PAN at Sunbury River Festival

PAN’s outreach to the Pennsylvania hinterlands began yesterday, August 15th, with a visit to the Sunbury River Festival. Check out the gallery of picts.

It was a long, sunny, hot day, but was made more than bearable by many attendees who appreciated our educational products, as well as many who did not. We always (well, not always) enjoy engaging the latter.

We especially appreciated the loving Christian visitor who approached and simply but emphatically proclaimed, “You f**k, and you s**k!” in the presence of other visitors–believers and nonbelievers alike. It truly made our day.

But most of the day was spent debating a succession of local preachers, each and every one of them being totally, 100% certain that his version of the God/Jesus story is true. It was particularly rewarding debating the leader of Prayer Station over the evils of women wearing jeans. (We had been approached earlier by a young woman who had claimed that the child evangelists of Prayer Station had a reputation of threatening hell to any girl caught wearing jeans. This, of course, was denied by the group’s leader. Their kids, he said, don’t [audibly] threaten hell.) Women, you see, must not wear mens clothing–the Bible told them so. But denim dresses are okay! Perhaps they are more modest than denim jeans? Naah, some of us guys struggled to control our arousal reflexes, triggered at the sight of the young women’s exposed ankles. Here’s a link to a photo of Prayer Station from 2008 (sorry, guys, no girls, no ankles):

Thanks to PAN’s roving ambassador (and Sunbury local), Chris Feaster of Central Susquehanna Valley Freethought, for arranging and funding our participation at the Festival. We look forward to shocking the sensibilities of the natives again next year, so long as the Boy Scouts, Grace Chapel, and Prayer Station return, too. Let us pray that “Mr. F**k & S**k” will also grace us with his presence once again.

Photo gallery: click on the thumbnails to see larger version.