Call it resistance with love. A massive gathering of atheists taking place in Washington, D.C., will now face some concerted counterpointing, thanks to the rally call of one church in California for those of Christian faith to travel to the freethinkers’ scene to try and change hearts.
The Living Waters Church, out of Pasadena, California, and founded by Ray Comfort, has scheduled to film its next episode of its televised “The Way of the Master” program in the nation’s capital – and it’s coincidentally on the same June 4 day as the “Reason Rally.” The event is being billed as a “mega atheist gathering” and will include “big-name speakers such as Bill Nye, Penn Jillette, Lawrence Krauss and actor Johnny Depp,” the church said in a statement on its website.
But the atheists won’t be alone.
“We will be at the other end of the Mall, filming open-air preaching … [and] giving away 5,000 copies of our new evangelistic book,” the church continued.
The book is called “Fat Chance: Why pigs will fly before America has an atheist president.” And it’s a direct counter to what the “Reason Rally” presses as one of its key goals.
The atheist website reads: “We need a secular American from every congressional district in the country so no member of Congress can ever say to us again, ‘Sure, there are atheists in America but none in my district.'”
It also reads: “Speak up for reason! If you know that you can be a good person without believing in a god … If you think public policy should be based on scientific evidence, not religious beliefs … If you support the separation of church and state … then join us for the biggest gathering of nonreligious people in history!”
Comfort, in an email distributed to subscribers, called on Christians around the nation to get involved.
“We would LOVE hundreds or even thousands of Christians to come and help,” he wrote.
A promotional flyer of the Living Waters event, which kicks off at 8 a.m. with a prayer meeting and then, two hours later, moves into the Washington Monument area for outreach efforts, reads: “Join us to reach thousands of atheists, skeptics and tourists with the gospel.”
