Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1878

Christian Right Group Reminds You Which Stores Make Baby Jesus Cry

The American Family Association, which only seems to care about your family if you’re Christian, has released its annual “Naughty or Nice” list of places that don’t deserve your business because they RUIN EVERYTHING by not acknowledging the birth of Jesus. And sometimes, they say awful things like “Happy Holidays.”

I love the reason Family Dollar in on the “Naughty” list:

Family Dollar shamelessly opens their stores on Christmas morning, showing they think more of the dollar than the family.

I guess movie theaters and Chinese restaurants make the shit list, too…?

Really, the stores on the “Naughty” side are pretty much all places you don’t want to be doing your holiday shopping, anyway. Paper clips? Dollar store? No thank you. And Victoria’s Secret never struck me as an overtly Christian store to begin with — I’m sure business will be just fine…

It would be great to see a national chain of adult book stores advertise a “Christmas sale”… where would they end up on the list?

Maybe we should all thank the AFA for letting us know where to shop because it truly represents what the season is all about for them: materialism.

Parents Who Allowed Their Daughter to Die of a Treatable Disease Convicted of Manslaughter

There’s another case of Christians killing their child because, rather than visit a doctor, they put their trust in God. (And it happened in Oregon, where these kinds of faith-based homicide cases are all too familiar.)

After four hours of deliberating Monday evening, a Linn County jury found both Wenona and Travis Rossiter guilty of manslaughter in the first and second degree.

The couple is accused of recklessly and negligently causing the death of their 12-year-old daughter Syble last year, who died from diabetic ketoacidosis. The state argues the parents should have been aware of the girl’s health problems, and that a reasonable person would have sought medical care. The Rossiters claim they thought their daughter had the flu, which is why they did not bring her to a doctor.

If that ailment sounds familiar, it may be because it’s the same problem that took the life of Madeline Kara Neumann because her parents also decided to put her life in the hands of God instead of someone who went to medical school.

The Rossiters are members of the Church of the First Born, another “faith-healing” group. (As one commenter on a news site notes, Wenona Rossiter is wearing glasses in that mug shot… so she trusts a doctor with her eyes, but not her daughter.)

I keep hoping these manslaughter charges will spur other parents in similar churches to take their kids to a doctor — just to be safe — and it never seems to happen. They’re willing to put their kids’ lives in jeopardy because they don’t want to be seen as being unfaithful to the Lord. It’s pure selfishness on the part of the parents and it’s the kids who suffer the most.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Double Rapist Quotes Bible in Court, Says “God Intended It For Good”; Somehow, Judge Gives Him 37 Years Anyway

Christian persecution, I tells ya.

A Del Mar [California] man convicted of raping two women he met on the online dating sites ChristianMingle.com and Match.com was sentenced Friday to 37 years to life in prison. In his final statement before he was punished, Navy Lieutenant Sean Banks quoted what he said was his favorite Bible verse. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good,” Banks said.

If your Bible knowledge needs some refreshing, that’s Genesis 50:20.

Banks’ words apparently didn’t put him in good graces with the judge, who gave him the high end of the sentencing range and denied him probation. In handing down his sentence, Judge Daniel Goldstein expressed dismay that Banks continues to portray an innocent facade and has shown no remorse for his actions.

The judge also said he believed the two women gave truthful accounts of the rapes — which Banks had argued were untruthful.

“He has so much hatred toward women,” the judge said, referring to Banks’ interview with investigators, where he laid blame on the victims.

After he raped the ChristianMingle victim,

Banks sent [her] a text stating that he was sorry for standing her up, so that people would think that he had not been in her apartment.

Crafty. Didn’t work too well, though. And neither did this bizarre plea:

“She probably put some of the actions of Jesus on me,” Banks testified. “So me kissing and doing these things with her was tantamount to Jesus doing that.“

Maybe Banks would’ve preferred to be sentenced by a Christian version of a Sharia court. Should such an august body become a reality, we might just see the judge deal with rapists Deuteronomy-style:

If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.

Remember, always read your Bible for the best advice on how to be moral!

If This Guy Raises $25,000, We Could See an Emoji Bible

Kamran Kastle thinks he knows how to get more young people reading the Bible. Forget adding illustrations, like many children’s versions of the book… instead, rewrite the whole thing in emojis. Or half of it, anyway. Sure, he’ll have to design about 5,000 emoji, including one of Jesus, but wouldn’t you rather read a Bible that looks like this?

Kastle is trying to raise $25,000 on Kickstarter to make it happen:

Pssh. This is nothing. Someone tell me when he creates emoji for the Koran. Now there’s a book you’ll never see…

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

A Group of Private Schools in Pakistan Observed “I Am Not Malala” Day Yesterday

Yesterday, in a slap in the face to common decency, leaders of a large group of Islamic private schools in Pakistan celebrated “I am not Malala” day, because they see Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai as a black mark on their faith:

The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, which claims to represent 150,000 schools across Pakistan, declared that Monday would be “I am not Malala” day and urged the government to ban her memoir, “I Am Malala,” because it offended Islam and the “ideology of Pakistan.”

“We are all for education and women’s empowerment,” said Mirza Kashif Ali, the organization’s president. “But the West has created this persona who is against the Constitution and Islamic ideology of Pakistan.”

How powerful is religion? It got upwards of 20,000,000 students to speak out against one of the most courageous women in the world, someone who is unequivocally and proudly Muslim.

During the news conference on Monday, Mr. Ali accused Ms. Yousafzai of defending the author Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” remains banned in Pakistan, in her book.

…

In fact, the book notes only that Ms. Yousafzai’s father saw “The Satanic Verses” as “offensive to Islam,” and that he said that Muslims should first read the novel, then respond.

“Is Islam such a weak religion that it cannot tolerate a book written against it? Not my Islam!” the book quotes her father as saying.

What?! Reading a book before overreacting to it?! That’s blasphemy… if you’re an extremist who doesn’t give a damn about the facts.

The New York Times‘ Salman Masood notes that the schools in question are located in poor and middle class regions of Pakistan — in other words, they’re attended by the kind of people who are more likely to be persuaded by religious arguments.

As much as I doubt it happened, I would love to read a story about how some students refused to participate.

(Image via JStone / Shutterstock.com)

Australian Public School Officials Under Fire After Removing Prayer and Hymns from Remembrance Day Service

A school in Australia is getting a taste of what it’s like in the U.S. when leaders do the right thing instead of following Christian tradition. At the Carrington Public School, in New South Wales, students will no longer recite the Lord’s Prayer and religious hymns on Remembrance Day (today). They’ll instead take part in a more secular service:

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs guidelines for Remembrance Day services suggest including hymns and prayers, but the Department of Education said Carrington Public School was following the wishes of parents.

“The overwhelming majority of the school’s families wish the service to be secular and the RSL has supported the school in its decision,” a spokesman said.

…

One parent with two children at the school, described the decision to ban prayers and hymns as “political correctness gone mad”.

“I am absolutely appalled. Prayers are part of a memorial service and we shouldn’t be constantly cowering to minority groups,” the parent said.

Prayers are part of a memorial service if you’re religious, but not everyone is. That’s what people like this parent never seem to understand or care about. If anyone wants to pray, they’re more than welcome to, but it won’t be forced on all students. It’s the smart thing to do, making the ceremony more inclusive of all students instead of catering only to Christians.

It’s time for other schools to follow suit.

(Thanks to Brad for the link)

A Judge Recently Ruled That Secular Humanism is a Religion; Will That Hurt Us in the Long Run?

A couple of weeks ago, a federal judge ruled in American Humanist Association v. United States that “Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes.”

The backstory is that prisoner Jason Michael Holden wanted Humanism recognized that way so that he could benefit from the perks given to religious inmates, including:

(1) “proscription days” for religious holidays; (2) at least one hour of classroom/study time a week; (3) at least one hour of worship time each week; (4) the ability to congregate with other members of the religious group.

Now, Tom Flynn, Ron Lindsay, and Nicholas Little of the Council for Secular Humanism and Center for Inquiry argue that this is absolutely the wrong ruling, even if saying as much would hurt us in the short run:

It may seem like a subtle difference to say that humanism can be treated as though it were a religion for certain legal purposes as opposed to saying that humanism is a religion, but the subtle difference is very significant. The former approach is consistent with the long-standing principle embraced by most humanists that religion and religious organizations are not entitled to any special privileges. This is a principle for which many humanists have shed blood, sweat, tears, and money. The latter approach essentially says, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” It doesn’t maintain that religion and religious organizations are not entitled to any special privileges; instead it tries to portray humanism as a religion so it can partake of these privileges as well.

The thrust of their argument is that Secular Humanism and Humanism are not synonymous. This ruling takes the philosophy of Secular Humanism, conflates it with a religious form of Humanism, and that could lead to some pretty big consequences down the line. That includes giving fodder to conservative Christians who have long claimed that Secular Humanism is a religion and that’s why we shouldn’t teach its followers’ “belief” of evolution in public schools.

Their conclusion? Our groups should have chatted before you filed this lawsuit:

Had this case been pursued with just a slightly more complex argument, namely that certain secular beliefs should be treated as though they were religious beliefs for certain legal purposes, instead of a simple “humanism is a religion” argument, it might have obtained relief for its prisoner plaintiff while simultaneously achieving a higher social purpose. It could have further advanced the great secular project of replacing, where possible, freedom-of-religion law with freedom-of-conscience law. And it would have avoided the unintended consequence of causing a life stance and an organization that were not even involved in this controversy — ironically, the strand of humanism that most vigorously holds itself apart from religion — to be inaccurately and unwelcomely declared “a religion.”

It’s too early to see if the ruling will be used against us, but it seems like a compelling argument against the strategy behind it. It’s certainly worth debating if the solution proposed by Flynn, Lindsay, and Little would have resulted in legal victory and if the current ruling is too broad.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Indiana Mayor Promotes Prayer Breakfast with City Resources

How do you know when community leaders don’t understand the separation of church and state? When they promote a prayer breakfast on the city’s website:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation notes some other violations going on in New Albany, Indiana:

The city also put an ad for the prayer breakfast on citizens’ municipal utility bills, emphasizing the words “prayer” and “faith.” City Hall’s phone number is listed on both the city website and the utility insert as the number to call for more information about the prayer breakfast.

In a letter to Mayor Jeff Gahan, FFRF attorney Rebecca Markert made it very clear how illegal this is:

Your participation in this event, and the city’s apparent coordination of the event, pose serious constitutional separation of state and church concerns… Since any reasonable city resident would logically interpret the city’s actions in this case as government endorsement of religion, the city must refrain from expending any further taxpayer dollars, using publicly funded employees, and drawing on any other publicly funded resources to promote the religious prayer breakfast.

FFRF also filed an open records request to find out what sort of correspondence led to this event and how much in taxpayer funds is being used to make this happen.

So far, there’s no response from Gahan. The event takes place this weekend.

Help Me Compile a List of All the Non-Theistic U.S. Politicians Currently in Office

Quick question I could use your help with.

Who are all the current politicians in the U.S. who are openly non-theistic?

Right now, I can count them on a single hand… but I’m sure I’m missing a bunch. (Okay, I *hope* I’m missing a bunch.) That includes members of Congress, state legislators, mayors, city council members, etc.

To be clear, that means people like former Reps. Pete Stark and Barney Frank don’t make the cut since they’re no longer in office. And Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who’s thought to be non-theistic, also doesn’t make it since she doesn’t discuss her religious views publicly.

You can help me compile the information by going to this spreadsheet and filling out whatever you know or find out (or passing it along to anyone who might have that information). I’ve filled out a few of the rows already.

Thanks!

(Image via Shutterstock)

Once Again, No One Is Upset When Carrie Underwood Sings About God

Only a month ago, right wing websites were running with a story about how atheists were up in arms over Carrie Underwood‘s new single “Something In The Water” because it had religious references in it.

The problem with that sentiment was that atheists didn’t give a damn. Hell, atheists didn’t even know she had a new song out. Double hell, atheists don’t even know who Carrie Underwood is.

And those articles never bothered to mention which groups or individuals they were talking about. They had a catchy headline — and that was enough!

Turns out it’s still happening.

A site calls “Hot Moms Club” posted an article yesterday with a headline suggesting that Underwood was told not to sing that song at the recent Country Music Awards… but did it anyway!

They Told Carrie Underwood Not To Sing About God. Then She Did THIS.

But if you read the article, it’s apparent that the “They” in the headline is never specified. The piece says she sang the song and it got a great reception… without even mentioning how anyone told her not to sing it.

It’s pure Christian Persecution Complex clickbait. What’s more is that many of their commenters on the site fell for it hook, line, and sinker. So did their Facebook readers (who clearly didn’t read the article but made judgments based on the headline alone):

Only a handful of commenters at both places dare point out that the headline is misleading. (And silly, too, because why on earth would anyone tell a singer not to bring up God at a country music event? You might as well tell them not to mention heartbreak and trucks.)

It just shows how quickly this news spreads because people want to believe it, even when there’s no evidence to suggest it’s true.

(Thanks to Kelly for the link)