Charleston’s No. 1 atheist pens an autobiography
Herb Silverman tells his story in Candidate Without a Prayer
Herb Silverman, a former College of Charleston professor and perhaps the best-known atheist in South Carolina, has just published his autobiography in electronic form. The book is available for download via HumanistPress.com and will be sold as a hard copy starting June 15.
Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt is billed as a sometimes-humorous account of Silverman’s Orthodox Jewish upbringing, his career as an award-winning mathematician, and his campaign for public office to prove a point. In 1990, after discovering a state law that said no person could hold a public office “who denies the existence of a Supreme Being,” he made a run for governor and lost badly to Republican incumbent Carroll Campbell. The spectacle was not enough for courts to take up his case, though. It wasn’t until 1997, after Silverman attempted to become a notary public while striking the phrase “So help me God” from his oath, that the S.C. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor and struck down the law.
To read the rest of this story from the Charleston City Paper, click here.
The American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of Humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of Humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
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