By James Zimmerman

In the latter half of the 18th century, America was in the throes of revolution. In the midst of the better-known political revolution, there was also a revolution of thought. Kerry Walters, in his latest book Revolutionary Deists: Early America’s Rational Infidels (©2011, Prometheus Books), takes readers on a cogent journey that explores the roots and major icons of the deism movement.

 

Here's a party you just can't miss—a chance to mix and mingle with the coolest heretics, infidels, and idolaters you'll ever meet while we revel in the sights and sounds of the most unholy entertainment ever assembled on one stage:

Le Cirque Rouge!

Robots from the Future!

Ocean Cats!

and a surprise special guest!

 

It's on May 21st at 10pm at the perfect venue: Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis (80 9th Street South, Minneapolis 55402). Admission is a paltry $5, and proceeds will go to a cause near and dear to our heathen hearts: Minnesota Atheists.

If you haven't already marked your calendar in indelible ink, here's the kicker: May 21st is the day evangelicals, led by Harold Camping, believe the Rapture will occur. According to Harold (who blames his last failed prediction in 1994 on "a mathematical error"), his righteous flock will be whisked away to heaven, leaving rest of us to party on. As much as we'd like to wish them a hearty "bon voyage," it'll be almost as much fun to mark the midnight hour as the end of yet another apocalyptic non-event.

Be there, or you'll be confessing your regrets for the rest of the year!

By Eric Jayne

 

(Letter to the editor, titled "Day of Reason" was published in the Sunday's 05.08.11 editoin of the St. Paul Pioneer Press)

 

It was disappointing that Gov. Dayton chose to celebrate the National Day of Prayer with church pastors on the Capitol's steps instead of celebrating reason with the Minnesota Atheists in the Capitol rotunda on May 5. While the group outside prayed for lawmakers to support the discriminatory ban on same-sex marriage, we spoke of the need to keep ethnocentric myth-based beliefs out of public policy decisions.

 

By George Kane

 

“The separation of church and state is nowhere in the constitution.”  That’s a favorite mantra of conservative Christians that they are always eager to repeat.  On any day, if you undertake a google search for news of church/state separation, you are certain to find an editorial, commentary or letter to the editor stating this as if this were some little-known, everywhere misunderstood fact.  Of course, neither is democracy mentioned in the constitution, nor consent of the governed, nor practically any other political value cherished by our nation’s founders.  But the separation of church and state is spelled out in the first two clauses of the First Amendment.  The Establishment Clause is the very first, stating that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.  It is followed by the Free Exercise Clause, quote:  “nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

 

By Mike Haubrich

 

(Picture courtesy of Richard W. Trombley)

 

Welcome to the Day of Reason. We call this the Day of Reason not because we think of the participants in the National Day of Prayer as unreasonable people. Rather, we see them as surrendering their reason; to appeal to a higher authority that either does not exist or is unwilling to magically balance the budget for us, or even to fix the potholes in our streets.