Melvin S. Lipman, aka Mel Lipman (born in 1936 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York) is an attorney, civil libertarian and humanist (nontheist/atheist) activist. He is a retired bank

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

, arbitrator, mediator and college instructor, having taught

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

and US History at several

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

colleges. He frequently lectures on Church/State separation issues and his participation in interfaith forums provides him with the opportunity to clarify the Humanist perspective. In a Las Vegas Review-Journal article, Lipman stated: "My biggest concern is to counter the propaganda from people who think that people who don't believe in a supernatural deity cannot live moral, ethical lives." Lipman says his top priority "is to change people's attitudes about Humanists". "It is not OK", says Lipman, in the Review-Journal article, "to discriminate against somebody simply because they do not believe in God". Lipman is the immediate past president of the American Humanist Association and remains active in many of its activities. He is a trustee and treasurer of The Humanist Foundation (the American Humanist Association's endowment fund) and is a co-mentor of the 2012 class of the Humanist Institute. He is a former vice-president of the

International Humanist and Ethical Union Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Foun ...

and is one of the founders, a past president, and a current board member of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. He is a life member of

Freedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization, which advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of many ...

and the American Humanist Association. Lipman is a past president and former member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las Vegas and he is a "fellow" at the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Symposium. Though raised in the

Jewish faith Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...

, he is now a humanist minister, licensed in Nevada to officiate at marriage ceremonies and he is a board member of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada. He is a former board member of the Nevada Civil Liberties Union and serves as an advisory board member of Scouting for All. Mr. Lipman lives in Las Vegas,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, is married to Anita Lipman, and they have two children and three grandchildren. His daughter,

Lori Lipman Brown Lori Lipman Brown (born June 17, 1958) is an American politician and activist from the state of Nevada. She has served as a state senator, lobbyist, lawyer, educator, and social worker supporter. Additionally, her political views have been secula ...

is a former member of the Nevada State Senate, former director of the

Secular Coalition for America The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "representing the interests of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, and other nontheistic Americans." The Secular Coalition has ch ...

, and co-mentor (with Mel Lipman) of the Humanist Institute class of 2012.

References and external links

Biography at the American Humanist Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipman, Mel American humanists Living people 1936 births American atheism activists