20 Facts About Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta was born on February 25,1983 and is an American author, blogger, YouTuber and atheist activist.

Hemant Mehta used to run the Friendly Atheist blog on Patheos, in which he and his associates published articles several times a day, and co-hosts a weekly podcast called the Friendly Atheist Podcast.

Hemant Mehta graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004 with a double degree in math and biology and began teaching in 2007.

Hemant Mehta acquired a master's degree in math education from DePaul University in 2010 and a national board certification in teaching in 2012.

Hemant Mehta established a secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma, at the University of Illinois at Chicago while earning dual degrees there.

Hemant Mehta interned at the Center for Inquiry where he became familiar with a lot of the national organizations and leaders in the activist world at that time.

Hemant Mehta is a regular speaker at freethought and skeptical events around the US He attempts to build bridges of understanding between believers and non-believers through his blog, The Friendly Atheist.

Hemant Mehta helped establish and serves on the board of the Foundation Beyond Belief, which has raised more than $2,400,000 since it launched in 2010.

Hemant Mehta established a church cleanup fund in response to reports of church vandalism in Bend, Oregon, in 2012.

The vandals tagged the church with allusions to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Hemant Mehta's readers contributed nearly $3,000 in one day to help clean up the damage.

Hemant Mehta writes for the "On Faith" column in The Washington Post and has been featured in a New York Times debate on prayer.

Hemant Mehta was a guest on CNN on August 20,2013, to discuss the rise of atheism among the millennial generation.

Hemant Mehta started a second channel, Friendly Atheist, in 2019, and has since gained almost 100 thousand subscribers.

Hemant Mehta is the co-host, with Jessica Bluemke, of a weekly podcast named the Friendly Atheist Podcast, which has produced over 270 episodes as of June 2019.

In January 2006, Hemant Mehta posted an auction on eBay where he explained his background in atheism and offered to go to the worship services of the winning bidder's choosing.

Hemant Mehta later donated that money to the Secular Student Alliance, a non-profit organization for which he served as chair of the board of directors.

Hemant Mehta was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Seattle Times, and the Village Voice, and on National Public Radio.

Henderson asked Hemant Mehta to visit a variety of churches and write about the experiences on Henderson's website, offthemap.

Hemant Mehta eventually wrote about his visits at nine different churches as well as two additional pieces dealing with atheist conventions and Christian media.

However, Hemant Mehta cancelled the project after receiving negative feedback from his readers.