What's the Reason for the Reason Rally? Derail

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Urine is not shit, unless you intended to follow through without comment?

ah one, ah two...

[maiforpeace]

Urine is not shit, unless you intended to follow through without comment?

ah one, ah two...

Is that how long you can hold it?

[Hermit]

What part of this do you not agree with?

The Reason Rally

Washington, DC – August 23, 2011 – Millions of Americans — roughly 16 percent — consider themselves nonreligious, according to the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS). Whether members of this group refer to themselves as atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, or any of the other descriptive terms used to indicate rejection of belief in God, secularism is on the rise.

The Reason Rally, a nationwide celebration sponsored by the top secular organizations in the United States, will be held March 24, 2012, in Washington, DC. With the intent to unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, The Reason Rally is a FREE event that will combat negative stereotypes about nonreligious Americans. Slated to be the largest secular event in world history, the rally will be filled with music, comedy, and addresses by leaders of the secular movement.

This event will give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.

A growing list of diverse speakers includes:

Richard Dawkins, ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author, The God Delusion
James Randi, magician, author, lecturer, and amateur archaeologist/astronomer
PZ Myers, biologist, associate professor at the University of Minnesota, and blogger
Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO, Center for Inquiry
Todd Stiefel, secular humanist, atheist, activist; vice president, Secular Coalition for America
Greta Christina, author and writer for AlterNet
Fred Edwords, president, United Coalition of Reason
Sean Faircloth, executive director, Secular Coalition for America
David Silverman, president, American Atheists, Inc.
Roy Speckhardt, executive director, American Humanist Association
Jamila Bey, freelance journalist
Hemant Mehta, author, I Sold My Soul on eBay

Stay up to date with event details, including additional speakers, here. Follow The Reason Rally on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and The Reason Rally blog; for more information, please contact Publicity Director Michelle Blackley at 716-636-4869 Ext. 218 or press@centerforinquiry.net.

Presumably the bolded bit. I must say, it has an air of arrogance and smugness by a bunch of people many of whom don't mind labelling themselves as 'The Brights'. I won't be surprised if epithets implying that theists are insane will be trotted out somewhere during the proceedings, like the one of Robert Pirsig that Richard Dawkins quoted in one of his books: "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." Strong that circle jerk is.

[maiforpeace]

Indeed Seraph...I think it's sloppy of such "Bright" people to overlook how that particular statement could be viewed as arrogant, and/or negatively. But, what would be a better way to present that idea?

(i.e. pro-peace vs anti-war, that sort of thing)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You can read it anyway you want, I guess. I'd love to have some counter folks there. :twisted:

[maiforpeace]

You can read it anyway you want, I guess. I'd love to have some counter folks there. :twisted:

I'd rather get the counter folks to join us...turning them off ain't gonna do it. Besides, it is a 'reason' rally, we need to reason with people!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You can read it anyway you want, I guess. I'd love to have some counter folks there. :twisted:

I'd rather get the counter folks to join us...turning them off ain't gonna do it.

You take one bunch, I'll take another. Any still standing after can join us.

[maiforpeace]

You can read it anyway you want, I guess. I'd love to have some counter folks there. :twisted:

I'd rather get the counter folks to join us...turning them off ain't gonna do it.

You take one bunch, I'll take another. Any still standing after can join us.

*High five*

[Hermit]

Indeed Seraph...I think it's sloppy of such "Bright" people to overlook how that particular statement could be viewed as arrogant, and/or negatively. But, what would be a better way to present that idea?

(i.e. pro-peace vs anti-war, that sort of thing)

It's the unjustified presumption of superiority that gets me, and the exclusive arrogation of reason. An article Apophenia linked to elsewhere made it pretty clear that reasoning has precious little to do with being or becoming an atheist. Zuckerman notes, for instance that

• if the father had no religion but the mother did, about one-sixth of such children grew up to become religious ‘‘Nones;’’ if the mother had no religion but the father did, about half of such children became religious ‘‘Nones;’’ and if both parents had no religion, approximately 84 percent of such children grew up to have no religion themselves. Clearly, childhood socialization is a major factor in determining whether someone will be religious – or not.

[My bolding]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This event will give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.

I'm not seeing the problem here. They're not saying "WE are the reasoned ones, they're saying "we are reasoned." Reason isn't proprietary.

[maiforpeace]

Indeed Seraph...I think it's sloppy of such "Bright" people to overlook how that particular statement could be viewed as arrogant, and/or negatively. But, what would be a better way to present that idea?

(i.e. pro-peace vs anti-war, that sort of thing)

It's the unjustified presumption of superiority that gets me, and the exclusive arrogation of reason. An article Apophenia linked to elsewhere made it pretty clear that reasoning has precious little to do with being or becoming an atheist. Zuckerman notes, for instance that

• if the father had no religion but the mother did, about one-sixth of such children grew up to become religious ‘‘Nones;’’ if the mother had no religion but the father did, about half of such children became religious ‘‘Nones;’’ and if both parents had no religion, approximately 84 percent of such children grew up to have no religion themselves. Clearly, childhood socialization is a major factor in determining whether someone will be religious – or not.

[My bolding]

I'm clear what you think of it, Seraph.

Again...

what would be a better way to present that idea?

[Hermit]

This event will give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.

I'm not seeing the problem here. They're not saying "WE are the reasoned ones, they're saying "we are reasoned." Reason isn't proprietary.

My objection is sketched out here.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This event will give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.

I'm not seeing the problem here. They're not saying "WE are the reasoned ones, they're saying "we are reasoned." Reason isn't proprietary.

My objection is sketched out here.

Yeah, I read that. I just don't get it, as I posted in the reply you quoted.

[Hermit]

Indeed Seraph...I think it's sloppy of such "Bright" people to overlook how that particular statement could be viewed as arrogant, and/or negatively. But, what would be a better way to present that idea?

(i.e. pro-peace vs anti-war, that sort of thing)

It's the unjustified presumption of superiority that gets me, and the exclusive arrogation of reason. An article Apophenia linked to elsewhere made it pretty clear that reasoning has precious little to do with being or becoming an atheist. Zuckerman notes, for instance that

• if the father had no religion but the mother did, about one-sixth of such children grew up to become religious ‘‘Nones;’’ if the mother had no religion but the father did, about half of such children became religious ‘‘Nones;’’ and if both parents had no religion, approximately 84 percent of such children grew up to have no religion themselves. Clearly, childhood socialization is a major factor in determining whether someone will be religious – or not.

[My bolding]

I'm clear what you think of it, Seraph.

Again...

what would be a better way to present that idea?

There are a few avenues. One of them would be to keep pointing out how we atheists differ from theists by only one god. Another is to point out the damage religious institutions theists almost invariably adhere to are inflicting on humanity. A third one might be to highlight the cherrypicking that necessarily happens when theists attempt to obey the commands of their holy texts. And perhaps it might be useful to highlight the absurdity of many of their religions' dogmas and doctrines, and the contradictions between many of them.

Most of all, though, I think that presentations of ideas are largely ineffectual. Communal harmony and security, freedom from material lack and ready availability of heaps of education would be much better. That means, we need to organise ourselves to fight the influence of evangelists, proselytisers, dominionists and the power mongers of religious institutions instead of insulting their victims.

[Hermit]

This event will give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.

I'm not seeing the problem here. They're not saying "WE are the reasoned ones, they're saying "we are reasoned." Reason isn't proprietary.

My objection is sketched out here.

Yeah, I read that. I just don't get it, as I posted in the reply you quoted.

:shrug: