The Reason Rally

Like a few thousand (estimates range from 8,000 to over 30,000) of my closest friends, I attended the Reason Rally. Lots of people will tell you what it was like and I have to say that I thought it was pretty awesome... with an exception I'll mention later.

But my view here has to do with our counter protestors. Naturally, Fred (God Hates Everything I Do) Phelps and his loonies were there thinking they were oh-so-clever with posters about gaytheists and fagnostics. There isn't enough space on the entire Internet for me to tell you just how despicable I find his particular stripe of Christianity.

When I was in the main tent talking with Troy Boyle, I heard him talking with two young evangelists about the origins of the universe, etc. Naturally, every atheist is supposed to be equipped with a full accounting of how the universe came to be despite the fact that even the most learned astrophysicists are still grappling with that question. I guess they figure if their book has it boiled down to two pages, everyone should have such a simple answer.

Even weeks later, I can't help but wonder why people were protesting against reason. Should we all be a bunch of blindly accepting, weak-willed nincompoops? Sorry, but my human brain just balks at that kind of thing.

I do have one thing to say about the Rally that might not be favorable. Far too early and far too often, our speakers resorted to swearing. I have nothing against the well aimed swear word and use them often myself. But in this venue, it was neither merited nor appropriate. It made some otherwise brilliant people come across as foul-mouthed, mindless nitwits. I doubt that was the image we were trying for.