Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1715

New Hampshire Middle School Teacher Kicks Student Out of Classroom for Refusing to Stand During Pledge

It’s stunning how many public school teachers and administrators have no clue what the law says about the Pledge of Allegiance. In short, no one has to participate and it’s perfectly acceptable if students don’t.

When 14-year-old Fatima M. Smart chose to sit during the Pledge at Monadnock Regional Middle School in Swanzey, New Hampshire this spring, she was unfairly punished for her act of defiance:

Smart, 14, of Swanzey said in an interview last week that to her, saying the Pledge of Allegianc...

A New Approach to Win Converts for Jesus: Littering

Ray Comfort‘s Living Waters ministry is now selling a new way to proselytize to people.

Remember those one-million-dollar bills with a long passage about God on the back? That’s old school now.

Now, it’s all about fake Starbucks gift cards, fake driver’s licenses, and fake credit cards:

This die-cut tract is printed on glossy card and gives the appearance of someone having dropped the contents of their wallet. Sure to be picked up and read.

And how will you get these into heathens’ hands?

Simple,...

Ken Ham is Worried About Losing Young People to “Churches of Atheism” (a.k.a. Public Schools)

Answers in Genesis’ Ken Ham knows exactly what’s behind the recent Pew poll that found, among other things, a significant decline in Christianity among young people: too much evidence-based thinking.

And he knows exactly how to cure all that critical-thinking: more fantasy-based indoctrination.

This is totally how Science works

To make his case, Ham covers the Pew results and also presents the “troubling” findings from polls conducted on behalf of AiG, including

86% of the 60s age group believes...

Childhood Indoctrination: Religion’s Greatest Weapon

J.D. Brucker‘s new book Reason Over Faith: Antitheism & the Case Against Religion (Atheist Republic, 2015) covers a litany of faith-based abuses, from circumcision to social issues to climate change denial.

In the excerpt below, Brucker explains why childhood indoctrination is one of the most powerful weapons in religion’s arsenal:

To state it plainly, indoctrination means to heavily influence someone into believing a particular set of ideas, whether they are political, cultural, or religious....

A Judge Dismissed Their Lawsuit, but Atheists Won the Ability to Officiate Weddings in Minnesota County

Last year, the Center For Inquiry won a lawsuit against the state of Indiana, giving non-religious people who were Secular Celebrants the ability to officiate weddings.

Before they stepped in, the only way an atheist could officiate was to direct the marrying couple to someone else to solemnize the wedding immediately afterwards, become a “minister” via a site like the Universal Life Church, or get certified by a group founded by Quakers.

So the legal victory was a welcome one. Atheists in Indi...

Dan Savage’s New Sitcom, Featuring an Irish Catholic Family, Looks Very Promising

You may have heard that ABC picked up a sitcom for next season loosely based on the life of sex-columnist/writer Dan Savage. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the trailer for The Real O’Neals just came out and I have to say: It looks pretty good as far as sitcoms are concerned. It has plenty of elements to explore if it can stay on the air for a while.

Every member of the Irish Catholic family at the center of the series has some sort of closeted secret: The son is gay, the parents are conside...

The Joy of Being an Atheist is Beautifully Captured in This New Film

Last year, Chris Johnson released a multimedia book about atheists called A Better Life: 100 Atheists Speak Out on Joy & Meaning in a World Without God. The book was years in the making and came about after one of the most successful Kickstarters for an art book in that site’s history. It was incredible to be a part of the project and I think the final product was just stellar.

In addition to taking pictures of atheists, Chris also shot a lot of video, and he has just released a feature length...

Useless New Tennessee Law Creates Weekend of Prayer for Students

A new bill signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam will designate the first weekend in August as “Tennessee’s Weekend of Prayer Over Students,” when

… the people of this state may, in accordance with their own faith and consciences, turn to prayer, meditation, or otherwise give thanks for the students of this state as well as their teachers, administrators, and schools.

In other words, this law is absolutely useless, since you could do all those things already…

Can’t wait for those leg...

Access to Rational Thinking Helped This Former Skverer Hasidic Jew Shed His Faith… But It Cost Him Dearly

Shulem Deen used to be a Skverer Hasid — an extremely conservative Hasidic Jewish sect.

Used to be.

His new memoir All Who Go Do Not Return is all about how he left that world once he began acquiring some of that sweet secular knowledge:

“Losing your faith is not like realizing that you got an arithmetic problem wrong,” Deen says. “It is more like discovering your entire mathematical system is flawed, that every calculation you’ve ever made was incorrect … except you seem to be the only one who...

Judge Gives Green Light to Woman Suing New Jersey Officials Over Rejected “8THEIST” License Plate

New Jersey does not have a good track record when it comes to handling vanity license plates requests from atheists.

In August of 2013, American Atheists’ President David Silverman requested a plate reading “ATHE1ST” (with a 1) only to have it rejected for being “offensive.” He appealed that decision and the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission quickly reversed course. (Or, as they called it, fixed a “clerical error.”)

Dave Silverman holds his new license plate (Danielle Muscato – American Atheists...