Reason Rally

Speakers and performers at the first rally included biologist Richard Dawkins, physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, musician Tim Minchin, MythBusters co-host Adam Savage, actor-comedian Eddie Izzard, Paul Provenza, PZ Myers, Jessica Ahlquist, Dan Barker, and magician James Randi, and others.

[3] The punk rock band Bad Religion performed and other notables (Rep. Pete Stark, Sen. Tom Harkin, comedian Bill Maher, magician Penn Jillette) addressed the crowd by video link.

Organizers said the aim of the rally was twofold: to unite individuals with similar beliefs and to show the American public that the number of people who don’t believe in God is large and growing.

“We have the numbers to be taken seriously,” said Paul Fidalgo, spokesman for the Center for Inquiry, which promotes the scientific method and reasoning and was one of the organizations sponsoring the rally.

“We’re not just a tiny fringe group.”[12] According to rally spokesman Jesse Galef, diversity with the attendees was a focus this year, he stated 'We can't succeed if we are only coming from one demographic'".

"[15] David Niose, the president of the American Humanist Association stated that "The secular demographic does not claim to have a monopoly on rationality, but it does feel that it has something to offer.

Editorial writers such as Nathalie Rothschild argued that "the combination of non-belief, self-victimisation and religion-bashing make for a pretty negative and weak ground for common identification".

[20] Tom Gilson,[21] and representatives of various religious communities, such as Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership[22] and William Anthony Donohue of the Catholic League,[23] all voiced disapproval the event.

Some notable speakers of the atheist community like Richard Dawkins encouraged mockery and ridicule of religious people in his speech, which elicited a response from others.

[10][11] The Reason Rally for 2016 was billed as "a celebration of fact-driven public policy, the value of critical thinking, and the voting power of secular Americans".