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.
Jerry Buell is the teacher who was reassigned out of the classroom because of anti-gay messages he posted on his private Facebook wall (though he was “Facebook friends” with current students, which is just shady…). Even though he’s now back in the classroom, the evidence shows that Buell had no problem talking about his faith while teaching. While I heard second-hand stories about what his syllabus said, I finally got ahold of the one he used for Honors United States… Read more
I love when college groups find a way to combine both fundraising and consciousness-raising. For the second straight year, members of the Pastafarians at the University of South Carolina held a fundraiser on campus by allowing students the chance to throw water balloons at them — “stone” them — for $1. They called it “Stone-a-Heathen” and they got the idea from the Bible: And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and… Read more
I was recently interviewed by Todd Stiefel and Jes Constantine of The Humanist Hour (the American Humanist Association’s podcast) and the episode is now available online: The discussion revolved around atheist activism, math education, and public speaking (during which I gave Todd a brief lesson in effective communication) 🙂 If you get a chance to hear it, your feedback is always appreciated! Read more
Doug Smith wrote a cover story about local atheists for the Arkansas Times. He did his homework, too — it’s one of the most in-depth pieces you’ll ever read about Secular Americans in a mainstream publication: It’s said there are no atheists in foxholes, and that’s baloney, according to a military man we’ll call “Brad.” At an atheists’ social gathering in Little Rock, Brad told a reporter that as an Air Force pilot, he’d been in situations where his life… Read more
C. R. Wiley, a Presbyterian pastor, has an article in RELEVANT (a Christian magazine) about why Christians ought to befriend atheists — and not for the sole purpose of converting them. There are several benefits, he says, to having godless friends. While his points might sound generous, the article is full of backhanded compliments. My atheist friends have made me more humane. … … since they say “no” to my most important “yes” I must cull out the essential, the… Read more
