Given the location of his upbringing, Damon Fowler wasn’t a likely candidate to be featured in this book. Damon grew up in a poor, rural section of Louisiana. He always had plenty of questions about Christianity and no one around him to talk to about his skepticism. In high school, he defied his family when he protested a long-standing graduation prayer at his public high school. He worked with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and his school was persuaded to remove the prayer from the ceremony.
The day after graduation, Damon came home to find that his parents had thrown all of his possessions out on the lawn. He moved in with his brother in Texas, trying to restart a life that he had hoped would include college and a career in animation. Hearing about his story, “The Friendly Atheist,” Hemant Mehta, another subject in this book, set up a scholarship drive for Damon on his website. It raised over $30,000. Despite his hardships, Damon doesn’t regret his activism and appreciates the incredible generosity he has received from the secular community.