Canadian Atheist
Athée Canadien
No bibles for you!
Apr 8th
I remember when I had to stand for “Oh Canada” and recite the “Lord’s prayer” in class as a kid. I can’t remember getting a bible, but I doubt it would have made much difference to me. That said, if you’re not going to let the Scientologists pass out their books, the Gideons should have to stay home too.
Not everyone is on-board with separation of church and state though.
Apparently, sending threatening emails is what Jesus would do.
A public school board’s decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails directed at trustees.
I guess the baby Jesus had a bit of a temper tantrum.
Islamist Books
Apr 8th
Here’s another article on how easy it is, apparently, to get radical Islamist literature in Toronto area bookstores.
When one of the store’s managers was asked by a reporter who posed as a customer whether he stocked “Jihad in Islam” — arguably the most radical book of the bunch — he said he hadn’t carried it for years because the RCMP had been to his store to ask questions about why it would carry such a book.
Another manager said the store didn’t carry any of the six books on the reporter’s list.
But within 30 minutes, the reporter found Jihad in Islam and four others of Maududi’s stacked on a bottom shelf in the middle of the store.
Ooops, how did that get there?
Given how easy it is find much worse stuff on the internet these days, and not all of it is even Muslim, I don’t think this rates as a threat to national security, but it does make one think. Not all Muslims want to take over the world, but being vigilant, as opposed to completely paranoid, is certainly the rational thing to do.
Easter and atheism
Apr 8th
Robert Fulford talks Easter and why he thinks other atheists are stupid.
What comes through is not a critique of religion but a condemnation, as if the history of religion consisted exclusively of one hateful crime after another. What Northrop Frye called the “appalling historical record of Christianity” should never be forgotten. But it is only a part of history, for the most part the result of priest-authorized prejudices now largely abandoned.
As a non-believer, I appreciate both Judaism and Christianity more now than I did 50 years ago. Decades of reading and thinking have taught me the virtues of the Bible.
That magnificent anthology of narratives and arguments directs our civilization like a DNA sequence, shaping the structure of our feelings and our imagination. It provides verbal energy and cultural contexts, usable by believers and unbelievers alike.
More fluff by an atheist who doesn’t want to call himself an atheist.
I don’t mind atheists who like to read the Bible or even tout it as worthy of reading. It’s an important part of our history and ignoring it wouldn’t be honest. But I doubt promoting the ‘virtues of the Bible’ while ignoring the raping, plundering, and genocide is going to convince unbelievers to their cause (whatever that is).
But what can we do about these atheist Christian apologists? They value and appreciate science for all empirical claims yet cling to remnants of religion as a moral guide. Is it just a coping mechanism for a minority trying to find a place in this debate? Intellectual laziness? Or are we, as atheists who have no problem defining morality outside any religious context, missing something?
I’d like to figure out a way to put this tired nonsense to rest.
Harris on Freewill
Apr 7th
Sam Harris has new book entitled: Freewill. I was tempted to read it, but after my experience with The Moral Landscape, I was really skeptical. And then I read this, and I’m thinking I’m going to have to pass.
For a hard-nosed determinist such as Harris, this “amounts to nothing more than the assertion of the following creed: A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings”. But he gives the view too short shrift. Harris delivers his apparently decisive blows only to “the popular notion of free will” or “the kind of free will that most people seem to cherish”. But compatibilists know their view is revisionary. It has to be, because common-sense free will is incoherent. To be able to make a choice that did not depend on how we had been shaped by past events would be to choose randomly, not freely. True freedom is to act according to our desires, beliefs and natures, not to do just anything that might pop into our heads.
If you’re a Harris-fan, you might still want to read it, but shooting fish in a barrel, with regards to the magical freewill that religion inspires, without seriously dealing with the more modern compatibilist understanding of freewill, does my free time no favours. I’m going to look into some of the other books the article mentions though, and if I get a chance to read one of them, I’ll post a review.
Five Reasons Prayer is Bad
Apr 6th
If you aren’t familiar with Matt Dillahunty and The Atheist Experience, I highly recommend looking them up. They do a weekly show on public access television in Austin, TX. They also have podcasts of their shows, videos on their website, and many other ways to interact with them.
On January 15th of this year, the hosts were Russell Glasser and Dan Baker. The show was entitled “The Failure of Prayer”. Around twelve and a half minutes in, Dan begins to speak about his “five reasons prayer is bad”, as well as a follow-up example for each. Here are the Coles Notes of what he said: More >
“Attack of the Atheists”?
Apr 6th
Yesterday, April 5, I received this announcement from CFI Canada
CFI’s Justin Trottier will be on Byline on Sun TV tonight (Thursday) between 9-10pm Eastern Time to discuss the effect atheism has on countries. Host Brian Lilley will argue that countries like Canada are doing well because it is a Judeo Christian country, whereas places like China have a lot of problems because they are atheistic. We will, CFI is told, also talk about ‘militant atheism’ (atheists trying to convert others to their lack of belief).
I was not at home to watch Byline last night because I was enjoying an evening with three wonderful people, who are, like me, members of CFI. Fortunately, I was able to access the video of the segment. As CFI’s message says, “Enjoy”!
If, as Brian Lilley says, atheists are on the attack, let’s “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
Riding the vRocket
Apr 5th
In Toronto, they call the Transit system: The Rocket. It’s one of those genius marketing things that no one really takes seriously, except when one references the late night buses… which have the less formal name: The Vomit Rocket.
When the Freethought Association of Canada did the atheist bus campaign a while ago, we were prepared for, and to a certain degree, hoped for controversy. It went smooth in Toronto, but not so much in some other places.
So, given how offensive we atheists are, just existing, I guess I can’t really complain too much about offensive transit ads. Then again, I find at least one of these….
“Dear Jesus, My mom and dad do drugs at home and it scares me. Will you help them stop? Thank you for hearing my prayer,” reads the ad.It goes on to quote scripture that recommends not to worry, but to pray for what you need, thank God and as a result experience peace.
… unhelpful, and maybe a little sick-inducing.
Morality, revisited.
Apr 4th
My friend recently posted a blog on morality. He decided he’d go with the argument that objective morality necessitates the existence of god. Objective morality exists, therefore god must exist.
Here is my answer to his blog posting. Let me know what you think. Am I way off base? Feel free to comment on his blog, too; he’d love the traffic, even if you disagree! More >
Atheist group raising money for charity
Apr 4th
CFI:Okanagan, based in Kelowna, BC, is raising money to support the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
On Sunday, 22nd April — during National Immunization Awareness Week — “All About Vaccines” will be held at UBCO (Room 103, Arts Building) to provide information about vaccines. Speakers will give presentations on a number of vaccine-related topics, including the history of vaccines, how they work, current vaccine research, and the harms of the anti-vaccination movement. Speakers will also answer questions from the audience.
Raising money for a worthy cause while providing information to the community about vaccines seems like a winning formula. The event falls under what the group calls its “Good Without God” series. Last winter they collected multiple car loads of clothes, toiletries, and food.
Atheist groups in Canada still aren’t very good at the kind of traditional charity work that churches want to monopolize so it’s nice to see someone stepping up. Hopefully, if these projects are successful, the model can be copied by other groups across the country.
Jesus and Mo Wednesday
Apr 4th
I am disappointed with today’s Jesus and Mo comic. I was hoping to see an Easter theme, so I searched the “Archives” and found this comic from December 12th, 2005:
There is also the March 27th, 2009 comic eggs.
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