American Atheists Speakers Bureau

The American Atheists Speaker’s Bureau provides outstanding lecturers on a range of topics of interest to nonbeliever groups and other organizations. Whether it is a debate or presentation format, our Speaker’s Bureau can help to make your organization’s next meeting an exciting and informative event!

FEES AND HONORARIUMS American Atheists will try to work with you in providing a speaker for a reasonable cost. This can factor in related expenses when appropriate, including travel and reasonable per diem, and other associated costs. A suitable honorarium is appreciated from institutions.

TOPICS OF INTEREST Whether it involves a philosophical subject, strategies for defending the First Amendment or political developments, The American Atheists Speaker’s Bureau will help to find and deliver the appropriate presentation for your organization.

OUR SPEAKERS Check back for more news as we expand the Speaker’s Bureau. Click on the name of each speaker for additional information.

ELLEN JOHNSON is President of American Atheists, and a leading spokesperson for Atheist civil liberties. She has presented testimony on behalf of the organization to numerous government agencies, including the U.S.Commission on Civil Rights. Ms. Johnson also lead our historic “breakthrough” meeting with officials of the White House Liaison Office.

A wife and mom with two children, Ms. Johnson is vitally concerned about the cultural issues affecting Atheist families of all description. She speaks on CIVIL RIGHTS FOR ATHEISTS: AN ACTION AGENDA.

FRANK ZINDLER is Editor of American Atheist Magazine and Director of American Atheists Press. A former university biology instructor, he is also a professional linguist with a speciality involving ancient languages.

Mr. Zindler is the author of numerous articles and several books on Atheism and related history, including a special annotated edition of Part Three of THE AGE OF REASON by Thomas Paine. He is a member of several learned societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York Academy of Science, Society of Biblical Literature and the American Schools of Oriental Research. Mr. Zindler is also nationally recognized figure in the ongoing debate over creationist pseudoscience and evolution.

In his recent book The Jesus the Jews Never Knew, Zindler examines all Jewish writings surviving from the first centuries of the current era and concludes that the ancient Jews not only never heard of Jesus of Nazareth, they never heard of Nazareth either! His books may be purchased on this Web-site.

Frank Zindler is available for both debate and presentation format appearances. Among his topics: “Ethics Without God,” “Creationist Pseudoscience,” “Critique of Mormonism and Christian Science,” “Science vs. Religion,”. “The Origins of Christianity,” “The Historicity of Jesus -- A Critique.”

EDWIN F. KAGIN is a constitutional attorney and founder/director of Camp Quest, a nonreligious residential secular summer camp for children of Atheists and other nonbelievers.

He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri, and the School of Law of the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Kagin is a former college English instructor, a U.S. Air Force veteran, NRA handgun instructor and Honorary Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He was also Editor of the Adaptive Behavior Project, an NIMH grant project that created the Adaptive Behavior Scale, an instrument for assessment of mental retardation, conducted at Parsons State Hospital and Training Center in Parson, Kansas.

Mr. Kagin is admitted to practice before all courts of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky; and for the Eastern District of Michigan; United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eight Circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). He is a member of numerous Atheist, Freethought and state-church separation groups, and has published numerous articles dealing with religion, philosophy and politics. He is co-author of The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America.

Mr. Kagin has spoken and debated throughout the country. His areas of expertise include ontology (existence of God); Biblical inerrancy; state-church separation issues including the posting of the Ten Commandments and prayer in public schools; morality without religion; creationism as a religious viewpoint and not a science; and the Bible as foundation for moral behavior.

Mr. Kagin may be reached through ekagin@atheists.org. or by phone at 859-384-7000.

EDDIE TABASH is a constitutional lawyer in Beverly Hills, California. He graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 1973 and obtained his law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 1976. He is a life member of American Atheists. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Council for Secular Humanism. From 1995--2002, he chaired the national legal committee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He has represented the Atheistic viewpoint in formal debates against some of the world's foremost Christian philosophers, including Peter Van Inwaagen, William Lane Craig, and Richard Swinburne. His topics for public speeches and debates include the separation of church and state and the question of the existence of God.

Tabash is a member of the California State Bar, the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He has successfully argued cases before the California Supreme Court. He serves as a part time judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Eddie Tabash is also one of the founders of the effort to organize Atheists in the quest to elect people who don't believe in God to significant public office. In 2000, he was the only known Atheist to be a major contender for a seat in a state legislature, coming in second out of four in a Democratic Primary for the California State Assembly. He serves on the state central committee and platform committee of the California Democratic Party. From 1983--1987, he was the California Issues Coordiantor for the presidential campaigns of former Colorado Senator, Gary Hart.

Since 1981, Eddie Tabash has also been the most active individual man in the abortion rights movement in California having debated more anti-choice spokespeople than anyone else in that state.

FRED WHITEHEAD is a noted historian and author of numerous works including Freethought on the American Frontier.

A native of Kansas, he matriculated at the University of Kansas, and did postgraduate work at University College, London (Fulbright Scholar), and Columbia University where he earned his Ph.D. He later served as Associate Professor at the University of Kansas and Southern Illinois University. His honors include membership in Phi Beta Kappa; Woodrow Wilson Fellow (1965); Danforth Fellow (1965); Fulbright Scholar (1965-66); and Award for Exceptional Service, Kansas Writers Association (1989).

Dr. Whitehead's publications include articles in "Washington College Review," "Kansas History," "North Dakota Quarterly," "Free Inquiry" and other journals. He has lectured throughout the United States and Europe on the history of free thought, labor history and other topics. He is editor of the journal Freethought History, and an informative speaker on this and related topics.

CONRAD GOERINGER is Senior Staff Writer for American Atheist Magazine, and Director of Online Services for the organization. Conrad Goeringer speaks on: The millennium and apocalyptic ideologies; “Special rights” legislation for religious groups; public funding of faith-based social programs; global politics, terrorism and the “Clash of Civilizations” hypothesis.

Mr. Goeringer also speaks on international religious terrorism and the “Clash of Civilizations” scenarios in his presentation: “HOLY TERROR: Religious Violence, Cosmic War and Other Anti-Modernist Fashions.” “APOCALYPSE KITSCH: Tim LaHaye's 'Left Behind' Series and its Impact on American Politics and Culture.” This presentation focuses on LaHaye's Christian premillennialist beliefs and “rapture politics” which holds that followers of Christ will fly into the air to meet Jesus, while those sinners “left behind” are subjected to a seven year period of the Tribulation.

“THE NIGHT THE MARTIANS LANDED -- Social Panics, Critical Thinking and Lessons for the Future.” On the night of October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater shocked the nation with the famous “panic broadcast” adaptation of H.G. Well's novel, “War of the Worlds.” Many thought the presentation to be true. The lessons of that historic event are applicable today in an era of rampant religious and pseudoscience belief.

“MY SEARCH FOR FRANCES FARMER -- the Lost Atheist” For years, Goeringer has relentlessly pursued the story of Frances Farmer, the famous 30s and 40s-era actress who starred in such stage and screen hits as "Come and Get It!," "Golden Boy," and "Son of Fury." But while popularly acknowledged as a Hollywood beauty queen and celebrity, Farmer had a parallel life as an heretic, radical political activist, crusader for peace and social justice and an intellectual. At age 16 she shocked and outraged much of the nation with a controversial Atheistic essay. As she rose to stardom, Farmer never abandoned her political principles and role as an advocate for victims of the Spanish Civil War, for strikers and the working men and women of America including the disposessed farm laborers of California. She ran afoul of the law, spent years in an oppressive mental institute where, some say, she was subjected to inhumane experimental treatment, perhaps a lobotomy, and the loss of her rights.

Using published and original archival information not unearthed for decades, including censored FBI files and other historical resources, Mr. Goeringer gives us a glimpse of who Frances Farmer really was. Goeringer is working on a forthcoming book, Frances Farmer: Heretic, Radical, Feminist...