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.
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.
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.
Kathleen Johnson,
VP American Atheists
Kathleen is Vice President and Military Director for American Atheists.
She started her career as an atheist activist by founding the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) and serving as the organization’s first president.
After stepping down as MAAF president in 2024 to take a more active role with American Atheists, she assumed the position of Military Director and coordinated American Atheists support of atheist military members and veterans. She was ultimately appointed to American Atheists’ board of directors and accepted an appointment as one of two Vice Presidents.
Ms. Johnson served in the military for 23 years before retiring in 2024 and was an outspoken atheist for most of her career. She currently works as a Department of the Army as a civilian at Fort Hood, TX.
PZ Myers, PhD
PZ Myers is Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. PZ works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and also cultivates an interest in cephalopods. He is published in numerous research papers in Nature and other notable scientific journals.
He is the author of the well-known Pharyngula blog, and a frequent speaker at secular events.
He is a public critic of intelligent design (ID) and of the creationist movement in general.
Zachary Moore, PhD
Zachary Moore is an active leader in the freethought community of Dallas/Fort Worth, serving as the Coordinator of the Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, and on the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Freethought in Dallas, Camp Quest Texas, and the Foundation Beyond Belief.
A former Christian, "Dr. Zach" received his PhD in molecular biology and is a passionate advocate for the public understanding of science.
Zach was a speaker at the first TFC in 2024, in Austin. He was also part of the planning committee for the DFW 2024 TFC.
Our Talent Line-Up for 2024...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.
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.
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 2024.
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.
Jessica Ahlquist
Jessica Ahlquist is a seventeen year old secular activist from Rhode Island. Two years ago she began fighting against an unconstitutional prayer banner displayed in her public high school, eventually leading to litigation.
We like to have a good time at the TFC. Actually, we REALLY like to have a good time at the TFC.
When you take part in a TFC, expect to meet lots of people, learn new things, have fun, whoop it up and hopefully you'll still have enough energy for the ride back home.
Aron-Ra is listed among the most influential internet activists advocating rationalism in science education.
Emily Davis
Emily Davis is a singer-songwriter living in the desert southwest with an affinity for writing aggressive folk music.
Emily is often out on tour and will perform live for the TFC audience.
Go hear her newest single as well as two full-length albums.
***Paul's note***
We tried to have Emily as our guest in Houston last year. But we ran out of space. I made it a point to have her at this years TFC in Austin.
I've seen her live and she is awesome. Emily has a powerful voice and hits her notes just right live.
Emily is an up and coming talent more of us need to experience.
Kristine Kruszelnicki
Kristine Kruszelnicki is the outreach coordinator for Secular Pro-Life, an organization seeking to take the abortion debate out of the realm of religion and move it into the realm of ethics, science, and moral philosophy.
She is a freelance journalist, and in her former life was a recipient of a Christian Writer's Guild award for News Articles.
Kristine is now an ex-Christian and an atheist, and is awaiting the publication of her first piece to appear in The Humanist in the new year.
Kristine will debate Matt Dillahunty on Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life at the event. Facebook
Freethought Society's Registration as a charitible organization on the link above.
Brian Walker
Brian Walker is the co-chair for the Secular Coalition for Texas whose mission is to increase the visibility and respect for non-theist viewpoints and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government. Brian began his activism nearly 30 years ago...
...when he successfully lobbied the public school board to discontinue the distribution of evangelical materials during school hours.
Brian utilizes his executive level experience in education and technology to deliver content on critical thinking, skepticism and social issues. He attended Ohio State University and continued his education while living in Israel.
