Boston, here we come! Steinem, Atwood to headline FFRF convention
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is excited to announce that its 2021 national convention in Boston is on! Based on the science and expected vaccination rates, FFRF is delighted to move forward with its “post-pandemic” convention bash.
Join us on the weekend of Nov. 19-21 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, with special guest Gloria Steinem, among many others.
FFRF will hold a longer than usual full two-day convention beginning on the morning of Friday, Nov. 19, running through Saturday night, Nov. 20. The Sunday, Nov. 21 membership and State Representatives meetings conclude by noon. FFRF is still working out the details (dining, lineup, schedule) and will carry full information including hotel specifics and th
e registration form, in the upcoming “Private Line” newsletter and in the August issue of Freethought Today. Or check out ffrf.org/convention-2021 to keep up to date.
Steinem will speak at the conclusion of the Saturday afternoon session, with an optional reception. Friday evening will feature “An Evening With Margaret Atwood,” also concluding with an optional reception. Atwood will be interviewed by journalist and author Katherine Stewart, who will talk separately about her timely book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.
Other speakers include:
• Linda Greenhouse, author and veteran Supreme Court observer, who covered the high court for the New York Times for more than 30 years.
• Black Skeptics Los Angeles founder, novelist and activist Sikivu Hutchinson, who will be receiving FFRF’s Freethought Heroine Award.
• Megan Phelps-Roper, who wrote the book, Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church about leaving her family’s Westboro Baptist Church in 2012. She will receive the Henry Zumach Freedom From Religious Fundamentalism Award.
• Sushant Singh, an Indian actor and presenter known for his work predominantly in Hindi cinema, who has appeared in almost 50 movies since 1998, will receive the Avijit Roy Courage Award for his role in protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalism.
• David Tamayo is cofounder and president of Hispanic American Freethinkers.
• Phil Zuckerman, associate dean and professor of sociology at Pitzer College, who is author of many books on secularism and is the founding chair of the nation’s first Secular Studies Program at Pitzer College.
Other speakers will be confirmed shortly and will include Freethinkers of the Year and student honorees.
The 2020 convention set for San Antonio had to be canceled, but FFRF will hold its annual gathering there in 2022 and in Madison, Wis., in 2023. Author John Irving, who was slated to speak last year, is now scheduled to speak at the 2022 convention in San Antonio.
