Podcast for Inquiry S02E13: Dana Korneisel on tetrapods and her book, “Dana Digs Dinosaurs”

What is a tetrapod? What is a homologue, and how does it differ from convergent evolution? Dana answers my many questions about animal development from embryo to adult, talks about her research on amphibians and axolotls, and how her book, “Dana Digs Dinosaurs”, was inspired by the excitement of a seven year old. 

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A video recording is also available:

Sudbury Inmates on Suicide Watch Offered Only the Bible

Back in April, I spoke with Jenny Lamothe, a reporter for Sudbury.com, about a terrible policy at the Sudbury Jail: inmates on suicide watch can read nothing except the Christian Bible.

“There is no evidence that I have ever encountered that indicates that religious texts are effective in helping those who have suicidal ideation,” I told her. “As someone who is greatly in favour of evidence-based treatment, I would hope that our penal system would use those materials that have proven efficacy for those in dire need. So the policy of restricting access to religious materials makes no sense to me, because there is no evidence that it will achieve its stated goal.”

Ms. Lamothe also noted that Canada subsidizes "religious charities to the tune of $5 billion a year."

Read the full article on Sudbury.com. 

Secular news from May 2023

The following article appeared in the June 2023 edition of Critical Links, the monthly newsletter from the Centre for Inquiry Canada. 

A roundup of secular news from the past month:

• Canada’s Coat of Arms no longer features religious symbolism. The Canadian Royal Crown that sits atop the Canada Coat of Arms has been redesigned. The new Crown features Canadian imagery (maple leaves and a snowflake) instead of religious symbols (crosses and a fleur-de-lis). While the change has little practical impact on Canadians (personally, I couldn’t recall what Canada’s Coat of Arms looked like before reading about the redesign), it’s refreshing to see Canada slowly and steadily weaning itself off its erroneous self-conception as a Christian nation. 
• Iran hangs two convicted of blasphemy. It is for good reason that “theocracy” is generally considered to be a pejorative term. Countries where religious authorities run (or significantly influence) the government tend not to respect human rights (consider Iran, Afghanistan, and Russia, among others). In the midst of an uprising wherein Iranian women are publicly removing their hijabs in record numbers (despite severe repression from government authorities), Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare were executed for “burning the Quran” and “insulting the Prophet of Islam,” according to the country’s judiciary. Fortunately, because Canada repealed its blasphemy law in 2018, Iran can no longer point to Canada for moral cover. 
• Forced-birth organization makes short list for federal funding. The Canada Student Jobs program is in the news again. In 2017, controversy erupted because federal funds were being funneled to organizations that would force a woman to give birth against her will (they refer to themselves as “pro-life” groups). The government revised the rules, but in a way that religious groups claimed restricted their religious freedom. After another overhaul of eligibility criteria, Priests for Life has recently made the short list for federal funding. Priests for Life has not yet been awarded any money, but it will be interesting to watch the government attempt to balance women’s rights with religious freedom. 

Podcast for Inquiry S02E12: Justice-Centered Humanism with Roy Speckhardt

Roy Speckardt is the past executive director of the American Humanist Association. We speak about his latest book, Justice-Centered Humanism. Conversation topics include:

• Roy’s journey to Humanism
• How to get Humanists involved in activism
• How Humanism leads to Social Justice
• Environmentalism
• Sentientism (referencing PfI S02E06 with Jamie Woodhouse)
• Secularism

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A video recording is also available:

Ontario Takes First Step to Merge Public and Catholic School Boards

The following article appeared in the June 2023 edition of Critical Links, the monthly newsletter from the Centre for Inquiry Canada. 

Ontario Takes First Step to Merge Public and Catholic School Boards

Of course, the Conservative provincial government doesn’t describe its actions as a merger of the public and separate school systems. But with the introduction of Bill 98, section 195.1 gives the Ontario Education Minister the power to “direct two or more boards to enter into an arrangement” to share “use of a school site, part of a school site or other property of a board.”

This is a tacit admission that having a distinct Catholic school system leads to waste on a scale sufficient to warrant a legislative fix. The financial argument against a fully funded separate school system is compelling on its own: Ontario spends approximately $10 billion each year on Catholic schools, and could save $1.5 billion annually by having a single publicly funded school system for each official language. CFIC also objects to the separate school on ethical grounds: It is inherently discriminatory, violates secular principles, hampers students’ quality of life, and worsens educational outcomes. 

The Ontario government clearly understands that the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. Bill 98 is a small, tentative step in the right direction. Write to Ontario Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, and tell him the bill does not go far enough. When the province holds consultations in your community, ensure your voice is heard. Public and separate school boards should share not just their buildings, but also their curricula, oversight, and administration. The Ontario public and separate school systems should be merged. 

Are You (Or Do You Know) An Alberta Lawyer With Human Rights Experience?

The following article appeared in the June 2023 edition of Critical Links, the monthly newsletter from the Centre for Inquiry Canada. 

CFIC was recently contacted by a Sergeant (I will use the pseudonym “Bob”) in the Calgary Police Service (CPS). He brought to our attention that many of CPS’ informal practices assume its members are Christian by default.

A few examples of how Christianity is embedded in the CPS:

• When the CPS built a new headquarters a little over a decade ago, it included a chapel. The design clearly makes it a Christian room of worship, with an altar, pews, stained-glass windows, and a Christian saint prominently displayed. A CPS document describing its intended use listed predominantly Christian ceremonies (“wedding services, baptisms and christenings”). While lip service was paid to other faiths (“Any or all of the rows can be removed to accommodate special purposes, such as First Nations ceremonies, the placement of prayer mats for Muslim prayer services”), the document makes clear that the standard, default, and assumed use of the chapel was for Christians and Christian rites. 
• Before getting married, Bob and his fiancee took the CPS couples’ course, intended to assist officers and their partners with their relationships. The instructor — a psychologist (with inflated credentials) under contract for 23 years with the CPS — stated couples with previous sexual partners cannot achieve the same level of intimacy as those that “saved themselves” for marriage. While a common Christian trope, there is no evidence that couples without previous sexual partners have happier, healthier, or longer relationships. 
• The instructor also stated LGBT couples would need a separate course “because of the number of sexual partners they have” and “they would make the straight couples feel uncomfortable.”
• Bob asked to provide a secular invocation at a service dinner in lieu of the customary Christian grace. The request was grudgingly granted, but the management team made it clear such efforts were unwelcome (loudly proclaiming “Amen” after the invocation).
• The CPS has a District Chaplaincy program. However, unlike the Canadian military (listen to Podcast for Inquiry with Marie-Claire Khadij to learn more about the Canadian Armed Force chaplaincy program), all 13 chaplains in the CPS are Christian pastors. There is no representation for other faiths, First Nations people, or the non-religious.
• Some of the CPS chaplains represent the Billy Graham Association, which believes (among other things) in evangelizing Christianity and that “marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female.” Needless to say, this is hardly inclusive of non-Christians and members of the LGBT community. 

The CPS has made some improvements in recent years:

• The chapel was renamed Memorial Hall (likely as a result of a complaint filed by Bob). 
• The “intimacy” portion of the couples’ course has been removed.
• The CPS instituted an official policy of religious neutrality (which has since been removed).
• Recruits are no longer invited to seemingly secular ceremonies that turn into a Catholic mass, though the CPS still hosts Catholic services including a Christmas Eve mass).

Nonetheless, in many respects the Calgary Police Service remains a “Christian-default” workplace. Bob has faced retaliation in ways subtle and overt for his attempts to make the CPS a more inclusive, welcoming, and secular institution. Therefore, in September 2021, Bob submitted an official complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

The AHRC has reviewed Bob’s complaint, and has accepted it as valid (most files are rejected at this stage). It will therefore proceed to a conciliation hearing (yet to be scheduled). 

CFIC will be writing a letter of support for Bob’s case, outlining the legal requirement for the Calgary Police Service, as an agent of the state, to respect the principle of secularism: not privileging one faith over another, or belief over non-belief. 

If you know an Alberta lawyer with human rights experience, please let me know at rosenblood@centreforinquiry.ca.

We will keep you apprised of Bob’s case at the AHRC in future editions of Critical Links.