| Amherst, NY – Over sixty CFI student group leaders and thirty Center for Inquiry branch leaders from across North America converged at CFI Transnational for the fifth annual CFI Leadership Conference on June 25-28, 2009. The event was dedicated to training grassroots skeptic and freethought leaders, and was packed with workshops, presentations, lectures, and social and networking opportunities. 
The attendees of the CFI Leadership Conference 2009
More than 45 institutions were represented at the conference, including students and faculty from the following schools:
Boise State University * Boston University * California State University Northridge * Carleton University * Carnegie Mellon University * Case Western Reserve University * College of William and Mary * Cornell University * Dalhousie University * Edmonds-Woodway High School * Grand Rapids Community College * Grand Valley State University * Indiana University Bloomington * Kennesaw State University * Metropolitan State College of Denver * Michigan State University * Minnesota State University Moorhead * Missouri State University * Ohio State University * Oklahoma State University * Portland State University * Rochester Institute of Technology * Rollins College * Simon Fraser University * Stanford University * Stony Brook University * Temple University * UCLA * University at Buffalo * University of Calgary * University of California Santa Barbara * University of Oregon * University of Pennsylvania * University of Rochester * University of Toronto * University of Washington * UOIT * Trent in Oshawa * Durham College * Utah State University * Washington University in St. Louis * Wilfrid Laurier University * York University * and others Attendees left the conference enthusiastic and excited to continue the forward momentum, with many volunteering to work directly with CFI to advance reason and freedom of inquiry at the national and international level. CFI would like to give a special thanks to the many donors and supporters who made it possible to bring these students to the conference. To help support CFI's campus outreach program, please click here. Read on for perspectives about the conference from four of the student attendees.
 JT Eberhard
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Missouri State University
In late June, I had the privilege of attending CFI's Leadership Conference and, like many other attendees, this was my first time. I live in Southern Missouri, where all the worst stories of fundamentalist unreason can often be found right next door. Here it is easy to become overwhelmed, to focus on the fact that there are so many of them and so few of us and that maybe we should go so far as diluting the truth just to keep our membership up. When you are so outnumbered, it is very possible to forget how powerful reason is. This conference reminded me that there are other passionate, brilliant skeptics out there, and that collectively we are making tremendous strides. There are groups all over North America changing minds and standing adamantly between our governments and ancient mythology. Getting to spend a full three days picking the minds of the CFI leaders and the leaders of these groups across the continent simultaneously apprised me of my own strengths as a leader as well as my weaknesses. Like my colleagues, I left with newfound motivation to go above and beyond what I had ever done. Getting to hear the lectures, to exchange stories of success, and to kick around ideas for improvement left us all excited to emulate the other groups in one way or another.  
JT speaks about organizing in MO / Student leaders share know-how about working with local groups
My experience in Buffalo inspired me to double my efforts over the coming year. The fight is just as important as ever, but thanks to this conference we will all be fighting it with new weapons as well as with new passion. Over the next year, my group will be bringing PZ Myers, Richard Carrier, Rebecca Watson, Dan Barker, D.J. Grothe, and others to the Missouri State campus—to an area where some churches are so large they have ATMs inside (I am not exaggerating!). Producing the money for such endeavors in a region saturated with religiosity is no easy task. However, we are not even a week removed from the Leadership Conference and already I have received aid and advice from several of the contacts I made while attending, which will help make these things possible. Only through events like this can someone in California or Canada play a key role in opposing faith in the Bible Belt, and I'm sure those who have assisted me are just as grateful for the opportunity as I am for their contribution. Through our collective effort and with reason at our backs, we are slowly eroding the influence of faith in North America, and every day our pace increases. For those individuals who have made this work a large part of their lives, the result is all the reward we need for our work. Yet how much sweeter the payoff, and how much more endurable the grind, with the addition of new life-long, equally passionate friends to share them with. Those were far and away my best acquisition at this conference, and the reason I will return with other passionate skeptics in tow next year. JT Eberhard is the co-founder and captain of the Missouri State Chapter of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He has spoken and participated in debates at several venues about the need to criticize faith or in defense of the virtues of reason. He is also the co-creator of the Skepticon series of events.
 Sara Diaz
Metro State Atheists
University of Colorado Denver
I recently "deconverted" from Catholicism and Christianity. This past spring will be one year since I started living a more rational and religion-free life. During this last school year, I helped out the Metro State Atheists, which is the Auraria Campus atheists club in Denver, CO. The president of the group became my best friend, someone who has helped me through my struggles as an atheist. Our club worked with the Center for Inquiry, which has also helped me through my transformation. When we heard about this year's CFI Student Leadership Conference, we were all very excited and quickly submitted travel grant applications. The days leading up to the conference seemed to creep by more slowly as the conference approached. Upon arrival at the CFI Amherst building, I became anxious—I was eager to meet fellow freethinkers and secular students. At the same time, I was nervous. I felt like everyone else knew more than me, that everyone except me already had this "atheism" thing figured out. Growing up in a Catholic home and turning to Christianity as a teen, I wasn't surrounded by people that would understand my shift to atheism. But as I started talking to the other students at the conference I realized I was meeting familiar strangers. Many of the students were struggling, or had struggled, with the same problems that I have. How do I tell my family? Will my family disown me if they find out? Will other people accept me? How do I find morals without religion? (I'm a "closet atheist" and terrified at the thought of coming out to my family.)  
Students arriving early wait for the conference to begin / Matthew LaClair talks about education
The conference started in the late evening with Debbie Goddard welcoming everyone to CFI. Then, Matthew LaClair, the volunteer student president of CFI's campus outreach initiative, spoke about his experience with his high school and other issues regarding education that he was facing. Matthew shared some words of wisdom: "You cannot depend on other people to do things for you." I interpreted that as this: "No one else can tell your family but you, because no one else understands your family like you do." The students, staff, and speakers made everyone feel welcome. I was in a safe place. I could be me, not just the pretend me I am around family—the pretend me I am at the church where I work on Sunday mornings. During the next few days we heard from Eddie Tabash about debating and watched Ron Lindsay and Eddie Tabash have a mock debate (which was good entertainment!). Debbie Goddard and D.J. Grothe spoke about CFI and its affiliated organizations, Roy Natian gave groups helpful tips for online outreach, and Justin Trottier showed everyone how to manage media relations. We also heard from John Shook and Massimo Pigliucci. Joe Nickell gave everyone insight about investigating the paranormal and how sometimes being just a skeptic doesn't help.  
Massimo Pigliucci expounds on reason / Ronald A. Lindsay (as Ron N. Atas) debates Eddie Tabash
Some of my favorite parts of the conference were the workshops with Dan Riley. Dan posed questions to the students, then in small groups we discussed topics such as voting for an atheist, France's wanting to make burkas illegal, and what we, the students, see as the future of CFI and the secular movement. Many students compared the secular movement to the gay rights movement. I have many friends who are gay, lesbian, and transgender, and although I do not completely understand all the struggles they go through, I do understand what it's like to be "in the closet" about who you really are.  
Workshop session outside / Dan Riley leads a discussion on secularism
As the conference came to an end I had more confidence in myself as an atheist. I left knowing that I always have a community of people that will help me through my struggles and that the fear I had was a fear that many individuals at some time have faced. Sara Diaz is an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Denver majoring in secondary education-English and minoring in philosophy. She served as the secretary for Metro State Atheists and is starting an atheist group at UC Denver, for which she will serve as the president.
 Lloyd Lowe
Boise State Secular Student Alliance
Boise State University
I didn't originally plan to attend the Student Leadership Conference. I didn't want to take the time off of work, the travel costs and the registration fees were considerable, and besides, I was feeling a little burned out from all the club activities I'd been organizing over the last year. I was looking forward to taking it a little easier over the summer. CFI, and Debbie Goddard in particular, had different plans. Tenacity and Facebook phone number finding skills paid off for them, and ultimately for me too. What I thought I was too burned out to attend turned out to be the most energizing experience I could imagine. It was a weekend full of well-planned presentations and discussions meant to give us tools we could use to be more effective leaders on our campuses. Just as important to me was what I learned simply by being there, seeing the CFI facilities, and interacting with the other student leaders. Coming from Boise, one of my biggest surprises was that there were groups where getting people to come was hard, not because they couldn't find other freethinkers, but because naturalism was so prevalent on campus no one could be bothered to join a group centered around it. On the other end of the spectrum, I met leaders from states in the Bible Belt that almost made Idaho seem like a pit of atheistic iniquity. And those Canadians! I have a huge mancrush on all of them. One important thing I brought back was the realization that to make a difference, we need to engage in this culture war from every angle. Many students had differing views on the most appropriate way to reach out and share our message of rationality with the surrounding communities. There were some who thought that anything confrontational was counter-productive, while others touted the benefits of ridiculing religion and taking away some of the undeserved sanctity it now commands in the public square. Throughout the weekend, what I saw was a vibrant community with a myriad of great ideas ready to attack on multiple fronts. We need both the Alliance of Happy Atheists and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We need the bus campaigns and the billboards, and guerilla-marketing-style hooligans pasting DOUBT stickers all over town. Because even in the microcosms of our individual communities there are people receptive to each of these tactics, and there is no reason we can't attack on all fronts at once. On the one hand, it's important to reach out to the religious clubs and to try to work with them, but at the same time you need to be stalwart in pointing out the inconsistencies of their faiths. You can't let them get away with crazy.  
Alliance of Happy Atheists leader Lucy Gubbins & D.J. Grothe / Group discussion with MI CFI students
Of course the best thing about going to conferences like this is the opportunity to rub shoulders with the giants of the community, the ones who've made the headline news or have huge followings on their blogs and podcasts, as well as all the people working in the background at CFI to support us. Talking to the people from the successful areas really made something clear to me: I could do the same things they have done. I can get the same media attention, and make a similar impact; all it takes is work. These aren't people with superpowers and special abilities. They are people just like me who had a goal and set about to see that it got accomplished—except the bloggers have their computers open a little more than the rest of us. Lloyd Lowe is an electrical engineering major at Boise State University and the president of the Boise State Secular Student Alliance.
 Derek Rodgers
Dalhousie Atheist Community
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Ask one of the many students involved in the Center for Inquiry's campus movement what the highlight of their year is, and they'll invariably tell you that it's the chance they get each summer to spend a long weekend with the leaders of other campus freethought groups from all over North America. Not only that, but the annual Student Leadership Conference gives leaders of CFI campus groups the chance to participate in engaging workshops, learn more about the movement, and exchange valuable lessons for furthering their goals on college campuses. For me, the trip down to Amherst this year was a little bit different. That's because I arrived early, by nearly a month, to volunteer in CFI's Outreach Department. Helping to organize this year's conference was a huge part of my work for the beginning of the summer, and getting a chance to see the CFI Transnational Outreach staff (Debbie Goddard, Dan Riley, and Lauren Becker) in action was truly incredible.  
John Shook (back, center) with Derek and other students / Debbie Goddard leads brainstorming session
I gained a tremendous appreciation not only for their hard work and dedication, but also for the selfless generosity of literally hundreds of CFI donors and supporters who help to make this event a success every year. To you, I extend special and heartfelt thanks for having the fortitude to support what I see as the most important investment in our movement's future that presently exists. What truly made the event complete in my mind, and what brought the efforts of all concerned full circle, was the feeling of sincere appreciation—indeed, of excitement and inspiration—that this year's student attendees so noticeably exhibited, especially the new ones. I trust that they left this year's conference feeling a part of a global movement with the momentum to affect meaningful change for skeptics and secularists at their schools and in their communities. I look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the coming year, and I can't wait to see them all again. Derek Rodgers is an undergraduate computer science student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He serves on the executive of the Dalhousie Atheist Community, and volunteers with several local and national freethought groups.
Newsletter conference photos provided by Derek Rodgers, Sarah Kaiser, Adam Isaak, and others.
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