The Daily Worker

ATHEISTS PLAN
LEGAL FIGHT
ON
ECCLESIASTICS

Quote Washington as Aid to Campaign

NEW YORK, April 9.—The organized atheists of the country are planning a series of legal attacks upon ecclesiasticism, according to a statement issued today by Charles Smith, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, Inc., with national headquarters at 49 Vesey street. A fund of $100,000 is being raised among atheists for the purpose of instituting several legal actions and spreading propaganda in the colleges.

"Our suit to remove the chaplains from the houses of congress and the army and navy is but the first move of a campaign to cleanse government of religion," Smith said. "We are now preparing for our second suit and will file it shortly after a decision is handed down in the present case."

U. S. No Christian Nation.

"We chose to bring action to remove the chaplains from the federal payroll first because it seems to us that their employment is clearly illegal. We consider that payment of public moneys to priests and propagandists of creeds is plainly a perversion of public funds. Christianity would rise in arms if an atheist were made chaplain of the senate or the house. Who can conceive of a Mohammedan as a chaplain on one of our navy craft? We must keep in mind what George Washington said: The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or Mohammedan nation.

We are raising $100,000 for the purpose of instituting legal actions throughout the United States. Our association will bring suit in Oak Park, Illinois, before the close of the present term to restrain the school board of that city from dismissing school children for religious instruction during school hours. Our attorney in Chicago, Richard J. Cooney, is prepared to test the week-day religious issue in the supreme court of Illinois and secure a final decision in the matter," he continued.

Organizing the Students.

"A portion of the fund being raised will be devoted to our work in the colleges. The students, with the aid of members of the faculties, will conduct branches. The names of the officers of the branches at Yale and the University of Kansas will be announced within a few days. We have encouraged and are standing behind the suits brought by members of our Damned Souls branch at the University of Rochester against Clinton N. Howard, who used slanderous language in condemning the students from a Rochester pulpit. From now on Christianity must behave itself," Smith concluded.