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About

California Freethought Day

Our Annual Event

California Freethought Day combines the fun and atmosphere of a fair with the education and activism of a conference. It's an annual festival of freethought at our State Capitol featuring speakers and entertainment, an authors' and podcasters' panel, scholarship winners, and more.
Our event has occured every October since 2001.

Our Mission

Our mission is to host an annual festival that encourages freedom of speech and thought, civic engagement, enthusiasm for science, social justice, and the separation of church and state.

The History and Culture of Freethought Day

Freethought Day dates back to 1692, during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Massachusetts Governor William Phips wrote, on October 12, about the quagmire that the trials had degenerated into, in part by a reliance on "evidence" of a non-objective nature and especially "spectral evidence" in which the accusers claimed to see devils and other phantasms consorting with the accused.
Learn more about Freethought Day from the Sacramento Atheists and Other Freethinkers and Wikipedia. And read this article about Freethought Day published in Secular Nation (Fall 2014).

Our Team

Here's the team that, along with dozens of volunteers, makes California Freethought Day possible.
Board Members
  • David Diskin, President
  • Becky Mark, Treasurer
  • Marie Bain, Secretary
  • Nick Gray
  • Luisa Morco
Committee Members
  • Alexis Record
  • Amelia Lewis
  • Angela Garvie
  • Arlene Ríos
  • Emily Thompson
  • Jamie Snyder-Hernandez
  • Ken Nahigian
  • Louie Campos
  • Nancy Sneed
  • Rae Howard
  • Ryan Drew
  • Tom Ikelman
  • Victoria de la Torre