This is the first post in an on-going series that will highlight notable atheists, either alive or deceased. As far as I am concerned, a notable atheist is a person who has made significant contributions to advancing atheism or other forms of reasoned unbelief. This is not necessarily the same as a celebrity atheist. You may feel free to send me any notable atheists that you feel deserve attention. First up is Dan Barker.

Dan Barker is the co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to “defending the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.”

What is remarkable about Dan is that he became an atheist after many years serving as an ordained, Protestant minister and composer of Christian music. According to his biographical page:

Dan became a teenage evangelist at age 15. At 16 he was choir librarian for faith-healer Kathryn Kuhlman’s Los Angeles appearances. He received a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975. He served as associate pastor at a Friend’s (Quaker) Church, an Assembly of God, and an independent Charismatic church. Dan was a Protestant missionary in Mexico for a total of two years.

Dan maintained a touring musical ministry for 17 years, including eight years of full-time, cross-country evangelism. An accomplished pianist, record producer, arranger and songwriter, he worked with Christian music companies such as Manna Music and Word Music. For many years, Dan wrote and produced the annual “Mini Musicale” for Gospel Light Publications’ Vacation Bible School curriculum.

Over time, however, Dan “lost faith in faith.” Or, more precisely, “I did not lose my faith, I gave it up purposely. The motivation that drove me into the ministry is the same that drove me out. I have always wanted to know.” After an agonizing, internal conflict between his faith on the one hand and reason on the other, faith ultimately lost. “There was no specific turning point for me. I one day just realized that I was no longer a Christian, and a few months later I mustered the nerve to advertise that fact.”

You can read a short summary of Dan’s de-conversion story in his article, I Just Lost Faith in Faith.

A much fuller account of Dan’s story is contained within his 1992 book, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. Excerpts are available here.

Dan has participated in many debates and you can view a sampling of his writings here, which cover such topics as God’s existence, morality, freethought, and the Bible. See, for example, Refuting God and Bible Contradictions.