Are Secular Nations Happier?
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,…
Secularism
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Quebec Charter hurting secular efforts
Efforts to defend the separation of church and state in English Canada are already suffering as Quebec’s Charter of Secularism Values is used to argue that secularism is “exclusionary” or…