February, 2002 (Volume IV, Issue 1)
- Page 0
- Quotation:
- ...When Robin Williams was asked what he thought of the Pledge flap, he said they should change "under God" to "under Canada." -- Edd Doerr
- "To our Friends, Readers, and Supporters" by Cliff Walker (update on Cliff's illness; on the future of PAM)
- Page 1
- Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business. -- Eric Hoffer
- Page 2
- "IsThere a Reason to Teach Critical Thinking?" by Pete Boghossian
- Page 4
- "Science Didn't Have a Ghost of a Chance" by Dale McFeatters
- Humor:
- "Osama's Final Reward" (unsigned)
- Coverage of the Inevitable Apocalypso
- News of the Weird, by Chuck Shepherd
- Voters in laid-back Sausalito, Marin County, California, rejected a $7.8 million police station on advice of feng shui consultant Sidney Nancy Bennett, who said the proposed building was "not harmoniously designed," would "block the positive flow of energy to other places in town," would "cut off the mouth of chi," and would compromise "the arrows of sha."
- In Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, 400 villagers held three farmers captive for "a curse" that "disturbed its geomantic flow," causing traffic mishaps.
- Page 5
- "Christ a Fiction" by Robert M. Price
- Page 8
- "Kids Decide Which Facts Schools May Teach Them" by Scott McGlasson
- Coverage of the Inevitable Apocalypso
- News of the Weird, by Chuck Shepherd
- "Jammy Whammy Gets All Clammy" Malaysian businessman in Jalan Beserah, warned of household maids who boil their underwear in soup they serves, conveying magic spell to cause the bosses to appreciate her more.
- This Is True by Randy Cassingham
- "You Can Plainly See He's Cracked" Ulf Buck, blind psychic from Meldorf, Germany, can't "read" palms, so he feels clients' bare buttocks.
- Coverage of the Inevitable Apocalypso by Woody Johnson
- "That Was Its Name, Silly!" Andover, Michigan, Sunday school teacher was convicted for telling teenage boy curb masturbation habit by writing "What Would Jesus Do?" on his penis.
- "Metal Drawers Cloak Loins of Horse Statue" Lest Madonna Statue Gets Hot and Bothered, prudish officials in Catania, Sicily covered the carved loins of a stallion statue lest the carved eyes of a statue of a virgin be offended. Animal rights advocates became upset that such an act was undignified to the horse statue!
- Coverage oƒ the Inevitable Apocalypso by Cliff Walker
- "Pastor Burns Woman's Feet in Healing Ritual" In Brooklyn, New York, Pastor Junior Mitchell and wife were charged with assault in the faith healing mauling of Charmaine Babb, who sought relief at the Great Deliverance Spiritual Baptist Church in Crown Heights, where the culprits slashed her feet with razors, poured hot wax on the wounds, then set fire to Babb's now-crippled feet, rendering her unable to walk (thereby keeping her captive in the church for nine days) and causing her to face amputation.
- "Confidence in Religion Reaches 30-Year Low" Organized religion "enjoys" the lowest rating of public confidence since Gallup began to ask this question, representing a 14 percent drop over the past year, a full seven percent lower than the previous bottom when religion's credibility sagged under the weight of the various "televangelist scandals."
- Page 9
- Atheism in Music
- Richard Milner
- "Stephen Jay Gould is My Name"
- Alvin Lee and Ten Years After
January, 2002 (Volume IV, Issue 1)
- Page 0
- Quotation:
- The "terror" of the French Revolution lasted for ten years. The terror that preceded and led to it lasted for a thousand years. -- Edward Abbey
- I wish your endeavors well, regardless of your ideology, because I believe strongly in freedom of thought and I abhor the notion of a fettered mind. I also trust that truth will speak for herself. If you happen to have stumbled upon the truth, we all do well for your being allowed to express it freely and for your being versed in its presentation. And if you are mistaken, we all do well to have free access to your mistake so we may learn thereby. In any event, you deserve to flourish in your pursuits. -- Cliff Walker, Publisher, 'Positive Atheism' Magazine to a Wiccan who, without bothering to understand even after being given a careful explanation, had said, "Though I can't say that I wish your endeavors well, since you embrace a world-view that's diametrically opposed to mine, I do say that I wish you well in life as a person."
- Page 1
- Cliff Walker's Monthly Column
- Quotation:
- Of learned men, the clergy show show the lowest development of professional ethics. Any pastor is free to cadge customers from the divines of rival sects, and to denounce the divines themselves as theological quacks. -- H. L. Mencken
- Page 2
- "Unintelligible Redesign: This is the way creationism ends Not with a bang but with a whimper" by William Saletan
- Page 3
- "Untangling the Military Chaplain Question" Randy Balsam
- Page 4
- "Dr Pepper Under Fire Over Godless Pledge" Cliff Walker
- Quotation:
- Thought, without the data on which to structure that thought, leads nowhere. -- Victor Stenger
- Page 5
- Freedom from Ignorance: Chaplains
- Page 6
- "Intelligent Design Advocates Make Pitch In Ohio" by Conrad Goeringer, American Atheists, with Cliff Walker, Positive Atheism
- Page 7
- Poetry:
- "Come and Go" by Ryan Bates
- "Back in the Swing? (Hey! Let's Sing!)" by Cliff Walker
- Page 8
- From the InBox
- "The Pastor's Pen" (unsigned)
- Coverage of the Inevitable Apocalypso
- News of the Weird, by Chuck Shepherd
- In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, woman, found by Islamic court to have been raped, gets six months plus 65 lashes for having had sex
- Nigerian trans official urges deemphasis of heavy reliance on automobile icon charms: prefers safe driving
- Governor of Trang, Thailand, asked folks to stop relying upon charms used to overcome evil ghosts intersections
- Page 9
- Coverage of the Inevitable Apocalypso
- News of the Weird, by Chuck Shepherd
- The Georgia (U.S.) parole board converted an inmate's capital sentence to life because in states of delusion he sometimes believes actress Sigourney Weaver is God.
- Sri Lanka astrology magazine's editor resigned when his boss used planet-alignment readings to make political commentary, thereby undermining readers' faith in astrology
- Kanda Myojin Shinto shrine in Tokyo sells information-technology-prayer charms, alleged to ward off computer viruses
- Indian Hindu nationalists market "Gift of the Cow" bovine urine, said to cure ailments ranging from obesity to cancer
- Comics
- Agnes by Tony Cochran
- Dilbert by Scott Adams
- "Hook, Line, & Sinker!" by Gan Uesli Starling