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.
Focus on the Family put together back-to-school packets for kids and parents (PDF). Notwithstanding the references to prayer, they’re actually pretty commendable — If they focused on things like this instead of stopping gay couples from experiencing the same kind of joy, maybe everyone wouldn’t despise them as much. Anyway, they give parents a brief “cheat sheet” so they know about abbreviations they might see in their kids’ text messages or online chats… and this one caught me off-guard: Yes…… Read more
ESPN loves shows featuring talking heads. They’ll invite columnists with personalities to talk about any sports-related topic and the worst sin they can commit is being boring. On Friday, one of their regulars, Skip Bayless, was eager to talk about this picture from GQ featuring a Jesus-like Tim Tebow: Bayless tweeted this in advance of his TV spot: Religious persecution? Really? I’m sure it might upset some Christians… but it’s not like Tebow was magically photoshopped in the image. He… Read more
It’s good to see Rachel Marie Stone, a contributor to Christianity Today’s her.meneutics blog, speak out in favor of vaccinations: I’m one of the moms you might expect to oppose vaccines. We try to eat local and organic, don’t watch television, homeschool our kids, and wear natural fibers. My son was born into a birthing tub with a midwife present. But in November we’re also moving to Malawi, where diseases like polio, typhoid, tetanus, and cholera are not theoretical. We… Read more
Chip Rowe has a lengthy interview with Richard Dawkins in the latest issue of Playboy (link contains sidebar ads that are NSFW). In other words, you’ll actually want to read this Playboy for the article. In the interview, there are plenty of openings for religious people to criticize him… as well as the phrase “buggering the bald transvestite” (take a guess)… and the words “fronkey” and “octocow.” Good times. Most of the questions are pretty basic, but Rowe still managed… Read more
Remember these billboards put up by American Atheists? Pat Robertson doesn’t like them. Ok, ok, that’s not a surprise. BUT. In his rant against billboards (at the 0:57 mark), he manages to rattle off several lies. 1) “Billboards stay up forever unless somebody comes and buys the billboard…” I assure you the atheist billboards come down on the expiration date. No one’s eager to give our groups more time than we paid for. 2) “[The billboard companies] can deny somebody… Read more