Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1828

Excessive Guilt in Children May Lead To Adult Depression and Other Mental Disorders, Researchers Say

Guilt gets a bad rap, but I like that guilt exists. In fact, I’d say guilt and remorse are indispensable if we’re going to have a society that isn’t run purely on impulses, greed, and self-interest.

The trick in handling guilt is to(over time) calibrate your conscience todeterminewhich things youought to feel guilty about (stealing yes, masturbation no), as well as the level of guilt that fits the moral transgression.

I’d venture to say that religion — strict religion, especially — inhibits bot...

Saudi Blogger Accused of “Insulting Islam” Will Receive the First 50 of His 1,000 Lashes Punishment Tomorrow

30-year-old Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was punished in 2013 for starting a progressive website that called for, among other things, religious tolerance and women’s rights. That was insulting to Islam, his critics said, and tomorrow, he will face the first 50 of his 1,000 lashes punishment (he also faces 10 years in jail and owes a 1,000,000 Saudi riyal fine — about $266,000).

The Center for Inquiry, which has worked to secure Badawi’s freedom to no avail, released this statement earlier...

Oklahoma State Capitol’s Replacement Ten Commandments Monument is Going Up Today

Back in October, Michael Tate Reed Jr., a Christian who had been “diagnosed with Bipolar and… was off his medication,” drove a car into the Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Capitol lawn.

Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma (via James Nimmo)

The monument had been a source of controversy for years, with the ACLU filing a lawsuit saying it constituted government endorsement of religion. Over the past year, the Satanic Temple added to the discussion by pitching their own monument for inc...

God Didn’t Create That Special Snowflake

Here’s a perfect example of Christian rhetoric that’s so incredibly condescending and ignorant, I’m amazed that grown human adults continue to perpetuate it.

I present popular Christian writer/blogger Jon Acuff writing about snowflakes:

I’m struck by the fact that each snowflake is completely unique, but they didn’t have to be. They could have been boring.

…

But they’re not.

Snowflakes are tiny pieces of disposable art.

…

The world didn’t have to be amazing, but it is. Why? Because we have an amazin...

Bill Donohue on the Charlie Hebdo Massacre, Revisited

Yesterday, Hemant fisked the awfulstatement by Bill Donohue of the U.S. Catholic League about the bloodbath that left 12dead at the Frenchsatirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. I want to return to the matter brieflywith a fewasides and questions.

Quoth Donohue:

[W]hat happened in Paris cannot be tolerated.But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction.

I wonder what, specifically, Donohue proposes when he says that Charlie Hebdo‘s marvelous, stubborninsolence...

In the Wake of the Charlie Hebdo Attacks, Let’s Eliminate Blasphemy Laws Everywhere

It’s hard to say there’s a silver lining after yesterday’s massacre at Charlie Hebdo, because we’d surely be better off if it didn’t happen at all, but I’m glad there’s a renewed push in Canada for the Department of Justice to eliminate its blasphemy law:

The cover reads “If Muhammad returned…” Muhammad says, “I’m your prophet, asshole!” The ISIS killer responds, “Shut your trap, infidel!”

Section 296 of the Criminal Code makes “blasphemous libel” punishable by up to two years in jail in Canada...

The Cowardly State of Our Mainstream Media: Obscuring Charlie Hebdo Cartoons To Avoid Offense

Yesterday’s bloodbathat Charlie Hebdo begat another tragedy: Not since Comedy Centralheavily censoredan episode of South Parkin 2010, to stave off reprisals from angry Muslims, has so much media cowardice been so nakedly on display.

Or maybe the previous low-water mark was set just ayear ago, when Channel 4 in England, reporting on a comic-strip controversy involving Jesus and Mo, placed a censorious black blob over the Muslim prophet’s character, so as not to give “offense” to thin-skinned be...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: “I Have to Outlive a Generation… Whose Minds Have [Been] Contaminated with This Ideology”

In case you missed it last night, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Muslim whose friend Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Islamic radicals more than a decade ago, appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 to speak about yesterday’s massacre:

Her words were more cautious than I’m used to hearing and it was a better conversation because of it. She made clear that her criticism — of which there was plenty — was directed only at the extremists, not all Muslims in general. (“We are not at war with Islam, but withi...

USA Today’s “Year in Defense” Publication Includes Full-Page Ad Honoring Military Atheists

If you look through USA Today‘s “Year in Defense” publication, there’s a full-page ad supporting atheists in foxholes (on page 71), courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

The ad notes that almost a quarter of the U.S. military is not religious.

Citing a list of egregious entanglements between the military and religion — such as USAF’s mandatory religious oaths, ship-wide prayers in the Navy, chaplain proselytizing, “bible-peddling” by officers, and “spiritual fitness” testing — FFRF...

Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Got His Own Late Night Talk Show

The man you love to watch, whether he’s hosting Cosmos or appearing as a guest on Comedy Central, just got his own late night talk show.

Neil deGrasse Tyson will premiere Star Talk (based on his podcast of the same name) on the National Geographic Channel beginning this April:

“Cosmos allowed us to share the awesome power of the universe with a global audience in ways that we never thought possible,” said Tyson. “To be able to continue to spread wonder and excitement through Star Talk, which is...