Clergy Project principals to speak
You aren’t going to want to miss the 2016 FFRF convention in Pittsburgh!
After eight years as a closeted atheist in the Bible Belt, a former conservative pastor will be coming out publicly at the convention.
“Adam Mann” is co-founder of The Clergy Project, a group for current and former religious professionals without supernatural beliefs.
Another co-founder of the Clergy Project who will speak at the convention is Linda LaScola. She is co-author, with Daniel C. Dennett, of Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind and Preachers Who Are Not Believers. She is also editor of the Patheos blog, “Rational Doubt: With voices from the Clergy Project.” Linda is a clinical social worker with years of professional experience as a qualitative researcher and psychotherapist.
The Clergy Project was also founded by FFRF’s Dan Barker and Dennett, who will be one of the convention’s keynote speakers. His Saturday night speech is titled, “Has the dam broken? Omens and worries.”
The other keynote speaker will be Lawrence Krauss, the internationally known theoretical physicist. He will receive the Emperor Has No Clothes award from FFRF.
Other notables speaking at this year’s convention include author Susan Jacoby and science professor Jerry Coyne. Jacoby is the author of 11 books, most recently, Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion. Jacoby is a previous recipient of FFRF’s Freethought Heroine award. Coyne is professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. He has written a trade book about the evidence for evolution — Why Evolution is True, and more recently, Faith vs Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible.
Humanist activist Rafida Bonya Ahmed, who survived a machete attack in Bangladesh, will receive FFRF’s new “Forward” award. Author Lauri Lebo, who covered the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial, will be named 2016 Freethought Heroine. Marie Schaub will speak after being honored as an “atheist in a foxhole” by FFRF for her work as plaintiff in a case against a school district for having a granite Ten Commandments monument in front of a high school.
And, of course, FFRF’s Barker will take to the podium to discuss his lawsuit against Congress and his new book, God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction.
And before you get to see and listen to all these great speakers, don’t forget about the tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater on Friday. It’s a great way to kick off convention weekend! Sign up below for the tour and convention.
Check FFRF’s website at ffrf.org/outreach/convention for convention updates and the schedule.
