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.
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses how atheists can give thanks today and to whom we should be grateful: We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next! Read more
It was three and a half years ago when philosopher Daniel Dennett and researcher Linda LaScola released a groundbreaking study of pastors who no longer believed in God yet were still in the pulpit. The point wasn’t that religion was wrong, but that there were pastors who didn’t believe in what they were preaching and felt stuck in their roles. They needed a way out. A year later, that study led to the formation of The Clergy Project, a private discussion forum for closeted atheist pastors. Now, Dennett and LaScola have released a book (with a foreword written by Richard Dawkins) that details what they discovered and learned from their study. It’s called Caught in The Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind: Read more
When the Upstate Atheists in South Carolina wanted to volunteer at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen this past spring, they were told that atheists weren’t welcome. When the Kansas City Atheist Coalition wanted to deliver meals to the hungry, the Kansas City Rescue Mission rejected their generosity. When the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers wanted to help families in need this Thanksgiving (brace yourself)… the Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church welcomed them with open arms. Read more
Last week, we learned that the Capitol building in Oklahoma, currently undergoing a renovation, would be adding a chapel to the second floor: House Speaker T.W. Shannon (R-Lawton) was the architect of that addition: At the time, Shannon’s spokesperson Joe Griffin tempered the outrage by saying the chapel wouldn’t be built if it was illegal: “No taxpayer money has been spent on a chapel other than the ink that is on the blueprints,” Griffin said Tuesday. “If we are able to create a chapel, we would love to. But we are not going to do anything that is not constitutional.” But, you know, that was a week ago. Yesterday, Shannon wrote an op-ed for the Tulsa World explaining why the chapel deserved a spot in the Capitol building: Read more
In October, Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis put up a digital billboard in Times Square reading “Suck It, atheists” “To All Of Our Atheist Friends: Thank God You’re Wrong.” The Freedom From Religion Foundation quickly responded with a billboard of their own in the exact same location: FFRF, a state/church watchdog and the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), has enlisted “Saturday Night Live” alum Julia Sweeney for its rejoinder. One cube of the billboard features Sweeney’s smiling face, the other her quote: “OMG, there is no god!” FFRF’s message will be displayed on the same digital billboard at the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue as the Answers in Genesis Christian message saying. “To all our atheist friends: Thank God you’re wrong.” Today, Answers in Genesis came back with a new billboard directed, again, toward atheists. The 30-second ad, which will run through Christmas, features the message “To All Of Our Atheist Friends: All He Wants for Christmas Is You” (which, I can only assume, means that Jesus is coming to kidnap your family). It also includes John 3:16: Read more