American Atheist Magazine July 1986

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July 1986 A Journal of Atheist News and Thought

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N e w s f r o m t h e C o n v e n t i o n


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A M ER IC AN A TH E IS TS

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

nd church. We accept the explanation ofThomas Jefferson that the First Amendment to the Constitution ofthe

ited States was meant to create a wall of separation between state and church.

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

iefs, creeds, dogmas, tenets, rituals, and practices;

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

nderstanding of them, their origins, and their histories;

to advocate, labor for, and promote inall lawfulways the complete and absolute separation of state and church;

to advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawfulways the establishment and maintenance ofa thoroughly secular

stem of education available to all;

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

nderstanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in

lation to society;

to develop and propagate a social philosophy inwhich man is the central figure who alone must be the source of

, 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

t of human (and other) life;

to engage in such social, educational, legal, and cultural activity as willbe useful and beneficial to members of

ican 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

tablishing a life-style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all

rbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.

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

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

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

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

at man is capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. Materialism's faith is in man and

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

fe-asserting. It considers the struggle for progress as a moral obligation and impossible without noble ideas that

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

re fulfillingcultural development is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.

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American Atheists - P.O. Box 2117 - Austin, TX 78768-2117


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July 1986

Vol 28, No.7

A m e r i c a n A l h i s t

Journal of Atheist News and Thought

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Address

City _

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Effective Date: _

Editor's Desk

R. Murray-O'Hair

Director's Briefcase

Jon G. Murray

Mr. Murray makes A Declaration of an

Honest Man and charts a course for

the future of the Atheist movement.

Ask A.A.

Why is a fundamentalist publisher sell-

ing a book of interest to Atheists?

News and Comments

Changing of the Guard - Dr. Mada-

lyn O'Hair steps aside from the presi-

dency of American Atheists - 7

Zion -

Atheists, fundamentalists,

and the KKK meet in a small Illinois

town, the First Amendment is abused,

and controversy flares - 8

A Special Convention Section

The 1986 Convention of Ameri-

can Atheists is described, repro-

duced, and pictured.

Sweet Sixteenth - A very short de-

scription of this year's convention - 15

Award- Winning

Atheists - Outstand-

ingmembers of the Atheist community

are recognized and applauded - 17

Greetings

from Abroad -

Two mes-

sages sent to conventioneers by leaders

in the fight against religion - 18

A Sermon from The X-Rated Bible -

Ben Edward Akerley's humorous expo-

se of that moral guide: the Bible- 20

Photo Section -

Snaps of Atheists

living, listening, and learning it up - 23

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The

Historicity

of

Jesus

and the

Dead Sea Scrolls - John M. Allegro's

speech on the relevance of New Testa-

ment criticism - 29

The Original Intent of the Founding

Fathers - Dr. O'Hair's address on

what the Founding Fathers might have

meant-32

C. B.

Reynolds -

A

Tribute -

Respects are paid to an Atheist hero -

35

The Probing Mind

Frank R. Zindler

Of Astro-nuts and Ark-onauts: Noah's

Ark in the Space Age - could there

really be such a thing? That's just what

Mr. Zindler pokes fun at.

Report from India

Margaret Bhatty

Should Muslims be made to mind the

law in India? Or is it that Liberalism

Loses Out?

Historical Notes

American Atheist Radio Series

Madalyn O'Hair

A past convention is revisited in '

T vs:

Hundred Years of American Atheism

Book Review

A future North America which

funda

mentalists dominate is the subject of

(1

new novel by Margaret Atwood,

Letters to the Editor

Crosswords

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m e r i c a n A t h e i s t

tor/R. Murray-O'Hair

Emeritus/Dr, Madalyn O'Hair

naging Editor/Jon G. Murray

sistant Editor/Gerald Tholen

etry/Angeline Bennett, Gerald Tholen

n-Resident Staff/John M. Allegro, Burnham

Beckwith, Margaret Bhatty, Nawal ElSaadawi,

rill Holste, Lowell Newby, Fred Woodworth,

nk R. Zindler

oduction Staff/Laura Lee Cole, Michael

ws, Christina Ditter, Shantha Elluru, Brian J.

nch, Jim Mills,John Ragland, Jes Simmons

ficers of the Society of Separationists, Inc.

sident/Jon G. Murray

sident Emeritus/Dr. Madalyn O'Hair

ce-President/Gerald Tholen

cretary/R. Murray-O'Hair

asurer/Brian J. Lynch

irman of the Board/Dr. Madalyn O'Hair

mbers of the Board/don G. Murray (Vice

airman), August Berkshire, Herman Harris,

en Johnson, Scott Kerns, Minerva Massen,

binMurray-O'Hair, Shirley Nelson, Richard C.

air, Henry Schmuck, Noel Scott, Gerald

olen, Lloyd Thoren, Frank Zindler.

ficers and Dir~ctors may be reached at P.O.

x 2117, Austin, TX 78768.

norary Members of the Board/Merrill

lste, John Marthaler

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Atheist is published monthly by

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EDITOR S DESK / R . Murray-O Hair

REGRETS

M

argaret Bhatty has been a member of

the American Atheist staff since the

January 1983 issue. Since her column first

appeared inthese pages under the title Unit-

ed World Atheists, it has ruthlessly dis-

sected the many Indian religions and their

influence on modern Indian life, legislation,

and politics. More often than not, her arti-

cles have been of special pertinence as

Indian religions emigrated to the United

States.

Margaret Bhatty was born in October

1931 to a missionary family. Her grand-

father, an Englishman, was - in 1891- one

of the first Salvation Army corpsmen to

carry the War of Salvation into heathen

India, bearing the banner Fire and Blood

The Salvation Army movement in India was

headed by a man from the elite Civil Service

who was related to the famous Tucker fam-

ilyofBermuda. Tucker decided that the best

way to appeal to Indians would be to assume

the garb of mendicant fakirs and to take

Indian names; they looked very much like

the Hare Krishna devotees of today.

Tucker never meant that the English

should take up all the Indian ways, however,

and there was much consternation when

some of the crusading Englishmen married

Indian fellow officers, as did Ms. Bhatty's

grandfather. Disgusted at the racial hostility

ofthe other European Salvationists, he, with

his bride, moved to a wildand remote corner

of the Himalayas, near the border of Nepal

and Tibet. There he established a small mis-

sion, a mere ten day's journey from the

nearest railhead.

His family became faith missionaries

and practiced poverty and self-denial. As

they managed to acquire some land, they

gave it to converts to cultivate. Though the

first generation of this mixed marriage was

educated at home, the second was able to

gain admission to some of the best Meth-

odist schools and colleges. This education,

Margaret Bhatty feels,' has proved invalu-

able in extending her horizons and has

helped in her profession as a writer.

After her school years, Ms. Bhatty taught

at both the secondary and college levels, but

later became a professional writer. In her

own country, she is best known for her En-

glishchildren's novels. She has two children,

one of each sex, who are both Atheists.

Among her interests are conservation,

comparative religion, feminism, and edu-

July 1986

cation. She writes that her initial interest in

Atheism started with feminism, and that she

was particularly influenced by the writings of

Bertrand Russell.

We regret to announce that a recent

communication from her informs us that,

due to a family crisis, she willbe unable, for

an indefinite period of time, to write regularly

for the American Atheist. She does expect

to send articles, but quite infrequently.

We know our readers willmiss her. If it is

any consolation, the American Atheist Press

does expect to release a collection of her

American

Atheist

articles later in the year.

But we willall look forward to her being able

once again to grace the pages of the Ameri-

can Atheist

regularly.

In the meantime, we wish her the best.

Jack Jones, author of Secular Marriages

in New Zealand in the June 1986 issue of

the American Atheist, sent us a further

update on the creeping secularization of

New Zealand. As he described inthat article,

New Zealanders have onlybeen afforded the

luxury of secular marriages since 1979. At

this time they have the choice of having their

weddings performed by a civilcelebrant, in a

registry office, or in a church. Mr. Jones

received the Justice Department's statistics

on the numbers of each type of wedding as

follows:

Civil

Registry

Year Celebrant Offices Church

1981 4,436 4,144 15,623

1982 5,628 4,484 15,869

1983 5,967 4,126 14,926

1984 6,809 3,914 15,039

1985 7,285 3,659 14,182

Mr. Jones writes: You willappreciate, of

course, that the office of the civilcelebrant

was only instituted in 1979, but it has

obviously proved an immense success.

The number of marriages each year

overall is relatively steady. However, church

marriages are declining, and the civil cele-

brant share of all non-church weddings is

increasing. Further proof that New Zealand

is not a churchgoing country. If only our

government understood and accepted this

~

American Atheist


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D I R E C T O R S B R IE FC A SE / Jon G. M urray

A DECLARATION

OF AN HONEST MAN

~~

\

~~

--------------------------

O

ne of the annual tasks that I have, as

director of The American Atheist

Center, is the planning and arranging ofthe

National Convention. I also, as a national

officer, am one of the speakers at each

year's convention. I n April of 1986 the cir-

cumstances surrounding my convention

speech were different in that it was during

the 1986 Convention that the announce-

ment was made by the founder ofAmerican

Atheists, Dr. Madalyn O'Hair, that she was

turning the presidency ofAmerican Atheists

over to me. This also entailed a shift ofother

national officers and Board of Directors

members. This shift isoutlined for you inthe

News and Comments section of this issue.

thing that I may omit; and for those who did

not like what I had to say, I do not rescind

anything that I said spontaneously from the

podium. So, here we go. Please imagine

yourself at the Convention as you read these

remarks, couched in that time frame.

judge. So, yes, Iam angry, and Dr. O'Hair is

angry, too. We are angry at a system that

does not work, at ignorance being elevated

over common sense, at the fact that it seems

as though we are the only persons who can

see what is going wrong in a world of

complacency.

I am certain that many of you here today

have feltthe same way. Intelligence isa liabil-

ity because it is almost useless when one is

trapped in a misinformed world. If I seem

angry to you here today, I am, and have

reason to be.

lAm Fed Up

Iam fed up

Ionce saw a filminwhich a national news-

caster was portrayed, who looked into the

camera one night on a livenational newscast

and said I'm fed up and Ican't take it any-

more, and he got up and walked offcamera.

As the film progressed, he came back for

one newscast after another inwhich his line,

I'm fed up and I can't take it anymore,

became popular, and he asked the listening

audience to get up from their chairs and

shout it out the windows of their homes or

from the roofs of their buildings - and they

did.

Well, that was a movie, a Hollywood fan-

tasy. This isreal life, andl am stillfed up, and

I am going to give you a shopping list on all

those things with which I am fed up here

today. Ithink that each and everyone ofyou

should be fed up with them all, too.

The Media

Let's get back to the list of things with

which I am fed up. The media treatment of

Atheists has to be at the top of that list. We

have been misquoted, misinterpreted, at-

tacked, defamed, abused, stepped on, and

outright lied about so often that I can hon-

estly say I cannot bring myself to trust any

representative of the news media - local,

national, or in-between - any longer. We

held a press conference concerning this

Convention, and the papers which failed to

send reporters at allwrote the most about it.

That gives you an idea of just how accurate

the newspaper reporting about Atheists and

Atheist events is. The headline of one of the

articles was that O'Hair backs Gadhafi.

Dr. O'Hair said, as a minor sideline remark

at the press conference, that often in history

the figure who is written about in a derog-

atory manner is actually the one who was

simply bucking the system with a new idea.

She gave Henry VIII as an example. He is

generally portrayed as being a glutton and

an abusive person probably because he

threw the Roman Catholic church out of

England. Likewise, she said, Gadhafi is

probably not all that bad as a person. He is

just bucking the system that the Western

nations want to force on the rest of the

world, so he gets bad press. That was trans-

lated into a single issue article of O'Hair

backs Gadhafi. I agree that he probably

isn't allthat bad. Ialso think that the Shah of

Iran was a great deal better for Iran than

Khomeini, a religious nut.

Iam, in fact, so fed up with our (American

Atheists') treatment by the media that I can

A Reasonable Facsimile

The speech that I actually delivered at

Convention '86 inNew Jersey was to a large

degree spontaneous. I had only a few scat-

tered notes that I prepared on a hotel pad

onlya halfhour prior to myaddress. Some of

the things that I said at that time, live in the

convention hall, I cannot repeat inthis jour-

nal for the same reason that a stand-up

comedian cannot repeat on television what

he may say in a private club performance.

My language was at times colloquial, and

my references could be construed to be

slanderous and probably would be indeed

libelous in print. I have been a very out-

spoken and straightforward person allofmy

life and I lack tact. I equate tact with

deceit. I come right out and call a spade a

spade, as the saying goes. Those of you

who have met me personally, at one time or

another, can attest to this. Some of you may

be, shall we say, less than a fan of mine as a

result of a personal encounter with my lack

of tact and my sometimes brutal honesty. I

was reared in a home in which honesty was

not only the best policy, it was the

only

policy.

What I shall attempt to do here, for this

convention issue of the

American Atheist,

is to reconstruct as best as Ican my remarks

to Convention '86 in New Jersey with the

self-censorship prudent to the editorial poli-

cy ofthis journal. To those of you who were

present, in person, to hear my remarks in

New Jersey, I apologize in advance for any-

Ignorance And Apathy

One ofthe criticisms that both Dr. O'Hair

and I get constantly when we do public

appearances is that we appear to be full of

hate or angry all the time. Well, only an

idiot is happy allthe time. Remember, igno-

rance is bliss is how the saying goes, or as

Tom Lehrer would put it, ifyou are content,

you simplydon't understand the situation.

I have a low boiling point, and I boil over

regularly just watching the evening news or

reading the morning paper. The world is so

fullof ignorance that I can sometimes hardly

believe it. Larry Flynt put it better than I

have ever heard itsaid when he told a federal

judge that the judge had shit-for-brains.

Larry pulled some jailtime for that remark,

but that judge had needed to be told just that

for many years. Each and everyone of the

overstuffed, polyester-suited attorneys in

the room had dreamed of the day that they

would have the courage to say that to a

Page 3

uly 1986

ustin, Texas


6/52

rely speak civillyto a reporter anymore. I

n't stand them because Ihave been a per-

nal victim of their treachery. I have come

ngerously close, on occasion, to striking a

porter when he has asked a particularly

ting question. I have never done so, for

ious reasons. Some ofyou have had sim-

ar moments of suppressed impulse, I am

.

Ithink that the last straw with the media is

case ofmy estranged brother, WilliamJ.

. He has become to the Murray-

'Hair family what Chappaquidick has

come to Sen. Kennedy. We cannot make

singlepublic statement that we do not have

s very existence thrown inour faces like a

ieval gauntlet. Well, if Atheism is so

od, then how come your own brother has

ned to Christ? is the question with only

e substitution of son for brother inthe

se of Dr. O'Hair. The only answer is the

uth. He's crazy. Most familieshave at least

e member who is a few bricks short of a

ad. Iam personally dismayed at my broth-

's conduct. Icannot imagine using a differ-

ce ofopinion with myparents as Inevan-

lical tool for monetary gain. If I thought

at Icould get away with it, I would murder

. I know better than that, naturally, but

e thought has crossed my mind many a

. Many of you have had thoughts of

urdering a sibling or have had such a

, but statistically, hardly anyone ever

. I am my own man, and what I do and

hat I say as a spokesperson for Atheism

ould be taken on its own merit and not

dged in terms of what my brother, or any

her so-called Christian, mayor may not

y or do. I feel the same about him as I do

ut any religionist. He isdoing nothing but

rm by disseminating the Christian philos-

hy, and I will fight him, or anyone else,

o misguidedly thinks that they are doing

d by spreading the word of god.

Debates

I am fed up with debates in general and

ith poorly educated clergy in particular.

any of you here today have been clamor-

g like a bunch of school children to see a

me recorded video we have of my

bate with Falwell on a Saint Louis televi-

n station. It was not a debate; it was a

- a stage show, staged by the station

oducer, director, and host. Falwell had

ery advantage and the backing of the sta-

. I have written an editorial in this maga-

ne about it (July

1984).

Suffice it to say

, I think that such contrived, pseudo-

bates with clergymen, calculated to in-

ease ratings of television programs, are

tile. One cannot change a Christian into an

theist or vice versa on the basis of a

bate, and Idon't intend to try. An intellec-

al cannot debate with a orangutan.

age 4

Atheist Wimps

I am fed up with pseudo-Atheists, too.

I now find myself in the position of not

being able to talk on the telephone to some

persons who call themselves Atheists with-

out getting into an argument. Ican't attend a

meeting of any Chapter without getting into

an argument with one or more of the per-

sons in attendance. I can't answer some of

the letters directed to The American Atheist

Center without creating an enemy. Why?

Allofyou Atheists seem to be stuck on a

list ofsubjects that you cannot get past to do

anything else. Let me enumerate the most

prominent ones.

Agnosticism

I am asked Wouldn't agnosticism be a

better position for the organization to take

than Atheism? No, it would not. If you

have a belief system and you believe in

supernatural powers of any kind, by any

name, then you are a religionist plain and

simple. Religion isa matter offaith, or belief.

Either you believe or you don't. Ifyou don't

have a god belief system, you are an Atheist.

Ifyou do, you are a theist. There isno middle

ground. It is like being a little bit pregnant;

either you are pregnant or y ou are not. Ifyou

harbor any doubts that there may be some-

thing out there that we don't know about

that could be 'God,' then you are a theist.

An Atheist knows that the concept of god

isnot possible or logical, and that isthat. He

does not waste his time going round-the-

roundabout whether or not there is a god

in a pointless which came first - the

chicken or the egg? type argument.

We have said all we are going to say and

wasted as much print as we are going to

waste on agnostics in the September 1985

issue of the American Atheist. It's a closed

subject.

Iam an Atheist and not an agnostic. Ihead

an Atheist organization, not an organization

ofwimps. Iwillspeak as an Atheist, and Iwill

say that there is no such thing as a god as

long as Ishall live, in the same way as Ishall

say that Peter Pan does not really exist.

An agnostic is basically an intellectual

wimp. Just add enough courage and you

have the makings of a primitive Atheist.

Dialogue With Religionists

I once went to Reno, Nevada, and ap-

peared on a talk show with a priest. Irefused

to shake his hand when he came onto the

set, and I have been refusing ever since. It

would dirty me to shake the hand of an

enemy of humankind. Many Atheists don't

like that. Many of you want me to be kind

and to show respect to religious leaders and

to try to dialogue with them to work out our

July 1986

differences. The differences between any

clergyman and any Atheist are nonrecon-

cilable. Atheists operate on different prem-

ises than do theists. The two cannot dia-

logue.

Persons must earn the respect of others.

No clergyman has ever done anything for

humanity. On the contrary, they have held

humanity back from doing something for

itself. When clergy begin to be helpful

instead of impeding progress, then perhaps I

can reevaluate them. Ineed not worry about

that ever happening. One look at the history

of religion will show you why. I will not be

respectful to those who prey upon the

ignorance of my fellowmen for the gain of

institutions that exist onlyto control them or

make it easier for them to be controlled by

others.

Capitalism

My intelligence alone has led me to dis-

cover a number of facets of the capitalist

economic system that are unjust and should

be reformed or changed. The idea is to have

a system which works better for the good of

all concerned. (Itis our Declaration of Inde-

pendence which speaks of the greatest

good for the greatest number. ) In a like

manner, I can see that we have an oligarchy

and not a democracy in this country. Why

should I suppress those realizations? I am

told that as an Atheist cause leader I must

stifle my political opinions, my economic

opinions, in short, all opinions that I may

have on any subject other than pure Athe-

ism. I cannot do that. Everything in life is

political, especially for an Atheist. Idon't live

in a vacuum, and neither do any of you.

I am not a warmonger. I do not feel that

our nation's military buildup is necessary. I

willspeak my mind on these issues when and

where I please. I do so out of logic and con-

cern for myself and my family and com-

passion for those with whom I share this

earth.

Ifone is logical and reasoned with respect

to religion, that logic leading them to Athe-

ism, why must that logic be turned off like a

light switch when it comes up against other

areas such as politics and economics?

I am eclectic with respect to political,

social, and economic issues. There is noth-

ing wrong and everything right with wanting

to take the best of each existing system to

form new ways of approaching our nation's

and life's problems.

Libertarians

I am fed up with Libertarians in this con-

text, too. Libertarianism is a form of neo-

fascism. Liberty has nothing to do with it.

That is a misnomer. Libertarianism is a

pseudonym for a most abusive, greedy,

American Atheist


7/52


8/52

You cannot look on from the sidelines any

longer. You must get your feet wet; you

must get involved.

The freethinkers oftimes past talked and

pamphleteered - and talked and pamphle-

teered - and never got out of their chairs.

Meanwhile the religionists were ugly, mean,

rotten, despicable, antihuman, and above

all, tenacious. They clamped their teeth into

the butt ofsociety and hung on until they got

heir way. We can take a lesson from them.

e must do the same.

Atheists must turn to direct confrontation

nd put all ofthese things ofwhich both you

d Iare fed up, and rightly so, behind them

nd go out and meet the New Right reli-

ionists head on. If they can badger the

onvenience stores into dropping all so-

alled pornographic magazines, we can

er them to keep them in. If religionist

rents can terrorize public school teachers

administrators and libraries, we too can

o to those institutions and let them know

hat they have allies who will fight back.

erican Atheists can fight back for all of

e agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, Uni-

arians, and others who are too gutless to

ight back for themselves.

It is also now the time to challenge the

gma that religion offers up to each new

eneration directly but substantively. No

e wimpy Bible contradiction books or

lyers. We must look at the historic and

hropological roots oftheism and expose

ll belief systems for the psychological and

siological control systems that they

lly are.

WhyIAm Called Honest Jon

It is both fitting and proper at the time of

assuming the presidency of American

that Ilayiton the lineforallofyou at

is Convention. I hope that I have accom-

ished that. Some ofyou may not like what I

ave had to say, but I have a need to speak

ankly and honestly, and I have done so

e today.

Thank you all for your support. ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A second generation Atheist,

Mr. Murray has been the Director

of The American Atheist Center

for ten years and is also the Managing

Editor of the American

Atheist.

He

advocates Aggressive Atheism.

Essays of an Atheist Activist

Acollection of JonG.Murray's articles

in the American Atheist. Pifty-two

pagesof hair-raising factsand thought-

provoking opinions. $4.25 including

postage. (Stock number 5352) From:

American Atheist Press,P.O.Box 2I 17,

Austin TX78768·2I 17.

Page 6

SK

In Letters to the Editor, readers give

their opinions, ideas, and information.

But in Ask A .A. American Atheists

answers questions regarding its

poli-

cies, positions,

and

customs, as

well

as

queries of factual and historical sit-

uations.

I've enclosed a page out of a recent Jack

Chick catalog that I stumbled across re-

cently. While I found most of this little

catalog to be rather humorous, initsextrem-

ism, imagine my surprise to see Mr. Chick

offering several ofAvro Manhattan's erudite

volumes for sale

This confounds me dearly, and Iwas hop-

ingmaybe you people could shed some light

on this certainly unique marketing strategy

of Mr. Manhattan's (assuming of course that

he has any knowledge or control over the

situation). Isthis solely the book publisher's

doing, or is Mr. Manhattan working both

sides of the fence? I doubt Mr. Chick

obtained these books from American Athe-

ist Press.

To further cast suspicion on Mr. Manhat-

tan, a short article of his appeared in the

Jan/Feb 1986issue of Battle Cry, a news-

letter put out by Chick.

Does Avro Manhattan possess any type

of a unified philosophy at all, either Atheist

or Christian, or has he eschewed his integ-

rity altogether in his unrelenting mission to

expose Catholicism?

Peter Lima

Massachusetts

Avro Manhattan's home is in England.

His books have been barredfrom entry into

many countries where the Roman Catholic

church is powerful.

And, whether those of us who are prin-

cipled like

it or

not, the man must eat.

He has, off and on, written for Protestant

organizations when they ask for expose-

type articles concerned with the Roman

Catholic church. When American Atheists

first discovered his books were being of-

fered by Chick, it wrote and advised Man-

hattan of the reputation of that house. He

countered by stating that he could get

a

very

good discount for American Atheists for dis-

tributing the titles which Chick was publish-

ing. American Atheists approached Chick,

found that the discount would

be

excellent,

July 1986

and has been selling the Manhattan books

since - all of which are manufactured by

Chick. In fact, American Atheists is proba-

bly the largest distributor of Manhattan

books in the United States, all purchased

from Chick.

Chick knows what American Atheists is

and who heads it up. American Atheists is

very aware of what Chick is. The two organ-

izations heartily dislike each other.

If you have read the books which Chick

publishes and

American

Atheists

sells,

you

will see that they are free from religious

drivel. Whether or not Chick puts pressure

upon Manhattan from time to time to write

articles or other material for its Newslet-

ter is unknown at this time. But why not

send us the issue of Chick's newsletter

about which you speak so we can evaluate

it

and ask Manhattan what

is

going on?

Also, it is necessary for you to consider

this: At the time that Manhattan was

approached by American Atheists to write

the Vietnam book in collaboration with

Madalyn O'Hair and a fired intelligence pro-

fessor for the c.I.A., none of the three had

money enough to publish the book. Chick

did and does have the money. If Chick was

not publishing Manhattan's books at this

time, none of them would be available in the

United States at all.

The Murray-O'Hairs will be visiting with

Avro and Anne Manhattan later this year

and will sit down over

a

bottle {or two} of

wine and talk

more

extensively. If there

is

any further report to be made, it willappear

in these pages.

T H E Y A T I C A I I

M O S C O W

W A S H I I I G T O I

A L l I A I I C E

By

'''0

M.n ••••• n

*

American Atheist


9/52

same time, she introduced new leadership

which she hoped would, with its youth, lead

American Atheists into the next century.

The new president appointed by the

Board of Directors was Jon G. Murray, for-

merly secretary of the organization. While

Gerald D. Tholen would remain as vice-

president, R. Murray-O'Hair, editor of the

American Atheist, would become the cor-

poration's secretary. Brian Lynch, media

coordinator for The American Atheist Cen-

ter, was named treasurer.

The changes that Dr. O'Hair had the plea-

sure of announcing did not end there, as a

number of younger persons had joined the

Board of Directors of American Atheists.

They had been chosen for their new posi-

tions because of their proven Atheist activ-

ism and their relative youth. They were:

August Berkshire, director of the Twin

Cities, Minnesota, Chapter;

Herman Harris, director of the Lexing-

ton, Kentucky, Chapter;

EDen Johnson,

director of the New Jer-

sey Chapter;

Scott Kerns,

director of the Houston,

Texas, Chapter;

Noel Scott, director of the Greater D.C.

Chapter;

Frank Zindler, director of the Central

Ohio Chapter.

Remaining on the Board from prior terms

would be Jon G. Murray, R. Murray-O'Hair,

Gerald Tholen, Minerva Massen (director of

the San Francisco Chapter), Shirley Nelson

(former Arkansas director), Henry

Schmuck (national liaison officer for the

Detroit Chapter), Lloyd Thoren (founder of

The American Atheist Museum, Petersburg,

Indiana), and Richard C. O'Hair. Mr. O'Hair,

Dr. O'Hair's stepson, is an independent

trucker by profession and has served on the

Board ofDirectors from a time when no one

else would come forward to make the ranks

of the Board equal to the number required

by state law.

Dr. O'Hair willremain involved in Ameri-

can Atheists as a consultant and as chair-

person of the Board of Directors. A work-

horse ifever there was one, she does not see

this change as a retirement, but hopes to

redirect her energies to research and writ-

ing. She has been researching several books

for years in between her other duties, and

she now desires to divert a major portion of

her time to their completion.

N E W S A N D C O M M EN TS

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

For over two decades, a single individual

has represented Atheism inthe public mind:

Madalyn O'Hair. From her first complaint

about state-sponsored prayer to the princi-

pal of the Baltimore public school her sons

attended, to yesterday's university speech,

she has represented that unique brand of

what has come to be designated as Ameri-

can Atheism in its struggle for recognition.

Her list of accomplishments and efforts on

behalf ofAtheists is long. A fewof the institu-

tions that she founded are: the Society of

Separationists, d/b/a American Atheists;

the American Atheist Press; the American

Atheist Radio Series ; the American Athe-

ist International Radio Forum (now broad-

cast to 2,000 stations overseas); the Ameri-

can Atheist Television Forum (now on

approximately ninety cable systems); the

American Atheist journal; the monthly

American Atheists Insiders' Newsletter;

The American Atheist Center; the Ameri-

can Atheist Annual National Conventions;

and the Charles E. Stevens American Athe-

ist Library and Archives. Additionally, she

was one of the founders of United World

Atheists. She has also promoted the cele-

bration of four natural holidays (Vernal

Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Winter Sol-

stice, and Summer Solstice) in order to

emphasize that there are rhythmical, natural

events that transcend religious, geographi-

cal, and national boundaries and unite all

humans under natural laws. She helped

create a network of Chapters of American

Atheists and aided the origination of a new

symbol for Atheism ( ).Besides the origi-

nal Murray v. Curlett case, she has been

involved in at least thirty major legal suits

having to do with state/church separation,

many of which reached the U.S. Supreme

Court level. Chief among those cases were

challenges to religious services in the White

House; the imprinting of In God We Trust

on our nation's currency and coins; state-

sponsored prayer and Bible reading in

space; display of religious symbols in gov-

ernment buildings (particularly nativity stat-

uary during the Christmas season); chal-

lenges to the payment of chaplains with

taxpayer funds in the federal Congress; and

state constitutions' impediments to Atheists

holding elected or appointed offices in

Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Caro-

lina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Penn-

sylvania. She also began the attempts to

Austin, Texas

require public libraries to receive and display

Atheist literature; to obtain tax exemption

for Atheist educational institutions; to ob-

tain a classification for Atheism in the

library systems ofthe nation; to stop prayers

in government at city, county, state, and

federal levels; to include Atheist symbols on

headstones in federal memorial cemeteries;

to terminate discrimination against Atheists

in employment; to stop oath taking for

witnesses, jurors, and judges in courts or for

government employment; to stop the belief

in god requirement for passports; and to

enable Atheists to adopt children.

Dr. O'Hair holds as her most outstanding

accomplishment the separation of t he politi-

cal concept of communism from the life-

style designation of Atheism in the public's

mind. This ideal is not yet fully accom-

plished, but her efforts have reduced the

level of red-baiting of Atheists dramati-

cally. It is surely no wonder that she is so

identified with the American Atheist cause

and recognized internationally as a spokes-

person for Atheism.

I t

has been difficult for Dr. O'Hair to

amass this impressive list of accomplish-

ments, particularly in the early years, be-

cause of her sex alone. As a woman she has

never been fully accepted in the traditional

male role ofa cause organization leader. It is

indeed unfortunate that Atheists, who pride

themselves on their liberal attitudes, would

allow the specter of sexism to retard the

progress of their chief spokesperson, but

such has been the case.

Dr. O'Hair always accepted that the Athe-

ist cause must live beyond the individual.

For this reason she has always emphasized

the importance of an organization of Athe-

ists with a variety of spokespersons. Being

familiar with the history of previous Atheist

groups, she knew that alltoo often an organ-

ization died with its founder. Wishing to

avoid this pattern, she encouraged the for-

mation and growth ofa sustaining trust fund

for American Atheists in the hopes that its

financial base would be secure regardless of

its leadership. But she also realized that

there must be a continuation of leadership.

With all of this in mind, on April

19, 1986,

at the members' banquet at the Sixteenth

Annual National Convention of American

Atheists, Dr. O'Hair announced that she

was stepping aside from the presidency of

American Atheists and its affiliates. At the

July 1986

Page 1


10/52

NEWS ND OMMENTS

ZION

Rob Sherman

here probably has never been a non-

s story such as that ofthe seal ofthe city

on, inthe history ofthe Chicago area, or

the United States for that matter.

all began innocently enough, on March

1986. Robert Sherman, director of the

icago Chapter of American Atheists

ded to take advantage of the light traffic

other people's Sabbath to drive north to

nthrop Harbor on the Wisconsin border.

visit one of his business clients. As he

sed through Zion his attention was di-

ted to the city's water tower, which

rted a cross, a dove, a crown, a scepter,

a ribbon in which were the words God

. Stunned, he could not believe itand

ded to drive through the town, where he

nd that everything in the city bore the

: police cars, stop signs, garbage trucks,

bulances, street signs, police shoulder

.

he names of the streets on which he

e all were biblical references.

ge 8

Sherman called The American Atheist

Center. Could we do anything about it?

There was only one question to answer: Did

we have a member of American Atheists

living in Zion? There was one; Sherman

decided to complain. On April 2, he was

back inZion to attend a city council meeting

to ask the born-again mayor and city council

to take god out of the city slogan and the

emblem. The city chaplain opened the meet-

ing with a short religious message and

prayer, and a city commissioner told

Sherman to go somewhere where you're

wanted. Even as the city attorney and the

mayor were agreeing to at least discuss the

idea, amid the shouting of Amens, a resi-

dent stood up to say that since this country

was built on Christianity, if he [Rob Sher-

man] did not like it, he can leave.

To no avail, Sherman pointed out that the

city, awash in religious signs, reflected a

theocracy instead of a democracy. To his

astonishment, the mayor agreed and gave

him a small book outlining its history.

The History

Zion was founded in 1902 by John Alex-

ander Dowie, a Pentecostal minister and

faith healer from Australia, a leader in the

Christian Catholic church. Dowie's chief

claim to fame among his followers was that

he could cure cancer. He envisaged Zion as

a place of salvation, what he designated as

the City of God. For its motto, he chose,

Where God Rules, Man Prospers.

People could not buy land in Zion; rather,

they were required to sign 1,100-year leases

in god's name since Christ was expected to

return before the leases expired. The prac-

tice of medicine was forbidden, and hence

there were no doctors in this city of faith

healing. Residents were forbidden to drink,

smoke, swear, or spit. Women were forbid-

den to wear male attire, particularly pants.

Even today the ban on alcohol persists.

Looking back now, its declaration of

intent is peculiar even for 1902:

Zion City was founded, and is being

built, for the purpose of the extension

of the Kingdom of God upon earth.

It is to this end that it i smade a City

where God shall rule in every depart-

ment of family, industrial, commer-

cial, educational, ecclesiastical, and

political life.

July 1986

Zion, Illinois, was to be the first of a

number of such theocratic cities built near

larger cities of sin throughout the United

States and the world, with the culmination

- for the salvation of the world - of a Zion

City near Jerusalem, which shall be the

Seat ofthe Empire of Jesus Christ the Son of

God when He comes to reign as the All-

conquering Sovereign of the entire world.

The man who dreamed of Zion, John

Dowie, had been born in Scotland in 1847,

and by the time he was six years old, had

read the Bible through and taken the absti-

nence pledge against alcohol.

At age twenty-five, without seminary

training, he was ordained into the Congrega-

tional church and took his first station near

Adelaide, Australia. For some reason, un-

disclosed, he spent some time in jailthere. In

1888he visited the United States and began

faith healing in California. He found this to

be lucrative, and as more and more persons

addressed him as Doctor, he formally

assumed the title for himself. His most pub-

licized cure was of cancer of the larynx in a

sixty-nine-year-old woman. In 1893 he

moved to Chicago where he published

weekly his fundamentalist sermons in a

journal which he titled Leaves of Healing.

On February 22, 1896,he formally organized

the Christian Catholic church and immedi-

ately began to thump for an actual Christian

community where the ideals of the Naza-

rene could be implemented. He unmerci-

fullyattacked Doctors, Drugs, and Devils,

and flailed at the hospitals, liquor, tobacco

interests, and the dirty birds ofthe press.

His attacks brought returns in the form of

his arrest for practicing medicine without a

license. The arrests were relentless, over

one hundred in 1895 alone.

He had set himself up in Chicago, leasing

the Imperial Hotel, a large eight story struc-

ture (Michigan Avenue and 12th Street)

which became his headquarters and where

he would begin his dreams ofremoving him-

self and his followers from entanglements

with the established order. He organized the

Zion Bank, a working men's club, and an

educational facility. He was interested in an

international outreach and by 1899 had

40,000 members worldwide in his church.

Dowie, who called himself the Messenger

ofGod's Covenant, Elijahthe Restorer, Rev.

John Alexander Dowie, the General Over-

seer ofthe Christian Catholic Church, then

formed the Zion Land and Investment Asso-

American Atheist


11/52

tinual funding ofhis personal expenses from

his Illinois group. Actually, the city fathers

were reluctant to send money since Dowie

had not been able to strike down the forces

of darkness in the attacks of paralysis

which had smitten him and he was con-

fined to a wheelchair for the most part of his

travels and work in Mexico. By September

1905, stricken again with paralysis, he

hovered between life and death. Yet, he

immediately ordered the dismissal of every-

one ina political position in Zion and sent for

the head of the Australian missions of the

church on December 29, 1905. That man,

Wilber Voliva, arrived in the midst of the

conflict, took stock, and voted with the offi-

cials in Zion and against the Prophet

Dowie (then in Jamaica and demanding

$4,000 a month), whom he simply deposed.

The question as to who owned Zion City

and its industries was fought in a Chicago

court in 1906, at which time the institutions

were put into receivership. Dowie, furious,

returned to Zion himself to fight the usurp-

ers. But he was defeated in the court battle,

and died on March 9, 1907, without being

restored to power. Voliva took over the

theocracy, although Mrs. Dowie had re-

turned to Michigan in 1906,carrying with her

the dream of becoming the next General

Overseer.

N E W S A N D C O M ME N T S

ciation on February 22, 1899. Through this

company he bought 6,500 acres (more than

ten square miles) inBenton township, Lake

County, Illinois, and he asked his followers

everywhere in the world to sell everything

they owned and come and live in Zion.

A civil engineer, Burton J. Ashley, when

his daughter received a wonderful healing

at Dowie's hands, was convinced to join the

church. It was he who then planned the

layout of the city. Dowie desired that all of

the names ofthe streets should have biblical

sense - Elisha, Enoch, Ezekiel, Ezra,

Gilead, Galilee, Jethro, Nazareth, Bethany,

Bethlehem, being a sample thereof.

Ten thousand people assembled to con-

secrate the land on July 14, 1900. It required

eleven trains to transport the crowds from

Chicago. ByJuly 15,1901, all the lots offered

had been leased, and on August 15, 1901,

the first resident moved in. The city was

organized and incorporated, under the laws

of Illinois, on March 31, 1902. The Theo-

cratic (political) Party was organized and

offered a ticket of candidates for municipal

office. The party won all offices, unani-

mously. An ordinance was passed providing

for the corporate seal for the city on May 6,

1902. The corporate seal of the city was an

exact copy of the seal of the church.

Dowie's home was one of the first built, a

twenty-five room mansion at 1300 Shiloh

Boulevard, at a cost of $75,000. Many ofthe

fixtures for it had been imported from

Europe, such as the porcelain bath and the

electric ceilinglights ofsoft brass. The north

side of the house was set aside for servants'

quarters, with maid rooms, kitchens, and

other facilities. This, he felt, was not impres-

sive enough, and he made plans for a more

expensive mansion for himself at Lewis

Avenue and Carmel Boulevard. Drawings

were made for the structure, and $50,000 in

furniture was bought from the Tobey Furni-

ture Company in Chicago.

The principal industries, besides a lace

factory, were the Zion Printing and Pub-

lishing House, which distributed the ser-

mons, testimonies, and literature of Dowie,

the Zion Land Investment Association, and

the Zion Bank. From this city, missionaries

were to set forth armed with the Word of

God, for Zion's purpose was to prepare the

world for the coming again of Jesus Christ

and His Kingdom. Toward that end the first

structure built was the Shiloh Tabernacle, a

huge frame church building in the center of

town, to accommodate 6,000 persons.

There, the worshipper was greeted with the

large motto of the church, Christ IsA lland

In All.

Austin, Texas

Religion permeated the city. Before work

in the morning in the various industries and

at intervals during the workday, prayer was

regularly offered by the whole community.

The laboring man was encouraged to move

to Zion, where he could enjoy profit-sharing

work in the various industries, but mention

of this quickly vanished as more and more

emphasis was placed on demonstration of

religious faith and response to religious

authority.

The workers were expected to pay tithes

(ten percent off the top) oftheir income into

Jehovah's storehouse, in order to keep

Dowie in style.

A wealthy southern manufacturer, smit-

ten by Dowie, recommended that a settle-

ment be established in Mexico where a

Paradise Plantation could be developed

for those who desired to livein a more mod-

erate climate than northern Illinois.

Twice in 1905, Dr. Dowie had attacks of

paralysis and he subsequently went to Mexi-

co to regain his health and to further this

project there. He desired to purchase two

million acres which were available for one

dollar an acre. Meanwhile, his expenses

were running more than $2,000 a month,

and the City of Zion did not have that much

excess money above its own expenses to

send to him. But Dowie demanded this con-

July 1986

Page 9


12/52

N E W S A N D C O M M E N T S

The Leaves of Healing had reached Not-

ngham, England, and it encouraged a lace

anufacturer, Samuel Stevenson, to cast

s lot with the Lord. His English lace fac-

ry was shipped in its entirety to Zion City,

r with several hundred of the work-

s. This, then, was one of its principal

tries in the years of dispute. Steven-

, to keep it all in the family, married a

ster ofDowie while he was in Chicago, and

ntly, she returned to England with

. At the time of the bankruptcy, the lace

was purchased byMarshall Field's of

icago, which used it for the manufacture

fine lace, table cloths, and lace related

ms until 1952,when it was sold to a televi-

on manufacturing firm.

Under the new theocratic dictator, Rev.

, allthe industries were brought under

s control. The Zion Bakery was putting out

ore than one million fig bars a day; other

ants were prospering. A Christian Broad-

sting Company was started by 1922, and

CBD began sermons and religious music.

Voliva died in 1942, and what was left of

e Zion industries passed to other General

erseers of the church. Many of the

ening years were filledwith complaints

the overbearing hand of fundamentalist

igion on the inhabitants. Gradually much

the religious dominance eroded away, but

t without rancor and infighting. The city

s intended to be a theocracy, and every

tempt was made to retain that political

By 1986,Zion consisted of 18,000citizens.

industrial parks include twenty-two di-

rgent industries, including the world's

rgest nuclear power plant. It now has

enty-nine churches representing that

ny brands of religion, not just the one of

founders.

The current mayor is a born-again minis-

r who continues with religious broad-

ting over the city's lone radio station.

The Challenge

When Rob Sherman faced off with the

ity Council and the mayor, a promise was

ade that the seal and city motto would be

ewed and that the city attorney would

t back to Sherman within six weeks. Yet,

eir hostility showed through enough that

wspaper reporters covering the Council

ing remarked on it. At the time of the

tion, however, Mr. Sherman did

t know of the history ofZion. The minister

e Christian Catholic church meanwhile

s putting the finger on what would be the

nder spot of the entire confrontation:

is this guy raising a ruckus? He's an

10

outsider. No one here has been concerned.

There's no need to change.

By this time, the contact with our Zion

member revealed that although American

Atheists indeed did have a member with the

address of Zion, Illinois, that member's

home was three blocks outside of the corpo-

rate limits, although mail was received

through the Zion post office. Legally, there

was not even a resident complainant upon

whom American Atheists could rely ifcourt

activity would seem to be indicated. At that

point, The American Atheist Center advised

July 1986

Mr. Sherman that perhaps nothing could be

done, legally, about the seal. If he cared to

pursue the matter to see if he could per-

suade the city to change the seal and the

motto simply because it reflects that Zion

has been theocratic and probably, politi-

cally, remains in that mode, he was encour-

aged to do so. The use of religious symbol-

ism is violative of the intent of the First

Amendment to the Constitution of the Unit-

ed States, which calls for a separation of

state and church. Any publicity around that

issue would be educational for the populace

at large.

The issue of seals has arisen during the

last several years in both New Mexico and

Georgia. An article in the American Atheist

magazine News and Comments section of

February 1984, titled Mottoes (p. 8), de-

scribed the Georgia battle at length. There,

the city of Milledgevilleuses a city seal bear-

ing the motto Uberty, Christianity. Ken

Saladin, an Atheist professor of biology at

Georgia College, filed a suit in 1980 to have

the motto effaced from the seal, since it

reflected the marriage of state and church.

After years of litigation, on February 20,

1986, a federal judge in Macon, Georgia,

ruled that the city ofMilledgevillecould keep

the word Christianity inits seal as longas the

emblem isn't displayed where it can be

widely viewed by the public, such as on city

vehicles and water tanks. The judge added

that ifthis action was taken, any harm done

to Saladin and others who are offended by

the word

Christianity

would be minimal. To

complain of such limited use would be,

speaking colloquially, 'a whole lot to do

about nothing,''' he said. On March 1, 1986,

just several weeks before Sherman was to

see the Zion seal on that city's water tank,

the mayor of Milledgeville was notifying the

federal judge in Macon that it would be re-

moving the word from all public vehicles,

water tanks, and firefighters' uniforms. Itwill

continue to use the seal with the word Chris-

tianity on city stationary and to emboss offi-

cial documents. In actual effect, itwas a case

lost.

Back in August 1979, American Atheists

had complained to the County of Los

Angeles that itobjected to a seal designed in

1959 by the chairman of the Los Angeles

County Board of Supervisors. It represent-

ed the Christian cross standing over the Hol-

lywood Bowl and the Christian fish symbol.

A central figure sported a flaming halo. At

the time, the concern of American Atheists

was with the highly visible cross on the hill.

The legal counsel for Los Angeles issued a

nineteen-page opinion that the county

should stop paying the light bill, and

American Atheist


13/52

But Zion got busy, too. By April 5, a fund

had been started by that city to finance a

legal battle to keep the religious symbols in

the Zion city seal. The mayor claimed that

public outcry against Sherman had been

overwhelming ... we will have to fight. We

cannot back down.

Of course, the mayor knew, the media

knew, and Sherman knew that it was impos-

sible to go to court over the issue since there

was not a citizen of Zion who could be a

plaintiff in such a suit. It was apparent that

anyone who would come forward would be

taking his life in his hands. All the partic-

ipants, and all the media also, knew that the

issue of religion on government seals had

been accepted for review by the U.S. Su-

preme Court. It was the non-fight of the

nation; the non-news of all non-news cover-

ing a non-issue, and itmade front page after

front page, and incessant prime time tele-

vision and radio reporting all over Chicago

and the environs area. The case and the

area appeared to be public opinion testing,

a public opinion arousal issue. The media

used singularly straight fact reporting and

seemed unbiased. Hardly any covered the

actual history of Zion as given above, but

slight references were continually made to

the City of God and to Dowie.

When advised that Zion would fight to

keep its seal, Sherman sadly replied, I hope

the city administration willnot drag the citi-

zens of Zion through the mud of false hope.

We know that we are right, they know we

are right, and we know they know we are

right.

The Zion State Bank, which - of course

- is owned by the church, was set up to

receive money coming in to Save Our

Seal, reportedly from as far away as North

Carolina and New Orleans. A rather dis-

gusting development was the news that

EmilySears, a member of the founding fam-

ily of the Sears, Roebuck and Company

chain, decided she would assist the poor

beleaguered city. Pat Robertson's National

Legal Foundation called and asked the

mayor to keep it and the 700 Club informed

of developments.

Rob Sherman was meeting them all, head-

on, alone. No one sought him out to give

monetary or other support. His single lifeline

was his telephone communications withThe

American Atheist Center. All Sherman

could do, he did. He countered with the

establishment of a Save Our Constitution

fund to which the lone Atheist in the Zion

area sent a check for $1,000 to kick it off.

About this time, the mayor was revealing

that some residents were praying for Sher-

man to be killed in an automobile accident,

NEWS AND OMMENTS

one night shortly thereafter an Atheist elec-

trical engineer put the lights out.

But during it all there was a continuing

fight in Bernalillo County, New Mexico,

where the county seal sported a cross and

the words Con esta vencemos. Any student

of religion knew, of course, that these were

the words of the Emperor Constantine when

he (allegedly) saw a cross in the sky and

(allegedly) turned to Christianity from pa-

ganism. The only new addition was that in

New Mexico the language was Spanish; in

Rome it had been Latin. In either language

the intent was clear: With this sign [the

cross] we conquer. The seal was legally

challenged there also. But on December 21,

1981,a federal district court handed down a

decision in Johnson v. Board of County

Commissioners

of Bernalillo County, 528

F.Supp. 919, to the effect that separation of

state and church is not possible. The seal

was found to have a secular purpose for its

existence and that was one ofauthenticating

officialdocuments and facilitating identifica-

tion ofcounty property and personnel. This

case was appealed to the U.S. Court of

Appeals, Tenth Circuit, and a divided panel

affirmed the lower court. An appeal was

made for a rehearing before the full court

panel, which was had, and a 5-2decision was

finallyhanded down in that case,

Friedman

v. Board of County Commissioners of Ber-

nalilloCounty, 781 F.2d 777, on December

26,1985.

Basically the court held that the seal, as

used, conveys a strong impression to the

average observer that Christianity is being

endorsed by the county, that this offended

the Establishment Clause of the First

Amendment to the Constitution of the Unit-

ed States, and that the use of such a seal

was, therefore, unconstitutional.

Bernalillo County, using taxpayer funds

for this case which was then already five

years in litigation, appealed the decision to

the United States Supreme Court. That

body has granted certiorari (review) and the

case of the Bernalillo County seal will be

heard in the next session of that court.

Sherman was apprised of this. He hon-

estly thought that he might be able to per-

suade the officials of the City of Zion to

change their seal and habit of displaying the

seal and motto everywhere. The American

Atheist Center officials gave him approval to

see what he could do.

He went back again and again to Zion to

negotiate however he could. This is the

most clear-cut and dramatic case in Ameri-

can history of a town flouting the constitu-

tional rule of separation of state and

church, he told them. The media began to

Austin, Texas

John Alexander

Dowie

designate him the Constitution-thumping

Atheist. An Illinois AC.L.U. attorney

added his statement in the press that he felt

the seal clearly violated the Constitution.

During this time, it was found that the

mayor of Zion, a pastor and what the media

called a self described 'born-again believ-

er', regularly listened to the IllinoisDial-An-

Atheist message (512-506-9200).On hisown

radio program he was, meanwhile, asking

the residents of Zion to pray for Sherman's

conversion.

Rob Sherman, celebrating his thirty-third

birthday on April 2, was beginning to be the

focal point of electronic news coverage in

the entire Chicago area.

Dowie's mansion -1902

July 1986

Page 11


14/52

NEWS ND OMMENTS

lack Zion police officer protecting Klansmen who threaten constitution defender

b Sherman.

nd the Ku Klux Klan residents inZion had

aken an interest in the matter, supporting

oth the city and the seal. This did not deter

e minister-mayor from spreading the

ased word about the Atheist on his radio

ogram titled The Heart and. Heaven

. He declared that his own earnest

ayers were simply for Sherman to repent.

Finally, one small media item appeared

oncerned with an octogenarian couple

, who had an oilpainting ofthe founder

city, done by a man whose daughter

s the first Chicago person to be cured of

ancer by Dowie's faith healing. (Mother

, eat your heart out ) The cancer

ame out of the little girl's mouth. It was

tored in a jar of alcohol as proof ofthe faith

ealing. But another resident wasn't allthat

tic about Zion: There's no video

aces, no pool halls, nothing for kids to do.

seems like they want to keep it the way it

s one hundred years ago. Another said

hat the controversy masked the crime and

need for street repairs, that the citizens

dn't care whether the street signs had

sses or not, or ifGod really reigns inZion.

When Sherman did contact the A.C.L.U.

assistance inany case ifitshould come to

at, the IllinoisCivil Liberties Union attor-

ey had an extended conversation with Dr.

'Hair at The American Atheist Center in

stin, Texas. That attorney felt that a

appropriate plaintiff than an Atheist

uld be needed, although the seal was an

cit endorsement ofreligion;clearly con-

Page 12

trary to the Establishment Clause.

And by the end of the first week of con-

troversy the mayor was stating that It's a

struggle between Satan and God. But, by

April 9 the newspapers in the area had

something to say about it all, editorially.

The Chicago Tribune thought that the

theoretical flap could be easily resolved

with common sense. The Christian seal of

Zion has lost whatever connotations it

might once have had. The emblem has

passed into the status of historical artifact.

The only one who has a right to be offended,

the editorial writer thought, was the Chris-

tian who might think it blasphemy to put a

cross on a garbage truck. There is no rea-

son, he concluded, that a secular nation

must scourge itself of all traces of its past in

order to live up to the current interpreta-

tions of its religious liberties.

The entire editorial was an artful, albeit

devious, support of Christian symbolism in

Zion. The blatant misinterpretations and

errors in just the last quote (above) would

take a book to answer.

The News-Sun editorial of the same day

made a subtle endorsement of the Atheist

activity. It backhanded Sherman, Though

many would question the wisdom of the

Atheists who screamed when they found

what they perceived as evil in such an ob-

scure location, ... there is something to be

said for official restraint. The authors of the

U.S. Constitution refrained from religious

comment in that respected official docu-

July 1986

ment.

The Zion-Harbor News, apparently

owned by the church, depicted Sherman as

an intruder who wanted to destroy

Christian symbols because he was a self-

proclaimed Atheist.

Sherman, meanwhile, knowing that he

was in a no-win situation, presented a com-

promise plan that if the city of Zion would

but agree not to paint the seal on anymore

public buildings or instigate anymore large

displays of it, he would delay any court

action. Of course, this was the solution

which the Georgia federal district court had

found. Sherman also suggested that since

the New Mexico case was in the U.S.

Supreme Court, if the city officialswant to,

we can both sit back and wait to see what the

final decision isbefore we move ahead. This

[the Zion seal] is not an emergency situation .

. . . It's been going on for eighty-six years and

a few more months doesn't have to be a

major concern. A City Commissioner re-

plied, I'llmake a deal with that clown when

hell freezes over. We just got a new $100,000

garbage truck, the seal has already been

painted on that, and I just might have

another couple painted on it.

It was April 11, and Rob Sherman was

taping a cable television show in the same

building that houses the Palatine Police

Department when he noticed a display of

police patches from across Illinois. One of

those, bearing religious symbolism, was that

of the City of Palatine, near Chicago. He

determined then to complain about that seal

also.

The mayor of Zion was at the same time

announcing that five attorneys had come

forward, all of whom would defend the city

seal at absolutely no cost ifa case was begun

to challenge it. Meanwhile, suggestions

rolled in: that every Christian home should

have a lighted cross on its rooftop; that

crosses should be erected everywhere to

befuddle Atheists and fellowtravelers.

Undaunted, Sherman stopped in Palatine

during the regular board meeting to an-

nounce, 'The time has come for govern-

ment to get out ofthe business of promoting

religion in general and Christianity in par-

ticular. He was met with angry residents,

wearing crucifixes and waving dollar bills on

which the phrase In God We Trust is evi-

dent. The city fathers ofPalatine declined to

accept any complaint dealing with the reli-

gious symbolism on its seal.

On April 16, there was a turn to the omi-

nous when four members of the Ku Klux

Klan turned up in fullregalia at the Zion City

Council meeting. The first order ofbusiness

was to refuse Sherman the right to speak.

American Atheist


15/52

seniors polled favored retaining the city seal.

On May 27 it was not done yet, as NBC

called The American Atheist Center to ask

for Sherman to appear on the Today Show

on Monday, June 2. The network would pay

for his flight and all expenses.

Whatever else it was - it was a media

bonanza for Atheists in Chicago with no one

getting hurt, no one with pie on the face. Rob

Sherman carefully educated the public over

a one month period and ended by having

cordial relations with the press. He is thor-

oughly and completely identified as a major

Atheist spokesman in north central United

States. The American Atheist Center was

appreciative enough to put him on salary as

the first paid field representative of -

modern - American Atheism.

Now all that is necessary is to convert all

that news coverage into members. The

American Atheist Center certainly expects

Rob Sherman to keep hard at it. We can all

watch, then, how it blows.

NEWS AND COMMENTS

This was based on a statement of one

Commissioner who explained, This isnot a

public meeting, it is a meeting being held in

public, and we have the right to control who

speaks to us. The mayor's announcement

was that decals, buttons, and T-shirts, all

bearing the seal, would be on sale at the City

Hall immediately.

On April 18, a voice identifying itself as

god called Sherman's home to say, I'm

going to killyou. You'd better watch out for

your family.

But on that one day Rob Sherman was the

lead story on ChannelS (NBC) News at 5:00

and again at 10:00 P.M ., Channel 2 (CBS)

News at 5:30 and again at 10:00 P.M ., Chan-

nel9 (WGN) News at 9:00 P.M ., and on most

Chicago radio stations during the day.

Meanwhile, residents ofZionwere depicting

Sherman as a Communist or a Soviet spy.

Rob Sherman could only ask the Governor

ofIllinois,James Thompson, to intervene in

the dispute. Needless to say, the governor

felt that it should be resolved at the local

level.

Not even realizing how it was trivializing

the issue, a Zion chicken and spaghetti fast-

food restaurant felt it necessary to place the

words God Reigns under the advertised

menu on its marquee.

And when Rob Sherman somehow inad-

vertently stated that a Baptist church was

one of his office supply customers, Baptist

churches in the Chicago area began to

receive calls from their parishioners that a

Baptist church should not be buying any

supplies from an Atheist.

The pace did not slow. The

Chicago Trib-

une,

on May 12, featured Rob Sherman in a

fullpage article titled, Atheist patrolling war

zone between church and state. Character-

izing him as a Field Marshall of Atheists,

the article was entirely sympathetic. Itwas in

this news story that Sherman revealed

openly for the first time that his parents have

severed all connections with him because of

his Atheist stance.

Zion had agreed to reply officially to

Sherman's demand to discontinue the use of

the cross inthe City Council meeting ofMay

21. He was also given assurance that he

could make a statement at that time. Instead,

ina very rowdy atmosphere, nine members

of the Ku Klux Klan, in fullwhite robes and

hoods, were arrested, after a rock-throwing

incident in the parking lot. One Klan

spokesman, wearing a military camouflage

uniform, refusing to identify himself, none-

theless stated, We had come to the council

meeting, as we had done inthe past, to show

our support for the city in the struggle to

keep the City Seal.

Alas, the Council voted unanimously not

to permit Sherman to speak and not to

change the city seal. The City Attorney's

way out was to declare that the seal had

historical significance since Zion had a

unique religious heritage.

Among the contingent ofpersons appear-

ingat the Council meeting were representa-

tives of the Zion high schools, who reported

that eighty-seven percent of the juniors and

,?~/.:~f:; . ~ / c ~ : ; ~ W V ~ ;

~


16/52

N E W S A N D C O M M E N T S

by.

cago Tribune,

Chicago, IL,April 3, 1986,

p. 1, Chicagoland Section, Atheist sees

all Zion's signs and can't believe it, by

Eric Zorn.

nosha News,

Kenosha, IL, April 3, 1986,

Area News, p. 15, Religious Zion logo

irks Atheist, byArlene Jensen, staff writ-

er' photo by John Sorensen.

-Harbor News,

Zion, IL,April 3, 1986,p.

1, Atheist request to remove cross over-

shadows school annexations, by John

ichaelson.

e News-Sun,

Lake County, IL, April 4,

1986, Sec. B, p. 1, Atheist leader Rob

herman with son, Scotty, 3, photo by

ary Carmody.

Las Cruces, NM, April 4, 1986,

. 8A, Atheists want town to change it's

[sic] seal, Associated Press story.

-News,

Joliet, IL, April 4, 1985, Sec.

6, Zion's city seal has Atheist upset,

sociated Press story.

News-Sun,

Lake County, IL, April 5/6,

1986, p. 1, Zion plans fight to save city

al, by Tony Gordon,

staff

writer.

e Sunday Herald, Chicago, IL, April 6,

1986, Sec. 1, p. 7, Zion throws (holy)

ook at Sherman, by Burt Constable,

ff writer.

Herald-Eagle,

Traverse City, MI, April

,1986, p. 29, Atheists demand change in

ity's corporate seal, Associated Press

tory.

int Louis Post-Dispatch, Saint Louis,

O, April 7,1986, p. 4B, Church-State

bate Brewing InZion, Ill., by Stephen

.

e News-Sun,


1986, p. 8A, Atheist suggestion, by

enore B. Friedel, Waukegan, WI, in

Letters.

e News-Sun,


1986, Editorial Page, p. 6A, an editorial

igion in Zion.

go Tribune,

Chicago, IL,April 9, 1986,

torial Page, Sec. 1, p. 16, an editorial

Bearing the seal of Zion.

alo Grove Countryside,

Buffalo Grove,

, April 10, 1986, p. 5, Buffalo Grove

heist jumps into the limelight, by Julie

ssel, staff photo by Kathy Tray.

-Harbor News,

Zion, IL, April 10, 1986,

. 1, Begin 'Save our seal' fight to protect

n heritage, by John Michaelson.

.,

p. 1, Zion Mayor Howard P. Everline,

oto by Ray Scifo.

, p. 4, Our Readers Write letters from

vid H. Cox, Supt. Zion-Benton Town-

ip High School District 126; Irene Zuk-

y, Zion; Karen Ginn, Zion; Gene Mal-

, Kenosha, WI; Janet Koelling, Zion;

ge 14

Judith Spiegleman, Zion.

The News-Sun,


1986, Attack on Zion's cityseal amazes,

by Ann Dromey, North Chicago, in

Letters.

The Chicago

Sun-

Times,

Chicago, IL, April

11, 1986, p. 11, Atheist adds 2 suburbs to

his anti-cross drive, by Gary Wisby.

The News-Sun,


1986, p. 1, Zion City Council won't cut

deal with Atheist, by Tony Gordon, staff

writer.

The News-Sun,


1986, Sec. B, p. 1, Zion nixes Atheist

compromise plan, by Tony Gordon, staff

writer.

The News-Sun,

Lake County, IL, April

12/13, 1986, Atheist chose wrong town

to pick on, by Ralph Zahorik, columnist,

from A to Z.

Daily Herald,

Palatine, IL,April 15, 1986, p.

1, Residents angered by Atheist's battle

against village seal, by Joan Carreon,

staff writer.

The News-Sun,


1986, Zion-Iran comparison hit, by

Ralph Zahorik, columnist, from A to Z.

Chicago Tribune,

Chicago, IL, April 16,

1986, Sec. 1, p. 16, Editorial Page, an

editorial, Mingling church and state in

Zion, by Stephen Chapman.

The News-Sun,


1986,p. 1, 'Only inZion,' Lights, camera,

Klan, Atheist - but no action, by Tony

Gordon, staff writer, photos by Marcia

Rules.

Ibid.,

p. 8, Challenges Zion, by Robert

Hall, Zion, in Letters.

The Sunday Herald,

Chicago, IL, April 18,

1986, Zion's emblem, by Chuck Allen,

Wheeling, in Letters.

Chicago Tribune, April 18,1986,inChicago-

land, Sec. 2, p. 1, Raising Cain beyond

Zion, Atheist branching out on church-

state separation, by Eric Zorn, photo by

Don Casper.

The Daily Herald,

April 18, 1986,See. 2, p. 2,

Atheist drops RollingMeadows fight, by

Andy Savoie, staff writer.

The News-Sun,


1986, Letter to Zahorik, by Jean A.

Beagle, Waukegan, in Letters.

Ibid.,

Honk, if you love Zion?

News-Sun

photo.

The News-Sun,


1986, Defends Seal by Rev. John W.

Loftus, Winthrop Harbor, in Letters.

The News-Sun,

Lake County, IL, April

26/27,1986, What happened to Zion Fig

Fiesta? by Ralph Zahorik, columnist,

from A to Z.

Ibid.,

p. 84, Church and State by Dean

July 1986

Duplacey, Hainesville.

Ibid.,

p. B4, Atheist's Baptist client not

here.

Chicago Tribune,

Chicago, IL, May 12,

1986, in Tempo, pp. 1,3, Atheist patrol-

lingwar zone between church and state,

Field marshal of atheists patrols war

zone between church, state. by Jim

Spencer, photos by Ron Bailey and Don

Casper.

The News-Sun,

Lake County, IL, May 21,

1986, p. 1, 'Circus' in Zion, Klan

arrested; council firm on seal, by Tony

Gordon, staff writer, photos by Jonathan

Daniel.

Zion-Harbor News,

Zion, IL, May 22, 1986,

p. 1, Deny Sherman right to speak,

Council refuses to change city seal, by

Jack Hagler, photos by Ray Scifo.

Ibid., p. 1, 9 Klansmen arrested.

Ibid.,

p. 17, Raymond Mostek, in Our

Readers Write.

Agenda, Zion City Council Meeting, April

15,1986.

An

Ordinance

providing for the Corporate

Seal for the City of Zion, Passed and

approved May 16, 1902.

A

Zion Community non-Christian

person,

Will Zion Illinois have

an

inquisition?

mimeographed sheet, dated April 6, 1986.

Cook, Philip L.,

Zion City, Illinois - John

Alexander Dowie's Theocracy,

Zion, IL,

Zion Historical Society, Series 2,1970.

Dowie, John Alexander,

Leaves of Healing,

American Atheist Magazine July 1986

Documents