Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1905

Pastor Crows Victory After Agnostic Groom Finally Comes Crawling Back to Church

The Onion does funny fiction almost as well as religion does funny fiction:

Saying he was not the least bit surprised to see the former member of the congregation again, pastor James Bower told reporters Thursday that he always knew agnostic local resident Chris Parker would come crawling back to the church to get married.

“I believe Chris stopped attending services when he was about 12 and hasn’t set foot in the church since, but guess who finally came around? And just months before the ceremony, no less,” said Bower, adding that Parker just showed up after 15 years of absence with hat in hand to reserve the Calvary United Church and beg the pastor to officiate.

For satirists, religion is the gift that keeps on giving. See also here, here, and here.

The Evidence for Evolution

The team at Stated Clearly have an excellent new video explaining the evidence for evolution by looking at Cetaceans (like dolphins and whales):

Science! It works!

Two More Students Punished for Not Standing During the Pledge of Allegiance

A seventh grader in the San Jacinto Unified School District in California was reprimanded by his teacher (Mr. Burns) this week after he remained seated during the Pledge of Allegiance. As usual, the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center was on it:

Mr. Burns informed the student, falsely, that the law requires students to stand. Moreover, Mr. Burns questioned the student as to the reason for not participating in the exercise, asking him: “Is it your religion, do you have a personal problem, or do you hate America?” He then proceeded to makes statements obviously intended to pressure the child into participating, suggesting non-participation shows the child is ungrateful for the opportunities America offers and saying he “feels sorry” for the child, as if the child’s stance is pitiable.

That student, 11-year-old Ivan Covarrubias, spoke to local newspaper reporters about what was going through his mind during all of this:

A San Jacinto middle school student said he was “scared” when a teacher admonished him for not standing up during the “Pledge of Allegiance” because it went against his atheist beliefs.

“I was shocked at what he said,” said Ivan Covarrubias, an 11-year-old seventh-grader at Monte Vista Middle School.

It should go without saying, but Ivan did nothing wrong. His teacher, on the other hand, needs a lesson in the Constitution, not to mention how to deal with young students.

What’s more is that the same teacher has a banner in the classroom that reads “Prayer changes things.” The AHA is also asking for the banner to come down. And if you don’t think that’s offensive, let’s see you support a classroom banner that reads, “Prayer won’t change anything.”

Meanwhile, something similar happened in the School District of Lee County in Fort Myers, Florida, where a senior who had multiple reasons to remain seated still faced punishment from his teacher and the administration:

The student in question, currently a senior with a solid academic record and no history of disciplinary problems, does not wish to participate in the Pledge exercise in any manner, for several reasons. For one, he feels that the claim that the nation provides “liberty and justice for all” is simply not true, and thus any participation in the exercise would be hypocritical and insincere on his part. He also identifies as an atheist and feels that the “under God” wording, which was added to the Pledge in the 1950s, does not belong in a government-sponsored school exercise. As such, he recently began sitting out the Pledge, and in fact had no difficulty in doing so for a couple of days with other teachers. However, in the class of Ms. Edlyna Alfaro this morning, the problem erupted due to her actions. He was confronted by Ms. Alfaro in the middle of the exercise as she unleashed a tirade at him. After calling him unpatriotic and disrespectful, she demanded that he stand up or go to in-school suspension, which is a form of punishment.

The student therefore left the room and went to an assistant principal for assistance, expecting that surely the situation could be straightened out by someone who understood student rights, but instead he was given the options of standing up for the exercise, going to in-school suspension, or going home. The student therefore went home.

It’s frustrating-but-somewhat-understandable when a teacher doesn’t know how to handle this situation. It’s not something most teachers learn when getting their certification. But for an administrator to hold the same level of ignorance? That’s just pathetic. They owe this student an apology.

The AHA is also asking both districts to remind staff and administrators what the law says about allowing students to remain seated during the Pledge.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Student at Christian Boarding School Beaten Up by Staff Members Because He Was “Talking to a Girl”

Abundant Life Academy in Eastern Virginia is a Christian boarding school for “struggling teens” and its mission is to help those teens by “equipping them to live a life of love, acceptance and forgiveness as modeled by Biblical principles and the life of Jesus Christ.”

So you really have to wonder why four staff members physically abused one of those students (with the cameras rolling) earlier this year:

And the reason for the assault makes the situation even worse:

The victim testified that after the three-hour assault, he was awakened every 90 minutes as part of his punishment for “talking to a girl,” which wasn’t allowed.

I’d hate to think what they would’ve done if he were talking to another guy…

While the staffers all initially denied doing anything wrong, they quickly changed their pleas to guilty, maybe because the video evidence is so damning:

Four hours into trial, four former staff members of a Caroline County boarding school changed their pleas to guilty and were convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery.

Fredericksburg residents Liam Galligan, 44, Jovany Rivera, 22, Timothy Jordan, 26, and 49-year-old William Honea were all given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to have no contact with any of the witnesses at Thursday’s hearing in Caroline circuit court.

(via Christian Nightmares)

The Nine Commandments? Two Priests at Two Churches Are Accused of Theft. The Kicker: They’re Brothers

What do you call your brother if he’s a priest? Father?

I suppose that mystery was amplified in the Belczak family. Many years ago, Michigan brothers Edward Belczak (below, left) and Thomas Belczak decided that they loved the Catholic Church so much, they wanted to become its professional holy message-spreaders. After a while, they figured that they were entitled to quite a bit more than what the Lord, in His wisdom, had been giving them – and they took it.

Father Thomas Belczak has been required to step aside as pastor of St. Kenneth Parish, Plymouth, pending further steps by Church officials. Law enforcement officials are investigating allegations that he has misused parish funds. During this time, Belczak will not be permitted to be present at St. Kenneth; he will not be working or serving there in any capacity. …

These charges come just months after Belczak’s brother, Father Edward Belczak and his church administrator were indicted for stealing about $700,000 from St. Thomas More Church in Troy over eight years.

It’s unclear to law enforcement officials if the investigation of Thomas Belczak is connected to the investigations of his brother in Troy.

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The money pilfered by Father Edward

… allegedly included most of a $350,000 gift to the church from the family of a dead parishioner and cash donated by churchgoers during special Mother’s Day and Father’s Day collections, prosecutors said. The priest spent some of the money on a condominium in Palm Beach, Fla., according to the indictment.

I’m sure it’s all a giant misunderstanding… or perhaps the godly brothers have a version of the Ten Commandments that somehow excludes the one about stealing.

Outside “Psychic” Sally Morgan’s Show, a Skeptic Warns the Audience About the Deception and Gets Threatened

Sally Morgan (a.k.a. Psychic Sally) is a British entertainer who claims to have the ability to speak to the dead (a la John Edward). As you might imagine, a lot of gullible people are willing to spend a lot of money for the chance to speak with deceased loved ones.

Mark Tilbrook is a skeptic who is disgusted by how Morgan takes money from vulnerable people when she has no supernatural powers whatsoever.

That’s why, at many of her recent events, Tilbrook has stood outside the performance center handing out leaflets like the one below, urging audience members to keep their minds open and to be on the lookout for telltale signs that nobody is “crossing over” at all:

Yesterday, Tilbrook released video of himself standing outside one of these events and receiving death threats and a barrage of homophobic comments from both Morgan’s husband and son-in-law:

Despicable, scary, and all caught on video — good luck making it disappear now, Sally!

Tilbrook wrote about the encounter for The Guardian earlier this week:

Earlier this year I found myself standing outside a major theatre, on the receiving end of a tirade of abuse from John Morgan — the husband and manager of TV psychic Sally Morgan. John threatened me with violence, told me that I would be “lifted” and “disappear” — he told me he even knew where I worked.

What had I done to deserve this fate? I had merely tried to encourage people to think about whether psychics really can speak to the dead.

…

Shortly afterwards, I received a letter from Sally Morgan’s solicitor, Graham Atkins, informing me that she intended to sue me for libel. The letter claimed that my leaflet contained numerous defamatory allegations about Sally Morgan, and demanded an undisclosed sum of money in compensation — plus nearly £2,000 in legal fees.

Remember: All of this happened because he encouraged people to think for themselves instead of getting suckered by an alleged con artist. (Thankfully, Simon Singh‘s Good Thinking Society is helping defend Tilbrook against those charges.) It’s not like he’s giving away the tricks before a magic show; he’s trying to protect people from giving their money to a fraud.

In response to all the backlash, Sally Morgan issued the following statement on her website yesterday trying to distance herself from the charges:

Sally Morgan Enterprises would like to apologise for any offence caused by the material. Since April 2014, Mark Tilbrook has targeted Sally Morgan’s live performances; handing out leaflets to audience members. On several occasions theatre staff have had to call the police in order to get him removed.

Given the abuse Sally has endured over the past three years, which have included severe death threats and incidences of stalking; Sally was left fearing for her own safety once again.

Due to the continual presence of Mark Tilbrook and John Morgan’s ever-growing concern for Sally, he reacted angrily and out of character.

Sally was not aware of the comments made in this video. She is very upset by the events, does not condone any of the behaviour and can only assume that this was the cause of persistent hounding that lead to this altercation.

Although the Psychic Awareness month hosted by Good Thinking Society has come to light in recent weeks, the original leaflet given out by Mark Tilbrook contained different information which both Sally and SME felt made targeted references to her and not psychics in general, hence why legal advice has been taken.

The piece makes it sound like Morgan’s the victim even though her family members are the ones doing all the harassing… If she was the recipient of threats or followed by stalkers, that’s deplorable. But there’s just no reason to believe Tilbrook was doing anything illegal.

Tim Farley at Skeptic spoke with Tilbrook about the statement and found out something else:

(Astute readers will note the first sentence is a classic “notpology“). Via Twitter, Tilbrook contacted me to deny the detail about the police. He says, “I have never ‘been removed’ from any show — if they called the police, they haven’t showed up on any occasion.”

You should read Tim’s full piece for more context.

Maybe the best solution is for even more people to distribute similar leaflets at Morgan’s future events. Her family members can’t harass everyone and the skeptics would be a lot safer as a group. She deserves to be discredited for taking advantage of people by tricking them into thinking they’re in contact with the dead.

To the Youth Pastors of America on National Coming Out Day

You’ll want to watch this beautiful video, featuring poetry by Chad Michael:

Celebrating Secular Invocations

The Central Florida Freethought Community put together this fantastic video showcasing the great secular invocations we’ve seen since Greece v. Galloway:

I don’t have the exact numbers to confirm these, but the folks at CFFC have a couple of conjectures that seem very plausible:

1) We’ve seen more atheists deliver invocations in the few months after the Supreme Court ruling than we did in the several years before that combined.

2) About half of those recent invocations have taken place in Florida.

Keep them coming, everybody!

Religious Statues in Spain Frequently Get Government Medals; a Secularist Wants To Put a Stop To That

From the You Can’t Make This Shit Up department, via the Wall Street Journal:

The latest winner of Spain’s Gold Medal of Police Merit never walked a beat or made an arrest. True, she never flinched in the face of danger. But that is because she can’t move. Reaching far outside its uniformed ranks, the Interior Ministry awarded this year’s medal to a life-size statue, Our Most Holy Mary of Love, “for sharing police values such as dedication, caring, solidarity and sacrifice.”

Officials say such awards simply recognize long-standing ties between Spain’s police forces and Catholic lay communities… “This has been happening for decades,” said José Manuel Pérez, deputy director general of the national police technical cabinet, who oversees the nominations and displays a poster of Mary in his uniform locker.

Ah, the “we’ve always done it this way” spiel. The argumentum ad antiquitatem is an old favorite among believers, but it’s a fallacy nonetheless.

It’s true, certainly, that Spain has a tradition involving this kind of thing:

The award has precedents in municipalities across Spain. The Virgin de la Almudena, Madrid’s patroness, has held the city’s Gold Medal, a civil award granted in recognition to institutions or people who have distinguished themselves within the region, since 1945 and was awarded its Medal of Honor in 1961.

The Franco days are long gone, however, and good riddance. Spain is a secular democracy now, and plenty of its citizens are rolling their eyes at the bestowing of official medals on religious icons.

The leader of the Movement Towards a Secular State, Jorge García González, has even filed a lawsuit against the Spanish government, to counter what he says is “an ingrained Catholic influence in public affairs.” A court is expected to rule on the matter within weeks.

Meanwhile, a Spanish online petition has already garnered more than 1,500 signatures. Its goal? To nominate Spider-Man for next year’s Gold Medal of Police Merit.

(Image via Shutterstock)

The Story of the Canadian Wilderness Guide Who Experienced Anti-Christian Discrimination is a Hoax (Kind of…)

Just the other day, I posted a story about a young river rafting guide,
Bethany Paquette, who applied for a job at Amaruk Wilderness Corp.… only to be rejected because she attended Trinity Western University, a Christian school in British Columbia known for its anti-gay theology.

Ms. Paquette.

I do not understand the purpose of your application considering you do not meet the minimum requirements that are clearly outlined on our web site.

Additionally, considering you were involved with Trinity Western University, I should mention that, unlike Trinity Western University, we embrace diversity, and the right of people to sleep with or marry whoever they want, and this is reflected within some of our staff and management. In addition, the Norse background of most of the guys at the management level means that we are not a Christian organization, and most of us actually see Christianity as having destroyed our culture, tradition, and way of life.

I wrote about how this was an actual case of religious discrimination against a Christian, since her beliefs, if they were aligned with the school’s, had no bearing on the job she was being hired to do. It’s not like she was going to treat gay customers any different from straight ones.

This week, CBC News took a closer look at the story and discovered there’s a lot more to this company than anyone knew. The unprofessionalism Paquette experienced is only a drop in the bucket when you look at what else the management has done:

Since Paquette’s complaint was reported, CBC News has heard from other applicants, including Lucie Clermont, who applied to Amaruk last year for a job listed as the executive assistant to the CEO, which promised a $120,000 salary and world travel.

Clermont’s application was met with a number of emails asking awkward questions — some of them sexual — followed by more that became insulting.

…

Sophie Waterman applied for the same job, but soon believed it sounded too good to be true. She withdrew her application after a friend in the tourism industry warned her Amaruk might not be all that it seems.

“When I cancelled the interview, I received about 15 emails in quick succession,” she says. “All pretending to be from different people involved with the company, and all very litigious, accusing me and my friend of slander. My feeling is that it’s all one person.”

…

Christopher Fragassi-Bjørnsen and Dwayne Kenwood -Bjørnsenare are listed as co-CEOs of Amaruk along with several other businesses, including Norealis, Spartic and Militis.

But the men do not live in Europe and they are not diplomats. And if Olaf Amundsen — the man who allegedly sent Paquette the offensive emails — is real, the picture of him on the company website is not. In fact, it’s an image grabbed from social media site Pinterest.

Yikes…

Two quick thoughts spring to mind:

A company that has to lie this much, and turns potential employees into victims of a giant prank, isn’t worth working for or giving your money to — that is, if it even exists in the first place.It turns out the most blatant case of anti-Christian discrimination I’ve seen in a long time is a hoax (though it’s not Paquette’s fault).

It looks like Paquette dodged a bullet with the rejection letter. I’m not sure yet what this all means about the complaint she filed with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

(Thanks to everyone for the link)