-Caveat Lector-
from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS
subject: AANEWS for July 14, 1999
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
#608 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7/14/99
http://www.atheists.org
ftp.atheists.org/pub/atheists/
http://www.americanatheist.org
---------------------------------------------
A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"Leading The Way For Atheist Civil Rights
And The Separation Of State and Church"
----------------------------------------------
In This Issue...
* Is bigoted "Church" an "atheist group"?
* Action pending on RLPA
* Resources
* About this list...
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE ON "CREATOR CHURCH" UNFAIRLY
SMEARS ATHEISTS
An article appearing in the Monday, July 12 edition of the Washington
Post described the racist World Church of the Creator -- a neo-nazi
movement headed by a self-proclaimed "Pontifex Maximum" -- as "an
atheist group." Authored by staff writer Rene Sanchez, the piece
("Path of Calif. Hate Crimes Led to Strictly Reared Brothers")
appeared on page two of the "A" section, and was also available on the
Post's website.
Sanchez began by describing "a wave of hate" allegedly involving two
Redding, California brothers, Benjamin Matthew Williams, 31 and James
Tyler Williams, 29, who are being investigated in connection with the
burning of three synagogues, the bombing of an abortion clinic, and
the shooting of a gay couple. "As investigators continued today to
probe their possible role in all of the attacks, as well as links the
men may have had to white supremacist groups nationally," wrote
Sanchez, "more details of their lives emerged." Sanchez noted that
the men "were raised in a fundamentalist Christian" family, and that
the father was "a strict disciplinarian who often loudly professed
extremist views to neighbors." A local high school teacher who
purchased a home from the elder Williams told the paper, "Everything
they did was about religion. They were fanatical about it."
Sanchez then noted that during a police search of the Williams'
brothers house, a variety of evidence was uncovered including
anti-Semitic tracts from the World Church of the Creator. The church
is already being probed in a separate investigation linked to Benjamin
Nathaniel Smith, who over the July 4 weekend went on a killing spree
in Indiana and Illinois before shooting himself. Sanchez reported
that according to the Anti-Defamation League, the World Church of the
Creator operates in California. She then wrote: "Matthew Hale, who
leads the atheist group, has denied having a role in any of the recent
attacks..."
Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, promptly responded in a
letter to the Washington Post and called for a clarification. "This
is an unfair and blatantly inaccurate characterization of atheism,"
charged Johnson. "Not only does this organization describe itself as
a 'church,' it is headed by a man named Matthew Hale who uses the
title 'Pontifex Maximum.' " She added that while the World Church of
the Creator claims to reject Christianity, much of its ideology is
"remarkably similar to Christian Identity, a theological system which
teaches racial hatred and promotes a fantasy version of human
evolution and history."
"We find no evidence that the World Church of the Creator has labored
for any of the social or political objectives which American Atheists
and other Atheist organizations have worked for over the decades.
When not glorifying the persona of the 'Pontifex Maximus' the WCC
peddles a message of political hate and intolerance. In contrast,
American Atheists have labored for the separation of church and state,
defended other important civil liberties and human rights, and worked
to promulgate a rational view of the universe and humanity's role in
it."
Johnson told the Post that the characterization of the Creator sect as
an "atheist group" was a "cheap shot, especially since American
Atheists has taken a proactive role in political and social affairs,
yet has received nowhere near comparable coverage in your paper." She
added, "Ironically, those who may agree with the teachings of this
'church' seem to be doing the bidding of America's extreme religious
right fundamentalists; they are suspected, like the Williams brothers
in California, of carrying out raids on abortion clinics, physically
attacking gays, and other reprehensible actions... None of this has
anything to do with Atheism and the separation of church and state."
In a printed statement issued last night to the national media,
American Atheists spokesperson Ron Barrier charged that the article
displayed "callous indifference to Atheists and a total lack of
knowledge about Atheism and freethought." He called for the Post to
issue an apology, and an explanation of why the claim was made that
the World Church of the Creator was "an atheist group."
On news groups and mailing lists, the reaction to the Post article was
similar. Frank Wayne, a member of the aachat list, promptly
dispatched a letter to the paper and declared, "To call them (WCC)
atheists is absurd... I finds the apparently unintentional connection
made between atheism and anti-Semitism -- not to mention Christianity
-- repulsive." Others echoed the thoughts of Doug Ittner, who called
the Post article characterization "absurd" and "a slur."
"It shows a lack of understanding by a major American newspaper," said
Ms. Johnson. "Atheists strive to be free from religion as both a
doctrinal belief and a psychological mindset. Atheists don't pray, or
form churches, or worship a god, or call themselves by religious
titles like priest, pope or Pontifex Maximus. That's just
childish..."
A History Of Hate, Intolerance, Superstition
The Church of the Creator was founded in 1973 by Ben Klassen, author
of "The White Man's Bible" and other racist tracts. The organization
reflected Klassen's extremist political agenda, and his Church became
a magnet for neo-nazis, Skinhead youth, Ku Klux Klan members and
others. Mirabella magazine profiled Klassen and his church in a
September, 1992 piece where it described the COTC "seventeen-acre
landscaped compound," noting that it "includes small-arms firing
ranges, paramilitary barracks and other buildings... Inside a large
converted barn that serves as headquarters, church founder and leader,
Ben Klassen ... sits beneath a large painted portrait of Adolph
Hitler, 'The greatest leader the white race ever had,' says Klassen
... Since 1990 groups of committed young men have traveled here for
extensive political mining (sic) under Klassen's tutelage. The
recruits wear white berets or cowboy hats, live in the barracks and
practice shooting with automatic weapons on the firing range. Many
are older teenagers. 'Exceptional boys,' Klassen calls them..."
Klassen had been a conservative activist, supporting the presidential
candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964. Disenchanted with mainstream
politics, though, he was later influenced by authoritarian figures
such as George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party,
and by an obscure political theology known as Christian Identity.
Identity has become an unpinning for many extreme racist groups today,
and operates through a network of churches, including a sect headed by
Rev. Richard Butler.
Christian Identity is a bizarre, eclectic fusion of Old Testament
teachings and occult beliefs that date back to the 19th century and a
movement known as British Israel. The latter taught that the Anglo
Saxon race descended from the "Lost Tribe" of Israel, and that a
historical record was encoded in the construction of the Great
Pryramid in Egypt. "Pyramid Studies" became a Victorian era rage, and
many intellectuals, clerics and political figures became immersed in
studying the "hidden meaning" of the enormous monument. Later, notes
political scientist Michael Barkun ("Religion and the Racist Right:
The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement," 1994, Chapel Hill),
"this occult fascination with the pyramid's dimensions crystallized
into a system for dating the events of millenarian history..."
British Israel teachings came to the United States, and flowed through
extremist movements in pre-World War II America. Several domestic
fascist groups such as William Dudley's Silvershirt movement
incorporate British Israel mysticism into their philosophy. Later,
Richard Butler adapted the theology when he formed his Church of Jesus
Christ Christian, and its political action wing, Aryan Nations.
While Klassen was not a strict Identity adherent, his philosophy of
racial nationalism was influenced by Butler's teachings. The Church
of the Creator also shared the rejection of a friendly and forgiving
New Testament Jesus, in favor of a stricter pre-Christian code. Other
groups too were taking this doctrinal path on their own, including
Christian Reconstructionism which called for the adoption of Old
Testament law to enforce the commands of Jehovah.
By 1992, Klassen was searching for a successor to take over his
church. He sold the compound in North Carolina to William Pierce, who
authored the controversial novel "The Turner Diaries," a book which
predicts a coming apocalyptical racialist war. Some have noted
alleged similarities in the plot of the Piece book to the case of Tim
McVey, and the bombing of the Murragh federal building in Oklahoma
City. Klassen committed suicide in August, 1993 by taking four
bottles of sleeping pills. He left behind a note, describing his act
as "an honorable and dignified way to die for any ... of a number of
reasons, such as having come to the decision that life is no longer
worthwhile."
Chaos erupted in the Church of the Creator, but Matthew Hale managed
to emerge as Klassen's successor. Hale had immersed himself in
philosophy and German history as a youngster, and while in the 8th
grade formed a small group called "The New Reich." After high school,
he matriculated at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and
graduated in 1993 with a B.A. in Political Science. He was known as
a bright if not blunt activist who distributed fliers for his
"American White Supremacist Party," and another group he formed known
as the "National Socialist White Americans' Party." Hale ran
unsuccessfully for the East Peoria City Council in 1995, and the
following year -- in the chaotic organizational aftermath of Klassen's
suicide -- he emerged, at age 24, as the "Pontifex Maximum" of the
Church of the Creator. He renamed the group World Church of the
Creator, launched an internet web site, and began revitalizing the
sect.
While Hale and his group claim to be "anti-Christian," stripping away
the racist rhetoric leave precious little evidence to use in defining
the theology of the "church." In an essay titled "What We Believe
In," it states: "We Believe in the Eternal Laws of Nature as revealed
through science, history, logic and common sense... We Believe that
the highest Law of Nature is the survival of our species by ALL MEANS
AND AT ALL COSTS." Hale also embraces the battle cry of RAHOWA!, an
acronym for "Racial Holy War." The phrase is used widely throughout
Klan, Identity and neo-nazi circles, and calls for the establishment
of a White (Anglo Saxon) homeland that many believers locate in the
Pacific northwest region of the United States. Hale also uses other
Christian Identity terms such as "mud people" to describe blacks,
Hispanics and others. In the WCC publication "Voice of the Struggle,"
Hale opined that he and the group "have never deviated" from the
position of "shipping the mud races back to their native lands."
"We never will and that's only the first step," Hale wrote. "We will
withdraw all aid to them and they will wither on the vine. And one
day white people will be basking in the sun of Africa in their own
countries. I like that thought, Africa is a beautiful continent,
let's colonize the place as it should have been done, and it was done
at one time but it wasn't done right. It's time to do it right and
drive the non-whites off the face of the earth."
Is This Atheism? Is This Rational?
While Hale and the World Church of the Creator reject Christianity,
the Washington Post description of an "atheist group" may be a
conceptual leap, and an inappropriate description. Hale does pay lip
service to "science, history, logic and common sense," but does not
elaborate in rigorous detail what these terms mean to him as "Pontifex
Maximus." Many would characterize his racialist views as a form of
pseudo-science, or at the minimum an example of a poor and biased
knowledge of anthropology, biology and history.
There is also the use of the label "church," a term defined as "the
house of the Lord," and "the name of the Christian house of worship"
by the authoritative Oxford Dictionary of the English Language. "An
Atheist group calling itself a church, or a temple, or a mosque is as
absurd as an Atheist using the term 'Pope' or 'Reverend" to describe
himself or herself," noted Ellen Johnson. 'It's conceptually
confusing, a poor choice of words, and it does nothing to promote the
notion that Atheists are free from the mental and social encumbrances
of religion."
* What you can do to...
Letters of concern may be directed to The Washington Post, 1150 15th
St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.
**
ACTION PENDING IN HOUSE ON RLPA
The U.S. House of Representatives is about to commence debate in its
morning session on the controversial Religious Liberty Protection Act.
AANEWS will have a special dispatch later today if there is, as
expected, a vote on the RLPA. Visit
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/rlpalob.htm for more information on
this measure.
**
RESOURCES FROM AMERICAN ATHEISTS...
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articles from the current or back issues, as well as special web-only
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