Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast

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Mar 302011
 

By Daniel Mallett

Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast with special guest William Franklin Graham IV, the grandson of Billy Graham. If Mandel wants to go to a prayer breakfast that is his right; but in his official role as representative of the city of Edmonton he has no business endorsing an evangelical association.

 

How can we support Donna Hunter?

 Morinville School Issue, News  Comments Off on How can we support Donna Hunter?
Mar 242011
 

How can we support Donna Hunter and the other Morinville parents who are being religiously discriminated against? I wrote a letter to the Journal which they published but this doesn’t feel like enough. Here is the latest update on what is happening to the parents in Morinville. This is the poison that mixing religion and government creates. There is no separation of church and state in this country.

 Posted by at 8:54 PM

Catholic priests 100 times more likely to be pedophiles than general public

 Christianity, Religions  Comments Off on Catholic priests 100 times more likely to be pedophiles than general public
Mar 222011
 

By Daniel Mallett

It cannot be denied that the high rates of child rape by Catholic priests directly relate to the Church’s faith and morals. Beliefs inform actions. When you believe that homosexuality is a sin and just as bad as raping innocent children — you get these kind of consequences. The true prevalence of this horrific act will never truly be known; but until the Catholic Church takes care of the root causes of this evil it is doomed to continue. The church has no right to accuse anyone of immorality or anti-Catholicism as long as this scapegoating and denial continues. What frustrates me to no end are those educated Catholics who continue to support this institution and thus condone the abuse. I could understand to some degree how they might cherish their beliefs but surely they could practice them elsewhere. I cannot understand how any person of good conscience who is aware of these facts could put even a penny into the collection plate of a Catholic Church. Religion is evil because it makes true morality impossible – otherwise decent individuals are blinded by dogma to see how their beliefs influence and harm even the weakest members of society — our children. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/the_catholic_church_still_does.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28Pharyngula%29

Mar 172011
 

By Daniel Mallett

My daughter, through no impetus of mine, calls “Saint” Patrick’s Day “Leprechaun’s Day” instead.  Ah, the wisdom of babes. I’m all for any excuse to hang out, party, and drink beer.  But using the name of this proselytizer of Christianity to party will not be on my agenda for the day.  Ireland knows all too well the poison of religion.  Let’s not celebrate the person who helped make possible some of the worst religious induced violence the world has known; and who contributed to the destruction of ancient European paganism. So by all means raise a glass of green beer, and remember that there is as much evidence for Leprechauns as there is for Yahweh!

The Future of Catholic Education in Alberta

 Morinville School Issue, News  Comments Off on The Future of Catholic Education in Alberta
Mar 152011
 

By Daniel Mallett

Edmonton Catholic Schools has launched a campaign to “protect” the right to publically funded Catholic indoctrination of children in Alberta.  You can find more information about the campaign here: http://www.ecsd.net/trustees/the_future_of_catholic_edu.html The Catholic school board has used our tax dollars to send out a request to all Catholic parents to mail a postcard to their MLAs that supports the protection of Catholic education in Alberta.  The postcard has this cute yet disturbing picture of a kid holding some ancient bronze-age tribe’s book that contains writings about genocide, rape, torture, slavery, infanticide, filicide, racism, ethnic cleansing, blood sacrifice, homophobia, misogyny, polygamy, and incest (among many other evils).    You can see the full-text of the letter and postcard on their website.  The argument they make to support publically funded Catholic indoctrination of children is asinine. 1.  History Just because something has been around for a long time does not mean we should keep it going.  The issue of constitutional protection has been dealt with by other provinces that disbanded the Catholic school system.  And let’s not forget that the UN says funding of Catholic schools is discriminatory — I do not believe our constitution was designed to protect discrimination.   The argument that they educate 1/4 of children is pathetic – obviously those kids are still going to get a public education in a secular system! 2. Distinctiveness AKA: Discrimination. They seem to believe that Jesus is crouching behind each student, ready to help them cheat on their math test: “At every important milestone of learning, Christ is there, igniting a child’s curiosity and desire to learn.” This type of special pleading, if we followed it to its natural conclusion, is ludicrous.  Should we have an Islam school board so Mohammed can whisper answers into every little child of Muslim parents?  Is the Flying Spaghetti monster telling children of atheists parents how to spell?  Does the Buddha help kids write their diploma exams?  This type of superstitious magical thinking only takes away from the hard work and dedication of the students in Alberta. The crazy part of this is that Catholic schools are NOT distinct.  Religion creates dividers where none exist — all children are children!  The kids of Catholic parents are as naturally curious about the world as the kids of non-believers and Muslims and Jews and Hindu’s and everyone else!  When they play at recess they play the same games as non-Catholics.  When they go to class they learn the same alphabet, and the same math, and the same science (hopefully).  If it weren’t for the name on the building and the symbols on the walls — you would be hard-pressed to find any difference between a public school and a Catholic one. This is the great lie of Catholic education — that there is something distinct (in other words) superior to it.  It is a vacuous belief that betrays the discrimination, arrogance, and sense of superiority that believers feel.  The Catholic school board cares only to protect their own self interests.  When a typical class size in Alberta is over 30 kids, why in the name of Zeus are we wasting money paying the salaries / benefits / pension plans of religion teachers in Catholic schools?  Surely, if these people believed in the importance of their religion they would indoctrinate these kids for free and on their own time!  How can these teachers get paid to supervise while their students sit in mass or get instruction in first communion or confirmation?  As taxpayers, we deserve to know how many tax dollars are wasted on religious indoctrination in these schools. Please write your MLA on this issue.  My suggestion is to take the postcard and put a warning label on it and then mail it in. 

 Posted by at 8:53 PM
Mar 142011
 

Society of Edmonton Atheists would like to express its deepest sympathies and concern for the people of Japan affected by the recent earthquakes and tsunami. Please consider donating to aid organizations to assist those suffering in Japan and other places in the world. Some secular options are:

 Posted by at 8:53 PM

Morinville Alberta gets dishonorable mention on RichardDawkins.net

 Morinville School Issue, News  Comments Off on Morinville Alberta gets dishonorable mention on RichardDawkins.net
Mar 142011
 

By Danaiel Mallett

Alberta has garnered attention on RichardDawkins.net thanks to the lack of separation of church and state in our province when it comes to education: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/599196-in-an-alberta-town-parents-fight-for-a-secular-education The situation in Morinville has been getting a lot of press across Canada, for example: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/catholic-schools-urged-to-provide-secular-classes-in-alberta-community/article1933340/ I want to commend Donna Hunter for doing the right thing.  As she said, it would be easier to move to another town, but that would be saying that what the Catholics are doing is ok. Notice how the Catholic board, even though they are in violation of the human rights of the Hunter family, do not want to hand over control of even a single school of the 4 they control in Morinville.  They are so use to the cozy collusion between church and state that gives them tax dollars they can use to indoctrinate children with.  Albertans should be ashamed that we are paying the bill that makes it possible for a 7 year old boy to come home from school worried about going to hell. When is Alberta going to wake up to the harm we are doing by having discriminatory education system? It is a disgrace and a shame that in the year 2011 someone in Canada has to fight for a secular education for their children.

 

 Posted by at 8:52 PM