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.
Raihan Abir, a Bangladeshi activist and the co-author of a book about atheism that led to the murder of his writing partner Avijit Roy, will receive the PEN Canada/Ken Filkow Prize (worth $1,000) next month. It’s an award which is given to someone “who has shown courage in opposing restraint on freedom of expression and ideas.” Read more
On his show this week, televangelist Jim Bakker talked about how there are groups — hello, Right Wing Watch! — that monitor the things he says because they want him off the air. Then, going full conspiracy theory, he said that people like him who are “speaking up for our Constitution” are mysteriously dying and will continue to die off in the future. Which is probably a frightening prospect for his viewers, whose average age, I can only assume, is 97. Read more