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.
Steven Weinreb suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukemia and has new white blood cells in his body, making him vulnerable to diseases the rest of us don’t have to worry about. So he makes an important plea in today’s New York Times: … if 75 percent to 95 percent of the population around us is vaccinated for a particular disease, the rest are protected through what is called herd immunity. In other words, your measles vaccine protects me against the measles…. Read more
The brilliant journalist Tom Junod tackles the question of why so many Americans are transfixed with quarterback and one-man-spokesperson-for-Christianity Tim Tebow and writes that, without the Christian storyline, Tebow would hardly be the athlete people are making him out to be: … [Tebow is] strong, so he can shot-put and corkscrew the ball all over the field, but he often looks like he’s throwing the ball away when he’s not, and he avoids interceptions by coming nowhere near his intended… Read more
There’s a nativity scene on the courthouse lawn in Athens, Texas and the Freedom From Religion Foundation says 1) it must be taken down or 2) their own banner must be put up alongside it. Neither is acceptable to the locals — as if that matters — and last weekend, they staged a rally in support of Jesus: Nathan Lorick, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Malakoff and one of the organizers of Saturday’s rally in Athens, said:… Read more
Tim Minchin recently recorded a song comparing Jesus to Woody Allen (“short, Jewish, philosophical, a bit hesitant”) for the Jonathan Ross Show on ITV. It’s hilarious and worth a watch: The problem is that after that song was taped, the director of television for ITV, Peter Fincham, stopped it from going on the air. He didn’t want to offend anyone, you know, what with the song being humorous and all… So Minchin put the song online along with the following… Read more
This is a guest post by Kathy Orlinsky. Kathy writes at The Stochastic Scientist blog. … I listen to a lot of theological discussions and debates. Often, someone will mention the name of a common argument for God’s existence… but I can never seem to remember which argument is which. Maybe you’re in the same boat. Accordingly, I’ve prepared the following guide for distinguishing five standard apologetics, along with my counterarguments. This isn’t a comprehensive list of arguments, nor does… Read more