Reason Rally
The Reason Rally was held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. on March 24, 2012 as a rally for secularism, religious skepticism and atheism in America. Described as a Woodstock for atheists, the Reason Rally attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people, and featured prominent atheist celebrities including Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher, Penn Jillette and the rock band Bad Religion. Paper Masters can compose a custom written research paper on the Reason Rally that follows your guidelines.
Reason Rally's Purpose
The official website of the rally stated three main purposes in its organization:
- Encouragement of attendees to "come out of the closet" and announce their beliefs as secular individuals
- To dispel stereotypes of atheists
- To remove religion from government by allowing secularists to have representation in government.
The organizers of the rally wished to demonstrate to the larger public the ranks of those who consider themselves to be non-religious or atheists are growing in America.
Reason Rally and Secularists
Organizers wished to make the event the largest secular event in world history and demonstrate that secularists can have a good time as well, as demonstrated by appearances by comedians Bill Maher, Eddie Izzard and magician Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame). It was run by the Reason Rally Coalition, a 510(c)(3) group comprised of several sponsoring organizations. Organizers wished to demonstrate the growing demographic identification of people without religious affiliation.