UPDATE, JAN. 22, 1:44 P.M.: Atheists are so hot right now, and by “right now” I mean “tonight through Sunday morning.” As mentioned in the original post (that has all the details), Orange County's Backyard Skeptics hold a “speed discussion” event with a Christian Toastmasters group at a Huntington Beach church tonight, and an OC atheist is recruiting like-minded folks to counter-demonstrate against Christians in front of Disneyland Sunday morning. Now, Backyard Skeptics say they'll shoehorn in another gathering Saturday: an “I Am Charlie” demonstration at Huntington Beach Pier, where passersbys will be encouraged “to draw cartoonish pictures of any prophet, deity or religion in a funny or mocking way.”
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From Backyard Skeptics' Bruce Gleason:
January 22, 2015.
Media Advisory
What: I Am Charlie demonstration
Sponsored by: Backyard Skeptics
When: Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 11am-2pm
Where: At the foot of the Huntington Beach Pier
Event Coordinators Bruce Gleason Email: br***@ba**************.com Phone: 714 394-6153.
Description: We will have free speech signs and will give any passersby to draw cartoonish pictures of any prophet, deity or religion in a funny or mocking way. We'll have a large foam-core piece to place all the individually drawn pictures.
Why: After the Paris shootings, where are the demonstrations in Orange County?? This event is designed for those who would like to express their support of free speech in the local area. It is also the time to support our free speech supporters (and martyrs) across the pond. Why should anyone give up their individual rights of free speech simply because it offends anyone's religious beliefs? Especially if it's in the form of a cartoon! As Penn Jillette once said: “If you're not insulted once in a while, you're not living in America!” We must reject any attempts to “understand” what those two assassins with Kalashnikovs did as anything but an intentional assault on western values-in this case the freedom of expression-in the name of their fundamentalist interpretation of religion.
Zock. Ray. Blue!
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 22, 7:35 A.M.: Don't be surprised if Luis Cambuston shows up at tonight's debate between Christians and atheists in Huntington Beach. That's because he says he's recruiting like-minded folks to join him at a demonstration in front of Disneyland Sunday morning. Can you guess which side Cambuston would like to pluck supporters from?It's the godless guys and gals. But before we explain, that debate at 7 tonight at Huntington Beach Community Church, 8101 Slater Ave., pits members of Orange County Backyard Skeptics against the Christian Toastmasters group of Huntington Beach in a will “speed discussion.”
“What is 'speed discussion?' It is a discussion format where anyone can bring up a topic or question– but with a 30 second time limit,” explains a meeting announcement sent over to the Weekly by Bruce Gleason, the founder and director of the seven-year-old, Fountain Valley-based Backyard Skeptics.
Over those seven years, Gleason and his fellow humanists, non-theists and otherwise nonbelievers have established relationships with Christian churches and groups like the Christian Toastmasters group of Huntington Beach to co-sponsor polite, healthy debates. The speed discussions have proven to be quite popular because they allow more attendees to talk and make their points quickly, Gleason notes.
Anyway, knowing that Gleason's event was coming up when Cambuston reached out to the Weekly in hopes of getting the word out to other local atheists, we just thought these two crazy kids needed to get together.
In his “Call to Action” on the next page, Cambuston details the incident that happened to him, his daughter and fellow atheist and their Buddhist guest from Japan on the sidewalk outside the Disney resort recently. The incident prompted Cambuston's planned return this Sunday–he hopes with reinforcements. (Email cr**************@gm***.com if you'd like to join him.)
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Call to action.
Protect our children!
If you, your friends or any secular organization that you belong to want to protect children from abusive fundamentalist Christians, please join me this Sunday, January 25, at 8:30 a.m. to oppose the insane religious people displaying their ignorance every Sunday on the Disneyland resort sidewalks. I will be at Disney's sidewalk on Harbor Blvd. (in front of IHOP).
My daughter, an atheist, and our guest from Japan, a Buddhist girl, were exposed to signs and the amplified ravings of lunatics advising them that they will go to hell if they don't accept Jesus as their savior. After having a yelling contest with the one that appears to be their leader, I ran home to make banners and start my personal protest but by the time I got back it was too late. Apparently they show up every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 or 11 a.m.
There are plenty of spaces where they can show up with banners. Disneyland should NOT be [one] of those spaces. Disneyland is for the kids, for ALL the kids, Buddhists, Muslim, Jewish, Atheists, ALL.
I decided not to create banners with my real thoughts. After all, there are children all over the place! Instead, I wrote things like “Protect our children from craziness.” “Protect our children from hate,” “Buddhist, Muslim and atheist kids, don't listen to him,” “Sorry, kids, he's nuts,” “Believe what you want – it's your right,” “Sorry, kids, he lost his marbles,” etc. Humor is the best way to demonstrate how ridiculous they are.
You are welcome to come with your own ideas but please watch your language. Feel free to create your own banners or send me phrases so I can create them for you. All your ideas are welcome! The email for this event is: cr**************@gm***.com.
If you have control over a MeetUp group please create a MeetUp for this event.
Parking might be an issue; I will find a place where parking is free and try to arrange free rides.
I suspect speed discussion rules will not apply.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.