Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1681

About President Obama’s Speech in Charleston…

If you didn’t watch it yet, take the time to do it now (transcript here):

I thought President Obama‘s eulogy of Rev. Clementa Pinckney was just beautiful. It was full of religious rhetoric, sure, but it was heartfelt and a testament to the people in that church (spoken in their language). You don’t have to embrace the religion to appreciate what Obama was saying about forgiveness, making the most of our lives, and fixing our nation’s problems. You can support church/state separation and see th...

After a Long Struggle for LGBT Rights, Enjoy This Front Page

From today’s New York Times:

No, That’s the Least Offensive Part About the Confederate Flag

Campus preacher and sodomite-fighter Jed Smock has his own theory about why people have a problem with the Confederate flag: They just hate Christians.

(Shhh… no one tell him what racism is. You’ll pop his Christian Persecution Bubble.)

Caught on Camera: U.S. Military Graduation Ceremony Featuring Christian Prayer

During the graduation ceremony of the Army’s Air Assault School at Fort Campbell (Kentucky), it appears that officials asked everyone to bow their heads and say a Christian prayer:

http://militaryatheists.org/news/wp-content/uploads/campbell-aa-amen-20150623.mp4

The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is appalled by this (emphasis theirs):

This prayer goes far beyond something simply ceremonial, non-denominational, and optional. This is Christian-specific, mandatory, and requires...

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Atheists Sue Florida County Over Ten Commandments Monument Outside Courthouse

In February of 2014, I posted about how the Williston Atheists (in Florida) wanted to erect a pro-atheist monument outside the Levy County Courthouse where there was already a Ten Commandments monument (on the right in the image below):

The atheist group was modeling its efforts after what American Atheists did outside the Bradford County Courthouse in northern Florida where they installed a bench with atheist quotations to counter a Christian monument nearby:

AA President Dave Silverman sits o...

The Core Principles of an Anti-Gay Bigot

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) — an organization dedicated to spreading lies about homosexuality and one that is rightfully considered an anti-gay “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center — just released its first draft of “Core Principles and Beliefs.”

AFTAH Founder Peter LaBarbera (front left, with mic)

So this should be interesting. How many core values just reek of bigotry?

1) Homosexual behavior and trans-gender rebellion are morally wrong as they defy Nature and Nat...

California Assembly Passes Tough Vaccine Law, Banning Exemptions on Basis of Belief

California lawmakers deserve a lot of credit for what they did yesterday, with the State Assembly passing SB 277, a law that finally ends vaccine exemptions for reasons of conscience or religious belief:

The measure, among the most controversial taken up by the Legislature this year, would require more children who enter day care and school to be vaccinated against diseases including measles and whooping cough.

Those with medical conditions such as allergies and immune-system deficiencies, conf...

A Wonderful Message from the Son of a Notorious Anti-Gay Christian

Perhaps no one summarized today’s historic decision more poignantly than our friend Nate Phelps, son of Westboro Baptist Church’s late founder Fred Phelps, who left that place a long time ago:

A special thank you to my family of birth for relentlessly and colourfully demonstrating the cruelty of anti-gay sentiment, thus driving decent people away from hatred and into the arms of justice and equality.

Sometimes, it takes the most hateful voices to push away those who believe there’s middle-groun...

A Sampling of Conservatives’ Responses to the Supreme Court’s Marriage Equality Ruling

This is a guest post by Lauren Nelson.

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The Supreme Court has spoken in defense of love. In a 5-4 ruling today, they proclaimed that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed equal access to marriage for all, including same-sex couples.

Predictably, conservatives are losing their minds over the decision.

Short-Term Gains Will Be Lost The Human Spirit And Love Of Freedom Is Greater Than Any Of You! #CulturalRot #tcot pic.twitter.com/YGYaewjAtx

— Lee Jackson (@Stonewall_77) June 26, 2015

Yesterday, the US...

To the Once-More-Pregnant Bristol Palin, from a Fellow Single Mother

This is a guest post by Lauren Nelson.

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Bristol! You’re pregnant! Again! Without a ring! Again!

I still remember the first time you broke such news. Your mom was running for Vice President on a platform that strongly advocated for abstinence-only sex education, and there you were: her supposedly abstinent teen daughter, knocked up. It turned you into the butt of a seemingly endless parade of jokes, and as a brand new unwed mom myself at the time, I’d never been so grateful to be a bit of a nobo...