Can the Reason Rally resonate in this most religious of democracies?

[marmar]

Can the Reason Rally resonate in this most religious of democracies?
In the US, where just one member of Congress is openly atheist, the secular movement needs to 'come out'. And now is the time

Sarah Posner
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 March 2012



[font size="1"]Religionists and atheists debate at the Reason Rally on the National Mall, 24 March 2012 in Washington, DC. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images[/font]

Despite the growing number of Americans who identify their religion as "none", our politics are still dominated by supercharged religious talk. But this past weekend, in a sort of coming out party, atheists and other non-believers gathered on the National Mall last Saturday for the first-ever Reason Rally. It was their way of saying, "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"

The Reason Rally was modeled, in part, on gay rights activism that urged people to personalize someone they'd always thought of as an "other". That strategy – recognizing your cousin, your neighbor, your classmate, your sibling isn't straight – has fueled greater acceptance of gays and lesbians, and advances in civil rights. Everyone knows an atheist, the Reason Rally reasoning goes, and knowing an atheist goes a long way to accepting atheism.

While the analogy is imperfect (LGBT people face far more daily overt discrimination and deprivation of rights than do atheists), secularism remains the third rail of politics, and atheists still face hostility from some religious believers. Religious right activists say atheists and secularists discriminate against them – witness the supposed "war on religion" – but on the flip side, witness the antagonism toward Jessica Ahlquist, the Rhode Island student who successfully sued to have a prayer banner removed from the wall of her high school's auditorium. At the Reason Rally, Ahlquist was introduced as the "Joan of Arc of secularism" and presented with a check for college tuition, collected from supporters by the American Humanist Association.

As secularists are fond of pointing out, there is only one open non-believer in Congress (California Democrat Pete Stark) and politicians of both political parties are allergic to acknowledging the role of secularism in a democracy. On the Republican side, secularism is vilified as un-American, and is the target of conspiratorial propaganda claiming that anti-religious forces aim to subvert God and country. The Republicans, to be sure, have cornered the market on faith-based pandering, coupled with antagonism toward church-state separation. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/26/reason-rally-resonate-religious-democracy

[yortsed snacilbuper]

1. Yes,

the religous nuts are destoying this country and must be stopped!

[pscot]

2. I'd like to believe it can

but 70 years of close observation tells me, no.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

3. I hope they hold a rally in NYC.