Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1777

Jimmy Kimmel’s Public Service Announcement for Anti-Vaxxer Parents

Jimmy Kimmel had this lovely rant against anti-vaxxers the other night, lambasting them for thinking they know more than actual doctors do. And then he aired a PSA featuring actual doctors…

… Some people do not buy into [science] because they did a Google search, and Jenny McCarthy popped up, and she had clothes on, so they listened to what she had to say and decided not to vaccinate their kids.

…

If you are one of those people who knows more than doctors, that’s fine. No vaccinations. But you’r...

Slate Advice Columnist: Young Atheist Should Write Unnecessary Essay to Get Out of Going to Sunday School

Yesterday, a letter was published in Slate’s advice column “Dear Prudence” from a mother whose 12-year-old son had no desire to attend church:

Each Sunday morning he yells, pouts, and eventually succumbs to my threats. Then he takes his snarky and unhelpful attitude to Sunday school. He doesn’t believe in God, and his very cool Sunday teacher works with that… Do I force my son to go or give up?

Advice-giver Emily Yoffe had this questionable response for the mother:

… Tell your little atheist tha...

Lawsuit Challenges Unconstitutional Discrimination Against Humanist Inmates in North Carolina Prison System

Yesterday, the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of prisoner Kwame Jamal Teague.

Teague is a Humanist who’s currently serving time at Lanesboro Correctional Institution in Polkton, North Carolina. He would like to gather with fellow Humanists just like Christians and Jews do behind bars, but prison officials won’t let him. Furthermore, the lawsuit says, they won’t even let Teague official identify as a Humanist. (He’s currently listed as...

Hell is for Sale and the Folks Behind DAMNED Want to Purchase the Infamous Michigan Town

A couple of weeks ago, Hell went on sale.

The infamous Michigan town is worth just under a million dollars. And now that it’s being sold, the people running an art show known as DAMNED want to purchase the space the build their own permanent exhibition space:

The unofficial mayor of Hell announced this month — on Friday the 13th — that he was putting all of it, including the rights to merchandise and Hell-themed slogans, up for sale for the devilish price of $999,666.

…

The organization known as...

More Than Half of Republican Primary Voters Want to Establish Christianity as the National Religion

Public Policy Polling released a poll on Tuesday identifying Scott Walker (below) as the leading presidential favorite among primary-voting Republicans. Which isn’t even the worst thing the poll tells us (and I say that as a Wisconsinite…).

While many of PPP’s questions focused on potential Republican primary candidates, some were the sort of simple queries like “Do you believe in evolution or not?” that trip up politicians like Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal. And if you’re wondering how the po...

Christian School With Openly Gay Student Athletes Issues Vague Statement Condemning Homosexuality

Drew Davis and Juan Varona are two openly gay volleyball players at Erskine University, a private Christian school in South Carolina. Their sexual orientation hasn’t been a secret — it has even been publicized — but the players have often said they felt accepted within the school community.

That’s why last week’s statement against homosexuality by the school took people by surprise:

We believe the Bible teaches that all sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage is sinful and therefore ul...

Christianity-Promoting School District Says It Will Look Into Teacher-Led Prayers and Nativity Re-Enactments

The other day, I posted about the Eastern Howard School Corporation, a school district that was frequently violating the Constitution with its promotion of Christianity.

Even when confronted with the problem, district officials didn’t seem to care. Superintendent Tracy Caddell said of any potential complaints: “I mean really, what is a parent going to say — that we want you to love my child less or show them less compassion?” He wrongly equated Christianity with compassion, and that mindset pe...

Apparently, Cubs Tickets Cure Homosexuality

Remember David and Jason Benham? They’re the twin brothers who were all set to host a reality show on HGTV before their anti-gay bigotry became public and the show got canceled.

They’re still trying to capitalize on their notoriety. Yesterday, at a convention for National Religious Broadcasters, David Benham told the story of a gay man who contacted him from Chicago:

“We had so many people from the gay community reaching out to us and one man in particular from the city of Chicago reached out —...

A Fling Without Fear: South Korea Legalizes Adultery; Birth-Control Stocks Surge

For the last 62 years, adultery was against the law in South Korea, drawing prison sentences of up to two years for bothlovers. That ended yesterday.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Thursday overturned a law that made adultery a crime, saying it violates the East Asian nation’s constitution. “The precondition of human dignity and right to pursue happiness is for each individual to have their rights to choose their fate,” the court ruled, saying that one’s sex life is private. “And the ri...

New Mexico Officials Cancel Museum’s Darwin Day Event After Creationists Complain About Not Being Included

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History was going to have a Darwin Day event this month, that was co-sponsored by New Mexicans for Science & Reason, the Humanist Society of New Mexico, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation chapter in Albuquerque.

And that upset local Creationists/Intelligent Design proponents because, in their mind, this was clearly government promotion of religion (or rather anti-religion) and not about science:

“I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if they could give some other...