From ai815@freenet.carleton.caMon Aug 21 11:10:57 1995 Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 05:19:52 -0400 From: Greg Erwin To: kris.taylor@smorgasboard.org, lloydk@teleport.com, gerryu@delphi.com Subject: August 1995 Nullifidian ############################################################ ############################################################ ______ / / / / / /__ __ / / ) (__ / / (__(__ __ |\ ( ) ) / / | \ | / / . _/_ . __ / . __ __ | \ | / / / / ) / ) / / ) __ ) / ) ) \| (__(__(___(__(__(___(__(__(__(__(__(__/ (__ =========================================================== *The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought** =========================================================== ############################################################ ###### Volume II, Number 8 ***A Collector's Item!***##### ################### ISSN 1201-0111 ####################### ####################### AUG 1995 ########################### 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 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 or government. 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. Re: navigation. Search for BEG to find the beginning of the next article. Search for the first few words of the title as given in the table of contents to find a specific article. I try to remember to copy the title from the text and then paste it into the ToC, so it should be exact. Search for "crass commercialism:" to see what's for sale. Subscription information, etc is at the end of the magazine, search for END OF TEXTS. ############################################################ ############################################################ ============================================================ /=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\ TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. THE DIVIDED HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH. R.G. Ingersoll 2. The Harm Caused by Religion -- annotated bibliography compiled by Wendell Watters, MD. 3. Infomercial and Poem, (Anti-creationist materials from Dennis L. Matson) =========================================================== || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== 29 page printout Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship. **** **** THE DIVIDED HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH. 1888 "Let determined things to destiny hold unbewailed their way." There is a continual effort in the mind of man to find the harmony that he knows must exist between all known facts. It is hard for the scientist to implicitly believe anything that he suspects to be inconsistent with a known fact. He feels that every fact is a key to many mysteries -- that every fact is a detective, not only, but a perpetual witness. He knows that a fact has a countless number of sides, and that all these sides will match all other facts, and he also suspects that to understand one fact perfectly -- like the fact of the attraction of gravitation -- would involve a knowledge of the universe. It requires not only candor, but courage, to accept a fact. When a new fact is found -- it is generally denied, resisted, and calumniated by the conservatives until denial becomes absurd, and then they accept it with the statement that they always supposed it was true. The old is the ignorant enemy of the new. The old has pedigree and respectability; it is filled with the spirit of caste; it is associated with great events, and with great names; it is entrenched; it has an income -- it represents property. Besides, it has parasites, and the parasites always defend themselves, Long ago frightened wretches who had by tyranny or piracy amassed great fortunes, were induced in the moment of death to compromise with God and to let their money fall from their stiffening hands into the greedy palms of priests. In this way many theological seminaries were endowed, and in this way prejudices, mistakes, absurdities, known as religious truths, have been perpetuated. In this way the dead hypocrites have propagated and supported their kind. Most religions -- no matter how honestly they originated -- have been established by brute force. Kings and nobles have used them as a means to enslave, to degrade and rob. The priest, consciously and unconsciously, has been the betrayer of his followers. Near Chicago there is an ox that betrays his fellows. Cattle -- twenty or thirty at a time -- are driven to the place of slaughter. This ox leads the way -- the others follow. When the place is reached, this Bishop Dupanloup turns and goes back for other victims. This is the worst side: There is a better. Honest men, believing that they have found the whole truth -- the real and only faith -- filled with enthusiasm, give all for the purpose of propagating the "divine creed." They found colleges and universities, and in perfect, pious, ignorant sincerity, provide that the creed, and nothing but the creed, must be taught, and that if any professor teaches anything contrary to that, he must be instantly dismissed -- that is to say, the children must be beaten with the bones of the dead. These good religious souls erect guide-boards with a provision to the effect that the guide-boards must remain, whether the roads are changed or not, and with the further provision that the professors who keep and repair the guide-boards must always insist that the roads have not been changed. There is still another side. Professors do not wish to lose their salaries. They love their families and have some regard for themselves. There is a compromise between their bread and their brain. On pay-day they believe -- at other times they have their doubts, They settle with their own consciences by giving old words new meanings. They take refuge in allegory, hide behind parables, and barricade themselves with oriental imagery. They give to the most frightful passages a spiritual meaning -- and while they teach the old creed to their followers, they speak a new philosophy to their equals. There is still another side. A vast number of clergymen and laymen are perfectly satisfied. They have no doubts. They believe as their fathers and mothers did. The "scheme of salvation" suits them because they are satisfied that they are embraced within its terms. They give themselves no trouble. They believe because they do not understand. They have no doubts because they do not think. They regard doubt as a thorn in the pillow of orthodox slumber. Their souls are asleep, and they hate only those who disturb their dreams. These people keep their creeds for future use. They intend to have them ready at the moment of dissolution. They sustain about the same relation to daily life that the small boats carried by steamers do to ordinary navigation -- they are for the moment of shipwreck. Creeds, like life- preservers, are to be used in disaster. We must also remember that everything in nature -- bad as well as good -- has the instinct of self-preservation. All lies go armed, and all mistakes carry concealed weapons. Driven to the last corner, even non-resistance appeals to the dagger. Vast interests -- political, social, artistic, and individual -- are interwoven with all creeds. Thousands of millions of dollars have been invested; many millions of people obtain their bread by the propagation and support of certain religious doctrines, and many millions have been educated for that purpose and for that alone. Nothing is more natural than that they should defend themselves -- that they should cling to a creed that gives them roof and raiment. Only a few years ago Christianity was a complete system. It included and accounted for all phenomena; it was a philosophy satisfactory to the ignorant world; it had an astronomy and geology of its own; it answered all questions with the same readiness and the same inaccuracy; it had within its sacred volumes the history of the past, and the prophecies of all the future; it pretended to know all that was, is, or ever will be necessary for the well-being of the human race, here and hereafter, When a religion has been founded, the founder admitted the truth of everything that was generally believed that did not interfere with his system. Imposture always has a definite end in view, and for the sake of the accomplishment of that end, it will admit the truth of anything and everything that does not endanger its success. The writers of all sacred books -- the inspired prophets -- had no reason for disagreeing with the common people about the origin of things, the creation of the world, the rising and setting of the sun, and the uses of the stars, and consequently the sacred books of all ages have indorsed the belief general at the time. You will find in our sacred books the astronomy, the geology, the philosophy and the morality of the ancient barbarians. The religionist takes these general ideas as his foundation, and upon them builds the supernatural structure. For many centuries the astronomy, geology, philosophy and morality of our Bible were accepted. They were not questioned, for the reason that the world was too ignorant to question. A few centuries ago the art of printing was invented. A new world was discovered. There was a complete revolution in commerce. The arts were born again. The world was filled with adventure; millions became self-reliant; old ideas were abandoned -- old theories were put aside -- and suddenly, the old leaders of thought were found to be ignorant, shallow and dishonest. The literature of the classic world was discovered and translated into modern languages. The world was circumnavigated; Copernicus discovered the true relation sustained by our earth to the solar system, and about the beginning of the seventeenth century many other wonderful discoveries were made. In 1609, a Hollander found that two lenses placed in a certain relation to each other magnified objects seen through them. This discovery was the foundation of astronomy. In a little while it came to the knowledge of Galileo; the result was a telescope, with which man has read the volume of the skies. On the 8th day of May, 1618, Kepler discovered the greatest of his three laws. These were the first great blows struck for the enfranchisement of the human mind. A few began to suspect that the ancient Hebrews were not astronomers. From that moment the church became the enemy of science. In every possible way the inspired ignorance was defended -- the lash, the sword, the chain, the fagot and the dungeon were the arguments used by the infuriated church. To such an extent was the church prejudiced against the new philosophy, against the new facts, that priests refused to look through the telescope of Galileo. At last it became evident to the intelligent world that the inspired writings, literally translated, did not contain the truth -- the Bible was in danger of being driven from the heavens. The church also had its geology. The time when the earth was created had been definitely fixed and was certainly known. This fact had not only been stated by inspired writers, but their statement had been indorsed by priests, by bishops, cardinals, popes and ecumenical councils; that was settled. But a few men had learned the art of seeing. There were some eyes not always closed in prayer. They looked at the things about them; they observed channels that had been worn in solid rock by streams; they Saw the vast territories that had been deposited by rivers; their attention was called to the slow inroads upon continents by seas -- to the deposits by volcanoes -- to the sedimentary rocks -- to the vast reefs that had been built by the coral, and to the countless evidences of age, of the lapse of time -- and finally it was demonstrated that this earth had been pursuing its course about the sun for millions and millions of ages. The church disputed every step, denied every fact, resorted to every device that cunning could suggest or ingenuity execute, but the conflict could not be maintained. The Bible, so far as geology was concerned, was in danger of being driven from the earth. Beaten in the open field, the church began to equivocate, to evade, and to give new meanings to inspired words. Finally, falsehood having failed to harmonize the guesses of barbarians with the discoveries of genius, the leading churchmen suggested that the Bible was not written to teach astronomy, was not written to teach geology, and that it was not a scientific book, but that it was written in the language of the people, and that as to unimportant things it contained the general beliefs of its time. The ground was then taken that, while it was not inspired in its science, it was inspired in its morality, in its prophecy, in its account of the miraculous, in the scheme of salvation, and in all that it had to say on the subject of religion. The moment it was suggested that the Bible was not inspired in everything within its lids, the seeds of suspicion were sown. The priest became less arrogant. The church was forced to explain. The pulpit had one language for the faithful and another for the philosophical, i.e., it became dishonest with both. The next question that arose was as to the origin of man. The Bible was being driven from the skies. The testimony of the stars was against the sacred volume. The church had also been forced to admit that the world was not created at the time mentioned in the Bible -- so that the very stones of the earth rose and united with the stars in giving testimony against the sacred volume. As to the creation of the world, the church resorted to the artifice of saying that "days" in reality meant long periods of time; so that no matter how old the earth was, the time could be spanned by six periods -- in other words, that the years could not be too numerous to be divided by six. But when it came to the creation of man, this evasion, or artifice, was impossible. The Bible gives the date of the creation of man, because it gives the age at which the first man died, and then it gives the generations from Adam to the flood, and from the flood to the birth of Christ, and in many instances the actual age of the principal ancestor is given. So that, according to this account -- according to the inspired figures -- man has existed upon the earth only about six thousand years. There is no room left for any people beyond Adam. If the Bible is true, certainly Adam was the first man; consequently, we know, if the sacred volume be true, just how long man has lived and labored and suffered on this earth. The church cannot and dare not give up the account of the creation of Adam from the dust of the earth, and of Eve from the rib of the man. The church cannot give up the story of the Garden of Eden -- the serpent -- the fall and the expulsion; these must be defended because they are vital. Without these absurdities, the system known as Christianity cannot exist. Without the fall, the atonement is a non sequitur. Facts bearing upon these questions were discovered and discussed by the greatest and most thoughtful of men. Lamarck, Humboldt, Haeckel, and above all, Darwin, not only asserted, but demonstrated, that man is not a special creation. If anything can be established by observation, by reason, then the fact has been established that man is related to all life below him -- that he has been slowly produced through countless years -- that the story of Eden is a childish myth -- that the fall of man is an infinite absurdity. If anything can be established by analogy and reason, man has existed upon the earth for many millions of ages. We know now, if we know anything, that people not only existed before Adam, but that they existed in a highly civilized state; that thousands of years before the Garden of Eden was planted men communicated to each other their ideas by language, and that artists clothed the marble with thoughts and passions. This is a demonstration that the origin of man given in the Old Testament is untrue -- that the account was written by the ignorance, the prejudice and the egotism of the olden time. So, if anything outside of the senses can be known, we do know that civilization is a growth -- that man did not commence a perfect being, and then degenerate, but that from small beginnings he has slowly risen to the intellectual height he now occupies. The church, however, has not been willing to accept these truths, because they contradict the sacred word. Some of the most ingenious of the clergy have been endeavoring for years to show that there is no conflict -- that the account in Genesis is in perfect harmony with the theories of Charles Darwin, and these clergymen in some way manage to retain their creed and to accept a philosophy that utterly destroys it. But in a few years the Christian world will be forced to admit that the Bible is not inspired in its astronomy, in its geology, or in its anthropology -- that is to say, that the inspired writers knew nothing of the sciences, knew nothing of the origin of the earth, nothing of the origin of man -- in other words, nothing of any particular value to the human race. It is, however, still insisted that the Bible is inspired in its morality. Let us examine this question. We must admit, if we know anything, if we feel anything, if conscience is more than a word, if there is such a thing as right and such a thing as wrong beneath the dome of heaven -- we must admit that slavery is immoral. If we are honest, we must also admit that the Old Testament upholds slavery. It will be cheerfully admitted that Jehovah was opposed to the enslavement of one Hebrew by another. Christians may quote the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" as being opposed to human slavery, but after that commandment was given, Jehovah himself told his chosen people that they might "buy their bondmen and bondwomen of the heathen round about, and that they should be their bondmen and their bondwomen forever." So all that Jehovah meant by the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" was that one Hebrew should not steal from another Hebrew, but that all Hebrews might steal from the people of any other race or creed. It is perfectly apparent that the Ten Commandments were made only for the Jews, not for the world, because the author of these commandments commanded the people to whom they were given to violate them nearly all as against the surrounding people. A few years ago it did not occur to the Christian world that slavery was wrong. It was upheld by the church. Ministers bought and sold the very people for whom they declared that Christ had died. Clergymen of the English church owned stock in slave-ships, and the man who denounced slavery was regarded as the enemy of morality, and thereupon was duly mobbed by the followers of Jesus Christ. Churches were built with the results of labor stolen from colored Christians. Babes were sold from mothers and a part of the money given to send missionaries from America to heathen lands with the tidings of great joy. Now every intelligent man on the earth, every decent man, holds in abhorrence the institution of human slavery. So with the institution of polygamy. If anything on the earth is immoral, that is. If there is anything calculated to destroy home, to do away with human love, to blot out the idea of family life, to cover the hearthstone with serpents, it is the institution of polygamy. The Jehovah of the Old Testament was a believer in that institution. Can we now say that the Bible is inspired in its morality? Consider for a moment the manner in which, under the direction of Jehovah, wars were waged. Remember the atrocities that were committed. Think of a war where everything was the food of the sword. Think for a moment of a deity capable of committing the crimes that are described and gloated over in the Old Testament. The civilized man has outgrown the sacred cruelties and absurdities. There is still another side to this question. A few centuries ago nothing was more natural than the unnatural. Miracles were as plentiful as actual events. In those blessed days, that which actually occurred was not regarded of sufficient importance to be recorded. A religion without miracles would have excited derision. A creed that did not fill the horizon -- that did not account for everything -- that could not answer every question, would have been regarded as worthless. After the birth of Protestantism, it could not be admitted by the leaders of the Reformation that the Catholic Church still had the power of working miracles. If the Catholic Church was still in partnership with God, what excuse could have been made for the Reformation? The Protestants took the ground that the age of miracles had passed. This was to justify the new faith. But Protestants could not say that miracles had never been performed, because that would take the foundation not only from the Catholics but from themselves; consequently they were compelled to admit that miracles were performed in the apostolic days, but to insist that, in their time, man must rely upon the facts in nature. Protestants were compelled to carry on two kinds of war; they had to contend with those who insisted that miracles had never been performed; and in that argument they were forced to insist upon the necessity for miracles, on the probability that they were performed, and upon the truthfulness of the apostles. A moment afterward, they had to answer those who contended that miracles were performed at that time; then they brought forward against the Catholics the same arguments that their first opponents had brought against them. This has made every Protestant brain "a house divided against itself." This planted in the Reformation the irrepressible conflict." But we have learned more and more about what we call Nature -- about what we call facts. Slowly it dawned upon the mind that force is indestructible -- that we cannot imagine force as existing apart from matter -- that we cannot even think of matter existing apart from force -- that we cannot by any possibility conceive of a cause without an effect, of an effect without a cause, of an effect that is not also a cause. We find no room between the links of cause and effect for a miracle. We now perceive that a miracle must be outside of Nature -- that it can have no father, no mother -- that is to say, that it is an impossibility. The intellectual world has abandoned the miraculous. Most ministers are now ashamed to defend a miracle. Some try to explain miracles, and yet, if a miracle is explained, it ceases to exist. Few congregations could keep from smiling were the minister to seriously assert the truth of the Old Testament miracles. Miracles must be given up. That field must be abandoned by the religious world. The evidence accumulates every day, in every possible direction in which the human mind can investigate, that the miraculous is simply the impossible. Confidence in the eternal constancy of Nature increases day by day. The scientist has perfect confidence in the attraction of gravitation -- in chemical affinities -- in the great fact of evolution, and feels absolutely certain that the nature of things will remain forever the same. We have at last ascertained that miracles can be perfectly understood; that there is nothing mysterious about them; that they are simply transparent falsehoods. The real miracles are the facts in nature, No one can explain the attraction of gravitation. No one knows why soil and rain and light become the womb of life. No one knows why grass grows, why water runs, or why the magnetic needle points to the north, The facts in nature are the eternal and the only mysteries. There is nothing strange about the miracles of superstition, They are nothing but the mistakes of ignorance and fear, or falsehoods framed by those who wished to live on the labor of others. In our time the champions of Christianity, for the most part, take the exact ground occupied by the Deists. They dare not defend in the open field the mistakes, the cruelties, the immoralities and the absurdities of the Bible. They shun the Garden of Eden as though the serpent was still there. They have nothing to say about the fall of man. They are silent as to the laws upholding slavery and polygamy. They are ashamed to defend the miraculous. They talk about these things to Sunday schools and to the elderly members of their congregations; but when doing battle for the faith, they misstate the position of their opponents and then insist that there must be a God, and that the soul is immortal. We may admit the existence of an infinite Being; we may admit the immortality of the soul, and yet deny the inspiration of the Scriptures and the divine origin of the Christian religion. These doctrines, or these dogmas, have nothing in common. The pagan world believed in God and taught the dogma of immortality. These ideas are far older than Christianity, and they have been almost universal. Christianity asserts more than this. It is based upon the inspiration of the Bible, on the fall of man, on the atonement, on the dogma of the Trinity, on the divinity of Jesus Christ, on his resurrection from the dead, on his ascension into heaven. Christianity teaches not simply the immortality of the soul -- not simply the immortality of joy -- but it teaches the immortality of pain, the eternity of sorrow. It insists that evil, that wickedness, that immorality and that every form of vice are and must be perpetuated forever. It believes in immortal convicts, in eternal imprisonment and in a world of unending pain. It has a serpent for every breast and a curse for nearly every soul. This doctrine is called the dearest hope of the human heart, and he who attacks it is denounced as the most infamous of men. Let us see what the church, within a few years, has been compelled substantially to abandon, -- that is to say, what it is now almost ashamed to defend. First, the astronomy of the sacred Scriptures; second, the geology; third, the account given of the origin of man; fourth, the doctrine of original sin, the fall of the human race; fifth, the mathematical contradiction known as the Trinity; sixth, the atonement -- because it was only on the ground that man is accountable for the sin of another, that he could be justified by reason of the righteousness of another; seventh, that the miraculous is either the misunderstood or the impossible; eighth, that the Bible is not inspired in its morality, for the reason that slavery is not moral, that polygamy is not good, that wars of extermination are not merciful, and that nothing can be more immoral than to punish the innocent on account of the sins of the guilty; and ninth, the divinity of Christ. All this must be given up by the really intelligent, by those not afraid to think, by those who have the courage of their convictions and the candor to express their thoughts. What then is left? Let me tell yon, Everything in the Bible that is true, is left; it still remains and is still of value. It cannot be said too often that the truth needs no inspiration; neither can it be said too often that inspiration cannot help falsehood. Every good and noble sentiment uttered in the Bible is still good and noble. Every fact remains. All that is good in the Sermon on the Mount is retained. The Lord's Prayer is not affected. The grandeur of self-denial, the nobility of forgiveness, and the ineffable splendor of mercy are with us still. And besides, there remains the great hope for all the human race. What is lost? All the mistakes, all the falsehoods, all the absurdities, all the cruelties and all the curses contained in the Scriptures. We have almost lost the "hope" of eternal pain -- the "consolation" of perdition; and in time we shall lose the frightful shadow that has fallen upon so many hearts, that has darkened so many lives. The great trouble for many years has been, and still is, that the clergy are not quite candid. They are disposed to defend the old creed. They have been educated in the universities, of the Sacred Mistake -- universities that Bruno would call "the widows of true learning." They have been taught to measure with a false standard; they have weighed with inaccurate scales. in youth, they became convinced of the truth of the creed. This was impressed upon them by the solemnity of professors who spoke in tones of awe. The enthusiasm of life's morning was misdirected. They went out into the world knowing nothing of value. They preached a creed outgrown. Having been for so many years entirely certain of their position, they met doubt with a spirit of irritation -- afterward with hatred. They are hardly courageous enough to admit that they are wrong. Once the pulpit was the leader -- it spoke with authority. By its side was the sword of the state, with the hilt toward its hand. Now it is apologized for -- it carries a weight. It is now like a living man to whom has been chained a corpse. It cannot defend the old, and it has not accepted the new. In some strange way it imagines that morality cannot live except in partnership with the sanctified follies and falsehoods of the past. The old creeds cannot be defended by argument. They are not within the circumference of reason -- they are not embraced in any of the facts within the experience of man. All the subterfuges have been exposed; all the excuses have been shown to be shallow, and at last the church must meet, and fairly meet, the objections of our time. Solemnity is no longer an argument. Falsehood is no longer sacred. People are not willing to admit that mistakes are divine. Truth is more important than belief -- far better than creeds, vastly more useful than superstitions. The church must accept the truths of the present, must admit the demonstrations of science, or take its place in the mental museums with the fossils and monstrosities of the past. The time for personalities has passed; these questions cannot be determined by ascertaining the character of the disputants; epithets are no longer regarded as arguments; the curse of the church produces laughter; theological slander is no longer a weapon; argument must be answered with argument, and the church must appeal to reason, and by that standard it must stand or fall. The theories and discoveries of Darwin cannot be answered by the resolutions of synods, or by quotations from the Old Testament. The world has advanced. The Bible has remained the same. We must go back to the book -- it cannot come to us -- or we must leave it forever. In order to remain orthodox we must forget the discoveries, the inventions, the intellectual efforts of many centuries; we must go back until our knowledge -- or rather our ignorance -- will harmonize with the barbaric creeds. It is not pretended that all the creeds have not been naturally produced. It is admitted that under the same circumstances the same religions would again ensnare the human race. It is also admitted that under the same circumstances the same efforts would be made by the great and intellectual of every age to break the chains of superstition. There is no necessity of attacking people -- we should combat error. We should hate hypocrisy, but not the hypocrite -- larceny, but not the thief -- superstition, but not its victim. We should do all within our power to inform, to educate, and to benefit our fellow-men. There is no elevating power in hatred. There is no reformation in punishment. The soul grows greater and grander in the air of kindness, in the sunlight of intelligence. We must rely upon the evidence of our senses, upon the conclusions of our reason. For many centuries the church has insisted that man is totally depraved, that he is naturally wicked, that all of his natural desires are contrary to the will of God. Only a few years ago it was solemnly asserted that our senses were originally honest, true and faithful, but having been debauched by original sin, were now cheats and liars; that they constantly deceived and misled the soul; that they were traps and snares; that no man could be safe who relied upon his senses, or upon his reason; -- he must simply rely upon faith; in other words, that the only way for man to really see was to put out his eyes. There has been a rapid improvement in the intellectual world. The improvement has been slow in the realm of religion, for the reason that religion was hedged about, defended and barricaded by fear, by prejudice and by law. It was considered sacred. It was illegal to call its truth in question. Whoever disputed the priest became a criminal; whoever demanded a reason, or an explanation, became a blasphemer, a scoffer, a moral leper. The church defended its mistakes by every means within its power. But in spite of all this there has been advancement, and there are enough of the orthodox clergy left to make it possible for us to measure the distance that has been traveled by sensible people. The world is beginning to see that a minister should be a teacher, and that "he should not endeavor to inculcate a particular system of dogmas, but to prepare his hearers for exercising their own judgments," As a last resource, the orthodox tell the thoughtful that they are not "spiritual" -- that they are "of the earth, earthy " -- that they cannot perceive that which is spiritual. They insist that "God is a spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit." But let me ask, What is it to be spiritual? In order to be really spiritual, must a man sacrifice this world for the sake of another? Were the selfish hermits, who deserted their wives and children for the miserable purpose of saving their own little souls, spiritual? Were those who put their fellow-men in dungeons, or burned them at the stake on account of a difference of opinion, all spiritual people? Did John Calvin give evidence of his spirituality by burning Servetus? Were they spiritual people who invented and used instruments of torture -- who denied the liberty of thought and expression -- who waged wars for the propagation of the faith? Were they spiritual people who insisted that infinite Love could punish his poor, ignorant children forever? Is it necessary to believe in eternal torment to understand the meaning of the word spiritual? Is it necessary to hate those who disagree with you, and to calumniate those whose argument you cannot answer, in order to be spiritual? Must you hold a demonstrated fact in contempt; must you deny or avoid what you know to be true, in order to substantiate the fact that you are spiritual? What is it to be spiritual? Is the man spiritual who searches for the truth -- who lives in accordance with his highest ideal -- who loves his wife and children -- who discharges his obligations -- who makes a happy fireside for the ones he loves -- who succors the oppressed -- who gives his honest opinions -- who is guided by principle -- who is merciful and just? Is the man spiritual who loves the beautiful -- who is thrilled by music, and touched to tears in the presence of the sublime, the heroic and the self-denying? Is the man spiritual who endeavors by thought and deed to ennoble the human race? The defenders of the orthodox faith, by this time, should know that the foundations are insecure. They should have the courage to defend, or the candor to abandon. If the Bible is an inspired book, it ought to be true. Its defenders must admit that Jehovah knew the facts not only about the earth, but about the stars, and that the Creator of the universe knew all about geology and astronomy even four thousand years ago. The champions of Christianity must show that the Bible tells the truth about the creation of man, the Garden of Eden, the temptation, the fall and the flood. They must take the ground that the sacred book is historically correct; that the events related really happened; that the miracles were actually performed; that the laws promulgated from Sinai were and are wise and just, and that nothing is upheld, commanded, indorsed, or in any way approved or sustained that is not absolutely right. In other words, if they insist that a being of infinite goodness and intelligence is the author of the Bible, they must be ready to show that it is absolutely perfect. They must defend its astronomy, geology, history, miracle and morality. If the Bible is true, man is a special creation, and if man is a special creation, millions of facts must have conspired, millions of ages ago, to deceive the scientific world of to-day. If the Bible is true, slavery is right, and the world should go back to the barbarism of the lash and chain. If the Bible is true, polygamy is the highest form of virtue. If the Bible is true, nature has a master, and the miraculous is independent of and superior to cause and effect. If the Bible is true, most of the children of men are destined to suffer eternal pain. If the Bible is true, the science known as astronomy is a collection of mistakes -- the telescope is a false witness, and light is a luminous liar. If the Bible is true, the science known as geology is false and every fossil is a petrified perjurer. The defenders of orthodox creeds should have the courage to candidly answer at least two questions: First, Is the Bible inspired? Second, Is the Bible true? And when they answer these questions, they should remember that if the Bible is true, it needs no inspiration, and that if not true, inspiration can do it no good. North American Review, August, 1888. END **** **** ========================================================= || END OF ARTICLE || ========================================================= "The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion known." [John Stuart Mill] =========================================================== || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== The Harm Caused by Religion -- annotated bibliography Many humanists feel that we should not attack religion; that we should be "pro-human", not "anti-religious", as if these two sets of attitudes existed in pure form. Others feel that we should learn as much as we can about the real impact of Christianity on society and on individual human beings. This group of humanists believes that we can only promote pro-human attitudes if we understand the depths of the anti- human attitudes promoted by centuries of Christian god-talk. These books attempt to enlighten on that point. 1. A. Alvarez. _The Savage God: A Study of Suicide_, Penguin Books. London. 1974. Originally published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson. 1971. 320 pages (See part 2: Background) The author traces the history of Christian attitudes toward suicide, starting with the suicidal diathesis inherent in the martyrdom of Christ and the copy-cat behaviour of the early Christians who often went out of their way to invite death in order to be united with their Lord. When it became apparent that an earthly church would have to be developed, this self-destructive behaviour worried the Church fathers, notably Augustine. A series of edicts designed to discourage voluntary martyrdom was issued, culminating in the one issued by the Council of Toledo in 693 AD, in which even unsuccessful victims of suicide were threatened with excommunication. But since the core doctrine remained intact, the suicidal diathesis remains to this day. 2. Karen Armstrong. _The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's creation of the sex war in the West_. Elm Tree Books. London. 1986. 323 pages. The author, an ex-nun, documents the part played by the Christian church in creating the sexist climate from which we are now trying to free ourselves. Although Christianity did not invent sexism, according to Armstrong, it has been more destructive than any other religion in promoting the inferior status of women, especially perhaps in placing their reproductive capacity at the control of the male god- talking establishment. 3. Mary Daly. _The Church and the Second Sex_. Beacon Press. Boston 1985. 230 pages. Mary Daly, as a Roman Catholic theologian, set out in 1968 to write a book which attempted to demonstrate that the goals of modern feminism were (or could be) compatible with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. By 1985 she had reversed her position one hundred and eighty degrees, and wrote a second edition, in which she concluded that "sexism was inherent in the symbol system of Christianity itself and that a primary function of Christianity in Western culture has been to legitimize sexism." 4. Rudolph M. Bell. _Holy Anorexia_. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 1985. 248 pages. Historian Bell has made a startling discovery; the majority of female saints in the Roman Catholic church may have been anorectic. Of the 261 Italian female saints who lived between 1200 AD and the present, the record was incomplete in about one third; but of the remaining 170 saints, more than half of them displayed clear signs of anorexia. Many of them also inflicted all manner of punishments on the sinful bodies, including flagellation with chains; and many of them died before they were 40, some literally starving themselves to death. Among this number were Catherine of Siena, Clare of Assisi, and Margaret of Cortona, women who were revered for their holiness and who became heroic role models for young girls to emulate. 5. Edmund D. Cohen. _The Mind of the Bible-Believer_. Prometheus Books, Buffalo. 1986. 424 pages. Psychologist Cohen, a survivor of Christian fundamentalism himself, analyses the strategies by which these god-talking manipulators seduce lonely, troubled human beings. Beginning with Device 1 (The Benign Attractive Persona of the Bible) and going on to Device 7 (Holy Terror), step by step the human intelligence and reasoning powers of the victims are eroded to the point where they are persuaded to do the same thing to other human beings. Although Cohen is talking specifically about the extreme fundamentalist sects, the same processes are at work in so-called man-line Christianity. 6. Abraham Feinberg. _Sex and the Pulpit_. Methuen. Toronto. 1981. In this book Rabbi Feinberg explores the Christian approach to sexuality, and in a forthright manner, lays bare the real motives underlying Christian teachings about sexuality and reproductivity. In his own words "The sex drive itself gave organized religion an opportunity to amass what was indisputably the greatest power ever lodged in human hands.". The power was used to wage demographic war on all other groups, a war it won since Christianity is numerically the largest religion on earth today. 7. Reay Tannahill. _Sex in History_. Stein and Day. New York. 1980 465 pages. Chapter 6 in this book gives an excellent account of the political origins of Christian teachings about sexuality. 8. Ludwig Feuerbach. _The Essence of Christianity_. Tr. by George Eliot. Prometheus Books. Buffalo. 1989. 340 pages. This book was originally published in 1841. In it, German philosopher Feuerbach promotes the notion that human beings invest ordinary concepts with divine meaning and significance; in praising God and adhering to Christian ideals, we merely reaffirm what is best in ourselves. the true danger to humanity occurs when theology acquires the force of dogma and doctrine and loses sight of its emergence from human nature, as has occurred during most of Christianity's existence. In this book Feuerbach takes on all aspects of Christian doctrine, including the miracles, creation, prayer, the virgin birth, faith, revelation, immortality and many others. 9. Philip Greven. _Spare the Child_. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 1990. 263 pages. This book explores the religious and secular rationales for the physical punishment of children and challenges us to re- examine long held assumptions. The author makes the point that most of our secular assumptions have roots in the religious ones, demonstrating once again that Christian teachings have had a profound effect on the entire western society, and in their secularized form act on people who never darken a church door. He uses many excerpts from present-day American Protestant writers to demonstrate that violence against children is still being promoted by Christian clerics. 10. Alice Miller. _For Your Own Good_. The Noonday Press (Farrar. Straus. Giroux.) New York 1990. First published in German under the title "Am Anfang war Erziehung" (1980). tr Hildegarde and Hunter Hannum. 282 pages. Psychoanalyst Miller traces the roots of physical violence towards children in the western world to the influence of Christianity, as she calls it: "poisonous pedagogy". This book should be read in conjunction with Greven's book (#9). She illustrates her thesis with, among others, a biographical account of Adolf Hitler's early Christian childhood. 11. Charles W. Sutherland. _Disciples of Destruction: The Religious Origins of War and Terrorism_. Prometheus Books. Buffalo, New York. 1987. 435 pages. In this book the author outlines the religious roots of war and terrorism, citing and indicting Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Communism which he sees as a secular religion with roots in Christianity. It is a long book with some very interesting historical references to back up the author's thesis, one that has certainly been reinforced by events in Yugoslavia, India, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Africa in recent years. 12. Wendell W. Watters MD. _Deadly Doctrine: Health, Illness and Christian God-talk_. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992. 190 pages. This book which draws on one psychiatrist's experience of 25 years working with individuals, couples and families, demonstrates how many of the points of Christian doctrine, by now thoroughly engrained in the wood work of western society, are antithetical to the principles of health, "mental" as well as "physical" health. 13. Albert Ellis. _The Case Against Religion and the Case Against Religiosity_. American Atheist Press. P.o. Box 140195, Austin, TX 87814-0195. Psychotherapist Ellis is a practitioner of Rational Emotive Therapy and in the course of his clinical work with patients has come to the conclusion that "believers in any kind of orthodoxy are distinctly disturbed, since they are obviously rigid, fanatic, and dependent individuals. Many liberal religionists of various groups are emotionally childish. for that is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency." 14 Joachim Kahl. _The Misery of Christianity (A Plea for a Humanity without God)_. Pelican Books. 1972 (tr. from the German by N.D. Smith). Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. An ex-Protestant minister, Kahl analyses the theology of the Christian church and, based on his experience as a Christian cleric, comes to the conclusion that "theology is a parasite, eating at a table which others have set". He claims that "man must turn away from seeking refuge in illusion and in a morass or unreason: his only salvation is in rational thought". 15. Dan Barker. _Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist_. FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation), Madison, Wisconsin. 1992. An ex-fundamentalist preacher, the author examines Christianity in a penetrating analysis and concludes that Christianity is "morally repugnant" and "harmful", and he states that "The concepts of original sin, depravity, substitutionary forgiveness, intolerance, eternal punishment and humble worship are all beneath the dignity of intelligent human beings and conflict with the values of kindness and reason". He adds, "Religion also poses a danger to mental health, damaging self-respect, personal responsibility and clarity of thought". This is a book every humanist should own. 16. Phyllis Graham. _The Jesus Hoax_. Leslie Frewin. London. 1974. This former Carmelite nun tells the compelling story of her long search for spiritual fulfilment and happiness -- and how she eventually found both outside established religion. She subsequently discovered that the "teaching" of Jesus, "far from being beneficial to humanity, has grievously retarded social progress and degraded the level of intelligence." 17. William Fielding. _Shackles of the Supernatural_ Vantage Press, Inc. 120 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001 1969. This is the second edition of a book originally written 30 years previously by a writer on psychology, sexuality and philosophy. In this book he states that supernaturalism perpetuates many of the world's evils: war, fanatic nationalism, and racial hatreds. He points out that the natural world and the supernatural world governed by the whims of a deity are as irreconcilable as ever, and that the paradox of their co-existence is increasingly untenable to more and more thinking people. One of the most enlightening points developed in this book is that there is a natural ethics governing all animal life, human included, and that the development of this natural ethics in individuals is seriously compromised by the insertion of the notion that morality is derived from supernatural precepts. /*******************************************/ In addition to the above books, all humanists would be advised to acquaint themselves with 2 books which were very influential in promoting the Christian notions that have been demonstrated to be so damaging to human beings, notions discussed in the above books, and notions from which we are trying to free ourselves as the twentieth century draws to a close. They are: 1. Thomas a Kempis. _The Imitation of Christ_. Moody Press. Chicago 1980. 359 pages. Written in 1427 by an Augustinian monk, this book has been credited with having as much influence as the Bible in spreading Christianity. Readers will be astonished how overtly and emphatically believers are warned to avoid human contact, to actively seek suffering and to avoid learning if they wished to be united with Christ. Self-esteem is severely criticised. 2. Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer). Dover Publications. New York 1971. 278 pages. The authors were Dominican monks who in 1486 wrote the first edition of what become a manual for the subsequent witch hunts, accepted by Catholic and Protestant legislatures alike for some 300 years. It describes the process of demonic possession which afflicted women primarily, men being exempt since they were made in the image of the male deity! One editor has described this monstrous document as "the most important, wisest and weightiest book in the world". Sprenger, who himself was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of women and girls, is described by the same editor as "a mystic of the highest order, a man of most saintly life." Enough said. If you plan to look at either of these letter two books, pour yourself a double Scotch and have a go. Good luck! Wendell W. Watters, MD ADDENDUM 18. C. Daniel Batson and W. Larry Ventis. _The Religious Experience: A Social-Psychological Perspective". Oxford University Press. New York. 1982. In the early nineteen eighties, psychologist Batson and Ventis reviewed the available research literature on three questions pertaining to religion: (1) Does religion promote "personal freedom or bondage?" (2) Does religion promote "mental health or sickness?" (3) Does religion promote "Brotherly love or self-concern?" The concluded "There is strong evidence that being religious is associated with poorer mental health, with greater intolerance of people who are different from ourselves, and with no greater concern for those in need. This evidence suggests that religion is a negative force in human life, and one we would be better off without." The subjects were, of course, mainly middle class American Christians. ========================================================= || END OF ARTICLE || ========================================================= "Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_] =========================================================== || BEGINNING OF ARTICLE || =========================================================== Infomercial and Poem, Dennis L. Matson From: "Dennis L. Matson" <72234.330@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Useful material Here is the list of items I'm currently selling: BIBLE ERRORS ($3.80): Here is a handy booklet that attempts to make the strongest possible case for biblical error that will fit into its 47 pages (5.5 x 8.5). It examines several biblical errors in depth even as it develops the concept of error, which is where the sophisticated biblicist makes his ultimate, slippery stand. Feel free to make a few quality copies for your favorite 'enemies.' HOW GOOD ARE THOSE YOUNG-EARTH ARGUMENTS? ($14.50): A revised Xerox-book (8.5 x 11) of 103 pages, comb-bound for easy Xeroxing of its arguments. It has a plastic cover and is attractively laid out. The seven page bibliography gives you some idea as to the documentation available in this dynamite book, a book which distills the best scientific rebuttals I could round up against 30 young-earth arguments, some attacks against carbon-14 dating, and some attacks against the order and nature of the geologic column. Quite a few miscellaneous points, ranging from the philosophy of knowledge to objections against teaching evolution, are also touched on along with some special topics such as supplying the water for Noah's flood, the speed of light, and whether mammoths were quick-frozen. If you have ever watched a slick creationist in a debate, and had the frustration of seeing him get away with murder, then you will truly enjoy reading this book. The first edition was written to support Ed Babinski in his debate with creationist Dr. Kent Hovind. For the budget-minded, meaning most of us, I'll make a special offer. I'll send you a free copy if you can sell 4 of these books. If you want the ASCII text on diskette, I will consider charging maybe $7.00. If you are connected to WWW, you may find a copy floating around for free. However, there is no substitute for the physical book; its text, tables, and diagrams are beautifully laid out and ready for Xeroxing. The diagrams cannot be converted to ASCII. A FEW SEDIMENTARY PROBLEMS FOR NOAH'S FLOOD ($2.00): A 5 page essay showing the hilarious problems that an asteroid impact at Chicxulub presents for Noah's flood. That was the impact that probably killed off the dinosaurs. RADIOMETRIC DATING AND WOODMORAPPE'S LIST OF BAD DATES ($2.00): A 7 page monograph that gives the ultimate answer to the creationist tactic of listing bad radiometric dates and claiming that the method is no good. A condensed version of this work may be found in my Xerox-book listed above. A SHORT LIST OF EVOLUTIONARY TRANSITIONAL FORMS ($2.50): A 12 page whirlwind tour that makes it clear there are plenty of intermediate transitional forms. I plan to revise this work this year or the next, but it is still devastating. ON TAKING THE BIBLE AND NOAH'S FLOOD LITERALLY ($2.00): 7 pages. A touch of babylonian cosmology and some heavy-duty common sense. Rips away at the theological absurdity of Noah's Flood. ERRORS OF REASONING ($2.50): A 10 page listing of logical and other errors of reasoning. Here is a handy source if you want to throw a little Latin into your essays. Each error is carefully explained. THE FLOOD ($2.00): A long (but interesting) poem that exposes the moral absurdity of Noah's flood. CALCULATING THOSE ODDS ($2.00): A 6 page tour of the major pitfalls involved in trying to assign a probability to evolution, especially as is done by many creationists. The essay is written from a novel perspective, which makes it highly readable and fun. DATABASE USE: I maintain a database on 'scientific' creationism and biblical error. For a fee of $10.00 I'll search 3 specific subjects/names. Within reasonable limits I'll try to print out all the references obtained, but if there are less than 10 found you will receive credit for future searches. For an additional 10 cents per page, I'll Xerox any of the sources that I have which are listed. (That decision can be made later, after checking your own sources.) You might even send me a wish list of subjects/names and tell me how much you are willing to spend. I'm pretty flexible, so there is no need to worry about being zinged by some technicality. For your enjoyment, a poem for freethinkers: DOUBT The fool cannot doubt; he has no mind. Poor thing! The slave dare not doubt; he has no voice. Shameful thing! The fanatic will not doubt; he has no uncertainty. Dangerous thing! For the fool--- guidance. For the slave--- a hammer to break chain. For the fanatic--- doubt! Dare to doubt, and you are free. Know doubt, and you know the beginnings of wisdom. Attain wisdom, and you know how little you really know. All of which, begins with a doubt. Dave Matson 12/4/90 Dave Matson P.O. Box 61274 Pasadena, CA 91116 Best Wishes, Dave Matson ========================================================== || END OF TEXTS || ========================================================== "They were allowed to stay there on one condition, and that is that they didn't eat of the tree of knowledge. That has been the condition of the Christian church from then until now. They haven't eaten as yet, as a rule they do not." --Clarence Darrow "Everywhere in the world there are ignorance and prejudice, but the greatest complex of these, with the most extensive prestige and the most intimate entanglement with traditional institutions, is the Roman Catholic Church.." [H.G. Wells] '...the Bible as we have it contains elements that are scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No amount of "explaining away" can convince us that such passages are the product of Divine Wisdom.' -- Bernard J. Bamberger, _The Story of Judaism_ "Atheism is the world of reality, it is reason, it is freedom, Atheism is human concern, and intellectual honesty to a degree that the religious mind cannot begin to understand. And yet it is more than this. Atheism is not an old religion, it is not a new and coming religion, in fact it is not, and never has been, a religion at all. The definition of Atheism is magnificent in its simplicity: Atheism is merely the bed-rock of sanity in a world of madness." ATHEISM: An Affirmative View, by Emmett F. Fields =><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== || Begging portion of the Zine || ==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><== 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 and very likely used IF: ( they are emailed to: ((ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA; or, godfree@magi.com), 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. I will gladly reprint articles from your magazine, local group's newsletter, or original material. There are currently about 140 subscribers, plus each issue is posted in some newsgroups and is archived as noted elsewhere. If you wish to receive a subscription, email a simple request to either address, with a clear request for a subscription. It will be assumed that the "Reply to:" address is where it is to be sent. We will automate this process as soon as we know how. Yes, please DO make copies! (*) Please DO send copies of The Nullifidian to anyone who might be interested. The only limitations are: At least clearly indicate the source, and how to subscribe. You do NOT have permission to copy this document for commercial purposes. The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1995, Greg Erwin (insofar as possible) and are on deposit at the National Library of Canada You may find back issues in any place that archives alt.atheism. 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. ARCHIVES Arrangements have been made with etext at umich. ftp to etext.umich.edu directory Nullifidian or lucifers-echo. For America On-Line subscribers: To access the Freethought Forum on America Online enter keyword "Capital", scroll down until you find Freethought Forum, double click and you're there. Double click "Files & Truth Seeker Articles" and scroll until you find Nullifidian files. Double click the file name and a window will open giving you the opportunity to display a description of the file or download the file. And thanks to the people at the _Truth Seeker_, who edited, formatted and uploaded the articles to the aol area. /=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\ Shameless advertising and crass commercialism: \_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/ Atheistic self-stick Avery(tm) address labels. Consisting of 210 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 7 for US$13; 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. [NOT ACTUAL SIZE] <-------------------2 5/8"----------------------> _________________________________________________ |"Reality is that which, when you stop believing |/\ |in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick] | | |Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley | 1" |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 quotes in between the articles are usually part of the label quote file. Occasionally I throw in one that is too long for a label, but which should be shared. 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! Pamphlet on "how to get excommunicated" included FREE with purchase. 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. Order from the same address as above. /=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\ ============================================================ Neat books available from H.H. Waldo, Bookseller! Books by Ingersoll! Heston's 19th Century Freethought Cartoons! Holy Horrors, An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness, by James A. Haught..........................$21.95 Christian Science, by Mark Twain.....................$15.95 (reprint of original attack) Deadly Doctrine, by Wendell W. Watters, MD...........$27.50 (Psychological damage caused by Christianity) Leaving the Fold, Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists, by Edward Babinski..................$32.50 and many, many more. Ever changing inventory. Friendly letters and news from Robb Marks, Proprietor. add $2 postage/handling for first book & 0.50 for each additional book. (All prices US$) Send 2 first class stamps for H.H. Waldo's current catalog. (Use international reply coupon, or get hold of US Stamps) TO: H.H Waldo, Bookseller P.O. Box 350 Rockton, IL 61072 or phone 1-800-66WALDO !!! tell 'im: "that nullifidian guy sent me!" Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume Two, Number 8: AUGUST 1995. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The problem with religions that have all the answers is that they don't let you ask the questions. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (*) There is no footnote, and certainly not an endnote. -- It is undoubtedly easier to believe in absolutes, follow blindly, mouth received wisdom. ... The question is not whether we could ever achieve a humanist equilibrium, but whether we are attempting to achieve it. --John Ralson Saul / Greg Erwin, VP, Humanist Association of Canada