After
the Wall Street Journal published Frank’s article and my photos the sisters
became cause cé·lè·bre with every secular group around the world offering the
sisters funds and support. Frank,
who had flown back to London for a rest, had been interviewed by at least seven
media outlets. Frank was not
surprised at the media attention.
The United States election was over and the world media needed something
to focus on. And a bunch of wild
atheist nuns sounded just the ticket for a media frenzy. Within a week the National Enquirer had
headlines of the nuns having lesbian sex orgies. Most did not realize the emotional state
these poor women were in. Stripped
of all they believed and nothingness left in its place left them emotionally
drained and confused. Frank stopped
by Foyles Bookstore in London and picked out a dozen books to send the religious
cripples. He sent two copies of
Sagan’s ‘Demon Haunted World’.
Other authors were Ingersoll, Hitchens, Dawkins, Paine and Shaw’s “Man
and Superman.”
When
he handed the books to me he said, “Those poor bitches are going to have a rough
time of it and I was part of the problem.”
After a pause Frank added, “Jack, if you hear of anything more like that
on the Internet tell me.”
For
the next two months Frank and I were busy tearing apart the new administration
of the United States. It seems the
voters had decided to self inflict upon themselves a President who royally
decided that the accumulated wisdom of the State Department was not serving the
country and he fired everyone. Then
he stacked it with thousands of political hacks who proceeded to ignore most of
the laws of the country. Meanwhile
he ignored the Senate which was under the control of the opposite side. Due process was thrown out the window,
but the President was very good at blackmailing key Senators and allowing huge
pork bills to be passed that kept them from complaining, but not capable of real
action to put the President back in line.
Frank had a bet with several other journalists as to how long it would
take the Supreme Court or the Senate to take on the President.
There
was so much corruption and incompetence to write about that Frank seriously did
not know what to write about first.
The funny thing is that the American economy was doing great. Corporations were reporting record
profits and the stock market was in new territory. The rich were having a field day. It all smelled but the press mostly
joined in the party to celebrate how rich the rich were becoming. The press enjoyed being fed expensive
food and liquor and so there was very little critical thinking going on. Frank was one of the few that could see
something was not right. Like a
wolf in the woods he could smell the smoke, but he could not see where the
flames were coming from.
On
April 4, I reviewed Frank’s mail.
It had been forwarded from New York by the Wall Street Journal and mostly
contained hate mail. So many
Americans felt their politicians could walk on water. One letter was from Spain. I opened it and scanned it. It was from Maria Lopez thanking Frank
for the books. I told Frank that
there was a letter from Sister Maria Lopez.
“Read
it.”
“Dear
Mr. Huntington, Thank you so very much for the books. All the former sisters who can read
English have simply devoured them.
I have tried to read aloud Christopher Hitchen’s book in Spanish to my
sisters who only understand Spanish.
You can imagine how difficult that is to do on the fly. So many of the ideas are so
exciting. We never heard anything
like it when we were taught as novices.
We were always told atheists were full of lies and sinful thoughts. Instead I find they are full of
wonderful truths about life and the Universe. They have also made us all aware of all
the sinful things Catholicism is guilty of. To use an old phrase, these books are a
blessing.
However,
I am sad to report that just before your books came two of the sisters have
joined the Mother Superior in death.
Sisters Margaret and Bridget both took their lives. They had shared the same cell in both
the convent and in our new home and were very close. Sister Margaret took her life first by
cutting her wrists. Sister Bridget
found her in her blood-soaked bed and must have been overcome with despair. She ran out to the garden and drowned
herself in the small pool where we kept goldfish. She turned a very peaceful spot in our
new home into a place of despair. I
fear for more of my sisters.
I
wish to thank you for the article you wrote. We have received letters of support and
donations to help us stay together.
The Richard Dawkins Foundation sent us two thousand pounds. Emotionally we are all still hurting as
if the death of our faith was like a death in the family. Your books have helped a lot. I know I do not feel so empty. Day by day everything makes a little
more sense to us.
With
love and respect,
Maria
Lopez”
I
put the letter down.
“Thanks,
Jack. Three deaths. How sad.”
That
was all Frank said of that.
It
was May 5, when I saw something interesting on the religious front that Frank
might find interesting. I hardly
wanted to mention it as Frank’s plate was so very full. He was half way done writing what would
be a series of six articles about how the Supreme Court was frozen by
inaction.
“Sir,
I have a data point for you.”
“What
is it Jack?”
“You
wanted to be kept informed of any odd religious disturbances like the nuns of
St. Claire and I have something.”
“Go
ahead, I’m listening.”
“In
California there is a Buddhist Temple where all the members have declared they
are atheists. Most of the
congregation are Japanese Americans.”
“Bingo. Good job, Jack. Book me tickets. Give me the
lowdown.”
“It
is called the Los Angeles Shining East Buddhist Temple at 2003 Corinth Avenue,
East LA. According to the LA Times
the monks and congregation have gone crazy. Once considered a rather conservative
group of Buddhists they held their annual Obon festival and it was rather a huge
orgy. It is suppose to be a
festival that honors their ancestors.
Instead it turned into a wild party complete with outdoor nudity, sex and
drunkenness. The police were called
in after people driving by witnessed multiple sexual acts on the front lawn.
This all took place yesterday. What
about the Supreme Court?”
“I’m
afraid it calls for an all-nighter.”
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