Edward Tabash is an American lawyer and political and social activist. An atheist and a proponent of the Establishment Clause, Tabash has debated several Christian apologists

Christian apologetics

Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views...

, including Richard Swinburne

Richard Swinburne

Richard G. Swinburne is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years Swinburne has been a very influential proponent of philosophical arguments for the existence of God. His philosophical contributions are primarily in philosophy of religion and...

, William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist. He is known for his work on the philosophy of time and the philosophy of religion, specifically the existence of God and the defense of Christian theism...

, Matt Slick and Greg Bahnsen

Greg Bahnsen

Greg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.-Early life and education:He was the first born of two...

.

Tabash is a member of the California State Bar, the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He is also the Chair of the First Amendment Task Force for the Council for Secular Humanism

Council for Secular Humanism

The Council for Secular Humanism is a secular humanist organization headquartered in Amherst, New York. In 1980 CODESH issued A Secular Humanist Declaration, an argument for and statement of belief in Democratic Secular Humanism...

 and has written amicus briefs for both the U.S. Supreme Court and the California State Supreme Court.

Tabash graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 1973 and obtained a law degree

Law degree

A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...

 from Loyola Law School

Loyola Law School

Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions, in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law , it...

 of Los Angeles in 1976. His father was an orthodox rabbi from Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 and his mother was an Auschwitz survivor from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

.

Tabash lives in Beverly Hills, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Politics

From 1983 through 1987, Tabash was the California Issues Coordinator for the presidential campaign of former Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 senator Gary Hart

Gary Hart

Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...

. He has also served as a campaign speaker and debater for Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 presidential candidates Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 and Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

.

From 1981 through 1998, Tabash actively debated numerous professional opponents in the abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

 rights movement in California. He is also a strong proponent of decriminalizing

Decriminalization

Decriminalization or Decriminalisation is the abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts, perhaps retroactively, though perhaps regulated permits or fines might still apply . The reverse process is criminalization.Decriminalization reflects changing social and moral views...

 prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

.

In 2000, Tabash unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary election for a seat on the state legislature.

Commentary on his web site shows that Tabash believes in a number of philosophies reflective of personal freedom. These include the decriminalization of prostitution, free speech, abortion rights, or the woman's right to choose, and the separation of church and state. He also supports the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education

International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education

The International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education is a California corporation formed as an art and education and resource center for research about prostitution and sex work and for the collection and preservation of art by and about sex workers...

 (ISWFACE), and the Internet Infidels

Internet Infidels

Internet Infidels, Inc. is a Colorado Springs, Colorado-based nonprofit educational organization founded in 1995 by Jeffery Jay Lowder and Brett Lemoine. Its mission is to utilize the Internet to promote the view that supernatural forces or entities do not exist...

, and has previously served on the National Legal Committee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a group that advocates separation of church and state, a legal doctrine interpreted by AU as being enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Mission:The guiding principle of Americans...

.

External links

• Eddie Tabash
• Eddie Tabash vs. William Lane Craig - February 8, 1999
• "Modern Enlightenment: Decriminalizing Prostitution" - UC Irvine
• The Present Threat of the Religious Right to Our Modern Free - speech by Edward Tabash at youtube.com
• Q&A after the speech
• Dogma Free America podcast interview with Edward Tabash