Here’s your Canadian Atheist Weekly Update for to .
This week’s theme seems to be: Thoughtful essays on core SHAFT topics..
![[A photo of a statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus. Most of the statue is made of white stone in the classic Roman style, but the head of the baby Jesus is in bright orange, crudely sculpted clay - the style and proportions are wildly mismatched. Also, the head is deformed by melting in the rain, and orange stains are running down the front.]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ste-anne-des-pins-baby-jesus-statue-200x120.jpg)
Jesus Christ, what the hell is that thing?
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[] How Donald Trump’s vision of diversity divides us too: Cohn
A nicely frank editorial about the realities of diversity and tolerance.
h/t Derek Gray
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[] ”Why We Need Secularism Today | Why Secularism is so Important”(Video: 4:34)
Alex J. O’Connor, the CosmicSkeptic, makes a clear and well-reasoned case for secularism, explaining what it really is, and why it is important.
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[] Donald Trump and the war on polls
I’ve been deliberately ignoring any Trump news; I don’t want to wade into that quagmire, and at any rate he’s only of marginal interest to Canadian atheists at best. But here’s a story of how his favourite poll turns out to have been a fallacious artifact… and how it was all caused by one person. It’s a fascinating look at the challenges of polling.
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[] Bill C-16: An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code
Bill C-16, which will add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination, passed its second reading 248–40, and will now be referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. All dissenting votes were Conservative.
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[] U.S. Allies Are Funding ISIS (and Hillary Knew All Along)
Buried by the Donald Trump clown show comes the news from the leaked Clinton emails that US officials have always been well aware that al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Daesh are all funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Sunni allies.
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[] Northern Ontario Jesus statue gets shocking replacement head
A church in Sudbury had the head knocked off its baby Jesus statue. Okay, bad, unequivocally bad – that kind of vandalism is cowardly and intolerable; whoever did it should be caught and forced to pay for the repairs. But! A local artist offered to do a temporary repair, and the results… are either horrific or hilarious, depending on your perspective. The orange clay head contrasts sharply with the classic white statue… not just the colour either; the style difference is jarring. Even funnier, the replacement baby Jesus head is melting in the rain, making it even more grotesque.
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[] Trudeau: Only 39.5% of people voted for electoral reform
I’ve written before explaining why electoral reform is so important to atheists. Trudeau made it a key campaign promise, but now appears to be backing away from it. The Beaverton satirizes his argument perfectly.
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We Need Secularism. Of course we do.
Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t?
Religious nonsense seems to be one thing that democracy is ill equipped to combat. Proselytising for acquiring paradise and avoiding damnation is very lucrative business. Accusing people of foolish delusions: not so lucrative.
If it wasn’t for the continual barrage of human atrocities, the transition to rationality would probably be even slower. Those of us who transitioned to atheism, out of nothing more than a mature sense of what is known, are sympathetic to crisis converts but, at the same time, it is difficult to relate to their anxiety and their desolation.
I guess we had less to loose and less to fear. Death still awaits us, that is true. That’s the price we pay for knowing things.