Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1696

Jehovah’s Witness Leader to Crowd: Only Visit JW-Approved Websites or You’ll Be At “Spiritual Risk”

At a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention in Newburgh, New York last month, Governing Body member Anthony Morris III (who last year condemned skinny jeans and spanx) warned the audience that the Internet was a dangerous place because it just might shake their faith (1:53:10):

… and be careful on the Internet. We were talking about that this weekend with friends. Oh my word, how many times do we have to tell you, be careful?

You know, going here, going there, they’ll suck you in. Some of the stuff, it...

Franklin Graham: Christians Should Boycott LGBT-Friendly Companies

Franklin Graham, the man who took his father’s legacy and used it to hurt people he deemed unworthy of his God’s love, went on Facebook to urge Christians to boycott LGBT-friendly companies.

Have you ever asked yourself–how can we fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community? Every day it is something else! Tiffany’s started advertising wedding rings for gay couples. Wells Fargo bank is using a same-sex couple...

Evangelical Christian Leaders Are Taking Baby Steps Toward LGBT Acceptance

We know the culture is shifting on LGBT equality.

We also know Christians — certainly evangelicals — are being left in the dust as more people appreciate equality and want nothing to do with the sort of bigoted rhetoric you often hear from those pastors.

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times has a fascinating look at how Christians are dealing with the rapid transformation of society, playing catch-up on the easiest moral issue of our time:

As acceptance of same-sex marriage has swept the count...

Idaho Republican Party Considers Proposal Supporting “Bible Use” in Public Schools

Over the weekend, the Idaho Republican Party’s State Central Committee met to discuss possible rule changes, how to conduct primary voting, and proposals for potential pieces of legislation.

That last item isn’t just theoretical, either. The GOP controls the House and Senate by large margins and the Governor is also a Republican. So bad ideas can become law without much opposition.

That’s why there’s reason to worry about one of the ideas coming out of the weekend meeting: A proposal to bring t...

A Compilation of Best Arguments and Comebacks from Several Prominent Atheists

Here’s a compilation of the best arguments and comebacks from several well-known atheists.

(via Agatan Fnd)

Swearing an Oath on the Bible is Unnecessary

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses why you don’t have to ever swear an oath on the Bible. (It was filmed a little after the midterm elections last year.)

A rough transcript of the video can be found on the YouTube page in the “About” section.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next!

And if you like what you’re seeing, please consider support...

Friendly Atheist Podcast Episode 58: Jessica Hagy, Cartoonist and Author of The Art of War Visualized

Our latest podcast guest is Jessica Hagy, a cartoonist and writer best known for her insightful and hilarious webcomic Indexed, in which she draws charts and Venn diagrams connecting completely different ideas and getting us to think about them in different ways.

Her latest book is The Art of War Visualized. It’s the Sun Tzu classic reworked and with illustrations.

A sample cartoon from Indexed

During a recent stop in Chicago, we spoke about her career change from copywriter to professional auth...

After Judge Stops Rowan County (NC) Commissioners from Praying to Jesus at Meetings, They Vote to Appeal Ruling

I recently posted about the Rowan County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina and how they used to pray to Jesus at virtually every meeting.

The Rowan County Board of Commissioners prays at a meeting (via WSOC-TV)

U.S. District Judge James Beaty Jr. ruled last month that the Commissioners were violating the law and continued to do so every time they uttered a Christian prayer. (The legal thing to do would be to open up the invocations to people of all faiths and no faith.)

But as they were d...

A Fox News Expert Actually Said Some Sensible Things About the Duggars

Dr. Keith Ablow (center, below) is Fox News Channel’s go-to medical expert… meaning his job is to give you the worst possible advice in a given situation.

Abortion? Men ought to veto a woman’s choice.

Transgender people? They’ve bullied America into accepting things that aren’t true.

Gay marriage? It’ll lead to polygamy and incest.

But when he was brought on to discuss Josh Duggar‘s wandering hands and the family in general, he offered the most sensible take on the matter, challenging the counsel...

Message on Florida Pastor’s Church Marquee Compares Gay Scout Leaders to Predators

The Congregational Church — a Jesus-loving group of people, I assume — put a rather crude message on their Nokomis, Florida outdoor marquee:

Gay Scout leaders are like… Well… you know.

There’s a fox and a chicken — predator and prey — featured with the second half of the message.

“I hate people if I disagree with them — that’s absolutely false,” says K.C. McCay pastor of Congregational Church in Nokomis. McCay admits he was baiting for a response but it’s his way of opposing gay scout leaders.

“A...