Last year, we presented before the BC Legislature's Select Standing Committee on Health. We spoke about how some British Columbians suffering from substance use issues are being forced to participate in religious recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

We asked the government to ensure people have a choice and that public funding for addictions recovery goes to the growing number of secular and evidence-based programs.

Last week, the Committee released its report and there's a lot to like in it.

Unfortunately, the Committee chose to equate "secular and non-secular" treatment programs. While this differentiation would likely have been ignored had we not spoken up, it still puts inclusive programs based on the best science on equal footing with ones based on hundred year old dogma.

Guaranteeing the right to secular recovery programs is vitally important for people like Byron Wood or "A" who have filed human rights complaints against provincial health regions for forcing them into religious treatment programs.

We hope the government will adopt the Committee's focus on evidence and harm reduction and over time reduce the influence of religion in publicly-funded treatment programs.

By Christopher Beem, Pennsylvania State University

Just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, activists from Greenpeace climbed up a large construction crane near the White House and unfurled a large banner with the single word: Resist. 

On Feb. 11, thousands of protesters used their bodies to spell the word “resist” on a San Francisco beach. The next day, at the Grammys, rapper Q-Tip yelled “resist” no less than four times from the stage.

And on Feb. 26, at a rally outside Washington, Maryland Congressman John Delaney said to the audience,

“What do we have to do? We have to resist. This is a defining moment. It’s stirring our hearts and stirring our emotions and we’re committed to resisting with you.”

All of these examples speak to a widespread and resolute discontent with the election of President Trump. They express a rejection of his agenda and of what they see as his degradation of our democracy. “Resist” reflects their desire, insofar as they can, to stop this from happening.

But what exactly does it mean to resist? And most importantly, how can Americans make sure that their resistance is most likely to effect change?

Like Canada, Danish authorities have not invoked their country's blasphemy law in decades. To the average Dane, there has effectively been no punishment for mocking or offending religious ideas.

That changed last week when a man was charged with blasphemy after he filmed himself burning a Quran for an anti-Islam group.

Whether the charge will stand up against the Danish Constitution is an open question but this case has shown that it only takes the right political circumstances for archaic laws to be used to censor free expression.

A dormant law is not a dead law. This case demonstrates why it's so important for Canada's law to be repealed.

The Justice Minister made a commitment last month to review the law as part of a broad review of the justice system and we're planning to keep the pressure up.

We had one of our best-attended meetings on Sunday as American Atheists President David Silverman challenged those in attendance to be firebrand atheists.

Later that evening, Silverman debated Christian Alex McFarland on the topic of "Can Christianity cause immoral behaviour?"

Interestingly, both speakers agreed that yes, any idea can lead to immorality, although McFarland argued that only the Bible provided an objective morality.

As the preacher spent parts of the debate belittling Muslims, feminists and the LGBTQ community, it highlighted how important it is that we stand up as atheists and continue to defend Humanist values.

Today is Valentine's Day and Atheists in Kenya (AIK) are asking Kenyans to consider dating an atheist this year.

Atheists face particular discrimination in many African nations and even AIK faced difficulty getting the government to recognize their non-profit.

So while their request is tongue-in-cheek, it's done with an aim to normalize non-belief.

Today is also the day in 1989 when Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Rushdie also announced his engagement on Valentine's Day five years later.

So take today to celebrate love or to keep challenging norms and authority (or both).

In a blog post and coverage in the Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) Chair Michael Janz is asking whether his schools should be able to open a Catholic Faith program.

I knew Janz when we were at the University of Alberta. Since being elected to the EPSB, he’s spoken out vociferously about ending public funding to private schools.

The Surrey Interfaith Pilgrimage this year went something other than planned.

The snow came and stayed, so our walking route became somewhat impassable with snow covering many of the sidewalks and trails. Driving was treacherous, so many who would otherwise have driven wisely chose to stay home. I arrived at our starting point at about 9:30 and knew the day was probably a write-off.

David Dalley, the person who organized the event, was there when I got to the Thien Ton Buddhist Temple. We agreed that it was not a safe situation and decided to call the Pilgrimage off. However, a family of three (Robert, Andrea and their eight year old daughter Sofi) had already shown up to take part and wanted to continue. They had heard about the pilgrimage on the Early Edition on CBC. None of us really wanted to drop out, so we decided we could do as much of the pilgrimage as possible.

Our Vice-President Gord Leslie spoke with CBC this weekend about how peace and compassion are now more important than ever. Gord was invited to speak about the World Interfaith Harmony pilgrimage that was schedule for Sunday but was ultimately cancelled because of the snow.

Listen to the interview.

Also over the weekend, one of our Humanist Chaplain, Marty Shoemaker attended a vigil for the victims of last week's attack in Quebec and Ian Bushfield attended the rally against Islamophobia downtown. Read more on CBC.

Crowd at Al Jamia Mosque

Panoramic of Rally Against Islamophobia crowd (click to view in Google Photos)

These events together are a strong symbol of solidarity against bigotry and irrational hatred. While many of the speakers were Muslim, they still spoke of Humanist values: tolerance, peace and compassion.

It's events like these that give us hope.

By Richard Flory, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

A recent survey of the religious profile of the 115th Congress revealed that despite the increase in the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation, members of Congress are overwhelmingly religious, with only one member identifying as having no religion.

Yet, despite whom they vote for, Americans are increasingly choosing not to identify with a religious tradition. Between 2007 and 2014, this “none of the above” category has increased from 16 to 23 percent. Among young adults, one-third say that they have no religious affiliation.

Most of the public conversation about religious disaffiliation tends to emphasize the idea that with the rise of the religious “nones,” a categorization that goes back to the 1960s, America is becoming more secular and less religious.

However, in my view as a scholar of American religion, this misses the diversity within the nones.

Who really are the nones?

The country is reeling from the news out of Quebec City, where yesterday a man opened fire in a mosque, killing six people and leaving others in critical condition.

As Humanists and secularists, we must categorically condemn this attack on people practising their religion in peace.

This attack comes at a time of increasing tension south of the border, where President Trump has signed an executive order that's widely viewed as a Muslim ban, but our own country is hardly free from anti-Muslim prejudice.

A lot is still unknown about this attacker or his motivations but we do know that this mosque has been repeatedly targeted by anti-Muslim vandals. A number of Canadian politicians have spoken about vague "Canadian values" tests and hate crimes against Muslim Canadians have been on the rise.

Now more than ever the world needs an impassioned defence of compassion, human rights and secularism. The world needs Humanism.