Richard Dawkins, DPhil
Richard Dawkins is the former Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a position he held from 1995-2008.
The Wall Street Journal said his “passion is supported by an awe-inspiring literary craftsmanship.”
The New York Times Book Review has hailed him as a writer who “understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too.”
Among his books are The Ancestor’s Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain, The God Delusion and The Greatest Show on Earth.
R. Elisabeth Cornwell, PhD
Executive Director,
US branch of RDFRS.
Dr R. Elisabeth ‘Liz’ Cornwell, PhD, has been taken on as the first Executive Director of the US branch of RDFRS.
She has already made many contributions to RDFRS behind the scenes, including inventing the OUT Campaign, proposing the idea of filmed ‘vignettes’, building up our excellent network of relationships with student secular organizations around the United States, devising and organizing the Science Symposium at AAI in Burbank, and setting up our system of accountancy, auditing and legal advice.
An evolutionary psychologist, her research has examined the underlying mechanisms of human mate selection, looking at such factors as hormones, pheromones, ageing, asymmetry, and facial features.
More recently she has been doing research at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, exploring the relationship of various psychological traits to religious belief, across the spectrum from strong theism to strong non-theism.
Eugenie C. Scott, PhD
Executive Director, NCSE
Ph.D., University of Missouri (Physical Anthropology)
Eugenie has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution controversy for over twenty-five years, and can address many components of this controversy, including educational, legal, scientific, religious, and social issues.
She has received national recognition for her NCSE activities, including awards from scientific societies, educational societies, skeptics groups, and humanist groups.
Scott is the author of Evolution vs Creationism and co-editor, with Glenn Branch, of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools.
PZ Myers, PhD
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) and the author of the science blog Pharyngula.
He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM,[1] works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and also cultivates an interest in cephalopods. He has published numerous research papers in Nature and other notable scientific journals.
He is a public critic of intelligent design (ID) and of the creationist movement in general and is an activist in the American creation–evolution controversy.
Darrel Ray, Ed.D.
Darrel Ray, Ed.D. is an organizational psychologist and consultant.
Darrel Ray is the author of The God Virus-How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture two other books.
Darrel is the founder of Recovering from Religion.
Leadership in the secular community is one of his interests and uses his knowledge and experience in organizational psychology to train and advise secular groups.
He has spoken throughout the US and Europe to dozens of groups including the American Atheist Convention, New York City Atheists, Atheist Ireland, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, University of Alabama, Atlanta Freethought Society, The Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles, Grand Rapids and many other chapters.
Victor Stenger, PhD
A PhD in Physics since 1963. Victor Stenger has been on the faculty of the University of Hawaii, till retiring in Colorado in 2000.
His current position is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado.
Vic is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a research fellow of the Center for Inquiry.
Vic has also held visiting positions on the faculties of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Oxford in England (twice).
Among his many works are; The Fallacy of Finetuning. (Latest)
God: The Failed Hypothesis—How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, a New York Times best seller.
Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos, and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness, and
The New Atheism: Takings a Stand for Science and Reason.
Sean Faircloth, JD
Sean Faircloth currently works with the Richard Dawkins Foundation. He served a decade in the Maine State Legislature and in his last term was elected Majority Whip by his colleagues.
Faircloth was an accomplished legislator, successfully spearheading over thirty pieces of legislation, including the deadbeat dad child support law which saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Sean had numerous legislative successes in children's issues and justice system reform. While in office, he was selected to chair a Sex Crime Commission, the Early Childhood Commission, and a Commission on the Citizen's Initiative Process.
Sean graduated from the University of Notre Dame and the University of California's Hastings College of the Law.
Attorney Faircloth worked in private law practice, served as an Assistant Attorney General, as Legal Counsel to the Maine State Senate, and lobbied on behalf of the Maine State Bar Assocation.
Sikivu Hutchinson, PhD
Sikivu Hutchinson is a writer and intergroup specialist for the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.
She received a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University and has taught women's studies, cultural studies, urban studies and education at UCLA, the California Institute of the Arts and Western Washington University.
She is the author of Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (Lang, 2003) and has published fiction, essays and critical theory in Social Text, California English, Black Agenda Report and American Atheist Magazine.
She is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Humanist Studies and is the author of
Michael Shermer PhD
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University.
Dr. Shermer’s latest book is The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. His last book was The Mind of the Market, on evolutionary economics.
He also wrote Why Darwin Matters: Evolution and the Case Against Intelligent Design, and he is the author of The Science of Good and Evil and of Why People Believe Weird Things. Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University (1991).
He was a college professor for 20 years, and since his creation of Skeptic magazine he has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, and Larry King Live.
Our Talent Line-Up for 2011 (So Far)
The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and human suffering.
Entertainment, Personalities, Organizers and Activists.
Greydon Square
Greydon Square is an American hip hop artist.
His music deals with philosophical issues (particularly with regard to atheism and science), political issues, the war in Iraq, his experiences as a soldier, and his childhood which was spent in group homes.
His latest album, "The Kardashev Scale" is available for purchase.
Matt Dillahunty
Matt is the president of the Atheist Community of Austin and of the Austin cable access show "The Atheist Experience".
He is also a host of the live internet radio show "Non-Prophets Radio"
Matt was raised as a fundamentalist Baptist Christian, and sought to become a Baptist minister. His religious studies, instead of bolstering his faith, led to a complete rejection of Christianity
He now continues to study philosophy, religion, science, and history, while attempting to educate people about atheism and religion, and "to prevent others from wasting another day on irrational beliefs".
"The Atheist Experience", has become popular on YouTube. He is also the founder and contributor of a counter-apologetics encyclopedia at Iron Chariots and its subsidiary sites.
She has written on the rise of theocracy, wars and repression in the U.S., and has led in building resistance to these crimes.
Sunsara appeared at the Atheist Alliance International Convention in Burbank, CA 2009, and stole the show wherever she spoke.
Sunsara Taylor
Sunsara is a writer for Revolution Newspaper, a host of WBAI's Equal Time for Freethought, and sits on the Advisory Board of World Can't Wait.
Sunsara's blog is
Richard Haynes (AKA: Brother Richard)
Brother Richard is a writer and public speaker living in Atlanta, Georgia.
He is the executive director of AtheistNexus.org, the world’s largest social network exclusively for non-theists.
You can also find him through his blog: LifeWithoutFaith.com
He co-hosts the highly popular podcast: AtheistNews.org, which was voted “Best Religion / Inspirational Podcast” of 2010.
Richard is now secularly ordained and has dedicated himself to building non-theist communities, and encouraging others to "come out" of the atheist closet.
Aron-Ra
Aron-Ra is an autodidact, a recurring student,
and a regular co-Magic Sandwich
on BlogTV. His video series summarizing the 'Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism' has been mirrored, featured, referenced, and recommended by many professional scientists, secularists, and educators, and has attracted more than 50,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel.
Aron-Ra is listed among the most influential internet activists advocating rationalism in science education.
Todd Stiefel
Todd Stiefel is the Founder and President of the Stiefel Free- thought Foundation, the Vice President of the Secular Coalition for America. Todd serves as an advisor to many of the national organizations in the
freethought movement.
Todd’s mission is to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state. His activism was featured in a front page article in the Raleigh News & Observer. He has been seen on the Christian Broadcasting Network and has been quoted in the New York Times and Church & State. He is the co-host of the Humanist Hour podcast.
Staise Gonzalez
Staise Gonzalez is a resident of the Houston, Texas area. She has been involved within the atheist community for the last five years. Since recognizing herself as an atheist, she has taken a very active role in promoting atheist causes.
She started by making a number of videos on Youtube, then became an associate producer for the atheist documentary "Godless",
She was appointed as the leader of the Houston Atheists. In the less than two years of her leadership, the Houston Atheists have almost doubled their membership by increasing their level of activity and exposure within their community.
Staise is currently working with the Freedom From Religion Foundation as one of the plaintiffs against Rick Perry and his announcing August 6, 2011, as an official Day of Prayer and Fasting, for rain in Texas.
Link to document:
Terry McDonald
Terry McDonald is an executive retired from a long career in property/casualty insurance related businesses. He has lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex for 55 years.
Dale McGowan
Dale McGowan left a career as a college professor in 2006 to pursue writing and secular parent education full-time. He edited and co-authored Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, the first comprehensive resources for nontheistic parents.
He writes the secular parenting blog The Meming of Life, teaches nontheistic parenting seminars across the United States, and serves as executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a humanist charitable membership foundation.
In September 2008, he was named Harvard Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University.
Among Dale's current projects are books on the religious/nonreligious mixed marriage, an illustrated children's book about natural selection, and Everyday Humanism (co-edited with Anthony Pinn), a collection of essays on everyday issues in the nonreligious life.
Dale holds degrees in physical anthropology and music theory from UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Becca, an elementary educator, live near Atlanta with their three children.
Barbara Forrest, Ph.D.
Barbara Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. She is co-author with Paul R. Gross of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. She served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, the first legal case involving intelligent design creationism.
Since 2008, she has been involved in efforts to defend the teaching of science in her home state of Louisiana.
Margaret Downey
Margaret was born into a multi-cultural family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Margaret grew up in a highly prejudiced southern society in the 1950s. She became concerned about discrimination and its effects at an early age and has devoted her life to ending all forms of it.
Margaret founded the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) and the Anti-Discrimination Support Network (ADSN) in 1993. In 1994 Margaret founded the Thomas Paine Memorial Committee. Margaret is also a former Presdient of Atheist Alliance International.
Terry has been an atheist for 30 years and an activist for about 6 years. He is currently the president of Metroplex Atheists, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to defending atheists causes and providing social gatherings that are enlightened oasis’s in the Bible belt’s vast desert wasteland of blind faith.
In 2009, with the help of others, he founded the Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, an umbrella group organized to facilitate communication and cooperation of nontheists organizations in the DFW area. He served as the group’s first Coordinator for two years.
He serves on the Board of Directors of Atheist Alliance of America.
He is the critically acclaimed author of two non-fiction books, Trials of the Monkey - An Accidental Memoir and 40 Days and 40 Nights.
Critics and newspapers from Christopher Hitchens to The Wall Street Journal have praised his books as brilliant, highly personal accounts of the battle between faith and reason.
Matthew is the co-founder and president of ScienceDebate.org, an organization trying to get the presidential candidates to hold a debate on science.
Matthew Chapman
Writer-Director Matthew Chapman is the director of "The Ledge". A thriller about a battle between a non-believer and a fundamentalist, it was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Give Blood with us!
Saturday, Oct. 8th
9am - 3pm
Saturday, Oct. 8th
9am - 3pm
Melaney A. Linton
Melaney Linton is Chief Operating Officer of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC). She has been with Planned Parenthood since 1988. Melaney is responsible for providing leadership and oversight to PPGC’s Medical Services, Public Affairs, Education, Fiscal, Human Resources, and Administrative Services departments.
PPGC provides reproductive healthcare to clients in 12 rural, suburban, and urban health centers (10 in Southeast Texas and 2 in Louisiana).
She is a past Board Chair of Brazos Valley Crisis Hotline and a past volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Austin, I Have a Dream-Houston, and the American Cancer Society.
Kathleen Johnson
Kathleen Johnson is Vice President and former Military Director for American Atheists.
Kathleen has been a favorite at the Texas Freethought Convention since it's inception.
This year, Kathleen will be
appearing on behalf of the Secular Student Alliance Leadership Track.
"Atheists have served in the military proudly and with distinction and Atheist military members and veterans refute the lie that there "are no atheists in foxholes." One of my priorities as Military Director for American Atheists is to continue to speak out as an Atheist and veteran, and to help our military and veteran members gain access to resources specifically tailored to their needs when they need to network with other military Atheists or they experience discrimination."
Lyz Liddell
Lyz Liddell is the Director of Campus Organizing for the Secular Student Alliance, coordinating the campus organizing team to deliver the SSA's services and resources to affiliate groups and individual students. She leads development of new resources and helps build relationships with other organizations to promote acceptance of secular students.
Ashley Paramore
Having grown up in a small conservative community, Ashley Paramore found it very difficult to find other freethinkers. When she finally found out that there were more people with the same views as she had, she grew excited and got busy.
In 2007 she brought together atheists/freethinkers/humanists to give them a sense of community, along with an opportunity to take part in activism involving separation of church and state issues in Columbus, OH by starting a chapter of the Rational Response Squad and then later via another organization called Omnipresent Atheists.
She went on to serve as the chair of Students for Freethought @ Ohio State from 2007 to 2009. Ashley also served on the board of directors of the Secular Student Alliance from 2008 to 2010.
Sarah Moglia
Sarah is the Event Specialist at the Secular Student Alliance. Living in a small religious community, Sarah wanted to reach out to other atheists. She founded the SSA at Central College in Pella, Iowa in 2010 after returning from a semester abroad in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Originally raised as a Catholic in Milwaukee, WI, Sarah began questioning religion in high school, and reading works of PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins helped lead to to atheism. She has volunteered with other organizations, such as the Timber Wolf Preservation Society, the American Cancer Society, and the Boys and Girls Club.
Jesse Galef
Jesse is the Communications Director for the Secular Student Alliance. Before being hired in 2010, he worked for the Secular Coalition for America and the American Humanist Association.
He was president of the nonreligious student group on campus as well as an active member of various religious organizations, including the Orthodox Christian Fellowship and Christian Apologetics of Carolina.
Mario DiGiorgio (Comedian)
Bored and disgusted with his degree in advertising, New Jersey native Mario DiGiorgio moved to Austin, Texas and began writing comedy in between a dozen restaurant jobs. Eight months after his first open mic, Mario secured the title of the nationally-recognized comedy contest, The Funniest Person in Austin. He followed up by becoming a Top-8 finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival contest for stand-ups; a regular guest on the Bob and Tom show; and was featured on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend.
