Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1751

Atheists Attend School’s “Good News Club” Meeting & Find Out Christian Organizers Lied to District About Curriculum

The Good News Club is a weekly program targeting elementary school children, because a lot of Christians love to indoctrinate kids before they start asking critical questions. (If you haven’t read it yet, check out Katherine Stewart‘s fantastic book about the organization.)

When a GNC began at Fairbanks Road Elementary School in New York, Monroe County residents Dan Courtney, Bill Courtney, and Kevin Davis weren’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t illegal for the group to be there, but they wante...

CNN Finally Featured a Black Voice in Their Atheism Coverage

A week after CNN published a longform profile of a happy atheist family and days after CNN aired an hour-long special called “Atheists: Inside the World of Non-believers,” they’re still squeezing as many pageviews as they can get out of this topic.

This weekend, they published a story about what atheists “want you to know”… and the atheists they spoke with were “Stan Bennett” (an atheist who still works as a minister), Jerry DeWitt, David Silverman, and Greg Epstein.

If you haven’t noticed, all...

A Compilation of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Best Arguments and Comebacks

Here’s a compilation of Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s best arguments and comebacks. (I could watch this all day.)

(via Agatan Fnd)

Would I Ever Admit if I Found God?

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses whether I would ever admit if I suddenly “found God.”

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.

National Portrait Gallery Honors Comedian George Carlin

Yesterday, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. added a photo of comedian (and memorable religion-critic) George Carlin to the collection after a public vote:

His daughter Kelly Carlin wrote a brief reflection on his legacy for the gallery’s website:

My dad was a sentimental fool.

And so, when some of dad’s fans commented to me that he would think the hanging of his portrait today in the National Portrait Gallery would have made him laugh, or even bothered him, I had to tell them th...

Kentucky Officials File Motion for Federal Judge to Dismiss Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter Lawsuit

We already know Creationist Ken Ham‘s Ark Encounter, better known as the Noah’s Ark theme park, is in trouble.

In December, they were ruled ineligible to receive a tax incentive worth up to $18,000,000 that could put their entire project in jeopardy.

They were ineligible for the rebate because Ark Encounter — a for-profit business — was discriminating in its hiring. That may be fine for their non-profit ministry, but it’s not okay for a business that wants the tax incentive.

It’s that simple.

But...

Christian Conservatives Withhold $5 to $6 Million From Some of the World’s Poorest Kids Because of Gay Marriage

New insight into the World Vision debacle that occurred a year ago this week suggests that conservative Christians were so peeved over the charity organization’s decision to no longer consider gay people unhirable, that thousands of the poorest children in the world lost more than five million dollars in donations. That amount could bealmost twice as high as previously thought, writes Patheos blogger Ben Corey.

World Vision is a Christian charitythat matches Western sponsors andthird-world chi...

A Telephone Psychic Confesses It Was All a Scam

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.

…

Erin Auerbach was a failed actress who came to Las Vegas for an exciting job opportunity that fed what she admitted was a strong ego: She was going to become a professional psychic. “The thing is, I’m not sure that I’m psychic,” she admitted to the interviewer.

“That’s OK,” he replied. “We...

Creationist Eric Hovind Preached Creationism at a Georgia Public School This Week and We Have Proof

If you’re doing something that is arguably a violation of the law, why would you flaunt it on Facebook?

Creationist Eric Hovind posted this on his page earlier this week:

Hovind was invited to a public school (!) to teach “critical thinking” (?!?!)… What the hell did that look like?

Hovind deflected one commenter who asked him if his presentation was recorded by saying “Nope. Sorry,” so I guess we have no record of what he talked about.

Oh wait…

A reader of this site, who wishes to remain anonymou...

Germany’s IRS Says Soccer Player Luca Toni Owes $1.85 Million In Back Taxes Because He’s a Catholic

An Italian soccer player who starred on the world-renowned German Bayern Munich teamfor three seasonsowes $1.85 million in back taxes, German authorities allege — because he was baptized a Catholic.

Hellas Verona star Luca Toni could be forced to pay 1.7m [$1.85 million] to the German Catholic Church for failing to pay a religious tax.

According to Sport Mediaset, Toni will go to trial in Munich for the outstanding sum accrued while he was playing for Bayern from 2007 to 2010.

The Kirchensteuer...