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.
You know how praying in schools is perfectly legal? Because it is. And no atheist group would even think about taking that right away from students who pray privately or in a non-disruptive way. But that didn’t stop the North Carolina General Assembly from unanimously passing Senate Bill 370 yesterday. SB 370 is a Republican-sponsored bill that “clarif[ies] student rights to engage in prayer and religious activity in school.” As if people were trying to put a stop to that… [Click headline for more…] Read more
Stuff Fundies Like has a horrific story of Pensacola Christian College’s treatment of a female student — Just one portion is below: Of course PCC isn’t known for really caring much about fire safety anyway. For years the rule has remained on the books that all female students must be in “proper” attire before they leave their rooms for a fire drill. If you happen to be sleeping in pajama pants, you must take the time to put on a skirt before you try to escape the flames. If you should perish then at least you’ll know you died for the cause of not tempting the fire fighters to lust after you. It only gets worse from there… Just FYI, I’ve contacted PCC to find out what their actual protocol is in the case of a fire. I’ll update this post if I hear back. (Thanks to Anu for the link) Read more
In Ottawa, where taxpayers pay for Catholic education, the Catholic School Board decided to pull kids out of school today… so they could go march at an anti-abortion rally: High school students from Ottawa Catholic schools will have time off to join the anti-abortion protesters. Communications officer Mardi de Kemp said the board pays for buses to the event. [Click headline for more…] Read more
This is a guest post by Daniel Koster. Daniel is the President of the Wekiva Atheist and Secular Alliance at Wekiva High School in Florida. This post is in response to a recent distribution of atheist literature at several Orange County high schools. *** About three months ago, a Christian group distributed Bibles at eleven Orange County schools. They were given permission to do this under the condition that they leave the tables unattended and that their volunteers have no interaction with students. While they were at my school, Wekiva High, I documented them breaking both of these rules (see image below). The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been dealing with the School Board attorneys on this issue. But that’s in the past. Let’s get to the local secular movement’s inspiring response. [Click headline for more…] Read more