Prominent Atheist Rob Sherman Dies in Plane Crash, Days After Announcing Congressional Campaign

By Nathan Glover --
14 Dec 2016 --

Green Party Candidate Rob Sherman’s plane wreck was found in the early hours of Saturday.

One of America’s strongest fighters for separation of church and state, and Illinois’ most prominent atheist passed away when his private jet crashed in Marengo over the weekend. Rob Sherman was a well-known figure who completely opposed anything that even remotely looked like an intermingling of church and state. His demise has caused a great loss to the atheist community of America, who have similarly been fighting against the union of church and state.

Prominent Atheist Rob Sherman Dies in Plane Crash, Days After Announcing Congressional Campaign[/tweetthis]

The 63-year old political activist was highly involved in environmental-conservation issues and is rightly called as belonging to the “Green Party.” He’s best known for his strong actions against religious groups trying to expand their beliefs into the public arena, and is famous for his style of introducing himself as “Rob Sherman, your favorite atheist.”

Sherman also owned a business which dealt with helping people build aircrafts using DIY kits.

The plane, a Zenair CH 601, was found to have crashed under “unknown circumstances” on Saturday by firefighters at Meyer Road. Authorities say that it is still unknown as to what caused the crash, but that they are sure it happened between Friday night and Saturday morning. Sherman was found to have succumbed to multiple injuries. The case is currently being investigated by the FAA and the NTSB.

Sherman, born a Jew, had turned atheist in his childhood. He even suffered physical abuse from his parents for his atheistic views. As he grew up, Sherman became more involved with actively opposing religion and forced religious activities. His special focus was on display of religious symbols in public places, government offices and official seals. He also focused on fighting against religious activity in school. However, his method of doing things was so charming and perfect, that even Miriam Cooper, a school board member in Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214 and long-time nemesis, admitted that Sherman deserved respect for his dedication and passion. Although their ideologies were different, Cooper maintains that his gracious manner of doing things was definitely something worth respecting.

Sad to hear atheist activist Rob Sherman killed in crash of his small plane. I shared Jesus with him many times.
— Lee Strobel (@LeeStrobel) December 12, 2016

Sherman ran for the fifth Congressional District Seat of Illinois as a Green Party candidate. Although he lost, his ideas and ways of doing politics left a profound mark on the people. If elected, Sherman promised that he would get rid of all religious allusions and symbols in the state’s official documents and seals.

Rob Sherman will be a sad loss to the movement#Atheist #Agnostic #Skeptic #Humanist #Freethinker https://t.co/EjtE5ZzG6N
— Secular Directory (@SecularDir) December 14, 2016