Biography:Darrel Ray

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Darrel Ray
Darrel Ray.jpg
BornDarrel Wayne Ray
(1950-08-24) August 24, 1950 (age 73)
Wichita, Kansas
OccupationOrganizational psychologist, author
NationalityAmerican
EducationMA, Ed. D.
Alma materFriends University, Scarritt College for Christian Workers,[1] Peabody College of Vanderbilt University[2]
GenreNon-fiction
SubjectReligion, secularism, organization development, sexuality
Notable worksThe God Virus
Years active1978–present

Darrel Wayne Ray (born August 24, 1950) is a psychologist who has written several books on various topics. He is also a speaker, podcaster and atheist activist. He helped found the organization Recovering from Religion.

Personal life

Ray was raised a fundamentalist Christian in Wichita, Kansas, by parents who eventually became missionaries, and among family members highly involved in church life.[3] This fundamentalist upbringing informs much of his later writing.[4] In 1979, Ray joined the Quaker church, and later he attended the Presbyterian church.[5] From 1969 to 1984 he taught Sunday school, preached, and was a tenor soloist in several church choirs. He left the church in the mid 1980s and identifies as an atheist.

Ray is the father of two children and also a grandfather.[6] He is also openly polyamorous.[7]

Education

In 1972, he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology/anthropology at Friends University in Wichita, and in 1974 he completed an MA in Church and Community at Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1978 he finished a doctoral program in psychology at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, earning his Ed.D.[8]

Professional work

Ray was very involved in organizational culture and clinical psychology.[6] He is the author of two books on team building and was the director of The Institute for Performance Culture.[9] He also founded Teaming Up, an organizational and team-building coaching program.[10] Ray co-authored 2 books with Howard Bronstein which describe how to create and manage self-directed teams.[11]

In 2009, he helped found the organization Recovering from Religion, an international self-help group for those leaving their religious indoctrination.[5] He is currently involved in Recovering from Religion as a board director and as part of a Recovering from Religion program called "The Secular Therapy Project" which aims to help patients find secular and science-based therapy.

Ray is also the author of books about secularism and atheism, The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture and Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality. Ray's books about secularism and religion explore how religion interacts with human beings on a personal and cultural level. Ray explores how religious institutions and ideas can be used to control human thoughts and behaviors, especially sexual behaviors.[6] Ray pays special attention to placing sexuality and various religions into context culturally and historically.[7] He takes the stance that many human impulses, feelings and sexual behaviors are normal and can be desirable.[12] Ray's books have influenced other atheists, where his psychological interpretation of Richard Dawkin's concept of religion as a virus has influenced the atheist and secular movement in America.[13]

On August 30, 2014, Ray launched a podcast about human sexuality and atheism called Secular Sexuality where is he also the host.[14]

He has also appeared as a secular psychological expert on television, including ABC News show, Nightline, where in 2011, he spoke out against exorcisms and took a scientific viewpoint towards psychological illnesses that might look like possession.[15]

Research

In June 1982, Ray and several other authors released a paper describing a study done on male youth offenders in a juvenile correction institute. Ray and the group studied whether population density had any effects on the participants.[16]

In May 2011, Ray and Amanda Brown (an undergraduate at the University of Kansas studying sex and sexuality) released the results of a self-reporting online survey[17] of over 14,500 American secularists, titled "Sex and Secularism: What Happens When You Leave Religion?", concluding that sex improves dramatically after leaving religion, and people who are religious exhibit similar sexual behaviors as the non-religious, but experience markedly increased guilt.[18] The study has been criticized for suffering from self-selection bias,[19] due to its recruiting of participants via the science blog Pharyngula.[20]

Bibliography

Books

  • Teaming Up: Making the Transition to a Self-directed, Team-based Organization (IPC Press 1995. ISBN:978-0-07-051646-5 Hardcover.)
  • The Performance Culture: Maximizing the Power of Teams (IPC Press, May 2001. ISBN:978-0-9709505-0-5 Paperback.)
  • The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture (IPC Press, December 2009. ISBN:978-0-9709505-1-2 Paperback.)
  • The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture (Dogma Debate, LLC, November 2012. ASIN B00A8D0D9W. Audiobook.)
  • Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality (IPC Press, January 2012. ISBN:978-0-9709505-4-3 Paperback.)
  • Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality (Dogma Debate, LLC, February 2013. ASIN B00BCCW6PC Audiobook.)

Journals

Ray has written for a number of journals, including The Humanist, a publication of the American Humanist Association.[21]

Podcast

Dr. Darrel Ray's podcast, Secular Sexuality addresses human sexuality from an atheist or freethinker's viewpoint. It is produced by Secular Media Group, LLC, an atheist media and publishing company.[22]

  • Secular Sexuality with Dr. Darrel Ray (2014)

References

  1. ↑ "LinkedIn profile". LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-darrel-ray/0/985/986. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  2. ↑ "About Darrel W. Ray, Ed.D.". Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120324135226/http://www.teaming-up.com/drdray_bio.html. 
  3. ↑ "Darrel W. Ray Speaks Out!". May 20, 2010. Archived from the original on June 3, 2011. https://www.webcitation.org/5z9zjyAsh?url=http://www.anatheist.net/2010/05/darrel-w-ray-speaks-out/. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  4. ↑ "Dr. Darrel Ray". Baker & Taylor Author Biographies (Literary Reference Center): 1. January 4, 2000. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=49423372&site=ehost-live. Retrieved January 10, 2015. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gray, Helen (June 12, 2009). "New support group Recovering from Religion helps people who leave the church". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on June 17, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090617033259/http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/1249250.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Amazon.com: Darrel W. Ray". https://www.amazon.com/Darrel-W.-Ray/e/B002GEZTFO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Tani, Red (August 4, 2000). "A Conversation with Darrel Ray" (Audio). Filipino Freethinkers. http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2014/08/03/a-conversation-with-darrel-ray/. Retrieved January 10, 2015. 
  8. ↑ "Atheists United Hosts Special Meeting with Noted Psychologist, Darrel Ray". Archived from the original on June 3, 2011. https://www.webcitation.org/5zA0F5kRF?url=http://www.atheistsunited.org/component/content/article/56-general-meetings/314-au-hosts-special-meeting-with-noted-psychologist-darrel-ray. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  9. ↑ Ray, Darrel; Elder, David (December 1, 2007). "Managing Horizontal Accountability". Journal for Quality and Participation 30 (4): 24–28. ISSN 1040-9602. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=29416268&site=ehost-live. Retrieved January 10, 2015. 
  10. ↑ "IPC Teaming Up". Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141211022518/http://www.teaming-up.com/wii.html. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  11. ↑ Gerard, Robert (August 1995). "Teaming Up: Making the Transition to a Self-Directed, Team-Based Organization". Academy of Management Executive. doi:10.5465/AME.1995.9509210324. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=9509210324&site=ehost-live. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  12. ↑ Hall, David (July 20, 2012). "Book Review.Sex & God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality". Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality. http://www.ejhs.org/volume15/Bookreview%2015-3.html. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  13. ↑ Boghossian, Peter (2013). A Manual for Creating Atheists. Durham, NC: Pitchstone Publishing. pp. 216–217. ISBN 9781939578099. 
  14. ↑ Eberhard, JT. "Darrel Ray enters the world of podcasting with Secular Sexuality!". http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2014/11/darrel-ray-enters-the-world-of-podcasting-with-secular-sexuality/. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  15. ↑ "Nightline". New York, NY. January 27, 2011. 4.45 minutes in. ABC News. ABChttp://tv.ark.com/transcript/nightline/714/KGO/Thursday_January_27_2011/553973/. Cite has empty unknown parameters: |began= and |ended= (help); Missing or empty |series= (help)
  16. ↑ "The Effects Of High Density In A Juvenile Correctional Institution". Basic & Applied Social Psychology. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=7301177&site=ehost-live. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  17. ↑ Clark-Flory, Tracy (May 23, 2011). "Do atheists have better sex?". Salon.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. https://www.webcitation.org/5ywbaG4eQ?url=http://www.salon.com/life/sex/?story=%2Fmwt%2Ffeature%2F2011%2F05%2F23%2Fatheist_sex. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  18. ↑ Myers, PZ. "This has to be our new selling point". Pharyngula (blog). Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110523122217/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/05/this_has_to_be_our_new_selling.php. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  19. ↑ Donaldson James, Susan (May 25, 2011). "Atheists Have Best Sex Lives, Claims Psychologist". ABC News. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. https://www.webcitation.org/5ywc4WxKy?url=http://abcnews.go.com/Health/atheists-best-sex-lives-claims-kansas-psychologists-survey/story?id=13679076&singlePage=true. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  20. ↑ Myers, PZ (January 24, 2011). "Prying into your dirty, dirty secrets". Pharyngula (blog). Archived from the original on March 3, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110303204654/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/01/prying_into_your_dirty_dirty_s.php. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  21. ↑ Darrel, Ray (July 2012). "America's War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust, and Liberty". Humanist. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=77688750&site=ehost-live. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 
  22. ↑ Dogma Debate and Secular Sexuality"Secular Sexuality". http://dogmadebate.com/secularsexuality/. Retrieved December 10, 2014. 

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