Pride Week has just ended in Vancouver and for the sixth straight year members of the BC Humanist Association joined the annual Vancouver Pride Parade to show our solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

This year, we built on our strengths. It was the first year that many of our supporters joined the Vancouver Dyke March as Humanists to show our support for social justice and marginalized communities. We also set up a table at the Vancouver Pride Festival for the first time and were overwhelmed by the support we received (we ran out of buttons before the day even ended).

Thanks to CFI Vancouver for their continued sponsorship of our marching group and to Ken at EmbroidMe Vancouver for promotional support.

Last week, the Prince George Citizen published an incredible article about the Ness Lake Bible Camp.

It documents how the camp censors third party groups who rent the facility from speaking in support of LGBTQ equality. The camp has also barred one of its Christian volunteers from returning because of pro-LGBTQ Facebook posts.

The public school district is now considering whether to terminate its relationship with the camp. Local schools often rented the facility for year end activities.

It's a well written and thorough piece that highlights the concerns we continue to have with religion's influence on our school system. Going forward we'll be there to continue to support secular schools in BC.

By Joseph P. Laycock, Texas State University

The 1990s were a high-water mark for public interest in UFOs and alien abduction. Shows like “The X-Files” and Fox’s “alien autopsy” hoax were prime-time events, while MIT even hosted an academic conference on the abduction phenomenon.

But in the first decade of the 21st century, interest in UFOs began to wane. Fewer sightings were reported, and established amateur research groups like the British Flying Saucer Bureau disbanded.

In 2006 historian Ben Macintyre suggested in The Times that the internet had “chased off” the UFOs. The web’s free-flowing, easy exchange of ideas and information had allowed UFO skeptics to prevail, and, to Macintyre, people were no longer seeing UFOs because they no longer believed in them.

Data seemed to back up Macintyre’s argument that, when it came to belief in UFOs, reason was winning out. A 1990 Gallup poll found that 27 percent of Americans believed “extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth at some time in the past.” That number rose to 33 percent in 2001, before dropping back to 24 percent in 2005.

But now “The X-Files” is back, and Hillary Clinton has even pledged to disclose what the government knows about aliens if elected president. Meanwhile, a recent Boston Globe article by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie suggests that belief in UFOs may be growing.

She points to a 2015 Ipsos poll, which reported that 45 percent of Americans believe extraterrestrials have visited the Earth.

So much for reason.

By Drew Margolin, Cornell University

The Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France, brought the usual outpouring of emotion and expressions of support through social media. Front and center is the use of the #PrayForNice hashtag.

While this hashtag began years ago, it is becoming increasingly scrutinized as a social and political act. For example, after the Nice attacks, a number of tweets expressed frustration with the relative outpouring of sympathy for Nice compared with other cities that had been targeted by violent attacks, notably those in the Middle East and Africa.

medina was attacked a couple days ago and there was no #prayformedina no one even talked about it. https://t.co/cy3vOyCHfH

— ikram (@Ikramnorr) 15 July 2016

What could lead to this accusation of indifference, and what should we conclude from it?

I think there's a fair amount of evidence which says that such things as prayer would be helpful to people. -Darryl Plecas, MLA

When I presented to the BC Legislature's Health Committee last week, I didn't expect to get into an argument over whether there's any scientific evidence for the legitimacy of intercessory prayers.

Yet after discussing the limitations of spirituality-based treatment programs for many atheists, Abbotsford South MLA Darryl Plecas began arguing that prayer can help "people with all kinds of disorders."

You can read more coverage of the exchange on the Friendly Atheist blog or read the transcript of my presentation.

The entire event was quite an insight into the continued strength of religion in BC politics.

~Ian

The 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are steeped with religious and theistic language.

So it's quite surprising when we heard about an AA group for agnostics in Vancouver that was delisted by its parent organization or when we heard from an atheist who lost his job when he refused to follow a treatment plan required attendance at AA.

Tomorrow our executive director, Ian Bushfield, will be bringing these cases to the BC legislature's health committee and arguing for making secular and evidence-based recovery options the norm in BC.

You'll be able to read our full submission on our website tomorrow.

By Benjamin Huskinson, Queen's University Belfast

In the early 1980s, the US’s religious right seemed an unstoppable behemoth in terms of political clout. The Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, and other groups came to dominate public policy discussions by mobilising large groups of conservative Christians into a formidable force. Over time, however, fundamentalist voting blocs simply lost ground to larger, more diverse coalitions, and the heft of big evangelical organisations has slowly waned, making room for other voices in public policy.

So at a glance, it might appear that politically influential conservative Christians have had their day. But look more closely, and the movement looks to be in rude health.

Over the past year, our Sunday meetings in Vancouver have attracted an increasing number of interesting and insightful speakers on topics ranging from free will to creationist museums to the Syrian refugee crisis.

While most of these meetings have been recorded and posted to our new podcast, being there in person allows you to connect with fellow members and take part in the enlightening discussions that always follow.

So if you've never been to one of our meetings, and live in Metro Vancouver, I'd encourage you to come and check one out.

By Charles Hankla, Georgia State University

Back in 1991, the eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington pointed out that democratic transitions around the world often come in waves.

He pointed to a “third wave” of democratization that began in the 1970s with Spain and Portugal and continued into the 1980s, particularly in Eastern Europe and Latin America. After he wrote his book, this liberal wave seemed only to pick up speed, with transitions in the 1990s in parts of Africa and Asia.

Sadly, today we seem to be experiencing an “illiberal wave.” This wave, which has left no part of the world untouched, is not necessarily about a return to authoritarian government. Nor is it about liberalism as commonly understood in American politics.

The petition, launched last week, is only the latest effort to repeal Canada's blasphemy law.

Over the past few years, numerous columnists, civil liberties groups and legal experts have called for the law to be repealed. If you're not convinced that the law needs to go, read some of these links.

And make sure to sign and share the petition.