Read a March 21, 2011, New York Times story about an unemployed evangelical minister who says he’s been hindered in his job search by congregations’ overwhelming preference for pastors who are married.

The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, based at Wheaton College in Illinois, provides leadership in the study of evangelicals, informs the public and seeks to support evangelical scholars from a variety of disciplines who seek to apply Christian truths to intellectual and cultural endeavors.

Marvin Belzer is an associate professor of philosophy at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. In the essay “Mere Stranger” (in Philosophers Without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life), he tells of growing up in an evangelical Christian home but gradually dropping his religious beliefs through the process of reflection and study.

Dan Barker is a former evangelical preacher turned atheist. He and his wife, Annie Laurie Gaylor, are co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis. Barker’s books include Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist and Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists (2008).

Read a July 16, 2010, guest column about “evangelical atheists” on The Washington Post‘s On Faith blog. Reza Aslan is the author.

Edited by Russ Kick. Everything You Know About God Is Wrong is a collection of articles and essays illuminating and disproving the most common misconceptions about organized religion.

Written by John W. Loftus. Loftus describes his own transition from Christianity to Atheism and presents rebuttals to the most common arguments used in favor of religion.

Written by Dan Barker. Barker tells the story of his own journey from Christianity to Atheism.

Written by Betty Brogaard. Brogaard describes her personal experience questioning her Christianity and her spiritual journey from religion to freethought.