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 missed it, last night Don McLeroy, the former chair of the Texas Board of Education, appeared on the Colbert Report. You get a striking sense that McLeroy had no idea what he was walking into — that he was the butt of the joke. Sure, he’s the subject of a new documentary, but you *know* he was really brought on because the idea of a fake religious conservative interviewing a real religious conservative was too good for… Read more
This is the way Sylvania, Alabama greets visitors to the town: How did Ephesians 4:5 get in there…? I don’t know, but four different signs use that same Biblical message to welcome people — and all four are illegal. So the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent Mayor Mitchell Dendy a letter explaining the problem (PDF) last week. To add insult to injury, attorney Patrick Elliott wrote: The signs are not even representative of the beliefs of all Christians. To some,… Read more
What does Neil deGrasse Tyson say when he speaks in front of other space professionals? You can find out in the video below, from when he gave the keynote address at the recent National Space Symposium (the actual talk begins at the 6:01 mark): As always, if you see anything we should all watch, please leave the timestamps in the comments! Read more
The Thinking Atheist compiled this collection of comments from people who declared their atheism, only to be ostracized or cut off in return: If you’re able to declare your atheism to certain people without fear of reprisal, please do it. Do it for the people in the video. Do it so that pointing out the obvious stops coming with a penalty. Read more
There’s now a group for atheists at Quinnipiac University (in Connecticut)! But it’s not quite official yet…: “We decided to start something like this because I [felt] like freethinkers were not represented on campus at all,” said Julia Olson, a co-founder of [the Quinnipiac University Atheist, Humanist and Agnostic Association]. … “The start-up process has been frustrating. For such a seemingly easy process, it has taken much longer than we anticipated. We have been working on becoming officially recognized as… Read more