The Rev. Edward T. Oakes is a Jesuit priest who teaches theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill. Oakes wrote a Jan. 22, 2007, essay, “Reason and Pop Atheism,” posted on the blog of the conservative religious journal First Things.

Daniel C. Dennett is a professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. He is the author of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. A summary of his arguments can be found in this Jan. 20, 2006, essay, “Common-Sense Religion,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Dennett is a […]

Dr. Francis Collins is director of the National Institutes of Health and former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Collins has explained his belief in God in many press interviews and in his book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

The Society for Humanistic Judaism says it “offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life.” It was organized in Detroit in 1969 and has since added chapters and affiliated congregations around the United States.

The Secular Web is operated by Internet Infidels Inc. and is dedicated to “defending and promoting a naturalistic worldview on the Internet.” It is based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Contact through the website.

The Secular Student Alliance is based in Minneapolis and describes itself as “an umbrella organization uniting atheist, agnostic, humanist, rationalist, skeptic, and freethought students and groups on high school and campuses across the world.” The SSA has a list of affiliates around the country and the world.

The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is a support organization for nontheists in the armed forces.

The Institute for Humanist Studies is based in Washington D.C., and aims to promote “humanism, a nonreligious philosophy based on reason and compassion. IHS advances human rights, secular ethics and the separation of religion and government through advocacy, innovation and collaboration.” Contact administrator Maggie Ardiente.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is based in Madison, Wisconsin, and has become one of the leading activist groups on the nontheist scene.