Tag Archives: Events

Occupy the Vatican

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I’ve been supportively following the Occupy protests, but have avoided any discussion of it here since I didn’t find it directly topical (not that I believe we need to just focus on atheist/religious topics). Now that issues out of the way since there’s an offshoot protest going on in Vancouver this weekend:

October 30th: Occupy the Vatican – Holy Rosary Cathedral (Dunsmuir & Richards) – Occupy Vancouver organizers have stated they intend to occupy the cathedral from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

This idea is brilliant. I’ve been thinking we’ve needed to push for an Occupy the Churches protest, which would coincide with the OWS protests. As church’s are private property we’d be more likely to get kicked out, but it would be a way to draw attention to a couple key issues – i.e corruption in the Catholic Church.

There’s more info from The Province:

A Facebook page, predictably, leads the charge, but locally organizers have promised to occupy the Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver this Sunday at 10 a.m., right in the middle of church services.

“Jail the Pope, Occupy the Vatican, Expel the Catholic church from our lands,” comes the none-too-subtle online call to arms, complete with a Photoshopped image of the pope behind bars. “Join the worldwide Occupy the Vatican movement this Sunday Oct. 30.

“Squamish elder Kiapilano has banned the Catholic church from Squamish Nation territory – Help us enforce this eviction order this Sunday.”

The Facebook page is pretty anti-Catholic, and it’s not clear how big Sunday’s occupation will be.

Anyone going to church this Sunday?

Good Without God bookclub

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After nearly thirty people attended our God Delusion book club last month, we were wondering whether we’d get another large turnout this month with a less known and read book – Greg Epstein’s Good Without God.

Well, as luck would have it, we ended up with nearly twenty people this time, again stretching out ability to manage a small discussion over a large group. There were several new faces this time, and a few returners.

Most liked the book, finding it a good description of humanism, and one went so far as saying it was among the most precise summations of his worldview he had ever read and he planned to email Epstein personally thanking him for the book.

Others lacked the same enthusiasm, with one suggesting that the humanism Epstein proposed lacked a core axiom like libertarianism’s fundamental right to the property of the self. Another found it lacking in empiricism.

We also found a bit of disagreement on the necessity for humanist chaplains, and some felt ill at ease over his description of humanism as a faith.

But it wouldn’t be a freethinkers book club if we all agreed on everything, so with some moderation, we successfully teased out a few counterpoints to most ideas.

Most recognized the need for humanists to do more. We lamented that our best quality – our rejection of authority – often works against ourselves whenever we try to build institutions of humanism. We often try so hard not to be like the religious in our actions that we have difficulty finding volunteers or donations to build our capacity.

Regardless though, many were inspired by the book, and are interested in promoting a good life beyond religion.

The timing of this book club works really well as tomorrow morning the BC Humanists are meeting with the Humanists of the North Puget Sound (from Washington state) at the Peace Arch Park for our annual picnic. For anyone else who’s in the area and wants to drop by, you can find the details here, but basically we’re meeting on the US side at 11 am for food, friends, and a couple games.

How to prevent success from ruining your book club

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This was a good weekend for freethought in Vancouver.

On Saturday morning about 7 people donated blood, which was a slightly smaller turnout than a couple months ago, but on the positive side, we didn’t have anyone get turned away this time. In combination with several other members who weren’t able to make it on the weekend but are going on their own time, CFI Vancouver should reach its goal for donations this year – something few Partners for Life ever achieve!

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Register for Vancouver SkeptiCamp 2011

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While not an atheist event, SkeptiCamp is a great venue for testing your critical thinking skills and getting active in the “reality-based community.”

Designed as an “un-conference” where attendees are also speakers, SkeptiCamp encourages anyone and everyone who attends to prepare a 5-10 minute talk and to present it in an interactive format.

This August will be Vancouver’s fifth SkeptiCamp, and I participated in the past two and highly recommend it.

Here’s the registration email and contact information if you want to get involved:

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Reasonable, not sexist

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I’m someone who’s not afraid to stir the pot, so I went and did something that may be considered controversial (particularly in light of recent events) — on Wednesday night I started a single-gender Meetup group for Saskatoon, Reasonable Women.  The group’s description sums up why this group came to be, and why the group should exist:

Why a group for atheist/agnostic/skeptic/freethinking women?

After reading this BlagHag post about the troubles some women faced at a recent American Atheist conference, we got the idea of forming this group.  Don’t get us wrong — the local atheist groups in Saskatoon are not sexist in their treatment of women members, but we thought it may be fun for the women of these groups to have a place of our own.  And, maybe, having this kind of group available could encourage other female-minded folks to join the movement!

Are you anti-men?  Why aren’t you allowing men to join this Meetup?

Well, this group’s purpose is meant to engage one particular subset of the larger atheist/freethinking movement: the women.  We welcome the men to start their own “Reasonable Men” Meetup!

So much of the current “new atheist” movement is dominated by its male voices — this little group is meant to counteract some of that testosterone by inserting estrogen into the mix!

So far there’s been a mixed reaction to the start of this group — some people love the idea of it, others feel torn about a women-only group, and a few others don’t understand why such a group needs to exist in the first place.

There’s even been the dreaded label of “sexist” thrown at us, mainly because we want the group’s membership to be women only.

I’m not sure how I feel about all of this.  I’m resisting the urge to get defensive to objections of the group, because I don’t think escalating matters would be productive — AND we haven’t even had our first meeting yet, so why get defensive over something that’s only just begun?

It could be that such a “Reasonable Women” group isn’t needed in the community … but how will we know unless we try?  That said, the enthusiastic response we’ve received so far makes me think that some people see a need for such a group in the larger godless community.  And for the people out there who don’t see the need for such a group, that’s fine too (I’m not out to change your mind, per se) — but I don’t think your disinterest should disqualify the group’s existence.

I’m open to being told why having a single-gender group could be detrimental to the larger atheist movement — because that’s what I see the objections boiling down to.  Maybe I’m naive, but I see this group as being just one sub-community in a larger community, and a way to help make us stronger.

Darwin Day 2011

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year — to be a naturalist, that is.  Well, strike that “most wonderful time” comment if you’re in Saskatchewan, where we just had -45 windchills! (brrr)

February 12th is Charles Darwin’s birthday, and marks the celebration of “Darwin Day,” a global celebration of science and reason.

What’s going on in Canada for Darwin Day?  Leave your group’s activities in the comments.

The big news for Saskatchewan is that Education Minister Donna Harpauer has proclaimed February 12, 2011 as Darwin Day in the province.

In Saskatoon, we’ve got a big Darwin Day event on February 12th that is being sponsored by CFI Saskatchewan, the Saskatoon Skeptics, and the Saskatoon Secular Family Network.

The activities for the day include watching part of the PBS documentary What Darwin Never Knew, guest speakers, family activities (for all ages), and of course, birthday cake!

Since I’m the facilitator for the Saskatoon Secular Family Network, I’ve been rounding up volunteers to put on science demonstrations and experiments for the kids.  So far I’ve got volunteers in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, and epidemiology.  One activity I’d like us to run is a station where people can see what they look like “devolved” into an earlier stage.

2011 marks the 202nd birthday of Darwin, and I’m already looking forward to a great day celebrating science and reason.

Education Minister Donna Harpauer has proclaimed February 12, 2011 as Darwin Day in Saskatchewan

Jen McCreight storms Vancouver

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This was a great weekend for atheist-feminist-skeptics in Vancouver as Blag Hag author and University of Washington PhD candidate Jennifer McCreight was in town for not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 different talks!

This was Jen’s first ever visit to Canada, so it was fitting that she was greeted at the border on Thursday with a True Canadian Blizzard, which ended up closing Simon Fraser University at the exact time that her Atheism and Feminism talk was scheduled to begin. Nevertheless, a half-dozen of us ventured to one of the restaurants on campus and discussed the differences between our two countries as well as the talk itself over dinner.

Friday was much clearer, with the traditional Vancouver winter rainfall washing away most traces of the previous day’s snowstorms. That evening we all ventured to UBC for her talk “My Visit to the Creation Museum,” which had an audience of over 30 people. Afterward we stormed The Cove pub, as our planned venue was permanently closed. It’s quite lucky when you can find a pub able to take 35 people on a moment’s notice at 10pm on a Friday night in Kitsilano. Check out Old Earth Accreationist’s write-up of Friday’s fun.

After closing down the pub on Friday night, Saturday morning was a bit rough for Jen, but we still made it to Harbour Centre first for Jen to do an interview with Radio Freethinker, then for CFI Vancouver’s Cafe Inquiry where a packed room of 20-30 discussed bringing more women into skepticism (although at almost all her talks this weekend the gender representation was 50-50). After a lively and productive discussion, many headed over to Steamworks pub for some food, drinks and dialogue.

Finally, yesterday morning featured Jen’s “Boobquake and its After-Shocks” talk for the BC Humanists crowd which began early in the morning (the talk was started by 10:30 am). Despite the early hour, a group of 25 or so still crowded the Oakridge Senior’s Centre and hung on her every word. Many of the older humanists were quite impressed by the splash made by an under-25 atheist, and enjoyed the idea of using humour to promote rational thinking.

After a bite for lunch at White Spot, Jen had to buy ketchup chips (unavailable in the USA) and a Cadbury Caramilk bar (also unavailable) before heading back to her graduate studies in Seattle.

Probably 75 unique people saw Jen speak over the weekend and at least 5 people saw more than 2 of her talks.

All-in-all it was a great success, to which we should thank Jen for her time and the Secular Student Alliance for helping pay for her gas.

Be sure to read Blag Hag for her always humourous analysis.

Jen McCreight Vancouver Snowstorm Tour

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Snow in Seattle, snow and cold in Vancouver!

Yes, it’s 5-10 cm total, and lows of –10 C, but it’s a wet cold dammit, and we have the right to complain because we’re the only country to host the Winter Olympics without any actual snow.

But all of this (God unwilling) won’t stop heathen Jennifer McCreight from making the drive across the border for her four-day, four-stop whirlwind tour of Vancouver starting tomorrow.

Here’s the details:

Simon Fraser University Skeptics

Thurs. Nov. 25 3:30-5:30 pm in AQ 5037

Atheism and Feminism
Hour talk followed by Q&A

Free & open to the public
Likely impromptu pub night to follow

University of British Columbia Freethinkers

Fri. Nov. 26 7-9 pm in Buchanan A203

My Trip to the Creation Museum
Hour talk followed by Q&A

Free for members, $2 for general public
Post talk drinks and fun at the Regal Beagle (to be confirmed)

CFI Vancouver

Cafe Inquiry with Jennifer McCreight
Sat. Nov. 27 11 am-1 pm at SFU Harbour Centre
Tentative topic: Closing the gender gap in skepticism
20 min talk followed by discussion

Free & open to public (donations welcome)

British Columbia Humanists

Sun. Nov. 28 9:30-11:30 am at Oakridge Seniors Centre

Boobquake & Its Aftershocks
Hour talk followed by Q&A

Open to public & donations welcome ($2 suggested)

There is a small chance that if we get an absurd amount of snow or people crash at the one intersection on the way to SFU that Thursday’s talk will have to be cancelled. Keep an eye on the SFU Road Report for road conditions and if it’s closed we’ll try to reschedule something else for the evening.

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