Dan Barker

Dan Barker is the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit organization advocating for atheists, agnostics, and secularism and protecting the separation of church and state, and a former evangelist who preached for 19 years. He is also the co-host of Freethought Radio, a national weekly talk show, a contributing editor of Freethought Today, and is involved with the Foundation’s state/church lawsuits. He became a teenage evangelist at age 15, received a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific University, and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church in California. He served as associate pastor in three California churches: Arcadia Friend’s Church (Quaker), Glengrove Assembly of God (Hacienda Heights), and Standard Christian Center, an independent Charismatic church loosely affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ tradition). He maintained an ongoing touring musical ministry, including eight years of full-time, cross-country evangelism. Following five years of reading, Dan gradually outgrew his religious beliefs and announced his atheism publicly in 1984. He tells his story in the books “Losing Faith in Faith” and “Godless.” He regularly travels the country and the world, giving lectures, performing concerts, and participating in debates with theists, many at college and university campuses.