On the Eve of the Reason Rally

By Gary Berg-Cross

The Reason Rally, slated to be the largest non-theist/secular event in world history, arrives in Washington, D.C. on Saturday March 24. It promises to be a memorable gathering as secular activists come together in the national capital to celebrate and express secular identity. The rally is sponsored by many of the US’s top secular organizations & will feature music, comedy, and addresses by leaders of the secular movement. Scheduled to appear are author Dr. Richard Dawkins, actor and comedian Eddie Izzard, writer and comedian Bill Maher, comedian Tim Minchin, the Bad Religion band and many more. The event is intended to give the secular community an opportunity to unite under the Enlightenment banner of reason. It's worth coming out for.

It’s generated some discussion and we’ll probably see some media coverage that will be interesting. The Young Turks has been proud to announce they have sent reps to cover it.

Of course there have already been some grumblings on why we need a rally for reason. David Silverman provided a nice response in Why we need a Reason Rally noting, among other things, that while it is “a non-partisan event with attendees from all along the political spectrum, it is a statement to Washington, to our elected leaders, and to the rest of the nation that nonbelievers are a legitimate political segment of the American population.”

And of course it is important because:

America is one of the most religious countries in the world. And if you are non-religious, it can seem that without religion you cannot be elected to public office, cannot be considered a moral or ethical person, or be considered a patriot. It does not appear to matter what religious beliefs you cling to so long as you can tell anyone who asks, “Yes, sir or ma’am, I believe in God.”

Apparently, some fundamentalist Christians are planning on coming to the rally too. They are currently offering a special online seminar to their members on how to evangelize to atheists at the Reason Rally. Expect some proselytizing to compete with the reason in the air. The Christian group that calls themselves “True Reason” plans some type of party crash, but they say they will bring peace and love. With that they have announced that they will be giving out their book and flyers advertising their e-book at the Rally. I hope they take some of our flyers too. What do you think?

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