Join the TFS for our National Day of Reason Event

Download the Press Release for our National Day of Reason event.

The Triangle Freethought Society will be hosting events for the National Day of Reason on the State Capitol grounds In Raleigh, NC on Thursday, May 5th, starting at 11:45am.  Please join us! We have a great program, with nationally recognized speakers. 

National Day of Reason - Main Event  - 11:45 am to 1:15 pm - State Capitol Grounds

  • Music with Irat Feiskhanov

  • "Greetings and Acknowledgments" with Mark Zumbach

  • "Standing for Truth, Love and Liberty" with Todd Steifel

  • "The C-Street Shuffle" with Cecil Bothwell

  • "Coming Out as an Atheist and Humanist" with Roy Speckhardt

  • "How to Protect A Secular America" with Sean Faircloth

  • Closing with Mark Zumbach

  • Music with Irat Feiskhanov

There are multiple parking deck options available for the Main Event. 
 
 Lunch and Social at tir na nOg - 218 South Blount Street, Raleigh, NC

  • 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences - 11 W. Jones St., Raleigh (optional)

  • 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

National Day of Reason - Evening Program - Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh - 3313 Wade Ave., Raleigh 

  • 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm

  •  "Greetings and Acknowledgments" with Mark Zumbach

  • "Our Secular Decade Plan" with Sean Faircloth

  • "Constructing a Humanist Morality" with Roy Speckhardt  

Also, join us for the after party just after the Evening Program - Informal Dinner and Drinks at Tripps Restaurant - 3516 Wade Ave., Raleigh

There is no charge for admission to any part of the day, however each attendee will pay for their own expenses and meals.  We welcome any tax-deductible donations you would like to make towards the event; donations can be made on our web site.
 

About Our Speakers

Roy Speckhardt is executive director of the American Humanist Association where he actively promotes the humanist perspective on progressive political issues. He’s appeared on CNN Headline News, Fox News, numerous national radio shows, and has spoken to dozens of local humanist groups across the country. He also serves as a board member of the Humanist Institute and the United Coalition of Reason and as an advisory board member of the Secular Student Alliance. www.americanhumanist.org

Sean Faircloth is the executive director for the Secular Coalition for America, an advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the non-theistic community in the United States. www.secular.org

Cecil Bothwell was elected on November 3, 2009, to the Asheville, NC city council. Following the election, opponents of Bothwell challenged his election because the North Carolina constitution does not allow for atheists to hold public office in the state. He was recently voted Most Courageous Elected Official of 2010 by American Atheists. cecilbothwell.wordpress.com

Todd Stiefel is a secular humanist, an atheist and full-time freethought activist. He is the founder and president of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation. Todd serves as the Vice President of the Secular Coalition for America and is the co-host of the Humanist Hour, the official podcast of the American Humanist Association. His mission is to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state. Todd envisions a world where government favors liberty over dogma and freethinkers are overt, united and influential.  www.stiefelfreethoughtfoundation.org

Mark Zumbach is the president of the Triangle Freethought Society and its spokesperson since its inception. He works as a consultant for the clinical trial industry and is a North Carolina State University Alumni. In addition to his work with TFS, Mark is an LGBT and HIV/AIDS activist and a visual and performance artist.

 

Please join us on Thursday, May 5th at 11:45 am at the State Capitol at 1 East Edenton St., Raleigh! We can help turn the tide towards a secular government and nation! We look forward to seeing you!

Why a National Day of Reason?

   From www.nationaldayofreason.org -

“This observance is held in parallel with the National Day of Prayer, on the first Thursday in May each year. The goal of this effort is to celebrate reason—a concept all Americans can support—and to raise public awareness about the persistent threat to religious liberty posed by government intrusion into the private sphere of worship.”

The National Day of Prayer was signed into law in 1952 by Harry S Truman. On April 15, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb wrote of the 1952 statute creating the National Day of Prayer that its "sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function."

In spite of the ruling, last year all fifty governors issued proclamations urging Americans to pray on this day and President Obama himself declared the intent to observe it since the injunction against it would not go into effect until the appeals process has been completed.

The main purpose of the Triangle Freethought Society is to stand up for the separation of church and state. The National Day of Prayer is a clear violation of this separation.

Please join us on Thursday, May 5 to show your support!
Why Do We Oppose the National Day of Prayer?

  • The National Day of Prayer violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution because it asks federal and local government entities to set aside tax dollar supported time and space to engage in religious ceremonies. This results in unconstitutional governmental support of religion over no religion.
  • Led by fundamentalist Christian Shirley Dobson, the National Day of Prayer Task Force www.nationaldayofprayer.org promoted thousands of events specifically in accordance with its Judeo-Christian beliefs and focused on a small segment of the Protestant Christianity. Since they hold their events on the government sponsored National Day of Prayer, government officials of all levels participate in these events as if they were government endorsed.
  • The Supreme Court has made it clear (and most Americans agree) that state sponsored prayer in school is inappropriately exclusionary. Why is a nationally sponsored day of prayer any more inclusive? This national effort geared toward a small slice of the religious spectrum is clearly outside the boundaries of proper governmental reach.
  • The National Day of Prayer makes those who don’t pray feel like second-class citizens. Why set aside a national day that needlessly excludes?
  • Religious Americans who wish to pray don’t need to be reminded by government to do so, so there’s no reason to limit prayer to a single day for those who chose to practice their chosen faith in that way. Government has no business saying when or what Americans should do when and if they engage in religious practice.
  • Government also violates the First Amendment with the National Day of Prayer by acting to promote a certain manifestation of religion. It emphasizes only one form of religious practice, and therefore discriminates against the many others, including alms giving, social justice, fasting, peace activism and meditation.
  • Many traditional religious groups encourage adherents not to make their prayer public, so this state sponsored public display of prayer is a direct affront to such teachings and disrespects countless religious Americans. Many Americans faithfully follow the words from the Sermon on the Mount, "When you pray don't do it loudly in the synagogue or on street corners so that everyone can see you and think you are really good and holy."
  • Whenever government involves itself in religious practice as is done with the National Day of Prayer it taints that religious practice by reducing the co-opted religion’s effectiveness to protest government action, and also (in an infeasible effort to broaden the practice’s appeal) government inappropriately dilutes the messages of faithful adherents.
  • Freedom of expression and worship, including the opportunity to pray or not pray as we wish, are already present without government endorsement. There is no need to set-aside a public day for prayer.




Download the Press Release for our National Day of Reason event.