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.
By now, you’ve probably read about the incredible discovery of Homo naledi. Members of the species had very small brains (about half the size of our own) and very long and curvy fingers that may have helped them swing from trees. National Geographic calls it one of the “greatest fossil discoveries of the past half century.” The fossils were discovered in an African cave in 2013 and could force us to rethink what we know about human evolution. I would suggest reading these articles in the Washington Post and Atlantic for easy-to-read accounts of what happened and what it all means. It’s very exciting for so many reasons. I know what you’re wondering: What will Ken Ham and his crack Creationist “research” team say about this discovery?! Read more
Remember that display of a kneeling soldier, gun in hand, next to a Christian cross, that sits in taxpayer-funded Young’s Park in Knoxville, Iowa? After Americans United for Separation of Church and State called on the local city council to remove or change the display, people have been freaking out over this “attack” on their illegal promotion of Christianity. There was a City Council meeting on Tuesday night that featured a lot of supports of the display making their case, but when it came down to it, the elected officials said they had figured out a way to avoid a lawsuit while keeping the display in place: Read more
