"With an increasing number of Americans leaving religion behind, the University of Miami
received a donation in late April from a wealthy atheist to endow what
it says is the nation’s first academic chair “for the study of atheism,
humanism and secular ethics.”
The chair has been established after years of discussion with a $2.2 million donation from Louis J. Appignani, a retired businessman and former president and chairman of the modeling school Barbizon International, who has given grants to many humanist and secular causes
— though this is his largest so far. The university, which has not yet
publicly announced the new chair, will appoint a committee of faculty
members to conduct a search for a scholar to fill the position.
“I’m
trying to eliminate discrimination against atheists,” said Mr.
Appignani, who is 83 and lives in Florida. “So this is a step in that
direction, to make atheism legitimate.”
Read the story in the New York Times
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