The American Association for the Advancement of Atheism (AAAA) is the oldest of the several atheist bodies in the United States. The group was founded by Charles Lee Smith in 1925 as an antireligion/antitheist body. Smith, a lawyer, was converted to atheism from his reading of various books advocating freethought (the philosophy that holds that all beliefs should be formed by logic and science rather than ideology or emotions). After World War I he began to write for The Truth Seeker, an independent freethought journal published in New York City. In 1925, with his friend Freeman Hopwood, he founded the AAAA. Starting with little support and working within a hostile environment, Smith engaged in a number of controversial activities, beginning with his involvement in the debates over Arkansas’s antievolution law in 1928. He debated Christian ministers when the opportunity arose, the most famous being Aimee Semple McPherson, the flamboyant leader of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. From the publicity given his various activities, the Association grew. At its peak it had approximately 2,000 members, and chapters could be found on some 20 college and university campuses. The AAAA sponsored periodic lectures, called the Ingersoll Forum (named for Robert G. Ingersoll, the famous nineteenth-century freethinker), in New York City. In 1930 Smith purchased The Truth Seeker, which remained independent but closely identified with the Association. Hard hit by the economic Depression of the 1930s, the Association shrank, and most of its organized activities were discontinued, though Smith continued to publish the magazine monthly.

Around 1950 Smith’s dislike of Jews and blacks began to be reflected in the pages of The Truth Seeker, which started to publish an increasing number of racist and anti-Semitic articles. These led to further loss of support and the isolation of the AAAA from other atheist organizations. In 1964 Smith sold The Truth Seeker to James Hervey Johnson, who moved it and the AAAA to San Diego. A few months later, Smith died and since then Johnson has continued as head of the AAAA and editor of the magazine.

The Association believes religion to be a fraud and that God is nonexistent. It also teaches that the white race is superior to Jews and blacks and actively distributes such books as The Biological Jew, by Eustace Mullins; The International Jew, by Henry Ford; the apocryphal Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion; and Our Nordic Race, by R. K. Hoskins. The Association also stands for law and order, honest government, “real liberty,” freedom of the press and of speech, absolute separation of religion and government, and taxation of churches. All members must be atheists, a requirement that distinguishes the AAAA from many freethought organizations.

During the 1970s there were approximately 200 members, but no regular meetings. As with most atheist groups, there are too few members in most cities to support a separate meeting, thus members attend any local freethinkers’gathering available to them. In San Diego, the freethinkers gather on the birthdays of Thomas Paine (January 29) and Robert Ingersoll (August 7).

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

The Truth Seeker.

Sources

Cardiff, Ira D. “If Christ Came to New York.” New York: American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, [1932].

Dalgliesh, Malcolm. The Sage of San Diego Said Choose Quality and Reason. New York: A New Enlightenment, n.d. 100 pp.

Graves, Kersey. The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors. New York: Truth Seeker, 1875.

Johnson, James Hervey. “Charles Smith: 1887–1964.” The Truth Seeker 91, no. 11 (November 1964).

———. Superior Men. San Diego, CA: Author, 1949.

McPherson, Aimee Semple, and Charles Lee Smith. Debate: There Is a God! Los Angeles: Foursquare Publications, n.d.

Swancara, Frank. Separation of Religion and Government. New York: Truth Seeker Co., 1950.

American Atheists, Inc.

PO Box 5733, Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733

Possibly the most famous American atheist of the twentieth century was Madalyn Murray O’Hair (1919–1995), who founded American Atheists, Inc., on July 1, 1963, in Austin, Texas. O’Hair became a national figure in 1963 when the Supreme Court upheld her suit, which had been joined with a second similar case, and ruled against the mandatory recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and passages from the Bible in U.S. public schools. This ruling has often been mistakenly described as outlawing prayer in the public schools. O’Hair next instituted a suit aimed at eliminating tax-exempt status for church-owned property. Soon after the second suit was filed, she moved from Baltimore to Honolulu, where she formed the International Free Thought Association of America. She eventually settled in Austin, where she founded the Society of Separationists and the Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library and Archives. The Society of Separationists was superseded by American Atheists, Inc., the headquarters of which moved into the American Atheist Center in Austin in 1977. During the 1970s O’Hair emerged as a popular and controversial speaker on atheism, frequently debating ministers in public meetings and on television. She instituted a number of lawsuits built around atheistic concerns, most of which failed. Her activities also led to many false rumors, including one that she had petitioned the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to ban religious broadcasting; the persistence of this rumor forced several formal retractions by the FCC. O’Hair also became deeply involved in various social causes, such as civil rights and peace. She was actively antireligious and specifically anti-Christian, rejecting the historicity of Jesus, a life after death, and the authority of the Bible.

The group stands free from theism, which is equated with religion. It views religion as a crutch that healthy people do not need, deeming it superstitious and supernatural nonsense. The American Atheists’ library, founded in 1965 and now housed at the Atheist Center, has more than 20,000 volumes and related material. At its peak, the American Atheist Radio Series (1968–1973) was heard on more than 20 stations in 12 states. Members in Petersburg, Indiana, once opened an atheist museum, which closed after the death of its curator. The organization holds an annual national convention and airs a national cable-access television program called The Atheist Viewpoint, which is also available on podcast. American Atheists also sells books and products.

At the annual convention in 1986, O’Hair resigned as president of American Atheists and was succeeded by her son, Jon G. Murray. O’Hair continued to serve as presiding officer of its board of directors. American Atheists, Inc., founded the American Atheists General Headquarters, a building complex to house the library, archives, and printing facilities (American Atheist Press). Ellen Johnson became president of the organization in 1996, after the disappearance of Madalyn O’Hair along with her son and granddaughter, Robin Murray-O’Hair, who was the editor of the American Atheist Press (see Remarks). In 1999 the group relocated to Cranford, New Jersey. In 2008 Johnson stepped down as president and was succeeded by long-time member Frank Zindler.

Membership

In 2002 the group reported 2,500 members.

Periodicals

The American Atheist.

Remarks

On September 4, 1995, 76-year-old Madalyn Murray O’Hair, her son Jon, and granddaughter Robin Murray O’Hair left their home without prior warning. They did not take their passports, and they seemed to have left in the midst of eating breakfast. Jon Murray kept in contact with the organization for a few weeks and offered some instructions on keeping it going while they were away. Eventually, all contact stopped and none of the three were seen again. More than $600,000 in funds were missing from a New Zealand bank account. Some months later, Robin’s car was found at the Austin airport. The three were discovered to have been kidnapped and murdered by a career criminal named David Roland Waters and two accomplices. Waters was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to life in prison, where he eventually died. Another of the kidnappers, Gary Karr, is serving a life sentence, and the third was murdered by Waters and Karr.

Sources

American Atheists. www.atheists.org.

Conrad, Jane Kathryn. Mad Madalyn. Brighton, OH: Author, 1983.

Murray, William J. My Life without God. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

O’Hair, Madalyn Murray. Bill Murray, the Bible and the Baltimore Board of Education. Austin, TX: American Atheist Press, 1970.

———. What on Earth Is an Atheist. Austin, TX: American Atheist Press, 1969.

Wright, Lawrence. Saints and Sinners. New York: Random House, 1993.

American Ethical Union

2 W 64th St., New York, NY 10023

Alternate Address

International Humanist and Ethical Union, Ouderhof 11, 2512 GH Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The founder of what became the American Ethical Union, Felix Adler (1851–1933), was born in Alzey, Germany, and came to the United States at an early age. The son of the rabbi at Temple Emmanuel in New York City, Adler returned to Germany to study for the rabbinate at the University of Heidelberg, and made plans to succeed his father. During this time, he encountered neo-Kantian idealism and its critique of religion, which left him with a strong sense of duty and a zeal to implement his ethical ideals. Adler came to believe that morality could be established independently of any theological system. For Adler, the autonomy and centrality of ethics became the philosophical basis for an ethical culture. He added a philosophical complement to Emerson’s call for a purely ethical religion and in this way contributed to America’s moralistic religious tradition. On his return to the United States, Adler taught Hebrew and oriental languages and literature at Cornell University (1874–1876) and then returned to New York City to found the Ethical Culture Society on May 15, 1876. This was the first of the ethical culture societies in the United States, later nationally federated as the American Ethical Union and part of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Under Adler’s direction, the society was dedicated to the principle of “deed before creed,” and both education and social reform were seen as necessary deeds. In Adler’s view, creeds about God were not important and socially responsible deeds were the one way people had of affirming the worth and dignity of every human being. Thus, in 1877, the District Nursing Department, now the Visiting Nurse Service, and the Tenement House Building Committee were started. In 1878 the first free kindergarten, which became the Workingman’s School in 1880, was opened. The Mother’s Society to Study Child Nature, started in 1888, became the Child Study Association in 1915. Adler was elected president of the Free Religious Association in 1878, but he resigned in 1882 because of the lack of commitment to social action and political reform. Adler founded and served as chairperson of the Child Labor Committee from 1894 to 1921, and the Visiting and Teaching Guild for Crippled Children was started in 1889. For almost two decades (1902–1921), he served as professor of political and social ethics at Columbia University.

In 1882 Adler formed a second ethical culture society in Chicago, Illinois. Another emerged at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1885 and a fourth in St. Louis, Missouri, the following year. In 1887 the first international society was formed in London, England. Eventually some 20 countries would have groups belonging to the International Humanist and Ethical Union, which includes groups associated with the American Humanist Association.

Religion, seen as a way of life in this world, has led the union into social involvement on a number of issues related to racism, war and peace studies, adult education, citizenship, and language training for refugees in the United States. Union members were instrumental in establishing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Legal Aid Society. The group participates in United Nations programs as a nongovernmental organization (NGO).

Membership

In 1988 there were 21 ethical culture societies in the United States. Groups from more than 20 countries participated in the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Periodicals

Ethical Platform. • AEU Reports.

Sources

American Ethical Union. www.aeu.org.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ethical Movement, 1876–1926. New York: A. Appleton and Company, 1926.

Friess, Horace Leland. Felix Adler and Ethical Culture: Memories and Studies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.

Kraut, Benny. From Reform Judaism to Ethical Culture. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 1979.

Muzzey, David Saville. Ethical Religion. New York: American Ethical Union, 1943.

Radest, Howard B. Toward Common Ground. New York: Frederick Unger Publishing Co., 1969.

American Humanist Association

7 Harwood Dr., Box 8188, Amherst, NY 14226-7188

In the early twentieth century, a strong humanist orientation developed among supporters of the American Unitarian Association, the Free Religious Association, and the American Ethical Union. At the time, members of these groups were still mostly theistic. By the 1920s, however, some Unitarians had become nontheists. Their greatest spokespersons were John H. Dietrich (1878–1957), a Unitarian minister in Minneapolis, and Curtis W. Reese, secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference. Using ideas from science and pragmatic philosophy, the nontheists saw humanism as the only possible alternative to traditional religion. Whereas Dietrich and Reese remained within the Unitarian structure, others of like mind left to begin humanistic societies. The first two of these were founded in 1929, in New York City by Charles Francis Potter (1885–1962) and in Hollywood, California, by Theodore Curtis Abell.

In 1933 a group of 11 prominent humanist leaders issued “A Humanist Manifesto,” the definitive statement of the movement. Among its signers were John Dewey (1859–1952), Harry Elmer Barnes (1889–1968), C. F. Potter, and John Herman Randall (1889–1980). The statement called for a radical change in religious perspectives. Religion was seen as a tool for realizing the highest values in life, but the universe was regarded as self-existing, not created, and humanity as part of evolved nature. Mind-body dualism, supernaturalism, theism, and even deism were rejected. The goal of life was viewed as the complete realization of human personality. Social ethics and personal fulfillment were priority items. Social control was a means to the abundant life for all. An updated version of the statement was issued in 1973 as the “Humanist Manifesto II,” which added an additional emphasis on responsibility toward humanity as a whole.

To bring some coordination and fellowship to the various independent humanist efforts in the United States, the American Humanist Association was formed in 1941. It accepts the basic perspective of the two Humanist Manifestos, especially their call for the use of science for purposes of social welfare. Its social program has included a defense of human rights, religious liberty, freedom of thought, and separation of church and state, and advocacy of population growth control, death with dignity, penal reform, ecology; and various issues related to the United Nations.

The American Humanist Association is organized democratically; board members are elected by the general membership. Chapters are located across the country. An annual conference is held in a different city each year. Certified leaders of the association, analogous to ministers or rabbis, are termed celebrants. The association is also a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Membership

In 1997 the association reported approximately 10,000 members in 70 chapters. There were 120 celebrants in the United States, 1 in Canada, and 1 in Australia.

Periodicals

The Humanist. • Free Mind. • Humanist Living.

Remarks

Among the counselors of the association is Paul Kurtz (b. 1925), former editor of The Humanist, who has developed a number of enterprises that, while entirely independent of the American Humanist Association, serve the humanist cause as a whole. Kurtz founded and heads Prometheus Books, the major American publisher of humanist and freethought literature. During the 1970s he was a leader in the formation of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal, whose quarterly Skeptical Inquirer is a major voice in the debunking of psychic and paranormal phenomena. Around 1980 he formed the Council for a Democratic and Secular Humanism and began the magazine Free Inquiry. He also became a leading force in the formation of the Academy of Humanism, an organization created to disseminate humanist ideals and beliefs and to recognize outstanding humanists. In addition, he has been prominent in the Religion and Biblical Criticism Research Project, which disseminates the results of biblical criticism (especially concerning claims many humanists consider unfounded, such as the divine inspiration of the Bible and the historicity of Jesus).

Sources

American Humanist Association. www.americanhumanist.org.

Blackham, H. J. Modern Humanism. Yellow Springs, OH: American Humanist Association, 1964.

Humanist Manifestos I and II. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1973.

Kurtz, Paul, ed. The Humanist Alternative. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1973.

Lamont, Corliss. Voice in the Wilderness. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1975.

Reese, Curtis W. Humanism. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 1926.

———, ed. Humanist Sermons. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 1927.

American Unitarian Conference

6806 Springfield Dr., Mason Neck, VA 22079

The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) was formed in 2000 by Dean Fisher and David Barton and former members of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) who strongly disagreed with the direction taken by the UUA since its formation in 1961. Over the decades, the UUA had moved steadily from its antitrinitarian Christianity to become the home of a wide variety of constituencies, from Humanism to Zen Buddhism. AUC founders termed it a “federation of religions,” and suggested that although Unitarianism should respect all religions, it should not embrace other religions as its own. They also noted that many congregations of Unitarians opposed both Christianity and belief in God.

The AUC believes that Unitarianism did not reject Christianity per se, but rather the doctrine of the trinity (and all that that doctrine implied), as well as a particular form of Christianity—the Calvinism that dominated in the Congregational Church of the mid-nineteenth century. Unitarianism was founded to be tolerant of other faith traditions and to learn from them, not to be replaced by them. AUC founders believed that many Unitarian churches have become anti-Christian and anti-God in their practice, substituting salvation by grace with salvation by legislation.

The AUC founders believed that Unitarian faith anchored in the original tenets of the tradition remains valuable in the present age. In launching their new association, they built a web site and formed a new corporation.

To the AUC, Unitarianism is a religion, a spiritual tradition that affirms humanity’s spiritual nature and the truth of religious experience that is ineffable, beyond the ability of reason to fully describe. It affirms the existence of God, who created the universe and gave humans the gift of free will. This perspective is summarized in “Our Religious Principles.”

As a recently founded body, the AUC sees itself as still developing, and is open to new insights and to people outside the Unitarian tradition who identify themselves as deists or simply theists.

Membership

In 2008 there were three congregations affiliated with the AUC, one each in San Diego, California, Syracuse, New York, and Cochranville, Pennsylvania. Another several thousand individuals have affiliated with the AUC, but do not have a congregation with which to affiliate.

Periodicals

The American Unitarian.

Sources

American Unitarian Conference. www.americanunitarian.org/.

Atheist Alliance International (AAI)

PO Box 234, Pocopson, PA 19366

The Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is a democratic antitheist association formed in 1995 by independent, autonomous atheist societies. The group believes in state neutrality regarding religious speech, beliefs, and participation. Atheism, which AAI defines as “living one’s life without the supernatural,” is considered a human-centered vision with a reality-based approach to problem solving, leading toward intellectual growth, personal freedom, and social, environmental, and scientific progress. Members of AAI believe that the interference of religion in civic and social matters leads to an abridgement of civil liberties, and that religious authoritarianism has caused a tyrannical and intolerant undercurrent in U.S. social and political discourse.

Some of the group’s other major tenets are that freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right; that the unfettered pursuit of scientific advancement is the only proven way to make human life better; and that compassion and empathy for both humans and nonhumans, as well as the encouragement of “cooperative diversity” among people with differing values and beliefs, are paramount to improving the human experience. The group is actively opposed to all ideas that it considers to be based in supernatural beliefs, including those concerning the existence of ghosts or spirits, reincarnation or an afterlife for human souls, and all forms of astrology. AAI is also vocal in its opposition to conspiracy theories about and denial of documented historical events, such as the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

AAI hosts an annual convention, during which representatives of the board are selected from among the various member groups. The group also maintains a list of all freethought organizations around the world and has two regular publications: Secular Nation magazine and the more scholarly Journal of Higher Criticism. An Internet-based community of atheists—Atheist Internet Outreach—is also available to individuals through AAI. AAI maintains an association with the teachers’resource group Objectivity and Balance in Teaching about Religion.

Membership

As of 2008, AAI member organizations exist in 22 U.S. states and 10 countries.

Periodicals

Secular Nation. • Journal of Higher Criticism.

Atheists United

4773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90027

Atheists United is an affiliate organization of Atheist Alliance International (AAI), representing the Los Angeles area. The group was formed in 1982 and is a major organization for unbelievers on the West Coast. It promotes two goals: the separation of church and state and the furtherance of atheism and rationalist thought, primarily through education. Individual neighborhood Atheists United groups host meetings throughout southern California; the group also publishes a newsletter and a set of atheist literature, maintains a “Dial-an-Atheist” telephone service, and hosts a weekly radio show in Los Angeles.

Members of Atheists United consider themselves nontheists. They accept only ideas confirmed by evidence, and even these are subject to reconsideration. All superstitions, especially religions, are rejected.

Membership

Atheists United does not release membership information. There are an estimated 1,500 members. Meetings have been held regularly throughout Southern California, from Ventura to San Diego.

Periodicals

Atheists United Newsletter.

Sources

Atheists United. www.atheistsunited.org.

Canadian Atheist Society

PO Box 41613, 923 12th St., New Westminster, BC, Canada V3M 6L1

The Canadian Atheist Society is a small atheist organization formed in the mid-1990s in British Columbia under the leadership of Ray Blessin and Fern Wayman. In 1994 the society launched The Canadian Atheist as a quarterly magazine and moved to incorporate as an educational organization. Though based in the Canadian West Coast region, the society quickly gained a following across Canada. Among other activities, it launched an effort to remove references to God from the preamble of the Canadian Constitution and the National Anthem. The society feels that these national symbols should serve to unite all Canadians, not just religious Canadians.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

The Canadian Atheist.

Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute

93 Valley Rd., 2nd Fl., Montclair, NJ 07042

Celebrant USA was founded in 2000 in Montclair, New Jersey, by Charlotte Eulette. Following on a practice present in Australia for a generation, Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute provides ceremonies that mark important transitions in the lives of people who, for whatever reasons, do not have clergy to officiate. To that end, Celebrant USA recruits, trains, and certifies celebrants to compose and perform personalized ceremonies marking a broad range of occasions for individuals, couples, families, and organizations. Such ceremonies include weddings and funerals as well as house warmings and corporate employee-recognition events.

Celebrant USA has a program to educate the public about the importance of ceremony and rituals marking important transitions in life. Its institute offers certificate programs for people who wish to become professional celebrants in Ceremonies for Couples, Ceremonies for Healing and Transition, Ceremonies for Families and Children, and Ceremonies for Organizations. Classes are conducted both at the organization’s national headquarters and via correspondence and web-based instruction.

Graduates of Celebrant USA’s training are certified as civil celebrants. Their training allows them to work with individuals or groups to create ceremonies adapted to personal needs and interests and a wide variety of beliefs and cultures. Ceremonies can be created to mark a renewal of wedding vows, the adoption of a child, coming of age, divorce, or retirement, for example. In the process of performing their tasks, the personal beliefs of the celebrant become immaterial, and the focus is on the values, beliefs, and wishes of the person for whom the ceremony is being conducted. Thus, the civil celebrant is able to function in a wide variety of cultural settings, providing celebrations with either religious or secular content.

Membership

In 2008 Celebrant USA had certified more than 300 civil celebrants who operate across the United States.

Sources

Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute. www.celebrantusa.com/.

Church of Reality

754 Glenview Dr. #201, San Bruno, CA 94066

The Church of Reality is a Humanist religion begun in 1998 by Marc Perkel, who posited that religion could be based on reality rather than myths. He began to articulate his idea as the Church of Reality via the Internet, exploring the implications of his basic notion. From the concept that the process of pursuing knowledge is a communal activity, Perkel developed the idea of the tree of knowledge, the body of interconnected common knowledge shared by humans.

In 2003 Perkel applied for church recognition from the Internal Revenue Service. The process led him to focus on structure and organization, and to generate two basic church documents: the Sacred Principles and Sacred Choices. The former commits church members to a set of basic values such as positive evolution, curiosity, freedom, peace, courage, persistence, compassion, justice, respect, and personal responsibility. The latter document, on sacred choices, highlights the decisions necessary to anyone choosing to live as a realist.

Perkel concluded that the Church of Reality is about the pursuit of reality, which involves “growing the tree of knowledge.” This involves the assumption that the human race is progressing; positive evolution is the basic value. Perkel also concluded that human society is moving in negative direction due largely to religion and religious conflict. As a realist, the church accepts the mission to focus society’s attention on reality.

The church bases its perspectives on a set of axioms, self-evident truths upon which other truth build. Thus, the church affirms that reality exists; that the earth and the human race exist; and that human life has evolved over billions of years. As humans, we function as a society and share a wealth of knowledge. Humans are self-aware and have the ability to make decisions that produce consequences. As technology grows, it has created the possibility of self-extermination. At the same time, we know that many life forms have become extinct. We need to evolve. Meanwhile, the universe as a whole does not care about humans.

The Church of Reality remains a largely web-based religion. It identifies itself most closely with the Unitarian Universalist Association, and welcomes people who wish to belong to both organizations, though it distinguishes between the two groups: “Realists put reality first and are interested in community. Unitarians put community first and are interested in reality.”

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Church of Reality. www.churchofreality.org/.

Church of Reason

International Council of Unitary Mission Churches, 3359 W 58th St., Cleveland, OH 44102-5670

The Church of Reason was founded in 1973 by Thomas D. Blackburn, a captain in the U.S. Air Force, while he was stationed in Tullahoma, Tennessee. One of the first to join the church was Robert M. Dunn of Cleveland, Ohio, who promptly became the group’s leader. The church grew under Dunn’s leadership and soon had several Reason devotees in northern Ohio, with associates in Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee. The church is dedicated to several basic principles that appear in its creed. Members seek knowledge; see reason as the faculty that identifies and integrates the materials provided by the senses and as the only means to knowledge; and agree to attempt to act on that knowledge. They also pledge to initiate neither force nor fraud, and understand that their right to life depends on their recognition of the same right in others.

Unlike many rationalists and atheists, members of the Church of Reason are not inimical to religion. Rather, they view religion, as described by Ayn Rand in her novel The Fountainhead, as “the great aspiration of the human spirit toward the highest, the noblest, the best. The human spirit as the creator and the conqueror of the ideal.” As such, by reason of the volitional and conceptual nature of human consciousness, religion is seen as inherent in human nature. Organized religion assists individuals in forging a worldview and helps them to act accordingly. The Church of Reason promotes the discovery and dissemination of information concerning ultimate and ulterior issues by providing a forum for the study and sharing of fundamental ideas. It also provides a forum for the celebration of life-cycle events, a place to meet and share life with like-minded people, and an efficient means of accomplishing goals.

Members of the Church of Reason see the faculty of reason, operating on the evidence of the senses, as the basic tool of human survival, and thus see it as the cardinal virtue; rationality implies productivity, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, and earned pride as correlative virtues.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

www.churchofreason.org/his.htm.

Welcome to a Good Look at the Religion of Reason. Cleveland, OH: Church of Reason, 1989.

Church of Spiritual Humanism

PO Box 180, Jenkintown, PA 19046

The Church of Spiritual Humanism was founded to promote the concept of a religion based on humans’ability to solve social problems using logic and science. It recognizes the value of religion and its rituals and methods to assist men and women in their life struggles, and the power of religion to affect human behavior, but it aims to redefine religion as a natural rather than supernatural reality. It looks to scientific inquiry to define the “divine” spark in humanity.

The Church of Spiritual Humanism also believes that ordination should be free and freely available to anyone who wants it. Its web site provides a means for people to simply ask for and receive ordination in the church. The church authorizes its ministers to perform the traditional functions of clergy, such as marriages and funerals, though they are specifically forbidden to perform any rituals involving exorcism, circumcision, and animal sacrifice. The church is gay-friendly and allows its clergy to perform same-sex unions. It publishes and makes available materials informing new clergy of their rights and facilitating their performance of their duties.

The church is humanist, affirming that religion should be based on reason. It does not approve of specifically Christian beliefs, or even belief in a deity, and it will become open to what it considers to be supernatural beliefs only if they are proven by scientific exploration.

Membership

In 2008 the church claimed more than 100,000 members in 146 countries.

Periodicals

Newsletter (available online).

Educational Facilities

Church of Spiritual Humanism Seminary (online distance-learning facility).

Sources

Church of Spiritual Humanism. www.spiritualhumanism.org/.

Confraternity of Deists, Inc.

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Confraternity of Deists was begun in 1967 in St. Petersburg, Florida, by Paul Englert, a former Roman Catholic. Deism is belief in one God, the supreme intelligence, as contrasted with belief in Scripture or atheism. Without God, Deists believe, humans are defenseless against themselves. The Creed of Confraternity includes the beliefs that the constructive exercise of human intelligence contributes to the glorification of God; that all human-made Scriptures are mere literary works, without religious, historical, or chronological value; that the church of the Deist should constitute the free university, disseminating scientific knowledge and nurturing the arts; and that the social duty of the Deist is to work for the spiritual and temporal elevation of the people.

Membership

Not reported. In 1969 there were three centers of the Confraternity, one at the headquarters and two at universities.

Council for Secular Humanism

PO Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664

At the end of the 1970s Paul Kurtz (b. 1925), a well-known humanist intellectual, parted company with the American Humanist Association. At that time Kurtz was head of Prometheus Books, a prominent humanist/atheist publishing concern, and the driving force behind the Committee for the Scientific Examination of the Paranormal (later renamed the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), a skeptical watchdog group dedicated to debunking unfounded claims of psychic, occult, and paranormal phenomena. With supporters, he led in the establishment of the Council for a Democratic and Secular Humanism, now known as the Council for Secular Humanism. Whereas the American Humanist Association is representative of the broad range of humanist thought, the council emphasizes the most secular aspect of humanism, and is explicitly not a religious organization.

Kurtz had been prominent in the execution and circulation of the “Humanist Manifesto II” in 1973. In 1980 he wrote and circulated “A Secular Humanist Declaration,” which outlined the position of secular humanism and was signed by a number of prominent liberal thinkers. According to Kurtz, secular humanism is committed to using reason and science to understand the universe and attempt to solve human problems, and stands against perceived efforts to denigrate human intelligence, seek to understand the world in supernatural terms, and look outside of nature for salvation. It is committed to the scientific nature of inquiry, to a belief that nature is intelligible to human reason and explainable by means of causal hypotheses, and to a naturalistic ethics that exists quite apart from any theological or metaphysical base. It differs from other forms of humanism in its confidence in humanity’s ability to apply science and technology for the betterment of human life. Like atheism, it rejects the supernatural but also offers a positive program for constructing an ethical value system.

The council sponsors the Academy of Humanism to recognize distinguished humanists and disseminate humanist ideals and beliefs. The Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion attempts to consider critically the claims of religion, both Eastern and Western. The Biblical Criticism Research Project was founded to disseminate the results of biblical scholarship, which it believes undercuts many of the claims of both the Jewish and Christian faiths.

The council founded Free Inquiry magazine, a network for mutual support that assists the organization of local and regional societies of secular humanists. Such groups are now found across the United States. Also related is the Secular Organizations for Sobriety, a humanist alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous.

The council is a full member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. It is also an affiliate organization of the Center for Inquiry, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that is dedicated to the promotion of rational social and scientific inquiry based on humanist ideals, and that serves as an umbrella organization for a number of related secular humanist groups.

Membership

Not reported.

Educational Facilities

Center for Inquiry Institute, Amherst, New York.

Periodicals

Free Inquiry. • Secular Humanist Bulletin. • AAH Examiner (African Americans for Humanism).

Sources

Council for Secular Humanism. www.secularhumanism.org.

Kurtz, Paul. Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Humanism. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988.

———, ed. The Humanist Alternative: Some Definitions of Humanism. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1973.

———. In Defense of Secular Humanism. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1983.

———, ed. A Secular Humanist Declaration. Privately printed, 1980.

———. Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1986. 500 pp.

Creativity Movement (World Church of the Creator)

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

The Creativity Movement (also called World Church of the Creator and formerly known as the Church of the Creator) was founded in 1973 by Ben Klassen (1918–1993) with the publication of his manifesto Nature’s Eternal Religion, in which he claimed that the “survival, expansion, and advancement” of the white race was the highest virtue and the ultimate law of nature. Creativity Movement members—all of whom are white supremacists—do not believe in the conventional facets of religion, such as the existence of a god or an afterlife; rather, they hold that their race is their religion. Members, who refer to themselves as “creators,” believe that Jews, people of color, immigrants, and Christians are inferior to and the natural enemies of whites.

Born in the Ukraine and raised in Canada, Klassen assembled his ideology from an amalgamation of ideas and images from Norse mythology, paganism, imperial Rome, and Nazism. Gradually throughout the 1980s, Klassen gained an international following and became a leading figure among hate groups, particularly in South Africa. Klassen called for a “racial holy war” against those he called “mud people.” In 1991 the movement garnered public attention when a member named George Loeb murdered black Gulf War veteran Harold Mansfield Jr., following an altercation in a Florida parking lot. In 1994 Mansfield’s family sued the Church of the Creator for its part in the veteran’s death. These events set into motion a series of violent incidents both within the Church of the Creator and among other hate groups with which it was affiliated. Planning to step down from his post as head of the organization, Klassen named several different successors before settling on Richard McCarty. Klassen committed suicide in August 1993. Over the next several years, numerous Church of the Creator members and associates were accused of illegal activity, including the firebombing of an NAACP office in Tacoma, Washington.

McCarty stepped down in 1996, and a young white supremacist named Matthew Hale took over. Hale reenergized the group, now called the World Church of the Creator, by recruiting new members, appearing on talk shows to espouse his views, starting a white supremacist cable-access television program, and, perhaps most significantly, by harnessing the power of the Internet to significantly expand the church—particularly through specialized Web sites targeting women and children.

In July 1999 the group was again in the public spotlight when a member, Benjamin Smith, went on a two-day shooting spree in Illinois, killing two and injuring nine before killing himself; all of the victims were minorities. Law enforcement speculated that Smith had been motivated by the State of Illinois’s refusal to grant Hale a license to practice law. In 2002 the World Church of the Creator was successfully sued for trademark infringement by another religious organization, also called the Church of the Creator. In early 2003, Hale was arrested for soliciting the murder of federal judge Joan Lefkow, who had presided over the trademark infringement suit. In April of 2003 the group was found to be in violation of the trademark agreement; the Creativity Movement was fined and ordered to shut down its Web sites and surrender its membership list. In April 2005 Hale was found guilty and sentenced to serve 40 years in prison. Numerous threats had been made against Lefkow by white supremacist and neo-Nazi associates of Hale’s between 2002 and 2005, and she was placed under the protection of federal marshals. In 2005 Lefkow’s mother and husband were murdered in the family’s Chicago home. Law enforcement officials initially believed the murders to be retaliation from white supremacists on Hale’s behalf, but later that year the killings were found to be unrelated to the Hale case.

As of 2008, the Creativity Movement was a far more loosely organized group than it had been under either Klassen or Hale. In 2002, under the leadership of Thomas Kroenke, the group moved its world headquarters to Riverton, Wyoming, ostensibly to avoid abiding by the Illinois injunction.

Membership

The Creativity Movement claims members throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Europe, South America, South Africa, and Australia. The group does not provide its membership numbers, but has more supporters than actual members; supporters in North America are estimated to number several thousand. Observers have suggested that the worldwide constituency membership may be as high as 40,000 to 60,000.

Periodicals

The Struggle.

Sources

www.rahowa.com.

Anti-Defamation League. “Creativity Movement.” www.adl.org/learn/Ext_US/WCOTC.asp?xpicked=3&item=17.

Berkes, Howard. “A White Supremacist Church and a Small Town.” National Public Radio. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=992253.

Klassen, Ben. Building a Whiter and Brighter World. Otto, NC: Church of the Creator, 1986.

———. Nature’s Eternal Religion. Lighthouse Point, FL: Church of the Creator, 1973.

———. The White Man’s Bible. Lighthouse Point, FL: Church of the Creator, 1981.

Southern Poverty Law Center. “Pontifex Ex.” www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=476.

Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc.

PO Box 750, Madison, WI 53701

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), Inc., is a North American association of freethinkers (i.e., atheists, agnostics, and skeptics). Many of the founders had formerly been members of American Atheists, Inc., who had left in protest of what they saw as undemocratic policies. The FFRF’s primary goals are to educate the public on matters of nontheism and to promote the principle of church/state separation, both of which are pursued mostly through filing lawsuits against apparent constitutional violations. Recent legal activity has involved intervening in situations involving prayer in public schools, payment of public funds for religious purposes, government favoritism toward religious institutions, illegal activities conducted in the name of religious charities, and religious efforts to deny civil rights to women, gays, and lesbians.

The group was cofounded in 1978 by Anne Nicol Gaylor (b. 1926), a Wisconsin businesswoman, newspaper editor, and feminist activist. Under her guidance, the FFRF became one of the largest and most successful groups of its kind in North America. As of 2008, Gaylor serves as a consultant and president emerita to the group. Gaylor’s daughter, Annie Laurie Gaylor, helped her mother found the group and currently serves as co-president, along with Dan Barker.

In 1983, FFRF filed a suit challenging President Ronald Reagan’s declaration of that year as the “Year of the Bible.” FFRF has gone to court to halt the U.S. Postal Service’s practice of giving cancellations to a Roman Catholic group, has ended commencement prayers at a major university, and has stopped federal subsidy to the “Virgin of the Rockies” chapel, and in 1996 it won a court decision overturning a Wisconsin law declaring Good Friday to be a state holiday. The federation also succeeded in posting the first atheist placard to be displayed in a state capitol over the Christmas holidays, in protest of religious activities hosted there. One of its more active chapters, the Alabama Freethought Association, has moved to stop religious expressions in the state’s parks and has become a plaintiff in the case against Judge Roy Moore, who has allowed questionable religious practices in his courtroom. In May 2006 the FFRF brought suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) to challenge the U.S. government’s intention to use grant money to institute single-faith prison programs. In October of the same year, the FBP announced it was canceling the plan. In 2007 FFRF won a lawsuit in which it had challenged the State of Indiana’s use of public monies to hire chaplains to encourage religious faith among the state employees in its Family and Social Services Administration. FFRF has also been involved in legal action to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

At its annual convention, the federation presents a “Freethinker of the Year” award to a successful litigant working for church/state separation, and an annual “Freethought Heroine” award, which in 1997 was given to Ann Druyan, the widow of Carl Sagan. Additionally, the group sponsors an annual essay competition for students, awarding cash grants, and offers a similar scholarship program for college-bound high school seniors. The federation publishes a variety of books in the freethought tradition, as well as the country’s only freethought newspaper, Freethought Today. In late 2007 the foundation initiated the first nationally syndicated freethought radio program on the Air America network.

Membership

In 2007 the federation reported more than 11,600 members, and an additional 550 nonmember subscribers to its newspaper.

Periodicals

Freethought Today.

Sources

Freedom from Religion Foundation. www.ffrf.org.

Gaylor, Annie Laurie. Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1988.

———. Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1981.

———, ed. Women without Superstition: No Gods, No Masters. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1997. 696 pp.

Hurmence, Ruth. The Book of Ruth. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1982.

Rejecting Religion. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1982.

Humanist Association of Canada

PO Box 8752, Station T, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1G 3J1

In Canada, humanism and people identifying themselves as humanists emerged in the early twentieth century as part of a larger freethought movement. Among the earliest groups to take the name humanist was the Winnipeg Rationalist Society, which in the 1930s changed its name to the Winnipeg Humanist Society. That group dwindled following the death of its longtime leader, Marshall Jerome Gauvin (1881–1978), but other groups emerged, primarily in Victoria (British Columbia) and Montreal. In 1968, the Victoria and Montreal groups joined to form the Humanist Association of Canada (HAC). At that time they also combined their two periodicals, the Victoria Humanist and the Montreal Humanist, into Humanist in Canada.

The group’s primary focus is on promoting the humanist values of “honesty, compassion, reason, critical thinking, and cooperation”; on offering secular ceremonies for life events such as weddings and funerals; and on working to ensure the separation of church and state in Canada. In 2008, HAC offered its first Education Grant Program for nonprofit organizations that fulfill the criteria of a humanist agenda.

The association provides a focus and forum for the broad range of humanist thought in Canada and is similar in beliefs and practice to the American Humanist Association. It is also a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Membership

Membership reported at 800. There are chapters in Ottawa and elsewhere in Ontario, in Montreal, and in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Periodicals

Canadian Humanist News. Available from PO Box 3769, Station C, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4J8.

Sources

Humanist Association of Canada. www.humanists.ca.

Stein, Gordon. Encyclopedia of Unbelief. 2 vols. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Press, 1985.

Institution for the Secularization of Islamic Society (ISIS)

c/o The Center for Inquiry, 3965 Rensch Rd., Amherst, NY 14228

The Institution for the Secularization of Islamic Society (ISIS) was formed as part of the humanist/skeptical organization Center for Inquiry to promote the ideas of rationalism, secularism, democracy, and human rights within Islamic society. Its program has been based upon the belief that Islamic culture has become backward due to its slowness to allow its beliefs, laws, and practices to come under the scrutiny of modern critical perspectives. This unwillingness is attributed to an intolerance of alternative beliefs and a timidity about participating in fruitful dialogues. ISIS promotes the freedom of intellectual and scientific inquiry and the freedom of conscience as regards religion. The group values the ability of individuals to change religion or belief and the right to unbelief.

ISIS supports the emergence of a modern form of Islam and of unbelief in societies now dominated by Islam. It works for the separation of religion and state in Islamic countries, believing that such separation is necessary if a viable modern secular society is to emerge. It advocates the rights of women and of those who hold minority beliefs, perceiving both to be under attack in Muslim-dominated societies. It also demands the right to examine the historical foundations of Islam (something many Muslim religious leaders have balked at doing), and to explain the rise and fall of Islam in terms of the normal mechanisms of human history.

ISIS has moved to create a network of secularists and freethinkers in Islamic countries, to establish a women’s network in those same areas, and to report on the findings of recent research on the origins of Islam and the Qur’an. It also has begun to publicize alternative readings of Islamic history, especially those that record significant dissent. It publicizes critical findings on basic Muslim documents and attacks their sanctity.

In March 2005 ISIS was a delegate to the international Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was one of the signatories of the St. Petersburg Declaration, a document intended to unify secular Muslims in support of a universal human rights agenda and a rejection of Sharia law, state-sponsored religion, gender violence, and persecution of non-Muslims and minority groups in Islamic countries.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Center for Inquiry. www.centerforinquiry.net/isis.

Warraq, Ibn, ed. The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998.

———. The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000.

National Alliance of Pantheists

PO Box 484, Groton, MA 01450

Founded in the mid-1980s, the National Alliance of Pantheists is a network of individuals who believe that God is everything and everything is God. It stands in contrast to the idea of theism that God is the transcendent Creator who stands over and apart from creation. Pantheism assumes that the world, nature, and humanity are all an intimate part of the Divine being. Most pantheists recognize philosopher Baruch Spinoza as the grandfather of their perspective, but they also claim such diverse thinkers as Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), and Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) as fellow pantheists.

While pantheism is an ancient belief, no attempt to organize its believers as a religious group has previously occurred. Pantheism tends to be a very individualistic philosophy; it has no dogma and is not immediately suggestive of corporate worship or united action. However, the Alliance was founded as a religion especially suitable for the modern world, i.e., the New Age. It works to end bigotry and religious discrimination, because of its belief that ultimately all people are involved in the Divine Essence. No one religion can be the “true faith” as all religious expressions exist within the one consciousness of the Divine.

The Alliance has established itself as a place where pantheists can discover each other, thus leading to the formation of local groups and churches. It ordains clergy and charters churches, but has no hierarchy. Though it encourages the individual expression of the member’s relationship to God, the Alliance notes that many Pantheists observe the ancient agricultural festivals at the solstices and equinoxes (and halfway between them) as a means of calling attention to the intimate connection between God and nature. It further notes that Pantheists also tend to be environmentalists. The Alliance holds an annual celebration of Lammas (marking the first wheat harvest of the year) in August.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Nap Time.

Northeast Atheist Association of Connecticut (NAA)

PO Box 63, Simsbury, CT 06070

The Northeast Atheist Association of Connecticut (NAA) was founded in 1992 to promote atheism in the northeastern United States, although one of its major goals is to advocate against the use of public funds for any type of religious event or program. As of 2008, the group was headed by Janos Palotai (president) and John Parker (treasurer) and publishes a bimonthly newsletter. The NAA is an affiliated member of American Atheists, Inc., and the Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies.

Membership

In 2002 the association reported approximately 150 members.

Periodicals

The Northeast Atheist.

Restored Church of the Star Goat

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Restored Church of the Star Goat, founded in 1989 as an atheist religion, grew out of an earlier project, the Skeptic Tank. Founder Fredric Rice had been archiving material that debunked what he considered unscientific claims for the paranormal and details of crimes against humanity perpetrated by religion in the name of a deity. In his opinion, both were the result of ignorance and superstition, which he hoped to replace with scientific method, logic, and reason. His discussions with people through the electronic media in the 1980s led to the emergence of the Restored Church as a logical next step, given the need for a religion to replace the deity-oriented faiths. The Skeptic Tank became a department of the church that continues to oppose pseudoscience.

Rice created an interesting myth for his church: Five million years ago humanity fled to Earth to escape the anger of the Mutant Cosmic Star Goat, which threatened life on their previous home planet due to their inhumane ways. The Star Goat was appeased by their fearful flight. He sent a prophet to Earth named Douglas Adams, who showed those with intelligence his ways. Thus Goatees (followers of the Star Goat) came to know of Billy Goat, Star Goat’s son, who was sent to Earth to save humanity but was killed in a torturous death. After learning of Star Goat’s way, believers were amazed by humans’creation of deity religions and inhumane actions.

To address humanity’s disgraceful condition, the Restored Church of the Star Goat, where The Ways could be learned, was founded. Rice also endeavored to compile The Ways into a written document to be made generally available as a book, The Star Goat Mysteries.

It is the belief of the founder that there are many people who are goatees at heart and some who wish to be ministers in the church. Those people should contact him. The church’s community exists primarily in cyberspace.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Fields of Green.

Temple of Earth

For information: [email protected]

The Temple of Earth (TOE) is a Humanist religion initially conceived in 1998 that describes itself as a “religion-free religion.” Its members hold that all religious traditions are outdated and need to be abandoned. In place of a belief in God, it suggests that humans can find communion with each other and meaning in the creation of culture—art, humor, technology. If worship occurs, it should be worship of progress, which leads to the uncovering of the mysteries of the universe. The temple teaches that it is each person’s responsibility to devise his or her own system of morality.

On a practical level, the church recommends to those who feel the vacuum created by the loss of religion the practices of disciplined meditation and involvement in one’s community. Meditation helps focus the mind, and involvement moves one beyond loneliness and into creativity. The Temple of Earth sees these as the essence of religion, and it aims to encourage and facilitate them out of belief that they will improve the quality of everyday life and allow humans to discover truths more sublime than those available in religious communities.

The Temple of Earth freely ordains ministers who in turn are encouraged to spread the creed of the church. The church allows its clergy to choose whatever title they wish, be it reverend, lama, rabbi, bishop, imam, or another.

The Temple of Earth does not form local churches, but it does encourage the formation of what it terms “TOE rings”—loosely organized groups of individuals who meet regularly to discuss ways that they collectively can improve their lives. TOE offers guidelines for organizing a ring and a web board to assist in contacting like-minded individuals. The Temple of the Earth recognizes the two solstices and equinoxes as its major holidays.

Membership

Not reported. As of 2008 ministers for the church are serving across the United States and in a number of countries around the world.

Periodicals

Toe Tree Journal (online).

Sources

The Temple of Earth. www.templeofearth.com/index.html.

Bury, J. B. The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry into Its Origin and Growth. New York: Macmillan, 1932.

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108

The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) was formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church in America. The merger represents the coming together of the two oldest and most conservative segments of the liberal tradition. (See introductory material for historical survey.) As a member of that tradition, the UUA is the only body that affirms its base within the Judeo-Christian heritage. Many of its ministers can be found in local ministerial associations.

The basis of modern Unitarian belief is the free search for truth. Truth is found in the universal teachings of the great prophets and teachers of all ages and traditions but summarized in the Western tradition as love of God and humans. Members believe in the worth of every human and in the democratic method in human relationships. A world community based on fellowship, justice, and peace is the goal of all actions. While varying widely in belief structures, Unitarian Universalists generally believe in God as the source of mind and spirit, Jesus as a great prophet, the Bible as a collection of valuable religious writings, science as a source of knowledge, and prayer as a means to lift the mind beyond the ordinary. There are no sacraments. UUA members support values related to social justice and civil rights, ecology and environmentalism, and the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.

Following the pattern of their Congregational parents, the Unitarian Universalists are congregationally governed. A national association meeting is held annually, and each minister and local church is represented. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee was established in 1940 to aid refugees of Nazi persecution and has continued as a means to embody social concerns. The group’s Beacon Press is a major publisher of religious books.

During the nineteenth century, both Universalists and Unitarians engaged in foreign missionary activity, the former most noticeably in Japan and the latter in India and Japan. Ties to liberal religionists in these countries have been retained (long after any understanding of a missionary-mission relationship existed), and fellowship with similar groups in other lands has been established. There are affiliated congregations of Unitarian-Universalists in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Japan, West Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Membership

In 2008 the UUA reported 1,041 congregations in the United States, Canada, and overseas. In 2003 it reported approximately 160,000 certified members.

Periodicals

UU World.

Sources

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. www.uua.org/.

Ahlstrom, Sydney E., and Jonathan S. Carey. An American Reformation. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1985.

Cheetham, Henry H. Unitarianism and Universalism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962.

Miller, Russell E. The Larger Hope: The Second Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1870–1970. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1985.

Tapp, Robert B. Religion among the Unitarian Universalists. New York: Seminar Press, 1973.

Wilbur, Earl Morse. Our Unitarian Heritage. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963.

Williams, George Huntston. American Universalism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1976.

Wintersteen, Prescott B. Christology in American Unitarianism. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship, 1977.

The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic (UCTAA)

531 10 St. SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada T1A 1R4

The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic (UCTAA) is put forth as a “combination of total seriousness and sophomoric humor.” As with some other religious groups, the church founder and patriarch John Tyrrell uses satire to make serious points, not just against traditional religion but for what is considered a positive alternative view.

The church offers the perspective that agnosticism in itself is a legitimate end position in religious belief. It is summarized in three articles of faith: that “the existence of a Supreme Being is unknown and unknowable; that if there is a Supreme Being, then that being appears to act as if entirely apathetic to events in our universe; and that we are apathetic to the existence or non-existence of a Supreme Being.” Because the question of God is unanswerable, the church believes that people can abandon what is a fruitless search and adopt an attitude of apathy toward theology. Though apathetic about the question of God’s existence, church members are not apathetic about its agnostic position, which it seeks to propagate widely.

UCTAA began in 1996 as a one-page personal Web site. Initially it was a lighthearted presentation of the founder’s personal religious beliefs. As early as 1965, Tyrrell had thought of apathetic agnosticism as a label to describe his belief about God: “I don’t know and I don’t care.” The church’s motto thus became “We don’t know and we don’t care.” The satirical language used to describe the serious viewpoints has been retained as an equally serious reminder to laugh at oneself as well as others.

In 1996 the Web site began to attract notice from Internet surfers. In response, Tyrrell expanded the site to include a section for opposing views. The site now includes more than 2,000 pages of articles and discussions. Membership was opened in 1997, and the next year clerics and a hierarchy appeared. Ordination was offered through the International University of Nescience. In 2000 a transient membership was replaced with a group of correspondents who voiced a desire to be active participants and even offer their energy and guidance to the church. The site expanded further to accommodate this core membership/leadership. Additional Web sites were created.

Tyrrell, as patriarch of the church, ordains clergy, many of whom assume one of a number of titles—minister, rabbi, pastor, priest, priestess, and so on. Clergy are authorized to conduct weddings, funerals, naming ceremonies, and other ceremonies to celebrate life’s passages. Clergy may apply to become a bishop of a specific territory. Their responsibilities include the further ordination of clergy in their diocese and the guidance of any clergy who seek it. Clergy may seek the still higher office of patriarch or matriarch of a See (which includes multiple dioceses). A patriarch/matriarch may ordain new bishops and appoint them to new dioceses within his or her See. Tyrell is responsible for appointing patriarchs and matriarchs and providing general guidance through the church’s Web site. All the patriarchs and matriarchs in the church constitute its Council of Elders.

The church is organized as a loose hierarchy, meaning that clergy are not required to take direction from senior clergy; rather, they may conduct their ministries as they see fit. Tyrrell emphasizes, to those who might have contact with one of the church’s ministers, that “ordination does not guarantee the good character of any clergyperson.”

International University of Nescience is the educational arm of the Apathetic Agnostic Church. It is an unaccredited institution, and advises those who attempt to relate to it that its degrees are worth at least the paper they are printed on. It offers a spectrum of master’s degrees for clergy and doctoral degrees for senior clergy (bishops and above).

Membership

In 2008 the church reported approximately 15,000 members scattered in more than 50 countries.

Educational Facilities

Online International University of Nescience.

Sources

The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic. www.uctaa.net/. Also available from ApatheticAgnostic.org.

Universal Pantheist Society

PO Box 3499, Visalia, CA 93278

Although it is a widely held philosophical position that permeates a variety of religious perspectives, pantheism has usually not been the focus of new religious communities in itself. For example, different movements like Daoism are usually seen as pantheistic. In the United States, the Church of Christ, Scientist, in spite of its leadership, is frequently cited as pantheistic. On the other hand, many contemporary neo-pagan groups often identify themselves as pantheists.

Pantheism may be defined as the view that the universe is identical with God, and God identical with the universe. The first person of note to be identified primarily as a pantheist is the Dutch Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). The British freethinker John Toland (1670–1722) appears to have coined the term “pantheism” to describe Spinoza’s thought. A variant position, panentheism, identifies the universe as divine (part of God) but asserts that God is far more than the universe. In the panentheist view, God is still an object of worship. Strains of panentheism appear in the thinking of philosophers and writers throughout history, from Plato and Plotinus to D. H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The Universal Pantheist Society is one of the few groups that have focused on pantheist metaphysics as the center of their belief. Founded in 1975, it asserts that “the cosmos, taken or conceived of as a whole, is synonymous with God. The cosmos is divine, and the earth sacred. Pantheists do not propose belief in a deity; rather, they hold nature itself as a creative presence. Pantheism reconciles science and religion through ecology leading to strong environmental awareness.”

The society offers no creed, nor does it require any particular behavior pattern of members. It sees its task as promoting individual spiritual growth and providing pantheists around the world with a unified “worldwide presence.” It also seeks to be a resource for people inquiring about pantheism. It suggests that the natural focus of a pantheist lifestyle would include attention to conservation, developing sustainable lifestyles, ending consumerism, celebrating nature’s cycles, home schooling, and family life.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Pantheist Vision.

Sources

Universal Pantheist Society. www.pantheist.net/.

Garrett, Jan. “An Introduction to Pantheism.” Available from www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/panthesm.htm.

Harrison, Paul. Elements of Pantheism: Understanding the Divinity in Nature and the Universe. London: Element Books, 1999.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. “Pantheism.” In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2^nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan, 2005.

World Pantheist Movement

PO Box 103, Webster, NY 14580

The World Pantheist Movement (WPM) is the world’s largest organization of people associated with pantheism, a philosophy that reveres nature and the wider universe. The WPM grew out of a mailing list started in 1997 by Dr. Paul Harrison, an environmental writer, editor of United Nations reports, and recipient of a United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 award. Harrison was motivated by the apparent need for a spirituality suited for the scientific age and for the acute environmental challenges faced by the planet. The WPM incorporated in the state of Colorado in 1998 and officially opened for membership in December 1999.

The World Pantheist Movement supports a scientific pantheism, which seeks to find a scientifically sound and socially aware perspective on a wide variety of subjects. It focuses on reverence and concern for nature, celebration of life, respect for human rights and the rights of other living beings, and naturalism. The WPM also emphasizes respect for reason, evidence, and science as our best methods of deepening our understanding of nature, while accepting that science is a never-ending quest and that some technologies have created massive social and environmental problems. It supports freedom of religion, religious tolerance, and complete separation of state and religion.

The WPM promotes respect for the rights of humans and other living creatures, nondiscrimination, justice, and peace. It supports the legalization of gay marriage. It does not interfere with or promote any specific personal choices in sexuality, gender, or use of recreational or psychotropic substances. Similarly, members have a diversity of views on vegetarianism, hunting, nonviolence, and many other issues.

The WPM does not prescribe any particular set of spiritual practices but leaves the choice up to individuals. Its policy is to accept a diversity of languages and methods of celebration among its members, although it generally avoids theistic or religious language in its official literature and Web pages.

Ceremonies (which the WPM calls “celebrations”) are viewed not as rituals to placate gods and spirits or to follow authority, but as individual expressions of one’s deepest feelings toward nature and the wider universe. Among members and friends of the WPM, the most common practice is daily close observation of nature, followed by meditation. About a quarter of members employ some form of pagan celebration, but since they have no belief in gods or magic, this is always for self-expression or enjoyment.

The WPM believes that the “divinity” of nature can be accessed directly anywhere and by anyone, and therefore does not have clergy, church buildings, or seminaries. Members and friends meet in small groups that decide their own meeting format. Groups may discuss ideas, books, or films, watch nature-related movies, share experiences, or go on nature outings. All members may request certification to celebrate nature-based weddings of friends and relatives.

The WPM does not give credence to personal survival after death but believes that people create their own “afterlife” through actions and the creations and memories they leave, their elements recycled in soil, water, and atmosphere. Thus the WPM fosters the “natural death” approach to funerals, with burial in biodegradable materials, in nature-preserve-type burial grounds if available.

Organizationally the WPM is governed by a board of 13 appointed directors. Directors must agree to sign the credo as it exists at the time of their joining the board. Members do not have to sign the credo but are asked to consider their agreement with it before joining. The board may, by a 75 percent majority, change the credo.

The main forms of WPM activity consist of more than 60 e-mail lists and a periodical, Pan, which explores the possibilities of naturalistic spirituality in living, therapy, art, meditation, nature conservation, ethics, science education, and many other areas. The WPM places considerable emphasis on the conservation of nature and on humans reaching a sustainable way of life. The organization has saved more than 300 acres of wildlife habitat through direct sponsorship of conservation organizations, Internet click groups to save habitat, and its pantheist wildlife reserves scheme. The WPM is also an organizational member of the International Dark-Sky Association, which combats light pollution.

Membership

In 2008 the WPM reported approximately 400 members in 16 countries who provide financial support. It also reported more than 5,000 “friends” belonging to its many associated mailing lists and Internet groups.