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.
Somehow, Charles Worley, the pastor who wants to put all gay people inside of electrified fences, has followers. One of them, Stacey Pritchard, attempted to defend her pastor’s comments on CNN last night. Anderson Cooper threw her softball after softball and she completely whiffed on every single one of them. This is seriously mind-boggling to listen to: Blogger John Shore has a very calm-but-frustrated take on the whole video. He tries really hard to understand where people like her are… Read more
Manitoba’s Healthy Living Minister Jim Rondeau just introduced some very sensible legislation. Bill 37 would make it illegal for children under the age of 18 to ride a bike (even as a passenger) without a helmet. If you’re caught without a helmet, you could be fined for up to $50 (or face an alternative punishment to be decided later). On the whole, though, it makes sense and there’s good reason for requiring it: From 2005 to 2009, 374 children were… Read more
One of the reasons I’m excited to visit Columbus this weekend is that I’ll get to see Elyse Anders, who runs the Women Thinking Free Foundation. She’s been working hard to get people vaccinated (and educating people about why that’s so important). As it turns out, one of our mutual friends — an activist herself — hasn’t been fully vaccinated and her parents aren’t exactly pushing for her to get them. So we’d like to help. Any funds raised beyond… Read more
In anticipation of their upcoming conference in New Orleans, the American Humanist Association has put up this ad on local streetcars through June 28th: In addition, the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association is putting up the following billboard near the Superdome from June 4th-10th: Speakers at the conference (June 7th-10th) include Gloria Steinem, NPR’s Science Friday host Ira Flatow, and MSNBC/The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur. Read more