Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1679

The Religious Right’s Racism is Still a Serious Problem for the GOP

This is a guest post by Lauren Nelson.

…

In the wake of any tragedy, victims and their families often struggle to understand why something so terrible has happened. In the wake of the Charleston shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, that question was rapidly asked and answered. The targeted location, statements made during the act by the shooter Dylann Roof, and the quickly discovered propaganda he embraced made it quite clear that the “why” was vile racism.

Clear, that is,...

Texas Governor Appoints Homeschooling Christian Mother to Chair of the State Board of Education

For years, the Texas Board of Education was led by Don McLeroy, a Creationist who did all he could to dismantle the teaching of proper science in the classroom. It hasn’t gotten any better since he left, with the Board approving textbooks suggesting Moses influenced the writing of the Constitution and other Christian revisionist history.

So when Governor Greg Abbott had to replace evolution-doubter Barbara Cargill, no one was feeling optimistic. But you didn’t think he could do worse.

Looks lik...

Ray Comfort’s Anti-Gay Film Audacity is a Ludicrous Caricature of Self-Righteous Evangelism

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned that New Zealand evangelist Ray Comfort was about to release an anti-gay film called Audacity.

I watched this movie so you don’t have to.

Well, I watched it a few hours after the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality nationwide.

It was an emotional day; my colleagues at the LGBT nonprofit where I work stood in a circle and cried together, my girlfriend and I sent heartwarming news clips back and forth, and I left work early to hang out at the Stonewall Inn...

John Oliver Talks About the Importance of Defending Transgender Rights

If you missed it last night, John Oliver had an excellent segment on Last Week Tonight explaining why people need to care about transgender rights:

I didn’t think it was possible for Mike Huckabee to be an even more despicable person. Despite his claims otherwise, his Christianity has made him a monster when it comes to treating already-demoralized groups with any compassion.

This Courageous Middle Eastern Atheist Uses YouTube to Spread His Message

The Daily Beast‘s Nancy A. Youssef has a great profile of Ismail Mohammed, a Middle Eastern atheist whose uses YouTube to convince viewers to join him down a non-religious path:

Mohammed, 30, left Islam three years ago but he has become evangelical about his new faith. He created his YouTube channel, Black Ducks, in his Cairo home with no more than a computer, speakers and a simple 8 by 11 piece of paper displaying the show’s logo. For an hour, Muslims across the region spend an hour with Moh...

Disproving Gods with History and Science

In this video, Dr. Richard Carrier talks about the history of religion, what various Gods have in common, and why it’s all just fiction:

I haven’t had a chance to watch the whole video yet, but if any parts stand out, please leave the timestamp/summary in the comments.

(via bdwilson1000)

Tennessee Legislators Introduce Useless Bill To Protect Pastors from Gay Marriage

Now that marriage equality is going nationwide, there’s a looming question of how the ruling will affect Christians. (Well, okay, it’s only looming in the minds of willfully ignorant people.)

The answer, of course, is that gay marriage won’t affect Christians at all.

Pastors who think gays and lesbians have cooties will continue to have the legal right to believe that and act on it in their churches. Everyone knows that. No one has ever said otherwise. The First Amendment already guarantees tha...

Texas Attorney General: Christian Clerks Are Allowed to Discriminate Against Gay Couples

Liberals have long maintained that if gay marriage were legalized, pastors would not have to perform those ceremonies and their churches wouldn’t be obligated to host gay weddings. Now that marriage equality has gone nationwide, conservatives are doing anything they can to put up hurdles to gay and lesbian couples who may want to take advantage of the new reality.

In Texas today, Attorney General Ken Paxton (below) released a statement saying that government workers who have religious reasons...

What an Incredible Podcast This Is…

A few weeks ago, my wife and I took a trip to California and spent several hours driving across the state to various places. We normally listen to podcasts in the car and I had downloaded Dan Carlin‘s Hardcore History in advance. I wasn’t sure why I downloaded it, other than I had heard good things about it and wanted to know what all the buzz was about.

I wasn’t expecting much. I never enjoyed my history classes in school. And the six most recent episodes of this podcast — each of which was a...

Thrice-Married Donald Trump: “I’m for Traditional Marriage”

During an interview that took place before Friday’s Supreme Court decision but aired this morning, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump what he would say to gay and lesbian couples who think of him as a hypocrite for being married multiple times while claiming to advocate for traditional marriage:

Trump’s response: “They have a very good point,” followed by an explanation of how he’s a hard worker. As if that’s a logical follow-up…

And then there was this:

“I really do...