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.
Given how strong the ties are between religious conservatives and the anti-abortion movement, you might suspect that atheists are almost entirely pro-choice… and you’d be right. However, a vocal minority of pro-life atheists have been getting a lot of coverage lately as people realize we’re not as monolithic as we’re made out to be. Marco Rosaire Rossi wrote about non-religious pro-lifers for The Humanist last fall (and one of the groups he wrote about offered a rebuttal to his piece here). Now, Leslie Fain at The Catholic World Report takes another look at this group to find out how they justify being pro-life when God doesn’t factor into the equation: Read more
A recent survey conducted by the Community Foundation for Ireland offers a glimpse at what issues matter most to the citizens of the country and it’s pretty clear where their priorities lie (PDF): Education, education, education, air, education, education, kids, education. Not a bad list at all. So you have to wonder what ranked lowest out of the 119 options presented to respondents: Read more
The “Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism” is given out by the Humanist Community at Harvard, the American Humanist Association, and the Harvard Community of Humanists, Atheists, and Agnostics. The first year, the award went to Salman Rushdie. In the years to follow, it went to Greg Graffin (lead singer of Bad Religion), Joss Whedon, Mythbusters’ Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, and Stephen Fry. Last year, author Mary Roach received the honor. And this year, the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism will go to comedian and actor Eddie Izzard: Read more