Athée Canadien
Atheism
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.”
The Clergy Project
May 1st
Losing one’s faith can often be very traumatic for people, and no small part of that is dealing with loved ones who might not understand or approve. But even harder, what if religion is your job? Then its not just you, and your personal life, but also your career, maybe your life’s work, that you’re giving up.
Then she took a deep breath and said, “My name is Teresa. And I am an atheist.” As the room exploded with cheers, Teresa MacBain wiped away tears.MacBain, 44, is the latest “graduate” of The Clergy Project, an online support network for pastors who, like her, have lost their faith and found atheism.
Poor downtrodden ungrateful atheists
Apr 25th
I posted about this earlier. Just going to leave this here…
More important, that way you could have spared yourself the high probability that your name will become a Canadian byword for grinchdom, incivility and disrespect for the real suffering of the millions of people in this world who can only dream of the joy of sitting at such a table as you were at, and listening to any blessing whatsoever.
Mr. Solo, meet Jabba-the-Hut.
Offend me all night long
Apr 18th
I’ve been accused of being an accommodationalist, and I accept the label, even though I often have problems spelling it. See, I believe when you’re dealing with people one on one, you should try and be civil. I’m often sarcastic, and I make jokes, but I try and avoid insulting people directly, because once you go there, the rational discourse is over, you’re just a monkey flinging poo.
I also think that as a society, we should make ‘reasonable’ exceptions to societal norms for minorities, including based on religion(atheists too), because freedom of choice is something I value, and the societal norms that exist where I live are based on all sorts of arbitrary ideas, some of them christian, some of them generally superstitious and some of them ideological(rather than rational).
We do have to maintain some societal standards, but this is always a negotiation, based on the values and interests of, often, very different people. Even atheists disagree on all kinds of things.
Recently, a male friend of mine shared this ‘rant on religion’, by a comedian call Jim Jefferies. Now, it is not civil. It’s vulgar, insulting and not really safe for work, unless you have headphones.
Jefferies is over the top, and I laughed. Would I be surprised if religious people were offended? Not at all. Can what he does be described as poo flinging? Sure, some of it. But we all get frustrated with other people, with the things they value, with the unwanted influence they have on us. And venting about it, can be healthy.
Now, if you are an atheist, you probably enjoyed that. But some atheists are getting offended by Jefferies when he talks on other subjects. In the following case, sexual foreplay.
More >
Doth atheists protest too much?
Apr 3rd
Does a fear of death make you more skeptical of religion?
Are you sure?
A recent study suggests while fear of death may make atheists more consciously skeptical, our unconscious isn’t so sure.
Not that this should make you question your unbelief, our subconscious does lots of things that aren’t necessarily welcome. But as the researchers point out, it does point to why religion may be so pervasive.
“These findings may help solve part of the puzzle of why religion is such a persistent and pervasive feature of society. Fear of death is a near-universal human experience and religious beliefs are suspected to play an important psychological role in warding off this anxiety.
So, when thinking about or being faced with death, be extra cautious about your unconscious motivations… you may be less skeptical than you think.
What to say
Mar 21st
… to other atheists who are grieving.
I don’t think there is any simple answer here, but Greta Christina has a few good places to start.
Infidel Mom
Mar 19th
Controversial atheist… but aren’t we all… Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose autobiography Infidel pretty much defines courage, in my view, recently did an interview with the Globe and Mail.
I don’t agree with her on everything, but as with Hitchens, that doesn’t dampen my respect.
God’s 3 Answers…
Mar 2nd
I have a facebook friend who shared this picture on her wall. Now, I’ve been asked by both family and friends not to comment on things like this. I’ve also been asked politely (and less politely) to keep my atheist posts to the blog so I don’t inadvertently end up force-feeding the “indifferent majority”; a position I find rather useless and unnerving. More >
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
Atheist being a dick… wait what?
Feb 23rd
Ok, so I’m going to say it, I think this guy was being a total dick… but that’s not against the law… right?
Well, apparently being a jerk justifies assault in some places…
I’m trying to wrap my mind around this one. I suppose if you replace the atheist in a Muhammad suit with a bigot in a Klan outfit, one could reasonably expect some sort of confrontation in public. And maybe the muslim guy thought it was hate-speechy… He’d be wrong.
But aren’t judges supposed to protect free speech and punish physical violence in the good ole USofA
Hard to tell exactly what happened in the video, but I’m not happy about the court outcome at all. This looks like the judge decided disrespecting religion was worse than violence. Not cool.
Edit: Sorry Scotland.

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