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.
In order to promote a Creationist conference that was held at Boise State University last weekend, three organizations approached the student newspaper on campus, The Arbiter, in order to purchase advertising. Creation Summit Inc., the Northwest Science Museum, and Engage Truth were willing to pay whatever the price was… but the students running the newspaper rejected the ads: Read more
How many teachers and administrators still don’t understand how the Pledge of Allegiance works? No student has to say it or stand up for it, and not participating in the ritual doesn’t make you unpatriotic or disrespectful. And yet the stories of schools where kids get punished by ignorant teachers are all over the place. These cases are all in my inbox today: Read more
Apostacon is happening this weekend in Dallas, Texas, and in addition to Penn & Teller and other atheist speakers, the organizers thought it would be interested to have a public conversation on stage between Neil Carter (my Patheos colleague from Mississippi who used to be a Southern Baptist before shedding his faith) and a local religious leader. Remember: This is Dallas. You can’t walk across the street without bumping into a religious leader. And many of them are known far beyond their congregations. Late last night, they sent an email to First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, a man so conservative, American Atheists once quoted him in a billboard: Read more
