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.
If you were to attend a meeting of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education (in California), you’d think you were at a church service. The members frequently lead explicitly Christian prayers and read Bible verses: Here’s the good news: All of this may finally be coming to an end. Read more
A couple of weeks after the Mormon Church opposed a medical marijuana bill that could help ailing patients, one Utah legislator is saying the Church is responsible for denigrating a hate-crimes bill that would help LGBT individuals. State Sen. Steve Urquhart, a Republican Mormon, blamed the Church for getting in the way of SB107: Read more
Lawrence Krauss says on the New Yorker’s website that President Obama should nominate an atheist for the Supreme Court. It would at least be a counter to the Catholic/Jewish Court we have right now. His point is that we need a justice who will be logical and rational and make decisions based entirely on secular law without any religious influence: Read more
It was nearly a year ago that atheist author Avijit Roy was attacked and killed by Islamic extremists while leaving a Bangladeshi book fair. What does that book fair look like now? Well, nobody is selling Roy’s books this year. And one of the stalls has been shut down because owners were selling a book that questioned Islam, thereby offending “religious sentiments.” Read more