Tag: secularism

Blog 143: The Outrageous Declarations of Amira Elghawaby & Anas Hassouna

David Rand Publication Date: 2024-09-20 The outlandish Amira Elghawaby was appointed “Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia” by the government of Justin Trudeau in January of 2023. It is noteworthy that her mandate does not bother to define just what

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In the News: MLQ, PDF-Q & Quebec Ask for Disqualification of Justice Jamal

The Mouvement laïque québécois (MLQ), the organization Pour les droits des femmes du Québec (PDF-Q) and the Attorney General of Quebec have each written to the Supreme Court requesting that Justice Mahmud Jamal be withdrawn from the case involving Quebec

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2024-06-25: Prayers in Public Spaces, Letter from RPL to Minister Roberge

The original French version of this letter is available on the RPL website and on the LPA website. Montreal, 25th June 2024 Monsieur Jean-François Roberge Minister in charge of Secularism 875, Grande-Allée Est, 3e étage, secteur 500 Québec (Québec), G1R

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PRESS RELEASE, 2024-03-04

For immediate release AFT welcomes judgment of Court of Appeal of Quebec but calls for removal of all mention of religion from Charters Montreal, 4th March 2024 — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT) heartily welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeal of

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In the News:
Renew Notwithstanding Clause to Protect Bill 21

Laïcité de l’État : Québec renouvelle l’utilisation de la clause dérogatoire (State Secularism: Quebec Renews its Use of the Notwithstanding Clause), Hugo Pilon-Larose and the Canadian Press, La Presse, 2024-02-08. The Quebec minister responsible for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, has tabled legislation

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In the News:
English Montreal School Board Wastes Taxpayers’ Money

Commission scolaire English-Montréal: 1,3 M$ pour contester la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État (English Montreal School Board: $1.3 million to challenge Quebec’s secularism law), Patrick Bellerose, Journal de Québec, 2024-02-01. The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) has spent, to date, at

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Blog 142: The Gross Incompetence of the Canadian Human Rights Commission

David Rand 2023-11-30 On the website of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), there is a page entitled “Discussion Paper on Religious Intolerance,” dated October 23, 2023 and indicating that it is “Anti-racism work.” Given that its topic is religious

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2023-11-11: “Wokism” as a Parareligion

David Rand 2023-11-14 The post-left, a.k.a. “wokism,” has in reality betrayed the left. It rejects the Enlightenment values which are cornerstones of the political left. “Wokism” is antisecular, neoracist and pseudoscientific. Although debate continues on how best to describe the

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International Solidarity with Religion-State Separation

Publication Date: 2023-11-04 Would your organization like to endorse this declaration? We are looking for associations, internationally, who would be interested in signing. You can reach us via this on-line form. Furthermore, we invite you to publish this declaration on

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2023-10-13: AAI Hot Seat, Arif Hussain Theruvath Interviews David Rand

The following video, recorded 13th October 2023, is an interview of David Rand, president of LPA-AFT and author of Stillbirth, by Arif Hussain Theruvath as part of the AAI Hot Seat series for Atheist Alliance International. Here are the 18

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Thank You Donors!

We Thank Our Donors! Many thanks to each and every one of you who have donated (and some of you, several times!) to our Legal Fund. We are particularly grateful to: the Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for Secularism) which

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Culture and Citizenship Quebec Program: Two Observations

Nadia El-Mabrouk For Board of Directors of Rassemblement pour la laïcité (RPL, Alliance for Secularism) 2023-08-26 We are delighted with the changes made to the new version of the Culture and Citizenship Quebec (CCQ) program in connection with secularism. Following

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In the News:
Court Rejects Appeal concerning Prayer Spaces in Schools

Quebec judge denies request to appeal decision maintaining school prayer space ban, Jacob Serebrin, CTV News, 2023-07-26-court. A Muslim organization and a civil rights group seeking to suspend Quebec’s ban on prayer spaces in public schools have been denied leave

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2023-04-29: Atheist Society of Melbourne, Talk by David Rand

Atheist Society of Melbourne, AustraliaTalk by David Rand “Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World” Publication Date: 2023-05-05 The following video is an on-line talk, given for the Atheist Society of Melbourne, on 29th April 2023. This talk

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In the News:
Ottawa Must Stop Funding the NCCM

Ottawa doit cesser de financer le Conseil national des musulmans canadiens (Ottawa Must Stop Funding the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)), Collective, Journal de Montréal, 2023-04-17. The NCCM has every right to criticize the Quebec government or to oppose

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In the News:
Secular Ontario Supports Bill 21

We have learned from the secretary of Secular Ontario that the Board of that organization has adopted a resolution in support of Quebec Bill 21. “Be it resolved that Secular Ontario supports the secular (laicite) legislation of the Quebec National

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2023-04-01: Warsaw, Atheist Days, Talk by David Rand

Comparison of English and French Models of Secularism and the Importance of Universalism David Rand Publication Date: 2023-04-15 The following presentation was given by the author at Atheist Days 2023 in Warsaw, Poland, an event organized by the Kazimierz Łyszczyński

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In the News:
The Trudeauisation of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Bill Privileges Muslims in State Government, Dexter Van Zile, Focus on Western Islamism, 2023-03-15. The Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would promote and privilege the participation of Muslims in state politics.[…] The bill is “an unprecedented

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In the News:
Quebec National Assembly Strikes Back. Bravo!

Les députés québécois unanimes: pas plus de racisme au Québec qu’ailleurs (Quebec MNAs Unanimous: Quebec No More Racist than Elsewhere), Geneviève Lajoie, Journal de Québec, 2023-03-15. Members of all political parties in the National Assembly are unanimous: there is no

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Talk at Book Launch of Stillbirth

David Rand Publication Date: 2023-01-23 The following is the talk given by David Rand, author of the book Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World at the launch event held at Le Port de tête bookstore, in Montreal,

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Women, Life, Freedom Charter

An Initiative of One Law for All, UK 2023-01-06 Sign onto the Women, Life, Freedom Charter www.iranfreedomcharter.com Iran’s women’s revolution has announced the end of the Islamic regime and its discrimination, misogyny and violations of the human right to life.

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What exactly are opponents of Bill 21 advocating?

This is an English translation of an article which appeared in La Presse on 15th November 2022 under the title Que défendent au juste les opposants à la loi 21 ?. Nadia El-Mabrouk, President of Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for

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Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World

David Rand, Stillbirth, Sept. 2022 Review by Pierre Marchand I recommend David Rand’s book Stillbirth to anyone interested in secular issues. It clearly exposes the differences between Anglo-Saxon secularism of the Lockean variety and republican secularism à la française. The

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Manifesto for Universalism

David Rand & Pierre Marchand, for Atheist Freethinkers Adopted by AFT at its Annual General Meeting on 2022-10-29 We Draw Our Values from the Enlightenment Our atheism is inspired by the values of the Enlightenment and is inherited from them.

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Secularism in Quebec: Questions for the Political Parties

A general election will be held in Quebec on October 3rd. The Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for Secularism) has some important questions for the various political parties. The text below is a translation of an article which appeared in

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