Athée Canadien
Canadian Secular Alliance
CSA pushing for fairness in charity law
Apr 24th
The Canadian Secular Alliance does good work.
By law, the promotion of ethics is insufficient to be granted charitable status, unless an organization also worships a deity. “This clear preference for religion amounts to a wealth transfer from the non-religious to the religious,” said Oliver.
If you haven’t already, check them out!
No Skipping Religion Class!
Feb 20th
The hot topic on CTV’s National Affairs on February 17 was the Supreme Court of Canada ruling supporting Quebec’s mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture course. When Scott Reid introduces the topic by saying “Let’s go from the controversy of marriage to the controversy of religion,” Tasha Kheiriddin responds, “Religion’s always fun.” Kheiriddin’s comment is particularly cutesy when used to describe such a contentious topic: “the controversy of religion.”
The religion topic starts at 2:30 in the video, and George Buscemi with the Quebec Life Coalition and Justin Trottier with the Canadian Secular Alliance are special guests invited discuss each group’s reaction to the ruling.
Buscemi explains that parents making the appeal “were opposed to [their children] being exposed to what this course contains in terms of moral relativism.”
Justin Trottier neither agrees nor disagrees when Reid says “your organization is happy with the ruling.” However, Trottier’s personal concern is the course “doesn’t deal with atheism or humanism or other kinds of secular ethics,” but he supports the teaching of religion in “a factual, comparative way.”
Please note: Where I have used quotation marks, I have tried to record to Buscemi’s and Trottier ‘s exact words. If I have quoted them inaccurately, please let me know.
Catholic School funding… almost an election issue
Sep 21st
Xtra! News has an article out about the recent Canadian Secular Alliance rally. The rally, held on September 18th, was in support of gay-straight alliances, which have been denied by Ontario’s publicly-funded Catholic School Boards.
The article is very supportive and had an earlier title, which can be seen in the URL, of “Ontario Catholic school funding becomes an election issue.”
Sadly, an editor must have changed her mind and decided that the Ontario Green Party – polling around 5% – does not get to dictate the issues, as they are the only party to oppose the discriminatory status quo. Election issues are far too often dictated by the media, and while Xtra! is not necessarily mainstream (as say the Toronto Star or Globe & Mail), they could have helped propel this issue into the dialogue.
The issue is moving forward though, and it’s great to see positive press.
If Ontario’s Catholic schools fall, Saskatchewan and Alberta won’t be far behind.
Feeling like you have too many brain cells?
Nov 4th
Watch Ezra Levant debate Canadian Secular Alliance president Greg Oliver who debate the topic “Religion is a force for good in the world,” in a lead-up to the big Blair-Hitchens debate coming up in Toronto.
It’s a bit painful to listen to Ezra, but at least the points are short and you can vote for Greg to win the debate.
Ezra starts by calling environmentalism and ends almost as a Jew for Jesus.
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