AMERICAN ATHEIST

A JOURNAL OF ATHEIST NEWS AND THOUGHT

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Blocked.
Saving Free Speech in Today’s Public Square

Secular Invocations Introducing the The Latest Attack on

Protected by New President Secular Government:
Federal Court Ruling of American Atheists Fighting Project Blitz
STAND WITH
AMERICAN ATHEISTS!
Every victory you read about in this magazine was achieved
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We’ve led the fight for absolute separation of religion from

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 SEPTEMBER/October 2018
VOL. 56 – NO. 3

In This Issue
4 Editor’s Letter: We Put the Election
in God’s Hands

6 Quick Hits

6 Scientology Display Comes Down

After American Atheists Intervenes

7 Majority of Americans Oppose

8
Religious Refusals in Healthcare

7 Congressional Freethought Caucus

Formed

8 Cover Story: Protecting Free Speech

in the Public Square of Social Media

10 Pennsylvania Legislature Can’t Ban

Atheist Invocations

11 Ending the Blitz Against Religious

Equality

12 Project Blitz in Arkansas: How We’re

Fighting Back

16 Introducing the New President of

American Atheists

18 A Discussion with Nick Fish

20 No More Debating

22 Religion as Social Reality

25 Notable Books

12
28 Affiliates Spotlight

29 Our State of the Secular States

Report

30 Personal Story: Why I Am An

Atheist
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a message users see when blocked from a
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American Atheist Magazine

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Research Editor
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16
Managing Editor
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 EDITOR’S LETTER
We Put the Election in
God’s Hands
T
he 884-page report
released in July by a
Pennsylvania grand
jury barely scratch-
es the surface of
the amount of tor-
ture and devastation inflicted on
children at the hands of Catholic
priests. Several more states have
initiated their own investigations
as the Catholic Church continues
to make it abundantly clear that it
has no intention of ever partnering
with law enforcement to prosecute,
or even prevent, these crimes.
Nonetheless, Church officials
will be forced to cooperate, thanks
to our secular government. It is—
pardon the expression—our savior
here.
The constant threat, in one way
or another, to the government re-
maining secular is the reason why
American Atheists exists; the gen-
erosity of our members and sup-
porters is how we exist. Thanks
to you, we’re in no danger of going
under.
The same cannot be said about
the wall of church/state separation,
and atheists are partly to blame for
one simple reason: On November
8, 2016, we stayed home in droves
instead of participating in the pres-
idential election.
The results of that election have
launched an assault on church/
state separation not seen since the
Eisenhower Administration, when
“under God” was inserted into the
4 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
pledge and “In God We Trust” be-
came the official national motto to
be printed on our currency.
The cabinet of the current ad-
ministration is full of religious zeal-
ots, and we have two new Supreme
Court justices with downright
contempt for secular government.
Because they were in their forties
when they were appointed lifetime
tenures to the highest court in the
land, they’ll have decades to con-
tinue swinging the wrecking ball
into the wall of church/state sepa-
ration, unhampered by any checks
on their power.
We weren’t the only Election
Day deserters. The percentage of
the American populace who were
eligible voters but chose to stay
home was 29.9%, a far larger of per-
centage than voted for either Clin-
ton (19.8%) or Trump (19.5%). But it
turns out that non-believers led the
way.
Four months before the election,
the Pew Research Center released
a survey that shows non-believers
to be the nation’s largest potential
religious voting bloc at 21% of the
population. White Evangelicals
are a close second at 20%. When it
came to voting, however, the gap
was anything but neck-and-neck.
On Election Day, White Evangel-
icals made up 26% of the elec-
torate. For Catholics, it was 23%,
and for us, just 15%. So millions
of non-religious Americans who
were eligible to vote essentially put
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

the election of the president of the
United States in God’s hands. How?
Trump’s strongest supporters are
Evangelicals. Evangelicals believe
God talks to them directly and tells
them what to do. Evangelicals vot-
ed for Trump.
Democracy is a lot like atheism.
Both are grounded in the belief that
there is no sovereign, no ultimate
arbiter of right and wrong who will
steer us in the proper direction if
we just listen closely enough and,
most importantly, obey. Staying
home on Election Day, therefore, is
the very antithesis of atheism, yet
that’s what most atheists did.
Our secular government has no
hope of surviving the coming years
if we all don’t acquire a slew of new
habits, starting with participating
in every election, every year, at ev-
ery level—from president to school
board. But just voting is not near-
ly enough. Staying informed and
engaged must become part of our
everyday lives. If the supporters of
the people currently in power can
find at least a minute or two for
daily prayer, then we can certain-
ly find a minute or two for daily
action.
American Atheists has launched
several initiatives to empower citi-
zens to stay informed all year long,
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
15%NON-RELIGIOUS VOTERS made up just 15% of the 2016 electorate despite non-religious
Americans comprising 21% of the American populace, meaning millions of non-religious
voters stayed home on Election Day. White Evangelicals, despite making up just 20% of the
American populace, composed 26% of the electorate.
not just at election time. The new- and its current status. You can
est is our State of the Secular States also enroll in email updates and
report, a comprehensive evalua- action alerts to let you know when
tion of the current laws and policies you should contact your elect-
affecting the separation of religion ed official to make your voice
and government in all 50 states and heard. Learn more at atheists.org/
the District of Columbia. The clear, state-legislation.
simple presentation allows you to Just like it was the only hope for
understand at a glance how well Catholic Church victims to see any
or how poorly your state keeps re- kind of real justice, secular gov-
ligion out of its government. The ernment is our only hope for the
report is available at atheists.org/ countless protections we all rely on
states. every day. The only hope for secu-
This issue’s cover story is about lar government is our commitment
atheists who were denied their to get and stay involved.
constitutional right to communi-
cate with their state senator on so-
cial media. Facebook and Twitter
are two of the best ways to interact
with your government, which is Pamela Whissel
why we’ve launched Atheists EN- Editor-in-Chief
pwhissel@atheists.org
GAGE, a campaign to encourage
atheists to speak out about their be-
liefs on social media—and to chal-
lenge the government officials who
silence those voices. You can learn
more at atheistsengage.org.
We also offer an online tool that
closely monitors both state and
federal legislation affecting our
constitutional right to a secular
government. A map shows where
current legislation has been filed,
and you can click on each state to
read more about a bill’s sponsors
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 5
 QUICK HITS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Religious Daycare Centers in Virginia No Longer

Exempt from Inspections
The Virginia Department of Social Services will begin
making surprise inspections at religiously affiliated day-
care centers, which have been allowed to operate with-
out licenses since 1979. More than 2,500 licensed daycare
facilities across Virginia are inspected at least twice a
year, with requirements for background checks, train-
ing, and health and safety. Religious facilities, however,
have been able to self-report their compliance with state
standards. None of these exempted Virginia daycare cen-
ters receive subsidies from the state.
Source: 13newsnow.com story by Jaclyn Lee (October 2, 2018) Scientology Display Comes
Down After American
Atheists Intervenes
International Blasphemy Day Marks 13th
Anniversary The Church of Scientology’s August
recruitment campaign at the Los An-
The 13th Annual International Blasphemy Day was geles Police Department was short-
recognized on September 30, to mark the anniversary of lived, thanks to American Atheists.
the publication of 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed Our Legal Center was contacted by
in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten which sparked a concerned local resident, who came
riots around the world. Blasphemy as a legal offense re- across a large, interactive kiosk pro-
mains an “astonishingly widespread” practice, accord- moting Scientology in the lobby of the
ing to a report published last year by United States Com- Hollywood Community Police Station.
mission on International Religious Freedom, which lists In an August 13 letter sent to the po-
71 countries that punish acts of blasphemy. lice commissioner of that station, lit-
Source: newsweek.com story by Damien Sharkov (September 30, 2018) igation counsel Geoffrey T. Blackwell
explained that the display violated the
Establishment Clause of the U.S. Con-
Nigerian Atheists Forming Online Communities stitution and demanded that the dis-
play, along with any others like it, be
Atheists in Nigeria are secretly communicating us- removed.
ing pseudonyms in WhatsApp groups and social media “The placement of a kiosk promot-
sites. They’ve also formed three organizations: the Athe- ing the tenets of any religion inside a
ist Society of Nigeria, the Northern Nigerian Humanist police facility sends the unmistakable
Association, and the Nigerian Secular Society. Mubarek message that the department endorses
Bala is directing the effort. He attracted media attention that particular religion,” he wrote.
in 2014 after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital by The display was gone 48 hours after
his parents when they found out he was atheist. “People American Atheists sent the letter.
began secretly contacting me, telling me that they, too, “We’re pleased that the Los Ange-
don’t believe in Allah.” les Board of Police Commissioners
Source: aljazeera.com story by Chika Oduah (September 18, 2018) took immediate action to resolve this
issue. A police facility is where crime
victims go in times of acute emotional
Project Explores Decline of Traditional Religion
distress. Not only it is beyond inappro-
Among Black Millennials
priate for them to encounter a church
The National Museum of African American History membership drive, it’s unconstitution-
and the Pew Research Center are collaborating on “gOD- al as well. People depend on the police
Talk: A Black Millennials and Faith Conversation.” The for real-world assistance, not religious
project will be carried out in multiple cities to uncover endorsements.”
how millennials interact with religion and the transfor-
mative nature of community, internet, and space. Con-
versations will be conducted in multiple cities. Atheists
and humanists are encouraged to participate.
Source: worldreligionnews.com story by Corey Barnet (September 1, 2018)

6 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 Most Americans Oppose Religious Privilege in
Healthcare
In a survey released on October 3,
the Public Religion Research Institute
(PRRI) found that 67% of Americans
say pharmacists with religious objec-
tions should not be allowed to refuse
to provide contraceptives to women,
while 26% are in favor of such a poli-
cy. Along gender lines, 71% of women
and 64% percent of men are opposed
to this religious exemption, as are 76%
of Democrats and 56% of Republicans.
Majorities of every major religious
group, including White Evangelical
Protestants (53%), object to policies
that would grant pharmacists the right
to refuse contraceptives to women on
religious grounds. A majority of the
religiously unaffiliated (75%), White
mainline Protestants (74%), Black
Protestants (67%), and Catholics (66%)
agree.
Most Americans also oppose rules
which ban federally funded healthcare
providers from discussing abortion
with their patients. Overall, 60% of
Americans oppose such a policy, while
31% support it. It’s another rare issue
in which agreement cuts across parti-
san and religious lines as most Demo-
crats (62%) and Republicans (59%) op-
pose such a policy, as do majorities of
all major religious groups, including
60% of White Evangelical Protestants.
“It is simply remarkable to see ma-
jorities of Americans united across
partisan and religious lines to require
pharmacists, regardless of their per-
sonal religious beliefs, to fill valid
prescriptions for contraceptives,” said
PRRI Research Director Dan Cox. “It’s
rare enough to find any issue on which
a majority of all Americans agree, let
alone one around reproductive health
where there have been so many polit-
ical battles.”

Freethought Caucus Established in Congress

Four Democratic U.S. represen-
tatives have made history by form-
ing the Congressional Freethought
Caucus. The founding members are
Representatives Jared Huffman (CA),
Jamie Raskin (MD), Jerry McNerney
(CA), and Dan Kildee (MI).
Since the announcement of the cau-
cus, six more Democratic represen-
tatives have joined: Zoe Lofgren (CA),
Hank Johnson (GA), Steve Cohen (TN),
Pramila Jayapal (WA), Eleanor Holmes
Norton (DC), and Mark Pocan (WI)
The goals are: to promote public
policy formed on the basis of reason,
science, and moral values; to pro-
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)
tect the secular character of our gov-
ernment; to oppose discrimination
against atheists and other nonbe-
lievers; and to champion freedom of
thought and conscience.
“There currently is no forum fo-
cused on these important issues, and
with this Administration and certain
members of Congress constantly
working to erode the separation of
church and state, this new caucus
is both important and timely,” said
Huffman.
“As a scientist, I understand clear-
ly the need to bring rational deci-
sion-making to Congress for the good
of our nation,” said McNerney.
Raskin said, “We face a constant
undertow in Congress of dangerous ef-
forts to stifle science and promote offi-
cial religious dogma and orthodoxy…
[We must] seek a democracy that pro-
tects both the rights of individual con-
science and worship and the central
role of reason, science and morality in
the making of public policy.”
The caucus is co-chaired by Huff-
man and Raskin. Huffman is the only
member of Congress who is an open
nonbeliever.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 7

 Composite Image

LITIGATION

Blocked.
Protecting free speech in the public
square of the social media age

S
ocial media, according to the United States Supreme Court, is “per-
haps the most powerful mechanism for citizens to make their voic-
es heard. It allows a person with an internet connection to become
a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from
any soapbox.”
The idea of giving citizens the right to make their voices heard
was far-fetched when it was enshrined in the First Amendment of the Consti-
tution. But because they were some of the most imaginative minds of the 18th
century, the framers of the Constitution were bound to come up with ideas con-
sidered wild and unrealistic at the time.
As visionary as they were, the Founders couldn’t have imagined anything like
the internet or the colossal megaphones of Facebook and Twitter. Likewise, it’s
difficult today to imagine a world without social media, let alone the internet.

8 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018


The internet, probably more
than anything else, has let closet-
ed atheists around the world know
that they’re not alone. The internet,
probably more than anything else,
has allowed people to easily search
their holy books for absurdities and
contradictions—only to find more
than they ever realized were there.
The internet, probably more than
anything else, has given atheists a
voice in our national discourse.
Betty Jo Fernau is an Arkansas
activist who understands all of this.
She enthusiastically participates in
Facebook and Twitter discussions,
sometimes with her elected repre-
sentatives, as is her right granted by
the First Amendment and upheld
by the Supreme Court. On several
occasions, she’s posted criticism
of statements made on the official
Facebook page and Twitter feed of
her state senator, Jason Rapert.
In 2014, after Rapert used his of-
ficial Facebook page to reiterate his
opposition to same-sex marriage,
she posted a criticism in response.
A few hours later, she discovered
that she was now banned from
posting comments of any kind on
his official page. So she went to
his official Twitter feed to criticize
him again, this time for blocking
her participation in a public forum
with her elected official. A day or
so later, she was blocked on Twitter
as well.
Cathey Shoshone is another Ar-
kansas activist. In 2014, she partici-
pated in the campaign to repeal her
state constitution’s prohibition of
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
“Anyone capitalizing on their elected
office to advance their particular
religious viewpoint seriously
misunderstands the foundation on
which America was built.”
same-sex marriage. That was the
year she was banned from Rapert’s
Facebook page after she criticized
his religious opposition to same-
sex marriage. In 2015, he blocked
her from his Twitter account as
well after she posted viewpoints
that differed from his.
That same year, Robert Barrin-
ger was also blocked from Rap-
ert’s Facebook page after he took
issue with Rapert’s post opposing a
woman’s right to choose.
This year, it was Karen Dempsey
who was blocked after she criti-
cized Rapert’s disparaging remarks
about atheists.
Betty Jo, Cathey, Robert, and
Karen are now plaintiffs in a feder-
al civil rights lawsuit that was filed
by American Atheists against Sena-
tor Rapert on October 2.
“The senator’s conduct consti-
tutes viewpoint discrimination,
which is prohibited under the First
Amendment. Government officials
cannot take hostile actions—like
limiting participation in public fo-
rums—against someone simply be-
cause they have different beliefs,”
said Alison Gill, American Atheists’
Legal and Policy Director. “These
forums include social media ac-
counts used by public officials for
government purposes.”
“Senator Rapert has a duty to
represent all of his constituents,
not just the ones who share his re-
ligious views, and on that duty, he
is failing miserably,” said Ameri-
can Atheists’ president, Nick Fish.
“Anyone capitalizing on their
elected office to advance their par-
ticular religious viewpoint serious-
ly misunderstands the foundation
on which America was built.”
Arkansas attorney Matt Camp-
bell, an expert on civil rights, crim-
inal law, and the appellate process,
is American Atheists’ local counsel
in the lawsuit. According to Camp-
bell, “Senator Rapert’s own com-
ments demonstrate that his actions
were motivated by animus toward
atheists and those who support the
constitutional separation of reli-
gion and government.”
American Atheists seeks a court
order permitting the plaintiffs to
participate in these public forums,
as well as nominal damages, puni-
tive damages, and attorney’s fees.
This lawsuit is just one example
of how American Atheists is taking
action against public officials who
curtail the free-speech rights of
their constituents.
We have also launched Athe-
ists ENGAGE, a national online
campaign to ensure that atheist
voices are heard at all levels of
government.
Go to atheistsengage.org to learn
more about your rights. The web-
site also provides some guidelines
about online discourse, as well as
suggested tweets and social me-
dia posts to start the conversation
and ensure that your voice is being
heard by your elected officials. 🅐
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 9

Pennsylvania Legislature’s
Anti-Atheist Invocation Policy Ruled
Unconstitutional
A
federal district
court judge in the
Middle
of
District
Pennsylvania
ruled on August 29
that the Pennsylva-
nia House of Representatives acted
unconstitutionally when it barred
atheists from offering invocations
at the start of its legislative ses-
sions.
American Atheists joined Amer-
icans United for Separation of
Church and State in filing Fields v.
Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives in 2016, after five in-
dividual plaintiffs were repeatedly
denied requests to offer secular in-
vocations in the House.
In his opinion, U.S. District
Court Judge Christopher C. Con-
nor said, “The policy purposefully
discriminates among invocation
presenters on the basis of religion
and thus exceeds the constitution-
al boundaries of legislative prayer.
The House’s pre-2017 opening invo-
cation practices, which coerces vis-
itors to stand during the opening
prayer and thereby participate in a
10 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
LEGAL
religious exercise, likewise offends
the Establishment Clause.” “The U.S.
The court’s decision comes af-
ter the 2014 U.S. Supreme Court
Constitution
ruling in Greece v. Galloway that re- guarantees
affirmed that government bodies
may open meetings with prayers that the rights
and invocations, as long as they
do not discriminate against athe- of citizens to
ists and other minority religious
groups wishing to offer their own
participate in
invocations and prayers. their government
Shortly after the Supreme
Court’s ruling, the plaintiffs made will never be
repeated requests to participate in
the longstanding tradition in the
tied to belief in a
Pennsylvania House of allowing deity.”
community members to give the
invocation. Each of their requests
was denied.
“The U.S. Constitution guaran-
tees that the rights of citizens to
participate in their government
will never be tied to belief in a dei-
ty,” said Alison Gill, Legal and Poli-
cy Director for American Atheists.
“The Supreme Court has made this
clear many times, and this decision
protected that guarantee for the
people of Pennsylvania.” 🅐
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Ending the Blitz Against Religious Liberty
A nationwide effort is underway to overwhelm state
legislatures with bills that favor Christianity.
by Alison Gill - American Atheists Vice President, Policy & Legal
T
here’s a movement
in state legislatures
around the country
to undermine the
separation of reli-
gion and govern-
ment, LGBTQ equality, and access
to reproductive health services.
The movement is also pushing
the false narrative that the United
States was founded as a Christian
nation. Its name is Project Blitz and
it’s already taken hold in more than
thirty states. Founded by the Na-
tional Prayer Caucus Foundation,
Project Blitz operates by establish-
ing prayer caucuses in state legis-
latures in order to introduce bills
aimed at undermining religious
liberty.
The bills are crafted for the leg-
islators by Project Blitz, which has
published a 116-page legislative
guide that includes twenty model
bills. Project Blitz in 2019, and we need
In 2018, over 70 Project Blitz-re-
lated bills were introduced in state
legislatures around the country,
and a greater number are expected
in 2019.
These bills first target “low-hang-
ing fruit” like requiring public
schools to display the national mot-
to “In God We Trust” in every class-
room. This promotes the false nar-
rative that America was founded as
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
PUBLIC POLICY
a Christian nation, which allows
legislators to sponsor more danger-
ous bills, including measures that
use religious exemptions to open
the door to legal discrimination
in areas like foster care, adoption,
and reproductive rights.
Project Blitz has enjoyed great
success. Five states now have a law
that requires public schools to dis-
play “In God We Trust,” and three
states now allow religious discrim-
ination in foster care and adoption.
American Atheists is leading
the opposition to Project Blitz by
partnering with several organiza-
tions, including Americans Unit-
ed for Separation of Church and
State, Public Research Associates,
and the Family Equality Council to
raise awareness among lawmak-
ers, advocates, and the general
public.
We’re now preparing to fight
your help. We rely on the eyes and
ears of our members and support-
ers across the nation to help us
monitor the hundreds of bills filed
every year that attack religious
neutrality and give special treat-
ment to religion.
If this kind of bill is introduced
in your state, please tell us. Go to
Atheists.org/activism/state-legisla-
tion and click LET US KNOW.
“The strategy of
Project Blitz is
to overwhelm
us and wear us
down by flooding
the states with
terrible bills.”
The strategy of Project Blitz is to
overwhelm us and wear us down
by flooding the states with terrible
bills. But the good news is that, in
coordination with state and nation-
al partners, we managed to defeat
the vast majority of their efforts in
2018.
For example, although the “In
God We Trust” bills were passed in
five states, they failed in 26 other
states.
And in the eight states where Re-
ligious Freedom Restoration Acts
were introduced, none of them
passed. And now lawmakers, ad-
vocates, and our partner organiza-
tions are more aware of the cam-
paign and more prepared for 2019,
when we will fight these bills wher-
ever they show up. 🅐
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 11
 ADVOCACY

Project Blitz in
Arkansas
How We’re Fighting Back
by Pamela Whissel

12 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 L
ast year, Project Blitz
scored a victory in
Arkansas when a
law was passed that
requires the state’s
public school class-
rooms and libraries, as well as all
other public buildings, to display a
poster depicting the national mot-
to, “In God We Trust,” above the
American flag and the Arkansas
flag.
Because there is no requirement
that the posters mention the his-
tory of the motto, or the historical
context in which it was adopted, ev-
ery student in that state has heard
the message that real Americans,
especially the ones in Arkansas,
trust in God.
The legislation, sponsored by
Republican Representative Jim
Dotson of Benton County, was
worded so that the government
doesn’t have to spend a penny to
meet this mandate.
The posters can come from any-
where—as long as they’re donated.
And if a donated poster is received,
displaying it is mandatory.
It wasn’t long before the Benton-
ville School District was supplied
The “In God We Trust” posters (left) donated to tbe
Bentonville Schools by Arkansas State Representative
Jim Dotson, Republican of Benton County (right)
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
with more than enough posters
to go around, thanks to the local
American Legion Post and the
American History and Heritage
Foundation which had raised the
funds to print 1,000 posters.
Although the law is clear on
what the poster’s content must in-
clude, it puts no restrictions on
where the posters can come from,
and it doesn’t limit the number of
donated posters that any one class-
room is required to display.
It also says nothing about re-
stricting or limiting additional con-
tent on the posters.
Enter American Atheists. At the
August meeting of the Bentonville
School Board, Nick Fish (now the
president of American Atheists)
showed up with Arkansas State
Director Steven Foster, Assistant
State Director Karen Dempsey, and
American Atheists members and
supporters who live in the school
district.
Fish presented a donation of
six framed posters that meet the
guidelines but also provide the full
truth and historical context of our
national motto. During the public
comment section of the meeting,
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 13

Fish addressed the school board.
On behalf of American Atheists, I am
pleased to make another donation to the
school district. But we think students de-
serve all the facts, not just a poster of an
exclusionary and divisive motto devoid
of any additional context or information.
So here are those facts: The motto “In
God We Trust” had nothing to do with
our nation’s founding.”
According to the U.S. Department of the
Treasury, “In God We Trust” was first
added to coins in 1864, nearly a centu-
ry after the revolution, at the urging of
Rev. Mark Watkinson of Pennsylvania,
largely “because of the increased reli-
gious sentiment existing during the Civil
War.” In a letter to Treasury Secretary
Salmon P. Chase, Watkinson requested a
statement be put on the nation’s coinage
acknowledging “Almighty God in some
form” in order to “relieve us from the ig-
nominy of heathenism.” It was, from the
start, a religious sentiment, not a histori-
cal or cultural one.
During the Cold War, in an attempt to
differentiate the United States from the
Soviet Union, Congress passed a joint
resolution in 1956 “declaring ‘In God We
Trust’ the national motto of the United
States,” creating an official national mot-
to for the first time. In contrast, our na-
tion’s original motto, the 13-letter latin
14 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
American Atheists is providing this version
of the National Motto display to schools
in Arkansas and across the country.
phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” was proposed
in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson as part of
a design for the first seal of the United
States of America. The origins of the
phrase itself can be traced as far back as
Cicero’s 44 BCE De Officiis: “When each
person loves the other as much as him-
self, it makes one out of many.”
In today’s divided political climate, and
in a pluralistic community like Ben-
tonville, people of all religious beliefs
should feel welcome as full members of
their community. This is the message we
should be sending to our students: that
no matter how different we are and how
strongly we disagree about politics, reli-
gion, or any issue, we are united as one
community and as one nation, indivisi-
ble, because we love each other as much
as we love ourselves.
The school district declined our donation, but thanks
to local news coverage of the school board meeting,
some Arkansas classrooms in the district do have our
poster hanging in them, because several teachers in
Benton County have since contacted American Atheists
directly to request a poster.
If you know a teacher in Arkansas who would like
a poster for their classroom, please have them email
contact@atheists.org or write to us at 225 Cristiani St.,
Cranford, NJ, 07016. 🅐
Pamela Whissel is American Atheists’ membership
director and editor-in-chief of this magazine.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
 A Newer Testament:
Misanthropology Unleashed
by Reneau H. Reneau
Illustrations by Rogelio Naranjo
109 pages

Paper $12.95 | eBook $4.49

“The pages drip with satire and mock

pretense; delightfully irreverent.”
- D. Quinn, Amazon.com

Available only at Amazon

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 15

 ANNOUNCEMENT

A New Chapter

INTRODUCING
THE
NEXTPRESIDENT
OF AMERICAN ATHEISTS

NICK
FISH
F
or more than a decade, American Atheists’ new president, Nick
Fish, has been working on the front lines of the fight to advance
equality under the law for all Americans. That dedication to equali-
ty and his demonstrated commitment to American Atheists is what
led the Board of Directors to name him the organization’s sixth
president as of September 1.
Nick is a seasoned activist who has worked across the spectrum of political,
social, and non-profit advocacy. He has been at American Atheists since 2012,
first as development director and, until his appointment as president, as national
program director and primary spokesperson.
He has represented American Atheists many times in the media, including
appearances on the Fox News programs Spirited Debate, Hannity, and Fox and
Friends. He has created innovative advocacy and visibility campaigns, including
AtheistVoter, and has developed messaging and strategy around American Athe-
ists’ legal, public policy, and outreach campaigns.
Board Chairman Neal Cary praised the Board of Directors’ decision. “In my
time working with Nick, it’s become clear that he is a tireless advocate who is
creative, passionate, and committed to creating a broad coalition in the fight to
protect real religious freedom in America,” he said. “He knows the issues our
community faces inside and out. I’ve been especially impressed by his commit-
ment to building a team of activists who share his vision and dedication to the
mission of American Atheists. I am confident Nick will be a great leader of this
organization and a champion for our community’s values of equality, inclusion,
and reason as we move forward.”
Born and raised in rural Michigan, Nick was adopted by his parents, a pub-
lic-school teacher and a mechanic, as an infant. Religion was never more than
an afterthought in his early life, even during his years as an active member of

16 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). His troop met
at a local public school, and his leaders brushed
aside the more overtly religious elements of BSA
“We need to take the lead on
programming.
But in the 1990s, BSA became ensnared in con- educating the American people
troversies around its membership practices, spe- about what it actually means to be
cifically the exclusion of gay scouts and leaders. an atheist and about the challenges
“I remember thinking how unfair and how
that atheists face when leaving
hypocritical it was,” said Fish. “Here were kids
who just wanted to make friends and go camping. religion. The members of our
And they were being excluded simply because of community have stories to tell, and
the bigotry of some of the Boy Scout leaders. it’s our job to amplify those stories.”
“The most frustrating and discordant part was
the religious justification for the discrimination.
My experience as a Boy Scout had been essential-
ly secular. I never had to profess a belief in God.
My leaders told me that all that was required was a
belief in something bigger than myself, so I chose
to believe in the dignity of all people. And yet they
were denying that dignity to some people simply
because of sexual orientation.”
In 2000, the United States Supreme Court ruled
in a 5-4 decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
that the BSA had a constitutional right to ban gay
scouts from its ranks.
“I was at summer camp when the Dale decision
was announced,” said Fish. “Counselors were jok-
ing about distributing t-shirts with ‘5-4’ printed
on them. I spent the next four hours arguing with
one of them about the ban until he ended the con-
versation by threatening to ‘talk to’ my troop lead-
ers. They were so cavalier about the struggles and
rights of our fellow scouts, and it disgusted me. It
was the first time I saw just how divisive religious
dogma could be.”
Before joining American Atheists, Fish worked
as a canvass director during the 2008 election
season in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he
registered voters and managed voter-contact
and persuasion campaigns for MoveOn.org and
the League of Conservation Voters in support of
Barack Obama and Democratic candidates for
governor and senate. After the election, he man-
aged small-donor fundraising campaigns for a va-
riety of progressive political and advocacy groups,
and was responsible for raising more than $5 mil-
lion and contacting more than 400,000 donors.
“The common thread running through so many
of the issues I was passionate about was religious
privilege,” he said. “Whether LGBTQ rights, access
to reproductive healthcare, environmental policy,
or public education, religion was being wielded as
a weapon in the arena of public policy. I wanted to
fight these issues at their core.” 🅐

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 17


SITTING DOWN WITH THE NEW
PRESIDENT
OF AMERICAN ATHEISTS
I
mmediately after his se-
lection as president of
American Atheists, Nick
Fish sat down with Amer-
ican Atheist magazine to
discuss his plans for the
future of the organization, the role
of religion and theism in Ameri-
can public life and politics, and his
background.
What’s first on your to-do list?
My number-one priority is to
double down on activism at the lo-
cal level because our nation is at a
crossroads. It is impossible to over-
state the damage currently being
done to the foundation of religious
freedom and the separation of reli-
gion from government.
The Trump Administration is
brazenly packing the courts from
top to bottom with judges whose
extreme views on religious liberty
are fundamentally out of step with
“The political climate being created
by the Trump Administration is
dangerous for anyone who values
religious equality in America.”
18 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
DISCUSSION
the majority of Americans, and un-
der Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
the Department of Justice is clear-
ing the way to allow religion to be
used as a license to discriminate.
This climate is dangerous for any-
one who values religious equality
in America.
People across the country are
looking for ways to get involved and
fight back against this corruption
of American values. That’s why it’s
so important for us to invest heavi-
ly in giving local activists the tools
and resources they need.
Are there any major
changes in the near future
for American Atheists?
The most significant change
our members will notice is our
increased investment at the local
level in activism, charity work,
education, and social opportuni-
ties. Religious organizations have
claimed a monopoly on these ser-
vices in much of the U.S. for de-
cades. It’s time for us to step into
this space and own our part of
it. Many Americans stay in their
churches because of the commu-
nity support structure that exists
within them.
We must do more to provide an
alternative for the people who want
this, but we must be thoughtful and
purposeful about building the sort
of community that not only meets
the needs of those who are already
members of American Atheists,
but also the needs of those who
have yet to become members.
That means being inclusive and
accessible with our programming
and building community groups
that are safe and supportive for all.
Looking at the bigger
picture, what is your vision
for American Atheists?
At its core, our fight is about
equality. This organization elevates
and empowers atheists in America,
which means working tirelessly to
shape a society where religion no
longer occupies a place of privilege
and where atheists are treated as
equals in society and politics.
We can do this by telling the
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
 individual stories of people who
are harmed when one particular
religious view is elevated above
others, or when religion in general
is elevated above non-religion. By
putting a human face on atheism,
we can break down the stigma that
is still associated with being an
atheist in America.
But to accomplish that, we need
to take the lead on educating the
American people about what it ac-
tually means to be an atheist and
about the challenges that atheists
face when leaving religion. The
members of our community have
stories to tell, and it’s our job to am-
plify those stories.
Too many atheists are still un-
able to be open about what they be-
lieve and don’t believe.
It is our responsibility to enable
people across the nation to be fear-
less and bold about their atheism.
By showing Americans that their
friends, family, and the people
they work with every day are athe-
ists, we make it easier for the next
person to walk the path toward
authenticity.
American Atheists is known
for “firebrand” activism. Will
you maintain that approach?
To me, “firebrand” activism
means telling the truth unapologet-
ically and standing up for our con-
victions. But it also means choosing
our battles wisely. It means know-
ing the time and place to engage
in the harsh criticism that religion
deserves and when to set aside our
differences with religious people to
work toward a common goal.
The mission of American Athe-
ists will always be to protect the
absolute separation of religion
from government and to elevate
atheists and atheism in our nation’s
public and political discourse. But
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
we need to work practically and
realistically in order to successful-
ly move the needle toward these
objectives.
This means being thoughtful
about our approaches in order
to determine what actually can
change the hearts and minds of
our fellow Americans and what
policy reforms will make tangible
improvements in people’s lives.
We will not be able to accom-
plish this without the help of our
religious allies, so we must be will-
ing to work alongside anyone who
shares our values of religious free-
dom and religious equality.
This does not mean that we will
start pretending that religion is
simply a benign force that is some-
times good and sometimes bad.
Religion has caused—and con-
tinues to cause—immeasurable
harm to vulnerable people in the
United States and around the world.
From attacks on LGBTQ rights and
access to reproductive healthcare,
to the gutting of public education
and the refusal to confront climate
change, religion continues to be an
effective weapon for injustice in
American politics.
People, especially those who
are the target of these attacks, are
right to be angry at and critical of
religion.
Anyone harmed by religion de-
serves to be heard, particularly
when they are marginalized or ex-
cluded because of their atheism,
their race, their ethnicity, their
sexual orientation, their gender or
gender identity, their disability, or
their economic status.
We have a responsibility to am-
plify the voices of these Americans
by helping them tell their stories
and making sure they are visible
at the forefront of our community
and in our naton.
With your non-religious
upbringing, you’ve never faced
the struggles that many atheists
experience when they abandon
religion. What do you say to
someone who believes that you
can’t be an activist without that
sort of personal experience?
I am fortunate to have parents
who allowed me to choose for my-
self which path to follow. In rural
Michigan, where I grew up, that is
the exception rather than the rule.
But that doesn’t mean there was no
pressure to believe or pressure to
conform to the religious expecta-
tions of the community as a whole.
My political awakening hap-
pened during the Bush Administra-
tion as I watched them use religion
as a tool to boost turnout among
white evangelicals, specifically
with anti-LGBTQ ballot measures,
to win elections. In 2004, eleven
states, including my home state of
Michigan, passed constitutional
amendments banning same-sex
marriage.
That election galvanized my be-
lief that religion was more than just
a thing some people do on Sundays
that didn’t really have anything to
do with me. It brought into focus
the notion that religion could be
weaponized to take away my own
rights and attack people I love. In
many ways, that election is the rea-
son I have spent my career fighting
for equality, both in the law and in
public opinion.
Every LGBTQ person, every
woman, and every atheist has a
personal story of oppression from
religion. It’s our job to tell those
stories and to elevate the voices of
those who have been ignored and
marginalized by those who would
see the status quo preserved. 🅐
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 19
 COMMENTARY

Life in a reality-based world cannot

accommodate conversations about
nonsensical notions.

No More Debating
by Tyson Gill

A
s has every succes- Further debate only distracts
sful movement be-
fore it, the atheist
us, helps to normalize ridicu-
lous claims, and stokes unfound-
“There’s no
movement must ed doubts about objective reality Bigfoot wing of
now move past the
debate stage be-
itself.
In order to break the cycle, we a political party
cause there are no new argumen-
ts to make and no new evidence
atheists must simply refuse to en-
gage in nonsensical diversions,
pushing through
to present. We have raised aware- even with each other. We must re- legislation based
on the teachings
ness, we have made our argumen- ject assertions of religious belief,
ts, we have pointed out the eviden- now matter how heartfelt, with no
tiary and logical flaws in religious
claims, we have tried to educate,
more compunction than we would
claims of perpetual motion, psy-
of Bigfoot.”
and we have even gotten angry. chic readings, or leprechauns.
We must quit disputing creation-
ists and no longer treat faith-heal- when we denounce statements of
“If religious ing as a mere cultural difference. Holocaust denial. We no longer
citizens wish Let’s forget about conducting ex-
periments to disprove the power of
treat sincere beliefs about white
supremacy as legitimate. We re-
to create social prayer, and stop deliberating over
the Bible’s inconsistencies as if
fuse to be open-minded about a
flat Earth. We no longer debate the
policy they must they matter. pros and cons of slavery or racism
do so by sticking Instead, we must quietly assert,
through our refusal to engage with
or women’s rights.
Of course, we cannot eliminate
to objectivity and these ideas, that the reality-based
world has moved on.
delusional beliefs altogether, but
we are able to marginalize them
sound logic.” This stance is already standard so that their influence is kept to a
for any number of groups who hold minimum.
bizarre beliefs. We’re not conflicted Many people believe in ghosts,

20 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 psychics, and Bigfoot, but those groups do not at-
tempt, and are not powerful enough, to substan-
tially influence public policy.
There’s no Bigfoot wing of a political party fight-
ing incessantly to include a Bigfoot curriculum in
schools, or to build Bigfoot memorials on public
property, or to push through legislation based on
the teachings of Bigfoot, or for the government to
establish a Department of Bigfoot Protection.
This is not to say that secular society can or
should relegate religious citizens to voiceless, sec-
ond-class status.
On the contrary, we must engage in social-jus-
tice debates with everyone, even though the gap
between secular and religious worldviews is deep.
At times, it seems like a bottomless chasm, but it’s
not. Our common goals and needs as humans bring
our two sides close enough together to form strong
bridges on a wide range of issues. But we need
those bridges to be built on facts, reason, and uni-
versal values.
If religious citizens wish to create social policy
in keeping with their faith, we must insist that they
do so by sticking to objectivity and sound logic.
While laudable religious beliefs do exist, they
can undermine our own capacity for rational
thought, which is why it’s easy to get caught up in
silly debates, even with other atheists. We are ac-
tivists mainly because we see powerful religious
interests pushing America—perhaps unwittingly
and with sincerely good intentions—toward delu-
sional thinking and sectarian behaviors. Each, at
any level, is anathema to our American ideals, in-
cluding the free exercise of religion.
So, in order to move forward, we must partici-
pate in any reasonable, fact-based conversation
while refusing to engage in arguments over fictions
that have nothing to do with the real world. A plu-
ralistic society cannot function in any other way,
unless it becomes a theocracy. 🅐

Tyson Gill is a former science teacher, researcher,

and software developer. He has authored several
books, including Belief in Science and the Science
of Belief. He writes about atheism, science, and
social justice at figmentums.wordpress.com.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 21

 COMMENTARY

Religion as
Social Reality
by Peter Kassan

T
he claims of the world’s major anthropocentric religions
(Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) are inconsistent with
what we know of the physics of the universe: its great
age, its enormous size, and our insignificant place in it.
And yet the vast majority of people around the world say
they’re adherents of one or another of those religions.
How can this be possible? Can science and religion even be reconciled?
Science can make a legitimate claim to have a monopoly on the truth,
but only in the domain of physical reality, which includes physics,
chemistry, biology, and all other natural sciences. We live not simply
in physical reality but also—and primarily—in social reality.

22 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 Social reality refers to every-
thing that makes human beings
people, something more than just
members of the species Homo sapi-
ens. All aspects of our cultural iden-
tities—our names, the languages
we speak, the clothes we wear,
what we do and don’t eat, wheth-
er we’re single or married (and to
whom), whether we’re a citizen, in
school or working or unemployed
or retired—everything is included.
(The Construction of Social Reality by
John Searle is an engaging, accessi-
ble book on this topic.)
If you consider the social insti-
tution of adoption, you can see that
even the identity of your parents or
children may also be a matter not
of biology (physical reality) but of
social reality. As the issue of gen-
der illustrates, what we think of
as personal identity is both a mat-
ter of internal perception and also
another aspect of social reality; to
be a man or a woman means to be
recognized and acknowledged by
others as such.
Even notions of the beginning
and end of life, which appear to be
based purely on matters of biolo-
gy, are actually also constructions
of social reality, although usual-
ly only at the edges. For example,
several religions assert that hu-
man life begins at the moment of
conception.
In many situations, time of
death is officially “declared,” mak-
ing it a quintessentially social real-
ity because a declaration is a spe-
cial kind of speech act known as
a “performative,” one that, under
the right circumstances, makes
itself true by its very utterance.
The Declaration of Independence
is such a performative: “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.” Such
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
truths are not matters of physical
reality but social reality, which is
why this statement is declaration
rather than an assertion. And, as
we saw most famously in the case
of Terry Schiavo, life ends when
the law—another aspect of social
reality—says it ends.
Despite such things as declara-
tions of independence, abortion
bans, and bathroom bills, social re-
ality, like physical reality, is rarely
controversial. It’s usually just part
of the background, the unques-
tioned and unnoticed framework
in which we live our lives. When
you take a ten-dollar bill out of your
wallet, you don’t wonder wheth-
er the cashier believes in it. The
cashier’s only possible concern is
whether that particular piece of pa-
per is a real ten-dollar bill and not
a counterfeit. You might question
the notion of money philosophical-
ly, but try taking a pair of running
shoes out of the store without pay-
ing for them.
Religion, too, is a matter not of
physical reality but social reality.
For the vast majority of people in
the United States and around the
world, religion is another aspect of
reality. To some, it is the most im-
portant aspect. Religions are some-
times called “systems of belief” or
“faiths,” but those terms are mis-
leading. We don’t refer to money or
the government or the legal system
as systems of belief or matters of
faith. (However, the U.S. Constitu-
tion refers to faith in this sense in
the Full Faith and Credit Clause.)
Likewise science, as a human
activity rather than simply a body
of knowledge, is as much a part
of social reality as any other. It’s
grounded not only in the so-called
scientific method but also in its
practice: education and training,
science as a profession and a ca-
reer, accreditation and academic
credentials, research and experi-
mentation, foundations and grant
applications and grants, peer re-
view and publication, and so on.
None of us can personally in-
vestigate and confirm any but the
smallest part of the body of knowl-
edge we call science, so we take it
almost completely “on faith.” Yes,
we’ve all been given demonstra-
tions of this or that puzzling phe-
nomenon (iron filings arranging
themselves in a magnetic field,
for example) followed by its scien-
tific explanation, and many of us
have witnessed a few classic ex-
periments in physics or chemistry
class. But these are performed not
to prove what has been scientifical-
ly established but to demonstrate
the methods used to establish
them. They’re the equivalent less of
witnessing a miracle than of hear-
ing about one. And yes, science has
been extraordinarily effective and
successful in allowing us to ma-
nipulate the physical world and to
make predictions about it, but that
just reinforces and confirms, well,
our faith in it.
So, too, with religion. Adherents
don’t have to personally confirm
the teachings of that religion. In
fact, the very notion is absurd, as
is the notion of one individual con-
firming all scientific knowledge.
Many adherents do, in fact, tes-
tify to their personal experience
of God—confirmation enough for
them.
So how can this be reconciled
by someone with a commitment
to both religion and science? Well,
they don’t have to be reconciled.
Since the establishment of the he-
liocentric model of the solar sys-
tem, we understand that the ap-
parent movement of the sun across
the sky is caused by the rotation of
the Earth, and yet we continue to
observe sunrises and sunsets. The
fact that they are, in some sense,
illusions changes nothing; they’re
still real to us. There’s nothing to
reconcile, because the heliocentric
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 23

None of us can
personally
investigate and
confirm any but the
smallest part of the
body of knowledge
we call science, so
we take it almost
completely “on faith.”
Peter Kassan was raised in a
Jewish secular family and has
never believed in God or practiced
any religion, although, for a
few years in his twenties, he
studied and practiced Tibetan
Buddhist meditation. Over his
long career in the software
industry, he has authored or co-
authored several software patents.
He is also a keen observer
of the pursuit of artificial
intelligence and has published
essays on that and other subjects
worthy of skeptical attention.
24 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
model of the solar system and the
movement of the sun in the sky re-
side in entirely different realms of
our reality.
Just as “science” refers both to
the body of knowledge and to the
commitments (the practice of doing
science, in other words), “religion”
refers both to a body of claims and
to the commitments and practices
of the religion. It’s not unlikely that
many adherents of religion follow
the practices without actually ac-
cepting the claims.
In this sense, then, it’s not unfair
to refer to atheism as a religion—an
assertion that, of course, infuriates
atheists. If by “religion” we mean a
claim that a particular god exists
along with a set of practices to wor-
ship it, then atheism is obvious-
ly not one. But if by “religion” we
mean a particular claim about God,
then atheism is one. And in social
reality, atheism—like religion—is
not simply a claim (that there’s no
God or, stated more weakly, that
there’s no plausible reason to claim
there’s a God)—it’s also the com-
mitments that follow.
Granted, those commitments
are a good deal less onerous than
those of most religions, and they
mainly consist of negative commit-
ments, such as not praying, not fol-
lowing dietary proscriptions, and
so on. For some atheists, there may
also be a few positive commitments,
such as espousing, supporting, and
promoting atheism, reading about
it, subscribing to magazines like
the one you’re reading right now,
and following certain websites.
Atheists assert that there’s a crucial
difference. Science is ultimately
based on what is and isn’t true from
a scientific viewpoint and religion
isn’t. But for religious adherents,
the situation is symmetric: religion
is based on what is and isn’t true
from a religious viewpoint, and sci-
ence is not.
Religions make assertions about
miraculous historical events. Al-
though facts of history are the do-
main of the discipline of history
(strictly speaking, historiography),
miraculous events are by defini-
tion impossible from a scientific
viewpoint. After all, that’s what
makes them miraculous. When
atheists make this observation,
they’re not pointing out anything
that religious adherents hadn’t no-
ticed. But from a religious view-
point, the situation is again com-
pletely symmetric: despite claims
to the contrary, scientific accounts
of the origin of the universe are no
less exceptional and no less mirac-
ulous. Many adherents to religion
find the scientific accounts of evo-
lution as tortured and implausible,
which is how atheists view the bib-
lical creation story.
History is another aspect of so-
cial reality. It’s a fact, but not a sci-
entific one, that George Washing-
ton was elected the first president
of the United States in 1789. Wheth-
er a specific event is physically pos-
sible may be a question of science,
but the very terms of that asser-
tion—“George Washington, first
president of the United States,” and
even “1789”—have meaning only in
terms of social reality. The presi-
dential campaign of 2016 saw the
rise of what has come to be known
as fake news. To no one’s surprise,
it was journalists, not scientists,
who were called upon to adjudi-
cate questions regarding fake news
(with the exception of such topics
as climate change).
When I told two of my co-work-
ers, one an evangelical Christian
and the other an Orthodox Jew, that
God had made me an atheist—a re-
mark I meant to be paradoxical and
ironic—they both agreed that he
had. All three of us live in the same
physical reality, but not quite the
same social reality. 🅐
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
 NOTABLE BOOKS

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic:

Atheists in American Public Life
Since colonial times, our laws and
court cases have assumed that all
good people are religious and, as a re-
sult, have ignored atheism.
Americans came to associate
atheism with radical social philoso-
phies that advocated violence, espe-
cially anarchism and communism.
Only in the twentieth century, with
Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in
American Public Life by R. Laurence Moore and
Isaac Kramnick, 209 pages (including notes and
citations), W.W. Norton & Company
the passage of laws allowing for cons-
cientious objection to war, did nonbe-
lief enter debates about religious li-
berty.
R. Laurence Moore and Isaac
Kramnick, both professors emeriti
at Cornell University, explore God’s
omnipresence in light of the dramatic
rise in nonbelievers that has led to an
“atheist awakening” intent on holding
the country to its secular principles.
They are also co-authors of The Go-
dless Constitution: A Moral Defense of
the Secular State.

The Meaning of Belief: Religion from an Atheist’s

Point of View
This book does not assess the truth
or falsehood of religion, even though
author Tim Crane is an atheist.
Rather than treating religion as a
kind of primitive cosmology, Crane,
who is a professor of philosophy at
Central European University in Bu-
dapest, offers an alternative account
based on two ideas.
The first is the idea of religious im-
pulse: the sense people have of some-
thing transcending the world of ordi-
nary experience, even if it cannot be
explicitly articulated.
The second is the idea of identifi-
cation: the fact that religion involves
belonging to a specific social group
and participating in practices that re-
inforce the bonds of belonging.
His unique perspective makes
sense of the current debates and sug-
gests an intellectually responsible
and practically effective attitude to-
ward the phenomenon of religion.
The Meaning of Belief: Religion from an Atheist’s Point
of View by Tim Crane, 207 pages (including notes
and index), Harvard University Press

Finding Purpose in a Godless World:

Why We Care Even If the Universe Doesn’t
Drawing on years of wide-ranging
intensive clinical experience, as well
as his own family experience with
cancer, Dr. Lewis lists the ways in
which people can and do cope with
random adversity without recourse to
supernatural belief.
He also explains how coming to
terms with randomness can be libera-
ting and empowering, even if it’s ini-
Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care
Even If the Universe Doesn’t by Ralph Lewis, M.D.,
foreword by Michael Shermer, 317 pages (including
notes and bibliography), Prometheus Books
tially frightening.
Written for those seeking a world-
view that’s both scientifically sound
and humanistic, the book examines
science’s inroads into the big ques-
tions typically reserved for religion
and philosophy.
Lewis, while acknowledging the
social and psychological value of
progressive forms of religion, also
deconstructs the most sophisticated
theistic arguments for a purposeful
universe.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 25

 ADVERTISEMENT

OPEN LETTER TO DR. SEAN CARROLL

Cosmologist and Professor of Physics—California Institute of Technology

[This letter was emailed on July 14. It is without answer as of July 25 when I had to submit this.
Of course, he may never have seen it. If so, maybe he will see it here. In any case, I hope you
will make up your mind on this almighty issue.]

Dear Dr. Carroll:

Regarding Your Article “Free Will Is as Real as Baseball”

With thanks and respect for the wonderful work you are doing in educating the public about reality, I suggest
your stand on free will—valid as it may be as you define it—will do far more harm than any likely good. I
hope you will consider the following and perhaps find something you may not have considered.

From your article:

“The concept of baseball is emergent rather than fundamental, but it’s no less real for all of that.
Likewise for free will…

“…We can be perfectly orthodox materialists and yet believe in free will, if what we mean by
that is that there is a level of description that is useful in certain contexts and that includes
“autonomous agents with free will” as crucial ingredients. That’s the “variety of free will worth
having,” as Daniel Dennett would put it.”

But we cannot be perfectly orthodox materialists and yet believe in free will, if what we mean is what libertarian
free-willers mean, that people make choices free of all antecedents. This is what the overwhelming majority
of people are quite sure of.

The views which have concerned thinkers for centuries is not some version that Daniel Dennett would think
is worthwhile, but the libertarian version and Christian versions.

Nearly everyone believes in one or the other with huge assistance from the fact that we choose and then do
what we chose, everyday. For the Christians, belief in free will is mandatory doctrine.

The Christian version asserts that everyone (with certain exceptions) is not only free to choose, but in moral
matters seriously deliberated, one knows which course is right and has full ability to choose it. This false and
pernicious doctrine is an absolute necessity to have guilt, which is absolutely necessary in order to have the
need of Jesus and salvation.

The evil that flows from these beliefs is beyond estimation, though the fate of the Jews, branded falsely as
Christ-killers, is surely instructive. It yielded 2000 years of tragedy, prepared the ground for the Holocaust
and is still very active all over the world.

It is the very idea of deserved retributive punishment which legitimates the malignant hatred that poisons our
country today—women hating men; blacks hating whites and vice versa; everyone hating the politicians and
advocates of views to their distaste; and now, haters in entertainment and sports holding nothing back!

Is it not our certainty that those we most detest are some combination of selfish, depraved, immoral, racist,
elitist, chauvinistic, unprincipled and incorrigibly wicked? Even worse, they choose to be so when, if only they

26 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 ADVERTISEMENT

were not rotten they could and would do otherwise. This is surely the view which Christianity introduced,
nourished and cultivated to justify hell for all those God damns in the final judgment.

What a paradox! The Prince of Peace, the very realization on earth of love, justice, mercy and forgiveness,
provides divine sanction for this malignancy. He legitimated hatred so sovereign that his wrath cannot be
slaked short of an eternity of continuous conscious suffering.

Surely the best chance we have to end this debilitating hatred is to line up with science, and
kill dead the false doctrine of libertarian free will. Nothing new in philosophy has a chance to
do it, but this is not at all the case with science.

Dr. Robert Sapolsky, with most of his fellow neuroscientists, is already convinced that the weight
of the evidence now on hand demands a verdict of determinism. But unlike in philosophy, he
says new developments in neuro-biology are proceeding at such a furious clip there is good
reason to think science will do much more soon.

We have good reason to think it will yet do to libertarian free will what it did for that other
illusion, the flat earth.

If people truly understood that libertarian free will is false, it would force an honest and no doubt, agonizing
reassessment of our always-understanding regard for ourselves, our motives, intelligence, accomplishments,
and just overall goodness. Who would not benefit?

It would force us to give far more attention to finding ways to subject miscreants to experiences—education,
praise, admonishment, reproof, embarrassment, punishment, whatever seems most likely to work to cause
them to see the light (unfortunately, there is no way to know the right dose of experience).

But where is any such value in sight for an esoteric validation of some ”level” of description that is useful in
certain contexts and that includes “autonomous agents with free will” as crucial ingredients”, especially when
you are firm in the conviction that we and the world is matter, behaving in accord with natural laws?

It is not needed to assure we don’t lose incentives to do better. Exhortation, education, and hard work are all
experiences which cause change, often as desired. Nor do we need to worry about insufficient appreciation
of our self-worth; surely, our human nature assures that it will never die.

And we most certainly don’t need it to justify the need to hold people to account for their actions. Determinists
as much as libertarians recognize the imperative need to do that. The only difference is in our attitude toward
the miscreant.

Is not the good flowing from a true understanding of the forces which makes us who we are the single greatest
chance we have within prospect to advance the cause of humanitarianism, toleration, truth, reason and
science?

Your powerful voice in full-throated support of strict determinism is needed, undiminished by a distracting
and highly qualified good word for any sort of compatibilism.

Sincerely,

Ad paid for by Fellow Feather. Your comments are welcome at fellowfeather@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 27

 AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT

Tri-State Freethinkers Protest Ark

Encounter “Theme Park”
The Tri-State Freethink-
ers of Cincinnati and North-
ern Kentucky held their
third annual protest in front
of the Ark Encounter theme
park in Grant County, Ken-
tucky. The tourist attraction
is owned by Answers in Gen-
esis, which also operates
the Creation Museum a few
miles away. Jobs at this “life-
size replica” of Noah’s Ark
only go to those who agree
in writing to their Statement
of Faith that denounces evo-
lution, homosexuality, and
even non-Fundamentalist
Christianity (answersingen-
esis.org/about/faith).
Because public funds help
run the facility, the Tri-State
Freethinkers protest every
July on the anniversary of
the Ark Encounter’s launch
and call it out for what it
really is: a park celebrating
genocide and incest.

LGBTQ Rights Are an

Atheist Issue
When equality is under attack, atheists show up—
especially to support LGBTQ pride. This year, affil-
iates and local partners of American Atheists in 29
cities across 13 states participated in pride events.
Together, these groups signed up over 1,000 new
members American Atheists!

© JScott Images © JScott Images © Annie Brewer, Pittsburgh City Paper

28 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

 180+ AFFILIATES
47 STATES
ONE COMMUNITY
at he i s t s . or g /af f il i at e s
American Atheists Releases Groundbreaking Report on State Law to
Empower Lawmakers and Advocates
American Atheists has released its
inaugural State of the Secular States
report, which will be an annual com-
prehensive evaluation of statewide
laws and policies affecting the separa-
tion of religion and government in all
50 states and the District of Columbia.
The groundbreaking report assess-
es more than 30 current state-lev-
el laws and policy measures in four
broad categories: state constitutional
protections, schools and youth, health
care and wellness, and special privi-
leges for religion.
“This is a powerful tool for law-
makers and advocates alike,” said
Alison Gill, American Atheists’ Legal
and Policy Director. “American Athe-
ists will continue to invest in state and
local activism by empowering advo-
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
cates with the tools they need to im-
prove laws and policies in their own
states.
“Our analysis is especially timely,
given the current push by Christian
nationalists—known as Project Blitz—
to flood state legislatures with bills
that would undermine the separation
of religion and government, limit ac-
cess to reproductive health care, and
attack LGBTQ equality,” she added.
The report is the first to look at all
50 states (and the District of Colum-
bia) and measure how effectively each
one protects religious equality by en-
suring a strong separation between
religion and government.
“All Americans are entitled to reli-
gious liberty and equality,” said Nick
Fish, president of American Atheists.
“Unfortunately, too many states have
codified religious privilege into their
laws at the expense of atheists and
other religious minorities, children,
LGBTQ people, and women.
“The passion, dedication, and hard
work of local activists will ultimate-
ly ensure that we win the fight for
equality, and it is our responsibility
to do everything we can to support
those activists. This report is a vital
resource demonstrating our commit-
ment to local activism.”
The 130-page report includes col-
or-coded maps and a religious equal-
ity scorecard for each state and the
District of Columbia.
The full report is available online at
www.atheists.org/states. 🅐
AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 29
 PERSONAL STORY
Why I Am An Atheist
The True Christians™ insisted I get with the
program or get out. So I got out.
Chuck Miller
Huntsville, Alabama
Chuck Miller is American
Atheists’ Alabama State
Director. To find out how
you can also be an activist
in Alabama, email Chuck at
CMiller@atheists.org. To get
involved in another state,
go to our interactive map
at atheists.org/affiliates.
30 | AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org
I
am an atheist because of
my skepticism that de-
veloped at an early age
in spite of—or maybe be-
cause of—my fundamen-
talist Christian upbring-
ing.
The stories read to me from
fairytale books were presented as
fiction, while the stories read to me
from the children’s Bible were ab-
solute fact. But as a child, I didn’t
know that I wasn’t supposed to
question absolutely everything,
and by the time I started first
grade, I set up a war between sci-
ence and religion in my young, cu-
rious mind.
It was 1958, the dawn of the
great era of science education re-
sulting from the Cold War and the
Space Race. All week long in school
we learned about space travel, but
then in Sunday school, my teacher
predicted that it would never hap-
pen because of the firmament God
had placed over the Earth to pre-
vent rockets from invading Heav-
en. We all know how that turned
out.
So I kept asking questions and
bringing up facts, which gave me
the reputation of a “curious child”
who wanted answers, but when my
Sunday school teachers referred
to me as the devil’s advocate, they
may not have been speaking
figuratively.
Some predicted that one day I
would be a great apologist since I
was always satisfied with the reli-
gious answers offered to me. But
that was just for show. I was going
along with everyone else instead
of saying what I really thought be-
cause at that age, I wasn’t ready to
be thrown out of the club.
When I entered the University
of Florida in 1971, society was in a
state of spiritual upheaval and ex-
ploration, and in my college town
lived fundamentalist Christians,
Eckankar cultists, and everything
in between.
After attending the Sunday
night campus supper at the church
of my youth, I would drop by the
Hillel house and hang with Jewish
friends before going back to the
dorm where I had a Sunni Muslim
roommate. For a time, I ate lunch
with the International Society
of Krishna Consciousness in the
historic Plaza of the Americas on
campus.
I called myself alternately a
Christian and a pantheist, mainly
because the latter sounded sexier
than “atheist”.
Some might have called me a
gadfly, a religious dilettante, or a
spiritual chameleon. But my Chris-
tian identity was, at most, just so-
cial—until the True Christians™
insisted that I either get with the
program or get out. So I got out.
I found my line in the sand: it
was the requirement to make a
public declaration of a belief in
things that just aren’t so. 🅐
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
 Elected officials and government agencies are supposed
to be accountable to us as voters. But too often, atheists
are ignored or are even prevented from participating in
public forums created by the government.

We launched Atheists ENGAGE to ensure that atheist

voices are heard at all levels of government and that
your right to speak your mind is protected.

If official government social media accounts are blocking

you simply for disagreeing with them or because of your
views, that is unconstitutional.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

www.atheistsengage.org

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 AMERICAN ATHEIST | www.atheists.org | 31

AMERICAN ATHEISTS
2019 NATIONAL CONVENTION

JOIN US IN
CINCINNATI!

APRIL 19-21
HILTON NETHERLAND PLAZA HOTEL
atheists.org/convention2019