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.
Writing for Cracked, atheist Luke McKinney offers a list of arguments that we should stop making because they’re ineffective at winning people over to our side. Or, to put it in his words, they’re “not helping anyone.” That’s a fair premise. If there are things we say that are off-putting, let’s educate ourselves and stop perpetuating those ideas. But the list he presents is far off the mark. Read more
President Obama was interviewed by a few popular YouTubers the other day, and most of the media attention has been focused on his answers to a couple of obviously pressing questions. Kendrick Lamar or Drake? (Kendrick, of course.) If a dog wore pants, how would he wear them? (Like this.) But lost in that shuffle was a genuinely interesting comment Obama made, in response to a question by Destin Sandlin, about how he informs himself and makes judgments when he’s not an expert in a particular area. Asking God for divine guidance didn’t enter into his response, but science sure as hell did (18:55 mark): Read more
If I go a few days without posting about Pat Robertson, I wonder if something’s happened to him. But then he’ll say something crazy and all is right with the world again. Robertson reminded his audience this week that listening to rock music is a sin because it can be used to summon demons. Obviously. Read more
How do you infuriate Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee without mentioning anyone in the Democratic Party? Simple: Ask him why he defended the Duggar family after it was revealed that Josh Duggar had molested several of his younger sisters and his parents had covered it all up. At the time, Huckabee called Josh Duggar’s actions “inexcusable” yet defended his parents’ decision to hide the information from public view — mostly because they, like him, are Christians. It was the sort of compassion he would never, ever offer if we were talking about a gay person doing anything even remotely close to what Josh Duggar did. At a rally in Iowa this week, a citizen asked Huckabee about his dubious ethics in that situation, telling him, “It hurts my feelings that somebody like you [is] running for the American public.” Huckabee responded by kicking the woman out of the rally. American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC, got it all on video: Read more
