Daniel Edwin Barker (born June 25, 1949) is an Americanatheist activist and musician who served as anevangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. He and his wifeAnnie Laurie Gaylor are the current co-presidents of theFreedom From Religion Foundation,[2] and he is cofounder ofThe Clergy Project.[3] He has written numerous articles forFreethought Today, an American freethought newspaper. He is the author of several books includingLosing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist.[4]
Barker has been an invited speaker at Rock Beyond Belief.[5] He is on the speakers bureau of theSecular Student Alliance.[6]
Barker received a degree in religion fromAzusa Pacific University and wasordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975.[1] He served as associate pastor at several churches: Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), a church in theAssemblies of Godfellowship, and an independentCharismatic church. He receives royalties from his popular children's Christian musicals,Mary Had a Little Lamb (1977) andHis Fleece Was White as Snow (1978), both published byManna Music.[7]
In 1984, he announced to his friends, family, and co-ministers that he had become an atheist,[8] and appeared onAM Chicago (hosted byOprah Winfrey) later that year on a show about "kicking the religion habit".[9]
Barker and Gaylor met when both were guests on the show. They began dating six months later and married in 1987. They have a daughter, Sabrina Delata.[10]
He is a member of theLenni LenapeDelaware Tribe of Indians,[11] and in 1991 edited and publishedParadise Remembered,[12] a collection of his grandfather's stories as a Lenape boy in Indian Territory.
He was featured in aNew York Times article about the growth of atheism inSouthern states,[18] has given addresses on his own "de-conversion" across the United States,[19][20][21][22][23][24] and has participated in more than 140 debates around the country and the world.[25]
Barker and his wife host a weekly one-hour radio program,Freethought Radio. It is carried on several stations throughout theMidwest and is available through podcast.[26]
^Griffith, Justin (January 16, 2011)."Dan Barker Joins the Lineup". Rock Beyond Belief website. Archived fromthe original on October 29, 2013. RetrievedAugust 17, 2013.
^"Dan Barker". Secular Student Alliance. Archived fromthe original on October 29, 2013. RetrievedAugust 18, 2013.
