Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1876

A Good Idea? Maryland County Schools Decide To Strike All Religious Holidays From Next Year’s Calendar

Upsetting news: the 2015-2016 official school calendar of Montgomery County, Maryland won’t mention National Pasta Day (17 October).

Actually, I don’t give a damn about that, but Pastafarians might. Should they object, I’d have to side with their silliness on principle. If one religion gets its holidays listed, then, by rights, all others should receive the same state-recognized honor as soon as believers ask. It’s never a good idea for public schools to take the Constitution’s Establishment Clause lightly.

In recent months, Maryland Muslims have advocated listing one of Islam’s holidays, Eid al-Adha, on the school calendar. More power to them, I say. Their request is at least as reasonable as the so-far fictional one in the Pastafarianism example above. But when the Montgomery Board of Education, spurred by the Muslim activists, re-evaluated the practice of printing religious references on school calendars, the board decided to treat everyone the same: by declining to print any religious holidays on its school schedule from now on.

School officials said the time off in December would become “winter break,” while the time off around the Easter holiday would be called “spring break.” Other days, such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, would be simply listed as a day when there is “no school for students and teachers.” … In practical terms, Montgomery schools will still be closed for the Christian and Jewish holidays, as in previous years, and students will still get the same days off, as planned.

Works for me; everyone gets treated equally in that case. My slight reservation centers on the fact that the decision may have been made out of Christian spite, rather than out of a desire to acknowledge that no religion is more special than others (and that not a single religion is more special than no religion at all).

That misgiving notwithstanding, the result of the vote is refreshingly clear.

Had the board chosen to recognize Eid al-Adha, it also should have listed Navaratri, Simchat Torah, Ash Wednesday, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Holi, Chinese New Year, Hindi New Year, Sukkot, Mawlid al-Nabi, Diwali, Pentecost, St. Patrick’s Day, and Jnan Panchami, to name but a few. And that would have been kind of refreshing, too: a subtle reminder that people believe many different things and hold them holy, each one a jab in the eye of normative Christianity.

The Washington Post explains that the omission of some lines on the calendar doesn’t mean much in practice:

Board members said Tuesday that the new calendar will reflect days the state requires the system to be closed and that it will close on other days that have shown a high level of student and staff absenteeism. Though those days happen to coincide with major Christian and Jewish holidays, board members made clear that the days off are not meant to observe those religious holidays, which they say is not legally permitted.

A little pretzel-esque, but I can certainly follow the reasoning.

The only downside to the decision? Everyone seems to be upset.

Jews and Christian lose their special shoutout on the calendar, so of course Fox News’ Todd Starnes is in high dudgeon, accusing the Board of Education of engaging in Muslim appeasement.

Muslims are ticked off, too. Thundered Saqib Ali, a former Maryland state delegate and co-chair of the Equality for Eid Coalition:

“By stripping the names Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they have alienated other communities now, and we are no closer to equality.”

But that’s a completely up-is-down read on the situation. Treating everyone the same is the definition of equality.

Mr. Ali would be right if he pointed out that Muslim students don’t get to stay home on Eid al-Adha, and I’d reply that American Hindus don’t get the day off on Holi, Jains don’t get time off for Jnan Panchami, Satanists and pagans have to attend school on the days of the solstice and the equinox, and so on. It would be next to impossible to run a successful school if the district had to accommodate, with free time given, every belief under the sun – or even just the mainstream ones.

With its calendar directive, the Montgomery Board of Education made the best decision it could. Believers may howl about it, but it’s a win for secularism.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Atheist Soldier Dies, Ten Years After Getting Paralyzed During Iraq War

In a really moving story on CNN this week, we learned about Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran who was paralyzed during combat.

Young died on Monday of unknown causes, though he had been suffering for nearly a decade.

In the article about him, an interesting detail emerged only in the final paragraph:

Young was a self-avowed atheist, but somehow I could feel him smiling down at his friends, glad that they were remembering him as a nice guy.

A pleasant thought… but ultimately, only a wishful one.

Still, what Young sacrificed for his country, knowing in his mind there was nothing waiting for him on the other side, is truly remarkable. The guy’s a hero.

(Thanks to Bryan for the link)

The Power of Chai Compels You

I guess if you’re drinking coffee that’s been spiked with the semen of sodomites, you gotta perform an exorcism right outside the Starbucks you’re at:

And that took place in Austin. I’d hate to see what happens anywhere else in Texas…

(via Christian Nightmares)

Injunction Filed on Behalf of Second Grader Who Wants to Hand Out Candy Canes with Biblical Messages on Them

About a year ago, 6-year-old Isaiah Martinez (below) went to Merced Elementary School in West Covina, California with a pack of candy canes in hand to give to his classmates. Each candy cane had attached to it a religious message that told the “legend of the candy cane” which, believe it or not, has everything to do with Jesus dying on a cross. (He’s wrong about that, by the way.)

His teacher, not wanting to get in trouble, removed the messages from the candy canes, then handed them back to Isaiah to give to his friends, apparently telling him “Jesus is not allowed in school.”

Soon after, a Christian group threatened to file a lawsuit against the district:

He “then nervously handed the candy canes to his classmates in fear that he was in trouble for trying to bring a little Christmas cheer and ‘good tidings’ to class,” said his lawyer, Robert Tyler, an attorney for the Advocates for Faith & Freedom, which works to preserve religious liberty in the legal system.

Tyler sent a letter to the West Covina Unified School District demanding a written apology and the implementation of a new policy to prohibit school officials from “bullying and intimidating” Christian students and religiously affiliated students, he said.

What the lawsuit failed to recognize was the school was trying to do the right thing, not persecute Christians. Letting a student proselytize to fellow classmates worried administrators so they tried to put a stop to it. Was it the wrong move? Yes, I believe it was, but intention counts for something.

“The district’s overriding concern was and is to honor and respect the beliefs of all students in matters of religion,” Debra Kaplan, the superintendent of the West Covina Unified School District, wrote in a statement. “At the present time, we do not have any reason to believe that the teacher or any other district employee had any intention other than to maintain an appropriate degree of religious neutrality in the classroom and to communicate this to the child in an age-appropriate manner.”

When I posted this last year, I was on Isaiah’s side. He’s a student and he’s allowed to proselytize if he wants (as long as it’s not disrupting the class). Considering that students were allowed to bring in gifts without prior restrictions, it seemed weird to tell him he couldn’t hand out a Christian message in the process. It’d be a different story if we were talking about a teacher doing this.

This year, the Christian Right isn’t waiting for Isaiah to get in trouble. Advocates for Faith & Freedom has already filed a preliminary injunction in court to make sure the child can proselytize in the classroom:

Robert Tyler, lawyer and General Counsel, explained their decision to file a federal law suit saying, “the school has neglected to correct its actions, and after exhausting all options to avoid a lawsuit we were left with no choice but to file a complaint in federal court. We are asking the court to protect Isaiah’s rights and the rights of others like him from having their religious speech censored. Students do not shed their First Amendment rights just because they enter into a classroom.”

So far, the district hasn’t responded.

I still say this whole charade would come to a halt if the child of an atheist parent wanted to hand out candy canes with messages saying “God doesn’t exist.”

(Large portions of this article were published earlier)

Jehovah’s Witness Governing Body Member Condemns Skinny Jeans and Spanx

And the Lord spoke, and said, “Yea, these are the commandments of the Lord thy God. Keep them holy that you might find favor in his sight.

“First, thou shalt abstain from wearing the garment called Spanx, for it is immodest, and an offense to the sight of the Lord.

“And neither shalt thou wear ‘skinny jeans,’ for it is pleasing to the eyes of homosexuals, but an abomination in the sight of the Lord thy God. Amen.”

Levi 1:1-3

Maybe my translation is slightly off there, but recently surfaced comments, purportedly made by Anthony Morris III, a member of the Jehovah’s Witness Governing Body, certainly mirror that spirit:

Telling men that “the homosexuals” are designing skinny jeans because “they’d like you in tight pants,” the speaker declares that wearing such tight clothes is

… not appropriate. It’s not of sound mind.

Women are also cautioned about wearing “skin tight” exercise clothes (mistakenly referred to as the undergarments Spanx). Jehovah’s Witness women are warned,

“[D]on’t go out in public like that [wearing tight exercise clothes] and say you worship the true God.”

I’m pretty sure that makes God the toughest fashion critic of all time: he’ll disown you (which, presumably, entails eternal damnation) for wearing something he doesn’t like.

(via Cedars. Thanks to Laura for the link)

There’s Now a Christian Version of Love Actually

Love Actually is the 2003 British film about a bunch of random characters whose lives intersect (whether they know it or not) and who fall in love with each other… and you know this because you’ve probably seen it 23940123 times by now.

Now, the creators of God’s Not Dead have taken that premise, added a lot of Jesus to it, and turned it into a movie called “Do You Believe?” which will be released this spring:

PureFlix released the trailer for “Do You Believe?” revealing an all-star cast including Mira Sorvino, Sean Astin, and Alexa Penavega on Monday.

From the same writers as the wildly successful “God’s Not Dead,” “Do You Believe?” follows a dozen different people whose lives unexpectedly intersect, bringing them together by the power of God, whether they believe it yet or not.

See if you can spot the token atheist in the trailer!

By the way, the same production team is still working on a sequel to God’s Not Dead. It’s slated for release sometime next year.

(via Christian Nightmares)

Genitalia Drawings Replaced with Images of Baby Animals in This Turkish Biology Textbook

In the U.S., we have battles over proper sex education.

In Turkey, they’re having battles when it comes to teaching kids about their own body parts.

A psychology expert who once ran a local teachers’ union realized that a page in a sixth-grade biology textbook that used to show anatomy-book drawings of genitalia is no longer there:

In the new version of the book, genitalia have only been drawn on the cell level, while the reproduction chapter has been “evaded” with photos of a mother and a baby, as well as cute animals such as polar bears, he added.

Tunalı also claimed that the same section is now being taught “shortly, superficially and in a slapdash manner.”

This is all in a chapter titled, of all things, “Reproduction, Growth and Development in Living Beings.”

How they expect children to learn about reproduction by staring at a picture of a baby, I haven’t quite figured out.

And that’s not the only change:

A number of sexually explicit words, such as “breast” or “virginity”, have also been taken out.

Those are biological terms! They mean something! They’re not in the textbooks to titillate students!

These students will end up under-educated on these issues, leaving them to fend for themselves or find the information in other places. They’ll miss out on the opportunity of having a reliable teacher walk them through the information. And I doubt that typing “breast,” “virginity,” and “genitalia” into a search engine will be a helpful substitute…

(via Sean McGuire)

Doctor Who Says Cancer Patients Can “Heal Themselves” Through Diet and Attitude Exposed by CBC

Several months ago, I posted about Makayla Sault (below), an 11-year-old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The disease is treatable with two years of tough chemotherapy and has a nearly 90% survival rate… but Makayla no longer wanted to continue the chemo and her Ojibwe/First Nations parents were more than happy to oblige, seeking out useless faith-based treatments instead.

Makayla was allowed to quit the chemo, but we learned in October that her condition had worsened.

And to make the issue even more on the forefront of people’s minds, it turned out another First Nations girl was in the same position — she would benefit from chemo, but she didn’t want to go through with it for cultural reasons.

Now, the CBC has discovered that the Florida doctor treating Makayla (and many others) may not even be qualified to provide care:

A Florida health resort licensed as a “massage establishment” is treating a young Ontario First Nations girl with leukemia using cold laser therapy, Vitamin C injections and a strict raw food diet, among other therapies.

The mother of the 11-year-old girl, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban, says the resort’s director, Brian Clement, who goes by the title “Dr.,” told her leukemia is “not difficult to treat.”

Another First Nations girl, Makayla Sault, was also treated at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach and is now critically ill after a relapse of her leukemia.

…

According to the Florida State Health Authority, Hippocrates Health Institute is a licensed massage establishment. It says Brian Clement is not a licensed doctor or naturopath.

Hippocrates Health Institute did not respond to questions from CBC News seeking clarification about where and when Clement attended university.

Brian Clement

So we have sick children already not receiving proper care… whose lives are in the hands of a guy who pulled his credentials out of a cereal box.

Remember: Last month, a judge said (real) doctors couldn’t just override Makayla’s parents’ wishes because it would be “impos[ing] our world view on First Nation culture.”

These children need real help. Unfortunately, it looks like all of the people surrounding them have selfish motives for not giving it to them.

(Thanks to everyone for the link. Portions of this article were published earlier)

It Doesn’t Make Sense for This Colorado High School to Ban a Student Prayer Group

At the high school I used to work at, when I first began teaching there, I was amazed to learn that one period each day was considered an “optional” period for students. They could take another class if they wanted, but it was really free time when they could clear their minds, get academic help from teachers who were available that period, catch up with their friends, or study in the library. For many students, it was a nice break from an otherwise stressful day. And it was a really neat thing to see teachers (who were assigned to monitor the students) chatting with kids about what was going on in and out of school. What a novel way to build up a great community and establish rapport between students and teachers. (Our district eventually eliminated that period for understandable reasons, but it was still disappointing.)

That’s what I believe officials at Pine Creek High School near Colorado Springs had in mind with their “seminar” period.

According to the student handbook,

Seminar is an opportunity to develop a sense of community; to build lines of communication; to provide community and school services; and to have focused academic time. In addition, students will often have time to access the resources available to them at Pine Creek. These include peer tutors, teachers, counselors, administrators and the library. Club meetings may be scheduled during this time.

(That last line is weird. If Seminar is intended as instructional time, it shouldn’t be used to have club meetings — which are traditionally allowed to take place before and after school.)

For years now, senior Chase Windebank has used his free time to meet with other Christians. They meet in the unused choir room, sing religious songs, pray, and discuss their faith.

But in a lawsuit filed by the Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, we find out that those meetings came to a halt in September:

Assistant Principal [James] Lucas told Chase that his religious speech during the open time of Seminar period would have to stop because of “separation of church and state.”

He told Chase that because of the religious content of students’ speech, they would have to meet before school or after the school day ended.

ADF is suing the district because, in short, they say the school can’t prohibit this religious speech when they’re allowing all other sorts of speech.

And I have to say: They have a point.

Even though the district says Seminar is “instructional time,” and that’s why Windebank’s group can’t meet, it’s pretty clear that students are allowed to talk about damn near anything they want to during their free time. So why not religion? It makes no sense.

It’s as if school officials were walking up to students in the cafeteria during lunch and saying, “You can talk about whatever you want… but don’t you dare bring up religion.” Certainly, no atheist group would stand for that sort of treatment.

“Far from being unconstitutional, religious speech is expressly protected by the First Amendment, and public schools have no business stopping students from praying together during their free time,” added ADF legal counsel Matt Sharp.

In a letter from the school district to ADF, a lawyer rationalized their decision by saying that no groups were allowed to meet during Seminar (and so there’s no religious discrimination at play here):

… Seminar at Pine Creek is not homeroom time. It is class time and it is considered instructional time. No non-curricular clubs are permitted to meet during that time period at Pine Creek High School. Therefore, Mr. Windebank may resume his prayer meetings at Pine Creek High School, but he must do so during non-instructional time, that is before 7:45 a.m. when classes begin, and after 2:45 p.m., when classes end for the day.

Once again, the student handbook says clubs can meet during that time. But even if Windebank’s group isn’t a club, other students are allowed to gather, relax, and talk (even if the district doesn’t want them to), and that’s why the content of their conversations is virtually irrelevant.

That’s essentially what ADF said in its response:

During the free time, students are permitted to engage in a virtually unlimited variety of activities, including gathering with other students inside or outside; reading; sending text messages to their friends; playing games on their phone; visiting the bathrooms; getting a snack; visiting teachers; and conducting official meetings of school clubs.

If they can do all that, they ought to be able to pray with their friends.

So I’m really not buying the “separation of church and state” argument made by Assistant Principal Lucas. It’s misapplied here.

Because there’s so much confusion, the smartest thing for the district to do may just be eliminating the seminar period next year and making students take a class during that time. I would much rather they keep it going and just remove the arbitrary restriction against religion, but they need to change something. What they’re doing right now is way over the top.

If Windebank and his friends are allowed to get together and talk during Seminar time, there’s no reason God can’t be the subject of their discussions.

(Image via Wikipedia. Thanks to Greg for the link)

Curt Schilling Defends Creationism on Twitter

For some reason, retired baseball star Curt Schilling decided to argue with people on Twitter about evolution yesterday. (Which is really where all academic debates should take place.)

Too bad the man with three World Series rings took on the role of Kirk Cameron:

The man needs to go back into retirement…

(via Deadspin. Image via Wikipedia)