“In the Rationalist Utopia of my dreams, Herb Silverman would be a Living National Treasure, if not Honorary President for Life.”
—Richard Dawkins, author, The God Delusion 

About the Book

From Orthodox Jewish child in postwar America to mild-mannered mathematician in academia to legendary atheist activist in the heart of today’s Republican South, Herb Silverman has always been outside the mainstream of American culture, politics, and religion. From this unique vantage point, he writes about the most pressing issues of our day, including those related to war, peace, patriotism, race, gender, and church-state separation. In this entertaining and thought-provoking volume, he curates some of his best written work. Silverman may see himself as an atheist stranger in a strange religious land, but thanks in part to his work as activist and author, atheists as a whole are no longer strangers in this increasingly irreligious land.

About the Author(s)

Herb Silverman is founder and president of the Secular Coalition for America and author of Candidate Without a Prayer. He is also Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Charleston. You can browse a collection of Herb’s public speeches and debates at his Web site www.herbsilverman.com.

Details

ISBN: 9780984493258
Format: paperback
SRP: $15.95
Page count: 264 pages
Trim size: 6 x 9
Pub date: April 2017

“An entertaining and informative look at America’s culture war from a writer who has been embedded in the front lines.”
—Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Better Angels of Our Nature

About the Book

In this deeply revealing and engaging autobiography, Herb Silverman tells his iconoclastic life story. Equal parts Bertrand Russell, Woody Allen, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, he takes the reader from his childhood as an Orthodox Jew in Philadelphia, where he stopped fasting on Yom Kippur to test God’s existence, to his adult life in the heart of the Bible Belt, where he became a legendary figure within America’s secular activist community and remains one of its most beloved leaders.

Never one to shy from controversy, Silverman relates many of his high-profile battles with the Religious Right, including his decision to run for governor of South Carolina to challenge the state’s constitutional provision that prohibited atheists from holding public office, and his experiences facing Christian fundamentalists of all stripes in open debate. He is equally candid about the battles he has faced in the secular community itself and the many hurdles he overcame in the historic step of politically uniting the country’s major secular, humanist, and atheist groups under the banner of the Secular Coalition for America.

Silverman combines a satirist’s pen with an activist’s passion, revealing in humorous and often moving ways a personal side few know. Famous for dispatching his opponents and those who might question him with a few carefully chosen words, here he disarms with refreshing candor about his own foibles and flaws, and unabashed honesty about his work and life.

With a voice that crackles with effortless wit and with prose that reveals deep, often hidden wisdom, Candidate Without a Prayer offers an intimate portrait of a central player in today’s increasingly heated culture wars. It will be sure to charm both believers and nonbelievers alike, and will lead all those who care about the separation of church and state to give thanks (if not a prayer) for Silverman’s many gifts to humankind and America’s future.

About the Author(s)

Herb Silverman is Founder and President Emeritus of the Secular Coalition for America, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Charleston. He ran for governor of South Carolina in the 1990s to challenge a state law that required religious belief to hold public office. After an eight-year battle, Herb won a unanimous decision in the South Carolina Supreme Court, which struck down this religious test requirement. You can browse a collection of Herb’s public speeches and debates at his Web site www.herbsilverman.com. Richard Dawkins (foreword by) is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was the inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.

Details

ISBN: 9780984493296
Format: paperback
SRP: $15.95
Page count: 255 pages
Trim size: 6 x 9
Pub date: May 2015

Previously available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780984493289; SRP: $22.95)

“Dr. Cragun makes a compelling case that secular activism must be more proactive than reactive, that we’re at our best when we're united in purpose, organized and positive, and that many religious people can be nudged into discovering that (despite their outward professions of faith) they're already living largely secular lives. How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps speaks to the need for a cultural shift, and it provides useful ideas for creating one.”
—Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist

About the Book

Do you want the greatest political and societal challenges of the day to be addressed with thoughtful, reality-based solutions rather than with cherry-picked quotations from scripture? Do you want to shrink religion—especially fundamentalist religion—to the point that it plays no noticeable role in public life? Do you want right-wing religious leaders to be so unpopular that politicians avoid them rather than pander to them for endorsements? Drawing on the latest social-scientific research on religion, How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps illustrates specific, actionable steps nonbelievers—and even progressive believers—can take to facilitate fundamentalist religion’s decline. With each of its ten chapters focusing on a specific strategy that research has shown can weaken religion, detailing the how and why, the volume covers topics as far ranging as education, welfare, sex, science, capitalism, and Christmas, and offers a wide range of recommendations for individuals, local groups, and national organizations interested in speeding up secularization.

About the Author

Ryan T. Cragun is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Tampa and the author of Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? and What You Don’t Know about Religion (but Should). His research is regularly featured in national media. He lives in Tampa, Florida.

Details

ISBN: 9781634310123
Format: paperback
SRP: $12.95
Page count: 200 pages
Trim size: 4.75 x 7
Pub date: May 2015

“The Necessity of Secularism discusses one of the most vital issues facing America and the world, and it does so with the logic and respectful tolerance for differences that itself expresses the very spirit of secularism. No matter what one's views on the existence of God, this is a unifying book. I can only hope that it will be read by all those for whom it is intended, which is, in a word, everyone.”
—Rebecca Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex

About the Book

For the first time in human history, a significant percentage of the world’s population no longer believes in God. This is especially true in developed nations, where in some societies nonbelievers now outnumber believers. Unless religion collapses completely, or undergoes a remarkable resurgence, countries across the globe must learn to carefully and effectively manage this societal mix of religious and irreligious. For in a world already deeply riven by sectarian conflict, this unprecedented demographic shift presents yet another challenge to humanity. Writing in an engaging, accessible style, philosopher and lawyer Ronald A. Lindsay develops a tightly crafted argument for secularism—specifically, that in a religiously pluralistic society, a robust, thoroughgoing secularism is the only reliable means of preserving meaningful democracy and rights of conscience. Contrary to certain political pundits and religious leaders who commonly employ the term secularism as a scare word, Lindsay uses clear, concrete examples and jargon-free language to demonstrate that secularism is the only way to ensure equal respect and protection under the law—for believers and nonbelievers alike. Although critical of some aspects of religion, Lindsay neither presents an antireligious tirade nor seeks to convert anyone to nonbelief, reminding us that secularism and atheism are not synonymous. Rather, he shows how secularism works to everyone’s benefit and makes the definitive case that the secular model should be feared by none—and embraced by all.

About the Author

Ronald A. Lindsay is president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry and of its affiliates, the Council for Secular Humanism and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He has a PhD in philosophy from Georgetown University, with a concentration in bioethics, and a JD from the University of Virginia. He is the author of the essay “Euthanasia” in the International Encyclopedia of Ethics and of the book Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Details

ISBN: 9781939578129
Format: paperback
SRP: $16.95
Page count: 224 pages
Trim size: 6 x 9
Pub date: December 2014