Atheist's Oath

When Mrs. Emma Marshall was sent to the penitentiary in Alabama, there to await execution, notions began slowly to revolve inside her head. She had been convicted of murdering her husband, because he, lying on his deathbed, had signed a document asserting that she (his Christian wife) had slain him. What possibility was there then that she could escape the law's severest penalty? Her husband was an atheist, remembered Mrs. Marshall; false-swearing by an atheist, even on a deathbed, promises no future punishment. An atheist is therefore considered more likely to be a liar than a man who believes in God. In two states, Arkansas and Maryland, there are provisions by which an atheist's testimony is non-negotiable in court; any court would be likely to recognize the logic behind the theory or to be swayed by the prejudice which exists in the minds of God-fearers against those who are infidels. Thus Mrs. Marshall prepared last week an appeal to the Supreme Court based upon the probable falsity of her husband's oath.

Should such an appeal be made successfully, it would become impossible for U. S. atheists to expect justice at the hand of the law. It would be theoretically permissible to bait atheists in the streets, to revile or cast filth upon them, to slaughter them in shambles, all with impunity. Such a condition would not be welcomed by U. S. atheists; hence it became their interest to see that Mrs. Emma Marshall failed in her appeal. Charles Smith, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, telegraphed to Attorney General Charles McCall of Alabama, asking permission to have his organization represented by lawyers at the trial. Attorney General McCall intimated that he would grant such permission.

Just whom the atheists would send to their defence was not quite certain. It did not, however, seem probable that they would lack legal talent. Clarence S. Darrow was of course their loudest trump; Arthur Garfield Hays was another attorney in their lineup. Probably Charles Smith, a demure and smiling infidel, with the gracious manners of a country clergyman, would be present at the procedure.

Atheists are hampered in their activities by the fact that few public personages dare testify to disbelief in God. Sensation seekers crowd their ranks and an atheist fanatic is equalled in insane ferocity only by an inflamed revivalist. Yet leading atheists claim many famous figures as their allies. Such figures are: Sinclair Lewis, Clement Wood, Clarence Darrow, Freeman Hopwood, Theodore Dreiser, John Broadus Watson (behaviorism), E. Haldeman-Julius, A. G. Keller.