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The Nullifidian Volume 1 Number 07
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**The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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###### Volume I, Number 7 ***A Collector's Item!***######
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
####################### NOV 1994 ###########################
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nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
[formerly Lucifer's Echo]
The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
reality.
We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
politics and nationalism.
We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
pie in the sky, bye and bye.
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|| Begging portion of the Zine ||
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This is a "sharezine." There is no charge for receiving
this, and there is no charge for distributing copies to any
electronic medium. Nor is there a restriction on printing a
copy for use in discussion. You may not charge to do so,
and you may not do so without attributing it to the proper
author and source.
If you would like to support our efforts, and help us acquire
better equipment to bring you more and better articles, you
may send money to Greg Erwin at: 100, Terrasse Eardley /
Aylmer, Qc / J9H 6B5 / CANADA. Or buy our atheist quote
address labels, and other fine products, see "Shameless
advertising and crass commercialism" below.
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Articles will be welcomed IF: (
they are emailed to: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA; or,
sent on diskette to me at the above Aylmer address in any
format that an IBM copy of WordPerfect can read; ) and
they don't require huge amounts of editing; and
I like them.
If you wish to receive a subscription, email a simple request
to ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA, with a clear request for a
subscription. It will be assumed that the "From:" address
is where it is to be sent.
We will automate this process as soon as we know how.
1994-05-08 Yes, please DO make copies! (*)
Please DO send copies of The Nullifidian to anyone who might
be interested.
The only limitations are:
You must copy the whole document, without making any changes
to it.
You do NOT have permission to copy this document for
commercial purposes.
The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1994, Greg
Erwin and are on deposit at the National Library of Canada
You may find back issues in any place that archives
alt.atheism, specifically mathew's site at ftp.mantis.co.uk.
Currently, all back issues are posted at the Humanist
Association of Ottawa's area on the National Capital Freenet.
telnet to 134.117.1.22, and enter <go humanism> at the "Your
choice==>" prompt.
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Shameless advertising and crass commercialism:
\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/
Atheistic self-stick Avery(tm) address labels. Consisting of
180 different quotes, 30 per page, each label 2 5/8" x 1".
This leaves three 49 character lines available for your own
address, phone number, email, fax or whatever. Each sheet is
US$2, the entire set of 6 for US$11; 2 sets for US$20.
Indicate quantity desired. Print address clearly, exactly as
desired. Order from address in examples below. Laser
printed, 8 pt Arial, with occasional flourishes.
_________________________________________________
|"Reality is that which, when you stop believing |
|in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick] |
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley |
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada |
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA |
|________________________________________________|
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|"...and when you tell me that your deity made |
|you in his own image, I reply that he must be |
|very ugly." [Victor Hugo, writing to clergy] |
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley |
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada Ph: (613) 954-6128 |
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA |
|________________________________________________|
Other stuff for sale:
Certificate of Baptism Removal and Renunciation of Religion.
Have your baptism removed, renounce religion, and have a neat
8" x 11" fancy certificate, on luxury paper, suitable for
framing, to commemorate the event! Instant eligibility for
excommunication! For the already baptism-free: Certificate
of Freedom from Religion. An official atheistic secular
humanist stamp of approval for only $10!
Poster 8x11: WARNING! This is a religion free zone!
All religious vows, codes, and commitments are null & void
herein. Please refrain from contaminating the ideosphere with
harmful memes through prayer, reverence, holy books,
proselytizing, prophesying, faith, speaking in tongues or
spirituality. Fight the menace of second-hand faith!
Humanity sincerely thanks you!
Tastefully arranged in large point Stencil on luxury paper.
4. Ingersoll poster: "When I became convinced that the
universe is natural" speech excerpt. 11"x17" See the June
1994 issue of the _Echo_ for full text.
Order from the same address as above.
Order now to celebrate the rebirth of the Invincible Sun!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Review of Mr Tom Flynn's _the Trouble with Christmas_
2. More Christian Math
3. A Thanksgiving Sermon, by Robert Ingersoll (Part II)
4. Religion and the English Language
5. Advertisement for Power of Prayer Home Security Agency:
by Stephen Carville - pagan@delphi.com
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Review of Mr Tom Flynn's _the Trouble with Christmas_
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Title: The Trouble with Christmas
Author: Tom Flynn
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 1993
ISBN: 0-87975-848-1
Price: $13.95
Pages: 244, no index, footnotes at end of chapters
It is one of the strangest things about this book that you
can completely disagree with the conclusions reached by Tom
Flynn, and have no intention of implementing any of his
recommendations, while still enjoying all of his arguments,
his presentation and the background information in the book.
And, by the way, agreeing with him. In a way, this makes his
point perfectly.
Especially enjoy the background. I don't know of another
book which gives as much in the way of the *real* social
history of the Winter Solstice Holiday. Going right back to
the pagan beginnings, through its evolution to a major Roman
holiday, its takeover by the Christians, becoming a rather
minor holiday. He examines all of the sources: Near Eastern
solar myths, which celebrated the "Rebirth of the Invincible
Sun" a few days after the solstice; the Roman Saturnalia; the
Northern European winter holiday traditions of mistletoe,
yule logs, and decorated trees, and the slow encrustation of
folk customs through the next two millennia.
The biggest surprise is the extremely recent development of
what we think of as the "traditional" Christmas. Flynn
demonstrates that it was Victorian bourgeois society that
created the "traditional" Christmas, out of nothing, but
fully equipped, like Adam, with all the signs of having a
history. People like Dickens, Washington Irving, Clement
Moore, Francis Church and Thomas Nast, created, defined and
refined all of our current Christmas imagery.
Through diligent research, Flynn is able to show that
legislatures, schools and businesses in the US did not
regularly observe Christmas as a holiday until the end of the
nineteenth century. Robert Ingersoll's short article _An
Agnostic Christmas_, (elsewhere in this issue) was published
in the December 25, 1892 edition of the New York _Journal_.
In fact, Christmas was seen as an "immigrant, Catholic"
holiday and not an "American Protestant" observance up to the
time of the First World War. The Puritans, in England and in
New England, just *hated* Christmas and often rioted to stop
people from holding Christmas church services, let alone
parties. At about that time the myth took over and people
began to believe that they and their ancestors had always
celebrated Christmas, with trees, Santas, presents, turkey
dinners, pumpkin pies and shopping trips to the mall.
As to the main conclusion: that atheists should ignore the
entire holiday season and treat the 25th as just another day
in order to emphasize our existence and insist on our
difference; as I said at the beginning, you can agree with
all of the arguments, enjoy the presentation, and still have
no intention of implementing the conclusion. I feel I do my
part by emphasizing the secular and folk aspects of the
holiday. Fortunately, no one in my extended family is
particularly religious and there is no particular blessing
and praying to worry about.
I will, in conclusion, mention one Canadian Protestant custom
that strikes me as particularly a propos for humanists at
holiday time. [Note: this is an old custom, I did not make
it up, and I am not responsible for it.] After your holiday
dinner, you must have a plum pudding. Nobody really likes
plum pudding, but everybody takes a small amount of it before
going on to the real desserts. Grumbling about how nobody
really likes plum pudding is part of the tradition. The
pudding must be first soaked in rum or brandy. Then a match
is applied to it. While this is done, you should mumble
something like, "when I was a child, we always called this:
burning Rome." Maybe in families where the older members
still march with the Orange Lodge, this isn't mumbled, or
thrust into the past. Maybe, for humanists, it could
symbolize the burning away of superstition, for which Rome,
is, indeed, a fitting symbol.
Anyway, if the Christians could steal the holiday from the
pagans, and the Protestants join the Catholics in the party,
certainly we atheists can use the time off for our own
purposes, while maintaining a humanist, secular and atheist
nullifidian attitude toward the whole business. Why not just
have a week-long New Year's celebration?
It is a great book, and makes a thoughtful present, if you
still do that sort of thing, and wonder what to get an atheist
for Christmas.
contact Prometheus at:
700 E. Amherst St.,
Buffalo, New York 14215
(716) 837-2475
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|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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The Puritan through Life's sweet garden goes
To pluck the thorn and cast away the rose. --Kenneth Hare
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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More Christian Math
THEOREM: The largest integer exists and is equal to -1 !!!!
This is a matter of faith. Now, you may see through a glass,
darkly, but it can be demonstrated to be consistent with
logic and science, as follows:
Let N be the largest integer.
[Just have faith that it is for a minute]
it is obvious that for any N
N <= N + 1
and, of course, for any N
N + 1 <= N + 2
[these are simple, obviously true, *scientific* statements,
and support rather than contradict our faith]
therefore it must be true that
N <= N + 2
[this is a necessary logical conclusion]
but, as N *IS* the largest integer,
[and we have faith that it is]
it must be true that:
N = N + 2 !!!
[which is still consistent with our previous statements]
[we rely on faith here, but just for a moment]
[back to reason and logic and math]
To solve this apparent contradiction we can square both
sides:
N^2 = N^2 + 4N + 4
reorganizing, we obtain:
-4 = 4N
and, solving:
-1 = N
Proving that the largest integer exists and is equal to -1!
Some people will say there can be no largest integer, because
you can always add 1 to any proposed largest integer. The
simple answer to that foolish quibble is that:
-1 (the largest integer) + 1 = 0,
which simply proves that *nothing* is larger than -1.
NOTE to self: next month show them that infinity divided by
zero equals anything, therefore God exists!
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|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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"If every freethinker in this country would boldly express
his sentiments, Christians would be compelled to look up to
us. They would be as cautious how they arraign us as we are
now to oppose them. They would fear that they would lose our
trade, even as we now keep silence lest we lose their
patronage. We should not wait for preachers to tell us that
the country is going to materialism. We should assert our
own individuality and impart the information ourselves."
"W." Letter to _The Freethought Ideal_, June 15, 1899,
in _Freethought on the American Frontier_, ed. by Fred
Whitehead and Verle Muhrer
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
BEGINNING OF PART 2
A Thanksgiving Sermon, by Robert Ingersoll
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
III
If we cannot thank the orthodox churches -- if we
cannot thank the unknown, the incomprehensible, the
supernatural -- if we cannot thank Nature -- if we can not
kneel to a Guess, or prostrate ourselves before a Perhaps --
whom shall we thank?
Let us see what the worldly have done -- what has been
accomplished by those not "called," not "set apart," not
"inspired," not filled with the Holy Ghost -- by those who
were neglected by all the Gods.
Passing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and
Romans, their poets, philosophers and metaphysicians -- we
will come to modern times.
In the 10th century after Christ the Saracens governors
of a vast empire -- "established colleges in Mongolia,
Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa,
Morocco, Fez and in Spain." The region owned by the Saracens
was greater than the Roman Empire. "They had not only
college. -- but observatories. The sciences were taught.
They introduced the ten numerals -- taught algebra and
trigonometry -- understood cubic equations -- knew the art
of surveying -- they made catalogues and maps of the stars
-- gave the great stars the names they still bear -- they
ascertained the size of the earth -- determined the
obliquity of the ecliptic and fixed the length of the year.
They calculated eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions
of planets and occultations of stars. They constructed
astronomical instruments. They made clocks of various kinds
and were the inventors of the pendulum. They originated
chemistry -- discovered sulfuric and nitric acid and
alcohol.
They were the first to publish pharmacopeias and
dispensatories.
"In mechanics they determined the laws of falling
bodies. They understood the mechanical powers, and the
attraction of gravitation.
"They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific
gravities of bodies.
"In optics they discovered that a ray of light did not
proceed from the eye to an object -- but from the object to
the eye."
They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and
steel -- "They gave us the game of chess." They produced
romances and novels and essays on many subjects.
"In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of
evolution and development." They anticipated Darwin and
Spencer.
These people were not Christians. They were the
followers, for the most part, of an impostor -- of a
pretended prophet of a false God. And yet while the true
Christians, the men selected by the true God and filled with
the Holy Ghost were tearing out the tongues of heretics,
these wretches were irreverently tracing the orbits of the
stars. While the true believers were flaying philosophers
and extinguishing the eyes of thinkers, these godless
followers of Mohammed were founding colleges, collecting
manuscripts, investigating the facts of nature and giving
their attention to science. Afterward the followers of
Mohammed became the enemies of science and hated facts as
intensely and honestly as Christians. Whoever has a
revelation from God will defend it with all his strength --
will abhor reason and deny facts.
But it is well to know that we are indebted to the
Moors -- to the followers of Mohammed -- for having laid the
foundations of modern science. It is well to know that we
are not indebted to the church, to Christianity, for any
useful fact.
It is well to know that the seeds of thought were sown
in our minds by the Greeks and Romans, and that our
literature came from those seeds. The great literature of
our language is Pagan in its thought -- Pagan in its beauty
-- Pagan in its perfection. It is well to know that when
Mohammedans were the friends of science, Christians were its
enemies. How consoling it is to think that the friends of
science -- the men who educated their fellows -- are now in
hell, and that the men who persecuted and killed
philosophers are now in heaven! Such is the justice of God.
The Christians of the Middle Ages, the men who were
filled with the Holy Ghost, knew all about the worlds beyond
the grave, but nothing about the world in which they lived.
They thought the earth was flat -- a little dishing if
anything -- that it was about five thousand years old, and
that the stars were little sparkles made to beautify the
night.
The fact is that Christianity was in existence for
fifteen hundred years before there was an astronomer in
Christendom. No follower of Christ knew the shape of the
earth.
The earth was demonstrated to be a globe, not by a pope
or cardinal -- not by a collection of clergymen -- not by
the "called" or the "set apart," but by a sailor. Magellan
left Seville, Spain, August 10th, 1519, sailed west and kept
sailing west, and the ship reached Seville, the port it
left, on Sept. 7th, 1522.
The world had been circumnavigated. The earth was known
to be round. There had been a dispute between the Scriptures
and a sailor. The fact took the sailor's side.
In 1543 Copernicus published his book, "On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies."
He had some idea of the vastness of the stars -- of the
astronomical spaces -- of the insignificance of this world.
Toward the close of the sixteenth century, Bruno, one
of the greatest men this world has produced, gave his
thoughts to his fellow-men. He taught the plurality of
worlds. He was a Pantheist, an Atheist, an honest man. He
called the Catholic Church the "Triumphant Beast." He was
imprisoned for many years, tried, convicted, and on the 6th
day of February, 1600, burned in Rome by men filled with the
Holy Ghost, burned on the spot where now his monument rises.
Bruno, the noblest, the greatest of all the martyrs. The
only one who suffered death for what he believed to be the
truth. The only martyr who had no heaven to gain, no hell to
shun, no God to please. He was nobler than inspired men,
grander than prophets, greater and purer than apostles.
Above all the theologians of the world, above the makers of
creeds, above the founders of religions rose this serene,
unselfish and intrepid man.
Yet Christians, followers of Christ, murdered this
incomparable man. These Christians were true to their creed.
They believed that faith would be rewarded with eternal joy,
and doubt punished with eternal pain. They were logical.
They were pious and pitiless -- devout and devilish -- meek
and malicious -- religious and revengeful -- Christ-like and
cruel -- loving with their mouths and hating with their
hearts. And yet, honest victims of ignorance and fear.
What have the worldly done?
In 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses
that objects were exaggerated.
He invented the telescope.
He gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us
citizens of the Universe.
In 1610, on the night of January 7th, Galileo
demonstrated the truth of the Copernican system, and in
1632, published his work on "The System of the World."
What did the church do?
Galileo was arrested, imprisoned, forced to fall upon
his knees, put his hand on the Bible, and recant. For ten
years he was kept in prison -- for ten years until released
by the pity of death. Then the church -- men filled with the
Holy Ghost -- denied his body burial in consecrated ground.
It was feared that his dust might corrupt the bodies of
those who had persecuted him.
In 1609, Kepler published his book "Motions of the
Planet Mars." He, too, knew of the attraction of gravitation
and that it acted in proportion to mass and distance. Kepler
announced his Three Laws. He found and mathematically
expressed the relation of distance, mass, and motion.
Nothing greater has been accomplished by the human mind.
Astronomy became a science and Christianity a
superstition.
Then came Newton, Herschel and Laplace. The astronomy
of Joshua and Elijah faded from the minds of intelligent
men, and Jehovah became an ignorant tribal god.
Men began to see that the operations of Nature were not
subject to interference. That eclipses were not caused by
the wrath of God -- that comets had nothing to do with the
destruction of empires or the death of kings. that the stars
wheeled in their orbits without regard to the actions of
men. In the sacred East the dawn appeared.
What have the worldly done?
A few years ago a few men became wicked enough to use
their senses. They began to look and listen. They began to
really see and then they began to reason. They forgot heaven
and hell long enough to take some interest in this world.
They began to examine soils and rocks. They noticed what had
been done by rivers and seas. They found out something about
the crust of the earth. They found that most of the rocks
had been deposited and stratified in the water -- rocks
70,000 feet in thickness. They found that the coal was once
vegetable matter. They made the best calculations they could
of the time required to make the coal, and concluded that it
must have taken at least six or seven millions of years.
They examined the chalk cliffs, found that they were
composed of the microscopic shells of minute organisms, that
is to say, the dust of these shells. This dust settled over
areas as large as Europe and in some places the chalk is a
mile in depth. This must have required many millions of
years.
Lyell, the highest authority on the subject, says that
it must have required, to cause the changes that we know, at
least two hundred million years. Think of these vast
deposits caused by the slow falling of infinitesimal atoms
of impalpable dust through the silent depths of ancient
seas! Think of the microscopical forms of life, constructing
their minute houses of lime, giving life to others, leaving
their mansions beneath the waves, and so through countless
generations building the foundations of continents and
islands.
Go back of all life that we now know -- back of all the
flying lizards, the armored monsters, the hissing serpents,
the winged and fanged horrors -- back to the Laurentian
rocks -- to the eozoon, the first of living things that we
have found -- back of all mountains, seas and rivers -- back
to the first incrustation of the molten world -- back of
wave of fire and robe of flame -- back to the time when all
the substance of the earth blazed in the glowing sun with
all the stars that wheel about the central fire.
Think of the days and nights that lie between! -- think
of the centuries, the withered leaves of time, that strew
the desert of the past!
Nature does not hurry. Time cannot be wasted -- cannot
be lost. The future remains eternal and all the past is as
though it had not been -- as though it were to be. The
infinite knows neither loss nor gain
We know something of the history of the world --
something of the human race; and we know that man has lived
and struggled through want and war, through pestilence and
famine, through ignorance and crime, through fear and hope,
on the old earth for millions and millions of years.
At last we know that infallible popes, and countless
priests and clergymen, who had been "called," filled with
the Holy Ghost, and presidents of colleges, kings, emperors
and executives of nations had mistaken the blundering
guesses of ignorant savages for the wisdom of an infinite
God.
At last we know that the story of creation. of the
beginning of things, as told in the "sacred book," is not
only untrue, but utterly absurd and idiotic. Now we know
that the inspired writers did not know and that the God who
inspired them did not know.
We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely
upon facts. The world is our witness and the stars testify
for us.
What have the worldly done?
They have investigated the religions of the world --
have read the sacred books, the prophecies, the
commandments, the rules of conduct. They have studied the
symbols, the ceremonies, the prayers and sacrifices. And
they have shown that all religions are substantially the
same -- produced by the same causes -- that all rest on a
misconception of the facts in nature -- that all are founded
on ignorance and fear, on mistake and mystery.
They have found that Christianity is like the rest --
that it was not a revelation, but a natural growth -- that
its gods and devils, its heavens and hells, were borrowed --
that its ceremonies and sacraments were souvenirs of other
religions -- that no part of it came from heaven, but that
it was all made by savage man. They found that Jehovah was a
tribal god and that his ancestors had lived on the banks of
the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Ganges and the Nile, and
these ancestors were traced back to still more savage forms.
They found that all the sacred books were filled with
inspired mistake and sacred absurdity.
But, say the Christians, we have the only inspired
book. We have the Old Testament and the New. Where did you
get the Old Testament? From the Jews? -- Yes.
Let me tell you about it.
After the Jews returned from Babylon, about 400 years
before Christ, Ezra commenced making the Bible. You will
find an account of this in the Bible.
We know that Genesis was written after the Captivity --
because it was from the Babylonians that the Jews got the
story of the creation -- of Adam and Eve, of the Garden --
of the serpent, and the tree of life -- of the flood -- and
from them they learned about the Sabbath.
You find nothing about that holy day in Judges, Joshua,
Samuel, Kings or Chronicles -- nothing in Job, the Psalms,
in Esther, Solomon's Song or Ecclesiastes. Only in books
written by Ezra after the return from Babylon.
When Ezra finished the inspired book, he placed it in
the temple. It was written on the skins of beasts, and, so
far as we know, there was but one.
What became of this Bible?
Jerusalem was taken by Titus about 70 years after
Christ. The temple was destroyed and, at the request of
Josephus, the Holy Bible was sent to Vespasian the Emperor,
at Rome.
And this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of
since. So much for that.
Then there was a copy, or rather a translation, called
the Septuagint.
How was that made?
It is said that Ptolemy Soter and his son Ptolemy
Philadelphus obtained a translation of the Jewish Bible.
This translation was made by seventy persons.
At that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel,
Ecclesiastes, but few of the Psalms and only a part of
Isaiah.
What became of this translation known as the
Septuagint?
It was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years
before Christ.
Then there was another so-called copy of part of the
Bible, known as the Samaritan Roll of the Pentateuch.
But this is not considered of any value.
Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple
at Jerusalem -- the one sent to Vespasian?
Nobody knows.
Have we a true copy of the Septuagint?
Nobody knows.
What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in
Hebrew?
The oldest manuscript we have in Hebrew was written in
the 10th century after Christ. The oldest pretended copy we
have of the Septuagint written in Greek was made in the 5th
century after Christ.
If the Bible was divinely inspired, if it was the
actual word of God, we have no authenticated copy. The
original has been lost and we are left in the darkness of
Nature.
It is impossible for us to show that our Bible is
correct. We have no standard. Many of the books in our Bible
contradict each other. Many chapters appear to be incomplete
and parts of different books are written in the same words,
showing that both could not have been original. The 19th and
20th chapters of 2nd Kings and the 37th and 38th chapters of
Isaiah are exactly the same. So is the 36th chapter of
Isaiah from the 2nd verse the same as the 18th chapter of
2nd Kings from the 2nd verse.
So, it is perfectly apparent that there could have been
no possible propriety in inspiring the writers of Kings and
the writers of Chronicles. The books are substantially the
same, differing in a few mistakes -- in a few falsehoods.
The same is true of Leviticus and Numbers. The books do not
agree either in facts or philosophy. They differ as the men
differed who wrote them.
What have the worldly done?
They have investigated the phenomena of nature. They
have invented ways to use the forces of the world, the
weight of falling water -- of moving air. They have changed
water to steam, invented engines -- the tireless giants that
work for man. They have made lightning a messenger and
slave. They invented movable type, taught us the art of
printing and made it possible to save and transmit the
intellectual wealth of the world. They connected continents
with cables, cities and towns with the telegraph -- brought
the world into one family -- made intelligence independent
of distance. They taught us how to build homes, to obtain
food, to weave cloth. They covered the seas with iron ships
and the land with roads and steeds of steel. They gave us
the tools of all the trades -- the implements of labor. They
chiseled statues, painted pictures and "witched the world"
with form and color. They have found the cause of and the
cure for many maladies that afflict the flesh and minds of
men. They have given us the instruments of music and the
great composers and performers have changed the common air
to tones and harmonies that intoxicate, exalt and purify the
soul.
They have rescued us from the prisons of fear, and
snatched our souls from the fangs and claws of
superstition's loathsome, crawling, flying beasts. They have
given us the liberty to think and the courage to express our
thoughts. They have changed the frightened, the enslaved,
the kneeling, the prostrate into men and women -- clothed
them in their right minds and made them truly free. They
have uncrowned the phantoms, wrested the scepters from the
ghosts and given this world to the children of men. They
have driven from the heart the fiends of fear and
extinguished the flames of hell.
They have read a few leaves of the great volume --
deciphered some of the records written on stone by the
tireless hands of time in the dim past. They have told us
something of what has been done by wind and wave, by fire
and frost, by life and death, the ceaseless workers, the
pauseless forces of the world.
They have enlarged the horizon of the known, changed
the glittering specks that shine above us to wheeling
worlds, and filled all space with countless suns.
They have found the qualities of substances, the nature
of things -- how to analyze, separate and combine, and have
enabled us to use the good and avoid the hurtful.
They have given us mathematics in the higher forms, by
means of which we measure the astronomical spaces, the
distances to stars, the velocity at which the heavenly
bodies move, their density and weight, and by which the
mariner navigates the waste and trackless seas. They have
given us all we have of knowledge, of literature and art.
They have made life worth living. They have filled the world
with conveniences, comforts and luxuries.
All this has been done by the worldly -- by those who
were not "called" or "set apart" or filled with the Holy
Ghost or had the slightest claim to "apostolic succession."
The men who accomplished these things were not "inspired."
They had no revelation -- no supernatural aid. They were not
clad in sacred vestments, and tiaras were not upon their
brows. They were not even ordained. They used their senses,
observed and recorded facts. They had confidence in reason.
They were patient searchers for the truth. They turned their
attention to the affairs of this world. They were not
saints. They were sensible men. They worked for themselves,
for wife and child and for the benefit of all.
To these men we are indebted for all we are, for all we
know, for all we have. They were the creators of
civilization -- the founders of free states -- the saviors
of liberty -- the destroyers of superstition and the great
captains in the army of progress.
IV
Whom shall we thank? Standing here at the close of the
19th century -- amid the trophies of thought -- the triumphs
of genius -- here under the flag of the Great Republic --
knowing something of the history of man -- here on this day
that has been set apart for thanksgiving, I most reverently
thank the good men, the good women of the past, I thank the
kind fathers, the loving mothers of the savage days. I thank
the father who spoke the first gentle word, the mother who
first smiled upon her babe. I thank the first true friend. I
thank the savages who hunted and fished that they and their
babes might live. I thank those who cultivated the ground
and changed the forests into farms -- those who built rude
homes and watched the faces of their happy children in the
glow of fireside flames -- those who domesticated horses,
cattle and sheep -- those who invented wheels and looms and
taught us to spin and weave -- those who by cultivation
changed wild grasses into wheat and corn, changed bitter
things to fruit, and worthless weeds to flowers, that sowed
within our souls the seeds of art. I thank the poets of the
dawn -- the tellers of legends -- the makers of myths -- the
singers of joy and grief, of hope and love. I thank the
artists who chiseled forms in stone and wrought with light
and shade the face of man. I thank the philosophers, the
thinkers, who taught us how to use our minds in the great
search for truth. I thank the astronomers who explored the
heavens, told us the secrets of the stars, the glories of
the constellations -- the geologists who found the story of
the world in fossil forms, in memoranda kept in ancient
rocks, in lines written by waves, by frost and fire -- the
anatomists who sought in muscle, nerve and bone for all the
mysteries of life -- the chemists who unraveled Nature's
work that they might learn her art -- the physicians who
have laid the hand of science on the brow of pain, the hand
whose magic touch restores -- the surgeons who have defeated
Nature's self and forced her to preserve the lives of those
she labored to destroy.
I thank the discoverers of chloroform and ether, the
two angels who give to their beloved sleep, and wrap the
throbbing brain in the soft robes of dreams. I thank the
great inventors -- those who gave us movable type and the
press, by means of which great thoughts and all discovered
facts are made immortal -- the inventors of engines, of the
great ships, of the railways, the cables and telegraphs. I
thank the great mechanics, the workers in iron and steel, in
wood and stone. I thank the inventors and makers of the
numberless things of use and luxury.
I thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the
useful women. They are the benefactors of our race.
The inventor of pins did a thousand times more good
than all the popes and cardinals, the bishops and priests --
than all the clergymen and parsons, exhorters and
theologians that ever lived.
The inventor of matches did more for the comfort and
convenience of mankind than all the founders of religions
and the makers of all creeds -- than all malicious monks and
selfish saints.
I thank the honest men and women who have expressed
their sincere thoughts, who have been true to themselves and
have preserved the veracity of their souls.
I thank the thinkers of Greece and Rome. Zeno and
Epicurus, Cicero and Lucretius. I thank Bruno, the bravest,
and Spinoza, the subtlest of men.
I thank Voltaire, whose thought lighted a flame in the
brain of man, unlocked the doors of superstition's cells and
gave liberty to many millions of his fellow-men. Voltaire --
a name that sheds light. Voltaire -- a star that
superstition's darkness cannot quench.
I thank the great poets -- the dramatists. I thank
Homer and Aeschylus, and I thank Shakespeare above them all.
I thank Burns for the heart-throbs he changed into songs.
for his lyrics of flame. I thank Shelley for his Skylark,
Keats for his Grecian Urn and Byron for his Prisoner of
Chillon. I thank the great novelists. I thank the great
sculptors. I thank the unknown man who molded and chiseled
the Venus de Milo. I thank the great painters. I thank
Rembrandt and Corot. I thank all who have adorned, enriched
and ennobled life -- all who have created the great, the
noble, the heroic and artistic ideals.
I thank the statesmen who have preserved the rights of
man. I thank Paine whose genius sowed the seeds of
independence in the hearts of '76. I thank Jefferson whose
mighty words for liberty have made the circuit of the globe.
I thank the founders, the defenders, the saviors of the
Republic. I thank Ericsson, the greatest mechanic of his
century, for the monitor. I thank Lincoln for the
Proclamation. I thank Grant for his victories and the vast
host that fought for the right, -- for the freedom of man. I
thank them all -- the living and the dead.
I thank the great scientists -- those who have reached
the foundation, the bed-rock -- who have built upon facts --
the great scientists, in whose presence theologians look
silly and feel malicious.
The scientists never persecuted, never imprisoned their
fellow-men. They forged no chains, built no dungeons,
erected no scaffolds -- tore no flesh with red hot pincers
-- dislocated no joints on racks, crushed no hones in iron
boots -- extinguished no eyes -- tore out no tongues and
lighted no fagots. They did not pretend to be inspired --
did not claim to be prophets or saints or to have been born
again. They were only intelligent and honest men. They did
not appeal to force or fear. They did not regard men as
slaves to be ruled by torture, by lash and chain, nor as
children to be cheated with illusions, rocked in the cradle
of an idiot creed and soothed by a lullaby of lies.
They did not wound -- they healed. They did not kill --
they lengthened life. They did not enslave -- they broke the
chains and made men free. They sowed the seeds of knowledge,
and many millions have reaped, are reaping, and will reap
the harvest: of joy.
I thank Humboldt and Helmholtz and Haeckel and Buchner.
I thank Lamarck and Darwin -- Darwin who revolutionized the
thought of the intellectual world. I thank Huxley and
Spencer. I thank the scientists one and all.
I thank the heroes, the destroyers of prejudice and
fear -- the dethroners of savage gods -- the extinguishers
of hate's eternal fire -- the heroes, the breakers of chains
-- the founders of free states -- the makers of just laws --
the heroes who fought and fell on countless fields -- the
heroes whose dungeons became shrines -- the heroes whose
blood made scaffolds sacred -- the heroes, the apostles of
reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of freedom --
the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled the world
with light.
With all my heart I thank them all.
Source:
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926,
Louisville, KY 40201
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Jesus is not my best friend, I have real friends. --Andrew
Lias on alt.atheism
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Religion and the English Language
Most of you will recognize George Orwell's essay, _Politics
and the English Language_ in the title. In that essay, he
pointed out that politics and advertising had debased the
English language, and of course, any other language. This
was fifty years ago, before television, before videos, poor
George didn't know what we were in for.
But, there had to be something that prepared the way.
Before the communists could call an authoritarian
dictatorship a people's democracy; before the Nazis were
able to write over the gateway at Auschwitz: `Arbeit Mach
Frei'; what was the system in place that had abused logic
and debased language for millennia? No hands? What
organization regularly enshrined illogic, discouraged (to
put it mildly) rational enquiry and dissent; and practised
all of the twisted psychological abuses inherent in any
mental disorder? And continues to do so today? Let's
consider religion.
The main characteristic of the religious mental process (one
hesitates to call it thinking), is the same doublethink that
Orwell pointed out in perverted political thinking. A
Christian can believe that his God is an omnipotent god who
nevertheless cannot end evil, or a kind and merciful god
that does not want to. An omnipresent and omniscient god
who has to ask Adam: `Where are you hiding?' A god of love
and compassion who sends hurricanes, earthquakes and
pestilence to maim and kill thousands of people. Christians
reserve a special level of impossibility for women: their
role model combines the roles of virgin and mother. Every
true believer will say that the Bible is an inspirational
and inspired book, and can manage to ignore the
bloodthirsty, irrational and sadistic passages. A doctrine
that condemns the vast majority of humanity to eternal
torture is not a kind doctrine, if `kind' means anything at
all. Like the red queen in Wonderland, Christians have no
problem believing contradictory things.
Another area wherein religion preceded Big Brother was in
the rewriting of history. If you remember, the "historians"
of _1984_, were kept busy by rewriting history make it
conform to the reality of the present. Most christians
today believe that their religion was instrumental in
abolishing slavery, and that christianity in itself was a
major force for black civil rights. They insist that the
United States was "founded as a Christian nation" a claim
that five minutes' research will refute. I predict that in
fifty years, christian churches will be announcing to the
world that they were instrumental in fighting for equal
rights for women and that they were at the forefront of the
battle for tolerance of homosexuals. This latter one is as
much a lie as the first. To accommodate advreligious
prejudices, the Freethinking, radical, and anti-clerical
tendencies of American history are simply ignored.
Along with politicians and advertisers, religious
propagandists have the need to conceal what they mean. As
well, all three often are forced into situations where they
must say something, but have nothing to say. There is no
logical reason to prefer one soft drink over another, and
none for preferring one set of irrational dogmas over
another. Inflated, jargon-filled language, or simple
meaningless repetition; both serve the needs of bureaucrats
and priests. Slogans for the faithful to repeat, evasive,
meaningless, but important sounding, pseudo-explanations when
forced by skeptics to explain.
Every christian automatically redefines words when
they have to do with his own religious doctrine. "Mercy,"
"kindness," and "love" take on completely different meanings
when in a christian context. When they talk about love,
they mean fear and guilt. When they mention kindness, they
mean something which cannot be distinguished from random
natural disasters. Mercy can somehow include infinite and
eternal torture. This helps them conceal what they mean
even from themselves.
You can find a close analogy to this kind of thinking in
many of the popular books and magazine articles written by
the survivors of traumatic childhoods. (I admit, I read
them.) It is nearly impossible to convey the self-deception
and shared delusions that must exist and in which all
members of the family must participate to make it possible
to carry on as an alcoholic family, or a family where
spousal abuse or incest exists. I believe most people have
encountered some explanation of these mechanisms on talk
shows or in magazine articles. Such a family has certain
unspoken, but well understood rules, which operate to
maintain the dysfunction. The rules may be: never talk
about family problems in public; always pretend to be happy;
nice girls never talk about sex; and so on.
Religions maintain their dysfunctions and shared delusions
through the same kind of rules. We're not meant to
understand the ways of God; faith is more important than
thought; rational enquiry about sacred subjects is
blasphemy. In the nineteenth century any woman who spoke in
public, would be shunned as immoral. This is an effective
weapon for the suppression of equal rights for women. Some
rules are very explicit and direct, like the murder contract
out on Salman Rushdie, and the thousand or so blasphemers
that have actually recently been murdered by Muslim fanatics
(and this certainly will make others think twice about
blaspheming against Islam) others are enforced through the
mechanisms of manners: it is extremely uncomfortable for
most people to get up and leave the room when a prayer
begins, we just don't want to be impolite. And we certainly
don't want to face the frowns of disapproval that ensue.
The time has come for us all to start being impolite. I
have decided that I will face the frowns for everyone.
One hundred years ago, it was impossible to talk about
sexual matters even as a part of marriage. Anthony Comstock
literally hounded the author of one of the first marriage
manuals to death. As a good christian, I'm sure he was
proud of it. A victorian lady could not properly go to a
doctor for an examination. It was impolite for a lady to
speak in public. These social rules of politeness enforce
the status quo and enforce christianity's misogyny. You can
see how difficult it would be to get your complaints heard
if it were impolite to speak then aloud. You can see how
religion benefits from its taboo status, this taboo allowed
the christian priests at St. Lawrence in the US, and in
Alfred and Newfoundland to continue their rapes and
molestations for at least two decades, as it's just `not
done' to complain against the church.
Atheists are often accused of being angry, when we criticize
religion. As if there were nothing to be angry about. As
if anger were something bad. In general, the first step to
resolving a problem is realizing why one is angry, and then
figuring out what to do about it. We should realize the
anger that we have against religion, for the damage that it
has done to all of our lives, and express this anger. It's
not as if religion is sacred or anything.
The late Isaac Asimov wrote that there are six "Security
Beliefs" that people like to have. Anything that tends to
support a security belief is accepted without serious
investigation, anything that contradicts one is discounted
without serious investigation. The beliefs are:
The Six Security Beliefs
1) There exist supernatural forces that can be cajoled or
forced into protecting mankind.
2) There is no such thing, really, as death.
3) There is some purpose to the Universe.
4) Individuals have special powers that will enable them
to get something for nothing.
5) You are better than the next fellow.
6) If anything goes wrong, it's not one's own fault.
All religion succeeds because it satisfies the security
beliefs, not because of its logical persuasiveness. Couple
this satisfaction with commands to ignore logic and the
evidence of one's own senses, and to distrust friends,
family and other people in general, and you have the
beginnings of a successful cult.
It is also possible for any set of beliefs to become
habitual and resist examination. It is easy for humanists
to believe anything that says "humanists are brighter and
more rational than the average person," and to think this
applies specifically to oneself. Everybody believes that
they are right.
It will be objected that religion is a guide to morality.
It is not. Most often religion is an excuse for immorality.
With religious reasons behind you, it is easy to violate any
of the common moral decencies. The religious have never
found it difficult to find an excuse to rape, murder, steal
or torture in god's name. Religion never thought of the
idea of inherent human rights. Search the bible, the koran,
the vedas, the works of any religion and you will never find
any idea of an inviolable human right.
You will find that the weaker the logical and rational
support for an idea is, the more violent a reaction a
challenge will elicit. Religious fights are the bloodiest
of all, being based on nothing at all.
I've learned two new words lately, this is my vocabulary
lesson. First, "soteriology," from Delos McKown in
_Mythmaker's Magic_. This simply means the doctrine of
salvation. This is very informative because salvation is
what the christian has been promised. Salvation means
eternal life, eternal bliss, eternal pie in the sky. All
the christian has to do is believe. So, do you think a
logical argument is going to carry much weight against this?
If a christian is convinced that salvation is the reward for
clinging fast to their doctrines despite all of the
evidence, there is no arguing with such a person. As Thomas
Paine or Robert Ingersoll, said, it is like giving medicine
to the dead.
The other word was "incoherent," as a philosophical concept,
from Kai Neilson. The God idea is incoherent. What this
means is that this whole concept does not make any sense.
Ask a theist for a definition of God. And then, ask
questions. You will quickly discover what incoherence is
first hand. Of course the frustrating thing for an atheist
is that the religious figuratively keep their eyes (and
minds) tightly shut and claim there is no light. It should
be noted that making sense is a virtue in every other realm
of human behaviour except religion, wherein irrationality is
proclaimed as something good. Does this matter? It matters
when fear of religious pressure makes it impossible for a
humanist group to use free community advertising. It
matters when a member of the BC Board of Parole uses
graphology to decide about conditional release. It matters
when juries accept the unsubstantiated evidence of dreams,
hypnosis and such like `spectral' evidence.
Thus, the acceptance of religious modes of behavior has a
pernicious influence on every sphere of society. Because
religion must be protected from rational inquiry, it makes
rational inquiry into many areas difficult. Because
religious dogmas are contradicted by scientific knowledge,
we must waste huge amounts of money fighting for decent
science education, and watch as publishers, catering to
religious ignorance, debase the world's textbooks.
Religious dogmas about human sexuality that are simply wrong
are responsible for untold human misery, from neurotic
dysfunctions, to death caused by AIDS and unwanted
pregnancies. Wars over religious fairy tales cause deaths
every day.
This will only end when we accept that there is no area of
human endeavor that is not subject to rational scrutiny, and
no subject that be protected from investigation. It must
always be considered a warning sign, whether it is in the
field of used car sales, or Bible archaeology, when the
fellow tells you that looking into it too deep is only going
to cause you problems.
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Did you know that after the resurrection, Jesus found out he
couldn't dance? The proof is in the prayer he said:
"Father, I have risen, but I can't get down."
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from Stephen Carville - pagan@delphi.com
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|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume I,
Number 6: NOV 1994.
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--
nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or belief. [f.
med. L nullifidius f. L nullus "none" + fides "faith";] / If this is a
humanist topic then I am President of the Humanist Association of Ottawa.
Greg Erwin. ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
