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Monthly Archives: January 2010
Things to get atheists uppity
First, most atheist-blog readers have probably heard the story about the American military using gun sights with references to Bible passages on them in Iraq and Afghanistan. What Canadian readers may have missed was that our troops are also carrying an unspecified number of these sights in Afghanistan.
While this isn’t as constitutionally-questionable here as in the USA, it is definitely in really bad form to try to establish a democratic government in a predominantly Muslim country while carrying Christian-endorsed weapons.
Luckily it sounds like there is agreement within the Canadian military that the inscriptions ought to be removed (now hopefully they actually do before it insights further aggression against our soldiers).
Second, an anti-abortion group in Kelowna, BC (the bible-belt of the otherwise secular province) has gotten together to put the following (American religious) ad on local television, featuring the severed hand of an aborted foetus:
The ad ends with “May our hearts be broken enough for God to enter and stir us to action to defend their lives.”
I reluctantly support their right to show this ad, as free speech is a right that I generally support.
Nevertheless, the positive result here is that this made me realize that following the wildly successful atheist bus ads, we ought to target another venue, perhaps television (especially in a cheaper market like the BC interior which can still yield earned press) could prove equally fruitful.
Finally, to end positive, the Saskatchewan Skeptics have written a letter to Premier Brad Wall to declare February 12 as Darwin Day. Provincial and local proclamations are often made for special-interest groups, and there is precedent for Darwin Day proclamations. Unfortunately, February 12th marks the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, so I foresee very few proclamations being made on that date in this province.
Nevertheless, it may be a cause worth submitting to a few city councils and media outlets.
Update: I just saw an anti-abortion ad on A Channel Vancouver from “The Signal Hill” which provided a website that offers a lot of myths and outright lies about abortions. Although this one was not explicitly religious (and neither is their website), it still demonstrates the size of their budget base.
It’s about respect
It’s sad that a satirical Canadian public broadcast show has to take time out of its 22 minute political humour to call for news networks including NBC, FOX and even their own CBC to stop referring to the victims of the Haitian earthquake mere looters.
As they pointed out (unfortunately I can’t find the video on their website yet), Haitians are not “looting” 50” plasma televisions, Blu-Ray Disc players or even books and CDs, they are merely struggling to survive with what little is left standing in their shattered country.
Search Google News for “Haiti looters” and you get over 8000 hits, mostly from the past few days, with very few being critical of the usage of the term.
And while I have one callous acquaintance who said “[If I were a Haitian victim] I don’t think that the fact that a Canadian network called me a ‘looter’ would even show up as a blip on my radar,” the point is that all human beings, especially in our most fragile times, deserve respect.
Someone caught grabbing some food for her community from a collapsed grocery store is not a looter but a hero who is helping herself and those around her to survive.
Haiti has been the whipping nation of the West for more than 200 years, from French Colonialism, to American imperialist interventions. After all this, some have the galls to call these desperate human beings mere looters.
Perhaps with all eyes focused on Haiti now, they can be forgiven of their suffocating and criminal debts, reinstate a true democracy, and rejoice in their heritage as the world’s first black republic. They deserve at least as much.
Please consider donating again to the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.
I’m not convinced it’s a movement
While I might get trashed on ProgBlogs as a neo-Con troll for being contrarian, let me elaborate my thoughts on the future of the CAPP protests.
Over 200,000 people joined the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group in the past few weeks, impressing everyone (except those who cannot be impressed by their opponents), and somewhere on the order of 25,000 people turned up to protests yesterday morning (which I reluctantly admit slipped my mind when I slept in after a late-night on Friday).
NDP and Liberal partisans want to see this as a win for the left and for progressive causes. A reaction to Stephen Harper and all his evils over the past 4 years.
And it would be really great if we could see it entirely as that.
But when you listen to many of the quotes coming from the non-partisans in the crowd, you hear lots of “get back to work” and even on CBCs Test The Nation, the politician team was faced with similar heckles.
This leads me to feel that while their is a strong anti-Conservative element to the protests, much more of it comes from the (smart) framing by the organizers as though all politicians are getting a 3-month holiday or vacation.
Which is of course somewhat false, as every politician does have a lot of work to do outside of parliament.
I think it bears a little comparison to last years protests over the coalition (of which there were sizable pro- and con- positions, however both sides were pretty heavily partisan), in that from the average person or Conservatives point of view, politicians were being slimely and trying to change the election (I know that’s just the Con lie, but it did work). Meanwhile, on the coalition side, we saw Harper being slimely, and we didn’t like it. All-in-all, Canadians I think get really pissed when their apathy is taken for granted. We seem to want our politicians to make very slow, minor changes and to not really stir the pot. Treat our democracy like crap, and we get mad.
So we’ll have to see how this “movement” transforms between now and the March resuming of parliament. Will it translate into anything beyond a bunch of people pissed at Harper granting a paid vacation that we all wish we could take, or will it actually culminate in some real changes?
Will this result in democratic reforms on the powers of the executive as the NDP is proposing, some form proportional representation, as Ignatieff is almost now hinting at, another election that could see the end of Harper the PM (or yet another Harper minority, which might result in the same angst from within) or just more of the same partisan brinkmanship that has defined the past decade of Canadian politics?
Only time will tell.
Distasteful comments about Haiti from close to home
I’m not convinced about the structural integrity of wood versus cinder block, but BC premier Gordon Campbell thinks ultra-poor Haiti ought to have bought BC lumber:
“It’s interesting when you think, ‘what would Haiti look like today if that had been built with wood instead of cinder block?’” Campbell said in a speech to the Truck Loggers Association convention in Victoria. “And the fact is there’d be a lot of buildings that would still be standing.”
Meanwhile, a pastor in Surrey had this to say about the tragedy:
“Haiti is infamous for its voodoo spiritual darkness,” he said in comments tape-recorded by a parishioner. “I can’t help think that maybe God has shaken them, shaken them against the kingdom of darkness.”
Of course he claims the words our out of context, so let’s see a bit more of it:
Here’s the text transcript:
“We’ve got people on the ground right there in Haiti and it’s a wonderful way in which we can express tangibly the Lord Jesus in that situation.
“You know, just thinking about, ‘Why is all of this happening in Haiti, a very poor country?’ The country’s been shaken.
“Now probably some of you are aware that Haiti is infamous for its voodoo, its spiritual darkness, bleakness. I was kind of thinking maybe God has shaken that place, shaken that . . . shaken against the kingdom of darkness, maybe the light of Jesus will shine through and come out of the ashes.”
On the plus, his congregation did raise $6,500, although they don’t say who the money is going to.
Update:
DrPlatypusMan of YouTube has provided the context from the above talk. Seems like his case is pretty flimsy. Hatred, racism and bigotry are sometimes just that:
Elders speak up for women
While it’s unfortunate that all of the “elders” are male (likely more to do with the few women who are making it into positions of power), it is phenomenal to see them explicitly call out the extreme sexism in many of the world’s leading religions (read the whole article).
So the Elders have spoken. Carter, Mandela, Tutu, Robinson and the others present a formidable counterweight to blind tradition. They are immensely respected for their achievements and their integrity. They say that they are fully committed to the realization of equality and empowerment for all women and girls. They call upon all leaders, religious and secular, to promote and protect those inalienable rights. Theirs is a powerful message.
Catholics, Baptists, Muslims and more are explicitly named by the group which includes Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and more.
The United Church allowed women pastors in 1936 but Stephen Harper’s Christian and Missionary Alliance had been debating the issue for over 20 years.
Is there really still a debate as to whether women are equal to men in society?
Aid pours in
Between the BC Humanist meeting and people who attended my birthday party at a pub in Vancouver, I managed to collect $159 for the Red Cross which I dropped off this morning. Their phones were ringing constantly and I was told they worked all weekend and are open late to accommodate all the generosity that’s pouring in.
To everyone who has donated, thank-you. Countless more will undoubtedly be needed, so please spare what you can.
Congratulations to the Saskatoon Freethinkers
It’s great to see freethought communities come together, especially in smaller communities. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is home to a mere 200,000 people, but enough have come together to put up some simple bus ads that call all fellow freethinkers together. They even made the local Global news affiliate:
Of course the statement "Don’t believe in God? You are not alone" is not offensive unless you’re merely offended by the fact that there exist people with different opinions than you. Nevertheless, discrimination continues where ignorance persists. Hopefully more of these consciousness raising campaigns can at least make people realize that atheists and Humanists aren’t boogie-men in the closets.
Haiti relief challenge
How many people are going to church this weekend? What about an atheist or secular humanist meeting? What about just meeting with some friends?
Pass around a hat, collect donations for the Haiti earthquake and drop the cash off at the nearest Red Cross office on Monday morning (or online).
I’ll collect at the BC Humanist meeting tomorrow and at my birthday party at the pub on Saturday and drop it off on Monday (I’ll even take a picture to prove it).
Remember, every dollar raised is being matched by the federal government.
What’s going on with the UofA SU?
The Gateway, the student newspaper at the University of Alberta, reported late yesterday that Students’ Union President Kory Mathewson submitted his letter of resignation effective Monday.
VP Operations and Finance Zack Fentiman will take over many of the roles in the meantime, but beyond that the article doesn’t get into much.
So can someone who’s still at the UofA dig anything up for me? It seems odd that anyone would quit a mere 3 months before the next executive elections.