Reason Rally 2016: Let’s Show Our Power and Party!
by Lyz Liddell
Executive Director
Reason Rally 2016
It’s really happening! More and more Americans are rejecting religion as a basis for public
policy. Well, let’s show them just how many and how powerful we are. Reason Rally 2016 on
June 4, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, will be the largest gathering of secular
Americans in history.
Great speakers, live music, comedians, and parties: Good times for all as well as an event that
will make politicians — and the media — take notice. Let’s show them that logic, science, and
values independent of religion truly matter to a significant number of voters.
The goal of Reason Rally 2016 is to show the presence and power of the nonreligious voting
bloc, and to put reason back at the forefront of our public and political discourse. We want to
excite and empower attendees about that message so they take it back home and apply it at the
local and state levels — to say nothing of the November election!
“Nones,” which includes atheists and those who don’t subscribe to any religion, are now 23% of
the American electorate. Fundamentalists are only 25% — not much of a lead! — according to
research by the Pew Research Center [http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-
changing-religious-landscape/] Isn’t it time for the rational, fact-over-faith electorate to be
pandered to as much as the fundamentalists are?
“The religious have too much power in this country, and they're vastly over-represented in
Congress,” says Julia Sweeney, SNL alumna and a speaker at the Rally. “So, let's stop the
magical thinking. Let's have a rally that shows the force of those who embrace Reason and
Science over Divine Guidance. We're here — we don't have fear — and we want to be counted
for what we are: a real political and social force! Also, we like to have fun.”
In fact, Reason Rally 2016 itself will offer you the chance to make your atheist voice heard. The
two days preceding the Rally will be devoted to lobbying every single member of Congress
about sex education. We want to get religion out of all education, but particularly out of sex ed.
Funding now goes to abstinence-only sex ed. Yet it’s been proven that abstinence only is a
joke! The NIH says that the more abstinence only is stressed, the higher the teen pregnancy
rate.
On the lighter side, those who go to the Rally will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear top-
level scientists, entertainers, activists, and atheists share their concern about the lack of critical
thinking in public policy — NASA planetary expert Carolyn Porco, comedian and activist
Margaret Cho, science-educator Bill Nye, and many more.
“If you told me there would be a major national event, where the largest number of nonreligious
people ever to assemble will gather, and proclaim that they are concerned about the bold
incursions of religious belief into the governance and future of our country and the principles on
which it's built, then I would surely make a point of being there,” said Porco, who is well known
for her work on NASA’s Cassini Project to Saturn. “So, am I going to the Reason Rally in DC on
June 4? You bet I am!”
Everyone who supports good sense in government — and wants to see religion out of public
policy — is welcome, for one day or the whole celebration. Visit the website —
http://www.reasonrally.org — for more details, to volunteer before or during the event, join the
lobbying effort, or sign up for the conference and other special events.
Then, of course, you have to go home and vote — in every election, from school board to
president — for those who support these values. Make your voice heard!
