############################################################ ############################################################ ______ / / / / / /__ __ / / ) (__ / / (__(__ __ |\ ( ) ) / / | \ | / / . _/_ . __ / . __ __ | \ | / / / / ) / ) / / ) __ ) / ) ) \| (__(__(___(__(__(___(__(__(__(__(__(__/ (__ ============================================================ **The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought** ============================================================ ############################################################ ###### Volume I, Number 7 ***A Collector's Item!***###### ################### ISSN 1201-0111 ####################### ####################### NOV 1994 ########################### ############################################################ nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none + _fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary [formerly Lucifer's Echo] The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of articles dealing with many aspects of humanism. We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental reality. We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive consequences of allowing religions to be involved with politics and nationalism. We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity, in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of pie in the sky, bye and bye. ############################################################ ############################################################ ==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== || Begging portion of the Zine || ==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== This is a "sharezine." There is no charge for receiving this, and there is no charge for distributing copies to any electronic medium. Nor is there a restriction on printing a copy for use in discussion. You may not charge to do so, and you may not do so without attributing it to the proper author and source. If you would like to support our efforts, and help us acquire better equipment to bring you more and better articles, you may send money to Greg Erwin at: 100, Terrasse Eardley / Aylmer, Qc / J9H 6B5 / CANADA. Or buy our atheist quote address labels, and other fine products, see "Shameless advertising and crass commercialism" below. ==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== || End of Begging portion of the Zine || ==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== Articles will be welcomed IF: ( they are emailed to: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA; or, sent on diskette to me at the above Aylmer address in any format that an IBM copy of WordPerfect can read; ) and they don't require huge amounts of editing; and I like them. If you wish to receive a subscription, email a simple request to ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA, with a clear request for a subscription. It will be assumed that the "From:" address is where it is to be sent. We will automate this process as soon as we know how. 1994-05-08 Yes, please DO make copies! (*) Please DO send copies of The Nullifidian to anyone who might be interested. The only limitations are: You must copy the whole document, without making any changes to it. You do NOT have permission to copy this document for commercial purposes. The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1994, Greg Erwin and are on deposit at the National Library of Canada You may find back issues in any place that archives alt.atheism, specifically mathew's site at ftp.mantis.co.uk. Currently, all back issues are posted at the Humanist Association of Ottawa's area on the National Capital Freenet. telnet to 134.117.1.22, and enter at the "Your choice==>" prompt. /=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\ Shameless advertising and crass commercialism: \_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/ Atheistic self-stick Avery(tm) address labels. Consisting of 180 different quotes, 30 per page, each label 2 5/8" x 1". This leaves three 49 character lines available for your own address, phone number, email, fax or whatever. Each sheet is US$2, the entire set of 6 for US$11; 2 sets for US$20. Indicate quantity desired. Print address clearly, exactly as desired. Order from address in examples below. Laser printed, 8 pt Arial, with occasional flourishes. _________________________________________________ |"Reality is that which, when you stop believing | |in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick] | |Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley | |Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada | | email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA | |________________________________________________| _________________________________________________ |"...and when you tell me that your deity made | |you in his own image, I reply that he must be | |very ugly." [Victor Hugo, writing to clergy] | |Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley | |Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada Ph: (613) 954-6128 | | email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA | |________________________________________________| Other stuff for sale: Certificate of Baptism Removal and Renunciation of Religion. Have your baptism removed, renounce religion, and have a neat 8" x 11" fancy certificate, on luxury paper, suitable for framing, to commemorate the event! Instant eligibility for excommunication! For the already baptism-free: Certificate of Freedom from Religion. An official atheistic secular humanist stamp of approval for only $10! Poster 8x11: WARNING! This is a religion free zone! All religious vows, codes, and commitments are null & void herein. Please refrain from contaminating the ideosphere with harmful memes through prayer, reverence, holy books, proselytizing, prophesying, faith, speaking in tongues or spirituality. Fight the menace of second-hand faith! Humanity sincerely thanks you! Tastefully arranged in large point Stencil on luxury paper. 4. Ingersoll poster: "When I became convinced that the universe is natural" speech excerpt. 11"x17" See the June 1994 issue of the _Echo_ for full text. Order from the same address as above. Order now to celebrate the rebirth of the Invincible Sun! /=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\ TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Review of Mr Tom Flynn's _the Trouble with Christmas_ 2. More Christian Math 3. A Thanksgiving Sermon, by Robert Ingersoll (Part II) 4. Religion and the English Language 5. Advertisement for Power of Prayer Home Security Agency: by Stephen Carville - pagan@delphi.com ============================================================ || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || ============================================================ Review of Mr Tom Flynn's _the Trouble with Christmas_ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title: The Trouble with Christmas Author: Tom Flynn Publisher: Prometheus Books, 1993 ISBN: 0-87975-848-1 Price: $13.95 Pages: 244, no index, footnotes at end of chapters It is one of the strangest things about this book that you can completely disagree with the conclusions reached by Tom Flynn, and have no intention of implementing any of his recommendations, while still enjoying all of his arguments, his presentation and the background information in the book. And, by the way, agreeing with him. In a way, this makes his point perfectly. Especially enjoy the background. I don't know of another book which gives as much in the way of the *real* social history of the Winter Solstice Holiday. Going right back to the pagan beginnings, through its evolution to a major Roman holiday, its takeover by the Christians, becoming a rather minor holiday. He examines all of the sources: Near Eastern solar myths, which celebrated the "Rebirth of the Invincible Sun" a few days after the solstice; the Roman Saturnalia; the Northern European winter holiday traditions of mistletoe, yule logs, and decorated trees, and the slow encrustation of folk customs through the next two millennia. The biggest surprise is the extremely recent development of what we think of as the "traditional" Christmas. Flynn demonstrates that it was Victorian bourgeois society that created the "traditional" Christmas, out of nothing, but fully equipped, like Adam, with all the signs of having a history. People like Dickens, Washington Irving, Clement Moore, Francis Church and Thomas Nast, created, defined and refined all of our current Christmas imagery. Through diligent research, Flynn is able to show that legislatures, schools and businesses in the US did not regularly observe Christmas as a holiday until the end of the nineteenth century. Robert Ingersoll's short article _An Agnostic Christmas_, (elsewhere in this issue) was published in the December 25, 1892 edition of the New York _Journal_. In fact, Christmas was seen as an "immigrant, Catholic" holiday and not an "American Protestant" observance up to the time of the First World War. The Puritans, in England and in New England, just *hated* Christmas and often rioted to stop people from holding Christmas church services, let alone parties. At about that time the myth took over and people began to believe that they and their ancestors had always celebrated Christmas, with trees, Santas, presents, turkey dinners, pumpkin pies and shopping trips to the mall. As to the main conclusion: that atheists should ignore the entire holiday season and treat the 25th as just another day in order to emphasize our existence and insist on our difference; as I said at the beginning, you can agree with all of the arguments, enjoy the presentation, and still have no intention of implementing the conclusion. I feel I do my part by emphasizing the secular and folk aspects of the holiday. Fortunately, no one in my extended family is particularly religious and there is no particular blessing and praying to worry about. I will, in conclusion, mention one Canadian Protestant custom that strikes me as particularly a propos for humanists at holiday time. [Note: this is an old custom, I did not make it up, and I am not responsible for it.] After your holiday dinner, you must have a plum pudding. Nobody really likes plum pudding, but everybody takes a small amount of it before going on to the real desserts. Grumbling about how nobody really likes plum pudding is part of the tradition. The pudding must be first soaked in rum or brandy. Then a match is applied to it. While this is done, you should mumble something like, "when I was a child, we always called this: burning Rome." Maybe in families where the older members still march with the Orange Lodge, this isn't mumbled, or thrust into the past. Maybe, for humanists, it could symbolize the burning away of superstition, for which Rome, is, indeed, a fitting symbol. Anyway, if the Christians could steal the holiday from the pagans, and the Protestants join the Catholics in the party, certainly we atheists can use the time off for our own purposes, while maintaining a humanist, secular and atheist nullifidian attitude toward the whole business. Why not just have a week-long New Year's celebration? It is a great book, and makes a thoughtful present, if you still do that sort of thing, and wonder what to get an atheist for Christmas. contact Prometheus at: 700 E. Amherst St., Buffalo, New York 14215 (716) 837-2475 ========================================================= || END OF ARTICLE || ========================================================= The Puritan through Life's sweet garden goes To pluck the thorn and cast away the rose. --Kenneth Hare ========================================================= || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || ======================================================== More Christian Math THEOREM: The largest integer exists and is equal to -1 !!!! This is a matter of faith. Now, you may see through a glass, darkly, but it can be demonstrated to be consistent with logic and science, as follows: Let N be the largest integer. [Just have faith that it is for a minute] it is obvious that for any N N <= N + 1 and, of course, for any N N + 1 <= N + 2 [these are simple, obviously true, *scientific* statements, and support rather than contradict our faith] therefore it must be true that N <= N + 2 [this is a necessary logical conclusion] but, as N *IS* the largest integer, [and we have faith that it is] it must be true that: N = N + 2 !!! [which is still consistent with our previous statements] [we rely on faith here, but just for a moment] [back to reason and logic and math] To solve this apparent contradiction we can square both sides: N^2 = N^2 + 4N + 4 reorganizing, we obtain: -4 = 4N and, solving: -1 = N Proving that the largest integer exists and is equal to -1! Some people will say there can be no largest integer, because you can always add 1 to any proposed largest integer. The simple answer to that foolish quibble is that: -1 (the largest integer) + 1 = 0, which simply proves that *nothing* is larger than -1. NOTE to self: next month show them that infinity divided by zero equals anything, therefore God exists! =========================================================== || END OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== "If every freethinker in this country would boldly express his sentiments, Christians would be compelled to look up to us. They would be as cautious how they arraign us as we are now to oppose them. They would fear that they would lose our trade, even as we now keep silence lest we lose their patronage. We should not wait for preachers to tell us that the country is going to materialism. We should assert our own individuality and impart the information ourselves." "W." Letter to _The Freethought Ideal_, June 15, 1899, in _Freethought on the American Frontier_, ed. by Fred Whitehead and Verle Muhrer =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BEGINNING OF PART 2 A Thanksgiving Sermon, by Robert Ingersoll =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ III If we cannot thank the orthodox churches -- if we cannot thank the unknown, the incomprehensible, the supernatural -- if we cannot thank Nature -- if we can not kneel to a Guess, or prostrate ourselves before a Perhaps -- whom shall we thank? Let us see what the worldly have done -- what has been accomplished by those not "called," not "set apart," not "inspired," not filled with the Holy Ghost -- by those who were neglected by all the Gods. Passing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, their poets, philosophers and metaphysicians -- we will come to modern times. In the 10th century after Christ the Saracens governors of a vast empire -- "established colleges in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Morocco, Fez and in Spain." The region owned by the Saracens was greater than the Roman Empire. "They had not only college. -- but observatories. The sciences were taught. They introduced the ten numerals -- taught algebra and trigonometry -- understood cubic equations -- knew the art of surveying -- they made catalogues and maps of the stars -- gave the great stars the names they still bear -- they ascertained the size of the earth -- determined the obliquity of the ecliptic and fixed the length of the year. They calculated eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets and occultations of stars. They constructed astronomical instruments. They made clocks of various kinds and were the inventors of the pendulum. They originated chemistry -- discovered sulfuric and nitric acid and alcohol. They were the first to publish pharmacopeias and dispensatories. "In mechanics they determined the laws of falling bodies. They understood the mechanical powers, and the attraction of gravitation. "They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific gravities of bodies. "In optics they discovered that a ray of light did not proceed from the eye to an object -- but from the object to the eye." They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and steel -- "They gave us the game of chess." They produced romances and novels and essays on many subjects. "In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of evolution and development." They anticipated Darwin and Spencer. These people were not Christians. They were the followers, for the most part, of an impostor -- of a pretended prophet of a false God. And yet while the true Christians, the men selected by the true God and filled with the Holy Ghost were tearing out the tongues of heretics, these wretches were irreverently tracing the orbits of the stars. While the true believers were flaying philosophers and extinguishing the eyes of thinkers, these godless followers of Mohammed were founding colleges, collecting manuscripts, investigating the facts of nature and giving their attention to science. Afterward the followers of Mohammed became the enemies of science and hated facts as intensely and honestly as Christians. Whoever has a revelation from God will defend it with all his strength -- will abhor reason and deny facts. But it is well to know that we are indebted to the Moors -- to the followers of Mohammed -- for having laid the foundations of modern science. It is well to know that we are not indebted to the church, to Christianity, for any useful fact. It is well to know that the seeds of thought were sown in our minds by the Greeks and Romans, and that our literature came from those seeds. The great literature of our language is Pagan in its thought -- Pagan in its beauty -- Pagan in its perfection. It is well to know that when Mohammedans were the friends of science, Christians were its enemies. How consoling it is to think that the friends of science -- the men who educated their fellows -- are now in hell, and that the men who persecuted and killed philosophers are now in heaven! Such is the justice of God. The Christians of the Middle Ages, the men who were filled with the Holy Ghost, knew all about the worlds beyond the grave, but nothing about the world in which they lived. They thought the earth was flat -- a little dishing if anything -- that it was about five thousand years old, and that the stars were little sparkles made to beautify the night. The fact is that Christianity was in existence for fifteen hundred years before there was an astronomer in Christendom. No follower of Christ knew the shape of the earth. The earth was demonstrated to be a globe, not by a pope or cardinal -- not by a collection of clergymen -- not by the "called" or the "set apart," but by a sailor. Magellan left Seville, Spain, August 10th, 1519, sailed west and kept sailing west, and the ship reached Seville, the port it left, on Sept. 7th, 1522. The world had been circumnavigated. The earth was known to be round. There had been a dispute between the Scriptures and a sailor. The fact took the sailor's side. In 1543 Copernicus published his book, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had some idea of the vastness of the stars -- of the astronomical spaces -- of the insignificance of this world. Toward the close of the sixteenth century, Bruno, one of the greatest men this world has produced, gave his thoughts to his fellow-men. He taught the plurality of worlds. He was a Pantheist, an Atheist, an honest man. He called the Catholic Church the "Triumphant Beast." He was imprisoned for many years, tried, convicted, and on the 6th day of February, 1600, burned in Rome by men filled with the Holy Ghost, burned on the spot where now his monument rises. Bruno, the noblest, the greatest of all the martyrs. The only one who suffered death for what he believed to be the truth. The only martyr who had no heaven to gain, no hell to shun, no God to please. He was nobler than inspired men, grander than prophets, greater and purer than apostles. Above all the theologians of the world, above the makers of creeds, above the founders of religions rose this serene, unselfish and intrepid man. Yet Christians, followers of Christ, murdered this incomparable man. These Christians were true to their creed. They believed that faith would be rewarded with eternal joy, and doubt punished with eternal pain. They were logical. They were pious and pitiless -- devout and devilish -- meek and malicious -- religious and revengeful -- Christ-like and cruel -- loving with their mouths and hating with their hearts. And yet, honest victims of ignorance and fear. What have the worldly done? In 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses that objects were exaggerated. He invented the telescope. He gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us citizens of the Universe. In 1610, on the night of January 7th, Galileo demonstrated the truth of the Copernican system, and in 1632, published his work on "The System of the World." What did the church do? Galileo was arrested, imprisoned, forced to fall upon his knees, put his hand on the Bible, and recant. For ten years he was kept in prison -- for ten years until released by the pity of death. Then the church -- men filled with the Holy Ghost -- denied his body burial in consecrated ground. It was feared that his dust might corrupt the bodies of those who had persecuted him. In 1609, Kepler published his book "Motions of the Planet Mars." He, too, knew of the attraction of gravitation and that it acted in proportion to mass and distance. Kepler announced his Three Laws. He found and mathematically expressed the relation of distance, mass, and motion. Nothing greater has been accomplished by the human mind. Astronomy became a science and Christianity a superstition. Then came Newton, Herschel and Laplace. The astronomy of Joshua and Elijah faded from the minds of intelligent men, and Jehovah became an ignorant tribal god. Men began to see that the operations of Nature were not subject to interference. That eclipses were not caused by the wrath of God -- that comets had nothing to do with the destruction of empires or the death of kings. that the stars wheeled in their orbits without regard to the actions of men. In the sacred East the dawn appeared. What have the worldly done? A few years ago a few men became wicked enough to use their senses. They began to look and listen. They began to really see and then they began to reason. They forgot heaven and hell long enough to take some interest in this world. They began to examine soils and rocks. They noticed what had been done by rivers and seas. They found out something about the crust of the earth. They found that most of the rocks had been deposited and stratified in the water -- rocks 70,000 feet in thickness. They found that the coal was once vegetable matter. They made the best calculations they could of the time required to make the coal, and concluded that it must have taken at least six or seven millions of years. They examined the chalk cliffs, found that they were composed of the microscopic shells of minute organisms, that is to say, the dust of these shells. This dust settled over areas as large as Europe and in some places the chalk is a mile in depth. This must have required many millions of years. Lyell, the highest authority on the subject, says that it must have required, to cause the changes that we know, at least two hundred million years. Think of these vast deposits caused by the slow falling of infinitesimal atoms of impalpable dust through the silent depths of ancient seas! Think of the microscopical forms of life, constructing their minute houses of lime, giving life to others, leaving their mansions beneath the waves, and so through countless generations building the foundations of continents and islands. Go back of all life that we now know -- back of all the flying lizards, the armored monsters, the hissing serpents, the winged and fanged horrors -- back to the Laurentian rocks -- to the eozoon, the first of living things that we have found -- back of all mountains, seas and rivers -- back to the first incrustation of the molten world -- back of wave of fire and robe of flame -- back to the time when all the substance of the earth blazed in the glowing sun with all the stars that wheel about the central fire. Think of the days and nights that lie between! -- think of the centuries, the withered leaves of time, that strew the desert of the past! Nature does not hurry. Time cannot be wasted -- cannot be lost. The future remains eternal and all the past is as though it had not been -- as though it were to be. The infinite knows neither loss nor gain We know something of the history of the world -- something of the human race; and we know that man has lived and struggled through want and war, through pestilence and famine, through ignorance and crime, through fear and hope, on the old earth for millions and millions of years. At last we know that infallible popes, and countless priests and clergymen, who had been "called," filled with the Holy Ghost, and presidents of colleges, kings, emperors and executives of nations had mistaken the blundering guesses of ignorant savages for the wisdom of an infinite God. At last we know that the story of creation. of the beginning of things, as told in the "sacred book," is not only untrue, but utterly absurd and idiotic. Now we know that the inspired writers did not know and that the God who inspired them did not know. We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon facts. The world is our witness and the stars testify for us. What have the worldly done? They have investigated the religions of the world -- have read the sacred books, the prophecies, the commandments, the rules of conduct. They have studied the symbols, the ceremonies, the prayers and sacrifices. And they have shown that all religions are substantially the same -- produced by the same causes -- that all rest on a misconception of the facts in nature -- that all are founded on ignorance and fear, on mistake and mystery. They have found that Christianity is like the rest -- that it was not a revelation, but a natural growth -- that its gods and devils, its heavens and hells, were borrowed -- that its ceremonies and sacraments were souvenirs of other religions -- that no part of it came from heaven, but that it was all made by savage man. They found that Jehovah was a tribal god and that his ancestors had lived on the banks of the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Ganges and the Nile, and these ancestors were traced back to still more savage forms. They found that all the sacred books were filled with inspired mistake and sacred absurdity. But, say the Christians, we have the only inspired book. We have the Old Testament and the New. Where did you get the Old Testament? From the Jews? -- Yes. Let me tell you about it. After the Jews returned from Babylon, about 400 years before Christ, Ezra commenced making the Bible. You will find an account of this in the Bible. We know that Genesis was written after the Captivity -- because it was from the Babylonians that the Jews got the story of the creation -- of Adam and Eve, of the Garden -- of the serpent, and the tree of life -- of the flood -- and from them they learned about the Sabbath. You find nothing about that holy day in Judges, Joshua, Samuel, Kings or Chronicles -- nothing in Job, the Psalms, in Esther, Solomon's Song or Ecclesiastes. Only in books written by Ezra after the return from Babylon. When Ezra finished the inspired book, he placed it in the temple. It was written on the skins of beasts, and, so far as we know, there was but one. What became of this Bible? Jerusalem was taken by Titus about 70 years after Christ. The temple was destroyed and, at the request of Josephus, the Holy Bible was sent to Vespasian the Emperor, at Rome. And this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of since. So much for that. Then there was a copy, or rather a translation, called the Septuagint. How was that made? It is said that Ptolemy Soter and his son Ptolemy Philadelphus obtained a translation of the Jewish Bible. This translation was made by seventy persons. At that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel, Ecclesiastes, but few of the Psalms and only a part of Isaiah. What became of this translation known as the Septuagint? It was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years before Christ. Then there was another so-called copy of part of the Bible, known as the Samaritan Roll of the Pentateuch. But this is not considered of any value. Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at Jerusalem -- the one sent to Vespasian? Nobody knows. Have we a true copy of the Septuagint? Nobody knows. What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in Hebrew? The oldest manuscript we have in Hebrew was written in the 10th century after Christ. The oldest pretended copy we have of the Septuagint written in Greek was made in the 5th century after Christ. If the Bible was divinely inspired, if it was the actual word of God, we have no authenticated copy. The original has been lost and we are left in the darkness of Nature. It is impossible for us to show that our Bible is correct. We have no standard. Many of the books in our Bible contradict each other. Many chapters appear to be incomplete and parts of different books are written in the same words, showing that both could not have been original. The 19th and 20th chapters of 2nd Kings and the 37th and 38th chapters of Isaiah are exactly the same. So is the 36th chapter of Isaiah from the 2nd verse the same as the 18th chapter of 2nd Kings from the 2nd verse. So, it is perfectly apparent that there could have been no possible propriety in inspiring the writers of Kings and the writers of Chronicles. The books are substantially the same, differing in a few mistakes -- in a few falsehoods. The same is true of Leviticus and Numbers. The books do not agree either in facts or philosophy. They differ as the men differed who wrote them. What have the worldly done? They have investigated the phenomena of nature. They have invented ways to use the forces of the world, the weight of falling water -- of moving air. They have changed water to steam, invented engines -- the tireless giants that work for man. They have made lightning a messenger and slave. They invented movable type, taught us the art of printing and made it possible to save and transmit the intellectual wealth of the world. They connected continents with cables, cities and towns with the telegraph -- brought the world into one family -- made intelligence independent of distance. They taught us how to build homes, to obtain food, to weave cloth. They covered the seas with iron ships and the land with roads and steeds of steel. They gave us the tools of all the trades -- the implements of labor. They chiseled statues, painted pictures and "witched the world" with form and color. They have found the cause of and the cure for many maladies that afflict the flesh and minds of men. They have given us the instruments of music and the great composers and performers have changed the common air to tones and harmonies that intoxicate, exalt and purify the soul. They have rescued us from the prisons of fear, and snatched our souls from the fangs and claws of superstition's loathsome, crawling, flying beasts. They have given us the liberty to think and the courage to express our thoughts. They have changed the frightened, the enslaved, the kneeling, the prostrate into men and women -- clothed them in their right minds and made them truly free. They have uncrowned the phantoms, wrested the scepters from the ghosts and given this world to the children of men. They have driven from the heart the fiends of fear and extinguished the flames of hell. They have read a few leaves of the great volume -- deciphered some of the records written on stone by the tireless hands of time in the dim past. They have told us something of what has been done by wind and wave, by fire and frost, by life and death, the ceaseless workers, the pauseless forces of the world. They have enlarged the horizon of the known, changed the glittering specks that shine above us to wheeling worlds, and filled all space with countless suns. They have found the qualities of substances, the nature of things -- how to analyze, separate and combine, and have enabled us to use the good and avoid the hurtful. They have given us mathematics in the higher forms, by means of which we measure the astronomical spaces, the distances to stars, the velocity at which the heavenly bodies move, their density and weight, and by which the mariner navigates the waste and trackless seas. They have given us all we have of knowledge, of literature and art. They have made life worth living. They have filled the world with conveniences, comforts and luxuries. All this has been done by the worldly -- by those who were not "called" or "set apart" or filled with the Holy Ghost or had the slightest claim to "apostolic succession." The men who accomplished these things were not "inspired." They had no revelation -- no supernatural aid. They were not clad in sacred vestments, and tiaras were not upon their brows. They were not even ordained. They used their senses, observed and recorded facts. They had confidence in reason. They were patient searchers for the truth. They turned their attention to the affairs of this world. They were not saints. They were sensible men. They worked for themselves, for wife and child and for the benefit of all. To these men we are indebted for all we are, for all we know, for all we have. They were the creators of civilization -- the founders of free states -- the saviors of liberty -- the destroyers of superstition and the great captains in the army of progress. IV Whom shall we thank? Standing here at the close of the 19th century -- amid the trophies of thought -- the triumphs of genius -- here under the flag of the Great Republic -- knowing something of the history of man -- here on this day that has been set apart for thanksgiving, I most reverently thank the good men, the good women of the past, I thank the kind fathers, the loving mothers of the savage days. I thank the father who spoke the first gentle word, the mother who first smiled upon her babe. I thank the first true friend. I thank the savages who hunted and fished that they and their babes might live. I thank those who cultivated the ground and changed the forests into farms -- those who built rude homes and watched the faces of their happy children in the glow of fireside flames -- those who domesticated horses, cattle and sheep -- those who invented wheels and looms and taught us to spin and weave -- those who by cultivation changed wild grasses into wheat and corn, changed bitter things to fruit, and worthless weeds to flowers, that sowed within our souls the seeds of art. I thank the poets of the dawn -- the tellers of legends -- the makers of myths -- the singers of joy and grief, of hope and love. I thank the artists who chiseled forms in stone and wrought with light and shade the face of man. I thank the philosophers, the thinkers, who taught us how to use our minds in the great search for truth. I thank the astronomers who explored the heavens, told us the secrets of the stars, the glories of the constellations -- the geologists who found the story of the world in fossil forms, in memoranda kept in ancient rocks, in lines written by waves, by frost and fire -- the anatomists who sought in muscle, nerve and bone for all the mysteries of life -- the chemists who unraveled Nature's work that they might learn her art -- the physicians who have laid the hand of science on the brow of pain, the hand whose magic touch restores -- the surgeons who have defeated Nature's self and forced her to preserve the lives of those she labored to destroy. I thank the discoverers of chloroform and ether, the two angels who give to their beloved sleep, and wrap the throbbing brain in the soft robes of dreams. I thank the great inventors -- those who gave us movable type and the press, by means of which great thoughts and all discovered facts are made immortal -- the inventors of engines, of the great ships, of the railways, the cables and telegraphs. I thank the great mechanics, the workers in iron and steel, in wood and stone. I thank the inventors and makers of the numberless things of use and luxury. I thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the useful women. They are the benefactors of our race. The inventor of pins did a thousand times more good than all the popes and cardinals, the bishops and priests -- than all the clergymen and parsons, exhorters and theologians that ever lived. The inventor of matches did more for the comfort and convenience of mankind than all the founders of religions and the makers of all creeds -- than all malicious monks and selfish saints. I thank the honest men and women who have expressed their sincere thoughts, who have been true to themselves and have preserved the veracity of their souls. I thank the thinkers of Greece and Rome. Zeno and Epicurus, Cicero and Lucretius. I thank Bruno, the bravest, and Spinoza, the subtlest of men. I thank Voltaire, whose thought lighted a flame in the brain of man, unlocked the doors of superstition's cells and gave liberty to many millions of his fellow-men. Voltaire -- a name that sheds light. Voltaire -- a star that superstition's darkness cannot quench. I thank the great poets -- the dramatists. I thank Homer and Aeschylus, and I thank Shakespeare above them all. I thank Burns for the heart-throbs he changed into songs. for his lyrics of flame. I thank Shelley for his Skylark, Keats for his Grecian Urn and Byron for his Prisoner of Chillon. I thank the great novelists. I thank the great sculptors. I thank the unknown man who molded and chiseled the Venus de Milo. I thank the great painters. I thank Rembrandt and Corot. I thank all who have adorned, enriched and ennobled life -- all who have created the great, the noble, the heroic and artistic ideals. I thank the statesmen who have preserved the rights of man. I thank Paine whose genius sowed the seeds of independence in the hearts of '76. I thank Jefferson whose mighty words for liberty have made the circuit of the globe. I thank the founders, the defenders, the saviors of the Republic. I thank Ericsson, the greatest mechanic of his century, for the monitor. I thank Lincoln for the Proclamation. I thank Grant for his victories and the vast host that fought for the right, -- for the freedom of man. I thank them all -- the living and the dead. I thank the great scientists -- those who have reached the foundation, the bed-rock -- who have built upon facts -- the great scientists, in whose presence theologians look silly and feel malicious. The scientists never persecuted, never imprisoned their fellow-men. They forged no chains, built no dungeons, erected no scaffolds -- tore no flesh with red hot pincers -- dislocated no joints on racks, crushed no hones in iron boots -- extinguished no eyes -- tore out no tongues and lighted no fagots. They did not pretend to be inspired -- did not claim to be prophets or saints or to have been born again. They were only intelligent and honest men. They did not appeal to force or fear. They did not regard men as slaves to be ruled by torture, by lash and chain, nor as children to be cheated with illusions, rocked in the cradle of an idiot creed and soothed by a lullaby of lies. They did not wound -- they healed. They did not kill -- they lengthened life. They did not enslave -- they broke the chains and made men free. They sowed the seeds of knowledge, and many millions have reaped, are reaping, and will reap the harvest: of joy. I thank Humboldt and Helmholtz and Haeckel and Buchner. I thank Lamarck and Darwin -- Darwin who revolutionized the thought of the intellectual world. I thank Huxley and Spencer. I thank the scientists one and all. I thank the heroes, the destroyers of prejudice and fear -- the dethroners of savage gods -- the extinguishers of hate's eternal fire -- the heroes, the breakers of chains -- the founders of free states -- the makers of just laws -- the heroes who fought and fell on countless fields -- the heroes whose dungeons became shrines -- the heroes whose blood made scaffolds sacred -- the heroes, the apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of freedom -- the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled the world with light. With all my heart I thank them all. Source: Bank of Wisdom Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201 =========================================================== || END OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== Jesus is not my best friend, I have real friends. --Andrew Lias on alt.atheism ============================================================ || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || ============================================================ Religion and the English Language Most of you will recognize George Orwell's essay, _Politics and the English Language_ in the title. In that essay, he pointed out that politics and advertising had debased the English language, and of course, any other language. This was fifty years ago, before television, before videos, poor George didn't know what we were in for. But, there had to be something that prepared the way. Before the communists could call an authoritarian dictatorship a people's democracy; before the Nazis were able to write over the gateway at Auschwitz: `Arbeit Mach Frei'; what was the system in place that had abused logic and debased language for millennia? No hands? What organization regularly enshrined illogic, discouraged (to put it mildly) rational enquiry and dissent; and practised all of the twisted psychological abuses inherent in any mental disorder? And continues to do so today? Let's consider religion. The main characteristic of the religious mental process (one hesitates to call it thinking), is the same doublethink that Orwell pointed out in perverted political thinking. A Christian can believe that his God is an omnipotent god who nevertheless cannot end evil, or a kind and merciful god that does not want to. An omnipresent and omniscient god who has to ask Adam: `Where are you hiding?' A god of love and compassion who sends hurricanes, earthquakes and pestilence to maim and kill thousands of people. Christians reserve a special level of impossibility for women: their role model combines the roles of virgin and mother. Every true believer will say that the Bible is an inspirational and inspired book, and can manage to ignore the bloodthirsty, irrational and sadistic passages. A doctrine that condemns the vast majority of humanity to eternal torture is not a kind doctrine, if `kind' means anything at all. Like the red queen in Wonderland, Christians have no problem believing contradictory things. Another area wherein religion preceded Big Brother was in the rewriting of history. If you remember, the "historians" of _1984_, were kept busy by rewriting history make it conform to the reality of the present. Most christians today believe that their religion was instrumental in abolishing slavery, and that christianity in itself was a major force for black civil rights. They insist that the United States was "founded as a Christian nation" a claim that five minutes' research will refute. I predict that in fifty years, christian churches will be announcing to the world that they were instrumental in fighting for equal rights for women and that they were at the forefront of the battle for tolerance of homosexuals. This latter one is as much a lie as the first. To accommodate advreligious prejudices, the Freethinking, radical, and anti-clerical tendencies of American history are simply ignored. Along with politicians and advertisers, religious propagandists have the need to conceal what they mean. As well, all three often are forced into situations where they must say something, but have nothing to say. There is no logical reason to prefer one soft drink over another, and none for preferring one set of irrational dogmas over another. Inflated, jargon-filled language, or simple meaningless repetition; both serve the needs of bureaucrats and priests. Slogans for the faithful to repeat, evasive, meaningless, but important sounding, pseudo-explanations when forced by skeptics to explain. Every christian automatically redefines words when they have to do with his own religious doctrine. "Mercy," "kindness," and "love" take on completely different meanings when in a christian context. When they talk about love, they mean fear and guilt. When they mention kindness, they mean something which cannot be distinguished from random natural disasters. Mercy can somehow include infinite and eternal torture. This helps them conceal what they mean even from themselves. You can find a close analogy to this kind of thinking in many of the popular books and magazine articles written by the survivors of traumatic childhoods. (I admit, I read them.) It is nearly impossible to convey the self-deception and shared delusions that must exist and in which all members of the family must participate to make it possible to carry on as an alcoholic family, or a family where spousal abuse or incest exists. I believe most people have encountered some explanation of these mechanisms on talk shows or in magazine articles. Such a family has certain unspoken, but well understood rules, which operate to maintain the dysfunction. The rules may be: never talk about family problems in public; always pretend to be happy; nice girls never talk about sex; and so on. Religions maintain their dysfunctions and shared delusions through the same kind of rules. We're not meant to understand the ways of God; faith is more important than thought; rational enquiry about sacred subjects is blasphemy. In the nineteenth century any woman who spoke in public, would be shunned as immoral. This is an effective weapon for the suppression of equal rights for women. Some rules are very explicit and direct, like the murder contract out on Salman Rushdie, and the thousand or so blasphemers that have actually recently been murdered by Muslim fanatics (and this certainly will make others think twice about blaspheming against Islam) others are enforced through the mechanisms of manners: it is extremely uncomfortable for most people to get up and leave the room when a prayer begins, we just don't want to be impolite. And we certainly don't want to face the frowns of disapproval that ensue. The time has come for us all to start being impolite. I have decided that I will face the frowns for everyone. One hundred years ago, it was impossible to talk about sexual matters even as a part of marriage. Anthony Comstock literally hounded the author of one of the first marriage manuals to death. As a good christian, I'm sure he was proud of it. A victorian lady could not properly go to a doctor for an examination. It was impolite for a lady to speak in public. These social rules of politeness enforce the status quo and enforce christianity's misogyny. You can see how difficult it would be to get your complaints heard if it were impolite to speak then aloud. You can see how religion benefits from its taboo status, this taboo allowed the christian priests at St. Lawrence in the US, and in Alfred and Newfoundland to continue their rapes and molestations for at least two decades, as it's just `not done' to complain against the church. Atheists are often accused of being angry, when we criticize religion. As if there were nothing to be angry about. As if anger were something bad. In general, the first step to resolving a problem is realizing why one is angry, and then figuring out what to do about it. We should realize the anger that we have against religion, for the damage that it has done to all of our lives, and express this anger. It's not as if religion is sacred or anything. The late Isaac Asimov wrote that there are six "Security Beliefs" that people like to have. Anything that tends to support a security belief is accepted without serious investigation, anything that contradicts one is discounted without serious investigation. The beliefs are: The Six Security Beliefs 1) There exist supernatural forces that can be cajoled or forced into protecting mankind. 2) There is no such thing, really, as death. 3) There is some purpose to the Universe. 4) Individuals have special powers that will enable them to get something for nothing. 5) You are better than the next fellow. 6) If anything goes wrong, it's not one's own fault. All religion succeeds because it satisfies the security beliefs, not because of its logical persuasiveness. Couple this satisfaction with commands to ignore logic and the evidence of one's own senses, and to distrust friends, family and other people in general, and you have the beginnings of a successful cult. It is also possible for any set of beliefs to become habitual and resist examination. It is easy for humanists to believe anything that says "humanists are brighter and more rational than the average person," and to think this applies specifically to oneself. Everybody believes that they are right. It will be objected that religion is a guide to morality. It is not. Most often religion is an excuse for immorality. With religious reasons behind you, it is easy to violate any of the common moral decencies. The religious have never found it difficult to find an excuse to rape, murder, steal or torture in god's name. Religion never thought of the idea of inherent human rights. Search the bible, the koran, the vedas, the works of any religion and you will never find any idea of an inviolable human right. You will find that the weaker the logical and rational support for an idea is, the more violent a reaction a challenge will elicit. Religious fights are the bloodiest of all, being based on nothing at all. I've learned two new words lately, this is my vocabulary lesson. First, "soteriology," from Delos McKown in _Mythmaker's Magic_. This simply means the doctrine of salvation. This is very informative because salvation is what the christian has been promised. Salvation means eternal life, eternal bliss, eternal pie in the sky. All the christian has to do is believe. So, do you think a logical argument is going to carry much weight against this? If a christian is convinced that salvation is the reward for clinging fast to their doctrines despite all of the evidence, there is no arguing with such a person. As Thomas Paine or Robert Ingersoll, said, it is like giving medicine to the dead. The other word was "incoherent," as a philosophical concept, from Kai Neilson. The God idea is incoherent. What this means is that this whole concept does not make any sense. Ask a theist for a definition of God. And then, ask questions. You will quickly discover what incoherence is first hand. Of course the frustrating thing for an atheist is that the religious figuratively keep their eyes (and minds) tightly shut and claim there is no light. It should be noted that making sense is a virtue in every other realm of human behaviour except religion, wherein irrationality is proclaimed as something good. Does this matter? It matters when fear of religious pressure makes it impossible for a humanist group to use free community advertising. It matters when a member of the BC Board of Parole uses graphology to decide about conditional release. It matters when juries accept the unsubstantiated evidence of dreams, hypnosis and such like `spectral' evidence. Thus, the acceptance of religious modes of behavior has a pernicious influence on every sphere of society. Because religion must be protected from rational inquiry, it makes rational inquiry into many areas difficult. Because religious dogmas are contradicted by scientific knowledge, we must waste huge amounts of money fighting for decent science education, and watch as publishers, catering to religious ignorance, debase the world's textbooks. Religious dogmas about human sexuality that are simply wrong are responsible for untold human misery, from neurotic dysfunctions, to death caused by AIDS and unwanted pregnancies. Wars over religious fairy tales cause deaths every day. This will only end when we accept that there is no area of human endeavor that is not subject to rational scrutiny, and no subject that be protected from investigation. It must always be considered a warning sign, whether it is in the field of used car sales, or Bible archaeology, when the fellow tells you that looking into it too deep is only going to cause you problems. =========================================================== || END OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== Did you know that after the resurrection, Jesus found out he couldn't dance? The proof is in the prayer he said: "Father, I have risen, but I can't get down." ============================================================ || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || ============================================================ from Stephen Carville - pagan@delphi.com **************************************************************** Advertisement for Power of Prayer Home Security Agency: Did you know that every 15 seconds a home is burglarized and that statistics show that 90% of those homes still relied on purely secular means of protection even though every last one of them had a Bible! What went wrong, you ask? Well, no one in the home knew how to use it! Now, you can stop depending on secular technology and have your good Christian home protected by the Power of Prayer Home Security Agency. Scientific studies have proven conclusively that the mere brandishing of a Bible scares off many criminals if accompanied by properly delivered prayer. 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It works! **************************************************************** =========================================================== || END OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume I, Number 6: NOV 1994. =========================================================== || END OF ISSUE || =========================================================== -- nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or belief. [f. med. L nullifidius f. L nullus "none" + fides "faith";] / If this is a humanist topic then I am President of the Humanist Association of Ottawa. Greg Erwin. ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA