Roy Speckhardt: Difference between revisions

Roy Speckhardt
Roy Speckhardt, 2012
Born	(1973-01-24) January 24, 1973 (age 51) Carmel, New York
Occupation	Executive director of the American Humanist Association

Roy Speckhardt, born January 24, 1973, in Carmel, New York, is the executive director of the American Humanist Association, a non-profit civil liberties organization in Washington DC.

Speckhardt earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Mary Washington College and a Master of Business Administration, with a concentration in information systems management, from George Mason University. In addition to his college education, he received specialized training in nonprofit tax law, financial management, grassroots organizing, fundraising, and dispute resolution.^[where?]

Early in his career, Speckhardt was a fundraiser for various causes, including AIDS research and wildlife conservation, and worked on the "World Difference Campaign" of the Anti-Defamation League. He worked for The Interfaith Alliance from 1995 to 2001 as deputy director in charge of staff. Speckhardt worked as the director of membership and programs of the American Humanist Association for four years, is executive director. The American Humanist Association is the oldest and one of the largest groups of humanists and atheists in the United States.

In 2013 Speckhardt argued that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Equal Protection Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution.^[1] In May 2014 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the pledge was a "fundamentally patriotic exercise, not a religious one". ^[2]

In 2014, the AHA likewise brought suit against the state of New Jersey.^[3] In February 2015 a New Jersey Superior Court Judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Pledge of Allegiance, ruling that "...the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the rights of those who don't believe in God and does not have to be removed from the patriotic message." This was the sixth time the American Humanist Association has lost its attempt to have the phrase "under God" removed from the pledge by filing suits in various federal and state courts.^[4]

Speckhardt serves on the boards of directors of the Humanist Institute, the Institute for Humanist Studies, the United Coalition of Reason, and the Secular Coalition for America.

Speckhardt has appeared on CNN Headline News, Fox News' Fox and Friends, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio. He currently writes a regular column for The Huffington Post and Patheos.

• Speckhardt's column on Patheos.
• December 28, 2012 America mirrors global godless trend, a Guest Voices blog on the Washington Post.
• Finding Faith in Humankind article in March/April 2010 issue of the Futurist.
• June 28, 2007 MP3 of Interview of Speckhardt on the syndicated Lizz Brown Show.

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