Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1740

An Atheist (Who’s Still Officially a Mormon) Reminds Us That the Church’s Membership Numbers Are Inflated

Last week, the Mormon Church announced that its total membership was 15,372,337.

The problem with that number is that it’s *really* hard to leave the Church. They make you jump through a lot of hoops, and it’s a lot easier for some people to just walk away quietly without ever telling anyone.

Justin is one of those people who remains on the Mormon membership list despite being an atheist, and he wants to remind everyone what some “Mormons” really believe:

I am one of those 15,272,337 million peo...

Hey, IRS, Where Are You? Watch This Wisconsin Preacher Tell His Congregation How to Vote on Election Day

Tuesday was election day in Wisconsin, and Pastor Fred Smith of the Watertown Community Church decided to remind the congregation of their civic responsibilities… by telling them exactly how to vote:

… What I put in your bulletin this morning is a handout… This is produced by the Wisconsin Family Council, which is a pro-family watchdog… On the Supreme Court election, there is a very liberal incumbent Supreme Court Justice out for re-election to a ten-year term. The person that is running again...

Another Conservative Group Sues IRS for Not Explaining How the Agency Will Handle Politician-Endorsing Churches

Back in November of 2012, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the IRS because of the government agency’s “failure to enforce electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.” Basically, churches were endorsing political candidates from the pulpit and the IRS wasn’t doing anything to stop it. (Part of the problem was that there was a vacancy in the position that normally handled those issues.)

Finally, last summer, the two sides agreed on a settlement:

“This is a v...

Ben Carson to LGBT Community: There’s No Pleasing You People!

Likely presidential candidate Dr.Ben Carson (below) is frustrated. In an appearance in New York and an interview following, the conservative doctor affirmed his traditional-as-ever views on homosexuality, but he just doesn’t understood why LGBT people can’t accept them.

BuzzFeed compiled some sound bites from his appearance at New York’s National Action Network, the nonprofit led by Rev. Al Sharpton:

His message to the largely black crowd was the one he often delivers: self-reliance and indepen...

Ultra-Orthodox Male Jews Are Avoiding Sitting Next to Women on Flights… and It’s Annoying Everybody Involved

I’ve posted before about the problem of male ultra-Orthodox Jews causing a stir on airplanes because they refuse to sit next to women. They believe you’re not allowed to touch any woman who’s not your wife… even if it’s incidental and not-even-close-to-sexual in nature.

In a recent article in the New York Times, Michael Paulson spoke to people affected by this policy, including people who have offered to swap seats with the haredi men, people who have refused to move, and rabbis who say the Je...

Mother Whose Seven Kids All Have Whooping Cough Is Now Urging Parents to Get Their Children Vaccinated

Tara Hills (below), a mother of seven from Ottawa, vaccinated her first three kids as any decent parent would (albeit on an alternative schedule so they hadn’t received them all yet). But then she backed off completely for the other four.

So none of her kids had the full slate of vaccinations:

… We stopped because we were scared and didn’t know who to trust. Was the medical community just paid off puppets of a Big Pharma-Government-Media conspiracy? Were these vaccines even necessary in this da...

Missouri State University Students Respond with Humor to Christian Preacher Brother Jed

Brother Jed Smock, the notorious campus preacher, was at Missouri State University yesterday, but the Freethinkers & Skeptics group on campus was ready for him:

There are more pictures on the group’s Facebook page.

It would be so easy to be angry over someone like Jed, who is over-the-top with his anti-gay, anti-women rants… but these students did a wonderful thing by responding peacefully with humor.

President Danielle Martin told me Bingo cards are in the works…

(Top image via @jordanmshalla Bo...

“Atheists Helping the Homeless” Grows with Two New Groups

Atheists Helping the Homeless, the group that hands out items like pre-packaged food, toilet paper, soap, razors, and shampoo to people in the community who are struggling, has now expanded to two additional cities: Cedar Rapids (Iowa) and Kamloops (British Columbia).

That’s a total of six cities, overall (the other four are in Texas). If you’re near any of them, especially the new ones, please consider getting involved with the groups and helping out with future giveaways!

(Image via Facebook)...

How Should You Handle Your Children Telling You They’re Religious?

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses how to handle your children telling you they’re religious.

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 supporting this site on Patreon.

Greek Atheists Want to Know Why Their Government Funded the Transportation of a “Holy Light”

Over Easter weekend, a “holy flame” traveled from Israel to Greece as part of an Orthodox Christian ceremony.

And for some reason, the Greek government paid for it all. While church/state separation isn’t part of the law there, the Atheist Union of Greece, a group of about a thousand members, wants to know exactly how much money was spent promoting faith:

Citing the ongoing economic woes of the country, the union wrote in the letter: “In a time when taxpayers Greeks are experiencing cuts in wag...