{"id":2852,"date":"2013-06-06T00:17:25","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T00:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2013-06-06T00:18:25","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T00:18:25","slug":"nothing-fails-like-prayer-banner-news-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/2013\/06\/06\/nothing-fails-like-prayer-banner-news-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"“Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner news recap"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NEPA<\/a>

NEPA Freethought Society members pose under “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner<\/p><\/div>\n

Today — after its scheduled one week of display — a Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF<\/a>) banner reading “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” was removed from Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The banner was placed as a response to a National Day of Prayer banner<\/a> overlooking Public Square and a corresponding prayer event in the same location. I delivered the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner to City Hall and was afforded with one week of display which was accompanied with interviews, press coverage, a strange statement delivered by Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Thomas Leighton, and more. Following is a recap of events.<\/p>\n

May 24<\/a> – “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner was displayed on Public Square. I reported, detailed reasons why I contacted the FFRF and delivered the banner to City Hall, and reflected on vandalism of the 2012 FFRF holiday freethought banner on Public Square.<\/p>\n

May 24<\/a> – The FFRF issued a release concerning the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner.<\/p>\n

May 24<\/a> – I appeared on a local talkradio show to discuss the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner.<\/p>\n

May 26<\/a> – Members of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Freethought Society, following a monthly meeting, posed under the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner.<\/p>\n

May 26<\/a> – A Wilkes-Barre based newspaper, The Times Leader, published a article on the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner which included comments from an interview I had with a reporter. A great deal of discussion followed the article; close to 500 comments accompany the reporting.<\/p>\n

May 31<\/a> – Thomas Leighton, the mayor of Wilkes-Barre, remarking on the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner, said, “We live in a free country; unfortunately everybody has the rights to whatever what they want to say<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

June 3<\/a> – Among other topics, I discussed the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” banner on the A-News podcast.<\/p>\n

The $50 which was required for one week of display went quite a long way to inspire a discussion about the efficacy of prayer, challenge popular religious belief, send a message of freethought to freethinkers and religious individuals, alert freethinkers to the FFRF, and so much more.<\/p>\n

Rather than simply blogging about disagreement with the National Day of Prayer and objections to prayer, I took initiative, protested a prayer event<\/a>, respectfully challenged religious believers in face-to-face discussions, found religious individuals who support church\/state separation, engaged with local media, and helped send a message of freethought to many who otherwise would not have been exposed to it. This atheist activism was highly successful and will not be my last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today — after its scheduled one week of display — a Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) banner reading “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” was removed from Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The banner was placed as a response to a National Day of Prayer banner overlooking Public Square and a corresponding prayer event in the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,22,25,30,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-ffrf-banner","category-local","category-me-in-the-media","category-my-appearances","category-nepa-freethought-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}