Born in Philadelphia, Herb Silverman received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Syracuse University and has been a Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston since 1976. He has published over 100 research papers in mathematics journals, and is the recipient of the Distinguished Research Award.

In 1990, a colleague pointed out that atheists were ineligible to hold public office in South Carolina. After an eight-year battle, Herb won a unanimous decision in the South Carolina Supreme Court, which struck down the religious test requirement for holding public office. He founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry in Charleston, SC. He is founder and faculty advisor to the College of Charleston student Atheist/Humanist Alliance. He is spokesperson for the S.C. Secular Council, national board member of the American Humanist Association, national board member of the Atheist Alliance International, advisory board member of the Secular Student Alliance, state board member of the South Carolina ACLU, and a member of the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Herb has appeared in a number of debates, including one last Spring at the Oxford Union in Oxford, England on the topic: Does American Religion Undermine American Values? He has spoken at a number of freethought conferences and recently gave a sermon on "Positive Atheism" at a Unitarian Church. He has numerous articles in freethought publications. He also has a book on Complex Variables and a chapter called "Innerancy Turned Political" in The Fundamentals of Extremism.