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.
It’s always good to see two young people survive a horrific crash with minimal injury. But when God gets thrown into the story, the explanation of how they survived raises more questions than answers. Hunter Hanks was speeding on a Tennessee road in his truck with his girlfriend Arika Stovall when he crashed into a pole. They very well could have been killed, but the pole went through the truck between them, allowing them to make it out alive. Read more
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. That may seem silly given the religious conservatism of the Republican field, but it’s an important question. His most recent exchange was with Sen. Ted Cruz. Justin told me he asked his question right after Cruz “worked the crowd into a frenzy with some anti-Obama, anti-Hillary, pro-gun, pro-God rhetoric.” The crowd went silent when he began his question with, “I’m an atheist…” So how did Cruz respond? Why should atheists vote for him? See for yourself: Read more
In the latest episode of Creation Today (which I’m sure you all binge-watch), host Eric Hovind explains how God and mathematics are intertwined. There’s a great moment near the beginning where Hovind tells us how incredibly far mathematics has come, before giving examples that go no further than things you’d hear in high school: “You think about how far math has come, we’ve got binomial theorems, bounded functions, dilation of graphs, square roots, pi…” It’s as if math has never gone beyond that in his mind. But it’s not surprising given that his knowledge of biology barely goes beyond a high school level, either, and yet he claims with confidence that expert scientists are lying to themselves about evolution. I was going to make fun of that… but then I saw the “Creation Minute” segment. It begins at 6:23 and really gets to some tough problems: Read more
Over the past several years, we’ve heard so many stories of public school coaches who lead or participate in prayers with their athletes. It’s illegal every time since it’s a form of coercion. And every time it happens, there seems to be confusion over what church/state separation groups want. They’re not, in fact, trying to push God out of the public square. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ACLU, Americans United, and all the other groups like them support the… Read more
