I simply don't understand the religious fervor in the U.S. in the wake of our terrorist attack, and the blame placed on the secularists who have "taken God out of our schools and public places..."

      Frankly, I'd be ashamed to worship the same god as the Taliban, the terrorists.  I'd be ashamed to worship — in song and praise — any god I thought just "let" this horrendous event happen to "wake us up."  I'd be ashamed not to realize the Bible god is either not all-loving or not all-powerful.  (The Jews, Christians, Muslims just can't have it both ways.)  I wouldn't ask such a god to "Bless America."  The only excuse for such a god is that he doesn't exist.

      What I do believe in and am proud of is the human "spirit" of both "believers" and "non- believers" helping the victims of this tragedy, and I know it exists.

      I also know there have been many "atheists in foxholes" who have fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy — or enjoyed — in this country, and I refuse to pledge allegiance to a "...nation under God."  The fox holes made atheists of a lot of people I know.  The Holy Bible did it for others. We are under a godless secular Constitution, and I'd like for us to keep it that way and say so!

      I cannot know — nobody can — if "good will triumph over evil."  I can only hope that human spirit to help each other will last long enough for us to overcome this ordeal and actually become "one nation, indivisible, under the Constitution, with liberty and justice for all." 

      In honoring  her, the Huntsville Times columnist David Prather wrote, "...the chance to pit wits against an intelligent, informed person of different beliefs and outlooks is a treasure of great price."

    On November 29th, Judge Chamberlain issued his decision in Scalise v. Boy Scouts of America and Mount Pleasant Public Schools.  He ruled that Ben Scalise's civil rights were violated when the school allowed the Boy Scouts to send recruiters into the classroom to solicit membership.  Both the Boy Scouts and the school district are liable for monetary damages, the amount of which will be decided later.

    What follows is his father's press release (dated 12/2/01):

    We are heartened by the recent decision of the Isabella Co. Circuit Court which recognizes that our son's constitutional and civil rights were  violated, and that he suffered lawful damages, when the Mt. Pleasant Public Schools inappropriately permitted the Boy Scouts of America to recruit children in the classrooms at Fancher School during regular school hours for their religious and discriminatory purposes.

    While we agree that the Boy Scouts has always been a fine organization for our nation's youth, we contend that they are no longer entitled to public school district sponsorship because they changed their rules to exclude non-religious boys and others solely because of their personal beliefs.  The Scouts are entitled to make their own membership rules, but no young child should be left out and excluded from activities sponsored by his or her own public school.

    The Girl Scouts of America do not discriminate that way. Every young girl can become a Scout, regardless of her personal beliefs. There is no problem with school district sponsorship of the Girl Scouts, and each of our three daughters enjoyed Scouting at school.

    We hope that the Boy Scouts of America will someday understand that religious discrimination is wrong, and that they will once again live up to their proper stature and image as an exciting, educational, and patriotic activity for all American school-aged boys. Our son is no different than other boys - no better, no worse. We are all Americans. 

     Even with military engagements, an international war on terrorism and possible recession at home, the Bush administration is continuing in its efforts to pass legislation that would subsidize churches and other houses of worship operating faith-based social services. 

     Press reports, including a recent story in the Boston Globe newspaper, indicates that the initiative "remains a priority for Bush."  Last January, as one of his first acts as President, Mr. Bush signed executive orders establishing a White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and ordered major federal departments to open liaison bureaus and encourage participation in social programs by religious groups.  Legislation has also cleared the House of Representatives that would fund the initiative, and expand the number of departments making available up to $47 billion of their respective budgets for grants to qualifying religious groups.  The Bush scheme calls for churches and other houses of worship to take over a battery of social welfare programs now administered by government.  Critics say that the plan violates the separation of church and state, but Bush and supporters insist they are interested in "reforming" the welfare system and getting "results."

     There are mixed signals from Capitol Hill, though, on the fate of the faith-based entitlement initiative.  Even political leaders and groups which support the idea of government aid to religious charities remain divided over whether those organizations should be required to obey civil rights statutes and other protections.  Some, like the Salvation Army, feel that being compelled to observe equal rights legislation and possibly hire gays, Atheists or others with theologically questionable values and lifestyles violates their right to free religious exercise.  Sen.  Joseph Lieberman, speaking for many Capitol Hill moderates and liberals, wants compromise legislation that would make government grants available for faith-based social programs while still requiring recipients to obey local, state and federal protections.

     Some churches also fear that with government funds will come a growing laundry list of regulations and accounting procedures, including requirements that they water down the religious component of their social service outreaches.  So far, Mr. Bush has tried to address those concerns, assuring ecclesiastical leaders that government will not interfere in efforts to mix religion with welfare and other programs.  While he was governor of Texas, Bush cut through red tape and won special exemptions from state guidelines for religion-based drug and alcohol rehab programs like Teen Challenge.

     A recent story in the Boston Globe reports that "White House officials have been quietly negotiating with key senators for weeks" about compromise legislation on the faith-based funding initiative, "and say they are very close to bipartisan agreement..."  The new version would supposedly drop the most controversial elements in the original Bush plan, such as the expansion of the "charitable choice" provision found in the 1996 welfare reform act.  It would also center "on personal and corporate tax incentives to spur charitable giving" by providing up to $500 million in tax relief for donations,

     But two other compromise proposals threaten to simply enact earlier parts of the Bush initiative.  A $100 million "compassionate capital fund" would encourage and assist religion-based groups in filing               for federal contracts; and there would be new programs to involve churches and other houses of worship in mentoring outreaches for children of prison inmates, and another to operate maternity homes for pregnant teenagers.

     "This is the same old legislation with new window dressing," warned Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists.  "Other appropriations could be tapped in order to fund faith-based programs, and the new parts of this proposal target two of the most vulnerable segments of our population, children and pregnant teens."

     "Call it any name you want, it's still a subsidy for faith-based programs and proselytizing." 

Exploiting September 11

     Since the September 11 tragedies in New York and Washington, Bush and administration officials have stepped up their rhetoric on behalf of the faith-based funding scheme.

     "What we're hearing from the right, left and center is they want to move forward with the initiative," declared John Bridgeland, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.  "September 11 has given us more heart to do more good."

     Indeed, just nine days after the attacks, Bush used his special address to Congress to urge the country to worship, pray and donate to charities.  The Globe notes that just hours prior to the speech, "Bush had met privately at the White House with 20 religious leaders from many faiths" to discuss the present political situation.

     Even without fast-track federal legislation, public funding of religious groups is becoming more of a reality throughout the nation.

     * Fifteen states now have full-time liaisons to religious groups, and according to the Globe, governors in four states have taken the Bush lead and issued their own executive orders to expand collaboration with social ministries.  "Legislation has passed four state, and is pending in a fifth, that instructs local agencies to enforce charitable choice."

     *  Indiana continues to be a bellwether state in faith-based subsidies. The state has provided $500,000 to "Faithworks," a consulting firms that helps groups apply for government grants.  Last year, the group helped generate $3.5 million in grants.

     * Virginia has a special Community and Faith- Based Initiative, which includes liaisons in 121 local agencies and 26 com- munity- based groups. CFBI has also conducted ten regional conferences for religious leaders.

     * Oklahoma is providing $180,000 in "surplus" welfare funds for its "pro-active" faith-based office and appointed a minister to head the department.

     * An estimated 121 cities now have "outreach coordinators" working for municipal entities that seek to involves churches and other houses of worship in the welfare process.

     "Faith is the flavor of the month," gushed DeForest Soaries, an ordained Baptist minister who is also the New Jersey Secretary of State and the man in charge of the state's faith-based initiative.

       From: American Atheists, http://www.atheists.org

     One of the oldest American "faith based" organizations is the Salvation Army.  Every Christmas they can be seen ringing bells and collecting money for their programs.  However, this year, activists for Gay and Lesbian rights will be putting cards (example below) into the buckets because of recent events.  The Salvation Army, which recently tried to extend health benefits for spouses of its gay and lesbian employees, reversed this position following an organized attack by Christian Right  terrorist groups.  A spokesman for the Army said that they will however continue to provide Christian social services to gays and lesbians in need.

      According to media sources, President George W. Bush appears ready to nominate J. Robert Brame III to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), despite Brame's long-standing leadership of religious-political extremist groups on the farthest fringes of the Religious Right.

      Brame has served as a top official of American Vision, an Atlanta-based group that seeks to replace America's secular democracy with a "Christian" regime based on "biblical law," including enforcement of the harsh legal code of the Old Testament. He has also served as an advisor to the Plymouth Rock Foundation, a Plymouth, Mass., group with similar views.

      Brame recently resigned from the American Vision board after the group's controversial agenda became public. Though Brame served on the board since at least 1994, he told The Wall Street Journal that he was unaware of American Vision's extreme views.

      American Vision has described democracy as "the first step toward fascism," argues that women must be subordinate to men, and insists that the Bible requires the death penalty for gays. "Brame and his allies seek to impose a harsh Christian theocracy on the nation," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Someone with such radical political views should automatically be disqualified from holding public office.

      "Once members of the Senate get a look at Brame's record, his chances for confirmation will quickly evaporate," Lynn added. "Brame's ties to radical groups are indefensible."

      To illustrate the radical nature of Brame's views, Lynn pointed to the extremist positions of American Vision (AV), which Brame has helped lead through long-time service on the group's five-member Board of Directors:

      On theocracy: Christian Reconstructionists reject democracy and advocate theocracy. In the June 1999 issue of American Vision's Biblical Worldview magazine, an AV representative wrote, "We've been told that Christians cannot impose their religious beliefs on others. Since heaven is at stake, we have no choice. There is no hope outside of Jesus Christ."

      On democracy: The June 1999 issue of AV's Biblical Worldview magazine described democracy as "the first step toward fascism." 

      On women's role in families: American Vision insists that the Bible requires male leadership in society. In the September 1999 issue of Biblical Worldview, an AV author wrote that women fall between men and animals in the "God-ordained order." AV places "God above all, man joyfully under God, woman lovingly under man, and the animals at bottom." AV has also said that women should not serve in the military.

      On women in the judiciary: The Plymouth Rock Foundation, which Brame has worked with through service on its advisory council, opposed Sandra Day O'Connor's nomination to the Supreme Court because, in their view, it is wrong for a woman to sit in judgment over men.

      On homosexuality and the death penalty: Reconstructionist groups such as those Brame is involved with maintain that under biblical law, homosexuals must be executed. According to one American Vision text, "The law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectually drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back to the closet, to the dark realm of shameful activity." Also, in October 2000, an AV publication called homosexuality "a sin worthy of death."

      On gays in Congress: In the September 1999 issue of the group's Biblical Worldview, an AV author referred to openly gay Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) as a "lesbian Congress-thing."

      On non-Christian dissenters: American Vision argues that once its worldview is enacted as government policy, dissenters would have to submit to its draconian version of Christianity. "Non-Christians would not be forced to become Christians, but they would have to obey laws that came from the Bible," according to one AV text. "This would mean that homosexuality and abortion, for example, could not be claimed as 'civil rights.' They would be crimes."

      On Judaism: American Vision sells a book titled, The Days of Vengeance, which says, "The god of Judaism is the devil." The book also describes Judaism as a "demonic religion."

      On American history: AV materials take a revisionist approach to history, insisting that the United States was founded as a "Christian nation." In one book, AV asserts that the Constitution was designed to afford protection to Christianity only and not other faiths. "The First Amendment had the specific purpose of excluding all rivalry among Christian denominations," the group says. "Other competing religions were not protected by the First Amendment."

      "Brame makes Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson look liberal," said AU's Lynn, who wrote to Bush in October, urging him not to nominate such a divisive figure to the NLRB.

      Concluded Lynn, "The groups Brame is associated with seek to impose their version of 'biblical law' on all of us, and they want to use the government to further those goals. These views are so counter to American ideals that it is difficult to imagine a proponent of this radical philosophy serving in any important public trust."

     From: Americans United for Separation of Church and State ,  http://www.au.org/

      Imagine yourself attending two marvelous atheist conferences and having an opportunity to tour around a bit on European soils.  You needn't just imagine it.  You can come along!  AAI is arranging a tour for September 16-30, 2002 that will include a conference in Paris and one in Speyer, Germany.

      At the 2000 Atheist Alliance convention in Sacramento, many attendees signed up as interested in attending an International Conference in Paris in  2002 to commemorate the  200th anniversary of  Thomas Jefferson's 1802  letter to the Danbury  Baptists in which he said  the purpose of the First  Amendment was to  establish a "wall of  separation between church  and state."  This event will  be co-sponsored by AAI  and our French colleagues,  La Libre Pensée, in Paris.

      The trip has been  expanded to include a  conference hosted by our  German colleagues, IBKA  (Internationaler Bund der  Konfessio nslosen und  Atheisten) in Speyer, Germany.  Plans are now firming up for the journey.

      This is an important international event, so do plan to join in.  The tour dates come on Mondays, which saves on plane fares.  Participants will be flying from their home cities on Sept. 16th to Frankfort, and returning to their home cities on the 30th from Paris.  In between, there will be chartered bus tours of Germany, the IBKA conference in Speyer, a train trip to Paris for more chartered bus tours, and attendance at the La Libre Pensée conference at the famed Sorbonne University.  Total per person cost of the trip should be around $2,500.  More information will be forthcoming.   The travel agent for the trip is Irene Fillmore (651-489-2996 or 800-526-9737).  She accomplished logistics miracles when coordinating AAI's tour of India in 1996 for the 4th World Atheist Congress at Atheist Centre in Vijayawada.  Irene has reserved seats on Northwest Airlines, but she will put us on other airlines if they have less expensive flights available when we call. 

      If you have interest in this trip, please let me know.  Send your name, address, phone and email address to me via phone (612-338-4548), email (august@mtn.org) or postal mail to the AAI at P O Box 6261, Minneapolis MN 55406.
 

      The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a nativity scene in Washington, D.C., this Christmas.   The court hastened to add that this isn't for any religious constitutional reason. It's logistics.

      They simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virgin in   the Nation's capitol let alone any Holy Men. There was no problem finding enough asses to fill the stable, though.

      The Atheist Alliance International is getting ready for its 8th Annual Convention.  This year the host society is Metroplex Atheists. The dates for the convention are March 29-31, 2002. (That's Easter weekend.)  The place is Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, at the Harvey Hotel-right by the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport.  The room rates are great -- only $69. 

      We are now in the "Call for Presenters" phase of planning. If you can give an interesting presentation that informs, delights, energizes or enrages activist atheists and humanists, contact the Metroplex Atheists now!  Get in touch with Shelly Hattan at AAI2002Convention@ yahoogroups.com, or call Colin Sewards at 817-473-8213.
 

      Well, it's official (and overwhelmingly so): I was wrong about the Belief-O-Matic "Religion Selector" Quiz being rigged so that nobody comes up as an atheist. http://www. beliefnet.com/features/ beliefomatic   Just because they pretend to be selecting your religion for you doesn't mean that religion is all they'll select. 

      In case you slept through all this, my long-time bud James Call took BeliefNet.com's Belief-O-Matic "Religion Selector" Quiz and was disappointed and dismayed that his "Atheism and Agnosticism" rating was way down at Number Four. So I told him it was rigged, and then tried the thing myself -- this time deliberately answering the questions so as to try to make my "Atheism and Agnosticism" ranking as high as possible. My "Atheism and Agnosticism" ranking was a whopping Number Six! Naturally this thing is rigged, right? So we challenged the List to see if anybody could do it. I sweetened the pot by offering a one-year subscription to the first List member to do it (and since two "winners" came in just about the same time, I gave the prize to both).

      Here's the deal: James Call and I (and many others who wrote in) couldn't get the "Atheism and Agnosticism" category up to the top of the list simply because we were answering the "Moral" or Social questions as throw-away questions. No! These questions are crucial to where the "Atheism and Agnosticism" category end up in the final rankings.

      First, you could simply click Next, Next, Next until you get to the end.

      Then all the categories rank a big zero and are sorted alphabetically. Since Atheism Starts with the letter "A," Atheism naturally sorts to the top. This is cheating, in my opinion, so I stipulated that your "Atheism and Agnosticism" ranking had to be (100%).

      Secondly, in what I have dubbed The "Hacker" Method, if you answer only those questions that unambiguously have to do with the God-question, ignoring all questions that are even slightly askew, "Atheism and Agnosticism" will go to the top and rank (100%). However, most of the other items will rank (0%). I consider this valid, although it didn't tell us anything about the bias that BeliefNet.com used in writing the quiz. (It only revealed some unimportant information about how they wrote the program; thus, my moniker The "Hacker" Method.)

      Thirdly, and most importantly, was the answer profile that told us a lot about how they biased this thing (and a little about at least one of the dilemmas they encountered while writing this thing). A long-time PAM contributor and volunteer, Dutch physics student Victor Gijsbers, stumbled upon the key (and gave us the most vivid description of what's going on from a puzzler's standpoint):

      You know what the trick is? First, be very atheistic in the questions about God: this leaves you with Atheism, Universalism and Humanism.

      So, what do you do next? In all the ethical questions, strongly disagree with Humanists and Universalists. Say that abortion is evil, homosexuality is wrong, and women's roles should be defined, etc.

      This drops your Humanism and Universalism scores, leaving you firmly atheistic. :)

      Or, in the words of Sue Strandberg, "The trick for getting a top score as an "Atheist" is to answer as if you were describing  Stalin. Biased? Oh, certainly!"

      I am thinking that "Unitarian Universalism" (perhaps erroneously) has the image of social Liberalism. "Secular Humanism" is decidedly of the social Liberal persuasion (social Liberalism is central to the Humanist Manifesto). Needless to say, the no God-belief and socially Liberal end of the spectrum is well spoken for -- at least in the minds of the Quiz writers. So they had to find someone to fit the no God-belief and socially Conservative profile. Of course, if they ask these questions, they had to anticipate getting those answers!  Someone had to represent this profile, so that's where they relegated the Atheists and Agnostics!

      I made a big fuss this spring and summer, expressing the (somewhat erroneous) opinion that atheists, although impossible to predict in social matters, tend, as a whole, to lean a bit to the Conservative side. This is not true. The recent study from City University New York refutes this notion, placing us slightly Liberal in most matters and decidedly Liberal in matters of marriage and family make-up. (Actually, we're overwhelmingly Liberal in that respect, being practically off the scale regarding our rejection of marriage as an essential institution.) Many more atheists lean toward social Conservatism than most atheistic activists want to admit.

      Thus, I still think this thing is rigged, but in a different way than I previously suspected. I had initially thought that we were being ignored. Now, I don't know what's worse, being ignored altogether or being relegated to holding a social position that has nothing whatsoever to do with the one question that atheism and agnosticism addresses: the God-question.

      James Call wrote back and summarized the essential problem:

      BeliefNet made large and erroneous presumptions     about what an atheist must think. Actually, atheists might answer the morality questions in any fashion and yet still be atheist.

      To correct their skew, BeliefNet needs to ask  only one question: "Do you see any evidence for supernatural beings?" Any "No" response to that  question should shoot the quiz taker's "Atheism and Agnosticism" ranking to Number One, and rating it a full (100%). No other answers should mitigate this one. This would be a pretty simple fix if they wanted to be accurate.

      Several readers suggested that we might want to try to come up with a better quiz. I don't think so, simply because, like most atheists, I don't give a rat what other people believe! I do care about the image that atheists and atheism are given in the media and in public life; their portrayal of atheism (real or imagined) was the only concern I had in checking out this Quiz.

      This bit did spark a lot of interest, even bumping our previous one-shot record-holder, the recent bit about USA Today's Kathleen Parker, http://www.positiveatheism.org/ mail/eml8755.htm though still not holding a candle to the overall response to our requests for "De-Conversion Stories." http://www.positiveatheism.org/ mail/eml9663.htm

      We even woke up our favorite bard, reformed leprechaun JohnPaul Slater, who was in rare form with this classic dyslexic assessment:

         "Cliff, I don't get it. I tried as hard as I could to come out Atheist, too, but mine came back:
            1. Beagle
            2. Bernese Mountain Dog
            3. St Bernard
            4. Pug
        Are you sure that was the right URL?"

      Again, we thank you for all your interest, and hope you enjoyed all this. If you find yourself stuck at some family gathering in the near future, and want to win a friendly bet, log onto this thing and challenge some unsuspecting family member to put "Atheism" at the top (or "New Age" at the bottom, if you like). We're not suggesting any high-stakes gambling, just wager over something like a drumstick, or the last slice of pie, or which insipid holiday music we don't have to listen to, or the "Pope's Nose,"* or something along those lines. In any event, be of good cheer these coming weeks!

    (*Note: In our family the "Pope's Nose," the most coveted part of the turkey, is "the part that goes over the fence last.")

From: http://www.positiveatheism.org/