This has been an incredible week for the BC Humanist Association.

On Monday, we announced the results of our latest poll with Insights West. We found that:

• 70% of British Columbians are non-religious - up from 64% from 2013,
• 26% do not believe in a higher power - up from 20%,
• 70% oppose public funding for private religious schools and
• majorities oppose property tax exemptions for religious groups.

On each of the issues we surveyed, the public is increasingly on our side.

Then we learned that Abbotsford school district "will no longer distribute the Gideon Bible or other religious materials to students."

This victory only happened because of the pressure that we put on the district to end the practice.

Our efforts are getting noticed. Just this week we've been featured on CBC Vancouver, the Vancouver Sun, Roundhouse Radio, CFAX Victoria, Spice Radio and more.

We are making incredible gains and winning important battles but there is a lot of work still ahead of us.

Following a request by the British Columbia Humanist Association in March, Abbotsford School District Superintendent Kevin Godden has confirmed that “the district will no longer distribute the Gideon Bible or other religious materials to students.”

The District has maintained a policy of distributing materials from external groups, including Gideon Bibles, at the discretion of the superintendent.

Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association:

As far as we are aware, Abbotsford was the last public school district in BC that was distributing Gideon Bibles in classrooms. So this is a clear recognition that BC public schools should be secular and inclusive. It’s a sign to parents and students that they are welcome in Abbotsford whether they’re Christian, Muslim, Sikh, atheist or otherwise.

Despite this victory, the Government of BC continues to fund faith-based independent schools – a policy opposed by 70% of the public. The schools we fund as a province should be open and inclusive to students of all faiths and none.

There are few words that I can add to what has already been said about the tragedy in Orlando.

I'll simply echo this comment from the British Humanist Association:

We must always stand up to hate. Whatever its motivations. And now more than ever, we have to think and reflect on everything we set out to achieve: a better world, informed by values of reason and empathy, love and kindness, and the courage to stand up to hate.

This summer, the BC Humanist Association, CFI Vancouver and members of the local skeptics community will once again be marching in the Vancouver Pride Parade to show our solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Everyone has the right to live free from hatred and persecution.

Update (Aug 22, 2016): You can download the full results here.

Seven in ten British Columbians are non-religious and over a quarter don’t believe in a higher power according to a new poll by Insights West commissioned by the BC Humanist Association.

This is an increase from the 64% of people who said they did not practice a religion or faith in the BC Humanist's previous survey in 2013. The number of people who believe in a higher power has dropped by 14% to 56%.

When asked "Do you practice or participate in a particular religion or faith?" 27% said yes, 69% said no and 4% were not sure.
When asked "Regardless of whether you participate in a particular religion or faith, do you believe in a higher power?" 56% said yes, 26% said no and 18% were not sure.

Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association:

Religion is on the wane in British Columbia. In its place is an increasingly secular and non-religious constituency that politicians and policymakers will need to pay attention to.

See the top-line results or download the full spreadsheet.

The poll also looked at different attitudes to government support for religious organizations.

A new poll has found that 71% of British Columbians do not support publicly-funded healthcare institutions being able to refuse to provide services like physician-assisted dying or abortion on religious grounds. A majority – 52% – are strongly opposed.

A number of healthcare institutions operated by religious groups, including Providence Healthcare in Vancouver and St Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox, have said that they would not provide medical assistance in dying, which became legal in Canada on June 6.

The poll was commissioned by the BC Humanist Association and conducted by Insights West. The BC Humanists have said that religious opposition by healthcare institutions threatens access to medical assistance in dying. The group has calculated that nearly $1 billion in public funding went to healthcare institutions operated by religious organizations in BC in 2015.

This is a historic day for compassion, dignity and choice. As of today, Canadians may request assistance to end their life with dignity. The era of suffering as a noble ideal is over.

Despite the federal government's fear mongering, there is no legal vacuum. This morning the Government of BC gave the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC's clear and compassionate guidelines "the weight of law." This means British Columbians can now request their doctor's assistance to end their suffering. Similar policies have been put in place across the country.

You can read more about these policies and what we've asked the Senate to amend in the government's proposed assisted dying bill.

As of today, suffering Canadians may request assistance to end their life with dignity.

Last year, in its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down our country's prohibition on physician-assisted dying and spelled out clear and compassionate guidelines for when an individual may request an assisted death.

The Court delayed its ruling to give Parliament time to enact a new law meeting those guidelines. Parliament's answer is Bill C-14, which is only now being considered by the Senate. That Bill is considered by many experts to be unconstitutional.

This means that the Court's ruling stands as law and any individual that meets the criteria provided by the Court has choice in death.

What if there was only one law school in BC?

This question, raised by the justices of the BC Court of Appeal, underlies the importance of the case over this past week.

From Wednesday through Friday, I sat through the hearings in the case of Trinity Western University vs the Law Society of BC. The BC Humanist Association – alongside the Canadian Secular Alliance – was one of the interveners in the case. I live tweeted much of the case from @bchumanist and you can see those tweets here. Also check out #TWUlaw and the @TWULawSchool account for more reactions.

The following is a rough transcript of the report I posted on our podcast on Friday afternoon. You can listen to that here.

These are of course, just my impressions and opinions. I’m not a lawyer and as the BCHA intervened in this case, I’m clearly not impartial either.

So let’s dig into the background first.

Update (June 14, 2016): The Greek Government has responded. See a translation of their letter at the bottom of this post.

The BC Humanist Association has joined an international letter from secular, atheist and Humanist organizations calling on the Greek government to repeal its country's blasphemy law.

Read the letter.

While we're in favour of freedom of religion, that freedom has limits.

We only need to look to some of the so-called religious freedom acts in the USA to see the danger of letting religious freedom trample over the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and atheists.

That's why we're intervening in the BC Court of Appeal case over the proposed law school at Trinity Western University later this week. We need to put a clear limit on what is and isn't protected by religious freedom.

In the factum our lawyers helped us develop, which I highly encourage you to read, we argue that studying law is not a religious act protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that requiring all students - including non-Christians - to obey an evangelical Christian ethos is religious compulsion.

I'll be at the courthouse for the hearing from Wednesday to Friday and if you can't make it, follow the proceedings on Twitter under #TWUlaw.