American Atheist Magazine Jan 1971
American Atheist Magazine Jan 1971
American Atheist Magazine Jan 1971
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
POOR
RICHARD'S REPORTS
Volume]
January
!'lumber 1
1971
ATWEIST
Cl-lALLENGES
FOR
THE
NEW
YEAR
In This Issue:
Page
Greetings
by Madalyn Murray O'Hair .................
Letter s to the Editor .............................
Comments ........................................
1971-Atheist Challenge for the New Year ..............
This month's write-a-letter-campaign
.............
As Seen from Here ...........................
"Nut Mail'l ..............
22
Anonymous
23
Letters
Transcript
of Radio Tape ........................
Poems ..........................................
1
2
5
7
19
21
24
2,8
The Staff:
Editor - in - Chief..............................
A880CiateEditors
, .....................
Contributing
" ........................
Richard F. O'Hair
Madalyn O'Hair
Lynn Thompson
C P. Me.l'I'it t
Publisher:
Printer:
The Gustav Broukal American Atheist Press, 4102 Sinclair Ave., Austin Texas 78756
THE AMERICAN
ATHEIST
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
To:
Madalyn Murray
Box. 2117
Austin, Texas
O'~air
P.O.
from:
James
78767
Franklin
96
Maui, Hawaii
RR 1 80x
Kula
96790
It is my nature
that
I would
rather
have
the concurrence
and
Page 2
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
Individuality
can not make
an impossible
task?
you
Individuality".reason
truth these are a way of
living a method and not a goal. They lack tberigidity
~nd fiaality of a doctrine.
And there must be a final
authoritarian'truth\or
allegience
to a leader-master
in
order to have an organization
or movement
or any form
of 'groupism'.
If you succeed
have failed.
at what
you are
trying
to do,
you will
who "accuse"
you of being
band" . and your music is
a "one man band" . be
otherwise and no one
thoughts and achieve
Page 3
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
has
on so long
with
no one
29, 1970
James
II
franklin
Page 4
_THE
AMERICAN ATHEIST
of America-
My deci~ion to publish the letter of Mr. Franklin is based on the sensitivity and insight he conveys.
He is talking about a philosophy
which
out of necessity must have some framework of organization in order to inform the public and our associates of our activities and to raise money so
that we can continue our fight for separation of state and church. He knows,
as we do, that to organize individuals such as Atheists is highly unfeasible. The very move to organize is to plant the seed of death.
Religion is highly organized but should be a private matter between an
individual and.his god and therefore
no government,
government
agency,
court, politican or evangalist has the right to infringe upon that privacy
by making laws, regulations, or demands upon the public by the gross assumption that America
is 100% Christian.
The religious leaders
of America
have no business
exerting their fantastic
power upon the elected and nonelected government officials to pass rules that govern us all.
The First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees its people
that freedom and
forbids the government to pass laws establishing or supporting
a religion.
Since this basic right has been violat~d from the Supreme Court, the President and on down to some local school boards' ,decision to re-establish
prayer in schools, Americans have become increasingly blase about these infringements.
The SOS has dissipated itself and its' funds out of necessity to stay
alive and keep functioning day to day.
Were that our magazine
was self
supporting it would help our expenses.
We maintain
an office here
in
Austin and a staff of two girls working part time because there is not the
money for full time employees.
Apart from the basic expenses of maintaining a working
office we have
not the means to hire a lawyer and fight the government in the courts
and
the politicans where
all the decisions for religion are being made.
This
means parachoid, oaths to get a passport, the Roman Catholics' present attempts to reinstate
prayer in schools,
and our attempts to get the government to tax churches, plus many others.
We have tried to get grants but as yet to no avail. We must rely upon
our associates and other people sympathetic to our cause.
So we continue as best we can with what we have and this largely means
the unrentless
efforts of Madalyn,
her personal appearances, her intelligence and wit.
She is like a self-winding watch
that perpetuates itself
by continous motion.
I end by quoting the final sentence of your letter ... "Madalyn ...one of
the rarest persons who walks today on this earth".
--_
...
_ _
...
...
Page 5
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
ATI-lE 1ST
CWALLENGES
FOR
TI-IE
NEW
YEAR
Page 7
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
IFCC
Page 8
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
One of our many projects for the New Year was begun last
December.
We composed the two page letter, printed on the next
pages, and with a listing of 128 tapes available from the "American Atheist Radio Series", (one of which you will find printed on
page 24), we began to send them out to some 6,000 radio stations
in America. Currently we have mailed more than 1,500 and received approximately 200 answers.
The results have been favorable as compared to four years
ago when the answers were negative.
Ranging from willingness to
donate free time, invitations to appear on talk shows, reasonable
$10 per program rates, $110 per program and hostile no's.
Some stations show a reluctance to agree and wish to audit
the tapes for questionable material or flatly state that they are
not aware of any interest in their area for such a program.
Susprisingly enough, it is the small town that is more liberal and willing to sell, while the larger more urban areas show
a conservative attitude.
As we expected, heavy religious areas
are less friendly and the western United States is showing the
greatest interest in airing our program.
As we compIle this information with the monitoring our associates have done of religion on tv and radio, we find certain
facts that bespeak the influence of organized religion. Very few
answers back from California and a big lack of interest from Maryland.
Networks also emerge into a pattern.
CBS schedules more
religion than any other and their affiliates have in turn sent
in more refusals.
Second with religious programing is NBC which
has also sent in many refusals. ABC, with the least religion,
has been more accepting of our program. MBS, independent networks and stations with no affiliation most often say 'yes'.
A recent ruling of January 1971 by the FCC says that all
radio stations must devote 30 minutes each evening of prime time
to controversial issues.
Since the FCC and most radio stations
have declared that religion is not a controversial issue, we hope
this will open new inroads for us.
We believe that 1971 will be a good year for us and we will
achieve important breakthroughs in America
Page 9
THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF SEPIIRIITION/ST!
ATHEIST
INC.
Dear Sir:
The Society of Separationists, Inc., founded by ~ladalyn
Murray O'Hair, represents the Atheistic point of view in America.
As representatives of this minority, but nevertheless controversial, point of view, we are requesting sufficient time on your station to express our opinions in contrast to religious programming.
In the 'Scott Decision' (F.C.C. 3 P & F - Radio. Reg.
259, 1946) it is noted "...freedom of speech means freedom to express disbeliefs as well as beliefs. If freedom of speech is to
have any meaning, it can not be predicated on the mere popularity
of public acceptance of the idea sought to be advanced. It must
be extended as readily to ideas which we disapprove or abhor as
to ideas which we approve. 11 The Scott Decision dealt with Atheism.
The communications media is becoming more aware and
appreciative of the striving for ethnic ide~tity by members of
minority groups. The need for complete assimilation into the dominant culture is no longer recognized as being absolutely essential
to being a 'Good American', (Buddhist-Japanese-American Citizens
League)
The practice of glvlng complete dominance of the airways to the Judeo-Christian religion threatens the religious liberty of 74,037,000 who have disdained to affiliate with any religious group. This practice is particularly repugnant to the
American concept of fair play and to the Constitutionally protect-
Page 10
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
b,'.l ,/.:h
n.
FO'H:memo
enclosures
.il
/ L~
(\''/0'
cJ:
'IlLt..
0 t..
j
i"
(;
.Richard F. O'Hair
C,I'.-""
-- President
Page 11
IPAR 0 C WIA I D
T_HE_A_ME_R_ICA_N_A_TH_EI_ST_A_us_tin_,
T_T
78767
Page 12
II
an
appeal from a three-judge fe~-! government cannot be indiffereral court's decision upholding a ent to the potential collapse of
state law that permits" assist- s u c h
(private-parochial)
ante
to, non-public
schools- 'schools."
'through purchase of services. '.,
In, April, the President
ap: Another
federal
.co~rt
J.II pointed four educators
from the
iRhode ~sla?d held a similar law private
sector
to study the
i unconstitutional.
"
plight of non-public elementary
; Opposition to use ~f public tax and secondary schools and de:money in non-public or para- termine
how the government
:chial schools s~ems from many might help
:.sources and IS generated
by
r. n roll men t in Catholic
[many
different
reasons-ou~I
ne'
ti-C tholicism to gen. SChools has dropped near y 0
116;"~ an I a
sistartoe million from the peak years of,
luine fear that such as
11 the mid.1960s and is expected
t eventually
would wreck, the pu
to declineeve~ further. Between
tlic school system"
.
,"
I ,.......
Page 13
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
I~GO~R~A
Gora has been the head of the Atheist movement in India for
the last thirty years. He was a confident of Mahatma Gandhi,
and will soon publish his book about his relationship with him.
Gora was on a round-the-world trip of about six months duration
to contact Atheists everywhere. In 1971 he is hosting a World
Atheist Meet (W. A. M.) in India. Currently he is publishing
a magazine "The Atheist" in which he writes a column "I Learn"o
The following excerpt is taken from the November, 1969, issue.
ILEARN
An experience with a friend provided
me with a test for atheism.
Tirupati (Balaji)
Hindu pilgrimage.
lies at the foot of a
the temple is situated
is a famous place of
The municipal town
range of hills while
at the top of a hill.
...
His explanation
revealed his mind.
lie visited the temple in the company of
his friends. He followed the crowd in
donating his hair. He tried to please me
by saying that his hair would grow up in a
few weeks.
The essence of atheism is the fight
against this softness of the mind, a slavish
obedience to a custom or to the crowd.
Millions of devotees donate hair .o god
of Tirupati, out of religious
Iaith or
theistic convention.
An'
'.st, tn be
worth the name, ough t f
dist both the
faith and the convention and take up a
firm, rational stand. But to fall in line
with the crowd is as bad as putting forth
the plea of divine will or fate's decree for
acts of omission or of commission.
It is
worse when the culprit is an " atheist ".
v.:
Evidently,
my friend was not an
atheist; he was an opportunist who desired
to combine advantages
by soft compromises.
8 Oct., '69.
-GORA
NASAl
The U.S. Supreme Court in a
unanimous decision on March 12,
1971, refused to review the
NASA case which the Society of
Separationists had begun to
stop Bible reading and prayer
recitation in space.
O'Hair Files
Prayer Suit
With Court
Madalyn Murray O'Hair is
taking. her case against prayers
in space. to the United States
Supreme Court, she reported,
The petition'. requesting .'..the
Supreme Court to review the
decision of the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals which
dismissed her original suit :....,..
was filed Wednesday.
The petition for review
contends that U.S. District
Judge Jack Roberts dismissed
the original complaint without
having a trial on the facts.
The petition also contends
that Fifth Court of Appeals
Judges Walter P. Gewin, Irving
L. Goldberg and David W. Dyer
upheld the decision of Judge
Roberts without proper review
of the case.
"The single-judge District
Court held in dismissing the
complaint that plaintiffs had not
stated a claim upon which relief
could be granted. This hoiding
presupposes
a thorough
examination of the complaint;
accepting 'all well pleaded
allegations of fact as true and
in the light most favorable to
the plaintiffs," the petition
reads.
. petitioners
(Mrs. Richard
O'Hair and the Society of
Separationists, Inc.) claim that
such thorough examination 'was
not given.
In his opinion, .Judge Roberts
said: "The plaintiffs have
alleged .' .their right of
freedom of religion' has- been
abridged. . This Court has
searched the pleadings in vain
to find any , allegation . of
coercion. The plaintiffs have
neither been forced to, do
.anything nor prohibited from
doing anything."
The petition contends that, in
its legal response to the District
Court the National Aeronautics
and
Space
Administration
admitted such contentions of the
plaintiffs
as:
the
U.S.
Government attempted by the
Apollo 8 flight to establish the
Christian religion as the official
religion of the United States'
that it violated a 1967 Uiiited
Nations treaty, signed by the
United States, governing the
activities of states in the
exploration .and use of outer
space; and that a religious
(Roman Catholic) flag .was
planted on the moon.
The government's contention
that
the
actions
of the
astronauts were personal was
not accepted by Judge. Roberts,
the petition cites.
Page 15
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
IPRAYERS IN SCbjOQL
..
Page 16
'mE
AMERICAN ATHEIST
u.s.
By NANCY JAFFER
The Netcong Board of Education asked the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to
hear arguments for allowing
the district 1 to reinstitute a
voluntary school prayer program that was banned last
year by NeW Jersey courts.
Board attorney
Stephen
Carton explained the State
of New Jersey has 30 days
to file an answer to the Netcong briefs and within two
weeks after that the court
should render a decision on
whether it will hear the case.
Carton said that in his opinion the earlier high court
course is "favoring agnosticism," and therefore in violation of the court's ruling that
there can be no preference
for any group.
Ironically,
because
the
school system is complying
with the injunction, it faces
another suit from a group of
residents who want students
to be allowed to conduct a 15
minute preschool service in
a classroom.
Stracchio will not grant the
request because he thinks it
violates the court order.
Jersey City attorney Eugene Kenny, who is handling
the matter for the citizens,
explained he believes his
clients' request WIll not violate the law, since the sessions would be unsupervised
by school administrators.
He said the prayers read
t the originial sessions were
read over by administrators
to make sure they' did not
violate the spirit of the school
board resolution but that, in
effect, was official sanction
of the program.
However, Carton said he
requested Kenny to hold the
suit until the Supreme court
has decided whether it will
take the Netcong case. Kenny
said "hemight very well" do
that, and will discuss the
matter with Carton.
Supreme Court
The case was appealed to
the State .Supreme Court,
which in November upheld
Stamler's decision; based on
the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on school prayer.
The latest appeal is based
Carton's, belief the original
decision was intended only
to ban officially sanctioned
prayer during school hours,
and that preschool sessions
should not be in violation.
He - also argues that" "the
school prayer decision in effect produced results contrary
to the expression of the court
- excising God from school
and in large measure from
public life." Carton said this
THE
AMERICAN
l-i'l N-G-O-D-W-E~-T=-RU~ST~JlI
ATHEIST
---...- .-...
In a bulletin released on August 15, 1935 by the Department
of the Treasury in Washington, D.C., it
announce s production
of a new one dollar Silver Certificate.
Among the important changes dealing with printing and design
was the decision to use the Great Seal of the United States for
the first time on any money issued by the United States.
"The reverse side of the'Great Seal~ used for the first time
on money, shows an unfinished pyramid, surmounted by an eye in a
triangular glory.
The pyramid bears in Roman numerals the year
of the Declaration of Independence, 1776.
Above the eye is the
Latin motto,
'Annuit Coeptis,' rendered as 'He (God) favored our
undertakings. '
'I'lH"} motto at the bottom is 'Nevus Ordo Seclorum'
and is translated as
~ew order of the ages.' The eye and triangular glory symbolize an all-seeing Deity.
The pyramid is the
symbol.of strength and it~." unfinished condition denotes the belief of the designers of the Great Seal that there was still work
to be done."
The first committee on the Great Seal was formed on July 4,
1776, with such illustrious people as Franklin and Jefferson. A
private citizen William Barton largely responsible for the adoption of the Great Seal on June 20, 1782 explained: "The pyramid
on the reverse signifies strength and duration. The eye over it,
wi th the motto I Annui t Coeptis' (Prosper our Endeavors,
alludes
to the many signal interpositions of Providence in favor of the
American Cause.
The date underneath is that of the Declaration
of Independence and the words under it signify the beginning of
the new American Era, which commenced from that date."
The intention of this first committee was not to put God or
reference to a Deity on the Great Seal as insinuated by the 1935
interpetation.
t~
Page 18
THE
~:s
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
.....
.....
Page
19
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
THE
INDEPENDENT,
BIGGAR,
SASK.
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
20, 1971
".
Pa~e 21
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
"
NUT MAIL
Page 22
THE
AMERICAN
ATHE I ST
Austin,
.
Texas 78767
anonymoul
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,Page
23
AD/O
'I'he following is a transcript from a tape of "The American Atheist
Radio Series" broadcast over KTBC in Austin on the 19th of January
1970. It is the second of two talks on Charles Bradlaugh this one is
intitled Charles Bradlaugh's "Plea for Atheism".
'
Good Evening,
This is Madalyn Murray O'Hair,
American Atheist, back to talk to
you again.
This month we are discussing
Charles Bradlaugh, that extraordinary English Atheist who ran for
Parliament - openly, as an Atheistwho made that office for many successive years - and who, put
his
stamp on Western Atheism for
good
and all times.
He lived from 1833
to near the end of that century before ours, and you learned a little
about his life last week in our
broadcast.
Tonight I would like to read to
you from his booklet, a "Plea for
Atheism."
In describing this, his
daughter had this to say:
"The work Atheist has
alway'S
been used as a term of obloquy by
Christians, even by educated Christians who have not the excuse of
ignorance.
Misapprehension
and
deliberate misrepresentation
of
Atheism have been constant, and Lndeed are not unknown at the present
day. In the late seventies of last
century my father wrote 'A Plea for
Atheism', a brief but careful examination of what Atheism really is
and what it is not. He wrote this,
he said, in the hope of removing
some of the many prejudices against
Atheists.
"---and indeed, that is
how the booklet starts: I read now
from Bradlaugh's writings.
Quote: "This essay is issued in
that hope that it may
succeed in
_.,---
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
25
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
26
THE
AMERICAN
ATHEIST
Page
27
THE AMERICAN
ATHEIST
Poetry ...
FRIENDSHIP
The glittering
sheen of silver
That dazzels
bright
human eyes
Our feathered
Friends
in robes
so gay
their
fate is sad, -
to be.
hues
Friendship
- alone,
endures
Friendship-though
Let Friendship's
Throughout
luster
the test:
ba th ed in tear s !
brighter
glow
by Glen Marsh
Page 28
An Atheist
Epic:
Bill Murray,
The Baltimore
by Madalyn Murray
BILL MURRA1~
.TIlE 8lIJLE
ANI)
11IE JJAI.TIJIORE
BOAR/)
OF EDl'CA110N.
Board of Education
0 'Hair
Who is she?
Where did she come from?
What
does she stand for and against?
. How far has the
Christian religion really become an accepted part
of American education? Many people want answers
to these and other questions about America's most
famous Atheist.
Her most r e c en t boo k "An
Atheist' E pic:
Bill Murray,
The Bible and The
Baltimore
Board of Educatdon!",
explains how she
came t:o challange prayer
and Bible reading in
public s c h 001 sin
Amez-Ic'ar Madalyn Murray
O'Hair speaks frankly in this 316 page book about
her persecution
by neighbors
and
the
general
public.
This is her personal story of how she took
her arguments
to the Supreme Court and won a
victory for separation
of church and state.
American
What on Earth
Atheist
Press-1970
$2.95
is An Atheist
by Madalyn Murray
uvr
O''Ha ir
ON b'ARl'Il
IS
AN A 11lEIST!
For the fir st time in print the complete texts
of fifty-two
radio
programs
presenting
the
Atheist point of view by Madalyn Murray 0 'Hair.
The programs
reveal the wealth held by organized r e 1i g ion
the
historical
background
0f
Atheism, the history
of Bible scholar ship-all
frequently misunderstood.
This is a book for
all Atheists wishing confirmation
of their views,
as well as for all church members
who will have
a better understanding
after reading it of "What
on Earth is an Atheist".
American
Atheist
Press-19,69
$10.00
ISOCIETY
OF .6EPARATION16TS
2. To collect
The Atheist-materialist
philosophy declares that
the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose;
that it is governed by its own inherent, immutable
and impersonal law; that there is no supernatural
interference
in human life; that man finding his
resources within himself, can and must create his
own destiny;
and that his potential for good and
higher development is for all practical purposes
unlimited.
4. To encourage
the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system, stressing the
mutual sympathy, understanding and interdependence
of all peaple and the corresponding responsibility
of each individually in relation to society ..
THE~TRADITIONAL
Freethought may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the suprfHnacy of
reason, and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority or
creeds.
SYMBOL OF ATHEISM
IS A PANSYl
'1'
}<'RENCH...
penseez thought
penser: to think
LATIN .
pensare:
Plant
to weigh, or ponder
some in your
But. OUR NEW SYMBOL Represents AMERICAN ATHEISM in the NUCLEAR AGE.
yard ..