Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1759

Sharia Spreads: It’s Now the Law in Part of Malaysia

Islamic countries that haveembraced sharia include Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Nigeria. Last year,Brunei becamethe first Southeast Asian countrytojoin that wretched club, andnow neighboring Malaysia has done the same. More precisely, the state of Kelantan has, despite the fact that sharia isincompatible with the country’s constitution.

Among the punishments: limb amputations for theft; crucifixion for deadly robberies; 40 to 80 lashes for consuming any qu...

VIDEO: Afghani Mob Kicks and Stomps Woman To Death For Allegedly Burning a Copy of the Qur’an

By my reckoning, there are more than a billion printed copies of the Qur’an on this Earth. Saudi Arabia alone gives away 30 million new Qur’ans every year. Islam’s founding text is also online in thousands of places. The Qur’an, the most common book after the Bible,is more indestructible than ever.

But soil orburn one copy of it andyou could pay with your life, as one woman in Kabul, the Afghan capital, found out yesterday.

Accusers who alleged that Farkhunda, 27,burned the Islamicholy book, pr...

Congressman Introduces Legislation to Prevent “So Help Me God” from Becoming Optional Part of Military Oaths

Until late 2013, if you were a freshman at the U.S. Air Force Academy, you would have concluded your Basic Cadet Training by reciting this Honor Oath:

“We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.”

It’s that last clause that Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation fought to remove for so long and they eventually got their wish:

[In October of 2013], the AFA released a stat...

Arizona Bill Exempting Churches from Paying Property Taxes on Buildings They Rent Awaits the Governor’s Signature

Earlier this year, Arizona legislators introduced a bill that would allow churches to claim a property tax exemption on buildings they rent rather than just own. A similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer last year, but there’s no telling if the same thing will happen under new Governor Doug Ducey.

House Bill 2128, which was passed by the House in February and passed by the Senate this week, already exempts property “owned by an educational, religious or charitable organization… from taxatio...

Kansas Senate Passes Bill That Would Allow Campus Christian Groups to Discriminate Against LGBT Students

It’s tough to be a Christian group on college campuses these days. I mean, everyone expects you to play by the rules, even though we all know Christians deserve special rights that allow them to discriminate against LGBT students and their allies.

We saw this at Bowdoin College in Maine last year, when leaders of the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship were about to lose their designation as an official campus group (with all the privileges that come with it) because they really really really wanted...

Public Library Pays Conservative Christian Activists $55,000 in Settlement Over Internet Censorship

Back in November, we heard about a Creationist mother who laughably “audited” an evolution exhibit at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and posted the video on YouTube.

It turned out that mother, Megan Fox, is the same person who (with Kevin DuJan, a friend of hers) had been a pain in the side of my local library for the past year. The library doesn’t censor the Internet and Fox saw that as sanctioning “taxpayer funded access to child porn.” (She also claims she saw a man viewing porn...

The Least Religious City in America Is…

The religiously-unaffiliated make up 22% of the population nationwide, but which cities have the most Nones?

The Public Religion Research Institute, using data from the American Values Atlas, has figured out the least religious cities in the country… and topping the list are some pretty fantastic places:

Portlandia has never been more accurate. And the rest of us have a lot of catching up to do.

San Francisco Church Douses Homeless People with Water to Keep Them Off the Property

In case you needed more reasons to dislike the Catholic Church, Saint Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco has figured out a way to clear away all the homeless people who rest on their property: They douse them with water:

KCBS has learned that Saint Mary’s Cathedral… has installed a watering system to keep the homeless from sleeping in the cathedral’s doorways.

…

But there are no signs warning the homeless about what happens in these doorways, at various times, all through the night. Water pours f...

For Inadvertently “Denigrating” Buddha, Three Men Each Get Two Years in a Burmese Prison

The New Zealandnightclub managerwho made a promotional image of a Buddha wearing headphones (previous posts here and here) has been given a two-yearterm in a Burmese jail for his insolence. The same is true for his two Burmese colleagues.

Holy crap.Two years behind barsfor a picture of Buddha withcans.

I guess a picture of Buddha on the can would’ve gotten thema death sentence.

A bar manager from New Zealand and two Burmese men were sentenced to two years in prison in Myanmar on Tuesday for post...

No, Oklahoma Isn’t About To Forbid Atheists from Marrying

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Oklahoma’s same-sex marriage ban in October, social conservatives in that state have been looking for new loopholes. And you have to hand it to OklahomaRep. Todd Russ: this oneis at least moderately creative.

Introduced by Rep. Todd Russ (R-Cordell), House Bill 1125 would end state-issued marriage licenses, while providing marriage certificates as an alternative. It passed through the Oklahoma state House by a 67-24 margin on March 10.

The bill would repl...