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.
Earlier this month, the Oklahoma State Senate approved a ballot measure that would allow citizens to vote on whether or not to put a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds. The previous monument, as you may know, was declared illegal by the state’s Supreme Court who said it violated the Oklahoma Constitution. Senate Joint Resolution 72 (the ballot measure in question) would repeal the part of the Constitution preventing public money from being used for religious purposes. But even that wouldn’t work since the U.S. Constitution explicitly forbids government endorsement of religion, which is all this would be. Not that I expect the state legislature to understand that. This is Oklahoma. You’ll find less logic in the government than clean water in Flint. Now, in an essay for the Stillwater News Press, National Committeeman for the Oklahoma Republican Party Steve Fair offers three reasons voters should support the ballot measure. None of the three make any sense. Read more
If there’s one thing we learned from the rise of Dr. Ben Carson this past year, it’s that you can be a skilled neurosurgeon and a complete idiot at the same time. You can graduate medical school and rise to the top of your field… while still denying evolution. You can be compared to a child molester and immediately turn around and endorse that person for President. We can all be walking contradictions, is what I’m saying. But it’s still weird to know that astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who was launched into space yesterday as part of NASA’s Expedition 47 team, is a Creationist. Read more
There are a lot of city councils and government agencies putting the words “In God We Trust” anywhere they can. It’s to the point where it’s not even a story anymore. But it is a story when city officials reject that idea unanimously, after hearing from local citizens who call the motto divisive. That’s what happened with the Board of Commissioners in Saluda, North Carolina: Read more
Given all the bad press the NFL (deservedly) receives, you have to applaud league officials for how they’re responding to Georgia’s House Bill 757, a.k.a. the “Religious Liberty” bill. The bill, which among others things would allow religious business owners to discriminate against LGBT customers, has already passed the House and Senate. It’s just waiting for a signature from Governor Nathan Deal. A lot of CEOs whose companies are based in Georgia are urging him not to sign it and turn his state into the next Indiana. They say it’ll hurt their recruiting efforts and impact their investment in the state. But none of those threats is as large or as visible as the NFL saying it might take Atlanta off the list for possible Super Bowl locations. That would be a damning prospect for a city that’s about to get a new stadium next year: Read more