crave sensational reassurance.
They love heroic, sacrificial, and testimonial demonstrations and celebrations of their Redeemer's almighty
power. Their yearning for ultimate
victory over the fatality of earthly
mortality is emotionally supported by
His Holy Wars and His Resurrection
Page 39

In this age of rapid global overpopulation, hyperaccelerated democratization, widespread ecosystem degradation, and nuclear proliferation, we have a survival imperative to understand the disguised emotional causes of chronic war-making.
of their own courageous martyrs and inside both victors and vanquished.
loyal supporters. They love dramatic (5) When ethnic groups who are
artillery salutes and the deep rumble emotionally addicted to testamentary wars recover from one disaster,
of church organs.
Because each 'chosen group' they often yearn sub-consciously for
pretends to have its own divinely another exciting chance to vindicate
guaranteed exclusive monopoly on their romantic ideologies, utopian
miraculous
eternal
patrimonial
dreams, or underlying eternal salvaidentity, major monotheistic salva- tion -cravings.
tion religions naturally evolve into
Nationalist, fascist, and commurivalrous, ultra-competitive, millen- nist crusaders believe and behave
nial war-machines - however cam- in many analogous ways to previous
ouflaged they are by promises of love, generations of religious evangelists
compassion, and forgiveness. Each because victory over personal death
group believes that it has the ulti- is such a deep and powerful speciesmate exclusive victory-privilege that
specific fantasy that it tends to be
the God-forsaken 'left-behinds' will sublimated into many cultural, social
never possess. Because the 'stakes' and political forms (6). Mein Kampf
of salvation groups are the highest (My Struggle) is really always our
humanly imaginable (eternal bliss struggle (7). The specific charismatic
vs. eternal tortures), it should not be leaders who are blamed for massive
surprising that the most protracted
enthusiasm-disasters
are usually
military conflicts have been and still just doing what their tens of millions
of grand-spectacle audience-direcare 'testamentary' holy wars.
The mass slaughters of unnec- tors are begging them to do - that
essary symbolic crusades like our is, to rekindle their great romantic
fifteen-year Vietnam debacle fre- redemptive exhilaration, their lust
quently go on long after their failures for victory over death. After they
have become very apparent to critical recover from their devastation, they
are ready for their boot-heels to go
minds. Modern charismatic totalitarwandering.
They yearn to get high on
ian ideologies like Islam, Christianity,
Stalinism, and Maoism generate and a righteous campaign for glory. The
sustain mass-mentality serial ideol- cyclical generational tragedy kicks
ogy-wars and heavy intimidation of in, and Protestants are singing "If
free speech because they are based. God be with us who can be against
on powerfully desperate wishful us?!" Maoists, Bathists, and jihadists
delusions that are so objectively frag- are again chanting, "A people united
ile and prevaricated that they cannot can never be defeated!!" (8)
Because leaders of organized
withstand sustained public criticism
supernatural
religions encourage
from well-informed and articulate
opponents. Deprogramming millions their emotionally trapped inmates
to be anti-intellectual, anti-scienof hyped-up true make-believers
away from their obsessive glory- tific, and fearful of critical-analytical
campaigns requires much realistic thinking, the propagandized citizens
psychoanalytic awareness and much frequently elect leaders who best dramatize their own mass-ignorance. In
thankless altruistic courage.
Fueling the tenacious fervor of this age of rapid global overpopulamilitary campaigns, there is always tion, hyperaccelerated democratizaa long and deeply imprinted subcon- tion, widespread ecosystem degradascious cultural history of collective tion, and nuclear proliferation, we
religious struggle for victory over have a survival imperative to underdeath. The lust for redemption from stand the disguised emotional causes
mortality remains emotionally strong of chronic war-making.

Page 40

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

Because this essay offers a psychological etiology of the dishonest

and reckless course of our government's open-ended holy war against
'evil' in the Middle East, it is both an
indictment-selected historic narrative
of the most relevant recent examples
of blindly spiritualized US imperialism and a social psychology of its
narcissistic and insensitive Christian
Chauvinism. As an updating of the
traditional theme-song of America's
Divine Manifest Destiny, the essay
analyzes the global terrorist game of
playing anointed Good Guys in the
apocalyptic, 60,000-nuclear-weapons
race with the USSR; the Doomsday
strategies and psychotactics of our
global Christian Crusade Against
(Atheist) Communism; and the moralistic cover propaganda used to
grease-up US military control of the
Mid-East half of the world's rapidly
dwindling oil reserves for decades
prior to - and thousands of casualties
since - the retaliations of 9/11/0l.
In the 2004 presidential election
campaign voters were repeatedly
shown old TV reruns of John Kerry
telling Congress about the many
atrocities of our Vietnam disaster.
This infuriated many Christian vigilante-voters. In the 'hates and minds'
of millions of citizens who always
support their government during its
salvation-based morality-wars, Kerry
committed both treason and blasphemy by embarrassing veterans of
our sacrosanct armed forces. He was
media-bombarded as a "traitor" and
defeated by more than three million
votes. He learned that our spiteful
Christian vigilantes actually believe
that their warriors are angels in
armor. Fantasy immortality comes
with guiltless victory.
In
1898,
when
President
McKinley hijacked the Spanish
Empire, he claimed that God advised
him to civilize and Christianize the
Filipinos. In three genocidal years
220,000 of the natives had died. Most
of our foreign wars have been sancti-

American Atheist

fied to demonstrate and vindicate the

traditional delusion that Christian
America was anointed to ferret out
evil around the world, and triumph
innocently and gloriously over injustices and death.
With Old Glory blowing in the
wind and "God bless America,"
drowning out wise voices of dissent,
imperialistic immortality-crusaders
usually want to see no ethical shades
of gray, no overlap of good and evil
coming through their psychomyopic
lenses. In our nation's many remote
offensive wars, faith-based patriots

allowed to admit any responsibility for promoting their own sadistic

holocaustic terrorism - disguising it
as messages from God.
We hope to show how the psychological habit of displacing their own
guilt onto others prevents US salvationists from understanding the real
reasons why Muslim 'terrorists' have
been attacking us. We caused the
'war on terror' by building many dozens of permanent military bases in
the Islamic Middle East. During the
past 50 years, we have gained control
of most of the dictatorships that sup-

modern times. While Becker was

briefly a 'shock and awe' Pulitzer
winner for a few elite intellectuals,
he was not appreciated in American
Christian communities, where powerfully institutionalized and fiercely
defended supernatural fantasies are
sheltered and protected from psychoanalytic exposure. Yet, in the three
decades since Becker died, those fundamentalists who offer simple and
immanent personal salvation, to the
neglect of other religious concerns,
have expanded massively while other
denominations have declined.

The unexamined presumption of our own innocence in wars is a Christian habit that
flows naturally from the tendency of crusaders in general to block out any psychological self-insight by which they could recognize that what they believe about Heaven
and Hell or God and the Devil is a displacement-projection
of their own omnipotence
fantasy-desires and their own wrathful scapegoating of the evil ones.
have seen their armed forces only as
liberators, protectors, peacemakers,
or altruistic arbitrators. Even our
'liberals' narvely assume or publicly
pretend that our government did not
invade Iraq fully intending to permanently occupy that nation and exploit
its virgin oil reserves.
The unexamined presumption
of our own innocence in wars is a
Christian habit that flows naturally
from the tendency of crusaders in
general to block out any psychological self-insight by which they could
recognize that what they believe
about Heaven and Hell or God and
the Devil is a displacement-projection of their own omnipotence fantasy-desires and their own wrathful
scapegoating of the evil ones. Their
projection of an eternal burning of
non-Christians over and over is a
desire propagated by Christians who
foolishly pretend that the real pyromaniac sadists are Satan and God!
Redemption 'revelations' are human
fantasies projected onto mythical
characters. Eternal torture is what
Christians and Muslims subconsciously want to have done to skeptics who cast doubt on their supernatural resurrection-dramas.
Like
the rest of us, religionists always
write and direct their own emotional
fantasy-scripts. But, they never are
Parsippany, New Jersey

press the enraged populations of that

recolonized area. (9)
Psychoanalytic cultural anthropologists have long believed that
the most powerful fantasy aspects of
human cultures evolved as ritualized
group-ways of pacifying the terrifying
feelings of unavoidable vulnerability
to personal annihilation by violence,
sickness, or old age. (10) The most
fully developed presentations of the
chronic-traumatic death-horror syndrome were published by Professor
Ernest Becker in his Denial of Death
(1973, 1997) and Escape From Evil
(1975). From religious works, cultural anthropology, history, psychoanalysis, and many related fields he
assembled massive and persuasive
scholarly evidence to support the
theory that the almighty terror of
inevitable personal obliteration has
produced the most powerfully collectivized emotions of every culture.
He also claimed that throughout history, the massive violent revolutions,
crusades, and sanctified empires
that were made to achieve redemptive justice, eternal utopias, global
civilization or victory over death usually created greater destruction and
evils with new desperately delusional
escapes from death-anxiety. He even
tried to explain why these behavior
patterns may be getting worse in
Jan-FebMar 2005

Some experts have speculated

that members of primitive tribal
societies may have suffered less than
'modern mortals' from personal obliteration-anxiety because pre-civilized
communal groups lived in a smoothly
continuous flow of ceremonies by
which all their 'souls' were believed
to be magically recycled through spirit-pools of ancestors, totem animals,
and newborn children. That speculation may be antiquarian because
around 588BCE a perfect paradigm
for sublimating mortality-anxiety
was invented.
During an age of massive armies
and colossal Persian empires (from
India to Libya), a world-conquering
propaganda-religion, Zoroastrianism,
began the long process of replacing
local or tribal soul-recycling with a
glorious personal immortality granted by an almighty cosmic emperor
- Ahura Mazda, later known as
Yahweh, God, or Allah. (11) His imperialist priests revealed to Iranian
kings and emperors that the meaning
and purpose of human earth-life was
an epic-historic war of 'good' against
'evil.' At the end-time Judgment Day,
those who had crusaded for converts
to His great struggle would be raised
from death to eternal personal lives
in Paradise, while His enemies would
be condemned to the eternal tortures
Page 41

The highest virtues and values of efficient militarism became the dominant
tional emotions and ideals of great evangelical global religions.
of Hell (12). Winning God's wars and
converting the maximum numbers of
souls before the end of time became
the hyperactive, civilized evangelical
way of triumphing over the acutechronic death-horror endemic to all
human consciousness. The highest
virtues and values of efficient militarism (unquestioning permanent
patriarchal loyalty, zero disobedience-tolerance, heroism -exaltation,
glorious self-sacrifice, blind collective
certainty, and legendary triumphalism) became the dominant operational emotions and ideals of great
evangelical global religions.
Worshipping, obeying, fighting and dying for the Lord whose
omnipotence would raise the chosen
dead to a life of everlasting purified bliss was such an unbeatable
motivation-ideology that 'latter-day'
imperialist Christians and Muslims,
like Constantine, Muhammad, Pope
Urban II, and their successors, developed the complete Iranian salvationarchosis so efficiently that, by modern times, their warriors conquered,
humbled, and converted most of
humanity. For monotheists, 'earthlife' without the reward of personal
immortality became despised, and all
false salvation-cultures were brutally
scapegoated as evil corruptions of the
(obsessive)
obedience-purification
life-ways demanded by God/Allah.
Most members of our prostheticarmed killer-ape species became
permanently
emotionally hooked
and twisted on the simple-minded
Orwellian double-think terrorist
anomaly whereby 'freedom' to choose
meant either convert or be eternally
tortured in Hell. The deep inner
hatred of inevitable personal death
became permanent pyromaniac displacement-projection of all their
inner fears, weaknesses, and hatreds
onto external satanic 'scapegoat peoples.' Those not chosen for Heaven
were splattered with psychonapalm
so the salvation-seekers could feel
that they were purging themselves of
all evil and feeling proudly like they
were unquestionably the group truly
Page 42

destined for blissful everlasting life

with the Cosmic Father.
In the millennial history of the
anarchic natural selection of competing cultures, the highly efficient cosmic central-command psychosystem
of hypermotivated militarism annihilated or assimilated local primitive poly-centric paganisms, just as
sycophant imperial Persian priests
originally designed it to do. Rulers,
ruler-classes,
ruler-nations,
and
ruler-religions perfected this highstakes mass psychology of wrathful
holy terror and glorious personal
divinity-fantasy to proclaim their
divine anointment, to eliminate all
critics and rivals, and to conquer and
maintain far-flung, sacred salvationconfirming 'chosen empires.' When
Christian and Islamic versions of
this totalitarian emotional-organization system splintered into jealous,
mutually-exclusive, rival immortality-imitators, each 'chosen' group
competed for demonstrable primacy
in purity-piety salvation-dominance.
So, even today there is much violent
rivalry centered on launch-pads to
Heaven like Jerusalem and Mecca.
And Arabs still quote Muhammad's
famous saying, "Amartyr in Baghdad
equals seventy (martyrs) anywhere
else."
Judaic Transmission of
Monotheist Militarism
Our millennial cultural heritage
of monotheist militarism was not
brought to the West or to Muslims
directly through Persian scriptures.
We know about military Mazdaism
mainly through Jewish sources (13).
It appears in the Old Testament
and the Revelations of St. John.
Many historians of early monotheism are convinced that during the
mid-6th century BCE, after the
Jewish intellectuals held captive in
Babylon were liberated (538BCE)and
befriended by Persian emperors and
scholars, a blending of Judaism and
Zoroastrianism took place. However,
the most extreme apocalyptic varieties of Jewish (and Christian) funJan-Feb-Mar 2006

opera-

damentalism emerged only later in

the holocaustic period of the Roman
devastations of Palestine (14).
Most
contemporary
experts
seem to consider the marauding
'serial genocide' narratives of the
Old Testament to be pseudohistorical Judaic wishful revenge fantasies
and tribal identity-myths of Semitic
groups that were dominated for centuries by many devastating imperial
occupations of the Near East area
(15). In a deeper psychoanalytic
vein, a desperate mass-yearning for
a Redeemer from the extreme tortures of chronic wars, enslavements,
mass crucifixions, and humiliations
in the ancient Near East seems psychopathogenic enough as to require
no empirical intervention from the
heavens.
While the sacred historic inspiration-literature for the monotheist
militarism of latter-day Christian
and Muslim 'crusading' came from
the Old Testament, the Jews may
never have attained very extensive
military power themselves. In contemporary western nations they
have assimilated into secular societies and kept their religion safely
locked in its separatist non-crusading 'ethnic identity' box. The territorial seizures of modern Israel have
not been globally evangelical like
those of Christians and Muslims.
What makes them a potential fuse
for holocaustic-nuclear war is the
heavy financing and encouragement
of Kookist types of Zionism by apocalyptic evangelical Americans producing the likely defensive-reactive use
of weapons of mass-destruction by
angry Muslim militants and emerging nuclear Islamic republics like
Pakistan and Iran (16).
Because of religious insanity, the
nation of Israel is situated in such a
vulnerable scapegoat-location and is
surrounded by so many accelerating
eruptions of suicidal Islamic scapegoat-hatreds that it seems, sadly,
most likely to be the first totally
annihilated casualty in the next holy
war of mass destruction. Desperate
American Atheist

As had happened also in our earlier

wars against Indians, Mexicans, and
Filipinos, throughout this dishonest,
intelligence-faked, and disastrous
crusade the Christian majority of the
US population never opposed their
government. Their deep emotional
The Dangers of Scapegoat
marriage to their Redeemer kept
'Displacement- Projection'
the vast majority of 'God's children'
piously obedient to what St. Paul
Down through the crusading
called "the powers that be, ordained
centuries when spiritual purification
by God." Their promised Biblical
and charismatic militaristic exhilareward for remaining the silent
ration were emotionally welded
majority was immortality instead of
together, worried salvation-seekers
damnation (Romans 13).
in each terrorized immortality-colOur current born-again presilective searched desperately for ways
dent, George W. Bush, seems wedded
to unload, dump, and 'displace' their
to the belief that dramatic affirmaown 'dirty' inner feelings of rebellion
tion, reassurance, and vindication for
(OedipallElectra-impulses),
sinfulour earth-stewardship and the eterness, dishonesty, gnawing guilt, selfnal heavenly lives of most Americans
ish animal traits, evil thoughts, and
is at stake in the outcome of every
personal deathsacred military
clock anguish. Foremost among charismatic,
crusade
we are
god-like, modern attitudeTheir craving
'called by God'
cleansers was the great wrathful evangelist Martin Luther, to initiate. His
for purgation
produced
a the father of militant populist Protestant evil-purgation.
good-old-boy
never-ending
Texan-predesearch for 'outhouse' scapegoat tar- their personal career 'callings' from cessor, Lyndon Johnson, may have
get-groups (pagans, heretics, infidels, their god that, by the twentieth cen- had a glimmer of that spiritual consinners) onto whom salvation-seek- tury, they owned most of the world's nection when he likened his long
ers could massively 'project,' excrete, wealth and military power (17).
Vietnam War to a challenge to "bring
America's longest mass-purgaor alienate their own inner uncleanthe coon-skin home and hang it on
ness. The most dramatic mass-purga- tion scapegoat-crusade was our 15- the wall." He sensed that all wars
tion solution became 'morality wars' year war to control Southeast Asia. are salvationary, at least for providthat provided unlimited emotion- A typically bipartisan Cold War ing Holy Grail trophies, relics, and
government, with no congressional martyrabilia that symbolize personal
ally-solidified, socially-sanctioned,
self-cleansing opportunities for psy- protest, with blessings from preach- and group-triumph over the hated
cho-displacement of inner irrever- ers and cardinals, with thousands of mortality of what the Mormons call
ence, disobedience-recalcitrance and high-flying B-52 missions, unloaded 'earth-life.'
death-anxieties onto the 'obvious' more total explosive bomb tonnage
We shall try to explain how our
enemies of God/Allah, the projected on millions of innocent, anti-colo- recent 50-year string of global dominial, rice-farming Vietnamese than nance-demonstrations
cosmic Obedience-Trainer.
may have
had previously been dropped by all been driven by something emotionForemost among charismatic,
nations in all wars combined! This ally deeper than pragmatic economic
god-like, modern attitude-cleansers
was the great wrathful evangelist symbolic machismo-war began when and military considerations. It may
liberal Democrats behind Kennedy have been triggered by a nuclear
Martin Luther, the father of militant
and Johnson went all out to prove annihilation spike in the death-horpopulist Protestant evil-purgation.
His favorite gritty outhouse scape- that their 'creeping socialist' party ror and salvation-obsessed emotions
goat-slogan was "Dirt to the Devil was not sissy-pinko-soft on the evil of post-Hiroshima, Armageddon-Age
and Prayers to God."His anti-Semitic Communists (as Republicans had American Christians. During the
tirades were more scathing than frequently claimed). The long tough- past half-century, we have been so
ness-demonstration
ended when abundantly productive, commercially
those of modern Nazis. His strident
demands for comprehensive reform God's global governors flew back to sophisticated, financially networked,
of Roman Catholic Churches ignited their homeland with no apology, no massively-armed. and diplomatically
centuries ofwidely devastating salva- explanation, and, as we now can see skilled that we could have purchased,
tion-competitive religious wars. The in Iraq, no lesson learned about the financed. or finessed whatever we
infinite-power-worshipping
hymns perils of fantasy-based imperialism. needed from all other governments
delusions create tragically fatal
blindness. It seems very unlikely that
the large imperialist powers could
protect Israel if and when a self-fulfilling evangelical Armageddon actually happens.

Parsippany, New Jersey

he wrote are still Protestant favorites today; his evangelical crusading

still emotionally rules the majority of
redemption-wrapped Americans.
Americans added their own
imperial battle hymns and "Onward
Christian Soldier" motivators as
they expanded their military power
from sea to sea and continent to
continent. Many puritanical salvation-elite Calvinist groups added a
strong emphasis on the theology of
God's 'chosen' individuals, churches,
and nations to Protestant America's
grandiose delusions of predestined
world-stewardship
and
eternal
rewards. Life-long anxiety about
their predestined salvation-status,
either with God's 'elect' or the eternally damned, drove Protestants to
become so compulsively industrious
and competitive about success in

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 43

and peoples of the world, including ately leaked the fact that our forces began recruiting just a hundred
Communists. That was Nixon's belief in Europe had no fall-back plan for years ago. They now claim more
when he established comprehensive conventional war. Any break-through
than 30 million USA members and
detente with our greatest enemies. of their defenses would automatically
530 million members globally. (19)
Our crusader governments have not trigger a massive retaliation nuclear They are focused on their distincreally needed to load many trillions attack on the USSR.
tive and defining obsession, their
of dollars for Doomsday weapons,
Super
crusaders
like Billy specially anointed Pentecost mission:
star-wars projects, and unnecessary
Graham preached to tens of mil- "The heathen must first receive the
morality-war debts onto our chil- lions of frightened citizens across the Gospel" before Christ will return to
dren and grandchildren, unless, of nation. With a resonant voice and take his faithful children back home
course, our politicians and preachers
smooth confidence of a Savior, the to Heaven. They have been powerfulwere mobilizing their highly profit- preacher offered psychotic, blessed ly motivated by the emotional belief
able political flocks by staging the assurance: "Let the atomic bombs that Christ will return sooner if their
extravagant emotional fantasy game fall. When you turn your life over recruitment missions are more sucof vindicating America's exalted sal- to Jesus, all your worries are over." cessful. (20)
vation-status before worMost fundamentalshipful domestic Christian The most rapidly
ists
exemplify
the social
expanding Christian
voters and terrified global
and psychological aspects
group, the Pentecostals, began recruiting of what cultural anthroaudiences.
Our current
Great just a hundred years ago. They now claim
pologists call maturation
Redemption
Revival
that is, retention
more than 30 million USA members and neoteny,
began during the nervous
of infantile and adolescent
mushroom-clouded early 530 million members globally.
emotional traits throughdecades of the nuclear
out the adult stages of life.
Armageddon race when millions of Our presidents all loved this god-like (21) They want to be 'God's children'
our worried wayward citizens flocked nuclear-terror team-player, and not more than anything else. They crave
back into their houses of worship, one of them ever considered making omnipotent patriarchal protection
into colossal spiritualized sports sta- a prevent-Armageddon friendship
from life and death on earth. They
diums and megachurches that seated visit to Moscow or Beijing until 1972 cloister themselves and their families
many thousands who believed falsely when Quaker-raised Nixon went away from modern science and critithat safety and truth lay in numbers. to both cities to establish dozens cal thinking. They are strongly condiPsychohistorians agree that, "When of cooperative trade and arms-con- tioned to trust and obey exalted govpeople are frightened they cling trol policies leading us away from ernmental and supernatural authormore tightly to false certainties." (18) Doomsday. But, after a brief, 3-year, ity. In our dangerous age of global
After World War II, the USA could sanity-and-survival detente, the pro- holy wars, proliferation of nuclear
have established peaceful, safe, and fessional Manichean Cold Warriors weapons and massive degradation of
friendly relations with almost every returned to the more popular pro- our global biosphere, it is very frightwar-ravaged communist government vocative-apocalyptic, go-ahead-make- ening to realize that our militaristic
in the world. But, this sane policy my-Doomsday, ash -hea p-of-history government is democratically elected
was not adopted. Instead, all our style of US leadership. Generals in by many millions of these emotionalmajor national leaders except Henry the Pentagon's High Frontier space- ly and intellectually retarded people.
Wallace and Nixon chose to promote war program boasted publicly that
They control every branch of our
the hateful Cold War as a "better- we could easily win a nuclear war federal government and hundreds
dead-than-red," high-noon showdown with the USSR. Even today, as the of school boards in Middle America.
against far weaker, but 'diabolical' USA plunges deeper into a great They have heavily sponsored bills
rivals. Staring in the crusade-direc- unnecessary and unpredictable holy in Congress to make it legal for taxtor role of Pope Urban II, Secretary war with defensive-explosive Islamic exempt churches to become political
of State John F. Dulles heightened fascists, videos of Billy Graham's old campaign centers. They actively
atom-bomb sermons are now being evangelize in all branches of the
global alarm when he announced that
our most effective strategy included rebroadcast often on global-satellite armed services. In recent years, they
going to the brink of nuclear war. End-time evangelical Christian TV almost succeeded in converting the
networks. The warped mentality of US Air Force Academy in Colorado
Every presidential administration
from 1948 onwards announced that terrorist evangelism, where choosing into an evangelical seminary. (22)
we reserved the right to again be the 'freely' not to be one of those who will
While all that was happening,
first to use atomic bombs. Nationwide be burned over and over forever, is like the famous Sherlock Holmes
now more popular than ever.
A-bomb drills and underground-shelclue-dog, our tens of millions of
The
most
rapidly
expanding
ter-building campaigns added to the
highly-educated publicly prominent
tensions. One administration deliber- Christian group, the Pentecostals,
and influential closet-Atheist liberPage 44

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

Unaware that our military expansionism caused the current war with Muslims,
the narrow-minded US Christian majority still has the childish belief that we were
attacked on 9/11 only because the terrorists are evil.
als never barked. They never asked
their Christian friends if they really
wanted to see all skeptics burned
forever.That was always thought to
be too much of an honest cultural
'coming out' for the stealthy liberal
opposition party. They rarely if ever
watched the many apocalyptic Endtime global salvation TV networks;
and, paralyzed by fears of being discovered as un-religious, they avoided
facing the many signs that the makebeliever crusaders were winning over
the majority of the nation and finally
going after the whole world - with
50-mm guns a-blazin'.
Our liberals are still far from
publicly admitting that, in this time
of deepening Middle East holy war,
the apocalyptic biblical-terrorism projected nightly onto our big national
psycho-screen of God-Devil-HeavenHell is transparently very similar
to pre-holocaust scapegoat projection-desires that quickly became
genocidal realities when Hitler, the
most wildly popular god-man in all of
Christian German history, was given
the almighty crematory powers that
millions of frustrated holy-nation,
Gott-Mit-Uns,
ethnic-purification
crusaders had yearned for generations to see actualized. Ironically, in
the Orwellian reverse-meaning terminology of warped Christianity, the
genocidal Nazi period has since been
inappropriately called the Unheilige
Jahre (Unholy Years). Before their
holocaust, Christian Germans passed
many racist hate-laws, but had no
idea of 'hate-crimes.' Their favorite
banner slogan "Macht Deutschland
Marxismus Frei!" had a well understood 'final solution' sub-text: "Make
the world free of Jews!"
The current US propaganda
and military campaign to bring 'free
speech' to the whole world is hypocritical, because freedom to publicly
criticize basic mainstream supernatural religious beliefs has never
been tolerated in the USA, especially
because they were always powerfully

Parsippany, New Jersey

combined with nation-sanctification

and redemption-crusading. You can
criticize religion in public if you want
to sacrifice or seriously damage your
career. Your job personnel file in
the administration building may be
filled with Christian hate-letters and
your phone-recorder may play back
Christian violence-threats. The dangerous myths that biblical terrorism
is harmless and that religion exists
in a separate reality from our government and its foreign policies have
been perpetuated by every silenced
citizen who is afraid of being labeled
or punished for being disrespectful
of religious beliefs. Prissy and polite
philosophical discussions of religion
have been permitted in the safe confines of our universities, and criticism
of religion exists in a few low circulation free thought magazines. But
these tributary areas of free speech
do not reach the masses and have
not protected us from dangerous salvation-imperialism when almost all
wars are emotionally religious and
every major religious group has its
own nuclear weapons.
The majority of US fundamentalist Christians do not read 'reality
writings' in fields like social psychology,evolution sciences, global imperialism, and religion criticism. Millions
have been clerically conditioned to
believe the falsehood that the staffmembers of the New York Times,
the ACLU and CNN are unpatriotic professional America-bashers.
Consequently, the closed-minded,
'God's children' voter-majority is not
aware that the USA already has a
military presence in 120 of the 189
member states of the United Nations.
(23) They also do not know that, for
15 years, our government has been
establishing large US army bases,
air bases, naval stations, command
centers, espionage facilities, detailed
invasion plans, military access-agreements and other installations necessary to take immediate control of the
Persian Gulf petroleum industry if

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

that should suddenly serve American

interests (24). Our huge military
bases in and around sacred Saudi
Arabia explain why 15 of the 19
suicidal 9/11 hijackers were Saudis
and one was from UA Emirates, next
to Saudi Arabia. God's children do
not know that their Vice President's
former
employer,
Halliburton
Corporation, has contracts to build
14 permanent military bases in Iraq
alone. (25) Unaware that our military
expansionism caused the current war
with Muslims, the narrow-minded
US Christian majority still has the
childish belief that we were attacked
on 9/11 only because the terrorists
are evil.
Americans have forgotten that
citizen-violence against an occupying
foreign army was how the USA was
founded in 1776. Homeland defense
is a natural human instinct. In the 13
American colonies territorial defenders committed hundreds of violent
terrorist acts against the professional occupying foreign armies and
mercenaries of the sanctified British
Empire, against British merchants,
officials, and their American Tory
collaborators, those loyal to the
Redcoats. Muslims consider any
nation mostly inhabited by Muslims
to be part of their spiritual homeland. When the Soviet Red Army
occupied Afghanistan we gave massive military support to al-Qaeda.
Myopic religious imperialism blinds
Christian Americans to the obvious
fact that we are now the invaders.
What President Bush repeatedly has called his "crusade" to bring
free elections to the Muslim world is
deliberately disingenuous, misleading, and hypocritical because honest professional political scientists
and even some of our many friendly
Muslim dictators privately claim that
'real democracy' in western Muslim
nations would quickly enable violently anti-American Muslim-Republic
militants to vote their leaders into
power replacing all the dictators now

Page 45

controlled by the USA. This already

happened in Algeria, Iran, and
Palestine. The US Christian votermajority wants to be kept in the dark
about the many major dishonesties
of our government because they are
powerfully conditioned and fantasyfaith-pressured to trust, believe, and
obeyexalted holy authority, especially
when God's children have elected the
government themselves. The mass
media perpetuate this situation by
excluding radical critics from their
programming. The religious conservatives and liberal moderates debate
about how to win what is an immoral
imperialist war. The top university
researcher on suicide-bombers discovered that 90% of the hundreds
of cases he studied around the globe
from 1980-2005 were cases where
the suicide-martyrs were fighting
against foreign military occupation
of sacred territories. (26)
The USA has become the real
Almighty God of the World, and its
Great Satan. To boost its image of
invulnerability, it has been building
a whole new generation of previously-banned, bunker-busting tactical nuclear weapons, which Israeli
planes may be fitted to use. Our
government has also stimulated
several new nuclear arms races by
its threatening attitudes and lack
of respect for other peoples around
the globe. One typical example of
our self-defeating tutelary insensitivity to foreigners is the fact that our
government has still not provided
top-caliber weapons, body armor, or
vehicle-armor for the Iraqi military
and police that our pious, faithful,
gullible Christian-majority has long
been told will bring peace to Iraq
(27). For that reason the job-desperate Iraqi military and police personnel usually stand duty without
protection, are generally packed into
very light, porous pickup trucks and
have long been the main casualties,
the show-piece propaganda ducks in
Iraq's US-occupied shooting gallery.
Need we wonder why most opinion
polls show that the majority of Iraq's
citizens want the USA to end the
occupation of their nation?
Crusaders do sometimes wise
Page 46

up. From 1986-1991 a very smart

generation of non-religious, crusadeexhausted, Pershing- Missile-terrified
Soviet leaders suddenly called an
end to the big holocaustic globaldominance game, abolished their own
empire, and abandoned their truebeliever brand of socialism. They
remembered sanely that 25 million of
their citizens were killed and several
times that number were wounded
or permanently
traumatized
by
the Nazi-fascist crusader-holocaust.
But since then, our slow-learner
Christian government has publicly
announced that its highest military
priority is to prevent any new powerrival, like China or Islam, ever again
to challenge the permanent global
supremacy of the USA (28).
Now it appears that Iran will
soon become the second major
Muslim power to have nuclear
weapons. Americans have forgotten, but Iranians remember that
we overthrew their democratically
supported anti-colonial president
Mohammed Mossadegh to prevent
him from 'nationalizing' Iran's giant
oil industry. With CIA advisors and
trainers in all the federal power institutions, the puppet Shah we installed
accelerated the westernizing of many
wealthy and middle-class Iranians,
jailed and tortured thousands of
religious, nationalist, and communist
critics, 'secured' Iran's petroleum for
US, British, and French corporations,
and purchased for Iran more highpowered American weapons than the
Persian Gulf area had ever seen.
The burning humiliations
of
Muslims generated by this shortsighted and insensitive re-colonization-project provoked the great fury
of the Islamic Revolution that has
raged in the Middle East since the
Ayatollah Khomeini inspired angry
Muslims to drive the USA out of
their religious territories. Many subsequent US military interventions
in Muslim nations and the steady
biblically-sanctified expansion of USbacked chosen-nation Zionist territorial seizures and settlements in parts
of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon
further inflamed defensive Islamic
retaliations into something like the
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

vicious vengeful infernos prophesied

in ancient scripture-terrorisms. Only
by the supreme delusions of religion
could Jews believe that they would
be safe in Palestine, the worst possible place in the world to build their
Jewish homeland. The most recent
angry threat that Israel "should be
wiped off the map" just came on 1026-05 from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
the newly elected popular president
of nuclear-bound Iran (29). For centuries Muslims claimed that Jews
were descended from dogs and monkeys. Christians believed that Native
Americans were the Devil's people.
In the US book-publishing industry, the best selling and most popular
works have been on the theme of
those who will soon be "left behind" to
be tortured in a hell on earth versus
those Christians who are beamed up
as eternally pure-in-body-and-soul.
Muslim warriors were taught for
centuries that Allah gives highest
paradise rewards to jihad martyrs.
Likewise, many charlatan Christian
preachers still tell their emotionally
captive audiences that God judges us
on our ability to overcome enemies
and adversities.
Our cautious liberals may eventually be able to maneuver us out
of Iraq after tens of thousands more
combatants and civilians are maimed
or killed. But, New-Testamentary
foreign wars loom as opportunities
on the horizon, especially in the
Muslim Middle East. The liberals
who do not like unnecessary wars can
only escape from their self-defeating
fear of Christian crusaders by coming out and aggressively educating
open-minded citizens to understand
and expose the many authoritarian,
imperialist and totalitarian aspects
of mainstream Christianity. If and
when millions of US closet-agnostics
do finally come out bravely and join
the political culture-war as aggressive public critics of religion, many
may lose votes, promotions, and jobs
for a while, but they will be educating a new enlightened and sensitive
American majority that will avoid
enraging non-Christians around the
globe.
~
(footnotes are on next page)

American Atheist

Dillard Wilson Henderson

May 3, 1929 - November 26, 2005
American
Atheists
lost
a
loyal and long-term supporter on
November 26 of last year when
Dillard (Dill) Henderson died at the
Ann Arbor Hospice in Michigan. He
had fought a long and valiant fight
against metastasized prostate cancer. Dill was an identical twin, but
his brother (who also has prostate
cancer) is a devout Christian. The
condition ofthe brother is unknown
at the time of writing.
An eclectic member and participant in many Atheist and
Freethought groups, Dill was an
enthusiastic supporter of Detroit
Atheists and other affiliates of
American Atheists. He authored
many letters to the editor of this
journal. He also was a supporter
and promoter of "Gilda's Club," a
support group for the families of
cancer victims.
Born in East St. Louis, Dill
lived in Royal Oak, Michigan, for

References
1. New York Times, 1-20-06.
2. Grace Halsell, Forcing God's Hand
(1999); Prophesy and Politics: Militant
Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War

(1986).
3. Anonymous

(Michael

Scheuer)

Hubris (2004); Robert Baer,

With the Devil (2003); David
Frum and Richard Perle, An End to
Evil (2004).
4. Weston LaBarre, Shadow
of
Childhood: Neoteny and the Biology of
Religion (1991).
5. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
(1997),pp. xi-xvi, 11-175;Escape From
Evil (1995).
6. Ibid; Becker, op. cit. Denial; Robert
J. Lifton, Revolutionary
Immortality:
Mao-Tse-Tung
and
the
Chinese
Cultural Revolution
(1968). Professor
Imperial
Sleeping

Lifton is the most prolific of our psychoanalytic experts on war and religious violence.
7.Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology
of Fascism (1976), pp. 1-69; Daniel
Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler's
Willing
Parsippany, New Jersey

the past twenty years. He was a

1947 graduate of Washington High
School in Indianapolis, Indiana,
where he was in the marching
band and a member of the ROTC.
He was a 1955 graduate of Indiana
University, from which he was able
to graduate in three years, thanks
to the GI Bill for which he qualified as an Air Force veteran of the
Korean War.
Serving for a while as a professor of mathematics at Mott College
in Flint, Michigan, he ultimately
retired in 1992 after thirty years as
an industrial engineer with General
Motors, AC Spark Plug Division.
Prior to that he was employed at
the Chrysler Missile Plant, U.S.
Gypsum Co., Logansport Machine
Co., and the Stainless Steel Co. of
America.
His favorite writers and thinkers included Ingersoll, Socrates,
Paine, and Shaw, but he was well

read in contemporary Atheist and

Freethought literature as well.
Dill is survived by his wife of
48 years Marilyn, a daughter Lisa
Maznio (John), a daughter Tami
Hoffman (Darrin), and a granddaughter Jacqueline Maznio. He
also is survived by several nieces
and nephews.
Dill will be painfully missed by
the many friends whom he advised
not only on matters of cancer but
on matters of life and meaning as
well.

End of Days: Fundamentalism

and the
Ordinary Germans and
Struggle for the Temple Mount (2000).
(1996).
17. Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic
8. Chris Hedges, War Is a Force That
Gives Us Meaning (2003), pp. 143-185; and the Spirit of Capitalism (1958).
18. Schmookler, op. cit., p. 18; Western
James Hillman, A Terrible Love of War
(2004),pp. 178-217;Lawrence Le Shan, La Barre, The Ghost Dance: Origins of
The Psychology of War (2002), pp. 21- Religion (1990).

Executioners:
the Holocaust

42.
9. Baer, op. cit.; Anonymous (Scheuer),
op. cit.

10. Becker, op. cit. Denial; Becker, op.

cit. Escape: Otto Rank, Psychology and
the Soul (1961) pp. 142-195; Beyond
Psychology
(1941), 62-101; Andrew
Bard Schmookler, Out of Weakness:
Healing the Wounds That Drive Us to
War (1988), 66-97.
11. Gerald Mesadie, A History of the
Devil (1996),pp. 73-90.
12. Ibid., pp. 84-85
13. Ibid., pp. 227-250.
14. Ibid. pp. 227-268.
15. Regina Schwartz, The Curse of
Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism
(1997), pp. 16-76.
16. Halsell, Forcing, op. cit., pp. 1-87,
113-152; Gershom Gorenberg, The
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

19. http://pentecostals.homestead.com/
533millions.html
20. Harold B. Smith, Ed., Pentecostals
from the Inside Out (1990), p. 83.
21. La Barre, op. cit. Shadow, pp. 3148.
22. Church and State, Vol. 58, Nos. 6
and 10.
23. Tariq Ali, The
Clash
of
Fundamentalisms
(2003), p. xii.
24. Baer, op. cit.; Anonymous (Sheuer),
op. cit.
25. Mother

Jones, promotional issue,

(Jan., 2006).
26. Robert Pape, Dying to Win (2005).
27. New York Times, 10-30-05.
28. The Nation, 10-24-05.
29. New York Times, 10-27-05.

Page 47

au
A Funny Story
from www.godisajoke.com
Illustration

Funny story about quails. The

ancient Hebrews regarded the Old
World bird as slow 'in flight [1]
because of its weight, which goes
a long way in explaining how the
wind could push (Numbers 11:31)
hundreds of quails out of the sky
to cause a massive pile-up on the
ground three feet high during the
wilderness years.
While the bird's easy pickings
impress upon each new age of birdbrained churchgoers the providential
might of their god, its bottom-heaviness is not helping the Vice President
at all. Apparently he is at a loss to
explain why he couldn't bag a lumbering quail, shooting instead an
un-whitting hunter. This must be
why he tried to covey-up yet another
example of misdirected fire, which
has come to be known as White
House stamp and trade.
About those quails. Funny story.

GodlsAJoke
(GIAJ)
- the blog
of PamAlonia
McCrary
- is the
first to argue with text proof that
the Judea-Christian
sacred texts
were primarily written as satire to
undermine the religion of Yahweh, or
God Almighty. GIAJ maintains that
religion is the most fervent expression
of narcissism. Believing that a personal and / or nationalist god is the
invention of narcissistic entitlement,
GIAJ's mission is to expose the god
and his defenders both ancient and
contemporary.
GIAJ promotes the
impeachment of the Judeo-Christian
world-view because it justifies all
that is corrupt, dysfunctional,
and
fascist in the human psyche.
The
blog can be accessed at <http: / /
www.godisajoke.com>

Page 48

by Keith McCaffety

So the Hebrew people are in Egypt,

and they're eating well (Numbers
11:5), and they're flourishing, evidently, because they outnumber the
Egyptians (Exodus 1:9).No,wait! They
are fewer in number (Deuteronomy 7:
7) than the Egyptians, and not only
the Egyptians, but all people. Well,
which is it? Either they outnumber
the Egyptians, or the Egyptians
outnumber them. (Consider that
the different accounts add humor to
the hyperbolic claims of the god, the
express purpose of such discrepancies
being to undermine his credibility)
At any rate Moses will save the
Hebrew people some time after he
looks both ways for witnesses, fires
off a deadly blow to an Egyptian, and
hides (Exodus 2:12) the un-whitting
man in the sand. When word gets out
(Exodus 2:14) that Moses had tried to
bury the story, he does what all cowardly leaders do - he runs for cover
(Exodus 2:15).
And like all men whose dirty
deeds earn them power and influence within the Bush administration, Moses is promoted by the god of
the Jews and Christians to an unrivaled position of leadership. Moses,
you should know, would not return
to Egypt until there was no chance
(Exodus 4:19) he would be called to
answer for his crime, evidently the
alcohol in his body having had sufficient time to dissipate.
About those quails. Funny story
So the god says to the man who took
a shot at someone, the man who tried
to bury the story of his crime, the
man who fled town when the story
broke, the same man who returned
only after he knew he wouldn't have
to suffer any consequences of a crimiJan-Feb-Mar 2006

nal nature, the god says to him, ''You

shall lead my people" (Exodus 3: 10).
And so he does. He leads them
into the wilderness where they are
now caught between the proverbial
rock and hard place. If the people
will obey all the god's commands he
will do them the favor of not inflicting upon them the diseases (Exodus
15: 26) that he inflicted upon the
Egyptians. He is their healer, after
all, for the sheer fact of his keeping
from them the afflictions he could
very well levy against them should
they provoke him.
Needless to say, the people are
not wild about his brand of government. They begin to grumble about
not having enough food to eat, fearing he has brought them into the
desert to kill them off with hunger
(Exodus 16:3).
The god promises them food to
eat (Exodus 16:4), which they are
to consume the day of gathering
(Exodus 16: 19) or the "bread from
heaven" (Exodus 16:4) will turn into
worms (Exodus 16:20).
The people are happy they have
this "small round thing, as small as
the hoar frost on the ground" (Exodus
16:14) to eat to their full.
They are forbidden to gather this
"bread from heaven" on the Sabbath.
They are allowed, however, to gather
twice as much the day before to lay
up a provision for the day of rest, but
because it will turn to worms if left
overnight, they must boil and bake
(Exodus 16:23) what they would not
eat on the day of gathering.
When the people see this "small
round thing, as small as the hoar
frost on the ground" that appears
with the dew (Numbers 11:9), they
American Atheist

say to one another, "It is manna,"

because they don't know (Exodus 16:
15) what it is. Manna translates in
Hebrew as 'whatness' [2] because of
the question about its composition.
Now about those quails. Funny
story. The people begin to complain
again. God gets mad at them because
he doesn't like to be questioned. He
believes that his show of might back
in Egypt should have been enough for
them to know the terrible things of
which he is capable. To teach the rest
of them the lesson that they are not
to inquire into his actions, (Numbers
11:1)he incinerates a good number of
the dissidents.
You wouldn't think the people,
knowing how temperamental
the
godis, would bellyache (Numbers 11:
6) about how they don't feel so good
for having to eat manna day in and
day out, but they do. They complain
the manna they're eating is causing
them to waste away.
Now the god is really mad. "Since
the people want meat to eat I will
give them meat-meat enough until
it comes out of their nostrils, so sick
they will be of eating it" (Numbers
11:20).That's how the god is. Spiteful
dickens.
So the quails fall and the people
gather them all and tear into them
ravenously.
You'vegot to wonder about so many
quails falling at one time, especially
when the people die from a great

REAL BIBLE

47:3). Jacob's beloved wife Rachel's

(3) name even means 'ewe' [3].
In The Sheep Book [4] by Ron
Parker you will learn that smart
shepherds keep their sheep "out of
the pastures in the mornings when
the dew is on the grass" because the
larvae of roundworms that lactating
ewes excrete are drawn to the moisture.
Remember the "small round
thing, as small as the hoar frost
on the ground" that miraculously
appeared with the dew? Remember

how the people didn't know what

it was? Remember how it turned to
worms if they didn't eat it the same
day they gathered it? Remember
how the people felt all dried up and
wasted away for eating it? The god, it
turns out, fed them 'manna,' or 'whatness' to humble them (Deuteronomy
8:16). That's right.
Oocysts. The
bread from heaven was the larvae of
roundworms.
And so the next time your vicepresident aims for a quail and misses and you find holes in his story
enough to breed the worm of scandal,
pay close attention. Know what the
story is you're being fed, or you may
have the sheep's wool pulled over
your eyes. It has happened before.
References
[1] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
of the Bible with Dictionaries of the
Hebrew and Greek Words, Hebrew
Dictionary #7958.
[2] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
of the Bible Dictionaries
of the
Hebrew and Greek Words, Hebrew
Dictionary #4478.
[3] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
of the Bible Dictionaries
of the
Hebrew and Greek Words, Hebrew
Dictionary #7353, 7354.
[4] Ron Parker, The Sheep Book: A
Handbook for the Modern Shepherd
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1983) 37.

from page 28

the Alexandrian nor the Western

group of witnesses always preserves the original text, but that
in order to attain the earliest text
one must compare the divergent
traditions point by point and in
each case select the reading which
commends itself in the light of
transcriptions and intrinsic probabilities.
In reviewing the work of the
Committee on the book of Acts
as a whole, one observes that
more often than not the shorter,

Parsippany, New Jersey

plague for eating them. You've got to

figure that the Asian bird flu of today
must be only a mild strain of the
virus that killed off so many of the
Hebrew people back in god's day.
Now about that manna. Funny
story. As you know, the Hebrew people are shepherds of sheep (Genesis

Alexandrian
text was preferred.
At the same time the Committee
judged that some of the information incorporated in certain
Western expansions may well be
factually accurate, though not
deriving from the original author
of Acts.
So there you have it! True
Believers have to put their faith more
upon pointy-headed classical scholars than upon the inspired authors of
the Holy Bible! The scholars, trying
to employ scientific and probabilistic

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

arguments, have to decide what is

to be believed. Inspiration is not an
option.
Clearly, it is futile to try to find
the Bible in which to believe, and
from which to obtain truth. So why
bother to try? The quest for absolute
truth is childish, a hold-over from a
prescientific period of cultural evolution. Although the 'truths' of science
are not absolute, they do nicely in
a pinch. And as for salvation, the
track-record of penicillin isn't too bad
- even if it can cause hives!

Page 49

?"""---_. __ ._.

ark TSwal'

=:

"It is the first;ilJU!since th", awn-<i<;

s of cJatio~ ~at a ice ha '. one eras ingthrou;;' space
.
Wlt~r
Placind
comllacent aonf'den\nd
co
Editor's Note: The violent reaction recently to the publication of
innocuous cartoons of Muhammad
contrasts sharply with the reaction almost a century ago to Mark
Twain's publication of a book containing this delicious satire of the
cult of Christian Science and its
founder Mary Baker Eddy. The
'Scientists' were unable to harm
Twain directly - they were much
too civilized to even think of such a
thing. What to do to stop the dangerous blasphemy?
Since by 1907 the Christian
Science movement commanded
immense amounts of money, it
merely bought up and destroyed all
the copies ofthe book that could be
found. Copies of Christian Science
With Notes Containing Corrections
To Date [Harper & Brothers, 1907]
that were in libraries mysteriously
disappeared. By a curious twist of
fate, after Twain's death Christian
Scientists somehow were able to buy
the printing plates for the book and
apparently destroyed them. Thus
was blasphemy avenged so suecessfully that virtually no copies of
Twain's original edition remain in
existence and the volume from which
this excerpt has been copied is probably the rarest book in the Zindler
library. Hardly anyone except Twain
specialists now knows that the book
ever existed. Even fewer are aware
that the excerpts printed here actuPage 50

'CHAPTER

ally had been published "about three

years" before the book of 1907, in the
Cosmopolitan Magazine.
While there probably is nothing
published by Mark Twain (Samuel
Langhorne Clemens) that can be
rated lower than 'excellent,' it nevertheless seems he is at his very
best when blaspheming. The present
bauble of blasphemy may very well
be his creme de la creme - the best
of his best.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

I
Vienna, 1899
This last summer, when I was on
my way back to Vienna from the
Appetite-Cure in the mountains,
I fell over a cliff in the twilight
and broke some arms and legs and
one thing or another, and by good
luck was found by some peasants
who had lost an ass, and they carried me to the nearest habitation,
which was one of those large, low,
thatch-roofed farm-houses, with
apartments in the garret for the
family, and a cunning little porch
under the deep gable decorated
with boxes of bright-colored flowers and cats; on the ground-floor
a large and light sitting-room,
separated from the milch-cattle
apartment by a partition; and in
the front yard rose stately and fine
the wealth and pride of the house,
the manure pile. That sentence is
Germanic, and shows that I am
acquiring that sort of mastery of
the art and spirit of the language
which enables a man to travel all day
in one sentence without changing
cars.
There was a village a mile away,
and a horsedoctor lived there, but
there was no surgeon. It seemed a
bad outlook; mine was distinctly a
surgery case. Then it was remembered that a lady from Boston was
summering in that village, and she
was a Christian Science doctor and
American Atheist

could cure anything. So she was sent

"She said you would need nothfor. It was night by this time, and ing at all."
she could not conveniently come,
"But I am hungry and thirsty,
but sent word that it was no mat- and in desperate pain."
"She said you would have these
ter, there was no hurry, she would
give me "absent treatment" now, and delusions, but must pay no attencome in the morning; meantime she tion to them. She wants you to particularly remember that there are no
begged me to make myself tranquil
and comfortable and remember that
such things as hunger and thirst and
there was nothing the matter with pain."
me. I thought there must be some
"She does, does she?"
"It is what she said."
mistake.
"Did you tell her I walked off a
"Does she seem to be in full and
cliffseventy-five feet high?"
functionable possession of her intel"Yes."
lectual plant, such as it is?"
"And struck a boulder at the bot"Bitte?"
tom and bounced?"
"Do they let her run at large, or
"Yes."
do they tie her up?"
"And struck another one and
"Tie her up?"
bounced again?"
"There, good-night, run along;
''Yes.''
you are a good girl, but your mental
"And struck another one and Geschirr is not arranged for light and
bounced yet again?"
airy conversation. Leave me to my
''Yes.''
delusions."
"And broke the boulders?"
''Yes.''
CHAPTER II
"That accounts for it; she is
thinking of the boulders. Why didn't
IT was a night of anguish, of
you tell her I got hurt, too?"
course-at least, I supposed it was,
"I did. I told her what you told for it had all the symptoms of it-but
me to tell her: that you were now it passed at last, and the Christian
but an incoherent series of compound Scientist came, and I was glad. She
fractures extending from your scalp was middle-aged, and large and bony,
-lockto your heels, and that the com- and erect, and had an austere face
minuted projections caused you to and a resolute jaw and a Roman beak
look like a hat-rack."
and was a widow in the third degree,
"And it was after this that she and her name was Fuller. I was eager
wished me to remember that there to get to business and find relief, but
was nothing the matter with me?"
she was distressingly deliberate. She
"Those were her words."
unpinned and unhooked and uncou"I do not understand it. I believe pled her upholsteries one by one,
she has not diagnosed the case with abolished the wrinkles with a flirt of
sufficient care. Did she look like a her hand, and hung the articles up;
person who was theorizing, or did she peeled off her gloves and disposed of
look like one who has fallen off preci- them, got a book out of her hand-bag,
pices herself and brings to the aid of then drew a chair to the bedside,
abstract science the confirmations of descended into it without hurry, and
personal experience?"
I hung out my tongue. She said, with
"Bitte?"
pity but without passion:
It was too large a contract for
"Return it to its receptacle. We
the Stubenmiidchen's vocabulary; deal with the mind only, not with its
she couldn't call the hand. I allowed dumb servants."
the subject to rest there, and asked
I could not offer my pulse,
for something to eat and smoke, and because the connection was broken;
something hot to drink, and a basket but she detected the apology before
to pile my legs in; but I could not I could word it, and indicated by a
have any of these things.
negative tilt of her head that the
"Why?"
pulse was another dumb servant that
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

she had no use for. Then I thought I

would tell her my symptoms and how
I felt, so that she would understand
the case; but that was another inconsequence, she did not need to know
those things; moreover, my remark
about how I felt was an abuse of language, a misapplication of terms.
"One does not feel," she explained;
"there is no such thing as feeling:
therefore, to speak of a non-existent
thing as existent is a contradiction.
Matter has no existence; nothing
exists but mind; the mind cannot feel
pain, it can only imagine it."
"But if it hurts, just the same-"
"It doesn't. A thing which is
unreal cannot exercise the functions
of reality. Pain is unreal: hence, pain
cannot hurt."
In making a sweeping gesture
to indicate the act of shooing the
illusion of pain out of the mind, she
raked her hand on a pin in her dress,
said "Ouch!" and went tranquilly
on with her talk, "You should never
allow yourself to speak of how you
feel, nor permit others to ask you
how you are feeling; you should never
concede that you are ill, nor permit
others to talk about disease or pain
or death or similar nonexistences in
your presence. Such talk only encourages the mind to continue its empty
imaginings." Just at that point the
Stubenmiidchen. trod on the eat's
tail, and the cat let fly a frenzy of
cat-profanity. I asked, with caution:
"Is a eat's opinion about pain
valuable?"
''A cat has no opinion; opinions
proceed from mind only; the lower
animals, being eternally perishable,
have not been granted mind; without
mind, opinion is impossible."
"She merely imagined she felt a
pain-the cat?"
"She cannot imagine a pain, for
imagining is an effect of mind; without mind, there is no imagination. A
cat has no imagination."
"Then she had a real pain?"
"I have already told you there is
no such thing as real pain."
"It is strange and interesting. I
do wonder what was the matter with
the cat. Because, there being no such
thing as a real pain, and she not being
Page 51

able to imagine an imaginary one, it

would seem that God in His pity has
compensated the cat with some kind
of a mysterious emotion usable when
her tail is trodden on which, for the
moment, joins cat and Christian in
one common brotherhood of-"
She broke in with an irritated
"Peace! The cat feels nothing, the
Christian feels nothing. Your empty
and foolish imaginings are profanation and blasphemy, and can do you
an injury. It is wiser and better and
holier to recognize and confess that
there is no such thing as disease or
pain or death."
"I am full of imaginary tortures,"
I said, but I do not think I could be
any more uncomfortable if they were
real ones. What must I do to get rid of
them?"
"There is no occasion to get rid of
them, since they do not exist. They
are illusions propagated by matter,
and matter has no existence; there is
no such thing as matter."
tIt sounds right and clear, but yet
it seems in a degree elusive; it seems
to slip through, just when you think
you are getting a grip on it ...
"Explain."
Well, for instance: if there is no
such thing as matter, how can matter
propagate things?"
In her compassion she almost
smiled. She would have smiled if
there were any such thing as a
smile.
"It is quite simple," she said;
"the fundamental propositions of
Christian Science explain it, and they
are summarized in the four following
self-evident propositions: 1. God is All
in all. 2. God is good. Good is Mind,
3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing
is matter. 4. Life, God, omnipotent
Good, deny death, evil, sin, disease.
There-now you see."
It seemed nebulous; it did not
seem to say anything about the difficulty in hand-how
non-existent
matter can propagate illusions. I
said, with some hesitancy:
"Does-does it explain?"
"Doesn't it? Even if read backward it will do it."
With a budding hope, I asked her
to do it backward,
Page 52

"Very well. Disease sin evil death

deny Good omnipotent God life matter is nothing all being Spirit God
Mind is Good good is God all in All is
God. There do you understand now?"
It-it-well,
it is plainer than it
was before; still-"
"Well?"
"Could you try it some more
ways?"
"As many as you like; it always
means the same. Interchanged in any
way you please it cannot be made to
mean anything different from what
it means when put in any other way.
Because it is perfect. You can jumble
it all up, and it makes no difference:
it always comes out the way it was
before. It was a marvelous mind that
produced it. As a mental tour de force
it is without a mate, it defies alike
the simple, the concrete, and the
occult."
"It seems to be a corker. "
I blushed for the word, but it was
out before I could stop it.
'~ what?"
"A-wonderful
structure-combination' so to speak, of profound
thoughts-unthinkable
ones-un-"
"It is true. Read backward, or
forward, or perpendicularly, or at
any given angle, these four propositions will always be found to agree in
statement and proof"
"Ah-proof. Now we are coming
at it. The statements agree; they
agree with-with-anyway,
they
agree; I noticed that; but what is it
they prove-I mean, in particular?"
"Why, nothing could be clearer.
They prove: 1. GOD-Principle, Life,
Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind. Do
you get that?"
"I-well,
I seem to. Go on,
please."
2. MAN-God's universal idea,
individual, perfect, eternal. Is it
clear?"
"It-I think so. Continue."
3. IDEA-An image in Mind;
the immediate object of understanding. There it is-the whole sublime
Arcana of Christian Science in a nutshell. Do you find a weak place in it
anywhere?"
"Well-no; it seems strong."
''Very well. There is more. Those
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

three
constitute
the
Scientific
Definition of Immortal Mind. Next,
we have the Scientific Definition of
Mortal Mind. Thus. FIRST DEGREE:
Depravity. 1. Physical-Passions and
appetites, fear, depraved will, pride,
envy, deceit, hatred, revenge, sin, disease, death."
"Phantasms,
madam-unrealities, as I understand it."
"Everyone. SECOND DEGREE:
Evil
Disappearing.
1. MoralHonesty, affection, compassion, hope,
faith, meekness, temperance. Is it
clear?"
"Crystal."
"THIRD DEGREE: Spiritual
Salvation. 1. Spiritual-Faith,
wisdom, power, purity, understanding,
health, love. You see how searchingly
and co-ordinately interdependent
and anthropomorphous it all is. In
this Third Degree, as we know by
the revelations of Christian Science,
mortal mind disappears."
"Not earlier?"
"No, not until the teaching and
preparation for the Third Degree are
completed."
"It is not until then that one is
enabled to take hold of Christian
Science effectively, and with the
right sense of sympathy and kinship,
as I understand you. That is to say,
it could not succeed during the processes of the Second Degree, because
there would still be remains of mind
left; and therefore-but I interrupted
you. You were about to further
explain the good results proceeding
from the erosions and disintegrations effected by the Third Degree. It
is very interesting; go on, please."
"Yes,as I was saying, in this Third
Degree mortal mind disappears.
Science so reverses the evidence
before the corporeal human senses
as to make this scriptural testimony
true in our hearts, 'the last shall be
first and the first shall be last,' that
God and His idea may be to us what
divinity really is, and must of necessity be-all-inclusive."
"It is beautiful. And with what
exhaustive exactness your choice
and arrangement of words confirm
and establish what you have claimed
for the powers and functions of the
American Atheist

Third Degree. The Second could All-one, Soul-Mind, Mind-Soul, Love,

"Well, it is no matter," she said.
probably produce only temporary
Spirit, Bones, Liver, one of a series, "I remember the words - indeed,
absence of mind; it is reserved to alone and without an equal."
all Christian Scientists know the
"What is the origin of Christian book by heart; it is necessary in
the Third to make it permanent. A
sentence framed under the auspices Science? Is it a gift of God, or did it our practice. We should otherwise
of the Second could have a kind of just happen?"
make mistakes and do harm. She
begins thus: 'In the year 1866,
meaning-a
sort of deceptive
I discovered the Science of
semblance of it-whereas
it
Metaphysical
Healing, and
is only under the magic of the
named
it
Christian
Science.'
Third that that defect would
And she says-quite beautifuldisappear. Also, without doubt,
ly, I think-Through Christian
it is the Third Degree that
Science, religion and medicine
contributes another remarkable specialty to Christian
are inspired with a diviner
Science-viz.,
ease and flow
nature and essence, fresh
and lavishness of words, and
pinions are given to faith and
rhythm and swing and smoothunderstanding, and thoughts
ness. There must be a special
acquaint themselves intelligently with God.' Her very
reason for this?"
words."
''Yes-God-all, all-God, good
"It is elegant. And it is a
God, non-Matter, Matteration,
Spirit, Bones, Truth."
fine thought, too-marrying
"That explains it."
religion to medicine, instead
"There is nothing
III
of medicine to the undertaker
in the old way; for religion
Christian Science that is not
Twain (As Huck Finn): "Idon'twant
no pie ma'm;
and medicine properly belong
explicable;for God is one, Time
I juSt want a sample copy ofyourbeautiful
boo!<:'
is one, Individuality is one, and
together, they being the basis
Mrs. EddY. "Go 'wa}rfromhere,
Mark Twain;
may be one of a series, one of
of all spiritual and physical
or I'll give you a taste of this rollin' pin."
many, as an individual man,
health. What kind of medicine
individual horse; whereas God
do you give for the ordinary
is one, not one of a series, but one
"In a sense, it is a gift of God. diseases, such as-"
alone and without an equal."
"We never give medicine in any
That is to say, its powers are from
"These are noble thoughts. They Him, but the credit of the discovery circumstances whatever! We-"
make one burn to know more. How of the powers and what they are for
"But, madam, it says-"
does Christian Science explain the is due to an American lady."
"I don't care what it says, and I
spiritual relation of systematic dualdon't wish to talk about it."
"Indeed? When did this occur?"
ity to incidental deflection?"
"I am sorry if I have offended, but
"In 1866. That is the immortal
"Christian
Science
reverses
date when pain and disease and you see the mention seemed in some
the seeming relation of Soul and death disappeared from the earth to way inconsistent, and-"
body-as astronomy reverses the return no more forever. That is, the
"There are no inconsistencies
human perception of the movement fancies for which those terms stand in Christian Science. The thing is
of the solar system-and
makes disappeared. The things themselves impossible, for the Science is absobody tributary to the Mind. As it is had never existed; therefore, as soon lute. It cannot be otherwise, since it
the earth which is in motion, while as it was perceived that there were proceeds directly from the All-in-all
the sun is at rest, though in viewing no such things, they were easily ban- and the Everything-in-Which, also
the sun rise one finds it impossible ished. The history and nature of the Soul, Bones, Truth, one of a series,
to believe the sun not to be really great discovery are set down in the alone and without equal. It is
rising, so the body is but the humble book here, and-"
Mathematics purified from material
servant of the restful Mind, though
dross and made spiritual."
"Did the lady write the book?"
it seems otherwise to finite sense;
"I can see that, but-"
''Yes,she wrote it all, herself. The
but we shall never understand this title is Science and Health, with Key
"It rests upon the immovable
while we admit that soul is in body, to the Scriptures for she explains the basis of an Apodictical Principle,"
or mind in matter, and that man is Scriptures; they were not underThe word flattened itself against
included in non-intelligence. Soul is stood before. Not even by the twelve my mind in trying to get in, and disGod, unchangeable and eternal; and Disciples. She begins thus-I
will ordered me a little, and before I could
man coexists with and reflects Soul, read it to you."
inquire into its pertinency, she was
for the All-in-all is the Altogether,
But she had forgotten to bring already throwing the needed light:
and the Altogether embraces the her glasses.
"This Apodictical Principle is the
Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 53

absolute Principle of Scientific Mindhealing, the sovereign Omnipotence

which delivers the children of men
from pain, disease, decay, and every
ill that flesh is heir to."
"Surely not every ill, every
decay?"
"Everyone; there are no exceptions; there is no such thing as
decay-it is an unreality, it has no
existence."
"But without your glasses,your failing eyesight does not permit you to-"
"My eyesight cannot fail; nothing
can fail; the Mind is master, and the
Mind permits no retrogression."
She was under the inspiration
of the Third Degree, therefore there
could be no profit in continuing this
part of the subject. I shifted to other
ground and inquired further concerning the Discoverer of the Science.
"Did the discovery come suddenly,
like Klondike, or after long study and
calculation, like America?"
"The comparisons
are
not
respectful, since they refer to trivialities-but let it pass. I will answer
in the Discoverer's own words: 'God
had been graciously fitting me, during many years, for the reception
of a final revelation of the absolute
Principle of Scientific Mindhealing."
"Many years. How many?"
"Eighteen centuries!"
"All-God, God-good, good-God,
Truth, Bones, Liver, one of a series,
alone and without equal-it is amazing!"
''You may well say it, sir. Yet it
is but the truth. This American lady,
our revered and sacred Founder, is
distinctly referred to, and her coming
prophesied, in the twelfth chapter of
the Apocalypse; she could not have
been more plainly indicated by St.
John without actually mentioning
her name."
"How strange, how wonderful!"
"I will quote her own words, from
her Key to the Scriptures: 'The twelfth
chapter of the Apocalypse has a special suggestiveness in connection with
this nineteenth century.' There-do
you note that? Think-note it well."
"But-what does it mean?"
"Listen, and you will know. I
quote her inspired words again: 'In
Page 54

the opening of the Sixth Seal, typical give you absent treatment from now
of six thousand years since Adam, till I go to bed."
there is one distinctive feature which
has special reference to the present
CHAPTER III
age. Thus:
UNDER the powerful influence
"'Revelation xii. 1. And there of the near treatment and the absent
appeared a great wonder in heaventreatment together, my bones were
a woman clothed with the sun, and gradually retreating inward and disthe moon under her feet, and upon appearing from view. The good work
her head a crown of twelve stars.'
took a brisk start, now, and went on
"That is our Head, our Chief, our swiftly.My body was diligently strainDiscoverer of Christian Scienceing and stretching, this way and that,
nothing can be plainer, nothing surer. to accommodate the processes of resAnd note this:
toration, and every minute or two I
"'Revelation xii. 6. And the woman heard a dull click inside and knew
fled into the wilderness, where she that the two ends of a fracture had
had a place prepared of God.'
been successfully joined. This muf"That is Boston. I recognize it, fled clicking and gritting and grindmadam. These are sublime things, ing and rasping continued during the
and impressive; I never understood next three hours, and then stoppedthese passages before; please go on the connections had all been made.
with the-with the-proofs."
All except dislocations; there were
"Very well. Listen:
only seven of these: hips, shoulders,
"'And I saw another mighty angel knees, neck; so that was soon over;
come down from heaven, clothed with one after another they slipped into
a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his their sockets with a sound like pullhead, and his face was as it were the ing a distant cork, and I jumped up
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And as good as new, as to framework, and
he held in his hand a little book.'
sent for the horse-doctor.
"A little book, merely a little
I was obliged to do this because I
book-could words be modester? Yet had a stomach-ache and a cold in the
how stupendous its importance! Do head, and I was not willing to trust
you know what book that was?"
these things any longer in the hands
''Was it-"
of a woman whom I did not know, and
"I hold it in my hand-Christian
in whose ability to successfully treat
Science!"
mere disease I had lost all confidence.
"Love, Livers, Lights, Bones, My position was justified by the fact
Truth, Kidneys, one of a series, alone that the cold and the ache had been
and without equal-it
is beyond in her charge from the first, along
imagination for wonder!"
with the fractures, but had expe"Hear our Founder's eloquent rienced not a shade of relief; and,
words: 'Then will a voice from harmo- indeed, the ache was even growing
ny cry, "Go and take the little book: worse and worse, and more and more
take it and eat it up, and it shall bitter, now, probably on account of
make thy belly bitter; but it shall the protracted abstention from food
be in thy mouth sweet as honey." and drink.
Mortal, obey the heavenly evangel.
The horse-doctor came, a pleasTake up Divine Science. Read it from ant man and full of hope and probeginning to end. Study it, ponder it. fessional interest in the case. In
It will be, indeed, sweet at its first the matter of smell he was pretty
aromatic-in fact, quite horsy-and
taste, when it heals you; but murmur
not over Truth, if you find its diges- I tried to arrange with him for
tion bitter.' Younow know the history absent treatment, but it was not in
of our dear and holy Science, sir, and his line, so, out of delicacy, I did not
that its origin is not of this earth, press it. He looked at my teeth and
but only its discovery. I will leave the examined my hock, and said my age
book with you and will go, now; but and general condition were favorable
give yourself no uneasiness-I
will to energetic measures; therefore he
Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

would give me something to turn the

stomach-ache into the botts and the
cold in the head into the blind staggers; then he should be on his own
beat and would know what to do. He
made up a bucket of bran-mash, and
said a dipperful of it every two hours,
alternated with a drench with turpentine and axle-grease in it, would
either knock my ailments out of me
in twenty-four hours, or so interest
me in other ways as to make me
forget they were on the premises. He
administered my first dose himself,
then took his leave, saying I was free
to eat and drink anything I pleased
and in any quantity I liked. But I
was not hungry any more, and did
not care for food.
I took up the Christian Science
book and read half of it, then took
a dipperful of drench and read the
other half. The resulting experiences
were full of interest and adventure.
Allthrough the rumblings and grindings and quakings and effervescings
accompanying the evolution of the
ache into the botts and the cold into
the blind staggers I could note the
generous struggle for mastery going
onbetween the mash and the drench
and the literature; and often I could
tell which was ahead, and could easily distinguish the literature from
the others when the others were
separate, though not when they were
mixed;for when a bran-mash and an
eclectic drench are mixed together
they look just like the Apodictical
Principle out on a lark, and no one
can tell it from that. The finish was
reached at last, the evolutions were
complete, and a fme success, but I
think that this result could have
been achieved with fewer materials.
I believe the mash was necessary to
the conversion of the stomach-ache
into the botts, but I think one could
develop the blind staggers out of the
literature by itself; also, that blind
staggers produced in this way would
be of a better quality and more lasting than any produced by the artificial processes of the horsedoctor.
For of all the strange and frantic
and incomprehensible and uninterpretable books which the imagination of man has created, surely this
Parsippany, New Jersey

one is the prize sample. It is written with a limitless confidence and

complacency, and with a dash and
stir and earnestness which often
compel the effects of eloquence, even
when the words do not seem to have
any traceable meaning. There are
plenty of people who imagine they
understand the book; I know this,
for I have talked with them; but in
all cases they were people who also
imagined that there were no such
things as pain, sickness, and death,
and no realities in the world; nothing
actually existent but Mind. It seems
to me to modify the value of their
testimony. When these people talk
about Christian Science they do as
Mrs. Fuller did: they do not use their
own language, but the book's; they
pour out the book's showy incoherences, and leave you to find out later
that they were not originating, but
merely quoting; they seem to know
the volume by heart, and to revere
it as they would a Bible-another
Bible, perhaps I ought to say. Plainly
the book was written under the mental desolations of the Third Degree,
and I feel sure that none but the
membership of that Degree can discover meanings in it. When you read
it you seem to be listening to a lively
and aggressive and oracular speech
delivered in an unknown tongue, a
speech whose spirit you get but not
the particulars; or, to change the
figure, you seem to be listening to a
vigorous instrument which is making
a noise which it thinks is a tune, but
which, to persons not members of the
band, is only the martial tooting of a
trombone, and merely stirs the soul
through the noise, but does not convey a meaning.
The book's serenities of self-satisfaction do almost seem to smack
of a heavenly origin-they have no
blood-kin in the earth. It is more than
human to be so placidly certain about
things, and so finely superior, and
so airily content with one's performance. Without ever presenting anything which may rightfully be called
by the strong name of Evidence, and
sometimes without even mentioning a reason for a deduction at all,
it thunders out the startling words,
Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

" I have Proved" so and so. It takes

the Pope and all the great guns of
his Church in battery assembled to
authoritatively settle and establish
the meaning of a sole and single
unclarified passage of Scripture, and
this at vast cost of time and study
and reflection, but the author of
this work is superior to all that: she
finds the whole Bible in an unclarified condition, and at small expense
of time and no expense of mental
effort she clarifies it from lid to lid,
reorganizes and improves the meanings, then authoritatively
settles
and establishes them with formulas
which you cannot tell from "Let there
be light!" and "Here you have it!" It is
the first time since the dawn-days of
Creation that a Voicehas gone crashing through space with such placid
and complacent confidence and command.Il.l
[1] January, 1903. The first reading of any book whose terminology
is new and strange is nearly sure
to leave the reader in a bewildered
and sarcastic state of mind. But now
that, during the past two months,
I have, by diligence, gained a fair
acquaintanceship with Science and
Health technicalities, I no longer find
the bulk of that work hard to understand-M. T
p. S. The wisdom harvested from
the foregoing thoughts has already
done me a service and saved me a
sorrow. Nearly a month ago there
came to me from one of the universities a tract by Dr. Edward Anthony
Spitzka on the "Encephalic Anatomy
of the Races." I judged that my opinion was desired by the university, and
I was greatly pleased with this attention and wrote and said I would furnish it as soon as I could. That night
I put my plodding and disheartening
Christian Science mining aside and
took hold of the matter. I wrote an
eager chapter, and was expecting to
finish my opinion the next day, but
was called away for a week, and my
mind was soon charged with other
interests. It was not until to-day,
after the lapse of nearly a month,
that I happened upon my Encephalic
chapter again. Meantime, the new
Page 55

wisdom had come to me, and I read

it with shame. I recognized that I
had entered upon that work in far
from the right temper-far from the
respectful and judicial spirit which
was its due of reverence. I had begun
upon it with the following paragraph
for fuel:
"FISSURES OF THE PARIETAL
AND OCCIPITAL LOBES (LATERAL
SURFACE). - The Postcentral Fissural
Complex. - In this hemi-cerebrum,
the postcentral and subcentral are
combined to form a continuous fissure, attaining a length of 8,5 em.
Dorsally, the fissure bifurcates,
embracing the gyre indented by the
caudal limb of the paracentral. The
caudal limb of the post-central is
joined by a transparietal piece. In all,
five additional rami spring from the
combined fissure. A vadum separates
it from the parietal; another from the
central."
It humiliates me, now,to see how
angry I got over that; and how scornful. I said that the style was disgraceful; that it was labored and tumultuous, and in places violent, that the
treatment was involved and erratic,
and almost, as a rule, bewildering;
that to lack of simplicity was added
a lack of vocabulary; that there was
quite too much feeling shown; that if
I had a dog that would get so excited
and incoherent over a tranquil subject like Encephalic Anatomy I would
not pay his tax; and at that point I
got excited myself and spoke bitterly
of these mongrel insanities, and said
a person might as well try to understand Science and Health.
I know, now, where the trouble
was, and am glad of the interruption that saved me from sending my
verdict to the university. It makes me
cold to think what those people might
have thought of me.-M. T.
CHAPTER IV
No one doubts-certainly
not
I-that the mind exercises a powerful influence over the body. From
the beginning of time, the sorcerer,
the interpreter of dreams, the fortune-teller, the charlatan, the quack,
the wild medicine-man, the educated
physician, the mesmerist, and the
Page 56

hypnotist have made use of the

client's imagination to help them in
their work. They have all recognized
the potency and availability of that
force. Physicians cure many patients
with a bread pill; they know that
where the disease is only a fancy, the
patient's confidence in the doctor will
make the bread pill effective.
Faith in the doctor. Perhaps that
is the entire thing. It seems to look
like it. In old times the King cured
the king's evil by the touch of the
royal hand. He frequently made
extraordinary cures. Could his footman have done it? No-not in his
own clothes. Disguised as the King,
could he have done it? I think we
may not doubt it. I think we may feel
sure that it was not the King's touch
that made the cure in any instance,
but the patient's faith in the efficacy of a King's touch. Genuine and
remarkable cures have been achieved
through contact with the relics of a
saint. Is it not likely that any other
bones would have done as well if
the substitution had been concealed
from the patient? When I was a boy
a farmer's wife who lived five miles
from our village had great fame as
a faith-doctor-that
was what she
called herself. Sufferers came to her
from all around, and she laid her
hand upon them and said, "Have
faith-it
is all that is necessary,"
and they went away well of their
ailments. She was not a religious
woman, and pretended to no occult
powers. She said that the patient's
faith in her did the work. Several
times I saw her make immediate
cures of severe toothaches. My mother was the patient. In Austria there is
a peasant who drives a great trade in
this sort of industry, and has both the
high and the low for patients. He gets
into prison every now and then for
practising without a diploma, but his
business is as brisk as ever when he
gets out, for his work is unquestion-

ably successful and keeps his reputation high. In Bavaria there is a man
who performed so many great cures
that he had to retire from his profession of stage-carpentering in order to
meet the demand of his constantly
increasing body of customers. He
goes on from year' to year doing his
miracles, and has become very rich.
He pretends to no religious helps,
no supernatural
aids, but thinks
there is something in his make-up
which inspires the confidence of his
patients, and that it is this confidence which does the work, and not
some mysterious power issuing from
himself. [1]
Within the last quarter of a
century, in America, several sects
of curers have appeared under various names and have done notable
things in the way of healing ailments
without the use of medicines. There
are the Mind Cure, the Faith Cure,
the Prayer Cure, the Mental-Science
Cure, and the Christian-Science
Cure; and apparently they all do
their miracles with the same old,
powerful instrument - the patient's
imagination. Differing names, but no
difference in the process. But they do
not give that instrument the credit;
each sect claims that its way differs
from the ways of the others.
They all achieve some cures, there
is no question about it; and the Faith
Cure and the Prayer Cure probably
do no harm when they do no good,
since they do not forbid the patient
to help out the cure with medicines if
he wants to; but the others bar medicines, and claim ability to cure every
conceivable human ailment through
the application of their mental forces
alone. There would seem to be an
element of danger here. It has the
look of claiming too much, I think.
Public confidence would probably be
increased if less were claimed. The
Christian Scientist was not able to
Continued on page 58

[1] January, 1903. I have personal and intimate knowledge of the "miraculous" cure
of a case of paralysis which had kept the patient helpless in bed during two years, in
spite of all that the best medical science of New York could do. The traveling "quack"
(that is what they called him), came on two successive mornings and lifted the patient
out of bed and said "Walk!" and the patient walked. That was the end of it, It was
forty-one years ago. The patient has walked ever since.-M. T.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

American Atheist

My Turn!

as

Political Weapons of Mass Destruction

By Reza T. Saberi

A good American friend of mine

recently asked me during the lunch
break, "What do you think of recent
events in the Moslem world regarding the cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad?" He meant the cartoons
in which the Prophet Muhammad is
depicted with a turban made of rows
of dynamite, or another one where he
is worried that there are not enough
virgins for the suicide bombers in paradise. I told him that Middle Eastern
societies are generally religious and
the process of secularization which
took place for about six hundred years
in the Christian societies of Europe
had only started about one hundred
years ago in the Islamic world - and
even this process has been pushed
back in many of them after the
Islamic Revolution in Iran. During
those six centuries, philosophers, free
thinkers, scientists, artists, poets, and
writers, criticized, ridiculed, and neutralized Christianity and Judaism,
rendering obsolete religious edicts,
rules, and laws. So nothing was left
from Christianity but simple, basic
rules - sort of love this, love that.
For this reason Westerners generally
are not sensitive to religious ridicule
and criticism.
I then asked him, "With regard to
the attitude of Christianity towards
sex, what would you think if a major
American paper such as the New York
Times or the Washington Post were
to publish a cartoon of Jesus selling
condoms?" He burst out laughing and
said, "That would be funny."

Parsippany, New Jersey

So I asked him, ''As you know are publishable in fringe newspapers

some scholars think that Jesus was and not in mainstream papers in the
a gay man. What would the public United States."
reaction be if these newspapers
I said, "I know that, although the
depict him with another man in bed cartoon might be funny for one who
complaining of women as an inferior is not related to Abrahamic religions
sex partner?" He said, "That would or Indian culture; it is definitely not
be interesting, but I am sure they funny for the many others who are
will never publish such a cartoon related to these religions and culfor many different reasons, including tures. It is exactly because ofthis realack of taste - and so as not to offend son that many of the Moslems in the
readers."
Islamic world are offended by those
I told him, "It might be interestcartoons, while the Europeans and
ing to you, because you are not a zeal- Americans are talking of freedom of
ous Christian, but what about those speech." Then I added, "Moslems can
fundamentalist Christians who bomb not ridicule Judaeo-Christian prophabortion clinics on the basis of their
ets, because they believe in them
faith, or Ayatollah Pat Robertson who and respect them; but how about if
recently issued one fatwa for the kill- they go and ridicule things that are
ing of president Chavez of Venezuela sacred in Western societies or things
and another one about General
they are sensitive about? How would
Sharon? Wouldn't those fundamenthey feel about it? The Holocaust
talist Christians be upset and bomb is one of the sacred taboos in some
the offices of these newspapers?
Western countries. In these 'Free
Wouldn't there be a public protest?"
Speech' societies you can deny Jesus
He nodded his head and said, .or God, but you can not even question
"Probably."
the Holocaust. If you do, whether you
I was happy bringing him to this are biased or ignorant, you will go to
point, so Iasked, "How about if they prison - like historian David Irving,
publish a cartoon depicting Moses who recently was sentenced to three
exchanging his two sons for a bag years in solitary confinement in
of gold coins and when another man Austria, because 17 years ago he had
asks him why he is selling his only denied the Holocaust in two of his
two sons, he says, 'I can get them half speeches."
price in India!' Wouldn't this cartoon
Then I asked, ''What if somebody
hurt Jews, Christians, Moslems, and publishes a cartoon of one of those
Indians? Do you still consider its gas chambers with a sign on one door
publication the right to free speech?" saying 'free food' with a long line of
He said, "Of course it offends all rich-looking Jews in front of it and
of them, but those sorts of cartoons another sign on the other side the

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Page 57

building saying 'jewelry sale" with a a competition for cartoons about the Armenians by the Turks, and many
long line of rich-looking Jews waiting Holocaust, many Westerners cried more. Some communists and Turks
in front ofthe door to buy the left-over out and said this is an exception. deny these genocides without the
jewelry of those who came for free The same day the spokesman for the risk of imprisonment, but that does
food and were gassed and burned? White House was quick to denounce not change the facts.
Wouldn't that hurt Westerners' feel- it and called it "horrific." Depicting
I believe the world is getting
ings, whether Jew or Christian?"
Prophet Muhammad with dynamite
smaller and smaller everyday and as
I saw the disgust in his eyes and in his turban, although it might be people of all cultures and faiths come
he said, "It is reprehensible." I told funny for many in the West, is "hor- face to face we should be more tolerhim, "Gradually I am
ant and respectful of each
reaching to your weak Let's not turn the Holocaust into a faith. others beliefs. The people
point. I bet that many Weknow it happened, but we also should of the world are getting
who are familiar with
more similar to each
the background and not be afraid of those who question if it other in every aspect of
history of this subject happened or question its extent.
daily life and globalizaconsider this cartoon,
tion has brought far-away
disgusting and disturbing. Many rific" for millions of Moslems whose people of different faiths and cultures
others who are not familiar may only inspiration in life is their faith. in close contact with each other. If we
not react to it at all. So, something Ridiculing anybody's faith is "horrif- want to keep our faith, opinions, and
sacred for one may not necessarily be ic," including faith in the Holocaust. way of thinking, whatever it may
sacred for another one. The beef in You never ridicule a blind man or a be, then we should at least tolerate
your hamburger is a delicious food, person in love. You either are born other's beliefs as well. Of course,
but it is somebody's sacred animal in with a faith, it happened to you (like when others hold beliefs that require
another country. If those Westerners, love), or you acquired it (like a dis- them to be intolerant of the freedoms
characteristic of a secular society, we
who defend the publishing of the ease) with no choice. Let's not turn
Prophet Muhammad cartoons on the the Holocaust into a faith. We know have a problem that will not be easy
basis of freedom of speech agree with it happened, but we also should not to solve.
We must be friendlier. The world
the publishing of Holocaust cartoons be afraid of those who question if it
I have no problem with them. But happened or question its extent. It is is getting smaller and we are in easy
if they made an exception in this a legitimate academic question and reach of others. There is no room for
case and support publication of the we should address it without fear. hatred and bigotry. Yes, we must be
Prophet Muhammad cartoons and We should show them the documents very careful not to hurt each other condemn publication of cartoons and historical facts which are avail- that is the first message offreedom of
speech and democracy. In conclusion,
about the Holocaust, then that is a able.
Those
who
get
crazy
about
these
I
would like to quote the thirteenthmatter of hypocrisy and the double
kinds
of
questions
and
then
support
century
Persian poet Sa'adi, who
standard the West always applies
the
publication
of
cartoons
of
the
wrote:
in dealing with the rest of the world.
Prophet Muhammad on the basis of
We should always look at the cultural
All mankind are part of the same body,
sensitivity of those who are offended, freedom of speech are in the same
since they are from the same matter in
not at our own cultural sensitivity to boat as those who are angry about
creation.
the Prophet Muhammad cartoon
that matter."
If one part of the body suffers from
When an Iranian paper announced and ridicule the Holocaust. There are
pain,
many ugly genocides in human histhat since you ridicule things that
other parts will also be hurt.
are sacred for us, then we are free to tory, such as the Stalinist Gulags and
ridicule yours as well and announced the massacre of more than a million

Christian Science

from page 56

cure my stomach-ache and my cold;

but the horsedoctor did it. This convinces me that Christian Science
claims too much. In my opinion it
ought to let diseases alone and confine itself to surgery. There it would
have everything its own way.
The horse-doctor charged me
thirty kreutzers, and I paid him;
in fact, I doubled it and gave him a
Page 58

shilling. Mrs. Fuller brought in an

itemized bill for a crate of broken
bones mended in two hundred and
thirty-four places-one
dollar per
fracture.
"Nothing exists but Mind?"
"Nothing," she answered. ''All else
is substanceless, all else is imaginary."

Jan-Feb-Mar 2006

I gave her an imaginary check,

and now she is suing me for substantial dollars. It looks inconsistent.
NOTE.-The
foregoing chapters appeared originally in the
Cosmopolitan Magazine, about three
years ago.-M. T.

American Atheist

Me Too!

-.
.1by Keith McCaffety
Over the years, like all
of us, I've seen Palestinians
and other middle-eastern
Muslims demonstrating and
rioting time and time again.
I've had a certain amount of
understanding, sometimes
even sympathy. They've
been slaughtered like cattle
for decades now, seemingly
by everyone around them,
including and especially the
USA, and their own leaders
are too near-sighted, greedy
or incompetent to do anything about it. It would be
unrealistic to NOT expect
them to riot.
But these "cartoon riots"
have taken me by surprise.
What has shocked and astonished me most is how the
very concept of freedom of
speech itself is being decried
as a "ban" on Muslim beliefs.
This in particular has an"IF MUHAMMAD CAN'T COME TO THE MOUNTAIN
gered me in a way I've never
been angered before. It has
brought home to me how
yes even to riot. They urgently need
Islam truly is at odds with
to
spend their valuable time and rehuman society.
sources
solving the serious problems
These people have so many REAL
that
are
keeping them ignorant, poor
reasons to be angry, to demonstrate,
and under the boot of tyranny. But
what do they do? They take to the
Keith McCaffety is a freelance carstreets in the largest, most widetoonist and graphic designer from
spread and international demonstraHouston, Texas, where he founded
the Houston Atheist Society in 2003.
tions in Muslim history to call for the
He acted as designing editor of this
deaths of CARTOONISTS. This is
issue of American Atheist, as well as
willful stupidity, not just from their
the previous two. It is he who coined
leaders but on the part of every indithe phrase ''What's Allah Hoopla?"
vidual who participates. I cannot see
His online blog can be found at:
it any other way.Any person has to be
houstonatheist.blogspot.com
INSANE to believe that this is okay.

Parsippany, New Jersey

Jan-Feb-Mar 2005

Yet there they are.

I drew the cartoons on these
pages in response to this new
Muslim threat. (Yes, I said
THREAT.) I had something to
SAY,so dammit, I DID! I have
that right. Even if freedom of
speech were NOT the law, I
would claim it for myself and
forge ahead, damn the consequences.
A Teheran newspaper has
called for "Holocaust cartoons,"
but not in the name of free
speech. They can't write about
controversial religious, social
or government issues on pain
of prison, or even death. They
are doing it, rather, to show
that similar offenses won't be
tolerated by Westerners. More
power to them, it's a great idea
(and if I could figure out how
to submit an entry, I would).
But if they are expecting riots
in the streets of Europe and
... "
America, they will be disappointed. Not even 9-11 caused
riots in the USA, and nobody
in the western world calls for
the beheading of blasphemous artists anymore. Not only is it illegal
(because the bible is NOT the law),
it would be considered unacceptable
and crazy, even by the religious. (At
least, for now. But that's another editorial.)
Contrary to Muslim claims of
defamation, much of the world is
still bending over backwards to accommodate them. Even in America,
a majority of people seem to feel that
the Danish newspaper was wrong
to publish the cartoons, that it was

Page 59

how offended they are at

"insensitive" to the sacred
reasoned views like mine.
beliefs of others. I don't
They take great relish in
see these same people
doing so, and as loudly
writing angry letters to
as they can. Where is
the "insensitive" Muslim
THEIR tolerance? Am I
leaders who are calling
to understand that it is
for beheadings and assasinappropriate for me to
sinations. No, commentexpress MY offense while
ing in any way at all on
they have a free pass?
the actions of religious
They have special protecleaders of ANY faith
tion for their speech, but
would be "insensitive."
I don't? THEIR so-called
In every western nasacred beliefs are real,
tion, there is an increasbut MINE aren't?
ing phobia against "in''You must
respect
sensitive" speech w.hen
my religion! AND MY
it comes to religion. In
RIGHT TO HAVE YOU
Austria, there is a law
BEHEADED!!! And if
which threatens a prison
you
don't like it, I'LL BEterm of up to 10 years for
HEAD YOU!!!"
"whoever denies, grossly
I don't respect this. Noplays down, approves
body should. Period.
or tries to excuse the
Every time this subject
National Socialist genocomes up, people always
cide or other National
say to me, 'We need to
Socialist crimes against
build
bridges!" Well,
humanity in a print pubthat's very sweet. Okay,
lication, in broadcast or
go ahead and ''build a
other media." People are
bridge" with the guy
actually doing time for
across the table who's
violating this law. Making
calling for your head on a
Nazi organizations illegal
platter. And good luck.
is one thing, but this goes
A few years ago, Newt
too far. It's censorship,
plain and simple, but free
Gingrich said that the
rift between the Chrisnations the world over
tian Right and the rest
are embracing this kind
that Denmark is officially a Lutheran
of America is a problem that will not
of legislation. If you're waving a relistate, they DO practice freedom of
be solved until one side or the other
gious flag, you can say whatever you
speech and religion, so it's not the
wins out. Victory or nothing, that's
like, but if not, you'll be branded a
government's responsibility to apolohow they see it. Muslims all over the
bigot if you dare to open your mouth.
world feel the same
Criticism of religion is
Muslim,
Christian
or
otherwise,
the
things
way about their own
slowly but surely becoming illegal everywhere.
these lunatics supposedly "hold sacred" are views, and their leaders are using this carIn Australia, though,
deeply offensive to me, yet I am expected to toon
debacle to force
the government has
the issue. Their goal
made it clear that Mus- keep quiet in the name of "tolerance."
is nothing less than
lims who believe in
Sharia law should think about living gize, even if they wanted to. They Muslim law in every nation. What
somewhere else. Meanwhile, the same understand the separation of church will it take for the rest of us to get the
leaders are trying to ban abortion. So and state. Islam does not. Islam IS message and take a stand?
Tolerance of religious extremism is
one has to ask, do they really want to the state.
keep secular law safe from religious
Muslim, Christian or otherwise, not "tolerance." At best, it is reckless
encroachment, or do they just want to the things these lunatics supposedly and irresponsible. At worst, you may
''hold sacred" are deeply offensive to be digging your own grave, and that's
reserve that pie for Christians?
Surprisingly, the government of me, yet I am expected to keep quiet no exaggeration in today's climate.
Denmark has held firm against pres- in the name of "tolerance." THEY, on
sure to apologize. Despite the fact the other hand, never fail to point out

ISLAM

16

Page 60

Jan-FebMar 2006

American Atheist

Thomas Paine

Examination of the
Prophecies
Part Three of
Thomas Paine's

r;::::=======,--jJ Living In The Light

LIVING
IN THE LIGHT
Freeing Your Child From
The Dark Ages

The Age of Reason

by Anne R. Stone

Annotated by Frank R. Zindler

The man who coined the name
'The United States of America'
was also a Bible scholar of proPart three
digious wit and talent, as seen
Examination of the Prophecies
in this study of Old Testament
Edited .nd Ann~teod by Frank. R.Zind!tr
passages claimed as prophecies of Jesus by the New Testament authors.
xiv + 96 pages. Paperback
ISBN 0-910309-70-1
Stock #5575
$15.00

J====iJ

an ATHEIST
PRIMER

ents who want their children to grow up

with reality-testing skills intact and strong
L::::====~Jlimmunity to the wiles of supernaturalism.
157 pages, paperback
Stock #5588

By Madalyn Murray O'Hair

by Madalyn O'Hair.
, . This children's book explains what
religion and what Atheism are all
about. It is a great introduction to
Atheism for readers of any age.
Grades 2-4. lllustrated. 30 pp. Stapled.

$6.00

The year is 1968. The city is Austin,

Texas. The building is the studios of
KTBC radio. On the fateful day of June
3, one woman picks up the mike and
makes history.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair continues to
be America's best-known Atheist. In the
radio broadcast transcripts that comprise
this book - her first - we are witness to a
master thinker finding her voice.
333 pages. Paperback
ISBN 1-57884-918-7
$18.00

CD-ROM from
"Bank of Wisdom"
FREETHOUGHT AND
THE BIBLE
25 volumes on a single CD!
With Adobe Acrobat= PDF
format, it works on both IBM
& Macintosh computers.
Includes: The Bible Comically
Illustrated
(2 vols.), The
Bible, by John Remsburg, The Jefferson Bible, Bible
Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions, by T. W.
Doane, and much more!
Stock #4504

ISBN 1-57884-908-X
$12.00

What On Earth Is
An Atheist!

An Atheist
Primer

ISBN 0-911826-10-9
Stock #5372

Rearing children as Atheists isn't easy,

but this manual will be invaluable for par-

$30.00

To order, please include check (payable to American

Atheists) or credit card payment for the price of the
books plus shipping and handling ($2.50 for the first
title plus $1.00 for each additional title.
Send order to:
American Atheist Press
P.O. Box 5733
Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Credit card orders may be faxed to:
(908) 276-7402

The Altar Boy Chronicles

by Tony Pasquarello
The hilarious romp of a logical
mind trying to grow up Catholic
in Philadelphia's Little Italy during
World War II.
214 pp. Paperback
Stock #5583

S
NFIDEr
I
TIIGREAT

Stock #5197

$16.00

The Great Infidels

By Robert G. Ingersoll
foreword by Jon G. Murray

Newly reprinted and reformatted,

Ingersoll's sketches of the lives of
great Freethinkers is one of his
most inspiring works. Includes
his amusing discussion of the fallacy of informal logic known as
the "appeal to the cemetery."
76 pages, paperback
ISBN 0-910309-08-6
$7.00

Illustrated Stories
From The Bible

WHY I AM NOT
A MUSLIM

(that they won't tell you in Sunday School)

by Paul Farrell,
illustrated by Kathy Demchuck

By Ibn Warraq
A courageous crticicism of the
dark side of Islam

No dentist's office should be without

this very adult parody of children's
bible-story books. The cartoon illustrations are shockingly true to the text of
'The Holy Bible.' Serious biblical criticism follows each illustrated story.
American Atheist Press
ISBN 1-57884-922-5

viii + 169 pp.

Stock # 15100

"The present work attempts

to
sow a drop of doubt in an ocean
of dogmatic certainty by taking
an uncompromising
and critical
look at almost all the fundamental tenets of Islam."

Paperback
$16.00

Prometheus Books. 402 pp. Hard cover. ISBN: 0-87975-984-4

Baubles of Blasphemy

$25.00

Stock #7011

by Edwin F. Kagin

This is Kagin at his best-or perhaps his

worst, which is even better. Burlesque,
drollery,dry wit, irony,satire,parody,farce,
whimsy, amphiboly, paronomasia, and
religious insight more profound than any
other in our solar systemare all here for the
apprehending.

CHRISTIANITY

BEFORE
CHRIST
IY'
~

The Jesus Puzzle

Did Christianity Begin With A
Mythical Christ?
by Earl Doherty
Paperback.

"This is the most compelling argument ever published in support of

the theory that Jesus never existed
as an historical person. This is a
superb book - one that every Atheist
should read and master."
- Frank R. Zindler

Stock #5599

Kiss My Left Behind

Earl Lee
A parody of the popular genre of
"End Times" novels written by many
Christian authors, including Tim LaHaye,
the characters struggle with their own
problems and don't have much time to
fight the Antichrist (Nickelay Dubyah,
ruler of the former Soviet Republic of
Texrectumstan).
AventinePress (2003) 229 pages,paperback.

Stock 5903

Stock #5200

ISBN 1-59330-106-5

$15.00

with

A historical survey of the components of Christianity, showing

that they existed before that religion was invented. An excellent
starter book on the historicity of
Jesus Christ. Prof Jackson was
a pioneer in the field of African
and Afro-American studies.
Illustrations.
Index. 237 pp.
ISBN 0-910309-20-5

$14.00

NATURAL
ATHEISM

$14.50 USA,
$18.50 Canada

This is a parody of moronic books about "The'

Rapture," and if you don't like it you can ...

by John G. Jackson,

foreword by Frank R. Zindler

xiv +254 pp. Paperback

Stock #9901
Price $20.00

Challenging the existence

of an historical Jesus

Christianity
Before Christ

By David Eller
Everything is here to help those
who already are Atheists better understand the logic of their
lives and see Atheism's social and
political implications. Those who
are not yet Atheists will be helped
by this scientist's common-sense
analysis of the so-called 'proofs of God' to see the irrationality - indeed, the meaninglessness - of god-beliefs.
What is belief? What is knowledge? As Pilate is alleged
to have asked, "What is truth?" Understandable and clear
answers to these questions are in this book.
354 pages. Paperback.
Stock #5902

ISBN 1-57884-920-9
$18.00