After receiving some flak (some of it merited, some of it not) over my article indicating my worry that the CFI’s Board of Directors was fractured over Justin Trottier’s dismissal, and that this fact alone demanded that the organization come clean to members regarding the details. While I had managed to get a few details of what was happening, it was clear from every other article out there that no one was 100% aware of the facts, and this was precisely my original complaint. A lack of transparency was the crux of the problem, demonstrating that that the board was susceptible to outside influence and could fall victim to a situation similar to what transpired:

On November 21, Derek Pert wrote to the board requesting that he be terminated with severance. Derek indicated that he thought he lacked sufficient support from the board to carry out his duties. The board held an emergency meeting on the evening of Wednesday, November 23. At that meeting the board passed a motion confirming that Derek had full authority to carry out the responsibilities associated with the position of National Executive Director.

There followed a motion to terminate Derek Pert with severance of $50,000. The motion was made by Michael Gardiner. The motion was properly seconded and a vote was taken. The motion failed 6-3, with Michael Gardiner, Ian McCuaig, and board chair Carol Parlow voting for the motion.

Late on the night of November 23, Derek Pert submitted a letter of resignation. On November 24, in quick succession, directors Michael Gardiner and Ian McCuaig and board chair Carol Parlow submitted their letters of resignation.

That doesn’t sound fucking sketchy at all. Former board member Ian insists the motion was done as a symbolic gesture, but this whole affair smells like a major scam. You don’t play around with member money, especially when there is so much at stake.

As for what the future holds, I’m not sure Justin should come back. His presence could further divide members who already had to pick camps (trust me, I read all about their opinion in the comment section) and it could have the appearance of impropriety. I think, however, that the opportunity is there for a lot of exciting changes to happen. I do agree that CFI’s mission hasn’t always been clear, and increased professionalism would benefit their image. I also think that they need to increase their media strategy, and have professional press people that could represent secular issues in the news (both local and national). It’s time to get serious and show everyone that CFI can thrive in the face of a crisis. The Simpsons have a word for this kind of thing: crisitunity!

Secular organizations in this country have the tendency to implode. Although it’s not clear exactly why this happens, it my have something to do with the fact that people tend not to agree on the best strategy to garner new members. Should we be in everyone’s face? Should we employ a more gentle approach that doesn’t alienate certain groups? While we may not argue over dogma like our religious counterparts, our common disbelief is usually not enough to create a powerful consensus among members. More than likely our differing opinions often polarizes people in two basic camps: Accommodation, and Confrontation.

As the former National Director of the Center for Inquiry Canada,  Justin Trottier clearly fell into the Confrontationist camp. From his early days as a student activist at the University of Toronto, Justin was instrumental in breathing life into CFI. In it’s early days, his personality and vision allowed the organization to grow. His management style, unfortunately, tended to make him few friends. Still, one of the main reason why the organization has been so successful as of late is because of his relentless activism and his ability to “get the job done”. The whole reason CFI even exists in Canada is largely his doing. Say what you will about him: Justin has drive, and the growth of the organization would have been impossible without his passion.

A few months ago, Justin took a leave of absence to run as the Green Party candidate, and it was understood that during his time away, the Board was to find someone who could manage the day to day operation in a way Justin could not. This would have allowed him to concentrate more on activism and on gaining visibility in the media while the organization would have a friendly face managing volunteers (the man does have serpentine qualities, I’ll admit). What occurred instead was a witch-hunt against Justin; it was clear that recent additions to the Board disliked Justin intensely and wanted to try and implement a new strategy or the organization.  It took little effort to further alienate Justin from disenfranchised Members, and without any due process, he was effectively terminated from his position before returning from his leave of absence.  The repercussions of this witch-hunt can still be felt; even as I write this, various members continue to email one another with poisonous accusations against Justin of corrupting or poisoning members, the childishness of which cannot be overstated.

While Justin has remained silent to avoid sparking panic among the members, there are a number of high profile individuals within the organization – including Board members who wish to remain silent – that have expressed their concerns over the way Justin was fired. Since he was on leave when he was terminated, it’s not even clear if what the Board did was actually legal or not. In any case, something fishy was going on, and an email sent by Board Chair Carol Parlow did little to ease concerns:

Since CFI Canada became a registered charity, it has been managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Board’s priority is to guide CFI to a position of national significance, but we must also ensure that the legal requirements of our charitable status are carefully respected…The Board of CFI Canada recognizes Justin Trottier’s tremendous contribution to the establishment of CFI Canada. We also look forward to the exciting times ahead as CFI Canada grows into the prominent and respected organization it will become.

The email is simply a whitewash for members who express surprise or discontentment in the sudden change of leadership, or anyone for that matter who questions their new “direction”. In the interim of Justin departure, the organization had managed to spend over $20,000 attempting to revamp their mission statement. It was a move the Board felt would help attract important and new members with deep pockets. Their current strategy aims to give CFI a more professional and corporate images, but their gambit has so far failed to pay off. Justin’s departure means that a number of significant contributors have vanished a well, and CFI’s big American brother – suffering economically from the recession- is threatening to pull their funding as well. Their new Director, Derek Pert, is admittedly not an activist; he’s a friendly enough guy with good management skills, but this isn’t JCPenny.  If they cannot find new members with deep pockets, then with the added pressure of lost funding, its hard to imagine how they could survive.

Not one of these concerns have been expressed to members. Instead, we get a white-wash from the Board Chair and this false narrative that Justin left on his own accord. We were also given the impression that the decision was unanimous, when there were a number of absences and one member who abstained from vote (presumably a diplomatic way to express doubt over the new direction). In any case, to claim that there is no conflict currently brewing within the ranks is a lie. The Board shows deep fragmentation, and it’s my opinion that due to this issue, it cannot function effectively in its current form.

I don’t want to suggest that Justin should be re-instated, or even that CFI’s new strategy is wrong. It’s simply my opinion that the Board is fractured; not only over the decision to let Justin go, but also whether or not the new focus of the organization is the right one. That members have been given absolutely no information on these recent developments is a sign of impropriety, and it’ time for them to knock on the board’s door and demand some answers. The process needs to be more open, so that the people who actually pay the bills can decide for themselves if they like this new direction.

Once in a while some confused religious person will venture on the site and express their dismay at the “hate” and intolerance on display. One such visitor felt that the real problem in the world is that folks just don’t do enough to try and respect one another:

a lot of hateful comments from the atheist camp here, why cant people just tolerate each other why are people always finding reasons to hate each other. I know atheists consider themselves better and more intelligent human beings than religious ones, well then if your so much better then why cant you be the ones to lead by example and show some respect and tolerance to others?

I don’t even know what the fuck he’s talking about this “atheists think they are better” nonsense. We just don’t cling to Bronze Age myths and pretend that the “revealed” words of lunatics is anything more than sheer fantasy. In a perfect world where superstitious bullshit didn’t cause wars, genocide, broken families, discourage the use of condoms to fight AIDS or undermine science education, maybe we would be more tolerant. But that’s not the world we live in, and while it’s easy to pretend that you want everyone to get along, it’s only because you haven’t considered the consequences your own beliefs have on society. What we think about the nature of reality has a direct influence in the real world, and until you stop poisoning our minds with complete garbage, we’ll continue to mock your sincerely held beliefs and not apologize for it.

Fan of the show William is beaming with pride, and with good reason: he’s a member of the Reno Coalition of Reason, and they’re celebrating the erection of this billboard, asking: “are you good without God? Millions are!”. It’s great to see how effective atheists have gotten at organizing and spreading the word that non-believers aren’t a fringe group. We’re much larger than anyone imagines, and we’re getting pretty sick and tired of religious people shoving their religion (among other things) down our throats.

Congratulations on getting the job done, boys and girls!

I don’t expect celebrities to be beacons of rational and coherent thought, especially when their claim to fame is a terrible song and an equally terrible TV show. Billy Ray Cyrus was recently interviewed by GQ, and he claims Hollywood has destroyed his perfect family life. He believes the root of all of this evil has something to do with a freeway sign they would pass by on their way to the Hannah Montana studio that said:

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
ATHEISTS UNITED

Just before moving out to Los Angeles, the whole family had been baptized together by their pastor at the People’s Church in Franklin, Tennessee. “It was Tish’s idea,” he remembers. “She said, ‘We’re going to be under attack, and we have to be strong in our faith and we’re all going to be baptized…” And there, driving to work each day in the City of Angels, was this sign. “A physical sign. It could have easily said ‘You will now be attacked by Satan.’ ‘Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness…”

Yes, the evil influence of Satan has finally compelled atheists around the world to pick up trash and to keep their highways clean! Mighty is the Dark Lord!

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but perhaps the reason his life sucks right now has more to do with the fact he cheated on his wife while she was pregnant, and he pimped out his daughter to the Disney corporation. Of course, that would require him to admit his own mistakes, so it’s easier to blame a bunch of trash picking atheists for all your fucking problems.

Times are desperate for Christians in the Netherlands. One in every 6 clergymen is either an atheist or an agnostic, so in an effort not to lose his job, the Rev. Klaas Hendrikse has invented a special form of Christianity that:

a. Doesn’t believe Jesus existed historically [the Gnostics beat him to it though]
b. Doesn’t believe in the afterlife [ditto the Jews]
c. Doesn’t believe a God exists at all [that one’s new]

It’s kind of like serving Kool-Aid without any of the flavoring, and then claiming that while the liquid you’re drinking certainly isn’t Kool-Aid, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from our property destroying friend, Oh Yeah! Of course, the difference here is that the Kool-Aid Man (who now wears pants, btw) only condones slavery to flavor, not human beings. He is also, judging by his new digs (purple shoes, Hawaiian shirt) clearly OK with man-on-man love.

Obviously, there are a number of annoying “traditionalists” trying to ruin his good time by claiming everything that defines Christianity gets thrown out the window in his “non-version”. I’m inclined to agree with them. We’ve all heard the trope that “Jesus was a good moral teacher”, but aside from telling folks a few nice things others had figured out a long fucking time ago, the rest of his teachings are either insane or terrifying. Consider the threat of hell for disbelieving his nutty claim. How would you react to any moral tutor who placed such restrictions on doubt?

Our morality has evolved since the Bronze Age, and yet Christianity continues to try and argue “they had it right all along”. For that to be true, you would need to erase roughly 20 centuries of murder, abuse and genocide committed in the name of some various offshoots of the doctrine (there are over 30,000 of them). Even if you did that, you’d notice a suspicious lack of evidence unbelievers are morally depraved individuals. In fact, on average it seems though atheists actually commit fewer crimes than Christians. So what the fuck is the point in carrying all the loaded garbage of religion if you think its claims are bogus anyways? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that guys like Klaas have spent their entire lives preaching nonsense, and have no marketable skills in the real world. They can either quit and get a real fucking job, or keep pretending that the life of a dead Palestinian Jew 2000 years ago was an event of such importance that people should give their hard-earned money to a bunch of old dudes in dresses that talk to an imaginary being.

Seriously, in that position I’d probably choose the latter. Does that make me a scumbag?

Anytime you come out as an atheist, you run the risk of your life becoming more difficult. That’s what EllenBeth Wachs of Florida found out. She was arrested earlier this month by her fundamentalist local Sheriff who didn’t like her activism. What was her crime, you wonder?

EllenBeth Wachs was arrested Sunday [May 1] accused of making noises in her home that sounded as though she was having sex.

The arrest warrant says she made noise in her home on March 13 that “sounded like a woman experiencing sexual gratification in an extremely loud fashion.”

Yes, you read correctly. SHE WAS IN HER OWN HOME GETTING LAID. Somehow, the Sheriff’s office has nothing better to do than harass its own citizens. EllenBeth has put up a donation bar, and as you can expect, it’s barely past the 300 mark. Congratulations my fellow atheists, we’ve proved yet again how cheap we are. Makes me sad we can’t rally together and fight this injustice. They want to arrest an atheist woman for having orgasms in her own home. Is there no justice left in this world?

I found this hilariously offensive letter to the editor from an Irish newspaper, and I just had to include it. It’s a complaint regarding a show called “Liveline” that happened to have featured an atheist upset at a law that was passed in 2009 that would fine blasphemers thousands of dollars for “offending” religious rubes (I admit it’s a bit old, but it’s totally hilarious):

Why in the name of God (oops sorry, didn’t mean to be so insensitive/offensive), does RTE give an entire ‘Liveline’ over to a tiny rump of deranged atheists to spout their puerile propaganda? Just what is their gripe?

Well, it turns out they are annoyed at the prospect that proposed legislation will make it an offence to gratuitously offend religion: in reality, Catholicism (their big bogeyman). The big question is, though, what kind of ideology gets its kicks out of gratuitously offending the sincerely held views of others? It seems both immature and vulgar.

Perhaps the best critique of this ideology is provided in the recently published ‘The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens’, by Vox Day.

This brilliant critique clearly demonstrates why a mere anti-blasphemy law is not sufficient. In the interests of rationality and common sense, the legislation should go further and label atheism a thought crime.

Also, why is the publicly-funded state broadcaster giving these airheads a platform for their dangerous juvenalia?

Eric Conway
Navan, Co Meath

How dare atheists be annoyed that Catholics are attempting to use the long arm of the law to silence dissent? In the interest of rationality, we should ban all form of thought that denies the evidence for God! Can you think of a better way to encourage independent thought than by protecting those that hold magical views from criticism using legislation to do so?

And while we’re at it, we should also make thinking about fucking your neighbors wife into a thought crime as well. After all, according to their messiah, any Christian that has a fantasy about someone other than their wife has already done something evil and sinister.

Can you believe these clowns?

I think many of you will agree that while TGA isn’t exactly the friendliest atheist site, I’ve never condoned acts of vandalism or violence against religion. I oppose it precisely because I think we need fewer religious martyrs, and there’s no better way to create sympathy for someone that to commit an egregious wrong. That’s why the news of a Church being vandalized in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has me seeing red. Is this the fucking best we can do?

“Praise the FSM”: These are the words written, spray-painted and tagged across not one, but two churches on opposite sides of Bend Sunday night.

When Pastor John Bluebaugh of Christian Life Center got the news Monday morning, his first thought was, “Not again.”
“Really, what went through my mind was, about six months we were tagged as well,” said Bluebaugh. “It was the same kind of deal — different symbols, different sayings, but the exact same places.”

The Friendly Atheist is putting together a posse of generous donors to correct this injustice. Hey, if anyone pushes the boundary too far, it’s up to the rest of us to make it right. Yes, I know that technically we aren’t really a group, and the actions of a few shouldn’t represent the majority, but how often do we throw the immoral actions of believers in their faces? Let’s not add hypocrisy to the list of “sins”, shall we?

I’d like to send a little message to the “artists” who defaced the church: did you think that was a good fucking idea, morons? Did you really imagine your fellow non-believers would be impressed with such a juvenile stunt? We’re having enough of a hard time getting people to stop thinking we’re evil incarnate. This kind of bad press only strengthens people’s prejudice against us. Do we really need to fuel their misconceptions with vandalism? Does that accomplish our goals?

Next time you think about doing something this stupid, please, take a moment to check yourself. The last thing the movement needs is a bunch of idiots running around with spray paint thinking they’re hilarious. In times like these, we all look bad.