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.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State just scored a big victory. The town of Greece, New York has been opening board meetings with prayers since 1999 thanks to Town Supervisor John Auberger. Sure, they’ve allowed different members of the clergy to deliver the prayers… but virtually all of those clergy members were Christians. Finally, in 2008, they were called out on it by two residents of the town, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens. After they complained, the town… Read more
Cord Jefferson, the senior editor at GOOD magazine, has a wonderful piece at Gawker about the struggles of being a black atheist: Several years ago, I pitched a freelance piece about black atheism to a prominent magazine geared toward African-Americans. The pitch was denied, but not for any real reason. “That one might be a bit, uh, hard,” is all my editor said. I’d later come to find out that he was merely sheltering me from his ultra-Christian executive editor,… Read more
An ER doctor from the Pacific Northwest tells this horrific story about a child who recently came into his hospital. It turns out the story of Abraham and Isaac is still very much alive in the 21st century. A young man, barely old enough to drink, well, went out and got drunk, as young men do. He was involved in a dispute of some sort involving drugs and was administered some street justice. He came in to me quite ill… Read more
It’s not just American religious leaders who do despicable things because of their homophobia. In North Jutland, Denmark, a Lutheran vicar said he would not bury a 74-year old woman because she was a lesbian: “I thought — can this really be possible that we have to be ashamed? I looked at my mother’s partner and she was silent. I was upset for her. What a terrible situation to put her in,” Kirsten Østergaard told DR1. The vicar has since… Read more