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.
A few days ago, I posted about how a “God Bless America” sign outside the post office in Pittsburg, Kansas had been taken down after the Freedom From Religion Foundation pointed out (on behalf of a resident) that it was essentially government endorsement of religion. That didn’t sit over well with residents, so they decided to fight back in a way that has conservatives cheering. The website Twitchy used the clickbait-y headline, “Atheists Bully Small Town to Remove God Bless America Flag, What Happens Next Will Lift Your Spirits.” What exactly did the people of the town do? Read more
Now that hate-pastor James David Manning is on the verge of losing his church over unpaid debts, it looks like he’s saying anything he can before his 15 minutes expires. And the fact that the Ali Forney Center, a place for homeless LGBT youth, may purchase his building is only sending him more quickly over the edge. Read more
It was last July when all the scandals with the Duggar family finally hit the fan and TLC officially canceled their reality show 19 Kids and Counting. It was surprising, really, that it hadn’t happened earlier, immediately after it was revealed that Josh Duggar had been accused of molesting five girls (including four of his sisters) when he was younger — while some of them were sleeping, no less. TLC stopped airing episodes of the show in May, when the story became national news, but there was question of whether the Duggars had appeared on TV for the last time. As we soon learned, TLC wasn’t going to let this cash cow run dry anytime soon. They aired a special in August called Breaking the Silence that focused on two of Josh Duggar’s victims, Jessa Duggar Seewald and Jill Duggar Dillard. You could make the argument, though, that this was okay since it was all about what the girls went through; the show wasn’t promoting their family. That soon morphed into a three-part series called Jill & Jessa: Counting On. Again, the focus was on the victims and their lives. Not the full Duggar family. But this week, news surfaced that TLC had announced the return of 19 Kids and Counting. Read more
The podcast Oh No, Ross and Carrie! features the hosts, Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy, going undercover into different places and reporting on their experiences. They’ve done it with 9/11 “Truther” groups, Mormons, and exorcists. And now, for their latest episode, they’ve joined the Church of Scientology. Read more
