Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1728

The Dark Side of Christian Mission Trips

When Jonathan Hollingsworth was in college, he seized an opportunity to spend a year in Cameroon as part of a mission trip. But he realized quickly after arriving that his idealism didn’t match up with the sponsoring organization’s goals.

He and his mother Amy, whom he frequently confided in during his time in Africa, now tell their story in Runaway Radical: A Young Man’s Reckless Journey to Save the World (Thomas Nelson, 2015).

In the excerpt below, Jonathan begins to realize the extent of the...

I Assume They Use the King James Bible

The New York Times‘ Andrew Keh has an interesting piece about chaplains in the NBA: Every team has one — as is the case for pretty much every professional sports franchise in the U.S. — and they’re as much a part of the pre-game ritual as the shootaround.

Today, all 30 N.B.A. teams have volunteer chaplains, with no guidance or oversight from the league. One hour before every game, inside every arena, players from both sides are invited to attend a closed-door meeting in some designated corner...

Survey Says a Third of UK Parliamentary Candidates Are Atheists

With the UK general elections less than two weeks away, we may soon see an atheist Prime Minister in Ed Miliband (below), but the National Secular Society reports that he wouldn’t be alone:

A survey carried out by Whitehouse Consultancy has found that 33% of parliamentary candidates contesting marginal seats describe themselves as atheists.

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The Green Party (49 percent), followed by Labour (48 percent) was found to have the highest percentages of atheist candidates.

That doesn’t include everybod...

Right on Cue, Here Are a Bunch of Christians Telling Bruce Jenner He Needs Jesus

Earlier tonight, Bruce Jenner told Diane Sawyer that “for all intents and purposes, I am a woman.”

Congratulations to him (his preferred pronoun) for having the courage to say so publicly. Even for a reality TV star, that couldn’t have been easy.

But leave it to Christians on Twitter (and an ignorant Catholic blogger on Patheos) to tell Jenner what he *really* needs…

Ugh… and this is only the beginning, I’m sure. If that’s what “loving the sinner” looks like, no wonder so many people want nothin...

Secular Students Attend Local Church Services for Fundraiser

The Secular Student Alliance at Clarion University (in Pennsylvania) took a hint from I Sold My Soul on eBay and held a fundraiser called “Send an Atheist to Church.”

“We wanted to dispel the misconceptions that society has placed upon atheists, that all atheists are Satan-worshippers or dislike religious people,” stated [SSA president Krystalyn] Kovacs, who has personally attended church services with the members who were “sent to church” through the fundraiser.

The objective of the fundraiser...

Colorado House Member Who Blamed Legalized Abortion for a Pregnant Woman’s Stabbing Announces Senate Run

Gordon Klingenschmitt (below) is the minister who got elected to the Colorado House last year despite a laundry list of jaw-dropping past statements.

After his election, he gained national attention for saying that a pregnant woman was brutally stabbed because abortion is legal, a comment that cost him a committee assignment.

So I guess it makes sense that he just announced he’s going run for State Senate. Because when you fuck up that badly, the people of your state should reward you with even...

There Are More Atheists Than Southern Baptists in the U.S. Military… So Why Don’t We Have Any Chaplains?

A few important numbers reported by Bob Smietana in Christianity Today:

Active duty military personnel who are Southern Baptists: 12,360
Active duty military personnel who are atheists: 12,764

Active duty chaplains who are Southern Baptists: 437
Active duty chaplains who are atheists: 0

Jason Heap filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense alleging religious discrimination last November. If successful, he would become the first Humanist chaplain in the military.

But if he wer...

Pastor Creflo Dollar on the Cancellation of His $65 Million Plane Campaign: The Devil Tried to “Discredit My Voice”

Remember how Pastor Creflo Dollar — who has a net worth of $27 million, owns a million-dollar home in Atlanta and a 2.5-million-dollar apartment in Manhattan, drives a Rolls-Royce, and travels via a private jet — wanted to buy a plane worth $65 million? (He was hoping 200,000 people would donate at least $300 toward that goal.)

After a lot of online backlash, the fundraiser was pulled. We have no idea how much money was raised before that happened. But the pastor told his congregation this wee...

Tennessee Legislator Blocks Rape, Incest Exemptions in Abortion Bill Because They’re “Not Verifiable”

Explaining her decision to block an exemption for rape and incest victims from Tennessee’s newest proposed abortion restrictions, State Rep. Sheila Butt made the peculiar argument that such an exemption shouldn’t exist because rape and incest isn’t typically “verifiable.”

Democratic Rep. Craig Fitzhugh proposed the amendment, along with another that offered an exemption for mental health reasons, as part of the restrictions put forth in HB 977. The bill would mandate counseling and a 48-hour w...

When (and How) to Talk to Your Kids About Religion

This is a guest post written by David G. McAfee. He is author, most recently, of The Belief Book.

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Regardless of your beliefs, if you have children, you will eventually have to talk to them about religion. When should you do it? The short answer: probably sooner than you think.

Some non-believers, perhaps in disdain for religion, say they want to keep their kids completely isolated from the subject or that they want to wait until they are much older before discussing it. Not only is this positi...