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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.
Turkey’s secular military leaders arrested for treason
Jan 7th
Last summer I tried to delve a little into the current situation in Turkey.
In short, Turkey is currently ruled by an elected and popular right-wing proto-Islamist party which is highly resented by the military, which has long defended the country’s secular constitution. Several times in the past the military has overthrown governments that threatened the separation of church and state.
When I wrote about it, several military leaders had gone on strike to protest the increasing number of religious-inspired laws being passed.
Now, the government has arrested 200 people including the former head of Turkey’s armed forces General Ilker Basbug, claiming that they were engaged in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The case is now before the courts after several years of investigations.
The BBC weighs the issue and tries to balance fears from the government and people of an over-powerful military and the secularists fears of increasing Islamism.
It’s all very messy but if anyone has some insight, perhaps you can share it with us so we can piece together the whole story.
Face coverings outlawed during citizenship oaths
Dec 12th
“The oath of citizenship is basically a public gesture. It is a public declaration which shows that you are joining the Canadian family and this has to be done freely and openly, not secretly,” Kenney said.
“Separating a group of Canadians or allowing that group to hide their faces while they are becoming members of our community is completely counter to Canada’s commitment to openness and social cohesion.”
The new rules will require women wishing to become Canadian citizens to show their faces at public ceremonies as they swear the oath of citizenship or remain permanent residents.
It seems cruel to welcome immigrants but then ask them to strip before a judge, especially since these public ceremonies are useless. Oaths, if necessary, should be able to be done online, by telephone, or in private.
And if showing your face at a citizenship ceremony is mandatory, what reasons are there not to expand it to everywhere else? Reasonable accommodation is a reoccuring debate within atheist circles but as someone who doesn’t see any need to ban the burqa from our streets, I can’t see why the government can outlaw them during a public ceremony. The new rules aren’t consistent. If banning the burqa is necessary for citizenship oaths, it should be banned everywhere else too.
via Toronto Star
Where’s the honour?
Nov 24th
A father accused of the “honour killings” of four family members – including his three teenage daughters – was recorded on police wiretaps saying he was “happy” they were dead and that he would “do the same again”, a Canadian court has heard.
Mohammad Shafia, 58, his second wife Tooba Mahommad Yahya, 41, and their son Hamed, 20, are on trial for the first-degree murder of Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, Geeti Shafia, 13, and his first wife Rona Amir Mohammad, 50, in 2009.
Prosecutors told the Ontario court their deaths were “honour killings” committed to remove the perceived shame the women brought on their family, such as by having boyfriends.
via Honour killings: Mohammad Shafia says he would do it again: court.
Ok so normally I should write an introductory thought and lead into a quote that makes or reinforces a point I have made. Instead I am going to ask you to read that quote one more time. This time think very hard about what their father says, their Daddy. Then read the daughters names again. Think back to that age. What were you doing at those ages??? Were you running away? Were you appealing to your school or other officials to be removed from your home because you feared for your life??? Were you trying to find balance between being or dressing as the person you felt you were and trying not to enrage a hyper conservative father who you no doubt loved???
There have been 13 such killings in Canada since 2002, said Amin Muhammed, a psychiatry professor at Memorial University in Saint John’s, Newfoundland.
That is thirteen too many. Officials need to wake up and realize that we need new mechanisms in place to better react to and investigate complaints like this from females that come from traditionally hyper conservative cultural backgrounds. For my part I will be writing my MP.
95 % of Statistics are Made Up.
Nov 21st
OK so I am sure that Ipsos Reid, being in the business of statistics is a little more careful with their numbers, and how they portray them, than the title would suggest. Statistics can be quirky things, they can be made to say a variety of things, even the truth. No that is not my quote. The author is unknown.
A pizza by any other name…
Nov 21st
Among the more recent of the US Congress’ irrational decisions comes the gem about preserving the sanctity of an unhealthy cafeteria lunch. More >
Religious homophobes aim for Burnaby School Board
Nov 16th
Saturday is municipal election day across BC. This means dozens of people (typically around 30% per municipality) will show up and cast their ballots for mayors, councils, and school boards.
While the big issue in Vancouver has been the Occupy Vancouver tent camp set up on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, in Burnaby the clash is over the school board.
This past year, members of the Burnaby School Board passed an anti-homophobic bullying policy. It generated a lot of heat from conservative religious groups who saw this policy as somehow threatening their right to raise homophobic children.
These parents felt so wronged that they formed a group called “Parents’ Voice” with the goal of taking over the Burnaby School Board. I should mention here that in addition to fireworks at Halloween, metro Vancouver is also unique for having political parties in municipal politics.
Parents’ Voice is now in more hot water for some anti-Islamic comments associated with a website linked to the party’s founder.
The Religious Right and those Pesky women.
Nov 16th
For many of us hearing the words “Harper”, “supreme court”, and “appoints” in the same sentence induces a mild seizure like spasm of panic in the parts of our brain usually in control of functions like reacting to sleazy by elections and listening to the pope praise the Irish Diocese on their work with children.
Are we really giving him a fair shake though?
The selection process for the Supreme Court of Canada does after all allow input from all currently sitting political parties. In an unusual fit of fairness Harper even allowed an ad hoc parliamentary committee of MPs to grill the candidates on Oct 19.
Occupy the Vatican
Oct 28th
I’ve been supportively following the Occupy protests, but have avoided any discussion of it here since I didn’t find it directly topical (not that I believe we need to just focus on atheist/religious topics). Now that issues out of the way since there’s an offshoot protest going on in Vancouver this weekend:
October 30th: Occupy the Vatican – Holy Rosary Cathedral (Dunsmuir & Richards) – Occupy Vancouver organizers have stated they intend to occupy the cathedral from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.
This idea is brilliant. I’ve been thinking we’ve needed to push for an Occupy the Churches protest, which would coincide with the OWS protests. As church’s are private property we’d be more likely to get kicked out, but it would be a way to draw attention to a couple key issues – i.e corruption in the Catholic Church.
There’s more info from The Province:
A Facebook page, predictably, leads the charge, but locally organizers have promised to occupy the Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver this Sunday at 10 a.m., right in the middle of church services.
“Jail the Pope, Occupy the Vatican, Expel the Catholic church from our lands,” comes the none-too-subtle online call to arms, complete with a Photoshopped image of the pope behind bars. “Join the worldwide Occupy the Vatican movement this Sunday Oct. 30.
“Squamish elder Kiapilano has banned the Catholic church from Squamish Nation territory – Help us enforce this eviction order this Sunday.”
The Facebook page is pretty anti-Catholic, and it’s not clear how big Sunday’s occupation will be.
Anyone going to church this Sunday?
Can churches be resurrected?
Sep 22nd
As confirmed an anti-theist as I am, and as desirous as I am for a day in which religious organizations are redundant and fade into the stuff of history, I am not so blinded by my partisanship that I would deny the fact that churches do engage in positive pro-social activities. In fact, I find my cup of irritation overflowing whenever any apologist for religion (theist or otherwise) points this fact out to me, as though it was a response to what I actually am criticizing. It shows that, despite their ever-present calls for ‘tolerance’ and ‘understanding’, they are simply not listening to what the other side of the debate is saying.
It is a fact that religious organizations can count charity and social services among their many assorted activities. There is evidence to suggest that religious people are, in fact, more likely to contribute to charitable activities than atheists (although when the church itself counts as a charity, I question the true magnitude of this difference). Most religious adherents are good people who care about their fellow human beings just as you or I do. While I may question the validity of their motivation (‘because YahwAlladdha says so’ is a lousy reason to do anything, positive or negative), I will not deny the fact that homeless people, poor people at home and abroad, people undergoing family crisis, and people looking for existential guidance often receive help from churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious institutions.
Facing declining attendance and influence, churches are undergoing their own existential crisis. What is the role of a franchise that is considered antiquated at best, and harmful at its worst? What will become of those that rely on religious organizations for aid? Is there a future for organized religion?
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