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.
We’re still awaiting the judge’s ruling on whether Cranston High School West gets to keep its Prayer Banner, but in the meantime, Jessica Ahlquist, the high-schooler who’s leading the charge to take it down, has been talking about the case in a few select venues. A few months ago, she was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Youth Activist Award by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. A transcript of her speech is finally online: A lot of irrelevant stuff came up at… Read more
We gripe about church/state separation in America, but in Italy, a *lot* of taxpayer money goes toward funding the Catholic Church. The Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR) is trying to raise the consciousness of other Italians on this matter. They’re putting up the following billboard in the cities of Genoa (today) and Venice (tomorrow): That roughly translates to: “With 6 billion Euro per year, Italy could work miracles.” “Some of the budget cuts proposed by the Italian government… Read more
Because she knew he would take the next logical step: My mom always told me there wasn’t a Santa. This was her logic: She thought if I grew up knowing about Santa then finding out he wasn’t real, that it would be like she was lying to me. And then when she told me about God, I maybe wouldn’t believe her. So she just wanted to be straight-up and honest with me all the time. But I didn’t tell my… Read more