Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1866

Colorado Supreme Court Rules Against Atheists Suing the State Over Its “Day of Prayer” Proclamations

For years now, Colorado governors have been issuing proclamations in support of the Day of Prayer:

Several years ago, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (along with a few of their Colorado-based members) filed a lawsuit against the state in order to put a stop to that. They said the proclamations made them “feel like political outsiders” by endorsing religion, which also violated the state’s Constitution.

A lower court ruled that they had no right to sue as taxpayers, but they did have standing to sue as non-believers who faced a legal injury. Even so, the judge said the proclamations were perfectly legal so it didn’t matter.

FFRF, unhappy with that ruling, appealed. The state then cross-appealed, because they didn’t like that FFRF was given standing at all.

An Appeals Court then said that FFRF had the right to sue as taxpayers — and, because the state was using any money at all to issue the proclamations, the whole charade was unconstitutional:

A reasonable observer would conclude that these proclamations send the message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado’s political community, and that those who do not pray do not enjoy that favored status.

…

… the six Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations [2004-09] at issue here are governmental conduct that violate the Preference Clause [of the Religious Freedom section of Colorado’s Constitution]… [The content is] predominantly religious; they lack a secular context; and their effect is government endorsement of religion as preferred over nonreligion.

In short: We know you’re using your role as Governor to endorse belief in god and you can’t do that.

Because of that ruling, all six Day of Prayer proclamations from 2004-2009 were ruled unconstitutional. It was up in the air whether governors could issue proclamations in the future. (None of this, by the way, affected the National Day of Prayer, since that was a separate issue.)

Not surprisingly, state officials appealed that decision to the State Supreme Court.

Yesterday, they issued their decision. In a 5-2 vote, the justices said FFRF did not have standing to sue, either as taxpayers or as non-believers who faced any legal injury:

Respondents do not have standing to sue the Governor for issuing annual Colorado Day of Prayer honorary proclamations. First, we hold that the use of public funds to cover the incidental overhead costs associated with issuing the honorary proclamations does not, by itself, constitute an injury sufficient to establish taxpayer standing. Second, we hold that the psychic harm endured by Respondents as a result of media coverage revealing the existence of the honorary proclamations does not, by itself, constitute an injury sufficient to establish individual standing. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals. Because Respondents’ failure to establish standing is fatal to their substantive legal claim, we remand to the court of appeals with instructions to return the case to the trial court for dismissal.

The two dissenting judges wrote that denying FFRF standing was the wrong move, but added that their case should fail based on the merits. It’s a lose-lose for FFRF either way, but for different reasons.

In any case, this means the Day of Prayer proclamations can continue from here on out.

Colorado’s Attorney General-elect Cynthia Coffman issued a brief statement in support of the decision:

“This decision by the state’s high court means that like the president of the United States and other governors around the country, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and future Colorado governors are free to issue honorary proclamations without fear of being tied up in court by special interest groups. It was the correct ruling by the justices after careful consideration of the issues.”

FFRF no longer has any options for recourse and they’re understandably upset by the ruling because they fear the long-term ramifications:

Noted FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor: “Under today’s precedent, if Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper decided to proclaim a state religion, no state citizen would have the right to challenge him!”

“Being formally told to pray every year by their governor is what the Colorado State Constitution so obviously sought to protect citizens from. This decision guts the no preference clause of the Colorado State Constitution saying no preference shall be ‘given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.’” added FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.

We can expect the state to issue another Day of Prayer proclamation sometime next May.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

Oklahoma School District Finally Rejects Hobby Lobby-Sponsored Bible Curriculum

Earlier this year, before the Supreme Court decision came down, Hobby Lobby President Steve Green announced that he had developed a Bible curriculum for public schools and that Oklahoma’s Mustang Public Schools board had voted to approve it and become the first district to implement it. The course would focus on the “narrative, history and impact of the Good Book.”

Green said in the video below that he believed the course should be mandatory (at the 5:47 mark), though it would only be an elective for the time being:

This wasn’t a new idea. There are already courses like this in public schools around the country and they’re legal because they don’t treat the Bible as a Holy Book. They treat it as a book, period, and nothing more (though that line is crossed far more than it should be). There’s certainly a lot of value in teaching about the Bible because of the role it plays in literature, culture, and our own history… as long as you follow a simple rule: You can teach the Bible, but you can’t preach the Bible.

So that was the big question: Would Steve Green’s Bible curriculum really be objective?

Turns out women had a better chance of finding birth control pills in a Hobby Lobby store.

A first look at the course’s textbook showed instance after instance of the Bible being taught as factually and historically true — making it illegal for use in a public school.

It didn’t help that the Freedom From Religion Foundation exposed the all-too-cozy relationship between the Greens and the district administrators.

In July, under all this scrutiny, the Green family announced they would postpone the curriculum:

“We have operated on an aggressive timeline to deliver the curriculum for the upcoming school year,” wrote Jerry Pattengale, editor for the projected four-year high school syllabus, in a prepared statement. But “unforeseen delays” necessitated postponing the debut until January.

“Unforeseen delays” being a euphemism for “Damn! They caught us!”

It’s getting closer to January now, so you might be wondering about the status of the curriculum.

Last night, faced with an open records request by FFRF, Superintendent Sean McDaniel informed the group, along with the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, of some welcome news — which was passed along to me via email:

In summary, the topic of a Bible course in the Mustang School District is no longer a discussion item nor is there a plan to provide such a course in the foreseeable future. All students who were pre-enrolled in the elective had their schedules changed to a Humanities course or they were afforded the opportunity to select another elective. The two non-negotiables we had established from the onset were not met. Non-negotiable #1 was that the district have the opportunity to review a final product prior to introducing it to our curriculum. That did not occur and so, by itself, that was a disqualifier. Non-negotiable #2 was a commitment to provide legal coverage to the district. That did not occur, which also was a disqualifier.

I love that second non-negotiable: Hobby Lobby had to pay for the legal costs in case the district was sued and lost… and they refused to do it. That may be the most damning evidence that they were doing something wrong.

But the bigger story is that the curriculum has been shuttered indefinitely. There will be no Hobby Lobby-sponsored Bible course in any school district anytime soon — and part of the reason for that is that the company’s owners wouldn’t even stand behind their own supposed objectivity.

Andrew Seidel of FFRF told me this in the wake of McDaniel’s email:

“We’re thrilled the district has come to its senses and agreed to drop this class. From the beginning, they were pawns of the Greens and Hobby Lobby, but now they’ve seen the light.”

(Top image via Shutterstock. Large portions of this article were posted earlier.)

This Five-Minute Recap of the Nicolas Cage Left Behind Movie Sums It Up Perfectly

Having seen the Left Behind movie starring Nicolas Cage myself, I can safely say this five-minute (completely NSFW) recap is *way* more interesting:

I’d say that captured the essence of the movie. They should really just show this version in church and save everyone time and money.

(via Cult of Dusty)

Kirk Cameron’s Movie Poster for Saving Christmas Looks Eerily Similar to This Other One…

Reader Gene points out that there’s a remarkable similarity between the posters for Kirk Cameron‘s Saving Christmas and Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Last Action Hero (click image to enlarge):

That’s weird, right?

Ken Ham: Climate Change is Real… because Earth is Still “Settling Down” from the Great Flood

Ken Ham would like you all to know that, even though he ignores all the evidence for evolution, he has no doubt that climate change is real.

I see you’re confused right now. Ken Ham making sense?! It can’t be!

No worries. We’ll fix that right away.

God did it.

Here’s how he explains it:

At Answers in Genesis, while we certainly do not deny climate change, we believe there is no significant man-made climate change (as some politicians claim) due to scientific evidence (which include many of the same reasons as Coleman) and biblical reasons.

Tell us more about these biblical reasons…

Starting from the Bible, we know that there was a global Flood a few thousand years ago that completely changed Earth’s surface and climate, and that the earth is still settling down from this catastrophe. So we should expect there to be some variations in climate change, but this is not alarming and is not the direct result of modern human activity.

Dig the hole a little deeper, please:

And yes — because of the effects of sin, the curse and the Flood — we will continue to witness climate change until the Lord comes!

God: The cause of, and solution to, climate change.

Ken Ham is one page short of a Texas science textbook.

(via Raw Story. Image via Shutterstock)

Friendly Atheist Podcast Episode 30: Phil Zuckerman, Author of Living the Secular Life

Our latest podcast guest is Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies — yes, secular studies — at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where he lives with his wife and three children. He is the author of several books about atheism, including Society Without God and Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion.

In a couple of weeks, he’ll be releasing a book called Living the Secular Life.

We spoke with Phil about whether the rise of the “Unaffiliated” has hit its peak, why more atheists have come out of the closet over the past decade, and why that demographic shift is good for America.

This episode is sponsored by Be Secular. Readers of this site can get a 10% discount on products by using the promo code “Friendly”!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, get the MP3 directly, check it out on Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below.

And if you like what you’re hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

Oklahoma Legislator Says Destroyed Ten Commandments Monument Will be Replaced

Last month, 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 inclusion on the Capitol lawn, leading to a moratorium on all monuments altogether.

In September, a judge dismissed the ACLU’s lawsuit, saying the Ten Commandments monument could stay put. The ACLU said it would appeal the ruling, and the decision also opened the door to lawsuits from groups like the Satanic Temple who had been told to hold on while the case was still pending.

But all that became moot after a Christian — who, as far as we can tell, had no stake in the controversy — drove into and destroyed the monument.

The question everyone was asking was whether the Ten Commandments monument would be replaced or not. We finally have an answer to that.

State Rep. Mike Ritze, who was responsible for putting up the original monument, said today that a replacement will be built (with private money):

“We can’t repair the old one, so we have ordered another monument identical to the one that was torn down,” said Ritze, of Broken Arrow. “The fundraising is ongoing.”

That means the ACLU can continue with its appeal. It also means the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission will have to decide very soon whether other monuments, including the Satanic Temple’s, will be allowed as well. If they say no, it means even more lawsuits and more taxpayer money thrown down the drain.

Get the popcorn ready.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

Conservative Group Sues IRS for Not Turning Over Correspondence with FFRF Regarding Politician-Endorsing Churches

Back in November of 2012, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the IRS because of the government agency’s “failure to enforce electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.” Basically, churches were endorsing political candidates from the pulpit and the IRS wasn’t doing anything to stop it. (Part of the problem was that there was a vacancy in the position that normally handled those issues.)

Finally, over the summer, the two sides agreed on a settlement:

“This is a victory, and we’re pleased with this development in which the IRS has proved to our satisfaction that it now has in place a protocol to enforce its own anti-electioneering provisions,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

“Of course, we have the complication of a moratorium currently in place on any IRS investigations of any tax-exempt entities, church or otherwise, due to the congressional probe of the IRS. FFRF could refile the suit if anti-electioneering provisions are not enforced in the future against rogue political churches.”

…

The IRS has now resolved the signature authority issue necessary to initiate church examinations. The IRS also has adopted procedures for reviewing, evaluating and determining whether to initiate church investigations. While the IRS retains “prosecutorial” discretion with regard to any individual case, the IRS no longer has a blanket policy or practice of non-enforcement of political activity restrictions as to churches.

So the IRS said it would finally enforce its own rules. It shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit for that to happen, but there you go. Order was restored.

Since then, we’ve seen another Pulpit Freedom Sunday come and go, with pastors endorsing candidates during sermons, and the IRS has yet to take any direct action against the offending churches. They still have their tax exemptions.

But a right-wing group is convinced there’s some secret alliance between the IRS and FFRF. Because, as we all know, the government is overrun by atheists… even though there’s not a single openly non-religious person in all of Congress.

Earlier today, the group Judicial Watch announced that they had filed their own lawsuit against the IRS. They demanded a record of all correspondence between the IRS and FFRF — to uncover any shenanigans — and the IRS hasn’t sent them anything yet. See?! CONSPIRACY!

“As expressed by the First Amendment, Americans have the God-given right to both express their religious views and to engage in the political process,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is troubling that the IRS seems set to rely on a group of atheists to point them toward churches that might have criticized politicians. And it is even more disturbing that the IRS would violate federal law, The Freedom of Information Act, in order to keep secret its monitoring of Americans praying together in church. To be clear, the very IRS that abused Tea Partiers for Obama’s election now purports to be able to ‘audit’ houses of worship in order to protect politicians from criticism. I am sure the Obama administration is more than happy to use the excuse of a lawsuit by a leftist group to use the IRS to punish churches that oppose Obama’s war on religious freedom.”

Fitton won’t tell the whole truth, so I will: Americans are welcome to express their religious views and engage in the political process — but they can’t do both while part of a tax-exempt church. If churches want to start paying taxes, they’re welcome to endorse all the candidates they want, but they can’t have their cake and eat it, too.

I don’t know why the IRS hasn’t responded to their request — it’s not like FFRF has any control over that — but to suggest that the IRS is secretly monitoring church services is just bullshit… which, unfortunately, is the fuel that drives groups like these.

Not a single church has been punished yet. Unless someone reported a church doing something illegal, and there was evidence of it, no church would get in trouble.

Eventually, I’m sure the IRS will give Judicial Watch the documents they want. And then I suspect they’ll go radio silent because there won’t be anything in those documents that suggests even a hint of wrongdoing.

This is, and always has been, about following the law. FFRF just wants the IRS to do its job. The IRS told them they will do that job. And Judicial Watch somehow thinks that’s inherently anti-Christian.

(Portions of this article were posted earlier)

Zeus and Thor Spar in an Epic Rap Battle

Finally, Zeus and Thor (rap) battle it out to see who’s the most superior mythological being of them all! (Lots of NSFW language)

They get bonus points for using the phrase “I Ragnarök the house.”

(via Epic Rap Battles)

TV Program Brings Down Jesus-Magic Charlatan, Kenyan Pastor Victor Kanyari, Who Preyed on the Poor

For years, people flocked to Salvation Healing Ministry, pastor Victor Kanyari‘s church in Nairobi, and paid for the privilege — because the charismatic preacher healed the sick where doctors supposedly stood powerless.

Visitors saw with their own eyes how Kanyari and his helpers would make believers’ feet ooze blood with the gentlest of touches — which, they concluded, was surely a miracle. What they didn’t know was that the “blood” was really potassium permanganate, a grey powder that is a known oxidizing agent. The substance turns water a purplish red, so when Kanyari, his hands rubbed in potassium permanganate, washed the feet of an AIDS patient or a person with another serious affliction, he created instant fake blood that colored the water and beaded on the dupe’s skin.

To make the trick even more wondrous, he also placed needles lengthwise between his fingers, stealthily releasing them into the portable basin as he performed his Jesus magic, to make it seem that they had emerged from the victim’s skin as the result of his healing touch.

The illusion was strengthened by the testimony of paid shills. They would joyfully exclaim that just weeks earlier, AIDS had almost reduced them to walking skeletons, but that Brother Kanyari and the benevolence of a loving God had returned them to perfect health.

An investigative Kenyan TV program called Inside Story finally exposed the devout trickster and his crew. Start at 9:54 and watch for five or six minutes to see exactly how the so-called miracles were staged.

Yahoo News has more:

The program revealed elaborate playacting by Mr. Kanyari and a group of devoted followers who helped perpetuate his claims by making false testimonies and staging “healings” in front of the congregation.

Such cases are not new – but the blowback this time is significant. Many Kenyans are outraged that Kanyari easily exploited widespread trust in church institutions and targeted the poor, many of whom are desperate and willing to pay small fees to get the aid Kanyari promised. The case has spurred a bid for new regulation, with the attorney general announcing last week an indefinite ban on registering any new churches. And for mainstream Christians, it raises concerns that faith in the honesty of most religious outlets will decline. …

[F]or many Kenyans, despite the occasional incident of fraudulent behavior, churches remain in high esteem — unlike government, media, and unions.

Commented Oliver Kisaka Simiyu, the deputy general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya:

“If you wanted to get things across or you wanted to access certain things, if you came in the name of the church you attracted less questioning. No one expects someone coming in the name of the church to do this.”

Ah yes, Kenyans should trust only bona fide clergymen, right? Too bad that their ilk comprises Catholic leaders who falsely tell women not to get tetanus vaccinations because they’ll become infertile; Anglican priests who bed the women in their flock; Episcopalian clergy who impregnate nuns; Evangelicals caught stealing babies; priests who hire hitmen to dispose of religious rivals; and so on.

Exemplars of genuine godliness, all.