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.
Before you go back to school, the Illinois Family Institute wants to remind Christian parents everywhere how they can go after those damn teachers who challenge students’ thinking. No joke. Laurie Higgins’ piece is entitled “Challenge teachers, not books” (PDF). Because, as we all know, teachers who discuss banned books are the real problems with our schools. Parents can object to teachers rather than texts. Here are some suggestions for parents who are fed up with the subtle and not… Read more
At Foundation Beyond Belief, we want more people to join our Light the Night teams to raise $1,000,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And I made a video for it. I don’t do videos. I have no plans on doing more videos. But here you go: I don’t know how all those YouTube people do it. I think that was Take 13 and the only reason I didn’t do more was because I had to go somewhere. Join a… Read more
There have already been a couple of posts on this site about how the Hamilton County Commissioners (in Tennessee) have been praying “in Jesus’ name” at meetings. 12-year-old Maia Disbrow was one of the people speaking out against the prayers. Here’s video of her speaking to the commissioners: Good morning. My name is Maia Disbrow, and I am twelve years old. I am a perfectly normal young adult, although some of my friends would beg to differ. I was present… Read more
Almost as certainly as you can expect Westboro Baptist Church to protest the funerals of the Sikhs who died in yesterday’s shootings, you can expect the Christian Right to say something ridiculously stupid. (More than the usual, anyway.) Cue Pat Robertson, who wonders why someone committed this tragic crime: “What is it?… Is it satanic? Is it some spiritual thing, people who are atheists, they hate God, they hate the expression of God? And they are angry with the world,… Read more