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.
According to progressive think tank Political Research Associates, American evangelical groups are doing more than just proselytizing overseas. They’re spreading hatred against gays, lesbians, and women, too: It identified three organisations that it believes are aggressively targeting the continent: [Pat] Robertson’s ACLJ, the Catholic group Human Life International and Family Watch International, led by the Mormon activist Sharon Slater. … In the past five years, the report alleges, all “have launched or expanded Africa-based offices dedicated to promoting their Christian… Read more
Monsignor William J. Lynn — a Catholic official who covered up sexual abuse in the Church, “shielded predatory priests, sometimes transferring them to unwary new parishes.” and lied to the public about it — was sentenced to 3-6 years in prison today. It’s not enough to make up for the damage he’s caused — hell, Penn State arguably got a harsher sentence — but it could be a warning sign to any other Catholic priests who think they can get… Read more
Quick: What do you see in this picture of the sky above the site for the Aurora tragedy victims’ vigil? If you said “Clouds,” you would be correct. If you said “An angel,” then, um, you would be Crystal Fuller: Crystal Fuller took the photo after the vigil was finished Sunday night, but said she didn’t notice the image of the angel right away. “I noticed it afterwards. I had it posted and said crazy cloud… one of my friends,… Read more
This is a guest post by Ryne P. Smith. Ryne lives in Chicago and is currently working on his undergrad in biology. He previous wrote for this site here. … In the wake of the Aurora theater shooting, we have heard a good deal about the 12 people who were killed. We have also heard some Christian perspectives about why it happened. Not a lot has been said about the 58 people who were injured. Petra Anderson was one of… Read more
Bob Smietana’s article in today’s edition of The Tennessean tackles two big issues for atheism-at-large: Is Secular Humanism a religion? And can atheists achieve any type of political power? (My answers: No… and not anytime soon, but we have to try.) The article comes a week after the Secular Coalition for America held a conference call for anyone in Tennessee who might want to start a statewide chapter: Nick Curry, 24, of Nashville, who calls himself a secular humanist, hopes… Read more