One of the events that I am planning is the annual Philadelphia Coalition of Reason picnic. On the flyers and press release, I invited atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, etc. Well, someone messaged me demanding that I openly invite theists too.
I support an open marketplace of ideas. If a theist showed up at an atheist event that I was planning, I would not turn them away merely because they believe in ridiculous superstitions on insufficient evidence. However, that is different from sending them an open invitation to proselytize.
On the other hand, there are some theists that are always welcome at a publicized event because those theists are just so wacky that their presence gives us positive press. I’m looking at you Westboro Baptist Church. But short of the Phelps clan, this is our event for us.
Don’t get me wrong, I love discussing religion with the religious. That’s why Jehovah’s Witnesses hate coming to my house. While I don’t mind debating religious proselytizers so that other atheists don’t have to, at an event that I am organizing I am generally too busy for those types of discussions.
Not all atheists are like me. Some atheists don’t want to debate religious wackos and it isn’t fair to them to invite those religious wackos to our relaxing event.
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