I can feel the religious tolerance*… can’t you?

*Tolerance is the same thing as irony, right?

I did a larger write-up of the event on the Skeptic North blog, here: http://www.skepticnorth.com/2009/10/michael-shermer-in-toronto.html. You should go check it out!

I would highly recommend coming out to this event if you’re in the area. It only costs $5 for students if you pre-order or your tickets. More information can be found below:

The War Between Science and Religion

Toronto, Ont. (October 10, 2008)—The University of Toronto Secular Alliance, in coordination with the Centre for Inquiry-Ontario, will present “Science Education: The War Between Science and Religion” with Dr. Paul Z. Myers, PhD, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 31 at the University of Toronto’s McLeod Auditorium, 1 King’s College Circle. A catered reception with the speaker will precede the event from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m at 216 Beverley St.

In America schools are fighting to keep evolution in their science curriculum while others are fighting to keep the religious movement of creationism out of their schools. This isn’t a fight happening only in America. In Alberta schools are facing the same fight. Here in Ontario we have catholic schools that are funded by the public. The publicly funded Catholic schools in Ontario frequently deny access to their schools to non-Catholic students, while we all pay for the schools to function. In fact funding to keep these separate school systems amounts to $200 million dollars for secondary schools alone.

Dr. PZ Myers has been a longtime critic of intelligent design in acedemia, and has written extensively on the topic on his popular website and weblog (http://www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula) devoted to scientific research of biology (specifically cephalopods), and criticism of religion and creationism. Earlier this year Dr. Myers was accused by the Catholic League of Anti-Catholic Bigotry, after he publicly criticized those who had sent death threats and hate mail to a young man who took a communion wafer back to his seat and didn’t consume it in traditional catholic behaviour. Dr. Myers job was threatened as the Catholic League asked the University of Minnesota to take legal action against his discrimination and anti-religious sentiments of the Catholic church. Dr. Myers has shown other signed of religious discrimination on his blog by ripping out pages of the Q’uran and throwing them in the garbage with “old coffee grins and banana peels”. Thankfully the school dismissed the call for action by stating that their faculty is allowed to express themselves however they see fit.

The Center For Inquiry Canada welcomes Dr. Myers October 31 for a presentation on the intersection of religion and science within education.

About the speaker:

Dr. Paul Z Myers, PhD is a professor of biology at The University of Minnesota, Morris campus. He works with zebra fish in the department of evolutionary developmental biology. His blog, Pharyngula is the most widely read science and atheism blog on the Internet. He is a self-avowed godless liberal and as such is one of the most vocal skeptics on all forms of religion, pseudoscience and superstition.

The Center For Inquiry Canada is devoted to the promotion of freedom of inquiry and expression in all human endeavors and as such this presentation is part of their ongoing Freedom of Expression Campaign which will host other such events such as a series of authors in November and December and a multi-faith panel on religion early next year. Please visit cfiontario.org for more information on these events. It was established in January 2007 as the premiere Canadian branch of CFI and as the nation’s first dedicated meeting and event space for humanists and freethinkers. The Centre for Inquiry-Canada is located in downtown Toronto, directly across College Street from the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.

For more information on the event and to arrange an interview with Dr. Myers, contact Katie Kish at (647) 267-5780.