Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1818

After Colleague Gives Him Darwin’s Book On Air, ESPN Broadcaster Says He Doesn’t Accept Evolution

What is it lately with sports personalities who don’t accept science?

It was only a month ago when former baseball star Curt Schilling tried to refute evolution on Twitter and Facebook. (He failed.)

And now, during a Thursday night college basketball game on ESPN, broadcasters Bill Walton and Dave Pasch got into a passive-aggressive argument about evolution as colleague Jay Bilas looked on.

It started when Walton congratulated Pasch on his “Arizona Sportscaster of the Year” award by giving him a...

Glenn Beck: If We Don’t Have Enough Spine to Stand Up to Satanists Seeking Equal Treatment, It’s “National Suicide”

Now that the Orange County School Board in Florida has put a stop to book distributions from outside groups — just to prevent atheists and Satanists from doing what Christians were doing for years — Glenn Beck is sad. Very sad.

Because in his world, Christians should’ve been able to do a Bible giveaway without anyone else getting in the way (or being included in the mix) and the school board’s capitulation to the notion of neutrality means our nation is doomed:

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It’s Difficult to Determine Boko Haram’s Victim Toll, but Satellite Photos Tell Part of the Story

BBC News, citing Amnesty International, presents a different way of sussing out the savagery inflicted by Nigeria’s Boko Haram, an Islamist insurgent groupthat attacks citizens with abandon and has a preference for schools, children, and teachers.

Satellite images of Nigerian towns attacked by Boko Haram show widespread destruction and suggest a high death toll, Amnesty International says.

They show some 3,700 structures damaged or destroyed in Baga and Doron Baga last week, the human-rights gr...

Bill Maher: I Was Starting to Like This Pope, But He’s Dead To Me Now

Bill Maher, commenting on Pope Francis‘ insistence that faith may not be mocked, delivers a fine rejoinder:

If you’re in the mood for a less funny but more methodical takedown, Jacob Sullum obliges:

In effect, Pope Francis expands the misbegotten (and apparently obsolete) “fighting words” doctrine from its original context of in-person, one-on-one encounters to published words and images that make people mad. Because that anger can be expected to result in violence, he says, those words and ima...

Christian Mother Flips Out After Seeing Pentagram Symbol in School Bus Brake Lights

Remember when you did good work in school and your teachers gave you gold star stickers?

Using Robyn Wilkins‘ logic, they were really sending an evil message.

Robyn Wilkins snapped a photo when she noticed the shape of an upside down, five-pointed star outlined in the brake lights of a school bus that was stopped in Cordova.

“Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged,” Wilkins said.

She says Christians should be outraged that a symbol that looks like a pentagram woul...

Supreme Court Will Soon Decide Whether Gay Marriage is Legal Throughout the Country

After decades of legal battles between marriage equality advocates and self-styled “defenders of marriage,” the Supreme Court is finally going to take up the question in a case that could bring same-sex marriages to the entire country.

The Court is set to review a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a combination of marriage bans and bans on recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. The Justices will now decide

… whether states are constitutionally required to issue marriage...

Two Science Deniers Will Chair Government Science Committees

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is on a long list of politicians who are politely — and wrongly — referred to by media organizations as science “skeptics.” He, for instance, thinks he knows more than 97% of climate scientists on the “so-called scientific theory” of climate change (spoiler alert: it’s not real!); plus, you know, it’s cold out in winter, so the earth can’t be warming, amirite?

And while these beliefs, in conjunction with his government-closing chronic-ACA-repeal-advocating antics, might...

Franklin County (Indiana) Officials Will Open Courthouse Grounds to Anyone Who Wants to Put Up a Display

Last month, I wrote about a Nativity Scene in Brookville, Indiana that had been up for over 50 years, despite warning letters (over the course of several years) from the Freedom From Religion Foundation to take it down.

The main problem was that the display was owned by the Town of Brookville and sat on the grounds of the Franklin County Courthouse.

In mid-December, after years of politely asking local officials to take care of this matter and nothing changing, FFRF filed a federal lawsuit agai...

Christian Megachurch Pastor Who Casually Said “Nigga” During Christmas Eve Sermon Issues Pseudo-Apology

Earlier this month, I posted a video of Christian Pastor Perry Noble seemingly saying the word “Nigga” during a Christmas Eve sermon:

As I wrote at the time, I didn’t think Noble was being intentionally racist, but I know what I heard. The church denied that he said it, saying he just got his words jumbled… even though I have no clue what he *meant* to say.

It turns out he “apologized” during a recent sermon. Why do I put that word in quotation marks? Because he doesn’t acknowledge doing anythi...

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Will Auction Off “In Dog We Trust” Rugs for Charity

Yesterday, I posted about the new rugs in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (in Florida), which cost $500 and contained a rather notable misprint:

If you look closely, you’ll see a major typo within one of the crests — “In Dog We Trust.”

…

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told Action News the error was made by the rug manufacturer, American Floor Mats. The company is currently working on giving the sheriff’s office a replacement, according to a spokesperson.

Replacement rugs aside, the...