December, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 12)
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- 'Positive Athesim puts the "X" back into X-Mas' Promo
- Page 1
- Atheism & Fundamentalism
- Quotation:
- "Since I was both an atheist and an absurdist, I had decided that the most absurd thing I could do would be to develop an intimate relationship with the God I didn't believe in." -- Paul Krassner
- Page 2
- Page 4
- Page 5
- "Linus Torvalds A conversation with the man himself" by Marjorie Richardson (excerpt)
- Page 6
- "Jury hits Twelve Step re-education center for $1.3 million"
- Page 7
- "Supreme Court: Circuit Court Ruling to Stand: No Enforced Twelve Step Meetings for Atheists" by Conrad Goeringer
- Page 8
- Page 9
- "Cross-Pulling Zealot Rejected at Columbine" by Chuck Shepherd
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Religion: Does It Help?" (all untitled)
- (Church Walkway Collapses: Survivors Thank God)
- (Fourteen Crushed Trying to Touch Evangelist)
- (Three-Year-Old Girl Sacrificed To Hindu Goddess)
- (Baby, 'Cursed' by Eclipse, Killed by Mother)
November, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 11)
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- Page 1
- Opportunists Run Amok Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- Where is God? I see no evidence of God. God is probably Barry Manilow." -- John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols
- Page 2
- Page 8
- Page 10
- "Evolution Theory Explains Fact" by Leonard Krishtalka
- Page 11
- Aftermath by H. L. Mencken
- Page 12
- Page 13
- "Spellbound Zimbabweans Turn to Occult as Economy Wanes" by Neely Tucker
- Page 14
- "Vatican 'Has Aaccepted UN Family Planning'" by by Charles Clover
- Three Songs by John Lennon
- "Imagine" (1971)
- "God" (1970)
- "I Found Out" (1970)
- Throughout the magazine
- "Signs from God" Parody (continued from last month)
October, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 10)
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- Symposium: Toward Rational Living
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- Jesse Ventura Meets Atheophobia Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "The memory of my own sufering has prevented me from ever shadowing one young soul with the superstitions of the Christian religion." -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Page 2
- "Goodall, Ussher, Roebuck" by Robert T. Pennock, excerpt from chapter 2, "The Evidence for Evolution," of his 1999 book Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism
- Page 5
- "Signs from God" Parody (and throughout magazine)
- Page 6
- "Bryan" by H. L. Mencken The Baltimore Evening Sun July 27, 1925
- Page 7
- "New Doubts about Columbine 'Martyr' Claim" by Conrad Goeringer and Cliff Walker
- Page 9
- "Argument over Resolution" by Wendy Kaminer from Chapter 6, "The Therapeutic Assault on Reason and Rights" of her 1999 book Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety
- "Humanity's Gain from Unbelief" by Queen Silver (excerpt)
September, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 9)
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- From the Mailbag -- by Stephen A. Lonsdale
- Page 1
- The Strange Loop of Creationism Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Hide, witch! Hide! / The good folks come to burn thee / Their keen enjoyment hid behind / A Gothic mask of duty" -- Paul Kantner, from his album Jefferson Starship: Blows Against the Empire 1970
- Page 2
- Page 4
- Photo: Scopes Trial Sideshow by Corbis (1925)
- Page 5
- "Nearly Half of Americans Accept Literal Biblical Creation Accounts" -- from American Atheists
- Page 6
- "Is America a Christian Nation?" -- Nontract No. 6. Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc.
- Page 7
- "A Kinder, Gentler Satan" -- by D. Trull
- Page 8
- Page 9
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Back to the Basics" (minister Anthony Gifford, United Church, Toronto, jas consensual sex with troubled female parishioners but says he was only counseling them)
- Atheism in Music:
- "Dear God" by XTC, from the LP Skylarking
August, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 8)
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- The Meaning of Freedom: Words -- by Maurice Cranston
- Page 1
- Christians Revolt Against Their Own Best Interests Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Actually, I don't like Atheists very much -- at least most of them -- because they are not motivated to move into the community and attempt to correct the injustices which are everywhere apparent againt them." -- Madalyn Murray O'Hair
- Page 2
- Page 4
- "Misremembering the Past: Prayer in Schools is No Social Panacea" -- by Tom Teepen, Cox News Service
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Nuns Sell Their Prayers" (Sister Mary Rinaldi, Salesian Sisters Roman Catholic Order: 2,500 benefactors have paid $100 and up for nuns to pray for them daily)
- "Town Clashes with Maharishi" (Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Fairfield, Iowa, say homes and businesses must be re-built facing east so that residents will lead more fulfilling, harmonious lives)
- Page 5
- "Debunking Myths Of A 'Christian' United States" -- by Howard Thompson
- Page 6
- "Atheism in the Twelve Step Movement" -- by Cliff Walker (with Anonymous)
- Page 9
- "Pastor Sentenced: Smuggled, Enslaved Estonian Children" -- by Mary Pemberton
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "The Inevitable Apocalypso!" (all untitled)
- (evangelical Christian organization established a 24-hour camera trained on Jerusalem's eastern gate to capture Jesus' millennial return)
- (West Union, Ohio, Berry Baker, protested the erection of Ten Commandments statues on school lawns by demanding equal space for statues promoting his "Center for Phallic Worship")
- (Baptist pastor from Atlanta arrested at a mall doing under-skirt videotaping)
July, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 7)
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- "A History Professor Examines the Notion of Government-Enforced Religion" -- by Robert Carver, East Tennessee State University, Department of History
- Page 1
- Conceptualizing An Afterlife Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Fatally powerful as religious systems have been, human nature is stronger and wider, and though dogmas may hamper they cannot absolutely repress its growth." -- George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
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- Page 5
- Page 7
- Page 9
June, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 6)
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- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Court Nixes Church Ban" (Russian courts can outlaw religious groups found to be inciting hatred)
- "A Hunk of a Priest!" (Marcelo Rossi, singer, former aerobics instructor)
- "'Gift from God' Jeobardized" (Teacher's remarks: stole a student's prescription Ritalin, melted it down, and shot it)
- "Lutheran Ex-Bishop Resigns" (allegations of sexual misconduct) by Cliff Walker
- "School Violated Rights" (Earth Day liturgies, doll-making) Associated Press
- Page 1
- The Mumbo-Jumbo Theory Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." -- Thomas Jefferson, to Jeremian Moor (1800)
- Page 2
- "Can Atheists Have A Purpose To Their Lives? by Douglas E. Krueger from his 1998 book, What Is Atheism?
- Page 6
- Quotation:
- "Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either." -- Mark Twain
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Prayer and Punishment: Is This Coercion or What?
- Quotation:
- "Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so; It is not so. It is so; it is not so." -- Benjamin Franklin
- Page 9
- At Least They Let Her Back Inside
- This is True by Randy Cassingham
- "Little Faith" (truth in advertising over faith-healing claims)
- "Or, You Could Wait for the Movie" (HarperCollins defends their new version of the Bible)
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Er, Spiritual Cosmetics?" (Yup! They're marketing spiritual cosmetics, now!)
- "Embargo Spurs Quackery" (embargo prompts Iraq to replace medical care with superstition)
- "Psalm 22:6 Anticipates Science: I Am A Worm, And No Man" (mapped out all of the DNA of a multi-cell animal for first time: a roundworm)
May, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 5)
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- "Our Government In Action: Day of Prayer, March For Jesus" (from Americans United and People for the American Way respectively)
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- Prophet Answers His Own Questions Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "The liberation of the human mind has never been furthered by dunderheads; it has been furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe -- that the god in the sanctuary was Wnite in his power and hence a fraud." -- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
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- Page 6
- Quotation:
- "The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality." -- George Bernard Shaw Preface to Androcles and the Lion
- Page 7
- "Hung Like a Jackass" from The X-Rated Bible by Ben Edward Akerlery
- Page 8
- "Procter & Gamble: Amway Spread Satanic Rumors" by JeV Franks
- Sidebar: exerpt from "In Avon and Amway, a Culture Clash" by Paul Farhi, The Washington Post, May 4, 1989
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Where Angels Fear to Tread: On Hand, Forehead, And..." (Christians join the tattoo craze)
- "When Luck Charms Do No Good: Mishaps Deemed 'Lucky'" (hit and injured by bottle rockets)
- "Self-Indulgence and Money: Pastor Carries His Cross" (coast-to-coast walk for Jesus) by Cliff Walker
- Page 9
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Powerlessness Strikes Again: Hex & Drugs & Hard Rock Pile" ("You see, Your Honor, I sold drugs because my girlfriend placed a hex on me!")
April, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 4)
(PDF updated)
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- "The Religious Right: Is it 'History'? or 'Business as Usual'?" from the People For the American Way Foundation
- Page 1
- Why Err, If You Don't Need To? Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "It is my firm convicion that man has nothing to gain, emotionally or otherwise, by adhering to a falsehood, regardless of how comfortable or sacred that falsehood may appear." -- George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Againt God
- Page 2
- "Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science" by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont
- Page 6
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Monk Business" (brawling over leadership at the Chogye Buddhist order in Seoul, South Korea)
- Page 7
- "Attacks on Christians in India: Setting the Records Straight" by Sanal Edamaruku
- Page 8
- Page 11
- "Fun with Door-to-Door Missionaries" (source unknown, condensed by Cliff Walker)
- Callahan Comic:
- Page 12
- "The Sufferings of the Messiah" by Arthur Drews
- Page 15
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "First Things First" (English Dept evicted for New Age Studies program)
- "Psychic No Bargain" (assured him he would be acquitted)
March, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 3)
(PDF updated)
- Page 0
- Page 1
- Ethics & the Æsthetic of Satan Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Over our hitory there are always those who want to take this wall of separation and remove a brick here or there or damage it more than that." -- Harry Andrew Blackmun (1908-1999)
- Page 2
- "The Influence of Rationalism on the Method of Enquiry" -- by William E. H. Lecky, M. A.
- Page 4
- "Dear Abby Joins Fight Against Afghan Repression" from Dear Abby
- Page 5
- "Reason and Tolerance" by G. A. Wells
- Page 7
- "'Lancet' Article Debunks the Notion of the Efficacy of Faith and Prayer" by Kevin Courcey
- Page 8
- "Leaders of Religious Right Calling for a Christian Exodus out of Public Education" by Deborah Kovach Caldwell
- Page 9
- "Ten Commandments Display Removed from Courthouse" by Rob Boston
February, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 2)
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- "Taslima Leaves for Sweden" from the Indian Rationalist Association
- Lucy Colman, excerpt from Reminiscences
- Page 1
- Vouchers and Cultural Dignity Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Even if nothing worse than wasted mental effort could be laid to the charge of theology, that alone ought to be sufficient to banish it from the earth, as one of the worst enemies of mankind." -- Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880)
- Page 2
- "The Philosophy of Paine" by Thomas A. Edison
- Page 4
- "The Assault on Integrity" by Edmund D. Cohen
- Page 6
- "Nobody Hears the 20 Million" by James A. Haught
- Page 8
- Page 9
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Killer Interpretation" (preacher shot at pulpit over Bible interpretation)
- "Classroom Superstition" (girl says classmate put a hex on her, school buys it, classmate suspended)
- "Library Vandal Nabbed" (moralist smears human feces on pro-homosexuality library books)
- "Affirmative Action Hex" (first-ever caucasian witch doctor)
- "New Rabinnical Ruling" (Sabbath nose-picking banned by Hebrew law: might dislodge nostril hairs)
- "Where Church Is State" (Afghanistan: pray or go to jail; beards mandated "just like Mohammad") by Cliff Walker
- "Election Charms Okay" (Netanyahu handed out charms to get votes from superstitious people) by Cliff Walker
- "New Exorcism Ritual" (Roman Catholic Church: "the devil is still at work") by Cliff Walker
January, 1999 (Volume I, Issue 1)
- Page 0
- "Justice William O. Douglas explains the First Amendment" excerpt from The Right of the People
- Page 1
- Better Than Paradise? You Bet! Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- "Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. Every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in, but this attempts a stride beyond the grave and seeks to pursue us into eternity." -- Thomas Paine
- Page 2
- "Theism and Atheism" by Gora
- Page 5
- "Homophobic Group Draws Fire" by Conrad Goeringer
- Sidebar: "The Gospel Spin Doctors" by Walker
- Page 6
- "Bradlaugh and Today" by George Bernard Shaw
- Page 8
- "The Way Things Are" by Bertrand Russell from his Autobiography
- Atheism in Music:
- "Moral Majority" by the Dead Kennedys
- Hastert a C.C. Favorite
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Look out for that religion!: Hatch Issues Warning" (Hatch wrns parents against the "Rasta Fari" religion)
- "Latest Jesus Sighting" (Jesus designer panties in Rio)
- Page 9
- News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
- "Exorcism News" (all unnamed)
- (Roman Catholic Church in France employs 95 exorcists)
- (Albuquerque, New Mexico, parent Liz Madrid files suit against public schools: 16-year-old son allegedly exorcised by school counselor)
- (lay exorcist Baron Deacon attempts to exorcise demons from U.S. Congress)
- "How the cross really works: Hedging Their Bet" (Avon Silversmiths of London's crucifix alarms for priests)
- "Magical Critters" (all unnamed)
- (Alcla de la Selva, Spain: superstitious people caress a 17-by-17-foot rock formation that resembles a toad)
- (Phnom Penh, Cambodia: superstitious villagers flock to touch little girl with scaly lesions on her back, dubbed "Dragon Baby")
- (Sihanoukville, Cambodia: superstitious villagers worship two charmed oxen by drinking their urine; other superstitious Cambodians bathe in and drink water surrounding healing-powered turtle and snake)
- "Frugal Gourmet Skates" (no apology or admission of wrongdoing from Rev. Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, for molesting boys) by Cliff Walker
- "Psychics Solve Burglary" (thief calls 900-number psychics during burglary, reveals his real name to psychics) by Cliff Walker
- "More Beard Arrests" (Afghanistan: men must wear a beard like Mohammed had, or face jail and flogging: "We have told the people many times to abide by the regulations")
- "Fishy: Cargo or Laws?" (Teheran: illegal satellite dishes in smuggled in boxes of tuna cans)
- Quotation:
- "Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilisation." -- Oscar Wilde