Darrel Ray
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Darrel Wayne Ray (born August 24, 1950) is an American organizational psychologist and author who focuses on topics such as workplace organizational culture, secular sexuality, and the treatment of religion-induced trauma. He is a public speaker, podcaster, and atheist activist, and founded the non-profit organization
Recovering from Religion Recovering from Religion (RfR) is an international non-profit organization that helps people who have left religion, are in process of leaving, or are dealing with problems arising out of theistic doubt or non-belief. RfR provides support group ...
as well as the Secular Therapy Project.


Personal life

Ray was raised a
fundamentalist Christian Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
in
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, by parents who eventually became
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
, and among family members highly involved in church life. This fundamentalist upbringing informs much of his later writing. In 1979, Ray joined the
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
church, and later he attended the
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church. 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 Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
. Ray is the father of two children and also a grandfather. He is also openly polyamorous.


Education

In 1972, Ray earned a bachelor's degree in sociology/anthropology at
Friends University Friends University is a private nondenominational Christian university in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded in 1898. The main building was originally built in 1886 for Garfield University but was donated in 1898 to the Religious Society of Friends ...
in Wichita, and in 1974 he completed an MA in Church and Community at
Scarritt College for Christian Workers Scarritt College for Christian Workers was a college associated with the United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The campus is now home to Scarritt Bennett Center. History of Scarritt College (1892–1988) The Scarritt College for C ...
in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. In 1978 he finished a doctoral program in psychology at Peabody College of
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
, earning his Ed.D.


Professional work

Ray was very involved in organizational culture and clinical psychology. He is the author of two books on team building and was the director of The Institute for Performance Culture. He also founded Teaming Up, an organizational and team-building coaching program. Ray co-authored 2 books with Howard Bronstein which describe how to create and manage self-directed teams. In 2009, Ray created the organization
Recovering from Religion Recovering from Religion (RfR) is an international non-profit organization that helps people who have left religion, are in process of leaving, or are dealing with problems arising out of theistic doubt or non-belief. RfR provides support group ...
(RfR), an international, non-profit organization which helps people dealing with issues stemming from religious trauma, doubt, and non-belief. Ray serves as the president of the RfR Board of Directors, and also founded the RfR's Secular Therapy Project which has the goal of helping clients find therapists offering 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. Ray pays special attention to placing sexuality and various religions into context culturally and historically. He takes the stance that many human impulses, feelings and sexual behaviors are normal and can be desirable. Ray's books have influenced other atheists, where his psychological interpretation of Richard Dawkin's concept of religion as a
virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
has influenced the atheist and secular movement in America. On August 30, 2014, Ray launched a podcast about human sexuality and atheism called ''Secular Sexuality'' where is he also the host. Ray has also appeared as a secular psychological expert on television, including
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
show,
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
, where in 2011, he spoke out against
exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
s and took a scientific viewpoint towards psychological illnesses that might look like possession.


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. In May 2011, Ray and Amanda Brown (an undergraduate at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
studying sex and sexuality) released the results of a self-reporting online survey of over 14,500 American
secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
s, 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. The study has been criticized for suffering from
self-selection bias In statistics, self-selection bias arises in any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group, causing a biased sample with nonprobability sampling. It is commonly used to describe situations where the characteristics of the peop ...
, due to its recruiting of participants via the science blog ''
Pharyngula The pharyngula is a stage in the embryonic development of vertebrates. At this stage, the embryos of all vertebrates are similar, having developed features typical of vertebrates, such as the beginning of a spinal cord. Named by William Ballard, ...
''.


Bibliography


Books

* ''Teaming Up: Making the Transition to a Self-directed, Team-based Organization'' (IPC Press 1995. Hardcover.) * ''The Performance Culture: Maximizing the Power of Teams'' (IPC Press, May 2001. Paperback.) * ''The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture'' (IPC Press, December 2009. 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. 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 The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism. The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defend the constitutiona ...
.


Podcast

Ray's
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
, ''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.Dogma Debate and Secular Sexuality * ''Secular Sexuality with Dr. Darrel Ray'' (2014)


References


External links


The God Virus

Recovering From Religion
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Darrel 1950 births Living people American social sciences writers American atheism activists Friends University alumni Peabody College alumni American former Protestants People from Kansas 21st-century American psychologists American writers People from Wichita, Kansas Activists from Kansas Polyamorous people 20th-century American psychologists