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.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an important update on what’s happening with the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education (in California). This is the school district that was indistinguishable from a church service, with members frequently leading explicitly Christian prayers and reading Bible verses. A judge ruled last month that these prayers were unconstitutional and ordered the School Board to put an immediate stop to them. It was a good thing he did that, too, given that the Board was already on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which brought this case forward. But at least the problem was solved, right? Of course not. These are Christian martyrs we’re talking about! Read more
I’m not a hair expert. My only conversations about hair boil down to, “Please cut it short.” But I’m pretty damn sure that there are no demons in anyone’s weave. That, apparently, puts me at odds with several women in Memphis who believe that hair extensions are cursed and that explains why thieves have been killing people in stores that sell hair products. Read more
Somehow, a scientific paper was published on PLoS ONE — an “international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication” — that suggested our hands were created by a Higher Power. The paper was all about how are hands (wait for it…) are really good at grasping things. Along the way, however, the authors said this evidence pointed to a divine “Creator.” Three different times. Read more
At his 70th birthday party, Richard Dawkins read a poem that appeared at the end of his autobiography Brief Candle in the Dark. It included several allusions to poets and poems that meant a lot to him. Dawkins released a video yesterday in which he read the original poems which formed the basis for his own. So if you like classic poetry, this one’s for you: Read more
