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.
John Shook of the Center for Inquiry offers a Humanist take on the death penalty: Humanism cannot support the death penalty. … Humanism stands for valuing the lives of all, individual human rights, justice for everyone, and governments that defend all of their people. These grounds alone are sufficient for abolishing the death penalty. Humanism also stands for elevating human dignity and pursuing the nobler virtues of common humanity. Even if some perfected criminal system could execute only the truly… Read more
Registered college organizations have to adhere to a few rules, one of which is that they must not be discriminatory. You can’t reject homosexuals or black people or Republicans or atheists from your organization because you don’t agree with their views. Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee audited the constitutions of around 300 campus groups and found that 12 of them were violating that rule. Five of those were religious groups. Four of those were Christian groups. (Surprise…) “Each officer is… Read more
One thing we’ve all learned from the Jessica Ahlquist case is that many public schools have religious symbols in the buildings — and they justify their placement by saying it’s “tradition.” It’s always been there, so it should always be there. Tradition is overrated, though, and in these cases, it doesn’t make it right. You need people like Jessica pointing out that the religious banner should never have been allowed in the first place, no matter how sentimental it may… Read more
The Washington Post reported on a trend last week that might be linked to a decline in religious influence as well as the growth in secular values: It looks like more couples are having their friends preside at their weddings instead of members of the clergy. Their decision to forgo the more traditional route is a slightly extreme example of a once-quirky trend that is becoming more mainstream. A study last year by TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com showed that 31 percent… Read more
Read this message from the ACLU and try not to get furious: Recently, a South Carolina middle school held a worship rally that sought to convert students to Christianity. The worship rally took place during an in-school assembly and featured a Christian rapper, a sermon delivered by a local minister, and volunteers who prayed with students, urging the students to accept Jesus Christ. The school district may be planning to hold similar rallies at other schools. More specifically, New Heights… Read more
