Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1764

Deaf Atheist (and Former Pastor) Explains in Sign Language Why God is a Myth

You may recall Pastor Justin Vollmar, who released YouTube videos in which he explained biblical concepts and answered theological questions — all in sign language — as part of his “Virtual Deaf Church.”

A year ago, he came out as an atheist.

In his latest video, Vollmar explains why the Christian concept of God isn’t worth believing in, partly because He’s just a rehashed version of all the gods that came before Him.

You’re Supposed to Be Smarter Than Us, Canada

Earlier today, I did an interview with Global News (in Canada) about superstition and Friday the 13th.

While most of it ended up on the cutting room floor (as is usually the case), I make a quick appearance near the end of this report:

Happy totally-normal Friday, everyone!

This is How Absurd the American Family Association’s Bigotry Map Is

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, explains how ridiculous the American Family Association’s Bigotry Map is.

You can read more about the Bigotry Map here and here.

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 supporti...

Unhappy with a Moment of Silence, Winter Garden City Commissioners (FL) Vote to Bring Back Public Prayers

Last year, Mayor John Rees, the leader of the Winter Garden City Commissioners (in Florida), kicked atheist Joseph Richardson out of a meeting after he refused to stand for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance:

Rees singles out Richardson for not standing up

That protest (and the subsequent pushback against how the Commission handled it) led to the commissioners altering their invocation policy. Instead, they voted to have a moment of silence instead. Great!

… That is, until the following wee...

French Cartoonist Zeon Arrested for Anti-Zionist Art

In ostensibly free European countries, you canget in a lot of trouble for the wrong kindof humor– not just (deadly) trouble from jihadists “avenging” their prophet, but trouble meted out bygovernment agencies and police officers.

For instance, in the Netherlands, in 2008, the home office of cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot, a poison-pen critic of Islam,

… wasraided by a team of ten police officerswho had been dispatched by theOpenbaar Ministerie, the federal Dutch DA’s office that works in conjunc...

Bryan Fischer: Unlike Liberals, I’m a “Live and Let Live” Sort of Guy

Guess who said this?

I may disapprove of your lifestyle, but I’m not going to use force to try and stop you from making those choices.

Answer: Bryan Fischer, a guy who advocates for laws that make life difficult for people whose “lifestyles” he disapproves of.

He said as much on his radio show yesterday:

That’s the difference between liberals and conservatives: Conservatives believe in live and let live. I may disapprove of your lifestyle, but I’m not gonna use force to try to stop you from makin...

Why is Friday the 13th Considered Unlucky? Religion Has Everything To Do With It

Today is Friday the 13th. Do you dread it? According to Gizmodo, you can fill more than 300 Super Bowl stadiums with the number of Americans who are truly, authentically afraid of that date/weekday combo.

In the United States alone, it is estimated that between 17 and 21 million people dread that date to the extent that it can be officially classified as a phobia. …

The most popular theory as to why Friday is considered unlucky or an evil day is thought by many to spring from Christianity. By t...

Disney’s Cinderella Is a Fundamentalist’s Wet Dream

When my daughters, 10 and 12,went toFlorida with me recently, we flew into Orlando. To my great relief, neither of them expressed any interest in going to Disney World; we spent a great day at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center instead.

I’ve always loathedDisney animated movies, at least the saccharine, sexist, trademark fare that the studio pumped out for many decades, until Pixar more or less dragged the ossified giantinto the 21st century.

I’ll confess that one extra (and related)reason for my disl...

Another Look at the Percentage of Atheists in Prison

We know that the percentage of atheists in prison is much smaller than the percentage of atheists in the general population. There are several reasons for that, and it’s *way* too simplistic to suggest we’re “more moral” than everyone else… so don’t do it.

But how different are our numbers from those of religious believers?

Mona Chalabi of FiveThirtyEight has taken the numbers I acquired in 2013, combined it with U.S. census data, and created this nifty chart, showing the ratios of prisoners’ r...

Former Congressman Barney Frank: “I Am Not an Atheist”

In August of 2013, former Congressman Barney Frank — who made a name for himself by being an outspoken gay liberal — finally came out in a different way. He said on Real Time with Bill Maher that he was an atheist:

Bill Maher: … you were in a fairly safe district. You were not one of those Congresspeople who have to worry about every little thing. You could come on this show, and sit next to a pot-smoking atheist, and it wouldn’t bother you…

Barney Frank: [Pointing back and forth to himself and...