Sacerdotus
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 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 promote 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 excisted 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?? It is during the summer that many events take place. The 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://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reason-rally-atheists_us_5755bf79e4b0ed593f151bd7
Sacerdotus 