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.
Back in March, Hawaiian atheist activist Mitch Kahle and his partner Holly Huber filed a lawsuit against a number of churches that were renting out worship space at public schools at unfair, low rates over the span of six years resulting in a loss of funds for the state of $5,600,000. This wasn’t just some frivolous case. Farrington High School was shortchanged approximately $3,200,000 by New Hope Oahu church, money that could’ve been used to fix a roof collapse at the school. If Kahle and Huber won their lawsuit, the churches could have owed the state up to $16,800,000, three times the amount they owed the schools, if it was found that they knowingly evaded the law. This week, that lawsuit was thrown out by a judge who claimed the evidence just wasn’t there: Read more
A few days ago, upon finding out that Vice Principal Mark Zmuda was forced to resign from Eastside Catholic High School (in Seattle, Washington) for the Jesus-induced crime of being a gay man who married the love of his life, 300 students at the school staged a protest in his honor: Rebecca Hamilton, a Catholic blogger here on Patheos and a long-time member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, was appalled by what happened. I mean how dare those administrators, right?! Wait… no. She’s perfectly fine with them. It’s the students she has it out for: Read more
