A. A. A. A.

The American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, Inc., issued last week the second annual report of its anti-Christian activities. This report was prefaced with a statement of the decalogue of principles upon which the "4 A" conducts its goings-on. Thus:

"The United States not being a Christian nation and its godless Constitution requiring a secular government, the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism demands:

"(1) Taxation of church property.

"(6) Removal of 'In God We Trust' from coins and of the Cross from above the Flag. . . .

"(9) Secularization of marriage, with divorce upon request. . . ."

There followed "The five fundamentals of Atheism," each neatly defined: Materialism, Sensationalism, Evolution, The Existence of Evil ("The patent fact that renders irrational the belief in a beneficent, omnipotent being who cares for man"), Hedonism. There followed, throughout the Atheists' pamphlet, notes, comments, and exhortations on the progress of this form of religion. It was observed that ". . . there is much atheism in the church," that, "there is an increasing number of clergymen who conduct 'services' at which no prayers are offered and where no reference is made to God. ..." A final paragraph expounded the slogan, "Kill the Beast," with which the cover of the Annual Report was conspicuously adorned: "The hour to overthrow the Church has come. Arise, ye prisoners of the priest! Strike down the God superstition! The Clergy are powerful because you are on your knees. Stand up! ... Be men! . . . Prepare for the oncoming religious revolution." The "greatest achievement of the year" was described as the "founding ... of the American Anti-Bible Society." This organization has been denied a charter, to secure which atheists plan a legal campaign.

Like deism, atheism is an entirely logical postulate. Usually, however, an atheist's faith being a negative one, he is less likely, when its novelty has worn off, than a propagandist for God, to preach it on highway and byway. He has not the exclusively Christian satisfaction of saving a soul. When he takes the offensive, he is in the position of a salesman selling precisely nothing at all. Nonetheless, atheists perhaps feel that their offspring are contaminated by biblical training in public schools, that in other respects they are at a disadvantage in the U. S. community. In the back of the Atheists' report is a list of the Board of Directors of the A. A. A. A. Of these, several are men well-known to the world for qualities other than their godlessness. One is E. Haldeman-Julius, publisher of nickel books; another is Ira D. Cardiff, noted botanist.