A Scholarship for a Promising Young Secular Humanist

There are so few scholarships available to young atheists that it’s nice to point them out when they’re awarded.

Herb Silverman, the president of the Secular Coalition for America, is also a retired math professor from the College of Charleston. He established the Silverman Secular Humanist Scholarship a decade ago to recognize young, promising students who are (obviously) Secular Humanists.

This year’s recipient is Dyanne Vaught.

Dyanne Vaught didn’t lose her faith in God at college. Instead, she found a name for what she already believed: secular humanism.

“I sort of always knew that that was my philosophy on life, but I didn’t really know what to call it,” said Vaught, who will begin her sophomore year at College of Charleston in the fall.

…

For Vaught, it’s a way of thinking. “It’s about being rational in everything that you do,” Vaught said.

Vaught, who grew up in Lexington, said she had early doubts about her parents’ conservative Baptist church.

“It never really sat very well with me — the closed-mindedness, I guess,” Vaught said. “I’m kind of reluctant to say that because they are still people who are close to me.

“Then I realized that there’s not much logic behind a lot of things that are taught, so I wanted something more logical than that.”

Good for her It’s always fantastic to see an intelligent young woman break free from her family’s religion.