Frederick E. Edwords
From Philosopedia
Edwords, Frederick E. (July 19, 1948— )
Fred Edwords first became active in freethought in the 1970s in his hometown of San Diego, California. His first organizational effort in this regard was to found in 1973 a local discussion group, the Philosophy Forum, which continued on a few years past his departure from that city in 1980. In 1976 he joined the Humanist Association of San Diego, a chapter of the American Humanist Association (AHA), and became its vice president the next year. Then in 1978 he became chapter president. In 1979 he was appointed AHA district director for the state of California and, in early 1980, as district director for the West Coast, partnered with Frank Mortyn to put on the first Western Regional Humanist Conference, later to be renamed Humcon.
During his presidency of the Humanist Association of San Diego, Edwords and Philip Osmon debated Duane Gish and Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research - a debate that would be the first of a long series of creation vs. evolution debates for Edwords as he opposed the leading creationists in the United States and Canada. Moreover, as an outgrowth of that first debate, Edwords and Osmon, along with Stanley Freske and Christopher Weber, launched a journal, Creation/Evolution, in 1980. It was devoted exclusively to answering the religious right’s creationist arguments. The American Humanist Association would soon acquire the publication and Edwords would serve as its editor for its first eleven years. In 1991 the AHA sold Creation/Evolution to the National Center for Science Education. After a few years of their publication the NCSE folded it into its larger Reports of the National Center for Science Education, still in publication, where the C/E journal's editorial mission continues. During this time he served on the boards of the National Center for Science Education (1982-1992) and the New York Council for Evolution Education (1982-1994). For his pioneering work in developing straightforward answers to creationist arguments, Edwords was recognized by the American Rationalist Federation with its Rationalist of the Year Award in 1984 and by the American Humanist Association with its Humanist Pioneer Award in 1986.
On July 1, 1980, less than a month after his marriage to fellow humanist Mary C. Murchison, Edwords became AHA administrator, heading up the organization's national office, then located in Amherst, New York. In 1984 he was promoted to executive director, a position he would hold for the next fifteen years. In 1991 he became executive director of the Humanist Society of Friends as well. During this time, in late 1994, following the resignation of co-editors Gerry O'Sullivan and Rick Szykowny, Edwords also became editor of the Humanist magazine. He would hold that position for the next twelve years. In 1985 he became a co-plaintiff in the U.S. District Court lawsuit, Asimov v. United States, filed against the U.S. Department of Education by the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee regarding magnet schools in the Math/Science Bill.
At the impetus of Edwords and the past presidents Bette Chambers and Lyle Simpson, the AHA board of directors voted to move the organization's headquarters from Amherst to Washington, DC., and hire a new executive director to lead the organization in a new and more influential direction. The person hired was Tony Hileman, who assumed his new duties late in 1999. Edwords continued on as editor of the Humanist but his duties expanded to include overseeing all the organization's other publications. He thus became editorial director.
During his more than a quarter century with the AHA, Edwords has spoken at international humanist and atheist conferences in Canada, India, Mexico, and Russia and has addressed national and local humanist, freethought, Ethical Culture, and Unitarian Universalist conferences all over the United States. He has often emphasized the importance of humanists addressing new and emerging technologies and has spoken strongly to the need for humanism to resonate with people emotionally as well as intellectually. As editor of the Humanist he has emphasized the importance of applying humanist philosopical ideas to social and political realities.
Edwords didn't sign the International Academy of Humanism's Humanist Manifesto 2000, in part on the advice of legal counsel. The American Humanist Association holds the copyrights to Humanist Manifestos I and II and maintains trademark priority for the term "Humanist Manifesto." Also, prior to the drafting of Humanist Manifesto 2000 Edwords was already chair of the AHA's Humanist Manifesto III drafting committee, which, after a process involving AHA member input, issued its document in 2003 to mark the seventieth anniversary of the first Humanist Manifesto of 1933.
Edwords in 2006 left being editor of The Humanist, replaced by Jennifer Bardi, and became Director of Communications of the American Humanist Association. He remains as a member of the Camp Quest board of directors and an advisor for the Secular Student Alliance. In his new position as director of planned giving, he will assist members who wish to provide for the American Humanist Association in their wills or other estate plans.
Humanist Books and Films for Children and Teens
Edwords, the director of communications for the American Humanist Association and past president of Camp Quest, the summer camp for freethinking children and teen, has written "Where Can I Find Humanist Books and Films for Children and Teens."
