Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1938

D. J. Grothe is No Longer President of the James Randi Educational Foundation

In a brief press release issued late this afternoon, the James Randi Educational Foundation announced that its Los Angeles offices would be closing to save some money… oh, and by the way, D.J. Grothe is no longer the JREF President:

In order to achieve cost-savings and greater efficiency, the Los Angeles office of the JREF has closed effective September 1, 2014. All operations have been moved to Falls Church, Virginia.

DJ Grothe is no longer with the JREF. James Randi has taken over as acting President.

This restructuring is part of an enhanced educational agenda aimed at inspiring an investigative spirit in a new generation of critical thinkers by engaging children and their parents, as well as educators and the general public, in how to think about the many extraordinary claims we hear every day.

Talk about burying the lede… The big question is whether the second paragraph is connected to the third, or whether Grothe was let go (or resigned) for other reasons. (He had no shortage of critics.) A quick look at JREF’s 990s also shows a pretty significant decrease in revenue over the past few years and that responsibility usually falls on the leader.

Grothe didn’t immediately respond to my request for comment, so I would just add that it’s likely only the JREF board and a few staff members actually know all the details. Until we hear from them, consider everything else you read or hear speculation.

There’s no word yet on how any of this restructuring will affect The Amazing Meeting conference, who will become JREF’s next President, or what Grothe will do next.

Friendly Atheist Podcast Episode 13: Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein, Directors of An Honest Liar

Our latest podcast guests are Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein, directors of An Honest Liar (the documentary about James Randi):

Jessica spoke with them about the movie, the archival footage they found, and Randi “victims” psychic Uri Geller and televangelist Peter Popoff.

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!

Is This Pastor Being Honest About What He Said at a Secular Event?

In 2013, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, spoke at a conference called Awaken Now.

In a clip that just came to my attention, Rodriguez explained how he was invited to pray at a large secular event in Washington, D.C. with “a couple hundred thousand people” that was sponsored by a famous “television personality.” Turns out he wasn’t the only religious leader invited. In fact, a Muslim, a Jew, and a Universalist minister were also asked to pray.

Rodriguez didn’t like that one bit. So not only did he mock the very idea of interfaith worship to the event’s organizer(s), he used his speaking time to proclaim the superiority of his beliefs to everyone else’s (much to the delight of the Christian crowd he’s speaking to in the clip):

(The man applauding at the 1:31 mark is *way* too excited about Rodriguez admitting he’s a jerk.)

Anyway, here’s a simple question:

What event is Rodriguez talking about?

A major secular event in D.C. with hundreds of thousands of people?! There had to be cameras around. If there were cameras, there’s video. And if there’s video, it’d be easy to confirm that he actually said what he claims he said.

If not, then that’s a pretty big lie to tell the Christian crowd… hell, it’d be downright “unbiblical.” Sure, it wouldn’t be the first time a pastor stretched the truth, but this seems like a pretty easy thing to verify or debunk.

So what was the event?

I thought it might be the 2012 Republican National Convention (even though it doesn’t fit the description), but his speech there sounded nothing like the one he talked about. I also couldn’t find any speech that fit the description on his YouTube page.

I sent an email to the NHCLC (Rodriguez’s group) asking the same question, but I haven’t received a response yet.

(Thanks to Steven for the link)

With Germany Changing How It Collects the Church Tax, Many Are Leaving Their Churches Altogether

If you live in Germany, then you’re aware of something called a Church Tax.

As far as I can understand it — forgive me if I screw this up — here’s how this works: When you pay your income taxes, a portion of it (8 or 9%, depending on where you live) is set aside by the government for your place of worship if you’re Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish. (If you’re a theist, you almost certainly fall into one of those categories.) This amounts to several billion Euros for the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant (Lutheran) churches.

What if you’re not religious? No problem. That money won’t go to a church. In fact, you won’t have to pay the amount at all! But in order to be exempt, you have to officially declare that you’re not a member of those religious groups.

Recently, the government decided to simplify the process. Instead of you paying all your taxes, and the government taking some money out of there and handing it over to the proper place of worship, they’re having the nation’s banks do most of that work:

Under a simplified procedure starting next year, banks will withhold that premium from church members earning more than 801 euros ($1,055) in capital gains annually and pass it on to tax authorities for distribution to the churches.

In other words, the banks will withhold the money right off the bat and give that amount directly to government officials, who will then hand it over to the houses of worship. It streamlines the whole process, without there being any change in how much money is given.

One German reader explained the situation this way:

The company you work for knows whether you belong to a church with “public corporation” status, so they send the income tax and the church tax (if it applies) to the finance office. The banks didn’t know about your religious affiliation, so they automatically sent taxes on your interest to the finance offices. They didn’t send a church tax on interest to the finance offices, so you could easily evade that church tax on interest, and almost everyone did.

Beginning next year, the banks will get automatic notifications about your religious affiliation, so they can also send the church tax on interest to the finance offices. This caused some stir in Germany due to our strong privacy laws. People didn’t want their bank to know their religious affiliation.

Guess what’s happened since the banks informed people of that change?

People started leaving their churches in droves:

The first half of 2014 saw a further upsurge of people leaving both the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany.

Ten thousand Protestants formally left their Church in Berlin, more than the total number in the whole of 2011 and 2012, and in Catholic Bavaria 14,800 left between January and June compared to 9,800 during the whole of 2013.

(And that’s on top of all the Catholics who left the Church earlier after learning about the “Bishop of Bling.”)

It turns out when you can see the money the bank is withholding right there in front of you (as opposed to it being a percentage of a larger sum that’s already out of your hands) — and you have a choice between keeping it and signing it over to your church — many people are realizing they don’t take religious that seriously. (One reader informs me that part of the issue is that many Germans didn’t even know about the Church Tax until they received the letter from the banks.)

The Catholic Church says that those who opt out of the Church Tax won’t be able to receive the sacraments, get married in the Church, or even have a religious funeral.

But if you were only nominally Catholic to begin with… who really gives a damn?

Some clergy have accused financial advisers of telling clients to quit their churches if they don’t want to pay up…

…

“… [The churches] should ask themselves why such a personal decision as belonging to a church is reduced to the issue of capital gains tax,” said Thomas Lange of the local banking association in Duesseldorf.

It raises an interesting question: If the United States said a portion of your taxes would be going to your church if you designated one, how many Americans would suddenly declare themselves non-religious (or at least without a church)? I suspect the percentage of “Nones” would rise up significantly.

It seems many Germans call themselves religious for the same reason we do — it’s tradition — but when push comes to shove, they’re admitting they don’t need their house of worship that badly.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Scott for the link and thanks to my German readers for helping me understand the basics of the law)

Jewish Lev Tahor Sect, Where Child Abuse Is Allegedly a Way of Life, Gets Kicked Out of Guatemalan Town

When we last featured the mega-Orthodox Jewish group Lev Tahor, a Canadian cult, on this site, it was over credible allegations of systematic child abuse.

For instance:

[A] member told police about beatings with sticks, crowbars, whips and belts… A witness said he saw a woman struck in the face because she refused to wear the burqa-like outfit for women that has led some media to deride the group as the Jewish Taliban. Girls who were 13 or 14 were disciplined by being held in house basements while girls who were 14 and 15 were married to adult men, the police documents said. Children were also taken from their biological parents [and assigned permanently to other families in the sect] if the sect’s leader deemed they were not taught properly.

Lev Tahor’s rabbi and convicted felon Schlomo Helbrans

Lev Tahor’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans (pictured), has a record that we’d call odd for a self-proclaimed man of God, if it wasn’t for the fact that crimes against children are rife within patriarchal religions and sects.

[He] was convicted of kidnapping a young boy and served two years in a U.S. prison before being deported to Israel in 2000. He fled to Canada the following year on a temporary visa and was later granted refugee status.

When Canadian law enforcement began to investigate the latest child-abuse cases last year, the alleged perps fled from Québec to Ontario. That, predictably, didn’t end their legal troubles, so they began to look for farther-flung destinations, and decided on the Guatemalan town of San Juan La Laguna.

They didn’t exactly endear themselves to the local population — so much so that the entire group of 230 Lev Tahor fundies has now been told to scram.

The town’s Elders Council voted last week to force the group to leave because they say some members of the sect have mistreated indigenous residents and tourists in the area. Antonio Ixtamer, who lives in the community, said that several members of the group had upset residents because of their arrogant attitude. He said several times members of the Lev Tahor community would go into stores and pay whatever they wanted for the products rather than the marked price. He said they also bothered tourists. “On one occasion there was a tourist taking pictures of a hill and the Jews thought he was taking photos of them and they clashed,” Ixtamer said. “This is not normal behavior in a community that lives off of tourism.”

Also,

Miguel Vasquez Cholotio, a member of the elders’ council, said the villagers decided to expel the group because they refused to greet or have physical contact with the community.

Lev Tahor members claim they are the misunderstood victims of anti-Semitism, and that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Stop Reshelving Books Just to Get a Laugh

You’ve all seen an image like this before, of a Bible moved to a more entertaining section of the bookstore:

I’ll admit: I laughed the first time I saw that (a long, long time ago…). But as I wrote several years ago on this site, it’s an asshole move:

Most bookstore workers have nothing to do with where books are filed. They do need to know where the books are shelved, though, if customers ask. And if atheists (or others) reshelve them, it would just frustrate staff members that have nothing to do with the placements in the first place.

Yesterday, Nancy French, an evangelical blogger on this site, posted that her daughter did something similar in response to seeing a Fifty Shades of Grey display. You can see the picture here, but basically, she put Bibles in the section marked “After Fifty Shades/What We Recommend.”

Hilarious.

Again, I get the joke. (I’d probably think it was funnier if I were a 15-year-old evangelical.) But it’s just causing more work for the staff — not converting those who supposedly need it. (Plus, I’m almost positive that Christian women make up a sizable segment of the Fifty Shades crowd to begin with…)

Does French think the picture at the top of this post is funny, too? If not, what’s the difference?

I would suggest you let her know, but she closed the comments after the first few criticisms rolled in…

Jesus and God Take the #IceBucketChallenge

Turns out Jesus and God took the #IceBucketChallenge (or, I guess, one person took it twice?) and DarkMatters2525 was there to document the whole thing:

But who did they nominate…?!

There’s a Reason They Call Him “Amazing”

The Miami Herald‘s Glenn Garvin had a wonderful profile of James Randi in yesterday’s paper:

Hesitantly, I wondered aloud whether what the mediums were doing was really so bad, if it wasn’t simply bargain-basement psychological counseling. Letting heartbroken children think that the spirits of their dead parents live on and are happy, in return for a few dollars? Helping them let go and move on, is that so wrong?

“It’s wrong because it’s never just a few dollars, they’ll continue to spend money,” insisted Randi. “They’ll want to know more, talk more. But the message will never get beyond ‘I’m here and I’m fine.’ If you ask mom’s spirit a question like, ‘Where did you leave the will?’ you’ll never get an answer like ‘It’s behind the kitchen cabinet.’ Instead, it’ll be ‘Oh, golly, honey, I have to go now.’ Because the medium can’t answer it…

“It’s not wrong. It’s evil. I don’t recognize the concept of sin, but I know evil when I see it.”

If that doesn’t get to the heart of the problem with “psychics,” I don’t know what does.

Don’t forget to check out some of the videos they shot for the piece, including this magic trick:

It’s not just the magic that’s captivating; it’s watching Randi perform it. There’s just this joy he exudes. I’ve been fortunate enough to see it in person and it’s still going strong even at the age of 86.

Is This the Police? I’m Calling Because There Are Atheists Several Feet Above Me…

In order to promote their new Secular Together program — kind of like a godless church service — some members of the Triangle Freethought Society in Raleigh, North Carolina visited a highway bridge on Friday with banners in hand:

While they got a lot of honks (which I assume means approval in this case), someone must have called the cops on them because one came by, helped them roll up their banners, and asked them to leave. The atheists are coming back, with permit in hand, later this week.

Two quick thoughts about that:

1) I can’t decide if that form of activism is helpful or harmful. I was driving in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and saw a pro-life group do something similar. I ignored it, but not before thinking to myself, “Well, that’s annoying.” Then again, there’s a big difference between condemning people for a personal decision and saying, “Come join us! We’re good people, too!”

2) What on earth did that caller complain about?

The Secular Together website offers one theory…:

“I saw one in Raleigh. He was on a bridge and he wasn’t believing in God! Please send emergency vehicles! He has friends and he is waving! They’re above us! They’ve taken to the skies! Please help!”

Hilarious. The TFS group is actually sponsoring a contest where people can call in and stage their own reenactment of a 9-1-1-There-Are-Atheists-on-a-Bridge message.

We would love to hear your version. Think about how that call went and perform your rendition for our voicemail. The winning entry will win an awesome trophy, $100 dollars in cash and will be played during our first Secular Together event on September 14th!

All the contest details can be found here. Good luck

Muslim Cleric Makes “Joke” During CNN Sound Check, Gleefully Rattles Off the Dates of Various Terror Attacks

Hold on to your sides.

At 9:57 into this video…

… CNN host Brian Stelter asks the reliably despicable Anjem Choudary:

“When we were setting up for our interview here, the audio engineer asked you to count to ten to check the mic, and you started to do that — but then you said 9/11, 7/7, 3/11. Is this all some sort of joke, to do that?”

Choudary shrugs and tells Stelter to get a sense of humor.

Yeah, the killing of 3,220 innocents is comedy gold for sure. I’m just rolling on the floor with uncontrollable laughter. How about you?