'Reason Rally' 2016 A Huge Flop: Epic Fail

Many alleged online atheists claim that atheism is on the rise or "unstoppable," but this past weekend's "Reason Rally" shows otherwise.  Just as in the first one held in 2012 (see: http://www.sacerdotus.com/2012/03/reason-rally.html), the 2016 one was an epic fail. It was expected that 30,000 would attend. However, a few thousand only attended. The flopped forced "Friendly Atheist" Hemant Mehta to post on his blog excuses as to why the rally was a failure.

His excuses are laughable to say the least. He dreams up every kind of irrational reason as to why the rally failed. I will refute each here briefly

Friendly Atheist: 1) People didn’t know about the event.

Sacerdotus replies:  Seriously? I am no longer an atheist and still knew this event was going to happen... so did my atheist friends! The event was promoted on many podcasts, blogs, Atheist Tv and other media. The event was promoted mostly online which is where the so-called 'New Atheism'  movement lives on.

Friendly Atheist: 2) The atheist “base” wasn’t particularly excited about the event.

Sacerdotus replies:  What!?  Of course they were excited about this otherwise donations and other sources would not have come in to fund the event. Moreover, why would they not be excited about the event if "atheism is growing?"  Perhaps, atheists are starting to realize that their cause is dying out and did not want to waste their time.

Friendly Atheist:  3) Large segments of atheist activists were not represented onstage.

Sacerdotus Replies:  There are not many atheist actives to begin with. The "regulars" Dawkins, Krauss, Mehta himself, Harris, Dennett are always the ones present anyhow, so who are these other activists Metha is referring to? They never showed up before because they do not exist.  If atheism is as popular as atheists think it is, then atheists would have showed up regardless of who was speaking. The reality is that atheism is just not a strong movement. Mehta listing that there were no atheist bloggers, Youtubers, podcasters etc is a lame excuse.   

Friendly Atheist:  4) The event took place in the summer.

Sacerdotus Replies: The event took place in summer, therefore it fail? Seriously Mehta??  First of all, it is not even summer yet.  Summer begins on June 20, 2016!  Moreover, it is during the summer that many events take place. The weather is better to be outside in and people are off from school and work!  Using summer as an excuse is really ridiculous and shows how desperate the "Friendly Atheist" is in his article trying to rationalize (poorly) why the "Reason Rally" was a flop.

Friendly Atheist:  5) The novelty wore off.

Sacerdotus Replies:  Again, if atheism is such a growing movement that is popular and "contagious," then the "novelty" would not have worn off. If the "novelty wore off" then this means that atheism is not as attractive.  Then again, atheism has the lowest retention of any religion (see: www.sacerdotus.com/2012/06/with-age-comes-wisdom.html)

Friendly Atheist:  6) There was no sense of urgency.

Sacerdotus Replies:  This is another corny excuse. Mehta claims that "in 2012, marriage equality was still not a reality" as if atheism is about progressive political agendas. Atheism is an ideology the professes the idea that God does not exist. The so-called "New Atheism" faction of atheism goes a little further by trying to censor free speech and religious freedom. Atheism is not about so-called "gay marriage" or even abortion. Again, we see how desperate the "Friendly Atheist" is trying to explain away the failure of the rally.

The truth of the matter is that atheism is dying. While the number of people attending religious services is declining, this does not mean that atheism is rising. These people still believe in God, but have lost faith in the institutional part of religion. This is a problem that can easily be fixed with evangelizaton and Christian charity. Once these people feel at home in their former religious faiths, they will come back.

I find it funny how Mehta tries hard to explain why the Reason Rally was a failure. He is being dishonest as usual and refuses to acknowledge the fact that atheism is dying. More and more people are realizing that its speculative reasoning and nonsensical arguments which lack evidence do not hold up against God, reason, the arguments and evidence for God.

The failure of the Reason Rally left the "Friendly Atheist" scratching his head. Perhaps the release of my book 'Atheism Is Stupid' is the cause of the poor attendance at the Reason Rally? hehe

Source:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/06/05/where-was-the-crowd-for-the-reason-rally/

http://religionnews.com/2016/06/04/atheists-gather-on-the-mall-to-demonstrate-their-political-muscle/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reason-rally-atheists_us_5755bf79e4b0ed593f151bd7

Never say Never

Never say never...  No... this is not a blog post about Justin Beaver if you're wondering.  It is about atheists and their obstinacy in regards to accepting God, Faith and Religion and how to counter it.

As a former atheist, I know well the hesitation of accepting these foreign concepts which many-many people adhere to.

The questions atheists have while looking for the path to the journey of faith are similar to those already on the journey.

• How do I know this is for real?
• This seems so weird, how can I believe this?
• If God is so good, so perfect why is there evil - why does this universe have imperfections?
• How can I trust clergy, they are just con artists looking to swindle the blind, is this really for me?
• What will happen to my reputation?  Will my "rationalist" friends think of me as brainwashed or stupid now?
• The Bible is so strange, so "outdated," how can anyone believe this?

The questions are serious ones that may take a lifetime to answer.  However, as stated before, these questions arise even among the saints who while in the "dark night of the soul" mode began to doubt and question God, Faith etc.

Unfortunately, some atheists give up.  They let these questions get the best of them and stop looking for the path to the journey of Faith.  Sometimes it is not their fault.  They may not have found an adequate answer - perhaps a cleric or lay person did not give enough meat to their answers, or did not show interest in feeding an inquiring atheist.  Perhaps an atheist might have been turned off by the sinful behavior of believers.  It is hard to believe something when those who believe it distort the belief with the way they live their lives.

This was especially true for me while I was looking for the path to the journey of Faith.  I was bombarded by the sex abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church.   I began to question:

• How can I become fully a part of this corruption?  
• Jesus supposedly said not to harm the children and that the kingdom of heaven is theirs, then where the heck was He when these beautiful innocent children were abused, humiliated and robbed of everything unique to a child?  

I said this to myself as well as: "I will never be part of this sham..."   Well, never say never!   God knows what He does.  He will give you the grace to see past the nonsense found among believers.  He will give you a new sense of rationalization that will help you see beyond physicalism.  

Recently, Leah Libresco joined the Catholic Church.  Libresco was a well known atheist blogger who promoted atheism with great zeal on the site patheos.  I'm sure that she never saw herself as a Catholic.


Here is her photo during the atheist "Reason Rally" in March to confirm this:  

Well God had other plans for Leah.  As the saying from Thomas A. Kempis goes, "Man proposes but God disposes."

Never say never!

The above photo was taken just 9 months ago.  Here is Leah Libresco now being initiated into the Catholic Church:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/leah.libresco

What a 360 right?   God is awesome indeed.  

If you're reading this and are an atheist, agnostic, or even a doubting believer; never say never.  Don't give up!  God is there for you and will guide you.  Keep asking questions.  This is why God gave us sentience and the ability to reason.  He wants us to seek Him.  

Don't be discouraged if at first you were not given a satisfying answer to your inquiries or if you have witnessed horrible behavior from believers.  

The Truth is all that matters.  Never say never to Faith in God.   

 

Reason Rally

The circus was in town today at Washington DC... well not the circus we're used to seeing, but one of so-called "rationalists."  On March 24, 2012, about 6000 Atheists, Secularists and Agnostics gathered at the mall to hold their "Reason Rally."

Anyone who saw the rally would noticed that it was more of a circus than a convention of intelligent honest people.  The rally had all kinds of people holding ridiculous signs exhibiting theophobia, paranoia, anger and hatred.

It had speakers such as Richard Dawkins, the so called "friendly Atheist" Hemant Mehta, impressionable youth such as Jessica Ahlquist who was given a check for scholarship money in the currency which says "In God we trust.  Videos were even sent in by Bill Maher and others.

Richard Dawkins as usual voiced his hatred toward religious people and called for the crowds to mock and harass them.  Hemant Mehta encouraged the crowd to obtain positions of authority in order to spread the message of Atheism and "Reason."

The rhetoric was clear:  Let us attack everyone with religious beliefs and take those beliefs away by aggressive means and replace them with our beliefs.

The rally had virtually no media coverage and was even mocked by many well known media personalities and rightfully so.  This rally was nothing but a circus of clowns and performers.  It cannot be taken serious, but must be a reminder that hate is still alive and well.

To tell people to bully, mock and harass others because they believe in God is hate.  This is hateful speech that will incite violence against religious people.  There is nothing rational about this.

Dawkins mocked the idea of Transubstantiation but fails to realize that the idea that a human being evolved from an ape is also far fetched based on the lack of solid evidence that this really happen.

All we have is speculation that this might have happened based on observable changes and similarities among all biological life.

The HAR1 gene is a clear indication of this.  This gene is solely found in human beings and its origin is unknown.  It is the gene that allows our brains to be so advanced as opposed to other animals.   The Higgs Boson is another example.  We think it exists but we can't prove it.  So Dawkins' mockery of religious beliefs is not one sided.  Science has its share of strange and irrational ideas as well.      

"Friendly Atheist" Mehta spoke on the premise that religious belief is a myth.  Yet he offers no reason or proof of this.  This is all speculation again.

We cannot call everything we don't agree with a myth unless we have hard concrete evidence to do so.  This is not rational thinking, but mental sloth.

Mehta is a math teacher and knows very well that numbers do not exist.  There is no such thing as a "1,2,3" etc in the physical universe.  This is an abstract concept made by man to describe quantity.

However, just because numbers do not exist does not mean they are a myth.  We see their representation in tangible objects when counted.  

Moreover, Atheists and others may try to obtain positions of power, but America is a country where the majority hold religious beliefs so it will be extremely hard to reach or hold onto any position of power.  Even if they do reach them, who are they to enforce their beliefs of no-god/no-religion on everyone else?  Isn't this what they accuse religious believers of doing?

The whole rally is an epic fail and has no purpose calling itself rational or for-reason.  It was just a congregation of people who have grievances against God and religion and want attention.  It was a prep rally for the ignorant who hide behind the guise of pseudo rationalism in an attempt to avoid the hard questions of teleology, metaphysics, ontology, science and religion.

Dismissing the questions and ideas of life, purpose and existence is not Reason.  It is intellectual cowardice.

Going around in public like this guy in this photo is not rational.  This is childish immature behavior.

Does this guy look like he can engage anyone in an intellectual discourse regarding teleology, metaphysics, ontology, science and religion?

Imagine if the Pope goes around dressed in Atheism garb in an attempt to mock its beliefs.  Would he have the respect and dignity he enjoys?  No, of course not!

This rally is a waste of time and money.  The latter could have been used to assist the poor and those who are out of a job in these though economic times.  Atheism prides itself in being about the human, but never does anything for the human.  

God and religion are not going anywhere despite these rallies.  Pope Benedict XVI, a true intellectual and rational man can gather hundreds of thousands, even millions in the name of Jesus.  This is proof that faith will always be around no matter the course the world may take.  

Atheism, Agnosticism and Secularism don't offer anything but negation, bitterness and irrational ideas presented as rational.  They are a fraud.  The reality is that there is no real reason not to believe in God.  One side says everything came into existence just to come into existence and the other side says it was an absolute being who caused it for a purpose.  Which sounds more rational to you?  Which makes more sense?  Think about it for a moment.   

Rallies like this are no different than the hateful "God hates f*gs" protests orchestrated by the Westboro Baptist sect.   They attract people such as liberals, progressives, ProChoice/Abortion advocates, gays and others who see egoism as the intended end of the human experience.  Rallies like this serve as a reminder that the delusion of man is god is still alive and must be challenged heavily.   

The rally was entertaining to watch and read about in a comic sense, but no one is listening to the message. We are smarter than this.    

           Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/reason-rallys-unreasonable-beliefs/2012/03/27/gIQAaVPZeS_blog.html

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2012/03/-atheists-richard-dawkins-reason-rally/1#.T3dx_WEgfyg

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/author/hemant-mehta/

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=37514

http://www.goddiscussion.com/94848/the-thinking-atheist-asks-why-so-little-news-coverage-of-the-reason-rally/

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/24/why-reason-rally-is-unreasonable/

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-q-a-nate-phelps-20120324,0,4407066.story

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-766329?hpt=hp_bn8

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/reason-rally-nonbelievers_n_1368252.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/reason-rally-on-national-mall/2012/03/23/gIQADzl3WS_blog.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/richard-dawkins-on-the-upcoming-reason-rally-338/2012/03/23/gIQANXnPWS_video.html