Protest the Pope

S and I joined the British Humanist Association a few months ago. Between people we follow on Twitter, BHA email alerts, and general news coverage, we knew that there would be various events in London to protest the Pope's state visit. On Monday evening, we went to a comedy benefit concert featuring some of our favorite funny people: Tim Minchin, Ed Byrne, Tony Hawks, Robin Ince, and others. Today, we headed to Piccadilly to see the Protest the Pope March. Despite being a crowd of mostly godless heathens who (some might say) have no reason to be moral, peaceful or friendly, there was a great atmosphere and it was a lot of fun.






























Ben Goldacre taking pictures of the crowd















Richard Dawkins addresses the crowd


Lest you think I am one of those immoral heathens, I should point out that I had every intention of wearing my 'Good without God' button - but I forgot it. Why protest the Pope, though? He and the Catholic Church have very little bearing on my daily life. However, I felt it was important to speak up in some small way because I don't agree with the homophobia, misogyny, pedophilia (!), and basic hypocrisy that he represents - especially when my taxes are paying for his state visit. I'd like to see the Vatican return the favor by paying for Richard Dawkins or Daniel Dennett to go visit them. Please, Flying Spaghetti Monster, let it be so!