Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1912

Is This Painting of Two Kids Praying Religious? A School District’s Lawyer Says No

This is a painting called “Faith in America” by Donald Zolan:

That image might have a place on a postcard or church wall, but certainly not in the main office at Kenneth Cooper Middle School in Oklahoma City… which, as you might guess, is exactly where it is. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the district’s superintendent urging him to take it down:

The meaning could not be more clear, real American children pray.

The district’s lawyer wrote back last week saying there was nothing wrong with the image remaining in place because:

It’s been there 18 years without a complaintThe district hasn’t received a complaint from a resident, student, or district patronIt totally doesn’t promote faith and it’s not at all coercive

Of course, the first point is irrelevant (being wrong for a long time doesn’t make you right), the second point makes no sense since FFRF only acts on things like this when a district parent contacts them (they protect anonymity when possible), and it absolutely sends the wrong message to students.

FFRF said all of this in a follow-up response to the district.

It all boils down to this: When you put up a painting to two kids praying in front of an American flag, the implication is clear: Prayer is good and American. What other message are students supposed to take away from the painting if not that?

Both FFRF and the parent in question (who contacted me) are trying to resolve this without any legal battle, but district officials refuse to just take down the painting and get back to educating children. It’s not a fight they ought to be waging. Just take it down, put it up in someone’s home, and move on.

Bill Maher and Sam Harris Debate “Islamophobia” with a Defensive Ben Affleck

In a conversation following up on last week’s rant against liberals who refuse to criticize Islam, Bill Maher and guest Sam Harris explained last night on Real Time why criticizing religious beliefs is fair game and not, as critics often claim, “Islamophobia”:

Post by Bill Maher.

Harris and Maher threw out actual statistics defending the idea that radical Islam isn’t just limited to a fringe group while Ben Affleck kept ignoring those facts to basically proclaim that Islam is a religion of peace and the atheists were in no position to say otherwise:

“We have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where criticism of the religion gets conflated with bigotry towards muslims as people,” Harris began. “It’s intellectually ridiculous.”

“Hold on — are you the person who officially understands the codified doctrine of Islam?” Affleck, on the show to promote his movie Gone Girl, interrupted, and argued that criticizing Islam, as Maher and Harris were doing it, was “gross and racist. It’s like saying, ‘Oh, you shifty Jew!’”

Affleck inadvertently proved that Maher wasn’t kidding about the liberal aversion to criticize bad ideas when they involve religion. No one’s saying all Muslims are evil, but it’s a fact that a significant percentage of Muslims worldwide — 28% worldwide and 19% in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center — believe suicide bombings are sometimes or often justified. What role Islam plays into those beliefs may be up for debate, but it’s hardly irrelevant, and that’s what Harris and Maher were trying to say amidst the shouting match.

I’m surprised Affleck didn’t just start saying “Matt Damon” given how little his arguments made sense.

You can see the full exchange at Mediaite (or above).

An Atheist Evangelizes Reason from the Sidewalk and Then Analyzes His Conversation with a Stranger

Anthony Magnabosco recently stood outside a Texas college, holding a sign saying he wanted to talk to people about their religious beliefs for just five minutes. It’s something you might expect from preachers; not so much from atheists. But talk about street epistemology…

Not only did someone take him up on it, Anthony recorded and then completely analyzed the entire exchange to see if his methods at atheist evangelism were actually effective.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the entire video yet, but if any parts stand out, please leave the timestamps/summaries in the comments.

(via Danthropology)

Teen Who “Desecrated” Jesus Statue Hit with 6-Month Ban from Social Media and 350 Hours of Community Service

As you all know by now, a 14-year-old boy from Pennsylvania has been the subject of a lot of media attention over the past few weeks because he took pictures with a local Jesus statue as if he were getting a mock-blowjob from the Lord.

He was facing up to two years in prison for this supposed desecration, a charge that was wildly out of proportion for what he did. As I said before, I don’t condone his actions, but bad taste and immaturity aren’t crimes. And this blasphemy law had no business being in the books in the first place.

Today was the teen’s day in court and we finally learned his punishment:

The boy appeared before Judge Thomas Ling and agreed to a consent decree signed by all parties involved, including the boy, his mother and his attorney, Karen Hickey.

The boy must not use social media during a six-month probation period as well as perform 350 hours of community service.

Among the other punishments, he must obey a curfew of 10 p.m., no alcohol or other controlled substances monitored by random drug testing and stay in school.

District Attorney Bill Higgins presented the decree to the court.

After accepting the agreement and while settling the number of community service hours, Judge Ling focused on the religious rights of Love in the Name of Christ, noting that the juvenile’s actions infringed upon their rights to practice their faith.

Upon successful completion of these terms and conditions, his case will be dismissed and the juvenile will have no criminal record.

So, it’s not two years in prison, but it’s still pretty excessive for what amounts to a silly prank that hurt nobody. A public apology to the Christian group that owned the statue would have been more than sufficient. (In fact, he already did that.)

Higgins, who thinks this child did something wrong but has no problem having an affair in his office or posting pornographic audio on Twitter, also threw in a jab at those who criticized him online and held a protest last weekend:

“As I have previously noted, Facebook and street corners are not the proper place to resolve constitutional issues, and while there has been a whole lot of name calling, character assassination and threats of retaliation, there has been no effort by any of these advocacy groups to actually challenge the constitutionality of the statute in question through the legal process,” added Higgins.

No effort?! What exactly does he want? Atheists to come en masse to Bedford County and take pictures with Blowjob Jesus as if it were a tourist attraction?

Well, they can’t punish all of us…

(Thanks to Richard for the link)

Analyzing the Rainbow Just Wouldn’t Be As Effective

Richard Dawkins wrote this memorable passage in Unweaving the Rainbow:

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?

It’s a beautiful passage that really celebrates the joy of life in a non-religious way. But John Danaher at h+ Magazine isn’t moved by it:

If we stripped away the lyrical writing, what would we be left with? To be more precise, what kind of argument would we be left with?

I want to quote more of what he’s saying, but it’s hard to find a few sentences that make much sense on their own. Danaher is basically judging a work of art by critiquing a few individual brush strokes. For example, he rips apart Dawkins’ use of the word “lucky” for mathematical reasons, saying that the probability of being alive may not be as infinitesimal as the word suggests. He implies that Dawkins wants us to be “grateful” but wonders to whom.

Kristine at Amused Muse is quick to dismiss his challenges:

It is rather amusing to see atheists accused of having no sense of humor, then taken so literally when they joke or employ a colloquialism. I did not see Dawkins’ use of the word “lucky” as an argument strictly championing existence over nonexistence — he is merely stating that the latter is far more likely than the former. We are “privileged” by the mere fact of being the less likely ones, the elite, as it were. Dawkins is making an observation, not a judgment, for the real focus of his quote is not nonexistence, but the ordeal, and consciousness of, our impending deaths.

…

… Dawkins is not really concerned with being “grateful” for existing, but with putting death, much as it looms over our lives, into proper perspective. Danaher has missed the point.

I’m with Kristine on this. One of the reasons Dawkins’ science writing continues to inspire people is because, like Carl Sagan, he’s able to turn science into art, describing evolution and biology and life itself in a way that isn’t mechanical and dry like a textbook. It’s beautiful prose. To take that kind of writing and assess it in literal (or even scientific) terms means ignoring the glue that’s holding everything together. It wasn’t meant to be read like that.

Liberian Preacher Says He’s Come Up With a Cure For Ebola: Prayer, Exorcism, and an Obscure Soft Drink

As the Ebola virus threatens to tear through West Africa, having already made 1,500 victims in Liberia this year, it’s worth rejoicing that we have self-styled bishop Edward Adjei, of the Christ Incorporated church, to cure his fellow Liberians. His method could hardly be simpler: All it takes is a three-day prayer session, an exorcism of the presidential palace … and a few bottles of Vimto, the purple British soft-drink.

While health chiefs blame the outbreak of the virus on poor sanitation and overcrowded slums, Mr Adjei points the finger at the burnt-out hulk of the old presidential palace, which stands on a hill in the capital, Monrovia. After six years as the seat of power of the warlord Charles Taylor – accused of practising witchcraft during Liberia’s brutal civil war – the building, which caught fire mysteriously during independence celebrations in 2006, is widely believed to be cursed.

Mr Adjei is one of a number of independent clergymen who now believe that the demons which lurk in it must be banished if Ebola is to be defeated. “The presidential building is our country’s gateway to Heaven, through which our leaders speak to God, but it has been desecrated,” said Mr Adjei, who aired his plan in local newspapers in Monrovia last week. “Now nobody speaks to God through the palace any more, so He has turned his back on our country. And when that happens, we lose protection against things like Ebola.”

Mr Adjei, who claims to have had warning of the impending Ebola epidemic in a revelation last December, has now written a joint letter with other Liberian clergymen asking permission from the Liberian government to do an exorcism of the building.

The exorcism involves three days of prayer and emptying a few bottles of Vimto around the building. The Vimto is supposed to be the blood of Christ. No traditional communion wine is needed, Adjei insists.

“Communion wine is rather expensive, so we use Vimto instead,” he said, brandishing a large bottle from a store in his vestry. “We use it for consecrations here in Liberia all the time, such as in houses and pieces of land where evil acts were committed during the civil war.”

Of course, as is the case with faith healing, those who seek relief from sickness often forego or postpone seeing a doctor.

The perception that the Ebola outbreak has a spiritual element to it has been a headache for health chiefs throughout west Africa, who say that people who blame the virus on witchcraft are less likely to seek help if they get infected.

And thus more likely to infect others.

If Mr. Adjei truly believes in the power of his so-called remedy, I’d like to see him prove it. Without hesitation, he should drink from the oozing orifices of the afflicted, and then carry out his magic rituals. By the end of the year, we’ll check whether the sodafied “blood of Christ,” and prayers to the Almighty, have kept him in the land of the living.

Should his method work, we’ll have an honest-to-God cure for Ebola. If it doesn’t, the good bishop will be reunited with Heavenly Father, just as he always dreamed; and the world will have one less superstitious shyster to lead Ebola sufferers astray.

Watch:

(Thanks to Joseph for the link)

This Weekend, Pastors Will Dare the IRS to Revoke Their Churches’ Tax-Exemptions by Talking Politics from the Pulpit

For years now, the biggest IRS scandal may have been how churches that pay no taxes in return for not endorsing political candidates were breaking those rules openly but receiving no punishment at all. (Some pastors even sent the IRS videos of their sermons.)

It happens on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” where more than 1,000 pastors speak out on political issues and/or endorse specific candidates.

When we allow the government to decide what is said from the pulpit, we are ceding control of what is God’s to “Caesar.” Congregations and a church’s leadership can certainly tell pastors they don’t want names of candidates spoken from the pulpit, but that is very different from government censorship. No government agency should condition tax-exempt status — a status churches have been constitutionally guaranteed since our founding — on the surrender of cherished First Amendment rights.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday takes place this weekend, but thanks to this summer’s legal settlement between the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the IRS, the government agency says it will finally enforce its own rules. Let’s hope they do that.

Meanwhile, FFRF isn’t letting up on its criticism of churches that break the law:

“Churches and their pastors are not above the law. Ministers who claim to be moral leaders should realize it’s not only illegal for tax-exempt groups to endorse political candidates, it’s unethical. It’s an abuse of the public trust,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-founder.

…

FFRF Co-President Dan Barker added, “Pastors are free to endorse from the pulpit, but then their churches need to give up their tax exemption.”

If you know of any churches that are endorsing or opposing candidates, the FFRF is asking you to let them know about it.

There’s just no good reason churches should be able to get away with what no other non-profit is allowed to do. For too long, the government has turned a blind eye to what is said inside of churches, even when that speech crossed the line. The IRS promised to pay attention to violations in exchange for FFRF dropping its lawsuit against the agency. It’s time for churches to be held accountable for what their leaders say.

(Portions of this article were posted earlier)

Can a Christian “Lean In” Movement Propel Women in the Workplace?

Liberty University, Jerry Falwell‘s evangelical powerhouse college in the hills of western Virginia, is loosely working with Christine Craine of Hillsong Church (in Australia) to start a program (Propel) to support Christian women in business. Inspired by the feminism of the Lean In book, Craine says this will fill a gap for ways women are supported by the Christian community.

According to Christianity Today:

Head of the anti–human trafficking organization A21, Caine discovered Christian women around the globe leading in various business sectors, but at the Christian conferences she headlined, she found that these working women sensed something missing from the training — a giant “gap” in women’s ministry.

A majority of women of faith work outside the home, forcing them to grapple with the now much-talked-about challenges of balancing work and family, duty and calling.

This is a shrewd move for the school, as it distances them from their historical reputation of extreme conservatism (check out the student handbook for context) and puts them in the middle ground of giving lip service to feminism without actually committing to the principles behind gender equality. (Schools like this tend not to participate in these events unless they support the mission of the organization.)

The statement from Liberty is rather revealing, I think. Listen for the paternalism:

Propel’s vision is to see both men and women make disciples at home and in the workplace. This aligns well with our university’s mission of raising up a new generation of champions for Christ.

Personally, as the father of an audacious and passionate daughter, I find myself telling her and my son that they each have been uniquely made by God to reveal his Kingdom to the world. I want them both to know that… their main job in life is to glorify God by worshiping him and making him known in the very place he has placed them. I want my daughter to know that this mandate from God is just as real for her as it is for her big brother.

This is the heart of Propel — to literally propel the people of God to carry out the mission of God.

Carolyn McCulley, quoted in the CT article, is a revealing choice of partner for them, as she was deeply involved in Sovereign Grace Ministries during my time in the group and often told her testimony to church groups in the network. Every time she told the story, she emphasized how she had been a women’s studies major in college and a staunch feminist who had resisted the idea of submission before she attended my original church, KingsWay Community Church in Richmond, Virginia. But after our pastor, Gene Emerson, talked with her over a period of time, she eventually came around to the complementarian side of things, eventually repenting of her feminism.

This project does indeed meet a need in the Christian evangelical world, but I suspect it won’t do much to actually empower women and bring about more gender equality in the Christian business world. It is definitely a step in the right direction and the intent may be solid, but I suspect that the ingrained soft patriarchy in that community (coupled with women leaders who agree with that view) will prevent such a project from having much true power to bring about lasting change.

Rhode Island Catholic School Removes Pro-Choice Politician from Its Hall of Fame, but Plans to Induct Ex-Con

La Salle Academy in Providence, Rhode Island is one of those Catholic schools that’s been around forever, with the current building dedicated in 1925. You can imagine that its Hall of Fame (“Wall of Notables”) is pretty stacked given all the alumni the school has had, but that’s been a source of controversy recently.

First, they removed the painting of Gina Raimondo, the Democratic candidate for governor, because she cares too much about the rights of women:

Raimondo’s photograph was removed after she publicly pledged to fight any attempt to restrict the right of women to make their own “reproductive health care” decisions…

Following her remarks, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin posted on Facebook, “It is always disappointing when a Catholic candidate for political office abandons the teaching of the Church on the dignity of human life for the sake of self-serving political gain.”

Raimondo isn’t even sufficiently pro-choice for my tastes, supporting a ban on late-term abortions (with exceptions in extreme situations), but that was enough for her to be taken down from the wall.

Then, just days later, the school removed all of the pictures in the Hall of Fame because, officials said, they were a “distraction to learning” and they wanted to establish new criteria for who should be on the wall.

(For the record, saying that pictures of notable alumni is “distracting” is ridiculous. Showing students what graduates of the school have achieved is a wonderful and inspiring idea.)

But here’s the really crazy part.

They just announced a new entry into the Hall of Fame:

Ralph A. Pari, now 88, and a 1944 La Salle graduate, confirmed for The Journal on Thursday that he’s one of 12 distinguished alumni who the school plans to induct into its Hall of Fame during a ceremony slated for November.

Pari, of Smithfield, is the former director of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation. In 1987 he pleaded no contest to charges of embezzlement from the mortgage agency and destroying evidence on illegal mortgages.

Pari served 14 months in state prison on those charges and more than a year in federal prison on separate charges of income tax evasion.

That guy, the school believes is a role model for students. But the gubernatorial candidate who believes women should have control over their own bodies? No thank you.

(Thanks to Roger for the link)

After Speaking Out Against “In God We Trust” Display, Alabama Atheist’s Next Target is Religious Veterans’ Monument

Back in August, several non-Christians spoke in front of the Mobile County Commission (in Alabama) to request they put up displays reading things like “In Reason We Trust.” It was in response to a vote to put “In God We Trust” on a plaque in the city’s Administration Building. Despite the pushback, the Commission denied those requests, saying only the Christian phrase would go up.

Amanda Scott, a member of the Mobile Atheist Community, was one of the people who fought against the Christian privilege:

Her willingness to speak up also made her the target of several online threats, including one from a correctional officer.

But Amanda isn’t backing off. In fact, she has a new mission involving a veterans’ memorial at the Baldwin County Courthouse:

On the memorial are the words “Dedicated to the glory of God and in honor of the veterans of all wars.”

The monument was sponsored by the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans, and is located on county-owned property.

Amanda is asking: If a religious monument can go up on government property, then why not an atheist one? She’s even taken the first steps to make it happen:

The 21-year-old college student and atheist… said Friday that two complaint letters had been mailed to the Baldwin County administrator regarding the veterans’ monument.

…

Scott said she would like to see another memorial erected at the courthouse similar to the 1999 “Atheists in Foxholes” monument in rural Munford, Ala., in the Talladega National Forest. That monument was established by the Alabama Freethought Association, a chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which had created a retreat on Lake Joan called Lake Hypatia. She said it’s likely that funding for such a memorial could come from the foundation.

“It’s really beautiful,” she said. “It’s dedicated to atheists in foxholes, with hopes that mankind will be able to avoid all wars in the future.”

I asked Amanda why she preferred adding a new monument over just altering/removing the current one, and she told me (via email):

My personal preference would be to put up our own monument because I think it makes a bolder statement. But I would be willing to accept the removal of the monument as a compromise. It’s better to have no war memorials on government property than to have an exclusionary religious one.

It looks like her requests are having an effect. An update to the article this afternoon included these statements:

Baldwin County Commission Chairman Charles “Skip” Gruber said the commission would be “more than glad to listen to what they have to say.”

“I would see if we can get it on the workshop (agenda),” said Gruber, who supported an “In God We Trust” sign being placed in commission chambers in July.

That’s not the same as a green light for an atheist monument, but it’s not yet a rejection.

How about a huge Internet-round-of-applause for a brave young activist? So many people would have tried to hide from the spotlight after all that unwanted attention, but Amanda’s continuing to chip away at church/state violations. Just incredible.

(Large portions of this article were published earlier)