2013 American Atheists National Convention

A C Grayling, MA, DPhil (Oxon) FRSL, FRSA is Master of the NewCollege of the Humanities, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St. Anne'sCollege, Oxford. He has written and edited over twenty books onphilosophy and other subjects; among his most recent are "The GoodBook", "Ideas That Matter", "Liberty in the Age of Terror" and "To SetPrometheus Free." He is a frequent contributor to the Literary Review,Observer, Independent on Sunday, Times Literary Supplement, Index onCensorship and New Statesman, and is an equally frequent broadcaster onBBC Radios 4, 3 and the World Service. He writes the "Thinking Read"column for the Barnes and Noble Review in New York, is the Editor ofOnline Review London, and a Contributing Editor of Prospect magazine. 

In addition he sits on the editorial boards of several academicjournals, and for nearly ten years was the Honorary Secretary of theprincipal British philosophical association, the Aristotelian Society.He is a representative to the UN Human Rights Council for theInternational Humanist and Ethical Union. He is a Vice President of theBritish Humanist Association, the Patron of the United Kingdom ArmedForces Humanist Association, a patron of Dignity in Dying, and anHonorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

Pete Stark is the former U.S. Representative for California's 13thcongressional district, serving from 1973 until 2013. He was the 5thmost senior Representative, as well as 6th most senior member ofCongress overall. His district lied in southwestern Alameda County andincludes Alameda, Union City, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro, SanLorenzo, and Fremont, as well as parts of Oakland and Pleasanton.Congressman Stark is the first congressional representative to publiclyidentify as an atheist. Rep. Stark was named the 2008 Humanist of theYear by the American Humanist Association.

Katherine Stewart started her career in journalism working forinvestigative reporter Wayne Barrett at The Village Voice andfreelanced for Newsweek International, Rolling Stone, Marie Claire andothers. She co-wrote the book about the musical Rent and, after movingto Santa Barbara in 2005, published two novels about 21st centuryparenting. Most recently she has written for The New York Times, TheGuardian, the Daily Beast, Bloomberg View, and Religion Dispatches.Stewart is the author of 2012-published "The Good News Club," achilling exposé of the well-funded, highly coordinated effort byChristian Nationalists to use public schools to advance afundamentalist agenda

Jay Jay French is a founding member and the lead guitarist for theband Twisted Sister and helped manage and produce albums for the bandSevendust. Mr. French is also the founder of the Pinkburst Projectafter his daughter was diagnoses with uveitis, to help raise awarenessand funds for a cure.

Richard Carrier is the author of Sense and Goodness Without God and Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus,and many other books. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from ColumbiaUniversity, he now specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism,the origins of Christianity, and the intellectual history of Greece andRome.

Richard Carrier is a world-renowned author and speaker. As aprofessional historian, published philosopher, and prominent defenderof the American freethought movement, Dr. Carrier has appeared acrossthe country and on national television defending sound historicalmethods and the ethical worldview of secular naturalism.

Janet Heimlich is an award-winning journalist and the author ofBreaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment,the first book to take an in-depth look at religiously motivated childabuse and neglect in the United States. For eight years, Ms. Heimlichfreelanced as a reporter for National Public Radio. Her work won ninejournalism awards, including the regional Katie, given by the PressClub of Dallas; the Houston Press Club’s Radio Journalist of the Year;and the Texas Bar Association’s Gavel Award. She also writesnon-fiction articles for such publications as Texas Monthly, the AustinAmerican-Statesman, and the Texas Observer. Ms. Heimlich received aB.A. in Communications from Stanford University.

Hemant Mehta is the editor of FriendlyAtheist.com and a NationalBoard Certified high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. Hismost recent book is The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide (Patheos Press,2012).

He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and the Secular Coalitionfor America, received scholarships from American Atheists and theFreedom From Religion Foundation, and appeared on CNN and FOX NewsChannel. Hemant currently serves on the board of directors forFoundation Beyond Belief (a charity organization targeting non-theisticdonors) after spending several years as the chair of the board of theSecular Student Alliance (which creates and supports college atheistgroups nationwide).

Greta Christina is one of the most widely-read atheist bloggers. Sheis the author of Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Offthe Godless. Greta is a regular atheist correspondent for AlterNet andhas been writing about atheism and skepticism on her blog since 2005.Greta's writings have appeared in multiple magazines and newspapers,including the notable Skeptical Inquirer and Everything You Know AboutGod Is Wrong. In addition to covering atheist-related issues, Gretablogs about sexuality, being sex-positive, LGBT issues, politics, andmuch more.

Teresa became a non-believer after more than twenty years ofministry throughout the deep south. Her ministry experience began earlyin life, serving alongside her father who was a Baptist minister. Shetaught in Christian Schools for many years, served as a worship pastor,associate pastor and ultimately senior pastor. Teresa holds thedistinction of being the first female graduate of The Clergy Project, aprivate, invitation-only "safe house" community of current and formerministers who no longer hold the supernatural beliefs of theirreligious traditions. As a former minister, Teresa brings a broadunderstanding of the religious lifestyle and its effects on personalwell-being to the non-theist movement. Teresa was formerly the PublicRelations Director of American Atheists and is now the ExecutiveDirector of the Humanist Association of Florida

Matt Dillahunty is the host of The Atheist Experience, one of themost-watched atheist shows on the Internet, which is also aired locallyon Austin public television. After getting out of the Navy, Matt wantedto pursue becoming a Baptist minister, but his religious studies ledhim to reject his Christianity. Matt is also the President of theAtheist Community of Austin. Matt has participated in numerous debatesboth online and in person in front of large audiences.

Dr. Avalos is a professor of Religious Studies at Iowa StateUniversity and the author of several books about religion. He is aformer Pentecostal preacher and child evangelist. He has a Doctor ofPhilosophy in Hebrew Bible and Near Eastern Studies from HarvardUniversity, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard DivinitySchool, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University ofArizona. Avalos is an internationally recognized opponent ofneo-creationism and the intelligent design movement, and is frequentlylinked to Guillermo Gonzalez, an astrophysicist and proponent ofintelligent design who was denied tenure at Iowa State University in2007.

Mandisa Thomas is a founder and current President of BlackNonbelievers, Inc. and co-host of the Black Freethinkers BlogTalk RadioShow. Although never formally indoctrinated into belief, Mandisa washeavily exposed to Christianity, Black Nationalism and a bit of Islam.Mandisa works to encourage more Blacks to come out and stand strongwith their nonbelief in the face of such strong religious overtones.

David Tamayo is the founder of the Hispanic American Freethinkers.HAFree is the first and only national Freethought organization forLatinos. David formed the group out of concern for the lack ofFreethought and critical thinking skills within the Hispanic community.The organization strives to promote freethinking, skepticism, humanism,and scientific criticism of the supernatural within the Hispaniccommunity. David was a speaker at the Reason Rally in Washington, DC.

Cara Santa Maria
Senior Science Correspondent, The Huffington Post

Cara Santa Maria is the senior science correspondent for The Huffington Post, where she hosts and co-produces a weekly video series called "Talk Nerdy To Me." She's also a co-host on the new Weather Channel series, "Hacking The Planet." A North Texas native, Cara currently lives in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to the west coast, she taught biology and psychology courses to university undergraduates and high school students in Texas and New York. Her published research has spanned various topics, including clinical psychological assessment, the neuropsychology of blindness, neuronal cell culture techniques, and computational neurophysiology.