About Mel Lipman

Mel Lipman is current president of the American Humanist Association, the largest and oldest Humanist organization in the United States. He has lived in Las Vegas, NV for the past 30 years, has been married for 49 years and has two teenage grandsons. He is a lawyer, mediator and arbitrator, and teaches Constitutional Law and U.S. History at Nevada State College and at University of Phoenix. He is a former board member of the Nevada Civil Liberties Union and remains active in many ACLU efforts. A Humanist minister, Lipman is a member of the Las Vegas Interfaith Council and frequently lectures on church-state issues.

An American Theocracy?

I am a humanist. I don’t believe in an anthropomorphic divine presence that created or controls my life. I believe that I can live my life ethically and morally without any ‘divine’ guidance. Like religionists, (and to quote from dissenting Judge Fernandez in the 9th Circuit’s Pledge of Allegiance case) I also feel ‘awe at the immenseness of the universe and our own small place within it, as well as the wonder we must feel at the good fortune of … Read on…