| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
28 Oct 2006 02:31:19 AM |
| Object: |
A Brave Atheist Has Died |
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state. In
the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross issue
for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I will see
if there is some way I can help.
---
1947 PHILIP PAULSON 2006
Chief opponent of Mount Soledad cross
Vietnam veteran dies of liver cancer
By Kelly Thornton
STAFF WRITER
October 26, 2006
Philip Kevin Paulson, a Lutheran preacher's grandson who lost his
religion and waged a 17-year legal battle to remove the Mount Soledad
cross from public property, died yesterday of liver cancer. He was 59.
HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune
Mount Soledad cross foe Philip Paulson (left) attended a luncheon in his
honor Sept. 3.
Mr. Paulson, a 6-foot-5 Vietnam War veteran who lived in City Heights,
became one of the county's most reviled residents when he prevailed in a
lawsuit against the city of San Diego and continued with years of
appeals that still are pending.
On July 31, doctors told Mr. Paulson, a Wisconsin native, that he had
four months to a year to live. Despite the diagnosis, supporters were
surprised to learn Mr. Paulson had died because doctors said recently
the cancer appeared to be in remission. After traveling to San Francisco
two weeks ago to receive an award, Mr. Paulson experienced flulike
symptoms and was bedridden.
On Friday, he went to a hospital complaining of abdominal pain and
remained in critical condition until his death at 2 p.m. yesterday, said
his live-in companion of 17 years, Lorelei Lindsey.
During hours of interviews with The San Diego Union-Tribune in the past
two months, Mr. Paulson said he was unconcerned about death and proud of
the stand that he knew would define his life.
³I fought in Vietnam and I thought I fought to maintain freedom and yet
the cross savers in this city would have us believe all of the veterans'
sacrifices are in vain, that the Constitution is something to be spit
on,² Mr. Paulson said.
³The real message is equal treatment under the law, and religious
neutrality. That's the purpose of why I did it. It has nothing to do
with me being an atheist. The fact is, the Constitution calls for no
preference and that's why every judge ruled for me.²
Mr. Paulson, who shunned media attention to protect the case, agreed to
an exclusive interview on condition that his comments remain
confidential until his death or the end of the case. Mr. Paulson said he
wanted people to understand why he pursued the removal of the cross, and
that he was never motivated by a hatred for Christians.
³I don't harbor those kind of feelings,² he said. ³My mother's a
Christian. I was raised a devout Christian. I'm not anti-Christian. The
reason I did it is because it's not fair to the other religions. America
is not just the Christian religion.²
His lawyer, James McElroy, said Mr. Paulson maintained a passion for
justice and a sense of humor despite years of death threats, hate mail
and legal wrangling.
³For his efforts, Phil was ostracized and treated with scorn and
disrespect by many powerful people in our community and across the
country as well,² McElroy said. ³I suspect many of these same people,
especially those that were quick to demean him, lack half of the courage
that Phil had. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for fighting this
lonely battle for religious tolerance and freedom of conscience.²
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said he was sorry to hear of Mr. Paulson's
death.
³I've alway respected people who stick up for what they believe, and I
think he did that, and even though I didn't agree with him on the issue
of the cross, I still respect him for sticking to his beliefs,² Sanders
said.
Steve Trunk, who was chosen by Mr. Paulson to take over as plaintiff in
the case, said he was proud of his friend's convictions.
³Whether walking point in a Vietnamese jungle, defending a woman's right
to choose, or exercising his duty as a citizen forcing the government to
honor the Constitution, Phil personified what it means to be an
American,² Trunk said. ³I am honored and humbled to have known him.²
Phil Thalheimer, the chairman of San Diegans for the Mount Soledad
National War Memorial, which has battled against removing the cross,
said that while he disagreed with Mr. Paulson's position, he respected
his right to make it.
³Listen, he believed in what he was doing, and I certainly respect him
for that,² Thalheimer said. ³But I think he was wrong.²
Thalheimer said that recent developments in the long-running case show
that Mr. Paulson was beginning to lose his long legal battle.
Though the federal government took possession of the land where the
cross stands, the legal fight Mr. Paulson spawned is far from over.
Two lawsuits one filed by Mr. Paulson and Trunk and a second filed by
the ACLU are working their way jointly through federal court. They
challenge the presence of the cross on government property.
Appeals of two other cross-related cases were heard in federal and state
appellate courts last week. The San Diego-based 4th District Court of
Appeal heard arguments about Proposition A, a measure that city voters
passed in November 2005 to willingly give up the land to the federal
government.
The city has argued that while the cross has religious significance, it
also has a secular purpose to honor war veterans. Mr. Paulson contended
the memorial portion of the hilltop site was built only after he filed
suit.
Mr. Paulson said he started to doubt Christianity at a young age.
He grew up in Clayton, Wis., a village of about 300 known then as the
blue cheese capital of the world. There was a cheese factory, which
employed most of the men, plus a couple of taverns, two Lutheran
churches, two general stores and a post office.
His grandfather, the preacher, founded one of the Lutheran churches in
town, which almost everyone attended. Mr. Paulson's mother had hoped
that he also would become a minister.
³Oh, boy, did I disappoint her,² Mr. Paulson said with a laugh.
He said there were three events that caused him to embrace atheism
being punished as a child for questioning the tenets of Christianity,
his experience in Vietnam and a university class about religion.
³I changed when I was kid. I was skeptical of the claims of the Bible. I
never could get past the talking snake. I could never get past Jonah
getting swallowed by a whale, never get past the idea that Abraham was
going to kill Isaac and he was ready to kill his own son because of some
illusion of a deity. It was too far-fetched.²
He felt more doubt on Hill 875 during the Battle of Dak To, one of the
bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. Mr. Paulson had enlisted in the
Army in 1966 at age 18 and became a paratrooper. On the hill in 1967,
gunfire and explosions were all around as he frantically carried the
wounded and dead. Then his platoon was ambushed at the bottom of the
hill. He and another soldier were the only survivors.
³If there was a God, why would God allow for this to happen?² he said.
³Where was God to intervene if God was so powerful? I saw people
praying. I wasn't praying because I didn't want to waste my precious
time when I could be shooting.²
The third part in the process of becoming an atheist was an exercise
during a sociology of religion class at the University of Wisconsin,
which he attended after his second tour in Vietnam.
³That opened up my mind. That reconfirmed everything in an intellectual
way of how I came to my atheist belief . . . .²
He dabbled in many professions after his military service, working
briefly as a journalist, in shipyards, in oil fields and apple orchards
around the country, and he hopped freight trains to get there. He had
romances along the way and a brief marriage, but no children. He taught
English to immigrants.
He moved to San Diego in the late 1970s and taught in community colleges
and, until becoming ill, he was a professor at National University,
teaching computer and business classes.
Mr. Paulson, a storyteller with a deep, booming voice and a tendency to
digress, was able to quote scripture and name the Ten Commandments
without pause. He was unemotional when discussing traumatic events of
combat in Vietnam, his conversion from Christianity to atheism and even
his own death, but he raised his voice with passion when talking about
the cross case.
After the Union-Tribune published a story last month about Mr. Paulson's
diagnosis, the newspaper received e-mails from readers that were both
supportive and critical.
Mr. Paulson wanted to know what they said. One reader wrote: ³Cremate
him and then put his ashes under the cross.² Mr. Paulson thought it was
hilarious. Laughing, he said, ³I love that one! That's a good one! That
made my day!²
Mr. Paulson said he received many calls from well-wishers after the
story ran. ³It's like having a little memorial service before I die.²
Besides his companion, Mr. Paulson is survived by three older brothers
and two younger sisters who live in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Services
had not yet been planned.
---
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061026/news_7m26paulson.html
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
28 Oct 2006 03:06:22 AM |
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johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state. In
the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross issue
for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I will see
if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
-Panama Floyd, Atl.
aa#2015, Member Knights of BAAWA!
EAC Martian Commander
Plonked by Kadaitcha Man Sept 06
"..the prayer cloth of one aeon is the doormat of the next."
-Mark Twain
Religious societies are *less* moral than secular ones:
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html
.
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| User: "Martin" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
28 Oct 2006 04:54:32 AM |
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wrote:
johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state. In
the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross issue
for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I will see
if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
just wait
.
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| User: "Doc Smartass" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
28 Oct 2006 01:53:14 PM |
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Martin <usenet1@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in
news:454328d9$0$21357$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk:
panamfloyd@hotmail.com wrote:
johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state.
In the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross
issue for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I
will see if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
just wait
Do I need to hold my breath? I'm in the middle of "The Right Stuff" and
can't really concentrate on that if I'm holding my breath.
--
Doc Smartass
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of
words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the
people who must use the words. - Philip K. *****
.
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| User: "Budikka666" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
29 Oct 2006 12:49:08 AM |
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Doc Smartass wrote:
Martin <usenet1@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in
news:454328d9$0$21357$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk:
panamfloyd@hotmail.com wrote:
johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state.
In the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross
issue for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I
will see if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
just wait
Do I need to hold my breath? I'm in the middle of "The Right Stuff" and
can't really concentrate on that if I'm holding my breath.
I hope you're going to watch "The Left Stuff" afterwards in order to
maintain a sense of balance....
Budikka
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| User: "Doc Smartass" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
29 Oct 2006 04:16:17 PM |
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"Budikka666" <budikka1@netscape.net> wrote in
news:1162100948.665887.90550@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:
Doc Smartass wrote:
Martin <usenet1@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in
news:454328d9$0$21357$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk:
panamfloyd@hotmail.com wrote:
johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and
state.
In the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross
issue for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and
I
will see if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
just wait
Do I need to hold my breath? I'm in the middle of "The Right Stuff"
and
can't really concentrate on that if I'm holding my breath.
I hope you're going to watch "The Left Stuff" afterwards in order to
maintain a sense of balance....
Nah. I'll watch "Apollo 13" to get the history straightened out. "Right
Stuff" had some military officials going to the ranch at Muroc AFB (where
the X-1 was based for the sound-barrier breaking) the day before the Big
Test looking for a test pilot, like "Well dammit, man, we need a pilot
for this plane and we ain't got one." Made it look like Chuck Yeager
hadn't even seen the plane until then.
--
Doc Smartass
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of
words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the
people who must use the words. - Philip K. *****
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: A Brave Atheist Has Died |
29 Oct 2006 12:15:17 AM |
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In article <1162022782.880696.187390@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
johac wrote:
He fought in Vietnam. He fought for separation of church and state. In
the end he fought cancer. It saddens me to read of his passing.
I never met Mr. Paulson, but I have followed the Mt. Soledad cross issue
for some time. I am glad that the struggle will continue and I will see
if there is some way I can help.
Sad to hear. Paulson was working to remove these things before it
became "cool".
And please notice, theists, the complete lack of a "death-bed
conversion"!
:-P PPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFF!
Yes and he also gave the lie to there being no 'atheists in foxholes' as
have many others.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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