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By Katie Kish, May 11, 2009 11:44 am

As some may, or may not, know I’ve recently moved from being the Vice President – Multi Media for the Freethought Association of Canada to being the president of it. It’s a long and twisted story about why I decided to do it, but with the new executive I really think we’ll make a little bit of a difference in the world while showing that secularists have it in them to be giving. The new campaign is more or less phase 2 of the Atheist Bus Campaign… read on to learn about it!

The Enjoy Your Life Campaign

Show the world that you can have a heart, even without a soul

The charity that brought you the controversial and highly successful Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign is proud to announce its follow up project: the Enjoy Your Life Campaign! This project will take up where the Bus campaign left off, providing charitable funding and volunteer work to a number of highly worthwhile causes.

How many times have you heard the lament that freethinkers of all kinds cannot possibly be good without god? Now is your chance to prove once and for all that not only can we be moral people, but we can put this morality to work in ways that will better humankind. We at the Freethought Association of Canada understand the importance of helping to improve the lives of as many people as our hands can reach. Knowing that this life is all we have, emphasizes its importance and motivates us to extend our moral consideration to all who share our world.

The Freethought Association of Canada will be looking for donations from anyone interested in helping spread the word that atheists are able and willing to do good deeds. Our outlook is global, and includes such worthwhile causes as:

• Expanding the supply of condoms in Africa
• Helping children’s literacy in Canada
• Participating in the development of critical thinking curriculum for pre-university students
• Building an online community to connect and support freethinkers around the world
• Organizing blood drives and food banks
• Taking YOUR suggestions for what you think the Canadian Freethought Community should support!

Over the next few months, the Freethought Association of Canada will be conducting extensive research into charitable causes around the world, and by the end of Summer 2009 we will be ready to begin a campaign that will impact lives forever. If you would like to be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity, we would love to hear from you. Donations can be made on our site (freethoughtassociation.ca), and if you’d like to volunteer your time or expertise, you can contact: info@freethoughtassociation.ca or phone (647) 822-5474.

The Enjoy Your Life Campaign – Show the world that you can have a heart, even without a soul.

Comments (4)

By Katie Kish, December 1, 2008 4:24 am

*Wordpress says I wrote this December 31, 1969 at 7 pm. …I just found it in a random spot in my wordpress and thought I’d publish it. I dont really remember writing it*

Ask and ye shall recieve. A while ago on my own blog I wrote about Ron Luce and his militant army of evangelical 15-20 something year olds. The quotes from their website at the time were terrifying. They were literally acting like an army for religion. Part of me was absolutely disgusted by this utterly horrible display of militantism – but then another side of me was oddly jealous. The one thing I’ll give Ron Luce is that he’s successful. He’s managed to make “god” and “praying” and “worshiping” fun.

Living with a minister I was pretty much pushed into church every week until I was 16. I continued to go for a while, but it was horribly boring. Where else was I supposed to go to praise god? One year a friend of mine invited me to Acquire the Fire, so I went. And I had a fantastic time. Yes I was saved, prayed, sang the songs and all that jazz – but it was a really good time too. I was with friends, we were dancing, we got to hang out at night… etc. It was just really fun. If there is anything that is bringing down churches like the United Church and the like its that they’re very stuck in their ways of doing things. I do understand that tradition and ritual is a vital part of some people’s religions experience and essence. However, young people aren’t connected to that ritualistic method of praise, and thus the youthful presence in a church is often extremely low.

Acquire the Fire got it right. They found a way not only to make young people want to come to their events – but they want to take what they learn home with them too. And then they want to go next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. I envied the way he could suck people is. I wanted a voice like that for my groups!

And I got it.

Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, et al. We got em. They’re loud, they’re proud, they make everything seem fun, everyone wants to rally up beside them and shout to the …lord? …Oh wait, they hate the lord.
Anyway, now that I’ve got what I was asking for – I don’t want it. I find that the one thing I have in common with these people is that we all happen to be atheists. In my early years of “atheism” I was very much like Dawkins and the like. But now I just see it as naive and narrowminded. There is a whole world of interrelations with religious groups that get cut off too quickly because they’re just that – religious groups. When in all reality the most eye opening discussions of my life have been with my parent’s “progressive christianity” group.

I find that too many non-religious people have stopped asking questions and more importantly have stopped listening. I will be fair in saying that until now (well, until the publishing of the top-selling atheist books) there hasn’t been a voice for those with critical comments towards religious claims. Time and time again, even in my academic career, I’ve been hushed on the subject of atheism, I’ve been fired for being one and have been shunned for talking about it as if it’s as ordinary as the weather. These “radicals” opened that door, and that’s good. But I don’t want to be associated with them, really.

There are horrible things that have come out of religious traditions such as repression of sexuality and urges, war, genocide, censorship, denial of science and the reign over women. And in the same way horrible things can come out of the hard non-religious outlook on life like considering people to be less intelligent, repressing people’s opinions, dividing the population, being completely intolerant and as I said before, the worst of all, not listening to anyone else. On the other side of all this a lot of religious organizations do really honourable things like donating to charities just as non-religious people donate to charities. There are also organizations of all faiths that work together. Multi-faith center (albeit generally on campuses) come together to do fundraising, vonlunteering and discussions. These are productive uses of faith and intelligence. Continuously attacking the other side is not.

I know that I am more or less speaking for myself in this case – but that is not my intent with my writings on this site. I know that we all have different intentions on terms of what we’re “passionate” about and who we think deserve certain levels of “respect”. As much as I love having a loud voice for people to follow, for people to look up to and more or less for people to follow – it’s not the point of this movement. A freethinkers movement isn’t a movement where we should be lying down and solomly listening to poeple who happen to write fancy books. Espeically because these books look at so few things – they tend to focus on one area of things and just continuously attack that area instead of branching out and learning new ways to incorporate skepticism and freethinking into discussions and society.

Until the freethinking movement becomes something that can be added into everyday conversation without it seeming like an attack on people then it isn’t going to be effective or useful. It will just be another opinion for people to ignore because it doesn’t take into consideration the views and opinions of others, and isn’t that what we’re really against? Shutting out/down the opinions and views of others? Why follow in the footprints of people who are creating a voice that is just going to be ignored, because it ignores everyone else? When instead we can create a cooperative voice with one another and really start figuing out why the hell people believe in weird things.

As a memeber of this progressive and freethinking movement and as a nonbeliever I still respect, listen and (more or less) tolerate the opinions of the other side. When it comes to science I understand that it’s hard to tolerate something that is just flat out false but that’s another topic all together. This is opinion, philosophy, morality, love and the soul I like these discussions, and hearing all sides as to incorporate a wider view of what people believe into my life and studies. My problem is not with these religious people, especially progressive ones, it is with those who elimiate reason based on unsubstantiated claims, and likewise it is with those who eliminate religion based on unsubstantiated claims.

Comments (3)

By Katie Kish, October 4, 2008 6:04 pm

Everyone knows that i don’t hold particularly high regards for the poster boy atheists. I’ve written about it, and been destroyed for my opinion in a few places (some worse than others) and everyone thought I was some anti-atheist without even taking into consideration the positive posts I had written before. After the whole “why atheists annoy me” thing I sort of shied away from writing about atheism all that often. I’ve long argued that to make yourself feel included and comfortable within a movement you need to find someone who you can relate to. Someone that makes you think “Yeah! That is so right on!” someone who you wouldn’t mind speaking for you anywhere at anytime.

Nica Lalli is a mother of two (two who sound intelligent, and adorable), a PTA mom, painter, has a master of fine arts and married to a man she met when she was 21. ( I love love.) She is also the author of Nothing:Something to Believe In, and an atheist. Most importantly (at least for the matters of this post) she is the first atheist who has come to speak at CFI that I’ve ever been able to relate to. Ever.

Although our back-stories are extremely different (she was raised secular by non-religious parents and has never been religious …I was raised Christian by Christian parents and a minister), what she has to say now resonates with me deeply. I knew as soon as she said “I didn’t want to be the voice, I just wanted to be one of many” that I was going to like her much more than the other “voice” I’ve heard. (that makes me sound crazy…) But what we both are, is “interested in why religion is interesting” to us.

At first I thought she was going to be a cope out because she was calling herself “nothing” instead of slapping the word atheist on her forehead. But once she described that she wanted something “outside the debate” it made a lot more sense. All the other words, atheist, agnostic, freethinker, bright [thats the worst], humanist, rationalist – all have a stigmata (heh) behind them from being inside the religious debates.

Her book doesn’t fit in, where her book is about living life as an atheist – raising kids, dealing with in laws and just being her the other books about atheism and religion. About why atheism is the be all end all marvelous anti-faith that is going to save us all from our narrowminded and blinded views. Dawkins et al don’t show their weaknesses or talk about their lives rather they’re more interested in telling everyone else how stupid they are. Where Dawkins and his posse make it very hard to like atheists, Nica makes it very easy to fall totally in love with her. The poster boy atheists are making it very hard to say “I’m an atheist” without getting a million nasty glares and grilled with a lot of questions based on the assumption that you think just like them. Nica tries to describe and help us learn how to live in this world, where we’re not quite liked yet. Unfortunately the poster boys are very good at describing what it is that makes us angry, so they go off and get angry. Everywhere. All the time. And look silly. But Nica is right in saying that it is good that we have someone expressing those views – I just wish it wasn’t the only “mainstream” (so to speak) view out there.

Near the end of her talk, she did it. She did what no other atheist speaker I have ever seen has done before. It was like she was sent from God to help me understand my non-belief. She described what she believes in. She describes it with a story where she is in New York, surrounded by people while she’s in her car. At that moment, she was thinking, that all those people are thinking something. Thinking, remembering, wishing, dreaming, hoping…and being an individual. That was so overwhelming to her, and it is to me too. Although I take this a bit further, and include the sheer overwhelming feeling that the universe in general gives me. The beauty and power of discovery, the inconceivable size of the galaxy and yes, like Nica, the amazing thought that everyone is here, thinking, being and living.

Nica wrote her book to show how normal she is. So believers and non-believers could read it and relate to what she had to say. And then, perhaps, turn to the person beside them, no matter what denomination, and share a story with them. Stop the bickering and build a stronger relationship with those around you. A relationship that goes beyond lables and the armor so that we can just be, and understand one another on a new appreciative level. It’s pretty pathetic when you can’t have a discussion because religion overkills. Nica, like me, is unwilling to say that all belief is bad. It is absolutely tragic that there is an automatic assumption that they hate us, and we hate them. Then the world just seems so much more fragmented.

It’s too bad that she isn’t tough enough for Americans. She isn’t spitting in people’s faces and tearing down the religious fundamentalists that threaten our lives, rights and countries. Instead she is too normal, so people pay far to little attention to her. She is not an arrogant scientist. She’s not stuck up. She doesn’t act like she has the answers. She isn’t untouchable. She is approachable. She is intelligent and well spoken. She is a good writer. And she says what is in my head. She is someone I can relate to, which makes it a lot easier for me to call myself an atheist, or rather…nothing.

Comments (9)

By Katie Kish, June 9, 2008 5:53 am

My grandma’s memorial was on Saturday, it was in a church – because that’s where she wanted it. It was the first time I had been in a church in a long while. My brother and I kept shooting one another glances when we’d have to pray or something.

It was really hard to respect my grandmother’s wishes without exploding about sitting inside of an almost cultish setting ["now lets drink the kool-aid" my brother said to me at one point].  My step-dad spoke at one point and it was quite nice because he talked a lot about personal experience type stuff. But later on the minister of the church that we were at started to speak.

It was so horrible. I wish I had a copy of what he said.It’s not a good start to something whe you begin a new thought at a funeral with the words “I don’t want to be disrespectful…but…” … and then go on about “yeah, she’s dead, but the church will be okay!” Please, that’s totally not what I wanted to hear at my grandma’s funeral.

It was shitty to be so disconnected from what was going on. The only times when I actually felt like I could relate to what was going on was when my little cousin did a little talk, and when my step dad was telling stories about how we all viewed her. “special k”

Going into church again definitely gave me a huge reminder about why I walked out of the church life. People kept saying to me “She’s in a better place now”… my brother and I had to grind our teeth a little because as far as we’re concerned when you’re dead, you’re dead. The off switch has been flicked. But you can’t be that rude and abrupt with people who have just lost someone so dear to them. I feel so bad when I say to my mom “you didn’t just talk to dad, because dad is dead”. She believes that he’s really communicating with her. I will admit that I did know my grandma died before my mom even told me. I said to a girl beside me “I’m pretty sure my grandma just died” and literally 10 minutes later my mom called to let me know that it had happened. Granted I knew she was sick, but I had just finished a 10 hour shift and hadn’t been updated on her status in a while. …Just a tid bit.

I don’t know how to tell people what I believe when they’re in such a …sad state. Because the biggest way they’re coping is by thinking that she’s in a “better” place. I did buck up enough to say “no, i actually didn’t think it was a nice service” when people asked me if I had enjoyed it as much as they did. Because I really didn’t think it was a nice service. My brother and I promised that who ever dies first – the other will take care of their funeral arrangements, and then leave a note before we die that we want the other’s to be handled in exactly the same way.

Then, to top it all off, we paid the minister $150. SHITTY.

Soooo, things that have made me sad in the past few days:

Marcus Ranum said: (Saturday 07 June, 2008 (edit))

I don’t think anyone is necessarily calling theists ’stupid’.

I am. They are.

Next?

jerk.

worg said: (Saturday 07 June, 2008 (edit))

If you’re tolerant of religion you’re fucking dumb.

sigh.

Standing at my grandma’s grave letting the wind dry my tears so I looked strong.

Not being able to enjoy my grandma’s memorial because the religion kept annoying me.

Seriously though – the comments that I’ve gotten in the past few days have been too much for me to handle. I usually soak all this shit right up and fight right back, just as hard. But I’m pretty sure this is the first time commenters have made me cry! Ah hahaha. Fuck. I think it’s just the emotions of this week.

How do you manage to get through a religious funeral? What sort of respectful response is there to “she’s in a better place”?

Comments (120)

By Katie Kish, June 2, 2008 6:01 pm

First of all – lets not forget – I’m an atheist.

1. Lectures – secularist groups (at least here in Canada) have three kinds of events. FSM Dinners, movies nights and lectures. I used to love the lectures. I would be super excited for them, and would attend every single one, even if it meant dropping money on the bus for Toronto. But now I’ve been involved with the groups for a few years and it’s all starting to get a little redundant. Especially the ones that are like “SCIENCE RULES! SUCK IT RELIGION”… they’re getting a little tiring. I think part of that is because I’m not as militant in my atheism as I used to be. (My thoughts are still the same, but not my actions. I’ve exacerbated [edit: thats the wrong word I wanted – I’ve tired out my energy toward many things and am focusing on more central ones.) The couple of lectures that I’ve seen where people break out of that comfort zone of atheists (think Wodek and Kauffman) the crowd goes wild, and not in a good way. “People” get rude and abrupt and angry because the lecturers aren’t feeling sorry for atheists and talking about how awesome science is.*

Dare I say – it’s like church – when a minister comes in with new ideas, the congregation goes ape shit because they’re so stuck in their ways.

2. Conferences – There are always SO MANY. …Why does this annoy me? Because I can’t go to all of them and not enough of them are near Toronto. The student leadership conference will be tres beans. But I wish I could go to TAM, SSA’s conference, all the Skepchick shit that goes on, the NYC conference last year… etc. However – at all of these conferences… lectures. See #1.

3. Dawkins – I think I’ve made it pretty clear in the past that I don’t like Dawkins. I really don’t want Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens to be the voice of my atheism. Because it’s not the voice of many people’s atheism, and it gives people a dangerous path to follow in their atheism. It makes them intolerant, gives them a reason not even try to understand and makes it impossible to have conversations with them. It’s like a hardcore theist – their theism leads them to dangerous places (mentally and physically), their beliefs give them reason to not listen to anyone else and they’re almost always impossible to talk to. The person I want to speak for my atheism is willing to listen, understands if you choose to be religious (and respects that) and attempts to have conversations (where they’re not shoving things down the other person’s throat).

4. Level of Seriousness – Almost all of the atheists I know really need to have a bit more fun. Fo’ realz guyz. Sometimes I see myself slipping into this, and then crack a joke to make everything all better again.

5. Intelligence – Yes, we knoooow you’re a scientist. We knooooow you’ve read a million books and written 4. We knoooooow that you know Richard Dawkins. We knooooow that you know the REAL definition of evolution. We KNOW that you know everything about religions. And we KNNNOOOOWW that you know God isn’t real. So shut up, and talk to me about philosophy like… morals, animal rights, the environment or politics or something else when we’re at a bar. Or when we’ve known each other for more than 3 years. Talk to me about something else besides how smart you are and how you absolutely know everything there is to know about everything that is worth knowing about.

6. Closed minded – This stands for most of my “liberal” friends as well. They can’t see things from the other side. A good example is something going on at a blog I was reading where people just can’t wrap their head around the fact that people can be spiritual, and not be religious. Religion implies some sort of formality, and doesn’t always include a really deep connection to things. I know a lot of people who are religious. They go to church, and they go through the motions but they have no connection to it. Then I know a lot of people who never go to church, who don’t claim to believe in God or even know what God is – but they have this deep connection to what they usually call “something” and they feel like it strengthens their spirit. And gives them a deeper connection to things and whatever that “something” is. And I respect that. They’re not religious. They’re not following any sort of religious dogma, or religious traditions, or even claiming belief in God. They’re developing what they call their spirituality. And I think there is a fine line between spirituality and religion – but a line nonetheless.

7. Positive Outlook – Many lack it. And I guess saying why atheists annoy me isn’t all that positive, but… I need to rant once in a while. I really dislike that so often so many atheists are always looking at the negative. They focus on what’s wrong and when ever they’re shown something that’s fantastic, they find something wrong with it. When they’re told they’re not being victimized for once, the go up in arms because they NEED to be victimized or they can’t be pissed off at the world anymore. I find that especially the old people just like to grumble about things. The younger people just like to fight with other people. It’s like environmentalists (yes, I always have to compare) they were SO doom and gloom! Finally someone came out with that book Good News For A Change and it was SO refreshing to read because environmentalists were for once looking at what was accomplished and what good was coming out of their initiatives and things to look forward to in the future. What do we have to look forward to in the secularist front? We should talk more about that. (maybe I will… later.)

8. Spirituality – I made the list before I wrote the comments in each one. I guess I sort of already covered this. See #6.

9. The Number Of Organizations – There’s a lot. And too many of them do not work together on anything. I won’t get into specifics, but the more I get into these groups the more I see the schisms between different ones and the more I think “this is just silly”. When I was getting the CFI job, I had to look at things from a different perspective, … I had to see that that grassroots way of thinking had to be put aside to maintain an organization. But now, I’m back to grassroots and I can go back to claiming that we all need to work together – despite our differences.

10. I think that’s it. At least for now. I was hoping to come up with 10, just to make it a more… ordinary number to stop at… but, alas, I didn’t! I should however mention…

Things I love?

1. Feminists – almost all atheist boys are feminists too. my next boyfriend needs to be a feminist. (not the loud and annoying kinds though…just the feministy kind.)

2. Philosophy – we talk about it ALL the time. and that’s really cool. and hot. same with talking about science. and i love it that my friends are a group of people who appreciate the fact that i do mathematical logic in my spare time, they don’t think it’s weird.

3. Intelligence – i know it was something that annoyed me, but I love it too. all my atheist friendies are so smart. and its super cute.

4. Understand Me - a lot of people who don’t take a firm stance on being an atheist and who aren’t involved with the secularist movement don’t understand my time commitment. I spend a LOT of time (and money and energy and thought) on secularism. It’s what I do in my spare time. A lot of my friends who I had pre-CFI times now don’t get why I need to spend SO much time at CFI. Allen and I have a LOT of conversations about the point of CFI, what we do, and why we need to do it. …They’re constructive conversations, but at the end he still walks away not knowing why I’m involved and I still walk away not knowing how he couldn’t be involved. (Actually, he’s a friend of the center. I made him sign up.)

5. Fun – yeah, this contradicts “seriousness” … but they are fun … when they’re nto being too serious about things. Some of the best times I’ve had this year have been with CFI folks. We have a good time.

*Don’t get me wrong… science is awesome but I was trying to make a point.