Carol earned a BA in Anthropology and a MA in Sociology from Univ. of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Univ. of Colorado.

Quote of the Month:

"What we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out."

"Nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue."

… Bertrand Russell

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …"

Harry Schwartzbart, president of the San Fernando Valley Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU), laid out a detailed argument for why these few words in our 1^st amendment are so important. At this point in our history we are under a relentless attack by the enemies of religious freedom.

"Since 1947 AU has worked to protect the constitutional principle of church - state separation, a vital cornerstone of religious liberty." Under the able leadership of president, Barry Lynn, this organization of 60,000 provides a voice of reason, and of caution, in the media to educate to public on the many church-state issues. Right now, there are seven cases in the courts just on the issue of posting the Ten Commandments.

Most important of all AU fights these cases in the courts. Until such time as secular organizations, like the AHA, have the political and financial clout to fight the well-funded forces of religious extremism. We need organizations like AU and the ACLU to carry the brunt of these battles, while we support their efforts on our behalf.

As Harry pointed out there are many different issues they are working on. The Right is still pushing hard on vouchers, so we can pay to have our children indoctrinated with religious dogma. There are legal battles over prayer in school. Then there is the whole mess with Bush's "Faith Based Charities" that raise problems with job discrimination, proselytizing, fairness and the likely prospect of fraud

Also, Harry talked about some of the historical roots behind separation of church and state in this country. In the 1640's Roger Williams brought religious freedom (from a legal viewpoint) to Rhode Island. Although Williams was a devout Christian he strongly believed religion, or lack of it, should be a personal choice and should not be coerced by the government in any way. Harry pointed out that nowhere in our Constitution do the words "God" or "Christian" appear. Also, Article 6 states that there shall be no religious test for public office. We will not have real religious freedom in this country until people who are openly Humanists and Atheists can be elected to high public office.

by John M. Sullivan

From "Church & State" July/Aug. 2001

In 1869 President Ulysses S. Grant began turning over the full responsibility for the administration of Indian agencies to American churches and missionary bodies, whose assumed honesty and charitable motives were expected to give them success in achieving pacification and assimilation of the tribes. Within three years, Indian agencies had been apportioned among the Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Quakers, Congregationalists, Dutch Reformed, Baptists, Episcopalians and other denominations. Missionaries filled federal offices as Indian agents and were in full charge of education and other activities on the reservation.

On the whole, it was a disaster for most of the tribes of Native Americans. Some of the agents lived up to the expectations and acquitted themselves honorably. Others proved to be corrupt and incompetent. On numerous reservations, the missionary agents were fanatically determined to "Christianize" (in their own denomination) their wards and destroy everything they considered heathenish.

Acting as bigoted dictators and backed by Army troops, they tyrannized Native Americans with orders that banned their ceremonies, their dances, the telling of legends and myths and all other manifestations of Native religion and culture.. Those who resisted, particularly medicine men and tribal leaders, were treated with stern measures, ranging from harassment and the withholding of rations to imprisonment, banishment or death.

During this same period, the Bureau of Indian Affairs made a number of attempts to suppress Native American religion with a series of departmental regulations. This was a direct violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution and, without a doubt, one of the greatest violations of human rights committed against a native population.

Enthusiastic missionaries bent on the destruction of what they saw as a pagan religion, as well as reformers who saw assimilation as the only way to solve the "Indian problem," zealously implemented repressive government regulations. Children were forcibly taken from their parents and sent off to schools, often far distances from their reservations. When tribal leaders objected, they were held back by troops or thrown in jail without due process. In effect, all Native religious practices

The policy of entrusting reservations to the churches eventually failed because of the Native Americans’ resistance, a growing public concern about Native rights and the treatment by the missionaries. Different denominations also began fighting among themselves over the distribution of supplies and the real or imagined favoring of rivals. In addition, some denominations were unable to continue financial support of their missions.

In Washington, officials began to see that many of the church and missionary agents were no improvement over government agents prior to Grant’s administration, so officials in the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes killed the policy, without addressing the constitutional issue.

Although the practice was discontinued in the l890s, some 27 Christian denominations became established among a number of tribes, particularly those whose culture was in a state of disintegration. This, however, did not end the assault on Native religion, culture or institutions. The era of missionary control set the patterns for the treatment of Native Americans for the next 50 years. The U.S. government did everything in its power to break down and destroy "Indianness" including the Native American religion. This policy was not reversed until 1934 under Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act, inaugurated a sweeping change of policy in Native American affairs. Often referred to as the "Indian New Deal" it marked a change in the policy of enforced assimilation of the previous 50 years.

Freedom of religion, the goal of so many European immigrants, was finally extended to the Native Americans, giving back to them the rights that were denied for over a half-century by a government in cooperation with churches.

This short history lesson makes clear several points. In the first place, the federal government has a constitutional obligation to "promote the general welfare," and it must not turn over its responsibilities to other organizations. Second, the Constitution forbids government to become involved in religious activities.

Most churches have a clear missionary mandate. They see social services as secondary to that function — or even as a means to implement that role. Government funding also puts "faith-based" programs in competition for state and federal grant monies. We must not assume that churches would be any more competent than existing social service agencies.

Chief Joseph reportedly said: "Do not send us churches; they will teach us to fight about God." Today we may paraphrase him, "Do not send us faith-based social services; they will teach us to fight about God and federal dollars."

The tape of Stephen Jay Gould's "Humanist of the Year" acceptance speech is not easy listening (due to his style of speech, and we cannot see his accompanying slides), but it is nevertheless worth a listen. He argues that Science can only win the conflict with Religion by teaching that there need be no conflict between them. At greater length, he discusses the importance of teaching evolution because of its liberating implications and the practical, even lifesaving, results of such knowledge.

The first few minutes of the tape are of the presentations, in absentia, of a special award to Lester Mondale, the only surviving signer of the original Humanist Manifesto.

Editor's Note: We hope to make short reviews of materials in our library a regular feature in our newsletter. We need your participation to make this a success. Here is a review of a book I will be donating to the library.

This Prometheus Books publication (1996) looks at ESP from a unique viewpoint. Subtitled, "The Adventures of a Parapsychologist" this is an autobiography that explores the narrow field of scientific research into the paranormal. There aren't many people who have a Ph.D. in Parapsychology and they are a closely knit bunch. What drove Blackmore, and drove her crazy, was that others kept find ESP in their experiments and she wasn't finding it in hers. So she knew that either she was doing something wrong, or they were.

This is a very readable book by a skilled writer. If you are interested in how experiments on out of body experiences are set up, or how to investigate a haunted house you will like this book.