American Atheist Magazine January/February 2010

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Jan/Feb 2010
Vol 48, No.1
American Atheist
ISSN 0516-9623 (Print) ISSN 1935-8369 (Online) AMERICAN ATHEIST PRESS Managing Editor Frank R. Zindler editor@atheists.org AMERICAN ATHEIST A Journal of Atheist News and Thought Editor David Smalley editor@americanatheist.org Cover Art & Magazine Design David Smalley Cover Photo Danni Verral Staff Writers & Journalists Kate Sirls Edwin Kagin Jason Harris Blair Scott James MacIver Keith Lowell Jensen Jim Haught Graphic Designer Gabriel Sheridan Published monthly by American Atheists Inc. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 158 Cranford, NJ 07016 908.276.7300 P 908.276.7402 F www.atheists.org
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also in this edition...
4 6 8 10 12 14 24 26 28 32 Being an Atheist | From VP Kathleen Johnson Biblical Bias Against Strong Black Women? 3 Fixations of Fundamentalist Christians Atheism: From Here | From VP David Silverman President Ed Buckner Gives 2 Book Reviews Annual Convention Information NYC Mayor Invites Nonbelievers & Makes History Needed: A Rubiyt Revival This Far By Faith? Why the 10 Commandments Are Not Foundational
2010 American Atheists Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. American Atheist is indexed in the Alternative Press Index. American Atheist magazine is given free of cost to members of American Atheists as an incident of their membership. Subscription fees for one year of American Atheist: Print version only: $20 for 1 subscription and $20 for each additional gift subscription Online version only: $35 Sign up at www.atheists.org/aam Print & online: $55. Discounts available for multiple-year subscriptions: 10% for two years 20% for three or more years. Additional postage fees for foreign addresses: Canada & Mexico: add $15/year All other countries: add $35/year Discount for libraries and institutions: 50% on all magazine subscriptions and book purchases
t isnt easy being an Atheist. If it were easy, everyone would be one. The clear, easy option, which is the choice made by billions of people around the world, is to align with a religion and to enjoy the social and community benefits that come with such membership. Yet, this is a choice that those of us who identify ourselves as Atheists cannot make. We simply are not capable of exercising the mental gymnastics it takes to buy into the idea that there is an invisible man in the sky who created
lution to be social animals, and its a tough need to meet when going to a local church organization is not an option. Second on my list of why its hard to be an Atheist is that we have to forgo the perceived security of believing in an afterlife. I have never been a true believer (although I tried very hard to be a believer as I grew to adulthood) so I have never had that comfort, but I have imagination enough to understand how such an idea could provide hope to the faithful. Who wouldnt, when faced
is the same as allowing their fictional devil into their midst. That is why, in a country that supposedly believes in religious freedom, some Atheists find their jobs, families, friends, and homes under real threat from these hyper-religious fanatics. With pressures like that, its amazing that any of us ever chose to admit to anyone, even ourselves, that we are Atheists. In spite of these pressures on all of us to be what we are not, we have all made the hard choice to identify as an Atheist and to support this organi-
Being an Atheist
this vastly complex, interesting world and each of us while knowing he would eventually toss us into a lake of fire. It can be isolating and lonely to not buy into the con being pushed on us by the faithful, especially when we refuse to pretend, for the sake of maintaining relationships with family and friends, to be what we are not. I can list many reasons why it is hard to be an Atheist.At the top of my list is the risk of actual or potential disapproval, disdain, or even outright exile from normally supportive friends and family. If there is anything that religious groups get completely right, its that they provide a sense of community and belonging. Humans have been engineered by physical and cultural evowith life threatening danger or a terminal disease, find comfort in the notion that their life and consciousness would continue after their death? Ive always suspected, however, that even the truly faithful do not really believe in the afterlife.If they did, why would they be so committed to preserving their own lives when faced with threats to their lives? Third on my list is the sad fact that in this country, some Christians exercise an incredible series of implausible mental gyrations that allow them to see themselves as a persecuted minority (in a country that identifies itself as 80% Christian!). This unfortunately makes a certain portion of this population believe that allowing us to exist
Kathleen Johnson Vice President & Military Director for American Atheists
zation. It is a humbling and awesome responsibility to be chosen to represent people such as you who have strength of character to reject an epidemic of cultural mythology in favor of a life of reason. I want to thank all of you for your continued support of this organization and our fight to keep religion out of our government and our personal lives. We may be few in numbers but we are stronger than ever and with your continued help and support, we will prevail.
Kathleen Johnson, who also holds the position of Military Director, has been an Atheist activist for more than 12 years. She recently retired from the Army after 23 years of service.
American Atheist January/February 2010
ISLAMIC JUSTICE
slamabad, Pakistan Two men in Lahore, Pakistan will have their noses and ears chopped off, according to orders in a recent court hearing. The reason? Both men were convicted of doing the same to a young woman. The anti-terrorism court further ordered that brothers Ammanat Ali, 29, and Sher Mohammed, 27, spend the rest of their lives in prison and pay 700,000 rupees ($8,300) to their victim. The sentence was issued in accordance with Islamic law and the countrys anti-terror laws, the prosecutor said. As for a motive of the original crime, the officer who investigated the case said the woman and her family had rejected an offer of marriage from Sher Mohammed. The two men attacked the woman, Fazeelat Bibi, 22, on September 28, in the village of Zafarkey, southwest of Lahore, Inspector Hakim Ali said. Along with their cousin Mohammed Ali and two other men, they hid, stopped Bibi on her way home from work, and strangled her with a wire. When they thought she was dead, they cut off her nose and ears. They mutilated her to set an example, prosecutors told reporters. Before the sentence is carried out, a doctor must determine that the men can survive the punishment of ear and nose amputation.
Information on other religions for those who want to make a difference, is available at atheists.org.
January/February 2010 American Atheist
The Biblical Bias

kay, the title is a bit misleading. The bible is not biased just against strong black women, but against independent and assertive women of all races equally. Yet for black women who have suffered oppression both as the descendants of slaves whose bondage was biblically sanctioned and as women whose oppression is not just condoned but also commanded by the bible, it makes no sense that they should embrace this backwards religion. It takes a level of self-deception or self-hate that I simply cannot fathom. According to the bible, a woman should have no rights accept those allowed her by her father or husband. A woman should be completely submissive and subservient and otherwise silent, and the punishment for disobedience to these misogynistic biblical edicts is corporal punishment and often death. Will I annoy a lot of women if I were to say that you must be blind, stupid, or crazy to worship this god? Im sure that I will, but it is nonetheless true. I challenge any woman to show me a hero and role model that they respect and strive to emulate who follows these biblical rules. And what are some of these rules? 1 Corinthians 11:7-9: For a man... is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. In other words, the woman is merely a derivative product of man (remember, you came from Adams rib) and as a result you should always defer
Wrath James White
Against Strong Black Women
to mans authority as man does to his god. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: [W]omen should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says, If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Church ladies of the world take heed. The lifeblood of the Black church is its women. I dare say that the church would whither and die without them. My own mother is a minister, very active in the church. Yet according to the bible, they are all in defiance of the word of the god who believes that women have nothing to contribute to mans glorious salvation. Ephesians 5:22-24: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife... wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Thats right sistas: every time you argue with your husbands, every time you refuse him, you are blaspheming against your god. Those male chauvinist pigs that you hate are absolutely correctif the bible is to be believed. Your strength and independence is an affront to the good book. The cultural legacy of strong black women who run their households, often single-handedly, is, according to the bible, contrary to all that is holy. 1 Timothy 2:11-15: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent... So, when your sons reach the age of adulthood (age 13 according to the bible) you should relinquish your authority over him and submit to his will.
You can no longer teach him, and he no longer needs to obey you. In fact, according to the one true god who in his infinite wisdom has proclaimed that women have nothing of worth to contribute to the education of a man, female teachers in high school and especially in college should be forbidden to teach their male students. Titus 2:4: ...train the younger women...to be subject to their husbands. Thats right: if you are teaching your daughters to stand up for themselves and to be self-sufficient, out-spoken, and independent, not to depend on men for their happiness, financial security, or their well-being, then you are a sinner and an infidel. You should be teaching them to obey even the most lazy, ignorant, abusive, good-for-nothing excuse of a man, to be submissive to him, and to remain silent in his presence. Now how many Black women do you know like this? No woman would have any respect for a woman who behaved this way. You wouldnt vote for such a woman. If Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton were that type of woman and fervently believed in these ideas, women would be outraged by the very suggestion that they might hold public office and be in a position to make decisions on behalf of all women, that they would be helping to shape public policy. From Amelia Earhardt to Harriet Tubman to Rosa Parks to Angela Davis, Shirley Chisolm, and Coretta Scott King to Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obamanone of them would be considered godly according to the word of this god. They would all be considered sinners. Female politicians and heads of state are all sinners. Female managers, supervisors, and CEOs, sinners. Female ministers, preachers, and religious leaders, are all rebels against the one true
god. If you are a true Christian woman, your heroes should be the women who stay with abusive husbands, the women who silently endure sexual harassment from their male employers, the women who allow their adult sons to curse at them and disrespect them, the women who never aspire to be anything more than wives and mothers, who dont speak unless spoken to, barefoot and pregnant, mere receptacles for a mans seed. It was Martin Luther himself who coined the phrase A womans place is in the home. Deuteronomy 22:28-29: If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsels father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. So, if a man rapes an unmarried virgin and they are found, then the man
must pay the father fifty shekels of silver and marry her. The woman gets raped and then has to marry the very man who violated herforced to marry her rapist with her fathers consent. This biblical idea of justice shows that Christian women are very much considered property. The woman belongs to the father and thus the transgression is against him, not the woman. Since he has taken her virginity, she is of no value anymore (except perhaps if the father wishes to sell her into slavery, as the Bible explicitly permits). If the woman has sex willingly, or if she doesnt tell anyone about the rape and hides the fact that she has had sex., or if she then marries another man, she will be stoned to death for not being a virgin on her wedding night (Deuteronomy 22:1321). The only way a woman who is raped can avoid either death or betrothal to her rapist is if she is married at the time of the rape and it occurs in a field (Deuteronomy 22:25).
From matricide to rape to domestic violence to the overall inferiority of women, the bible gives women ample reason to reject it. Yet all over the world you find strong, independent, intelligent women still clinging stubbornly to this misogynistic collection of hateful lies. How can my strong, beautiful Black women abide such atrocities? How could any modern woman swallow this? The answer, of course, is that they dont. Like all the other hateful, disgusting, ignorant, contradictory, and just plain wrong things in the bible, when the faithful discover them, their response is simply to ignore them. Those are the parts that man must have put in there. Those are the parts that were meant to be taken symbolically. Those are the biases and prejudices of a bygone age. The rest of it is the divinely inspired perfect word of an allknowing, all-powerful, omnibenevolent deity [sic]. Yeah. Right.
ve been reading Kevin Rooses The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at Americas Holiest University, which makes for both irritating and fascinating reading. Its the story of a semester the author spent at ultra-conservative Liberty University as a (temporary) transfer student from ultra-liberal Brown, with the aim of getting the insiders view of what fundamentalist Christianity is all about. You can check out my Amazon review of the book if you are interested in my broad assessment of it (the short version: enjoyable read, good attempt by the author at bridging the cultural divide, unfortunate tendency by Roose to overplay the likable side of his Liberty University buddies and even of Jerry Falwell and to downplay their homophobia and bigotry). What Id like to focus on here is Rooses observation, while taking various courses at Liberty, that three themes repeatedly emerged from his interactions with his professors (and I use the word in a very charitable fashion here, for the sake of argument): evolution didnt happen, abortion is murder, and absolute truth exists. Given my interest in understanding the fundamentalist mind and fighting its pernicious effects on society, it seems to me obligatory to ponder on these three points, which I have also observed from a recurring pattern in my own more than decade-long interactions with Christian fundamentalists (though it should be added that the same themes are strong also in other fundamentalist versions of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim religious mythology). Roose maintains that there are three ways in which Liberty professors attack evolution: by equating acceptance of evolution to faith in the Christian god, by questioning one or another of evolutions scientific tenets (an all-time favorite is, of course, criticism of radiodating of rocks), or by sheer sarcasm (as in Can you believe scientists actually think the human eye is the result of chance?They dont, by the way). These are all very telling. The sarcasm is a form of anti-intellectualism that strongly suggests to the faithful that we simple minded folks are in fact much smarter than them PhD-sporting scientists, an anti-expert attitude that of course few fundies actually carry through in any other area of their lives. (As a case in point, most of them go to car mechanics, doctors, lawyers, financial consultants and other such experts.) The other two tacks are
Fixations of Fundamentalist Christians
even more fascinating because they are mutually contradictory and in fact represent two distinct tactics adopted by the creationist movement in the United States during the 20th century. It is simply not coherent to criticize a position on (alleged) scientific grounds (even attempting to present a scientifically acceptable alternative in the form of the oxymoronic creation science) while at the same time charging the other side with simply engaging in a religious belief. The content of religious beliefs is not subject to scientific inquiry by its very nature, so one cannot reasonably use science and rationality to criticize an idea, only to switch when convenient to the position that that same idea is held by faith, meaning in spite of the evidence. Then again, there
Massimo Pigliucci, Ph.D
never was much reasonableness in the fundamentalist mind. Abortion, of course, would take several articles in and of itself, as it is a complex matter even for progressives. I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that abortion should be as easily available as aspirin, or that women have an absolute and unquestionable right to do what they will with the fetuses they carry. To contemplate having an abortion is to engage in an incredibly complex and painful exercise in ethical judgment, and there simply is no easy way out. That said, the fundamentalist insistence on the sanctity of life strikes me as hypocritical and ill-founded. First off, most of the same people who scream baby murder are also in favor of the death penalty, for instance, or have no trouble sending thousands or even millions of innocents to their death by declaring holy wars of one kind or another. But more to the point, these people seem to be completely incapable of understanding that personhood is a continuous process that is only potential at the moment of conception. Is the zygote a human life form? Yes, though it wont become a human being for months. Is it a human person? At that moment, most certainly not. This is important because
we recognize rights to persons not to cells (well, we unfortunately recognize rights to corporations too, but thats a whole different story). If it were biological material that had rights, then sperms and eggs shouldnt be wasted either. (If your mind wandered to Monty Pythons Every Sperm is Sacred you are in good company.) Moreover, and rather counterintuitively, fundamentalists should be in favor of human cloning and should defend the right to existence of every single human cell, since they are all potential human beings that could become actual if they were to go through a cloning process. This position is absurd, of course, but it highlights the idea that there is no simple solution to the issue, no clear black and white, us vs. them approach that is tenable. And that brings me to the last point on Rooses list: absolute truth (to be found, of course, in the bible). This is really what fundamentalists of all stripes have a problem with. They simply cannot accept that Truth with a capital T is essentially inaccessible to humans (except when we are talking about logic and mathematics), and that moreover in many real cases of interest to human affairs there is no absolute truth. This doesnt mean that anything goes (the dreaded extreme postmodernist position), but rather that truth comes in degrees, or that there may be more than one reasonable assessment of a given situation, leading to pluralism on whatever issue one may be considering. Indeed, it is this obsession with absolute truth, this epistemological hubris if you will, that also explains the other two recurrent themes: fundamentalists wouldnt have a problem with evolution if they didnt insist on taking the bible as the definitive word in matters of history and sci-
ence (as many moderate Christians in fact dont). And they would be able to tolerate a range of positions on abortion if they didnt think that there is an absolute distinction between human and non-human and an absolute way to determine right and wrong. There is, of course, no simple solution to the problem of fundamentalism. However, I must admit thatas irritating as Rooses book becomes at timeshe has hit on a good point in his Epilogue: Humans have always quarreled (Id say murdered each other, but whatever) over their beliefs, and I suppose they always will. But judging from my postLiberty experience, this particular religious conflict isnt built around a hundred-foot brick wall. If anything, its built around a flimsy piece of cardboard, held in place on both sides by paranoia and lack of exposure. Its there, no doubt, but its hardly forbidding. And more important, its hardly soundproof. Religious conflict might be a basic human instinct, but I have faith (a rather unfortunate choice of word), now more than ever before, that we can subvert that instinct for long enough to listen to each other. In other words, start wearing a suitable Your Friendly Atheist Neighbor t-shirt. If you really are friendly, the other side might see you as someone to respectfully disagree with, not as a demon to send to hell as expeditiously as possible. That would be progress indeed.
Massimo Pigliucci is a life member of AA. He teaches philosophy at the City University of New York-Lehman College, and his essays can be found at rationallyspeaking. org and gullibilityisbadforyou.org. His forthcoming book is Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk to be published by the University of Chicago Press.
American Atheists Needs You!

Our 2010 convention is coming. It will be held Easter weekend (April 1-4) in the New York/New Jersey area. We need volunteers (Spanish-English bilingual speakers especially helpful) to help us produce this exciting event. In return, you will get discounts and the opportunity to participate in the exciting world of Atheism! This will be a grand event. Come join us! Please contact Jim MacIver - See you there! jmaciver@atheists.org or call 908-276-7300.
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David Silverman Vice President & National Spokesperson for American Atheists
Atheism From Here

6) Liz Doles Godless ad was panned by all, and resulted in more donations for her opponent and a devastating loss at the voting booth. Before we look at the whats next we must look at the why Why have we enjoyed such expansion and growth of acceptance? Is Atheism a fad? Should we be prepared for a recession of thought? One factor in our growth was George W. Bush showing everyone just how bad it can be when religionists take control. Believe me, I hate having something for which to thank the person who is, in my opinion, the worst President in living history. However, his activism for the religious agenda alienated hoards of people even many Christians and provided clear illustrations of WHY the separation of Church and State is important, and not just a dogma behind which to stand. His religious response to the Faith-based attacks of 9/11 was transparent, his Faithbased Initiatives funneled money to discriminatory organizations, and his Supreme Court judges seriously endanger our religious freedom. He made a lot of people angry and motivated them to examine their loyalty to religion. Thanks Mr. President! I have stated many times in the past that Atheists faced a Catch-22 when confronted with coming out of the closet. Ignorance leads to bigotry and fear of Atheists, which leads to rhetoric against Atheists, which fosters fear from Atheists, which forces Atheists into closets, which ultimately results in more rampant ignorance, bigotry, and fear. We as an organization have tried to help people in their effort to break out of this cycle. By leading the way and being open and ousted ourselves, we hoped to provide a means to break that cycle so others may follow. To say that weve succeeded is an understatement, but we must give the real credit to the true hero of Atheism: The Internet. Thanks to the Internet, any Atheist anywhere can find other Atheists. Nobody is alone anymore. A simple click on the American Atheists FaceBook Page will immediately link you to 2000 other Atheists, and a look at YouTube will show you video after video of Atheists from around the globe. The result: nobody thinks they are the only Atheist in the world anymore. Nobody who cares to look will feel alone ever again! This is very important, because the Internet will never go away. As long as there is communication, there will be an on-
he last few years have seen a huge change in the religious landscape in America. For the first time, Atheism (in the broadest sense of the word) is everywhere. Please join me in reveling in our progress, however briefly: 1) Atheists are the fastest growing religious segment of the population, in all 50 states. 2) Atheists were acknowledged in President Obamas inauguration speech, and we now have our muchsought-after seat at the table in the White House. Indeed, our President Ed Buckner, along with the President of the Secular Coalition for America Sean Faircloth, recently spoke in Washington before a panel of the U.S. Department of Education on protecting students from religious bullying. 3) Atheist books including The God Delusion and God is Not Great, as well as a flood of me too books are hitting the bookstores and they are selling. Atheism is a hip topic. 4) Atheist billboards are going up everywhere, and few are being vandalized 5) Pete Stark, Americas only ousted non-theistic congressperson, was reelected easily, and his lack of religion was not even an issue in the election.
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line Atheist community. So now, we have a new circle: Closeted Atheists look for more Atheists and find them. With company, closeted Atheists become more confident, more educated, and more brazen. That confidence leads to more Atheists coming out. Once Atheism is more visable, that results in decreased ignorance among believers, which also decreases bigotry. Less bigotry leads to an improved reputation of and treament of Atheists, which ultimately causes more Atheists to feel empowered to express themselves, find others, and come out. And here we are, with the two most powerful weapons on our side: knowledge, and means for communication. The good news is that neither of these are going away. The result is inescapable: Atheism is not a fad, its a trend, and it is going to continue. But do not think we have a smooth ride ahead of us. Religion will not give up its money and power without a fight. The momentum is on our side, but this pendulum will swing back. We must be prepared for a backlash. So here are a few pointers on how to shape the future in the best way possible. Remember the big picture. The GW Bush presidency taught us one very important lesson: we are one election away from another GW Bush. Do not relax just because the current environment is more accommodating. The fight has only just begun, and the Religious Right is counting on us resting on our laurels. They will be disappointed.
Dont worry about precision in your labels. If you ask a Methodist, a Lutheran, or Catholic what religion they are, they will likely all answer Christian. Now compare this to what you would get if you asked an Agnostic, a Secular Humanist, and a Secular Jew. None of them would answer Atheist. This needs to stop. We have to concentrate on what binds us a realization that all gods are false gods and not worry about the minutiae. The phrases united we stand and divide and conquer should be running through your heads right now. The enemies of reason WANT us to bicker about nothing-arguments like I believe there is no god vs. I dont believe there is a god. These arguments are worthless and counter-productive, as they could and do lead to animosity within the movement (this is a part of their plan, and this is why THEY coined the term New Atheist to further divide us). Atheist and Secular are broad all-encompassing terms that should be used by everyone in the movement. If you are still in the closet, now is the time to come out. We must not coast just because we are riding downhill for the time being we must pedal faster to increase our momentum as much as possible. This is done by being a vocal and proud Atheist, and perhaps being an Atheist activist. Read, learn, and speak about Atheism as much as possible, and dont be afraid of ridiculing mythology (or calling religion mythology). Call the emperor naked he is. Finally, speaking of out, its time to take out your checkbooks. As you
can expect, this recession has hit us at exactly the wrong time. Just when our iron got hot, the donations have suffered. If you are in a position to help, I hope you will consider a donation to American Atheists. Anything is great, but more is better. Remember, all donations are taxdeductible and DOUBLED this year thanks to a matching grant. A wise man once said Dont give until it hurts, give until it feels good.
Weve come
farther than
we expected,
faster than we expected. Are tomorrow?
you prepared for
Gone are the days when we should hide behind fear of repercussions of being an Atheist. We are done being ashamed of being right and fearing the wrong. Dont get complacent, get out and get involved! We need to fear the future not take it for granted and do whatever we can to protect our progression, yielding no room for backslide. If we seize this opportunity together, we can take this country into the future and protect it from those who would rather see us return to the past.
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Author, Author! Speech, Speech!
or otherwise, that cannot withstand scrutiny in the marketplace of ideas should be rejected without further ado. The Family, by Jeff Sharlet, is a book that, despite sharp wit and humor at times, is perhaps the most frightening book Ive ever read. (Minor example of the humor: Sharlet described Norman Vincent Peale as possibly the most deliberately banal man in American history.) Extraordinarily well-documented, Sharlets book gives his readers a penetrating understanding of the religious right, who take for granted (and expect everyone else to, also) that they are on the side of God and virtue, and that might (theirs) makes right. He accomplished this with extended investigative journalism, including living among
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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, by Jeff Sharlet & The Prince of War: Billy Grahams Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire, by Cecil Bothwell
Book Reviews by President Ed Buckner
any of our speakers for our upcoming conference (in Elizabeth New Jersey, 24 April 2010see pages 14 15 in this issue for more
details, and sign up now!) are book authors, and well have plenty of books for sale and opportunities for you to get them signed. But Id like to focus on two that together help to give us the theme for this conference, BLASPHEMY?-On The Dangers of Privileging Religious Beliefs. Its an idea that most of the speakers will touch on in one way or another. Neither Sharlet or Bothwell discusses in his book blasphemy or even privileging religious ideas directly, but both illustrate in powerful detail what we can lose when we let religious claims or prestige go unchallenged, when we allow religious masks to hide ambitious political individuals and organizations. As Atheists, we reject all or almost all theistic beliefs all the time, and we stand ready to debate religious vs. irreligious beliefs in any fair forum. But the greatest dangers of religionto scientific progress, to rational thinking, to democratic governance, politics, and protections for free individuals, to human rights, to educational growth, to peace, and to ethical progress for humanitycome when religion is cloaked with special rights and special protections, when critiquing religious belief is called blasphemy or beliefs are held to be sacred. Any idea, religious members of a group in a strange community of brothers in Northern Virginia called Ivanwald, and by ranging across America with knowledge gleaned from reading archival sources of many sorts. Sharlet demonstrates real sympathy and human understanding for many of the fundamentalists he encountered, and he goes way beyond the two-dimensional caricatures of them that sometimes make it into print. But his descriptions of activities and
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cells across America (and elsewhereif you really want to understand much of the recent news regarding Uganda and its vicious anti-gay laws, you must read this book) are richly detailed and woven together in an understated way that enhances how scary his story is. To appreciate the positions of power held by Sam Brownback or James Inhofe or Hillary Clinton, and not just insider leaders like Doug Coe, you must read The Family. And nearly every day brings a news story that makes far more sense in the light of Sharlets work: a recent example involves Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan and the anti-abortion features in various versions of national health-care reform legislation. Though Sharlet doesnt discuss Stupak specifically in the book (he has since in television interviews), the back-
pher Hitchens did for Mother Teresa in Missionary Positionhas less of the wit and compassion for its victim(s) that Sharlet demonstrated, but Prince is also the result of meticulous investigative journalism and a thorough reading of archives. It is also thoroughly documented, quite readable, and also inspires real fear in those of us who are appalled at how easily theocratic poseurs find their way into the highest echelons of power in the United States, at just how readily religious leaders with no credentials or expertise can influence or even direct national policy. Bothwell occasionally slips into a slightly too pat conclusion (as when he dismisses counter arguments regarding the justification of the US using atomic weapons against Japan in 1945), but his basic casethat Billy Graham is better seen as a war-monger than a man of peaceis expertly developed and supported. Both books expose the anti-human-rights effects of fundamentalism, the support, overt and covert, that people like Billy Graham and Doug Coe have provided over the years for anti-Semitism, racial segregation, war on behalf of oil interests, suppression of women, blind anti-communism, anti-gay rights, flirtations with Nazi ideas, and more. Many common topics and national politicians can be found in the indexes of both books, and the overlap in retrospect is considerable, but they are far more complementary than redundant. Not only is the style different, the scope is as well. When you have heard Bothwell (recently famous as the Asheville, North Carolina, city councilman who refused to swear an oath to the Christian god on a bible at his inauguration) and Sharlet (who has been interviewed by
ground he gave in the book is crucial to making sense of it. The Family is quite well written, engaging while it enlightens. Sharing some of the focus of The Family, but much more tightly targeted on one man, is The Prince of War by Cecil Bothwell. This decidedly unauthorized biography of Billy GrahamBothwell does for Graham what Christo-
Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher, and others) speak, Im confident youll want signed copies of both authors books. You can buy the books now at the American Atheists web-site, and you should, so you can read them before the convention. But you still need to come to the convention to get them signed.
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BAN DIVORCE IN CALIFORNIA

Reverend Keith Lowell Jensen, creator of the hilarious Atheist Church on YouTube (Photos by Danni Verral)
Rescue Marriage!
dont often get called on to put my Credentials of Ministry to work, but a few Saturdays back, Reverend Keith was in fact needed. It seemed one lucky couple wished to be married, in front of the California State Capitol and another wished to renew their vows. The nuptials were to be the capper to a morning of marching and chanting ain favor of political change. In performing this service I was a featured guest at an event meant to protect the very backbone of our society, marriage.
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Marriage you see is in trouble, threatened on all fronts by homosexuals, polygamists and kitten marriers. My Catholic buddy John Marcotte had organized the mornings rally and had commissioned the legislation that was being promoted. It seems John had been fooled into voting no on Prop 8. He explains I misunderstood the entire Prop 8 issue. I thought it was about gay rights. I thought it was the most significant civil rights issue of our time. But then, I looked at the Yes on 8 website and I noticed something: they dont mention gay people at all. They dont want to talk about gay people because theyre not about gay people. What they want to do is protect traditional marriage.
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John wanted to make up for his mistake. Of course he valued marriage. Of course he was more than willing to think of the children. The married northern California father of two decided he could help the cause. If you want to protect traditional marriage, dont stop gay people from getting married. Stop straight people from getting divorced.
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Marcotte contacted a lawyer friend who, after insisting they include a clause making an exception in the case of abuse, wrote up the proposed initiative and after the state conducted their fiscal analysis a website was created, (www.RescueMarriage.org), phone calls were made, and the movement to ban divorce in the state of California was launched. So, on an overcast but pleasant Saturday morning, I stood behind my podium in front of the golden domed capitol building in Sacramento aka Arnolds house, and I watched excitedly as a group of demonstrators approached chanting 2... 4... 6... 8... Dont end up like Jon and Kate. Blue t-shirts declared You said Til death do us part. Youre not dead yet. One sign read, Now you too can give up your rights to protect someone elses values. I performed a wedding and a renewal, complete with handcuffs for the happy couples.
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I chastised the homosexuals in attendance, and there were many, for trying to co-opt marriage as theyd coopted disco music, mustaches and roller blades. But I also pointed out that the gay couples who had succeeded in getting married between June 16th and November 5th of 2008 would also be affected by this bill which would insure that these gay marriages were protected as well. Then came the highlight of my day. Two women cel-
ebrating 36 years as a couple stepped forward to have their vows renewed. I worked hard to remain a smart ass reverend as I hit on them and asked where their husbands were but seeing such a devoted and loving couple hit me right in the tear ducts and I struggled to keep it together as I asked the crowd if theyd ever seen two people so undeserving of marriage. The signature gathering is underway...
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American Atheists Essential Reading List

Enjoy the introductory information provided in these books, which are of topics of interests to Atheists. These titles represent only a fraction of the books available from American Atheist Press, yet collectively they provide a broad overview of Atheist thought. Stock # Price Pages Book Style
Atheism Advanced: Further Thoughts of a Free Thinker by David Eller An anthropologist advances Atheists and Atheism beyond belief! Christianity before Christ by John G. Jackson Christian doctrines are traced to their origins in older religions. The Case Against Religion by Albert Ellis A psychotherapists view of the harmful aspects of religious belief. Living in the Light by Anne R. Stone Subtitled Freeing Your Child from the Dark Ages This book serves as a manual for Atheist parents. Our Constitution: The Way It Was by Madalyn OHair American Atheist Radio Series episodes about the myth that our founding fathers created a Christian nation. What on Earth is an Atheist! by Madalyn OHair American Atheist Radio Series episodes on various topics of Atheist philosophy and history. The Bible Handbook by G. W. Foote, W. P. Ball, et al. A compilation of biblical absurdities, contradictions, atrocities, immoralities and obscenities. An Atheist Epic by Madalyn OHair The personal story of the battle to end mandatory prayer and bible recitation in schools in the United States. 65 Press Interviews by Robert G. Ingersoll Ingersolls 19th-century newspaper interviews as a Freethinker and opponent of superstition. An Atheist Looks at Women & Religion by Madalyn OHair Why attempts to reconcile religion with civil rights for women are self-defeating. The Jesus the Jews Never Knew by Frank R. Zindler A search of ancient Jewish literature yields no evidence for the existence of any historical Jesus. The Great Infidels by Robert G. Ingersoll How nonbelievers and Atheists have contributed to civilization and enriched our lives. The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus by Ren Salm Jesus couldnt have come from Nazareth because no one was living there at the time. Illustrated Stories From The Bible by Paul Farrell You can bet this book wont ever be used In Sunday Schools! Jesus is Dead by Robert M. Price Not only is there no reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead, there is no reason to think he ever lived or died at all!
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State Directors
MILITARY DIRECTOR Kathleen Johnson 411 E. Hwy 190 Ste. 105 PMB66 Copperas Cove, TX 76522 (318) 542-1019 kjohnson@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/mil ALABAMA STATE DIRECTOR Blair Scott P.O. Box 41 Ryland, AL 35767-2000 (256) 701-6265 bscott@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/al/ ALASKA STATE DIRECTOR Clyde Baxley 3713 Deborah Ln. Anchorage, AK 99504 (907) 333-6499 cbaxley@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ak/ ARIZONA STATE DIRECTOR [NEW] Don Lacey P.O. Box 1161 Tucson, AZ 85641-1161 (520) 370-8420 azatheist@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/az/ CALIFORNIA STATE DIRECTOR Michael Doss P.O. Box 10541 Santa Ana, CA 92711 (714) 478-8457 mdoss@atheists.org Mark W. Thomas (Asst. Dir.) 472 Lotus Lane Mountain View, CA 94043-4533 (650) 969-5314 mthomas@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ca/ CONNECTICUT STATE DIRECTOR Dennis Paul Himes P.O. Box 9203 Bolton, CT 06043 (860) 643-2919 dphimes@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ct/ FLORIDA STATE DIRECTOR Greg McDowell P.O. Box 680741 Orlando, FL 32868-0741 (352) 217-3470 gmcdowell@atheists.org Ken Loukinen (So. FL Reg. Dir.) 7972 Pines Blvd., #246743 Pembroke Pines, FL 33024 (954) 381-5240 kloukinen@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/fl/ IDAHO STATE DIRECTOR Susan Harrington P.O. Box 204 Boise, ID 83701-0204 (208) 392-9981 sharrington@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/id/ KENTUCKY STATE DIRECTOR Edwin Kagin P.O. Box 48 Union, KY 41091 (859) 384-7000 ekagin@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ky/ MICHIGAN STATE DIRECTOR Arlene-Marie amarie@atheists.org George Shiffer (Asst. Dir.) gshiffer@atheists.org Both can be reached at: P.O. Box 0025 Allen Park, MI 48101-9998 (313) 938-5960 http://www.atheists.org/mi/ MISSOURI STATE DIRECTOR Greg Lammers P.O. Box 1352 Columbia, MO 65205 (573) 289-7633 glammers@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/mo/ NEW JERSEY STATE DIRECTOR David Silverman 1308 Centennial Ave., Box 101 Piscataway, NJ 08854 (732) 648-9333 dsilverman@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/nj/ NORTH CAROLINA STATE DIRECTOR Wayne Aiken P.O. Box 30904 Raleigh, NC 27622 (919) 602-8529 waiken@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/nc/ OHIO STATE DIRECTOR Michael Allen PMB289 1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 678-6470 mallen@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/oh OKLAHOMA STATE DIRECTOR Ron Pittser P.O. Box 2174 Oklahoma City, OK 73101-2174 (405) 205-8447 rpittser@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ok/ TEXAS STATE DIRECTOR Joe Zamecki 512-758-0060 jzamecki@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/tx/ Dick Hogan (TX Reg. Dir., Dallas/Ft. Worth) dhogan@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/dfw/ UTAH STATE DIRECTOR Rich Andrews P.O. Box 165103 Salt Lake City, UT 84116-5103 (801) 718-7930 randrews@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/ut/ VIRGINIA STATE DIRECTOR Rick Wingrove P.O. Box 774 Leesburg, VA 20178 (703) 433-2464 rwingrove@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/va/ WASHINGTON STATE DIRECTOR Wendy Britton 12819 SE 38th St., Suite 485 Bellevue, WA 98006 (425) 269-9108 wbritton@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/wa/ WEST VIRGINIA STATE DIRECTOR Charles Pique P.O. Box 7444 Charleston, WV 25356-0444 (304) 776-5377 cpique@atheists.org http://www.atheists.org/wv/
Contacting State Directors

Our directors are not provided with contact information for members in their area. If youre interested in working with your Director on activism, please use the listing on this page to contact them. They would love to hear from you! If you live in a state or area where there is no director, you have been a member for one year or more, and youre interested in a Director position, please contact: David Kong, Director of State and Regional Operations dksf@atheists.org
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NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Makes History by Inviting Nonbelievers to Interfaith Breakfast
In his comments December 31st, Mayor Bloomberg went on to point out that in the melting pot of New York there is ethnic and religious diversity in every neighborhood, even within those neighborhoods that may seem an enclave of a particular ethnic group, but where you will often find a Chinese laundry next to a Jewish Deli. Mayor Bloomberg demonstrated, by opening up this event to Atheists, his understanding and love for the vast variety of New Yorks population, said Kenneth Bronstein, president of New York City Atheists Inc. (NYCA). As Atheists, we are impressed by his forward-looking perceptions in this and trust that we Atheists will be included in other civic events formerly open just to the religious. The Atheist group at the event was surrounded by tables filled with hundreds of representatives of Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and every major religion represented in the City. The opening invocation was given by leaders from six different religions ranging from Catholicism to Judaism.
ew York For the first time in its history, New York Citys Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg invited a group of Atheists to attend his annual Interfaith Breakfast, held on the day before the New Year. In his opening statements, the Mayor recognized the new group in attendance, saying, I also want to welcome for the first time those who dont profess a faith but who do love our city. He went on, in apparently off-the cuff remarks, to cite the diversity of philosophies in the City, saying that New Yorkers should have tolerance for all sorts of viewpoints because the City is a vast mixture of ethnicities, religious beliefs and views. Sitting together at a table among the hundreds of representatives from various religious groups at the Interfaith Breakfast in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library this morning were six representatives of the New York City Atheists, Inc. (NYCA), who had been formally invited by the Mayors Commissioner of Community Affairs, Nazli Parvizi. The Mayors remarks about nonbelievers were historic and trend setting, coming hard upon President Obamas mention of nonbelievers in his inauguration speech when citing a list of diverse religious beliefs in America. That one word, nonbelievers, uttered by the new president at his swearing-in ceremony this year, rocked the airwaves worldwide, making history, shocking some, and for others, presaging a new acceptance of the nonreligious in our country.
Among the six NYCA members in attendance from New York City Atheists Inc. were representatives from a wide range of professions, including a research assistant-professor at the College of Medicine at Downstate Medical Center, SUNY campus; a director of the Health Science Library at Beth Israel Medical Center; an author who is the leader of the new Spanish-language division of New York City Atheists; a member of Actors Equity and Off-Broadway actor; a journalist who is NYCAs director of communications and, a surprisean employee of the Bloomberg organization in technology.
Atheists are involved in all professions and range from top CEOs to factory workers, even people on Mayor Bloombergs staff, said Bronstein. Look around you at your fellow workerhe or she may be an Atheist. And thats okay. Its acceptable to be an Atheist today. Get to know them. For Further Information: Jane Everhart, Director of Communications New York City Atheists | 212-879-2687
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Our country greatly needs a Rubiyt Revival maybe even a Rubiyt Revolution to stop our nations sad regression into attitudes and beliefs of the Middle Ages. Not only do primitive preachings fill our airwaves, but those archaic beliefs have permeated our political world as well, giving them the potential to affect even those of us who do not share such religious faith. In the past, one could disregard his neighbors belief. If it gave him comfort, where was the harm? But now, with certain religions gaining influence in government, the belief of that neighbor, if converted into a vote, could directly affect all of our lives. Even our death! Religious people are obsessed with death. And for good reason, since death, or rather, what happens after death, is used as a control mechanism to keep believers in line. Follow our commandments, say the priests, and you will enjoy everlasting life. Disobey, and you will suffer the eternal torments of a fiery Hell! For many, this threat makes breaking free from the faith theyve been taught too great a risk. For others, recognition of this obvious manipulation starts them on the road to atheism, as these verses from the Rubiyt describe:
he year 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of Edward Fitzgeralds landmark translation of the Rubiyt of Omar Khayyam* an observance that should have revived an appreciation for this poems vibrant verses:
I sent my soul into the great beyond Some version of that afterlife to spell, And by and by my soul returned to me And told me I, myself, am Heaven and Hell. Heavn but the Vision of fulfilld Desire, And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late emergd from, shall so soon expire. The only certain conclusion: Oh threats of Hell, and hopes of paradise, One thing is certainhis life flies. One thing is certain, and the rest is lies. The rose that once has bloomed, forever dies. As for a Supreme Being: And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coopt we live and die, Lift not thy hands to *It* for helpfor It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
Wake! For the Sun, who scatterd into flight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heavn, and strikes The Sultans Turret with a Shaft of Light.
The anniversary would have been a perfect time to revive the Rubiyt s magnificent atheistic philosophy such as these lines mocking the Creator: Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blackend, Mans Forgiveness giveand take!
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NEEDED: A Rubaiyat Revival!

Janet Brazill
Religions that profit from controlling their congregations need to maintain the fear of death, including control of the dying process. They insist that everyone die a natural death to be ready to meet their Lord. So in 1994, when Oregon passed a referendum legalizing physician-assisted suicide, the Catholic Church worked to overturn it, forcing another vote in 1997. However, that vote to repeal was soundly defeated by Oregon voters (60%40%) and the law was passed. Next, the National Right-to-Life organization tried a lawsuit, subsequently dismissed. Then U.S. Representative Henry Hyde, a Catholic, attempted an override of the Ore gon peoples will by amending the Controlled Sub stances Act to re voke the license of any physician who writes prescriptions for life-ending medication. In June of 1998, the Justice De partment ruled that this would not apply because prescriptions written under such state law do con stitute a legitimate medical purpose. Washington has now become the second state to pass a Death with Dignity Act allowing active euthanasia with important safeguards. Since then, bills that seek to improve end-of-life care have been introduced in nine state legislatures around the country: seven states have introduced Death with Dignity laws, and two states have proposed laws that require physicians to inform patients of all of their end-of-life options. Just recently, Montana became the first state in the country to declare that medical aid in dying is a protected right under a state constitution. The Rubiyt could be the perfect battle anthem for Atheists who join this effort to insure freedom in deciding end-of-life treatment without religious interference. The preservation of individual rights is one of the foundations of our democracy. What right could be more important than the right to end your life with an easy death? Information on current efforts can be obtained by consulting the web for organizations involved in end-of-life choices. Action is needed now to take the battle nationwide, because, as the Rubiyt points out, we may not get a second chance: The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. So read or reread the many verses of the Rubiyt. Delight in its irreverence, its philosophy of confident disbelief, its brash challenge to our Maker. Enjoy its romantic exuberance: A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Breadand Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! Accept its invitation to enjoy life to the fullest, assured of a happy atheistic ending with no afterlife: Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and---sans End! *The Rubiyt is a collection of verses written by or attributed to Omar Khayyam, a Persian mathematician, philosopher and astronomer who lived from Ca. 10481122. Originally separate poems about such subjects as wine, love, beauty and death, these became a literary masterpiece when translated by Edward Fitzgerald, who arranged them, paraphrased them, and in some instances, created his own verses. Woody Guthrie recorded an excerpt of the Rubiyt set to music that was released on Hard Travelin (The Asch Recordings Vol. 3). Verses have been quoted in various movies and plays. The famed skull and roses poster for a Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom was adapted from it.
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This Far By Faith?

Sikivu Hutchinson
Race Traitors, Gender Apostates, & the Atheism Question

artin Luther King, Jr. once dubbed Sunday at 11:00 a.m. the most segregated hour in America, a microcosm of the titanic divide that specifically separates black and white America. Yet racial divisions are not the only prominent schism in the Sunday churchgoing ritual that encompasses much of the social and cultural life experience of one of the most god-obsessed nations on the planet. Despite all the liberal revisions to biblical language and claims to progressivism among some Christian denominations, mainstream Protestantism is still, of course, a Jim Crow throwback and a mans mans world. As Mark Galli, editor of the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today once remarked, Its a clich now to call institutional religion oppressive, patriarchal, out of date and out of touch. So what else is new? I feel sorry for those people who dont think theres anything greater than themselves.It leaves out the communal dimension of faith. From the Deep South to South Los Angeles, this communal dimension of faith is one of the most compelling and problematic aspects of womens investment in organized religion. When it comes to accounting for the disproportionate male-to-female ratio for self-identified Atheists, there has been much wrongheaded conjecture about the supposed emotionalism of women versus the rationality of men. Bloggers muse about womens intuitive sensitivity to the warm and fuzzy verities of religious dogma. Women are portrayed as naturally timorous and thus less inclined to question or suspend belief
about the inconsistencies of organized religion. For the most part, there has been no serious evaluation of the perceived gendered social benefits of religious observance versus the social costs of espousing such a gender nonconforming individualist ideology as Atheism, particularly with respect to American-born women of color. Indeed, in many communities of color the very structure of organized religion offers a foundation for the articulation of female gendered identity that has been a source of agency and an antidote to marginalization. On the other hand, patriarchy entitles men to reject organized religion with few implications for their gender-defined roles as family breadwinners or purveyors of cultural values to children. Men simply have greater cultural license to come out as Atheists or Agnostics because of the gender hierarchies that ascribe rationalism, individualism, intellectualism, and secular or scientific inquiry to masculinity. So women in traditionally religious communities who come out in real time (as opposed to online) risk greater ostracism because women dont have the cultural and authorial privilege to publicly express their opposition to organized religion as men. African American women provide an illustrative case in point. Imagery such as filmmaker Tyler Perrys bible-thumping, malapropism-spewing Madea, stereotypically heavyset black women in brightly colored choir robes belting out gospel music, and sweatdrenched revelers cataleptic from getting the holy ghost are some of the most common mainstream representa-
tions of black femininity. These caricatures are buttressed by the unwavering financial and social support of the black church, which is predominantly Christian-based, by African American communities of all income brackets. According to blackdemographics. com, African Americans remain the most solidly religious racial group in the United States, outstripping whites in their churchgoing fervor by a nearly 20% margin. Sunday in and Sunday out, between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., a familiar scene emerges in both working and middle class black communities across the nation. Black women shuttle dutifully to church in their sartorial best, backbone of a dubious institution that still accords them only second-class citizen standing. The gender dynamics in the breakdown of regular churchgoers reflects an utterly predictable disparity in power and access. While more black women have been allowed to assume leadership roles in black churches in recent years, they remain a minority among deacons, pastors, and senior pastors of most black congregations. So although black women are far more likely than men to attend church more than once a week, the officialdom of black religious establishments, and certainly the political face of the black church, is steadfastly male. What is the relationship between these gendered religious hierarchies and cultural politics in African American communities? Christian religiosity pervades the slang of misogynist black hip-hop artists and sports figures and worms its way into their Jesus-touting
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boilerplate award acceptance speeches. Christian religiosity engorges multimillion dollar faith-based empires in poor urban black communities where prime real estate is often a triad of storefront churches, liquor stores, and check-cashing places. Sex scandals and financial improprieties fester amongst the leadership of black churches, yet sexist and homophobic rhetoric remain a mainstay. Blind faith speaks through bulging collection plates and special tithes to the latest charity, pastors pet cause or capital campaign, blessing donors with another chit to heaven and certitude that black apostates are also race traitors. If mainstream African American notions of black identity are defined by a certain degree of essentialism, then religious identity is certainly a key element. Alternative belief systems are viewed with suspicion because they are deemed to be inconsistent with authentic black identity. Given this context it is unsurprising that African American comedian and self-appointed dating guru Steve Harveys diatribe against Atheism this past spring on The Tyra Banks Show went largely unchallenged by African American cultural critics. Harvey is a popular nationally syndicated radio personality with a large following in African American communities. He recently published a book on relationships entitled Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment. Doling out sage dating advice on the Banks Show, Harvey condescendingly warned black women to avoid Atheist gentlemen callers at all costs because they simply have no morals. Harveys swaggeringly ignorant declaration was not only a repudiation of atheism but a thinly veiled warning to black women that they should toe the religious line with their personal choices. Failure to do so would have serious consequences for racial solidarity and their ability to be good (black) women,
compromising their heterosexual marketability and legitimacy as marriage partners and mothers. It is this brand of essentialism that makes stereotypes associating black identity politics with an anti-secularist stance and religious superstition so irritatingly persistent. While the greater religiosity of women of color in comparison to men is no mystery, why has this peculiarly gendered regime gone relatively unquestioned? The gravity of the social and economic issues confronting black communitiesand the tremendous cultural capital and social authority
Martin Luther King, Jr. once dubbed Sunday at 11:00 a.m. the most segregated hour in America
that organized religion exercises within themcompels further analysis. Just as women are socialized to identify with and internalize misogynistic and sexist paradigms, religious paradigms that emphasize domestication and obeisance to men are integral to mainstream American notions of femininity. For many observant women questioning or rejecting religion outright would be just as counterintuitive as rejecting their connection to their lived experiences. In this regard religious observance is as much a performance and reproduction of gender identity as it is an exercise of personal morality. Many of the
rituals of black churchgoing forge this sense of gendered identity as community. Maintaining ties with peers within the context of a church meeting, ensuring impressionable children have some moral mooring by sending them to Sunday School, or even invoking sage bits of scripture to chasten malcontents, enlighten casual acquaintances, or infuse ones quotidian doings with purposethese all carefully delineate enactments of kin and community that have been compulsorily drilled into women as the proper fulfillment of a gendered social contract. And if this gendered social contract were violated en masse, patriarchy and heterosexism would have less foundation. What, then, are the lessons for promoting Secular Humanist, Agnostic, or Atheist belief systems? First, that there must be more clearly defined alternatives to supernaturalism which speak to the cultural context of diverse populations of women and people of color. Second, that moral secular values should provide the basis for robust critique of the serious cultural and socioeconomic problems that have been allowed to thrive in communities of color under the regime of organized religion. Finally, in an intellectual universe where rock star white men with publishing contracts are the most prominent Atheists and Atheism is perceived in some quarters as a white thing, it is also critical that acceptance and embrace of non-supernatural belief systems be modeled in communities of color on the ground. Only then can secularism defang the seductions of the communal dimension of faith that defines our most segregated hour.
Sikivu Hutchinson is the editor of blackfemlens.org and a speaker at the Atheist Alliance International Conference in October. This article is an excerpt from Scarlet Letters a forthcoming book of essays on race/gender politics, Atheism, and Secular belief in America.
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or those who have been actively involved with religious politics in the United States, the 2003 decision to remove the biblical Ten Commandments from a state judicial building in Alabama remains a prominent memory. In a victory for Atheists across the nation, Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the placement of the Ten Commandments was unconstitutional, as it violated the separation of church and state. Thats not to say, though, that the removal of the monument didnt spark
hibitsin public places. However, it is easy to see how most of the biblical commandments have no relation to the foundation of American law by simply taking a close look at them. Commandment #1: I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me. Clearly, as the United States was founded on the principle of a separation between church and state, this first commandment cannot be argued to be foundational to the laws that govern America. Since the passing of the Establishment Clause, it is actually
in existence since the founding of America, it is very fair to say that this is another commandment that held no influence over the early lawmakers. Commandment #3: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. There has never been a time in America when it has been illegal to take the Christian gods name in vain. This commandment, like the first two, has never been a part of, let alone foundational to, American law. Commandment #4: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Why the Ten Commandments Are Not Foundational to American Law

Kate Sirls
outrage from the religious community. Upon the confiscation of the Ten Commandments monument, protesters stood outside the building to object and show support for its return. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had initially erected the monument, commented, It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgement of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge (Cabell, Mattingly, and King). But is Moores declaration that the Ten Commandments are the moral foundation of our law accurate? Is this biblical list of rules and regulations really the basis for the legal system in the United States? Increasingly, more affiliates of the religious right have taken to using this argument in support of displaying the Ten Commandmentsand other religious ex-
illegal to make a law based on religious standards. Since the founding of the United States, there has never been a law requiring citizens to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian god, nor has it been illegal to recognize other gods. Thus, we can plainly see that this first biblical commandment has nothing to do with American law, nor did it ever. Commandment #2: You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth . . . for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Considering the number of carved images and likenesses to many things found in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth, including the many statues, paintings, and other forms of art found throughout the country that have been
While it is certainly true that the federal government (and some other businesses) close down on Sunday (recognized as the Sabbath day by most sects of Christianity but not Judaism), it is not a part of any American law that the Sabbath must be observed. Every Sunday millions of Americans partake of various types of work, and it has always been legaland we therefore have yet another commandment that took no part in the creation of any American law. Commandment #5: Honor your father and your mother. Although the Bible is very explicit about punishment for children who do not obey their parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says that such children should be put to death), this has never been a part of American law. American children have always been free to disrespect and disobey with-
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out legal repercussions. Granted, such behavior might have resulted in harsh punishment from parents themselves, but said punishment was never the governments job. It has never been a foundational part of American law to obey our parents. Commandment #6: You shall not kill. This is one of the few commandments that actually is a part of American law. However, this is a basic tenet that logic and any sense of liberty and justice points us toit isnt as though we would be allowed to murder each other if it wasnt for this sixth commandment. In most modern societies, including secular ones, killing is prohibited, so even though this is a commandment, it cannot strongly be argued that the corresponding American law came specifically from the Ten Commandments. Commandment #7: You shall not commit adultery. Interestingly enough, most states had, at the nations founding, laws against adultery (and some still have them on the books). These laws, however, were not entirely biblical in nature: while there was some aspect of morality involved in the creation of these laws, it also had a lot to do with maintaining ease in men knowing that his children were really his, and thereby upholding families for economic reasons. It is not valid to argue that rules pertaining to adultery came directly from the Ten Commandments, or that their moral bases were foundational in early America. Commandment #8: You shall not steal. Like the sixth commandment, this one concerning stealing actually does bear resemblance to one of Americas foundational laws. It is again, however, like the sixth commandment in that not stealing others property is founda-
tional to most cultures, and is needed in order to uphold a society. In other words, this would have been a part of American law with or without the Ten Commandments. Commandment #9: You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Bearing false witness, or lying, has only been illegal in America under only one circumstance: if it is done in a court of law. Whether or not this is a so-called correct interpretation of the commandment itself (if it is directly referring to lying in court) could be debated, but lying in and of itselfor the prohibition thereofis not foundational to American law. Commandment #10: You shall not covet your neighbors house, . . . your neighbors wife, . . . or anything else that is your neighbors. As unfortunate as it may be, coveting is part of what keeps Americas free enterprise system goingit is foundational that Americans do covet, not that we dont. Wanting what our neighbors havebe it a nice house, a nice car, or new electronicskeeps us working hard and spending hard,
which is the basis of what keeps our economy going. It has certainly never been a part of American lawmoral or otherwiseto not covet what other people have. If ever confronted by a religious person claiming that the Ten Commandments played a foundational role in American law, you may want to question whether or not he or she even knows all ten of the commandments. It only takes a basic knowledge of what they represent to know that they are, at their core, religious in nature, and have no place in American law (the Establishment Clause actually prohibits it). The best retaliation against protesters who wish the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public places is educationfor knowledge, as they say, is power. Bibliography Cabell, Brian, David Mattingly, and John King. Ten Commandments Monument Moved. CNN (2003): Web. 20 Dec 2009.
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BOOKS available AT atheists.org
34
Organizations Presently Affiliated with American Atheists
Is your local or national group interested in affiliating with American Atheists? If so, please contact Blair Scott, National Affiliate Director, at bscott@atheists.org.
Due to the number of Affiliates, only the group name and Web Page or Email is listed. For a full list including mailing addresses and phone numbers, please visit http://alabamaatheist.org/naod or contact Blair Scott at bscott@atheists.org for additional details.
Current American Atheists Affiliates
ALABAMA Birmingham Atheists atheists.meetup.com/132 Florence United Nontheists FlorenceFreethought.org Montgomery Area Freethought Association montgomeryfreethought.org North Alabama Freethought Association thenafa.org West Alabama Freethought Association meetup.com/ westalabamafreethought ALASKA Anchorage Atheists http://meetup.com/ anchorageatheists ARIZONA Tucson Atheists atheists.meetup.com/69 CALIFORNIA Agnostic & Atheist Student Association daviswiki.org/agasa Atheist Coalition of San Diego atheistcoalition.org
Atheists & Agnostics Group of Rossmoor rossmooratheists.info Atheists & Freethinkers of Contra Costa County contracostaatheists.com Atheists and Other Freethinkers Aofonline.org Atheists of Silicon Valley godlessgeeks.com Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics cvaas.org East Bay Atheists eastbayatheists.org Humanist Society of Santa Barbara santabarbarahumanists.org Orange County Atheists OCAtheists.com San Francisco Atheists sfatheists.com Santa Cruz Atheists santacruzatheists.org Shasta Atheists & Freethinkers shasta@atheistalliance.org
COLORADO Atheists and Freethinkers of Denver atheistsofdenver.org Boulder Atheists boulderatheists.org Metro State Atheists metrostateatheists.wordpress.com Western Colorado Atheists WesternColoradoAtheists@yahoo. com CONNECTICUT Atheist Humanist Society of CT and RI atheisthumanist.org Connecticut Valley Atheists cvatheists.org FLORIDA Florida Atheists & Secular Humanists **Affiliate of the Year, 2008** freethoughtflorida.com Gator Freethought (UF) gatorfreethought.org Rebirth of Reason in Florida rebirthofreason.com/Florida
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Saint Petersburg Atheists atheists.meetup.com/209 South Lake Atheists and Freethinkers atheists.meetup.com/655 GEORGIA Atlanta Freethought Society atlantafreethought.org IDAHO Idaho Atheists idahoatheists.org ILLINOIS Bradley Atheists PTurack@Bradley.edu IWU Atheist, Agnostic, and NonReligious facebook.com/group. php?gid=5558627959 IOWA Iowa Secularists iowasecularist.org Siouxland Atheists siouxlandatheists.org KANSAS First Church of Freethought/Fort Riley Atheists faithforthefaithless@gmail.com Heartland Humanists heartlandhumanists.org Individuals For Freethought k-state.edu/freethought Kansas Freethought Society atheists.meetup.com/642 KC FreeThinkers kcfreethinkers.org Miami County Kansas Freethinkers atheists.meetup.com/733 36
KENTUCKY Kentucky Atheists chambers.michael@gmail.com Lexington Atheists meetup.com/The-LexingtonAtheists-Meetup-Group LOUISIANA Ark-La-Tex Freethinkers (Shreveport) facebook.com/group. php?gid=128265161375 New Orleans Secular Humanist Association nosha.secularhumanism.net MARYLAND Freethinkers Union at McDaniel College mtm007@mcdaniel.edu MASSACHUSETTS American University Rationalists & Atheists facebook.com/group. php?gid=34367344446 Atheists of Greater Lowell atheists.meetup.com/331 Boston Atheists bostonatheists.org MICHIGAN Michigan Atheists michiganatheists.org Mid Michigan Atheists and Humanists mmah.org MILITARY (OVERSEAS) Southwest Asia Freethought Association (379AEW) swafreethought.jimdo.com
MINNESOTA Campus Atheists & Secular Humanists cashumn.org Minnesota Atheists mnatheists.org St. Olaf Agnostic and Atheist Society stolaf.edu/orgs/aas MISSISSIPPI Great Southern Humanist Society humanism.meetup.com/164 Mid-South Humanist Society midsouth-humanist-society.org MISSOURI Columbia Atheists meetup.com/The-ColumbiaAtheists-Meetup-Group Community of Reason CommunityOfReason.net Joplin Freethinkers joplinfreethinkers.org MU Skeptics Atheists Secular Humanist Agnostics facebook.com/group. php?gid=150886568817 Rationalist Society of St. Louis rssl.org NEBRASKA Lincoln Atheists lincolnatheists.org Omaha Atheists omahaatheists.org NEVADA Las Vegas Freethought Society lvfs.org
NEW JERSEY New Jersey Humanist Network NJHN.org NEW YORK Freethinkers of Upstate New York funygroup.org Hudson Valley Humanists hudsonvalley.humanists.net Long Island Secular Humanists LISecHum@aol.com New York City Atheists nyc-atheists.org Science Club of Long Island sciencecluboflongisland.com NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics CharlotteAtheists.com NORTH DAKOTA Red River Freethinkers redriverfreethinkers.org OHIO Free Inquiry Group, Inc. gofigger.org Humanist Community of Central Ohio hcco.org OKLAHOMA Oklahoma Atheists OklahomaAtheists.info PENNSYLVANIA Atheist Station atheiststation.org Central Susquehanna Valley Freethought meetup.com/Central-susquehannavalley-freethought
Northeast Pennsylvania Freethought Society atheists.meetup.com/622 PA Nonbelievers panonbelievers.org RHODE ISLAND Rhode Island Atheist Society riatheist.com SOUTH CAROLINA Secular Humanists of Lowcountry lowcountryhumanists.org TENNESSEE Chattanooga Freethought Association chattanoogafreethoughtassociation. com Memphis Freethought Alliance memphisfreethought.com Nashville Secular Life atheists.meetup.com/699 Rationalists of East Tennessee rationalists.org TEXAS Atheist Community of Austin atheist-community.org Denton Atheists Meetup meetup.com/The-Denton-AtheistsMeetup-Group Freethinkers Association of Central Texas FreethinkersACT.org Houston Atheists Meetup meetup.com/Houston-Atheists Metroplex Atheists metroplexatheists.org San Antonio Atheists sa-atheists.org
UTAH Atheists of Utah atheistsofutah.org VIRGINIA Beltway Atheists meetup.com/beltwayatheists Rational Response Squad @ George Mason myspace.com/rrs@gmu WASHINGTON Freethinkers United Network freethinkersunitednetwork.com Seattle Atheists SeattleAtheists.org WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown Atheists morgantownatheists.org WISCONSIN Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers swiftnow.org NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Atheist Nexus atheistnexus.org Atheists for Human Rights atheistsforhumanrights.org Atheists United for a Rational America rationalamerica.com Military Assoc. of Atheists & Freethinkers maaf.info
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AIMS & PURPOSES

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 wall of separation between state and church.
American Atheists is organized: To stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals, and practices; To collect and disseminate information, data, and literature on all religions and promote a more thorough understanding of them, their origins, and their histories; To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church; To act as a watchdog to challenge any attempted breach of the wall of separation between state and church; To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the establishment and maintenance of a thoroughly secular system of education available to all; To encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society; To develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity; 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 the members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.
DEFINITIONS Atheism is the comprehensive world view of persons who are free from theism and have freed themselves of supernatural beliefs altogether. It is predicated on ancient Greek Materialism.. It is predicated on ancient Greek Materialism. Atheism involves the mental attitude that unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a life-style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds. Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own inherent, immutable, and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life; that humankind, finding the resources within themselves, can and must create their own destiny. It teaches that we must prize our life on earth and strive always to improve it. It holds that human beings are capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. Materialisms faith is in humankind and their ability to transform the world culture by their own efforts. This is a commitment that is, in its very essence, life-asserting. It considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation that is impossible without noble ideas that inspire us to bold, creative works. Materialism holds that our potential for good and more fulfilling cultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.

American Atheist Magazine January/February 2010

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