Due to Humcon 2001 falling on our regularly scheduled meeting date, there will be no meeting in February. Included in this issue is information on Humcon 2001. Hope to see you there.

Atheists United

Ernst Ghermann--Libertarian Activist, Atheist, Humanist, Ethical Culturist

Dr. Yehudi Webster--Professor of Sociology, Cal State L.A., Author.

Race as a Figment of Religious Imagination

Dr. John Suarez--Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State

Michael Novick--Author, White Power, White Lies

Media Portrayal of Racial Roles

Ray Romano--Actor, producer of Politically Incorrect

How to Make and Air Your Own Videos

Al Ballesteros--L.A. County Aids Commission

The Disease Isn’t Cured--Where the Fight is Now

Dr. Ron Fegley--Physicist, AHA Board Member

Science Education in Our Public Schools

Phyllis Grifman--Environmentalist

The Media and the Environmental Story

Lorrie Williams--Former AHA Woman of the Year

Women of the World

Eddie Tabash--Attorney, Politician

Improving the Public’s Perception of Atheists

Jim Underdown--Executive Director, The Center for Inquiry West

Public Relations and the Media

A HISTORY OF THE AHA"
by Lois Lyons No history of the AHA would be complete without noting the beginnings of Humanism.

There have been individual humanists throughout the world in each of the past fifty or more centuries, but it has been only in recent ones that these ideas have been recognized as forming a point of view, an approach to life and, most recently, a true alternative to religion.

One of the major tenets of humanism is that of the equality of rights among humans. As a result, the anti-slavery and women’s movements have become important to humanists. Cooperation and mutual aid are central to a humanistic outlook.

But, no other idea has been of more practical importance to the humanist movement than that of rational logical thinking, the need of proving theory by testing and experience and, in my view, educating children to the central ideas of the scientific process, which has been woefully inadequate in the American educational system. Ron Fegley, who joins us today, is particularly interested in this important subject and will conduct a workshop on it at the upcoming HUMCON to be held in February, and I am sure he will be glad to answer any questions you may have on this subject after this part of the meeting.

In 1917 Curtis W. Reese and John H. Dietrich are credited with starting the humanist movement in the United States. In 1927 the Humanist Fellowship was formed at the University of Chicago. One of the things the organization did was to launch the publication called The New Humanist in 1928. By 1935 the Humanist Fellowship had evolved into the Humanist Press Association and The New Humanist, which began as a newsletter, became a journal. In 1937 the New Humanist unfortunately folded, but a newsletter, The Humanist Bulletin, under the editorship of Edwin H. Wilson, was launched by the same organization. That was discontinued in 1941 to make way for a new journal called The Humanist, and a new name for the organization, the American Humanist Association. This AHA’s first four presidents were all signers of the first "Humanist Manifesto" in 1933 as was Curtis Reese, the founder of the humanist movement in America.

The American Humanist Association was founded to promote humanism in the United States. It represents both secular and religious naturalistic humanism, and cooperates with other national and international humanist organizations to advance the ideals of humanism. Since then, it has organized and supported local humanist chapters in most major American cities, is a co founder and full member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and provides support for other humanist organizations, including the Humanist Institute, the Humanist

Society of Friends, the Friends of Religious Humanism, the AHA Feminist Caucus, and the Humanist Chapter Assembly.

Meanwhile, Edwin H. Wilson while executive director of the AHA, established the Fellowship of Religious Humanists to keep humanism alive and thriving within the newly created Unitarian Universalist church. The first two presidents of the AHA were Unitarian ministers and, later, Curtis Reese, also a Unitarian minister was elected President. AHA’s connection to Humanist Unitarianism continues to this day.

"Humanist Manifesto II," was created by the AHA in 1973. I had originally intended to make copies of the 1973 manifesto, but it is quite long, so I did not do this. However, for those interested it is available in full on the AIIA website. A new more concise Humanist Manifesto is being crafted by the AIIA now and we are hoping it will be out within the next year.

In 1970 Paul Kurtz, as editor of The AHA’s Humanist magazine, launched Prometheus Books as a humanist publishing house. As you probably know, Prometheus has grown to become a leading publisher of freethought, humanist, and skeptical books, though many people are unaware, as was I, myself, that Prometheus Books was established under the aegis of the AHA

The AHA took a strong position against pseudo-science in 1975 with its publication of "Objections to Astrology, signed by

186 scientists, including 18 Nobel Prize winners. In 1976 it issued "A New Bill of Sexual Rights and Responsibilities" about which Time magazine said that humanists celebrate responsible sexual freedom after centuries of bondage to church and state. Traditional religions continue to grapple with these issues that humanists came to terms with decades ago.

Another thing you may not know and which I only recently realized is that it was the AIIA that established in 1976 the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, which publishes the Skeptical Inquirer magazine. This group is now an independent consumer-information organization for which Paul Kurtz is often given most or all of the credit. While it is true that Paul Kurtz was at the forefront of the formation of this organization and the magazine, he did it as an employee of and under the sponsorship of the American Humanist Association. I would like to reiterate that CSICOP was founded by the AHA, not the Center for Inquiry.

In 1977, the AHA established itself as a major force in the creation-evolution controversy by issuing "A Statement Affirming Evolution As a Principle of Science," which it may be hard to believe was necessary at such a late date, but unfortunately for all of us it was.

In 1977, the AIIA also took a vigorous stand against age discrimination in matters of employment and retirement called "A Declaration for Older Persons," the principles of which have since been become codified into law.

The 1980s were a period of vicious attacks on humanism by the religious right. Humanists responded with public debates, media appearances, articles, press conferences, lobbying, and in a few instances legal action. Bringing new vigor to this effort was yet another AHA spin-off, the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism or CODESH (now the Council for Secular Humanism). Meanwhile, the journal Creation/Evolution--the only periodical in the world devoted exclusively to answering the religious right’s creationist arguments--was launched by AHA executive director Fred Edwords. In 1985, Isaac Asimov became president of the AHA, serving until his death in 1992.

Since then, Rational Recovery was launched by the AIIA and continues as an independent organization as a successful way for non-believers to rid themselves of addictions similar to the way Alcoholics Anonymous works, but without appeals to a higher power.

In 1990, the AHA merged with the Humanist Society of Friends, which provides humanist counselors and celebrants for weddings, memorial services and personal counseling across the country.

In July of 1939, a group of Quakers, after reading the 1933 Humanist Manifesto and being greatly moved by it, made a decision to leave the Quaker movement and become part of the new Humanist movement. In the manifesto, they saw the promise of a genuine marriage between science and ethics that would put into action a new kind of religion and forge a new understanding of the word "religion".

It was therefore with the goal in mind that this small band of former Quakers were responsible in 1939 for incorporating under the state laws of California the "Humanist Society of Friends" as a religious, educational, charitable nonprofit organization authorized to issue charters anywhere in the world, and to train and ordain its own ministry, who upon ordination were then accorded the same rights and privileges granted by law to the priests, ministers, and rabbis of traditional theistic religions.

Today, the Humanist Society of Friends works as a subsidiary of the American Humanist Association to certify qualified members to serve in this special capacity, having assumed the duties of the American Humanist Association’s former Division of Humanist Counseling.

In 1995 the AHA, with the creative efforts of its president Edd Doerr, joined with a variety of secular organizations and religious groups in issuing "Religion in the Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law," which influenced policy decisions nationwide and prompted favorable comment by the president of the United States. We are hoping that the efforts of the AHA are successful in keeping the educational voucher system from becoming law in the United States. With a conservative Republican in the White House who has said he intends to push

for educational vouchers, we Humanists and others of similar philosophy have our work cut out for us.

Last year, he AHA purchased a lovely building in Washington, DC, and has moved almost all official functions to this office, including meetings, subscriptions, publications, chapters, counselors, and celebrants. This office is now the official AHA National Headquarters. Tony Hileman, the AHA executive director, and his staff occupy this location. Fred Edwords, the former executive director of the AIIA, will move from the old headquarters in Amherst, NY next summer and continues as editor of The Humanist and the Humanist Press.

One of the questions Humanists are asked is "What is Humanism?" This may seem like a question with a simple answer but it is not as there are many forms of humanism, and Humanists, being freethinkers, have concocted many varying definitions of humanism. Here is one definition that suits me. Humanism is the one philosophic approach to life that exclusively concerns itself with the quality of life on earth here today, and what it means to be human. There are many that have debated the subject, but by its simplest definition humanism is a philosophy of life concerned solely with this life here on earth today. It distinguishes itself from other religious approaches to life because humanists cannot center their life in the search for a life hereafter.

Those attempting to express their humanism created the Humanist Manifesto I in 1933, and the American Humanist Association restated the philosophy in the form of Humanist Manifesto II in 1973. These Manifestos are the equivalent to a political party platform. They are dated the moment they are adopted. Nevertheless they do provide rallying position papers and gave substance to what early adherents were saying about their new philosophy.

I mentioned before the need for Humanists to work for better understanding of the scientific process. In my opinion, and especially in Ron Fegley’s, the way science is taught--or more importantly not taught--in schools along with a serious misunderstanding of the philosophy of science are two of several barriers to intellectual growth among young people. Some barriers are psychological and may be created by parents, friends, or authority figures, including church and school. Some are physical, such as the lack of food in an economically depressed society. Some are self-imposed because of fears, training or belief systems. Each of them can cause a barrier in a person that inhibits normal growth and I think that this is where many of us should put our energies. I made a speech a few years ago based on the book by Oliver Sachs called An Anthropologist on Mars. In the book, Dr. Sachs writes about how visual problems can cause difficulties in learning, and points out that there is a certain limited period of time when a child must learn certain concepts or he or she will never learn them properly--the opportunity will have been lost. One of the examples he points out is that if a child is not exposed to language--any language--for example if a child is deaf and he or she is not taught how to communicate through sign language, for example, before the age of 5, the child will never learn language correctly. The time for the learning will have passed. In my opinion, this can happen with children who are prevented from understanding correctly how our physical world works. He may be able to understand scientific subjects--chemistry, for example, but he may never be able to put it all together. This, in my opinion is a great tragedy in our educational system. Belief systems may be stopping scientific understanding in its tracks and the time of learning it passes, leaving the person incapable of correctly understanding the web of scientific connections..

The American Humanist Association is owned and operated by its members through a board of directors elected biannually. Any humanist can become a member and each member is entitled to vote. Members can participate in additional ways. The AHA has special divisions, committees, commissions, and task forces that aid in handling the business and activities of the organization. And, at the local level, members may take part in chapter programs.

The AHA is a family of corporations. The Humanist Society of Friends is the umbrella organization for the Humanist Youth Club and the Division of Humanist Certification. AHA members who are certified by this latter division serve both humanists and the larger community by providing recognized humanistic wedding and memorial services. The Youth Club serves the needs of our youngest humanists and publishes several newsletters by and for its members. The Chapter Assembly is the organization for all AHA chartered chapters. Through its Fund for Chapter Expansion, money is available for local growth. Chapter Assembly leaders also tutor chapters in techniques for greater effectiveness. Several of us on the AHA board are working toward a better more effective Chapter Assembly. Other AHA divisions include the Feminist Caucus, LIGHTS (Lesbian/Gay Humanists), and Imagine a World of Wanted and Nurtured Children (the AHA’s division on overpopulation).

The AHA itself is affiliated with several national bodies working in specialized areas of concern, including: the National Association for Public Education and Religious Liberty (PEARL), the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), and the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). Internationally, the AHA is a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). The AHA is also a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) member of the United Nations.

Humanist Press, the AHA’s book publishing and, publishes books on the humanist philosophy and its application to the critical issues of our time. The membership newsletter Free Mind, keeps members up-to-date on issues affecting the organization. The AHA’s "Humanist Alternative" and "Ethics in America" TV series appear on public broadcasting and public access stations across the country. These 63 half-hour programs have already been carried on over 300 outlets and have also been shown outside the United States. Radio public service announcements have aired nationally. Humanism: Making Bigger Circles is a 45 minute film, narrated by the late Isaac Asimov and featuring many renowned humanists, that defines humanism and relates it to current affairs. Important lectures from past AHA conferences are also available on audio and video cassette.

In closing, I would like to encourage all of you to join the AHA as full members and to work with the AHA on promoting humanism and a humanistic philosophy everywhere, especially in our government, locally and nationally. Someone very wise once said that if you re not part of the solution you are part of the problem. Please become an important part of the solution of won problems today by joining forces with the AHA.

A LETTER FROM ROBERT RICHERT TO STAR JONES

January 28, 2001

Dear Star Jones,

I watch, or should I say listen to your show almost every morning while I’m creating paintings here in my studio. I enjoy the "Hot Topics" and the friendly banter that ensues. However, I am disappointed and hurt to hear prejudicial words coming out of your mouth because I respect your intelligence and admire that you often stand up for the underdog. On the program you stated that you would never vote for a person who is an atheist.

Frankly, Star, I suspect you have been seduced by the widely believed lies and misconceptions about atheists that permeate our culture. We are called devil worshippers, unbridled hedonists, morally corrupt, full of hate, lacking in a sense of purpose or mission in life, and many other negative stereotypes. We are the most undeserving despised minority group in America. Organized unbelievers are given almost zero time in the popular media, thus our negative image continues to fester. I remember when black people were stereotyped as mentally slow and lazy and women were deemed unfit to do a man’s job. How would you feel if a person you respect stated that he would not vote for someone because she was black? Or a woman? Or gay? As passionately as you must feel that these misperceptions are wrong, I feel about people who describe atheists as lacking in positive moral attributes and unfit to hold public office.

Most of us accept the definition of atheist found in the Oxford Dictionary, "One who disbelieves in the existence of God". We do not like most American versions because they define an atheist as one who "denies" the existence of God. This implies that God exists and atheists are just too stupid to acknowledge the fact! I can assure you that I, and most of my peers are anything but stupid. For example, a recent membership survey of the National Academy of Sciences, the Hall of Fame for top scientists, revealed that only eight percent believed in a traditional God (One who interacts with the natural order, answers prayers, etc.). These are our brightest and best thinkers, they work to understand how the universe really works, unfettered by wishful thinking. The "View" of the universe revealed by these modern scientists renders belief in the C-ad of the Bible obsolete. Incidentally, the majority of professional philosophers, academics who study the issues about the existence of God full time, are also non-believers. However, all the above carries little weight with the public because most people’s religious beliefs are firmly rooted in their emotions and thus, rendered immune from rational analysis. They are religious Hedonists. They believe what makes them feel good, even if those beliefs are not intellectually credible.

I am a second generation atheist. Until my mom’s death ten years ago, my parents remained married for 53 love-filled years. I, my younger brother and older sister were raised in a religion free home. We never attended church. Raised with good time-tested values, we all lead productive lives. I derive emotionai fulfillment through the creation of my paintings, which are inspired by the beauty of the natural world. One does not need to believe in a supernatural being or.ancient myths in order to lead a full, rich, meaningful and moral life. In 1969-70, I served in combat in Vietnam, earning a medal for bravery. When some of my fellow soldiers found out about my atheism they said that I would become a believer before leaving the war. They were wrong! Yes, there are atheists in foxholes.

My dad once said that I was born happy. I have always entertained a good sense of humor and general optimism. Like you, I really enjoy people. I love to see people succeed, and I don’t like bullies, bigots or others who put obstacles in the pathway of others’ happiness. I believe my positive, optimistic outlook is a direct result of my atheism. Not believing in an afterlife is a strong incentive to make this life the best it can be. Not believing in a supernatural being who is ultimately in control compels me to take control of my life. Not believing that God is the source of good and evil shifts the burden of moral responsibility on me. In summary, many of the good qualities attributed to God I attribute to humanity instead. I believe firmly that we mere mortals must strive to make ‘heaven’ here on earth, no Savior or God will come to bail us out of our troubles. Think about it, Christ’s second coming is contingent upon human failure! I’m much too optimistic to subscribe to such a demeaning, dehumanizing mythology.

Atheists are often misinterpreted as against everything about religion. Much of what churches do in practice; help the poor, feed the hungry, etc., is good. If I were an elected official. I would never stand in the way of any body’s right to believe and practice their religion. I believe in both religion clauses of the First Amendment. For example, I am opposed to compulsory prayer in our public schools but I support the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to refuse recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools or other public gatherings on religious grounds. Are you aware that to this day at least six states have laws requiring belief in God for holding elective office? Such bigotry is a direct violation of Article Six of the Constitution, "No religious test shall ever be required for oath of office". As a prosecuting attorney, could you muster any enthusiasm for opposing laws requiring belief in God? I’m skeptical.

Star, reality is such that I cannot share your luxurious option. I have no choice but to vote for people who believe in God. I hope that my letter will lead you to the realization that your "View" about atheists is not just dead wrong but also inconsistent with the Constitution and your own opinions about the rights of other minorities.

Sincerely,

Editor's note: According to a recent survey 49% of the people would vote for an atheist.

In the summer of 1900 ...

#1. Fast 2. Frozen #3. Take-out #4. Delivered