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 editorial writers at the Amarillo Globe-News have no understanding of the law, but that didn’t stop them from ranting against American Atheists for putting up a monument in front of the Bradford County Courthouse in Florida. Quick backstory: A Christian group put up a Ten Commandments monument in front of the courthouse (below) and county officials had to choose whether to remove it or allow monuments from other groups. They chose the latter, probably assuming no one would want to put up a monument, but American Atheists called their bluff. Later this month, they’ll unveil a bench (near the Christian monument) featuring Bible verses that talk about the punishments for violating the Ten Commandments, quotations against religion, and statements in support of separation of church and state: The AGN editor writers don’t seem to understand why American Atheists would want to do this: [Click headline for more…] Read more
The biggest IRS scandal is the one virtually no one is talking about: How churches that pay no taxes in return for not endorsing political candidates are breaking those rules openly and receiving no punishment at all. (Some pastors even sent the IRS videos of their sermons.) It happens on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” — and today, more than 1,000 pastors are expected to participate. Since there’s no presidential candidate to endorse, they’re speaking about why the congregation should oppose marriage equality: [Click headline for more…] Read more
In Virginia, Al Bedrosian is the Republican candidate in the race to win one of the five seats on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. There’s no Democrat in the race; he’s running against independent Gary Jarrell. None of this would be particularly newsworthy outside of Roanoke if it weren’t for this opinion piece Bedrosian wrote for the Roanoke Times nears six years ago, in which he talks about how this country is not only a Christian nation, but one where non-Christians should not be allowed to worship at all: [Click headline for more…] Read more