Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1925

These Cheerleaders Are Leading Prayers Before Football Games Because Screw You, Atheists, That’s Why

Oneida High School in Tennessee used to announce prayers over the public address system before football games, in direct defiance of a Supreme Court decision banning such school-sponsored activities, but that’s since changed after the ACLU and FFRF wrote letters to TN districts warning them of the legal problems:

Kevin Acres sits in the booth for every Oneida High School home game. This year, his repertoire will be missing something — the pregame prayer.

“Far as I know we have been playing football here since 1930 and been praying ever since,” said Acres.

A couple of years ago, [the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association] asked schools to stop announcing prayers over the PA, but Oneida bucked the order and kept the prayer in the pre-game.

“We just felt as long as no one here locally complained, we can continue to do it,” said Acres.

That went on until this season. The school started feeling pressure from outside groups to end that religious tradition, so they replaced it with a moment of silence.

“I heard the moment of silence, but it was kind of a sick feeling in my stomach,” said head football coach Tony Lambert.

Only a Christian would feel queasy from silence because he’d rather shove his religion down everyone else’s throats…

But that’s when the school’s cheerleaders stepped in. Unable to handle a moment of silence, they figured they would lead prayers during that time instead:

“He called for the moment of silence and I started off, ‘Our Father who art in heaven’ and everyone joined in,” said [cheerleader Asia] Canada.

Even the visiting team’s cheerleaders and fans joined in.

“When they started saying it, the crowd started saying the Lord’s prayer. And by the time the prayer was over with, the entire stadium was saying it,” said Acres.

And it has become a tradition before every home game…

You know what? That’s fine. As long as the school isn’t sponsoring or supporting it, the cheerleaders can do that. It’s an arrogant move, to be sure, since they’re just assuming everyone else believes in the same God they do, but it’s not like religious tolerance is a hallmark of the South.

For a group that’s supposed to unite the crowd, this is about as divisive as they can get.

Maybe during halftime, they can use this cheer:

Touchdowns, safeties, field goal kicks!
We haven’t read Matthew 6:5-6!

(Thanks to Chris for the link)

An Open Letter to the Yale Muslims and Humanists Who Opposed Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Speech

Last night, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the author of Infidel and Nomad and a critic of Islam, spoke at Yale University. While the event itself went relatively smoothly, her presence wasn’t without conflict. More than 35 groups — including, to my disappointment, the Yale Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics — signed an open letter last week expressing their disappointment in the invitation.

Below is an open letter to the Yale Humanists and Muslim Students Association written by Muhammad Syed, the co-founder and Executive Director of Ex-Muslims of North America, a community-building organization for ex-Muslims across the non-theist spectrum.

…

As an activist and an ex-Muslim, I have witnessed many attempts to prevent direly-needed conversations by those threatened by the voices of others. I am saddened to see this trend continue — namely, the letter signed by several student organizations at Yale in order to prevent Ayaan Hirsi Ali from speaking at their university.

[Hemant's note (Updated 7:53p CT): I should have caught this earlier, but the Muslims Students Association didn't explicitly call for Hirsi Ali's invitation to be rescinded in their letter. Rather, they called for her speech to be limited to her own experiences (meaning she wouldn't be allowed to speak about her perception of Islam in general) and for another speaker with "academic credentials" to also be invited. To their credit, the Buckley Program said no to both requests. That said, a representative from the MSA did initially ask for Ali to be disinvited, according to the leader of the Buckley Program. My apologies for the confusion.]

I believe the Yale Muslim Students Association should be ashamed of their attempt to silence Hirsi Ali, and the Yale Humanists should be ashamed for being complicit in the effort.

There is no doubt that Hirsi Ali has made comments that are often deemed inflammatory to Muslims. Although I find myself often disagreeing with her stances, I admire her courage and stamina. No one has shed light on the barbaric practices continued in the name of Islam as forcefully as she has. The fact that she is one of the only ex-Muslims speaking out about these kinds of practices is not evidence that the abuse is rare or confined to small fundamentalist communities. Rather, it is evidence of the censure and targeting of those who are willing to speak frankly about Islam and demand change in the Muslim world.

In the letter, it is claimed that Hirsi Ali should not speak on Islam due to the fact that “she does not hold the credentials” to do so, and when she was given the opportunity to speak in the past, she “overlooked the complexity of sociopolitical issues in Muslim-majority countries and has purported that Islam promotes a number of violent and inhumane practices.”

To any liberal-minded person, this reasoning will sound weak at best and intolerant at worst. According to these Yale student organizations, only one who has the right “credentials” (a term that is not defined) and purports a positive view of Islam should be allowed to speak at their university. What is this if not blatant censorship?

Although this behavior is regrettably expected from the Muslim Students Association (MSA), I’m shocked that the Yale Humanists have joined such an effort. In addition to co-signing the MSA’s letter, the Yale Humanists added that they don’t believe she represents the “totality of the ex-Muslim experience” in their own statement.

Which begs the question: Who, exactly, does represent a “totality” of an experience? Which ex-Muslim voice is “valid” enough or has the right credentials to critique Islam? Do Muslims need special “credentials” when speaking positively of Islam? Or is that requirement reserved only for those who do not believe that all religious traditions are the same and wonderful end-to-end? Do I have to believe (as Muslims do) that Islam is ultimately a peaceful religion or that Muhammad was a role-model for mankind before I’m deemed credible enough to speak about the faith?

I’d wager that fewer than a dozen people globally have the level of interaction with ex-Muslims on a daily basis as I do, and I can tell you that the ex-Muslim experiences range from horrific to mundane, from victims of female genital mutilation to those who were merely discouraged from becoming independent, from those committed to psychiatric institutions for disbelieving to those murdered for it, from those who live in fear or hiding to those who walked away without a physical or emotional scratch. To say anyone could represent the “totality” of those experiences is complete and utter nonsense.

In fact, as a courageous Somali woman, Hirsi Ali’s existence alone is an inspiration to many, including one of our young Somali members who stated:

“I hate her views on current events and the statements she puts forth, she can be biased and too personal in her views, but there’s a place in my heart for her only because before, I literally thought it was impossible to be a female, Somali ex-Muslim so to deny her and being ‘offended’ by her visit, denies my existence socially from being known and accepted”.

As a former Muslim with friends and loved ones who are Muslim, I am disappointed with the behavior of the Muslim Students Association. There’s a pattern of silencing dissent that runs through the Muslim world both today and throughout much of its history, which we all need to work together to end. That effort should include all the signatories of the letter, including the Yale MSA, a group that I believe should lead the fight against fundamentalism and work towards fostering an open and honest dialogue.

I ask this of the MSA: If we consider Hirsi Ali’s ideas to be unworthy or inflammatory, is the appropriate response to engage with and counter those arguments or to prevent her from speaking altogether? Would the Palestinian (and other) MSA members consider it productive if Jewish or Israeli students tried to shut down any debate on Israeli war policies due to it being disrespectful?

The grand tradition of challenging orthodoxy, demanding change, and embodying the revolutionary spirit at great universities has somehow been lost. As Muslim students at Yale (and other universities), you are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap and bring about change that is sorely needed in the Muslim world. Instead, somehow, you’ve settled on defending the status quo. If you cannot muster the intellectual courage to step up and change the world, who else will?

There will never be reform or improvement if you are unwilling to even hear out ideas that are threatening to your beliefs. The complete lack of introspection, self-criticism, and demands for improvement paved the way for my disillusionment with the Muslim community many years ago and remains a main reason why I believe the Muslim community lacks the will to adapt to the modern world.

I look around the Muslim intellectual community, and I wonder: Where are the blistering critiques of Zakir Naik, a charlatan that is quite literally destroying the future of the Muslim world by peddling unscientific lies, who says apostates like me should be killed? Where are the books written debunking Harun Yahya, and the denunciations of the Islamic Society of North America for peddling his Creationist clap-trap?

Instead of trying to ban Ayaan Hirsi Ali, how about inviting her or other ex-Muslims for a dialogue? Perhaps even hosting debates on how to critically evaluate which parts of Islamic policy and law need to be reformed instead of plugging your ears and pretending as if the problems don’t exist? As the educated elite of Muslims, where are your writings about the problems of creating incurious generations and the dangers of not promoting critical thought? What about championing the need to find actual evidence of our shared history?

You have the ability to help improve the lives of apostates, LGBTQ members of your community, and subjugated women. You can lobby to pass legislation on eliminating forced marriages and raise funds to help those who need to escape abusive situations instead of pretending as if it doesn’t happen in Muslim households. You can act as watchdogs and condemn those religious leaders who encourage women to stay with abusive families. You can encourage Muslim women to seek civil divorce instead of going through a patriarchal religious authority who, too often, denies them agency. You can both celebrate World Hijab Day and defend the right of women to reject modesty codes without facing social or legal repercussions. You can do so much more to better the state of Muslims and Muslim society, but instead you spend your time silencing criticism.

There are a million ways in which you can transform the world, but if you want a better tomorrow, a tomorrow that is clearly within your grasp, it requires moral and intellectual courage as well as honesty. That change will not come if Muslims refuse to accept criticism and their allies defend them, even at the cost of sacrificing the liberal values they hold dear.

The Same People Who Say Their Religious Freedom is Under Attack Held a Rally to Put God Back in Public Schools

Over the weekend, hundreds of Christians gathered in Hartsville, South Carolina as part of a rally to put God back in public schools.

To state the obvious, God never left their schools. Christians are welcome to pray in public schools all they want. What’s not allowed is school-sponsored prayers, like teachers leading prayer in the classroom, prayers said over the public address system at football games, shout-outs to Jesus by principals during graduation ceremonies, etc.

But try telling that to the ignorant masses at this rally:

“We’re taking God out of everything,” lamented Hye-Moore. “We are taking the Creator, the one that created everything, we’re just trying to kick Him out and He’s not happy with that.”

I’m sure He’s crying about it as we speak…

These Christians act like everything wrong with the public school system today can be traced back to a 50-year-old Supreme Court decision. As if there were no problems before that. As if prayer will be the solution to poverty, the achievement gap, teacher evaluations, and student apathy.

This is why we shouldn’t take them seriously. They have no clue what the law currently says or what they really want. If the Muslim God were allowed back in school, for example, they’d be holding another rally about that. Because they don’t want any God in school. They want their God in school. They don’t give a shit about non-Christians — or even other Christians who believe religion should be a private matter.

Another rally is scheduled in Columbia, SC soon.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

A Creationist May Become Florida State University’s Next President

I went to school at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For a school whose name didn’t command much attention in the state much less outside of it, one thing you heard constantly on campus was that we were a “Research I” university. Among other things, that meant research was a big priority for us, and we got a lot of funding for it, and we prided ourselves on the designation. (Take that, Northwestern.)

The Carnegie Foundation doesn’t use that classification system anymore, but Florida State University was also a Research I university.

That’s just one of the reasons it’s appalling that the next President of FSU might be someone who doesn’t have much faith in the scientific process.

Republican State Senator John Thrasher (above) is one of the four candidates to take over the school’s top position. In an open forum with students and faculty members yesterday, Thrasher was asked softball questions about evolution and climate change — and he botched them both:

The next person to pose a question, law professor Mark Seidenfeld, asked Thrasher if he believed in evolution.

“I have a great faith in my life that has guided me in my life in a lot of things I believe in,” Thrasher said.

…

College of Communication professor Andy Opel pressed Thrasher on climate change, asking him if believed it is real. “Do you accept the science behind it,” Opel said.

Like Gov. Rick Scott, whose reelection campaign Thrasher co-chairs, Thrasher declined to give a specific response. At that point, two students in the front row appeared to Thrasher to be laughing at his answer.

He threatened to leave, saying he “would not be heckled.”

The correct answer to those two questions would have been, “I don’t believe in evolution. I accept evolution. It’s settled science!” and “The scientific community overwhelmingly accepts the reality of climate change and so do I.”

Not “Faith wins!” and “Stop laughing at me.”

By the way, the evasive nature of his response to the evolution question is exactly what a Creationist would say when he knows a more direct answer would doom his candidacy.

This is the guy who wants to run a university that takes its science seriously? Pathetic. (Thrasher is also the only one of the four candidates to have no experience in academia.)

I hope, in any future interviews, he gets asked the same questions again. The students and faculty members deserve direct responses. There are plenty of political reasons not to vote for Thrasher, but when a candidate can’t even admit to accepting basic science, a legitimate university isn’t the place for him.

Let him apply to school worthy of his talents. I’m sure he’ll make the short list whenever Liberty University needs a new leader.

Texas School Board Vows to Defend Plaques at Elementary Schools That Say “In the Name of the Holy Christian Church”

Last month, we learned that Mountain Peak Elementary School and Longbranch Elementary School in Midlothian, Texas both had religious plaques hanging near the entrances. They had been there for 17 years:

Dedicated in the year of our Lord 1997 to the education of God’s children and to their faithful teachers in the name of the Holy Christian Church

Soli Deo Gloria

It’s so obviously not legal, but it wasn’t until the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to district officials that they at least covered them up with duct tape while deciding their next steps. (The tape was quickly ripped down.)

One attorney for the Christian Right tried to defend the plaques (in a way he never would if they mentioned Allah) and suggested the schools keep them up because FFRF didn’t have the guts to sue:

Hiram Sasser, with the Liberty Institute, says the Constitution also forbids government hostility against religion.

“This type of religious censorship just because it happens to have religious references is really hostility to religion, and that kind of hostility should not be tolerated,” he said.

Sasser believes the school district shouldn’t back down before there’s a lawsuit.

“They probably are not going to bring a lawsuit, and until they do, there’s no reason to do anything with the plaques,” said Sasser.

Last night, the Midlothian ISD school board met to decide what to do: Remove the plaques or risk being sued?

If you listened to the ignorant masses who showed up for the standing room-only meeting, it was very apparent they saw these plaques as a promotion of Christianity, not understanding that that’s exactly why the plaques needed to go.

The Rev. Bennie Leonard of Liberty Baptist Church said neighbors have been holding prayer meetings and rallies to support the plaques.

“We’re just wanting to practice our faith here in the Bible Belt, and being able to express our faith is very important in this community,” Leonard said.

But the public schools aren’t a place for Christians to practice their faith. That’s what churches are for. It’s that simple.

So what did the school board decide?

It’s Texas. What do you think they decided?

… the Midlothian ISD school board vowed to keep two religious plaques uncovered for the foreseeable future.

“We don’t plan to take any further action to cover them up again,” said president Todd Hemphill. “Just rest assured, we are doing what we can as a school district, a public school district.”

So the plaques are still there. They’re still uncovered. There’s no plan to remove them or cover them up.

It’s time for a lawsuit.

I’m not sure who made the initial complaint, but if you have a child at those schools or work in the district, I hope you’ll step up. Feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like to be a part of this case.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

The Number of Atheist “Churches” is Set to Double in a Single Day

The Sunday Assembly, better known in the media for better or worse as the “atheist church,” plans to launch 33 new groups around the world — more than doubling its current size — in a single day.

Sunday Assembly crowd at Conway Hall in London (Credit: Jack Davolio)

On September 28, inaugural gatherings will take place in the following locations:

Belgium: Brussels
Canada: Toronto, Ottawa
France: Paris
Germany: Berlin, Hamburg
Netherlands: Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam
New Zealand: Christchurch
UK: Bournemouth, Glasgow, Lancaster, Norwich, Southampton, Swansea
US: Baltimore & Howard County, Bellingham, Bloomington, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus (no link yet), Denver, Detroit, Madison, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix. Pittsburgh, Rochester, Sacramento, Tulsa, Washington DC

They plan to launch 10 additional assemblies by the end of the year and 15 more will start up in 2015.

Whether or not you think these organized assemblies go against the unwritten “spirit” of atheism, they’re not going away anytime soon. For many attendees, they provide comfort and community that we’re accustomed to seeing only in church-like settings.

By the way, they help the community, too. On average, existing assemblies performed 154 hours of community service in the first half of this year.

So good luck to all the new assemblies. Hopefully, they’ll encourage more religious doubters to jump over to the atheist side.

12-Year-Old Kid Learns to Throw a Punch… for Jesus

Proving your manliness by beating someone up… and doing it all in the name of Christ? It’s a Mark Driscoll fantasy as well as the premise of Fight Church, which is being released today on iTunes and Video on Demand.

In the clip below, a 12-year-old prepares for his first big fight:

He says of his opponent:

… I’m going to go in there and rip this kid’s head off!

That’s the Christianity we all know and love.

Jesus: Lord of the (Boxing) Rings.

Skepticon Needs You!

The free, massive, amazing Skepticon conference in Springfield, Missouri takes place November 21-23, and registration is still open! (You’ll want to sign up before all the seats fill up, even though there’s no cost.)

Keep in mind that the reason it’s free is because generous atheists are willing to make donations to cover the costs. If you have some spare dollars, please consider chipping in, too!

The list of speakers includes a lot of fresh faces as well.

So, in summary, awesome people, awesome conference, and did-I-mention-it’s-free. Please help them out if can!

MSNBC Discusses Atheist Airman Who Doesn’t Want to Swear an Oath to God

Monica Miller, the attorney who works for the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, appeared on MSNBC today to talk about the Air Force service member who may be rejected from re-enlistment because he doesn’t want to sign an oath with the words “So Help Me God”:

For her first time on network television, I thought Miller did a great job of explaining the situation and coming off non-combative. I know this was MSNBC, but a lot of news anchors love to provoke outrage from atheist guests. You saw none of that with Miller.

When Attending Church, Always Bring a Smartphone

The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses why a smartphone is your friend at church:

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.