Reason Rally

Last updated
Atheists and irreligious people gathered for the Reason Rally on the National Mall Reason Rally-Crowd-3.JPG
Atheists and irreligious people gathered for the Reason Rally on the National Mall

The first Reason Rally was a public gathering for secularism and religious skepticism held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2012. [1] [2] The rally was sponsored by major atheistic and secular organizations of the United States and was regarded as a "Woodstock for atheists and skeptics". A second Reason Rally was held June 4, 2016 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Contents

Speakers and performers at the first rally included biologist Richard Dawkins, physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, musician Tim Minchin, MythBusters co-host Adam Savage, actor-comedian Eddie Izzard, Paul Provenza, PZ Myers, Jessica Ahlquist, Dan Barker, and magician James Randi, and others. [3] The punk rock band Bad Religion performed and other notables (Rep. Pete Stark, Sen. Tom Harkin, comedian Bill Maher, magician Penn Jillette) addressed the crowd by video link. Participants recited the Pledge of Allegiance, deliberately omitting the phrase "under God", which was added by the U.S. Congress in 1954. Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces were represented, and a retired Army colonel, Kirk Lamb, led veterans in an affirmation of their secular military oaths. [4] Speakers urged those assembled to contact local and national representatives and ask them to support church-state separation, science education, marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and ending government support of faith-based organizations, among other causes. [5]

According to the official website of the first rally, the aim of the Reason Rally was to "unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, while dispelling the negative opinions held by so much of American society." [2] The website had predicted it would be "the largest secular event in world history." The Atlantic said 20,000 people were in attendance. [6] Religion News Service said 8,000–10,000. [7] The documentary The Unbelievers says that over 30,000 people attended the rally. [8] There are no official crowd estimates of events on the Mall.

The second rally, the Reason Rally for 2016, was billed as "a celebration of fact-driven public policy, the value of critical thinking, and the voting power of secular Americans". [9] The weekend of the Rally included advocacy events and conference sessions. The expected crowd attendance was 30,000 but only about 15,000 to 20,000 actually attended the rally, according to the organizer's estimate. [10] [11]

Purpose of the first rally

According to the first rally's official website, the event had three main goals: [2]

David Silverman was the creator and executive producer of the event, and the president of the Reason Rally Coalition. Organizers said the aim of the rally was twofold: to unite individuals with similar beliefs and to show the American public that the number of people who don’t believe in God is large and growing. “We have the numbers to be taken seriously,” said Paul Fidalgo, spokesman for the Center for Inquiry, which promotes the scientific method and reasoning and was one of the organizations sponsoring the rally. “We’re not just a tiny fringe group.” [12]

According to rally spokesman Jesse Galef, diversity with the attendees was a focus this year, he stated 'We can't succeed if we are only coming from one demographic'". Comparing the 2012 rally to the 2002 Godless rally which was mainly over-40 white men, the attendees were "largely under the age of 30, at least half female and included many people of color". [7]

Speaking to NPR prior to the rally, American Atheist president David Silverman stated that this is a coming-of-age event for atheists, "We'll look back at the Reason Rally as one of the game-changing events when people started to look at atheism and look at atheists in a different light". [13]

With goals of bringing unity, energy, and visibility to the secular demographic, the rally can be seen as a manifestation of the secular movement that emerged in America and elsewhere in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Writing for The Guardian Sarah Posner states that the Reason Rally was modeled on the LGBT movement, encouraging people to 'come out' about their non-belief and working to humanize atheism by getting "people to personalize someone they'd always thought of as an 'other.'" Once people realize that their neighbor, co-worker or family member is an atheist it goes a long way towards acceptance. Politics played a large part of the Rally according to Posner; considering that there is only one openly atheist American Congressperson, there is a lot of work to still be done. [14]

Response to the first rally

Reason Rally crowd Reason Rally-Crowd-2.JPG
Reason Rally crowd
Greg Graffin of Bad Religion sings the National Anthem at the Reason Rally. Greg Graffin of Bad Religion sings the National Anthem at the Reason Rally. National Mall, Washington, DC, 2012.jpg
Greg Graffin of Bad Religion sings the National Anthem at the Reason Rally.
Jessica Ahlquist speaks at the Reason Rally 26-Jessica Ahlquist-1.JPG
Jessica Ahlquist speaks at the Reason Rally

Support of the first rally

In the Huffington Post , Staks Rosch praised the rally. He stated that atheists "face a great deal of discrimination and fear of discrimination for being outspoken" and that many "fear having their families disown them, losing their jobs, or simply being harassed by the religious." [15]

David Niose, the president of the American Humanist Association stated that "The secular demographic does not claim to have a monopoly on rationality, but it does feel that it has something to offer. By rallying in Washington, seculars are not whining about some imagined victimization, but rather they are exercising a voice that has been silenced for too long." [16]

Nate Phelps, an atheist and estranged son of Fred Phelps, the founder of the fringe group, Westboro Baptist Church, supported the Reason Rally and was among the event's speakers. [17] [18] [19]

Criticism of the first rally

The Reason Rally elicited criticism for the antitheist rhetoric and tone that some speakers employed. Editorial writers such as Nathalie Rothschild argued that "the combination of non-belief, self-victimisation and religion-bashing make for a pretty negative and weak ground for common identification". [20] Tom Gilson, [21] and representatives of various religious communities, such as Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership [22] and William Anthony Donohue of the Catholic League, [23] all voiced disapproval the event.

Some notable speakers of the atheist community like Richard Dawkins encouraged mockery and ridicule of religious people in his speech, which elicited a response from others. [24] Though mockery of religion was not the aim of the rally, it happened quite often and was seen more than the positive portrayals of secularism. [25]

Notable speaker quotes of the first rally

2016 rally (the second rally)

The second quadrennial Reason Rally was held on June 4, 2016 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Event organizers were targeting an attendance of 30,000 people but the organizers estimated only 15,000 to 20,000 showed up and another source estimated even less actually came to the rally. [10] [11]

The Reason Rally for 2016 was billed as "a celebration of fact-driven public policy, the value of critical thinking, and the voting power of secular Americans". [9] The weekend of the Rally included advocacy events and conference sessions.

One of the featured speakers at the rally was John de Lancie. Speaking in reference to his Star Trek character Q, de Lancie said:

My name is John de Lancie, and I am a god. At least, I've played one on TV. And I'm here to tell you as a god that I was created by humans. And the words I spoke were written by men and women ... My creators took great care in exalting me to the position I hold today. And just like all the gods before me—Zeus, Baal, Yahweh—my god creators wanted you to believe that I am the omnipotent one. The alpha and the omega… Truth be told… I don't exist any more than the thousands of other gods that humans have created, worshiped, and died for since the beginning of time. But if you insist on believing in me, you do so at your own risk… I will lead you down the path of ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry… All because you believe. [35] [36] [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Humanist Association</span> US secularist advocacy organization

The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secular Coalition for America</span> American advocacy group

The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "protecting the equal rights of nonreligious Americans."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Inquiry</span> American nonprofit organization

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a U.S. nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal and to fight the influence of religion in government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godless Americans March on Washington</span> Fall 2002 Washington, DC event

The Godless Americans March on Washington (GAMOW) occurred on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2002, with the participation of many atheists, freethinkers, agnostics and humanists. The public cable network C-SPAN documented the event on video.

"Go God Go" is the twelfth episode in the tenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 151st episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 1, 2006. The episode is the first in a two-part story arc, which concludes with "Go God Go XII".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science</span> Non-profit organization

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is a division of Center for Inquiry (CFI) founded by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 2006 to promote scientific literacy and secularism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Epstein</span> Chaplain, Harvard university

Greg M. Epstein is an American Humanist chaplain at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is the president of the Harvard Chaplains Organization. He is an ordained Humanist rabbi, and has been influential in American humanism as a blogger, spokesperson, adviser and author of the New York Times bestsellerGood Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. Epstein was an expert on the first three seasons of the reality show "Married at First Sight."

In the United States, between 4% and 15% of citizens demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics. The number of self-identified atheists and agnostics was around 4% each, while many persons formally affiliated with a religion are likewise non-believing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Dillahunty</span> American atheist activist (born 1969)

Matthew Wade Dillahunty is an American atheist activist and former president of the Atheist Community of Austin, a position he held from 2006 to 2013. Between 2005 and October 2022, Dillahunty was host of the televised webcast The Atheist Experience.

Atheist feminism is a branch of feminism that also advocates atheism. Atheist feminists hold that religion is a prominent source of female oppression and inequality, believing that the majority of the religions are sexist and oppressive towards women.

An atheist billboard is an outdoor billboard that promotes divestment or outreach to atheists, nontheists, or nonreligious individuals. Similar to the Atheist Bus Campaign first undertaken in the United Kingdom by Ariane Sherine in October 2008, atheist billboards often include messages or graphics which either assert the lack of evidence for the existence of deities or positively encourage those who are privately questioning the existence of a deity, and such advertisements have garnered controversy and negative reactions from local theists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Ahlquist</span> American atheist activist and public speaker

Jessica Ahlquist is an American activist and public speaker who filed a lawsuit in 2012 against Cranston High School West, where she was a student, to remove a religious prayer from its auditorium. The suit, Ahlquist v. Cranston, was filed with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union, and was ultimately decided in Ahlquist's favor. During the lawsuit, Ahlquist received hate mail and was verbally attacked by her peers, media outlets, and online. She received death threats, and required police escorts to and from classes. On the day following the ruling, Rhode Island State Representative Peter G. Palumbo spoke on a local radio show and referred to Ahlquist as "an evil little thing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Circle of Reason (society)</span> International society which espouses pluralistic rationalism

The Circle of Reason (TCOR) is a Twin Cities, Minnesota-based international society of theists, atheists, conservatives, and liberals who espouse the social philosophy of pluralistic rationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemant Mehta</span> American activist (born 1983)

Hemant Mehta is an American author, blogger, YouTuber and atheist activist. Mehta is a regular speaker at atheist events, and he has been a board member of charitable organizations such as the Secular Student Alliance and the Foundation Beyond Belief.

John Figdor is a cryptocurrency fundraiser and former humanist chaplain at Stanford University, where he organized events and programs for students and community members in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was the first humanist chaplain at a university on the West Coast. As a humanist officiant, Figdor oversees non-theistic weddings, funerals, and baby-naming ceremonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emery Emery</span> American comedian, film producer, and author

Emery Emery is an American comedian, film editor and producer, and outspoken atheist, known for his contribution to numerous comedy-related films and TV shows, his two podcasts, Skeptically Yours, and the award-winning Ardent Atheist. Further, he has the distinction of being a contributor to The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, and the editor of the documentary The Aristocrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recovering from Religion</span> Non-profit organization supporting people leaving religion

Recovering from Religion (RfR) is an international non-profit organization that helps people who have left religion, are in process of leaving, or are dealing with problems arising out of theistic doubt or non-belief. RfR provides support groups, telephone and chat helplines, an online peer support community, and online meetings for "people in their most urgent time of need". It is headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Views of Richard Dawkins</span> Opinions of English biologist and author

Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. Dawkins himself has stated that his political views are left-leaning. However, many of Dawkins's political statements have created controversy among left-wing and atheist communities.

The secular movement refers to a social and political trend in the United States, beginning in the early years of the 20th century, with the founding of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism in 1925 and the American Humanist Association in 1941, in which atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, freethinkers, and other nonreligious and nontheistic Americans have grown in both numbers and visibility. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated, from under 10 percent in the 1990s to 20 percent in 2013. The trend is especially pronounced among young people, with about one in three Americans younger than 30 identifying as religiously unaffiliated, a figure that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandisa Thomas</span> Founder and president of Black Nonbelievers Inc.

Mandisa Lateefah Thomas is the founder and president of Black Nonbelievers Inc. She has spoken at secular conferences and events, and has promoted the group's agenda in media outlets.

References

  1. ↑ Aratani, Lori, " 'Godless Rally' in D.C. for Recognition and Respect", The Washington Post , C1, C10; Sunday, March 25, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Reason Rally - About". Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Speakers". Reason Rally. Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  4. ↑ Torpy, Jason, “Reason Rally shows patriotism and military support” Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine , Atheists in Foxholes News, 26 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Winston, Kimberly (2012). "Nonbelievers flex their political muscles". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  6. ↑ Benjamin Fearnow & Mickey Woods, "Richard Dawkins Preaches to Nonbelievers at Reason Rally", The Atlantic, March 24, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Winston, Kimberly (March 24, 2012). "Atheists Rally On National Mall; The 'Reason Rally' Largest Gathering Of Nonbelievers (PHOTOS)". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  8. ↑ Gus Holwerda, "The Unbelievers" April 2013
  9. 1 2 Speak Up for Reason! Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
  10. 1 2 Zaimov, Stoyan; Reporter, Christian Post (June 6, 2016). "Atheists Scramble to Explain Why Reason Rally Was a Dud After Johnny Depp Cancelation". The Christian Post.
  11. 1 2 Mehta, Hemant (June 5, 2016). "Where was the Crowd for the Reason Rally?". Friendly Atheist.
  12. ↑ Aratani, Lori (24 March 2012). "Atheists, others gather at Reason Rally". The Washington Post . Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  13. ↑ Hagerty, Barbara. "'Woodstock For Atheists': A Moment For Nonbelievers". NPR . Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  14. ↑ Posner, Sarah (March 26, 2012). "Can the Reason Rally resonate in this most religious of democracies?". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  15. ↑ Staks Rosch (March 8, 2012). "Why The Reason Rally is Worth Coming Out For". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Reason Rally is a coming out party for the secular movement". Foxnews.com. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  17. ↑ "Westboro church pastor's son to face off against dad's picketers at atheist rally". msnbc.com. March 15, 2012. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  18. ↑ McCormack, Simon (March 15, 2012). "Nate Phelps, Son Of Westboro Baptist Church Pastor, To Speak At Reason Rally". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Westboro to Protest 'Reason Rally' Where Phelps' Atheist Son Will Speak". The Christian Post. March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  20. ↑ Rothschild, Nathalie (March 5, 2012). "Why The Reason Rally Isn't Worth Coming Out For". Huffington Post . Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  21. ↑ Gilson, Tom (March 21, 2012). "Atheists don't own reason". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Why the Reason Rally is unreasonable". Fox News. March 26, 2012.
  23. 1 2 "Atheist Rally Draws Haters". Catholic League. March 26, 2012.
  24. ↑ Kwon, Lillian (2012). "Atheists Rally for Reason; Urged to Mock the Religious". Exemplifying how he would approach religious persons, Dawkins said, "Do you really believe, for example if they're Catholic, that when a priest blesses a wafer, it turns into the body of Christ?" "Mock them, ridicule them in public," he urged. "Don't fall for the convention that we're all too polite to talk about religion."
  25. ↑ Smith, Christopher; Cimino, Richard (7 December 2014). "Is mocking religion enough? Harris, Dawkins and the future of atheist/secular politics". Salon. "We're not here to bash anyone's faith, but if it happens, it happens," comedian and master of ceremonies Paul Provenza announced to laughter and applause at the outset of the event. The bashing and attacks on religion, mainly Christianity (in its evangelical and Catholic forms), happened as much if not more than positive portrayals of secularism and were in sync with new atheist leader and scientist Richard Dawkins's advice to "mock and ridicule" people's beliefs. When one of the authors asked an official from the Secular Students Alliance, a group prominent in organizing the event, about whether the ridiculing of religion was productive, he answered, "This is what we do."
  26. ↑ Rosenhouse, Jason, “At the Reason Rally” Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine , EvolutionBlog, March 27, 2012.
  27. ↑ Dawkins, Richard (24 March 2012). "Richard Dawkins - Reason Rally 2012". YouTube . Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  28. ↑ Haggerty, John (March 27, 2012). "Letters: Mockery hurts understanding of religion". USA Today.
  29. ↑ Kwon, Lillian (2012). "Atheists Rally for Reason; Urged to Mock the Religious" . Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  30. ↑ Grossman, Cathy (March 24, 2012). "Richard Dawkins to atheist rally: 'Show contempt' for faith". USA Today. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  31. ↑ Savage, Adam (25 March 2012). "Adam Savage at the Reason Rally". YouTube .
  32. ↑ "Reason Rally - March 24, 2012 Washington DC (highlights from Rally)". YouTube . 25 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
  33. ↑ Jillette, Penn (26 March 2012). "Penn Jillette Reason Rally Address". YouTube . Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  34. ↑ Maher, Bill (26 March 2012). "Bill Maher at the Reason Rally 3/24/12". YouTube . Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  35. ↑ Palmer, Rob (June 19, 2019). "Q&A With John De Lancie". Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  36. ↑ Openly Secular (September 10, 2015). "John de Lancie – Openly Secular" – via YouTube.
  37. ↑ "Star Trek's Q (John de Lancie) at Reason Rally". YouTube . 5 June 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.