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.
Leah Libresco, who also blogs on Patheos’ Atheism channel and had put together the Ideological Turing Test, made a bit of a surprise announcement this morning: She’s converting to Catholicism. I believed that the Moral Law wasn’t just a Platonic truth, abstract and distant. It turns out I actually believed it was some kind of Person, as well as Truth. And there was one religion that seemed like the most promising way to reach back to that living Truth… I… Read more
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has a new book out — Why Catholicism Matters — and Bill Keller of the New York Times agrees with him (!!!) when it comes to how to handle the Catholics who don’t buy into everything the Church hierarchy dictates: Let them go: Donohue notes that roughly a quarter of Americans identify themselves as Catholic. He reckons maybe half of those, the more conservative half, attend church regularly and contribute. “They’re the ones who… Read more
Fight Church: A documentary about… um… when Jesus beat up the bad guys: Related: Last year, a man died in an unsanctioned boxing match sponsored by an Oklahoma church. The same church gives out weekly awards for the high school football player who has the biggest hit of the game. For Jesus. (via Christian Nightmares) Read more
Chelsea Stanton is the student from Collingswood High School (New Jersey) who didn’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Her district’s code of conduct required all students to stand during the Pledge, but because of Chelsea’s activism, they’re going to change that. Now, Chelsea has put up a YouTube video explaining her side of the story. The good stuff really begins at the 5:50 mark: My favorite part: Where she goes to her teacher and administrator with the law that… Read more