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.
Ryan Anderson, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, is one of those “compassionate conservatives” you always hear about but never actually meet. He puts a friendlier face on awful policy ideas. At a recent anti-abortion conference, for example, he talked about the need for crisis pregnancy centers to help women seeking abortions. (I’m going to assume he didn’t mention how those centers frequently mislead women with unscientific, untrue information.) Then, he pivoted to homosexuality. What would compassion look like in that situation? Apparently, it means having gay people over for dinner. Because if they know there are people who truly care about them, there won’t be any need for marriage equality. Read more
A Catholic nun recently wrote an article deriding all those critics of Mother Teresa, chief among them, the late Christopher Hitchens. The title of that piece is, “5 Responses to the Ridiculous Rancor of Some Toward Mother Teresa,” though the URL gives away what appears to be the original title: “5 Responses to the Ridiculous Reasons Some Atheists Hate Mother Teresa.” We don’t hate her, of course. Many atheists who have looked into her legacy simply don’t buy into all the hype. But given that Mother Teresa is set to be canonized, Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble wants to debunk all the so-called myths about her — like the notion that she mismanaged money and enjoyed suffering. Thankfully, Godless Mom does an excellent job of providing a response to all of her claims. Read more
Last month, the Secular Coalition for America ran a March Madness-like bracket contest to decide the “Worst State Bill” in America. The “winner”? Mississippi’s House Bill 786, which would allow churches to create a security team with lethal power in order to kill possible intruders. Members of that team would then be “immune from civil liability” in case anything went wrong. Yesterday, Gov. Phil Bryant signed that bill into law. Read more
Last fall, the Freedom From Religion Foundation issued a damning report claiming that “Christian coaches and chaplains are converting football fields into mission fields.” They were highlighting the fact that a lot of public university athletic coaches don’t even hide the fact that they want to convert their players. They’ll bring chaplains on board, perform baptisms right on the field, or lead the team in prayers before a game. It’s not legal, but it happens everywhere. Maybe that pressure’s finally working, because the University of South Carolina just got rid of its team chaplain: Read more