Tory MP Bernier criticized for saying ‘more diversity’ will ‘destroy’ what makes Canada great, Rachel Aiello, CTV News, 2018-08-13 Outspoken Conservative MP and failed leadership contender Maxime Bernier is facing criticism from within his caucus, and beyond, over a series…
Atheist Freethinkers
Philosophical Materialism, Critical Thought, Secularism
Category: In the News
News articles
In the News: Canada Should Boycott Saudia Arabia
Une guerre que le Canada doit gagner (A War Which Canada Must Win), Loïc Tassé, Journal de Montréal, 2018-08-11. Considering the extreme reaction of Saudia Arabia to Canada’s declaration criticizing human rights abuses in that country, and in particular the…
In the News: Promoting Child Abuse in Advertising
HijabPublicity Stunt? Gap Ad With Hijab-Wearing Girl Stirs Twitter Controversy, Sputnik News, 2018-08-10. Users seem to have divided opinions on the brand’s new back-to-school campaign. Some lambast the hijab as a tool of oppression, while others believe that the ad…
In the News: Interview with David Rand, Conatus News
Quebec is Currently Leading a Secular Revolution in Canada. Here’s How., Scott Jacobsen, Conatus News, 2018-07-10 The text of the interview is also available locally on this site.
In the News: Twenty Years Prison for Removing Her Veil
Iranian woman who protested headscarf gets 20-year sentence, Associated Press, 2018-07-1.0 An Iranian woman who removed her obligatory Islamic headscarf out of protest in December says she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Shapark Shajarizadeh posted on her…
In the News: New Hampshire Bans Female Genital Mutilation
The AHA (Ayaan Hirsi Ali) Foundation, which campaigns against female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female excision, announces that New Hampshire has recently criminalizes the excision of young girls and thus becomes the 27th state of the United States…
In the News: PDF Québec Intervenes in the Court Challenge to Bill 62, but for the Niqab Ban
From an announcement on Facebook Great news! In the court challenge to the Religious Neutrality Bill 62, PDF Québec has been recognized as intervener. As you have learned from media reports, the Superior Court has maintained the suspension of the…
In the News: Ensaf Haidar Calls For Ban on Full Veil
Wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi calls for burqa ban in Ontario, Rahul Kalvapalle, Global News, 2018-07-01 The wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has called on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to ban the use of Islamic face…
In the News: Denmark and Iceland May Ban Non-Medical Circumcision
Denmark Talks (Reluctantly) About a Ban on Circumcising Boys, Martin Selsoe Sorensen, New York Times, 2018-06-02 In Denmark, any proposal that can gather 50,000 signatures on Parliament’s official petition website is legally entitled to a debate and vote. A citizens’…
In the News: Denmark Bans Face Coverings in Public
Denmark becomes latest European country to ban full Islamic face veil in public spaces , Telegraph, 2018-05-31. The Danish parliament on Thursday passed a law banning the Islamic full-face veil in public spaces, becoming the latest European country to do…
In the News: Government Rejects Petition e-763 Against Religious Exception in Hate Propaganda
The federal government has rejected parliamentary petition e-763, lauched by AFT to request the repeal of the religious exception, i.e. paragraph 319(3)(b), in the Canadian law against hate propaganda (in the Criminal Code). Here is the essential part of the…
In the News: IHEU Corrects Vatican About Freedom From Religion
Actually, ‘freedom from religion’ is a human right, IHEU tells Vatican at the UN, Elizabeth O’Casey, IHEU, 2018-03-09 Humanists at the UN have today strongly rejected claims from the Vatican delegation that ‘freedom from religion’ is not a human right.…
In the News: Egypt May Imprison Atheists
Égypte : les athées seront-ils bientôt mis en prison ? (Egypt: Will Atheists Soon be Imprisoned?), France 2 Television, 2018-02-27 A French television network reports that Egypt may soon pass legislation which would criminalize non-belief and punish it with fines or even…
In the News: Elections Québec Now Accepts Candidates With Head Coverings
Quebec nixes rule forcing political candidates to remove head coverings, CBC News, 2018-02-21 Quebec’s chief electoral officer is changing a regulation that prevented people who wear religious head coverings from running for provincial office. For nearly 30 years, all potential…
In the News: Abortion Law Reform To Be Debated in Argentine Congress
Abortion Debate in Argentina Gains Momentum as Macri Says He Won’t Block It in Congress, The Bubble, 2018-02-23 The Casa Rosada has indicated it will not attempt to block a debate in Congress on proposals to decriminalize and legalize abortions.…
In the News: President of Tunisian Tunisian Assaulted
Le président de l’Association des Libres penseurs tunisiens agressé, la Fédération française de la Libre Pensée adresse une lettre ouverte à l’ambassadeur de Tunisie en France (President of Tunisian Freethinkers Assaulted, French Freethought Federation Writes to the Tunisian Ambassador in…
In the News: Iranian Women Bravely Remove Veils Publicly, Risk Arrest
Click to view video An elderly Iranian woman removes and agitates her veil in protest. She is apparently not one of those arrested. Iranian police arrest 29 for involvement in hijab protests, Eliza Mackintosh, CNN, 2018-02-03. Police in the Iranian…
In the News: Supreme Court Rejects Privilege for Aboriginal Spirituality
Top court deals blow to Indigenous peoples, Nathan VanderKlippe, The Globe and Mail, 2017-11-02 The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to grant special protection for religious freedom for aboriginal peoples, ruling that a private ski resort in British Columbia…
In the News: Markham, Ontario, Mayor Enables Political Islam
Click to view full size Proclamation, City of Markham, Ontario To the long list of dupes of political Islam, we can now add the name of the mayor Frank Scarpitti of the Ontario city of Markham, who has issued a…
In the News: Quebeckers from Muslim Background Denounce Exploitation of January 29
Un an après l’attentat de la mosquée de Québec, apaiser le climat social (One Year After the Quebec City Mosque Attack, Social Climate Needs Calm), Ferid Chikhi, Nadia El-Mabrouk, Ali Kaidi & Leila Lesbet of the Association québécoise des Nord-Africains…
In the News: Djemila Benhabib denounces “indecent” exploitation of January 29
Un drame et son instrumentalisation (A Tragedy and Its Exploitation), Djemila Benhabib, le Nouvelliste, 2018-01-26 We still do not know the motives of Alexandre Bissonnette, the presumed murderer, whose trial begins on March 26th 2018. Nevertheless, Islamist lobbyists, politicians at…
In the News: Relative of Victim Rejects Day Against “Islamophobia”
Attentat à la mosquée de Québec, Il n’y a pas d’islamophobie au Québec, selon une proche d’une victime (Attack on Quebec City Mosque, There is no Islamophobia in Quebec, Says Relative of Victim), TVA Nouvelles, 2018-01-23 A year after the…
In the News: Fake News of Hijab Scissor Attack
Hijab scissor attack against 11-year-old did not occur: Police, Jenna Moon, Toronto Star, 2018-01-15 Police say the events described did not occur. […] Toronto Police say they have concluded that an incident reported Friday in which an eleven-year-old girl’s hijab…
In the News: Charlie Hebdo, Three Years After
Click to enlarge Front page of CH#1328 Il has been three years since the attack on the satiric newspaper Charlie Hebdo, on January 7th 2015. In an editorial entitled “Freedom of Expression, What Does It Cost?” and published in no.…
In the News: Iran Claims to Soften Dress Code for Women
Tehran Police Say Women Will No Longer Be Arrested For Violating ‘Islamic’ Dress Code, Hayley Miller, Huffington Post Canada, 2017-12-28. Police in Iran’s capital are loosening up restrictions regarding dress code after decades of pushback from women in the country.…
