Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1750

Melbourne Priest Suggests Woman Might Have Avoided Being Raped and Murdered If Only She Were More “Faith-Filled”

In September of 2012, Adrian Bayley raped and murdered 29-year-old Jill Meagher (below), receiving a life conviction for the crime. Also appalling is how Bayley had over twenty rape convictions to his name before being put away for good this time. Reacting to the story, one Catholic priest, Father Joseph Olickal, reportedly took the opportunity to opine that the murder victim might have been spared such a tragedy had she but lived a “more faith-filled” life.

The comments were allegedly made du...

Michigan High School Questioned After Christian Evangelist Speaks to Students and Invites Them to Church Event

On March 2, motivational speaker Bob Lenz gave a presentation at Iron Mountain High School in Michigan… which might have been okay until he used the opportunity to promote an event he was hosting at a local church later that evening. This is the flyer he gave to students:

And how did that evening event go? Well, he boasted about his conversions-to-Jesus after another (similar) event in Kansas on Facebook:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter to the district explaining the obvi...

Author of The Brick Bible Series Comes Out as Transgender

I’ve posted many times about The Brick Bible, which portrays biblical scenes using LEGOs:

Today, on Facebook, the author of that series came out as transgender:

I have chosen today, the Transgender Day of Visibility to officially introduce myself to the world as a transgender woman. Earlier this month my name was legally changed from Brendan Powell Smith to Elbe Spurling, and my gender legally recognized as female.

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So, hello. I’m Elbe Spurling, a blue-haired transgender, lesbian, atheist artist...

Colorado Republican Loses Committee Assignment After Saying a Pregnant Woman Was Stabbed Because Abortion is Legal

Gordon Klingenschmitt, the fundamentalist Christian and Colorado lawmaker, is finally getting a sort of punishment following his comments last week that the brutal attack of a pregnant woman occurred because we allow legal abortions in this country.

He has now been pulled from one of the two committees on which he served:

He’ll be pulled from the house health, insurance, and environment committee, but remain a member of the house local government committee.

“I was very disturbed by Representativ...

Louisiana School District Questioned After Principal’s Promotion of Christianity

How many religious references do we need to see from public school officials before we can all admit they’ve overstepped their bounds?

Exhibit 1: Principal Albert Hardison‘s message on the website for Walnut Hill Elementary/Middle School in Louisiana, part of the Caddo Parish Public Schools:

On mornings when the sun is beaming or hidden, our student prayer group, “Hornets for Hope”, pray and give thanks to the Son of God for carrying our school over the thorns of negativity and the thistles of...

For Reasons That Make No Sense, the Supreme Court Has Let Stand NYC’s Ban on Worship Services in Public Schools

In 1994, the Bronx Household of Faith (an urban church) filled out an application to rent out space at a New York City public school for its Sunday morning services. Their application was rejected because of something now known as “Standard Operating Procedure” (SOP) §5.11.

No outside organization or group may be allowed to conduct religious services or religious instruction on school premises after school. However, the use of school premises by outside organizations or groups after school for...

Reversible Abortions? New Arizona Law Requires Physicians to Tell Patients It’s Possible

Yesterday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed SB 1318, a bill whose support is almost entirely partisan (yup, from the party that hates, hates, hates government regulation) and restricts abortion coverage in insurance plans.

Oh, and it also includes an amendment to the state’s informed consent laws to tell women about abortion reversals:

The law requires a health care professional to tell women at least 24 hours before they obtain an abortion:

(h) It may be possible to reverse the effects of a m...

A Simple Way for Atheists to Help Ex-Muslims

I was giving a talk in Vancouver yesterday and also had the pleasure of hearing Armin Navabi share his journey from Islam to atheism. Navabi is the founder of Atheist Republic, a forum for non-believers, and he recently wrote about why it’s so important for former Muslims to share their stories:

It’s easy to think that Islamic countries are too religious to do anything about. But it’s harder to dismiss these countries when we start caring about more people who live there. Atheism and secular a...

The Trouble with Teaching Evolution When You’re Surrounded by Creationists

University of Kentucky Biology Professor James J. Krupa has a tough job because, well, he teaches science in Ken Ham Country. In an article for Orion, he explained why he defends Darwin despite the opposition:

We live in a nation where public acceptance of evolution is the second lowest of thirty-four developed countries, just ahead of Turkey. Roughly half of Americans reject some aspect of evolution, believe the earth is less than ten thousand years old, and that humans coexisted with dinosau...

Ohio Couple Joins Cacophony of Psychics Claiming (Without Proof) They Help Law Enforcement Find Missing People

This is a guest post by Bo Gardiner, the pen name of a Virginia-based environmental professional, naturalist (in both senses of the word), writer and humanist activist. She blogs at Under the Greenwood Tree.

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An Ohio psychic talk show host and his wife, both professional mediums and “psychic investigators,” were profiled rather unskeptically this week in the Kenyon College newspaper.

Beth Deering (below), who says she “can see angels and demons,”

… has been asked to be present at the hospital be...