Canadian Atheist
Athée Canadien
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 >
Roman Catholicism on the Decline in Ireland
Apr 18th
By Sigmund
The physicist Max Planck, in his autobiography, suggested that
new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
In other words orthodox ideas, once ingrained within a mature mind, are so hard to displace that better ideas will only gain consensus through achieving popularity in the young, and the subsequent demographic displacement of the older generation. This idea, now termed “Planck’s Principle,” is widely quoted in terms of scientific paradigms but can, perhaps, be more accurately applied to another area of modern societal belief, namely religion.
Does the religious consensus change because all sections of the population alter their beliefs or, alternatively, in keeping with Planck’s principle, do we see the greatest change in the younger age groups?
One way of testing this hypothesis is through the examination of statistical data that shows change in religious attitudes amongst different age groups.
The most recent survey that allows this question to be examined was recently published in Ireland. The 2011 National Census contained data from 4,239,800 individuals who, amongst other questions, were asked which religion they professed. The survey contained no option for “atheism” as a choice but instead allowed “no religion” as one of the categories alongside various religions (Roman Catholicism, Anglican, Judaism, Islam, Pentecostal Christian, etc)
As expected Roman Catholicism remains the largest religious grouping in the country with over 3,861,300 members. In national percentage terms, however, Catholicism has dropped 2.63% to 84.2% since the previous census of 2006. In contrast the ‘no religion’ group is increasing by 1.5% in terms of the total population, to a current level of 5.9%.
A deeper examination of the data shows even more worrying signs for the Church in Ireland. The drop in the percentage of Roman Catholics in Ireland occurs alongside a large influx of Catholic immigrants, due to inter EU economic migration, mainly from the predominantly Catholic Poland.
The census data illustrates the effect of this by showing the percentage change in religion according to the nationality of the questionees, demonstrating that almost all the numerical increase (rather than percentage increase) in Catholics since 2006 has been due to non-Irish immigrants.
In contrast, the vast majority of those of the no religion category have been Irish nationals, indicating that the drop in the percentage of Irish Catholics is even starker than the initial figures suggest.
So, back to our original question; In which sector of the population are the changes occurring to the greatest extent? The census data allows us to examine this point by showing the levels of ‘no religion’ for the differing age ranges.
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And Now, A Word From The Philosophers
Apr 17th
Joe’s thought provoking post, “More on Cardinal Pell,” inspired me to share this video, compliments of Horrible Histories.
More on Cardinal Pell
Apr 17th
I’ve been sifting through the debate between Cardinal Pell and Richard Dawkins. I think Dawkins did a decent job throughout, even if he didn’t get a lot of the jokes the audience was laughing at. (However, when Pell mentioned ‘preparing’ young British boys, and the audience laughed, Dawkins did give a sly smile.)
I’m not going to do a rehash the entire debate, but rather, try and ‘accommodate’ both points of view. I tried to find the best bits, not in terms of atheist-win, or catholic-blunders, (Pell is still apologizing for his comments about Jews and Germans) but rather in terms of what I think are important points of contention.
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Stop This Attack on Women
Apr 15th
On April 13, the website A Celebration of Women posted this appeal:
Honduras – No jail time for birth control
The Honduran Congress is about to vote on a proposal that would send women to jail if they use the morning-after pill — even for victims of sexual assault. But the President of the Congress can stop this. He’s concerned about his international image and his future in politics, so our massive outcry can shame him and stop this attack on women.
Click here to sign the petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_prison_for_contraception_global/?vl
AVAAZ.org goal was 400,000 signatures. As I write this, 514,779 people have signed the petition. Please add you name to this “urgent petition calling on the President of the Honduran Congress to stand up for women’s rights.”
H/T Choice in Dying
The Pope’s Pet Atheist
Apr 15th
By Sigmund
This is the first in a series of posts on the decline of the Catholic Church in Europe.
The term faitheist was invented several years ago to denote in individual who, despite having no belief in the supernatural, instead views a general belief in religion as a positive factor in society, in other words an atheist who has “belief in belief”. Well, you can take your Chris Mooney, your Michael Ruse and your Chris Stedman, for I think we’ve found the ultimate faitheist.
Meet Marcello Pera, an atheist so friendly to religion that the forward to his new book was written by none other than the Pope!
Pera, the president of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006, and a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, published Senza radici: Europa, relativismo, cristianesimo, Islam – Without Roots: Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islam with the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2004. In that book the double act of Pera and the prefect of the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith proceeded to argue against relativism and for a positive role for the European church. Pera, in particular, saw Christianity as a bulwark against an expansionist Islam and sought to promote an explicitly Christian version of the European Union.
Dominico Pacitti, reviewing that book in 2005, commented:
Pera’s reasoning requires little comment beyond the observation that believers and non-believers alike could well find themselves thanking God that the EU is there to restrain him.
Pera has also written of his lament that his proposal to insert references to Europe’s Christian roots into the preamble to the European Constitutional Treaty was rejected
Pera’s new book, for which the now Pope Benedict XVI has written an introduction, is entitled Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians: The Religious Roots of Free Societies.
He expands on his thesis that Christianity is both a vital part of European history and a necessary element in its future, arguing for a civil religion based on Christianity.
Unsurprisingly, this stance is being enthusiastically hailed by conservative Catholic groups – for example the Iona Institute, a right wing Catholic think tank based in Dublin, who described Pera as
An atheist our own atheists might care to learn from.
The enthusiasm shown for Pera’s views, however, hides a deep malaise within European Catholicism – something a recent series of polls have highlighted and which I shall cover in future posts.
Exorcism or Mental Illness?
Apr 14th
In Saskatoon the Catholic Church is exploring whether or not they need to bring in a professional exorcist to help a man who may or may not be possessed by the devil. The man, whose identity hasn’t been released to protect his family, was observed etching ‘Hell’ into his skin with a knife as well as speaking in the third person (the third person presumably being Satan). A Priest was called in and blessed the man which seemed to help the symptoms but they did return when the police arrived so the priest blessed the man again.
Bishop Don Bolen explained that the ritual of exorcism is a very structured exercise. He said it was not clear if the Saskatoon man was possessed or experiencing a mental breakdown.
Obviously as an Atheist I’m not sure what isn’t clear. The man in question obviously needs psychiatric help and not an exorcist. But I do have to say that in the article it does sound like the Catholic Church is not jumping into an exorcism without exploring mental illness as an option. In fact I think they may be leaning towards mental illness first, exorcism second. I guess that’s the difference between a story like this happening in Saskatoon and not Texas.
None the less, I guess it’s fitting that this comes out a day after I write about what it means to be Canadian and Atheist! Also, if anybody knows how one becomes a “professional exorcist” I would love to hear about it as I might be interested in making a career change.
On Being a Canadian Atheist
Apr 13th
I actually wrote this a while ago but some recent Canadian news – led by Elizabeth May – made me go back and find it.
What does it mean to be a Canadian?
What does it mean to be an Atheist?
What does it mean to be a Canadian Atheist?
I can answer the first two questions with ease but the third question…well, it baffles me.
If I were an American, an Iranian, an Israelite, an Iraqi, an Indian, or even if I were Irish then I wouldn’t have trouble defining what it would mean to me to be an Atheist from my home country. But I’m none of those nationalities – I’m Canadian.
Nate Phelps talks
Apr 13th
Nate Phelps, CFI:Calgary executive director, describes his life growing up with the Westboro church.
From my earliest memories I can recall questions in my mind. How could we be the chosen ones if we treated people with such disrespect? How does an all-consuming god manage to remain invisible from world affairs? What of the people born in other parts of the world who never heard of him, or those born before Calvin or Christ? What about me and my actions gives me value above all others?
In an environment that violently quelled any defiance, I found myself uniquely at odds with my father and on the receiving end of brutal violence for much of my childhood. At one point the police became involved, but my father preached his way out of that and assured us that God had protected him, validating his violent behavior toward his wife and children.
As a third or fourth generation atheist, reading stories like this force me to imagine what life could be like with religion. The only religious ceremony I’ve ever attended was the wife’s friend’s wedding (it was creepy) so I consider myself lucky. Granted, growing up in Westboro isn’t a typical religious upbringing but every so often we need a reminder of the things we’re fighting for.
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