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.
There was a very interesting tidbit earlier this week in an article about Hillary Clinton’s trip to Madison, Wisconsin. After holding campaign events, Clinton stopped by a local store called Anthology where she bought a few items: … including a red, chunky necklace, a couple pins and a print of a Neil deGrasse Tyson quote: “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” That would be this print right here: Read more
When conservative Christians realized that they could get away with putting “In God We Trust” on police cars and fire trucks and city halls, you knew it was only a matter of time before things got even more out of hand. In Malvern, Arkansas, outside the Hot Spring County Courthouse, there’s now a large monument with the phrase on it: Read more
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that Donald Trump thinks (at least for a few minutes) that abortion should be banned and women who then have them should be punished in some way he hasn’t determined yet. It could be worse. Christian extremist and one-man hate group Theodore Shoebat says that women who have abortions are “sluts” who deserve the death penalty: Read more
Earlier today, an overpass in India collapsed in the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), killing at least 22 people as of this writing. The death toll goes up by the hour. Why did it happen? We know why bridges usually collapse. Poor infrastructure. Infrequent (if any) maintenance. In this case, however, the bridge was still in the process of being built — which suggests the problem lay in its very construction. Now, at least one senior official at the company that was building the overpass says God did it. (So, you know, don’t blame them.) Read more
We know conservatives want to see legalized abortion banned. We know conservatives frequently call abortion “murder.” Hell, abortion providers have been assassinated by Christians for helping people with a procedure that, by the way, plenty of evangelical women have obtained. After all that, is it really any surprise that Donald Trump, who never bothered to study these issues that he suddenly cares so much about, would say that women have to be punished for having an abortion if the ban ever went into effect? It’s simply the logical end to all that conservative rhetoric: Abortion is murder, and murderers must be punished. At least “Coach” Dave Daubenmire, an anti-choice conservative, is consistent on this matter. He wants abortion banned. When that happens, he wants women who have abortions punished. And he thinks Donald Trump — at least the version of Trump who didn’t “clarify” his comments later — is the “most pro-life candidate of them all.” Read more