American Atheist Magazine Jan 1983

8/9/2019 American Atheist Magazine Jan 1983

1/52

The Lord And The

Intellectuals

by Christopher Hitchens

THE

$2.50

AMERICAN ATHEIST

A Journal of Atheist News and Thought (VoI.25, No.1) January, 1983

Uncle Sam & Christ -

The Illicit Connection

by Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Broadening Religious

Tax Exemptions

A Report from Utah

Where Religion Denies

Children Happiness

A Report from India


2/52

1963 1983

AMERICAN ATHEISTS

is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization, dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of

state and church. We accept the explanation of Thomas Jefferson that the First Amendment to the

Constitution of the United States was meant to create a wall of separation between state and church.

American Atheists are organized to stimulate and promote freedom of thought and inquiry concerning

religious beliefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals and practices;

to collect and disseminate information, data and literature on all religions and promote a more thorough

understanding of them, their origins and histories;

to encourage the development and public acceptance of a human ethical system, stressing-the mutual

sympathy, understanding and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each

individual in relation to society;

to develop and propagate a culture in which man is the central figure who alone must be the source of

strength, progress and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity;

to promote the study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the maintenance,

perpetuation and enrichment of human (and other) life;

to engage in such social, educational, legal and cultural activity as will be useful and beneficial to

members of American Atheists and to society as a whole.

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and

aims at establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method,

independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.

Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own

inherent, immutable and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life;that man -

finding his resources within himself - can and must create his own destiny. Materialism restores to man his,

dignity and his intellectual integrity. It teaches that we must prize our lifeon earth and strive always to improve

it. It holds that man is capable of creating'a social system based on reason and justice. Materialism's faith is in

man and man's ability to transform the world culture' by his own efforts. This is a commitment which is in very

essence lifeasserting. Itconsiders the struggle for progress as a moral obligation and impossible without noble

ideas that inspire man to bold creative works. Materialism holds that humankind's potential for good and for an

outreach to more fulfillingcultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS

P.O.BOX 2117 AUSTIN, TX 78768-2117

Send 40 for one year s membersh ip . You w il l r eceive ou r Insider's'Newsletter monthly,

your membership certif icate and card, and a one year subscript ion to this magazine.


3/52

REGULAR FEATURES

Editorial: 1963-1983 ................... 2

American Atheist Radio Series: Rituals Examined ..... 35

Poems ..................... 39

FEATURED COLUMNISTS

U_S.

&

Christ: The IllicitConnection

-,- Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair ...

4

Notes on the Phenomenon of Publishing - Fred Woodworth 23

Bits and Pieces - Jeff Frankel ... 37

Betting on a Hereafter - Merrill Holste. 40

ARTICLES

Speech by Sen. Lowell Weicker ................ 20

The Lord and the Intellectuals - Christopher Hitchens .. 26

Where Happiness Denies Children Happiness

- Margaret Bhatty . . . 30

Louis Mountbatten on Nuclear War ......... 33

Flaws in the Lazarus Story -

Hiram Elfenbein . .

42

Proposition 1 in Utah: A Trojan Horse -

David Chris Allen ..

46

Editor-in-Chief

Madalyn Murray

OHair

Managing Editor

Jon G. Murray

Poetry

Robin Murray

O Hair

Angeline Bennett

Gerald Tholen

Production Staff

Art Brenner

Bill Kight

Richard Smith

Gerald Tholen

Gloria Tholen

Non-Resident Staff

G. Stanley Brown

Jeff Frankel

Merrill Holste

Ignatz Sahula-Dycke

Fred Woodworth

Clayton Powers

Austin, Texas

The

American Atheist

magazine is pub-

lished monthly at the Gustav Broukal Ameri-

can Atheist Press, 2210 Hancock Dr., Aus-

tin, TX 78756, and

1982 by Society of

Separationists, Inc., a non-profit, non-politi-

cal, educational organization dedicated to

the complete and absolute separation of

state and church. Mailing address: P.O. Box

2117/Austin, TX 78768-2117. A free sub-

scription is provided as an incident of mem-

bership in the American Atheists organiza-

tion. Subscriptions are available at $25. for

one year terms only. Manuscripts submitted

must be typed, double-spaced and accom-

panied by a stamped, self-addressed envel-

ope. The editors assume no responsibility

for unsolicited manuscripts.

.

The American Atheist magazine

is indexed in

Monthly Periodical Index

ISSN: 0332-4310

January, 1983

(Vol. 25, No.1) January, 1983

ON THE COVER

Giving proper consideration to

our gluttonous military budget of

1983, it would seem that reliable

old John O. Nobody is again, as

always, low man on the totem pole

of national priority.

Perhaps it is time that we re-

alized that Uncle Sam has ulti-

mately more far reaching prob-

lems than those that concern the

average American citizen. Besides

installing bristling forests of nucle-

ar missiles around the globe (at a

cost of hundreds of billions) to

protect that which isnow unpro-

tectable, he must also continue to

bilk the public (to the tune of more

billions) in the form of religious tax

exemptions. In this way, ongoing

religious mythology can remain

intact in order to keep soaping the

minds of nitwits so that they will,

in turn, keep pouring those billions

down the bottomless pit we call

the American economy.

Inour continuing tradeoff of hu-

man integrity (for pre-election

promises) it would seem that we

would slowly become wiser with

the years. Apparently this isonly a

misconception on the part of idle

dreamers. We should therefore be-

gin to take a more realistic view of

circumstances and at least give

proper titles to those more serious

items of importance, i.e. instead of

income tax let's say outgo tax

and how about the even more

proper title Social Insecurity. At

any rate the once proud label of

U.S. Citizen or John O. Public

now seems more fittingly defined

as (excuse the expression)

Turds Are Us.

Bythe way, happy 20th anniver-

sary to all American Atheists and

happy New Year to everyone who

isstill able to find happiness at all.

G. Tholen

Page 1


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1963-1983

This is the normal time of year for Happy New Year

greetings from most journals, and the staff of The American

Atheist Center which produces this one offers you that

sentiment as well. We do, however, have an additional

event about which to be happy for 1983 is the 20th

anniversary year of the existence of the American Atheist

organization.

o

o

o

.

Amreican Atheists was founded by Dr. Madalyn Murray

O'Hair in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 1, 1963, following

the eight to one decision by the United States Supreme

Court in the case of

Murray v. Curlett

which removed

religious ceremonies from public schools. Since that found-

ing, American Atheists has enjoyed a slow, but steady,

growth despite many setbacks that would surely have

caused the permanent closure of many other groups. Those

setbacks came as a result of the fascistic stance, of

Page 2

January, 1983

religionists, organized and unorganized, in all walks of life,

as they did battle against the idea, as they saw it, of

organized ungodliness.

For many years the American Atheist organization was

sustained monetarily, psychologically and physically, by Dr.:

O'Hair and her immediate family - with Atheists, by and

large, being too frightened to join in any way. One of the

most immediate stumbling blocks to the success of the

organization was to convince the rank and fileof Atheists

that it was O.K. to have their name on a mailing list

without fear of loss of citizenship for the exercise. It is not

hard to realize why that attitude prevailed when you take

into consideration that America, inthe early 1960's was just

shaking loose of the McCarthy hysteria of looking for

communists under every bed.

I think that one of the greatest services American

Atheists has performed in these twenty years is to let

Atheism stand alone outside ofassociation with any political

ideal. As the name of the organization states we are

AMERICAN Atheists. That accomplishment alone was a

long hard fight, one which the new radical right religious

movements of today are attempting to turn around - to

bring us back to the good old days of the 1950's with their

McCarthy terrorists tactics.

The organization has had great success in increasing the

self worth of individual American Atheists by making them

proud of their Atheist heritage and aware of the great men

and women with whom they share their reasoned stance.

My personal goal as director of the national office, The

American Atheist Center, is to see the day in this country

that all individual citizens can openly and proudly flaunt

their Atheism without fear of reprisal, discrimination or

abuse of any kind. In many ways that is a similar ultimate

goal of almost every minority cause group in the United

States today. They all want equality and true liberty and

justice for all. We are all approaching that goal.

I feel that the day of recognition of Atheism as a viable

and, in fact, superior lifestyle is in our (almost immediate)

future. The purpose of an American Atheist organization is

to bring that future to fruition as quickly as possible. The

way to do that is by forming a growing, well informed,

educated American Atheist constituency nationwide which,

working together, can reinforce each other against the

continued and now heightened onslaught of public criticism

orchestrated by the radical religious right forces while

reaching out to educate that public a little at a time. Toward

this end The American Atheist magazine, now beginning its

25th year of publication has endeavored to bring informa-

tion on every conceivable aspect of Atheist news and

The American Atheist


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thought to its readers.

Perhaps the highlight of this journal's recent history were

those issues produced from February, 1977, through Octo-

ber of 1980,with four-color process covers by a commercial

printing house in Austin, Texas. Aesthetically those were

the apex years of this journal's publication, but in terms of

content The American Atheist continues to improve issue

after issue providing a wide range of information to you in a

number of subject areas of concern to you as an Atheist.

More important, perhaps, isthe fact that this journal willnot

compromise in telling itlike it is. This isone ofthe reasons

why, throughout its publication history, it has had no or

very little advertising. With advertising comes a depen-

dency on advertising dollars and with that, in turn, comes

the ability ofthe large advertiser to dictate the content ofthe

journal. The ability of this journal to speak openly and

directly to issues of concern to Atheists will never be

compromised by the advertising dollar for that iswhere you,

the reader, are the safeguard ofthe purity ofthe publication.

It is with your continued generous support of American

Atheists that the publication of the journal continues.

Unfortunately

The

American

Atheist

is no longer pro-

duced in four color, due perhaps to our uncompromising

editorial position in the face of the stark economic times in

which our nation finds itself today. We do feel, however,

that this journal has been and willremain the outstanding

real source of information and education (and not from the

fact that it is the only one), on a monthly basis, for Atheists

in the United States.

winter holidays in the United States. Time magazine would

not have seen The Center as a source in beginning years -

in fact, there was no Center. Now, we chuckle to note

that we are quoted as officials at The Atheist Center say

when our research is quoted by the news media over and

over again throughout the nation.

At that First National Annual Convention in 1970, when

the media showed up with portable TV cameras, the

handful of members in attendance dove under the tables in

the room, covering themselves up with the table cloths for

fear of being recognized on the evening news that night by

employers, relatives or friends. At the Twelfth National

Annual Convention, held in April of 1982, in Washington,

D.C., over 350 members in attendance picketed the White

House with red, white and blue signs, happily outnum-

bering, as they did, a religious counter demonstration

across the street.

So, as a common cigarette commercial says, You've

come a long way - baby . Now, 1983 has the potential of

being not alone a banner year for Atheism, but a doorway to

the future. The radical right religious groups in the country

are losing ground rapidly as evidenced by their failure to

unseat targeted candidates in the November elections, as

they had done in the previous election. The American

Atheist Center is now wellinto its third years of production

of the American Atheist Television Forum series for cable

outlets across the country. The American Atheist Press has

embarked on publishing paperback books which will now

make it possible to bring you the best of over 150 years of

. .. the American Atheist movement ... has nowhere to go but up, nowhere to reach

but out, and nothing to conquer but the world.

The American Atheist organization continues to gain

strength and recognition. When itfirst started back in 1963,

it was not possible to complete a chore so small as to mail

this journal into many cities in the United States due to the

level of hatred against us - and the determination of the

postal services as they were then constituted to lose or

destroy our mail. Currently, we now mail not only to our

own fifty states but to Canada, Australia, Mexico, Europe

and the Far East. The journal can now be found on news

stands inseveral major cities. Inthe beginning Atheists were

not allowed to advertise in any media - radio, television,

magazines or newpapers. We are now able to do that in

every area of the country. The journal is now in some 400+

libraries across the nation, with the major proportion paying

for the subscriptions. We have come a long way indeed.

When the First National Annual American Atheist Con-

vention was held in Austin, Texas, in April, 1970, not one

hotel or motel facility in the city would host the meeting at

any price and the convention was held ina city facilitywhere

discrimination was prohibited (after a good fight ) by law.

Now, not a week goes by at The American Atheist Center

that another solicitation does not pass over my desk, as

Director, from another major hotel asking for our conven-

tion and meeting business.

Just a day or two ago

Time

magazine called The Atheist

Center asking for our input on an article being prepared on

separation of state and church issues surrounding the

Austin, Texas

Atheism in America.

Plans are being drawn now for a new American Atheist

Center complex to be constructed on acreage outside of

Austin, Texas, during this new year. With that new complex

willcome even greater outreach. We have, indeed, even a

new motto for our organization as we begin the third

decade: Unity Today - Power Tomorrow.

With your continued support and the new and more

efficient means of information distribution today, this

journal and the American Atheist movement, in general,

has nowhere to go but up,nowhere to reach but out, and

nothing to conquer but the world. And, we're ready for it.

January, 1983 Page 3


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UNCLE SAM

AND CHRIST

THE ILLICIT CONNECTION

For a number ofyears, American Atheists have published

as a theme, the Nine Demands for separation ofstate and

church which were set out as a goal, on January 1, 1874, by

an early pre-Atheist, Francis EllingwoodAbbot, on the front

page of his weekly free thought paper, The Index. These

were:

1. We demand that churches and other ecclesiasti-

cal property shall no longer be exempt from just

taxation.

2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in

Congress, instate legislatures, inthe navy and militia,

and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions

supported by public money be discontinued.

3. We demand that all public appropriations for

sectarian educational and charitable institutions shall

cease.

4. We demand that all religious services now

sustained by the government shall be abolished; and

especially that the use ofthe bible inthe public schools

whether ostensibly as a textbook or avowedly as a

book of religious worship, shall be prohibited.

5. We demand that the appointment by the presi-

dent of the United States or by the governors of the

various states of all religious festivals and fasts shall

wholely cease.

6. We demand that the judicial oath in the courts

and in all other departments of the government shall

be abolished, and that simple affirmation under the

pains and penalties ofperjury shall be established inits

stead.

7. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly

enforcing the observance of Sunday as the sabbath

shall be repealed.

8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforce-

ment of christian morality shall be abrogated, and

that alllaws shall be conformed to the requirements of

natural morality, equal rights, and impartial liberty.

9. We demand that, not only in the constitutions of

the United States and of the several states but also in

the practical administration of the same, no privilege

or advantage shall be conceded to christianity or any

other special religion; that our entire political system

shall be founded and administered on a purely secular

basis; and that whatever changes shall prove neces-

Page 4 January, 1983

sary to this end shall be consistently, unflinchingly,

and promptly made.

Had the Atheists of our nation supported Francis Elling-

wood Abbot one hundred years ago, the situation would not

be as bad in the United States as it is today. Almost one

hundred years before, in 1784,James Madison had warned

everyone of the dangers. When fighting the religious forces

in Virginia, he had stated in his Memorial and Remon-

strance Against Religious Assessments, ... it is proper to

take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties .... We

hold this to be the first duty of citizens, and one of (the)

noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freemen

ofAmerica did not wait tillusurped power had strengthened

itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents.

They sawall the consequences in the principle, and they

avoided the consequences by denying the principle. We

revere this lesson too much, soon to forget it. But Madison

was wrong - we did forget it and our nation now is in a

position where power usurped by religion has strengthened

itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents

which are almost impossible -to combat. Now, at the

beginning of 1983 we review with dismay the abuses of

religion throughout the land. In all nine areas of concern to

Francis Ellingwood Abbot, Atheists are mindful of the

threat. There is an awakening felt now across the nation as

egalitarian idealists move to timidly embrace the concept of

freedom

from

religion, first recognized in our time era by

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in the case of

McGowan v. Maryland (1960).

One hundred and nine years have brought one partial

victory only, wrested from government in a bitter and

protracted legal battle which culminated in the US Supreme

Court decision ofJune, 1963,when reverential bible reading

and unison recitation of the so-called lord's prayer were

banished from the public schools of our nation by the case

of Murray v. Cur/ett, through the efforts of the Murray-

O'Hair family, founders of American Atheists.

This year is the 20th anniversary of that case, the 109th

anniversary of the Nine Demands and the 199th anniver-

sary of the warning given by Madison. A review of the

current status follows:

******



7/52

ITEM: LOBBYING AND THE CHURCHES.

Under Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act, groups

whose principle purpose is to solicit and spend money to

influence Congress and communicate directly with law-

makers are required to register and file quarterly reports

with the House and the Senate. In addition to detailed

spending records, the reports are required to include the

names and addresses ofallpersons contributing more than

$500. Although, in the fiscal year ending August 31, 1981,

the moral majority spent $4.4 million for lobbying and

publications, the federal government has not brought that

organization into compliance with the law. Falwell insists

that his is not a true lobbying group but his publications

reveal the active role his organization is taking, for example,

~~,- ,~ .iI~ II~iH~

inthe criminal code bill.We quote the November 23rd issue ~ ~~

(1981) of moral majority's publication: The Senate Judici- --------------,

ary Committee staff has agreed to negotiate with moral

majority over its concerns. But unless the negotiations

produce much more than expected, we believe that the best

course ofaction willbe killthe bill. Much of the information

on legislation which is printed in Falwell's publications are

supplied, says his second-in-command, Ronald Godwin, by

the conservative Republican Steering Committee in the

Senate, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Nationai

Association ofManufacturers and the National RifleAssoci-

ation.

Our nation is in good hands

The third largest public interest group membership inthe

nation, with a budget of $6.6 million and a membership of

200,000, directed by Richard A. Viguerie, spews out over

100million pieces of direct mail per year to aid the goals of

the radical religious right.

In October, 1980, the Abortion Rights Mobilization,

headed up by Lawrence Lader, filed a suit in the Federal

District Court inthe Southern District ofNew York seeking

to force the IRS to collect taxes retroactively from Jan. 1,

1978from any roman catholic group found to have violated

the tax exempt provisions of the IRS code in respect to

lobbying. In January 1981, an amended suit added the US

Catholic Conference and the National Conference of

Catholic Bishops to the case.

The original catalyst of the suit was a pastoral letter sent

by a Boston, Massachusetts cardinal to 410 parishes in

Massachusetts just a few days before a state congressional

primary, saying it would be a sin to vote for two pro-

abortion congressional candidates.

By July, 1982, a federal judge ruled in this case that the

groups and the individuals had standing to sue. At the same

time he dismissed all complaints against the church itself

saying that the government must be the object ofthe action

and not the roman catholic church. This isthought to be the

first case inwhich third parties have argued the right to seek

injunctive relief from a grievance arising from the tax

exemption of organized religion.

Evidence of similar intrusions into political campaigns in

Long Island, New York; South Dakota; Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-

vania; St. Cloud, Minn.: Livonia, Michigan; Ames, Iowa; and

San Antonio, Texas were cited. When the editor of the

Today's Catholic,

the official weekly newspaper of the

archdiocese of San Antonio, was warned bythe IRS that he

could lose the paper's tax exemption ifhe printed anything

Austin, Texas

be tbejudge

that could be interpreted as showing preference for any

political candidate on issues of interest to the church, (an

IRS ruling of June, 1978prohibited such endorsement), he

defiantly wrote an editorial inhis June, 1981issue titled To

the IRS - NUTS. In that issue he characterized the

presidential candidates with John B. Anderson being the

most abrasive pro-abortionist; Edward Kennedy as having

regrettably consistently sided with pro-abortion forces;

and Jimmy Carter as being politically expedient on the

issue. He concluded with an endorsement of Ronald

Reagan as the only Presidential candidate who is clearly

opposed to abortion and iswillingto use the political power

of the Presidency to support his position. In making this

endorsement the priest-editor defied guidelines which had

been issued, in February, 1981, by the Catholic Press

Association, headquartered in Rockville Center, New

York, which were a tacit acceptance ofthe IRS's regulation.

By and large the scattered roman catholic presses did not

like knuckling under and a large number ignored the IRS

ruling. By May of 1981the Catholic Press Association was

forced to issue a clarification, to the effect that its position

stated inits issued guidelines did not constitute approval of

the IRS ruling. Also at issue in the case is the tax exempt

status of the roman catholic journals which operate on a

nonprofit mailing permit. Denial of that status, with a

subsequent higher postage rate, could kill the papers

financially, the churches claim. .

American Atheists participated in the Abortion Rights

Mobilization case to the extent of obtaining copies of the

San Antonio diocesan newspaper directly from the diocese

headquarters for use in the legal action.

A total of 10 church publications had violated the rule

before it became a national issue with the San Antonio

editorial stance.

Meanwhile, Court ofAppeals for the District ofColumbia

remanded a significant case to the federal District Court of

D.C., when an en

baric

hearing resulted in a 7 to 3 decision

in the case of Taxation with Representation of Washington

v. Regan. This case deals with an IRS regulation that

prohibits groups exempt under 501(C)(3) from devoting a

substantial part of their activities to carrying on propa-

January, 1983

PageS


8/52

ganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation.

Since all churches and religious institutions are exempt

under this section of the IRS law, the religious community

nervously watched the case. The appellate court held that

Taxation's rights were abridged under the 5th Amendment

guarantee to equal protection, but not

under

the 1st

Amendment. The equal protection provision ruling came

because veterans' organizations, exempt under 501(C)(19)

can lobby. The federal District Court now has the job of

devising some equal protection theory which willconti-

nue to favor the veterans' organizations without seeming to

do so. I t willbe a neat trick.

Pressing everywhere for government funds and

sponsor-

ship, religious forces had proposed two state constitutional

amendments this year for public aid to religious schools.

However. Proposition 9 was turned down by California

residents bya 61%-39%vote and Question 1was defeated in

Massachusetts by a 62%-38% vote, as again, depressed

economic conditions were helpful in the defense of state/

church separation. Both states were trying to give publicly

financed textbook aid to religious schools. InCalifornia that

state's roman catholic dioceses lent money to the commit-

tee pushing Proposition 9. American Atheistscan safely bet

that no law enforcement agency willlook at any violation of

IRS regulations forbidding political activity since California

is a strong roman catholic state. And, this despite the fact

that National Catholic Reporter freely disclosed that dio-

cesan spending included: $100,000 from L.A.; $45,410 from

San Francisco; $38,110 from Oakland, $29,405 from San

Jose; $28,000 from Sacramento; $25,000 from San Diego;

$20,000 from San Bernardino; $12,670 from Stockton;

$10,500 from Santa Rosa, and $10,000 from Monterrey. The

total was $319,095 spent for the proposition while the

opponents spent less than $10,000. The

Reporter

opined

that the loans would be repaid to some extent. The

campaign included sophisticated television appeals with

Page6

January, 1983

Helen Hayes giving a heart-rendering appeal for votes for

books for children and the archdiocese of L.A. paying for a

fullpage ad in the L.A. Times urging a yes vote. Again it will

be up to an individual citizen or organization to sue the

government and force it to take action in this instance.

There are difficulties for government brewing in the tax

exemption area. Several theories conflict. The tax expen-

diture theory holds that exemption from taxation is an

affirmative benefit extended by the legislature to organiza-

tions that benefit the public, being a subsidy or grant for

performing certain services. Since churches do not perform

a service which the government can supply or should

encourage (because of the First Amendment), there are a

number ofquestions about the tax expenditure theory. The

tax base theory holds that certain institutions are not

taxed because they are not in the tax base to begin. The

Revenue Act of 1913 was structured to tax net income.

Therefore any non-profit organization, having no net

income, would not be subject to taxation. Naturally, the

religious community prefers the second theory and strives

for it.

But during it all the Christian Broadcasting Network, in

Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been advised by the State of

Virginia that it does not use its 390 acre property for

exclusively religious work and therefore is subject to

taxation on its land. The opinion was based on nonreligious

use of the CBN facilities, specifically its secular programs,

its paid advertising and its leasing ofstudios and production

facilities to commercial interests for a fee. It is expected that

Pat Robertson willappeal before the assessment becomes

finalin June, 1983.

* * * *

ITEM: RELIGION AND THE DEATH OF

CHILDREN.

The year 1982 was again characterized by stories sur-

facing in the media across the United States of children

dying because parents had relied on the healing powers of

jesus christ and refused medical aid to their children. Again

this year, in most instances local prosecutors found some

excuse for winking their eyes at the deaths. But, in several

states the parents were actually arraigned on involuntary

manslaughter charges in relation to the deaths. The state,

condoning any action termed religion, continues to permit

the wilfulreligious murder of children in our nation.

******

ITEM: STATE LOAN OF BOOKS TO RELIGIOUS

SCHOOLS.

The California Supreme Court, the only state court in the

nation with courage enough to do so, ruled in April, 1982

that it was unconstitutional for the state to lend public

school books to religious schools.

* * * * * *

ITEM: COLLEGE CAMPUSES GIVEN TO

RELIGIOUS RIGHT.

On December 8, 1981, the US Supreme Court placed



9/52

state supported colleges and universities injeopardy across

the nation with an 8-to-1 majority decision in Widmar v_

Vincent, that those institutions must provide facilities for

religious organizations to engage in religious worship on

campus. The effects of the decision were immediately felt in

1982. The year was characterized by a massive assault on

state colleges and universities by every religion as they

moved en masse. Nationally, the campus crusade for christ,

maranatha, christian athletic fellowship and others in-

creased their activities while locally, whatever religious

zanies that could moved in. The demands were most felt at

University of Virginia, University of Illinois, University of

South Carolina, University of California at Berkeley, Univer-

sity of Texas and Florida State. Many of the national

organizations have grandiose plans. And, immediately

parents in a high school in west Texas started litigation to

have the Widmar v. Vincent decision applied at that level.

Since the attorney, Leon Jaworski died of a heart attack

during mid-December, activity on the case is not currently

available.

* * * * * *

ITEM : SEXUAL INNOCENCE FOR

THE REL IG IOUS.

Sex education was under attack in 1982 as the religious

continued to push for its elimination in public schools,

aiming attacks at school boards. However, the public

educational system is becoming more adept at handling the

problem and in Kentucky and New Jersey agreed with the

religious parents that their children be given studies in

general health while other students were taught sex educa-

tion. This ploy apparently may be an acceptable solution

while still retaining general sex education for the average

public school student, especially since the US Supreme

Court could find no substantial federal question in the

case of

Smith v. Brand

which was appealed from the New

Jersey Supreme Court. That Court, reversing the trick

constantly played with Atheist parents, this time told the

religious parents that their rights were protected by a local

New Jersey board of education's regulation that children

. i \

But doctor, she can't be pregnant I didn't

let her take any sex education classes

Austin, Texas

'could be excused from sex education programs if the

parents requested it and if the participation conflicted with

conscientiously held religious beliefs.

Sometimes some difficulties can develop, as in Colorado

when a state representative demanded all school districts

send him a list of their sex education materials so that he

could submit the books to fundamentalists who have

terrorized the state of Texas Board of Education for the last

five years. Nine school districts had courage enough to

refuse.

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, which also is a sex

educational agency, was under attack from Ronald Reagan

who set the General Accounting Office and a federal health

inspector on it to see if any federal dollars were going to

abortion. Planned Parenthood operates 36 clinics, nation-

wide and it was almost universally understood that this was

a mere harassment movement against it because of the

hostility of the roman catholic church directed to this group

and the need of the administration to woo roman catholic

votes.

******

ITEM : M AIL O RD ER M IN ISTRIES_

The universal life church, granddaddy of all the mail order

ministry systems in the country, was sued for $1.25 million

because one of its ministers in North Carolina married a

couple without legal authorization from the state to perform

such marriage. The woman charged unlawful cohabitation

unsanctioned by law had caused her emotional distress.

In 1982, also, the US Supreme Court refused to review

the New York case of Town of Hardenburgh v. State of

New York. There, 88% of the property owners of the city

claimed exemptions from property taxes as ministers of the

universal life church. The highest court of New York state

concluded that if all the property was owned by the

ministers of u.l.c., they should not object to turning it all

over to a trust fund, run exclusively for the benefit of that

church. It was a massive loss for u.l.c. arid the decision will

probably be followed in other states. American Atheists,

although friendly with the u.l.c. and personal priests of

Kerby Hensley, never involved itself in this tax exemption

scheme since it was felt that the states and federal

government were sooner or later going to come down hard

on the idea.

The IRS and the tax courts have repeatedly denied tax

exemption to assorted mail order ministries, charging

that they are simply tax dodges. The legal argument used

against them is that they do not pass an operational test of

being for public rather than private interests. Kirby

Hensley in

Universal Life Church v. US

won a victory in

1974 because the IRS sought to show that his church was

not, in fact, religious, the trial judge holding, Neither this

court, nor any branch of government, will consider the

merits or fallacies of a religion. This only showed the IRS

how to proceed and the definitional arguments have now

been abandoned in favor of the operational test so that

tax exemption may not be used to foster a private purpose.

From 1977 to 1980 the IRS detected 1,657 Hensley-type

operations. In 1980 it found 382 such schemes involving

4,296 tax returns claiming $7,073.400 in refunds. An IRS



10/52

spokesman believes Many are apparently using the

scheme merely to evade property, state, and local taxes.

They're not taking on the IRS. Perhaps with good reason

for the IRS has won 39consecutive cases against mail-order

ministers for tax exemption.

The basic bible church, organized on the same principle

as the universal lifechurch, has been under constant fireby

the IRS.After failingto put the founder injailin 1981, he and

eight of his ministers inTexas were reindicted inApril on

charges of federal income tax evasion.

The lifescience church, also organized on the universal

life church plan, was enjoined from selling ordination

certificates in New York state in 1982. Already under

preliminary injunction from a 1981case, this case against life

science was built under the consumer fraud statutes. The

head of this church, in February, 1982,was given five years

in prison in California on 26 counts of violating federal

income tax laws. His son received two years and a couple

from Indiana were placed on probation. Church charters

and ministerial certificates, the court held, were false,

fraudulent and misleading representations, pretenses and

promises which could not be fulfilledby tax exemption.

******

ITEM : THE BIAS OF THE IRS IN FAVOR OF

RELIGION.

During 1982several Atheists attempted to challenge the

religious preference of the IRS. In Austin, Texas, Gerald

and Gloria Tholen, and Jon Murray, officials of The

American Atheist Center, joined a suit which attacked the

practice of permitting the religious to take a tax deduction

on their individual 1040 tax returns for contributing to

religious organizations. The IRS code of 1954 had made

such a deduction possible. In order to channel such tax

deductible contributions to government approved eleemo-

synary institutions the IRS issued a large book containing a

listof them. This book, titled Cumulative Index isthe size of

an ordinary telephone book. Charging that the US govern-

ment had simply set up a reward system to encourage the

practice of citizen funding of state approved units of the

judeo/ christian religion with money which would otherwise

be submitted to the government for taxes, the Murray-

Tholen team outlined how the state had set up an adminis-

trative and taxation procedure calculated to advance

religion. However, in the fall of '82 the suit was not

maintained when a federal district court inS. Antonio held

that they lacked standing to sue.

On the west coast an individual member of GALA,

Jeffrey D. Vowles, filed a suit in US District Court,

Southern District of California challenging the use of

religion as a basis for income tax exemption eligibilitywhich

gave a preference to belief in religion over nonbelief and

promoted an entanglement between state and church. The

court held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. It is

imperative that other tries on these issues be had and

American Atheist Center continues with legal research.

Among IRS's other helpful assistance to religion is

Section 107 of the IRS code which exempts a minister of

the gospel from income taxes on a home provided as part

of compensation and on any rental allowance paid in lieu of

Page 8

January, 1983

a house. Seeing the abuse itself, however, the IRS in a case

in the tax court in North Texas fought for and won a

decision in 1982 that 20 ordained professors of a christian

university inTexas were not entitled to this free exemption

since they had no sacerdotal functions. The case, however,

pointed out the abuses which religious institutions institute

as they continue to construe these already favorable laws in

such a way as to wring out every last cent of benefit to their

institutions. The case, which the university has decided not

to appeal, narrows exemptions to ordained ministers with

sacerdotal functions.

~

83 Internal Revenue Service

Instructions for Form 990

bturn of Organization

Exempt from Income Tax

Under section SOl(c) (except black lung benefit trust

or private foundation) of the Internal Revenue Code

or section 4947(a)(l) trust

(Section ,.f.,ences are to the Inte nal Revenue

Code,

unless otherwise Ind.cated

General Instructions

. O.

niutiona

Not Required to

F. SM.-FOI' State fiting purposes. lee

inanlction

D. The following

types of org.oi-

utionl:axempt from

t

under section 501 (a)

do

not

have to tile Fonn 990 with IRS:

1 . A churdt. an

interchurch

organization

of tocaI units of church convention or

aaeoa.tion of

c:t..dtes

or an integrated

auxiliary of c ..

:tt

(auch a

men',

or

women'. organization. raligioua school.

m.

- ooc:iety . youth groupl.

2. A achool below coAege lever

affiliated

churc:h or operated by a religious

- .

. A minion ~ ored by or

affiliated

witt. 01' IlION

churches

or

durch_ .if_han .1

of the 1IOCiety '. ectiwitiea are conducted in,

Of diNcted penons in. foreign countriea.

4. An ucluliwty NIigiouI ectivity of eny

. . . . . . . . - .

fontl lo~.-.

rnc-e part,e

Oil

, '04

I(II tr .~1

e.e' ior yea'

be. )1. 1980

.,) 1

I,hnl

01 Form 99(

1,l


11/52

******

IT EM : FR EE SO CIA L SE CU RIT Y, A G IFT

FR OM U NC LE SA M T O FO LLO WER S O F CH RIST

At a time when the beneficiaries of Social Security are

even denied the extra pennies computed to be theirs for

contributions into the system (The US is now rounding

each check down to the next dollar. Ifa beneficiary should

have received $350.76, the government now keeps the 76

cents.) Approximately.3 million pe~ple receiving $122 per

month Social Security checks were dropped from the rolls

early in Ronald Reagan's presidency. But Congress in late

December, 1981 was forced to return them. Although no

new persons were to be permitted to qualify after January,

1982, we now find that Congress has modified that so that

only

members ofreligious orders may now get on the rolls in

the next ten years. Any nunnery with a score or more over

63 year old nuns, can peacefully collect each one's $122 a

month now. And what did the nuns, priests, and brothers

put into Social Security? Nothing. Their privilege is to milk

the fund.

* * * * * *

ITEM : C RECH ES AND NATIV ITY SC EN ES;

C H RIS T IN GOVERNMENT.

A series of hard fought suits have been in city, county and

state courts, as well as federal district and federal appellate

courts, beginning in the early 1970's, many'involving either

the American Atheist organization or its members. Inill

disguised hostile decisions, the courts have universally held

that the depiction of the birth of jesus christ is a bauble

christmas tree decoration, a device to attract shoppers, an

enhancement of the commercial exploitation of the holiday,

an accommodation to the majoritarian culture, innocuous

or even nonreligious. However, finally on November 4,

1982,the 1st Circuit Court ofAppeals inBoston, Massachu-

setts held that a Pawtucket Rhode Island nativity scene

had a primary effect of advancing religion and therefore

was unconstitutional. The court ruled that the city was

unable to advance any legitimate secular purpose for

Austin, Texas

depicting the birth of j.c. In characteristic petty political

style, the mayor of the city ordered the case to be appealed

to the US Supreme Court.

The governor of South Dakota insisted on installing 'a

nativity scene in the rotunda of the state Capitol, claiming

that the creche is a part of the American scene, equivalent

to Barbie dolls.

In a see-saw court battle over an enormous life size

nativity scene on the steps of the city-county building in

Denver, Colorado, which has been going on since Novem-

ber, 1978, litigation continued throughout 1982. At first

ordered removed by one federal judge, having climbed the

appellate ladder and returned again for a new hearing with

another federal district court, in a decision calculated to

insult but maintain religion in christmas, the judge of the

latter noted, The nativity scene is both a religious symbol

of the birth of christ and a sign of the holiday season on a par

with santa and mistletoe. Atheists, while happy to have a

federal judge say that the nativity of j.c. is the same kind of

.myth as is santa claus, nonetheless willcontinue inthis fight

which now goes to the Colorado State Supreme Court for

yet another hearing.

And inearly December a judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

proclaimed that the City Hall marquee sign, Keep Christ in

Christmas, was unconstitutional unless it also displayed

the name of the organization which suggested it: the

Milwaukee archdiocesan confraternity of christian mo-

thers. The judge, who told all and sundry that he was a

methodist minister's son, held that ifthe attribution ofthe

roman catholic source was added to the sign, it would

distinguish that it was a religious message and not a

government message, therefore being permissible. But,

who pays for the bill for the sign? Taxpayers.

What it all meant was evidenced by the governor of

Wisconsin who designated November 22-28 as Prayer Vigil

Week and urged all citizens to get to their knees.

But in

ACLU v. Rabun County Chamber of Commerce

the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in June held that the

erection of a large, illuminated cross at Black Mountain

State Park in Rabun County, Georgia, was not a tourist

attraction but a religious symbol and that public authorities

had violated the First Amendment by erecting the cross on

public property.

And in Illinois in May the House of Representatives

approved a bill to crack down on abuses of the state's

bargain-price license plates for cars and buses owned by

churches. The bright orange, $4-a-year plates have been

spotted too often on luxury cars, so the new measure would

require proof of qualification (easy enough for a church)

and the name of the vehicle owner to be displayed on the

sides of the bus or automobile.

******

IT EM : BO OK BU RN IN G A ND C EN SO RSH IP.

It

was a good year for the bigots, with children's books

such as

Cinderella

and

Little Red Riding Hood

going up in

flames in church parking lots across the nation. One 7-year

old agreed to burn his Star War figures because they are

not of god. Texas and South Carolina were prime leading

states in the battle.

January, 1983

Page9


12/52

However, the US Supreme Court did order that a Long

Island School Board return books removed from the

libraries of the school district. The number of books

challenged nationwide has grown to 1,200and includes Kurt

Vonnegut Jr.'s

Slaughterhouse Five,

Desmond Morris's

The Naked Ape,

Eldridge Cleaver's

Soul

On

Ice,

Mark

Twain's

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures

of Huckleberry

Finn, John Steinbeck's

Of Mice and Men, In

Dubious Battle, and works of Hemingway, Conrad, Homer,

Poe, Hawthorne and Bernard Malamud's

The Fixer.

The

American Bookseller Association made available a list of

the most banned books and some of the shockers in the list

included: L. Frank Baum's

The Wizard of Oz,

Sir Arthur

Conan Doyle's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Henry

Fielding's

Tom Jones,

F. Scott Fitzgerald's

The Great

Gatsoy,

Homer's

The Odyssey,

James Joyce's

The Dub-

liners

and

Ulysses,

Harper Lee's

To Kill

A

Mockingbird,

Arthur Miller's

Death of

a

Salesman,

John Milton's

Para-

dise Lost,

Boris Pasternak's

Doctor Zhivago,

J.D. Salin-

ger's Catcher in the Rye, Shakespeare's King Lear, The

Merchant of Venice, Richard II, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's

Travels, and P.L. Travers's Mary Poppins.

The National Coalition Against Censorship in May, '82

issued a summary ofcurrent cases involving litigationon the

issue of censorship. They include: California where a policy

of restricted access to material has been put into effect

rather than an outright ban. The suit

McKamey v. Mt.

Diable UnifiedSchool District

was filedwhen

Ms.

magazine

was restricted in its availability only to students with

parental permission. In

Wexner v. Anderson Union High

School District

five of Richard Brautigan's books having

been banned, the challenge is on. InIdaho Ken Kesey's One

Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

was banned but a suit is likely

to be dismissed since the school board involved agreed to

provide for a district book review committee which would

include English teachers. In Maine, in early 1982 a federal

district court judge in

Sheck v. Baileyville School Commit-

tee

ordered Dr. Ronald Glasser's book 365

days

(experi-

ences of American combat soldiers in Vietnam) to be

returned to a high school library shelf. In New York in Pico

v. Board of Education, Island Trees the issue was at first

standing, and then of course, with the US Supreme Court

review of the case, the nine books banned were ordered

returned to the shelves of the school library and for

classroom work. These particular books were charac-

terized as anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semetic (sic)

and just plain filthy. Fortunately, 34 organizations filed

friend-of-the-court briefs in this suit. In Oregon, standing

again was an issue as an attempt was made to throw

Johnson v. Stuart

out ofcourt. There a state law prescribes'

that no American history or government text may speak

slightingly of the founders of the republic or of those who

preserved the union or which belittles or undervalues their

work. The outcome of the case is awaited. In Washington

in Grove v.Mead School District No. 354 a moral majority

parent group is worried about swearing, explicit sexual

descriptions and blasphemies against jesus christ in the

Gordon Parks' book

The

Learning

Tree.

The suit states

that the book ... tends to inculcate the anti-god religion of

humanism which is antithetical to plaintiff's beliefs.... This

suit is also pending.


Meanwhile, a late year survey of high school libraries

indicated that Go Ask Alice is the book most frequently

censored at that level. This isthe diary of a teenage girlwho

fell into drug use and committed suicide. Her parents

published the book after her death in the hope that her story

would deter others from using drugs. Whereas there was

fewer than 1%of local critics carping to libraries in 1977, that

has now increased to 17%.The research revealed that when

a book is challenged, on 54%of the occasions some form of

censorship resulted, the book often being removed.

In addition to those listed above, the books which are

being targeted for censoring especially in high schools are

Boston Women's Health Collective's Our Bodies, Our-

selves;

Judy Blume's

Forever;

John Steinbeck's Grapes

of

Wrath;

Alice Chidress's A

Hero Ain't Nothing But

a

Sandwich;

Paul Zindel's My

Darling,

My

Hamburger;

from

a recommended list, from classroom use.

To emphasize it all, the Office of Intellectual Freedom of

the American Library Association put 60 banned books into

a travelling exhibition which iscurrently booked for display

up through '84. The AL.A put the display together for its

own convention in 1981, but it proved to be so popular, with

requests for its exhibition that it since has hit the road. By

March, '82, it had already been displayed in ten cities. The

AL.A notes that the number of challenges to books had

held steady at about 300 a year for several years, but that in

'81 this had increased to 900. But, since only about 15%of

the challenges on books are reported by the local news

media, the true situation is difficult to know. Most challen-

ges, however, do come from parents. Only occasionally is

there a student complaint or - once in a while - that of a

librarian.

Ta the already existing list reported here the AL.A

added the

American Heritage Dictionary of the English

Language banned in Alaska, Missouri and Indiana; George

Eliot's

Silas Marner;

Margaret Mitchell's Gone

With The

Wind;

Ira Levin's

Rosemary's Baby;

Alexander Solzhenit-

syn's One

Day

in

The Life of Ivan Denisovich -

which

contained the word bastard; and a children's book

entitled

Father Christmas.

There was some little light in the late fallwhen the New

York City Board of Education rejected three high school

biology textbooks for having an inadequate treatment of the

Darwinian theory of evolution, thus becoming one of the

first large districts to put publishers on notice that itwillnot

accept uncritical endorsements of the creationist theories

in biology class books.



13/52

~ . . .;,

- - ~ . . . .: : - -

_0

11I

11I ,. \

~ = ; ; : ; ~

.-

-'

)

(~ / jthe rulinginMeltzerv. Board of Education, 577 F2d311; 5th

/' Cir. banco

1978;

cert. den;

439

US 1089;

99

SCt.

872; 59

L.Ed.

2 56 (1979) that sectarian literature, such as the

gideon bible may not be distributed to students on public

school grounds, even if students wish to receive the

material.

An attempt at such gideon bible distribution was made in

Arkansas inearly 1982but when American Atheist member

N.C. Danke filed suit in Federal District Court, a consent

decree stopping distribution was obtained inApril, 1982. In.

Iowa, gideon society international finally came to an agree-

ment to no longer distribute the bibles to fifth graders inthat

state when a threat of a legal suit solidified. And, the official

distribution ofsuch gideon bibles was stopped inOklahoma

by similar threats.

Meanwhile on August 9th, Americans United and six.

local taxpayers won a suit in Grand Rapids, Michigan when

a federal judge there agreed that public school funds used to

lease space in parochial schools and to hire instructors to

teach classes there was a violation of the Establishment

Clause of the First Amendment. The school system had

placed 470 full time and part time teachers in catholic,

lutheran, and christian-reformed religious schools, many

being current or former employees of the religious schools

in which they were teaching. The $3 million so-called

shared time program was characterized by the court as

When courses are offered within the abdomen of a

sectarian institution to students who are brought together

for a religious mission, there is a distinctly impermissible

constitutional effect.

;:33

Rock and roll music got it too, as the Led Zeppelins', the

Beatles' and Pink Floyd's records went up in flames in

church parking lots in Missouri and Texas. A 12 year old

boy whamming away with a sledge hammer at a large box

housing his priceless collection while he both shook with

agony from the loss and reveled in joy for the glory was a

strange sight to behold on television. It was worse in

Topeka, Kansas where a frenzy of destruction descended.

There the objectionable objects were rock and roll, which

some pastors could not even describe. Of course, Kiss was

a prime target, as was the Ramones ( Beat on the Brat ),

Pat Benatar ( Hell is for Children ), AC/DC ( Hells Bells )

and Kiss ( Gotta Thunder, Gotta Rock 'n' Roll ), Rolling

Stones (Sympathy for the Devil ), Black Sabbath ( Heav-

en and Hell ), Alice Cooper ( Alice Cooper Goes to Hell),

Ozzy Osbourne, Queen {Another One Bites the Dust },

K.C. and the Sunshine Band ( Shake Your Bootie ) and

Olivia Newton-John ( Let's Get Physical ).

You are NOT paranoid. They are really out there

******

IT EM : RELIG ION IN SCHOOLS.

Religious instruction in school is back with school boards

and local communities defying prior US Supreme Court

rulings such asMcCollum V. Board ofEducation and simply

installingministers inclassrooms. The situation was particu-

larly bad in Virginia, the home of Falwell where two entire

counties continue bible study classes inelementary schools

despite protests from many parents. The school administra-

tors' attitude is summed up by those in the Shenandoah

district, We realize we are wrong. But the majority of the

parents support it.

Bibles have been distributed in public schools in twelve .

counties in Virginia, despite threats of law suits and despite

Austin, Texas

******

IT EM : A R EL IG IO US BIG BROTHE R SA VE S

A CITY FR OM ITSELF

In the state of Washington, a local evangelist elected to

the town council decided that he would ban all cable TV.

So, out it went - no all-news channel, no children's show

channel, no educational channel, no sport channel. And, he



14/52

calmly reflected about the entire town I am concerned for

the mental and spiritual well being of the citizens. Our

fo~ding fathers were christians ... and they were not

excluded from making right decisions I am not saying

they (the townspeople) are not capable of making a good

decision. This is not so much for the good of the majority

but for the good of everyone.

And the town of South Prairie took it, lying down.

******

ITEM: REAGAN S SUPPORT

OF RACIST SCHOOLS.

As we allknow, when separated education for the Blacks

of our nation was found to be inferior and a deprivation of

their civilrights, the United States set itselfupon a course to

integrate the Blacks into the larger, better, public school

system. Busing was mandated by the federal courts as one

solution, but this series of court orders brought a burst of

outrage from white parents dead set against having their

children attend public school with Blacks. A rash of all-

white, private, often fundamentalist, religious schools

sprang up throughout the nation, numbering in the tens of

thousands. These, most often, were called community-

based academies. Because they were put together in

defiance of the national civil rights statutes, the IRS denied

tax exemption.

In April, the US Supreme Court agreed to review the

joined

Bob Jones University v. United States

(from South

Carolina) and

Goldsboro Christian Schools Inc. v. United

States

(from North Carolina) cases, which are on appeal

from the 4th Circuit Court ofAppeals which (December 30,

1980) upheld the IRS's right to terminate or deny the

exempt status of religious institutions with racially discrimi-

natory policies.

But early in'82the IRSended its l l-year policy ofdenying

tax-exempt status to schools which discriminate in admis-

sion and other policies because of race. President Reagan,

on the side of the lily-white schools, had stepped into a

continuing argument between the IRS and the schools, by

saying that Congress had not given the IRS power to deny

the tax breaks. On January 8, Reagan had penciled on a

letter received from a member of Congress (Rep. Trent

Lott, R-MS), asking the US to intervene inthe cases ofBob

Jones University in S. Carolina and Goldsboro Christian

Schools in N. Carolina, I think we should. His word was

law to the IRS. About III schools had been denied tax

exemption because of racial discrimination. Actually, Rea-

gan was trying to save Bob Jones University, the fundamen-

talist blot on our nation, $750,000 a year intaxes itmust

pay

if racial segregation is impermissible in religious schools.

When Reagan showed his racist colors, such an uproar

ensued that he had to back away from his order to the IRS

that it had exceeded its authority. Reagan then retreated

and passed the buck to Congress. The IRS Code of 1954

(another good year for McCarthy) had approved a plan by

which taxpayers could take a deduction on their individual

1040tax returns for contributions to religious organizations

and the schools depended on the money which this IRS tax

break to donors gave the schools. But meantime, the case

of

IRS v. Bob Jones University

had been accepted by the

Page 12

January, 1983

US Supreme Court. That school, founded in 1927, is

dedicated to the indoctrination of its students in a literal

reading ofthe bible and an unwavering obedience to biblical

commandments. Attorneys for Bob Jones University point

out that the bible ordains that races not mix and therefore

that the school must be free to practice that belief no matter

what the laws of the land. The case was argued in October,

1982 before the US Supreme Court in a what-the-British-

call bit of the sticky wicket. For although the IRS was

contra the Bob Jones University, Reagan had ordered that

the US government argue that the schools should be given

the tax exemption -an opposite reason for which the case

had been brought. With both the attorneys for the religious

schools and the government on the same side, the US

Supreme Court was put into a position that ithad to appoint

someone to argue for the constitution, civil rights and the

people. Black attorney, WilliamColeman, did that, principal-

lypointing out that the tax breaks would be a subsidy ofcivil

'rights violations. The decision should come in early '83.

That issue remains the same at the US Supreme Court

level despite Reagan's effort to moot the litigation. The

Blacks won their civilliberties fight to be coequal citizens of

the United States in the mid-'60's. By the early '70's

nondiscrimination as a test for federal tax exemption of

private schools had been firmlyestablished. Then in 1971a

ruling came in Green

v. Connally

which broadened the

prohibition to include religious schools in one state, Missis-

sippi. The policywas gradually extended until by 1975itwas

applied to all religious schools. The schools in the current

US Supreme Court case simply maintained that the IRS

never had authority under its enabling legislation to estab-

lish a public policy test for exemption. This is the argument

Reagan bought, causing a short flurry of excitement for the

cases. They have, however, as indicated had briefing and

oral argument and a decision is expected in early '83. Only

the american jewish committee is supporting the IRS

decision, all other amicus curiae briefs supported the right

of racial discrimination with tax exemption and included the

american baptist churches, the united presbyterian church,

the national association of evangelicals, the church of jesus

christ of latter-day saints (the morrnons), and several small

mennonite and amish groups.

The-American Atheist


15/52

Of course, American Atheists feel that the IRS should

deny tax exemption for these schools on another basis: the

fundamentalist bible based christian ideology saturation of

the school is so insane that no state support (such as tax

exemption) should be permitted on the basis of such aid

being forbidden under the Establishment Clause ofthe First

Amendment to our Constitution.

******

IT EM : R EL IG IO NS PR OT EC T T HE IR O WN.

Although the media made much of the income tax

evasion troubles of Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon,

little publicity was given to his win during May of the case

of

Holy

Spirit Association

v. the Tax

Commission, whereby

he gained state property tax exemption in New York. A

lower court had ruled that his organization was political

and economic and therefore did not qualify for the

. exemption, but on May 6th seven judges of the Court of

Appeals ofNew York, ina unanimous decision held that his

organization was primarily religious. It added that no

court or other civil authority may inquire into or classify

the content of the doctrine, dogmas and teachings held by

that body to be integral to its religion, ... but must accept

that body's characterizations of its own beliefs and activities

and those of its adherents, so long as that characterization

is made in good faith and is not a sham. Despite allthe flak

that the staid and established religions have directed

towards Moon's cult, he was joined in his case with amicus

curiae briefs filed on his behalf by the national c.ouncil of

churches, the new york state council of churches, the

american jewish congress, the national association of

evangelicals, the catholic league for religious and civilrights,

and christian legal society and the American Civil Liberties

Union.

Perhaps the churches were all fearful of activity on the

part of the legislatures of Pennsylvania and Maine both of

which introduced bills in 1982 to levy service charges on

some religious properties. Seeking money for police and fire

protection, the hard pressed municipal and county tax

entities finally have turned to the churches which own, in

most states, approximately 20%of all privately owned land,

all tax free; all constricting the base for ad valorem (real

estate) taxes thereby increasing those taxes for every home

owner (and consequently every renter) in the state. And, in

Grand Rapids, Michigan the City sought to tax a building

housing the administrative offices and publishing offices of

the christian reformed church, but lost its case in the .

Michigan Tax Tribunal and the State Court of Appeals ..

******

ITEM: NON-ACCREDITED

REL IG IOUS SCHOOLS .

The religious radical right in its full-speed retreat from the

twentieth century continues to open more and more small

fundamentalist schools wherein children, the victims of the

parents' fanaticism, may be brainwashed. As government at

all levels steps in to save the minds of the children,

demanding accredited teachers, accredited courses, nour-

ishing foods, more and more of the fundamentalist preach-

Austin, Texas

ers are playing the martyrs' role of bulldog guardian of the

doors of ignorance. InNebraska one minister went to jailfor

contempt of court for operating his school with non-

certified teachers. In Iowa that state is demanding the

names and addresses of students and teachers and copies

of textbooks from the fundamentalist schools. In Iowa as

elsewhere there are compulsory school attendance laws

and certification requirements for teachers other than the

teacher's faith in god. In Maine the state is demanding a

curriculum equivalent to the public school curriculum. The

religious schools are being told that attendance records are

required, as well as a basic' approval for the church

schools' operation. The US Supreme Court refused to

:review a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in

Bailey v. Bellotti which upheld a state law requiring church

schools to report names and addresses of its students. In

Hawaii the Supreme Court of that state upheld the state's

authority to license all religious schools, and to have those

schools submit information on teacher certification, curricu-

lum and faculty. InMichigan a circuit judge found a minister

in contempt of court for refusal to comply with fire code

inspections and reporting of student immunizations. Two

fundamentalist schools are also suing the state's require-

ment of teachers' certifications. Meanwhile in nine other

states, the fight heats up for in each the state requires

certification of private school teachers, religious schools or

not. Those are: Alabama, Idaho, Maine, Nevada, North

Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Washington, and West

Virginia....~

And inFaith Baptist Church v. Douglas the US Supreme

Court ruled that Nebraska's compulsory education law

requiring teachers to have baccalaureat degrees does not

violate the constitutional rights of a religious school. It is in

Nebraska that an especially ugly situation has developed

withfaith christian school where a minister has dramatically

forced his own arrest (4 times) on contempt of court

charges as he tries to maintain an uncertified school in the

basement of a small one story church. Christian children

may have love but they willnot have adequate education

to cope with the world when these zanies win.

January, 1983

Page 13


16/52

In mid-summer, 1982, the US Supreme Court ruled that

religious schools do not need to pay unemployment com-

pensation taxes on their employees. The case St. Martin's

Evangelical Lutheran Church v, South Dakota

held that

since the schools have no separate legal existence from

the churches which own them and thus are wholely

religious. The court used the term, legally organic, which

leaves up inthe air the status of religious.schools which are

separate corporations, apart from the churches which own

them, such as hebrew day.schools, The burgeoning chris-

tian school movement, now has 10,000 new religious

schools, many of them with baptist congregations. The

association of christian schools international, anxious for

the tax exemption, has declared that 78%of their schools

are integral parts of congregations, 2% are separately

incorporated but accountable to their congregations and

that the other 20% belong to independent religious institu-

tions.

But, nonetheless the US Supreme Court has accepted

for review the case of

US v. Grace Brethren Church

from

attempts by the State of California to collect state and

federal unemployment insurance taxes from several reli-

gious schools. In this case some of the schools are

separately incorporated, some are not separately incorpor-

ated and the question of what is a legally organic school

may be clarified. The argument is also concerned with

whether the payment of unemployment tax is based on

employment relationship or on individual religious acts,

which the churches claim. Actually, what is at issue here is

that the churches desire to give love and understanding to

employees but do not care to protect them against the

hazards ofunemployment by providing them with coverage

by coming into compliance with state unemployment

insurance acts.

But, in Arkansas, the Supreme Court of that state has

ruled

Arkansas Employment Security Division v. National

Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc.

that since the religious

organization owns outright the National baptist Hotel and

Bath House that its employees are not covered by unem-

ployment benefits and the church need not pay. A similar

.. decision came in the case of

Hickey v. Dist.of Columbia

Dept. of Employment Services

when the US Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the roman

catholic archdiocese need not pay unemployment tax on

lay teachers employed in their schools since parochial

school employees performed strictly church duties. It has

escaped the courts completely that when the roman

catholic church, or the baptists desire to have federal

monetary grants - they can prove employees are not

responsive to the church; but when itcomes to paying taxes.

on the same employees, they suddenly become an inte-

grated part of the church. And, Uncle Sam permits them to

play the game.

However, in the case of US v. Lee, in late February, the

US Supreme Court held that religious beliefs do not give a

taxpayer constitutional grounds for resisting a tax of

general applicability. In this case an old-order amish farmer

said he had religious objections to the payment of either-

Social Security or unemployment taxes on his amish

employees. The decision was based on overriding govern-

mental interest in protecting a nationwide comprehensive


insurance plan for the old, the sick and the unemployed. A

religious interest of one employer would unduly interfere

with that government interest and the court said, amish or

not, he had to pay.

******

ITEM : SPARE THE ROD AN D SPO IL TH E CHILD .

Apparently the fundamentalists really accept the dictum

of jesus christ of Suffer the little children for that they

must do if they go to religious schools. During 1982, more

and more fundamentalist schools were fighting any require-

ments which would bring their schools within minimum

requirement regulations promulgated by states in order to

assure not alone adequate education for but physical safety

of the children - to protect them from child abuse. In

Texas two heavily fought battles went on and on with

ministers using corporal punishment on anything from

toddlers to to teenagers. Inone day-care center a 13month

old child was spanked hard enough to leave bruises. A

court case inTexas revealed that inone such school a 2-feet

by 3/8ths of an inch dowel is used to whip younger children

and a plywood panel is used to wail away at a teenager.

* * * * * *

ITEM : INTEGRATED AUX IL IAR IES .

The Federal Tax Reform Act of 1969sought to curtail the

abuse of religious ownership of businesses. When it passed,

it gave the churches a grace period of 7 years to divest

themselves of non-church activities such as bowling alleys,

steel rolling mills, girdle factories, shopping centers, pum-

ping oil fields, banks, etc. All these, called unrelated

businesses of churches had been tax exempt on income.

The IRS, after the 7 years grace, was to tax the income from

these businesses. That grace period ended in 1977 and

the churches have been giving the IRS a hard time since

claiming that certain of the businesses, especially hospitals

and schools are integrated auxiliaries of the churches, a

phrase which unfortunately appeared in the tax law,

without a congressional definition. The churches were

required to fileForm 990 informational returns concerned

with income on everything outside of the integrated

auxiliaries classification. The missouri synod of the luther-

an church decided to do battle immediately and since 1979

has been inan administrative struggle with the IRS over the

lutheran Social Service ofMinnesota. That religious institu-

tion, simply, at first refused to file the Form 990. After

several years jockeying, as of late 1982, all administrative

appeals have been exhausted. Court action isthe necessary

next step. Now, joined by the tennessee baptist children's

homes, the churches are all watching to see if IRS,can be

backed down. Meanwhile, the annuity board of the south-

ern baptist convention is still in administrative appeal

seeking to establish itself as an integrated auxiliary, and

the pension agency of the disciples of christ christian

church has just been notified by IRS that it is not exempt

from reporting.

1983 should be an interesting year.

In mid-1982, a coalition of religious organizations (luther-

an church inamerica, seventh-day adventist church, united



17/52

methodist church, united presbyterian church, church of

jesus christ of latter-day saints morrnons, national council

of churches, southern baptist convention, baptist joint

committee on legislative affairs, lutheran council in the

U.S.A., national association of evangelicals and christian

legal society) approached vice president George Bush for

help to have the phrase integrated auxiliary altered so

that more units of churches could come under the exempt

umbrella. The Treasury Dept. (and IRS) is still sticking to its

original definition that an integrated auxiliary must be dne

whose principal activity is exclusively religious. The

coalition is attempting to persuade George Bush (who will

do anything to be president) that the IRS is defining certain

institutions out of the churches, since it excludes men's

and women's organizations, religious schools, seminaries,

mission schools, youth groups, hospitals, orphanages,

homes for the elderly and universities or colleges. Of

course, the religious groups could have any of these

institutions qualify as non-profit under educational, health,

or welfare provisions. But in all of those cases, the

institutions would need to prove they are non-profit by filing

informational tax forms. The churches will do anything to

avoid that disclosure. And, a religious exemption alone

hides the churches' finances from any inquiring eyes.

* * * * * *

ITEM: THE US POST OFFICE BOWS

TO RELIGION.

The US Post Office is notorious for its aid to religion. For

decades the crudely religious slogan of (You) Pray For

Peace was used as a cancellation. Still, there are postal

stations throughout the states which continue to use this

offensive religious slogan.

In January, the US Post Office raised postal rates for

non-profit organizations from 3.8 cents per item, to 5.9

cents, causing consternation with most periodical pub-

lishers, especially those at colleges and universities. How-

ever, the religious lobby in the US Congress was so

powerful that by June the postal rate had to be returned to

its prior 3.8 cents rate. You, of course, stili pay your 20 per

letter.

Now the post office casually violates separation of state

and church each year as it issues both secular and

religious stamps (end of year christmas stamps ). In

1982 the secular block of four depicted only winter scenes of

sledding, skating, building a snow man and decorating a live

christmas tree, as again the south was forgotten as was

Hawaii. The religious stamp reproduces a roman catholic

madonna, by an 18th century Spanish master. .

Although the post office has a rule that it may not issue

stamps for sectarian figures or religious events, it is planning

on honoring the SOOth anniversary of the birth of Martin

Luther. This announcement followed on the heels of that

announcing a stamp to commemorate the 800th anniver-

sary of the birth of st. Francis. Postal officials denied that the

Francis stamp was religious. This only brings the clamor on

as the methodist church seeks a circuit rider stamp to

commemorate the bicentennial of American methodism.

So, why shouldn't the swedenborgians be seeking a 1988

tercentenary commemorative of their theologian Emmanu-

Austin, Texas

el Swedenborg? American Atheists fought religious stamps

and religious cancellations twenty years ago, and having no

help, failed to prevent them. Now, the flood gates open.

******

ITEM: STATE AND FEDERAL

TUITION TAX SCHEMES_

The tuition tax credit scheme of the Reagan administra-

tion moved forward in 1982, despite almost uniform predic-

tions that it could devastate public education. In October,

the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Mueller v.

Allen on the matter, coming from the 8th Circuit Court of

Appeals, St. Louis, Missouri, which had upheld on May 1st a

Minnesota law giving state income tax write-oils of $500 per

year, per child in religious elementary schools and $700 per

year, per child in religious secondary school to the

parents,

A similar law in Rhode Island, had been struck down by the

First Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts in Rhode

Is/and Federation 01Teachers u, Norberg.

Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan called upon the moral majori-

ty to help him draft a bill for national income tax write-off

credits, of 50% of the cost of tuition for each child in a

religious school. In July he sent two Cabinet Secretaries,

Donald T. Regan of the Treasury and Terrel Bell of

Education, to the Hill to testify for tuition tax credits before

the Senate Finance Committee.

Reagan's bill as now constituted would give a federal

income tax credit of $100 to families for each child in private

schools in '83, increasing to $500 by '85 - a two year period.

i g h t T o o b e m a n d e d

One of a series of cartoons issuedin the 1880's.

January, 1983

Page 15


18/52

Families with incomes up to $50,000 would be eligiblefor the -

full credit. A single difficulty is that an estimated 70% of

roman catholic children attend public schools nationwide.

It did not become generally known until after the

November elections, but i

American Atheist Magazine Jan 1983

Documents