Portrait of Hemant Mehta
Mpromptu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
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Hemant Mehta

b. c. 1983
Atheist

Hemant Mehta was raised in Jainism, a faith with karma, rebirth, heaven and hell but no creator God. He stopped believing at about fourteen. In 2006 he made his unbelief an open invitation to be proved wrong, by auctioning church visits on eBay. The "Friendly Atheist" manner that grew from it has been tested from both sides, bluntest in 2014 and chastened the same year, while the unbelief itself has not moved.

The belief timeline

1983Faithc. 1983–1996Doubtc. 1997 (start of high school)Declaration2006-01-27 to 2006-03-09Revision2014-08-07 (candidate)
  1. Faith (c. 1983–1996) — Raised a Jain: no creator god, but karma, rebirth, heaven and hell, and a strict rule against harming insects [3][5][6]
  2. Doubt (c. 1997 (start of high school)) — Doubts begin when he starts high school; the supernatural parts "couldn't withstand tougher scrutiny"; stops calling himself a Jain; by about fourteen does not believe in God [7][8][9]
  3. Declaration (2006-01-27 to 2006-03-09) — Publicly says he is an atheist and invites believers to try to change him: the eBay listing and the WSJ story. (He had already written letters to Chicago newspapers on church-state issues, undated) [19][20][21][25]
  4. Revision (2014-08-07 (candidate)) — Cancels the "abusive boyfriend" book; "the execution was poor and it upset a lot of good people". Revises tone, not belief. Earlier shifts: 2007 "I'm not an anti-theist"; 2013 "more confident in being an atheist" [30][39][41]
Notes to the timeline (13)
  1. [3] He was raised in Jainism: "an ancient Indian faith whose followers vow to harm no living thing, not even microbes in the air" (WSJ's gloss); he refers to "my own Jain faith". — Suzanne Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His Own Soul On the Auction Block", Wall Street Journal, 9 Mar 2006, p. A1; reprinted by Off the Map (Wayback copy of 22 Jul 2012). texts/wsj-2006.txt, (p. A1 reprint); Laura Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay: Interview with Atheist Hemant Mehta", Beliefnet, Sept 2007 (date from the URL path), pages 1-3 of 4 fetched (Wayback 2016); page 4 returned 404. texts/beliefnet.txt, beliefnet2.txt, beliefnet3.txt, p. 1; Interview by Johnny Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta", Richard Dawkins Foundation, 25 Mar 2014. texts/dawkins-vip.txt. The text loses apostrophes ("dont"); wording below restores them.
  2. [5] Jainism holds that the universe was not created and has no creator, governor, judge or destroyer; it is "transtheistic", unlike the Abrahamic faiths, and like Buddhism in this. Its prayers are directed at ascetic teachers (tirthankaras), who are not creator deities that grant boons. — "Jainism", revision 1379809603 of 2026-10-12T01:46:01Z. texts/wikipedia-jainism-r1379809603.wikitext, (cites von Glasenapp 1925 pp. 241-243; Long 2013 pp. 83-85; Babb 1996 p. 62), wikitext "Jainism is a transtheistic religion". Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen.
  3. [6] Mehta's own account of the Jain content: "they believe in reincarnation and karma and Heaven and Hell"; the philosophy is "non violence - even mentally speaking"; "if you're good in this life you're going to be in a better position in your next life". — Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014).
  4. [7] His doubts about religion started "when I started high school" (about 1997, aged 14); his parents' religion "couldn't withstand tougher scrutiny". — Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today vol. 30 no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2013), FFRF web page dated 11 Mar 2013 (Wayback copy of 2018). texts/ffrf-making-math.txt. A questionnaire in his own words, ("My doubts about religion started").
  5. [8] "I was around 14 when I stopped calling myself a Jain"; he decided he "could not call myself a Jain anymore because I don't buy into all of that". In his 2006 listing: "I stopped believing in God when I was 14." — Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014); Hemant Mehta (seller "tormentingmentor"), "Send an Atheist to his local Church!", eBay item 5660982226, started 27 Jan 2006, ended 3 Feb 2006; the "(revised)" description with a seller addition of 1 Feb 2006 and seven Q&A excerpts (Wayback copy of 15 Jun 2006). texts/ebay-listing-2006.txt.
  6. [9] The reasons he gives for stopping: the supernatural claims (reincarnation, karma, heaven, hell) and, by his own later account, no evidence ("I have never seen any evidence of 'God's work' in action"). No person, book or event is named as the trigger in the sources read. — Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014); "Hemant Mehta", revision 1379553283 of 2026-10-10T17:43:35Z. texts/wikipedia-mehta-r1379553283.wikitext, (quoting DFWCOR profile, not seen).
  7. [19] The eBay auction "Send an Atheist to his local Church!", item 5660982226, started 27 Jan 2006 at $1.00, ended 3 Feb 2006 19:45:27 PST with 41 bids and a winning bid of $504 from "jimhender"; seller "tormentingmentor". — (seller, "tormentingmentor", (Wayback copy); Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006), ("41 bids ... $504").
  8. [20] In the listing he promised to attend church "with an open mind", $10 per day of an hour or more; said he did not take his non-belief lightly; wrote that he "would immediately change those views if presented with evidence to the contrary" and that "at 22, this is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me". The WSJ quotes the same sentence ("This is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me"). — (seller, "tormentingmentor"; Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006).
  9. [21] The listing pledged an article for the newsletter, and a journal at ebayatheist.blogspot.com (added 1 Feb 2006). — (seller, "tormentingmentor".
  10. [25] The Wall Street Journal ran the story on page A1 on 9 March 2006 ("On eBay, an Atheist Puts His Own Soul On the Auction Block", by Suzanne Sataline). — Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006), (reprint header).
  11. [30] In 2007 he said "I'm not an anti-theist. I would love to see a world where religion doesn't play a role, but I don't see religion as this complete force for evil." and "You're not a Hitchens-style atheist with a big axe to grind" was the interviewer's phrasing, which he accepted ("Right."). — Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 2.
  12. [39] On Sunday (7 July 2013, derived from the article of Tue 9 July) he talked with minister Randy Frazee at Oak Hills Church, San Antonio. He explained that atheists fear "coming out"; he "scrubbed his book from his resume" fearing an employer's wariness; he said "We've heard all of it before" and "I've gotten more confident in being an atheist". — Eric W. Dolan, "'Friendly Atheist' informs megachurch: We've heard all of it before", Raw Story, 9 Jul 2013. texts/rawstory-megachurch.txt.
  13. [41] On 6-7 Aug 2014 he launched a Kickstarter for a book called "God is an Abusive Boyfriend (and you should break up)", illustrated by Tracey Moody, then cancelled it on 7 Aug "after receiving a lot of negative feedback", writing "Even if I believe the concept behind the book is a valid one, the execution was poor and it upset a lot of good people. My apologies to anyone in that crowd." — Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", Patheos, 7 Aug 2014. texts/patheos-cancel-kickstarter.txt; Chris Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God to abusive boyfriend", Religion News Service, via Washington Post, 8 Aug 2014 (Wayback copy of 9 Aug 2014). texts/wapo-rns-abusive-boyfriend.txt.

The Atheist Who Sold His Soul

On 27 January 2006 a twenty-two-year-old graduate student in Chicago put himself up for auction on eBay. The listing was titled "Send an Atheist to his local Church!" and started at one dollar. He wrote that he had stopped believing in God at fourteen, that he did not take his unbelief lightly, and that he would change his mind at once if someone showed him evidence; at his age, he said, this might be anyone's best chance of changing him. He offered to go to church with an open mind for ten dollars an hour.1234 A week later the auction closed after forty-one bids. The winner, at $504, was a former minister from Seattle.15

Hemant Mehta has been "the Friendly Atheist" ever since. This chapter asks what he stopped believing as a boy, why an atheist would sell a believer the chance to convert him, and how friendly he has stayed.

Hemant Mehta, photographed in 2016.
Hemant Mehta, photographed in 2016.Mpromptu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

A faith without a creator

He was born in 1983, in or just outside Chicago, to parents who raised him in their religion, Jainism.6789 Jainism, unlike the faiths of Abraham, has no creator God who made or governs the world; its devotion is directed at teachers who reached liberation.10 What Mehta remembers being taught was reincarnation, karma, heaven and hell, and a gentleness so strict that a bug must never be stepped on, because that would be bad for you. As an adult, he says, he still avoids stepping on them.11121314 On his timeline, this is his faith. It matters for this series that the faith he left had no God of the kind most of these chapters describe.

A shrine in the Jain temple in New York, photographed in 2009. Mehta's parents raised him in the Jain faith in the Chicago area.
A shrine in the Jain temple in New York, photographed in 2009. Mehta's parents raised him in the Jain faith in the Chicago area.Malaiya, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Mahavira, the great teacher of Jainism, in a statue made in Gujarat in 1470. Jains revere such liberated teachers; their religion has no creator God.
Mahavira, the great teacher of Jainism, in a statue made in Gujarat in 1470. Jains revere such liberated teachers; their religion has no creator God.Vassil, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Fourteen

His doubts, he wrote in 2013, began when he started high school: his parents' religion could not stand up to harder scrutiny.1516 At about fourteen he stopped calling himself a Jain, because he no longer accepted the reincarnation, karma, heaven and hell it taught; and by his account of 2006, he stopped believing in God at the same age.17183 He has not said, in anything read for this chapter, what particular book, person or event set the doubt off, or what he believed about God before then; his memoir of 2007 holds that account and has not been read here.1819 The timeline places his doubt here.

In his eBay answers he added that reading large parts of the Bible had only pushed him further toward atheism, and that the world did not need a creator, any more than people did.202122 Later he described one change it made: as a religious boy he had heard that one should pray for the poor; as an atheist he saw that no God would help them, so he would have to.2324

The University of Illinois at Chicago, in an aerial photograph of 1994. Mehta took degrees in mathematics and biology there in 2004, and with a friend started a student group for the non-religious.
The University of Illinois at Chicago, in an aerial photograph of 1994. Mehta took degrees in mathematics and biology there in 2004, and with a friend started a student group for the non-religious.Phillip Capper, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The student organiser

At the University of Illinois at Chicago he took degrees in mathematics and biology in 2004, and with a friend started a student group called Students WithOut Religious Dogma.2526 He interned at the Center for Inquiry, and by early 2006 he was editing a newsletter for over a thousand non-religious students, writing letters to Chicago papers on church and state, and heading the Secular Student Alliance.2728

The auction

The winning bidder, Jim Henderson, was a former evangelical minister who ran a website about helping Christians be normal. He flew to Chicago and told Mehta, in a bar, that he was not trying to convert him; Mehta would go as a kind of critic, and if he happened to be converted, that would be off the clock.52930 They agreed on ten to fifteen services, with the $504 going to the Secular Student Alliance.29 The first was a noon Mass at Old St. Patrick's, whose priest he scored three out of ten; at Park Community Church he said the sermon spoke to doubts nobody in the room had.31

Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago, in 2018. The noon Mass there was the first of the church visits Jim Henderson's bid bought.
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago, in 2018. The noon Mass there was the first of the church visits Jim Henderson's bid bought.Robert Haugland, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The pastors took it well. The priest at Old St. Patrick's said there was nothing Mehta could tell him that he had not heard a hundred times; an associate pastor at Park Community wrote to thank him for the honest review.3233 Some of Henderson's readers did not: one scolded him for throwing money at an atheist to get him "churched" for a while.34 On 9 March 2006 the story ran on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Halfway through, the paper reported, Mehta was no closer to believing in God, though he admired the community the churches built.3536 The timeline puts his declaration here, and it was not a slogan but an invitation, in public, to be proved wrong.

A publisher then sent him to churches across the country, and the book that followed, I Sold My Soul on eBay (2007), carried a foreword by the pastor Rob Bell.3719 He liked some of what he found: Willow Creek, Rob Bell's Mars Hill, and Joel Osteen's optimism, for which other atheists mocked him.38 His mother, he said, likes watching Osteen on television.39

Mehta with Victoria Osteen of Lakewood Church, Houston, in August 2006.
Mehta with Victoria Osteen of Lakewood Church, Houston, in August 2006.Hemant Mehta, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Willow Creek Community Church, near Chicago, in 2021. Mehta told an interviewer in 2007 that he really liked the church.
Willow Creek Community Church, near Chicago, in 2021. Mehta told an interviewer in 2007 that he really liked the church.Mary Fairchild, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Friendly

He began the Friendly Atheist blog in 2006.40 Asked in 2007 whether he was a Hitchens-style atheist with an axe to grind, he said no: he was not an anti-theist; he would like a world where religion played no role, but did not see it as wholly evil. He came from a religious family, he said, and most of the people he knew were religious, and they were not bad people.414243

For seven years, from 2007 to 2014, he taught high-school mathematics in the Chicago suburbs, and he kept atheism out of the classroom.4445 He took a master's degree in mathematics education at DePaul in 2010, chaired Foundation Beyond Belief, a charity for non-religious donors, and in 2012 published The Young Atheist's Survival Guide.254647

Mehta introducing Jessica Ahlquist at the Reason Rally in Washington, 24 March 2012.
Mehta introducing Jessica Ahlquist at the Reason Rally in Washington, 24 March 2012.BDEngler, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

In July 2013 he spoke with the minister Randy Frazee before the congregation of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. He talked about how atheists fear coming out, admitted he had taken his own book off his résumé for fear of an employer, told the congregation that atheists had heard all of their arguments before, and said he had become more confident in being an atheist.4849

Mehta speaking at Skepticon 7 in 2014.
Mehta speaking at Skepticon 7 in 2014.Mark Schierbecker, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Less friendly

In 2014 the friendliness was tested from both sides. In March he told an interviewer that he understood why science communicators steered around religion, but that he did not have to hold back, and that people would only wake up if you were very blunt.505152 In July he left teaching to work online full time.5354 In August he launched a crowdfunded picture book called God is an Abusive Boyfriend (and you should break up). The sharpest criticism came from a fellow atheist who worked with victims of domestic abuse, who called it insensitive to them and a crude picture of how people see religion. Within a day he cancelled it and apologised: he still thought the idea valid, but the execution was poor and it had hurt good people.55565758 On the timeline, this is his revision, and it is a revision of tone, not of belief.

The tension stayed. A reader wrote in 2016 that she could not square the word "friendly" with his calling belief in God irrational.59 He answered such critics, in effect, by saying there were people he could reach with his language and methods whom Richard Dawkins never could.6061

The long middle

He has co-hosted the Friendly Atheist Podcast since 2014, and from 2019 has read the whole Bible aloud on YouTube, chapter by chapter, with commentary.6263 In December 2021 he left Patheos, which had hosted his blog, for the secular outlet OnlySky and then a newsletter of his own.6465 In 2020 he won a game of Jeopardy!.66 He has argued that unbelievers should keep making the old arguments in new voices, and that critics should include other atheists when they deserve it.67

Did his unbelief change shape?

His unbelief has not changed since he was fourteen; its manners have. A boy who left a faith without a creator God, and with it karma and the afterlife, became a young man who would pay his way into churches to be argued with, then a teacher who kept quiet in class and loud online, then a writer who learned in 2014 where bluntness ends. He still, he says, tries not to step on a bug.

Richard Dawkins, whose bluntness Mehta has set his own friendlier method against, has his own chapter in this book.

Footnotes

  1. Hemant Mehta (seller "tormentingmentor"), "Send an Atheist to his local Church!", eBay item 5660982226, started 27 Jan 2006, ended 3 Feb 2006; the "(revised)" description with a seller addition of 1 Feb 2006 and seven Q&A excerpts (Wayback copy of 15 Jun 2006). texts/ebay-listing-2006.txt, (Wayback copy); Suzanne Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His Own Soul On the Auction Block", Wall Street Journal, 9 Mar 2006, p. A1; reprinted by Off the Map (Wayback copy of 22 Jul 2012). texts/wsj-2006.txt, ("41 bids ... $504"). ↩ ↩2

  2. (seller, "tormentingmentor"; Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  3. Hemant Mehta: (seller, "tormentingmentor", "Description (revised)", item 5660982226, Wayback 15 Jun 2006. ↩ ↩2

  4. Hemant Mehta: (seller, "tormentingmentor", same. ↩

  5. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006); Laura Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay: Interview with Atheist Hemant Mehta", Beliefnet, Sept 2007 (date from the URL path), pages 1-3 of 4 fetched (Wayback 2016); page 4 returned 404. texts/beliefnet.txt, beliefnet2.txt, beliefnet3.txt, p. 1. ↩ ↩2

  6. "Hemant Mehta", revision 1379553283 of 2026-10-10T17:43:35Z. texts/wikipedia-mehta-r1379553283.wikitext, (infobox); Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today vol. 30 no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2013), FFRF web page dated 11 Mar 2013 (Wayback copy of 2018). texts/ffrf-making-math.txt. A questionnaire in his own words; (seller, "tormentingmentor"; Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen. ↩

  7. Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013), ("Where I live", "Where and when I was born"); Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). Accounts differ; see the disputed points. ↩

  8. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006), (p. A1 reprint); Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 1; Interview by Johnny Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta", Richard Dawkins Foundation, 25 Mar 2014. texts/dawkins-vip.txt. The text loses apostrophes ("dont"); wording below restores them. ↩

  9. Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013), ("My doubts about religion started"); Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 2. ↩

  10. "Jainism", revision 1379809603 of 2026-10-12T01:46:01Z. texts/wikipedia-jainism-r1379809603.wikitext, (cites von Glasenapp 1925 pp. 241-243; Long 2013 pp. 83-85; Babb 1996 p. 62), wikitext "Jainism is a transtheistic religion". ↩

  11. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  12. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014); "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  13. Hemant Mehta: Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  14. Hemant Mehta: Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  15. Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013), ("My doubts about religion started"). ↩

  16. Hemant Mehta: Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013), "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today 30:1. ↩

  17. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014); (seller, "tormentingmentor". ↩

  18. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014); "Hemant Mehta", (quoting DFWCOR profile, not seen). ↩ ↩2

  19. "I Sold My Soul on eBay", revision 1346688085 of 2026-04-02T07:52:14Z (fetched as current text on 2026-10-15). texts/wikipedia-isoldmysoul.wikitext; "Hemant Mehta"; His own channels (Friendly Atheist, The Atheist Voice, "eBay Atheist on Fox" uploaded 2006-10-29, "Hemant Mehta and Tony Perkins on FOX News" uploaded 2019-02-28, "I'm going to be on Jeopardy!..." uploaded 2020-03-29): descriptions and upload dates only, in notes/yt-*.html; no transcripts, description. ↩ ↩2

  20. (seller, "tormentingmentor", Q&A excerpts dated 2-3 Feb 2006. ↩

  21. Hemant Mehta: (seller, "tormentingmentor", Q&A answer dated 3 Feb 2006. ↩

  22. Hemant Mehta: (seller, "tormentingmentor", Q&A answer dated 3 Feb 2006. The page truncates the answer; the ellipsis is the page's own. Paraphrase only. ↩

  23. Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), pp. 2-3. ↩

  24. Hemant Mehta: Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 3 of 4. ↩

  25. Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013). ↩ ↩2

  26. Susan Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist", Center for Inquiry, 24 Mar 2017. texts/cfi-gerbic.txt; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  27. Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017); Point of Inquiry (CFI), D. J. Grothe interview, 4 May 2007: episode page only (biographical blurb), no transcript. texts/poi-2007.txt. ↩

  28. (seller, "tormentingmentor"; Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  29. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006); Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 1. ↩ ↩2

  30. Jim Henderson, 58, former evangelical minister from Seattle, winning bidder; speaking in a Chicago bar: Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006), p. A1 (reprint). ↩

  31. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  32. Rev. John Cusick, who said the Mass at Old St. Patrick's that Mehta attended, asked about Mehta's advice for more stories and less liturgy: Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  33. Ron May, associate pastor, Park Community Church, Chicago, writing to Mehta's site after his review: Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  34. An unnamed visitor to Off the Map, castigating Henderson for giving an atheist a forum: Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  35. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006), (reprint header). ↩

  36. Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His…" (2006). ↩

  37. Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 1; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  38. Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 3; POI (2007). ↩

  39. Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 3; Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  40. Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", Patheos, 7 Aug 2014. texts/patheos-cancel-kickstarter.txt, (author box); Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 3. ↩

  41. Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 2. ↩

  42. Hemant Mehta: Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 2 of 4. ↩

  43. Hemant Mehta: Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay:…" (2007), p. 2 of 4. ↩

  44. Mehta, "I Made a Big Life Decision the Other Day", Friendly Atheist, Patheos, 26 Jul 2014. texts/patheos-big-decision.txt, ("For the past seven years"); Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017); "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  45. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  46. Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project"; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  47. friendlyatheist.substack.com/about (fetched 2026-10-15). texts/substack-about.txt; Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly" (2013). ↩

  48. Eric W. Dolan, "'Friendly Atheist' informs megachurch: We've heard all of it before", Raw Story, 9 Jul 2013. texts/rawstory-megachurch.txt. ↩

  49. Hemant Mehta: Dolan, "'Friendly Atheist' informs megachurch: We've heard…" (2013), (Dolan), quoting his remarks at Oak Hills Church, 7 Jul 2013. ↩

  50. Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  51. Hemant Mehta: Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  52. Hemant Mehta: Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta" (2014). ↩

  53. Mehta, "I Made a Big Life Decision…"; Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017). ↩

  54. Hemant Mehta: Mehta, "I Made a Big Life Decision…", 26 Jul 2014. ↩

  55. Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project"; Chris Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God to abusive boyfriend", Religion News Service, via Washington Post, 8 Aug 2014 (Wayback copy of 9 Aug 2014). texts/wapo-rns-abusive-boyfriend.txt. ↩

  56. Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God…" (2014). ↩

  57. Heidi Anderson, an atheist who has worked with victims of domestic abuse, on the 2014 Kickstarter book: Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God…" (2014), (via Washington Post). ↩

  58. Hemant Mehta: Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", 7 Aug 2014. ↩

  59. "Erin", a reader commenting on the Good Men Project interview, Jan 2016 (her standing is not stated; a reader, not a critic of record): Jeremy McKeen, "Good Man and Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta Opens Up the Conversation More of Us are Having", Good Men Project, 24 Jan 2016: only the introduction and reader comments were retrievable (the interview text is not in the archived page). texts/goodmen.txt, comments. ↩

  60. Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017). ↩

  61. Hemant Mehta: Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017). ↩

  62. Substack About; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  63. Substack About; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  64. Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", header; Mehta, "It's Moving Day for the Friendly Atheist Blog", Patheos, 14 Dec 2021. texts/patheos-moving-day.txt. Not verified. ↩

  65. Mehta, "It's Moving Day for the Friendly Atheist Blog" (2021); Substack About. ↩

  66. Mehta YouTube, "I'm going to be on Jeopardy!" description and date; "Hemant Mehta". ↩

  67. Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist" (2017). ↩

Sources cited in the notes: Hemant Mehta (seller "tormentingmentor"), "Send an Atheist to his local Church!", eBay item 5660982226, started 27 Jan 2006, ended 3 Feb 2006; the "(revised)" description with a seller addition of 1 Feb 2006 and seven Q&A excerpts (Wayback copy of 15 Jun 2006). texts/ebay-listing-2006.txt.; Suzanne Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His Own Soul On the Auction Block", Wall Street Journal, 9 Mar 2006, p. A1; reprinted by Off the Map (Wayback copy of 22 Jul 2012). texts/wsj-2006.txt.; Laura Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay: Interview with Atheist Hemant Mehta", Beliefnet, Sept 2007 (date from the URL path), pages 1-3 of 4 fetched (Wayback 2016); page 4 returned 404. texts/beliefnet.txt, beliefnet2.txt, beliefnet3.txt.; "Hemant Mehta", revision 1379553283 of 2026-10-10T17:43:35Z. texts/wikipedia-mehta-r1379553283.wikitext.; Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today vol. 30 no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2013), FFRF web page dated 11 Mar 2013 (Wayback copy of 2018). texts/ffrf-making-math.txt. A questionnaire in his own words.; Interview by Johnny Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta", Richard Dawkins Foundation, 25 Mar 2014. texts/dawkins-vip.txt. The text loses apostrophes ("dont"); wording below restores them.; "Jainism", revision 1379809603 of 2026-10-12T01:46:01Z. texts/wikipedia-jainism-r1379809603.wikitext.; "I Sold My Soul on eBay", revision 1346688085 of 2026-04-02T07:52:14Z (fetched as current text on 2026-10-15). texts/wikipedia-isoldmysoul.wikitext.; His own channels (Friendly Atheist, The Atheist Voice, "eBay Atheist on Fox" uploaded 2006-10-29, "Hemant Mehta and Tony Perkins on FOX News" uploaded 2019-02-28, "I'm going to be on Jeopardy!..." uploaded 2020-03-29): descriptions and upload dates only, in notes/yt-*.html; no transcripts.; Susan Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist", Center for Inquiry, 24 Mar 2017. texts/cfi-gerbic.txt.; Point of Inquiry (CFI), D. J. Grothe interview, 4 May 2007: episode page only (biographical blurb), no transcript. texts/poi-2007.txt.; Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", Patheos, 7 Aug 2014. texts/patheos-cancel-kickstarter.txt.; Mehta, "I Made a Big Life Decision the Other Day", Friendly Atheist, Patheos, 26 Jul 2014. texts/patheos-big-decision.txt.; friendlyatheist.substack.com/about (fetched 2026-10-15). texts/substack-about.txt.; Eric W. Dolan, "'Friendly Atheist' informs megachurch: We've heard all of it before", Raw Story, 9 Jul 2013. texts/rawstory-megachurch.txt.; Chris Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God to abusive boyfriend", Religion News Service, via Washington Post, 8 Aug 2014 (Wayback copy of 9 Aug 2014). texts/wapo-rns-abusive-boyfriend.txt.; Jeremy McKeen, "Good Man and Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta Opens Up the Conversation More of Us are Having", Good Men Project, 24 Jan 2016: only the introduction and reader comments were retrievable (the interview text is not in the archived page). texts/goodmen.txt.; Mehta, "It's Moving Day for the Friendly Atheist Blog", Patheos, 14 Dec 2021. texts/patheos-moving-day.txt.

In their own words

I'm a 22-year-old Atheist from Chicago. I stopped believing in God when I was 14.

Hemant Mehta · eBay listing, "Description (revised)", item 5660982226, Wayback 15 Jun 2006

However, while I don't believe in God, I firmly believe I would immediately change those views if presented with evidence to the contrary.

Hemant Mehta · eBay listing, same

Perhaps being around a group of people who will show me "the way" could do what no one else has done before.

Hemant Mehta · eBay listing, same

The world doesn't need a creator; neither do we.

Hemant Mehta · eBay listing, Q&A answer dated 3 Feb 2006

I have read large parts of the Bible... and that just pushed me towards Atheism

Hemant Mehta · eBay listing, Q&A answer dated 3 Feb 2006

My doubts about religion started: When I started high school. It turned out my parents' religion (Jainism) couldn't withstand tougher scrutiny.

Hemant Mehta · FFRF 2013, "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today 30:1

they believe in reincarnation and karma and Heaven and Hell. Those are the reasons I stopped believing at a young age.

Hemant Mehta · RDF 2014

I was around 14 when I stopped calling myself a Jain but I grew up thinking, "If there's a bug, you can't step on it because that is going to be bad for you!" and I still sort of do it.

Hemant Mehta · RDF 2014

I'm not an anti-theist. I would love to see a world where religion doesn't play a role, but I don't see religion as this complete force for evil.

Hemant Mehta · Beliefnet 2007, p. 2 of 4

I came from a religious family. Most of the people I know are religious people. And these are not bad people.

Hemant Mehta · Beliefnet 2007, p. 2 of 4

And once I became an atheist, it was very clear that I can do something for people who are less fortunate. No God is going to do it for them.

Hemant Mehta · Beliefnet 2007, p. 3 of 4

I understand why they dance around the topic. It's because it's a more effective technique, but personally I don't have to hold back.

Hemant Mehta · RDF 2014

We've heard all of it before.

Hemant Mehta · Raw Story 2013 (Dolan), quoting his remarks at Oak Hills Church, 7 Jul 2013

Even if I believe the concept behind the book is a valid one, the execution was poor and it upset a lot of good people. My apologies to anyone in that crowd.

Hemant Mehta · Patheos 2014b, 7 Aug 2014

the opportunities online are just a lot greater right now, and I don't want to have any regrets down the road about not taking this chance while I have it.

Hemant Mehta · Patheos 2014a, 26 Jul 2014

You can be skeptical and friendly at the same time.

Friendly Atheist (site tagline) · Patheos 2014b, page header

There are people you can reach with your language and methods that Richard Dawkins never could.

Hemant Mehta · CFI 2017

people are only going to wake up if you're very blunt about these topics

Hemant Mehta · RDF 2014

I have co-hosted the Friendly Atheist Podcast since 2014.

Hemant Mehta · Substack About

Simply put, I have never seen any evidence of 'God's work' in action.

Hemant Mehta · WP Mehta, quoting a Coalition of Reason profile (not seen)

This is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me.

Hemant Mehta · WSJ 2006, p. A1 (reprint)

Someone gave it a 1-star review on Amazon because it assumes "God's nonexistence."

Hemant Mehta · Substack About

The other side

I'm not trying to convert you. You're going there almost like a critic....If you happen to get converted, that's off the clock.

Jim Henderson, 58, former evangelical minister from Seattle, winning bidder; speaking in a Chicago bar · WSJ 2006, p. A1 (reprint)

There's nothing he could say that I haven't heard 100 times over.

Rev. John Cusick, who said the Mass at Old St. Patrick's that Mehta attended, asked about Mehta's advice for more stories and less liturgy · WSJ 2006

As the guy who spoke yesterday, I really appreciate the honest eval.

Ron May, associate pastor, Park Community Church, Chicago, writing to Mehta's site after his review · WSJ 2006

rather misguidedly (throwing) money at someone to simply get him 'churched' for a time so he might possibly get 'saved?'

An unnamed visitor to Off the Map, castigating Henderson for giving an atheist a forum · WSJ 2006

It's highly insensitive to victims of domestic violence and a gross simplification of the way some people view religion. Many victims of abuse find healing in their spirituality

Heidi Anderson, an atheist who has worked with victims of domestic abuse, on the 2014 Kickstarter book · RNS 2014 (via Washington Post)

I am having trouble reconciling the term 'friendly atheist' with Hemant linking a belief in God as being 'irrational thinking'.

"Erin", a reader commenting on the Good Men Project interview, Jan 2016 (her standing is not stated; a reader, not a critic of record) · GMP 2016, comments

Where accounts differ

PointOne accountAnotherHow the page handles it
Birthplace"Born in Chicago" (WSJ 2006; Wikipedia infobox "Chicago")"Just outside of Chicago" (Mehta, FFRF 2013)Say "in the Chicago area"; he lived in Naperville by 2013
When belief endedDoubts began "when I started high school" (FFRF 2013)"around 14" he stopped calling himself a Jain (RDF 2014); "stopped believing in God when I was 14" (eBay 2006)Not a contradiction (start of high school is about fourteen); present as one period, c. 1997, from his own recollection decades later, not a dated event
What he believed as a childJainism has no creator god (WP Jainism)He says he "stopped believing in God when I was 14" (eBay 2006)Say he left a faith with karma, rebirth, heaven and hell and no creator; do not say he "lost faith in God" as a child without this qualification; his own account of what he believed about God before 14 is not in the retrieved sources
Medical schoolFFRF 2013: "After leaving medical school in order to become a teacher"Wikipedia and WSJ show UIC 2004, then DePaul graduate study from at latest early 2006 to 2010, teaching from 2007; no medical school anywhereOne source; leave out of the script unless the book (not read) or another interview dates it
Henderson's title"former evangelical minister" (WSJ 2006)"former pastor" (Mehta, Beliefnet); "a minister" (Wikipedia, eBay article)"a former minister from Seattle"
Number of churches"close to 10 ... around Chicago for Jim" (Beliefnet 2007)"nine different churches as well as two additional pieces" (Wikipedia, for the book)Different sets: Chicago visits for Off the Map vs the nine in the book; say "about ten in Chicago, then more across the country"

List of illustrations

This page uses only public-domain and Creative Commons images; each is credited with its source and licence.

  1. Hemant Mehta sits on a bench — Mpromptu, 2016-07-11 · Mpromptu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · CC0
  2. Shrine in the New York City Jain temple, third floor, with images of Tirthankaras — Malaiya, 2009-07-05 · Malaiya, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 · CC BY 3.0
  3. Mahavira, the 24th master of Jainism, yellow stone, Gujarat, 1470, Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels — Vassil (photographer); sculptor unknown, photo 2011-10-02; object 1470 · Vassil, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · CC0
  4. UIC Campus, Chicago, Illinois, 1994 (aerial) — Phillip Capper, 1994 · Phillip Capper, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0
  5. Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago — Robert Haugland, 2018-09-23 · Robert Haugland, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. Hemant Mehta meets Victoria Osteen (wife of Pastor Joel Osteen) in 2006 — Hemant Mehta, 2006-08-20 · Hemant Mehta, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0
  7. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois — Mary Fairchild, 2021-05-11 · Mary Fairchild, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY-SA 2.0
  8. Hemant Mehta introducing Jessica Ahlquist at the Reason Rally, National Mall, 24 March 2012 — BDEngler, 2012-03-24 · BDEngler, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0
  9. Hemant Mehta at Skepticon 7 — Mark Schierbecker, 2014-11-23 · Mark Schierbecker, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sources

Tier 1 — the subject's own words (in copyright: read and paraphrase; do not quote in publication)

  • [eBay listing] Hemant Mehta (seller "tormentingmentor"), "Send an Atheist to his local Church!", eBay item 5660982226, started 27 Jan 2006, ended 3 Feb 2006; the "(revised)" description with a seller addition of 1 Feb 2006 and seven Q&A excerpts (Wayback copy of 15 Jun 2006). texts/ebay-listing-2006.txt.
  • [FFRF 2013] Mehta, "Making math and atheism friendly", Freethought Today vol. 30 no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2013), FFRF web page dated 11 Mar 2013 (Wayback copy of 2018). texts/ffrf-making-math.txt. A questionnaire in his own words.
  • [RDF 2014] Interview by Johnny Monsarrat, "Secular VIP of the Week: Hemant Mehta", Richard Dawkins Foundation, 25 Mar 2014. texts/dawkins-vip.txt. The text loses apostrophes ("dont"); wording below restores them.
  • [Beliefnet 2007] Laura Sheahen, "I Sold My Soul on eBay: Interview with Atheist Hemant Mehta", Beliefnet, Sept 2007 (date from the URL path), pages 1-3 of 4 fetched (Wayback 2016); page 4 returned 404. texts/beliefnet.txt, beliefnet2.txt, beliefnet3.txt.
  • [CFI 2017] Susan Gerbic, "Interview with Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist", Center for Inquiry, 24 Mar 2017. texts/cfi-gerbic.txt.
  • [Patheos 2014a] Mehta, "I Made a Big Life Decision the Other Day", Friendly Atheist, Patheos, 26 Jul 2014. texts/patheos-big-decision.txt.
  • [Patheos 2014b] Mehta, "Canceling the Kickstarter Project", Patheos, 7 Aug 2014. texts/patheos-cancel-kickstarter.txt.
  • [Patheos 2021] Mehta, "It's Moving Day for the Friendly Atheist Blog", Patheos, 14 Dec 2021. texts/patheos-moving-day.txt.
  • [Substack About] friendlyatheist.substack.com/about (fetched 2026-10-15). texts/substack-about.txt.
  • [I Sold My Soul on eBay] Mehta, I Sold My Soul on eBay (WaterBrook Press, 2007), archive.org isoldmysouloneba0000meht. NOT READ: the Internet Archive text and full-text search return 403 (controlled lending). Borrow a copy; it contains his own account of how he became an atheist.
  • [Mehta YouTube] His own channels (Friendly Atheist, The Atheist Voice, "eBay Atheist on Fox" uploaded 2006-10-29, "Hemant Mehta and Tony Perkins on FOX News" uploaded 2019-02-28, "I'm going to be on Jeopardy!..." uploaded 2020-03-29): descriptions and upload dates only, in notes/yt-*.html; no transcripts.

Tier 2 — scholarly biographies and encyclopedias

  • None exists for a living blogger. For Jainism: von Glasenapp, Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation (1925) pp. 241-242, and Long 2013 pp. 83-85, are cited by Wikipedia for "no creator" and were NOT consulted.

Tier 3 — popular biographies and journalism

  • [WSJ 2006] Suzanne Sataline, "On eBay, an Atheist Puts His Own Soul On the Auction Block", Wall Street Journal, 9 Mar 2006, p. A1; reprinted by Off the Map (Wayback copy of 22 Jul 2012). texts/wsj-2006.txt.
  • [Raw Story 2013] Eric W. Dolan, "'Friendly Atheist' informs megachurch: We've heard all of it before", Raw Story, 9 Jul 2013. texts/rawstory-megachurch.txt.
  • [RNS 2014] Chris Stedman, "'Friendly Atheist' cancels book comparing God to abusive boyfriend", Religion News Service, via Washington Post, 8 Aug 2014 (Wayback copy of 9 Aug 2014). texts/wapo-rns-abusive-boyfriend.txt.
  • [GMP 2016] Jeremy McKeen, "Good Man and Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta Opens Up the Conversation More of Us are Having", Good Men Project, 24 Jan 2016: only the introduction and reader comments were retrievable (the interview text is not in the archived page). texts/goodmen.txt.
  • [POI 2007] Point of Inquiry (CFI), D. J. Grothe interview, 4 May 2007: episode page only (biographical blurb), no transcript. texts/poi-2007.txt.

Tier 4 — Wikipedia and similar reference sites (citable; prefer a higher tier where one exists)

  • [WP Mehta] "Hemant Mehta", revision 1379553283 of 2026-10-10T17:43:35Z. texts/wikipedia-mehta-r1379553283.wikitext.
  • [WP eBay] "I Sold My Soul on eBay", revision 1346688085 of 2026-04-02T07:52:14Z (fetched as current text on 2026-10-15). texts/wikipedia-isoldmysoul.wikitext.
  • [WP Jainism] "Jainism", revision 1379809603 of 2026-10-12T01:46:01Z. texts/wikipedia-jainism-r1379809603.wikitext.

Opposition sources — contemporary critics and religious responses

  • [WSJ 2006], [RNS 2014], [GMP 2016] (above), and [Substack About] (his report of a one-star review). No sustained Christian rebuttal of Mehta by name was found; see Open questions.