Metroplex Atheists
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National Day of Prayer Protest 2002

Shelly's Report

This year's protest was the best attended by Metroplex Atheists in years! We had EIGHT people show up to protest the National Day of Browbeating Our Publicly Elected Officials. This is especially nice as the NDOP was a wet, cold day by Dallas standards. Bryan McIntosh, Randy Gorman, and Chuck Clark showed up to the protest early. Flip Benham, of Operation Rescue fame, showed up with a truly tasteless photo of an aborted fetus, which was displayed throughout the NDOP event. Flip told Randy and Bryan that they were fools.

There were new faces on the police front this year and Randy wanted to make sure they knew that we were here for a PEACEFUL protest. The policeperson said that they knew that we were peaceful and that they expected us to show up!

Usually Randy has a megaphone at the protest and is told by the same policeman each year to turn down the volume (or, as he really means, to turn it off). Well, this year our friend was no where to be seen. Randy used his megaphone early on, but returned it to his car as the day went on. Shelly Hattan and American Atheist Life Member, Beverly Boling showed up around 11:15, just when the NDOP event was starting to gain some momentum. There was an elderly black woman standing in the area that Bryan, Randy, and Chuck were protesting. She held a bible in one hand and an umbrella in the other and read out loud bible versus about Satan. Randy tried to talk to her, but she told him that he needed to gain some slack (yes, those were her words. . . Praise Bob!)

We were also joined by a new protest member who drove all the way from Ennis to join our protest. Mike Nash, who was dressed for a typical Dallas spring day, grabbed a sign and quickly joined the protest. We also had Carolyn Holland from Weatherford join us, too! This was Mike and Carolyn's first protest and they indicated that they felt they were doing some good. Carolyn held the ever popular, "Honk if you agree that nothing fails like prayer" sign. She received several honks and not one middle finger. She was also able to talk to some nicely dressed business women about the importance of the separation of state and church. Carolyn invited them to join us in our protest next year.

Oh look, the public schools decided to show up. Looks like Shelly and the DISD are going to have to have a little talk about the appropriate use of government-owned buses and government-schooled kids.

Flip Benham brought along his favorite hobby horse. I guess they save the genuine preserved fetuses for the clinic protests, so he just brought along a tasteful picture.

Chuck solicits honks.

The funniest honk-moment happened a couple of years ago when a woman honked at our sign, then circled the block to re-read the sign, then stopped to tell us that she didn't really mean to honk at our sign. It's the first time a person's ever taken back a honk!

Randy and Ginny get a load of the amateur proselytizers.

Brian seemed to be the proselytizer-magnet this year. I guess he doesn't look as old and jaded as the rest of us.

The protestors have a post-protest lunch at a nearby restaurant

See you at the next protest, folks!

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