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ATHEISM
An Affirmative View
by Emmett F. Fields
1980
What is Atheism that it survives?
Every religion, from earliest times, has hated and condemned
those who could not believe whatever it was that those old
religions happened to believe. Throughout the ages there have been
the 'intellectual outlaws' who have questioned the
"unquestionable," and doubted even the very existence of the gods.
And those individual thinkers have been hated, hunted, persecuted,
and murdered by the religious believers. Yet the Atheists and
doubters are very much with us today, but those old religions, and
the gods they created, have long since ceased to trouble the
thoughts of mankind.
If Atheism is considered to be a religion, then it is easily
the oldest living religion in the world. Properly stated, Atheism
is truly "that old time religion" that the Baptists keep singing
about.
Atheism is a difficult subject only because of the slander and
misrepresentations preached and published against it. Even the
information that is available in our most trusted and respected
reference books is the distorted and prejudiced view presented by
religion. Just as in Communist countries, where the articles on
Capitalism, democracy, politics, etc., are always written by
Communists and from the Communist point of view, so in Christian
dominated societies, such as the United States, all articles on
Atheism, Rationalism, Freethought, etc., that are to be found in
encyclopedias and other reference books, are written by
theologians, and from the Christian point of view.
The article on Atheism in the current edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica was written by a Roman Catholic Jesuit
Priest, Rev. Cornello Fabro, Professor of theoretical Philosophy,
University of Perugia, Italy. In the Encyclopedia Americana the
article on Atheism was written by Roger L. Shinn, a professor at
Union Theological Seminary. It seems that religion, like Communism,
can survive only when it can control the information about
conflicting beliefs.
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
This system of writing the most trusted and basic reference
and information books from the point of view of the dominant
ideology in every society has the dangerous effect of further
polarizing and isolating the peoples of the world within their own
narrow beliefs, and of creating contempt and distrust for all
others.
America was not established to have any dominant ideology, The
United States was meant to be 'a free marketplace of ideas,' where
every opinion could be heard and considered. Today we must consider
the various ideas and opinions as they are presented in great
newspapers and reference books.
And so it is of the utmost importance that these ideas and
opinions be presented honestly, by the people who accept them,
believe in them, and are convinced they are the best answers to the
problems under consideration. Then, and only then, will people have
any real opportunity to make an intelligent decision about the
beliefs they are investigating. The American people have a right to
know that in Atheism there is a moral, sensible, and scientific
alternative to religion.
There can be no doubt but that the people of this nation must
be among the most deceived and brainwashed in the world, at least,
at very least, in the area of religion. As an Atheist I have a very
special reverence for truth, real truth, truth with fact and proof
behind it. And it is infuriating to me when I go into a public
library and read the lies and misrepresentations that are being fed
to the eager, active, and searching young minds that use our
libraries in their quest for truth and understanding.
The first step, then, in understanding Atheism is to disregard
all the lies and propaganda that religion has spread against it.
Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and
that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an
attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively,
fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of
nature. It could be said that Atheism has a doctrine to question
and a dogma to doubt. It is the human mind in its natural
environment, nothing is too holy to be investigated, nor too sacred
to be questioned. The Atheist Bible, it could be said, has but one
word: "THINK." Atheism is the complete emancipation of the human
mind from the chains and fears of superstition.
There is absolutely nothing negative about Atheism; truth can
never be negative. The Atheist demands proof, or at least
reasonable evidence, and simply rejects whatever does not meet the
basic requirements of common sense. Throughout history all progress
in society has come from doubting and rejecting old ideas, old
customs, and old beliefs. The tree of human knowledge dies as it
grows, with new growth growing out of the dead and dying parts, and
replacing it with better and truer beliefs. The Theologian is an
owl, sitting on an old dead branch in the tree of human knowledge,
and hooting the same old hoots that have been hooted for hundreds
and thousands of years, but he has never given a hoot for progress.
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
Morally speaking, Atheism has a great advantage over religion.
The great failure of religious morality comes from their illusion
of a morality above right and wrong. The religious mind has always
known it is wrong to murder and torture, wrong to persecute and
hate, wrong to force its beliefs upon others. Religion has always
known these things are wrong, but the religious mind suffers from
the illusion of a "higher morality," and because of that illusion
all history runs deep with innocent blood. In the name of their
"god" and a "higher morality," Christians have waged holy wars of
extermination, have plundered, tortured and murdered those who
could not agree with their religion, or who had never even heard of
it. In the name of this "higher morality" Christians have hated,
hunted, persecuted, and burned alive the "heretic," the "infidel"
and the "atheist."
And today, as always, when the religious person does a thing
that even he recognizes as being wrong and immoral, his illusion of
a "higher power" and a "greater morality" allows him to perform
some ritual, confession, or prayer, and presto, miraculously, "all
his sins are taken away", and he is free again from all pains of
conscience and regret.
Such foolish illusions do not comfort the Atheist mind. The
Atheist knows there is no morality above right and wrong, and no
escape from the pains of conscience and remorse. Murder is murder,
and robbery, hate and persecution are all crimes against humanity.
Morally speaking, it is better to be murdered than to be the
murderer; better to be robbed than to be the robber, and better to
be hated and persecuted than to be among those who hate and
persecute. Morally speaking, then, history tells us it is better to
be an Atheist than to be a Christian.
Religion claims that immorality always springs from a lack of
religion, but the facts prove just the opposite. Christianity has
never been stronger than it is today, Christians have churches in
every community, they monopolize radio and television time with
religious propaganda, they have forced their religion into our
government, our laws, and into our schools. They have done these
things against the Constitution of the United States, and against
the most basic and sacred rights of all other Americans. Like a
sinking ship, with water rushing in and filling every compartment
where it was not supposed to be, so religion has attacked our
nation, rushed in where it was not supposed to be, where it has no
business to be, silencing all opposition, all opposing views,
poisoning the wells of our knowledge, and endangering the very
roots of our nation.
Christianity is that strong today, and yet we have not
achieved any respectable amount of morality in this country.
Nowhere is the failure of Christian morality more evident than in
America. During the same time that Christianity has been growing
ever stronger and ever richer, over the past thirty years or so,
the use of harmful drugs has became a national scandal, the crime
rate has been climbing ever higher and ever faster, the divorce
rate has skyrocketed, and during that time our nation has been
embroiled in more wars and international conflicts than in any
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
other similar time period in its history. During that time, our
nation was also getting its 5000 or so weird religious cults, a
byproduct of Christian indoctrination. Right to-day we have the
highest narcotics abuse rate, the highest crime rate, the highest
divorce rate, and the highest 'religion rate' that we have ever had
in the history of this nation. What does Christianity say about
these facts and how to cure them? They tell us we need more
religion and they are determined to force it upon us. Christianity
feels so strong today that it is moving into politics to try to
force its failing morality upon every American through a Christian
Dictatorship and a new Dark Age.
Once Atheism is achieved, and the mind has escaped entirely
from the religious fears and beliefs that are put upon us from
earliest childhood; and once we can look at religion objectively
and impartially, it becomes entirely obvious that religion has all
the characteristics of a form of insanity. To one degree or another
the religious mind must accept, and believe in, another world; a
supernatural or unnatural world, a world filled with all sorts of
imaginary beings called gods, devils, angels, saints, demons, etc.
These imaginary creatures are talked to, asked for favors,
guidance, "signs," or miracles, and then blamed or thanked for
natural events that follow. Except for the cloak of religion, such
beliefs and actions would otherwise cause an individual to be
judged insane, and committed to an institution for treatment.
The study of history will further justify the theory that
religion is a form of insanity. No sane and healthy minds could
have waged the bloody religious wars and crusades where the
conquered were slaughtered, men, women, and children, even infants,
all were put to the sword simply because they were "infidels" or
"heretics." The dungeons and torture chambers of the Holy
Inquisition could not have been run by sane and healthy minds. And
it had to be the insane mind, the religious mind, that would tie a
woman to a stake, pile wood and fagots around her and burn her
alive for the impossible crime of being a witch. No sane person
could read of the horrors, rape and slaughter in a savage book and
call that book "the word of God." And the Jesus myth, about a god
who must become a man and be murdered before he can forgive
mankind, is the most insane of all.
Today, Christianity chooses to ignore, or to hide and deny,
its own bloody history and to claim that it is the very foundation
of our morals, and even of our civilization. Religion also claims
to be our only hope and guide for the future. In view of Christian
history these claims are, in themselves, sheer insanity.
But Christianity is not the only form of organized insanity in
the world today. The Atheist, being an individual who stands
outside all belief systems, is well aware that there are other
religions and beliefs that are equally insane and dangerous.
Christianity is simply most dangerous to the United States; to our
government, our freedom and our future, because it is here, it is
powerful, it is wealthy, and it is entirely unscrupulous. In
addition to its illusion of a morality above right and wrong, I
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
must add, and emphasize, that it also has an illusion of a "higher
allegiance" to something above truth, above justice, and above
America and national patriotism. It does not require that a person
be an Atheist to be aware that Christian Fundamentalism is today
the greatest threat to our nation and its freedom.
Communism is by far the worst thing that has happened to the
world in the last two hundred years, but it is also the best thing
that has happened to Christianity since the plagues. During the
plagues the churches received great wealth from people who gave
their possessions and land to the church in the hope that God would
spare their lives, and the lives of their loved ones. And so today
religion is again growing rich and powerful from our modern-day
plague; Communism.
Christians are constantly using Communism as a club to beat
down all opposition to their religion, their power and their
schemes. Anyone who disagrees with them, Atheist or not, is
denounced as being a "Communist." Religion implies that there is an
inseparable connection between the political-economic dictatorship
called Communism, and the freedom from religion called Atheism.
Religion chooses to ignore the fact that Atheism is older than
Communism and Christianity put together.
Even the fear and hate that religion is preaching against
Communism is not aimed at the political-economic ideology that is
the cause of our trouble, but at the "atheistic" aspect that is not
the problem.
Let us consider very carefully what the connection is between
Atheism and Communism in Russia. There can be no doubt but that
Atheism is the reason for the success of Communism. Atheism is the
force that brought the Russian nation up from being one of the most
backward, primitive and religious nations in Europe in 1917, to the
point of being one of the most advanced, scientific and
technological, nations in the world today, Whether we like it or
not, we must admit that Communist Russia is a powerful modern
force, and a very dangerous potential enemy. Communism is an
external threat to our nation, and to our very world, that is of
great concern to all Americans, Atheists and Christians alike.
It must be admitted that Atheism is the engine and the thrust
behind Communism that has allowed it to move forward into the
modern world in such a short time. Atheism is the engine and the
thrust, but it is not the steering wheel. The dominant, controlling
ideology in Russia is the economic-political dictatorship known as
Communism. Even the Christians, if they could be taught to hate a
little less, and think a little more, would have to admit that.
Atheism is, has been, and will continue to be, the force for
progress throughout the Communist world, it is the powerful engine
that powers an evil ideology. Today we are in a desperate race for
our very survival. America and the free world cannot win that race
if we continue to allow a primitive, medieval superstition to
hinder our progress. Because of that superstition we have lost our
lead, and because of that superstition we may lose the race.
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
What is the difference between our own Christian dominated
society, and the Atheist-oriented society in Russia? What is it
that will make such a great difference in the future progress of
these two societies? According to a special report in 'Science 80'
Magazine concerning the Communist threat, reads: "This challenge is
expressed not only in growing military strength but in a bid to
outpace the United States and other Western nations through an
educational "mobilization" program designed to prepare all Soviet
youth to participate fully in an advanced technological society."
The article goes on to say "The Soviets have put massive resources
behind their assumption that a decisive advantage is to be gained
by raising the level of scientific literacy and numeracy of their
population."
And what are we doing in the United States to keep up with the
Communist efforts to advance even further their scientific and math
education systems, systems that are so very important to any modern
technological, military society? At present we have a great push by
Christianity to have their primitive "creation" myth hidden under
the guise of "Scientific-Creationism," taught in our public schools
on an equal basis with the well established and accepted modern
theory of organic evolution. This is the same battle that was
fought in the courtroom during the Scopes "monkey trial" in 1925,
a trial which made this country the laughing stock of the modern
world. It is the same war that has been raging between Christianity
and the modern world since 1859 when Charles Darwin's 'The Origin
of Species' was first published. For over one hundred and twenty
years Christianity has tried to prevent us from making any progress
in this basic science. The truth is, of course, that Christianity
has always fought every fact of science and modern knowledge that
did not conform to its primitive Bible, written and copied, as it
were, by ignorant, half-civilized nomads some four thousand years
ago.
How can we hope to survive as a nation, keep our freedom and
remain a force in the modern world unless we cast aside the
superstitions of primitive times, and adopt the scientific,
technological, "Atheistic" if you will, society that reason and
common sense demands? It is time, and long past the time, for
Atheists in America to come out of their libraries and defend our
modern world and our nation against religion and Communism.
Today we live in a world divided and tuned for war; tuned for
a war so unlike any previous war that wisdom can only shudder at
the thought of it. This is a world always fearful that the other
side may strike first, and thus gain some decisive advantage. It is
fearful also to strike first itself, lest it fail to devastate the
enemy completely, and leave him able to retaliate with devastation.
Thoughtful people all over the world realize that the situation is
more dangerous than the enemy. That each side has a tiger by the
tail, and both sides are afraid to let go, or even to lessen its
grip, lest that side be utterly destroyed. Intelligent people all
over the world are working for an easing of tensions, a lessening
of armaments, and are searching for a common ground upon which both
sides might find some point from which to begin establishing a
working relationship. A relationship that would lead to a
progressive lessening of the threat of a nuclear holocaust, and the
eventual establishment of a peaceful and lasting coexistence.
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
Intelligent people all over the world are working for these
things, but Christian fundamentalists are not. Christians are
shouting "No coexistence with Godless Communism" and "Atheistic
Communism must be destroyed." This is indeed the final proof that
religion is a form of insanity. We must judge Christianity by what
it has done throughout its history, and it has never been a force
for peace. We must judge what Christianity is doing today in
preaching hate against that part of our world that has outgrown and
rejected Christianity. And we must judge what chance we have for
survival if our part of the world continues to be held back by
religion. Atheism has brought the Russian nation great progress in
scientific and technological advances, and has made Communism a
powerful force in the world. But Atheism could have been doing
great things for us also, if we had allowed our society to lay
aside, through education, the foolish old beliefs that are
hindering our progress, our defense, and our very survival.
Where do we begin our long journey back to reality, back to
sanity? I would start with an 'International Encyclopedia of
Information,' written by those who believe the ideas and from their
point of view. Imagine an American going to a library and learning
what Atheism is, instead of what it is not. Imagine a Russian going
to his library and learning what Capitalism is instead of what it
is not. Imagine people all over the world going to their libraries
and reading the same histories, truthful histories, histories that
will not need to be changed when ever there is a political or
religious power change. Let Communism write what it believes, let
Capitalism write what it believes. Let both work together to write
a universal history, and if they can't agree about the facts of
history, let them both write their view of history and let them be
published side by side, and let the reader be the judge. The
purpose of a history or an encyclopedia is education, not
propaganda.
After all, it was the Encyclopedia, the French encyclopedia of
Diderot and others, that was so instrumental in bringing Europe out
of the Christian Dark Ages during the Renaissance. There is every
reason to believe that a universal source of basic information
would be a great step toward ending much of the distrust and
confusion that is at the very root of our trouble in the world
today.
There is no part of the world where the people are all bad,
and another part where the people are all good. When nations go to
war, people go out and kill people. People who, under different
circumstances, might well be their honored and trusted friends.
Christianity has never prevented a war, but has been responsible
for many wars because of its prejudice against all other religions,
and especially against Atheism.
Some time ago I prepared "An Atheist's Message to America." I
have read it at other talks and meetings. It reads:
"The overabundance of religious propaganda in this country
would lead us to believe that the primary purpose of this nation is
the preservation and expansion of the Christian religion. But that
is not true.
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ATHEISM;
An Affirmative View
Our nation is not, and must not become, the battleship of the
Christian religion. Our struggle in the world is in defense of
LIBERTY. To preserve our own, and, if possible, to help others gain
and keep theirs.
This nation is not fighting "Godless Atheism" nor "Atheistic
Communism," nor any other group or nation that has had Christian
hate terms applied to them.
We, as a nation, are opposed to Communism because Communism,
like Christianity, is an ideological force that is destructive to
human rights and freedom. It is, in fact, none of our business
whether another nation, or another individual, believes in a god or
not. Our only concern is that every individual must have the
liberty to decide just what he, or she, can and will believe. And
have the freedom to express, publish and pursue those beliefs in
perfect safety.
In short, our only concern in the world is exactly those
ideals that this great nation of ours was originally founded upon."
And so after all this, let us look again at our original
question: "What is Atheism that it survives?"
Atheism is the world of reality, it is reason, it is freedom,
Atheism is human concern, and intellectual honesty to a degree that
the religious mind cannot begin to understand. And yet it is more
than this. Atheism is not an old religion, it is not a new and
coming religion, in fact it is not, and never has been, a religion
at all. The definition of Atheism is magnificent in its simplicity:
Atheism is merely the bed-rock of sanity in a world of madness.
END.
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July 20, 1990
The above talk was delivered at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian
Church in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday, October 19, 1980, and was
published in the July-August 1981 'American Rationalist' magazine
(P.O. Box 994, St Louis, MO. 63188.) and has been sold as a
pamphlet by them ever since.
There has been a great change in the world situation during
the past year and a half. The dangerous situation discussed in the
above lecture has, at last, been broken. But it was not done by
Christian love or by any believer in a god. It was an Atheist, Mr.
Mikhail Gorbachev, who had the intelligence, courage and leadership
to move his country, the Soviet Union, in a direction of peace and
understanding. By Mr. Gorbachev's wisdom and action, and his alone,
the tensions have been greatly reduced. But already Christians are
claiming that the achievement was the work of their god, and, I am
sure, in future issues of our Encyclopedias the credit will,
somehow, (as always) be given to Christianity and its god.
Nothing changes history like the Christian Historian.
