Friendly Atheist

Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors.

He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he graduated with honors in both Mathematics and Biology. While there, he also helped establish their first secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD). He is now earning his Masters in Math Education at DePaul University.

He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and is the SSA representative to the Secular Coalition for America. He is also on the board of Foundation Beyond Belief, a charity organization targeting non-theistic donors.

Hemant was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for his work as the “eBay Atheist” and his book about the experience, I Sold My Soul on eBay (WaterBrook Press), was released in 2007.

Hemant’s blog can be read at FriendlyAtheist.com.

He currently works as a high school Math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.

If you would like Hemant to speak at your next convention or group meeting, or if you would like to reach him about other matters, please contact him using this form. Any email that is sent to him may be reprinted (in part or in full) in any format along with the sender’s information. (So don’t be evil.)

Hemant can discuss his “conversion” to atheism, his recent experiences going to church, as well as what he believes Christians/atheists are doing right and wrong.

He can speak in front of both religious and atheist audiences.

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Mike Clawson is currently a seminary student at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. Prior to this he was the founding pastor of Via Christus, an emerging church in Yorkville, IL. He met his wife Julie at Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) where he studied both Philosophy and Christian Education & Ministry, and also obtained a Masters in Intercultural Studies & Teaching English as a Second Language. Together they have an adventurous and energetic toddler named Emmaline Eowyn and a newborn son, Aidan Elessar (yes, they are both Lord of the Rings fanatics). Mike is originally from Michigan where his parents served at several Christian camps/retreat centers. Having grown up in the woods of northern Michigan, Mike enjoys horseback riding, hiking, and camping, as well as road trips with friends, traveling in Europe, strategy board games (RISK!), computer games, and Renaissance Faires. He spends a lot of time blogging at emergingpensees.com, reading texts on theology, social justice, or history (among other things), and playing with Emma. Prior to moving to Texas, Mike also co-coordinated up/rooted, the Emergent Village cohort for the greater Chicago area, which meets monthly to discuss theology, ministry, and social justice. His primary passion is to transform the lives of people and the whole world for the better by pursuing Christ’s way of justice, mercy and love in his everyday life.

Mike got involved in Christian/atheist discussions as a result of Hemant’s original eBay Atheist project with Off the Map. Through his conversations at both the OTM blogs and here at FriendlyAtheist.com, Mike has come to a deep appreciation of atheist views, and highly values the conversations and positive transformations that occur on both sides when atheists and theists seek to understand one another better.

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One of the things Richard Wade enjoys the most is writing about himself in the third person so that all the cool things he says about himself don’t sound like bragging.

In a way he was born in the Temple of Science because his parents worked in a major Natural History museum as exhibit designers and illustrators. Their friends were paleontologists, geologists, entomologists, historians and the like, so Richard was brought up on a steady diet of science. As a child he enjoyed going out on archeological digs with the professionals or hunting for fossils. He has an extensive collection of fossils and looks forward to being one some day.

He has two Master’s degrees, the first in Art and the second in Educational Psychology. He has worked as an artist and as a Marriage and Family Counselor with many years in the specialization of addiction medicine, counseling more than ten thousand patients. He is now retired.

He lives in California and when he is not erasing wrinkles and blemishes from his self portraits he enjoys amateur astronomy with his big, manly telescope, hiking in the Sierras, fossil hunting and making figurative sculptures.

Richard’s motto is In Festivitas Veritas, or “in humor is truth.” As a contributor on this website he hopes to bring people of conflicting views together in positive dialogue by helping them to not take themselves too seriously. He’s very serious about that.

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Ron Gold graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2006 with a B.A. in political science. Currently, he runs the Invisible Pink Unicorn blog, named after his favorite satirical deity — no disrespect to the Flying Spaghetti Monster intended.

He is essentially a lifelong atheist, and has never belonged to any religious affiliation. Having made up his mind about religion long ago, Ron isn’t interested in participating in unproductive debates about whether or not there is a God.

Before he was in high school, Ron was only apathetic towards religion. But as he got older, he saw how there were many conservative Christian politicians that wanted their values to become the law, and he became more critical towards Christianity as a result. Like many people, he though that 9/11 proved that radicalism in any religion can be dangerous. At the same time, he is an adamant supporter of freedom of religion, so long as one’s religious beliefs don’t infringe on others.

Of course, like anyone else, he isn’t defined solely by his religious beliefs or lack thereof. Ron has many interests, plays many sports, is a big fan of music and movies, and is a bit of a news junkie.

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Jesse Galef has worked for both the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America.

He grew up in Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of Washington DC. He then went off to the University of North Carolina, graduating in 2008 with a degree in Political Science. He was the president of the Non-religious Student Association there, but was also an active member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship and the Christian Apologetics of Carolina. He likes making friends with different views, and feels that he gains a better understanding through his discussions with them.

Jesse was raised in a secular household, where his family celebrated both Chanukah and Christmas. There was nothing religious about it, they just liked eating latkes and giving out presents.

In his spare time, Jesse likes to read, breakdance, and play board games. Although he might be young in years, a lifetime of soccer, hockey, and breakdancing has left his joints feeling considerably older than he is.