Dan Barker

Who they are

Dan Barker is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation — a former evangelical Christian preacher who wrote 'Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist' and co-hosts Freethought Radio.

Person

Dan Barker spent his early career as an evangelical Christian preacher and musician — a professional identity he then publicly and completely reversed, documenting the transition in his book 'Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist'. That reversal became the foundation of a long second act: he's now co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin, where he's been a long-tenure operator and public voice on First Amendment issues. Before and alongside FFRF, he's worked as an editor and held an EBusiness Consultant role, and contributed digital marketing and ecommerce writing to outlets including Econsultancy and Smart Insights — an unusual pairing with his freethought advocacy. He co-hosts Freethought Radio, the FFRF-affiliated radio program, and writes for Freethought Today on atheism and First Amendment topics. He's been an Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow and regularly debates religious and superstition-related topics in public forums. Possibly — the site at danbarker.codes represents his personal digital presence, bridging the ecommerce/analytics side of his work with his public advocacy.

How they likely show up

  • Long tenure at FFRF → likely thinks in institutional and mission-driven arcs, not short-cycle deliverables.
  • Public writing across two distinct domains (digital marketing at Smart Insights/Econsultancy AND freethought advocacy at FFRF) → comfortable holding and compartmentalizing very different professional identities simultaneously.
  • Regular public debater on contested topics → probably direct, comfortable with disagreement, and unlikely to soften a position to keep the room comfortable.
  • Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow alongside radio co-hosting → operates across formats, from long-form writing to live conversation; likely adapts register to audience well.
  • Former preacher turned public advocate → career defined by conviction-led pivots, not credential-led ones; probably responds better to substantive engagement than to status signals.

Conversation tips

  • → Acknowledge both sides of his career separately — the digital marketing work and the FFRF work are genuinely distinct; conflating them will feel lazy.
  • → If you've read 'Losing Faith in Faith', say something specific about it — the personal arc it documents is central to how he presents himself publicly.
  • → Ask about Freethought Radio specifically — co-hosting a long-running program is a craft, and he'll have views on what makes the format work.
  • → Reference a specific Smart Insights or Econsultancy piece if the conversation is on the digital side — he's a practitioner who writes to share method, not just opinion.

Toolbox

Openers

  • Open on 'Losing Faith in Faith' — he wrote the book documenting his move from evangelical preacher to atheist, and it remains the defining origin story he leads with publicly; naming it signals you've done more than skim his LinkedIn.
  • Reference Freethought Radio — he co-hosts the FFRF-affiliated program, which means he's been building an audio audience on contested topics for years; it's a side of his work that goes beyond the org title.
  • Mention the Smart Insights / Econsultancy digital marketing writing — most people who know Dan Barker know the FFRF angle; acknowledging the ecommerce and analytics work shows you've seen the less-obvious layer.

Discovery questions

  1. You've been writing on digital marketing for Smart Insights and Econsultancy while running public advocacy work at FFRF — how do you keep those two modes of thinking from bleeding into each other, or do you want them to?
  2. Freethought Radio has been running for years — what's changed about how you approach a live debate format versus the written arguments in your books?
  3. The Aspen Ideas Fellowship puts you in rooms with people across very different worldviews — what's the most useful friction you've gotten from that kind of cross-context conversation?

Avoid

Don't treat his preacher-to-atheist arc as a curiosity or punchline — it's the intellectual and professional foundation he's built everything else on, and he'll disengage fast if it feels like a hook rather than genuine interest.

Make it yours

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Sources

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Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources on July 19, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

Automatically generated by AI from public sources. May be inaccurate or out of date. Remove or correct this profile →