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.
Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family featured on the reality show “Duck Dynasty,” was giving a sermon at White’s Ferry Road church in Louisiana last weekend and make a crack at atheists that really makes no sense whatsoever when you give it more than a second of thought: [Click headline for more…] Read more
In America, out voting scandals involve ID laws, hanging chads, and outright disenfranchisement. In the Maldives, their big voting scandal this year involves a coconut. A cursed coconut. A cursed 4-inch coconut inscribed with a Koranic verse written in Arabic. To quote Paul Fidalgo: A magic coconut has disrupted Maldivian elections and now there is an investigation into the magic coconut and OH GOD I WISH I WAS KIDDING So how is this coconut disrupting an election? [Click headline for more…] Read more
Following the oral arguments in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regarding the Pledge of Allegiance case, FOX News’ “The Five” reacted to the arguments made by atheist lawyer David Niose. Notably, Dana Perino (former White House Press Secretary for George W. Bush) argued that this was already a settled issue because the Senate and the House had already passed resolutions to keep “Under God” in the Pledge. In other words, a bunch of Christians had already agreed that we should pay homage to God… so how dare these atheists argue against it?! (Of course, the atheist argument here wasn’t that “Under God” was government promotion of Christianity, but rather, that saying the Pledge made atheist students look like second-class citizens, unpatriotic and not properly deferential to God. But, you know, facts… who needs them?) Then, Perino made an even more ignorant statement: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Here’s something you don’t see every day: A case argued in front of a high court. The U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t allow cameras, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court does, and so we have video of Tuesday’s argument to pull the Pledge of Allegiance from public school classrooms because they are discriminatory against atheist students: David Niose, who represented the plaintiffs is the first speaker in that video. The judges grilled him but he responded to each argument well. The judges asked even tougher questions, it seemed to me, of the other side. Lisa Redmond of the Lowell Sun summarized his portion of the arguments this way: [Click headline for more…] Read more