Herb Silverman
October 21, 2007
Herb Silverman is President of the Secular Coalition for America, Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston, a former gubernatorial candidate and present notary public in South Carolina. He is on sabbatical at George Mason University for the current academic year.
Speaking on the topic of "Tales from the Bible Belt," Herb Silverman told us he'd been an atheist since his Bar Mitsvah but didn't realize the depth of American prejudice against atheists until moving to South Carolina in 1976. When giving an secular invocation before his local city council - until then they'd had only Christian invocations - over half the council members walked out on him.
Silverman learned what it really meant to be in the Bible Belt when he learned that the South Carolina State Constitution required anyone holding office to be a believer in God. This conflicts with Article VI, the 1st Amendment and 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Silverman challenged South Carolina on this issue by running for Governor in 1990, then by applying to be a Notary Public.
Supreme Court of South Carolina Published Opinions and Orders
Atheist Vies for South Carolina Notary Status
South Carolina Supreme Court Okays Atheists for Public Office
Silverman also spoke about his organization, Secular Coalition for America, and urged us to write letters to editors, talk to people, run for office, cooperate with progressive Christians, and generally come out of the closet about being atheists and secular humanists in order to make our presence known and win respect among the public and those in power for our positions on issues such as religious descrimination, stem cell research, and faith based initiatives. Unless we come together as one massive and vocal group (rather than bickering over terminology), we cannot hope to elicit societal or political change.
