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Meet the board & Welcome Newest Board Members David Fitzgerald & Rick Hernandez!
We have been sponsoring small group dialogue between believers and non-believers since June 2002. So far, over 200 people have participated in a dialogue, most in the San Francisco Bay Area but also in pilots in South Carolina, Oregon, Washington & Minnesota. We have been an officially incorporated organization since October 17, 2003 and have 501c3 status.
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David Fitzgerald is active in atheist circles and currently serves on the steering committee
of San Francisco Atheists. David was raised a devout Southern Baptist in central California before
having a secular epiphany in his 20's. Today he enjoys having dialogue with believers of
every stripe and is a frequent facilitator and organizer of Garrison-Martineau sessions. He was instrumental in helping to organize last years UC Berkeley pilot and also braved cold (very) Minneapolis where he assisted U of M students in their first ever 2-day dialogue pilot. He is a firm believer in the value of the Project for both sides of the believer/unbeliever divide: It helps Christians see past fundamentalist stereotypes of Atheists and helps Atheists better understand where believers are coming from. We welcome David to the board and look forward to good things from him in his new role as the Garrison-Martineau Director of College Outreach. |
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Rick was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. His working career has spanned serving as a surgical nurse in the Navy, in the Neurosurgery department at UCSD to now, electrical engineering at Agilent Technologies. Rick first believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ on September 21, 1979. He has remained a believer since. He and his wife, Cathy, reside in the Willow Glen area of San Jose.Rick is a deacon in his church (Church of the Chimes, San Jose). He also volunteers on the lay pastoral care staff of his church as a Stephen Minister and at the men’s alcohol and drug recovery program at City Team Ministries.Rick is enthusiastic about the both the immediate and long term possibilities for the Garrison-Martineau Project. He hopes that GMP will be a catalyst for promoting understanding and productive dialog between all differing groups of people which will ultimately benefit our local communities and culture. |
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Chris Lindstrom has provided much of the initial impetus for the project and is the President of this new organization. Chris was raised as a fundamentalist Christian and became an atheist at the age of 22 after she became convinced that human beings wrote the Bible. She has served as political liaison for United States Atheists in Portland, Oregon and is the former secretary of Atheists of Silicon Valley. Chris feels that the success of the ecumenical movement shows that people are looking for dialogue. However, she wants to make sure that nonbelievers are included in the dialogue process. She would like to see statements like "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe something" give way to "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are kind to children and small animals!" We are pleased to have her energy in this Project.
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| Laurie Dickerson is the pastor of Newark's Broken & Mending Ministries. She first attended a dialogue session last March and has been instrumental in reaching out to the Christian community letting them know the benefits of The Garrison-Martineau program. When our incorporation became official last October, she agreed to step up to the plate and serve as the Project's Secretary. Laurie likes the opportunity to build "real relationships with other human beings, not excluding atheists because of their beliefs, but including them because of their humanness." She says it reminds her of "the opportunities that Jesus took on earth to be with those who were not like him." We welcome Pastor Laurie Dickerson to the Board of The Garrison-Martineau Project and look forward to her continuing contributions.
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Nancy Powell was raised in a secular home. She began to play a bigger role within the community when her son was personally impacted by prejudice against nonbelievers in the local school system. She has served as the PTA President as well as the President of Portland, Oregon-based United States Atheists. She has run seminars discussing how to deal with different family reactions to one's atheism and has spoken on a variety of panels sponsored by many different organizations, both religious and non-religious. As a mother, Nancy is aware of the importance of teaching the skills of peaceful discourse. As a community leader, her willingness to step up and speak out is inspiring. We at The Garrison-Martineau Project are happy to bring Nancy's experience, expertise and innovative ideas to the board. We look forward to working with her.
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| Henda Lea grew up in a Jewish family but gradually became convinced that there was no afterlife and that we needed to work in the here and now to improve our lives and the lives of others. One day, while listening to the radio, she heard someone explain what an atheist was and realized she was one! She serves as the President of the Secular Humanists of the East bay and has been vocal within the atheist/humanist community reminding members of the need to work with religious people to resolve problems and has pointed the way toward better communication between atheists and humanists, building bridges both within and without the atheist/humanist community. She feels that it is important for religious people "to be able to speak directly with non-religious people and for non-religious people to be able to speak directly with religious people because we have much more in common than separates us." On more than one occasion, she has supplied coffee and moral support to The Garrison-Martineau Project. We welcome her balanced approach and influence to the board.
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