This week Jon Stewart’s Daily Show featured a segment on Mary’s Gourmet Diner in North Carolina with the (hilarious) correspondent Jordan Klepper. The controversy arose because Mary’s offers a 15% discount to those who pray before their meal. This was enough to raise the ire of Dan Barker, author of Godless, and co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. In his interview with Klepper, the hapless Barker went on to compare the restaurant’s “discrimination” against those who refuse to pray as a civil rights issue akin to slavery or segregation. Before he was done he even raised the specter of genocide. While Klepper identified himself as an atheist in the segment, he concluded that Barker was just being a “dick”.
If you are living in the United States you can watch the segment here and draw your own conclusions. (If anybody finds the segment publicly available on another platform like YouTube or Vimeo, please post a link.)