The Friendly Atheist Comes to Town

L toR: Co-President Caroline Speer, Faculty Advisor John Mueller,
 Hemant Mehta, Co-President Josiah Racchini

On March 25th, I traveled up to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater.  The IUP Secular Student Alliance had invited Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, to speak on the topic of being a young atheist in the US.  I had emailed him prior to see if he would be willing to do an interview, which he was.  It was strange coming back onto campus for an event like this.  I had tried unsuccessfully to start a group with CFI On Campus while I was a student there, so it was exciting to know that there was now an active group of freethinkers.  I met up with Hemant, and we recorded the interview, which I think went well (it will post as a podcast on April 8th). The SSA was kind enough to invite me out to dinner afterwards.  We discussed all the of the usual topics that you would expect from a group like this, and Hemant answered many questions about successfully blogging, organizing, and campus outreach.  It was an excellent night overall.  A big thanks to Hemant for coming to speak and doing the interview, as well as the IUP SSA for bringing him out, spreading the "good news", and including this guy in the action.