David Silverman

David Silverman is the President of American Atheists, America's oldest nonprofit organization by and for atheists (founded by the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair). He is best known for his "firebrand" style of activism, which has landed him numerous appearances on such TV shows as the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and a recent CNN Special on Atheism. Silverman was raised Jewish and went through the standard religious education, but never believed. In college, he engaged in many debates with Orthodox Jews, but, since Silverman's style is fierce but not insulting, he became very good friends with many of his opponents, eventually marrying one of them. Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, to be published by St. Martin's Press in December 2015, is dedicated to his formerly-orthodox wife of nearly 25 years. Across the Internet and on TV, Silverman has been called rude, uncaring, and fascist (the latter by Bill O'Reilly), but the readers of Fighting God will realize he is none of those things. His methods ruffle feathers, but they work, and they work for the good of all people (except those who make money with religion). As Silverman's Jewish mother told him on her death bed, he not only helps atheists, but every person in any religious minority, because in the end, he fights only for the equality that is due all of us. Today, after nearly 20 years in activism, Silverman is arguably America's best known atheist activist. In Fighting God, Silverman lays out why telling people God doesn't exist and religion is a lie is not only effective, but downright nice.