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.
Two years ago, three conservatives won seats on the Jefferson County Board of Education in Colorado, giving them a majority on the five-member board. With that majority, Ken Witt, Julie Williams, and John Newkirk openly discussed their plans to revise the curriculum for Advanced Placement U.S. History to make sure it was taught “properly.” They said they didn’t want to “encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law,” which is the process many famous Americans have used to spearhead change. Read more
In 2001, the ACLU filed a lawsuit over a Ten Commandments monument outside the new City Hall building in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was a Christian symbol — everybody knew that — so it had no place on government property. Knowing that they would likely lose the lawsuit, the city council members decided to put a disclaimer on the monument saying it was “not meant to endorse any particular system of religious belief.” Which is bullshit. They also created a “Cornerstones of Law and Liberty” plaza, retroactively creating a secular context for the monument, so it would be seen alongside other historical markers like the Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, and the preamble to the Bill of Rights. It cost the taxpayers $64,000… and it worked. The lawsuit didn’t go anywhere. Reford Theobold was the council member (and two-time Mayor) who led this charge, running up the taxpayers’ tab so the Ten Commandments monument could remain outside City Hall. Which is why it’s especially interesting to learn what Theobold just got arrested for: Read more
There’s really nothing the Republican Presidential candidates can say anymore that will lose them any support. The more outlandish the claims, the more the base loves them. So why not speak at a conference hosted by a Christian pastor who wants gay people to die? That’s what Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, and Bobby Jindal did on Friday at an event hosted by Pastor Kevin Swanson: Read more
