Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1962

Why is the Rosenberg Police Department in Texas Pushing to Put “God Back in Our Schools”?

I have a question for the Rosenberg Police Department in Texas: How the hell is it okay to post this on your official Facebook page?

Despite asking if people agree with the sentiment, it’s still a weird thing for a police department to post.

But what’s worse is that it’s edited. The original version was the same image with the the word “AMEN…,” a clear indication they endorsed the idea. It looks like once they started getting backlash within the comment thread, they changed it to a more neutral-sounding question. But they seem unaware that Facebook tracks your edits and the public can see them:

Someone should tell them to change their Twitter feed, too:

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. No one ever took God out of public schools. Students and teachers are allowed to pray (privately) all they want. They can even read the Bible during their free time. What’s not allowed is teacher-led prayer, school-promoted Bible readings, and the like.

Anyway, Chelsea Hoffman picked up on this story and summarizes the concern:

Since this Texas police department is a government body, it had absolutely no business — legally — encouraging and promoting the Christian god in public schools. This clearly deteriorated trust that non-Christian members of this community had in their police to some degree.

She’s right. It’s not just about separation of church and state. There’s a genuine worry here: If the police department doesn’t take the First Amendment seriously, how can they be trusted to protect the law in other instances?

Faking a Baptism Just to Fit In

This was on PostSecret this week:

I have to believe the secret-writer isn’t alone. How many of you just went along with the church crowd so you wouldn’t stand out?

Does Anyone Really Know God?

Religious people love to tell atheists we just need to open our hearts to God and that we just don’t understand His ways, but DarkMatters2525 shows us that even they have no clue what God is really like:

Money line: “Religion obeys borders while truth does not.”

Shocking that culture and geography have that much of an effect on what we know God, isn’t it?

Brazil’s Evangelical Christians Are Gaining Political Power

There’s an anti-abortion, anti-gay evangelical Christian running for President.

Old news? Sounds like it, until you realize it’s happening in Brazil, and they’re rehashing arguments that sound like they’re coming right out of the Bible Belt:

At a public school in the town of Nova Odessa, in the Sao Paulo state countryside, bright-eyed 6-year-olds read words off a blackboard.

If a group of evangelical local city councilmen have their way, these children will be required by law to read verses from the Bible to learn their letters. The proposal has already been passed in the council and is waiting for the mayor’s approval.

Teachers at the school, who spoke off the record for fear of inflaming the situation further, say public schools in Brazil traditionally do not allow religious discourse. The country — like the U.S. — is a nation of immigrants. There are Jews, Muslims, Candomblé practitioners, Buddhists and others here. The teachers worry that imposing one viewpoint would make others feel discriminated against.

As it stands, evangelicals are a relatively small proportion of the country’s government. An NPR report says they make up “14 percent of deputies and 5 percent of senators in Brazil’s National Congress.” The problem is they’re growing quickly, and if voters keep putting them into office, the country’s going to move even harder to the right.

We’ve seen the consequences of that in the U.S.

Brazil, don’t be like us. Fix the problem while you can.

(Image via Filipe Frazao / Shutterstock.com. Thanks to Deanna for the link)

The Pentecostal Revival in Rwanda

Foreign Policy has an article running about religion in Rwanda twenty years after the 1994 genocide, and the trend is fascinating. According to the piece, Charismatic or Pentecostal Christianity is on the rise, as survivors are leaving Catholicism for the more emotional (and more American) version of the Christian faith.

They tell the story of Rebecca Umwali, who survived the genocide by a stray bit of luck and who believes that she fell possessed by demons afterward:

#502767003 / gettyimages.com

“It was a world of bad spirits. They put an evil spirit into my body and then they sent it back out into the world.” For the next five years, she says, her body wandered the land, causing ill wherever it could. “I had the power of causing accidents on Earth. The demons gave me that power.”

It took her five years to fight her way back. She suffered terribly, she says. But one day she encountered a group of Pentecostal Christians who prayed for her release from the powers that plagued her. With their help she finally found release, and “accepted Jesus as my king.” At age 17, she converted from her ancestral Catholicism to the Pentecostal Church, a move that finally brought her “inner peace.” Today she travels around the country, telling her story at emotional revival meetings where listeners respond ecstatically to her account of personal redemption. “After the genocide we had many different emotions,” says Rebecca. “Everyone was looking for the place where he can get healed, get peace, and where he can pray.”

I find this fascinating, but not surprising. Religious revivals are cyclical things, occurring every couple generations in some form. The Pentecostal version of faith is typically what draws the new converts, often those coming out of a musty and stale and more “traditional” or formal expression of Christianity. It’s kind of the counterpart to American evangelicals leaving their nondenominational churches for more liturgical, intellectual church traditions after experiencing spiritual abuse.

Pentecostal Christianity strongly appeals to victims of abuse, desperate for certain emotional catharsis and healing and security. This flavor of Christianity, heavy the idea of on God knowing you intimately and speaking directly to you and providing you with intense spiritual experiences through the Holy Spirit, scratches that itch (the need to be known and loved after trauma) quite well. It also lends itself to recovering addicts, as it creates a dependence on faith experiences for sustaining of belief much like a replacement addiction.

Pentecostal theology is also appealing to those who have experienced great financial instability, as it is closely tied with “prosperity gospel” teachings, where one’s relationship with God is treated like a contract: he’ll fix your life and put you back together and provide for you, if you follow his rules and devote yourself to him in a way that pleases him.

And, finally, the growth of pentecostal Christianity in Rwanda isn’t an isolated incident — it’s been a growing movement in Africa as a whole for the last decade. We’ll see more of this happening in years to come.

With $1,000,000 on the Line, Check Out How JREF Designs an Experiment to Test Someone’s Supernatural Powers

Every year during The Amazing Meeting, the James Randi Educational Foundation allows someone who claims to have supernatural powers the chance to win $1,000,000 right then and there by proving his or her skills. There’s a large audience watching the experiment, even though the only person who believes in the claimant’s powers is the claimant.

But it’s not purely for shits and giggles. There’s actually a rigorous process leading up to the big event, involving both sides agreeing on what the experiment will be and what it would take for the supernatural powers to be “proven.”

Richard Saunders elaborates:

The first hurdle to overcome was to make sure that the subjects of the test, those who were to be on the receiving end of Mr. Wang’s powers, were ultimately unaware when or if Mr. Wang was sending his power. At first the idea was to set an aluminium partition on a table, with a subject on one side and Mr. Wang on the other. There would be two holes in the partition through which the subject could extend their hands, coming to rest inside two boxes. Mr. Wang could then ‘work’ on either the left or right hand, sending his energy through the box, without the subject knowing.

In our first meeting with Mr. Wang on Thursday, we realised that he found this arrangement unacceptable as he claimed that the power or energy would travel from his right hand, through the box, into the the left hand of the subject and keep going out the other side into the right box! Banachek, Jamy, Chip, Mr. Wang and I, all walked around the room for sometime with our hands on chins, voicing ideas, arguing the merits of each, going back to the drawing board and so on. Then the idea came up that the screen or partition (by which time was agreed could be made from cardboard) be at an angle so the energy would miss the other hand of the subject as it was being projected. We also toyed for a long time with the idea that Mr. Wang and a ”placebo clamant”, ie. someone with no special powers, would approach the subject at the same time, one working on the right hand, the other on the left. These ideas bounced around the room for the next couple of hours as we changed this and that, drew diagrams, and argued the small points.

This all goes to remind us all of how complex and involved these preliminary tests can be, especially when you consider that we are also constructing a live performance for an audience. But the overriding consideration during the whole process was to ensure that Mr. Wang was in agreement and comfortable with what we were suggesting. He, like any other claimant at this stage of the planning, had the right to veto what we put forward. I must say that we found Mr. Wang to be very helpful and polite throughout and was understanding of what we were trying to achieve.

It’s a really fascinating glimpse into what goes into designing a science experiment, with the input of the person who will be tested, all with a million dollars on the line.

It certainly throws cold water on the theory that the whole Million Dollar Challenge is rigged by JREF to prevent anyone from winning.

How Believable is This Story of a Christian-Turned-Atheist-Turned-Christian?

Personally, I’m not particularly keen on labels and I don’t identify at all with the popular forms of atheism I’ve seen online, so I’m not quite sure how to gauge this recent post on RELEVANT Magazine about Mike McHargue, a Southern Baptist deacon who became an atheist… and then became a Christian again two years later.

Here’s the meat of his story:

One day I said this during prayer: “God, I don’t know why I’m praying. You aren’t even real.” Just like that, I was an atheist, and I spent the next two years living a lie. I pretended to believe in person, while advancing humanism on the Internet. I know that sounds silly, even duplicitous, but I really wanted to help people.

A Deacon can’t just show up at church and say they don’t believe in God anymore. Plus, I found hundreds of people on the Internet who were losing their faith like I was, and I wanted to help them adjust to finding meaning via means other that belief in God. It’s harder than it sounds.

But God wasn’t done with me. Even though I didn’t believe in any god, God reached out to me standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. In that moment, reality seemed like a veil that was stretched taught [sic]. I could make out the glory of God on the other side, and it moved me. I felt connected to God, and through God to all my fellow humanity. It was beautiful, and it changed my life forever.

It also left me confused. I know I couldn’t have experienced God if He didn’t exist. I spent two years climbing back into Faith. I had to start over, learning who God is and how I can be a part of God’s work.

Everything described is so… vague. Was he ever really an active atheist? If so, on which websites? What exactly changed his mind? I mean, my difficulties with faith after spiritual abuse aren’t fixed by looking at the Pacific coastline three blocks away from where I work. It’s beautiful, yes, but how did that change his mind? And is his experience one he expects will make sense to anyone else?

McHargue said on Ryan Bell‘s blog that his piece was heavily edited for length and flow, but there’s no indication that the answers to those questions were the parts that were cut.

What do y’all think? Genuine? Click-baiting with a buzzword? Just testing the longevity of his faith by dropping it and then coming back to it as soon as it felt fresh again?

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo: We Shouldn’t Give Tax Incentives for the Noah’s Ark Theme Park

I mentioned earlier this week that the folks behind the Creation Museum were working on “Ark Encounter,” a Noah’s Ark-based theme park, and the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority just gave preliminary approval for tax incentives that could be worth more than $18,000,000:

The incentive program’s rules say that if preliminary approval is granted, the authority would then select a consultant — at Ark Encounter’s expense — to study the project to see if it meets the program’s criteria, including that the project get at least 25 percent of its visitors from out of state after four years and having an overall positive impact on the state budget.

After the consultant’s analysis is complete — a process that takes six to eight weeks — the authority would meet to consider final approval.

Because this is a religious project with the intent of proselytizing, groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State are threatening a lawsuit if final approval is given.

This week, even Kentucky’s House Speaker Greg Stumbo expressed that this just sounds like a problem waiting to happen:

Stumbo said he understands that Grant County needs more economic development but that the use of state incentives is unconstitutional “because it erects a monument with the help of state money theoretically that is recognized by a majority religion in this country.”

He quickly added that he believes in that religion.

“But there is separation of church and state,” and the state cannot pick one religion over another, Stumbo said.

He predicted a legal challenge against the incentives, “and we’ll end up losing the lawsuit as a state, and we will have to pay legal fees to ACLU or whoever it is.“

It’s worth noting that Gov. Steve Beshear is also a Democrat like Stumbo, but he supports the Ark Park.

Stumbo’s political opponents are already denouncing his comments:

State Rep. Brian Linder, R-Dry Ridge, expressed disappointment Thursday over House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s comments this week that the state should not provide tax incentives for a Noah’s Ark theme park in Grant County.

…

“While Kentucky continues to lose jobs to places like Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas, Speaker Stumbo chooses to attack an economic development project in my community by encouraging lawsuits on tax incentives,” Linder said.

…

Linder called Stumbo’s comments about the park and religion disingenuous.

“While the speaker has an issue with a religious theme park receiving tax incentives to provide jobs, he apparently has no problem occupying a chair in the House chambers that has, in large letters, the motto ‘In God We Trust’ behind it,” he said.

Linder is just talking out of his ass. Stumbo isn’t encouraging a lawsuit. He’s warning state officials that that’s what could happen if they make a foolish decision. Linder, on the other hand, seems to not care about what the Constitution says if a ministry could bring in money to the state.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Texas County’s Tax Assessor-Collector Decides to Print “In God We Trust” on All Documents

You know what the problem is with having “In God We Trust” on our currency and having it displayed in city council halls all over the country?

It’s just not enough for some people.

In Texas, Tarrant County Tax Assessor/Collector Ron Wright has taken the liberty of ordering a new printing plate for envelopes and tax statements just so he could put the religious motto on everything.

Wright said he had been thinking about adding the motto for about the last year. When there was a notice the office needed to order more envelopes, he decided it was a perfect time to add the phrase.

So far, the county has had only received one phone call from someone upset by the addition. Wright said some may see it as a religious statement, but he also sees it as patriotic. President Eisenhower signed a law making “In God We Trust” the national motto in 1956.

“I think it was more seeing the elimination of the phrase and how things that have been iconic to us and have been important to us historically because of lawsuits and things like that,” Wright explained/ “People are almost afraid to mention God anywhere officially.”

Fear isn’t the problem. The problem is that people who know it’s illegal to promote religion through the government are hiding behind the fact that it’s also our motto to make it happen. (Why is it our motto? Because government officials pushed it through in the 1950s when God was basically given a free pass through Congress for any and all reasons.)

Wright is using the Motto Defense to give a big middle finger to all the atheists in the county, and he’s using his office to do it.

(It’s a little odd, too, that this comes from the tax assessor, given that the Bible has something to say about the mixing of God and mammon.)

I’m sure there’s more than just one person upset by this. Maybe those people don’t know that the number to Wright’s office is 817-884-1100. (Be polite if you call, but be clear about why this is a problem.)

(via Raw Story. Thanks to Brian for the link)

The Decline of Religion in America as Seen Through a Handful of Graphs

Tobin Grant at Religion News Service has a delightful series of graphs showcasing the “Great Decline” of religion in America in recent years:

The statistics teacher in me has to remind everyone that the decline isn’t as steep as the graph suggests — the vertical axis doesn’t begin at 0% — but a ten percent drop in the number of people identifying with a religious label is still pretty damn amazing.

The other graphs show a decline in church attendance, church membership, and how important people say religion is in their lives.

The best part? There’s no sign that the drops have leveled off yet. There’s every reason to believe they’re going to keep falling for some time.