Barry W. Lynn

From Philosopedia

Lynn, Barry W. (1948 - )

Lynn, who was born in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, began as a conservative Republican church-going student who graduated from the Bethlehem Liberty High School in 1966.

He received his Bachelor's Degree at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1970 and a degree in theology from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. He then received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1978.

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.

From 1984 to 1991 Lynn was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), leaving that position to respond to a medical crisis in his family before, in 1992, becoming the Executive Director in 1992, which he has headed ever since.

He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, a prominent leader of the American religious left.

Lynn, who speaks widely on behalf of civil liberties and the importance of the Constitution's First Amendment, lives with his wife in Chevy Chase, Maryland.