A M E R I C A N   A T H E I S T S
           A A N E W S
#1213 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7/8/06
    http://www.atheists.org
 http://www.americanatheist.org
 http://www.atheistviewpoint.tv

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS, a nationwide movement that defends
civil rights for non-believers; works for the total separation of
Church and State; and addresses issues of First Amendment public
policy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ATHEIST is really a thoroughly honest, unambiguous term, it admits of
no paltering and no evasion, and the need of the world, now as ever,
is for clear-cut issues and unambiguous speech."  -- Chapman Cohen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In This Issue...
* "Just Another Salem," an account by Chester Smalkowski
* Join, support American Atheists
* Silverman blog -- the place for Atheists in cyberspace!
* Add FLASHLINE, RSS feeds, logos & more to your web site
* Resources
* About this list...

>From the AANEWS Editor: Below, we are reproducing, "as is" and
un-edited, the account circulating on the internet and the
democraticunderground.com web site penned by Chester Smalkowski and
aptly titled "Just Another Salem."

It is his personal story about the ordeal he and has family have been
swept up in after their daughter, Nadia, refused to join a prayer
circle during a basketball game at their local high school.
Nadia, instead, recited the "godless" Pledge of Allegiance.

>From there, events went out of control.  Chester Smalkowski and family
members attempted to hold a conversation with the high school
principal.  That turned into a physical altercation, Mr. Smalkowski
was arrested under a battery of charges, and the authorities offered
to dismiss the case if the Atheist family fled the state.

American Atheists joined in the subsequent criminal case, and Chester
Smalkowski -- battling incredible "Bible Belt" odds in the courtroom
-- was found innocent of the charges.  News of that can be found on
the American Atheists web site at
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/smalko1.htm .

Edwin Kagin (ekagin@atheists.org), National Legal Director for
American Atheists, is preparing a federal action which will touch on a
number of issues in the Smalkowski case including violations of this
Atheist family's civil rights.

Chester Smalkowski vented his thoughts about this experience on a
blog.  AANEWS is reproducing this story for the benefit of our
readers, unedited and in its original format.  This conveys the
honest, emotional, "from the heart" sentiments of Mr. Smalkowski, and
constitutes one man's recollection of an agonizing experience due to
religious intolerance and fanaticism.

American Atheists welcomes support so that we may continue our efforts
on behalf of Chester Smalkowski and his family.

There are lessons to be learned.  Perhaps the most important, though,
is that "it can happen here," in America, in the year 2006.

-- Conrad Goeringer,
AANEWS - American Atheists

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&
forum= 173&topic_id=1263&mesg_id=1790

                     JUST ANOTHER SALEM


The bailiff took the piece of paper from the foreman of the jury and
handed it to the Judge. He opened the paper and while staring at it he
nodded. The courtroom was silent and the jury stared straight ahead.

I have been in many situations where my life or limb were on the line
but I was still in the game and had a hand to play.
But not here, here I just sat waiting for the verdict.

Though I worried about being sent away for five years on bogus
charges, my dread was the Christian mob. They knew I must be found
guilty in order to slow or stop the civil case being filed in Federal
court. Since the start of my daughter's stand against the public
schools disregard for the law of the land, it was imperative to run us
out of the county to make any civil action non valid. With me in jail
for five years running my family out would be a whole lot easier, or
so they might have thought.

The courtroom was packed for it is the Bible belt. There was no love
in this courtroom.

The loving Christians brought their children to hear the verdict. They
brought the town. They brought ministers. I even saw another Judge in
the back of the room. The Judge who in an earlier hearing while
slapping an inch thick stack of papers on his bench saying with a list
of witnesses this big you had better be a good boy. It was lies then,
it was lies now and the DA knew it! (She was later forced to hand over
a written statement she denied for over a year existed!) People prayed
openly for a conviction. Many holding their bibles. During the trial
the Prosecutions side of the courtroom was packed. Only my son and
Edwin Kagin's wife, Helen sat behind me, but now there was not enough
room in the whole courtroom.

Yet now the so-called victim, the 325 lbs victim, the ex Marine,
hurrahs, was nowhere to be found. Neither was the woman assistant
district attorney anywhere to be found.
Whose vindictive, bogus case this was from the start.

What sort of place is this?

Well this is not the place for a
little debate in a coffee shop with the sweet salt air rolling up from
San Francisco bay. This is a place where the children write on their
schoolbooks the south will rise again. This is a place where they say
that black people caused slavery! Where they burn rock CD's. Mormons
are the tools of Satan. That my daughter is gay cause only homosexuals
vote for Kerry and Christians vote for Bush. Atheists worship Satan!
Where religious fanaticism is fused with political rhetoric and
political leaders pander to this madness.
This place has a sickness, a malignant disease and it is spreading.
Edwin saw it first hand.

There has not been many a trial with a Not Guilty verdict in this
county for years. The head DA is good friends with the self-righteous
in the courtroom and greets them all by name.
You know the type.

Many old women in the courtroom are taking notes.  Others have been
taking notes at every hearing for the past year and a half! They
strain to listen not wanting to miss one juicy word. With the pens and
pads they write continuously. The pads shaking with every push of the
pen. Even writing down what my children spoke amongst themselves.

Blue gray haired old Christian spinsters bitter for wasting all those
fruitful years now just waiting for those pearly gates. These are
truly the wicked. You have seen them before.
With their bogus self-righteousness they strut and sneer. How far we
have not come.

Others had walked out into the hall and warned a police witness saying
that justice must be served, that justice better be served. The judge
called a hearing on the threat.
He warned the crowd that if it happens one more time he would have no
choice but to throw out the case. He was between a rock and a hard
place. He knows my lawyers are watching and the loving Christians are
out for my blood, and they are watching too.  The law, elections and
politics were all in play. The Judge left the court for his chambers
and stayed away for a quite awhile.

The Christians, the loving Christians! Praying to a God whose wings
are dripping in the blood of innocent men, woman and children down
through the ages.  Truly hypocrisy is one of their commandments and
the blood of the innocence one of their sacraments!  

Christian against Christian, Christian against Moslem, Christian
against Mormon. Basically Christian against anyone or anything that
challenges their pathetic little fairy tale.

Go to any Indian reservation and see the lies and broken promises by a
country with "Under God" in their pledge. 

I assume I need not have to explain about the loving hymns sung in
church on Sunday and beatings of black slaves on Monday. But on Monday
night the good old Master has a little tippy toe over to slave huts
for a little brown sugar. While the queen of the manor is in the
master bedroom past out on an opium tonic. Praise the Lord!

Well that was then but now the court was about to hear the verdict.
There was a feeding frenzy about to begin with the dirty little
atheist and his family put in their place with him in jail and the
family run out of town. Like the teacher told my daughter "This is a
Christian country and if you don't like it get out!"

I could hear my heart beat in my ears and I dreaded the cheers from
the righteous mob that were about to begin.
The pain of having my family being in the front row to witness this
swirling cesspool of hatred come to its inevitable end with my head on
a pike, sucked the air right out of my lungs. 

It was truly just another Salem. Different time and place.
Same characters with new names. Oh, no gallows or big oak tree this
time. But if they could they surely would.
How far we have not come. I know, I already said that but do you
really understand what a tragedy it means? The whole universe is ours
if we want it but instead we must gravel in the dirt having to debate
the obvious.

I have been standing against injustice most of my life. It is my
nature. I am a child of the 60's and proud of it. But what of my poor
family? They stood so proud and strong. They are tougher than I will
ever be. I had told them do not cry. Do not give these bastards any
satisfaction. I told my wife if I see you cry I will surely loose it.
I said it is in the Federal courts we will set things right and send
that wall higher than it has ever been. On the wall behind us was a
painting of the signing of the Declaration.
The judge handed the verdict to the clerk. The only sound was the
paper. The paper in the clerk's hands with the hand written words that
spelled my doom, my family's fate and the inevitable cheers from the
Christian mob.

With my guts in my throat and no air to breathe. The court clerk read
the decision of the jury.

We the jury find the defendant:
On the charge of Aggravated Assault and Battery:
Not Guilty!

On the charge of Assault and Battery:
Not Guilty!

On the charge of Assault:
Not Guilty!

On the charge of Battery:
Not Guilty!

Not a word, not a sound. The lynching had been cancelled.
I took my first free breath in almost two years. I looked at the jury
and mouth the words thank you. I gazed at the floor as floodgates
opened, I dared not move my head that others might see. Charley don't
cry, but free air has its effects.
With all their praying, lies, crooked cops, warning that justice
better be done, packing the courthouse with their followers, Even a
teacher on the jury who had taught at the Hardesty School. (Our motion
to take her off the jury
denied.) Not guilty was still the outcome. The evidence was obvious.
This was a bad case.  And 12 men and women had the guts.

>From the start of this legal fight my lawyers said Atheism must be
kept out. That it was a no go in the Bible belt. I was just adamant
that Atheism be brought in. For it is the reason. It was the motive
for all the lies and hate. I felt it was about time that this dirty
little secret of hate, persecution, Christian madness and hypocrisy is
brought out into the light of day. When I told my lawyers this they
all gave me the same bewildered stare.

So one by one, I dropped one lawyer then two. Then I had a hard time
in finding another one. My third lawyer was still trying to convince
me to keep my atheism out even up till the day of the trial. I still
said no. Somewhere along the line I talk to the ACLU out of San
Francisco. Who let me know my first civil lawyer was not telling me
the whole story. I was advised by them and many others to complain to
the Bar about him. 

You see he never told me that the prayer in itself is illegal. That
the schools in this area were not following the state and federal
funding guidelines.  When I asked him after finding out from the ACLU.
He said yes it is against the law.
I told him I want to have it stopped. He told me he would not for he
was a Christian and he believed there should be school prayer. His
statement floored me for it bordered on madness.
I said what you believe and what you do for a client is two different
things and that you took an oath. He still refused.
It did not matter to him that I had already given him $10,000 dollars.
He knows we are not rich. So I wrote a letter to him to complain about
his refusing to take my daughters civil case where it should have gone
from the start. And I asked for my money back. He sent me a bill for
another $5000 saying it was the charge for reading my letter and
wasting his time.

In my search for a civil attorney it became clear that no one would
touch this case. In all of Oklahoma I could not find an attorney. My
criminal attorney said he would look at it but only after I paid him
his $15000 for the criminal case. He sent me a letter that the funds
for the criminal were coming too slow and suggested that I seek other
counsel for the civil matter. But even after he got his $15000 he
would only take it if I paid him more. (Now that I have won the
criminal case he wants on the civil. Suffice to say he is off the
civil!)

Eventually I contacted the American Atheist, which was referred to me
by Edward Tabash, who was referred to me by a Mr. Robert Tierman.  I
told them my problem in finding an attorney willing to take church and
state case in which the people are blatantly breaking the law. Yet no
one will take it. American Atheist, being out of another state, could
not refer me to anyone. But they said they would try to help.
The ACLU out of Oklahoma City refused. They sent me some standard
letter. It really hurt  that I did not even rate a return call or a
reason. I felt betrayed, lost and confused.
Was this the United States? Where freedom reigns?

The whole family was under constant stress. Police trying to get
search warrants to the property by having ex-employees file false
statements. Other cops trying to hire ex-cons to beat me up. The whole
town knows of it! The Sheriff trying to have my bond pulled by the
bail bondsman when there was no legal way to do it. My kids have been
out of school since November. Principal's son saying should he get a
gun when he sees my daughter and my son. DA has yet to reply to our
concerns. The Department of Human Services comes to my place saying
they received a complaint that I starve my kids. It was even obvious
to them the charge was bogus.

We have become very good at using back roads. The police follow us
around. Traffic tickets that when challenged were dropped in court.
Not to mention the stares and whispers, the betrayal from employees,
one of my healthy dogs dying. Brush fires starting up upwind.

An FBI agent even said, "You aren't kidding". When it was obvious
someone followed us and was watching our meeting out in the middle of
nowhere. I was told about a few things. All I can say is that some of
the crooks out here now charged with crimes wore badges and guns! But
he could not help my family and me. Not without witnesses willing to
come forward. One scared witness left the state. The last words she
spoke to me were, Chuck I don't want to end up dead in a ditch!

Just what you would expect life to be like out here in the Bible belt!

The roller coaster of emotions we went through every minute, every
day. It was truly a hell. There were days we spoke little. Other days
we spoke late into the night. You get to a point you become numb, but
it doesn't last.  For it is all aboard and you are on the roller
coaster again.

My poor family. They were standing tall. But they would not even be in
this place if it were not for me and my bright idea about centralizing
our business. We all missed the desert. The free open Mojave Desert.
My family did not ask for this. They deserved better. I saw them all
suffering.
Many a night I would sit in the barn alone with a pint of scotch and
look at the high beams and the rope on the wall.

Then out of the blue my wife received a call from Ellen Johnson who
said they had a lawyer that can help us, an Edwin Kagin who is their
legal director. Well I called him up, and our civil case is up and
running.

Edwin Kagin also by my request came to my criminal case for the two
cases are obviously interrelated. There were also other reasons.
                   
Simply stated without Edwin Kagin, Ellen Johnson and American Atheist
I would be in jail now, or worse. Without them, we would have no
federal case on separation of church and state.
The only group, the only lawyer that would stand with my family and me
to protect the wall and not cringe at me wanting to put atheism as
part of my defense.

In Edwin's opening statement American Atheist magazine was shown. The
crowd almost rioted. He explained that Atheism was not a dirty word
and that it was a conclusion. That my family and I are not devil
worshippers. We just have no Gods.
It was the basis of the case. It was the danger. It was the truth. Yet
the only lawyer to go there freely was Edwin Kagin.

In a world where superstition is the norm and those who seek another
path are ridiculed or worse. Being an atheist takes guts. Freedom is
never freely given. The good fight is always there.

Oh you can hide yourself in the latest sitcom or have one or two more
scotch and waters but the good fight is still there.
You can run to your malls and buy yourself crazy with credit card
frenzy. But the good fight is still there. You can look away and deny
allegiance. But the good fight is still there.
These are the times that try men's courage. You can debate till you're
blue in the face. It will not change a damn thing. 

Our forefathers are on our side in this fight. Trust me. From Adams to
Madison to Jefferson and Paine they all knew the dangers of a
Theocracy. They wrote the Constitution to assure it. And within the
federal courts we can protect this nation from a Theocracy.

The wall between the church and state must stand. But the wall is
being battered and cracks now appear.  The Christians are at the gate
attempting to breach the wall and send us back down the road to an age
of darkness, bloodshed and fear.
My family and myself are willing to stand and fight the good fight. If
we lose some skin, so be it. We have no more else to give. We are
financially done.  Thanks to American Atheist, Ellen Johnson and Edwin
Kagin for the first time we do not fight alone.


Please stand together with us and fight the good fight. The fight that
our forefathers began. Lets make the wall so high between Church and
State that they who wish to tear it down will know better and be
content with staying in their churches.

For freedom has never been free!
There can be no freedom for all if the wall does not stand.

The wall must stand
Chuck, Nadia, Nicole, Czeslaw and Bridgette Smalkowski

(AANEWS encourages reproduction and distribution of this essay.
Readers may also wish to discuss this at the NoGodBlog
(http://www.nogodblog.com) and other boards, blogs and lists)

                            **

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                       ABOUT THIS LIST...

AANEWS is a free service from American Atheists, a nationwide movement
founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair that defends the civil rights of
nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and
addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

You may forward, post or quote from this dispatch provided that
appropriate credit is given to both AANEWS and American Atheists.
Please do not post complete editions of this newsletter
indiscriminately to news groups, boards or other outlets.  Edited by
Conrad F.  Goeringer (cg@atheists.org).  The Internet Representative
for American Atheists is Larry Mundinger (lmundinger@atheists.org).
The President of American Atheists is Ellen Johnson
(ej@atheists.org)

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