Education
Speckhardt earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Mary Washington College and a Master of Business Administration, with a concentration in information systems management, from George Mason University.
Speckhardt earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Mary Washington College and a Master of Business Administration, with a concentration in information systems management, from George Mason University.
In addition to his college education, he received specialized training in nonprofit tax law, financial management, grassroots organizing, fundraising, and dispute resolution. Early in his career, Speckhardt was a fundraiser for various causes, including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome research and wildlife conservation, and worked on the "World Difference Campaign" of the Anti-Defamation League. He worked for The Interfaith Alliance from 1995 to 2001 as deputy director in charge of staff
Speckhardt worked as the director of membership and programs of the American Humanist Association for four years, is executive director
In 2013 Speckhardt argued that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Equal Protection Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution. In May 2014 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the pledge was a "fundamentally patriotic exercise, not a religious one".
In 2014, the American Heart Association likewise brought suit against the state of New Jersey. In February 2015 a New Jersey Superior Court Judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Pledge of Allegiance, ruling that "..the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the rights of those who don"t believe in God and does not have to be removed from the patriotic message."
Speckhardt serves on the boards of directors of the Humanist Institute, the Institute for Humanist Studies, the United Coalition of Reason, and the Secular Coalition for America.
Speckhardt has appeared on Cable News Network Headline News, Fox News" Fox and Friends, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio.
He currently writes a regular column for The Huffington Post and Patheos.