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.
Kent Hovind, the Young Earth Creationist who was only recently released from prison after serving time for tax fraud, will be speaking at a public high school this Tuesday to promote his anti-evolution nonsense. “Coach” Dave Daubenmire of Pass the Salt Ministries introduced Hovind before a speech at High Street Baptist Church in Ohio yesterday (1:18 mark), casually mentioning how his team was able to “sneak” Hovind into Thomas Worthington High School: Read more
In Washington state, the same law that allows transgender teens to take hormones without their parents’ permission and allows pregnant girls to have an abortion without parental consent, also allowed a boy to refuse medical treatment for his leukemia because he was a Jehovah’s Witness. The law is known as the “mature minor doctrine,” though “mature” is always in the eye of the beholder. Dennis Lindberg was 14 when he told doctors he didn’t want to undergo a blood transfusion that had a good chance of saving his life. A judge eventually gave him the authority to make the final decision about his own care… and Dennis died not long after that. Reporter Isolde Raftery wrote about Dennis several years ago, and she just published a follow-up story in which she explores whether people involved in his care made the right decision. It may have been what Dennis wanted, but should they have complied? Read more
