Wendy Wright is an American social conservatism policy strategist. [1] From 2006 to 2013 she was the president and chief executive officer of Concerned Women for America, a Christian conservative political action committee active in the United States. She joined the organization in 1999 and served as its executive vice president before being named president on January 30, 2006. [2] Wright was listed as one of "The 100 Most Powerful Women of Washington" in 2006 by Washingtonian magazine. [3] Wright is a frequent spokesperson for conservative causes, including anti-abortion and international issues. [2] Between 2011 and 2016, she also served as the vice president for government relations and communications at the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam). [4]
She is also the CEO and President of Christian Freedom International, a human rights organization that works against global persecution of Christians. [5]
In 2008 Wright was interviewed by Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins for his programme The Genius of Charles Darwin in the episode entitled "God Strikes Back", where she argues against evolution, dismissing the prevailing interpretation of scientific evidence visibly presented to us in the natural world. [6] Dawkins wrote of the exchange in his 2009 book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution .
Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. His 1976 book The Selfish Gene popularised the gene-centred view of evolution, as well as coining the term meme. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) is a socially conservative, evangelical Christian non-profit women's legislative action committee in the United States. Headquartered in Washington D.C., the CWA is involved in social and political movements, through which it aims to incorporate Christian ideology. The group was founded in San Diego, California in 1978 by Beverly LaHaye, whose husband Timothy LaHaye was an evangelical Christian minister and author of The Battle for the Mind, as well as coauthor of the Left Behind series.
Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America and commonly known as simply NARAL, is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, political action, and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion, to expand access to legal abortion and birth control, and to support paid parental leave and protection against pregnancy discrimination.
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a U.S. nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal and to fight the influence of religion in government.
Criticism of religion involves criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion. Historical records of criticism of religion go back to at least 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, in Athens specifically, with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos. In ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De rerum natura from the 1st century BCE.
Karen K. Narasaki is an American civil rights leader and human rights activist. She most recently served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights after President Barack Obama appointed her in July 2014. She is the former president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC is a Washington, D.C.-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan, civil rights organization whose mission is to advance the human and civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans through advocacy, public policy, public education and litigation. Prior to her post at AAJC, she served as the Washington, D.C. representative to the Japanese American Citizens League. Narasaki has also served as the chairperson of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and as the chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition.
Nancy Keenan is an American politician, and was from 2015 until 2019 the executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. Prior to that, she was elected to several terms in the Montana House of Representatives (1983–1989) and as superintendent of the Montana Office of Public Instruction (1989–2001). She also served as president of the abortion rights organization NARAL Pro-Choice America from 2004 to 2013.
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is a division of Center for Inquiry (CFI) founded by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 2006 to promote scientific literacy and secularism.
Susan C. Aldridge is an American academic administrator. She is currently serving as president of Thomas Jefferson University. She was previously president of Drexel University Online. She was the president of University of Maryland University College, vice chancellor of the global campus at Troy University, and a professor of management, organizational behavior, and policy analysis at the National University of Singapore.
Kay Coles James is an American public official who served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2022 to August 2023, and as the director for the United States Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Previous to the OPM appointment, she served as Virginia secretary of health and human resources under then-Governor George Allen and was the dean of Regent University's government school. She is the president and founder of the Gloucester Institute, a leadership training center for young African Americans.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 American documentary-style propaganda film directed by Nathan Frankowski and starring Ben Stein. The film contends that there is a conspiracy in academia to oppress and exclude people who believe in intelligent design. It portrays the scientific theory of evolution as a contributor to communism, fascism, atheism, eugenics, and in particular Nazi atrocities in the Holocaust. Although intelligent design is a pseudoscientific religious idea, the film presents it as science-based, without giving a detailed definition of the concept or attempting to explain it on a scientific level. Other than briefly addressing issues of irreducible complexity, Expelled examines intelligent design purely as a political issue.
Children often acquire religious views approximating those of their parents, although they may also be influenced by others they communicate with – such as peers and teachers. Matters relating the subject of children and religion may include rites of passage, education, and child psychology, as well as discussion of the moral issue of the religious education of children.
The Genius of Charles Darwin is a three-part television documentary, written and presented by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution is a 2009 book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, which was released on 3 September 2009 in the UK and on 22 September 2009 in the US. It sets out the evidence for biological evolution, and is Dawkins's 10th book, following his best-selling critique of religion The God Delusion (2006) and The Ancestor's Tale (2004), which traces human ancestry back to the dawn of life.
Atheist feminism is a branch of feminism that also advocates atheism. Atheist feminists hold that religion is a prominent source of female oppression and inequality, believing that the majority of the religions are sexist and oppressive towards women.
The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) is a right-wing United States-based advocacy group, founded in 1997, in order to affect policy debate at the United Nations and other international institutions. It was formerly known as the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. The 501(c)(3) organization is anti-abortion and anti-LGBT.
Judith L. Lichtman is an American attorney specializing in women's rights and an advocate for human and civil rights. Lichtman currently serves as the senior advisor of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She is largely credited with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Lois Galgay Reckitt was an American feminist and activist. Called "one of the most prominent advocates in Maine for abused women", she served as executive director of Family Crisis Services in Portland, Maine, for more than three decades.
Robyn Ellen Blumner is an American attorney, civil rights expert and the current president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the secular educational organization Center for Inquiry (CFI) and executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. She holds a J.D. degree and worked for several years as director of local affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union advocating for civil liberties and civil rights before becoming a newspaper columnist and editorial writer in Florida.
Mindy Finn is an American digital media expert, political and technology consultant, and entrepreneur. She worked as a digital strategist for the Republican Party, most notably for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008, respectively, and became the vice presidential candidate for Evan McMullin's 2016 presidential campaign. She co-founded the organizations Stand Up Republic and Empowered Women, and works to make elections more inclusive.