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.
In news that will interest the handful of people who care about such things, the two major sellers of audiobooks for atheist audiences have announced a merger. Before today, there were only two companies that produced and distributed audiobooks specifically by atheist authors. As opposed to major publishers, who might take that step for a mainstream book written by someone like Richard Dawkins, Atheist Audiobooks and Pitchstone Publishing have been producing that content for years now for atheist authors (myself included) who weren’t making audio versions of their content for whatever reason. Read more
Three favorite expressions that saturate the pious language of Christian fundamentalists are “biblical values,” “biblical principles,” and “biblical worldview.” For example, the stridently anti-marriage-equality restaurant chain Chick-fil-A asserts that their operation is based on Biblical values because they condemn birth control, divorce, and same-sex marriage — plus they’re closed on Sundays. Similarly, Dave Ramsey’s franchised Financial Peace University purports to be a “biblically-based curriculum that teaches people how to handle money God’s way.” Thousands of other so-called Christian businesses derive their values, principles, and world-views from a highly selective and thoroughly misleading reading of scripture, disregarding all of the terrible material that predominates in holy writ. One common theme stresses the “biblical three Rs”: repentance, redemption, and reconciliation. But the true overarching theme is actually punishment, punishment, punishment. To be effective defenders of the secular perspective, Atheists must be prepared to attack the Christian perspective at its point of greatest vulnerability, which is the Bible itself. Rather than just playing defense against the endless assaults by fundamentalist zealots, it is essential to go on the offense, armed with knowledge about the errors, terrors, and contradictions that permeate “God’s word.” This article summarizes nine categories of basic facts that should be useful to Atheists who find themselves entangled in Bible discussions. Of course, there is no substitute for actually reading the so-called “good book,” which is exactly what many Christians do not do. “Good book” is a monstrous misnomer for this detestable compilation of holy horrors. These nine categories are roughly ordered chronologically, from the beginning to the end of the scriptural story. Read more
