The weekly report on the SPI Coalition
by Johnny Monsarrat
What are┬á┬áSPI┬áCoalition members doing during the holidays? It’s a time when┬áChristmas dominates our culture so heavily that non-believers and spiritual people who are not Christian can feel crowded out of the good cheer.
In the United States, the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers sends care packages monthly to members of the military around the world, and in December care package meetings in Los Angeles and Alabama send good tiding to those who may feel overwhelmed with Christian celebration around them.
In Canada,┬áSecular Connexion S├®culaire (SCS) has written a version of the national anthem, O Canada, that does not refer to God. And they lobby politicians against┬áCanadaÔÇÖs anti-blasphemy law and its legal permission for religious people to make hateful statements.
The National Secular Society in the United Kingdom notes that national ceremonies┬ádo not need to be dominated by religion, as demonstrated recently by France’s somber memorial for the victims of the recent Paris attacks. They also lobby for removal of the┬á26 unelected Church of England bishops who sit in the UK House of Lords.
The Polish Humanist Association is standing against Hungary’s antidemocratic and xenophobic way that it’s treated refugees at its border. They’re collecting signatures for a citizens’ initiative.
And the Peruvian Rationalist Humanists┬árecently held a debate on the existence of God and are planning another event to debunk UFOs. They commonly educate the public about superstition and hold secular humanist ceremonies for those who don’t belong to a religion. Anyone up for a Secular Non-Denominational Gift-Giving Fir Tree Winter Solstice Celebration?