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 Pope Francis came to the United States in September, he stopped in Philadelphia, where officials were laying out the red carpet for him. That wasn’t a problem for most people since it was made clear beforehand that the World Meeting of Families group would foot the full bill for the Pope’s visit. Now that the trip’s long over, however, it turns out that’s not the case at all: Read more
Last year, the Florida State Capitol Building was home to a Nativity scene, a Festivus Pole, an atheist banner, and this display from The Satanic Temple: The only reason most of those non-Christian displays were there was because Capitol officials had declared the space an open forum, allowing any group into the mix. That’s a convenient thing to do when you assume only Christians will take advantage of the opportunity. But we’ve seen over the years that atheists will step in with their own requests to counter Christian displays when that occurs. It’s like invocations prayers. Most atheists don’t want prayers at city council meetings at all, but if the law allows for it (and it does), we can’t just sit back and let Christians dominate the discussion. Might as well sign up to give our own “prayers.” But this year in Florida, there won’t be a Nativity scene: Read more
Here’s some advice for anyone interviewing Richard Dawkins: Don’t ask him to give a list of reasons why God doesn’t exist. He’ll just tell you that’s a ridiculous question and then rattle off why the popular reasons people give in defense of God’s existence aren’t any good. Which, let’s face it, is what you should have asked in the first place. Read more
