Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1810

Culbert Olson: the California Governor Who Wasn’t Afraid to Admit He Was an Atheist

At an event sponsored by the California State Library and California Archives this week, Debra Deanne Olson spoke about her grandfather and former California governor Culbert Olson.

Olson, who died in 1962, was notable for being that rare atheist in public office. Not only did he skip the “So help me God” part during his oath, he didn’t even swear in on the Bible. He affirmed his oath in 1939 with a hand in the air and the other in his pocket:

That’s because he was an atheist, and not just any...

Mike Huckabee Mocks Climate Change: “A Beheading is a Far Greater Threat to an American Than a Sunburn”

At the Iowa Freedom Summit yesterday, potential Republican presidential nominee Mike Huckabee mocked President Obama‘s focus on climate change and suggested he wasn’t doing anything serious to combat the *real* problem we face:

Not to diminish anything about the climate at all, but Mr. President, I believe that most of us would think that a beheading is a far greater threat to an American than a sunburn. I wish he understood that we have a real enemy…

In other words, he diminished the impact of...

Lawrence Krauss Debunks Eric Metaxas’ Fine-Tuning Argument on the New Yorker‘s Website

A month after Christian author Eric Metaxas embarrassing piece in the pages of the The Wall Street Journal saying that science proved God — which was his way of pushing the awful fine-tuning argument — physicist Lawrence Krauss has a thorough rebuttal on the New Yorker‘s website:

The author of the piece, Eric Metaxas, is not himself a scientist. Rather, he’s a writer and a TV host, and the article was a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to resurrect the notion of intelligent design, which gives rel...

Hold On To Your Hat: Toupée-Like “Magic” Yarmulke Aims To Hoodwink Anti-Semites

Though avoiding needless confontation is a worthy goal, I’m not sure what this says about standing up for one’sdeeply-held beliefs:

An Israeli barber has fashioned what he calls “magic” yarmulkes out of hair, designed to allow religious Jews to cover their heads without attracting unwanted attention from anti-Semites.

Shalom Koresh said his skullcap, known as a yarmulke in Yiddish and a kippa in Hebrew, was inspired by rising anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere. He said he has seen particular...

GOP Congresswoman Doesn’t Support Anti-Abortion Bill, so Conservative Writer Wonders if She’s “Worthy of Life”

You may have heard that Republicans were aiming to vote for a 20-week abortion ban on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling. Some Republican Congresswomen took issue with the bill, particularly with the limited rape exception. The political repercussions, they feared, would be damaging to the party. Congressional leadership abandoned plans for the vote, and focused instead on H.R. 7, which

… would prohibit insurance plans sold in the new health care exchanges from covering abortion, and it...

The Problem with Heaven is…

Of all the wacky beliefs people have about the afterlife, I find it weird that they usually ignore the most obvious aspect of it: Heaven never really seems all that enjoyable.

(Even seeing your deceased loved ones sounds nice and all, but after a few days, I’d probably want some personal space again.)

So this postcard at PostSecret probably resonates with a lot of religious people:

Don’t worry: It won’t be boring. You’ll feel like you’re not even there.

Will Atheists March on Washington in 2016? Planning for the Second Reason Rally Has Begun

In March of 2012, as estimated 20,000 atheists gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “Reason Rally,” reminding our elected officials that church/state separation matters, that atheists vote, and that they can’t ignore us any longer. Whether it had a significant effect on the political landscape is debatable, but I can tell you that most atheists I met there had never experienced anything like it before. They were surrounded by like-minded people for the first time in their lives and it was a t...

Governor Bobby Jindal Talks About the Need for a “Spiritual Revival” in Our Nation

Yesterday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal held a prayer rally at LSU that gives you a perfect glimpse of what his future presidential campaign would look like — and why he’s better suited to run a church than a state.

Just look at what Jindal suggested could fix our nation’s problems:

… We can’t just elect a candidateand fix what ails our country. We can’t just pass a law and fix what ails our country. We need a spiritual revival to fix what ails our country.… We are a united people. We are Go...

Why Should Gandhi Have To “Sweat His Balls Off” In Yoga Class?

This is the rare video in whichthe non-religious people are a helluva lot more annoying than the believer in their midst.

(via College Humor)

Center For Inquiry is Offering Free Membership to Students Right Now

This is a pretty sweet deal: If you’re a high school or college student, you can become a member of the Center for Inquiry for free through the end of March!

Besides just being part of a good organization, you get discounts on conferences and a quarterly newsletter. Even if you don’t care for either, it’s a way to show your support to a group that does a lot of excellent advocacy for issues that matter to atheists and skeptics.

They didn’t ask me to post this, by the way. If I were a student, I...