James A. Haught

James A. Haught came as a teen from rural upbringing in West Virginia to Charleston and became an apprentice printer at the Charleston Daily Mail. He has served six decades in varied capacities (police reporter, religion columnist, feature writer, night city editor, reporter), rising eventually to becoming editor. In 2015, when The Gazette combined with the Daily Mail, he assumed the title of editor emeritus and continued with writing editorials, personal columns and occasional news articles.

Haught has won two dozen national newswriting awards, authored 11 books, and produced 137 magazine essays. About 50 of his columns have been distributed by national syndicates. He also is a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He’s still working!

Will Morris

When in college, Will founded one of the largest Brights Community Clusters in the United States at the University of Missouri–Columbia, where he also founded a coalition of various student organizations on campus, "Students for a Secular State." In addition to his efforts of spreading the Bright meme in his neck of the woods, Will spent extra hours creating a website to enable and inspire Brights activism around the world. In several ways he expanded the Brights' Internet presence, and as Clusters Coordinator served to aid persons interested in inviting others in their local community to create a BCC.

Bob Churchill

Bob trained in philosophy at the University of Warwick(UK) and Queens University (Canada). He currently works in policy and communications for the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), having previously worked at both the British Humanist Association and the Uganda Humanist Association. Until he became so immersed in organised humanism, Bob had developed an online site to serve as a flexible, free host for initiatives by Brights in the UK and served as a Facilitator at the Brights Forum.

Taner Edis

Professor of Physics at Truman State University, he has written extensively about science and religion and paranormal-related topics. His books include The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science, which received the Morris D. Forkosch award for "best humanist book of 2002". He has also authored Science and Nonbelief and An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. Edis also contributes to the Secular Outpost. He believes that cats should inherit the earth. 

Debra Deanne Olson

Long a progressive and environmental grassroots activist, she serves on the boards of several youth and educational nonprofits, including Yes Web and the New Visions Foundation. A native Californian and mother of two teenage daughters, Debra is proud granddaughter of the only openly atheist governor in American history, California’s Culbert Levy Olson (1938-1942). Her global vision is to develop new funding and media to benefit organizations who share her goals, including those which are grounded in a naturalistic worldview. 

Massimo Pigliucci

As chair of the Department of Philosophy at CUNY-Lehman college, he does research and teaching at SUNY-Stony Brook when he is not pursuing his interests in philosophy of science at the same institution. He wrote Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk, and for several years has written for The Skeptical Inquirer and published a regular column on skepticism and humanism at www.rationallyspeaking.org. Introducing his website, he writes: "Skepticism, contrary to popular belief, is not a synonym for cynicism, and is most certainly not practiced by grumpy and stuffy academics. Rather, to follow David Hume, this site is about positive skepticism, or the idea that reasonable belief in something has to be proportional to the evidence favoring such belief."

Sue Blackmore

After extraordinary experiences as a student she devoted her life to research in parapsychology, only to discover no evidence for the paranormal. She then worked with skeptical organizations in the UK and USA, and became a vociferous critic of paranormal claims in the media. Formerly a Reader in Psychology at the University of the West of England, Bristol, she is now a freelance writer and lecturer. Her books include several on the paranormal, as well as The Meme Machine, and a textbook Consciousness: An Introduction. She campaigns for the legalization of all drugs, has been practicing Zen for thirty years, and is an atheist interested in developing naturalistic theories of mystical and spiritual experiences.