AUTHORS

BARBARA ALVAREZ is a contributing writer for the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Previously she had held the role as FFRF’s inaugural Anne Nicol Gaylor Reproductive Rights Intern, a program set up to memorialize FFRF’s principal founder, who was an early abortion rights activist and author of the book Abortion is a Blessing. Barbara was a major winner in FFRF’s essay competition for graduate students, writing about the bible’s role in the abortion battle.

CAITLIN BERRAY is the Governmental Affairs Coordinator for the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Caitlin graduated from Baylor University with a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in Political Science in December 2021. After graduation, Caitlin interned with various nonprofits dedicated to progressive U.S. politics and international development. Joining FFRF in October 2022, Caitlin first worked as FFRF’s Governmental Affairs Intern.

MARK DANN joined Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) on May 20, 2019, as our first full-time director of governmental affairs. Dann previously worked as the director of governmental affairs for the Secular Coalition for America (SCA). He has also served as the federal affairs director at Compassion & Choices, an end-of-life advocacy group, and as a democracy development consultant with the National Democratic Institute in Moldova and Iraq. And he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Crimea before it was invaded by Russia. Mark will help raise the national profile of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he is based. Mark lives in Washington, DC with his husband Sultan Shakir. They have a Chihuahua/Jack Russell Terrier who as a finalist in this year’s Running of the Chihuahua’s in DC.

Mickey Dollens is the regional government affairs manager at the FFRF Action Fund, where he advocates for state-church separation and religious freedom for all. Based in Oklahoma City, he brings experience as a state lawmaker, Division 1 college football player, bobsledder on Team USA, and high school English teacher.

Ryan joined FFRF as the State Policy Manager, a new position, in 2022. He has worked in advocacy roles for a number of nonprofits, as well as a nonpartisan legislative research analyst for both the Colorado General Assembly and the Wisconsin General Assembly. Ryan also served in the Army National Guard from 2007-2015. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a Master of Public Policy from DePaul University in Chicago.

Annie Laurie Gaylor is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. She co-founded FFRF in 1976 as a college student with her mother Anne Nicol Gaylor. She served as the editor of FFRF’s newspaper, Freethought Today, from 1985-2009. She became FFRF co-president with Dan Barker in 2004. Annie Laurie has authored three books for FFRF: Woe to Women: The Bible Tells Me So; Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children; and Women Without Superstition: “No Gods – No Masters”, the first anthology of women freethinkers.

Kat Grant (they/them) joined the Freedom From Religion Foundation as an Equal Justice Works Fellow (sponsored by the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation) in September 2022. Their fellowship project focuses on state/church issues that specifically impact the LGBTQ-plus community. Kat first worked for FFRF as an intern while attending law school at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Originally from southern Indiana, they received their B.A. in political science from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019, and graduated with their Juris Doctor from IU Maurer in May 2022.

James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23, 2023 at the age of 91.

Ryan Jayne received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Honors College in 2007. He attended law school at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore., where he served as an associate editor for the Animal Law Review at Lewis & Clark and co-founding the Pacific Northwest’s first Secular Legal Society. Ryan graduated cum laude in 2015, began working with FFRF in January of 2015, and became a Diane Uhl Legal Fellow in September 2015, specializing in faith-based government funding. Ryan became an FFRF staff attorney in September 2017 and is a member of FFRF’s Strategic Response Team, spearheading FFRF’s state-based legislative advocacy.

Chris Line received his B.S. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2012. He began working for FFRF in 2015 as a legal intern while attending law school at the University of Wisconsin. Shortly after receiving his Juris Doctor in 2017, Chris began working full-time for FFRF as a Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow. He became an FFRF staff attorney in September 2019. He is an accomplished photographer whose work has appeared in The Humanist magazine, The Progressive, and FFRF’s own Freethought Today. His work can even be found on display in Freethought Hall.