#reasonrally

The Atheist State of the Union 2018

I spoke this morning at the Reason Rally, standing before a crowd-lined reflecting pool, with the Washington monument in the distance. To see, within sight of our nation's symbols, so many like-minded people -- all wishing, as I do, for the day when religious, illogical thinking disappears from governance and no longer holds sway over the lives of people in this country and around the world -- was inspiring and filled me with hope.

Woman bear the brunt of religious thinking: the more religious a society is, the more it oppresses its women. This is surely the world's greatest injustice, that in too many places around the world, one half of the population is abused at the hands of the other. And until humanity rejects wholesale those ideas which underlie our devaluation, enslavement and exploitation, we will not be free and equal.

But women can make this happen. It is women who are the key to turning this around.

As the centers of their families, women are the fulcrums of culture. By guiding their children towards secular means of understanding the world, using reason and evidence to evaluate and make decisions, and instilling in their offspring a sense of equality for both genders, they can make possible the eventual release of the hold that religious thinking has, in varying degrees, on this country and eventually across the globe.

And in the end, it will be women who gain the most from a world that turns towards sensible, secular thinking.

So, let's do this. Let's make this our mission.

Begin by questioning everything and rejecting any philosophy or belief system that would put us in second place. That is a belief system that is not even worth considering.

Sometimes, all it takes is for someone to validate our thoughts, to tell us ‘You’ve got it right!’, in order for us to move forward and make big changes in our lives. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to give us permission.