For the past two years I lived in the UK. I met some amazing people there and saw firsthand what a professional Humanist organization, like the British Humanist Association with its 40 000 supporters, can accomplish. But I am glad to be back home in Vancouver and I have been heartened by the warm welcome BCHA members have given me since I returned as your executive director in August. Thank you so much for your support.

Those experiences and your backing have redoubled my determination to make the British Columbia Humanist Association the leading voice for secular and progressive values in Canada. That’s why I’ve been working hard with the board and our volunteers to make that vision a reality.

The BC Supreme Court has overturned the Law Society of BC's decision to deny accreditation to a proposed law school at Trinity Western University, an evangelical private university. The Court ruled yesterday that the Law Society made procedural errors in making its final decision.

Thanks to so many BC Humanist Association members and supporters, we donated well over a hundred items of warm clothing for people in need.

This past Sunday, December 6, 2015, 32 of us were engaged and interested to hear from John Ince, speaking on the political significance of sexuality and the negative effects of erotophobia. Ince discussed how authoritarian structures are correlated with sexually repressive regimes. He theorizes that this is because hierarchical thinking requires a very rational mindset that is in direct conflict with feelings of sexuality.

We've occasionally posted video from one of our Sunday speakers on our YouTube channel. However, this is fairly time-consuming so instead we're going to try posting audio recordings for the next few weeks (when our speaker's consent). If this trial proves successful, we'll turn this series into a podcast in the new year. 

Have a listen to yesterday's speech by John Ince on the political significance of sexuality (note that this episode does contain some explicit content) and let me know what you think.

Through our weekly newsletter, we like to let you know about our upcoming events as well as a number of issues and campaigns that we think might be of interest to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions to include in future roundups. Email: [email protected]

And for the latest news items, be sure to like the BC Humanists on Facebook and follow @BCHumanist on Twitter.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions which appear in this roundup are not necessarily shared by all or even most of the members and board of the BC Humanist Association.

On Saturday the Vancouver Sun published our letter to the editor calling on the BC and Canadian governments to stop delaying physician-assisted dying in Canada.

The BC Humanist Association today wrote to Canada's ambassador to Saudi Arabia calling for him to join over 60 human rights and free speech organizations who are calling for Saudi authorities to release poet Ashraf Fayadh. Fayadh was sentenced to death for apostasy in a widely discredited trial.

A proposal to reduce tax exemptions for religious organizations and charities in Langley City failed on Monday evening following concerted protest from local churches. Councillor Rudy Storteboom presented, for discussion, a motion that would have reduced property tax exemptions for 29 church and non-profit properties. No one seconded the motion.

Currently, the Government of BC provides automatic tax breaks on houses of worship while municipalities can create exemptions for other properties, such as parking lots. The proposal before Langley City would only have affected this latter category.

By Katie Edwards, University of Sheffield

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been trending on Twitter and become staple media fodder – so far, so predictable. Less predictable perhaps, is that the Lord’s Prayer and the Church of England has too, after three of the UK’s major cinema chains refused to show the Church of England’s advert for JustPray.uk before the new Star Wars film.

The press has attributed the refusal to concerns about causing offence to audiences, prompting religious media commentators (Giles Fraser), celebrity academics (Richard Dawkins) and that bastion of gaffedom, Boris Johnson, to gnash their collective teeth.

Through our weekly newsletter, we like to let you know about our upcoming events as well as a number of issues and campaigns that we think might be of interest to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions to include in future roundups. Email: [email protected]

And for the latest news items, be sure to like the BC Humanists on Facebook and follow @BCHumanist on Twitter.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions which appear in this roundup are not necessarily shared by all or even most of the members and board of the BC Humanist Association.