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.
Here’s an advertising tactics atheists might want to use with their own billboards. In Bnei Brak, an Israeli city with a super-conservative religious population, a lot of men don’t like to see images of women dressed “immodestly.” That means their elbows and knees and hair must be covered at all times. So advertising company Twisted came up with a clever way to raise awareness about the need to stop violence against women. They put up this poster, knowing it would get vandalized by the ultra-orthodox men: Less than 24 hours after it went up, the face of the woman was ripped off… revealing a hidden message: Read more
Considering that one of the common criticisms people have of churches in general is that they’re all about taking your money, you’d think pastors would at least try to be subtle in how they ask for it. You know, pass around collection plates while talking about something else. Or maybe leave boxes in the back of the church where people can discreetly drop money in as they leave. Sagebrush Community Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico never got that memo. They’re not just asking for money; they’re asking people who haven’t tithed in the past six months to start doing it again while offering a 90-day money-back guarantee if God doesn’t reward them as a result. It’s called the 90-Day Tithe Challenge: Here’s how this works. You give the church 10% of your income. After 90 days, if God hasn’t rewarded you and shown His “faithfulness,” you are eligible to get a complete refund. I guess no one at the church ever read Matthew 4:7: Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Read more
Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress explains why the “Naughty or Nice” list put out by the Christian group American Family Association and, by extension, the “Friend or Foe” list put out by Liberty Counsel make absolutely no sense, even from a Christian perspective. (Remember: These are the lists that reward you for using the word “Christmas” in your marketing campaigns and condemn you if you don’t.) Read more
Next Spring, the University of Missouri Skeptics, Atheists, Secular Humanists & Agnostics (SASHA) will be hosting a free conference at the Columbia campus called SashaCon 2014: I’m looking forward to speaking there — it’s always nice to be part of a student-run event! They could use some help with funding, though. If you support these kinds of events, consider chipping in on their Indiegogo page! They need to raise about $3,000 and they have limited time in which to do it. Read more
