Even atheists bash 'Reason Rally'

Ray Comfort

The much-promoted "Reason Rally" that was held recently in Washington, D.C., had been touted as the "largest gathering" of atheists, freethinkers and friends in history, but it drew only an estimated few thousand people at its peak.

The dismal attendance likely was due at least partly to the fact that prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Johnny Depp canceled.

The Christian Times said the outcome was "hugely disappointing" to event planners, and CNN called the attendance "somewhat sparse."

Even atheist groups and individuals have been blasting the event.

Hemant Mehta at Patheos asked, "Where was the crowd for the Reason Rally?" He noted that while 30,000 originally had been predicted to come, the actual crowd was much smaller.

"Nothing I saw suggested '15,000 to 20,000' in attendance, as organizers told Religion News Service. I'd put the range at about half of that, but we'll see," Mehta wrote.

Others suggested figures in the low thousands or even hundreds.

See Ray Comfort's works at the WND Superstore.

One atheist described by Christian evangelist Ray Comfort as "high-prolife" went much further, putting out two videos skewering the event.

Comfort was at the other end of the National Mall while the Reason Rally was happening. He had planned to hand out Subway gift cards and copies of his newest book to atheists but had to cancel because police said they wouldn't allow the two groups to mingle.

Comfort, whose common-sense attitude toward atheism is evident in his books "Nothing Created Everything," "You Can Lead An Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think" and "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists," later said he would give the $25,000 in gift cards to the homeless. But he went forward with filming open-air preaching on the mall for his TV program, "The Way of the Master."

Comfort linked the video by atheist ThunderF00t on his Facebook page, where he said the atheist activist has visited his Living Waters ministry several times.

"He's a man of conviction, and he's funny. I have even laughed at some of the mocking videos he's made about me."

Thunderf00t's commentary poked fun at the event's tolerance, or intolerance, for the "transkinned," and noted that the only people wearing Black Nonbelievers T-shirts were white.

He pointed out one sign mocked "the visually impaired." The "male gay choir" that opened the event was best enjoyed "with earplugs or with the volume turned down," he said, and the "failfest" had been condemned by others who wrote, "Say what you want about Hitler but people at least showed up to his rallies."

The video also pointed out that the event, described as the "largest gathering" of nonreligious in history, "made the voting bloc a joke."

Thunderf00t highlighted the code of conduct suggested, which included no "fake jewelry" and a ban on "offending" people.

Thunderf00t said he monitored the livestream of the event, and at no point did the crowd surpass more than a few hundred.

See his quick analysis of the event (Warning: The following video contains language that may offend readers.):

And he also published a longer, more detailed review of the rally (Warning: The following video contains language that may offend readers.):

Comfort, meanwhile, pointed out that Penn Jillette, who had been at the rally, met up with him for a few minutes and then Tweeted a photograph with Comfort to millions of fans.

He tweeted to his to 2 million followers: "What a nice guy!"

WND reported Comfort's plan to give books and cards for Subway sandwiches to atheists.

He was stymied by police rules and drew praise even from atheists for deciding to then give $25,000 worth of food to the homeless.

"Good for Ray! Hurts to say it, but it is the right thing to do," wrote one commenter identified as Statis on a prominent website for atheists, Patheos.

"He's a liar and a manipulator, and kind of an idiot, but I can't fault his values when it comes to human kindness. Anyone who ever met him will tell you, Comfort possesses plenty of that," added Jared James.

And another commenter, NathairHimheil, said: "This was a 'What should we do with all this free food?' decision, and it's a good one. Credit where credit is due."

See Ray Comfort's works at the WND Superstore.

Comfort, whose programs, books, movies and outreaches are featured at the Living Waters site, said he filmed for his TV show "The Way of the Master" the same day that the atheists were at the Mall.

He proposed giving away 5,000 copies of his new book about atheism, "Fat Chance: Why Pigs Will Fly Before America Has an Atheist President." It's a direct counter to one of the key objectives of the Reason Rally.