Hemant Mehta is the founder and editor of FriendlyAtheist.com, a YouTube creator, and podcast co-host. He is a former National Board Certified math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. He has appeared on CNN and FOX News and served on the board of directors for Foundation Beyond Belief and the Secular Student Alliance. He has written multiple books, including I Sold My Soul on eBay and The Young Atheist's Survival Guide. He also edited the book Queer Disbelief.
At an elementary school in northern Italy where a Catholic mass has long been the traditional way to begin the school year, the headmaster’s decision to eliminate the ritual is angering several parents — and a local politician — who have gotten used to the idea of their faith being pushed on the children. Read more
When The Satanic Temple announced that they would be starting up After School Satan, their version of a voluntary religious club for kids, the reaction was swift. People freaked out at the thought of Satanists doing exactly what Christians do all over the country. Now, officials in a Washington State school district are admitting they have no legal authority to stop the club from forming, despite the overwhelming pushback from parents. Read more
Atheist Ireland just became the first explicitly non-theistic advocacy group to speak in front of the full UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and leaders of the group used the opportunity to denounce their nation’s blasphemy laws, ban on abortion, and religious discrimination in public schools. Read more
When administrators at John Battle High School in Virginia let the Student Council Association design a t-shirt for Homecoming week, they didn’t realize that the winning entry had a Christian cross on the bottom. They decided to remove it — to make sure they weren’t promoting religion and inviting a lawsuit — and that move has prompted a strong reaction from students and parents who are ignorant of the law and who believe the school is somehow infringing upon their rights. Read more