If you’re tired of hearing about ‘Intelligent design’ creationists and the court wars against Darwin’s theory in the U.S., you might be surprised to learn that another pillar of modern science, Einstein and his Theory of Relativity, is under attack.

A burgeoning underground of ‘dissident’ scientists and self-described [...]]]> Was Einstein a fake? | COSMOS magazine.

If you’re tired of hearing about ‘Intelligent design’ creationists and the court wars against Darwin’s theory in the U.S., you might be surprised to learn that another pillar of modern science, Einstein and his Theory of Relativity, is under attack.

A burgeoning underground of ‘dissident’ scientists and self-described experts publish their theories in newsletters and blogs on the Net, exchanging ideas in a great battle against ‘the temple of relativity’. According to these critics, relativity is not only wrong, it’s an affront to common sense, and its creator, Albert Einstein, was no less than a cheat.

A quick glance at anti-relativity proponents and their publications reveals a plethora of alternative theories about how the universe really works – very few of them in agreement with each other. But despite their many differences, common themes among these self-described iconoclasts do emerge: resentment of academic ‘elites’, suspicion of the entire peer-review process in mainstream scientific journals and a deep-seated paranoia about the extent of government involvement in scientific projects.

An aethro-kinematics website (www.aethro-kinematics.com) claims to refute relativity by resurrecting René Descartes’ theory that the Earth and all the planets are carried around the Sun by an “Aether vortex”. Another site points to the work of one Stefan Marinov, a self-described dissident, who apparently threatened to immolate himself in front of the British Embassy in Vienna, Austria, because he was so incensed by the refusal of the respected journal Nature to publish his ‘proofs’ against relativity.

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Billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch are pulling out all the stops to try and deny a link between Koch Industries and the politically controversial Keystone XL Pipeline and Canadian tar sands.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) invited the Kochs to testify before Congress about their leverage in the project and [...]]]> Charles and David Koch.

Billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch are pulling out all the stops to try and deny a link between Koch Industries and the politically controversial Keystone XL Pipeline and Canadian tar sands.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) invited the Kochs to testify before Congress about their leverage in the project and what they stand to gain should the pipeline go through. Notoriously camera shy the Kochs are doing what they can to avoid testifying, enlisting surrogates like Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and launching a brand new public relations push.

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(sent by a member) Please join us for a free public lecture on by Dr. Munir Sheikh , former Chief Statistician [...]]]> Science for Peace: The Importance of Evidence-Based Policy Development
Dr. Munir Sheikh, former Chief Statistician of Canada
Tuesday February 28th  17:00 – 19:00
Room 252 Mechanical Engineering  5 King’s College Road, U of T

(sent by a member) Please join us for a free public lecture on by Dr. Munir Sheikh , former Chief Statistician of Canada and currently Distinguished Fellow at the School of Policy Studies at Queens University, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University.  (Dr. Sheikh resigned when Harper rejected the statistical long form census).

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Human Rights Watch 2012 (February 29 – March 9) Toronto’s most humanist film festival is back for its ninth year, once again taking place at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Human Rights Watch is actually a traveling festival that brings a specially curated selection of about a dozen films to nine [...]]]> Human Rights Watch 2012 | tiff.net.

Human Rights Watch 2012 (February 29 – March 9)
Toronto’s most humanist film festival is back for its ninth year, once again taking place at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Human Rights Watch is actually a traveling festival that brings a specially curated selection of about a dozen films to nine major cities in North America, and also to London, England. This year’s festival includes a couple of titles from TIFF last September (The Island President, Habibi) as well as one of the bigger audience hits from last year’s Hot Docs (The Bully Project). Tickets are on sale now; regular Lightbox prices apply to all screenings.

One particularly strong title in this year’s festival is Fernand Melgar’s Special Flight, a candid documentary about a Swiss prison for detained residents ‘suspected’ of being illegal immigrants — they can, by law, be held here for up to two years, purely because of suspicion, until it is decided whether or not they will receive that ‘special flight’ back to their home country. The prisoners, guards, and staff are shown in their every day environment, and help to frame an image of a prison scenario that flips our pre-conceived notions of what life is like in the big house. Guilty or innocent, the glimpses of these human beings quietly subverts the phobias and prejudices created by that arbitrary thing we call a border.

“..Whether documentary or fiction, films on human rights issues can not only change the way people see the world and affect their future actions, but in some cases — such as Pamela Yates’ Granito — can actually become instruments of justice in themselves. Offering sobering accounts of oppression, violence, and intolerance occurring worldwide, the films in this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival also allows us to experience the courage of the victims of and fighters against injustice, who share their stories of survival and their inspiring will to rebuild their lives. In their unblinking confrontation with suffering, these films offer hope that the very act of bearing witness can in itself help prevent the occurrence of further atrocities. — Alex Rogal

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A new five-year study on the Millennial Generation (those born between 1982 and 1993) has just been released by the Barna Group, a Christian research firm. It shows that young Christians – particularly those interested in scientific and creative fields – are leaving their churches. This is particularly [...]]]> Why Are Young People Leaving Evangelical Christianity?.

A new five-year study on the Millennial Generation (those born between 1982 and 1993) has just been released by the Barna Group, a Christian research firm. It shows that young Christians – particularly those interested in scientific and creative fields – are leaving their churches. This is particularly true of more conservative congregations.

The Barna Group has identified six major factors that are driving young people away from religion:

 #1 – Churches seem overprotective.
One-quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” (23% indicated this “completely” or “mostly” describes their experience). Other perceptions in this category include “church ignoring the problems of the real world” (22%) and “my church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful” (18%).

 #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.
One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%).

Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35%). Three out of ten young adults with a Christian background feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in” (29%). Another one-quarter embrace the perception that “Christianity is anti-science” (25%). And nearly the same proportion (23%) said they have “been turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.” Furthermore, the research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.

#4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.
.Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non-Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality. One-sixth of young Christians (17%) said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” The issue of sexuality is particularly salient among 18- to 29-year-old Catholics, among whom two out of five (40%) said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.”

#5 They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
Younger Americans have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. Today’s youth and young adults also are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other, sometimes even if that means glossing over real differences. Three out of ten young Christians (29%) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and an identical proportion felt they are “forced to choose between my faith and my friends.” One-fifth of young adults with a Christian background said “church is like a country club, only for insiders” (22%).

#6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.
Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. They do not feel safe admitting that sometimes Christianity does not make sense. In addition, many feel that the church’s response to doubt is trivial. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” (36%) and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith” (23%). In a related theme of how churches struggle to help young adults who feel marginalized, about one out of every six young adults with a Christian background said their faith “does not help with depression or other emotional problems” they experience (18%)

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The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, has responded to the recent debates over “militant secularism” by saying that he does not believe Christians in Britain [...]]]> New Humanist (Rationalist Association) – discussing humanism, rationalism, atheism and free thought.

UK Christians are not “persecuted”, says England’s top Catholic

The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, has responded to the recent debates over “militant secularism” by saying that he does not believe Christians in Britain are the victim of persecution. “I personally don’t feel in the least bit persecuted,” he told the Guardian. “I don’t think Christians should use that word.”

At a time when “persecution” is frequently invoked by Christians who are unhappy with legal rulings concerning their faith, for instance in cases concerning the religious exemptions in the workplace, or the recent (and since overridden) judgement against council prayers in Bideford, it is refreshing to hear a leading religious figure reject the use of the word. As secularists have often pointed out, suggesting Christians are “persecuted” in Britain to some extent diminishes the plight of Christians, and other religious and non-religious groups, who suffer genuine, violent and life-threatening persecution elsewhere in the world.

However, in his interview with the Guardian Nichols does not entirely reject that the anti-secularist rhetoric that has emanated from the country’s religious and political establishment in recent weeks, saying that secularism “has produced a seeming determination to tear the legal and therefore cultural life of the country away from its Christian roots”.

In suggesting that secularists are tearing Britain away from “its Christian roots”, Nichols has added his voice to those who have recently presented secularism as a hostile threat to British society. It’s a strange inversion of reality – at a time when the country has a government that is perhaps the most accommodating to religion in recent memory, with a Prime Minister who has declared Britain to be a “Christian country”, and cabinet ministers such as Baroness Warsi and Eric Pickles speaking out for Christian Britain at every opportunity, secularists are somehow presented as being in control, putting the finishing touches to their sinister plan to eject religion from the land.

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…The idealistic, liberal, Enlightenment notion that knowledge will save us, or unite us, was even put to a scientific test last year—and it failed badly.

Yale researcher Dan Kahan and his colleagues set out to [...]]]> The Republican Brain: Why Even Educated Conservatives Deny Science — and Reality | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

…The idealistic, liberal, Enlightenment notion that knowledge will save us, or unite us, was even put to a scientific test last year—and it failed badly.

Yale researcher Dan Kahan and his colleagues set out to study the relationship between political views, scientific knowledge or reasoning abilities, and opinions on contested scientific issues like global warming. In their study, more than 1,500 randomly selected Americans were asked about their political worldviews and their opinions about how dangerous global warming and nuclear power are. But that’s not all: They were also asked standard questions to determine their degree of scientific literacy (e.g, “Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria—true or false?”) as well as their numeracy or capacity for mathematical reasoning (e.g., “If Person A’s chance of getting a disease is 1 in 100 in 10 years, and person B’s risk is double that of A, what is B’s risk?”).

The result was stunning and alarming. The standard view that knowing more science, or being better at mathematical reasoning, ought to make you more accepting of mainstream climate science simply crashed and burned.

Instead, here was the result. If you were already part of a cultural group predisposed to distrust climate science—e.g., a political conservative or “hierarchical-individualist”—then more science knowledge and more skill in mathematical reasoning tended to make you even more dismissive. Precisely the opposite happened with the other group—“egalitarian-communitarians” or liberals—who tended to worry more as they knew more science and math. The result was that, overall, more scientific literacy and mathematical ability led to greater political polarization over climate change—which, of course, is precisely what we see in the polls.

So much for education serving as an antidote to politically biased reasoning…

Politically and strategically, meanwhile, the evidence presented here leaves liberals and progressives in a rather awkward situation. We like evidence—but evidence also suggests that politics doesn’t work in the way we want it to work, or think it should. We may be the children of the Enlightenment—convinced that you need good facts to make good policies—but that doesn’t mean this is equally true for all of humanity, or that it is as true of our political opponents as it is of us.

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« VOTE: ‘Water on the Table’ for Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award

Tomorrow’s vote on the EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), which the Canadian and Albertan governments alongside industry have lobbied heavily against, is featuring prominently in the news. This includes an in-depth segment on [...]]]> TAKE ACTION: Don’t let Canadian lobbying stop EU climate action!.

« VOTE: ‘Water on the Table’ for Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award

Tomorrow’s vote on the EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), which the Canadian and Albertan governments alongside industry have lobbied heavily against, is featuring prominently in the news. This includes an in-depth segment on the Current, a letter from Nobel Peace Laureates and the most recent confirmation that Canada is threatening to challenge the policy before the World Trade Organization.

The Council of Canadians has been responding to these lobby efforts for many months. Most recently, we organized a lobby busting tour of EU Embassies in Ottawa to counteract the misconceptions being brought forward the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)  and their friends, the Harper and Albertan governments.

It is simply unacceptable that our government’s climate policy has become lobbying against other countries climate policies in the interests of unsustainable tar sands expansion.

The vote happening tomorrow is before a committee of technical experts. If there is a qualified majority, the directive moves forward to vote at the European Parliament. If there is a qualified minority, the directive goes back to the European Commission for changes. If there is not a qualified majority or minority, the directive will most likely move forward to a Committee of Environment Ministers for further review, followed by a final vote before the European Parliament.

Don’t let Canadian lobbying stop EU climate action!

Send a message to ministers of Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy, voting on the EU Fuel Quality Directive using Avaaz’s petition with this message: We urge you to vote to classify tar sands oil as more polluting than other sources of fuel under the Fuel Quality Directive. Only strong legislative action can stop the flow of dirty tar oil into the EU and allow us to meet our carbon reduction targets. Europe’s global environmental leadership is on the line — please ensure that Europe’s climate ambitions aren’t undermined by Canada’s dirty oil threats.

Petition: www.avaaz.org/en/eu_tar_sands/

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A story of Toronto waste, and Uxbridge dumping – and contracting out to private firms who skirt regulations – sound familiar?

…. Over the past two years, Scugog fought a tense battle against a commercial fill operator dumping vast quantities of excavated Toronto soil [...]]]> The tale of Toronto’s tainted soil – The Globe and Mail.

A story of Toronto waste, and Uxbridge dumping – and contracting out to private firms who skirt regulations – sound familiar?

…. Over the past two years, Scugog fought a tense battle against a commercial fill operator dumping vast quantities of excavated Toronto soil into an abandoned gravel pit on Lakeridge Road in Clarington. The pit is located on the Oak Ridges Moraine, in the Greenbelt.

(GFL Environmental, the company that won Toronto’s residential garbage contract), contracted with Earthworx to ship soil from its Toronto construction sites to Lakeridge….Earthworx skirted provincial regulations and refused to comply with local bylaws, according to ministry of the environment (MOE) and court documents obtained by The Globe and Mail. (Company officials didn’t reply to interview requests.) Local residents grew alarmed about water contamination from dirty fill and the proliferation of dump trucks. The township got a court order to shut down the operation last March after Earthworx claimed the project was exempt from municipal regulations because it was to be redeveloped as an aerodrome, and thus subject to federal jurisdiction. “There were so many unknown factors with Lakeridge that irritated people,” commented Mr. Mercier…

The confrontation over Lakeridge – coupled with the proliferation of other large fill operations in gravel pits in Durham and York regions – has given rise to a mounting political backlash from residents and environmental groups concerned about contamination of Oak Ridges Moraine aquifers. Record construction activity in downtown Toronto has produced massive amounts of surplus excavated soil, some of it contaminated, that must be dumped somewhere.

“The main thing is that the movement and dumping of fill is essentially unregulated,” said Ian McLaurin, a retired engineer and spokesperson for Lakeridge Citizens for Clean Water, the group that blew the whistle on Earthworx. The commercial fill companies, he added, “just get their permit [from the municipality] and start operations.”..

In November, East Gwillimbury township councillor Tara Roy-DiClemente moved a successful motion asking the province to regulate the dumping of large quantities of fill. “How can we be sure that what is in that dump truck is clean and safe?” she said, noting that there are a dozen abandoned quarries within the township’s boundaries and at least two pending applications. “We don’t have the ability to control the ebb and flow. We’re looking for assistance from the ministry of the environment.”

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Stephen Harper has signed a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China that will give Canadian corporations investing in China the right to sue the Chinese government if there is an attempt to improve existing human rights, labour or environmental standards (A Leap Forward By Canada – editorial, Feb. 9).

The Canada-China FIPA [...]]]> Leap backward.

Stephen Harper has signed a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China that will give Canadian corporations investing in China the right to sue the Chinese government if there is an attempt to improve existing human rights, labour or environmental standards (A Leap Forward By Canada – editorial, Feb. 9).

The Canada-China FIPA will, in fact, provide yet another barrier to badly needed reforms in China.

The same deal will give Chinese investors in the Alberta tar sands the right to sue the Canadian government if any new standards are introduced to reduce the current level of environmental damage to water, air and local communities of that industry. It will also give Chinese investors the right to stake a claim to the water they use in these operations.

This investment deal threatens human rights and environmental stewardship in Canada and China and makes it clear that Mr. Harper will put both on the backburner in his role as chief salesman for big business.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/feb-11-letters-to-the-editor/article2334646/

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A  view of the recent ruling in Britain against prayers in council …..you may wish to write to the Globe if you feel inclined…

We always knew it could happen: A devout Muslim heads a conservative political party that takes office in a multicultural Western country, then leads [...]]]> Doug Saunders – The Globe and Mail.

A  view of the recent ruling in Britain against prayers in council …..you may wish to write to the Globe if you feel inclined…

We always knew it could happen: A devout Muslim heads a conservative political party that takes office in a multicultural Western country, then leads a campaign to enforce mandatory prayer and to lobby for religious-based values and laws. How will people react?

Well, it happened in Britain this week, and here’s how they reacted: Judges and leading thinkers fought back in the name of a secular state, but the Queen, the Pope and Britain’s right-wing newspapers all spoke up in support of the Muslim party leader’s campaign.

The Baroness shot back, saying her country is falling prey to “militant secularization” and arguing that religious belief should be “a voice in the public sphere.” She went to Rome and met the Pope, who appeared to give her arguments his blessing. Religion, she said, should be a basis of public life: “To create a more just society, Britons must feel stronger in their religious identities.”

Right-leaning newspapers laid on the two-inch headlines known by insiders as “Jesus type” and backed her: “Britain being taken over by ‘militant secularists,’ ” screamed The Daily Telegraph. The Daily Mail and The Times used their front pages to charge that religion was “under attack” and “on the rack.” Then the Queen joined in, using a meeting with representatives of nine major religions to make the case: “We should remind ourselves of the significant position of the Church of England in our nation’s life.”

Only months before, many of those newspapers (and some Tory MPs) were expressing equally loud alarm at the prospect of Muslim prayer rooms in universities or the existence of sharia divorce tribunals. Now, in the face of secularism, they’re taking the opposite position. In the fast-moving heart of the religion wars, you can feel the ground shifting beneath your feet.

In truth, no one is calling for a religious state or attacking faith. Rather, we are witnessing a showdown, across the West, between two competing definitions of “freedom of religion.” In one definition, the public sphere is a wide-open space: Citizens are free to try to impose religion, to invoke their gods in legislation, to wear whatever symbols they like. It’s a marketplace of beliefs, and may the strongest prevail.

In the other definition, that sphere is a neutral space: Religion is private and public places are unencumbered by competitions for divine supremacy. This definition recognizes that freedom of religion depends on a strongly defended freedom from religion. And freedom from religion is just as important for non-believers, who don’t want public life to be corrupted with spiritualism, as it is for devout believers, who don’t want their sacred beliefs to be sullied by the vicissitudes of politics.

Baroness Warsi’s intervention is a positive development for both sides. On the religious free-for-all side, she has shown that Muslims can join the other two Abrahamic religions in pressing for privileges without being accused of engaging in a “clash of civilizations.” At the same time, she helps people realize that the problem in public life isn’t Islam but religion itself.

Britain might follow the lead of Ontario, where public outcry over proposed Muslim sharia tribunals led the government to realize that Christians and Jews had been allowed similar religious-based tribunals, and that the whole thing was a bad idea. By putting an end to the practice of religious law, Ontario relegated religion to the place it works best, as a philosophy of private enlightenment (if only the same could be done for schools).

We’re entering an age when Muslims are no longer seen as alien outsiders but as ordinary participants in public life. If earlier public hysteria over their beliefs had a benefit, though, it was in making us all realize the value of a neutral, secular public life.

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Canada’s top court on Friday rejected an appeal from parents in Quebec who sought the right to keep their children out of an ethics and religious culture program taught in the province’s schools.

The program, which was introduced in 2008 to elementary and high [...]]]> Quebec students must take ethics-religion course – Canada – CBC News.

Canada’s top court on Friday rejected an appeal from parents in Quebec who sought the right to keep their children out of an ethics and religious culture program taught in the province’s schools.

The program, which was introduced in 2008 to elementary and high schools by the provincial Education Ministry, replaced religion classes with a curriculum covering all major faiths found in Quebec culture, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and aboriginal beliefs.

“Exposing children to a comprehensive presentation of various religions without forcing the children to join them does not constitute an indoctrination of students that would infringe the freedom of religion of L and J [the appellants],” Madam Justice Marie Deschamps wrote in the main ruling.

“Furthermore, the early exposure of children to realities that differ from those in their immediate family environment is a fact of life in society. The suggestion that exposing children to a variety of religious facts in itself infringes their religious freedom or that of their parents amounts to a rejection of the multicultural reality of Canadian society and ignores the Quebec government’s obligations with regard to public education…

When the program became mandatory in Quebec schools in May 2008, the appellants, who cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban, had one child in elementary school and another in secondary school. The parents wrote to the two schools to request that their children be exempt from the courses. They claimed their children would suffer serious harm from contact with a series of beliefs that were mostly incompatible with those of the family.

The school board refused to grant the exemption, responding as other boards had to similar requests. The Quebec minister of education publicly stated that there would be no exemptions.

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It was the front page headline of The Times — “Christianity on the rack as judge bans public prayer” — that captured the mood of conservative Britain this week. ‘We’re doing 10 times more humanist wedding ceremonies than we were doing as recently as five years ago. [...]]]> Will it ever be Ireland without a prayer?

It was the front page headline of The Times — “Christianity on the rack as judge bans public prayer” — that captured the mood of conservative Britain this week.
‘We’re doing 10 times more humanist wedding ceremonies than we were doing as recently as five years ago. A new generation of people don’t want to have a church ceremony because they have no religious beliefs.

In a decision that is seen as a significant breakthrough for the secular movement in the UK, a High Court outlawed formal acts of prayer in the chambers of town and city halls across the country.

Senior figures from the Church of England and other Christian denominations reacted angrily to the ruling, with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, saying it represented the “marginalisation of Christianity”. He added: “I am horrified by this. It does look as though the Christian voice is being silenced and I am very worried by the dangers of a creeping secularism.”

The landmark case has attracted plenty of attention from secular groups here, and it has prompted Atheist Ireland to send a letter to all members of the respective Committees on Procedure and Privilege of both the Dáil and the Seanad to ask them to stop the practice of saying prayers before every session of both houses…

“It is inappropriate that any of our parliamentarians should publicly ask a god, particularly a specific variation of a specific god, to direct their actions and every word and work of theirs. It suggests either (a) that they are being directed in their work by messages that they believe come from a supernatural being, or (b) that they are taking part in the prayer without believing it to be true.”

The Labour Senator, Ivana Bacik, has been vocal on this issue in the past. “I don’t think the prayer as it exists is appropriate in a pluralist society,” she says. “I think the Dublin City Council policy of starting sessions with a minute’s silence is far more fitting.” Bacik has championed secularism since entering public life. “My views annoyed a lot of people early on, and I suppose they still do,” she says. “But let’s just say the hate mail isn’t as frequent as it once was.

“Ireland has changed enormously over the past couple of decades and it’s a markedly more secular country than it was even 20 years ago. Just look at the proportion of people who are opting for a non-religious wedding nowadays.”

Bacik has drafted a bill which aims to give humanist wedding celebrants the same legal status as civil registrars and clergy. The bill was passed unopposed in the Seanad and she fully expects it to be ratified by the Dail later this year.

The Humanist Association of Ireland spokesman Brian Whiteside believes this Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill will be a significant milestone for secularists. “It’s in keeping with the changing face of the country we live in today,” he says.

‘We’re doing 10 times more humanist wedding ceremonies than we were doing as recently as five years ago. A new generation of people don’t want to have a church ceremony because they have no religious beliefs.

“It’s the same story with funerals — we’re doing more and more humanist ceremonies, including that of [acclaimed documentary maker] Mary Raftery that got quite a bit of attention last month. Every single day, I receive calls from people who ask me how they can ensure that they receive a humanist funeral when they die. I tell them to make their wishes clear to their nearest and dearest.”..

Whiteside says the growing acceptance of the humanist movement can be gauged from the high number of official invites the association now receives, not least when a representative from the Humanist Association was formally asked to be present for the inauguration of President Michael D Higgins.

“I think that came at the behest of the President himself,” Whiteside says. “It was an acknowledgement that many people in our society do not believe in a god, but their moral compass is no less for that.”

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if  you like reading his philosophy – go meet him for lunch.

Friday, March 9th, 2012, 12:00 – 1:00 pm AGO, Baillie Court Members $23 / Public $29 / Students $20 – Lunch included.

Join philosopher and author Alain de [...]]]> Brown Bag Lunch & Talk: Alain de Botton | AGO Art Gallery of Ontario.

if  you like reading his philosophy – go meet him for lunch.

Friday, March 9th, 2012, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
AGO, Baillie Court
Members $23 / Public $29 / Students $20 – Lunch included.

Join philosopher and author Alain de Botton for the next in a series of brown-bag lunch-time talks. Born in Zurich, Switzerland and now living in London, Alain is a writer of essay books that have been described as ‘philosophies of everyday life.’ He’s written on love, travel, architecture and literature. Alain also started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain has long been passionate about modern architecture and was instrumental in starting the organization Living Architecture, as well as writing The Architecture of Happiness, which asks the question “what is a beautiful building?”

His latest book, Religion for Atheists, is a deeply moving meditation on how we can still benefit, without believing, from the wisdom, the beauty, and the consolatory power that religion has to offer.  A book signing with the author will follow. Alain will bring to this talk his extensive knowledge of art history, aesthetics and the art world.

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Last week Public Security Minister Vic Toews admitted that he directed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to accept for Canadian use — “in exceptional circumstances” only of course — information obtained by foreign agencies through the use of torture.

Previous Canadian policy had insisted that CSIS could not knowingly rely [...]]]> Tortured policy | Ceasefire.ca.]

Last week Public Security Minister Vic Toews admitted that he directed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to accept for Canadian use — “in exceptional circumstances” only of course — information obtained by foreign agencies through the use of torture.

Previous Canadian policy had insisted that CSIS could not knowingly rely upon information derived from torture and that the spy agency must also have measures in place to identify such information (“CSIS may use intelligence derived from torture, Toews says,” Canadian Press, 7 February 2012):

The latest directive says in “exceptional circumstances” where there is a threat to human life or public safety, urgency may require CSIS to “share the most complete information available at the time with relevant authorities, including information based on intelligence provided by foreign agencies that may have been derived from the use of torture or mistreatment.” …

“Therefore, in situations where a serious risk to public safety exists, and where lives may be at stake, I expect and thus direct CSIS to make the protection of life and property its overriding priority, and share the necessary information — properly described and qualified — with appropriate authorities.”

The UN Convention Against Torture, which Canada has signed and ratified, bans the use of torture under all circumstances, stipulating that “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

Canada’s legal obligation to reject torture has also been incorporated into the Criminal Code of Canada.

The new policy doesn’t eliminate these legal bans; instead, it authorizes Canadian officials to receive the proceeds of the crime of torture as long as the torture itself is outsourced to foreign officials.

In so doing, it also sends a very clear message to CSIS: The information is more important than the crime. Keep the information coming.

Given this atmosphere, it should come as no surprise if those “exceptional circumstances” later turn out to be something more akin to standard operating procedures. Exceptional circumstances have a way of becoming that.

And that’s assuming that the agency chooses to see that torture was involved at all. Canada’s record in Afghanistan strongly suggests that some (although not all) Canadian officials are quite capable of becoming legally blind to torture when convenience demands that they see nothing.

And, really, is that so surprising? How can we expect our officials — or at least those who want to have a successful career — to see torture when their bosses won’t even permit them to say the word?

Further commentary:

“Torture is always wrong,” Ottawa Citizen editorial, 8 February 2012

Dan Leger, “Is Canada OK with torture? Vic Toews sure is,” Chronicle Herald, 13 February 2012

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VANCOUVER – For almost three weeks after David Tarasick published findings about one of the largest ozone holes ever discovered above the Arctic, the federal scientist was barred from breathing a word about it to the media.

Kristi Miller was [...]]]> Canadian Scientists Told By Ottawa Which Findings Make Press, Panel Tells Global Research Community.

VANCOUVER – For almost three weeks after David Tarasick published findings about one of the largest ozone holes ever discovered above the Arctic, the federal scientist was barred from breathing a word about it to the media.

Kristi Miller was similarly gagged from granting interviews about her own research into a virus that might be killing British Columbia’s wild sockeye salmon, despite going to print in the prestigious journal Science.

Such incidents aren’t one-off occurrences, but instead represent a trend of “muzzling” policies being imposed on Canadian scientists by federal agencies under the Conservative government, a panel told their international peers Friday at a global science conference in Vancouver.

“It’s pretty clear that for federal scientists, Ottawa decides now if the researchers can talk, what they can talk about and when they can say it,” senior science journalist Margaret Munro, with Postmedia News, told a group gathered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

“We’re not talking about state secrets here.”

The views were aired in tandem with the release of an open letter by a coalition of six science and communications organizations, who jointly called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to “tear down the wall” that’s been raised over the past four years separating scientists, journalists and the public.

“Despite promises that your majority government would follow principles of accountability and transparency, federal scientists in Canada are still not allowed to speak to reporters without the ‘consent’ of media relations officers,” the letter says….

Munro, an award-winning reporter who’s worked in the field more than 30 years, said news coverage of publicly-funded science has plummeted in the years since the Conservatives took office.

“We used to have a very open system of government, where the scientists were actually free to discuss their research with the media,” she said. “But it’s now become a very closed system with government taking media and message control to sometimes quite incredible extremes.”

Among the first agencies whose strict guidelines restricting the flow of information was revealed was Environment Canada, in 2007. The protocol stipulated that all media requests be streamlined through agency headquarters, and staff divert replies from being answered by the scientist themselves with either “approved lines” or the minister’s office.

“The government, for the most part, won’t really admit that there is a problem,” she said. “They maintain there is timely, orderly access to scientists.”

No official from any of Environment Canada, the Fisheries Department or Natural Resources were available to join the panel. An invitation to Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for science and technology, was not answered.

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1:30 – 2:00 pm Parliamentary Clinic 2:00 – 4:00 pm Town Hall Holy Rosary Parish Hall, 356 St. Clair Avenue West

MP Carolyn Bennett is hosting a town hall for a candid discussion about electoral reform and urban [...]]]> FAIR VOTE CANADA:  ELECTORAL REFORM TOWN HALL SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 2012

1:30 – 2:00 pm Parliamentary Clinic
2:00 – 4:00 pm Town Hall
Holy Rosary Parish Hall, 356 St. Clair Avenue West

MP Carolyn Bennett is hosting a town hall for a candid discussion about electoral reform and urban activism. Stéphane Dion, MP, Liberal critic for democratic reform will give a keynote speech. Dave Meslin, urban activist and civic engagement specialist, will also share his views on electoral reform and civic engagement.  Donna Dasko of Equal Voice and Wayne Smith of Fair Vote Canada will also add their perspectives to this very important discussion.

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One-Inch Lizards: Researchers Find New Species of Mini-Chameleon . Der Spiegel:  … the tiny island of Nosy Hara just off the northern tip of Madagascar is rather desolate. Only a few patches of forest cover the rocky bit of land, not the kind of place that looks particularly hospitable to wildlife.

Yet [...]]]>  

One-Inch Lizards: Researchers Find New Species of Mini-Chameleon . Der Spiegel:  … the tiny island of Nosy Hara just off the northern tip of Madagascar is rather desolate. Only a few patches of forest cover the rocky bit of land, not the kind of place that looks particularly hospitable to wildlife.

Yet it is here that biologists have discovered a fascinating new species: the tiny chameleon Brookesia micra. From tip to tail, the mini-lizards measure less than three centimetres (1.2 inches), making them some of the smallest reptiles on Earth.

Mostly brown with a touch of green, the coloring of the diminutive creatures is far from spectacular. And they are unable to change their appearance like their larger cousins. Nonetheless, researchers are fascinated. “It’s not the kind of thing where you have to perform extensive genetic analysis to realize that this is something new,” Miguel Vences, a biologist with the Technical University of Braunschweig and the co-author of an article on the new species in the scientific journal PLoS ONE

Vences and his colleagues, including Frank Glaw from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology and Jörn Köhler of the Hesse State Museum in Darmstadt, have taken a closer look at the lizard’s genetic makeup — and that of other tiny chameleons they found in neighboring regions of Madagascar. In total, the researchers discovered four new species of miniature saurians.

They have also found “surprisingly large genetic discrepancies” between the quartet of new discoveries, despite the fact that they all look very much alike. Their evolutionary paths would seem to have diverged many millions of years ago….

With almost 300 frog varieties and 400 different reptiles, the fauna of Madagascar is considered unique. And new species are found on the island nation with astounding regularity. At the same time, however, many of them are extremely endangered, with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimating that some 40 percent of the reptile species in Madagascar are threatened, acutely threatened or in danger of extinction.

Adding to the problem is the unstable political situation in the country. An interim government has been in power since 2009 following a violent takeover. According to Germany’s Foreign Ministry, a return to political and economic stability is not in sight. Habitat protection in such conditions is extremely challenging.,,. The chameleon’s habitat was placed under protection several years ago, but since then logging has only increased.

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(from the UN News website) …Once at the vanguard of the protest movement, women have yet to gain any significant influence in the new Egypt, revealing the complexities of defining gender rights in a nation colored by Islam, inundated by Western media permissiveness and ruled [...]]]> After Egypt revolution, women’s taste of equality fades – .

(from the UN News website)
…Once at the vanguard of the protest movement, women have yet to gain any significant influence in the new Egypt, revealing the complexities of defining gender rights in a nation colored by Islam, inundated by Western media permissiveness and ruled by military men operating in a cloistered realm of gold stars and salutes.

The army council that replaced Mubarak’s corrupt regime has been harsh, subjecting female dissidents to “virginity tests” to intimidate them, and in December beating and ripping the clothes off female demonstrators, including one stripped to her blue bra, an image that became an icon for an unfinished rebellion.

Political power has shifted to the hands of Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood and the ultraconservative Salafis control more than 70% of the seats in the parliament, a prospect that worries women seeking equality on social matters such as education and divorce. Only five women have seats among the assembly’s 508 elected and appointed members. In 2010, a year after Mubarak enacted a quota system to expand the female presence, 68 women won parliament seats.

The military later abolished the quota, another sign the feminist agenda was stalled against more powerful and patriarchal designs.

Nawal Saadawi, 80, silver hair in pigtails, has fought for women over a lifetime. One of Egypt’s leading writers and its most eloquent feminist, she’s been at her desk for years, immortalizing women in her dozens of books about fictitious women and women very real. Her titles can sting with indictment: “She Has No Place in Paradise.” Women, she says, have been betrayed in today’s Egypt of mullahs and generals.

“We don’t hear the voice of women,” she says. “We’re not allowed to speak. I’ve written 47 books that paved the way for women, so why am I not allowed to speak?”

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Thursday, February 16th at 4-6pm in Room 040 / 140 (multi-level room) of University College at the University of Toronto (15 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H7)

A presentation on female feticide and other sex-related issues in India. This lecture [...]]]> Science for Peace: Entrenched Male-domination, Altered Sex-ratios and Women’s Well(ill)-being: The case of India.

Thursday, February 16th at 4-6pm in Room 040 / 140 (multi-level room) of University College at the University of Toronto (15 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H7)

A presentation on female feticide and other sex-related issues in India. This lecture is part of the Vital Discussion of Human Security lecture series and is co-sponsored by the University College Health Studies Programme, Canadian Pugwash Group, Science for Peace, and Voice of Women for Peace. All are welcome. No charge.

(Note: Homa Arjomand of nosharia.com has added a very lengthy post to this notice on Science For Peace, part of which reads:

Sex-selective abortion is happening frequently globally, in particular in Southern and Eastern Asian countries. At least 100 million of the total numbers of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. In India, the need for a dowry for girl children is blamed. Dowry is money, gold, goods or estate that young girls bring forth to the marriage.The groom and his family often demand a dowry consisting of a large sum of cash, gold, farm animals, furniture and lands. The need for a dowry for girls brings unbearable pressure on families and a as result, they use any means to avoid having girls. Women are known to have lost their lives for having back–street abortions. The consequences of not having a sufficient dowry are sometimes very harsh on girls and their families. The most common way to punish the bride whose dowries were not deemed sufficient by their husband or by the groom’s relatives is known as “bride burning”. This is a common practice in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. According to Indian state statistics, a dowry death occurs every 93 minutes. 

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