Skeptic with an Eh?
Seeing a gap in the Leed’s Skeptics in the Pub event for September, I volunteer to give a talk on the skeptical movement in Canada. Here are the details if…
atheism
Atheist Freethinkers: Stop embarrassing yourselves
David Rand’s Quebec-based “Atheist Freethinkers” is positioning itself as an embarrassment to the Canadian freethought movement. Rand stands nearly alone in the debate in English Canada by supporting Quebec’s proposed…
Not my secularism
Critics of religion (such as myself) are sometimes not precise enough in our criticisms. We will sometimes lash out that the “moderate Muslims” don’t condemn fundamentalists enough or complain that…
Thag grok free will!
The journey back to the Thunka Grunkas had been a long and difficult one, but Thag had finally returned from his sabbatical with the Drunka Grunkas, learning how to make…
Ms. Corbella Argues That Atheists Are Bad People
In her column in today’s Calgary Herald, Licia Corbella gets on her high horse about atheists. The title of her column is ridiculous enough: “Will Atheism Be Held To Account…
What’s it all about, Alfie?
“What’s it all about, Alfie?” sings Cilla Black in the title song for the eponymous 1966 movie. But it could be the anthem for the human race, or at least…
The Swerve
2500 years ago Lucretius gave us the modern world. We ignored him. Listen to The Swerve In 1417, a Renaissance scribe and book hunter discovered an ancient manuscript in a…
A pox on (some of) your houses
Recently, numerous allegations have flown throughout the blogosphere (at least, the portion that I read), identifying numerous high-profile skeptics/atheists/scientists as varying degrees of creepy to rapist. Others have jumped to…
what i’m reading: clarence darrow, attorney for the damned, by john a. farrell
I last wrote about Clarence Darrow in early 2012, after reading a piece by one of my favourite New Yorker writers, Jill Lepore. Two new biographies of Darrow had been…
Atheist and Republicans
I haven’t had time yet to deal with a piece of nonsense from last week on Canadian Atheist. The arguments put forward by the Monarchist League of Canada are entirely…
BC Secularists who aren’t white men
Inspired by similar lists of diverse secular thinkers, I thought I’d put out there a compilation of some rising secularists – both thinkers and activists – who break the mould…
Things You Can Do to Help Calgary’s Secular Community Grow and Thrive!
Found this (public) note on Facebook with some exciting news about the secular community in Calgary. Keep it up! And when I say “we,” what I really mean is you.…
Canadian Atheism Panel
Tomorrow morning (9am out here), I will be joining Ian Cromwell, Jesse Brydle from Halifax, Donna Harris from Winnipeg, and Veronica Abbas from Peterborough for a panel on Freethought in…
what i’m reading: two youth novels
There is so much truly excellent youth fiction out these days, and it’s not all vampires and zombies. Here are two wonderful teen novels in two totally different veins. There…
“Not believing in devil leading cause of atheism”
I know mocking the Catholic Church is like shooting fish in a barrel but this is just to absurd to pass up. The Pope’s exorcism is a splendid sign because…
There are more than 50,000 atheists in Canada
The first bit National Household Survey is out, and aside from it’s methodological issues, there’s still lots of data to pour through. Over the next few days I’ll be looking…
Some Islamophobic new atheists as bad as Fox News on steroids
Atheist “fundamentalists” whose very existence seems predicated on their non-belief in God can be as extremist and narrow minded as the worst religious prig. They’re fixated, the way many extremists…
Atheist For Christmas, Christian For St.Paddy’s
Most atheists are as irrational as those who believe in religion. And perhaps even more hypocritical. There’s no greater example of this than those vocal opponents of religion who criticize…
Thank gawd, finally a new cult leader was appointed in Italy by…
Thank gawd, finally a new cult leader was appointed in Italy by an elite cabal during a secret backroom ritual. This one is from Argentina. I guess that country deserves…
Religion, Politics, and Rex Murphy
Tomorrow, the Canadian polysyllabic pontificator Rex Murphy will be in Vancouver recording a live episode of Cross Country Checkup on religion in public life.. The Checkup is a long-time Canadian…