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 administrators at Jackson Middle School (in Jackson, Ohio) have decided to keep the giant picture of Jesus hanging on a wall in their school: After receiving a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation asking them to remove the painting, the school officials had to weigh whether it was worth defending a sign that had been hanging for 75 years (“Tradition!”)… or avoid a costly lawsuit and do what’s right for the students by taking it down. Last night, the school board announced that they would throw away money that could be spent on their kids’ education by leaving the picture up there and eventually losing a lawsuit. (Though they probably didn’t use those exact words…) Read more
Looks like the Christian Post did the right thing after all! Recently, one of their contributors, Rev. Austin Miles, wrote a piece, got berated by an atheist commenter for a particular phrase he used, then edited the piece to remove it. All of that is perfectly acceptable, as long as you acknowledge you made the change. Read more
Somehow, I missed this report (PDF) on Mormonism from the Pew Research Center a couple of weeks ago when it came out, but it was too interesting not to mention. When it comes to factual knowledge about Mormonism — when it was founded (after 1800) and where the Book of Mormon says Jesus appeared (“the Americas”) — guess who knows the most about the religion? We do. (And that’s why we’re not Mormon.) Read more