Barney Frank, Jason Silva, Eugenie Scott to Headline 2014 AHA Conference in Philadelphia

The American Humanist Association is pleased to announce that former U.S. Representative Barney Frank, National Geographic television host Jason Silva, and evolution advocate Eugenie Scott will be honored at the American Humanist Association 73rd Annual Conference in Philadelphia from June 5-8, 2014!

Barney Frank (Humanist of the Year) served in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Massachusetts from 1981 to 2012. While in Congress, Frank worked to adjust America’s spending priorities to reduce the deficit, provide less funding for the military and more for important quality of life needs at home. In particular, he focused on providing aid to local communities, and to building and preserving affordable rental housing for low income people. In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as openly gay, and in 2012 he married his longtime partner, becoming the nation’s first congressman in a same-sex marriage while in office. Frank also revealed that he is an atheist in an August 2 episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Regarding his hope toward serving in the Senate, Frank stated, “I was looking forward to having my husband Jim hold the Constitution, not the Bible, and affirm, not swear, that I was gonna be a wonderful Senator.”

Barney Frank, Jason Silva and Dr. Eugenie C. Scott.
Jason Silva (Humanist Pioneer) is host of National Geographic’s Brain Games, which premiered to the highest premiere ratings in National Geographic’s history. Called the “Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age” by The Atlantic, Jason draws from his experiences as a television personality, a media artist, a filmmaker, and a techno-philosopher to share his inspirational take on scientific and technological advancements. Silva has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google (three times), and keynoted events for Microsoft and IBM. He has been featured in CBS News, The Atlantic, The Economist, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Wired, TED.com, Huffington Post, BigThink, and BrainPickings, among others and he was also featured as part of the Gap “Icons” campaign. Dr. Eugenie C. Scott (Lifetime Achievement Award) is executive director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc., a not for profit membership organization of scientists, teachers, and others that works to improve the teaching of science as a way of knowing, the teaching of evolution, and the teaching of climate change. A former college professor, Dr. Scott lectures widely, and is called upon by the press and other media to explain science and evolution to the general public. Scott is the author of Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, co-editor (with Glenn Branch) of Not In Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong For Our Schools, and the author of many articles in science journals. Registration for the AHA 73rd Annual Conference will open in December. Book your hotel room now at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown so you don’t miss out on this great event! For more details, visit http://conference.americanhumanist.org/.