Athée Canadien
Ian
Ian holds a MSc in Physics and lives in Vancouver, BC. He is president of the BC Humanist Association. He grew up outside of Calgary before moving to Edmonton for his undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics at the UofA. While there he founded the UofA Atheists and Agnostics and was active in the Edmonton freethought and skeptical communities.
Homepage: http://ian.bushfield.ca
Posts by Ian
Updates and hiatus
Mar 1st
I must admit my own failures at maintaining a consistent presence here at Canadian Atheist. I could try to offer a bunch of excuses but it would be far too cliché, let’s just point to life outside the internet and a personal loss of interest in this project for the time being.
So I won’t commit to adding much of my voice here for the next little while.
Which doesn’t mean that I’ve given up blogging. Please check out my personal blog, which features a lot more politics (specifically NDP leadership race coverage) and a new post about CFI Canada – aka the gift that keeps on giving. Hopefully you’ll follow me there but if not I’ll continue to post what I want as I have the motivation to do so.
This just in: Dawkins is consistent
Feb 26th
Sometimes journalists are good, sometimes they are just plain lazy.
Richard Dawkins is world-renowned for his staunch atheism; so much that it eclipses his work in the field of evolutionary biology, his long, illustrious career with the University of Oxford, and his creepy, meme-worthy resemblance to Emma Watson. Indeed, if you know anything about Richard Dawkins, it’s probably that he’s an atheist. Maybe it’s a sign of old age (he’s pushing 70), maybe he was genuinely flattered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, his sparring-partner last night, or perhaps he was just feeling generous. Either way, last night Professor Richard Dawkins admitted that he can’t be certain that there is no God.
The insincere shock journalism stems from a conversation between Dawkins and Williams. Specifically the article notes:
Slow down there, we’re not talking conversion. But for the first time, Dawkins is actually admitting that he leans a little agnostic. Sharing an Oxford stage with Dr. Williams, Dawkins said he was “6.9 out of seven” certain of his atheism. “I think the probability of a supernatural creator existing is very, very low,” he said. Philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, who chaired the discussion, asked: “Why don’t you call yourself an agnostic?” to which Dawkins answered that he did.
Slow down there (because phrases like this make a journalist sound classy), this is definitely not “the first time” for any such admission.
In fact, anyone who actually made it through the first two chapters of The God Delusion will find this quote (from page 51 of the hardcover) that defines his position after outlining his scale of 1 (strong theist) to 7 (strong atheist):
…I count myself in category 6, but leaning towards 7 – I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden. [Emphasis mine]
It’s like the media sees this frank and consistent admission as somehow equivalent to the Pope admitting that maybe Jesus never really existed or that perhaps Mary wasn’t a virgin (of course there was a proper amount of press over revelations of Mother Teresa’s personal doubts). Dawkins, like all new atheists, has admitted that there is a vanishingly small chance that they’re in error. Something the devoutly religious rarely concede.
Finally, we can also dissect the semantics of the words atheist and agnostic to realize they are not really in contradiction. [A]theism deals with beliefs while [a]gnosticism deals with knowledge. So if one knows there is a God, he is a gnostic theist. This has been summarized effectively in a simple chart:
Dawkins admitting the limits of his knowledge is not a change of position. It is not the end of the New Atheism. It is most definitely not a gotcha moment that the pro-religious media seems to think will restore religion’s dominant place in society
Cons and Churches impede Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Feb 25th
The worst part about this story is that there is almost nothing surprising about it.
Our current government is among the most secretive and unaccountable in our nation’s history. Couple that to the various churches not typically known for their transparency or accountability and we shouldn’t expect anything less than further delays and obfuscation in the residential school Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
What our nation’s founders did to First Nations children was abhorrent. We don’t need to further salt these wounds.
Vancouver Atheists help the homeless
Feb 3rd
This is really cool.
A group on Facebook called Atheist Republic – which has only been around for a few months but already has nearly 30,000 likes – held its first event last weekend. They went to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and handed out socks to the homeless.
You can see some photos of the event here (you may need Facebook for this).
Other engagements sadly prevented me from making it out to this event, but I wish them the best in the future.
Atheist Republic has members worldwide and is hoping to launch an international non-profit organization to help organize and rally atheists everywhere. Check them out (their website isn’t exactly ready yet), they’re already off to a great start.
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.
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!
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.
An update from Secular Connexion Seculaire
Jan 9th
Last August I introduced Secular Connexion Seculair, another Canadian Humanist organization. Well, after recent troubles in CFI Canada, it may be time to revisit what I then dismissed as another group in an already crowded field.
Well a couple weeks ago I received an update from SCS President Doug Thomas, who brings news about their accomplishments to date.
Hi Ian,
Some time has passed since you reviewed an article about Secular Connexion Séculaire in the K-W Record on canadianatheist.com. Since August 8 we have been active doing the things we set out to do.
Later in August, I spoke to the Liberal Party of Canada caucus regarding our concerns about discrimination in the charitable status regulations in the Income Tax Act and the National Anthem among other things. While this kind of meeting rarely results in immediate action, even if the politicians in question are in power, the people I talked to were surprisingly unaware of our situation and making them aware is a significant step. I note that the recent Liberal policy statement on their website includes a concern that the party needs to recognize the rights of non-believers. No credit claimed, but more voices can sway politicians.
We also emailed every Member of Parliament and every Senator to make them aware of the same issues.
In response to John Baird’s formation of the Office of Religious freedom, we have written him for clarification of his intentions regarding non-believer. This letter (attached) went out just before the winter break in Ottawa, so whether we get a response or not is unknown. The only guarantee is that if we don’t say anything, nothing will happen.
By the way, after investigating charitable status, and receiving a very detailed and reasoned response from one of their people (6 pages – well researched) we have decided not to seek charitable status. Among the limitations this would impose on us are: Lobbying for changes in specific legislation would put the status in jeopardy (e.g. the aforementioned income tax act), and our ability to join and vote in international organizations would be hindered (HC is an associate member of IHEU and has no vote – we want one). We feel that our effectiveness as advocates for atheist rights would be reduced if we were looking over our shoulder to protect our charitable status.
Our activities are now highlighted in the newest iteration of our website on the cycling slides and our new welcoming statement clarifies some issues as well.
I guess we have dragged some old school thinking into the notion that our forum is not really a public media, but a 24/7 plenary session for members:hence the membership fee. Frankly, there are plenty of social media sites out there, including canadianatheist.com that do a fine job of providing open forums. We are looking for the same kind of direction from our membership as one would get from a meeting in a physical locale. Oh yes, we need money too.
As for our comment about not attempting to be a "governing body" for Canadian Humanism, this is a carry over from experiences as a member and director of the Humanist Association of Canada (now HC). A number of people in that organization had a vision that it would act as a central body with local branches. I have no idea whether that is still the case since I left that organization almost a year ago.
In any case, we intend to complement, not duplicate, the activities of other Canadian Humanist groups.
Our contact with local organizations has been spotty, because we adopted the notion that if we actually did something before asking for ongoing support, we would be more credible. That is slowly proving to be true, in the trickling way that atheists support anything in this country.We intend to be much more proactive in our contact with local organizations in the near future.
SCS is definitely not perfect. Our stated goals are somewhat general out of necessity. But, I have no regrets about what we have managed since we started in May of 2011 and I look forward to making further process in 2011.
Thanks for your input and have a great 2012.
Doug Thomas
President
Secular Connexion Séculaire
president@secularconnexion.ca
Sounds interesting. I wish them well.
Feel free to give their website a second glance.
Will the Liberals become republicans?
Jan 8th
After the disastrous results in the past few federal elections, the Liberal Party of Canada is finally doing some soul searching in an attempt to figure out why they exist and what their vision for Canada will be.
A key part of this process will be the policy renewal conference to be held next weekend in Ottawa. There they will debate resolutions on whether to adopt a leadership primary system like the US presidential elections.
Of more interest to readers here though will be a resolution submitted by the Liberal’s youth wing calling for an abolition of the monarchy [pdf]:
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