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.
The head of the PEN American Center — the group that gave the Charlie Hebdo staff a Freedom of Expression Courage Award earlier this year despite pushback from many members — along with several other groups are now asking Secretary of State John Kerry to “provide humanitarian parole for a limited number of high-profile Bangladeshi secularists at imminent risk of attack.” Humanitarian parole is basically a way to circumvent normal regulations and get someone into the United States due to a “compelling emergency.” It’s a tremendous showing of support for critics of religion in Bangladesh, many of whom remain on a hit list following the brutal deaths of five writers and publishers over the course of the year. Read more
We’ve seen a lot of sheriffs putting “In God We Trust” stickers on city-owned vehicles over the past few months. Unfortunately, there’s not much recourse for that. The sheriffs just lie about the religious basis for that, shrug their shoulders, and say, “It’s our motto!” But when it’s a Christian cross, you have to think that crosses a line. This is a mockup of the cross that Brewster County (Texas) Sheriff Ronny Dodson plans to put on his office’s vehicles: Read more
There’s a reality show called Allt för Sverige (Everything for Sweden) in which Swedish Americans return to their native land to learn more about their ancestry. (And somehow, people get booted off the show each week because it’s reality TV.) Karin Berg Roylance, a Utah native who was one of the contestants this season, didn’t win, but she made an important decision during her time in Europe: She plans to leave the Mormon Church when she returns home. Part of her decision stemmed from the realization that she was an atheist. She had grown up believing atheists were immoral heathens, but living in Sweden — a country so non-religious that sociologist Phil Zuckerman wrote a book about it — convinced her that not believing in God wasn’t so bad after all. Read more
