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Tom Gilson’s morning view of rally |
…drawing attention to our movement. This is about getting media attention. This is about getting all those people not attending the rally (or who don’t even know there are so many other atheists out there) to notice us… —FriendlyAtheist
Invitations to reasoned debate and dialogue from Christian apologists of the True Reason collaboration have been abruptly declined, whereas an invitation to the rally was graciously extended to Fred Phelp’s infamous Westboro Baptist Church, attracting objectionsfrom bloggers of the Christian Apologetics Alliance and Ratio Christi. It seems Reason Rally organizers so highly esteem publicity that they will invite it even when it runs completely counter to reason.
Peer review is completely lacking in refusing to encourage dialogue with those critical of the atheist worldview and trained in reasoned debate. Rather, the rally organizers create an atmosphere of mutual ridicule, inviting Westboro Baptist.
Edited by Tom Gilson and Carson Weitnauer, the book side of the True Reason response includes contributions from William Lane Craig and Sean McDowell and discusses the “Explanatory Emptiness of Naturalism”, how evolution and God’s existence do not conflict, “Historical Evidences of the Gospels”, the problem of evil, slavery, “Did God Command the Genocide of the Canaanites?” and how the New Atheist movement’s persuasive techniques rely more on rhetoric and appeal to emotion than reason.
Atheists believe themselves to be devoted to science and reason, but in reality, they're just as party-loving and anti-intellectual as the rest of the populace.