american atheist magazine march 1964
TRANSCRIPT
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Vol. 8 No. ;J
MarcL,. 1984
50
Ceats
_OILI liT
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ITiEIST'I
IOBERT BURlS
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The American Atheist is published monthly by
The Freethought Society of America, Inc., a
non-profit
corporation,
Publication office is at
4547 Harford Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21214.
Subscription rate is $5.00 a year; s tudents $3.00.
Ten copies of one issue: $2.50
Second class postage paid at Baltimore Maryland
eath Universe A Review of Mondo Cane
he Interlocking Dictatorship
he Christian Century
egetation Gods and Sun Gods
ook Bargains
oetry Vehicle of Controversy
etters to
v,
Editor
1
17
18
24
6
8
30
31
3
artoons
h e S t a f f . .
d i t o r i n C h i e f A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r A s s o c i a t e E d i t o r
Madalyn Murray Garry De Young Robert Anton Wilso
Jack Brady
Ralph Blois
t r b u t i n g E d i t o r s
Lou Alt
Virgil McClain
C i r c u l a t i o n
William' Murray
Marian Walker
u b l i s h e r : T h e f r e e t h o u g h t S o c i e t y o f A m e r i c a I n
r i n t e d b y . . G u s t a v B r o u k a l f r e e t h o u g h t P r e s s
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The American Atheist is pubHshed monthly by
The Freethought Society of America, Inc., a
non-profit corporation. Publication office is at
4547 Harford Road, Baltimore, =Maryland 21214.
Subscription rate is $'5.00 a year; students $3.00.
Ten copies of one issue: $2.50
Second class postage paid at Baltimore Maryland
1, _
eath Universe A Review of Mondo Cane
he Interlocking Dictatorship
he Christian Century
egetation Gods and Sun Gods
ook Bargains
oetry Vehicle of Controversy
etters to
v,
Editor
I
17
18
24
6
8
3
31
3
artoons
h e S t a f f . .
d i t o r i n C h i e f A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r A s s o c i a t e E d i t o r
Madalyn Murray Garry De Young Robert Anton Wilso
Jack Brady
Ralph Blois
t r b u t i n g E d i t o r s
Lou Alt
Virgil McClain
C i r c u l a t i o n
William Murray
Marian Walker
u b l i s h e r : T h e f r e e t h o u g h t S o c i e t y o f A m e r i c a I n
r i n t e d b y . . G u s t a v S r o u k a l f r e e t h o u g h t P r e s s
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The American Atheist
The news presented in these columns, which
fills approximately one half of the magazine, is
chosen to demonstrate to you, month after month,
that the dead reactionary hand of religion is al-
ways with you. It dictates how much tax you
pay, what food you eat and when, with whom you
sleep, if you should have children, if you die in
concentration camps, if you are segregated in
some manner from other human beings, what you
read, what movies you see, and what you should
or should not believe about life. Religion is
politics and, always, the most reactionary
politic s.
W e editorialize our news to emphasize the
above thesis. Unlike any other magazine or news-
paper in America -- we admit it
A N D T H E Y S P A K E IN F O R K E D T O N G U E S
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Proceedings and Debates of the 88th Congress,
Second Session, Washington, D. C.
Saturday, February 8th, 1964
Vol. 110, No. 24, Pages 2514 -2518:
Amendment offered by Mr. Ashbrook
MR. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, I offer an a-
mendment. (to the Civil Rights Act of 1963 - ed.)
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. Ashbrook: On page
70, line 10, after the word enterprise insert
a new section:
(f) Notwithstanding any other prOVISIOn of
this title, it shall not be an unlawful employ-
ment practice for an employer to refuse to hire
and employ any person because of said person's
atheistic practices and beliefs.
MR. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, I have heard
it said time and time again that we are not en-
deavoring to include all types of discrimination
in this title and in this bill. However, we are
prescribing very definite and positive require-
ments on employers.
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
N e w s
If I may have the attention of the chairman
of the Judiciary Committee, I should like to pro-
pound a question to him, because if my inter-
pretation of the bill is incorrect I shall gladly
withdraw my amendment.
I would like to propound just one question. I
am thinking in terms of a private enterprise for
profit, which would be covered by this bill. A
man comes for employment and the employer is
honest enough to tell the applicant, while he is
otherwise qualified, he will not hire anyone of
atheistic convictions. The man then uses his
remedies provided by this measure. It is my in-
terpretation of the bill that as a part of his civil
rights purported to be extended by this FEPC
title, he could allege he has been discriminated
against and proceed against the employer.
I wonder if the chairman of the Committee on
the Judiciary could give me his interpretation
of this. As I said, if I am wrong, I will gladly
withdraw my amendment.
MR. CELLER. The bill provides there can be
no discrimination on the ground of religion. That
is the answer I have to give to you.
Mr. ASHBROOK. So if I do not want to hire
an atheist, I can be forced to hire one?
Mr. CELLER. Not necessarily. It all depends
on the surrounding circumstances. If the em-
ployer deliberately discriminates against a per-
son because of his religion, although he may be
otherwise qualified and all other things being
considered, he may run afoul of the law. But
just because he is an atheist would be no rea-
son why there should be any discrimination,
whether he be a Catholic, a Protestant, or a
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The Am erican A th e is t
. It all depends on the facts and circum-
ces in the case.
Mr., ASHBROOK. I think you have answered
question. I have stipulated that the man
uld be otherwise qualified and he has been
estly told this is why he would not receive
position.
Mr. CELLER. There is no need for your a-
ent.
Mr. ASHBROOK. This would be a practice
ich the employer could not do, according to
what you said. He could not discriminate a-
inst a person because he is an atheist. Is
t correct?
Mr. CELLER. That is correct.
Mr. ASHBROOK. That is what my amendment
endeavor to do; that is, to say the em-
yer could discriminate because of the athe-
ic practices or beliefs of an applicant for a
My amendment would seem to speak for it-
f, and Icertainly encourage everyone to sup-
rt it. It seems incredible that we would even
y consider forcing an employer to hire
atheist. This is one of the booby traps in the
which the sponsors have very glibly alleged
not exist.
Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Chairman, I cannot but re-
l that when word spread that land was near,
brave band of our forefathers aboard the
er 350 years ago, immediately met in
hold of their ship and adopted an agreement,
w known as the Mayflower Compact, which
rted with the words:
In the name of God, Amen.
America started under God.
The United States of America has progressed
der God to the highest pinnacle of perfection
any nation on this earth.
Her dedication to God in the early years was
cribed upon all her basic documents, upon
r constitutions, her declarations, and her tab-
Baltimore M aryland 2 2 4
God We Trust.
As our Nation grew, she pushed her boun
aries across her frontiers and her men of G
were the keepers of civilization pending the f
mal planning of our political subdivisions.
The concept of a nation which respects G
has continued to this very hour.
A few years ago Ihad the privilige as a M
ber of the U. S. House of Representatives
helping to write into our basic statutes the re
tation in the Pledge of Allegiance to our f
that we are one nation under God .
In furtherance of that dedication we set
aside a prayer room in this Capitol where m
of all faiths might repair for communion w
God.
We erected the declaration In God We Trus
over the Speaker's chair of this very Chamber.
We stand today upon the very summit of
world. Men of earth proclaim our greatness. It
written upon the winds. Soon it will be reflecte
upon the stars. Surely the God of all things h
directed us. Divine Providence has led us.
In the midst of it all is man. God put h
there. He gave him the wonderful attribute
free choice of religion. We call it freedom
religion. We protected that choice in the C
stitution itself. America gave the atheist
right of disbelief. It gives it to him today.
surely, our America gives the employer
right to reject an applicant for employment w
does not believe in God. Under this amendme
we are speaking of private employment. Tod
the American employer has a right to insist t
his employees believe in God. Thi s amendm
insists that that right not be taken away fr
the American employer if he desires to exerci
it.
There will be cries of anguish from those
the other side of this debate that this ame
ment is abridging a freedom of free man.
yesterday many of these same people voted
give a swarm of bureaucrats the right to cut
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than 300 years old in our America. They voted
to cut off the benefits of a hospital program
which is the envy of the world. They voted to
cut of aid in fields where that aid is necessary
and beneficial.
Here, we do not seek to take any right away
from anybody. We leave the right of the atheist
to believe, or not to believe, as may be his
choice. All this amendment does is preserve for
the American employer a freedom to insist that
his employees be under God. I think the amend-
ment ought to be adopted.
Mr. WHITTEN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike
out the last word.
(Mr. WHITTEN asked and was given per-
mission to revise and extend his remarks.)
(These remarks were addressed to a prior a-
mendment. - ed.J
Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I rise
in support of the pending amendment.
(Mr. JONES of Missouri asked and was given
permission to revise and extend his remark s.)
Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, it is
very apparent that there is a lack of agreement
among members of the Committee. You will re-
call a minute ago I made the inquiry of the chair-
man of the committee, the ranking member of the
committee, who was not here. The gentleman
from Michigan gave me his interpretation that as
an employer I could require that an employee be
a member of a church. Yet, we have heard the
chairman of the full Committee say that this bill
would permit an atheist to go before this com-
mission and making the point he had been dis-
criminated against. I do not know how the rest
of you people feel about this. I am sorry that the
author of the amendment did not include Com-
munists in here also.
It would be interesting to see how many
people are going to stand up here and be count-
ed, and say they feel an employer is compelled
to give consideration to the hiring of an atheist,
when he is trying to run a business that is bas-
ed on good moral groun~
I would invite your attention to a speech
-. ,..t
'f ' 4
Balt imore, Mary land 21214
made by our President last Thursday morning
when he spoke at the Presidential prayer break-
fast about his belief in God. He thought we
should have here in the Capital City a monu-
ment, a religious center--not paid for out of pub-
lic funds. I do not think the President of the
United States would have any objection to this.
I want to ask at this time the chairman of the
committee if he would be willing to accept this
amendment?
Mr. CELLER. Of course I cannot. How could
the Feceral Government give sanction to reli-
gious discrimination?
Mr. JONES of Missouri. We are not doing
that.
Mr. CELLER. That is what the amendment
does.
Mr. JONES of Missouri. What you are trying
to do is to give a preference to guarantee em-
ployment of atheists. That is what you are doing
if you fail to accept this amendment. I know you
try to get out of this, but we found out a lot of
things here today that have happened in connec-
tion with this section. There are still many more
amendments that are going to come. I would like
to find out what the position of the people is in
relation to atheists.
This is a nation that believes in God, a
nation that was established under a belief in
God. We have put up over the Speaker's dais,
and I want to remind you of this, these letters,
6 6 1 n God We Trust, which were put there after
the Supreme Court decision. They were put there
to show, at least, that many Members wanted to
do something positive to indicate they did not
agree with or concur in the Supreme Court deci-
sion.
I still believe that the American people be~
[ , c t
lieve in God; that they have very implicit trust ./ ~
in God, and I do not want to have any of ou
laws weakened to the extent we do not recog-
nize that this is a nation that believes in God.
I support the pending amendment, and hope it
will be adopted.
Mr. BROMWELL. Mr. Chairman, I move to
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The American A the is t
ike out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I should like to make this com-
nt on the recent remarks of the gentleman
m Missouri. Although I am reluctant to do so,
disagree with the chairman of the committee.
e the debate was in progress here a moment
o I looked in Webster's dictionary, and in my
ion, discrimination on the ground of religion,
we accept the definition in the dictionary
ch we have in the front of this Chamber,
es not include atheists. It says that atheism
religion are antithetical terms. Hence, un-
r the terms of this bill, one cannot discrimi-
te among Methodists, Catholics, or Mohamme-
ns, yet may discriminate against an atheist
h impunity.
Mr. JONES of Missouri. If the gentleman will
ld, in other words, the gentleman would have
objection to putting this amendment in the
?
Mr. BROMWELL. I think in the circumstances,
er my view, it would be surplusage and un-
ssary.
Mr. J ONES of Missouri. In the light of what
chairman has said in establishing this legis-
ve history, that it could be, I should think
gentleman would demand that this amend.
t be adopted to conform to his belief.
Mr. BROMWELL. I think it to be unnecessary.
is is my view of the matter. I myself would
t see any reason to include it.
Mr. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-
yield?
Mr. BROMWELL. I yield to the gentleman
Ohio.
Mr. ASHBROOK. Suppose an interpretation
re later made by the Supreme Court that would
that atheism would be lack of religion?
ey would not treat them in the same way.
Mr. BROMWELL. I would hesitate to antici-
e an opinion of the Supreme Court. It is en-
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
/
- - - - -
?
'Mr. RODINO. Mr. Chairman, I move to str
out theIast word.
Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to this ame
ment. I was one of the original co-sponsors
the proposal to include the words under Go
in the Pledge of Allegiance. I am a Catho
by faith, but I respect the right of other peop
to believe or not to believe. I do not see
reason to discriminate against a person on
count of race, color, national origin, or religio
If a person seeks not to believe in God, I
lieve it is his American right not to believe,
though I would continue to adhere to my religio
Believing that this Nation grew because it h
in its basic fabric a strong belief in God, nev
theless I as an American and as a Member
this Congress feel that this amendment is
tirely out of order. Therefore, I oppose it a
hope that the rest of the Members, feeling
strongly as we do about this great country
ours and about the right of every individual
believe in his own religion, will vote down t
amendment.
Mr. GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I move to stri
out the requisite number of words.
(Mr. GROSS asked and was given permissio
to revise and extend his rem arks . )
Mr. GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate
statement made by the gentleman from New J
sey, but he does not go to the root of this m
ter. That which is sought to be cured is
compulsion upon an employer to hire an athei
That is the issue. It is not a question of h
the gentleman from New Jersey or the gentlem
from Iowa feels, but rather it is the compulsio
upon the employer to hire. That is why this
mendment ought to be adopted.
Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, w
the gentleman yield?
Mr. GROSS. I yield.
Mr. JONES of Missouri. If we adopt the
mendment and an employer wants to hire atheis
he could do it if he wanted to, but we leave
in the discretion of the employer.
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for any reason, and by the same token he
uld not be prohibited from doing so if that is
desire.
Mr. Chairman, I have no quarrel with an
eist simply because he is a godless person.
ould protect his right under the Constitution
believe or not believe in God with all the vi-
r at my command.
Again I urge adoption of the amendment and
ld back the balance of my time.
- - - - .
Mr. HOLFIELD.' r. Chairman, Imove to
ike out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, Ithink we have come to the
t where this subject of freedom of religion
pels me to rise and say a few words.
I want to say in advance that I am not an
ist. I believe in a Supreme Being, so Iam
t here protecting an atheist from the stand-
s of my personal beliefs. I take exactly the
e position that the gentleman from New Jer-
(Mr. RODINO) takes. I happen to be a Prot-
. I happen to believe in God Almighty, but
say that any nation that protects freedom of re-
has no right to impose compulsory reli-
on on any citizen in this country. If any man
this country wants to go to a church of any
mination or stay away from one he has that
under the Constitution, and there is no
ace in the Constitution that tells man to wor-
ip God in any fashion. This is a matter of in-
vidual decision. This is a matter of individual
I can remember the teaching of the Holy
ures, when the Saviour spoke to the people
Jerusalem. He condemned the Pharisees and
d the Sudducees for their adherence to the
rms of religion and their denial of the true
iritual principles of religion.
I can remember that he condemned the Phari-
es for making long prayers in the marketplace
ere they could be seen by men and for the
rpose of being applauded for their false piety.
But the Saviour said they, the Pharisees,
not lift the burden of the poor with their
tle finger, a burden that was pressing down
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
they give a crumb to those who were hungry.
So I say to these people who are religious,
and I am religious, that there is something
wrong with your religion if you seek to impose
upon any man a specific form of religion or a
adherence to a religion of any type. That i
tyranny whether it is imposed by the sword o
by legislation. True religion is a matter of per
sonal conviction within the soul and the spirit
and the mind of man.
There is an inscription in the Jefferson Me
morial that quotes the words of Jefferson. H
said:
I have sworn eternal hostility against every
form of tyranny over the mind of man.
To
enforce
the form of religion on a man against his will i
tyranny.
There have been many crimes committed
throug hout the centuries of history in the name
of religion. Millions have died because of per
secution in the name of religion. So I say, le
us not get so excited about whether a man be
lieves in God or not that we are willing to em
brace tyranny. That is his privilege under ou
country's Constitution, and it is not your job
nor is it my job to impose upon him any specif-
ic religion; or to punish him because he does
not have a religion.
Mr. HARDY. Mr. Chairman, Imove to strike
out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I did not want to talk on this
subject, but we have gotten into some very fun
damental discussions here and I am afraid som
of my good friends are missing the point entire-
ly.
There is not any imposition on a man to have
any kind of religion because an employer wh
does not want to employ an atheist refuses t
employ him. The employer certainly should no
be compelled to employ the man. The compul
sion is on the employer and not on the man wh
is seeking a job. I do not feel any discrimina-
tion in my heart because of anybody's religion.
But I do not want anybody to say to me that
have to employ an atheist if I should happen
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I know some good, God-fearing business
people who are very, very strong in their con-
victions on this subject. If you say to one of
them, You have to employ this fellow whether
you want him or not, and you have to ignore the
fact that he does not believe in God, that is an
impairment of the right of that businessman and
employer that is much more serious than the im-
pairment of a man's right to have that job. Cer-
----
tainly, the employer should have the same right
to de~ermine whom he will hire.llf ~ 'lI
It). ~
J
t
Mr. Chairman, this is a very, very shi~us
thing. No man ought to be compelled to hire a
(man who I n athei;t ir-he has strong rel i-
g.ioUYC~~vic .~~. Th~ ~roblem would not a-
rise in
mg ifidustry but It could happen in a
small company and that is the place where the
danger really exists.
Mr. Chairman, the amendment ought to be
adopted and I am surprised that the gentleman
from New York did not accept the amendment
when it was offered.
Mr. JOELSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to
strike out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, as a person with deep reli-
gious convictions personally, I merely rise to
say I never dreamed the time would come when I
(
would hear it argued in the name of religion that
we would say to the children of a nonbeliever
that because your father is a nonbeliever, you
shall not be given your daily bread.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike
out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to direct one ques-
tion to the chairman, the gentleman from Ne w
York. (Mr. CELLER). If a person came to an em-
ployer and asked for employment and the person
identified himself as a Communist, if the em-
ployer denied him employment, would the em-
ployer be violating this act in its present form?
Mr. CELLER. This bill has nothing to do
with political affiliation. It would be the same
as if it were denied to a Republican, to a Demo-
crat, or to a mugwump.
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
Mr. BALDWIN. The theory of communism also
includes the theory of atheism. If the man iden-
tifies himself as a Communist, what is there in
the bill which would in sure to the employer that
if he denied employment on that ground the em-
ployer would not be accused of violating the
provisions of the bill?
Mr. FLYNT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-
man yield?
Mr. BALDWIN. I yield to the gentleman from
Georgia.
Mr. FLYNT,. I say to the gentleman from Cal-
ifornia that I have an amendment at the desk
which I believe will answer the question the
gentleman from California has raised. I hope he
will support my amendment at the proper time.
Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Chairman, I move to
strike the requisite number of words.
I rise in support of the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I had not intended to inject
myself into this discussion, but we have heard
so many pious phrases about freedom of religion
that I am reminded that perhaps more damage
has been done to the foundations of this Nation
throughout history with pious phrases and
appearances of piety than has been done in any
other way.
I do not attack any other Member, but I was
shocked to see a Member stand here a moment
ago and talk about taking the bread out of the
mouths of the children of an atheist, when that
individual diligently voted to take the bread out
of the mouths of innocent children who may live
in a community which might fall under the pro-
visions of Title VI, which we sought to strike
out of the bill.
It is felt to be bad, by some, to defend the
fundamental faith of mankind, which as made
F / / /
t~nd ~flTi~felt'to-~.~. ter-_{ ~
rt -
le thing to disagree with the gentleman's
views of sociology in this country.
You would take the milk bottles out of the
lunchrooms of the parochial and public school
because someone does not agree with you on
the matter of segr egation, but you would say to
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You know, I started out in life to be a
her, Mr. Chairman. Sometimes when I get
to make a talk in the church after I finish,
eone says, can understand why you are a
od Congressman. Then other times I try to
ke a political speech and someone says,
ell, I can understand why you would make a
od preacher. But be that as it may, I cannot
r the life of me, Mr. Chairman, see why a man
o owns his property, and manages his property,
st hire an atheist.
Let me say it has nothing to do with the
ht of that man to believe as he wants to be-
ve.
Mr. GRANT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-
d to me?
Mr. MATTHEWS. I will be glad to yield.
Mr. GRANT. I would like to call the atten.
n of the gentleman and the House to the
rds above the Speaker's desk.
Mr. MATTHEWS. I want to thank the gentle-
an. And let me say again I believe every man,
man, ought to have a right to his beliefs
far as his religion is concerned, but at the
me time I do not believe that a man who owns
operty, who has a business, should be made to
re a man if he is an atheist.
Mr. JENNINGS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-
n yield to me?
Mr. MATTHEWS. I yield to the gentleman from
Mr. JENNINGS. I want to commend the gentle-
for the fine talk he has made and to asso-
ate myself with his remarks and his beliefs.
Mr. MATTHEWS. I thank the gentleman very,
ry much.
Mr. BEERMANN. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-
man yield?
Mr. MATTHEWS. I yield to the gentleman from
Nebraska. There is no finer man in the Con-
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
Mr. BEER MANN. I would like to say for
benefit of my friend from Florida and my as
ciate on the Agriculture Committee that for
benefit of the House and his benefit I did
want this opportunity to go by to recognize t
this amendment was sponsored by the gent
man from Ohio (Mr. ASHBROOK), instead of
gentleman from Missouri, and I congratulate
for supporting it, Billy Matthews Graham.
Mr. MATTHEWS. I thank you. I am for
gentleman's amendment, as the gentleman f
Nebraska (Mr. BEERMANN) explained, an
think the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. JONE
is also in favor of this amendment, as are oth
I will be delighted to yield to anyone e
who will say a kind word about me, Mr. Ch
man, or for this amendment.
Mr. SCHADEBERG. Mr. Chairman, I move
strike out the requisite number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the ame
ment of the gentleman from Ohio.
I am not going to take 5 minutes, but j
make one short statement. The issue in
amendment is not whether or not anyone ha
right under our Constitution to be an athei
The issue is whether or not under our Consti
tion a believer in God has a right to choo
whether or not he must hire an atheist. In ot
words, if we do not have this amendment,
Government is going to be in a position in wh
it has the authority to interfere with a ma
right to make what he believes to be a mo
judgment. I think this is not the prerogative
government.
Mr. WICKERSHAM. Mr. Chairman, I move
strike out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the ame
ment. At this time I should like to ask the cha
man of the committee a question with referen
to this section of this bill. Can the chairman
sure the Members that this bill, as written,
empts fraternal orders in their daily activities
as well as in the operation of Masonic hom
Woodman homes, Moose homes, Elks homes, O
Fellows Homes, and in the operation of their
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Mr. CELLER. It exempts all fraternal orders.
Mr. WICKERSHAM. All fraternal orders are
empted. Thank you. That is the assurance I
.
In connection with the pending amendment I
ould like to say this to you: I agree with the
ntleman here that if you permit, if you require
se who are religious to hire those who are
t religious, you are interfering with the re-
freedom on which this country was found-
. I cannot see how any employer, including a
, should be required to hire a Com-
unist, or an atheist or anyone else in that cate-
ry whom he does not desire to employ, even
ough such individual might meet all other re-
irements. You might even require the churches
d lodges, clubs and businessmen and Con-
essmen to hire atheists unless this amend-
nt is accepted.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I am in thorough ac-
rd with the gentleman who offered the amend-
t. I urge the adoption of the amendment, and
ield back the balance of my time.
Mr. RYAN of New York. Mr. Chairman, I move
strike out the last word.
Mr. Chairman, this Nation was founded and
s been made great by people who were seek-
religious freedom. Our Founding Fathers
ote the guarantee of religious freedom into the
l of Rights. Diversity has been our strength.
I was shocked a few moments ago to hear the
ntleman from North Carolin a -- I hope he did
t mean what he said - say there was only one
m of religion that matters in this country, and
is the Christian religion. Many religions
many diverse points of view have made up
s Nation. Our citizens belong to many faiths.
Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-
man yield?
Mr. RYAN of New York. I yield to the gentle-
n from North Carolina.
Mr. WHITENER. I will say to the gentleman
either inadvertently or purposely entirely
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
ever I said I meant every word of it.
Mr. RYAN of New York. I do not think I m
understood the gentleman.
Mr. ROBERTS of Texas. Mr. Chairman, w
the gentleman yield?
Mr. RYAN of New York. I yield to the ge
tleman from Texas.
Mr. ROBERTS of Texas. If the gentlema
will refer back to the history of our country
will find it was based on the premise of freedo
to worship God according to the dictates of h
own conscience.
Mr. RYAN of New York. That is fundamenta
but I take exception to the false concept th
only one religion should be singled out as t
source of our greatness.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the
mendment offered by the gentleman from Oh
(Mr. ASHBROOK).
The question was taken, and on a divisio
(demanded by Mr. CELLER) there were - aye
137, noes 98.
So the amendment was agreed to.
There are
~33
seats in the United State
House of Representatives. There are
2
vacan
seats due to death.
There were 198 House members who did n
vote on this bill.
This means that the bill was carried by
31.42 percentage of the House members.
The persons in the above drama - note the
state and party affiliations - were:
John M. Ashbrook
John F. Baldwin
Ralph F. Beermann
James E. Bromwell
Emmanuel CelIeI'
Carl Elliott
John J. Flynt Jr.
George
M.
Grant
Rep.
Rep.
Rep.
Rep.
Dem.
Dem.
Dem.
Dem.
Ohio.
Calif.
Nebr.
Iowa
N. Y.
Ala.
Ga.
Ala.
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The churches feel that they have the right to
nt interpretative subjects such as history
reflect the dogma of the particular church
t that the precise sciences can be taught
secular tax supported schools.
The churches have influenced educators in
y states to indulge in this sporting sharing
, which they describe thus:
In Detroit, 182 seventh and eighth grade
udents are taking their neutral subjects at
public school half a mile from the parochial
ol were value subjects are taught.
Detroit and Flint, Michigan, and Pittsburgh,
d Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are the cities
ost often cited by the Catholic church as the
aces with more 'enduring programs.'
L IT T L E B R O T H E R
I 'S
W A T C H I N G
More and more leaks are corning into the
ws media these days about Little Brother
bby's big push to be President. He makes no
nes about it, as he indicates that the present
esident is energetic, in a strenuous job, and
t Johnson has already suffered a severe
art attack.
Stewart Alsop writing in the Saturday Evening
st points out that Bobby's best chance - per-
ps his only chance - is as Lyndon Johnson's
ce President.
Tempers flared in the New Hampshire primary
paign when a write-in of Bobby Kennedy's
e for nomination on the Democratic ticket was
rted, apparently with Bobby's blessing.
But some hard facts were handed to Demo-
tic leaders, as Bobby Kennedy began his
paign, as usual, on two levels.
The upper level was a public harvesting of
od will toward the Kennedy family flowing
m the death of John Kennedy. The lower
el operation is the claim here presented:
There are at least
14
pivotal states where
proportion of Catholics
is
large enough to
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
Rhode Island 60%
Massachusetts ...
Conneticut
New York
New Jersey
Wisconsin
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Michigan
Minnesota
California
Montana
Maryland
Ohio .
5
49
40
39
31
30
9
24
24
22
21
20
These states represent 264 electoral vote
only six less than needed to win the W
House in the big raffle corning up.
John F. Kennedy did not win a sing Ie f
state and he lost the electoral votes of Florid
Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennesse
Virginia and half of Alabama. Without the unp
cedented 78% of the Catholic vote he would h
lost the big Eastern States with their lar
electoral count - and the election. As it w
remember that John F. Kennedy won by le
than one tenth of one percent.
To take a detail, the 62 counties in
decisive state of New York, for example, th
Democratic county committeemen in 57 w
Catholic. The convention candidacies hin
on such details. Robert Kennedy is pushing
a bove statistics hard to win for himself
opportunity to stand 'one heart beat from
pre sidency. '
In this struggle to win a place as Johnson's
running mate, Brother Bobby is meeting a pro
lem - Lyndon Johnson's well known conviction
that the future of the United States shou
never depend on Bobby Kennedy which conflic
with tribal chieftain Joseph Kennedy's law th
'If something happened to his brother, Bob
would take over.'
1 9 6 4
Thousands of Hindus and Moslems in
Gaya district of Bihar State, India, are trekki
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M E M L L O R Y
We find freethinkers everywhere - usually in
thick of a fray fighting for sanity and justice.
Mae Mallory is one of these, a long time free
ught advocate. Her particular bout with The
lishment began, legally, in August, 1961.
that time she decided to go along with Julian
ield, a reporter for the York Gazette and
ly Newspaper who was covering the Monroe
orth Carolina) integration story. Mrs. Mayfield
went along. Mae Mallory is a New Yorker,
37, mother of two children, and she had ex-
nce in hospital and first aid work. She
t she could be useful in household and
er chores for the integrationists living in the
e of the local Monroe NAACP president,
rt Williams.
Freedom Riders, Integrationists, Segregation-
, incidents, police, attacks and counter at-
ks mounted until white heat was reached.
white couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Stegail,
e to the Williams home and sought refuge.
lliams gave them refuge in his home, where
e was preparing supper for everyone. State
opers were called to surround the home; chaos
gned and Williams, his family, Mae Mallory,
Julian Mayfield and his wife escaped.
Robert Williams, his wife and' two sons fled
Cuba. The Julian Mayfields fled to Ghana.
e Mallory fled to Cleveland Ohio. North Car-
na charged them all with kidnapping Mr. and
s. Stegail. Mae was arrested and jailed in
veland, and finally extradicted to North
lina after a running legal battle of several
rs. She was returned on January 10, 1964.
You all know how dangerous the se freethink-
are - that is why it took 25 members of the
I to arrest Mae; and why she was jailed dur-
reat part of her two and one half year fight to
id extradition to North Carolina.
It was ironic that Mae Mallory, a fr ee thinker,
s brought back to Monroe to be tried. For the
urthouse there is unique in one respect. It is
only one we know of which is surmounted by
cross, put there after considerable contention.
me citizens thought it an inappropriate place
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
that she was being dragged back, not to b
tried, but to be crucified.
This week (first of March) we received
information that Mae had been found guilty
sentenced to from 12 to 18 years in prison.
For those of you who are in sympathy w
her cause, she needs encouragement and fun
for her appeal to a superior court. She can
reached by writing to her
clo
The Monroe D
fense Committee, 605 Brown Street, Monr
North Carolina.
T R O U L E I N P R D I S E
There are Catholic Seton High Schools
Colleges in many places of America, named
ter Mother Seton an American Catholic Sai
who is moving toward canonization now in
Church mumbo jumbo.
Mother Seton, who died a century ago, h
rec
enty
cured a Baltimore girl of leukemia
She interceded in the process of this usual
fatal disease because the girl had directe
prayers for a cure to her personally.
On February 28th the students at Seton H
University in South Orange, New Jersey fo
to pray to Mother Seton to interceded in t
behalf, and they ran into fire hoses and brut
ity generally reserved for Negroes in our c
ture.
The student newspaper,
The Setonian,
w
rash enough to engage in that vile and un-Ca
olic activity freedom of the press by, am
other things, being critical of school regu
tions. Bishop John J. Dougherty, Seton Ha
president, after a morning conference with
student editor of the paper, Rocco De Piet
announced a suspension of the weekly new
paper. He stated, There has been a grow
evidence that freedom of expression is bei
abused in the columns of The Setonian, that
unwholesome spirit of cynicism has characte
ized too many of the articles.
Within an hour after the suspension notice
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reets, blocked traffic, with a street sit down.
he police were called in and the students were
red to disperse. Then they threw a barrage
snowballs. The firemen were called in and
igh pressure water hoses were used on the stu-
, while the Fire Chief, Joseph Allen ex-
ined, We had to use the hose in self de-
The university administration then announced
hat they would not seek disciplinary actions
ainst the students, but that the decree cutting
f the student publication would stand.
T O U C H C K
Ten ministers last month were backing cir-
ulation of a petition on the campus of Okla-
a State University to ban public prayers at
arting of football games.
The ministers, representing seven denomina-
ions, said they were asking for the ban be-
ause they did not believe a football game was
a proper place for prayer .
Within two nights the petition carried approxi-
ately 250 names from the university's 11,000
udents. The question was debated in the Stu-
nt Senate which concurred with prayer before
mes. The 10 ministers, trying to have the stu-
ents see the light issued a statement which
, Since the football audience is not a com-
ity which shares a common faith, there can
e no common worship. It is a misuse ... to
mpt to impose upon them (the spectators),
hrough a prayer, any particular form of worship
If enough signatures are obtained, the minis-
ers will submit the petition to the Student Sen-
R E T R E T
When we advance two steps we retreat four
ps in the never-never land of thought con-
.
Advance a New York youth organization
s just been ordered by Bobby Kennedy, under
e McCarran Act to appear before the Sub-
rsive Activities Control Board for hearing.
first charge against the organization is
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
The second charge is that some of the po
cies of the organization are parallel to the po
cies of the Communist Party. We use one o
the specific charges as an example. One charg
is that Advance demands an end to all nuclea
tests by the United States. Since this charg
was made. the United States Senate ratified
test ban treaty with the Soviet Union. Therefore
using the same criteria, the United States Se
ate should also be appearing before the Subve
sive Activities Control Board.
George Meany, head of the AFL-CIO lab
movement recently called for a 35 hour wo
week. This is also a platform of the Communi
Party. Is Meany then a McCarran Act suspect?
We use another charge against Advance as
further example. They are cited as opposing t
McCarran Act But, Harry Truman, when he w
President vetoed this Act and it went back a
passed the Congress over his veto. About a ye
ago Mr. Truman reiterated his position agains
the Act. Therefore, he should also be appearin
before the Subversive Activities Control Board
At the first hearings against Advance, t
paid informers testified that they had spent pa
of their time spying on such groups as t
N.A.A.C.P., SANE and the Unitarian Church.
For all you good anti-religonists who fee
secure and hidden while you attend the Unitaria
Church, we will repeat that last statement.
the hearings, paid informers testified that the
had spent part of their time
SPYING
ON
TH
UNIT ARIAN
CH
URCH
H E R E S Y
A Danish artist, Asger J orn, recently a
tounded the art World by refusing to accept
prize of $2,500 from the Guggenheim Museum
New York. The Associated Press interviewed
Mr. Jorn on January 17th and he stated that h
did not like the authoritarian mentality i
spiring the donors of awards.
Searching further the AP found a relative
Copenhagen who recalled, When Asger J or
was a young and fighting artist, he contracted
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oundations - but never received any. He never
orgot that.
And, so, it is not artistic temperament, but
ather the self respect of a man who has learned
o judge the patronage of The Establishment.
S U B V E R S IV E A C T IV IT Y
We have received the following news item,
nd although the news date on it is June, 1962,
feel that it is fresh news since it speaks of
ntinuous activity.
Five persons, having completed a year of
robation as novices in the Third Order of St.
cis of Ass is.i, will make their solemn pro-
sion at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to-
y.
All will become members of the Franciscan
ernity of Mary Our Queen, established in
arch 1961.
The Lay Order of Saint Francis like the
e First Order, priests, clerics and brothers,
nd the Second Order, nuns, was founded early
the Thirteenth Century by Saint Francis of
The Lay Order makes it possible for men
nd women, who are unable to leave their homes
ecause of family ties and other duties, to join
religious order. They pledge, without vows, to
live a life similar to that of friars and nuns
s far as possible, still keeping their trades,
d professions.
World membership of the order is now more
an 4,000,000 persons.
The occupations of the five taking the solemn
rofession today are a lawyer, a Federal Bureau
f Investigation Agent, a real estate executive,
editor and a publisher. ... from the Baltimore
un Newspaper, June 14, 1962.
N O N K O S H E R K IT C H E N C A S H IE R E D
A significant storm has been brewing in the
and of Milk and Honey (Israel) over whether two
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
trans-Atlantic liner Shalom. The Zim Compan
had announced its intention to install both
kosher kitchen and a non-kosher kitchen on th
boat in order to attract every possible passenger
to operate at a profit.
Almost immediately representatives of all th
orthodox rabbinical organizations in Americ
conveyed to the Israeli government their con
stirnation at such a heretical plan as to have
non-kosher kitchen pollute the liner. The Chie
Rabbinical Council in Jerusalem gave the Zim
Company two weeks to abandon the kitchen be
fore withdrawing its kashrut certification from
all of the Company's ships. RabbiJoseph B
Soloveitchik, of Boston, threatened to proc laim
a herem (boycott> of EI Al Airlines as well a
Zim if the non-kosher kitchen went in, despite
the fact that Rabbi Soloveitchik's followers d
not care to travel on a Jewish ship where Jew
will be working on the Sabbath in any event.
Ear
ly
this month, Zim capitulated and an
nounced that the non-kosher kitchen would not
installed on the liner.
Alex Hershaft, who writes for The Leagu
for Religious Freedom in Israel unveiled th
underlying problem in his February 'Bulletin',
where he writes:
The Shalom controversy and the associated
more-kosher-than-thou nonsense is no mere que
tion of religious observance or rabbinical juris
diction. It is a test of strength between th
forces of theocracy and the democratic process
A test which pits the courage of individuals lik
Messrs. Herman and Bar-Yehuda (of the Zim
Company) against the blatant blackmail of Am
erican Orthodoxy. A test which the free men a
doomed to fail unless they learn to stand up f
their hard-wi n rights.
... the kashrut license has always been th
Rabbinate's favorite weapon. It proved most e
fective in blocking hall rentals to Reform con
gregations, forcing EI Al to provide free flight
for kashru t inspectors , bringing recalcitrant
businessmen to heel, and bludgeoning the foo
industry into hiring outrageous numbers of kash
rut inspectors.
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and the League For Religious Freedom In Israel,
by writing to Alex Hershaft, at Post Office Box
2421, Washington 13, D. C. Subscription price of
'The Bulletin' is $2.00 a year.
K IR C H E K IN D E R K U C H E N
The Nazi philosophy concerning women was
put succinctly into three words, Church, Child-
ren, Kitchen and the good German woman knew
her place.
Well, here we go again This week Soviet
Russia announced that during the last twenty
years 8.3 minion Soviet women have received
medals for raising five or more children.
Tass news agency in making the announce-
ment stated, Motherhood and upbringing of
children in the USSR are regarded as an impor-
tant service to the state.
N O D IV IN E P R O T E C T I O N ?
Pope Paul was quite worried during his re-
cent trip to the Middle East, and had special
precautions taken regarding his food because of
fears of possible hydatidosis infection.
Hydatidosis is commonly known as Sheep
Herder's Disease, and Paul, the 'Chief Shep-
herd' knew damn well he was not immune. The
parasite which causes the disease is common to
that part of the world, and is transmitted through
food.
Prof. Carlo Sirtori, president of the Carlo Er-
ba I nstitute, Rome, said that the disease was
like malaria. It can invade any organ, from the
muscles to the brain, the bones, the lungs, the
liver, and, like malaria, it is a sickness of the
underprivileged countries. Well, if it is a
disease of the underprivileged, we wonder what
Pope Paul was worried about; that lets him out.
S P A R E P A R T S F O R G O D S I M A G E
We don't know what God and religionists
will say about it but surgeons from Denver and
Minneapolis recently expressed a hope that a
majority of organ grafts for human beings will
some day come from animals.
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
They disclosed that six baboon to human kid
ney transplants were conducted in Denver i
December and January. The Minnesota grou
has studied the baboon intensively since 1960
and believes that the animal is the sub-huma
primate closest to man in its physiology. The
also point out that baboons are readily avail
able.
Dr. Joseph Holmes said that fresh living k
neys offer better prospects of good results tha
kidneys taken from a cadaver.
The surgeons were noncommittal on whethe
kidneys from human beings related to th
patient offer better prospects than baboon kid
neys or kidneys from nonrelated human beings
Don Arwine, University of Colorado 'direc
tor of hospitals, said the identifiable hospital
costs of transplants during the past two o
three years has declined from $12,000 to abou
$5,000 to $7,000 for each operation.
A N O T H E R IN V A S IO N
The human mind is tempting territory whic
the authoritarian always desires to invade. Now
we find that the Federal Government is charging
ahead into this field without restraint, and with
out due cause.
The Federal Government has been giving lie
dectector tests to thousands of its employes,
ten without observing formal regulations govern
ment regulations.
A study of this ordered by Representative
Cornelius E Gallagher, Democrat of New Jer
sey revealed that Federal agencies own hun
dreds of polygraphs -- the technical name for li
detectors - and use them frequently. Mr. Ga
lagher took an interest after a complaint from
constituent,
a single constituent wrote to him.
After an eight month investigation the follow
ing preliminary figures were reported.
During the year, June 1962-June 1963, (the
fiscal year) the Government carried out 23,12
lie dectector tests.
The Government owns 525 polygraphs, fo
which it paid $444,000.
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Of the 25 agencies that permit use of lie de-
tors, only 7 have formal regulations govern-
their use.
There are 656 authorized polygraph opera-
s ranging from high school graduates to
ers of Ph.D. 's in the Government.
Five agencies do not make the results avail-
e to employes tested.
The figures do not reflect use and ownership
lie detectors by the Central Intelligence
ncy. Apparently the C.I.A. is the most pro-
ic user of lie detectors. The agency says all
its prospective employes are afforded lie-
tector tests. The FBI, which has the most
ed operators, does not use the machine for
rsonnel screening.
_There is a difference of OpInIOn among ex-
rts as to effectiveness of polygraphs. Mr.
llagher said he was deeply disturbed by the
s, particularly on two points: the lack of
iform and carefully set down ground rules
oughout the government for protection of the
vidual being tested, and the lack of rigid
fications for operators.
Freethinkers are more deeply disturbed on
points: (1) that Mr. Gallagher or any other
presentative of the people should feel that any
ogical aspects and ground rules should
considered as mitigating the infringement on
r inherent right to freedom of conscience, and
) that any peeping Tom should be officially
nsidered for use, much less used, on the cit-
W H O S E E N V O Y ?
Senator Hubert Humphrey, a Protestant asked
White House to appoint an envoy to the Vati-
according to the Chicago American of Tues-
, February 25, 1964.
According to the story, Humphrey is quoted
saying:
It is in our self-interest to have regular re-
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
The religion of our envoy is not significant
because of certain rituals, a Catholic m
have certain advantages there.
There are two views freethinkers may take
this suggestion. One is that the Roman Cath
Church is a political state and should be re
ized as such. Then, if the recognition is giv
it follows that aid to parochial schools in
United States, and grants for building fund
parochial colleges, and grants of federal
to specific Roman Catholic Bishoprics in
United States would need to be handled thro
Foreign Aid Funds. Since most of our For
Aid goes to military assistance for dictators
one ilk or another, this would follow a pat
established.
A second view is that, in as much as w
not recognize the temporal power of Prote s
as political statehoods, we should not recogn
the claims of the Roman Catholic Church t
the official government of all human activities
A T H E I S T S C A N A D O P T
The Telegram, Toronto, Canada, newspap
carried the two inch high, front page ban
in red, on March 5th when it announce
'Children's Aid Drops Ban; Atheists Can Ad
Metro Children's Aid Society has drop
its ban on allowing atheists and agnostics
adopt children.
Society director L. S. Richardson, annou
ing this, emphasized that the new policy d
not include Roman Catholic adoptions.
He told more than 300 at the society's
nual meeting in Maurice Cody Memorial H
last night that adoption procedure would be b
ed on the best home possible.
The Child Welfare Act bans placement
non-Catholic children in Catholic homes a
Catholic children in non-Catholic homes,
said.
The Metro society is the first in Ontario
alter policy permitting adoptions by atheist
other non-Christian parents, he said after
meeting.
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N e w s c o p e
Are the new Federal Reserve $1 bills, now
being put in circulation, legal tender? Repre-
sentative Wright Patman (D., 'I'ex.), chairman of
the powerful House Banking and Currency Com-
mittee, doesn't think so.
He has ordered a full-scale investigation of
the Federal Reserve Bank's issuance of the new
paper bills to replace the Treasury's silver cer-
tificates. As a starter, Patman has ordered Fed-
eral Reserve Bank chairman William McChesney
Martin Jr. to furnish to his committee a report on
the Federal Reserve's authority to issue the
paper money. Before making the demand, Re-
pre sentative Patman told a closed-door meeting
of his committee: I have checked all the laws
and cannot find anywhere that Congress has
given the Federal Reserve Board the power to
issue these bills. I'm going to see that the issu-
ance of this money is stopped.
In connection with the issuance of this
paper money it is well to remember that the
name Federal Reserve Bank and naming of
its head officer Governor was probably for
the express purpose of fooling the people into
believing that the Federal Reserve system is a
branch of the government, instead of a purely
private bank, from which the government re-
ceives no revenue, and in the management of
which it has no voice.
When Marriner Eccles, Governor of the Fed-
eral Reserve Bank appeared before a Senate In-
vestigation Committee some time back, he said,
When the banks take a billion dollars of gov-
ernment bonds as they are offered, they credit
the United States Treasury with a billion dol-
lars, and charge their Government Bond Account
with a billion dollars; or, they CREATE, by a
bookkeeping entry, the money with which they
buy the bonds.
The Carter H. Harrison Company, Investment
Brokers, of Chicago, in urging their clients to
buy bank stocks, say, It is essential only to
realize that all banks CREATE out of nothing,
the money they lend, even to the government.
In 1863, Congres s was caj oled, or threate
ed, or bribed into passing the National Bank
Act, from which the Federal Reserve Bank
accrued so much power that it now issues pa
money backed only by the declaration on the
In God We Trust .
Congressman Jerry Voorhis has proposed
plan to have the government buyout the Fed
al Reserve Bank, and issue our own currency
accord with the constitution (Art. I, Sec. 8, p
5). Under the original charter provision of t
Federal Reserve Bank, the government could
this for about $140 million, and take over
the assets of the system, amounting to so
$29 billion.
PATMAN
Any Congressman who would receive a hu
dred letters on the subject of the new $1 b
would ask Representative Patman what goes
and may even support him. We should prais
Allah when we find a Congressman with som
courage and some sense of the urgency
retaining the democratic framework in which
can still operate.
Write to your Congressman and to Represen
ative Patman. Every Congressman answers
mail sent to him by his constituents. You
needed in this fight: WRITE TODAY.
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D e a t h U n i v e r s e
A
R e v i e w o f M o n d o C a n e
Robert n ton Wilson
I don't want no more of your rotten old
Death universe ...
William Burroughs, The Soft Machine
A man's arm appears on the screen, dragging
ething on a leash. The camera pans down-
d and we see a dog struggling desperately.
the soundtrack we hear the barking of other
s - hundreds, thousands of dogs, howling in
and anger. A gate opens and the dog that
have been watching is brutally picked up and
wn into a dog-pound. On the screen appears
title, Mondo Cane
A
Dog's World. )
Not since the gruesome opening shot of
i's Andalusian Dog has a movie so frankly
sensationally yanked hold of the audience's
. Mondo Cane, is indeed, much indebt-
to Dali's earlier exploration of cinematic
rbidity; under the facade of naturalism,
new Italian film is as surrealistic as Dali's,
, like Dali's, is primarily a cry of outrage
in st the fabric of reality itself.
I am aware that the critic in the
Saturday Re-
has described Mondo Cane as being merely
steless and sensational . I am also aware
Leo Tolstoy made the same idiotic remark
ut King Lear. Mondo Cane, in my opinion, is
serious and genuine a work of art as anything
ve ever seen on the cinema screen.
With great and Nietzschean contempt for his
e, the director has made this movie into
imitation of the popular travelogues of the
that the mass audience is supposed to posses
The irony is poker-faced throughout; only o
or twice does it become broad enough to aro
widespread laughter in the audience. The mo
tonous voice drones on, finding everything
the screen either quaint or edifying or ju
downright cute ; but what we are seeing
hind this voice is a carefully edited catalog
unmitigated horrors. It is like touring throu
Dante's Hell with the cheerful voice of Ar
Godfrey chirping in your ears. It is, indeed,
perfect
symbol
of the semantic jungle of
modern world, as typified in America by
Huntley-Brinkley type of newscaster with
brisk detachment from the fallout figures
other terrors which he is chronicling. Carried
an extreme, this bright-eyed refusal to face
horrors leads to schizophrenia. The Ameri
mass-communications industry is a monument
that kind of schizophrenia, but Mondo Cane,
Italian film, reminds us that the plague is
nearly universal.
The editing of this film is of genius calib
After the opening shot of the condemned dog
do not proceed immediately into other horro
but stop off first at a rather light and am
ing vignette in the town where Rudolph Val
tino was born. Several men of the town, c
scious of the cameras, are deliberately imitat
Valentino's seductive half-feminine half-masc
line pout: you can see in each of them the dre
that the movie crew will discover him
make him overnight as rich and famous as V
entino. The director has saved from the ant
of this group only the carryings-on of the ugli
and most hopeless of these men. Each of th
arouses laughs from the audience and is, in f
a clown; each imagines that he is a handso
and irresistable Apollo. This spectacle of v
ity and self-deception is amusing enough,
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as the movie proceeds. A few moments later we
are witnessing the ritual murder of some pigs by
an African tribe, one of the bloodiest and most
gruesome spectacles ever shown on a movie
screen. The audience is forced to make a men-
tal connection: is not this brutality caused by
the same vanity as the clowning of the
soi-
disant
Valentinos? Is not man's idea that he is
so far superior to the pigs that he may murder
them with impunity a great and terrible vanity
indeed? Is there not the same lack of perspec-
tive in both groups? A bit later we see the bar-
baric feeding of the French geese specially
bred for
pate de foi
gras pipes are rammed
down their throats and the food is pushed down
by sheer brute force. The idiot voice of the nar-
rator cheerfully comments that in the old days
the geese's feet used to be nailed to the floor,
but we are more civilized now. Instead, the poor
birds are locked in hideous cages too small to
allow them to move.
Most of the sequences revolve around this
same theme of human vanity and man's barbaric
cruelty to the other animals on earth. One se-
quence suddenly reverses the image and we see
the armless and legless people of a Pacific is-
land horribly plagued by sharks. This is, actu-
ally, the most important sequence in the film,
because it serves to remind us that man, alone,
did not invent evil. Evil is in the very fabric of
the universe; this is a dog's world , indeed.
Such a thought is so uncomfortable that most
people never face up to it for a moment in their
lives. The last sequence shows how one typi-
cal group goes about evading this insight: a
tribe in New Guinea who worship cargo planes.
Since the planes are in the sky, they are more
than human; someday they will land and bring
happiness to all of us. But the planes, of
course, never land; they are just passing over
on their way from China to Australia. The movie
ends with a group of cargo-cultists sitting a-
round a bonfire at night, watching the sky, hop-
ing for the supernatural deliverance that will
never come. This cult is so absurd, and so pa-
thetic, that it serves as a symbol of all religion
and of mankind's eternal desire to escape know-
ing what a dog's world this really is.
Is there no ray of hope anywhere in Mondo
Cane? None, just as there is none in Euripedes'
Bacchanae, in King Lear, or in that other great
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epic of sharkish brutalities, Moby-Dick. Mo
Cane is one of that handful of art-works wh
dares to present a totally pessimistic philo
phy. The agony and sincerity of such a vis
is too brave a thing for me to have the affro
ery to patronize it by claiming to know be
than these artists. The strongest sequence
Mondo Cane is an island gone insane: standi
too close to Bikini, this island has got an o
heavy dose of atomic radiation. Here sit bi
hopelessly trying to hatch eggs rendered s
ile by fallout. More terrible, in a different w
are the lunatic fish who have taken to liv
in trees. Worst of all are the turtles who h
lost their basic instinct; after laying their eg
instead of returning to the sea, they head
land where they soon die of thirst, making fu
swimming motions in the water that isn't the
This island of horror is a glorious vision
deed of what human ingenuity can do to
world, and it is a foretaste of what our wh
planet may be like in a few years if nuclear
search continues. Anybody who wants to c
plain that the director of Mondo Cane is a ch
cynic, or that art must always be affirmativ
would be well advi.sed to try to change the
world first. Art, after all, is only symbolic.
the symbols disturb you, friend, take a lo
hard look at the reality which inspired them,
change
that.
The artist is only a recording
strument:
I am the Defense Early Warning Radar System
I see nothing but bombs
wrote the great American poet, Allen Ginsbe
If you want modern artists to see something
bit more cheerful, make a world a bit more ch
ful for them to see.
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T h e I n t e r l o c k i n g D i c t a t o r s h i p
W illiam Moore
One hundred eighty five years after the
laration of Independence, a subtle tyranny
hovers over this land and its people. It is
tyranny of custom, of fear of disapproval, or
lf-defeating search for inner security.1t is
antithesis of democracy. It is a tangled
s of associated - and revered - taboos that
se men to worship Authority more than Free-
.
People are lazy thinkers; they prefer the tidy
simple black and white concept to the
ity of a complex world. They impose upon
another the notion of good versus bad ,
in terms of practical consequences, but of
ent nature. From earliest childhood a per-
may be condemned as bad for merely
g clumsy or forgetful. This condemnation
y makes the child more clumsy or forgetful
ore bad - so that he may grow up as dis-
ed as the parent who raised him thus; and
will likely manifest this disturbance upon
children. And so it goes.
e live in a world that is dynamic, not static;
etrical, not ari.thmetical. It is a world of
n reactions in time from the first generation
he last, sometimes from one individual to the
le world. Ideas and human behavior may
ad like the plague. The clumsy or forgetful
child may, in his frustration, steal an
for spite, turn to drink for solace, or find a
world for escape. Prison or the mental
ital then beckons. Both institutions gener-
reinforce the individual's sense of bad-
or inadequacy or defiance and the individ-
in turn contaminates his family and friends
enem ies, and through newspaper notoriety,
comes an angry watchdog of what he conside
to be his interests. Within his family, he may
spiteful, bickering and hateful, but JUSt let
next door neighbor say one unkind word again
HIS child By the same token he is for his c
against his state, for his state against
country, for his country against his world. Sin
other individuals in other families, citie
states, and countries, have the same irratio
attitudes, the seeds for conflict are sown;
we as individuals are trying to save ourselve
by destroying the world.
We blame the world's leaders, its influe
tial men. Yet we - through our collective beha
ior in voting, buying one magazine in preferenc
to another, tuning in our TV sets, enforcing a
obeying the law - we put them where they
And we keep them there only so long as th
continue to serve or mis-serve, educate or m
educate us in the manner to which we are
customed or addicted.
With the growth of mass communication
provincialism loses out to universalism.
individuals, the powers over them become m
awesome, and the price to change this situatio
less and less worth it. Although provincia
ism may have been less enlightened , univ
salism is without other forces to challenge it
keep its whims from solidifying into dogmas
perpetual harm. We could become like the sta
Chinese agrarian society of thousands of yea
or the African tribalism of millions of years
fore the outside influence of Western socie
folted them in their thinking.
Democracy bestows upon the individual c
tain rights which no power must ever take aw
This is the one answer to universalism. Ho
ever, democracy is a relatively new idea and
practically all people it is no more than som
thing to pay lip service to. It is a respectable
word and Russians and Americans alike emp
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conformity, in its name we see the imposition
of Authority.
Religion is defined as the recognition of
man's relation to a divine or supernatural power
to whom obedience and honor are due. In other
words, it is the embodiment of Authority; that is,
the antithesis of democracy. The world is com-
ing to be divided into two religions - Commun-
ism and our own as yet unsolidified varieties of
federations of provincialisms. Instead of one,
there are TWO universalities in two worlds on
one planet.
In a sense, we best learn by having the op-
portunity to study the fruits of the greatest con-
trasts in ways of life . For example, if we
would, we could learn that the Christian god is
not concerned with who, or whatever religion or
lack of it, may go however high in the sky - the
story of the Tower of Babel notwithstanding. We
could learn that large scale unemployment CAN
be eliminated by a government sufficiently de-
termined to do so, and that capitalism is not the
only route to a rising living standard. The ques-
tion arises, however, as to whether as we ind i-
duals will learn from our enemies , or merely
react shortsightedly - and hence become as re-
ligious in our way as they are in theirs.
What if, instead, we took the course of free-
dom and non-conformity? A brilliant friend of
mine was once railroaded to a mental hospi-
tal for a year for disrobing in public. I must
confess I think he must have been a bit off if he
really expected to get away with it - but whom
had he harmed? What had he shocked but con-
formity? And how was he cured by imprison-
ment? Another friend of mine is derided be-
cause he sports a beard, the examples of Abra-
ham Lincoln, Karl Marx, and Jesus Christ not-
withstanding.
A blind man received a feature write up in
our local newspaper because, while passing
through town, he was seen sitting in the bus
station wearing strange Biblical style home
made garb and staff. My co-workers joked about
the man for hours, as much as to say that any-
one else who dared to dress like this would be
subject to the same ridicule.
Making international news were two movie
stars who were (or were supposed to have been)
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horrified to be seen in public wearing identical
dresses. If it is the objective of people to
please others - how impossible the task of con-
formist and non-conformist alike We must be a-
like, but not alike; different, but the same; and
neither superior nor inferior.
Vague and impossible as are the whims of
conformism - how difficult to change them How
comprehensively can disturbing the peace be
interpreted with the arrest of those who, by mind-
ing their own business in their non-confor.n ist
ways, may disturb the fascist minded onlook-
er. How easily is a Biblical verse found to sup-
port the established order (even to condemning
women who wear men's clothing ) - or in sup-
port of racism, aggression, exploitation, or just
plain disrespect. How discretely is advertis-
ing withheld from media that would support a
view that is unpopular ; how fearfully the sub-
scribers themselves slink away when their cher-
ished prejudices are persistently challenged -
or sometimes merely contradicted once. How
much is the world - are the minds of men - op-
pressed by the established orders and the es-
tablished thinking; and how bitterly men oppose
whatever arises to challenge the vested inter-
ests and vested delusions of things as they
are .
The world's people gripe because they do
not have pie in the sky, but they behave as
though they would shed their miseries only if
they were (1) based upon something so vaguely
presented as never to offend any prejudices,
like descriptions of heaven, (2) were only to be
realized after death, when every earthly thing is
already lost, anyway, and (3) only if eternal
hellfire were the only alternative, so there'll
still be good guys vel'Sus bad guys .
However, since the world IS dynamic and
geometrical, since reactions are chain by nature,
and since the forces of logic and reason are, by
definition, more logical and more reasonable -
the forces of authority, dictatorship, and reli-
gion (all three words being synonyms) contain
within themselves the seeds of their own de-
struction .
And since TRUE freedom would encourage
all other antitheses to present their cases in
the marketplace of ideas, once this old world
of ours breaks out of the tyranny of barbarism
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and tribalism - and the jungle ignorance that is
our inheritance, the world will truly flow with
milk and honey; even more, with happiness and
Baltimore, Maryland 21214
contentment.
If, that is, we don't blow ourselves up in
meantime.
T h e C h r i s t i a n C e n t u r y
Blo i s
Part 2: Final Blow
Man does not give up his Gods easily. Many
pagans who adopted the new religion did so to
save their skins, and not through any intellec-
tual conviction. It is wise to be a hypocrite
when one's life is in danger. The hero stands
alone, fights and becomes a martyr for the
cause. The coward runs and hides, but lives to
fight another day when conditions may be more
favorable to his side. And so it was that in 361
a Christian returned to the pagan faith of his
ancestors and became Emperor. Julian the Apos-
tate was now Emperor of Rome. Had he made
known his aversion to Christianity it is very
likely that he would have been killed many
years before. As it was, Christianity was now
in too strong a position to remove quickly.
J ul.ian dare not remove the 50 years of im-
perial protection too abruptly. However, he
could help to restore some of the pagan temples
and property. With this start, in a few years the
tide could be turned. Unfortunately, Julian was
killed two and a half years later. And the dread-
ful march towards Christianity resumed.
By 375, in Constantinople and the East, all
pagan churches had been closed for twenty
years and their-revenues confiscated. Imagine if
that happened in the USA - few churches could
survive such a blow. Taxation of Church proper-
ty will help - but that's another story.
The Emperors immediately following Julian
were Christian, but they followed a live and let
live policy. They observed a complete neutrality
towards religion. This satisfied the pagans,
irritated the Christian minority. Without the
itary help of the Emperor, Christianity could
conquer. It raged impotently and fought its
members. In the western half of the Empire
pagans held their own. Christianity did not
peal to them, especially after having tasted
earlier persecutions.
The final blow came. In Rome in 382,
peror Gratian reversed the 'freedom to all
gions' edict established by Julian. Gratian
fiscated the revenues and properties of the
ples, annulled all privileges of pagan pri
and Vestal Virgins, and had the Altar of Vic
symbol of the Roman religion, removed from
Senate at Rome. We are less than two deca
from the end of the century and the blow is
ing fast.
In 376 A. D. a drought in Asia drives
Huns upon the Germans. With only one direct
to go, the Germans break through the Romani
Goth and Vandal lines and pour into the Ro
Empire. With Christianity pressuring interna
and the Goths externally, it is a mute quest
as to which will capture the Roman Empire f
Valentinian II became Emperor in 383
backed by a zealous Christian priest Ambr
he and the Eastern Emperor Theodosius proc
ed to outdo the previous savagery. Christian
was showing its true colors with a vicious
geance. Theodosius tortured and punished
tioch. In Thessalonica,he invited the public
games in the Circus and then had his sold
massacre them. Estimates run from 7,000
150,000 men, women and children murdered
that massacre. A Jewish synagogue was bu
by a mob in Persia. The Prefect ordered it
built; Theodosius confirmed the order. Monk
brose violently opposed this move and for
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Emperor to withdraw. The monks and people
set out to continue the devastation of non-
ristian temples. Under the reign of Theodos-
, the Christian Bishops gained complete con-
l over the Emperors, religious funds, edifices,
, and all local and provincial authorities.
Theodosius declared, in 381, that backslid-
from Christianity could not leave a legal
, thus leaving the widows and children des-
te. In 386 he sent an envoy to Egypt to
se the pagan temples. Under the protection
soldiers, fanatical monks and Christian lay-
n razed temples, plundered and burned. Much
the Alexandrian Library was burned by these
cs. Later this famous Library was to be
ly destroyed by Islamic fanatics. The wis-
m of the ancients went up in flames. The
mes of fanaticism spread quickly.
I n 391 Theodosius issued another decree:
Let none befoul himself with sacrifices, or
r innocent victims, or enter the temples, or
fend statues made by human hand, lest he be-
me guilty in the eyes of both human and divine
.
e penalty for disobedience was death.
In 394 two boy Emperors, Honorius and Ar-
us, gave the Christian faith its golden op-
unity. The Bishops gained control of the
pire by using Honorius as a figure head. Hon-
us decreed that the last pagan temples should
destroyed or converted to public use, and all
s confiscated. Christian Bishops were given
wers to ensure that the law was carried out.
d so, Christianity triumphed by the simple ex-
dient of killing off, or threatening to do so,
opposition. It now had the power to enforce
threat. This was in 408 A. D.
Constantine began the Christian Century in
, and the Bishops finished it in 408. The
y Roman Empire was converted from pagan
Christian in 96 years. Rome did not fall to
Goths until 410. The Christians won the Em-
e a full two years before the Goths reached
e. Now it was a simple matter of absorbing
ese barbarians into the Christian faith.
At the beginning of the fourth century the Em-
re had a postal system, free orphanages, free
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education, free medical care, free recreation,
and free bread. These things perished with the
Empire. Christianity could see no need for them.
As Constantine's chaplain, Bishop Eusebius
put it,
It is not from ignorance of the things they
(pagan scholars) admire but from contempt of
their useless labor that we think little of these
matters and turn our souls to better things.
Apparently when you have Christ, you do not
need knowledge.
While many of the good things of the Empire
perished, some things were retained. The glad-
iatorial games continued for nearly another 50
years until the weakening finances of the Em-
pire could no longer support them. Even then,
good Christian warriors retained duels, tourna-
ments, trial by ordeal, fights with savage ani-
mals and torture. Slavery as serfs became in-
finitely worse under Christianity than slavery
under the Romans.
In making an historical analysis we are
forced to depend upon copies of documents, let-
ters, firs t hand reports, and historical writings
of the period. As in the case of modern day con-
troversy we often find conflicting reports of
historical events. In some cases we have to de-
pend on estimates and guesswork. For example:
the estimates for Christians in 300 A. D. vary
from five to fifty million; estimates for those
killed in the Thessalonica massacre vary from
seven to one hundred fifty thousand. Some areas
of history are par ticularly obscure. However,
taking these vagaries into account, we can be
fairly certain that the Roman Empire turned
Christian through force and not because of per-
sonal desire on the part of the converts. The
account I have given is not that usually accept-
ed by most historians as accurate - they just
haven't put them together in this manner. Too
embarrassing, I guess.
While I have not examined every