American Atheists fires David Silverman over sex assault claims

David Silverman

When news broke just a few days ago that American Atheists, the largest godless advocacy group in the US, had suspended their president and spokesman David Silverman over as-of-then unrevealed allegations, we knew something big was going down. And now, the bombshell has detonated, as yet another luminary of the organized atheist movement stands accused of sexual misconduct.

David Silverman, a firebrand atheist with a knack for generating publicity for his cause, has been abruptly fired as president of American Atheists, one of the leading secular organizations in the US.

The group’s board held an emergency meeting on Thursday evening and unanimously voted to fire 51-year-old Silverman, based on explosive written allegations of sexual assault and undisclosed conflicts of interest, BuzzFeed News has learned.

“Last night, the American Atheists Board of Directors voted to terminate David Silverman as President of American Atheists,” the group said in a statement released on Friday. The board made its decision after reviewing “allegations raised regarding Mr. Silverman’s conduct,” the statement said. The board also said it intends to cooperate with any future investigations.

Go read the accusations. They’re damning. For his part, Silverman, though his lawyer, denies any wrongdoing and says the encounters were consensual. Bizarrely, his lawyer also mentions that Silverman was in an open marriage at the time the incidents allegedly took place, as if that were some sort of defense. He does realize that having your partner’s consent to fool around with other people doesn’t give you permission to force sex upon those people against their will, right?

Good on the accusers for bravely coming forward, even though it’ll inevitably trigger an absurd shitstorm of hateful idiocy from large swathes of the movement. Good also on the board of American Atheists for taking all the right measures – suspending Silverman pending an internal investigation into his possible alleged conflicts, and then canning him without delay once they heard the far worse sexual misconduct accusations. That’s exactly how you want an organization to respond to such a situation. (Of course, I’m assuming here that they weren’t aware of the alleged incidents until recently.)

Incidentally, this report was published by the same outlet, BuzzFeed News, that broke the Lawrence Krauss scandal. Defenders and apologists were quick to come out of the woodwork to attack the Krauss story for being published by an “unreliable” outlet – which makes no sense, given that BuzzFeed’s news division has one of the finest investigative teams in the business and has broken numerous heavy-hitting stories in the last few years. Expect the same ridiculous and empty attacks this time around as well.

As a sidenote, the irony – or is it poetic justice? – that Silverman’s most famous photo (above) comes from his appearance on a TV show hosted by a man who was also fired for sexual misconduct is not lost on me.

(via @steve_shives)