The Reason Rally was probably my most anticipated event of 2016. I knew that of all the people I’ve come to consider family in this movement, this would probably be the largest concentration of them. See, that’s what these gatherings are really about for me. I remember very little of what any of the speakers said. I’m not actually sure I could name more than 3 or 4 of the speakers off the top of my head. That’s not to belittle the importance of the people speaking or the words they spoke. For me, these gatherings are about family and community. And it’s for that reason that The Reason Rally was a smashing success in my view.

My friend Eli Bosnick, and my friend and podcast co-host Ari Stillman both posted on Facebook a list of things they learned at The Reason Rally, so I’m compiling my own list here (with credit to both of them for giving me the idea). Their lists were mostly funny or heartfelt, and anyone who knows me will expect the funny and heartfelt stuff (of which there is plenty). But there are also some pretty ugly things I learned, and I want those to be out there as well.

First for the not so fun stuff. I’ll get that out of the way before I gush.

I learned that there are still plenty of atheists who think our movement is equivalent in scope and urgency as the black civil rights movement of the 60’s. Ummm…it isn’t. I heard a few of the speakers paraphrase Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech. One of the speakers even appropriated the term “I have a dream…” over and over again to speak about issues pertinent to secular activism. I found this tone deaf and wholly inappropriate. The black civil rights movement was about fighting the systemic use of power to deny black Americans their freedom, their autonomy, their livelihoods, and their very lives. Issues of church/state separation and secular governance are most certainly important, but they are NOT as vital and urgent as the problems the civil rights movement of the 60’s was trying to address. We would all do ourselves a favor by stopping these comparisons and pursuing our goals on their own (plentiful) merits.

I learned that far too many atheists think that secular and atheist activism is enough on its own to address all the social ills of our time. As my friend Sincere Kirabo said in an interview on my podcast, atheist activism is indeed a species of social justice activism, but we are fooling ourselves if we think atheism is a panacea for racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and the like. I believe with all my heart that a secular worldview is the one most conducive to fighting these problems, but it’s quite obvious that is not a foregone conclusion. The ugliness surrounding the Reason Rally’s very reasonable and near boilerplate anti-harassment policy taught me that this movement is not entirely for me or people like me.

I learned, or actually had reinforced, that atheism is NOT a synonym for rationality. I lost count of how many times I saw people predicting the failure of the Reason Rally or celebrating its perceived failure after the fact, because they’re sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that social justice’s intrusion into the movement is the entirety of the reason. Obvious things like the president of the organization being fired after being found to be involved in some shady business dealings were completely ignored in favor of the pet theory that so few in our movement care about anything other than circle jerking over how little they believe in God or how good their counter apologetics arguments are that they want nothing to do with an event that addresses other social issues. I’ll reserve further comment on this one except to say that Hemant Mehta wrote an excellent piece that explains pretty clearly what probably happened. It can be found here.

Now, on to the good stuff

I learned that Eli Bosnick loves trolling Christians as much as I love eating potatoes. Seriously, the giddy look on his face was priceless as he asked them whether or not bats were birds or if the mustard seed was the smallest seed. I also learned that he gives hugs almost as good as mine.

I learned that Ari can take a punch like a champ. No, someone didn’t actually purposely hit them. You’re just going to have to listen to this week’s episode of the podcast to hear that story!

I learned that The Prophet Jeremiah from the No Religion Required podcast is in fact, a dirty hippy. I knew it all along.

I came to the realization that Bobby C from the No Religion Required podcast is all the best parts of a father, uncle, and brother to me. His presence in my life is priceless.

I learned that sunburns can actually be worse on days where there isn’t direct sunlight. That was an incredibly painful lesson to learn.

I learned that most all the more prominent members of our community don’t think of themselves as too good to stop and chat with the people who follow them and appreciate their work. Special shout out to AronRa, Seth Andrews, Noah Lugeons, Heath Enwright, Eli Bosnick, David Smalley, and Steve Shives for taking time to have real interactions and conversations with people who stopped to thank them for the work they do and for the impact they’ve had on people. I certainly don’t want to claim folks who weren’t named here don’t act the same, but these were all people I personally watched take serious time to give to the folks who approached them.

I learned that JT Eberhard’s hugs are almost on my level. Almost. There’s a pretty great video of our first hug here. I was feeling gracious so I told him it was a tie. I was lying.

I learned the value of someone saying thank you. I was approached by quite a few people who wanted to thank Ari and I for the work we do on the podcast. It took me awhile to really unpack this. You typically thank someone because you’re grateful. You’re grateful because someone did something that helped you or means something to you. It’s still pretty surreal to me that there are people who feel that way about the work we do on the show. It really is just amazing to hear people’s stories and to know that I’ve helped create something that means something to other people. So when I say ‘thank you’ back, it’s not just a platitude that I feel compelled to say out of politeness. It is gratitude for someone taking the time to let me know that what I’m doing means something. Some might find it surprising how easy it is to get caught up the in the mechanics of doing the podcast and putting together talks and speeches. These things remind me of the reason I do this work.

I love this community. I love the work we do. I really and truly believe that a world without the influence of religion will be a better world. I’m glad there are many people in our movement who realize that our fight cannot simply be about that and that alone. Most of us do understand that to honestly address the social ills of our world, we have to examine systemic injustice as a concept on it’s own. Religious hegemony and systemic injustice cannot be wholly separated from one another, nor can they be treated as if they are one in the same. Atheism is a position that describes a specific thing we don’t believe in. In a world where so many do, and there are such consequences for that lack of a belief, it certainly does make sense to commune around that lack of belief. I also believe that if we are to survive as a movement, we must also begin to organize around the things we DO believe in. For me, and for many others, that belief is in humanism. It is in evidence based solutions implemented by human beings to solve human problems. It begins with compassion. It hurts my heart to see a significant number of those in our movement who seem to disagree. But I’m also extremely encouraged by those who do.

We who are concerned with social justice will continue to speak up and to claim our rightful place in this movement. We will claim our space among atheists who don’t share our views. We will claim our space in social justice communities as secular and non religious people. We will continue to make our spaces safer and more welcoming to those who may not have felt welcome before. We will make a difference. We WILL change the world.