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.
If you knew her before 2013, Megan Phelps-Roper was a member of Westboro Baptist Church who would proudly picket at the funerals of soldiers, calling their deaths revenge for America’s acceptance of homosexuality. She was carrying on the hateful ideology of WBC founder Fred Phelps. That’s why it was shocking to learn in February of 2013 that Megan had left the church for good. She wasn’t the only one, but there was a time when she may have been the least likely to escape. While we’ve known the broader arcs of Megan’s story, Adrian Chen offers a much more detailed version of her biography in the latest New Yorker. Read more
Our latest podcast guest is David Smalley, host of the incredibly popular podcast Dogma Debate, which has tens of thousands of listeners weekly. Smalley is a former Christian musician who became an atheist after studying psychology, sociology, world religions, and his own faith. He soon turned into a secular activist. He was the editor-in-chief of Secular World and American Atheist magazines, the author of Baptized Atheist, and co-founder of AtheistAudiobooks.com. His Secular Media Group will also soon release a children’s book titled Tiny Thinkers: Charlie and the Tortoise. We spoke with David about why it’s so important not to be an angry atheist (if you can help it), what it takes to be a successful podcaster, and why he’s so passionate about atheist activism. Read more
National Geographic has a cover story this month on the significance and legacy of the Virgin Mary — or at least the idea of her. There’s no denying a lot of people in this world believe she’s real and continue to see “visions” of her everywhere. The article mentions a website called Miraclehunter.com, which chronicles all those “visions,” and there’s a graphic of all the places where she’s been sighted. As if she’s Bigfoot. Take a look at the map, a portion of which is below. I don’t care about the light blue dots representing where people claim to have seen her. Check out all of the red dots, where the Vatican or local bishops have supposedly found evidence of the supernatural. Read more
I give the Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World a lot of credit. While the first season of the Boy Meets World spinoff was a bit weak, the second has already addressed serious issues such as Asperger’s syndrome, family relationships, abandonment, identity, and bullying. That’s what upsets me about this past Friday’s episode. While the show has done a decent job of handling serious issues other sitcoms may have just glossed over, the latest episode (titled “Girl Meets Belief”) did an awful job addressing religious belief. If you’re not familiar with the show, you can still make sense of this. Here’s what you need to know: Riley Matthews and her crush Lucas Friar believe in God. Riley’s best friend, Maya Hart, is more of an Agnostic, continually deflecting conversations about belief since she doesn’t want to argue with her friend. Another character, Farkle Minkus, values evidence-based thinking. When their teacher (who is also Riley’s father) gives them an assignment based on Joan of Arc and Thomas Jefferson, it’s a chance for the kids to work with each other and examine their beliefs. Read more
