Patriotic Atheism

ATHEISTS ARE EVERYWHERE


There are Atheists in foxholes

Atheists in hurricanes

There are Atheists in all the roles

Denied by your refrains


Atheists are your fellow citizens

People who love and laugh and cry

Atheists are your relatives and friends

Don’t insult them with a lie


Atheists in many foxholes served

And some have had to die

Give Atheists the thanks deserved

Don’t dismiss them with a lie


Atheists are all around you

They work, they help, they care

And no matter what you think is true

Atheists are everywhere

And no matter what you think is true

They do not want your prayer


by Edwin Kagin

September 12, 2005

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ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES SONG



(May be sung to the tune of the Marine Corp Hymn)

Music: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/marine.htm


For the Bill of Rights of our free land

For the Treaty of Tripoli

Many Atheists have fought and died

In the air, on land and sea

Atheists in many foxholes served

No task too hard to try

Give Atheists the thanks deserved

Don’t dismiss them with a lie.


(May be sung to the tune of The Army Goes Rolling Along) Music: http://www.defenselink.mil/multimedia/audio

In the field, under sail

Atheists will never fail

Atheists were there all along

Helping us stay free

Protecting liberty

Lying about them is wrong.


So where e’er you go

People need to know

Lying about them is wrong

Where free people go

Let them always know

That Atheists are going along.



(May be sung to the tune of The Navy Hymn) Music: http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/USA/usnhymn.html


To Atheists who were so brave

Thank you for all you did to save

Our freedoms that permit a few

To lie about the things you do

From your foxholes hear and see

This thanks from those you helped keep free.



by Edwin Kagin

Permission is given to reproduce without profit so long as credit is given. If you make money on this, I want some of it. Edwin.

Atheist Sign Poem

While driving down the highways, how many have I seen
Of Christian signs and banners--some pretty, some obscene.
And everywhere are fancy signs to make a Christian out of me
Like “Jesus--the Reason for the Season,” or some such fantasy.
Mangers, Wise Men, Shepherds, a star above a feeding stall
Surround me like a blanket leaving hardly room to breathe at all.
Religious scenes on public lands outside of city halls,
Baby Jesus in the classrooms, bibles passed out in the malls,
Choke reason from the victims of this vast wide sticky net
Of pious talk upon our doors, our roads, and the Internet.
But let some atheists post one sign saying reason should prevail
Over the myth of Christmas, and you will hear the Fundies’ wail
That atheists are not respectful, that they should die, leave, or go to jail.
And thus we learn the lesson, from what we see with solemn awe,
That they think Christians are the only ones protected under law.

Edwin Kagin
November 30, 2010

Look at the Billboard American Atheists is Putting Up for Christmas!

AMERICAN ATHEISTS
http://www.atheists.org/xmas


ATHEISTS CHALLENGE ''MYTH OF CHRISTMAS' WITH GIANT BILLBOARD
AT LINCOLN TUNNEL

An atheist group intends to get an early start on the holiday season with plans to erect a huge billboard near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City inviting people to examine their beliefs about Christmas.

The sign will start catching the attention of motorists on Tuesday, November 23, 2010, and remain in place for approximately one month. It will depict the so-called "Christian" nativity and the message:

"You KNOW it's a myth! This season celebrate reason!
American Atheists Reasonable since 1963. atheists.org"

Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, said that the billboard will target people who "go through the motions" of celebrating the holiday but don't believe in the Christ myth.

"Many people follow religions and observe rituals in which they do not believe," said Mr. Silverman. "They go along to get along, which simply leads to more prejudice and bigotry. Closeted atheists hurt themselves and others like them by remaining silent about what they know to be true."

Silverman added, " None of the traditional Christmas seasonal practices originate with Christianity. What we call Christmas has its origins in secular events like the Winter Solstice and the change of seasons, as well as Pagan holidays like Yule. This season was celebrated long before Christianity usurped it."

The billboard is an invitation to everyone to learn more about the real origins of the so-called "Christmas" season, said Silverman, and to spur discussion of what we know to be true, and what we know to be myth.

"We are encouraging everyone to be honest with themselves and each other about what they truly believe, and to celebrate reason and truth this season. Unlike gods and saviors, reason and truth actually exist."

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights
for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total
separation of church, mosque, temple and State; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

ABC's Nightline story on Atheism has been rescheduled to July 16th.

The story on Atheism on ABC's Nightline has been rescheduled from today,
Thursday, July 15, 2010, to tomorrow, Friday, July 16th, 2010.

Apparently it was bumped because of some breaking news story. The
producer just called me with this information.

Please try to let everyone you can know of this change, in that word of
the story has gone all over the known world and elsewhere.

Also, please understand that this is not a guarantee that it will be on
tomorrow, or ever,for that matter.

This is only the best and latest information available.

I did not make the facts.

Regards,

Edwin

Atheism on ABC's NightLine Tomorrow July 15th

The long awaited segment called "Faith Matters" of ABC's "NightLine" is
to air tomorrow evening, July 15th, 2010, according to the producer who
just contacted me.

No, I cannot guarantee this, but I believe it to actually be true this
time. The show may cover Camp Quest, American Atheist's De-Baptism, and
perhaps interviews with Amanda of Camp Quest, Edwin, and Edwin's son Stephen the minister in Kansas, among other things.

I was flown to New York City by Nightline to be interviewed for the show
and, based on everything I saw and heard, I really do think it is going
to be a major story on Atheism. Hopefully, it will be slanted in a
favorable way, but we have no control over that.

Get the word out:

ABC NightLine.
15 July 2010
On Atheism.

Edwin.

Announcing New Kentucky State Director For American Atheists

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.
http://www.atheists.org/
http://www.americanatheist.org/


For more information, please contact:
Ed Buckner, President 908-499-9200 (cell) or 770-803-5353 (office/fax)
Ken Loukinen, Director of State Operations (954) 907-7893
Edwin Kagin, National Legal Director 859-384-7000
Edwin Hensley, Kentucky State Director 502-939-9275


Edwin Hensley Named to Replace Edwin Kagin as Kentucky Director

Edwin F. Kagin, who was the first State Director for Kentucky for American Atheists and served for many years, is stepping aside from that role. He has a long, distinguished history of effective, dedicated service for both his state and American Atheists. Kagin will continue to be American Atheists National Legal Director and on the Board of Directors, but he wants to focus more in his national roles. Director of State operations Ken Loukinen noted, "American Atheists in general and I in particular are most grateful for all he has done, not only for American Atheists and the state of Kentucky, but for my own development as an activist as well."

As American Atheists president Dr. Ed Buckner noted, "Edwin Kagin recommended Edwin Hensley as a successor, and after months of communications with Hensley and others that know him, and with the strong recommendation of Ken Loukinen, we are delighted to introduce Edwin Hensley as the new State Director for Kentucky." Hensley is not only a member of American Atheists; he is a plaintiff with American Atheists in the Kentucky Homeland Security Lawsuit. Hensley and his wife, Mikel, are organizers of the Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers; both are also involved with the Louisville Coalition of Reason, the Secular Parents of Louisville, the Louisville Secular Book Club, Atheist Women of Louisville, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Hensley is a 46-year-old software engineer, a husband and father of four children, and a dedicated Atheist. He was once a dedicated fundamentalist Christian but became an Atheist by analyzing the bible and learning about the history of the church and the bible. He comes with high recommendations and will be a major asset for American Atheists.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.


American Atheists, Inc. PO BOX 158, Cranford, NJ 07016

Tel.: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402

Thoughts for Creationists, Intelligent Design Freaks, and Their Fellow Travelers

Thoughts for Creationists, Intelligent Design Freaks, and Their Fellow Travelers on the 3rd Anniversary of the Opening of their Oxymoronic “Creation Museum.”


Now most people know that watches in pockets
Are made of different stuff than eyes in eye sockets.
A watch doesn’t have wings, or flippers, or feet,
A watch isn’t something another watch might just eat.
A watch doesn’t live in a nest, cave, or hive,
And that is because a watch isn’t alive.

If you can get that small detail resolved,
You can see why it’s dumb to say life hasn’t evolved.
And pretend that making a watch for a wrist,
Is just like making an arm or a fist.
And pretend people were made and clearly designed,
Because life is complex and sometimes refined.

Life didn’t happen by magic or plan,
Like thinking some dirt was turned into a man.
And some folks believe, and this is no fib,
That the first woman was made from first dirt man’s rib.

Evolution happened and it isn’t true,
That people were made by some god from some goo.

Let’s say that you took about ten quillion rabbits,
All alike in their looks, and their hops, and their habits,
And that about half were colored bright snerfell,
And that about half were colored dark murfell.
And if they made babies those snerfells and murfells,
Some of those babies would be colored snerfell,
And some of those babies would be colored murfell,
And some of those babies would be in between,
In some brand new colors no rabbit had seen.
Maybe some would be colored a pleasing snerplean,
Or maybe some awful disgusting murgreen,
And some might be lovely and some quite obscene.

And if the rabbits thus colored should make some more rabbits,
With only those rabbits with their color habits,
A new color for rabbits would finally evolve,
And the colors they started out with would dissolve,
And be completely replaced after enough time,
With snerplean or murgreen not made out of slime.

And enough time and enough rabbit ranges
Could make in those rabbits amazing new changes,
Until they perhaps were no longer rabbits,
But maybe some new type of postrabbitodabits.

A new kind of life we could not invent in our mind,
As new as a timepiece some watchmaker might wind,
But made from the life force creationists mock,
Who think life is something as dead as a clock.

So don’t be confused by people who lie,
Who think truth is found in a book from the sky.
If it weren’t for science we wish they could see,
We would all have to use candles to watch the T.V.

Edwin Kagin

(Reproduced from “Baubles of Blasphemy, 2nd Ed.” by Edwin Kagin,
edited by Frank Zindler, American Atheist Press, 2010).

Permission is given for non-commercial reproduction. If you make money on this, I want some of it.
Edwin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CREATION MUSEUM, MEMORIAL DAY 2010

Happy Birthday to the Kentucky site
Of religio-fanatic-fiction
That works so hard, as is their right,
At scientific interdiction.

It was on Memorial Day
In two thousand and ought seven
That this Ham and AIG display
Opened as a nonsense Heaven.

Outside their gates protesters stood
In a great “Rally for Reason”
Against an ignorance that would
Reveal that facts are not in season.

In three years many thousand folks
Have by this contagion been infected
As myth the human spirit yokes
As lying grows yet more perfected.

So Happy Birthday truth abusers
As your superstition rages
Make more uneducated losers
And welcome in a new Dark Ages.


Edwin Kagin