Category: Secularism

City of Windsor to raise the Christian flag… again.

I got a phone call this morning from Susan in Windsor, Ontario.

Susan’s rightly infuriated that her city council is violating it’s own policy by raising the Christian Flag as part of the annual “March for Jesus” campaign, hosted by a local Christianist organization.

The council’s policy on flag raising (PDF) states:

At no time will the City of Windsor display flags deemed to be inappropriate or offensive in nature or those supporting discrimination, prejudice, political or religious movements.

According to the Windsor Area Rational Free Thinkers’ League, one city staff member disregarded the rule last year using some twisted logic:

City Hall chief administrative officer Helga Reidel told CBC Windsor, “The application is in compliance with the City’s policy because this is not a religious movement. Religious movements try to bring about religious reform, and that’s not what this is.”

To use the word “movements” as an excuse to allow the religious flag is disingenuous, as it in all likelihood betrays the policy’s intended function of preventing the City of Windsor officially endorsing religion. The prevention of such an endorsement would be in accordance with Sections 2 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A Christian organization that has a “commitment is to lift up the name of Jesus, in our city, and to show the world that Jesus is the answer to their life’s situations” is not a movement? Give me a break. This is a clear affront to the separation of church and state, and unless the City of Windsor plans to give equal space for atheist, Muslim, Jewish, and other religious groups, it ought to stick with its ban on religious messages.

Quoting from Susan’s letter (with permission):

Raising a Christian flag at City Hall is the epitome of endorsement. It sends the message that this is a “Christian city” which it is not. Individual cities cannot violate our Canadian Constitution.

As a non-Christian, raising a Christian flag sends the message that the City of Windsor favours one religion over others. This is not only illegal, but it is inconsistent with the goal of equality for all.

March for Jesus is planning on raising their flag on August 19th. Until them, I’m hoping to help Susan raise some noise through various organizations that might be able to provide her a hand. Let me know if you can help Susan Keep Windsor Secular.

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 secular. You might or might not find them more persuasive than the arguments put forward by republicans, but this is in no small part a matter of subjective values rather than scientific and philosophical rigour. In other words, there are good objective reasons why one should be an atheist, but no equivalent reasons why one should be a republican (or, admittedly, a monarchist). – The Lad Who’s Born to Be King by Corwin for Canadian Atheist

Seriously?

This makes about as much sense as those who argue that you can make entirely secular arguments against women’s reproductive freedoms. The quasi-secular arguments strain human reason to the limit, better to be a pro-choice, republican atheist than whatever confused mess Corwin is arguing for.

Continue reading Atheist and Republicans

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 radio talk show, designed to spark dialogue across the country.

To arrange my thoughts for the discussion, I sat down for a Google+ Hangout with Mavaddat and discussed some of the issues that might come up. You can watch the discussion below the fold.

Continue reading Religion, Politics, and Rex Murphy

Safe and filthy sex

I did a quick interview this morning for a country music radio station in Abbotsford, which followed up on this story that ran in Vancouver’s 24 Hours yesterday.

The story prompted the following email from a fan with an Ontario email address (a province that has recently bowed to pressure from religious conservatives to not implement a progressive and comprehensive sexual education curriculum, preferring ignorance to information).

Mr Bushfield. I just read on the internet that you think children in schools should not be taught abstinence and instead be taught safe sex.

Are you kidding me? It is people like you who are ruining our children. Please Please Please, leave our children alone, so they can grow up normal and not filled with all this filth.

I will pray for you.

I already posted this on my Facebook, where it received 44 Likes and 31 comments. Apparently people love the irony of filthy safe sex and someone praying for me.

Radio Freethinker on Tuesday

Just a quick post tonight.

On Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be on CITR’s Radio Freethinker show talking about all the latest news from the BC Humanists.

The show runs for a full hour, so if you have ideas for what I should talk about, drop them below (obviously soon so that I can be somewhat prepared).

The show will be available as a podcast afterwards and I’ll link to it here when it’s online.

American Secular Stainless Steel Ring

Some of my most popular blog posts remains my rejection of the iron ring posts based on the religious references that I wasn’t allowed to strike.

Every few weeks I get a new comment, typically a self-entitled engineer who feels like calling me names on the Internet. But the latest comment was something new.

Someone dug up a smaller American ceremony that was developed in 1970 and is simply called The Order of the Engineer.

The US obligation states (PDF) in secular (and dare I say humanist) terms:

OBLIGATION OF THE ENGINEER

I AM AN ENGINEER,
IN MY PROFESSION I TAKE DEEP PRIDE.

TO IT I OWE SOLEMN OBLIGATIONS.

SINCE THE STONE AGE,
HUMAN PROGRESS HAS BEEN SPURRED BY THE ENGINEERING GENIUS.

ENGINEERS HAVE MADE USABLE,
NATURE’S VAST RESOURCES OF MATERIAL AND ENERGY FOR HUMANITY’S BENEFIT.

ENGINEERS HAVE VITALIZED
AND TURNED TO PRACTICAL USE THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE
AND THE MEANS OF TECHNOLOGY.

WERE IT NOT FOR THIS HERITAGE OF ACCUMULATED EXPERIENCE, MY EFFORTS WOULD BE FEEBLE.

AS AN ENGINEER,
I PLEDGE TO PRACTICE INTEGRITY AND FAIR DEALING, TOLERANCE, AND RESPECT
AND TO UPHOLD DEVOTION
TO THE STANDARDS AND THE DIGNITY OF MY PROFESSION, CONSCIOUS ALWAYS
THAT MY SKILL CARRIES WITH IT
THE OBLIGATION TO SERVE HUMANITY
BY MAKING THE BEST USE OF EARTH’S PRECIOUS WEALTH.

AS AN ENGINEER,
I SHALL PARTICIPATE IN NONE BUT HONEST ENTERPRISES.

WHEN NEEDED,
MY SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE
SHALL BE GIVEN WITHOUT RESERVATION FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD.

IN THE PERFORMANCE OF DUTY
AND IN FIDELITY TO MY PROFESSION, I SHALL GIVE THE UTMOST.

It seems like in the case of the Robertson screw, the Americans couldn’t import the Canadian invention due to copyright claims. But unlike the Phillips screw, this time the Americans improved upon the original Idea. From their website they even seem to have toned down the creepy cultish vibe that the Iron Ring ceremony gives off.

Were I a practising engineer, I might consider travelling to Seattle to attend their next ceremony.

It’s worth noting that the Canadian rings are also made of stainless steel now too since the iron wears down to quickly.

Bible no basis for public policy, declare BC Humanists

BC Premier Christy Clark recently went on 100 Huntley Street and explained that she finds her courage to make tough decisions from what the Bible teaches (~5:30 mark in the video)

This story prompted me to quickly throw together a press release with some input from the BCHA members. That release can be read here: Bible No Basis For Public Policy, Declare BC Humanists.

The piece was quoted by iPolitics.ca.

Most of our members were quite happy with the release, although some would have preferred much stronger language, but I chose to walk a soft line (we can always harden language later). A few people complained that this was unnecessary based on the language she used and that it may paint Humanists in a poor light. My response was as follows (copied from one specific letter I received):

I completely share your vision of a community beyond belief and am working hard toward that end. We have an increasing number of events in Metro Vancouver that are reaching out to many different audiences. For example, I am hoping to build more programming for secular parenting, grief beyond belief, and secular addiction treatment. Outside of Vancouver, I am working to bring humanist communities to the eastern shore of Vancouver Island and to ensure the continued success of communities along the Sunshine Coast and in the interior.

However, building a community is not our sole purpose. Among our other goals is to advocate for secular values in the public sphere. One of these values is a commitment to secularism. As you point out, Ms. Clark may have intended her statement to be more about the generic courage to take controversial decisions, it can also be seen as using the Bible to defend traditional morality. For example, for the second year as premier, Ms. Clark will not be attending the Vancouver Pride Parade (while it will be the third year that the BCHA will be in attendance). Similarly, while she has pledged to work to fight bullying in schools, her plan is noticeably silent on LGBTQ-bullying – a leading cause of suicides among LGBTQ teenagers. Finally, her commitment to the Bible as a tool for decision making and her emphasis on raising “moral” children will undoubtedly leave her supporting BC’s discriminatory independent school system, where Catholic schools that have fired lesbian teachers receive 50% per-student funding from the government.

The fear that I, and many of our members, have is that if Ms. Clark bases some of her decisions on the Bible (the ability to undertake long term policy despite short term controversy), she may base other decisions on the Bible too. My point with the statement is that there are much better principles to derive public policy from than a book that many consider to be inerrant.

Regardless of the above arguments, it is further questionable for the premier of a province as diverse as BC to appear on a Christian talk show in the first place, unless she makes a habit of appearing on all faith and cultural talk shows.

My goal with the release was not to demonize Christianity or her right to read the Bible, but to draw attention to the dangers of an elected official basing their decisions on religion and ideology.

Finally, the BCHA is a democratically governed organization, and all members are entitled to their opinions, including dissenting ones. I believe that this statement falls within the majority view within our organization (as I have received a number of supportive emails since the release) but I am open to changes in the group. You are welcome to make your case among our members – either through the email list-serv, a post on our blog or in person at one of our meetings (just let me know in advance, so I can schedule time).

Vancouver’s Freethought Movement Grows

Today was a very good day.

This morning the trend of increasingly successful BCHA meetings continued, with just over thirty humanists gathering at the Oakridge Seniors’ Centre for a discussion on Neuroscience and Memory. Four-year-old Addysen was perhaps one of the youngest attendees to one of our meetings yet – although I think she was too advanced for the discussion and preferred to go to the Lego Store.

Afterwards, I headed to New Westminster for a new Skeptics in the Pub meetup, organized by Peter Naugler. This event was organized on about a week or two notice, yet still brought out another thirty skeptics (with very little overlap from the BCHA meeting) due to the convenient location.

Peter didn’t realize how successful this event would be, otherwise he would have called ahead to ensure that The Met Pub had adequate staff. Still, the one waitress that was working was quite efficient and patient with our large and loud group that descended on her Sunday afternoon without warning.

It was fantastic getting to meet so many new people and I got a number of new ideas for programs and events to try to reach broader and wider audiences in the future. It’s going to be an exciting summer!