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.
Our latest podcast guest is Sarah Haider, a co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America, where she advocates for the acceptance of religious dissent and works to create local support communities for those who have left Islam. Sarah was born in Pakistan as a practicing Shia Muslim. She moved to Texas and, in her late teens, began reading the Qur’an critically. It wasn’t long before she became an atheist. We spoke with Sarah about why it’s dangerous for Muslims to leave the faith even in the United States, what the New Atheists get right and wrong about Islam, and why we need to stop using the word “Islamophobic.” Read more
In the excellent scripted video below, a jailed American Christian missionary meets an Iraqi Christian in the cell next door. They talk about all the persecution the Iraqi man and his family currently have to face. So the American tells him to come back to the U.S. with him, where they will all be safe… only to have the Iraqi decline the offer. After all, the Iraqi watches Fox News Channel. He hears what Christian leaders say in public. If the U.S. is as anti-Christian as all of them claim it in, why would anyone want to live there?! That’s when the American has to explain how Christians aren’t *really* persecuted in the U.S. That’s just scary rhetoric Christian leaders like to use to keep everyone in line… Read more
Digital Cinema Media, a company that handles advertisements for many of the largest movie chains in the UK, has a simple policy against running religious and political ads before films. Why offend some paying customers just before they settle in for a couple of hours? That’s why they rejected this minute-long ad from the Church of England promoting prayer: Read more
