Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1879

Bear No False Witness? In His Latest Piece For Charisma News, Recidivist Truth-Twister Michael Brown Begs to Differ

More than 20 years ago, Nat Hentoff penned a book that was an eye-opener for me. It’s called Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee — How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other. My sympathies at the time were with progressive politics, in part because I had often read about instances of rightwing authoritarians — from actual dictators to school boards stacked with hardline conservatives — trying to muzzle expressions on the left. Although I associated Hentoff with lefty bastions like The Village Voice, the weekly where he worked for half a century, in his book he was committed to documenting free-speech attacks from both sides of the political divide. That was courageous, I thought. Hentoff led me to become better at spotting — and fighting — efforts to muzzle dissent in all kinds of places, no matter the speaker’s ideology or political preference.

One of the goals of this blog is to give atheists a strong voice, and so we find ourselves in opposition to religious privilege on an almost daily basis. However, Hemant and I have also frequently defended religious people, coming out in favor of letting them say their piece when they have the constitutional right to do so, and condemning efforts to shut them up or shout them down. Some examples are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

This is all by way of saying that it’s an odd sensation to be accused of wishing to forcibly shove people into the closet for the crime of expressing their views. Yet that’s precisely the allegation that Michael Brown makes. Brown is a columnist for Charisma News. I wrote about him last week, calling out his oversized Christian persecution complex. He didn’t like the piece, as I figured he wouldn’t, and as is certainly his right. But in rebutting it, he badly misrepresents what I wrote, starting with a mendacious headline: An Atheist Tells Me to Keep My Faith in the Closet.

Interesting, because this is what I wrote last week:

Most of us… are quite happy, if not adamant, to preserve the right to believe and speak as one sees fit for everyone, believer or agnostic. As long as the faithful keep their religion out of the public square — that is, out of our public schools, and away from the business of a neutral government — we should all get along relatively well. If Mr. Brown seeks a truce between the religious and the non-religious, all he and his fellow believers need to do is (a) tone down the hateful rhetoric, all Jesus-like; and (b) keep their worship and their rule books confined to places where they are constitutionally appropriate. Problem solved.

Brown presents this as self-evident proof that I am trying to shut him up and drive Christians into the closet.

The irony of that accusation is that if anyone tried, I’d be on the virtual barricades next to him.

The point is simple and yet Brown pretends (I think) to miss it completely. It is this: Neither his view of religion nor mine nor anyone else’s ought to get the government’s tacit or explicit endorsement. Crosses (or plaques with Richard Dawkins quotes) have no place in public parks. Ten Commandments monuments may not be installed in courthouses. Teacher- or student-led prayer cannot be part of the public-school curriculum.

This ought to be as sacred a principle for Christians as it is for secularists, unless Jesus lovers want to open the door to this:

It’s a very good thing, for Christians and everyone else, that there are court-tested constitutional restrictions on government endorsement of religious messages in public spaces.

However, that’s not the same at all as saying that no expressions of religion may be uttered publicly.

Look: Michael Brown and his friends should proudly wear their Jesus T-shirts literally anywhere they please (hell, I enjoy wearing mine too).

In addition, Christians (and everyone else) may preach on street corners and village greens. They may quietly pray in classrooms and government buildings, and loudly pretty much anywhere else. They may write and publish as many articles and make as many protest signs as they wish. They may congregate and petition the government and glue plastic fish to their cars and erect crosses on private land and place nativity scenes on church property and put up billboards in a hundred thousand public places.

And if someone tells them they can’t, I will be among the ones who will try to set that person straight.

Does that sound remotely like I want to jostle believers into some proverbial closet and gag them? If not, maybe Mr. Brown can help me out: What’s the penalty for breaking the commandment against bearing false witness?

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P.S.: Another measure of Michael Brown’s trouble with the truth is that he acts baffled when I bring up the Christian-led persecution of gay people in Uganda. “What does Uganda have to do with the Christian-Right in the U.S. and Europe?” he fake-wonders. Of course, he doesn’t tell his readers, and pretends not to have read, that I mentioned exactly what the connection is. In my piece, I referred to the kill-the-gays bill in that country that was enthusiastically advanced by many of his Christian brethren in the U.S., including homophobic evangelists like Scott Lively and Lou Engle.

There’s also a movie about it, God Loves Uganda, which one national critic described as “A searing look at the role of American evangelical missionaries in the persecution of gay Africans.” I almost wish it were required watching for anyone who plays dumb on the subject.

P.P.S.: Next time Brown writes about an article he read on another website, maybe he could try a little harder to get at least the name right. While I am happy to use reason and logic as best I can, and highly recommend the same for Charisma News scribes and their readers, I have in fact never written for anything called “Thinking Atheist.”

P.P.P.S.: Charisma News commenter S_O_T_A, evidently taking his cues from Brown, weighs in with a very special message to me. For starters, he or she believes I have “nazi tendencies,” and that my reference to Supreme Court decisions can be summarily dismissed because

The Supreme Court is incrementally becoming dominated by reprobates. Dressing them in robes doesn’t make them smarter or more moral…

The fact is you can’t fathom real freedom and seek to squash it – you want people to be dictated to by the likes of you and your other misrepresentations of the Constitution. The idea that the US founding fathers would’ve supported no prayer in schools or no Ten Commandments etc. would’ve been crazy to them. But what can you expect from someone who apparently has no problem with murder, lying, adultery, disrespecting parents, stealing, etc. What kind of person would have a problem with the Ten Commandments?

It will neither please nor convince S_O_T_A, but here’s a video of exactly such a person, who explains his “problem” with the damn Decalog rather well.

Blessed Blasphemy: In a New Comic Book, Mankind’s Savior Is Relentlessly Nagged By His Petty Wife — On the Cross!

So this just came out: Dan O’Shannon‘s 160-page book with Jesus gags that form perhaps the most blasphemous body of work I’ve seen in years. Many of O’Shannon’s cut-and-paste comics made me literally laugh out loud.

Here are some of the sauciest ones:

It helps to imagine the Savior’s wife as a shrill-voiced harridan played to perfection by Eric Idle.

The book is called The Adventures of Mrs. Jesus. O’Shannon, whose chief claim to fame is being a writer and executive producer on the TV show Modern Family, was recently interviewed here.

Already, Texas is Considering a Bill to Allow Ten Commandments Displays in Public School Classrooms

Yesterday, we got a look at what Texas’ new legislature plans to pursue as elected officials filed bills early for the upcoming session. And to no one’s surprise, there’s already a bill to put a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

It was sponsored by State Rep. Dan Flynn:

House Bill 138 would go into effect next school year if passed:

The board of trustees of an independent school district may not prohibit the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments in a prominent location in a district classroom.

Because for some reason, it’s vital that teenagers know they can’t worship any God but the Christian God, take the Christian God’s name in vain, do work on the Sabbath, or fuck people they’re not married to.

Even if the bill were to pass, it would likely be overturned by the courts. But still! This is what Texas politicians are wasting their time doing. And it’s likely to take place all across the country as we get our first looks at new state governments.

Daniel Moran notes that Flynn ironically also submitted another bill that “requires courts to refrain from involvement in religious doctrinal interpretation or application”:

Basically, Flynn is saying the government should not be involved with religion… unless it’s his religion… being forced into our public schools.

Sounds about right. It’s typical myopic Christian conservative thinking: My religion is allowed in public schools… but if someone of another faith or no faith wants to exercise those same rights, it’s persecution!

Even more ironic? This was the press release on Flynn’s website:

Today, Representative Dan Flynn filed bills in early filing for the January 84th Legislative Session. “Today we filed bills that support the free exercise of faith, family, and freedom,” said Representative Flynn…

…

Representative Flynn said, “It is all about protecting the rights of people in not only in District 2 but the rights and privileges of all Texans.”

Unless you’re not a Christian, in which case no one cares what you think.

(via WWJTD)

Activist in Court After Putting Church/State Separation Stickers on Ohio Courthouse’s Church Directory

There’s a message board encased in glass outside the Athens County Courthouse (in Ohio) that lists the addresses of all the houses of worship in the area.

Eliot Kalman, a resident who used to head up the local branch of the ACLU, believes the presence of that sign is unconstitutional… he complained about it to local officials but they responded by saying they were simply providing information to the public, not promoting any of the religious groups — and that he could request his own group be added to the list if he wanted. Unsatisfied with that answer, he fought back by putting a giant sticker on the board:

… Kalman said he posted a sticker that stated, “Take Note, From the Constitution of the United States of America,” which includes the First Amendment, including the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses.

In other words, he committed a petty form of vandalism to protest what he saw as a constitutional violation.

Even after his sticker was taken down, he continued to put a new one back up in a weird passive-aggressive battle… eventually, he was caught on camera and arrested:

Kalman took umbrage to being arrested, handcuffed, searched and “perp walked” after what he considers an appropriate public protest of what he calls this violation of church and state. He showed a document he was given ordering him to stay off the courthouse property, which he called a “pretend order,” because it was given by the Sheriff’s Office, not a judge, and is therefore not appealable.

“They put me in handcuffs for exercising my First Amendment rights as if I were a dangerous person,” Kalman said.

His pre-trial was held yesterday morning. Kalman says if he’s found guilty, he’ll consider further legal action.

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way:

It’s hard to imagine any judge would see the sign as a promotion of religion, especially if the county official who helps maintain it allows any local religious or non-religious group to be included on the list. I say that despite the fact that it’s managed by the Athens County Ministerial Association, was originally put up in the 1940s by the Athens Christian Education Committee, and includes only two non-Christian groups on the list.

And if you’re going to protest the sign’s existence, don’t do it by altering county property, even with a sticker that can be peeled off (hopefully without sticker residue). That’s stupid. You don’t prove your point, you damage your own cause, and it upsets me, dammit.

The most effective way to protest, in my opinion, is to suggest a local non-religious group be added to the list… and see if it gets rejected. Then, you might have something to work with.

By the way, Kalman also protested a local street roundabout dedication ceremony in 2010 because it included an invocation. Doesn’t look like he won many people over to his side then, either.

(via Religion Clause. Thanks to Scott for the link)

Epic Rap Battle: Ghostbusters vs Mythbusters

Now, there’s a Rap Battle: Ghostbusters vs Mythbusters!

Mythbusters say they won:

I ain't afraid of no ghost(busters). We're the CONFIRMED winners of this @ERBofHistory right? http://t.co/g1cFs9UpT6 pic.twitter.com/SrmUy9hVPw

— MythBusters (@MythBusters) November 10, 2014

Though I’m pretty sure the skeptics beat the people who believe in ghosts every time.

The Spirit Moves Me…

Life pro tip: When your church shares space in a strip mall with a liquor store, you should really make sure the sign out front isn’t blog fodder for me.

This was seen in Carrollton, Texas:

I guess they can both claim to use the “True Spirits” part of the sign…

Incidentally, lightning struck the church in 2012. The liquor store was spared.

(Thanks to Casey for the link)

In Snub to Jihadists, Kurdish-Led Province Issues Women’s Rights Decree

In a courageous and welcome rebuke to ISIS, Kurdish officials in a region of Syria have issued a 30-point decree that elaborates on the rights of women — a slap in the face to the Muslim extremists who want nothing of the sort:

The 30-point decree issued by the joint leaders of the “self-ruling democracy of Jazira province” aims to safeguard and strengthen women’s rights in semi-autonomous areas, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

…

The decree called for “equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life,” and said women had the right to run for office and an equal right to work, pay and inheritance. It was not immediately clear whether the decree was legally binding or how it would be implemented.

…

The rights decree said women should not be married below the age of 18, called for preventing polygamy and said women had an equal status in the eyes of the law. It said men and women had an equal right to divorce and that so-called “honor killings” and other violence against women was illegal.

Like the article said, there’s no telling how far-reaching this decree would be, or even if it would be implemented. Still, even symbolically, that’s a wonderful document to see.

If only the other regions would follow suit.

(Image via arindambanerjee / Shutterstock.com. Thanks to David for the link)

Can a Town Run on Catholic Principles Fall in Line with the Constitution?

We already live in a country where religious groups exert a lot of influence in their respective communities. Red states, obviously. Hasidic enclaves, definitely. Even places like Salt Lake City, where Mormons migrated in droves.

But what would happen if a whole town was basically bought out for one religious group and the people there were expected to follow religious law?

That’s the premise of Ave Maria, Florida, a town that was purchased nearly a decade ago by Domino’s Pizza founder (and hard-core Catholic) Tom Monaghan, who wanted to turn it into a religious haven:

The main church in Ave Maria, Florida

… this means that stores will be unable to sell pornography, pharmacies will be barred from selling condoms or other forms of birth control, and cable TV will not be allowed to carry X-rated channels.

Ave Maria isn’t the only city like this and the question is whether religious law in these places will take a backseat to American law, as it must:

… “Monaghan got on our radar in 2004 when he was first beginning to consider building Ave Maria as a self-contained theocracy,” [Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida] told Truthout. For the ACLU, the big issue is whether any government authority will be transferred to a religious organization or whether the community will be governed by religious rules. Simon notes, “People have a perfect right to be with their own kind. I may not think that Balkanized, homogeneous communities are the best way to live, but people have the right to live in a way that is comfortable for them.”

…

“There were a lot of big questions,” Simon continues. Among them: whether medical care would be dictated by religious rules, for example, what if someone with a Do Not Resuscitate order had an accident of some kind? Would the hospital respect the order? What advice would a rape victim get? What kind of referrals? Would she have access to information about abortion or emergency contraceptives if she wanted them?

“We want to respect people’s choices,” Simon adds, “but when government gives authority to religious groups to govern in accordance with religious rules, it goes too far and violates the Constitution.”

The ACLU is keeping an eye on the city in case any of these shenanigans becomes reality. Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State also voices concern but suggests reasons a religious city like this won’t succeed:

“Historically,” Boston adds, “one of two things typically happens in places run by religious denominations. First, outsiders often move in and change the character of the area. Secondly, these communities tend to be riven by internal dissent.”

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Man Earns $100 at Church After Declaring Himself Cured of Homosexuality in This Cringeworthy Video

As someone who never attended church as a young person, I find that I get a little squirmy when I watch services in general. The more over-the-top they are, the less comfortable I feel.

Needless to say, the following video had me cringing the whole time. It’s from the Church of God in Christ’s 107th Holy Convocation in Memphis and features a young man declaring himself free from homosexuality…

At 0:18, Pastor Earl Carter asks a young man why he came to the church… and we’re off to the races:

Young Man: To get delivered more!

Carter: To get delivered. Do you believe that the Lord tonight has set you free?

Young Man: Yes sir.

Carter: Turn around and tell those people! Tell ‘em!

Young Man: I’m not gay no more! I am delivered! I don’t like mens no more! I said I like women! Women, women, women [speaking in tongues]. I said women! I’m not gay! I would not date a man! I would not carry a purse! I would not put on makeup! I will, I will love a women!

Welp. That happened.

There’s so much to deconstruct here… I hesitate to make fun of the young man since he’s been manipulated into thinking his homosexuality is something that needs to be cured. His speech reveals the church’s damaging teachings. (I can’t help but note that I would totally wear that jacket, though. Way to rock the bow tie.)

And then he starts dancing. And then about a dozen men come to the front of the church and start dancing with him. And then Carter starts talking even more (2:58):

I just heard the Lord say there was about 50 others of you that needed some kind of deliverance. But you were afraid that you were going to be labeled. Now, since we don’t know what’s going on, I dare you to run down here and say, “Do it for me, Jesus!”… Hurry up!

And then more dancing. And then more of Pastor Carter:

Bring him back here. Turn him around to me. Young man? Young man? You can live for God, okay? You’ve been set free. Satan, the devil, is a lie, okay? We love you son. You understand that? We love you. You can live for God. Don’t be afraid. You trust god. Your past is just that: behind you.

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Friendly Atheist Podcast Episode 28: “Patrick,” an Atheist College Football Player

Our latest podcast guest is “Patrick,” a college football player from one of the top Division 1 programs in the country. He’s not just a guy on the bench; he himself is one of the best players in the country for his position.

And he’s an atheist.

At his request, we’re maintaining his anonymity because he deserves to be recognized for his talent and not his atheism, and we don’t want to ruin that for him. Rest assured, though, we know his real name and we’ve verified that he is who he says he is. We wanted to talk to him about faith, football, and his future.

We spoke with Patrick about how he became an atheist, what it’s like being an atheist on a mostly religious team, and what those of us on the outside don’t know about college football.

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!

(Image via Shutterstock)