THE TEXAS ATHEIST
Copyright © 1999-2000 by Howard Thompson

Subject: The Texas Atheist - Last Issue Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 20:55:30 EDT From: Gofreemind@aol.com To: Gofreemind@aol.com

=====[ SUBSCRIBE or REMOVE to gofreemind@aol.com ]=====

THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. LATE NEWS: The Texas Atheist ceases publication 3. LATE NEWS: Comfort to remove Freethinker Rock 4. Houston ISD removes religious displays 5. Help defend Freethought professor 6. Santa Fe ISD defends student persecution 7. Baylor protects new creationist institute 8. News/Science Briefs FACT to celebrate Ingersoll early Big Bang's "echo" clarifies and confuses theory Good sleep necessary for learning memory Campus Freethought Alliance splits from Humanists Mother's milk fatty acids help baby's mental development 9. Letters: "converted a friend from being Baptist" "Explorer Post ... only two theists" 10. Groups, TV, Internet Discussion [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

========================================== TEXAS EVENTS

MAY 13 - 11:00AM: FACT's annual Ingersoll Celebration at the Freethinker Rock in Comfort. ==========================================

LATE NEWS -- THE TEXAS ATHEIST CEASES PUBLICATION

No more editions of The Texas Atheist e-mail newsletter will be published.

Due to unknown complainants, AOL is threatening to discontinue my AOL account because people complain about receiving invitations to subscribe with sample issues. I will try to retain my AOL account active for another 4-6 weeks to clean-up remaining communications.

AOL calls my primary outreach tool bulk mailing. AOL blocks all bulk mailings from AOL addresses, or, from addresses outside of AOL to AOL accounts. The blocks are triggered by complaints to AOL from AOL or non-AOL customers.

These AOL policies have several effects on TTA.

First, such policies will eventually prevent me from e-mailing TTA to any AOL addresses. This means losing one-third of subscribers, the equivalent of more than a year's worth of difficult effort to gain that many subscribers.

Second, it foreshadows an internet trend to block all unsolicited e-mails. Unsolicited invitations to subscribe account for over 80% of TTA's circulation growth. This means that TTA soon faces the loss of its primary atheist outreach tool, which will cause a shrinkage of TTA circulation to a fraction of its present level.

Third, complaint trigger policies leaves TTA vulnerable to deliberate sabotage. Since I have not saved the documentation AOL requires to prove specific subscription requests, I cannot defend TTA from people who subscribed deliberately in order to complain to AOL. And there is some evidence of deliberate attempts to sabotage TTA. Even if I began a cumbersome documentation system for new subscribers, stealth saboteurs on the current list can still shut me down. With the expectation that most major internet service providers will soon institute similar policies, there is little expectation that I could even continue to send TTA to the vast majority of those who did subscribe and do want TTA.

The primary option available is to establish a website that could collect new subscribers. Unfortunately, even the most active non-theistic websites would produce enough new Texas subscribers to at best sustain a steady-state TTA circulation of only 400-600, significantly less than the current 2,700.

My resources are too limited to convert TTA into a commercial effort that could increase TTA circulation by the 300% to 500% that might possibly be self-sustainable and justify my continued full-time atheist activism. I have already invested 30 months full time without an income, living off savings, only to see even TTA's minimal success face inevitable demise as a result of major internet service provider policies.

I believe in accepting reality. The reality is that the internet is no longer be a media where people with little money can build even a small audience for their information. The reality is that coming internet legislation will further protect the interests of wealthy internet companies by giving them ever greater control over their customer's internet activities.

In such a big-money environment, I cannot hope that one poor person's voice can possibly find an audience large enough to have any meaningful impact on anything.

I hope some of you enjoyed and personally profited from the 41 issues of TTA I was able to distribute before money interests killed my effort. I wish I could have shared with you more of my seven years of pondering on atheist thought, Constitutional separation of religion from government, and the early history of Christianity and Jesus. As it is, I got to share very little of that information while trying to build TTA circulation to support atheist community and strengthen atheist identity.

I hope some day wealthy atheists will fund their own, or other's, atheist outreach and communication efforts. Until such time as rich atheists step forward or numerous average atheists are willing to fund atheist community infrastructure, atheists will continue to be an invisible, powerless minority that is easily bullied by personal and governmental religiously motivated hatred.

Accept reality, Howard Thompson Former Editor The Texas Atheist

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LATE NEWS – FREETHINKER ROCK TO BE REMOVED

The Comfort Chamber of Commerce has voted to move the Freethinker Rock from the Comfort City Park by May 12, 2000. This would have the rock out of the park the day before the Freethinker Association of Central Texas' planned Ingersoll Celebration at the rock on May 13th.

Comfort fundamentalists oppose "Satan's Rock" because much of its funding came from non-theists. The rock was emplaced for a Texas State Historical marker to honor the irreligious German Hill Country Freethinkers who settled there in the late 1840s and 1850s.

Your editor has and informed the Comfort Chamber of Commerce that the rock was placed in the park according to a valid agreement with the Chamber, and, that the Chamber's attempts to repudiate their agreement and to destroy the original plan to honor the German Hill Country freethinkers are the only reasons why those who donated funds for the rock have been unable to complete the project. The Chamber was informed that the donors regard removal of the rock as further direct damages to the interests of the donors who reserve to all legal recourse.

==========================================

HOUSTON ISD REMOVES RELIGIOUS DISPLAYS

The Houston ISD has removed biblical and Jesus bulletin board displays from a Paul Revere Middle School classroom. The Texas Atheist newsletter had filed a complaint on behalf of an anonymous Houston parent.

Houston ISD Superintendent Rod Paige's response reads in part: "An investigation showed your information to be correct. The material was immediately removed, and the appropriate administrative action regarding the employee has been taken. The requirement of the separation of church and state is an important tenet. I believe in and support its enforcement. Thank you for taking the time to make us aware of the problem."

The good news is that the Houston ISD doesn't need lawsuits to make it uphold the Constitution. Where schools do respect the Constitution, complaints about improper separation of religion from government have a good chance of being resolved positively.

The bad news is that Texas is filled with school districts more than willing to join Pat Robertson's "uprising" against the Supreme Court. Robertson uses revolutionary language to urge followers to just "ignore" Supreme Court decisions.

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HELP DEFEND FREETHOUGHT PROFESSOR

Associate Professor Fred Whitehead of Kansas University Medical Center is being fired. Dr. Whitehead is an active Freethought researcher and speaker. He is currently working on a history of Texas Freethought, including interviews with descendants of the German Hill Country Freethinkers in the Comfort area.

Dr. Deborah Powell, Executive Dean of the School, says Dr. Whitehead's "research does not fit the mission of the Medical School." Powell also says Dr. Whitehead's department is "in a deficit," so he must be let go. Dr. Whitehead's salary of $37,000 is less than a tenth of the combined $450,000 salaries of Powell and her husband at KU.

Dr. Whitehead has worked 21 years at KU without tenure under yearly contracts. He is one of numerous university contract teachers earning low wages without tenure protection.

Dr. Whitehead's Freethinking research undoubtedly played a role in his firing. He sponsored a November national "Monkey Business in Kansas" conference at KUMC on the evolution controversy. In September, he debated "Does God Exist" against evangelist William Lane Craig.

Dr. Whitehead says he was harassed by two KU administrators for these activities. With many religious meetings held regularly at the medical center, he believes that a clear pattern of anti-secular humanist prejudice has evolved.

Dr. Whitehead has filed a religion and age discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, listing his religion as "freethinker," with the religious belief not being accommodated as "academic freedom."

Even as Dr. Whitehead is being fired, the Chancellor of KU has proposed that the University become a national leader in science education. Supporting letters can be sent to: Chancellor Robert Hemenway, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, <rhemenway@ukans.edu>, 785-864-3131. Dr. Whitehead's address: P.O. Box 5224, Kansas City, KS 66119, 913-588-1953, <fwhitehe@kumc.edu>.

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SANTA FE ISD DEFENDS STUDENT PERSECUTION

Santa Fe ISD has more problems than their football game prayer case now before the Supreme Court. Santa Fe children are taking the intolerance they learn from preachers and parents to school.

The Galveston Daily news and residents report that high school students known as "Kickers" are clashing with students they call "Freaks". Kickers are Christian students who wear western clothing, drive pick-up trucks and listen to country music. Their victims have individualistic hair styles and clothes and like popular rock music.

The more numerous Kickers harass the individualists verbally and physically for their different appearance and behavior. Some teachers and administrators join in this harassment.

"The students have not been segregated by the school or by anyone else besides themselves," said high school Principal Gary Causey. "If they are victims of social prejudice by the other kids, that's a matter of choice." In response to student confrontations, Causey has asked the Santa Fe police to patrol the campus with several arrests already made.

Principal Causey also cracked down on dress-code violations he characterized as, "intended to incite and inflame an already tense situation." Only individualist students have been sent home for wearing different clothes and have been singled out for locker searches.

Principal Causey calls cliques a normal part of high school. He says fringe groups have to accept labels from others or change their behavior. The pressure of school officials to enforce dress and behavior conformity without valid educational reasons joins their attempts to force fundamentalist Christianity on students.

Parents of individualist students say they will take their complaints to the school board and to state education officials if the situation did not improve.

Santa Fe is no different from thousands of Texas small towns. Newcomers and those who dress or act differently are victims of an intolerance for individuality that results in community condoned persecution to enforce social conformity.

Clearly, the majority in Santa Fe hate personal freedom. They hate our nation's founders for writing a godless Constitution that established an entirely non-religious government. They hate the Constitution for guaranteeing personal freedom. They hate anyone who does not immediately conform to local fundamentalist behavior standards.

Hate has its price. The injustice of America is that the victims of hate are the ones paying the price while government officials who should protect equal rights encourage the bullies.

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BAYLOR PROTECTS NEW CREATIONIST INSTITUTE

Baylor University is fighting a losing battle for academic freedom under President Robert Sloan Jr. He is the Texas Baptist General Convention's enforcer for de-secularizing Baylor and silencing professorial dissent.

Sloan has expanded the Baptist war on secular education by establishing the Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning. The Polyani Center is supposedly devoted to bridging the gap between science and religion. The Center's efforts are, however, mostly attacks on science that conflicts with the Christian creationist myths.

The Polyani Center's two employees are non-faculty members with creationist and intelligent design credentials. The Center's Director William Dembski believes life and the universe display evidence of "intelligent design" and tries to disprove evolutionary theory with statistical probabilities.

A recent Polyani Center conference on religion and science sparked a wave of protests by Baylor professors. They complain that the Center was established without faculty consultation, the center's pseudo-science threatens Baylor's scientific reputation, and Baylor President Sloan uses intimidation to silence dissent. Some of the most outspoken challenges come from professors who are leaving or have left Baylor.

The Baylor Faculty Senate recently voiced its displeasure by voting overwhelmingly to disband the Polyani center. Baylor administration has agreed to a peer-review committee to review the Polyani Center.

If nothing else, this controversy shows that media descriptions of the Texas Baptist General Convention as "moderates" is silly. They are just a different flavor of fundamentalism from the Southern Baptist Convention they are gradually leaving.

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

FACT TO CELEBRATE INGERSOLL EARLY

The Freethinker Association of Central Texas invites all non-theists to its annual Ingersoll celebration on Saturday May 13th in the town park in Comfort, Texas. Famous freethinker Robert Ingersoll was born and died in August, but FACT organizers know that August in Texas is no time to be out in the heat. Enjoy great May weather while celebrating the life and works of an outspoken nonbeliever. The park, which is still home to the ROCK, is located on Highway 27 in Comfort just a few miles southeast of Kerrville and just off IH-10 northwest of Boerne. Festivities will begin at 11:00 AM. FACT President Don Lawrence will be our MC. Bring your favorite Ingersoll quotation to read in the Atheist-Read-Around. After the frivolities, we'll have lunch at the BBQ place by the park. For more directions or details, call Sally Chizek at (210-656-3796). Atheist duds and dogs encouraged! To purchase "Atheist Invasion" T-shirts ahead of time, contact Catherine Fahringer at (210-824-5061) or cat@satx.rr.com.

BIG BANG'S "ECHO" CLARIFIES AND CONFUSES THEORIES

The NASA Boomerang high altitude, balloon born experiment has confirmed one major prediction of the "inflationary" version of the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang theory is that the universe began over 12 billion years ago in a rapid expansion from an infinitely small point. The Boomerang experiment measured sound waves at about 300,000 years after the Big Bang. They show that the universe contains the right amount of energy and matter to produce a "flat" space universe that will expand forever in linear directions. This evidence excludes curved space options that would indicate a closed universe that will eventually collapse to a point. Scientists had also expected the experiment to identify sound wave harmonic "ripples", which were not found. If these harmonic ripple echoes are not revealed in the analysis of the remaining 90% of the data or future experiments, the inflationary Big Bang theory will need revision or possibly be rejected. Science develops ideas of reality from the best available evidence and revises an idea when the evidence doesn't support it. What better way to get an accurate idea of reality?

GOOD SLEEP NECESSARY FOR LEARNING MEMORY

The March 2000 Issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience reports findings that demonstrate the importance of a good night's sleep for improving performance. Performance levels while learning a new skill do not improve unless you get at least six hours of sleep. The experiment taught Harvard students to respond to some computer screen target exercises. Students were then allowed to sleep 3 to 12 hours that night and tested again the next day. Only those students who slept 6 hours or more improved their performance the next day. These results cast new light on the role of sleep in memory formation, and, the importance of both the falling asleep and well rested waking up sleep phases in consolidating memories of new information from the previous day. Both the falling asleep and rested wake up phases have brain chemical activities associated with memory formation.

CAMPUS FREETHOUGHT ALLIANCE SPLITS FROM HUMANISTS

The Campus Freethought Alliance has ended its four year relationship with the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH). CSH is headquartered in Amherst, New York with its long time leader Paul Kurtz. Reorganized as the autonomous Secular Student Alliance, the movement seeks new energy and direction to develop new secularist groups on university campuses. The new organization will apparently have both individual and group memberships. Interested university students can contact SSA at <SecularStudents@aol.com>.

MOTHER'S MILK FATTY ACIDS HELP BABY'S MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

A study published in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology reports that two essential fatty acids (docosahexaenoic (DHA) and arachidonic (AA)) found in mother's milk cause a statistically significant improvement in the mental development of babies. The study has resulted in recommendations that these fatty acids be added to commercial baby milk formulas, as they are in 60 other countries. The experiment consisted of 56 newborns fed three different formulas for four months – commercial formula, commercial formula plus DHA and commercial formula plus DHA and AA. At 18 months, the babies were tested using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, where 100 is a national average score. The average score for the DHA/AA group was 105.6, statistically the same as the 106 score for a separate group of breast-fed only babies. The DHA only group scored 102 and the commercial formula group 98. The tests are not regarded as predictors of eventual IQ, only as indicators of relative mental development of babies. The children will be tested again at ages 5 and 9.

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LETTERS

[From <XmasAgain@aol.com>] My mother took me to church from when I was four until I was six when I decided that I'd had enough. My parents supported my choice even though my dad thinks it's a phase. But other than that and a few students telling me that I'm going to go to hell or that they feel sorry for me, there isn't any serious conflict. I'm very open with my agnosticism (agnostic b/c I don't believe it's possible to know if there is or isn't a deity) and I'm always open to discussion. Various people will talk to me about why I'm agnostic and half the time the people walk away recognizing that I have validity to my thought. I even converted a friend from being Baptist to agnosticism. In one of my classes last year, every single guy except for one (he was Muslim) was atheist or agnostic. I think that if a person has true validity to his or her thoughts and can support them they should come out of the fabled "atheist closet". If you don't come off strong and attack other peoples' point of view then most of the time people will listen. Whether or not they agree is a different story. But coming right off the bat and attacking other peoples' beliefs is the greatest mistakes that anyone makes. We atheists/agnostics criticize Christians for their narrow mindedness, but how can we expect them to think otherwise if we cannot do the same? If atheists and agnostics attack the beliefs and faiths of others, we sink down to the level and become as bad as the self-righteous people (i.e. Christians, Muslims, Jews, basically people that condemn you if you don't agree with them). What I find hilarious is that currently, two people are "praying for me every single day." This one substitute teacher I had who has to be the most die-hard Christian ever, and this girl who believes I have a good soul and doesn't believe I should go to Hell just because I don't believe in God. In any event, keep up the good work with your newsletter. I look forward to its good reading every month.

[From <akuma@no-god.com>] In response to Kevin Hakala. I'm an Eagle Scout Atheist as well. I finally took the label at about 17. Instead of lying to a committee, I simply refused to begin conversation on the topic of religion. They could see that my (former) pastor had a high opinion of me and that seemed to be enough for them. My parents were quite unhappy about my "coming out," since it was at about the same time as my award ceremony was supposed to occur. I just canceled all their arrangements for an invocation and made sure to remove any reference to religion or god from the little speeches. Scouting has been a fairly secular organization (odd for Dallas) in my troop and the lack of religious overtones wasn't even noticed, except by myself of course. The award is just as important to me as it would be to anyone of faith, since I did not have to shove my own morals aside for it. Currently I'm in an Explorer Post and there are only two theists in it. Whether or not scouting's leaders likes it, Freethinkers are a part of the organization.

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 41 Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 15:53:34 EDT From: Gofreemind@aol.com To: Gofreemind@aol.com

=====[ SUBSCRIBE or REMOVE to gofreemind@aol.com ]=====

THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. Late News Flash: Comfort to remove Freethinker Rock 3. Houston ISD removes religious displays 4. Help defend Freethought professor 5. Santa Fe ISD defends student persecution 6. Baylor protects new creationist institute 7. News/Science Briefs FACT to celebrate Ingersoll early Oklahoma legislature mandates god for science texts Big Bang's "echo" clarifies and confuses theory Houston conference a success Good sleep necessary for learning memory Campus Freethought Alliance splits from Humanists Mother's milk fatty acids help baby's mental development ACLU & AU challenge "charitable choice" laws 8. Letters: "converted a friend from being Baptist" "Explorer Post ... only two theists" "in Houston ... five different non-theistic groups" 9. Groups, TV, Internet Discussion [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

========================================== TEXAS EVENTS

MAY 13 - 11:00AM: FACT's annual Ingersoll Celebration at the Freethinker Rock in Comfort. JUNE 8-10: Respect Our Constitution hosts Freethinker-Atheist-Humanist caucus at the Texas State Democratic convention, Fort Worth Convention center. Contact Howard Thompson <gofreemind@aol.com> for information. ==========================================

LATE NEWS FLASH – FREETHINKER ROCK TO BE REMOVED

==========================================

HOUSTON ISD REMOVES RELIGIOUS DISPLAYS

TTA subscribers can report incidences of possible Texas violations of Constitutional separation of religion from government to <gofreemind@aol.com>. Where warranted, TTA will file a complaint. You can remain anonymous to protect your family from religious harassment.

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HELP DEFEND FREETHOUGHT PROFESSOR

Dr. Whitehead has worked 21 years at KU without tenure under yearly contracts. He is one of numerous university contract teachers earning low wages without tenure protection.

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SANTA FE ISD DEFENDS STUDENT PERSECUTION

Santa Fe ISD has more problems than their football game prayer case now before the Supreme Court. Santa Fe children are taking the intolerance they learn from preachers and parents to school.

The more numerous Kickers harass the individualists verbally and physically for their different appearance and behavior. Some teachers and administrators join in this harassment.

Parents of individualist students say they will take their complaints to the school board and to state education officials if the situation did not improve.

Hate has its price. The injustice of America is that the victims of hate are the ones paying the price while government officials who should protect equal rights encourage the bullies.

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

BAYLOR PROTECTS NEW CREATIONIST INSTITUTE

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

NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

FACT TO CELEBRATE INGERSOLL EARLY

OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE MANDATES GOD FOR SCIENCE TEXTS

The Oklahoma legislature has come out against science in that state's evolution controversy. In April, they passed a law mandating that science books in Oklahoma public schools would have to acknowledge "that human life was created by one God of the universe." This law reverses a ruling of Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson that struck down the State Textbook Committee's required evolution disclaimer in science textbooks.

BIG BANG'S "ECHO" CLARIFIES AND CONFUSES THEORIES

HOUSTON CONFERENCE A SUCCESS

The Humanists of Houston's "Religion, Humanism & Science in the 21st Century" conference was a big success. The audience of over fifty fully enjoyed Dr. Paul Kurtz, Edd Doerr, John Koonz, Dr. Bob Finch, Dr. Marian Hillar, Ron Titus, Gipson Arnold, Daniel Johnson and other presenters. Hopefully, atheists, freethinkers and humanists will continue to develop conferences several times a year so that we have major gatherings where we can network and which are worth a long drive for non-theists isolated in more remote areas.

GOOD SLEEP NECESSARY FOR LEARNING MEMORY

CAMPUS FREETHOUGHT ALLIANCE SPLITS FROM HUMANISTS

MOTHER'S MILK FATTY ACIDS HELP BABY'S MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

ACLU/AU CHALLENGE ‘CHARITABLE CHOICE' LAWS

The American Civil Liberties Union, joined by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have filed suit in federal court against the state of Kentucky providing tax funds for a Baptist children's home. This challenges the recent explosion of state laws allowing tax funds to go to groups that provide social services in an openly or mandatorily religious manner, popularly known as "charitable choice". The suit charges that the state of Kentucky is funding religious agendas. Governor George W. Bush champions charitable choice. The first state legislative session under Bush passed a law greatly expanding the opportunities for religious organizations to provide tax-funded social services in a religious manner. This forces citizens eligible for social services to receive them in an overtly religious environment, often with religious messages and proselytizing, such as court mandated 12-step substance abuse programs.

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LETTERS

[From Daniel Strain <dts2000@pop.flash.net>] Response to "Open, pluralistic atheist community": I completely agree! Here in Houston we have five different nontheistic groups: two humanist groups, a secular humanist group, a campus freethought group, and a church of freethought group. All but the latter are part an Alliance of organizations in which we share a newsletter and mailing lists while keeping different memberships, leadership structures, and programs for the sake of diversity. The church of freethought group is brand new so they are not officially part of the Alliance, although we have an excellent working relationship in which we share and post each other's announcements. In any case, we work to foster healthy communication, cooperation, and cross-participation between members of all groups, whether they call themselves, atheists, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics, etc. Great article!

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GROUPS Agnostic & Atheist Student Group-Texas A&M. http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/. Atheist Community of Austin. www.atheist-community.org. Ethical Society of Austin. http://www.esoa.org. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. http://atheistalliance.org/fact. Freethinkers Union - Univ. of Houston. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. http://hcof.org. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Daniel Strain <dts2000@flash.net>. Humanist of Ft. Worth. http://webalias.com/humanism. Humanists of Houston. Jimmy Dunne <jimmydunne@juno.com>. North Texas Church of Freethought. http://church.freethought.org. North Texas Skeptics. http://www.ntskeptics.org/ San Antonio College Freethinkers. Don Lawrence <lawdon99@earthlink.net>. Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Julie Fisher <txfreethinker@oocities.com>.

TELEVISION The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

INTERNET DISCUSSION FOR TEXAS ATHEISTS

Atheist Community of Austin: E-mail to: ask-list-request@atheist-community.org Atheist & Agnostic Student Group TAMU: E-mail to: AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu Freethinkers Assoc of Central Texas: http://atheistalliance.org/fact & click on Discussion. North Texas Church of Freethought. E-mail to: ntcof_talk-subscribe@e-groups.com.

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 40 Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 11:51:52 EDT From: Gofreemind@aol.com To: Gofreemind@aol.com

=====[ SUBSCRIBE or REMOVE to gofreemind@aol.com ]=====

THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. Nontheists win surprise political success 3. Kansas fires freethinker professor 4. Respect Our Constitution rally at state capitol 5. Houston Church of Freethought begins well 6. Taxi cab driver brains - use it or lose it? 7. News/Science Briefs Please send thanks to Santa Fe "Does" UT Austin religious freedom debate Atheist student conference at Texas A&M WWJD in Houston schools Jesus stories on Clear Creek ISD reading list 8. Letters - "Eagle Scout atheists" 9. Groups, TV, Internet Discussion 10. Commentary: Open, pluralistic atheist community [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

========================================== TEXAS EVENTS

APR 5, 4-5PM: Austin - Your editor guests on 91.7 FM radio - Radical Mothers' Voice. APR 15-16: Houston - "Religion, Humanism, & Science in the 21st Century" Conference with workshops, discussions, Paul Kurtz banquet. Contact Bob Finch - rdfinch@flash.net. APR 13, 12:30 PM: Austin - "Religious Freedom Debate", Room 2.139 UT Law School, 26th and San Jacinto. Contact UT Federalist Society, Marc Levin - mrmarclv@aol.com. APR 29th: College Station - Student Atheist Conference. Plans still developing. Contact Jason Romero BlankX@tamu.edu for final announcements. ==========================================

NONTHEISTS WIN SURPRISE POLITICAL SUCCESS

Texas atheists, freethinkers and humanists were surprisingly successful at political party precinct and county conventions. We got broad support for three nontheistic resolutions prepared under the slogan "Respect Our Constitution". Most county Democratic conventions we attended passed one or more resolutions. None passed in Republican conventions.

Respect Our Constitution is a non-partisan effort to learn about participating in the political process and to get exposure for nontheist issues. As a vehicle for our effort, we sought approval for three nontheist resolutions. 1) Repeal of Texas Constitutional provisions barring nontheists from public office. 2) Education for public officials in Constitutional separation of religion from government. 3) Removing authority for science textbooks from the State Board of Education and giving it to state university science professors.

Some conventions also approved an amendment for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would prohibit discrimination based on "religion or lack thereof."

Several dozen nontheists are known to have attended Republican and Democratic precinct and county conventions in Bexar, Kendall, Bandera, Guadalupe, Travis, Harris, Galveston, Tarrant, Dallas, and Wichita counties. Even more encouraging, at least three more Texas Atheist subscribers I had not known about were at the Travis County Democratic convention. No doubt other nontheists participated on their own around the state.

Rodney Florence's one-man demonstration at the Travis County Democratic convention shows there is more support for church-state separation than we sometimes think. During the invocation, Rodney paraded in front of the podium with our large "Respect Our Constitution - Separate Religion From Government" sign. It got scattered, but wide spread muted laughs and applause during a loooooong prayer.

Republican precinct conventions had high turnouts of religious right evangelicals who did not want any of our resolutions. Even so, some nontheists went forward to county conventions as delegates and at least a few are now delegates to the Republican state convention.

Texas nontheists owe all those who attended party conventions a huge THANK YOU. Without their effort, we would not have known our viewpoints could get support in political parties. A big thanks also goes to Rodney Florence who started all this two years ago.

The Respect Our Constitution effort tells us our lack of social power comes as much from our own inactivity as it does from hostility towards atheism. It tells us that public action makes us visible to those who agree with us. It tells that we can act effectively in public, work with those who share our ideas, and not be intimidated by religious hostility.

Delegates to the Democratic State Convention can look forward to another "Freethought-Atheist-Humanist" caucus and evening social event. We ask all nontheists in the DFW area to come to the convention even if you are not a delegate. We will get you guest badges so you can attend the caucus.

Another surprise was how easy it was to participate and have an impact. Political discourse is not that sophisticated. Many atheists are already experienced debaters from arguing among ourselves. We have a large pool of educated, well informed people who can think on their feet for effective verbal persuasion. We have a lot of talent to build on for the future.

Contact Howard Thompson, gofreeemind@aol.com. If you would like to encourage this effort and help cover expenses, send donations to me at PO Box 1782, Georgetown, TX 78627.

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KANSAS FIRES FREETHINKER PROFESSOR

Texans know Fred Whitehead, Ph.D. from his talk on Freethought history at the 1999 Atheist Alliance convention and his research into Comfort's German Freethinkers. Fred is an outspoken advocate of freethought nationally and at his university. It got him fired last week from his Kansas University professorship in medical humanities after 21 years of teaching.

His "research does not fit the mission of the Medical School," said Dr. Deborah Powell, Executive Dean of the School.

"This is surely the most extensive peer review in the entire history of the University," Whitehead responded. "The Medical Center has many religion-based events, such as an annual Religion and Medicine symposium. Yet last November, when I sponsored a national conference at this center on the Evolution Controversy, I was harassed by two administrators. My subsequent proposal that I work in the field of science education in Kansas has been rejected by the University. There is a clear pattern of favoritism for religious expression, while a secular humanist like me is dismissed entirely."

On his complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Whitehead listed his religion as "Freethinker." His religious belief not being accommodated is "academic freedom." Whitehead thus continues the American intellectual tradition of Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll.

More than 150 letters of support have arrived at Kansas University from 34 States and 11 nations.

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RESPECT OUR CONSTITUTION RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL

Twenty intrepid Constitutional defenders from Houston, Fort Worth and Austin gathered March 29th on the steps of the Texas Capitol building. This Respect Our Constitution rally was in support of Constitutional separation of religion from government. Will Elsworth of Houston initiated the rally and paid for the use of a state podium and sound system.

The rally was on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Santa Fe ISD vs Does football game prayer case. We thought it important to rally the same day even when most people would be working and not able to make it. Two newspapers covered the event, including the UT Austin student paper, The Daily Texan.

Speakers included John Koonz, Randall Gorman, Ron Titus, Will Ellsworth, myself and three high school students who cut class to be there. We talked about the Constitution, our founding fathers' intent to separate church from state, and their school experiences.

Afterward, we gathered at Scholz's Beer Garten (otherwise known as the Atheist Community of Austin Fellowship Hall) for a chance to talk with those we had not yet met. While our effort was small, we took another small step in learning how to speak out publically for our issues.

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HOUSTON CHURCH OF FREETHOUGHT BEGINS WELL

[From Mike Sullivan - MikeSullivan@Mac.com] The Houston Church of Freethought inaugural service was a huge success. An enthusiastic crowd of 35 Freethinkers was present for the big day. They got an excellent and thoroughly professional service which included thoughtful and entertaining comments from the five founders, Arthur & Nancy Fay, Jim Ashmore, Jessica Brumley and Rudy Holz.

HCOF meets the second Sunday of each month. Freethought Sunday School for children will begin at their May Service along with other social activities as soon as they can be organized. The five founders deserve congratulations for establishing another nontheistic group that gives greater diversity to our Houston communities.

Ten North Texas Church of Freethought members made the drive to Houston for this inaugural meeting. The North Texas Church of Freethought was founded in 1995 and now has services with 100-150 attending. Freethought churches are family, social oriented groups that use a church model organization to provide a social environment and sense of belonging for nontheists. They are entirely voluntary efforts dependent upon the energy and funds of members to build a community and haven for nontheists within a sometimes hostile religious society. Contact Arthur Fay <afay@worldnet.att.net> if you want more HCOF information.

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TAXI CAB DRIVER BRAINS – USE IT OR LOSE IT

We're getting more and more information about how our brains adapt to life experience. While this is not evidence that we can shape our brain functions any way we want regardless of genetic heritage, it is evidence of how our brains "learn" in physical ways. Another example is a University College at London University study of London cab driver brains recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study compared the brains of 16 male taxi cab drivers with 50 other men of similar ages. Among cab drivers the back of hippocampus was larger, an area associated with spatial memory. Interestingly, this expansion seems to have given the cabbies a smaller front hippocampus, an area less well understood, but the cynics among us might guess it has to do with "politeness".

London cabbies are known for street knowledge. They are required to learn London streets two years before getting licenses. Duration of cabbie experience also counts. Cabbies with over 40 years experience had a larger rear hippocampus than those who started recently.

Researchers speculated that their study may be another indication that unused areas of the brain lose neurons, hence lose functional abilities. This fits with other evidence that infant and child brains produce many more neurons than get used, with unused neurons eventually disappearing. This may hint at why we are born with brains 25% adult size and how our brains adapt to childhood and adult experiences.

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

PLEASE SEND THANKS TO SANTA FE "DOES"

Debbie of Santa Fe says that any who wishes to send e-mails of thanks and encouragement to the Catholic and Mormon Doe families of the Santa Fe ISD football prayer case, as well as the ACLU attorneys, can send them through her at <debastra@nu-look.net>. Debbie is a Santa Fe Baptist who supports the Santa Fe "Doe" families. She and other Santa Fe residents joined our demonstration at the Santa Fe high school football home-coming game last fall. Debbie has previously described how thankful the Does were that we supported them. The Doe children have been harassed and bullied at school for years by those who suspect they filed the lawsuit. Everyone who ever wonders why someone doesn't stand up and do something about intolerance need look no further than the Does to understand the courage and sacrifice it takes to fight for freedom and equality. The lives of these families have been hard for five years because they spoke out against fundamentalist Protestant Christianity being forced on students at school. We demonstrators saw the anger and verbal of religious bigots. I can only imagine how tough it must be for a student to put up with religious bullies at school. If you tend to stand aside from issues, this may be the one time you want to thank some families that are not standing aside but fighting for everyone's freedom.

UT AUSTIN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DEBATE

On Thursday, April 13 at 12:30 PM, the University of Texas Law School Federalist Society will present a free, public forum on the Doe v. Santa Fe ISD case in room 2.139, University of Texas Law School, 26th and San Jacinto. Allan Parker, President of the San Antonio-based Texas Justice Foundation and former St. Mary's Law School Professor, will defend the right of students to pray in school. Jay Jacobson, head of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will argue for a strict separation of church and state. There will be a question and answer session and complimentary pizza and soft drinks. Contact Marc Levin, MRMARCLV@aol.com.

ATHEIST STUDENT CONFERENCE AT TEXAS A&M

The Agnostic and Atheist Student Group at Texas A&M is planning a Atheist Student Conference in College Station for Saturday, April 29th. A number of Texas nontheistic community leaders, including your editor, have been invited to speak. This will be an opportunity for Texas nontheistic students to meet with each other and to learn about nontheistic groups and efforts in the state. Since plans are not yet final, contact Jason Romero <BlankX@tamu.edu> for final information.

WWJD? IN HOUSTON SCHOOLS

We have a report of a Houston ISD classroom with prominent "WWJD" (meaning What Would Jesus DO?) and bible information displays. So far, the Houston ISD has not responded to your editor's query into why these displays are in place, what the school will do about them, and what policies the district has to instruct teachers about improper religious displays.

JESUS STORIES ON CLEAR CREEK ISD READING LIST

[From Galveston County Daily News article] Teachers in Clear Creek ISD are making books about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus required reading for an advance English class. The reading program is in preparation for college entrance exams. A Jewish family has complained. The school district's excuse is that students need to know about Jesus and Christianity in order to be able to understand much of English literature. In other words, all students need to learn about Christian mythology because English authors sometimes reference Christian themes in their writings. Following this logic, readings in Norse, Celtic, Druidic, Greek, and Roman mythology would also be required to understand references to those ideas in English novels. Similarly, readings in Darwin, Freud, Einstein, Newton, etc. would be required so students can understand references to modern scientific ideas.

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LETTERS

[Biokev1@aol.com - Kevin Hakala] I've known since I was about 13 that I was an atheist, but I didn't start telling my friends until I was in college. However, I did let my parents know. I'm writing this because I wanted to let you know how Harvey Moul's letter affected me. I too was in the Boy Scouts.... from Cub Scout to Eagle Scout. At the beginning of every meeting we always said the lord's prayer, and I hated it. I tolerated this and stayed in scouting because it was a great way for me and my father (also and Eagle Scout) to spend time together. When I was 17, and finally about to go before the Eagle Scout committee, my father pulled me aside and told me to lie..... He told me not to mention my lack of faith, and if asked, to tell the committee that I went to church every Sunday. It was the only time my father has ever told me to lie. The award of Eagle Scout has always meant less to me because of that, and I just wanted to let Harvey Moul know that I'm glad that there are other Eagle Scout Atheists out there.

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GROUPS

Agnostic & Atheist Student Group-Texas A&M. http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/. American Humanist Association. Houston, Dallas. frankprahl@earthlink.net. Atheist Community of Austin. www.atheist-community.org. Corpus Christi Atheists & Agnostics. Contact Brian Meyer, bmmagic@swbell.net. Ethical Society of Austin. http://www.esoa.org. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. http://atheistalliance.org/fact. Freethinkers Union - U of Houston. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. Arthur Fay, afay@worldnet.att.net. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Daniel Strain, dts2000@flash.net. Humanist of Ft. Worth. http://webalias.com/humanism. North Texas Church of Freethought. http://church.freethought.org. North Texas Skeptics. http://www.ntskeptics.org/ Oklahoma Atheists. http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/oklahomaatheists. San Antonio College Freethinkers. Don Lawrence, lawdon99@earthlink.net. Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Julie Fisher, txfreethinker@oocities.com.

TELEVISION The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

INTERNET DISCUSSION FOR TEXAS ATHEISTS

Atheist Community of Austin: E-mail to: ask-list-request@atheist-community.org Atheist & Agnostic Student Group TAMU: E-mail to: AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu Freethinkers Assoc of Central Texas: A message board posting function from their website. Go to http://atheistalliance.org/fact and click on "Discussion". North Texas Church of Freethought. E-mail to: ntcof_talk-subscribe@e-groups.com.

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Commentary: Open, pluralistic atheist community

Atheists squabble over the "right" atheism, the "right" atheist issues and the "right" kind of atheist groups. Here's a newsflash for unbelievers. We DO NOT have to repeat religious conformity screw-ups. All atheists do not need to believe and act the same.

Since atheists accept reality as it is, we accept human differences from genetics and life experience. These differences mean there is no one "right' way all of us should live.

It is not only O.K. for nontheists to be diverse, it should be embraced as a strength of our atheist movement. We should waste no time worrying about atheists acting differently. We should not fall into the religionist trap of thinking we should choose only one kind of atheist group to join.

It does you no harm if another atheist wants to live differently and likes some other group. It does you no harm if a city has two or four or forty kinds of nontheistic groups. Our pluralism should be a positive advantage that atheism can exploit.

A city with five kinds of nontheistic groups has more chances to attract nontheists than a city with one group. It offers nontheists the opportunity to participate in the diverse activities of different groups. It gives the atheist movement more chances to develop successful group models and activities that can be repeated in other areas.

Every large Texas city can support an atheist club, a humanist club, a freethinker club, a freethought church and a skeptic club. Large metropolitan areas can even support more than one kind of each of these groups. There are certainly more than enough nontheists in the general population for this, so why not think in those terms.

Yes, groups will compete for membership and funds. Competition is an excellent way to develop stronger, more effective group models that can attract more members and sustain themselves over generations - an evolutionary, natural selection sort of thing.

What we must guard against is paranoia and separatism. Struggling groups may be tempted to guard against members knowing about or participating in other groups. This traps members in an insular, negative group culture - much like Madalyn O'Hair's personality cult.

We must develop and promote cultural values of open, pluralistic communities. When new groups want to start up, we should encourage them. When groups want to mingle events and work on joint projects, we should encourage them. When nontheists want to participate in multiple groups, we should encourage them.

Since our atheist movement is in the early stages of development, we have the power to choose positive cultural habits. All it takes is for atheists to decide open pluralism is how we should go and to encourage it for open pluralism to become a "traditional" atheist habit.

One clarification. While I call for the acceptance of open pluralism as a cultural community habit, I am not saying atheists should ignore harmful actions of some atheists. We should criticize harmful activities of other atheists when we honestly disagree. We just need to understand that there is no "wrong" kind of atheist or atheist group for our developing culture.

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 39 Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000
From: Gofreemind@aol.com

=====[ SUBSCRIBE or REMOVE to gofreemind@aol.com ]=====

THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. Commentary: More focus on personal atheism coming 3. Houston Church of Freethought Inaugural Meeting 4. Historians recognize German Freethinker atheism 5. Historical Commission approves lies for freethinker marker 6. April humanist conference in Houston 7. Santa Fe ISD honors Christian bully 8. News/Science Briefs New group found - North Texas Skeptics Gore O.K. with an atheist president Oklahoma dumps textbook evolution disclaimer Houston City Council Prayers Challenged Violent criminals have less brains Brain scans find ADHD dopamine link Fort Bend ISD supports Santa Fe ISD football prayer Gideon bibles challenged in Bryan ISD Leander ISD board restores meeting invocations 9. Letters - more out of the atheist "closet" letters 10. Groups, TV, Internet Discussion [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

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TEXAS EVENTS

MAR 12 - 10:30AM: Houston Church of Freethought first service. Ramada Plaza Hotel, 7611 Katy freeway. << NEW TEXAS GROUP >> MAR 14: Democratic & Republican primaries. Non-theists will present Respect Our Constitution resolutions at precinct convention voting sites after the polls close. APR 15-16: Houston - "Religion, Humanism, & Science in the 21st Century" Conference with workshops, panel discussions, group discussions and banquet.

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COMMENTARY: More focus on personal atheism coming

The Texas Atheist is struggling to cover nontheist civil rights, church-state separation, religious right activities, nontheistic groups, and developing successful atheism. This has made it difficult to adequately promote the growth of atheist communities and atheist lives.

I regret that the most important goals of atheist outreach and encouragement have not been the primary focus of TTA. The necessity for public actions has taken away from atheism's most important goals. While these activities help accustom an atheist-hating public to the idea that atheists participate in public life, these activities do not build atheist lives and community.

In the one to two years I can continue this effort full time with personal funds, I hope to give greater emphasis to personal and community atheism. We have much work to do within our own thinking and attitudes about atheism. We have yet to fully recognize the wide open future of freedom and hope our atheism offers us.

I hope to visit more atheists to talk about how we lead our atheist lives and what our atheism means. I hope to reach more Texas area atheists on the internet to let them know they are not alone, that atheists are building communities.

We are now powerless and hated because we have not recognized and developed the positive hopes for ourselves and humanity inherent in our rejection of superstitious magics. Our hopes will remain fantasies until we better understand what our atheism really means for our lives and humanity and we begin the work of building a positive, rational, sane culture for ourselves and humanity.

The Texas Atheist devotes itself to this work.

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HOUSTON CHURCH OF FREETHOUGHT INAUGURAL MEETING

The Houston Church of Freethought will inaugurate the newest Texas unbeliever group on March 14 in Houston. The meeting room at the Ramada Plaza Hotel (7611 Katy Freeway) opens at 10:00 AM for coffee and socializing with the service starting at 10:30 AM. You won't want to miss this milestone event in the growth of the nontheistic movement in Texas.

Tim Gorski, Mike Sullivan and Marilyn Sullivan from the North Texas Church of Freethought will probably attend along with all of the HCOF founders. With Mike and Marilyn present, the Freethought "Sacrament" of juggling will no doubt be performed.

The Church of Freethought adapts a church model operational approach to building a community for nontheists that embraces singles, families and children. There are now five groups operating under the "Church of Freethought" designation. They are openly advertised as "a church for unbelievers". Contact Arthur Fay <afay@worldnet.att.net>.

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HISTORIANS RECOGNIZE GERMAN FREETHINKER ATHEISM

Historians who sent comments to the Texas Historical Commission for the Freidenker historical marker acknowledged German freethinker atheism. THC ignored their comments.

Professor Walter L. Buenger of Texas A&M University: "Your encounter with modern religious groups that object to the commemoration of atheists suggests again that understanding and remembering the past is closely connected to the present. Because yours is a state agency, if these religious groups enjoy sufficient political power they stand a good chance of silencing the history of the German Freethinkers."

Professor Walter D. Kamphoefner of Texas A&M University: "One of the English definitions for the term [Freethinker] is atheist, but Freethinkers' main characteristic is their rejection of organized religion. It is very difficult to get at the inner beliefs of people who lived more than a century ago. Many of the Freethinkers were doubtless atheists, but the group likely included agnostics and deists of the Thomas Jefferson stripe as well. In the limited correspondence I have read from immigrants of this settlement, the word God was conspicuous by its absence, even in the darkest hour of the Confederate persecution."

Kamphoefner quotes Terry Jordan Ph.D., "the Guadalupe Valley with its atheistic Germans, descended from political refugees" ["The German Element in Texas: An Overview," Joseph Wilson, ed., "Texas and Germany: Crosscurrents, Rice Historical Studies 63:3 (Summer 1977), p. 9].

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HISTORICAL COMMISSION APPROVES LIES FOR FREETHINKER MARKER

(Dallas - February 26) The Texas Historical Commission (THC) approved the staff version of of the Freidenker (Freethinker) historical marker for Comfort at the Feb. 25th Commissioners meeting. The story made the Feb. 27th New York Times.

The marker was supposed to honor the German hill country freethinkers who came to Texas after the failed 1848 European revolts. Pamela Hodges of the Kendall County Historical Society spoke for the marker. I spoke against the marker because it now dishonors Freidenkers.

The approved marker suggests the Freidenkers sought freedom to practice religion. It implies some adhered to religious doctrines, or, that most adhered to some religious doctrines. The evidence shows the Freidenkers sought freedom from religion. There is no evidence they adhered to any religious doctrines.

The THC ignored the letters of historians they consulted. Two historians acknowledged Freidenker's irreligiousness and mentioned their atheistic tendencies. The final marker wording was sent to historians for comment and not changed by their comments.

Some in Comfort may proceed with a private effort to honor the Freidenkers. Stone from the original "True to the Union" national historical marker in Comfort is available. It is hoped there may be a meeting of Comfort residents and Freethinker Cenotaph donors to discuss possibilities.

Meanwhile, the Comfort Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution to prohibit the THC Freidenker Historical Marker from being placed in the Comfort park until the Freethinker Cenotaph rock has been removed. Since there is no reason for Freethinker Cenotaph donors to want a lying historical marker that dishonors Freidenker's, there is no reason to remove our rock from the Comfort Park. Our Freethinker Cenotaph rock still stands in the Comfort park.

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APRIL HUMANIST CONFERENCE IN HOUSTON

Robert Finch has organized a two day Houston conference on "Religion, Humanism, & Science in the 21st Century". Robert is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering - University of Houston and a long time Houston Humanist activist. Events include the following:

Paul Kurt (Chairman, Council for Secular Humanism) will be the keynote speaker for the Saturday Banquet. "Teaching Evolution": John Koontz (Co-coordinator Atheist Community of Austin), Janet Waugh (Kansas Board of Education), Alma Brown (Texas State Board of Education, and Ed Doerr (President, American Humanist Assoc.). "Culture & Technological Evolution": Randolph Widmer (Prof. Anthropology, Univ. of Houston) and Robert Finch. "Artificial Intelligence": Gipson Arnold, former president of the Atheist Network club. "The Future of Religion and Humanism": Marian Hillar (Director, Center for Philosophy & Socinian Studies) and Daniel Johnson (Institute for Religion in an Age of Science).

Contact Robert Finch 281-491-1608 <rdfinch@flash.net>. Conference registration is $50 ($30 w\current student ID) at the Braeswood Hotel with a room rate of $72.

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SANTA FE ISD HONORS CHRISTIAN BULLY Santa Fe ISD school board members have nominated Marian Ward for a Texas Hero Award, an annual award for a Texas student. Ward is the daughter of a Baptist Minister who gave Christian prayers at football games last year. She became the high school's spokesperson for such messages when the previously elected spokesperson quit the job. Less than 5% of high school students participated in the vote for a spokesperson.

Ward gave Christian prayers at football games despite a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ban. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake had issued an injunction against the school district to prevent them from punishing Ward if she delivered a sectarian prayer. Sante Fe ISD made no effort to defend their school policies by challenging the injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the Santa Fe ISD football prayer case on March 29th.

Why Ward is a heroine is unclear. Her football prayers are wildly popular in a town that openly rejects the U.S. Constitution. Football crowds cheer her prayers and she has constant community support. It takes no courage to agree with majority mobs.

The real heroes are the children of the two families who filed the lawsuit against Santa Fe ISD's blatant establishment Christianity in public schools. Those children are the courageous ones for standing up to the verbal and physical coercion of Christian bullies.

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

NEW GROUP FOUND – NORTH TEXAS SKEPTICS

[From John Blanton] The North Texas Skeptics is a tax-deductible corporation. Our goal is to encourage people to use rational thinking in their everyday lives. We encourage reliance on science, and we promote public interest in science. While the NTS does not endorse or oppose any religion, we will speak out against practices that ignore real science or attempt to repudiate valid scientific findings. We do not categorically reject claims of the paranormal, but we do seek to investigate interesting claims, and we offer a $6000 award to anyone who can successfully demonstrate paranormal abilities. We hold monthly program meetings (lectures) in the Center for Community Cooperation at 2900 Live Oak Street in Dallas. That's about 7 blocks east of downtown Dallas. Contact: <jblanton@mindspring.com> http://community.dallasnews.com/dmn/ntskeptics

GORE O.K. WITH AN ATHEIST PRESIDENT

Newsweek asked Al Gore if an atheist president would bother him. Gore responsed in an early February Newsweek article, "What They Believe – and Whether It Really Matters." "No it would not. I think that it would depend on who the person was, of course. But do I believe that someone can have an understanding of our Constitution (and) a true spirit of tolerance without affirming a particular and specialized belief in God? Yes, I do. I think that is incumbent upon anyone who affirms a respect for tolerance." In contrast, at an 8/27/87 press conference, then Vice President George Bush said, "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under god." Gore supports unconstitutional "charitable choice" policies that would include openly religious groups in federal social service programs.

OKLAHOMA DUMPS TEXT BOOK EVOLUTION DISCLAIMER

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson says that the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee had no authority to dictate textbook content and violated open meeting laws when it approved a textbook evolution disclaimer. The now banned disclaimer read, "No one was present when life first appeared on Earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered as theory, not fact." It is up to the Oklahoma City district attorney to take any legal action against the textbook committee.

HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL PRAYERS CHALLENGED

Will Ellsworth of Houston is organizing a campaign against Houston City Council prayers. Will also organized the successful demonstration against public school football prayers at the Santa Fe, Texas home coming game last fall. The Houston City Council prayers were begun about 15 years ago. Will has gotten support from members of the Humanists of Houston and the Houston Secular Humanists. They are enlisting supporters to speak during public comment time at city council meetings. Contact <willpe@swbell.net> 713-729-1757.

VIOLENT CRIMINALS HAVE LESS BRAINS

A 2/15 Washington Post article describes research that indicates those committing violent crimes have a lower than average amount of brain "gray matter" in a section of the prefrontal cortex. Brain scans were used to compare normal subjects with those who had committed assault, rape, armed robbery and attempted murder. Violent subjects averaged 11% less gray matter than normal subjects in that area of the brain. It is unknown if lesser amounts of gray matter in this area of the brain is an inherited characteristic, or, if the gray matter in this area is affected by physical or social environmental factors as a baby's brain grows from 25% adult size to adult size. BRAIN SCANS FIND ADHD DOPAMINE LINK

Brain scans reveal a link between the neuro-protein dopamine and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Earlier studies reported structural and functional differences in ADHD brains. The new research by the Massachusetts General Hospital was reported in an early December issue of Lancet. Researchers counted dopamine transporters - molecules that help move dopamine in the brain. Dopamine functions are associated with physical movement, thought, motivation and pleasure. Six adult ADHD subject had 70% more dopamine transporters than 30 healthy control subjects. It is unknown if this finding measures a cause or a result of ADHD. It is unknown if this finding indicates the brain is producing too much or too little dopamine. ADHD research may be of special interest to atheists. Among atheists I meet, the proportion with ADD or ADHD seems several times greater than in the general population. ADHD brain functions are regarded as on the same functional spectrum as Pervasive Developmental Delay and at least some form of Autism.

FORT BEND ISD SUPPORTS SANTA FE ISD FOOTBALL PRAYER

The Fort Bend ISD school board voted at their Feb. 28th meeting to support Santa Fe ISD's appeal of a federal court ban on football game prayers. Fort Bend ISD is southwest of Houston where Tom Delay is Congressman. Those speaking against the vote included Frank Levy of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, Will Ellsworth, Robert Finch, local residents, and others who had participated in the demonstration at the Santa Fe ISD football homecoming game. Some in the packed meeting uttered hostile comments against school prayer opponents.

GIDEON BIBLES CHALLENGED IN BRYAN ISD

Your editor has sent a letter to Bryan ISD challenging the actions of a high school principal. When students got off the bus one morning last May, the Principal thrust a Gideon bible into their hands with the comment "here". A student mother had protested earlier but got no response from the district. Any Bryan-College Station area residents who wish to protest this action please contact me: Howard Thompson <gofreemind@aol.com>.

LEANDER ISD BOARD RESTORES MEETING INVOCATIONS

The Leander ISD school board at their Feb. 17th meeting restored invocations at their meetings. They had been having a moment of silence since early December after the threat of a lawsuit from district parent Glen Fine. Any who want to support Glen's effort or encourage him to run for the school board can contact him at <glenfine@austin.rr.com>. Your editor spoke against invocations at several meetings. I have asked the board for their policy on who may give invocations and which religious deities and spirits may and may not be invoked at meetings. No answer has yet been provided. An organized attack on the Constitution has emerged in Texas. Much of it is coordinated by Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and American Center for Law and Justice. Two Leander ISD board members get Robertson organization materials. The ACLJ is the attorney for the Santa Fe ISD football prayer case at the Supreme Court. This is a display of political power gained by the Christian Coalition from electing local school board officials.

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LETTERS

[WonderGrey@aol.com - Jan King] I enjoy reading other's stories of their struggles with religion vs. non-religion and their triumphs. "I'm not a bad person . . . ," has always been my silent cry. And "I'm not going to pray to your god, I'm an Atheist," is another of my frequent silent cries. (Fear is behind my silence.) In my heart of hearts and in my own mind I'm proud to have put god in my childhood memory box with Santa, the tooth fairy and that weird Easter bunny that lays millions of eggs. Come to think of it, religions lay an awful lot of eggs, too. I think Freethought Churches are just one step up from Unitarian Churches. Unitarians went christian to pad their memberships. A lot of people like all that ceremony, but perhaps religious people and new converts to atheism like it and need it more than the longtime non-religious. I believe Freethought Churches are moving in to fill the void left by the Unitarian churches when they went religious. I was a Unitarian for many years and I very consciously watched the transition--at first beginning with the merger with Universalists, then moving into more and more ceremony and greater adoption of religious language. Any organization will attract the people that want what that organization offers. Then the membership will not only reflect that setup, but will mold the future of the organization. I do not want to regress. My journey has been too difficult to jeopardize my freedom now. Freethought Church is certainly not for all freethought people.

[valheru@oz.net - Harvey Moul] Unlike most people who eventually discover that they have been having a fairy tale world shoved down their throats since infancy, I was raised in an atheist family. My mother is a converted Catholic, and her last three children were never baptized. I learned from a very young age to hide my disbelief, but once word got out rumors persisted for years. I quickly learned that atheism is the last minority group which can be discriminated against with impunity. I have been accused of being everything from a Nazi to a devil-worshiper simply because of my lack of faith. The one place I never had to hide my atheism was my local Boy Scout troop. Unlike today, during the 1970's in Missoula, Montana, faith was not an issue with the Boy Scouts. We were a group of boys brought together by our love of the outdoors and a desire to spend time in the wilderness. On February 13, 1979 I earned my Eagle Scout. I was a public atheist during the entire time I had been a member, and even during the final processes when I was interviewed by upper-echelon members of the organization I made sure they knew of my lack of faith. The fact that I had made it to the point where I was considered for this honor told them all they really needed to know about my character - religion had no part in determining my worth as a person and they accepted that. Today I would discourage any young boy from having anything to do with the Boy Scouts. It has turned into a bigoted, hate filled organization run by those with small minds.

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GROUPS

Agnostic & Atheist Student Group-Texas A&M. http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/. American Humanist Association. Houston, Dallas. frankprahl@earthlink.net. Atheist Community of Austin. www.atheist-community.org. Corpus Christi Atheists & Agnostics. Contact Brian Meyer, bmmagic@swbell.net. Ethical Society of Austin. http://www.esoa.org. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. http://atheistalliance.org/fact. Freethinkers Union - U of Houston. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. Arthur Fay, afay@worldnet.att.net. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Daniel Strain, dts2000@flash.net. Humanist of Ft. Worth. http://webalias.com/humanism. North Texas Church of Freethought. http://church.freethought.org. North Texas Skeptics. http://community.dallasnews.com/dmn/ntskeptics Oklahoma Atheists. http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/oklahomaatheists. San Antonio College Freethinkers. Don Lawrence, lawdon99@earthlink.net. Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Julie Fisher, txfreethinker@oocities.com.

TELEVISION The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

INTERNET DISCUSSION FOR TEXAS ATHEISTS

Atheist Community of Austin: E-mail to: ask-list-request@atheist-community.org Atheist & Agnostic Student Group TAMU: E-mail to: AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu Freethinkers Assoc of Central Texas: A message board posting function from their website. Go to http://atheistalliance.org/fact and click on "Discussion". North Texas Church of Freethought. E-mail to: ntcof_talk-subscribe@e-groups.com.

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 38 Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 14:39:38 EST From: Gofreemind@aol.com To: Gofreemind@aol.com

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THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. Getting out of the atheist "closet" - 2 3. FACT member zaps Randolph AFB Xmas display 4. Houston Church of Freethought's first "service" 5. News/Science Briefs A wedding, a baby and $28,626.13 for NTCOF Historical Commission to decide Freethinker marker Incompetent people think they are competent Geophysicists blast creationism More godless Texas music TAMU Atheists & Agnostics plan spring activities Religious harassment in Plano schools Defending the Constitution in Leander schools Pat Robertson's attorney defends Leander ISD FACT has new internet message board Texas Christian Coalition leadership seminar 6. Groups, TV, Internet Discussion << NEW >> [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

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TEXAS EVENTS

FEB 14: Last voter registration day for Democratic & Republican Primaries. FEB 7 - 7:00PM: Texas A&M Atheist & Agnostic Student Group President Jason Romero debates Professor Stadelmann on "God Exists". MSC room 292B. Contact Jason Romero, BlankX@tamu.edu, http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/ FEB 23 - 8:30 PM: Texas A&M Atheist & Agnostic Student Group sponsors School Prayer Debate. Howard Thompson will join AASG member Nathan Bosdet for the debate. Contact Chris Langford, clt6962@labs.tamu.edu, http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/ FEB 27 - 2:30 PM: Houstonians for Secular Humanism hosts your TTA editor speaking on school prayer issues and the Respect Our Constitution effort for party precinct conventions. Comfort Inn at 6221 Richmond. Contact Daniel Strain dts2000@pop.flash.net. MAR 12 - 10:30AM: Houston Church of Freethought first service. Ramada Plaza Hotel, 7611 Katy freeway. << NEW TEXAS GROUP >> MAR 14: Democratic & Republican primaries. Non-theists will present Respect Our Constitution resolutions at precinct convention voting sites after the polls close. ====================================

GETTING OUT OF THE ATHEIST "CLOSET" - 2

Talking about the atheist "closet" deeply touches many unbelievers. We often become the first and only one in our families to reject god and religion. Giving up the family religion can be difficult and it often changes family relationships.

Below are more out of the "closet" stories. Each is a personal triumph of reason and courage. Each is a tiny personal step towards the day when unbelievers no longer feel they must hide their unbelief in fear.

** [From Mark] Last month you and I corresponded briefly about the dangers to oneself of not revealing one's atheism to theists, and I related how very involved in Christianity my family is. I traveled to Michigan with my wife and two young boys, all three of whom attend church regularly, and we spent an enjoyable week with my parents, my sister, and her family. As discussed, I decided not to out myself at this time. Unfortunately, because church life is such a part of my family, I was forced to choose between attending Sunday morning services and sunday School with them, feigning an illness, or revealing my atheism. I chose the former, and I now understand what you meant in your newsletter. To be honest, the time I was most uncomfortable was during the singing. It took on a cult-like atmosphere, with people singing to an invisible entity. It was really rather creepy, and I turned to my wife and said, "I can't do this again. This is the last time." The sermon was thankfully forgettable, primarily because their pastor chooses to rely on stories, jokes and anecdotes, rather than the Bible, to make his points. Sunday School was another matter entirely. I continually bit my tongue as my brother-in-law expounded on God's omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, and "what that means in our daily lives." I couldn't help thinking that we have attributed many of these facets to modern-day Santa Claus. My mother was on my right, and my wife and sister on my left, so I made only one comment, and even that could have been interpreted ambiguously. Interestingly enough, one of the class members claimed to have been an agnostic up until six years ago, but never revealed why he changed. I've decided to tell my parents and family the truth--my wife already knows, of course--but I'm not certain when that will be. I only know it will be before we visit them again, because I will not step foot in another church unless it's for a wedding or funeral of a very close family member, and even then I'll have to take it on a case-by-case basis.

** My name is Jesse Wallace. Since the age of five I had doubts about "god" and always wondered why I was forced to go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. At the age of 11, I decided that I didn't buy into what was being crammed down my throat, but I told no one until I was nineteen. The reason for my silence is this....My father is a Southern Baptist preacher and has been one since 1990. Before that he was minister of music in Lubbock. My uncle on my mother's side has been an evangelist or a music minister since I can remember and is now a preacher. My sister is DEEPLY religious and married to a music minister at one of the only Southern Baptist churches in Boston. My grand parents on both sides are hardcore Christians that I love dearly but cannot agree with on anything. I am twenty and have been "out of the closet" for a year and a half. The cause of me revealing my atheism was a Christmas celebration in combination with meeting a man named Will who is now one of my best friends. Will made several things very clear, one being that I'm NOT a bad person for being an atheist. He never said this, just lived it. I met Will at a bachelor party and then a month later I was at my parent's house for Xmas. They have a long held tradition of singing then reading the bible the praying in a circle taking turns. The prayer goes at LEAST an hour sometimes twice that. Anyway, they had sung and read and they were praying and all the while I'm sitting there thinking, "I'M NOT A BAD PERSON DAMN IT, SO WHY DO YOU TRY TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE ME THINK THEY ARE." When it came my turn I said simply "I'm Not going to pray to your god, I'm an atheist." Since that day I have been pushed so far back from most of my family that it brings me to tears anytime I sit down and think about it. But I now have self respect. Every day when I see myself in the mirror I no longer see myself as a fake, a liar, or bad person that is out to ruin people's way of life. I simply see myself as .....me, and I find that wonderful beyond expression.

** [Vic Farrow] When I was about ten, some of the neighborhood kids were talking about god and creation. I remember thinking that they were jerking my chain, surly the punch line was coming. I ask the question, if god made us, then who made god? The other kids, who were already indoctrinated, were stunned that I didn't believe unquestioningly in god and reported this to my father. My father's response was to tell me that I did believe and that we were to drop the subject (Dad didn't like us kids to engage in anything that might lead to fighting, including keeping score at basketball). My father never went to church, probably due more to his disliking crowds and ties. Mother took my brother and I to a Methodist church for a short while, but became discouraged at the stuffiness of the more well-to-do's that she saw as looking down at us po-folks. In the 9th grade I was fond of this gal who's name I can no longer remember. She invited me to a "private" skating party that turned out to be a revival meeting (she forgot to mention that part). I was caught off guard by this but attempted to stay and remain quiet, but the whole thing was just too weird. I got up and began to walk toward the door. She followed trying to convince me to stay, but I left anyway. The next school day I told her I didn't believe in god (I was not yet using the word atheist). Soon after, her older cousin and two of his friends cornered me in the hallway outside of the music room and were intent on preaching to me, as a captive, until I saw the light. So I ran. I learned well how to hide my nonbelief. For many years now I have professed myself as an atheist only to those who knew me well enough that I could trust that they would not go berserk. It still, however, changes the way they think about me and the relationship is undoubtedly altered. In the last couple of years I have been wearing atheism as a badge of honor. I have chosen not to hide it any longer in the hope that others who may be struggling with this will see that it is nothing to hide. After all, we are in good company.

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FACT MEMBER ZAPS RANDOLPH AFB XMAS DISPLAYS

Freethinker's Association of Central Texas member Mary [not her real name] got Xmas displays removed at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. She describes what happened.

"On 3 Dec 99, I noticed an open bible displayed in the hallway (a public area), as well as a couple nativity scenes. I did not know who to approach on this, so I sent an inquiry (e-mail) to the Air Force Personnel Center newletter's ActionLine. The first reply that I received was that action would be taken ASAP, and that my inquiry was forwarded to the chaplain. (Discouraging, huh!)"

"After not hearing anything, I sent an e-mail to FFRF [Freedom From Religion Foundation] explaining the problem, and received a response from Annie Laurie Gaylor within the hour. I then forwarded her letter to the Public Affairs folks."

Annie Laurie Gaylor's letter in part mentioned, "... a blatant endorsement of the Christian faith over other faiths and religion over nonreligion, which is impermissible." And that, "when complaints were made, there has been stonewalling and in fact that the complaint was referred to the Chaplain! Please get back to us immediately about what steps you are taking to remedy these violations of state/church separation."

Major General Donald A. Lamontagne sent an apology letter to Mary. Another Air Force letter reads: "After full review from our Judge Advocate Staff, we removed the bible as well as other religious decorations from public areas. The removal was based on the Establishment Clause of the Constitution to maintain a policy of neutrality on religious matters in government buildings."

Mary said no explanation was given to employees when the Christian displays were removed. They will never understand how the Constitution prohibits government religion.

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HOUSTON CHURCH OF FREETHOUGHT'S FIRST "SERVICE"

The Houston Church of Freethought [HCOF] will have its first service 10:30AM, March 12th in the Congressional Room of the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 7611 Katy Freeway. Houston now becomes the second Texas city with a Freethought church for unbelievers. This new group is authorized by the Sullivan and Gorski families who founded the North Texas Church of Freethought in the D/FW area.

The room will open at 10:00AM for coffee and conversation. Introducing the Church of Freethought concept will be the theme of the first service, followed by a luncheon. All five founders of the HCOF and some NTCOF founders will attend this inaugural service.

The Church of Freethought concept is a church model organization for unbelievers. It differs from unbeliever clubs with an organized service, family orientation, and Sunday school for children. The Church of Freethought movement's founders adapted successful aspects of churches to provide for unbelievers the same kinds of social and cultural functions that theistic churches provide for theists.

NTCOF regularly has over 100 at meetings with a building fund for a permanent location. So much for Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, telling Tim Gorski that a Freethought church was a bad idea. [Contact Arthur Fay, afay@worldnet.att.net]

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

A WEDDING A BABY AND $28,626.13 FOR NTCOF

Jason Rudder and Allison Black were married January 5th by NTCOF pastoral Director Dr. Tim Gorski. The entirely secular ceremony was enjoyed by bride, groom, family and friends. Joy and Larry Marcano, who were married by NTCOF co-founder Deborah Boak last year, are also expecting a baby. The North Texas Church of Freethought in D/FW raised $28,626.13 during 1999, with $7,845.90 going to the building fund. Expenses during 1999 totaled $19,640.43, leaving an operating surplus for the year of $783.71.

HISTORICAL COMMISSION TO DECIDE FREETHINKER MARKER

The Freethinker Historical Marker for Comfort, Texas will be decided at a Texas Historical Commission [THC] meeting in Dallas on February 25th. The plaque wording now has nearly erased any recognition of the irreligiousness of the German Hill Country Freethinkers. The phrase, "built no churches" been dropped. Your editor has reviewed the letters of advice from Texas history professors that the THC consulted about the plaque. The plaque wording the professor's reviewed already had the "build no churches" phrase deleted. One professor clearly lacked knowledge of freethinkers. Two other professors made strong statements against censoring historical markers for religious reasons and acknowledged Freethinker irreligiousness and atheistic tendencies. Your editor will attend the THC meeting and present to the Commission the evidence of the irreligiousness of the German Hill Country Freethinkers.

INCOMPETENT PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE COMPETENT

Dr. David Dunning of Cornell University and Dr. Justin Kruger of the University of Illinois report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology experiments that show incompetent people don't know how badly they perform. Incompetent people perform both badly and don't know they perform badly, which hinders chances for improvement. In logic tests, those with performance in the lowest eighth thought they performed in the top third. Those in the lowest tenth on grammar also thought they performed in the top third. Those who really were in the top third underestimated their performance. Competent people accurately revised opinions of their performance when shown how their results compared to others. Lower performing incompetent people, however, did not lower estimates of their own performance when shown the performance of others, with some even further inflating their own performance. This explains people who insist they are doing well when their poor work is pointed out. It also explains why they keep doing things wrong. The good news is that the researchers also reported the performance of incompetent people improved when they were given some training in logic and other tested tasks. Incompetent performance may not be an inability to learn, but an inability to recognize errors that are part of the feedback information process by which we learn how to perform well. People who are reasonably self-critical probably have a learning advantage.

GEOPHYSICISTS BLAST CREATIONISM

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has denounced the teaching of creationism and is calling for scientists to become politically active in defense of evolution education. A December 1999 AGU statement said, "Creationism is not science and does not have a legitimate place in any science curriculum." This is good news for science education and nontheists. Supernatural beliefs flourish in ignorance. Conservative Christians don't want their children to learn anything that contradicts the bible. There is hope that the battle to give all children a good science education may be won against angry bible-thumpers. If scientists begin to venture from their ivory towers into the political fray for something more than additional funding for science research, the Freethinking enquiry into all areas of knowledge may remain available for all children. [From Science Week, 1/14/00, Vol. 4 #2]

MORE GODLESS TEXAS MUSIC

Last issue's mention of godless Texas musicians got responses from other godless musicians. Scattergun Reflex, another D/FW area band, "is an instrumental trio that is 100 percent god free. Scattergun Reflex has always been proud and open about our disbelief. " You may contact Scattergun Reflex by writing to Jeff Williams, scattergunreflex@hotmail.com. Jan King of San Antonio also writes and produces freethinking godless music. She has recorded a tape of songs, "Let's All Have Fun Tonight," with six singers and musicians. One of Jan's happy Winter Solstice songs was played at the Freethinkers Association of Central Texas Winter Solstice party and was much enjoyed by the group. You may contact Jan King at WonderGrey@aol.com.

TAMU ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS PLAN SPRING ACTIVITIES

The Atheist & Agnostic Student Group (AASG) at Texas A&M has hit the ground running for the spring semester. Their e-mail discussion list <AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu> has blossomed with lively to disgusting topics. On February 7th, group President Jason Romero will debate Prof. Stadelmann, MSC room 292B, 7:00PM. On February 23rd, they will sponsor a debate on school prayer with a campus Christian group. Your editor will join AASG member Nathan Bosdet for the debate.

RELIGIOUS HARASSMENT IN PLANO SCHOOLS

I have received a student report of religious harassment in Plano schools. Events described happened in both Middle school and High School. Plano's conservative Christian mega-churches apparently use their students in public schools to conduct numerous on-campus religious activities. While student private religious activity is Constitutional, students may not disrupt education nor bother other students. Other students are harassed in Plano when they do not join in religious activities,, such as prayers around the flag-pole. Anyone with other information about religious harassment in Texas public schools, please contact me. Howard Thompson, gofreemind@aol.com.

DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION IN LEANDER SCHOOLS

A Jewish parent in Leander ISD near Austin has threatened to sue the school board if they continue opening meetings with prayers. The school board has a "moment of silent reflection," pending legal advice. They also have before meetings the Pledge of Allegiance with the "one nation under God" phrase. The school board previously issued a statement in support of prayers at school football games. The board will likely continue prayers if their lawyer so advises. I am conducting a public information campaign on the issue. Mailings to area residents have included the articles, "Our Founding Fathers' Prayers," "Our Founders' Amazing Constitution," and "Pat Robertson's Attorney Aids Leander ISD." I have spoken to the school board about Constitutional separation of religion from government. HT

PAT ROBERTSON'S ATTORNEY REPRESENTS SANTA FE ISD

Jay Sekulow, attorney for Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), is representing the Santa Fe ISD in their Supreme Court appeal on prayers at football games. In a speech at Texas Southern University, ACLU Galveston attorney Anthony Griffin, who represents complainants, said the Supreme Court will decide if, "student-led, student-initiated prayers at football games violate the Establishment Clause of the First and 14th Amendments." Earlier news reports had said student-led prayer would not be addressed. "If you can use majority votes of students to take away the First Amendment right to freedom from having the government impose majority religions on people, the First Amendment doesn't mean anything," Griffin said. [From Houston Chronicle article by Jo Ann Zuiga, 1/28/00]

FACT HAS NEW INTERNET MESSAGE BOARD

Janye Denham has finished the new Freethinkers Association of Central Texas internet message board. This message posting function is available on the FACT website at <http://atheistalliance.org/fact> by clicking on discussion. You first see a screen of instructions. Click on the "Message Board" button on that screen to see the message list and post you own message. A good way to get begin this kind of message board is for people to tell how they came to reject god and religion. Activities of local groups should also be posted regularly.

TEXAS CHRISTIAN COALITION LEADERSHIP SEMINAR

The Texas Christian Coalition's Leadership Institute is holding a "Grassroots Activism School" in Dallas February 5th-6th. While such seminars are described as conservative political events, they are part of Robertson's effort to bring government under the control of his version of fundamentalist Christianity. The Christian Coalition was the primary force in capturing the Texas Republican party for the religious right. The former head of the Texas Christian Coalition is now head of the Texas Republican Party. Training conservative Christian candidates and activists is a primary tool for mobilizing local support for religious right political goals.

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GROUPS

Agnostic & Atheist Student Group-Texas A&M. http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/. American Humanist Association. Houston, Dallas. frankprahl@earthlink.net. Atheist Community of Austin. www.atheist-community.org. Corpus Christi Atheists & Agnostics. Contact Brian Meyer, bmmagic@swbell.net. Ethical Society of Austin. http://www.esoa.org. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. http://atheistalliance.org/fact. Freethinkers Union - U of Houston. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. Arthur Fay, afay@worldnet.att.net. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Daniel Strain, dts2000@flash.net. Humanist of Ft. Worth. http://webalias.com/humanism. North Texas Church of Freethought. http://church.freethought.org. Oklahoma Atheists. http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/oklahomaatheists. San Antonio College Freethinkers. Don Lawrence, lawdon99@earthlink.net. San Marcos area. Contact David Morris, camerare@itouch.net, group may form. Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Julie Fisher, txfreethinker@oocities.com.

TELEVISION The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

INTERNET DISCUSSION FOR TEXAS ATHEISTS

Atheist Community of Austin: E-mail to: ask-list-request@atheist-community.org Atheist & Agnostic Student Group TAMU: E-mail to: AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu Freethinkers Assoc of Central Texas: A message board posting function from their website. Go to http://atheistalliance.org/fact and click on "Discussion". North Texas Church of Freethought. E-mail to: ntcof_talk-subscribe@e-groups.com

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 37 Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 12:34:59 EST From: Gofreemind@aol.com To: Gofreemind@aol.com

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THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Texas events 2. Getting out of the atheist "closet" "I was taught to sneer at atheists" "It is indeed liberating" 3. Will Boerne gives up "official" nativity? "The nativity is about power, not piety" 4. Evangelical "prophets" recant end of the world 5. Do atheists or Baptists divorce more? 6. News/Science Briefs Internet discussion for isolated atheists Godless Gamers group formed in Austin Atheist musical group started in DFW Football prayers on Republican primary ballot Austin attorney challenges hospital prayers FBI's "Project Meggido" warns of millennial terrorism New University of Texas group may form NTCOF building fund tops $13,000 Ethical Society of Austin - name change ACLU/AUSCS challenge Louisiana school prayer law 7. Letters 8. Groups & TV [[ Media items from Kristine Danowski's news service. ]]

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TEXAS EVENTS

COLLEGE GROUPS MEET? -- A campus freethought-atheist group meeting is in planning for Spring 2000. More info as things firm up. TEXAS PRIMARIES – Democratic and Republican primaries are March 14th, an opportunity for nontheists to learn political processes and gain visibility for atheist issues.

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GETTING OUT OF THE ATHEIST "CLOSET"

The holiday season gets atheists to thinking. We worry about xmas religiosity of co-workers and family. We don't want to be rejected; but we dislike hiding our unbelief or faking our faith. It is no wonder that many unbelievers come out of their atheist "closet" at xmas.

Here is how some readers describe it.

[From Sara] "Thank you for the atheist newsletter and also for the interesting bit of Fredericksburg history. Sad to say that this town is now often proclaimed to be a "city of churches". In fact, I heard with my own ears, a local preacher broadcasting over KNAF radio that the holocaust probably never happened, but even if it did, it was greatly exaggerated by the Jews, who basically brought it all upon themselves ... really!" "Also appreciated your commentary on "faking faith". Believe me, it's very comforting to hear those words and to know that there ARE others who try to see the world with an open mind. I'm happy to say that the end of '99 saw me vow to "come out of the closet" as an atheist, and already I have had numerous small "successes" ... it is indeed liberating."

[Lindsey Durway] "Your comments bring to light an observation that I've observed for some time now: acknowledging one's atheism is like "coming out" about one's homosexuality. The way some folks describe their homosexual "coming out" experience, emotionally, sounds a lot like my atheist "coming out" experience." "I was taught to sneer at atheists, prejudging them as psychologically fucked up &/or immoral/amoral. Then one Sunday I walked out of the Presbyterian church in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, after having found myself utterly unable to spout the creeds, prayers, and other tokens of ‘beleef' during the worship service, and I admitted to myself that I was an atheist." "It was like what I've read about homosexuals who finally & suddenly admit to themselves that they can't uphold the hetero charade: I felt a huge weight lift up off my shoulders, and I wanted to shout to the world: I don't believe this ridiculous crap! There's no lord! no creation! no Eden, sin, son, Word, virgin birth, redeemer, redeemee, redemption, descent into hell, ascent into heaven, and so forth and so forth. I was free to admit to myself what I was, the rest of the world and their psychotic admonitions be damned. I discovered that deep down inside, I was exactly what I was taught to despise, and I fucking loved it!" "That was about 10 years ago, and the older I get, the more unbelievable theistic ‘beleef' becomes for me. ‘Beleef' in a god becomes more & more like some ridiculous 3rd world superstition--wooden statues with ancestors' names carved on them, slips of paper with birthdays written on them, bowls of food left out for hungry ghosts, chicken blood daubed on the foreheads of sick children, desperate entreaties to fickle powers, and on and on and on."

[From Mark] "Your words describe my situation to a ‘T'. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that both my sister and parents are extremely active in their local churches, though I wouldn't label them as fundies. My parents are retired missionaries, and many, many other relatives are full time ministers." "I finally acknowledged my atheism earlier this month, after hiding behind agnosticism since early summer. My parents know nothing of this, but my wife supports me. She, too, is a Christian. I've spoken with other agnostic/atheists about how they "outted" themselves to their families, and most advise against it at Christmas, primarily because of the strong Christian theme of this holiday. What are your thoughts on that?" "Also, would you explain how the "price of going along" got too high? I'm not eager to "hide" for very long, but I'm not certain next weekend is the best time for a confrontation."

The common themes of coming out stories run something like this.

* Doubts about magic that cannot be answered. * Knowing you don't believe the magics others believe. * Worries about how family and friends might react. * Discomfort around religious people and religious activities. * Growing discomfort over silent unbelief or faking faith. * Resolving internal stress by coming out of the atheist "closet". * Relief after giving up secret unbelief. * Hopeful outlook for the future.

Being a go-along-to-get-along atheist and faking faith have personal costs. Our choices, however, should be based on information. I hope words from those who will no longer live in their atheist "closet" to please believers gives you food for thought. ----------------------------------------------------

WILL BOERNE GIVE UP "OFFICIAL" NATIVITY?

Last year, Julie Fisher of the Texas Hill Country Freethinkers told Catherine Fahringer, a board member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, that Boerne had a nativity scene on city property. FFRF then sent a letter to the City of Boerne about their nativity scene.

An article in the San Antonio Express-News described 1999's controversy when Boerne removed the nativity after a brief appearance. Apparently, someone in Boerne remembered FFRF's letter. A Boerne city official told Julie that the city would find a solution after xmas.

Boerne can expect lots of heat from Christians. The usual lies about the U.S. being founded as a "Christian" nation and our founders's first constitutional amendment only prohibiting a national religion will be endlessly repeated. Julie Fisher's excellent letter on the nativity got into the San Antonio and two Boerne newspapers.

[By Julie Fisher, zoezappa@texas.net] "As always, religion is divisive. The issue of the Nativity on Main Plaza is simple, though. It is against the law! Tradition and majority vote don't trump our Constitution. The Bill of Rights protects the individual's freedoms and rights, whether they are popular or not. Separation of church and state protects us all.

"The founding fathers realized that keeping government neutral toward religion was the best way for America to avoid the religious wars and abuses that had taken place in Europe. They were right! Boerne Christians can put up Nativity scenes in front of the many churches, at their own expense.

"Why is it so important to some Christians to make it look like the government favors the Christian religion? The message is that Christians are first-class citizens and Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, atheists, and all the rest are second-class citizens. The Nativity on public property is about power, not piety.

"It is a shame that some Christians have such a sense of entitlement to government favoritism that they feel outraged at just being put on an equal footing with other people. The city did the right thing removing the crèche.

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EVANGELICAL "PROPHETS" RECANT END OF THE WORLD

The kingdom of god is at hand. Natural and human disasters will destroy society as we know it. Accept Christ as your savior. Repent your sins. Jesus is coming back January 1st to raise the righteous to heaven in rapture The wicked will raise Satan's anti-christ to power only to be defeated by god in an ultimate battle between good and evil.

But wait! With the new millennium at hand, leading evangelicals are recanting.

Preacher Tim LaHaye, co-author of the popular "Left Behind" books, now "regrets having talked about" the Y2K bug causing economic disaster leading to the anti-christ. "Armageddon: Earth's Last Days" author Grant Jeffrey now says the end-times will happen gradually, maybe by April. Jerry Falwell has withdrawn his alerts that god would shake and humble the U.S. Other evangelicals are postponing end-times predictions for years or decades.

So far, not one false prophet has given back to deluded believers a penny of panic donations or book sales.

Sociologists would note this is classic "crisis-cult" behavior when prophecy fails. Believers reinterpret scripture into new revelations that alibi failed predictions. Failed predictions, however, strengthens faith in some. The lucky ones come to their senses, realize it was lies and try to lead normal lives.

In 1818 for example, William Miller began preaching the end-times for 1843 or 1844. Eventually, he set a date no later than March 21, 1844. A mass movement of Christian conversions developed from Miller's speeches that were attended by over 500,000. Much of the nation was like a small East Texas town all goggle-eyed over a traveling charismatic revivalist.

When March 21st passed without Jesus' return, new dates were set, which also passed. The Millerite movement fell apart, but millions of scared converts remained Christians. Hard core faithful later established the Adventist movement and Jehovah's Witnesses. [Some material from copyrighted Washington Post article by Hanna Rosin.]

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DO ATHEISTS OR BAPTISTS DIVORCE MORE?

Barna Research Group, a Christian polling firm, reports that Baptists and non-denominational protestants have higher divorce rates than other Christians. Barna interviewed 3,854 adults with the following percentages reporting at least one lifetime divorce.

34% Non-denominational Protestants 30% Jews 29% Baptists 27% Born again Christians 25% National average, mainstream protestant churches 24% Mormons 21% Catholic, Lutheran, Atheists & Agnostics

These results are not strong proof that fundamentalist Christianity causes more divorce. Divorce rates are higher among lower income groups, like many fundamentalists. Non-denominational churches tend to attract those with above average life difficulties. Fundamentalists may also marry younger with more unrealistic expectations, greater sexual ignorance, and less relationship experience. The results do, however, refute popular fundamentalist claims that old-time religion is good for families.

Atheism may provide a view of life that produces useful pre-marital experience. Lower results for atheists and agnostics may arise from more experience with sexual relationships and more living together before marriage, reported in other studies. This is learning made possible by the atheistic stance. It is not evidence for atheistic beliefs inherently aiding marriage.

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

INTERNET DISCUSSION FOR ISOLATED TEXAS ATHEISTS

Check out the following for Texas e-mail discussion groups: 1) Atheist Community of Austin. A lively group with lots of different topics. Send join request to: ask-list-request@atheist-community.org 2) Atheist & Agnostic Student Group at Texas A&M. College student interest. Send join request to: AASG-L@listserv.tamu.edu. 3) North Texas Church of Freethought. Mostly about NTCOF doings. Send join request to: ntcof_talk_subscribe@e-groups.com — you will have to visit the e-groups.com website first and register with e-groups. AOL has two message board areas for atheists. Only AOL members can get to these. 4) Enter "atheism" using the Keyword function, then click on "message boards". The Atheism board has 57 different topic folders, the Agnostic board has 46. 5) Enter "aclu" using the Keyword function, then click on "messaging" at the bottom of that initial ACLU screen, then click on "Ethics & Morality", then click on "Atheism & Freethought", which has 18 message board folder topics.

GODLESS GAMERS GROUP FORMED IN AUSTIN

The Atheist Community of Austin has established a "Godless Gamers" group for board, card and role-playing games. Their first meeting in Austin was a success. Contact Jeff Dee (Atheist Experience TV show host) at unigames@io.com.

ATHEIST MUSICAL GROUP STARTED IN DFW

DFW atheist musicians took another tiny step towards establishing a culture without supernaturalism. The "Reasonettes" debuted at the December 5th service of the North Texas Church of Freethought. The Reasonettes are Cathy and Kevin Smith, Gail DeLay and Scott Williams. Yep, we now got MUSIC by atheists for atheists.

FOOTBALL PRAYERS ON REPUBLICAN PRIMARY BALLOT

The Texas Republican Party is putting the issue of prayers at public school football games on their March 14th primary election ballot. The Texas GOP hopes that the football prayer issue will attract fundamentalists who are still in the Democratic party. What did you expect when the Christian Coalition and other evangelicals have absolute control of the Texas GOP?

AUSTIN ATTORNEY CHALLENGES HOSPITAL PRAYERS

Austin attorney Jim Kirby is challenging Brackenridge hospital's daily prayers over the public address system. Brackenridge Hospital is managed by Catholic Seton Health Network under a long term contract with the city of Austin. The Texas Atheist has had previous complaints that Nuns start employee meetings at Catholic hospitals with a prayer. Kirby has written to the Seton Health Network CEO Charles Barnett (1201 W. 38th St., Austin, TX 78751) and filed a complaint with the Austin Human Rights commission. "I consider this to be bald-faced and annoying prayer," said Kirby's letter, "that is in direct violation of my federal and state constitutional rights and in violation of Austin Municipal Code regarding religious discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation." You can contact Jim Kirby at <jimkirby@zipmail.com.br>

FBI'S "PROJECT MEGGIDO" WARNS OF MILLENNIAL TERRORISM

The FBI issued an October warning to police chiefs about millennial terrorism by Christian groups. The "Project Meggido" report, on the FBI website, addressed groups that "attach special significance to the year 2000." Meggido (the root for "armageddon") is the old testament site for the final end-times battle between god and Satan. "As the end of the millennium draws near," says the report, "biblical prophecy and political philosophy may merge into acts of violence by the more extreme members of domestic terrorist groups that are motivated, in part, by religion." Religious right organizations are demanding congressional hearings to investigate, with the usual whiney liberal-bashing and claims that Christians are always victimized. [Based on a copyrighted article by David M. Bresnahan, WorldNetDaily.com.]

NEW UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS GROUP MAY FORM

The possibility a new nontheistic group at UT Austin has been discussed on the Atheist Community of Austin e-mail list. Your editor has contacted all Austin subscribers about the possibility. The Council for Secular Humanism's Campus Freethought Alliance has expressed interest in helping out. Discussions will resume when the new semester starts. The hope is that a student group can be established. There has also been enough interest expressed by University employees to probably form a campus faculty/staff group similar to Christian faculty/staff groups.

NTCOF BUILDING FUND TOPS $13,000

Mike Sullivan of the North Texas Church of Freethought (NTCOF) told me over dinner in Round Rock that their building fund has topped $13,000. It looks like NTCOF will become the first Texas group to have a meeting hall, and one of the very few such groups in the nation. The NTCOF newsletter put it this way. "While other Freethought groups waste time arguing over who controls the purse strings and then pester their members with dues and Roberts Rules of Order, NTCOF continues to thrive with none of those tiresome practices. Mutual trust, full disclosure, delivering on promises, and most of all, providing Freethinkers with services and experiences they desire has led to a financially stable and growing organization with the membership and resources few other local Freethought organizations can claim."

ETHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTIN CHANGES ITS NAME

The Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin has voted to change its name to the Ethical Society of Austin. Most of the other 30 or so Ethical Culture societies in the nation are similarly named. New contacts: esaustin@usa.net, http://www.esoa.org.

ACLU/AUSCS CHALLENGE LOUISIANA SCHOOL PRAYER LAW

"Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed suit today in federal court, charging that the state's new school prayer law is unconstitutional. The suit also challenges specific school-sponsored religious practices at West Monroe High School in Ouachita Parish." "At issue is an amended school prayer law that was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of the Louisiana legislature last June and signed by Gov. Mike Foster on July 2. The measure altered an existing statute authorizing "silent prayer or meditation" in public schools every morning by striking the word "silent." The measure's legislative sponsor, Rep. Cynthia Willard, told the House Education Committee last May that she wanted to allow for "verbal prayer" in public schools." [From a 12/3/1999 American Civil Liberties Union press release.]

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LETTERS

[From <Darwin@atheists.net> Darwin Bedford] I have posted your "Faking Faith" commentary (with full credits) at www.UnitedStatesGovernment.org, USAGov.com and about 100 other domain names. There are approximately 500 to 2100 visitors to the site per day (mostly Canadians). [[ Thanks for the exposure and proper credits, Darwin. HT ]]

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GROUPS

Agnostic & Atheist Student Group of Texas A&M. Wednesdays 8:00 PM. Check http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/ for changing room locations. American Humanist Association. Houston, Dallas. <frankprahl@earthlink.net>. Atheist Community of Austin. Weekly meetings, monthly speaker, TV show. <kellenvh@earthink.net> www.atheist-community.org. Corpus Christi Atheists & Agnostics. Contact Brian Meyer <bmmagic@swbell.net>. Ethical Society of Austin. 10:00 AM, 1st & 3rd Sunday, Austin Senior Activity Center near 28th and Lamar. 512-306-1111, esaustin@usa.net, http://www.esoa.org. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. Weekly meetings. http://atheistalliance.org/fact Don Lawrence <lawdon99@earthlink.net> or Julie Fisher <txfreethinker@oocities.com>. Freethinkers Union - U of Houston. Active unbeliever student group. Stacy Irwin <stirwin@Jetson.uh.edu>. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. Contact <afay@worldnet.att.net>. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Monthly meetings, <dts2000@flash.net>. Humanist of Ft. Worth. 1st Wed, 7:00 PM, Russell Elleven <R.elleven@tcu.edu>, http://webalias.com/humanism. North Texas Church of Freethought. First Sunday, 10:30 AM at Wilson World Hotel, Irving. Singles group, social events. <church@freethought.org> http://church.freethought.org. Oklahoma Atheists. Monthly & online meetings. Kim Schultz- Kimmysai@aol.com, www.oocities.org/~ok_atheist.html, http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/oklahomaatheists. San Antonio College. New group. Don Lawrence <lawdon99@earthlink.net>. San Marcos. Contact David Morris <camerare@itouch.net>, group may form Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Monthly luncheons, dinners, discussions. Julie Fisher at 210-354-3311 <txfreethinker@oocities.com>.

TELEVISION The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

[[ There is no commentary this issue due to space constraints. There will be several special informational mailings in January. I hope the new year treats each of you well. HT ]]

Subject: The Texas Atheist # 36
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 13:59:06 EST
From: Gofreemind@aol.com

=====[ SUBSCRIBE or REMOVE to gofreemind@aol.com ]=====

THE TEXAS ATHEIST

=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Pat Robertson's "uprising" against the Supreme Court
2. Molly Ivins wants a new Robert Ingersoll
3. Infant brain injuries affect adult morality
4. News/Science Briefs University Skeptics Society goes belly-up
Supreme Court takes Santa Fe football prayer case Santa Fe ISD mandates conformity
Boerne removes Christian nativity display
Oklahoma governor rejects the Constitution
NTCOF gets major radio coverage – Dec. 3rd
Study shows natural light improves test scores
Bible-Belt has highest divorce rates
CSH/CFA starts "Save Our Schools" campaign
Atheist vs Inerrantist debate tape available
Correction - kudos for Minnesota Atheists Correction - Corpus Christi contact
AOL double mails some of last issue
5. Commentary: Faking faith

================================================

PAT ROBERTSON'S "UPRISING" AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT

Pat Robertson urged an "uprising" against the Supreme Court in his 11/8/99 broadcast of the "700 Club." The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest Constitutional authority for the judicial branch of our civil government.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I want to say this very clearly," Robertson told his audience. "If the people of the United States of America - all across America, in their churches and in their civic groups and in their legislatures - decide that they're not going to allow the Supreme Court to dominate their lives in the fashion that it has in this nation, the Supreme Court does not have the power to change that. They are not going to be able to overturn the will of a hundred million American people. And I think the time has come that we throw off the shackles of this dictatorship that's been imposed upon us."

Robertson later called for the "uprising." The most popular TV evangelist, the leader of the Christian Coalition which controls the Republican Party, is urging Christians to overthrow our Constitutional government. No comments were available from the six Republican Presidential candidates who spoke at the Christian Coalition's "Road To Victory" conference in September.

Robertson's call for revolt may signal religious right confidence. The clergy may now feel powerful enough to openly attack our founder's Constitution. Religious groups that control over 10% of radio and TV stations have for decades been brain-washing Christians with myths. Tens of millions now believe that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian" nation, that church-state separation is a recent liberal perversion of our founder's Christian piety, and that making Christianity part of government is a moral duty that restores our founder's intent.

News reports indicate a growing number of public officials are violating their oath of office to uphold the Constitution. More and more officials are using government to force religion on the citizenry. They know about Supreme Court rulings that mandate separating religion from government, yet they willfully reject the Constitution. At this time, there is little direct opposition to the religious right juggernaut. ["700 Club" quotes from People for the American Way, 11/8/99 http://www.pfaw.org/news/]

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MOLLY IVINS WANTS A NEW ROBERT INGERSOLL

Molly Ivins is a good ol' Texas gal with a first rate brain. Her awesome command of language has made her Texas' premier newspaper columnist. Recently, Molly has begun to speak out on state-church separation issues. Her mid-November column questioned why Texans are so all-fired determined to have prayers at public school football games.

Molly's 11/26/99 column (Lincoln Journal-Star) was a call for more rationalism and skepticism regarding religion and pseudo-science. Yep, read that last sentence again, ‘cause that's what Molly really said. Molly, who professes Christianity, must be getting mightily peeved at the bible-thumpers to wish on them another Ingersoll, a professed agnostic.

"I do think," said Molly, "it would help if we had a public voice attacking the excesses of religion equivalent to the great 19th-century atheist Robert Ingersoll (who was once Republican vice presidential candidate; try to think of a prominent atheist politician today). Madalyn Murray O'Hair was both so angry and batty that my reaction was, ‘thanks, I'll take the Baptists.'"

Hon, it ain't that there are no voices exposing religious idiocy. The problem is that corporate media will not regularly publish materialistic voices that upset religionists, no matter how true or needed. With no way to get their message heard, today's freethinking Ingersolls are mostly shouting in a vacuum or limited to the tiny audiences they can afford.

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INFANT BRAIN INJURIES AFFECT ADULT MORALITY

Dr. Antonio Damasio and colleagues report an association between certain kinds of infant brain injuries and impaired adult social and moral behavior (November "Nature Neuroscience.")

"We wondered what would happen if a person's prefrontal cortex was damaged in infancy," said Damasio. The pre-frontal cortex has been identified as playing a significant role in the development of decision-making functions related to social actions and personal planning.

Two young adults who had prefrontal cortex damage during infancy were the subjects of the study. One subject, injured in both frontal cortices at 15 months, was ignoring verbal and physical punishment by age three. She was a disruptive teenager at home and school. Behaviors now include compulsive lying, ignoring rules, stealing, unable to hold a job, no expressions of guilt or remorse, blaming others, without future plans and an apparent lack of empathy.

The other subject had a tumor removed from the right frontal lobe at three months. By nine, he was unmotivated, without friends and had sporadic anger tantrums. After high school, he was unable to hold a job, compulsively lying, without future plans, and lacking guilt, remorse and empathy.

A battery of tests revealed that both subjects were unable to choose a more rewarding long-run strategy over a short-term strategy that paid off bigger earlier, but less overall in the long run. Neither subject could figure out what to do in common social situations. Other studies have indicated that people who suffer similar brain injuries later in life may not act normally, but they have a sense of right and wrong.

Damasio's research is a fascinating demonstration of how neurological processes account for human behaviors that used to be explained with magic. If brain functions account for our moral and ethical behavior, then magical souls, original sin, divine intervention, etc. are unnecessary to explain morality. Morality is then best understood as a collection of naturally selected human instincts and behaviors that proved their survival and reproductive value over millions, or hundreds of millions, of years.

Damasio is a professor of neurology at the University of Iowa. His 1996 book "Descartes Error" (still available) dunked body-mind duality, explored the role of emotions in the brain's "reasoning" processes, and described morality's physiological basis.

Damasio' newest book, "The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness" is another step forward in understanding what consciousness is and its physiological functions.

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NEWS/SCIENCE BRIEFS [Send items of interest to gofreemind@aol.com.]

UNIVERSITY SKEPTIC SOCIETY GOES BELLY-UP

Word from the University of Texas at Austin is that the University Skeptics Society is no more. Formed in the fall of 1997, the group began with high hopes, the good leadership of Tony Niesz, the upbeat efforts of social chair Elena Vaysman, and the sharp mind and public voice of Philosophy major Favio Saavedra. A remnant calling itself "Campus Crusade for Cthulu" survives. They recently manned a West Mall table across from the week long appearances of campus evangelist, Cliffe Knechtle. Texas A&M and Nebraska University have atheist clubs, but not U.T. Your editor has been talking with Austin and U.T. non-theists about starting a new campus non-theistic group. The discussion are on the Atheist Community of Austin e-mail list, <atheist-list@atheist-community.org>.

SUPREME COURT TAKES SANTA FE FOOTBALL PRAYER CASE

The U.S. Supreme Court has selected the Santa Fe, Texas football game prayer case for review. The case was appealed when a lower court struck down as a violation of state-church separation Santa Fe ISD's policy that sponsors student-led prayers at football games. In 1993, the Court refused to review a U.S. Fifth Circuit court (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma) decision which upheld student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. The court will not review the more general issue of student-led prayers in the current Santa Fe Case. As it now stands, a school district can authorize a majority of students to impose their religious message on others students at school events. The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide if football games are solemn enough school event for god worship. You read it right. A majority of students has the power to force their religion on everyone at school events, even though government is still somehow separate from religion. Yes, this does mean that the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to deliberately gut First Amendment separation of government from religion.

SANTA FE ISD MANDATES STUDENT CONFORMITY

The Santa Fe Independent School District (ISD) recently mandated student uniforms and a stricter cussing policy. These new conformity policies imposed on students reveals the district's duplicity. Santa Fe ISD says it is defending student "free speech" in appealing a case that bans prayers at football games. District trustees, however, only champion student free speech and expression when students proselytize Christianity. Otherwise, the district enforces rigid behavior and speech rules on students. This hypocrisy shows that defending student "free speech" at football games is a sham since the district suppresses student speech and behavior which does not conform to their ideas of Christian virtue.

BOERNE REMOVES CHRISTIAN NATIVITY DISPLAY

There are early reports that the city of Boerne, Texas (NW of San Antonio) has removed a Christian nativity scene from public property. Why is unknown at this time. Boerne had been involved with a local Catholic church in a Supreme Court church-state separation case. Boerne newspapers have also published many stories and letters about the Freethinker rock controversy in Comfort, Texas. Details surrounding the removal will be reported in the next issue.

OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR REJECTS THE CONSTITUTION

Oklahoma's Catholic Governor Frank Keating has rejected the Constitutional authority of the U.S. Supreme Court which prohibits Oklahoma from violating Constitutional separation of religion and government. "I would say it would be unacceptable to say creation science should not be taught in public schools," Keating said. "I dissent," was Keating's response when told that U.S. Supreme Court rulings prohibited Creationist views in textbooks. Keating's comments occurred as he supported the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee's ruling that biology textbooks must carry a disclaimer against evolutionary theory. Oklahoma joins the growing list of states where public officials dishonor their oath to uphold the Constitution because of their religious beliefs. [From Oklahoma City "World" 11/16/99 article by Randy Krehbiel, sent in by gvicious@hotmail.com.]

NTCOF GETS MAJOR RADIO COVERAGE -- Dec. 3rd.

The North Texas Church of Freethought (NTCOF) will be featured in a five part series aired on Dallas-Fort Worth WBAP 820AM Radio. Reporter Sandra Gonzalez interviews NTCOF Director Mike Sullivan about common questions for atheists and describes her visit to an NTCOF Sunday Service. The air date is Dec. 3rd during drive-time newscasts between 6:30 - 8:30 AM and again in the 12:30 PM news package. WBAP is a 50,000 watt super-station which can be picked up several hundred miles from DFW, depending on weather and radio aerials. [See: <http://church.freethought.org> for more info.]

STUDY SHOWS NATURAL LIGHT IMPROVES TEST SCORES

One wonders when everyone will finally accept the significance of our evolved humanity. Stories like this would then be, "oh of course, we were naturally selected from surviving in Earth's natural environment." A study by Heschong Mahone Group near Sacramento, California has found that students who have lessons in classrooms with natural light score as much as 25% higher on standardized tests than other students in the same school district. The study was described as the first rigorous one of its kind. An earlier Canadian study found that student achievement gains were significantly greater in classrooms where artificial light most closely approximated natural sunlight. Sunlight is known to affect human physiology and brain functions in a number of ways. How natural that children learn best with natural sunlight as opposed to artificial light.

BIBLE-BELT HAS HIGHEST DIVORCE RATES

An Associated Press article reports a national average divorce rate of 4.2 per thousand. The highest divorce rates, excluding Nevada's drive-thru divorces, are in Tennessee (6.4), Arkansas (6.1), Oklahoma (6.0) and Alabama (6.0), where Christian fundamentalism dominates society and culture. [Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics data.] Yep, the bible-belt, the region of strongest conservative Christianity, the region where government does most to force religion on everyone, can't sustain Christian marriages. So much for the religious right's claim that Christianity is good for families. If born-again Christianity is good for families, why are so many bible-belt Christians bailing out with divorce? [From AP news article, 11/12/99, Lincoln Journal-Star]

CSH/CFA STARTS "SAVE OUR SCHOOLS" CAMPAIGN

The Council for Secular Humainism's Campus Freethought Alliance, "has launched a national campaign in defense of science education." The campaign is called "S.O.S." for Save Our Science - Save Our Schools. The Campus Freethought Alliance is coordinating a communications campaign by non-religious students, teachers, parents and citizens to send S.O.S. distress "signals" to the media, government and public. S.O.S. opposes, "all efforts to either (1) remove or reduce students' exposure to leading scientific theories or (2) include religious teachings in the science curricula please." [For information and a petition see <http ://www.campusfreethought.org/sos>] [Contact: CFA Coordinator Amanda Chesworth, FIAmanda@aol.com.]

ATHEIST VS INERRANTIST DEBATE TAPE AVAILABLE

Atheist Activist Jeffery Jay Lowder reports the availability of videotapes of his recent debate against Phil Fernandez, President of the Institute of Biblical Defense. Jerry didn't exactly say he kicked-ass, but it sure sounds like it. Jeffery is a long time atheist activist who debates religious right Christians on a number of topics. [Contact jlowder@infidels.org] [http://www.infidels.org/infidels/products/video/lowder-fernandes.html]

CORRECTION - KUDOS FOR MINNESOTA ATHEISTS

The Texas Atheist goofed, but unlike biblical errors, goofs are acknowledged and corrected. Last issue credited the Atheist Alliance for the pro-Jesse Ventura advertisement in Minneapolis. Actually, the Minnesota Atheists placed the advertisement – an "Open Letter to the Community of Faith." Marie Castle, who is in the Minnesota Atheists and president of the Atheist Alliance reports that over $6,000 in donation have come in for the $3,500 ad.

CORRECTION -- CORPUS CHRISTI CONTACT

The e-mail address for Brian Meyer in Corpus Christi has been in error. The correct address for Brian is <bmmagic@swbell.net>. Brian maintains a website and is in contact with other non-theists in the Corpus area who get together for happy hour from time-to-time.

AOL DOUBLE MAILS SOME OF LAST ISSUE

American Online double mailed copies of The Texas Atheist #35 to some subscribers. My database prohibits duplicate e-mail addresses. If you get a duplicate mailing from gofreemind@aol.com, let me know so I can figure out if it was me, AOL, or something else. HT

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GROUPS & TELEVISION

Agnostic & Atheist Student Group of Texas A&M. Wednesdays 8:00 PM. Check http://atheist.tamu.edu/~aasg/ for changing room locations. American Humanist Association. Houston, Dallas. <frankprahl@earthlink.net>. Atheist Community of Austin. Weekly meetings, monthly speaker, TV show. <kellenvh@earthink.net> www.atheist-community.org. Corpus Christi Atheists & Agnostics. Contact Brian Meyer <bmmagic@swbell.net>. Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin. 10:00 AM, 1st & 3rd Sunday, Austin Senior Activity Center near 28th and Lamar. 512-306-1111 <ecfa@usa.net> http://www.main.org/ec. Freethinkers Assoc. of Central Texas. Weekly meetings. http://atheistalliance.org/fact Don Lawrence <lawdon99@earthlink.net> or Julie Fisher <txfreethinker@oocities.com>. Freethinkers Union - U of Houston. Active unbeliever student group. Stacy Irwin <stirwin@Jetson.uh.edu>. http://get.to/freethinkers. Houston Church of Freethought. Contact <afay@worldnet.att.net>. Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Monthly meetings, <dts2000@flash.net>. Humanist of Ft. Worth. 1st Wed, 7:00 PM, Russell Elleven <R.elleven@tcu.edu>, http://webalias.com/humanism. North Texas Church of Freethought. First Sunday, 10:30 AM at Wilson World Hotel, Irving. Singles group, social events. <church@freethought.org> http://church.freethought.org. Oklahoma Atheists. Monthly & online meetings. Kim Schultz- Kimmysai@aol.com, www.oocities.org/~ok_atheist.html, http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/oklahomaatheists. San Antonio College. New group. Don Lawrence <lawdon99@earthlink.net>. San Marcos. Contact David Morris <camerare@itouch.net>, group may form Texas Hill Country Freethinkers. Monthly luncheons, dinners, discussions. Julie Fisher at 210-354-3311 <txfreethinker@oocities.com>.

The Atheist Experience: 9:00 AM call-in show. Sunday on Austin public access TV. Freethought Forum: 6:30 PM Thursday on San Antonio public access TV.

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Commentary: Faking Faith

The Christmas season challenges non-theists. We can't avoid "Jesus is the reason for the season" signs and all the other Christmas hoopla.

We may run into government displays of Christian symbols and messages. School students may be faced with Christian activities. Employees may be faced with office parties, drawing for gifts, and evangelical co-workers all big-eyed to tell you about their "personal savior."

The build up to Christmas as a national Christian holiday reminds us that we are outsiders. We are outsiders both by our free choice of rational sanity and the hostility of Christians against unbelievers.

Family is the toughest for most of us. Fortunately, there are no strong religionists in my immediate family. Holiday meals get eaten just fine without blessings at our small gatherings. Christian symbols have diminished to near zero in recent years.

Families with determined fundamentalists are toughest. I get chills reading some of the first person stories. I wish there was some way to help doubters who have been swallowing their feelings, pasting a smile on their face, and playing "let's pretend Jesus is real" at family gatherings.

I understand why true feelings are suppressed for faking faith to get along with family. We all sacrifice for family due to our evolved behaviors. No one wants to cause a tense family situation or upset family members. Many doubters and unbelievers see faking faith as a small price to pay for family peace.

The harm of faking faith comes from rebound feelings. There is an emotional cost from going along with believers, pretending their faith is wonderful, that your doubts and unbelief are non-existent. Faking faith is a kind of intellectual and emotional self-abuse.

You make the sacrifice for them. You get along with them as they are because they are family. You fake faith and pretend their religious fantasy are noble and real. You bow your head for their prayers, go to their churches, sing their hymns, and smile over their Jesus stories and religious fables.

They make no equivalent sacrifice for you. There is, in fact, the very real risk that some of them might harshly reject the real you, the doubter and unbeliever, if your mask of fake faith failed and the real you were revealed.

Faking faith is extreme go-along-to-get-along atheism. You hide what you are, conform to the religious culture, and never live what you really are. You assume all the emotional burden and cognitive distortions that arise from faking faith. Faking faith makes you a master rationalizer about going along the dominate Christian culture; but it erodes your real self as years roll by.

Atheists choose to live somewhere between living openly as an atheist and faking faith. All of our choices have risks and costs. Living openly exacts its price. Faking faith exacts another price. For me, the price of going along got too high. I finally realized most of my years were gone with me living other than was right for me.

I feel better about things as an open atheist and simply pay its price as shit happens. My biggest atheist regret is that I waited so long. Many of going-along's harms are now permanent within me.

Good luck to all who trod the faking faith path, its toll is great. May you have no regrets as the one and only life you will ever have runs out with you faking faith in death so none are disturbed by your unbelief. HT.

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