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.
While Pope Francis is getting plenty of attention for his slam on Donald Trump, it may be the other thing he said with more long-term ramifications. Speaking to reporters earlier today, the Pope said that, since the Zika virus has been linked to children born with birth defects, maybe contraception isn’t such a bad idea after all. That would stand in stark contrast to what local Catholic leaders in affected areas have said. They irresponsibly stuck to the party line opposing both birth control and condoms. But the Pope eased the rhetoric on the latter, suggesting it may not be the worst thing in the world, without actually saying anything of the sort. Read more
Why does Donald Trump have so much support from evangelicals? Simple. Because they’re taken in by his bravado and arrogance way more than they care about what he thinks when the doors are closed. But Bryan Fischer is still under the assumption that evangelicals would vote for the most evangelicaliest candidate. So he’s stunned that they’re not going for Ted Cruz (or Mike Huckabee, when he was still in the race). Don’t worry, though. He has a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this. Satan caused it. Read more
Shawna Cox is one of the anti-government protesters who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon recently. She’s been charged with conspiracy along with more than a dozen of her colleagues, but she has a plan to fight back. In a counter-lawsuit filed yesterday, she claims that the U.S. government is working for the devil and asks for $666,666,666,666.66 in damages. Read more
When it comes to religion in government, there are a couple of ways we’ve seen a lot of city and county officials try to merge the two worlds over the past few years: They allow invocations at meetings (knowing most of them are Christian) and they allow displays on government property (most of which promote Christianity). For the most part, these are both legal — as long as everyone is given the opportunity to participate. In other words, Muslims and atheists and Hindus and other non-Christians must be able to sign up for those invocations slots, just as they must be permitted to put up their own displays. It’s when only Christians get this opportunity that lawsuits are filed by church/state separation groups. But assuming the law is being followed, we know how secular groups have responded. We’ll sign up to deliver invocation speeches, and we’ll fill out paperwork to put up banners at City Hall, and we’ll try to get a Flying Spaghetti Monster display up next to a courthouse Nativity scene. It’s all in the spirit of inclusivity and fairness — and the invocations are often really beautiful. I love seeing these atheist groups fight fire with fire and I’ve covered many of these stories on this site. But there’s an argument to be made that “playing nice” in this case is the wrong way to go. Instead, we shouldn’t be saying invocations at government meetings at all. Courthouses shouldn’t be sites for religious or non-religious banners. You know what? That’s a fair point. It’s all or nothing, and some people would rather choose nothing. But since government officials aren’t going to end invocations on their own, for example, the only way to force their hand is by giving on that’s so obscene and over-the-top that they decide to end the practice entirely just to prevent it from happening again. Sometimes the mere threat of delivering such an invocation can get them to change their ways. This is the path that Chaz Stevens has taken. And he’s been fairly successful with it. Read more
