The 2024 National Convention has sold out, and registration has closed as of Sept. 13, 2024. We look forward to seeing you in Denver!  

Two well-regarded national media personalities have been added to the distinguished lineup of speakers for the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s national convention.

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow and Washington Post contributing writer Kate Cohen will help FFRF celebrate its national convention on Friday, Sept. 27, and Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown.

The convention’s keynote speakers will be bestselling novelist Bonnie Garmus, actor Jon Huertas and Ron Reagan.

Blow, who is an open nontheist, also will be receiving FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award. His columns in The New York Times tackle hot-button issues such as social justice, racial equality, LGBTQ issues and national politics. Blow is an MSNBC political analyst and has been the anchor of “PRIME with Charles Blow” on the Black News Channel and a CNN commentator.

Cohen will be returning for an encore performance, after receiving FFRF’s Freethought Heroine Award last year, and talking about her book “We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too).” Cohen’s columns in the Post expose America’s reflexive deference to religion and its effect on education, health care and human rights.

Garmus will also be accepting FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award. Her thought-provoking novel, “Lessons in Chemistry,” with major themes in both feminism and atheism, has sold many millions of copies. The award-winning global phenomenon, which has been translated into 42 languages and has been on the bestseller list for more than a year, was recently turned into a TV series on Apple TV starring Brie Larson.

Actor Jon Huertas is best-known for starring as Miguel Rivas for six seasons on NBC’s popular “This Is Us.” Viewers know him as Detective Javier Esposito from ABC’s hit dramedy “Castle,” as well as for a stand-out performance as Sgt. Tony “Poke” Espera in HBO’s limited docudrama series, “Generation Kill,” where he offered a streetwise view of the Marine Corps invasion of Iraq. He’s an open atheist and will be speaking on “Unshackling Ourselves from Holy Handcuffs.”

The Human Rights Campaign will be honored with the 2024 Henry Zumach Freedom From Religious Fundamentalism Award. The award, which now comes with a monetary prize of $50,000, will be accepted by Brandon Wolf, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. Wolf is a nationally recognized advocate for LGBTQ-plus civil rights and gun safety laws. In 2019, Wolf became the first survivor of the Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub tragedy to testify before Congress and returned in 2022 to testify before the House Oversight Committee on the rise of anti-LGBTQ hate violence. His memoir, “A Place for Us,” was released in July 2023 and became an instant bestseller.

Another favorite speaker and author, Katherine Stewart, will receive the “Freethought Heroine” award. Stewart has covered religious liberty, politics, policy and education in her various professional roles. Her latest book, “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism,” inspired the recent documentary “God and Country,” co-produced by Rob Reiner.

FFRF is also excited for the return of “unabashed atheist” Ron Reagan, who recorded FFRF’s long-playing TV commercial, and last spoke at a conference in 2015. Reagan, a political commentator and broadcaster, is the freethinking son of President Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Another crowd-pleaser returning to speak about religion and politics will be New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, whose book “Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism” in 2006 was an early warning call. Goldberg, who is also an online contributor to MSNBC, will receive FFRF’s Clarence Darrow Award and statuette.

Also addressing Christian nationalism is Bradley Onishi, who is on the faculty of the University of San Francisco and is co-host of the top-ranked religion and politics podcast, “Straight White American Jesus.” He is author of the timely book, “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — And What Comes Next.”

Josh Cowen is professor of education policy at Michigan State University, and an author on topics related to education politics, school choice and culture wars in the United States. His new book, “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers,” will be the topic of his speech.

FFRF, which held the first-ever panel of nonreligious state legislators at its conference last year, is assembling for 2024 a panel of secular Colorado state legislators. Confirmed are state Rep. Judy Amabile, a businesswoman and progressive advocate who represents the 49th District, and state Rep. Brianna Titone, a geologist who represents the 27th District and is the state’s first openly transgender state legislator.

“The Consequences of Religious Decline in the U.S.” will be the topic of University of Tampa sociology Professor Ryan T. Cragun’s speech. Cragun, who served as a Mormon missionary before leaving religion, is an expert on the rise of the “Nones” (religiously unaffiliated) and author or co-author of a host of books including “Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society,” “What You Don’t Know About Religion (But Should),” “How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps” and “From One Missionary to Another.”

Last but not least, FFRF Co-President Dan Barker will be speaking about his hot-off-the-press new book, “Contraduction: The Death of the Design Argument.” After 140 debates for FFRF, Dan proposes a new way of looking at assumptions behind “fine-tuning” arguments for the existence of a god. Student essay winners attending the convention will soon be announced.

The convention will feature its usual reports by the co-presidents, the legal staff and legislative/lobbying, plus a chance to mingle, peruse FFRF book and product tables, partake in optional group meals and some complimentary food receptions and mingle with other freethinkers.

See the schedule, subject to minor changes. Hotel reservations must be made on or before Sept. 3 to receive FFRF’s special room rate.
Reserve your room online here.

Register here for the convention (or see the handy registration form in your current issue of Freethought Today).

Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime secular gathering!