Louis Appignani

Louis Appignani is a successful entrepreneur from Miami, a longtime Humanist and member of the AHA, and the founder of the Appignani Foundation. Through the foundation, Appignani and others encourage the spread of humanistic values through secular organizations and activities- thus contributing to the growth of the Humanist movement. He earned a BBA in accounting from CUNY-Baruch and an MS in finance from Columbia University. He attended postgraduate studies in economics at Indiana University.

David Niose

AHA President David Niose’s background includes experience in law and mass communication. A graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Communication and Suffolk University Law School, he has practiced law in Massachusetts since 1990. He has also worked in print and broadcast media, taught both history and law, and written extensively on a wide array of social and political issues. Upon joining the AHA board in 2005, Niose helped develop the AHA’s media campaign (the 2005 AHA media campaign was the first major national advertising campaign by a humanist or atheist group in America), now a regular program through which the AHA promotes Humanism in national media to build awareness and acceptance of the Humanist worldview. Niose has spoken to humanist and freethought groups around the country, emphasizing the importance of utilizing mass media to inject Humanist ideas into the public dialogue, improve the public image of Humanists, and sway public opinion away from the religious right. As an attorney, Niose has advocated for church-state separation and the rights of humanists and other nontheists, and he has advised the AHA and other groups on numerous such matters. He is currently involved in implementing a legal strategy to enforce the rights of humanists and other nontheists via the avenue of equal protection law. Niose has appeared on national television and radio and numerous local media outlets around the country speaking on subjects pertaining to humanism and freethought. He is a founding member of Greater Worcester Humanists, an AHA chapter in Worcester, Massachusetts, and has also served as an officer and board member of Greater Boston Humanists.

Bill Burgess

As legal coordinator of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, Bill Burgess directs the legal center’s activity and represents the AHA in its litigation and legal advocacy efforts.

Mr. Burgess is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the state of Florida. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University in 2000 and a B.A. in international relations from the College of William and Mary in 1997. He resides in Arlington, Virginia.

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letter re Lenoir School Board meeting prayers

letter re Carroll County MD legislative prayers

letter re Angelika’s illegal discrimination in violation of Title II (UnitedCoR)

The students want to be able to participate in school patriotic ceremonies that do not discriminate against nonbelievers by asserting that America is a nation “under God.”  The AHA has asked the court to require that schools recite the original, secular version of the Pledge if they choose to recite it.  Congress added the phrase “under God” to the Pledge in 1954, at the height of the McCarthyist Red Scare, at the urging of religious special interest groups.  These groups, conflating atheism and communism, capitalized on the dominant political hysteria to convince the government to associate religion with patriotism by amending the Pledge.  The original version of the Pledge, written in 1892 and robust enough to get the nation through such difficult times as the First World War and the Great Depression, is completely secular and inclusive of all Americans, containing no divisive reference to God.

Unlike previous cases relating to this issue, the AHA’s lawsuit does not allege that the “under God” version of the Pledge violates the Establishment Clause of the federal Constitution, which guarantees a separation of church and state.  Instead, the court agreed that daily recitation of the religious version of the pledge in public school classrooms discriminates against humanist and other atheist students in violation of the equal protection clause of the Massachusetts Constitution, which prohibits state discrimination on the basis of religious views.