Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1952

Pastor Steven Anderson Tells Women to Stop Idolizing Male Actors: “These Guys Are a Bunch of Sodomite Faggots”

It’s time once again for the Pastor Steven Anderson game. That’s where I click on a random part of his latest sermon and listen for a minute. If I hear him say something crazy, I post about it. If he doesn’t, I skip it.

His latest rant: “Marriage Advice.”

Here’s a glimpse at the 32:32 mark, where he goes off against women who have crushes on male celebrities:

We talk about men with their posters and… whatever they get into on the Internet. But you know what? It’s a two-way street with that, too, when women are idolizing these stupid faggoty actors. Right? And saying, like, “Ohh… Brad Pitt… Ohh… Johnny Depp… Ohh… Tom Cruise… Justin Beiber…” [Laughs] I just had to throw that in. “Keanu Reeves… Ohh… Leonardo Dicaprio… Ohh…” You know, shut up. These guys are a bunch of sodomite faggots… You’re idolizing him for being so manly… he’s an actor! He’s acting manly ’cause he’s an actor! In real life, he’s a queer, he’s a sodomite, he doesn’t even like women!

I think that’s enough hate speech from Pastor Anderson for one day…

If you play the game, let us know what you come across.

Embedded with the Fundies: How ISIS, a.k.a. the Islamic State, Recruits Children (and Bullies Adults Into Submission)

Yesterday, Vice News posted a completely engrossing documentary by a team in Raqqah, Iraq, the provisional capital of the new Caliphate that the fundamentalists of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, are trying to establish.

Warning: The video is full of the kind of overbearing, power-drunk antics we may expect when True Believers are emboldened by the temporary successes brought about by their own violent revolution. Woven into the Vice material is brief other footage of newscasts and images of slaughter, including ISIS enemies’ heads displayed on spikes (so this is definitely NSFW and probably NSFL):

What’s remarkable about the Vice video is the access. The camera team appears to be literally embedded with some of the fighters, including a Ray-Ban-wearing press officer, Abu Mossa, who isn’t above traveling to government strongholds to personally fire a rifle at his foes.

If you have only ten minutes, watch this excerpt that focuses mostly on the good-cop-bad-cop tactics that the Islamic State employs to indoctrinate and recruit young children.

Disturbing, mind-bending stuff.

Homeschooling Parents Argue That Standardized Testing for Their Children Goes Against Their Religious Beliefs

If you choose to homeschool your children in Campbell County, Virginia, you have to show evidence to the local school district that “the program provides a basic education as defined by law.” One way to do that is through standardized testing.

How homeschooling is supposed to work

Jeff and Stephanie Dent believe those tests go against their religious faith — they’re Universalists — and they don’t want their children to have to take them:

“Being subjected to the test itself makes them feel like they are being scrutinized. For them, spiritually, right now, it doesn’t feel right” said Stephanie Dent.

The Assistant Superintendent asked the Dents for notarized statements from their minister and other non-relative adults who can testify to the validity of their religious beliefs. That’s not the law, just the procedure the county has established.

However, the Dents don’t have a pastor. They no longer attend the local Universalist church.

Stephanie Dent says the Assistant Superintendent told her that, without those letters, he will recommend the board deny their request.

You may be wondering: What does Universalism have to do with standardized testing? I have no idea. And the Dents don’t really explain their reasoning, either. But, you know, it’s their religion and it has to be respected.

Legally speaking, though, they may have a case here. If they can be exempted with a signed note from their pastor, it seems like they should be able to get the exemption even if they don’t attend a church.

That said, it worries me that what they’re asking for is for the district to pay no attention to them whatsoever. Even if the Dents homeschool their children properly, it’s a system that would allow abusers to slip through the cracks.

The district could theoretically solve that problem by granting the Dents their exemption but finding another way to verify that their children really are learning what they need to be learning. They haven’t announced yet if they’ll go that route.

I asked the Home School Legal Defense Association for comment on this story last night, but I haven’t heard back as of this writing.

(Thanks to Brian for the link. Image via Shutterstock)

Doctor Lists Homosexuality As “Chronic Condition” In Man’s Medical Records

In Los Angeles, of all places, a man is suing his doctor and healthcare network for documenting his homosexuality as a “chronic problem” in his health records.

46-year-old Matthew Moore, who is openly gay, says that after a routine physical in April, 2013, Dr. Elaine Jones of the Torrance Health Association listed “homosexual behavior” as a “chronic condition” in his file. She later changed the terminology to a “chronic problem,” which isn’t any better.

Matthew Moore is suing his doctor and healthcare network for listing “homosexual behavior” as a “chronic problem” in his medical records

According to NBC4 in Los Angeles:

“It was infuriating. It was painful,” he said of his decision to sue. “It was another attempt by this doctor and this medical group to impose their agenda of discrimination and hate onto a gay patient.”

The diagnosis was classified under ICD Code 302.0, the designation for homosexuality under the broader category “sexual deviations and disorders.” Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 and is clearly not considered a disease by the vast majority of medical practitioners in the United States. Moore went home rightly outraged, mulled it over with friends, and then returned to confront the doctor.

“When I looked up Code 302.0 and it’s sexual deviancy or mental illness, and that code has been removed or suggested heavily not to be used since 1973,” Moore said in 2013. “My jaw was on the floor. At first, I kind of laughed, I thought, ‘Here’s another way that gay people are lessened and made to feel less-than,’ and then as I thought about it and as I dealt with it, it angered me.” …

When he asked the doctor how he could treat homosexuality, she said that it “is still up to debate” and that being gay is “still being thought of as a disease,” Moore said.

He wrote a letter of complaint to the Torrance Memorial Health Association and received a prompt apology:

“We would like to unequivocally state that the Torrance Memorial Physician Network does not view homosexuality as a disease or a chronic condition, and we do not endorse or approve of the use of Code 302.0 as a diagnosis for homosexuality,” Torrance Health Association Senior Director Heidi Assigal wrote to Moore.

The association also issued a media statement saying the designation had been used as a result of “human error” and claiming that “upon notification by the patient the record was corrected.”

At this point, Moore assumed everything was taken care of. But when he received a copy of his medical records this past May, “homosexual behavior” was still listed under “chronic problems.”

Now Moore is suing his doctor and the health network, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress and libel. The health network, meanwhile, continues to attribute the problem to human error.

On August 6, the defendants’ attorneys filed a motion to strike, arguing that Moore’s complaints were “vague and ambiguous.” The Torrance Memorial Physicians Network also blame the error on “highly complex software” used in creating the record.

But Moore’s not buying it. He said that he believed Dr. Jones felt homosexuality was a problem, adding that, “I don’t want any gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual [person] ever to hear from a doctor that their normal and healthy sexuality is anything other than that,” said Moore, noting that suicides among LGBT youth is higher than other groups. “Maybe we all just saved a life today.”

Claiming homosexuality is an illness is the number one way right-wingers have attempted to justify firing, imprisoning and even killing off LGBT people across the world. Maybe this egregious oversight was a clerical error, as the network claims, but when a doctor stumbles over her words to say that she still considers homosexuality a disease, we have a serious problem. Thankfully Matthew has the means to speak out, protect himself and help others avoid this awful situation in the future; not everyone is so lucky.

Creationist Science Teacher Strikes Again, Inviting Evangelist Speaker to His Public Middle School

In 1996, Washington (state) science teacher Aaron Mason showed a video promoting Creationism to his eighth grade students. He also brought in a guest speaker (Jim Marisch) to reiterate the idea that the world is only a few thousand years old.

He was punished without pay for two days… and that was it.

You would think that if Mason made another speaker recommendation, even today, it would be thoroughly scrutinized.

You would be wrong.

Last spring, Mason suggested bringing in “Ranger” Gary Horton (below) to speak to students at Cheney Middle School — and school officials said yes without inquiring into who Horton was.

So who is this guy? Check out this video of one of his assemblies, given at Bellville High School in Texas last September:

A few notable moments:

8:48: “Your children may attend a school that doesn’t educate. Your Christian values can’t be taught according to the state.”

14:17: “You know why the eagle should always be at the top of the flag? Do you realize the eagle shows you the character of God?”

52:29: “Who are you going to blame one day when you look at your whole life and realize you bought into the wrong things… in life? It’s gonna blow up in your face. And those in your family will suffer. I tell you, this is the battlefields you’re in today. But with the power of the living Christ in your life, you can overcome anything. By the way, Jeannie always wears a sweatshirt and it has her motto, from the Scripture of Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who give me strength.”

53:26: “… there’s only one way, one truth, one life, to prepare for eternity. And that’s to put your faith — your simple, childlike faith — in the work of Christ. Just ask him to be your savior.”

Somehow, administrators at Cheney Middle School missed all of that.

Horton is also the founder of a group called American Freedom Assembly and their website makes it abundantly clear that faith is a huge part of Horton’s public persona:

To Gary, the phrase “one nation under God…” is more than simply words in the Pledge of allegiance. Underlying those words is Gary’s understanding of his personal relationship to God through Jesus Christ, His Son, and how such a relationship can motivate each of us to accomplish great things for ourselves and our country.

With all that as a prelude, you’ll never guess what happened at the one hour middle school assembly…

[Parent Terry] Fiala found out about Horton’s speech after his daughter told him about several comments the speaker made to kids, including “If you don’t believe the holidays are motivated by Christian beliefs, you’re a coward” and referred to the children as “lambs, himself as the sheepdog and the Lord as his shepherd.”

…

“Apparently the school thought I would not mention anything about what I believe and what I’d die for,” said Horton, who believes his right to freedom of speech trumps the separation of church and state. “I’m convinced after all these years that the Constitution still protects my right to stand up for what I believe.”

Fiala was rightfully furious and he said as much to the administrators at the school, but so far they’ve only offered him a private apology. (He wants something more public.) The principal also sent an angry letter to Horton, which was reprinted in his newsletter:

My assistant Nicole met with you and clearly outlined what she wanted you to talk about and what topics YOU NEEDED to avoid. Your blatant disregard for our wishes was disappointing to say the least.

A man with your patriotism certainly should understand the law of the land explicitly provides for separation of church and state. You took advantage of a captive audience to deliver a message that we did not ask for, and one that is not even legal to promote in a public school.

Your references to religion throughout your presentation were unacceptable. Your lack of acceptance for people who believe differently than you has no place in schools.

I am stunned that you keep getting asked to speak at public schools and can assure you that I will do everything I can to make sure that other public schools don’t make the same mistake that we made, allowing you into our school under false pretenses.

I appreciate that letter. I want the administrators to send a version of that to all parents in the district. (Though it does partially incriminate them — If Nicole had to tell Horton what *not* to say, it suggests that they knew he had a habit of bringing up his faith at assemblies.)

I also want them to explain to parents what steps they’re taking to make sure people like Horton are never invited to speak at their schools again.

And I want to know what punishment Mason will receive this time. It’s not his first offense and you know damn well he was aware of what was going to happen.

If the administrators want forgiveness for what they claim was a mistake, there are simple steps they can take. Right now, they’re not doing any of those things, presumably hoping everyone will just let this die away. It shouldn’t and we won’t. A public apology would go a long way to regaining the trust of the community, a trust they’ve violated more than once now.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Dr. Bart Ehrman Speaks About How Jesus Became God

Why post one Bart Ehrman video when I can post two?

The Bible scholar spoke about his personal philosophy, why he’s an Agnostic, and his latest book How Jesus Became God at the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s regional convention in North Carolina this past May:

My favorite line (around the 16:25 mark): “My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition. A fundamentalist is no fun, too much damn, and not enough mental.”

If any particular moment stands out to you, please leave the timestamp/summary in the comments!

Secular Group Showcase: The Central New York Humanist Association

We asked you to tell us about your local secular group in an attempt to encourage the start-up and growth of “good without god” communities. We’ve received a lot of responses already (Thanks!) and here’s a glimpse at our next group: The Central New York Humanist Association in Syracuse, NY.

“Several of our members attended the first Atheist Invocation at the Town of Greece on July 15th to show support to Dan Courtney as he spoke. We proudly stood with the other atheist groups from New York and displayed our “1 in 5” signs during the press conference to demonstrate a strong, united group of secular citizens.”

You can read more of our interview here.

…

Want to be featured in this series? If you can fill out most of the questions below, your group is probably a good candidate to be showcased on our page. We hope to hear from you! E-mail submissions to SecularGroups@gmail.com!

Group name:

Location:

Mission Statement:

Links to group’s Facebook. website, Twitter, etc.:

When was your group established?

What does your group do for fun to connect with each other?

What community/volunteer activities does your group participate in, if any?

What political/social activism does your group do, if any?

Does your group have a favorite charity to fundraise for or promote?

Do you have any stories to share about your city having a positive reaction to your group?

What are some challenges your group has faced?

What advice would you like to share with other groups struggling to grow or are just starting up?

**Please attach some photos of your group as a whole, in action, and having fun**

Just Like That, U.S. Navy Says Bibles Must Be Returned to Base Hotel Rooms

Earlier this week, following a warning from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM), which runs more than 40 Navy Lodge hotels across the world, agreed to remove all the bibles from their rooms.

That didn’t mean bibles were banned — guests could always bring in their own copies or request one from the front desk. But the default setting of “let’s promote Christianity in Navy hotels” was finally turned off.

Or so we thought.

Today, the Navy announced to Stars and Stripes that the bibles would return to the hotels rooms — First Amendment be damned — at least for now:

“That decision and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review,” Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes. “While that review is under way, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned.”

They may be acting on the advice of retired Chaplain Col. Ron Crews, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, who was furious that FFRF had the bibles removed. The the Christian Post quoted him earlier today:

“A Bible in a hotel room is no more illegal than a chaplain in the military. They are there for those who want them“…

“There is nothing wrong with allowing the Gideons to place Bibles in Navy lodges, which it has done for decades at no cost to the Navy. Our service men and women are often away from home, sometimes for long periods of time. It’s perfectly constitutional and legal to allow the Gideons to provide, at their own expense, this source of comfort for service men and women of faith.“

Except it’s not constitutional unless other groups are allowed to place their own religious (or non-religious) literature in hotel rooms as well, and there’s no indication that any other group will receive that privilege. There’s just no good, legal reason to keep bibles, and only bibles, in the rooms.

And who wants to bet that Crews would be flipping out if copies of the Koran were found next to those bibles?

It’s sad that the Navy is dithering on this issue. There’s no telling how long this “review” will take, and the process to get in line with the law was already underway at several hotels. There was no reason to stop it.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Measles is Deadlier Than Ebola, so Why Are People Still Not Vaccinating Their Kids?

Eli Federman, writing at Forbes, points out that Measles has a far deadlier recent history than Ebola currently does, and yet it’s fear of science that’s allowing both diseases to thrive:

Western anti-vaxxers are just like the tribal people protesting against modern medical intervention to treat Ebola in Sierra [Leone]. Both groups oppose safe modern medical intervention, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence of its benefits, and both are foregoing treatments that have saved millions of lives in the 20th century, and could save countless more in the future.

We know there’s no definitive cure for Ebola yet, but Federman writes that properly quarantining patients would go a long way to preventing future outbreaks and it doesn’t help that one family “forcibly removed” a patient from the hospital in order to take her to a traditional herbalist. Meanwhile, we know vaccines could stop the spread of Measles, but anti-science forces are convincing people not to give shots to their kids.

This is why science education matters. This is why we must continue to be vocal when religious groups try to dumb down science standards or talk show hosts make bad arguments against vaccination.

There are real life consequences.

(Image of Ebola via Shutterstock)

Christians on Twitter Call for Reform in How the Church Responds to Depression and Mental Illness

Growing up in evangelical Christianity, mental health problems (and even strong emotions) were often dismissed as “needing Jesus” instead of legitimate medical issues. Post-partum depression was written off as lack of faith in God’s calling to motherhood. Bipolar disorder was written off as a lack of self-control. OCD was dismissed as if it was normal. Anxiety was lack of faith and discipline in prayer. Suicide was a sin driven by selfishness. Grief was indulgent. Anger was sin.

As a result, those needing actual help from friends, therapists, mentors, family members, and other potential sources of support were isolated by the stigma and shame of their struggles.

Today, in many Christian colleges, if you’re caught cutting or evidence an eating disorder, you’re more likely to be punished with suspension or expulsion than you are to get adequate and non-judgmental mental health care from experienced professionals.

Most Christians will urge you, if you admit to “struggling” (as if it was your fault or a temptation!) with a mental health problem, to go seek help from a “Christian counselor,” which usually does not mean a licensed therapist with adequate medical training to deal with the intensity of many mental health issues people face.

Even if mental illness is acknowledged by the church, you’ll find that the common ways of talking about it fall into categories that are still ignorant and unhelpful: mental illness is the “result of the fall” (you just need Jesus to fix it!), mental illness is a sign of spiritual issues (uhh…), mental illness is something to rejoice in because it is one more way for God to meet you in your weakness and show how awesome he is (Just. No. I refuse to celebrate horrible things as if God planned them).

This week, following Robin Williams‘ death, the discussion of depression and suicide featured prominently as a topic of discussion in Christian circles, with many bloggers coming forward to own their experiences with depression publicly. This was response grew astronomically louder after a popular Christian dudebro blogger, Matt Walsh, wrote an insensitive post about Williams, saying:

… I can’t comprehend it. The complete, total, absolute rejection of life. The final refusal to see the worth in anything, or the beauty, or the reason, or the point, or the hope. The willingness to saddle your family with the pain and misery and anger that will now plague them for the rest of their lives.

It’s a tragic choice, truly, but it is a choice, and we have to remember that. Your suicide doesn’t happen to you; it doesn’t attack you like cancer or descend upon you like a tornado. It is a decision made by an individual. A bad decision. Always a bad decision.

The resulting outrage and grief over Williams was a trending hashtag on Twitter started by blogger Luke Harms, called #faithinthefog. Under this hashtag, the Christian Twittersphere rallied for reform in the response to depression and mental illness by the evangelical church.

I’m encouraged by this response and by the conversation as it unfolds. I’m encouraged to see many conservative Christians who I might disagree with on a lot of things finding common ground in their outrage against perspectives on depression like that expressed by Walsh.

This conversation also comes closely on the heels of ministry thought leader Rick Warren’s February announcement of a new ministry focus on mental illness, called Mental Health and the Church.

This is such a positive conversation, and the numbers participating in it are large enough to make me optimistic that the American churchgoer will no longer have to hide in shame and isolation when the black dog comes to call.

By the way, if you are struggling with depression and suicidal ideation, free and confidential help is available at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

(Image via Shutterstock)