Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1753

A Third of Millennials Have No Religious Affiliation… and Other Highlights from PRRI’s Latest Survey

A new study on Millennials and their attitudes toward issues related to sexuality and reproductive health was just released by the Public Religion Research Institute.

What does it say about the “Nones,” those of us who want no part of organized religion?

1) We represent the largest subgroup of Millennials; a third of adults 18-34 have no religious affiliation.

PRRI says “Unaffiliated” is “the single most common religious identity among this generation.” There may be more Christians overall, but...

Stiefel Freethought Foundation Pledges up to $5,000 to We Are Atheism to Help Them Get Back On Track

If you need to catch up on the “We Are Atheism” story, I suggest reading these two posts. Religion News Service also reported on the story.

Todd Stiefel was one of the key people I worked with in preparing my post and I’m thrilled to see this good-faith offer that he made through the Stiefel Freethought Foundation.

In short, he’s proposing a $5,000 donation to We Are Atheism if they agree to correct some glaring problems. I’ve highlighted the major stipulations:

This gift is conditioned on the f...

Atheist Activist Taslima Nasrin Gets Criticized for Rejecting “Muslim” Label

Taslima Nasrin is one of those atheists who holds little back in her public criticism of religion, especially Islam. The Bangladeshi author has been threatened multiple times but she has continued to speak out in defense of women and freethought.

In an interview with The Hindu this week, she had this exchange with the reporter:

People say your criticism of religion is rather excessive and provocative.

I said religion oppresses women. Laws should be based on equality, not on religion; women shoul...

FFRF Fires Another Lawsuit Against Indiana County That Wants to Display a Nativity Scene on Courthouse Grounds

Back in December, I wrote about a Nativity Scene in Brookville, Indiana that had been up for over 50 years, despite warning letters (over the course of several years) from the Freedom From Religion Foundation to take it down.

The display is owned by the Town of Brookville and sat on the grounds of the Franklin County Courthouse.

The defenders of the display kept clinging to the same old arguments as usual: It’s tradition. Just look away. Why do you hate Christmas?!

None of them wanted to address...

Mississippi Sheriff’s Department Paints “In God We Trust” on Patrol Cars, Then Flaunts It on Facebook

If you’re going to break the law, why would you flaunt it on Facebook?

The other day, I posted about the San Antonio Police Department and their “morning prayer.” Now, the Alcorn County Sheriff’s Department in Mississippi has posted this image of a squad car:

It was followed up the next day with this message:

As the admin of this page, I felt it necessary to ban some users and will continue to do so for any type of negative comments. We are not putting IN GOD WE TRUST on our vehicles to try and...

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen Suggests Law Making Church Attendance Mandatory for Everyone

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen (R) was discussing a bill Tuesday that would allow citizens to carry concealed weapons and bring them into public buildings.

Along the way, she decried the moral decay of our country and suggested offhand that the legislators should be considering another bill to fix that:

… How we get back to a moral rebirth in this country, I don’t know, since we are slowly eroding religion at every opportunity that we have. Probably we should be debating a bill requiring ev...

The State of Atheism in America… from a Christian Perspective

The Barna Group is a research organization that focuses on questions of interest to the Christian world, and they just released a survey they did on people who haven’t gone to church in the past six months. They called them the “unchurched,” though we usually refer to them as the “Nones.” Most of them aren’t atheists, but they still want nothing to do with organized religion.

Barna’s overall findings won’t be a huge surprise for readers of this site, but they might cause panic for church leade...

Christian Woman Says She Knew of Her Prophetic Gift Because She Could Predict the Plots of Movies

Cindy Jacobs is the Christian preacher who once blamed the death of a flock of blackbirds on gay people in the military. So when she and her husband interviewed Rebecca Greenwood, a self-proclaimed “Prophet to the Nations,” you knew some eyebrows would be raised.

Greenwood didn’t disappoint.

After explaining how she felt the power of God at a Benny Hinn rally (seriously), she said there were hints of her prediction powers from a young age (at the 5:55 mark):

Rebecca Greenwood: … And I’m really g...

Liberty University May Have Violated the Law by Hosting Ted Cruz’s Campaign Announcement

According to a letter from Americans United for Separation of Church and State to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Liberty University may have violated the law by hosting Sen. Ted Cruz‘s campaign announcement earlier this week:

Liberty University is a tax-exempt organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As such, it is prohibited from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office. Yet it is difficult to view Liberty’s choice to allow Sen. Cruz to hold a campa...

How Does Homosexuality Make Sense Within the Theory of Evolution?

For Darwin Day, Richard Dawkins answered questions about evolution for his viewers. The latest one discusses how homosexuality makes sense within the theory of evolution:

(via RDFRS)