cfi canada

CFI Canada Winter Solstice Celebration

Last night at a special bonus instalment of Magic Tonight, we were joined by a group from the Centre for Inquiry Canada celebrating the winter solstice and raising money for the centre. The holiday season can be difficult for skeptics, freethinkers and atheists, particularly those spending time with religious family members. It can create a feeling of being left out and so it's a pleasure and an honour to be able to provide a place for like minded people to celebrate and have a good time. On top of the magic, we celebrated The Flying Spaghetti Monster and all present were touched by his great noodly appendage!

This year secular organizations like CFI have been busy this year fighting for freedom of expression and freedom from religion around the world. In particular, CFI Canada has helped bring a number of free though refugees and their families to escape religious persecution around the world and make their way to Canada. The best way to support them in their work is to join CFI Canada.

For those who were interested in attending but weren't able to make it because of other holiday commitments, take a look at some of the fun we got up to. There may also be some video coming later in the week.

Website Slider
Website Slider

Magic Tonight runs weekly at the Crimson Lounge in downtown Toronto, every Sunday night. Readers of this blog can use the discount code cficanada for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.  A portion of every ticket sold will also go to support the centre and its work.

Jerry Coyne wuz here

Last night at the OISE auditorium downtown, Jerry Coyne, the distinguished professor of evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago, gave a talk on his latest book, Faith Vs. Fact: Why Religion and Science are Incompatible. And there are purdy pictures:

I finished the book the night before the talk and must say I enjoyed it very much. While parts of it (at least to my liberal Canadian eyes) have a distinct "well duh" aspect to them, it was still wonderful to read such a complete across-the-board support of reason and science when many thinkers seem to feel the need to hedge, waffle and pay lip service to "other ways of finding truth".

My only regret is that I didn't get my copy of the book signed. But that's probably for the best since I've been trying to cut down on the number of physical books I buy and if I got Professor Coyne to sign the screen of my iPad, it would make checking email that much more difficult.

CFI Canada Winter Solstice Celebration (Part 1)

Last night on Magic Tonight, we hosted a special fundraiser for CFI Canada. We celebrated the Winter Solstice with a special performance by Michael Close, and a podcast taping with David Peck. Thanks to the Centre for Inquiry for rounding up such a wonderful group of people. We set the record for the largest audience we've ever had at the show!

Photos by David Peck. More pictures coming shortly.

For more information and tickets visit www.magictonight.ca. Use the code cficanada on checkout for a special discount and a portion of your ticket will go to support the Centre for Inquiry Canada and its endeavours.

Heathen's Greetings

Michael Close
Michael Close

In just over two weeks, on Magic Tonight, we'll be hosting a special fundraisers for the Centre for Inquiry (www.cficanada.ca). All proceeds from the show will go to support CFI Canada. I'll be performing on the show along with special guest, Michael Close. After the show we'll be doing a live taping of David Peck'sFace2Face Podcast where we'll be discussing the role of magic on a modern secular society.

David Peck
David Peck

Where: Izakaya Showroom - 292 College Street @ Spadina When: Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM Tickets: www.abracadabaret.com/cfi

Discounted tickets are available for Members of CFI Canada.

Join us for an evening of fun, friends and food. The only spirits present will be alcoholic. We'll celebrate reason (by throwing it out the window for the night and do some amazing magic and other strange things.)

Tickets include the show, dinner and the podcast taping. They can be purchased at www.abracadabaret.com/cfi

James Alan
James Alan

Michael Close (www.MichaelClose.com) originally from Indiana, is one of the most respected creators and publishers of magic in the world. He is currently the Editor in Chief of MUM, the journal of the Society of American Magicians. He is also the author of That Reminds Me, with a foreword by Penn Jillette.

David Peck (www.davidpecklive.com) is the Executive Director of SoChange, a non profit organization that helps build capacity for organizations in the developing world. Among its programs is the Mosquitoes Suck Tour, a comedy and magic show that promotes social justice and education for high school students about malaria and mosquitoes in Africa.

Magic Tonight Square
Magic Tonight Square