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.
Reader Justin Scott, an Iowan who takes his politics seriously, has been going to meet-and-greets with a number of candidates to ask why atheists should consider supporting them. Yesterday, he went to a rally for Sen. Marco Rubio rally and asked him why atheists ought to vote for him, especially when he’s putting out Jesus-loving ads like this one. Rubio’s response? He dodged the question, making the case that atheists have the right to believe whatever they want, but Rubio will share his faith as he sees fit: Read more
On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a church/state case that could poke a large hole in the wall of separation between them. It involves the Trinity Church of Columbia (Missouri). The church runs a Christian preschool and they wanted to renovate the playground. As it turns out, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has a special program offering money for just that reason. So the church applied for a grant in 2012. There were 44 applicants that year, but the state only had cash to fund 14 of them and the church didn’t make the cut. Even though reports later came out that they ranked 5th out of the 44 applicants. Read more
