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.
Since working as legal counsel for the Iowa legislature, Amanda Knief has held positions of tremendous responsibility within our movement. She worked as the lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for America and currently serves as the Managing Director for American Atheists. She is the perfect person, really, to write a book about how regular citizens can become effective lobbyists because she’s been doing it herself for years, with and without an official title. Amanda’s new book on the subject is called The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government (Pitchstone Publishing, 2013). It’s all about what lobbying actually is and why you should do it — a great blueprint for grassroots activism that’s ideal for casual reading and high school libraries. The Kindle version of the book will be available on July 1st, but the paperback is available right now. In the exclusive excerpt below, Amanda explains the 10 things to remember when lobbying an elected official: [Click headline for more…] Read more
A few years ago, Austrian Niko Alm won the right to wear a colander, the official headgear for Pastafarians, in his driver’s license picture: In February of this year, 25-year-old Aaron Williams of New Jersey tried to do something similar but got rejected. And now it’s happening again. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, focuses on the purpose of the Hotline Project, which will allow people struggling with their religious doubts to call in and talk to somebody about them. (More information on the Hotline can be found here.) 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
On last night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, one of the New Rules focused on Rick Perry’s unnecessary signing of the “Merry Christmas” Law, Sally Quinn’s reprehensible criticism of Hillary Clinton for not including her faith in her Twitter bio, and how the thing Christians fear more are atheists like Rebecca Vitsmun who aren’t as scary as the stereotypes would suggest: [Click headline for more…] Read more