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 August, Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) — the guy who believes fetuses can masturbate — set up a town hall meeting and a college student confronted him about the two times he voted to deny non-religious people like Jason Heap from joining the military chaplaincy. That young man was Daniel Moran: In their exchange, Burgess completely laughed off the idea of atheist chaplains, calling it a “dumb idea”: Read more
In the past month, I’ve sent three separate emails to the company that’s publishing Sarah Palin’s upcoming book Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas hoping to get a preview copy. No one’s written back to me yet, not even to say, “Not a chance in Hell.” (I guess being on the same blog network as Palin’ daughter Bristol earned me no goodwill.) But New York Magazine got ahold of the audiobook in advance of Tuesday’s book release and they posted a few choice excerpts, revealing to everyone what we already knew. Palin is like a lazy undergrad: Incapable of doing the slightest bit of research, fully confident in her overblown rhetoric, and unable to experience reality: Read more
You may have heard that, earlier this week, India launched a spacecraft that will soon be orbiting Mars (for a fraction of the cost it took American scientists, no less). What you may not have heard is what the Indian Space Research Organization Chairman K Radhakrishnan did before the launch: he took miniature versions of the rocket and spacecraft to a local temple and asked the (idols of) deities for their blessings, saying later that “a little divine intervention” wouldn’t hurt. Cultural traditions aside, just imagine what it would look like if the head of NASA decided to go to church in the days before a rocket was set to launch so that he could ask Jesus for a little help. You know, if you think your rocket — your pinnacle-of-scientific-achievement-rocket! — need supernatural help, maybe it’s time to double-check your calculations instead of speaking to the spirits. Shrey Goyal is appalled by Radhakrishnan’s behavior: Read more