Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1695

Pastor Steven Anderson on Caitlyn Jenner: “I’m Gonna Pray That He Dies and Goes to Hell!”

Christian hate-group leader Pastor Steven Anderson complained about the existence of Caitlyn Jenner during a recent sermon, telling his congregation he hopes she dies… because that’s what his loving God wants.

The crazy (or at least this part of it) starts at the 59:30 mark:

This week, this filthy sodomite picture is everywhere. People are showing this transvestite. Or transgender. Or whatever this guy is… Bruce Jenner. Has basically mutilated his body, apparently. And he’s being praised by our...

Pat Robertson: If Your Baby Dies, It Might Be Because God Was Stopping the Next Hitler

There are a lot of well-meaning but obtuse things you can say to a grieving person after the death of a family member. Things like “He’s in a better place now” or “God needed His special angel home early” or “Everything happens for a reason” come to mind.

But it’s almost always clear that these phrases, no matter how unhelpful and even hurtful they can be, are well-intentioned. They’re meant to provide comfort. Because that’s what we attempt to do — even if we don’t do it well — when we learn...

Franklin Graham, Who’s Boycotting Pro-LGBT Companies, Moved His Money to a Gay-Pride-Supporting Bank

I posted yesterday about how Franklin Graham told his Facebook followers to boycott LGBT-friendly companies:

He took his own advice, too. Upset that Wells Fargo used a gay couple in one of its ads, Graham said that the “Billy Graham Evangelistic Association [is] moving our accounts from Wells Fargo to another bank.”

Turns out that bank is North Carolina-based BB&T.

And BB&T is actually a proud supporter of the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade:

I haven’t laughed this hard in a while…

Brian Tashman at R...

Rick Santorum Draws Tiny Crowd at Iowa Campaign Stop

If the Rings of Power were running for office, they’d get a better showing than Rick Santorum did at a recent campaign stop — because the One Ring would at least guarantee the presence of both Sméagol and Gollum. Santorum, by contrast, showed up to find himself greeted by the head of the Audubon County Republican Party.

Just the head of the local party, as it happens.

Peggy Toft, group chair, was the only one waiting for Santorum at the campaign stop in Hamlin, Iowa. (Which, if you’re looking f...

An In-Depth Look at Hate-Spewing Christian Pastor Steven Anderson

The latest issue of Phoenix Magazine has an in-depth profile of hate-preacher Steven Anderson.

Reporter Jimmy Magahern does a nice job giving us more background into the pastor’s life than we ever get from his videos, but the most telling part was this passage about Juan Payan, one of Anderson’s parishioners:

“I don’t talk to my [gay] brother anymore,” Payan says. “He understands why. I told him my reasoning. I said, ‘I believe in God’s word, and what you’re doing is filthy, it’s wrong and it’s...

Why Don’t Christian Writers Know Why People Really Leave Church?

Holly Baer has a simple request for Christian writers: Stop trying to explain why people are leaving the church!

Or, if you’re going to explain the reasons, at least try to be honest.

Please, for the love of God, stop assuming you know why the Nones or Dones leave the church better than they do. Stop assuming it has something to do with the superficial. Stop assuming these leavers have never delved into scripture. Many are well read in scripture and church history, I know I am. I’ve personally...

75% of Canadians Support God-Free Government Meetings: “Just Start the Meeting”

In April, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled (unanimously) thatCatholic prayers before government meetings in Saguenay, Quebec were unconstitutional. It was the right decision… but a limited one.

The ruling only put a stop to invocations in Saguenay, not everywhere in the nation, so there’s still a lot of debate over how various councils should handle the issue. Some have gone from a prayer to a moment of silence, some have removed prayer from the agenda altogether, and some have stayed the cour...

The Man Whose Font Was Used to Identify Atheists Worldwide Has Died

If you’re an atheist and you’ve ever spent time online, then this symbol probably looks very familiar to you:

That scarlet A has been the symbol for Richard Dawkins‘ Out Campaign and a sort of badge that identifies you as an atheist without necessarily broadcasting it to outsiders.

If you want to get more technical, it’s a capital A in the Zapfino font. That font was created in 1998 by Hermann Zapf — who also produced Palatino (which is used in many books) and Optima (used for the Vietnam Veter...

These Two Charts Explain Why People Are Leaving Christianity in Droves

We know that LGBT equality is hindered by the religious majority, and we know that’s changing, but a new survey from the Pew Research Center makes that incredibly clear in this chart:

Fully 85% of those who are religiously unaffiliated favor same-sex marriage, up from 60% in 2005. Majorities of white mainline Protestants (62%) and Catholics (56%) support same-sex marriage; a decade ago just 39% of both groups supported it.

But just 33% of black Protestants and 27% of white evangelical Protestan...

Christian Writer: God Created Dinosaurs, Then Hid Them from Humanity So We’d All Be Safe

Offering the kind of hard-hitting journalism that right-wing website BarbWire is obviously known for, Lee Duigon explains his whole theory on dinosaurs.

Let’s just say “asteroid” never enters into his vocabulary…

This must be from the Book of Genesis prequel

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God created dinosaurs.

…

I think you will agree that T. rex and his playmates would be a little much for us to handle. So God removed dinosaurs before the human race multiplied and spread throughout...