The Humanist Association of London and Area and The Society of Atheists and Agnostics at Western
Present
Debate: Be it Resolved Government Funding for Ontario Roman Catholic Schools be Abolished
Justin Trottier (Centre for Inquiry Toronto) vs Patrick Dunne (Professor, King’s University College)
After the debate, TheQuestioningShow interviewed Justin Trottier on issue of Catholic school funding.
tinyurl.com/agacmr6
Catholic mandated discrimination against LGBT students in Ontario, Manitoba and the Yukon continues. Together we can stop the Catholic Church from spreading its homophobic lies propaganda in publicly funded Catholic schools. We can petition the provincial governments to ask them to stop the blatant discrimination, stop using taxpayer dollars to fund Catholic schools. We can start with Ontario; we can sign the Change.org petition addressed to the Ontario Provincial Legislature; Premier Wynne, and Education Minister Sandals: Stop public funding of Catholic Schools:
Public funds for public education should be restricted to public institutions which respect Canadian values, human rights and our Charter of Rights. Institutions which promote discrimination or advocate for discrimination of any individual or group should not be supported with public funds. The United Nations declared this funding discriminatory in 1999. Ontario is the only province to subsidize Catholic schools and discrimination in this manner. Public money must not support teachings that are contrary to both the ideals of human rights, and our Charter rights.
We can encourage students in publicly-funded Catholic schools to speak out, publicly, about the discrimination and human rights violations they and their classmates experience. On his blog Talking Dog, Jerome Stueart (Yukon Territory) explains “Why it’s important for a Catholic High School to have a Gay Straight Alliance,” and he gives students some advice:
I don’t think gay kids should run from a Catholic school. I do think they have no idea how much power to change their school they have. Students on the inside are far more powerful than those of us on the outside. The school will not change without pressure from within as well as from without.
That’s right, how will the public know that students are being discriminated against and prevented from forming Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) in Catholic schools if these students don’t make these abuses public? Fight back, students, and the public will fight with you.
Today, in Windsor, Ontario,
Two education students at the University of Windsor are planning a peaceful protest on March 8 at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board in support of students like Brooke, who recently spoke to Xtra about being bullied at school because she is gay.
Attention students:
Your parents, friends and family pay the taxes that fund these Catholic schools, so speak out. You can do it and when you do the public will support you by protesting against discriminating practice and by signing petitions on your behalf.
Ya win some, ya lose some.
Good news in the US:
In October 2011, CFI-Michigan booked a room at a local golf&country club for a talk by Richard Dawkins. The Wyndgate Country Club management canceled the event shortly before the scheduled date, stating that “the owner does not wish to associate with certain individuals and philosophies.” CFI filed suite, in April of 2012, and the club has agreed to a settlement. According to CFI, this marks “perhaps the first time federal and state civil rights statutes have been successfully invoked by nonbelievers in a public accommodations lawsuit.”
Not so good news in Canada, on the CBC’s Cross-Country Checkup yesterday:
Retired Senator Pat Carney asserted that it was pretty much impossible for her to work with people who did not have faith, since there was no basis of shared values, and further expressed her astonishment that she had come across someone who had no idea what “the Lord’s Prayer” was. The way she said it, it was almost as if she thought this ought to be obvious to everyone, leaving me utterly astonished at her unselfconscious narrow-minded bigotry.
Professor of Philosophy and Theology John Stackhouse thinks that Richard Dawkins is a fundamentalist atheist, and needs more Christian friends, but allows that there are some atheists that he might be able to work with, as long as everyone is respectful.
One has to wonder why Rex Murphy did not see fit to have a representative of the “Nones” on the panel, though Mavaddat Javid from CFI Vancouver and Ian Bushfield from BC Humanists did their best from the audience.
In characteristic Christian hyperbole, Canada Christian College claims there is a “War . . . On The Church.” The website doesn’t say, but no doubt, it is the Christian church, the one that is so persecuted pampered in Canada. McVety and other faith leaders believe that “prayer brings breakthrough.” They “are speaking out against restrictions that would prevent new places of worship from being built in light industrial zones” because
Religious groups are worried a proposed bylaw change for industrial zones will force them out of the only buildings they can afford.
However, the mayor of the city that is considering passing the new zoning bylaw, Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, has been asked to pray with the faith leaders who are protesting this bylaw. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College says,
Mayor Rob Ford has promised to attend a prayer rally Saturday to protest aspects of Toronto’s proposed harmonized zoning bylaw.
As if Rob Ford hasn’t had enough bad press, he is expected to pray to sabotage his own city’s bylaw and in the company of Charles McVety who, according to the Toronto Star,
has significant influence within Canada’s religious right, has been a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage, gay-straight alliances in schools and abortion. He has referred to Toronto’s Pride Parade as a “sex parade.” And two years ago, the CTS television network removed McVety’sprogram from its lineup for violating its code of ethics, after the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found his program made “malevolent, insidious and conspiratorial” remarks about the gay community. McVety denounced the criticism as an attack on free speech.
As for the Christian groups who can only afford to set up in industrial areas, they should appeal to their most Christian of Christian brethren, the Catholics; they must have numerous empty or almost empty churches they could donate to end this war on Christian churches.
On the Coast February 21, 2013
The biggest question for Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom is whose freedom? Pat O’Brien from Centre for Inquiry (CFI) Vancouver discussed this question with Stephen Quinn on CBC Vancouver’s On the Coast. During the discussion, O’Brien explained that no secular, humanist or atheist groups were invited to advise the government on the Office, nor were they invited to the opening. Click on the CBC logo above, and scroll forward to 30:00 to hear Pat O’Brien as he discusses his concerns about the ORF.
University of Reno, Nevada Online Survey
The University of Reno, Nevada is conducting a study on “atheists’ involvement in secular organizations and their experiences of prejudice and discrimination.” According to BC Humanists, “They are especially looking for Canadians” interested in participating in the study.
This study will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. First, you will be asked about your identity as an atheist (by atheist, we mean a person who does not believe in god(s)), as well as your level of involvement in secular organizations (if any at all). Second, you will be asked some questions about your perceptions of attitudes and behaviors toward atheists. Third, you will be asked some questions about your overall well-being and basic demographic information. Please read the directions carefully and complete each section to the best of your ability.
This survey is for just for atheists:
Because this is a study about atheists’ experiences, you must identify as an atheist to participate (again, by atheist, we mean a person who does not believe in god(s)).
I filled out the survey; it took me less than 15 minutes, but I’m ashamed to admit that the one question I neglected to answer was
Which country do you live in currently?
How could I have forgotten to answer that question when I’m so proud and happy to be a Canadian atheist. 
Please fill out this online survey; the questions are thought provoking, and as the introductory page points out, you will get
the satisfaction of helping further our understanding of social psychology and the growing awareness and knowledge of atheists.
“Goodbye and good riddance”
tinyurl.com/az25fds
Hemant Mehta says, “Goodbye and good riddance” Ratzinger. I echo Metha’s “The ‘Catholic Moment’ is Ending” as he echoes Ross Douthat in the New York Times article “The End of a Catholic Moment,” but I must point out: it’s been two very long, too long, millenniums.
As Mehta points out,
the reason for this shift — a wonderful shift, in my opinion — has less to do with, as Douthat suggests, the fall of Catholic leaders and the weakening of “institutional Christianity” than it does the rising power of the Internet and the war against bullshit.
Yes, Hermant Mehta has waged a successful “war against bullshit” along with,
atheists and liberals and those who have fought back against the intellectually/morally corrupt nature of the Church deserve a good deal of the credit, too.
The Catholic Moment is indeed ending in America.
Thank you, Hermant, we’re watching the Catholic Moment end in Canada as well.
Michael Shermer is researching and writing another book: The Moral Arc of Science. He introduced his book on SkepticBlog in a post entitled “Towards a Science of Morality: A Reply to Massimo Pigliucci.” Shermer has asked for feedback either in the comments or directly by email to mshermer@skeptic.com. I am posting my reply to Shermer here because I would like feedback from Canadian Atheist readers.
Shermer gives the etymology of the word morality, which is “derived from the Latin moralitas, or ‘manner, character, and proper behavior.’” In Shermer’s view, “Morality has to do with how you act toward others.” Thus, he offers a Principle of Moral Good:
Always act with someone else’s moral good in mind, and never act in a way that it leads to someone else’s moral loss (through force or fraud).
The Principle would be equally valid if the word moral were removed and the Principle read,
Always act with someone else’s good in mind, and never act in a way that it leads to someone else’s loss (through force or fraud).
Either way, Shermer’s Principle of Moral Good is similar to Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism: “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”
Most disturbing about Shermer’s post is he mentions Bill Gates as support for the Principle of Moral Good, as if Gates has always acted with someone else’s good in mind and never acted in a way that lead to someone else’s loss.
Shermer quotes from Gates’ 2013 Annual Letter:
“I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition. You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal.”
Shermer appears convinced that Gates’ graphs, in the 2013 Annual Letter track “moral progress because we can say objectively and absolutely that reducing extreme poverty by half since 1990 is real moral progress.” Shermer is also convinced that
This is why Bill Gates is backing with his considerable wealth and talent the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals program that is supported by 189 nations, in which the year 2015 was set as a deadline for making specific percentage improvements across a range of areas including health, education, and basic income.
Yes, Bill Gates does have “considerable talent,” but it is his “considerable wealth” and generosity that mask his questionable business practices and allow him to take part in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Michael Shermer could find someone other than Bill Gates to use as moral example or role model.
The link to this post will be emailed to Michael Shermer tonight.
This is the face of a bigot.
http://tinyurl.com/d4gzcvt
Radio hosts should put their brain in gear before putting their mouths in motion. Janet Mefferd is a Christian radio host who thinks that everyone has a right to an opinion, even a bigot. The host of The Janet Mefferd Show
called the US public school system “morally bankrupt”, and went on to say that Christians should remove their children from public schools and “let them do their thing.”
It is save to assume that them refers to the US public school system, not “the children” because the children have already done “their thing.”
What appears to be a small group of Sullivan High School students and their parents want gay students banned from attending the school prom. The group is small but determined and have the support of a few local pastors and of course, Mefferd, who says,
“Everything is so upside down in our society now and right and wrong have completely switched where what is really wrong is to say you shouldn’t have two boys allowed to go to the high school prom.”
Why not? It’s obvious, according to Mefferd:
some Christians would not want to see gay couples, and asked why gay rights should “trump” the rights of Christians not to have to.
According to pinknews.co.uk, the school is “receiving international attention.” That’s not surprising; the sane world laughs when homophobes ask for their rights and for permission to be bigots. I have a suggestion for these homophobic students: put on your fancy suits and expensive prom dresses and congregate at the local gravel pit. Let the rest of your classmates enjoy their prom in peace.
Hat tip: @cficanada
Andrew Waiswa, founder and executive director of the Gender Equality and Health Organization (GEHO), a queer organization in eastern Uganda, spent two years as a refugee in Toronto, Canada. He thinks Canada is an ideal model for Uganda:
“Canada is so friendly. It’s really hard to imagine for most people [in Uganda],” he says. “I remember Church Street and The 519 and the gay bars. The rainbow flags are up. Everything is beautiful. I love it. I look forward when we have that in Uganda.”
During his two years as a refugee, Waiswa successfully completed an international social work program at Ryerson University while volunteering at the 519 Church Street Community Centre and the Metropolitan Community Church. Waiswa has returned to Uganda because he “could no longer stay in the comfort of Canada” while his people are suffering.in Uganda. As soon as he returned Waiswa started GEHO safe houses where LGBT Ugandans can “get food; accommodation; pocket money; access to the internet; phones; and medication.”
Life for LGBT Ugandans is intolerable and if the “Kill the Gays” “bill passes — and Waiswa is confident it will — the situation for gays and lesbians will only get worse.” Despite the fact that Canada’s foreign affairs minister, John Baird, challenged Uganda’s parliamentary speaker and “condemned the bill at an international political conference in Quebec,” the Ugandan government is determined to pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Would you like to help Andrew Waiswa provide a safe haven for LGBT Ugandans? If so, you can support LGBT living in hiding & fear by donating to GEHO Uganda.
Thank you to Andrea Houston at Xtra for her article “Indomitable Activist” and for the link to the donation page.