For more information and online registration: MinnesotaAtheists.org/conference

 

Annie Laurie Gaylor will be the featured speaker at the upcoming American Atheists/Minnesota Atheists regional conference in Minneapolis. Ms. Gaylor is the co-founder and co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and a well-known activist.

 

The Freedom from Religion Foundation was founded by Ms. Gaylor, her mother Anne Nicol Gaylor, and John Sontarck in 1976. The Foundation works to promote separation of church and state and to expand understanding of nontheism.

 

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has won several significant court victories. Among these are FFRF v. Faith Works (2002), in which a Federal district judge ruled that Faith Works, a faith-based addiction program, could not receive public funds; FFRF v. HHS (2005), in which a Federal district court ruled that the Health and Human Services Department could not fund MentorKids, a social service agency that actively promoted religion; FFRF v. Rhea County Schools (2004), in which the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling that it was unconstitutional for the school district to provide religious instruction; and FFRF v. U.S. Department of Education (2005) in which a settlement was reached prohibiting the Department of Education from distributing funds to Alaskan Christian College, an unaccredited Bible college.

 

Ms. Gaylor has also actively worked to promote feminism. In 1977, while still a college student, Ms. Gaylor helped organize the successful recall of Dane County, Wisconsin, Judge Archie Simonson for his repeated statements from the bench blaming rape on women’s appearance. She is the past co-chair of the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Medical Fund, one of the oldest abortion rights charities in the nation.

 

Ms. Gaylor has appeared on several national television talk shows, including Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show, The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, and Phil Donahue’s Last Word. She is the author of several books, including: Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children and Woe to the Women—The Bible Tells Me So: The Bible, Female Sexuality & the Law, and the editor of Women without Superstition: “No Gods—No Masters.”

 

The featured speaker originally scheduled for the American Atheists/Minnesota Atheists regional conference, Susan ­Jacoby, has had to withdraw due to unforeseen circumstances.