Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1768

Re “People With Children Are Not Necessarily Parents”: An Open Letter To Bishop Kevin Doran

Dear Bishop Doran:

In a recent radio interview, you rejected same-sex marriagebecause

“It doesn’t include the openness to procreation, which is one of the essential dimensions of marriage; … and the reason for the state or society to get involved in marriage was because it has to do with the important business of children.”

It so happens that, a few years ago, two of ourclosest family friends — they run a Christian conference center a few states away — lost their eight-week-old child in utero. T...

What If I’m an Atheist? is a Teen’s Guide to Life Without Religion

There aren’t a lot of books about atheism out there directed specifically toward a young adult audience, but David Seidman has created a guide to godlessness just for them. It’s called What If I’m an Atheist?: A Teen’s Guide to Exploring a Life Without Religion (Beyond Words/Simon Pulse, 2015) and it incorporates many of the stories you’ve seen online and dozens of interviews the author conducted with young atheists (some of whom read this site). Having written about a similar subject myself,...

Spongebob Squarepants’ Seven Severe Sins

The goal ofOutlet College Ministry (OCM) in Atlanta, affiliated with Bishop Eddie Long‘sNew Birth Missionary Baptist Church,

… is to EQUIP students to be DEVOTED followers of CHRIST while RADICALLY transforming the CULTURE!

The ministry tries to achieve that with mass baptisms and movie fare likeLeft Behind,but nothing could possibly topthedebate that took place at OCM last night. The topic was, “Which sin is the most deadly?,”and somehow that weighty question was linked to characters from Spon...

This Kind of Vandalism on a German Pastafarian Sign is Just Annoying…

A few months ago, I posted about how a group of German Pastafarians were able to get the city of Templin to put up signs alerting people to their meetings:

Church sign in Templin (via Rüdiger Weida)

Since that time, someone has been messing with the Pastafarians. It’s not full-on “vandalism,” per se, but someone has repeatedly (four times now) put what appears to be red “caution” tape over the symbol:

It doesn’t even seem very effective — the day and time are still visible — but this is what ath...

Friendly Atheist Podcast Episode 45: Trevor McKendrick, Atheist Who Created Popular Spanish-Language Bible App

Our latest podcast guest is Trevor McKendrick, an atheist who created a very popular (and lucrative) Spanish-language Bible app.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Alex Blumberg’s popular podcast StartUp which is all about his journey beginning his own podcasting company.

In one episode, he aired a conversation with Trevor, in which they talked about whether you can sell a product you don’t really believe in.

We spoke with Trevor about the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the story, how it p...

Glory, Glory, Hole-lelujah

File this under “Should’ve shown it to a teenager first”:

The “Glory Hole” is the actual name of a Christian shelter in Juneau, Alaska.

They have no idea, do they…?

You can see a (SFW) picture of a pastor sprinkling holy water at the Glory Hole right here.

(via Romenesko)

U.S. Air Force Test Misidentifies Fifth Amendment, Implying that Religious Liberty is “Commonly Violated”

Quick: the Fifth Amendment protectswhich commonly violated civil liberty?

If you answered “the right not to incriminateyourself,” founding fatherJames Madison, who wrote the Bill of Rights, would’ve appreciativelyclapped you on the shoulder. But the U.S. Air Force might just tell you that you’re an oaf.

An Air Force test question about constitutional rights has led to accusations that the service is not only confused about religious freedom protections, but also believes civil libertarians are...

Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert Files Bill to Put Up Ten Commandments Display on Capitol Grounds

Today is the last day for Arkansas politicians to file bills for this legislative session, meaning we should be on the lookout for any shenanigans.

And, oh, what’s this…?

State Senator Jason Rapert (a Republican, of course) has filed a bill to install a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the State Capitol:

Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma (via James Nimmo)

Senate Bill 939 says:

The Secretary of State may permit and arrange for the placement on the State Capitol grounds of a suitable...

Ontario Medical College Adopts New Rule Saying Doctors May Not Refuse Service on Moral or Religious Grounds

Last year, in Canada,

[D]octors in two major cities made national headlines by denying medical care based on religious grounds.

First,

A Calgary doctor working at a walk-in clinic who refused to prescribe contraception based on her personal beliefs posted a sign in the window informing patients “that the physician on duty today will not prescribe the birth control pill.” Women looking for the pill were instead provided with a list of other clinics willing to prescribe it.

Then,

Three family doctor...

Sam Simon, Co-Creator of The Simpsons and Atheist Philanthropist, Dies at 59

Sam Simon, one of the creators of The Simpsons died yesterday from colorectal cancer at the age of 59.

Simon knew his disease would kill him at a young age so he vowed a long time ago to give away most of the hundreds of millions of dollars he had made, especially to causes supporting animal rights.

A profile of him in Vanity Fair last year explained his non-religious outlook on life:

“I’m an atheist, but there’s a thing called tithing that a lot of religions do. Ten percent was the minimum you...