Today I'm excited to announce a new series that will give us the chance to interact with some interesting people. Each Thursday, I’ll introduce you to a guest—a Catholic, an atheist, an Orthodox Jew, a Mormon, a missionary, an artist, an activist….you get the idea. Then you can use the comment section to ask him or her questions. We’ll pick our top five or six questions, and the guest will respond to them in an additional post the following Tuesday.
Our guest today is an atheist…and a very friendly one! Hemant Mehta graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with degrees in Mathematics and Biology. While there, he also helped establish their first secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD). He earned his Masters in Math Education at DePaul University and currently teaches high school math in the suburbs of Chicago.
He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and the Secular Coalition for America, received scholarships from American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and now serves on the board of directors forFoundation Beyond Belief (a charity organization targeting non-theistic donors) and is the former chair of the board of the Secular Student Alliance (which creates and supports college atheist groups nationwide).
Hemant has appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and his book I Sold My Soul on eBay(WaterBrook Press) was released in 2007. His blog, the winner of the 2011 Bloggie award for Best Weblog About Religion, can be read at FriendlyAtheist.com.
I really enjoy Hemant’s blog, and he and I have corresponded a bit over the past few months, so I know that he will respond to your questions with graciousness and honesty.
....So ask away!
[A note about questions: Obviously the point is not to proselytize or challenge, but to ask the sort of questions that will help us understand one another better. Please take advantage of the “like” feature so that we can get a sense of what questions are of most interest to readers. To see what Hemant has been writing about lately, check out his blog.]
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