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.
Our latest podcast guest is Lyz Liddell, the Executive Director of the Reason Rally Coalition. Before her current job, Lyz worked with the Secular Student Alliance and played a large role in the Openly Secular campaign, which got celebrities like Bill Maher, Arian Foster, and Barney Frank to talk about how they’re not religious and encouraged others to join them. I spoke with Lyz about the newest slate of speakers at the Rally, how she balances the competing agendas of the various atheist groups participating in the event, what she’s learned from a decade in the movement. Read more
Last month, Iowan Justin Scott asked Republican Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz why atheists should consider voting for him. The response left a lot to be desired. Cruz went off on a monologue about how he hoped Justin would find God before eventually saying he supported freedom of speech and religious freedom. Even though, for Cruz, that amounts to supporting people like Kim Davis who want to use Christianity to deprive others of their civil rights. Now, in an interview on CBN’s The Brody File, Cruz attempts to moderate his beliefs, saying he’s “not running to be Pastor-In-Chief” and that he’d be a good President for atheists, too: Read more
I was smoking my pipe at the edge of a park that had been infested with Word of Life preachers, when young girl approached me. She was about sixteen, short and cute and lightly pimpled. Full of confidence, she smiled, looked me in the eye and asked, “Are you sure you’re going to heaven?” I took a pull on my pipe — pipes are great for dramatic pauses — and said, “I sure hope not. All the good musicians are in hell. I like Handel’s Messiah and I’m sure the angels do a kick-ass version, but it would get tiresome after a few days. I want to hear Hendrix and Jerry Garcia and Stevie Ray Vaughn and Janis Joplin and Keith Moon and The Ramones, and I’m sure none of them are in heaven.” Read more
