It’s rare to get a response from a politician when you send them an email. It’s even rarer to get anything more than a form letter. But I’ve never seen anything where an MP from across the country takes the time to read my concerns in their entirety and responds
Continue readingTag: Secularism
Terahertz: Alberta Education: An election bomb?
Alberta is ramping up for an election and while busty buses and money-for-nothing schemes are dominating the scandals, the new Education Act may be the thing that pisses enough people off to actually care about how this election turns out. Alberta’s education laws haven’t been updated in decades and given
Continue readingTerahertz: NDP fights for secularism
With the recent robocall scandal, upcoming budget, and NDP leadership race, it’s easy to forget some of the other controversies that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have thrown us over the past year. Luckily, we have representatives like NDP foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière, who continue to work to uncover answers. Specifically,
Continue readingTerahertz: Religions taking advantage of children
It’s an easy topic to write about and these three articles speak for themselves mostly, so I’m only going to give limited commentary on three pieces from the past couple days that definitely classify as religions taking advantage of (if not abusing) children. First, the Vancouver Sun mistakenly takes the
Continue readingTerahertz: Do churches influence your vote?
According to a new paper in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, where you vote may influence how you vote. The suggestion is that visual cues of churches or religious buildings lead people to vote more conservatively, “and the effect seems to hold, whether you’re Christian, Muslim or
Continue readingTerahertz: Jason Kenney shores up Islamophobia
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney spoke with Canadian Muslims to demonstrate the supposed widespread support for his recent decision to ban burkas at citizenship ceremonies. Speaking at a Muslim Canadian Congress event honouring his “courageous decision,” Mr. Kenney said polling shows that eight out of 10 Canadians agreed with
Continue readingTerahertz: Stand against homophobia on the Vancouver School Board
Robin Perelle, writing for Xtra!, gives a good background on the swell of opposition to anti-homophobia policy in the lower mainland. Basically, NPA trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo have been caught red-handed in videos lying to the Christian Social Concern Fellowship that Vancouver has no anti-homophobia policy, when in
Continue readingTerahertz: Nathan Cullen, the republican NDP candidate? #ndpldr
Nathan Cullen seems to be finding his niche as the controversy candidate in the federal NDP leadership race. His first idea to hold joint nomination meetings quickly moved him to the bottom of a number of peoples ballots, but I’m reconsidering him given his latest statement Hold a plebiscite on
Continue readingReligion Has No Place in Government Subsidized Day Cares-If Quebec Government Is Striving For Secular Society, It Should Remove Funding From Any And All Religious Institutions
Yes, boys ‘n’ girls, Tea-baggin’ Tommy is on another rant, once again, getting it all wrong, on his show on CJAD this fine morning. This morning’s topic is how the Quebec government is enforcing a law regarding religion of any kind being taught in government subsidized day cares. Naturally, dear ol’ Tommy, who . . . → Read More: Religion Has No Place in Government Subsidized Day Cares-If Quebec Government Is Striving For Secular Society, It Should Remove Funding From Any And All Religious Institutions
Continue readingTerahertz: Democracy doesn’t end on election day
At first I was a bit sceptical of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It’s not that I wasn’t sympathetic or that I wanted it to fail. I didn’t even really think we’d see a lot of conspiracy and woo in the movement.* I think I just misunderstood the idea of the protest. I assumed it […]
Continue readingTerahertz: Students get an A in anti-abortion activism
I was going to post this on Canadian Atheist, but I was beaten to the punch by one of my co-authors. It lives here instead. Canada’s biggest secular battlefield is over the publicly-funded Catholic school districts in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, but a number of provinces also fund private religious schools to varying amounts. In […]
Continue readingTerahertz: The end of “parental rights” in Alberta?
More good news out of Alberta, premier-elect Alison Redford is hinting that she may reverse the most controversial bits of Bill 44. The bill was an overdue amendment to Alberta’s Human Rights Act, which added sexual orientation to the list of protections. However, sensing there might be a social conservative revolt to the idea that […]
Continue readingTerahertz: Next week Kelowna celebrates the fetus
I spent Labour Day weekend camping near Vernon, touring wineries, and enjoying the good life. I highly recommend Arrowleaf Cellars. The trip left me with a longing to live in such a warm, beautiful area, surrounded by delicious food, drinks, and beautiful lakes. Then I read about things like this and the reality of small […]
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The Words We Use For People Who Do Not Believe In God(s)
Agnostic, Athiest, (strong and weak), secularist, naturalist, humanist, non-believer, pantheist, positivist; the list of terms used to describe people who do not believe in the existence of a deity is quite large. Words, and what they connote, matter a…
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Atheists are Differently Religious – and No, Atheism is not the/a Religion
A main focus of this blog is to consider and compare different political and ethical philosophies so as to promote better understanding of one’s own worldview and those of others. I frequently focus on progressivism/liberalism and libertarian conservativism, arguing that these incompletely overlapping moral/political philosophies each have their own internal logic and validity, but that […]
Progressive Proselytizing: 2011 Ontario Election: Religion in the Riding of Parkdale Highpark
Religion usually isn’t a dominant issue in Canadian politics. While there is certainly a general correlation with higher levels of Christian religiosity among conservatives, prominent debates over religion as the key polarizing issue is quite rare. Dur…
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Faith in Secularism – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Speaking on TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I make the case that separation of church and state is as much in the interests of the church as it is in the interests of the state. However, upholding the ideal of the secular state often demands more courage than we
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Faith in Secularism – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Speaking on TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I make the case that separation of church and state is as much in the interests of the church as it is in the interests of the state. However, upholding the ideal of the secular state often demands more courage than we
Continue readingA fool’s logic, protecting children from sexual indoctrination through sexual indoctrination
I think most people in Canada, and by most people I mean a good eighty percent, would agree that the mixing of religion and politics is a bad thing, or that at least it leads to a seriously messed up society.
After all, one of the reas…
Continue readingRight of Center Ice: On promoting consumer culture and demeaning Canadian citizenship
Believe it or not, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney took the opportunity to affirm the Canadian citizenship of fictional character, Santa Claus, at a citizenship ceremony of 100 new Canadians in Calgary. By swearing in a man dressed up as Santa Claus the Minister has manged to: Demean
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