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August 8, 2002
For Release: IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT
Contact: Matt Cherry (518) 432-7820
Read bio of Matt Cherry
Cherry elected to United Nations post
Matt Cherry, 35, has been elected secretary of the United Nations Non-Government Organizations (NGO) Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. In this position, he will work within the United Nations system to monitor, explore, implement and advance the fundamental human right to freedom of religion or belief.
Cherry represents the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) at the United Nations. The IHEU promotes the rights, values and beliefs of the world's estimated 900 million humanists, atheists, agnostic, and other nonreligious people.
The NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which consists of seven members of different faiths, meets sixteen times a year at the United Nations in New York. Its activities include eight monthly speaker meetings where political, religious and human rights leaders and experts explore issues pertaining to religious freedoms.
Cherry is the executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) in Albany, N.Y. IHS is an international nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to promoting nonreligious perspectives on social and ethical issues. IHS provides grants to organizations that advance humanist principles through the IHS Fund.
Cherry has spent a dozen years as a professional leader in the humanist movement in three different countries. He has appeared on over 50 radio and TV shows around the world and has spoken to more than 100 meetings and conferences in 10 different countries. He also has written nearly 100 published articles, and his work has been translated into 12 different languages.
He serves as International Editor for the New Humanist magazine, published by Britain's Rationalist Press Association, for which he writes a quarterly column, International Insight.
Cherry graduated from University College London with a BA (Honors) in Philosophy in 1989. In addition, he is the co-editor of the book Imagine There's No Heaven: Voices of Secular Humanism and is the author of an 80-page manual, Running a Local Secular Humanist Society.
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