Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1744

Appeals Court Agrees That California School District’s Secular Yoga Classes Are Not Illegally Promoting Hinduism

Last Friday, the California Fourth District Court of Appeals upheld an earlier court ruling that teaching yoga in school does not violate the constitution.

The case in question stems from a suit that was filed after the Encinitas Union School District introduced yoga classes in 2012. Some local parents claimed that the class was indoctrinating students in Hinduism, thus violated their Christian beliefs and the students’ constitutional rights.

The district, however, was actually pretty conscient...

Catholic School Nun Stabs Young Boy with Needle to Show Class How Jesus Suffered

I’ve always heard how Catholic school nuns are pretty strict, but this seems over the top even for them:

Sister Ludovita, 30, had been giving [religious education] classes at a school in the town of Kysucke Nove Mesto in northern Slovakia when she told unsuspecting pupil Adam Celko, 7, to come to the front of the class.

She then took a needle out of her handbag and rammed it into the boy’s hand in front of the horrified class, telling him that this was how Jesus suffered — and he would too if h...

On Easter Sunday, Several Nevada Churches Were Vandalized with Anti-Christian Messages

I will never understand people who vandalize churches (or anything else for that matter).

Members of several churches in Incline Village, Nevada came to Easter services yesterday, only to be greeted with anti-Christian graffiti, like this one with arrows pointing to a cross saying “is a lie” and “is a hoax”:

Attendees of Incline Village Foursqure Church arrived to service to see “Jesus is a lie” and upside-down crosses spray painted on the building’s walls, said John and Ruby Cole, co-pastors o...

For Easter, a Flying Spaghetti Monster Display Went Up in the Wisconsin State Capitol Building

Late last year, the Atheists, Humanists, & Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered that anybody could put up a display in the State Capitol Building as long as they filled out the proper paperwork.

So to counter the Nativity Scenes around Christmas, they put up signs honoring gods from Game of Thrones.

The same thing happened last week. The Freedom From Religion Foundation put up signs saying “In Reason We Trust” (which were then stolen) to counter some Easter-related displa...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Powerful Speech Against Islamic Extremism

If you weren’t in Memphis over the weekend, you can catch Ayaan Hirsi Ali‘s keynote address from the American Atheists convention below:

I’ve seen complaints online about how Hirsi Ali was minimizing problems caused by conservative Christians, as if they weren’t as big a deal as those caused by extremist Muslims. PZ Myers called it “fatwah envy” and said Hirsi Ali was suggesting “we should meekly accept the lesser injustice because of the threat of the greater” and trying to “silence those who...

Creating New Life from Death, the Atheist Way

For atheists who wonder what should be done with their bodies after they die, here’s a really neat option, courtesy of the Urban Death Project:

The Urban Death Project is a compost-based renewal system. At the heart of the project is a three-story core, within which bodies and high-carbon materials are placed.

Over the span of a few months, with the help of aerobic decomposition and microbial activity, the bodies decompose fully, leaving a rich compost.

The Urban Death Project is not simply a sy...

Many German States Still Ban Dancing and Loud Music Over Easter Weekend

Even in secular Europe, some states in Germany have a ban on loud music and dancing over Easter Weekend. It’s part of a centuries-old religious tradition known as Tanzverbot:

From Thursday through Sunday, it is illegal to dance in public in 13 of the 16 states in Germany from the days between Thursday, known in the Christian religion as Maundy Thursday, through Sunday, Easter Day. In some states, the ban extends to the Monday after Easter.

The holiday laws, known as Tanzverbot, have varying deg...

I’ll Be Speaking at UIC (Chicago) Tomorrow

I’ll be giving a talk Monday night at the University of Illinois at Chicago (my alma mater!) at 6:00p in Lecture Center C1. It’s free to attend and the focus will be on the shifting religious demographics in our country and how it affects young atheists.

The talk is sponsored by the school’s Secular Student Society as part of their Secular Week. (On Saturday, Justin Schieber will be speaking on arguments regarding the probability of God’s existence.)

Hope to see you there!

(Image via Facebook)

If Companies Sponsored Scripture: Introducing the Product Placement Bible

It wouldn’t be surprising to see companies sponsor verses in Scripture… so say hello to the Product Placement Bible:

It was created by advertising copywriter George Logothetis and designer Graham Clifford:

“It’s a not-so-subtle reminder for us to preserve our most sacred institutions,” they said in a statement. “There’s a time and a place for marketing messages, and it shouldn’t be in our most revered work of scripture. We came up with this far-fetched idea, sensed its potential as a content pl...

After Speaker Praises Jesus at Public School Assembly, Everyone (To My Surprise) Handles It Perfectly

With so many public schools directly or indirectly promoting Christianity these days, it’s nice to see a situation where everyone handled it properly.

Last week, motivation speaker Ryan Roberts spoke to the juniors at Keller High School in Texas, his alma mater, about how to handle stress. He was there as a representative of C3 Student Leadership, a local non-profit organization.

But toward the end of his talk, things got weird:

According to students, Roberts said there was someone in whom they...