Protecting Blasphemers VII

Protecting Blasphemers is an annual discussion highlighting the most recent blasphemy issues of the year. We aim to discover the areas where the global secular community needs to make progress in terms of building support mechanisms to protect blasphemers experiencing persecution all around the world. This year’s speaker is Mubarak Bala, former president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who was imprisoned for 24 years for “insulting religion” via social media posts, a sentence that was reduced to five years on appeal in 2024, resulting in his release. After his release, he continued to advocate for freedom of belief and relocated to Germany. Your host, Onur Romano, is the director of the Atheist Refugee Assistance Program of Ateizm Dernegi Turkey, Case Manager of the Secular Rescue Program of Center for Inquiry USA, and the Human Rights Chair of Centre for Inquiry Canada.

The Renewable Energy Honeymoon: Starting is Easy, the Rest is Hard

Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC) staged this presentation by policy analyst Zoe Hilton on November 23, 2025. The study examines the assumption that replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy can provide a scalable solution to reducing carbon emissions. The belief that Australia can decarbonize its economy by relying on the wind and the sun rests on a misplaced conviction about what the renewables rollout will entail. Hilton is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies in Australia, working in the Energy Program. She co-authored the energy team’s flagship paper, The Six Fundamental Flaws Underpinning the Energy Transition.

Cyber Security Awareness featuring Amy JS Vethanayagam

This workshop, given on November 9, 2025, was staged by Centre for Inquiry Canada to provide valuable advice on internet security for everyone. The workshop was presented by Amy JS Vethanayagam – Master of Technology in Cyber Security. Ms Vethanayagam gives detailed tips and insights on password management, multi-factor authentication, phishing scams, deepfakes, and more.

Chasing the Wind – the Value of Wind Power Generation

Edgardo Sepulveda, a regulatory economist, presented his study of the value of wind generation in a low-emission nuclear and hydro-dominant grid in Ontario, Canada. This webinar, staged on October 26, 2025, was produced by Centre for Inquiry Canada. The presentation provides an overview of wind generation’s impact on electricity costs, prices, and subsidies. Edgardo has written extensively on the electricity sector. He earned his B.A. (Honours) from the University of British Columbia and his M.A. from Queen’s University, both in Economics.

Veganism, Animal Activism, and Duck Hunting

This webinar, staged by Centre for Inquiry Canada on September 28, 2025, was presented by Geoff Russell. Geoff has devoted a decade to writing non-fiction with a simple goal: make the world a better place. A three-decade vegan and member of the Australian Animal Justice Party, his first book in 2009 was ‘CSIRO Perfidy’, a critique of the high-red-meat CSIRO ‘Total Wellbeing diet’; the most environmentally destructive diet on the planet. Geoff’s second book, ‘GreenJacked! Derailing environmental action on climate change’ is an e-book available on Amazon.”

Energy, Prosperity and Geopolitics

92 views Jul 26, 2025Centre for Inquiry Canada staged this presentation by citizen activist Todd De Ryck on July 20, 2025. This comprehensive presentation covers worldwide energy consumption, systems, emissions, regulations, misconceptions, and more. Todd has been an advocate for nuclear energy since 2012.

BONUS: BAHACON 4 in Sarnia Ontario, August 8-10, 2025

The fourth BAHACON is coming in a little over two month’s time. Leslie speaks with Jeff Brooks about the conference’s location, speakers, and other attractions that make the Bluewater Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics conference so popular for attendees from across North America. Learn more and register at https://bahacon.com/.

Bonus: BAHACON – Sarnia Ontario, August 9-11 2024

In this bonus episode of Podcast for Inquiry, Leslie speaks with Bob Barnes and Jeff Brooks of Bluewater Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics about the third annual BAHACON, to be held in Sarnia, Ontario, on August 9-11, 2024.

The Current State of Vaccine Technology; How mRNA Changed the Game

Science Chair Zack Dumont gave this keynote presentation at CFIC’s Annual General Meeting on March 9, 2023. Dumont, who is a Pharmacist, also described the significance of Advance Market Commitments contracting as a stimulus for further development of vaccines, which can be effective in treating many serious health issues.

When Religious Leaders Become Atheists

On January 28, 2023, Centre for Inquiry Canada started the new year and restarted our Vancouver, British Columbia Branch, with a panel discussion with former Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious leaders talking about their experiences of losing their beliefs. The moderator of this event, co-sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, was the Foundation’s co-president – former Christian pastor Dan Barker. The listed panellists are members of The Clergy Project. The Project was established in 2011 as a private, non-profit organization specifically for religious leaders who had become atheists.

Longtermism (How bad would human extinction be?) by Émile P. Torres

How bad would human extinction be? An obvious reason it would be bad is that most extinction scenarios would cause much human suffering and cut people’s lives short. However, those who accept the increasingly influential ideology of “longtermism” claim that the main tragic implication of extinction is that it would prevent a potentially enormous number of future people from existing. Philosopher and historian Émile P. Torres gave this talk on October 22, 2022. Torres, who contributes to Salon, Aeon and The Washington Post, wrote the first-ever textbook on “existential risks”, or risks that could destroy humanity’s future.

Humanity’s Make-or-Break Century by Elise Bohan

From artificial intelligence to nuclear weapons, bioengineered pathogens and climate change, humanity is juggling more existential risks than ever before. This talk about transhumanism was given by author Elise Bohan on September 18, 2022. Bohan, Senior Research Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, wrote the book Future Superhuman: Our Transhuman Lives in a Make-or-Break Century.

Building a World Community – with Alex MacIsaac

This talk about World Federalism, presented on May 15, 2022, explained the political ideology of a democratically elected World government. Alex MacIsaac, the Executive Director of World Federalist Movement (Canada), advocates for holding constitutionally limited powers in key global governance affairs. World Federalists support the application of the principles of federalism to World affairs, in order that global governance becomes more equitable, just and democratically accountable. MacIsaac has practised international development in many countries, including Nepal, India, and Bolivia.

Green Burials – by Mary Nash

Natural burial offers a gentler goodbye. The natural burial movement began in the 1990’s and has gained momentum as more people appreciate that their connection and responsibility to the earth does not need to stop at death. Mary Nash of Community Deathcare Ottawa gave this presentation on the subject on June 5, 2022. Buried in a biodegradable casket or shroud, the body returns carbon and other minerals to the earth. Nash was a founding board member of the Funeral Co-operative of Ottawa and a past coordinator for Green Burial with the Federation of Ontario Memorial Societies.

Group of Five Refugee Sponsorship Seminar

Have you ever wondered what is involved in sponsoring a refugee? With the grim situation unfolding in Afghanistan and the displacement of people around the globe because of religion, politics, climate change, and war, you may be wondering how you can help. CFIC, along with the Atheist Society of Calgary (ASC) and the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program (RSTP), presented this seminar on January 22, 2022, on “Group of Five Refugee Sponsorship.” Members of ASC described their experiences with the sponsorship of “Omer.” They described why ASC decided to sponsor a refugee and how they formed the committee. They described their personal experiences as members of the Group of Five and the lessons they have learned. RSTP described the Group of Five Sponsorship program; explaining who can sponsor and who can be sponsored. They described the process of preparing a G5 application, provided information about requirements, including the financial and settlement obligation, proof of funds, supporting documents and family composition.

HELP SECULAR AFGHANS NOW! ”Protecting Afghan Apostates” Panel Discussion Announcement

PROTECTING AFGHAN APOSTATES is a panel discussion about the plight of Afghan non-believers and free-thinkers seeking refugee status in Canada. PROTECTING AFGHAN APOSTATES Panel Discussion event will be hosted by Secular Connexion Séculière www.secularconnexion.ca on March 1st, 2022, where Tarek Fatah, Homa Arjomand, Fika Taillon, Doug Thomas, Richard Thain, Robert Hamilton and Onur Romano will be speaking.

A Critique Of The Handmaid’s Tale by Christine M. Shellska

This roundtable discussion of the famous television series—based on the Margaret Atwood novel—was held on November 17, 2021. The connections between the ideas in the series and current real-world practices are explored. Christine Shellska is a researcher of rhetorical strategies employed by the Intelligent Design Creationism movement.