Terahertz

So people will continue to ignore the ONDP.

Specifically this time, ONDP leader Andrea Horwath is refusing to debate the merits of amalgamating the Ontario Catholic School Board into the public, secular system.

For some reason it seems that these supposedly ‘controversial’ ideas are really only controversial to the politicians, of all parties, who are unwilling to implement them.

A 2007 poll found 58% of Ontarians support amalgamating the two school boards while only 29% opposed. Another poll in 2009 found that 51% of Canadians oppose funding Christian schools, with the numbers jumping to 75% opposed for other religions (like Hinduism or Islam).

Canadians want religion to stay at home, and to not be forced to pay to indoctrinate other people’s kids.

And why should they? The United Nations declared in 1999 that the existence of Ontario Catholic schools was discriminatory. Funding just one faith or a secular option is discriminatory, as John Tory pointed out.

Unfortunately, the Conservative thought the better option was to give everyone publicly funded religious schools. People did some quick math and realized how quickly the province would go bankrupt and opted instead to stick with the status quo, since no party was willing to take on the Catholic Church.

And as a final note, despite the constitutional arguments that favour keeping Catholic school boards running, Newfoundland (1997) and Quebec (1997) opted out in the recent past by a quick deal with Ottawa. It’s time for the rest of Canada that still funds Catholic schools (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario) or other faiths (Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) to stop segregating our children.

Now if only there were some actually political will to do what the majority supports.

(h/t Skinny Dipper)

Rob Johnstone of Winnipeg Manitoba has alcoholism and is trying to get help.

Unfortunately, Addictions Foundation of Manitoba requires recovering addicts to accept a higher power before they can proceed in their programs. Rob has a “faith-neutral” stance and would rather recover on his own then submit to a different vice. In fact, he was asked to leave AFM because he refused to submit.

Even worse, the AFM, which is a government-funded organization, still maintains that faith or religion is absolutely necessary to recover from addiction. Then, the CBC article quotes the Christian Salvation Army who also think religion is necessary.

Secular organizations have been established, including one in Toronto, that work to help people effectively manage their addictions, some were established through requirement from similar cases in California (I think).

Hopefully, a new organization can be established in Winnipeg, and most other Canadian cities, so people like Rob can get help.

Finally, the story has an attached poll that, like all very unscientific web polls, deserves to be exposed for how useless they are, and that there are a large numbers of secularists in this country.

This is unfortunate news.

Last month, Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin blasted plans to spend $3 million of federal money on a Youth for Christ youth centre in his riding. His statements then were:

“I have no objection to faith-based organizations providing services. Sally Ann (the Salvation Army) and others have been doing a great job for years. But these people are evangelical fundamentalists," Martin said of Youth For Christ. "Offering much-needed sports opportunities is just their way of luring in young prospects."

He went on to quip: "Would the federal government be so willing to give them $3 million if they were called Youth for Allah?"

But now, with Winnipeg city council voting in favour of the project, Martin is pledging his support.

While I think this move came from a desire to see any sort of facility built for youth in his riding, it’s disappointing it has to come from a group that actively proselytizes and recruits youths for “faith journeys.”

Mayor Sam Katz had even more concerning comments:

"A lot of citizens do not believe we should be funding any faith-based organizations. Little do they realize, it happens every day," said Katz, who called Martin’s statements about Youth for Christ "unfortunate."

So a lot of people aren’t being listened to by our elected officials.

Democracy fail.

My only final question, why doesn’t Conservative MP Vic Toews use the word Conservative anywhere on his website? Ashamed much?

One of the most frequent questions when I was being interviewed about the convocation change at the University of Alberta was what I thought about the anthem and whether I wanted it changed. I mostly answered neutrally since I wanted to keep the focus on the topic at hand.

But now, after a prorogation no one ordered, and a throne speech that was bound to disappoint, Prime Minister Harper dropped this in my lap:

Our Government will also ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem.

As Northern BC Dipper points out, that amounts to changing the line “True patriot love in all thy sons command” to potentially “true patriot love thou dost in us command” although I’ve also used the line (and heard others recommend) “in all of us command.”

It is worth noting that that same 1908 version that Harper seems to want to go to is also religiously neutral, that is secular.

With the Vancouver Olympics just ending with Canada’s record 14 official playings of the anthem (and how many countless spontaneous ones), I opted to change “God keep our land” to “We’ll keep our land.” Alternatively another “O Canada” was used in place of “God keep our land.”

The current version only came into being officially with the 1980 National Anthem Act, and with a government that’s willing to look at changes (albeit removing religious references is likely not on their radar), it may be the perfect time for Canadian secularists to act.

In about my second or third year at the University of Alberta, a referendum was held to charge students a fee to build a new Physical Activities Complex (PAC). The fee failed, in part because students of the day would be paying for a building to come and would also have no input on the design or operation of the facility.

Basically, most of us saw it as a grab by PhysEd students to make everyone pay for them to get a new building.

Well, PAC is back as PAW, but now the fee will only be put in place once the building is finished. Further, it looks like students will actually get a majority role in the makeup of the board of the building.

But there’s another key difference. PAW stands for “Physical Activity & Wellness” and in terms of “wellness” the supporters state the following:

Broad Scope of Wellness – The PAW Centre will combine new construction with renovations of existing facilities in order to address the broader idea of health and wellness. Physical, mental, and spiritual wellness concerns were identified and addressed in the design of the facility. This holistic approach will ensure the PAW Centre appeals to all students. [emphasis added]

So how will they address these spiritual concerns?

• Meditation/Yoga Rooms – special facilities will cater to rapidly-growing programs aiming to focus and relax the body and mind.
• Prayer Space – adequate space for prayer is critical to addressing the spiritual aspects of wellness for many students. The PAW Centre will address the space shortage for groups on campus that desire a large space to pray.

This reminds me of the news releases from the University of Toronto in 2005 when they were building a Multi-Faith Centre. The newly formed UT Secular Alliance, led then by now CFI Canada Executive Director Justin Trottier, opposed the creation of the building on the grounds that a secular university should not be dedicating money to the promotion of religion.

In the end the UofT still built the building, but the university did take secular worldviews into account and now includes a Humanist chaplain and a link to the UTSA.

Over a year ago the UofA agreed with the UofA Atheists and Agnostics that the school is a pluralistic secular institution and modified the convocation charge to include more humanistic elements and a sort-of opt-out of using your degree for God. The challenge for the UAAA this time will be to either outright oppose the creation of dedicated prayer space on campus – with student funds – or to demand space for Humanistic and secular world views.

While I am not longer at the school, I will be keenly interested in how this referendum goes, and what dialogue the UAAA can spark.

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.

Recently, I bemoaned about Paul Jubenvill’s attempts to start a Bible study group at his kids’ public elementary school in Surrey. Well as luck would has it he was “taken aback by the storm of controversy.” He has now withdrawn his human rights complaint, which is a little funny since he “didn’t even know what this tribunal was.”

Uh-huh.

Really, my only surprise in this story is that there was an uproar.

I think I fit in nicely here in Vancouver.

(h/t Religious Right Alert)

PS Alliterations are always awesome.

No, you can’t go in to elementary school at lunch hours to preach to little children how they’re evil sinners who are going to hell unless they do as you say, not as you do.

A man from the Vancouver suburb of Surrey wants the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to open his sons’ elementary school’s doors to a Bible study group.

Paul Jubenvill launched a complaint with the tribunal on Dec. 1 after the Colebrook Elementary School turned down his request for a lunchtime meeting on Christianity with whoever wanted to attend.

Jubenvill, a 35-year-old software designer, argues his freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

"We live by God’s word and the Bible. This is no different than the freedom to have a jazz club or a badminton club. There can’t be discrimination on the basis of religion," he said.

"We’re not asking the school to endorse it, we’re asking them to accommodate our needs."

Sorry, your “needs” don’t extend to using publicly funded property for your own ends. If you want your kids to learn religion, teach them at home. Letting a badminton club but not a Jesus club exist isn’t “discrimination on the basis of religion,” it’s keeping the church (especially his evangelical brand) out of a public setting.

But he at least understands a bit of what he’s advocating for:

He has no objection to Muslim or Buddhist study groups taking up school space, or any other religion.

What about atheist groups? Should we be starting atheist elementary groups?

I think Richard Dawkins would get pissed at that.

He’s pushing this as a human rights case, however I don’t remember the right to preach to kids.

Nevertheless, the Surrey School District Spokesperson reaffirmed that public schools are secular, but had this odd disclaimer:

…the rules are different among older students in high schools, where Bible study groups are supervised by teachers but are led by students.

Really? This sounds like it could be pretty concerning. I guess I have a new avenue to research.

About 3 months ago I posted my criticisms about the leadership of CFI Canada. A little debate ensued and then the issue essentially died as I ran into school and focussed less on it.

In mid-October Justin Trottier issued his formal response on behalf of CFI Canada, by means of his blog ironically (considering it isn’t CFI affiliated, but I’ll admit the optics are better putting it there than on the front page of http://cficanada.ca).

The best news out of this is the following (long overdue, but that’s Canada’s system of red-tape):

As proof of how far we have come, I am pleased to announce the Centre for Inquiry is now a charitable organization in Canada and ready to issue tax receipts.

He also removed his blog postings from his Facebook profile, which further separates CFI from his men’s rights views.

Unfortunately, my concerns about the democratic nature are left unaddressed, however, it’s well worth noting that each CFI branch in Canada tends to operate as a self-directed organization. This means that CFI Vancouver (or Calgary or Montreal) almost entirely run themselves, and have access to the resources of the CFI umbrella.

CFIs board remains unelected, and I see that remaining as is for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile Humanist Canada’s elected board has undergone some internal strife recently that culminated in the resignation of board president Pat O’Brien (who spoke at the BC Humanist board meeting a couple weeks ago). I’ll avoid the gossipy details since I didn’t take notes.

Humanist Canada has kept an elected board for years, however, with declining active membership, their board essentially becomes election by acclamation (which is hardly different then appointments anyway).

In the new year I’ll likely be actively involved in both Humanist Canada and CFI Canada, and advocating for greater cooperation between both groups for the good of freethought in Canada.

I wrote a while back about “Wind Concerns Ontario,” the NIMBYist anti-wind turbine group run by ex-Ontario Liberal staffer John Laforet and their connection to the dubious pseudo-science of “wind turbine syndrome.”

Well, now they’ve upped their crap level by republishing an article straight from the climate change denialist (and creationist columnist for the Calgary Herald) Lorne Gunter.

Gunter comments on the recent “climategate” scandal of supposed “cooked data” and claims again that the world’s been cooling for years now. This is crap since the top 11 warmest years on record have been in the past 13. Never mind the fact the whole scandal is overblown and doesn’t actually discredit any real science that’s been done by countless climatologists working the world over.

So WCO: You’re not Progressive, you’re demonstrably anti-science, and you are setting this country back. It’s time to stop now.

Next thing you know we’ll see Laforet endorsing Harper and Prentice’s attempts to derail the Copenhagen talks. Perhaps he’ll even join the Blogging Tories since his denialism and anti-environmentalism will fit right in.

Now, countdown till the Defenders of the TruthTM return.

Update: My countdown lasted only an hour. Also, see this website for a great dissection of the so-called scandal (h/t Brian D.).