Mob rationality

Ed Feser points out that about the last place you'll find reason is in an emotional crowd. But that's exactly the environment in which atheists think they're going to conjure it up at March 24th's Rally for Reason:

How fitting, then, that the Counter-Religion that is the New Atheism has now decided to make of itself a mob. Something called the “Reason Rally” is scheduled for March 24 at the National Mall in Washington, D. C. and the Counter-Prophet Richard Dawkins is headlining as chief rouser of the “rationalist” rabble. The name alone exposes it for the farce that it is -- a “Reason Rally” being (for the reasons just given) somewhat akin to a “Chastity Orgy” or a “Temperance Kegger.” As always, the New Atheist satirizes himself before you can do it for him.

Of course rationality for the scientific materialists putting this show on is just a pose. The implication is that scientific thinkers are rational and religious and philosophical thinkers are not, an intellectual posture that is called into question almost every time Jerry Coyne or P. Z. Myers tries to address an issue of philosophy or theology (politics and social issues don't fare too well either).

I mention before my of applying for an exhibitor's pass so I can hand out a copy of the final exam in my introductory logic course just to see how these champions of reason actually perform. But it would be just as much fun to have copies on hand of random passages from some medieval thinker, say an article from St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, or a random treatise from William of Ockham or Duns Scotus or Henry of Ghent--just to see if they could even understand it.

The aim of this “movement-wide event,” we are told, is “to unify, energize, and embolden” the secularist faithful. Naturally, this is not the reason of Socrates, but that of the “Religion of Reason,” of the French and Russian Revolutions, of Comte. It is “Reason” as a slogan, something to stick on a banner and march behind, and in the name of which to promote an agenda and shout down critics. Fortunately, the “movement” hasn’t yet reached the guillotine stage, and the mob will have to satisfy itself with “music, comedy, great speakers, and lots of fun” -- rather than, say, storming Vatican City and arresting the Pope, as Dawkins would no doubt prefer.

And Ed has unearthed a preview of the rally, the script for which appears to have been written by P. Z. Myers.

What passes for reason at the Rally for Reason

Ed Brayton, an atheist who spends the better part of his time patrolling the internet for stupid-things-people-who-disagree-with-him-say then blogging-about-them-as-if-anyone-really-cares (he must provide World Net Daily with the better part of their site hits) commented on the possibility of protests at the Rally for Reason from Christians.

Ed the Logician has already refuted any arguments these irrational Christians might use:

"They’ll undoubtedly be using the same tired arguments we’ve all heard a million times."

I mean, we all know, don't we, that all it takes for an argument to be rendered invalid is that it be used multiple times? I guess this is the kind of thing that will be passing for Reason at the Rally.

The Rally for Reason: An Aquarian Exposition

We here at the BBA (the Bureau for Better Atheists) were, of course, pleased when one of the participants in the March 24 "Rally for Reason," P. Z. Myers, announced that they would be bringing no guillotine's on to the National Mall, which would be a break from previous historical atheist precedent.

We will, of course, in the scientific spirit, have to verify that there will be no guillotines on the Mall experientially by seeing what actually happens.

In the meantime, while we are waiting to see if, in fact, there are no guillotines on the Mall, we note that Rally organizers are calling the event the "Woodstock of Unbelief."

That means, of course, that the Rally will consist of a bunch of overgrown spoiled adolescents who, as I have pointed out before, were members of the first generation of Americans to be excessively coddled by their parents who read too much Dr. Spock, given too much money and comfort, and who, in what was undoubtedly one of their many attempts to escape responsibility, ran away from home for three days and then tried to justify their self indulgence by spouting meaningless platitudes.

Not to mention getting exotic sexually transmitted diseases, lice, and having to listen to Country Joe and the Fish. And are they going to subtitle the event "An Aquarian Exposition"?

Maybe the guillotine idea wasn't so bad after all.

Atheists to chant slogans on the Mall

Here is the promo for the so-called "Reason Rally," in Washington , D.C. on March 24. It is being billed as the "largest secular event ever." I'm mentioning it here to do my small part in helping so save them from the embarrassment of producing fewer participants than a moderate to small size pro-life rally.

I have already commented on it here, but I will also note that they are calling this rally of people who profess to support "reason," "science," and "secularism" the "largest gathering of its kind in history." I guess they forgot about the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Maybe they should add "history" to their list of emphases.

No word yet on whether national park officials will allow them to operate a guillotine on the Mall.

There will, of course, be no Bastille to storm, but will we be doing this the same way we've done large-scale atheist projects before? Will we consider women "passive citizens" who were denied the vote because they didn't have "the moral and physical qual­ities" to exercise political rights? Will we deny the égalité in "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" to non-whites?

Just wondering. These things should all probably be clarified as we approach the rally date.

The video is produced by an outfit called the "Thinking Atheist," to distinguish themselves, I guess, from the non-thinking atheists. You know, the ones who take certain of their anti-religious presuppositions as unquestioned dogmas and spend their time simply drawing inferences from those.

I was assuming, given the word "reason" in their title, that they would have speakers who were actually interested in objective rational thought, but I see people like Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and P. Z. Myers, are on the bill, so that's not looking too promising.

UPDATE:
See P.Z. Myers response here.
See our response to P.Z. Myers here.