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.
About two months ago, Katrina R. Jackson, a Democrat from Louisiana, tried to pass awful legislation that would have all the state’s elementary and high schools reciting the Lord’s Prayer. House Bill 660 said those recitations would be “voluntary” in the sense that you wouldn’t be punished by the administration for not joining in… but ignored the fact that most students would be pressured by their peers to join in with the majority. Jackson went on to say that “these exercises [were] not meant to influence an individual’s personal religious beliefs in any manner” and saying the Lord’s Prayer would help students learn about “America’s great freedoms, including the freedom of religion…” It made no sense and was rightfully hammered in the media. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Author Stephen King was recently interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air and the conversation at one point turned to his views on God. While King referred to organized religion as “a theological insurance scam,” he wasn’t quite so dismissive of God in general. Here’s what he said to host Terry Gross (around the 15:45 mark): [Click headline for more…] Read more
On last night’s Real Time, Bill Maher talked about the flap between the Pope and the Vatican over whether atheists can be “redeemed.” (To be fair, both sides are pretty much on the same page, believing that atheists are going to Hell unless they repent, that Jesus died for all of us, and that even the Godless are capable of doing great things.) Still, Maher said he believed that, like Obama, the Pope must secretly be an atheist, which led to this soundbyte: [Click headline for more…] Read more