Health & Fitness
DC Rally Celebrates Nontheism
On March 24, 2012, from 10am to 4pm, the first-ever Reason Rally will be held on the National Mall in Washington DC.
On March 24, 2012, from 10am to 4pm, the first-ever Reason Rally will be held on the National Mall in Washington DC.
The Reason Rally will be an event held in DC by secular organizations in order to celebrate nontheism. Many speakers and guests will be there, including Richard Dawkins, Tim Minchin, and in particular, punk rock band Bad Religion.
"It seems like an exciting event. I've never been to an event like that before, so I think it would be a fun experience!" says Kaela Tattersall, an atheist, who unfortunately cannot make the event.
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The main drive behind the Reason Rally, as stated on their website, is in order to create a gathering of anyone who practices secularism; to commemorate it and appreciate all that these people have achieved over the past few years. It is not driven by hate of any other organization.
The Reason Rally is sponsored by many different, widespread organizations, such as the National Atheist Party, the American Humanist Association, and even the Society for Humanistic Judaism, to name just a few. People are coming from all over the country, traveling on the Reason Rally buses, with stations in ten different states, from Arkansas to Pennsylvania.
Find out what's happening in Takoma Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Although the event as a whole is something that many people are looking forward to, the speakers appear to be the main draw behind it.
"It would be cool to see and hear the speakers! It's too bad that I can't go." Tattersall states.
All of the speakers are notable figures within the field of secularism. Richard Dawkins is a well-known scholar and author, who has several books on critical thinking and an empiricist point of view. Tim Minchin is an Australian musician/comedian, whose main focus in his work is rationalism. Bad Religion is a California-based punk rock band, led by Cornell graduate Greg Graffin, who double-majored in anthropology and geology for his undergrad at UCLA.
It is unknown whether or not this will be a one-time only event. However, based on the large crowd that seems to be being drawn, with comments all over Twitter and Facebook, it sounds like it could have a definite future.
Anyone who is interested in attending should visit their website: http://www.reasonrally.org/
