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.
Last month, I posted about a Nativity scene in a Wadena (Minnesota) park that had no business being there: That display came down after the Freedom from Religion Foundation warned them about a possible lawsuit, leaving residents furious. In fact, they’re trying desperately to make sure this assault on Jesus backfires against atheists. How? By putting up a whole bunch of Nativity scenes outside their homes: Read more
The state of Maryland has fairly loose requirements when it comes to license plates. If you’d like to have one branded by a non-profit organization of your choice, for example, it’s really just a matter of getting the non-profit to fill out all the necessary paperwork. That’s the process that Ryan Jean began in 2013 when he asked the American Humanist Association if they would go through the motions. Now he and his wife Christine are the proud owners of the first Humanist-branded plates in the state: Read more
In 1992, Rudolph Roybal was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary. He had allegedly stabbed a woman (who had once employed him) 13 times, beaten her up, and slashed her neck before stealing her jewelry and heading to a different state. A jury found him guilty of the crime. But when it came time to decide his penalty, the prosecutor urged the jury to consider something that had nothing to do with the evidence: Read more
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for all his liberal qualities, has hardly been a champion of church/state separation since entering office. He added two Muslim holidays to the school calendar, closing them on those days. He did away with a health regulation requiring parents to sign a consent form when Orthodox Jewish rabbis suck blood from their baby’s penis. (Even though that practice had been linked to herpes.) And now he’s giving away up to $20 million of taxpayer money to private schools, including religious ones, so that they can hire security guards: Read more
