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 This case demonstrates why it's so important for Canada's law to be repealed.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.

Canada's highest court announced last week that it will hear appeals on the proposed law school at Evangelical Christian Trinity Western University.

Law societies in BC, Ontario and Nova Scotia had denied accreditation to the school on the basis that the Community Covenant it forces students to sign excludes same-sex couples. Appeal courts in Nova Scotia and BC sided with TWU, while the Ontario court sided with their law society. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeals to the BC and Ontario decisions together later this year.

A man is facing blasphemy charges after allegedly burning a copy of the Quran for an online video posted to an anti-Islam group in December 2015.

The prosecution marks the first time in 45 years that Denmark has invoked the law. The last accusations were brought against a radio station that was ultimately acquitted in 1971. The last conviction was in 1946.

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?

Canada's blasphemy law is under review by the Minister of Justice and could be repealed as part of broader justice reform.

Jody Wilson-Raybould made the commitment in her response to a petition signed by nearly 7500 people calling on the government to repeal section 296 (the prohibition on blasphemous libel) of the Criminal Code.