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.
Back in September, the Students’ Union at Warwick University (England) decided to prevent atheist and critic of Islamic extremism Maryam Namazie from speaking at the school on the grounds that she would “incite hatred.” They eventually reversed course after criticism from all directions, and her talk was — no surprise — not hateful at all: I thought that represented the worst sort of campus opposition Namazie would have to see, but what happened at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she spoke earlier this week for the school’s Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society, was even more appalling. Read more
As usual, the Right found a way to take a tragedy and make it all about them. It really took hold after the New York Daily News published this fantastic — and fair — cover yesterday: Why is that a fair cover? Because it’s criticizing politicians who love to toss out prayers and platitudes after a shooting tragedy but do nothing substantive to fix the problem. They’re using prayer as a substitute for producing and passing meaningful legislation that could prevent these massacres in the future. Emma Green at The Atlantic called this criticism “prayer shaming,” and I thought that made sense, until I saw conservatives using the phrase as evidence of Christian Persecution. Nancy French, writing on her Patheos blog, took it a step further by calling it a “war on prayer.” Read more
Yesterday, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled against construction of one of the largest telescopes in the world, in part because it conflicted with native traditions, many of which were based entirely on superstition. Construction on Hawaii’s Thirty Meter Telescope, which would have the ability to see 13 billion light-years away, was already postponed earlier this year because protesters believed it was being built on “sacred” land. Last month, the state’s Supreme Court temporarily suspended the permit allowing construction to continue. That suspension has now been made permanent with the Court’s decision. Read more
I’ve posted a number of videos by Anthony Magnabosco on this site, in which he speaks to strangers about their religious beliefs for just few minutes and then deconstructs the whole conversation afterwards. He recently gave a talk to Atheists United in California all about his work and how we can more effectively communicate with believers: Read more
