Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1778

They’re Dogmalicious!

Pro-Life Legislator Defends Faith-Healing Parents: “If I Want to Let My Child Be with God, Why is That Wrong?”

Christy Perry (below) is an Idaho Republican State Representative who champions her support for the sanctity-of-life on her website, where she lists it as a pressing issue. So, presumably, if such a self-styled champion of life heard that parents were allowing their children to die of easily treatable illnesses by withholding medical treatment, her pro-life commitment would ensure that she was at the forefront of the movement to protect the lives of those children. Right?

Not so much. Accordin...

Wheaton College Student Pelted With Apple For Asking Question About Homosexuality

Wheaton College certainly had good intentions when they hosted a Town Hall Chapel for students Monday night. The annual all-school forum is meant to offer an opportunity for students to engage with the College President, currently Philip Ryken,on campus issues.

But the goodwill toward men didn’t last. When Philip Fillion, a straight, married senior at the college, approached the microphone witha question about the school’s stance on same-sex relationships, things got weirdly violent.Fillion re...

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Blasts Sen. James Inhofe (a.k.a. the “Senator with the Snowball”)

Yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), attempted to show how climate change science was bullshit… by bringing out a real live snowball. As if temporary coldness in DC offsets the mountains of evidence supporting climate change and our effect on it.

This would be funnier if so many people didn’t take him seriously… and if he weren’t the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works.

Thankfully, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who has long been a science advocate, took to the floor...

Leonard Nimoy, Who Played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, is Dead

Leonard Nimoy, the actor best known for playing Mr. Spock on Star Trek, died earlier today at the age of 83.

The actor who told us to “live long and prosper” did that himself, and this obituary gives you a sense of how much he accomplished and how much he meant to his fans.

Even his final tweet gives you a sense of why people appreciated him:

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015

Other appreciations are coming in:

Goodbye, Leonard Nimoy, and thank you for inspiring generations of scientists, skeptics, and humanists. pic.twitter.com/ZUDo2D4USE

— Center for Inquiry (@center4inquiry) February 27, 2015

(More update...

Michigan Civil Rights Group Puts a Stop to Ministry-Run Elementary School Bible Club Taking Place During Recess

I just posted about Hudsonville, Michigan the other day after their city newsletter began including the phrase “strive to serve God,” a phrase that is also a part of the city’s mission statement.

It turns out that’s just skimming the surface of religious intrusion into the community.

Apparently, Hudsonville South Elementary School was allowing the Western Michigan chapter of Bible Centered Ministries (BCM) International to hold a “Released Time Bible Club” during recess every week in a “mobile...

I Once Signed an Abstinence Pledge and Wore a Purity Ring; Now, I’m a Sex-Positive Former Christian

This is a guest post by Brittany Machado. She is the producer of the documentary film Give Me Sex Jesus.

…

I used to be the poster-child for Evangelicalism.

They called me “Bubbly Brittany” because I was always so happy. You name it, I did it for the church: taught Sunday school, went on mission trips to impoverished countries, evangelized at my public high school, sang in the church choir…

Despite all this, the ladies at church warned me I was too independent and not feminine enough; I needed so...

Christian Missionary Proud that She Rescued Someone from the Horrors of Catholicism

Remember Jessica Tidwell? She’s the Christian missionary who was disappointed that Kenya wasn’t the hellhole she hoped it would be because, presumably, it deprived her from having an ideal photo-op.

In her latest dispatch from Africa, she tells the story of how she “saved” someone… who was simply the wrong kind of Christian:

He began to pray over her in Swahili and I have no idea what he said but I know a few words and there was a whole lot of “Baba” {Father} and “Mungu” {God} and “Jesu Christo...

Creepy Christian Father Explains the Rules of Dating to His Daughter

Sex advice from your parents is bad enough.

It’s even more awkward when it comes from a creepy Christian dad who says things like, “Sex may be fun. But now sex can kill.”

That father is Jerry Johnston and he’s still doling out bad advice. The former megachurch pastor wanted to be the next Jerry Falwell but that plan went awry when his church couldn’t even pay its mortgage.

Too bad. We could’ve used another voice of overblown irrationality.

Humanist’s Remarks at Interfaith Gathering Focus on Chapel Hill Shootings

Greg Epstein, the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, was recently invited to join Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s inaugural Interfaith Advisory Task Force. Regardless of how you feel about interfaith work or the need for such a task force in the first place, I’m glad he had a seat at the table.

Epstein gave the closing remarks at their meeting last night and I thought his words, referencing the recent shootings in Chapel Hill, were worth restating here:

You may have heard of the brutal killin...