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.
Different websites are reporting on the fact that philanthropist Todd Stiefel, through his foundation, gave $65,000 to the Religion News Service over the past two years so that they could write stories about the non-theistic movement. Rob Kerby at BeliefNet wonders about the ethics. Billy Hallowell at Glenn Beck’s site, The Blaze, just takes that article and puts a right-wing spin on it. ***Update***: Billy Hallowell wrote the piece that appears on both websites, though I still feel like raising… Read more
Mexican Fiesta has been celebrated in Milwaukee for over 30 years and it took place this past weekend on public grounds. The cost to enter is $13/person… unless you attend Mass… in which case it’s only $5: As you can imagine, the Freedom From Religion Foundation didn’t like the idea that Catholic attendees would get to pay less than non-Catholic ones. So they sent festival organizers a letter explaining the problem. Just to be clear, this has nothing to do… Read more
Mark Mariakis is the Ridgeland High School (Georgia) football coach who thinks its his job to convert his players to Christianity. It’s not only atheist groups like FFRF trying to put a stop to his illegal actions — leading his team in Christian prayer, putting Bible verses on team shirts, urging players to attend Christian summer camps, etc. Even a columnist for the local newspaper (the Walker County Messenger) agrees that what Mariakis is doing is unconstitutional and needs to… Read more
William Murray, the super-Christian son of American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair, has an article at World Net Daily (I know, I know…) about AA’s fight against the World Trade Center Museum’s 9/11 Cross. And, just as you would expect, it’s evident that Murray has no knowledge of the Constitution. He’s just mad that anyone would be upset about a cross — to him, it’s just anti-Christian bigotry, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Never deterred by logic or… Read more