AOF Activities & Events

As part of the AOF Speaker Series, the great and (in)famous Herb Silverman, founder and President Emeritus of the Secular Coalition for America, will visit us and regale us. His topic: The Candidate Without a Prayer.  It's free, and open to all.

Born in Philadelphia, Herb received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Syracuse University, and was Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston. During his tenure he published over 100 research papers in mathematics journals, a couple of books on Complex Variables, and is the recipient of the Distinguished Research Award.

Herb is a tenacious fellow. In 1990, a colleague pointed out that atheists were ineligible to hold public office in South Carolina. Dander up, Herb took a run as the first openly atheist write-in candidate for South Carolina governor. He didn't win -- but eight years later, after a long legal struggle, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor (read about this here), striking down the religious test requirement, and miffing-off theocrats everywhere.

Herb went on to found the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry in Charleston, SC, and is founder & former faculty advisor to the College of Charleston student Atheist/Humanist Alliance. He is a board member of the American Humanist Association, advisory board member of the Secular Student Alliance, member of the Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and "On Faith" blogger for the Washington Post Online.

He has appeared in many debates, including one at the Oxford Union in Oxford, England, on the topic: Does American Religion Undermine American Values? He has spoken at numerous freethought conferences and given sermons at Unitarian churches. He was Guest of Honor at Sacramento Freethought Day in 2009. He has had uncounted articles in freethought publications, writes for Secular World, has a book chapter called "Inerrancy Turned Political" in The Fundamentals of Extremism. Herb's book is Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt. Read about it here.  (Note, copies will be available for purchase and signing.)

The question is, when does this fellow sleep?

Browse Herb's public speeches and debates here, or visit his personal website, http://www.herbsilverman.com. Best of all, you can attend this meeting and hear his story!