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.
I figured it wouldn’t be hard to do a bit of research. Are these doctors really representative of the wider medical population or do they have some sort of bias? I started Googling and all I found were doctors whose primary objective is to promote the teachings of the Catholic Church, not doctors who follow the science where it leads. Read more
You want to see Christian privilege in action? Get this: At Summit Middle School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a pastor from a church called The Chapel was allowed to hang out in the cafeteria while students were there, pass out pamphlets (that may or may not have been religious in nature) to them, and chat with them as they ate. This was not some random guy — the students “recognize[d] him as a religious leader.” And the school just let it happen. Read more
Suppose you’re an atheist getting married to another atheist. Who performs your wedding? Maybe a priest (if your parents are paying for the ceremony). Maybe a good friend (if they get the proper paperwork in time). Maybe a Humanist Celebrant. But in Indiana, only a handful of people are allowed to perform the ceremony: Read more
On August 19, 2012, Republican Representative Todd Akin of Missouri launched himself out of obscurity and into the headlines of CNN and the New York Times by proclaiming this about conception and pregnancy: “If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin displayed impressive linguistic economy. In fewer than twenty words, he implied that traumatized women can set their uteri to airplane mode, hinted that pregnant women who claim rape are lying, and outraged more than half of the nation’s electorate. Akin, a conservative Christian, also continued a time-honored biblical tradition of dismissing the rights of female victims of sexual assault. Read more