This morning I briefed you on a fight going on in Saskatoon between the city’s mayor and one of its citizens over a led prayer at a volunteer appreciation dinner. Worse, perhaps, than the mayor’s recalcitrance, was the racist and anti-immigrant backlash Mr. Ashu Solo faced as a result of speaking out, despite the fact …
Monthly Archive: May 2012
May 17 2012
Because I am an atheist: The Radula
Today’s submission comes from atheist science blogger ‘The Radula‘ Because I am an atheist… I no longer have to struggle to reconcile what I see and experience with what I want to believe is true, or what I’m told I should believe is true. I must evaluate everything on its own merits, not by comparing …
May 17 2012
Taking them on Solo
I have, in the past, erroneously made the point that Canada’s Charter does not explicitly separate church and state. I thought it was cute and curious that a country like Canada, with a very secular population (particularly compared to the United States), has no need to enshrine and codify the explicit segregation between religious matters …
May 16 2012
Because I am an atheist: ZB
Today’s contribution was submitted via e-mail by ZB: Because I am an atheist… I was better able to deal with having cancer. In May 2010, I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called follicular lymphoma. It was in stage 3, and it only goes to stage 4. I learned from my oncologist that the …
May 16 2012
In loco parentis
One of the things that I have found in my relatively few years involved in scientific research is that there are parts that are much more difficult than others. From conception to execution to communication, there are a number of repeatable discrete steps in the research pipeline, and while it varies somewhat, there is definitely …
May 16 2012
Kiva project update: May 2012
I’ve been slacking again, but I took the opportunity today to update our Kiva project. Mwanamisi is a married woman with 3 children, all of whom attend school. She owns a house that neither has electricity nor piped water. Her greatest monthly expenses are food and school fees. For the past five years, she has operated …
May 15 2012
Because I am an atheist: jetboy
Today’s submission comes from commenter jetboy: Because I am an atheist… Neither death nor life hold any fear for me. I am a happier person knowing there is no purpose other than that which I assign. I am happier knowing that each atom in my body is as immortal as any being could wish for. …
May 15 2012
We’ll tread that fine line…
I hope nobody mistakes my approach to racism and cultural tolerance as ‘the right way’. People a lot more well-versed than I am in the vagaries of anthropology, history, sociology, and psychology (just to name a few relevant fields that I am utterly clueless in) have time and again failed to find the surefire path …
May 14 2012
Because I am an atheist: Stephanie Zvan
Today’s submission comes from fellow FTBer (and friend) Stephanie Zvan of Almost Diamonds: Because I am an atheist… …I am alive. That sounds hyperbolic, but bear with me. There is much about my life now that I love–being able to write for (a small amount of) money, having the kind of love life that most …
May 14 2012
The paradox of science and conservatism
I expend a great deal of time and effort in the disparagement of conservative ideologies. They oversimplify complex issues to the point where the ‘solutions’ that arise from such ideologies are often more harmful than the problems they purport to ‘fix’. Reality is a multifaceted state of affairs with a lot of moving parts that …
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