Dan Barker

Dan Barker was born in 1949, and raised in southern California. He became an evangelist at age fifteen and a choir librarian at age sixteen for Kathryn Kuhlman's, a faith-healer, visits to Los Angeles. After recieivng a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific Univeristy, Barker was ordained in 1975, by the Standard Community Church in California, and he then served with several churches of different denominations. He acted as a Protestant missionary in Mexico for two years, followed by seventeen years spent maintaining a nation-wide, musical ministry, which included eight years of full-time, traveling evangelism. A professional piano player, Barker has ccompianed such acts as Pat Boone and Audrey Meier, as well as frequent performances on the Californian television program, "Praise the Lord".

After five years of reading and research, Barker renounced his belief in the Christian faith and chose atheism in January of 1984. In 1987, during a feminist/freethought ceremony at Freethought Hall in Sauk City, Wisconsin, he married Annie Laurie Gaylor, with whom he has five children and seven grandchildren. From that year till 2004, Barker served as PR Director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and in 2004, he was elected co-president along with his wife.

He has lived in Madison, Wisconson since 1985, and acts as a contributing editor of "Freethought Today", as well as assisting with the Foundation's state/church lawsuits and maintaining its computer system. He has composed over 200 songs that have been recorded or performed and has helped with the children's educational material written by Joy Berry.