Atheists speak out against PR tactics
On March 24 in front of the Washington Monument, the largest group of secular and freethinking men and women in the nation’s history will gather together to celebrate reason as a central tenant of our country’s heritage. Following in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and other skeptics and freethinkers, the goal of the “Reason Rally” is threefold: to encourage secularists to “come out” and raise awareness; to dispel the stereotypes held by Americans of atheists; and to demonstrate the need for atheist-aware representatives in our nation’s governing bodies.
The organizers for the group, however, are as diverse as the secular community, and not everyone agrees. Jim Klawon of the National Atheist Party invited members of the Westboro Baptist Church to the rally to “come on out and join the fun.” As expected, the WBC’s Megan Phelps-Roper responded through Twitter and accepted the invitation with a friendly message to atheists: “How gracious of you! We accept your invitation & will picket your parade of fools 3/24.”
I don’t mind that Westboro Baptist Church will be attending. It provides an example of religion gone wrong, with people who unabashedly believe in the vitriol they spew out while claiming God’s name in the process. They represent part of the reason many atheists are so against religion; this particular church’s actions take God as an excuse for extreme protests that insult and alienate Americans more than they contribute to our society’s discussion of pressing social issues. But members didn’t decide to come on their own; they were invited in what appears to be an ill-conceived public relations move.
This invitation ruffled more than a few feathers in the atheist community (mine included), providing a glimpse of something I find far more beautiful about secularism than sectarianism: the ability to hash out opinions on issues. Prominent atheists such as Matt Dillahunty voiced their concerns about the event after hearing about WBC’s invitation.
“If they’d have shown up on their own, THAT would have been something to talk about,” he wrote in response to a blog post on the Friendly Atheist, “but this is the rough equivalent of a movie studio hiring protesters to drum up advertising.”
I am inclined to agree. Inviting a hate group to attend a reason-oriented rally was an unreasonable move.
This sort of division over methodology is common in the secular camp, and rather than creating a new denomination, movement or “faith,” we hash it out. We yell, type, blog and call each other, then often agree to disagree. And I love it.
The modern atheist movement is fairly young and is still trying to organize itself. This means that those of us on the front lines are a part of shaping the movement’s directions, goals and image. It makes me proud to be a part of this movement and proud to be in partnership with people I disagree with.
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