We are very pleased to have some of the most sought after secular leaders speak at our conference in 2013. Go HERE to print the flyer
PZ Myers - biological evolutionist and a defender of non-belief
Dr Myers 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. He is widely regarded as a confrontationalist. In 2006, the journal Nature listed his blog, Pharyngula, as the top-ranked blog written by a scientist. Additionally, PZ Myers was the recipient of the Humanist of the Year award in 2009, and the International Humanist Award in 2011.
Greta Christina - atheist blogger and activist
Greta Christina is the regular atheist correspondent for AlterNet, and has been writing about atheism in her own “Greta Christina’s blog” since 2005. Her blog is now part of http://freethoughtblogs.com/. In 2009, Hemant Mehta at the “Friendly Atheist” ranked Christina’s blog in the Top Ten most popular atheist blogs. She also created the “Atheist Meme of the Day” on Facebook. She has been writing professionally since 1989, and her writing about atheism has appeared in print inSkeptical Inquirer and the anthology Everything You Know About God Is Wrong, as well as in her own bookWhy Are You Atheists So Angry?: 99 Things that Piss Off the Godless
Margaret Downey - freethought advocate
is an atheist activist who is the former President of Atheist Alliance International and founder and president of the Freethought Society. She also founded the Anti-Discrimination Support Network, which reports and helps deal with discrimination against atheists.
Matt Dillahunty is a public speaker, internet personality and the president of the Atheist Community of Austin. He hosts the live internet radio show “Non-Prophets Radio” and of the Austin-based public-access television show The Atheist Experience.[2] He is also the founder and contributor of the counter-apologetics encyclopedia Iron Chariots and its subsidiary sites.
He is regularly engaged in formal debates and travels the United States speaking to local secular organizations and university groups as part of the Secular Student Alliance’s Speakers Bureau.
Ahlquist v. Cranston was a case where the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled that a “School Prayer” banner posted in Cranston High School West was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution and ordered its removal. The suit was brought by Jessica Ahlquist, a student at the school, with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux issued a decision in favor of Ahlquist on January 11, 2012. The decision was in part based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and the United States Supreme Court‘s earlier rulings in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), Lynch v. Donnelly (1984), and Lee v. Weisman (1992)
Dr.Darrel Wayne Ray is a writer and speaker on leadership and organizational development and author of two books on the topic. He is the author of the book The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture. Ray is founder of the organization “Recovering Religionists”, a national self-help group for those leaving their religious indoctrination. In May 2011, he published the survey Sex and Secularism: What Happens When You Leave Religion?
Dr Donald Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He teaches Physical and Historical Geology, Sedimentary Geology, and Paleontology. His specialties are mammalian paleontology and magnetic stratigraphy of the Cenozoic. His lecture is entitled “The Holocaust Denier’s Playbook: How Science Deniers threaten our Future”
A renowned “skeptic” and pro-science advocate and activist, Swiss is a founder of the National Capital Area Skeptics; a founder of the New York City Skeptics; has spoken and performed across the U.S. on behalf of the Center for Inquiry; has been a contributor to Skeptic magazine; hosts the annual New England Conference on Science and Skepticism in New York City; serves as a Senior Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, including helping to administer the foundation’s Million Dollar Challenge, and is a regular presenter at the foundation’s annual TAM (The Amazing Meeting) conference; and is featured in the foundation’s podcast and webcast commentaries, The Honest Liar.
