Friendly Atheist under attack by Christian hate group

August 19, 11:52 AMPortland Humanist ExaminerMicha J. Stone

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  The Friendly Atheist

Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, is under attack by a right wing Christian hate group. The Illinois Family Institute, led by Laurie Higgins, is harassing celebrity atheist Mehta.

According to Mehta, a high school math teacher, Higgins emailed his boss, his high school’s entire administrative staff, and every school board member to inform them about Mehta's private life as an atheist blogger. The attempt was to smear Mehta, claiming Mehta was unprofessional and unsuitable to be teaching because of his affiliation with atheism.

This episode is but one shameful event is an organization that is ugly through and through. The Illinois Family Institute is a vile sewer of hate and ignorance. The group is engaged in a campaign of gay bashing homophobia. The organization seems dedicated to denigrating anyone who does not goose step to their Christian fundamentalism. Obviously, any organization that claims the gay community is just as dangerous as Nazis is out of touch with reality and hard to take seriously.

Higgins is on record as favoring the bullying and harassment of gay children by Christian children. She is engaged in an effort to prevent any legislation which prohibits or penalizes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification. She believes it is a Christian's God given right to abuse and harass gay adults as well as gay youth.

The attack on atheists and homosexuals is predictable for a group consisting of the most ignorant and bigoted among us. Yet their shame is every Christian's shame. Where are the good Christians, and why do they allow such hatred and bigotry to be spread in their name?