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.
Our latest podcast guest is attorney David Niose, to chat with us about legal concerns that young atheists may have as they go back to school. Niose has been the president of two major organizations, the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America. He currently serves as the AHA’s legal director. He’s also a lawyer who has argued in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court about why the Pledge of Allegiance shouldn’t be recited in public school classrooms. And he’s the author of Nonbeliever Nation and Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason. We spoke with him about the legal issues affecting young atheists and how they should respond. Topics addressed include: Saying the Pledge of Allegiance, “See You at the Pole” events, religious choir music, science education, Gideons Bible giveaways, faith-based assemblies, and prayers at football games. Read more
In Ireland, where even State-funded schools are almost always run by the Catholic Church, students, parents, and teachers who don’t belong to the faith can be discriminated against in a variety of ways. Some students have even been denied admission into public schools for their non-Catholic beliefs. Making matters worse, the Irish government is considering two bills dealing with school admission and employment equality that would further alienate people of minority faiths or no faith. In the Irish Times, Michael Nugent lays out four ways the government can fix the problem: Read more
It was just last week when West Laurens High School (Georgia), which used to have illegal pre-game invocations over the loudspeakers, tried out a moment of silence instead. The change took place following a warning from Americans United for Separation of Church. But Friday night, the band director pushed God into the game in a different way: Read more
Vitaly Korchevsky used to be a Vice President for Morgan Stanley and took part in a huge securities fraud scheme. In essence, he hacked into an archive of business press releases that had not been made public to traders, took action based on the information in them, and hauled in about $100 million when everyone else got the news. Korchevsky himself made $17 million (though he has pled not guilty to charges). But instead of heading to jail, he’ll be released on bond because the judge took note of his religious leadership: Read more
