“If the Supreme Court won’t uphold the Constitution, it’s up to us — it’s up to you” is the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s homily in response to the high court’s May 5 ruling approving sectarian prayer at official government meetings. The ruling is a personal blow to the stature and rights of U.S. nonbelievers and non-Christians, as well as to secular government.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Town of Greece v. Galloway that governments can not only host prayers, those prayers can be pervasively sectarian: “To hold that invocations must be nonsectarian would force the legislatures that sponsor prayers and the courts that are asked to decide these cases to act as supervisors and censors of religious speech.” First Amendment champion Ellery Schempp, FFRF Lifetime Member from Massachusetts, who began the protest that led to a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools, emailed on the day of the ruling: “FFRF is vital after the awful Greece decision. This is why we need FFRF!”
FFRF, the nation’s largest association of freethinkers, with more than 20,000 atheist and agnostic members nationwide, has responded to the hostile court ruling by announcing a “Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award.”
The award will be given to citizens who succeed in delivering secular “invocations” at government meetings. The individual judged to give the “best” secular invocation will be invited to open FFRF’s annual convention with said “invocation,” receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to FFRF’s 37th annual convention at the Los Angeles Biltmore and an honorarium of $500.
Linda Stephens, the atheist plaintiff in the Greece challenge brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is a longtime member of FFRF, who became a Lifetime Member following the ruling. Both she and co-plaintiff Susan Galloway will be named Freethinkers of the Year and accept the award at FFRF’s convention Oct. 24-26. (See more, back page.)
Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered the “swing vote,” not only voted in lockstep with his four ultra-conservative Catholic brethren but wrote the Greece ruling.
“Once again, the lopsided conservative majority has proudly announced that it is on the wrong side of history,” commented FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, quipping about Kennedy: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”
The one silver lining in Kennedy’s decision was this reference: “The town at no point excluded or denied an opportunity to a would-be prayer giver. Its leaders maintained that a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist, could give the invocation.”
“Freethinkers: It’s time to crash the party, to ask for equal time to give our own atheist homilies and freethought invocations at local board meetings,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, who, with Anne Nicol Gaylor, cofounded FFRF in the late 1970s to successfully protest prayers at their local governmental meetings.
Already, a member of FFRF in Greece has received permission to give an atheist homily before the city meeting in July.
Government prayer remains one of the most common complaints FFRF receives from its members and members of the public.
Gaylor noted that despite the approval of sectarian governmental prayer by five Supreme Court justices, government bodies are not required to open with prayer. “We’d like to see secular citizens flood government meetings with secular invocations that illustrate why government prayers are unnecessary, ineffective, divisive, embarrassing and exclusionary of the 20-30 percent of the U.S. population today that identifies as nonreligious, as well as of other non-Christians,” Gaylor said.
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel, who suggested the award, notes that many of our nation’s most influential founders opposed governmental exercises of religion, including revolutionary Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, who refused in his two terms to issue days of prayer, and James Madison, fourth president and primary architect of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Secular invocations for the contest could be sincere and eloquent, such as state Rep. Juan Mendez’s invocation before the Arizona House last year, for which he won FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award. You may wish to “invoke”secular “founding fathers,” your own life philosophy or take a more facetious route (think Flying Spaghetti Monster). The goal is to represent the nonreligious point of view and show that government bodies have no need of a prayer to imagined gods, or religion or superstition, to govern. The answers won’t come from above and government needs to be guided by reason.
“Government officials need to get off their knees and get to work,” said Barker, adding, “Be a Paine in the government’s Mass.”
FFRF plans to make the contest an annual event until the Greece decision is overturned. All eligible secular invokers will receive a certificate suitable for framing, and FFRF will post the invocation on its website.
Read full contest rules at:
ffrf.org/outreach/nothing-fails-like-prayer-award-contest
For “inspiration,” download a free copy of Barker’s songs “Get Off Your Knees and Get to Work” (from FFRF CD, “Adrift on a Star”) and “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” (from FFRF CD, “Beware of Dogma”) at FFRF’s website (select CD, then scroll play list to find free downloads): ffrf.org/shop/music/.
Read various early May FFRF blogs about the ruling, at ffrf.org/news/blog/.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has ended all prayer before the city council in Pismo Beach, Calif., with a settlement reached April 15. That victory has become all the sweeter following the Supreme Court’s unfortunate May 5 decision “blessing” sectarian governmental prayer. (See related story, this page.)
FFRF’s victory will hold, since the lawsuit was brought in state court and did not invoke federal law.
Following the filing of the lawsuit, the Pismo Beach City Council, which had dug in its heels after locals complained about its prayer practice, surprised observers by totally capitulating to FFRF requests. The council voted to stop all prayers at official meetings and to abolish a city chaplain position that had anointed a Pentecostal preacher to intone long sermons to begin meetings.
FFRF and Dr. Sari Dworkin, a Pismo Beach resident and FFRF member, sued the city Nov. 1, 2013, in Superior Court in San Luis Obispo, alleging the official prayers and chaplaincy violated the California Constitution.
Before each council meeting, city Chaplain Paul Jones or one of his religious substitutes delivered a Christian prayer. Prayers often included egregious factual mistakes, including manufactured theocratic quotes attributed to America’s founders. Jones’ prayers pressured citizens to live a Christian or biblical lifestyle, to vote for “righteous” leaders and make decisions that “honor” his god.
The city agreed to pay the plaintiffs nominal damages and attorney fees totaling about $47,500 and to end the practice of praying at meetings and abolish the chaplain position. The settlement carries the force of law and will be accompanied by a court order.
“This is a significant victory that FFRF intends to build on,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
Pismo Beach established an official city chaplaincy in 2005 and appointed Jones to the post. He’s affiliated with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, which emphasizes “speaking in tongues.”
Jones delivered 112 of the 126 prayers scheduled by the council between Jan. 1, 2008, and Oct. 15, 2013. All but one of the 126 prayers was addressed to the Christian god.
FFRF warmly thanks local plaintiff Sari Dworkin, litigation attorney Pamela Koslyn and FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel, who built the solid case. Seidel transcribed many of the prayers and joked that such work was “cruel and inhumane” for an atheist attorney. Atheists United of San Luis Obispo and its members helped initiate the lawsuit.
FFRF will receive $27,000 for Seidel’s services and plans to recycle the fees to go after other California governmental prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation's talented graphic design intern, Sam Erickson, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has designed a number of images for FFRF members to utilize in protesting the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling. Some of them are already up on FFRF's Facebook page and Twitter account.
Sam is also president of UW-Madison's Atheists, Humanists & Agnostics campus group.
Please feel free to use the images in educating about the harm of the court's decision. FFRF has taken the lead in calling for the repeal of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the basis for the ruling that puts the religious beliefs of corporate employers over the conscience and rights of women workers to choose their own forms of birth control.
A full-page ad in The New York Times protesting the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling June 30 is being sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog representing over 20,000 nonbelieving members. It's expected to run in the front news section Thursday, July 3.
Featuring an arresting portrait of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, whose motto was "No Gods — No Masters," the ad criticizes the "all-male, all-Roman Catholic majority" on the Supreme Court for putting "religious wrongs over women's rights."
FFRF had previously submitted a friend of the court brief written by noted First Amendment scholar Marci Hamilton, urging the Supreme Court to declare the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) unconstitutional. Christian entrepreneurs running large chains challenged the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act, contending their corporate "religious rights" were violated under RFRA if their women employees chose forms of contraception the company owners disapproved of because of their religion.
"Allowing employers to decide what kind of birth control an employee can use is not, as the Supreme Court ruled, an 'exercise of religion.' It is an exercise of tyranny. Employers should have no right to impose their religious beliefs upon workers," reads the ad.
"Dogma should not trump our civil liberties."
FFRF has taken the lead in calling for the repeal of RFRA.
"None of our civil rights, established after decades and decades of struggle and education, will be safe until RFRA is overturned," commented Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. She called the Supreme Court decision "outrageous and untenable."
Today marks a turning point in the struggle to uphold the First Amendment to our Constitution. FFRF needs your help more than ever. This is a call to you, and to ask you to reach out to those you know. Please forward this email and encourage others to join us.
Some suggested destinations for freethinkers besides the ever-popular hell and Honduras (murder capital of the world) come via the crank mail, printed as received.
ten commandments: ten commandments is every americans rite if you want to change the laws in your state that’s fine stay out of our business in north Idaho we love god here if you choose to walk in darkness that’s your choice but here we will fight you tooth and nail to keep our rites as americans stay out of our business here believe if you want a war on this matter we will stay the fuck out of our business go worship the devil and keep working for satin. — tom johnson, coer d alene, idaho
Walker’s religious tweet: Wow, have you two lunatics become unhinged! Wanna take me up on a public challenge to either of you, Barker or Gaylord, for a debate on the Bill of Rights, Constitution and Declaration of Independence? Say YES (which I would crave) and I’ll dissect and dismantle your horribly flawed constitutional views. The ball is in your court. Game? — Ned Kareiva
Hello Dan: You sir are a problem. Look at today’s society and ask yourself, is it better now with the FFRF crapping in everyone’s cereal or was it better in earlier times say before the late 1960’s. Check the statistics on out of wedlock child birth, abortions (hell, half the black pregnancies were aborted in NYC, Eugenicists will celebrate that little number). Let me be clear, I am an extremely poor example of a Christian, but for fucks sake, you guys are doing more damage to society than the Scott Walkers of the world. But, maybe that is what you want. Have a nice day. — Mike Williams, Blossom, Texas
Gideon Bible removal: Prior to sending this, I have prayed and claimed that the supernatural presence of God move through this email to everyone in your organization, and that everyone in your organization be saved. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess. — Terri McMahan
10 Commandments in park: Take your heathen bullshit out of my state and go corrupt shitconsin you wannabe Nazi pigs. — Jake Rogers, Sandpoint, Idaho
Police chief’s prayer walks: If you want to be a none believer, be one. Don’t interfear with others freedom of religon. We dont bother you athiest’s even if you’re gonna burn, it’s you’re choice. Don’t try to take the rest of the world with you, go burn by yourself and mind your business. That is one of the biggest problem’s today...Minority’s trying to make majority’s bow down to there stupid want’s and demand’s. Mind your own fucking business. — Richard Lovelace, Crane Hill, Ala.
Atheists and the Bible: You will never convince me to your viewpoint, because at one time I “was” you. You have no idea how wonderful the freeing from self becomes once you trust in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and shedding of blood on the cross just for you! — A. Barry Hess
Freedom OF Religion: This country was founded on “FREEDOM OF RELIGION”. My ancestors had to leave Europe because they were Lutheran Ministers and were threatened with death. Many of the early European immigrants got along quite well with the Native Americans and provided much mutual support. Sadly, Atheists and Atheistic Agnostics now want to force us out of OUR country. I say OUR country because my religious ancestors founded it. Hitler was only two month short of world domination and the execution of all Jews. Some of the Jewish in the 1930’s could run to the U.S. for safety. But if FFRF gets the IRS and the Justice Dept. to persecute us and force religious groups out of the U.S., like Hitler did to Europe in the 1930’s and 40’s, WHERE ARE WE TO GO? — Burns Searfoss, Colorado Springs
You Suck: Crawl back under your rocks and STFU! — Jimmy Door, Wisconsin
Comment’s on Hannity: I would like to respond to your assertion that most free societies were free from religion? How did that work in Russia? China? Burma? Honduras, Venezuela? Nepal? North Korea? Vietnam? Cambodia? Laos? What happened to Christians in Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czech? What about Georgia? Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia. They were free of religion weren’t they? — Charles Kunold, California
I have a Challenge: Apparently, you folks have allot social & legal clout. Why don’t you go after the Evangelists that are transplanting approx.1000 middle east refugees into Appleton & other Wisconsin cities; and other states. You worry about our tax dollars spent in the name of religion!! The estimated End cost is 750Grand to a million a person. This is really imposing religion on the general populace at our expense. — Axel Roberts, Menasha, Wis.
Freedom From Religion Foundation: I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ONE THING! HOW DOES IT FEEL....TO BE THE ASS-HOLES OF AMERICA? — Stan Knowles, North Carolina
Freedom of Speech: No where in the Constitution does it talk about seperation of Church and State. That came about from a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine or vice versa. Atheism is a religion itself and u can’t even see it. You believe in God. You have to believe in something to deny it’s existence. By the way, God loves u and their is nothing u can do about it. — Robert Jacquart
Praying for you: I PRAY IN JESUS’ NAME THAT HE WILL TOUCH EACH MEMBER OF YOUR GROUP. I WILL HELP FIGHT IN BRINGING BACK PRAYER IN SCHOOLS, AND CHRIST IS THE THE REASON FOR EVERY SEASON. I KNOW WHERE I AM GOING TO SPEND ETERNITY. DO YOU? — Lynne Carroll, Toledo, Ohio
Gov. Walker: I read your letter in response to Gov. Walker’s tweet and I just wanted to tell you, Aw, get to your fainting couch, Myrtle, and stop blighting the public sphere with your presence. I would also suggest that your co-presidents do not operate any motor vehicles, as the grotesque lack of perspective they demonstrated in that letter means that they would pose a serious collision threat to both themselves and other drivers. — Karl Collins, New York
stay out of our religion!!! GOOD GRIEVE GIVE ME A BRAKE !! WHEN WILL YOU STOP WHEN THERE IS NO RELIGION LEFT AND WE ARE ALL ATHEIST!! YOU REALLY PISS ME OFF WITH PUSHING YOU LEFT WING AGENDA ON US!! JUST SHUT UP!! — Mieke Sijen, Long Beach, Calif.
The Bible: It is a love letter from God to us. Why would you want to deprive people of that! By the way...ALL your efforts are in vain. You can TRY to remove Him but He is God and on the last page of the book you so despise guess what? He wins! You are on a path strait to hell. — Julie Fincham, North Port, Florida
The bible: Who is forcing you to practice any type of religion ,you must believe you came from a monkey lie Obama right.? you have no power whatsoever to lengthen your stupid life or create anything as god can you can’t turn the day into night or stop a hurricane let alone create one. I’d like to meet you in person bitch. — Samuel Ruiz, San angelo, Texas
U.S. Air Force Academy: If we erase all religion, then isn’t atheism the de facto religion? So in fact, you are supporting the idea of a state sponsored religion. How the communists and fascist would love your organization. — Mark Lutz, Sanford, S.C.
Pope in Green Bay: The mayor has every right to invite whom he pleases, just as the ludicrous president obama does. You want some atheist to visit the mayor? Set it up you imbeciles. — David Woehning
When I was a Christian, we’d talk about the “peace that passeth understanding” that neither I nor anyone else I knew experienced. I did frequently see theists uttering incantations, while clinging desperately to their straw of belief, during one of life’s flash floods.
When I was a theist, that was also my kind of peace. I was taught that atheists never have peace of mind. That was a huge lie.
Sometimes I see believers on TV with ecstatic happiness on their faces, and in such moments I recall George Bernard Shaw’s thought on the subject: “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”
Since I became an atheist, I’ve observed believers under stress, mentally and emotionally struggling with all the “why, why, why Lord” questions, while offering supplications to the sky Lord. As if the emotional turmoil of a crisis event alone isn’t enough, the theist is also cast into additional mental chaos with unneeded irrational and absurd thoughts.
I saw this first hand at hospice group counseling several years ago. It was pitiful seeing the believers in the group trying to process their grief while also irrationally juggling their God delusions.
The peace I’ve experienced as an atheist for the past 42 years is not some futile attempt to go past human understanding. To the complete contrary, it’s based on understanding. I’ve experienced peace as an atheist in the midst of terrible relentless pain, frustration, death of my spouse, near death myself and other very stressful and painful human events. So what is the etiology of my atheist peace that’s so very different from my former theistic kind of peace?
As an atheist, I don’t have delusional “God” thoughts confusing, disturbing, complicating, filtering, warping and frustrating my daily life and sense of reality.
My peace emanates from my understanding of verifiable sciences (not ancient religious tales), about what and who I am and my place as a living creature in the universe.
My peace comes from not having nonsense and extraneous thoughts unnecessarily disturbing me, during critical times when I need to deal with and focus on the crisis and problem at hand.
Because of the first two reasons, I have a solid, clear, unshakable peace. It is a philosophical and resilient peace. It’s like a strong safety net, woven from rational information, not fantasy tales.
I find the meaning of “philosophical” very interesting as it relates to the subject of peace:
(1. Relating or devoted to the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence; (2. having or showing a calm attitude toward disappointments or difficulties.
My knowledge of what and who I am, how I came to exist and how all my atoms will return to the universe’s recycle bin. That is enough for me.
Peace is always with me because my primary raison d’être is rational: survival. I also determine the purposes of my life, not the edicts of superstitious clerics, past and present.
Integrity and backbone
Science and theistic religion both offer explanations for life and the universe. Only science offers verifiable, falsifiable evidence. Monotheistic religion asks for belief with no evidence and often threatens anyone who dares question monotheism’s most ethically immoral edicts and scientifically absurd writings and teachings.
I find the lives and words of atheists and agnostics like Thomas Edison, Democritus, Helen Keller, Carl Sagan, Dan Dennett, Andrew Carnegie, Ted Williams, Christopher Hitchens, Neil deGrasse Tyson, George Bernard Shaw, Stephen Hawking, Linus Pauling, Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker, Peter Higgs, Steven Weinberg, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Robert Ingersoll, Marlon Brando, Sam Harris, Gore Vidal, Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russell, Katherine Hepburn, George Carlin, Arthur C. Clarke and Thomas Paine (to name just a few) are testimony to the kind of peace I’ve attempted to explain here.
As a member of the Clergy Project, I recall how my dear fellow member “Grandparaja” recently provided so much wisdom and emanated such peace before his impending death. What a beacon. I’ll never forget him. But he was not an anomaly. I have never observed an atheist go through the added emotional turmoil, and the begging for answers from the Sky God, that so many theists do when facing death.
I certainly don’t contend all atheists have the kind of peace I’ve written about, but at least they should be free of monotheistic bats banging around in their mental attics.
Reading the bible led to my becoming an atheist. The explanations about human life and the universe that I’d been taught all crumbled, and the moral disconnect of blood sacrifice of a son became repugnant.
Then, as I studied the sciences, I found new rational information on which to hang my faith hat. I think we humans do best knowing verifiable truth.
There are many atheists for whom the sciences are not a major part of their reading or study, but they also project the kind of atheist peace I’m writing about. Therefore, I conclude that their peace comes from a lack of delusional nonsense in one’s thought process, and does not require the knowledge of the sciences.
My wife (and my former wife, who died in 2001), would fit that category. Even as children, they did not eat the baloney placed in front of them. I greatly admire humans who possessed unwavering integrity and backbone, even as children. Mark Twain would be another with enough common sense and natural perception to write, “It was the schoolboy who said, faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
Thomas Edison was not privy to the scientific information available to anyone curious enough to search the Internet today. His take on religion was frank: “I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.” Also: “So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake. . . . Religion is all bunk.”
I think the bunk, in the brain, that Edison mentioned makes it impossible for theists to ever experience the peace of mind that is possible for an atheist. The bunk is like opium for the addict, and it’s still a damned fake.
Florida FFRF member Mason Lane was born Dean Aughinbaugh and changed his name for the music business, from which he’s retired. Before that he was general manager of WHME-FM Radio (Christian programming) and pastor of Christian Faith Church in South Bend, Ind., then dean of students and soccer coach at DeVry University in Phoenix. Justifiable Homicide, available on Kindle or Nook, is the story of his journey to atheism. Google “reverbnation” and “mason lane” to sample his music online.
Sergeant Davis is a member of FFRF and the Inland Northwest Freethought Society, FFRF’s chapter in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
I’m originally from New York and have been in the military 16 years. My family was mainly secular. My parents never forced me to hold any of their personal philosophies while I was growing up. They left that for me to figure out on my own.
After college and entering the Air Force, I came to a balanced general understanding of everything theological but have since stopped wasting my time on theology. I focus more on a humanist and scientific approach to matters with practicality and reason. So I’ve been a freethinker for as long as I can remember, probably around when I found out Santa wasn’t real.
During my deployment in 2010, my oldest Air Force friend, Rick Hamelin, established the first “official” freethought group in the Middle East, the Southwest Asia Freethought Association. SWAFA (swafreethought.jimdo.com/) was recognized by the base as a private organization. When I arrived, I helped Rick run it.
To our surprise, it grew quite fast, from about five people to 30 or so, including freethinkers, Buddhists and a Wiccan, who had no support groups. We welcomed everyone. Our group was first met with some doubt and confusion, even some hostility. People took down our signs on the public boards and threw out business cards that we handed out.
We asked for space in the chapel to hold our meetings, but Rick had Pascal’s Wager pulled on him and was pretty much told “no.”
We were soon holding two meetings a week and a movie night every other Thursday. Our growth got the chapel’s attention. They even sent a chaplain’s assistant to one of our meetings. We wore PT [physical training] uniforms to remain anonymous. Rank would not be an issue for anyone, so we were free to speak our minds.
The chaplain’s assistant came in uniform. I asked her if she was on duty and attending by direction of her boss. My suspicions were correct. But, all in all, she was most likely proved wrong if they assumed we just sat around bashing religion. She left actually liking how our group discussions went and how respectful we were of others’ diverse opinions.
Religion didn’t come up much unless it was part of another topic. Otherwise, it was opinions on general and miscellaneous science news — unless we had a new member, who would typically unload on us. People were just coming out as nontheist or had endured years of frustration.
Speaking up for others
I went to the Equal Opportunity Office in September 2013 with a complaint about an inappropriate display of a religious symbol on government property (civilian office in the hospital). I showed them that it was incompatible with Air Force Culture/AFI 1-1 and actually won one for once. The head chaplain went over and told them the display was not allowed. They removed it.
I have been battling with the base over miscellaneous things for the past few years and have met several times with the base chaplain. We discussed and debated a bit back and forth about policy and a little philosophy, but mainly about what’s right in a government setting. Most of these things I did by myself, since many people here at Fairchild AFB who are Freethinkers choose to remain silent about many things. They have their reasons, so I ask them to tell me and I’ll do it for them.
I’ve never asked for help on these matters because I believe that most of them can be solved at the lowest level, with tactful dialogue and understanding gained throughout. Also, I guess I like the challenge. I have talked with one of the attorneys at FFRF for advice on a complaint and, for another case, I sought advice from Mikey Weinstein, head of MRFF.
As far as the Oath of Enlistment topic which came up while talking with FFRF Co-President Dan Barker in February, I have always thought that the little injected “God” word at the end of “So help me” was pointless. To me it’s ludicrous to have to swear an oath on behalf of myself and some “Cosmic Being,” so I decided to do things differently before others really started to publicly challenge it.
On one of my enlistments, I left “God” out of it. I had an officer staring at me with hand still raised because I left that word out, like he was waiting for me to say it. I didn’t and just gave a nod to signal I was done.
This last enlistment, I used “gods” plural, just to get a funny look. Most people at work know me well enough and so they expected it. However, it would have been neat to add a random “god” of my choice (Zeus, Thor) at the end of each of my enlistments. At one of them, I almost said “Odin,” but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Sgt. James Davis is on his sixth deployment and is headed to Afghanistan after completing combat adviser school. SWAFA membership is open to all personnel currently assigned to the base hosting the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, including military, DoD civilians and contractors.
(Atheist journalist Jamila Bey spoke to attendees at FFRF’s 36th annual convention. The speech was edited for print.) Photography by Brent Nicastro.
Thank you one and all for coming. Thank you for the work you do. Thank you for showing up and showing up the fact that we heathens exist, that we enjoy community and we come together.
I’m a journalist and reporter and a radio show host in Washington, D.C. I’ve been a hellraiser since before I was allowed to cross the street by myself. As a journalist, I really take issue with a lot of what’s happening in this country.
I really take issue with the fact that, frankly, in this modern era, reporters are people who like to be on television, talking in this weird voice, flipping their “helmet hair” and asking questions that a really smart 22-year-old intern has written for them. There is not much critical thought to what they do. They don’t understand history, and they certainly don’t understand science. They don’t understand politics, yet they’re informing our population.
I’m really happy to be talking to you now because this morning built upon what I want to explain to you. We got to see how the local reports about FFRF’s work are kind of skewed. Nobody wants the picture of our lord and savior Jesus Christ taken down. Why would anyone ever object? Use a different stairwell if you don’t like it.
My show, the “Sex, Politics and Religion Hour: SPAR with Jamila,” is on the radio in D.C., New York, Chicago and Miami. After January, the Voice of Russia radio network is going to broadcast me in English to 166 different countries. I’m really excited about that because voices like mine were not heard for way too long.
The minute I hit 18, I was like, “Yes, it’s happened. I can say what I want,” and that’s what I’ve really been working to do. I am a student of democracy. I’m a student of this great American experiment. We’ve got it right — this is a nation formed by secular ideals, where everyone is valued, but we have to be able to go to the public square and put forth our ideas.
At least that’s the way it was supposed to be. The problem and the opportunity is that in this modern era, anybody can get up and say anything and if you have money behind you, your money equals speech. I’ve got a huge, huge problem with that.
It’s my obligation as an American to try my damnedest to advance the principles upon which this great nation was founded. I understand that we’re not perfect. I can give you a whole lot of reasons why I take issue with the founders, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
So I get to be loud and obnoxious and cheeky and I have the coolest job in the world. But I need some help from smart folks like you. I need you to go back to your respective hamlets and townships and big cities and I need you, when you see reporting like we saw [in a video] earlier, I need you to call up those stations. I need you call up those news directors. I need you to write letters to the editor and say, “Why was it that you didn’t — there’s a university here! Why didn’t you ask anyone from the biology department? Why would you only interview . . . ?
We all have to take responsibility for this democracy in which we live and raise our voices. I love the fact that we’re here, in the heartland, where you know, this is Jesus country. And it don’t look too Jesus-y ’round here [in this room] to me. That makes me smile.
Each of us has to do a better job. We’re doing a lot, but we’re outnumbered at the moment. However, I love to point out, we own the Internet, folks under 30, who are less inclined to be religious. They’re more inclined to be pro-same gender marriage.
I’m going to surround myself with people who aren’t hateful, who understand the way things are. I’m really excited that we have a legislator here [Arizona Rep. Juan Mendez]. We need to take a page out of that Christian Right handbook. We need to be running candidates. We need people to get in there at town halls and wear our flair and T-shirts: “I am secular and I vote,” that’s an important one. We need to be asking questions of our politicians.
I can’t remember, if you can help me on this? The Louisiana legislator who was all pro-voucher and then realized, “Oh my God, a Jew could get this money too, oh no! I’m not for that!” She didn’t want it to go to a Muslim school, but Christian schools, it was just fine. [Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, said later she regretted her vote.]
I guess I’m a radical. I’m very glad that today we recognize what will happen if we continue to be silent, if we continue to be hidden. I need to see us on more news programs. I need to see us on more editorial pages, and I certainly need to see more of us having lunch at various places wearing shirts! I love the shirts, please buy some shirts and wear them.
I am delighted to be here. FFRF is doing some amazing work and it’s getting noticed. I’m honored that you had me here today. Thank you very much!
Q&A time
Q. I know that you’re funded by the Russians. How do you feel about Vladimir Putin and the “homosexual propaganda” situation?
A. Yes, the station that I work for is funded in part by the Russian government. The reason I was hired is because I’m an expert in American politics. I’m trained as a health reporter. I’m good in live, breaking news situations. They hired me for my particular skill set. I of course don’t support [Putin’s anti-gay views] or that members of Pussy Riot were jailed for blasphemy.
My bureau is three blocks from the White House. I defend the First Amendment. When Chelsea Manning announced to the world who she was, I had two experts from the Human Rights Campaign on my show to talk about how we talk about transgender issues and rights. My employer is never going to dictate or mandate my ethics or morals to me.
Q. Last night, we went to dinner and as we walked out of the hotel, there was a man there with a sign that said, “God loves you atheists.” I wanted you to share with the audience your response when he asked, “What state are you from?”
A. Hah! I have a firm policy. I do not engage with the idiots until after I’ve done my speaking. I need my intellect and energy for the crowd, but it just flew out! I just couldn’t stop myself, so I said, “I live in the state of reality!”
Q. Do people have a right to pray in schools and at work?
A. Can the satanist pray? If the [public board] is going to have prayer, we’re going to have a Wiccan come and have a whole celebration. Nudity is optional. Wait, wait, wait, they say. Whoa, they say. What’s your problem, they ask? And I say, prayers for all!
But I like conflict. I love confrontation. I love “going there,” because there is where the fun happens for me. But yeah, it’s madness.
Q. I would imagine you must have come from a religious background. The question is then, what did you have to go through to become the person you are?
A. I started doing stand-up comedy by talking about my family, and people thought I was doing material, and I going “I’m not being funny, I’m telling you the truth.” My father was raised as a Black Muslim, a follower of Elijah Muhammad in Pittsburgh in the mid-1950s. My mother was a Southern Baptist, “submit unto your husband, Jesus will stop him from beating you when it’s appropriate” type.
She converted to Catholicism about when it was time for me to go to Catholic school and get that discount. Many of my friends in school were Jewish. I went to a scholars program where there were a couple of Orthodox Jewish kids. By the time I was 7, I realized that nobody knew what the hell they were talking about, and they were making up crap as they went along.
I’ve always been loud and obnoxious, I cannot have a thought that I don’t express, and if it’s a question, it burns until I get it out. It was hard, growing up. I have a second-grade teacher, who’s still friends with my mom, who swears that the only difference in me then and now is that now I’m taller and have a baby.
Yeah, I’ve been pissing people off since I was embryonic. According to Mom.
Q. I’m wondering how we can get more politicians who are on our side in Washington?
A. I can’t answer that in the time I have. But, I had a lovely exclusive interview last week with Sen. Ernie Chambers [1983 Supreme Court victor in Marsh v. Chambers]. Give it up for Ernie Chambers! He’s been called the scariest man in Nebraska. They changed the state constitution and instituted term limits after his 38th year of service. It’s been two years and now he’s back. He says there’s no way that anybody who speaks honestly the way he does, and who believes in the rights of his constituents to be served as he does, can get on the national stage. There’s too much money.
The way elections happen, I fear that Mr. Chambers is right. I think that the political system would do well with somebody like me. No way in hell can I be elected as things stand today. No way, no way. We need to change that.
Thank you.
Jamila Bey also writes for The Washington Post blog “She the People” and worked as a producer and editor for a decade at National Public Radio. She’s currently writing a book on the role religion plays in the lives of African-American women.
Every great idea starts out as blasphemy.” (Bertrand Russell)
“Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.” (Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses)
“Blasphemy is a victimless crime.” (FFRF T-shirt issued to condemn a 1989 fatwa on Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses)
Indonesian civil servant Alexander Aan was freed Jan. 27 after serving a year in prison and being fined $8,000 for committing blasphemy. He posted words on Facebook that at least 75 million humans around the globe agree with: “There is no god.”
Aan was released “on license,” meaning he’s required to report regularly to authorities. He’s also vulnerable to vigilante retribution.
In December, two members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were released from prison for committing “hooliganism and inciting religious hatred.” Their crime? Singing a one-minute protest song on the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral to condemn the Russian Orthodox Church’s social repression and its ties to President Vladimir Putin.
Internationally, blasphemy prosecutions are chillingly on the rise. It’s not just places like Pakistan and Iran. Ireland passed a law in 2010 punishing blasphemy with a €25,000 fine ($34,000).
While such laws clearly violate the First Amendment, America has also seen its share of persecutions. Blasphemy laws turn thoughts objectionable only to some religionists into “crimes,” thereby clearly violating the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of conscience.
Robert Ingersoll captured the injustice of blasphemy statutes marvelously while defending C.B. Reynolds of New Jersey in 1887:
“By making a statute and by defining blasphemy, the church sought to prevent discussion — sought to prevent argument — sought to prevent a man giving his honest opinion. Certainly a tenet, a dogma, a doctrine, is safe when hedged about by a statute that prevents your speaking against it. In the silence of slavery it exists. It lives because lips are locked. It lives because men are slaves.”
The few antiquated blasphemy laws still on the books in the U.S. discriminate against non-Christians. By definition, blasphemy must discriminate. Any profession of faith in favor of one sect is blasphemy against another (i.e., you either believe that Jesus was the son of God, or not; that the angel Gabriel spoke to Muhammad, or not; that a dry cracker is the body of a noncorporeal being, or not).
Establishing a religion
Blasphemy statutes place the religious sensibilities of the chosen sect on a pedestal. As Bertrand Russell observed of the English common law, “[C]learly no one ought to speak ill of Christianity in such a way as to be likely to promote a breach of the peace. Those who use this argument do not, however, propose to extend the same protection to other religions. If you abuse Lenin to a Communist until he gets so angry that he hits you on the nose, the Communist is sent to prison. If the Communist abuses Christ to you until you get angry so that you hit him on the nose, it is again the Communist that is sent to prison.”
As stated by former Associate Justice Abe Fortas in Epperson v. Arkansas: “Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice.”
Speech and blasphemy
Freedom of speech is not absolute. Fighting words, threats, defamation and libel are included in prohibited speech. Merely uttering a phrase that would once have been considered a sin against God must now fall into one of those categories if it is to be punished.
In a case challenging a Michigan law that made “profanely curs[ing] or damn[ing] or swear[ing] by the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost” a crime, the court held that “God damn” was not speech justifiably prohibited by law. The court referenced a Supreme Court holding that states may not make a “single four-letter expletive a criminal offense” and found “no principled distinction between the expletive in [that case] and the milder profanity in this case.”
In a challenge to a Pennsylvania law prohibiting corporate names containing “[w]ords that constitute blasphemy, profane cursing or swearing or that profane the Lord’s name” another court found the statute violated the First Amendment because it restricted speech on the basis of viewpoint.
The Supreme Court summed it up, “from the standpoint of freedom of speech and the press, it is enough to point out that the state has no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them which is sufficient to justify prior restraints upon the expression of those views. It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine, whether they appear in publications, speeches, or motion pictures.” Joseph Burstyn Inc. v. Wilson (1952).
From blasphemers’ mouths
American colonial punishment was severe. Massachusetts had the death penalty until 1697, with the later sanction of branding the blasphemer’s tongue with a hot iron. With the adoption of the federal and state constitutions, these laws dropped into disuse. But before that happened, brave American freethinkers paid a price.
Thomas Jefferson Chandler of Delaware was found guilty in 1837 of declaring that “the virgin Mary was a whore and Jesus Christ was a bastard.” Another blasphemer, a Mr. Ruggles, was convicted in 1811 for observing “Jesus Christ was a bastard, and his mother must be a whore.”
A tamer utterance by Abner Updegraph in Pennsylvania in 1824 was condemned: “The Holy Scriptures were a mere fable, that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies.”
Abner Kneeland of Massachusetts was convicted in 1838 of uttering the following:
• “The Universalists believe in a god which I do not; but believe that their god, with all his moral attributes, (aside from nature itself,) is nothing more than a chimera of their own imagination.”
• “Universalists believe in Christ, which I do not; but believe that the whole story concerning him is as much a fable and a fiction as that of the god Prometheus, the tragedy of whose death is said to have been acted on the stage in the theatre at Athens, five hundred years before the Christian era.”
• “Universalists believe in miracles, which I do not; but believe that every pretension to them can be accounted for on natural principles, or else is to be attributed to mere trick and imposture.”
• Universalists believe in the resurrection of the dead, in immortality and eternal life, which I do not; but believe that all life is mortal, that death is an eternal extinction of life to the individual who possesses it, and that no individual life is, ever was, or ever will be eternal.”
The aptly named Michael X. Mockus was found guilty in 1921 for saying:
• “Mary (meaning the Virgin Mary) had a beau. When her beau called one evening (both being young) he seduced her. He brought her a flower and put her in a family way. No woman can give birth to a child without a man.”
• “Look how the priests teach you, the falsifiers, thieves. It is not possible that he could be of the Holy Ghost, there must be a man. A young Jew was the father of the Christ. No woman can have a child without a man; that never happened and never can happen.”
• “The father of Christ was a young Jew and was no Angel Gabriel. Any girl who wants a child can call a Gabriel or some John.”
• “All religions are a deception of the people.”
• “There is no truth in the Bible; it is only monkey business.”
If you’re accused of blasphemy, you’re in good company. Throughout history, some of the greatest artists and writers have been accused of (though perhaps not criminally tried for) blasphemy. Among them are James Kirkup, author of the poem “The Love that Dares to Speak Its Name,” Monty Python for “The Life of Brian,” John Steinbeck for “The Grapes of Wrath,” H.L. Mencken (pretty much constantly from 1899-1956), Charles Darwin for “On the Origin of Species,” Percy Bysshe Shelley for “Queen Mab,” Thomas Paine and his publisher Richard Carlile for “The Age of Reason,” Shakespeare contemporary Christopher Marlowe, arrested for atheism and blasphemy, Galileo Galelei, Aesop (born c. 620 B.C.E) and Socrates (died 399 B.C.E).
According to the “Encyclopedia of Unbelief,” Charles Lee Smith, in 1928, was the last person in the U.S. to be convicted of blasphemy as a crime. Smith had moved to Arkansas to protest the anti-ex`xvolution statute that was about to be passed. (It was overturned 40 years later by Epperson.)
Smith had rented a storefront and distributed leaflets such as “The Bible in the Balance,” “Godless Evolution” and “The Ape Ancestry of Man.” What got him into trouble was the sign he put in his window, “Evolution is True. The Bible’s a Lie. God’s a Ghost.” He was arrested for selling literature without a permit, even though he was giving the pamphlets away. In court, he refused to swear an oath, wishing to affirm instead. The judge, appalled at his atheism, refused to let him testify and fined him for distributing obscene literature.
After numerous threats, arrests and an attack on his storefront, Smith was charged with blasphemy. Again he was not permitted to testify and was convicted, although the conviction was overturned.
In the most recent U.S. case, George Kalman wanted to name his film company “I Choose Hell Productions.” His choice was rejected by Pennsylvania because corporation names were not allowed to be “blasphemous.” In 2010, the court held that the blasphemy statute violated the First Amendment.
Despite the numerous cases overturning blasphemy laws and the fact that “it is proper to regard the statute before us not only as obsolete, but as repealed by implication in such essential parts as an advanced and enlightened civilization justifies with due regard for the personal liberties of the citizen,” several states still have them, although they’re rarely enforced and would fall to a constitutional challenge. The following are still on the books:
Massachusetts: “Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.”
Michigan: “Any person who shall wilfully blaspheme the holy name of God, by cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Oklahoma: “Blasphemy consists in wantonly uttering or publishing words, casting contumelious reproach or profane ridicule upon God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Scriptures or the Christian or any other religion.”
South Carolina makes it a crime to “use blasphemous, profane or obscene language at or near the place of [religious worship].”
Blasphemy prosecutions are still rampant in many other countries, and not just places like Pakistan and Iran. Ireland passed a blasphemy law in 2010 punishing the crime by a €25,000 fine. The United Nations debates a “defamation of religion” resolution every year.
They should instead listen to Dan Barker, sage and FFRF co-president: “You cannot be convicted of a victimless crime.”
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel graduated cum laude from Tulane University with a B.S. in neuroscience and environmental science and magna cum laude from Tulane University Law School. Go online to see the complete Blasphemy FAQ:
ffrf.org/faq/state-church/item/20308-blasphemy
Dear Skeptic:
How can I politely attend the Episcopal wedding of a close friend’s daughter? The friend and I get along because we don’t talk religion, she knows my facts and I am aware of her beliefs. However, whenever we dine at their house, we are invited to bend our heads and say grace. My husband and I just stare silently at each other.
The wedding will be heavy on God, and my friend has told me I will have to suck it up and take communion. I don’t even know what communion is! I do know I don’t want to take it.
At other church weddings, I’ve sat quietly during prayer time and changed the words to songs, even using “dog” for the mythical one.
I don’t think my quiet protests will go unnoticed at this wedding though. I am also afraid I might shout out something inappropriate or start shushing people. Maybe I should just go to the after-party, where my discomfort is less likely to be noticed.
What would Ann Landers say?
— Linda in Virginia
P.S. We’re also invited to a Church of England wedding in the U.K. My friend, who is the only religious one in her family, is planning a wonderful party for after the service. She excitedly told me we were on the A-list.
I wondered what she meant until she explained this meant we were invited to both the service and the party. The lucky (in my opinion) B-listers only get invited to the party!
Scott Colson, production editor:
I think it’s more offensive to eat the Jesus cracker because that’s their god, or for Episcopals, a supposedly adequate representation of him. A cracker is better than the scary carving of Jesus with nails and thorns at some of the more graphic churches I’ve seen. Crackers any day.
The reception is more fun and a chance to interact with the lucky couple and their family without the formalities and incense (unless it’s a Baptist reception — then, run).
Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president:
I vote for the party! There you can truly celebrate the newlyweds, not the religion, without artifice or feeling like a hypocrite. No one is likely to notice your absence at a church wedding, and you can circulate and truly enjoy the reception.
I no longer attend religious weddings (with exception of Unitarian). I vowed “never again” after being a “captive” bridesmaid in my 20s in a Catholic wedding for a friend, as the priest went on for two hours about “sin.”
Even firmer is my resolve not to attend religious (“fill in the blank”) funerals, typically more about “sin” (again) than the loved one.
Funerals, especially with open casket, are a relic of religion. Emotions are too raw, families are too upset and have too much to do to force upon them a burial funeral. A memorial service at most, which can be held when everyone has a chance to make travel arrangements and adapt to grief, is far more humane and civilized.
Joan Reisman-Brill, “The Ethical Dilemma” columnist:
You have to politely but firmly tell your friend you will not suck up anything, whether it’s wine and wafers, or just your own values. If that demotes you to the B-list (or off all lists), so “B” it.
If you were Jewish or Muslim, would she expect you to take communion? Even if you were Episcopal, it’s out of line — and perhaps even a sin in the eyes of the faith — to command anyone to perform a sacred ritual against their own conscience.
It’s fine (even fun) during prayers to keep your head up, eyes open and lips not moving (or moving to alternative words that amuse you). But it would be inappropriate for you to register anything that others read as disrespect or protest.
If you really do fear you might lose control, beg off the ceremony and say how much you want to attend the party. Explain to your friend you just aren’t comfortable at a religious service and don’t want to make anyone else uncomfortable, but you would want to be there to celebrate.
A friend who isn’t willing to accept you on these terms is not a true friend. (If you weren’t such a VIP, you could just show up too late for the vows but in time for the kiss; but that’s not an option in this case.)
You can do the same for the U.K. event. This will make room for someone on the B-list who’s eager to get promoted to your spot on A. And again, if this friend says not to bother coming at all, she’ll have saved you a long expensive trip just for a party, however nice.
Even if your friends dump you in a huff, you would do well to leave the door open. Many lovely ladies turn into Mother-of-the-Bridezillas. It could take time, but maybe they’ll one day see things differently and want to reconnect (and perhaps beg forgiveness), which is easier if at least one of you didn’t do any slamming.
Patrick Elliott, staff attorney:
Weddings are supposed to be enjoyable for those getting married and their guests. If the religious ceremony is too much for you to handle, than it may be best to just attend the reception. The people actually getting married will not worry about whether the bride’s mother’s close friend is at the ceremony. You can let them know you care by giving them a personal card and nice gift. Your friend may not fully grasp why you may not want to attend a church service, but there is not much you can do about that.
On the other hand, attending a wedding ceremony is not the end of the world. As an atheist, I have never declined to attend a wedding service. My curiosity won’t allow it, and I don’t want to miss out on the main event. I stand and sit when told but do not otherwise participate by singing or taking communion.
In the Episcopal Church, only baptized Christians may take communion. That means it is more respectful of the church for you to remain in the pew rather than to take communion as your friend told you.
Finally, so what if people notice that you are not taking communion or singing hymns? My Roman Catholic extended family has never approached me and asked about it even though they know I took the sacraments of first communion and confirmation. It may be noticed, but people are there to see a marriage, not to observe who is eating symbolic human flesh.
Of course, if your blood sugar is running low, there are no gods that will smite you for eating a piece of bread.
Name: Andy Shernoff.
Where I live: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Family: My beautiful fiancée Carla Rhodes and my rescue dog Duchess.
Education: P.S. 148, Flushing High School, State University of New York at New Paltz.
Occupation: Songwriter/musician/producer.
How I got where I am today: I was raised in a safe, supportive environment by parents who nurtured an appreciation for art, music and different cultures. They provided me with the solid foundation to pursue my dreams. Probably the only issue in which religion and I are in accord is the importance of a strong family structure. The world would be a better place if every child was born from love. Of course, that doesn’t require the supernatural, just sensible birth control.
Where I’m headed: We come from stardust and we will return to stardust.
Person in history I admire: John Lennon, for inspiring me to become a musician and setting a high artistic standard. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the smartest man in the room and a noble warrior for science, reason and logic.
Quotations I like: “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” -— Steven Weinberg
“One man’s theology is another man’s belly laugh.” — Robert Heinlein
I love to hear Christian apologists try to squirm their way out of this one, and why does an almighty god need an apologist anyway? “However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.” — Leviticus 25:44-46, New Living Translation
These are a few of my favorite things: Music, wine, barbecue, travel to exotic locales, Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show,” focusing on the process not the destination.
These are not: Faith, original sin, people who call themselves “spiritual.”
My doubts about religion started: As a child, I found that no matter how hard I prayed, I never got a response. I eventually realized I was simply talking to myself.
Before I die: Life is simpler when you know what makes you happy, and I know that every day I make music is a good day. I hope to continue to enjoy its healing power as long as I am on this planet.
There’s a reason why many churches open their services with a band and sing-along. The magic in the music gives the congregation a high, which is then misconstrued as being closer to god. I strive to get that feeling without delusion.
Ways I promote freethought: I recently released a CD of songs about religion and faith. I felt the need to take a musical stand and “come out of the closet.” I resent the stigma attached to atheism. The nonsense that we lack morals and can’t be trusted is appalling. According to a recent poll conducted by University of British Columbia and the University of Oregon, atheists are trusted less than rapists!
In my lifetime, I’ve seen blacks and gays improve their status by demanding equal and fair treatment. I think it is time for atheist liberation!
I wish you’d have asked me: What’s the story behind your song “Are You Ready to Rapture?”
I come from New York City, where nobody thinks Jesus is actually returning to Earth. I grew up completely unaware of “the Rapture.” A few years ago, I was surprised to learn that evangelical Christians were offering financial support to settlers on the West Bank of Palestine in an attempt to destabilize the tense situation and accelerate the End Times prophecy. It could all be dismissed as the rantings of religious fanatics, except there are powerful people in government who believe this implicitly. It used to be just nutjobs standing on a street corner in Times Square screaming about the end of the world, now they are running for president.
I would never mock somebody’s religion, but if it’s going to affect public policy, then I have a right to satirize it. And if I can get a good laugh out of it, even better.
‘Are You Ready to Rapture?’
Andy Shernoff modestly omits his decades-long musical influence as a rock journalist and co-founder of the early punk bank the Dictators in the mid-1970s, predating the Ramones by a year. He later collaborated with Joey Ramone and several other groups. Shernoff played at the March 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., the nation’s largest secular gathering ever.
He released his first solo EP “Don’t Fade Away” in 2012 and his second solo EP “On the First Day Man Created God” in 2013. The latter features “Are You Ready to Rapture?” “Skeptical,” “Fisher of Men” and “Get on Your Knees for Jesus.” Check out
andyshernoff.com and cdbaby.com/cd/
andyshernoff3 for more. Google “shernoff rapture” too see the “Ready to Rapture” video.
He wrote “Rapture” to poke fun at the late Pastor Harold Camping’s predictions of Armageddon. Shernoff told Dangerous Minds online: “I had the phrase Jewish zombie rolling through my brain and wanted to incorporate it into a song. I developed a fascination with Christian eschatology and researched it extensively. I wanted everything in the song to accurately represent what these knuckleheads believe. It took a few months, and I probably wrote 25 verses until I had the right combination of drama, truth and sarcasm.”
Are You Ready to Rapture?
The skies part
as a light shines through
guess who’s back
it’s the zombie Jew.
He’s really pissed
at the unmarried fornicators
the stem cell crusaders
and the butt hole invaders.
So the towers fell
and the earth did quake
just a little taste of his vengeance
America prepare for your fate.
’Cause when the trumpets sound, he will astound
watch the rivers turn to blood
the sinners cry and the dead will rise
judgment day has come.
Are you ready to rapture?
The savior that you spurn
Loves you forever
But the unbelievers must burn
When the zombie Jew returns. . .
The Secular Coalition for America, of which the Freedom From Religion Foundation is a member organization, is holding its 2014 Lobby Day and Secular Summit in Washington, D.C., on June 12-13. It will include lobbying training, visits with legislators and staffers on Capitol Hill and a policy conference.
Registration is $50 for students and $99 for others and includes breakfast, lunch and lobbying training Thursday morning, lobbying visits Thursday afternoon and a pool party and reception Thursday night. Friday includes breakfast, lunch and a variety of panels and workshops.
A discounted room rate of $159/night at the Liaison Capitol Hill expires May 19.
Visit secular.org/lobbyday2014/.
‘No Religion 4’
set in B.C. in May
Rational thought comes to Kamloops, British Columbia, May 16-18, when Humanist Canada and BC Humanists sponsor the fourth annual Imagine No Religion conference.
FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor will speak, along with Jerry Coyne, professor of biology, author of Why Evolution Is True and an FFRF honorary officer and Emperor Has No Clothes honoree.
Other speakers include Eugenie Scott, who is stepping down as executive director of the National Center for Science Education; “The Thinking Atheist” video producer and Blog TalkRadio podcaster Seth Andrews; Jerry DeWitt, first graduate of the Clergy Project, who left Pentecostalism after 25 years in ministry; Margaret Downey, founder of Freethought Society; Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta, author of I Sold My Soul on eBay and The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide; Wanda Morris, executive director of Dying with Dignity Canada; and Carolyn Porco, leader of the imaging science team on the Cassini mission currently orbiting Saturn, and a popular science writer.
Sign up to attend and make travel and accommodation arrangements at imaginenoreligion.ca/. The event begins Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. and continues through Sunday. Beautiful Kamloops is in south-central British Columbia.
First off, I want to thank God, because that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or of any other human hand.
Matthew McConaughey, accepting the Best Actor Oscar for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club”
The Daily Beast, 3-3-14
You know what? You’re an ass. I’ve had enough of you. You’re a real punk. You know that? You have contributed nothing to this program in 10 minutes, zero. And you’re not that smart. You may think you’re smart, but you talk in circles. . . . The problem that some of you atheists have is you’re intolerant. And you’re a punk. So get lost. Get out of here.
Radio talk show host Mark Levin, after a caller disagreed that atheism should disqualify a person from being president
mediaite.com, 3-17-14
Each week on Facebook, we host a live show were we talk about topics ranging from atheism to the separation of state and church.
Weekly half-hour TV talk show produced by the Freedom From Religion Foundation
Our weekly newsbite illustrates our legal work across the country
Watch speeches from previous FFRF conventions.