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.
Seriously?! Another post about prayer in Saskatchewan?! At Three Lakes School, the 17 seniors were given the option of voting for what happened before their graduation banquet: 1) Prayer 2) Grace 3) Neither About a third of the students voted for option 3 — which may not be enough to be the leading option — but now, one of the students is leading the charge to get rid of the first two options altogether. He’s had partial success: “It was… Read more
A couple of months ago, Summit High School in Spring Hill, Tennessee held a “Fictional Character Day” in which students could come to school dressed as their favorite fictional character. Like the Mad Hatter. Or Darth Vader. Or SpongeBob SquarePants. Jeff Shott came dressed as Jesus. Before class even started that day, Shott was asked by the principal and other staffers to remove his costume. It was inappropriate, they said. Shott did what he was told, but he explained how… Read more
In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, Jack Black stated that he was an atheist who got his “spiritual needs” in other ways. You can hear it around the 14:10 mark in the interview: “I don’t have any real spirituality in my life — I’m kind of an atheist — but when music can take me to the highest heights, it’s almost like a spiritual feeling. It fills that void for me.” Not that everyone has to “fill that… Read more
Rekindle Reason, the atheist group at the University of Pennsylvania, recently handed out chocolate chip cookies to fellow students. In return, they just wanted their souls. Or their pets’ souls. Visiting parents could hand over their childrens’ souls. It didn’t matter. Any old soul would do. With a table and whiteboard on the Walk, group members claimed 13 souls in half an hour. Individuals “sold” their souls by signing a contract on a small piece of paper. In three hours,… Read more