Athée Canadien
Veronica
This user hasn't shared any biographical information
Posts by Veronica
Jesus and Mo Wednesday
May 16th
The Jesus and Mo author says,
Eternal, uncreated Word of God it is then.
Jesus is reading In the Shadow of the Sword.
Meet Cristina Rad
May 14th
The Friendly Atheist posted this Christina Rad video; Jerry Coyne reposted it, and I’m posting it here for your enjoyment. My favourite line comes around 3:58 when Rad discusses the fact that people make assumptions about atheists just because they are atheists, “but that’s their own damn fault.”
Evolution Is True
May 12th
Even though you already accept that evolution is true, you will find this video educational and entertaining. You may also learn some personal info about Jerry Coyne.
GSAs: Nests of Iniquity?
May 11th
According to Martin Regg Cohn, provincial affairs columnist for the Toronto Star, “anti-bullying legislation has become the biggest single flashpoint at Queen’s Park.” Surprisingly, what I thought was a fait accompli, anti-bullying legislation in schools is being hotly debated at Queen’s Park:
This week, a Queen’s Park committee room became a gathering place for self-styled religious leaders who have railed against GSAs as nests of iniquity. I guess they don’t watch Glee on TV.
They can’t fathom the notion of fellowship clubs where straight kids can commiserate with gay kids about bullying. Instead, they fantasize about homosexual seduction scenes and wild orgies conducted under a teacher’s supervision on school property.
According to Cohn, Charles McVety,, president of Canada Christian College, used the slippery slope argument to appeal to Ontario MPPs:
“GSAs would lead to ‘a radical sex education program.’ And, you know, filthy talk of ‘anal sex and oral sex.’ He used the same old tired argument:
I ask you, I beg of you, not to do this to my daughter and not to do this to my friends’ daughters or sons and not to do this to Ontario’s children. The Bible is a very important document in our society. It does not deserve to be attacked by our government.
Therefore, we ask you respectfully to amend Bill 13. Make it about bullying instead of about bullying people who believe the Bible.
Of course, accusing the Ontario government of attacking the Bible is a red herring, thrown into the debate by McVety. He implies that the Bible is the only text needed to teach the three Rs.
Jesus and Mo Wednesday
May 9th
The Jesus and Mo author says, “Special thanks go to Cristina Odone for helping with this week’s strip.”
Everything You Always Wanted to Know
May 8th
about publicly funded Catholic schools in Ontario can be found in the article, “Publicly funded Catholic schools – A good idea in 2012?” on the OneSchoolSystem.org blog:
Most people who have lived in Ontario for a while know that Catholic schools, and no other religious schools, receive 100% of their funding from taxpayers.
Fewer know that all taxpayers bear the costs of Catholic schools equally. All Ontarians bear a tax burden based upon their income and property, not their faith. School support designations on municipal tax forms have no effect on the total funding any school board receives. School board funding levels are now determined based on enrolment and other documented needs.
Stephen Maitzen on Think Atheist Radio
May 8th
Dr. Stephen Maitzen discusses divine hiddenness and the responses to it, skeptical theism, why is there something rather than nothing, non-theistic meaning and responds to William Lane Craig on Think Atheist Radio.
“Catholic Education Week 2012 — More equal than others since 1841″
May 7th
This message, in honour of Catholic Education Week 2012, was posted on the OneSchoolSystem.org blog and on CFI’s Facebook page:
Happy Catholic Education Week 2012 (May 6-11)! God bless you premier McGuinty, Tim Hudak, and Andrea Horwath for upholding the Catholic faith above all others before and under Ontario law. You uphold Catholic school funding in the face of fiscal austerity in health care and education. You uphold this funding in the face of wage freezes for public sector employees.
Ontarians can wait a little longer for essential medical services, go without them altogether, or pay for them themselves — if they have the means. Hospital expansions and renovations can wait. Communities with both a half empty public and a half empty Catholic school can close one or the other and ship half their kids elsewhere to go to school, rather than combining the two student bodies into the best of the two buildings. School maintenance backlogs, already on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars in some school boards, can grow for a few more years yet before the schools actually start to fall down. Doctors, nurses, teachers, and other public sector employees can handle a few years of wage freezes or sub-inflation increases. Our cities can learn to do more with less.
The important thing here — the really important thing — is that all Ontario taxpayers continue to fund the promulgation of Catholic religious beliefs to the 80-90% of Catholic families who use Catholic schools but do not go to Church. God bless all of our Members of Provincial Parliament for setting proper priorities and for ignoring the majority wish to move to a single public school system for each official language. That takes a truly breathtaking combination of callousness, insensitivity, and political cowardice. In Ontario, we are fortunate to have politicians with all of these qualities in spades.
A Gift from Ontario Taxpayers
May 6th
The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto has acknowledged Ontario taxpayers’ gift to Catholic schools:
We have a precious gift with publicly funded Catholic schools in our province that provide us an opportunity to weave the thread of faith through the halls and classroom of schools throughout Ontario.
Ontario taxpayers will be thrilled to know that they are paying for a travelling cross:
The Toronto Catholic District School Board is ushering in the new school year with a celebration to launch “The Year of Witness”, the third year of the Board’s three-year pastoral plan focusing on Word, Worship and Witness.
For the year of Witness, the students at Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School have created a travelling cross, which will journey across the school system throughout the year, with each school having an opportunity to spend a day with the cross.
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
May 6th
According to the Edmonton Journal,
Students at Sturgeon Heights Public School in St. Albert will gather in separate classrooms starting next fall where some will recite the Lord’s Prayer and others won’t, school officials have decided.
Hemant Mehta’s post, “Canadian School’s Solution to Daily Prayer: Just Put Non-Christians in a Separate Classroom,” discusses this controversial decision by the Sturgeon School Board in Alberta thoroughly.
Comments