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.
I’ve posted this in the past. If you’ve already responded, there’s no need to do it again. Thanks! … Over the past couple of years, what began as a personal blog has turned into a hub with several contributors and multiple posts per day. As always, I’d like to continue expanding the reach of this site. That entails bringing on additional contributors with different voices, including more guest posts from people who can offer interesting and different perspectives, creating more YouTube videos, and making the podcasts sound more professional. In order to facilitate all of this, I’ve created a page at Patreon. Read more
In Spartanburg, South Carolina, whenever there’s a fatal accident on the road, County Coroner Rusty Clevenger honors the lives of those who died by marking the spot with a Christian cross: Clevenger said painting the crosses was first approved through the state Department of Transportation. He said the painted crosses on the asphalt are more permanent and serve as a reminder to drive carefully since the painting is at the spot on the road where the crash occurred. … The evening following the cross painting, Clevenger spoke at an annual vigil for those slain in violent crimes. He defined sympathy as a feeling of compassion for another’s suffering and read a scripture from the Bible. On a personal level, it’s admirable what he’s trying to do. However, since the Spartanburg Herald Journal won’t ask the obvious questions, I guess I have to play the bad guy here: Read more
This is a guest post by Josh Derke, a Michigan native supporting equality and justice. You can reach him on Facebook or Twitter at @arushedjoke. … I ran for State Representative in Michigan on a platform of social justice and equality in a conservative district. It was my first foray into the political arena as a candidate, so I wasn’t very well known outside of my home town. I gained notoriety in my district and around the world when I responded to a bigoted survey, but I lost the election by about 7,000 votes in a year that was not favorable to Democrats. My campaign was focused on having conversations about important issues sure to come up in the state legislature, such as the expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to include LGBTQ peoples. Read more
Jim Marjoram just wrote a book (It’s Life Jim) about his life as a gay Christian, and he decided to promote it (and his new ministry to help LGBT Christians) by sending an email to several church leaders in his local Auckland, New Zealand. For the most part, pastors didn’t respond to him. But Westcity Bible Baptist Church Pastor Logan Robertson offered Jim a suggestion: We are not interested in your filthy lifestyle or book. Romans 1 clearly says God has rejected homos and they are worthy of death. You can not be saved. … The bible says you are vile, strange (queer), reprobate, filth, sodomite, natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed… I pray that you will commit suicide, you filthy child molesting fag. Pastor Logan Robertson Read more
Last week, Pastor Steven Anderson made some nasty remarks that, unlike most of the other horrible things he’s said, actually made its way to a wider audience: … If you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant. Over the weekend, there was actually a protest in front of his Tempe, Arizona church. I’m not sure it accomplished much, but it’s always nice to see people (including other Christians) denounce faith-based hate speech. “He… Read more