by Justin Scott, founder and director of the Eastern Iowa Atheists
So there I was, minding my business, proudly representing the Eastern Iowa Atheists at our info table at the wonderful My Waterloo Days event in downtown and historic Waterloo, Iowa.
This was the first time the Eastern Iowa Atheists had ever taken part in this amazing event and looking back, it was such a great time. We connected with so many atheists as well as believers that are on the fence with the religious belief that was indoctrinated into them at a young age.
Despite the warm temps and crazy 30-40 mph wind gusts (that happened to knock over and destroy parts of the display beside us) we had an enjoyable and productive two days at the event. Our table wouldn't have been possible without the generous support our members that came out and supported our table by volunteering parts of their weekend to sit at the table.
Things were going great as I was wrapping up my shift on Saturday afternoon until I heard a voice on a megaphone start to interrupt the band that was performing. It was a Christian preacher. Him and his sidekick had showed up, unannounced, to spew their religious nonsense.
Unlike us and every other group there, they apparently hadn't applied for a booth. They hadn't gotten the okay by event organizers to take part in the event.
Even worse, as it turns out, they hadn't even made the event organizers aware of their intent to come pull this stunt.
I wasn't putting up with it. Without hesitation I went into full activist mode.
As if my smartphone was my favorite Bat-gadget, I pulled it out of my pocket, fired on the video camera and made a B-line to the preacher.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me" is all I remember thinking as I turned the corner on my speed walk to the preacher and his buddy.
How arrogant. How pretentious. How rude. And the worst part is that most enjoying the event--including the live music that was being interrupted--was that most were too in shock by what was going on to do anything; some were even applauding this guy.
Did I have anything prepared to say to the guy? Not a chance. I just fired off the first things that came to mind. But the one thing I knew is that I had to do something.
And then to hear him announce to the crowd, after myself and the event organizer tell him to shut it down, that "there is no law higher than the law of god".
Don't get me wrong, he had every right to say whatever he wanted BUT I felt he didn't have the right to disrupt a peaceful event and especially to spew his religious nonsense. I felt those of us atheists (and believe me, after working our table for a few hours, I knew firsthand that there were more of us there than most would have assumed) should have a peaceful afternoon interrupted by this arrogant display of religious and Christian privilege.
I didn't plan on shutting him up completely (or taking away his 1st amendment rights to free speech) but I figured if I could just disrupt his train of thought, stay in front of him and not allow him to go on with his obviously planned speech. It would have been different had this been on a college campus where the free exchange of varying ideas is welcome. This was during a celebration for the city. There was no need for this.
There was every opportunity for this guy and his respective church or religious organization to have gone through the proper channels just like us, just like the other churches that were there, to have a booth where they could have shared their worldview--regardless of how twisted, contradictory and anti-science it might be.
But he didn't.
He apparently didn't feel it was that important to do it. Watch towards the middle of the video when the organizer of the event lets him know of the opportunities that are available to him and his group if he would have just hit her up beforehand. Watch as he pretends like he gives a damn about not offending or disrespecting her or the organization. Sorry buddy, you're a little late for that.
After the officer and event organizer walk away, I decided I wasn't going to let him off the hook. I was beyond annoyed and wanted to put this guy, his church and his entire religion on notice.
I wanted him to know that for every "Amen!" shouted from the crowd that there was at least one guy there that DIDN'T appreciate his stunt, or his tactics, or his worldview or his religious doctrine.
Sure, in a perfect world, I would have had better questions for him.
I probably would have asked him if this is how desperate his church or his religion has gotten that they have to disrupt fun public events in order to appeal to people. I would have asked him what he thinks about our country becoming less religious and who or what is to blame for that. I would have asked him whether he believes what he believes what he believes because it's true or because it feels good.
And speaking of what would have happened in a perfect world, the police officer that intervenes wouldn't have let the guy offer a goodbye to the spectators the way he did, he would have shut the whole thing down cold turkey. But he didn't. Whether that was just the officer trying to be a nice guy or something else, we won't know but notice how the officer says to him "I appreciate what you're doing". I'm not trying to read too far into that statement but c'mon sir, just tell the guy to shut it and leave.
With all of this said, it makes me think: In a perfect world, we wouldn't have religion period. We wouldn't have religion which impresses such arrogance onto people that they think pulling a stunt like this is desired, warranted or undeserving of being challenged.
I'm glad I did what I did and would do it over again in a heartbeat. Check out the whole video below:
(Thanks again for the organizer of My Waterloo Days for addressing this situation so swiftly. We really enjoyed our experience during the event and plan to do it again in the future. Thanks again for the opportunity!)
So there I was, minding my business, proudly representing the Eastern Iowa Atheists at our info table at the wonderful My Waterloo Days event in downtown and historic Waterloo, Iowa.
This was the first time the Eastern Iowa Atheists had ever taken part in this amazing event and looking back, it was such a great time. We connected with so many atheists as well as believers that are on the fence with the religious belief that was indoctrinated into them at a young age.
Despite the warm temps and crazy 30-40 mph wind gusts (that happened to knock over and destroy parts of the display beside us) we had an enjoyable and productive two days at the event. Our table wouldn't have been possible without the generous support our members that came out and supported our table by volunteering parts of their weekend to sit at the table.
Even worse, as it turns out, they hadn't even made the event organizers aware of their intent to come pull this stunt.
I wasn't putting up with it. Without hesitation I went into full activist mode.
As if my smartphone was my favorite Bat-gadget, I pulled it out of my pocket, fired on the video camera and made a B-line to the preacher.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me" is all I remember thinking as I turned the corner on my speed walk to the preacher and his buddy.
How arrogant. How pretentious. How rude. And the worst part is that most enjoying the event--including the live music that was being interrupted--was that most were too in shock by what was going on to do anything; some were even applauding this guy.
Did I have anything prepared to say to the guy? Not a chance. I just fired off the first things that came to mind. But the one thing I knew is that I had to do something.
And then to hear him announce to the crowd, after myself and the event organizer tell him to shut it down, that "there is no law higher than the law of god".
Don't get me wrong, he had every right to say whatever he wanted BUT I felt he didn't have the right to disrupt a peaceful event and especially to spew his religious nonsense. I felt those of us atheists (and believe me, after working our table for a few hours, I knew firsthand that there were more of us there than most would have assumed) should have a peaceful afternoon interrupted by this arrogant display of religious and Christian privilege.
I didn't plan on shutting him up completely (or taking away his 1st amendment rights to free speech) but I figured if I could just disrupt his train of thought, stay in front of him and not allow him to go on with his obviously planned speech. It would have been different had this been on a college campus where the free exchange of varying ideas is welcome. This was during a celebration for the city. There was no need for this.
There was every opportunity for this guy and his respective church or religious organization to have gone through the proper channels just like us, just like the other churches that were there, to have a booth where they could have shared their worldview--regardless of how twisted, contradictory and anti-science it might be.
But he didn't.
He apparently didn't feel it was that important to do it. Watch towards the middle of the video when the organizer of the event lets him know of the opportunities that are available to him and his group if he would have just hit her up beforehand. Watch as he pretends like he gives a damn about not offending or disrespecting her or the organization. Sorry buddy, you're a little late for that.
After the officer and event organizer walk away, I decided I wasn't going to let him off the hook. I was beyond annoyed and wanted to put this guy, his church and his entire religion on notice.
I wanted him to know that for every "Amen!" shouted from the crowd that there was at least one guy there that DIDN'T appreciate his stunt, or his tactics, or his worldview or his religious doctrine.
Sure, in a perfect world, I would have had better questions for him.
I probably would have asked him if this is how desperate his church or his religion has gotten that they have to disrupt fun public events in order to appeal to people. I would have asked him what he thinks about our country becoming less religious and who or what is to blame for that. I would have asked him whether he believes what he believes what he believes because it's true or because it feels good.
And speaking of what would have happened in a perfect world, the police officer that intervenes wouldn't have let the guy offer a goodbye to the spectators the way he did, he would have shut the whole thing down cold turkey. But he didn't. Whether that was just the officer trying to be a nice guy or something else, we won't know but notice how the officer says to him "I appreciate what you're doing". I'm not trying to read too far into that statement but c'mon sir, just tell the guy to shut it and leave.
With all of this said, it makes me think: In a perfect world, we wouldn't have religion period. We wouldn't have religion which impresses such arrogance onto people that they think pulling a stunt like this is desired, warranted or undeserving of being challenged.
I'm glad I did what I did and would do it over again in a heartbeat. Check out the whole video below:
(Thanks again for the organizer of My Waterloo Days for addressing this situation so swiftly. We really enjoyed our experience during the event and plan to do it again in the future. Thanks again for the opportunity!)
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