AAI sets up ABBA Tabernacle

American Bible Beltway Atheists set up taburnakel;
ref: washingtondc craigslist event 426525285
Atheist Alliance International "Crystal Clear Atheism"

After seeing her give a speech at AAI a few weeks
ago (which will be on the DVD from RDF of that
event) I have new found respect for her situation.

American Atheists & Beltway Atheists will be tabling (setting up a tent, and a table with first amendment materials) in Washington DC (@ Dupont Circle).

Why:

It’s important to make people aware of the Constitution, and the Jeffersonian Wall of Separation of Church and State being attacked and undermined by the Religious Dominionists in the United States.

How:

American Atheists and Beltway Atheists are going to be providing people with first amendment materials about Separation of Church and State, as well as information on the Bill of Rights. We will also be asking people how they feel about Separation of Church and State, in attempts to engage them on the issue at hand.

Highlights from the Atheist Alliance International Convention 2007:

• Hearing Ayaan Hirsi Ali start a sentence with “Fundamentalist Islam…” and then quickly correcting herself by saying, “well, Islam… ”
• Listening to a question posed to Ali: “Why are Americans so stupid?” Her response: “Well… [it’s] only half of them…”
• Seeing Richard Dawkins stand in line to ask Ali the question, “May I nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize?”
• Hearing Christopher Hitchens avoid answer one attendee’s query by saying: “Your question didn’t give me enough of an erection.”
• Hearing Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson and Hollywood screenwriter Matthew Chapman explain why he should be up for sainthood: “If an old lady who argued against contraception in the slums of Calcutta can be up for sainthood, so should I for having done nothing.”
• Hearing Chapman also say that for a woman to be religious, it was like “a freed slave still living on the plantation.”
• Staring at the word “ATHEIST” and realizing that you can unscramble it and get “EAT SHIT.”
• Being really upset that at one point, Dawkins, Harris, Ali, Hitchens, and Dennett (all of whom have made The New York Times bestsellers list) were in the same room, and there was no photo opportunity with all of them together.
• Hearing Dennett joke that “Atheism is a chick magnet.”

More from jezblog;

Ayaan Hirsi Ali had a hypnotic effect on her audience. Her beauty and eloquence, her bravery and intellect, the sheer extraordinariness of her life, she is simply an incredible person. A perfect embodiment for this audience of secular rationalists of all the possibility in the triumph of reason over tribalism and superstition. They loved her. I loved her. She was fantastic.

Her latest book Infidel has caused more controversy and sadly she must have body guards at all times even in America.

Clearly she is amazingly strong willed and defiant but she also has a wonderful modesty and gentleness about her as she speaks from the rostrum and with her admirers afterwards