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.
Wait But Why offers a crudely-drawn-yet-still-awesome history of evolution, taking us back through time: I don’t know what to tell you. This is a part of your lineage. I want you to pause and just ponder for a second that I’m not inventing silly shit here — if you take your father, and your father’s father, and do that 435,000,000 times, you’ll end up at a jellyfish. Evolution is boggling. Read more
“Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson was suspended by A&E today for bigoted remarks he made in a GQ profile about gays and lesbians: “It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” … “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” Yep, homosexuality is the same as bestiality and prostitution and adultery and intoxication and greed. Of course, the right-wingers are screaming that the reaction from A&E (and everyone else) is some violation of free speech: Read more
I know you’re all Times Square-d out by now, but Bill Donohue’s Catholic League just got a billboard there. The message calls American Atheists (I assume) “Scrooges” and encourages viewers to “celebrate the prince of peace”: To which I say… meh. It’s not a very powerful or effective message. People won’t bother to look twice. Read more
