Roy Torcaso
From Philosopedia
Torcaso, Roy R. (c. 1911 - 9 June 2007)
Torcaso was a notary public from Wheaton, Maryland, whose commission was withheld because he refused to take an oath declaring belief in God. The Supreme Court ruled against the provision of the Maryland Constitution which stated,
- No religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this state, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God.
Corliss Lamont wrote that “in delivering the unanimous opinion of the Court that this statute was unconstitutional under the First Amendment, Justice Hugo L. Black observed in a footnote: ‘Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others.’ ”
Justice Black’s observation upsets those secular humanists who consider themselves part of a philosophic movement, not a religion.
Torcaso was on the Board of Directors of the American Humanist Association and of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
In 1991 Torcaso was honored with the American Humanist Association's Humanist Pioneer Award. Torcaso died at the age of 96 in Silver Spring, Maryland.
