I heard the knocking on Thursday morning. I was reading, my mind was elsewhere, and I’m not that quick, so it never occurred to me to ignore it. I answered the door to find two young, somewhat attractive women standing on the porch; one was blonde, the other dark-haired with glasses, possibly Asian. They held small books in their hands.

“May I help you?” I asked.

You have to know that my house is off the main road, but visible from it, so you would have to make an effort to approach my door. I had a feeling they were going to try to sell me something. The blonde woman started her pitch by musing on all the bad things happening in the world today. She wanted me to know that there is a way to deal with all the noise and confusion of life. She held before my eyes a small Bible with a printed card inside it.

As I said, I’m not that quick, but I did politely hear them out. Then I asked for reciprocity: I invited them inside (the wife was asleep, anyway) and told them I would try to de-convert them. They looked a little shocked and declined my offer, but gave me their card. On the card was the location of their church. Naturally, I asked if I could come to their church and give my side of the story. Again, they politely declined and this time beat a hasty retreat!

OK, I wish it had happened that way. But no, I’m not that quick. Here’s what happened. After they had finished their sales pitch, I said, “It’s such a coincidence you’re here right now! As it happens, I’ve just been talking with God myself. He gave me specific instructions to shoot anybody who comes to my door and dares to speak His name!

“I’m going to get my shotgun. Will you two please wait right here?”

Oh, how I wish it had happened that way! But no, I’m not that quick. Here’s what really happened. I heard them out, then said, “I’m sorry to waste your time, but we’re all atheists here.” Then I thanked them and closed the door. If only I had been quicker.

http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/donations

What can you say about a week that starts with George Carlin and ends with Bertrand Russell? It’s a week in Freethought History! This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world.

Last Sunday, May 12, but in 1937, legendary American comic George Carlin was born. Notable as a social critic, after his inspiration, Lenny Bruce, Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” routine brought about the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which the Court affirmed the government’s power to abridge free speech on the public airwaves when it includes “indecent” material. George Carlin summed up his feeling about Christianity by saying, “I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.” Carlin minced no words about his Atheism, as he said in 1999:

When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you and He needs money!”

Also last Sunday, but in 1907, four-time Oscar-winning American actress, and “First Lady of Cinema,” Katherine Hepburn was born. She was the daughter of a doctor and a suffragette, both of whom always encouraged her to speak her mind and develop it fully. Hepburn distinguished herself in strong leading-lady roles. From Morning Glory in 1933, which won her her first Oscar – to On Golden Pond in 1981, which won her her fourth Oscar, Hepburn was considered a national treasure. “I’m an atheist, and that’s it,” Hepburn told the Ladies’ Home Journal in 1991. “I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other.” And, as for religion in politics, said Katharine Hepburn, “Our Constitution was not intended to be used by … any group to foist its personal religious beliefs on the rest of us.”

Last Monday, May 13, but in 1572, the pope who reformed the calendar, Gregory XIII, was elected at age 70. The former Ugo Boncompagni was noted for his attempt to force Catholicism back onto the intransigent Protestants – indeed, he struck a gold medal commemorating the massacre of Huguenots on Saint Bartholomew’s Day, 1572. But Gregory XIII is also remembered in history for one innovation: the reform of the calendar that now bears his name. For 1500 years, Christendom had been using the Julian calendar, but 13th century astronomers – educated by Arabic translations of classic texts – had noted that Easter was drifting into summer and separating from the Vernal Equinox; that the assumption that a year comprised exactly 365 days plus six hours was about 11 minutes too long, but that those 11 minutes added up considerably over time! In the papal bull Inter Gravissimas, signed on 24 February 1582 (Old Style), Pope Gregory XIII declared that October 4 should immediately be followed by October 15, omitting the ten days between. Catholic Europe, and especially the vehemently anti-Protestant Gregory, saw the Gregorian calendar as a weapon in the Counter-Reformation, a singularly stupid strategy. As a result, Protestant countries in particular, including the United States, took centuries to adopt the new calendar and enter a more astronomically accurate age.

Last Tuesday, May 14, but in 1948, the State of Israel was declared. Sadly, a homeland for Holocaust survivors and other Jews did not end anti-Semitism. The oppression of the Jews throughout the ancient world and through the Middle Ages has been well documented. Evidence of anti-Semitism has been found in the writings from Alexandria, Egypt, as early as the 4th century, BCE. Early Christian anti-Semitism arose out of doctrinal differences, as the new Christian cult began to believe it had to make the break from its Jewish roots. In 1144, a “blood libel” began in England that Jews murdered Christian children and used their blood in the preparation of their Passover meal. Jews fared little better in Muslim countries. In theory, they were to enjoy the protection of the true believers; in practice, Jews were segregated, made to wear distinctive clothing, and otherwise treated as second-class citizens. Although there were bright spots, Jews were expelled from Muslim and Christian countries at whim. Twentieth century Anti-Semitism was driven by envy of perceived economic dominance. The Nazi innovation was in replacing the religious motive for hating Jews with a racial motive – that Jews are by nature an inferior race, not just unbelievers. Adolf Hitler read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Russian forgery appearing in 1905, and commented on them in Mein Kampf. Although Jews co-operated with Catholics in opposing Hitler, the Catholics made a separate peace with the Nazis and abandoned the Jews to the tender mercies of Hitler’s Reich.

Last Wednesday, May 15, but in 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum novarum, on the “Condition of Labor,” about the relations of employer and employee. That the churches provided any service whatsoever to working people until the 20th century, aside from relieving them under false pretenses of much of their hard-earned money, is about as phony a claim as that of faith-healers. “Let it be taken for granted,” wrote Leo, “that remuneration should be sufficient to maintain the wage-earner in reasonable and frugal comfort.” But when asked to define just what such a “living wage” should be, Leo fell mute. Worse, in 1931 Pius XI issued the encyclical Quadragesimo anno, which (¶¶ 91-94, 133) endorsed the Fascist-Corporate State. The Nazis eagerly complied, as did many other (mostly Catholic) countries. So, without God’s help, workers had to fight for and win the things we take for granted today: the eight-hour day, a five-day work week, overtime pay, workers compensation, retirement, health care and, most especially, the right to organize.

Also last Wednesday, May 15, but in 1689, English writer Lady Mary Wortley Montague was born. Self-educated in her family’s extensive private library, Mary began writing prose and poetry at an early age She taught herself Latin and translated Epictetus at age 20. Against her father’s wishes, she married Edward Wortley Montagu, a grandson of the Earl of Sandwich, in 1712. While in London, her house became a social and intellectual center for deists. In her time, she was considered the most accomplished woman in Europe. In 1716, she followed her husband to the Ottoman Turkish capital, Constantinople (قسطنطینیه; modern Istanbul) where Edward had been appointed Ambassador. It was there that Mary wrote her Letters from Turkey (1725), “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about the Muslim Orient,” in which she describes considerable deism and skepticism among educated Muslims in Turkey. The letters provided a valuable female perspective on the country where she spent two years of her life. Her personal letters, published in 1906, are full of rationalist sentiments: “Priests can lie, and the mob believe, all over the world,” she writes (during the embassy to Constantinople, 1717). And she condemns “the quackery of all the Churches” and, while professing a belief in “the Author of Nature,” despises “all creeds and theological whimsies.”

Last Thursday, May 16, but in 1912, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author “Studs” Terkel was born. Terkel received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War. He has also written such memorable oral histories as Hard Times (1970) and Working (1974). Born into a Jewish family, this self-described “guerrilla journalist with a tape recorder” considered himself an atheist. In a 2001 Rolling Stone interview, Terkel said, “I think of myself as an agnostic, but an agnostic is really a cowardly atheist.” He goes on to say “at the same time I envy those who have faith. Well, I have faith, but they have a religious faith. The recurring phrase used by people in my book is ‘I am not religious, I am spiritual,’ and they don’t mean just Buddhism or pantheism, they mean: ‘I want to believe, but not in something connected to an institution’ – Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, whatever it might be.” On the NPR program “The Connection,” broadcast on 15 January 2002 – four years before he died at age 96 – and speaking of death and dying, Terkel called himself an atheist several times.

Yesterday, May 17, but in 1971, the Christian musical Godspell opened on Broadway in New York City. Godspell ran for 2,651 performances on Broadway and features the parables and lessons of the Gospel according to Matthew, rather than the life of Jesus. The lessons in Godspell, are surprisingly secular; the parables are of the simple-minded 1970s variety: a gentle Jesus preaches virtuous behavior, adoration of God, doing good works, promoting justice and mercy, and rejecting materialism – without the inherent irony that, if you reject materialism, you pretty much guarantee you’ll never have anything material to reject! None of these things, except for loving God, requires a belief in the supernatural. However, we know that hell awaits the unbeliever because the song, “Learn Your Lessons Well,” threatens “You better pay attention, / Build your comprehension, / There’s gonna be a quiz at your ascension. / Not to mention any threat of hell, / But if you’re smart you’ll learn your lessons well!” In a bizarre twist for any Christian, Godspell ends with the crucifixion – but there is no mention of a resurrection!

Today, May 18, but in 1872, British mathematician, philosopher and Nobel laureate for literature, Bertrand Russell was born. His chief work was the Principia Mathematica (1910-1913), a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, co-authored by Alfred North Whitehead. Russell exercised his social conscience, writing and protesting against World War One, for which he lost a teaching post and later was jailed; protesting against nuclear weapons; and encouraging Rationalism and sexual freedom. Indeed, he wrote, “Religions which condemn the pleasures of sense drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history, power has been the vice of the ascetic.” Throughout his life, Russell was an outspoken critic of religion. In Why I Am Not a Christian, he wrote, “You find as you look round the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, … every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized Churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the … Christian religion … has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.”

Other birthdays and events this week—

May 12: English nurse and Crimean War mathematician Florence Nightingale was born (1820).

May 15: The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed – in spite of church opposition to votes for women (1869).

We can look back, but the Golden Age of Freethought is now. You can find full versions of these pages in Freethought history at the links in the American Heathen blog, which take you to my blog, FreethoughtAlmanac.com.

Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world.

Last Sunday, May 5, but in 1811, English-born American physician, chemist and historian, John William Draper was born. It was his 1874 History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, preceding the two-volume work of Andrew Dickson White’s by 11 years, that stirred the notion that religion and science are irreconcilable. In his introduction, he writes, “The antagonism we … witness between Religion and Science is the continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity began to attain political power. … [F]aith is in its nature unchangeable, stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and eventually a divergence between them … must take place. … As to Science, … she has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or promoting her ideas.” Although Draper believed in God and life after death, his skepticism toward organized religion (Lindberg and Numbers, 1986, accused him of “strident anti-Catholicism”) made him a Freethinker until the day he died.

Outliving Draper, however, was an idea, inspired by the title of his 1874 work but further developed by Andrew Dickson White in his 1895 History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, known as the “Conflict Thesis.” Although modern scholars, as Wikipedia would have us believe, consider “Conflict” impolite if not downright antagonistic to religion, the Conflict Thesis is essentially correct as Draper and White formulated it. Critics seem to assume that Draper and White were not first-rate scholars in their own right, or that because they wrote in the 19th century, their scholarship has been invalidated by that of the 20th century. Both assumptions are false, even (perhaps especially) if you accept the “non-overlapping magisterial” (NOMA) view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould – that science and religion each have “a legitimate magisterium, or domain of teaching authority,” and these two domains do not overlap.

Anyone who has read Draper and White, and independently verified their sources, would be hard pressed to fault White on his scholarship and the thoroughness of his research. Their conclusions seem to be ratified by modern scientists, such as Dawkins and Hawking, who are not tempted to make peace with the hostile tribes for the sole purpose of “live and let live.” Some critics of the Conflict Thesis, such as Science & Religion (ed. Ferngren, 2002), Science and Religion (Brooke, 1991) and God and Nature (Lindberg, Numbers, 1986), feature arguments that run the gamut from ahistorical to silly straw men. The consistent mistake is their refusal to see that religion, i.e., religious faith, is not and never has been a way of “knowing” anything. Religion is rather wishful thinking tied with a bow of science-stopping authoritarianism. Science and religion are always in conflict because one is falsifiable and the other is … religion.

Last Monday, May 6, but in 1856, Austrian neurologist and (much caricatured) founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud was born. Freud founded modern psychoanalysis and guided the systematic study of neuroses out of the supernatural realm of demon-possession and into the science of physical causes of mental maladies. And Freud turned the old theory on its head, considering religion the disease rather than the cure of mental problems. In 1927, Freud wrote, “Religion … comprises a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find in an isolated form nowhere else but in amnesia, in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion.” In a letter to Charles Singer, Freud wrote, “Neither in my private life nor in my writings, have I ever made a secret of being an out-and-out unbeliever.”

Last Tuesday, May 7, but in 1711, Scottish philosopher, economist and essayist, known for his empiricism and skepticism, David Hume was born. Hume professed a belief in God. However, when he applied the scientific method to determining how knowledge is acquired, and formulated the theory that all knowledge is subjective, he pretty much undercut the basis for even Deism. In his Natural History of Religion, he wrote, “Examine the religious principles which have, in fact, prevailed in the world, and you will scarcely be persuaded that they are anything but sick men’s dreams.” Hume was friends with Adam Smith and James Boswell. It was Boswell who attended him as Hume lay dying in 1776 and, hoping to convert him at last, was frustrated when Hume said flatly that “the morality of every religion was bad” and that “when he heard a man was religious, he concluded that he was a rascal.”

Last Wednesday, May 8, but in 1737, English historian and Member of Parliament, Edward Gibbon was born. His father died in 1770, leaving Gibbon enough money to begin writing the first volume of his masterwork, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which appeared in 1776-1788. It was Gibbon’s aim to elevate history above “the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind,” and to wrest the study of the past from clerical confines. He outraged the clerics of his time by describing Christianity as a factor that hastened the decay of Ancient Rome. Gibbon wrote, “… the church and even the state were distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny, and the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of their country.” Although Gibbon is accused of Atheism and of bias against religion, in his master work he is more charitable toward Christianity than it deserves.

Last Thursday, May 9, but in 1960, the Food & Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive, now known as “The Pill”. The effect on sexual freedom for women, a freedom until that time enjoyed only by men, was astonishing. The pill was envisioned by legendary birth control crusader Margaret Sanger. Sanger was in her 80s in 1953 when she met with Roman Catholic Dr. Gregory Pincus (1903-1967). She gave him $150,000 and tasked him to research and develop an oral contraceptive for women that was safe and effective. In defiance of his church, and amid much negative publicity for attempting to thwart God’s will – a will Sanger once described as “biological slavery” – Dr. Pincus succeeded. The reaction of the churches was predictably punitive. The reaction of the Catholic Church in particular was to cobble together reasons why “artificial” forms of birth control were bad and “natural” birth control – also known as death – was good. The result, an encyclical from Pope Paul VI in 1968, known as Humanae Vitae (Human Life), was a masterpiece of mendacity and slippery scholarship.

But where tiresome scholarship and dry historical narrative fail to make the point, it was for country music singer Loretta Lynn to clarify the salutary effect on real women’s lives by sharing her own story, that of a wife liberated from annual pregnancies. In 1975, Lynn released the chart-topping song called simply, “The Pill,” perhaps for the first time frankly publicizing the then-controversial idea of liberation for women through contraception. Many country-western radio stations were so scandalized they refused to play the song, but a number of rural physicians admitted that “The Pill” (in music form) had done more to publicize the availability of birth control in isolated areas than all the literature they had released. In fact, the modern world, with its longer lives, survival of women through their childbearing years and material prosperity, is only possible through such “artificial” impositions on God’s plan: The contraceptive pill, and that other artificial stuff humans created, are all that stand between a humane habitation of planet Earth and devastation by overpopulation.

Yesterday, May 10, but in 1933, Nazi book burning. This particular suppression of free speech and ideas was a tactic of Joseph Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda. But the burning of books, often culminating in the burning of people (as Heinrich Heine famously observed), is an old idea. Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) – who created and then buried the famous Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an, China – before he died in 210 BCE, ordered the burning of most extant books. Just to be sure, he had the leading scholars executed, too. In Christendom, John Calvin was probably the most efficient when, in 1600, he burned Michael Servetus at the stake for heresy, and “around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscripts and a thick octavo printed book.” After America and her allies invaded Iraq in 2003, Iraq’s national library and the Islamic library in central Baghdad were burned and destroyed. In early March 2001, about 200 right-wing Hindus burned Korans in New Delhi. In May 1981 Sinhalese police officers burned the second largest library in Asia, in northern Sri Lanka, destroying 97,000 books. The largest single act of book burning in modern history took place in August 1992, when the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo was attacked by Serb nationalist forces, who immolated the National and University Library of Bosnia, destroying a priceless collection of over 1.5 million volumes. But it’s the same old story as when the Nazis burned books on this date 79 years ago: “We know better than you do what’s best for you to read.”

Today, May 11, but in 1888, Russian-born American composer and lyricist, Irving Berlin was born. He emigrated from Russia at the age of five and spent his next 95 years becoming one of the most celebrated film and stage songwriters in US history. Berlin wrote perhaps 1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films. His songs for film were nominated eight times for Academy Awards, including (perhaps surprisingly for a Jew) “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas” and “Happy Holiday.” In her biography of her father, daughter Mary Ellin Barrett refers to the “agnosticism” of the composer of “God Bless America” and describes him as a “nonbeliever.” Irving Berlin follows a long tradition of freethinkers who used the religious vocabulary familiar to the majority.

Coda: Post 9/11, “God Bless America” has turned the 7th inning stretch at baseball games into a religious observance. Fans are now required to stand up and sing Berlin’s 1938 song, often followed by John Denver’s 1974 song “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” This is regrettable for two reasons: Not only does the show of public piety makes atheist nonparticipants conspicuous, but God is as relevant to baseball as Santa Claus is to the Olympic luge competition. Indeed, the observance trivializes the faith it purports to celebrate – continuing an unfortunate tradition of conflating religion with patriotism.

Other birthdays and events this week—

May 5: German philosopher, socialist economist and historian, known for The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894), Karl Marx was born (1818).

May 6: American actor, film director and political activist, George Clooney was born (1961).

May 7: Russian composer of such works as the 1812 Overture, The Nutcracker and the Serenade for Strings, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский) was born (1840).

May 7: German composer of such works as the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor and Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Johannes Brahms was born (1833).

May 7: Victorian English poet and playwright Robert Browning was born (1812).

May 11: American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, Richard P. Feynman was born (1918).

We can look back, but the Golden Age of Freethought is now. You can find full versions of these pages in Freethought history at the links in the American Heathen blog, which take you to my blog, FreethoughtAlmanac.com.

I’ve been thinking about Game of Thrones…

Just once… I’d like to be treated to a popular TV show about a democratic republic with no kings and no thrones and nobody is better than anybody because of what family they were born into but because of great achievements in science and technology.

Where the drama does not hang on the brutalizing of rival clans but on the challenges of facing down nature and prevailing over adversity to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. Where there is freedom and liberty for all…

Where the action is not tailored to incurious teenagers, mind-numbed by video games, but to insatiably curious adults who desire to learn something about the human condition and who aspire to make the world better and for the species to survive.

But I guess that’s the ultimate fantasy TV show.

Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world.

Last Sunday, April 28, but in 1948, the English author of fantasy novels, especially the Discworld series, Terry Pratchett was born. At 17, he started working as a journalist and in 1971 published his first book. Still writing part time, Pratchett published the first novel in his most famous series, Discworld, The Colour of Magic, in 1983. After finishing the fourth Discworld novel, Pratchett turned to writing full time. Discworld has sold more than 70 million copies in 37 languages. His writing has resulted in Pratchett being knighted, OBE (Order of the British Empire), in 2009. Pratchett’s novels typically cast theocrats and narrow-minded fundamentalists as villains – e.g., Vorbis in Small Gods (Discworld series, 1992) – but he says he is sympathetic to the religious impulse per se and describes himself as a “Victorian-style” atheist, in the sense that he rejects supernaturalism but considers himself culturally and morally Christian. Said Pratchett, “I think I’m probably an atheist, but rather angry with God for not existing.” In a 1999 interview he said, “I’m an atheist, at least to the extent that I don’t believe in the objective existence of any big beards in the sky. That is a religious position, by the way.” He describes himself as a humanist and is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. In a 21 June 2008 article in the Daily Mail, Pratchett writes, “There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist. … I don’t think I’ve found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.”

Last Monday, April 29, but in 1109, was the first Feast Day of the Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, Hugh of Cluny. He was born into a noble French family in 1024 and died on the 28 of April 1109, when the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny was 200 years old. The period in which Abbot Hugh lived was the beginning point of the so-called Age of Chivalry! As Thomas Bulfinch describes it, “Chivalry … framed an ideal of the heroic character, combining invincible strength and valor, justice, modesty, loyalty to superiors, courtesy to equals, compassion to weakness, and devotedness to the Church.” In fact, the next 300 years of Christendom were characterized in the noble and knightly classes (and by both sexes) as steeped in corruption, theft, violence, and every imaginable (and some unimaginable) sexual deviations, including rape, incest, pederasty, prostitution and general sexual license. This behavior was so generalized that, time and again, the contemporary chroniclers of not only France, but Spain, England and Germany complain of it. The only bad behavior that was not tolerated was infidelity to the Church!

Last Tuesday, April 30, but in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. It is significant, in light of those who would argue that the U.S. was conceived as a Christian nation, that Washington made many euphemistic references to God in his inaugural address, but never – in this address, or in any of his writings – does he make direct reference to Jesus Christ. Every contemporary who knew of his church habits agrees that Washington was never seen to accept communion, and indeed, his wife wrote that he left the church on the occasions when communion was offered. As president, Washington addressed religion with the tolerance we would expect from the leader of a religiously diverse nation. In answer to a congregation that objected to the “godless” US Constitution, Washington wrote, “The path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction…. In the progress of morality and science, to which our government will give every furtherance, we may confidently expect the advancement of true religion and the completion of our happiness…” – without defining true piety and true religion!

Last Wednesday, May 1, but in 1866, the first “Labor Day” was celebrated in the U.S. It is known now as May Day and no longer celebrated as a recognition of the workers who create the wealth that supports our capitalist economy. From the 13th century of the classical era, where worker protections were built into the Code of Hammurabi, to the ancient Greek and Roman colleges, which were unions for workers, the value of labor has been recognized by most advanced civilizations. When the Empire fell, the social protections built up for workers disintegrated. Only a quarter of the population in Ancient Rome were slaves, but the Christian Church saw no reason to interfere when four-fifths of workers then became agricultural serfs. This persisted from 600 to 1100. Then political and economic changes began to create a middle class between the lords and the peasants. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions met and voted to designate May 1, 1886, as the day for a general strike to demand an 8-hour day in the U.S. The May Day strike itself was peaceful until, as the strikers over the next few days swelled to 65,000 in Chicago, and industry got nervous that workers might actually succeed, the police were called in. Someone threw a bomb among them. A riot followed and then the Haymarket Massacre ensued, in which police shot and killed several strikers and wounded 200. Without compelling evidence, eight labor leaders were arrested, and all but two were executed by hanging. The Haymarket Massacre forever tarnished May 1 as a day to celebrate labor in the US – although the day is still a holiday in at least 110 other countries!

Last Thursday, May 2, but in 1729, that Catherine II of Russia, who would become Catherine the Great (Екатерина II Великая), was born. She was crowned Catherine II in 1762 – after deposing her own husband, whom she married at age 15 by political arrangement. She was well-read and selected able advisors, so Catherine proved more than suited to the task of ruling the largest empire in Europe. Her goal was to complete the Westernization of the Russian Empire that had ceased 37 years earlier at the death of another Romanov Emperor, Peter the Great (Пётр Вели́кий, 1672-1725). Empress Catherine was initially sympathetic with the French Revolution and its intellectual leadership: she corresponded with Voltaire and d’Alembert and invited Diderot to settle in Russia. A skeptic with advanced humanitarian ideals, in her letters she professed Deism and scorned the “mummeries” of the Russian Church to which she was converted. But after the peasant rising under Pugachev (1773-74), and having heard of the excesses following the French Revolution, by 1790 she became fearful of popular revolt. Catherine imposed repressive measures to achieve stability, which in turn alienated the educated in Russian society.

Yesterday, May 3, but in 1933, American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg was born. Weinberg was born in New York City to Jewish immigrant parents and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1950. After studying at Cornell University and abroad at the Neils Bohr Institute, he earned his Ph.D. degree in Physics in 1957 from Princeton University. In 1979, Weinberg received the Nobel in Physics for his contributions (with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow) to describing the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles. In addition to his academic work, Weinberg has been a popularize of and a strong public advocate for science. His books on science, written for a general audience, combine the history and philosophy of science with a godless view of the universe. Indeed, in a 1999 speech in Washington, DC, Weinberg quipped, “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion.” Weinberg was the 2002 Humanist of the Year of the American Humanist Association. In a 25 September 2008 essay in the New York Review of Books, Weinberg asserts clearly that he is an atheist and, if not a “Warfare” (as A.D. White would call it), that there is a natural “tension” between religion and science. But, far from subscribing to the “God of the Gaps” thesis, he has also said, “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless.” It was at the 2006 “Beyond Belief” symposium in La Jolla, California, that Steven Weinberg said, “the world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief.”

Today, May 4, but in 1825, the English biologist known as “Darwin’s Bulldog,” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, Thomas Henry Huxley was born. Largely self-educated, as a medical apprentice, Huxley signed on as assistant surgeon with the H.M.S. Rattlesnake, to chart the seas around Australia and New Guinea. It was an opportunity much like the one Darwin had aboard The Beagle, and, as with Darwin, the experience changed his life. In 1859, when Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published, Huxley read it and at once remarked, “How stupid of me not to have thought of that.” He wrote to the author, “I finished your book yesterday… As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite… And as to the curs which will bark and yelp – you must recollect that some of your friends at any rate are endowed with an amount of combativeness which … may stand you in good stead – …I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness.” His defense of Darwin’s theories, and especially to their application to the evolution of the human species, earned him the nickname, “Darwin’s Bulldog.” Huxley invented the term “agnostic” to describe his view that the mind cannot reach realities beyond the senses. He disdained Christian doctrines.

Other birthdays and events this week—

April 28: Freemasonry was condemned by Pope Clement XII (1738).

April 28: the Synod of Aachen approves a divorce, but churches hate divorce (862).

May 1: persecutor of Christians, Roman Emperor Diocletian abdicated (305 CE).

May 3: Italian politician, philosopher, humanist and author of “The Prince,” Niccolò Machiavelli was born (1469).

May 4: American education reformer Horace Mann was born (1769).

We can look back, but the Golden Age of Freethought is now. You can find full versions of these pages in Freethought history at the links in the American Heathen blog, which take you to my blog, FreethoughtAlmanac.com.

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

Since 9/11 we have steadily surrendered our liberty for security. But, our security is an illusion, and what little liberty remains is merely the terrorist’s way of sedating us long enough for the National Suicide attack to commence. From sequestration to austerity, from gay marriage to woman’s reproductive rights, from evolution and science to global climate change, from the war on terror to gun control… the radical ideological terror campaign of Right Wing politicians and American “patriots” has been slowly and methodically planned, repeatedly rehearsed, and is now being carried out step by step. Their weapon of choice doesn’t use conventional explosives or bullets. Their weapon of mass destruction is far more hideous, and lethal. They’ve chosen to use disinformation and misinformation. The most effective and successful weapon ever wielded by mankind. And, what’s more, the current body count is already staggering. Approximately 143,332,281 (46%) Americans believe in creationism. Some 35,299,410 (17%) of registered voters believe President Obama is muslim. 193,186,988 (62%) of Americans think America is a christian nation. The list of casualties goes on and on. And the terrorists haven’t even pressed the buttons on their vests yet!

“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” – Benito Mussolini – Encyclopedia Italiana

Disinformation and misinformation are the weapons of choice. But, who are the terrorist’s arms dealers? Corporations. Corporations are now considered people following the 2010 Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission decision. As such, they now have the ability to finance the vast majority of misinformation and disinformation. Large media corporations operate unfettered by facts and evidence. Oil companies, in a total ruse to appear more Eco-friendly, now call themselves “Energy” companies. Wall Street attempts to paint a gleaming picture of prosperity, and as the guardians of America’s economic future, all the while bilking every last dime from what used to be America’s middle class and pulling in record profits for the wealthy. Corporate lobbyists have purchased political candidates on both sides of the aisle as easily as buying a six-pack of beer at the grocery store. Then those high roller lobbyists calmly unzip their cash cow flies and demand fellatio for their contributions. Of course, the politicians and American “patriots” are more than happy to drop to their knees and suck from the corporate cock as long as it has the potential to bring them to, or keep them, in power.

I could go on and on. But, I really don’t have the time or the space to really do any real justice to the vastness of this suicidal cabal. Let me just say this… If you can’t see the problem, you’re blind. And if you’re blind, chances are you either don’t give a shit, or you’re one of the millions of folks who have succumbed to the misinformation and disinformation weaponry. But, in the end it really won’t matter. National Suicide is fast becoming the new American pastime. America fall down and go boom. Are you having fun yet?

Far from being the Ben & Jerry’s of religion, christianity offers only two prayer flavor choices… “Salvation” or “Destruction”. One appears to be very appetizing, piled high with its bright white cream and a rainbow of little candy sprinkles, shaped like crosses, generously blanketing the top. This flavor is called “Salvation”. The “Salvation” flavored prayer is generally the first prayer to be offered up to the mythical sky-fairy for the Atheist, or non-sectarian believer. On the surface it appears to be a very tasty, loving, caring, compassionate treat, calling for intervention into the life of an individual who’s believed to be unhappy, in emotional pain, desperate for help, and who (it is thought) needs a specific form of guidance. It sounds so delicious, so tempting, so utterly satisfying in its goodness and wholesomeness doesn’t it? But what if the person being prayed for is really happy, content, successful, and enjoying all the wonderful things life has to offer? What if the person is confident, competent, and taking life’s ups and downs in stride? It really doesn’t matter. As far as christians are concerned, they don’t have jesus, and in the alternate reality of christianity no one can possibly be happy without jesus. So… they deliver a quart of the “Salvation” flavored prayer. However, this flavor of prayer is far from good and wholesome. It’s a visual temptation deception masquerading a vile mixture of some of the most toxic and bitter ingredients known to man. Bigotry, hate, jealousy, fear, loathing, despair, self-deprecation… and a healthy dose of sweat from jesus’ mythical balls, all generously mixed into a stomach churning froth of acidic bile specifically designed to poison the victim and bring tears of joyous vengeance and self-vindication to those who are more than happy to deliver it. And woe unto those who refuse to consume it!

But, what happens when folks DO refuse to consume “Salvation”? What happens when they spit “Salvation” out after tasting its putrid, vomit-us, stench? The mix masters of christian prayer flavors have the perfect recipe of revenge for that! “Destruction”! “Destruction” is the end all be all prayer flavor for those who refuse to consume “Salvation” and savor the taste of sweat from jesus’ mythical balls! It’s a black, frothy, bubbling caldron like mixture, teaming with floating feces, candied pitch forks, and sprinkled with tar flakes. Deny jesus and you are certain to taste the wrath of christianity’s finest, most satisfying flavor! (At least it is for them) Made from double the same vile ingredients as “Salvation”, and mixed with  three ounces of the blood from jesus’ nut sack, this less than delectable taste treat has been crafted specifically to induce massively severe burns with 16 trillion Scoville Units of hell fire and damnation as it is force-fed to its intended target! Seriously! Deny “Salvation” and you’re guaranteed to taste the blood of jesus’ nut sack and puke fire with “Destruction”!

There really are only two flavors of prayer when it comes to christians praying for folks who don’t believe, or don’t believe in a specific christian dogma. And, that says a great deal about the religion. Do as christianity says, or die as christianity says. “Salvation” or “Destruction”. This “Do or Die” proposition is not loving, caring, empathetic, or compassionate. Of course, christianity has never really been about any of those things. It has been, and always will be, a manufacturer of poison dressed up to appear delicious and satisfying. It’s a feast for the eyes and a gut wrenching bio-hazard. Those who swallow it will suffer the consequences. Blind obedience, subservience, self-deprecation, denial, delusion, endless guilt, and loss of freedom… to name only a few. You will NEVER hear a christian pray for a non-believer’s happiness absent jesus or god. Never. The prayer flavors will always be “Salvation” or “Destruction”. And if a christian ever claims they pray for non-believer’s happiness sans jesus or god… Check their chin for the dripping sweat of jesus’ balls. They just pigged out on “Salvation” and are planning on delivering a quart of “Destruction” to your front door.

Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world.

Last Sunday, April 21, but in 1955, Inherit the Wind, a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee dramatizing the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” of the summer of 1925, opened at the National Theatre on Broadway. Inherit the Wind was not about a clash between two 1920s pop stars, Clarence Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan, or a clash of cultures, intellectual vs. religious. The playwrights are really focused on defending freedom of thought in a time of anti-communist hysteria: The 1950s were a time of cultural anxiety and anti-intellectualism in the U.S., inspired by the crusade of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his colleagues on the House Un-American Activities Committee. So Drummond (the Darrow character) says to the jury, “Yes there is something holy to me! The power of the individual human mind. An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is more of a miracle than any sticks turned to snakes, or the parting of waters. … Gentlemen, progress has never been a bargain. You’ve got to pay for it. … Darwin moved us forward to a hilltop, where we could look back and see the way from which we came. But for this view, this insight, this knowledge, we must abandon our faith in the pleasant poetry of Genesis.”

Last Monday, April 22, but in 1864, the U.S. Congress passed an act requiring coins, for the first time since the nation was founded, to include a recognition of God. Replacing the Latin motto, E Pluribus Unum – “Out of many, one” – was one that everyone could read, if not subscribe to: “In God We Trust.” How did this happen? A Rev. Watkinson urged replacing the Goddess of Liberty with a religious slogan on U.S. coinage, writing to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, “You are probably a Christian” … “Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation?” A religious slogan, wrote the cleric, “would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed.” And even though the motto was conceived by a cleric, recommended for its religious purpose, and adopted precisely to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian God, several federal courts have since ruled that “In God We Trust” on our coins – and, since 1954, our currency, is not a religious phrase! What’s troubling is that Nazi Germany had a very similar motto: Gott mit uns (“God with us”). We can suppose the Nazis, too, have been spared the “ignominy of heathenism”!

Last Tuesday, April 23, but in 1564, the greatest poet and playwright in the English language, William Shakespeare, was baptized, so this is taken as his birthday. Shakespeare is known to be the author of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Because few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive, scholars have freely speculated about his religious beliefs. Whereas some scholars suggest The Bard may have been an atheist, and even the Catholic Encyclopedia wonders if “Shakespeare was not infected with the atheism, which was rampant in the more cultured society of the Elizabethan age,” all we can say with certainty is that, in a time when it was a serious offense to be an unfaithful Christian and to skip church services, William Shakespeare said some things no true Christian should have said and failed to do some things that a true Christian should have done.

Last Wednesday, April 24, but in 1800, the world’s largest library, the Library of Congress, was founded. The Library’s current collection of 147 million items includes materials in 460 languages, including books, maps, monographs, dissertations, periodicals, voice and music recordings, and 14 million images. The Library of Congress is the largest library ever to exist. The collection and recording of the sum of human knowledge for the betterment of humankind was not a high priority in the Ages of Faith in Christian Europe, or for most of the history of the Muslim East. The idea of human progress was a secular humanist achievement. It is therefore dishonest to crow about the great libraries of the Middle Ages, and the romantic fiction of the monks preserving the classics, without telling us just how many volumes these great Christian libraries comprised. In the solidly Christian period of 500 to 1300, not a library can be found in all of Europe with more that 2,000 volumes, many of them copies of the same title. In the greatest abbey of the 13th century, the Abbey of St. Gall, not a single monk could read!

Last Thursday, April 25, but in 1953, an article in Nature magazine, describing the structure of DNA in terms of the now-familiar double helix, was published under the authorship of James D. Watson and Francis Crick. True scientists both, they characterized their discovery as a scientific theory, meaning that their explanation is not only subject to independent verification, but also innately falsifiable. Both won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Francis Crick published a book, The Astonishing Hypothesis (1994), in which he states, “The Astonishing Hypothesis is that You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.” In 1996, Richard Dawkins interviewed James Watson for a film broadcast by the BBC and asked if Watson knew many scientists with strong religious convictions. “Virtually none,” said Watson. “Occasionally, I meet them and I’m a bit embarrassed because I can’t believe that anyone accepts truth by revelation.”

Yesterday, April 26, but in 1837, English physiologist and neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian was born. He graduated at the University of London in 1861 and was professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine at London University 1867-87 and Censor of the Royal College of Physicians. Bastian was admitted as a Fellow of Royal Society in 1868. Although to the end of his life he was a champion of spontaneous generation (abiogenesis) of living organisms out of dead material – even defending it against Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch and John Tyndall – of which he was the last believer in the scientific world. Bastian was an aggressive materialist. This can be seen in his Brain as the Organ of Mind (1880) and other publications in clinical neurology wherein he takes a materialist view of the causes of paralysis and aphasia. In his notice in the Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008), Edwin Clarke summarizes, “Of Bastian’s industry, tenacity, logic, and experimental versatility—although perhaps misplaced—there can be no question.”

Today, April 27, but in 1822, the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was born. At the close of the American Civil War, the commanding general of the U.S. armies was the most popular man in the country. He was elected president and served two terms, from 1869-1877. However, his administration was marred by a tolerance of corruption, so that he left office as unpopular as he was popular when first elected. Grant was not a member of any church. He was, however, a staunch defender of church-state separation. In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1875, he unequivocally supported public schools over religious schools, saying, “Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school… Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the Church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. KEEP CHURCH AND STATE FOREVER SEPARATE.”

Also today, April 27, but in 1759, English feminist and radical Mary Wollstonecraft was born. She was largely self-educated and an unusual student, with the radical idea that women should be educated on a par with men. An early feminist, Wollstonecraft found she had a talent for writing, and publishers to promote her, so she published her theories in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1786). She continued to argue that the rights of men and the rights of women were the same rights. This culminated in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, the seminal document in the history of modern feminism. Wollstonecraft associated with a radical intellectual group including Thomas Paine and William Godwin. She married Godwin and, in 1797, died of complications ten days after she gave birth to the future author of the classic novel Frankenstein.
Other birthdays and events this week—

April 22: American actor, film director, producer, and writer Jack Nicholson (1937).

April 22: German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724).

April 23: German theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate, who originated quantum theory, Max Planck (1858).

April 23: American politician, and 1860 presidential candidate against Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas (1813).

April 23: British Romantic landscape painter J. M. W. Turner (1775).

April 26: French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix (1798).

April 26: 16th Roman Emperor, from 161 to 180, Marcus Aurelius (121 CE).

We can look back, but the Golden Age of Freethought is now. You can find full versions of these pages in Freethought history at the links in the American Heathen blog, which take you to my blog, FreethoughtAlmanac.com.