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.
For the past couple of days, rumors have been flying around on the internet that Bill Nye would be “debating” Sarah Palin after a screening of the film Climate Hustle, the work of climate change-denier Marc Morano. The debate, as you might have figured out, was never going to happen. Nye wasn’t even going to be on the post-screening panel, much less arguing about the subject with Palin. Nye’s appearance was limited to being shown in a clip from the movie. But now that the rumor is spreading, Nye seems to think this would actually be a good idea, tweeting this yesterday: That sound you hear is the collective groan of sensible people everywhere… Let me walk you through my entire thought process after hearing Nye was interested. Read more
Last weekend, Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson gave the opening prayer before NASCAR’s Duck Commander 500 race in Texas. His invocation included a wish that a Christian man make his way into the White House: In addition to all the problems in that invocation, motorsports enthusiast Dave Moody found something else profoundly disturbing about it. It confirmed every stereotype outsiders have of NASCAR culture. Read more
Perhaps the saddest aspect in the scandal involving former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is that he can’t be prosecuted for allegedly molesting kids because the statute of limitations expired a long time ago. In an excellent Daily Show segment a couple of nights ago, Trevor Noah discussed how there is a push in Connecticut (and elsewhere) to eliminate the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases so that predators can’t get off on a technicality. But there’s opposition to the law coming from — you guessed it — the Catholic Church. Read more