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Today Is The National Day of Reason – Westboro Baptist Church Plans Protest of ReasonFest

May 5, 2011 By 3 Comments

Running parallel with today's National Day of Prayer is the National Day of Reason, an event that encourages the secular community to be visible and active  to set an example for how to effect positive change.

The National Day of Reason

Various National Day of Reason events are planned throughout the country, including blood donation drives, food drives and meetings.

Separation of Church and State to be Celebrated in Minnesota.

One such meeting is an event sponsored by the Minnesota Atheists, who are holding their sixth annual Day of Reason, celebrating the separation of church and state, in the State Capital Rotunda at 12pm on May 5, 2011. The Day of Prayer event is scheduled to be held simultaneously on the steps leading to the Capitol.  Speakers include Sandhya Bathija, Communications Associate for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, George Kane, Minnesota Atheists Chair; Mike Haubrich, Atheist Talk Radio host; Grant Steves, Minnesota Atheist member; and Scott Lohman, Humanists of Minnesota president.

Westboro Baptist Church Planning to Protest ReasonFest Debate on Existence of God.

In Kansas, the National Day of Reason is kicking off tomorrow's 2-day ReasonFest at the University of Kansas on Friday and Saturday.  The opening event is a debate, Does God Exist? and will feature former minister Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, arguing against the existence of a god, and John-Mark Miravelle, instructor at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center's School of Faith, will debating in favor of the existence of deity.

The University's publication, The Kansan, reports that "ReasonFest will continue on Saturday with 'Sex and Secularism,' a presentation of research on the sexual attitudes and practices among people who have left religion. Psychologist Darrel Ray will present the results of a national survey of 14,500 formerly religious people."

According to The Kansan, members of the Westboro Baptist Church have scheduled a protest of the debate on Friday.

JoeProtesting the National Day of Prayer.

Joe Zamecki, Texas State Director of American Atheists, and a number of other supporters of the separation of church and state are calling for a peaceful picket of the National Day of Prayer event set to take place on the steps of the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin, at 11am Central Time.

Zamecki has picketed a number of prayer events over the years.

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  • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

    Two thumbs up for National Day of Reason! :D It is a shame that religion has slid its way into our government when our constitution has stated the U.S. will not have a government sanctioned religion.

    I like how he ended the video. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that… lol I support public schools and I think prayer and alike should be kept out of them. Those who want prayer and alike in our public schools know now what they are asking. They could regret it too, unless it is their prayer etc that is promoted. Then they might like it, while everyone else won't.

  • http://www.dregstudios.com Brandt

    What are Fred Phelps and the WBC afraid of anyhow? Rainbows? Unicorns? A flaming pink queer apocalypse? I attempted to address this with a portrait of the good reverend on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/03/fred-phelps-and-westboro-baptist-church.html Drop in and let me know what you think!

  • Courtney

    Really. I mean get over it. You want the separation of church and state but what gives you the right and not them? I think it is great you want to peaceably assemble but I think that you are doing for the wrong reasons. You need to work a little bit harder on coming up with something to complain about. You all need to see that you live in America and that is the only reason you can do this.