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 at Hollister Middle School in Missouri, this was the sight at lunchtime: That grainy cellphone footage shows Robert Bruce, a local chapter director for Christian group KLIFE, apparently leading a prayer in the middle of a lunchroom as students stand around him. It’s obviously something that administrators need to stop, and that’s why the Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to the District: Read more
If you’ve ever seen A Charlie Brown Christmas, you know it ends with Linus giving a very sappy, very Bible-based speech about the “true” meaning of the holiday: While that might be perfectly fine to watch on television on a cold winter evening, it absolutely doesn’t belong in a public school, where such proselytizing isn’t allowed. Read more
Because the Texas State Capitol has an open forum for holiday displays, here’s what the Freedom From Religion Foundation put up to counter the Nativity scene that was there this past December: That’s the Bill of Rights flanked by Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and the Statue of Liberty. The display also featured this sign: Just to reiterate: This was an open forum. FFRF applied for the space, just like everyone else, and they were given a green light. That is, until December 22, when Governor Greg Abbott ordered the whole thing to be removed. Read more
Let me set up this up for you: Last week at Cooper Elementary School in Rogers, Arkansas, a school board member, the assistant superintendent, the principal, the vice principal, all four of the school’s gym teachers, a State Representative, and a class of third grade students took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new fitness trail at the school. A nun blessed the event with holy water, which you can see in the screenshot below. There was even a formal prayer that the students were invited to participate in. How is any of this legal? That’s what the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants to know. They sent a letter to the Bentonville Public Schools this week documenting the event and demanding that this kind of proselytizing end immediately. Read more
