Canadian Atheist
Athée Canadien
Meanwhile, in Sweden
Jan 12th
I’m an atheist, but I sometimes partake in whorship… I mean worship of such divine entities as the flying spaghetti monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn… and of course Hail Eris!
Never really felt the need to identify as a Jedi, I guess I’m more sithy, but whatever floats your boat.
This, however, is a religion I think I could actually get behind.
Registering the Church of Kopimism is a way to avoid “persecution,” said the website of the group, which was given official recognition by the Swedish state last month.Kopimism’s name is derived from the words “copy me” and as its website makes clear it strongly supports all forms of downloading and uploading files and sees copyright laws as violating freedom of information.
ctrl+c foeva1
“Tips on women for Stephen Hawking”
Jan 11th
According to Jean Hannah Edelstein at The Guardian,
Professor Stephen Hawking, leading elucidator of the universe, . . . confessed to having his own intellectual kryptonite. Women, he said in an interview with New Scientist, were a “complete mystery” – one that he now devotes much of his time to contemplating.
Edelstein wants to help Hawking understand women:
[J]ust as Hawking was able to explain the universe to those of us who were mystified by it in A Brief History of Time, it is my pleasure to be able to explain women to those who are mystified by us in a A Brief List of Five Obvious Points About Women Using Helpful Scientific Similes.
The five points are clever and fun. Here is number one:
Much like individual fundamental particles, women and men are different, but also the same. Which is to say: women are unique, complicated, intellectual, emotional, sexual. We respire and we digest. Sometimes we are lovely. And sometimes we are horrible. This has less to do with our intrinsic womanliness and more to do with the fact that we are human.
Atheist cinema, part 1: for apostates
Jan 9th
I’m hoping to have a regular series of posts of film recommendations for atheists and nonbelievers. Feel free to give some suggestions in the comments!
A couple weeks ago Café Apostate took our usual monthly meeting to the movies, and we watched the film Higher Ground. Here’s the trailer.
I had been really looking forward to the film, especially after reading the book it was based on, This Dark World by Carolyn S. Briggs. I’m always on the hunt for apostate stories, and I wasn’t disappointed in this one. Granted, not everyone could relate to the main character’s story, but so much of her experience rang true for me, a fellow defector from evangelicalism.
What I liked most about the film is how it showed the intense internal struggle that can take place for some people when it comes to rejecting faith. It’s not as if someone wakes up one day and just drops everything he or she has believed. It’s often a long walk away — and some of the walk is in dark places.
For me, it wasn’t an easy decision to drop my belief, and there were times when I wished — even pleaded to god — that he would magically appear, so I could have that certainty of faith again. But, that didn’t happen. And once you turn a certain corner away from belief, there’s no turning back.
Which leads me to my second film choice for apostates: The Truman Show.
The Truman Show is the story of a man who has lived his life in a false reality. Everything in his life is staged for the reality-TV show, from mundane traffic he encounters on the street to the intimate relationships in his life. One day he starts to see the cracks in the facade of his life, and he’s faced with a choice: does he keep pursuing knowledge about the unknown, even if it could jeopardize the safe and happy life he’s always known?
By the end of the film, everyone is rooting for Truman to make the choice that is best for him.
If there’s a metaphor for apostates, I think The Truman Show is it. Doubt is an inevitable part of faith, and there comes a point in a believer’s life when you’re at a crossroads: keep believing or dare to challenge?
That’s it for this month’s atheist cinema! Pop some popcorn and enjoy!
An update from Secular Connexion Seculaire
Jan 9th
Last August I introduced Secular Connexion Seculair, another Canadian Humanist organization. Well, after recent troubles in CFI Canada, it may be time to revisit what I then dismissed as another group in an already crowded field.
Well a couple weeks ago I received an update from SCS President Doug Thomas, who brings news about their accomplishments to date.
Hi Ian,
Some time has passed since you reviewed an article about Secular Connexion Séculaire in the K-W Record on canadianatheist.com. Since August 8 we have been active doing the things we set out to do.
Later in August, I spoke to the Liberal Party of Canada caucus regarding our concerns about discrimination in the charitable status regulations in the Income Tax Act and the National Anthem among other things. While this kind of meeting rarely results in immediate action, even if the politicians in question are in power, the people I talked to were surprisingly unaware of our situation and making them aware is a significant step. I note that the recent Liberal policy statement on their website includes a concern that the party needs to recognize the rights of non-believers. No credit claimed, but more voices can sway politicians.
We also emailed every Member of Parliament and every Senator to make them aware of the same issues.
In response to John Baird’s formation of the Office of Religious freedom, we have written him for clarification of his intentions regarding non-believer. This letter (attached) went out just before the winter break in Ottawa, so whether we get a response or not is unknown. The only guarantee is that if we don’t say anything, nothing will happen.
By the way, after investigating charitable status, and receiving a very detailed and reasoned response from one of their people (6 pages – well researched) we have decided not to seek charitable status. Among the limitations this would impose on us are: Lobbying for changes in specific legislation would put the status in jeopardy (e.g. the aforementioned income tax act), and our ability to join and vote in international organizations would be hindered (HC is an associate member of IHEU and has no vote – we want one). We feel that our effectiveness as advocates for atheist rights would be reduced if we were looking over our shoulder to protect our charitable status.
Our activities are now highlighted in the newest iteration of our website on the cycling slides and our new welcoming statement clarifies some issues as well.
I guess we have dragged some old school thinking into the notion that our forum is not really a public media, but a 24/7 plenary session for members:hence the membership fee. Frankly, there are plenty of social media sites out there, including canadianatheist.com that do a fine job of providing open forums. We are looking for the same kind of direction from our membership as one would get from a meeting in a physical locale. Oh yes, we need money too.
As for our comment about not attempting to be a "governing body" for Canadian Humanism, this is a carry over from experiences as a member and director of the Humanist Association of Canada (now HC). A number of people in that organization had a vision that it would act as a central body with local branches. I have no idea whether that is still the case since I left that organization almost a year ago.
In any case, we intend to complement, not duplicate, the activities of other Canadian Humanist groups.
Our contact with local organizations has been spotty, because we adopted the notion that if we actually did something before asking for ongoing support, we would be more credible. That is slowly proving to be true, in the trickling way that atheists support anything in this country.We intend to be much more proactive in our contact with local organizations in the near future.
SCS is definitely not perfect. Our stated goals are somewhat general out of necessity. But, I have no regrets about what we have managed since we started in May of 2011 and I look forward to making further process in 2011.
Thanks for your input and have a great 2012.
Doug Thomas
President
Secular Connexion Séculaire
president@secularconnexion.ca
Sounds interesting. I wish them well.
Feel free to give their website a second glance.
Will the Liberals become republicans?
Jan 8th
After the disastrous results in the past few federal elections, the Liberal Party of Canada is finally doing some soul searching in an attempt to figure out why they exist and what their vision for Canada will be.
A key part of this process will be the policy renewal conference to be held next weekend in Ottawa. There they will debate resolutions on whether to adopt a leadership primary system like the US presidential elections.
Of more interest to readers here though will be a resolution submitted by the Liberal’s youth wing calling for an abolition of the monarchy [pdf]:
Card Carrying Member
Jan 8th
On Friday, January 8, 2012, I received confirmation of my membership in CFI Canada. I also received a membership card. The letter lists the names of the members of the board of directors: all are male, all are white. Justin Trottier, National Outreach Coordinator; Michael Payton, National Executive Director; and the Board of Directors are very optimistic about the future of CFI Canada:
Apocalypse or not, 2012 is going to be the best year yet for the Centre for Inquiry Canada! We can’t offer you a revelation, but we can unveil our vision for the next year, which grows on the amazing accomplishments your funds have been supporting.
Vote for Canadian Atheist in the Final Round of the 2011 Canadian Blog Awards
Jan 8th
Voting is open now for the Final Round of the 2011 awards; you can vote for Canadian Atheist in two categories:
You can vote only once in each category.
Voting ends January 20, 2012.
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.
I assure you, we’re OPEN!
Jan 6th
A number of readers have alerted me that they have randomly seen some “Account Suspended” errors appearing instead of our main page from NetFirms.
As far as I know, it’s all cleared up now, but you may need to clear your browser’s cache before it will clear up. For future reference, Zak handles our web hosting issues, so yell at him if there’s an issue.
Now back to business as usual.
Preach at Calgary City Hall and go directly to jail
Jan 6th
The past few weeks have been a bit of a blogging blackout from me. I finished my thesis, passed my defense, became an official Master of Science, and then buggered off to Alberta to visit family for Christmas (that’s right). Now I’m unemployed and can start to catch up on blogging.
To begin, here’s a story that was mostly missed before Christmas where a Christian evangelist was arrested by the City of Calgary for trespassing on their City Hall.
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