1. Interview with Richard Dawkins about 'The Enemies of Reason'

Comment #63240 by fallenone on August 13, 2007 at 3:58 pm

Can't wait to watch the series...

2. Scarlet Letter Campaign Update: A Victory

Comment #62455 by fallenone on August 9, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Clearly, the page ought to belong in the Onion...

3. The Gullible Age: Review of 'The Enemies of Reason'

Comment #61561 by fallenone on August 5, 2007 at 6:30 pm

Love the last 'dead father' bit... Can't wait to see the show when it airs...

4. Interview with Michael Behe

Comment #61099 by fallenone on August 3, 2007 at 3:15 pm

@ Yorker: I've felt pretty much the same until I've watched Colber's speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner in 2006. Simply brilliant. In 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOYZF3It848
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvFM4TYQKU

Other than that, the show has some good points most of the time... Then again, I seldom watch it on telly...

5. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60626 by fallenone on August 2, 2007 at 1:47 pm

Oh well, I quite enjoyed Hitchens polemics...

6. Camp Joins Summer Fun With Teaching Hindu Faith

Comment #58844 by fallenone on July 26, 2007 at 11:42 am

I'm sorry, but despite the philosophical component, Hinduism and Buddhism get too much credit... At the end of the day, they too are religions that are prone to errors and fallacies common in the Abrahamic religions. It is not difficult to find a positive aspect of a given religious system and ignore the other less 'enlightened' ideas...

Speaking of which, I've been following the story of Shambo, a bull diagnosed to be carrying bovine tuberculosis. The gov't, quite rightly, decided to slaughter the animal to curb spreading of the disease. The double-whammy? Shambo is the sacred bull of a local Hindu temple... However, the story unfolds not in India, but in present day English Whales...

Hmmm, only Gods (?) can forsee the outcome of this little story. The monks have a few good points to entice the followers to 'passively disobey' the gov't decree... Well, they don't... not really... Unless you take the religious dogma as a credible argument. I could go on, but this particular religious-zealot laden story would be funny were it not for the fact that it is sadly true...

Latest news state that Shambo will be put out of his misery today. Hopefully, that'll be it.

Here are some sources:
http://www.earthtimes.org/mobile/87108.xhtml
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=standoff-over-shambo-the&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters

and more @ google news:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=ca&q=Shambo+bull&btnG=Search+News

7. Ditching God: Emboldened Atheists Are Finding Purpose In Coming Out Of The Closet

Comment #58080 by fallenone on July 23, 2007 at 10:21 am

Apparently, today's Post has some letters to the editor from angry religious apologists in 'response' to the article. Usual strawman arguments regarding Hitler and Stalin as evil atheist rubbish included. We mustn't give up in face of bad logic... Make your voice count! Write to: letters@nationalpost.com, and don't forget that full info is required (ie. name, address, email, and phone number). I know it's Big Brother like, but have to play by their rules to get the letters published.

8. Kenya: The Death of Religion And Rise of Atheism in the West

Comment #56589 by fallenone on July 16, 2007 at 1:39 pm

'And where are the intellectual titans of the Christian religion? Why are they not speaking out on this assault?'

What Titans, and what can they say?

9. God not out of the question for most Canadians

Comment #54962 by fallenone on July 9, 2007 at 1:23 pm

While I've managed to get through the Canadian public school system without being exposed to ID ideology, I understand that the story might be somewhat different for those attending the publically-funded Catholic school board. To see how the good fight on the issue of dual schoolboard system in Ontario is evolving, you can check out: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/toronto

10. The new preface to The God Delusion paperback and Q&A

Comment #50894 by fallenone on June 20, 2007 at 10:40 am

Thank you for the video.

11. We of little faith

Comment #49767 by fallenone on June 13, 2007 at 10:33 am

For a university student, such as myself, this article strikes close to home. Sometimes I wonder how some people can be exposed to science education at school and yet hold on to their religious beliefs they cultivate at home. I guess it comes down to George Orwell's "Doublethink" (power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.) As for Buddhism, I'm game... My Into to Buddhism course starts in three weeks.

Cheers,

12. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32041 by fallenone on April 15, 2007 at 10:25 am

Vile and disgusting.

13. Genie shows barred by Islam, clerics say

Comment #32031 by fallenone on April 15, 2007 at 10:01 am

And to think that the faith of devout muslims is so shaky that shows containing ghosts and genies would be sufficient to bring the whole thing crumbling down !

14. Polish woman wins abortion case

Comment #26712 by fallenone on March 21, 2007 at 8:58 am

I find it quite sad that, given that a lot of young Polish people leave the country because they are unable to get well paying jobs after graduation, the Church sends Polish priests to England, Ireland, and other EU countries to follow the emigrants. Lest they forget their Catholic roots, no less. Really, they get you coming and going...

Furthermore, the fact that Poland is falling behind on the issues of evolution and abortion can be, for the most part, attributed to the extremist position of the ruling party coalition. You should have seen the ruling leaders begging the Church to support them in the electoral race. They have partaken in mass sermons broadcasted on the state television. It can be said that the polish ruling class has been elected by those who got convinced to do so be their priest during mass or those who did leave to seek their future employment elsewhere, or those who did not lose interest or trust. Unfortunately, the opposition has lost in the elections and this can be felt in the state policy making. Matter of fact, the teaching of evolution has come under attack numerous times: http://blogs.salon.com/0003494/2006/12/09.html

Cheers,

15. Root of All Evil? Discussion

Comment #20501 by fallenone on February 3, 2007 at 11:20 am

I'll say... I will have a screening of "The Root of All Evil" at my uni next Thursday. Seeing that even 'grown up adults' had such a heated, and at times chaotic, discussion leads me to wonder what is in store for the audience after the screening...

While some guest speakers have been invited, I do have high hopes that some constructive feedback, possibly even criticism, will come forth from the students as well. Unfortunately, I find that most kids take after the belief system of their parents, with little active doubt on their part...

Furthermore, while I do like that CBC embarked on showing the documentary, this fact still leads me to ponder the state of evolution in Canada. It seems to me that many of my science colleagues hold on to the belief system from their country of origin to which they continue adhering long after being exposed to the liberal 'evils of the West.' The odds that they are bound to become 'religious scientists,' a seemingly oxymoronic combination, are quite high. It is as though, to lift a sentence from the above debate, in some sense they leave their brains at the door, and are willing to live a double life, rather than to acknowledge that science, their profession of choice, is quite incompatible with what is held dear and true at home.

My uni, UofT at Erindale, has invested a substantial amount of (tuition) money into creating a multi-faith centre on campus a few years ago. A sort of one-size-fits-all approach to the religious needs of students on campus. It is of note that the religion courses offered on campus are quite popular among some ethnic groups of students, as they are seen as a source of easy marks. I suppose that, in any area of study, being tested on something one already knows in some depth makes things sound pretty good indeed. However, one cannot help to wonder what is the role and place of religion outside an anthropological context in an institution of higher learning. Furthermore, the ratio of outright religious groups (including the aptly named Campus Crusade for Christ) to (the only one) secular Mississauga Freethought Association is 10:1. This excludes many other non-ethnic and subject-oriented clubs and associations.

However, I have just realized that I have gone off on a slight tangent from my original query.

Given that I happened to chance upon that following article here:

http://richarddawkins.net/article,555,Unscientific-American-US-Almost-Last-in-Understanding-Evolution,RJ-Eskow-The-Huffington-Post

The fact that Canada is not listed got me quite worried. I have looked on the original research paper from AAAS quoted in the article. While the graph is more detailed, Canada is still missing from the countries listed. After doing some googling, I came across an interview by an apparent creationist Laurence Tisdall, M.Sc., the president of L'Association de Science Creationiste du Quebec (ASCQ) and a voting member of the Missouri-based Creation Research Society.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/031113evolution

In the interview, he makes a dubious statement: "… in every survey done, almost 50 percent of the Canadian population don't believe in the theory of evolution as taught in our schools."

It is quite unfortunate that he did not name any particular surveys. Undeterred, I came across the Humanists Perspectives website outlining the Evolution Education Research Centre ongoing research into the state of belief in evolution among immigrant populations in Canada. 'The Centre has numerous projects planned and in progress. Two significant research studies are currently underway; one study is examining the extent to which various Canadian curricula cover evolution, and another study is exploring how evolution is understood by Muslim university faculty, high school biology teachers and high school students and their families.'

http://www.humanistperspectives.org/issue154/EERC.html

Finally, I have stumbled upon Compas Inc Public Opinion and Customer Research Survey from 2000:

http://www.compas.ca/data/001124-NPostHotButtonFederalElection-EP.pdf

Sadly, it seems that Mr. Tisdall was not far off the mark. According to the survey, about 43% of those interviewed believe in the theory of evolution to explain the origins of life. Understandably, this point of view has a positive correlation with the educational level. '

'Adherents of evolution are generally better educated (27% of those with high school or less vs. 38% of those with some college vs. 60% among university graduates)'

It is of note that, according to government statistics data, in 2004 about 45 per cent of immigrants entered the country with degrees. Top two countries of origin include India and China (both missing from the AAAS study). On a side note, as a girlfriend of mine concurred, the religious agenda is strongly propagated throughout vast majority of the social strata in India.

While it is good to hear that education has an inherent ability to set people free, the overall percentage of people who subscribe themselves to the theory of evolution would place Canada somewhere between Cyprus and the US of A. Keep in mind that there are no details provided on the sample size and the accuracy of the data presented by this (private?) company. On my part, I have no time to inquire them further about the details of the survey they have carried out seven years ago…

To conclude, is Canada loosing the good fight? Is there any other reliable data published on the subject? It seems as though the debate on the issue of evolution seems to be kept out of the public spotlight in the media.

Well, I for one can't wait for the showing of "The Root of All Evil," just a few days away…