The Angry Atheists are meeting today, this time in DC, and evidently they’re expecting an uppity crowd, because their Code of Conduct for Reason Rally warns of a host of harassments that might be perpetrated by an unruly crowd of “free thinkers”.
Now you never see one of these codes of conduct at, say, chamber music concerts, seminars on Thomistic theology, or at meetings of particle physicists, yet atheists are so frightened of what they might do to one another, they had to post prominent warnings.
Like?
The Reason Rally Coalition does not tolerate harassment of or by participants in any form. Prohibited conduct may include—but is not limited to—harassment related to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion, sexual images in public spaces (not related to convention sessions or materials), deliberate intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
That’s a lot of categories! Apparently, attendees are thinking so freely that their reason gets the better of them. Brutal crowd. It’s so awful that atheists must be warned “Racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic conduct will not be tolerated.”
Reason Rally organizers emphasize they are “consciously working to create a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community.” Not just working, friends, consciously working. This includes creating “gender-inclusive” pissiors so that atheists wondering what other people have beneath their skirts can take a peek.
The have a detailed list of where to go if you are harassed, too, and we can only hope that these trauma centers are well staffed, because it looks like there’s going to be lots of inappropriate conduct.
What kind of event is this that creates all these opportunities for harassment? Hard to say. The Speakers page lists prominently six rap personages. Fellows like Gza (“said to have the second largest vocabulary in hip hop”), Method Man, Cappadonna, and Killah Priest. Killah “worked with Ol’ Dirty Bastard” and he (the pronoun is, of course, an enormous presumption on my part) “illustrates much of his work with a variety of religious references.”
Such as? How about “I Killed The Devil Last Night lyrics“? You too might be in a harassing mood after listening to his “The Elders Gave Us Aura.” Maybe the Reason Rally organizers will get the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (who will be there) to sing that one.
Bad music isn’t the only possibility. Bill Nye will be there, too. That’s enough to send the sanest thinker over the limit.
Lizz Winstead is also slated to appear. She was head writer of The Daily Show. Who could have guessed that that program was anti-Christian? Winstead doesn’t end the celebrity parade. There’s also ex-game show host John Davidson. You remember him. He did the revival of the The $100,000 Pyramid. That’s some free thinking.
Q is coming. John de Lancie, the actor on Star Trek and Murder She Wrote. Is there a name for the malady which results from actors identifying too closely with the characters they play?
Forget all that. Maybe it’s the “issues” themselves focused on by the Reason Rally that make people harass. Just what is it that interests self-labeled free thinking rationalists? The problem of evil? How something was created from nothing? The limits of science? No, sir. None of that. Instead, “LGBTQ Equality”, global warming, women’s non-reproductive “rights”. Because when you think atheism you think global warming.
Oh, also “sex education“. Doubtless the atheists will stand in close groups and day, “Religious people are obsessed with sex. Sex sex sex. All they think about is sex! Hey. Let’s talk about sex. That’ll prove we’re free thinkers. Sex. Sex.”
Kidding! Instead they say, ‘It’s in society’s best interest to have sex-education programs founded on science, fact, and rational analysis.” Such as the science which “proves” “that the incidence of teenage pregnancies and births remain positively correlated with the degree of abstinence education across states”.
It’s been a while since I cracked open a biology book, but back in my day science said abstinent teens couldn’t get pregnant. Things change.
Not only can abstinence nowadays cause teen pregnancies, “abstinence-only programs neglect the needs of LGBTQ students, leaving them feeling alienated and preventing them from accessing the information they need.”
That’s the saddest thing I heard all day.
“abstinence-only programs neglect the needs of LGBTQ students, leaving them feeling alienated and preventing them from accessing the information they need.”
And it increases the risk they might get pregnant! Who knew?
Of course, particle physics programs may neglect the needs of 18th cent. French Lit students and leave them feeling alienated and preventing them from accessing the information they need, too. Oh, the humanity!
Does this mean that reasonable atheist people might realize what a lie all of this PC stuff is? Impossible! All these things are done by religious zealots. We know that because we hear that in the comment section of this blog as well as the news media. So I can see NO reason for the warning, unless they are afraid some sneaky believers might infiltrate the crowd. Well, other than this is not about religion and never really was…..
John De Lancie is a huge disappointment. Of course, he is getting old and maybe he doesn’t want to go the sex change route like Bruce Jenner did.
Wait, the Pope believes in global warming. How can that be an “atheist theme”? Are they really closet believers?
Sex education founded in fact, etc, means hump whatever moves. Every 12 year old in America knows that. And pregnant teens will be liberal voters when they grow up cause liberals are Santa Claus. (They may also leave the kids home alone and one will end up locked in the oven on the cleaning cycle, but hey, it happens.)
Besides the possible HPV and oral cancer link, what information do LGBTQ students need? A general hygiene class covers everything else.
Wait, the Pope believes in global warming.
Everyone believes in global warming. Two centuries ago, the Hudson River froze thick enough to sled the cannons from Ft. Ticonderoga down to Washington’s army. And before that, the brackish canals of Holland froze for Hans Brincker and his silver skates. It’s the causes of the recent warming [of the past 400 years] that are debated.
I am very sorry, but I must insist that you call these people American Atheists. This kind of nuttery is entierly from your side of the pond.
It is contagious enough as it is, but there is some hope that calling this American Atheists will keep the European ones from becoming as daft.
YOS: Yes, I meant man-made, catastrophic, scary, we’re-all-going-to-die (yes! or boo hiss, depending on whether you love or hate human parasites on the planet) warming. Are you happy now? I usually get this type of statement from warmist trolls. Thank you for making my day and showing everyone can behave this way.
(Having to explain every term in minutia is a tactic that stiffles conversation, but it does seem to be very popular these days from all sides.)
“Sex education founded in fact, etc, means hump whatever moves.”
Why does it have to move you vile kineticist!
LOL! Gillespie banned me from Hit n Run years ago, after my nth pronouncement that libertarianism is the political philosophy of spoiled, white, suburban teenagers. I’m surprised to see how they’ve embraced the issues you’re citing. I’m not surprised to see it causing chaos among them. Many of these Reason-able folks are strong anti-Civil Rights Act, who seem to believe there is no such a thing as the public sphere, and they get pretty hot about it. Think, “It’s MY business and I should be able to choose my customers!” Black guy in a dress with a Donald Trump cap? No soup for you! But if your business catches fire, and that black guy in the dress with the Donald Trump cap is the only firemen available, you can bet he’s expected to put it out, that’s of course only if you believe there should be such a thing as fire departments – you heretic!
Don’t ever try to reason with the folks at Reason. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at their little shindig, but I doubt I’d find space with all that s!@# on the floor.
JMJ
Sander van der Wal
Absolutely.
——-
As far as I can tell everybody’s obsessed with sex.
Is the other half having more than them?
Are others doing the right thing?
Who’s uptight, who’s not;
atheists accuse christians, protestants accuse Catholics and Catholics accuse protestants and atheists.
If it wasn’t for sex nobody would be here.
I could care less what other people do if they don’t ask me to watch.
Especially since there’s nothing I can do about it.
…Oh my “reason Rally” sounds like a real day out.
JMJ: Actually, I’m okay with the black guy in a dress (as long as he’s just cross-dressing, not psychotic) but I would hope he’d change clothes before putting out the fire. I actually have no problem with male cross-dressers if they know they’re actually male. Now, if it were a black women in men’s clothing, that might be different.
It is my business and I should be allowed to choose my customers. Don’t like it, start your own business. Otherwise, you’re stealing my business and pretending you own it when you don’t.
I agree that reasoning with the folks at Reason is a lost cause. Just because “Reason” is in the name doesn’t mean they have any actual contact with reason. Same for titles with “truth”.
Rich: Point taken—it really doesn’t have to move. 🙂
I’m okay with JMJ forcing soup nazi to feed black man in dress as long as BMD is forced to buy SN’s soup in the event that his business doesn’t catch fire, so to speak. After all SN is forced to pay for a standing FD even if his biz stays permanently cooler than a vichssoise.
I see we have a richly antisocial crowd here as well.
JMJ
Please help me. I’ve been unreasonable aggressed. I was called average.
Yes, JMJ, and proudly so.
As a frequent visitor I am APPALLED at the avatar which J Mc Jones uses!
A white middleaged male, and smoking! Since all white middleaged males are to blame for everything J Mc J should be too busy cringing to write to blogs. and what with smoking too, how can his opinions amount to anything?
Better chose another picture or the PC crowd will ban you from the internet. 🙁
Who, me? I’ll serve anyone my soup. Even liberals.
I doubt if the “Reason Rally” has anything to do with the magazine.
And how is this different than what Christians extremist do to women that visit clinic or do to gay.
“Don’t do unto others”.
Christians are getting the payback that they dish out. The vast chunk of the world has realized how religion is an idiocy.
And don’t mix religion and God. Religion has nothing to do with God.
“yes and proudly so,”
No, Sheri, you don’t speak for me. What is curious is why you presume to speak for everybody. You might have knowledge of some, no doubt you do, which is your business. You don’t know everybody.
There is no code, as far as I am aware, or accepted political view or credential required to comment on here. You imply otherwise with amazing regularity.
At the top of each blog post it says:
‘Comments: ‘
For what it’s worth, it seems the “Reason Rally” has been taken over by the usual SJW types: saner atheist figures like Thunderf00t (youtube.com/user/thunderf00t) are criticising this year’s rally for its focus on LGBTQWERTY issues, its code of conduct, etc.
You’ll find plenty of atheists agreeing with you, more or less. To us, atheism simply means we don’t believe in gods. Not much to talk about there :P. We may be anti-religious, but in a secular way: you’re free to believe what we consider to be nonsense 🙂 (presumably, that’s mutual?).
We’ll attack religion when it’s imposing itself on us. When it demands faith be taught as fact in schools, when it wants to impose “life begins at conception” on everyone, when it’s used to justify mistreatment of gays, blasphemy laws and so forth.
And we don’t limit that to religions. When progressives try to stifle free speech, we oppose them; as they divide people into race, sex and so forth, we oppose them; their calls for segregation, we deplore; their own articles of faith, we criticize.
Some of us even reject an “atheist community” outright, just as we don’t join the federation of non-stamp collectors. People get smarter by having heated discussions; they get a lot more stupid when standing amidst those who hold tha same faith.
=============
Minor note on “abstinence-only” – I’m not sure whether you’re being silly, but just in case… teaching only abstinence, doesn’t mean kids follow that. Yeah, abstinence is a great way not to get pregnant (obvious exceptions aside), but teenagers aren’t that well known for doing exactly what their elders tell them to.
Hence, our view that it’s better to teach them safety as well. By all means, include abstinence as the safest of all… but don’t end at that. Added advantage: getting taught about sex by a 50yr old teacher, doesn’t particularly glamorize it ;).
==========
Anyway, end of rant :). And as a final note: cheers to Ray Comfort – he may be a nitwit, but his 5000 loaves (presumably with fish?) was a masterful stunt, and if he’s given that to the homeless, that demands respect.
Plus, his plan to have the conversation in the lion’s den, is something I admire.
when it wants to impose “life begins at conception” on everyone
Raising the delicate question of when exactly it does begin and what, if anything, it was before that point.
““Religious people are obsessed with sex. Sex sex sex. All they think about is sex! Hey. Let’s talk about sex. That’ll prove we’re free thinkers. Sex. Sex.””
This was the best part, by far. I noticed this strange phenomenon only a few months ago, that lefties (“freethinkers”) will claim that sex is not a big deal, condemn religious “puritans” for not talking about it enough, then claim religious people are talking about it too much when they do talk about not doing it outside of marriage, then create support groups and activism based on “sexual identities”. It’s real life satire, the person whose identity is bound in whom they want to sodomize is decrying another for being “obsessed” with sex.
@LL
Will I go to atheist non existent hell if I don’t adhere to the notion that life begins before the baby escapes the womb? Literally why do atheists bother? Any argument you make is rooted in nihilism. So why don’t you stop pushing atheism in schools, and imposing the belief that life begins some indefinite time after conception based on mommy’s feelings, oh and while you are at it please stop insinuating that the desire to engage in non sexual erotic acts is anything more than that, a preference. You would think “rational atheists” would be able to figure how the human mating works and that NO body is “oriented” for homosexual acts. But how can anyone who believes that chaos created the universe use reason? Heck according to such a world view reason does not even exist. Which actually explains everything.
PS
Just had to pick this gem
“teaching only abstinence, doesn’t mean kids follow that. ”
BUT teaching condoms means kids absolutely will follow that! Yep no one especially a teen ever chose not to use a condom knowing it exists. Never happened. Can’t happen. Did I mention that the foundation of atheism is chaos?
Sander van der Wal :
Are you kidding?
When I discovered the original Budvar “Budweiser”, I couldn’t believe the Europeans who complained that they couldn’t get American “Budweiser”.
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