Atheist Day - April 1st (Is this true or is it a joke?)

I lead a lot of meetings in my day job. To create some interest, I go to a website that provides all the celebratory holidays throughout the year. For example, March 24th was “Chocolate Covered Raisins Day”, so I brought in a bag to share. I have a meeting tomorrow and thought I might lead it off with:
Atheist Day
Christmas. Basant. Diwali. Eid al-Adha. Easter. Yom Kippur. Vesak. Hanukkah. Ramadan. There is no shortage of religious holidays celebrated every year. According to recent studies, there are approximately 7.1 billion people currently living in this world, 31% of whom are Christians, 23% of whom are Muslims, 13% of whom are Hindus, and almost 7% of whom are Buddhists. There are also millions of other people who follow religions such as Judaism, Jainism and Spiritism.
But what about those of us who do not believe in a god or gods? An estimated 2% of the world’s population does not adhere to any religion. So why don’t they get to have any holidays? Just because 142 million people don’t believe in God, does mean they don’t like to have a good time, right?

The History of Atheist Day
The origins of Atheist Day can be traced back to a spoof story that was published on the internet in 2003. Atheist Day was originally about a fictional case of an Atheist who had decided to sue the government. The reason for the fictional lawsuit was a simple one—unlike all the major religions, there was no day for Atheists, to which the judge said that April 1st (i.e. April Fool’s Day) was their holiday. While this case was just a hoax, the story spread quickly and was actually accepted as fact. Although the day is best known to be an occasion for pranks, Atheists in fact claimed the day for their own as well. And then they did something very their style: they decided to claim it doesn’t actually exist, after all!
How to Celebrate Atheist Day
There isn’t actually a defined way of celebrating Atheist Day, though many use the occasion to show their lack of faith, and/or initiate theological debate. Since Atheism is still a controversial subject in some places, it’s an opportunity to increase awareness of the whole topic. Debates about religion have a bad reputation for their propensity to get out of hand and turn into arguments rather easily, but it’s high time we changed that anyway. Religion is a fascinating topic, full of history and ancient wisdom, so if you are in fact an atheist, you could take a bit of time on this day to have an in-depth conversation with a religious friend or family member to find out what exactly they believe in and why. What they have to say is guaranteed to supply you with plenty of food for thought. On the other hand, if you’re a religious person, you could spend some time talking to your atheist friends or family members and find out what his or her reasons are for seeing the world the way they do. People who decide to leave their religion behind, a part of their lives that may well have been a large and important one before, often have many reasons for making that decision. There is no need for either party to try to convince the other, as that will likely not work, anyway. Still, the discussion between a believer and a non-believer has the potential to be a deep and and informative one that will motivate all of those participate in it to entertain some ideas and thoughts they may not have had before. And broadening one’s worldview has never hurt anyone!

We could have a Rationalism Day, which would be a little more general and less likely to be criticized. But, of course, theists, psychos and criminals think they are rational. Maybe a Freethinkers Day or Critical Thinking Day. It would be a good opportunity to explain what Freethought and Critical Thinking are. Too many people don’t know.
Lois

Freethinker’s Day - January 29th
Thomas Paine’s Birthday!!!; Unfortunately I came “back on board” here in February, so I didn’t get to mention this one. I’ll make sure to point it out next year.
Also, there is:
World Humanist Day - June 21st
Mark your calendars!
[Note: I don’t make this stuff up. :cheese: ]

I’m pretty sure I heard of this before 2003, but as an insult directed by Christians at atheists (as in atheist = fool). I had never heard of atheists actually embracing the day as a “holiday” though. It seems rather counter-productive.

We can always claim that it doesn’t exist. :coolsmile:

Well, I led off today’s meeting at work by mentioning today was Atheist Day. The smiles (or lack thereof) that I got were directly proportional to the age of the listener (the younger the listener, the bigger the smile).
Did I mention that although I live in Indiana, I work in Michigan? I have worked in Indiana in the past (up until I got laid off during the GW Bush administration), and in no way would have led off a meeting with this (the result would have been the same except sooner).

Well, I led off today's meeting at work by mentioning today was Atheist Day. The smiles (or lack thereof) that I got were directly proportional to the age of the listener (the younger the listener, the bigger the smile). Did I mention that although I live in Indiana, I work in Michigan? I have worked in Indiana in the past (up until I got laid off during the GW Bush administration), and in no way would have led off a meeting with this (the result would have been the same except sooner).
I don't think that your working in Michigan gets you off the hook for living in Indiana. You're STILL suspect! ;) Get out before the rest of the country builds a fence around it to keep the Indiana crazies and their guns in. Lois