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.
I posted about this earlier this month, but it’s still appalling that Pastor Kevin Swanson said that homosexuals should be put to death, as it says in the Bible, only to add that he didn’t want people to take action on that immediately because gay people needed “time to repent.” Maybe your initial reaction is: Who cares? That guy is on the fringes of Christianity. He doesn’t represent most Christians. And yet Swanson is popular enough that three Republican Presidential candidates saw it fitting to attend that very conference — knowing what Swanson had said about gay people. They cared so much about getting a few more votes that they were willing to overlook his murder fantasies. This man is not on the fringes of Christianity. He represents a sizable voting bloc — one large enough that Presidential candidates are clamoring for their votes. At least Rachel Maddow was willing to talk about the issue on her show: Read more
Of all the empty slogans tossed around this election season, “religion of peace” is one of the most mindless. Less than a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Hillary Clinton offered a remix of this familiar slogan: “Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.” I would agree that most Muslims are peaceful and tolerant. Clinton, however, goes farther than that when she equates peace and tolerance with Muslims and Islam, as if violent people are, by definition, not Muslims. This isn’t a new idea, just new wording. And it’s still inaccurate. Read more
I suspect there are few experiences as potentially awkward as publicly reviewing the creative work of someone you know. In his most recent book, The New Atheist Threat: The Dangerous Rise of Secular Extremists, CJ Werleman lists me (as well as Nathan Phelps and a few others) as a friend… and apparently an exemption to the charge that New Atheism is essentially a hate cult. CJ and I have crossed paths over the years, and our exchanges — even spirited disagreements — have been universally pleasant. Amicable. Friendly. We’ve spoken at conferences, on the phone, on the radio, and over brunch. He opened for me at a 2014 tour event in San Diego. I advised him when he was navigating his start-up podcast. Conversation came easily, if infrequently, and normally, I’d welcome the description of “friend.” But with CJ’s inflammatory new book, to be named in any capacity is not something I’m comfortable with. Publicity-wise, there’s lot of flash and mud flying about in relation to The New Atheist Threat, and of course, it would be easy to intercept any of the hundreds of Twitter volleys tossed about in its promotion/detraction and build an analysis on hype alone. The responsible move, however, is to actually read the book. So, finally, I did. Read more
The Hanover County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, led by chairman Wayne Hazzard, made a special plea to the community at this week’s meeting. After a short speech by Hazzard about the importance of giving thanks to God, the Supervisors passed a resolution to “urge and encourage the citizens of the Hanover County, Virginia to include prayer in their Thanksgiving celebration.” Because the people who want small government don’t mind when that government is telling you how to pray to the Christian God. Read more
Harrison Mumia, President of Atheists in Kenya, wasn’t surprised by all the attention Pope Francis received yesterday when he visited the country. But he couldn’t believe that his government, one that also has the separation of church and state built into its Constitution, declared it a “public holiday.” That was a step too far, he writes at CNN, causing him to file a lawsuit in court to have the holiday nullified: Read more
