Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1956
August 10, 2014
August 9, 2014
Greek Orthodox Priest Helps Prisoners Buy Their Freedom
With all the criticism we levy at priests on this site, we’re not above giving credit where it’s due, and Greek Orthodox priest Gervasios Raptopoulos had been doing something truly wonderful for decades now.
In Greece, if you’re convicted of a petty crime (which we’ll say means you’re sentenced to less than five years in prison), you can pay a fine in lieu of going to jail. As is the case with many people convicted of things like minor drug offenses, though, they can’t afford to pay the fines.
That’s where Raptopoulos steps in:
… Raptopoulos has devoted his life to paying off the prison terms of penniless inmates.
…
Gervasios’ charity allocates up to 500 euros ($675) for each prisoner they help, but the amount needed varies.
Sometimes a small sum goes a long way.
“Once, we gave a man 8.5 euros, which was what he lacked to gain his freedom,” he said.
“But in exceptional cases we have gone over our limit, giving up to 10,000 euros (13,500) for one prisoner. He was ill and had many children.”
Because of the recent recession, donations to his charity have plummeted, meaning even more prisoners who commit non-violent crimes are left to fend for themselves. It’s not everyone’s idea of ethical, but if you’re so inclined to support what he does, here’s the charity’s website (in English).
Raptopoulos is clearly guided by his faith, but there’s no reason secular people couldn’t do the same acts of charity.
(Thanks to Scott for the link)
Once Again, Florida County School Board Candidates Grilled on Their Religious Beliefs
Remember how, last week, there was a forum for candidates running for seats on the School Board of Highlands County (in Florida)? The five candidates from District 5 all answered questions at the Avon Park Lakes Baptist Church… because that’s where public education should be debated.
This week, they held the forum for candidates from District 1. And guess what? Once again, the focus was on their religious credentials:
Again, the questions were more spiritual in nature, with the leadoff poser inquiring candidates about their denomination and current church attendance.
[Charlene] Edwards said she is a long-time Lutheran and currently attends Resurrection Lutheran Church in Avon Park. [Al Joe] Hinson said he is a member at St. Martin Missionary Baptist Church.
“We are not a member of a church, but our faith runs very, very deep,” Amy Jackson [speaking on behalf of her husband, incumbent candidate Ronnie Jackson] told the group assembled in the sanctuary.
Both Hinson and Edwards agreed that the nation was founded on Biblical values and morals, with Hinson citing the “In God We Trust” motto on U.S. currency.
This is how some cities select their school board candidates.
‘Merica.
(Thanks to Brian for the link)
Baptist Church Cancels Man’s Funeral After Finding Out He’s Gay
When his husband Julion Evans died at age 42 of a disease called amyloidosis, Kendall Capers (below) did what any respectful partner would do. Honoring his husband’s family traditions, he planned for a funeral service at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida, the congregation Julion’s family belongs to.
But the night before the funeral, Julion’s mother received a phone call from the church. The funeral was abruptly canceled after church officials saw Julion’s obituary listing Kendall as his “surviving husband.” The church refused to hold a service for a married gay man, calling it “blasphemous.”
And they told Kendall and Julion’s family the night before.
T.W. Jenkins, the pastor of New Hope, told WFLA over the phone that his church does not believe in gay marriage. “I try not to condemn anyone’s lifestyle, but at the same time, I am a man of God and have to stand upon my principles,” he said.
Evans’ family members were devastated by the news, with his mother too upset to speak to reporters on the phone. “Regardless of our background, our sexual orientation, how can you wait that long and put someone in a bind when they’re going through a loss?” said Capers.
The couple had been together for 17 years and were recently married in Maryland.
“It’s not like we woke up and said, ‘let’s be gay,’ someone we were born with and we’ve dealt with it for me, 40 years, him 42 years, and we make the best possible choices,” said Capers to WFLA.
The Huffington Post did some digging and found that New Hope sings an ironic welcome song during services:
Welcome. Welcome. Please won’t you stand.
As we great you by clapping our hands (clap, clap).
Welcome. Welcome. We’re so glad you came.
Welcome. Welcome. In Jesus’ name.
While the church’s actions clearly aren’t “welcome, welcoming” of LGBT people, Kendall’s going to pay it forward and honor his late husband’s memory, while sharing his story to ensure others don’t endure such an awful experience. Here’s what he told Fox Tampa Bay:
Now, Capers says he says he is starting a foundation to research the particular kind of deficiency his late husband had. In the meantime, he wants to spread the word about what happened.
“I know there are other people that are probably going to be in the same shoes Julion and I were in. I feel like it’s a wrong doing, and nobody should be in those shoes,” he said.
This is not the first time this has happened, and it will certainly happen again. The worst thing we could do is to ignore every daily instance of discrimination as if it were white noise. Props to Kendall for speaking out about his experience during such a tragic time, and I wish him and his partner’s families all the best.
Vassar College Ranked Least Religious College in America by the Princeton Review
The Princeton Review just released its 2014-2015 annual college rankings in a variety of categories, and when it comes to the least religious students in the country, Vassar (below) takes the top spot.
Here’s where the schools rank:
The Least Religious Schools:
1Vassar CollegePoughkeepsie, NY2Lewis & Clark CollegePortland, OR3Pomona CollegeClaremont, CA4Reed CollegePortland, OR5Bard CollegeAnnandale-on-Hudson, NY6Bennington CollegeBennington, VT7Sarah Lawrence CollegeBronxville, NY8Skidmore CollegeSaratoga Springs, NY9Emerson CollegeBoston, MA10Bard College at Simon’s RockGreat Barrington, MAIn 2008, Vassar was only ranked 9. Way to improve your godlessness!
And here are your most religious schools:
1Brigham Young University (UT)Provo, UT2Thomas Aquinas CollegeSanta Paula, CA3Wheaton College (IL)Wheaton, IL4Hillsdale CollegeHillsdale, MI5Gordon CollegeWenham, MA6Grove City CollegeGrove City, PA7University of DallasIrving, TX8College of the OzarksPoint Lookout, MO9Texas A&M University — College StationCollege Station, TX10Calvin CollegeGrand Rapids, MIWhere did these rankings come from?
Both lists are based on students’ answers to the survey question: “How religious are students at your school?”
Any surprises on the list?
I was a little thrown off that the colleges we tend to point to as super-religious — like Bob Jones, Liberty, or Regent — weren’t on the list, but for whatever reason they weren’t among the 379 schools included in the count.
(Thanks to Brian for the link. Image via Jonathan Feinstein / Shutterstock.com)
Who Knew the IRS Had a Secret Pact with Atheists?
Last month, after getting hit with a lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the IRS finally said it would enforce their own rules and go after pastors who endorsed political candidates from the pulpit.
Because churches have non-profit status, those endorsements were illegal — but since the IRS was looking in the other direction for the past few years, many pastors not only took advantage of the opportunity, they flaunted it by mailing the IRS videos of their endorsement sermons.
Since then, I’ve seen a lot of Christian websites claim that the IRS is now stifling pastors’ free speech rights, which is just the Christian Martyr Complex in action. Pastors can say what they’ve always been allowed to say. The only difference is that the rules they have to play by — the same rules all non-profits have to play by — are now going to be enforced.
But this Facebook message by a group called ForAmerica (with more than 5,000,000 Likes) was especially surprising:
The IRS made a secret pact with atheists to go after almost 100 conservative churches across the country. When will the IRS stop targeting Christians and Conservatives!?
There’s a secret pact?! Shit, I had no idea! If there is, what do we get out of it, because I haven’t gotten my prize money or perks.
I can’t tell if these conservative Christians are just completely ignorant of why the IRS settled this lawsuit or if they’re purposely deceiving their followers. You’d think Christians would be opposed to lying, but they seem to have no problem with it when it means stirring up an even more gullible fan base.
The comments on that Facebook thread are no better, with some people claiming the country’s problems would be solved if only we would put a Christian in the White House (because, you know, Obama is a secret Muslim)… and people like Lawrence J Mcdonald claiming non-believers should just be killed.
There’s political Christianity for you: a lie, a threat, and no interest in following the Constitution.
(Thanks to Alix for the link)
Bible Parody Book Author Skips Conference After Receiving Death Threats, but Attendees Are Honoring Him Another Way
A couple of days ago, I posted about how “Horus Gilgamesh,” the author of a book called the Awkward Moments (Not Found In Your Average) Children’s Bible documenting many of the Bible’s little-known verses, had received death threats in advance of his appearance at this weekend’s Atheist Alliance of America’s annual convention in Seattle.
The writer of the threats said he’d see Horus at the conference.
At the time Gilgamesh said he was still going to attend, and conference organizers told me they had taken safety precautions. However, yesterday, Gilgamesh changed his mind:
He notes that atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris often travel with a security detail due to death threats, but says, “I’m just not comfortable with the idea of a stranger putting themselves in harm’s way — all because of my lack of belief.”
Despite not being there, there’s a wonderful showing of solidarity at the conference this weekend. Many attendees are wearing nametags with “Horus Gilgamesh” on them, sending a Spartacus-like message to “God’s Little Helper.”
Gilgamesh writes:
When word got out this morning that I cancelled my public appearances in Seattle due to security concerns, conference speakers and attendees began sending photos of themselves sporting nametags that read, “Hello. My name is Horus Gilgamesh.”
This left me not only speechless, but in tears.
…
… I don’t actually feel silenced, just annoyed by the timing and circumstances that forced me back-out of the event at the last moment, letting down all of the amazing organizers and supportive fans. Aside from skipping the convention, this situation has done nothing but further strengthen my resolve and I’m not going anywhere!
With profound appreciation,
Hello. My name is Horus Gilgamesh
Beautiful.
Children’s Home Fires Gay Social Worker For Having a “Lifestyle That is Damaging to Kids”
The Children’s Home of Lubbock (in Texas) says its goal is “to make life better for children who need to see that caring and love do exist in a world that has often been unfair and unjust.”
Apparently, caring and love only exist for straight people.
Casey Stegall, fired from his job for being gay
Casey Stegall, a Texas Tech University student, was fired from his position as a social worker at the Christian home after introducing teenage students to his fiancé last month. Lynn Harms, president of the organization (who has a fitting last name), said Stegall was “presenting a lifestyle that is damaging to kids” by expressing romantic feelings for another man.
“As a faith-based, church-related outreach providing welfare services, if you will, to children and families, there is a set of biblical values that we adhere to and live by,” Harms said. “When you are implementing life training and so forth — particularly with children — to put a confused message out there is counterproductive.”
Harms further argued that because the children who stay at the care center come from difficult home circumstances, some of them even having experienced sexual abuse, they are more “vulnerable” to homosexuality. Therefore, having LGBT employees around is too much of a threat to the kids.
“It gets garbled in terms of sexual identity, sexual preferences, fears, concerns, re-traumatization,” he argued, promoting the behavior of other gay employees at the Children’s Home who “fly under the radar.”
“If you want to try to force our culture to meet your expectations, that’s not going to go well,” Harms added. “I don’t feel like the culture here has to meet an individual’s desire for the world to be different.”
This invokes the age-old, not-at-all-true idea that gay people are sexual predators, and it’s horrifically offensive — especially because there are undoubtedly LGBT kids in this program who could really use a role model like them.
Lubbock psychologist Dr. Brian Carr also criticized Stegall’s firing in an interview with the Avalanche-Journal Friday, characterizing Harms’ reasoning as “prejudicial and completely inaccurate.”
“There is no effect — that’s ludicrous,” Carr said. “He is combining the idea that people who are gay also have to have some sort of history of either being sexually molested or being sexual molesters, and that is not true.”
There is no state or municipality law in Lubbock banning anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace, so Stegall’s firing is perfectly legal under Texas law.
In spite of this setback, Stegall and his fiancé both consider themselves “church-attending Christians” who “read the same Bible you read” and “believe in the same God you believe in.” This case is another example of why I don’t understand LGBT folks who stand behind churches that cut them down time and time again. I wish Stegall and his fiancé the best, and that includes finding a group (religious or not) that will actually accept them as they are.
New Mexico City’s Ten Commandments Monument Must Come Down, Says Judge
In 2007, Bloomfield (New Mexico) City Council member Kevin Mauzy proposed that citizens should be allowed to put a Ten Commandments monument in front of the city’s municipal building. The council accepted his proposal, even though nothing happened at the time.
In 2011, Mauzy was no longer on the council… and he suggested putting a Ten Commandments monument in front of the city’s municipal building. (Isn’t that convenient?) The five-foot-tall granite monument was privately paid for and erected by July 4 of that year.
But thanks to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of two local Wiccans, that monument won’t be there much longer. District Court Judge James A. Parker ruled on Thursday that the monument violated the Establishment Clause, adding:
From the beginning, Mr. Mauzy signaled to the public the connection in his mind between the Ten Commandments monument project and the Christian community by fundraising through local churches exclusively, rather than through a variety of local civic organizations. Mr. Mauzy further underscored the religious nature of the Ten Commandments monument through his planning and organization of a dedication ceremony, which had numerous religious components.
Mauzy turned out to be his own worst enemy. Judge Parker even made this point:
While Mr. Mauzy testified that he erected the Ten Commandments monument for “historical” instead of “religious” purposes, Mr. Mauzy’s religious statements have thoroughly eclipsed his putative “historical” message.
Parker included a footnote shortly after that, which pointed out another misstep by Mauzy:
At trial Mr. Mauzy testified that he views this lawsuit as an attack on his religious freedom, thereby reaffirming the impression that the Ten Commandments monument was meant to communicate a religious message.
It’s great to see a judge toss aside the argument that a Ten Commandments display is “historical” when it’s clearly all about promoting religion. At the end of the ruling, Parker explained all the ways this monument could’ve been allowed:
For example, had the Ten Commandments monument been established last in the series of monuments, after placement of the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, and Bill of Rights monuments, the First Amendment may not have been offended. Had the Ten Commandments monument been arranged at the rear of the north lawn near the municipal building complex, with the other three monuments (consisting of six tablets) in front of it, the Ten Commandments monument may have passed muster. Had the Ten Commandments monument been installed without a dedication event or with a ceremony absent religious overtones, the ultimate conclusion may have differed. Had the City of Bloomfield adopted the amended policy permitting monuments first, with language clearly allowing only temporary residence of a monument, the result might have changed. Any variation in the many factors in this proceeding could favor the Defendant instead of the Plaintiffs. Nevertheless, the Court decides that the legal precedent, by which it is constrained, mandates a ruling that the Bloomfield Ten Commandments monument violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Good thing Mauzy didn’t have the sense to surround the Ten Commandments with other actually historical displays.
The City of Bloomfield has until September 10 to remove the monument. They have 30 days to file an appeal, but it’s hard to envision a scenario in which they’d win. At this point, they’d just be wasting city resources.
The ACLU of New Mexico’s Executive Director Peter Simonson explained that this was a victory for everybody because it protected the First Amendment and even offered a classy adieu to the monument:
… the government should not be in the business of picking which sets of religious beliefs belong at city hall. We hope that the Ten Commandments monument will find a new home on private property in the city where people can continue to enjoy it.
Give it to a church. That’s where it belongs and where it should’ve been in the first place.
(via Danthropology)
Why Did Canadian Border Officials Make This Unreasonable Religious Accommodation?
If you’ve ever traveled internationally, you know that when you land, you have to wait in line, go through customs, hand over your passport, and make some small talk with the agent while you wait for the passport to get stamped. A bit annoying, but hardly a big deal.
It’s a very different situation from a security check when you first get your ticket. In that situation, you can make a few requests. Don’t want to walk through the metal detector? No problem. An agent will just pat you down. Don’t want to do it publicly? No problem. They can take you to a separate room. The TSA makes clear, though, that the pat-down will be done by someone of the same gender.
You can understand why they would do that, but would the same-gender issue matter when you’re going through customs?
Apparently it did for a group of Hindu priests in Canada. What’s more is that the Canada Border Services Agency accommodated the request:
The [CBSA] officer said she and her colleagues — whose job involves screening passengers for entry into Canada after they arrive on international flights — were told before their shift not to switch work stations with other officers without first asking a supervisor.
“The reason given was that there were five individuals coming in who had requested only to be served by male officers,” said the CBSA officer in an exclusive interview with CBC’s Nil Koksal.
The five male travellers who made the request to CBSA are Hindu priests, called sadhus. Sadhus follow a strict lifestyle that requires them to avoid any contact with women.
…
The CBSA officer told CBC News that managers took steps to ensure the sadhus were processed separately and were only interviewed by male officers.
The issue isn’t about the religious reasons for their request (who cares?), but about how far the government should be bending over backwards to accommodate their wishes.
As the article states, would the same accommodation have been made if this was a white supremacist group not wanting a non-white officer? What about if an evangelical pastor didn’t want an officer wearing a turban? Where should the line be drawn, and how did this not cross it?
The CBSA hasn’t answered that question. In fact, their “code of conduct forbids officers from speaking to the media without approval from management,” which is why the whistleblower had to remain anonymous.
I’m also trying to figure out how the Hindu priests managed to do any of their traveling while avoiding women at all times. Were the flight attendants women? The pilots? The people sitting near them on the plane? The person who issued them tickets? The person who checked them on board the plane? Did they make the same requests then? If they didn’t, why would they make the request of the customs agent?
In all of those cases, no one would even think about telling the women to step aside. This isn’t a temple; it’s an airport. The sadhus live in a society where women and men (mostly) have the same jobs and they need to figure out how to deal with it. If they want to self-segregate within their temples or homes, so be it, but they can’t expect everyone else to act like their beliefs are acceptable.
There’s a place in our society for reasonable religious accommodation. This, on the other hand, is completely unnecessary and sets a bad precedent.
(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Cecil for the link)
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