Heathen's Idolize School Prayer ATC pamphlet By Scot Rhoads The second of the ATC's anti-hate pamphlets is another qualified success. It has the finesse and subtlety of the famous Fundamentalist tracts that inspired the project, but the message is clearly positive: We are a pluralistic country, thus governmental acts which recognize any faith are obliged to recognize all. This is a brief message to stretch over even 15 tiny pages, so the point is hammered home perhaps more forcefully than necessary. The humor is at times a bit strained to maintain interest through this, but the historical information is sufficient for that job. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of info can be crammed into 28 3" illustrated boxes; but what's there seems appropriate for the venue and more than competing pamphlets offer. Similarly, while a stronger ending would be welcome, it's as much as can be expected from this kind of publication, where the best material has to go up front to grab interest. Although I can readily imagine criticisms of frivolity, probably inevitable and possibly inappropriate for this type of publication, I think it would be difficult to call it negative. The latter criticism came up with the previous pamphlet. In the last issue of NMR we printed a letter critical of the first tract to which Pete Pathfinder briefly responds: [The writer] has completely missed the point, using their unerrant book to prove we don't need salvation. Rewriting their mythology also missed the point. We also have been accused of being anti-Semitic for claiming only Yahweh's people have original sin. But if things go well, liking a given pamphlet should become less important as the range of choices grows. With a large enough stable, market selection will offer exposure proportionate to popularity (among those buying, not reading). Manifestly negative messages are a bad idea, but otherwise the more variety the better. It will be interesting to see the disposition of pamphlets once there are a hundred varying choices. In the mean time, I would like to see this project get everyone's support and input even if we are not entirely happy with every pamphlet. SR | 
