Canadian Atheist « Athée Canadien

Taking Jesus to School

Apr 4th

Separation of church and state can sometimes make it seem like religion is being excluded… at least some people say that. But it was never about separating religion from individuals, just from public institutions, in order to avoid religious oppression. Students in school for instance can still pray at school on their own time.

Of course, free speech and free expression, even apart from religion, often get tangled up with the interests of education. In order to teach, teachers need to set rules, even ones that limit a students right to do as they please. Maintaining order verses freedom when it comes to kids, can be a difficult balance.

When I first read about this student who wore a shirt saying “Jesus is not a homophobe”, and that he was told not to wear it again, I was expecting a standard justification about ‘being disruptive to learning’. It’s not a great excuse, but within the context of school, I think it can have some value, even if its not always.

The actual excuse… is a bit more ridiculous…

“…the message communicated by the student’s T-shirt is sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting.”

Oh yeah, you’re definitely getting sued now.

Doth atheists protest too much?

Apr 3rd

Posted by Joe in Atheism

19 comments

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.

Politics of prejudice

Apr 2nd

Posted by Joe in Politics

7 comments

Recent survey’s have shown that atheists are at or near the bottom when it comes to being trusted by other people in society. The general population tends to see religion as synonymous with morality, and although I think we are making strides in changing that perception, it is what it is.

Often I have heard comparisons made by atheists, of what atheists experience to that of gays and other similarly disliked minorities. But while I think there are aspects that mirror each other, these sorts of comparisons make me uncomfortable. They can be a way for people share experience, to stand in solidarity, but I think it becomes problematic when people start the race to the bottom… who is more a victim.

“I tell him, ‘You think it’s tough being African-American? Try being me. Try being an atheist, childless, single woman as prime minister.’”

She often makes the joke with Obama when they meet and discuss the prejudices they experience, the newspaper said.

Now, I’m not entirely humourless, but I think there is a difference between agreeing that we share a burden of prejudice and going beyond that to making unsupportable comparisons, even if they are in jest. The prejudice we face is different from gays, it’s different from that of visible minorities. I think the question of who has it worse, distracts from addressing the problem that it exists at all and too easily could be taken as dismissing the importance of the problems others face.

The Lord’s Prayer Would Stop Bullying?

Apr 2nd

Posted by Jason in Education

8 comments

I am always floored by the moral superiority some religious people seem to feel and wear so proudly. Sometimes I can ignore it but as a teacher when people try to bring that superiority into schools I get very defensive.

In Nova Scotia our government is cutting education left, right, and center with little concern for our children. These cuts have included not setting up a real council to attack and solve the issue of bullying despite the fact that bullying is becoming a province (and country) wide epidemic. The debate over this issue has obviously been intense. Many editorials have been written to The Chronicle Herald but one of them stood out for me:

Criminalize bullying

Re: Education Minster Ramona Jennex, who does not wish to have “another layer of bureaucracy” to deal with the bullying issue. I agree with the mother whose teenage daughter committed suicide about one year ago, who would like to see bullying made a criminal offence in its own standing.

Why should the innocent be forced to come to such a drastic turn of events, and the bullies sit back with smug smiles on their guilty faces?

Ms. Jennex, I beseech you to prevail on Parliament to put the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments back in the classrooms to give the students a decent code of moral ethics which could be read every morning. Their removal was the start of this chaos on school properties.

Evelyn Hayden, Digby

More >

April 1, 2012

Apr 1st

Posted by Veronica in April Fools

1 comment

Today is April Fools Day, and all over the web, there are stories about pranks and jokes and hoaxes perpetuated in honour of the day:

Gullible gadget lovers gather round, April Fools’ Day is upon us. Being wiser than Gandalf when it comes to electronics, rarely do we fall for any potential trickery. But some of the gadget-related spoofs can be particularly dastardly, difficult for even the smartest of tech lovers not to fall for.

However, this announcement is not a joke: “iMary app joins mobile industry”

Selling for $4.99 with a portion of profits going to charity, the iMary app provides an interactive map, with a “near me” function, to direct users to Marian shrines.

In the category of too fantastic to believe is Father Robert Mercer’s description of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI:

In 1985 Fr Mercer met Cardinal Johannes Willebrands and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to talk about the prospect of Anglicans reconciling with Rome.
Fr Mercer said that Cardinal Ratzinger was “the humblest, gentlest, most sympathetic person I think I’ve ever met”.
He said: “I could never understand, therefore, all the talk of ‘the Rottweiler’ and ‘Panzer cardinal’… I came away thinking if ever I had done wrong and wanted to tell someone about it, it would be him I’d want to tell.”

While the iMary app immediately brings to mind the Beatles song “Let It Be,” more appropriate for today is

Elizabeth May: “Canada Is Not a Secular State.”

Mar 31st

Posted by Veronica in Politics

12 comments

According to the Catholic Register,

Canada is not a secular state. It is ruled by “econo-theism,” Green Party leader Elizabeth May told a March 25 interfaith conference in Toronto.

Elizabeth May, the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canadian history, is obviously not spending a lot of time representing the people of Saanich-Gulf Islands, BC. While she is in Ottawa, May “is studying for the Anglican priesthood at Saint Paul University.”

In preparation for her role as an Anglican priest, May is attending conferences that speak to what appear to be May’s chief interests: ecology and faith.

The conference, organized by Greening Sacred Spaces and the Green Awakening Network, addressed a grab bag of issues: “political activism for churches, spirituality, solar power for Churches and modern lighting systems to cut energy use.”

May’s contribution to the conference was to attack “the religion of economics which has dogma, a catechism and requirements of faith.” However, in her dual role as elected MP and future Anglican priest, May admits,

“I recognize the importance of the separation of church and state. I don’t think that’s the challenge in front of our society today,” she said. “I think the challenge is to separate oil from the state.”

One attendee at the conference, who was obviously anticipating criticism of May’s dual role, says

There’s nothing radical, flakey or dangerous about churches, mosques and synagogues getting together to talk about the environment, said Janice Keil following May’s speech.

Keil is wrong. The Green Choices for Faith Communities conference was about more than religious groups getting together to talk about the environment. It was, as the Green Party website describes,

a day of inspiration and practical help. The event is for faith communities wishing to seriously take their commitment to ‘live with integrity’ in creation. There will be several workshops on the themes of building and operations, community involvement, advocacy, and creation & spirituality.

If Elizabeth May honestly recognizes the importance of the separation of church and state, then she should keep her religious views separate from her position as a member of Canadian Parliament and representative for the people of Saanich-Gulf Islands, at least until the next federal election; at that time, the people of Saanich-Gulf Islands can vote her out of office.

Huffington, Hitchens, and Strombo

Mar 29th

Posted by Zak in Religion

3 comments

Arianna Huffington and George Stroumboulopoulos talk Hitchens.

“Chris Hitchens and I were very close,” she began, explaining that she had met him in London. “He even spoke some Greek.”

“It was tragic,” she added. “He had this whole adversarial relationship with God. When you lose the battle with life and you don’t believe in anything else, that must make it incredibly hard.”

Blech. I’m not sure who I find more regularly annoying, Strombo or Huffington, but anything involving Hitchens will always be cool.

christopher hitchens