Critique of Pure Reason

For reasons that are still mysterious to me—you might say it’s a holy mystery—I decided to attend this year’s Reason Rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial. In the words of its organizers, the rally is meant to celebrate “secular, atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinking, and nonreligious identities” and “showcase the presence and power of the nonreligious voting bloc, and to demand that reason be put at the forefront of our public and political discourse.” According to its website, there will be “awesome speakers, bands, entertainment, and political leaders,” including a member of the D.C. City Council, a Maryland state representative, a five-minute televised speech from Bill Maher, and a Beatles tribute combo. Will they play “Let it Be,” I wonder?

On my way to the rally, just outside the World War II Memorial, I see my first two attendees—unless they are just random tourists wearing “There is no God. Have a great day!” t-shirts—lose control of their Segway electric scooters and crash into one another.

“Oh, F—!” one of them shouts.

An older couple standing about 20 feet away looks over at them. The man, who is finishing a Popsicle, rolls his eyes, but the woman bows her head thoughtfully. I think she has decided to be embarrassed on their behalf.

I arrive in front of the Lincoln Memorial too late to hear the D.C. Gay Men’s Chorus perform, but am just in time for the Pledge of Allegiance. Do I need to spell it out, or can you guess why we’re doing this? Everyone in the audience grins with delight when “under God” is omitted. From their faces you get the sense that it’s the edgiest thing they’ve done since that time they wrote “ASS” on the chalkboard just after recess while the teacher was finishing her coffee in the break room. For confirmation I ask Tim, who is wearing a Four Horsemen t-shirt—not a metal band but a popular group moniker for those New Atheist luminaries Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins.

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