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.
I’m vegetarian. It’s not something I spend much time defending or arguing about, but there you go. I also get why people eat meat, with reasons ranging from all the supposed health benefits to “But it’s delicious.” They’re not convincing enough for me, but I understand them. Hunting animals for sport, though? I don’t get that at all. You’re not catching a meal. You don’t need to do it for survival. You’re just killing for the sake of killing. How twisted does your mind have to be to find that fun? While much of the recent media attention has been on Dr. Walter Palmer (who paid money to kill Cecil the Lion), it’s rapidly shifting to Sabrina Corgatelli, an Idaho hunter who gleefully took to social media to show off her latest kills, including a giraffe: Read more
Our latest podcast guest is Shulem Deen, a former Hasidic Jew. Since leaving that world, Shulem has founded the website Unpious which is a voice for other ultra-Orthodox Jews who may be rethinking their faith. His new memoir is called All Who Go Do Not Return. We spoke with Shulem about the hypocrisy of Hasidic Jews regarding modern technology, how that community reacted to an episode of This American Life focusing on them, and how America Online became his gateway to the outside world. Read more