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ARTICLES
The Illuminati Of Lebanon and
Profits of Doom
In The Name of
ON THE COVER
Conrad Goeringer
Lebensraum - H. J. Skutel
- Robert Stricklin
Life - James Aldridge
3
15
24
28
AMmICAN
A
Jou.n.' of Alh
"
New
nd I"gU9hl
A1l-IElST
,\I",
,4
No
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FEATURED COLUMNISTS
The Thoughtless and The Damned - Ignatz Sahula-Dyke
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19
20
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REGULAR FEATURES
Editorial: Attorneys
and Religion -
Jon G. Murray
Editor-in-Chief
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Managing Editor
Jon G. Murray
Poetry
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Fred Woodworth
March,1982
Austin, Texas
Page 1
Editorial
Jon G. Murray
March, 1982
(continued
on page 27)
American Atheist
Ro rs
of theism
liIHJIE IE~ILIT CGJIHJliIE~1fYilIE~li
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IF IRSIEIE1fYil&(Q) ~IRS If ?)
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by Conrad Goeringer
Freemasonry,
with its founding and subsequent role in the
Enlightenment,
and an examination
and defense of the
maligned, little-understood sect of the Illuminati-a
defense
long overdue.
***
Any definition of the Enlightenment must, of necessity,
begin with a prohibitorum-attempts
to rigidly segmentalize history are often futile, since they envision history as a
string of compact, autonomous
events, each a "period",
distinct in an respects from all other times. History is not this
way, of course, and like any period the Enlightenment is.a
broad designation to help us understand
the events and
ideas of the 18th century. Were we to construct a model to
loosely describe this time, however, it would emphasize
three areas-reason,
nature, and progress. It was during
this time that how leading personalities
looked at their ~
world, its religions, its societies, its knowledge, its political
institutions, changed so radically. And it was here that the
birthpangs of industrialization
were being felt, where so
much of the modern world was to be born from the womb of
the old order.
Reason is the capstone in the pyramid of ideas which
describe the Enlightenment.
Reason, not faith or divine
revelation, told one the facts about life and the world. Some
held that reason alorie, the product of thoughtful contemplation, could reveal archetypical truths in much the
same way Pythagorus had deduced his theorems on Samos
millenia before; others maintained that reason involved an
empirical faculty as well. In either case, reason was intermeshed with nature. Like nature, mans' reason had become
vitiated by those notorious enemies of humanity-religious
superstition,
government,
socioeconomic
rank, poverty
and prejudice. Destroy these in an unpheavel of antiauthoritarian wrath, and once again reason would provide a
lucid, natural mechanism for apprehending
the world and
guiding a new human society.
Reason, then, was the faculty for comprehending
nature,
the second important element in the Enlightenment triad.
Nature was just that-the
natural, real world. It was not the
realm of the supernatural,
the demonic, or the godly, but
the empirical or rational "stuff" of which the universe was,
and is, made. Nature could be understood through reason;
March, 1982
Austin, Texas
OJ
Page 3
March, 1982
[1
March, 1982
PageS
***
Despite the masonic motto of "Liberty, Equality and
Fraterity", revolution in America and revolution in Europe
ultimately took distinctly different courses. The Enlightenment had given rise to diverse notions of how Utopia was to
be reached. Many of the French philosphers, so repulsed by
the brutalizing aspects of religious superstition, widespread
poverty and political oppression' argued in defense of
"enlightened despots", with Frederick the Great serving as
a role-model. It was in 1740 that Voltaire first visited
Frederick's court to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment.
Voltaire had been initiated into the Lodge of the Nine
Muses, and Frederick had long been a Freemason, serving
as Grand Master and head of the Scottish Rite. To his
credit, Frederick helped secularize many of the institutions
of Prussia during his reign.
it was these" enlightened despots" who, coached by the
philosphers of the Enlightenment,
were to usher in a new
age, free of the incumbrances of religious superstition.
Others influenced by the Enlightenment were less trusting in the power and authority of a beneficent State.
William Godwin (1756-1836), anarchist and Atheist, represented one of the most consistent libertarian impulses of
the Enlightenment, writing "Political Justice" in 1793. Even
the followers of Jefferson, the republican, admired Godwin's anti-authoritarian
sentiments and Jefferson, while. a
governmentalist at heart, spoke of "a little rebellion now and
then" by the people to be "a good thing". Godwin's Atheism
and anti-statism were handed down to two other figures in
libertarian history, Michael Bakunin (1814-1876) and Pierre
Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), both Freemasons.
When
revolution again swept Europe in the mid-nineteenth
century, it was the masonic model of organization
which
provided an organization
blueprint for Bakunin's international Brotherhood and the Revolutionary Alliance. Ii
***
March,1982
, American Atheist
lfJ>,iIRm )jJ1<~~7rHllE:Gl...I;''JtNI,\i'~Ir:~iI
It is ironic, yet in a way fitting, that the most secret, yet
historically popular manifestation
of Enlightenment
conspiratorialism was formed in Bavaria. Jt was here in the
middle of the 18th century that the ideas of the Enlightenment met such hostility and censure from an entrenched clerical and aristocratic
establishment.ts
One
traveler reported the existence of some 28,000 churches
and chapels; Munich, a city of only 40,000 boasted 17
convents. As one writer observed, "the degree of power to
which the representatives of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
had been able to obtain in Bavaria was all but absolute" .191t
was in Bavaria on February 6, 1748 that Adam Weishaupt
was born, son of a professor of cannon law at the University
of Ingolstadt. The father died when the boy was seven; the
child's intensive education then rested in the hands of his
godfather, Baron von Ickstatt, a member of the Privy
Council.r? Adam had free access to the Baron's magnificent
library, which was well-stocked with the works of the
Enlightenment philosophers.
The young Weishaupt graduated from the university in
1768, rising quickly within the jesuit-dorninated
institution
to become a full professor in 1733.21 Despite his militant
Atheism, he managed to become dean of the law faculty two
years later at the age of 27.
Constantly at odds with university and ecclesiastical
authorities, Weishaupt conceived the idea of forming a
secret society, an order, organized along lines similar to the
Jesuits, yet committed to the ideals of the Enlighte~menP2
Weishaupt had embraced the Rousseauian vision of a world
free of the constraints of government and church, where
humanity would exist in a universal community with nature.
IHVernon Stauffer, New England and the Bavarian lIIuminati
(New York: Russell & Russell, 1967). This edition is a reprint of
the 1918 printing. Stauffer deals mainly with the Illuminatihysteria in America, yet his third chapter, dealing with the
Order in Europe, is important source material.
14Ibid.
"itR. LeForestier,
Les Illumines de Bauiere et 10 FrancMaconnerie allemande (paris, 1915). Reprinted in 1968 by
Slat kine Reprints, Geneva, Switzerland.
llFor a concise history of the University of Ingolstadt, see the
New Catholic Encyclopedia entry under University of Munich.
Weishaupt and his Order are given a passing mention. It is also
noted that during World War II, the University suffered heavily
from bombing raids which destroyed nearly 70'1., of its buildings
"including the library with a large part of its bound volumes,
manuscripts and rare book collections." We can only wonder if
priceless materials on Illuminism and Weishaupt were lost to
posterity.
nSee Billington, p. 94. Several names had been 'suggested for
the new Order, including "Perfectabilists" and later, "The
Bees". The former corresponded with Weishaupt'slofty notion
of "remaking humanity" along the' lines of Pythagorean perfection and the latter is rooted in masonic and early hermetic
symbolism.'
.
Austin, Texas
***
Borrowing from the masonic model, Weishaupt structured the Order in pyramid-like fashion, with novices
starting at the bottom degree of 'minerval', and receiving
training in a network of minerval academies. These circles
met each month to discuss recruitment
and the various
tasks of the Order; there was also a thorough schooling in,
those "impious" works of the day, such as the writings of the
Enlightenment philosophers. Minervals were-often selected
and enticed into the society by 'insinuators'; each candidate
was required to complete an exhaustive autobiography
of
,;
March, 1982
Page 7
March,1982
March,1982
Page 9
IPhrRS'IT IIIlll-hrF'ITIErRSfWh'IT[}{]
The disbanding of the Order of the Illuminati by the
Bavarian Elector failed to dissipate the festering rumors of
the sect's influence and size. Within certain segments of the
state and church, it was thought that the Order had
burrowed still further underground, and was at work'
throughout the continent under many different guises.
Barruel's lengthy polemic against Jacobinism and Illuminism went into print in England a full thirteen years later, in
1798. A similar work by the English royalist John Robison,
titled Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All Religions and
Governments of Europe, was published in Britain and New
York that same year. Both authors claimed that Illuminism
had survived the persecution in Bavaria, although the Abbe
Barruel considered Illuminism to be a manifestation of a far
greater Atheistic evil, namely Jacobinism. The Jacobins
were one of the most radical, anti-clerical and at times
despotic factions during the French Revolution of 1789;
Page 10
March,1982
Reason was regarded as part of a general plan to accomplish "demoralization of the people".
Morse was careful not to mention Freemasonry as part of
his plot; in this respect, he had followed Robison's lead,
maintaining that Illuminism had been grafted onto the craft,
and represented a corruption of masonic doctrine. Morse's
sermon, along with the circulation of Barruel's Memoirs and
Robison's Proofs of a Conspiracy soon created widespread
alarm throughout New England. Such conspiracy theories
were sufficiently vague yet tantalizing to explain, to the
superficial and the uninformed, many of the events taking
place in the land. There indeed was a spirit of irreligion loose
in the country, and the old puritan institutions were
crumbling. The ideas of the Enlightenment were being
realized here on a number of levels, including political rights
as well as the dedication to material progress; but all of this
was due to a number of complex historical and economic
forces, not the midnight plots of small bands of intriguers."
The public debate which followed Morse's revelations in
countless New England journals such as the Independent
Chronical and the Massachusetts Mercury, failed to produce any evidence that Illuminism had survived the persecution of the Bavarian authorities and lived to organize
lodges in the New World. The letters and exchanges
debated Robison's book in particular with razor-tongued
ferocity; and as a consequence, more heat than light was
cast on the entire question. No lodges were uncovered, no
names revealed.
Thomas Jefferson, who would later stand accused of
being part of a non-existent Illuminist conspiracy in the New
World, had read Barruel's scurrilous work about the order.
Like many, even he accepted part of Weishaupt's rationale
in defense of Illuminism found in the chiefs Aopologie der
Illuminaten. In a letter to Bishop Madison in January, 1800,
Jefferson wrote:
I have lately by accident got a sight of a single volume
(the 3d) of the Abbe Barruel's Antisocial Conspiracy,
which gives me the first idea I have ever had of what is
meant by the Illuminatism against which Illuminate
Morse, as he is now called, and his ecclesiastical
associates have been making such a hue and cry.
Barruel's own parts of the book are perfectly the
ravings of a Bedlamite. But he quotes largely from
Wishaupt [sic] whom he considers as the founder of
what he calls the order. As you may not have had an
opportunity as forming a judgment of this cry of 'mad
dogs' which has been raised against his doctrines, Iwill
give you the idea I have formed from ony an hour's
reading of Barruel's quotations from him, which, you
may be sure, are not the most favorable. Wishaupt
seems to be an enthusiastic philanthropist. He is
among those (as you know the excellent Price and
Priestley also are) who believes in the infinite perfectability of man. He thinks he may in time be
rendered so perfect that he will be able to govern
himself in every circumstance, so as to injure none, to
do all the good he can, to leave government no
occasion to exercise their powers over him, and, of
course, to render political government useless. This,
Morse warned of the Illuminist threat, while Barruel concentrated on the Order as another variant of Jacobinism.
41SeeHobsbawn.
March,1982
Page 11
***
Not surprisingly, certain catholic writers blamed the
"virus" of Freemasonry for nearly every political assassination, revolution and war of the nineteenth century. 43
Their" evidence" for such a claim is a potpourri of facts and
myths; particularly in the eyes of the Vatican, the agents of
Masonry were to be found everywhere doing their diabolical
dirty work.
No sooner had the Illuminati hysteria died down than a
new wave of paranoia over Masonry swept the country. An
anti-masonic movement emerged during the early to mid1800s on several occasions, one of which even ran candidates for public office.
Illuminism's spectre rose again in the early 1900s with the
writings of Nesta Webster, a writer who enjoyed considerable popularity in Tory circles in Britain. Her voluminous outpourings warned of plots, secret societies, Illuminists and Masons, all of whom were determined to bring
down the edifices of state and church. By now, the legend of
the Illuminati was more powerful than truth; Webster,
writing in The Nineteenth Century, quoted Vernon Stauffer's work claiming that "As early as 1786, a Lodge of the
Order had been started in Virginia, and this was followed by
fourteen others in different cities ... no, Illuminism is not
dead.v'ln fact, Stauffer had debunked such rumors and
mythologies; Webster had quoted as established fact
something which Stauffer reported as unsubstantiated
rumor. Stauffer analyzed the Illuminist hysteria in terms not
only of the decay of puritan institutions, but in the intrigues
of Federalist vs. anti-Federalist politics. For Webster,
however, jews, Cabalists, Freemasons, anarchists, Illuminists, occultists and heretics of all varieties were linked-in a
grand conspiracy running back through history to establish
what some imaginatively termed an "Occult Theocracy".
***
The ubiquitous paranoia about Freemasonry, along with
the voracious gullability of catholics, proved fertile ground
for one of the greatest literary hoaxes of all time, designed
by an Atheist-satirist known as Leo Taxi!. Born Gabriel
Antoine Jogand-Pages (1854-1907), he was educated by the
Jesuits, but soon became a militant Atheist and anti-clerical
propagandist. He authored a variety of anti-religious skits
and satires beginning when he was 25 including A Humorous Bible, The Skullcap and its Wearers, and A Humorous
Gospel, or the Life of Jesus. He was particularly adept at
ridiculing the sleezy lifestyles of the decadent popes, along
with sacred doctrine and religious taboo. He served as
secretary of the Anti-Clerical League in France, which
boasted some 15,000 members, and edited the society's
newspaper, Anti-Clericale. Earlier, he had published La
Marotte (Fool's Bauble), an Atheist journal of humor and
insult, and in 1880 founded a Society of Freethinkers.
(Accounts vary, but his society may have either merged
with or been renamed the Anti-Clerical League.)
March,1982
rr
laboratories
beneath the cliffs of Gibralter, staffed by
mischievous demons under the leadership of one TubalCain. Here, Satan's chemists worked around the clock
concocting
flus and epidemics to be spread amongst
christians everywhere. (Tubal-Cain, by the way, reportedly
spoke fluent French.) And more fantasy: in the town of
Freiburg, Switzerland was to be found a masonic temple
hewn out of rock for use during the satanic mass. Naked
men and women engaged in irreligious and erotic outrages,
including stabbing holy wafers which had been stolen by
jews from catholic churches.
The spicy comedy was not complete, however, without
one Miss Diana Vaughn, whom T axil presented to society
as a descendant
of the Rosicrucian alchemist Thomas
Vaughn.wf'he lady claimed to possess a signed contract
between her famous ancestor and satan himself, dated
March 25,1625. Miss Vaughn was supposedly born in Paris
on February 29, 1874-a most ingenious feat, considering
that in that particular year there was no February 29.
Having been raised on strictly Luciferian principles, she
purportedly
one day expressed
doubt to her satanic
mentors as to the worthiness of Cain and Abel as paragons
of diabolical virtue. It was quickly ascertained
that the
youngster was possessed by the christian angel Raphael,
and in need of immediate exorcism, lest she fall prey to the
47Itis fascinating to see what portions of the Taxil-Bataille farce
survive today, accepted by fools. The Christian Defense
League offers for sale a two-cassette collection titled "History
of the Illuminati" where the tales of the New Paladian Rite are
given credence; so is the Taxil creation of Albert Pike using
radio, although the outlandish story of the devil-summoning
bracelet is not.
48See Mackay, p. 189.
Austin, Texas
***
The linkage of Freemasonry
49See The Month, published in London, Vol. LXIX, MayAugust 1890, article titled "Leo Taxi!".
50See Curtis D. MacDougall, Hoaxes (New York: Macmillan
Co., 1941) p. 100.
March,1982
Page 13
IEIPIT[L@(JJ1E
What then can we say of Illuminism and Freemasonry
from the Atheist perspective?
Certainly, it was in Freemasonry that much of the Atheism and deism of the
Enlightenment was nurtured. The metaphors of creating
new edifices from raw, unfinished stone, of crafting and
transforming
the world to create new structures
were
themes which intertwined with the whole spirit of the
Enlightenment. Ironically, it was when this philosophy was
kept most secret and subjugated to the most conspiratorial
organizational
forms, that it failed. Despite Weishaupt's
carefully laid plans, the Order of the Illuminati did not and
could not succeed.
51Ibid., p. 201.
Page 14
Cont'd on p.26
52Some lodges in Italy have even become vehicles for the
establishment of authoritarian, right -wing coups. In May, 1981,
the Italian government uncovered a plot with lodge "Propaganda Due" to seize control of the state. Implicated were
intelligence officers, military figures, members of parliament,
bankers and "Ieading Italians".
55ee Denis Pichet and Francois Furet, The French Revolution
(New York: Macmillan Co., 1970).
March, 1982
.American Atheist
,
\
,J
Austin, Texas
was part of "the Land of Israel",' and then later, as an influential former Head of State, advised Prime Minister
Moshe Sharett on ways to destabilize Lebanon to better
realize Zionism's territorial ambitions there. In a letter to
Sharett dated Feb. 27, 1954, Ben-Gurion wrote:
The creation of a Christian State ... would find support in
wide circles in the Christian world, both Catholic and Protestant. In normal times this would be almost impossible.
First and foremost because of the lack of initiative and
courage of the Christians. But at times of confusion, or
revolution or civil war, things take on another aspect, and
even the weak declares himselfto be a hero. Perhaps ... now
is the time to bring about the creation of a Christian State in
our neighborhood. Without our initiative and our vigorous
aid this will not be done. It seems to me that this is the
central duty ... of our foreign policy. This means that time,
energy and means ought to be invested in it and we must act
in all possible ways to bring about a radical change in
Lebanon.'
,:~
March,1982
Page 15
highly-regarded Israeli journalist has suggested that a desire for the water resources of the occupied West Bank was
possibly "the true reason, so far unknown, for the eruption
ofthe Six Day War."!
The Litani has now greater significance than ever for
Israel which is in the midst of a water crisis. "We are
already using 100 per cent of ali our water," Ze'ev Hagali,
director of the Israel Water Works Association has
been quoted as saying." Israel's total water consumption is
now about 1.6 billion cubic meters per year and it is estimated that it will require an additional 400-450 million
cubic meters by 1990 if it is to avoid diverting water from
agriculture-a
move which could have a potentially
calamitous impact on Israel's trade balance and its plans
for population dispersion. According to the knowledgeable
American journalist John Cooley, in an ominous conclusion
to an article in the London bi-weekly Middle East Inter-
national,
March,1982
American Atheist
At the time of this writing, several developments are conspiring to ensure a prime place for the Lebanese imbroglio
within the context of the ongoing Israeli-Arab contlict.
On Nov. 30, as Philip Habib was presumably trying to
More or less in tandem with the detonations was an in- strengthen the July 24 cease-fire in Lebanon, Israel signed
tensive Israeli propaganda campaign designed to discredit an ambiguously worded "strategic cooperation" agreement
the PLO and convince world opinion that they were with Washington, pledging both parties to make common
breaking the cease-fire by augmenting their firepower in cause against threats to the region's "peace and security"
South Lebanon-an argument subsequently repudiated by from the Soviet Union. Unless there are secret provisions in
"U.S. sources in Israel" who
the pact, it will provide Israel with none of the guarantees
asserted firmly that the PLO's introduction of heavy
it has sought for direct U.S. military assistance in the event
weapons into the areas under its control is not a violation of
of another Israeli-Arab war. If anything, the pact has conthe cease-fire (formally called "the cessation of hostilities")
tributed to the Jewish State's insecurity by placing it in
which was negotiated for South Lebanon by [U.S. presidangerous opposition to one of the superpowers and antagdential envoy Philip Habib].
onising
Syria, which has a 20-year "friendship and cooperaThe American sources insisted that Begin had been told
tion"
treaty
with the Soviet Union. But, as the Jerusalem
clearly during the cease-fire negotiations that a ban on inPost's
military
correspondent Hirsh Goodman points out,
troducing additional weapons was not part of the accordall
of
this
was
anticipated
before the agreement with Washand Begin had signed in that knowledge. ,.
ington was signed. Consequently, the Israeli "defense estabA notable promulgator of this line was the late Moshe . lishment" and government are growing increasingly appreDyan who told a New York City synagogue audience on hensive about the projected rate of Arab military spending
Sept. 14 that the PLO was "digging in" with reinforcements
($70 billion over the next eight years) which, they claim,
across the northern border. "If the PLO resume firing and
along with the AWACS and F-1S enhancement package to
shelling Israeli settlements across the border, by God, the
the Saudis, will shift the balance of power decisively in favor
whole thing is going to blow up," declared the sickly ex- of the Arabs. Realization of this is nurturing "a growing
school of thought that drastic action is needed." Goodman
elaborates:
*In a speech before the Knesset on May 11, 1981, Menachem
Begin stated that one of the points of "common agreement" between the U.S. and Israel, which had emerged in earlier talks in
April between him and Alexander Haig, " .. .involves the attitude
taken to the Syrian role in Lebanon. The U.S. sees things as Israel
does. Syria is no longer a peace-keeping force nor a stabilizing
one." (from an Israeli Government Press Office release cited in
Israleft Hi-weekly News Service (Jerusalem), May 19, 1981, p. 6).
What this drastic action may be remains a matter of speculation, but one possibility is the escalation of localized
conflict-s-such as tension in Lebanon--into a full-scale
battle designed to redress the balance of power by drawing
Syria and other confrontation states into contlict. While
such a move would have serious international repercussions,
March,1982
Austin, Texas
rl
Page 17
.----LEBANON
AND "LEBENSRAUM"
REFERENCES
1. Wolf Blitzer, "The Strategy Deal With Israel", Jerusalem
Post (Int. Ed.), Sept. 13-19,1981.
2. Cited in G. Bowder, H. Maalouf, D. Tayara, "Israel's Creeping Annexation", The Middle East (London), April 1981, p.
53.
3. Cited in Israel Shahak, "The 'Historical Right' And The
Other Holocaust", Journal Of Palestine Studies. Spring 1981,
p.30.
4. Cited in Livia Rokach, Israel's Sacred Terrorism (Assoc. of
Arab-American University Graduates, Inc., Belmont, Mass.,
1980)p.25.
5. Cited in/bid .. p. 28.
6. The Letters And Papers of Chaim Weizmann. M.W.
Weisgal, Ed., Vol. X, Series A (Transaction Books, Rutgers
University, 1977) pp. 76-77.
7. "The Jordan's Angry Waters", New Outlook (Tel-Aviv), July/
August 1965, p. ~1.
.
Page 18
March,1982
American Atheist
On Our Way
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
THE THOUGHTLESS
AND THE DAMNED
The sum total of the following statement says that the
topmost stratum of humanity is damned to think. But is it
damned naturally, or by design? Let's look at the rubric
above that bottom line and see what we can learn about
this. Ifcareful, and able to distinguish between the facts and
the hearsay scrambled within those upper lines, we might
learn something of value to the existence we've all been
chancilv fated to experience.
The overweeningly pietistic religionism by which Americans who read, listen to radio, and watch television are
constantly assailed nowadays, betrays through everything
it says as well as through everything it ignores, that it's
pretty much the same stew it was in the middle of the 19th
century. At that time, within a year or two after 1858 when
Europe's theologers were panicked by Darwin's Origin of
Species, the hucksters of christianist persuasion were everywhere (except here in our United States where the book
was largely ignored) assiduously busy trying to plug the
leaks made by this book in their time-worn system of
protective dikes.
Please reflect that until the last two or three decades of
the 18th century, and throughout all Europe, the mental
attitude of the majority of Europeans could be summed up
in but one terse sentence; namely: You're born to labor
unprotestingly for your emperor or king, honor the priesthoods, and humbly pray to your religion's god, begging his
forgiveness for any thoughts or hopes you might entertain
for relief or possible release from this condition, in order to
deserve, after death, the joys of your religion's promised life
in heaven. Isn't it therefore in retrospect scandalous that
American citizens liberated in 1776 from enslavement by
this kind of an outlook, are again being jollied by fanatical
religious preachers and political demagogues to ask for its
return in order to once again patiently suffer it?
In this presently existing predicament the question
begging an answer is: By whom and by what means were
Europe's millions induced to submit to an outlook so outrageously self-effacing and bleak? It was all contrived
through the false promises of heaven and the fear of god
inculcated by christianist cupidity. So, although Western
humanity's march out of religious enslavement really began
when the American colonists declared their independence
in 1776, and the people of France in 1787, the people of
Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy, czarist Russia and a
dozen lesser nations didn't realize it until during and shortly
followingworld war one. Today, as mentioned, the religious
enclave is-as always-again trying to inveigle the masses
back into the intellectual thralldom from which they so
recently managed to escape .
.Now, for what reason did the common people of Europe
follow our lead and finally rebel against the system of
existence they for nearly a thousand previous years
patiently endured? It seems reasonable to think they
Austin, Texas
March,1982
Page 19
March,1982
American Atheist
of a Bodybuilder:
Looking Up
G. Stanley Brown
STELLAR EVOLUTION
Evolution is a word which agitates biblical fundamentalists. It is obvious to the scientific establishment and onerous
to the scarcely educated. Evolution is popularly applied to
species of life. But there is another kind of evolution, more
abstract yet more easily verified. This is the evolution of
stars.
Stars exist as enormous self-luminous balls of gas, and
our sun is one of them. We know its size and horsepower
output, but what about its past and future? Physical science
and mathematics have given us the tools to calculate what
goes on in the interior of a star and the changes it passes
through from birth to death. Stellar evolution has no
missing links because stars of all ages are out there sending
us starlight now. Our task is to study the snapshot of
present observations of many stars and build a coherent
interpretation. This may be analogous to studying human
aging via a photograph of a multi-generation family. However, stellar aging depends on processes which are better
understood than human aging.
Progress in explaining the birth, lifeand death of stars has
depended on developments in astronomical instrumentation, nuclear physics and computers. It has relied on
differential equations and the physics of gases. Astronomers understand all of these and can show that their
interaction is a powerful and convincing demonstration of
the ancient origin of the sun 5 billion years ago. The same
techniques show that the sun has another 5 billion years of
energy remaining and reveal the fate of the earth just before
the death of the sun. This paper will discuss all of these
March,1982
Austin, Texas
rJ
Page 21
photometer
the apparent
brightness
of a star can be
measured. The apparent brightness plus the distance gives
the actual brightness
via the inverse square law. We
continue by measuring star light through different colored
filters and comparing brightness in red, yellow and blue
light, for example. This gives the temperature
of the
atmosphere
of the star because there is a relationship
between temperature and the dominant color radiated by a
hot gas. Knowing temperature and true brightness we can
calculate the radius of the star.
How this is done is an instructive example in quantitative
thinking. Both radius and temperature affect brightness. If
two stars have the same temperature but one has twice the
radius of the other, the larger star will be four times brighter,
because the surface area is four times greater. If two stars
have the same radius but one is twice as hot as the other,
the hotter star will be sixteen times brighter, because
brightness is proportional to the fourth power of temperature. This latter fact can be shown in the laboratory or
derived using mathematics
and physical priniciples. The
ideas above are expressed in physical laws of Wien, Planck
and Stefan-Boltzmann.
With brightness and temperature of stars we can do what
is so common in science: plot a graph. In 1911 E. Hertzsprung plotted stars for which data was available with
.temperature increasing to the left and brightness increasing
upward. H.N. Russell advanced the study of this graph and
it became known as the Hertzsprung-Russell
(H-R) diagram.
Figure 1 is an example. It is a fundamental
tool of
astrophysicists as they study and compare stars and decide
how time is related to their appearance.
Stars occur frequently in groups in our galaxy. Two
groups which may be seen with the unaided eye are the
Pleiades and Hyades. With binoculars you can see more
groups of stars. Groups offer the advantage of suggesting a
common age for their members. Also, because they are a
group, they are all at approximately the same distance. So
the true brightness ratios of the stars are equal to their
apparent brightness ratios. We can plot H-R diagrams for
various groups of stars and look for patterns and suqqestions about how time maybe involved. The first fact to be
seen in these plots is that stars are not scattered at random
in temperature and brightness. Rather, all the plots show a
line from upper left to lower right. There must be something
real and significant about that line.
Another source of information is available. It is the
chemical composition
of the atmosphere
of the star.
Astronomers use a device called a spectrograph
attached
to a telescope. This takes the light of a star and spreads it
out according to its color. It is possible to measure the
strength of each color photoelectrically or photographically
and obtain a graph of light intensity versus color. Instead of
color, scientists use the more specific term "wavelength"
and use powerful instruments to examine minute details of
change in intensity with wavelength. The technique of
spreading light by color enough to gather scientific data was
first applied to the light of the sun by J. Fraunhofer in 1815.
Through decades of work physicists have been able to
interpret the patterns of varying light intensity and identify
the chemical elements in the gas producing the light. They
have also been able to calculate relative abundances
of
elements; e.g. how' many helium atoms are present for
every carbon atom. The technique relies: on a detailed
Page 22
March,
1982
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understanding of the electrons of atoms and how temperature affects them. The calculations
can be checked by
laboratory experiments.
.
Astronomers have applied these principles to the light of
stars and discovered that some clusters of stars contain a
larger percentage
of hydrogen and helium than others.
Furthermore
the appearance
of the H-R diagram of a
cluster is correlated
with the abundance
of elements
heavier than helium. More stars appear in the upper right
for clusters with few heavy elements, and more stars appear
in the upper left for clusters with more heavy elements.
Astronomers
would like to know if the presence of heavy
elements indicates age or youth.
,:0::
ANALYSIS
Interpretation
of observational
data is an area rich in
opportunities for talented people. They take great delight in
analyzing, proposing hypotheses,
calculating predictions
from hypotheses,
comparing results with observations,
rejecting their erroneous work and starting again. They
bring to bear the power of mathematics,
computers and
physics in their assult on data about stars. They mix
inspiration with tedious attention to detail, and welcome
constructive criticism from other specialists. Destroying a
bad theory is constructive criticism.
Theoretical astrophysics is a process of model building.
We all understand a model airplane or car, but other kinds
of models are possible. They consist of numbers. The
numbers are a measure of physical characteristics
and they
are related by rules of physics. For example. given two
numbers a third may be calculated and with the third a
fourth may be calculated. The process may be continued ad
infinitum with whatever principles are applicable until the
results can be compared with observations. This technique
is especially important to astronomy because it is the only
tool available. Biologists can conduct experiments in their
laboratory by controlling starting conditions and environment. Chemists and physicists control what goes into their
experiments a'nd how much. But astronomers
can control
'American
Atheist
new values for a third shell. The process is repeated until the
calculations indicate an obviously wrong result, for example, there is no mass in the :center of the star, or the
pressure or temperature in the atmosphere is too high or
the luminosity does not fit with observations. These errors
indicate that the starting assumptions were wrong. They
must be adjusted and the process repeated. When all
quantities make sense at all distances from the center of the
star we can believe we have numbers which are well correlated with reality.
So far nothing has been said about evolution. We have
only developed the means to know about a place we can
never see or measure directly: the interior of a star. But by
knowing the conditions there we are able to calculate
changes with the passage of time. The key factor here is the
change in chemical composition with time. Nuclear physics
tells us that ifwe put enough hydrogen in one place at a high
enough temperature, and add time, we will get helium. An
increase in temperature and more time will produce still
heavier elements. Nuclear physics tells us how fast the new
elements are created. So it is possible to calculate stellar
models, cacluate change in chemical composition in, for
example, one million years and calculate a new model with
the new composition. The process is repeated to learn how
the star changes with time.
The calculations and theoretical considerations tell us
that the life history of a star is dependent on only two of its
properties: mass and chemical composition. Of these' mass
is by far the most important. A small star can spend twenty
billion years cooking hydrogen into helium. But a large star
can do that, go on to building heavier elements, and blow
up, all in less than one hundred million years. There are a
large number of dwarf (low mass) stars relative to the
number of giant (large mass) stars. Combining this fact with
their different rates of evolution enables us to interpret what
we see in space.
STELLAR CONCEPTION ,-:
Having discussed both the observational data and the
powerful techniques available to aid our understanding of
stars, we next proceed to the conditions leading to the birth
of a star. We start with the existence of enormous
collapsing clouds of gas. These are called "protogalaxies".
They are turbulent, they fragment into still smaller clouds,
and they are composed of 90'X, hydrogen and 10% helium.
Their origin will be discussed in a subsequent paper.
Collapse is caused by ,gravity and collapse causes turbulence. Turbulence causes variation in density of matter
throughout the cloud. The higher density places tend to
attract surrounding material to themselves. So we have a
process labeled "gaseous fragmentation". However, the
turbulence would be expected to cause collisions between
the fragments and destroy any permanence. So a process
must be involved which promotes the collapse of the
fragments before they can be destroyed by collisions. This
process is radiative cooling. A fragment sends out heat and
light and for that it can accelerate its gravitational collapse.
On a macroscopic scale it is said to be converting gravitational potential energy to radiant energy. On the atomic
scale atoms collide and their electrons are knocked into
more energetic orbits. After collision the electrons return to
their original low energy orbits by emitting a quantum of
radiation.
March,1982
Page 23
>,
Robert Stricklin
Men have been predicting the end of the world since the
beginning of civilization, forewarned of apocalypse by the
stars, by omens, by the mere eclipse of the sun and by the
entrails of animals. Others have interpreted the ancient
prophecies of biblical scribes to conclude that the end was
imminent. A century has not gone by without the threat of
'doomsday' being over mankind's head by religious institutions or by individuals whose purposes were not entirely
selfless.
.
The wrath of god has always been a ploy used by christian
clergymen and evangelists. When common sense challenged
their beliefs, they resorted to fire and brimstone to sustain
the notion that religion is humanity's only refuge from
destruction. They maintained that without obedience and
unquestioning devotion to religious precepts, mankind
becomes sinful and the punishment for sinfulness is plague,
pestilence and doomsday.
Now that mankind is capable of destroying itself with
nuclear weapons, theologians and born-again laymen have
found a more convincing means of driving home the
message of salvation. By exploiting our fears of devastation
they are not only converting nenbelievers into zealots but
converting their dire warnings into top dollar:
By far the most prosperous exponent of Doomsday
literature is Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet
Earth, published in 1970 and purported to be the bestselling
book of that decade. Using biblical prophecy from both Old
and New Testaments, Lindsey's book presents an elaborate forecast in which a new Roman Empire made up of
ten nations will spawn an omnipotent antichrist. who will
enslave the world and lead mankind to Armageddon.
Liberally interpreting passages from the books of Daniel,
Ezekiel, Isaiah and the book of Revelations, Lindsey conjured a vision of a not-so-distant future exploding with war,
famine, earthquakes and totalitarianism preceding the
second coming of jesus christ. Lindsey, a graduate of Dallas
Theological Seminary and a former staff member of Campus Crusade for Christ, offered readers one- hope of
survival from the horrors predicted in his book-the
acceptance of christ as their saviour. The proliferation of
religious propaganda throughout The Late Great Planet
Earth was so excessive it read like a recruitment manual
Page 24
March,1982
PI
undoubtedly Jeane Dixon, who achieved national recognition in 1965 as the subject of Ruth Montgomery's bestseller, A Gift of Prophecy. Mrs. Dixon's initial claim to fame
was the contention that she predicted, among many other
things, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
several years before it happened. We were not surprised to
learn that Mrs. Dixon's method of divining the future was
through a little crystal ball, as well as an occasional
revelation, vision and oracular dream. Star-struck by her
sudden notoriety, Mrs. Dixon went on to write her own
journal, My Life and Prophecies in 1969, appeared on
various talk shows and the lecture circuit, and established a
widely syndicated astrological newspaper column.
In My Life and Prophecies, Mrs. Dixon's visions of the
1980s and 1990s echo the ominous forebodings of Hal
Lindsey and others-nuclear
holocaust, the antichrist,
world domination, et cetera. A devout catholic, Mrs. Dixon
has been personally told by the virgin Mary and other deities
that a return to the ways of the lord are mankind's only hope
of survival.
Ifone keeps a scorecard, it is extraordinary how many of
Mrs. Dixon's published predictions have not been fulfilled.
Among her most embarrassing misses were the forecasts
that China would plunge the world into war in 1958, the
Russians would land the first man on the moon, Walter
Reuther would seek the presidency, and Bishop Pike would
find success in a new career (a prediction submitted for
publication weeks before Pike perished in the Judean
desert). Also damaging to her credibility are her frequent
articles in the National Star, a tabloid which caters to
sensationalism.
Mrs. Dixon's downfall as a prognosticator is her tendency
to rely on her political prejudices and roman catholic
philosophy in the formulation of prophecy. She received
"good vibrations" from political figures like Richard Nixon,
Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, but bemoaned the
policies of liberal counterparts Lyndon Johnson, Robert
Kennedy and George McGovern. She referred to the late
Dr. Martin Luther King as "an unwitting tool of the
Communists" and predicted that the youth of the Woodstock generation "who neglect spiritual values will suffer
untold misery." These critical and subjective lapses betray
Jeane Dixon as a woman with a bone to pick rather than a
psychic with a vision to foretell.
One of the most ardent and persistent mutli-rnedia
soothsayers is Herbert W. Armstrong, pastor general of the
Worldwide Church of God, editor-in-chief of The Plain
Truth magazine, television commentator on It Is Written,
and author of several books including The United States
and Britain in Prophecy. Ninety years young, Mr. Armstrong is a globetrotting harbinger of 'kingdom come',
quoting scripture with every other sentence in an inexhaustible effort to alert and convert the masses before the
'great tribulation' he envisions. What distinguishes Armstrong from the pack of paranoid preachers is his rather
controversial conclusion that it will be the Vatican that
paves the way for mankind's seduction by satan and that
Rome may even become the seat of the antichrist, a fear
also expressed by the Our Lady of Fatima Crusade, an
apocalypse- conscious faction of the catholic church. To his
credit, Armstrong's mail-order books are free of charge,
although contributions are suggested and readily accepted.
Even the more reputable of evangelists have used the
Austin, Texas
March,1982
Page 25
advanced warning. If it does not happen, the same appointed guardians of morality can exploit the theme indefinitely, lending credence to the belief that there is a
market for everything, even doom.
]])ll&Jl-THE=&1f[H][Ell1f
American Atheist Center, Austin, Texas
IIDll&Jl &i\J & 1f[H][Ell1f CHAPTERS OF AMERICAN ATHEISTS
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March,
1982
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(continued
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March, 1982
Austin, Texas
IV
Page 27
Page 28
Michael
Pentz,
March. 1982
one
of
Britain's
. American Atheist
Bertrand Russell
Albert Einstein
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