Mr. Barry Lynn
Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Reverend Barry W. Lynn (born 1948) has been the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and a prominent leader of the American religious left.
He became a minister and had a small church in New Hampshire. In 1970, Lynn received his B.A. from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. After attending law school at night, he graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center.
After law school, he continued to work with the United Church of Christ in their mission to gain amnesty for young men protesting the draft. Before accepting the post at Americans United, Lynn held a variety of positions related to religious liberty concerns. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, where he frequently worked on church-state issues. From 1974 to 1980 Lynn served in a variety of positions with the national offices of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. He left the ACLU position to respond to a medical crisis in his family before becoming director at Americans United.
An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on radio broadcasts and television to debate and discuss First Amendment issues, including MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, NBC's Today Show, Nightline, Fox Morning News (Washington, D.C.), CNN's Crossfire and Lou Dobbs Tonight, The Phil Donahue Show, Meet the Press, CBS Morning News, ABC's Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and Larry King Live. He was formerly a weekly commentator on church-state issues for UPI Radio, and served for two years as regular co-host of Pat Buchanan and Company on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Barry currently host the radio program Culture Shocks, which can be heard on 1160 am in Washington D.C. and on several stations nationally including the syndicated Genesis Communications Network. Past shows are also archived at its affiliate KCAA in California (www.kcaaradio.com).
Lynn's first book, Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom (ISBN 0-307-34654-4), was published in October 2006.