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.
Dale McGowan tells a story in which his knowledge of the Bible works against him in a contest. The setup: At his wife’s (super religious) family reunion, a Baptist minister was asking everyone in the audience to guess a number to win a prize. He gave away t-shirts and pins… Then came the finale. With a bit of ceremony, he produced a small wooden box. He told a story of being approached by a man who was raising money for… Read more
Only a couple months ago, the Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason wanted to put up the following ad on 18 buses in the Little Rock area: The total cost would have been $5,620. Those ads never went up, though, because the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) and its advertising agent, On the Move Advertising, rejected the ad. It was too “controversial” for them. At the time, the United Coalition of Reason filed a lawsuit, with the help of the Appignani… Read more
Just as the Boy Scouts of America are happy to kick you out of the organization if you’re openly atheist or gay, Girlguiding UK (their version of the Girl Scouts) is telling a seven-year-old that she needs to pledge an oath to God if she wants to remain in the group: The pledge reads: ‘I promise that I will do my best, to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep… Read more
David Hayward points out one of the most divisive weapons we’ve ever created: The Bible isn’t the only problem, though. It’s any holy book. Or, more broadly, it’s anything dogmatic, anything that tells you “This is the Absolute Truth and anyone who disagrees is the enemy.” (via nakedpastor) Read more
While I was gone, reader Leanna came out as an atheist! Who’s Leanna? A homeschooling mother living in Kentucky. (So this cant be easy for her.) … I could join one of several wonderful homeschooling co-ops that are available in the area, if I were willing to sign a statement of faith and either teach my children creationism, or teach them to lie and say they believed in it. Neither route is acceptable to me, as I am homeschooling with… Read more
