Saturday was the first ever Atheist and Agnostic March in Europe, which I wrote about earlier. Surprisingly, the march itself went off without a hitch - I say surprisingly, because this is the city in which the annual Tolerance March is met with eggs and the occasional brick or stone. The only protest came from a small group of priests, who were outnumbered at least three to one by the police, and more like seven to one by the actual marchers. All in all, I’d say there were about 250 non-believers present, carrying various signs such as “Don’t pray for me” or “Live without sin - be an atheist!”, or my very favorite, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (above). We were an impressive sight, I’d say, walking through the Market Square and around the Planty, the green ring of park that surrounds Krakow’s Old Town. Curiously, the ages of the marchers varied greatly - while the majority were in their 20s as expected, there were some notable older marchers, including an EU Parliamentarian. And while the initially wet, miserable weather was almost enough to restore one’s faith (or reinforce a healthy sense of irony), the rain managed to stay light enough for the march to carry on without losing its momentum. The group leading the event, the Young Freethinkers, aired their grievances to the crowd at the end of the march - these can be summed up as a general disdain for the influence the Catholic Church has on Polish politics and legislative decisions. Because after all, the march itself wasn’t really a protest or a movement, but rather a statement: We exist, and the country’s laws need to reflect this.

Saturday was the first ever Atheist and Agnostic March in Europe, which I wrote about earlier. Surprisingly, the march itself went off without a hitch - I say surprisingly, because this is the city in which the annual Tolerance March is met with eggs and the occasional brick or stone. The only protest came from a small group of priests, who were outnumbered at least three to one by the police, and more like seven to one by the actual marchers.

All in all, I’d say there were about 250 non-believers present, carrying various signs such as “Don’t pray for me” or “Live without sin - be an atheist!”, or my very favorite, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (above). We were an impressive sight, I’d say, walking through the Market Square and around the Planty, the green ring of park that surrounds Krakow’s Old Town. Curiously, the ages of the marchers varied greatly - while the majority were in their 20s as expected, there were some notable older marchers, including an EU Parliamentarian. And while the initially wet, miserable weather was almost enough to restore one’s faith (or reinforce a healthy sense of irony), the rain managed to stay light enough for the march to carry on without losing its momentum.

The group leading the event, the Young Freethinkers, aired their grievances to the crowd at the end of the march - these can be summed up as a general disdain for the influence the Catholic Church has on Polish politics and legislative decisions. Because after all, the march itself wasn’t really a protest or a movement, but rather a statement: We exist, and the country’s laws need to reflect this.