Canadian Atheist
Athée Canadien
Thank You Jesus
Oct 14th
Here’s a photo that showed up on my Facebook yesterday. It drew quite a few comments; though the controversy drifted into a debate about whether this was “bashing” someone else’s beliefs.
The original poster, who is not one of my Facebook friends, tagged a friend of mine in the photo. My friend is actually starting his own ministry near the University of Calgary. He’s definitely one of the nicest and most patient people I’ve ever met. And while I don’t agree with his underlying reason for spreading peace and forgiveness, his mission is truly about love. More >
“But you don’t have to take MY word for it!”
Oct 13th
[hopefully someone out there will get my Reading Rainbow reference]
Last weekend was the Texas Freethought Convention, and I was able to vicariously enjoy parts of the gathering thanks to social media. An article of interest popped up that described Christopher Hitchen’s appearance at the convention.
It’s his first public appearance in months, and while he still possesses his fiery message, his body is definitely feeling the effects of his disease. Maybe it’s because I know he’s nearing the end of his life, but lately I’ve been finding most of what he says/writes lately to be especially compelling (and I wasn’t always a Hitch fan).
What caught my attention most about this piece describing his TX appearance was the end of the article that describes an interaction he had with an 8 year old little girl during the Q&A following his talk. The little girl’s name is Mason, and she asked Hitch a simple question: “What books should I read?” [a more detailed account of the story can be found over on Jerry Coyne's blog]
The article said that Hitch spent 15 minutes after his talk, sitting down with Mason and her mama to help compose a reading list. As a mama of my own precocious 4 and a half year old, I got such a kick out of reading about this interaction. I loved reading about not only Hitch dedicating time for a young fan, but I also enjoyed the little girl’s tenacity to walk up and ask such a great question! Here’s the list Hitchens gave Mason (taken from this article):
Dawkins’ Magic of Reality, Greek and Roman myths, particularly those compiled by Robert Graves, anything satirical by Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (author of Infidel and Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations), PG Wodehouse (“for fun”), David Hume, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
What books would you recommend, should a brave little girl ask you this question one day?
Higher grades in separate schools
Oct 13th
Economist Stephen Gordon argues why competition produces better students in separate schools.
Of the two, separate school administrators have the greater incentive to provide higher-quality education: if the separate system were widely known to be dysfunctional, it would likely disappear.
Basic economics would predict that the competitive pressures on separate school administrators would provide stronger incentives to provide better education outcomes. And that seems to be just what is happening. A recent study (pdf) by McMaster University economists Martin Dooley and Abigail Payne in collaboration with UC-Berkeley’s David Card that examine these effects finds “a statistically significant but modest-sized impact of potential competition on the growth rate of student achievement.” In a related study using similar data, a CD Howe study done by Wilfrid Laurier’s David Johnson finds that of the 13 ‘above-average’ school boards, 11 are in the separate school system, while none of the 10 ‘below-average’ school boards are.
Since public schools are required to accept everyone (at least at the elementary school levels that were used in the studies), the incentive to provide a better education is reduced. Separate schools, on the other hand, are optional for Catholic students only, so its administrators are forced to provide a better education to keep the kids from jumping to the public system.
In addition to their competitive nature, separate schools can keep their grades high by using constitutionally protected discrimination. They must accept all Catholic students but can choose to admit higher performing non-Catholics in order to increase the school’s average grade.
All school boards compete with each other for resources so singling out Catholic schools might be disingenuous. Yet, separate school supporters often use their higher performance as proof that religious education is better and therefore should remain fully funded. So it’s important to remind these people that better results could be explained by their special privileges coupled with competing market forces rather than anything religion provides.
Private schools in Manitoba cont.
Oct 12th
A school in Winnipeg is giving credits to students who attend a pro-life rally.
Principal Dave Hood of Christ the King School said Tuesday that joining the vigils is a voluntary and family decision. But he’s considering it as an official school activity as early as next year.
It’s a prayer vigil, Hood said. “We’re not there to block anyone.”
Hood has talked to the teacher responsible for the students’ community service activities, and they’ve agreed that if any kids take part in the vigils, that the time would count toward a student’s community service.
Christ the King School has about 200 students in kindergarten to Grade 8.
Hood said he advised parents in a recent newsletter that the Campaign Life Coalition organizes daily vigils outside HSC.
“I have to tread carefully,” said Hood of the possibility of making attendance at the vigils a formal school activity. “It could happen in years to come.”
When this article kept popping up in my feeds it seemed like another example of separate schools abusing their privilege. But since separate schools were eliminated in Manitoba, this must be just a case of private schools behaving badly.
I tend to side with private schools when it comes to curriculum battles but when a school receives half it’s funding from the province I don’t consider it private anymore and hope it be held accountable like any other public institution.
In this case, the province should threaten to pull the school’s funding. Unlike Ontario’s separate schools, the Manitoban schools don’t have constitutional protection so the province has no reason to keep up the funding.
This marks the second private school in Manitoba recently reported being up to no good. If this is a trend, our Manitoban peeps will be busy.
Sad news
Oct 11th
For those of you, who have been involved in the secular community for a while and may have know him, it is with sadness that I bring you this, as reported in the Toronto Star:
Dr.Rob Buckman died in his sleep on Sunday while flying to Toronto from London. His unorthodox approach to illness and death endeared him to patients and the international medical community.
Dr. Buckman, author of: CAN WE BE GOOD WITHOUT GOD? An exploration of behaving, belonging and the need to believe (2000), as well as many other books, was a longtime, and active, member of the secular humanist community in Canada. He was also well known for his humor and compassion. My sympathies to his family, he will be missed by many. He was good.
Occupy all the things
Oct 11th
I remember when I first heard of the Tea Party Movement in the US. Most of the rhetoric back then was as much directed at Bush as much as anyone. And as a somewhat moderate fiscal conservative, some of the issues that were being brought up: balancing budgets, paying down debt, targeting government corruption and mismanagement, did resonate with me.
Of course, it wasn’t long before the rhetoric imploded in on itself and it became clear that it was mostly just a smokescreen for that strange made-in-american fusion of religious-right and radical-corporate-libertarianism.
Seldom went such grotesqueness with such woe;
I never saw a brute I hated so;
He must be wicked to deserve such pain.
- Robert Browning
Alas, we do not live in a just-world, some of it, we have to accept, but not all.
That said, I think its good when people get involved, even when I disagree with them. You have to be ready to have a conversation, and make compromises, that is how democracy works.
And so, I’m very happy to see this same dialogue happening with the Occupy Wall-street Movement. I certainly can’t say I agree with all of the stuff that is streaming out of the mouths of these protesters, but I do think criticism of the American banking system, and Wall-street, is fair game, especially after what happened with Lehman Brothers. Just as what is happening in Europe right now is indicative of irresponsible socialism, I think its clear that Lehman is the classic example of out of control capitalism. You can’t just leave the economy on autopilot like the Ron Paul’s of the world would like, people aren’t rational, and ‘the market’ is made up of people… so it won’t be rational either.
It will be interesting, to see where these protests go, although I’m hoping ‘the occupation’ isn’t just the left’s answer to the Tea Party. I think addressing the corruption in government, and in the private sector, are both worthy goals. It would be a shame if the result was simply more polarization in the political sphere. There are both Conservatives and Progressives living in that 99%, and if they could just start looking at what they have in common, they might actually make some real progress.
You may not like the taste of tea…(my preference is towards the green) but I’ve been told a little taste now and then, won’t hurt you… occupy all the things!
Thanks… for what?
Oct 10th
I have to admit, I’m not much for celebrating Thanks Giving anymore. There have been times in my life, when it was a big family thing, but of late, with family in different places, it doesn’t really get the same attention it did when I was a kid. I still love my very secular Christmas… but I can’t claim to be anything but a somewhat-thankless sort generally.
I don’t object to the holiday, however, yay for a day off work. Sure, there is the whole association with colonialism thing, and the silly thanking a supernatural being for not smiting me… this year, yet, but really, for me, even when I used to celebrate, it was mostly just about getting together with family and getting as stuffed as the dead bird on the table.
The Ottawa Citizen’s resident atheist expert, Kevin Smith, weighed in on the Thanking, with his usual aplomb, but this holiday just doesn’t really make me sentimental for much, and thinking about the injustices in the world is not really good for my digestion.
So, what or who, is a cranky old atheist to thank? I think I’m going to thank the farmers who work hard in the field all year, no, not corporate agribusiness entities, but the people who actually work in the fields, who raise and kill the meat and veggies, who grow and pick my coffee. They work harder than I do, and many of them get much less in compensation for it.(And don’t even get me started on that Steve Jobs bastard)
Thanks may not mean that much, but to the farmers and other producers, of the stuff I need to live, THANK YOU.
Religion and energy subsidies
Oct 7th
Is a solar project in Windsor, Ontario violating the separation of church and state?
A new solar project on the roof the Rose City Islamic Centre has the potential to produce enough electricity to power 250 homes in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Located on Empress Street in partnership with Solgate Solar, the project will result in the installation of solar panels on about 55,000 square feet of the building’s roof.“We first began thinking about this project about 18 months ago, and when it was approved in June, we began considering how it would best serve our non-profit centre, but also the larger Windsor community,” said Remy Boulbol, programming director for the centre.
Ordinarily I’d say this is a good thing. Religions that promote sustainable energy should be commended, and if they can make a profit, then good for them. However, some ethical implications are worth noting.
Ontario operates what it calls a Feed in Tariff where the government pays for sustainably produced electricity generated by private sources. Energy is sold to the grid at higher than market prices which means the program is basically just a huge subsidy meant to decentralize the grid and promote sustainable energy sources.
This could be a problem, depending on your definition of secularism. In effect, the government is transferring funds directly to a religious organization. It’s not intentional, but it’s real and it forces us to better define what we mean when we promote the separation of church and state. Should governments fund church activities even though the money is routed through a different program or is it fine because the government is applying the same rules to everyone, thus not favouring religion over anyone else?
In either case, this mosque funding could be used to fuel rhetoric by Christians who oppose energy subsidies (Green energy subsidies are bad because they give money to scary, evil Muslims, etc.) but that argument ought to fall flat since churches likely do the same (probably more since there are more churches than mosques). I wonder how many religious groups take advantage of any subsidy program to raise funds? Anyone up for some financial digging? It could produce some interesting results.
I hate your god
Oct 6th
I haven’t really believed in any theistic concept of a god for many years now. It took me a while to admit that I was ‘an atheist’, but I was one in fact long before I was one in name. It wasn’t until I rounded that corner that I began to really think of the implications of theistic belief. Before that happened, I fully participated in the ‘pick and choose’ attitude that I now find so galling in others – taking the bits of the articles of faith without fully thinking them through.
Now that the wool has been fully removed, however, I will not hesitate to lambaste believers in the same way I wish someone had lambasted me when I took the easy duck-out routes from having to deal with the full implications of the god I believed in. An all-powerful being that sees human suffering, suffering that it created itself, and does nothing to intervene – or does intervene but only in the most inconsequential ways – is a monster. To call your god “love” is a complete betrayal of everything virtuous and honest in that emotion. This grotesque perversion is on display no more obviously than in the headline of this story: More >
Office of Religious Freedom moves forward
Oct 5th
The federal government held consultations this week on the construction of the Office of Religious Freedom. Questions and criticisms still remain.
Arvind Sharma, who teaches religious studies at McGill University, has just completed a book called Problematizing Religious Freedom.
Sharma argues that the very concept of religious freedom has become an excuse used by proselytizing religions, particularly Christianity, to convert people. He says that was the clear goal of the U.S. model from the start.
“My concern is that this office will be used … by missionary religions, especially by Christian missions, will be interpreted by them as giving them the right to proselytize,” Sharma says. “I agree that the right to change one’s religion is a part of religious freedom but I don’t agree that my right to change my religion is symmetrical with somebody else’s right to ask me to change my religion.”
If our government is going to spend $5 million every year to promote religious freedom, they need to first define what is means. As argued by some Americans, the similar US model was used to promote Christianity abroad so it’s important we don’t head down the same path.
Foreign Affairs minister John Baird gave a fluffy speech where he argued for the importance of the new office to promote human rights and religious freedom abroad. Yet, shouldn’t our Foreign Affairs department be doing that anyway, so why the need for a special office? Given the new office has no purpose that isn’t already covered by existing mandates, it leads me to think the government has special plans. My guess is they want to use the program to single out international action on behalf of targeted religions in order to gain votes in swing ridings.
I don’t have a problem promoting religious freedom as long as it includes all religions and no religion but did the consultations this week include any atheist representatives? Nope?
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