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.
In case you don’t remember the Matthew LaClair story, he was the high school student who recorded his history teacher proselytizing in the classroom — the story made a huge splash when the New York Times covered the controversy (and published the recordings). Filmmaker Vic Losick made a documentary about the whole thing called “In God We Teach” and it’s now available for free online: I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, but I’m going to make the… Read more
I’m no expert on running a company, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to insult your staff if you want them to work hard for you. Tate Publishing puts out Christian books and music. After finding out that the company was going to expand into other countries last week, rumors began to circulate among staff members that they were going to be the victims of “outsourcing.” Good CEOs would probably respond to the rumors head-on — tell employees what’s… Read more
It’s been a while since we’ve heard that name… For those unaware, Dennis Markuze is the Montreal resident who was infamous for making death threats to atheists online as well as spouting crazy rants, using a variety of pseudonyms and a seemingly endless supply of Twitter/Facebook handles. If you blogged or tweeted about atheism — or even commented on sites about it — you were likely one of his “victims.” Last year, thanks to pushback from a number of threat… Read more
The latest issue of Freethought Today (May, 2012) tells a wonderful story of a student who tried to begin an atheist group at his high school… only to have it denied. That’s when FFRF stepped in. … Colin Muller, a junior at George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Ga., was denied approval from his school in April to start a new student group titled Freethinkers for Acceptance Cooperation and Trust. (FACT). The school has more than 70 approved student… Read more
According to a Gallup poll released today, 46% of Americans believe in Creationism, 32% of Americans believe in god-guided evolution, and 15% of Americans are actually right: We are a country full of deluded people… Not surprisingly, the less education you have, the more likely you are to believe in nonsense: Americans with postgraduate education are most likely of all the educational groups to say humans evolved without God’s guidance, and least likely to say God created humans in their… Read more