UPCOMING MEETINGS, DISCUSSIONS, AND GATHERINGS
- CFIC Volunteer Academy: Week 1 — WHO: Finding the Right Audience: Join the CFIC Volunteer Academy to learn how to promote events, connect with new audiences, and get involved as a volunteer! (October 2nd, 2026, at 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET)
- ONLINE Living Without Religion – Hosted by CFIC Virtual Branch: Join Living Without Religion for an open, supportive conversation where you can speak freely, feel understood, and connect with others in a respectful, judgment-free space. (October 4th, 2026, at 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET)
- Surrey/Langley Skeptics in the Pub Group Meetup: Do you have questions about unusual claims? We invite you to join the Surrey/Langley Skeptics in the Pub Group. (October 4th, 2026, 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM PDT)
- Book Club (non-fiction): A monthly meetup to analyze controversial books with thoughtful, balanced debate. (October 5th, 2026, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET)
- Skeptics in the Pub: Ottawa: Meet friendly skeptics, atheists, humanists, and freethinkers for Skeptics in the Pub. (October 6th, 2026, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET)
- ONLINE Secular Community Network – Hosted by SCN Ottawa West: The Secular Community Network hosts lightly moderated informal discussions on topics of interest to freethinkers, humanists, and others who are secular. (October 7th, 2026, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM ET)
- Secular Brunch – Ottawa Centretown: Secular Brunch – Ottawa Centretown is a new in-person and lightly-moderated discussion group for atheists, agnostics, humanists, skeptics, and other free-thinkers in the National Capital Region. (October 18th, 2026, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET)
CFIC UPDATES
- Assistance for Apostates (A4A): The First Lives Saved: Ramin Saberi Jafari and Anahita Morovvati, Iranian atheist filmmakers, in Victoria, July 2026: the first lives saved by Assistance for Apostates, with the Atheist Refugee Assistance Program (ARAP) of Ateizm Derneği, the one and only legally recognized atheist human rights organization in the Muslim world. (centreforinquiry.ca/a4a)
- Podcast for Inquiry (PFI) – What’s New?
CRITICAL THINKING
- Keith’s Conundrums: Are there individuals? A puzzle from J. Ladyman and D. Ross: “Two philosophers of science think there are no individuals, only relations. How is this supposed to work, and can their larger project make do without it?”
- Should We Fear the AI Threat?: Where would you rank AI on a top five doomsday list for mankind?
- Critical Thinking QuickLinks – October 2026: ID, plastic propaganda, AI misdirection.
SCIENCE
- Science QuickLinks – October 2026: Humanist Congress in Ottawa, prayer in US schools, bishops support vaccination.
SECULARISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
- Secularism QuickLinks – October 2026: Land acknowledgements, AI as religious leader, faitheism, Christfluencers.
DATES OF INTEREST
- October 2026 Dates of Interest: Celebrating teachers, food, women and girls, and coders.
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Variety Of Vegetables, image by Ella Olsson, via Pexels