Are less-religious or more secular nations happier than religious ones? Studies suggest yes. Personally, I would certainly be happier in a more secular nation if it meant fewer angry, nasty, fanatic believers like the Westboro Baptist congregation (see picture, right), or the faux-faith anti-mask/anti-vaccine, pro-disease protestors,* or any of the
Continue readingTag: Secularism
Accidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Jagmeet Singh looks to be a strong favourite as the NDP’s leadership campaign reaches its first voting window – and how concerns about Quebec secularism may have been laid to rest by the challenger who previously gained the most by emphasizing them. For further reading…– I’ve previously
Continue readingTerahertz: A full response to Humanist Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation statement
Two weeks ago I began Tweeting my reactions to Humanist Canada’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report. I heavily criticized the organization for it’s response, which in my view used the opportunity to make an easy attack on religion while doing nothing on promoting reconciliation with Canada’s aboriginal
Continue readingTerahertz: Multiculturalism, interculturalism and secularism
I want to promise this won’t become a habit but sometimes it seems easier to just Tweet a bunch of random thoughts about an issue that I can collate and publish as a Storify. So here’s my latest. [View the story "Multiculturalism, interculturalism and Secularism" on Storify]
Continue readingTerahertz: “I’m glad it’s over”
Canadian Atheist blogger Veronica Abbass emailed me a couple days ago to say: More than three years ago, I wrote a post on Canadian Atheist about prayer in Peterborough municipal council meetings. In the comments you suggested I contact CFI Canada. I did and CFI connected me with Dan Mayo
Continue readingTerahertz: 10 reasons the Saguenay ruling establishes Canada as a secular country
It’s been only 5 days since the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the prayers said by the City of Saguenay discriminated against atheists, and already cities across Canada are reviewing their own practices. But I suspect (although caveated with the standard, I am not a lawyer) this ruling
Continue readingTerahertz: Republished: There’s no ‘God’ in graduation
This was the first article I wrote for a student newspaper and in a way it’s somewhat historic. In 2008, the University of Alberta Atheists & Agnostics started campaigning for a secular convocation charge. When our initial request was ignored, I raised the issue with the student newspaper, The Gateway,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religious Disservice Extra Edition – The Freedom to Believe in Stupid Ideas (Religion)
Dear Religious people, Have you thanked your local atheist today? If not, you should because atheism and by extension secular society, is saving you from the immoral loopy shit your bronze age beliefs demand. The latest demonstration of how immoral and barbaric religion is comes to us from the
Continue readingTerahertz: Humanist Hustings–Europe Votes 2014
Moving to London (details eventually coming) has allowed me to attend more great events. Last night, I attended the British Humanist Association’s Humanist Hustings all-candidates forum for the upcoming European Parliamentary Elections. The event was held in Conway Hall, London’s freethought home. To my mind, no humanist group in Canada
Continue readingTerahertz: Religion as a dirty word
Any headline in the form of a question can be dismissed with the simplest answer (which is also typically no). Case in point, a Victoria Times-Columnist blog asks “Has religion become a dirty word?“ It argues that Victoria, BC, with a non-religious population of 51% according to Statistics Canada’s 2011
Continue readingTerahertz: UK has “Systemic Discrimination” against freethinkers
Indi at Canadian Atheist brought the IHEU’s 2013 Freedom of Thought Report to my attention and has already done a brilliant summary of the issues facing Canada. Very shortly he’ll also be posting a commentary on the broader report. I encourage you to download and read the entire 244 page
Continue readingTerahertz: BC public schools continue to permit Christian Evangelism in classrooms
During my work with the BC Humanist Association last year, we managed to help raise awareness of how the longstanding tradition of Gideon’s distributing Bibles to grade 5 students continued unabated in the Chilliwack and Abbotsford School Districts. This process continued despite the BC School Act requiring all schools be
Continue readingTerahertz: Revised Charter: Less Hypocrisy, More Intolerance
A new report suggests the separatist Government of Quebec is listening to some of the criticisms of its proposed Charter of Values. Supposedly the Parti Quebecois will now include a provision to remove the crucifix that has been hanging in the National Assembly since 1936 and “a previous exemption for
Continue readingTerahertz: Catholics crash poll to protect privilege
Ontario’s Liberal government has done something really cool in setting up an online database for policy ideas that can be submitted and voted up or down to prioritize what the province should be doing. One ambitious member of a local Young Liberal riding suggested merging the Catholic and Public school
Continue readingTerahertz: “If you don’t feel comfortable with your children in that kind of milieu, don’t send your students here.”
Following up on the religious proselytization and abstinence-only sex education occurring in Edmonton Public Schools comes a quote from Orville Chubb, candidate for the Edmonton Public School Board, from his time as executive director of Meadowlark Christian School Foundation. Chubb was asked in 2011 about a proposed anti-homophobia policy at
Continue readingTerahertz: Anti-choice Christian front promotes abstinence-only sex ed in Edmonton Schools
Anti-abortion Christian groups are notorious in Canada for setting up “Crisis Pregnancy Centres” as fronts to proselytize to women facing a pregnancy scare and are unsure whether to exercise their legal right to terminate it or not. The Centres are often filled with deceptive anti-choice propaganda and mislead women. One
Continue readingTerahertz: Two sides of a coin
There is no inherent contradiction in viewing fundamentalist religious headgear as misogynistic while still supporting an individual’s religious freedom, so why does the media keep painting it as such? The Charter of Quebec Values is creating a huge, perhaps irreparable rift in the province’s women’s movement. For feminists, there is
Continue readingTerahertz: Restore the whole anthem
RestoreOurAnthem.ca launched recently to quite a bit of media exposure, particularly because several notable Canadians including author Margaret Atwood and former Prime Minister Kim Campbell are behind the push to de-gender Canada’s anthem. I fully support their effort, even if the political will might be missing (Harper introduced the idea
Continue readingTerahertz: Closure of Muslim Free School highlights folly of government policy
A bit of welcome news came today that British government inspectors have forced the temporary closure of an Islamic free school over “health and safety issues.” The school promises to re-open soon. Over the past few years, the British government has been increasingly trying to solve its broken education system
Continue readingTerahertz: The end of Catholic Schools: Not with a bang but with “creeping incrementalism”
The Windsor Star has a story about how declining enrollment a in local secular and Catholic school boards (both publicly funded) are forcing creative solutions as funding declines. It sharply highlights the growing need to consider amalgamating the competing systems into a single non-discriminatory body. Unsurprisingly the local Catholics remain
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