From: Cgastbook Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 17:12:15 EST Subject: [Atheist] re; AANEWS for December 8, 1997 Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) Sender: owner-aanews@listserv.atheists.org Reply-To: cg@atheists.org from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS subject: AANEWS for December 8, 1997 A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S ~~ A A N E W S ~~ #363 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12/8/97 http://www.atheists.org ftp.atheists.org/pub/ http://www.AmericanAtheist.org ---------------------------------------------------------- A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS "For Reason and the First Amendment" ---------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... * Atheist Demo Tomorrow For "Free Speech" At X-Mas! * Alabama Gov. Tells Kids -- Fight Separation With Carols * Robertson: "Religious Exemption" From Death Penalty? * Atheist Media Advisory * Get The AA Magazine * TheistWatch * Resources * About This List... AMERICAN ATHEISTS TO CHALLENGE "FREE SPEECH" DEFENSE OF COURTHOUSE RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY When Williams County, Ohio officials said that they would permit gospel singing on the courthouse property because "everyone" has equal access and free speech in promoting their ideas, they may not have counted on American Atheist member Jerald Lasky. Tomorrow at 12 noon, Mr. Lasky and supporters will gather to erect a Winter Solstice display on that same property to see if, indeed, county officials really want an equal forum for "all" ideas. The event takes place tomorrow, (Tuesday) December 9 on the south side of the Williams County Courthouse, corner of Butler Avenue and Main St. in Bryan, Ohio. Williams County is in the northwest corner of the state and adjoins Indiana and Michigan. Mr. Lasky urges other atheists and state-church separationists throughout the area to join the event. His sign will read, "The Winter Solstice will occur on December 21, at 3:07 p.m. EST. Merry Winter Solstice! One More Year Around The Sun. Sponsored by American Atheists, PO Box 140195, Austin, Texas." American Atheists President Ellen Johnson said that Mr. Lasky's effort is not meant to justify the unconstitutional gospel singing on public property, but rather to challenge the county's convenient justification for it. "We'll see if they really mean it when they talk about 'free speech' for 'everyone,' " said Johnson. "It's been our experience that public officials often try to rationalize these religious displays by saying that they don't constitute a breach of state-church separation, but instead are part of free expression. We'll see if Williams County officials believe only in 'free speech' for religious people, or everyone else -- including atheists." Johnson doubted that officials would continue their policy, though. "Only time will tell how long the county will permit 'equal' access, especially when Wiccans and neo-nazis begin asking for equal time as well." Supporters are urged to bring appropriate signs and support Mr. Lasky's test of "free expression" in Bryan, Ohio. Those interested in participating in tomorrow's action can contact Jerald Lasky at 419- 636-1398. ** JAMES URGES SCHOOLS: FIGHT RULING, SING X-MAS CAROLS Judge Must Deploy "Monitors" -- Local Schools Won't Follow Court Order The "Alabama prayer war" continues. In a state where elected officials are calling for resistance to a federal court ruling striking down as unconstitutional a law which permitted prayer in public schools, Alabama Governor Fob James has now called upon students to hold Christmas holiday events, and sing religious hymns such as "Joy to the World" and "O' Little Town of Bethlehem." Last Thursday, James called a hastily-organized press conference to announce his continued opposition to court rulings prohibiting religious involvement in government, including the posting of Ten Commandments displays in state buildings, invocations at public meetings and prayer or other religion-linked activity in the public school. He told reporters that he would use the "full authority" of his office to encourage and support students who wish to sing Christmas carols during school plays and other official events. It was yet another indication that the religion-in-government issue remains the focus of state politics, and an issue dividing Alabamians. The Birmingham Post-Herald noted on Friday, "If Gov. Fob James is running for reelection next year, his issue seems clearly defined: The practice of religion in public schools." The latest controversy over religion in schools arose on Wednesday when attorneys for the Dothan Board of Education said that religious songs could not be performed at any school event under a ruling issued by federal Judge Ira DeMent. DeMent has struck down the state's controversial 1993 school prayer law which provided for a wide range of "student initiated" religious activity, including prayers during official events (such as athletic contests) and in classes. But Jim Holland, the school board chairman, informed officials and teachers that they could proceed with whatever Christmas programs had been scheduled even if they included religious content. James told media that the issue of state-church separation "is probably the most important -- not probably -- it is the most important issue of the day." He went on to echo his claim that Judge DeMent's ruling was "illegal" and "not grounded in the Constitution and needs to be defended against (sic) in every way." He also challenged anyone "to show me where... the Constitution of the United States or the Alabama Constitution prohibits the acknowledgment of God in public places..." James then discussed the 34-page letter he had written to Judge DeMent prior to his decision; the governor argued that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution did not apply to individual states in matters of religious exercise. "Proceed with Christmas as it had traditionally been practiced in this great state," James declared. He described Christian religious carols such as "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" as "great songs that are germane to the very core of our being..." In Baldwin county, school authorities announced that they would proceed with a planned Christmas school pageant which would use symbols like Santa Clause, and then have kindergarten-age children in a tableau depicting the Christian Nativity. On a related front, Judge Ira DeMent has encountered so much resistance directed at his order to end prayer and other religious ritual in Alabama schools (specifically DeKalb county) that he will select a "monitor" to check compliance in the district and handle complaints from students or parents. County officials have submitted the names of Oliver Thomas, Charles Haynes and Mirian Drennan for consideration by DeMent. The judge could select one of them by January when the compliance monitoring is expected to begin. Rev. Oliver Thomas is an official with the National Council of Churches and a lawyer; while supporting the essentials in DeMent's ruling, it should be noted that Thomas organized NCC's campaign to preserve the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Haynes is a senior scholar in religious studies at Vanderbilt University and holds a degree in theological studies. Ms. Drennan is education coordinator for the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt, and both Haynes and Thomas are associated with that institution. James and other religion-in-schools supporters have branded the monitors as "prayer police." ** ROBERTSON SEEKING "RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION" FROM DEATH PENALTY? Gender, Religious Belief Are Volatile Issues In The Case of Karla Tucker Does conversion to fundamentalist Christianity warrant a pardon if one is on death row? That is the question facing Texas Governor George W. Bush who is now the only hope that Karla Faye Tucker has if she is to avoid becoming another victim of the state's official execution machine next month. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected what legal experts say is Tucker's final court appeal on her conviction for the June, 1983 pickaxe murder of one of two persons hacked to death during a Houston apartment burglary. . Her only remedy for avoiding death by lethal injection -- a fate she could meet as early as next month -- is a commutation of sentence by Governor Bush, son of the former President and a leading contender, say the pundits, for the 2000 White House contest. Bush Jr. is an avowed proponent of the death penalty, and a favorite of the Christian right wing. Of 48 females on death row in 16 states, seven are incarcerated in Texas. Only one woman, Velma Barfield of North Carolina, has been executed since 1977, and in the Lone Star State no female has been put to death by the government since 1863. Gregory Curtil, a writer with Texas Monthly magazine, observed in the October, 1997 issue of that publication that, "No matter how the laws read, executing a woman is an act that offends some deep value we have held in Texas... Our reluctance must be the most visible vestige of the belief that it is, after all, worse to hurt a women than to hurt a man, that somehow the whole point of civilization is to protect women." But the case of Karla Faye Tucker is a complex one; since her conviction, Tucker has become a born-again Christian and earned the sympathy and support of religious groups and leaders across the country, including Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson. Last night on the CBS news program "60 Minutes," Robertson claimed that Tucker was a "changed woman," and called upon Governor Bush to "let compassion reign" in her case and grant a commutation of sentence. Her case touches myriad themes including not only the morality of the state-sanctioned death penalty, but whether there exists a double- standard in applying it to women -- and even whether religious conversion can "change" a person and elicit what some might consider a special level of treatment. Would the conversion of a male inmate to born-again Christianity result in such support? Probably not. And would Tucker have the backing of Pat Robertson and the rest of the country's fundamentalist "faith based" community had she converted as fervently to, say, Islam, or Scientology, or Buddhism? Clearly, this may be a case of religious bias and discrimination, regardless of the morality of the death penalty itself. The death penalty, like high school football, is an institution in that state where no politicians in his or her right mind chooses to speak against. Former Governor Ann Richards, who often blasted the draconian social policies of religious conservatives, never took the step of commuting a death sentence during her administration. Neither has George W. Bush; and all he has said about the case of Karla Faye Tucker is that he will "apply the law equally." Bush, however, is a recipient of the organizational genius and largesse of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. If the son of the former President wishes to follow in his father's footsteps, he must heed Robertson and acknowledge the latter's political clout and savvy in the year 2000 race and beyond. And Robertson has come out squarely and unequivocally in support of commuting the death sentence for Karla Faye Tucker. For feminists, secularists and human rights activists opposed to the death penalty, this is a problematic, if mixed blessing. A chaplain for the Texas State penal system told "60 Minutes" that while Ms. Tucker's conversion as a born-again Christian fundamentalist is genuine, so are the religious transformations which many men in the system have experienced. There has been little, if any, outcry from the Christian right to commute their sentences. Even more fundamental, though, is the question of whether or not newfound religious belief automatically constitutes a sensible and substantive litmus test for change and rehabilitation. Should a demonstration of religion belief, by either a man or women, be a criteria for commutation of sentence? Courts in two states have already ruled that participation in religion-based rehabilitation programs like Alcoholics Anonymous cannot be used as a condition for granting inmates parole. Should religious belief exempt one from execution? If so, does religious conversion apply to all faiths? And what about those inmates who might have no religious faiths; are they, therefore, judged incapable of the sort of rehabilitation and change Karla Faye Tucker is said to have experienced? Robertson remains a proponent of state sanctioned executive, of course, something that should dismay any human rights activists who look with disfavor on the death penalty. And he isn't clear whether his support for Tucker is due to her newfound born-again Christianity, or the fact that she is a female, or some unspoken combination of both. George W. Bush loses regardless of what fate he dispenses for Karla Faye. He could reap a prairie backlash for being the Texas governor "who executed a woman," or end up being branded as a pawn of Robertson's who played favorites, and ignores pleas from the dozens of males now on Texas death row who have "found" Jesus, Allah and other forms of salvation. He risks losing the support of the Christian Coalition which can easily throw its considerable precinct-level resources behind the candidacy of a Steve Forbes or even a Dan Quayle. If Karla Faye Tucker is executed -- and today, prosecutors announced that they will seek a court order establishing a date in January for the killing --it may have an unanticipated effect, not only on the political consciousness of Texas, but on the sensibilities of the religious right. Whether it is justified or not, the sanction of the death penalty is a naked, raw and blatant assertion of the power of government which, up until now, anyway, blustering politicians like Bush and hard-shell religious types like Robertson, have embraced with a drunken enthusiasm. Cranking up the electric chair, pulling the trigger or -- in a more grotesque if benign form -- pressing a button to release a deadly chemical cocktail have been stock-in-trade solutions for religious right activists in addressing what they see as the ills of modern society. That was fine when it involved hardened tough guys with tattoos, street sweeping gang bangers, serial murderers, even drug dealers. (It has been especially tempting in dealing with blacks and other ethnic minorities, who are much more apt to meet the government executioner than are their white counterparts.) And lurking at just about every religious confab these days is also another group of hard-liners, those Christian Reconstructionists who would dispense their own version of the death penalty, to an even greater slice of the American population -- those guilty of adultery, "witchcraft," homosexuality, even disrespect to parents. There is, of course, another contradiction in all of this; the religious right has used support of the death penalty as a benchmark in assessing its political favorites, and woe to the aspiring novice seeking a public post who has the temerity to question whether or not the death penalty is immoral in itself -- regardless of the foul deeds of those convicted of crimes. The Christian right seems to care far more about the destruction of fetal tissue (or even a single embryonic cell) than it does the fate of a complete human being on death row. And there is the unnerving fact that not all of those on death row may be guilty of the crimes they have been convicted of. The name of Sam Shepherd comes to mind, of course, but consider this fact -- court ordered DNA testing is now exonerating up to one-third of prisoners convicted of crimes such as rape. The jailing of the innocent may rank as one of the great, unnoticed and deliberately ignored crimes of our era. If Karla Faye Tucker had undergone a profound remaking and transformation, yet ended up as an atheist, a Buddhist, a Jew or even a Roman Catholic, she probably would not have the support of Mr. Robertson, or be a topic of discussion and frantic pleadings on his "700 Club" program. Robertson would not be taking off his hat and urging the Governor of Texas to embark on the politically-risky path of pardoning a convicted murderer, who happens to be white, female and, oh yes, a born-again Christian. It seems that for Pat Robertson, "compassion" is a quality to be extended only on behalf of those perhaps born with the right gender and who have adopted his particular brand of Christian salvation. ** Coming in the Winter issue of American Atheist Magazine... The Winter AMERICAN ATHEIST MAGAZINE is now in production, but you still have time to subscribe for yourself, or give a sub to this quarterly journal of Atheist news and thought as a gift. Upcoming articles include: * "Atheist Words & Atheist Action In Washington" by Ellen Johnson * "Approaching the Millennium: Atheism, Reason and State-Church Separation" * "The Millennium: A New Dark Age Dawning" by Frank Zindler * "Debunking the Creche Tableau" by Jim Senyszyn * "Christianity: The Arch-Enemy of Freedom" by Sally Roesch Wagner * "All Things to All Men" by Ronald J. Barrier And much, much more! Check out the American Atheist Magazine web site at http://www.AmericanAtheist.org; order a subscription on line for yourself (just $20 per year). If you purchase a subscription for a friend, we will send a complimentary card to the recipient acknowledging your gift. ** Media Advisory... BARRIER ON ROB SHERMAN SHOW THIS WEDNESDAY... Ron Barrier, National Media Coordinator for AMERICAN ATHEISTS will be the guest on Rob Sherman's radio show this coming Wednesday night, December 10, 9-10 p.m. ET. You can hear this program nationwide at www.robsherman.com/radio.htm both live, and via Archive Sound any time until the next show airs. Check out Rob's web site for interesting news and commentary about civil rights and state-church separation issues, too. ** THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS One idea which may not have occurred to the religious and political groups clamoring for passing of special legislation like the "Freedom From Religious Persecution Act," is that they are tacitly admitting that at least SOME of them are wrong when it comes to the issue of deities and dogmas. Christians, of course, must remember their god's admonition to avoid the worship of "other" false deities; Islam and Judaism, while perhaps grudgingly admitting that Jesus Christ was a "prophet," nevertheless reject the proposition that he was the one true divine. Now, for those prefer a less judgmental position and claim that ALL religions and sects (at least the monotheistic ones) "worship the same god" in a different manifestation -- if religious groups really and truly believed that, they would care little about the need to gain converts from each and, essentially, transform the globe into a belief bazaar where churches and denominations compete with each in a spiritual market share battle not unlike, say, Pepsi and Coke. That's not the case, however. On Sunday, for instance, Dr. George Carey, the esteemed Archbishop of Canterbury, called on the Muslim regime in Pakistan to permit its citizens to convert to Christianity; he likewise supported the freedom of those wishing to convert from Christianity to Islam. Not surprisingly, those remarks made at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, prompted considerable debate among students and local Muslim leaders. "Clearly there will always be a tension between two missionary faiths such as our own," noted Carey. "But that is no reason why, in the name of justice, we should not support our fellows if they wish to convert." ** RESOURCES FROM AMERICAN ATHEISTS * For information about American Atheists, send mail to info@atheists.org. Please include your name and postal mailing address. * For a free catalogue of American Atheist Press books, videos and other products, send mail to catalogue@atheists.org. Kindly include your mailing address. * The American Atheist Magazine is now on the web! Check out select articles from the current and back issues. Visit us at http://www.AmericanAtheist.org. * If you are a member of American Atheists, why not sign up for our e-mail discussion group, aachat? We already have over 100 participants who discuss topics such as atheism, religion, First Amendment issues, and plenty of other issues. Contact Margie Wait, the Moderator through aachat@atheists.org. ** ABOUT THIS LIST... AANEWS is a free service from American Atheists, a nationwide movement founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair for the advancement of atheism, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. For membership information about American Atheists, just send e-mail to info@atheists.org and include your name and postal mailing address. For subscribe/unsubscribe information, send mail to aanews-request@listserv.atheists.org and put "info aanews" (minus the quotation marks, please) in the message body. You may forward, post or quote from this dispatch, provided that appropriate credit is given to aanews and American Atheists. Edited and written by C. Goeringer, The LISTMASTER (cg@atheists.org). Internet Representative for American Atheists is Margie Wait, irep@atheists.org.