Comment 18 by paulmcuk :

What is the difference between this circle-jerk and a religious circle-jerk?

Does there have to be a difference? My view of this event is that one of its primary goal is for US secularists to stand up and be counted. One of the reasons that religion dominates in the US is because atheists are dismissed as irrelevant in political terms. If 50,000 of them gather and make noise then

I'm not in the US but from the outside it seems to me that US secularists HAVE to organise and campaign in exactly the same way that religions (or minority groups) do. There's no sign that religion is going to decline naturally as it has in other parts of the world.

It may be against the nature of secularists to come together under the tenuous banner of not believing in god but frankly a few lone voices arguing, however eloquently, are never going to drive political change. Politicians will only factor the secular view into their calculations if they see that secular America is a) more numerous than they thought, b) organised and c) vocal. This event will hopefully be a step on that road and, crucially, encourage the "hidden" atheists many of us suspect are out there to step out of the shadows.

This isn't an atheist rally, there are people addressing it, at least by video feed, of a religious persuasion but that isn't the problem. By definition reason works through logical arguement, not through numbers. I don't care how many attend, no one should care how many attend, reason doesn't work that way.

An atheist rally - fine, I'll be there. A socialist rally - fine, I'll be there. A reason rally? it's almost an oxymoron