Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1714

Yvette d’Entremont Talks About Her Takedown of “Food Babe” Vani Hari

Last month, Yvette d’Entremont received a lot of attention for her lengthy takedown of Vani Hari, the “Food Babe.” In short, Hari has a history of promoting nonsense, her followers fall for it, and she pretends to be persecuted anytime a critic calls her out on her bullshit.

In a speech for the Los Angeles branch of the Center For Inquiry — which was coincidentally planned before her article went viral — d’Entremont spoke about “BS Detection and the Fall of the Food Babe”:

I haven’t had a chanc...

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Whether Science and Religion Are Compatible

I thought Neil deGrasse Tyson might offer something of a wishy-washy answer on this question of science versus religion… and I was halfway right.

In short, if your religion makes testable claims that go against scientific reality, you’re going to suffer severe cognitive dissonance. There’s no overlap there. Right on! Totally agree.

If your religion embraces science, he added, you’ll be okay.

The problem is that he said those fundamentalists in the first group represented just a minority of belie...

High School Director Who Made Racist Remarks at Graduation Ceremony Fired

Last week, during the high school graduation ceremony for TNT Academy, a private school just outside of Atlanta, founder/director Nancy Gordeuk accidentally dismissed the crowd earlier than expected. So as a student was trying to give a speech, there were people walking out of the ceremony. It pissed off Gordeuk, who began reprimanding the crowd from the stage, but then it took a really ugly turn when she said, “Look who’s leaving, all the black people.”

Yo….wow pic.twitter.com/4ISp9ecl0U

— Hen...

Florida Sheriff, Unable to Separate His Faith from His Job, Delivers Sermon in Uniform

The last time I wrote about Polk County (Florida) Sheriff Grady Judd was in 2010, when he was removing basketball hoops from the local prison and giving them away to local churches. When Judd was asked why he wouldn’t give the hoops to a secular organization, his response (referencing an atheist group) was, “Why should I kowtow?”… as if giving them to a public school meant bolstering the “atheist agenda.”

I just learned that Judd recently delivered a guest sermon at First Baptist Church on the...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Discusses Reforming Islam on Real Time with Bill Maher

On Real Time with Bill Maher last night, guest Ayaan Hirsi Ali shared her life story and formula for reforming Islam (which calls on Muslims to adopt less extremist ideology — good luck with that one).

They also spoke about why liberals have been among the louder voices criticizing the cartoonists drawing Muhammad rather than the people killing them.

That’s just a portion of the complete exchange. I thought it was a great interview for Hirsi Ali. Her critics love to straw man her as someone who...

It’s Been Warming Up Outside, Too…

The Onion weighs in on the recent Pew Research study showing rapid growth in people with no religious affiliation:

More where that came from right here.

You’re welcome, America.

Those Other Religions Are Way Worse Than My Own

It’s always fun when religious people try to explain why other religions are silly… even when it’s satire. Over at College Humor, Johnny Anonymous tries to laugh off Scientology:

1. Scientologists believe there was a dictator of the Galactic Confederacy named Xenu?? Uh, SURE, Scientology…

I mean — c’mon. This is just SO STUPID. Xenu? Galactic Confederacy? Psssh, whatever, you Scientologist NUTJOBS! That belief is so silly and ridiculous, unlike Christianity’s belief that there is a figure known...

These Indian Children Show Remarkable Wisdom on the Subject of Religion

Here’s a really neat video featuring a bunch of children from India answering questions about religion. At first, they seem a little ignorant on the subject, offering answers that basically amount to calling different religions “Christianity, Islam, and people from the West Coast.”

But when they’re asked if people of other religions are any different from them, their intelligence is apparent: Of course there’s no difference, they all say.

What would the world be like without religion? Oh, just...

Bus Driver Scolds 11-Year-Old Girls for Playing Together, Saying They’re Gay and Will Burn in Hell for It

Last Friday, 11-year-old Maurissa Rushing was on the bus heading to Pathway Academy, a charter school in Kansas City, Missouri. She sat next to her best friend and they played a game that involves one girl’s fingers racing up and down the other’s arm.

When the bus arrived at school, the other kids were let off, but the driver asked Maurissa and her friend to stay behind so she could teach them a lesson:

[Maurissa] said the driver told the two 11-year-old girls they were gay and would burn in he...

Want to Help Get “In God We Trust” Off of the Money?

This is a guest post written by Michael Newdow. He is best known for his Supreme Court case to get “Under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Many people — monotheistic and atheistic alike — find the inscriptions of “In God We Trust” on U.S. money to be offensive for myriad reasons. In a court of law in a constitutional democracy, however, the only reason that matters is if the practice is unlawful.

And under American law, the practice is clearly unlawful.

It violates the first ten words of t...