By: Rod Swift
Re: Time to save your bucks!

   AMERICAN ATHEISTS PICKS THEME FOR WASHINGTON DEMONSTRATION;
              ''DEFENDING THE WALL... NO SUBMISSION!"

   American Atheists President Ellen Johnson announced today that the
theme of the organization's October 2-4, 1997 action in Washington,
D.C. will be "Defending the Wall... No Submission!"  The theme was
selected to be the topic of panels and workshops focusing on
secularism and state-church separation, since the giant Promise
Keepers movement will be descending on the nation's capitol on October
4 for its "Sacred Assembly."

   The PK gathering is expected to draw as many as one million men.
Randy Phillips, President of Promise Keepers, says that "we are
humbling ourselves before God and pleading for His mercy... we are not
going to demonstrate our power in the country, or make a political
statement.  We are going to demonstrate our spiritual poverty as a
Church before a holy God."

   But in a statement being included in the next American Atheists
Newsletter for members, Johnson says that "The venue of Washington,
D.C. is no accident; nor is it a coincidence that Promise Keepers, a
burgeoning movement which calls upon its members to 'become godly men'
by 'taking back' leadership in families and government, has become the
latest vehicle for religious fundamentalist interest who intend to
reconstruct secular, American society along "Biblical law"
guidelines."  Johnson noted the hostility of the Promise Keepers to
women, gays and other groups, and said that it is fueled "by
individuals identified with other religious activist causes, including
James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Christian Coalition President
Pat Robertson."

   The "Sacred Assembly" is based upon the words in Ezekiel 22:30
which read: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall
and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not
have to destroy it, but I found none..."

   Johnson said that "Defending the Wall" refers to "the other wall,
the Wall of Separation devised by Thomas Jefferson which is inherent
in our First Amendment separation of state and church."

   "Defending the Wall... No Submission" is a two day program
featuring a Symposium (The Future of Secularism and State-Church
Separation), lectures, workshops social events for American Atheists,
along with a demonstration on Saturday, October 4 on the Capitol Mall.
Information about the event will be covered in subsequent editions of
the American Atheist Newsletter.