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.
Last week, during an interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson argued that Muslims should not be allowed to hold the highest office in the land because their beliefs are somehow inconsistent with American values. Not extremist Muslims. Just Muslims. Franklin Graham, the conservative Christian leader who doesn’t even want Muslims in the country, couldn’t let Carson out-bigot him. So he agreed with the GOP President candidate and then took it one step further: Read more
If you’re a woman who’s giving birth and you’re having a C-section, you might decide that you’re also done having kids and you’d like to have your tubes tied so there are no unplanned pregnancies in the future. The doctor is already performing surgery, so performing a tubal ligation actually lets you kill two birds with one stone. It’s a safe procedure. Medical professionals even say that if you want your tubes tied, doing it during a C-section is a good idea because it doesn’t require an additional surgery. Nearly 30% of married adult women in the U.S. have had the procedure done. Not a big deal. But what if you’re at a Catholic hospital? Doctors there will perform a C-section, no problem, but they will not perform a tubal ligation. Why not? Because they’re getting their directives, not from medical professionals, but from Catholic bishops. Basically, anything that functions as contraception is forbidden in the faith. And this rule applies even if future pregnancies would put the woman’s life in danger. Read more
We’re all aware by now that law enforcement officials across the country are putting “In God We Trust” stickers on patrol cars (because, they say with a straight face, it’s our national motto and it absolutely has nothing to do with Christianity). But in July, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office in Dothan, Alabama took it way over that line. The stickers on their vehicles directly quoted the Bible. Read more
