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.
When it comes down to it, conservative Christians just don’t want to follow the laws they don’t like. They won’t come right out and say that, though. That’s why, when you listen to people like Gov. Mike Huckabee defending Kim Davis, you’ll see how self-contradictory their arguments really are. Here’s an excellent look at this kind of flawed logic: Read more
As we’ve said on this site many times before, Catholic hospitals are more interested in following arbitrary faith-based rules than doing what’s best for patients. One of the best examples is a tubal ligation procedure. If you’re a woman who’s giving birth and you’re having a C-section, you might decide that you’re also done having kids and you’d like to have your tubes tied so there are no unplanned pregnancies in the future. The doctor is already performing surgery, so performing a tubal ligation actually lets you kill two birds with one stone. It’s a safe procedure. Medical professionals even say that if you want your tubes tied, doing it during a C-section is a good idea because it doesn’t require an additional surgery. But none of that matters to the bishops who control these hospitals. Sterilization runs contrary to God’s Will, so such procedures are denied, even if it’s in the best interests of the patients. Now, the ACLU is suing Dignity Health in California because its client, Rebecca Chamorro, was denied a tubal ligation at Mercy Medical Center, putting her at risk if she were to have another child. Their lawsuit says California law trumps the religious whims of hospital administrators: Read more
The Mormon Church has a magazine for children called Friend, which has an online art gallery so kids can send in their drawings. Most of them involve the birth of Jesus, Joseph Smith, or an image of a temple, but one child may have snuck in a hidden message. 9-year-old Breanna H. sent in this drawing that reads “You are a child of God!” Read more
