Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1922

Young Adult Novels Strengthened Her Faith. But the Bible Soon Put a Stop to That

It’s interesting to me what keeps people in Christianity and what they believe keeps them in it. There were a few things, as I was growing up in the Sovereign Grace Ministries cult, that were “approved” for my media consumption but were directly counterproductive to keeping me in step with the cult’s ideology. I am grateful they slipped under the wire — these are the things that broadened my thinking and kept me from getting stuck in that world.

The Guardian recently ran a piece about young adult (YA) literature and how the author’s exposure to a certain “Christy” book (a perennially popular Christian YA series when I was a kid) was a breath of fresh air when her mom refused to answer hard life questions for her.

It was much more influential to her faith, she says, than the Bible:

It was reading the Bible that killed off my faith. When I was 13, I decided that I was done being a dilettante — I read my own pink, dog-eared Bible cover-to-cover instead of sticking to the sections suggested by children’s guides to the Gospels. Rather than finding the Good Book a useful, affirming guide, it only raised frustrating questions. I was horrified by the violence and jealousy of the God of the Old Testament, but my mother assured me that our God, the God of the New Testament, was generous, loving and forgiving.

All I could think was: “God changes?”

In a world where formulas and rote answers are more the rule than the norm, such an approach to life is pivotal and refreshing. For me, it was reading Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, a YA novel where the main character is bound by a magical spell to obey any direct command given to her. In a world where “first time obedience” (obeying a parent on the first command without question) was a highly valued character trait, such a story was both familiar and terrifying, as Ella breaks her curse and sets herself free from forced obedience. It was a refreshing change, for me, from the world of the Bible, where duty and suffering appear to be valued so much more than healthy independence.

Literature has always had a magical effect on me, broadening my horizons and pushing me to think about the world in fresh ways. Writing that book report on Ella Enchanted was one of those precious turning points that kept me from getting too ensconced in fundamentalism.

Arkansas State Officials Now Say Football Players Can Wear Crosses on Their Helmets If They Want To

Two weeks ago, Arkansas State’s football players were seen on TV with Christian crosses on their helmets:

The crosses were there, we learned later, to honor a former player and manager, both of whom died earlier this year. But sentiment doesn’t mean you’re allowed to break the law. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to athletic department officials warning them against using school-sponsored religious symbols on helmets, and Arkansas State quickly issued a press release saying those crosses would soon disappear:

Arkansas State Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir has issued the following statement regarding the football team’s helmet decals honoring former player Markel Owens and manager Barry Weyer, who both tragically passed away earlier this year.

“I am 100 percent in support of our coaches’ and players’ expression of faith, as well as their choice to honor the two individuals associated with our team who passed away by voluntarily wearing a cross decal on the back of their helmets. Unfortunately, we have received a complaint that use of the cross violates the Constitutional prohibition against separation of church and state.

“After consulting with University counsel, we have been advised to either modify the decal or remove it completely. Thus, in order to ensure that we are in full compliance with Constitutional law, we will be modifying the decal to still honor the two individuals who are no longer with us.”

Sounded like the right thing to do at the time. FFRF even sent school officials a thank you letter.

But then the Christian Right group Liberty Counsel stepped in, claiming religious persecution on behalf of one of the players. Because, as we all know, neutrality means persecution for Christians. (Does anyone think they would be defending the religious symbols if they were Jewish stars instead? Of course not.)

This week, school officials compromised with Liberty Counsel by just removing themselves from this whole equation:

After some negotiation between the school and the Liberty Institute, the football players have now won the right to display the cross decals if they wish, as long as nobody from the university buys them or sticks them on their helmets for them. The boys will have to put their own cross stickers on their gear, all by themselves…

So they traded school-sponsored religion for student-led peer pressure. It’s legal, but not necessarily better.

In case you’re wondering, the NCAA rulebook doesn’t appear to have any prohibition on the crosses, only saying:

Persons or events may be memorialized by an insignia with an area not greater than 2.25 square inches on the uniform or helmet.

Somewhere, Tim Tebow just got his wings…

I think this sets a bad precedent even if it’s allowed. Letting students put religious symbols on their helmets can easily get out of control — just wait until local churches start sending cross decals to every football player in the state.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Michigan State House Candidate Responds to Bigoted Survey Questions with Incredible Letter Defending LGBT Rights

Josh Derke (below) is running to become State Representative of Michigan’s 93rd House District. He happens to be an “agnostic atheist.” He also happens to be a decent human being.

How do I know that?

It starts with a despicable survey he received from the conservative group Public Advocate. While some of the questions just asked him to affirm his stance against marriage equality — hardly a surprise from a conservative group — the others went waaaaay overboard:

I Pledge to refuse any donation from the Homosexual Lobby or their allies…

…

I will Oppose attempts to add “Homosexuality,” “Transexuality,” or “Pedophilia” as protected classes or statuses under Michigan’s Anti-Discrimination Law.

Because those are *totally* the same things…

The questions themselves are just loaded with hatred against the LGBT community. (“Love the sinner,” my ass.)

But instead of just checking off “No” to every question and being proud of his 0% rating from the group, Derke did something else: He wrote a long letter back to Public Advocate President Eugene Delgaudio

It’s good.

It’s really good.

You’ll want to read the whole thing. After the sarcastic opening, Derke really began digging in:

Let me tell you what pro-family is, Eugene. Pro-family is standing by your gay brother for merely being who he is. Pro-family is accepting your cousins, your friends, and homosexual parents across the globe for who they are. It is recognizing that all credible studies that have explored the issue of gay and lesbian parents have shown that they raise well-adjusted children who are just as successful as those raised by straight parents. Pro-family means that you’re not going to rip established families apart because you can’t see through the veil of your own self-defeating prejudices.

Pro-family is not demonizing and dehumanizing people because they’re different than you are. It is not labeling a group of people immoral because you don’t understand human sexuality.

I am far from silent on pro-family issues. I am, in fact, vociferous. I imagine that it is a voice you’d rather be silent. The truth is that there is no homosexual agenda. There is no homosexual lobby. There are only people — men, women, transgendered, and others — who deserve equal treatment under the law, and equal respect in our society. Human beings with dignity, who love, and are loved, in return.

…

You signed the letter as “HON. EUGENE DELGAUDIO,” but there is nothing honorable about your letter, your survey, or your conduct. You and your group should be ashamed for sending this pile of excrement. And I hope that if there is even a shred of humanity within you that you feel a twinge of guilt and shame for comparing loving couples and parents to pedophiles.

Can I move to Michigan’s 93rd District and vote for this guy?

That’s the sort of response you wish every progressive candidate would give in the face of religious bigotry.

I asked Public Advocate if they had any response to his survey, but they haven’t responded as of this writing.

***Update*** (11:53p): Eugene Delgaudio responded to my inquiry, though he didn’t really respond to Derke’s letter so much as double down on why he sent his questions in the first place:

I did a quick read of our survey and we only asked four questions of the state rep candidates and understand you are on the opposite side as an opinion writer for your blog.

Your slant is clearly in the camp of the homosexual lobby and supportive of the pro-gays rights candidate Josh Derke.

I think the 4 questions we ask are spot on and hit a nerve with you and your friend.

Thank you for confirming our clearly written intentions which is simply to obtain opinions from declared candidates on the four questions.

As far as the intentions you attribute to me or Public Advocate beyond that (i.e. hateful, and other invective), we did not use any of that language in these survey forms or letters.

The legislative questions are based on actual legislation that the candidate is going to vote on in Michigan.

Will he, as proposed by legislators and lobbyists in Michigan, vote to add other sexual orientations to the protections?

You mistake me for some uninformed person or someone without 33 years of legislative experience in many states and in Washington DC all these 33 years.

I direct legal filings for Supreme Court briefs, have helped nominees obtain Senate confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court and helped forge a variety of legislative proposals in Washington and around the country.

Yet you and your featured leftist “hero” says

“The truth is that there is no homosexual agenda. There is no homosexual lobby. ”

That by itself is a big lie, yet you accuse me of mistruth.

In context he wants me to simply roll over due to their being homosexual spokesman and lobbyists who embrace their sexual preference over the rights of Christian values.

I will not.

Religious Group’s Posters in London Tell Women To Walk on One Side of Street Only

In Stamford Hill, North London, a district known for having the largest ultra-Orthodox Haredi community in Europe, posters went up the other day advising women to walk on one side of the street.

The notices read: “Women should please walk along this side of the road only,” in English and Yiddish Hebrew.

(Image via @Sean__Clare)

Turns out that the people who put up the posters are part of a Jewish group that wants to avoid gender cooties during a religious parade.

Explained a member of a Jewish advocacy organization:

“Traditionally at these Torah Parades in the Orthodox Jewish community which is usually attended by a large number of people, men and women are in separate groups, as people dance and make physical contact with fellow dancers, which is avoided between the opposite gender in Orthodox Judaism.”

However, except for a small logo in Hebrew, nothing on the signs indicated that the request applied to the parade only, and non-Jewish residents argued that the request was still troubling even with that limited scope.

The local council also took the latter view and promptly had the signs removed.

Stamford Hill has long been the scene of of tensions between Jews and goyim. In 2010, Christina Patterson, a columnist for the liberal-skewing Independent, let loose with her frustrations as a resident of the area, describing a spate of rude behavior that she said she’d been forced to put up with for years.

“I didn’t realize that a purchase by a goy was a crime to be punished with monosyllabic terseness, or that bus seats were a potential source of contamination, or that road signs, and parking restrictions, were for people who hadn’t been chosen by God. And while none of this is a source of anything much more than irritation, when I see an eight-year-old boy recoiling from a normal-looking woman (because, presumably, he has been taught that she is dirty or dangerous, or, heaven forbid, dripping with menstrual blood) it makes me sad.”

Damian Thompson, a local Catholic blogger, was on the same page:

Jewish hostility towards Christians isn’t confined to the ultra-Orthodox… I could tell stories of unbelievable haughtiness by leaders of Anglo-Jewry, which would have led to diplomatic incidents if the Christians involved weren’t afraid of being accused of anti-Semitism. I suppose I’m afraid of that, too.

Patterson, for her part, concluded that “goyim [are] about as welcome in the Hasidic Jewish shops as Martin Luther King at a Klu Klux Klan [sic] convention.”

The posters by God’s Chosen People probably did little to repair the relations between the groups.

***Update*** [by Hemant]: The Freethinker quotes one councillor’s crystal-clear response:

Rosemary Sales, a councillor for Stamford Hill West, described the posters as “unacceptable” and said they had been taken down.

“Several residents in my ward in Stamford Hill have drawn these posters to my attention. It is of course quite unacceptable to try to restrict women’s movements in a public place and council officers removed these posters as soon as it was reported to them.”

After All the Controversy, Here’s Video of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Speech at Yale

Last week, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the author of Infidel and Nomad and a critic of Islam, spoke at Yale University. It didn’t happen without conflict, though. More than 35 groups, including the Yale Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics signed an open letter expressing their disappointment in the invitation.

The letter asked that Hirsi Ali’s speech be restricted to only her personal experiences (as if Hirsi Ali wasn’t qualified to speak about Islam as a whole) and called for another speaker with “academic credentials” to also be invited (as if Hirsi Ali’s lack of a Ph.D. had any bearing on her message).

If you haven’t already, I suggest you read the open letter to those groups by Muhammad Syed, the co-founder and Executive Director of Ex-Muslims of North America.

And then check out the speech itself (the standing ovation begins at 10:20):

I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, but if any moments stand out to you, please leave the timestamp/summary in the comments! I’d love to know if she said anything that was unfair about Islam.

Kids, If You Want This Ice Cream, You Have to Hear About Jesus First

If your preaching plans involve going after children who aren’t old enough to think for themselves, your beliefs must be pretty flimsy to begin with.

If your preaching plans involve giving those children free ice cream in order to bait-and-switch them into hearing about Jesus, now you’re just plain creepy.

A random ice cream truck. Even without Jesus, it’s kinda shady

With that, let me introduce you to Cinco Baptist Church in Florida and their JesusIceCreamMobile:

It can be hard to communicate with children, said Senior Pastor Mickey Hawkins. The truck gives them a way to reach out to them and their parents.

“It’s a pretty simple concept,” Hawkins said.

Besides the Bluebell ice cream, the kids and their families are given pamphlets about children’s activities the church provides.

…

The church staff plans to add chairs in the back for extra passengers. They also want to “trick it out” with neon lights.

“It’s going to be the most awesome ice cream truck,” Clark said.

It’s hard to communicate with children because they have no desire to talk to you about theology. The solution isn’t to say to them, “C’mon, kiddies. Get in the back of my truck. I have something for you…”

Somehow, the general reaction seems to be, “This is awesome!” and not “Get the hell away from my kids.”

(Image via Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com. Thanks to Alex for the link)

Are Babies Atheists?

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Are babies atheists?:

A rough transcript of the video can be found on the YouTube page in the “About” section.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next!

And if you like what you’re seeing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon.

Sufi Holy Man Is Arrested For Killing Volunteer He Failed to Bring Back to Life During Promised ‘Miracle’

Pakistan’s Express Tribune reports that in Mubarakabad, Punjab, a pir (Sufi master) named Muhammad Sabir was so convinced he could perform miracles, he asked for a volunteer he could murder. Not to worry, Sabir told his followers: after killing his victim, he would reanimate the dead man and make him as good as new.

He announced that he could breathe life back into a dead man. The pir gave the condition that the victim must be married and have children.

I mean, who doesn’t like a high-stakes bet, amirite?

When told of this amazing opportunity, 40-year-old Muhammad Niaz, described as “a daily wage worker and father of six children,” decided to give it a go.

On Wednesday, Niaz was placed on a table in a square and his hands and legs were bound. [A] police spokesman said Sabir then sliced his throat as people looked on. Meanwhile, an anonymous caller informed the police about ‘the miracle.’ By the time police reached [the scene], Niaz had died. Witnesses said Sabir uttered some words to bring him back to life. They said when he realized his ‘miracle’ had not worked, he tried to flee. He was detained by the villagers and handed over to the police.

Detained? Arrested? But, but… freedom of religion! Sanctity and inviolability of deeply-held beliefs!

The villagers may have found sufficient reason to nab the Sufi superman, but the victim’s sister seems to think that the mystic is one misunderstood genius, writes the Express Tribune.

Samina, sister of the victim, [said] that her brother had sacrificed himself for the spiritual leader. “Why should I mourn when I know that my brother is in heaven?” she said. “He will be rewarded for his services for the spiritual leader in [the] afterlife.” She said her brother had volunteered for the miracle and that the pir should not have been arrested.

It’s worth remembering that Sufism is purportedly the inward-looking, mystical, non-violent version of Islam, described here as a journey “towards the Truth, by means of love and devotion… towards the perfection which all are truly seeking.”

I guess we can quibble about the exact definitions of love, truth, and especially perfection.

Meanwhile, I’ll be singing the lyrics of this beautiful old Comsat Angels song: “Waiting for a miracle. But nothing ever happens.”

(Image via Shutterstock)

What Should Atheist Parents Do if Their Child Becomes Religious?

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: What should atheist parents do if their child becomes religious?:

A rough transcript of the video can be found on the YouTube page in the “About” section.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next!

And if you like what you’re seeing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon.

C’mon, Cosmo, You Have to Endorse This Candidate! #CosmoVotes

Earlier this month, editors at Cosmopolitan magazine — a publication known mostly for celebrity coverage and long lists of sex tips — announced that they would be making political endorsements this year based on candidates’ stances on issues such as equal pay, abortion rights, and birth control coverage.

James Woods, the progressive atheist Democrat from Arizona’s 5th District, fulfills the criteria. And something tells me he *really* wants this endorsement…

If you want to help get the Cosmo editors’ attention, use the hashtag #WoodsWantsCosmo as well as the official one, #CosmoVotes.

They’re not going to find someone more pro-choice. Woods, after all, is the candidate who responded to a pro-life group’s survey last month by telling them he couldn’t support policies that “jeopardize[d] the health and stability of women and their families.” And then put a few condoms with the words “Prevent Abortion” on the wrappers in his response letter.

Do it, Cosmo! What are you waiting for?

(Portions of this article were posted earlier)