Canadian Atheist
Athée Canadien
re·ject
Jan 25th
As it’s Oscar season, I’m busy catching all the nominees for the best picture — which means I caught the critically acclaimed ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin‘ (which I was sure was going to be nominated in some way, but wasn’t .. and that’s a subject for another post).
Anyway, I enjoyed the film so much that I started to read the 2003 novel it was based on, of the same name by the author Lionel Shriver. As I read, there was a quote that caught my eye and caused me to pause — it’s a quote spoken by the mother/protagonist of the novel, reflecting back on her flaws as a parent. One shortcoming she muses about is the lack of a religious environment she exposed her son, Kevin, to:
Both of us were lapsed, so it made sense to raise our kids as neither Armenian Orthodox or Presbyterian. Although I’m reluctant to inveigh that youth today need to crack the Old Testament, it sobers me that, thanks to us, Kevin may have never seen the inside of a church.
The fact that you and I were brought up with something to walk away from may have advantaged us, for we knew what lay behind us, and what we were not.
So I wonder if Kevin, too, would have been better off had we spewed a lot of incense-waving hooey that he could have coughed back in our faces — those extravagant fancies about virgin births and commandments on mountaintops that really stick in a kid’s throat. [my emphasis]
As soon as I read this passage, I had to stop — if only because it resonated a little too much. Is my little girl — being raised in a happily godless home — at a disadvantage?
More >
The religion that cried “wolf”
Jan 25th
Okay, this is just getting ridiculous now. Those of you that know me best from my work decrying racist attitudes and unraveling the code of “politely” racist statements know that I have a fairly well-developed radar for bigotry. I am not one to shrink from making the call, even in those circumstances where the room is against me and I am forced to explain myself in excruciating detail. Racism is a serious problem, and I think we should be devoting more time and attention to it, not less.
If you’ve been involved in discussions of race-based (or really, any other kind of) bigotry, it’s a good chance that you’ve been accused at some point of being “the real racist”. The argument goes something like this: if everyone just acted like race wasn’t important, it would all of a sudden cease to be a factor. I will not bother detailing the number of reasons why this position is stupid - it’s the Wile E. Coyote school of debate:
However, the ubiquity and regularity of this completely facetious line of “reasoning” has left folks like me, who deal in racism on a regular basis, with a particular sensitivity about bogus “racism” calls. There’s nothing that undermines your completely legitimate argument faster than someone saying “yeah but soandso said the same thing, and ze was full of crap!” Then you have to waste time and precious consonants explaining the many ways in which your situation is not the same as theirs.
Which is why stories like this make me mad: More >
Ontario government sponsors religious tobacco
Jan 25th
No. There is no difference between tobacco sold by big corporations and tobacco prepared for religious ceremonies.
And yet, the Aboriginal Tobacco Program is sponsored by the Ontario government. Worse, it’s sponsored by Smoke Free Ontario and Cancer Care Ontario, both provincial government agencies working with the ministry of health to prevent cancer.
Since traditional aboriginal tobacco isn’t meant to be smoked in cigarettes I doubt the practice is wide spread enough to be considered a problem on its own. Yet by sponsoring bad science claims like ‘traditional tobacco is a healer’, the government is placing the public at risk. The government has no place protecting specific religious practices, much less dangerous ones and our health officials, if they have any integrity, need to stand up and do their job. Stop sponsoring religious practices, cancel this silly program, and declare all tobacco to be equally dangerous.
Canadian Blog Awards results!
Jan 23rd
This year Canadian Atheist was a finalist in two categories for the Canadian Blog Awards and thanks to your help, we brought home some medals. Last year we won the Best Religion and Philosophy Blog, but we slipped behind an evangelical Christian mother this year.
Best Religion and Philosophy Blog
Taste and see… – momjeans80.blogspot.com – 49 Votes (26.92%)
Canadian Athiest – www.canadianathiest.com – 44 Votes (24.18%)
Whatever He Says – WhateverHeSays.blogspot.com – 43 Votes (23.63%)
Bene Diction Blogs on – www.BenedictionBlogsOn.com – 37 Votes (20.33%)
Feminist Christian Socialist – feministchristian.blogspot.com – 9 Votes (4.95%)
But to make up for that shaming, we did win the Best Collaborative/Multi-Author Blog
Best Collaborative/Multi-Author Blog
Canadian Atheist – CanadianAtheist.com 31 60.78%
DAMMIT JANET! – scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com 16 31.37%
Sister Sage’s Musings – sistersagesmusings.ca 3 5.88%
Now, anyone looking at these results is probably going to recognize fairly quickly that this wasn’t that great of turnout for any of the winners. The category with the most votes (Best Overall Blog) collected 883 ballots, while our winning category collected a mere 50 ballots. A well-pharyngulated poll will pull in a few thousand votes.
These straw-poll contests are a little bit of fun but need better exposure in the blogosphere to have any real meaning.
Enablers
Jan 23rd
Doug Thomas, president of Secular Connexion Séculaire (SCS), asks the question, “Is There a Line to Draw,” as the Email Topic Discussion for January 23. Thomas’ question and answer,
So, is there a line to draw between those theists whom we can see are peace-loving individuals and the fanatics? There may be, but it must be a blurry and faded one and it’s time theists stepped up and helped us draw it more clearly.
echo Jerry Coynes’ statement in the concluding paragraph to his post, “A bad week for free speech”:
As usual, Muslims who claim not to be extremists stand by silently while their coreligionists try to dismantle freedom of speech via threats of death. The silent ones are enablers.
I reserve a special censure for men and women who attend Catholic services, or send their children to Catholic schools, public or private. They are enablers; they enable The Roman Catholic Church to continue its nefarious activities and spread its damaging propaganda.
Don’t want a Bible in PEI? Too bad.
Jan 19th
When I was in elementary school in rural Alberta, I remember getting a form to either opt-out or opt-in (I don’t remember which) for a Gideon Bible.
As a sign of the anti-theist I was to become, I also remember joking to my friends on the school bus that if they gave me a Bible that I’d burn it.
So this story out of Prince Edward Island has an air of familiarity to it for me.
A Prince Edward Island school board says it doesn’t plan to stop handing Bibles out to students despite receiving a complaint from a parent.
Ricky Hood, superintendent for the Eastern School District, said the Gideon Society has been handing out Bibles to students for 46 years, and it doesn’t take up any instructional time, reports Charlottetown’s Guardian newspaper.
They go on to argue that there is an opt-out permission form and that they don’t actually spend any instructional time on religious topics.
The Sun Media article also mentions a similar controversy in Ontario last year and notes that premier Dalton McGuinty was unwilling to actually take a stand on the issue.
What’s interesting here isn’t that this was a bit of a loss for secularists but that the default position of those forcing religion down impressionable children’s throats is now one of defense. They have to come up with pathetic arguments like tradition and flimsy opt-out forms to justify their privilege.
It’s very clear we’re winning and it’s only a matter of time until the Gideons are out of our schools for good.
Your last chance to help us win the internets
Jan 19th
Just a quick reminder that you only have one more day to vote for Canadian Atheist as the 2011 Best Religion and Philosophy Blog and Best Collaborative/Multi-Author Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards.
We won the Religion and Philosophy contest last year, let’s hold our title!
Eppur si muove (and yet, it moves)
Jan 18th
In 1633, Galileo was charged and found guilty of the crime of heresy for suggesting the earth was not the centre of the universe. He was sentenced to life imprisonment (reduced to house arrest) and forced to read and sign the following:
BC Interior freethought groups launch The Secular Circular e-newsletter
Jan 18th
It’s always good to see more grassroots freethought groups, especially in smaller centres and places often infamous for their conservative religiosity.
Case in point, a number of atheist and skeptic groups in the interior of BC have launched a e-newsletter to provide updates on the local groups in the area, including the Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought, CFI Okanagan, a student group at UBC-O and two new groups in Nelson and Salmon Arm.
Check out the first edition and subscribe online.
The Current State of the Freethought movement in the BC Interior – Since the Four Horsemen (Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett, and Harris) published their books 5 years ago, the freethought movement has been growing by leaps and bounds. Groups have been sprouting up across the world and here is no exception. Early in 2010 groups formed both in Kamloops and Kelowna, the 2 largest cities in the interior. Late in 2011, we had additional groups form both in Salmon Arm and Nelson and a student group at UBCO. This is all very exciting since there really isn’t a comparable movement in smaller centres anywhere else in the country, hopefully what is happening here will be emulated in other provinces in the near future and we will be able to offer guidance and inspiration.
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