Latest Announcements

Leslie Rosenblood

Podcast for Inquiry has just wrapped its first year, and what a year it’s been! Here’s a sample of what we’ve accomplished:

• Big names on the podcast: Steven Pinker, Julie Bindel, Jonathan Kay, and William Davis;
• Tackled some challenging and controversial topics: Bill 21 (both sides), free speech, and artificial intelligence;
• Fascinating conversations with amazing people: Catherine Nixey on her book The Darkening Age, Emma Allen-Vercoe on microbes, and David Good on the Yanomami;
• Troubling and dark subjects: the state of democracy with Miriam Mufti; the early life of dictators with Brandon Gauthier, and human rights abuses in North Korea with Sandra Fahy;
• Sheer intellectual joys to explore: government no longer being defined by territory with Eric Schnurer; futures studies with Joseph Voros; and Chinese philosophy with Bryan Van Norden.

And it’s just going to get better.

The first episode of our 2023 season will be phenomenal. I talk with Phil Zuckerman about his book What It Means to be Moral, and he pulls no punches. If you want a full-throated, no-holds-barred attack on the foundation of religious “morality” that is worthy of any of the Four Horsemen of Atheism, you’ll want to listen to our next show (to be published January 4). 

I’m so incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished, and humbly thank you for giving me the opportunity to be Podcast for Inquiry’s host. It has been, and remains, my passion project.

I want to give special thanks to Matt Payne, who has been our editor and producer from the start. He made every episode look and sound professional, even at the beginning when I was using my laptop’s internal microphone to record my voice. He made sure every episode was edited, produced, and published on time, and has always been on hand to address any issues that arise. We couldn’t have done it with you, Matt. Thank you so very much. 

For those that haven’t yet listened to Podcast for Inquiry, you’re missing out on a great conversation, every two weeks. For those who have subscribed, thank you — and let me know (podcast@centreforinquiry.ca) what you like and where we can improve. 

It’s been a fantastic year, and I’m very excited for everything we have planned for 2023.

Protecting Blasphemers is an annual panel discussion highlighting the most recent blasphemy issues of the year. We aim to discover the areas where the global secular community can work together to build support mechanisms to protect blasphemers running from persecution. Each year we also pay our respects to a fellow atheist activist we lost. This year’s event is in loving memory of Matt Kovach of Atheist Alliance International.

Protecting Blasphemers IV Panel will be held on Zoom: Saturday, December 10th, 2022, at 4pm EST.

This year’s speakers are; THE “SECULAR 5.” This team consists of directors of the five leading atheist refugee assistance programs around the globe. Secular Rescue program of CFI U.S., Atheist Support Network of Atheist Alliance International, Secular Underground Network, Atheist Refugee Relief Program, and Atheist Refugee Assistance Program of Ateizm Dernegi International.

You will hear from Matthew Cravatta, Tonoy Emroz, Maarten Freriks, and other leading activists.

The event will be hosted by CFIC’s Human Rights Chair Onur Romano.

Please register for this event through Eventbrite.

Early Bird Tickets still available: Book before June 15th & SAVE!

BAHA (Bluewater, Atheist, Humanist, Agnostics) would like to invite you to their inaugural Conference, featuring speakers Gretta Vosper, Bob Ripley, Hemant Mehta, Dave Warnock, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dr Joshua Bowen, Seth Andrews, Dan Barker.

More information is available here.

BAHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the image of freethinkers and atheists and to give back to our communities. All profits from our conference are returned back to the communities. We come from an area known as Bluewater Country, with members from both sides of the river separating Sarnia, Ontario, and Pt Huron, Michigan.

CFIC is proud to announce the launch of our Podcast for Inquiry in mid-January 2022. Each episode will focus on an issue of interest to the CFIC community: human rights, secularism, democratic and humanist values, reason, science, activism, and more. Our first few episodes include conversations about the state of media and journalism in Canada, whether cultural change can only come from within, and a two-part series discussing Quebec’s Bill 21 (the “religious symbols” legislation).

The first episode will be published in mid-January, but you can subscribe today to be one of the first people to listen to the Podcast for Inquiry. A brief preview of our first few episodes is available now on Spotify, and please subscribe in your favourite podcast app, or via our RSS feed.

Let us know what you think! Please email us a note here.

December 1 is World AIDS Day and Rosa Parks Day.

December 2 is a Palindrome Day, if you write your dates in ISO Standard (2021/12/02), or U.S. standard (12/02/2021).

December 6 is The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It has been over 30 years since the murder of 14 young women at Polytechnique Montréal (December 6, 1989).

December 10 is Human Rights Day. Seventy-three years ago, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Some progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go.

The December Solstice (winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere) marks the time when  Earth has its maximum tilt away from the sun, this year on December 21 at 15:59 UTC.  For those who prefer light, it’s a time to celebrate that the days are getting longer. But while it’s still dark, we can enjoy some interesting astronomical observations in the cold, clear, long nights of December, such as the alignment of planets and the Geminid meteor shower.

December 31 marks the end of 2021, and CFIC extends our wishes to all the readers of Critical Links for a happy, healthy, and rational 2022.