Monthly Archives: August 2010

I’m a Canadian Atheist

Atheism, Personal, Site

I’ll probably be posting a lot less on religion/atheism here (unless I want to get really defamatory), since over the past week I have joined the new Canadian Atheist group blog.

I can’t promise how much more I’ll post here, since I like the communal, grassroots nature of this new project, and it’ pays off with more page hits than my own site. I also have my personal blog, which covers more mundane aspects of my life which leaves little space for this site, although I may still do the occasional overtly partisan rant here.

So check out the new site, it has a lot of great writers, and I have a series of posts coming up on the intersection of politics and atheism in anticipation of the VanSecular Party meeting on Tuesday.

Calm before the storm

Personal, Scepticism, Site

I won’t be posting much here (or at my other site) till next week since I’m off to Victoria this weekend with some of the Vancouver Skeptics in the Pub people. We’ll hopefully be meeting up with some fine island-folk while we’re out there.

The other reason for a bit of calm is that I’ve been recruited into a group blog that I’m hoping to have a bit of content filled in for Monday when we publicly announce it. It should be good, so stay tuned for the announcement.

Muslims run unchecked in Canada?

Conservatives, Islam, Politics, Video

This is the latest YouTube video that’s making news in Canada:

A few thoughts cross my mind:

  • Does this shaky spy-cam action and rock music show anything other than the film-makers bias?
  • Why does this paranoid bigot feel the need to film a check-in gate?
  • And does this not worry airport security more than a family of travellers who have already passed the main security gates?
  • On a related note, what’s the real, scientific explanation of why we feel this need to see faces? We know people are very easily deceived, so what does seeing someone’s face actually accomplish?
  • If they are not who they say they are, won’t getting through customs in England be quite a bit more difficult?
  • Why question the gender of one of the passengers other than to suspect that most Muslims are terrorists?
  • If this “error” was so egregious, then I guess we must just be lucky that these veiled “women” didn’t use this opportunity to strike with plastic knives and bring down the plane. Or of course, there is no real need to be any more secure at the gate other than to ensure that people paid for their seats.

And while I deplore Islam and its brutal subjugation of women, ignorant accusations like this do nothing to help bring peace and freedom to the victims.

Pride 2010

Atheism, BCHA, CFI, Fun, Gay rights, Vancouver

Yesterday was the 2010 Vancouver Pride Parade.

There was a total of 146 entrants, of which the 135th scheduled entry was the BC Humanist Association. With the BCHA marched the SFU Skeptics and CFI Vancouver.

I had previously marched in the 2008 and 2009 Edmonton Pride Parades with the Society of Edmonton Atheists and they marched again this year with a great FSM sculpture (write up and photos). Our first year there was a bit tame, but we had a table and showed some spirit. It looks like they’ve gotten really good at parades since then.

I’m proud to say that yesterday’s turnout was fantastic. We had almost 20 people out, facepaint, banners and lots of dancing. We unfortunately weren’t quite organized early enough to get a table (I brought this idea to the BCHA in early June and the entry deadline was June 30).

(video and photos below fold)

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