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.
Let’s run through a short list of items a quality sex education lecture for teenagers shouldn’t include: Having students spit into a cup and then telling the class that drinking that cup is the equivalent of having sex with eight partners. Arguing that condoms break… so they’re not helpful at all. Telling ladies that they’re emotional after sex, so they’ll become attached to whomever they have sex with. Tell students that STIs will make them sterile… without adding that that might happen only if left untreated. State that medical textbooks say life begins at conception… when they don’t say that at all. Saying “There’s a new STD that they’re saying is going to be the new AIDS” without elaborating further… so no sex for anyone! Telling the students that you know two women who have had abortions and they both ended up with a perforated uterus because of the tools used during their procedures… so no abortions for anyone! Those were among the things Joi Wasill, the founder of Decisions, Choices and Options (a group with “strong Christian, Republican and anti-abortion ties”), and Beth Cox, who is on the board of directors for the group, said to a group of students at Hillsboro High School in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this month. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Comedian Doug Stanhope’s Indiegogo campaign to raise money for Rebecca Vitsmun (whose exchange with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer went viral) has more than doubled it’s target goal, raking in over $100,000. Vitsmun has pledged to donate the funds she doesn’t need to a non-profit organization that will benefit other victims. But what about everybody else who needs help? [Click headline for more…] Read more
Last week, the fifth graders at E.J. Moss Intermediate school in Texas were supposed to put on their school play. And you know what grade school plays look like: Cute kids, happy songs, innocuous themes. But for some reason, the play that was chosen was “In God We Trust” by Chris and Diane Machen, a play about the “Christian history” of our country written by two Christian musicians. When you read some of the lines from the school’s adaptation of the script, obtained by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, it’s incredibly obvious that this production had no business being put on in a public school: [Click headline for more…] Read more
According to Bachmann, God spoke to her directly after many days of intense prayer and ultimately told the exiting Congresswoman that there is no reason she should only make $174,000 per year when she could easily earn up to eight times that amount in the private sector. … “God also wants me to make a lot of money on the speaking circuit,” Bachmann added. (via A totally legitimate news source) Read more
Last we heard from the London-based Sunday Assembly (a.k.a. Atheist Church), they were being evicted from their home: Unfortunately, they may have to find permanent space sooner than they expected. Trustees from the Steiner School (housed in the same church) have kicked them out of the building. While the trustees cited safety reasons (too many people in the building), Jones contends there’s a less benevolent reason for the eviction. He said that some of the trustees found The Sunday Assembly to be “antithetical to their own ethos.” You can decide for yourself whether it was the living better, helping often, or wondering more that upset them the most. In fact, The Sunday Assembly has complied with all safety regulations, including turning people away at the door if the crowds were getting too large. There’s some good news on this front, though: This June, the Sunday Assembly will begin holding services at the 1,200 seat York Hall in Bethnal Green: [Click headline for more…] Read more