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 evangelical Christian owner of the Hobby Lobby craft store chain says he doesn’t want his employees’ health insurance to cover certain kinds of birth control because… I guess he figures they can just make their own using the store’s products? CEO David Green and his family actually filed a federal lawsuit (PDF) yesterday against the government to get out of paying for comprehensive health insurance: The [health care] Mandate illegally and unconstitutionally coerces the Green family to violate their… Read more
Now that the public Christian prayers before home football games have been stopped at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, some locals are worrying that the church/state separationistas will go after the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (a.k.a. The Home That Peyton Manning Built) for doing the same thing: “We wouldn’t have the capability to go searching for these things, so unless someone local contacts us, we don’t go seeking violations,” said Freedom From Religion Foundation staff attorney Stephanie Schmitt. Schmitt… Read more
In 2008, Richard Cizik, the vice-president for governmental relations at the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), made a mistake. He told the truth. In an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, he said this about his attitude toward gay marriage: “I’m shifting, I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say that I believe in civil unions. I don’t officially support redefining marriage from its traditional definition, I don’t think.” What?! He supported civil unions and… Read more